John Brown gravesite postcard   Save
OHS Archives/Library
Description: Photographic postcard showing the gravesite of abolitionist John Brown in North Elba, New York, ca. 1905. The postcard is written from "GWB" to "Misses E + K Grand Girard" of Wilmington, Ohio, and is postmarked June 27, 1905. The gravesite and its surrounding property were declared a National Historic Landmark in 1998. Brown gained national attention when, on October 16, 1859, he led a group of twenty one men on a raid of Harper's Ferry, Virginia (modern-day West Virginia). A federal arsenal was in the town, and Brown hoped to capture the buildings and the weapons stored inside. He then intended to distribute the guns and ammunition to slaves in the region, creating an army of African Americans that would march through the South and force slaveholders to release their slaves. Brown and his men succeeded in capturing the arsenal, but local residents surrounded the buildings, trapping the abolitionists inside. A detachment of U.S. Marines arrived and stormed the arsenal on October View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: sc223_09
Subjects: John Brown's Raid, 1859; Abolitionists -- Ohio; Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights
Places: North Elba (New York)