Bruce R. Gourley is an avid student of the Civil War, especially the Antietam Campaign of 1862. He participated in the first Annual Antietam National Battlefield Memorial Illumination in 1989. He served briefly as a volunteer at the Battlefield in 1998. In one instance, he provided a couple from New York with their distant relative’s regimental casualty report, which listed the soldier as KIA; Bruce then directed the couple to the monument marking the spot where the unit fought. Mr. Gourley is a charter member of the Monocacy National Battlefield.
He resides with his wife Julia and their six cats.