Telegram from A.M. Barbour, Superintendent of the Arsenal at Harpers Ferry to the Secretary of War, 10/19/1859

Level of Description:

• Item

Type(s) of Archival Materials:

• Textual Records

This item was produced or created:

• 10/19/1859

The creator compiled or maintained the series between:

1805 - 1889

General Note(s):

• Letters Received, Main Series, File W-386. Exhibit History: "American Originals," December 1996 - December 1997, National Archives Rotunda, Washington, DC, Exhibit No. 624.0054.

Access Restriction(s):

• Unrestricted
  

Use Restriction(s):

• Unrestricted
  

Microform Publication(s):

• M567
  Letters Received by the Office of the Adjutant General (Main Series), 1822-1860.
  

Subjects Represented in the Archival Material(s):

• telegrams
  

On October 16, 1859, John Brown and his "army" of some 20 men seized the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia). By the morning of October 18, Marines under the command of Bvt. Col. Robert E. Lee, stormed the building and captured Brown and the survivors of his party. Even after Brown was captured, false rumors persisted about abolitionists and slaves hiding in the mountains, preparing for a new attack on the town. It was in this atmosphere of panic, as the Marines prepared to withdraw, that the Superintendent sent this plea for help to the Secretary of War.

ARC Identifier:

300374

NAIL Control Number:

NWCTB-94-CORRPI17E12-W386(1859)2

NAIL Control Number:

NWDT1-94-CORR-PI17E12-W386(1859)2

Other Identifier:

03559
This is the NARA internal exhibit tracking number.

Copy 1:

Preservation-Reproduction-Reference

Contact(s):

• Archives I Reference Section, Textual Archives Services Division (NWCT1R), National Archives Building
  7th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW
  Washington, DC 20408
  Phone: 202-357-5385
  Fax: 202-357-5936
  Email: Archives1reference@nara.gov

Copy 1 Media Information:

• Specific Media Type: Paper