Antietam Institute publications

CWBA reader Alex K. kindly passed along some news of a Summer '21 publication that I missed, Brigades of Antietam: The Union and Confederate Brigades at the Battle of Antietam (edited by Bradley Gottfried). You will surely recall Gottfried's The Brigades of Gettysburg, but this one is not the work of one author but rather a collaborative effort of "over 15 Antietam Battlefield Guides, Rangers, and seasoned Antietam volunteers."

From the description: "Using the words of enlisted men and officers, the book weaves a fascinating narrative of the role played by every unit (112 entries) from the time it began its march toward Sharpsburg to the final action at Shepherdstown. Organized by order of battle, each unit is covered in complete and exhaustive detail: where it fought, its commander, what constituted the unit, and how it performed in the campaign." Alex didn't have a copy in hand yet to tell me what he thought of it. If the specifications I've come across (8.5" x 11" hardcover nearly 500 pages in length) are correct, it's quite a doorstopper.

The book was published last summer by the Antietam Institute. I'd never heard of that organization until Alex's email, later learning from its website that it was formed just last year. According to the 'About' page, the Antietam Institute is "a member-based educational and philanthropic 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with a mission to study, collect, publish and teach about the Battle of Antietam and the Maryland Campaign of 1862." Go to their homepage [here] to learn more about their programs and other activities.

Most appropriate to discussion here on this site is the institute's publication work, which at this time includes a journal and, so far, a pair of books. The Antietam Journal: Perspectives on the 1862 Maryland Campaign will be put out twice per year, its articles "featuring the latest scholarly research, interpretation, and stories of the Maryland Campaign." As mentioned above, the Brigades of Antietam book has already been released, and their other book title, currently in the works, is The Artillery Units of Antietam. Planned for a 2022 release, the artillery study is authored by James Rosebrock and designed to be a companion book to the brigade study. It aims to provide "a comprehensive overview of every artillery unit in both armies—including all the divisional artillery batteries and Artillery Reserve of the Army of the Potomac and the divisional artillery battalions and general reserve artillery battalions of the Army of Northern Virginia." Detailed treatment of each unit will include information about "its formation and history, commander, armament, and its role in the Maryland Campaign."