John Brown Bell

Last updated
John Brown Bell
John Brown Bell.jpg
The bell on display in Marlborough, Massachusetts
John Brown Bell
42°20′51″N71°32′44″W / 42.34747°N 71.54549°W / 42.34747; -71.54549
LocationUnion Common, Main Street, Marlborough, Massachusetts, U.S.
Width24 inches (61 cm) (diameter)
Height20 inches (51 cm) [1]
Weight700–800 lb (320–360 kg)
Dedicated dateMarch 28, 1893;131 years ago (1893-03-28) (at first location in Marlborough)
September 2, 1968;56 years ago (1968-09-02) (at extant tower)
Dedicated toCompany I of the 13th Massachusetts Volunteer Militia (per plaque on base of the tower)
Namesake John Brown

The John Brown Bell is a distinguished American Civil War-era bell that has been called the "second-most important bell in American history", after the Liberty Bell. [2] In 1861, the bell was removed from Harpers Ferry, then part of Virginia, by Union army soldiers from Marlborough, Massachusetts, who left it with a resident of Williamsport, Maryland. In 1892, the bell was moved from Williamsport to Marlborough, where it remains.

Contents

History

Plaque on the bell tower John Brown Bell - Marlborough, MA - DSC04355.JPG
Plaque on the bell tower

From 1800 until the Civil War, [1] the bell was located in Harpers Ferry, then part of Virginia. In October 1859, abolitionist John Brown led a raid on the Harpers Ferry Armory. The raid ended when marines under the command of Lt. Col. Robert E. Lee (then with the United States Army) stormed the building. Brown and six of his men were later hanged for murder and treason.

In May 1861, Company I of the 13th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment was on patrol in Harpers Ferry, and found the fire engine house (now known as John Brown's Fort) where John Brown's raid ended in October 1859. The bell was still in place, and knowing the hook and ladder company in their hometown of Marlborough, Massachusetts, needed a bell (many of them were firemen), they decided to take it. Other accounts state the men were ordered to seize anything of value to the U.S. government to prevent it from falling into the hands of Lee's Confederate Army. The soldiers removed the 700-to-800-pound (320 to 360 kg) bell, brought it with them to their next encampment in Williamsport, Maryland, and got permission from the War Department to keep it. [2]

While stationed in Williamsport, Company I became friends with Elizabeth Ensminger who supplied them with bread. When the company was ordered to Virginia, they entrusted Elizabeth with the bell. Approximately 30 years later, in September 1892, six of the original 15 soldiers returned to Williamsport to see Elizabeth (then Snyder). They discovered that she had hung the bell in her back yard, and rang it on special occasions. [3] Another account states that the bell had remained buried. [4]

The men raised money to bring the bell to Marlborough, where it was hung outside the city's Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) building, dedicated on March 28, 1893. [5] On June 17, 1903, both the John Brown Bell and the Liberty Bell, on loan from Marlborough and Philadelphia, respectively, were featured in Bunker Hill Day festivities in Charlestown, Boston. [6] [7]

The bell remained on display, hanging outside Marlborough's GAR building, until at least 1956. [8] Since 1968, the bell has been located in Union Common, a park in the downtown area, [9] and is hung in a tower that was built to house it. [10] [1] As the GAR was dissolved in 1956, ownership of the bell now lies with Marlborough's American Legion post. [1]

Controversy over ownership

Over the years, citizens of Harpers Ferry have tried in vain to have the bell returned, potentially to be exhibited atop the reconstructed firehouse where John Brown was captured. "In the past, several mayors have tried to have it returned, but basically it's difficult to do. I suppose it requires a lot of energy that, frankly, no one has," James A. Addy, mayor of the Appalachian town of 310 that is about 60 miles (97 km) from Washington, D.C., said. "I believe the bell is wired with an alarm, so it can't be surreptitiously taken, like at night." [11]

"Oh, they've wanted it back," said Joan Abshire, a member of the Marlborough Historical Society who compiled a comprehensive study of the bell. "When I went down there (for research), they always said, 'Well, where's the bell?' The men from Marlborough saved it from obliteration, claimed Gary Brown, chairman of the city's Historical Commission, "Had they not taken the bell, it wouldn't exist. Virtually every bell in the South was melted down for munitions." [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Brown (abolitionist)</span> American abolitionist (1800–1859)

John Brown was an American abolitionist in the decades preceding the Civil War. First reaching national prominence in the 1850s for his radical abolitionism and fighting in Bleeding Kansas, Brown was captured, tried, and executed by the Commonwealth of Virginia for a raid and incitement of a slave rebellion at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in 1859.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marlborough, Massachusetts</span> City in Massachusetts, United States

Marlborough is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 41,793 at the 2020 census. Marlborough became a prosperous industrial town in the 19th century and made the transition to high technology industry in the late 20th century after the construction of the Massachusetts Turnpike. It is part of the Worcester metropolitan area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dangerfield Newby</span> African American abolitionist killed in the course of John Browns raid on Harpers Ferry

Dangerfield F. Newby, was the oldest of John Brown's raiders, and one of the five black raiders. He died during Brown's raid on the federal armory in Harpers Ferry, Virginia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Brown's Fort</span> Building in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, United States

John Brown's Fort was initially built in 1848 for use as a guard and fire engine house by the federal Harpers Ferry Armory, in Harpers Ferry, Virginia. An 1848 military report described the building as "An engine and guard-house 35 1/2 x 24 feet, one story brick, covered with slate, and having copper gutters and down spouts…"

<i>Telegram & Gazette</i> Newspaper in Worcester, Massachusetts

The Telegram & Gazette is the only daily newspaper of Worcester, Massachusetts. The paper, headquartered at 100 Front Street and known locally as the Telegram or the T & G, offers coverage of all of Worcester County, as well as surrounding areas of the western suburbs of Boston, Western Massachusetts, and several towns in Windham County in northeastern Connecticut.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Parker (congressman)</span> American politician

Richard Parker was a nineteenth-century politician, lawyer, and judge from Virginia.

<i>Virginia v. John Brown</i> Criminal trial held at Charles Town

Virginia v. John Brown was a criminal trial held in Charles Town, Virginia, in October 1859. The abolitionist John Brown was quickly prosecuted for treason against the Commonwealth of Virginia, murder, and inciting a slave insurrection, all part of his raid on the United States federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. He was found guilty of all charges, sentenced to death, and was executed by hanging on December 2. He was the first person executed for treason in the United States.

It was in many respects a most remarkable trial. Capital cases have been exceedingly few in the history of our country where trial and conviction have followed so quickly upon the commission of the offense. Within a fortnight from the time when Brown had struck what he believed to be a righteous blow against what he felt to be the greatest sin of the age he was a condemned felon, with only thirty days between his life and the hangman's noose.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Hunter (lawyer)</span> American lawyer (1804–1888)

Andrew H. Hunter was a Virginia lawyer, slaveholder, and politician who served in both houses of the Virginia General Assembly, including the Confederate House of Delegates. He was the Commonwealth's attorney for Jefferson County, Virginia, who prosecuted John Brown for the raid on Harpers Ferry.

The Yankee Quill Award is a regional American journalism award that recognizes a lifetime contribution toward excellence in journalism in New England. The award is bestowed annually by the Academy of New England Journalists, and administered by the New England Society of Newspaper Editors. It is considered the highest individual honor awarded by fellow journalists in the region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Anthony Copeland Jr.</span>

John Anthony Copeland Jr. was born free in Raleigh, North Carolina, one of the eight children born to John Copeland Sr. and his wife Delilah Evans, free mulattos, who married in Raleigh in 1831. Delilah was born free, while John was manumitted in the will of his master. In 1843 the family moved north, to the abolitionist center of Oberlin, Ohio, where he later attended Oberlin College's preparatory division. He was a highly visible leader in the successful Oberlin-Wellington Rescue of 1858, for which he was indicted but not tried. Copeland joined John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry; other than Brown himself, he was the only member of John Brown's raiders that was at all well known. He was captured, and a marshal from Ohio came to Charles Town to serve him with the indictment. He was indicted a second time, for murder and conspiracy to incite slaves to rebellion. He was found guilty and was hanged on December 16, 1859. There were 1,600 spectators. His family tried but failed to recover his body, which was taken by medical students for dissection, and the bones discarded.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Osborne Perry Anderson</span> African-American abolitionist

Osborne Perry Anderson was an African-American abolitionist and the only surviving African-American member of John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry. He became a soldier in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

Beacon Communications Corp. was a newspaper publisher in Acton, Massachusetts, United States, operating a dozen weekly newspapers as well as daily newspapers in Hudson and Marlborough, Massachusetts. It was bought by Fidelity Investments in 1993 and incorporated into Community Newspaper Company, Massachusetts' largest weekly newspaper publisher, now owned by GateHouse Media.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry</span> 1859 effort by abolitionist John Brown to initiate an armed slave revolt in Southern states

John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry was an effort by abolitionist John Brown, from October 16 to 18, 1859, to initiate a slave revolt in Southern states by taking over the United States arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. It has been called the dress rehearsal for the American Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Owen Brown (abolitionist, born 1824)</span> American abolitionist

Owen Brown was the third son of abolitionist John Brown. He participated more in his father's anti-slavery activities than did any of his siblings. He was the only son to participate both in the Bleeding Kansas activities — specifically the Pottawatomie massacre, during which he killed a man — and his father's raid on Harpers Ferry. He was the only son of Brown present in Tabor, Iowa, when Brown's recruits were trained and drilled. He was also the son who joined his father in Chatham, Ontario, Canada, when the raid was planned; he was chosen as treasurer of the organization of which his father was made president.

The Boston mayoral election of 1925 occurred on Tuesday, November 3, 1925. Malcolm Nichols, a former member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and Massachusetts Senate, defeated nine other candidates to be elected mayor.

On Sunday night, October 16, 1859, the abolitionist John Brown led a band of 22 in a raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Watson Brown (abolitionist)</span> American abolitionist, son of John Brown

Watson Brown was a son of the abolitionist John Brown and his second wife Mary Day Brown, born in Franklin Mills, Ohio. He was married to Isabell "Belle" Thompson Brown, and they had a son Frederick W., who died of diphtheria at age 4, and is buried at what is now the John Brown Farm State Historic Site in North Elba, New York.

The Winchester Medical College (WMC) building, currently located at 302 W. Boscawen Street, Winchester, Virginia, along with all its records, equipment, museum, and library, was burned on May 16, 1862, by Union troops occupying the city. This was "retaliation for the dissection of cadavers from John Brown's Raid". More specifically, it was in retaliation for the desecration they discovered of one of those cadavers, the body of one of John Brown's sons, identified years later as Watson. The body of John Brown's son, fighting against slavery in the raid on Harpers Ferry, had been dishonored: made into an anatomical specimen in the College's museum, with the label "Thus always with Abolitionists". In addition, students at the school collected and then dissected the bodies of three other members of Brown's troop and a black boy was apparently tortured and killed there for favoring the Union.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ella A. Bigelow</span>

Ella A. Bigelow was an American author, historian, and clubwoman. Among her publications were Prize Quotations, Venice, Old Masters of Art, and Letters upon Greece. Containing 124 watercolors commissioned by Bigelow, her Historical Reminiscences of the Early Times in Marlborough, Massachusetts (1910), is described in The Boston Globe (1999) as "the best source we have for Marlborough history before 1910".

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Pfeiffer, Sacha (July 7, 1996). "Marlborough bell caught in tug of war (cont'd)". The Boston Globe . p. 6 West. Retrieved January 26, 2025 via newspapers.com.
  2. 1 2 3 Lynch, Matt (July 22, 2008). "For whom should John Brown's bell toll?". Marlborough Enterprise. Retrieved 2020-10-14.
  3. "John Brown's Bell To Ring In Marlboro On Memorial Day". Holyoke Transcript-Telegram . Holyoke, Massachusetts. Worcester Telegram. May 9, 1951. p. 14. Retrieved January 26, 2025 via newspapers.com.
  4. "John Brown's Bell". The Boston Globe . December 10, 1892. p. 8. Retrieved January 26, 2025 via newspapers.com.
  5. "John Brown Bell Dedicated". Fall River Evening News. Fall River, Massachusetts. March 29, 1893. p. 2. Retrieved January 26, 2025 via newspapers.com.
  6. "John Brown Bell Here". The Boston Globe . June 17, 1903. p. 14. Retrieved January 26, 2025 via newspapers.com.
  7. "Bunker Hill Day". Fall River Evening News. Fall River, Massachusetts. June 17, 1903. p. 6. Retrieved January 26, 2025 via newspapers.com.
  8. Bright, Virginia (March 18, 1956). "'John Brown Bell' Hangs in Marlboro Office Building". The Boston Globe . p. 66. Retrieved January 26, 2025 via newspapers.com.
  9. "Union Common". marlborough-ma.gov. Retrieved January 26, 2025.
  10. "The John Brown Bell". The Marlborough Historical Society. Retrieved January 26, 2025 via slideshare.net.
  11. Thompson, Elaine (January 8, 2009). "Controversy clangs again; West Virginia 'a-bell-itionists' want John Brown Bell returned". Worcester Telegram & Gazette. Retrieved 2020-10-14 via The Free Library.

Further reading