Upcoming Events
Upcoming Events:
June 29, 2026 – Three Days in November 1864: The US Army and Native Peoples in the Fight for the West with Megan Kate Nelson, 7pm at the Byrd Center Auditorium.
This talk will consider three moments in the Civil War in the Southwestern theater in the fall of 1864: the failure of the first corn crop at the Navajo prisoner-of-war camp at Bosque Redondo in New Mexico, the 3rd Colorado’s massacre of Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho peoples at Sand Creek in Colorado, and Kit Carson’s last battle in the field against Kiowa and Comanche warriors at Adobe Walls in Texas. All three of these moments reveal several important aspects of the American Civil War, which we don’t often consider in more general histories of the conflict: the ways that deployment of U.S. Army soldiers both within the West and into other theaters weakened federal power in the region; the miscalculations that far western commanders often made in battles against Indigenous polities; and the ways that Indigenous civilians were drawn into battles and became subject to policies determined not by Congress or the president but by military leaders.
Born and raised in Colorado, Megan Kate Nelson is a historian and writer based in Boston, with a BA from Harvard and a PhD in American Studies from the University of Iowa. She is the author of five books, including The Westerners: Mythmaking and Belonging on the American Frontier (Scribner 2026); Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America (Scribner 2022; winner of the 2023 Spur Award for Historical Non-Fiction); and The Three-Cornered War: The Union, the Confederacy, and Native Peoples in the Fight for the West (Scribner 2020; 2021 Pulitzer Prize finalist in History).
Dr. Nelson is an elected member of the prestigious Society of American Historians and was the 2024-2025 Rogers Distinguished Fellow in Nineteenth-Century American History at the Huntington Library in San Marino, California. She writes about the Civil War, the U.S. West, and American culture for The New York Times, Washington Post, The Atlantic, Smithsonian Magazine, Slate, and Time.
July and August – Check back soon for information on Gettysburg walks!
September 18, 2026 – Antietam: As Seen from the Antietam Experience the Battle of Antietam from the vantage of Antietam Creek. This 5-hour canoe trip will present the battle from a novel perspective, viewed and interpreted from the creek itself. You will float to places not accessible from the public battlefield. A Civil War adventure never to be forgotten! The tour will be guided by historian Dennis Frye, with Mike Dudash from Eagle Aquatics. Our gratitude to Dennis Frye for donating his time and expertise to benefit Shepherd Civil War Center student scholarships. Duration: 5 hours. Cost: $150. Details: Age 13+. All equipment will be provided. This trip requires that you have mobility to enter, exit, and paddle a 2-person canoe for the duration of the course. Participants will be emailed trip details 1-2 weeks prior to tour date. Register here.
September 25-27, 2026 – Forty Years of Triumph: A Retrospective of Preservation Success at Antietam and Beyond, offering a special exploration of Civil War battlefield preservation, this unique and timely event offers a discussion of preservation success at Antietam and elsewhere, with a special celebration of the 40th anniversary of Save Historic Antietam Foundation. Our seminar will include visits to Antietam, Harpers Ferry, and South Mountain to learn more about the battles to preserve these “hallowed grounds” with the individuals who helped lead that charge. Featuring guest speakers Garry Adelman, Tom Clemens, Dennis Frye, A. Wilson Greene, Bud Hall, Caroline Janney, and John Latschar. More information here.
November 1, 2026 – 
Join us for a unique opportunity to spend the day with Garry Adelman, Chief Historian American Battlefield Trust.
2:30-4:45pm: Garry will lead a tour titled The Antietam Battlefield: The Best Primary Source on Antietam National Battlefield. (Rain or shine)
5:00-6:30pm: Dinner on your own
6:45-8:00pm: The evening program (located at Byrd Center Auditorium, 213 N. King Street) will turn the spotlight on Garry, providing a “behind the scenes” conversation with one of the most influential and recognizable Civil War personalities of our era! This moderated discussion will explore the origins of Garry’s passion for the Civil War, and in particular his enthusiasm and expertise in Civil War photography, his experience in the restaurant business, his success as a Licensed Battlefield Guide at Gettysburg, and his distinguished career with the American Battlefield Trust.
Proceeds from this event are used to facilitate future Civil War Center programming and to support Shepherd student initiatives and opportunities.
Cost: $60. Register here.
April 18, 2027 – SAVE THE DATE! In Lincoln’s Footsteps tour with Dennis Frye.
Recent Events:
May 15, 2026 – “Antietam: As Seen from the Antietam” Experience the Battle of Antietam from the vantage of Antietam Creek. This 4-hour canoe trip will present the battle from a novel perspective, viewed and interpreted from the creek itself. You will float to places not accessible from the public battlefield. A Civil War adventure never to be forgotten. The tour will be guided by historian Dennis Frye. Our gratitude to Dennis Frye for donating his time and expertise to benefit Shepherd Civil War Center student scholarships. Duration: 4 hours. Cost: $150. Details: Age 13+. All equipment will be provided. This trip requires that you have mobility to enter, exit, and paddle a 2-person canoe for the duration of the course. Participants will be emailed trip details 1-2 weeks prior to tour date. THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT. If you’d like to be added to a waitlist, please email kmarino@shepherd.edu
May 2, 2026 – A Victory Turned from Disaster: Battle of Cedar Creek Tour – Join us as Eric Campbell, former Chief of Interpretation at Cedar Creek & Belle Grove National Historical Park, guides this car tour. The Battle of Cedar Creek (October 19, 1864) marked the end of Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan’s incredibly successful 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign. This 3-hour (9-stop) tour follows the battle chronologically, from the bold pre-dawn attack launched by Lt. Gen. Jubal Early’s Army of the Valley, which routed Sheridan’s larger Army of the Shenandoah, to the site of “Sheridan’s Ride” (in which he rallied his broken forces), to the final Union counterattack which completely swept Early’s men from the field. Cedar Creek not only forever cemented Sheridan’s military reputation, but came less than three weeks before the 1864 Presidential election, greatly assisting Lincoln’s re-election. Tour stops include the 8th Vermont monument, the 19th Corps entrenchments, Belle Grove Plantation (Sheridan’s headquarters), Cemetery Hill, and the site of Sheridan’s Ride, among others.
April 18, 2026 – John Brown’s War: A Tour in the Footsteps of One of America’s Most Enigmatic Figures. Join Harpers Ferry National Historical Park’s Chief Historian Emeritus, Dennis Frye, for a special, full-day program traversing the key sites associated with John Brown’s famed 1859 raid on Harpers Ferry. As America commemorates its 250th anniversary, explore the enduring ideals of freedom, equality, and democracy, and the ways in which John Brown understood his own role in manifesting those ideas.
March 12, 2026 – “A New Deal for the Battlefield: The Civilian Conservation Corps at Gettysburg, 1933-1942” with Dr. Jill Ogline Titus, Gettysburg College. 7pm, Shepherdstown Opera House.
March 7, 2026 – Used Civil War Book Sale at the Civil War Center, 136 W. German St. 9am-4pm. Join us for our upcoming Used Civil War Book Sale! We’ll have a wide-ranging collection of Civil War titles, including bestsellers, memoirs, biographies, and other nonfiction from some of the best Civil War authors. You’ll also find related items like posters and magazines. Come browse and discover a great read!
February 26, 2026 – Book launch for They Are Dead and Yet They Live: Civil War Memories in a Polarized America with Dr. Jennifer Murray and Dr. John Kinder (Oklahoma State University). 7pm, Storer Ballroom – Shepherd University Student Center.
January 26, 2026 – “Can We Learn Anything from Antietam?” with historian D. Scott Hartwig, Supervisory Ranger, Retired, Gettysburg National Military Park. President’s Lecture Series. 6:30pm, Byrd CHE Auditorium, 213 N. King St. More information here.
This was recorded on Zoom and can be accessed at: https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/Beu7Lkap3FDJOjZctr7MKEKWCYq4oroqLyx3dpg494ibAruPdNrf6wkXwZnQn5tc.DyXCr-WeUOsNGY2M?startTime=1769470201000
Passcode: n0zc+9YN
November 2, 2025 – Historian Kevin Pawlak led a caravan and walking tour of the Battle of Shepherdstown. This caravan and walking tour will cover the final event of the Maryland Campaign, the two-day Battle of Shepherdstown. Fought following the Confederate withdrawal from Sharpsburg, this battle along the Potomac River helped prevent a Confederate reentry into Maryland and officially brought Lee’s campaign north of the Potomac River to an end.
September 18-20, 2025 – Annual Civil War Fall Seminar: Antietam & Its Legacy. Click here for more information.
September 27, 2025 – Sedgwick’s Division – Tour of Antietam with Scott Hartwig hosted by Addressing Gettysburg, with a book signing and light refreshments at the Civil War Center following the tour.
October 1, 2025 – Eric Campbell, former Chief of Interpretation at Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Historical Park, presented “The Burning: Sheridan’s Operations in the Shenandoah Valley.”
July 17, 2025 – 7pm. Midnight on the Potomac: Scott Ellsworth in Conversation. A powerful and timely discussion with bestselling historian Scott Ellsworth, author of Midnight on the Potomac: The Last Year of the Civil War, the Lincoln Assassination, and the Rebirth of America. Presented by Four Seasons Books in partnership with the George Tyler Moore Center & the Center for Appalachian Studies at Shepherd University.
May 23, 2025 – Bleeding Kansas – A Historical Drama presented by Town Run Theatre Company at Shepherdstown Opera House. Following the May 23rd performance, GTMC’s new director, Dr. Jennifer Murray, presented a short talk.
December 5, 2024 – Professor Jonathan Noyalas presented “Never to be Forgotten”: What the Battle of Cool Spring Reveals about the War’s Impact on Soldiers & Families from his book “The Blood-Tinted Waters of the Shenandoah”: The 1864 Valley Campaign’s Battle of Cool Spring.
December 7, 2024 – Historic Christmas at the Shindler House. Join us after the parade for a family friendly celebration of the season! Stop by to create a yule log, see military reenactors, and have a snack of cider and ginger snaps.
November 2, 2024 – Black Life at Ferry Hill Tour. Drs. James Broomall and Ben Bankhurst, along with special guest Justin Ebersole (NPS cultural resource specialist), lead a walking tour focusing on Black life, enslavement, and freedom at Ferry Hill. Participants toured Ferry Hill’s interior and walked the site grounds.
October 8, 2024 – Dr. Kate Masur presented an author talk and q&a about her new book Freedom Was in Sight: A Graphic History of Reconstruction in the Washington, D.C. Area, presented in partnership with Four Seasons Books and the Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education.
April 25, 2024 – Dr. Clayton Butler, Historian and Assistant Editor at UVA Press, spoke on his book True Blue: White Unionists in the Deep South During the Civil War and Reconstruction.
March 21, 2024 – Panel career discussion highlighting the great successes of Shepherd graduates and potential careers for current students.
December 1, 2023 – James Scythes offered a talk from his book Letters to Lizzie: The Story of Sixteen Men in the Civil War and the One Woman Who Connected Them All.
December 2, 2023 – Historic Christmas: living history demonstrations, children’s activities, battlefield tabletop games, and a display by Shepherdstown Battlefield Preservation Association.
November 8, 2023 – Co-sponsored with Byrd CHE and Lifelong Learning, Charlie Goodyear presented from his book “President Garfield: From Radical to Unifier“.
November 16, 2023 – Patrick Schroeder, Historian at Appomattox Courthouse National Historical Park presented from his his popular Myths About Lee’s Surrender books.
October 12, 2023 – Historian Curtis Older presented from his book Hood’s Defeat Near Fox’s Gap: Prelude to Emancipation.
October 6-8, 2023 – We held our Fall Seminar, “Meade’s Decision: The Pipe Creek Line & the Road to Gettysburg.”
September 21, 2023 – Historian and filmmaker Steven Cowie presented from his book When Hell Came to Sharpsburg: The Battle of Antietam and Its Impact on the Civilians Who Called It Home.
September 17, 2023 – Shepherdstown Opera House, along with the GTMC, Historic Shepherdstown Museum, and Shepherdstown Battlefield Preservation Association, hosted the first theater screening and q & a of “Shepherdstown Remembers Antietam,” an original film written and produced by local history researcher Jim Surkamp. The film describes the Battle’s impact through the eyes of Shepherdstown-area residents of the time, many of whom mobilized to aid wounded and hungry soldiers.
August 30, 2023 – In partnership with Shepherd University’s Lifelong Learning program, Dr. Stephen Goldman presented “Brevet Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Wiley Gelray: How a Maimed Union Veteran Battled the Ku Klux Klan” from his book One More War to Fight: Union Veterans’ Battle for Equality through Reconstruction, Jim Crow, and the Lost Cause.
April 26, 2023 – Dr. Scott MacKenzie presented on his book Slavery, Emancipation, and the Formation of West Virginia, 1829-1872, co-sponsored with Lifelong Learning.
March 16-18, 2023 – The Virginia Forum held its annual conference at Shepherd University.
March 2, 2023 – Dr. Emilie Amt presented “Black Antietam: Searching for African American Civil War History” from her book Black Antietam: African Americans and the Civil War in Sharpsburg.
December 3, 2022 – Holiday Open House with Living History Demonstrations and a Yule Log. We presented Christmas across the ages through hands-on demonstrations, toys, and learning the tradition of the Yule log.
December 1, 2022 – “A Classical Brass Christmas” A brass quintet, consisting of current and former Shepherd University faculty performed Christmas and other classical pieces from the 16th-20th centuries.
November 29, 2022 – Robert Dunkerly presented “The Brown’s Island Explosion and Search for the Victims”
November 19, 2022 – “Culp’s Hill in War and Memory”: Dr. James Broomall and Dana Shoaf, Editor at Civil War Times, lead a walking tour of Culp’s Hill in Gettysburg National Battlefield.
November 9, 2022 – Ernie Dollar presented on his recent book, Hearts Torn Asunder: Trauma in the Civil War’s Final Campaign in North Carolina.
October 27, 2022 – Professor Jonathan Noyalas presented “‘To Be Free Someday’: Reflections on Slavery & Freedom in the Shenandoah Valley During the Civil War Era,” from his book Slavery and Freedom in the Shenandoah Valley during the Civil War Era. Watch on Facebook.
September 10, 2022 – “Exposed to the Fire of Slavery and Freedom:” A Symposium Commemorating the 160th Anniversary of the Battle of Antietam. In conjunction with Antietam National Battlefield, this one-day event featured presentations on the battle of Antietam and its contested legacy.
July 6 – 9, 2021 – “A desperate thing to do”- Jubal Early’s 1864 Maryland Campaign, Facebook, (view here)
June 3, 2021 – Mosby’s Rangers with Eric W. Buckland, Facebook Live, (view here)
May 26, 2021 – “Down the Valley, and Back Again”: The 1862 Valley Campaign“, Facebook Live (view here)
May 19, 2021 – “The Grinding Curse”: Race and Slavery in the Shenandoah Valley, Facebook Live (view here)
May 6, 2021 – Material Witness: Eighteenth- and Nineteenth- Century Artifacts and Narrating the Past- Facebook Live (view here)
March 25, 2021 – Searching for Hayward Shepherd – Facebook Live (view here)
March 4, 2021 – Music of the People: American Folk Music through the Centuries – Facebook Live (view here)
February 16, 2021 – Seceding from Secession: West Virginia Exceptionalism and the Road to Statehood – Facebook Live (view here)
January 28, 2021 – The Winter’s War: Civil War Soldiers in Camp & On Campaign – Facebook Live (view here)
We hope you join us for future programs!