Harpers Ferry Raid

John Brown's raid at Harpers Ferry in October 1859 has long been regarded as one of the pivotal events in the coming of the Civil War, but both the nature of the attack and its impact on American society were more complicated than most people or some textbooks acknowledge.  On Sunday evening, October 16, 1859, John Brown and eighteen other men walked from a farmhouse in western Maryland a few miles into the town of Harpers Ferry, Virginia in order to seize weapons from the largely unguarded federal arsenal.  Three others from the group stayed behind and guarded their headquarters.  What the raiders planned to do with the federal rifles, and the hundreds of menacing pikes that Brown had ordered in advance of the attack, remains a subject of some dispute.  John Brown had been an agent in the Underground Railroad helping slaves escape to freedom for decades before he came to Harpers Ferry.  He hated slavery and had spent much of his adult life fighting against the institution with words and deeds, sometimes quite violent deeds.  For example, Brown and some of his sons had participated in the small-scale wars over slavery that had ripped apart the Kansas territory and had mudered at least five pro-slavery settlers in a notorious incident in 1856.  They had also helped nearly a dozen slaves, including a pregnant woman,  escape from Missouri in December 1858, escorting them safely to Detroit by March 1859 in what might have been a dress rehearsal for another "slave-stealing" raid into Virginia later that year.  But during this time, Brown and his Provisional Army, as they called themselves, also seemed to be hatching wild plans for a revolution, what a Virginia court would later declare as a treasonous attempt to launch a slave insurrection.  Partly because of these sweeping and grandiose schemes, and partly because the tactical planning for the actual raid at Harpers Ferry later seemed so inadequate to those purposes, Brown gained a reputation as crazed.  Yet he was also a charismatic leader whose courage impressed everyone from former slaves to New England intellectuals (some of whom funded the raid) and even to some southern journalists and politicians who later encountered him in prison.  The raid itself did fail. Despite initial success on Sunday evening in capturing rifles at the arsenal and in rounding up prominent local hostages, Brown's forces soon got separated and surrounded without any hope of reinforcements.  Several of Brown's men were killed in the attack which lasted nearly 36 hours.  Others, including Brown himself, who was wounded in the final assault at the arsenal's engine house, were captured.  But some escaped.  And Brown's behavior during his subsequent trial at Charlestown, Virginia (later West Virginia) captivated public attention, thrilling anti-slavery audiences in the North and horrifying many pro-slavery southerners.  The Commonwealth of Virginia executed Brown on December 2, 1859, but the man and his failed raid remained a subject of intense public debate throughout the 1860 presidential campaign.  Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln even felt compelled to denounce Brown in order to separate himself from the violence.  Yet within a couple of years later, Union soldiers would sing "John Brown's Body" as they marched into battle.  The memory of John Brown's actions remains controversial and widely debated. (By Matthew Pinsker)
    Date Event
    John Brown arrives in Chatham, Ontario for a series of secret meetings
    At the Chatham Convention in Ontario, John Brown sets up his Provisional Constitution
    John Brown attacks Harpers Ferry
    John Brown's attack on Harpers Ferry continues with the townspeople fighting back
    John Brown's attack on Harpers Ferry ends when Marines storm the Engine House
    John Brown and his surviving raiders are taken to Charlestown, Virginia under heavy guard
    - John Brown and his fellow prisoners are held at Charlestown, Virginia pending trial
    John Brown appears before a Virginia court for the first time
    John Brown and his fellow prisoners are held at Charlestown pending trial before a Virginia court
    - John Brown stands trial in Charlestown, Virginia
    - Mob destroys the office of Abolitionist newspaper in Newport, Kentucky
    At the Plymouth Church in Brooklyn, Wendell Phillips praises John Brown in a speech
    The Commonwealth of Virginia sentences John Brown to death
    John Copeland, African-American Harpers Ferry raider, convicted in Charlestown, Virginia
    Gerrit Smith, one of the "Secret Six," confined in mental institution at Utica, New York
    Mary Brown arrives at James Miller McKim's home in Philadelphia
    Burning haystack panics Virginians anticipating an attempt to rescue John Brown
    Newspaper feud in Nashville over Harpers Ferry results in murder on the street
    Kentucky man sends Governor Wise the rope with which to hang John Brown
    Governor of Virginia warns Governor of Pennsylvania over possible John Brown rescue attempts
    John Brown writes a letter of farewell to his sisters from his cell in Charlestown, Virginia
    President Buchanan rejects Virginia's call for federal forces to police neighboring states
    Governor Wise takes over the Winchester and Potomac Railroad in preparation for the execution of John Brown
    Colonel Robert E. Lee leads federal troops back to Harpers Ferry to support Virginia's execution of John Brown
    John Brown writes his last letter to his family
    U.S. Senate votes unanimously for a committee to investigate the Harpers Ferry Raid
    Four Harpers Ferry raiders hanged in Charlestown, Virginia
    John Rogers finds no New York art dealer will display his new sculpture on slavery
    William Lloyd Garrison writes to a friend about the impact of John Brown's death.
    Southern students from Philadelphia's medical schools meet and vote to leave for the South
    Southern students make a mass exodus from Philadelphia's medical schools
    Governor Wise of Virginia meets with southern medical students returned from Philadelphia
    Governor Chase of Ohio responds to Virginia Governor Wise's accusations against his northern neighbors
    Cassius Clay speaks for more than three hours from the Capitol steps in Frankfort, Kentucky
    Hazlett and Stevens, the last of John Brown's captured co-conspirators, go on trial in Virginia
    Thaddeus Hyatt arrives in Washington but defies the Senate Harpers Ferry Committee
    Aaron Stevens found guilty in Virginia for his part in Harpers Ferry Raid
    Albert Hazlett convicted of murder in Charlestown, Virginia
    Stevens and Hazlett, the last of the convicted Harpers Ferry raiders, sentenced to hang
    Senate Committee investigating Harpers Ferry issues warrant for arrest of Frank Sanborn
    The U.S. Senate orders arrest of Thaddeus Hyatt for failure to appear before Harpers Ferry Committee
    Oliver Brown's young widow dies in childbirth at North Elba, New York
    Governor of Virginia requests Ohio for the extradition of two Harpers Ferry Raiders
    Governor of Ohio refuses the extradition of two Harpers Ferry Raiders to Virginia
    The U.S. Senate imprisons Thaddeus Hyatt for failure to appear before Harpers Ferry Committee
    Virginia executes Harpers Ferry raiders Albert Hazlett and Aaron Dwight Stevens
    Virginia State legislature finishes its 1859-1860 session
    Local officials foil U.S. Senate attempt to arrest Frank Sanborn for failure to appear to testify on Harpers Ferry
    Theodore Parker, famous abolitionist and member of the "Secret Six," dies in Florence, Italy
    After more than three months, the U.S. Senate releases Thaddeus Hyatt from the Washington Jail
    Abolitionist meeting to commemorate John Brown broken up in Boston
    Southern saboteurs cause the wreck of a civilian express train in Missouri, killing twenty
    George Luther Stearns, leading abolitionist and member of "the Secret Six' dies of pneumonia in New York City.
    Date Title
    “Old Brown and his Friends,” Richmond (VA) Dispatch, November 10, 1859.
    Anne Lynch Botta to Henry Whitney Bellows, December 6, 1858
    Samuel Gridley Howe to John Murray Forbes, February 5, 1859
    New York Times, "News of the Day," October 18, 1859
    Lowell (MA) Citizen & News, “Riot at Harper’s Ferry,” October 18, 1859
    Entry by Edmund Ruffin, October 19, 1859
    Fayetteville (NC) Observer, “So Perish All The Enemies of Our Country!,” October 20, 1859
    Carlisle (PA) American Volunteer, “Negro Insurrection!," October 20, 1859
    Charles H. Ray to Abraham Lincoln, October 20, 1859
    New York Times, “Latest Dispatches,” October 21, 1859
    Atchison (KS) Freedom’s Champion, “Old John Brown,” October 22, 1859
    New Orleans (LA) Picayune, "The Harper's Ferry Outbreak," October 22, 1859
    Ralph Waldo Emerson to William Emerson, October 23, 1859
    New York Herald, “The Slave Population in the Vicinity of the Outbreak,” October 23, 1859
    Richmond (VA) Dispatch, "Northern Impertinences with Regard to the Late Affair at Harpers Ferry," October 24, 1859
    Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, "Dissolution of the Union," October 25, 1859
    Cleveland (OH) Herald, “From Carlisle,” October 25, 1859
    Richmond (VA) Dispatch, “The Madness of Brown,” October 25, 1859
    New Orleans (LA) Picayune, "The Harper's Ferry Affair," October 25, 1859
    Carlisle (PA) American, “Arrest of a Supposed ‘Harper’s Ferry Insurrectionist,’” October 26, 1859
    Lydia Maria Child to Henry Alexander Wise, October 26, 1859
    Lydia Maria Child to John Brown, October 26, 1859
    Ralph Waldo Emerson to Sarah Hathaway Forbes, October 26, 1859
    Carlisle (PA) American Volunteer, "Governor Wise on the Harper's Ferry Insurrection," October 27, 1859
    Fayetteville (NC) Observer, "Good Out of Evil," October 27, 1859
    Carlisle (PA) American Volunteer, "Sketch of Captain John Brown," October 27, 1859
    Carlisle (PA) American Volunteer, "The Slave Insurrection at Harper's Ferry," October 27, 1859
    Carlisle (PA) American Volunteer, "The Provisional Government of the Insurrectionists," October 27, 1859
    Carlisle (PA) American Volunteer, "Additional Particulars of the Insurrection," October 27, 1859
    Carlisle (PA) American Volunteer, "Bleeding Kansas," October 27, 1859
    Philadelphia (PA) Christian Observer, "A Regular Abolition Conspiracy," October 27, 1859
    Entry by Susan Bradford Eppes, October 28, 1859
    Atchison (KS) Freedom’s Champion, “Capt. Cook – Wrong Man Arrested,” October 29, 1859
    Lawrence (KS) Herald of Freedom, “Old John Brown,” October 29, 1859
    William T. Sherman to Ellen Sherman, October 29, 1859
    New York Herald, “Political Excitement on the Rise,” October 30, 1859
    Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, "A Game that Will Not Win," October 31, 1859
    Fayetteville (NC) Observer, "Untitled," October 31, 1859
    Fayetteville (NC) Observer, "Political Effect," October 31, 1859
    Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, "The Harpers Ferry Insurgent at Carlisle," November 1, 1859
    New York Herald, "Runaway Slaves in Canada," November 1, 1859
    Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, "They Have Overdone It!," November 2, 1859
    Fayetteville (NC) Observer, "A Good Sign," November 3, 1859
    Carlisle (PA) American Volunteer, "Trial of Brown, the Insurgent," November 3, 1859
    Carlisle (PA) American Volunteer, "Tenderly Sensitive," November 3, 1859
    Carlisle (PA) American Volunteer, "Conviction of Brown!," November 3, 1859
    Carlisle (PA) American Volunteer, "Black Republican Ingratitude," November 3, 1859
    Jonathan Worth to J. Grier Ralston, November 4, 1859
    Charleston (SC) Mercury, “Mr. Douglas’ New Book,” November 4, 1859
    Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, "Old Brown's Speech," November 4, 1859
    Jonathan Worth to Edward Jones Hale, November 5, 1859
    New York Times, "The Brown Invasion Transplanted From Kansas," November 5, 1859
    Fayetteville (NC) Observer,“Another Ray of Light,” November 7, 1859
    Fayetteville (NC) Observer, "How Shall Brown Be Punished?," November 7, 1859
    Hartford (CT) Courant, "Untitled," November 8, 1859
    Charleston (SC) Mercury, “The Democratic Party and Old Brown,” November 8, 1859
    Hartford (CT) Courant, "Untitled," November 9, 1859
    New Orleans (LA) Picayune, "Frederick Douglass's Letter," November 9, 1859
    Raleigh (NC) Register, “Brown’s Virginia Counsel,” November 9, 1859
    Hartford (CT) Courant, "Untitled," November 9, 1859
    Charleston (SC) Mercuy, "Insanity of Gerrit Smith," November 10, 1859
    Carlisle (PA) American Volunteer, "Harper's Ferry Trouble," November 10, 1859
    Philadelphia (PA) Christian Observer, "Character of John Brown," November 10, 1859
    Carlisle (PA) American Volunteer, "Untitled," November 10, 1859
    Eliza Margaretta Chew Mason to Lydia Maria Child, November 11, 1859
    Boston (MA) Liberator, "Bad News for the Abolitionists," November 11, 1859
    William E. Frazer to Abraham Lincoln, November 12, 1859
    Fayetteville (NC) Observer,"Old Brown," November 14, 1859
    Frances Watkins Harper to Mary Ann Day Brown, November 14, 1859
    Charleston (SC) Mercury, “Insurrectionists in West Tennessee,” November 15, 1859
    Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, “Is It True or False?,” November 16, 1859
    Fayetteville (NC) Observer, "Brown's Gang," November 17, 1859
    Savannah (GA) News, “Incendiarism in the South,” November 17, 1859
    Carlisle (PA) American Volunteer, "Reward for Fugitive Insurgents," November 17, 1859
    Carlisle (PA) American Volunteer, "The Plea Will Not Avail Them," November 17, 1859
    Carlisle (PA) American Volunteer, "Gov. Wise to Mrs. Child," November 17, 1859
    Carlisle (PA) American Volunteer, "Trial of the Harper's Ferry Insurgents," November 17, 1859
    Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, "A Recoil of the Gun," November 18, 1859
    Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, "The Virginia Panic," November 19, 1859
    New York Herald, “Intense Alarm and Excitement in Virginia,” November 20, 1859
    Hartford (CT) Courant, "Untitled," November 21, 1859
    Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, “The Straw Stack War,” November 22, 1859
    Fayetteville (NC) Observer, "The Devil Not As Black As He Is Painted," November 24, 1859
    Charleston (SC) Mercury, “Rail Riding,” November 24, 1859
    Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, "Well Done, Old Brown," November 26, 1859
    New York Herald, “A Suggestion to Governor Wise About Old Brown,” November 27, 1859
    Fayetteville (NC) Observer, "Two Incendiaries Caught in Salisbury," November 28, 1859
    Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, "Old Brown to be Gagged," November 30, 1859
    Entry by Edmund Ruffin, November 30, 1859
    Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, "The Other Brown," December 1, 1859
    Greensboro (NC) Patriot, "Salisbury Items," December 2, 1859
    Entry by Susan Bradford Eppes, December 2, 1859
    Entry by Thomas Jonathan Jackson, December 2, 1859
    John Thomas Lewis Preston to Margaret Junkin Preston, December 2, 1859
    Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, "Opinions of the People," December 3, 1859
    Atchison (KS) Freedom’s Champion, “Walker vs. Brown,” December 3, 1859
    New York Herald, “The South and Southern Safety,” December 4, 1859
    Hartford (CT) Courant, “Untitled,” December 5, 1859
    Abby Howland Woolsey to Eliza Newton Woolsey Howland, December 5, 1859
    Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, “The Beginning of Sorrows,” December 5, 1859
    Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, "How a Brave Man Dies," December 6, 1859
    San Francisco (CA) Bulletin, “Organization of the United States House of Representatives,” December 7, 1859
    Mrs. M. Brooks to William Still, December 7, 1859
    Hartford (CT) Courant, "Arrest of a Militia Officer," December 8, 1859
    Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, "Virginia Wants the Nation to Foot Her Bills," December 8, 1859
    Fayetteville (NC) Observer, "Gov. Seward and Harpers Ferry," December 8, 1859
    New York Herald, “Anti-Slavery Theatres and Litterateurs,” December 9, 1859
    New York Herald, "The Slavery Agitation," December 10, 1859
    Frances Watkins Harper to William Still, December 12, 1859
    Hartford (CT) Courant, "Untitled,” December 14, 1859
    Entry by Susan Bradford Eppes, December 15, 1859
    Columbus (OH) Gazette, "For the Columbus Gazette," December 16, 1859
    New York Herald, “The New York Herald in the South,” December 18, 1859
    Charleston (SC) Mercury, “Northern Sentiment,” December 19, 1859
    Hartford (CT) Courant, “Untitled,” December 20, 1859
    New York Times, “Practical Secession,” December 21, 1859
    Lowell (MA) Citizen & News, “Frederick Douglass,” December 21, 1859
    New York Times, "Southern Students in New York," December 22, 1859
    New York Times, "The Southern Medical Students," December 23, 1859
    Ripley (OH) Bee, “Abolition School Teachers,” December 24, 1859
    New York Herald, “Seward Nominated for the Presidency by the Abolitionists,” December 25, 1859
    Charleston (SC) Mercury, “The Medical Students,” December 26, 1859
    New York Evangelist, "A Time to Pray," December 29, 1859
    Fayetteville (NC) Observer, "Suspicious Characters," December 29, 1859
    San Francisco (CA) Evening Bulletin, “The New Crusade against the Union,” December 29, 1859
    Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, “A Fearful Slave Insurrection in Missouri,” December 30, 1859
    Boston (MA) Liberator, "John Brown is Dead!," December 31, 1859
    New York Times, “The Southern Students,” January 2, 1860
    New York Times, “The Trial of Stevens,” January 4, 1860
    New York Herald, "The Underground Railroad and Its Victims," January 5, 1860
    New York Herald, “The Runaway Slaves,” January 5, 1860
    Greensboro (NC) Patriot, "Secession of the Medical Students," January 6, 1860
    Milwaukee (WI) Sentinel, “Another Grievance for Virginia,” January 11, 1860
    Charlestown (VA) Free Press, “The Re-Interment of Coppic [Coppoc],” January 12, 1860
    New York Times, "The Exodus of Southern Medical Students," January 17, 1860
    New York Times,“The Colored People and John Brown’s Widow,” January 23, 1860
    Boston (MA) Herald, “Telegraph to the Herald,” January 24, 1860
    Atchison (KS) Freedom’s Champion, “Paying the Piper,” January 28, 1860
    Fayetteville (NC) Observer, “Harper’s Ferry Items,” January 30, 1860
    Boston (MA) Herald, "Where Shall They Go?," February 1, 1860
    Milwaukee (WI) Sentinel,“Two More Teachers Expelled Without Cause Shown,” February 2, 1860
    New York Herald, “A Competent Witness in the John Brown Investigation,” February 5, 1860
    Charlestown (VA) Free Press, “Harper’s Ferry Outrage,” February 9, 1860
    Boston (MA) Liberator, “Trial of Stevens at Charlestown,” February 10, 1860
    Atchison (KS) Freedom’s Champion, “Thaddeus Hyatt,” February 11, 1860
    New York Times, “The Senatorial Inquisition,” February 11, 1860
    Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, “Sedition Laws,” February 14, 1860
    Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, “The Harper’s Ferry Inquisition,” February 15, 1860
    New York Times, “Manufacturing Martyrs,” February 16, 1860
    Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, “Attempt to Lynch a Pennsylvanian in Virginia,” February 18, 1860
    Lowell (MA) Citizen & News, “The Senate’s Inquisition,” February 24, 1860
    Boston (MA) Advertiser, “The Power to Compel Witnesses,” February 24, 1860
    New York Herald, “The Senate and Messrs Hyatt and Howe,” February 25, 1860
    Boston (MA) Advertiser, “Mr. Hyatt’s Case,” February 29, 1860
    Charleston (SC) Courier, “John Brown’s Private Secretary,” March 8, 1860
    Cleveland (OH) Herald, “Gov. Dennison Refuses to Surrender Them,” March 10, 1860
    Lowell (MA) Citizen & News, “George Sennot’s Speech,” March 14, 1860
    Carlisle (PA) Herald, "Hazlett and Stevens,” March 14, 1860
    Carlisle (PA) American Volunteer, “The Harper’s Ferry Insurgents,” March 15, 1860
    Robert Toombs to Alexander H. Stephens, March 16, 1860
    New York Times, “The Last of the Harper’s Ferry Slaughter,” March 17, 1860
    Carlisle (PA) American Volunteer, “Execution of Hazlett and Stephens,” March 22, 1860
    Carlisle (PA) American Volunteer, “Another Harper’s Ferry Victim,” March 22, 1860
    R. Tansill to Robert Hunter, March 22, 1860
    William Wilkins to James Watson Webb, March 26, 1860
    (Omaha) Nebraskian, “Monument to John Brown,” May 5, 1860
    New York Times, “Disunion Plots,” May 10, 1860
    Chillicothe (OH) Scioto Gazette, “Can Locofocos Explain It?,” June 5, 1860
    (Jackson) Mississippian, “Violations of the Constitution,” June 15, 1860
    (Jackson) Mississippian, “The Fourth at John Brown’s Home,” June 20, 1860
    Ripley (OH) Bee, “The John Brown Investigation,” July 5, 1860
    New York Herald, “A Curious Fourth of July Celebration,” July 8, 1860
    Lowell (MA) Citizen & News, "Who Are For Disunion?," August 8, 1860
    Charlestown (VA) Free Press, "Precipitate A Revolution," August 9, 1860
    New York Times, "Gov. Seward and John Brown," August 18, 1860
    New York Herald, “The Reign of Terror in Texas,” September 16, 1860
    (Jackson) Mississippian, "The 'Coercion' Issue," October 5, 1860
    Charleston (SC) Mercury, "The Terrors of Submission," October 11, 1860
    New York Times, “Very Suspicious,” October 15, 1860
    Charleston (SC) Mercury, "Harper's Ferry Anniversary Celebration," October 22, 1860
    Fayetteville (NC) Observer, "The U. S. Arsenal," November 15, 1860
    Fayetteville (NC) Observer,"U. S. Arsenal," November 26, 1860
    New York Herald, “The Meeting of Congress,” November 28, 1860
    Chicago (IL) Tribune, "Montgomery," December 1, 1860
    Charleston (SC) Mercury, "The John Brown Pike," December 5, 1860
    Charlestown (VA) Free Press, “John Brown Anniversary,” December 13, 1860
    New York Times, “Rumored Invasion of the South,” January 25, 1861
    Newark (OH) Advocate, “Abolition Threat of John P. Hale,” February 8, 1861
    Richmond (VA) Dispatch, “Another John Brown Raid,” April 16, 1861
    Cleveland (OH) Herald, “A Submissionist Answered,” June 17, 1861
    Cleveland (OH) Herald, “Military Printers Having Their Joke,” July 15, 1861
    Chicago Style Entry Link

    Acton, Richard. "An Iowan's Death at Harpers Ferry." Palimpsest 70, no. 4 (1989): 186-197.

    View Record
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    DeCaro, Louis A. "Fire from the Midst of You": A Religious Life of John Brown. New York: New York University Press, 2002. View Record
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    Dickinson, Sara. " ‘His Soul is Marching On’: Norwid and the Story of John Brown." Polish Review 35, no. 3-4 (1990): 211-229. View Record
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    Du Bois, W. E. B. John Brown. New York: International Publishers, 1962. View Record
    Earle, Jonathan. John Brown’s Raid on Harpers Ferry: A Brief History with Documents. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2008. View Record
    Eby, Cecil D. "The Last Hours of the John Brown Raid: The Narrative of David H. Strother." Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 73, no. 2 (1965): 169-177. View Record
    Eby, Cecil D., Jr. "Whittier's 'Brown of Ossawatomie.'" New England Quarterly 33, no. 4 (1960): 452-461. View Record
    Ehrlich, Leonard. God's Angry Man. New York: Press of the Readers Club, 1941. View Record
    Ely, James W., Jr., and Daniel P. Jordan. "Harper's Ferry Revisited: Father Costello's ‘Short Sketch’ of Brown's Raid." Records of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia 85, no. 1-2 (1974): 59-67. View Record
    Everett, Gwen, and Jacob Lawrence. John Brown: One Man Against Slavery. New York: Rizzoli, 1993. View Record
    Fellman, Michael. "Theodore Parker and the Abolitionist Role in the 1850's." Journal of American History 61, no. 3 (1974): 666-684. View Record
    Finkelman, Paul, ed. His Soul Goes Marching On: Responses to John Brown and the Harpers Ferry Raid. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1995. View Record
    Fleming, T. J. "Verdicts of History." American Heritage 18 (August 1967): 28-33. View Record
    Fleming, Thomas J. "The Trial of John Brown." American Heritage 18, no. 5 (1967): 28-33, 92-100. View Record
    Fried, Albert. John Brown's Journey : Notes and Reflections on His America and Mine. Garden City, NY: Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1978. View Record
    Furnas, J. C. The Road to Harpers Ferry. New York: W. Sloane Associates, 1959. View Record
    Garrison, Wendell Phillips. The Preludes of Harper's Ferry: Two Papers. [Boston?], 1891. View Record
    Geffert, Hannah N. "John Brown and His Black Allies: An Ignored Alliance." Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 126, no. 4 (2002): 591-610. View Record
    Glaser, Jason, A. Milgrom, Bill Anderson, and Charles Barnett. John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry. Mankato, MN: Capstone Press, 2006 View Record
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    Graham, Lorenz B. John Brown, A Cry for Freedom. New York: Crowell, 1980. View Record
    Harris, Andrew, Jr. "Northern Reaction to the John Brown Raid." Negro History Bulletin 24, no. 8 (1961): 177-180, 187. View Record
    Haven, R. "John Brown and Heman Humphrey: An Unpublished Letter." Journal of Negro History 52, no. 3 (1967): 220-224. View Record
    Hazen, Lester B. "Without Much Blood." Military Review 62, no. 9 (1982): 57-66. View Record
    Hearn, Chester G. Six Years of Hell: Harpers Ferry During the Civil War. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1996. View Record
    Hinton, Richard J. John Brown and His Men; With Some Account of the Roads Traveled to Reach Harper's Ferry. New York: Funk & Wagnall's Company, 1894. View Record
    Holt, Michael F. The Political Crisis of the 1850s. New York: W W Norton & Company, 1983. View Record
    Holzer, Harold. "Raid on Harpers Ferry." American History Illustrated 19, no. 1 (1984): 10-19. View Record
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    How to Cite This Page: "Harpers Ferry Raid," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/node/9603.