Welcome to Antietam, one of the most important battlefields in American History. My name is Joe Stahl. I am a member of the Company of Military Historians, Save Historic Antietam Foundation, the Hagerstown Civil War Roundtable and the North-South Skirmish Association. I am also certified by Harpers Ferry NPS to lead tours of their Battlefield.  Let me share with you the stories of these historic sites. Come and visit these famous sites; the corn field, the sunken road, Burnside’s bridge, and Harpers Ferry.  See them today as they looked those many years ago in our history.

When I moved to Washington D.C. about 30 years ago I was able, for the first time, to visit the many battlefields of the East that I had read about years before.  I have spent the years walking these battlefields. As I increased my knowledge I began to write about primarily the individual soldiers and their experiences. I have authored more than 35 articles for various civil war publications, including Gettysburg Magazine, the Washington Times Civil War Page, Manuscripts, America’s Civil War, Military Collector & Historian, Civil War Historian and the Skirmish Line. In 2023, I also received the Henry Kyd Douglas Award from the Hagerstown Civil War Roundtable.

When I retired in 2008 I determined to move close to Antietam as it is a battlefield that remains very close in appearance to what it was like on September 17, 1862! Here I can share my passion for the individual soldiers who marched across this ground so many years ago.  I have written about them in the book I co-authored Identification Discs of Union Soldiers in the Civil War. These discs remind me of the many soldiers that came across this ground. Let me take you across time to visit the locations these soldiers traveled so long ago. I also began to collect images of Union soldiers that fought here.  I will introduce you to several of them and share their individual stories with you as we travel the battlefield.