Harpers Ferry by Barrie Stavis

First published: 1967

First produced: 1967, at the Tyrone Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis, Minnesota; pr. 1962 as Banners of Steel at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois

Type of plot: History

Time of work: 1859

Locale: Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now in West Virginia) and a nearby farmhouse in Maryland

Principal Characters:

• John Brown, the leader of the abolitionist guerrilla band
• Mary Brown, his wife
• Oliver, and
• Watson Brown, his sons
• Martha Brown, Oliver’s wife
• Mrs. Huffmaster, a neighbor across the road from the farmhouse in Maryland
• Frederick Douglass, an unindicted co-conspirator
• Colonel Robert E. Lee, the commander of the federal forces
• Lieutenant J. E. B. Stuart, the leader of the final assault on the guerrillas
• Henry A. Wise, the governor of Virginia
• Colonel Lewis Washington, his military aide
• Judge Parker, the presiding judge at the treason trial of John Brown
• Andrew Hunter, the prosecuting attorney at John Brown’s trial

The Play

This two-act play chronicles the assault led by John Brown in 1859 on the United States armory and arsenal at the small river town of Harpers Ferry in what was then part of the state of Virginia. The attack shook the slave-holding South to its foundations and is considered by many to be the actual beginning of the American Civil War.

The first act is set in an ordinary farmhouse in Maryland, five miles away from Harpers Ferry. The nucleus of the abolitionist guerrilla band, formed with both African American and white members, has assembled there, and the men, accompanied by Mary and Martha Brown, are awaiting reinforcement. They are expecting fifty fighters from Canada, organized by the famous abolitionist, Harriet Tubman. They are hoping to be joined by a number of volunteers from the West, many of them veterans of the battles fought over slavery in Kansas.

Too much time has passed, however, and the tedium of inaction and being confined in such close quarters is taking its toll on the band’s morale. Mrs. Huffmaster, a neighbor from across the road, has acquired the habit of dropping in without warning a couple of times every day. When she arrives, the men have to stop their formal debates on theology and their games of cards and checkers. They must flee up the ladder and hide in the attic, which also serves as their bedroom. Mrs. Huffmaster is bribed with favors and gifts when she visits so that she will not divulge the strange activity at the farmhouse, but everyone knows that it is just a matter of time before she gives them away.

After Mrs. Huffmaster leaves at one point, the guerrilla band undergoes a crisis of confidence. Dangerfield Newby, a member of the African American guerrilla band, has received a letter from his wife, who is a slave. The letter tells him that she and his children are about to be sold. This information serves to focus the frustrations of Newby and many of the others: They demand action from their captain John Brown. He reacts to this leadership challenge by calling for a vote to select a new captain. The guerrillas vote, but John Brown once again wins by a unanimous decision.

Unfortunately, he receives bad news in letters of his own. Harriet Tubman has fallen ill and the fifty fighters will not be coming from Canada. In addition, he learns that most of the men expected from the West will not be coming either. Finally, he arranges a last-ditch meeting with the great abolitionist Frederick Douglass, to try to win his participation in the raid. Despite their agreement in principle, Douglass has tactical differences with John Brown and decides not to take part in the raid. Even with these setbacks, and with a much smaller group than originally planned, the guerrillas move to attack.

The second act of Harpers Ferry is devoted to the battle and to John Brown’s trial for treason, which followed the battle a few weeks later. Taking advantage of the element of surprise, the small force is successful initially. They have cut telegraph wires to isolate the military installation from outside communications, overpowered sentries to take the bridges, seized important buildings, and established a command center near the Engine House. The alert spreads quickly, however, and soon Harpers Ferry is swarming with volunteer defenders. In a matter of hours a detachment of federal troops led by Colonel Robert E. Lee arrives to reestablish control. Two of John Brown’s sons are killed in the operation, and he is seriously wounded when a detachment of marines led by Lieutenant J. E. B. Stuart storms the Engine House to put an end to the insurrection.

John Brown is severely depressed by the failure of his raid on Harpers Ferry, but another way to carry on the fight is soon revealed to him. When reporters appear at his interrogation, he realizes that he can take advantage of his status as a famous defendant. The “sword” has been taken from his hand, but now he has a platform from which to use the “word” even more effectively in the fight against slavery. He becomes a passionate and eloquent spokesman during the final few weeks of his life. Historically, his trial and execution for treason ignited a political storm that eventually contributed to the election of Abraham Lincoln as the American president and subsequently the end of slavery in the United States.

Dramatic Devices

Staging battle scenes is very difficult because only talented actors can keep a physical fight from lapsing into slapstick humor onstage. There are no second takes in the theater, so Barrie Stavis followed the example of William Shakespeare. Just as Shakespeare left the battle of Agincourt out of Henry V, Stavis also leaves most of the actual fighting out of Harpers Ferry. Most of the play’s action takes place during preparation for the raid and during the aftermath. Even the scenes of the battle concentrate on the verbal and emotional interaction among the participants.

Stavis manages to keep the drama at an intense level, however, by adapting Elizabethan and classical staging techniques. He calls his approach the “Time-Space Stage,” in which both time and space can be used with maximum fluidity. His stage directions for Harpers Ferry call for an austere set design to match the mentality of the protagonist and require specific lighting on different levels of the stage. Actors in one scene typically freeze in place as action stops and the lights are cut in that space. Instantaneously, another part of the stage comes alive. In this way the actors in a production of Harpers Ferry are not required to reenact physical battles with every performance, but to convey the right message, the right pace of action, and the right impact, the lighting director needs an expert crew and the best equipment.

Critical Context

Harpers Ferry is a revision of an earlier play about John Brown by Stavis titled Banners of Steel, which was first produced in Carbondale, Illinois, in 1962. It became part of a tetrology of plays, each dealing with pivotal historical figures. The other three are Lamp at Midnight: A Play About Galileo (pr. 1947, pb. 1948), which centers on the revolutionary astronomer Galileo Galilei; The Man Who Never Died: A Play About Joe Hill (pb. 1954, pr. 1955), which focuses on the early twentieth century labor leader; and Coat of Many Colors: A Play About Joseph in Egypt (pr. 1966, pb. 1968), which takes the Old Testament figure as its subject. Stavis attempts to capture the exact points in history when the world is ripe for change and a person steps up to enact that change.

His interest in critical figures in history puts Stavis fundamentally at odds with the post-World War II fascination with the antihero. Stavis believes that postmodern theater is obsessed with frustration and defeat, personality maladjustment, and sexual dysfunction. To survive the nuclear age, he feels it is necessary to maintain a positive attitude, to make an ethical commitment, and to follow the light of reason. His focus on theater as a vehicle for promoting social awareness by appealing to the critical faculties of the audience is reminiscent of the approach of the German playwright, Bertolt Brecht. Like Brecht, Stavis does not want members of his audience to lose themselves in emotional catharsis during his productions. He wants people to realistically analyze the issues being dealt with in dramatic form onstage. Harpers Ferry was probably better appreciated in Europe than in the United States, where the emotional intensity of the turbulent 1960’s made rational reflection on such sensitive issues especially difficult.

Sources for Further Study

Boyer, Richard Owen. The Legend of John Brown. New York: Knopf, 1973.

Quarles, Benjamin, ed. Blacks on John Brown. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1972.

Shore, Herbert. “Barrie Stavis: The Epic Vision.” Educational Theatre Journal, October, 1973.

Stavis, Barrie. John Brown: The Sword and the Word. South Brunswick, N.J.: A. S. Barnes, 1970.

Villard, Oswald Garrison. John Brown: A Biography Fifty Years After. Gloucester, Mass.: Peter Smith, 1965.