Published for the Members and Friends IN THIS ISSUE: of the Harpers Ferry Special Guest Historical Association Speakers at Summer 2012 Sesquicentennial Panel Discussion on Harpers Ferry 1862: Beyond the 2012 Civil War Sesquicentennial Special Event: Battle “Prelude to Freedom: The 1862 HFHA Partners with Sharpsburg Battle of Harpers Ferry” Historical Society September 13 - 15 arpers Ferry National Historical Park, • “African American Lives with support from the Harpers Ferry in Limbo: Contraband HHistorical Association and the West Virgin- Camp” Step back to the ia Humanities Council, will hold three days tense days when runaways of public events to commemorate the 150th and freedmen’s lives were in anniversary of the Battle of Harpers Ferry. limbo. “Prelude to Freedom: The 1862 Battle • “Songs of the Civil War” of Harpers Ferry,” will interpret the battle’s Music by Magpie duo Greg significance in the Maryland Campaign, the Artzner and Terry Leonino. role it played in the issuance of the Eman- • “The Desperate Hour” cipation Proclamation, contraband (slaves Evening lantern program who escaped to Union lines) living in Harp- (Lower Town). Who will ers Ferry, and the citizens of a border town be trapped and who will under bombardment. escape Confederate Gen- Highlights of the event include: eral Thomas Jackson’s ring of fire? • Battle of Maryland Heights Sesqui- • “Like Rats in a Cage: Yankees Trapped centennial Hike. Discover Maryland in a Ring of Fire” (Bolivar Heights). Ex- Heights, the key to defending Harpers perience the weapons, clothing, tactics Ferry. Hike with a ranger across the and the stories of the doomed garrison. Potomac River to the Naval Battery. (2 • “Drive the Enemy into Extinction: 1/2 miles round trip) Confederate General A.P. Hill Out- • Archeology Discovery Tent. Engage flanks the Yankees” (Murphy Farm). in “Hands on History” as you discover Confederate living history demonstra- objects relating to everyday life in 19th tion. century Harpers Ferry. • Keynote Address: “September Sus- The picture which appears • Family/Youth Tent. Have your photo pense” Dennis Frye, Chief Historian, on our newsletter’s nameplate, dating from 1803, is one of the taken as a Civil War soldier. Dress up Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. oldest prints of Harpers Ferry. and learn Civil War drill. Go on a map Book signing to follow. Twenty years earlier, in 1783, search and win some Civil War trading • “Marching As To War” Join this Musi- Thomas Jefferson had declared cards. cal Presentation by the Wildcat Regi- that this view was “worth a • “Defeat & Victory” Ranger Walk (Boli- mental Band and experience the music voyage across the Atlantic.” var Heights). Discover how the capture and milieu of 1862. of 12,500 Union soldiers led to the continued on page 2 freedom of over 4 million people. 1 Armory Superintendent Members Jo (Kuhn) Curtis in memory of Jim Kuhn and Alexander and Mary Murphy Brandywine, MD Dr. Robert Johnson Harpers Ferry, WV Ronald Jones Our Lady of Sorrows School Farmington, MI Nancy Myers, in Honor of Don Campbell Harpers Ferry, WV Jim and Suzanne Silvia Taunton, MA & Harpers Ferry, WV Paymaster Members “JACKSON AND A. P. HILL BEFORE HARPERS FERRY” watercolor by Garnet Jex Cynthia Gayton (courtesy Sharpsburg Historical Society) Harpers Ferry, WV Prelude to Freedom The event will also feature a panel Continued from Page 1 discussion, evening lectures, and a special Master Armorer battlefield bus tour. See below for detailed Members • “Cowards of Harpers Ferry” Learn the information on these special programs. For Allison Alsdorf story of the Yankee surrender and parole a complete schedule, visit www.nps.gov/hafe. Harpers Ferry, WV and the enormous consequences. (Schedule subject to change.) Kirk Bradley Sanford, NC Donald and Patricia Harvard President, Gettysburg Historian to Speak Burgess Harpers Ferry, WV at Sesquicentennial Hon. and Mrs. Thomas Two evening lectures will highlight Sesqui- On Thursday, September 13, 7:00 to Curtis and Family centennial events at Harpers Ferry National 8:00 p.m., D. Scott Hartwig will present Baltimore, MD Historical Park. The lectures are part of “For God’s Sake, Don’t Fall Back – The Peter Dessauer the Maryland Campaign Sesquicentennial Battle for Maryland Heights.” Harpers Ferry, WV Evening Lecture Series. Hartwig is a 31-year veteran with the Kim and Frank Edwards National Park Service and is currently the Edgewood, MD Supervisory Historian at Gettysburg Nation- Laurence Freiheit al Military Park. For the sesquicentennial Berkeley Springs, WV of Antietam and the Maryland Campaign, Deborah Hale Hartwig has written a two-volume study Harpers Ferry, WV of the campaign and climactic battle, To Rebecca Harriett Antietam Creek: The Maryland Campaign of Berryville, VA September 1862. The first installment takes Tony Horwitz the reader from the controversial return of Vineyard Haven, MA George B. McClellan as commander of the continued on page 3 Army of the Potomac through the Con- federate invasion, the siege and capture of Harpers Ferry, the day-long Battle of South Mountain, and ultimately, to the eve of the 2 great and terrible Battle of Antietam. continued on page 4 Panel Discussion: Master Armorer Members (Cont’d) “Harpers Ferry 1862: Beyond the Battle” Bruce Kramer Several noted historians and authors will Baltimore, MD participate in the panel discussion “Harpers Gregory Light Ferry 1862: Beyond the Battle.” Fort Lupton, CO This panel, complemented by scheduled Anne A. Long tours and living history vignettes, will tell Myersville, MD the history of the 1862 Battle of Harpers Cynthia K. Mason Ferry and describe and discuss the war as it Baltimore, MD impacted the border town. Marc Mayer How were the thriving community of Waldorf, MD Harpers Ferry and its citizens affected by Adam Oestreich war? What happened to the homes and jobs Baltimore, MD of the civilians in the town? What was life George Rutherford like for the soldiers stationed at Harpers Ranson, WV Ferry? How did they spend their time when Ed Wheeless and Chris they weren’t fighting? What happened to Craig the 12,500 soldiers captured here? Harpers Ferry, WV The discussion will be held Saturday, September 15, 1:00 – 2:30 p.m., in the Recent Donations author/sales tent. Book signing to follow. Airbus Americas, Inc. Participants include: Calvary Christian Acad- Dr. James K. Bryant, II emy Dr. William A. Blair, research professor Civil War Round Table of and Director of the George and Ann Rich- War Sesquicentennial Series published by Chicago ards Civil War Era Center, Penn State Uni- History Press, Inc., The Battle of Fredericks- John Frye versity. Having completed his B.A., M.A., burg: We Cannot Escape History, and The Noah Mehrkam and Ph.D. at Penn State, his interests focus Chancellorsville Campaign: The Nation’s High West Virginia Humanities on the Civil War era and Reconstruction. Water Mark. Council He has written two books and edited three books on the Civil War, including Lincoln’s Kathleen Ernst, full-time Proclamation: Emancipation Reconsidered. He author who has published is also the founding editor of The Journal of numerous children’s titles Battlefield Bus Tour: the Civil War Era published by the Univer- with the American Girl “Stonewall’s Greatest Victory” sity of North Carolina Press, and prior to series. She has worked Join author and Harpers Ferry NHP Chief that was the editor of Civil War History for as an education special- Historian Dennis Frye for this special Ses- ten years. ist, speaker, instructor, curator, and has served as quicentennial event. Explore sites where General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson Dr. James K. Bryant, II, Associate Profes- script writer and project conquered Mother Nature and the Harp- sor of History at Shenandoah University. director for educational ers Ferry garrison—resulting in the largest His areas of expertise include 19th and 20th public television in Wis- surrender of United States troops during the century American history, African Ameri- consin. She grew up in Civil War—and enabled General Robert E. can history, U.S. Military history, Civil War Pennsylvania and nearby Lee to stand at Antietam. history, American South, Virginia history, in Maryland. She received • When: September 14 and 15, 1:30 to Atlantic Slave Trade, Comparative Slav- a B.S. degree from West 3:30 p.m. ery, and Oral history. He received a B.S. in Virginia University in • Where: Meet at the Cavalier Heights History Education from Hampton Univer- Environmental Educa- Visitor Center. sity, a M.A., History from the University tion, and a M.S. degree • Due to limited bus space, advance of Vermont and a Ph. D., History, from the from Antioch University reservations are required. Call University of Rochester. He has published in History Education and 304.535.2078 for reservations. two chapters on “Antebellum Compro- Writing. Her published mises” and “Reconstruction” for “Conflicts books include Civil War in American History” series from Facts on fictionNight Riders of File. He is author of two books in the Civil continued on page 4 3 Harvard President, Gettysburg Historian Faust served as the Annenberg Professor Continued from Page 2 of History at the University of Pennsylva- Saturday, September 15, 7:00 to 8:00 nia, where she was a member of the faculty p.m., will feature “Telling War Stories: for 25 years. She is the author of six books Reflections by a Civil War including Mothers of Invention: Women of Historian” by Dr. Drew Gil- the Slaveholding South in the American Civil pin Faust. War for which she won the Francis Parkman Dr. Faust is the 28th Prize in 1997. Her most recent book, This President of Harvard Uni- Republic of Suffering: Death and the American versity and the Lincoln Civil War looks at the impact of the Civil Professor of History in Har- War’s enormous death toll on the lives of vard’s faculty of Arts and 19th century Americans.