Free previewStop 2 of Harpers Ferry Walking Tour: John Brown's Fort to Jefferson Rock
The Firehouse That Wouldn't Stay Put
You're standing on Potomac Street in Lower Town, in front of a small, one-story brick building with a slate roof and three doors across its front. It doesn't look like much. It was built in 1848 as the armory's fire engine house and guardhouse. Today it's called John Brown's Fort, and it's the only building of the whole federal armory that survived the Civil War.
In the summer of 1859 John Brown, an abolitionist hoping to launch the overthrow of slavery, rented a farmhouse in Maryland, about 4 miles north of here, under the name Isaac Smith. He ordered 950 pikes from a Connecticut blacksmith. His plan was to seize the armory and its arsenal and use them to supply an army of abolitionists and escaped slaves.
On the night of October 16, Brown and 21 men, 16 white and 5 Black, crossed into town. At first it worked.
That's the opening. The rest plays at stop 2 of Harpers Ferry Walking Tour: John Brown's Fort to Jefferson Rock (3 min in all). Unlock the tour to hear it all, or try stop 1 free first.
