A. Diffey to William Preston Smith, October 17,1859

From Martinsburg via Wheeling.

October 17th, 1859.

W. P. Smith, Baltimore:

A body of armed men have taken possession of the Armory at Harper's Ferry, and have planted guns in our bridge. They have stopped all our trains, tonnage and mail trains east are all west of the bridge, the telegraph wires are cut, no communication east. A body of armed men are getting ready to leave here at once to clear the bridge, that our trains can pass. Great excitement all through the neighborhood.

A. DIFFEY.

SOURCE: B. H. Richardson, Annapolis, Maryland, Publisher, Correspondence Relating to the Insurrection at Harper's Ferry, 17th October, 1859, p. 7