John Brown was a radical abolitionist who believed in the use of violence to end slavery. He gained notoriety for his leadership in the Pottawatomie Massacre in 1856, where five pro-slavery settlers were killed in Kansas. His most famous act was the 1859 raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia, where he and his followers seized a federal armory with the intention of arming enslaved people and sparking a rebellion. The raid failed, and Brown was captured, tried, and executed for treason. While viewed by some as a terrorist, others see him as a martyr for the cause of abolition, and his actions further inflamed tensions leading to the Civil War.
