Born on May 9, 1800, in Torrington, Connecticut, John Brown was a radical abolitionist who believed it was his personal mission from God to exterminate the lives of anyone who supported the abhorrent practice of slavery. Through his loyal group of followers and psychotic personality, Brown and his men wreaked havoc in the tumultuous territory of Kansas and struck panic into the hearts of individuals throughout the antebellum South. Driven by the supernatural and emboldened by his burning hatred for slavery, John Brown orchestrated an audacious raid against the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in 1859. Although the raid ultimately failed and Brown was hung for his numerous slayings, the raid on Harpers Ferry succeeded in exposing
