TiGGy & Miss Doretta Schoenhut
at John Browns Fort In's
Harpers Ferry, West Virginia
We Be's On's Da John Brown Monument!
Da OriginalMosT Site O John Browns Fort
We LuVs Da Historicals!
Ans Da PerfectMosT Preserved Town O Harpers Ferry
Thomas Jefferson Described Da View
"The passage of the Patowmac through the Blue Ridge is perhaps one of the most stupendous scenes in Nature. You stand on a very high point of land. On your right comes up the Shenandoah, having ranged along the foot of the mountain a hundred miles to seek a vent. On your left approaches the Patowmac in quest of a passage also. In the moment of their junction they rush together against the mountain, rend it asunder and pass off to the sea. The first glance of this scene hurries our senses into the opinion that this earth has been created in time, that the mountains were formed first, that the rivers began to flow afterwards, that in this place particularly they have been so dammed up by the Blue Ridge of mountains as to have formed an ocean which filled the whole valley; that, continuing to rise, they have at last broken over at this spot and have torn the mountain down from its summit to its base. The piles of rock on each hand, but particularly on the Shenandoah, the evident marks of their disruptions and avulsions from their beds by the most powerful agents in nature, corroborate the impression.
"But the distant finishing which nature has given the picture is of a very different character. It is a true contrast to the former. It is as placid and delightful as that is wild and tremendous. For the mountains being cloven asunder, she presents to your eye, through the cleft, a small catch of smooth blue horizon, at an infinite distance in that plain country, inviting you, as it were, from the riot and tumult roaring around to pass through the breach and participate in the calm below. Here the eye ultimately composes itself; and that way, too, the road happens actually to lead. You cross the Patowmac above the junction, pass along its side through the base of the mountain for three miles, the terrible precipice hanging in fragments over you, and within about 20 miles reach Frederictown and the fine country around that. This scene is worth a voyage across the Atlantic."
YeaHMosT Jeffy BabY!
George Washington DinT Jus SleePs Here
As champion and first president of the Patowmack Company – formed to complete river improvements on the Potomac and its major tributaries – George Washington traveled to Harpers Ferry during the summer of 1785. For two days, Washington's party carefully inspected the river here to determine the need for bypass canals and sluices.
"Here we breakfasted [at Harpers Ferry]; after which we set out to explore the Falls below; & having but one Canoe, Colo. Gilpin, Mr. Rumsay (who joined us according to appointment last Night) and Myself, embarked in it, with intention to pass thro' what is called the Spout (less than half a mile below the ferry) but when we came to it, the Company on the shore on acct. of the smallness, and low sides of the Vessel, dissuaded us from the attempt, least the roughness of the Water, occasioned by the rocky bottom, should fill, & involve us in danger. To avoid the danger therefore we passed through a narrow channel on the left, near theMarylandShore and continued in the Canoe to the lower end of Pains falls distant, according to estimation 3 Miles." (From the Diaries of George Washington, August 7th, 1785).
Nine years later, in 1794, Washington used his familiarity with Harpers Ferry to champion the site for a new federal armory and arsenal.
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John Brown TooK His Last Great Stand Here
On October 16, 17, and 18, 1859, John Brown and his "Provisional Army of the United States" took possession of the United States Armory and Arsenal at Harpers Ferry. Brown had come to arm an uprising of slaves. Instead, the raid drew militia companies and federal troops from Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. On the morning of October 18, a storming party of 12 Marines broke down the door of the Armory's fire enginehouse, taking Brown and the remaining raiders captive. [View photos of John Brown's Fort]
Brown, charged for "conspiring with slaves to commit treason and murder," was tried, convicted, and hanged in Charles Town on December 2, 1859. Before the sentence was carried out, however, Brown issued a prophetic warning:
I wish to say furthermore, that you had better – all you people at the South – prepare yourselves for a settlement of that question that must come up for settlement sooner than you are prepared for it. The sooner you are prepared the better. You may dispose of me very easily; I am nearly disposed of now; but this question is still to be settled – this negro question I mean – the end of that is not yet.
John Brown Were A BraveMosT Hero
R.I.P. John Brown
Doretta ans TiGGy Honors Ya Memorial
Meriwether Lewis, StoneWall Jackson, Fredrick Douglass, ans W.E.B. DuBois All Haves History Here In's Harpers Ferry
Da National Park Service Has Done A Great Jobbie O Preservation ans Education
Here Be's Da Website;
Hopes Ya EnJoY Da Visit PeePs!
LuV, TiGGy ans Miss Doretta Schoenhut
