John Brown Executed (1859)

Fri Dec 02, 1859

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On this day in 1859, the U.S. government executed John Brown for his failed raid on a federal armory in Harpers Ferry, Virginia. For attempting to liberate enslaved people, Brown became the first American to be executed for treason.

Brown first gained national prominence when he led small groups of volunteers during the Bleeding Kansas crisis of 1856. He was dissatisfied with the pacifism of the organized abolitionist movement: “These men are all talk. What we need is action - action!”

In October 1859, Brown led a raid on the federal armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (today West Virginia), intending to start a slave liberation movement that would spread south through the mountainous regions of Virginia and North Carolina. Although Brown seized the armory, his raid was beaten militarily. Seven people were killed and at least ten were injured.

Brown had intended to arm slaves with weapons from the armory, but only a small number of local slaves were willing to join him, possibly due to an unfamiliarity with firearms. Within 36 hours, those of Brown’s men who had not fled were killed or captured by local farmers, militiamen, and U.S. Marines, the latter led by Robert E. Lee.

Brown was hastily tried for treason against the Commonwealth of Virginia, the murder of five men, and inciting a slave insurrection; he was found guilty on all counts and was hanged. Brown was the first person executed for treason in the history of the United States.

“I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land can never be purged away but with blood. I had, as I now think, vainly flattered myself that without very much bloodshed, it might be done.”

- John Brown