Six Years of Hell: Harpers Ferry During the Civil War

Rating:
Summary: A good book but really horrible maps hamper author's efforts
Review: I recently visited Harpers Ferry on a vacation where I was touring eastern Civil War battlefields and found the place so facinating that I wanted to learn more about it's history. While Harpers Ferry was an important location during the Civil War, in most Civil War books it's a sideshow of something larger such as the battle of Antietam. Fortunately with Chester Hearn's book it gets center stage treatment.

The book itself is well written and is a nice 300 pages in length. John Brown's raid, Lee's invasions of 1862 & 1863 as well as Early's 1864 raid are all covered and covered in depth in the book. Hearn's writing style is enjoyable and the book is well researched.

Unfortunately the maps in the book don't live up to the writing. The four maps are some of the worst I've seen in any Civil War book. The first two are barely acceptable. The one of the town itself doesn't even show the Bolivar Heights. The last two are the worst. They are so dark and the lettering so small that most of the wording on them is unreadable and they do not help the reader in any way. None of the maps show such important landmarks like Sandy Hook and not until the last one is even the Bolivar Heights shown but the lettering so small that you can barely read it.

This is a good book and Civil War buffs will enjoy it. You will be left with a better appreciation for the role Harpers Ferry played in the war. However Hearn would have served his work better and the reader would have gotten a better understanding of the events had he provided better maps and perhaps some photos of the area. It's one thing to read about the Loudoun and Maryland Heights and another to see them. A picture of these heights from the town would have greatly assisted the reader in understanding the terrain of the area and the difficulties they brought to defending it.

I do recommend this book but if you pick it up I strongly suggest you search online for maps of the Harpers Ferry area and perhaps some photos showing the Maryland and Loudoun Heights.