John Brown's Hideout: The Kennedy Farm

Washington County, Maryland

Tuesday Treasures

John Brown

and his associates collected arms and ammunition on the Kennedy Farm (Samples Manor) in Maryland for months prior to the raid on the arsenal at Harpers Ferry, October 17, 1859.

I'm reading a book about John Brown and the Harpers Ferry raid by one of my favorite teachers, Charles P. Poland, Jr.  This got me interested in going back to the Kennedy Farm, which I have visited in the past on field trips with Professor Poland and a history class from Northern Virginia Community College. 

This site is peaceful and remote. Although it is not far from Harpers Ferry as the crow flies, allow plenty of time to get here. The route includes five miles on a winding and narrow road.

In Memoriam
to the Provisional Army of the United States of America and their presence at Kennedy Farm the summer of 1859.

John Brown, 59, hanged

• Annie Brown, 16, sent home • Martha Brown, 17, sent home • John Henry Kagi, 24, killed • Aaron Dwight Stevens, 28, hanged • Owen Brown, 34, escaped • Oliver Brown, 19, killed • Jeremiah Goldsmith Anderson, 26, killed • John E. Cook, 29, hanged • Charles Plummer Tidd, 24, escaped • William Thompson, 26, killed • Dauphin Osgood Thompson, 21, killed • Albert Hazlett, 22, hanged • Watson Brown, 20, killed • Edwin Coppoc, 24, hanged • Barclay Coppoc, 20, escaped • John Anthony Copeland, Jr., 25, hanged • William H. Leeman, 20, killed • Stewart Taylor, 22, killed • Osborn Perry Anderson, 29, escaped • Dangerfield Newby, 44, killed • Lewis Sheridan Leary, 24, killed • Shields Green, 23, hanged • Francis Jackson Meriam, 21, escaped. “

. . . I John Brown am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land: will never be purged away; but with blood. I had as I now think: vainly flattered myself that without very much bloodshed; it might be done . . .” . . . 

It can be said . . . it all started here . . .