John Brown is synonymous with Harpers Ferry. The man who struck the match that ignited the civil war and the place he touched it to the tinder. This is a more intimate look at the neglected places connected to John Brown's mission. The book assumes the reader knows the usual story of Harpers Ferry. The highlights and the main characters. This is a look behind the raid where the mission was assembled. The people those preparations and the aftermath touched. It's a look at those typically hurried past in the telling of John Brown's raid. Who was Robert Kennedy, in whose house John Brown lived for four months before the raid? Who was John Unseld, whose testimony has long been relied on for much of the story we know? How did 1/3 of the men make it out of Harpers Ferry alive? This is a look at local anti-slavery sentiments and incidents covering more than One hundred and thirty years of baby steps preceding the giant leap of John Brown. This region so famous for civil war battles has an extensive connection to overlooked history from inter-tribal native wars to the Cold War. This book attempts to shine a light into some overlooked corners of a very brief portion of that history. Most of the places mentioned in this book can be visited today. A chapter is included to enable visitors to find and walk the same paths as John Brown and his heroic corps of devotees. Ted Ellis' local roots grow deep. He has intentionally retained local place names and references in this book. The reader is invited to explore this corner of America, either by a virtual visit on the internet or preferably, by an actual visit to this amazingly history rich spot on the map.