Introduction

On October 16, 1859, abolitionist John Brown led a raid on the United States Armory and Arsenal located at Harper's Ferry, Virginia. This raid included Brown, three of his sons, and nineteen associates. The central purpose of the raid was to cause a general insurrection of African Americans that would lead to a war against slavery. Brown and his men were defeated by local citizens and federal troops. Brown was tried for treason and hanged. John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry and his execution caused greater conflict between the North and the South over the slavery debate. The South saw this event as part of the North's violent intent to destroy slavery, while many northerners mourned Brown's death as a revolutionary martyr.

Assignment

You are a newspaper reporter in 1859. Your editor has assigned you to cover the events at Harper's Ferry. What caused the raid led by abolitionist John Brown? Who was this man? How did he create such a following of both blacks and whites? What were the results of this raid? Make sure you cover the who, what, when, where, and why in your article.

Secondary Sources

- John Brown: From Africans in America [ html ]

- John Brown: From the Kennedy Farmhouse [ html ]

- John Brown: Abolitionist by David Reynolds [ html ]

- John Brown: From Historical Times Encyclopedia of the Civil War [ html ]

Primary Sources

- Contemporary Newspaper Coverage: John Brown's Raid [ html ]

- Eyewitness Accounts of John Brown's Raid and Capture [ html ]

- Primary Sources Associated with John Brown's Raid [ html ]

- Additional Primary Sources Associated with John Brown's Raid [ html ]

- Address by J. Sella Martin, African America pastor, on John Brown's death [ html ]

- Frederick Douglass at Harpers Ferry, 1881 [ html ]

- Lydia Maria Child correspondence with John Brown [ html ]

- "John Brown's Raid, 1859" EyeWitness to History [ html ]