Glenn (left), a distant relative of Robert E. Lee, and Charles, the propietor of an  antiques store in Eagleville, Tennessee.                                        Like this blog on Facebook | My YouTube videos At 8:35 on a sun-kissed Saturday morning, I plop my heinie into the shotgun seat of battlefield tramping pal Jack's fancy SUV for our ride into the Civil War wilds of Middle Tennessee. We're rambling southeast to Shelbyville and points unknown. Pal Ja ..read more

Perry Sanders stands where he unearthed a cannon ball on the Liberty Gap battlefield.                                       Like this blog on Facebook | My YouTube videos At 10:15 Sunday morning, I streak down Liberty Pike, a couple miles from Bell Buckle, Tennessee — home of an annual MoonPie Festival and the Bell Buckle Cafe, one of the best restaurants in America for country cooking and stellar conversation. Then I spy two gents standing by a farm gate and an ancient ..read more

On Episode 32 of "The Antietam And Beyond Podcast," Antietam battlefield guide and author Jim Rosebrock — a retired U.S. Army officer and Department of Justice employee — talks with co-hosts John Banks and Tom McMillan about all things artillery at the Battle of Antietam. Plus, he dishes on two seldom-visited sites on the field and shares an unforgettable story about the horses of Antietam and ... oats!  ..read more

The long-abandoned home of William and Cynthia Officer.                                       Like this blog on Facebook | My YouTube videos Following a dandy visit to a train depot/museum where host Dale regaled us with tales about a ghost named “Whistling Willie,” we depart Monterey, the town where a massive mural proclaims the “hilltops touch the sky.” Our next stop out here in the chilly wilds of the Middle Tennessee is an abandoned plantation house, the site of a l ..read more

  Find all episodes here, from author/historian Scott Hartwig to battlefield guides Jim Smith and Jim Buchanan ..read more

On Episode 31 of "The Antietam And Beyond Podcast," historian Rich Condon — editor of the Civil War Pittsburgh web site — talks with co-hosts John Banks and Tom McMillan about Robert Gould Shaw's role at Antietam, the Emancipation Proclamation and another terrible event that occurred Sept. 17, 1862. Plus, he dishes on Robert Smalls, whose life story merits a Hollywood-produced move. (Are you listening Steven Spielberg?) | Visit Civil War Pittsburgh here ..read more

On Episode 30, 2025 Grammy Award winner Taylor Agan, who has, like, one billion Civil War soldier ancestors, talks with co-hosts Tom McMillan and John Banks about his deep interest in the Civil War period and researching his ancestry.  At the Battle of Antietam on Sept. 17, 1862, John Francis Agan of the 23rd Georgia — Taylor's great great great grandfather — was captured near the Sunken Road/Bloody Lane. Plus, Taylor dishes on That's My King, the Grammy Award-winning song that he co-wrote, and two other of his remarkable Civil War ancestors. | LISTEN to "That's My King ..read more

Jason Saffer of Civil War Trails levels the new sign in Virginia Beach, Virginia.                                      Like this blog on Facebook | My YouTube videos As regular readers of this page know, I am a huge fan of the Civil War Trails program. A birdie recently revealed to me a new CWT sign — the first in Virginia Beach, Virginia. You’ll probably need to burn off calories to reach it, because it’s six miles beyond a parking lot, over a dune, past a primitive campgrou ..read more

On Episode 29, Chris Bryan — author of Cedar Mountain to Antietam: A Civil War Campaign History of the Union XII Corps, July-September 1862 — dives deep into the corps' role at Antietam with co-hosts Tom McMillan and John Banks. Bryan dishes on General Joseph Mansfield, right flank-left flank aspects of the fighting on Sept. 17, 1862, and on his dog, Harlon Boone. Purchase Bryan's book on the Savas Beatie web site.  ..read more

Glen Echo on the Battle Ground Academy campus.                                      Like this blog on Facebook | My YouTube videos My history-minded pal Jack reminds (loosely) of Mikey from the old Life commercial. Showing the same enthusiasm as that little kid lapping up that cereal, he embraces almost any Civil War excursion, no matter how out of the way or bizarre. Jack and I recently visited the Snow Hill battlefield 45 miles east of Nashville. On a recent weeke ..read more