9-25 Harper's Ferry and Sharpsburg

Sue and I took a long postponed trip to see Harper's Ferry and the Antietam (Sharpsburg) Battlefield. It was a warm day but not too humid. The walk down to the Farmer's Market this morning was very pleasant. When we got to the town of Harper's Ferry we found some Civil War re-enactors drilling by the River. Harper's Ferry is at the conjunction of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers. It is a pretty little place. The Appalachian Trail passes over the Potomac River bridge.

The picture here is of John Brown's "Fort", the building he and his band got cornered in. Harper's Ferry at the time was a huge arsenal and the weapons there were Brown's goal. The Federal government sent R.E.Lee to lead a group of Marines to flush Brown out. We walked up to Jefferson Rock and got a picture of the steeple of the old Catholic Church and the river valley.

Then it was off to Sharpsburg, by the Antietam River, to see the Battlefield. It is a driving destination, sort of like Gettysburg. The view of the open fields across which the two armies marched at and slaughtered one another are disquieting. Pictures here of the "Sunken Road" where the North (Burnside) attacked into a well defended Rebel line and the bridge that the North had to attack three times to get across, with huge losses. One can only wonder why they felt the need to stay on the bridge to cross such a tiny creek.