Jefferson County is the site of John Brown's famous raid. Just one year ago he attacked the United States arsenal in an attempt to free the slaves. His band was composed of Aboli- tionists and slaves. Although their motive was admirable, their procedure was not right. They wanted to free the slaves, but as we view the area on the first anniversary of the raid, we see that nothing has changed.
Slavery still reigns.
Now let us take a quick look around the western past of Virginia. We find slaves in most of the counties, although only a few have large numbers. If we actually take stock of the number of slaves in western Virginia we will find that there are fewer here than in the other slave areas. Jefferson County has the greatest number. In Kanawha County we find a great number of slaves.