In September 1862, during the second year of the American Civil War, Confederate General Robert E. Lee launched his army into Maryland and made Harpers Ferry his first target, ordering "Stonewall" Jackson to attack. Jackson arrived on Schoolhouse Ridge with 14,000 men to begin the Battle of Harpers Ferry, facing mountain obstacles and a determined Union army defending Bolivar Heights. Using his knowledge of the area's rugged terrain, gained when he had served at Harpers Ferry as a Confederate colonel at the war's outbreak in April 1861, Jackson outmaneuvered the Union troops. In a three-day battle, he defeated the Union and forced the largest surrender of U.S. troops during the Civil War, a victory that enabled Lee to make his stand at nearby Antietam.
