Battle for Harpers Ferry
Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, 1865
| date | September 12-15, 1862 |
|---|---|
| place | Harpers Ferry, Jefferson County , West Virginia . |
| output | Confederate victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
|
12,787
|
unknown
|
| losses | |
|
44 dead
173 wounded 12,520 prisoners / missing |
39 dead,
247 wounded |
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The Battle of Harpers Ferry was a battle in the American Civil War that took place from Dec. September 1862 took place during the Maryland campaign and went out in favor of the southern states. Confederate forces under General Thomas J. Jackson captured the city of Harpers Ferry and took around 12,500 prisoners.
prehistory
Harpers Ferry , West Virginia , still Virginia in 1862 , is a small town at the confluence of the Shenandoah into the Potomac . After the machines of the former second state arms factory were removed by the Confederates, its importance lay in its strategic location. It was across from the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal , through which the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad ran and it formed the gateway to the Shenandoah Valley .
After the Virginia militia occupied the place on April 18, 1861 and captured the weapons and the machines of the arms factory, Colonel Thomas Jonathan Jackson trained the brigade named after him there. However, his superior, Brigadier General Joseph E. Johnston , quickly realized that the place was not long to defend because of the heights surrounding it. The Bolivar Heights and Camp Hill west of Shenandoah are 200 m high, the Maryland Heights are 200 and the Loudoun Heights 120-140 m higher. The city itself lies below the Bolivar Heights. When the Union prepared to retake Harpers Ferry in late June 1861, the Jackson Brigade evaded south after fierce fighting.
As a result, the Union Army occupied Harpers Ferry and stationed a brigade there with the task of securing the railway line and the canal. In the course of the Maryland Campaign, the Northern Virginia Confederate Army crossed the Potomac east of Harpers Ferry on September 4, 1862, interrupting both the railroad line and the canal. The brigade deployed in Harpers Ferry to secure these supply routes therefore no longer had a meaningful task. Major General McClellan therefore moved the brigade to march to the Potomac Army . Major General Halleck denied the request, inadvertently luring Lee into a trap.
Although Lee wanted to supply the Northern Virginia Army primarily from the country, he needed ammunition supplies from southern Virginia. This had to be led through the Shenandoah Valley and here the Harpers Ferry garrison blocked the way. Lee therefore decided to eliminate the danger behind him by deploying two-thirds of the Northern Virginia Army. The rest were to hold the Potomac Army on South Mountain until Harpers Ferry was captured. He then intended to proceed with the reunited army west of South Mountain towards Harrisburg , Pennsylvania .
Battle for Harpers Ferry
Confederate plan of operations
Lee intended to attack Harpers Ferry from three directions. In Special Order 191 , which had fallen into McClellan's hand, Lee ordered that Jackson and his divisions should cross the Potomac west of Harpers Ferry and prevent the garrison from breaking out from the west. Major General McLaw's division was to take Maryland Heights on the north bank of the Potomac and Brigadier General John G. Walker's division was to take Loundon Heights east of Shenandoah from the east. For this purpose, Jackson and McLaws were each subordinated to a squadron of cavalry. After the threat posed by the Harpers Ferry garrison was removed, the divisions were to reunite with the rest of the Northern Virginia Army at Hagerstown, Maryland. Lee put Major General Jackson in charge of the operation.
Location of the Union Forces at Harpers Ferry
The commander of the units used in Harpers Ferry was Colonel Dixon Miles, who had been relieved of divisional commander during the First Battle of the Bull Run because of drunkenness. After eight months without a command, he was put in charge of the troops in Harpers Ferry. Miles was assigned to hold Harpers Ferry to the limit until he was appalled by Potomac Army troops. Miles interpreted the assignment in a very idiosyncratic manner: he deployed about 90% of his infantry and artillery in and to the west of Harpers Ferry on Bolivar Heights and Camp Hill. From there he wanted to use artillery to dominate Loudoun Heights east of the city on the other side of Shenandoah. Since he could not work on the Maryland Heights north of the city, he deployed an infantry regiment reinforced with cavalry and a total of seven cannons and howitzers. This use of his strength exposed him to the charge of treason, for which he no longer had to justify himself because of his death.
Course of the battle
Reaching the starting positions
The three attack columns approached independently from each other from different directions. From the north, two brigades from McLaws' division attacked the reinforced infantry regiment on the afternoon of September 12, 1862 and forced the regiment to give up their positions on the morning of September 13, 1862. The guns were made unusable.
The Walkers Division, advancing south of the Potomac from the east, reached Loudoun Heights without a fight on September 13, 1862. When the Harpers Ferrys garrison recognized the Confederates there, Miles used artillery to drive the Confederates from there, which he failed.
The third attack column under Jackson approached with two divisions from the west and took up position opposite the Bolivar Heights. The Light Division Major General AP Hills approached from the south and took up positions on September 13, 1862 in a small town two miles south of Harpers Ferry. Only then did Jackson take charge of the operation.
Course of the battle
On the night of September 14th, 1862, Miles ordered the cavalry to break out because they were not needed for defense. The breakout up the Potomac was successful.
Major General Jackson first established the connection with the widely spaced divisions with couriers; as that was very time-consuming, later through flag and light signals. It was particularly important to him that the artillery should fire together. On the afternoon of September 14, 1862, he gave detailed orders for the attack at dawn on September 15. The Light Division was approaching on the night of September 15 along the left bank of the Shenandoah. On a small hill, Hill encountered infantry without artillery support. In the morning the Light Division took this hill and was able to work in the rear of the Union troops on Camp Hill. Also during the night, two artillery batteries moved through the Potomac to its north bank and were able to flank the Union artillery on Bolivar Heights.
At dawn on September 15, 1862, Confederate artillery fire began. By 8:00 a.m., the Union batteries had almost run out of their long-range ammunition and could no longer return the Confederate fire. An attack by the infantry was unsuccessful. After a briefing with the commanders, Colonel Miles ordered the surrender. Before the fire stopped, he was fatally wounded by fragments from an exploding grenade.
The VI. Potomac Army Corps had forced three Confederate brigades to evade on South Mountain on the evening of September 14, 1862 . The relief of Harpers Ferry did not come in time, despite strong numerical superiority, because the corps was reluctant to advance south.
The surrender negotiations led for the Confederate Major General Hill, who was also charged with handling the captured weapons and equipment. The Confederates captured approximately 13,000 small arms, 73 pieces of artillery including the stringing and ammunition wagons, as well as many supplies and transport wagons.
Effects
It was clear to General Lee that the Maryland campaign had to be viewed as a failure after the Potomac Army discovered the plan of operations ( Special Order 191 ). Lee therefore considered evading the Shenandoah Valley with the Northern Virginia Army. Because of the ease of victory over the Harpers Ferry garrison, Lee decided to seek battle with what he believed to be the demoralized Potomac Army. In addition, if he had evaded without a fight, he would have lost face, lowered morale in the southern states and endangered possible recognition of the confederation by European states.
General Lee therefore ordered the Northern Virginia Army to assemble in the Sharpsburg , Maryland area on September 15 . Jackson reached the room in time for the Battle of Antietam ; Hills Light Division rescued the Northern Virginia Army after a forced march on September 17, 1862.
Harpers Ferry was reoccupied by Union forces on September 22, 1862. During the civil war, the place changed hands four times.
literature
- United States War Department: The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies , Govt. Print. Off., Washington 1880-1901,
- William C. Davis: The American Civil War - Soldiers, Generals, Battles . Weltbild Verlag, Augsburg 2004, ISBN 3-8289-0384-3
- Robert Underwood Johnson: Battles and Leaders of the Civil War . Vol. 2, Century Co, New York 1884-1888. here online
- Shelby Foote : The Civil War: A Narrative . Vol. 1 ( Fort Sumter to Perryville ), New York 1986, ISBN 0-394-74623-6 .
- James M. McPherson : Battle Cry of Freedom . Oxford University Press, New York 2003, ISBN 0-19-516895-X .
- James M. McPherson (Editor): The Atlas of the Civil War . Philadelphia 2005, ISBN 0-7624-2356-0 .
- Chester G. Hearn: Six Years of Hell: Harpers Ferry During the Civil War. Publisher: Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge 1996. ISBN 978-0-8071-2440-6 .
Web links
* Harpers Ferry during the Civil War. Jonathan A. Noyalas, an assistant professor of history and director of the Center for Civil War History at Lord Fairfax Community College in Middletown, Virginia.
Individual evidence
- ↑ The War of the Rebellion, Volume XIX, Part I, page 549. Cornell University Library, 2011, accessed August 5, 2012 (losses of the Union).
- ↑ James M. McPherson: Battle Cry of Freedom, p. 279 cast by Harpers Ferry
- ^ Destruction and Military Occupation. Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, March 29, 2011, accessed February 8, 2012 (Encyclopedia Virginia).
- ↑ James M. McPherson: Battle Cry of Freedom, p. 536 The Second Failure
- ↑ The War of the Rebellion, Volume XIX, Part II, page 603f. eHistory at Ohio State University, 2012, accessed February 9, 2012 (English, Special Order No. 191).
- ↑ The War of the Rebellion, Volume XIX, Part I, page 520. eHistory at Ohio State University, 2012, accessed February 10, 2012 (Harpers Ferry hold).
- ↑ James M. McPherson: Battle Cry of Freedom, p. 538 Treason
- ^ The War of the Rebellion, Volume XIX, Part I, page 959. eHistory at Ohio State University, 2012, accessed February 13, 2012 (English, attack order).
- ↑ James M. McPherson: Battle Cry of Freedom, p. 537 Relief
- ^ Shelby Foote: Fort Sumter to Perryville, p. 680
- ↑ James M. McPherson: Battle Cry of Freedom, p. 537 Lee's reflections