◂ All News

This post tagged as:

BattlefieldsHistory

Latest Battlefields Posts

09/25/2023
By Dana Cohen

Interpreting Our Heritage: Preservation Maryland at Gettysburg

“Interpretation is an art,” said Freeman Tilden, author of Interpreting Our Heritage. “The chief aim of interpretation is not instruction, but rather provocation.” As we work to preserve, rehabilitate, and interpret some of the state’s most iconic places and their stories, the Preservation Maryland team visited Gettysburg National Military Park to see how our partners at the National Park Service are doing the same.

09/17/2023
By Preservation Maryland

Video Series: Discovering the Layers of History at the Antietam Battlefield

On the 161st anniversary of the Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest single day in American history, we’re featuring a few of Antietam’s untold stories and unique layers of history. Follow along with Preservation Maryland’s President and CEO Nicholas Redding as he visits the battlefield, located in Sharpsburg, Maryland.

Central to the ability to tell this story is preservation, which is one of the primary reasons that Preservation Maryland launched its own battlefield preservation program aimed at helping to preserve, rehabilitate, and interpret some of the state’s most iconic places — and to make certain that the stories told are comprehensive and inclusive of their long histories.

12/22/2022
By Preservation Maryland

Preservation, Planning, and Consensus-building at Falling Waters

In July 1863, a tired and defeated Army of Northern Virginia arrived at the banks of the Potomac River at Williamsport, Maryland. Its invasion of the North, its second in two years, had met a bloody end at the Battle of Gettysburg in nearby Pennsylvania. Now it limped back towards Virginia, pursued by the battered but victorious Army of the Potomac. As the Confederates attempted to make their escape across the river, the two sides clashed at the Battle of Falling Waters. During the fighting, General J. Johnston Pettigrew, who only a few days earlier had survived Pickett’s Charge, was mortally wounded. The rearguard action by the Confederates allowed General Lee’s Army to escape across the river. The Army of the Potomac and the Army of Northern Virginia would continue to fight until the surrender at Appomattox in April 1865. With the battle over, residents moved on, and the battlefield was mostly forgotten. 

American Soldiers on a snowy road during the Battle of the Bulge, 1944.

Maryland Bravery at the Battle of the Bulge

12/16/2022
By Nicholas A. Redding

In the early morning hours of December 16, 1944, the last major German counteroffensive of World War II was launched headlong into unsuspecting American forces.

Over the next twenty-one days of sustained fighting, in what has since been known to history at the “Battle of the Bulge,” the Americans would sustain their heaviest losses of the war – with nearly 75,000 casualties and the destruction of hundreds of tanks and aircraft. In the bitter cold and under the most difficult weather conditions, the Americans held back against the German onslaught – ultimately prevailing and severely reducing the capacity of the Nazi war machine – thus opening a path for the American assault on German homeland itself.

American soldiers defend their foxhole in the Ardennes,1944.

American soldiers defend their foxhole in the Ardennes,1944.

During this melee of combat, on Christmas Day, 1944, Baltimore County native Paul Joseph Wiedorfer became one of twenty Americans to receive the Medal of Honor during the Bulge  for his “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action above and beyond the call of duty.”

With his unit pinned down, Wiedorfer single-handedly destroyed two German machine-gun nests and took half a dozen prisoners after a charge of nearly 40 yards over open and dangerous ground. When asked many years later by the Baltimore Sun why he made the decision to take such a bold action, Wiedorfer humbly explained, “Suddenly something popped into my mind. Something had to be done and someone had to do it. And I just did it. I can’t tell you why.”

Wiedorfer’s Official Medal of Honor Citation read:

Paul J. Wiedorfer, Baltimore Sun.The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Staff Sergeant Paul Joseph Wiedorfer, United States Army, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action above and beyond the call of duty on 25 December 1944, while serving with Company G, 2d Battalion, 2d Battalion, 318th Infantry Regiment, 80th Infantry Division, in action at Chaumont, Belgium. Staff Sergeant Wiedorfer alone made it possible for his company to advance until its objective was seized. Company G had cleared a wooded area of snipers, and one platoon was advancing across an open clearing toward another wood when it was met by heavy machinegun fire from two German positions dug in at the edge of the second wood. These positions were flanked by enemy riflemen. The platoon took cover behind a small ridge approximately 40 yards from the enemy position. There was no other available protection and the entire platoon was pinned down by the German fire. It was about noon and the day was clear, but the terrain was extremely difficult due to a three-inch snowfall the night before over ice-covered ground. Private Wiedorfer, realizing that the platoon advance could not continue until the two enemy machinegun nests were destroyed, voluntarily charged alone across the slippery open ground with no protecting cover of any kind. Running in a crouched position, under a hail of enemy fire, he slipped and fell in the snow, but quickly rose and continued forward with the enemy concentrating automatic and small-arms fire on him as he advanced. Miraculously escaping injury, Private Wiedorfer reached a point some ten yards from the first machinegun emplacement and hurled a hand grenade into it. With his rifle he killed the remaining Germans, and, without hesitation, wheeled to the right and attacked the second emplacement. One of the enemy was wounded by his fire and the other six immediately surrendered. This heroic action by one man enabled the platoon to advance from behind its protecting ridge and continue successfully to reach its objective. A few minutes later, when both the platoon leader and the platoon sergeant were wounded, Private Wiedorfer assumed command of the platoon, leading it forward with inspired energy until the mission was accomplished.

Wiedorfer passed away in 2011 – but like many of his generation, this Marylander left behind a proud legacy and will be remembered for many years to come for his contribution to the global effort to end the Nazi tyranny of Europe.

The Congressional Medal of Honor Society

Join Preservation Maryland

Nicholas A. Redding · Executive Director

Nicholas A. Redding is Preservation Maryland’s Executive Director and between announcing major organizational updates, he often blogs about Maryland and Civil War history.

Meet Our Team
Our Story Donate Press & Media Resources Contact Us Site by Younts Design Inc. © Preservation Maryland, 2023.