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.
The Haven, the tidal river near Boston, down which the Pilgrims attempted to flee to…
Thomas Robert Jermaine Thomas leaned on the rail of the ship to catch a glimpse…
The chapel of St. Helena's in Austerfield, Bradford's hometown This ancient carving of a dragon…
Sandell Young Karolina had a special relationship with her father, Jonas Sandell. Karolina was a…
Only a small section of Scrooby Manor has survived rebuilt as a farmhouse - at…
Interested in touring Italy and Austria with us? Our annual history tour has a few…