[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 568 Engrossed in House (EH)]

H. Res. 568

                In the House of Representatives, U. S.,

                                                      October 28, 2009.
Whereas Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, located at the confluence of the 
        Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers was first noted for its beauty by our 
        Founding Father, Thomas Jefferson;
Whereas it was designated by George Washington as a site for a Federal armory 
        and arsenal that helped it grow into a bustling factory town where the 
        first interchangeable parts for guns were created that supplied Lewis 
        and Clark on their journey of westward expansion;
Whereas Harpers Ferry, best known as the site of John Brown's Raid on October 
        16-18, 1859, was targeted as an ideal location for initiating an 
        uprising in the South that would end slavery because of its Federal 
        armory and arsenal;
Whereas John Brown and his provisional army of 21 men captured the bridge, 
        arsenal, armory, Hall's Rifle Works, along with hostages, and slave 
        owners John Allstadt and Lewis Washington;
Whereas the fighting continued and on the morning of October 18, 1859, Lt. Col. 
        Robert E. Lee and Lt. J.E.B. Stuart ordered 90 Marines to storm the 
        engine house and captured John Brown and his 4 remaining men after they 
        refused to surrender;
Whereas a total of 16 men were killed or mortally wounded in John Brown's Raid 
        including, an unidentified slave, Thomas Boerly, George W. Turner, Mayor 
        Fontaine Beckham, Heyward Shepherd, Luke Quinn, and 10 of Brown's men, 
        William Leeman, John H. Kagi, Jeremiah G. Anderson, William Thompson, 
        Dauphin Thompson, Brown's sons Oliver and Watson, Stewart Taylor, Lewis 
        S. Leary, and Dangerfield Newby;
Whereas Brown and his men were tried in Charles Town, Virginia (present day West 
        Virginia), and were convicted to death by hanging for the charges of 
        murder, conspiring with slaves to rebel, and treason against the State 
        of Virginia, however, their actions ultimately forced the Nation to 
        consider the future of slavery in a turn of events that would lead to 
        the Civil War and the freedom of 4,000,000 slaves;
Whereas Harpers Ferry stands as a testament to the antislavery and civil rights 
        movements with the establishment of Storer College, created to educate 
        newly freed slaves and later became the site of the Nation's first 
        Niagara Movement meeting with an address delivered by African-American 
        leader and scholar, W.E.B. Du Bois whose speech inspired the civil 
        rights movement and the creation of the National Association for the 
        Advancement of Colored People in 1909; and
Whereas in a year when we celebrate the 150th anniversary of John Brown's raid 
        and the outbreak of America's Civil War, let us recognize the important 
        role Harpers Ferry has played in our Nation's history: Now, therefore, 
        be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives recognizes the 150th anniversary 
of John Brown's raid in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.
            Attest:

                                                                          Clerk.