At the confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia stands a modest fire engine house. On October 16, 1859, John Brown, a staunch abolitionist, led eighteen men across the B&O Railroad Bridge with the intent of capturing the Federal Armory and Arsenal at Harpers Ferry and freeing enslaved men and women in the local area. From there Brown planned for his army to advance south along the Appalachian Mountains and spark a larger uprising.[1] The events that ultimately transpired fueled sectional tensions and sanctified the engine house, now referred to as John Brown’s Fort, within Read more