Why Did John Brown's Raid

John Brown’s Raid was the effort by John Brown to initiate a slave revolt, and his first objective was to arm slaves by trying to take over the U.S. arsenal at Harpers Ferry. John Brown and twenty other men who joined him, including three of his sons and about fourteen African-Americans, went into the town of Harpers Ferry. Brown split up the group into the two, this proved to be the biggest mistake of the whole operation, with one group going to capture Colonel Lewis Washington along with other hostages. The main group, led by John Brown, intercepted a train in hope that slaves in the next town would hear about the rebellion and join it, but no slaves heard about it. After intercepting the train, the group went on to seize the armory in Harpers Ferry. When army workers discovered the men inside the armory, locals surrounded the armory with their own weapons. After capturing the bridge going across the Potomac River, John Brown’s group had no way of escaping. After

While William Lloyd Garrison described John Brown’s actions as misguided and wild, John Brown was turned into a martyr in the North. The South were enraged by it all, and entered a brief time of fear of slave insurrection, similar to the reaction of Nat Turner’s rebellion. After realizing that no slaves had joined John Brown, southerners were relieved and felt like their claims that slaves were happy were confirmed. John Brown’s raid ultimately ended up enraging southerners and emboldened their pro-slavery way of life, along with inspiring northerners to join the abolitionist movement. Although much less impactful than the Civil War itself, John Brown’s attempted slave revolt, along with an abundance of other factors, helped lead the nation into breaking out in Civil War about eighteen months