Battle of Harpers Ferry – Union Stronghold wayside markers

Harpers Ferry Main • Tour the Battlefield > Bolivar Heights

The Battle of Harpers Ferry and Union Stronghold wayside markers are west of Harpers Ferry at the parking area on Bolivar Heights in Harpers Ferry National Historic Park. Several trails start from this location and a number of wayside markers are around the parking area.

The Battle of Harpers Ferry and Union Stronghold wayside markers on the Harpers Ferry battlefield

From the markers:

Battle of Harpers Ferry

Invasion rocked the United States during the second year of the American Civil War. In September 1862 Confederate General Robert E. Lee launched his army into Maryland – the North. Lee’s first target became Harpers Ferry. He ordered “Stonewall” Jackson to make the attack.

Here Jackson overcame great obstacles, defeating the Union during a three-day battle and forcing the largest surrender of U.S. troops during the Civil War. His victory at Harpers Ferry enabled Lee to make his stand at nearby Antietam.

From the quote on the lower right:

At first their missiles of death fell far short of our camp; but each succeeding shell came nearer and nearer, until the earth was plowed up at our feet, and our tents torn to tatters.

Lieutenant James H. Clark
115th New York Infantry

The Battle of Harpers Ferry wayside marker on Bolivar Heights on the Harpers Ferry battlefield

Union Stronghold

Harpers Ferry was located at the gateway into Confederate Virginia and the strategic Shenandoah Valley. The Union army used it as a supply base for operations into Southern territory. The Railroad Brigade, headquartered here with a force of over 14,000 men, protected over 400 miles of Northern rail lines, stretching from Baltimore into western Virginia. By the second week of September 1862 the brigade’s world shrank to this hillside.

Caption from the background photo:

The mostly denuded Bolivar Heights ridgeline forms a backdrop to the tent cities of Union soldiers stationed here in the summer of 1862.

Caption from the portrait photo:

Colonel Dixon Stansbury Miles, a West Point graduate and Mexican War hero, commanded the Railroad Brigade. His 42 years of military service were tarnished by one day – the Union’s first defeat at Bull Run – where he was unjustly accused of drunkeness. The Battle of Harpers Ferry 14 months later cost him his life, and the defeat further tarnished his military record.

Caption from the photo in the upper right:

A young boy – possibly an escaped slave – pictured with a Union soldier in Harpers Ferry just weeks before the battle. Bolivar Heights is visible in the background. The desire for freedom drove enslaved African Americans to the Union lines here at Harpers Ferry, but when the Confederates captured the town hundreds were forced to return to slavery.

The Union Stronghold wayside marker on the Harpers Ferry battlefieldLocation of the marker

The Battle of Harpers Ferry and Union Stronghold wayside markers are at the Bolivar Heights parking area and trailhead, west of Harpers Ferry at the corner of Prospect and Whitman Avenues. (39°19’25.6″N 77°45’40.4″W)