Editing Jefferson County, West Virginia (section)

===Civil War===
The county was a frequent site of conflict during the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], as Union and Confederate lines moved back and forth along the Shenandoah Valley. Some towns in the county changed hands between the Union and Confederacy over a dozen times, including Charles Town, and especially Harpers Ferry.

Jefferson County is the only part of modern-day [[West Virginia]] not exempted from the effects of the [[Emancipation Proclamation]] (as [[Berkeley County, West Virginia|Berkeley County]] and the 48 counties designated as [[West Virginia]] had been). Slaves in the county thus were legally free as of January 1, 1863.

The [[Jefferson County Courthouse (Charles Town, West Virginia)|Jefferson County Courthouse]] is the only courthouse in America to have held two treason trials: the trial of [[John Brown (abolitionist)|John Brown]] in 1859 and a trial arising from the [[Battle of Blair Mountain]] labor rebellion.<ref name="nrhpinv2">{{Cite journal
|title=National Register of Historic Places Nomination: Jefferson County Courthouse
|url=http://www.wvculture.org/shpo/nr/pdf/jefferson/73001910.pdf|date=March 7, 1973
|first=Ted
|last=McGee
|publisher=National Park Service|url-status=live
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604105813/http://www.wvculture.org/shpo/nr/pdf/jefferson/73001910.pdf|archive-date=June 4, 2011}}
</ref>