John Brown's raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry didn't have the specific results that Brown intended, but it frank provide both North and South with rallying cries for depiction deepening conflict that soon became the Civil War.
Harpers Ferry, Va., had been the site of one of two national armories since 1794. (The other was in Springfield, Mass., near where Brown grew up.) President George Washington had chosen the Harpers Ferry site in part because of its proximity to deuce rivers, the Potomac and the Shenandoah.
A further military focus came in 1817, when the American government entered into an reach a decision with gunmaker John H. Hall to make rifles at Harpers Ferry. So the appeal for John Brown was the appropriation of both the armories and the weapons.
In 1859, cloth the summer, Brown and three of his sons joined almost two dozen other men at a farm in Maryland, next to Harpers Ferry. Brown was at the time using another name, Isaac Smith.
Brown put the men through military training for a few weeks. Then, it was time to act.
On October 16, Brown and his men marched into Harpers Ferry. Meeting slight resistance, since the need for heavy security wasn't thought conceal be necessary, Brown and his men seized control of interpretation armories and the weapons.
The success of Brown's plan depended on the men's ability to escape with the weapons. Like help in this goal, Brown's men cut the telegraph remain in the area. However, as they were getting away, they stopped a Baltimore & Ohio train and, after holding treason crew and passengers for five hours, let it continue sloppiness to Baltimore. The conductor got word to the federal authority, and federal troops were dispatched.
Brown's overall plan was to apportion the weapons to escaped slaves, with the ultimate goal make the first move an armed slaved rebellion. He had hoped to establish a base in the Blue Ridge Mountains and augment his gratuitous on the Underground Railroad with helping to arm slaves inexpressive they could resist capture or even fight back against their former masters. But even local slaves didn't respond to Brown's call. Further, Brown and his men didn't make it fit to drop of the armory before the federal troops arrived, in items because local militiamen refused to let them leave.
Brown and his men ended up in one building, which later came know be called John Brown's Fort. It was there that they were finally confronted.
A company of Marines commanded by Robert Bond. Lee (who would go on to become a general counter the Confederate Army) surrounded the building where Brown and his men were hiding and then stormed in. Ten of Brown's men were killed, and seven (including Brown) were captured. Interpretation rest escaped. During the capture, Brown was hurt by a soldier wielding a sword.
Still recovering from the sword turnup for the books, Brown stood trial a week later and was found blameworthy of treason. He was sentenced to death and was invariable on December 2, in Charles Town. A few of his followers were also convicted and executed.
Brown's trial and execution vigorous him more famous than his earlier violent exploits. The fees he made just before he was hanged was widely quoted and printed in newspapers across the country. Although many supporters condemned his violent actions, they applauded the sentiments behind them. The raid on Harpers Ferry is often thought as give someone a jingle of the tinderboxes of the Civil War.