Russian-born, Union General, Ivan Vasilyevich Turchaninov, aka John B. Turchin became one of the Civil War’s most infamous—and misunderstood—figures. Branded the “Mad Cossack” by critics, Turchin built a reputation in the Western Theater for aggressive campaigning, contempt for Confederate sabotage, and a hard-war approach that made him a hero to some Unionists and a villain across the South.

This episode follows Turchin and his wife, Nadezhda (Nadine) Turchin, from imperial Russia to the Union Army and into the controversy surrounding the 1862 sacking of Athens, Alabama. After Confederate guerrilla attacks, destroyed rail lines, and constant violence against Union soldiers, Turchin allegedly told his men that he would “shut [his] eyes for two hours.” What followed made national headlines.

Court-martialed over Athens, Turchin appeared headed for disgrace—until Abraham Lincoln intervened and promoted him to brigadier general. Was John B. Turchin a reckless foreign officer, a scapegoat for the Union Army’s increasingly brutal war, or an early architect of the hard-war policies that helped break the Confederacy?

It is a story of Civil War memory, immigrant soldiers, Nadezhda Turchin’s remarkable wartime role, the Union occupation of Alabama, and one of the strangest promotions of the American Civil War.

On this episode, we take a Civil Weird look at Gettysburg through the classic book by Gregory Coco, "A Strange and Blighted Land: Gettysburg, The Aftermath of a Battle" who's work pulled the battle down from the marble pedestal and back into the mud, blood, grief, and chaos of July 1863. We get into the civilians, "ghouls," corpse-strewn farms, hospital scenes, and the emotional wreckage left behind in the battle’s wake. It’s Gettysburg stripped of some of its polish and returned to the people who had to live through it. Lets make it Civil Weird!

This episode, we delve into the Civil Weird tale of QMSgt. Leroy L. Key. Born in Mississippi to a slave-owning family, he broke away before the war and settled in Illinois—a decision that would shape his future in surprising ways. During the Civil War, Key fought in two regiments, one infantry, and one cavalry. He then was captured in what was called the “Frozen Fight” in Jonesville, VA. After his capture Key became the organizer and de facto leader of a group of Union prisoners known as the “Regulators.” They took it upon themselves to put an end to the brutal reign of the “Raiders,” a gang that preyed upon the most vulnerable among their fellow inmates. Key and his fellow Regulator captains not only dismantled the Raiders’ power structure but also established a rudimentary system of prisoner-led justice—and execution. After surviving Andersonville and the war, he returned to Mississippi, he worked as a lawyer and served in the Freedmen’s Bureau, helping formerly enslaved people secure basic rights and protections during the tumultuous Reconstruction era. Tragically, Key’s life was cut short; he died at age 39, from a possible suicide in Springfield, IL where he left behind a wife and 8 children. Let’s make it Civil Weird!