In Episode 42, co-hosts John Banks and Tom McMillan discuss battlefield preservation at Antietam, Gettysburg and elsewhere. Should all hallowed ground be saved? The podcast is sponsored by Civil War Trails , which since 1994 has connected visitors with small towns and big stories across a network that now spans six states. Join McMillan and Banks for regular podcasts about Antietam, the Maryland Campaign and the Civil War — the most compelling period in American history. McMillan is author of th...
Jul 08, 2025•49 min•Ep. 42
In Episode 41, author/historian/speaker Sarah Kay Bierle chats with co-hosts John Banks and Tom McMillan about Confederate artillerist John Pelham, who played a pivotal role at Antietam. Her latest book is Glorious Courage: John Pelham In The Civil War , published in May 2025 by Savas Beatie . You may not know much about "The Gallant" Pelham, but you've surely seen the remarkable circa-1858 image of him by Mathew Brady in dozens of publications. Plus, Bierle dishes on the role of "Hancock The Su...
Jun 18, 2025•58 min•Ep. 41
In Episode 40, Brian James Egen of The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn and author/historian Jack Dempsey join co-hosts John Banks and Tom McMillan to talk all things Michigan at Antietam. That includes stories about U.S. Army generals Alpheus S. Williams and Israel B. Richardson, who suffered a mortal wound in the attack on Bloody Lane on Sept. 17, 1862. Plus, the Michiganders — co-authors of Michigan At Antietam — dish on the effort to place a Michigan monument on the battlefield. Learn more abou...
May 29, 2025•54 min•Ep. 40
In Episiode 39, author Linda Zimmerman talks with John Banks (co-host Tom McMillan will be back soon) about her book, A Civil War Soldier and Me , the story of 8th Connecticut Sergeant Albion Brooks. Zimmerman devoted 30 years of research and traveled thousands of miles to learn about Brooks, who survived the bloodbath at Antietam as a teen but died at Cold Harbor on June 3, 1864. Months after Antietam, Brooks wrote, "Many poor fellows left with us who now are beneath the ground on the battlefie...
May 22, 2025•51 min•Ep. 39
In Episode 38, Canadian and long-suffering Toronto Maple Leafs fan Devan Sommerville, a fan of our podcast, joins co-host John Banks (Tom McMillan was off) for a 15-minute chat about his obsession with the American Civil War. Without prompting, he mentions John's favorite spot on the Antietam battlefield and educates us about an unheralded Canadian tie to the battle. The podcast is sponsored by Civil War Trails , which since 1994 has connected visitors with small towns and big stories across a n...
May 14, 2025•16 min•Ep. 38
In a freewheeling Episode 37, Dr. Jennifer Murray — incoming director of the George Tyler Moore Center for the Study of the Civil War at Shepherd University — joins co-hosts Tom McMillan and John Banks talks about her new role as well as the role of General George Gordon Meade at Antietam. Plus, they have a lively discussion about Meade's old warhorse, Old Baldy. The podcast is sponsored by Civil War Trails , which since 1994 has connected visitors with small towns and big stories across a netwo...
May 07, 2025•48 min•Ep. 37
In a mini-podcast, historian Ashley Whitehead Luskey — assistant director of the Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College — chats with co-hosts Tom McMillan and John Banks. On April 12, 2025, she was among the speakers at the Maryland Campaign Symposium at the Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall in Carnegie, Pa. It also included historians Scott Harwig ("I Dread The Thought Of The Place"), Dennis Frye, Harry Smeltzer, John Hoptak and Kevin Pawlak. The podcast is brought to you by Civi...
Apr 22, 2025•9 min•Ep. 36
In a mini-podcast, Jon Erik-Gilot — curator at the Thomas Espy Post at the Andrew Carnegie (Pa.) Free Library And Music Hall — dishes with co-hosts Tom McMillan and John Banks on the recently held Maryland Campaign Symposium he organized. It featured historians Scott Harwig ("I Dread The Thought Of The Place"), Dennis Frye, Harry Smeltzer, John Hoptak, Ashley Whitehead Luskey and Kevin Pawlak. The podcast is sponsored by Civil War Trails.
Apr 20, 2025•13 min•Ep. 35
In a freewheeling Episode 34 — taped before an audience at the Maryland Campaign Symposium at the Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall in Carnegie, Pa. — historians Scott Hartwig ( I Dread The Thought Of The Place ), Kevin Pawlak and Harry Smeltzer, as well as Dana Shoaf and Melissa Hacker Winn of the National Museum of Civil War Medicine in Frederick, Md., visit with co-hosts Tom McMillan and John Banks. The podcast is brought to you by Civil War Trails.
Apr 12, 2025•1 hr•Ep. 34
In a freewheeling Episode 33, podcast hosts Tom McMillan and John Banks discuss Iron Brigade officer Rufus Dawes, who endured despite losing his best friend at Antietam. Plus, Tom dishes on his upcoming book, The Year That Made America , and John talks about staring into Ben Franklin's privy in Philadelphia and a post-Gettysburg battlefield tramping massage in Biglerville. The podcast is sponsored by Civil War Trails , which since 1994 has connected visitors with small towns and big stories acro...
Mar 24, 2025•49 min•Ep. 33
On Episode 32, Antietam battlefield guide and author Jim Rosebrock — a retired U.S. Army officer and Department of Justice employee — talks with co-hosts John Banks and Tom McMillan about all things artillery at the Battle of Antietam. Plus, he dishes on two seldom-visited sites on the field and shares an unforgettable story about the horses of Antietam and .... oats! Rosebrock, author of Artillery Of Antietam , is president of the Antietam Institute. Check out the Institute site here . The podc...
Mar 06, 2025•54 min•Ep. 32
On Episode 31, historian Rich Condon — editor of the Civil War Pittsburgh web site — talks with co-hosts John Banks and Tom McMillan about Robert Gould Shaw's role at Antietam, the Emancipation Proclamation and another terrible event that occurred Sept. 17, 1862. Plus, he dishes on Robert Smalls , whose life story merits a Hollywood-produced move. (Are you listening, Steven Spielberg?) Visit Civil War Pittsburgh here . The podcast is sponsored by Civil War Trails , which since 1994 has connected...
Feb 18, 2025•54 min•Ep. 31
On Episode 30, 2025 Grammy Award winner Taylor Agan, who has, like, one billion Civil War soldier ancestors, talks with co-hosts Tom McMillan and John Banks about his deep interest in the Civil War period and researching his ancestry. At the Battle of Antietam on Sept. 17, 1862, John Francis Agan of the 23rd Georgia — Taylor's great great great grandfather — was captured near the Sunken Road/Bloody Lane. Plus, Taylor dishes on " That's My King ," the Grammy Award-winning song that he co-wrote, a...
Feb 11, 2025•47 min•Ep. 30
On Episode 29, Chris Bryan — author of Cedar Mountain to Antietam: A Civil War Campaign History of the Union XII Corps, July-September 1862 — dives deep into the corps' role at Antietam with co-hosts Tom McMillan and John Banks. Bryan dishes on General Joseph Mansfield, right flank-left flank aspects of the fighting on Sept. 17, 1862, and on his dog, Harlon Boone. Bryan's book may be purchased on Amazon.com or through Savas Beattie here . The podcast is sponsored by Civil War Trails , which sinc...
Jan 22, 2025•57 min•Ep. 29
On Episode 28, Brad Gottfried — Antietam battlefield guide and Antietam Institute board member — talks about his Civil War map books, including The Maps Of Antietam , with co-hosts Tom McMillan and John Banks. Gottfried also dishes on what he enjoys about being a guide, his favorite out-of-the-way battlefield site, the Antietam Institute and much more. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Gottfried earned his Ph.D. in zoology from Miami University and spent the four decades as an educator in higher ...
Jan 03, 2025•55 min•Ep. 28
On Episode 27, Dr. Mike Nickerson — president of the Shepherdstown (W.Va.) Battlefield Preservation Association — dives into the fascinating final battle of the Maryland Campaign with co-hosts Tom McMillan and John Banks. Nickerson dishes on relics found on the battlefield and a musket discovered in the Potomac River. Plus, he tells the story of a controversial cannonball embedded in the wall of a Shepherdstown battlefield farmhouse. Learn about the Shepherdstown Battlefield Preservation Associa...
Dec 12, 2024•51 min•Ep. 27
In a freewheeling Episode 26, Antietam guide Jim Smith visits with co-hosts Tom McMillan and John Banks about his longtime interest in the battlefield (psst — it involves ballparks and Rush, the rock band). Plus, he highlights notable human interest stories and takes us (virtually) to two out-of-the-way battlefield sites you may never have visited. The podcast is sponsored by Civil War Trails , which since 1994 has connected visitors with small towns and big stories across a network that now spa...
Nov 22, 2024•52 min•Ep. 26
On the one-year anniversary of "The Antietam And Beyond Podcast," longtime National Park Service ranger Keith B. Snyder — chief of resource education at the battlefield — visits with co-hosts Tom McMillan and John Banks about the new Antietam movie to be shown to public for the first time on Veterans Day and educates us about U.S. Marines Corps' exercises on the field in 1924. Plus, he talks about his famous "battlefield in a box" and much more. The podcast is sponsored by Civil War Trails , whi...
Nov 06, 2024•51 min•Ep. 25
In a freewheeling Episode 24, Antietam guide Michael Hill talks with co-hosts Tom McMillan and John Banks about the ins and outs of becoming a battlefield guide, his favorite spot on the field — it's on the southern end! — and his journey from Lost Cause devotee to the present day. Plus, these three ink-stained wretches contemplate starting an "Old Men of Newspapering Podcast." The podcast is sponsored by Civil War Trails , which since 1994 has connected visitors with small towns and big stories...
Oct 18, 2024•58 min•Ep. 24
In Episode 23, battlefield guide Kevin Pawlak talks with co-hosts Tom McMillan and John Banks about the Antietam Institute's epic tour of the 40-Acre Cornfield and elsewhere on the southern end of the battlefield. Plus, Kevin, John and Tom begin their campaign for a Congressional Medal of Honor for 118th Pennsylvania officer Lemuel Crocker, whose heroics at the Battle of Shepherdstown — the final battle of the Maryland Campaign — should be known by all students of the Civil War. Pawlak, a board ...
Oct 02, 2024•52 min•Ep. 23
