Day 6-7: Harper's Ferry, WV

 

I am completely enchanted with this area of the country.  If it wasn't for the cold, cold winters, I would move to this slice of heaven in a heartbeat.  We spent the night in an adorable rustic cottage set into the hills.  We loved hiking up and down the hills.  In fact, we were supposed to stay here only for one night, but ended up changing our plans to two nights (partially because we loved the location, partially because of the predicted storms we didn't want to sleep through in a tent.  It poured through the night, but we were nice and dry with a fresh breeze.)

In the morning, I took a zip lining tour, taking in the breathtaking views of the mountains and the Potomac River.  The guide told us stories about George Washington surveying the area and finding the rapids of the river nearly impossible to pass.  (Ironically, people now tube down that very stretch with just an inner tube.)  Afterwards, I took a self guided tour of the lower city of Harper's Ferry.  I loved talking with the costumed volunteers.  I spoke with a shop worker in the dry goods general store who explained the "science of phrenology" (eeek) and the manager who explained the process of taking a bath (lots of carrying and heating up water which explains the infrequent bathing of people during this time period).  I spoke with two boys of 15 who had joined up for the Union army.  When I asked if they were old enough, they explained how they had written 16's on the soles of their shoes so that they could honestly swear an oath that they were over 16 when they joined.  I spoke with the man in the gun making factory who showed me the difference in the hand crafted vs. machine made muskets.

And then, there was the John Brown Tour. Honestly, I got so much out of this tour that I'll be able to create an amazing lesson plan.  John Brown was an abolitionist who believed that peaceful means for abolishing slavery weren't working so he took matters into his own hands, formed an army, spent months observing and plotting, and finally, on October 16-18, 1859,  raided the federal arsenal in Harper's Ferry in an attempt to arm a slave rebellion.   

I visited John Brown's Fort, a place where many historians argue the first shot of the Civil War was actually fired, and I spent some time in the John Brown Museum.  Then, we took a docent guided tour by a costumed historian.  We took a bus to Charles Town, VA (named for Charles Washington, brother of President George) where Brown was tried for treason against the state of Virginia.  (Remember that West Virginia didn't yet exist.  The mountaineer people of current West Virginia stayed with the Union in 1861 when Virginia seceded, and the state was admitted into the Union in 1863.)  I stood in the small courtroom where the injured Brown and his inadequate defense were dealt a hasty trial and swift sentencing to death by hanging.  I noted the primary sources on the walls of the courtroom so I can look them up for our own trial.  Then, we walked to where Brown was hung.  I found out that this was somewhat of a celebrity event, the hanging.  The Governor Wise feared an attempt would be made to free Brown, so he had 1500 soldiers at hand to prevent a jailbreak or other act of violence.  Although civilians were severely restricted, some notable people attended...Edmund Ruffin, who was later credited with firing the first shot of the Civil War at Ft. Sumter in another Charleston, South Carolina, John Wilkes Booth who posed as a soldier so he could attempt and who later assassinated President Lincoln, and young Stonewall Jackson, the well known Confederate commander.  

Execution of John Brown. New York Illustrated News, December 10, 1859.

Periodicals Collection, West Virginia State Archives

John Brown's final words were passed to in a note to a supporter on his way out to the field gallows.  They read:

Charlestown, Va. 2nd December, 1859.  

I John Brown am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land: will never be purged away; but with Blood. I had as I now think: vainly flattered myself that without very much bloodshed; it might be done.

John Brown....Was he a hero?  Was he a traitor?  His actions began a snowball effect towards the emancipation of American slaves, but was this violence justified, and were his intentions as pure as he said?  Late in the trip, we'll visit Kansas, Bleeding Kansas, and we'll see that this act of violence was not the only one that Brown carried out.  I’m excited for the next leg of the trip, but even more, I’m excited thinking about what an amazing trial this will make in the classroom!! My next post will include some of the resources I picked up as well as some I've found along the way to built my case files.