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John Brown set out to end slavery by force
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John Brown Took Harpers Ferry Hostage
October 16, 1859
Late on the night of October 16, 1859, John Brown and 21 armed followers stole into the town of Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now part of West Virginia), as most of its residents slept. They took 60 prominent locals hostage and seized the town's United States arsenal and its rifle works. Why? The men--among them three free blacks, one freed slave, and one fugitive slave--hoped to spark a rebellion of freed slaves and to lead an "army of emancipation." They wanted to overturn the institution of slavery by force.
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