The program addressed one of the earliest Civil War  "special operations" intelligence effiorts during the Union campaign to capture Chattanooga, Tenn.  The goal of Andrew's Raiders was to sabotage the single-track rail line between Atlanta, Ga., and Chattanooga, Tenn., to degrade Confederate resupply and reinforcement efforts.  Although utlimately unsuccessful, the raid provided a number of lessons for conducting  later operations.  It also resulted in the first awarding of the newly-created Medal of Honor to the Union soldiers involved.  In  June 2024, decendents received the medals on behalf of the last two eligible raiders, who had been inexplicably overlooked.

Presenter:  Jim Anderson is a historian and lecturer, who focuses on the Civil War and the American  Frontier.  Since 2009, he has given lectures and led tours on these topics at George Mason University's Osher Life-Long Learning Institute, and spoken to numerous Civil War Roundtables.

With three years in the U.S. Air Force and 30 years in the CIA, Anderson has an extensive background in leadership, management and national security.  He had a second career conducting leadership training seminars, focusing on Civil War "classroom-in-the-field" battlefield tours for a wide variety of government and corporate management teams.  Anderson received his B.A. in History from Rhodes College and M.A. in History from the University of Memphis.  He is a member of the Virginia Piedmont Heritage Area Association, the District of Columbia Civil War Roundtable, the Bull Run Civil War Roundtable, and the Friends of the Balls's Bluff Battlefield.