Harpers Ferry, VA

This thriving manufacturing village is situated at the junction of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers... The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal passes along the left bank of the Potomac, and the Baltimore and Ohio rail-road passes through the town. The town is connected with the Maryland side by a fine bridge across the Potomac, of about 800 feet in length. The United States Armory and the National Arsenal, at Harper's Ferry, are worthy of attention. In the latter, 80,000 or 90,000 muskets are usually kept, which, as they are sent away, are replaced by others from the factories. (Historical Collections, 1852)
Place Unit Type
City or Town
Containing Unit
Date Title
New York Times, “Great Floods in the Potomac and Shenandoah,” April 20, 1852
New York Times, “Fatal Railroad Accident,” March 10, 1854
Frances Watkins Harper to William Still, September 12, 1856
New York Times, “The Slave Troubles,” December 30, 1856
“Old Brown and his Friends,” Richmond (VA) Dispatch, November 10, 1859.
Lowell (MA) Citizen & News, “Riot at Harper’s Ferry,” October 18, 1859
New York Times, "News of the Day," October 18, 1859
Entry by Edmund Ruffin, October 19, 1859
Charles H. Ray to Abraham Lincoln, October 20, 1859
Carlisle (PA) American Volunteer, “Negro Insurrection!," October 20, 1859
Fayetteville (NC) Observer, “So Perish All The Enemies of Our Country!,” October 20, 1859
New York Times, “Latest Dispatches,” October 21, 1859
New Orleans (LA) Picayune, "The Harper's Ferry Outbreak," October 22, 1859
New York Herald, “The Slave Population in the Vicinity of the Outbreak,” October 23, 1859
Richmond (VA) Dispatch, "Northern Impertinences with Regard to the Late Affair at Harpers Ferry," October 24, 1859
Richmond (VA) Dispatch, “The Madness of Brown,” October 25, 1859
New Orleans (LA) Picayune, "The Harper's Ferry Affair," October 25, 1859
Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, "Dissolution of the Union," October 25, 1859
Carlisle (PA) American Volunteer, "Governor Wise on the Harper's Ferry Insurrection," October 27, 1859
Carlisle (PA) American Volunteer, "Sketch of Captain John Brown," October 27, 1859
Carlisle (PA) American Volunteer, "The Slave Insurrection at Harper's Ferry," October 27, 1859
Carlisle (PA) American Volunteer, "The Provisional Government of the Insurrectionists," October 27, 1859
Carlisle (PA) American Volunteer, "Additional Particulars of the Insurrection," October 27, 1859
Carlisle (PA) American Volunteer, "Bleeding Kansas," October 27, 1859
Philadelphia (PA) Christian Observer, "A Regular Abolition Conspiracy," October 27, 1859
Fayetteville (NC) Observer, "Good Out of Evil," October 27, 1859
New York Herald, “Political Excitement on the Rise,” October 30, 1859
Fayetteville (NC) Observer, "Political Effect," October 31, 1859
Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, "A Game that Will Not Win," October 31, 1859
New York Herald, "Runaway Slaves in Canada," November 1, 1859
Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, "The Harpers Ferry Insurgent at Carlisle," November 1, 1859
Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, "They Have Overdone It!," November 2, 1859
Carlisle (PA) American Volunteer, "Tenderly Sensitive," November 3, 1859
Fayetteville (NC) Observer, "A Good Sign," November 3, 1859
Carlisle (PA) American Volunteer, "Trial of Brown, the Insurgent," November 3, 1859
Charleston (SC) Mercury, “Mr. Douglas’ New Book,” November 4, 1859
Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, "Old Brown's Speech," November 4, 1859
New York Times, "The Brown Invasion Transplanted From Kansas," November 5, 1859
Philadelphia (PA) Christian Observer, "Character of John Brown," November 10, 1859
Boston (MA) Liberator, "Bad News for the Abolitionists," November 11, 1859
Eliza Margaretta Chew Mason to Lydia Maria Child, November 11, 1859
William E. Frazer to Abraham Lincoln, November 12, 1859
Fayetteville (NC) Observer,"Old Brown," November 14, 1859
Savannah (GA) News, “Incendiarism in the South,” November 17, 1859
Carlisle (PA) American Volunteer, "The Plea Will Not Avail Them," November 17, 1859
Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, "A Recoil of the Gun," November 18, 1859
Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, "The Virginia Panic," November 19, 1859
New York Herald, “Intense Alarm and Excitement in Virginia,” November 20, 1859
Fayetteville (NC) Observer, "The Devil Not As Black As He Is Painted," November 24, 1859
Entry by Thomas Jonathan Jackson, December 2, 1859
Hartford (CT) Courant, “Untitled,” December 5, 1859
Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, "How a Brave Man Dies," December 6, 1859
Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, "Virginia Wants the Nation to Foot Her Bills," December 8, 1859
Fayetteville (NC) Observer, "Gov. Seward and Harpers Ferry," December 8, 1859
Hartford (CT) Courant, "Untitled,” December 14, 1859
Lowell (MA) Citizen & News, “Frederick Douglass,” December 21, 1859
New York Herald, “Seward Nominated for the Presidency by the Abolitionists,” December 25, 1859
San Francisco (CA) Evening Bulletin, “The New Crusade against the Union,” December 29, 1859
Boston (MA) Liberator, "John Brown is Dead!," December 31, 1859
New York Herald, "The Underground Railroad and Its Victims," January 5, 1860
New York Herald, “The Runaway Slaves,” January 5, 1860
Atchison (KS) Freedom’s Champion, “Paying the Piper,” January 28, 1860
Charlestown (VA) Free Press, “Harper’s Ferry Outrage,” February 9, 1860
Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, “The Harper’s Ferry Inquisition,” February 15, 1860
New York Times, “Manufacturing Martyrs,” February 16, 1860
New York Herald, “The Senate and Messrs Hyatt and Howe,” February 25, 1860
New York Times, "Gov. Seward and John Brown," August 18, 1860
Milwaukee (WI) Sentinel, "Not Going to Dissolve the Union," August 21, 1860
Charleston (SC) Mercury, "Harper's Ferry Anniversary Celebration," October 22, 1860
Chicago (IL) Tribune, "Montgomery," December 1, 1860
Charlestown (VA) Free Press, “John Brown Anniversary,” December 13, 1860
Winfield Scott to Abraham Lincoln, April 15, 1861
David D. Field to Abraham Lincoln, April 23, 1861
Virginia Governor John Letcher’s Proclamation, April 24, 1861
Fayetteville (NC) Observer, "A New Difficulty," April 29, 1861
New York Times, “The Barbarians at Harper’s Ferry,” June 16, 1861
Abraham Lincoln, Message to the Congress in Special Session, July 4, 1861
Cleveland (OH) Herald, “Military Printers Having Their Joke,” July 15, 1861
San Francisco (CA) Evening Bulletin, “The Critical Time of the Union Cause,” August 9, 1861
Fayetteville (NC) Observer, “Beautiful Weapon,” February 3, 1862
Abraham Lincoln to George Brinton McClellan, October 13, 1862
How to Cite This Page: "Harpers Ferry, VA," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/index.php/node/19516.