In a freewheeling Episode 33, podcast hosts Tom McMillan and John Banks discuss Iron Brigade officer Rufus Dawes, who endured despite losing his best friend at Antietam. Plus, Tom dishes on his upcoming book, The Year That Made America, and John talks about staring into Ben Franklin's privy in Philadelphia and a post-Gettysburg battlefield tramping massage in Biglerville.   

The podcast is sponsored by Civil War Trails, which since 1994 has connected visitors with small towns and big stories across a network that now spans six states.

Join McMillan and Banks for regular podcasts about Antietam, the Maryland Campaign and the Civil War — the most compelling period in American history.

McMillan is author of Our Flag Was Still There and other books. Banks is author of A Civil War Road Trip Of A Lifetime. Find them on Facebook at Author Tom McMillan and John Banks' Civil War Blog. Banks' popular Civil War blog is here.