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

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 568

   Recognizing the 150th anniversary of John Brown's raid in Harpers 
                         Ferry, West Virginia.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 19, 2009

Mrs. Capito (for herself, Mr. Barrett of South Carolina, Mr. Campbell, 
    Mr. Cohen, Mr. Gonzalez, Mr. Shuster, Mr. Sestak, and Mr. Wolf) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
                   on Oversight and Government Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
   Recognizing the 150th anniversary of John Brown's raid in Harpers 
                         Ferry, West Virginia.

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 is most known for John's Brown Raid on October 16-18, 
        1859, who chose the town for its Federal armory and arsenal with plans 
        to seize the town and began an uprising in the South that would end 
        slavery;
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 country 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 African-Americans;
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 America's first 
        Niagara Movement meeting with an address delivered by African-American 
        leader and scholar, William E. 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 election of our Nation's first African-
        American President, Barack Obama, let us also recognize the 150th 
        anniversary of John Brown's raid, the outbreak of America's Civil War, 
        and 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.
                                 <all>