BGuthrie Photos: WV -- Harpers Ferry NHP -- Maryland Heights Trail and Vista

WV -- Harpers Ferry NHP -- Maryland Heights Trail and Vista:

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Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. HARPMH_060813_001.JPG: Maryland Heights -- Mountain Fortress of Harpers Ferry: You are standing on the border between North and South during the Civil War. As the highest ridge surrounding Harpers Ferry, Maryland Heights played a prominent role in the strategic operations of both the Union and the Confederacy. Southern forces under Col. Thomas J. Jackson first occupied this ground in early May 1861, violating Maryland's neutrality. Confederates remained here until they abandoned Harpers Ferry on June 15, 1861. "I have finished reconnoitering the Maryland Heights, and have determined to fortify them at once, and hold them.... be the cost what it may." -- Col. Thomas J. Jackson, May 7, 1861 Jackson returned fifteen months later, during the Confederacy's first major invasion of the North. "Stonewall" Jackson, as he was now called, directed a three-pronged siege of the Union garrison at Harpers Ferry, seizing Maryland Heights from the north on September 13, 1862. Two days later, Federal commander Dixon Miles surrendered, allowing Jackson to rush his forces to Sharpsburg to join Gen. Robert E. Lee. On September 22, 1862, five days after the Battle of Antietam and Confederate withdrawal from Maryland, Union troops once again occupied the Heights. Federal Commander George B. McClellan ordered fortifications built to deter future invasion, protect the B&O Railroad,and guard the U.S. supply depot at Harpers Ferry. By the end of 1863, Union troops had built eight fortifications, at times defended by 10,000 soldiers. "I have determined to fortify [Maryland Heights] in order to avoid a similar catastrophe to the one which happened to Colonel Miles." -- Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, September 26, 1862 Despite this mountain fortress, Confederate invasion continued. During the Gettysburg Campaign,General Lee sidestepped the Heights position, crossing the Potomac 12 miles northwest near Shepherdstown. In July 1864, Jubal Early's 14,000 demonstrated against these defenses, but left them behind en route to Washington, D.C. "[The enemy] had taken refuge in his strongly fortified works... and an attempt to carry them by assault would have resulted in greater loss than the advantage to be gained..." -- Lt. Jubal A. Early, commander of the Second Corps, in his postwar memoirs. Federal soldiers and their cannon finally departed Maryland Heights in July, 1865, three months after Lee's surrender. Behind them they left their forts and campgrounds -- reminders of America's bloodiest war.
2. HARPMH_060813_007.JPG: The trail up Maryland Heights
3. HARPMH_060813_025.JPG: Remnants of an old Union naval battery
4. HARPMH_060813_042.JPG: Naval Battery: Positioned 300 feet above the Potomac River, the Naval Battery was the first Union fortification on Maryland Heights. Hastily built in May 1862, its naval guns were rushed here from the Washington DC Navy Yard. Along with a detachment of 300 sailors and marines, the battery was equipped to protect Harpers Ferry from Confederate attack during Stonewall Jackson's famous Valley Campaign in the spring of 1862. Thwarted that spring, Jackson returned to Harpers Ferry in mid-September 1862, during the Confederacy's first invasion of the North. Jackson's three-day siege included an infantry battle on the crest of Maryland Heights on September 13, in which the Confederates advanced south along the ridgetop. The Naval Battery guns were turned uphill to pound the crest, but orders to retreat forced the Federals to abandon the mountain and this battery. On September 22, one week after the Union surrender at Harpers Ferry, US forces returned to Maryland Heights to build fortifications at better locations on the crest and slope of the Heights. The Naval Battery lost its defensive importance and eventually became an ordnance depot.
5. HARPMH_060813_047.JPG: The town cemetery, taken from the site of the Naval Battery
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Directly Related Pages: Other pages with content (WV -- Harpers Ferry NHP -- Maryland Heights Trail and Vista) directly related to this one: [Display ALL photos on one page]:
- 2012_WV_Harpers_MH: WV -- Harpers Ferry NHP -- Maryland Heights Trail and Vista (44 photos from 2012)
- 2003_WV_Harpers_MH: WV -- Harpers Ferry NHP -- Maryland Heights Trail and Vista (12 photos from 2003)
- 2000_WV_Harpers_MH: WV -- Harpers Ferry NHP -- Maryland Heights Trail and Vista (47 photos from 2000)
- 1997_WV_Harpers_MH: WV -- Harpers Ferry NHP -- Maryland Heights Trail and Vista (25 photos from 1997)
- 1992_WV_Harpers_MH: WV -- Harpers Ferry NHP -- Maryland Heights Trail and Vista (19 photos from 1992)
Same Subject: Click on this link to see coverage of items having the same subject: [(NPS) Harpers Ferry Natl Historic Park] [Display ALL (NPS) Harpers Ferry Natl Historic Park photos] [Civil War] [Park (National Park Service)] [Vistas]
2006 photos: Equipment this year: I was using all six Fuji cameras at various times -- an S602Zoom, two S7000s,a S5200, an S9000, and an S9100. The majority of pictures this year were taken with the S9000. I have to say, the S7000s was the best camera I've used up to this point.. Trips this year: Florida (two separate trips including Lotusphere and taking care of mom), three weeks out west (including Yellowstone), Williamsburg, San Diego (comic book convention), and Georgia. Number of photos taken this year: 183,000.
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