About the Program
Tony Horwitz recounts abolitionist John Brown's raid on a federal armory in Harper's Ferry, Virginia on October 16, 1858. On that evening, Brown led a group of eighteen men into Harper's Ferry, where they took the armory and freed several slaves. He was later wounded and captured during an attack by U.S. Marines under the command of Robert E. Lee. Mr. Horowitz reports on John Brown's early exploits to abolish slavery, pronounced by acts of violence against proslavery settlers in Kansas, his court trial following his capture, and how his acts of defiance contributed to the national discussion of succession. Tony Horwitz speaks at the Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum in Wichita, Kansas.