WEST VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND

12 June 2012: Today we went to Harpers Ferry,West Virginia, a town at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers that became famous in 1859 as the place that John Brown, the radical anti-slave advocate, was captured. The town was the location of the Federal Armory; over 600,000 weapons were made there. Harpers Ferry grew even more as the canal and the railroad went through this gap in the Blue Ridge Mountains, but most of the town was destroyed during the Civil War and then by subsequent serious floods. It is now a National Historical Park. It was raining when we left to go, and poured down the whole time we were there, so not many photos!

Many of the surviving original buildings of Harpers Ferry are now museums

Thom outside the firehouse where John Brown was captured
after breaking into the Federal Armory. His plan had been to distribute arms to his supporters
 and to slaves to rebel against there owners. He was tried and found guilty and hung for treason, insurrection, and murder.

The "modern" machinery used to produce weapons. It was in these factories that
interchangeable parts were introduced, which revolutionized all industries.

After Harpers Ferry we drove north to Antietam National Battlefield, Maryland. It was here that 23,000 troops died in one day during the Civil War, 17 Sep 1862. It is the worst loss in America's history. Another sobering afternoon.

Several states have built memorials to the men lost at Antietam. This is New York.

Thom at the Maryland memorial.

The first photographs of war's carnage were taken on this low lying farm road
two days after the battle was over. Two years later, when troops were in the area again, it is recorded that the remains of many bodies were still there.

The gates to Antietam National Cemetery.

Over 4,000 Union troops were re-intered in Antietam National Cemetery.
One third are unknown soldiers.