Harpers Ferry
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On October 16, 1859, abolitionist John Brown led a group of 21 attacked Harpers Ferry. Five of the men were African American: three free African Americans, one a freed slave and one a fugitive slave. During this time assisting fugitive slaves was illegal under the Fugitive Slave Act. Brown attacked and captured several buildings; he hoped to use the captured weapons to initiate a slave uprising throughout the South