Antietam Battlefield Experts Join State and National Leaders
in Examining Enduring Leadership Lessons
Tour Attracted Renowned Photographer, Magazine Editor, Noted Army Historian, Educators, and Business and Military Leaders
(CARLISLE, PA) –An immersive battlefield experience through the Antietam National Battlefield in Sharpsburg, Maryland on Wed., April 29 attracted more than 35 distinguished educators, authors, Army leaders and history-lovers for contemplation, conversation and camaraderie.
Distinguished guests included
- Popular “PA Bucket List” travel blogger Rusty Glessner, who has more than half a million followers;
- Dr. Garrett M. Graff, former editor of Politico Magazine, editor of Washingtonian Magazine and Georgetown Journalism professor;
- “Pennsylvania Newsmakers” TV host and former President and CEO of the PA Chamber of Business and Industry Gene Barr; and
- Former West Point professor and distinguished fellow at the U.S. Army War College Dr. John Bonin.
The Staff Ride participants heard from experts in miliary history over the course of the day, including Dr. Emilie Amt, award-winning author of Black Antietam and an emeritus professor of history at Hood College in Maryland; and Jim Rosebrock, founding member of the Antietam Institute and author of The Artillery of Antietam.
A “setting the stage” reception took place the evening before the trip to the battlefield at Mount Tabor Church in Mount Holly Springs.
Julie Germany, president of the Carlisle-based Army Heritage Center Foundation (AHCF), which offered this unique leadership laboratory, said, "The Battle of Antietam, fought on September 17, 1862, remains one of the most consequential days in American history. Our Battlefield Staff Ride took about 40 guests into the leadership decision-making that led to the single bloodiest day of combat in the Civil War—and how its outcomes led to the Emancipation Proclamation and changed American history forever."
“The day’s high-level analyses offered perspective-taking and thought-provoking discussions into risk-taking, leadership, and decision-making under duress, then and now,” Germany added.
Photographs of the day will be featured on Rusty Glessner’s “PA Bucket List” Facebook page, which has more than 511,000 followers.
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The Military Heritage Foundation, doing business as the Army Heritage Center Foundation (armyheritage.org), is a charitable organization separate from and predating the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center. As a private, nonprofit, non-Federal entity, AHCF is not affiliated with the Department of War and has no governmental status.
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Army Heritage Center Foundation
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Julie Germany President
- May 01, 2026
- (717) 258-1102
- Send Email
