by Kevin Mearkle (Author)
This book covers the story of the Bedford County Pennsylvania citizen soldiers during two of the most consequential military campaigns in American history. This book includes maps showing the locations and movements of regiments that suffered Bedford County casualties at Gettysburg, Antietam, South Mountain, and Harpers Ferry. Civil War soldiers were often in life and death struggles against a determined enemy. A surprising number of firsthand details can be found in regimental histories, memoirs, letters, newspapers, and official army records. This book provides brief visceral glimpses of what Bedford County soldiers experienced from these primary source materials. Photographs are included of the soldiers and battlefields, including photographs taken of Gettysburg and Antietam shortly after each battle ended. Not all Civil War sites are well-marked or easy to locate. The book provides turn by turn directions and current photographs of battlefield locations. Reading the testimonies of what our Civil War veterans experienced while walking where they walked will reveal a more meaningful dimension to the ground you will stand on when visiting Gettysburg and the battlefields of the Antietam Campaign.