On October 16th

John Brown’s October 16–18, 1859 raid on the federal armory seized the town before Marines retook it; Brown was hanged in December. The record dates it to 1859-10-16. A documented history gives the file real substance; this entry is part of that spine. The fact is historically verified — the part of the file that doesn't need hedging. The record appears in 'Harpers Ferry, West Virginia'. It is the

On October 16, 1859, John Brown and twenty-one raiders seized the federal armory at Harpers Ferry intending to arm an enslaved uprising. It failed within 36 hours — Marines under Robert E. Lee stormed the fire-engine house — but Brown's trial, composure and execution made him a martyr and pushed the nation toward the war he had prophesied.