In 1862 Union soldiers forced Edmund Chambers, the farm's first owner from 1848 to 1869, from his home, and the farm became a battlefield where Confederate General A.P. Hill struck the winning blow of the Battle of Harpers Ferry. During the second year of the American Civil War, Confederate General Robert E. Lee launched his army into Maryland in September 1862 and made Harpers Ferry his first target, ordering "Stonewall" Jackson to attack. Jackson overcame great obstacles in a three-day battle, 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. Union General Philip Sheridan built fortified earthworks here in 1864 to protect Harpers Ferry from Confederate attack. In 1895 John Brown's Fort, having been displaced, came to rest here, where the farm's new owner, Alexander Murphy, allowed its reconstruction and public access. The fort, a symbol of freedom to formerly enslaved people, became a shrine and helped inspire early civil rights advancements for African Americans. For more than 130 years Murphy's descendants preserved the farm in pristine condition.
