Around Harpers Ferry, April 26, 2013

Today we took thte auto tour around Harpers Ferry, visiting some of the pivotal scenes of the battle that took place here in September 1862.

Learning that the garrison at Harpers Ferry had not retreated after his moving north into Maryland, Lee decided to surround the union force and capture it. He divided his army into four columns, three of which converged upon Harpers Ferry. On September 15, after Confederate artillery was placed on the heights overlooking the town, Union commander Colonel Miles surrendered  his force of more than 12,000.  What were the Confederates to do with over 12,000 prisoners? They "paroled" them--let them go, with  their promise not to engage in battle again until they could be exchanged for "captured" Confederate soldiers. Read more about this unique formal battle procedure in force during the Civil War here. Jackson took possession of Harpers Ferry, then led most of his soldiers to join with Lee at Sharpsburg (Antietam).

One interesting note: the battle of Antietam, named for the creek in Sharpsburg, was called that by the north. The south called it the battle of Sharpsburg. A year after the battle of Antietam, Confederate forces came back to try another attempt to invade the north at Gettysburg.

Harpers Ferry was the site of another historical event. John Brown was an abolitionist who believed armed insurrection was the only way to overthrow the institution of slavery in the United States. In 1859, Brown led an unsuccessful raid on the federal armory at Harpers Ferry that ended with his capture. Brown's trial resulted in his conviction and a sentence of death by hanging. Brown's attempt in 1859 to start a liberation movement among enslaved African Americans in Harpers Ferry, Virginia electrified the nation. He was tried for treason against the Commonwealth of Virginia, the murder of five men, and inciting a slave insurrection. He was found guilty on all counts and was hanged. This event played a major role in the start of the Civil War, revealing a deep division between North and South.

We finally strolled around Virginius Island in the Shenandoah River, where people lived and worked until floods drove everyone out. There are only traces of the settlement there now.

During the day, we had the pleasure of meeting a couple from Seneca Falls, NY who was visiting the area. We chatted for a bit, discussing the history of the area, and our mutual pleasure at traveling at a time of year when we weren't surrounded by throngs of people.