![](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3106/2624503083_b37e7d24e3.jpg?v=1214844175")
Posted on 03/21/2009 7:02:03 AM PDT by 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
can you explain WHY Ebay's representative told me that they had had NONE for sale & yet you claim to have bought a copy that they did NOT have??? (NO??? i thought NOT.)
to all: it is the NATURE of a DAMNyankee to LIE, just as it is the NATURE of a serpent to slither on the ground.-- in the case of "Non-Sequitur", he is known on FR as "The DAMNyankee Minister of Propaganda" & as the leader of "The DAMNyankee Coven of lunatics, nitwits, LIARS, fools, bigots, antisemites & south-HATERS".
free dixie,sw
Because you're lying about that.
I have the book. I can prove I have the book. I am stating for the record that your claim that Blackerby talks about 100,000 to 150,000 blacks in confederate ranks is a complete lie on your part. Now, prove be wrong.
NO amount of soap & water will wash the innocent blood from the hands of the DYs.
free dixie,sw
the FACTS are that your reputation on FR is WELL-established as that of a propagandist for the most extreme of DY revisionists/LIAR.- nothing you can do will change your reputation.
you make BHO look like "an honorable man ".
laughing AT you.
free dixie,sw
I am giving you the chance to prove me a liar. Give me the page number where Blackerby claims there were 100,000 to 150,000 blacks in confederate ranks. I will scan that page and post the image and we'll see who's the liar and who isn't.
Ping
the FACT is that i just re-ordered the book from Inter-library Loan. (just for YOU, i made a trip to the county library, so that i can "rub your nose in" your LIE.)
as you are smart enough to KNOW, i cannot remember page numbers, any more than you can remember buying your book from EBAY, since they HAD none to sell, LIAR. (fwiw, i believe the eBay "customer service representative" over the "word of honor" of a known/confirmed DAMNyankee propagandist/LIAR.)
free dixie,sw
you answered (or "ducked" because you didn't want to answer it) a question that i didn't ask.
for simplicity's sake, i'll ask it another way: Do YOU believe that some people DESERVE an eternity IN HELL???
i can think of many persons, both living & dead, who deserve(d) it.
start with billy sherman, the destroyer, for one & ben (THE BEAST) butler for another.
free dixie,sw
Terriffic! So when can we expect that page number? The one on which Blackerby claims 100,000 to 150,000 blacks in the rebel ranks?
virtually everyone here would cheer your abrupt/permanent departure from FR.
laughing AT you.
free dixie,sw
Do you recall that Blackerby cites the 1860 census numbers, saying that there were 240,747 free blacks in the slave states? It's on page 17, down by the bottom of the page. Here, I'll show you...
Sorry, missed it in all the flurry.
It’s not whether I believe anyone should be or not.
It’s about wanting someone to be there.
It goes beyond this thread to an overall view of God, man, eternity.
Deserve? Dangerous road. You might find one day you do too. We all fall short or we wouldn’t need Christ.
I’ll say a prayer for your parents. That’s another post I never got back to. I hope all goes well. Take care of yourself also.
Noni:
You know that most of the Confederate Soldiers weren’t fighting to keep slaves.....
i would consign any number of living persons to the fire, starting with Osama Bin Laden & any of the other terrorists who slaughtered innocents on 9/11/2001.
further, ANYONE who tortures/rapes/murders anyone else, just because they choose to, DESERVES eternal torment themselves, imVho.
as for me, i'm a baptized believer in the Eternal Savior (NOPE, i'm NOT of your faith.) & therefore do not fear for my eternal home, though i will frankly tell you that i have David's problem : too much blood on my hands. (isn't the GRACE & FORGIVENESS of Christ incredible???)
free dixie,sw
why not try to find the CORRECT page & POST it for all to see?? (OH, i forgot, that doesn't fit the plan of covering up for the KNOWING LIES of other members of the "DAMNyankee coven of FOOLS/BIGOTS/LIARS/etc.", does it???)
in the copy i read, the relevant page is toward the front of the book & on the RIGHT side, TOP.
as i said, "rubbing N-S's nose in" his KNOWING lies will be a HOOT to all.
while we are "at it", tell everyone: do you also DENY that Blackerby says in his book that over 100,ooo Blacks served in the CSA military???
free dixie,sw
Tell me what page it’s on. I’ve looked all through the book and can’t find what you claim is there. Name a page and I’ll post it.
Just for the record, these are all free blacks or is it free and slave?
Knock off the ‘legal’ and ‘elected’ crap. In the end SLAVERY-THAT CAUSE is enough to justify steps taken against the movement for it to expand and continue. And you continue to want to deflect away from the issue OF ENSLAVEMENT that was ‘legal’ in this country. It was LEGAL to murder, rape, brutalize and kidnap their children at the master’s will. The issue is slavery, period. YOU FAIL. And you continue to show you will not face THE ISSUE that was the cause of John Brown because it is INDEFENSIBLE.
No, they were active members of an organization pushing the border ruffians to their violent and malicious tactics to murder, intimidate, beat, threaten and cheat in elections, burning abolitionist Lawrence down, and the list could go on, but those were leading activists in that slavery movement. Abolitionists were the more passive movement and Brown wanted to show the slavery sect that they would have a dose of their own kind. I can understand the circumstances and the time and see where John Brown was coming from. And slavery was the issue.
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