Battle of Harpers Ferry / Union Stronghold

During the second year of the American Civil War, the invasion of Maryland rocked the United States. In September 1862, Confederate General Robert E. Lee launched his army into the North and made Harpers Ferry his first target, ordering "Stonewall" Jackson to attack. At Harpers Ferry, Jackson overcame great obstacles, defeated the Union in a three-day battle, and forced the largest surrender of U.S. troops during the Civil War. That victory enabled Lee to make his stand at nearby Antietam. Harpers Ferry stood at the gateway into Confederate Virginia and the strategic Shenandoah Valley, and the Union army used it as a supply base for operations into Southern territory. The Railroad Brigade, headquartered there with a force of over 14,000 men, protected more than 400 miles of Northern rail lines stretching from Baltimore into western Virginia. By the second week of September 1862, that brigade's world had shrunk to the hillside above the town as Confederate fire closed in, with Lieutenant James H. Clark recalling that each succeeding shell came nearer until the earth was plowed up at their feet and their tents were torn to tatters.

Lovettsville, Maryland · United States