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9 unusual facts about Harpers Ferry


5th New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry

Duty at Harpers Ferry, W. Va., September 21 to October

Catoctin Station Raid

Ewell’s Second Corps on June 15 during the Second Battle of Winchester and federal troops were evacuating east to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia in a state of disarray.

Conococheague Formation

The Conococheague also forms dramatic, 100-foot cliffs along the Potomac River upstream of Shepherdstown, West Virginia (northwest of Harpers Ferry), where entrenched meanders expose mile-long sections of tilted Conococheague strata.

Fayetteville Arsenal

Upon the fall of the arsenal at Harpers Ferry to Union forces plans were made to relocate the rifle making machinery from that location to new workshops at the Fayetteville Arsenal.

Harpers Ferry-class dock landing ship

Ships homeported on the East Coast will undergo upgrades at Metro Machine Corp., and ships based on the West Coast will receive upgrades at General Dynamics National Steel and Shipbuilding Company in San Diego.

Henry H. Whaley

They obtained government contracts in Washington, D.C., where he lived for a time, and the nearby government depot at Harpers Ferry.

John Brown Farm and Gravesite

In 1859, Brown attempted to start a liberation movement among enslaved African Americans by seizing the arsenal at Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.

John E.P. Daingerfield

John E.P. Daingerfield served as a clerk at the Harpers Ferry Armory in 1859 during John Brown’s raid.

Merwin Coad

He is a resident of Washington, D.C., and Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, and now promotes on-line training courses in real estate investing.


147th Indiana Infantry Regiment

It was attached to the 1st Brigade of the 3rd Provisional Division, Army of the Shenandoah, and guard duty at Charleston, Stevenson's Station, Summit Point, Berryville, Harpers Ferry, West Virginia and Maryland Heights, Missouri till early August.

195th Ohio Infantry

The regiment left Ohio for Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, March 22-25; then to Winchester, Virginia, and was assigned to Brooks' Provisional Division, Army of the Shenandoah.

7th West Virginia Volunteer Infantry Regiment

Following the battle, the regiment helped garrison Harper's Ferry until the end of October, when it marched through the Loudoun Valley to Falmouth, Virginia.

Edward B. Garvey

The Ed Garvey Memorial Shelter on the Appalachian Trail at Weverton Cliffs at Weverton, Maryland near Harpers Ferry, West Virginia was built and named in his honor.

James Redpath

After the failure of Brown's 1859 attack on Harpers Ferry, Virginia, Redpath wrote a highly sympathetic biography of the executed abolitionist, The Public Life of Capt. John Brown (1860).

Julius Eckhardt Raht

Raht worked for short periods in Missouri, Dubuque, Iowa, and Wisconsin before taking charge of mining at Harpers Ferry, Leesburg, and Jamestown, Virginia, and Guilford County, North Carolina.

Manassas Gap Railroad

The B&O also acquired or built additional mileage to connect its east-west main line at Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, with Winchester, Virginia, and Strasburg, and south past Harrisonburg to eventually reach Lexington.

Maryland Route 478

Westbound MD 180 provides access to westbound US 340 toward Harpers Ferry and Charles Town.

Rippon, West Virginia

In one of these, on November 9, 1862, Union General John W. Geary undertook a reconnaissance mission from Harpers Ferry.

Springdale, Iowa

Its most famous residents were the militant abolitionist John Brown, who resided at John Hunt Painter's house near Springdale while making preparations for the raid on Harpers Ferry, and Edwin and Barclay Coppock, local youths who participated with Brown during the raid.


see also

Aaron Stevens

Aaron Dwight Stevens, (1831–1860), associate of the abolitionist John Brown, executed after the raid on Harpers Ferry, West Virginia in 1859

M1841 Mississippi rifle

When Eli Whitney Blake took over management of the Harpers Ferry Armory in 1842, he set about tooling up under his new contract from the U.S. government for making the model 1841 percussion rifle.

Maryland Route 67

MD 67 begins at a trumpet interchange with US 340 (Jefferson Pike) in Weverton within the Potomac Water Gap near Harpers Ferry.

The Affair at Glenmore Farm

In retribution, a scouting party under John DeButts, later a member of Mosby's Rangers, was dispatched to harass Kenly, which they successfully did, driving his force back to Harpers Ferry.

Virginia v. John Brown

The trial took place in Charles Town, the county seat capital of Jefferson County, Virginia (located around seven miles west of Harpers Ferry).

Virginius

Virginius Island, West Virginia, an island on the Shenandoah River in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia