OK, so have you ever been so far behind in your blogging that you just don't even want to work on it anymore? But you push through because you know that this is about all that you have in terms of a family history or journal? That's pretty much how I feel these days. We did a bunch of fun things almost a month ago, and one of these days I'll get it all down. These days though are full of crying kids, non-napping babies, potty training two year-olds, and only a tiny bit more spare time due to the kindergartener.
So here we go, on Labor Day we decided to drive up to Antietam, and ended up just hooking over to Harpers Ferry while we were at it, kind of a National Parks tour of sorts.
First, did you know....
The Battle of Antietam is the bloodiest one day battle of the Civil War. Taking place on September 17th, it lasted 12 hours, and throughout the day, the line of battle did not change significantly. On the 18th however, the Confederate army crossed the Potomac back into Virginia allowing the Union Army to hold the field. Of the 100,000 soldiers participating in battle that day, about 23,000 were killed, wounded or missing.
This is one of my favorite pictures taken that day. Mostly because Graham is licking Jesse's head.
There were 5 Elders there that day, one of them took this family picture for us.
Ready, aim, fire!
This is the observation tower. It was not there during the war. It is tall, and it freaks me out to be at the top with squirmy kids.
This is Nate and Jesse at the top. They are very small.
This is Graham yelling up to Nate and Jesse. It was really cute.
There were a lot of stairs up to the top.
We ended up in Harpers Ferry kind of on a fluke. We had wanted to stop and get some ice cream or something, but there really isn't anything in Sharpsburg, so we thought that since we weren't too far from Harpers Ferry we could head over there. Jesse had stopped at a good ice cream shop while he was there with the scouts a while back. So we drove through Shepardstown, and over to Harpers Ferry. It was very crowded over there, and there was no parking anywhere, so we drove a few miles down the road to the National Park headquarters for Harpers Ferry, and caught a shuttle bus back into town. The boys LOVED it.
We got our ice cream.
We crossed the bridge over to MD and the C&O canal.
And a train passed us while on the bridge. The boys were very excited about that. We ended up seeing a lot of trains that day, so I'm sure according to the boys the day was a success.
So a little about Harpers Ferry. Apparently many things have happened in Harpers Ferry, and a lot of famous people have been through there throughout history. None of it is particularly interesting though. :) Probably the most note worth thing though centers around John Brown. John Brown wanted to free the slaves, so he took his army of 21 men, and seized the armory and several other strategic points. After 36 hours, most of his men were either killed or wounded, and he was barricaded in the firehouse. He was captured by US Marines, tried and convicted of treason. He was hanged on December 2, 1859. Although you could not say that his effort was a success, it actually brought the nation's attention to the moral issue of slavery and headed the country towards the Civil War. Hmmmmm.... So I guess you could say that the Civil war was started in Harpers Ferry.
There were 5 Elders there that day, one of them took this family picture for us.
Ready, aim, fire!
This is the observation tower. It was not there during the war. It is tall, and it freaks me out to be at the top with squirmy kids.
This is Nate and Jesse at the top. They are very small.
This is Graham yelling up to Nate and Jesse. It was really cute.
There were a lot of stairs up to the top.
We ended up in Harpers Ferry kind of on a fluke. We had wanted to stop and get some ice cream or something, but there really isn't anything in Sharpsburg, so we thought that since we weren't too far from Harpers Ferry we could head over there. Jesse had stopped at a good ice cream shop while he was there with the scouts a while back. So we drove through Shepardstown, and over to Harpers Ferry. It was very crowded over there, and there was no parking anywhere, so we drove a few miles down the road to the National Park headquarters for Harpers Ferry, and caught a shuttle bus back into town. The boys LOVED it.
We got our ice cream.
We crossed the bridge over to MD and the C&O canal.
And a train passed us while on the bridge. The boys were very excited about that. We ended up seeing a lot of trains that day, so I'm sure according to the boys the day was a success.
So a little about Harpers Ferry. Apparently many things have happened in Harpers Ferry, and a lot of famous people have been through there throughout history. None of it is particularly interesting though. :) Probably the most note worth thing though centers around John Brown. John Brown wanted to free the slaves, so he took his army of 21 men, and seized the armory and several other strategic points. After 36 hours, most of his men were either killed or wounded, and he was barricaded in the firehouse. He was captured by US Marines, tried and convicted of treason. He was hanged on December 2, 1859. Although you could not say that his effort was a success, it actually brought the nation's attention to the moral issue of slavery and headed the country towards the Civil War. Hmmmmm.... So I guess you could say that the Civil war was started in Harpers Ferry.So there was our Labor Day. It's not even October yet, so I'm very proud of the timely manner in which I blogged about this. :)
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