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Dr. Mark Snell of the George Tyler Moore Center for Civil War Studies at Shepherd University is involved with the planning of the West Virginia Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission's inaugural events. The kick-off event take place on Thursday, October 15. Among the many events being planned is a panel discussion titled "Madman, Martyr, or Myth: John Brown's Portrayal in Film." The panel will be showing and discussing video clips from films and miniseries, including, among others, the Santa Fe Trail and North and South. Each clip will be followed by panel comments and discussion.

Dr. Snell, a York County PA native and well respected educator and author, will be moderating a distinguished panel, which will consist of Dr. Charles Niemeyer of the USMC University; Ron Maxwell, director of Gettysburg and Gods and Generals; Dr. Walter Powell, a cultural historian who also is adjunct professor of historic preservation at Shepherd University and past president of the Gettysburg Battlefield Preservation Association; and Beth White, adjunct professor of journalism at the University of Charleston and a member of the WV Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission.

The event takes place from 6-7:30 pm this Friday, October 16 on the second floor of the John Brown Museum in the Harpers Ferry National Historic Park. It is FREE and open to the public but seating is very limited.

The WV Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission also will have an information table set up in HFNHP on Friday and Saturday.

Engine House in Harpers Ferry (restored and relocated from its original location). John Brown and some of his raiders sought refuge here and used it as a blockhouse to resist local militia and then Federal troops under Robert E. Lee.

Background post: One-tank trip: Harpers Ferry, part 1

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the famous (or infamous, depending upon your perspective) insurrection of abolitionist firebrand John Brown and his small band of followers, a few of which had Pennsylvania connections. Five members of his group escaped and were not recaptured. A free black man named Osborn P. Anderson was among them, eventually making his way to York, Pennsylvania, where wealthy black businessman William C. Goodridge gave him shelter in his Philadelphia Street home (and his Centre Square business as well) and later smuggled him in a rail car across the Columbia-Wrightsville Bridge. Anderson eventually returned to his home in Canada.

I spent Labor Day at historic Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, one of my favorites places to visit. Situated at the confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac rivers, the town played an important role in the early U.S. It housed a major Army arsenal and gunworks (many Harpers Ferry rifles saw service in the Civil War), as well as other small industries that produced other items of use to the military, as well as to early explorers and pioneers such as Lewis and Clark. The Union garrison at Harpers Ferry was captured in September 1862 by Confederate forces under Stonewall Jackson; it was the largest surrender of U.S. troops until Corregidor in World War II.

All but abandoned after a series of devastating floods, much of the remaining town was restored and preserved as a National Park. It is well interpreted, with museums / displays on the early Harpers Ferry, the arsenal, the Engine House used as a fortress by abolitionist firebrand John Brown, recreations of old dry goods stores and other mercantile establishments, and various other interesting things to do. It's well worth the modest admission price. The private sector of the town has several good restaurants (check out the BBQ place), as well as a wax museum and some other tourist attractions. The upper town has an impressive old Catholic church that is often open for tours, as well as the ruins of an old Protestant church. There are some great hiking trails as well.

Here are some random photographs from my cloudy and rainy holiday visit back in early September 2009.

This impressive line of artillery is in Willard Park on the grounds of the Washington Navy Yard. While most of the tubes were made on-site at the Naval Foundry and sent to Union Navy ships or land installations, the one second from the right served the Confederacy during the Civil War.

According to WIkipedia, the Washington Navy Yard is the oldest shore establishment of the U.S. Navy and currently serves as a ceremonial and administrative center, home to the Chief of Naval Operations. It is headquarters for the Naval Historical Center, the Department of Naval History, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps, Naval Reactors, Marine Corps Institute, and numerous other naval commands.The Washington Navy Yard was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, and designated a National Historic Landmark on May 11, 1976. nearly 400,000 people visit the U.S. Navy Museum annually.

During the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln frequently was a guest in this house, which served as the headquarters for Admiral John A. Dahlgren, the commandant of the Washington Navy Yard. Lincoln spent a fair amount of time at the Navy Yard awaiting telegraphed reports from the battlefield, which came in to the Navy's telegraph station. The commandant's house is still in use and is among the oldest continuously occupied buildings on any U.S. Navy installation.

One of my sons recently took me on a day trip to Washington D.C. for my birthday. We spent a rain-soaked afternoon touring the grounds of the Washington Navy Yard, which features FREE admission to the very nice Navy Museum as well as to the USS Barry, a Vietnam-era U.S. Navy destroyer that has been preserved as a floating museum. The Navy Yard's attractions are open until 5 PM most days and are well worth a lengthy visit. After the game, Tom and I took in the Washington Nationals - Milwaukee Brewers baseball game before hitting the Metro for the trip back to the Greenbelt parking lot and the subsequent drive back to our home in north-central York County, Pennsylvania.

The Navy Museum and grounds of the Washington Navy Yard are filled with relics and artifacts of interest to the Civil War buff, including naval artillery pieces from both the Union and Confederate navies, personal property of famed sailors such as Admiral David G. Farragut of Mobile Bay fame, models of Civil War ships, dioramas, ship's bells, paintings, and other interesting things to see, view, or read.

Obviously the Civil War is only one small part of the Navy's collection. There are displays from nearly every major war (and some minor ones such as Tripoli). The original mast and sniper's nest from the USS Constitution ("Old Ironsides") is a major highlight of the museum's displays.

Here are a few more photos of Civil War-related material from the collection of the U.S. Navy Museum.

The monument to York County's 87th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers is on Araby Church Road (or the old Georgetown Pike) on the battlefield of Monocacy. Large sections of the battlefield have been preserved by the National Park Service and other entities, although the Pennsylvania memorial is surrounded on three sides by private property.

The entrance to the new (opened in 2007) Visitors Center at Monocacy National Battlefield. This is on the Urbanna Pike just 3 miles south of I-70 near Frederick, Maryland. It's about an hour and a half from York, PA. This past Saturday, my son Tom and grandson Tristan spent the day at Gettysburg and Monocacy on a beautiful day. There is no admission charge to the park or to the museum / visitors center.

Pender's Division and to the top of the photo Pickett's left brigade under Garnett are in the midst of Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg on July 3, 1863, in my miniature wargame I ran at Historicon this year. Note the ruins of the Bliss house and barn in the upper right center. They were burned in the morning well before the ill-fated Confederate assault and were still smoldering as the Rebel lines streamed through the farm.

The scenario was hosted by Scott Mingus at the Thursday session of the annual Historicon miniature wargaming convention in Lancaster PA. There were 13 players, and the Rebels reached the Taneytown Road before massive Union reinforcements arrived.

The convention continues through Sunday morning, with most of the gaming action on Friday and Saturday, along with a flea market and separate dealer hall.

For more photos of my game, please click here.

This years marks the 150th anniversary of the celebrated raid on the U.S. Arsenal in Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia) by abolitionist John Brown and his followers, which included a Pennsylvania free black man named Osborn P. Anderson who had been a Canadian congressman. Anderson was one of five of Brown's group to escape, eventually making his way here to York, Pennsylvania, where wealthy black businessman William C. Goodridge gave him shelter in his Philadelphia Street home (and his Centre Square business as well) and later smuggled him in a rail car across the Columbia-Wrightsville Bridge. Anderson was never captured.

As part of the regional events commemorating the 1859 raid, Wayside Theatre in Middletown, VA will present the production "Robert E. Lee and John Brown; Lighting the Fuse" beginning August 29 through September 26, 2009. The play is written by Warner Crocker and with music Steve Przybylski. The production is one of the events of the Quad State 150th Anniversary of John Brown's Raid at Harpers Ferry in 1859. The play tells the story of John Brown's dramatic raid on Harper's Ferry and paints a picture of that tumultuous time in our nation's history. The play brings these two important historical figures face to face using many of their own words to tell the story that concluded with Lee's refusal to accept command of the Union army in 1861.

Performances are Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8:00 Pm and Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:30 PM. Except Sunday, August 30, when the official opening performance is at 6:30 PM. Cost is $25-$30 for adults. Children 17 years and younger are $10.00 for any performance.

Call the box office at (540) 869-1776 to reserve your seats, or reserve them on-line at www.waysidetheatre.org

Cephe F. Place
Sales & Outreach Coordinator
Wayside Theatre
P.O. Box 260
Middletown, VA 22645

cephas@waysidetheatre.org

On June 20, as part of the Gettysburg Festival, Gettysburg National Military Park will host the Wildcat Regiment Band and the 8th Regimental Band of the Georgia Volunteer Infantry for free public concerts at the park's Museum and Visitor Center.

For the first time at Gettysburg, the 8th Regimental Band of the Georgia Volunteer Infantry will perform at 11 a.m. in front of the Museum and Visitor Center and from 6 p.m. until sundown at the Pennsylvania Memorial.

The Harrisburg and Hershey Civil War Roundtables have scheduled a field trip to the battlefields of Petersburg, Virginia on October 3 and 4, 2009. Only twenty-five miles south of Richmond, Petersburg was the crucial communications center for the Confederate capital. For more than nine months, the city endured a Union siege, the longest in American warfare.

The Round Table tour will focus on the fighting in September and October of 1864, both north and south of the James River, visiting Fort Harrison, New Market Heights, Darbytown Road, and Second Fair Oaks on the Richmond sector and Poplar Spring Church, Squirrel Level Road, and First Hatcher's Run on the Petersburg sector. These operations gave the Federals excellent chances to capture one or both cities.

The historian guide will be Dr. Richard Sommers. He is currently Senior Historian at the U.S. Army Military History Institute in Carlisle. Dr. Sommers has numerous publications to his credit, including "Richmond Redeemed: The Siege at Petersburg," a book that received the Bell I. Wiley Prize from the National Historical Society. years. He will speak at the Harrisburg Round Table's dinner-meeting in September on "Petersburg: The Strategic Siege" as a prelude to the field trip.

The price of the tour is $250 single occupancy, $200 double, $190 triple and $180 for quad. That includes deluxe bus transportation from pick-up points in Hershey and Harrisburg; a box lunch and dinner on Saturday; and continental breakfast on Sunday. To register contact Jim Negler, 141 Blacksmith Road, CampHill, PA 17011. Phone 717-761-6832 or email hjamesnegler@comcast.net.