Stonewall " Jackson At Harper's Ferry " Imboden Writing For Century Magazine

JPK Huson 1863

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
Joined
Feb 14, 2012
Location
Central Pennsylvania
harpers ferry st johns.JPG

St John's Church overlooking Harper's Ferry Library of Congress image taken post war

" Battles and Leaders of the Civil War ", again. Got hooked on it 4 years ago, listened to this on Kindle Audio first, finally loaded it in book form. Century Magazine's compilation and two editors' brilliant brainchild, Civil War luminaries were asked to contribute their recollection- anything, writer's choice. Century Magazine published these for years. " Battles and Leaders " is a ' Best-Of ' selection. Must read? Oh good gravy with goose giblets, yes. Crazy interesting, The War, from all 25 sides of some preposterous octogon's octogarronagon, you see what i'm getting at. What general, for instance, whose last name begins with Johnson had a feud with another leader who....? It's all there in livid, I mean living color. I mean black and white. That was some feud.

Picked the beginning of this, then it's your read- and worth it. John Daniel Imboden, besides being kind of brilliant himself, could write. Well, unsurprisingly an attorney- we have had other experiences where attorney and wordsmith are interchangeable terms. ......And the whole book is free please do not buy it anywhere.
https://archive.org/details/battlesleadersof01cent

" Battles and Leaders Of The Civil War "

Jackson At Harper’s Ferry pg. 111
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LoC

John Daniel Imboden, Brig. General
imboden.JPG

LoC

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LoC

jackson1.JPG

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TBC- page 111

https://archive.org/details/battlesleadersof01cent

harpers ferry bridge.JPG

Harper's Ferry Covered Bridge LoC

Harpers Ferry lauden heights.JPG

Lauden Heights LoC

Harpers ferry ruins.JPG

Bridge ruins LoC

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Very post-war, new bridge LoC

hpj3.JPG

We all know whose ' fort ' this was..... John Brown's. LoC
 
I've read a few articles from B&L and they've been good reading. However, since they were written so long after the war, they aren't as factually accurate as I like. I think of B&L as akin to historical movies; they both sacrifice accuracy for the sake of drama/entertainment. That's not necessarily a bad thing.
 
I've read a few articles from B&L and they've been good reading. However, since they were written so long after the war, they aren't as factually accurate as I like. I think of B&L as akin to historical movies; they both sacrifice accuracy for the sake of drama/entertainment. That's not necessarily a bad thing.

Another potential "problem" with B&L. like much postwar writing, the authors generally had axes to grind and/or reputations to protect and defend. Things like this that are pretty straight reminiscences are more likely to be okay though.
 
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St John's Church overlooking Harper's Ferry Library of Congress image taken post war

" Battles and Leaders of the Civil War ", again. Got hooked on it 4 years ago, listened to this on Kindle Audio first, finally loaded it in book form. Century Magazine's compilation and two editors' brilliant brainchild, Civil War luminaries were asked to contribute their recollection- anything, writer's choice. Century Magazine published these for years. " Battles and Leaders " is a ' Best-Of ' selection. Must read? Oh good gravy with goose giblets, yes. Crazy interesting, The War, from all 25 sides of some preposterous octogon's octogarronagon, you see what i'm getting at. What general, for instance, whose last name begins with Johnson had a feud with another leader who....? It's all there in livid, I mean living color. I mean black and white. That was some feud.

Picked the beginning of this, then it's your read- and worth it. John Daniel Imboden, besides being kind of brilliant himself, could write. Well, unsurprisingly an attorney- we have had other experiences where attorney and wordsmith are interchangeable terms. ......And the whole book is free please do not buy it anywhere.
https://archive.org/details/battlesleadersof01cent

" Battles and Leaders Of The Civil War "

Jackson At Harper’s Ferry pg. 111
View attachment 103393
LoC

John Daniel Imboden, Brig. General
View attachment 103392
LoC

View attachment 103381
LoC

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View attachment 103383 View attachment 103384 View attachment 103385 View attachment 103386
TBC- page 111

https://archive.org/details/battlesleadersof01cent

View attachment 103377
Harper's Ferry Covered Bridge LoC

View attachment 103378
Lauden Heights LoC

View attachment 103379
Bridge ruins LoC

View attachment 103388
Very post-war, new bridge LoC

View attachment 103389
We all know whose ' fort ' this was..... John Brown's. LoC
Is that a Sibley tent in the pic?
 
I am a huge fan of Battles and Leaders myself.


So funny. It was one of the first books I bought so went in at the deep end? Really not a great ' beginner' book but turned out to be fortunate because it really makes you do a lot of research, or the beginner's idea of research. Also got me hooked on that post war thing the vets did, of writing back and forth in newspapers? Endlessly interesting, battles from their perspective even though they spent a huge amount of time not agreeing on them.
 
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Is this the same St. John's?

I don't think so - I think THIS is what's left of it:

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I only have this captioned ruin of the Episcopal Church here in my Harpers Ferry thread, but from the position of it high up on the slope in the period photo I believe it's the same. Besides, you can see the steeple of the Catholic church farther downhill and to the left in the photo, just like it is today (although the Church itself has been remodeled and re-styled):

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The ruin can be visited by those willing to make the rather steep climb up a trail that leads from the Catholic church to the beautiful town cemetery which is situated on a plateau above the town:

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According to signage, the Episcopal Church served as a hospital during the war and afterward was burned. I suppose since Harpers Ferry never recovered following the war there were probably few parishioners to take on the task of rebuilding it.
 

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Battles and Leaders is useful as you get both sides writing about a campaign or battle but you do have to look out for the writing that is known "PYA".
 
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I don't think so - I think THIS is what's left of it:

195-jpg.jpg


I only have this captioned ruin of the Episcopal Church here in my Harpers Ferry thread, but from the position of it high up on the slope in the period photo I believe it's the same. Besides, you can see the steeple of the Catholic church farther downhill and to the left in the photo, just like it is today (although the Church itself has been remodeled and re-styled):

129-jpg.jpg


The ruin can be visited by those willing to make the rather steep climb up a trail that leads from the Catholic church to the beautiful town cemetery which is situated on a plateau above the town:

199-jpg.jpg


According to signage, the Episcopal Church served as a hospital during the war and afterward was burned. I suppose since Harpers Ferry never recovered following the war there were probably few parishioners to take on the task of rebuilding it.

Wow, very cool, thanks!

Found this youtube video of a tourist visiting the ruins:

 

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