Burned, Flooded, and Leveled - Harpers Ferry, WV - Signs of History on Waymarking.com

The plaque says, "The stone and brick walls in front of you sow the outline of the Small Arsenal. The actual foundation of this former weapons storehouse lies below ground. In 1959 National Park Service archeologists first excavated the foundation - 100 years after John Brown's raid. The 1959 excavation report describes the intensity of the fire that destroyed the building in 1861. The fire "baked red" the top layer of clay and left behind "twisted and partly melted muskets and parts, some of them fused into each other." The report suggests that the building's slate roof, brick walls and drafts from the seller windows created a "furnace effect" leaving behind only a shell of the building. Floods swept through the building shell twice before federal troops leveled it. In 2009, National Park Service specialists constructed this partial representation of the small arsenal based on evidence from archaeological excavations."

Group that erected the marker: NPS Address of where the marker is located. Approximate if necessary: Harpers Ferry, WV URL of a web site with more information about the history mentioned on the sign: Not listed

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