He was executed on December second, eighteen fifty-nine. John Brown was tried in nearby Charles Town and found guilty of treason and murder. To others, this monument is nothing less than a monument to freedom on a battlefield." Park Ranger David Fox says this building has different meanings to different people.ĭAVID FOX: "To some people this building is the scene of a crime, where a murderer and a traitor was captured and brought to justice. It is the only armory building still standing. After thirty-six hours, Brown was captured in the building that served as the fire engine and guard house. A battle followed, first involving local armed groups and then the United States Marines. They also seized the nearby arms factory and a railroad bridge. John Brown and his men seized the arsenal and its one hundred thousand weapons. They wanted to set up a government for the United States where slavery would be banned. Their goal was to seize the federal arsenal and use the weapons to arm an anti-slavery rebellion. On October sixteenth, eighteen fifty-nine, John Brown led an armed group of twenty-one men into Harpers Ferry. He wanted to end slavery in the United States. John Brown was an important person in the history of Harpers Ferry. Weapons for the army were made and stored there.
It was also home to the United States Armory and Arsenal, one of only two in the country. He says Harpers Ferry was a noisy, dirty, polluted industrial city in what was then Virginia, the largest slave state in America. He says the town was very different in eighteen fifty-nine. VOA reporter Susan Logue visited Harpers Ferry recently. This year it is celebrating the anniversary of an important historical event. Many people visit Harpers Ferry to see a town that looks the same as it did more than one hundred fifty years ago. The town has shops, restaurants and a National Historical Park. The Appalachian Trail runs through Harpers Ferry. Also, the states of West Virginia, Virginia and Maryland meet in the area. It is in a beautiful area of the Blue Ridge Mountains where the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers come together. Harpers Ferry is a small town in West Virginia.