Posted on 03/21/2009 7:02:03 AM PDT by Liz
A series of reenactments, dramatic productions, family activities and special tours are scheduled this year as Civil War sites in West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania commemorate the 150th anniversary of abolitionist John Brown’s October 1859 raid on the arsenal at Harpers Ferry. Although the raid itself failed, it succeeded in exacerbating the divide between North and South, pushing the nation closer to civil war.
“Before the raid, negotiations and a compromise between North and South might have been possible; however, after the attack—and Brown’s trial and hanging—emotions ran so high that armed conflict became inevitable,” says Tom Riford of the Hagerstown-Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau.
At the time, Brown was denounced on both sides of the Mason–Dixon Line as a terrorist and an enemy of the Union, but others just as passionately revered him as a martyr. Brown inspires those same polarized opinions among today’s visitors to Harpers Ferry National Historical Park (nps.gov/hafe), says Todd Bolton, events committee chair for the John Brown Sesquicentennial Quad-State Committee (johnbrownraid.org). “Our job at Harpers Ferry is to present the facts and the history, and let people decide for themselves,” he says.
There will be plenty of opportunities this year to learn about Brown, beginning on April 18 with the first Signature Event of the sesquicentennial: “Prelude to History: The Wedding of Virginia Kennedy” at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. The day’s attractions include a dramatic monologue about the raid told from the perspective of the wife of raider John Cook. Visitors can also enjoy period music, youth activities and tours of the Lower Town at Harpers Ferry, which has been preserved as it appeared during the Civil War era.
The town of Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, lies at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers, bordering Maryland and Virginia. The 3,500-acre National Park extends into all three states. Brown had his northern headquarters in Pennsylvania, the fourth member of the quad-state committee. On May 22, the John Brown House in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, will be rededicated and reopened after a major renovation.
The Kennedy Farmhouse in Samples Manor, Maryland, staging place for the raid, will host a rare open house with tours and demonstrations July 12. Frederick County, Maryland, attracts the spotlight August 8–9 for its Militia and Fire Company Days, with displays of antique fire-fighting equipment. Other events happen throughout the summer and fall, including regular ranger-guided tours of Brown-related sites in the National Park and surrounding areas.
The centerpiece of the sesquicentennial observation takes place in the Harpers Ferry area October 16–18, 150 years to the day after the raid and subsequent siege. Following a twilight reenactment Friday of Brown’s six-mile march to Harpers Ferry, the commemoration continues on Saturday and Sunday with a full slate of music, living history, family activities and ranger-guided programs.
Because of the significance of the raid, the John Brown Sesquicentennial is regarded as a prelude to the Civil War Sesquicentennial, which the nation will observe from 2011 to 2015.
—Theresa Gawlas Medoff
Learn more about the Civil War and the nation’s sesquicentennial plans at cwar.nps.gov/civilwar/abcivwarSesqInit.htm. The information in this story was accurate when it was published in the March/April 2009 issue of AAA World, but dates, times and prices may have changed since then. We suggest you verify such details directly with the listed establishments before making travel plans.
Email: info@johnbrownraid.org
Nice try. Now back to my question. Explain how a non-peaceful one started by a terrorist incident would have lasted longer in Romania...which is the point you made and must defend without changing the subject.
If time travel ever becomes possible I hope the first thing they do is go back and get John Brown and drop him in the center of San Francisco’s Castro district. Then we’d find out if he was as left wing as some of his self-proclaimed admirers seem to think.
Nor you for me.
Nope. That's you making those comparisons.
I see the Brown posts are STILL getting responses and as for this particular post to me in comparing the fight against slavery to the 0bama goons being excused to hack people to death that disagree-WHERE IS THAT COMPARABLE TO SLAVERY AND STATE INJUSTICE? There would be more cause agaiinst a fascist state for its citizens to rise against it and I don’t see the comparisons. So stop with trying to equate the slavery issue of that day and what the country was going through to me saying it would be just for 0bama to squash dissent when that would be tyranny. When it gets to that point it would be more excusable for a John Brown-type to rise against this nation’s gov’t yet again, not the other way around!
It needed to end. I don’t see your point. Slavery was wrong and the land needed to be purged with blood and was. The country ended up paying for its great sin.
What about the souls of those who enslaved others and actually died in the cause of keeping it that way?
Sorry you would rather play semantics than have a constructive dialog.
Heyward Shepherd was a free Black man who had a position on the railroad as baggage handler, some reports as baggage master. In doing a little research it seems that Shepherd's death is spun recklessly, more so by the supporters of John Brown. Whatever the reason though, this man was properly and employed as an equal, he was killed by Brown or his followers.
One convenient view is that he went to "join" Brown and his anarchists with a view to having his family freed in another state. Whatever it was, the man was shot down. He has a monument in his memory.
The tears are for Brown, of course.
Since the Bible doesn’t condemn slavery, it is ridiculous to compare that to murder.
could it be that you don't want to ADMIT the TRUTH about "the blue FILTH that flowed down from the North"
and
the FACT that the "invaders in blue" were pleased to prey on Blacks (both freeman and slave) & upon "persons, who were other than white" because they could, with little/no fear of the consequences from the DY High Command (all too many DAMNyankees freed the slaves ONLY from being ALIVE!)
OR
that most Black CSA veterans fought the yankees to protect their family/farm/community/LIFE???
free dixie,sw
Yeah, just perfectly ‘legal’ for a master to kill their slave if they saw it that way or beatings, rape the women, split the children from their parents, etc. Knock off the excuses for a monstrosity. And who’s to say anyone involved in any kind of warfare and killing(as that is the business of WAR) is any better just because it is state-sponsored?!
You will continually make excuses for slavery against man but find killing in the name of taxes A-OK. You continue to avoid the issue and try to change the subject to Bin Laden who is another slave-holder type who wants to dictate how others live their lives which is very much in line with the slavery mentality that once gripped this nation.
may i gently suggest that you leave FR & go read the FACTS, rather than posting the south-HATING bilge that you are currently posting.
as i said in another post, you don't want to hear about the SLAVERS from the NORTH & how THOSE slave-owners acted. NOBODY's hands north or south were clean. therefore, it is ARROGANTLY ignorant, stupid & DISHONEST to try to cover-up for the DAMNyankees & to attack the southerners for PRECISELY the SAME grave sins.
btw, have you asked N-S for your "secret squirrel number", so that you can become a member in good-standing of "The DAMNyankee Coven of fools/HATERS/antisemites/BIGOTS/nitwits/lunatics"???
free dixie,sw
to all: DAMNyankees are all nitwits/FASCISTS/lunatics/BIGOTS/fools/HATERS so "fair play" isn't in their vocabulary.
free dixie,sw
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