Robert Harper
Robert Harper was born in Oxford Township near Philadelphia, Pa., in 1718. A builder and millwright, Harper was engaged by a group of Quakers in 1747 to erect a meeting house in the Shenandoah Valley near the present site of Winchester, Va.

Traveling through Maryland on his way to the Shenandoah Valley, Harper proceeded to "The Hole" where the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers meet. Attracted by the ample waterpower and strategic location for travel and transport, Harper obtained a patent for 125 acres in 1751. Twelve years later, in 1763, the Virginia General Assembly established the town of "Shenandoah Falls at Mr. Harper's Ferry."

In 1775, Harper commenced construction of a new home in the Lower Town. The structure was completed in 1782, but Harper, who died that same year, never occupied the house. Today the Harper House is the oldest surviving structure in the Lower Town. [View photos of the Lower Town]

Thomas Jefferson
On October 25, 1783, Thomas Jefferson visited Harpers Ferry, viewing "the passage of the Patowmac though the Blue Ridge" from a rock that now bears his name. In 1785, Jefferson's description of this view was published in the Notes on the State of Virginia. [Read Jefferson's complete description]

George Washington
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 the Maryland Shore 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. [View photos of the Harpers Ferry Armory]

Meriwether Lewis
During the spring of 1803, Meriwether Lewis traveled to Harpers Ferry to procure weapons and hardware that would meet the unique requirements of his transcontinental expedition. Among the items he obtained from the United States Armory and Arsenal were 15 rifles, 15 powder horns, 30 bullet molds, 30 ball screws, extra rifle and musket locks, gunsmith's repair tools, several dozen tomahawks, 24 large knives, and a collapsible iron boat frame. [Learn about Meriwether Lewis at Harpers Ferry]

John H. Hall
From 1820-1840, John H. Hall, a native of Portland, Maine, devoted his uncompromising attention to the "uniformity principle" of interchangeable manufacture at the Harpers Ferry Armory. The "uniformity principle," referred to as "the American system of manufactures" by the British, made use of special-purpose machines to produce parts so accurately sized that they were interchangeable. Hall pioneered mechanized arms production and the manufacture of interchangeable firearm components, laying a solid foundation for America's emerging factory system. [Learn more about John H. Hall]

James H. Burton
James H. Burton, a native of Virginia, went to work at the Harpers Ferry Armory in April 1844 at the age of 21. During his ten-year tenure at Harpers Ferry, Burton rose quickly through the ranks of the Armory workforce, serving as a machinist, foreman, and ultimately as Acting Master Armorer when he was just 26 years old. Among Burton's many accomplishments were his experiments with the Minié bullet and his detailed drawings documenting the design improvements he made. In 1855, Burton's modified design for the Minié bullet was adopted by the U.S. Army. [Learn more about James H. Burton]

Burton's drawings were uncovered in a basement crawl space during a home restoration project in Winchester, Virginia, in 1986. The Burton Drawings at Harpers Ferry, as the collection is now known, tell us a great deal about the evolution of firearm technology during the decade leading up to the Civil War. [View the Burton Drawings]

John Brown
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.

Even as John Brown's Raid was unfolding, Harpers Ferry residents George and Mary Mauzy described the events of the raid in a series of emotional letters to their daughter and son-in-law, James and Eugenia Burton. [Read excerpts from the Mauzy letters]

John Brown's Raid remains part of the legacy of our nation's struggle with slavery. [View video clips of Stephen Oates discussing John Brown]

Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson
Thomas J. Jackson, one of the Confederacy's most famous soldiers, became intimately familiar with Harpers Ferry during the Civil War. On April 28, 1861 – just ten days after Virginia seceded from the Union – Colonel Thomas J. Jackson arrived at Harpers Ferry to assume his first command of the Civil War. He spent the next six weeks drilling thousands of Virginia volunteers encamped on Bolivar Heights before withdrawing south into the Shenandoah Valley.

Major General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson returned to Harpers Ferry on September 13, 14 and 15, 1862. Now a celebrated Confederate commander and one of Robert E. Lee's most trusted generals, Jackson took possession of Maryland Heights, Loudoun Heights, and School House Ridge, trapping the Union Garrison inside Harpers Ferry. "Stonewall's Brilliant Victory" secured the surrender of 12,500 Union troops – the largest capitulation of Federal forces during the entire Civil War. [Learn more about Stonewall's Brilliant Victory]

Frederick Douglass
On the occasion of the 14th Anniversary of Storer College, on May 30, 1881, Frederick Douglass delivered a memorable oration on the subject of John Brown in front of Anthony Hall. Especially notable was the presence among the platform guests of Andrew Hunter, the District Attorney of Charles Town who had prosecuted Brown and secured his conviction. The address was subsequently published, with proceeds of its sale earmarked for the endowment of a John Brown Professorship at Storer College. [Read the concluding passages of Douglass' John Brown oration]

W. E. B. Du Bois
William Edward Burghardt Du Bois broke new ground on many frontiers in his remarkable and controversial life. Du Bois earned the first Harvard doctorate awarded to an African American. During a prolific career of writing and publication, including sixteen thought-provoking books on sociology, history, politics, and race relations, Du Bois became the principal architect of the civil rights movement in the United States. He perceptively said, “The problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line.”

Du Bois’ connection to Harpers Ferry began in Canada in 1905, when he became the leader of an elite group of African Americans known as the Niagara Movement. The formation of this group marked the beginning of Du Bois’ public assault on racial discrimination. The next year the Niagara Movement met on the campus of Storer College in Harpers Ferry. Du Bois referred to the 1906 gathering as “one of the greatest meetings American Negroes ever held.” Du Bois returned to Harpers Ferry 44 years later as the commencement speaker for the 1950 graduating class of Storer College. [Learn more about the 1906 Niagara Movement Commemoration]

Don Redman
Known as “The Little Giant of Jazz”, Donald Matthew Redman attended Storer College between 1916 and 1920. During his years here he was one of Storer’s most active and energetic students.

After graduation in 1920 he went on to compose and arrange music for radio, television and many big bands, including his own. He is considered the first great jazz arranger as well as a leading figure in the development of the swing and big band style. [Learn more about Don Redman]