Welcome back to Civil War Stories. I'm Philip Champion, and today we're going to explore one of the most overlooked yet symbolically crucial engagements of the American Civil War's opening weeks—a story of the first shots fired in Virginia's waters, of a hastily constructed battery facing down the might of the United States Navy, and of decisions made in the chaos of secession that would set the stage for four years of unprecedented naval warfare.

Picture this: It's dawn on May 18, 1861, in the choppy waters of Hampton Roads, Virginia. The morning sun glints off the dark hull of the USS Monticello, a 655-ton steam-powered gunboat cutting through the gentle swells toward a seemingly insignificant point of land jutting into the Elizabeth River. At the ship's bow, Captain Henry Eagle peers through his spyglass at the sandy bluff of Sewell's Point, where Confederate earthworks are taking shape under the direction of men who, just weeks ago, were fellow Americans.

Welcome back to Civil War Stories. I'm Philip Champion, and today we're going to explore one of the most controversial and devastating campaigns of the American Civil War—a story of total war taken to its logical extreme, of military strategy that deliberately targeted civilian populations, and of decisions made in Union headquarters that would forever change the nature of warfare in America and leave scars across the South that would endure for generations.

Picture this: It's dawn on November 16, 1864, near the outskirts of Atlanta, Georgia. The morning mist rises from the Chattahoochee River as the sound of thousands of marching feet, creaking wagon wheels, and neighing horses breaks the stillness of the Georgia countryside. Stretching as far as the eye can see, a vast column of blue-uniformed soldiers winds its way through the red clay hills and pine forests of central Georgia.

Hello and welcome to Civil War Stories. I'm your host, Steve Matthews. Today we're going to explore the bloodiest, most devastating battle ever fought on American soil - the Battle of Gettysburg. Over three terrible days in July 1863, more than 51,000 American soldiers would be killed, wounded, captured, or reported missing in a small Pennsylvania farming town that most had never heard of before. This is not just the story of military strategy or political consequences, but the story of human suffering on an almost unimaginable scale - of young men cut down in the prime of life, of families destroyed, and of a nation that would forever be changed by three days of unparalleled carnage.