David Hsueh on “Let Us Die to Make Men Free: The Story of Antietam’s Union Participants”

The Battle of Antietam was a defining point not only in the American Civil War, but in American history. Fall of 1862 was the crossroads of the war and for the nation. Through the strategic victories during the Seven Days Battles and their incredible triumph at Second Manassas, General Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia had nearly pinned the Army of the Potomac to submission. If General McClellan had failed to make a home stand in Maryland, it would have caused enormous implications regarding European intervention in the war and in peace talks. During this crucial time, the widening split on the question of slavery further pressured Lincoln to declare this country’s final verdict on the divisive moral argument. The Maryland Campaign, and the bloodiest day in American history at Antietam, ushered in a new beginning to make men free.

Yet, as Civil War scholars, we often get so caught up in studying the biographies of high-ranking officers and memorizing order of battles that we often forget the human cost of battle and war. Counts of casualties can just seem like numbers typed on pages. After all, it is hard to imagine all the death and carnage these battles caused, but we must remember that behind every casualty is a human being, and thus, a personal story. Being a scholar of the American Civil War isn’t just being knowledgeable of the minute details of military campaigns but also means that we are able to understand, empathize, and share the stories and experiences of the soldiers that fought in it. By visiting hallowed ground and contemplating, and by putting ourselves in the shoes of these brave fighters, it puts our lives in total perspective. Imagine how the soldiers must have felt, having just a few minutes to process that every defense or every assault may be their last. Would they have thought about their families back home in this final moment: their sweethearts, their brothers and sisters, their mothers and fathers, their wives and children? Would they have experienced guilt that their families would have to struggle to live without their financial support? Or rather, did some express a certain joy in reuniting with their lost comrades again? How would we respond in their shoes? Would we cowardly run for the rear in an attempt to save our own life, or would we obey orders, hoping that our sacrifice would be enough to save our unit and our army? Regardless, we must understand that we would not have the courage, bravery, and fearlessness of these men to make this sacrifice on the harrowing day of September 17, 1862.

Instead of retelling the well-known history of the Battle of Antietam, this narrative style talk, “Let Us Die to Make Men Free: The Story of Antietam’s Union Participants,” attempts a different approach by telling the stories and vignettes of two Union regiments, the 12th Massachusetts (I Corps, 2nd Division, Third Brigade) and the 16th Connecticut (IX Corps, Third Division, Second Brigade); two Union field-grade officers, Major Rufus Dawes of the 6th Wisconsin (I Corps, 1st Division, Fourth Brigade) and Lieutenant Colonel Wilder Dwight of the 2nd Massachusetts (XII Corps, 1st Division, Third Brigade); and the famed “Angel of the Battlefield”, nurse Clara Barton, whose acts of bravery and benevolence displayed that even in the depths of hell, humanity and morality could still transpire. Through the soldiers’ writings and the accounts of others that served alongside them, the talk aims to tell a complete picture of their lives at the outbreak of the Civil War, to illustrate their hopes, courage, worries, and fears while fighting the Maryland Campaign, and how their future memory of the ghastly Battle of Antietam gave them immeasurable grief and trauma.

David Hsueh is currently an incoming junior as a political science student at the University of California, Berkeley. As an avid history learner since kindergarten, his first introduction to the American Civil War came when he read about President Lincoln. However, his true passion for the Civil War began after his first viewing of the movie Gettysburg, and his subsequent visits to the Gettysburg and Antietam Battlefields seven years ago at age 11. His two main interests in the Civil War regard brigade to army leadership decisions on the battlefield and human interest stories, both of generals and of the common soldier.

Antietam is his favorite Civil War battlefield to visit, having been there a total of five times. His favorite spot on the Antietam battlefield is Snavely’s Ford, the location where Isaac Rodman’s 9th Corps division forded over the Antietam Creek. He is currently reading D. Scott Hartwig’s title To Antietam Creek, and highly recommends Bradley M. Gottfried’s The Maps of Antietam.

Tonya Graham McQuade on “A State Divided—Gaining Insights into Missouri’s Important Role in the Civil War”

Did you know that many people actually believe the Civil War started in Missouri? Missouri was a state torn apart by political disagreements and violence even before the firing on Fort Sumter in April 1861. While the Missouri Compromise of 1820 helped to postpone the Civil War for four decades, the Platte Purchase, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the Dred Scott case, and the “Bleeding Kansas” border wars—all of which played out here—added fuel to the fire. Some of the war’s first blood spilled on Missouri’s soil, and 42% of the battles occurred here during the first year of the war. Missouri even found itself with two competing governments: one supporting the Union; the other, the Confederacy.

Overall, Missouri suffered more than 1000 engagements on its soil. Many of those involved guerrilla warfare – including the Centralia Massacre and Battle of Centralia, which occurred Sept. 27, 1864—160 years ago this month. As it turns out, today’s speaker discovered she has family ties to Centralia on both the Union and Confederate sides.

In this talk, author Tonya Graham McQuade—whose family roots go deep in Missouri—will discuss Missouri’s interesting Civil War history and share excerpts from her new book, A State Divided: The Civil War Letters of James Calaway Hale and Benjamin Petree of Andrew County, Missouri, 1862-1865. The book includes fifty previously unpublished Civil War letters written by two of her ancestors and explains the context in which these two Missouri soldiers and their families found themselves living, both before and during the Civil War, as they watched discord, destruction, and bloodshed erupt all around them.

Originally from Tennessee and Indiana, Hale and Petree each had relatives who fought and died on both sides of the war. Their letters provide vivid details and unique perspectives into their lives and experiences during the war. Tonya will explain how this book came about, read some excerpts from the letters, and show some related maps, family trees, and photos. Books will be available for purchase and signing.

Tonya Graham McQuade is the author of A State Divided: The Civil War Letters of James Calaway Hale and Benjamin Petree of Andrew County, Missouri, 1862-65, and is a contributing writer to the Emerging Civil War website. She has a love for both history and historical fiction and a passion for writing which she plans to continue pursuing. In October she will be going on a book tour in Missouri to discuss her book at many of its relevant sites.

Tonya is the great-great-great granddaughter of James Callaway Hale, who wrote forty of the letters in the book. Hale’s daughter Mary Ann married the brother of Benjamin Petree, who wrote the other ten letters. In A State Divided, Tonya tells the story of these two Missouri soldiers as they march and drill with their regiments, avoid several close calls with guerrillas and enemy troops, witness the buildup to the Vicksburg Campaign, get an in-depth look at wartime St. Louis, overcome illness, trek with Sherman through the Carolinas, ponder the devastation they encounter, celebrate victory in Washington, D.C., and spend a lot of time sitting around, longing to be home, writing letters to their families.

A long-time English teacher at Los Gatos High School, Tonya lives in San Jose, California. She is an active member of Emerging Civil War, South Bay Writers/California Writers Club, National League of American Pen Women, and Poetry Center San Jose. You can learn more about Tonya on her website at tonyagrahammcquade.com, as well as find photos related to the book and to her research trips to Missouri. You can also find links to her Chasing History and Emerging Civil War blog posts, her poetry and photography, and her social media sites.

Alan Sissenwein on “George Armstrong Custer – Part 2”

Custer is mainly remembered for his defeat and death at the Battle of Little Bighorn on June 25, 1876. Custer’s disastrous end, however, has eclipsed his very credible career in the Civil War, where he initially won the celebrity that made his final defeat a shock to the nation. This talk is intended to present a more three-dimensional view of Custer as both a man and a soldier, examining his conduct in both the Civil War and the Indian Wars.

Alan Sissenwein has been a member of the South Bay Civil War Round Table since 1997 and currently serves as its vice president. A professional writer, he holds a bachelor’s degree in history from UC Berkeley and a master’s in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. He is currently writing the second draft of a book on the Battle of Fredericksburg.

Chuck Seekamp on “Civil War Equipment and Miscellaneous Support Paraphernalia”

Chuck will display and discuss the tools used during the Civil War. Some are reproductions that were either bought or made from pictures. Includes one saddle bag with tools and medicines and an actual medical bag, probably post Civil War, but 1800s. The presentation will include tools out for inspection and to look at.

Chuck Seekamp was a volunteer firefighter for 15 years with many medical calls and learned things there. For the Civil War, Chuck started by re-enacting in the artillery. When the doctor who was impersonating the Confederate doctor had to leave, Chuck’s daughter, who playing a nurse, came to Chuck and asked to fill in, Chuck did so and started reading up on Confederate medical procedures. Many were written by Union doctors who had been captured and put to work in southern hospitals and therefore there was much comparison. The unit had in it an actual nurse, X-ray tech, blood drawer, dental hygienist, and a couple of other jobs. These people taught Chuck names and how things were done as well as what to read.