John Brown's Fort
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John Brown's Fort was initially built in 1848 for use as a guard and fire engine house by the federal Harpers Ferry Armory, in Harpers Ferry, Virginia. An 1848 military report described the building a
John Brown's Fort in 2013
Drawing published in 1883. Note the words over the doors and the steep hill behind.
Harper's Ferry Armory in 1862, with the fire engine house on the left
Illustration of the interior of the engine house immediately before the door is broken down. Note the hostages on the left.
John Brown (abolitionist)
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John Brown was an American abolitionist in the decades preceding the American Civil War. An evangelical Christian of strong religious convictions, Brown was profoundly influenced by the Puritan faith
John Brown's Fort
…one story brick, covered with slate, and having copper gutters and down spouts…" The building achieved fame when it became the anti-slavery advocate John Brown's refuge during his 1859 raid on Harper's Ferry, in which he hoped to launch the overthrow of slavery. It is the only surviving building of the Armory…
The house in which Brown was born, in Torrington, Connecticut, was photographed in 1896 and destroyed by fire in 1918.
John Brown's Tannery, in 1885
Mary Ann Brown (née Day), wife of John Brown, married in 1833, with Annie (left) and Sarah (right) in 1851
Wood engraving of the pro-slavery mob setting fire to Gilman & Godfrey's warehouse, where Elijah Parish Lovejoy hid his printing press