Episode Details

Patrick K. O'Donnell introduces Captain John Charles Carpenter and the Jesse Scouts, a Union special forces group named after Jesse Frémont. Emerging from the Missouri insurgency, these scouts utilized 21st-century tradecraft such as disguises and infiltration to gather intelligence behind enemy lines. Simultaneously, the Confederacy enacted the Partisan Ranger Act to organize irregular fighters like John Singleton Mosby. Operating in "Mosby's Confederacy," these rangers conducted asymmetrical warfare that tied down thousands of Union troops. Both sides grappled with the lack of discipline in these units, yet recognized their strategic brilliance in modern irregular combat. (1)
1863