The room is dank, close and smoky.

Stale smells of tobacco, shoe polish, cold coffee.

Planners, staffers and officers alike, surround the situation map at the center of the room,

shifting markers that represent men and equipment, trying to solve a battlefield

dilemma that has kept them here all night. They mutter and argue. Step away for air, but return

no clearer. The war is moving fast, too fast. New weapon systems, surprise maneuvers, it's

proving too much for the old playbook.

They need a new direction, fresh tactics, an adaptive and innovative strategy.

They need what everyone worries they don't have.

A general who can step up and bring it before it's too late.

Music Step up and bring it before it's too late. It is American History hit you're listening to, and we are grateful you're doing it.

I'm Don Wildman. Let's go.

Today's episode falls within a short

series we've concocted on the most storied generals of American military history, grouping together

certain names and reputations, asking the impossible question of our expert guest. Who is the most,

well, innovative? What general in the pantheon of the U.S. military minds

through caution to the wind, flouted expectations, finding pivots and shifts that left opposing

forces flat-footed on the field of battle? Well, we'll look at four generals today. I won't

give away who just yet. We'll leave you guessing on that,

but I will give away our expert, Professor Cecily Xander, one of the greats herself of the

University of Wyoming. Go pokes. Cecily is a civil war historian, author of Abraham Lincoln

and the American West, currently in progress as we speak. She's also

...