Fall Conference

Name: Fall Conference
Start: 2025-10-03T12:30:00-04:00
End: 2025-10-05T13:00:00-04:00
Location: Shepherd University

Schedule

Fri, 03 Oct, 2025 at 12:30 pm to Sun, 05 Oct, 2025 at 01:00 pm

UTC-04:00

Location

Shepherd University | Shepherdstown, WV

Join us October 3-5, 2025, for an 'off the beaten path' Civil War experience during our "Beyond the Battle: Civilians, Casualties, and Remembering the Bloodiest Day in American History" conference. Ten historians, authors, and guides are lined up to take you back to September 1862 focusing on the aftermath of the battle from the civilians, the caregivers, and veterans’ perspective.
Friday afternoon features four lectures that set the stage for the weekend excursions. Tracy McIntyre talks about the care of the wounded by the Army and civilian volunteers. Steven Stotelmyer will discuss the odious task of burying the dead from the battle. Brian Baracz will present the story of the veterans and their monuments they placed on the field. That evening Steve Cowie will turn your attention to the civilians with our keynote address, “”A Sad Spectacle of Death and Destruction:” The Battle of Antietam and Its Impact on Sharpsburg Village”.
Over the weekend we’ll visit the farmsteads, hospital sites, the headquarters locations, and the communities of Sharpsburg and Shepherdstown to understand the crucial role the civilians and caregivers played after the battle. On Saturday, Dr. Tom Clemens will lead a walking tour of Sharpsburg visiting the “War Wounds House” (Gloss/Boyer), Tolson’s Chapel, the Kretzer house and the German Reformed Church. Dana Shoaf will take you to rarely visited post-battle hospital sites including the Pry Mill, the Cost farm, the Smoketown hospital, the Hoffman farm and the Geeting farm or Crystal Springs. Working with Antietam NB staff, Chris Vincent will take you to the farmhouses of the Roulettes, Pipers, Poffenbergers, and Mummas. That evening Keith Snyder provides a behind the scenes look at the new park film “Remembering Antietam.” and the story of Ezra Carman. Then on Sunday, Dennis Frye takes you on a 'Lincoln's Footsteps' excursion to some of the sites Lincoln visited after the battle. Kevin Pawlak will lead a walking tour of Shepherdstown telling the harrowing story of wounded Confederate soldiers and the towns people.
This is a once in a lifetime chance to visit these unique locations of the Battle of Antietam. Registration begins on April 12. Visit our website: https://antietaminstitute.org/2025-fall-conference/