Prelude to the Civil War; Four states mark the 150th anniversary of John Brown’s raid

johnbrownraid.org ^ | March/April 2009 | Theresa Gawlas Medoff

[Liz]

A series of reenactments, dramatic productions, family activities and special tours are scheduled this year as Civil War sites in West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania commemorate the 150th anniversary of abolitionist John Brown’s October 1859 raid on the arsenal at Harpers Ferry. Although the raid itself failed, it succeeded in exacerbating the divide between North and South, pushing the nation closer to civil war.

“Before the raid, negotiations and a compromise between North and South might have been possible; however, after the attack—and Brown’s trial and hanging—emotions ran so high that armed conflict became inevitable,” says Tom Riford of the Hagerstown-Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

At the time, Brown was denounced on both sides of the Mason–Dixon Line as a terrorist and an enemy of the Union, but others just as passionately revered him as a martyr. Brown inspires those same polarized opinions among today’s visitors to Harpers Ferry National Historical Park (nps.gov/hafe), says Todd Bolton, events committee chair for the John Brown Sesquicentennial Quad-State Committee (johnbrownraid.org). “Our job at Harpers Ferry is to present the facts and the history, and let people decide for themselves,” he says.

There will be plenty of opportunities this year to learn about Brown, beginning on April 18 with the first Signature Event of the sesquicentennial: “Prelude to History: The Wedding of Virginia Kennedy” at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. The day’s attractions include a dramatic monologue about the raid told from the perspective of the wife of raider John Cook. Visitors can also enjoy period music, youth activities and tours of the Lower Town at Harpers Ferry, which has been preserved as it appeared during the Civil War era.

The town of Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, lies at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers, bordering Maryland and Virginia. The 3,500-acre National Park extends into all three states. Brown had his northern headquarters in Pennsylvania, the fourth member of the quad-state committee. On May 22, the John Brown House in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, will be rededicated and reopened after a major renovation.

The Kennedy Farmhouse in Samples Manor, Maryland, staging place for the raid, will host a rare open house with tours and demonstrations July 12. Frederick County, Maryland, attracts the spotlight August 8–9 for its Militia and Fire Company Days, with displays of antique fire-fighting equipment. Other events happen throughout the summer and fall, including regular ranger-guided tours of Brown-related sites in the National Park and surrounding areas.

The centerpiece of the sesquicentennial observation takes place in the Harpers Ferry area October 16–18, 150 years to the day after the raid and subsequent siege. Following a twilight reenactment Friday of Brown’s six-mile march to Harpers Ferry, the commemoration continues on Saturday and Sunday with a full slate of music, living history, family activities and ranger-guided programs.

Because of the significance of the raid, the John Brown Sesquicentennial is regarded as a prelude to the Civil War Sesquicentennial, which the nation will observe from 2011 to 2015.

—Theresa Gawlas Medoff

Learn more about the Civil War and the nation’s sesquicentennial plans at cwar.nps.gov/civilwar/abcivwarSesqInit.htm. The information in this story was accurate when it was published in the March/April 2009 issue of AAA World, but dates, times and prices may have changed since then. We suggest you verify such details directly with the listed establishments before making travel plans.

Email: info@johnbrownraid.org

[stand watie]

actually, i'm OK. it's "the old folks", who are all either over 85YO and/or very ill.

FR, as much as i enjoy being on the forum, is NOT "in the cards" when i'm at home on the farm or going to/coming from/at the hospital.

free dixie,sw

[Arkinsaw]

And it was still treason against the mother govt. The United States was British citizens and the country was extremely divided with most remaining Loyalists. But it’s funny you find the cause of rebelling against a gov’t ok for taxes but not in the cause of true slavery. Hitler and the Nazis were elected and ruled Germany. It would have been nice to have seen a John Brown rise up there

1) You just Godwinned the thread. Fail.
2) Call the founders of the US traitors if you want, it doesn't help your argument a bit. I pointed out the specific differences between the steps taken by the founders and those by John Brown and you IGNORED each point. Fail.
3) I made no statement about what one can, and cannot, rebel against a government for but you continue to say I did. If the northern states had "rebelled" against the union and seceded from it as legal representatives of their people because they didn't want to be in a slave nation....great. But John Brown represented NOBODY and had NO legal authority at all. I have made these points previously and you studiously IGNORE them. Fail.

[Arkinsaw]

Waco is in no way comparable to the institution of slavery and you would clearly have been indifferent to the sufferings of slaves in that day. Be grateful you were not born under such circumstances because that was the United States’ great sin and it did need to be purged through blood.

I was not comparing Waco to slavery, I was responding to your statement and making the point that the government behaved thugishly at Waco but that fact gave nobody a right to kill innocents. You have completely ignored the context intended either through inability to follow the debate, or purposefully. Fail.

[stand watie]

YES it did (i'm surprised that you have the guts to ask, since it points out clearly that YOU LIED.)

unfortunately, it arrived in VA (and after 30 days was returned to the loaning library) while i was in TX & taking care of 'the old folks" & our family farm. (the truth is that humiliating a LYING/arrogant DAMNyankee is "far down the list of importance" from doing the things that it takes to keep the family/farm going.)

why NOT just admit to everyone here that you KNOWINGLY LIED to everyone here on these WBTS threads & save me all the trouble of re-borrowing the book??? btw, since you SAY that you have a copy of the book that you claim to have purchased on an internet site (that company says that they had NONE to sell for more than THREE YEARS.), you should post the relevent pages & expose yourself to the public ridicule that you know you deserve.

laughing AT you, LIAR.

free dixie,sw

[Arkinsaw]

‘Bleeding Kansas’ was in fact a war zone. Those murdered were leaders of the slave movement that murdered, brutalized, and was actively involved in stealing an election process and denying opposition. So, yes, it was warfare that Brown moved from Kansas to the slave states that were involving themselves in the equation of spreading it further to other states and the continuing issue of the humanity of slavery in a country that was supposed to stand for freedom.

John Brown had ZERO legal authority to conduct any "warfare".

You make the same arguments for John Brown that eco-terrorists make for themselves today.

You either believe in the constitutional federal republic we have created and work through that....or you believe that each man can decide for himself to impose his belief on others through violence if he chooses (anarchy).

When you justify John Brown's actions you open the door for others to justify themselves in the same way for causes that they believe are just. If all one has to do to become judge, jury, army, executioner, and commander in chief is make the case to ones own self...then it is anarchy.

You are wrong.

[Petronski]

Threads about the Great Slaver Rebellion of 1861 are always a plentiful source of amusement for me.

Truly an LOL-rich environment.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Maryland “Freak State” PING!

[Non-Sequitur]

unfortunately, it arrived in VA (and after 30 days was returned to the loaning library)

Damned convenient for you.

why NOT just admit to everyone here that you KNOWINGLY LIED to everyone here on these WBTS threads & save me all the trouble of re-borrowing the book???

No, I'll make you go and re-borrow it.

btw, since you SAY that you have a copy of the book that you claim to have purchased on an internet site (that company says that they had NONE to sell for more than THREE YEARS.), you should post the relevent pages & expose yourself to the public ridicule that you know you deserve.

OK. Here's the cover.

Name the page you want to see.

[stand watie]

the page on the RIGHT side at the top that states that 100,ooo - 150,ooo blacks served in the CSA military forces. (the one that PROVES that you KNOWINGLY LIED about what Blackerby's book states!)

you never did explain HOW you bought a book from a company that stated to me that they had NONE for sale for over THREE YEARS.- i had had it on my "wish list" for a long time. (DYs just must be MIRACLE WORKERS to be able to buy things that don't exist. = sarcasm button: ON.)

fwiw, that rumble you hear in the distance is NOT thunder;instead it's the sound of FReepers laughing AT your transparent LIES.

free dixie,sw

[TexConfederate1861]

Good. Don’t go away mad, just GO AWAY.

[TexConfederate1861]

Freeing the slaves wasn’t worth the lives of 180,000 men.

[TexConfederate1861]

Then I guess it was OK for Quantrill to wipe those Kansas Abolitionist off the face of the earth.

[TexConfederate1861]

Bull. My ancestor freed his slaves, then joined the Confederate Army.

[BnBlFlag]

John Brown and Timothy McVeigh are much, much, more comparable than John Brown and the Continental Congress or John Brown and US service members are. I leave it for the reader to judge which comparisons are more likely.

Amen, Brother! Bushfamfan is FOS and SOL!

[BnBlFlag]

You are one fanatical Yankee! Why are you on a Conservative forum. You make N-S sound like a Southern Advocate.
It’s people like you who make people like me want to refight the War of Northern Agression again. Right here and right now. No quarter - given nor asked.

[Non-Sequitur]

he page on the RIGHT side at the top that states that 100,ooo - 150,ooo blacks served in the CSA military forces. (the one that PROVES that you KNOWINGLY LIED about what Blackerby's book states!)

Sorry that page does not exist. But in order to prove that I really have the book please pick any page number at random and I'll scan it in and post it. And when you get that copy of the book...again...then you can scan in that page that says 100,000 to 150,ooo blacks served the CSA military forces and prove that I'm lying. Deal?

[Non-Sequitur]

you never did explain HOW you bought a book from a company that stated to me that they had NONE for sale for over THREE YEARS.- i had had it on my "wish list" for a long time. (DYs just must be MIRACLE WORKERS to be able to buy things that don't exist. = sarcasm button: ON.)

Since I obviously have the book, then don't you think that your continous claims that ebay hasn't sold a copy for over THREE YEARS is obviously false? But don't take my scan of the cover alone as proof. Like I said, give me a page number and I'll scan it in and post it. Let's see once and for all who's telling the truth and who's been caught in a lie. Again.

[Non-Sequitur]

Freeing the slaves wasn’t worth the lives of 180,000 men.

But fighting to keep them in slavery was?

[Non-Sequitur]

You make N-S sound like a Southern Advocate.

I keep forgetting, didn't you once tell me never to respond to one of your replies? If so, then how about doing me the courtesy of not using my screen name in one of your attempts to insult another member?

[BnBlFlag]

I never told you never to not respond to any of my replies. You have me confused with someone else. Get your facts straight, please.