what was the purpose of the raid on harper's ferry
John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry (also known as John Brown's raid or The raid on Harper's Ferry)[2] was an effort by armed abolitionist John Brown to initiate an armed slave revolt in 1859 by taking over a United States arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. Brown's party of 22[1] was defeated by a company of U.S. Marines, led by First Lieutenant Israel Greene.[3] Colonel Robert E. Lee was in overall command of the operation to retake the arsenal. John Brown had originally asked 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 by illness and Douglass declined, as he believed Brown's plan would fail.[4]
American Revolutionary War On April 18, 1775, 700 troops were sent to confiscate militia ordnance stored at Concord.[94][95] Fighting broke out, forcing the regulars to conduct a fighting withdrawal to Boston. Overnight, the local militia converged on and laid siege to Boston.[96] On March 25, 4,500 British reinforcements arrived with three senior generals; William Howe, John Burgoyne and Henry Clinton.[97] On June 17, the British seized the Charlestown peninsular after a costly frontal assault,[98][99] leading Howe to replace Gage.[100] Many senior officers were dismayed at the attack which had gained them little,[101] while Gage wrote to London stressing the need for a large army to suppress the revolt.[102] On July 3, George Washington took command of the Continental Army besieging Boston. Howe made no effort to attack, much to Washington's surprise.[103] After a plan to assault the city was rejected,[104] in early March 1776, the Americans fortified Dorchester Heights with heavy artillery captured from a raid on Fort Ticonderoga.[105] On March 17, the British were permitted to withdraw unmolested, sailing to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Washington then moved his army to New York.[106]