John Brown's Raid On Harper's FerryHarper's Ferry 1858
An effort attempt to help slaves to freedom, 6 weeks, 22 men involved; Including John Brown. Things did not turn out the way John Brown had imagined. There were many issues and conflicts while him and his group were on their way to Harper's Ferry. Many he solved many he did not. One successful attempt at solving one of his problems were while crossing the Bridge from Potomac to Harper's Ferry. William Williams, a watchman at the bridge, had been guarding the bridge at the time. To get past the bridge they took Williams as prisoner and forced other watchman, Daniel Whelan to open the bridge. After crossing the bride, Watson Brown and Stewart Taylor were left behind to guard the bride while the rest of the group went on. |
Within the first 2 hours since they started they had already had control over the armory, the arsenal, and the rifle works.
The next prisoner was Colonel Lewis Washington, the great-grandnephew of George Washington. While Washington was farming Brown captured him and forced him to give him the Anderson the Lafayette pistol and the sword of Frederick the Great. Brown then introduced himself and told Washington his plan. Once Washington found out, he tried to give Stevens and Brown whiskey to have them stop their mission. They both refused and Washington and his family left their farm. |