Hello!
I’m Brian Downey and this is where I take you behind the scenes of my website “Antietam on the Web” (AotW).
There I compile information centered on the the American Civil War battle of Antietam and the people who were there.
Over here I write about soldiers and the war, doing digital history, the Antietam battlefield, and about related happenings that I see around the internets. I spend most of my time digging into the individuals who were at Sharpsburg in September 1862, so they are most often my focus here.
You can expect a new post occasionally, at least until I drop 🙂
In addition to the “best of” posts on the home page, some of my favorite posts of the past are gathered here, if you’re looking for a place to start.
This blog is meant to be a two-way conversation, so I very much want to hear from you. Please comment on any post that strikes your fancy.
If you have a private comment or question feel free to email me directly (bdowney at aotw dot org).
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By way of further explanation here’s my first post, from March 2006.
Just what we need… another blog.
I started this one, a companion to Antietam on the Web, to catch some of the spin-off that comes from researching, writing, and coding for that site.
I initially resisted blogging or participating much in other online communities because I’m jealous of my time and energy. I figured if I have time to post on a blog or a board, I should instead do research and write for the website.
That may still be true, but I find all sorts of good things bubble to the surface as I’m working on AotW – things that don’t get onto the site or necessarily belong there – and there’s nowhere to catch or share them. So here’s such a place.
We’ll see if anything interesting pops out.
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The skull image at the top is from an illustration in the Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion (1870-1888) accompanying a story about “an unnamed Confederate sharpshooter knocked from a tree atop South Mountain at long range by Union skirmishers,” presumably on 14 September 1862. More about that in a post here.
behind AotW runs on WordPress software and its visual design is based on the native Twenty Twenty-Four theme.
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