Celebration and Thanks in the Civil War

Holidays away from home are can be emotionally challenging, and this was no different during the Civil War. A devastated landscape and the ever present threats of disease and violence certainly made it difficult to find cause to celebrate.

Still, soldiers stationed in and around Harpers Ferry did their best to make Thanksgiving a joyous occasion. 

Today's football fans might relate to one soldier, who wrote home describing Thanksgiving as a day of sport. Rather than football, however, the main event on Thanksgiving Day was baseball. The game had begun to take root before the Civil War, and spread rapidly during the war years as a popular camp activity. 

Dancing was also a favored activity. In 1863, Union soldiers in Harpers Ferry hosted a grand ball at the Lockwood House on Camp Hill. As the house was already scarred by two years of war, creative decorations had to be employed: a chandelier was fashioned of rifle barrels and bayonets. Music was provided by the brass band of the 34th Massachusetts Infantry.

In hard times, the soldiers and civilians of Harpers Ferry found a way to celebrate what they had--even if it wasn't much. Later residents of Camp Hill would call the place the "hill of hope." We feel the name is rightly earned.

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Catherine Oliver