A Nation in Need of Arms A new nation sat as an inviting target for those established countries eager to expand. With its victory over Britain, the United States needed a...
Up through the beginning of the 19th century, firearms in the United States were all made the same way: by hand, by local craftsmen. Every gun was individually made by craftsmen...
People often overlook the importance of Harper’s Ferry. It has been reduced to a footnote in American history. Schoolchildren are taught that John Brown captured the armory in his failed attempt...
The Potomac River, cutting like a knife across the colonies and then the nation, has represented both a boundary and a lifeline to growth. For Indians and colonists, the river has...
Following his victory at the Second Battle of Bull Run (Manassas), Robert E. Lee made the decision in August of 1862 to invade the North. This decision, motivated in part to...
Located in southern Washington County, Maryland, 13 miles south of Hagerstown and 3 miles from the Potomac River, sits the small town of Sharpsburg. While small compared to other towns in...
On September 22, 1863, following the Union victory at the battle of Antietam, President Abraham Lincoln issued a preliminary version of the Emancipation Proclamation, giving the Confederacy a deadline to cease...
John Benson grew up studying the Civil War. His father was an early member of the North South Skirmish Association in the 1950’s. His father traveled around Ohio, West Virginia and...
