John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry [nb 1] was an effort by abolitionist John Brown, from October 16 to 18, 1859, to initiate a slave revolt in Southern states by taking over the United States arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (since 1863, West Virginia).

In October 1859, Brown led a raid on the federal armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (which later became part of West Virginia), intending to start a slave liberation movement that would spread south; he had prepared a Provisional Constitution for the revised, slavery-free United States that he hoped to bring about.

Oct 27, 2009 · John Brown was a militant abolitionist whose violent raid on the U.S. military armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, was a flashpoint in the pre-Civil War era.

Feb 4, 2025 · John Brown was a militant American abolitionist and veteran of Bleeding Kansas whose raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in 1859 and subsequent execution made him an antislavery martyr and was instrumental in heightening sectional animosities that led to the American Civil War.

Faced with charges of murder, conspiring with enslaved people to rebel and treason against the state of Virginia, John Brown's trial began October 27 and lasted just five days. Jurors took only 45 minuts to reach a decision — guilty of all charges.

On October 16, 1859, radical abolitionist John Brown led a small raid on the U.S. military arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in hopes of inciting a slave rebellion and eventually a free...

The seven survivors, including John Brown himself, were quickly tried for treason, murder, and inciting a slave revolt, and were convicted and executed by hanging, in the Jefferson County seat of Charles Town. John Brown was the first person executed for treason in …

Oct 15, 2015 · Brown was influenced by Nat Turner’s Rebellion in 1831, the bloodiest slave revolt of its time, which resulted in the deaths of more than fifty Virginian slaveholders. Although it was repressed, it had instilled fear into the citizens of slave states and threatened the plantation way of …

Jun 19, 2023 · Then, on Oct. 16, 1859, John Brown prepared his raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia, where a federal arsenal was located 60 miles from Washington D.C. Some 18,000 enslaved people lived nearby, and Brown was confident that they would take up arms alongside him once they heard of the raid.

John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry was an 1859 effort by abolitionist John Brown to initiate an armed slave revolt in Southern states by taking over a United States arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia.