Harpers Ferry Sledgehammer Finds Home at National Museum of the Marine Corps

[teufelhunde.ret]

The National Museum of the Marine Corps has installed a sledgehammer in the "Defending the New Republic" gallery. This is not just any sledgehammer; this particular tool was used by Marines at Harpers Ferry during John Brown's Raid in 1859. The artifact was donated by the Rissler family of Charles Town, West Virginia. The family had owned the sledgehammer for almost 100 years.

 

In October 1859, abolitionist John Brown raided the Unites States arsenal at Harpers Ferry in an attempt to arm slaves and initiate a revolt throughout the South. In addition to taking over the arsenal,

 

Brown captured local civilians and held them hostage in the Engine House of the armory. Upon hearing news of the raid a detachment of Marines from 8th and I was sent to quell the uprising. The Marines responded promptly. Under the command of Col. Robert E Lee, USA, and led by Lt. Israel Green, USMC, they arrived at Harpers Ferry on October 17, 1859. On the morning of the 18th, Lee's aid, Lt J.E.B. Stuart offered to accept Brown's surrender which Brown vehemently refused. Upon Stuart's signal, three Marines wielding sledgehammers attempted to break down the engine house doors but the doors held fast. Another group of Marines picked up a nearby ladder and successfully penetrated one of the doors, which allowed Lt. Green to rush inside where he quickly captured Brown. One Marine, Private Luke Quinn, lost his life in the raid. John Brown was arrested and later tried and hanged for treason.

 

In the wake of the raid, a local bystander, Dr. Robert Randolph, picked up one of the three sledgehammers used by the Marines. Upon Dr. Randolph's death the sledge was left to Joseph A. Dewar who subsequently sold it at an auction in 1914 to Richard Johnston. The sledge passed down through the family to Johnston's great grand nephew John Rissler. In August 2011 Rissler's widow, Alice, presented the sledgehammer to the National Museum of the Marine Corps on behalf of the Rissler family.

 

The sledgehammer is next to a diorama depicting the Marines' actions at Harpers Ferry.

 

http://www.usmcmuseum.com/news_pressrelease.asp?NewsID=129

[Bluehawk]

http://articles.herald-mail.com/2011-05-25...onors-wiltshire

 

Memorial honors only Marine killed in John Brown's raid

 

May 25, 2011|By RICHARD F. BELISLE | [email protected]

 

A new monument in Harpers Ferry, W.Va., recognizes Pvt. Luke Quinn of the U.S. Marine Corps who died during John Brown's raid in 1859.

 

By Kevin G. Gilbert, Staff Photographer

 

HARPERS FERRY, W.Va. — A 3,500-pound granite monument honoring the only Marine killed during John Brown's raid in 1859 finally came to rest Tuesday in Harpers Ferry.

 

Pvt. Luke Quinn, an Irish immigrant who joined the Marines in 1855, was killed when he was sent to Harpers Ferry in Oct. 18, 1859, in a unit commanded by then Lt. Col. Robert E. Lee to stop Brown and his raiders from taking over the U.S. arsenal there.

 

Quinn was mortally wounded when the unit stormed Brown's barricaded engine house.

 

A crew from Hammaker Memorials in Martinsburg, W.Va., spent more than two hours Tuesday morning installing the monument on a spit of donated land abutting the sidewalk on Potomac Street across from the train station.

 

The idea to immortalize Quinn in granite has been kicked around for more than 20 years by J. Dixie Wiltshire, 81, a Harpers Ferry native, ex-Marine and Korean War veteran.

 

"Pvt. Quinn has a marker over his grave on the hill in St. Peter's Catholic Cemetery, but there's never been a monument for him," Wiltshire said.

 

He, fellow veterans Harry Biller, Paul Ranalli and other members of Harpers Ferry/Bolivar District Veterans raised more than $2,800 to have the monument made. Hammaker donated the granite for it, Wiltshire said.

 

The monument was completed last year but the veterans had to find a place to set it down.

 

"I went to the Park Service (Harpers Ferry National Historical Park) first, and then I went to the Town Council, but I was turned down both places," Wiltshire said.

 

Park Superintendent Rebecca Harriett said this week that Wiltshire met with her several times asking permission to place Quinn's monument on park grounds.

 

"Placing a monument on federal park property is a very involved process," she said.

 

It would also need the permission of the director of the National Park Service, she said.

 

Harpers Ferry Mayor Jim Addy said Tuesday that he had suggested that it be placed on the hill where the engine house stood during the raid, but that didn't work out, either.

 

Harriett said the monument's design would not fit in with the planned transformation of the site where Brown's fort stood and its proposed cultural landscape.

 

A local resident solved the veterans' dilemma by donating the land on Potomac Street. Pvt. Quinn's monument sits less than a quarter-mile from where he fell on the hill while assaulting Brown's position.

 

Wording on Quinn's monument, authored by Wiltshire, and the epitaph on his gravestone in the cemetery, brought up another problem. The gravestone said Quinn was born in Ireland in 1835, came to America when he was 9 and enlisted in the Marines in 1855.

 

Hammaker's workers, dutifully following Wiltshire's writing, sandblasted into the granite that Quinn came to America in 1835.

 

"The only way to fix it is to make a new one," said Steve Ashton, Hammaker manager.

 

"I guess I messed it up," Wiltshire said, dismissing his error.

 

The only way an observer would notice his mistake is by seeing the gravestone and the monument, which are nearly a mile apart.

 

The monument, which was built in three sections, stands nearly 7-feet high. It was designed by Hank Happy of Charles Town, W.Va., a Civil War re-enactor who dresses in the uniform of a U.S. Marine at the time of the John Brown raid, Wiltshire said.

 

The monument shows the sandblasted outline of a Marine dressed in the uniform of the day, standing at attention in the 5-foot high main section.

 

The front of the middle section carries the inscription written by Wiltshire:

 

"IN MEMORY OF PVT LUKE QUINN only Marine killed in John Brown's raid October 18, 1859. Pvt. Luke Quinn came from Ireland in 1835 and enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1855 in Brooklyn, N.Y.. He was sent to sea duty then transferred to Marine Barracks in Washington, D.C.. He came to Harpers Ferry with Lieut. Col. Robert E. Lee. Then was killed in the storming of the engine house. His funeral was in St. Peter's Catholic Church (in Harpers Ferry) by Father Michael Costello and he was buried in St. Peter's Catholic Cemetery."

 

Angie Hough, passing by the workmen Tuesday morning, stopped to read Wiltshire's inscription.

 

"That's great. Now I won't have to keep trying to explain it," said Hough, who owns the Pvt. Quinn Pub just down from the monument at 109 Potomac St.

 

"Customers are always asking who Pvt. Quinn was. Now I know he was a real person."

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http://willhutchison.com/blog/tag/luke-quinn/

 

"Wreath for Pvt Luke Quinn - Active duty SSgt Shane Lisowski, left, and MGySgt William Browne, Drum Major, President's Own Marine Band, right. SSgt Lisowski is wearing the 1859 Dress Blue uniform, and MGySgt Browne is wearing modern Dress Blues for the ceremony."

[teufelhunde.ret]

muster roll... oct 1859

[RustyCanteen]

Very historic! And something you don't hear very much about.

 

I missed several of these interesting threads, I didn't even see them since I was absent from the forum at the time.

 

RC