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diff --git a/35459-h/35459-h.htm b/35459-h/35459-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fdcd75a --- /dev/null +++ b/35459-h/35459-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,7483 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Strange Story of Harper's Ferry, by Joseph Barry. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; +} +.tnote2 p {text-align:left; margin-left:4em; text-indent:-2.5em; margin-right:1em;} +ins {text-decoration: none; border-bottom:2px dotted #E8E8E8;} +.right {text-align: right; position: absolute; left: 60%;} +hr {width: 33%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; clear: both;} +.pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: 90%; text-align: right;} +.tnote {padding: .5em; margin-left: 1em; margin-top: 1em; font-size: smaller; border: solid 1px;} +.bbox {border: solid 2px;} +.center {text-align: center;} +.caption {font-weight: bold;} +.figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + +/* Poetry */ +.poem { + margin-left:10%; + margin-right:10%; + text-align: left; +} + +.poem br {display: none;} + +.poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + +.poem span.i0 { + display: block; + margin-left: 0em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.poem span.i2 { + display: block; + margin-left: 2em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.poem span.i4 { + display: block; + margin-left: 4em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's The Strange Story of Harper's Ferry, by Joseph Barry + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Strange Story of Harper's Ferry + With Legends of the Surrounding Country + +Author: Joseph Barry + +Release Date: March 2, 2011 [EBook #35459] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HARPER'S FERRY *** + + + + +Produced by Mark C. Orton, Louise Pattison and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="tnote"> +<p class="center">The table of contents has been added. Transcriber's <a href="#Transcribers_Notes">corrections</a> are highlighted +<ins title="Original: liket his">like this</ins>. Mouse over to see original text.</p> +</div> +<p> +<a href="#PREFACE"><b>PREFACE</b></a><br /> +<a href="#THE_STRANGE_STORY_OF_HARPERS_FERRY"><b>THE STRANGE STORY OF HARPER'S FERRY</b></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_I"><b>CHAPTER I.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_II"><b>CHAPTER II.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_III"><b>CHAPTER III.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IV"><b>CHAPTER IV.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_V"><b>CHAPTER V.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VI"><b>CHAPTER VI.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#THE_LEGEND_OF_WIZARD_CLIP"><b>THE LEGEND OF WIZARD CLIP.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#THE_ENCHANTERS_WHEEL"><b>THE ENCHANTER'S WHEEL.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#THE_WITCHS_OVERSIGHT"><b>THE WITCH'S OVERSIGHT.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#THE_REMORSEFUL_DOG"><b>THE REMORSEFUL DOG.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Adverts"><b>Advertisements and Lists of Patrons.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Transcribers_Notes"><b>Transcriber's Notes.</b></a><br /> +</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="400" height="656" alt="Front Cover" title="Front Cover" /> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> + +<h1>THE STRANGE STORY OF<br /> +<big>HARPER'S FERRY</big></h1> + +<p class="center"><big>WITH LEGENDS OF<br /> +THE SURROUNDING COUNTRY</big><br /></p> + +<p class="center">BY</p> + +<p class="center"><big>JOSEPH BARRY</big></p> + +<p class="center">A resident of the place for half a century<br /><br /></p> + +<p class="center">PRINTING HISTORY</p> + +<div style="margin-left: 5%"> +<p>1st Printing By Thompson Brothers, Martinsburg, W. Va. <span class="right">1903</span></p> +<p>2nd Printing Published By The Woman's Club of Harpers Ferry District<br /> +(Printed By The Shepherdstown Register, Inc., +<br />Shepherdstown, W. Va.) <span class="right">1958</span></p> + +<p>3rd Printing Published By The Woman's Club of Harpers Ferry District<br /> +(Printed By The Shepherdstown Register, Inc., +<br />Shepherdstown, W. Va.) <span class="right">1959</span></p> + +<p> 4th Printing Published By The Woman's Club of Harpers Ferry District<br /> +(Printed By The Shepherdstown Register, Inc., +<br />Shepherdstown, W. Va.) <span class="right">1964</span></p> + +<p>5th Printing Published By The Woman's Club of Harpers Ferry District<br /> +(Printed By The Shepherdstown Register, Inc., +<br />Shepherdstown, W. Va.) <span class="right">1967</span></p> + +<p>6th Printing Published By The Woman's Club of Harpers Ferry District<br /> +(Printed By The Shepherdstown Register, Inc., +<br />Shepherdstown, W. Va.) <span class="right">1969</span> +<br /><br /><br /> +</p></div> + +<p class="center"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> +<br /><br /><br /> +Copyright, 1903, by<br /> +<big>JOSEPH BARRY</big> +<br /></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE</h2> + + +<p>The <b>real story</b> of Harper's Ferry is sad, and but little less wild and +romantic than the old-time legends that abound in the long settled +country around. The <b>facts</b> of the story we give with scrupulous +<b>exactness</b>. We, ourselves, have witnessed many of the most important +incidents narrated and, for what happened before our time, we have the +evidence of old settlers of the highest character and veracity.</p> + +<p>The <b>legends</b> are <b>consistent</b>, even though they may have no other claim on +our consideration. They never have more than one version, although one +narrator may give more facts than another. The narratives never +<b>contradict</b> one another in any material way, which goes to show that +there was a time when everybody around believed the main facts.</p> + +<p><span class="right">THE AUTHOR.</span><br /></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/illus-004.jpg" width="600" height="439" alt="" title="" /> +<span class="caption">JOHN BROWN'S FORT</span> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p> +<h1><a name="THE_STRANGE_STORY_OF_HARPERS_FERRY" id="THE_STRANGE_STORY_OF_HARPERS_FERRY"></a>THE STRANGE STORY OF HARPER'S FERRY</h1> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2> + + +<p>Harper's Ferry, including Bolivar, is a town which, before the war of +the late rebellion, contained a population of about three +thousand—nine-tenths of whom were whites. At the breaking out of +hostilities nearly all the inhabitants left their homes—some casting +their lots with "the confederacy" and about an equal number with the old +government. On the restoration of peace, comparatively few of them +returned. A great many colored people, however, who came at various +times with the armies from southern Virginia, have remained, so that the +proportion of the races at the place is materially changed. Also, many +soldiers of the national army who married Virginia ladies, during the +war, have settled there and, consequently, the town yet contains a +considerable number of inhabitants. The present population may be set +down at sixteen hundred whites and seven hundred blacks. The village is +situated in Jefferson county, now West Virginia, at the confluence of +the Potomac and the Shenandoah, at the base and in the very shadow of +the Blue Ridge Mountain. The distance from Washington City is fifty-five +miles, and from Baltimore eighty-one miles. The Baltimore and Ohio +railroad crosses the Potomac, at the place, on a magnificent bridge and +the Winchester and Potomac railroad, now absorbed by the Baltimore and +Ohio, has its northern terminus in the town. The Chesapeake and Ohio<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> +canal, also, is in the immediate neighborhood. Within the last twelve +years, the place has become a favorite summer resort for the people of +Washington City and, from about the first of June to the last of +October, it is visited by tourists from every part of the northern +states and Europe.</p> + +<p>The scenery around the place is celebrated for its grandeur, and Thomas +Jefferson has immortalized it in a fine description composed, it is +said, on a remarkable rock that commands a magnificent view of both +rivers and their junction. The rock itself is a wonderful freak of +Nature and it is regarded by the inhabitants with pride for its being a +great natural curiosity, and with veneration on account of the tradition +among them that, seated on it, Jefferson wrote his "Notes on Virginia." +It is, therefore, called "Jefferson's Rock." It is composed of several +huge masses of stone, piled on one another (although the whole is +regarded as one rock) the upper piece resting on a foundation, some +years ago, so narrow that it might easily be made to sway back and forth +by a child's hand. It is supported now, however, by pillars placed under +it, by order of one of the old armory superintendents, the original +foundation having dwindled to very unsafe dimensions by the action of +the weather, and still more, by the devastations of tourists and +curiosity-hunters. It is situated on the south side of "Cemetery Hill," +behind the Catholic church, the lofty and glittering spire of which can +be seen at a great distance, as you approach from the East, adding much +beauty to the scene. The first church building there was erected in 1833 +by Father Gildea. In 1896 the old edifice was torn down and a beautiful +one substituted, under the supervision of the Rev. Laurence Kelley. +There can be no doubt that <b>this</b> church, at least, is "built on a rock," +for there is not soil enough anywhere near it to plant a few flowers +around the House of Worship or the parsonage, and the worthy Fathers +have been obliged to haul a scanty supply from a considerable distance +to nourish two or three rosebushes. If "The Gates of Hell" try to +prevail against <b>this</b> institution they had better<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> assault from above. +There will be no chance for attacking the foundation, for it is solid +rock, extending, no one knows how far, into the bowels of the earth or +through them, perhaps, all the way to the supposed location of those +terrible gates themselves.</p> + +<p>On one side, the Maryland Heights, now so famous in history and, on the +other, the Loudoun Heights rise majestically, and imagination might +easily picture them as guardian giants defending the portals of the +noble Valley of Virginia. The Maryland Heights ascend in successive +plateaus to an altitude of thirteen hundred feet above the surrounding +country, and two thousand feet above the level of the sea. The Loudoun +Heights are not so lofty, but the ascent to them is difficult and, +consequently, as the foot of man seldom treads them, they present the +appearance of a more marked primeval wildness than the Maryland +mountain—a circumstance which compensates the tourist for their +inferiority in height. Between these two ramparts, in a gorge of savage +grandeur, the lordly Potomac takes to his embrace the beautiful +Shenandoah—"The Daughter of the Stars," as the Indians poetically +styled this lovely stream. It will be seen, hereafter, however, that +this usually serene and amiable damsel, like the daughters of men, is +subject to occasional "spells" of perversity, and that, when she <b>does</b> +take a tantrum she makes things lively around her. The former river +rises in western Virginia and, tumbling from the Alleghany Mountains in +an impetuous volume, traverses the northern extremity of the Valley of +Virginia, forming the boundary between "The Old Dominion" and the State +of Maryland. At Harper's Ferry it encounters the Blue Ridge, at right +angles, and receives the tributary Shenandoah which, rising in the upper +part of the great valley, flows in a northerly course, at the base of +the same mountain, and unites its strength with the Potomac to cut a +passage to the Ocean. This is the scenery of which Jefferson said that a +sight of it was worth a voyage across the Atlantic, and no person with +the least poetry in his soul will consider the praise extravagant. It +is, truly, a sublime spectacle and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> imagination, when allowed to do so, +lends its aid to the really wonderful sublimity of the scene. On the +rugged cliffs, on both the Maryland and Loudoun sides are supposed to be +seen, sculptured by the hand of Nature, various shapes and faces, the +appearance of which changes with the seasons and as they are concealed +more or less by the verdure of the trees. The giant, dwarf, centaur and +almost every other animal of Nature or of Fable are here portrayed to +the eye of Faith. On one rock, on the Maryland side, is a tolerably well +defined face with an expression of gravity which, with some other points +of resemblance, will remind one of George Washington, and, at almost any +hour of any day, may be seen strangers gazing intently on the mountain +in search of this likeness. Frequently, the Bald Eagle wheels in +majestic circles immediately above this rock and, then, indeed, the +illusion is too agreeable to be rejected by the most prosaic spectator. +George Washington, chiseled by the hand of Nature in the living rock, on +the summit of the Blue Ridge, with the Bird of Victory fanning his brow, +is too much poetry to be thrown away and common sense matter of fact is +out of the question. Of late years, a new feature has been added to the +scene which gives it quite an alpine appearance. Shortly after our civil +war, a man named Reid, who then lived at the foot of the Maryland +Heights, procured a few goats for the amusement of his children. The +goats multiplied rapidly and gradually spread up the side of the +mountain, where their opportunities for mischief in gnawing the bark of +trees and for avoiding the attacks of dogs were practically unlimited. +Their number is now Legion and they frequently gather in great crowds on +the overhanging rocks, always in charge of a dignified old buck, with a +patriarchal beard, and look down placidly and, may be, with contempt on +the busy hive of men <a name="corr_000" id="corr_000"></a><ins class="mycorr" title="Original: bleow">below</ins>. Perhaps, the old buck often thinks, +"'What fools those two legged mortals be.' They call themselves Lords of +the creation and claim to own us, free sons of the mountain, and even +our neighbor, the eagle, but I would like to see one of them +<a name="corr_001" id="corr_001"></a><ins title="Original: clmb">climb</ins> up the face of this cliff and jump from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> crag to crag as +the feeblest of <b>my</b> clan can do. There they go crawling along, and when +one of them wants to travel a few miles he must purchase a railroad +ticket for a point to which my friend, the eagle, could arrive in a few +dozen flaps of his wings without the care and trouble of baggage or the +fear of a run-in or a collision." Such may be and such, it is to be +feared, <b>ought</b> to be, the reflections of that old buck.</p> + +<p>Before the war, the Loudoun Heights used to be the favorite roosting +place of immense numbers of crows that, during the autumn and winter +foraged all over the Shenandoah Valley and all the rich grain lands east +of the Blue Ridge, as, also, Middletown Valley and the proverbially +fertile region between the Catoctin and the Patapsco. About an hour +before sunset, advance bodies of the vast army would appear from every +direction and, before daylight had died out, it is no exaggeration to +say, the whole sky was obliterated from view by myriads upon myriads of +the sable freebooters. For some reason best known to themselves, these +birds do not, at once, settle down to rest, on arriving at their +encampments, but wheel and circle 'round, as if none of them had a fixed +perch, and, from their deafening and angry cawing, it may be inferred +that, every night, they have to contend for a convenient sleeping place. +Sometimes, it would appear as if they were holding a court, for, bodies +of them are seen, frequently, to separate themselves from the main crowd +and, after conferring, as it were, beat and banish a member—presumably +a criminal—and then return to the rookery. During the war, they +disappeared and, no doubt, sought a more peaceful home. Besides, in +those sad years agriculture was neglected in this region and it may be +supposed that these sagacious birds sought for plenty as well as peace. +Even after the war, they no longer frequented the Loudoun Mountain, but +took to the Maryland Heights, where they may be seen every morning and +evening in the autumn and winter, starting out on their forays or +returning to their inaccessible resting place. Their numbers vary very +much, however, for, during several consecutive years, they will be +comparatively<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> few, while for another period, they will appear in +countless thousands. They always disappear in the spring to fulfill the +great law of increase and multiplication, but, strange to say, a crow's +nest is a <a name="corr_002" id="corr_002"></a><ins title="Original: compartively">comparatively</ins> rare sight in the Virginia or +Maryland woods, and as far as the writer is advised, it is the same in +the neighboring states. The farmers are unrelenting enemies of the +crows, and they never neglect an opportunity for their destruction, and +the sagacious birds, knowing this by instinct and experience, no doubt, +take special pains to protect their young by rearing them in the least +accessible places. Some day, perhaps, we will know what useful part the +crow takes in the economy of Mother Nature. That he does something to +compensate for the corn he consumes, no reflecting man will be disposed +to deny but what that service is, certainly, no Virginia or Maryland +grain producer appears to have discovered, if we are to judge from the +amount of profanity heard from those hard-fisted tillers of the soil, +when the subject of crows is mentioned.</p> + +<p>At a point unapproachable from any quarter by man and not far from +Washington's profile, is a crevice in the rock which has been ever the +home of a family of hawks that, like the robber knights of old, issue +from their impregnable fortress and levy tribute from all that are too +weak to resist them. They prey on the beautiful and useful little birds +that are indigenous, often extending their ravages to poultry yards. The +only way to destroy them is by shooting them with single bullets, while +they are on the wing, for they fly too high for shot. Their screams are +peculiarly harsh and cruel, and they often mar the peaceful serenity of +a summer evening. The people would compromise with them gladly, if they +would war on the English sparrows, but as far as the author knows they +never do <b>that</b>, recognizing, no doubt, and respecting a kindred +depravity. May the shadows of both nuisances grow rapidly less! But, +hold; not so fast. <b>They</b> too, perhaps, have their uses in the nice +balance of Nature, and their annihilation might cause an injurious +excess somewhere. How inconsistent, even a philosopher can sometimes +be!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span></p> + +<p>Near the hawks' fortress there is a traditional beehive of immense +proportions. No one has seen it, for, like the hawks' nest, it is +inaccessible to man, but wild bees are seen, in the season of flowers, +flying to and from the place where the hive is supposed to be, and it is +believed that there is a very great stock of honey stored away, +somewhere near, by many generations of these industrious and sagacious +creatures. <b>They</b>, too, and the hawks and crows, as well as the goats and +eagles, may have their own opinion of the would-be Lords of creation, +and it may be well for us of the genus homo that we do not know what +that opinion is.</p> + +<p>It is supposed by many that the whole Valley of Virginia was, at one +time, the bed of a vast sea and that, during some convulsion of Nature, +the imprisoned waters found an outlet at this place. There are many +circumstances to give an appearance of truth to this theory, especially +the fact that complete sea shells, or exact likenesses of them, are +found at various points in the Alleghany and Blue Ridge Mountains. Be +this as it may, the passage of the rivers through the mighty barrier is +a spectacle of awful sublimity and it well deserves the many panegyrics +it has received from orator and poet. A good deal depends on the point +from which, and the time when, the scene is viewed. The writer would +recommend the old cemetery and 10 o'clock, on a moonlight night, +especially if the moon should happen to be directly over the gorge where +the rivers meet. Then the savage wildness of the prospect is tempered +agreeably by the mild moonbeams, and the prevailing silence adds to the +impression of mingled sublimity, and weird loveliness. Let no one fear +the companionship of the still inhabitants of "the City of the Dead." +They are quiet, inoffensive neighbors and they, no doubt, many a time in +their lives, admired the same scene and, like the men of to-day, +wondered what this whole thing of creation and human existence means. +Perhaps they know it all now and, perhaps, they do <b>not</b>. Any way, their +tongues will not disturb one's meditations, and it may be that their +silence will furnish a wholesome homily on the nothing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>ness of this life +and the vanity of all earthly pursuits.</p> + +<p>Robert Harper, from whom the place gets its name, was a native of Oxford +in England. He was born about the year 1703 and, at the age of twenty +years, he emigrated to Philadelphia where he prosecuted the business of +architecture and millwrighting. He erected a church for the Protestant +Episcopalians in Frankfort, which edifice, however, through some defect +of title, was afterwards lost to the congregation for which it was +built. In 1747 he was engaged by some members of the Society of +"Friends" to erect a meeting-house for that denomination on the Opequon +river, near the site of the present city of Winchester, Virginia, and, +while on his way through the then unbroken wilderness to +<a name="corr_003" id="corr_003"></a><ins title="Original: fullfill">fulfill</ins> his contract, he lodged, one night, at a lonely inn +on the site of what is now the city of Frederick, Maryland. While +staying at this hostelry, he met a German named Hoffman to whom, in the +course of conversation, he communicated the business that took him on +his journey and, also, his intention to proceed to his destination by +way of Antietam, a name now so famous in our national history, for the +terrible battle fought there during the late rebellion. Hoffman informed +him that there was a shorter route, by way of what he called "The Hole," +and, as an additional inducement, he promised him a sight of some +wonderful scenery. Harper agreed to go by the way of "The Hole" and, +next night, he arrived at that point and made the acquaintance of a man +named Peter Stevens who had squatted at the place which was included in +the great Fairfax estate. Harper was so much pleased with the scenery +that he bought out Stevens for the sum of fifty British guineas. As, +however, he could only buy Stevens' good will, the real ownership being +vested in Lord Fairfax, he, next year, paid a visit to Greenway, the +residence of that nobleman, and from him or his agent he obtained a +patent for the lands formerly occupied by Stevens on the precarious +tenure of squatter sovereignty. Stevens had held the place for thirteen +years and the agents of Lord Fairfax had experienced great trouble from +him. They were, therefore, very glad to be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> rid of him. Harper settled +down there and established a ferry, when the place lost the undignified +name of "The Hole" and acquired the more euphonious title of "Harper's +Ferry" by which it has, ever since, been known and by which, no doubt, +it will be designated by the remotest posterity. At that time, there was +but one dwelling there—the Stevens cabin—which was situated on what is +now called Shenandoah street, on the site of the house at present owned +by Mr. William Erwin and used as a drug store, liquor saloon, and a +boarding house. Harper lived in this house, many years, until about the +year 1775, when he built one about half a mile farther up the +Shenandoah, where he died in 1782.</p> + +<p>Mr. Harper was a man of medium height and considerable physical +strength. He was very energetic and well suited for pioneer life. He +left no children, and his property descended, by will, to Sarah, only +child of his brother Joseph, and to some nephews of his wife, named +Griffith. Sarah Harper was married to a gentleman of Philadelphia, named +Wager. He was a grandson of a German of the same name who, many years +before, had emigrated from the city of Worms in Hesse Darmstadt. Neither +Mr. Wager nor his wife ever saw their Harper's Ferry property, but many +of their descendants were born there and some of them are now living in +the neighboring cities, owning still a considerable estate at their old +home. Of this family was the late venerable Robert Harper Williamson, of +Washington city, the first person having the name of Harper who was born +in the town. The wife of Judge Swaim, a few years ago of the Supreme +Court of the United States, was one of the Wager family and their son +was General Wager Swaim, much distinguished in the Union army during the +late rebellion. Just as this goes to press we learn of his death.</p> + +<p>Mr. Harper was interred on his own property and his moss-grown grave is +yet to be seen in the romantically situated cemetery that overlooks the +town—the same heretofore mentioned, as affording the best point from +which to view the scenery. By a provision of his will, several acres of +land were bequeathed to the place, as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> a burial ground—his own grave to +be in the centre—and now, a very large number sleep their dreamless +sleep in a beautiful though until lately a sadly neglected cemetery +around the founder of the village.</p> + +<p>Few of the events that transpired in Mr. Harper's <a name="corr_004" id="corr_004"></a><ins title="Original: itme">time</ins> are +recorded. Shortly after building the house on Shenandoah street he +erected a large stone dwelling on what is now called High street. This +house yet stands and occasionally it is occupied by some of his heirs. +He experienced great difficulty in finishing this building, owing to a +scarcity of mechanics, nearly all the able-bodied men of the place and +neighborhood having gone to join the army of Washington. It is recorded +that an intimate friend of Mr. Harper, named Hamilton, lost his life in +this house, by an accidental fall and this tradition, coupled with the +age of the house, gives a sombre character to the building. At the time +of Mr. Harper's death, therefore, there were but three houses at "The +Ferry."</p> + +<p>In 1748, there was a great flood in the Potomac, which, according to +some memoranda left by the founder of the place, drove him from the +house he then occupied—the Stevens cabin—and another, <a name="corr_094" id="corr_094"></a><ins title="Original: through">though</ins> a less +freshet, called "The Pumpkin Flood," is recorded as having occurred in +1753. The latter derived its name from the great numbers of pumpkins +which it washed away from the gardens of the Indians who, then, resided +in scattered lodges along the two rivers.</p> + +<p>It is said that, at the commencement of the Revolution Mr. Harper's +sympathies were Tory, but that, soon, he espoused the cause of his +adopted country.</p> + +<p>In 1794, during the administration of <b>General Washington</b>, Harper's Ferry +was chosen as the site of a national armory. It is said that the great +Father of his Country, himself, suggested it as the best location then +known for the purpose, having visited the place in person. This is a +tradition among the people and, if it is true, it is characteristic of +the most sagacious of men. The water-power at the place is immense, some +people supposing it to be the finest in the world. The Valley<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> of +Virginia and that of Middletown, as well as the fertile plains of +Loudoun, gave promise of an abundance of the necessaries of life and, +perhaps, with the eye of prophecy, he saw railroads penetrating the +wilderness of the Allegheny regions and transporting its then hidden +mineral treasures to aid in the proposed manufacture of arms. In the +year above mentioned Congress applied to the General Assembly of +Virginia for permission to purchase the site and, by a vote of the +latter, leave was granted to buy a tract, not exceeding six hundred and +forty acres. Accordingly a body of land containing one hundred and +twenty-five acres was bought from the heirs of Mr. Harper. This tract is +contained in a triangle formed by the two rivers and a line running from +the Potomac to the Shenandoah along what is now called Union Street. +Another purchase was made of three hundred and ten acres from a Mr. +Rutherford. The latter tract is that on which the village of Bolivar now +stands. In some time after, Congress desiring to obtain the benefit of +the fine timber growing on the Loudoun Heights and not deeming it proper +to ask for any further concessions from the State of Virginia, leased in +perpetuity of Lord Fairfax, proprietor of "The Northern Neck," the right +to all the timber growing and to grow on a tract of thirteen hundred and +ninety-five acres on the <a name="corr_005" id="corr_005"></a><ins title="Original: Loudon">Loudoun</ins> Heights immediately adjoining +Harper's Ferry.</p> + +<p>Thus prepared, the government commenced the erection of shops, and in +1796, a Mr. Perkins, an English Moravian, was appointed to superintend +the works. He is represented as having been an amiable, unsophisticated +man, and tradition still tells of his simplicity of dress and +deportment. During his time, nothing of moment occurred at the place. +The town was yet in its infancy, with very few denizens, and, as the +period antedates the time of that venerable personage—the oldest +inhabitant—very little is known of what took place during Mr. Perkins' +administration. One or two centenarians, now a few years deceased, +however retained some faint remembrance of him and another Englishman,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> +named Cox, who had been for many years employed under him as a man of +all work, and who had followed him to Harper's Ferry from southern +Virginia, where Mr. Perkins had formerly resided. On one occasion, Cox +was required by his employer to attend to his—Perkins'—garden which +was overrun with weeds. For some reason, Cox did not relish the job, but +gave, however, a grumbling consent. Next morning, Cox commenced weeding +and, towards evening, he presented himself to Mr. Perkins with the +information that "he had made a clean sweep of it." The master was much +gratified and he told Mrs. Perkins to give Cox a dram of whiskey for +which the latter had a good relish. On visiting his garden next day, Mr. +Perkins discovered that, sure enough, Cox had made a clean sweep. The +weeds were all gone, but so were cabbages, turnips, carrots and +everything else of the vegetable kind. In great wrath, he sent for Cox, +charged him with every crime in the calendar and, with a kick on the +seat of honor, ejected him from the house, at the same time forbidding +him to show his face again around the works. Cox retreated hastily, +muttering "the devil a step will I go—the devil a step will I go." He +made his way to the shop where he was usually employed and, the +good-natured Perkins, soon forgetting his anger towards his old +follower, "the devil a step," sure enough, did Cox go from Harper's +Ferry. Sir Walter Scott relates that a Scotch nobleman once addressed +him in the following words an old and spoiled servant of his family who +had given him mortal offense. "John, you can no longer serve me. +Tomorrow morning either you or I must leave this house." "Aweel, +master," replied John, "if y're determined on ganging awa, we would like +to ken what direction ye'll be takin." No doubt, the same relations +existed between Mr. Perkins and Cox as between the nobleman and his +servant.</p> + +<p>In 1799, during the administration of John Adams, in anticipation of a +war with France, the government organized a considerable army for +defense. A part of the forces was sent, under General Pinkney, into +camp<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> at Harper's Ferry, and the ridge on which they were stationed has +ever since been called, "Camp Hill." It runs north and south between +Harper's Ferry and Bolivar. When the war cloud disappeared many of the +soldiers settled down at the place. A good many had died while in the +service, and their bodies are buried on the western slope of Camp Hill. +Although the mortal portion of them has mingled, long since, with Mother +earth, their spirits are said to hover still around the scene of their +earthly campaign and "oft in the stilly night" are the weird notes of +their fifes and the clatter of their drums heard by belated Harper's +Ferryans. The colored people who appear to be especially favored with +spirit manifestations, bear unanimous testimony to these facts, and it +is well known that some fine houses in the neighborhood were, for many +years, without tenants in consequence of their being supposed to be +places of rendezvous for these errant spirits. Once, over forty years +ago, the writer spent a winter's night in one of these houses, in +company with a corpse and the recollection of the feelings he +experienced, on that occasion, still causes the few hairs he has +retained to stick up "like the quills of the fretful porcupine." The +deceased was a stranger who had taken temporary possession of the house +and had died there very suddenly. He had been keeping bachelor's hall +there and, as he had no relatives at the place, a committee of +charitable citizens undertook the care of the remains, and the writer, +then a young man, affecting some courage, was detailed to watch the +corpse for one night. The house had an uncanny reputation, any way, and +a corpse was not exactly the companion a man would choose to stay with, +in a haunted house, but the writer was then courting and desired to rise +in the estimation of his girl, and this nerved him to the task. He held +to it, but, gentle reader, that was a very long night, indeed, and even +such fame as he acquired on that occasion and the approval of his loved +one would, never again, be inducement enough for him to undergo a +similar ordeal. But the spirits of the soldiers behaved with commendable +decency on the oc<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>casion and "not a drum was heard" or fife either. The +corpse, too, conducted itself discreetly but, dear reader, that night +was a very long one notwithstanding, and the daylight, when at last it +did appear, was enthusiastically welcomed by the quaking watcher.</p> + +<p>At that time—1799—a bitter war existed between the Federalists and +Republicans, and a certain Captain Henry, in General Pinkney's army is +said to have taken his company, one day, to Jefferson's Rock and ordered +them to overthrow the favorite seat of Jefferson, his political enemy. +They succeeded in detaching a large boulder from the top which rolled +down hill to Shenandoah street, where it lay for many years, a monument +of stupid bigotry. This action was the occasion for a challenge to +mortal combat for Captain Henry from an equally foolish Republican in +the same corps, but the affair having come to the ears of General +Pinkney, he had both of the champions arrested before a duel could come +off, very much to the regret of all the sensible people in the town who +expected that, if the meeting was allowed to take place, there would be, +probably at least, one fool the less at Harper's Ferry.</p> + +<p>Opposite to Jefferson's Rock and on the Loudoun side of the Shenandoah, +there grew, at that time a gigantic oak which had been, from time +immemorial, the eyrie of a family of eagles. Jefferson, while at the +place, had been much interested in these birds and after his election to +the presidency, he sent a request to Mr. Perkins that he would try to +secure for him some of their young. At Mr. Perkins' instance, therefore, +three young men named Perkins—the superintendent's son—Dowler and Hume +ascended the tree by means of strips nailed to it, and, after a terrible +fight with the parent birds, they succeeded in securing three eaglets. +They were forwarded to the president and, by him, one of them was sent +as a present to the King of Spain who, in return, sent a noble +Andalusian ram to Mr. Jefferson. Being forbidden by law to receive +presents from foreign potentates, the president kept the animal in the +grounds around the White House, as a curiosity, but the ram being very +vicious, and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> boys of the city delighting to tease him, he, one day, +rushed into the streets in pursuit of some <a name="corr_006" id="corr_006"></a><ins title="Original: or his tormenters">of his tormentors</ins> and +killed a young man, named Carr, whom he unfortunately encountered. Mr. +Jefferson, therefore, advertised him for sale, and thus was the first of +that breed of sheep introduced into America.</p> + +<p>Some time during Mr. Perkins' administration, a singular character came +to reside at Harper's Ferry. His name was Brown and he was supposed to +be a native of Scotland. He had served as a surgeon in the American +army, during the Revolution. He was a bachelor and as, in addition to +the profits of his profession, he drew a pension from the government, he +was in good circumstances and able to indulge in many costly +eccentricities. He lived alone on what is now called High street, and +his cabin was situated on the lot opposite to the present residence of +Mrs. Ellen O'Bryne. A cave, partly natural and partly artificial, near +his cabin, was used as his store-house and dispensary. His +eccentricities were numerous, but the principal one was an inordinate +love for the canine and feline races. No less than fifty dogs followed +him in his daily rambles and made the night hideous in the town with +their howlings. His cats were as numerous as his dogs and they mingled +their melodies with those of their canine companions to the delectation +of his neighbors. A favorite amusement with the young men of the place, +was to watch for the doctor, when he walked abroad, and shoot some of +his dogs—an offense that was sure to earn his bitter hatred. He had +many good qualities and he made it a point never to charge an armorer +for medical <a name="corr_095" id="corr_095"></a><ins title="Original: advise">advice</ins>. He died about the year 1824, and on his death-bed, +he ordered that his coffin should be made with a window in the lid and +that it should be placed in an erect position, in a brick vault which he +had erected in the cemetery, and that it should be left so for nine days +after his burial, when, he said, he would return to life. A person was +employed to visit the vault every day, until the promised resurrection +which did not take place, however, and probably will not, until the +Archangel's trump wakes him up like other<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> people. In time the vault +crumbled to pieces, and, for years, a skull, supposed to be that of the +doctor, lay exposed on the hillside near the site of the vault and +children used it for a play-thing. Alas! poor Yorick!</p> + +<p>With Mr. Perkins came, from eastern Virginia, the <a name="corr_007" id="corr_007"></a><ins title="Original: ancesters">ancestors</ins> +of the Stipes and Mallory families, as well as others who were regarded +as being among the best citizens at the place. In Mr. Perkins' time a +shocking accident occurred in the armory. Michael McCabe, an employe was +caught in the machinery of one of the shops and, as he was drawn through +a space not exceeding eight inches in breadth, of course, he was crushed +to a jelly.</p> + +<p>Mr. Perkins died at Harper's Ferry and was interred in Maryland. He was +succeeded, in 1810, by James <a name="corr_008" id="corr_008"></a><ins title="Original: Stublefield">Stubblefield</ins>, a Virginian, +and a gentleman of the true Virginia stamp. At that time, it was deemed +absolutely necessary that the superintendent of a national armory should +be, himself, a practical gun-maker. Mr. Stubblefield, therefore, in +order to satisfy the ordnance department of his fitness for the +position, was obliged to manufacture a gun, he, himself, making all the +component parts. The specimen giving satisfaction, he got his +appointment, after a considerable interregnum. His superintendency was +the longest of any in the history of the armory. It continued from 1810 +to 1829, a period of nineteen years. In 1824, some discontented spirits +among the armorers brought charges against Mr. Stubblefield which +occasioned the convening of a court martial for their investigation. The +court acquitted Mr. Stubblefield and, as he was generally popular, his +friends among the employes gave him a public dinner which was served in +the arsenal yard, in honor of his victory. While the trial was yet +pending, a Mr. Lee was appointed to the superintendency, pro tem, but, +on the termination of the court martial, Mr. Stubblefield was +reinstated. During this superintendency—August 29th, 1821, an armorer +named Jacob Carman lost his life by the bursting of a grinding-stone in +one of the shops. A fragment struck him and, such was the force of the +blow, that he was driven through the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> brick wall of the shop and his +mangled remains were found several steps from the building.</p> + +<p>While Mr. Stubblefield was superintendent, about the year 1818, a +gentleman named John H. Hall, of the State of Maine, invented a +breech-loading gun—probably the first of the kind manufactured. He +obtained a patent for his invention and, the government having concluded +to adopt the gun into its service, Mr. Hall was sent to Harper's Ferry +to superintend its manufacture. Two buildings on "The Island" were set +apart for him, and he continued to make his guns in those shops until +1840, when he moved to Missouri. After this period, other buildings were +erected on the same island, for the manufacture of the minie rifle, but +the place retained the name of "Hall's Works" by which it was known in +Mr. Hall's time. It was, sometimes, called "the Rifle Factory." The +reader will understand by the term "armory," used in this book, the main +buildings on the Potomac. Although both ranges of shops were used for +the manufacture of arms, custom designated the one, "The Armory" and the +other—the less important—"the Rifle Factory" or "Hall's Works." Mr. +Hall was the father of the Hon. Willard Hall, at one time a member of +Congress from Missouri and, during the war, Governor of that state. He +was a high-toned gentleman and a man of great ability. His daughter, +Lydia, was married to Dr. Nicholas Marion, an eminent physician who +resided at Harper's Ferry from 1827 until his death in 1882. Their sons, +William V., and George H., are physicians of Washington, D. C., and are +ranked among the first, as specialists, in diseases of the eye and ear. +Another son, Robert, is a surgeon in the United States Navy. It may be +remarked here, that Harper's Ferry has contributed more than any other +place of the same size to the prosperity of other parts of our country, +especially the West and Southwest, by sending them many distinguished +people. Here, some eighty-five years ago was born, in an old house, now +in ruins, on the bank of the Shenandoah, General Jeff Thompson. "Jeff" +was but a nickname, his proper name being Merriweather Thompson. His +father was, at one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> time, paymaster's clerk in the armory and was very +highly respected.</p> + +<p>Besides the parties above named, Harper's Ferry has furnished many other +eminent men to the West. Some sixty-five years ago, Captain Jacamiah +Seaman, who had resigned his position as captain in the company +stationed at Harper's Ferry, moved to Sullivan county, Missouri. He took +with him a youth to whom he had taken a fancy. The young man was named +Robert W. <a name="corr_096" id="corr_096"></a><ins title="Original: Daughtery">Daugherty</ins> and he had been left by his dying parents in care of +Mr. Martin Grace and his wife, nee O'Byrne. This lady's brother, Mr. +Terence O'Byrne, will figure further on in this history as one of John +Brown's prisoners at the time of that fanatic's famous raid. Young +Daugherty had the consent of his guardians to accompany Captain Seaman, +who was a man of very high standing at the place, and whose +family—originally of Welsh descent—were always held in the greatest +esteem in Virginia. Young <a name="corr_097" id="corr_097"></a><ins title="Original: Daughtery">Daugherty</ins> was a scion of the very warlike and +singularly successful clan of O'Daugherty, who, from time immemorial, +dwelt in the valleys of romantic Inishowen, in the county of Donegal, +Ireland, and who distinguished themselves particularly, in the +sanguinary battles of Benburb and Yellow Ford, fought in the 16th +century, to the utter destruction, by the Irish clans of two powerful +English armies. The name still flourishes in their native country, but +alas, like many others, they <b>will</b> drop the O before their name, +regardless of the loss of euphony, and the memory of the many glories +their fathers achieved under the venerable old name. Robert's father was +James Daugherty, a man of great force of character and executive +ability. He was born in Donegal about the end of the 18th century and +died young, of the cholera epidemic at Harper's Ferry, in 1831-1832, +leaving several children. He and his wife who, also died young, are +buried, side by side, in the cemetery attached to Saint John's Catholic +church, Frederick, Maryland, of which they were devoted members. Their +children were put under strict Christian guardianship, and those of them +who lived to maturity married into some of the best families of Virginia +and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> Maryland. Mary Jane, a highly educated lady, married Hugh Gifford, +of Baltimore. John died, we believe, unmarried, at Memphis, Tennessee, +aged 22 years. Catherine Anne, the third child, died in the Orphans' +House of the Catholic church in Baltimore aged 14 years. Elizabeth +Ellen, the youngest child, married James Wall Keenan, of Winchester, +Virginia, a brave confederate soldier, whose sister, Catherine, married +Charles B. Rouse, the Merchant Prince and gallant soldier of New York.</p> + +<p>Robert W. Daugherty, the second son, accompanied Captain Seaman to the +West, as before stated, and, afterwards, married Lydia E. Seaman, sister +of Captain Jacamiah Seaman and Richard S. Seaman who, in the civil war, +served prominently under General T. J. Jackson. Robert W. Daugherty was +the first man in Sullivan county, Missouri, to answer the call of +Governor Jackson for volunteers, when the civil war broke out. He +entered as a private and was elected captain, but refused further +promotion. He served with distinction in the 3rd Missouri Infantry of +the Confederate army. At the close of the war, he surrendered at +Hempstead, Arkansas, and engaged in planting on Red River, Bosier +Parish, Louisiana. He died there on his plantation, June 2nd, 1877, +leaving a son, Jacamiah Seaman Daugherty, now of Houston, Texas, who +married Maggie C. Bryan, of Lexington, Kentucky, daughter of Daniel +Bryan and sister of Joseph Bryan, M. D., who, while in charge of some +hospital in New York, first applied plaster of paris in the treatment of +sprains and fractures. The Bryans are of the old family who accompanied +Boone to Kentucky. A daughter of Robert W. Daugherty—Miss May +Ellen—married Col. Caleb J. Perkins, who distinguished himself as a +fearless fighter under General Sterling Price of the Confederate army. +Col. Perkins is now dead. His widow survives him in Carroll county, +Missouri, with an only son, a young man of great promise, as befits his +gallant father's son and one with the mingled blood of the Seamans of +Virginia and the O'Daughertys of Inishowen, so many whom fought and bled +for their beloved native land on the gory fields of Benburb, Yellow Ford +and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> many other famous battles.</p> + +<p>Nancy Augusta Jane Daugherty married Wesley Arnold, of Bosier Parish, +Louisiana. He was a member of the old Arnold family of Georgia. Her +husband is now dead and she lives with her two promising children—Hugh +and Genevieve Arnold in Terrel, Kaufman county, Texas. Robert Richard +Daugherty disappeared from Daugherty, Kaufman county, Texas, in the fall +of 1889. He left his store locked and his safe had a considerable amount +of cash in it. That was the last thing known of him, except that his hat +was found in a creek bottom, a mile from his store. It is supposed that +he was murdered by a band of thieves, because of his having aided in the +arrest of some of their companions. John Edward, the youngest child of +Robert W. Daugherty, married a Miss Scott in Kaufman county, Texas. He +is now a prominent farmer of Denton county, in that state.</p> + +<p>The parties who were instrumental in bringing charges against Mr. +Stubblefield were not yet satisfied and, in 1829, he was subjected to +another trial by court martial. He was again acquitted, after a +protracted hearing and the general sympathy of the community was more +than ever before in his favor. While the second trial was progressing, +his accusers were very active in hunting up evidence against him. They +learned that Mr. Stubblefield had obligingly given to a man named +McNulty the temporary use of some tools belonging to the government. +They sought this man and they were much gratified to find that he spoke +very disparagingly of the superintendent. Expecting great things from +his evidence, they had him summoned, next day, before the court martial. +On his being questioned by the prosecuting lawyer, however, he gave the +most glowing account of Mr. Stubblefield's goodness and efficiency. Much +disappointed, the counsel for the complainants exclaimed: "Sir, this is +not what you said last night." "No," replied McNulty, "but what I said +then was nothing but street talk. I am now on my oath and I am +determined to tell the truth." The court and a great majority of the +people were satisfied, before, of Mr. Stubblefield's innocence and his +acquittal was long<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> deemed certain, but McNulty's testimony tended to +throw contempt on the whole prosecution and ridicule is often a more +powerful weapon than reason or logic.</p> + +<p>During the second trial, Lieutenant Symington was appointed to the +temporary superintendency, but, as in the case of Lee, at the first +trial, he was immediately withdrawn on the second acquittal of Mr. +Stubblefield, and the latter was again reinstated. The proud Virginian, +however, refused to continue in the office. He had been a benefactor to +the people and had been treated with ingratitude by many. Twice he had +been honorably <a name="corr_098" id="corr_098"></a><ins title="Original: acquited">acquitted</ins> by a military tribunal—always the most rigorous +of courts—and, his honor being satisfied, he voluntarily vacated the +superintendency.</p> + +<p>In Mr. Stubblefield's time—1824—the "bell shop" of the armory was +destroyed by fire. It got its name from its having the armory bell +suspended in a turret which overtopped the roof. The origin of the fire +was unknown, but it was supposed that some sparks from a fire made in +the yard for culinary purposes, occasioned the accident.</p> + +<p>Mr. Stubblefield was succeeded, in 1829, by Colonel Dunn. This gentleman +had been connected with a manufacturing establishment, at the mouth of +Antietam Creek. His was a melancholy history. He was a strict +disciplinarian and, indeed, he is represented as having been a martinet. +The severity of his rules offended several of the workmen, and he paid +with his life a heavy penalty for his harshness. A young man named +Ebenezer Cox, an armorer, had given offense to Lieutenant Symington, +while the latter temporarily filled the office of superintendent, during +the second court martial on Mr. Stubblefield, and, therefore, he was +dismissed by that officer. When Colonel Dunn succeeded to the office, +Cox applied to him for a reinstatement. It is said that the latter +expressed contrition and made submission to Colonel Dunn who, with +violent language, refused to be appeased and displayed great +vindictiveness by threatening with expulsion from the armory works any +employe who should shelter the offender in his house. Cox's +brother-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>in-law, with whom he boarded, was obliged to refuse him +entertainment, and it appeared as if Colonel Dunn was determined by all +means to force Cox to leave his native town. Thus "driven to the wall" +the desperate man armed himself with a carbine and presented himself at +the office of the superintendent, about noon, on the 30th day of +January, 1830. What conversation took place is unknown, but in a few +minutes, a report of fire arms was heard. People rushed to Colonel +Dunn's office and were met by his wife who, with loud lamentations, +informed them that her husband was murdered. The colonel was found with +a ghastly wound in the stomach, through which protruded portions of the +dinner he had eaten a few minutes before. Being a very delicate, +dyspeptic man, he generally used rice at his meals and a considerable +quantity of this food was found on the floor near him, having been +ejected through the wound, but, strange to say, it was unstained with +blood. When found the Colonel was expiring and no information could be +got from him. Mrs. Dunn was in her own house, opposite to the office, +within the armory enclosure, when the crime was committed, and knew +nothing, except the fact of the murder. She had heard the shot and, +suspecting something wrong, had entered the office and found her husband +as above described, but the murderer had escaped. Suspicion, however, at +once rested on Cox and diligent search was made for him. He was +discovered in the "wheelhouse" and taken prisoner. The arrest was made +by Reuben Stipes. Cox made no resistance and he was immediately +committed to Charlestown jail. The body of Colonel Dunn was buried in +Sharpsburg, Maryland, near the spot where, many years afterwards, +General Robert E. Lee of the Confederate army, stood while directing the +movements of his troops at the battle of Antietam. There is a tradition +that the day of his funeral was the coldest ever experienced in this +latitude. So severe, indeed, was the weather that the fact is thought +to be of sufficient interest to be mentioned in the chronicles of the +place. In the course of the following summer—August 27th—Cox was +executed publicly, near Charles<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>town, confessing his guilt and hinting +strongly at complicity in the crime, on the part of some others. His +words, however, were not considered to be of sufficient importance to +form grounds for indictment against those to whom he alluded, and there +were no more prosecutions. This murder marks an era in the history of +Harper's Ferry and, although many more important and thrilling events +have occurred there, since that time, this unfortunate tragedy still +furnishes material for many a fireside tale, and the site of the +building in which the murder was perpetrated is yet pointed out, as +unhallowed ground.</p> + +<p>Cox is said to have been a remarkably handsome young man of about +twenty-four years of age. He was a grandson of Cox who, in Mr. Perkins' +time, figured in various capacities around the armory and who +particularly distinguished himself at gardening, as before related.</p> + +<p>General George Rust succeeded Colonel Dunn in 1830. For the seven years +during which he superintended the armory, nothing of any interest is +recorded. He was rather popular with the employes, and survivors of his +time speak well of his administration. It may be that the melancholy +death of his immediate predecessor had cast a gloom on the place which +operated to prevent the occurrence of any stirring events. It is said +that General Rust spent very little of his time at Harper's Ferry. He +was a wealthy man, owning a good deal of property in Loudoun county, +Virginia, where he lived much of his time, delegating the duties of his +office in the armory to trusty assistants who managed his affairs so as +to give satisfaction to the government. Had he been a poor man his long +stays at home, no doubt, would have excited comment and some busy-body +would have reported the facts to his detriment. As it was, the General +was independent and he enjoyed his otium cum dignitate without any +attempt at interruption or annoyance from tale-bearers.</p> + +<p>General Rust was succeeded, in 1837, by Colonel Edward Lucas, a +Virginian of Jefferson county. He was an exceedingly amiable and +generous man, although fiery<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> and pugnacious when he deemed himself +insulted. He was extremely popular and the writer well remembers his +bent form, while he walked or rode his mule along the streets of +Harper's Ferry, lavishing kind expressions on old and young and +receiving in return the hearty good wishes of every one he met. The name +of "Colonel Ed" was familiar as a household word at the place, and, as +he was honored and respected in life, so was he lamented at his death, +which occurred in 1858, while he occupied the position of paymaster at +the armory. While Colonel Lucas was superintendent, the armory canal was +much improved by the building of a permanent rock forebay. A stone wall +also was built, extending from the front gate of the armory to the "tilt +hammer shop"—the whole river front of the grounds—protecting the yard +and shops from high waters and, indeed reclaiming from the Potomac, +several feet of land and adding that much to the government property. +Twelve good dwellings, also, were built for the use of the families of +the employes, and the place was much improved in every respect. During +the exciting presidential contest in 1840, Colonel Lucas was a strong +Van Buren man but, to his honor, he never oppressed any of the men under +him, on account of <a name="corr_009" id="corr_009"></a><ins title="Original: poliics">politics</ins> nor was he charged with having +done so. In 1847, he was appointed paymaster, an office which he filled +until his death, eleven years afterwards.</p> + +<p>It is said of Colonel Lucas that, if any of the mechanics or laborers +employed under him did wrong, he was not inclined to discharge them, +preferring to punish them by administering a sound thrashing. He had +several fist-fights with his men and, although he was a small man, it is +said that he always deported himself well in his combats and generally +came off winner. In any case, he was never known to use his authority as +superintendent to punish any one who had spirit enough to stand up for +what he considered his rights, even if it involved a personal quarrel +with himself. The Colonel owned a good many slaves, nearly all of whom +were of the most worthless description. It was said, indeed, with some +show of reason, that he was virtually owned by his servants.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> Whenever a +negro, anywhere near Harper's Ferry, had become so unprofitable that his +master determined to sell him to a trader, the slave would appeal to +Colonel Lucas to save him from the slave-drivers and servitude in +"Georgia," which was regarded, justly perhaps, by the negroes as a fate +worse than death. With them "Georgia" was a synonym for all the South. +The good-natured Colonel would purchase the slave, if possible, and, +consequently, he always had the most useless lot of servants in +Virginia. His favorite slave was a diminutive old negro named "Tanner," +who hardly weighed one hundred pounds, but who, nevertheless, prided +himself on his muscle and was as fiery as his master. One day, Tanner +had a fight with another negro and, while they were belaboring one +another, the Colonel happened to come up, and, seeing his servant in a +tight place, he called out, "Pitch in, Tanner! Pitch in, Tanner!" The +street arabs took up the cry, and it has been used ever since, at +Harper's Ferry, in cases where great exertion of muscle or energy is +recommended. Colonel Lucas was truly a chivalrous man and we will not +see his "like again," very soon.</p> + +<p>It is to be noted that Colonel Lucas and his predecessors, with military +titles, were, in reality, civilians, being merely militia officers or +getting the prefix to their names by courtesy. This explanation is +necessary for an understanding of the following:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>THE MILITARY SYSTEM. +<br /><br />CHAPTER II.</h2> + + +<p>Colonel Lucas was succeeded in the superintendency by Major Henry K. +Craig in 1841. The Major was an ordnance officer and, of course, his +education having been military, he was inclined somewhat to that +strictness of discipline which the most amiable of men, in military +command, soon learn to exact from their inferiors, having been taught to +observe it, themselves, toward their superiors. There were two classes +of employes in the armory—the day workers and the piece workers. By an +order of Major Craig, the latter were obliged to work the same number of +hours as the former. This edict was deemed unjust by the piece workers, +as they considered themselves entitled to the privilege of working for +whatever time they chose. They claimed remuneration, only, for the work +done, and, in their opinion, it mattered little to the government how +many hours they were employed. The superintendent thought otherwise, +however, and hence arose a "causa tetterima belli." Besides, everything +around the armory grounds assumed a military air, and a guard, at the +gate, regulated the ingress and egress of armorers and casual visitors. +Drunkenness was positively forbidden. These <a name="corr_010" id="corr_010"></a><ins title="Original: restriction">restrictions</ins> +were not relished at all by the armorers and the older men remembered +with regret the good old days of Perkins and Stubblefield, when the +workmen used to have hung up in the shops buckets of whiskey from which +it was their custom to regale themselves at short intervals. It is said, +indeed, that this license was carried to such excess in the time of Mr. +Stubblefield that an order was issued, prohibiting the men from drinking +spirituous liquors in the shops—a command which, at the time, was +deemed arbitrary and which was evaded through the ingenious plan of the +men's putting their heads outside of the windows, while they were taking +their "nips." These grievances rendered the men rebellious and, for some +years a bitter feud ex<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>isted between the parties favoring the military +system and those who were opposed to it. In 1842, a large number of the +men chartered a boat on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and proceeded to +Washington City to see the president, John Tyler, and state to him their +grievances. At that time, little of an exciting nature had taken place +at Harper's Ferry. The Dunn murder, alone, furnished the whole history +of the town, up to the period of which we are treating, and that trip to +Washington, therefore, assumed an undue importance which it has retained +ever since, in the minds of the survivors of the voyage, notwithstanding +the fearful ordeals to which they were afterwards subjected. Neither +Jason and his Argonauts when they went in search of the Golden Fleece +nor Ulysses in his protracted return home from Troy encountered as many +vicissitudes of fortune as those hardy mariners of the canal boat. The +writer has been listening to stories of this expedition for more than +forty years, but as they never had any interest for him and as he does +not suppose his readers would care to hear them, he leaves them to be +collected by some future poet, able and willing to do them justice. The +<a name="corr_011" id="corr_011"></a><ins title="Original: octogenarians">octogenarian</ins> participants in this voyage deem them of +surpassing interest, but they were young when those events took place +and, now, they are old and that accounts for their fond recollection. +Having reached Washington they obtained an audience of the president who +received them in a style worthy of the head of a great nation and, what +is more in the estimation of some people, a Virginia gentleman. +Compliments were exchanged and the president gave each of them a cordial +shake of the hand, an honor which was duly appreciated, for it is +related that one of the delegation, in a burst of enthusiasm, reached +out a hand of enormous proportions and dubious color to meet that of the +president, at the same time exclaiming, "Hullo, old fellow, give us your +corn stealer." This handsome compliment, no doubt, was very gratifying +to the president, for he made them a speech in which he declared in the +most emphatic manner, that he considered the working men as the bone and +sinew of the land and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> its main dependence in war and in peace; that he +loved them as such and that their interests should be his care. In this +strain he continued for some time, but suddenly, he threw cold water on +the hopes he had created by telling them that "they must go home and +hammer out their own salvation." This figurative expression and the +allusion to that emblem of vulcanic labor—the hammer—were not received +with the admiration which their wit deserved, and it is said that many +loud and deep curses were uttered by some sensitive and indiscreet piece +workers, and that the august presence of "Tyler too" had not the effect +of awing the bold navigators into suitable respect for the head of the +nation. They returned home wiser but hardly better men and, from that +period dates the bitter opposition of many Harper's Ferry people to the +military system of superintendency which continued until the final +overthrow of that order of things in 1854. This contest is the chief +event of the time of Colonel Craig's command.</p> + +<p>The Colonel was a veteran of the war of 1812. He had served on the +Canadian frontier with General Scott and had received a severe wound in +the leg, the effects of which were, ever after, apparent in his walk. He +was not, however, a graduate of West Point.</p> + +<p>He was succeeded in 1844 by Major John Symington, another military +officer and the same who, with an inferior rank, had superintended the +armory, pro tem, during the second trial of Mr. Stubblefield. Major +Symington was an exceedingly eccentric man. His talents were undoubted +and he got credit for many virtues, but his oddities detracted much from +his usefulness. His voice was of a peculiar intonation and his gestures +were odd, but withal, he had a clear head and a good heart and, during +his administration, many improvements were made at his suggestion, and +the people were generally prosperous. The shops were remodeled, and many +believe that he did more for the prosperity of the place than any other +superintendent. Those who knew him best asserted that his eccentricities +were mere pretense and assumed for the gratification of a latent vein of +humor. On the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> whole, he is remembered with very kind feelings. Like +other superintendents, he was much annoyed with applications for +employment. People of every trade and calling, when out of work, thought +they had a right to a part of the government patronage, no matter how +unsuited they were, from their former occupations, to serve as armorers. +One day the Major was troubled by more than the usual number of +applicants and his temper was sorely tried. Towards evening a stranger +presented himself and made the stereotyped request for work. "Well," +said the Major, rubbing his hands in a manner peculiar to himself, "What +is <b>your</b> trade?" "I am a saddler and harnessmaker," replied the stranger. +"Oh," said the Major, "we do not make leather guns here. When we do we +will send for you."</p> + +<p>He made it a point to exact from his subordinates the most literal +obedience to his orders and, while he must have often regretted his +having issued absurd commands while in his pets, he always gave credit +to those who carried them out fully. He had a colored servant on whom he +could always rely for the exact performance of his most unreasonable +orders. One day, this servant carried to the dinner table a magnificent +turkey, cooked in the most approved fashion, but the Major was in one of +his tantrums and would not endure the sight of the sumptuous feast. +"Take it to the window and throw it out," said he, in the querulous tone +peculiar to him and, perhaps, to his surprise, the command was instantly +obeyed. The servant raised the window and pitched out into the lawn, +turkey, dish and all. The Major commended his servant's obedience and +was instantly appeased and induced to settle down to his dinner.</p> + +<p>In his time, one of those exhibitions then rare, but unfortunately too +common now—a prize fight—took place at, or very near Harper's Ferry. +The then notorious Yankee Sullivan and an English bruiser named Ben +Caunt, met by appointment there in 1846, and treated the people to one +of those brutal shows. Caunt came to Harper's Ferry several weeks before +the fight and there he went through his course of training. He was the +favorite with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> the people, no doubt, because of his nationality—most of +the armorers being descended from Birmingham gun-smiths. Sullivan +arrived on the night before the encounter and with him came a crowd of +shoulder-hitters, pick-pockets, et hoc genus omne. They took possession +of the town and, until the fight was decided, the utmost terror +prevailed among the peaceable inhabitants. The battle ground was outside +the town limits, east of the Shenandoah, in a meadow near what is called +"the old still-house," on the line of Jefferson and Loudoun counties. +Sullivan won the fight, but the exhibition broke up in a general row.</p> + +<p>In the summer of 1850, the fearful scourge—the Asiatic cholera again +made its appearance at the place and decimated the people. Although it +is said that the ravages of this pestilence are mostly confined to +people of dissolute habits, it was not so in this case, for it visited +the homes of rich and poor indiscriminately, and all classes suffered +equally. It is estimated that over one hundred people at the place +perished by this epidemic and, the town having been deserted by all who +could leave it, business, too, suffered severely.</p> + +<p>Major Symington was succeeded, in 1851, by Colonel Benjamin Huger. He +was of Huguenot extraction and a native of South Carolina. His +administration was not marked by any very important events. The +excitement against the military system that arose in the time of Colonel +Craig continued unabated. During Colonel Huger's superintendency in +1851, a sad accident occurred at Harper's Ferry. On the opening of the +Baltimore and Ohio railroad from Cumberland to Fairmont, an excursion +train containing the principal officers of the road proceeded from +Baltimore to what was then the western terminus of that great channel of +commerce. A number of Harper's Ferry people determined to give them a +salute, as they passed that station, and, with this purpose, they loaded +an old twelve-pounder cannon which was kept at the armory for such +occasions. Through some mismanagement, there was a premature explosion +which caused the death of two colored men. One of them,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> named John +Butler, was a veteran of the war of 1812 and had been long a resident of +the town. The other, named Scipio, was, too, like Butler, well known and +respected at the place. A third party, a white man, named James +O'Laughlin, to whose want of forethought the accident was attributed, +lost his life shortly afterwards by being run over by the railway cars, +in front of the ticket office.</p> + +<p>In 1852, on an order from the Secretary of War, the government disposed +of a considerable portion of its property at Harper's Ferry to employes +at the armory. Many of those people desired to purchase houses and the +government deemed it politic to encourage them in so doing. The plan +insured a number of prudent, sober and steady mechanics for employment +in the government works—men who, having a deep interest in the place, +would consult the well-being of society there and would feel the more +attached to the public service. Therefore, many houses and lots were +disposed of at public sale and, at the same time, many donations of land +were made by the government for religious, educational and town +purposes.</p> + +<p>In 1852 there was a remarkable inundation at Harper's Ferry—the +greatest that, up to that time, had occurred there—at least since the +settlement of the place by white people. The winter of 1851-1852 was +exceedingly severe. From November until April, the snow lay deep upon +the ground, and when, about the middle of the latter month, there was a +heavy and warm rain for several days, the snow melted rapidly and an +unprecedented flood was the consequence. The Potomac, swollen by a +thousand tributaries, the smallest of which might aspire, at the time, +to the dignity of a river, rolled in an irresistible tide and was met by +the Shenandoah with the accumulated waters of the whole upper Valley of +Virginia. The town was literally submerged and large boats were +propelled with oar and pole along the principal streets. Of course, much +damage was done to property, but no loss of life on that occasion is +recorded. Similar inundations we have mentioned as having occurred there +in Mr. Harper's time,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> and in 1832 a very remarkable one took place +which is fresh in the memories of a few of the citizens. Indeed, there +is a belief that at least once in every twenty years the town is +partially submerged. Since the war these inundations are more frequent +and far more injurious than they were before, because of the wholesale +destruction of the forests for the use of the armies during the civil +war, and the increased demand for timber for mercantile purposes. The +day will come when legislation must step in to prevent this evil and +when the American people must take a lesson from certain European +governments in which the state takes charge of the forests and regulates +the cutting down and planting of trees. The suggestion is, perhaps, an +unpopular one, but it may be right nevertheless.</p> + +<p>It may be observed that Colonel Huger afterwards became a general in the +service of the Confederacy and obtained some fame in the seven days' +fighting before Richmond.</p> + +<p>Colonel Huger was succeeded, in 1854, by Major Bell, who was the last of +the military superintendents. He "reigned" but a few months, the +government having decided about the end of that year to change the +system of armory superintendence back from the military to the civil +order. There was great rejoicing among the anti-military men and a +corresponding depression among those of the opposite party, for the +military system had many friends at the place, although they were in a +minority.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III. +<br /><br />THE CIVIL SYSTEM REVIVED.</h2> + + +<p>Major Bell was succeeded, early in 1855, by Henry W. Clowe, a native of +Prince William county, Virginia, a very worthy mechanic who had been +employed, for many years before, as a master millwright in the armory. +He was a man of a very impulsive nature with all the virtues and many of +the faults of men with that temperament. He was highstrung, as the +saying is, but he was generous to a fault and never did the place enjoy +greater prosperity than under his administration. Whether this was owing +to his good management or not was a question which every man at the +place decided according to his partialities, perhaps, but the fact of +the great prosperity of Harper's Ferry at that time, is undoubted. +Having been associated a long time with the workmen as an equal he had +many difficulties to encounter to which a stranger would not be exposed. +It is probable, however, that his greatest trouble arose from the +intrigues of politicians. He had a quarrel with the representative in +Congress from the district to which Harper's Ferry then belonged, and by +the influence of the latter or of some other party, Mr. Clowe was +removed from the superintendency about the close of 1858.</p> + +<p>In this administration, in the spring of 1856, a tragical occurrence +took place in the town. Two men named Engle and Alison had a quarrel +originating in drunkenness, when the latter struck the former on the +head with a four-pound weight, breaking his skull in several places. The +wounded man lay in a comatose state for some hours before his inevitable +death. Alison was arrested immediately and conveyed to Charlestown jail +to await trial. Having concealed on his person a small pistol he blew +out his own brains in a few minutes after his lodgement in prison, and +his spirit arrived at the great judgment seat almost as soon as that of +his victim.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span></p> + +<p>In the summer of 1858—June 10th—a melancholy accident occurred in the +armory yard, whereby Mr. Thomas Cunningham, a most worthy man, lost his +life. A very curious circumstance is connected with this accident. The +mishap took place about 9 o'clock a.m. A few minutes before that hour +the writer of these pages was passing the armory gate, when he +encountered a very respectable citizen of the place, who, in an excited +manner asked him if he had heard of any accident in the shops or the +armory yard. Having heard of none the writer inquired what grounds the +other had for the question. The reply was, that he had heard of no +accident, but that he was certain that somebody was or would be hurt +that day at the place, for he had seen in his dreams that morning +several men at work in a deep excavation in the armory grounds and +noticed particles of gravel falling from the sides of the pit and a big +rock starting to fall on the men. In his endeavor to give notice to the +parties in danger he awoke and this was his reason for believing that +somebody would be injured that day in the place. Politeness alone +prevented the writer from laughing outright at what he considered a +foolish superstition in his friend. He reasoned with him on the +absurdity of a belief in dreams which, instead of being prophetic, can +always be traced to some impression made on the mind during waking +hours. While they were yet conversing, a man ran out from the armory in +breathless haste and inquired for a physician. On being questioned he +replied that Mr. Cunningham had been crushed by a rock falling on him in +an excavation he was making and that Mr. Edward Savin, also, had been +badly hurt. Mr. Cunningham died in a few minutes after his being injured +and thus was the dream literally verified, even to the exact place, +foreshadowed—the armory yard—for there it was the excavation was being +made. Mr. Savin recovered from his hurts and afterwards served with +great credit in the 69th regiment of New York Volunteers. At the first +battle of Bull Run he had, it is said, his clothing perforated in more +than a dozen places by bullets, but he escaped without a wound. It is +reported<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> that his preservation in this battle was among the most +extraordinary of the war of the rebellion, considering the very shower +of bullets that must have poured on him to so riddle his clothes. +Whether the dream was a mere coincidence or a psychological phenomenon +let every reader judge for himself. There is high authority for +believing that "coming events cast their shadows before" and the above, +for which the writer can vouch, would appear to confirm the truth of +what every one is inclined, in his heart, to believe, though but few +dare to own it, for fear of incurring ridicule. The occurrence convinced +the writer of what he more than suspected before and fully believes now, +that verily, there are many things transpiring daily which do not enter +into anybody's philosophy and which can not be explained by intellect +clothed in flesh. Perhaps, we will understand it all when we enter some +other sphere of existence and, perhaps, again, we will <b>not</b>.</p> + +<p>Apropos of the foregoing, the reader may feel interested in the +following which, although it did not occur at Harper's Ferry, took place +so near to it that it will not be considered much out of place in our +chronicles. Besides, it was proposed at the start that the author should +give strange incidents of the neighborhood of Harper's Ferry, especially +when the actors in the scenes, as in this case, were identified closely +with that place and had daily business relations with its people. Some +sixty years ago, there lived near Kabletown in the upper part of +Jefferson county, a Scotchman, named McFillan, who was overseer on a +plantation belonging to a Mrs. Hunter. He was a man of dissipated +habits, and some person whom he had offended informed his employer in an +anonymous note that he was neglecting his duties. On being taken to task +by Mrs. Hunter, McFillan at once concluded that the author of the note +was a neighbor named Chamberlain with whom he had had some quarrel. In a +short time after McFillan and his supposed enemy encountered one another +at a blacksmith's shop in Kabletown and, the former charging the latter +with the authorship of the letter, fight took place between<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> them, when +Chamberlain struck McFillan on the head with a stone, injuring him +severely. Before any great length of time the wounded man died and, it +being supposed that his death was caused by the injury received from +Chamberlain, a coroner's inquiry was held over the remains and a +post-mortem examination was made by Dr. Creamer, a physician of local +celebrity in those days. Chamberlain was put on trial in Charlestown +and, as the fact of his having struck the deceased was notorious, he +based his defense on the probability that McFillan had come to his death +by dissipation. Dr. Creamer's evidence favored the prisoner's theory, +and, as the utmost confidence was felt generally in the doctor's ability +and integrity, the accused was acquitted. Why the doctor did not so +testify before the coroner's jury, the tradition does not tell.</p> + +<p>In some time after the trial a man named Jenkins moved into the +neighborhood of Kabletown and took up his residence in the house +formerly occupied by McFillan and in which he had died. Jenkins was a +bachelor and he lived without any company, except that of some slaves +whom he had brought with him. Feeling lonely, he extended an invitation +to the young men of the vicinity to visit him and assist him to pass +away the long winter evenings in a social game of "old sledge" or +"three-trick loo." One night Chamberlain visited him and engaged at a +game. Their conversation was cheerful and not, at all, calculated to +excite their imaginations disagreeably. While they were playing, a +shuffling of feet was heard in the hall and, presently, a knock was +given at the room door. Jenkins said, "walk in," when the door was +opened and in came two men who were strangers to the proprietor. +Chamberlain instantly fell to the floor in a swoon and Jenkins jumped up +to assist him. While stooping to help his friend, the host, of course, +took his eyes from the strangers and when he had succeeded in lifting +<a name="corr_012" id="corr_012"></a><ins title="Original: Chamblain">Chamberlain</ins> to a seat, they had vanished unseen and unheard +by any other person about the house. The negroes, on being questioned, +denied positively their having heard or seen them arrive or depart,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> and +it was impossible that any one in the flesh could enter the house and +proceed to the room occupied by Jenkins and Chamberlain, without being +discovered by the servants. Chamberlain exhibited signs of the most +abject terror and his host was obliged to send some five or six of his +slaves to accompany him to his home. Of course, the matter got noised +abroad and the neighbors eagerly questioned Jenkins about it, but he +could give no explanation of it, beyond describing the appearance of the +strangers. The description of one of them answered exactly to that of +McFillan. The height, make, complexion and dress of the supposed spectre +corresponded closely with those of the deceased overseer and the other +equally resembled Chamberlain's father who had been dead some years. The +latter apparition wore the peculiar dress of the Society of Friends of +which the old gentleman had been a member and, in other respects, its +description coincided exactly with that of the deceased Quaker. Of +course, no one ventured to question Chamberlain on the subject, but +<a name="corr_013" id="corr_013"></a><ins title="Original: is">it</ins> is religiously believed in the neighborhood that the +apparitions were the ghosts of the men whom they so much resembled, but +why they should travel in company or what the object of their visit was +is as much of a mystery as the dream which suggested this episode. +Jenkins had never before seen either of them, being as before noted, a +stranger in the neighborhood and, certainly there was no reason why <b>his</b> +imagination should conjure up those apparitions.</p> + +<p>Whatever skepticism may be entertained about the matter, it is certain +that Jenkins, to the day of his death, persisted in his statement, and +there was no man in the county of a higher character than he for +veracity. It is said that never after that night did Chamberlain sleep +in a dark room, but that he always kept a light burning in his bed +chamber, from the time he retired to rest until daylight. He met his +death many years afterwards in a singular manner. He was riding one day +in a wagon over a rough road. In the bed of the wagon was a loaded +musket with the muzzle of the barrel pointing towards him. In some way +the musket was discharged and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> bullet killed Chamberlain. It was +claimed by some who, perhaps, were interested in having it appear so, +that the jolting of the wagon caused the discharge of the gun, but no +one attempted to explain how the weapon was cocked or why the bullet did +not pass under the driver's seat, instead of through his body. Many ugly +rumors floated around for some time in connection with the affair, but +the writer does not feel at liberty to give them further currency. All +the parties concerned are now dead, and let no one disturb their repose +by rehashing what may have been mere slander or idle gossip. During Mr. +Clowe's time as superintendent—in 1857—died at Harper's Ferry, John, +commonly known as "Lawyer" Barnett, who was in his way, quite a +celebrity. He was by trade a carpenter and he had the reputation of +being an excellent mechanic. Like many other deluded visionaries, he +conceived that he had discovered a principle on which perpetual motion +could be produced and, for many years, he devoted his energies, spent +his earnings and tried the patience of his friends, in the construction +of a machine illustrative of his idea, and explaining his theory to any +person willing to listen. His device was certainly very ingenious but +marvelously complicated and when set in motion, it terrified, with its +unearthly noises, his timid neighbors, many of whom looked with +superstitious awe on the mysterious fabric and its uncanny inventor. The +poor "Lawyer," however, was the most harmless of mankind and the last +man that his friends should suspect of being in league with the powers +of darkness. If any compact existed the poor fellow's appearance +certainly did not indicate any accession of wealth, as he always went +about dressed like a scare-crow, his rags fluttering in the breeze, +betokening the most abject poverty. He always carried a thick cudgel and +was accompanied by a ferocious looking bull dog. The latter was, +however, as harmless as his master and, for all that any one knew, as +much abstracted in the contemplation of some problem of interest to his +canine friends. Barnett, like many other great men, would take sprees +occasionally, and the poor fellow died one night<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> in one of his drinking +bouts, at his solitary bachelor home, and his face was devoured by rats +before his death was discovered by his neighbors. It need not be said +that he did not accomplish the impossibility he had proposed to himself, +and his machine now lies in a garret almost forgotten. Had the "Lawyer" +been a married man he would not have met so appalling a fate and, +besides, if we may rehash a stale joke on the ladies, he might have got +some valuable hints from his wife's tongue and accomplished something +for science.</p> + +<p>Mr. Clowe was succeeded in January, 1859, by Alfred M. Barbour, a young +lawyer from western Virginia, whose administration was the most eventful +in the history of the place, as it was during that period that the great +civil war broke out which, as is well known, caused the total +destruction of the armory works. Other remarkable events, however, +occurred in Mr. Barbour's time which were precursors of the subsequent +great evils and foreshadowed the final catastrophe. These will be +narrated in the next chapter.</p> + +<p>On the 28th day of June, 1859, a memorable tornado swept over the place. +About 3 o'clock in the afternoon a thunder storm came up and two clouds +were noticed approaching each other, driven by currents of wind from +opposite directions. When they encountered one another, a fierce flash +of lightning followed by an appalling thunder peal, lit up the heavens. +Rain poured down in cataracts, and, as if Aeolus had suddenly released +all his boisterous subjects, the winds rushed from all quarters and came +in conflict in the gap through which the Potomac finds its way to the +Ocean. In the war of winds a fine covered bridge that crossed the +Shenandoah about three hundred yards above the mouth of that river was +lifted from its piers and completely overturned into the bed of the +stream. Mrs. Sloan, a respectable old lady, happened to be on the bridge +at the time and, of course, was carried with it into the river. She was +found shortly after, standing up in a shallow place, and completely +covered over with the debris of the wrecked bridge, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> fortunately, +and almost miraculously, she received very little injury.</p> + +<p>Having given a sketch of each of the superintendents, the writer thinks +a notice due to the master-armorers, also. Originally, the +superintendents were styled master-armorers, and Messrs. Perkins and +Stubblefield went by this appellation officially. In 1815, however, the +latter gentleman was allowed an assistant to whom that title was +transferred, and that of superintendent was given to the principal +officer. In the above mentioned year, Armistead Beckham was appointed to +the second office in the armory. He was a high-minded gentleman who did +his duty regardless of the clamor of factions and with a stern resolve +to do justice—a difficult task during a portion of his time, as the +administration at Washington was democratic and Mr. <a name="corr_099" id="corr_099"></a><ins title="Original: Beckman">Beckham</ins> was always +much opposed to President Jackson. The latter, however, could not be +induced to dismiss the honest master-armorer—such was the respect +entertained for the character of that gentleman. In 1830 Mr. Beckham +exchanged with Benjamin Moore, who occupied a similar position in +Pittsburg, each taking the place of the other. In some time after, Mr. +Beckham was appointed superintendent of the Western Penitentiary of +Pennsylvania, in Allegheny City, which position he held until his death, +many years after.</p> + +<p>Benjamin Moore was a remarkable person. He was a fine specimen of the +physical man and his mind was on the same scale as his body. He occupied +the position of master-armorer at Harper's Ferry for nineteen years and, +during that time, he introduced an improvement into the manufacture of +arms which is universally admitted to be of utmost advantage, but for +which neither he nor his heirs ever received compensation, although a +claim for it has been pending for many years. His invention was that of +the interchange of the component parts of a gun, which means that any +particular part will suit any gun. The advantage of this plan in field +operations must be at once apparent as, from piles composed of the +various parts of a rifle or musket, a gun can be extemporized to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> +replace one rendered useless by accident. It is to be hoped that his +descendants may yet reap the benefit of his ingenuity and that justice +may at length be done to the heirs of a man who did so much for the +efficiency of our armies.</p> + +<p>Like many other men of studious minds, Mr. Moore had, in many things, a +child-like simplicity. His son, Thomas, was a man of great talent and, +in almost every field of art, his ability was apparent. Among other +agreeable gifts, he possessed that of consummate mimicry. Sometimes he +would disguise himself in the garb of a beggar and meet his father with +the most piteous tale of distress, which never failed to work on the old +gentleman's sympathies to the opening of his purse. Many a dollar did +the son thus obtain from the benevolent father and, when the young man +would throw off his disguise and make himself known, nobody enjoyed the +deception better than the victim. Next day, however, the father was just +as liable to be taken in as before, such was his abstraction of mind, +caused by intense thought on the subject of his invention. He died some +forty years ago, at a ripe old age, covered with honors and with the +happy assurance of the rewards promised for a well-spent life.</p> + +<p>Mr. Moore was succeeded in 1849 by James Burton, a young man whose whole +previous life had been devoted to the service of the government at +Harper's Ferry. He was a fine musician and a man of varied +accomplishments. In 1853, he was appointed by the British government to +superintend the manufacture of their Enfield rifle. Shortly before our +civil war, he returned to his native country, and, while the struggle +was in progress, he superintended the manufacture of arms in Richmond. +Mr. Burton died a few years ago in Winchester, Virginia.</p> + +<p>He was succeeded in 1853 by Samuel Byington, a good-natured, easy-going +man, who was much respected by all at Harper's Ferry. He died, during +the civil war, at Washington City, to which place he had moved in 1858.</p> + +<p>Mr. Byington was succeeded in the year last mentioned, by Benjamin +Mills, a practical gunsmith, of Harrods<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>burg, Kentucky. Mr. Mills did +not reside very long at Harper's Ferry, returning, in the autumn of +1859, to his former residence. During his stay, however, he met with an +adventure which will be related in the next chapter, and it can be +safely said that, in his experience in the west, he scarcely met with +anything that made a deeper impression on him than what he encountered +on this occasion, or which will bide longer in his memory.</p> + +<p>Mr. Mills was succeeded, in 1859, by Armistead M. Ball, a man of +remarkable powers as a machinist. He participated in Mr. Mills' +adventure and, like the latter, no doubt, had a lively recollection of +the affair until his death, which occurred in 1861.</p> + +<p>The capacity of the Harper's Ferry armory was from fifteen hundred to +two thousand guns a month, and the muskets and rifles manufactured there +were, generally, considered the best in the world. A good deal has been +heard of the needle-gun, the Chassepot and other guns used by various +nations, which may be all that is claimed for them, but the Harper's +Ferry Rifle Yerger enjoyed in its day a reputation second to no weapon +of the small arms kind under the sun, and it is very doubtful if it will +be much excelled hereafter, notwithstanding the many improvements we +hear of year after year. In the war of the rebellion it went by the name +of the Mississippi Rifle because the troops of that state were the first +of the Confederates to be armed with it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV. +<br /><br />THE BROWN RAID.</h2> + + +<p>In the summer of 1859, a party of strangers made their appearance at +Sandy Hook, a small village of Washington county, Maryland, in the +immediate vicinity of Harper's Ferry. With them was an old man of +venerable appearance and austere demeanor who called himself Isaac +Smith. They represented themselves as being prospecting for minerals, +and they took frequent and long rambles, with this ostensible purpose, +over the various peaks of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Since the first +settlement of Harper's Ferry, it has been believed that, in the earth +beneath the wild crags of the Maryland and Loudoun Heights, mines of +different metals and of fabulous value are hidden, awaiting the eye of +science and the hand of industry to discover and develop them. Many of +the citizens of the place, from time to time, have supposed that they +had found them and no small excitement has been aroused on this account +by sanguine explorers. Specimens of different kinds of valuable ore or +what was supposed to be such, were sent to Boston and subjected to +chemical analysis and very favorable reports were returned by the most +eminent chemists and geologists of the Athens of America. No wonder was +felt, therefore, at the appearance of the party, and their expedition +over the tortuous and difficult paths of the mountains excited no +suspicion. At first, they boarded at the house of Mr. <a name="corr_014" id="corr_014"></a><ins title="Original: 0rmond">Ormond</ins> +Butler, where their conduct was unexceptionable. They paid in gold for +whatever they purchased and, as their manners were courteous to all, +they were, on the whole, very much liked by Mr. Butler's family and his +guests. After a week's stay at Sandy Hook, they removed to what is known +as "the Kennedy Farm" about five miles from Harper's Ferry, on the +Maryland side of the Potomac, where they established their headquarters. +While at this place, Smith and his party, of whom three<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> were his sons, +made themselves very agreeable to their neighbors and they were as +popular there as they had been at Sandy Hook. The father was regarded as +a man of stern morality, devoted to church exercises, and the sons, with +the others of the party, as good-natured, amiable, young men. Thus +things continued 'till the night of Sunday, October 16th, 1859. On that +night about 10 o'clock, Mr. William Williams, one of the watchmen on the +railroad bridge, was surprised to find himself taken prisoner by an +armed party, consisting of about twenty men, who suddenly made their +appearance from the Maryland side of the river. Most of the party then +proceeded to the armory enclosure, taking with them their prisoner, and +leaving two men to guard the bridge. They next captured Daniel Whelan, +one of the watchmen at the armory, who was posted at the front gate, and +they took possession of that establishment. The party then separated +into two bodies—one remaining in the armory and the other proceeding to +the rifle factory, half a mile up the Shenandoah, where they captured +Mr. Samuel Williams—father of William Williams before mentioned—an old +and highly respected man, who was in charge of that place as night +watchman. He, too, was conducted to the armory where the other prisoners +were confined, and a detachment of the strangers was left to supply his +place. About 12 o'clock—midnight—Mr. Patrick Higgins, of Sandy Hook, +arrived on the bridge, for the purpose of relieving Mr. William +Williams. They were both in the employment of the Baltimore and Ohio +railroad company as watchmen, and each used to serve twelve hours of the +twenty-four on duty. Higgins found all in darkness on the bridge and, +suspecting that something had gone wrong with Williams, he called loudly +for him. To his astonishment he was ordered to halt and two men +presented guns at his breast, at the same time telling him that he was +their prisoner. One of them undertook to conduct him to the armory, but, +on their arriving at a point near the Virginia end of the bridge, the +hot-blooded Celt struck his captor a stunning blow with his fist, and, +before the stranger could recover from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> its effects, Higgins had +succeeded in escaping to Fouke's hotel, where he eluded pursuit. Several +shots were fired after him without effect, and he attributes his safety +to the fact that his pursuers, while in the act of firing, stumbled in +the darkness over some cross pieces in the bridge, and had their aim +disconcerted. About this time a party of the invaders went to the houses +of Messrs. Lewis Washington and John Alstadt, living a few miles from +Harper's Ferry, and took them and some of their slaves prisoners, +conducting them to the general rendezvous for themselves and their +captives—the armory enclosure. From the house of the former they took +some relics of the great Washington and the Revolution, which the +proprietor, of course, very highly prized. Among them was a sword, said +to be the same that was sent to the "Father of his Country" by Frederick +the Great, King of Prussia—a present, as a legend inscribed on it said, +"from the oldest General of the time to the best." All through the +night, great excitement existed among such of the citizens as became +cognizant of these facts. There happened to be, at the time, protracted +meetings at nearly all of the Methodist churches in the town and +neighborhood, and the members, returning home late, were taken prisoners +in detail, until the armory enclosure contained a great many captives, +who were unable to communicate to their friends an account of their +situation.</p> + +<p>About one o'clock a.m., Monday, the east bound express train, on the +Baltimore and Ohio railroad, arrived in charge of Conductor Phelps. The +train was detained by order of the leader of the band, and the telegraph +wires were cut. The object of these orders was, of course, to prevent +news of the invasion from being spread. The train was allowed to +proceed, however, after a considerable delay. While the train was at +Harper's Ferry, great alarm naturally existed among the passengers who +could not understand these movements. Several shots were exchanged +between the attacking force and a Mr. Throckmorton, clerk at Fouke's +hotel, and some other parties unknown, but no person was injured. Some +time in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> course of the night, Heywood Shepherd, a colored porter at +the railroad office, walked to the bridge, impelled, no doubt, by +curiosity to understand the enigma. He was ordered to halt by the guards +at the bridge and being seized with a panic and running back, he was +shot through the body. He succeeded in reaching the railroad office, +where he died next day at 3 o'clock, in great agony.</p> + +<p>A little before daylight, some early risers were surprised to find +themselves taken prisoners, as soon as they appeared on the streets. +Among them was James Darrell, aged about sixty-five years, the +bell-ringer at the armory, whose duties, of course, compelled him to be +the first of the hands at his post. It being yet dark, he carried a +lantern. When near the gate, he was halted by an armed negro, one of the +invading party, and, Darrell, not dreaming of what was transpiring and +mistaking his challenger for one of Mr. Fouke's slaves on a "drunk," +struck the negro with his lantern and consigned his "black soul" to a +climate of much higher temperature than that of Virginia. The negro +presented a Sharp's rifle at Darrell and, no doubt, the situation of +bell-ringer at Harper's Ferry armory would have been very soon vacant +had not a white man of the stranger party who appeared to relish very +highly the joke of the mistake, caught the gun and prevented the negro +from carrying out his intention. Another white man of the party, +however, came up and struck Darrell on the side with the butt of his +gun, injuring him severely. Darrell was then dragged before "the +captain" who, pitying his age and his bodily sufferings, dismissed him +on a sort of parole. Mr. Walter Kemp, an aged, infirm man, bartender at +Fouke's hotel, was taken prisoner about this time and consigned to Limbo +with the others.</p> + +<p>It was, now, daylight and the armorers proceeded singly or in parties of +two or three from their various homes to work at the shops. They were +gobbled up in detail and marched to prison, lost in astonishment at the +strange doings and many, perhaps, doubting if they were not yet asleep +and dreaming. Several of the officers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> of the armory were captured, but +the superintendent not being in the town at the time, the invaders +missed what, no doubt, would have been to them a rich prize. About this +time, Mr. George W. Cutshaw, an old and estimable citizen of the place, +proceeded from his house on High street, towards the Potomac bridge, in +company with a lady who was on her way to Washington City and whom Mr. +Cutshaw was escorting across the river, to the place where the canal +packetboat on which she intended to travel, was tied up. He passed along +unmolested until he disposed of his charge, but, on his return, he +encountered on the bridge several armed apparitions—one of them, an old +man of commanding presence, appearing to be the leader. Mr. Cutshaw, who +was "a man of infinite jest," used to relate in the humorous manner +peculiar to himself, how he, on first seeing them, took up the thought +that a great robbery had been committed somewhere and that the tall, +stern figure before him was some famous detective, employed to discover +and arrest the perpetrators, while the minor personages were his +assistants. He was halted, but, being in a hurry for his breakfast, he +was moving on, when he received another and peremptory challenge. At +last he said impatiently, "let me go on! What do <b>I</b> know about your +robberies?" These were unfortunate words for Cutshaw, as they gave the +chief to understand that his party were suspected of an intention to +plunder—an imputation which the old warrior very highly resented. Mr. +Cutshaw was, therefore, immediately marched off to the armory and placed +among the other prisoners, where "the Captain" kept a close eye on him +until his attention was engrossed by the subsequent skirmish.</p> + +<p>A little before 7 o'clock a.m., Mr. Alexander Kelly approached the +corner of High and Shenandoah streets, armed with a shotgun, for the +purpose of discharging it at the invaders. No sooner did he turn the +corner than two shots were fired at him and a bullet was sent through +his hat. Immediately afterwards, Mr. Thomas Boerly +<a name="corr_015" id="corr_015"></a><ins title="Original: approched">approached</ins> the same corner with the same purpose. He was a +man of herculean strength and great<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> personal courage. He discharged his +gun at some of the enemy who were standing at the arsenal gate, when a +shot was fired at him by one of the party who was crouching behind the +arsenal fence. The bullet penetrated his groin, inflicting a ghastly +wound, of which he died in a few hours.</p> + +<p>The writer of these annals met with an adventure on this occasion which, +though it partook largely of romance to which he is much addicted, was +anything but agreeable. Sharing in the general curiosity to know what it +was all about, he imprudently walked down High street to Shenandoah +street. At the arsenal gate he encountered four armed men—two white and +two black. Not being conscious of guilt he thought he had no reason to +fear anybody. The four guards saluted him civilly and one of the white +men asked him if he owned any slaves. On his answering in the negative, +the strangers told him that there was a movement on foot that would +benefit him and all persons who did not own such property. The writer +passed on strongly <a name="corr_016" id="corr_016"></a><ins title="Original: impresssed">impressed</ins> with the thought that, sure +enough, there was something in the wind. He then looked in at the +prisoners, among whom was Mr. Thomas Gallaher, to whom he spoke. The +invaders had ceased some time before from making prisoners, as they +thought they now had as many as they could well manage. This accounts +for the writer's escape from arrest when he first exposed himself to +capture. The leader of the party approached the writer on his speaking +to Gallaher, and ordered him off the street, telling him, that it was +against military law to talk with prisoners. Not conceiving that this +stranger had a right to order him off so unceremoniously and not being +at the best of times of a very patient temper, the historian refused to +comply, when a pistol was presented at his breast by the captain, which +obliged him to duck a little and take shelter behind a brick pillar in +the wall that enclosed the armory grounds. The commander then called out +to the same men whom the writer had encountered at the arsenal gate, on +the opposite side of the street, and who were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> not thirty yards off when +the encounter with the chief took place. He ordered them to shoot or to +arrest the historian and they at once prepared to obey the order. Not +relishing either alternative of death or imprisonment, the writer dodged +up the alleyway that ran along the sidewall of the armory yard, and, in +order to disconcert their aim, he took a zigzag course which probably +would not have been enough to save him from four bullets shot after him +in a narrow alley by experienced marksmen, had not aid come from an +unexpected source. And, now, for the romance. A colored woman, who was +crouching in a doorway in the alley, rushed out between him and the +guns, and, extending her arms, begged of the men not to shoot. They did +not shoot and the present generation has not lost and posterity will not +be deprived of this history, a calamity which, without the intervention +of a miracle, their shooting would have entailed. Ever since, the writer +has claimed great credit to himself for presence of mind in thinking of +the "zigzag," under these trying circumstances, but his friends +maliciously insinuate that absence of body did more to save him than +presence of mind. He takes consolation, however, by comparing himself to +the great John Smith, the first white explorer of Virginia, who was once +in an equally bad fix and was saved by the timely intervention of +another dusky maiden. The heroine who, in the present case, conferred so +great a blessing on posterity, was Hannah, a slave belonging to Mrs. +Margaret Carroll, of Harper's Ferry, and her name will be embalmed in +history, like that of <a name="corr_017" id="corr_017"></a><ins title="Original: Pocohontas">Pocahontas</ins>, and it will be more +gratefully remembered <a name="corr_100" id="corr_100"></a><ins title="Original: that">than</ins> that of the Indian maiden, by future readers +of this veracious story, who will consider themselves—partly at +least—indebted to her for an unparalleled intellectual treat.</p> + +<p>It was now breakfast time and "the captain" sent an order to Fouke's +hotel for refreshments for his men. The state of his exchequer is not +known, but he did not pay for the meals in any usual species of +currency. He released Walter, familiarly called "Watty" Kemp, the +bartender at Fouke's and he announced this as the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> equivalent he was +willing to pay. It is to be feared that the landlord did not duly +appreciate the advantages he gained by this profitable bargain, and it +may be that "Uncle Watty" himself did not feel much flattered at the +estimate put on him in the terms of the ransom and his being valued at +the price of twenty breakfasts. Be this as it may, the bargain was +struck and the meals furnished. The leader of the raiders invited his +prisoners to partake of the provisions as far as they would go 'round, +but only a few accepted the hospitable offer for fear of the food's +being drugged.</p> + +<p>Up to this time no person in the town, except the prisoners, could tell +who the strange party were. To the captives, as was ascertained +afterwards, the strangers confessed their purpose of liberating the +slaves of Virginia, and freedom was offered to any one in durance who +would furnish a negro man as a recruit for the "army of the Lord." +However, as there was little or no communication allowed between the +prisoners and their friends outside, the people, generally, were yet +ignorant of the names and purposes of the invaders and, as may be +believed, Madam Rumor had plenty of employment for her hundred tongues. +Soon, however, they were recognized by some one as the explorers for +minerals and then suspicion at once rested on a young man named John E. +Cook, who had sojourned at Harper's Ferry for some years, in the various +capacities of schoolmaster, book agent and lock-keeper on the Chesapeake +and Ohio canal and who had married into a reputable family at the place. +He had been seen associating with the Smith party and, as he had been +often heard to boast of his exploits in "the Kansas war," on the Free +Soil side, it was instinctively guessed that he and the Smiths were +connected in some project for freeing the slaves and this opinion was +confirmed by the fact of there being negroes in the party. Shortly +after, a new light broke on the people and it was ascertained, in some +way, that "the captain" was no other than the redoubtable John Brown, of +Kansas fame, who had earned the title of "Ossawattomie Brown" from his +exploits in the portion<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> of Kansas along the banks of Ossawattomie +river. The information came from one of the prisoners—Mr. Mills—who +was allowed to communicate with his family.</p> + +<p>At the regular hour for commencing work in the morning, Mr. Daniel J. +Young, master machinist at the rifle factory, approached the gate to +these shops, expecting to find Mr. Samuel Williams at his post, as +watchman, and little anticipating to find the place in possession of an +enemy. He was met at the gate by a fierce-looking man, fully armed, who +refused him admittance, claiming that he and his companions—four or +five of whom appeared at the watch house door, on hearing the +conversation—had got possession by authority from the Great Jehovah. +Mr. Young, being naturally astonished at hearing this, asked what the +object of the strangers was and learned that they had come to give +freedom to the slaves of Virginia; that the friends of liberty had tried +all constitutional and peaceable means to accomplish this end and had +failed signally, but that, now the great evil of slavery must be +eradicated at any risk and that there were resources enough ready for +the accomplishment of this purpose. Mr. Young said in reply: "If you +derive your authority from the Almighty I must yield as I get my right +to enter only from an earthly power—the government of the United +States. I warn you, however, that, before this day's sun shall have set, +you and your companions will be corpses." Mr. Young then went back to +stop the mechanics and laborers who were on their way to go to work and +warn them of their danger. It appeared to be no part of the policy of +the strangers to keep prisoners at the rifle works, as no attempt was +made to arrest Mr. Young. This gentleman, it may be remarked, became +conspicuous afterwards for his adhesion to the cause of the Union. +During the war, he was in charge of the ordnance at Harper's Ferry, with +the rank of captain. Soon after the close of hostilities he received a +commission in the regular army with the same rank, and, after having +served the government for a long time, at various points, he was retired +some years ago, and took up his residence at Troy, New York, where he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> +died in 1893.</p> + +<p>About 9 o'clock, a.m., the people had recovered from their amazement and +sought for arms wherever they thought they could find any. It was no +easy matter to find effective weapons, as the arsenal and nearly all the +storehouses were in possession of the enemy. It was remembered, however +that, some time before, a lot of guns had been removed from the place +where they were usually stored, in order to protect them from the river +which, at the time, had overflowed its banks and encroached on the +armory grounds and buildings. The arms were put away in a building +situated far above high water mark and the strangers knew not of their +existence. Enough was procured from this lot to equip a few small +companies of citizens and a desultory skirmish commenced around the +armory buildings and the adjacent streets which continued all day. A +company under Captain Henry Medler crossed the Shenandoah on the bridge +and took post on the Loudoun side of the river, opposite the rifle +works. Another company under Captain Hezekiah Roderick, took position on +the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, northwest of the armory, and a third +body, under Captain William H. Moore, crossed the Potomac about a mile +above Harper's Ferry and marched down on the Maryland side to take +possession of the railroad bridge. Thus Brown's party were hemmed in and +all the citizens who were not enrolled in any of these companies engaged +the invaders wherever they could meet them. The rifle factory was +attacked and the strangers there posted were soon driven into the +Shenandoah where they were met by the fire of Captain Medler's men who +had crossed the river on the bridge, and, between the two fires, they +all perished, except one—a negro named Copeland, who was taken +prisoner. It is said that one of the citizens named James Holt, waded +into the river after one of the enemy who had reached a rock in the +stream, knocked him down with his fist and disarmed him. Whether it was +Copeland or one of those who were afterwards killed that was thus +knocked down the writer is not informed, but that Holt<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> performed this +feat is undoubted.</p> + +<p>At the armory proper, however, where Brown commanded in person, a more +determined resistance was made. Brown had told several of his prisoners +in the course of the morning that he expected large re-inforcements and +when, about noon, the company of citizens under Captain Moore, that had +crossed into Maryland, was seen marching down the river road great +excitement prevailed, it being supposed by the prisoners and such of the +other citizens as were not aware of Captain Moore's movements and, +perhaps, by Brown's party, that these were, sure enough, allies of the +invaders. Soon, however, it was ascertained who they were and Brown now +seeing that the fortune of the day was against him sent two of his +prisoners, Archibald M. Kitzmiller and Rezin Cross, under guard of two +of his men, to negotiate in his name with Captain Moore for permission +to vacate the place with his surviving men without molestation. The two +ambassadors proceeded with their guards towards the bridge, but when +they came near the "Gault House" several shots were fired from that +building by which both of the guards were wounded severely and put hors +de combat. One of them contrived to make his way back to the armory, but +the other was unable to move without assistance and Messrs. Kitzmiller +and Cross helped him into Fouke's hotel, where his wounds were dressed. +It will be believed that neither of the envoys was foolish enough, like +Regulus of old, to return to captivity. Brown, finding that his doves +did not come back with the olive branch and now despairing of success, +called in from the streets the survivors of his party and, picking out +nine of the most prominent of his prisoners as hostages, he retreated +into a small brick building near the armory gate, called "the engine +house," taking with him the nine citizens. This little building was +afterwards famous under the name of "John Brown's Fort," and, from the +time of the invasion until the spring of 1892, it was an object of great +curiosity to strangers visiting the place. It was sold at the time last +mentioned to a company of speculators for exhibition at the World's Fair +in Chicago,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> and with it much of the glory of Harper's Ferry departed +forever. About the year 1895, it was repurchased and reshipped to +Harper's Ferry by the late Miss Kate Fields, and it is now to be seen +about two miles from its original site on the farm of Mr. Alexander +Murphy. Of course, the bricks are not relaid in their original order and +the death of Miss Fields makes its restoration to anything like its old +self very improbable. About the time when Brown immured himself, a +company of Berkeley county militia arrived from Martinsburg who, with +some citizens of Harper's Ferry and the surrounding country made a rush +on the armory and released the great mass of the prisoners outside of +the engine house, not, however, without suffering some loss from a +galling fire kept up by the enemy from "the fort." Brown's men had +pierced the walls for musketry and through the holes kept up a brisk +<a name="corr_018" id="corr_018"></a><ins title="Original: fusilade">fusillade</ins> by which they wounded many of the Martinsburg and +Harper's Ferry people and some Charlestown men who, too, had come to +take part in the fray. The sufferers were Messrs. Murphy, Richardson, +Hammond, Dorsey, Hooper and Wollett, of Martinsburg; Mr. Young, of +<a name="corr_019" id="corr_019"></a><ins title="Original: Charestown">Charlestown</ins>, and Mr. Edward McCabe, of Harper's Ferry. Mr. +Dorsey was wounded very dangerously and several of the others were +injured severely. All got well again, however, except one, whose hand +was disabled permanently.</p> + +<p>Before Brown's retreat to the fort, two of his men approached the corner +of High and Shenandoah streets, where Mr. <a name="corr_101" id="corr_101"></a><ins title="Original: Boerley">Boerly</ins> had been shot in the +morning. It was then about 2 o'clock p.m. and Mr. George Turner a very +respected gentleman of Jefferson county who had come to town on private +business was standing at the door of Captain Moore's house on High +street about seventy-five yards from the corner above mentioned. He had +armed himself with a musket and was in the act of resting it on a board +fence near the door to take aim at one of those men when a bullet from a +Sharp's rifle struck him in the shoulder—the only part of him that was +exposed. The ball after taking an eccentric course entered his neck and +killed him almost instantly.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> A physician who examined his body +described the wound as having been of the strangest kind the bullet +having taken a course entirely at variance with the laws supposed to +prevail with such projectiles. It was thought by many that the shot was +not aimed at Mr. Turner and that the man who fired it was not aware of +that gentleman's being near. There were two citizens named McClenan and +Stedman in the middle of the street opposite to Captain Moore's house. +They had guns in their hands and at one of <b>them</b> it is supposed was aimed +the shot that proved fatal to Mr. Turner.</p> + +<p>After this shooting the two strangers immediately retreated and a +ludicrous occurrence took place if indeed, any event of that ill-omened +day can be supposed to be calculated to excite merriment. Mr. John +McClenan—above mentioned—shot after them and his bullet striking the +cartridge box of one of them, as he was approaching the armory gate, an +explosion of his ammunition took place and he entered the gate amid a +display of fireworks of a novel description. Apparently, he did not +relish the honors paid him and, with accelerated pace, he took refuge +with his company in the engine house.</p> + +<p>The strangers continued to fire from their fortress and they now killed +another very valuable citizen—Fountain Beckham, for many years agent of +the Baltimore and Ohio railroad company at Harper's Ferry, and long a +magistrate of Jefferson county. Being a man of nervous temperament he +was naturally much excited by the occurrences of the day. Moreover, +Heywood Shepherd, the negro shot on the railroad bridge on the previous +night, had been his faithful servant and he was much grieved and very +indignant at his death. Against the remonstrances of several friends he +determined to take a close look at the enemy. He crept along the +<a name="corr_020" id="corr_020"></a><ins title="Original: ralroad">railroad</ins>, under shelter of a watering station, which then +stood there and peeped 'round the corner of the building at the engine +house opposite, when a bullet from one of Brown's men penetrated his +heart and he died instantly. A man named Thompson, said to be Brown's +son-in-law,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> had been taken prisoner a short time before by the citizens +and confined in Fouke's hotel under a guard. At first it was the +intention of the people to hand him over to the regular authorities for +trial, but the killing of Mr. Beckham so exasperated them that the +current of their feelings was changed. They rushed into the hotel, +seized Thompson and were dragging him out of the house to put him to +death, when Miss Christina Fouke, a sister of the proprietor, with true +feminine instinct, ran into the crowd and besought the infuriated +multitude to spare the prisoner's life. This noble act has elicited the +warmest commendations from every party and it may be considered the one +redeeming incident in the gloomy history of that unfortunate day. Miss +Fouke's entreaties were unheeded, however, and Thompson was hurried to +the railroad bridge, where he was riddled with bullets. He tried to +escape by letting himself drop through the bridge into the river. He had +been left for dead, but he had vitality enough remaining to accomplish +this feat. He was discovered and another shower of bullets was +discharged at him. He was either killed by the shots or drowned and, for +a day or two, his body could be seen lying at the bottom of the river, +with his ghastly face still showing what a fearful death agony he had +experienced.</p> + +<p>Another of the invaders, named Lehman, attempted to escape from the +upper end of the armory grounds by swimming or wading the Potomac. He +had been seen shortly before conducting one of the armory watchmen, +named Edward Murphy, towards the engine house. He kept his prisoner +between himself and an armed party of citizens who were stationed on a +hill near the government works. More than a dozen guns were raised to +shoot him by the excited crowd and, no doubt, he and Murphy would have +been killed had not Mr. Zedoc Butt, an old citizen, induced the party +not to fire, in consideration of the danger to the innocent watchman. +Immediately afterwards, Lehman disappeared for a while, but soon he was +seen endeavoring to escape as above mentioned. A volley was fired after +him and he must have been wounded, as he lay down and threw up both<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> his +arms, as if surrendering. A temporary resident of Harper's Ferry waded +through the river to a rock on which Lehman lay, apparently disabled, +and deliberately shot him through the head, killing him instantly. <b>His</b> +body, too, lay for a considerable time where he fell, and it could be +seen plainly from the high ground west of the armory. The slayer now +asserts that Lehman first drew his pistol to shoot at him.</p> + +<p>A little before night Brown asked if any of his captives would volunteer +to go out among the citizens and induce them to cease firing on the +fort, as they were endangering the lives of their friends—the +prisoners. He promised on his part that, if there was no more firing on +his men, there should be none by them on the <a name="corr_021" id="corr_021"></a><ins title="Original: beseigers">besiegers</ins>. Mr. +Israel Russel undertook the dangerous duty—the risk arose from the +excited state of the people who would be likely to fire on anything seen +stirring around the prison house—and the citizens were persuaded to +stop firing in consideration of the danger incurred of injuring the +prisoners. Like Messrs. Kitzmiller and Cross, Mr. Russel, it will be +readily supposed, did not return to captivity. It is certain that the +people of the place would have disposed of Brown and his party in a very +short time, had they not been prevented all along from pushing the siege +vigorously, by a regard for the lives of their fellow townsmen, who were +prisoners. As it was, they had killed, wounded or dispersed more than +three-fourths of the raiders and, consequently, the sneers that were +afterwards thrown out against their bravery, were entirely uncalled for +and were by parties who, in the subsequent war, did not exhibit much of +the reckless courage which they expected from peaceful citizens, taken +by surprise and totally at a loss for information as to the numbers and +resources of their enemies.</p> + +<p>It was now dark and the wildest excitement existed in the town, +especially among the friends of the killed, wounded and prisoners of the +citizens' party. It had rained some little all day and the atmosphere +was raw and cold. Now, a cloudy and moonless sky hung like a pall over +the scene of war and, on the whole, a more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> dismal night cannot be +imagined. Guards were stationed 'round the engine house to prevent +Brown's escape and, as forces were constantly arriving from Winchester, +Frederick City, Baltimore and other places to help the Harper's Ferry +people, the town soon assumed quite a military appearance. The United +States' authorities in Washington had been notified in the meantime, +and, in the course of the night, Colonel Robert E. Lee, afterwards the +famous General Lee of the Southern Confederacy, arrived with a force of +United States' marines, to protect the interests of the government, and +kill or capture the invaders. About 11 o'clock at night Brown again +endeavored to open negotiations for a safe conduct for himself and his +men out of the place. Colonel Shriver and Captain Sinn, of the Frederick +troops, had a conference with him which, however, did not result in +anything satisfactory. About 7 o'clock on Tuesday morning—October +18th—Colonel Lee sent, under a flag of truce, Lieutenant J. E. B. +Stuart, of the 1st Cavalry regiment—afterwards so famous for his +exploits in the service of the confederacy—who had accompanied Colonel +Lee from Washington, to summon the garrison to surrender. Knowing the +character of Brown, Colonel Lee did not hope for any success in trying +to induce him to lay down his arms, and he sent Lieutenant Stuart merely +through solicitude for the prisoners and a desire to use every expedient +in his power before ordering an assault and subjecting them to the +danger of being injured by mistake in the melee. As anticipated, Brown +stubbornly refused to surrender and, therefore, about 8 o'clock, an +attack was made by the marines under Lieutenant Greene. At first, they +tried to break open the door with sledge hammers, but failing in this +they picked up a large ladder that lay near and with that used as a +battering ram they succeeded in making a breach. Through a narrow +opening thus made, Lieutenant Greene squeezed himself, but he found that +the insurgents had barricaded the door with a fire engine and hose that +were in the building. Over these obstructions Lieutenant Green +scrambled, followed by his men and attacked Brown who,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> with his party, +was fortified behind the engine. It is said that one of Brown's men +offered to surrender and that Brown announced the man's willingness to +do so, but, for some reason, the offer was not accepted. While the +marines were effecting a breach and when they commenced to rush in, the +enemy fired on them and one of the soldiers—Luke Quinn—was mortally +wounded and another, named Rupert, had his upper lip badly lacerated. +The former was shot through the body and, if the latter is still alive, +he certainly has an ugly scar to remind him and the others of John +Brown's raid. The insurgents were all bayoneted or captured, but +fortunately none of the citizen prisoners received any injury. Their +escape, indeed, was almost miraculous, as it was difficult for the +marines to distinguish them from the enemy. Brown himself was wounded +<a name="corr_022" id="corr_022"></a><ins title="Original: severly">severely</ins> by Lieutenant Greene and he was taken to another +building where his injuries were examined by a physician and his wounds +dressed. He received a cut on the head and a sword thrust in the +shoulder. Two or three survivors of his men were kept in the engine +house, under a guard of marines. The bodies of the slain raiders were +collected soon after from the streets and rivers and, with one +exception, buried in a deep pit on the southern bank of the Shenandoah, +about half a mile above Harper's Ferry, and the prisoners—Brown +included—were lodged in Charlestown jail. One body was taken away by +some physicians for dissection, and, no doubt, the skeleton is now in +some doctor's closet. After having lain just forty years in this rude +grave by the Shenandoah, the bodies of the slain raiders were +disinterred about three years ago (1899) and taken to North Elba, New +York, where they now rest close to the grave of their famous leader. +This removal and <a name="corr_023" id="corr_023"></a><ins title="Original: reinterrment were accomplish-">reinterment were +accomplished</ins> through the efforts and under the auspices +of Professor Featherstonhaugh, of Washington, D. C., who has ever taken +a deep interest in everything appertaining to John Brown and famous +raid. Can fiction imagine anything more weird than the reality of the +sad fate of those men?</p> + +<p>Some of Brown's men had escaped, however, from the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> place, in the course +of the skirmish, and Cook had not been noticed at all in the fray or in +the town since an early hour on Monday morning, when he was seen to +cross the Potomac on the bridge into Maryland with a few others, taking +with him two horses and a wagon captured at Colonel Washington's place +on the previous night, and two or three slaves belonging to that +gentleman. There was satisfactory evidence, however, of his being fully +implicated in the outrage and it was ascertained that he, Owen +Brown—one of old John's sons—and others had been detailed to operate +on the Maryland shore and that they had seized a schoolhouse, taken the +Domine—McCurrie—prisoner and driven away the pupils, for the purpose +of establishing at the place a depot for arms convenient to Harper's +Ferry. It was learned, also, that all the day of the 17th, they had kept +up a musketry fire from the Maryland mountain on the people of the town, +and that late in the evening Cook had got supper at the canal lockhouse, +on the Maryland side of the river. Moreover, it was supposed that, +finding the fate of war against them, they had fled towards +Pennsylvania. A large body of men, under Captain Edmund H. Chambers, an +old citizen and a man of well known courage, marched towards the +Schoolhouse and the Kennedy farm and, at each place they found a large +number of Sharp's rifles, pistols, swords, &c., with a corresponding +quantity of powder, percussion caps and equipments of various kinds. A +swivel cannon carrying a one pound ball was discovered, also, in a +position to command the town, although it is not known that it was used +during the skirmish. A large number of pikes of a peculiar form, and +intended for the hands of the negroes, was also found. The blacks were +expected to turn out at the first signal, and this weapon was considered +to be better suited to them than firearms, especially at the +commencement of the campaign. It should have been mentioned before that +Brown had put into the hands of his negro prisoners some of these pikes, +but, up to the time of the discovery of the magazine at the Kennedy +farm, the object of this novel<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> weapon was not fully understood. Captain +Chambers' party found, also, a great number of papers which tended to +throw light on the conspiracy and several hundred copies of a form of +provisional government to be set up by Brown as soon as he had got a +footing in the south.</p> + +<p>The Governor of Virginia, Henry A. Wise, had arrived in the meantime. He +immediately took every precaution to secure the prisoners and guard the +state against any attempt from the many allies Brown was thought to have +in the north. Governor Wise indulged in many uncalled for strictures on +the people of Harper's Ferry, for their supposed inefficiency as +soldiers on this occasion, boasting that he could have taken Brown with +a penknife. This he might have done if the handle was long enough to +allow him to keep beyond rifle range while he was punching the old man +through the key hole, but with an ordinary penknife or even with a +<a name="corr_024" id="corr_024"></a><ins title="Original: minnie">minie</ins> musket and bayonet, it is doubtful if the governor could +have done more than was performed by many a mechanic of Harper's Ferry +in the skirmish of Monday. In the subsequent war Governor Wise held +quite an important command and history does not record of him any of the +wonderful feats of skill or courage that might be expected from a man so +confident of his own prowess as the governor was when sneering at a +brave people taken by surprise and unarmed, when an unexpected attack +was made on them. To Governor Wise Brown confessed the whole plan for +liberating the slaves and, indeed, he had, all along, +<a name="corr_025" id="corr_025"></a><ins title="Original: communcated">communicated</ins> to his prisoners his intentions, but, as +before noted, he kept his captives isolated as much as possible and, in +consequence, the people generally had but a vague suspicion of his +purpose. It is true that the party at the rifle factory had informed Mr. +Young of their objective, but so many wild rumors had been started +before his interview with them, and there was so much general confusion +that "neither head nor tail" could be found for the strange occurrences +of the day. The governor who, although he exhibited a great deal of +petulance on this occasion, was certainly a gallant man himself, could +not refrain from expressing ad<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>miration for Brown's undaunted courage, +and it is said that he pronounced the old man honest, truthful and +brave.</p> + +<p>The interview between these two men of somewhat similar character, +though of diametrically opposite views on politics, is said to have been +very impressive. It lasted two hours and those who were present reported +that Brown exhibited a high order of uncultivated intellect in his +conversation with the highly educated and polished governor of Virginia. +It is said, also, that in the course of this interview, Brown foretold +the utter destruction of Harper's Ferry to take place in a very short +time—a prophecy which, if uttered at all, has met with a terrible and +literal fulfillment. Brown, Wise and the group surrounding them while +this conversation was in progress, would furnish a fine theme for a +picture. The stern, old Puritan with his bleeding wounds and disordered +dress, his long, gray beard and wild gleaming eyes, like some prophet of +old, threatening the wrath of Heaven on a sinful generation, and the +stately governor of Virginia reminding one of some cavalier of Naseby or +Worcester—each firm and true as the blade he carried and each a type of +the noble though fanatical race from which he sprang, would make an +impressive picture and, perhaps, the scene will exercise, some day, the +genius of a future painter.</p> + +<p>On Wednesday night, October 19th, while the fever of excitement was yet +at its height, a gentleman residing in Pleasant Valley, Maryland, about +three miles from Harper's Ferry, heard a rumor that the "abolitionists" +and the slaves were butchering the people around Rohrsville, a few miles +farther up the same valley, and very properly gave notice of what he had +heard, riding furiously through Sandy Hook, towards the centre of the +trouble, the government armory. The people of Sandy Hook, men, women and +children rushed <a name="corr_026" id="corr_026"></a><ins title="Original: wildy">wildly</ins> towards the same point for protection at +the hands of the troops there assembled, while the people of Harper's +Ferry were equally wild with this new excitement. The marines who were +yet at the place turned out and marched to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> point designated, where +their appearance caused another and more reasonable alarm among the +people there, who had not been disturbed by Brownites, white or black +and who, for a long time, could not be convinced that the soldiers had +come to protect and not molest them. Sandy <a name="corr_027" id="corr_027"></a><ins title="Original: Hok">Hook</ins> was totally +deserted by its people on this occasion, and many of them hurried away +whatever of their portable property they deemed most valuable. It is +said that one man shouldered a half-grown hog of a favorite breed and +made tracks to Harper's Ferry, and, as he and his neighbors scoured +along the road, the squeals of the indignant pig blended harmoniously +with the multifarious noises of the flying column. The marines, finding +no enemy, returned to Harper's Ferry, but, for many weeks afterwards, +similar alarms were started by nervous or mischievous people with nearly +the same results.</p> + +<p>Harper's Ferry was now patrolled every night by details of citizens +until the execution of Brown, which took place near Charlestown, +December 2d, 1859. Many a midnight tramp did the author take along the +muddy streets that winter with an old Hall's rifle on his shoulder when +his turn came to watch out for prowling abolitionists. The companion of +his watch was a worthy Milesian gentleman named Dan. O'Keefe, from "the +beautiful city called Cork." They made it a point to watch Dan's house +particularly, through a very natural praiseworthy anxiety on the part of +that gentleman for the safety of his better half and several pledges of +love presented from time to time by that excellent lady to her lord and +master, as well as for the sake of a corpulent flask which the +hospitable Hibernian never failed to produce from a cupboard, near the +door, when in their rounds, they came to his house. As the night and the +contents of the flask waned, the courage of the brothers-in-arms arose +and it is fortunate, perhaps, for the fame of Horatius Cocles, Leonidas +and other celebrated defenders of bridges or passes that no +abolitionists attempted to cross to "the sacred soil of Virginia" while +those worthies were on guard and full of patriotic enthusiasm and +whiskey punch. No doubt, their exploits would have eclipsed those of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> +the above mentioned Roman and Greek and of anybody else who has gained +celebrity by blocking the passage of an enemy. Several companies of +armorers were organized for the defense of the place and, once a week +did they display all "the pride, pomp and circumstance of glorious war" +marching and countermarching along the streets, to the delight of the +ladies, the children and, no doubt, of themselves, as well as to the +terror of any book peddler from the north who might be in the +neighborhood and who might reasonably be suspected of being opposed to +slavery. A force of United States troops under Captain Seth Barton, +afterwards prominent in the service of the confederacy, was stationed at +Harper's Ferry and, gradually, quiet was restored. A Milesian warrior, +named Sergeant McGrath of the above troop was detailed to instruct the +awkward squad of citizens in the manual of arms and his deep Munster +Doric could be heard on parade evenings thundering his commands to +refractory recruits.</p> + +<p>Cook and another of Brown's party, named Albert Hazlett, were arrested +in Pennsylvania and brought back to Virginia on requisitions. This +circumstance furnished a lesson to the fanatics who unhappily abounded +on both sides of Mason and Dixon's line. To the southern men it ought to +have proved that the people of the north did not sympathize to any great +extent with the invaders of Virginia and to the northern people who +expressed themselves as being shocked at the want of clemency exhibited +by the state of Virginia on this occasion, it showed that among +themselves were men who were ready to deliver over Brown's party to the +tender mercies of the slave holders for the sake of a few hundred +dollars offered as a reward for this service.</p> + +<p>Cook and another white man, named Edwin Coppic, with two negroes, named +Green and Copeland, were executed on the 16th of December, in the same +year and Hazlett and Aaron D. Stevens—both white—met the same fate on +the 16th of March, 1860.</p> + +<p>Brown's trial was, of course, a mere matter of form. He took no pains to +extenuate his guilt and openly avowed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> that he desired no favors from +the state of Virginia. Two young lawyers of Boston, named Hoyt and +Sennott, volunteered to defend him and they acquitted themselves +creditably. The Honorable Samuel Chilton, of Washington City, was +employed for the defense by John A. Andrew, of Massachusetts, afterwards +governor of that state, but, of course nothing could save the prisoner +and he was executed as before stated.</p> + +<p>Brown died with unshaken fortitude and, bitter as the animosity against +him was, his courage or rather his stoic indifference elicited the +admiration of even his unrelenting enemies. Indeed it is difficult at +the present time to do justice to the character of this remarkable man, +but, no doubt, the future historian of this country who will write when +the passions that excite us have subsided or, perhaps, are forgotten +will class him with the Scotch Covenanters of the 17th century. It +appears to the writer that in many respects John Brown very closely +resembled John Balfour, of Burly, whose character is so finely portrayed +in Scott's "Old Mortality." The same strong will and iron nerve and the +same fanaticism characterized these two men and it must be said of both, +for Burly's character is taken from life—that, while no sane person can +wholly approve of their actions, their most implacable opponents cannot +deny a tribute of respect to their unflinching courage. The other +prisoners, also, died bravely and, indeed, it was a melancholy thing to +see men of so much strength of character lose their lives in such a +foolish undertaking—foolish, as far as the limited facilities of man +can reach—but wise, perhaps, could men understand the workings of Him +"whose thoughts are not our thoughts and whose ways are not our ways." +In judging of this invasion it is well to remember that everything which +John Brown proposed to do was successfully accomplished within five +years from the day of his execution, and who can tell how much active +providential interference there was in this apparently wild and lawless +enterprise?</p> + +<p>An attempt to escape was made by Cook and Coppic on the night before +their execution. By some means they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> succeeded in eluding the +<a name="corr_028" id="corr_028"></a><ins title="Original: viligance">vigilance</ins> of the cell watch and in climbing the outer wall +of the prison when they were challenged by a citizen guard who was +posted outside and their further progress was prevented. The name of the +sentinel who discovered them in their flight was Thomas Guard and many +jokes and puns were perpetrated for months afterwards on the +coincidence. They were taken back immediately to their cell and closely +<b>guarded</b> 'til morning.</p> + +<p>A characteristic anecdote was told by the late Mr. James Campbell, who +was sheriff of Jefferson county at the time of the Brown troubles. It +will be remembered that, on the morning of the raid, Brown got breakfast +for his men at Fouke's hotel and that, in liquidation, he restored to +liberty Walter Kemp, the bartender, whom he had taken prisoner. A short +time before Brown's execution Sheriff Campbell sold some property +belonging to Brown which was found at the Kennedy farm and was +accounting to him for it, and naming some claims presented against him +by various parties with whom Brown had had dealings. Among these claims +was one of Mr. Fouke for the refreshments mentioned. Brown was reclining +on his bed, not having yet recovered from his wounds, and, no doubt, +with his spirit darkened by the shadow of his impending fate. He +listened apathetically to the list of debts, until that of Mr. Fouke was +mentioned when he suddenly rose up and protested against this demand. +"Why, Mr. Campbell," said he, "I made a fair exchange with Mr. Fouke; I +restored to him his bartender as pay for the meals referred to, and I do +not think it honorable in him to violate the contract." Mr. Campbell +replied: "Why, Mr. Brown, I wonder at you. I thought you were opposed to +trading in human flesh, but, now, I find that even you will do it, like +other people, when it suits your convenience." A grim smile played for a +moment 'round the old Puritan's firmly compressed mouth. He lay down +again quietly and remarked "Well, there may be something in <b>that</b>, too." +He made no further opposition to the claim. A part of the property +disposed of by Sheriff Campbell was a horse<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> which Brown had bought from +a Harper's Ferry horse trader. In the transaction Brown had been badly +bitten, as the animal was nearly valueless and, on the day of the raid +the old man made particular inquiries about the tricky trader. The +latter was warned of his danger and took care not to encounter his +victim, who, with all the solemn thoughts of a great national uprising, +and the fearful risk of his undertaking, was yet smarting from the petty +deception put on him in the sale and eager to take vengeance for it.</p> + +<p>On the morning of his execution he bade an affectionate farewell to his +fellow captives with the exception of Cook whom he charged with having +deceived him, and Hazlett of whom he denied any knowledge. It is said +that he gave to each of them, with the exceptions noted, a silver +quarter of a dollar, as a memento and told them to meet their fate +courageously. His pretense not to know Hazlett was understood to be for +the benefit of the latter whose trial had not yet come off. Hazlett +stoutly denied that he knew anything of Brown or that he was connected +in any way with the raid on Harper's Ferry. It will be remembered that +he was arrested in Pennsylvania, some time after the invasion, and, of +course, his defense, if he had any, was an alibi. A very absurd story +was published about Brown's taking a colored baby from its mother's arms +at the scaffold and kissing it. No colored person of either sex would +dare to approach the scene of the execution. The slaves were frightened +and bewildered so thoroughly at the time that their sole aim was to +avoid the public eye as much as possible but the paragraph promised to +take well and the reporter was not disappointed.</p> + +<p>Brown's wife arrived at Harper's Ferry shortly before his execution and, +to her his body was delivered for burial. He was interred at North Elba, +in the State of New York, where he had resided for some years. His wife +was a rather intelligent woman and she did not appear to sympathize with +her husband's wild notions on the subject of slavery. In conversation +with a citizen of Harper's Ferry she expressed an opinion that Brown +had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> contemplated this or a similar attack for thirty years, although he +had never mentioned the subject to her. The bodies of Cook, Coppic, +Hazlett and Stevens, also, were delivered to friends, and it is said +that the last named two are buried near the residence of a benevolent +lady of the Society of Friends in New Jersey. She had always sympathized +with their cause and she provided their remains with the only thing now +needed—a decent burial.</p> + +<p>Many anecdotes of John Brown are told in the neighborhood of the Kennedy +farm where he and his party resided during the greater part of the +summer previous to the attack, and they serve to illustrate the +character of this extraordinary man. Whenever he killed an animal for +his own use and that of his men he invariably sent a portion of it to +some of his neighbors, many of whom were poor and sorely in need of such +attentions. In other respects, also, especially in his love for +children, he exhibited a kindness of heart which made him to be much +liked by all who knew him. He was very regular in his attendance at +church exercises and his piety was undoubtedly genuine, as will appear +from the following: Once, a large crowd had assembled in a log +schoolhouse to listen to an itinerant preacher. The minister made but a +very poor show and his sermon was considered, even in that +unsophisticated region, as far below mediocrity. John Brown or Isaac +Smith, as he was then called, was one of the audience and, all through +the sermon he kept his eyes riveted on the preacher and appeared to be +totally absorbed in attention, as much so, indeed, as if the pulpit was +occupied by Henry Ward Beecher or some other far famed divine. When the +sermon was concluded one of Brown's neighbors in the audience made some +jocular remark about the preacher and the discourse and asked Brown if, +ever before, he had heard such trash from a pulpit. "Sir," said the +stern old man. "When I come to hear the word of God, I do not propose to +criticize the preaching of His minister. I recognize the Master, humble +as the servant may be, and I respect His word, though coming from the +mouth of an obscure and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> illiterate man."</p> + +<p>On the other hand he sometimes savored strongly of blasphemy, whenever +religious dogmas or tenets appeared to clash in any way with his +favorite hobby. After his conviction many preachers of various +denominations offered him the consolation of religion according to their +particular rites. At their introduction to him Brown always asked these +gentlemen: "Do you approve of slavery?" As the answer at that time was +sure to be in the affirmative for not even a minister of the Gospel +dared then to hint at any sin in "the institution"—he refused to +receive their services, preferring to go before his God unshriven to +accepting the ministrations of slavery-loving preachers. One reverend +gentleman remarked to him that Saint Paul himself had sent back a +fugitive slave to his master, when Brown, with his dark eye ablaze said: +"Then Saint Paul was no better than you are." And in this spirit he +entered the great unknown, where it is to be hoped that honest +<a name="corr_029" id="corr_029"></a><ins title="Original: convections">convictions</ins> receive at least as much honor as well conned +creeds, learned by rote, and often wanting in the great essential—an +active charity.</p> + +<p>The gallows on which Brown was hung must have been a vast fabric and the +rope used must have been as long as the Equinoctial Line, or, else, both +had some miraculous powers of reproduction. Of the many thousands of +soldiers who were stationed from time to time in Jefferson county, from +the day of Brown's execution till the last regiment disappeared, more +than a year after the war, almost every other man had a portion of +either as a souvenir of his sojourn in Virginia. The writer saw pieces +of wood and fragments of rope purporting to have formed parts of +them—enough to build and rig a large man-of-war. If the soldiers +believed they had genuine relics they were as well contented as they +would be if they had the reality and it would be cruel to undeceive +them. The true history of that scaffold is as follows: It was built by a +carpenter of Charlestown, named David Cockerell, expressly for the +execution of Brown. When this purpose was accomplished the builder took +it to his home, and put it away as a curiosity. When the war broke<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> out +Cockerell joined the confederate army and acted as engineer on the staff +of Stonewall Jackson. Fearing that in his absence from home his family +might be annoyed by soldiers coming to see the relic or, if possible, to +steal it, he ordered it to be built into a porch attached to the house +and the whole structure to be painted in the same color so that no +stranger could guess at anything beyond the common in the ordinary +looking porch. Cockerell died some years after the war, and it is said +that his heirs disposed of the famous scaffold to some Washington City +speculators, who proposed to exhibit it at the World's Fair in Chicago +in 1893. The writer gives this history of the scaffold as he has +received it from trustworthy sources. For several months after the raid +a brisk trade was prosecuted by the boys of Harper's Ferry selling "John +Brown pikes" to railroad passengers who, <a name="corr_030" id="corr_030"></a><ins title="Original: everyday">every day</ins> now +stopped at the station from curiosity and, as the number of genuine +pikes was not very large, the stock must have been exhausted in a very +short time. It is said, however, that some ingenious and enterprising +blacksmiths in the neighborhood devoted much of their time and capital +to the manufacture of imitations, and it is certain that the number of +pikes sold to strangers exceeded, by a great many, the number supposed +to have been captured at Brown's headquarters.</p> + +<p>The names of the invaders, as well as could be ascertained, were as +follows: John Brown, Watson Brown, Oliver Brown, Owen Brown, Aaron D. +Stevens, Edwin Coppic, Barclay Coppic, Albert Hazlett, John E. Cook, +Stuart Taylor, William Lehman, William Thompson, John Henrie Kagi, +Charles P. Tydd, <a name="corr_031" id="corr_031"></a><ins title="Original: Oiver">Oliver</ins> Anderson, Jeremiah Anderson, 'Dolph +Thompson, Dangerfield Newby, Shields Greene alias "Emperor," John +Copeland and Lewis Leary, of whom the last four were negroes or +Mulattoes.</p> + +<p>John Brown was, at the time of the raid, fifty-nine years old. He was +about five feet and eleven inches in height, large boned and muscular, +but not fleshy, and he gave indications of having possessed in his youth +great physical strength. His hair had been a dark brown, but at this +period it was gray. His beard was very long and,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> on the day of the +raid, it hung in snowy waves to his breast and helped to give to his +<a name="corr_032" id="corr_032"></a><ins title="Original: acquiline">aquiline</ins> features a singularly wild appearance. His eyes +were of a dark hazel and burned with a peculiar light that gave promise +of a quick temper and a daring courage. His head, as it appeared to the +writer, was of a conical shape, and, on the whole, his physique well +corresponded with the traits of his character. The portrait of him in +this book is an admirable likeness. He was a native of Connecticut, but +he had resided for many years in the states of New York and Ohio where, +it is said, he was a rather extensive and successful wool-grower. He was +twice married and he had a very large family of sons and daughters, the +most of whom were married. He emigrated to Kansas at an early period in +the history of that territory and he was an acknowledged leader in the +civil broils which distracted that region for several years. Of course, +various opinions were entertained concerning him—the Free Soil men +considering him a hero, and the pro-slavery people regarding or +affecting to regard him as a demon incarnate. It is said that, in 1851, +he visited Europe with the ostensible purpose of exhibiting samples of +wool, but in reality to study the science of earth fortifications and +gain military knowledge to be made available in a servile war which he +designed to excite at a suitable opportunity. He certainly suffered a +great deal in Kansas—losing one of his sons, Frederick, and a +considerable amount of property in fighting the southern settlers, and +it is probable that a bitterness of feeling on this account mingled with +his natural hatred of slavery.</p> + +<p>There was confusion respecting the identity of his two sons—Watson and +Oliver. They were both mortally wounded on the 17th. One of them, +supposedly, a young man apparently about twenty-three years of age, of +low stature, with fair hair and blue eyes, was shot in the stomach and +died in the course of the night in the engine house, while the party had +still possession of it. It is said that he suffered terrible agony and +that he called on his companions to put him out of pain by shooting him. +His father, however, manifested no feeling on the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> occasion beyond +remarking to his boy that "he must have patience; that he was dying in a +good cause, and that he should meet his fate like a brave man." The +other was a tall man, about six feet in height, with very black hair. +He, also, as before stated, was wounded in the skirmish of the 17th, and +he died next morning, after the marines got possession of the engine +house. He was one of the two men who were wounded from "the Gault +house." When he died his father was a prisoner and badly wounded. On +learning that one of his men had died a few minutes before, he sent out +to inquire if it was his son and, on being informed that it was, he +manifested the same stoicism and made a remark similar to the one of the +previous night, when the other son was dying—that the cause was good +and that it was glorious to die for its sake. When the news reached him +he was engaged in the interview with Governor Wise. After satisfying +himself as to the identity of the man just deceased, he resumed his +conversation with the governor, as if nothing had happened which was +calculated in the least to discompose him. As before noted, there is a +doubt with the people of Harper's Ferry as to which of these two men was +Oliver and which was Watson, and, indeed, whether or not the fair-haired +youth was his son at all.</p> + +<p>Owen Brown was one of those detailed to operate in Maryland. He was not +in the skirmish, and he made his escape and was not seen again in +Virginia or Maryland. The writer has no knowledge of his appearance or age.</p> + +<p>Aaron D. Stevens +was a remarkably fine looking young man of about thirty years of age. He +was about five feet and ten inches in height, heavily built and of great +symmetry of form. His hair was black and his eyes of dark hazel had a +very penetrating glance. He was said to be a desperate character and, as +it was reported that he had suggested to Brown the murder of the +prisoners and the firing of the village, there was greater animosity +felt towards him than any of the others, except, perhaps, Captain Brown +himself and Cook. He received several wounds in the skirmish and it was +thought he could not survive them. In consequence of these injuries he +was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> one of the last put on trial and executed. He was said to be a +believer in spiritualism or spiritism which is, perhaps, the proper +term. He was the one who was so badly wounded from "the Gault house" and +who was taken to Fouke's hotel. Had he not been disabled, it is to be +feared, from what is reported of him, that a massacre of the prisoners +would have been perpetrated on his recommendation. Whatever his crimes +may have been it is certain that he was a man of undaunted courage and +iron nerve. While he lay at Fouke's hotel helpless from his wounds, a +crowd of armed and frenzied citizens gathered 'round him, and it was +with the utmost difficulty that a few of the less excited people +succeeded in saving his life for the present. One man put the muzzle of +his loaded gun to Stevens' head with the expressed determination to kill +him instantly. Stevens was then unable to move a limb, but he fixed his +terrible eyes on the would-be murderer and by the sheer force of the +mysterious influence they possessed, he compelled the man to lower the +weapon and refrain from carrying out his purpose. To this day the +magnetized man avers that he cannot account for the irresistible +fascination that bound him as with a spell.</p> + +<p>Edwin Coppic or Coppie was a young man aged about twenty-four years, +about five feet and six inches in height, compactly built and of a +florid complexion. He was a very handsome youth, and for various +reasons, great sympathy was felt for him by many. He was not wounded in +the skirmish, but he was taken prisoner by the marines in the engine +house. He had come from Iowa where resided his widowed mother, a pious +old lady of the Society of Friends. He had been for a long time in the +employ of a Mr. Thomas Gwynn, living near Tipton, Cedar county, in the +above mentioned state. Mr. Gwynn was a farmer and merchant and Coppic +assisted him as a farm laborer and "help" around his store. His employer +was much attached to him and came to Charlestown for his remains, which +he took with him to Iowa. After Coppic's conviction a petition was +forwarded to the governor of Virginia, requesting executive clemency in +his case.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> It was not successful, however, and he was executed as before +stated. In conversation with a citizen of Harper's Ferry who interviewed +him in his cell, Coppic said that, when he left his home in Iowa, he had +no intention to enter on any expedition like the one against Virginia, +but he confessed that his object was to induce slaves to leave their +masters, and to aid them to escape.</p> + +<p>Of Barclay Coppic little is known in Virginia beyond the fact that he +was Edwin's brother and that he was with Brown's party in the raid. He +was with Owen Brown and Cook on the Maryland side of the Potomac while +the skirmish was in progress and he was not captured. It is said that he +was killed some years ago in a railroad accident in Missouri.</p> + +<p>Albert Hazlett, of Pennsylvania, was a man of about five feet and eleven +inches in height, raw-boned and muscular. His hair was red and his eyes +were of a muddy brown color and of a very unpleasant expression. He was +very roughly dressed on the day of the raid, and in every sense of the +word he looked like an "ugly customer." He made his escape from Harper's +Ferry on the evening of the 17th, about the time when Brown withdrew his +force into the engine house, but he was afterward captured in +Pennsylvania and executed with Stevens. His age was about thirty-three +years.</p> + +<p>John E. Cook was a native of Connecticut and he was a young man of about +twenty-eight years—five feet and eight inches in height, though, as he +stooped a good deal, he did not appear to be so tall. He had fair hair +and bright blue eyes and he was, on the whole, quite an intelligent +looking man. As before stated, he had resided several years at Harper's +Ferry, and he had become acquainted with all the young men of the place, +by whom he was regarded as a pleasant companion. He had married a +respectable young lady of the place, who knew nothing of his former life +or of his plans against the peace of Virginia. He was highly connected +and the governor of Indiana at that time—Willard—was his +brother-in-law, being the husband of Cook's sister. At his trial Daniel +Voorhees, afterward so famous as a politician and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> criminal lawyer, made +a speech for the defense which is regarded as one of his best efforts.</p> + +<p>Little is known of Stuart Taylor. Some contend that he was a man of +medium size and very dark complexion, while others believe that he was a +redhaired young man who was bayoneted by the marines in the engine house +and dragged dead from that building at the same time that Brown was +removed. The writer is inclined to the latter opinion and he thinks that +those who favor the former confound him with a man named Anderson of +whom mention will soon be made at some length.</p> + +<p>William Lehman, <a name="corr_033" id="corr_033"></a><ins title="Original: wh">who</ins> was killed on a rock in the Potomac while +endeavoring to escape, was quite a young man, with jet black hair and a +very florid complexion. The killing of this young man was, under all +circumstances of the case, an act of great barbarity, as he had made +signs of a desire to surrender. The man who shot him was, as before +stated, but a temporary resident of Harper's Ferry and, in reality, +belonged to a neighboring county. Nothing can be gained by giving his +name and the concealing of it may save people yet unborn from unmerited +shame. In justice it must be said that he now claims that Lehman drew a +pistol to shoot him, but we did not hear of this until very lately.</p> + +<p>William Thompson, who was shot on the bridge, was a man apparently of +about thirty years of age, of medium size, but of a symmetrical and +compact form. His complexion was fair, and he gave indications of being +a man of pleasant disposition. He was well known to many in the +neighborhood of the Kennedy farm and he was very popular with all his +acquaintances there. The killing of this man was unnecessary, also, but +some palliation for it may be found in the excitement caused by Mr. +Beckham's death.</p> + +<p>John or, as he was sometimes called, Henrie Kagi, is said to have been a +remarkably fine looking man, with a profusion of black hair and a +flowing beard of the same color. He was about thirty years of age, tall +and portly, and he did not display the same ferocity that many of the +others exhibited. He was "secretary of war"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> under Brown's provisional +government and he held the rank of captain. He is supposed to have been +a native of Ohio. He was killed in the Shenandoah near the rifle +factory.</p> + +<p>Of Charles P. Tydd little is known. It is said that, before the raid, he +used to peddle books through the neighborhood of Harper's Ferry. As far +as ascertained, he did not appear in the fight, but escaped from +Maryland to parts unknown. It is said that he was a native of Maine.</p> + +<p>Respecting the identity of Oliver and Jeremiah Anderson there is a +doubt, as in the case of the young Browns. One of them was killed by the +marines, but what became of the other is unknown. The man who was killed +was about thirty years of age, of middle stature, very black hair and +swarthy complexion. He was supposed by some to be a Canadian mulatto. As +before noted, he is confounded by many with Stuart Taylor. He received +three or four bayonet stabs in the breast and stomach and, when he was +dragged out of the engine house to the flagged walk in front of that +building, he was yet alive and vomiting gore from internal hemorrhage. +While he was in this condition a farmer from some part of the +surrounding country came up and viewed him in silence, but with a look +of concentrated bitterness. Not a word did the countryman utter, as he +thought, no doubt, that no amount of cursing could do justice to his +feelings. He passed on to another part of the armory yard and did not +return for a considerable time. When he came back Anderson was yet +breathing and the farmer thus addressed him: "Well, it takes you a h— +of a long time to die." If Anderson had vitality enough left in him to +hear the words this soothing remark must have contributed greatly to +smooth his way to the unknown land of disembodied spirits. The writer +heard from very good authority that another and still greater barbarity +was practised towards this helpless man while he was in the death agony. +Some brute in human shape, it is said, squirted tobacco juice and +dropped his quid into the dying man's eye. The writer did not see the +latter <a name="corr_102" id="corr_102"></a><ins title="Original: occurence">occurrence</ins>,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> but it was related by witnesses of undoubted +veracity. After death, also, this man—Anderson—was picked out for +special attentions. Some physicians of Winchester, Virginia, fancied him +as a subject for dissection and nem. con. they got possession of his +body. In order to take him away handily they procured a barrel and tried +to pack him into it. Head foremost, they rammed him in, but they could +not bend his legs so as to get them into the barrel with the rest of the +body. In their endeavors to accomplish this feat they strained so hard +that the man's bones or sinews fairly cracked. These praiseworthy +exertions of those sons of Galen in the cause of science and humanity +elicited the warmest expressions of approval from the spectators. The +writer does not know, certainly, what final disposition they made of the +subject which the Fates provided for them, without the expense or risk +of robbing a grave.</p> + +<p>'Dolph Thompson was quite a boy and he appeared to be an unwilling +participator in the transaction. He was seen by not more than two or +three of the citizens, and it is supposed that he escaped early on the +17th. He had fair hair and a florid complexion.</p> + +<p>Dangerfield Newby was a tall and well built mulatto, aged about thirty +years. He had a rather pleasant face and address. He was shot and killed +at the Arsenal gate by somebody in Mrs. Butler's house opposite, about +11 o'clock, a.m., on Monday, and his body lay where it fell until the +afternoon of Tuesday. The bullet struck him in the lower part of the +neck and went down into his body, the person who shot him being in a +position more elevated than the place where Newby was standing. Mr. +Jacob Bajeant, of Harper's Ferry, used to claim the credit of having +fired the fatal shot, and the people generally accorded him the honor. A +near relative and namesake of George Washington disputes Bajeant's claim +and is confident that it was a shot from <b>his</b> rifle that put an end to +Newby's career. Mr. Bajeant is now dead and it is not likely that the +question will be brought up again. From the relative positions of the +parties, the size of the bullet or some other circumstance, the hole in +New<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>by's neck was very large, and the writer heard a wag remark that he +believed a smoothing iron had been shot into him. The writer has no +intention to make light, as might appear from the following, of what was +a fearful occurrence. He relates the simple truth, as many can attest. +Some fastidious critics have objected to the details of this tragedy in +former editions of this book, but Truth is mighty and ought to prevail. +That Newby's body was torn by hogs at Harper's Ferry is too well known +to require an apology for a relation of the facts, although the details +are undoubtedly disgusting. Shortly after Newby's death a hog came up, +rooted around the spot where the body lay and, at first appeared to be +unconscious that anything extraordinary was in its way. After a while, +the hog paused and looked attentively at the body, then snuffed around +it and put its snout to the dead man's face. Suddenly, the brute was +apparently seized with a panic and, with bristles erect and drooping +tail, it scampered away, as if for dear life. This display of +sensibility did not, however, deter others of the same species from +crowding around the corpse and almost literally devouring it. The writer +saw all this with his own eyes, as the saying is, and, at the risk of +further criticism, he will remark that none of the good people of +Harper's Ferry appeared to be at all squeamish about the quality or +flavor of their pork that winter. Nobody thought on the subject or, if +anybody did recall the episode, it was, no doubt, to give credit to the +hogs for their rough treatment of the invaders.</p> + +<p>On Tuesday evening, after Brown's capture, and when the people were +somewhat relieved from the terror of a more extensive and dangerous +invasion, a citizen of Harper's Ferry, who had not had a chance to +distinguish himself in the skirmish of Monday, fired a shot into what +was left of Newby's body, a feat which, it must be supposed, tended to +exalt him, at least, in his own estimation. Like Kirkpatrick at the +murder of the Red Comyn, he thought he would "make sicker" and guard +against any possibility of the dead man's reviving. The citizen referred +to was somewhat under the influence of whiskey<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> when he fired the +superfluous shot, but the writer saw another man who was apparently +sober and who was certainly a person of excellent standing in the +community, kick the dead man in the face and, on the whole, great a +crime as the invasion of the place was and natural as the animosity +towards the raiders should be considered, it must be confessed that the +treatment the lifeless bodies of those wretched men received from some +of the infuriated populace was far from creditable to the actors or to +human nature in general.</p> + +<p>Shields Greene alias "Emperor" was a negro of the blackest hue, small in +stature and very active in his movements. He seemed to be very officious +in the early part of Monday, flitting about from place to place, and he +was evidently conscious of his own great importance in the enterprise. +It is supposed that it was he that killed Mr. <a name="corr_105" id="corr_105"></a><ins title="Original: Boerley">Boerly</ins>. He is said to have +been a resident of the State of New York, but little is known with +certainty about him. He was very insulting to Brown's prisoners, +constantly presenting his rifle and threatening to shoot some of them. +He was aged about thirty years.</p> + +<p>John Copeland was a mulatto of medium size, and about twenty-five years +of age. He was a resident of Oberlin, Ohio, where he carried on the +carpenter business for some years.</p> + +<p>Lewis Leary, a mulatto, was mortally wounded at the rifle factory in +Monday's skirmish and died in a carpenter's shop on the island. He was a +young man, but his personal appearance cannot be described minutely by +any person not acquainted with him before the raid, as he was suffering +a great deal from wounds when he was captured and, of course, his looks +were not those that were natural to him. He, too, had resided in +Oberlin, and his trade was that of harness making.</p> + +<p>A negro man whom Colonel Washington had hired from a neighbor and who +had been taken prisoner with his employer on the previous night was +drowned while endeavoring to escape from his captors. He was an +unwilling participant in the transactions of the day, and no blame was +attached to him by the people.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p> + +<p>Heywood Shepherd, the first man killed by Brown's party, was a very +black negro aged about forty-four years. He was uncommonly tall, +measuring six feet and five inches, and he was a man of great physical +strength. He was a free man, but, in order to comply with a law then +existing in Virginia, he acknowledged 'Squire Beckham as his master. The +relations of master and slave, however, existed only in name between +them and "Heywood" accumulated a good deal of money and owned some +property in Winchester. He was a married man and he left a wife and +several children. It is supposed by many that the killing of this man +was the only thing that prevented a general insurrection of the negroes, +for some of the farmers of the neighborhood said that they noticed an +unusual excitement among the slaves on the Sunday before the raid. If it +is true that the negroes knew anything of the intended attack, it is +probable that they were deterred from taking a part in it by seeing one +of their own race the first person sacrificed.</p> + +<p>Thomas Boerly, the second man killed, was a native of the County of +Roscommon, in Ireland. As before noticed, he was a man of great physical +strength and he was noted for courage. He measured about six feet in +height and weighed about two hundred pounds. He was a blunt, +straight-forward man in his dealing and he was very popular on account +of his love for fun and from that unreasonable tendency of human nature +to pay respect to the purely accidental quality of personal prowess. +Many years before he encountered at fisticuffs an equally powerful man +named Joseph Graff, who, at that time, resided at Harper's Ferry. The +fight was conducted in the old border style of "rough and tumble," +including biting and gouging. Night alone terminated the encounter and +the combatants parted with their mutual respect greatly augmented and +with a great accession of glory to both. The admirers of each party +claimed a victory for their champion, but the principals themselves +wisely divided the laurels and never again jeopardized their reputation +by renewing the contest. Mr. Boerly's age was about forty-three years. +He was married and he left three<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> children. His youngest child, Thomas, +junior, still resides at Harper's Ferry and is quite a prominent +citizen. He has inherited the great bodily powers and the many genial +characteristics of his father. The State of Virginia granted a small +pension to the widow but, the war breaking out shortly afterwards, she +received no benefit from the annuity until at the restoration of peace, +her claim was brought to the notice of the state authorities. From that +time, until her death a few years ago, she was paid punctually. Mr. +Boerly kept a grocery store and was in very comfortable circumstances.</p> + +<p>Thomas Boerly, junior, was the mayor of Harper's Ferry who arrested and +brought to justice Erwin Ford, the brutal murderer of Elsie Kreglow, of +the <a name="corr_034" id="corr_034"></a><ins title="Original: Distict">District</ins> of Columbia, in 1896.</p> + +<p>George Turner, the third man killed (of the citizens) was a very fine +looking man, aged about forty years. It is said that he was educated at +West Point and that he was distinguished for great polish and refinement +of manners. He was unmarried and he left a good deal of property. He was +a native of Jefferson county, Virginia—now West Virginia.</p> + +<p>Fountain Beckham, the fourth and last of the citizen's party killed, was +like the others, a tall, powerfully built man. His age was about sixty +years. He was a native of Culpeper county, Virginia, and a brother of +Armistead Beckham, heretofore mentioned as master-armorer. As before +stated, he had been for many years a magistrate of the County of +Jefferson and the agent of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad company at +Harper's Ferry. At the time of his death he was mayor of the town. He +was a widower and two sons and a daughter survived him. Mr. Beckham was +in many respects a remarkable man. It was said that he was the best +magistrate that Jefferson county ever had, his decisions being always +given with a view rather to the justice than to the law of the cases +and, in many instances, being marked with great shrewdness and soundness +of judgment. On the other hand he was sometimes very whimsical, and some +amusing scenes used to be enacted between him and "Hay<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span>wood"—his +factotum. Frequently, the squire would give unreasonable or +contradictory orders to his servant who never hesitated on such +occasions to refuse obedience, and it was no uncommon thing to see +Haywood starting out from the railroad office with a bundle on his back +en route for Winchester, and swearing that he would not serve the squire +another day for any consideration. He never proceeded very far, however, +before he was over-taken by a message from his master conveying +proposals for peace and Haywood never failed to return. Notwithstanding +their frequent rows, a strong attachment existed between these two men +through life; and in death they were not parted. Mr. Beckham was very +respectably connected. His sister was the wife of Mr. Stubblefield, so +long superintendent of the armory, and his niece, Miss Stubblefield, was +married to Andrew Hunter, of Charlestown, one of the most eminent +lawyers of Virginia. Mr. Beckham's wife was the daughter of Colonel +Stevenson, of Harper's Ferry, and, thus, it will be seen that he was +connected with many of the most influential families of the Northern +Neck. Mr. Beckham's death was mourned as a public loss for, with many +oddities of manner, he had all the qualities that go to make a lovable +man and a good citizen.</p> + +<p>The nine citizens who were confined as hostages in the engine house were +as follows: Colonel Lewis W. Washington and John Alstadt, planters; John +E. P. Dangerfield, paymaster's clerk; Armistead M. Ball, +master-machinist; Benjamin Mills, master-armorer; John Donohoo, +assistant agent of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad at Harper's Ferry; +Terence O'Byrne, a farmer residing in Washington county, Maryland; +Israel Russell, a merchant of Harper's Ferry, and a Mr. Schoppe, of +Frederick City, Maryland, who happened to be on a business visit that +day at the scene of the trouble.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> +<img src="images/illus-087.jpg" width="600" height="421" alt="" title="" /> +<span class="caption">JEFFERSON'S ROCK</span> +</div> + +<p>Colonel Lewis W. Washington was at the time a very fine looking man of +about fifty years of age, with that unmistakable air that always +accompanies a man of true patrician birth and education. He was the soul +of hospitality and Cook used to visit him at his home for the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> +ostensible purpose of contending with him in pistol shooting, an art in +which both were famous adepts. On these occasions Colonel Washington +used to exhibit the sword and some other relics of his great namesake +and grand-uncle, and, thus it was that Cook and his companions in the +conspiracy gained so intimate a knowledge of Colonel Washington's +household arrangements and were enabled to find at once the place in +which the relics were stored and to capture the owner without +difficulty. Cook was entertained hospitably whenever he visited the +generous Virginian, and the ingratitude manifested towards Colonel +Washington was, perhaps, the worst feature of the whole transaction, and +it is not to be excused for the moral effect that the capture might be +expected to secure. The grand-nephew of the founder of our nation, it is +said, exhibited on this occasion a great deal of the dignity and +calmness which characterized his illustrious kinsman and his fellow +captives used to speak of his great coolness under the trying +circumstances of his situation.</p> + +<p>Colonel Washington, in his testimony before the select committee of the +United States Senate, appointed to inquire into the outrage, gave a +graphic description of his capture by the party. He described them as +having consisted of Stevens, Tydd, Taylor and the negro, Shields Greene. +Another, named Merriam, was supposed to be about the premises, but he +was not seen by Colonel Washington. In his recital no mention is made of +Cook's presence at the capture, but it was ascertained afterwards that +though he was not there in person, the captors had got from him all +necessary information and that they acted under his instructions. It may +be remarked that Merriam, although he is known to have been connected +with the enterprise, was not seen in the skirmish at Harper's Ferry, and +what became of him afterwards is unknown to the writer. It was +understood that he was an Englishman by birth and that, in early life, +he was a protege of Lady Byron, widow of the celebrated poet. Colonel +Washington was one of those who disagreed with the author as to the +identity of Stuart Taylor. In the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> writer's opinion Anderson and not +Taylor accompanied the party to make the seizure. The colonel had +several narrow escapes from death while in the hands of "the +Philistines." About the time when Mr. Beckham was killed, Brown was +sitting on the fire engine near the engine house door, rifle in hand, +apparently watching an opportunity to make a good shot. Colonel +Washington noticed him fingering his gun abstractedly, and like a person +touching the strings of a violin and, being somewhat struck with the +oddity of the idea, he approached Brown, for the purpose of inquiring if +he had learned to play the fiddle. It is easy to imagine the answer the +stern, old Puritan would have returned, had there been time enough to +propound the question. As Colonel Washington came near Brown, a bullet +from the outside whistled immediately over the head of the latter, +penetrated the handle of an axe that was suspended on the engine and +passed through Colonel Washington's beard, striking the wall near him +and sprinkling brick dust all over him. Brown <a name="corr_035" id="corr_035"></a><ins title="Original: cooly">coolly</ins> remarked, +"that was near," and Colonel Washington postponed his inquiry, thereby +consigning posterity to ignorance on the momentous question as to +whether John Brown played the fiddle or not. The colonel deeming it +prudent to leave that neighborhood, moved a little to one side, when he +entered into conversation with Mr. Mills, another of the prisoners. +Their faces were not four inches apart, yet through this narrow passage, +another bullet sped and the friends finding one place as safe as another +continued their conversation.</p> + +<p>Colonel Washington at that time owned a dog of very eccentric appearance +and habits and apparently of a most unamiable disposition. His name was +"Bob" and he was of the common bull species. With other peculiarities, +he was remarkable for having been born without a tail. Nature, however, +with that tendency to compensation which our common Mother exhibits in +awarding gifts to her children, gave him more than an equivalent for the +caudal deficiency by providing him with an extra allowance of brains. He +made it a point to visit several<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> times every day the laborers on the +plantation and, if there were more than one party of them, he would +inspect each in turn, and eye the negroes suspiciously, after which he +would return to his bed which was in front of the main entrance to the +house. He never made free with any person, not even with his master, who +tried frequently, but in vain, to induce his surly dependant to follow +him 'round the farm. His morose disposition and the jealous eye with +which he always regarded the negroes gave rise to superstitious dread of +the animal among the servants and a belief that in him was the soul of +some defunct plantation overseer who, with the ruling passion strong +<b>after</b> death, continued to exercise his favorite avocation. Pythagoras +himself would, no doubt, have agreed with the negroes, had he known +"Bob" and his peculiarities, and it may be supposed that the philosopher +would have pointed triumphantly to this overwhelming proof of the +Metempsychosis. On the night of Colonel Washington's capture, however, +Bob's whole nature appeared to undergo a change. He accompanied his +master to Harper's Ferry, stuck by him all day on Monday and, when +Colonel Washington was confined in the engine house as a hostage, his +faithful though hitherto undemonstrative dog followed him into close +captivity. Brown and his men tried to eject him and even his master +endeavored to induce him to go out, but in vain. When Colonel Washington +was released, he lost him in the dense crowd, but, on reaching home on +Tuesday night, he found the metamorphosed overseer waiting for him at +the gate and exhibiting signs of the most extravagant joy at his return. +After this, the dog was regarded with more favor and many of the negroes +from that time rejected the former theory of transmigration as a slander +on the faithful animal. Many years ago, at a ripe canine age, poor Bob +was gathered to his fathers, and he sleeps in an honored grave in the +plantation garden, but, as slavery has been abolished in the United +States and bids fairly to disappear from the whole earth, it might +puzzle even Pythagoras himself to find a suitable tenement for the now +unhappy shade of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> overseer. Colonel Washington died at his residence +near Harper's Ferry October 1st, 1871, much regretted by all who had the +pleasure of his acquaintance.</p> + +<p>Mr. Alstadt was a gentleman then about sixty years of age, of very +unassuming manners and amiable disposition. He, too, was examined before +the Senate committee and gave a lively picture of his adventures while a +prisoner. His son, Thomas, then a little boy, was taken prisoner with +his father or voluntarily accompanied the party to Harper's Ferry to +watch for the old gentleman's safety. Mr. Alstadt, senior, has been dead +for some years, but Thomas yet survives, now a well-matured man, and he +is probably the only one of the prisoners who were confined in the +engine house who survives, with the possible exception of Messrs. Mills +and Schoppe, of whom nothing has been heard at Harper's Ferry for the +last forty years.</p> + +<p>John E. P. Dangerfield was then a man of about forty years of age and of +a very delicate constitution. He bore up very well, however, and when he +was released by the marines his physical strength had not given way, as +his friends feared it would. At the breaking out of the war he moved to +North Carolina and there he died suddenly a few years ago while on a +hunt in the woods. It is supposed that his death was caused by too +severe exertion while he was prosecuting a favorite sport.</p> + +<p>Armistead M. Ball was at that time a man of about forty-six years of +age. He was very corpulent but, notwithstanding his great bulk, his +health was delicate. He died in June, 1861, of apoplexy. As before said, +he was a man of great mechanical ingenuity. He invented a rifling +machine which was used for several years in the armory, and was regarded +as an excellent piece of mechanism. Many people, however, believed that +Mr. Ball owed much of his reputation to ideas borrowed from a man named +John Wernwag who, at that time and for many years before and afterwards, +lived at Harper's Ferry and whose name will hereafter appear in this +history in connection with a thrilling adventure in the great flood of +1870. Mr. Wernwag was, confessedly, a great genius in me<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span>chanics, but, +as he was a man of very retiring habits and taciturn disposition, he +never made any show of his ability and, consequently, only a few were +aware of the wealth of mechanical genius that was possessed by this +unassuming man, but was lost to the world through his unfortunate +bashfulness. He and Mr. Ball used to take long and frequent rambles over +the neighboring heights, and it was supposed that in their conversation +on those excursions the latter got many hints which he improved and +practically elucidated in his mechanical devices.</p> + +<p>Benjamin Mills was a man of about fifty years of age at the time of the +Brown raid, low in stature but muscular and active. As before stated, he +soon after returned to Harrodsburg, Kentucky, from which place he had +come to Harper's Ferry. The writer knows not whether he yet survives or +not.</p> + +<p>John Donohoo was at the time quite a good looking young man of about +thirty-five years of age. He was a native of Ireland, but a resident of +this country from his childhood. For many years his home was at Harper's +Ferry, where he was highly respected for his integrity and business +qualifications. His life was one of many vicissitudes and he died in the +spring of 1892 at Hagerstown, Maryland.</p> + +<p>Terence O'Byrne was at the time of the raid about forty-eight years of +age. He was, as far as is known here, the last survivor of the hostages, +except young Alstadt. As his name indicates, he was of Irish extraction. +He was in comfortable circumstances and resided near the Kennedy farm +where, unfortunately for him, he became well known to Brown and his men. +Mr. O'Byrne was examined before the Senate committee and testified that +the party who captured him was composed of Cook, Tydd and Lehman. They +visited his house early on Monday morning and conducted him a prisoner +to Harper's Ferry. Mr. O'Byrne died about the year 1898.</p> + +<p>Israel Russell was then about fifty years of age. He was for many years +a magistrate of Jefferson county, and was very much respected. He died a +few years ago from a disease of the jaw, caused by the extraction of a +defec<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>tive tooth. It is strange that men will often escape unhurt from +the most appalling dangers to succumb to apparently trivial ailments or +casualties.</p> + +<p>Of Mr. Schoppe little is known at Harper's Ferry. As before stated, he +was a resident of Frederick City, Maryland, and his connection with the +raid was due entirely to his accidental presence at the scene of +disturbance on the memorable 17th of October.</p> + +<p>Of the Grand Jury that indicted Brown and the Petit Jury that tried and +condemned him there is but one survivor, as far as the writer knows, Mr. +Martin, now of Virginia. Judge Parker, who presided at the trial, and +the lawyers—Hunter and Harding—who prosecuted, have all "crossed the +bar" as have, probably, the strangers who defended. The +sheriff—<a name="corr_103" id="corr_103"></a><ins title="Original: Cambell">Campbell</ins>—who officiated at the execution, and all his deputies, +have passed away. Lee and Stuart are dead, and it is believed that of +all who figured prominently in this remarkable tragedy the juror above +referred to is the only survivor, with the exceptions before named and +possibly that of Lieutenant Greene of the marines; but John Brown's fame +is on the increase and time enhances it, call him what you will. It is +remarkable that the gentlemen who were Brown's prisoners displayed +little or no vindictiveness towards the man who had subjected them to so +much danger. The writer frequently noticed in conversation with them +that they invariably dwelt on his <a name="corr_036" id="corr_036"></a><ins title="Original: extraodinary">extraordinary</ins> courage +and that the animosity, which it was natural they should feel on account +of his treatment of them, was lost in their admiration for his daring, +though misguided bravery. Mr. Donohoo visited him in prison and, very +much to his credit, exhibited towards his fallen foe a generosity +characteristic of the man himself and the gallant nation <a name="corr_106" id="corr_106"></a><ins title="Original: of of">of</ins> his +birth.</p> + +<p>The story of the Brown raid should not close without notice of another +party who figured rather curiously in that memorable transaction. At +that time there lived at Harper's Ferry a half-witted fellow, named John +Malloy, who managed to gain a precarious living by getting scraps of +broken bread and meat from the kitchens of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> the people, in return for +services rendered in carrying water from the town pump and the river. He +was never known to sleep in a house—a door step answering all the +purposes of a bed, and a store box being regarded by him as a positive +luxury. When drunk—which was as often as he could get whiskey +enough—he had a particular fancy for a sleep on the railroad track and, +in consequence, he was run over several times by the trains, but it +appeared as if nothing could kill him. On one occasion the point of a +"cow catcher" entered his neck and he was pushed by the engine a +considerable distance. Even this did not terminate his charmed life, but +several ugly scars remained as <a name="corr_037" id="corr_037"></a><ins title="Original: mementoes">mementos</ins> of the adventure. +Like others, he was taken prisoner by Brown and confined in the armory +yard. About 3 o'clock in the afternoon of Monday when the alarm had +spread a long way and people had crowded in from the surrounding +country, armed with every species of weapon they could lay hands on, +John managed to escape by climbing the armory wall. When he was seen +getting over, the country people to whom he was unknown supposed that he +was one of Brown's men, and score of them blazed away at him with their +guns. A shower of bullets whistled 'round him and his clothes, never in +the best of repair, were almost shot off his body. No less than twenty +balls perforated his coat, but, strange to say, he escaped without a +scratch and <a name="corr_038" id="corr_038"></a><ins title="Original: succeded">succeeded</ins> in regaining his liberty. When, after +the raid, strangers visited the scene, John always made it a point to be +about, exhibiting the scars which he had received from the cowcatcher +and attributing them to wounds inflicted by Brown's party. Many a dollar +did John receive on the strength of those scars and, no doubt, he has +figured in many a tourist's book as a hero and a martyr to the cause of +the "Divine Institution." His escape from the bullets of his neighbors +was certainly remarkable, and it goes to prove the truth of the old +proverb: "A fool for luck, &c." Notwithstanding his many close calls and +his persistent good fortune, poor John finally succumbed to a combined +assault of smallpox and bad whiskey. He was attacked by the former +disease in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> the war—the other he was never without and in a delirium, +he wandered away and was found dead in a fence corner.</p> + +<p>The foregoing is a succinct account of the so-called "Brown Raid," an +invasion which may be considered as the commencement of our unhappy +civil war. Of course, it created intense excitement all over the land +and the feeling aroused had not subsided when the election of Mr. +Lincoln in November, 1860, renewed the quarrel on a greater scale. As +before noticed, a select committee of the United States Senate was +appointed to investigate the occurrence, and the following +<a name="corr_039" id="corr_039"></a><ins title="Original: gentlement">gentlemen</ins> testified before it: John Alstadt, A. M. Ball, +George W. Chambers, Lynd F. Currie, Andrew Hunter, A. M. Kitzmiller, Dr. +John D. Starry, John C. Unseld, Lewis W. Washington and Daniel Whelan, +all of Harper's Ferry or its neighborhood. Many gentlemen from the +northern and western states, also, who were supposed to be sympathizers +with Brown were called on to give testimony. Prominent among these were +John A. Andrews, a lawyer of Boston, afterwards governor of +Massachusetts, and Joshua R. Giddings, a leading anti-slavery man of +Ohio and for many years a member of Congress from that state. Nothing, +however, was elicited to prove that any considerable number of the +people of the Free States knew of the contemplated invasion and +unprejudiced minds were convinced that the knowledge of it was confined +mostly to John Brown and the party that accompanied him on the +expedition.</p> + +<p>Thus Harper's Ferry enjoys the distinction of having been the scene of +the first act in our fearful drama of civil war, and as will be seen +hereafter, it was the theatre of many another part of the awful +tragedy.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V. +<br /><br />DURING THE WAR.</h2> + + +<p>In the following we sometimes, indifferently use the words "rebel," +"insurgent" and "confederate," "federal," "union men," "northern men" +&c. These different epithets are used only to avoid disagreeable +<a name="corr_040" id="corr_040"></a><ins title="Original: repititions">repetitions</ins> of the same words. There is no offense +intended, and it is hoped that none will be taken. George Washington was +a rebel and he was proud to be considered one. We have noticed lately +that some people are sensitive on this subject, and hence our +explanation. Personally, we owe too little to either party to take sides +very decidedly.</p> + +<p>When, on the election of Mr. Lincoln, the Gulf states seceded and the +Legislature of Virginia called a convention of the people to consider +what course was best to be pursued under the circumstances, Mr. A. M. +Barbour, superintendent of the Harper's Ferry armory, and Mr. Logan +Osborne, both now dead, were elected to the convention to represent the +union sentiment of the county of Jefferson over Andrew Hunter and +William Lucas, eminent lawyers, both of whom, also, are now deceased, +who were nominated on the secession ticket. While in Richmond, however, +attending the convention, Mr. Barbour is said to have been drawn into +the vortex of rebellion through the powerful influences brought to bear +by the secessionists on the members of that body. Mr. Barbour's family +is one of the oldest and most aristocratic in Virginia, and many of his +relatives had seats in the convention and were ultra-southern in their +views. These, no doubt, had great influence over him, and, anyway he was +finally induced to vote for a separation of his native state from the +union. Indeed, many at Harper's Ferry who voted for him at the election, +did so with strong misgivings respecting his sincerity, but, as there +was no better choice under the circumstances, they gave him their +support. Some who enjoyed his confidence said that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> he afterwards +bitterly regretted his course, and the writer is convinced that Mr. +Barbour acted from sheer compulsion. The author of these pages was then +a young man—poor and without weight in the community, but Mr. Barbour +appeared to have some confidence in his judgment, for he sought an +interview with him and asked him his advice as to the proper course to +pursue in the convention. The author told him that he had a fine chance +to immortalize himself by holding out for the Union of the States; that +he was of a prominent southern family and that, if he proved faithful, +his loyalty under the circumstances would give him such a national +reputation as he could not hope for from the opposite course. They +parted to meet but once again, and that for only a minute. After the +fatal vote of the convention, Mr. Barbour called on business at the +place where the author was employed and said just three words to +him—"You were right." These words told the tale of compulsion or, +perhaps, of contrition. The ordinance of secession was passed by the +Virginia convention on the 17th of April, 1861, and, on the following +day Mr. Barbour made his appearance at Harper's Ferry in company with +Mr. Seddon, afterwards prominent in the confederate government. He made +a speech to his old employes advising them to co-operate with their +native state and give in their allegiance to the new order of things. He +appeared to be laboring under great excitement caused, perhaps, by his +<a name="corr_041" id="corr_041"></a><ins title="Original: conciousness">consciousness</ins> of having done wrong and unwisely. This +speech excited the anger of the unionists to a high pitch, as he had +received their suffrages on the understanding that he was for the old +government unconditionally. A partial riot took place and the appearance +soon after of a southern soldier, a young man named John Burk, on guard +over the telegraph office, aroused the loyalists to frenzy. Lieutenant +Roger Jones, with forty-two regular United States soldiers, was then +stationed at Harper's Ferry, a company of military having been kept +there by the government for the protection of the place since the Brown +raid. Hearing that a large force was marching from the south to take +possession of the armory, he made<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> some preparations to defend the post +and called on the citizens for volunteers. Many responded, prominent +among whom was a gigantic Irishman named Jeremiah Donovan, who +immediately shouldered a musket and stood guard at the armory gate. This +man was the first—at least in that region—who took up arms in defense +of the government and, as will be seen shortly, he was very near paying +a heavy penalty for his patriotism. As before mentioned, a southern +soldier was on guard at the telegraph office and he and Donovan were not +fifty yards apart at their posts. To use a homely phrase, Harper's Ferry +was "between hawk and buzzard," a condition in which it remained 'till +the war was ended four years afterwards. All day the wildest excitement +prevailed in the town. All business was suspended except in the +bar-rooms, and many fist fights came off between the adherents of the +adverse factions. Mr. William F. Wilson, an Englishman by birth, but +long a resident of the place, attempted to address the people in favor +of the Union, but he was hustled about so that his words could not be +heard distinctly. Mr. Wilson continued all through the war to be an +ardent supporter of the Federal government. Mr. George Koonce, a man of +great activity and personal courage, and Mr. Wilson, above mentioned, +who is also a man of great nerve, were very prompt in volunteering their +aid to Lieutenant Jones, and the latter put great confidence in them. +With a few young men they advanced a little before midnight to meet the +Virginia militia, about two thousand in number, who were marching +towards Harper's Ferry from Charlestown. They encountered and, it is +said, actually halted them on Smallwood's Ridge, near Bolivar. At this +moment, however, news reached them that Lieutenant Jones, acting on +orders from Washington City or under directions from Captain Kingsbury, +who had been sent from the capital the day before to take charge of the +armory, had set fire to the government buildings and, with his men, +retreated towards the north. This left the volunteers in a very awkward +position, but they succeeded in escaping in the darkness from the host +of enemies that confronted them.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> Mr. Koonce was obliged to leave the +place immediately and remain away until the town again fell into the +hands of the United <a name="corr_042" id="corr_042"></a><ins title="Original: State stroops">States troops</ins>. A loud explosion +and a thick column of fire and smoke arising in the direction of +Harper's Ferry, gave to the confederate force information of the +burning, and they proceeded at double quick to save the machinery in the +shops and the arms in the arsenal for the use of the revolutionary +government. Before they had time to reach Harper's Ferry the citizens of +that place had extinguished the fire in the shops and saved them and the +machinery. The arsenal, however, was totally consumed with about fifteen +thousand stand of arms there stored—a very serious loss to the +confederates, who had made calculations to get possession of them. +Lieutenant Jones had put powder in the latter building and hence the +explosion which had given notice to the confederates and, hence, also, +the impossibility of saving the arsenal or its contents. Just at 12 +o'clock on the night of April 18th, 1861, the southern forces marched +into Harper's Ferry. Poor Donovan was seized and it is said that a rope +was put 'round his neck by some citizens of the place who held secession +views, and who threatened to hang him instanter. A better feeling, +however, prevailed and Donovan was permitted to move north and seek +employment under the government of his choice. The forces that first +took possession of Harper's Ferry were all of Virginia and this was +lucky for Donovan, for the soldiers of that state were the most tolerant +of the confederates, which is not giving them extravagant praise. Had he +fallen into the hands of the men from the Gulf states who came on in a +few days, he would not have escaped so easily. These latter were near +lynching Dr. Joseph E. Cleggett and Mr. Solomon V. Yantis, citizens of +the town, for their union opinions. The Virginia militia were commanded +by Turner Ashby, afterwards so famous for his exploits in the Valley of +Virginia. His career was short but glorious from a mere soldier's view. +He was killed near Port Republic June 6th, 1862, by a shot fired, it is +said, by one of the Bucktail—Pennsylvania—regiment, and he and his +equally gallant brother,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> Richard, who was killed in the summer of 1861 +at Kelly's Island, near Cumberland, Maryland, now sleep in one grave at +Winchester, Virginia. It may be noted that Donovan met with no valuable +recognition of his gallantry. He worked all the rest of his days as a +helper in a blacksmith's shop at laborer's wages, while many a smooth +traitor who secretly favored the rebellion and many a weak-kneed patriot +who was too cowardly to oppose it, while there was any danger in doing +so, prospered and grew fat on government patronage. There are many +instances of this prudent patriotism not far from Harper's Ferry and +certain it is that few of the noisy politicians, so loyal now, exhibited +the courage and disinterested attachment to our government that was +shown by this obscure laborer. Harper's Ferry now ceased for a time to +be in the possession of the national government. Next day—April +19th—news arrived of the disgraceful riot in Baltimore, when the 6th +Massachusetts regiment was attacked while marching to the defense of the +national capital. Exaggerated reports of the slaughter of "Yankee" +soldiers were circulated and Maryland was truly represented as ready for +revolt. Numbers of volunteers, arrived from various parts of that state, +especially from Baltimore, and many of those who +<a name="corr_043" id="corr_043"></a><ins title="Original: patricipated">participated</ins> in the riot came to Harper's Ferry and for +a season were lionized. In a few days the troops of Mississippi, +Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky and other <a name="corr_044" id="corr_044"></a><ins title="Original: souther">southern</ins> states +arrived and were greeted with the utmost enthusiasm. The forces of +Kentucky, like those of Maryland, were volunteers in the strictest +sense. Neither of these last two states ever formally seceded and +therefore their sons were not in any way compelled to join the +confederate army. The Kentuckians who came to Harper's Ferry were among +the worst specimens of the force to which they were attached, being +composed mostly of rough, Ohio <a name="corr_045" id="corr_045"></a><ins title="Original: boastmen">boatmen</ins> and low bummers from +the purlieus of Louisville and other river towns. Martial law was at +once substituted for the civil and for the first time—if we except the +Brown raid—the peaceful citizens experienced the dangers and +inconveniences of military occupation. General Harper, a militia<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> +officer of Staunton, Virginia, was put in command, but in a few days the +confederates wisely dispensed with "feather bed" and "corn stalk" +officers and put into important commands West Pointers and men of +regular military education. In consequence of an order to this effect +many a "swell" who had strutted about for a few days in gorgeous uniform +was shorn of his finery and it was amusing to see the crest-fallen, +disappointed appearance of the deposed warriors. General Harper, like +many of inferior grade, was removed and Colonel Jackson was put in +command of the place. The latter officer was at this time quite obscure. +He was known to few outside of the walls of the Virginia military +academy at Lexington, but he afterwards gained a world-wide reputation +under the name of "Stonewall Jackson." All the government property at +the place was seized and many families who were renting houses from the +government were obliged to vacate their homes at great inconvenience and +procure shelter wherever they could. Guards were posted along the +streets at very short intervals and these, like all young soldiers, were +extremely zealous and exacting. Of course, regular business was entirely +destroyed, but new branches of industry of the humblest and, in some +cases, of the most disreputable kind sprang into existence. The baking +of pies and the smuggling of whiskey were the principal employments of +those who felt the need of some kind of work, and these trades continued +to flourish at the place all through the war to the probable detriment +to the stomachs and the certain damage to the morals of the consumers. +The whiskey business was exceedingly profitable and it was embraced by +all who were willing to run the risk attending it (for it was strictly +interdicted by the military commanders of both sides) and who regardless +of the disgraceful nature of the employment.</p> + +<p>Another trade soon sprang up—that of the spy. Malicious and officious +people—many of whom are to be found in all communities—stuffed the +ears of the hot-headed southern men with tales about sneaking +abolitionists, black republicans, unconditional union men, &c., and +private enmity had an excellent opportunity for gra<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>tification, of which +villains did not hesitate to avail themselves. Many quiet, inoffensive +citizens were dragged from their homes and confined in filthy guard +houses, a prey to vermin and objects of insult to the rabble that +guarded them. Large histories could be written on the sufferings of +individuals during this period and our proposed limits would not contain +the hundredth part of them.</p> + +<p>Sometimes a false alarm about advancing "Yankees" would set the soldiers +on the qui vive and, of course, the citizens were on such occasions +thrown into a state of the utmost terror. Sometimes, also, the officers +would start or encourage the circulation of these reports in order to +test the mettle of their men and several times were lines of battle +formed in and around the town. On one occasion a terrible hail storm +came up which, of itself, is worthy of a place in the annals of the +town. In the midst of descending cakes of ice the 2nd Virginia +regiment—raised mostly in Jefferson county—was ordered to march to +Shepherdstown to repel an imaginary invasion. They obeyed with alacrity +and returned, if not war-torn, certainly storm-pelted and +weather-beaten, as their bleeding faces and torn and soaked uniforms +amply proved.</p> + +<p>The confederates exercised control over the Baltimore and Ohio railroad +and also the Winchester and Potomac railway, the latter being entirely +within the territory of Virginia, and, whenever a passenger train +stopped at the station, the travelers were scrutinized and, if a man of +any prominence who was attached to the old government was recognized +among them, he was greeted with groans, hisses and threats of lynching. +On one occasion the Hon. Henry Hoffman, of Cumberland, who, even then, +was regarded as an ultra-Republican, was a passenger and, when the train +stopped at Harper's Ferry, the fact of his presence was made known to +the crowds of soldiers on the <a name="corr_046" id="corr_046"></a><ins title="Original: plaform">platform</ins> of the depot by a +fellow passenger who evidently entertained some private malice against +Mr. Hoffman. The informer stood on the platform of one of the cars and, +with wild gestures and foaming mouth, de<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>nounced Mr. Hoffman in the +fiercest manner and, no doubt, the life of the latter would have been +sacrificed had not some of the more cool-headed among the confederate +officers present poured oil on the troubled waters until the starting of +the train. One evening the mail train was detained and the mail bags +were taken away from the government agent by an armed posse. The letters +were sent to headquarters and many of the townspeople to whom friends in +the north and west had written freely denouncing secession, were put +under arrest and some were in imminent danger of being subjected to the +utmost rigor of military law. Mr. William McCoy, of Bolivar, an aged, +infirm man and one of irreproachable character, was handled very roughly +on this occasion. He was arrested on some charge founded on evidence +obtained from the plundered mail bags and he was kept for several days +in close confinement. The military authorities in the meantime expressed +their intention of making him a signal example of <a name="corr_047" id="corr_047"></a><ins title="Original: vengence">vengeance</ins>. +Whether they really meant to go to extremes with him or not is +uncertain; but there is no doubt that the ill usage he received from +them hastened his death. With the utmost difficulty some powerful +friends succeeded in obtaining for him a commutation of the proposed +punishment, and he was allowed very grudgingly to move with his family +to Ohio, on condition that he should never return. Hastily picking up a +few necessities, he started on the first train going west for the place +of his exile, glad enough to escape with his life, even at the sacrifice +of his valuable property in Bolivar. The confederate soldiers +immediately destroyed the neat fence around his residence and filled up +the post holes, in order, as they said, to give him as much trouble as +possible in case he was enabled at any time to return. The house itself +being necessary to them as barracks, was spared unwillingly. The poor +old man died in a short time after and, no doubt, he now enjoys all the +happiness promised to those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake. +It is true that, even in the peaceful realms to which poor "Uncle Billy" +has ascended there was once a rebellion, but there never will be +an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span>other in that happy land and, if there should be, he need not fear +any worse treatment than he received on earth from the chivalry of his +native south.</p> + +<p>Mr. Abraham H. Herr, proprietor of the Island of Virginius, was +arrested, like Mr. McCoy, on some charge founded on his intercepted +correspondence. He was taken to Richmond, but was released soon after on +parole, as is supposed. He was a native of Pennsylvania and, although he +had voted with the south to ratify the ordinance of secession passed by +the Virginia convention, he lay under suspicion of unfriendly thoughts +toward the south, and it will appear hereafter that he suffered for his +supposed attachment to the union, a heavy loss in property, besides the +deprivation of liberty above noted.</p> + +<p>Harper's Ferry was occupied for nearly two months by the confederates. +The fine machinery at the workshops was torn down and transplanted to +Fayetteville, North Carolina, where the rebels had established an +armory. While the place was held by the insurgents it presented a scene, +novel at the time, but very familiar during the remainder of the war. +One night great excitement was caused by the capture of General Harney +of the United States army, who was a passenger on board of one of the +trains en route for Washington City from Saint Louis. The general was +sent a prisoner to Richmond, but his advanced years rendering it +improbable that he could do much good or harm to either side, he was +soon released, and he was not again heard from 'till the close of the +war. While a prisoner on the road from Harper's Ferry to Charlestown, he +and his guards came up to a squad of farmers who, on their plough +horses, were learning the cavalry drill. The officer who was instructing +them sat in a buggy, either because he could not procure a decent horse +or on account of illness. The sight furnished the old veteran with +infinite amusement and, turning to his guards, he said that in all his +army experience of over half a century and, in all he studied of +warfare, he had never before seen or heard of a cavalry officer +commanding his troop from a buggy seat, and his fat sides fairly shook +with laughter at the oddity of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> the conceit. The sarcasm was felt by the +guards, and they were forced to admit that this innovation on cavalry +methods was hardly an improvement. In a short time after his appointment +General Jackson was succeeded by General Joe Johnston, who continued in +command of the post until the retreat of the confederates from the place +after an occupancy of it of two months.</p> + +<p>On the 14th of June the insurgents blew up the railroad bridge, burned +the main armory buildings and retreated up the valley, taking with them +as prisoners, Edmond H. Chambers, Hezekiah Roderick, Nathaniel O. +Allison and Adam Ruhlman, four prominent citizens of Harper's Ferry, +whom they lodged in jail at Winchester on the charge of inveterate +unionism. From the first, preparations had been made for the destruction +of the railroad bridge under the superintendence of competent engineers +and, early in the morning of the day above named, the town was alarmed +at hearing a loud explosion and seeing the debris of the destroyed +bridge flying high in the air. The noise was apparently the signal for +the march or retreat of the confederates up the valley, for instantly +their columns set out in that direction leaving, however, the most +dangerous of their forces—that is the most dangerous to civilians, to +loiter in the rear and pick up whatever was unprotected and portable. +Fortunately, however, they soon quarreled among themselves and, as +usual, when bad people fall out, the honest are the gainers. Toward +night the marauders were gathered up by a guard sent back for them and +they vacated the place, leaving one of their number murdered by his +fellows.</p> + +<p>After the retreat of the confederates a dead calm reigned for a few days +and the stillness was rendered oppressive by contrast with the former +bustle and confusion. On the 28th of June a force, composed of some +Baltimoreans and a part of the 2nd Mississippi regiment, under the +command of Colonel Faulkner of the latter, made its appearance in the +early morning hours and destroyed with fire the rifle factory and the +Shenandoah bridge, as also engine No. 165 and some cars of the +Bal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>timore and Ohio railroad company which they pushed on the ruins of +the bridge destroyed on the 14th, until they fell through into the +Potomac. Again, on the retreat of this force, did a silence deep as that +of an Arabian desert brood over the place, broken only by the stealthy +step of some petty thief engaged in picking up stray articles belonging +to the army or to the citizens who had fled in every direction, and +almost completely deserted the town as soon as the confederates had +pushed far enough up the valley to leave the roads comparatively safe. +It is to be noted that the confederates had outposts in Maryland and +that they refused permission to depart in any direction to any one of +whose loyalty to them they had any doubt. On their retreat the way to +the north was open to all whose inclinations led them in that direction +and very many availed themselves at once of the opportunity to escape +offered by the retreat of the rebels.</p> + +<p>On the 4th of July a lively skirmish took place between Captain John +Henderson's company of confederate cavalry and a part of the 9th New +York regiment of militia, which a few days before had occupied Sandy +Hook in Maryland—one mile east of Harper's Ferry—the same village in +which John Brown boarded when he first came to the neighborhood—the +federal soldiers being on the Maryland side and the confederates on the +Virginia shore of the river, the game was at "long taw" and +comparatively little damage was done. Two men were killed on the +Maryland bank and at least one wounded on the Virginia side. The name of +one of the slain New Yorkers was Banks and it was said that he was a man +of high character in his regiment and at his home, but the name of the +other is unknown to the author. The man wounded on the Virginia shore +was a shoemaker of Harper's Ferry, named Harding, who, although not in +the army, was a sympathizer with the south. On this occasion he was on a +spree and, having exposed himself recklessly, he received a dangerous +wound. He was an Irishman by birth, and had served many years in the +British East India Company's forces. The honor of having wounded him<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> +was claimed by John, better known as "Ginger" Chambers, a citizen of +Harper's Ferry, who, being strongly attached to the Union and, happening +to be at Sandy Hook at this time, picked up a gun and fell into ranks +with the New Yorkers. Poor Ginger afterwards met his weird not far from +the spot where he fought on that 4th of July. On the morning of October +14th, 1874, he was almost literally cut to pieces by an engine of the +Baltimore and Ohio railroad while on his way to take charge of a train +of which he was the conductor. Prominent among the confederates in this +skirmish was a man named James Miller, of Halltown, Jefferson county, +and it is thought that it was he who killed Banks. In a short time +after, while he was under the influence of whiskey, he, in company with +a fellow-soldier named Kerfott, shot his captain—Henderson—wounding +him <a name="corr_048" id="corr_048"></a><ins title="Original: severly">severely</ins>, and for this offense he was executed in +Winchester by order of a court martial. The skirmish, of course, +effected little beyond putting the few old people who still clung to +their homes at the place into a most uncomfortable state of alarm.</p> + +<p>In the evening when the fight was over a sad occurrence took place +whereby the community lost one of its very best citizens. When the +confederates had retired Mr. F. A. Roeder walked towards the railroad +office and, while he was sauntering about, a shot was fired from the +Maryland side of the Potomac, which inflicted a mortal wound on him, of +which he died in half an hour. It is known that the bullet was +discharged at Mr. Ambrose Cross who, also, was on the railroad at the +time. The man who thus deprived the place of a valuable citizen was an +old bummer belonging to a Pennsylvania regiment, who had straggled from +his command in Pleasant Valley and had become drunk, celebrating the +"glorious Fourth" at Sandy Hook. Hearing of the skirmish at Harper's +Ferry, he staggered towards that place and arrived after the end of the +fight, and, when the enemy had retired. Seeing Mr. Cross on the railroad +he fired off his gun at him, swearing that he would kill some d— rebel +anyway. The shot missed the object at which it was directed and, +striking the end of Fouke's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> hotel, it glanced and hit Mr. Roeder, who, +unfortunately, happened to be then coming 'round the corner of that +building. The bullet tore a ghastly hole in his groin through which his +intestines protruded. He managed to reach his home unassisted—for there +was scarcely an able-bodied man then at the place—when death soon +released him from his sufferings. Little did the slayer know and little, +perhaps, would he care if he knew—that the man he shot at—Mr. +Cross—was one of the sternest Union men in the whole land and that his +bullet proved fatal to one of the first men in the State of Virginia who +dared to express sympathy with the Republican party. Mr. Roeder was a +native of Saxony, but he had resided for many years at Harper's Ferry, +where he was very much respected and where by industry he had +accumulated a considerable property. He was very much opposed to slavery +and his death, especially under the circumstances, was very much +deplored. It is singular that the first man killed by John Brown's party +was a negro and that the first who lost his life at Harper's Ferry at +the hands of the union army was a warm friend to the government and one +who would have sacrificed, if necessary, all the property he possessed +to preserve the union of the states. Who knows what design an all-wise +Providence had in permitting these mistakes, or what good purposes the +death of these men may have subserved. Mr. Roeder appeared to have a +presentiment of his fate. On the 14th of June, when the confederates +retreated, he called the author of these pages into his house and +invited him to partake of a cup of "Schnapps," for a similarity of +tastes and sentiments on many subjects had bound them for several years +in the closest friendship. When they were seated Mr. Roeder remarked: +"Well, we have got rid of that lot and have escaped at least with our +lives, but what will the next party that comes do with us?" He appeared +to be in very low spirits and to look forward to the next party with +apprehension. His fears were prophetic for, in a few days, he met his +fate at the hands of the first body of federal troops that made its +appearance at the place after the evacuation by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> Lieutenant Jones.</p> + +<p>It was sad to see the rapid <a name="corr_049" id="corr_049"></a><ins title="Original: demorilization">demoralization</ins> of the +people at this time and the various phases of corrupt human nature +suddenly brought to light by the war. Not only were the government +buildings ransacked for plunder, but the abandoned houses of the +citizens shared the same fate. Even women and children could be +encountered at all hours of the day and night loaded with booty or +trundling wheelbarrows freighted with all imaginable kinds of portable +goods and household furniture. In many instances their shamelessness was +astounding and it appeared as if they considered that a state of war +gave unlimited privilege for plunder. Citizens who recognized their +property in the hands of those marauders and claimed it, were abused and +sometimes beaten and, sadder yet to be related, women were in many +instances, most prominent in those disgraceful scenes. Spies were +constantly crossing and recrossing the Potomac to give information to +their friends on either side, and it frequently happened that the same +parties were or pretended to be working in the interests of both armies +and, as the phrase goes, "carried water on both shoulders." In the +country horse-stealing was prosecuted on a gigantic scale and quite a +brisk business was carried on by certain parties pursuing the +<a name="corr_050" id="corr_050"></a><ins title="Original: theives">thieves</ins> and capturing runaway negroes, for slavery had not +yet been abolished by law and many slaves were taking advantage of the +unsettled state of affairs to make their escape to freedom.</p> + +<p>On the 21st of July General Patterson, who had been operating with a +large union army watching General Joe Johnston's motions around +Winchester, fell back from Charlestown to Harper's Ferry. This was the +day on which the first battle of Bull Run was fought in which Johnston +took an important part, having given the slip to Patterson, who no +doubt, was much surprised afterwards to learn that his antagonist was +not still at Winchester on that fatal day. Patterson's army occupied +Harper's Ferry for several days and helped themselves to most of what +was left by the rebels. Whatever may be said of their exploits on the +field of battle their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> achievements in the foraging line are certainly +worthy of mention in this and all other impartial histories of that +period. The United States army at that time was composed of "three +month's men" and certainly, it must be said that if they were not +thieves before their enlistment their proficiency in the art of stealing +was extraordinary, considering the short time they were learning this +accomplishment <a name="corr_051" id="corr_051"></a><ins title="Original:so necessary or at least so necessary or at least">so necessary or at least +</ins> so becoming in a thorough campaigner, +especially while in an enemy's country. Hen's teeth are articles the +scarcity of which is proverbial in all countries, but it can be safely +averred that, when this army left Harper's Ferry, the teeth of those +useful fowls were as plentiful at that place as any other part of them, +and Saint Columbkill himself could not desire more utter destruction to +the race of cocks than was inflicted on them at Harper's Ferry by +General Patterson's army. Indeed, every thing movable disappeared before +them and, at the risk of not being believed, the author will declare +that he learned of their carrying off a tombstone from the Methodist +cemetery. What they wanted with it he will not venture to guess, but a +regard for the truth of history compels him to relate the fact. It may +have been that some company cook wanted it for a hearth-stone or it may +have been that some pious warrior desired to set it up in his tent as an +aid to his devotions, but certain it is that six or eight soldiers of +this army were seen by many of the citizens conveying it between them +from the cemetery to their bivouac in the armory yard.</p> + +<p>When Patterson's men crossed into Maryland on their way home—their +three month's term of service having expired—quiet again, and for a +comparatively long time, reigned at Harper's Ferry. At Sandy Hook, +however, there was a lively time during the month of August and a part +of September. General Nathaniel Banks, of Massachusetts, at one time +speaker of the House of Representatives, was sent with a large army to +occupy that village and Pleasant Valley, and, for six or seven weeks, +those places enjoyed the felicity that had fallen to the lot of +Harper's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> Ferry during the spring and early summer. General Banks earned +for himself the reputation of being a thorough gentleman and, although +his after career in the war was not signalized by much success, no +failure on his part has been sufficient to erase the respect which he +earned from people of all shades of political opinion in that region. +His army occupied the low grounds between the Blue Ridge and the +Chesapeake and Ohio canal, as, also, Pleasant Valley, while the +General's headquarters were at the house of Mr. Jacob Miller, near Sandy +Hook. The latter place, though a mere hamlet, at once acquired a +national importance, but, for some reason, Harper's Ferry was entirely +ignored for the time. Indeed it appeared to be an axiom with the +officers of both armies that the latter place could not be defended +successfully against any considerable force. The first battle of Bull +Run or Manassas had been fought July 21st—the day on which General +Patterson's army retreated from Charlestown to Harper's Ferry, instead +of being engaged with General Joe Johnston's forces, who were that day +aiding Beauregard at <a name="corr_052" id="corr_052"></a><ins title="Original: Manasas">Manassas</ins>, having stolen away from +Patterson. General Bank's as well as other commanders of the union army +were being re-organized and prepared for future operations, and Sandy +Hook for some reason, was assigned as the temporary position of that +General. Early in the Fall he moved to Darnestown, twenty miles farther +down the river and after a short stay there he moved to Frederick City, +where he spent the winter. After the departure of the main army for +Darnestown the 13th regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers was left at +Sandy Hook as a corps of observation and a guard for the ford at +Harper's Ferry. These men were uncommonly zealous in shooting at rebels +as long as they—the 13th—were on the Maryland side of the river with +the broad Potomac between them and the enemy, or rather between them and +Virginia for, now, it rarely happened that a Confederate soldier +appeared anywhere within gun shot of them. Crouching under the +buttresses of the ruined bridge on the Maryland side of the river in the +now dry bed of the canal, or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> among the thickets and rocks of the +Maryland Heights, the gallant 13th kept up a constant fire on the few +inhabitants of Harper's Ferry, suspecting or affecting to suspect them +of being rebels. Everything that moved about the streets they shot at +vindictively. The appearance of even a mullein leaf swaying in the wind +elicited a volley from these ever vigilant guardians of the nation, and +it was lucky for the place that they were indifferent marksmen, else it +would have been wholly depopulated. They had field glasses through which +they watched the motions of the inhabitants and there is no exaggeration +in saying that they shot at weeds set in motion by the wind, for it +frequently occurred that volleys were fired at bushes which in no way +could hide an enemy and which were noteworthy only because they were set +in motion by the breeze. Sometimes the 13th would send detachments in +skiffs across the river and on one or two occasions they were +encountered by parties of Confederates who would occasionally lurk in +the cemetery and behind the fences on Camp Hill and keep up a scattering +fire on the "Yankees" in the town. In one of these skirmishes a rebel +soldier named Jones was killed near the graveyard, a bullet having +penetrated through the palm of his hand and then into his stomach. In +this affair an officer of the 13th, whose name need not be given, very +much distinguished himself. At the first fire he jumped into the +Shenandoah to hide behind a stone wall that protects the Winchester and +Potomac railroad from the strong current of the river. Although he +effectually shielded himself against fire, he was not equally successful +against the river which at this place is both deep and rapid and he had +much difficulty in saving himself from being drowned. As it was, his +fine clothes were much damaged and a red sash, which he wore around him, +left a stain on his uniform which could not be removed by any amount of +washing. It would appear as if a soldier's uniform eternally blushed for +the cowardice of the unworthy wearer. This officer was loaded down with +medals and badges of merit which he said himself he had gained in the +Crimean campaign, fighting against the Russian<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> Bear. After this +skirmish he lost caste in his regiment and soon after he was sentenced +by a court martial to a term in Sing-Sing for embezzlement. It is told +that when he entered the prison and the principal keeper, with a view of +assigning him to some suitable employment, inquired if he had learned a +trade of any kind, he answered, that he never had labored any, but that +he was a scholar and could talk in seven languages. The keeper on this +told him that at Sing-Sing there was but one language spoken and d— +little of that, and he immediately set the scholar to work in one of the +shops. This was unkind in the keeper but, no doubt, it would be +difficult to please all penitentiary prisoners in assigning them +employment during their terms of servitude. An Irishman, under similar +circumstances, was asked what trade he would have and answered that he +always had a liking for the sea, and that he would choose to be a +sailor. History does not record what success the Irishman met with in +the assignment to work.</p> + +<p>Our hero was certainly a poor specimen of the men who fought at Alma and +Sebastopol, if, indeed, he ever saw the Crimea, which is very doubtful. +In justice it ought to be noted that he was not a Massachusetts man by +birth. His men, however, on this occasion showed a good deal of +gallantry and, under Lieutenant Brown, of the same company—<b>his</b> name +needs no concealment—they stood their ground like good soldiers until +the enemy retired. The writer is not prone to saying harsh things, but +he cannot forget the many bullets shot at him by the above regiment and +that a whole platoon of them once opened fire on him and a young lady in +whose company he was at the time, actually cutting off with their balls +portions of the lady's headgear. He also remembers a degrading +proposition made to him by some of them—that he should inform them as +to what rebels in the neighborhood were in good circumstances, with a +view of plundering them, the rebels, and dividing the proceeds with the +informer. The officer whose conduct in the skirmish was so discreditable +would have been left to oblivion, had not his behavior to some ladies of +the place<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> been as disgraceful as his cowardice in battle. But, +notwithstanding all this, his name is mercifully omitted.</p> + +<p>Early in October Mr. A. H. Herr, proprietor of the Island of Virginius +and the large flour mill on it, having a large quantity of wheat which +he could not grind into flour—his mill having been partially destroyed +by some federal troops under Lieutenant Colonel Andrews, brother of the +governor of Massachusetts, in order to prevent the confederates from +using it—and being a union man at heart, invited the government troops +to remove the grain to Maryland. There being no bridge across the +Potomac at the time, a large boat was procured and a company of the 3rd +Wisconsin regiment impressed the few able-bodied men at the place into +the service of the government to take the wheat from the mill to the +boat and ferry it across with the aid of the soldiers. The citizens were +promised a liberal per diem, but that, like many other good promises and +intentions, forms a part of the pavement of a certain region where it +never freezes. Even the sacred person of the future historian of the +town was not spared, and many a heavy sack did he tote during several +days, under the eye of a grim Wisconsin sergeant who appeared to enjoy +immensely the author's indignation at his being put to this servile +employment. Like the recreant soldier at Sing-Sing, the historian +derived no benefit on this occasion from the smattering of different +languages with which he is credited, while the sergeant was indifferent +as to the tongue in which the writer chose to swear or to the number of +anathemas he thought proper to vent against the world in general and +soldiers in particular, he took care that the hapless author did his +full complement of the work. Suddenly, on the 16th of October—the +second anniversary of the Brown raid—while the citizens and soldiers +were busy working at the wheat, a report reached them that Colonel +Ashby, at the head of the Virginia militia, was approaching from +Charlestown to put a stop to their work. The news turned out to be true +and Colonel—afterwards General—Geary, at one time governor of the +territory of Kansas, and, after the war, chief executive of the State<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> +of Pennsylvania, at the head of three companies of the 28th +Pennsylvania, three companies of the 13th Massachusetts and the same of +the 3rd Wisconsin regiments, crossed the river from Maryland and marched +through Harper's Ferry to Bolivar Heights, where the enemy were posted. +A very sharp skirmish took place, which is known in history as the +battle of Bolivar Heights. Both sides claimed the victory, though both +retreated—Geary to Maryland and Ashby up the valley towards +Charlestown. Four or five federal soldiers lost their lives in this +affair, but the loss of the Confederates is unknown to the writer. It is +certain that many of them were wounded severely, but they acknowledged +only one death. Many young men of the neighborhood of Harper's Ferry, +who were serving in the confederate army, were wounded in this battle, +among whom were J. W. Rider and John Yates Beall, the latter of whom was +afterwards executed in New York for being engaged in hostile acts within +the limits of that state. Colonel Geary succeeded in capturing and +taking to Maryland a large cannon belonging to the confederates, but the +latter claimed that they had abandoned it as being unserviceable and +that there was no honor attached to the possession of it by the union +troops.</p> + +<p>The federal soldiers were very much excited on this occasion, in +consequence of a malicious report spread among them that some citizens +of Bolivar were harboring the enemy in their houses and giving them an +opportunity to pick off the unionists from the windows. Mr. Patrick +Hagan was arrested on this charge and hurried away to Maryland without +his getting time to put on his coat of which he had divested himself for +work around his house. This gentleman was one of the most peaceable men +of the place, and no citizen of either party in Harper's Ferry or +Bolivar believed that he was guilty. Notwithstanding his high character, +however, he was taken away in the condition mentioned and kept in +confinement for several months in a government fort. This is one of many +instances where private malice got in those unhappy times an opportunity +for venting its spite<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> under the cloak of patriotism. In a few days +after this skirmish a party of confederate cavalry entered the town and +burned Mr. Herr's extensive mill, thereby inflicting an irreparable loss +on the people of the place. As before noted, Lieutenant Colonel Andrew +had partially destroyed it—that is—he broke up a part of the +machinery—just enough to render the mill incapable of being worked. +This damage could have been easily repaired and, if no further harm had +been done to it, the mill could have been put into working order in a +few days. The confederates, however, destroyed it completely and the +shattered and toppling walls are still to be seen, a monument of +vandalism and a reproach to civilized warriors.</p> + +<p>From this time the town was visited nightly by scouts from both sides +and the citizens were, as the Irishman says, "between the devil and the +deep sea." As the nights grew longer and lights became necessary the +people felt the inconveniences of their situation the more keenly. The +sides of the houses fronting the Maryland Heights were, of necessity, +kept in total darkness, else the fire of the unionists was sure to be +attracted. The sides fronting the south stood in equal danger from the +confederates and, families were obliged to manage so that no lights +could be seen by either of the contending forces.</p> + +<p>On the 11th of November a party of union men determined to cross the +Potomac and throw themselves on the protection of the United States +government, as they were threatened with conscription by the Virginians +as well as exposed to insult for their opinions. They were, moreover, +men in humble circumstances and they wanted employment somewhere. Their +interest as well as their sympathies were with the north, or rather with +the old government, and they resolved to make a break from the danger +and humiliation of a residence in a debatable territory. Six of them, +namely: Alexander Kelly, the same who had so narrow an escape from +Brown's men; John Kelly, J. Miller Brown, G. S. Collis, Lafayette Davis, +and the author of these annals, therefore procured a leaky skiff from +"Old Tom Hunter," the Charon of the Potomac and Shenandoah since the +destruction of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> bridges. Hunter's son ferried them across, just in +time to escape a party of confederates then entering the town, to +impress them into their service. Joyfully, the refugees approached the +Maryland shore after the dangers of their stay at Harper's Ferry and the +no small risk they had run of being drowned, as the river was then very +high and rapid and the skiff unsound and over-burdened with passengers +and baggage. Their disappointment and astonishment were great, +therefore, on their being informed that they would not be allowed to +land; that their crossing was in violation of the rules established by +the officer in command at the post and that they must return to +Virginia. This was not to be thought of and, after a long parley, they +received an ungracious permission to disembark, when they were +immediately made prisoners by order of Major Hector Tyndale, of the 28th +Pennsylvania regiment, in command at the place. This potentate was not +to be cajoled by their protestations of loyalty to the United States +government. In every one of them he saw a rebel spy. He took them +separately into a private room, examined their clothes and took +possession of every paper found on them. Their baggage was searched +thoroughly and several poetical effusions of the author of these pages, +addressed to various Dulcineas of Virginia and Maryland on the day of +"Good Saint Valentine" some years before—copies of which he had +unfortunately retained—excited the wrath of the puritanical Tyndale to +a high pitch and brought down on the hapless poet the heaviest +denunciations. Mr. Collis, also, fell in for a share of the Major's +displeasure. Being a member in good standing of the Independent Order of +Odd Fellows, Mr. Collis had obtained a traveling card from Virginia +Lodge, No. 1, of that society at Harper's Ferry, to which he belonged. +This card he had, or thought he had, put away safely in his vest pocket +which he had pinned securely for the safety of its contents. Major +Tyndale felt the pocket and demanded to know what was in it. Mr. Collis +replied that it was his "traveling card." The major insisted on seeing +it and, lo, when Mr. Collis showed the package and opened it, instead of +an Odd Fellow's card,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> it turned out to be a daguerreotype likeness of +one of that gentleman's lady friends which, through some inadvertence, +Mr. Collis had substituted for what he had intended to guard with so +much care. The Major taking this mistake for a wilful personal insult, +stormed wildly and remanded the six prisoners for further trial, when +they were confined with other captives in Eader's hotel at Sandy Hook. +It will be believed that, under the circumstances, they were a gloomy +party and, in view of the probability that things would grow worse as +the night advanced, the author uttered a pious ejaculation, expressing a +wish that he had the freedom of Sandy Hook for half an hour to improve +the commissariat of the prisoners which was rather scant and entirely +wanting in that article so indispensable to people in trouble and to +many under any circumstances—whiskey. As luck would have it, the prayer +reached the ear of the sentinel at the prison door, who was a six-foot +representative of that beautiful island which is so touchingly described +by one of its inspired sons as:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Poor, dear, ould Ireland, that illigent place<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where whiskey's for nothing and a beating for less."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The word "whiskey" was the sesame to the sentinel's heart. He looked +around cautiously to see if the officer of the guard was near and, the +coast being clear, he opened the door and, in a confidential way, +remarked that he supposed the speaker was a <b>dacent</b> boy who would do the +<b>clane</b> thing and that he—the sentinel—would run the risk of letting him +out <b>on</b> parole of honor for half an hour. The offer was accepted joyfully +and, in an incredibly short time, the author, who in those days, "knew +all the ropes," returned with a load of crackers, cheese and sausages, +pipes and tobacco, and the main desideratum, a very corpulent bottle of +"tangle foot," a very appropriate name for the particular brand of Sandy +Hook whiskey. With these refreshments and a greasy pack of cards, the +night wore away pleasantly and, before morning, the Irish sentinel was +the jolliest man of the party for, on every passage of the bottle, his +services were gratefully remembered and rewarded with a jorum. When<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> the +time came for relieving the guard the sentinel was too drunk to stand +upright and present arms and the sergeant who, too, was a good fellow or +who was, perhaps, himself drunk, did not change the guard. Anyway, the +jolly Irishman was left at the post 'till morning and he did not +complain of the hardship of losing his sleep. The greater number of his +prisoners were too top-heavy to make their escape, even if they were +inclined to play false with their indulgent keeper. Next day they were +examined again and subjected to various sentences according to their +supposed delinquencies or their ability to do mischief. The hapless +author was condemned to banishment to a distance of at least ten miles +from the lines of the army for his unholy poetry and—as Major Tyndale +actually expressed it—because the expression of his eye was +unprepossessing. Mr. Collis was permitted to stay at Sandy Hook, but he +was obliged to report every morning at 10 o'clock at the major's office. +Many and <a name="corr_053" id="corr_053"></a><ins title="Original: varius">various</ins> were the adventures of this as well as of +other parties of Harper's Ferry people who were scattered about by the +chances of the times. A narrative of them would fill a very large +volume, if not a fair-sized library, and it may be that some of them +will appear in future biographical sketches.</p> + +<p>On the 7th of February, 1862, two parties of hostile scouts encountered +each other at Harper's Ferry. The federal spies had spent the most of +the night of the 6th at the place and about dawn on the 7th had entered +a skiff to return to Maryland, when they were fired on by some +confederates who were watching for them, and one of them, named Rohr, +was killed. Another, named Rice, threw himself into the river and, by +his dexterity in swimming and by keeping under cover of the skiff, +managed to save his life and escape to Maryland. The confederate scouts +were of Captain Baylor's company, who kept Harper's Ferry in a state of +terror all the winter, entering the town every few nights and doing many +harsh things, without the order or approval of their captain, who, +however, was held responsible for their acts and was treated with a +great deal of unjust<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> severity when in the course of events he became a +prisoner of war.</p> + +<p>The killing of Rohr was the cause of another calamity to the hapless +town. Colonel Geary, who was commanding the federal troops at the Point +of Rocks, Sandy Hook, and the bank of the Potomac to Harper's Ferry and +under whom Major Tyndale was acting at Sandy Hook, became highly +incensed at the death of Rohr, who was a favorite scout, and he +immediately sent a detachment to destroy the part of Harper's Ferry in +which the confederates were accustomed to conceal themselves and watch +and annoy the federal soldiers on the Maryland shore. This they +accomplished, ruthlessly destroying with fire Fouke's hotel and all of +the town between the armory and the railroad bridge. Certainly, this +must be considered a wanton destruction of property as the trestle +<a name="corr_054" id="corr_054"></a><ins title="Original: butresses">buttresses</ins> or even the ruins of the burnt buildings +furnished enough of shelter for spies or sharpshooters. The demolition +of this property was accomplished under the immediate supervision of +Major Tyndale, and here occur some curious coincidences such as often +appear in history and in ordinary life. It will be remembered that John +Brown, on the day of his capture, prophesied the destruction of Harper's +Ferry, to take place in a short time. It will be recollected, too, that +his wife came to Virginia to get possession of his body after his +execution. This same Hector Tyndale accompanied her from Philadelphia as +a protector and conducted the transportation of the remains from +Virginia to New York. In a little more than two years the town, to all +intents and purposes, was destroyed and the finishing stroke was given +to it by this very Tyndale. Who will say that these were merely +coincidences and who will not rather suspect that there were in these +affairs something like a true spirit of prophecy and a divine +retribution. Major Tyndale is now dead and peace to his soul! At the +battle of Antietam he was shot through the head, but he recovered, at +least partially, from his wound and in some years after he served as +mayor of Philadelphia. He was no friend to the author of these pages, +but truth compels a rather<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> favorable summing up of his character. Like +his great namesake of Troy, he was a sincere patriot and, although he +often descended to the consideration of mere trifles and harassed +innocent people with groundless suspicions, it is <a name="corr_055" id="corr_055"></a><ins title="Original: belived">believed</ins> +that he was thoroughly honest and he certainly had courage enough to do +no discredit to his Homeric name.</p> + +<p>All that winter—'61-'62—Harper's Ferry presented a scene of the utmost +desolation. All the inhabitants had fled, except a few old people, who +ventured to remain and protect their homes, or who were unable or +unwilling to leave the place and seek new associations. This ill-boding +lull continued—excepting the occasional visits of the Confederates and +the Rohr tragedy with its consequences—until the night of the 22nd of +February, 1862, when General Banks made a forward move in conjunction +with General Shields, who proceeded up the valley from the neighborhood +of Paw Paw, on the line of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, between +Martinsburg and Cumberland. General Banks sent a detachment across the +Potomac at Harper's Ferry in advance of the main body of his troops. +They crossed in skiffs and their object was to lay a pontoon bridge. +With them was a man named James Stedman, a native of the place, and +another named Rice, who acted as guides. The night was stormy, blowing a +gale down the river through the gorges of the Blue Ridge. Stedman, Rice +and five soldiers of the 28th Pennsylvania regiment were in one skiff, +when, through the severity of the gale or mismanagement, the boat was +upset and all were cast into the icy waters. Rice escaped by swimming to +one of the buttresses of the bridge, but Stedman and the five soldiers +were drowned and their bodies were never recovered. This man—Rice—was +the same who had so narrow an escape a few nights before at the same +place, when Rohr was killed. He lived many years after these two close +calls and served as a railroad engineer. One day he fell from his engine +and was cut to pieces by it. It is supposed that his fall was caused by +an apoplectic fit and that he was dead when his body reached the ground. +From the time of this crossing until<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> the retreat of Banks from +Winchester, May 25th, 1862, the town was held by federal troops. +Immediately after the battle of Kernstown, March 23rd, of that year, the +Baltimore and Ohio railroad company took possession of the Winchester +and Potomac railroad and worked it for the government, thus relieving in +some measure the strict blockade the place had endured all the winter. +Perhaps, it would be more correct to say the government seized the road +and employed the Baltimore and Ohio railroad company to run it for them. +The place, of course, now became very important as a base of supplies +for the union troops, and the great number of soldiers who were +stationed there at this time and the many civilian strangers who daily +arrived to visit friends in the army, threw a new life into the town. +Besides, many of the old citizens returned to their homes, now +comparatively safe, and accumulated snug fortunes in providing small +luxuries for the wearied soldiers and their friends. When General Banks +was pursued to the Potomac at Williamsport a portion of the confederate +forces marched towards Harper's Ferry and the union garrison there, with +all the citizens who held to the old government, crossed over to +Maryland. The rebels, however, approached no nearer to the place than +Halltown, about four miles west, on Charlestown road and, in a day or +two, they returned up the valley. All through the spring and summer, +except the few days noted, the town continued to be a base of supplies +for the union forces in that region, and it was notably so while the +armies of Shields, Banks and Freemont were operating against Jackson in +the campaign of Cross-Keys and Port Republic. After the second battle of +Manassas, General Lee decided to invade Maryland, and of course, the +capture of Harper's Ferry became very desirable if not absolutely +necessary to him. It was then under the command of General Miles, a +veteran of the regular United States army. He had a force which, +including a large number under Colonel Tom Ford, of Ohio, posted on the +Maryland Heights, amounted to twelve thousand. While General Lee with +the main body of the confederates crossed at the lower fords of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> +Potomac and marched on Frederick City, Generals Jackson and A. P. Hill +attacked Harper's Ferry with their commands. The siege commenced on +Friday, September 12th, 1862, by the confederates opening fire from the +Loudoun Heights with several batteries. The federal guns on the Maryland +Heights replied, but the position of the latter was soon attacked in the +rear by a portion of the rebel army that had got a footing in Maryland +and, of course, the rebels on the Virginia shore profited by the +diversion. The extreme right of the confederates in Maryland and the +left of the federals who were following them up from Washington under +McClellan, approached very near to the northeastern slope of these +heights and Colonel Ford was attacked by a strong body of troops +detached for that purpose. Lee had marched through Frederick City and, +thence, westward towards Hagerstown and Sharpsburg, where he faced about +and made a stand against his pursuers. This placed the confederate right +close to the Maryland Heights as above stated. A desultory though +destructive musketry fire was kept up all through Friday and Saturday, +<a name="corr_056" id="corr_056"></a><ins title="Original: Septemeber">September</ins> 12th and 13th, and thus Colonel Ford was placed, +as he thought, in a hopeless situation. The forces fighting him in the +rear were probably of South Carolina, as many headboards long standing +at graves on the ground they occupied bore the names of soldiers and +regiments from that state. The bombardment from the Loudoun Heights +continued in the meantime until Colonel Ford abandoned his position and +shut himself up in Harper's Ferry. His conduct on this occasion has been +severely criticised and, indeed, it is understood that he was cashiered +for misconduct. His military judges, no doubt, knew more about the +merits of the case than any civilian, but it is certain that many +instances of what appeared to be greater mismanagement occurred during +the war, when little or nothing was said in condemnation of any one and +nobody was punished. The loss of Harper's Ferry was a severe one, and +the popular sentiment demanded a scape-goat. The condemnation of Colonel +Ford was some balm and the unreasoning multitude were appeased. The +a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span>bandonment of the Maryland Heights was, of course, a virtual surrender +of Harper's Ferry. On Monday, September 15th, therefore, the national +flag was lowered and the garrison laid down their arms. The +confederates, besides capturing some twelve thousand men, got possession +of a large amount of arms and valuable stores. General Miles was killed +by a shell immediately after his giving the order to surrender and, in +all probability, his death saved him from a fate still worse to a +soldier. Great indignation was felt through the loyal states and in army +circles at what was called his treason or cowardice, and, had he lived, +his conduct, no doubt, would have been the subject of a strict +investigation, as in the case of Colonel Ford, if, indeed, the supposed +misconduct of the latter was not forgotten when the principal was under +indictment. If poor Miles had lived to give <b>his</b> version of the matter +the public verdict might have been different in the course of time. +Anyway, he died for his country and let no one belittle his memory.</p> + +<p>Before the surrender a small body of federal cavalry made a gallant +charge and succeeded in making their escape, capturing and destroying an +ammunition train belonging to Longstreet's corps of confederates, which +they overtook near the Antietam and effecting a junction with +McClellan's army, then posted on that river. Full justice has never been +done in history to this gallant little body of men—the 8th New York +Cavalry—or to its heroic leader, Colonel B. F. Davis.</p> + +<p>After the surrender, General Jackson marched towards Shepherdstown and +arrived at General Lee's position in time to take a part in the great +battle of the 17th of September. He left General A. P. Hill in command +at Harper's Ferry, but he, too, departed next day and, like Jackson, +effected a junction with Lee's main army in time to aid in the great +conflict that was impending.</p> + +<p>The direction in which Jackson marched from Harper's Ferry to +Antietam—due north—disposes of a controversy that for years has +exercised the pens of many people eminent in letters. The poet Whittier +makes Jackson march through Frederick City on his way to join Lee,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> and +the fame of Barbara Fritchie rests on her supposed defying of him and +her shaking the national flag at him, as he passed her house at that +place. Whittier's poem is certainly a spirited one and it is too good to +be without foundation in fact, but <a name="corr_057" id="corr_057"></a><ins title="Original: is is">is</ins> to be feared +that so it is. In all probability General Jackson never set foot in +Frederick City. Certainly, he did not do so in the Antietam campaign, +and the flag-shaking that has immortalized Barbara—was done by the +small children of a Mrs. Quantril, who lived near the Fritchies, and the +rebels paid no heed to what was done by the little tots. How many of the +heroes and heroines of history or song are mythical and how many real +deeds of gallantry have been consigned to oblivion can anyone tell?</p> + +<p>The siege and surrender of Harper's Ferry, though important events of +the war were not as disastrous to its people as other occurrences of +less national interest. There was no very hard fighting on the occasion, +considering the numbers engaged and the magnitude of the stake and no +loss of life or property to the citizens of the place. While the siege +was in progress, the battle of South Mountain took place, September +14th, and on the same month was fought the murderous battle of Antietam. +Both fields are near Harper's Ferry and the thunders of the artillery +and the roll of the musketry could be heard distinctly at that place +from those famous battle grounds. At the former engagement the lines +were very long and the left wing of the Federals under General Franklin, +and the right of the confederates under General Howell Cobb, of Georgia, +extended to the very foot of the Maryland Heights. These wings met at +"Crampton's Gap" about five miles from Harper's Ferry and a very fierce +battle was the consequence. This engagement, though properly a part of +that of South Mountain, has been considered a separate affair on account +of the distance from the main armies at which it was fought, and its +extreme severity and it is called the "battle of Crampton's Gap." The +union troops were victorious and they drove the confederates through +"the gap" and some other wild passes in the Blue Ridge near the place. +The battle<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> was fought almost entirely with musketry at close range +which accounts for the great loss of life on both sides. Had General +Miles held out a little longer, the advantage gained at Crampton's Gap +would have enabled General Franklin to come to his relief, and the loss +and disgrace of the surrender might have been prevented.</p> + +<p>Both sides claimed a victory at Antietam, but Lee retreated and his +garrison at Harper's Ferry abandoned that place. McClellan did not +pursue, but he concentrated his whole army around Harper's Ferry, where +he remained apparently inactive for nearly two months. The whole +peninsula formed by the Potomac and the Shenandoah from Smallwood's +Ridge to the junction of the rivers, as well as the surrounding heights, +soon became dotted with tents, and at night the two villages and the +neighboring hills were aglow with hundreds of watchfires. From Camp Hill +the ridge that separates the towns of Harper's Ferry and Bolivar the +spectacle was magnificent, especially at night, and a spectator was +forcibly reminded of a fine description of a similar scene in the eighth +book of the Iliad. A hum of voices like that of an immense city or the +hoarse murmur of the great deep arose from the valleys on either side +and filled the air with a confusion of sounds, while to a person of +sensibility it was sad to contemplate how many of this mighty host may +have been fated never to leave the soil of Virginia, but sleep their +long, last sleep far from home and kindred and in a hostile land. The +bands of the various regiments frequently discoursed their martial +strains, and nothing that sight or sound could do to stir the +imagination was wanted. Of course, innumerable instances occurred of +drunken rioting among the soldiers and of outrage on the citizens. A +list of these would fill many volumes each much larger than this little +book, and imagination can picture but faintly the sufferings of a people +exposed helpless to the mercy of an undisciplined armed rabble, for +candor obliges us to thus designate both the armies engaged in this war. +Officers and men on both sides were brave as soldiers can be, but, +except the West Pointers and the graduates of a few military academies,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> +they knew nothing about the science of war, and it was impossible for an +officer to check the excesses of his command, when many of the privates +under him were, perhaps, his superiors socially in the civil life they +had all left so lately and where all were volunteers fighting for a +principle and not for a soldier's pay. General McClellan proceeded south +in November, leaving a strong garrison at Harper's Ferry, and that place +was occupied by the federals without interruption until the second +invasion of the north by General Lee in June, 1863. All this time, as +all through the war, the roads leading to Leesburg, Winchester, +Martinsburg and other places were infested by guerillas in the service +of the confederates and sometimes by deserters from and camp followers +of the federals, the latter frequently committing outrages that were +charged to the southern men. The most noted of the guerillas was a youth +named John Mobley. He was a son of a woman named Polly Mobley, who lived +on the Loudoun side of the Shenandoah, near Harper's Ferry, and his +reputed father was a man named Sam. Fine, who at one time lived in the +neighborhood, but who moved west long before the war. The son took his +mother's name and it is one that will ever be famous in that region on +account of his exploits. He and his mother were poor and, when a mere +boy, he used to drive a team for a free negro butcher named Joe Hagan, +who lived in Loudoun and used to attend the Harper's Ferry market with +his meat wagon. Mobley was at this time a lubberly, simple-looking lad, +and the pert youths of the town used to tease him. He gave no indication +then of the desperate spirit which he afterwards <a name="corr_058" id="corr_058"></a><ins title="Original: exhibted">exhibited</ins>. +On the contrary, he appeared to be rather cowardly. When the war broke +out, however, he joined a company of confederate cavalry raised in +Loudoun county, and, although not much above seventeen years of age, he +was detailed by his captain as a scout to watch the federal army around +his native place. Under the circumstances, this was an important and +delicate duty. With this roving commission he, with a few others, ranged +the neighborhood of Niersville and Hillsborough and sometimes he came to +the bank of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> Shenandoah at Harper's Ferry. He is said to have kept, +like Dugald Dalgetty, a sharp eye on his private interests, while +obeying to the letter the commands of his superiors. He was a +<a name="corr_059" id="corr_059"></a><ins title="Original: geat">great</ins> terror of <a name="corr_060" id="corr_060"></a><ins title="Original: suttlers">sutlers</ins> and wagonmasters and he is +supposed to have captured many rich prizes, displaying the most reckless +courage and committing some cold blooded murders. Like many other +gentlemen of the road, however, he had his admirers, and many anecdotes +are told of his forbearance and generosity. On the 5th of April, +1865—four days before Lee's surrender—his career ended by his being +shot to death by a party of three soldiers of the union army, who had +set a trap for him with the connivance, perhaps, of some neighbors and +pretended friends. His body, with the head perforated in three places by +bullets, was thrown, like a sack of grain, across a horse's back and +conveyed in triumph to Harper's Ferry where it was exposed to public +view in front of the headquarters. The body was almost denuded by relic +hunters who, with their jack knives, cut pieces off his clothes as +souvenirs of the war and of the most noted of the Virginia guerillas.</p> + +<p>For some years before the war there resided in the neighborhood of +Harper's Ferry a schoolmaster named Law. He claimed to be a brother of +the famous George Law, of New York. He was an eccentric man, but he +appeared to have a good deal of strength of character, for he always +denounced slavery and advocated its abolition. For the expression of his +sentiments on this subject he was driven out of Harper's Ferry, shortly +after the Brown raid, and narrowly escaped a coat of tar and feathers. +On the breaking out of the war he attached himself to the union army as +a spy, and he was murdered, as it is supposed, by some of Mobley's gang. +One of them related to a friend of the author the manner of Law's death +and it was as follows, according to the confession: Having made him a +prisoner, they took him to a lonely part of the Loudoun Mountain, laid +him flat on his back and fastened him to the ground with withes twisted +'round his limbs and driven into the earth with mauls, and firmly +secured. There he was left to perish of hunger, thirst,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> cold or any +more speedy death from the fangs of wild animals that Heaven might +mercifully vouchsafe to him. Whether all this is true or not, there is +no doubt of his having been murdered, and considering all the +circumstances, there is reason to believe that the poor fellow was +treated as stated.</p> + +<p>When General Lee a second time invaded the north on his disastrous +Gettysburg campaign, again did Harper's Ferry change masters, and, when +he again retreated, the re-occupation of the town by the union army was +a matter of course, and the place then remained in the uninterrupted +possession of the latter for a year.</p> + +<p>On the 4th of July, 1864, the federal army was driven out again by a +portion of General Early's forces, who penetrated into Maryland and were +encountered on the 9th of the same month by General Lew Wallace at +Monocacy Junction, about twenty-three miles east of Harper's Ferry. Here +a very sharp engagement took place, when the unionists retreated towards +Washington City and were followed cautiously by Early. On the 4th of +July, while the federal troops were evacuating Harper's Ferry and some +of them were yet at Sandy Hook preparing to retreat farther into +Maryland, one of them, partially intoxicated, went into the store of Mr. +Thomas Egan at the place and offered to buy some tobacco. The proprietor +handed him a plug. The soldier took it but refused to pay for it and, on +Mr. Egan's attempting to recover the tobacco, a scuffle ensued. Mr. Egan +succeeded in ejecting the soldier and he shut the door to keep the +intruder from re-entering. At this moment the proprietor's only child, a +very interesting girl of about thirteen years, noticed that the +soldier's cap was on the floor of the storeroom, it having fallen off +the owner's head in the struggle. She raised a window, held out the cap +and called the soldier to take it, when the ruffian shot her dead with +his carbine, the bullet entering her mouth and coming out at the back of +her head. The lamented Colonel Mulligan of the 23rd Illinois regiment +happened to be passing the scene of the murder at the time and he +ordered the brute to be arrested and confined for trial, but,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> in the +confusion of the following night, he escaped and was never seen +afterwards in that region. It is said that he deserted his regiment and +joined the United States navy. The mother of the child—a most estimable +lady—soon succumbed to her great sorrow and died broken-hearted. The +father became dissipated and a wanderer until he lost his mind, and it +is supposed that he ended his days in some asylum for the insane. On the +same day a lady from North Mountain was killed, while standing on High +street, Harper's Ferry, at a point exposed to the fire which was kept up +from the Maryland Heights by the federal troops. A colored woman, also, +was killed on Shenandoah street, of the place, and a child was mortally +wounded in Bolivar, and a young lady—Miss Fitzsimmons—seriously +injured at the same time and place. The child was a daughter of Mr. +Thomas Jenkins and Miss Fitzsimmons was his step-daughter. A shell +struck Mr. Jenkins' house, shattering it badly and injuring his family +as noted. The author of this little volume was seated at the time under +the gun that discharged the shell. The cannon was on the fortifications +of the Maryland Heights and the writer could see Mr. Jenkins' house was +struck. He remonstrated in strong language with the gunners for doing +wanton mischief to inoffensive citizens. They took good-naturedly his +indignant protests and ceased firing, which, no doubt, prevented much +harm. The lady killed on High street and the colored woman received +their death wounds from Minnie bullets. A shell from some other battery +penetrated a government house on High street, Harper's Ferry, occupied +by Mr. James McGraw, passed directly through it without injuring any +one, and <a name="corr_061" id="corr_061"></a><ins title="Original: the">then</ins> penetrated the house of Mr. Alexander Kelly, where +it fell on a bed without exploding. Miss Margaret Kelly, daughter of the +proprietor of the house, was in the room when the unwelcome visitor +intruded and settled down on the bed, but fortunately, she received no +injury beyond a bad fright.</p> + +<p>While this skirmish was progressing, a confederate officer of high rank +sauntered into the armory yard, either to watch the enemy on the +opposite side of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> river or to take shelter from the heat which was +intense that day. He was alone and excited no particular attention. On +the next day a young girl who was searching for a cow that had strayed, +found his dead body and, as the rebels had retreated on the previous +night, the task of burying him devolved on the citizens. The body was +much swollen and decomposition had made great head-way. So nobody knows +how he came to his death and, indeed, no examination for wounds was +made. He was interred somewhere under the railroad trestling and it +would be worth something handsome to discover the exact spot. After the +war his family offered a large reward for the discovery of his resting +place, but, in the campaign of Sheridan which followed shortly after +this fight cavalry horses were picketed under this trestling and they +tramped the ground so hard and obliterated so completely all traces of +the grave that the search for it, which continued some time, was finally +abandoned. Poor fellow, his fate was a sad one. No doubt, he left a +happy home and loving friends and, now, he moulders in an unknown grave +without even the companionship of the dead.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"His sword is rust;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His bones are dust;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His soul is with the saints, we trust."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>At no time during the war was there as deep a gloom on Harper's Ferry as +on that anniversary of the birth of our nation. The people had +entertained the fond hope that the war was nearly over, or, at least, +that the theatre of it was to be moved farther south. Therefore, when, +on the 2nd of July, the sound of cannon was heard in the direction of +Martinsburg, utter despair appeared to take possession of all hearts at +Harper's Ferry. The battle sounds were from a heavy skirmish between a +part of Early's troops and Colonel Mulligan's Irish regiment—the 23rd +Illinois—at Leetown, about midway between Martinsburg and Harper's +Ferry. It may interest the reader to know that Leetown took its name +from the famous General Charles Lee of unenviable reputation in the war +of our Revolution. Here it was he buried himself in a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> morose solitude +after his quarrel with General Washington and the cabin which he +inhabited, with only his dogs for company, is still standing and +occupied by a family. The firing was the first intimation the people of +Harper's Ferry had of approaching danger. Mulligan, although greatly +outnumbered by the enemy, succeeded in checking their course for a +while, and he gave the garrison and people of that place time to prepare +for defense or retreat. However, as the darkest hour comes immediately +before the dawn, so was this gloomy time the precursor of, at least, +comparative tranquility. Although the people were obliged to fly on this +occasion, as usual, they were not again driven from their homes, and, +although peace was not restored to the whole country for many months +after this, Harper's Ferry was happily exempted from any more of its +accustomed calamitous evacuations.</p> + +<p>The writer has adverted to the want of discipline in both the armies +that in this war exhibited so much gallantry and, as an evidence of this +he will relate an incident that occurred on Maryland Heights while the +federal army was yet defending Harper's Ferry on that memorable Fourth +of July. It will be remembered that the State of Ohio <a name="corr_062" id="corr_062"></a><ins title="Original: as">a</ins> short time +before had furnished to the government a force called "the Hundred-Day +Men." A portion of these were doing duty on the Maryland Heights on this +occasion. They were brave enough but, as the following will show, they +had little or no conception of the military appliances which they were +expected to use with some degree of intelligence. A company of them were +preparing dinner and, not having anything else convenient on which to +build their fire, they procured from an ammunition wagon several large +shells on which they piled their wood which was soon ablaze. 'Round the +fire they all squatted, each intent on watching his kettle or saucepan. +Soon a terrific explosion shook the surrounding hills, sending all the +culinary utensils flying over the tree tops and, unfortunately, killing +or wounding nearly every man of the group. This is but one of many +instances seen during the war of incredible carelessness produced by the +excitement of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> times and a lack of military training in the +soldiers. While "the hundred-day men" were stationed near Harper's Ferry +many yarns were spun at their expense, such as the following: One of +them, it is said, presented himself on a certain occasion to the +commander of the post, a grim old warrior, who had seen a hundred +battles, and who had the reputation of being a martinet. On being asked +what he wanted, the soldier said that he had a complaint to make of the +commissary who had not yet furnished butter or milk for the company +mess. The wrath of the old campaigner is said to have been appalling +when he heard this, and it is narrated that about this time a figure was +seen to retreat with precipitation from the general's tent, with a boot +in close proximity to its seat of honor.</p> + +<p>Another party of the same corps was stationed at Kearneysville, ten +miles west of Harper's Ferry, for the protection of the +<a name="corr_063" id="corr_063"></a><ins title="Original: Balitmore">Baltimore</ins> and Ohio railroad at that point. These hearing of +a much superior force of the enemy approaching to destroy the road and +kill or capture them, wisely resolved to retreat to Harper's Ferry +without waiting orders from their superiors. A freight car happened to +be at the time on the sidetrack near, and the thought struck them that +they could load all their "traps" into this and push it to their +destination. Kearneysville is situated on the very top of a ridge, +halfway between Harper's Ferry and Martinsburg, and there is a very +steep grade of ten miles in length either way from these points—the +summit being, as noted, at Kearneysville. This the Ohio men did not know +and it is possible that they had never heard of the existence of grades +on surfaces apparently so level as railroads. Having procured a switch +key, they transferred <a name="corr_064" id="corr_064"></a><ins title="Original: the the"> the</ins> car to the main track, +and having loaded on it all their paraphernalia, they proceeded to push +the car towards Harper's Ferry. At first it was moved with some +difficulty, but soon they discovered that it gradually attained speed +and that, after a little time, it rolled along without the necessity for +any exertion in pushing. Supposing, perhaps, that some kind fairy had +greased the track for them, they felt overjoyed and, giving<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> the car a +few vigorous pushes, they all jumped aboard and "let her slide." Soon, +however, the rate of travel increased, so as to give them some +uneasiness and, after their having accomplished a mile or two, the speed +was terrific and increasing every moment. Knowing little about +railroading they did not understand the use of the car-brake, which +would have done something towards reducing their dangerous rate of +locomotion. On the car shot like a meteor, and the long hair of the +western men streamed behind like the tail of a comet, as would also +their coat tails, if their uniforms had any such appendages. The +astonished track hands along the road fled in dismay from the apparition +and well might the knowing ones among them feel alarm as the westward +bound mail train was then due on the same track on which the car was +rushing in an opposite direction at far more than legitimate railroad +speed. Onward and faster the Ohio men flew 'round the innumerable curves +of the road in that neighborhood until to the amazement of Mr. Donohoo, +the railroad agent at Harper's Ferry, the car came in sight of his +station. Fortunately, the mail train had been detained for some reason +by order of Mr. Donohoo, and thus the Ohio men and the passengers on +board the train were saved from the consequences of a collision which, +under the circumstances, would have been of the most disastrous kind. +When the car came to the level a short distance above Harper's Ferry, +its rate of travel gradually declined and it stopped of itself before +reaching the passenger train, the engineer of which had presence of mind +to back his train far enough to the east to keep out of the way until +the momentum of the engineless car had expended itself beyond the +incline. The soldiers half dead with fright, jumped off the car with all +possible speed, but they were put in irons immediately by order of the +commander at Harper's Ferry for disobedience of orders with the +<a name="corr_065" id="corr_065"></a><ins title="Original: aggravaton">aggravation</ins> of the danger to which they had exposed the +passenger train. The Ohio men were very gallant soldiers, however, and +that more than compensated for their inexperience.</p> + +<p>After the failure of the confederates in their attempt<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> on Washington +City, and their retreat into Virginia again and for the last time did +the federal troops get possession of Harper's Ferry. After the battle of +Monocacy General Sheridan was appointed to command in the Valley of +Virginia, and his brilliant and successive victories over Early around +Winchester saved the whole of the lower valley, henceforth from its +accustomed alternation of masters.</p> + +<p>There was then residing near Harper's Ferry a German known as "Dutch +George," his real name being George Hartman. He was a bachelor and he +worked among the farmers of the neighborhood with whom he was deservedly +popular for his harmless simplicity of character and his efficiency as a +farm-help. During the severe conscription George entered the confederate +army as a substitute for one of his employers and his achievements in +the war are thus summed up. After the last retreat of Early, George and +many of the young men of the neighborhood who were serving in the +confederate army, and who had taken advantage of the forward movement of +their troops to visit their homes, remained on furlough, trusting for +concealment to their knowledge of the locality and the sympathy of all +their neighbors with their cause. One day they got information that a +force of their enemies was approaching and, fearing that their houses +would be searched for them, they all assembled in a deserted +blacksmith's shop where the enemy would suspect their being concealed. +As an additional precaution, they threw out pickets to watch the motions +of the enemy, and George was detailed for this duty. He took post in a +fence corner, but he kept a poor lookout and was surprised and taken +<a name="corr_066" id="corr_066"></a><ins title="Original: prsoner">prisoner</ins> by a squad of the enemy that had stolen a march on +him. "By damn," said George to his captors, "you did dat wery vel, but +you ain't schmart enough to find de boys in de blackschmidt shop." Of +course, "a nod was as good as a wink" to the shrewd "Yankees," and they +surrounded the shop and made prisoners of the whole party, greatly to +the astonishment of George, who never could be made to understand by +what intuition the "Yankees" discovered "de<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> boys in de blackschmidt's +shop." Poor George is now dead, and it is only fair to his memory to say +that he was not suspected of cowardice or treachery. He stood well with +his comrades in regard to courage and loyalty, and it is possible that +the tale was invented or greatly exaggerated by the mischievous +youngsters of the neighborhood to tease the poor fellow.</p> + +<p>During the winter of 1864-65 several military executions took place at +Harper's Ferry and, indeed, there is no phase of war that was not +experienced at some time by its people. A man known as "Billy, the +Frenchman" was executed by hanging on the 2nd day of December, the fifth +anniversary of John Brown's death. His proper name was William Loge. He +was a native of France and was but a short time in this country. He +enlisted in a New York regiment and, while he was stationed at +Berlin—now Brunswick—on the Maryland side of the Potomac, he deserted +and, crossing over to Virginia, he attached himself to Mobley's gang and +became a terror to the people of Loudoun—rebel as well as loyal. He was +a young man of an attractive appearance and great physical strength, as +well as of iron nerve. After marauding successfully for many months he +was made prisoner by federal scouts, near Johnson's stillhouse—the +scene of the pugilistic encounter between Yankee Sullivan and Ben +Caunt—and taken to Harper's Ferry, where he was executed as soon as the +formalities of a court martial could be complied with. He displayed the +utmost courage on the scaffold and many pitied him on this account, as +well as for the great brutality with which the execution was conducted. +The provost was Major Pratt of the gallant 34th Massachusetts regiment, +a very kindhearted man, but others who acted under him displayed the +greatest cruelty and barbarity. On the whole it was the most sickening +affair witnessed at the place during the war.</p> + +<p>On another occasion two deserters were taken out for execution by +shooting. The Reverend Father Fitzgibbon, a Catholic priest, chaplain to +one of the regiments then at the place, took an interest in them and, +although they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> did not belong to his communion, he volunteered his +spiritual aid for the occasion. Father Fitzgibbon had officiated in the +ministry years before at Springfield, Illinois, and had become well +acquainted with Mr. Lincoln, then a practising lawyer at that place. It +occurred to the good priest, therefore, to use his influence with the +President for the pardon of the condemned men, or a commutation of their +sentence. He telegraphed his request to Mr. Lincoln. No reply came until +the hour appointed for the execution had actually passed. Major Pratt, +with his usual kindheartedness, delayed the catastrophe as long as he +could do so consistently in view of his duty. At length the condemned +men were placed on their knees and a file of soldiers held their guns +ready to fire at the command of the provost, when a horseman was seen +riding furiously from the direction of the telegraph office and it was +hoped that he might be the bearer of some message of mercy. True enough, +the benevolent Lincoln had pardoned them, and there was not one in the +crowd of spectators who did not feel relieved on hearing the good news, +and many a rough cheek was wet with tears. It will be readily believed +that the prisoners participated largely in the joy of the occasion. +There is an old fatalistic saying that "every wight has got his weird," +or that every man's career on earth and the manner of his death are +predestined. This may or may not be true, but many things occur to give +at least plausibility to the belief. One of these men thus rescued from +the very jaws of death, lost his life some twenty years afterward by +being shot by a woman whom he had grossly insulted with improper +proposals, and to whom he was about to offer personal violence. The +"weird," if there is such a thing, missed him at Harper's Ferry, but +overtook him some thirty miles farther up the Potomac. The author will +give another instance of apparent fatality. Like the sentimental Sterne, +he loves philosophical digressions which, perhaps, the reader may +pardon. Besides, the occurrence took place near enough to Harper's Ferry +to give it some little claim on the <a name="corr_067" id="corr_067"></a><ins title="Original: chonicles">chronicles</ins> of that +neighborhood. In the confederate army during the civil war was the scion +of a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> very respectable house in the lower valley of Virginia. Like other +young men, no doubt, he felt that in him was the making of a hero but, +in his first battle, he discovered that he had missed his vocation. In +his second and third battles his fears were confirmed and, still worse, +his comrades suspected the truth. He held on to the colors, however, +but, after a few more experiences, he ever sought some excuse for +absence from his post in time of battle, until his example was +considered detrimental to the service, and by a tacit connivance he was +allowed to quit the army and return home. It often happened that +scouting parties of the opposite sides would encounter one another near +his home and so great was his fear of death that on these occasions he +would hide himself in some <a name="corr_068" id="corr_068"></a><ins title="Original: bullet-poof">bullet-proof</ins> retreat. Once, a +skirmish took place nearly a mile from his home and he thought he could +view it safely at that distance. He however, took the precaution of +hiding in some high grass while looking at the encounter. All in vain +was his care, for a stray bullet found him and he received a mortal +wound.</p> + +<p>An understanding may be got of the war experience of Harper's Ferry from +the fact that the railroad bridge at the place was destroyed and rebuilt +nine times from June, 1861, to the surrender of General Lee at +<a name="corr_069" id="corr_069"></a><ins title="Original: Appomatox">Appomattox</ins> in April, 1865. Mr. Thomas N. Heskett, now dead, +assistant master of road for the Baltimore and Ohio railroad company, +every time superintended its construction, assisted by Milton and Oliver +Kemp, his foremen, and it very creditable to these gentlemen that, +notwithstanding the many disadvantages under which they labored, and the +hurry with which they were obliged to perform the work of +reconstruction, no accident occurred to any of the thousands of railroad +and wagon trains that passed over it during these years, which could be +traced to any defect in the bridge itself, or the track laid on it.</p> + +<p>At every evacuation of the place the wildest excitement pervaded the +town, and scenes of terror were frequently presented, mingled with +ludicrous occurrences. Few, however, could at the time command +equanimity enough to appreciate the laughter-moving side of those +pictures and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> see where the joke came in. A few days prior to a retreat +a vague rumor of approaching danger could be heard and immediate +preparations would be put on foot for a "skedaddle." There were in the +town many sympathizers with the rebellion, especially among the fair +sex. These were in constant communication with the insurgents, who kept +them informed of what was going on within the confederate lines, in +return for the news with which they were supplied of the doings of the +union troops. While, at heart, thoroughly loyal to the rebel cause, the +women of southern proclivities could never keep their information +concerning the movements of the confederates entirely secret. The love +of talk and the pride in knowing more than their neighbors always +betrayed them into giving some hints of what was impending and, in +consequence, the townspeople were but seldom taken by surprise. As the +enemy approached, the excitement would increase and, finally, a +<a name="corr_070" id="corr_070"></a><ins title="Original: motly">motley</ins> crowd of fugitives of every shade of color could be seen +tramping along the turnpike to Frederick City, ankle deep in mud or +enveloped in a cloud of dust and stewing with heat, according to the +season. Ideal socialism existed among them for the time being and a +practical illustration of the equality of mankind was frequently +exhibited when a darkey of the blackest shade of color, with a wallet +well supplied with hard tack and bologna sausages, or a bottle of +whiskey, commanded more consideration than the purest Caucasian, though +he could trace his lineage to the Crusades or the Norman conquest, if +deficient in his commissariat. Uncle Jake Leilic's hotel in Frederick +City was the headquarters of the fugitive Harper's Ferry people on these +occasions, and assembled there, they contrived to receive intelligence +about the movements of the rebels, until the danger had passed away, and +the confederates had retreated up the valley. Mr. Leilic deserved well +of many refugees whose pecuniary resources became exhausted while they +were away from home, and he is remembered by many with gratitude. He was +a good, honest, kindhearted, though blunt German—a native of Hesse +<a name="corr_071" id="corr_071"></a><ins title="Original: Darmstdat">Darmstadt</ins>. He has been dead many years and few<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> there are +to fill his place in the estimation of his surviving friends. The +retreats were called "skedaddles," a term invented at the time by some +wag. The originator in all probability was not aware that a similar word +is used by Homer to express the same idea and, if at any time, the +inventor should chance to read these pages, or should learn by any other +means of the coincidence, the information, no doubt, will afford him the +liveliest satisfaction. It must be confessed, however, that the +termination "daddle" is not homeric, as it is lacking in dignity and +such as would not be tolerated for a moment in the grand old language in +which the great bard wrote his sonorous hexameters. A correction in the +next edition is, therefore, respectfully suggested.</p> + +<p>After the surrender of General Lee a garrison was left at Harper's +Ferry, and for more than a year after the restoration of peace were the +ear-piercing notes of the fife and the boom of the drum heard on the +streets of that place. It may be said with truth that no spot in the +United States experienced more of the horrors of the war than that +village. The first act of the great tragedy—the Brown raid—was enacted +there and, at no time until the curtain fell, was Harper's Ferry +entirely unconnected with the performance. Even the cessation of +military operations was far from restoring the tranquility that used to +reign in this once prosperous and happy little community. In the spring +and summer of 1865 many families that had cast their lots with the +confederacy returned to the place to find their homes occupied by +tenants to whom the national government had rented them as being in a +condition of semi-confiscation. Some found their houses occupied by mere +squatters who had seized them as so much Treasure Trove, and who +impudently asserted their superior right to the property on the score of +loyalty, although the government had given no sanction to their +occupancy, and was simply passive with regard to the ownership. General +Egan, a gallant soldier of the State of New York, was for a short time, +in the summer of that year, in command of the post and, filled with pity +for the forlorn condition of the hapless owners and in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>dignation at the +effrontery of the intruders, he, regardless of technicalities, cleared +many of the houses of the riff-raff that had unjustly settled in them +and restored them to the former and real proprietors. Unfortunately, +this generous, brave and impulsive soldier was moved to some other +command, before his noble work of restoration was completed. We have +never been able to fully ascertain the identity of this gallant soldier +with the General Egan so prominent in the late war with Spain, but +assuredly our people at Harper's Ferry owe him a heavy debt of +gratitude.</p> + +<p>The new State of West Virginia had been created during the war, and +Harper's Ferry is the eastern extremity of that state. The then dominant +political faction, as usual, persecuted those, who in their day, were so +intolerant, and harsh election and school laws were enacted for the +purpose of rendering the defeated party incapable of ever again +asserting itself. During this state of affairs the writer was elected +superintendent of free schools, and never will he forget the +perplexities imposed on him by the office. It was his bounden duty to +establish schools all over the county, but it was equally incumbent on +him by law to see that no teacher was employed for any of the public +schools who refused to take an iron-clad oath setting forth his or her +unfaltering love for the union and hatred for its enemies, and also, +that the applicant for the place of teacher had never given aid in any +way to the late rebels. When it is considered that ninety-nine in every +hundred of the inhabitants of the county had been in active sympathy +with the rebellion, it will be evident that the school superintendent's +only way to escape a dilemma was to send to the loyal states for +teachers. Again, the salaries paid were too small to tempt people from +the north to reside in a hostile land to train pupils rendered +refractory by the bad examples of the war and imbued by their parents +with a hatred for "Yankees" as all northern people were styled. Finally, +the writer, finding it impossible to comply with the letter of an absurd +and contradictory law, resolved on following the spirit and underlying +principle of all public school legislation,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> and he took on himself to +dispense with all test oaths and employ teachers without reference to +their politics. His action in the matter brought him very near to +impeachment, but he brazened it out until the expiration of his term. +Again, a registration law then enacted, depriving sympathizers with the +south of the right to vote at elections, put into the power of county +boards to allow or refuse this right at their own sweet wills. Of +course, the boards were composed of "loyal men" and it is easy to +imagine how petty spite or interest in the election of some candidate +for office too often swayed the judges. Those whose property had been +injured by the rebels sought recompense by suing before the courts the +officers whose men had inflicted the damage, and all these causes, with +many others, combined to keep the town and neighborhood in a ferment for +several years, so that many thought that they had gained but little by +the cessation of actual warfare. Time, however, has happily cured the +wounds, though the scars will ever remain, and it is confidently hoped +that the historic village—the theme of this little book will +<a name="corr_072" id="corr_072"></a><ins title="Original: fourish">flourish</ins> again some day—the better, perhaps, for the fiery +ordeal through which it has passed—so mote it be!</p> + +<p>This concludes an imperfect account of Harper's Ferry in the war, and +the writer is impelled to comment on a fact which, although it may have +been accidental, appears to have a strange significance for a reflecting +mind. Of all the government buildings in the armory inclosure before the +war, the only one that escaped destruction in that fearful struggle was +John Brown's famous engine-house or fort. Of the occurrence that gave +fame to that little building there can be but one opinion from a legal +standpoint—that it was a violation of law for which the aggressors paid +a just penalty, if we consider obedience to human enactments without +reference to the moral code as obligatory on man. On the other hand, it +must be admitted that slavery was not only an evil that affected +perniciously every member of any community in which it existed, but an +anomaly in the model republic of modern times and this civilized +century. Who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> knows then by what providential interference an +enthusiastic fanatic may have been selected as an instrument in removing +that anomalous stain of slavery from the state that boasts of having +given birth to Washington and of containing his ashes, and from this +whole nation that now, at least, can truly call itself the Land of the +Free! The preservation of this little building was certainly remarkable +and, although the present owners of the old armory property have +sold—unfortunately, it is thought by many—this interesting little +relic of stirring times, and every brick of it has been conveyed away by +Chicago speculators, the actions of man do not lessen the significance +of the protection accorded to it by Providence from the day when the +first active protest against the great wrong of slavery was uttered in +fire from its door, until that sin was finally banished from the land. +The writer has no intention to dictate to property owners what they +ought to do with what belongs to them justly, but he cannot help heaving +a sigh for this great sacrifice of sentiment, as well as for the +material loss of a great attraction that brought hundreds of people +every year to the place to see a curiosity, and incidentally and +necessarily, to leave some money behind when they departed. But the site +is there yet and it takes but a slight stretch of imagination to +prophesy that it will be the Mecca to which many a pilgrim of this land +and of other lands will journey in future times as to a shrine +consecrated to liberty. Some seventy-five miles farther down the Potomac +is another shrine—the grave of Washington—and it is not his countrymen +alone who bare their heads in honor of the great man who rests in the +consecrated ground. From all civilized lands they come to venerate, and +even his ancient foes have been known to lower the haughty flag of their +country in his honor. They who come to Mount Vernon do not ask how much +right the British or the Americans had on their respective sides in the +war of the Revolution. They come to honor the heroic man who did so much +for humanity in obedience to his conscience and the same motive will +bring many to the site of the famous engine house—people who will not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> +take the trouble to examine the fine-spun sophistries and subtleties we +used to hear from politicians before the war, but will honor and revere +bona-fide honesty and the heroism that upholds the right and combats +wrong, even to the death, despite of legal quibbles. Many will consider +it sacrilege to compare George Washington with John Brown, but all must +admit that what the former began the latter completed or, at least, put +in the way of completion by Abraham Lincoln. All three deserve +imperishable monuments for all of them did the best according to their +light for the cause of humanity, and "Angels could no more." In 1859 it +was a high crime against the laws of Virginia and, we believe, of other +states, to teach a man of color the alphabet. In 1866, within a quarter +of a mile of John Brown's fort, was established "Storer College" for the +education of the ex-slaves and their descendants. Mistaken, fanatical, +or criminal as John Brown may have been, if we judge him by the results +of his actions at Harper's Ferry, we will not be considered +unreasonable, we hope, when we point to this flourishing seat of +learning to justify a great deal of favorable consideration for him by +posterity. He is getting it already, even in the life-time of many who +clamored for his blood, and the heroic old confederate soldiers are not +behind in doing honor to his undoubted courage and honesty. Brave men +will ever honor the brave.</p> + +<p>"Exegi monumentum aere perennius" may well be inscribed on the graves or +monuments of those three <a name="corr_073" id="corr_073"></a><ins title="Original: extraodinary">extraordinary</ins> men. No one now +grudges it to Washington or Lincoln, and the day will be when all will +concede the right to John Brown as well. "Tempora mutantur, nos et, +mutamur in illis."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI. +<br /><br />AFTER THE WAR.</h2> + + +<p>In 1862 Mr. Daniel J. Young, formerly master machinist at the rifle +factory, was sent from Washington City to take charge of the ordnance at +Harper's Ferry, as also, of all the government property at that place. +He was the same who, on the morning of the Brown Raid, ventured to +remonstrate with and warn the invaders. We have already given an account +of his services to the government and his promotion to the rank of +captain in the regular army, and how he was retained at Harper's Ferry +from the time of his appointment in 1862 until the end of the war, and +still farther, until 1869, when the government interests at the place +were disposed of at public sale. In the meantime, he was made defendant +in a suit against the government for possession of the most important +part of the armory grounds—the plaintiff being Mr. Jacob Brown, of +Charlestown, West Virginia, who had a long-standing claim for said +property, arising from alleged irregularities in the original purchase. +The case was decided in Parkersburg, West Virginia, in August, 1869, +Chief Justice Chase presiding <a name="corr_074" id="corr_074"></a><ins title="Original: a tthe">at the</ins> trial. The verdict was +in favor of Captain Young and the government. Some years before Mr. +Brown had another suit with the government for another piece of +property. This first trial took place in the United States Courts, at +Staunton, Virginia, and the result was adverse to Mr. Brown's claim.</p> + +<p>During the winter of 1868-69 a bill was introduced into Congress and +passed, providing for the sale of the government property at Harper's +Ferry. On the 30th of November and the 1st of December, 1869, therefore, +it was put up at public auction, and the armory grounds and the site of +the rifle factory were purchased by Captain F. C. Adams, of Washington, +D. C., for the sum of two hundred and six thousand dollars, with one and +two years time for the payment. Most of the houses and lots<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> belonging +to the government in other parts of the town were disposed of to +citizens on terms similar as to time, and very high prices were offered. +Captain Adams represented, as he said, some northern capitalists, and +great hopes were entertained for the revival of manufactures at the +place and the renewal of the old-time prosperity.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding the great depression of the times—since the war—as +far, at least, as Harper's Ferry is concerned—a good deal of enterprise +has been exhibited by many of the old citizens of the place. In July, +1867, Mr. A. H. Herr, an extensive manufacturer and the owner of the +Island of Virginius, of whom mention has been made in this book several +times heretofore, sold his interest at Harper's Ferry to the firm of +Child & McCreight, of Springfield, Ohio,—both now deceased. This +property is romantically situated on the Shenandoah which bounds it on +the south. On the north and east it is bounded by the canal, constructed +to facilitate the navigation of the Shenandoah, and on the west by a +waste way of the canal communicating with the river. The island contains +thirteen acres on which were, before the war, twenty-eight neat +dwellings, one flour mill, one cotton factory, one carriage factory, one +saw mill, a machine shop and a foundry. It will be remembered that in +1861, shortly after the skirmish at Bolivar, a party of confederates +visited the town and destroyed the flour mill. From that time there was +no business conducted on the island until the sale of that property to +the above mentioned firm. These gentlemen, having availed themselves of +the talents of Mr. William F. Cochran, then so well known for his +thorough knowledge—theoretical and practical—of machinery, immediately +commenced fitting up the cotton factory for a flour mill. A large force +of men was kept in employment for fifteen months, preparing the building +and putting up the machinery, under the direction of Mr. Cochran. The +works were of the most approved description, set in motion by four +turbine wheels, the power being that of three hundred horses. There were +ten run of buhrs, which turned out five hundred barrels of flour daily +and, in the whole, it was said by adepts in that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> business, to be a +marvel of ingenuity, which greatly added to the previous and +well-established fame of Mr. Cochran. That gentleman, after varied +fortunes and many vicissitudes, lost his life in a railroad accident in +Michigan, in January, 1889. He was a native of Scotland and he served +some years in the British navy. Messrs. Child & McCreight, the new +proprietors of this desirable property, soon won for themselves golden +opinions among the people of the place for their courteous demeanor, and +the success which at first attended them, gave unalloyed pleasure to all +with whom they came in contact. They associated with them as a partner, +Mr. Solomon V. Yantis, an old resident and long a merchant of Harper's +Ferry, where his character was of the very best as a business man and a +good citizen generally. Of the twenty-eight dwellings on the island +nearly all were put in repair and the work performed on them, as well as +on the new flour mill, gave employment to many who otherwise must have +suffered from extreme destitution. Many other improvements have been +made in the town since the close of the war and the traces of that +fearful struggle were gradually disappearing when the calamity of the +great flood of 1870 befell the place and, not only retarded its +recovery, but left a part of it in far worse condition than it was at +any time in its history. The Presbyterian church had been put, during +the rebellion, to the most ignoble uses, the upper part being used for a +guard house and the basement for a horse stable. The venerable Dr. +Dutton, a gentleman of great piety and deserved popularity, took charge +of the congregation soon after war, and by great exertions succeeded in +restoring the building to its pristine, neat appearance. Dr. Dutton died +some years ago and his death was a severe loss, not only to his own +flock, but to the general society of the town and neighborhood.</p> + +<p>The Catholic church, also, was repaired through the energy of the +Reverend J. J. Kain, a young priest of great promise, who has since +risen to the dignity of Archbishop. He established a school, or rather +revived one organized in 1854, but, of course, broken up by the war. +This school,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> under several teachers, was singularly successful, and +many men now eminent in various professions confess their great +obligations to this remote and humble seat of learning. Through the +exertions of Father Kain, a fine bell was purchased and suspended in the +church steeple and at morning, noon and vesper hour, its musical notes +sound with a sweet solemnity through the romantic glens of the Blue +Ridge, admonishing all who hear them to pause and worship the great +architect of the stupendous scenery around them. It may be remarked +that, of all the churches in Harper's Ferry proper, this one alone +escaped destruction or desecration during the war—an exemption due to +the courage of the late Reverend Dr. Costello, who was at the time +pastor and who, alone, of all the ministers of the place, remained to +defend church property. It was said that on one occasion it was proposed +by some union soldiers of intolerant opinions to burn down this +building, but that the project was abandoned on account of the proximity +of some regiments with views friendly to that church who, it was +believed, would resent any injury or indignity done to it. It may be +that there never was any intention of attacking it, and that the rumor +originated from the unmeaning threats of some drunken brawler. Anyway, +there never was the least injury done to it by either party, except that +its roof and walls were indented in many places by stray bullets. As +before stated, this church has been torn down and a new one erected on +its site. The Methodist Episcopal denomination at the place lost their +church in Harper's Ferry proper, and there is not a single trace of it +remaining, but as there was another church belonging to the same +denomination in Bolivar which had escaped destruction in the war, did +not deem it necessary to rebuild at <a name="corr_075" id="corr_075"></a><ins title="Original: Haper's">Harper's</ins> Ferry. The two +congregations have united to worship at the Bolivar church.</p> + +<p>The Lutheran church at the place was used for hospital purposes in the +war. At the restoration of peace the building was renovated and it now +presents a very neat appearance.</p> + +<p>About the time of the termination of the civil war a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> gentleman named +Storer, residing in some part of New England, made a bequest of a large +sum of money for the endowment of a college for the education of the +freedmen. Harper's Ferry was chosen as the site and a charter was +obtained from the legislature of the new state of West Virginia for it, +under the title of "Storer College." The board of trustees appointed by +the testator were all of the Free-will Baptist persuasion in compliment +to the marked dislike manifested to slavery by that communion before and +in the course of the war. The Reverend N. C. Brackett, a minister of +that denomination was sent to take charge of the institution, and the +success which he has met in conducting the difficult duties of his +office, fully justifies the choice. The farm of Mr. William Smallwood in +Bolivar was purchased by the board for the location of the college, but, +the government having donated to the institution four large houses on +Camp Hill with lots attached, one of those buildings—the +superintendent's house—with a large frame structure erected soon after, +is used for college exercises. The principal, Mr. Brackett, is an +accomplished scholar, a gentleman in every sense and a practical +Christian. He is, moreover, a man of great firmness and this, coupled +with his suavity and well known integrity, insured a triumph over the +prejudice against the school, which it cannot be denied, existed and +still exists through the neighborhood.</p> + +<p>Messrs. Matthew Quinn and J. M. Decaulne—both now long deceased—Daniel +Ames, who died recently, and James Conway erected four fine houses after +the war—the last named after the government sale. The lower floors of +these buildings are occupied as store rooms and the upper as dwellings. +Mr. Murtha Walsh, who, too, is now dead, erected a similar house on the +site of the old and well known Doran store and, later, a fine dwelling +and store adjoining Mr. Conway's house. A frame building put up about +the close of the war, adjoining the old Doran property, supplied for +many years the place of Fouke's hotel, destroyed by federal troops in +1862. The building last mentioned was pulled down a few years ago to +make way for a railway depot not, however, before the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> erection of a new +hotel near the opposite corner by Mr. George W. Greene, who soon after +sold out to the Conner Brothers, from whom it now takes its name of +"Hotel Conner." Mr. Theodore Conner now conducts it. Messrs. Thomas N. +Beal, James McGraw, John Fitzpatrick, George Breedy, Edward Colgate, +William Luke and many others have built new houses or renovated old +ones. The author of these pages, too, has contrived to scrape together +enough to invest in a new cottage, and he will say for his house that, +if it has no other merit, it <a name="corr_076" id="corr_076"></a><ins title="Original: command">commands</ins> a view unsurpassed +anywhere for beauty or sublimity. Tourists who admire its situation have +christened it "Sunset Cottage" on account of the magnificent spectacle +to be seen from it, when the Day God descends to rest, but the owner, +while fully appreciating the poetic name which enthusiastic travelers +have given to his modest home, prefers in the interest of truth, as well +as of poetry, to name it "Moonshine Cottage," and the reasons are as +follows: Heretofore, he has recommended to his readers who may be +desirous to get the best view of Harper's Ferry, to <a name="corr_104" id="corr_104"></a><ins title="Original: chose">choose</ins> a moonlight +night and the cemetery, for the time and place to enjoy the sight. Like +Melrose Abbey, it does better in "the pale moonbeams" than in the garish +light of day, and, next to the cemetery, the author's new cottage is the +best standpoint from which to survey the moonlit scenery of the place. +Again, the house itself, though substantial enough, may be said, in one +sense at least, to be composed of moonshine, when the methods whereby +the owner acquired the means to erect it are considered. His youth and +early manhood were spent in hard toil, much to the benefit of his fellow +men, but not a bit to his own. At the age of nearly half a century he +found himself as poor as when he began life, although, as before said, +his labors had helped materially to enrich others. At length he made the +discovery, which he ought to have made thirty years before, that mankind +love nothing so well as being humbugged, and the happy thought struck +him that a history of Harper's Ferry would tickle the fancy of the +traveling public and, sure enough, the idea proved to be an inspiration. +This<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> is the third edition of a nonsensical rigmarole that has no merit +in the world, except absolute truth, which is something in its favor, +and the happy result that its author, from the proceeds of the sale, was +enabled to build "Sunset" or "Moonshine Cottage"—call it as you +will—for either name is logical and appropriate enough.</p> + +<p>From the foregoing pages it will be seen that Nature has done much for +Harper's Ferry and that industry and art improved its natural +advantages, until the frenzy of war was permitted to mar the beneficent +designs of Providence, and the labors of three-quarters of a century. It +will soon appear as if Heaven, in its anger at the folly and ingratitude +of man, had marked the place for total destruction when, in addition to +the ravages of war, the power of the elements was invoked to overwhelm +the town, as will be seen in the following account of the great flood of +1870:</p> + +<p>In closing the eventful history of Harper's Ferry we must not omit the +greatest, perhaps, of the series of calamities which, commencing on the +day of John Brown's raid, culminated in the destruction of the most +flourishing part of the town by a great flood in the Shenandoah on +Friday, September 30th, and Saturday, October 1st, 1870. On the Tuesday +before the inundation it rained heavily at intervals, as also, on +Wednesday, Thursday and the morning of Friday. No extraordinary rise of +either river was anticipated, however, as from the long drought of the +previous months, the streams were greatly reduced and the most that was +anticipated was a moderate increase in the volume of water, such as is +usual in equinoctial storms. On Friday morning, however, many persons +noticed the rapidity with which the Shenandoah rose, and something in +the fierce dash of its tawny waves against the rocks near its mouth +attracted unusual attention. All that day this river rose very fast, and +about 4 o'clock, p.m., its banks were crowded with people watching the +furious rush of the water and the drift which, in great quantities and +of a miscellaneous character, was tossed on its angry waves. About this +time a vague rumor was circulated that a telegraphic<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> dispatch had +arrived from Front Royal, about fifty miles farther up the +Shenandoah—on the south fork—stating that a water spout had burst on +the Blue Ridge at a point still farther up the valley, that a deluge was +pouring down and that the people of Harper's Ferry, especially, were in +imminent peril. While people were yet speculating on the probability of +the truth of this report and, before the lapse of half an hour from the +time of the arrival of the dispatch, several citizens came rushing from +the Island of Virginius, who stated that they had had just time enough +to escape to the main land before bridges connecting it with the island +were swept away, and that many people were left behind whose houses were +already partially submerged. Even then, few people in the lower part of +the town could realize this state of affairs, but before many minutes a +column of water rushed along the streets and around the houses, which +immediately convinced everyone that saw it of the dreadful truth. Of +this body of water marvelous accounts are given. It is said that it rose +at the rate of six feet in four minutes and, although it is probable +that the terrors of the people exaggerated the swell of the waters, the +fact that this extraordinary tale was readily believed will give an idea +of the reality. Up to 8 o'clock, p.m., however, it was hoped that all +who had not escaped from their houses on Virginius and Overton's islands +and on Shenandoah street would be safe, and that the inconvenience of +being separated from their friends for a few hours and that of cleaning +up for some days after, would be the extent of the damage. Between 8 and +9 o'clock, however, the water had risen to such a height as to cause +serious apprehension for the safety of the families so cut off, and the +extraordinary rapidity and fury of the river made it impossible for +their more fortunate friends to render them the smallest assistance. +About this time an excited crowd had gathered at the foot of Union +street, watching with intense anxiety for the fate of some families on +Overton's island, directly opposite, and about sixty yards distant. +Between them and the island rushed an impetuous torrent to attempt to +cross which, in a boat, would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> be madness and the distance was too great +to allow a rope of sufficient strength to be thrown to the assistance of +the helpless people. The scene was truly terrible. The screams of men, +women and children in imminent peril of drowning or being crushed by +falling houses, and the sympathetic cries and sobs of the pitying +spectators were partially lost in the thunders of the furious tide and +the spectral light of a young moon wading through heavy masses of cloud +gave a weird coloring to the fearful picture, which added greatly to its +horrors. Five families resided on this island. One house, a large brick +building, was rented and occupied by Mr. Sidney Murphy. A small frame +tenement was occupied by the widow Overton, her daughter, the widow +Mills—and a young child of the latter. Samuel Hoff and his wife lived +in a third house, James Shipe and his wife in a fourth and Jerry Harris, +a very worthy old colored man, with his wife, daughter and two +grandchildren, in a fifth. Mr. Murphy and his family, as well as Mrs. +Hoff, had fortunately taken alarm at an early hour in the evening and +escaped a few minutes before the destruction of the footbridge on which +they had passed over. This being light and not firmly secured to the +bank on either side, was soon swept away by the rising waters. The other +residents, thinking, no doubt, that, as their houses had stood many +assaults from the river in former floods, they might venture to remain, +unhappily concluded to take chances. About 9 o'clock a crash from a +falling house was heard and piteous appeals from a drowning man for aid +rose above the noise of the waters and were conveyed to the ears of the +spectators on the main land. It appeared as if he had been washed from +the falling house and had drifted to a tree some yards below, to which +he was clinging <a name="corr_077" id="corr_077"></a><ins title="Original: wth the proverbal">with the proverbial</ins> tenacity of a +drowning man's grip. This was supposed to be Samuel Hoff. James Shipe, +who escaped almost miraculously, afterwards explained the situation, and +the surmises of the people proved to be correct, as it was Hoff who, +carried from his own door by the current, grasped a small tree and +appealed for assistance. Of course, no aid could be given to him, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> +the poor fellow's voice was soon hushed in death. Shipe said that his +own house was the first to give way and that before its collapse he +stripped and prepared for swimming. He then put an arm 'round his wife +and as the house fell in he jumped with her into the river. Opposite to +his house was a water station of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad +company, and as this was the most substantial building near him, he swam +towards it and endeavored to clutch the wall with one hand while the +other was supporting his wife. Several times he caught some projection +of the building, but as often was beaten off by the powerful waves that +surged around it. At length, <a name="corr_078" id="corr_078"></a><ins title="Original: His">his</ins> wife requested of him to let her +go and to save himself, saying that she was prepared to die, but that he +was not. He would not consent, but a large and furious wave soon decided +the loving controversy by lifting them up and dashing them against +something, thereby loosening his hold on her, when she immediately sank +and disappeared forever from his view. A covered bridge of the railroad +which had been washed away a few minutes before and had lodged on some +obstruction, now presented itself to him and held out some hope of +safety. He was drifting rapidly and although the water was cold, he had +not much difficulty in reaching the bridge. When he gained it, however, +he found the water so rapid that it was impossible for him to retain any +hold on the sides. He tried to get on top of the roof, but he was caught +in the current which rushed through the bridge and which he was unable +to resist. Onward, he was hurried and in his passage he was dreadfully +lacerated by nails and salient angles of the timbers, besides being +stunned and confused to such a degree that he could not get a hold on +the wreck, but drifted below it. Of course, there was no hope of +returning against the tide, and he swam for the lower island. Here he +succeeded in clutching a tree that grew near the house of a man named +Hood. He succeeded in climbing into the forks of the tree and, for the +first time since his immersion, a strong ray of hope was presented to +him. The house was not many feet from the tree and he succeeded in +jumping to a window. He found<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> no one in the house, the family having +abandoned it early in the evening. The water had reached the second +story and the house was tottering. Fearing that he would be crushed by +the falling building he returned to the tree just as the house gave way +and fell into the seething flood. He then swam to another house in which +he found a pair of pantaloons—the only article of clothing he had to +protect him from the cold, which he now felt benumbing. He was rescued +late on Saturday evening, when the water had partially subsided, and it +will be readily believed that by this time his condition was pitiable. +This is his account and, certainly, at least, a <b>part</b> of it is true, as +his story is corroborated in many particulars by the testimony of others +who saw him at various stages of his strange adventure. After the +disappearance of Hoff great excitement was noticed in the houses of Mrs. +Overton and Mr. Murphy, into the latter of which it appears that Jerry +Harris and his family had rushed from their own as to a place of greater +safety. Lights were seen carried rapidly from place to place at Mrs. +Overton's, and, from Mr. Murphy's the sound of Harris' voice was heard +apparently in earnest appeal to Heaven for assistance. A light was seen +for an instant on Mrs. Overton's porch, and, but for an instant, when it +disappeared and the porch was seen to drift with the current. It is +supposed that either Mrs. Overton or Mrs. Mills had taken the light to +see how the water stood around the house, and that just as she stepped +on the porch it was torn loose and she was overturned into the water. +Thus was the sudden disappearance of the light accounted for by the +spectators. In a minute or two the building was heard to fall with a +crash and none of the occupants was seen again or, if the bodies were +found, it was by strangers on the lower Potomac, who knew not whose +remains they were. In a short time Murphy's house also disappeared and +with it Harris and his family, making a total of ten deaths in this one +group of buildings.</p> + +<p>In the meantime, the greatest consternation prevailed in the lower part +of the town. Many families that had remained in their houses on +Shenandoah street, expect<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span>ing every moment the flood to attain its +greatest height and then subside as suddenly as it had risen, finding +that it increased with great rapidity and persistency, made efforts to +escape about 7 o'clock, p.m. A family named Kane living between the +Winchester and Potomac railroad and the Shenandoah river were rescued +with great difficulty by passing a basket to them on a rope thrown +across the abyss and transporting them, one by one, to dry land in this +novel aerial carriage. Charles King, at one time proprietor of the +Shenandoah House, a man of great physical strength and activity as well +as courage, directed the operations of the rescuing party and, in +several other instances, rendered valuable assistance in saving life and +property. The Widow Furtney and family, living at the upper end of +Shenandoah street, were rescued in the same manner as were the Kanes, +and, in the latter case, the Reverend Daniel Ames, another citizen, +exhibited a great deal of courage and tact.</p> + +<p>Mr. William B. Fitzpatrick, supervisor of track on the Winchester and +Potomac railroad, while attending to his duties some hours before, near +Strasburg, Virginia, learned that the river was swelling to an unusual +height and, fearing for the safety of his family at Harper's Ferry, he +hastened home on his engine and had just crossed the bridges on the +islands when they were swept away. As the engine proceeded along the +trestling through Harper's Ferry, the track swayed in such a manner that +it was with the utmost difficulty the engineer could direct his course +and, just as they left the trestling and landed on terra firma at the +market house, the uprights that supported the track above the solid +ground gave way before the force of the waters, and at the same time, +the houses from which the Kane and Furtney families had been saved, as +well as others from which the inmates had fled or had been rescued, fell +with a horrible crash, and so completely were they demolished that in +some cases there was a doubt afterwards as to their exact site, the very +foundations having disappeared. Mr. Fitzpatrick found it impossible to +reach his family, but having climbed the hill on which the Catholic +church is built and descended<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> it on the other side to the water's edge, +he stood opposite his house and called to his wife inquiring how it +fared with her and their children. She replied that the house was giving +way—that the walls were cracking and that she expected to be swept away +at any moment, but at the same time she appeared to be more concerned +for the safety of her aged and feeble mother, who was at the time lying +sick in bed in the house, than for her own. Mr. Fitzpatrick, who was a +man of the most acute sensibility, and who was thoroughly devoted to his +family, became completely frantic, offering all that he possessed to any +one who would venture to help him across the raging torrent to their +aid. The utmost sympathy was felt for him, but nothing could be done to +assist him in a rescue. The poor fellow sat all night on a rock opposite +his house and, between the paroxysms of his grief, sent words of +encouragement across to his dear ones. The behavior of Mrs. Fitzpatrick +under the circumstances was very remarkable. She evidenced the most +extraordinary coolness and courage and was heard to express her +willingness to abide by the decrees of Providence, manifesting a +composure in the face of death, which could arise only from a +consciousness of her having lived a good life and from a well founded +hope of happiness hereafter.</p> + +<p>Interminable appeared that autumn night to the anxious watchers in the +town and few, even of those who had nothing at stake, thought of sleep. +At length the dawn appeared and, from marks left by the water it was +seen that the river had fallen a few inches. Joyful news this was to +all, but people of experience in such matters were far from being +relieved from all anxiety, as it is well known that the turn of a flood +is the most critical time for a building that has been exposed to the +action of the current. As soon as it was clear daylight the attention of +many people was directed to the house of Mr. Samuel Williams—the same +gentleman that was taken prisoner by John Brown's men at the rifle +factory—situated on the very bank of the river, near the ferry crossing +to Loudoun, in which it was known that not only the Williams family but +those of Messrs. John Greaves and James<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> Anderson were imprisoned. The +last two resided in small buildings near the house of Mrs. Williams and +they and their families had barely time to escape to his more +substantial residence, when their own houses were swept away. As soon as +there was light enough the endangered people were seen crowding to the +windows and gesticulating wildly, but their voices were lost in the roar +of the rushing waters and the reason for their great excitement at this +particular time was not fully understood until they were rescued in the +afternoon, as will be narrated hereafter. At that moment nearly the +whole side of the house fronting the river fell in, and very naturally +caused the hapless prisoners to give up all hope. Of course, nothing +could be done for them then, as the water had fallen but a few inches, +and, as the other people in the town were not aware of the catastrophe +to the river side of the house, there was not as much anxiety felt for +them as their situation really demanded. Besides, two trees that grew +near the end of the house, looking up stream, had gathered a vast pile +of drift, and the sleepers and other timbers of the railroad that had +been wrecked on the previous evening, still connected by the rails, had +swung about and surrounded the house, collecting a great deal of +miscellaneous rubbish which broke the force of the current and +materially protected the building. Still great uneasiness was felt and +hundreds of eyes eagerly watched the watermark, but for many hours there +was but little fall and, indeed, it was 4 o'clock, p.m., on Saturday +before there was any marked diminution in the volume of water.</p> + +<p>About 10 o'clock, a.m., on Saturday, the crowd of spectators that +covered the hill near Jefferson's Rock, heard a crash on Virginius +Island and soon it was known that the noise was caused by the falling in +of a portion of the building occupied by Mr. John Wernwag as a dwelling +and a machine shop. Mr. Wernwag was the same that has been noticed in +this book as a man of great mechanical genius, but very retiring habits. +He resided alone in this house and, surrounded by strange tools and +devices of his own planning and construction, and entirely de<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span>voted to +those creatures of his brain and hand, he lived in a world of his own, +voluntarily cut off from association with his kind. In a few minutes the +sound was repeated, when the remainder of the building crumbled and fell +into the tide. The roof floated down the stream, but at first nothing +was seen of Mr. Wernwag himself. Many a loud and earnest prayer was sent +to Heaven from the throng of spectators for the soul of the poor recluse +and the hoarse murmur of many voices in supplication, mingled with +hysterical screams <a name="corr_079" id="corr_079"></a><ins title="Original: form">from</ins> women and the more sensitive of the +other sex, the wild rush of the river and all the awful surrounding +presented a combination of horrors happily of rare occurrence. Two large +trees grew on the river bank about a hundred yards below the island, +and, as the roof floated down the stream, it fortunately dashed against +one of them and was broken in two. Through the space made between the +portions of the roof Wernwag's head was seen to emerge from the water +and soon the brave old man had succeeded in climbing nimbly to one of +the pieces. He had sunk under the roof and would have been suffocated in +a few minutes had not the tree broken the incubus that was preventing +him from making any exertion to save <a name="corr_080" id="corr_080"></a><ins title="Original: hmself">himself</ins> by swimming. As +he secured his seat on the fragment he was seen to motion with his hand +as if bidding adieu to his life-long friends. It is probable that he +merely wiped his brow and put back his dripping hair, but the belief got +abroad that he motioned a farewell and the excitement of the people was +greatly intensified. Past the town he was hurried by the remorseless +flood, until he was lost to sight amid the waves of "the Bull Ring," a +rocky ledge that runs across the Potomac a little below the mouth of the +Shenandoah. Over this barrier in time of high water, the waves of the +united rivers plunge with a fury equalled only by the ocean tides +bursting on an iron-bound coast, and the most sanguine of those who took +heart on seeing Mr. Wernwag emerge from under the incubus and climb to +the fragment of roof, now gave up all hope of him, but in an hour or two +a report reached Harper's Ferry that he had been rescued<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> at Berlin—now +Brunswick—about six miles below. After a little more time the news was +confirmed, qualified, however, by the intelligence that he was likely to +die from the effects of the exposure. Shortly after, another rumor was +spread that he had died, but, about 8 o'clock, p.m., the old hero made +his appearance in the flesh, having been rescued, sure enough, and +having revived from a fainting fit into which he had dropped on being +landed from his perilous voyage. He had waited at Berlin for the +passenger train due at Harper's Ferry at the above hour, and having +taken passage on it he was restored to his anxious friends. He was +received with the greatest enthusiasm and conveyed by an exultant crowd +to the residence of his niece, Mrs. Julia Johnson. It was the +seventy-sixth anniversary of Mr. Wernwag's birthday and, taking into +account his age, as well as the circumstances of the adventure itself, +it is one of the most extraordinary instances on record of providential +preservation from what appeared to be inevitable destruction.</p> + +<p>Soon after Mr. Wernwag's hasty passage down the river, a ludicrous +mistake was near causing trouble between some of his friends. At that +time there lived at Harper's Ferry two men of hasty tempers, but of +generous impulses—one an Englishman and the other an Irishman. They +were inseparable companions and proverbial for their attachment to one +another. Both were great admirers of Mr. Wernwag and with moist eyes +they both stood close together on the river bank, when their old friend +was swept off to his death, as all supposed. Mr. Wernwag had an only son +who was named Edward. The young man happened to be away from the place +at the time, which was a great aggravation of the calamity supposed to +have been consummated. The boy's acquaintances used to call him +"Wernwag's Ed." and this familiar appellation was the cause of a +misunderstanding, which was near ending in a fist-fight, between the +friends referred to. About the time when the old man reached the "Bull +Ring" the Englishman turned to his Irish friend and asked him where he +thought Wernwag's Hed could be found—of course meaning the boy. As +usual with his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> countrymen, he used the aspirate "<b>H</b>" before the vowel. +The Irishman understanding the inquiry to refer to the poor old +gentleman's cranium, and thinking that the question savored of untimely +levity, replied that he supposed it would be found with the rest of the +body, and he added some comments to show his opinion of his friend's +heartlessness. The Briton feeling innocent of any wrong, and being a man +of pluck, put in a sharp <a name="corr_081" id="corr_081"></a><ins title="Original: rejoiner">rejoinder</ins> which was met by another +from the peppery Irishman. The quarrel was intensified by the laughter +of the by-standers who took in the situation accurately. The +interference of friends alone prevented a set-to and the belligerents +were alienated from one another for many weeks after. The matter dropped +when the mistake was explained and they became fully reconciled.</p> + +<p>About 4 o'clock, p.m., on Saturday, Mr. Williams and his fellow +prisoners were rescued by the same process that was used in saving the +Kane and Furtney families. Great difficulty was experienced in passing +to them a rope, as the distance was very great from the house of Mr. +Matthew Quinn, but through the ingenuity of a Mr. Crosby, of Ashtabula +county, Ohio, who was temporarily residing at the place, constructing +agricultural machines, a rope was cast after many trials to Williams' +house and the inmates were taken out, one by one, in a basket. Charles +King, before mentioned, was very active on this occasion, as was also +the Reverend Daniel Ames, who on the previous evening had distinguished +himself in rescuing the Furtney family. Mr. Ames ventured across in the +basket on its first trip to Williams' house, remained there encouraging +the women and children and securing the passengers with ropes in their +frail and unsteady carriage, and was the last to leave the tottering +building. When he arrived back he was received with rounds of applause +from the spectators, and the surrounding hills echoed with the cheers +sent up for his brave and self-sacrificing man. Mr. Ames was a man of +very mild and unassuming manners and the great courage manifested by him +on this terrible occasion was a matter of surprise to many who regarded +bluster as the only indication of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> bravery. Too much credit cannot be +given to him or Mr. King for their conduct at this time. They were both +New Englanders who came to reside at Harper's Ferry during the war, +where their upright and courteous behavior had gained for them many +friends long before this trying period, and where their heroic courage +on this occasion covered them with glory. Mr. Ames, as before stated, is +now dead, but Mr. King moved to New Haven, Connecticut, many years ago +and his subsequent career is unknown to us.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Fitzpatrick and family were rescued on Saturday about 9 o'clock, +a.m., by some young men who floated to their house on pieces of drift +and succeeded in bridging the gulf between the Fitzpatrick house and +that of Mr. Matthew Quinn. They did so by stopping and securing in some +way floating fragments of timber—enough to allow of walking from the +one house to the other.</p> + +<p>Early on Saturday morning a colored woman was found clinging to a tree +near the site of her house on Shenandoah street. She hung by the hands +to the tree, the water being too deep to allow her to touch bottom. Back +and forward she swayed with the current that eddied round the ruins of +her house, but she held on with a death grip. A youth named William +Gallaher went in a skiff to her rescue and, with the utmost difficulty, +succeeded in saving her life. At that time there was no injunction on +the name of Gallaher to "let her go," and, if there had been ten +thousand orders to that effect, Will was not the boy to obey any command +that militated against humanity. He was one of the author's pupils in +school, when the writer wielded the birch and this notice of the gallant +boy is given with a great deal of pleasure by his old taskmaster. Mr. +Gallaher died lately in Cumberland, Maryland. The woman told an almost +incredible tale; that she had thus hung on all night; that her cabin had +been washed away about 8 o'clock, p.m., and that her daughter had been +drowned, but that she had caught the tree and had retained her hold till +morning. It is probable that at first she got into the forks of the tree +and there remained 'till within a short time of her dis<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span>covery, when she +fell into the water from exhaustion but, yet, retaining the instinct of +self-preservation, had clutched the tree and held on with the grip of a +drowning person until she was rescued.</p> + +<p>Messrs. Child, McCreight and Hathaway, of the mill firm, as well as many +others living on the island of Virginius, had not yet been heard from, +when Mr. Williams <a name="corr_082" id="corr_082"></a><ins title="Original: an dhis">and his</ins> companions were saved. These +gentlemen and the Reverend Dr. Dutton of the Presbyterian congregation +who, also, resided on that island, were among the very best and most +respected citizens of the place. Their houses could be seen yet +standing, but, as the island was entirely submerged, it was plain that +each family was isolated and that no communication could easily be held +from one to another in case of special emergency, and it was feared that +some casualties might have occurred which, as in the case of the river +front of Mr. Williams' house, could not be perceived from the shore. +Each family had its own adventures and experiences to relate afterwards. +All the houses on the island, except that occupied by Mr. Child, were +badly injured and the lives of the inmates hung by a hair. The Reverend +Dr. Dutton was severely wounded by a brick that fell on his head from a +partition in his house which tumbled down suddenly while he was standing +near it. He was stunned and for a while rendered entirely helpless and +unconscious. He and his wife lived alone and, as there was no one to +render her assistance, Mrs. Dutton, as soon as her husband had partially +recovered, contrived to communicate with a neighbor who threw her a rope +by means of which, strongly bound by her delicate hands around her +husband, he was dragged through the water across to the neighbor's +house, where his wound was dressed and his wants supplied. The venerable +sufferer lay for a long time sick from the effects of his injuries and +the excitement and exposure of the occasion. He recovered, however, and +for some years after continued to serve his divine Master with his +accustomed zeal and devotion. He with Messrs. Child, McCreight and +Williams is now dead, and the survivors of their families are scattered +far and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> wide. Soon after the flood Mr. Hathaway, connected with the +firm of Child and McCreight and also a resident of the island, returned +to his old home in Ohio.</p> + +<p>About 7 o'clock on Saturday evening the water had subsided enough to +allow communication by boat with the island of Virginius, and Harper's +Ferry was left to present an indescribable appearance of ruin, +desolation and filth. The very streets were in many places ploughed up, +as it were, and chasms many feet in depth were made in the road bed. +Every house on the south side of the street, from the market house to +the Island of Virginius was either entirely destroyed or badly injured, +except that of Mr. Matthew Quinn, which was saved by the accident of the +falling of some heavily laden house-cars with the railroad trestling, +into the street near it and their lodging against it, which broke and +diverted the force of the current. Some seventy houses in all were +either entirely demolished or rendered uninhabitable and, as before +stated, in many instances, the very <a name="corr_083" id="corr_083"></a><ins title="Original: foundatons">foundations</ins> were +obliterated. All imaginable floating things were represented in the huge +piles of debris heaped up at corners or wherever the torrent met a +check. Trees nearly two feet in diameter were to be encountered +frequently, lodged the streets and the vast amount of rails, planks and +various kinds of timber gathered up for use, formed a very important +item of fuel for the citizens during the severe winter that followed. +Sadder than all, some forty-two lives were lost. Three families named +Bateman, numbering over twenty souls, disappeared, with a large brick +building at Shenandoah City—a suburb—into which they had fled from +their own houses for greater protection. Of these families only one body +was recovered for interment. The Batemans were humble, hard-working +people, supposed to have in their veins the blood of the Indians that in +former times possessed the land, tinctured with that of the African, but +they were a good deal respected for their industry and +<a name="corr_084" id="corr_084"></a><ins title="Original: unobstrusive">unobtrusive</ins> manners. It has been related before that ten +were lost on Overton's Island. Mrs. Margaret Carrol, widow of Eli +Carroll, formerly proprietor of the Wager house—afterwards called +Fouke's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> hotel—and, at one time owner of "Hannah" who saved the +author's life at the Brown raid, was drowned at the boarding house of +Mrs. Nancy Evans on Virginius Island. She was very old and feeble and, +when the family were retreating from the house on Friday evening, they +tried to induce her to accompany them, but in vain. Either not +considering the flood dangerous or being from age and infirmities, +apathetic about the result, she refused to leave the house and there was +no time to be lost in arguing the case with her, as the other inmates +had barely a few minutes in which to make their own escape. Soon after +the house was swept away and with it, of course, the hapless old lady. +Strangely enough, her body was found some weeks afterward about thirty +miles down the Potomac, near the mouth of Seneca creek, and within a few +paces of the residence of one of her relations. The corpse was +recognized by means of a ring with Mrs. Carrol's name engraved on it +which was on one of the fingers, and the remains were +<a name="corr_085" id="corr_085"></a><ins title="Original: forwaded">forwarded</ins> to Harper's Ferry for interment. Several persons +were drowned whose names cannot be gathered now, and, indeed, it is +probable that the loss of life was much more extensive than is generally +supposed, as it is known that the upper islands are always occupied by +stragglers and obscure people, of whom little note is taken in the +neighborhood, and the chances are that many of such temporary residents +were lost of whom no account was given and about whom no questions were +asked.</p> + +<p>A remarkable occurrence took place in connection with this flood which, +though, of course, accidental, was a very strange coincidence. The +Reverend N. C. Brackett, county superintendent of free schools, had +convened the teachers' association and had secured the services of +Professor Kidd, a well known itinerant lecturer on elocution, to give +instruction to them on this important branch of education. On Friday +evening, before any apprehension was felt from the river, he was holding +forth in the public school house, on Shenandoah street. He remarked on +the faulty construction of school houses in general through that region +as being a serious drawback on the comfort<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> and advancement of pupils, +and he turned the attention of his audience to the building in which +they were, as being about the worst-planned of any he had seen. Warming +with his subject, he expressed a wish that some convulsion of the +elements would take place for the special purpose of destroying this +house, so that another might be erected on a better plan. This wish, +thoughtlessly or playfully uttered, was, strangely enough, gratified +that very night. The river rose beyond all usual bounds and before 9 +o'clock, not a vestige of the obnoxious school house remained. Professor +Kidd, with his own eyes, witnessed the consummation of his desires, but +whether Heaven was moved by the Professor's eloquence or the thing would +have happened anyway, is a question which the writer will not undertake +to decide.</p> + +<p>Another strange occurrence used to be related by the late Mr. Edmond H. +Chambers, one of the oldest and most respectable citizens of the place. +Mr. Chambers was a class leader in the Methodist Episcopal church, and +Mrs. Overton, whose tragic death in the flood has been narrated, was a +member of his class. On the Sunday before the awful visitation, she +attended the class meeting and seemed to be excited to a high degree +during the exercises. Her unusual demeanor was noticed by all present, +and it could not be accounted for, as she was not generally very +demonstrative in her devotions. She went 'round among the members of the +class and shook hands with them all, bidding them farewell and saying +that, in all probability, she would never again meet them on this side +of the grave. Her words were prophetic for, sure enough, on Friday night +of the same week, she passed "the bourne from which no traveler +returns." Who can tell what message she may have received from that +mysterious world towards which we are all traveling—that her weary +pilgrimage on earth was nearing its end and that in a few days she would +rejoin the loved ones who had gone before her. It is useless for the +most practical and so called hard-headed of the world to deny that many +such presentments are felt, and that events often prove their +correctness. When people of nervous and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> susceptible natures take up the +belief that they are doomed to a speedy demise, it may be said with +plausibility, that their imaginations contribute to bring on some +disease to fulfill the prophecy, but when the catastrophe occurs through +accident or any means that did not or could not before affect the mental +or bodily health of the subject, we are bound to confess the probability +of some communication between the incarnate spirit and one of clearer +vision and superior knowledge. But, patience! We will know more about it +some day, perhaps.</p> + +<p>On Sunday, October 2nd, a meeting of the citizens was convened to adopt +measures for the relief of the sufferers and a subscription list was +immediately opened. All the people of the place who could afford to do +so, subscribed to the fund and, soon, meetings were held at Charlestown +and other places and large contributions of money, food, raiment and +fuel poured in from the neighboring country and many cities of other +states, so that in a few days provision was made for the support of the +destitute sufferers during the coming winter, and a committee composed +of the most prominent of the citizens regulated the distribution of the +funds, &c., subscribed by the charitable all over the country. Those +whose houses were destroyed or badly injured were kindly entertained by +their more fortunate neighbors until arrangements could be made for +rebuilding or repairing their own homes, and the sympathy evinced toward +those luckless people by their fellow citizens and kind hearted people +in other places was creditable to our common humanity. Had not the flood +been confined to the Shenandoah and, had the Potomac risen like its +tributary, it is possible to imagine the amount of damage that would +have been done. The rivers, it is true, would have checked one another +and lessened each other's current, but the water would have covered the +whole peninsula and that part at least of the beautiful Shenandoah +Valley would have been for a time what antiquarians and geologists +assert it formerly was—the bed of a considerable sea.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span></p> + +<p>It may be well to dissipate the gloom which it is probable the reader +feels after perusing this chapter of human suffering, and to give +cheerful finale to a history more than sufficiently melancholy. It is, +therefore, proposed that the author relate a joke on himself in +connection with the great flood and tell</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"How he was 'sold.'"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>If his book will meet with half as successful a "sell" as he met with +the writer will be perfectly satisfied. Immediately after the flood +there was a great demand among newspaper men for accounts of it from eye +witnesses, and the author "spread himself" as the saying is, in the +columns of a "daily" in a neighboring city. The main facts given in +these pages were narrated and some which the writer afterwards had good +reason to believe were apocryphal. There resides in Pleasant Valley, +Maryland, a jolly farmer and shrewd business man, whose name it is not +necessary to mention. He is much respected for many good qualities of +head and heart, and his company is much sought and enjoyed by lovers of +fun, for he is always ready to give and take a good joke. Hearing that +the author was collecting items for an extensive account of the +inundation, our wag determined to contribute his share of experiences, +and he related to the writer how, on the Saturday of the flood, he had +rescued, near his place, from the river, a colored woman who had floated +down stream, on the roof of a house, from Page county, Virginia, fully +seventy miles. He represented her as being a very large woman, so big, +indeed, that it was wonderful that the roof could float and carry her +weight. He also mentioned that when rescued she was composedly smoking a +short pipe. The historian who, like all men of great genius, is +remarkable for a child-like simplicity and an unsuspecting nature, +eagerly noted the remarkable voyage and the singular incident of the +pipe smoking, and next day the newspapers above referred to whose +editor, too, must have been a man of genius, came out with the +report—pipe story and all—and not until a skeptical friend of the +correspondent, and one who is of an investigating turn of mind, ventured +to ask how<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> the woman got fire to light her pipe, did the possibility of +his being deceived occur to the writer. In defense of his narrative and +of his feelings, the author suggested that she might have had matches on +her person, but as the chances were overwhelmingly against the +probability of there being any thing dry about her, he was obliged to +"confess the corn," as the phrase goes, and admit that he had been +duped. It was some consolation, however, to reflect that the shrewd +newspaper man had shared the same fate at the hands of the Pleasant +Valley Munchausen. The latter further related that the woman was staying +at his house, recruiting after her voyage and, this getting abroad, many +contributions of money and creature comforts came pouring into his care, +for the relief of his protege. There is a town not far from his house, +the inhabitants of which were Abolitionists before the war, and are +Republicans now. On hearing of the sad condition of the mythical black +woman and her miraculous escape, the citizens of that place assembled in +town meeting and subscribed liberally for her benefit. They were +however, and are very cautious, prudent people and they determined to +send a committee to inquire into the matter before remitting. Our friend +was equal to the occasion and, when the committee arrived at his house, +he showed them a strapping black woman who had been for many years in +his family, and pointed to her as a living witness to the truth of his +story. As the committee were not acquainted with domestics, they felt +perfectly satisfied and, on their return home, they reported favorably +of the affair, and the funds were sent. All he received for the use of +the black myth, Munchausen immediately <a name="corr_086" id="corr_086"></a><ins title="Original: transfered">transferred</ins> to the +Harper's Ferry relief association and the money and the joke contributed +to the comfort and merriment of the real sufferers.</p> + +<p>On the 25th of November, 1877, there was a big and disastrous flood in +the Potomac, caused by heavy rains in the valleys of both branches of +that river. There was no corresponding rise in the Shenandoah, however, +as the rains did not extend to any great degree to the regions drained +by the latter. Harper's Ferry did not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> suffer much from this +<a name="corr_087" id="corr_087"></a><ins title="Original: food">flood</ins>, except that the Chesapeake and Ohio canal, with which its +interests are to some degree identified, was almost entirely demolished. +That important channel of business has never fully recovered from the +loss it sustained on that occasion, and, of course, the whole country +bordering on it has been more or less affected by the depressed +condition of that useful thoroughfare.</p> + +<p>On the last day of May, 1889, both rivers rose to an unprecedented +height, but as the currents acted as mutual checks on one another, there +was comparatively little damage done to property at the place, except +from the filthy deposits left by the waters. This was the day of the +famous Johnstown disaster and, while the people of that place were being +hurried to destruction, the author of these pages was enjoying a swim in +the basement of his own house at Harper's Ferry—not "Moonshine +Cottage," however—the site of which will never be inundated until the +gap in the Blue Ridge is stopped up in some convulsion of Nature that +will topple over the Maryland and Loudoun Heights. He and his had +retreated to the upper part of the house, as soon as the lower floor was +flooded, but having forgotten to secure some important papers which he +usually kept in the apartment now under water, he was obliged to strip +and strike out to their rescue.</p> + +<p>Great as were the hopes excited by the sale of the government property +in November, 1869, and the promise of a renewal of business activity, it +soon appeared that those expectations were illusory. Captain Adams and +others interested in the purchase became incorporated under the title of +"The Harper's Ferry Manufacturing and Water Power Company" and the +captain more than hinted that Senator Sprague and other wealthy +manufacturers of the north were concerned as partners in the new firm. +On one occasion, soon after the purchase, a telegraphic dispatch from +Captain Adams reached the place stating that Senator Sprague would visit +the town on a particular day and address the people on "The Future of +Harper's Ferry." This looked like business and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> hand-bills were +immediately struck off and circulated through the surrounding country, +inviting all to assist the citizens of the place in showing honor to the +great man. A committee was appointed to present him with an elaborate +address, and preparations were made to receive him in a manner suitable +to the occasion. On the appointed day, however, the senator was "non +est" and it is said that he afterwards expressed great astonishment and +indignation at the unauthorized use of his name in the business. Then, +indeed, for the first time, did the people of Harper's Ferry begin to +suspect a fraud of some kind and future developments went to confirm +their unpleasant surmises. Though Captain Adams hired a watchman to take +care of the property, and he himself continued to visit the place at +intervals, it soon became apparent that his company were in no hurry to +begin manufactures or the preparations for them. After the flood of 1870 +some influence was brought to bear on the government to delay the +collection of the first installment of the purchase money, and a bill +was introduced into Congress to extend the time for payment to five +years. The grounds for this stay of collection and the bill were the +damage done by the high water to a considerable part of the property +purchased, and the great distress caused to the whole place by that +calamity. About the same time it became known that a claim was set up by +Captain Adams and his firm against the Baltimore and Ohio railroad +company for possession of the ground over which the road passes between +Harper's Ferry and Peacher's Mill. The railroad company had, many years +before, got the right of way through the armory grounds from the +government on certain conditions, and no one dreamed of their being +disturbed about it until the thought struck some Washington City +speculators that there was something to be made off the road by the +purchase of the armory property and the institution of a suit of +ejectment. In this way the people of Harper's Ferry were sacrificed to +the greed of a set of heartless speculators, and the injury was +aggravated by the absolute certainty that if Captain Adams had not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> made +his ill-omened appearance on the day of the sale the Baltimore and Ohio +railroad company would have purchased the property and erected on it a +rolling mill.</p> + +<p>The courts were now appealed to, but a recital of the many suits and +counter-suits between the government, the railroad company and the Adams +company would be uninteresting and tiresome. The latter first tried to +eject the railroad company and, failing in this, and finding that, as +they never intended to establish manufacturing at the place, their +enterprise was futile, they tried to return the property into the hands +of the government on the pretense that they could not get possession of +all they had bargained for. After a great deal of litigation the +government, no doubt, thinking that the game was not worth the candle, +as the saying is, finally cried "quits" and received back the property, +without enforcing any pecuniary claim arising from the sale. All this +time the people of Harper's Ferry were suffering from hope deferred and +truly sick were their hearts. The magnificent water power was lying +idle, as far as any general utilization of it was concerned, and so +matters rested until the year 1886, when the property was purchased by +Savery and Company, of Wilmington, Delaware, who, in the spring of 1887, +proceeded to render the water power available for the purpose of pulp +mills. These gentlemen encountered many difficulties arising from the +indefinite wording of old deeds made to the government at various times +and the conflicting claims of various property holders at the place. +Their most serious difficulty was with the firm of Child, McCreight and +Company, or rather with a new firm composed of some members of the +original one and others taken from time to time into the company. In the +summer of 1887 the United States Court at Parkersburg, West Virginia, +decided in favor of Savery and Company, standing on the rights supposed +to have been enjoyed by the government when the sale was made to these +gentlemen. In the meantime, a pulp mill was erected on the Shenandoah, +and, in some time after another on the Potomac. Savery and Company +experienced difficulties with the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> Chesapeake and Ohio canal company +also. The State of Maryland has always laid claim to jurisdiction over +the Potomac, as far as the ordinary water mark on the Virginia shore +and, as in times of drought, the volume of water in that river is but +little more than is required for the supply of the canal, the State of +Maryland, which owns a large interest in that work, when appealed to by +the canal company, used all its power to hinder the water from being +diverted to other industries than that of the canal which is under their +direct patronage and protection. The author is not advised as to the +result of this controversy, but both the pulp mills are in operation and +that on the Potomac—the one to be affected by any victory for the canal +<a name="corr_088" id="corr_088"></a><ins title="Original: comjany">company</ins>—is worked at present without any apparent +interruption. The new firm—Savery and Company—are evidently good +business men, and it would appear as if they had come to stay, and give +a start to a new Harper's Ferry. It is, perhaps, a good sign of their +business qualifications that they are not bothered with sentiment as is +shown in their sale of John Brown's fort. Everybody at the place wishes +them well and hopes that they realize a good price for this interesting +relic, but many regret that they did not retain it, as age but added to +its value to the owners and, indeed, to the whole town, for many a +tourist has tarried a day at the place expressly to get a good sight of +it, and the older it grew, the more interest was attached to it.</p> + +<p>When the author of this book had about finished his labors, he became +aware of something very interesting in connection with the site of +Harper's Ferry. Had he known it when he began, he certainly would have +given his readers the benefit of it at the start, for there it belongs +as, if it happened at all, it occurred away back in the misty ages of +history or, at least, of Christianity. It is true that he could have +remodeled his manuscript and penned it over again, but, as the Fatalists +say, "what is written is written" and the undoing of what has been done +might bring bad luck to him by putting him in conflict with Fate, +besides imposing much labor<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> on him for nothing, perhaps. From his +earliest years the writer has been familiar with the legend of Saint +Brandan or Borandan, a pious though enterprising Irish monk of the 6th +century, who embarked, it is said, on the Atlantic in quest of the +"Isles of Paradise," as they were called. At that time and, indeed, at a +much later period, there was a firm belief that there was, at least, one +island of exquisite beauty in the western Ocean, which appeared at +intervals, but always eluded those who tried to take possession of it. +There is reason to believe that some vision of the kind, the effect of +mirage was sometimes presented to the unsophisticated sailors and +fishermen of the olden time and as in those days science had scarcely +been born, it is no wonder that a belief in the actual existence of this +land was firmly fixed in the minds of a people imaginative and poetic as +the Irish, ancient or modern. Be this as it may, there is a well +authenticated tradition of the voyage of Saint Brandan in quest of this +evanescent land, and manuscripts of hoary antiquity preserved in +monasteries until the Reformation, and, since, in old families that +trace their lineage even to the times of the Druids, corroborate the +oral tradition. Grave historians of late times give respectful mention +to the voyage of Saint Brandan and many prefer a claim to his having +been the first European discoverer of America. Some time this +winter—1901-1902—the author saw in some newspaper a statement +purporting to be from some correspondent in Great Britain or Ireland, +that a manuscript had been discovered a little before, giving a +circumstantial account of this voyage—of the discovery by Brandan of a +land of apparently great extent and surpassing beauty—of the entrance +by the voyagers into a large bay, their ascent of a wide river that +emptied into it, and their final resting at the mouth of another river +in a chasm of awful sublimity. The correspondent concludes that Saint +Brandan had discovered America—that the bay was the Chesapeake and that +the river ascended was the Potomac. If we grant all this, we may +conclude, as the correspondent does, that the Saint rested at the mouth +of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> the Shenandoah, on the site of Harper's Ferry. As before noted, +there appears to be little doubt of the voyage or of the discovery of +some land by Brandan, for the most cautious writers of even the present +day refuse to treat the story with contempt, but whether we can +confidently follow him all the way from Ireland to our very door at +Harper's Ferry or not, is a matter for some consideration and future +developments. There is not a man in that town who does not wish the tale +to be true, for, besides the poetry of the matter, it would be a feather +in the cap of Harper's Ferry that it was presumably under the protection +of a saint and an Irish one at that. An Irishman, in the flesh, does not +stand on trifles when the interests of his friends are at stake and, +when he is translated to Heaven and invested with the dignity of a +saint, he may be relied on to put in some heavy licks for any cause or +person he loved while on earth. If the tale of the correspondent is true +in every respect, Harper's Ferry may be regarded as Saint Brandan's own +child—the heir to his fame on earth and the best entitled to all the +influence which he may command in Heaven. We must not inquire too +closely as to how he got past "The Great Falls" or what induced him to +undertake the great labor of the portage.</p> + +<p>Within a few years the Baltimore and Ohio railroad company have made +great changes at Harper's Ferry, enough to alter its appearance very +materially. In the summer of 1892 they commenced the cutting of a tunnel +of over eight hundred feet in length through the spur of the Maryland +Heights that projects over the old track near the railroad bridge. They +also commenced at the same time the erection of stone piers to support a +new bridge a little northwest of the old one. The course of the road bed +in the town has also been changed, for the old trestling has been +abandoned and the track has been laid across the eastern end of the old +armory grounds and over a part of the site of John Brown's fort. The +principal object of this change was to straighten the road and avoid the +dangerous curves at the old bridge and also to do away with the +perpetual expense<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> of keeping the trestle work in repair. In +consequence, the appearance of the place is greatly changed and not for +the better, but, happen what may, the eternal mountains will remain, +clothed with the verdure of spring and summer, the purple and gold of +autumn, or the snowy mantle of winter, according to the season. The +noble and historic rivers, too, will pour their allied waters through +the awe inspiring chasm which, in the course of bygone ages, their +united strength has cut through the gigantic barrier of the Blue Ridge. +The Bald Eagle—king of the birds—will sweep in majestic curves around +the turret pinnacles of the Alpine Heights or, poised on outspread +wings, will survey his unassailable ancestral domain and, if in the +garish light of day, the utter loneliness and wildness of the mountains +oppress the imagination, the gloaming and the tender moonbeams will +mellow the savage grandeur of the scene and invest it with a dreamy and +mystical beauty to soften and enhance its sublimity. Besides, whatever +may occur in the future, Harper's Ferry has in the past attained a fame +of which even Fate itself cannot deprive it and, as long as poetry, +romance and a love of the sublime and beautiful in Nature find a home in +the human heart, tourists from all the continents and the isles of the +sea will visit it, and the day will never come when there will be no +enthusiastic lover of freedom to doff his hat at the shrine of John +Brown. He was, anyway, a man of honest convictions who fought +desperately and died fearlessly for the faith that was in him, and what +hero has done more?</p> + +<p>Having spent a long and a very long winter's night in a haunted house +with a corpse for his only companion, and having been treated with +marked consideration by their ghostships in their not bothering him in +any way, the writer feels under obligations to give the spirits a puff +and keep alive their memory in an age of skepticism. He, therefore, +craves the reader's patience while he relates the history of an +invisible but exceedingly potent sprite that kept the neighborhood of +Harper's Ferry in a terrible ferment for a long time and that to this +day gives a name to a thriving village within a short distance<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> of that +town. Tourists who come to historic Harper's Ferry never fail to gather +all the stories they can, not only of the town itself, but of the +surrounding country, and it is partly for their benefit and partly to +honor the spirits that treated him so cleverly, that the author gives +the following legend. There are but few, indeed, in northern Virginia, +who have not heard the tale a thousand times, with endless variations, +all accounts, however, agreeing as to the main facts. The author has +heard many versions of it, but he will give it as he got it from a +gentleman now deceased—an ex-member of Congress and an ex-minister to +one of the most important nations of Europe. This gentleman spent much +of his youth in the immediate neighborhood of the village where the +great mystery occurred and he was on the most intimate terms with one of +the families that were conspicuous in the occurrence. Of course, he gave +it as he received it himself. He was born when the spirit was rampant, +but he got the story fresh from those who were witnesses to the mystery. +He was an eminent man and deeply learned—a graduate of Georgetown +College—and the writer would give a great deal to be able to relate the +story with the inimitable grace of his informant. Of course, he did not +believe the legend himself, but he cherished it as a memory of his +childhood and as a choice morsel of folklore.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_LEGEND_OF_WIZARD_CLIP" id="THE_LEGEND_OF_WIZARD_CLIP"></a>THE LEGEND OF WIZARD CLIP.</h2> + + +<p>In the southwest part of Jefferson county, West Virginia, within less +than a mile of the Opequon river so famous in the late war, is a drowsy +though well-to-do village that rejoices in three names—Middleway, +Smithfield and Wizard Clip. The first of these names it got from its +being exactly the same distance from Winchester, Martinsburg and +Harper's Ferry, and this is the name acknowledged in the postal service. +The second name—Smithfield—is derived from a very respectable family +of the far extended Smith clan that has resided there a great many +years. The last—Wizard Clip—it got from a singular legend, connected +with a house that once stood in the outskirts of the village. This +building, except a part of the foundation, has long since succumbed to +time. Not far from the site of the house is a tract of land known as +"The Priest's Field" which at one time belonged to a resident of the +aforesaid mansion—a man named Livingstone—but now forms a part of the +lands of Mr. Joseph Minghini. In the old burying ground of the village +is, or at least was shown a few years ago, a mound known as "The +Stranger's Grave" and these singular names will be explained by the +story.</p> + +<p>Some time about the commencement of the 19th century a Pennsylvanian, +named Livingstone, moved from his native state and purchased the farm on +which was the residence above referred to. He and his family took +possession of the house, and for several years they prospered. +Livingstone used to say that he had been unfortunate in life before his +moving to Virginia, and he was fond of contrasting his former failures +with his success in his new home. He is said to have been a man of a +mild and genial disposition, but tradition has it that his better half +was of a different temper and that, figuratively, she wore the garment +which is supposed to be the 'special prerogative and attribute of the +male sex. The facts of our tale, if indeed, they are bona fide facts<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> at +all, appear to bear out the popular estimate of the family, with the +addition, perhaps, that Mr. Livingstone was of a credulous turn of mind, +which exposed him to the machinations of some designing neighbors, who +took advantage of his unsophisticated nature and who, perhaps, were not +sorry to punish the wife for her lack of amiability. It should be noted +that the period of our tale long antedates railroads and steamboats. +Goods were then conveyed entirely by horse power and the principal road +from Baltimore and Alexandria to southwest Virginia, Kentucky and +Tennessee passed through Middleway. In consequence, long convoys of +wagons were constantly passing along this road which was within a few +yards of Livingstone's house. About three miles east of this residence, +also on this road, lived an Irish family, named McSherry, from whom are +sprung the many highly respectable people of that name who now adorn +nearly every learned profession in West Virginia, <a name="corr_089" id="corr_089"></a><ins title="Original: Marylang">Maryland</ins> +and Pennsylvania, especially that of medicine. Between these two +residences lived Joseph Minghini—an Italian—the grandfather of the +gentleman referred to as now owning the tract of land called "The +Priest's Field." The Minghini of our tale had accompanied the famous +general Charles Lee from Italy when that eccentric character was obliged +to fly from the land of Caesars, but finding himself disappointed in his +patron had set up for himself in the neighborhood of Middleway. So much +for a preface and now for our story.</p> + +<p>One evening a stranger called at <a name="corr_090" id="corr_090"></a><ins title="Original: Livingtone's">Livingstone's</ins> house and +asked for a night's lodging. This was accorded to him cheerfully by +Livingstone and, in justice to the lady of the house, it must be +recorded that tradition is silent on the subject of what she thought of +her husband's hospitality and, being an impartial chronicler, the writer +will give her the benefit of any doubt on the subject, especially as it +turned out afterwards that she had good reason to regret her having +"taken in the stranger." The family and their guest conversed for a good +part of the night, as is customary in Virginia on such occasions, and +the new acquaintances separated about 10 o'clock, Mr.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> Livingstone +conducting the stranger to a sleeping apartment and then betaking +himself to his own. After having slept some time, the master of the +house awoke and became aware of queer noises coming from the direction +of his guest's apartment. He arose, knocked at the stranger's door and +inquired what was the matter. The occupant replied that he was very sick +and that he had a presentment that he could not live 'till daylight. At +the same time he entreated that a Catholic priest should be sent for to +shrive him—that he had been brought up in the Catholic faith, but that +he had neglected religion when in health. Now he would gladly accept its +consolations, for he felt himself to be in extremis. Livingstone replied +that he knew of no priest of that faith anywhere near, and that he could +not hope to find one closer than in Maryland. He remarked, however, that +he had neighbors who were Catholics—meaning the McSherrys and the +Minghinis—and that they might set him on the track make inquiries of +those people. On this, the wife who, too, had been aroused, and +woman-like, was listening to the <a name="corr_091" id="corr_091"></a><ins title="Original: conversaton">conversation</ins> became very +angry and told her husband that, if he was fool enough to start out on +such a wild-goose chase, she would take good care to thwart him, even if +he succeeded in finding the clergyman, which was unlikely enough. She +was determined, she said, to hinder any Romish priest from entering her +house, and that the best thing Livingstone could do was to return to his +bed and leave the stranger to his fate. The good-natured and +well-disciplined husband submitted and again retired to slumber. Next +morning the guest did not appear for breakfast and Livingstone, a good +deal alarmed, went to the stranger's room and found him dead. The +neighbors of the family knew nothing of these occurrences, and the +Livingstones would not be likely to say much about them, unless they +were driven to a disclosure by the pangs of terror and remorse. They, +however, had the corpse on their hands, and, of course, the fact of the +death could not be concealed. A few neighbors were notified, and the +unknown was committed to nameless grave.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span></p> + +<p>No other designation can be given to him than "the unknown" because the +stranger had not revealed to the family his name or anything connected +with his history, except in the few remorseful words to Livingstone, +when he confessed to the sinfulness of his life. No clue was ever found +to his name, family or nationality, but, as the Livingstones did not +report any peculiarity in his accent, it is to be inferred that he was +an American by birth or very long residence.</p> + +<p>On the return of the family from the funeral late in the evening they +built a good fire and took their seats around it, discussing, no doubt, +the untoward occurrences of the previous night, when, suddenly the logs +jumped, all ablaze, from the fireplace and whirled around the floor in a +weird dance, sputtering sparks all about the room and seeming to be +endowed with demoniacal power and intelligence. Poor Livingstone, too, +danced around, trying to put out the fire, but it took him a long time +to do so, and no sooner had he thrown the smoldering sticks back into +the fireplace than they jumped out again and went through the same +performance as before, and Livingstone was again obliged to hustle for +the safety of his house. This was repeated at short intervals until +daylight, and the family did not get a moment's rest during that +memorable night. How the amiable lady of the house managed to cook +breakfast, tradition does not say, but from the fact that nothing is +related of suffering by the Livingstones from hunger, it is to be +presumed that the "spook" let up on them for a little while and allowed +them to get something to eat.</p> + +<p>Worn out, scared and disconsolate, the hapless Livingstone walked down +to the road that passed his house, the highway before referred to, and +was immediately greeted by a rough wagoner, who had stopped his team and +who wanted to know why the devil Livingstone had stretched a rope across +the highway and fastened it to a tree on either side, so as to impede +travel. Livingstone knew that there were trees, as the wagoner said, on +both sides of the road, but he saw no rope and wondered what the +apparently drunken teamster meant by accusing him<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> of such an absurd +thing. The driver angrily demanded that the obstruction be removed at +once and Livingstone disdained to make any reply, the infuriated +teamster drew a knife and slashed at the rope, but the blade met with no +resistance and, while the obstruction was palpable to his eye, it was +but an airy nothing to his touch. It was now the wagoner's turn to be +amazed. He knew not whether to offer an apology or not and, while he was +still pondering the matter, another team arrived and its driver went +through the same performance as the other, with the same result. At +length, Livingstone mildly suggested that they should drive on, +regardless of the intangible rope and so they did and passed along +without difficulty, attributing their delusion, no doubt, to the bad +whiskey of the neighborhood. Soon, however, other teams arrived and +again the spectre rope was in the way and again were repeated the +perplexity and the profanity of the first encounter. Every new arrival +brought the luckless Livingstone a fresh cursing, and so it was kept up +for several weeks. In the course of time, the demon, now acknowledged to +be around the place, adopted a new method of annoyance. A sharp, +clipping noise, as if from a pair of invisible shears, was heard all +through and around the house and, worse yet, all the clothes of the +family, their table cloths and bed coverings were cut and gashed, the +slits being all in the shape of a crescent. Of course, the news of these +unearthly doings soon spread, and people from all directions crowded to +see and hear what was going on. There are still preserved in some +families pocket-handkerchiefs that were folded in the pockets of their +owners when they visited the place, but, yet, were cut and marked in his +peculiar way by the demon of the scissors that kept up his "clip-clip" +around them while they were condoling with the afflicted family. One +lady visitor was complimenting Mrs. Livingstone on a fine flock of ducks +that were waddling through her yard on their way, perhaps, to the +neighboring Opequon, when "clip-clip" went the uncanny and invisible +shears and one after another the ducks were all cleanly decapitated in +broad daylight before the very eyes of the ladies<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> and many other +witnesses.</p> + +<p>At that time there lived in Middleway a German tailor, who, though fully +imbued with the mysticism of his native country, yet regarded with +contempt all vulgar superstitions, or what he considered to be such. He +boasted that he would stay all night alone in the house supposed to be +haunted and that, if he had time enough to spare for the purpose, he +could expose the imposture of the wizard clipping. He had just finished +a suit of broad cloth for a neighboring planter and had made up the +clothes in a neat package, when on his way to deliver them he passed +Livingstone's house, grinning at the folly of his neighbors in believing +that the place was tenanted by an evil spirit. "Clip-clip" went the +terrible scissors around the ears of the German who, in the plenitude of +his incredulity, invited the author of the sounds to "go for damn." He +proceeded to the house of his employer, opened his bundle with +professional confidence and pride, to exhibit his model suit, when, lo! +and behold! he found the clothes full of the crescent shaped slits and +utterly ruined.</p> + +<p>The excitement continued to spread and far and near extended the fame of +"Wizard Clip." One night a party of youngsters of both sexes assembled +at the house for a frolic, got up by the young men of the neighborhood, +who desired to show to the world and especially to their sweethearts +that <b>they</b> were not afraid, whoever else might be so, and curiosity led +many young ladies to the scene, in spite of the terrors of the place. +They were, perhaps, desirous to test the courage of their lovers, and +trusted for protection to the big crowd in attendance. One rough, +blustering fellow came all the way from Winchester, carrying his rifle. +He was courting a girl of the neighborhood of Livingstone's place, and +he determined to show off to the best possible advantage. Things +proceeded smoothly for awhile, and the young people were engaged in a +dance when, suddenly, "clip-clip" went the goblin shears, and the +Winchester hero felt something flap against the calves of his legs. He +reached down to investigate and found, to his consternation, that the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> +most important part of his nether garment had been cut loose from the +waist band and that there was nothing left for him to do but sit down +and keep on sitting 'till the festivities were over. His condition soon +became known to the others and, great as the terrors of the situation +were, nothing could prevent the company from tittering, until the +hapless hero found his plight so painful that he resolved to leave the +house, which, for the sake of delicacy, he was obliged to do by backing +to the door, while the ladies coyly looked in another direction. +Numberless are the tales related of the queer doings of the demon with +his invisible and diabolical scissors. Poor Livingstone lost heart and +even his wife's masculine courage gave way. The whole neighboring +country was, of course, intensely excited. One night Livingstone had a +dream. He thought he was at the foot of a hill on the top of which was a +man dressed in sacerdotal garments and appearing to be engaged in some +religious ceremony. While looking towards this strange man, the +afflicted dreamer became aware of the presence with him of some +disembodied spirit that whispered to him that the man in the priestly +garb could relieve him from his great trouble. He awoke and immediately +formed the resolution to appeal to some minister of the gospel to +exorcise his tormentor—the fiend of the "clip." He applied to his own +pastor, a Lutheran preacher who, of course, had heard of the affair, as +had everybody in the state. To please Livingstone, the reverend +gentleman visited the haunted house, but he experienced a reception so +hot that he concluded not to try issues any more with so potent a +spirit, and he left without accomplishing anything. Livingstone now +remembered that the minister of his vision wore priestly vestments and, +on the failure of his own pastor, he concluded that the party to help +him must be one who was usually arrayed with such adjuncts in the +performance of his rites. The Catholic, or perhaps the Protestant +Episcopal must, therefore, be the denomination for him to seek aid from, +and he found out from the Minghinis and the McSherrys that a certain +Father Cahill, who used robes such as he had seen in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> dream, would, +on a certain day, be at Shepherdstown, about ten miles away, to hold +Catholic service. They promised Livingstone an introduction to the +priest, and on the day specified they accompanied their unhappy neighbor +to the church meeting. At the first sight, Livingstone recognized in +Father Cahill the minister he had seen in the dream, and falling on his +knees and with tears streaming down his cheeks, begged to be relieved +from the thralldom of the evil one. Having been questioned by the +priest, he gave the whole history, including the unkindness to the +stranger guest. Father Cahill, who was a jovial, big-fisted Irishman, +alive as the Lutheran minister had been, to the absurdity of the whole +affair, tried to convince the sufferer that he was merely the victim of +some malicious practical jokers of his neighborhood. It was all in vain, +however, to try to dispel Livingstone's fears, and for sheer pity and, +perhaps, Irishman-like, not being averse to a shindy even with the devil +himself, the good father consented to accompany Livingstone home, and do +all he could to relieve him. At that time a Catholic priest was +something heard of with awe and superstitious dread in Virginia, but +very rarely seen there, and it is likely that the perpetrators of the +outrage on the hapless family were themselves victims of an unreasonable +fear of something that was formidable only from its rarity and from +attributes that existed only in their own ignorant and untrained +imaginations. Anyway, it is recorded that never after the visit of +Father Cahill were the diabolical scissors heard, and from that time +peace again reigned in the Livingstone household, but the name of +"Wizard Clip" still clings to the village and, it is to be hoped, that +the legend will not be allowed to die out for, laugh as we may at those +old time tales, they have a charm for even the most prosaic and +skeptical. John Brown's fort is lost, forever, to Virginia, but it is a +matter for thankfulness that, while brick and mortar can be disposed of +to satisfy the love of gain, the traditions of a people cannot be +converted into money and that sentiment cannot be sold by the square +foot. Land-marks are more easily destroyed than folklore.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span></p> + +<p>In gratitude to Father Cahill, Livingstone before his death deeded to +the Catholic church thirty-four acres of land, and this tract is what +has ever since been named "The Priest's Field." The clergy of that +faith, however, renounce all claim to the place because, no doubt, they +felt that nothing in the spiritual ministration of Father Cahill +contributed or was intended by him to contribute towards the object +Livingstone had in view—the expulsion of a veritable demon. Father +Cahill, like the Lutheran minister, went to the house merely as a friend +and not in the character of an exorciser of a real spirit and, if the +rascals who so cruelly tormented their harmless neighbor were more +afraid of the priest than of the other minister, with whom they were no +doubt familiar, it was no reason why a claim should be set up by the +former of superior influence with Heaven. Mr. McSherry and Mr. Minghini +were made trustees of the property, but by common consent, the land was +left with the Minghinis and it is now theirs by prescription, perhaps. +In the county clerk's office in Charlestown, Jefferson county, West +Virginia, can be seen the deed made by Livingstone and wife to Denis +Cahill, the supposed exorciser of the fiend. It will be found in Book +No. 1 of the County Records, and it conveys the title to thirty-four +acres of land—"The Priest's Field"—to Father Cahill and his +successors. Our esteemed friend Clerk Alexander will be glad to show it +to anyone curious to see it. The deed is dated February 21st, 1802.</p> + +<p>Within about eight miles of Harpers Ferry is a sleepy hamlet which has +quite a history in connection with several prominent men of the +Revolution. It is called Leetown, and it has been heretofore mentioned +in this history as the scene of a brisk skirmish in the war of the +rebellion. As before noted in this book, it got its name from General +Charles Lee who, after the censures incurred by him for his conduct at +the battle of Monmouth, buried himself here in gloomy seclusion. Very +near this village is also a house occupied by General Horatio Gates, of +more honorable fame in our war for independence, and still another +revolutionary general<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span>—Darke—lived in the immediate neighborhood of +the place. So, then, a sauntering tourist might spend a little time +pleasantly enough in visiting the neighborhood. It is but a few minutes' +drive from "Wizard Clip" and a curiosity seeker might easily take in +many noteworthy sights in the course of a day's jaunt from Harper's +Ferry. About five miles north of Leetown and in the immediate +neighborhood of the battlefield of Antietam, is Shepherdstown, which is, +or at least ought to be known to fame, as the home of James Rumsey who, +it has been pretty clearly proven, was the first to apply steam power to +purposes of navigation. On the Potomac, at Shepherdstown or Mecklenburg, +as it was then called, was the first experiment made of propelling a +boat by steam power, and the trial was made with success by Rumsey. In +his life-time he was regarded by his acquaintances as a visionary, if +not a decided maniac, but time has vindicated him, although the honor of +the invention has been generally assumed to belong to others. There can +be but little doubt that Rumsey anticipated all the other claimants for +the fame of the invention, although with them, too, it may be said to be +original, as they probably knew nothing of Rumsey or what he had +accomplished. Shepherdstown has a war record, also, for in a day or two +after the battle of Antietam, a detachment of federal troops having +crossed the Potomac into Virginia at the ford near the town, they were +badly defeated by a force of the rebel army that attacked them +unexpectedly.</p> + +<p>Some ten or twelve years ago, a stranger arrived at Harper's Ferry and, +without letting any one know what his business was, he purchased a pick +and shovel, hired a horse and buggy, and drove up the Potomac taking the +implements with him. He proceeded towards Shepherdstown, appearing to be +very familiar with the road. When he arrived within a mile of the latter +place, he halted, tied his horse to something available and looked +around <a name="corr_092" id="corr_092"></a><ins title="Original: inquriingly">inquiringly</ins>. It took him but a short time to find +what he wanted, for in a few minutes he approached a large tree and +plied vigorously his pick and then his shovel around the roots. His +labor was not in vain, for soon he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> exposed to view a fair sized box +which he immediately transferred to the buggy, and at once returned to +Harper's Ferry, without deigning to satisfy the curiosity of some +parties who were attracted to the spot by the sight of him at work. It +is generally supposed that he himself had buried a considerable treasure +at the place while he was hard pressed by enemies at some time while the +late war was in progress, and that, deeming it safe, and not being much +in want of money, he had left it in its concealment for nearly thirty +years. Some advanced the dream theory—that, in his sleep he had a +vision of the buried treasure, but the stranger kept his own counsel and +departed on the next railroad train for parts unknown.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_ENCHANTERS_WHEEL" id="THE_ENCHANTERS_WHEEL"></a>THE ENCHANTER'S WHEEL.</h2> + + +<p>Starting from the railroad bridge at Harper's Ferry and running +northwest, with the railroad track for six miles to Duffield's Station, +is a region that has ever been the home of wizards, witches and all +kinds of adepts in occult lore, besides being a favorite resting place +for gypsy caravans. The construction of the railroad many years ago was +the first interruption to the dreams of magic, and, then, the civil war, +with its very practical ideas and, above all, perhaps, the subsequent +introduction of free schools have completed the delivery of the worthy +inhabitants from the very galling yoke of many professors of the black +art—African and Caucasian—who profited in money and reputation by the +fears they excited and the fees they received for cures or immunity. In +justice, it must be stated that the whites, mostly of German origin, +were generally of a benevolent character and that the practice of their +art was always directed to counteract the malevolence of the negroes who +seldom devoted their mystic knowledge to any good purpose, especially +where any member of their own race was concerned. They always appeared +to have an instinctive dread of the superior race and were shy of +practising on the white man, unless under very strong temptation. The +gypsies alone keep alive the old order of things, appearing to have +nobody to punish and every one to reward with a rich wife or a gallant +husband for the trifle of crossing the sibyl's palm with a piece of +silver. Indeed, they are not charged with molesting the person or +property of any one. On the contrary, they are ever invoking the +blessings of Venus, on the conditions above mentioned. Time has in no +way changed their habits.</p> + +<p>Two generations ago great was the fame of the professors—white and +black—but now it is difficult to get any one of either color, unless +some octogenarian, to relate what used to occur in the olden times. They +appear to be afraid of the imputation of superstition. In this way many +interesting and even poetic legends are likely<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> to be lost.</p> + +<p>Of the white seers the most renowned was the miller—John Peacher—a +Pennsylvania Dutchman. He was a man of excellent reputation, and the +only people who had any complaint to make of him were the evil doers, +especially the thieves. It was useless for a thief to steal anything +from John Peacher, for it had to be returned, and by the culprit +himself, in broad daylight. Peacher's friends, too, if they reported to +him any loss were merely told to wait a little for the stolen article. +So, neither Peacher nor his friends ever complained to a law officer of +any losses, feeling very certain that the missing would return. In +consequence, it was no unusual sight to see seated on a fence near +Peacher's mill, or the house of one of the miller's neighbors, a man, +nearly always a negro, with a bundle of some kind tied up to suit the +contents. There the visitor sat until late evening, if not asked to get +off the fence and tell his business. Even then, it was with extreme +difficulty that he could get off his perch, and some were known to +invoke the assistance of the proprietor to <b>unfasten them</b>. The man was +sure to be a thief, and the bundle always contained the stolen article, +which was laid at the feet of the lawful owner—the proprietor of the +place—Peacher or some one of his friends who had reported to him a +robbery. On one occasion a wagoner on his way to Georgetown drove his +team past Peacher's place and abstracted from a wagon that belonged to +Peacher some part of the gearing, with which he proceeded to Georgetown, +fifty-seven miles distant. Peacher soon discovered the loss but, as +usual, he "lay low" and waited for the certain issue. In a few days a +man was seen to approach Peacher's place early in the morning afoot and +carrying an apparently heavy load. When he reached Peacher's gate, he +climbed one of the posts and rested his load on the fence nearby. No one +questioned him, for Peacher and his domestics recognized the articles, +the loss of which was known to them from the time of the theft, and the +presumption was that the man was the guilty one. There the culprit sat +without a word until the benevolent Peacher thought that the penitent<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> +might be hungry and sufficiently humbled. Peacher invited the stranger +to get off and come into the house to get something to eat, but the +hapless thief was glued, as it were, to the seat and not 'till Peacher +chose to break the spell could the crestfallen victim get off his perch. +He then confessed his guilt and told how his conscience did not trouble +him a bit until he reached Georgetown with his plunder, when some +impulse forced him to leave his team in the city and walk back, carrying +the stolen articles, instead of waiting for his regular return trip to +make restitution. After his meal he commenced his journey back, afoot, +to the city for his team and in some time after rode past Peacher's +place on his home trip, but did not stop. How Peacher worked his charms +he never revealed, except that he said he had a wheel by the turning of +which, as the case demanded, he effected his wonderful exploits at +thief-catching. The wheel he never exhibited. For many years after his +death there was a common phrase in the neighborhood, "I'll introduce you +to Peacher's wheel," whenever any one was suspected of knavish +practices—especially a child or a superstitious person. It would take +more space than we have allotted to ourselves to relate a tenth of the +exploits of Peacher with his magic wheel.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_WITCHS_OVERSIGHT" id="THE_WITCHS_OVERSIGHT"></a>THE WITCH'S OVERSIGHT.</h2> + + +<p>Of an entirely different type as to nationality, color and moral +standing, was Jesse Short, a disreputable negro scamp who enjoyed an +immense reputation for powers of mischief, and who got credit for nearly +every mysterious thing that occurred in the neighborhood, if only it was +of a disreputable kind. Nearly all of the houses had low porches at +their front doors, and the very narrow spaces underneath were enclosed +with lattice work, so close that a robin could scarcely force himself +inside and, if he could, he had very scant room to hop for a little +exercise. It often happened, however, that in the early morning the ears +of the family were greeted with the bleats or grunts of a well grown +sheep or porker belonging to some neighbor that had found its way or for +which a way had been found, in some uncannie manner to enter, and which +had to crouch very low to find room for itself. But although an entrance +had been found for it, there was no exit until the porch was torn down. +All this and many other such pranks were put to the credit of Jesse +until he enjoyed a fame equal to that of Michael Scott, and was the +great terror of the country all 'round. Like John Peacher of better +character, he performed too many feats for recital in this modest-sized +book, but we will relate one that was witnessed, and is vouched for by +at least two parties of unexceptionable character, who are still living, +one of them being the victim of Jesse's unholy practices, who can still +exhibit marks left on her person by the wizard's touch.</p> + +<p>Jesse was a slave on the Miller estate, about four miles northwest of +Harper's Ferry. Near this plantation was another owned and occupied by +John Engle, a pious, God-fearing man, some of whose children are yet +alive. As far as we know there are two—Mr. James Engle and his sister, +Mrs. Margaret Moler. When these were very young children, their father +owned or hired a colored girl to whom our hero, Jesse, desired to pay +attentions and with this view, often visited Mr. Engle's house. Mr.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> +Engle, however, positively forbade those visits on account of Jesse's +very bad reputation. It was supposed that our hero was deeply offended +at this exclusion from the company of his lady-love, and secretly vowed +vengeance, although his countenance and general bearing towards the +Engle family did not betray his real feeling. One day he visited the +house, ostensibly to convey some message from his master. While he was +waiting for a return message, Margaret, the five year old daughter of +Mr. Engle, who is now the widow of a Mr. John Moler, passed close to +him. The negro patted the child and appeared to have a desire to +ingratiate himself with her, but the little girl screamed wildly as soon +as his hand touched her, and she showed the utmost horror of him. Her +screams continued until she got into fits and the greatest difficulty +was experienced in restoring her temporarily to her normal condition. +But the little one was not the same from that time. Day by day she +failed, lost appetite and could not get natural sleep. In a month she +was reduced from a hale, hearty and lively child to a mere spiritless +skeleton, and hope of her recovery was almost abandoned. At that time +regular physicians were not as plentiful as they are now, and old +mammies of either color were mostly depended on, especially in cases of +ailing children. The Engle family were then, as they are now, among the +most respectable in Jefferson county, and, from regard for them as well +as for natural sympathy, every mother in the neighborhood and every +skillful woman aided in trying to restore the poor child, but in vain. +When the little tot was almost exhausted somebody remembered that across +the Potomac, in Maple swamp, a place inhabited in a great measure by +half-breeds descended from the Indians, lived a certain Mrs. Mullin, +whose fame for occult knowledge was wide-spread. Indeed, she was a power +even among the professors themselves. To her as a last resort the +parents of the child appealed. The benevolent old lady responded at +once, and crossed the Potomac on her mission of charity. She took the +child on her knee, without the least repugnance on the part of the +little girl. What mystic words<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> or rites the old lady used, tradition +does not say, but she took from her pocket a pair of scissors and with +deliberation clipped the nails from the fingers of the child—from all +but one finger—and herein lies the wonder, for the child at once began +to improve and, as we have before mentioned, is still alive and hearty +at an advanced age, with the full use of all her limbs, except that one +finger, the nail of which Mrs. Mullin failed to clip. That finger is +crooked and that one alone. It has never been straight since that day, +about seventy-five years ago, when Mrs. Mullin, either by accident or +design, failed to treat it as she treated its fellows. It never pains +her, however, and merely gives a sign of something designed to be a +mystery. Mrs. Mullin, as far as we know, never tried to rectify the +omission or make any explanation.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_REMORSEFUL_DOG" id="THE_REMORSEFUL_DOG"></a>THE REMORSEFUL DOG.</h2> + + +<p>About half way between Duffield's and Shenandoah Junction, on the south +side of the B. & O. railroad, and very close to it, is to be seen the +grave of General Darke, heretofore mentioned as one of the famous men of +the Revolution, who once lived in that region which is embraced in the +present county of Jefferson, and whose homes were very close to Harper's +Ferry. General Darke is the hero of the neighborhood, and many of the +best people of Jefferson county, are proud of the kinship to him, which +they claim. His personal history would, indeed, read like a romance, but +our proposed limits forbid us the pleasure of giving it in detail. We +will merely relate one of his adventures and a curious tale told of a +dog belonging to him that figured in connection with his master's story. +We have but the general's own words to prove the truth of most of the +tale, but he was a man of undoubted veracity and, besides, he had no +motive for inventing the story. We have heretofore given an account of +great sagacity manifested by a dog owned by Colonel Lewis Washington +and, as the farms on which the dogs were born are but a short distance +apart, it is probable that General Darke's dog was a remote ancestor of +that of Colonel Washington, and that the extraordinary intelligence they +both displayed was a family trait. The exact period of our legend is +unknown, but it probably was a few years after the Revolution.</p> + +<p>General Darke then lived near the spot where he now rests from his +life's work, surrounded by many of his veterans and relatives, by whom +he was much revered. The general, like the great majority of men, was +fond of a good dog, and was very jealous of the fame as well as careful +of the bodies of his dumb favorites of that species, which he kept +around him. One dog was his 'special pet. Tradition does not tell what +breed he belonged to or his name, as it does in the case of Colonel +Washington's "Bob"—neither does it inform us of his caudal advantages +or deficiencies. Indeed, in the case of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> "Bob" there is no need, yet +awhile, to question tradition, for we all, whose hair is gray, knew him, +that is all of us who in 1859 were acquainted with the hospitable home +of the colonel.</p> + +<p>One day one of the general's neighbors complained to him that his—the +neighbor's—meat house had frequently of late been robbed and that, +having watched many nights for the thief, he had at last got ocular +demonstration that the general's favorite dog was the culprit. The +general would not deny the fact of the robbery, but he plainly denied +the guilt of his dog and, although the complainant was a man of the +utmost respectability, the general still stood up for his humble friend. +An agreement was finally made that the general himself should +watch—which he did and, besides, every night he barricaded the room in +which the dog used to sleep, and left the animal not the least chance, +as he thought, to leave the house without permission. The master kept +listening, too, for any sound from the dog's room that would indicate an +effort to escape, and for some nights he heard just enough noise to +prove that the dog was in his proper place. One night, however, he +thought the stillness unnatural, and his suspicion was aroused. He +entered the dog's room and found it vacant. He also found a hole either +in the wall of the room or at the foundation, through which it was easy +to make a noiseless escape. The general at once started in pursuit and +encountered the dog on the way from the neighbor's meat house whither +the master's suspicions led him. The dog had a large piece of meat in +his mouth, which he at once dropped on recognizing his owner, and then +made a hasty retreat out of sight. Of course, the general made all the +apologies due from him to his wronged friend, and the trouble between +them was forever ended. The dog, however, was never again seen in that +neighborhood.</p> + +<p>In some years after General Darke had occasion to travel to Ohio. He +made the journey on horseback, the only method at that time. One night +he took lodging at a lonely inn among the wilds of the Alleghany +Mountains. On alighting he noticed several suspicious-looking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> men +lounging around, but the general was a brave man and, besides, he had no +choice, so he remained at the house. He kept awake all night, however, +but he was not molested. Next morning he started to continue his +journey, but he had not advanced far before a very rough-looking man +jumped from behind a fence and ordered him to halt. At the same time a +dog bounded from the same direction to the road, and at once caught the +assailant by the throat and dragged him to the ground, holding on with a +death grip to that peculiarly dangerous part of the human anatomy to be +seized by. Whether the man was killed or not tradition does not say, but +he was rendered hors de combat. The general recognized in the dog his +own former pet, but the dog again fled from before the face of his old +master, by whom he was never again seen. The general returned to the +inn, reported the affair to the landlord and made special inquiries +about the dog. All he could learn was that the animal had appeared at +the inn a long time before, and that, the family having taken a liking +to the stray, it was allowed to remain. The dog was not to be seen at +the inn at least, until the general departed finally, nor is it known +that he ever did return and, as far as we know, he was never again seen +by any of his old acquaintances.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Harper's Ferry has always been noted for the number of ministers of +religion it has produced. It would be impossible to name all of them in +view of the limit we have set for ourselves. A few, however, whom we +ourselves have taught and prepared for learned professions, we feel +justified in mentioning. They are Fathers Edward Tearney, James T. +O'Farrell and John Bowler, of the Catholic church; the Reverend McFadden +brothers—John, Harry and Frank; the Reverend C. B. Price and the +Reverend A. S. Yantis—the last five of various Protestant +denominations. We are proud of those boys, their genuine piety, their +learning and the great good they are reported as doing. No bigots are +they who can see no good in anybody that differs from them, but they +found<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> their belief and their life-practise on the glorious "Sermon on +the Mount" and have a good word for everybody. This is the way to win +souls to God, and they have found it.</p> + +<p>Various eminent men, not natives of the place, however, have served in +the ministry at Harper's Ferry. The Rt. Rev. J. J. Kain, the present +Arch-Bishop of St. Louis, and the Rt. Rev. A. Vandevyver, Bishop of +Richmond, were formerly priests in charge of the Catholic church there. +The venerable Dr. Dutton of the Presbyterian church also served there +and was the hero of a remarkable adventure in the great flood of 1870, +which we have noted elsewhere. The last mentioned there were held in +extraordinary honor. Many believe that the coming great man of the +Catholic church in America is Bishop Vandevyver, of Richmond. He is +certainly one of God's noblemen.</p> + +<p>There are now serving in the ministry at Harper's Ferry the Reverend +Messrs. Marsh of the M. E. Church, and Sullivan and Farring of the M. P. +Church, also, the Reverend Father Collins, Catholic priest. We have not +the pleasure of much acquaintance with any of those gentlemen, but they +are, we know, men of very high character. Father Collins' father we knew +well—a better man never lived and we take him for a guarantee for his +son's excellence. We have been thrown a good deal into company with the +Reverend J. D. Miller of the Protestant Episcopal church, and in our +judgment, he is a gentleman of profound learning and a high degree of +polish and amiability. We always listen with high pleasure to his +conversation, the more so because he never tries to convince his hearers +that he "knows it all," although it is plain that he knows a great deal, +and that the day is not far off when he will make a very distinguished +mark. He is making it now.</p> + +<p>In giving the names of Harper's Ferry-born clergymen we might have +mentioned Father William Lynch, pastor of the Catholic church at +Roanoke, Virginia, who, if not quite a native of Harper's Ferry came +very near having that claim on us. He was born and brought up at +Hall<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span>town, within four miles of Harper's Ferry, and those four miles +deprived the ancient village of the honor of being his birthplace, and +us of the credit his education would have conferred on us. He is, +however, regarded by us as one of our own, and the author is as glad of +the great success the good father has met and is meeting with as if he +himself had made him as he made the others. From this rather extended +notice of the ministers of religion to the credit of Harper's Ferry it +must not be inferred that the place is not entitled to the honor of +having produced other men of marked ability who adorn other professions. +Some sixty years ago was born in Bolivar, a suburb of the place, the +Hon. E. Willis Wilson, an eminent lawyer of Charleston-on-the-Kanawha. +The civil war broke out just at the time when he had got a fair +education and his studies were, of course, interrupted for a time. His +native energy, however, was too much for any obstacle and as soon as the +reverberation of the cannons ceased around his native place, he went to +work at the study of law, entered politics, and was chosen to fill +various places of honor and trust until he was elected governor of West +Virginia, and was inaugurated on the same day that saw the same ceremony +for President Cleveland. The election of Governor Wilson was the more +remarkable for the violent opposition to him on the part of all the +monopolies in the state and his was a triumph for the right as well as +for himself. His administration was a model one and as he is young +enough for further usefulness, the people of West Virginia will not lose +sight of him.</p> + +<p>Another native of the place has risen to eminence in the law. The Hon. +James D. Butt was brought up under some disadvantages in the matter of +education, caused by the civil war but, as he was young enough at the +cessation of hostilities to resume his interrupted studies, he made up +for lost time. He is now Referee in the Bankruptcy Court of his native +district.</p> + +<p>In medicine, too, Harper's Ferry has many sons to be proud of. William, +George and Robert Marmion, three sons of Dr. Nicholas Marmion, were +themselves famous<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> physicians and surgeons, especially in diseases of +the eye and ear. The second—George—died some two years ago, but the +oldest—William—is still practising in Washington City, and ranks among +the very highest in the profession. The youngest—Robert—is in the U. +S. Navy. They were all our pupils in the long past.</p> + +<p>Another pupil of ours is Dr. Joseph Tearney, now employed by the B. & O. +railroad. He has practised a good deal at this, his native place, and, +although he is yet a young man, he has, and justly has the reputation of +possessing wonderful skill in his profession. Personally, he is +emphatically a "good fellow" with a big, generous heart, as is well +known to many a needy patient. So, with his acknowledged ability, the +confidence he inspires, and the magnetism that draws every one to him, +he cannot fail to become a veritable celebrity. And he, too, was a pupil +of ours. He never forgets the old tie and the "old man" is very much the +better for the remembrance.</p> + +<p>We would be ungrateful indeed if we forgot Drs. Howard and Claude +Koonce, young physicians, natives of Harper's Ferry and two of our old +pupils. They are sons of Mr. George Koonce, prominent in the politics of +West Virginia. They stand very highly in their profession and are +whole-hearted young men.</p> +<hr /> +<p><a id="Adverts" name="Adverts"></a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/ad-201.jpg" width="400" height="643" alt="1871-1903 +ESTABLISHED 32 YEARS +JOHN W. BISHOP +WHOLESALE GROCER AND MERCHANT MILLER +MARTINSBURG,—WEST VA. +ASK YOUR GROCER +BEST FOR EVERY PURPOSE +PRIDE OF BERKELEY +CREAM OF WHEAT +GOLD DUST FLOUR" title="" /> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/ad-202.jpg" width="400" height="669" alt="Dime Musuem + +If you fail to see SPENCER'S DIME MUSEUM when +visiting Historical Harper's Ferry, you will have +missed an opportunity that you will ever regret. + +Having had a mania for +RELICS +at a very early age much valuable time in fifty years +has been spent in collecting the largest private collection +in the United States. + +Traveling Salesmen, Tourists, and Strangers generally have +expressed their surprise upon viewing such +An Immense Aggregation + +A. SPENCER" title="" /> +</div> + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span></p> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/ad-203.jpg" width="400" height="657" alt="T. M. CONNER, Prop. +A. A. LAMON, Clerk + +HOTEL CONNER + +$2.00 Per Day and Upward + +Steam Heat +Artesian Water +Electric Lights +Electric Call Bells +Hot and Cold Baths +Good Meals +AMERICAN PLAN + +HEADQUARTERS FOR TRAVELING MEN, FOR +WHOM A LARGE SAMPLE ROOM IS PROVIDED +ON FIRST FLOOR. FISHERMEN PROVIDED +WITH GUIDES AND BAIT AT SHORT NOTICE + +THIS HOTEL Has just been completely renovated throughout, is located +in the business part of the town and convenient to trains :: :: :: + +HARPER'S FERRY +WEST VIRGINIA" title="" /> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/illus-204.jpg" width="600" height="408" alt="" title="" /> +<span class="caption">BALTIMORE AND OHIO'S MAIN LINE THROUGH HARPERS FERRY WAS A MUCH +FOUGHT-OVER PRIZE IN CIVIL WAR DAYS</span> +</div> + +<p>On October 17, 1859, John Brown and his small band of followers, swooped +down on Harpers Ferry. The B & O right-of-way was the scene of the first +fighting and two railroad employees were among the first casualties. +Upon arrival of the eastbound night passenger express at Harpers Ferry +the train was surrounded by a cordon of riflemen. In the darkness a shot +was fired and Station Porter Haywood Sheppard fell, dying. During the +wild firing Station Master Beckham also was killed.</p> + +<p>When word of this incident reached the B & O President, John W. Garrett, +he immediately notified the Secretary of War. To quell the uprising, a +detachment of ninety Marines, under Colonel Robert E. Lee, was sent to +the scene. The Abolitionist leader, and his followers, were captured +after a pitched battle, and Brown was tried and hanged on December 2, +1859.</p> + +<p>Because the Baltimore & Ohio was the main east-west link available to +the Government for the movement of its soldiers, the B & O carried much +military freight and many troops during the Civil War years. At the +start of the war the railroad operated almost normally, running through +areas held by both armies. But, as the battles progressed, there were +frequent interruptions to rail service and repeated damage to B & O +tracks and equipment.</p> + +<p>The record of the Civil War disaster, from 1861 to 1865, was unequaled +by the history of any other private industry in America. That the +railroad's engineers and workmen rebuilt the road in the face of enemy +gunfire is a memorable tribute to their skill and courage.</p> + +<p>After the end of hostilities, thousands of troops traveled over the full +length of the B & O main line, from Washington, D. C. to Parkersburg, W. +Va., where they boarded steamers for Cincinnati, Louisville and other +river cities.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>1958 Patrons</h2> + +<p>Mrs. S. Hawpe Adams <span class="right">Leesburg, Va.</span></p> +<p>Geraldine (Kern) Basore <span class="right"> Frederick, Md.</span></p> +<p>Mrs. Irene McFaden Benjamin <span class="right">Lewisburg, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Anne Hobbs Betts <span class="right">Alexandria, Va.</span></p> +<p>Raymond Bresnahan<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">(grandson Capt. Chas. Briggs) <span class="right">Hinsdale, Ill.</span></span></p> +<p>Capt. Charles Briggs<span class="right">Hinsdale, Ill.</span></p> +<p>Roy Spencer Butts<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">(nephew Fannie Baden Loman)<span class="right">Bolivar, W. Va.</span></span></p> +<p>Mrs. James F. Cassell<span class="right">Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Chas. Joshua Cavalier, Sr.<span class="right">Bolivar, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Chas. Joshua Cavalier, Jr.<span class="right"> Shepherdstown, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Cyrus Wakefield Cavalier<span class="right"> Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>David Taylor Cavalier<span class="right">Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Frank Schilling Cavalier<span class="right"> Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Kenneth Kemp Cavalier<span class="right">Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Kenneth Kemp Cavalier, Jr.<span class="right"> Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Mary Ann Ridenour Cavalier<span class="right">Bolivar, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Mary Kemp Cavalier<span class="right">Bolivar, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Sarah E. Cavalier<span class="right"> Bolivar, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Miss Alvernon Cross<span class="right"> Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Col. Cutshaw<span class="right">Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Mary Cavalier Dalgarn<span class="right">Washington, D. C.</span></p> +<p>Dorothy Nunnamaker Davis<span class="right"> Richmond, Va.</span></p> +<p>*Atty. Raymond C. Dickey<span class="right"> Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Cassandra C. Dittmeyer<span class="right"> Bolivar, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*C. Victor Dittmeyer<span class="right"> Bolivar, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*George Dittmeyer<span class="right">Bolivar, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Walter E. Dittmeyer<span class="right"> Bolivar, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Mrs. C. E. Dudrow<span class="right">Bolivar, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Mrs. Castilinia Allstadt Elder<span class="right"> Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Will Erwin<span class="right">Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Aileen O'Boyle Evans<span class="right">Mt. Lebanon, Pa.</span></p> +<p>Mr. and Mrs. Paul W. Fishbaugh<span class="right"> Washington, D. C.</span></p> +<p>Isabel (Kern) Flannagan<span class="right"> Bakerton, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Dowden Furtney<span class="right">Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Thomas William Geary<span class="right">Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Sergeant-Major William Joseph Geary<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">(1st. W.W. U.S.M.C.)<span class="right"> Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></span></p> +<p>Mrs. Claudia Furtney Geary<span class="right"> Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Miss Elizabeth Geary<span class="right"> Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Marie Bresnahan Gillingham<span class="right"> Washington, D. C.</span></p> +<p>*Miss Jessie Graham<span class="right">Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Mrs. Laura Chambers Griffin<span class="right"> Clarksburg, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>James Karl Grubb<span class="right"> Bolivar, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Capt. James W. Grubb<span class="right">Bolivar, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Mrs. Frank M. Harrison<span class="right">Baltimore, Md.</span></p> +<p>Thomas Grove Henkle<span class="right"> Halltown, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Edward Higgins, Confederate Veteran<span class="right">Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Cora Rockenbaugh Icenhower<span class="right"> Washington, D. C.</span></p> +<p>Mrs. Walter Jenkins<span class="right">Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Eleanor Knott Johnson<span class="right">Alexandria, Va.</span></p> +<p>*Clifford C. Johnson, M.D.<span class="right"> Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Mrs. Clifford C. Johnson<span class="right"> Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Samuel Linden Johnson<span class="right">Alexandria, Va.</span></p> +<p>Mrs. Cornelia Marquette Jones<span class="right">Bethesda, Md.</span></p> +<p>*O. T. Kemp<span class="right">Bolivar, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Charles Eugene Kern <span class="right">Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> +Edna Lee (Keyser) Kern<span class="right"> Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Harry Eugene Kern<span class="right">Washington, D. C.</span></p> +<p>Robert M. Knott<span class="right">Shepherdstown, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Marine Krepps<span class="right">Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Louise Rau Lawson<span class="right">Bolivar, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Mr. and Mrs. Robert P. Leonard<span class="right"> Harpers Perry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Horace Chambers Littlejohn<span class="right"> Leesburg, Va.</span></p> +<p>Daisy E. Marks<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">(granddaughter Richard Heafer)<span class="right"> Bolivar, W. Va.</span></span></p> +<p>Lillie Wentzell Marquette<span class="right">Silver Springs, Md.</span></p> +<p>William V. Marmion, Jr.<span class="right">Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Mrs. Mayme Burleigh Marquette<span class="right">Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Fred H. Mauzy<span class="right"> Bolivar, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Dr. Henry T. McDonald<span class="right"> Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Mrs. Henry T. McDonald<span class="right"> Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*George Leferve Marten<span class="right"> Shepherdstown, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Mr. and Mrs. J. Allan Millar<span class="right"> Washington, D. C.</span></p> +<p>Miss Frances L. Millard<span class="right">Orange, N. J.</span></p> +<p>Mr. and Mrs. Preston S. Millard<span class="right">Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Mr. and Mrs. Preston S. Millard, Jr.<span class="right"> Alexandria, Va.</span></p> +<p>Miss Beatrice Miskimmon<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">(Sponseller and Beale)<span class="right"> Bolivar, W. Va.</span></span></p> +<p>Mr. and Mrs. Charles B. Moler<span class="right">Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Miss Mary V. Moler<span class="right"> Washington, D. C.</span></p> +<p>Miss Nina E. Moler <span class="right"> Washington, D. C.</span></p> +<p>Mr. and Mrs. Evan A. Nason <span class="right">Andover, Mass.</span></p> +<p>Lewis Duke Nichols (great-nephew Todd Duke,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Supt. of Arsenal)<span class="right">Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></span></p> +<p>Louise Allstadt Watson Nichols <a name="corr_093" id="corr_093"></a><ins title="Original: (great-grandaughter">(great-granddaughter</ins><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">John Allstadt, one of Brown's hostages)Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Harold Nunnamaker<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">(grandson "Yank" Nunnamaker)<span class="right"> Richmond, Va.</span></span></p> +<p>*J. Walter O'Boyle<span class="right"> Bolivar, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Daniel O'Boyle<span class="right">Bolivar, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Margaret Schilling Parlon<span class="right">Philadelphia, Pa.</span></p> +<p>Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert E. Perry<span class="right">Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Mr. and Mrs. John L. Perry<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">(Hildred Marlatt)<span class="right">Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></span></p> +<p>Dr. and Mrs. John L. Perry, Jr.<span class="right"> Houston, Texas</span></p> +<p>Nancy Cavalier Perry <span class="right">Charles Town, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Thorton Tayloe Perry <span class="right">Charles Town, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Mrs. Lucas Phillips <span class="right">Leesburg, Va.</span></p> +<p>Edna May (Kern) Ramey<span class="right">Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Grace Sponseller Littleton Ramsdell<span class="right">Bolivar, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Mrs. Briscoe Baldwin Ranson, nee Yantis <span class="right">Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Mrs. Mary Conway Rau<span class="right">Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*W. O. Rau <span class="right"> Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Mina Krepps Rau<span class="right">Bolivar, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Mrs. William Reed, nee Dorothy Jones<span class="right"> Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Elinor Virginia Rider<span class="right">Halltown, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Mrs. Mary Brackett Robertson<span class="right"> Washington, D. C.</span></p> +<p>Mrs. Norman C. Rogers, nee Ranson <span class="right">Alexandria, Va.</span></p> +<p>Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Ross<span class="right"> Tazewell, Va.</span></p> +<p>*J. Frank Schilling<span class="right">Bolivar, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Carrie Gertrude Schilling<span class="right"> Bolivar, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Oliver Raymond Schilling <span class="right">Pittsburgh, Pa.</span></p> +<p>Margaret Rodgers Schilling<span class="right"> Pittsburgh, Pa.</span></p> +<p>Robert Rodgers Schilling <span class="right"> Pittsburgh, Pa.</span></p> +<p>Amos Beaty Sharps <span class="right"> Lumberport, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Mr. and Mrs. John T. Shirley<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">(Gladys Marlatt)<span class="right"> Cumberland, Md.</span></span></p> +<p>Mrs. Frank Eugene Shugart<span class="right">Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Edward Lee Smallwood<span class="right"> Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Briscoe Smith<span class="right">Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Dorothy (Kern) Strouse <span class="right">Ranson, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Mrs. Mary O'Bierne Sullivan<span class="right"> Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Catharine Beck Tatten <span class="right">Pittsburgh, Pa.</span></p> +<p>*Norman T. Thayer<span class="right">Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Mrs. Strother Watson, nee Eackles <span class="right">Bolivar, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>George L. Weber<span class="right">Bolivar, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Gov. Willis Wilson<span class="right">Bolivar, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Father William Winston <span class="right">Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Hugh A. Winters<span class="right">St. Davids, Pa.</span></p> +<p>*Paul Eugene Winters<span class="right"> Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Sue K. Winters <span class="right"> Falls Church, Va.</span></p> +<p>Mr. and Mrs. Wilbur A. Winters<span class="right"> Alexandria, Va.</span></p> +<p>DeWitt Wentzell Zook <span class="right"> Silver Springs, Md.</span></p> +<p>Mrs. Everett K. Clark<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">(Nellie Marlatt)<span class="right"> Chicago, Ill.</span></span></p> +<p>Clarence E. Marlatt<span class="right"> North Mountain, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Charles E. Marlatt<span class="right">Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*William H. Marlatt<span class="right">Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Mrs. Monroe B. Hallman<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">(Ruth Marlatt)<span class="right"> Ogden Dunes, Gary, Ind.</span></span></p> +<p>Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Hough <span class="right"> Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Dr. W. E. Perry<span class="right"> Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Lt. Gilbert E. Perry, Jr., U.S.A.F.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">U.S.M.A. 1946. 1924-1946<span class="right"> Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></span></p> +<p>*Kate Strider Stanley<span class="right"> Charles Town, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Loretta (Kern) Thompson <span class="right"> Charles Town, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Leon Edwards <span class="right"> Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Charles W. Powers <span class="right">Cabin John, Md.</span></p> +<p>Charles Lee Kern <span class="right"> Alexandria, Va.</span></p> +<p>John Louis Beck<span class="right">Cleveland, Ohio</span></p> +<p>*Mrs. Julia D. Littlejohn<span class="right">Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Clifton W. Littlejohn <span class="right"> Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Mr. and Mrs. Edmund Chambers<span class="right">Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Miss Kate Chambers <span class="right">Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Miss Jennie Chambers<span class="right">Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Miss Martha Chambers<span class="right">Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Forrest C. Littlejohn<span class="right"> Shenandoah Junction, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Mary Sites Littlejohn<span class="right"> Shenandoah Junction, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Forrest C. Littlejohn, Jr.<span class="right">Shenandoah Junction, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Paul V. Littlejohn <span class="right"> Roanoke, Va.</span></p> +<p>Betty Lou Cavalier</p> +<p><span style="margin-left: 2em;">* Deceased</span></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span></p> +<h2>Patrons and Advertisers<br /> +Added in 1959</h2> + +<p>*Mrs. Charles E. Marlatt (Wilmoth Headley) <span class="right">Heathsville, Va.</span></p> +<p>*Mrs. R. Booth Eubank <span class="right">Dunnsville, Va.</span></p> +<p>*Walter W. Winters <span class="right">Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Edwin G. Winters <span class="right">Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*C. Edgar Dudrow <span class="right">Bolivar, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Mary Emma Dudrow <span class="right">Bolivar, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Joseph H. Renner <span class="right">Bolivar, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Prudence Williams Renner <span class="right">Bolivar, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Rezin Shirley Rockenbaugh <span class="right">Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Laura Renner Rockenbaugh <span class="right">Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Wanda R. Young <span class="right">Bolivar, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Joseph J. Young <span class="right">Bolivar, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*William P. Grove <span class="right">Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Edna W. Grove <span class="right">Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Charles Marvin Smith <span class="right">Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*J. Lyle Eackles <span class="right">Bolivar, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Alfred and Sarah Burton (Fair) <span class="right">Bolivar, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Gus and Hattie Burton Stewart <span class="right">Bolivar, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Hallie Edna Stewart <span class="right">Bolivar, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Ethel T. Stewart <span class="right">Washington, D. C.</span></p> +<p>Chauncey Burton Stewart <span class="right">Washington, D. C.</span></p> +<p>Mr. and Mrs. Walter Burton Stewart <span class="right">Takoma Park, Md.</span></p> +<p>Lt. and Mrs. Robert A. Stewart <span class="right">Kansas City, Mo.</span></p> +<p>Howard H. Stewart <span class="right">Washington, D. C.</span></p> +<p>Cadet Donald E. Stewart <span class="right">West Point, N. Y.</span></p> +<p>*Mary Elizabeth Wilson (Kirby) <span class="right">Bolivar, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*William Fitzgerald Wilson (One of John Brown's prisoners)</p> +<p>Agnes Burleigh <span class="right">Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Louise Burleigh Thompson <span class="right">Charles Town, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Katheryn Burleigh Pope <span class="right">Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>John Burleigh <span class="right">Washington, D. C.</span></p> +<p>*Thomas Burleigh, Jr.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">(son of Thomas Burleigh, Sr.) <span class="right">Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></span></p> +<p>Mr. and Mrs. Harwood Cauffman<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">(Adelaide Naill) <span class="right">Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></span></p> +<p>*Cornelius M. Marquette <span class="right">Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Daisy Marquette Show <span class="right">Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Catherine Johns Myers <span class="right">Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Mr. and Mrs. W. Clifton Butts<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">(Anna M. Mauzy) <span class="right">Bolivar, W. Va.</span></span></p> +<p>Wilma Wentzell Zook <span class="right">Chevy Chase, Md.</span></p> +<p>*Mr. and Mrs. John Buckey Wentzell<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">(Clara V. Rau) <span class="right">Bolivar, W. Va.</span></span></p> +<p>*Alice Merrick Zook <span class="right">Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Blanche (Keyser) Wiseman <span class="right">Bolivar, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Mr. and Mrs. Rudolph Rau <span class="right">Bolivar, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Charles R. Rau <span class="right">Bolivar, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*William Frederick Stuart <span class="right">Bolivar, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Fannie Decker Stuart <span class="right">Washington, D. C.</span></p> +<p>Edna Stuart Aubright <span class="right">Washington, D. C.</span></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> +*John A. Stuart <span class="right">Bolivar, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*James W. Marlatt <span class="right">Bolivar, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>E. R. (Dolph) Sponsellar <span class="right">Bolivar, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Clara Burton Sponsellar <span class="right">Bolivar, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>L. Marie Sponsellar Martin <span class="right">Chevy Chase, Md.</span></p> +<p>*Levi Winbert Decker (Confederate Soldier) <span class="right">Bolivar, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Frances Ardella Decker <span class="right">Bolivar, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Fitzhugh Lee (Tobe) Decker <span class="right">York, Pa.</span></p> +<p>Beulah Glenn Decker Kight <span class="right">Arlington, Va.</span></p> +<p>Langdon Backus <span class="right">Armory House</span></p> +<p>*Daniel Henry Nichols <span class="right">Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Lucy Shirley McFaden Nichols <span class="right">Harpers Ferry, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Daniel Shirley Nichols <span class="right">Charles Town, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Rita Gaver-Nichols <span class="right">Charles Town, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Frances Minge Nichols Liddell <span class="right">New Orleans, La.</span></p> +<p>Joseph McFadden Nichols <span class="right">Cumberland, Md.</span></p> +<p>Mr. and Mrs. Eugene P. Andes <span class="right">West Newton, Pa.</span></p> +<p>Rev. Alfred P. Collins <span class="right">Bolivar, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Catherine Butts Collins <span class="right">Bolivar, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>Nina Filler Butts <span class="right">Bolivar, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Mr. and Mrs. Kirby L. Frye <span class="right">Bolivar, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>H. L. Jones <span class="right">Bolivar, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Capt. George W. Chambers <span class="right">Bolivar, W. Va.</span></p> +<p>*Frances Cutshaw Chambers <span class="right">Bolivar, W. Va.</span></p> + +<div class="bbox" style="margin-left:auto; margin-right: auto; padding:10px; max-width:38em;"> +<h3><big>STORER COLLEGE</big></h3> + +<p class="center"> +<b>The oldest school for colored students in W. Va.<br /> +Established 1867. Coeducational, Academic,<br /> +State Normal, Music and Industrial Departments</b><br /> +</p> + +<p class="center">Beautiful site, ample buildings, fine libraries, a healthful atmosphere +and strong faculty make this college an excellent educational<br /> +... institution for colored youth ...</p> + +<p>Write for catalogue</p> + +<p style="text-align: right;"><b>HENRY T. McDONALD, A. M., President</b></p> +<p><b>N. C. BRACKETT, Ph. D., Treasurer</b></p> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span></p> +<h2>Added in 1959</h2> + + +<h3>BOLIVAR METHODIST CHURCH</h3> +<p class="center"><b>A Century of Christian Science</b><br /> +<br /> +<b>Dedicated Sept. 26th, 1849</b><br /> +</p> + +<p>The final resting place of an unknown Union Soldier, who, wounded and +alone, found shelter under the walls of this Church during the bitter +fighting of the Civil War.</p> + + +<h3>SAINT JOHN'S LUTHERAN CHURCH</h3> +<p class="center"><b>Harpers Ferry, West Virginia</b><br /> +<br /> +<b>Organized 1848</b><br /> +<br /> +<b>Pastor I. P. Smeltzer—1850</b><br /> +<br /> +<b>Pastor L. B. Williamson—1959</b><br /> +<br /> +<b>Basement of Church used as hospital during Civil War</b><br /> +</p> + + +<h3>CAMP HILL METHODIST CHURCH</h3> + +<p>Historic Camp Hill Methodist Church was organized in 1830, and received +its name from many camps situated on hill under command of General +Pinkney in 1799. Services have been held continuously, except 1861-65 +because of the Civil War. 1867 work started on the present building by +Rev. Jeremiah Clay. Mr. Derrett Coates, loyal member, lost his life +while trying to obtain brick from the armory yard. 1948 the late Mr. +Charles Smith financed the remodeling to the present building.</p> + + +<h3>ST. JOHN'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH, HARPERS FERRY</h3> + +<p>Began with five communicants, with Rev. Dr. Andrews, Rector of +Shepherdstown, holding service twice a month, first in the old +Temperance Hall, and later in the Armory Office. Admitted into the +Diocese in 1850. In 1853, 26 persons were confirmed. The old church, +looking down upon the flowing waters of the two rivers was begun in +1851—completed and furnished in 1852. During the Civil War the Church +was so badly wrecked only walls and roof remained. To Rev. Wm. T. +Leavell, belongs the credit of gathering the scattered congregation. He +secured from the Government, the lot, on which the rectory built in 1899 +now stands. Old Church was re-built in 1882. A new site was obtained in +the western part of town, a new church was erected. Cornerstone of new +St. John's laid Nov. 1895. Consecrated by Bishop W. L. Gravatt, March +19, 1899. Rectory completed 1899.</p> + + +<h3>ST. PETER'S CATHOLIC CHURCH</h3> + +<p>Established as a mission by Father Dubois about 1792. Church built in +1830 and rebuilt in 1896. Only church in town to remain open for +services throughout the Civil War.</p> + + +<div class="tnote"> +<h2><a name="Transcribers_Notes" id="Transcribers_Notes"></a>Transcriber's Notes.</h2> + + +<p>Variations in spacing, capitalization and hyphenation; variation in +spellings of names between the main part of the text vs. the lists of +patrons; variable spelling of "Alleghany" vs. "Allegheny"; missing towns +in the lists of patrons; the ordering of the chapter title before the +chapter number in Chapter II; and lack of chapter title in Chapter I are +as per the original.</p> + +<p>Errors in punctuation have been corrected without note. The following +typographic errors have been corrected: +</p> + +<div class="tnote2"> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_000">8</a> contempt on the busy hive of men below (changed from "bleow")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_001">9</a> to see one of them climb (changed from "clmb")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_002">10</a> a crow's nest is a comparatively (changed from "compartively")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_003">12</a> then unbroken wilderness to fulfill (changed from "fullfill")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_004">14</a> that transpired in Mr. Harper's time (changed from "itme")</p> + <p>p. <a href="#corr_094">14</a> and another, though a less freshet (changed from "through")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_005">15</a> and ninety-five acres on the Loudoun (changed from "Loudon")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_006">19</a> pursuit of some of his tormentors (changed from "or his tormenters")</p> + <p>p. <a href="#corr_095">19</a> charge an armorer for medical advice (changed from "advise")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_007">20</a> from eastern Virginia, the ancestors (changed from "ancesters")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_008">20</a> in 1810, by James Stubblefield (changed from "Stublefield")</p> + <p>p. <a href="#corr_096">22</a> man was named Robert W. Daugherty (changed from "Daughtery")</p> + <p>p. <a href="#corr_097">22</a> Young Daugherty was a scion of the (changed from "Daughtery")</p> + <p>p. <a href="#corr_098">25</a> Twice he had been honorably acquitted (changed from "acquited")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_009">28</a> under him, on account of politics (changed from "poliics")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_010">30</a> These restrictions were (changed from "restriction were")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_011">31</a> do them justice. The octogenarian participants (changed from "octogenarians participants")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_012">40</a> succeeded in lifting Chamberlain (changed from "Chamblain")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_013">41</a> Chamberlain on the subject, but it is (changed from "is is")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_099">44</a> Mr. Beckham was always much opposed (changed from "Beckman")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_014">47</a> boarded at the house of Mr. Ormond (changed from "0rmond")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_015">51</a> Mr. Thomas Boerly approached (changed from "approched")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_016">52</a> passed on strongly impressed (changed from "impresssed")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_017">53</a> history, like that of Pocahontas (changed from "Pocohontas")</p> + <p>p. <a href="#corr_100">53</a> gratefully remembered than that (changed from "that that")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_018">58</a> holes kept up a brisk fusillade (changed from "fusilade")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_019">58</a> Martinsburg; Mr. Young, of Charlestown (changed from "Charestown")</p> + <p>p. <a href="#corr_101">58</a> Shenandoah streets, where Mr. Boerly (changed from "Boerley")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_020">59</a> enemy. He crept along the railroad (changed from "ralroad")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_021">61</a> be none by them on the besiegers (changed from "beseigers")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_022">63</a> Brown himself was wounded severely (changed from "severly")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_023">63</a> This removal and reinterment were accomplished (changed from "reinterrment were accomplish-")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_024">65</a> penknife or even with a minie (changed from "minnie")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_025">65</a> he had, all along, communicated (changed from "communcated")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_026">66</a> women and children rushed wildly (changed from "wildy")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_027">67</a> not molest them. Sandy Hook (changed from "Hok")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_028">70</a> succeeded in eluding the vigilance (changed from "viligance")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_029">73</a> hoped that honest convictions (changed from "convections")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_030">74</a> railroad passengers who, every day (changed from "everyday")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_031">74</a> Henrie Kagi, Charles P. Tydd, Oliver (changed from "Oiver")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_032">75</a> and helped to give to his aquiline (changed from "acquiline")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_033">79</a> William Lehman, who (changed from "wh")</p> + <p>p. <a href="#corr_102">81</a> did not see the latter occurrence (changed from "occurence")</p> + <p>p. <a href="#corr_105">83</a> it was he that killed Mr. Boerly (changed from "Boerley")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_034">85</a> Elsie Kreglow, of the District (changed from "Distict")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_035">89</a> over him. Brown coolly (changed from "cooly")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_036">93</a> dwelt on his extraordinary (changed from "extraodinary")</p> + <p>p. <a href="#corr_103">93</a> The sheriff—Campbell—who officiated (changed from "Cambell")</p> + <p>p. <a href="#corr_106">93</a> himself and the gallant nation of (changed from "of of")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_037">94</a> ugly scars remained as mementos (changed from "mementoes")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_038">94</a> without a scratch and succeeded (changed from "succeded")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_039">95</a> and the following gentlemen (changed from "gentlement")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_040">96</a> avoid disagreeable repetitions (changed from "repititions")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_041">97</a> perhaps, by his consciousness (changed from "conciousness")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_042">99</a> hands of the United States troops (changed from "State stroops")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_043">100</a> many of those who participated (changed from "patricipated")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_044">100</a> Kentucky and other southern (changed from "souther")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_045">100</a> mostly of rough, Ohio boatmen (changed from "boastmen")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_046">102</a> crowds of soldiers on the platform (changed from "plaform")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_047">103</a> signal example of vengeance (changed from "vengence")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_048">107</a> Henderson—wounding him severely (changed from "severly")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_049">109</a> see the rapid demoralization (changed from "demorilization")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_050">109</a> certain parties pursuing the thieves (changed from "theives")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_051">110</a> learning this accomplishment so necessary or at least ("so necessary or at least" repeated in original)</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_052">111</a> day aiding Beauregard at Manassas (changed from "Manasas")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_053">119</a> major's office. Many and various (changed from "varius")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_054">120</a> property as the trestle buttresses (changed from "butresses")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_055">121</a> suspicions, it is believed (changed from "belived")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_056">123</a> Friday and Saturday, September (changed from "Septemeber")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_057">125</a> foundation in fact, but is (changed from "is is")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_058">127</a> spirit which he afterwards exhibited (changed from "exhibted")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_059">128</a> superiors. He was a great (changed from "geat")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_060">128</a> terror of sutlers (changed from "suttlers")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_061">130</a> injuring any one, and then (changed from "the")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_062">132</a> the State of Ohio a (changed from "as")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_063">133</a> the protection of the Baltimore (changed from "Balitmore")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_064">133</a> switch key, they transferred the (changed from "the the")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_065">134</a> orders with the aggravation (changed from "aggravaton")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_066">136</a> was surprised and taken prisoner (changed from "prsoner")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_067">137</a> claim on the chronicles (changed from "chonicles")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_068">138</a> hide himself in some bullet-proof (changed from "bullet-poof")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_069">138</a> of General Lee at Appomattox (changed from "Appomatox")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_070">139</a> would increase and, finally, a motley (changed from "motly")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_071">140</a> a native of Hesse Darmstadt (changed from "Darmstdat")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_072">142</a> theme of this little book will flourish (changed from "fourish")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_073">144</a> of those three extraordinary (changed from "extraodinary")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_074">145</a> Chief Justice Chase presiding at the (changed from "a tthe")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_075">148</a> necessary to rebuild at Harper's (changed from "Haper's")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_076">150</a> has no other merit, it commands (changed from "command")</p> + <p>p. <a href="#corr_104">150</a> best view of Harper's Ferry, to choose (changed from "chose")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_077">153</a> to which he was clinging with the proverbial (changed from "wth the proverbal")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_078">154</a> around it. At length, his (changed from "His")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_079">159</a> mingled with hysterical screams from (changed from "form")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_080">159</a> any exertion to save himself (changed from "hmself")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_081">161</a> put in a sharp rejoinder (changed from "rejoiner")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_082">163</a> when Mr. Williams and his (changed from "an dhis")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_083">164</a> instances, the very foundations (changed from "foundatons")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_084">164</a> their industry and unobtrusive (changed from "unobstrusive")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_085">165</a> and the remains were forwarded (changed from "forwaded")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_086">169</a> Munchausen immediately transferred (changed from "transfered")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_087">170</a> did not suffer much from this flood (changed from "food")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_088">173</a> by any victory for the canal company (changed from "comjany")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_089">179</a> every learned profession in West Virginia, Maryland (changed from "Marylang")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_090">179</a> One evening a stranger called at Livingstone's (changed from "Livingtone's")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_091">180</a> woman-like, was listening to the conversation (changed from "conversaton")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_092">187</a> available and looked around inquiringly (changed from "inquriingly")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#Page_202">202</a> [In alt tag] Dime Museum (image shows "Musuem")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#Page_202">202</a> [In alt tag] If you fail to see SPENCER'S DIME MUSEUM (image shows "MUSUEM")</p> +<p>p. <a href="#corr_093">206</a> Louise Allstadt Watson Nichols (great-granddaughter) (changed from "great-grandaughter")</p> +</div> +</div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Strange Story of Harper's Ferry, by +Joseph Barry + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HARPER'S FERRY *** + +***** This file should be named 35459-h.htm or 35459-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/4/5/35459/ + +Produced by Mark C. 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