Evangelical Lutheran Church in 1862 (Crossroads of War)
Evangelical Lutheran Church in 1862 (Crossroads of War)
Join us on August 4 for Tracey McIntire’s presentation – The Fate of Antietam’s Wounded. Hear the little-known stories of some of the almost 8,000 soldiers wounded at Antietam who were sent to Frederick for treatment.
Tracey McIntire
Tracey McIntire earned her BA in English at Rivier College in Nashua, NH. She is Lead Educator at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine, site manager of the Pry House Field Hospital Museum, and an interpretive volunteer at Antietam National Battlefield. She is also an active Civil War living historian, where she portrays a woman soldier in various guises.
Come join leading historians and scholars as they discuss intriguing topics about their latest works and research on the Maryland Campaign and the Civil War during our Civil War Summer Lecture Series. See the complete 2025 schedule.
These indoors programs are held in McKinley Hall at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on Monday evenings at 7:00 p.m. The church is located at 209W Main Street with a small parking area off the alley. More parking is available on Main and Hall Streets. These lectures free and open to the public. Each week we hold a drawing in which the proceeds support the Save Historic Antietam Foundation. Be sure to check our Facebook page for updates and changes to the schedule.
We wrap up the month’s talks on July 28 with battlefield guide and author, Jim Rosebrock presenting – Organization of the Federal Artillery in the Civil War. This talk will examine the role and evolution of the Federal light artillery organization, focusing on the Army of the Potomac. Led by innovators such as William Barry and Henry Hunt, this Army was where the artillery organizations and doctrine evolved, which would ultimately be used in some variations in every other Federal army in the war. Jim will start with a look at the US. Army’s experience with light artillery leading up to the start of the Civil War, examine the four components of the artillery – men and organization, guns, ammunition and artillery horses, and explore the evolution of the artillery arm by looking at the two major schools of artillery organization: Dispersal and Concentration.
A Union artillery battery in the field. (LoC)
Vice President, Jim Rosebrock
James Rosebrock is a retired Army officer and Department of Justice employee, with 45 years of leadership experience in the logistics, security and emergency management fields. Jim graduated from Niagara University in 1976 with a degree in Russian History. Jim served with the 82nd Airborne Division during Operation Urgent Fury in Grenada. He is a graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces where he was awarded a master’s degree in National Resource Strategy. Jim was an instructor for Combined Arms and Services Staff School when he retired with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He is a National Park Service certified battlefield guide at Antietam National Battlefield and served as Chief Guide from 2011 – 2018. He has two Civil War related blogs and is the author of the Artillery of Antietam.
Come join leading historians and scholars as they discuss intriguing topics about their latest works and research on the Maryland Campaign and the Civil War during our Civil War Summer Lecture Series. See the complete 2025 schedule.
These indoors programs are held in McKinley Hall at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on Monday evenings at 7:00 p.m. The church is located at 209W Main Street with a small parking area off the alley. More parking is available on Main and Hall Streets. These lectures free and open to the public. Each week we hold a drawing in which the proceeds support the Save Historic Antietam Foundation. Be sure to check our Facebook page for updates and changes to the schedule.
On July 21, author Tom McMillan will present – “Little-Known Antietam: Henry Winters and ‘Mystery and Murder at the Lodge‘.” Tom will take a look at two of the intriguing but lesser-known stories at Antietam. Henry Winters of the 89th New York Infantry carved his name on a windowsill at the Dunker Church — a piece of Civil War graffiti that still is visible to visitors today. But who was Henry? Why did he leave his mark? When did he come back? The second story involves two Antietam-related murder mysteries, one of which took place at the National Cemetery lodge, the other targeting a battlefield superintendent.
Tom McMillan
Tom McMillan has spent a lifetime in sports media and communications – including 25 years as VP of Communications of the Pittsburgh Penguins of the NHL – but his heartfelt passion is history. The author of four books on American history, he has served on the board of trustees of Pittsburgh’s Heinz History Center, the board of directors of the Friends of Flight 93 National Memorial, the marketing committee of the Gettysburg Foundation, and as a docent at the Thomas Espy GAR Post in Carnegie, PA.. Tom and his wife, Colleen, are also volunteer ambassadors at Antietam. A former newspaper sports writer and radio talk-show host who has covered the Olympics, the Super Bowl, the Stanley Cup Finals and the NCAA Final Four, he earned a journalism degree from Point Park University in Pittsburgh.
Come join leading historians and scholars as they discuss intriguing topics about their latest works and research on the Maryland Campaign and the Civil War during our Civil War Summer Lecture Series. See the complete 2025 schedule.
These indoors programs are held in McKinley Hall at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on Monday evenings at 7:00 p.m. The church is located at 209W Main Street with a small parking area off the alley. More parking is available on Main and Hall Streets. These lectures free and open to the public. Each week we hold a drawing in which the proceeds support the Save Historic Antietam Foundation. Be sure to check our Facebook page for updates and changes to the schedule.
The storied Texas Brigade had already gained fame as a result of its actions at Elthan’s Landing, Gaines’ Mill, and Second Manassas, but it became legendary as a result of its fight at Antietam. This presentation covers the brigade’s actions before, during, and after the battle, using first hand accounts and maps to describe its actions in the blood-soaked Cornfield. Join us on July 14 for “The Texas Brigade at Antietam” presented by Dr. Brad Gottfried.
Dr. Brad Gottfried
Dr. Brad Gottfried received his Ph.D. in Zoology and worked at seven colleges over a span of 40 years. He retired in 2017 as the President of the College of Southern Maryland. Brad became an Antietam Certified Battlefield Guide in 2019. He is the author of over 20 books, including his most recent, The Maps of Second Bull Run.
Come join leading historians and scholars as they discuss intriguing topics about their latest works and research on the Maryland Campaign and the Civil War during our Civil War Summer Lecture Series. See the complete 2025 schedule.
These indoors programs are held in McKinley Hall at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on Monday evenings at 7:00 p.m. The church is located at 209W Main Street with a small parking area off the alley. More parking is available on Main and Hall Streets. These lectures free and open to the public. Each week we hold a drawing in which the proceeds support the Save Historic Antietam Foundation. Be sure to check our Facebook page for updates and changes to the schedule.
Colorized print of Jefferson Davis and his first cabinet with General Robert E. Lee, published by Thomas Kelly (1897)
We’ll be kicking off July by looking at how and when the idea of invading Maryland occurred. On July 7, Dr. Alex Rossino will present – Before September: The Origin of the 1862 Maryland Campaign
Colorized print of Jefferson Davis and his first cabinet with General Robert E. Lee, published by Thomas Kelly (1897)
Confederate military and political leaders hatched multiple plans for an invasion of Maryland before Lee’s army crossed the Potomac in September 1862. In this talk, Dr. Rossino documents those plans and the impact they had on Lee’s decision to enter the state.
Dr. Alex Rossino
Dr. Alexander B. Rossino resides in Washington County, Maryland. An award-winning independent historian, Dr. Rossino earned his degree from Syracuse University and worked at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C from 1994 to 2003. He is the author of Their Maryland: The Army of Northern Virginia from the Potomac Crossing to Sharpsburg in September 1862 (Savas Beatie, 2021), Calamity at Frederick: Robert E. Lee, Special Orders No. 191, and Confederate Misfortune on the Road to Antietam (Savas Beatie, 2023) and has published several articles on the Maryland Campaign. He has co-authored The Tale Untwisted: General George B. McClellan, the Maryland Campaign, and the Discovery of Lee’s Lost Orders (Savas Beatie, 2022) with Gene Thorp. Alex has also written a two-part series of historically accurate Civil War novels published by Savas Beatie, Six Days in September: A Novel of Lee’s Army in Maryland, 1862 (2017) and The Guns of September: A Novel of McClellan’s Army in Maryland, 1862 (2024).
Come join leading historians and scholars as they discuss intriguing topics about their latest works and research on the Maryland Campaign and the Civil War during our Civil War Summer Lecture Series. See the complete 2025 schedule.
These indoors programs are held in McKinley Hall at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on Monday evenings at 7:00 p.m. The church is located at 209W Main Street with a small parking area off the alley. More parking is available on Main and Hall Streets. These lectures free and open to the public. Each week we hold a drawing in which the proceeds support the Save Historic Antietam Foundation. Be sure to check our Facebook page for updates and changes to the schedule.
On June 30, author Darin Wipperman will discuss a unique individual he came across during his research in his presentation – “I Am Bullet Proof:” The Last Four Months of a Fifth Corps Soldier.
A tremendous resource for students of the Civil War, the Huntington Library, San Marino, California, houses an array of excellent manuscripts. One of the library’s many highly impressive collections includes more than 200 letters from Captain Joseph Collingwood, who joined the 18th Massachusetts Infantry in August 1861. Collingwood and soldiers in his Company H became original member of the Fifth Corps the following May. This presentation discusses the Bay State warrior in the last four months of his life, from the catastrophe at Second Bull Run to Collingwood’s sad destiny below the stone wall at Fredericksburg. His perspectives from ten September letters – before and after the battle of Antietam – offer especially interesting thoughts from a frazzled yet resolute American warrior.
Darin Wipperman
Darin Wipperman’s first two books on the Civil War discussed the histories of the First and Ninth Corps. His most recent book, Thunderbolt to the Rebels: The United States Sharpshooters in the Civil War, was released in February 2025. Darin completed nearly 17 years of service in the federal government, then moved to northern New Hampshire, where he was a reporter and editor for weekly newspapers. Continuing his lifetime of studying the Civil War, Darin’s fourth book on the conflict is currently entitled, A Dangerous Man: Major General Joseph Hooker and the Civil War. Darin plans to complete his manuscript on “Fighting Joe” by the end of 2025.
Come join leading historians and scholars as they discuss intriguing topics about their latest works and research on the Maryland Campaign and the Civil War during our Civil War Summer Lecture Series. See the complete 2025 schedule.
These indoors programs are held in McKinley Hall at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on Monday evenings at 7:00 p.m. The church is located at 209W Main Street with a small parking area off the alley. More parking is available on Main and Hall Streets. These lectures free and open to the public. Each week we hold a drawing in which the proceeds support the Save Historic Antietam Foundation. Be sure to check our Facebook page for updates and changes to the schedule.
Regimental flag of the Fifth Texas Infantry (Texas State Library and Archives)
Texas’s history often has deep roots in lore and tall tales. The author John Steinbeck once said of The Lone Star State, “Texas has its own private history, based on but not limited to the facts.” Sometimes, the truth about Texas and Texans feels torn from a tragic Greek legend. Such is the case of Hood’s Texas Brigade and the Fifth Texas Infantry, a regiment that left an indelible mark on history. These young men from Texas left their homes in 1861 and were everywhere. The odds are excellent if you can name a famous battle in the East; the “Bloody 5th,” as they were sometimes called, were there, charging headlong into a storm of enemy fire.
Regimental flag of the Fifth Texas Infantry (Texas State Library and Archives)
In this narrative, we will follow this regiment from its formation near Houston in 1861 to the surrender at Appomattox four years later. Of course, no retelling would be complete without recounting its historic counterattack across a blood-strewn cornfield in western Maryland on September 17, 1862. Be sure to join us on June 23 to hear author, Michael S. Lang present – From The Brazos To The Antietam & Beyond: The Story of the Fifth Texas Volunteer Infantry Regiment.
Michael S. Lang
Michael S. Lang has worked as a manager for Federal Express for 38 years and is also a successful photographer. Capturing images of Civil War battlefields is one of his favorite subjects.
Born and raised in Denver, Colorado, Michael moved to Frisco, Texas, in 2017. As relative newcomers to the great state of Texas, he and his wife, Rebecca, have spent the last seven years exploring the state and learning about its unique and rich history, including sites related to the Civil War. Michael has loved history since a young boy and has been a student of the Civil War for just as long.
Michael is the author of three books, Decisions at Antietam and Decisions of the Maryland Campaign, and Decisions of the Red River Campaign. These books are all part of the Command Decisions of America’s Civil War series published by the University of Tennessee Press.
Come join leading historians and scholars as they discuss intriguing topics about their latest works and research on the Maryland Campaign and the Civil War during our Civil War Summer Lecture Series. See the complete 2025 schedule.
These indoors programs are held in McKinley Hall at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on Monday evenings at 7:00 p.m. The church is located at 209W Main Street with a small parking area off the alley. More parking is available on Main and Hall Streets. These lectures free and open to the public. Each week we hold a drawing in which the proceeds support the Save Historic Antietam Foundation. Be sure to check our Facebook page for updates and changes to the schedule.
On June 16, Civil War historian and author, Sarah Kay Bierle will be discussing the subject of her up coming book during her talk – “Directed to Take Command”: Winfield S. Hancock & Antietam’s Sunken Road.
Gen. Winfield S. Hancock
In the midst of the Federal attacks toward the Sunken Road on September 17, 1862, during the Battle of Antietam, the First Division of the Second Corps lost their commander, Major General Israel B. Richardson, at a critical point of their battle hopes and carnage. General McClellan personally directed Brigadier General Winfield S. Hancock to take command of the division. He rode into a tenuous battlefield situation and took charge of the largest command he had led up to that time. Hancock’s previous military experiences—both in peacetime and war—had been shaping his leadership style. As events unfolded at the heart of Antietam battlefield that day, Hancock met the challenges and dangers in ways that surprised the troops now under his command and yet obeyed the orders he had been given. This program will take a deeper look at Hancock’s life and leadership, the situation he inherited at Antietam, and his report of the actions and decisions in the aftermath of the capture of the Sunken Road.
Sarah Kay Bierle
Sarah Kay Bierle graduated from Thomas Edison State University with a BA in History and works in the Education Department at American Battlefield Trust. She has spent years exploring ways to share quality historical research in ways that will inform and inspire modern audiences, including school presentations, writing, battlefield tours, and speaking engagements. She has published five books, and her forthcoming books in 2025 are a biography of John Pelham published by Savas Beatie and a book about military decisions at Chancellorsville with the University of Tennessee Press. She is currently drafting a biography and leadership study about Winfield S. Hancock.
Come join leading historians and scholars as they discuss intriguing topics about their latest works and research on the Maryland Campaign and the Civil War during our Civil War Summer Lecture Series. See the complete 2025 schedule.
These indoors programs are held in McKinley Hall at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on Monday evenings at 7:00 p.m. The church is located at 209W Main Street with a small parking area off the alley. More parking is available on Main and Hall Streets. These lectures free and open to the public. Each week we hold a drawing in which the proceeds support the Save Historic Antietam Foundation. Be sure to check our Facebook page for updates and changes to the schedule.
Sgt. Samuel C. Wright, 29th Massachusetts, earned the Medal of Honor for his actions at Antietam (LoC)
Sgt. Samuel C. Wright, 29th Massachusetts, earned the Medal of Honor for his actions at Antietam (LoC)
Who were the 29th Massachusetts? How did they end up with the Irish Brigade at Antietam? We will look into several of the individual soldiers and their stories. Who were these men fighting alongside the New York Irish? How did they do at Antietam? What impacted their fight? Looking at the images of these soldiers you will see the faces of men who were there on September 17, 1862. Join us on June 9 to hear author and battlefield guides, Joe Stahl and Matt Borders present – Soldiers from the 29th Massachusetts, the forgotten Irish Brigade Regiment.
A graduate of Michigan State and Eastern Michigan University, Matthew Borders holds a BA in United States History with a focus in the American Civil War and a MS in Historic Preservation. Following graduation he taught at Kalamazoo Valley Community College before accepting a position with the National Park Service’s American Battlefield Protection Program. He worked as the historian for the ABPP for six years, during which time he became a certified battlefield guide at Antietam National Battlefield and Harpers Ferry National Historic Site. He is also the President of the Frederick County Civil War Round Table and a founding member of the Antietam Institute.
Matt Borders & Joe Stahl
Joseph W. Stahl grew up in St. Louis and received BS, MS, and MBA degrees from Missouri University of Science and Technology and Washington University. After retiring from the Institute for Defense Analyses, he became a volunteer and NPS Licensed Battlefield Guide at Antietam and Harpers Ferry. Joe has authored more than two dozen articles and is co-author of several books, including: Identification Discs of Union Soldiers in the Civil War, Faces of Union Soldiers at Antietam, Faces of Union Soldiers at South Mountain and Harpers Ferry and the Faces of Union Soldiers at Fredericksburg.
Come join leading historians and scholars as they discuss intriguing topics about their latest works and research on the Maryland Campaign and the Civil War during our Civil War Summer Lecture Series. See the complete 2025 schedule.
These indoors programs are held in McKinley Hall at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on Monday evenings at 7:00 p.m. The church is located at 209W Main Street with a small parking area off the alley. More parking is available on Main and Hall Streets. These lectures free and open to the public. Each week we hold a drawing in which the proceeds support the Save Historic Antietam Foundation. Be sure to check our Facebook page for updates and changes to the schedule.
We are kicking off the 10th season of the Civil War Lecture Series on June 2nd with first-time speaker – Robert M. Dunkley speaking on “The Final Attack at Antietam”. The fighting at the lower part of the Antietam battlefield has long been neglected by historians and preservationists. This program explores how the final attack and counterattack unfolded, using eyewitness accounts and terrain analysis. We will also discuss the area’s preservation history, and why it has been overlooked.
Robert M. (Bert) Dunkerly is a historian, award-winning author, and speaker who is actively involved in historic preservation and research. He holds a degree in History from St. Vincent College and a Masters in Historic Preservation from Middle Tennessee State University. He has worked at fourteen historic sites, written over a dozen books, and numerous scholarly articles. His research includes archaeology, colonial life, military history, and historic commemoration. He is a past President of the Richmond Civil War Round Table, and serves on the Preservation Commission for the American Revolution Round Table-Richmond. He has taught courses at Central Virginia Community College, the University of Richmond, and the Virginia Historical Society. Dunkerly is currently a Park Ranger at Richmond National Battlefield Park. He has visited over 500 battlefields and over 1000 historic sites worldwide. He enjoys exploring local bookstores, battlefields, and breweries, not necessarily in that order. Bert’s upcoming book is “The Lower Battlefield of Antietam: The Final Attack” published by History Press.
Come join leading historians and scholars as they discuss intriguing topics about their latest works and research on the Maryland Campaign and the Civil War during our Civil War Summer Lecture Series. See the complete 2025 schedule.
These indoors programs are held in McKinley Hall at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on Monday evenings at 7:00 p.m. The church is located at 209W Main Street with a small parking area off the alley. More parking is available on Main and Hall Streets. These lectures free and open to the public. Each week we hold a drawing in which the proceeds support the Save Historic Antietam Foundation. Be sure to check our Facebook page for updates and changes to the schedule.
