self," a narrator reports, "a company of Berkeley County militia arrived from Martinsburg who, with some citizens of Harper's Ferry and the surrounding country, made a rush on the armory and released the great mass of the prisoners outside of the engine-house, not, however, without suffering some loss from a galling fire kept up by the enemy from 'the fort.'"[1]
This released the arms and one of the Virginia watchmen says: "The people, who came pouring into town, broke into liquor saloons, filled up, and then got into the arsenal, arming themselves with United States guns and ammunition. They kept shooting at random and howling."[2]
The prisoners within the engine-house heard "a terrible firing from without, at every point from which the windows could be seen, and in a few minutes every window was shattered, and hundreds of balls came through the doors. These shots were answered from within whenever the attacking party could be seen. This was kept up most of the day, and, strange to say, not a prisoner was hurt, though thousands of balls were imbedded in the walls, and holes shot in the doors almost large enough for a man to creep through."[3]
The doomed raiders saw "volley upon volley" discharged, while "the echoes from the hills, the shrieks of the townspeople, and the groans of their
