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From Primedia Publications
Flashpoint: Harpers Ferry
Serene and peaceful today, this West Virginia town provided the stage for an event that helped trigger the Civil War.

The rugged natural beauty around Harper's Ferry, where the Potomac and the Shenandoah rivers meet beneath high bluffs at a break in the Blue Mountains, has been impressing people for centuries. Thomas Jefferson stopped by in 1783 and called it "perhaps one of the most stupendous scenes in nature." George Washington was more excited by the area's industrial potential and had a federal armory and arsenal constructed there. John Hall later built a rifle factory at Harper's Ferry and became a pioneer in the use of interchangeable parts.

Within 36 hours, a federal force led by Robert E. Lee had killed or captured the raiders.
Nonetheless, if it weren't for John Brown, Harper's Ferry would be little more than a scenic footnote to history. Brown, a zealous foe of slavery who decided that only violence could end the "peculiar institution," planned to capture Harper's Ferry and use the weapons there to arm a slave rebellion. He struck on the night of October 16, 1859. The raid, ill-planned and poorly executed, was doomed from the start. Within 36 hours, a federal force led by Robert E. Lee had killed or captured the raiders. Brown, though wounded, was taken alive and would "make the gallows as glorious as the cross," in the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Brown failed to ignite a slave rebellion, but he helped send the United States down the road to Civil War, a conflict that almost destroyed Harper's Ferry. The town changed hands eight times during the war and emerged at the end with its industries destroyed and its population dispersed. The war affected Harper's Ferry in another way—at the time of Brown's raid it was in Virginia. Today it's in West Virginia, a state created in 1861 from 40 Virginia counties that did not secede from the Union.

Harper's Ferry is much quieter than it was on the eve of the Civil War, its narrow and steep main street lined with restored 19th-century buildings. The Armory is long gone, but visitors can see the firehouse where Brown and his raiders took refuge. The scenery is still splendid. Harper's Ferry National Historical Park, (304) 535-6298, is off I-340 about 65 miles northwest of Washington, DC, and 20 miles southwest of Frederick, Maryland. It's open 8:00-5:00 daily (except major holidays). You can find the park's website at http://www.nps.gov/hafe/. For more information about the region, contact the Jefferson County Visitor and Convention Bureau at either (304) 535-2627 or (800) 848-8687. Or check out their website at http://www/jeffersoncountycvb.com.