The Institute offers three major programs each year:
- The three-day Fall Conference includes speakers and battlefield excursions on interesting topics relating to the campaign (members only).
- The one-day Spring Symposium involves a series of timely talks and interactions on the campaign (members only).
- The weekly Summer Lecture Series features historians and researchers presenting their work on the campaign and the war (open to the public).
2026 Spring Symposium
April 10-11, 2026
The 2026 Spring Symposium, with the theme A Comparison of the Antietam and Gettysburg Campaigns, is set for April 10 & 11, 2026.
Speakers will include Doug Douds, D. Scott Hartwig, Dr. James Broomall, George Franks, Dr. Jennifer Murray, and Dan Welsh. The event will take place at the Storer Ballroom at Shepherd University on that Saturday, with an optional excursion on Friday afternoon before, exploring the Battle of Falling Waters and the retreat from Gettysburg, along with a talk by Dr. Carol Reardon and dinner Friday evening.
Registration opened during the 2025 Fall Conference in October and will close on March 20, 2026 or sooner if all the spots sell out.
2026 Fall Conference
[full program guide coming soon]
October 9-11, 2026
The theme of the 2026 Fall Conference is “I shall take the field, and lead my troops in person” : Edwin Vose Sumner, the Second Corps, and the fight for the West Woods.
As the fighting around the Cornfield ended, Major General Edwin V. Sumner’s Second Corps arrived on the field. Sumner drove Gen. John Sedgwick’s division east toward the West Woods. Unbeknownst to these 5,500 men, two Confederate divisions that had participated in the fall of Harpers Ferry garrison had arrived and fell on Sedgwick’s men, causing horrendous casualties and forcing the remainder of the division to flee.
Registration will open on April 10, during the Spring Symposium, and close on September 8, 2026.
2026 Summer Lecture Series
June 1 – August 31, 2026
These free lectures are held in McKinley Hall at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Sharpsburg every Monday evening at 7:00 pm, June through August, and are open to the public.