John Brown
John Brown was an American abolitionist, born in Connecticut and raised in Ohio. He felt passionately and violently that he must personally fight to end slavery. In 1856, in retaliation for the sack of Lawrence, he led the murder of five proslavery men on the banks of the Pottawatamie River. He stated that he was an instrument in the hand of God. Brown did not end there. On Oct. 16, 1859, Brown and 21 followers captured the U.S. arsenal at Harpers Ferry. Brown planned the takeover as the first step in his liberation of the slaves, but it was taken the next morning by Robert E. Lee. Brown was hanged on Dec. 2, 1859. He became a martyr for many because of the dignity and sincerity that he displayed during his popular trial.
John Brown (1800-1859) The Underground Railroad site at UC Davis
Plea for Captain John Brown by Henry David Thoreau
American Experience: John Brown's Holy War

chronicles the life and times of the man whose armed crusade against slavery ended in his execution at Harper's Ferry, and eventually led to the Civil War.

John Brown and the Valley of the Shadow including a chronology of events and newspaper accounts from the time
Raid on Harper's Ferry Africans in America
Historic Kansas--John Brown Museum The cabin which now houses the John Brown Museum was frequented by Brown during several journies to Kansas between 1855-1858.
Harper's Ferry National Historical Park Virtual Visitor Center John Brown was a militant American Abolitionist whose raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry,Va in 1859 made him a martyr to the antislavery cause and was instrumental in heightening sectional animosities that led to the American Civil War.
Conflict of Abolition and Slavery from the Library of Congress includes a picture reproduced here under the heading Idealized Portrayal of John Brown shows a heroic Brown being adored by a slave mother and child as he walks to his execution on December 2,
John Brown Homepage
The Valley of the Shadow: Living the Civil War in Virginia and Pennsylvania story of the Civil War as seen by the people of two communities in the Great Valley of the United States: Franklin County, Pennsylvania and Augusta County, Virginia.
Lincoln's Cooper Union Address Speech by Abraham Lincoln which gives his view of John Brown.