BROTHER AGAINST BROTHER at the Boonsborough Museum of History.

Brothers Jacob and John Heck, found themselves on opposing sides during the Battle of South Mountain one day in September 1862. They grew up in Boonsboro, and so the story goes, used a lull in the fighting to visit their mother and sister who were living on Church Street (now, Potomac St) in Boonsboro.

According to war records and living history accounts passed down through the Heck family (some still live in Boonsboro), the brothers held strong political views and, once the war was over, never spoke again.

After Jacob Heck (Confederate) was released from a POW hospital, he walked from Winchester, Va back to Fayette County, Va where he worked as a farmer and a coal miner. The only records after the war indicate he was listed as an “unreconstructed” southerner, meaning he didn’t sign his oath until after the surrender.

John Heck’s Union record shows he was discharged from the army in 1864 after his 3-year enlistment was up, when the war was still ongoing and eventually moved to Piedmont, West Virginia. His war records mention nothing of him being wounded or sick, so it is not clear why he left the army before the war was over. Perhaps he had become disillusioned with the war or his family was in dire straits. After his passing in 1911 at the age of 73, John was brought back to his hometown and buried in the Boonsboro cemetery.

About the Artist

Frederick Wark (1923-2011) was born 61 years after the Civil War ended and though he never met the two brothers, was inspired by their story to create and carve the relief that is hanging on the wall in the Boonsborough Museum of History.

It depicts his interpretation of the chance encounter between the brothers Jacob and John Heck. We will never know for sure what inspired Frederick Wark to carve the scene. His service to our country in WWII, serving as a volunteer at Antietam National Battlefield in Sharpsburg and membership in the Boonsboro Historical Society, describes the life of a talented wood carver who was dedicated to our community and the town of Boonsboro where he lived out the final chapter of his life.

We are thankful for the opportunity to be able to present his art, and remember a heartbreaking theme which ran all too often within families caught up in the war.