In 1794, the
U.S. Congress passed a
bill calling "
for the erecting and repairing of Arsenals and Magazines". President
George Washington, given wide latitude in carrying out this order, selected Harpers Ferry, then a part of
Virginia, for the location of the Harpers Ferry National Armory. George Washington believed that an inland location would be more defensible against foreign military attack. However, his friends had an interest in the
Potomac Company, which influenced his decision to locate the armory. In 1796, the United States government purchased a parcel of land from the heirs of Robert Harper. Subsequently, in 1799, construction began on the national armory. Three years later, mass production of military arms commenced. The building relied on river power to drive the armory's machinery.
Expansion and upgrades In 1844, the deficient state of the armory was taken into account and demand for military equipment increased, and so the renovation and expansion of the armory was undertaken. The upgrades of the arsenal began in 1845–1854 with the construction of seven brand new workshops and the installation of 121 new machines. All the expansions of the armory were done on heavy stone foundations and included cast-iron framing in the general style of "factory Gothics" architecture. The South had virtually no small-arms production and an inadequate supply of raw materials. The machinery taken from Harpers Ferry became the foundation of the Confederate arms manufacturing. Two weeks later, the Confederates abandoned Harpers Ferry, while also confiscating what was left in the Armory and burning the rest of the remaining buildings. They also blew up the railroad bridge of the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, but returned in two weeks to destroy the Rifle Works and a bridge that crossed the Shenandoah river.
The armory's strategic location During the Civil War, the armory became a site of great strategic importance because it was located very close to the
Mason-Dixon line, or the border between the free and the slave-holding states. Consequently, the Union used it as an effective means to supply troops with weapons quickly as they marched into battle. The downside to being on the border was that the armory could easily change hands and fall into Confederate control–the town of Harpers Ferry changed hands at least eleven times during the Civil War.
Aftermath of the Civil War Due to the degree of damage to the armory during the Civil War, the U.S. government decided not to re-establish the armory at Harpers Ferry, instead focusing the quickly developing areas west of the Mississippi River. Today the site is mostly covered by railroad track embankments.
John Brown's Fort John Brown's Fort was the only building to survive the destruction wrought upon it by the Confederates and the Union forces. It was the armory's fire engine and guard house, which
Brown and his raiders barricaded themselves in. It was given the name of John Brown's Fort after the war. This building has been moved four times. The first time, freeing up the site for the railroad to use for an embankment, it was moved to Chicago, where it was displayed at the
1893 Columbian Exposition. Abandoned after that, it was moved back to a farm near Harpers Ferry. From there, it was moved to the place it was the longest, and where it was most honored:
Storer College, a school established for freedmen in Harpers Ferry, which also was given by Congress the Arsenal managers' housing, set back on Camp Hill. The Fort remained at Storer until after the College closed in 1955, contributing greatly to Harpers Ferry's role as a destination for African-American tourists in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was afterwards moved by the National Park Service to near its original location. == See also ==