The Antietam and Beyond Podcast

On the one-year anniversary of "The Antietam And Beyond Podcast," longtime National Park Service ranger Keith B. Snyder — chief of resource education at the battlefield — visits with co-hosts Tom McMillan and John Banks about the new Antietam movie to be shown to public for the first time on Veterans Day and educates us about U.S. Marines Corps' exercises on the field in 1924. Plus, he talks about his famous "battlefield in a box" and much more.

The podcast is sponsored by Civil War Trails, which since 1994 has connected visitors with small towns and big stories across a network that now spans six states.

Join McMillan and Banks for regular podcasts about Antietam, the Maryland Campaign and the Civil War — the most compelling period in American history.

McMillan is author of Our Flag Was Still There and other books. Banks is author of A Civil War Road Trip Of A Lifetime. Find them on Facebook at Author Tom McMillan and John Banks' Civil War Blog. Banks' popular Civil War blog is here.

In Episode 9 of "The Antietam And Beyond Podcast," Antietam guide Laura Marfut, a retired U.S. Army colonel, joins co-hosts John Banks and Tom McMillan for a discussion about the fighting in The Bloody Cornfield on the northern end of the battlefield. Learn more about artillery, Iron Brigade officer Rufus Dawes, Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood — and, yes, dangling biscuits!

Marfut graduated from the U.S. Army War College with a master’s degree in strategic studies. In 2019, she was certified as an Antietam National Battlefield guide. Marfut is also a board member of the Antietam Institute, which you can read more about here. | Join the Antietam Institute.

The podcast is sponsored by Civil War Trails, which since 1994 has connected visitors with small towns and big stories across a network that now spans six states.

Join McMillan and Banks for regular podcasts about Antietam, the Maryland Campaign and the Civil War — the most compelling period in American history.

McMillan is author of the recently released Our Flag Was Still There. Banks is author of the recently released A Civil War Road Trip Of A Lifetime. Find them on Facebook at Author Tom McMillan and John Banks' Civil War Blog. Banks' popular Civil War blog is here.

In Episode 2 of "The Antietam and Beyond Podcast," historian and author Scott Hartwig joins co-hosts Tom McMillan and John Banks to discuss I Dread The Thought Of The Place, his monumental 960-page book about the Battle of Antietam and end of the Maryland Campaign. "The best and most complete story of the Civil War's bloodiest day," historian James M. McPherson calls Hartwig's work. "Masterful," a reader writes of the recently released book. "Exhaustive," says another.
Hartwig — the former supervisory park historian at Gettysburg National Military Park — talks about his writing process, why he wrote about Antietam, A.P. Hill's legendary 17-mile march from Harpers Ferry, the fighting at the southern end of the battlefield in the 40-Acre Cornfield and much more. During the nearly 53-minute podcast — it could have lasted eight hours! — Hartwig also mentions some of the more compelling soldiers who fought at Antietam on Sept. 17, 1862. (You'll also hear brief mentions from McMillan and Banks about the "mystery dog" in the 40-Acre Cornfield and the podcast's semi-official beer and restaurant.)
PURCHASE HARTWIG'S BOOKS: I Dread The Thought Of The Place | To Antietam Creek, his first book on the campaign, was published in 2012.

The podcast is sponsored by Civil War Trails, which since 1994 has connected visitors with small towns and big stories across a network that now spans six states.

Join McMillan and Banks for regular podcasts about Antietam, the Maryland Campaign and the Civil War — the most compelling period in American history.

McMillan is author of the recently released Our Flag Was Still There. Banks is author of the recently released A Civil War Road Trip Of A Lifetime. Find them on Facebook at Author Tom McMillan and John Banks' Civil War Blog. Banks' popular Civil War blog is here.

In the debut episode of "The Antietam and Beyond Podcast," co-hosts and western Pennsylvanians Tom McMillan and John Banks talk about why the battle and the battlefield keep them enthralled. You'll also learn about the soldier who carved his name into the windowsill of the Dunker Church and hear about a wandering Saint Bernard in the 40-Acre Cornfield that spooked one of the co-hosts. Plus, Tom and John talk of their favorite spots at Antietam, outline the purpose of the podcast and highlight some of the future guests — Scott Hartwig, author of I Dread The Thought Of The Place, for one — and briefly mention the possibility of having a chocolate pie named for one of them.

Join them for discussions of the Battle of Antietam, the Maryland Campaign and the Civil War — the most compelling period in American history. (Also join them for the occasional discussion of Iron City Beer and Bonnie's at The Red Byrd restaurant in Keedysville, Md.)

The podcast is sponsored by Civil War Trails, which since 1994 has connected visitors with small towns and big stories across a network that now spans six states.

McMillan is author of the recently released Our Flag Was Still There. Banks is author of the recently released A Civil War Road Trip Of A Lifetime.

Find them on Facebook at Author Tom McMillan and John Banks' Civil War Blog. Banks' popular Civil War blog is here.

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."

The podcast is sponsored by Civil War Trails, which since 1994 has connected visitors with small towns and big stories across a network that now spans six states.

Join McMillan and Banks for regular podcasts about Antietam, the Maryland Campaign and the Civil War — the most compelling period in American history.

McMillan is author of Our Flag Was Still There and other books. Banks is author of A Civil War Road Trip Of A Lifetime. Find them on Facebook at Author Tom McMillan and John Banks' Civil War Blog. Banks' popular Civil War blog is here.