John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry: Armed Insurrection Against Slavery

On October 16, 1859, John Brown led 21 men — 16 white, 5 Black — in seizing the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, intending to trigger a general slave uprising. Brown held the armory for 36 hours before being overwhelmed by U.S. Marines under Robert E. Lee. Ten of Brown's men were killed; Brown was captured, tried for treason, and hanged December 2. Five co-conspirators were also executed. Brown's raid terrified the South into believing the North intended insurrection. His calm at execution and his statement that 'the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood' made him a martyr to abolitionists. The raid accelerated Southern secession planning.