Episodes

  • Did Lee's Surrender End the Civil War?
    Aug 27 2026

    When and where did the Civil War end? Was it really over when Lee surrendered at Appomattox?


    Don is joined for this episode by Caroline E. Janney, Professor at the University of Virginia and author of 'Ends of War: The Unfinished Fight of Lee’s Army after Appomattox'.


    Listen to hear why Lee's and Grant's armies ended up at Appomattox Court House, what the terms of surrender were, and when the war actually ended.


    Edited by Tim Arstall. Produced by Sophie Gee. Senior Producer was Freddy Chick.


    Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.


    All music from Epidemic Sounds.


    American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.

    History Hit is part of Little Dot Studios, a Certified B Corp™

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    41 mins
  • Why Did Reconstruction Fail?
    Aug 24 2026

    Over the course of this series, we've discussed the extraordinary promise of Reconstruction, as well as the relentless attacks these efforts came under. In this final episode, we're stepping back from the events themselves to ask the biggest question of all: why did Reconstruction fail?


    For today's episode, we welcome Prof. Aaron Sheehan-Dean of Louisiana State University back onto the show. His works include ‘Why Confederates Fought: Family and a Nation in Civil War Virginia’ and most recently ‘Fighting with the Past: How Seventeenth Century History Shaped the American Civil War’.


    Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Produced by Tomos Delargy. Senior Producer was Freddy Chick.


    Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.


    All music from Epidemic Sounds.


    American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.

    History Hit is part of Little Dot Studios, a Certified B Corp™

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    49 mins
  • The Fire That Changed New York
    Aug 20 2026

    On March 5 1911, 146 people died in a fire that lasted just 18 minutes. This event was to change the history of New York, and has an ongoing impact in each of our workplaces.


    Don is joined for this episode by David Conrad-Pérez to find out what made the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire so deadly, who is to credit for the changes made after it, and whether anyone ever faced justice for it.


    David is the author of ‘Fire in the Heart of the City: The Triangle Shirtwaist Tragedy and the Origins of Modern Charity’.


    Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Produced by Sophie Gee. Senior Producer was Freddy Chick.


    Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.


    All music from Epidemic Sounds.


    American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.

    History Hit is part of Little Dot Studios, a Certified B Corp™

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    46 mins
  • Reconstruction Era: Terror in the South
    Aug 17 2026

    Reconstruction promised freedom and political equality, but how quickly did that promise begin to unravel? Why did white Southern resistance become so violent, and why did Northern support for Reconstruction begin to fade? In this episode, we explore the rise of Jim Crow, the retreat of federal protection, and the political choices that transformed the South for generations.


    Our returning guest today is Bradley Rebeiro, Associate Professor of Law at BYU Law School. He is the author of ‘Until the Last Yoke is Broke: The Constitutional Vision of Frederick Douglass’, which is out on September 29th of this year.


    Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Produced by Tomos Delargy. Senior Producer was Freddy Chick.


    Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.


    All music from Epidemic Sounds.


    American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    43 mins
  • Civil War Battle Of The Ironclads
    Aug 13 2026

    In March 1862, wooden warships had dominated global warfare for centuries. In less than 48 hours off the coast of Virginia, two experimental metal monsters made every Navy on Earth obsolete overnight.


    Don Wildman is joined by Dr Howard Fuller reader in war studies at University of Wolverhampton, UK. His first book was Clad in Iron: The American Civil War and the Challenge of British Naval Power.


    Edited by Tim Artstall. Produced by Freddy Chick and Tomos Delargy.


    Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.


    All music from Epidemic Sounds.


    American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    1 hr and 16 mins
  • Reconstruction Era: A False Dawn of Freedom?
    Aug 10 2026

    With the end of the Civil War, four million formerly enslaved people in the South were now free. It was the beginning of a remarkable experiment: rebuilding the South on the foundations of freedom and equal citizenship. For a brief moment, the United States of America begins its first real attempt at establishing a multi-racial democracy.


    Our guest today is Bradley Rebeiro, Associate Professor of Law at BYU Law School. He is the author of ‘Until the Last Yoke is Broke: The Constitutional Vision of Frederick Douglass’, which is out on September 29th of this year.


    Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Produced by Tomos Delargy. Senior Producer was Freddy Chick.


    Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.


    All music from Epidemic Sounds.


    American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    43 mins
  • Plessy v. Ferguson: The Supreme Court Case That Enshrined Jim Crow
    Aug 6 2026

    In 1896 the Supreme Court ruled that Jim Crow segregation laws were not unconstitutional in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson. This is the case that Brown v. Board of Education would eventually overturn but not until six decades of Jim Crow laws had been endured. Who was Plessy? Who was Ferguson? And how on earth did the Supreme Court reach its conclusions?


    Don Wildman's guest today is Dr Michael Ross, historian of constitutional history with a focus on Reconstruction era at the University of Maryland.


    Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Produced by Freddy Chick and Tomos Delargy.


    Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.


    All music from Epidemic Sounds.


    American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    39 mins
  • What Happened to the Confederates?
    Aug 3 2026

    Across the defeated Confederacy, there had been an expectation that those who had taken up arms against their citizens would be punished. This did not happen however and instead ex-Confederates were gradually brought back into the fold. Decades later, they managed to cultivate a dangerous mythology that obscured the truth about the nature of the Confederacy and the Civil War in general...


    Our guest today is Brigadier General Ty Seidule, Professor Emeritus of History at West Point and teaches at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. He’s the author of ‘Robert E. Lee and Me: A Southerner’s Reckoning with the Myth of the Lost Cause.’


    Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Produced by Tomos Delargy. Senior Producer was Freddy Chick.


    Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.


    All music from Epidemic Sounds.


    American History Hit is a History Hit podcast.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    41 mins