Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

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Use Restrictions

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Preferred Citation

Virginia Adjutant General, John Brown's Raid Militia records, 1859. Accession 38917, State Records Collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Acquisition Information

Acquired prior to 1905.

Biographical/Historical Information

On the night of 16 October 1859, John Brown led a group of radical abolitionists against the U.S. Arsenal at Harpers Ferry in Jefferson County, Virginia, with the purpose of arming and inciting a slave rebellion. Brown and many of his conspirators were captured and some killed when U.S. Marines under Col. Robert E. Lee surrounded and stormed the engine house where Brown's men had been trapped. John Brown and his men were taken to Charlestown where they were tried and later hanged on 2 December 1859. In order to guard against threats of invasion, Governor Wise called up a number of militia units to protect Charlestown before and after the execution. General William Booth Taliaferro commanded the 4th Division Virginia Militia stationed in Charlestown, Virginia.

Scope and Content Information

Contains morning reports for companies and battalions, returns, rosters, and correspondence from commanders of militia units garrisoned at Charlestown after John Brown's Raid between November and December 1859. The morning reports enumerate the officers & enlisted men by rank according to the following categories: "for duty," "sick," "extra duty," "on furlough," and "absent." There are only a few pieces of correspondence including a letter from Capt. S.H. Bowen of the Clarke Guard to Gen. Taliafero reporting his company's strength and a letter from N.L. Dorsey, Acting Adjutant of the Wheeling Battalion, to Headquarters regarding the condition of arms. The returns are similar to the morning reports, but simply enumerate the officers and soldiers according to rank. A few of these returns list the officers by name. Probably the most useful records are the rosters that list all the members of the company by name. Included are rosters for the following companies: Alexandria Artillery, Mount Vernon Guards, Montpelier Guards, Alexandria Riflemen, Scrugg's Squadron, Company F, Monticello Guard, Mountain Guard, Newtown Cavalry, VMI Cadets, Valley Guards, Scott's Company of Cavalry, 1st Regiment Officers, National Grays, Woodis Riflemen, and the West Augusta Guard.