| The burned bridge with Harper’s Ferry in the background |
150 years ago yesterday Joseph E. Johnston of the Confederacy evacuated Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, retreating before Robert’s Patterson’s Army of the Shenandoah. In this theater of the war, there were four main armies. The Union had one army under Gen. McDowell stationed near Washington, and another under Gen. Patterson at the head of the Shenandoah Valley. Their plan was to invade Virginia. Gen. Johnston commanded the Confederate army facing Patterson, and Gen. Beuregard commanded the other army facing McDowell.
| The same bridge pillars today |
Harper’s Ferry was a very strategic point in the Civil War. It was at the junction of the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers, and it is at the head of the Shenadoah Valley. It changed hands eight times during the Civil War. It was abandoned by the Union troops and occupied by Johnston, and now he was retreating in the face of Patterson’s superior forces.
We would like to invite you to join us on our history tour this year…
Two rival churches at the foot of Plymouth's burial hill - a split between the…
Clark's Island was the first landing spot of the Pilgrims in Plymouth Bay. It remains…
Cromwell at the Battle of Nasby The unthinkable had happened! Englishmen were at war –…
Outer dunes of Cape Cod The Pilgrims hiked through landscape like this in their first…
During the summer we made the last big research trip for William Bradford research, and…
