View of Armory Canal and Armory Ruins - Harpers Ferry, WV - Oct. 1862
3D red/cyan anaglyph created from glass plate stereograph at Library of Congress - Prints & Photographs Online Catalog: www.loc.gov/pictures/
LOC Title: Harper's Ferry, West Virginia. Harper's Ferry Gap
Date: October 1862
Photographer: Silas A. Holmes (Abt 1819 -1886)
Link to glass plate: www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2018672019/
Notes: I've reworked my postings of this, from 5 years ago, to increase the depth and make repairs along the edges, to bring in all of the house and the railroad tracks at extreme left.
I realize now that my notion of where this photograph was taken has been all wrong. With the canal at right and the looming cliffs above it, I had assumed this was shot facing West, towards Harpers Ferry, from the Maryland side of the river, adjacent to the C&O Canal and Maryland Heights. When I tried to pin point the exact spot on Google Earth, the railroad tracks were on the wrong side of the canal, and the background (the Gap) didn't match up at all. Somehow, it had escaped my attention that the entire town was missing above the Armory ruins.
With the help of 3D Google Earth, I eventually got the scene to match up by facing East, from the WV side, at a point just up the Potomac River from where the Armory stood. Maryland Heights is the ridge coming in from the left, and the canal at right is not the C&O Canal, but rather the Armory Canal that supplied the water that powered the Armory machinery. So this turns out to be a very rare Civil War era close-up view of the Armory Canal; I've not seen any others like it, from this period of the 1860's.
Just to confirm the location, I contacted an author who had written extensively about Harper Ferry and the trails in the surrounding area, and he confirmed this location next to the Armory Canal. He also informed me that the section of the Armory ruins that you see in the distance was the Rolling Mill and that the railroad tracks at left were relocated to the other side of the Armory canal in 1892, where the main line now runs. The house you see at right (in the other 2 crops) he tells me is gone.
The Armory was set on fire by Union troops, just as they evacuated the town on the night of April 19th, 1861. Below, are a few extracts from newspapers describing the burning of the armory and the ruins - from the Library of Congress digital newspaper collection:
---------
New York Herald, Saturday, April 20, 1861.
“The United States Armory at Harper’s Ferry Destroyed. General Scott has just received a telegraphic dispatch from Captain Kingsbury, stating that he had burned the Armory buildings, the troops having evacuated and marched into Maryland. There were 15,000 stand of arms in the Armory, which were all destroyed. There was a large force from Virginia on their way to seize the Armory, in order to get possession of the arms. This will be a sad disappointment to the Virginia troops who confidently expected to get possession of these arms….
….Lieut. Jones is now at the Carlisle barracks. He states that, hearing yesterday that 600 Virginians were approaching by the Winchester Road to seize the arsenal, they put piles of powder in straw in all the buildings, and waited quietly the approach of the picket guard, who gave the alarm, and the Garrison set on fire the outhouses, carpenter shop and powder fuses, and then began to retreat. The citizens of Harper’s Ferry, who were evidently in league with the party advancing to seize the arsenal, were instantly in arms. They pursued, fired and killed two regulars--two others deserted before the troops reached Hagerstown. They marched all night, missed the railroad train in Hagerstown, and took omnibuses to Chambersburg to-day. They are much exhausted by the night march….
Lieut. Jones, who has arrived from Harper’s Ferry, is the son of the late Adjutant General Jones, of the United States Army. He says as the Federal troops rushed across the Potomac bridge at Harper’s Ferry, the people rushed in the arsenal. He believes that large numbers perished by the explosion. Repeated explosions occurred, and he saw a light burning in the building for many miles….”
------------
Richmond Dispatch. Monday Morning…. April 22, 1861.
“Capture of Harpers Ferry Armory. The Commissioners sent on by the Governor to take position possession of Harpers Ferry, have returned. The people in the vicinity were opposed to the act. It is stated that after being addressed by the Commissioners, and after witnessing the conduct of the United States troops, they joined in the seizure with fervor. …. At 12 o’clock last night, the Horse troops from Fauquier, under Lieutenant Randolph and Captain T.R. Ashby, arrived at Harper’s Ferry, and demanded the surrender of the Arsenal. A parley was asked by the garrison, and in a few minutes flames were seen to burst from the buildings, they having been fired during the parley, by the garrison, which escaped across the river, leaving nothing but burning ruins behind them. The troops via the Manassas Road had not arrived. A train laid to blow up the work-shop failed, and as a consequence Virginia gets the machinery uninjured. A train was also laid to blow up the bridge, but in the haste of departure the retiring troops neglected to apply the match.”
---------
Alexandria Gazette And Virginia Advertiser, April 22, 1861.
“Harpers Ferry. Messrs Adams and Painter correspondents of the New York World and Philadelphia Inquirer, left this city yesterday afternoon for Harper’s Ferry for the purpose of ascertaining the true state of affairs there--at which place they arrived at 7 o’clock last evening: On the route thither large crowds were collected at all the depots and intense excitement seemed to prevail, though no one could assign the cause.
At Point of Rocks, on the Maryland side of the Potomac, the flag of the “Confederate States” had been hoisted, and the crowd were saluting it as the train dashed by. At a short distance, this side of the Harper’s Ferry Bridge, the train was stopped by a detachment of Virginia troops, and each car and passenger was critically examined; and the latter were informed that they could not stop at the Ferry, if such was their destination. The train was then allowed to pass slowly through the bridge between a file of troops, and permitted to halt at the Virginia end. Here a surprising sight met the eye. Batteries of cannon were placed on each side of the track, commanded by artillery men. The flag of Virginia was flying from the flagstaff, and the town was swarming with soldiers. The two armories, where the United States arms--some 12,000--we're stored, were masses of smouldering ruins….”
--------------
Red/Cyan (not red/blue) glasses of the proper density must be used to view 3D effect without ghosting. Anaglyph prepared using red cyan glasses from The Center For Civil War Photography / Civil War Trust.
View of Armory Canal and Armory Ruins - Harpers Ferry, WV - Oct. 1862
3D red/cyan anaglyph created from glass plate stereograph at Library of Congress - Prints & Photographs Online Catalog: www.loc.gov/pictures/
LOC Title: Harper's Ferry, West Virginia. Harper's Ferry Gap
Date: October 1862
Photographer: Silas A. Holmes (Abt 1819 -1886)
Link to glass plate: www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2018672019/
Notes: I've reworked my postings of this, from 5 years ago, to increase the depth and make repairs along the edges, to bring in all of the house and the railroad tracks at extreme left.
I realize now that my notion of where this photograph was taken has been all wrong. With the canal at right and the looming cliffs above it, I had assumed this was shot facing West, towards Harpers Ferry, from the Maryland side of the river, adjacent to the C&O Canal and Maryland Heights. When I tried to pin point the exact spot on Google Earth, the railroad tracks were on the wrong side of the canal, and the background (the Gap) didn't match up at all. Somehow, it had escaped my attention that the entire town was missing above the Armory ruins.
With the help of 3D Google Earth, I eventually got the scene to match up by facing East, from the WV side, at a point just up the Potomac River from where the Armory stood. Maryland Heights is the ridge coming in from the left, and the canal at right is not the C&O Canal, but rather the Armory Canal that supplied the water that powered the Armory machinery. So this turns out to be a very rare Civil War era close-up view of the Armory Canal; I've not seen any others like it, from this period of the 1860's.
Just to confirm the location, I contacted an author who had written extensively about Harper Ferry and the trails in the surrounding area, and he confirmed this location next to the Armory Canal. He also informed me that the section of the Armory ruins that you see in the distance was the Rolling Mill and that the railroad tracks at left were relocated to the other side of the Armory canal in 1892, where the main line now runs. The house you see at right (in the other 2 crops) he tells me is gone.
The Armory was set on fire by Union troops, just as they evacuated the town on the night of April 19th, 1861. Below, are a few extracts from newspapers describing the burning of the armory and the ruins - from the Library of Congress digital newspaper collection:
---------
New York Herald, Saturday, April 20, 1861.
“The United States Armory at Harper’s Ferry Destroyed. General Scott has just received a telegraphic dispatch from Captain Kingsbury, stating that he had burned the Armory buildings, the troops having evacuated and marched into Maryland. There were 15,000 stand of arms in the Armory, which were all destroyed. There was a large force from Virginia on their way to seize the Armory, in order to get possession of the arms. This will be a sad disappointment to the Virginia troops who confidently expected to get possession of these arms….
….Lieut. Jones is now at the Carlisle barracks. He states that, hearing yesterday that 600 Virginians were approaching by the Winchester Road to seize the arsenal, they put piles of powder in straw in all the buildings, and waited quietly the approach of the picket guard, who gave the alarm, and the Garrison set on fire the outhouses, carpenter shop and powder fuses, and then began to retreat. The citizens of Harper’s Ferry, who were evidently in league with the party advancing to seize the arsenal, were instantly in arms. They pursued, fired and killed two regulars--two others deserted before the troops reached Hagerstown. They marched all night, missed the railroad train in Hagerstown, and took omnibuses to Chambersburg to-day. They are much exhausted by the night march….
Lieut. Jones, who has arrived from Harper’s Ferry, is the son of the late Adjutant General Jones, of the United States Army. He says as the Federal troops rushed across the Potomac bridge at Harper’s Ferry, the people rushed in the arsenal. He believes that large numbers perished by the explosion. Repeated explosions occurred, and he saw a light burning in the building for many miles….”
------------
Richmond Dispatch. Monday Morning…. April 22, 1861.
“Capture of Harpers Ferry Armory. The Commissioners sent on by the Governor to take position possession of Harpers Ferry, have returned. The people in the vicinity were opposed to the act. It is stated that after being addressed by the Commissioners, and after witnessing the conduct of the United States troops, they joined in the seizure with fervor. …. At 12 o’clock last night, the Horse troops from Fauquier, under Lieutenant Randolph and Captain T.R. Ashby, arrived at Harper’s Ferry, and demanded the surrender of the Arsenal. A parley was asked by the garrison, and in a few minutes flames were seen to burst from the buildings, they having been fired during the parley, by the garrison, which escaped across the river, leaving nothing but burning ruins behind them. The troops via the Manassas Road had not arrived. A train laid to blow up the work-shop failed, and as a consequence Virginia gets the machinery uninjured. A train was also laid to blow up the bridge, but in the haste of departure the retiring troops neglected to apply the match.”
---------
Alexandria Gazette And Virginia Advertiser, April 22, 1861.
“Harpers Ferry. Messrs Adams and Painter correspondents of the New York World and Philadelphia Inquirer, left this city yesterday afternoon for Harper’s Ferry for the purpose of ascertaining the true state of affairs there--at which place they arrived at 7 o’clock last evening: On the route thither large crowds were collected at all the depots and intense excitement seemed to prevail, though no one could assign the cause.
At Point of Rocks, on the Maryland side of the Potomac, the flag of the “Confederate States” had been hoisted, and the crowd were saluting it as the train dashed by. At a short distance, this side of the Harper’s Ferry Bridge, the train was stopped by a detachment of Virginia troops, and each car and passenger was critically examined; and the latter were informed that they could not stop at the Ferry, if such was their destination. The train was then allowed to pass slowly through the bridge between a file of troops, and permitted to halt at the Virginia end. Here a surprising sight met the eye. Batteries of cannon were placed on each side of the track, commanded by artillery men. The flag of Virginia was flying from the flagstaff, and the town was swarming with soldiers. The two armories, where the United States arms--some 12,000--we're stored, were masses of smouldering ruins….”
--------------
Red/Cyan (not red/blue) glasses of the proper density must be used to view 3D effect without ghosting. Anaglyph prepared using red cyan glasses from The Center For Civil War Photography / Civil War Trust.