Women Soldiers at Harpers Ferry

Harpers Ferry is best known for John Brown's raid in 1859.  The abolitionist attempted to seize the arsenal there and distribute the weapons to his followers in hopes of inciting a slave revolt.  U.S. Marines led by then Colonel Robert E. Lee stormed the engine house that Brown and his men had barricaded themselves in.  The abolitionist leader was captured, taken to Charles Town where he was tried and convicted of treason, and hanged.

Marker in Charles Town
Photo by Mark Hidlebaugh

Harpers Ferry 
Library of Congress

 Harpers Ferry is a lovely place to visit.  Mark and I have been there multiple times with the latest trip being a couple of months ago.  You can walk the scenic streets lined with period buildings that you can enter.  Inside, you will occasionally find interpreters in period clothing who will answer questions you may have.

Photo by Mark Hidlebaugh

View of Shenandoah Street of Lower Town looking east.  The tree towards the center of the photo marks the location of the provost marshal's office.

Provost Marshal's Office on the right.
Photo by Mark Hidlebaugh

Photo by Mark Hidlebaugh

The following is the plaque you see in the above picture.  Captain, later Major, Alonzo Pratt of the 34th Massachusetts Infantry was the provost marshal in 1864.

Photo by Mark Hidlebaugh

Interior of the Provost Office
Photo by Mark Hidlebaugh

Speaking of Alonzo Pratt, he sent the following on September 12th, 1864, to Lieutenant Colonel John Wooley, provost marshal of the Middle District.   Pratt mentioned the arrest of Kate, alias "James Johnson," and Eliza Frances, alias "Frank Glenn," who claimed to be with Co. K of the 1st West Virginia Cavalry.  The girls were in uniform and loitering about camps, according to Pratt.  In the document, he hints that they were prostitutes and requests that they be given proper clothing.

Virginia Historical Society

 In the photo below, the young man is portraying a clerk working in the provost marshal's office.  (Mark mistakenly cut some of it off.)

He very well could have been Corporal Charles H. Moulton of the 34th Massachusetts Infantry who served as a clerk at Harpers Ferry.  His chronicle of the war appears in  Fort Lyon to Harper's Ferry:  On the Border of North and South with "Rambling Jour."   Between August and October 1864, Moulton documented no less than eleven women wearing uniforms who were brought into the provost marshal's office.  In my opinion, not all of them were legitimate soldiers though.

The previous year, in 1863, one of Moulton's fellow soldiers in the 34th Massachusetts also documented  a woman soldier.  Writing from Harpers Ferry in October, he mentioned in a letter to his mother a woman had been brought in with a group of prisoners by Major Henry Cole's cavalry.  She had likely been serving with Brigadier General John D. Imboden's Confederates when she was captured.

There are other connections between female soldiers and Harpers Ferry.  In late summer 1864, a sixteen-year-old girl disguised as a man was sitting under an apple tree there when an apple fell on her head.  Her ensuing "woman's squeal" aroused suspicion.  Officials sent her to a surgeon for examination, the results of which led him to declare, "He bears unmistakable evidences of being a woman."  She was then discharged.

And there was at least one quasi woman soldier who was from Harpers Ferry.  The teenager came from a wealthy family and left her life of comfort to follow her sweetheart into the Confederate army.  She drilled for several days before finally revealing herself to him, after which he persuaded her to return home, which she did.  However, her longing for him soon led her back to the regiment, but she did not stay.  She ended up making continuous trips back and forth in uniform until Brigadier General Jeremiah C. Sullivan's men captured her in January 1864, and sent her to prison in Harpers Ferry along with eight to ten other Confederates.  There she remained for several days until she was ultimately discovered and released.  The spirited Confederate girl refused to take the oath and swore she would return to her regiment.

So the next time you visit historic Harpers Ferry, stop by the Provost Marshal's office.  There, you will follow in the footsteps of women soldiers who were brought there.

Until next formation....rest.