Hey everyone, welcome to episode 148 of our Civil War podcast.

My name is Rich.

And I'm Tracy.

Hello y'all.

Thanks for tuning into the podcast.

When we left off last time, Nathaniel Banks, the Union Commander in the Shenandoah Valley,

was a worried man, since he feared that a Confederate attack was imminent.

And in fact, as y'all will recall, the Rebel Commanders, General Jackson and Yule, had just

met on May 18th, and during their conference, engaged in some slight of hand in order to

keep Yule's division in the valley so that his men could link up with Stonewall and

strike at banks.

Nathaniel Banks' dilemma was pretty much entirely of his own making, and could be traced

back to his boast three weeks earlier that, quote, there's nothing more to be done by

us in the valley.

With that one sentence, Banks would become the author of his own ruin, for the powers

that be in Washington, namely Abraham Lincoln and Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, had then

directed Banks to send one of his divisions east to reinforce Irvin McDowell's force

at Fredericksburg.

As you guys know, the plan was that McDowell would then advance south from Fredericksburg

and aid McClellan's Peninsula campaign by exerting even more pressure on the Rebel

Capital.

As for Stonewall and Yule's dilemma, it was created when the Federal Division, commanded

...