This Civil War-Era Luke Skywalker Destroyed an Ironclad Death Star

Published: Dec. 24, 2020, 7:35 a.m.

b'One of America\\u2019s greatest but little-remembered Civil War heroes was Commander William Barker Cushing, who sank the Confederate ironclad Albemarle in a spectacular mission in 1864.

Regarded as erratic and insubordinate, Midshipman Cushing was drummed out of the Naval Academy in March 1861. But with the outbreak of war, the Union needed every trained officer it could find\\u2014 and whatever his flaws, Cushing was an extremely talented naval officer. Ferocious, uncompromising, courageous, and loyal, he became a U.S. Navy commando and at the age of twenty-one was sent to destroy the South\\u2019s ultimate naval weapon\\u2014the Albemarle, an unsinkable vessel with a devastating iron ram.

Todays guest, Jerome Priesler, is author of "Civil War Commando." We discuss the death-defying mission that succeeded in sinking the Albemarle, helped reelect President Abraham Lincoln, and earned Cushing a hero\\u2019s grave in the Naval Academy\\u2019s cemetery.'