A long time student of American History and the Civil War, Matthew Borders holds a BA in US History and an MS in Historic Preservation. He has worked as a National Park Service ranger at Antietam National Battlefield, as well as a historian and battlefield surveyor for the National Park Service’s American Battlefield Protection Program. He is also a Certified Battlefield Guide at Antietam and Harpers Ferry.

Currently Matthew is a Park Ranger at Monocacy National Battlefield in Frederick, Maryland and along with fellow guide, Joe Stahl, recently published his first book, Faces of Union Soldiers at Antietam. In 2019 he was honored to be the recipient of the Save Historic Antietam Foundation’s Dr. Joseph Harsh Award for his research topic: The Loudoun Valley Campaign of 1862: McClellan’s Final Advance.

 

The purpose of this research was to look into the thirteen days prior to McClellen being removed from command of the Army of the Potomac, October 26th – November 7th, 1862. This period has generally been overlooked by Civil War history, however, the gravity of McClellan’s final campaign, and the opportunities that it offered, should not be. Had his campaign been allowed to reach its conclusion it is possible that much of the popular opinion of General McClellan, and how he waged his campaigns, would be drastically different.

​Join us on Wednesday, August 5th, for Antietam Battlefield Guide Matt Borders’ discussion about his research on “The Loudoun Valley Campaign of 1862: McClellan’s Final Advance”.

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.   Even though those programs are outdoors, we require attending guests to wear face coverings and to social distance as much as possible. To ensure adequate seating, please bring a chair.  In case of inclement weather, lectures will be held at 101 W. Main Street at Town Square.  Parking is available on Main and Hall Streets.  For updates and a full schedule of presenters & topics check our Facebook page.