Existing comment:
The Union Defenders:
The only Union troops left in northern Virginia in September 1862 were the 14,000 men at Harpers Ferry and Martinsburg. A sweeping, 70-mile march by Jackson's troops flushed the smaller Martinsburg garrison into Harpers Ferry on September 12. The Northerners hastily fortified positions on Maryland Heights, the high ground across the Potomac River, and on Camp Hill and Bolivar Heights on the Virginia side. The majority of the 14,000 Union troops caught in Harpers Ferry had never been in battle, and many of these soldiers had only been in uniform a few weeks. However, the Union officer in commander, Colonel Dixon Miles, was confident. Fully aware that Confederate veterans would soon challenge his green troops, he said, "I am ready for them."
"Of course we were greatly surprised [sic] at finding ourselves in the face of the enemy so soon... We had no opportunity to drill or learn anything of the art of war."
-- Union Sergeant Nicholas DeGraff, 115th New York
"Be energetic and active, and defend all places to the last extremity. There must be no abandoning of a post, and shoot the first man that thinks of it, whether officer or soldier."
-- Union General John Wool
"... the men... never had a gun in their hands until the boxes were opened and muskets issued to them yesterday; not does an officer of the command... know how to drill or anything about the drill."
-- Union Colonel Dixon Miles
"I expect that this will be the last time you hear from me until this affair is over. All are cheerful and hopeful."
-- Union Colonel Dixon Miles |