Who was the abolitionist captured at Harper's Ferry, Virginia?
1 Answer
John Brown was the famous abolitionist captured at Harper's Ferry.
Explanation:
John Brown was already "famous" for his part in the murders in Bloody Kansas.
John Brown thought if he captured the armory at Harper's Ferry he could start a slave uprising in the South. He and a small group of followers including a number of freed slaves succeeded in capturing the armory.
The intention was to hand out the rifles and ammunition stored in the armory to disaffected slaves, forming an army of rebellion in the south that would spread throughout the south eliminating slavery.
Very few slaves joined the rebellion and John Brown and his followers were surrounded and trapped in the armory. After a fire fight in which several of John Brown's followers were killed and wounded the would be insurrectionists surrendered.
John Brown was executed and his name became a rallying cry for the abolitionist movement and Union Army during the Civil War. A song was written about him " John Brown's Body Lies a Mouldering in the Grave."
Ironically it was Robert E. Lee that stopped John's Brown's attack on the south who latter defended the south as leader of the Army of Northern Virginia.
