Brown first gained attention when he led small groups of volunteers during the Bleeding Kansas crisis. Unlike other Northerners, who advocated peaceful resistance to the pro-slavery faction, Brown demanded violent action. His belief in confrontation led him to kill five pro-slavery southerners in what became known as the Pottawatomie Massacre in May 1856. Brown's most famous deed was the 1859 raid he led on the federal armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. At Harpers Ferry, he seized the federal arsenal, killing seven people, and injuring ten or so more. He intended to arm slaves with weapons from the arsenal, but the attack failed. Within 36 hours, all of Brown's men were killed or captured by local farmers, militiamen, and U.S. Marines led by Robert E. Lee. He was tried for treason (against the state of Virginia) and hanged, but his behavior at the trial seemed heroic to millions of Americans. Brown's actions at Harpers Ferry, his trial for treason to the state of Virginia, and his execution by hanging were an important part of the origins of the American Civil War, which followed sixteen months later. His role and actions prior to the Civil War, as an abolitionist, and what tactics he chose still makes him a controversial personality today.
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