The Battle of Harper's Ferry 

Harpers Ferry

The Battle of Harper's Ferry, then part of Virginia but later to become West Virginia, began on September 12, 1862, as part of the Maryland Campaign. Confederate troops under Major General Stonewall Jackson surrounded and took the Union garrison at Harpers Ferry with relative ease. This allowed General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia to advance through the Shenandoah Valley into Maryland and secured supply lines.

Stonewall Jackson

Major General George McClellan followed Lee, taking his time but outnumbering him more than two to one. Still, Lee decided to take the risk of dividing his army and sending part of them to attack Harpers Ferry. By the morning of September 15, Stonewall Jackson had nearly 50 guns positioned on Maryland Heights and at the bottom of Loudoun Heights. The Union officers saw how hopeless their situation was and raised the white flag to surrender. After taking more the 12,000 prisoners, Jackson and his men rushed to Sharpsburg to rejoin Lee for the Battle of Antietam.

In my Civil War Novel, Uprooted by War, Luke doesn't fight at Harpers Ferry. He didn't join the army until early summer in 1862, and then he trained in Eastern Tennessee. He participated in some skirmishes and small battles there, but Antietam is the first major battle he was involved in. See the blog of July 18 for more on this - http://janicecolehopkins.blogspot.com/search?q=antietam .

(As always, all my profits go to a scholarship for missionary children.)

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