Existing comment:
John Brown Pike Head:
John Brown attempted to ignite a slave insurrection in Virginia. He and a small band of men raided the Federal Arsenal at Harpers Ferry in October 1859 to seize weapons for the uprising. He brought 1,000 pikes with him to help arm the people he freed. Brown was captured and executed, but his raid stoked the fears of white southerners. With one third of the southern population held in bondage, whites lived in fear of an armed insurrection. |