Prospects of Peace 1864 Tour: The Abolitionist's Fort

A dramatic lithograph showing images of the cruelty of slavery and war time emancipation.

Library of Congress, by artist Thomas Nast

Quick Facts

Amenities

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Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits

Following Brown’s execution, it was said that “John Brown’s body lay a-moldering in the grave, but his soul goes marching on…” It wasn’t Brown’s soul marching into Harpers Ferry during the Civil War, but thousands of troops from the north and south. By the last war time Yuletide of 1864, it was clear that the war would determine the freedom of four million enslaved Americans, alongside the union of the states. The same United States that captured Brown and his supporters in 1859 assumed the role of Brown’s envisioned liberating army that never materialized at Harpers Ferry. With Lincoln’s election in 1860 and the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, Brown’s dream of an army marching for freedom became a reality.