S8 Ep1090: Patrick K. O'Donnell, guest author, recounts how, by August 1864, General Ulysses S. Grant had grown enraged by the disruption ca

Patrick K. O'Donnell, guest author, recounts how, by August 1864, General Ulysses S. Grant had grown enraged by the disruption caused by irregular partisans and ordered Phil Sheridan to initiate "total war" in the Shenandoah Valley. Grant's instructions were severe: hang captured Rangers without trial, destroy all crops and livestock, and take all men under 50 as prisoners. While Sheridan did not follow these orders entirely to avoid political backlash before the election, he did launch the "Burning Season," putting farms and mills to the torch. The trigger for this escalation was the Berryville Great Wagon Raid, where Mosby's men devastated a massive Union supply train. To counter Mosby, Sheridan deployed Richard Blazer and his scouts, arming them with the Spencer carbine—the "machine gun of the Civil War"—which allowed for rapid-fire lever action. Blazer used his signature detective work to track the Rangers, successfully capturing a portion of Mosby's command at Myer's Ford. This segment also addresses the presence of independent "bushwhackers" like Moberly, a ruthless figure who tortured prisoners. Although Mosby occasionally operated in the same vicinity as Moberly, he did not tolerate such lawlessness within his formal command. The conflict transformed into a personal and lethal game of cat-and-mouse between Blazer's "Legion of Honor" and Mosby's Rangers, characterizing the brutal "brother against brother" nature of the Civil War in the Valley. The Unvanquished (5)