WASHINGTON — He had a safe house, weapons and a mole planted among his unsuspecting victims. He had wealthy backers, a juicy military target outside Washington and fanatical followers ready t… ...

John Brown was a man of action -- a man who would not be deterred from his mission of abolishing slavery. On October 16, 1859, he led 21 men on a raid of the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry ...

On This Day: John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry. ... of Virginia during that time but is now the state West Virginia. The group hoped this would initiate a broader slave revolt.

On October 16, 1859, Brown led his group to Harpers Ferry where he took over the arsenal and waited for the slaves to revolt. The revolt never came. Two days later Robert E. Lee and his troops overran ...

John Brown remains a controversial figure in American history, ... They would seize weapons, arm the southern slaves and begin a revolt against the slave-owning states and end slavery forever.

Capture of John Brown in the engine house, Harpers Ferry, Virginia, USA, 1859 (c1880). Brown (1800-1859) believed that armed insurrection was the only way to end slavery in the United States.

This undated photo shows a young Owen Brown, son of abolitionist John Brown, and the last survivor of the Harpers Ferry slave revolt. (Courtesy: Altadena Heritage) ...

Abolitionist John Brown wasn't born in Kansas, but made his mark during the Bleeding Kansas era before the Civil War. Today, 165 years after his execution, Brown's violent acts and influence are ...