Illuminating Antietam

12/23/2025

12/23/2025

CHRISTMAS 1862: SUNSHINE AMID THE GLOOM — On Christmas Day, a grateful nation showed its appreciation for the sacrifices of the U.S. Army with dinners for thousands of sick and wounded soldiers in military hospitals in and near the nation's capital. President Lincoln and the first lady attended the event — one of the more extraordinary of its kind during the Civil War.

READ MORE: http://john-banks.blogspot.com/2018/12/on-christmas-day-1862-special-feast-for.html

12/23/2025

12/22/2025

This beautiful image was posted on Dec 15 by the Antietam National Battlefield FB page as their Headline top of page image. No photo credit given.

12/21/2025

The official photographers for the first 25 years of the Antietam Illumination, Judi Quelland and her brother Bo with Valley Studio in Williamsport MD, took literally thousands of photos across the acres of Illuminated fields with open access to get photographs which are impossible to capture from your slowly moving car...we have shared dozens of them with our followers over the past 2 months in the lead up to the 35th Illumination. At one point, Judi mocked up a demo of the book...and this was the proposed cover, with the Dunker Church on the back and the Maryland Monument on the front cover. Are there any questions you's like to ask Judi about her photography ?

12/19/2025

For our followers, this is an excellent last minute Holiday gift available from the National Museum of Civil War Medicine in Frederick MD. Go visit their EXCELLENT gift shop or go online to order. Happy last minute Holiday shopping to all. Just remember there were still a lot of Antietam wounded in the many field hospitals and other sites in and around Sharpsburg, Hagerstown, Middletown, Frederick, Shepardstown and more over Christmas 1862.

Stocking stuffers for Christmas!

"We Were Marching on Christmas Day" by Kevin Rawlings examines how Christmas was experienced during the Civil War; not as a peaceful holiday, but often amid marching, fighting, and separation from home.

Using soldiers’ letters and diaries, Rawlings shows how traditions, food, and faith took on new meaning under the strain of war, revealing how deeply the conflict reshaped even the most sentimental moments of the year.

Buy it now in our Frederick, MD, store or online at:
https://www.civilwarmed.org/shop/merchandise/civil-war/we-were-marching-on-christmas-day/

12/19/2025

The Hagerstown Civil War Round Table has been meeting for I don't know how many years. They always do quality programs. Here is their schedule for up to May of 2026. They all look good to these old eyes.

12/18/2025

By Ryan Lewis at the 2024 Antietam Illumination

12/18/2025

NEW PODCAST DROPS! — In Episode 52, Irishman and historian Cóilín Ó Coigligh of County Cavan gives co-hosts Tom McMillan and John Banks the lowdown on Irish soldiers who fought at Antietam, including the famous Irish Brigade commander Thomas Meagher. Plus, John and Coilin dish on their American Civil War-focused trip in August on the Emerald Isle. (Pssst: They stayed at Meagher's birthplace in Waterford — it's now a four-star hotel.)

+ LISTEN: https://antietambeyond.transistor.fm/episodes/dfdfd
+ SUBSCRIBE: https://antietambeyond.transistor.fm/subscribe
+ WATCH ON YOUTUBE (minus Irish music): https://youtu.be/mW3no74Cy0Q?si=fuU3Fkgs08DF93He

We welcome a new sponsor, the Michigan Civil War Association, which joins our original sponsor, Civil War Trails.