john brown bell

TheTheTheJohn Brown BellJohn Brown BellJohn Brown Bell

The journey of the second-most important bellin American history,

from Harpers Ferry, West Virginia,to Marlborough Massachusetts

researched by Joan Abshireresearched by Joan Abshire

The journey of the second-most important bellin American history,

from Harpers Ferry, West Virginia,to Marlborough Massachusetts

ii The John Brown Bell www.HistoricMarlborough.org

Copyright ©2008 Joan Abshire

The John Brown Bell iiiwww.HistoricMarlborough.org

Preface

This story is from a presentation given at the Marlborough Historical Society on 26 February 2008. In the course of my research, I had accumulated quite a bit of information from many sources: people, books, magazines, newspapers, and the Internet – there is a bibliography at the end. But I thought it would be helpful to visit the place where the bell came from, so I took a trip to Harpers Ferry and Charleston, WV, and on the way back stopped in Williamsport, MD.

In the end I had much more information than I could possibly use in one evening, so I put together as much as I could of what I felt was the most interesting, or necessary to fully understand the story. I saw it in my mind as a spider web, with people and events scattered about, some connected to each other here and there, but all leading to the bell at the center.

If anyone who reads this narrative has any information about the bell that they would like to share I would be very glad to have it. You are welcome to copy any portion of the story, including photos. I only ask that if you use a photo that isn’t one of mine, please provide credit information. A few photos have unidentified sources. In those cases, either there were none available, or I could not remember where they came from. I welcome all questions, comments, photos and information.

Joan Hartley Abshire12 March [email protected]

from a Middlesex News articledated October 22, 1997

2 The John Brown Bell www.HistoricMarlborough.org

This story begins with the inventor, Eli Whitney. He was born in Westborough,

MA in 1765 and graduated from Yale University in 1792. But he couldn’t seem to find a job which suited his particular talents, so he journeyed to South Carolina to fill a position as a tutor. When that didn’t work out for him, he was befriended by Mrs. Nathaniel Greene, widow of the Revolutionary General. She had met Eli on his trip south. He was invited to her plantation in Georgia to read law and assist her manager, Phineas Miller, who later became his friend and partner.

The only type of cotton that would grow in that area had sticky green seeds that were difficult and time consuming to remove by hand. I did a search online for green seed cotton and came up with this photo. Whether it was Eli’s own idea, or someone else’s suggestion, he decided to make a machine that would remove the seeds, and in a very short time had a working model. I won’t go into the troubles he had with his design being pirated before it was even patented, etc., as that’s a whole story in itself. I only mention the cotton engine, or gin, as it was called, because it set the stage for what was to come later.

The cotton gin was successful beyond anyone’s imagining and had a tremendous impact on the course of American history. In the 1790’s, before its invention, slavery had actually started to decline. Tobacco had depleted the soil, and the green seed cotton wasn’t profitable. Without a good

cotton - before and after

Eli Whitney

ELI WHITNEY AND THE COTTON GIN

Eli Whitney Museum

USDA-ARS

The John Brown Bell 3www.HistoricMarlborough.org

cash crop large numbers of slaves were no longer necessary, or economical, and some farmers actually began freeing them. But the advent of the cotton gin changed everything. Instead of needing fewer slaves, now they needed more. From 1790 until 1808, when

the importation of slaves was banned, 80,000 Africans were imported. By 1860, the south was growing three quarters of the world’s supply of cotton, and the number of slave states had increased from six to sixteen.

Cotton GinKean Collection/Getty Images


The expansion of slave states eventually led to the trouble in Kansas where John

Brown, later known as Osawatomie Brown, came to prominence.

John Brown, son of Owen & Ruth Mills Brown, was born in 1800, in Torrington, a little town in western Connecticut, about midway between Hartford and the New York border. His ancestors in this country go back to Peter Brown, who was among the pilgrims who came on the Mayflower, and both of his grandfathers served in the Revolution.

When he was five, the family moved to what is now northeastern Ohio, but was then a wilderness filled with wild animals and Indians. Once there, he adapted quickly to his new life and by the time he was twelve he thought nothing of being sent off alone, at times more than a hundred miles, with cattle which his father was furnishing for the troops, because we were at war with England. On one of these trips he stayed for a short time with a U.S. Marshall who had a slave boy about his age who had been kind to him.

The Marshall was very good to John. He had him to dinner with his friends and praised him for bringing the cattle such a distance by himself; while the negro boy was badly clothed, poorly fed, lodged in cold weather, and beaten with iron shovels or whatever came to hand.

JOHN BROWN

Birthplace of John Brown

John BrownUnidentified Source

Unidentified Source


John’s father was a Calvinist and a dedicated abolitionist, so it’s probably safe to assume that he was raised in an atmosphere that promoted equality among the races. But there’s a big difference between being taught that slavery is wrong and actually witnessing first hand the cruelty of it. This experience planted the seeds of his life-long commitment to end it.

John, over the course of his lifetime, was a tanner, surveyor, sheep drover, wool merchant, farmer and land speculator. Some of these occupations seemed to work well for a while, but, whether because of the circumstances of the time or his own miscalculations, he never acquired the fortune he was seeking. It’s believed that he would have used this fortune to finance his fight against slavery.

In 1820 he married Dianthe Lusk, who bore him seven children before her death in 1832. The following year he married Mary Ann Day, who gave him 13 more. The family moved quite often until 1849, when they settled on a farm in North Elba, NY, near Lake Placid. Gerrit Smith, a millionaire abolitionist and member of The Secret Six, had established a black community in the area. John Brown and his family moved there to help them acclimatize and to be their advocate with the whites in the region, some of whom were taking advantage of them. But the blacks were unaccustomed to the cold and did not succeed well as farmers. Only a very few families stayed to make it their home.

John Brown monument, North Elba, NY

Mary Ann Brown with two daughters

John Brown Farm, Historic State Park

Joyce M. Ranieri

Library of Congress

New York History Website


already mentioned, was from New York, but the other five were all from Massachusetts.

In 1855 John Brown joined his sons in Kansas to try to stop it from becoming another slave state. He took part in several skirmishes with pro-slavers, but his fighting was mostly defensive until May 26, 1856. On that night he led seven men, including four of his sons, to Pottawatamie Creek where they murdered five pro-slavers. The victims have been described as pro-slavery thugs who had been routinely beating, intimidating, and even killing anti-slavery activists.

Why did they suddenly resort to such violence? There are several theories, but the one I believe is closest to the truth is in Evan Carton’s book, Patriotic Treason. He states that Brown felt that, “a few .. terrible deaths, would suffice to demonstrate to every border ruffian and pro-slavery agitator that the idol he served could not protect him and that the threats he made against others would be visited upon himself.”

One incident that may have helped precipitate the massacre had happened in the U.S. Senate just three days before. Senator Charles Sumner, an anti-slavery advocate from Massachusetts, was beaten severely with a cane by South Carolina Representative Preston Brooks because of a speech Sumner had delivered a few days earlier as to whether Kansas should be admitted as a slave, or free, state. In that speech he had some harsh words to say about Brooks’ uncle. Both men were treated as heroes by their constituencies. Brooks

The Secret Six

Caning in the U.S. Senate

I should explain that The Secret Six were men who supported John Brown in his efforts to abolish slavery by providing him with money and arms. Gerrit Smith, whom I’ve

John Brown 1800-1859Villard

New York Public Library


Frederick Douglass

The Tragic Prelude, John Brown by John Stewart Curry

was censured, resigned, and immediately re-elected. Sumner also was re-elected, although three years would pass before he was able to return to his Senate seat.

John Brown may have felt that he was justified in what he did, but I just can’t accept it. And it’s sad because there is so much about him that I admire. He believed in the equality of the whole human race. He was a religious man who lived what he preached and taught his family to do the same. He was friends with many of the black leaders of the day, including Frederick Douglass, from whom he sought advice and counsel, although he didn’t always heed it, and blacks were often present at his dinner table. He was a member of the Underground Railroad for years, helping slaves escape to Canada and personally freeing and leading some of them himself. He was not some madman or wild-eyed fanatic as he has sometimes been portrayed; he saw a terrible injustice and gave his life to end it.

In 1859 he met with Douglass and explained his plan to capture the arsenal at Harpers Ferry. He believed that this strike would rouse the country and the slaves would rally round him. He figured that once he was in control of it, it would be impossible to get him out, and he wanted Douglass to join him. But Douglass refused and argued with him for hours trying to talk him out of it. He saw Harpers Ferry as a steel trap and only disaster ahead.

Harper’s Weekly

Mural from the State Capitolin Topeka, Kansas


HARPERS FERRY

Harpers Ferry is at the junction of the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers and

the boundaries of three states: Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland, (although at the time of this story, West Virginia did not yet exist.) The Appalachian Trail crosses the river there. It is truly a beautiful spot. Thomas Jefferson was there in 1783 and stated in his notes that, “the passage of the Potomac through the Blue Ridge is one of the most stupendous scenes in Nature,” and, “worth a voyage across the Atlantic.”

Robert Harper came over from England in 1703, when he was 20 years old. Around 1747, he was on a trip to Virginia and on the advice of a fellow traveler he went by way of what was then called “The Hole,” or “Peter’s Hole,” where he had been promised the sight of some wonderful scenery. He was so impressed by what he saw that he bought out Peter Stevens who had squatted there for several years. The place was part of the great Fairfax estate. Harper settled there, operated a ferry across the river, and “The Hole” became Harpers Ferry.

At the age of 16, George Washington was in this area with a group that was surveying the Fairfax land, which was quite extensive. How close he came to Harpers Ferry is not known, but it’s been said that what he saw on this trip caused him to chose the spot for an armory and arsenal when he became president.

Harpers Ferry, WV

St. Peters Church & Shenandoah River

Ian Douglas

Joan Hartley Abshire


In 1796, the government purchased 125 acres of land from the heirs of Robert Harper. Construction on the arsenal began and by 1802 full scale production had begun. The 24x35 foot building that became John Brown’s Fort was built in 1848 as the Armory’s fire engine and guard house. It was the only building not destroyed during the Civil War.

In the summer of 1859, John Brown arrived in the area and began looking for a place to wait while he gathered the arms and men necessary to carry out his plan. He rented a little farm in Maryland across the river from the estate of Dr. Robert Kennedy. He lived there, masquerading as Isaac Smith, while gathering troops and training them for the raid on Harpers Ferry.

On the night of Sunday, October 16, John Brown, leaving three men behind as guards, proceeded with the remaining 18 to the arsenal at Harpers Ferry. They captured one watchman at the railroad bridge, another at the gate, and took control of the arsenal. A

John Brown’s Fort

Young Washington, the Surveyor

Kennedy Farm

The Mapmaker of Mt. Vernonby Edward J. Redmond


postcard


This photo from around 1862 shows the engine house on the left which was its original position

Colonel Robert E. Lee

few of the men were sent into the surrounding countryside to bring in certain planters and their slaves. Gradually, through the night, they accumulated more hostages until they had quite few, some of them leading citizens of the town. One of those hostages was Colonel Lewis Washington, the great-grand-nephew of George Washington.

At first there was very little resistance, but by daylight the citizens of the town were about, and some of them were armed. Shots were fired, and men on both sides were killed or wounded, including the mayor, and hysteria and chaos resulted. Several militia units arrived, and by midday the raiders were hemmed in and there was no longer any hope of escape. About 11 p.m. Col. Robert E. Lee and Lt. J.E.B. Stuart arrived with a

National Archives

National Park Service


Marines storm the fort

slave insurrection, and treason against the state and were convicted. Brown was hanged on December 2, 1859, and the others later. Some of the raiders had been left on the other side of the river and others had been sent over. These, plus two more, managed to escape, although some were later captured and met the same fate as John Brown. Brown’s wife, Mary, took his body back to North Elba where he was buried. Later, several of his followers would be buried alongside him.

There are so many accounts of this story written from so many different perspectives that it’s really hard to sort fact from fiction. One written eye-witness account with a

company of 90 marines. Being mindful of the safety of the hostages, they waited until daylight. When Brown, for a second time, refused to surrender, the marines, led by Lt. Israel Green, stormed the building, breaking the door with a ladder, and in moments it was over.

According to the National Park Service web site, 17 people were killed in the raid: two slaves, three townsmen, a slaveholder, a Marine, and ten of Brown’s men, including two of his sons.

Brown himself was severely wounded by Lt. Green. He and the four raiders who were captured with him were tried for murder,

Harper’s Weekly


John Brown is hanged, December 2, 1859

This wagon that carried John Brown to his execution sitting on his coffin is now in the

Jefferson County Museum in Charlestown, WV

John Brown’s grave

different perspective is found in a small book titled, A Voice from Harpers Ferry, written in 1861, two years after the events, by Osborne P. Anderson, a free African American and one of the raiders who managed to escape. From their position in the arsenal, Osborne and Hazlett witnessed the storming of the engine house by the Marines. Knowing there was nothing further that could be done, they took advantage of everyone’s attention being focused on what was going on there, and made their getaway.

Although John Brown’s raid itself was a failure, it did help to produce the effects he had worked all his life to achieve: in 1861, confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter and the Civil War began; in 1863, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation; and, in 1865, the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery, was ratified.

Jefferson County Museum

Joyce M. Ranieri

Harper’s Weekly


The building known as John Brown’s Fort has had a very interesting history. It’s traveled much farther than most people born in that generation. In 1891, it was sold, dismantled, and transported to Chicago where it was displayed at the World’s Fair, but since it only attracted very few visitors, it was closed, dismantled, and left abandoned on a vacant lot.

In 1895, it was rebuilt on Murphy’s Farm, about three miles outside of Harpers Ferry, where five acres had been made available by the owner of the farm. At this rebuilding, quite a few new bricks were added to the old ones. In 1896, the League of Colored Women met here at the fort which has always been revered by the black community.

It stayed at the Murphy Farm until 1910, when it was bought by Storer College in Harpers Ferry and moved there, where it

League of Colored Women at John Brown’s Fort on Murphy Farm

Osborne Perry Anderson

National Park Service

Unidentified Source


educate former slaves, but open to students of all races, both male and female. In 1954, segregation in the schools ended, and in 1955, the college closed.

In 1960, the fort was acquired by the National Park Service and moved back to Harpers Ferry, about 150 feet from it’s original position, which is now covered by a railroad embankment.

The building has been a fire engine house, guardhouse, watchtower, fort, prison, storage place for junk, World Fair exhibit, campus museum, and post for a Ground Observer Corps.John Brown’s Fort at Storer College,

Harpers Ferry, WV

John Brown’s Fort as it appears today

was then used as a museum and gift shop. Founded in 1869, Storer College was the first integrated school designed primarily to

Unidentified Source



THE 13TH MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS AND THE CIVIL WAR

When the news of Fort Sumter spread, there was a great surge of patriotic

fervor, and when MA Governor Andrew sent out a call for troops, a large proportion of citizens from Marlborough and the surrounding communities responded, including quite a few of Marlborough’s firemen. Many of their names, along with others from Marlborough who died in the war, are inscribed on the Civil War monument on Main Street in front of the Baptist Church.

The name of James M. Gleason, from Torrent Engine Co. #1, is the name most often mentioned in all the accounts of this story that I’ve read. A large part of this narrative that relates to the bell is from a speech he gave to a group from the Sons of Veterans of the GAR.

In May of 1861 the newly formed Marlboro militia company offered their services to the government. In June they reported at Fort Independence, Boston, where they became Company I of the 13th Massachusetts Volunteers. They left Boston in July and by August 23 were camped by the Potomac, near Harpers Ferry. They had only been there a few days when they were ordered to cross the river and seize anything that was of value to the U.S. Government.

At the arsenal, they searched in vain for something to take along as a souvenir. Many others had been there before them and taken everything of value. In the yard was the empty engine house where John Brown and

Civil War Monument, Marlborough, MA

James M. Gleason


GAR Booklet


Locks at Williamsport, MD

OOPS!

and 15 others of Co. I, went back to Harpers Ferry, and with ropes began to lower the bell from the belfry. It’s said to weigh around 700 or 800 pounds, and the rope, unfortunately, was not equal to the task. It broke, as depicted in this drawing from the Civil War Times magazine, and the bell fell to the ground. A few chips were taken out of the flange, but otherwise it was undamaged. According to Gleason’s account, the bell was taken across the river on a ferry made of two scows lashed together, and dumped in the canal, where it remained until they had received official permission to keep it.

They realized that the bell was the property of Uncle Sam, so they applied through the Provost Marshal, Major Gould, and according to the accounts, permission was granted by the War Department. The bell was boxed up and placed on the canal boat, Charles McCardell, which was being used as officers’ quarters. On October 31st they were ordered to Williamsport, Maryland, where they joined the rest of their regiment.

company had been captured. They spotted the bell and decided to take it home, since their Hook & Ladder Co. had no bell. On September 16, 1861, Lt. David L. Brown


Civil War Times Magazine


Lauriman Russell

The bell traveled up on the canal boat, and was unloaded at the locks there.

While they were camped in Williamsport, they made the acquaintance of William and Elizabeth Ensminger. William owned and managed two or three canal boats. They made a deal with his wife, Elizabeth, to bake bread for them, and she took her pay in flour, which was probably some of what had been confiscated at Harpers Ferry. Many times Gleason was the one who went to town to get the bread.

In March of the following year, they were ordered across the river into enemy territory. Unable to take the bell with them, and lacking sufficient funds to send it home, they left it with the Ensmingers, who agreed to keep it for them until they could return. That early in the war, they had no idea how much time would pass before it would end. The regiment marched away and the bell was forgotten. Seven of the 16 who had taken the bell were killed in the war.

I wasn’t able to find a list of the names of the 16 who took the bell, but there are five names that I am pretty sure of: James M. Gleason, Lysander P. Parker, David L. Brown, William Barnes, and Lauriman H. Russell. Other possible candidates are William A. Alley, E.C. Marsh, and F. K. Dansereau. It’s interesting to note that Lauriman, who was the son of Otis and Lovinah Russell, grew up here, in the Peter Rice Homestead, along with his 16 brothers and sisters. Several of his brothers were in the war, and two, John and Benjamin, have their names inscribed on the monument.

Elizabeth Ensminger (later Elizabeth Snyder),who had charge of the bell for 30 years

GAR Booklet

MarlboroughHistorical Society

Archives


THE JOHN A. RAWLINS POST #43, GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC

The John A. Rawlins Post was chartered January 15, 1868. Originally, it was

called the “Lincoln Post,” but when it was discovered that a Charlestown Post had previously adopted that name, it was dropped, and John A. Rawlins was substituted. Gen. John Aaron Rawlins, who died in 1869, was General Grant’s friend and advisor, and was appointed Secretary of War during Grant’s administration.

The first meetings of the G.A.R. were held in the attic of the Forest Hall Block. Later they leased the upper hall of the Berry’s Block, and in 1879 they moved to the Marlborough Town Hall.

On June 28, 1892, the G.A.R. Building on the corner of Main St. and Rawlins Ave. was dedicated. This would be their headquarters for the remainder of their lives.

From the beginning, the G.A.R. held annual national encampments, where veterans from all over the country would come together. In September of 1892 it was held in Washington, D.C. Six of the nine remaining members of Co I, who were involved in getting the bell, went to this encampment.

While there, some of them decided to take an 80 mile side trip to Williamsport, where they had spent the winter of 1861-62. They managed to locate their old bread-baker, Mrs. Elizabeth Ensminger, only now she was Mrs. George Snyder, her first husband having died. Mrs. Snyder was very happy to Marlborough Town Hall

Gen. John Aaron RawlinsUnidentified Source

Pictorial Marlborough


The Grand Army of the Republic, Washington, D.C., 1892

see “her boys” again, and she invited them to spend the night. James Gleason was up early in the morning and in the kitchen, talking over old times with Mrs. Snyder. When he asked what had become of the bell, she surprised him by saying that she had kept it for them. They went into the back yard behind her house, and there it was.

During the battle of Antietam, she had been very anxious for the safety of the bell and had it buried by one of her slaves. It was left there for seven years, then dug up and hung on its old frame in her back yard.

They had a pleasant visit, then returned to Marlborough. When they had raised enough money, James Gleason and his wife traveled back to Williamsport, and the bell was boxed and sent home by train. The agent at the train station told Gleason that he was glad to see it go, because as long as he could remember, every time the Democrats had a victory, that old bell had been rung all night long,

This early photo showsthe G.A.R. Building without the bell

celebrating. When it arrived in Marlborough it was affixed to the front of the new G.A.R. Building.

In a document dated November 23, 1892, the surviving members of Co. I, 13th Regiment,

Marlborough Historical Society Archives



In the summer of 1893, Mrs. Snyder visited Marlborough, and on July 11, the G.A.R. held a reception in the hall for her. It included speeches and entertainment which was declared to be the best ever held there. There’s a very detailed account of it in the Enterprise. One line of that account reads, “A solo by Miss Hattie Goins was given a pleasing rendering.” The first time I read that, which was a few months ago, it didn’t mean anything to me. It was just one more in a long list of names. But when I was reading it over again a short time ago, the name Goins jumped out at me because in the interval I had learned about Luke Goins.

Luke was a slave in Harpers Ferry. At the time of John Brown’s raid, he was working there in a hotel for his master. Being musically inclined and because he was familiar with the tolling of the bell of the engine house, he was able to identify it from its tone when it came to Marlborough. He had arrived here

The Synder Home in Williamsport

G.A.R. Building with the bell

Mass. Volunteers, transferred ownership of the bell to the John A. Rawlins Bldg. Assoc., with the provision that the members of the association and their successors, “are to keep the Bell in their possession and are never to sell the same or to loan the same.” The building association is made up of members of the American Legion Post, and they are still the legal owners of the bell.





several years after the war and built a house next to the Williams Tavern, where he raised his family of four sons and seven daughters. Hattie, who had sung at Mrs. Snyder’s reception, was one of those daughters.

A newspaper clipping from the Worcester Telegram relates how Mr. Goins would march around that end of town, up to French Hill and back, playing his flute, and by the time he got back home half of the children in the area were trailing along behind with his own children. They called him the Pied Piper of Old Marlborough. He died in 1896. But the story doesn’t end there. Hattie Goin’s sister Geneva/Genevieve, was the mother of Anna Walker, that awesome lady who had a dance studio in Marlborough for many years and was very involved with the seniors of the city. Her name is on the front of the

Goins Family Home

Anna Walker

Goins Family


The photos of Anna Walker and the Goins Family were donated by Vivienne Erlandson


which was also in the parade. When I read this, I wondered, “how had this all come about? How did our bell become part of a Charlestown parade?”

Then I discovered, in James Gleason’s obituary of 1906, that he was known all over this section of the country as a veteran fireman, and for several years he had been foreman of the Charlestown Vets. Also, several years previously, the Charlestown company had come to a fireman’s muster here in Marlborough.

One by one the G.A.R. members passed away, and the bell tolled for each of them. The last one from Marlborough was Stillman Wood who died in 1937.Stillman Wood Funeral, 1937

The John Brown Bell at the Charlestown Celebration, June 17, 1903

Senior Center because she was so influential in getting it built.

On June 17, 1903, there was a big Civic and Military parade in Charlestown. The John Brown Bell, on a float drawn by six black horses, shared honors with the Liberty Bell,




The years passed and they were not kind to the G.A.R. building. In the 1960’s,

the bell was beginning to detach from the building and something needed to be done. Raymond Cahill, of the Marlborough Chamber of Commerce, had the idea of building a tower on Union Common. Ralph Riccuitti, of the Akroyd Houde Post 132, American Legion, designed the tower and supervised its construction. It was built, stone by stone, by many volunteer masons and laborers whose names are engraved on a plaque attached to the tower. Work began in July of 1968, and a dedication ceremony was held the same year on Labor Day, September 2.

There is another plaque attached to the tower which reads, in part, “The John Brown Bell – Symbol of a nation’s efforts to obtain freedom and equality for its people.” There’s more, but I’ll let you go and read the rest for yourself, if you haven’t already.

By 1980 the G.A.R. building was in a sad state. Bricks were falling off, and it was determined that the building was a hazard. Since it would have been too costly to repair, it was razed. It had been the home of the Marlborough Boys Club for several years, and before that it belonged to the American Legion. Now, the place where it stood is a parking lot. But part of the building is still with us, literally.

I wonder how many people, on their way in here, paid any attention to the big square stone at the corner of the walkway and the

THE BELL TOWER

Congressman Philbin at the dedicationof the Bell Tower

driveway right outside our door. That was the corner stone of the G.A.R. building. If you look closely on your way out, you’ll see that there’s an inscription on it. However, I think that inscription contains one error. It lists the date of the razing of the building as 1981, but I have several newspaper accounts that put it in 1980.

I have a book of newspaper clippings relating to the history of the bell and covering over a hundred years. And I’m sure there are even more that I’ve missed. It’s been a very popular subject. A lot of rumors have circulated, such as the accusation that the bell was a fake. People from Harpers Ferry



John Brown Bell Tower, Union Common,Marlborough, MA, 2007

have been here asking for the bell back, some more aggressively than others. At one time there was an offer to have a duplicate made.

The story is resurrected every few years, some more elaborately than others. Unfortunately, these accounts, although basically correct, have some errors, and I’d like to set the record straight on a few that I’ve come across several times.

1. The bell was stolenThe bell belonged to the U.S. Government. It was located on U.S. Government property and was taken by Federal troops who were

specifically ordered to take whatever they could find that was of value, and once they had they bell they got permission from the War Department to keep it. It never belonged to the town of Harpers Ferry. It was not stolen.

2. The bell was buried for 30 yearsAccording to Mrs. Snyder’s own account, she had it for 30 years, but it was only buried for seven and then dug up and hung in her back yard.

3. Williamsport LocksIn the G.A.R. account it’s written that the bell was taken to Williamsport Locks, which is correct but misleading. Locks is capitalized, which makes it look like that’s the name of the town. It would have been clearer written as, “the bell was taken to the locks at Williamsport.” There is no town named Williamsport Locks.

4. The bell was going to be rung to summon the slavesI really feel badly about this one because I think it would be so neat if it was true. But it just isn’t. I couldn’t find the least little shred of evidence that pointed to that conclusion. I think someone made it up, possibly my friend James Gleason, because his account is the first place that it appears. The fact is that the bell is never mentioned at all in any of the other accounts I read, except the book put out by the G.A.R. and the newspaper clippings that copied it. And in fact, one of the rangers at the park who went out of his way to help me, was of the same opinion.



Now I have a question. Should we give it back? Before I started my research on the bell I really thought that we should. But now I’ve changed my mind. Those boys saved it by taking it when they did. Harpers Ferry changed hands many times during the war

years. And with all the traffic through there who knows where it would have ended up. Gary Brown, our Veterans’ Agent, thinks it would have been melted down.

What do you think?

G.A.R. Building cornerstone, at the entrance to the Peter Rice Homestead, Marlborough, MA



Acknowledgments

Paul Polewacyk, our firefighter/historian, who so very generously loaned the Marlborough Historical Society part of his own collection.

Maurice Snyder, Williamsport’s town historian, who invited me into his home and showed me the points of interest in the town.

Nancy L. Hatcher, technician, and Richard Raymond, curator, at the John Brown Museum in Harpers Ferry, who took the time to meet with me.

William Banks, a guide at the National Park Service Information Center in Harpers Ferry, who went out of his way to be helpful.

Bill Beaulac of the American Legion, Akroyd-Houde Post 132, who showed me the remaining artifacts of the John A. Rawlins, Post 43. G.A.R.

Many Marlborough residents who took the time to talk with me, including our Veterans’ Agent, Gary Brown, and some of the volunteers who built the bell tower on Union Common.

All the wonderful people I met on my trip. Everyone I met was friendly and very willing to share whatever information they had.

Page layout by James AbshireJMA Design

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Bibliography

Patriotic Treason – Evan Carton – 2006John Brown’s Raid – National Park Service – 1974The Perfect Steel Trap Harpers Ferry 1859 – Bob O’Connor – 2006A Voice from Harpers Ferry – Osborne P. Anderson – 1861The Strange Story of Harpers Ferry – Joseph Barry – 1903Three Years in the Army – Charles E. Davis – 1894Pictorial Marlboro – John A. Rawlin s Post 43 G.A.R. – 1879The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass – Frederick Douglass – 1881Washington the Indispensable Man – James Thomas Flexner – 1969Historical Reminiscences of the Early Times in Marlborough, MA – Ella Bigelow – 1910The Story of the John Brown Bell – John A. Rawlins Post 43, G.A.R. – 1910Transcription of a Speech given by James M. Gleason – date unknownBrown on Brown: John Brown’s Autobiographical Letter to Henry Stearns – July 15, 1857The Civil War Times – magazine, May 2006

National Park Service and many other web sites

Images from: Google National Park Service Marlborough Historical Society

Newspaper Clippings from: The Boston Globe Herald Mail.com in Hagerstown, MD The Marlboro Enterprise The South Middlesex News The Worcester Telegram

john brown bell

Documents