Information Panel: Sheridan Dug In

Information panel "Sheridan Dug In."

NPS / Claire Hassler

Quick Facts

Amenities

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Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits

In August 1864 Harpers Ferry was again a Union stronghold. Union General Philip Sheridan and his men built this redoubt -- the earthwork in front of you -- as fortification against the Confederate Sheridan's objective was to stop the Confederates from skirting undetected along the Shenandoah River (below you) into Harpers Ferry. They had done so on three previous campaigns -- Maryland (1862), Gettysburg (1863), and Washington (1864). The ravine to your right separated the redoubt from the rest of Sheridan's earthworks, which included five other redoubts connected by a two-mile long trench that stretched from the Shenandoah River to the Potomac River north of here. Each redoubt held as many as six cannons. This fort was never attacked.