This guy here with another episode of the History and Plug podcast.

The Civil War was a destructive war from its beginning, but whatever romantic or chivalrous

ideas we have of it, mostly died by 1864, when it turned into a war of attrition, as brutal

as World War II in the Pacific, or Russia's scorched retreat from the French

army during the Napoleonic Wars.

Ulysses-S. Grant's overland campaign included the battles of the wilderness in Spotsylvania,

which claimed over 60,000 casualties, more than Gettysburg.

Confederate General Jubal Early came within five miles of the White House, and Confederates

attempted to burn New York City's

hotels, hoping to set the city on fire and demoralize the Union War effort. All this culminated

in Lincoln's assassination by John Wilkes Booth in 1865. Today's guest is Scott Ellsworth, author

of Midnight on the Potomac, the last year of the Civil War, the Lincoln assassination, and the

rebirth of America. We explore how the staggering losses of 1864 shaped Lincoln's strategy of attrition amid political

uncertainty. These include lesser-known moments like the Washington Arsenal explosion that killed 21

workers and early's near invasion of Washington, D.C., which would have resulted in the burning

of the White House and the Senate. We also explore Lincoln's assassination, including the unresolved question of Confederate

government involvement. It was this final year that put America on its post-war

reconstruction trajectory that it helps us understand what happened in the years and decades to come.

I hope we joined this discussion with Scott Ellsworth.

And one more thing before we get started with this episode, a quick break for word from our sponsors.

My brain works by means of analogy, not first principles, so that's why I like history and not philosophy.

And you describe in your book that

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