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, published countless times over the years. Plus, Bierle dishes on the role of "Hancock The Superb" at Antietam and more.

For more on Bierle, go here.

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 the recently released The Year That Made America: From Rebellion to Independence and four other books. Banks is author of A Civil War Road Trip Of A Lifetime and numerous magazine articles about the Civil War. Find them on Facebook at Author Tom McMillan and John Banks' Civil War Blog. Banks' popular Civil War blog is here.

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 about that effort at the Michigan Civil War Association web site.

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 the recently released The Year That Made America: From Rebellion to Independence and four other books. Banks is author of A Civil War Road Trip Of A Lifetime and numerous magazine articles about the Civil War. Find them on Facebook at Author Tom McMillan and John Banks' Civil War Blog. Banks' popular Civil War blog is here.

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 battlefield of Antietam. I have seen what it is to die a soldier’s death, and to be laid in a soldier’s grave."

Find Zimmerman's book on Amazon here.

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 the recently released The Year That Made America: From Rebellion to Independence and four other books. Banks is author of A Civil War Road Trip Of A Lifetime and numerous magazine articles about the Civil War. Find them on Facebook at Author Tom McMillan and John Banks' Civil War Blog. Banks' popular Civil War blog is here.

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 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 the recently released The Year That Made America: From Rebellion to Independence and four other books. Banks is author of A Civil War Road Trip Of A Lifetime and numerous magazine articles about the Civil War. Find them on Facebook at Author Tom McMillan and John Banks' Civil War Blog. Banks' popular Civil War blog is here.

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 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 the recently released The Year That Made America: From Rebellion to Independence and four other books. Banks is author of A Civil War Road Trip Of A Lifetime and numerous magazine articles about the Civil War. Find them on Facebook at Author Tom McMillan and John Banks' Civil War Blog. Banks' popular Civil War blog is here.

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 Civil War Trails.

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.

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.