Harpers Ferry

Harpers Ferry, West Virginia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harpers_Ferry,_West_Virginia

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John Brown's Raid:
On October 16, 1859, the abolitionist John Brown led a group of 22 men (counting himself) in a raid on the arsenal. Five of the men were black: three free black men, one freed slave, and one fugitive slave. Brown attacked and captured several buildings, hoping to secure the weapons depot and arm the slaves, starting a revolt across the South. The Secretary of War asked the Navy Department for a unit of United States Marines from the Washington Navy Yard, the nearest troops. Lieutenant Israel Greene was ordered to take a force of 86 Marines to the town. U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Robert E. Lee was found on leave at his home in nearby Arlington, and he was assigned as commander, along with Lt. J. E. B. Stuart as his aide-de-camp. Lee led the unit in civilian clothes, as none of his uniforms were available. The contingent arrived by train on October 18, and after negotiations failed, they stormed the fire house and captured most of the raiders, killing a few and suffering a single casualty.

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Civil War:

Harpers Ferry was a natural conduit for Union incursions into the South. The town was "easy to seize, and hard to hold".  The Civil War was disastrous for Harpers Ferry, which changed hands eight times between 1861 and 1865.

Harpers Ferry played a key role in the Confederate invasion of Maryland in September 1862. Gen. Robert E. Lee did not want to continue on to Maryland without capturing the town. It was on his supply line and could control one of his possible routes of retreat if the invasion did not go well. Because of the delay in capturing Harpers Ferry and the movement of Federal forces to the west, Lee was forced to regroup at the town of Sharpsburg. Two days later he commanded troops in the Battle of Antietam.