The Artillery of Antietam

A lot of time has gone by since I published my last post.  In that time a number of Antietam guides (myself included) and local community leaders in Sharpsburg organized the Antietam Institute, a member centered organization with a mission to educate the public on the critical importance of the Battle of Antietam and the 1862 Maryland Campaign: a major turning point of the Civil War that resulted directly in the Emancipation Proclamation. 

One of the objectives of the Institute was to add to the scholarship of the Maryland Campaign. In 2021, we published our first book, edited by Brad Gottfried but written by quite a few Antietam rangers, guides, and volunteers titled The Brigades of Antietam. The book is a study of every infantry and cavalry brigade that fought in the Maryland Campaign. We originally planned to include the artillery in the book but realized that it would be too big for one book. I have done a great deal of research on the regular artillery and I offered to write this book.

My book, The Artillery of Antietam was published in April. It is a comprehensive examination of every Federal and Confederate artillery battery (135 in all), and their commanders, the six batteries of Federal artillery that fought at Harpers Ferry. The book is organized into 35 chapters (19 US and 16 CS) that address the artillery batteries in each infantry and cavalry division, and the reserve artillery battalions. 

The actions covered in the book include the skirmishes between the Federal and Confederate horse artillery batteries during the advance into Maryland, the battles of South Mountain, Harpers Ferry, Antietam, and Shepherdstown, and the final skirmish at Williamsport.

I will have more to say down the road but wanted to let anyone out there who occasionally looks for this blog to know that I am back.