October 16-18, 1859 - John Brown's Raid
October 16-18, 1859 John Brown's Raid Harper's Ferry, WV * If I've said it once I've said it a thousand time: the Civil War began in [what is now] West Virginia. The first major battlefield I ever deliberately visited [this was 8/10/21; ignore the "Published on" dates] was, appropriately enough, the five scattered locations that make up the Harpers Ferry battlefield. Of course, John Brown's raid at Harpers Ferry, which tragically ended in this building, preceded the war. So too did the attempt by some local militias to also capture the garrison and weapons factory there. It could have been the opening shots of the war, but the Union troops just set the armory on fire to keep it from falling into rebel hands and left, so there was no battle. Yet. Control of Harpers Ferry changed hands many times during the war. [It gets several additional entries in this blog.] https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=4420 Here is a building with a curious past. Since its constructi...