As the prelude to the Emancipation Proclamation, the story of the Battle of Antietam has never been told through African American perspectives. The community witnessed John Brown’s raid, wartime skirmishes, the Battle of South Mountain and the aftermath of the bloodiest day in American history. Read stories of encounters with Abraham Lincoln and Union and Confederate generals and of Black civilian suffering and sacrifice in the cause of freedom. African American experiences during four years of Civil War come to life in vivid detail, often in their own words. Award-winning historian Emilie Amt recounts the personal stories of those, both enslaved and free, who lived on the battlefield and who worked in the armies who clashed there.
Emilie Amt is an emeritus professor of history at Hood College in Maryland and an award-winning writer of African American history. She lives near Antietam National Battlefield and serves on the Friends of Tolson’s Chapel Board of Directors. With a doctorate in history from Oxford University, she has published many books and articles on warfare, women’s history and religion.