Brown persuaded many abolitionists to support is ideas, and Frederick Douglas was one Brown attempted to recruit. Douglass, the night before Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry, failed in an attempt to persuade Brown not to go forward with his plan. Brown’s plan was this: Capture the Federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, seize all the weapons there, and arm thousands of slaves who were to join him. Brown recruited 17 white and five black men to comprise of his "army."

On Oct. 16, 1859, Brown and his men captured the unguarded arsenal, but then he had no idea what to do next. He waited for the thousands of slaves to join him, but because he sent out little word to them, only a handful actually showed up. The word of the arsenal’s capture spread rapidly, and during the night of Oct. 17-18, Brown’s men were surrounded by marines commanded by Robert E. Lee and J.E.B. Stuart. Brown refused to surrender, and the marines were forced to storm the building they had surrounded. In all, three local men and several of Brown’s followers, including two of his sons, and a total of 17 men had been killed. John Brown’s attempt at insurrection had failed

What Brown did not fail in doing was provoking violent uprising. His raid was as much of a cause of the Civil War as anything else, for it was the first nationally known uprising of its kind. And after his execution, those who believed him a saint now saw him as a martyr, and killing him was another opportunity for abolitionists in the North to gain strength.

Source Used: Ordeal By Fire, James MacPherson, 1991.

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