CEASELESS VIOLENCE AND BRUTALITY: 2/8: The Unvanquished: The Untold Story of Lincoln’s Special Forces, the Manhunt for Mosby’s Rangers, and theShadow War That Forged America’s Special Operations Hardcover – by Patrick K. O'Donnell (Author)
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 30 December 2024
⏱️ 7 minutes
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Summary
https://www.amazon.com/Unvanquished-Lincolns-Special-Americas-Operations/dp/080216286X
At the heart of this groundbreaking narrative is the epic story of Lincoln’s special forces, the Jessie Scouts, told in its entirety for the first time. In a contest fought between irregular units, the Scouts hunted John Singleton Mosby’s Confederate Rangers from the middle of 1863 up to war’s end at Appomattox. With both sides employing pioneering tradecraft, they engaged in dozens of raids and spy missions, often perilously wearing the other’s uniform, risking penalty of death if captured. Clashing violently on horseback, theunconventional units attacked critical supply lines, often capturing or killing high-value targets. North and South deployed special operations that could have changed the war’s direction in 1864, and crucially during the Appomattox Campaign, Jessie Scouts led the Union Army to a final victory. They later engaged in a history-altering proxy war against France in Mexico, earning seven Medals of Honor; many Scouts mysteriously disappeared during that conflict, taking their stories to their graves.
1862 CEDAR MOUNTAIN VA
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm John Batchel with my friend and colleague, Patrick O'Donnell. |
| 0:08.9 | His new book is The Unvanquished, the story of the Civil War from the point of view, as one very smart reviewer said, |
| 0:16.2 | the saddle. We're in the saddle. We're not in the tents of the commanders. |
| 0:22.7 | We're not in Washington in the Congress or at the White House. We're in the saddle. We're not in the tents of the commanders. We're not in Washington in the Congress or at the White House. We're in the saddle. On the move. If we're going to West Virginia, |
| 0:27.4 | which is a new state in 1863, Patrick introduces to Richard Blazer. |
| 0:33.2 | Richard Blazer is one of the most unlikely heroes of the Civil War. |
| 0:47.2 | He's a, he drives a, in the Ohio River, a barge that delivers supplies before the war. |
| 0:53.8 | Richard Blazer joins the war, but he has this kind of knack for hunting people. |
| 0:57.2 | And he's a flop on the parade ground. |
| 0:59.5 | This guy's uniform is always disheveled. |
| 1:00.8 | His buttons are unbuttoned. |
| 1:05.1 | And he has kind of one eye that doesn't see it wanders. |
| 1:08.1 | But he's absolutely brilliant. |
| 1:09.8 | And he leads from the front. |
| 1:17.9 | And he's in charge of a small group of men, a company that would become known as Blazers' Scouts or the Legion of Honor. |
| 1:20.0 | And they are linked to John C. Carpenter's Jesse Scouts, because many of those men that |
| 1:25.7 | were disbanded become part of his unit. And they utilize |
| 1:29.8 | the tradecraft of the Jesse Scouts, which is to, like a portion of the group always rides in |
| 1:36.4 | front and they're always wearing Confederate uniforms. But they are manhunters. And this is the first |
| 1:41.9 | modern hunter-killer team in the U.S. Army that goes after |
| 1:46.1 | partisans. But they don't use a blowtorch. This is fine detective work. Richard Blazer is always |
| 1:55.8 | interviewing anybody that he sees. It could be a young, the young African-American slave. It could be a |
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