Tag: Antietam National Cemetery Sharpsburg MD

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February 2025 Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table Meeting

February 11 2025

The Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table is pleased to announce that its next meeting will be held Tuesday, February 11, 2025 at 7:00pm at The Maryland Veterans Museum, 11000 Crain Highway North, Newburg, MD 20664.

Guest Speaker:  Steve Cowie

A New Year kicks off with a look at the biggest Civil War engagement in our state and the impact this battle had on the people and surroundings nearby.  Tonight Steve Cowie presents When Hell Came to Sharpsburg: The Battle of Antietam and Its Impact on the Civilians Who Called It Home.

The Battle of Antietam, fought in and around Sharpsburg, Maryland, on September 17, 1862, was the bloodiest day in American history. Despite the large number of books and articles on the subject, the horrendous effect that the battle had on area civilians is rarely discussed. When Hell Came to Sharpsburg by Steven Cowie rectifies this oversight.

By the time the battle ended, more than 23,000 men had been killed, wounded, or captured in just a dozen hours of combat—a grim statistic that tells only part of the story. The epicenter of that deadly day was the small community of Sharpsburg. Families lived, worked, and worshipped there. It was their home. And the horrific fighting and its aftermath turned their lives upside down.

When Hell Came to Sharpsburg investigates how the battle and its armies wreaked emotional, physical, and financial havoc on the people of Sharpsburg. For proper context, the author explores the savage struggle and its gory aftermath and explains how soldiers stripped the community of resources and spread diseases. Cowie meticulously follows fortunes of individual families—ordinary folk thrust into harrowing circumstances—and their struggle to recover from their unexpected and often devastating losses.

Steven Cowie earned a degree from California State University, Long Beach. As part of the Los Angeles film industry, he penned spec screenplays and sold his award-winning short film to the Sundance Channel. A lifelong student of the Civil War, Cowie dedicated fifteen years to exclusively researching the Battle of Antietam. When Hell Came to Sharpsburg is his first book.

As always, attendance is free, but membership is encouraged. Please feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns at bsunderland@somdcwrt.org

 

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November 2023 Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table Meeting

November 14, 2023

The Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table is pleased to announce that its next meeting will be held Tuesday, November 14, 2023 at 7:00pm at The Maryland Veterans Museum, 11000 Crain Highway North, Newburg, MD 20664.

Guest Speaker:  Gary Dyson

It is always great to welcome back friends of the Southern Maryland Civil War Round Table and tonight we bring back another.  Gary Dyson joins us for his latest presentation, “Beyond the Bowie List“.

Having spoken to us previously about his books A Civil War Correspondent in New Orleans, The ambush of the Issac P. Smith, and Confederate Row, Beyond the Bowie List tells the stories of the named Confederate dead buried in Maryland following the Maryland Campaign of 1862, Lee’s retreat from Gettysburg in 1863, and Early’s Invasion of Maryland in July 1864. Forbidden to be buried at Antietam National Cemetery in Sharpsburg, these soldiers were eventually buried at Washington Confederate Cemetery at Rose Hill cemetery in Hagerstown. A description of the Bowie List and the post-war reburials as well as the stories of the soldiers (their genealogy, battle history, and extent of their wounds where possible) in Hagerstown and other sites are described.

Gary L. Dyson is a retired Environmental Specialist from the City of Gaithersburg, MD and a Marine Corps veteran. He is a lifelong history enthusiast and has spent countless hours reading, researching and exploring battlefields – from the French and Indian War to World War II.  Gary is the author of The Ambush of the Isaac P. Smith, A Civil War Correspondent in New Orleans, Confederate Row, Beyond the Bowie List, and The Rebels of Frederick County, as well as the History of Calvary United Methodist Church in Frederick and Mount Airy.  He is a board member for the Frederick County Civil War Roundtable and performs voluntary research for Mount Olivet Cemetery. He has a BS in Natural Resources from Oregon State University. Gary lives in Mount Airy, MD with his wife Emily, and they are finally “empty-nesters,” and just became grandparents.

Attendance is free, but membership is encouraged, to allow us to continue attracting speakers on the subject we so dearly love.  Please feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns at bsunderland@somdcwrt.org.