Series: (None)
The 2016-P Harpers Ferry National Historical Park Quarter (#597038) is the 33rd issue in the America the Beautiful Quarters Program and the third released in 2016. The coin honors John Brown’s 1859 raid on the United States Federal Armory in Harpers Ferry. At the time of the raid, Harpers Ferry was part of Virginia; today, it is a West Virginia mountain town situated at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers, bordering West Virginia, Maryland, and Virginia
Abolitionist John Brown saw the writing on the wall: the nation was deeply divided, and the issue of slavery was irreconcilable. An evangelical Christian and radical abolitionist, Brown believed that only violent insurrection could end slavery in the United States, and he sought to spark a total revolution.
After years of working on the Underground Railroad and fighting in "Bleeding Kansas," Brown began planning armed assaults against the institution of slavery with financial backing from the "Secret Six": George L. Stearns, Gerrit Smith, Frank B. Sanborn, T.W. Higginson, Theodore Parker, and Samuel G. Howe. Brown even gained intelligence and logistical support from Harriet Tubman, whom he called "General Tubman," though illness prevented her from joining his final mission.
On October 16, 1859, Brown and 21 men attacked the federal armory at Harpers Ferry. Their goal was to seize weapons to arm a slave rebellion and establish a provisional government in the mountains. However, the revolt was quickly suppressed by U.S. Marines under the command of Colonel Robert E. Lee. Captured and unrepentant, Brown was executed on December 2, 1859.
On the morning of his hanging, he handed a guard a note, on which he scrawled:
I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood. I had, as I now think vainly, flattered myself that without very much bloodshed it might be done.
Brown's trial and death turned him into a martyr for the abolitionist cause and served as a direct catalyst for the American Civil War.
The reverse of the coin prominently features John Brown’s Fort, the building where the raiders made their final stand. After being moved several times over the decades, the fort was acquired by the National Park Service in 1960 and returned to Harpers Ferry. The design is the work of Artistic Infusion Program artist Thomas Hipschen (initials at the bottom-left of the building), engraved by Mint Sculptor-Engraver Phebe Hemphill (initials to the right of the fort).
* * *