John Brown ' s Fort John Brown ' s Fort was the building built in 1848 that was originally constructed for use as a guard and fire engine house for the federal Harpers Ferry Armory in Harpers Ferry , West Virginia , then a part of Virginia . An 1848 military report described the building as " " An engine and guard - house 35 ? x , one story brick , covered with slate , and having copper gutters and down spouts … " " The building achieved notoriety during John Brown ' s Raid on the Harpers Ferry Armory in 1859 . John Brown ' s Raid . John Brown planned to capture the armory and the associated arsenal and use them to supply an army of abolitionists and run - away slave guerrillas . Beginning their raid the night of October 16 , Brown and his small army of 21 men ( 16 white and 5 black ) did initially manage to capture the armory and arsenal and succeeded in taking 60 citizens of Harper ' s Ferry hostage . However , Brown ' s plan relied on local slaves joining the insurrection , and none did . The local militia and armed townspeople killed several members of the insurrection and forced Brown to take up position in the fire engine house where Brown ' s men had placed several of the hostages and prepared a defensive fortification . On the night of October 17 , U . S . marines and then Brevet Colonel Robert E . Lee and his aide J . E . B . Stuart arrived in Harper ' s Ferry to put down Brown ' s insurrection . The next morning , using a ladder as a battering ram , the marines battered down the door and stormed the fire engine house . One marine was mortally wounded in the attack as well as several of Brown ' s men . Some of Brown ' s men managed to escape , but most were captured , including Brown who was stabbed by the marine commander , Lt . Green . The hostages were freed . After Brown ' s raid , the fire engine house became known as " John Brown ' s Fort " and attracted tourist attention . In 1891 , the building was sold to a buyer who wished to use it as an attraction close to the World ' s Columbian Exposition in Chicago . The building only had 11 visitors and was dismantled and left on a vacant lot after the exhibition . In 1894 , a movement was spearheaded by Washington D . C . journalist Kate Field to preserve the building and move it back to Harper ' s Ferry . Alexander and Mary Murphy deeded of their Harpers Ferry farm for one dollar ( $ 1 . 00 ) as a relocation site , and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad provided free shipping . Reconstruction of John Brown ' s Fort on the Murphy farm was completed by November 1895 , which included the gates that surrounded the fort . These gates were designed by George Washington . The Murphy Farm was established September 1 , 1869 , the National Park Service purchased the farm through TPL , December 31 , 2002 . August 17 , 1906 , Murphy allowed over one hundred prominent African - American men and woman to walk past their farm house to the back field to pay homage to John Brown where the fort had been located . WEB DuBois , Lewis Douglas , WT Greener , and others took their shoes and socks off as walking on holy ground . This day is noted as the John Brown Day written by Benjamin Quarles , Allies for Freedom . In 1909 , Storer College in Harper ' s Ferry bought John Brown ' s Fort from Alexander Murphy for $ 900 . 00 and moved it to the college ' s campus . In 1960 , the National Park Service acquired the building and , in 1968 , moved it once more to a location close to its original site , which had been covered by a railroad embankment in 1894 . The Fort is now part of the Harpers Ferry National Historical Park run by the NPS and sits 150 feet from its original location . The John Brown Museum now houses the original armory Gate and Alexander Murphy ' s picture . The original armory gate was donated to the NPS by Jim Kuhn , great - great grandson for no money or tax benefit ; the remaining gates were donated in 1997 . External links . Fort