Joy&Bill: Harpers Ferry, West Virginia and Gettysburg

On the way to Amish country we stopped at these two very interesting Civil War battle centres.

Harpers Ferry is right on the Corner of West Virginia, Virginia and Pennsylvania and it turned out to be a picture perfect spot. It was a strategic spot during the Civil War, changing hands between the Unionists (the North) and the Confederates (the South) eight times between 1861 and 1865, so it is surrounded by many battlefields. American history is really very tumultuous.

Harpers Ferry was an important centre for early transportation because the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers converge here.

The old railway tracks.

The remains of one of the locks on the canal. Canals were competing with the railroad for freight. The railroad was cheaper and faster so it won!

The Potomac from the bridge.

This is part of the armoury the abolitionist John Brown seized, in the hope of using the weapons for guerrilla warfare. He and his men were captured after three days and he was hung for his efforts. However it is believed John Brown focused the nation's attention on the moral issue of slavery and lead the country towards the Civil War.

The hilly village of Harpers Ferry.

View from the church.

Harpers Ferry village street.

Meeting up with Abraham Lincoln at the Gettysburg Visitors Centre. This is where he made his famous Gettysburg Address.

This is a wonderful sound and light cyclorama painting, the "Battle of Gettysburg". It is in a specially designed circular room in the museum at the Visitor's Centre. It was completed in 1884 and is 377 feet long.

The many battle fields are covered with memorials commemorating the battle of 1863, when the Confederate and Union troops fought the bloodiest battle in US history. The battle lasted three days with over 51,000 men dead, wounded or missing. In the end the Confederates, under Robert E Lee retreated.