Bridges have long represented connection, expansion, and progress, but they also reveal division, conflict, and collapse. This podcast episode examines two Missouri bridges, the Gasconade Bridge and the Hannibal Bridge, and the very different stories they tell about the Civil War era and westward expansion. Through disaster, political violence, competition, and reconstruction, this episode explores how two seemingly banal pieces of infrastructure become microcosms of Missouri’s identity and the fractured history of the United States.

Written and narrated by Chase Zeller

Recording Engineer: Liam Arnzen

Postproduction: Kyle Jackson

Theme song and music: Derrick Doty

Additional music: Kaitlin, Casey, Kyle

The first casualty of the Border War was killed because of a dispute regarding a tract of timber. Yet if the first death was as unremarkable as the land survey detailing his land, history would not remember him. Charles Dow's death, although unremarkable at the time, would cause for a spiraling ruthless guerilla conflict to take place. But what were the natural causes for this death? And why was that tract of land so important? This episode of the Past in Pieces answers those questions and chronicles the beginnings of the Border War, and the organic, natural reasons for the conflict’s inception.

Written and narrated by Patrick Meyers

Recording Engineer: Liam Arnzen

Postproduction: Kyle Jackson

Theme song and music: Derrick Doty

Additional music: Kaitlin, Casey, Kyle

During the Missouri Kansas Border War, the University of Missouri was transformed into a union camp, even housing Confederate soldiers. This episode explores the lesser-known history of the University of Missouri and its war-stricken past. We start at the beginning and learn the hardships and how close the university came to closing. Then we see who and what saved the university and how the town of Columbia came together to protect their own. Join me in exploring the past behind the columns.

Written and narrated by Miles Turner

Recording Engineer: Liam Arnzen

Postproduction: Kyle Jackson

Theme song and music: Derrick Doty

Additional music: Kaitlin, Casey, Kyle

This episode explores the culture and political economy of antebellum slavery in Independence, Missouri through the story of Jabez Smith. A Santa Fe trader and businessman from Pittsylvania Co, Virginia, Smith was emblematic of Missouri’s slaveholding elite. The social and political power of these proslavery elites contributed to escalating tensions along the Kansas-Missouri divide during the sectional crisis of the 1850s and into the violent clashes of the Border War.

Written and narrated by Angelina Casey

Recording Engineer: Liam Arnzen

Postproduction: Kyle Jackson

Theme song and music: Derrick Doty

Additional music: Kaitlin, Casey, Kyle

In this episode, host Carolina Rodriguez Rios explores the human side of the Missouri–Kansas Border War through the letters and personal writings of ordinary people living through the Civil War era. Moving beyond famous battles and political speeches, “Pen, Paper, and the Nation in the Margins” examines how communication carried not only news, but fear, hope, gossip, and personal reflection, and everything in between. Through the stories of Union soldier David Scott and homesteader S.F. Craig, this episode reveals how everyday people experienced violence, uncertainty, and connection during one of the most turbulent periods in American history.

Written and narrated by Carolina Rodriguez Rios

Recording Engineer: Liam Arnzen

Postproduction: Kyle Jackson

Theme song and music: Derrick Doty

Additional music: Kaitlin, Casey, Kyle

When people think of the most traumatic incidents of the Border War, the two raids on Lawrence, Kansas, often come to mind. To people in many small towns in Missouri, however, the devastation hit closer to home. This episode unpacks the history of one such Missouri town: Osceola. There, locals still remember and lament a devastating assault by Jayhawkers that left their once-bustling river port in smoldering ruins.

Written and narrated by Willis Lehman

Recording Engineer: Liam Arnzen

Postproduction: Kyle Jackson

Theme song and music: Derrick Doty

Additional music: Kaitlin, Casey, Kyle

George Caleb Bingham made a legacy for himself painting the landscape and people of Missouri. His military magnum opus, Order No. 11, has become the symbol through which many interpret the events of the Border War. This episode explores the feuds and violence behind the painting.

Written and narrated by Cruz Lewis

Recording Engineer: Liam Arnzen

Postproduction: Kyle Jackson

Theme song and music: Derrick Doty

Additional music: Cruz Lewis and Kaitlin, Casey, Kyle

The Sacking of Lawrence and Quantrill's Raid: two atrocities committed during the Kansas-Missouri Border War. This episode examines the legacy of this violence, and how it has been shaped, distorted, and forgotten. It turns out the narrative of violence and the wider context of the times often matter as much as the violence itself.

Written and narrated by Thomas Bruns

Recording Engineer: Liam Arnzen

Postproduction: Kyle Jackson

Theme song and music: Derrick Doty

Additional music: Kaitlin, Casey, Kyle