Special Antietam Battlefield Guide Presentations at the Pry House

Come to the Pry House to hear Antietam Guides Steven R. Stotelmyer and John Michael Priest talk about the misunderstood General McClellan and the conflicting stories of General Mansfield’s wounding.

On Saturday, September 28th at 2:00 PM at the Pry House Field Hospital Museum historian and Antietam Battlefield Guide Steve Stotelmyer will discuss the historical accomplishments and myths surrounding Major General George B. McClellan. For most, the story of Confederate General Robert E. Lee and Union General George B. McClellan in the Maryland Campaign of 1862 has been little more than a caricature pitting Robert the Bold against George the Timid. The accepted stereotype of George McClellan as the slow, overly cautious timid commander who did not want to fight has assumed the status of historical consensus. Steven R. Stotelmyer will contribute to an accurate historical account of McClellan’s accomplishments during the campaign and debunk the myths surrounding McClellan. It will lead to a better more balanced understanding of one of the most capable commanders of the Civil War.

Steven R. Stotelmyer, a lifetime student of the Maryland Campaign, is a native of Hagerstown, Maryland. After a stint in the U.S. Navy he earned a Bachelor of Science Degree from Frostburg State College and a Master of Arts from Hood College. Mr. Stotelmyer currently serves as a volunteer and tour guide at the Antietam National Battlefield. Mr. Stotelmyer has also served as a part-time volunteer and historical consultant for the South Mountain State Battlefield. In 1992 he published The Bivouacs of the Dead: The Story of Those Who Died at Antietam and South Mountain. With the recent publication of Too Useful To Sacrifice: Reconsidering George B. McClellan’s Generalship in the Maryland Campaign from South Mountain to Antietam, Steven R. Stotelmyer provides a fresh examination and debunking of the negative stereotypes surrounding this capable commander during one of most crucial phases of the Civil War.

At 3:30 PM historian and Antietam Battlefield Guide John Michael Priest will present “Where in the world is General Mansfield?” 

General Joseph Mansfield has had the historical misfortune of being allegedly mortally wounded in six different locations on Antietam battlefield. Two regiments- the 10th Maine and the 125th Pennsylvania have claimed to come to his assistance. Somewhere between the two accounts lies the truth. John Michael Priest will seek to clarify the conclusion and analyze the varying accounts of General Mansfield’s wounding in his presentation.

John Michael Priest is a retired high school history teacher and has been interested in Civil War history from an early age. He is a graduate of Loyola College in Baltimore and Hood College in Frederick, Md., and has written extensively about the Civil War. His many books include Antietam: The Soldiers’ Battle (1989), “Before Antietam: The Battle for South Mountain (1992), Nowhere to Run: The Wilderness, May 4th & 5th, 1864 (1995), Victory Without Triumph: The Wilderness, May 6th & 7th, 1864 (1996) and Into the Fight: Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg (1998). Priest appeared on the Discovery Channel’s Unsolved History: Pickett’s Charge (2002) and served as a historical consultant for the miniseries To Appomattox. His newest work, Stand to It and Give Them Hell!, chronicles the fighting on July 2, 1863, from Cemetery Ridge to Little Round Top from the perspectives of the soldiers who fought the battle.

The presentations begin in the Pry Barn at 2:00 & 3:30 PM and are each a pay-what-you-please event. There is a $3.00 suggested donation to tour the Pry House Field Hospital Museum. Members access events and tours for FREE. The Pry House is open from 11 AM to 5 PM Friday through Sunday.