Most written accounts of Harpers Ferry, Virginia, during the Civil War era begin and end with John Brown’s raid in 1859 and his subsequent hanging. In Six Years of Hell, Chester G. Hearn recounts in colorful style the harrowing story of Harpers Ferry’s tumultuous war years-during which it changed hands more often than any town but Winchester, Virginia, and was repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt. Relying heavily on records left by the citizens who weathered the war and the soldiers who garrisoned the town, Hearn treats the civilian experience as fully as he does military activities. He introduces the people who attempted to stay in their homes, protect their possessions, and accommodate the soldiers during the conflict. As Hearn clearly demonstrates, for those stouthearted individuals, the Civil War was truly six years of hell.
Chester G. Hearn is the author of Lincoln, the Cabinet, and the Generals; When the Devil Came Down to Dixie: Ben Butler in New Orleans; The Capture of New Orleans, 1862; and Ellet’s Brigade: The Strangest Outfit of All. He lives in Erie, Pennsylvania.
From John Brown’s raid through the valley campaigns of 1862 and 1864 to John T. Trowbridge’s visit just after war’s end, the reader feels the tragedy and destruction of war as it engulfs a small town caught in the throes of a conflict, a town that by chance had staged its beginning.
~Journal of American History
A well-written, solid study on a community dramatically affected by the Civil War. . . . It belongs on the shelf of any serious scholar of the subject.
~Journal of Southern History
Bravo! This is how history should be told and presented to readers.
~Virginia Quarterly Review
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