Matthew Borders is a 2004 graduate of Michigan State University with a BA in US History. While at MSU he was first an intern and then a seasonal ranger for the National Park Service at Antietam National Battlefield. Following his undergrad he immediately went to Eastern Michigan University for his MS in Historic Preservation, with a focus in Battlefield Interpretation, which he earned in 2006. ​

​Upon graduation he taught for a year at Kalamazoo Valley Community College before accepting a  position with the National Park Service’s American Battlefield Protection Program. Moving to Maryland in 2007 with his wife Kira, he worked as the historian for the ABPP for the next six years, personally surveying over 100 different American Civil War battlefields in the deep south and western United States. Over this period he also became involved with the Frederick County Civil War Round Table. He continues to work with Antietam National Battlefield as a volunteer and Certified Battlefield Guide, as well as a Certified Guide for Harpers Ferry National Historical Site.​

​Currently Matt is a Park Ranger at Monocacy National Battlefield in Frederick, Maryland. He continues to volunteer regularly as a living history volunteer portraying Federal infantry and along with fellow guide, Joe Stahl, recently published his first book, Faces of Union Soldiers at Antietam.​

​Join us on Wednesday, August 14th, for Antietam Battlefield Guide Matt Borders’ talk “A Last Roll of the Dice: The Third Confederate Invasion of the North – 1864”​.  Matt will look at the far less known, THIRD Confederate Invasion of the North that occurred in the summer of 1864. Often lost within the larger campaigns for Petersburg, Atlanta and later the Shenandoah Valley, the third Confederate invasion was a last ditch effort to redirect Federal forces away from Richmond, re-leave pressure against the Army of Northern Virginia, and just maybe disrupt the reelection of Abraham Lincoln, thereby changing the course of the war.​

Come join leading historians and Antietam Battlefield Guides as they discuss intriguing topics of the Maryland Campaign of 1862 and the Civil War during our Civil War Summer Lecture Series.

These outdoors programs will be held at the Jacob Rohrbach Inn on Wednesday evenings at 7:oo p.m.   To ensure adequate seating, please bring a chair.  In case of inclement weather, lectures will be held at the Sharpsburg Christ Reformed Church of Christ.  Parking is available on Main and Hall Streets.  For updates and a full schedule of presenters & topics check our Facebook page.