Harpers Ferry, also spelled Harper's Ferry, is a historic town in Jefferson County, West Virginia. Before 1863 the entire state was part of Virginia. In the 19th century it was home to a United States Army weapons depot, which made it a target for John Brown's raid on the Armory in 1859 and a series of incursions during the American Civil War just a few years later.
Harpers Ferry in Southern Victory[]
Harpers Ferry loomed large in U.S.-C.S. history and relations. In 1859, John Brown led a raid on the US armory in Harpers Ferry, hoping to capture enough weapons to arm a slave army which could wage a guerrilla war against the US. His band of raiders were defeated and captured or killed by a United States Army detachment commanded by Robert E. Lee.
Subsequent to the War of Secession, Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry grew more celebrated in the U.S., particularly during the Remembrance era between the Second Mexican War and the Great War.
In 1944, Confederate General Clarence Potter passed through Harpers Ferry on his mission to plant a superbomb in Philadelphia in the final days of the Second Great War.
