THE ABOLITION OUTBREAK IN VIRGINIA.
The Negro Insurrection at Harper's Ferry.
SEIZURE OF THE ARMORY.
Arrival of Troops from Virginia, Maryland and Washington.
FIGHTING IN THE STREETS.
BATTLE AT THE BRIDGE.
Nine Citizens and Fifteen Insurrectionists Killed and Wounded.
The Insurrectionists Taken in an Engine House.
Attack of the Troops on the Building.
One Marine Mortally and One Slightly Wounded.
Two Insurrectionists Killed and One Seriously Wounded.
Captain John Brown, the Leader, Reported Mortally Wounded.
SKETCH OF HIS CAREER.
Gov. Wise Actively Engaged in Suppressing the Revolt.
Between Thirty and Forty, in all, Killed and Wounded.
Stampede of Two or Three Hundred Slaves.
END OF THE OUTBREAK.
Views and Opinions of the Black Republican Organs. ...
[From the Baltimore Patriot, Oct. 17.]
We learn by telegraph from Frederick that a negro insurrection of a very serious nature had broken out at Harper's Ferry, at 10 o'clock last night––the negroes, headed by some 250 whites, supposed to be abolitionists, and that the insurgents have taken possession of the United States arsenal, carried off a wagon load of rifles, and had sent them over into Maryland. They have also cut the telegraph wires east and west of the Ferry, so as to prevent communication....
It is thought that some 100 negroes were engaged in the insurrection. We learn also that before the train arrived at the Ferry, about midnight, the insurgents had arrested all the watchmen except an Irishman, who escaped them and gave the alarm to Captain Phelps when his train came in....
Our citizens were startled yesterday morning by the receipt of a despatch from Frederick announcing that a servile insurrection had broken out at Harper's Ferry; that the armory had been seized, the trains stopped, and the town was in full possession of the insurrectionists. The report was at first discredited, and was supposed to be based on a strike among the workmen at the United States armory or a trouble among the railroad employees; but later despatches persisted in confirming the truth of the first reports. At noon, by the arrival of the Western train, which had been detained by the insurgents all night at Harper's Ferry, we received full details of the condition of affairs, though the origin, cause and character of the outbreak remained an impenetrable enigma, and still continues so up to the time of writing.
If a slave insurrection, it seems singular that so large a number of white men should be connected with it; and if an attack by a band of robbers, it is still more singular that the slaves should be involved in it, or that they should remain in possession of the town....
[Editor's Note: The majority of this article has been omitted from our transcription except for the portions directly mentioning the term "slave stampedes" or some variant.]
"The Abolition Outbreak in Virginia," New York (NY) Herald, October 19, 1859, p. 2.