O.T. Reilly Antietam Postcard / SOLD
Postcard depicting General James Longstreet and the Confederate First National Flag, measuring 5 ½” by 3 ½”. At the bottom left is printed “Published by O.T. Reilly, Sharpsburg, MD.” Oliver Thomas Reilly was born in 1857 and as a young boy experienced the Battle of Antietam from his family’s nearby farm near Keedysville. The battle became his passion. He moved into Sharpsburg and ran a store on Main Street that sold battlefield relics and served as his headquarters as battlefield guide for over fifty years. Based on his incredible knowledge he could guide veterans returning to the battlefield to the places that they only vaguely remembered, all the time learning their stories and experiences. Years later, he would tell these stories to a new generation. Reilly published a book, The Battle of Antietam, and wrote a homespun newspaper column that ran in local papers and was often picked up by papers in the big cities. Reilly died in 1945, having preserved a host of memories and passed them on to the future. The postcard is housed in an antique wood frame.