The History of North America podcast is a sweeping historical saga of the United States,

Canada, and Mexico from their deep origins to our present epoch.

Join me, Mark Vinet, on this exciting, fascinating epic journey through time, focusing on the compelling,

wonderful, and tragic stories of North America's inhabitants, heroes, villains, leaders,

environment, and geography.

I invite you to come along for the ride!

Welcome to the History Unplugged Podcast, the unscripted show that celebrates unsung heroes,

Mythbust's historical lies, and rediscover the forgotten stories that changed our world.

I'm your host, Scott Rank.

Hello everyone, welcome to this episode on the most important Civil War battles.

In the previous episode, James and I discussed the background of the Civil War, the decades

of slow-boiling conflict, the cold war between the North and the South, where there were

diverging views on where the future of America would go.

Would slavery die a slow natural death?

Or would, as Southerners hope, have constitutional legal protection so that it could remain

in perpetuity in the South?

That conflict was never resolved, so that brings us to the Civil War, and that brings

us to the first battle.

So James, can you set us up with what you deemed to be one of the most important battles

of the Civil War?

Sure, we're going to talk about the first major battle of the Civil War, which was the

Battle of Bull Run, or Manassas, as it was called in the South.

...