The Day Washington Nearly Fell: Smithsonian Associate, Dr. Robert Watson on the Civil War’s Forgotten Gamble

The Not Old Better Show, Smithsonian Associates Interview Series

Washington almost fell in 1864. 🇺🇸 Hear the untold story today. 🎙️ https://notold-better.com

Welcome to The Not Old Better Show, Smithsonian Associates Interview Series—I'm Paul Vogelzang, and today’s episode takes us straight into the heart of history… a moment most Americans have never heard of… and one we came this close to never recovering from.

📖 Rebels at the Gates is the title of Smithsonian Associate Dr. Robert Watson’s thrilling new book, available at Apple Books for preorder. Smithsonian Associate Dr. Robert Watson will be appearing at Smithsonian Associates coming up. Please check out our show notes today for more information about Smithsonian Associates. But we have Dr. Robert Watson today and he tells the story of the final year of the Civil War—when the Confederates launched a last, desperate, and nearly successful attempt to capture Washington, D.C., and quite possibly win the war on their terms.

Imagine it: Lincoln is in the White House. Ulysses S. Grant is laying siege to Petersburg. Washington’s defenses are stripped bare. And Confederate troops—starving, shoeless, but emboldened—are just five miles from the Capitol dome.

This isn’t fiction. This is real. And in July 1864, it nearly ended the American experiment.

Smithsonian Associate Dr. Robert Watson—historian, professor, author of more than 40 books, and passionate storyteller—joins us today to bring this forgotten crisis vividly to life. From President Lincoln refusing to leave the capital, to the crusty, hard-charging Confederate General Jubal Early, to the moment alcohol may have accidentally saved the United States… this story has everything.

We’ll talk about bold military gambits, political peril, and what it really means to lead in times of chaos.

So stay with us—this is history that matters, and it's never been more relevant.

Here now, my conversation with Robert Watson.

🎙️ I’m Paul Vogelzang, and this is The Not Old Better Show—Smithsonian Associates Interview Series.

Thanks for joining us today. My thanks to Smithsonian Associate Dr. Robert Watson. Smithsonian Associate Dr. Robert Watson will be appearing at Smithsonian Associates coming up. Please check out our show notes today for more information about Smithsonian Associates. My thanks to the Smithsonian team for all their help with the show. My thanks to you, our wonderful audience here on radio and podcast. Be well, be safe and Let’s Talk About Better™ The Not Old Better Show, Smithsonian Associates Interview Series on radio and podcast. Thanks everybody and we’ll see you next week.