While in Connecticut last week, our innkeeper informed me that about 1/8 of a mile to the north of our driveway up to the house with the big shower and picture window to the world, was a historical spot that we might enjoy:
After some questions from my wife, I remembered an episode in the Ken Burns film study of the Civil War that explained John Brown.
We looked at the story on film which included Brown's foray into Kansas and killing of 5 pro slavery settlers in Lawrence.
But the more famous of Brown's calling of abolition took place at Harpers Ferry. After putting together his "army", and training them at a rented farm, his little band attempted to take over the federal arsenal at that river town, and arm the slaves to begin a slave rebellion.
US Army troops, led by Robert E. Lee, ended this attempt and took Brown prisoner. After a trial in which he was charged and convicted of treason against the state of Virginia, he was hung in Charlestown in 1859.
Brown' life and his death showed the North, and the South, the feelings of each side.
The North treated Brown as a martyr, and the anti-slavery folks there were made to realize the strong defense of slavery from their countrymen in the South, while the South treated Brown as a criminal and cheered the hanging that followed the trial. The deep divisions of the two parts of this country were on full display.
What better way to end this part of our trip than to go to Harpers Ferry, WV (it was in Virginia before WV became a state). We could have the whole John Brown life, from birth to death, in one travel day.
From a visit to a place in CT, one that we did not even know existed, to another spot in another state, one that marked a watershed in North-South relations and feelings, we had our history lesson on the road.
And we learned a little more about the Story of our Land.
A Good Thing
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