360 John Browns ’Raid ,1859

360. John Browns ’Raid ,1859

While in Kansas John Brown had con - ceived a bold plan . It was to seize a strong place in the mountains of the South , and there protect any slaves who should run away from their masters . In this way he expected to break slavery in pieces within two years . With only nine - teen men he seized Harper ＇ s Ferry , in Virginia , and secured the United States arsenal at that place . But he and most of his men were immediately captured . He was executed by the Virginian au - thorities as a traitor and murderer . The Republican leaders denounced his act as ＂ the gravest of crimes .＂ But the Southern leaders were convinced that now the time had come to secede from the Union and to establish a Southern Confederacy .