Ghostly Soldiers at Harper's Ferry

The small town of Harpers Ferry, West Virginia is steeped in both the legends and realities of the Civil War. The most notorious incident that occurred there was John Brown’s raid on the town. In 1859, Brown and his men had a plan to take over the armory that was run by the US Army and seize the weapons that it contained This was all to further their rebellion against slavery. This action failed, and ten of Brown’s men died. The rest were captured and brought to trial.

While Brown himself was being tried he was very vocal on his views against slavery, and this stirred the country into a fierce debate. A few months after Harpers Ferry succeeded from the Union in February of 1861, a civil war erupted.

At the start of the war many people believed that the conflict would not last long. Commonly, recruits enlisted for a short period and were known as One Hundred Day Men. These people were often lacking proper skills and equipment, and sufficient training was not provided before they went into battle. During July of 1861, this lack of training proved tragic.

On a rainy day during that July a regiment of One Hundred Day Men from Ohio stopped to camp on Maryland Heights, a mountainous area. The rain had poured down all day, leaving no dry spots for their mealtime fire. Some of the men had acquired some large artillery shells, and built a cozy fire on them. Unfortunately, no one had warned them to beware of fire around live ammunition.

While the men were cooking their meal, they were blasted off the mountain by the explosion. Not one of them survived. Today, residents of the area have reported campfires in the area when there are none. Some evenings people have come upon a group of Civil War soldiers huddled around a campfire only to see them vanish before their eyes.

Just before the Battle of Gettysburg, in 1863, the town was occupied by Union troops. Of course, they made life miserable for any Confederates. The building known as the Town House was used to house Union soldiers. Some of these men captured a Confederate drummer boy. Because of the child’s age, they took pity on him and decided not to send him to prison.

The soldiers kept the boy around and asked him to do chores. Soon the boy was doing all of the chores. From morning to late at night he cleaned the building and the rifles, cooked food, and did all of the laundry. Soon the abused boy began to regularly cry and beg for his mother. The Union soldiers teased him and told him to act like an adult. After all, he had run away to become a soldier, which is a grown man’s job.

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