The Capture of Harper's Ferry, Va. Sept., 1862 with Dennis Frye
Channel: Jim Surkamp
Date: 2012-10-14

http://civilwarscholars.com
7421 words

This is part of a documented narrative of the time in Jefferson County, West Virginia between February and December, 1862. During this tumultuous period, Federal forces under Gen. Nathaniel Banks invaded the area; then, Confederate General Stonewall Jackson drove them back through this immediate region in May, 1862. Jackson then attempted to also capture Harper's Ferry from a Federal force in May 30, 1862 - but failed, leaving that redoubt as the only foothold left to the Federal armies in the Shenandoah Valley.  But the major incursion in September into Maryland by Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia included another attempt to capture Harper's Ferry, still protected by up to 14,000 Federal troops. This time, Jackson's men succeeded. Jackson's capture of the town and the surrender of the Federal force also created grim and dark prospects for the hundreds, maybe, by one account of up to 5,000, once-enslaved, protection-seeking African-Americans who were in the town. Their fates and the human drama surrounding the actual surrender process will be the focus of soon-to-come third installment of this series, which has been titled "The Fall of Freedomland."   

Chief Historian Dennis Frye for the Harper's Ferry National Historic Park, gives his time-tested, well-informed account of how this capture unfolded, caused to a great degree by a few individual lapses in judgement. 

Special appreciation to the donated synthecizer composition by Professor Kevin Williams of Shepherd University; the brilliant, contracted services of acoustic artist Shana Aisenberg http://shanasongs.com" (guitar) and the late, wonderfully gifted Freyda Epstein (violin) of "Trapezoid" fame.