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{{Short description|Former United States federal armory}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2019}}
[[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
The Armory was a long, narrow complex of buildings, located alongside the [[Baltimore
|title=Cultural Landscape Report for the United States Armory and Potomac Riverfront, Harpers Ferry National Historical Park
|last=Lee
|first=Andrew S.
|first2=Allison A.
|last2=Crosbie
|year=2009
|publisher=[[Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation]], [[National Park Service]]
|location=Boston
|url=https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/hafe/armory_clr.pdf
|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230630131030/https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/hafe/armory_clr.pdf |archive-date= Jun 30, 2023 }}</ref>{{rp|185}} As of that date, the Armory had manufactured some 600,000 firearms.<ref>{{cite journal
|title=The Men Who Started the War
|first=Drew Gilpin
|author-link=Drew Gilpin Faust
|journal=[[The Atlantic]]
|date=December 2023
|pages=82-89, at p. 84}}</ref>
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.
In 1794, the [[United States Congress|U.S. Congress]] passed a [[Bill (proposed law)|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 Harpers Ferry National Armory.<ref name="nps1">{{cite web |title=Harpers Ferry Armory and Arsenal |url=
▲===The national armory===
▲In 1794, the [[United States Congress]] passed a [[Bill (proposed law)|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 Harpers Ferry National Armory.<ref name="nps1">{{cite web |url=http://www.nps.gov/archive/hafe/armory.htm |title=Harpers Ferry NHP Armory and Arsenal |publisher=Harpers Ferry National Historical Park |first=Marsha |last=Wassel |date=June 2, 2005 |access-date=November 12, 2008 |archive-date=November 8, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081108160124/http://www.nps.gov/archive/hafe/armory.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1796, the United States government purchased a {{convert|125|acre|km2|adj=on}} parcel of land from the heirs of Robert Harper. Subsequently, in 1799, construction began on the national armory. Three years later, mass production of military arms commenced.<ref name="nps1"/>
The national armory at Harpers Ferry was actually the second national armory. The first was the [[Springfield Armory]], constructed in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1794 after Congress approved the bill to create the nation's first national armory.
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, {{
[[File:Armory at Harpers Ferry, WV IMG 4683.JPG|thumb|Gun smithing equipment on display at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park]]
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
In addition, more people were employed to work at the armory than before: the labor force increased from a minuscule twenty-five in 1802 to about four hundred workers in 1859.<ref name="nps1"/> Furthermore, the working conditions improved, but only slightly.
{{main|John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry}}
In 1859, the armory became the site of the famous seizure by abolitionist [[John Brown (abolitionist)|John Brown]], which, while unsuccessful in inciting a slave revolt, helped precipitate the [[American Civil War]] and the eventual emancipation of slaves in the United States.
[[File:The burning of the United States arsenal at Harper's Ferry, 10 P.M. April 18, 1861, sketched by D. H. Strother.jpg|thumb|The burning of the United States arsenal at Harper's Ferry, 10 P.M. April 18, 1861, sketched by [[David Hunter Strother|D. H. Strother]].]]
[[File:NWDNS-165-SB-26 Harpers Ferry Virginia.jpg|thumb|right|Harpers Ferry in 1865, looking east (downstream); the ruins of the musket factory can be seen in the center]]
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While Virginia was still in the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]], the armory regularly shipped manufactured weapons and material throughout the United States. However, once the Civil War began, the national armory became a vital control point for both the [[Confederate States of America|Confederates]] and the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]].
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,
|title=James H Burton
|url=https://www.nps.gov/hafe/learn/historyculture/james-h-burton.htm
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|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031095728/https://www.nps.gov/hafe/learn/historyculture/james-h-burton.htm
|url-status=live
}}</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="
▲|last=Lee
During the Civil War, the armory became a site of great strategic importance because it was located very close to the [[Mason-Dixon line]], or the border between the free and the slave-holding states. Consequently, the Union used it as an effective means to supply troops with weapons quickly as they marched into battle.{{when|date=April 2021}} The downside to being on the border was that the armory could easily change hands and fall into Confederate control–the town of Harpers Ferry changed hands at least eleven times during the Civil War.<ref name=":0" />
[[File:Overlooking the U.S. Armory (Musket Factory) archeology site, at sunset (22130382701).jpg|thumb|Overlooking the U.S. Armory (Musket Factory) archaeology site (NPS Photo/Hammer)]]
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.
Today the site is mostly covered by railroad track embankments.
{{main|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
This building has been moved four times. The first time, freeing up the site for the railroad to use for an embankment, it was moved to Chicago, where it was displayed at the [[1893 Columbian Exposition]]. Abandoned after that, it was moved back to a farm near Harpers Ferry. From there, it was moved to the place it was the longest, and where it was most honored: [[Storer College]], a school established for freedmen in Harpers Ferry, which also was given by Congress the Arsenal managers' housing, set back on Camp Hill.
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
== See also ==
* [[Harpers Ferry Model 1803|Harpers Ferry Model 1803 Rifle]]▼
* [[John Brown's Fort]]
▲* [[Harpers Ferry Model 1803|Harpers Ferry Model 1803 Rifle]]
* [[M1819 Hall rifle]]
* [[M1841 Mississippi rifle]]
* [[John H. Hall (soldier)]]
* [[Storer College]]
==References==
'''Notes'''
{{reflist}}
'''Further reading'''
* {{cite journal
|title=George Washington and the Establishment of the Harpers Ferry Armory
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==External links==
{{commons}}
* {{HABS |survey=WV-162 |id=wv0109 |title=Armory Yard Gateway, Murphy Farm, .5 mile south of Highway 340, Harpers Ferry, Jefferson County, WV}}
* {{HABS |survey=WV-230 |id=wv0207 |title=Armorer's Dwelling House, Northwest side of Shanandoah Street, 400' west of Market Street, Harpers Ferry, Jefferson County, WV |link=no}}
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[[Category:Historic American Engineering Record in West Virginia]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia]]
[[Category:
[[Category:United States Army arsenals]]
[[Category:John Brown sites]]
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