No better way to connect with history than to run through it.
Charles Town, WV is the location of numerous historic sites. Charles Town was founded by Charles Washington, the brother of General George Washington. Charles Washington name many streets after family members. Each historic site hosts a placard or sign that briefly describes significant events surrounding a particular location. It was truly exciting, and sobering in many ways,to follow the story of abolitionist John Brown from the courthouse to Edge Hill Cemetery. The picture above is from 1846 with John Brown holding the flag of the Subterranean Pass Way,his militant counterpart to the Underground Railroad.
(From wiki-pedia)
John Brown was a revolutionary abolitionist in the United States, who advocated and practiced armed insurrection as a means to abolish slavery for good. He led the Pottawatomie Massacre during which five men were killed in 1856 inBleeding Kansas and made his name in the unsuccessful raid at Harpers Ferry in 1859. Later that year he was tried and executed for treason against the state of Virginia, murder, and conspiracy. Brown has been called "the most controversial of all 19th-century Americans."
Brown's attempt in 1859 to start a liberation movement among enslaved African Americans in Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia) electrified the nation. He was tried for treason against the state of Virginia, the murder of five pro-slavery Southerners, and inciting a slave insurrection and was subsequently hanged on December 2, 1859. Southerners alleged that his rebellion was the tip of the abolitionist iceberg and represented the wishes of the Republican Party to end slavery. Historians agree that the Harpers Ferry raid in 1859 escalated tensions that, a year later, led to secession and the American Civil War. ---- ---
---While notadvocating violence as a means to achieve one's goals, I appreciate persistent action towards goals greater than oneself.
Run lightly,
BarefootDad
Charles Town, WV is the location of numerous historic sites. Charles Town was founded by Charles Washington, the brother of General George Washington. Charles Washington name many streets after family members. Each historic site hosts a placard or sign that briefly describes significant events surrounding a particular location. It was truly exciting, and sobering in many ways,to follow the story of abolitionist John Brown from the courthouse to Edge Hill Cemetery. The picture above is from 1846 with John Brown holding the flag of the Subterranean Pass Way,his militant counterpart to the Underground Railroad.
(From wiki-pedia)
John Brown was a revolutionary abolitionist in the United States, who advocated and practiced armed insurrection as a means to abolish slavery for good. He led the Pottawatomie Massacre during which five men were killed in 1856 inBleeding Kansas and made his name in the unsuccessful raid at Harpers Ferry in 1859. Later that year he was tried and executed for treason against the state of Virginia, murder, and conspiracy. Brown has been called "the most controversial of all 19th-century Americans."
Brown's attempt in 1859 to start a liberation movement among enslaved African Americans in Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia) electrified the nation. He was tried for treason against the state of Virginia, the murder of five pro-slavery Southerners, and inciting a slave insurrection and was subsequently hanged on December 2, 1859. Southerners alleged that his rebellion was the tip of the abolitionist iceberg and represented the wishes of the Republican Party to end slavery. Historians agree that the Harpers Ferry raid in 1859 escalated tensions that, a year later, led to secession and the American Civil War. ---- ---
---While notadvocating violence as a means to achieve one's goals, I appreciate persistent action towards goals greater than oneself.
Run lightly,
BarefootDad
