Even after Brown was captured, false rumors persisted about abolitionists and slaves hiding in the mountains, preparing for a new attack on the town. It was in this atmosphere of panic, as the marines prepared to withdraw, that the Superintendent sent this plea for help to the Secretary of War.
Telegram from the Superintendent of the Arsenal at Harpers Ferry to Secretary of War, October 19, 1859
National Archives, Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1780's-1917