April 11-12, 2025
“Defending it to the Last Extremity:” Harpers Ferry and the Road to Antietam
Join us on on April 11 & 12, 2025 for the Antietam Institute’s fourth annual Symposium, which will focus on Harpers Ferry during the Maryland Campaign of 1862.
As you would expect, the Institute has gathered a distinguished group of speakers to share their expertise with those in attendance. The program will cover effects of the preceding Second Manassas Campaign, the Federal commanders at Harpers Ferry, the role of artillery there, and General “Stonewall” Jackson’s leadership during the siege and reduction of the place.
The Symposium will be held in the Storer Ballroom in the Student Center on the campus of Shepherd University – 210 N King Street, Shepherdstown, WV 25443. A continental breakfast and lunch will be provided.
This event will also include an optional field trip the Friday afternoon before the Symposium which will explore Harpers Ferry during the siege of 1862, led by Dennis Frye.
Antietam Institute membership is required to attend this event.
Registration will open on September 27, 2024 and will close on March 11, 2025 or earlier if sold out before that date.
Symposium Itinerary
Friday, April 11, 2025 (optional)
Join us for an optional walk in and around Harpers Ferry the afternoon before the Symposium led by noted historian Dennis Frye. We’ll be visiting Bolivar Heights, School House Ridge, and the Chambers/Murphy Farm. Total walking will be less than 1.5 miles.
Attendees should bring NPS entrance passes if they have them, so they don’t have to pay an additional fee. We will carpool from the Harpers Ferry NHP visitor center parking lot.
1:00p – 4:00p The Siege of Harpers Ferry, September 12-16, 1862” Dennis E. Frye
Robert E. Lee expected Harpers Ferry to be no problem. Lee miscalculated.
The US garrison did not abandon post, as Lee expected, when he launched his first invasion of the North. The steadfast Federals, instead, forced Lee to alter his invasion plans, delaying the CSA move into Pennsylvania. Lee ordered two-thirds of his army under Stonewall Jackson to drive upon Harpers Ferry to remove this thorn in the Confederate rear. It proved a costly diversion.
Special Orders 191 became infamous for being lost. But what’s really lost is that Jackson succeeded in spite of the Lost Order. The difficulties Jackson encountered and the successes Stonewall engineered are his most masterful tactical performance of the war. The Union defense, too, is overlooked, not receiving credit for delaying the Confederate offensive, and ultimately thwarting Lee’s invasion plans.
Dennis Frye is renowned for his scholarship and interpretation of the Battle of Harpers Ferry. You won’t want to miss his insights.
Saturday, April 12, 2025
8:15a – Registration and breakfast at at the Storer Ballroom in the Student Center, Shepherd University [map]
9:00a – Welcome Chris Vincent
9:15a – Never Such A Campaign: The Effects of the Second Manassas Campaign on the Battle of Antietam Dan Welsh
Confederate general William Dorsey Pender wrote to his wife on September 7, 1862, following the conclusion of what became known as the Second Manassas Campaign, “There never was such a campaign, not even by Napoleon.” Pender was right. The expansive geographical campaign, weather, and heavy combat on August 28-30 had radically changed the Army of Northern Virginia and the elements of the Army of the Potomac that took part in the fighting. Significant casualties in the ranks, loss of experienced officers in command of those men, and failures in post-battle medical care all greatly impacted the coming clashes at South Mountain and Antietam far beyond what modern historians consider. Many of the events that played out on the battlefield on September 17, 1862 had their roots planted on the plains of Manassas just three weeks earlier. This presentation will forever link these two events in the minds of modern historians and encourage a deeper study of Second Manassas and the effects it had on the fall of 1862.
10:15a – “No personal knowledge of the ground:” Harpers Ferry and Federal High Command Dysfunction Steven R. Stotelmyer
As early as mid-June 1862, Major General John E. Wool, Middle Department commander responsible for Harpers Ferry, informed Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, “I have examined Harper’s Ferry, and find it a very indefensible position.” Almost three months later, the same General Wool ordered Colonel Dixon S. Miles, the commander of the garrison at Harpers Ferry, to defend the indefensible “to the last extremity.” Steve’s talk will explore Union high command dysfunction as it relates to Harpers Ferry and the early days of the Maryland Campaign.
11:30a – Dixon S. Miles and his Minions: Brigade Commanders at Harpers Ferry Sharon Murray
The talk will briefly discuss the life and military careers of Col.
Dixon S. Miles, Col. Frederick G. D’Utassy, Col. William H. Trimble,
Col. Thomas H. Ford and Col. William G. Ward and what their respective roles were during the Battle of Harpers Ferry in September 1862. Colonel Miles, a career U.S. Army officer with 42 years experience commanded the Railroad Brigade, headquartered at Harpers Ferry, an indefensible place of little if any strategic value, however Miles had been ordered to hold the place to the “last extremity.” In an attempt to hold the ferry, against vastly superior Confederate forces, Miles formed four brigades and placed them under inexperienced volunteer officers D’Utassy, Trimble, Ford and Ward. It was a prescription for disaster!
12:30p – Lunch
1:30p – “Acquitting themselves in the most honorable manner:” The Artillery Battle of Harpers Ferry Jim Rosebrock
Early on September 14, the beleaguered Harpers Ferry garrison watched helplessly as Confederate forces on Loudoun and Maryland Heights mounted artillery on the high ground overlooking the town. These guns were joined by a ring of artillery on School House Ridge as Stonewall Jackson’s three divisions reached the town later in the day. When the bombardment began that afternoon, some 50 Confederate guns from 18 batteries rained fire on the Federal garrison. Conventional wisdom is that this was a one-sided affair, the Confederates meeting little opposition from the six Federal batteries. Despite the odds against them, surrounded, outnumbered, and disadvantaged by poor positioning, and weak leadership, the six Federal batteries gave a good account for themselves as Brigadier General Julius White reported “acquitting themselves in the most honorable manner.” This is the story of the artillery battle of Harpers Ferry.
2:30p – Stonewall Jackson and the Siege of Harpers Ferry Chris Mackowski
Early in the Civil War, before he had become “Stonewall,” Brig. Gen. Thomas Jackson had been stationed in Harpers Ferry, at the confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers, a place Thomas Jefferson once called “one of the most stupendous scenes in Nature.” By the fall of 1862, Harpers Ferry—back in Federal control—posed a threat to the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, bent on an invasion of the North. Jackson was sent to neutralize the threat, and his familiarity with the site would prove vital. The result would be the largest Federal surrender of the Civil War—and a vital cog in the growing legend of “Stonewall.”
3:30p – Panel Discussion
4:30p – Wrap up session
5:00p – End of Day
Presenters
Dennis E. Frye is the author of 11 books and 129 articles, and is Chief Historian Emeritus for his more than three decades of leadership at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. Dennis’ most recent books have been award-winners. Confluence: Harpers Ferry as Destiny and his title Harpers Ferry Under Fire have been acclaimed for original scholarship, stimulating writing and provocative interpretation. Dennis’ work in Antietam Shadows: Mystery, Myth & Machination has earned a reputation for questioning the conventional wisdom of the 1862 invasion. Dennis is a leading preservationist, and is a co-founder and past president of today’s American Battlefield Trust and co-founder and first president of the Save Historic Antietam Foundation (SHAF). Dennis has led battlefield tours for the Smithsonian, National Geographic, the New York Times and dozens of academic institutions and Civil War organizations. Dennis also has made numerous appearances on national television in programs featuring Antietam, Harpers Ferry and John Brown.
Chris Mackowski, Ph.D. is the editor-in-chief and co-founder of Emerging Civil War and the series editor of the award-winning Emerging Civil War Series, published by Savas Beatie. Chris is a writing professor in the Jandoli School of Communication at St. Bonaventure University in Allegany, NY, where he also serves as associate dean for undergraduate programs. Chris is also historian-in-residence at Stevenson Ridge, a historic property on the Spotsylvania battlefield in central Virginia. He has worked as a historian for the National Park Service at Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park, where he gives tours at four major Civil War battlefields (Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Wilderness, and Spotsylvania), as well as at the building where Stonewall Jackson died.
Chris has authored or co-authored nearly two dozen books and edited a half-dozen essay collections on the Civil War, and his articles have appeared in all the major Civil War magazines. Chris serves on the board of directors for the Central Virginia Battlefields Trust and the advisory board of the Civil War Roundtable Congress and the Brunswick (NC) Civil War Roundtable—the largest in the country. He is also a member of the Antietam Institute and the U. S. Grant Homestead Association. In 2023, he was honored with the Houston Civil War Round Table’s Frank Vandiver Award and also selected as the Copie Hill Fellow at the American Battlefield Trust.
Sharon Murray, a native Idahoan, earned a Bachelor of Arts in History and Political Science, a Master of Arts in History and a Master of Science in Mining Engineering from the University of Idaho. Sharon worked in both surface and underground precious metal mines before spending almost twenty years managing mineral leasing and mined land reclamation programs for the Idaho Department of Lands. She has written and published articles on Idaho mining history and has contributed entries for the Brigades of Antietam, the Commanders of Antietam and the Antietam Journal. Recently she published An Ornament to His Country the first full length biography of an Indian and Civil War United States Army officer Benjamin Franklin Davis. Sharon, a volunteer and certified battlefield guide at Antietam National Battlefield lives in West Virginia with her Rottweiler Allie.
Jim Rosebrock is a retired Army officer and Federal government civil servant serving for 45 years in both capacities. He has volunteered at Antietam National Battlefield since 2007 and currently works with the park’s artillery detachment Battery B, 4th United States Artillery. A certified battlefield guide at Antietam for the past 15 years, Jim led the guide service from 2012 to 2018 and currently serves as Vice President of the Antietam Institute. Jim’s first book is The Artillery of Antietam published in 2023. He is also a contributing author to the Brigades of Antietam and the upcoming Commanders of Antietam to be published later this year.
Steven R. Stotelmyer is a native of Hagerstown, Maryland. He first visited Antietam National Battlefield as a child and has been fascinated with it ever since. After serving in the U.S. Navy, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Frostburg State College and a Master of Arts from Hood College in Frederick, MD. Before retirement, he was employed as a teacher, surveyor, and civil engineer. In 1989 Stotelmyer was a founding member of the Central Maryland Heritage League, a non-profit land trust which helped preserve some of the South Mountain Battlefield. During his tenure with CMHL he discovered significant information regarding the Battle of South Mountain and the Legend of Wise’s Well. This led to the publication of The Bivouacs of the Dead: The Story of Those Who Died at Antietam and South Mountain (Toomey Press, 1992). In 2019 Stotelmyer authored Too Useful To Sacrifice, Reconsidering George B. McClellan’s Generalship in the Maryland Campaign from South Mountain to Antietam (Savas Beatie, 2019). Recently Steve wrote From Frederick To Sharpsburg; People, Places, and Events of the Maryland Campaign before Antietam (Antietam Institute, 2023). Currently, Steve is a National Park Service Volunteer as well as a NPS Certified Antietam and South Mountain Battlefield Tour Guide.
Dan Welch is a park ranger at Gettysburg National Military Park. He previously worked in the field of education with a public school district in northeast Ohio, as well as with the Gettysburg Foundation. Dan is the Editor of the long-running Gettysburg Magazine. He received his BA in Instrumental Music Education from Youngstown State University, an MA in Military History with a Civil War Era concentration at American Military University, and completed Gettysburg College’s rigorous Gettysburg Semester program under the tutelage of Dr. Allen C. Guelzo. A lifelong student to the Civil War era, Dan has been a contributing member at Emerging Civil War for over eight years and is the co-author of two works in the Emerging Civil War Series: The Last Road North: A Guide to the Gettysburg Campaign, 1863 and Never Such A Campaign: The Battle of Second Manassas, August 28-30, 1862. Welch has also co-edited several volumes in the Emerging Civil War’s Tenth Anniversary Series. Dan is also the co-author of Ohio at Antietam: The Buckeye State’s Sacrifice on America’s Bloodiest Day. He has published numerous essays, articles, and book reviews. Dan resides with his wife, Sarah, and Labrador Retrievers near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
A Note about Refunds
Full payment is required upon registration. If you cancel in writing before March 11, 2025 (one month prior to the event), 80% of your registration fee will be refunded. After that date there will be no refund, but another person may be substituted without penalty.
Again, Antietam Institute membership is required to attend this event.
Accomodations
The following establishments are convenient to the Antietam battlefield, the Symposium venue, and Harpers Ferry:
Inn at Antietam (Sharpsburg)
Jacob Rohrbach Inn (Sharpsburg)
The Bavarian Inn (Shepherdstown)
Thomas Shepherd Inn (Shepherdstown)
Clarion Inn Harpers Ferry-Charles Town (Harpers Ferry)