Battle of Harpers Ferry
Union Stronghold
(Upper panel): Battle of Harpers Ferry
Invasion rocked the United States during the second year of the American Civil War. In September 1862 Confederate General Robert E. Lee launched his army into Maryland - the North. Lee's first target became Harpers Ferry. He ordered "Stonewall" Jackson to make the attack.
Here Jackson overcame great obstacles, defeating the Union during a three-day battle and forcing the largest surrender of U.S. troops during the Civil War. His victory at Harpers Ferry enabled Lee to make his stand at nearby Antietam.
At first their missiles of death fell far short of our camp; but each succeeding shell came nearer and nearer, until the earth was plowed up at our feet, and our tents torn to tatters.
Lieutenant James H. Clark, 115th New York Infantry
(Lower panel): Union Stronghold
Harpers Ferry was located at the gateway into Confederate Virginia and the strategic Shenandoah Valley. The Union army used it as a supply base for operations into Southern territory. The Railroad Brigade, headquartered here with a force of over 14,000 men, protected over 400 miles of Northern rail lines, stretching from Baltimore into western Virginia. By the second week of September 1862 the brigade's world shrank to this hillside.
Marker is at the intersection of Whitman Avenue and Prospect Avenue, on the right when traveling west on Whitman Avenue.
Courtesy hmdb.org
