Civil War Summer Lecture Series

Matt 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. While at Eastern Matt again worked at Antietam as a Seasonal Ranger.

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, Matt worked as the historian for the ABPP for the next four years, personally surveying over 100 different American Civil War battlefields in the deep south and western United States. In 2011 his job with the ABPP was expanded to include additional duties related to the program’s preservation grants. Over this period Matt also became involved with the Frederick County Historical Society, a member, later the President, of the Frederick County Civil War Round Table and as a volunteer and Certified Battlefield Guide for Antietam National Battlefield.

Currently Matt is a National Park Service Ranger at Monocacy National Battlefield in Frederick, Maryland. His first book, written with fellow Certified Guide Joe Stahl, is due out this fall.

Matt’s talk, Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney: Beyond Dred Scott, looks at that enigmatic figure through his case work and whether or not it gives a deeper understanding for this much maligned historical figure. Chief Justice Taney will be forever remembered for the infamous Dred Scott decision in 1857, but was this hard line opinion from the bench always the opinion of the man himself, or did it develop over time during the raucous antebellum years of the United States?

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.