[For Pam's purposes, it might be well to state that although arms were distributed among the states for defense of individual states, these were U.S. armories, not state armories. Each state had its own armory or armories.]

Ok, so the feds really owned them but there was at least one in each state? November is when Gov Perry of Florida requested a new militia law and an appropriation of $100,000 to purchase supplies for the arsenal and the request was approved but never acted on. The Feds did not deliver the money or the goods. Perry asked Gov Moore of Alabama to help since Florida was a bit short on guns and ammo. That's when Bragg and the gang showed up here at Ft Barrancas, and McRee. Seems there was a whole lot of scurrying before the first shot was fired.
I can see how Harper's Ferry would cause a backlog in the supply chain. John Brown's body hadn't even started moulding but the Southern states begin to see the handwriting on the wall.

Pam