This episode of the podcast is sponsored by Simon & Schuster, publishers of the book,

Lincoln's Spies, their secret war to save a nation by Douglas Waller.

Lincoln's Spies examines Abraham Lincoln's use of clandestine services during the Civil War,

focusing on four operatives.

There's the famous detective, Alan Pinkerton.

Richmond, Socialite, Elizabeth Van Lue, Lafayette Baker, a handsome union officer with the shady past,

and the superbly effective intelligence chief, George Sharp.

Lincoln's Spies is a fresh, fascinating look at a too often overlooked aspect of the Civil War.

It's available wherever you get your books.

Hey everyone, welcome to episode two.

I'm Tracy, hello y'all.

Thanks for tuning into the podcast.

As y'all recall, when we left off last time, we had just talked about the Battle of Port Gibson,

which, as it turned out, was really two separate fights along the Rodney and Brune's Berg roads,

several miles west of the town of Port Gibson.

As we said last time, the Federals emerged victorious from the day long battle,

and then you lissie-sus grant moved quickly and boldly to exploit this initial success.

To do so though, he'd have to, um, well, ignore some inconvenient orders he'd been given.

You see, since leaving Memphis and moving down the Mississippi River four months earlier,

Grant had been under strict orders from General and Chief Henry Hallack to cooperate with Nathaniel

Banks down in Louisiana. And as y'all were recalled, we used episodes 284 and 285 to talk about

Banks' activities down in Louisiana. Right. Well, that winter, while sitting in the mud,

...