Air Date: Monday, August 18, 2025

• Born: 1844 in Martinsburg, Virginia (now West Virginia)
• Family: Prosperous Southern family; father was shopkeeper and tobacco farmer
• Education: Mount Washington Female College in Baltimore - refined upbringing with music, dance, social graces
• Age at war's start: Just 17 years old when Civil War began

• Initial incident: July 1861 - shot and killed Union soldier who insulted her mother and attempted to hang Union flag over their home
• Military inquiry: Shooting ruled justified, but marked her as Confederate sympathizer
• Strategic location: Martinsburg in crucial Shenandoah Valley, frequently changing hands
• Natural advantages: Youth, beauty, and social skills made her ideal for intelligence work

• Social infiltration: Charmed Union officers at social gatherings
• Active intelligence gathering: Eavesdropped on strategy meetings in local hotels
• Creative surveillance: Hid in closets, spied through knothole in floor
• Direct delivery: Personally carried intelligence to Confederate commanders rather than using intermediaries
• Horsemanship: Used riding skills and terrain knowledge to move between lines

• Date: May 23, 1862 during Shenandoah Valley Campaign
• Location: Front Royal, Virginia
• Method: Gathered intelligence while staying at aunt's hotel where Union officers were quartered
• The ride: Galloped across open ground between armies with bullets tearing through her skirts
• Impact: Intelligence led to Jackson's successful attack that captured Front Royal and cleared Union forces from Shenandoah Valley
• Recognition: Jackson sent personal thanks, reportedly made her honorary captain and aide-de-camp
• Nickname: Earned "La Belle Rebelle" in Southern newspapers

• First arrest: July 1862, sent to Old Capitol Prison in Washington D.C.
• Media attention: Newspapers covered story extensively, enhancing her fame
• Release: After one month in prisoner exchange, sent to Richmond
• Second arrest: 1863 while carrying dispatches between Richmond and Northern operatives
• Serious illness: Contracted typhoid fever in prison, released on medical grounds December 1863
• Banishment: Sent to Europe as exile from Union territory

• In England: Published memoirs "Belle Boyd in Camp and Prison," began stage career
• Marriage: Wed Samuel Wylde Hardinge, former Union naval officer who had escorted her to Europe
• Widowhood: Hardinge died in 1865, leaving her widow at 21 with infant daughter
• Return to America: Continued theatrical career, performed re-enactments of wartime exploits
• Multiple marriages: Married twice more, had four additional children
• Financial struggles: Relied on performances and book sales to support family
• Death: 1900 while on lecture tour in Wisconsin at age 56

Air Date: Monday, August 11, 2025

• Background: Born 1831 in Massachusetts, civil engineer trained at Norwich University
• Pre-war experience: Railroad surveying in the Midwest, developing skills in cartography and logistics
• Military appointment: Colonel of the Fourth Iowa Volunteer Infantry at start of Civil War
• Innovation in funding: Used fines and seized Confederate property to pay agents independently of Army records
• Recruitment strategy: Employed pro-Union Southerners, formerly enslaved people, and locals who could move without suspicion
• Early success: Battle of Pea Ridge (1862) - agents discovered Confederate flanking plan, Dodge blocked route with felled trees
• Network growth: By 1862, had over 100 operatives across Confederate territory
• Security protocols: Used code names/numbers, refused to share agent lists even with superior officers
• Multi-source approach: Combined spy networks with newspapers, refugees, prisoners, scouts, and detectives

• First systematic military intelligence operation in American Civil War
• Established practices that foreshadowed modern military intelligence
• Demonstrated strategic value of professional intelligence vs. casual reconnaissance

Air Date: Thursday, August 15, 2025

• Vicksburg Campaign (1863): Network infiltrated the fortress city, obtained pass from Confederate general
• Critical intelligence: Philip Henson reported Johnston's relief force was only 30,000 (half the claimed strength)
• Strategic impact: Grant could maintain siege pressure while sending minimal forces against Johnston
• Vicksburg surrender: July 4, 1863 - victory directly influenced by Dodge's intelligence
• Counterintelligence: Exposed Coleman's Scouts, captured Confederate courier Sam Davis
• Atlanta Campaign (1864): Served as field commander of XVI Corps while maintaining intelligence operations
• Grant's assessment: Called Dodge's command "much more important than that of a division in the field"
• Post-war career: Chief engineer of Union Pacific Railroad
• Legacy: Established enduring principles of military intelligence operations

• Human intelligence from embedded local operatives
• Operational security and source protection
• Multi-source intelligence verification
• Independent operational funding
• Integration of intelligence into campaign planning

• Pioneered practices still used in contemporary military intelligence
• Demonstrated information advantage could be as decisive as numerical/material superiority
• Established template for professional intelligence operations

These episodes showcase how American military intelligence evolved from ad hoc cavalry reconnaissance to systematic professional operations during the Civil War. Dodge's innovations influenced military thinking and established precedents that carried forward into 20th-century warfare.

• Both episodes feature mixed advertising for "The Death of the Admiral" (currently available) and "The Frederick Alliance" (September 2025 release)
• Episodes emphasize the strategic rather than just tactical value of intelligence operations
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• Content connects Civil War innovations to modern intelligence practices

Air Date: Monday, August 11, 2025

• Background: Born 1831 in Massachusetts, civil engineer trained at Norwich University
• Pre-war experience: Railroad surveying in the Midwest, developing skills in cartography and logistics
• Military appointment: Colonel of the Fourth Iowa Volunteer Infantry at start of Civil War
• Innovation in funding: Used fines and seized Confederate property to pay agents independently of Army records
• Recruitment strategy: Employed pro-Union Southerners, formerly enslaved people, and locals who could move without suspicion
• Early success: Battle of Pea Ridge (1862) - agents discovered Confederate flanking plan, Dodge blocked route with felled trees
• Network growth: By 1862, had over 100 operatives across Confederate territory
• Security protocols: Used code names/numbers, refused to share agent lists even with superior officers
• Multi-source approach: Combined spy networks with newspapers, refugees, prisoners, scouts, and detectives

• First systematic military intelligence operation in American Civil War
• Established practices that foreshadowed modern military intelligence
• Demonstrated strategic value of professional intelligence vs. casual reconnaissance

Air Date: Thursday, August 15, 2025

• Vicksburg Campaign (1863): Network infiltrated the fortress city, obtained pass from Confederate general
• Critical intelligence: Philip Henson reported Johnston's relief force was only 30,000 (half the claimed strength)
• Strategic impact: Grant could maintain siege pressure while sending minimal forces against Johnston
• Vicksburg surrender: July 4, 1863 - victory directly influenced by Dodge's intelligence
• Counterintelligence: Exposed Coleman's Scouts, captured Confederate courier Sam Davis
• Atlanta Campaign (1864): Served as field commander of XVI Corps while maintaining intelligence operations
• Grant's assessment: Called Dodge's command "much more important than that of a division in the field"
• Post-war career: Chief engineer of Union Pacific Railroad
• Legacy: Established enduring principles of military intelligence operations

• Human intelligence from embedded local operatives
• Operational security and source protection
• Multi-source intelligence verification
• Independent operational funding
• Integration of intelligence into campaign planning

• Pioneered practices still used in contemporary military intelligence
• Demonstrated information advantage could be as decisive as numerical/material superiority
• Established template for professional intelligence operations

These episodes showcase how American military intelligence evolved from ad hoc cavalry reconnaissance to systematic professional operations during the Civil War. Dodge's innovations influenced military thinking and established precedents that carried forward into 20th-century warfare.

• Both episodes feature mixed advertising for "The Death of the Admiral" (currently available) and "The Frederick Alliance" (September 2025 release)
• Episodes emphasize the strategic rather than just...