You're listening to an Air Wave Media Podcast.

The Civil War and Reconstruction was a pivotal era in American history.

When a war was fought to save the Union and to free the slaves.

And when the work to rebuild the nation after that war was over,

turned into a struggle to guarantee liberty and justice for all Americans.

I'm Tracy.

And I'm Rich.

And we want to invite you to join us as we take an in-depth look at this pivotal era in American history.

Look for the Civil War and Reconstruction wherever you find your podcasts.

Yo, if you like what I do here at the Redacted History Podcast,

consider supporting me further by going over to my Patreon.

You can find that link in the show notes below.

It's a cold October night, Harper's Ferry, Virginia, 1859.

As the town lay asleep, 19 men armed to the brim marked through the night's mist

led by a skinny 59-year-old white man named John Brown.

He had a bush of gray hair and no teeth in his mouth.

Among them were Brown's youngest sons Watson and Oliver,

a fugitive slave from Charleston, South Carolina,

an African-American man who was a student at Oberlin College,

a pair of Quaker brothers from Iowa who had abandoned their pacifist beliefs to follow John Brown,

a former slave from Virginia and men from Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, and Indiana.

And they were here together to ignite the war on slavery.

...