11. An attempt by abolitionists to provide the means for an armed uprising of African slaves, John Brown’s unsuccessful raid on Harpers Ferry was, in Robert E. Lee’s opinion, the doomed endeavor of either a madman or a fanatic
Thought to contain as many as 100,000 muskets at the time of the attack, John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry was an effort by abolitionists to facilitate an armed slave revolt. Seeking to gain entry by force to the United States arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, Brown’s group of twenty-two initiated their plan on October 16, 1859. Taking hostages and severing telegraph cables, the first victim of Brown’s forces was ironically a black man, Heyward Shephard, who happened upon them during their approach. Gaining access to the armory, the rebels were discovered the following morning and the building quickly surrounded.
Suffering minor casualties during the standoff, by the afternoon President Buchanan ordered Colonel Robert E. Lee to march with a company of Marines to recover the building. Storming the armory, in less than three minutes all of the rebels were either dead or in custody. Brown, injured by nevertheless alive, was charged with treason. Found guilty, Brown was executed on December 2 at Charles Town, Virginia. Part of a volunteer militia of 1,500, designed to prevent abolitionists from rescuing their condemned leader, twenty-one-year-old actor and staunch supporter of slavery John Wilkes Booth gleefully watched the execution.