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On the night of Sunday, Oct. 16, 1859, John Brown, with 18 of his party, crossed the bridge from Maryland into Harpers Ferry, put out the lights on the street, captured a number of the citizens and took possession of the arsenal. During the next day he maintained an abstinate fight with the militia and Citizens, but at nightfall retired to the fire-engine house, which he barricaded for a determined fight. The next morning at 7 o'clock the doors of this were battered in by a detachment of Regular soldiers and Marines, led by Lieut. Col. R. E. Lee, and after a brief but desperate fight Brown was compelled to surrender. The building was afterwards labeled as "John Brown's Fort," and for years was an object of interest to the passersby on the railroad." |
