Harpers Ferry Armory

The Harpers Ferry Armory, more formally the United States Armory and Arsenal at Harpers Ferry, located in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia (then part of Virginia), was the second federal armory commissioned by the new United States government, the first being the Springfield Armory in Springfield, Massachusetts.

In 1794, the United States Congress passed a Bill calling "for the erecting and repairing of Arsenals and Magazines". President George Washington, given wide latitude in carrying out this order, selected Harpers Ferry, then a part of Virginia, for the location of the second arsenal. In 1796, the United States government purchased a parcel of land from the heirs of Robert Harper and, in 1799, construction began on the United States Armory and Arsenal at Harpers Ferry.

The Armory was the site of the famous seizure by John Brown in 1859, which, while unsuccessful in inciting a slave revolt, helped precipitate the American Civil War and eventual freedom for slaves in the United States. Near the beginning of the Civil War, the armory was set ablaze by retreating United States soldiers to prevent it falling undamaged into Confederate hands. Today the site is mostly covered by railroad track embankments.

Harpers Ferry is a very historically rich community. One major historical event that took place there was the construction and destruction of the Harpers Ferry National Armory. An armory is a place of production of arms and military equipment. An arsenal is a place of storage of such equipment. The National Armory is a symbol of local history, eighteenth-century architecture, military technology, and strategic geography.

History of Harpers Ferry

Robert Harper founded the community of Harpers Ferry in the mid- eighteenth century. Robert Harper was born in Oxford Township near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1718. Since he was a builder, Harper was asked by a group of Quakers in 1747 to build a meeting house in the Shenandoah Valley near the present site of Winchester, Virginia. Traveling through Maryland on his way to the Shenandoah Valley, Harper proceeded to the area where the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers meet. Attracted by the ample waterpower and strategic location for travel and transport, Harper obtained a patent for in 1751. He built a ferry to cross the Shenandoah River to help pioneers reach their destination in the new western lands. After the creation of the Ferry more people were attracted to the area and it started to become a transportation hub. The area eventually flourished and business started.

History of the Armory

The national armory at Harpers Ferry was actually the second national armory. The first was created in 1794 after Congress approved the bill to create a national armory. The first is in Springfield, Massachusetts. The Harpers Ferry National Armory was established by George Washington in 1799. In the beginning the armory was not very big. It was one room and the work force consisted of a mere twenty-five workers. The armory produced muskets, rifles and later pistols. The average annual production rate was ten thousand weapons. The building relied on water as a power to work the machinery to make the weapons. Eventually, the demand for military equipment increased and the armory needed to expand. The upgrades of the arsenal started with seven new workshops and one hundred and twenty-one new machines were installed. The armory canal was enlarged so more water could get to the armory, which meant more power. Along with the enlargement of the canal, seven new water turbines were installed. Also, heavier mill work was put into the building, which meant stronger metal equipment used for making the equipment. The new workshops had a brick superstructure with iron framing and slanted sheet metal roofing. All the expansions were upon a heavy stone foundation. More people were employed to work at the armory from a minuscule twenty-five to an increase of four hundred, and the working conditions improved but only slightly.

Building a musket

To make a basic musket required a lot of work. The four main parts of the gun were the lock, mounting, stock, and barrel. The lock was by far the hardest part to make and assemble. The locks main job is to trigger the hammer by a spring to shoot the gun. To make the lock one first needs to get a piece of wrought iron and place it in red heat and forged. Once the iron cools it must be sent to an annealing furnace to restore the malleability. Then, sulphuric acid is placed on the metal to prevent rust. Next, a drill drills a hole in the each side of the lock to make room for screws to mount the lock onto the body of the gun. The other parts of the musket were fairly easy to make and required little skill.

Location of the Armory

The armory was in a particulary strategic location partly because it was along a major river that helped defend it from one side. Along with defense the river powered the machines used to make guns. Also the B&O railway ran along the area where the armory was, so transportation was not a problem. Another thing was that almost the whole area of Harpers Ferry was surrounded by mountains which aided in defense as well as the river.

Harpers Ferry in the Civil War

During the Civil War, the location of the armory was important because it was on the border of the Union and the Confederate states, so the Union could use it to get weapons quick as they marched into battle. The downfall to it being on the border was that the armory could easily change hands and be controlled by the Confederates. The armory changed hands during the Civil War seven times. The armory made weapons for the nation while it was whole, regularly, but once the Civil War began, the national armory became a vital part in the war for both sides. Close to the beginning of the war on April 18, 1861, Union soldiers set fire to their own armory so the Confederates would not have the weapons and machinery. Confederate soldiers were able to put out the fires soon enough to use the weapon making machines. After rescuing the equipment, they shipped it south. Two weeks later, the Confederates abandoned Harpers Ferry. They burned the rest of the armory and blew up the railroad Bridge.