John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry

John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry
Part of the prelude to the American Civil War

Harper's Weekly illustration of U.S. Marines attacking John Brown's "Fort"
DateOctober 16–18, 1859
Location
Harpers Ferry, Virginia, US
(now West Virginia)
39°19′23″N 77°43′49″W / 39.32306°N 77.73028°W / 39.32306; -77.73028
Result Government tactical victory
Belligerents
United States

John Brown's raiders

  • Secret Six
Abolitionist militias
Commanders and leaders
Units involved
United States Marines Abolitionist militias
Strength
  • 88 U.S. Marines
  • Larger number of Virginia and Maryland militia
  • 17 white men
  • 2 free black men
  • 3 fugitive black men
  • 2 local enslaved black men[1]
Casualties and losses
U.S. Marines:
  • 1 killed
  • 1 wounded
Virginian and Maryland Militia:
  • 8 wounded
  • 11 killed
  • 7 captured and later executed
  • 1 died in jail
  • 5 escaped
Civilians:
  • 6 killed
  • 9 wounded
Location within West Virginia
Events leading to the American Civil War
  1. Northwest Ordinance (1787)
  2. Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions (1798–99)
  3. End of Atlantic slave trade
  4. Missouri Compromise (1820)
  5. Tariff of Abominations (1828)
  6. Nat Turner's Rebellion (1831)
  7. Nullification crisis (1832–33)
  8. Abolition of slavery in the British Empire (1834)
  9. Texas Revolution (1835–36)
  10. United States v. Crandall (1836)
  11. Gag rule (1836–44)
  12. Commonwealth v. Aves (1836)
  13. Murder of Elijah Lovejoy (1837)
  14. Burning of Pennsylvania Hall (1838)
  15. American Slavery As It Is (1839)
  16. United States v. The Amistad (1841)
  17. Prigg v. Pennsylvania (1842)
  18. Texas annexation (1845)
  19. Mexican–American War (1846–48)
  20. Wilmot Proviso (1846)
  21. Nashville Convention (1850)
  22. Compromise of 1850
  23. Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852)
  24. Recapture of Anthony Burns (1854)
  25. Kansas–Nebraska Act (1854)
  26. Ostend Manifesto (1854)
  27. Bleeding Kansas (1854–61)
  28. Caning of Charles Sumner (1856)
  29. Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)
  30. The Impending Crisis of the South (1857)
  31. Panic of 1857
  32. Lincoln–Douglas debates (1858)
  33. Oberlin–Wellington Rescue (1858)
  34. (1859)
  35. Virginia v. John Brown (1859)
  36. 1860 presidential election
  37. Crittenden Compromise (1860)
  38. Secession of Southern states (1860–61)
  39. Peace Conference of 1861
  40. Corwin Amendment (1861)
  41. Battle of Fort Sumter (1861)

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). It has been called the "dress rehearsal" for the American Civil War.[3]: 5 

Brown's party of 22[1] was defeated by a company of U.S. Marines, led by First Lieutenant Israel Greene.[4] Ten of the raiders were killed during the raid, seven were tried and executed afterwards, and five escaped. Several of those present at the raid would later be prominent figures in the Civil War: Colonel Robert E. Lee was in overall command of the operation to retake the arsenal. Stonewall Jackson and Jeb Stuart were among the troops guarding the arrested Brown,[3] and John Wilkes Booth was a spectator at Brown's execution. John Brown had originally asked Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass, both of whom he had met in his transformative years as an abolitionist in Springfield, Massachusetts, to join him in his raid, but Tubman was prevented by illness and Douglass declined, as he believed Brown's plan was suicidal.[5][6]

The raid was extensively covered in the press nationwide—it was the first such national crisis to be publicized using the new electrical telegraph. Reporters were on the first train leaving for Harpers Ferry after news of the raid was received, at 4 p.m. on Monday, October 17.[7] It carried Maryland militia, and parked on the Maryland side of the Harpers Ferry bridge, just 3 miles (4.8 km) east of the town (at the hamlet of Sandy Hook, Maryland). As there were few official messages to send or receive, the telegraph itself was carried on the next train, connected to the telegraph wires that had been cut at the start of the raid, and was "given up to reporters" who "are in force strong as military".[8]: 17  By Tuesday morning the telegraph line had been repaired,[8]: 21  and there were reporters from The New York Times "and other distant papers".[8]: 23 

Brown's raid caused much excitement and anxiety throughout the United States,[9] with the South seeing it as a threat to slavery and thus their way of life, and some in the North perceiving it as a bold abolitionist action. At first it was generally viewed as madness, the work of a fanatic.[10] It was Brown's words and letters after the raid and at his trial – Virginia v. John Brown – aided by the writings of supporters, including Henry David Thoreau, that turned him into a hero and icon for the Union.

  1. ^ a b "John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry". History.com. Archived from the original on April 1, 2015. Retrieved May 1, 2015.
  2. ^ For example, "Col. Robert E. Lee's Report Concerning the Attack at Harper's Ferry, October 19, 1859"; Horace Greeley, The American Conflict: A History of the Great Rebellion in the United States of America, 1860–64. Volume: 1 (1866). p. 279; French Ensor Chadwick, Causes of the Civil War, 1859–1861 (1906) p. 74; Allan Nevins, The Emergence of Lincoln (1950) vol. 2 ch. 3; James M. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (1988), p. 201; Stephen W. Sears, Landscape Turned Red: The Battle of Antietam (2003) p. 116.
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Horwitz was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Green[e], Israel (December 1885). "The Capture of John Brown". North American Review: 564–569. Archived from the original on January 23, 2021. Retrieved January 16, 2021.
  5. ^ Taylor, Marian (2004). Harriet Tubman: Antislavery Activist. Chelsea House Publishers. pp. 68–69. ISBN 978-0-7910-8340-6.
  6. ^ Blight, David W. Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2018, p. 302.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Exchange was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference Maryland was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ "Insurrection at Harper's Ferry". Anti-Slavery Reporter and Aborigines' Friend. Vol. 7, no. 12. December 1, 1859. pp. 271–272, at p. 272.
  10. ^ Griffin, Charles J. G. (Fall 2009). "John Brown's 'Madness'". Rhetoric and Public Affairs. 12 (3): 369–388. doi:10.1353/rap.0.0109. JSTOR 41940446. S2CID 144917657.


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