The Maryland Campaign: A Civil War Symposium

The Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall is thrilled to announce the return of our annual Civil War Symposium on April 11 – 12, 2025. The symposium will focus on the Maryland Campaign of 1862, which culminated in the Battle of Antietam, the single bloodiest day in United States history. “While Gettysburg still dominates the field of Civil War historiography, it’s no stretch to say that the Maryland Campaign is having ‘a moment,’” relates Espy Post Curator Jon-Erik Gilot. “Fresh scholarship and interpretations of the campaign and the Battle of Antietam are reshaping how we understand the military, political, and social threads of this defining moment in our nation’s history.” Symposium speakers include D. Scott Hartwig, retired supervisory historian at Gettysburg National Military Park, who recently authored a two-volume magisterial history of the Battle of Antietam, published by Johns Hopkins University Press; Dennis E. Frye, retired chief historian at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, and author of numerous books on the Maryland Campaign; John Hoptak, park ranger at Gettysburg National Military Park; Ashley Whitehead Luskey, assistant director at the Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College; and Kevin Pawlak, historic site manager at Prince William County Historic Preservation and a licensed battlefield guide at Antietam National Battlefield. The addition of a Friday evening session offers added value for attendees, especially those traveling from outside the area. Friday speakers include Harry Smeltzer, a longtime board member at the Save Historic Antietam Foundation, as well as a live podcast recording of The Antietam and Beyond Podcast with co-hosts John Banks and Tom McMillan, both Pittsburgh natives and sports journalists-turned Civil War historians. Plans for the weekend also include book sales, raffles, and tours of our national treasure Captain Thomas Espy Grand Army of the Republic Post. Our 2025 Civil War symposium is sponsored by Civil War Trails, the world’s largest open-air museum, with more than 1,500 sites across six states. For more information on the symposium and to purchase tickets please visit our website at: http://www.carnegiecarnegie.org.