John Brown
His connection to Chambersburg
June 2009 marks the 150th anniversary of John
Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry. Who was John
Brown, what did he do, why did he do it, and
what was his connection to Chambersburg,
Pennsylvania?
Brown married twice, and fathered 20 children.
He moved frequently, became involved in
many business ventures, and was forced to
declare bankruptcy in the 1840s. Through it
all, Brown supported the abolition of slavery
and came to the conclusion that the only way
to end slavery was to lead a
war against it himself.
On the run for the murders of five
pro-slavery settlers in Kansas in
1856 abolitionist John Brown
rented rooms in a boarding house
in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania
during the summer and fall
of 1859 where he planned a
raid on the Federal Arsenal at
Harpers Ferry, Virginia. If his plan
succeeded, he and his followers
would collect enough guns to
equip an army of slaves and
incite them to rebel. If his plan
failed, he would be hanged.
In May 1856, Brown, his
sons, and a small band of
sympathizers murdered five
pro-slavery men in an event that
is known as the Pottawatamie
Massacre.
Brown spent the next two years
on the run while gathering
money and arms for his cause.
In the summer of 1859, Brown
came to Chambersburg. Using the assumed
name of Dr. Isaac Smith, Brown occupied
a bedroom in the upstairs of Mary Ritner’s
Boarding House on East King Street and
planned his attack on the Federal Arsenal at
Harpers Ferry.
During his stay in Chambersburg, Brown
met with abolitionists including the famous
anti-slavery author and lecturer Frederick
Douglass. Even though Douglass was opposed
to Brown’s plan to create a slave uprising, he
met with Brown at an old stone quarry outside
of Chambersburg in August 1859. Brown was
unable to convince Douglass to join the raid on
Harpers Ferry, and Douglass fled to Canada
briefly to avoid being implicated in the raid.
Brown sent the weapons that he had been
stockpiling in Chambersburg to the Kennedy
farm. Just over the Maryland border, the
Kennedy farm was close to Harper’s Ferry
and it was the staging point for
the attack.
On Sunday evening, October
16, 1859, Brown and 21 of his
supporters slipped into Harpers
Ferry. They seized the federal
arsenal, killed seven men and
injured about a dozen more.
When news of the attack reached
Richmond, the U. S. Marines
rushed to Harpers Ferry and
began shooting. Brown and
the few of his men who were left barricaded
themselves in a small brick building and
refused to surrender. Finally, a company of
Marines stormed the building and captured
Brown and his men.
John Brown was tried, found guilty of murder,
treason and inciting a slave insurrection. He
was hanged, along with nine of his followers,
on December 2, 1859 in Charles Town.
John Brown House &
Old Jail, Chambersburg
It was no mistake that radical abolitionist
John Brown chose Chambersburg as his
supply base and staging area for his raid on
Harpers Ferry. Chambersburg had excellent
access to rail, was located in the north, but
was still close enough to the south for Brown
to deploy his attack. In the summer of 1859,
Brown and several of his associates stayed
at 255 East King Street in Chambersburg, the
boarding house of Mary Ritner.
shipments of weapons for his planned
takeover of the arsenal at Harpers Ferry.
Brown assumed the identity of Isaac Smith,
owner of a mining operation. Under this
guise, Brown was able to receive the heavy
Today the Old Jail is a museum and
home to the Franklin County Historical
Society - Kittochtinny.
Located just a block west of the John Brown
House is the Old Jail at 175 East King Street.
This is where John Cook, one of John Brown’s
associates in the raid of Harpers Ferry, was
taken after being captured. Oral tradition
also holds that the jail was used to secure
escaping slaves until they could be moved to
the next place of safety.
Franklin County Explorers Guide│GREAT HISTORY│ 15