Antietam Anthologies Civil War Podcast

Follow the Aaron Good Chronicles through Chapter 3, Part 1 as we learn about the eyewitness account of Private Mark Nickerson and men of the 10th Massachusetts as they find, then bury the remains of a female Confederate soldier whose body was found in the Cornfield. In Part 2, we pick up on the trail of Aaron Good as he helps find the field graves of Union and Confederate soldiers and helps shape the history of two separate cemeteries; One for Union soldiers, and years later, a cemetery for Confederate soldiers who died in the Antietam Campaign.

A chance research visit turns up evidence of a female Confederate soldier killed at Antietam. But this segment is still about a female Union Soldier. What other evidence supports that death? Did Sarah Emma Edmonds, a female soldier who served in the Union Army under disguise as a male named Franklin Thompson, actually witness the death of a female Union Soldier and bury her on the battlefield at Antietam? We'll examine the story, with pros and cons, and try to resolve how to move forward to try to identify Female Soldier Number One.

Don't forget you can contact us by email at [email protected]. Submit stories for our podcast Hometown Civil War, comments, suggestions or just say hello. We'd enjoy hearing from you.

Chapter 1 of the Aaron Good Chronicles podcast, The Dead Female Union Soldier of Antietam, describes Aaron's exhumations and identifications of bodies in the field graves of Antietam between September 1862 and June 1865. He went to work after the battle in September 1862 and began compiling a list of names and locations of graves. According to the Antietam National Cemetery Board of Trustees, Aaron Good was given credit for "giving so freely of his time in pursuit of truly humane and praiseworthy efforts." Recent research has revealed that Aaron Good was a wartime profiteer who sold information to persons trying to locate bodies in the fields around Sharpsburg.

And another remarkable discovery about Aaron Good has come to light: In June 1865 Aaron Good discovered the remains of a female Union soldier.

Continue listening to this interesting study of how Union and Confederate soldiers died, were buried, identified and re-interred, all with the help of a citizen of Sharpsburg named Aaron Good.

Chapter 2: Anectdotal Reports of Female Union Soldiers Killed at Antietam will be published by Saturday, September 2. Follow our podcast series to be advised when new podcasts are published, and like our Facebook page for notices there. Don't forget you can write to us for our planned podcast "Hometown Civil War" to contribute articles about interesting Civil War events where you live, or about ancestors and relatives who participated in the enormous American conflict. 

The Aaron Good Chronicles examines the role of Sharpsburg farmhand Aaron Good. His contributions to identifying the dead of Antietam, locating field graves, and his participation in the efforts to remove the bodies from the battlefield to permanent cemeteries has never been historically scrutinized or fully understood. Listen to Sharpsburg Civil War historian M.P. Brugh peel back the full story and reveal the truth about his exploits. From selling information to people who would come to Sharpsburg to retrieve the remains of those sacrificed in battle, to the never before revealed to modern history story about Aaron Good's discovery of the remains of a female Union soldier in June 1865.

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This segment is the introduction to the Aaron Good Chrononicles. The rest of the story will follow in chapters until the story is complete, currently expected to be five chapters. The expected completion and publication of all chapters in The Aaron Good Chronicles should be in mid-September. 

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