Private Gustavus Pratt died of typhoid fever on June 25, 1862. He was 32 years old. His death did not end with him.

It tore a hole through his family, through the mind of his wife, the faith of his father, and the life of his brother. “The Awful Hole Left by Gustavus Pratt” is the story of how the loss of one ordinary soldier during the American Civil War set off a chain reaction of grief, madness, and ruin within a single family. The full episode drops January 14, 2026.

They were teenagers when they enlisted, young soldiers whose ambition and courage propelled them into the leadership ranks of Company D as the American Civil War consumed older men around them. Jeremiah Wakefield and David Ring rose together, shared similar family histories, and committed to three more years of service. But in May 1864, during the savage fighting at the Wilderness and Spotsylvania, their paths diverged: one was badly wounded, and the other was killed in battle.

More than one in five Civil War soldiers were teenagers. In Company D, two of them, 18-year-old David Ring and 19-year-old Jeremiah Wakefield, rose quickly through the ranks on ambition and grit. But the war would claim one before he ever saw twenty-one. The full episode premieres on December 17.