Burning of The Point

Ever since its founding in the mid-18th century, Harpers Ferry was the destination for industrial development. Waterpower harnessed from the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers enabled many mills and manufactories to be established and thrive. Prior to the Civil War, the confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers (also known as “The Point” or “The Wager Ferry Lot”) was a bustling district of commerce in Harpers Ferry. The Point consisted of several buildings including the B&O Railroad depot, two hotels, a restaurant, a tavern, a jewelry store, a tobacco shop, and residential apartments. After the Civil War erupted in 1861, Harpers Ferry became a border community caught in the middle of the conflict between North and South. The town was occupied at various times by both armies suffering much destruction and a population loss of 90%.

Flag of Truce or Trap?

In the winter of 1862, a few Union companies of the 28th Pennsylvania patrolled the Maryland shore of the Potomac across from Harpers Ferry while Confederate Virginia cavalry occasionally patrolled the Virginia (West Virginia) side. On the morning of Friday, February 7, 1862, Union army scouts George Rohr and John Rice noticed an African American man on the Harpers Ferry shoreline waving a white flag. Since both enslaved people and free African Americans were often a good source of intelligence for the Union army on the Confederates movements, Rohr and Rice paddled a boat across the Potomac River to see what information they could glean. Without warning, Confederate sharpshooters on the Virginia (now West Virginia) shore opened fire on the soldiers in the boat. Rohr was killed while Rice safely swam back across the river to the Maryland shore. The man waving the flag was John Sorrell who was enslaved by Confederate Captain Robert Baylor. Charles Stewart, another man enslaved by Baylor, told how Sorrell was ordered to ure the Union soldiers into the trap. "The Captain took John [Sorrell] to Harpers Ferry the day that Rohr was killed. John told me that he did not want to wave that white flag but that Captain Baylor put it in his hand and ordered him to wave it. John said that Captain Baylor's the one that shot Rohr."

"Wanton Destruction"

Furious over this ambush and losing one of his favorite scouts--Rohr, Union Col. Geary ordered Maj. Hector Tyndale to exact vengeance on the Confederates in Harpers Ferry. Maj. Tyndale, (in command at nearby Sandy Hook, Maryland) had specific orders to destroy the tall structures at The Point, which had become a favorite hiding place for Confederate snipers. On February 7, the same day of Rohr’s death, Union forces with the 28th Pennsylvania Infantry crossed the Potomac River, entered Harpers Ferry, and set fire to several private buildings along with structures owned by the B&O Railroad. The few Harpers Ferry townspeople still living nearby bemoaned the razing of The Point which they considered a “wanton destruction of property as the trestle, buttresses, or even the ruins of the burnt buildings furnished enough of shelter for spies or other sharpshooters…”

Aftermath

Confederate Captain Robert Baylor was captured later in the war and was court martialed by the Union Army for violating a flag of truce and killing George Rohr. Baylor claimed that he had every right to protect his property and that Rice and Rohr were mere "pirates" who came to steal his enslaved person. Baylor was eventually acquitted. Charles Stewart liberated himself from slavery to Baylor in March 1862 by fleeing to the relative safety of the Union army.