In addition to our major annual programs – the Fall Conference, the Spring Symposium, and the Summer Lecture Series – the Institute hosts seasonal and local events each year.
2026 Seasonal Events
For 2026, we are offering monthly battlefield excursions in the continuing (and expanded) Following in the Footsteps series, as well as member-led First Saturday talks at the Antietam Institute’s Education Center in Sharpsburg – this year’s theme is “Ancestors at Antietam”.
Following in the Footsteps hikes
Monthly members-only battlefield excursions called Following in the Footsteps are two-hour programs on Saturday mornings over the course of eight months which will be led by Antietam Institute historians and will cover the actions of a specific regiment or battery on the battlefield.
During each month’s excursion, you’ll follow in the footsteps of a specific unit, learning where it was raised, its service before Antietam, and who commanded it. The excursion leader will stop at critical locations around the battlefield to explain what the unit and its soldiers experienced on September 17, 1862.
The hikes are for current members only, and advance registration is required (login before registering), but there is no fee to attend.
Excursions will run from 9:30 to 11:30 am on the following Saturdays:
March 7 – Joe Stahl McRae’s (Garland) Brigade
April 4 – Jim Smith Picture and Poetry at the Bloody Lane: the 61st/64th New York Infantry
May 2 – Scott Kenepp One of Abraham Lincoln’s 300,000: The 125th Pennsylvania Infantry
June 6 – Martin Pritchett “Nothing to the right!” the plight of the 13th New Jersey
July 4 – James Buchanan Paul Semmes, Willis Gorman, and a Farmstead Too Far
August 1 – Jason Campbell They Answered the Call, the 130th PA Infantry at Antietam
September 5 – Steve Stotelmyer The 23rd Ohio and Ewing’s Brigade in the Final Attack
November 7 – Bill Sagle Hood’s Mississippians: a Confederate Counterattack into the Cornfield
First Saturday talks: Ancestors at Antietam
Our First Saturday programs are back for 2026.
We have reached out to several Institute members who had ancestors who fought at Antietam, or have unique connections with Sharpsburg, to tell us a little about their ancestor and/or their experiences.
These monthly talks are free and open to the public – anyone may attend – and you do not need to register.
The talks will be held at the Institute’s Education Center at 101W Main Street, Sharpsburg, beginning at 2pm on each of the following Saturdays:
March 7 – Armies of Antietam: Meet the Authors book signing with Bob Gottschalk and Jim Smith
April 4 – Laurie Mack Rediscovering William: Lt. William Alden Horton and the 16th Connecticut at Antietam
August 1 – Kevin Boyer the Union Veteran’s Association of Maryland
September 5 – Cindy Cohrs-Brandt Discovering my Antietam roots: William Campbell, 34th New York and Bennett Livingston, 13th New Jersey.
November 7 – Jim Clement & Saida Russell Dr. Thomas Maddox, Woodley Farm & St. Mark’s Episcopal Church tour