Harpers Ferry Armory: Difference between revisions

[[File:HarpersF1862.jpg|thumb|325px|Harpers Ferry Armory in 1862]]

The '''Harpers Ferry Armory''', more formally known as the '''United States Armory and Arsenal at Harpers Ferry''', was the second federal armory created by the United States government.; (Thethe first was the [[Springfield Armory]].) It was located in [[Harpers Ferry]], [[West Virginia|Harpers Ferry, Virginia]], which (since 1863, has been part of [[West Virginia]]). It was both an [[arsenal]], manufacturing firearms, and an armory, a storehouse for firearms. Along with the Springfield Armory, it was instrumental in the development of [[machining]] techniques to make [[interchangeable parts]] of precisely the same dimensions.<ref>{{Hounshell1984}}</ref>

The Armory was a long, narrow complex of buildings, located alongside the [[Baltimore &and Ohio Railroad]] line on a strip of land alongside the [[Potomac River]]. The entrance was close to the center of town, with its train station and hotels, and the bridge, the [[B & O Railroad Potomac River Crossing]]. At its peak, just before the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], the Armory had 400 employees.<ref>{{cite book

|url=https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/hafe/armory_clr.pdf}}</ref>{{rp|185}}

During the [[American Civil War]], the Armory was destroyed and its equipment removed; it was not rebuilt. The only surviving building is its former fire engine house, known today as [[John Brown's Fort]]. As of 2021, it is not in its original location.

Upon its grand opening, the armory's size seemed inadequate for a work force. It consisted of only one room, and the workers numbered a mere twenty-five. Nevertheless, the armory produced many muskets, rifles, and later pistols for the United States. Between 1821–1830 the armory produced 11,855 arms. Each decade after that, production declined.<ref>Bellesiles, Michael A. "The Origins of Gun Culture in the United States, 1760–1865". ''The Journal of American History'', vol. 83, no. 2, 1996, pp. 425–455. has, {{jstorJSTOR|2944942}}.</ref> The building relied on river power to drive the armory's machinery.

====Expansion and upgrades====

In 1844, the deficient state of the armory was taken into account and demand for military equipment increased, and so the renovation and expansion of the armory was undertaken. The upgrades of the arsenal began in 1845–1854 with the construction of seven brand new workshops and the installation of 121 new machines.<ref name="nps1"/> The new workshops had a brick superstructure with iron framing and slanted sheet metal roofing. These reconstructed arsenal buildings became collectively known as the "U.S. Musket Factory".<ref name="nps1"/> The armory canal was enlarged so that more water could get to the armory, which meant it would receive more power. Along with the enlargement of the canal, seven new water turbines were installed. The upgrades formed a well-integrated functional unit that improved the flow of work from one stage of production to the next.<ref name=":0">Smith, Merrit Roe Harpers Ferry Armory and the New Technology: The Challenge of Change. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York, 1977.</ref> All the expansions of the armory were done on heavy stone foundations and included cast-iron framing in the general style of "factory GothicGothics" architecture.<ref name=":0" />

====John Brown's raid====

====During the Civil War====

Close to the beginning of the war on April 18, 1861, just a day after Virginia's conventional ratification of secession, Union soldiers, outnumbered and deprived of reinforcements, set fire to their own armory in an attempt to thwart the usage of it by an advancing Virginian Confederate militia numbering 360 men in all. Harpers Ferry residents (many of whom made their living off the armory) were able to put out the fires swiftly enough to save most of the armory's weapon-making machinery. After rescuing the equipment from the fire, the Confederates stole the equipment and shipped it south by rail to [[Winchester, Virginia]], and from there to Richmond, asand Virginiause hadthe decidedmachinery to reopenin the newly reopened, Confederate central government-run [[Richmond Armory]].<ref>{{cite web

}}</ref> The South had virtually no small-arms production and an inadequate supply of raw materials. The machinery taken from Harpers Ferry became the foundation of the Confederate arms manufacturing.{{cn|date=September 2023}} Two weeks later, the Confederates abandoned Harpers Ferry, while also confiscating what was left in the Armory and burning the rest of the remaining buildings.<ref name=":1nps1"/>{{Cite webThey also blew up the railroad bridge of the [[Baltimore and Ohio Railroad]], but returned in two weeks to destroy the Rifle Works and a bridge that crossed the Shenandoah river.<ref name=":0" />

=====The armory's strategic location=====

====Aftermath of the Civil War====

Due to the degree of damage to the armory during the Civil War, the U.S. government decided not to re-establish the armory at Harpers Ferry, instead focusing the quickly developing areas west of the Mississippi River.<ref name{{cn|date=":1"September />2023}}

====John Brown's Fort====

[[John Brown's Fort]] was the only building to survive the destruction wrought upon it by the Confederates and the Union forces. It was the armory's fire engine and guard house,<ref name="nps1"/> which [[John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry#Monday, October 17|Brown and his raiders barricaded themselves in]]. It was given after the war the name of John Brown's Fort after the war.

The Fort remained at Storer until after the College closed in 1955, contributing greatly to Harpers Ferry's role as a destination for African-American tourists in the late 19th and early 20th centurycenturies. It was afterwards moved by the National Park Service to near its original location.

[[Category:FirearmDefunct firearms manufacturers byof the United countryStates]]