Answer:
John Brown was a famous American abolitionist, who believed in armed insurrection as the only way to overthrow slavery in the United States. His efforts to end slave labor increased the tension between the North and the South during the period leading up to the American Civil War.
On October 16, 1859, supported by North abolitionists, Brown planned to create liberated zones in the hills of the western part of Virginia and with 20 of his followers raided and took the federal arsenal of Harpers Ferry (present West Virginia) and was made with control of the city. His group was surrounded by an Army company under the command of Colonel Robert E. Lee. Ten Brown men, including two of his sons, died in the ensuing battle, and he was wounded and forced to surrender. He was arrested and charged with treason and murder, executed on December 2, 1859, in Charles Town, West Virginia (then Virginia), thus becoming a martyr for the abolitionist cause for people in the North, and an extremist for the southern people.
