Harpers Ferry
James Henry Burtonspent ten eventful years at the Harpers Ferry Armory. During this tenure, he perfected an elongated bullet for the regulation .58-caliber rifle-musket—commonly called the Minié bullet—helped test and perfect new lock mechanisms, barrel rifling, and machinery. Burton’s drawings range from simple sketches used to flesh out components of operating mechanisms to dimensioned, hand-tinted drawings of firearm components and complex machinery. According to John Symington, Supt. of the Harpers Ferry Armory, Burton’s “management was so satisfactory, and his ingenuity in devising, draughting and perfecting tools and machines so marked, as to cause me at once to select him as a fit person to fill the position of Master Armorer…” The Burton Drawings at Harpers Ferry focuses on the remarkable achievements of James H. Burton during his 10-year tenure at the Harpers Ferry Armory. Burton’s notes, sketches, and detailed drawings teach us a great deal about the emergence of 19th century drafting practice and the evolution of firearm technology during the decade preceding the civil war. Author: David T. Gilbert. Publisher: Harpers Ferry Park Association. Paperback, 64 pages. Measures 8.5" x 8.5". Weighs 5.8 oz.
100% hand-made and engraved by Studio Workshop in Cumberland, Maryland. Triple finished. Cherry wood mile marker #60 replica -- 7 inches tall, 2 3/4" square with inscription Harpers Ferry Mile 60, Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, 184.5 miles, Washington, DC to Cumberland MD, Confluence of the Potomac & Shenandoah Rivers at the Gap in the Blue Ridge.
100% hand-made and engraved by Studio Workshop in Cumberland, Maryland. Triple finished. Mini Marker 4 inches tall, 1 3/8" squareInscription Harpers Ferry Mile 60, Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, 184.5 miles, Washington, DC to Cumberland MD.
"My lot has been cast. I am a son of Virginia, and her destiny shall be mine." -- Logan Osburn, June 6, 1861No time period in history had more impact on Jefferson County citizens than the Civil War years. Those four years saw families uprooted, homes, farms and livelihoods destoryed, and the end of six decades of arms productions at Harpers Ferry. For some, the war crashed through their walls with deafening terror. For others, it led to freedom and education. And whether by choice or not, Jefferson Countians entered the war as Virginians and left it as West Virginians.In his first book, historian P. Douglas Perks -- "Mr. Jefferson County" -- uses his decades of research and writing on the topic, along with rare first person accounts of four citizens who endured these tenuous years. Perks also brings new focus to the statewide issue of secession. No state in the Union was more divided over the issue, and perphas no other county. Who would cast their lot with the destiny of Virginia and who would remain "firmly attached to the Union of these States"?
Color a visit to Harpers Ferry National Historical Park with these 25 scenes hand drawn by one of the park's very own volunteer artists. Discover historic places, wildlife, amazing views, and fun facts about this national park. Publisher: Harpers Ferry Park Association. Paperback, 31 pages. Measures 8.5" x 11". Weighs 4.8 oz.
One place. Countless stories. Harpers Ferry has long been a gathering point of the American story. From explorers and innovators to warriors and reformers, passionate souls with wildly diverse causes have flowed again and again into this tiny village, shaping the town--and, in many cases, the country.Focusing on personal, human experiences recorded in journals, letters, and other documents, Confluence: Harpers Ferry as Destiny offers a view of Harpers Ferry history that is both sweeping and intimate. Come: Discover the national dramas that have converged at Harpers Ferry. Slavery and the quest for freedom. War, expansion, and revolution. Natural disaster upon natural disaster, and the enduring human spirit that has refused to relinquish hope.Published in honor of Harpers Ferry National Historical Park’s 75th anniversary, Confluence also includes perspective on the rebirth of this war- and flood-ravaged town as a national park. Under the stewardship of NPS, Harpers Ferry has continued to evolve, continued to reveal new stories. Author: Dennis E. Frye & Catherina Mägi Oliver. Publisher: Harpers Ferry Park Association. Paperback, 225 pages. Measures 7" x 10". Weighs 1 lb. 4.6 oz.
The subject of this autobiography, Jared Maurice Arter, was born a slave Jan. 27, 1850. He first saw the light in a little one-room log cabin, on a small farm lying on both sides of the Winchester Turnpike and the Shepherdstown Highway, at their crossing. The Big House on this farm, located four miles from each, marked the half-way point between the now famous towns of Harper's Ferry and Charles Town both in Jefferson County, W. Va. Jared well remembers the John Brown Raid and the great excitement arising therefrom. The master of the Little plantation, William Schaeffer, of Pennsylvania Dutch extraction, was inspector of arms in the United States Arsenal at Harper's Ferry. He was accustomed to rise and leave home on horseback at 5 o'clock of mornings, to eat breakfast with his mother and father in Bolivar, and to go from there to his work in the arsenal. On the morning of the John Brown Raid he left at 5 o'clock as usual. Soon the news spread that Brown and his men had made a raid through the county on the previous night, had taken into custody a number of the leading citizens, had captured Harper's Ferry and the arsenal and had barricaded himself and his men in the engine-house of the armory and was holding the captured citizens as prisoners or hostages.