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John Brown’s infamous raid on Harpers Ferry was a turning point on our nation’s path to the civil war. It widened the gap between the Northern and Southern States and fueled the radical opinions of both. On October 16, 1859, John Brown and 21 of his followers attacked the arsenal at Harpers Ferry with the idea of taking weapons from it and giving the weapons to slaves in the South. They were hoping this would create a slave uprising that would put an end to slavery, similar to a modern day Spartacus. Even though things did not happen according to Brown’s plan, the attack still had a big impact on the country. The raid at Harpers Ferry, heightened tensions between the states; the country was a mixture of union, rebel, and border states. John Brown had always hated slavery. His parents were abolitionists who worked to end slavery and who also instilled a strong religious faith in him which would serve as his reason and motivation for ending slavery. As a boy, he helped fugitive slaves escape to Canada, and as he grew older, he would become one of the most radical abolitionists of his time. When Brown was living in Osawatomie, Kansas, in 1855, working to make sure Kansas did not become a slave state, a group of pro-slavery men burned the nearby town of Lawrence. Outraged by this, Brown, and a group of his comrades, went to Pottawatomie Creek and murdered five pro-slavery men. A year later, another group of pro-slavery men arrived and attacked Osawatomie. After defending his town, Brown earned the nickname “Old Osawatomie Brown”, and began his bloody path to fame. Brown became an outlaw after the incident at Pottawatomie Creek, but this did not stop him from freeing slaves. It seemed to encourage his hate toward slavery. From the events at Pottawatomie Creek up until the raid at Harpers Ferry, not much is known about Brown and his actions. What is known is that Brown had the idea to arm the slaves in the south and create a huge slave uprising. He knew that the slaves out numbered the whites. He also believed that all of the talk of ending of slavery was not accomplishing anything. Brown received private funding from wealthy benefactors, who were known as the “Secret Six”. Not all of the six men thought the raid on Harpers Ferry was a good idea but they still provided money to purchase the 200 rifles, 200 pistols, and 1000 pikes to arm the slaves. The plan was that the slaves would hear about the raid at Harpers Ferry and come to Brown’s aid. They would attack the arsenal capturing weapons. They would then use these weapons in a widespread slave revolt. Brown recruited twenty-one men, which consisted of five black men and sixteen white men.
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