David A. Welker Civil War Historian
Author/Speaker/Battlefield Guide
A Bit About Me
I’m a professional historian with the US Government and author of three Civil War histories, The Cornfield: Antietam's Turning Point; Tempest at Ox Hill: The Battle of Chantilly and A Keystone Rebel: The Diary of Joseph Garey. A frequent public speaker on diverse aspects of the war, I'm also the author of numerous magazine articles on the war. I’ve also been featured on several Civil War history podcasts and TV/radio programs.
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David Offers Presentations On:
* His Books - Diary of a Keystone Rebel
- Tempest at Ox Hill: The Battle of Chantilly
- The Cornfield: Antietam's Bloody Turning Point
* The Story of Civil War Intelligence
* African American Intelligence Contributions
* The US Regular Army in the Civil War
And More! Contact David about other talks
and requested topics at
dawelker1861@gmail.com
* The Union's Invalid Corp - the Veteran Reserve Corps' Unsung Story
* The First Battle of Bull Run - The Greatest Learning Curve
* The Battle of the Crater - "Such opportunity for carrying fortifications I
have never seen and do not expect again to have”
* The USS Choctaw - An Ironclad Well-Suited to River Warfare
The Cornfield: Antietam's Bloody Turning Point
March 5, 2020
The Cornfield tells the story of what happened in David Miller’s once-peaceful farm field on 17 September 1862, which opened America’s single bloodiest day. This is the story of human struggle against fearful odds, of men seeking to do their duty, of simply trying to survive in a contest which had implications that echoed decisively throughout Antietam’s other actions and reverberated beyond the close of fighting that evening.
Making this often-complicated action available for readers of all interest levels, The Cornfield includes many previously-obscured first-hand accounts and offers new analysis of the Cornfield fight.
NOW IN PAPERBACK! - Click here
My Books
Hot off the Shelf
Tempest At Ox Hill: The Battle of Chantilly
Every Civil War buff has heard of the Battle of Chantilly, the bloody 1862 engagement fought in a driving rainstorm only twenty miles from Washington that claimed the lives of two of the Union's most promising generals. Yet few have known the full story of courage and human drama because no one has ever produced a lively and historically accurate account of the battle-until now. Tempest at Ox Hill compellingly evokes this pivotal battle of the war.
A Keystone Rebel: The Civil War Diary of Joesph Garey, Hudson's Battery Mississippi Volunteers
The story told in Joseph Garey's daily journal is much like thousands of other young men called to military service in 1861 but with a twist - for he was a Pennsylvania boy who fought for his adopted state of Mississippi. A priceless record that shares one young man's journey from naïve youth to an adult who had tasted war's truth and had had enough.
David's Published Articles
Guarding the Nation's Honor: Arlington National Cemetery's 3rd US Infantry in the Civil War in Military Collector and Historian Magazine
African American Intelligence Contributions to the American Civil War in the International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence
USS Choctaw: "Well Adapted to the River Service" in Civil War Navy: The Magazine
Cornfield Maelstrom in Civil War Times
Antietam's Deadly Harvest: New Revelations from a Recently Discovered Map in America's Civil War
Explosive Coal Bombs: Hiding Plain Sight in Studies in Intelligence
“Today I am the Colonel’s Orderly:" Emory Upton’s clerk, Albert Jennings, preserves the colonel’s unrecorded farewell address to the 121st New York in Civil War Times
Rebel Thunder: Jubal Early's Tardy Lieutenant's Save Confederates, Stonewall at Chantilly in America's Civil War
America's Civil War Interviews David
Recent Presentations:
The Cornfield: Antietam's Bloody Turning Point
Here's my presentation on Antietam's Cornfield, given to the reenactors of the 3rd US Regulars, which offers the basics of the two hours of fighting there and the opening portions of my book.
The US Regulars at Second Bull Run
This presentation reveals new details of the actions and contribution of the Regular Army troops during the Second Battle of Manassas, 29-30 August, 1862. I'm the second speaker, covering particularly the movements and fighting of the 3rd US.
"Don't Give Up The Ship"