In the summer of 1859, John Brown rented this small cabin and farm as a barracks, training ground, short-lived antiracist utopia, and launching point for his fateful raid on Harpers Ferry. Using the alias of Isaac Smith, Brown claimed interest in establishing a mining operation locally to cover the shipments of 200 Sharps carbine rifles, hundreds of Colt revolvers and 950 iron pikes that would arm the Second American Revolution that he envisioned would follow the action at Harpers Ferry. Soon after his arrival, Brown sent for his daughter Annie…
