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Civil war Battle Sites
 

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Harpers Ferry
(South Mountain & Monocacy follows)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 Harpers Ferry streets
 Part of the town is privately owned, and part is run by the National Parks Service like an outdoor museum.  Each shop either has a period shop display or a museum theme display

 

All photos on this page by: Patrick Franz

 

 



Inside the White Hall Tavern

 

John Brown's Fort

 


The original site of the fort

 

The Wild History of John Brown's Fort:

 

 

 


 

1848 Built as a fire-engine house for US Armory

1859 Serves as stronghold for John Brown and his raiders.

1861-1865 Escapes destruction during Civil War (only armory building to do so), but is vandalized by souvenir-hunting Union and Confederate soldiers and later travelers.

1891 Dismantled and transported to Chicago Exposition.

1895 rescued from conversion to stable and brought back to Harpers Ferry area to be exhibited on a farm.

1909 Purchased by Storer College, and moved to campus.

1968 Moved by National Park Service to within 150 feet of its original location.

 

The whole city is built on a steep hill, making for some very dramatic architecture (and a great workout!) 

 

 

 

Tip of the City, at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers,

South Mountain


Here's a spot known as "Iron Brigade Vista" between Turner's & Fox's Gap.  Down by that red barn, just up and left of the left fencepost, Genls. McClellan and Hooker watched Union 1 Corps driving the confederates off stonewalls and back up the hillside.  McClellen said, "They must be made of iron."  Hooker replied, "By the eternal, they are Iron!"  Forevermore: they were known as the 'Iron Brigade'.

 


Crampton's gap: The Confederates last stand.  At the top, the War Correspondents Arch.

Monocacy

 

 

 

On July 9, 1864, Lew Wallace and 5800 Union men met Jubal Early and 15000-16000 Confederates.  The battle was a defeat for the Union, but they delayed Early long enough to transport sufficient troops to Fort Stevens in Washington DC, and drive back the invaders.

In the visitor center there are a few displays.  One of the has a boy dressed as a confederate soldier, and had extra pieces for children to try on.  It really brought home to me that children fought for both sides.  Estimates vary, but many approximate 800,000 boys under the age of 18 served the Union army alone.

 

 


Worthington House

 

 

 

Gambrill Mill

 

 


 

 

Also by the Monocacy battlefield is this sign, dating back to the Maryland invasion that culminated at Antietam.

 
Also on this trip I visited the National Museum of Civil War Medicine.  It was well put together and informative, however they didn't allow photography, so here's a picture of the outside.

 

Click Here to continue our pilgrimage at Antietam

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