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HARPEX_171226_009.JPG: High Street in 1886
HARPEX_171226_020.JPG: "for the deposit of arms"
The Small Arsenal building that stood here from 1806-1861 was one of two warehouses for the nearby United States Armory. A Harpers Ferry visitor in 1821 described both buildings as "arsenals for the deposit of arms manufactured, consisting of rifle, muskets and some pistols which are handsomely arranged and make a fine show."
In 1859, abolitionist John Brown attacked Harpers Ferry hoping to inspire a revolt against slavery. Brown wanted the arsenal's weapons to arm recruits. Brown's raid came to a bloody end, but his actions helped propel the nation into the Civil War. When fighting broke out in 1861, retreating U.S. troops burned both federal arsenal buildings to keep the weapons from falling into Confederate hands.
During the 1859 attack, raiders Jeremiah Anderson and Albert Hazlett captured and held the arsenal buildings while just yards away Brown fought from inside the Fire Engine House.
HARPEX_171226_028.JPG: Burned, Flooded, and Leveled
The stone and brick walls in front of you show the outline of the Small Arsenal. The actual foundation of this former weapons storehouse lies below ground. In 1959, National Park Service archeologists first excavated the foundation -- 100 years after John Brown's raid. The 1959 excavation report describes the intensity of the fire that destroyed the building in 1861. The fire "baked red" the top layer of clay and left behind "twisted and partly melted muskets and parts, some of them fused into each other." The report suggests that the building's slate roof, brick walls and drafts from the cellar windows created a "furnace effect" leaving behind only a shell of the building. Floods swept through the building shell twice before federal troops leveled it. In 2009, National Park Service specialists constructed this partial representation of the small arsenal based on evidence from archeological excavations.
HARPEX_171226_042.JPG: Weapons Under Fire
You are standing in Arsenal Square. Weapons made in the armory were carted here for storage in the two arsenal buildings from 1803-1861. The stone rectangle in the ground in front of you outlines the large arsenal built in 1799. Problems plagued the two-story building.
An 1827 report found the large arsenal "liable to be destroyed by fire at any moment." By 1832, overcrowding posed a problem. "The large one [arsenal] is literally crammed... Large masses [of arms] are stored in bulk for want of boxes." Both buildings were destroyed in 1861 -- gutted by fire.
Setting Fire:
At the start of the Civil War, Virginia militia tried to seize the armory and arsenal. Outnumbered US troops set fire to these buildings to keep nearly 15,000 weapons out of enemy hands.
HARPEX_171226_046.JPG: 3. Meriwether Lewis at Harpers Ferry
Large Arsenal Foundation
Completed in 1800, the 2 1/2-story, brick arsenal building stored weapons made for the security and survival of a young United States of America. Lewis procured 15 rifles from this stockpile. They were the first and most essential weapons his soldiers needed to survive on their wilderness journey.
HARPEX_171226_048.JPG: Setting Fire:
At the start of the Civil War, Virginia militia tried to seize the armory and arsenal. Outnumbered US troops set fire to these buildings to keep nearly 15,000 weapons out of enemy hands.
HARPEX_171226_065.JPG: Capture of Harper's Ferry
September 15, 1862
No. 1
On September 10, 1862 General R. E. Lee, Commanding the Army of Northern Virginia then at Frederick Md. set three columns in motion to capture Harper's Ferry. Maj. Gen L. McLaws with his own Division and that of Maj. Gen. R. H. Anderson, marched through Middletown and Brownsville Pass into Pleasant Valley. On the 12th, the Brigades of Kershaw and Barksdale ascended Maryland Heights by Solomon's Gap, moved along the crest and, at nightfall were checked by the Union forces under command of Col. T. H. Ford, about two miles north of this. Eight Confederate Brigades held Weaverton, Sandy Hook and approaches from the east. On the 13th, Kershaw and Barksdale drove the Union Troops from the Heights. Ford, abandoning seven guns, retreated across the pontoon bridge, a few yards above the railroad bridge, to Harpers Ferry. The Union loss was 38 killed, 134 wounded; Confederate loss 35 killed, 178 wounded.
Brig. Gen. John G. Walker's Division crossed the Potomac at Point of Rocks, 10 miles below this during the night of September 10, and, on the 13th occupied Loudoun Heights and the roads south of the river leading east and south.
HARPEX_171226_068.JPG: Capture of Harper's Ferry
September 15, 1862
No. 2
Maj. Gen. Thomas J. Jackson, with his own Division and those of Maj. Gen. A. P. Hill and R. S. Ewell, left Frederick on the morning of September 10 and passing through Middletown and Boonsboro crossed the Potomac at Williamsport, 21 miles north of this. On the afternoon of the 11th, Hill's Division took the direct road to Martinsburg and bivouacked near it. Jackson's and Ewell's Divisions marched to North Mountain Depot on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad seven miles Northeast of Martinsburg, and bivouacked. During the night Brig. Gen. Julius White, Commanding the Union Troops at Martinsburg, about 2,500 in number abandoned the place and retreated to Harpers Ferry. Jackson occupied Martinsburg on the morning of the 12th, passed through it and about noon of the 13th A. P. Hill's Division, in the advance, reached Halltown, 3-1/4 miles West of this and went into camp. Jackson's and Ewell's Division following Hill's, encamped near it.
HARPEX_171226_071.JPG: Capture of Harper's Ferry
September 15, 1862
No. 3
Col. Dixon S. Miles, Second U. S. Infantry, commanded the Union forces at Harpers Ferry. After Gen. White joined from Martinsburg, September 12 and Col. Ford from Maryland Heights on the 13th, Miles had about 14,200 men. On the morning of the 14th, the greater part of this force was in position on Bolivar Heights 15/8 miles west, its right resting on the Potomac, its left near the Shenandoah; Artillery distributed on the line. Artillery and a small force of Infantry occupied Camp Hill, nearly midway between this and Bolivar Heights. The Cavalry was under partial cover of the irregularities of the ground.
On the morning of the 14th Walker placed five long range guns near the northern part of Loudon Heights, and, at 1 P.M., opened on the Union Batteries on Bolivar Heights and Camp Hill, which was replied to. An hour later Jackson's Artillery opened on Bolivar Heights from School House Hill and, still an hour later, McLaws opened from two Parrott Guns that he had succeeded in placing near the southern extremity of Maryland Heights. The fire from these three Divisions was continued until dark silencing and dismounting some of the Union Guns.
HARPEX_171226_074.JPG: Capture of Harper's Ferry
September 15, 1862
No. 4
In the afternoon of the 14th Jackson's Division advanced its left, seized commanding ground near the Potomac and established Artillery upon it. Hill's Division moved from Halltown obliquely to the right until it struck the Shenandoah, then pushed along the river; the advance, after some sharp skirmishing late in the night gained high ground upon which were placed five Batteries. Commanding the left rear of the Union line. Ewell's Division advanced through Halltown to School House Hill and deployed about one mile on front of Bolivar Heights, bivouacking on either side of the Charlestown Road. During the night the Confederates advanced on the right and left gaining some ground, and 10 guns of Ewell's Division crossed the Shenandoah at Key's Ford and were placed on the plateau at the foot of Loudon Heights to enfilade the entire Position on Bolivar Heights.
About 9 P.M. the entire Union Cavalry force, about 1500 men, crossed the Pontoon Bridge, passed up the canal bank about a mile followed the mountain road near the river, crossed the Antietam near its mouth, passed through Sharpsburg about midnight and escaped into Pennsylvania.
HARPEX_171226_077.JPG: Capture of Harper's Ferry
September 15, 1862
No. 5
Capture of Harpers Ferry September 15, 1862 No. 5 At daylight, September 15, three Batteries of Jackson's Division delivered a severe fire against the right of the Bolivar Heights defense. Ewell's Batteries opened from School House Hill in front. Hill's five Batteries on ground commanding the left of the line and the 10 guns across the Shenandoah poured an accurate enfilade fire upon the left and rear of Miles' defenses. The Artillery on Loudoun Heights and Maryland Heights, joined the attack. This concentrated fire of 58 guns was responded to by the Union guns but, in an hour, beginning to run short of ammunition Miles raised the white flag in token of surrender. Soon after he was mortally wounded and the command devolved on General White who completed the terms of capitulation by the surrender of about 12,500 Officers and men and all public property. Hill's Division was left to parole the prisoners, while Jackson with five Divisions marched to the field of Antietam. Exclusive of the loss on Maryland Heights, the Union loss was 9 killed, 39 wounded; Confederate loss 6 killed, 69 wounded.
HARPEX_171226_082.JPG: Early Travel
Situated in a gap in the Blue Ridge Mountains and at the confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers, Harpers Ferry, from its beginning, functioned as a natural avenue of transportation.
The first mode of travel consisted of a primitive ferry established in 1733 by Peter Stephens. Stephens sold his business to Robert Harper in 1747, and Harper and others carried settlers and supplies across the waters until 1824 when a bridge constructed across the Potomac made ferryboat operations unnecessary.
In less than a decade after the completion of the bridge, the iron horse and the mule brought the transportation revolution to Harpers Ferry.
HARPEX_171226_085.JPG: The Race to the Ohio
Rail transportation in the United States began in Baltimore, Maryland, on July 4, 1828, when Charles Carroll, the only living signer of the Declaration of Independence, laid the cornerstone of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.
On the same day, President John Quincy Adams turned the first spade of earth along the Potomac River for the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal.
The race was underway as the progressive railroad and the traditional canal struggled to become the first to connect the Ohio Valley with the east coast. Harpers Ferry was one of the first milestones of that race.
HARPEX_171226_087.JPG: The Iron Horse Wins
Work on the railroad and canal progressed slowly at first, but by 1834 both companies had completed construction to a point opposite Harpers Ferry. The canal had won the race to this point and it continued up the Maryland side of the Potomac.
The B&O Railroad, plagued by land disputes with the canal, crossed the Potomac at Harpers Ferry in 1837 and rapidly pushed on. By 1842, it reached Cumberland, Maryland, and a decade later the railroad was open to Wheeling on the Ohio River.
Business boomed at Harpers Ferry with the arrival of the railroad. Refrigerated cars brought oysters and other luxuries to the town. Thousands of travelers visited Harpers Ferry as it became a gateway to the Ohio Valley.
The Civil War shattered Harpers Ferry's prosperity. Much of the town was destroyed, and Confederate raiders constantly sabotaged the railroad. Despite the war, the railroad escaped permanent damage, and the B&O survives today as a main artery of transportation in the United States.
HARPEX_171226_090.JPG: The Mule Falters
As the railroad streaked westward from Harpers Ferry, the C&O Canal fell hopelessly behind in the race for the Ohio.
Burdened by a lack of building supplies and a scarcity of skilled labor, the canal encountered serious financial problems and did not reach Cumberland, Maryland until 1850 -- eight years after the railroad reached that point. Plans to continue westward were abandoned.
Made obsolete by the faster and less expensive railroad, the C&O Canal never attained any great measure of economic success, but did transport coal, flour, grain, and lumber to Washington for nearly 90 years. Canal operations ceased in 1924 when a flood devastated the Potomac Valley, leaving the canal in ruins.
HARPEX_171226_104.JPG: Discover Harpers Ferry
HARPEX_171226_107.JPG: Near the Visitor Center: Battlefields and Trails
Experience Harpers Ferry's tumultuous past. Pick up park trail maps and guides at the visitor center. Walk the Murphy Farm trail where W.E.B. DuBois marched for civil rights on the site of a former Civil War battlefield. Discover the story of the 1862 Battle of Harpers Ferry by exploring Bolivar Heights and Schoolhouse Ridge battlefields.
HARPEX_171226_109.JPG: In the Lower Town: Historic Village, Rivers, Trails
From here take the free shuttle bus to Lower Town. Explore Civil War-era homes, industry and shops. See where John Brown fought against slavery -- catapulting the nation into the Civil War. Discover Camp Hill and the story of Storer College. Hike up Maryland Heights and enjoy the panoramic view of the Shenandoah and Potomac rivers. Walk the Appalachian Trail or bike along the C&O Canal Towpath.
HARPEX_171226_111.JPG: "Worth a voyage across the Atlantic"
-- Thomas Jefferson, 1783
Explore historic Harpers Ferry through exhibits, films and ranger programs. Start at the Information Center here in the Lower Town where you can pick up park maps and brochures.
Civil War Life:
A short walk from here brings you to John Brown's Fort, where Brown and his men made their stand against slavery. Experience the raid at the John Brown Museum through film and interactive exhibits. Immerse yourself in Harpers Ferry by exploring the town's restored buildings and their exhibits. See the park film in the Place in Time building, visit the Dry Goods Store and walk the armory grounds trail.
Ranger Programs:
The National Park Service offers a variety of talks and town tours. Check the Information Center for today's schedule.
Sightseeing:
Walk to Jefferson Rock for some of the best scenery in the park. Stroll to The Point to see where the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers flow together. Follow the Appalachian Trail across the Potomac River footbridge, bike the C&O Canal along the Potomac River, or hike two miles up to the Maryland Heights overlook for panoramic views of the rivers and town.
HARPEX_171226_130.JPG: Appalachian National Scenic Trail
<-- Maine -- 1,165 mi
Georgia -- 1,013 mi -->
HARPEX_171226_138.JPG: Where Three National Trails Meet
Appalachian Trail
National Scenic Trail
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal
National Historical Park
Potomac Heritage Trail
National Scenic Trail
HARPEX_171226_169.JPG: Six Acres That Changed The World
Along this path lie the remains of revolutions. Six acres of the U.S. Armory at Harpers Ferry have been reduced to rubble. Buildings that buzzed with activity and innovation now lie covered with dirt. Train tracks that pushed to the edge of a new frontier lie abandoned. A stone marker stands where John Brown and his men struck their blow against slavery heralding new birth for the nation and new freedom for all its people.
(Timeline):
1795
"A place of immense strength"
George Washington chose Harpers Ferry as the site for the nation's second national armory.
1803
"Manufactured for me at this place"
Meriwether Lewis supplied his Corps of Discovery with guns and other goods produced here at the Harpers Ferry armory.
1819
"A greater degree of perfection...."
Inventor John Hall's new method of "fabricating arms exactly alike" revolutionized industry and pitted man against machine.
1836
"The Great National Project"
The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad rumbled through the armory grounds, racing west against the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal.
1859
"Slavery is a state of war"
John Brown's attempt to end slavery by attacking the armory catapulted the nation into civil war.
1861
"Our armory is burnt"
Virginia militiamen descended on Harpers Ferry to seize arms and equipment from the federal armory. Retreating Federals set fire to the armory and arsenal.
HARPEX_171226_173.JPG: 1795
"A place of immense strength"
George Washington chose Harpers Ferry as the site for the nation's second national armory.
1803
"Manufactured for me at this place"
Meriwether Lewis supplied his Corps of Discovery with guns and other goods produced here at the Harpers Ferry armory.
1819
"A greater degree of perfection...."
Inventor John Hall's new method of "fabricating arms exactly alike" revolutionized industry and pitted man against machine.
1836
"The Great National Project"
The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad rumbled through the armory grounds, racing west against the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal.
1859
"Slavery is a state of war"
John Brown's attempt to end slavery by attacking the armory catapulted the nation into civil war.
1861
"Our armory is burnt"
Virginia militiamen descended on Harpers Ferry to seize arms and equipment from the federal armory. Retreating Federals set fire to the armory and arsenal.
AAA "Gem": AAA considers this location to be a "must see" point of interest. To see pictures of other areas that AAA considers to be Gems, click here.
Bigger photos? To save server space, the full-sized versions of these images have either not been loaded to the server or have been removed from the server. (Only some pages are loaded with full-sized images and those usually get removed after three months.)
I still have them though. If you want me to email them to you, please send an email to guthrie.bruce@gmail.com
and I can email them to you, or, depending on the number of images, just repost the page again will the full-sized images.
Directly Related Pages: Other pages with content (WV -- Harpers Ferry NHP -- Exterior Shots) directly related to this one:
[Display ALL photos on one page]:
2017 photos: Equipment this year: I continued to use my Fuji XS-1 cameras but, depending on the event, I also used a Nikon D7000.
Trips this year:
Civil War Trust conferences in Pensacola, FL, Chattanooga, TN (via sites in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee) and Fredericksburg, VA,
a family reunion in The Dells, Wisconsin (via sites in Ohio, Indiana, and Wisconsin),
New York City, and
my 12th consecutive San Diego Comic Con trip (including sites in Arizona).
For some reason, several of my photos have been published in physical books this year which is pretty cool. Ones that I know about:
"Tarzan, Jungle King of Popular Culture" (David Lemmo),
"The Great Crusade: A Guide to World War I American Expeditionary Forces Battlefields and Sites" (Stephen T. Powers and Kevin Dennehy),
"The American Spirit" (David McCullough),
"Civil War Battlefields: Walking the Trails of History" (David T. Gilbert),
"The Year I Was Peter the Great: 1956 — Khrushchev, Stalin's Ghost, and a Young American in Russia" (Marvin Kalb), and
"The Judge: 26 Machiavellian Lessons" (Ron Collins and David Skover).
Number of photos taken this year: just below 560,000.
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