96: The War of the Currents: (Thomas Alva Edison v. Nikola Tesla & George Westinghouse)
30 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
“Tesla, you don’t understand our American humor.” This is the story of opinionated inventors ...
95: "Several Thousand Things that Won't Work:" Thomas Alva Edison and His Electric Light
16 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
“I have got so much to do and life is so short, I am going to hustle.” This is the story of tria...
94: Epilogue to Gilded Age Part I (or Gilded Age interlude w/ Significant HTDS Updates)
02 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
An epilogue. Or interlude? Well, we aren’t done with the Gilded Age, but we have too much behind-t...
93: La Liberté éclairant le monde: Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi’s Statue of Liberty
19 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
“Vive l’entente fraternelle des deux républiques !” This is the story of the Statue of Libert...
92: The Brooklyn Bridge, or the Story of the Roebling Family
21 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
“John Roebling has not the leisure to wait upon any man.” This is the story of a bridge and a f...
91: The Gilded Age, Industrialization, and Assassination of President James Garfield
07 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
“What is the chief end of man? A: To get rich.” This is the story of the Gilded Age and its firs...
90: Epilogue to the Wild West
10 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This is the end of the West! Meet two new researchers, Ryan Griffith and Zach Weaver, as they join G...
89: Closing the Wild West: (Wounded Knee, Buffalo Bill & the 1893 Colombian Expo)
26 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
“I wish to impress upon your minds that what you are about to witness is not a performance in the ...
88: “The Last Frontier:” The Purchase of Alaska and the Klondike Gold Rush
12 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
“This is my last opportunity to make a big haul. Alaska is the last West.” This is the story of...
87:Gunslingers & Outlaws (pt 2): Pearl Hart, Tombstone, Jesse James, B. Cassidy & The Sundance Kid
29 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
“The fight’s commenced. Go to fighting or get away!” This is the story of more gunslinging and...
86: Gunslingers & Outlaws (pt 1): The Second Industrial Revolution, Sam Bass & Billy the Kid
15 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
“I am going to hell anyhow.” This is the story of the rise of Western outlaws and gunslingers. F...
85: Transcontinental Railroad (pt 3): The Central Pacific, Chinese Workers, & The Golden Spike
01 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
“Did they not build the Chinese Wall, the biggest piece of masonry in the world?” The Central P...
84: Transcontinental Railroad (pt 2): Dr. Thomas Durant, The Union Pacific & “Hell on Wheels”
15 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
“How dare you try to hog all the continent?” This is the story of the Union Pacific Railroad. Th...
83: Transcontinental Railroad (pt 1): Industrialization, Ted Judah & The Rise of the Central Pacific
01 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
“Every great enterprise has been ridiculed in the outset.” This is the story of the rise of the ...
82: Best Mini Episodes and Cold Opens of 2020
18 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
“Gentlemen, what is the cause of this violence?” This is the story of HTDS's 2020. Most people w...
81: Epilogue to Volume 6: Reconstruction and The Indian Wars
04 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
“The older I get the more I’m convinced that it’s the purpose of politicians and journalists t...
80: “Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus:” A History
21 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
“Church bristled and pooh-poohed at the subject when I suggested that he write a reply to Virginia...
79: The Indian Wars (Part 3): Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce & Standing Bear’s Fight for Civil Rights
07 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
“Does this court think an Indian is a competent witness?” This is the story of the start of Indi...
78: The Indian Wars (Part 2): The Battle of the Little Bighorn (the Greasy Grass)
23 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
“There’s a good fight coming over the hill. That’s where the big fight is going to be. We’ll...
77: The Indian Wars (Part 1): The U.S.-Dakota War
09 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
“To be hanged by the neck until he is dead.” This is the story of the US-Dakota War. The most ea...
76: Reconstruction (Part 4): The Battle of Liberty Place and the Mississippi Plan
26 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
“Hang Kellogg! We’ll fight!” This is the story of the end of Reconstruction. Voter fraud and...
75: Reconstruction (Part 3): The Rise of the KKK and the First Black Men in Government
12 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
“Boys, let us get up a club or society of some description.” This is the story of Reconstructio...
74: Reconstruction (Part 2): The Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant
28 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
"The office has come to me unsought; I commence its duties untrammeled. I bring to it a conscious ...
73: Reconstruction (Part 1): The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson
14 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
“You are placed in a position where you have the power to save or destroy us; to bless or blast us...
72: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
31 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
“Sic semper tyrannis!” This is the story of deception. Conspiracy. Assassination. The handsome...
71: Revisiting the Hamilton/Burr Duel: An Affair of Honor
17 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
"Adieu best of wives and best of women." We’re interrupting our usual chronological walk through U...
70: Epilogue: The Civil War Comes to a Close
03 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
After nearly a full year of covering only four years of US history, we are done with the Civil War. ...
69: Surrender at Appomattox: The Last Days of the Civil War
20 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
“I feel that it is … my duty to shift from myself the responsibility of any further effusion of ...
68: Sherman's March to the Sea and the Thirteenth Amendment
06 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
“I can make the march, and make Georgia howl!” This is the story of the March to the Sea and th...
67: Ending 1864: The Battles of the Crater, Mobile Bay, Centralia, and Franklin
22 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
“Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!” This is the story of the Civil War in late 1864. Battles...
66: The Election of 1864: Lincoln's Bid for Reelection
08 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
“Johnson is either drunk or crazy,” This is the story of the fight for the presidency in 1864. ...
65: Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign & The Free State of Jones
25 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
“War is war, and not popularity-seeking.” This is the story of the fall of Atlanta. William Tecu...
Bonus: A New Sound for HTDS (Farewell to Josh, Hello to Lindsay Graham & Airship)
18 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
After more than two years of putting his blood, sweat, and tears into HTDS, Sound Designer Josh Beat...
64: Grant's Overland Campaign: The Battles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, & Petersburg
11 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
“I propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer.” This is the story of hard fight...
Bonus: A Chat about Southern Accents w/ Jeremy Collins from "Podcasts We Listen To"
06 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
History can touch on present-day issues, and rather than duck away from such discomforts, Greg has a...
63: Wounded and Dying: Nurses, Doctors, and Disease in the Civil War
27 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
“I had never severed the nerves and fibers of human flesh.” This is the story of Civil War med...
62: The War in Tennessee: Chickamauga and Chattanooga
13 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
“Gloom and unspoken despondency hang like a pall everywhere.” This is the story of personalitie...
61: The Louisiana Native Guard, the 54th Massachusetts & On: Black Soldiers in the Civil War
30 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
“It is hard to believe that Southern soldiers—and Texans at that—have been whipped by a mongre...
60: Gettysburg
16 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
“I shall lead my division forward, sir.” This is the story of Gettysburg. It’s summer, 1863,...
59: Stone’s River, Suspending Habeas Corpus, Vicksburg, & Stonewall’s Death at Chancellorsville
02 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
“Grant is my man and I am his the rest of the war.” This is the story of hard fighting—on the...
58: Conscription & Riots (“A Rich Man’s War, But a Poor Man’s Fight”)
17 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
“Here’s a damned abolitionist! … He’s a Tribune man! Hang the son of a b****!” This is the...
57: Recap of The Civil War's First Half (1861-63)
03 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
"Keep the details! We love the stories!" After 11 episodes covering the first half of the Civil Wa...
56: The Battle of Fredericksburg and the First Campaign of Vicksburg
20 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
“If the world had been searched by Burnside for a location in which his army could be best defeate...
55: The Road to The Emancipation Proclamation
06 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
“The Proclamation is the drawing of a sword that can never be sheathed again.” This is the stor...
54: The Best Opening Scenes in HTDS History
23 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
“Our top spot goes to …” This is the story of stories (yeah, super “meta”). You know regu...
53: A Civil War Christmas with Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
09 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
“Our dispatches state that Lieut. Longfellow of First Mass. Cavalry was severely wounded.” This ...
52: From Second Bull Run, or Second Manassas to Antietam, or Sharpsburg
25 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
“Come on God damn you.” This is the story of the Second Bull Run/Manassas Campaign and the Battl...
51: A Change in Command: Seven Days Battles to the Battle of Cedar Mountain
11 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
“[Malvern Hill] was not war--it was murder.” This is the story of a Confederate comeback. Unio...
50: Mississippi Valley 1862: The Battles of New Orleans, Corinth, Memphis, and Vicksburg
28 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This is the story of the Mississippi Valley in 1862. Navy Secretary Gideon “Father Neptune” Well...
49: From Little Mac McClellan to Stonewall Jackson: The Peninsula and Shenandoah Valley Campaigns
14 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
“In my opinion, Cadet Jackson of Virginia is a complete jackass.” This is the story of daring. ...
48: The Battle of Shiloh: “Now boys, pitch in!”
30 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
“Here boys, is as good a place as any on this battlefield to meet death!” This is the story of ...
47: Bull Run, Trent Affair, the Merrimack, & Fort Donelson: The Early Days of the Civil War
16 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
“There is Jackson standing like a stone wall! Rally behind the Virginians!” This is the story of...
46: The Civil War Begins: Fort Sumter, Secession, & Raising Armies
02 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
“I hope to have God on my side, but I must have Kentucky.” This is the story of the last, bare t...
45: Volume IV Epilogue
19 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
"They are beautiful words, they are beautiful ideals... and there is beauty in seeing others as they...
44: Abraham Lincoln Becomes President of the Divided States of America
05 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
“Mary, Mary, we are elected!” This is the story of the election of Abraham Lincoln as Presiden...
43: Honest Abe, the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, & John Brown’s Raid on Harpers Ferry
22 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
“Any man who took Lincoln for a simple-minded man would wind up with his back in a ditch.” This ...
42: Solomon Northup’s 12 Years a Slave
08 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
“Master Bass, if justice had been done, I never would have been here.” This is the story of betr...
41: Kansas! (Bleeding Kansas, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, & Caning of Charles Sumner)
24 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
“We can send five thousand--enough to kill every God-damned abolitionist in the Territory.” This...
40: Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention & the Explosion of Social Reform
10 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
“In the history of the world, the doctrine of Reform had never such scope as at the present hour.”...
39: The California Gold Rush and the Compromise of 1850
27 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
“The Union is doomed to dissolution. … I fix its probable occurrence within twelve years or thre...
38: The (Early) Life and Times of Frederick Douglass
13 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
“I am your fellow man, but not your slave, Frederick Douglass.” This is the story of self-educat...
37: La Amistad Slave Rebellion and the Rise of Abolitionism
29 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
“Give us free! Give us free!” This is the story of a daring slave rebellion at sea and the long ...
Volume III Epilogue
15 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
No, no, no, no--Cortes would’ve gotten his butt whooped if he had not gained lots of indigenous he...
36: Mexican-American War (Part 4): Los Niños Héroes, St. Patrick’s Battalion, & the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
01 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This is the story of the Mexican-American War’s end and the making of Mexican heroes. Winfield Sco...
35: Mexican-American War (Part 3): Nuevo México and the Final Push from Vera Cruz
18 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
“By God, that does looked forked!” This is the story of further American advancements through No...
34: Mexican-American War (Part 2): The Pathfinder, the Bear Flag Revolt, y Los Californios
04 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
“Who the devil is Governor of California?’” This is the story of covert ops, secret orders, fa...
33: Mexican-American War (Part 1): From the Nueces River to the Rio Grande
18 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
“Hostilities may now be considered as commenced.” This is the story of the Mexican-American War’...
32: Mormonism and the Mormon Trail
04 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
“Nits will make lice, and if he had lived he would have become a Mormon.” This is the story of o...
31: The California Trail: From the Donner Party to the Gold Rush
21 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
“Never take no shortcuts.” This is the story of one of the larger Oregon Trail’s most importan...
30: The Oregon Trail (“You Have Died of Dysentery”)
07 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
“You damn Yankees will do anything you like.” This is the story of the Oregon Trail, including t...
Christmas Special II: A Jackson White House Christmas
24 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
“Now let’s see how Santa Claus will treat you, Mr. Uncle Jackson, President of all these United ...
29: The Bank War, Whigs, & Revolution in Texas
10 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
"Come and take it!” This is the story of Andrew Jackson’s ongoing Administration and the Texas R...
28: Ushering in the Age of Jackson
26 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
“May God Almighty forgive her murderers as I know she forgave them. I never can.” This is the st...
Epilogue to Volume 2
11 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
"There were no Canadians hurt in the making of this last volume." This is not a story. This is our s...
27: The Last of the Founding Fathers
29 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
“Thomas Jefferson survives.” This is the story of reconciliation--and death. With peace abroad a...
26: Peace in Ghent, War in New Orleans
15 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
“I could have walked on the dead bodies of the British for one-quarter of a mile without stepping ...
25: From Lake Champlain to the “Defense of Fort M’Henry”
01 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
“Does that star-spangled banner yet wave?” This is the story of the worst of the War of 1812 for...
24: From Granny to Old Ironsides: The Campaigns of 1812 and 1813.
17 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
“Don’t give up the ship!” This is the story of the first two years of the War of 1812, and i...
23: Prelude to America's Forgotten War
02 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
“We’ll root out the damn’d tories. We’ll drink their blood. We’ll eat their hearts!” Thi...
22: An Affair of Honor: Alexander Hamilton & Aaron Burr
19 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
"Adieu best of wives and best of Women. Embrace all my darling Children for me." This is the story o...
21: Thomas Jefferson Presents: Lewis & Clark’s Excellent Expedition
06 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
“Damn sugar, damn coffee, damn colonies!” This is the story of Thomas Jefferson building an “e...
20: "A Wolf by the Ears": Gabriel Rebels and Cotton Becomes King
23 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
“I have nothing more to offer than what General Washington would have had to offer, had he been ta...
19: The Traitor and The Thieving Spy: The Start of American Industrialization
09 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
“He invited me to see the loom operate. I well recollect the state of admiration and satisfaction ...
18: Affairs! Foreign and ..."Domestic"
25 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
“The intercourse with Mrs. Reynolds, in the meantime, continued.” This is the story of seduction...
Historians (of The) Roundtable: I
07 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
“The American Revolution is really different from most revolutions around the world. Sometimes Ame...
17: Death of a Nation's Father
28 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
“I die hard, but I am not afraid to go.” This is the story of death and (another) revolution. Th...
16: The Founding Fractures: Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson
08 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
“I always knew Colonel Hamilton to be a man of superior talents, but never supposed that he had an...
Epilogue To The Revolution; Or The Big Stuff You Should’ve Caught
25 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
“Oh, what, you want it in a single sentence? Fine, here you go.” The epilogue to the Revolution....
Q&A with The HTDS Team
12 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
"I'd say you know more than 90 percent of the American population about the American Revolution at t...
15: “We the People:” Constitution Making in Philly
26 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
“What even is the Virginia Plan but democracy checked by democracy, or pork with a little change o...
Second Edition Episodes: A Discussion
14 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
While discussed in passing in a few epilogues, the Prof. sits down with Kelsi to go deep on “secon...
14: Peace in Paris; Turmoil in New York
14 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
“I have not only grown gray but almost blind in service to my country.” This is the story (or ta...
13: The World Turns Upside Down at Yorktown
28 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
“The British officers in general behaved like boys who had been whipped at school.” This is the ...
12: An American Judas Betrays & Nathanael Greene Saves!
13 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
“Arnold has betrayed us! Whom can we trust now?” This isn’t a story of betrayal; this is the s...
11: Southern Discomfort: Savannah & Charleston Captured, Slavery, Massacres, & 1779’s Sundries
31 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
“I reject your proposals … and shall defend myself to the last extremity.” This is the story ...
10: Dueling, Life Sucks at Valley Forge, von Steuben's Cool & the Battle of Monmouth
19 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
“Stand fast, my boys, and receive your enemy!” This is the story of a miserable winter and the s...
9: (Almost) Everything Important in 1777--Saratoga, Lafayette & George Returns Gen. Howe’s Dog
02 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
“If old England is not by this lesson taught humility, then she is an obstinate old slut, bent upo...
Christmas Special: George Wishes Some Hessians a Merry F’ing Christmas
23 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
"These are the times that try men's souls." This is the story of the Battle of Trenton. George cross...
8: From Independence to NY (meeting A. Ham, Nathan Hale & Charles Lee is a Sneaky Bastard)
17 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
“I wish there was a war.” This is the story of independence and crushed hope. Congress is finall...
7: An Olive Branch Rejected, Tom's a Royal Pain(e), & the Siege of Boston
04 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
“Remember it is the fifth of March, and avenge the death of your brethren!” This is the story of...