John Brown's Fort
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Built in 1848, John Brown's Fort was originally constructed for use as a guard and fire engine house for the United States Armory in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. An 1848 military report described the building as "An engine and guard-house 35? x 24 feet, one story brick, covered with slate, and having copper gutters and down spouts..." The building achieved notoriety during John Brown's Raid on the Harpers Ferry armory in 1859.
The Fort in John Brown's Raid
John Brown planned to capture the armory and the associated arsenal and use them to supply an army of abolitionists and run-away slave guerrillas. Beginning their raid the night of October 16, Brown and his small army of 21 men (16 white and 5 black) did initially manage to capture the armory and arsenal and succeeded in taking 60 citizens of Harper's Ferry hostage. However, Brown's plan relied on local slaves joining the insurrection, and none did. The local militia and armed townspeople killed several members of the insurrection and forced Brown to take up position in the fire engine house where Brown's men had placed several of the hostages and prepared a defensive fortification. On the night of October 17, U.S. marines and then Brevet Colonel Robert E. Lee and his aide J.E.B. Stuart arrived in Harper's Ferry to put down Brown's insurrection. The next morning, using a ladder as a battering ram, the marines battered down the door and stormed the fire engine house. One marine was mortally wounded in the attack as well as several of Brown's men. Some of Brown's men managed to escape, but most were captured, including Brown who was stabbed by the marine commander, Lt. Green. The hostages were freed.
The Fort after Brown
After Brown's raid, the fire engine house became known as "John Brown's Fort" and attracted tourist attention. In 1891, the building was sold to a buyer who wished to use it as an attraction close to the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The building only had 11 visitors and was dismantled and left on a vacant lot after the exhibition. In 1894, a movement arose to preserve the building and move it back to Harper's Ferry. Land on a farm outside the town was donated to the effort, and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad provided free shipping. The fort was reconstructed in Harper's Ferry in 1895. In 1909, Storer College in Harper's Ferry bought John Brown's Fort and moved it to the college's campus. In 1960, the National Park Service acquired the building and, in 1968, moved it once more to a location close to its original site, which had been covered by a railroad embankment in 1894. The Fort is now part of the Harpers Ferry National Historical Park run by the NPS.
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