Historical Insights

Jordan Collier

Exploring the events of the American Civil War in the Tennessee Valley using official records and surviving eyewitness experiences.

  1. 06/28/2025

    November 8 - 11, 1864: Federals regain the upper hand

    We will slow down and parse the increasing volume of dispatches related to Lauderdale County, Alabama, in the context of the Civil War in the western theatre. Any information may yet prove crucial, and no one knew where the tide would turn next.

    45 min

  2. 11/25/2024

    November 6 & 7, 1864 -- Standoff on Shoal Creek

    *This is my first episode I've recorded since Spotify eliminated mobile recording. The sound may be different than what you're used to. Feedback will be appreciated as I consider how best to adapt to the transition.

    44 min

  3. 07/09/2024

    November 1-5, 1864

    We will examine the events of a very tense five days at the start of 1864, as General Croxton cautiously watches the alarming Confederate movements at the Shoals, Federal high command scramble to make sense of the developments, and local people find themselves caught up in the events in surprising ways.

    1h 3m

  4. 04/22/2024

    Hood crosses the Tennessee

    We will examine the details of Hood's movements from October 29 to November 1, 1864, culminating in the Confederates establishing a foothold at Florence, and the at times awkward Federal response. We will hear from surprisingly detailed and insightful first-person sources to these movements who witnessed it all.

    49 min

  5. 01/27/2024

    Hood goes West

    We will follow the frustrated and often inscrutable events that placed General John Bell Hood at Decatur, Alabama in the last week of October 1864.

    57 min

  6. 12/18/2023

    October 1864: Rising action ahead of Hood's move west

    We will examine the tense time between the end of the pursuit of Forrest and the movement of General Hood out of Georgia toward the Shoals. We'll see how reaction, contingency, uncertainty and strategy all coalesced to lay the groundwork for the Shoals to find itself centerstage in the drama to come

    42 min

  7. 07/11/2023

    Forrest's Raid: Part 2

    We will follow Forrest from Elk River to his incredibly daring crossing of the Tennessee at Florence, as he continues his destructive path throughout Middle Tennessee - with wide reaching and unintended consequences.

    50 min

  8. 07/03/2023

    Forrest's Raid, part 1

    We will explore the swift and stunning movement of General Forrest north of the Tennessee River late in September 1864, as the surprised and skeletal Federal garrisons scramble to meet the threat, with disastrous results

    47 min
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Exploring the events of the American Civil War in the Tennessee Valley using official records and surviving eyewitness experiences.

Information

  • Creator
    Jordan Collier
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2025
  • Episodes
    41
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Jordan Collier
  • Show Website
    Historical Insights