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In this episode, I follow a pencil-scrawled telegram from a burning harbor in Havana straight into the offices of two warring newspaper tycoons and the clubroom of a future president who'd been dreaming of exactly this fight since college. It's a story that involves yellow journalism, a Confederate uncle, a diary entry with a single black X on the page, and a Dakota cattle ranch that turned an exiled East Coast aristocrat into an unrepentant evangelist for American empire.

In this episode, I sail in a small boat to a remote string of islands and the largest brick fortress in the Americas, one which began sinking into the sand the moment it was finished.  It's a story that involves Cuban revolutionaries, Spanish silver mines and how a pile of wet coal in the wrong place can sink a battleship and an empire. And how the truth about what actually happened took almost a century to float to the surface.

In this series we discover how a bizarre, beautiful, steampunk hybrid called USS Olympia, a ship I first came to know as a kid, destroyed one empire, birthed another. Then had breakfast. It’s a story that involves a (literal) mountain of silver, how Hoagies came to be and why coal, battleships and revolutions are a terrible combination. And how America first tried on becoming an empire. And decided it didn’t fit.

In this episode, recorded before a live audience in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, we look at Conestoga Town through a different lens: the challenge of historic preservation without physical artifacts. Looking for inspiration, we discover 27 miles of fabric and cans of red spray paint. What happens next is up to you.

In this, the final episode of this series, my family discovers a new war and a new fortress in the fields of Negiuchi. The B-29 Super Fortress. Much is lost. But some things are found. And saved.

For 150 years during the Sengoku Jidai, thousands of men, both distinguished and noble men, had a go at making all of Japan theirs. Three men made it happen. One was labeled a fool, another was born a peasant, and the last established a dynasty. An omnipotent dynasty powerful enough to rule all of Japan for over two hundred years. But was toppled by six Black Ships.

In this episode, the poster child of the Sengoku-jidai rebrands himself and marches north - picking up three provinces, 80,000 guys, millions of barrels of rice, and a few dozen castles. One of these castles is my castle. Negiuch-jo. Meet the new Hojo clan.

In this episode, we look at how my 500-year-old survived both a 16th-century civil war and 20th-century bulldozers. And how one of the clues to its survival is in another field. One in Pennsylvania, named Gettysburg.

Why is there a 500 year old Samurai Castle in my yard? Negiuchi Castle stood at a turning point in the struggle for unity in medieval Japan. Once the tip of the spear of one the most powerful clan in the Sengoku-jidai - The Age of Warring States. Today it's nearly forgotten, hidden in a forest ..and our backyard. In this episode we explore deep history and lethal landscapes in a suburb of Tokyo.

We conclude this series and season with the answer to the question 'What happened to the people the rivers are name after'—the second part of our interview with Michael Mantooth of the Conestoga Susquehannock tribe.

In which the question that started this whole series - 'What happened to the people the rivers are named after " is finally answered. By the people the rivers are named after.

In this, our next-to-last episode, we get ‘meta’ and look at the story of the ‘Paxtons and Conestoga’ as just that—a story. We also examine how that story has been retold, manipulated, appropriated, and occasionally fabricated over nearly 300 years in print, prose, movies, television, and, best of all, graphic novels. As a bonus, we—my contributors and I—get to show our homework: how we came to this story, what we did with it, and why.

In which we see how the impact of the Paxton Boys' violence and the complicity of the colonial elite extended far beyond the immediate victims, shaping the political landscape of colonial America and contributing to the growing tensions that would eventually lead to the American Revolution. Inspired by the Paxton Boys’ impunity, other groups, like the Black Boys, take up arms against both Native Americans and the British Army and shape a new frontier and a new political culture.

Conestoga Town is an opportunity to delve into a hidden chapter of American history, one that challenges our understanding of the nation's origins and the very foundation upon which it was built. A story that is only now being uncovered. And likely one that you and your audience have never heard of. I know I didn't before I made this series "Conestoga Town," doesn't just recount history – it rewrites it. We've meticulously uncovered long-buried evidence that exposes the shocking complicity of America's Founding Fathers in the brutal Paxton massacres and the systematic genocide of the Conestoga people. This isn't a dry historical account. "Conestoga Town" weaves a compelling narrative that traces the events from the backcountry of Pennsylvania to the halls of power in Philadelphia, revealing how the seeds of violence and oppression were sown into the very fabric of our nation. We explore the chilling parallels between the political climate of colonial America and the present day, raising urgent questions about the enduring legacy of these atrocities. The series features powerful first-hand accounts from descendants of the Conestoga people, shedding light on the intergenerational trauma that continues to this day. We also bring together leading historians, Indigenous scholars, and legal experts who provide critical context and analysis, painting a comprehensive picture of this dark chapter in American history. Given the current national dialogue surrounding issues of social justice and historical reckoning, "Conestoga Town" offers a timely and critical perspective with its shocking revelations and profound implications, will spark important conversations and challenge long-held assumptions about our nation's past.

Over this series, we've uncovered many hidden, unexpected, and surprising things. Today we get the most head-spinning of all.  Because the Paxtons, in their wake, kicked off another war. A war that would shortly blow up the political landscape and ultimately the government of Pennsylvania and send Benjamin Franklin fleeing for help. To the King of England.