Existing comment:
Pikes Used by John Brown's Raid on Harper's Ferry, Serial No. 54 and 435:
John Brown designed and commissioned these pikes in 1857, from blacksmith Charles Blair of Connecticut. Inexpensive at $1 each, and modeled after a Bowie knife, Brown purchased 954 pikes to arm the group of slave insurgents he would lead in his raid on Harper's Ferry, West Virginia in 1859. After the failed raid, the pikes were confiscated from the scene and became highly coveted souvenirs. |