Jacob's Pen 3

I've been fortunate to tromp a lot of ground lately, and the weather has allowed these boots to grow muddier by the day.

Thursday evening I attended a lecture sponsored by the Frederick County Civil War Roundtable at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine. The topic was the role of Frederick's militia during John Brown's raid in Harpers Ferry. On Friday and Saturday, I ventured to Harpers Ferry for the fantastic commemoration of that raid. Tomorrow, I plan to make my first visit to the Ball's Bluff battlefield (Oct. 21, 1861) near Leesburg, Virginia. As I must also travel to Northern Virginia, I may stop by Manassas while down there so I can catch up on efforts there to restore the ground to historical appearances.

Obviously, I have - and will have - much to share. This will soon begin with a series of posts on the sesquicentennial events in Harpers Ferry; for now, we follow the events of 150 years ago as observed by Frederick's Jacob Engelbrecht:



The Harpers Ferry riot has thus far been silenced and the following have been killed & wounded: Dean, Captain Oliver Brown & Captain Watson Brown (sons of old John Brown), Lieutenant Albert Hazlett - Pennsylvania, Lieutenant William Leman - Maine, Stewart Taylor - Canada, William Thompson - New York, Captain John Kagi of Ohio, Lieutenant Jeremiah Anderson of Indiana. Negros: Daingerfield of Ohio [Dangerfield Newby], Luis Leary - Ohio. Wounded Captain Aaron C. Stephens, (Whites) old John Brown (chief). Total number killed on both sides up to this time is 16. Luke Quinn United States Marines was killed October 18.

Friday October 21, 1859 2 o'clock PM


All diary entries in the "Jacob's Pen" series come directly from The Diary of Jacob Engelbrecht, published by The Historical Society of Frederick County, Inc.