The First Civil War Tourists
For D.C. day-trippers, the Battle of Bull Run was the can't-miss show of the season.
If you've ever visited Civil War battlefields or watched re-enactors stage non-lethal facsimiles of famous skirmishes, you've no doubt tried to imagine what it would have been like to witness the real deal. It turns out some tourists did just that 150 years ago. As part of a new series for the Slate Daily Podcast, radio producer Nate DiMeo brings us the story of the enthusiastic civilians who traveled to Manassas, Va., in July 1861, to take in the first major land battle of the young American war:
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"Civil War Stories" is a collaboration between Slate and "The Memory Palace," DiMeo's long-running podcast that unearths forgotten historical gems. The series will appear monthly during the sesquicentennial commemoration of the Civil War.
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