John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859 was a daring but doomed attempt to ignite a slave uprising in the American South. Leading a small, racially mixed group of 21 men, the radical abolitionist seized the federal armory in Harpers Ferry, Virginia, hoping to arm enslaved people and spark a liberation movement. The raid was quickly suppressed by U.S. Marines led by Robert E. Lee, and Brown was captured, tried for treason, and hanged. Though militarily unsuccessful, the raid electrified the na