HARPER'S FERRY, a town of Jefferson county, W.Va., U.S.A., finely situated at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers (which here pass through a beautiful gorge in the Blue Ridge), 55 m. N.W. of Washington, D.C. Pop. (193o) 705. It is served by the Baltimore and Ohio railway, which crosses the Potomac here, and the Winchester and Potomac rail way (Baltimore and Ohio) of which it is a terminus. Across the Potomac, on the north, rise the Maryland Heights; across the Shenandoah river, on the Virginia side ; the Virginia or Loudoun Heights; and behind the town to the west the Bolivar Heights. A U.S. arsenal and armoury were established at Harper's Ferry in 1796, the site being chosen because of the good waterpower; these were seized on Oct. 16, 1859, by John Brown (q.v.), the abolitionist, and some 21 of his followers. The engine-house in which Brown was captured was exhibited at the Columbian Ex position at Chicago and was later rebuilt on Bolivar Heights; a marble pillar, marked "John Brown's Fort," has been erected on its original site.
The first settlement here was made about 1747 by Robert Har per, who ran a ferry across the Potomac. The position of Harper's Ferry at the lower end of the Shenandoah Valley rendered it a place of strategic importance during the Civil War. On April 18, 1861, the day after Virginia passed her ordinance of secession, when a considerable force of Virginia militia under Gen. Kenton Harper approached the town—an attack having been planned in Richmond two days before—the Federal garrison of 45 men under Lieut. Roger Jones set fire to the arsenal and fled. Within the next few days large numbers of Confederate volunteers assembled here; and Harper was succeeded in command April 27 by "Stone wall" Jackson, who was in turn succeeded by Brig.-Gen. Joseph E. Johnston on May 23. Johnston thought that the place was un important, and withdrew when (June 15) the Federal forces under Gen. Robert Patterson and Col. Lew Wallace approached, and Harper's Ferry was again occupied by a Federal garrison. In Sept. 1862, during Gen. Lee's first invasion of the North, Gen. McClellan advised that the place be abandoned in order that the 10,000 men defending it might be added to his fighting force, but Gen. Halleck would not consent, so that when Lee needed supplies from the Shenandoah Valley he was blocked by the garrison, then under the command of Col. Dixon S. Miles. On Jackson's ap proach they were distributed as follows: about 7,000 men on Bolivar Heights, about 2,000 on Maryland Heights, and about 1,80o on the lower ground. On Sept. 13 Gen. Lafayette McLaws carried Maryland Heights and Gen. John G. Walker planted a battery on Loudoun Heights. On the 14th there was some fighting, but early on the 15th, as Jackson was about to make an assault on Bolivar Heights, the garrison, surrounded by a superior force, surrendered. The total Federal loss (including the garrisons at Winchester and Martinsburg) amounted to 44 killed (the com mander was mortally wounded), 12,520 prisoners, and 13,000 small arms. For this terrible loss to the Union army the responsibility seems to have been Gen. Halleck's, though the blame was officially put on Col. Miles, who died immediately after the surrender. Jackson rejoined Lee on the following day in time to take part in the battle of Antietam, and after the battle Gen. McClellan placed a strong garrison (the 12th Corps) at Harper's Ferry. In June 1863 the place was again abandoned to the Confederates on their march to Pennsylvania. After their defeat at Gettysburg, the town again fell into the hands of the Federal troops, and it remained in their possession until the end of the war. On July 4, 1864 Gen. Franz Sigel, who was then in command here, with drew his troops to Maryland Heights, and from there resisted Early's attempt to enter the town and to drive the Federal gar rison from Maryland Heights.
Harper's Ferry was seriously damaged by a flood in the Shen andoah in Oct. 1878.