Background:
Harpers Ferry is a historic town in Jefferson County, West Virginia, United States. It was formerly spelled Harpers Ferry with an apostrophe and that form continues to appear in some references. It is situated at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers where the U.S. states of Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia meet. It is the easternmost town in West Virginia. The towns original, lower section is on a flood plain created by the two rivers and surrounded by higher ground. Historically, Harpers Ferry is best known for John Browns raid on the Armory in 1859 and its role in the American Civil War.
In 1733, Peter Stephens, a squatter, had settled on land near The Point (the area where the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers meet), and established a ferry from Virginia (now West Virginia) to Maryland, across the Potomac. Fourteen years later (1747), while traveling from Maryland to Virginia, Robert Harper passed through the area which was named The Hole (the gap in the mountains along the Potomac River). Harper recognized the potential for industry, given the power the two rivers could generate, and the traffic he could ferry across the Potomac River. Harper paid Stephens 30 British guinea for what was essentially Stephens squatting rights, since the land actually belonged to Lord Fairfax.
In April 1751, Harper purchased 126 acres of land from Lord Fairfax. In 1761, the Virginia General Assembly granted Harper the right to establish and maintain a ferry across the Potomac River (even though a ferry had been functioning successfully in the area before and after Harper first settled there). In 1763, the Virginia General Assembly established the town of Shenandoah Falls at Mr. Harpers Ferry.
On October 25, 1783, Thomas Jefferson visited Harpers Ferry. He viewed the passage of the Potomac through the Blue Ridge from a rock that is now named for him. This stop took place as Jefferson was traveling to Philadelphia and passed through Harpers Ferry with his daughter Patsy. Jefferson called the site perhaps one of the most stupendous scenes in nature.
George Washington, as president of the Patowmack Company (which was formed to complete river improvements on the Potomac and its tributaries), traveled to Harpers Ferry during the summer of 1785 to determine the need for bypass canals. In 1794, Washingtons familiarity with the area led him to propose the site for a new United States armory and arsenal. Some of Washingtons family moved to the area; his great-great-nephew, Colonel Lewis Washington, was held hostage during John Browns raid in 1859, and Georges brother Charles Washington founded the nearby Jefferson County town of Charles Town.
In 1796, the federal government purchased a 125-acre (0.5 km2) parcel of land from the heirs of Robert Harper. Construction began on the United States Armory and Arsenal at Harpers Ferry in 1799. This was one of only two such facilities in the U.S., the other being Springfield, Massachusetts. Together they produced most of the small arms for the U.S. Army. The town was transformed into an industrial center; between 1801 and 1861, when it was destroyed to prevent capture during the Civil War, the armory produced more than 600,000 muskets, rifles and pistols. Inventor Captain John H. Hall pioneered the use of interchangeable parts in firearms manufactured at his rifle works at the armory between 1820 and 1840; his M1819 Hall rifle was the first breech-loading weapon adopted by the U.S. Army.
Industrialization continued in 1833 when the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal reached Harpers Ferry, linking it with Washington, D.C. A year later, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad began service through the town.

Hinton, John Howard 1791 - 1873
Hinton was an English author and Baptist minister who published, along with many other works, The History and Topography of the United States of North America together with his brother Isaac Taylor Hinton (1799-1847). He is the father of surgeon James Hinton and grandfather of mathematician and science fiction author Charles Howard Hinton.
John Howard Hinton was born in Oxford in 1791 to James Hinton (1761–1823) and Ann Hinton. His Father, James Hinton, was a pastor in Oxford, and ran a school. Hinton was taught at his fathers school where he became friends with Edward Steane. Hinton first preached in Reading, afterwards became pastor of a Baptist church in London, and was distinguished as an independent and original preacher, and a zealous advocate for liberty in religion and politics, for example arguing that it was the church\'s responsibility to punish violations of morality, such as lying, whereas the state should limit itself to enforcing offences against society (which might encompass the former, such as theft).
For many yeats Hinton was a joint secretary of the Baptist Union with his lifelong friend Edward Steane.
In 1840 he attended the Worlds Anti-Slavery Convention where he was captured in a group painting just in front of Isaac Crewdson.
In 1865 he published the sixth and last volume of his sermons. He is thought to view God as not necessarily good but a being who deserves adoration irrespective of his works. Hinton died in 1873 in Bristol.