A History Lesson: Harper's Ferry

On Tuesday of last week Jeff, Caitlynn, Dalton, and I took my parents to Harper's Ferry about 45 minutes from here. Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, sits in the shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains at the confluence of two rivers, the Potomac and Shenandoah. In 1799, George Washington had an armory and arsenal built along the Potomac in Harper's Ferry. The United States Armory and Arsenal transformed Harpers Ferry from a remote village into an industrial center. Between 1801 and the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, the Armory produced more than 600,000 muskets, rifles, and pistols, and employed, at times, over 400 workers.

Harpers Ferry witnessed one of the earliest acts associated with the Civil War. On the night of October 16th, 1859, the abolitionist John Brown and a band of 21 men raided the Armory's arsenal, intending to seize weapons and spark a slave revolt. The raiders easily overpowered the Armory watchman and captured the arsenal, taking hostages in the process.
A group of Marines under the command of Robert E. Lee arrived during the night of October 17, and Brown and his followers were soon captured. Brown's trial, conviction, and death by hanging, perceived by many as an act of martyrdom, polarized the nation on the eve of the Civil War.
When the Civil War did break out, the residents of Harpers Ferry and Armory workforce found themselves uncomfortably on the border between North and South. As Confederate forces advanced on the Armory in April 1861, Federal soldiers set fire to the arsenals and some workshops, and then abandoned the town. The townspeople and armory workers, not wanting to see their livelihoods go up in flames, worked quickly to extinguish the fires before too much damage was done. Much valuable machinery and tools were saved. A short time later the machinery and tools were confiscated by Confederate soldiers and shipped elsewhere to aid Confederate efforts. Eventually, some of the shops were partially refurbished and used as a Quartermasters Depot to support military operations, including Major General Sheridan's 1864 Shenandoah Valley campaign.

Aerial View of Harper's Ferry

We walked around in the area called Lower Town of Harper's Ferry. The Arsenal and Armory are now gone. John Brown's fort where he was captured still stands although not in it's original location. We did not go to the Virginius Island (although now I wish we had). We also did not go to the power plants or Camp Hill. Maryland Heights is a mountain (Well what West Virgianian's call mountains :-) ). I later read there are several trails and artifacts in Maryland Heights. Another trip for another time.

John Brown's Fort
This was a firehouse in which John Brown and his men hid in and were finally captured. After their capture the building became known as John Brown's fort. In fact I found several pictures with John Brown's Fort painted across the top of the doors.
Most of the current shops, museums, etc in Lower town are the original structures. The Monument to the right is a marker where John Brown's fort originally stood. John Brown's fort was the first building into the armory grounds. The fort was moved to make room for railroad tracks and station. I read on the internet they are now doing archeological digs on the armory grounds.

We had a great day of just walking around taking pictures and trying to understand the history of the town. After a couple of hours of walking around we got a snack and then headed home. We needed to get home so we would go to Ashlie's band concert later that evening.

I was so interested in this place as soon as I got home I started doing more research on the internet. One thing I found out is Meriweather Lewis (of Lewis and Clark expedition) came to Harper's Ferry to get amory for the expedition. He also had a collapsable canoe built here for the expedition.

I can't do this place justice on my blog. Plus some of you may not be as huge of a history buff as I am and is already bored with the little bit of history I have already posted. So instead of totally boring everyone so you never read my blog again I added a link to a website with more history and more pictures of the area. I found a lot more websites but I'll even spare you all of those.