Drive. Pray. Scream?: Day 109: Headlines

Harpers Ferry was a well-established city by the time John Brown really put it on the map with his raid on the Federal Armory in 1859. Known for its industry (many mills and factories powered by the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers), it was home to a federal armory. Brown was after the armory's 100,000 stockpiled weapons, planning to arm slaves and advance his abolotionist cause. The scheme failed, as militia and marines trapped, captured and eventually killed the conspirators. The building in which they made their last stand, a fire engine house on the armory grounds, became a shrine of sorts and was even transported to the Chicago Exposition in 1893. It's now back in the town, within 150 feet of its original foundation.

The town also has an amazing history in transportation...the canal system and railroads raced to gain control of its traffic; ultimately, the mules on the canal towpaths were no match for the steam engines. The abandoned canals now offer miles and miles of hiking fun, especially when the trains rumble by on the adjacent tracks. The tracks also run across the Potomac on an elevated bridge, sharing the span with a footbridge. We tramped back and forth across it, marveling at the views of ruins from the many floods in the town's history.

The road leading northeast from Harpers Ferry brought us to Antietam, just as it brought many of the Confederate soldiers who fought in the terrible battle of September 17, 1862. It gained infamy as the bloodiest single day of battle in the entire Civil War, with 23,000 dead, wounded or missing. From an analytical standpoint, the battle ended as a draw; but Lincoln needed--and therefore claimed it as--a Union victory platform from which to present his Emancipation Proclamation. He did so five days later (although it wasn't to take effect until January 1, 1863).

Antietam also holds the distinction of being the first battlefield photographed before its dead were buried. The images that appeared in newspapers around the country, of bodies piled and lined up in horrific numbers, awoke the nation's conscience as to the brutal realities of war. Clara Barton was dubbed "The Angel of the Battlefield" after delivering bandages, food and lanterns to many of the 75 farmhouses and barns used as field hospitals in and around Sharpsburg (the town adjacent to the battlefield and which was decimated by the fighting and aftermath). The Baltimore lady went on to found the American Red Cross in 1881.

The National Park Service has done a beautiful job of maintaining the landscape much as it looked up until the very morning of the battle...pastureland and plowed fields separated by criss-crossed fences and rutted farm lanes. A tower that looks as though it belongs in Tuscany gives a bird's-eye view of the lovely fields; it was erected in the 1890s by the War Department as an educational site, from which the battle's strategies and movements could be studied. The lessons we learned there today were about sacrifice, tremendous bravery in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, and a thankfulness to live in a country that can overcome so much pain and conflict.

John Brown and his cronies held out in this building until they were forced out. It's full of bullet holes.

The confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers...the old bridge supports spanning them speak to the history of both floods and heavy transportation.

The steep streets of Harper's Ferry have many layers; we ate lunch in a basement-level restaurant, which sat at least 20 feet lower than the current surface of the road.