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Transcriber's Notes: No corrections of typographical or other errors
have been made to this text. Words in italics in the original are
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[Illustration: CAPT. JOHN BROWN]




                  The Raid of John Brown at Harper's
                          Ferry As I Saw It.


                                  BY

                  REV. SAMUEL VANDERLIP LEECH, D. D.


_Author of "Ingersoll and The Bible," "The Three Inebriates," "From West
  Virginia to Pompeii," "Seven Elements in Successful Preaching," Etc._


                       PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR.


                              THE DESOTO
                          WASHINGTON, D. C.
                                 1909




                   Copyright by S. V. Leech, 1909.




THE RAID OF JOHN BROWN AT HARPER'S FERRY AS I SAW IT.

_By REV. SAMUEL VANDERLIP LEECH, D. D._


The town of Harper's Ferry is located in Jefferson County, West
Virginia. Lucerne, in Switzerland does not excel it in romantic grandeur
of situation. On its northern front the Potomac sweeps along to pass the
national capital, and the tomb of Washington, in its silent flow towards
the sea. On its eastern side the Shenandoah hurries to empty its waters
into the Potomac, that in perpetual wedlock they may greet the stormy
Atlantic. Across the Potomac the Maryland Heights stand out as the tall
sentinels of Nature. Beyond the Shenandoah are the Blue Ridge mountains,
fringing the westward boundary of Loudon County, Virginia. Between these
rivers, and nestling inside of their very confluence, reposes Harper's
Ferry. Back of its hills lies the famous Shenandoah Valley, celebrated
for its natural scenery, its historic battles and "Sheridan's Ride." At
Harper's Ferry the United States authorities early located an Arsenal
and an Armory.

Before the Civil War, the Baltimore Conference of the Methodist
Episcopal Church was constituted of five extensive districts in
Virginia, stretching from Alexandria to Lewisburg and two great
districts north of the Potomac, including the cities of Washington and
Baltimore. The first three years of my ministerial life I spent on
Shepherdstown, West Loudon and Hillsboro Circuits, being then all in
Virginia. The State of West Virginia, now embracing Harper's Ferry, had
not been organized by Congress as a war measure out of the territory of
the mother State. Our Methodist Episcopal Church was theoretically an
anti-slavery organization; but our Virginia and Maryland members held
thousands of inherited and many purchased slaves. These were generally
well-cared for and contented. Being close to the free soil of