September 12: Battle of Harpers Ferry (1862)
Prayer Idea
Pray that Americans remember how terrible the Civil War was.
History Note
Harpers Ferry is a town in West Virginia, located on the Potomac River across from Maryland. President George Washington chose Harpers Ferry as the site for the second U.S. armory, a place to manufacture and store guns for the military. Meriwether Lewis visited there in 1803 to obtain supplies for the Corps of Discovery.
In 1859 an abolitionist named John Brown decided to lead an attack against the U.S. armory at Harpers Ferry (then part of Virginia). John Brown’s purpose was to capture weapons and give them to enslaved people so that they could revolt.
John Brown and a band of 21 insurgents, including five African Americans, captured the armory on October 16, 1859. After two days of fighting, U.S. Army officers Robert E. Lee and J. E. B. Stuart led soldiers to capture Brown and his companions. Brown was later executed.
In September 1862, the United States were divided and at war with each other. Robert E. Lee was leading a Confederate army (that also included J. E. B. Stuart) to invade Maryland. The Union soldiers stationed at Harpers Ferry were in a position to disrupt Lee’s attack. Lee sent General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson to capture Harpers Ferry.
Fighting began on September 12 and continued until September 15. The Union soldiers at Harpers Ferry were surrounded and finally surrendered. The Confederate army captured over 12,000 U.S. soldiers, the largest surrender of U.S. forces until World War II.
The Union army stopped the Confederate army’s invasion of Maryland at the Battle of Antietam on September 17. Antietam is considered the bloodiest one-day battle in American history. At the end of the day, 3,600 soldiers were dead and 17,000 were wounded.
Union and Confederate forces swapped control of Harpers Ferry eight times during the Civil War. The town is now a National Historical Park that provides a glimpse into this stormy period of American history and our efforts to form a more perfect union ever since.
This photo by C. O. Bostwick shows the town of Harpers Ferry and a destroyed railroad bridge during the Civil War. Photo courtesy the Library of Congress.
Learn More
This video provides a quick look at the history of Harpers Ferry.
Find more resources at Homeschool History.
