Today, Harpers Ferry, West Virginia is a hotspot for American history buffs. But 165 years before any tourists came to town, fighters here clashed in a prelude to the United States Civil War.
Today, Harpers Ferry, West Virginia is a hotspot for American history buffs. But 165 years before any tourists came to town, fighters here clashed in a prelude to the United States Civil War.
Wednesday, Oct. 16 marked the 165th anniversary of abolitionist John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry, then a part of Virginia. In 1859, Brown — and at least 21 other men including Shields Green and John Henry Kagi — spent months planning an armed rebellion, with the goal of initiating a revolt that would free people enslaved across the South.
Brown and his colleagues descended upon a federal armory and arsenal in Harpers Ferry with the goal of distributing weapons to people who were enslaved in Virginia. That night, they overtook bridges to town, occupied weapons facilities and took hostage local slaveholders.
Brown and his colleagues had hoped their raid would serve as a catalyst for a wider rebellion, with more people joining their ranks.
But his plan never came to fruition, as two days later dozens of U.S. marines quashed the revolt. Brown was executed just months later, and the majority of his colleagues were killed in action or also executed.
United States Marines storm an armory fire engine house taken over by John Brown and his team in this illustration from the 1800s.
Illustration from Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper/United States Library of Congress via National Park Service
The abolitionist raid received national press coverage as contentions over slavery and wider conflict mounted. Today, it is remembered as a precursor to a national war, and one of the first acts of coordinated armed resistance against chattel slavery in the United States.
From this, Harpers Ferry has long held a place in the public consciousness as a site of revolutionary potential, especially for Black Americans.
In 1906, African American civil rights leaders visited the town for the second meeting of the Niagara Movement, an early civil rights group described as a precursor to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
Harpers Ferry’s abolitionist history, combined with its presence of a higher education institution serving Black Americans, Storer College, led leaders to select the town as the site for their conference.
An illustration from the 1800s depicts John Brown’s execution in present-day Charles Town, West Virginia.
Illustration from Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper/United States Library of Congress via National Park Service
Today, the legacy of Brown’s raid and the abolitionist movement in Harpers Ferry is remembered through historical events hosted by the National Park Service (NPS) at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park.
In the afternoon of Saturday, Oct. 19 and Sunday, Oct. 20, the United States Marine Corps Historical Company will partner with NPS to host “living-history” exhibits, talks and demonstrations regarding Marine involvement in the conflict.
The park will also host a tour called “Clearing the Sky” on Oct. 18, Oct. 25 and Dec. 2.
The program will visit sites of importance to Brown’s raid and trial, including the Jefferson County Courthouse in Charles Town and the Jefferson County Museum, where artifacts from Brown’s life are held. The tour lasts roughly two-and-a-half hours.
For more details on NPS programming to commemorate the 165th anniversary of John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry, visit the organization’s website.
Walker has a new book, Load in Nine Times. Inside Appalachia host Mason Adams recently spoke with him about it.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
Adams: Frank X Walker, thank you for coming on Inside Appalachia.
Walker: Honored to be here.
Adams: How did you first conceptualize this book? What planted the idea in your head?
Walker: Well, it came about organically. I had been hired to write some short biographies of Civil War soldiers for this new project in Kentucky called Reckoning, Inc. They wanted to take all these archival documents that were newly available and were being digitized, and alongside the invitation to do your own research, they would show examples of bios written by Kentucky writers. Then I realized this information that I was finding in these documents was so interesting, that I was more moved to respond with a poem than a traditional bio. I asked permission to also include poems with the bios, and they were very excited about that.
After about a half dozen anonymous soldiers with no connection to me, I recalled that I had relatives, but I didn’t have very much information, and I asked them if they would consider my own relatives with their research. A week later, they came back with a 99-page document of pension files and affidavits and records connected to Randal and Mary Edelen, which were my third great-great-grandparents. That changed my whole trajectory, and I just wanted to write about them. I wanted to know more about them, so I abandoned the project I already started, and just focused on researching the Civil War and writing poems in response to what I was finding out about how it impacted Black families whose men and women were connected to Camp Nelson, which had a refugee camp in what is now known as Nicholasville, Kentucky. I passed by this place for decades and only visited maybe once or twice, but didn’t know how much of my own family story was present there, both Randal Edelen and Henry Clay Walker. Another great third, great great grandfather had been stationed there at the same time. Just knowing that I had family members who had been at Camp Nelson made me really interested in going back and revisiting. This book has kind of grown up around that idea of trying to capture that story that’s not singularly about the Civil War, but it’s about the challenges black families faced before, during and immediately after the war, and it tells a different story than the story than textbooks have put forth.
The dedication in “Load In Nine Times,” by Frank X Walker
Courtesy photo
Adams: So, Mary and Randal Edlin and Elvira and Henry Clay Walker are family members to whom you dedicate the book, and they also appear in the book at times. Can you tell us a little bit more about what you learned about them in the course of researching and writing this?
Walker: One of the things that first made an impact for me when considering that question is that my name is Frank X Walker, and the “X” in my name is not my birth name. That became my nickname in college, and then became my legal name when I became a practicing artist and writer in the world. I wanted to be known as Frank X Walker because the “X” stood for the unknown in the traditional Malcolm X, and that unknown meant I don’t know my original African name, and that’s where I traced my lineage to. And that unknown also had to do with the period of enslavement, when census records did not include the names of individuals who were enslaved — just to age, occupation, and maybe the color. So, the “X” represents all that history. When I’m going through these files, I kept coming across Mary Edelen’s name, and I noticed one day that her handwriting kept being a little bit different each time. I took the chance to zoom in on one of her signatures and realized that in between her name, in between Mary and Edelen, it just said, “her mark,” and there was an “X.” And a bell went off. I pulled back from that image and realized in that document, there were two signatures to the left of that that vouch for her signature. It took about two more steps in my head to realize that she was illiterate, and so somebody else wrote her name, and she had to put an “X” in the spot, and then that spot had to be identified as her mark, you know. So, she was Mary X Edelen, and I was Frank X Walker, and I thought I’d been the first “X” in the family, but here was this woman for almost the same reason, reaching across time to her third great-great-grandson, to communicate something. To me, that was a really powerful moment.
Adams: This is a poetry collection, but it really feels not so much as a collection of poems, as this widescreen experience of the pivotal moment in American history — immediately before the Civil War, during and then picking up the pieces after. We see this moment through all these different perspectives — enslaved people, their former masters and some historic figures as well. How were you able to squeeze your brain into all these different perspectives to tell this shared story?
Walker: What I learned, having written five previous collections of historical poetry, is that the more points of view that are present, the closer to the truth the entire narrative feels. This was a chance to talk about something that everybody knows about. There are literally thousands of books about the Civil War, but I was trying to come at it from a point of view that challenges traditional narratives. Kentucky’s neutrality and then joining the Union, it almost presents a romanticized notion of what the Civil War was in Kentucky, but almost none of those historical accounts share a point of view that’s from the black families, the soldiers and their family members, as far as the Civil War was concerned. I wanted to approach it from that direction, and I knew that I’d have to have villains and heroes. I wanted to make sure women’s voices were present, and the children were also included. If I was going to discuss enslavement, I needed to have the individuals who oppress the other people and their victims in the same space.
Adams: The first section really bracingly drops us into pre-Civil War slavery, and then the book progresses. Can you describe how it’s kind of constructed into three parts, and how it flows and why you chose that construction?
Walker: I wanted to make sure I told a full account of the Civil War through these soldiers’ eyes, which meant I’ve had to really unfold how they all came to be soldiers, and what the motivation may have been. The biggest motivation was when they changed the law and not just allowed soldiers in Kentucky to join up, but guaranteed that once they signed their names, their children and their wives and their mothers also became free. But I also wanted to make sure that the soldiers had a chance to tell their story. So the middle part of the book is mostly in the voices of soldiers who participated. Then once the war was concluded, I think a story that’s undertold is how much effort Kentucky, as an institutional space using legal means, tried to reinstate some of the benefits of having enslaved free labor available. There was a period of almost 10 years where there was this effort to put newly free people back in their place, and a whole period of domestic terrorism that was rendered upon free Black people by former Confederate officers. As you know, there were 25,000 African American men who joined the Union army. There were also as many Kentucky white men who joined the Confederate Army and then returned to Kentucky after the war. For 10 years, groups of them, sometimes up to 200 former calvary men on horseback rode around central Kentucky terrorizing newly freed Black men and their families and chased them off their new farms that they were able to purchase with their $300 that was earned money from having been soldiers.
Load in Nine Times, by Frank X Walker
Courtesy photo
Adams: When you were working on this book, what did you learn about the Civil War in Kentucky that most surprised you?
Walker: A lot of people think the Civil War is not over, and there’s evidence of those same battles for the same reasons are being fought every day, especially along lines of race and class. The landed, wealthy money corporation entities versus the people who have been dispossessed. Efforts to divide and conquer, divide peoples, particularly poor people, working class people, from each other and make them believe the enemy is that other person. I guess the energy we need to work on if we want to land in a better place is, how do we push against that division and figure out a way to support and push toward a common goal. I hope that people read these poems, and realize that they’re based on real human beings and get caught up and connected to the emotional stuff that’s infused in the poems. I hope they leave this book saying, “I felt something,” and will now think about this period in history differently, and will look for the lessons that I think are very self evident in this retelling.
Adams: Frank X Walker, it’s been an honor. Thank you for speaking with us at Inside Appalachia.
Walker: Thank you, Mason. I really enjoyed the conversation.
Frank X. Walker’s new book is Load In Nine Times. It’s available now.
This week, Affrilachian poet Frank X. Walker has a new collection of poetry that looks at Black life in Kentucky before, during, and after the Civil War.
We also check in with the people affected by flooding in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee.
A new collection of essays and poems remembers the 2022 flood in Eastern Kentucky witnessed by writers trapped at the Appalachian Writers Workshop.
And bird watching only sounds relaxing. Sometimes, it can get a little wild.
In This Episode
Frank X. Walker Explores The Civil War
Witnessing The Historic Flooding Of East Kentucky
The Historic Flooding in Western North Carolina and Tennessee
Endangered Birds of Appalachia
Frank X. Walker Explores The Civil War
Poet Frank X. Walker returns with his latest collection “Load In Nine Times.”
Courtesy
Kentucky poet Frank X. Walker co-founded the Affrilachian Poets Collective to challenge the idea that Appalachian identity is defined by whiteness. He’s published several collections and now has a new book, “Load in Nine Times.” Mason Adams spoke with him.
The Historic Flooding In Western North Carolina And Tennessee
Flooding caused by Hurricane Helene has devastated communities across western North Carolina and east Tennessee. Courtesy Blue Ridge Public Radio
Hurricane Helene left many without water, power or cell service in western North Carolina and east Tennessee. We heard reports from Gerard Albert III at Blue Ridge Public Radio and Riley Thompson at WUOT about communities struggling and coming together in the aftermath of the flood.
Witnessing The Historic Flooding Of East Kentucky
“Troublesome Rising” features writers who witnessed the 2022 flooding in Eastern Kentucky first-hand.
Courtesy photo
Flooding is not uncommon in Appalachia. In 2022, parts of Eastern Kentucky were also ravaged. Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle, an author from the Qualla Boundary, the territory of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina was at the Appalachian Writer’s Workshop in Hindman, Kentucky, when it was struck by the thousand-year flood. Her writing is included in the new anthology, “Troublesome Rising,” which compiles poetry and stories from writers who witnessed the flood.
B-P-R and Grist climate reporter Katie Myers spoke with Clapsaddle about flooding in the mountains.
Endangered Birds of Appalachia
Photographer and author Matt Williams hopes people who love watching birds can be encouraged to take a more active role in conservation.
Courtesy photo
Nature photographer Matt Williams hopes a passion for bird watching might lead people to conservation. He’s published three books of photographing wildlife, including his latest — “Endangered and Disappearing Birds of Appalachia and the Southeast.” Producer Bill Lynch spoke with Williams about the book.
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Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was provided by Amethyst Kiah, Larry Rader, Jeff Ellis, John Blissard, Sierra Ferrell and Blue Dot Sessions.
Bill Lynch is our producer. Zander Aloi is our associate producer. Our executive producer is Eric Douglas. Kelley Libby is our editor. Our audio mixer is Patrick Stephens. We had help this week from folkways editor Jennifer Goren. You can find us on Instagram @InAppalachia.
You can send us an email: InsideAppalachia@wvpublic.org.
On this West Virginia Week, we spend some time in the Eastern Panhandle and learn about a new Battlefield Park, hear from a Harpers Ferry author and explore the unknown future of the John Brown Wax Museum. We also travel to Morgantown to experience a Silent Book Club, and then south to Logan County to check out the hopes riding on the inaugural Governor’s School for Tourism.
On this West Virginia Week, we spend some time in the Eastern Panhandle and learn about a new Battlefield Park, hear from a Harpers Ferry author and explore the unknown future of the John Brown Wax Museum.
We also travel to Morgantown to experience a Silent Book Club, and then south to Logan County to check out the hopes riding on the inaugural Governor’s School for Tourism.
In other news this week, we learn the latest on the health of the coal industry in West Virginia, check in on a campaign to improve foster care, hear from the state Board of Education meeting and visit an archeological dig in Malden.
Liz McCormick is our host this week. Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert.
West Virginia Week is a web-only podcast that explores the week’s biggest news in the Mountain State. It’s produced with help from Bill Lynch, Briana Heaney, Chris Schulz, Curtis Tate, Emily Rice, Eric Douglas, Jack Walker, Liz McCormick and Maria Young.
The John Brown Wax Museum in Harpers Ferry has permanently closed. Its building was sold to a private retailer, and its owner is still looking for a buyer for the wax figure collection.
The 92 wax figures that fill the John Brown Wax Museum will soon need a new home.
That’s because the museum’s owner, Ted Staley, sold the venue to a private retailer last week, closing the museum permanently. Staley said the retailer has not made public how it will use the space.
Since it was established by local real estate tycoon Dixie Kilham in 1963, the museum has been a mainstay for tourists visiting downtown Harpers Ferry, visually depicting abolitionist John Brown’s life and 1859 uprising.
But Staley, who bought the museum in 2010, said upkeep has been difficult. He lived in Maryland when he acquired the exhibit, but has since moved to North Carolina and entered “retirement age.”
“Those forces and my proclivity to micromanage makes it difficult,” he said. “So I thought it was time to sell.”
Staley said announcing the museum’s closure brought a mix of anger and understanding from the local community. Many were upset to learn of the tourist attraction’s sudden end, but others had hope for the preservation of the collection.
John Brown was an abolitionist who led a militant uprising against slavery in Harpers Ferry in 1859.
Photo Credit: Ted Staley/John Brown Wax Museum
Wax figures in the museum depicted the 1859 uprising, as well as scenes of John Brown’s life more broadly.
Photo Credit: Ted Staley/John Brown Wax Museum
Staley said he is currently in talks with several potential buyers within the greater Harpers Ferry area, as well as Washington, D.C. He hopes to sell the collection in one piece.
Ideally, Staley also wants someone to buy the entire collection outright, but said most interested parties have asked to display the collection on a loan until they can reimburse him for the sale.
Regardless, Staley said he hopes news of the sale can ease concerns that a piece of cultural history will remain accessible to the Harpers Ferry community.
“I’ve given them hope. I made it clear that I’m entertaining other people who are interested in keeping it alive, and there have been a lot of people responding,” he said.
In the 14 years he’s run the museum, Staley said he’s learned a lot about both running a business and local tourism. The wax museum marked the first business he owned, but it also marked a longtime passion project.
“The most enjoyable part is when I would actually work the museum myself, because people from all over the world come to Harpers Ferry,” Staley said.
“You get to talk with them about the museum before they go in,” he continued. “I enjoyed that the most.”
The Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation is working with the Berkeley County government to create a new battlefield park in West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle.
West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle saw major military activity in the Civil War. But, driving through the region today, it can be hard to tell many historic sites exist.
Over the years, local historic preservation groups have worked to erect markers and monuments across Civil War grounds to spread awareness of the history they contain.
Now, one preservationist group is partnering with the local government to create the first battlefield park in Berkeley County, and preserve the site for years to come.
Keven Walker is CEO of the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation, the Virginia-based nonprofit leading the park’s construction. The park will be erected on a 10-acre plot of land where the Battle of Hoke’s Run was fought.
“You’re going to have all of the visitor facilities that you would expect at a state park,” he said. “You’re going to have restroom facilities here, parking facilities. You’ll have a pavilion here. There’ll be an outdoor learning area for youth.”
The 1861 battle marked the first Civil War conflict in the Shenandoah Valley, according to Gary Gimbel, president of the Falling Waters Battlefield Association.
“They hadn’t come across the line into West Virginia before,” he said. “This is the very first time.”
The Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation is currently undertaking construction on the future battlefield park in Berkeley County, with a goal of completing construction this fall.
Photo Credit: Jack Walker/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Gimbel’s group works to preserve and interpret the history of the Falling Waters Battlefield, located near the Hoke’s Run site and West Virginia’s Maryland border.
The new park will also feature an “interpretive and recreational trail” that connects with the battlefield’s history, according to Walker.
“It will bring you face to face with the history of the site through outdoor exhibits, panels and interpretative signage,” he said.
Gimbel said using the park as an opportunity to spread awareness about West Virginia’s Civil War history like this is a “big deal” for local Civil War buffs and the community at large.
The historic element of the park marks an opportunity to tell residents, “Look, something happened here,” Gimbel said.
“This isn’t just where you live. There’s actually history here that you probably don’t know about, and we would like to explain it to you,” he continued. “The idea [is] being able to combine education with this park.”
The announcement of the new park also comes as counties in the Eastern Panhandle grapple with new development.
West Virginia has the third-highest percentage of forest cover among the fifty states, according to a 2016 survey from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Down the road from the new battlefield park, a historic marker denotes a site where Union soldiers were captured by Confederate soldiers in 1861.
Photo Credit: Jack Walker/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
But the Eastern Panhandle is one of the only regions in the state that experienced population growth last year. Some residents worry the rate of development could jeopardize their access to the greenspaces that make West Virginia feel like home.
Berkeley County Commissioner Steve Catlett says counties in the Eastern Panhandle need to plan ahead, which makes the creation of new outdoor recreation spaces like the battlefield park even more important.
“We’re growing too fast and our infrastructure can’t keep up. As we keep building more and more homes and more and more development, we need to set aside more acreage for public recreation and parks,” he said. “People can go and enjoy their well-being … [and] being outdoors.”
Walker said his organization hopes the park can offer more than just an educational opportunity or a new outdoor venue.
As political divides make people feel more distant, he said sitting with American history and examining our place in it can help overcome barriers to understanding one another.
“We are a nation that is constantly being told that our history should divide us, and that’s just not the case,” he said. “Our history is what should bring us together as a people, remind us of the struggles of past generations [and] give us inspiration and strength for the struggles in our own time.”
Walker said his organization aims to complete construction this fall, and to open the park to the public in 2025. From there, he’s excited to see how local community members connect with the history all around them.
“These quiet little pockets of history, these battlefield parks, these outdoor classrooms are places where all of that remembrance can happen,” he said.
