A nice day to go see history.

So yesterday, Lagniappe and I headed out early to do some hiking and once again push the limits of our (my) physical conditioning.

Oh, and before I go on... for those of you still mad because I cheer the sentence handed to David Olofson--specifically those of you griping on other websites about "that Lagniappe guy"--I'm not Lagniappe. This is Lagniappe.Lagniappe is a dog. He just happens to live in my house, hence the blog name "Lagniappe's Lair". He doesn't actually write the posts here and when you complain amongst yourselves about Lagniappe's opinions, well you just look silly. All Lagniappe cares about is eating, napping in the sun, playing with his stuffed hedgehog, and traveling with me. That's it. He couldn't care less about Olofson or any other punk felon. Now you know.

Anyway... I took Lagniappe into Harpers Ferry, and we embarked on a hike up Maryland Heights to the Old Stone Fort and the abandoned gun positions that once graced that hillside overlooking the Ferry.

Let me preface this by saying that the National Park Service considers this a "steep" trail, and uses the term "strenuous" on their signs describing the route. They do not exaggerate. It's a pretty good workout.

Fortunately we had plenty of company first thing in the morning. These deer, and others like them were all over the place. I guess they're not used to early morning climbers.

We headed up to the top of the mountain. And it's a climb. Reportedly President Lincoln came here to inspect the troops during the war, but when he got a taste of the grade, he decided to go do something else instead. Too bad. He missed out on some spectacular views.

It's hazy, but you get the idea. From this old wagon road, you can see for miles. And this road used to be used by Union soldiers who once manned the fortifications and gun positions on this hill. Thousands of them lived up here during the war, and they had to schlep everything that they needed up to the top--tents, food, shells and powder for the cannon...and the cannon themselves. The biggest guns up here used to fire 100lb. shells, and the gun tubes themselves weighed nearly five tons without their carriages. It took 200 to 500 men to move one of those up this hill, over 1,400 vertical feet from the river below. And it took thousands more men to cut every tree off the top third on the mountain to give those guns a clear field of fire. But those guns owned the valley below once they were in place. These were the heaviest guns at the highest elevation anywhere east of the Mississippi all throughout the war.

Here's the view from the hundred pounder battery position. Sadly there's not too much of the fort and gun positions left. The massive guns and their traversing gear are gone.As was typical after the war, the guns were almost certainly abandoned in place at the cessation of hostilities, much as they were almost everywhere else. Artillery technology was fast rendering them obsolete and it just wasn't worth the trouble lugging them all the way back down again when everybody just wanted to go home. Those silent guns undoubtedly continued to command the valley until the urgent need for steel and iron during World War One caused them to join many, many other historic Civil War cannon back in the foundry furnaces.

But some of the walls are still there. The loose stones once stacked by Union soldiers or local workers in government employ still remain in spots, giving us at least a little idea of what used to be here. Supposedly the walls created a perimeter around a space of about three acres.






The walls weren't very high like you'd expect from a fort. They were basically crude breastworks meant to give some cover to riflemen who might have to defend the gun positions. There were never any actual buildings up here...just tents and dugout powder magazines.








Still it's worth going to see, if only to get an idea of what went on here between 1861 and 1865. To imagine living and working up here in all sorts of weather--heat, rain, snow, and having to carry up everything needed, right down to the wtaer needed for everyday living. And it wasn't just camping. The valley was at times in the hands of the Confederates, and even when it wasn't, Confederate raiders still periodically made life interesting for Union troops and their supporters.




But the most rewarding part? At least for Lagniappe, it was ending this six-mile hike back in Harpers Ferry, where Sharon at the Swiss Miss ice cream shop hooked him up with a cone or two.


He's such a clown for that stuff. If ice cream were crack, he'd be Marion Barry.