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“Our army is in motion,” Halleck wired the Harpers Ferry commander on September 7. Halleck determined to maintain a strong Federal presence in the northern Valley. Four days later, however, not one bluecoat had departed from the Shenandoah Valley. “I have no doubt they will leave that section,” Lee confidently informed President Jefferson Davis on September 5. Here Lee faced an unexpected problem – not from the Union capital, but to his rear where 14,000 Union soldiers at Harpers Ferry and Martinsburg threatened his avenue of supply and communication back into Virginia. The Confederate army had settled near Frederick, Maryland, at the outset of the second week of September, 1862, only forty miles northwest of Washington. LEE SUMMONED JACKSON to discuss a critical mission. The accepted platitude, unchallenged by historians for generations, is that Jackson faced a weak and irresolute enemy who simply crumbled before the presence of the Mighty Stonewall. These brash claims further diminish the tactical brilliance of Jackson at Harpers Ferry. Some have argued the Federal commandant was drunk, while others contend that the disenchanted and disenfranchised post commander committed treason against his disrespectful country. Or perhaps he was influenced by an 1862 United States military commission that declared the Harpers Ferry commander’s “incapacity, amounting to almost imbecility, led to the shameful surrender of this important post.”īranding the Union commander with incapacity and imbecility has veiled Jackson’s extraordinary accomplishments at Harpers Ferry. Perhaps the former Union officer was embarrassed by the Federal disaster, and chose not to write about Stonewall’s brilliant victory. No explanation exists for Palfrey’s prejudice against the Harpers Ferry story. Conversely, Palfrey dedicates fifteen pages to the one-day Battle of South Mountain and 94 pages to the one-day action at Antietam. In the earliest Maryland Campaign study, written by Francis Palfrey and published by Scribner’s in 1882, Palfrey devotes a paltry four pages to a three-day operation at Harpers Ferry. Remembered primarily for its John Brown notoriety, Harpers Ferry virtually has vanished into the shadow of Antietam. One reason you’re perplexed is this – Harpers Ferry has received little notice from military historians during the first century plus two score years following the Civil War. Consider this – Stonewall Jackson’s most complex and most complete tactical victory occurred at Harpers Ferry.īlasphemy, you shout! What about Chancellorsville? What about First Manassas? What about Second Manassas? What about … Before dismissing Harpers Ferry as Jackson’s greatest battlefield triumph, ponder these questions: First, where else did Jackson face such natural obstacles? Second, where else did Jackson face a stronger enemy position than his own? Third, where else did Jackson achieve greater battlefield results?

Speaking of Stonewall Jackson, let’s add to the debate. And we hopelessly explore the enduring question – what would Stonewall Jackson have decided on the first day of Gettysburg? We endlessly argue about who was the best and worst general.

We never cease discussion on “the turning point” of the war. When not reveling in facts, Civil War aficionados glory in debate. So, here are some not-so-well known facts to add to your personal arsenal:įact: The largest surrender of United States forces during the Civil War occurred at Harpers Ferry.įact: The biggest engagement of the Civil War in present-day West Virginia happened at Harpers Ferry.įact: The Battle of Antietam never would have transpired without the preceding Confederate victory at Harpers Ferry. We boast gleefully when we challenge friends and stump them.

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