Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1884-11-29
REcoLLEcTIoNs OF 4 PRIVATE.


ing the abutments of the destroyed bridge
and pontoon bridge swinging in a half
circle across to the arsenal rnis.s:
| We took the cars learly in March, /
think, and were hurried through Hag-
erstown and other little sleepy looking
\ villages III Maryland. The next morning
found us at Sandy Hook, about half a
mile from Harper S Ferry !; thence. after
about three hours delay. we marched to
place opposite the promontory on and
around which is situated the picturesque
village of Harper's Ferry, at the conhu-
ence of the Potomac and Shenandoah
rivers. 1t was cold at our camping-place
between the canal and the river. There
was no rations awaiting our arrival, and
we were suffering from the hunger so
common to soldiers. Who ever saw one
off duty who was not in pursuit of some
thing to eat? We couldn get anything
for love or money. We had at last
reached place where the people showed
some of the distress incidental to war,
and strong Discrimination to feed or be-
lieve in us. We were grieved, but it
couldn't be helped. Their reception was
as frosty as the weather. Our genial
and winning address made no impression
on these Yankee-hating Marylanders,
|
! shadow over us as uncomfortable as the
shadow of their hills. No wonder John
Brown failed in such place as this.
The bridge from the Maryland to the
Virginia or Harpers Ferry shore had
/ been destroyed by fire, leaving only the
granite abutments (which were after
ward built upon again. and we were
soon set at work conveying some fiat bot
toned scows from Sandy Hook to Har-
pei 8 Ferry. AS early as nine O'Clock
about one hundred men came down OPP
posite the ferry, just above the old bridge,
and broke into little groups, in military
precision. Four or five with spades and
other implements improvised wooden
abutment on the shore; another party
rOwed against the stream. moored a
scow, and let it drift down until it was
opposite the wooden abutment then
party of ten advanced, each two men
carrying a claw-balk, or timbers fitted
with claw, one of which held the gun
vale of the boat. the other the shore abut-
ment. Twenty men now came down on
the left with planks. one inch thick, six
inches wide. and fifteen feet long. mar
rowed at each end these they laid across
the five joints or balks, and returned on
the right. Another party meanwhile
moored another boat. which dropped
down stream opposite the one already
bridged; five joints each twenty feet
long. were laid upon the gunwhale by
five men these were fastened by those
in the boat, by means of ropes, TO cleats
or hooks provided for the purpose on the
side of the scowS, which were showed off
from the shore until the shore end of the
balk rested upon the >hore boat. These
were covered with planks in the same
manner as before side-rails of joists
were dashed down with ropes to secure
the whole. So one after another of the
boats was dropped into position until
bridge several hundred feet long reached
from the Maryland to the Virginia shore.
for the passage of artillery and every de-
scription of munitions for an army. Ow-
ing to the force of the current large
rope cable was stretched from shore fifty
feet above the bridge. and the upper end
of each boat was stayed to the cable by
smaller rope. The clock-like precision
with which these men worked showed
them to be the drilled engineers and pom
TONER'S of the regular army. After the
bridge was built, slight, short man,
with sandy hair, in military dress. came
out upon it and congratulated the engin-
GERS on their success. This unassuming
man was George B. Mcclellan, comman-
der of the Army of the Potomac.
1t was the first boat bridge thrown out
in active service of the army of the Unit
ed States, and it was on this that the army
of General Banks crossed to the Virginia
shore in 1862. Hour after hour this frail-
looking bridge, which by force of the
current swung almost in semicircle be-
tween the two shores, was crowded with
men and the material of an army. Off
GERS were not allowed to trot their
horses troops in crossing were given
the order, Route STEP" as the oscilla-
ton of the cadence step or trotting horse
is dangerous to the stability Of bridge
of any kind, much more of the seeming
ly frail structure of boats and timbers,
put together with ropes, here described.
crossed the bridge soon after it was
laid visited jefferson Rock, the ruins of
the burned armory, and the town in gen.
eral. The occasional crack of musket
among the hills on the other side of the
Shenandoah told that the rebel scouts
were still there. Colonel Geary's men
were engaged in driving them from the
hills, preparatory to the advance of Gen
eral Banks. During the day fifteen or
twenty were captured and marched
through the town, presenting generally
shabby and unmilitary appearance.
They did not impress me as they did af-
terward when charging on our lines,
with their unmusical yell and dauntless
front.
The efaggy heights about Harper
Ferry are exceedingly picturesque
Here around this promontory, the wa
tiers Of the Shenandoah and Potomac
meet with murmurs of congratulation.
and go dancing on joyfully, hand in
hand, to the ocean. The headland.
around which the village of Harper s
Ferry is built. is noticeable for its rug.
gedness, but its bold outlines are subdued
into something like pastoral beauty by
contrast with the huge, irregular heights
which rise grandly above on either side.
and look down upon it. Maryland
Heights. precipitous, rock-ribbed, and
angular, frown, as it were, at their
rougher rival, London Heights, on the
opposite Virginia side below, while Har-
per's Ferry lies demure and modest be.
tween them.
The ruins of the burned armory of the
United States were noticeable from the
Maryland shore also the masses of men
moving in ceaseless tramp over the long
and almost crescentlike bridge. The
uiui hiui VI iHduJ NolCtS. Tile mellow,
abrupt call of the negro drivers to their
mules. the glistening arms of the infant
ry reflected in the sunlight. the, dull
rumble of artillery wheels and baggage
wagons, live in memory to-day, after a
lapse of years as one of the pictures of
war wrinkled front, framed in the
routine of more ordinary scenes of army
life.
One of my early army passions was
collecting mementos of historic interest.
For weeks carried in my knapsack
brick taken from the old engine house
where John Brown so coolly fought,
while his sons lay dying by his side
Near the ruins of the armory was
rough, extemporized barricade across the
railroad which ran around the northern
shore, upon foundation built on solid
masonry risipr from tho riz.ax.,s o.icEe,