In 1859, abolitionist John Brown attacked the Federal Armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, now West Virginia, intending to create a general uprising that would lead to the eventual freedom of slaves throughout the United States. Surrounded in the armory by Federal troops, he was captured, tried, convicted, and later hanged for treason. Most Americans condemned the raid, but abolitionists in Marlborough held an indignation meeting that honored Brown as a martyr to the cause of human liberty. During the Civil War, Marlborough's Company I of the Massachusetts 13th Regiment was stationed in Harpers Ferry, where on orders from Special Services the soldiers seized anything of value to the Confederates, including one of the brass bells from the armory firehouse, accidentally dropping it during its retrieval. After a decades-long odyssey of time and movement, the bell arrived in Marlborough in 1892 and was secured on the exterior of the GAR building near the Civil War Monument. In 1968, the American Legion, owners of the bell, and the Marlborough Chamber of Commerce arranged for its placement on the Union Common. The bell's legacy continued through Marlborough troops' invitation to Harpers Ferry slaves to come live in Marlborough, an offer some accepted, including the Goins family. A grandchild of that family, Anna Walker, later had Marlborough's Senior Housing Community Room named after her after years of encouraging and entertaining Marlborough seniors and other residents.