Harper's Ferry and John Brown

Inside John Brown's Fort



John Brown's Fort

I just spent the morning in Harper's Ferry, West Virginia. Living in the Gettysburg area is great because there are dozens of Civil War sites (not just battlefields) that are within an hour or two of town. Harper's Ferry is included in that list. It's about 50 minutes from here.

John Brown's Fort (above) is one of the places that you can get up close and personal with John Brown. This building has had a very interesting history. This is what the plaque in front of the building says:

1848 Built as fire-engine house for U.S. Armory

1859 Serves as stronghold for John Brown and his raiders

1861-1865 Escapes destruction during Civil War (only armory building to do so), but is vandalized by souvenir-hunting Union and Confederate soldiers and later travelers

1891 Dismantled transported to Chicago Exposition

1895 Rescued from conversion to stable and brought back to Harper's Ferry area to be exhibited on a farm

1909 Purchased by Storer College and moved to campus

1968 Moved by National Park Service within 150 feet of its original location

This building has had such a varied history but its incredible to see it still standing. Its not a very big building and its standing right near the insection of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers. As I stood looking at the building, I thought about who John Brown was....what he did....why he did what he did. I went into the John Brown wax museum and saw a wax reenactment of the hanging of John Brown (he wasn't actually hanging....he was standing on the steps leading up to the gallows) and this thought raced through my mind: "John, you had the right idea. It's a shame that you did it the wrong way." But then this thought came into my head: "What was the right way?" John Brown's action in Harper's Ferry was the unofficial start to the Civil War. If he had stormed the armory at Harper's Ferry in the hopes that more slaves would join him, would the Civil War had started when it did? So many questions....so little answers.