Evading Capture:Union Cavalry Escape from Harpers Ferry, September 14, 1862

Learn about one of the most daring escapes of the Civil War

Join the Frederick County Civil War Roundtable and Antietam Certified Guide Sharon Murray on April 18 at 7:00 PM at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine for a discussion of the dramatic cavalry escape from the siege of Harpers Ferry.

Just days before the Battle of Antietam, 14,000 Union soldiers manning the garrison at Harpers Ferry were surrounded by Confederate General Stonewall Jackson and 25,000 of his men. A group of 1,500 Union cavalry staged a daring escape to get help. Murray’s presentation will cover the key players involved in organizing and carrying out the escape, the escape route, the capture of a confederate ammunition train and who got credit for the escape and why.

Sharon Murray is a native Idahoan who moved to West Virginia in 2010 to travel & study history. I have multiple degrees in mining engineering and history from the University of Idaho. She worked in both underground and surface precious metal mines and in state government managing the State of Idaho’s mineral leasing and mined land reclamation programs. Murray has published a number of articles on Idaho mining history and won awards for photographs from the International California Mining Journal and the Civil War Trust. She has been a volunteer at Antietam National Battlefield since 2010 and a certified guide there since 2014.