Military
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Jefferson County, on the border of North and South with the Potomac River forming its northern boundary, experienced more of the Civil War and suffered more from it than any other county in West Virginia. For four years it endured battles, military campaigns, opposing occupations, and graveyards full of dead soldiers, while Union and Confederate flags alternately flew over its hills and frightened citizens never knew which banner they would see. John Brown's 1859 raid first brought the siren of war to Harpers Ferry, and later smoke and flames darkened the sky when Confederate troops devastated the local economy and burned the U.S. armory. Throughout the war, Union and Confederate armies ruined crops and property, imposed martial law, and suppressed constitutional rights. At the same time, county residents witnessed a new birth of freedom as thousands of enslaved people fled bondage and sought shelter there. The crucible of war in Jefferson County helped forge the new state of West Virginia.
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Lovettsville, Maryland · United States
