Osborne P. Anderson: A Voice from Harper’s Ferry

Glossary

• Crispus Attuck Crispus Attucks, an African American killed in the Boston Massacre of 1770 and sometimes regarded as the first casualty of American Revolution
• engine house a structure where train engines are housed and repaired
• furrin dialect pronunciation of “foreign”
• Governor Wise Henry Wise of Virginia, who personally interviewed John Brown after his arrest and, with some reluctance, ordered his execution
• Kennedy Farm a Maryland farm Brown rented as a staging area for the raid
• Moloch an ancient god associated with costly sacrifices, often by fire
• parleying talking, from the French parler meaning “to talk” or “to speak”
• pitfalls in combat, concealed holes in the ground, dug with the purpose of impeding or injuring attacking troops
• President Buchanan James Buchanan, the fifteenth U.S. president
• Wager House a hotel in Harpers Ferry
• Zouave originally, a North African soldier who served with the French army but by the time of the Civil War any soldier who adopted the colorful uniform and elaborate drill maneuvers of the Zouaves