Air Date: 061705
Subject: Eric J. Wittenberg: Riding with the Boys in Blue
Books: Little Phil: A Reassessment of the Civil War Leadership of Gen. Philip H. Sheridan
Guest: Eric J. Wittenberg
Summary: Eric J. Wittenberg, author of Little Phil: A Reassessment of the Civil War Leadership of Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, shares his thoughts on Union cavalry.
Brett’s Summary: Fellow Civil War blogger Eric Wittenberg discusses the Union Cavalry during the Civil War with Gerry. Eric spent the first 20 minutes discussing the initial resistance to raising volunteer cavalry regiments from Winfield Scott, the misuse of the Union cavalry in the Army of the Potomac by George B. McClellan, John Pope’s innovative creation of fully functioning cavalry brigades in the Army of Virginia, and the Union Cavalry’s eventual ascension to the level of their counterparts in the confederate Army of Northern Virginia by early 1863. Alfred Pleasonton, commander of the Cavalry Corps of the Army of the Potomac for a portion of the war, is also covered. Eric and Gerry spent quite a bit of time on Eric’s less than positive views on Phil Sheridan, and also go over Custer’s performance during the Civil War. Eric admits to a certain difficulty in putting Little Big Horn out of his mind and focusing just on the Civil War for a long time. The hour ends with Eric discussing some upcoming projects, including a book on the Battle of Monroe’s Crossroads and one on the Confederate retreat from Gettysburg.
Civil War Talk Radio airs most Fridays at 12 PM Pacific on World Talk Radio Studio A. Host Gerry Prokopowicz, the History Chair at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina, interviews a guest each week and discusses their interest in the Civil War. Most interviews center around a book or books if the guest is an author. Other guests over the years have included public Historians such as park rangers and museum curators,wargamers, bloggers, and even a member of an American Civil War Round Table located in London, England.
In this series of blog entries, I will be posting air dates, subjects, and guests, and if I have time, I’ll provide a brief summary of the program. You can find all of the past episodes I’ve entered into the blog by clicking on the Civil War Talk Radio category. Each program should appear either on or near the date it was first broadcast.
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