S8 Ep116: The Decapitation Raid on Richmond and Confederate Covert Operations — Patrick K. O'Donnell — The controversial Kilpatrick-Dahlgren raid (1864) aimed to burn Richmond and assassinate Confeder

The Decapitation Raid on Richmond and Confederate Covert Operations — Patrick K. O'Donnell — The controversial Kilpatrick-Dahlgren raid (1864) aimed to burn Richmond and assassinate Confederate leaders like Jefferson Davis. Lacking sufficient troops for occupation, the North struggled to suppress Confederate insurgency. The Confederacy wielded sophisticated irregular warfare through Mosby's Rangers and the Confederate Secret Service, which influenced the 1864 election. Writer Herman Melville embedded with Union cavalry fighting Mosby.