The John Brown Bell

Growing up in Massachusetts, the public school teachers in my small town took a certain pride in how much local history they could drill into the heads of the students. I’m talking annual field trips to Plymouth Plantation and the Olde Sturbridge Village, plus a countless number of trips into Boston to walk the Freedom Trail.  But despite all the history I managed to absorb through osmosis, somehow I grew up clueless to the fact that the “second most famous bell in America” was just a few miles away.

In case you’ve never heard of John Brown, you should know that the man was an outspoken abolitionist in the 1800s.  A devout preacher (who was probably affected by a touch of mental illness), Brown’s real claim to fame came from leading an armed raid on the town of Harpers Ferry, Virginia.  One dark night in 1859, Brown and a team of rebel farmers snuck down from the hills and captured the federal arsenal, planning to steal weapons and ammunition for a slave uprising.  The ragtag insurgents were quickly discovered, however, and they barricaded themselves inside the fort until Robert E. Lee and his Marines stormed the building.  A trial followed, and the scandalous crime captured headlines across the nation, but when all was said and done, John Brown and his men were hanged for murder and treason.

When the Civil War broke out a few years later, the railroad town of Harpers Ferry proved to be an essential shipping hub.  Both the North and the South struggled to control this vital territory— in fact, the town changed hands over fifty times during the conflict!  During one of these occupations, a company of Union soldiers from the town of Marlborough, Massachusetts were posted to guard the valuable arsenal building.  When these men decamped, they removed the arsenal’s heavy iron bell as a souvenir— supposedly as a tribute to the late John Brown— and buried it in a nearby pasture for safekeeping.  

When the war ended, however, the soldiers went home to their families… and forgot about the bell for nearly thirty years!  In 1892, these veterans met up at a company reunion, and (after a few beers) decided to venture down South to recover their trophy.  The company engaged the US War Department and received formal permission to retain the John Brown Bell, and ever since it resurfaced, the Bell has been kept on prominent display in downtown Marlborough.

Over the years there’ve been a number of campaigns— albeit unsuccessful ones— seeking the Bell’s recovery.  To this day, the two small towns remain locked in a bitter blood feud, with Harpers Ferry clamoring for the return of its history, and Marlborough safeguarding their war trophy with a number of security systems.  Only time will tell where the John Brown Bell might end up— but for those of us following the feud, it doesn’t look to be going anywhere anytime soon. 

A couple years back, I had the opportunity to visit both of these fine towns.  And even though the state of Virginia might’ve lost the “War of Northern Aggression”, they’ve clearly won the battle of tourism revenue.  Located just an hour from Washington, DC, the Harpers Ferry National Historical Park is an awesome experience.  A small but dedicated troupe of costumed interpreters donate their time every weekend, helping visitors understand the town’s crucial role in American history.

But no matter how unremarkable it might appear on the surface— besides the John Brown Bell, Marlborough’s only other real landmark is the corporate headquarters of a pretty good salad dressing company— like it or not, they’re the undisputed victor of this enduring conflict.  And while Marlborough might not strike anyone as a likely source of literary inspiration, when I was passing through my old stomping grounds a while back, I spent a couple days holed up in the public library, trying to capture the enduring saga of the John Brown Bell in a horrible novella.  (Thankfully, my inner critic prevailed— those 40,000 rambling words got pared down into a halfway decent short story, plus a moderately-helpful entry in an online guidebook.

Over 160 years have passed since the end of the Civil War, but sometimes it seems like the conflict is still simmering.  The saga of the John Brown Bell is just one small piece of this enduring squabble, and it’s absolutely fascinating to bear witness to the postscripts of history being written.