john brown 's raid on harpers ferry ( also known as john brown 's raid or the raid on harpers ferry ) was an 1859 effort by abolitionist john brown to initiate an armed slave revolt in southern states by taking over a united states arsenal at harpers ferry , virginia .

John Brown had originally asked Request Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass , both of whom he had met in his transformative years as an abolitionist in Springfield , Massachusetts , to join him in his raid , but Tubman was prevented Preventing_or_letting by illness and Douglass declined , as he believed Brown 's plan would fail .

John Smith , who had been court-martialed and was awaiting news of his appeal against a death Death sentence , died Death a martyr for the abolitionist cause Causation .

News of Smith 's death Death strengthened Cause_change_of_strength the abolitionist movement in Britain .