Harpers Ferry Armory's Firehouse
Used in John Brown's 1859 Raid
The image below is an excerpt of a photograph taken around 1862. It shows the main entrance to the Armory, including the south side of the "fire engine house and guard house" (on the left with a white cupola on the roof) in which John Brown and his company barricaded themselves during their 1859 raid of Harpers Ferry. This image is available from the Harpers Ferry Photo Archive.
The next photograph, taken in 1865, shows the east side of the fire engine house, with its white cupola and arcade facades. St. Peter's Church is visible uphill in the background; the tents of a "contraband" camp can be seen in the foreground. The full "stereograph" image of this photograph is available in the Library of Congress' American Memory Collections.
The next image is a copy of an illustration published in the November 1859 edition of the Harpers Weekly magazine with the following caption: "The Harper's Ferry Insurrection -- The U.S. Marines storming the Engine-House -- Insurgents firing through holes in the wall." This image is available from the Harpers Ferry Photo Archive.
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by Christopher Fennell
Last Modified: December 14, 2007 |