16 oct. 1859 - John Brown Raids Harper's Ferry

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John Brown was a vehement abolitionist who sought to start an armed slave rebellion that would overthrow the institution. On October 16, 1859, he led a group of 22 men to the federal arsenal in Harper's Ferry, Virginia. The goal was to get enough guns and ammunition to arm a slave army that would fight Virginia's slaveholders. While Brown and his men would get into the arsenal and arm themselves, their plan revolved around a massive amount of slaves coming from the surrounding area to the fort to receive weapons and instructions. However, only around 30 slaves would come, and the U.S. military surrounded the arsenal and took it back in two days, capturing all raiders. On December 2nd, Brown would be hanged. To the North, he was an eloquent voice against the institution of slaver and a martyr for the abolitionist cause, in the South he was despised and led them to believe that the abolitionists would go to any length to destroy their beloved institution, and so they became more determined to protect it. (Continuity: increase in sectional division and antagonism in the years leading to the Civil War) (Effect of this event: more Northerners joined the abolitionist cause, Southerners became convinced that the abolitionist would destroy their institution if they didn't protect it, ultimately divided the nation more)

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