Harpers Ferry Raid

The 1859 raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia, of white and African American men led by abolitionist John Brown was a failed attempt to inspire a major insurrection of enslaved African Americans. John Brown and his contempt for slavery led to an unprecedented event in American history, one that would cause many individuals in various economic, social, and political situations to reconsider the institution of slavery.

The leader of the Harpers Ferry Raid, John Brown, was considered one of the most outspoken and active abolitionists in the country. John Brown was the descendant of Peter Brown, one of the original English settlers who arrived at Plymouth Rock in 1620 on the Mayflower. Brown's grandfather, Captain John Brown, and his father, Owen Brown, were uncompromising abolitionists. Owen Brown raised his son John to adhere to a strict Calvinist faith. Raised during the Second Great Awakening, John was deeply affected by religious revivalism and the abolitionism that grew in this era, to which many of his own writings attest. As an adult, Brown developed a reputation as an abolitionist willing to use violence to oppose and eradicate the evil of slavery.