That a man might do something very audacious and desperate for money, power or fame, was to the general apprehension quite possible; but . . . that nineteen men could invade a great State to liberate a despised and hated race, was to the average intellect and conscience, too monstrous for belief.



---- from John Brown, an address by Frederick Douglass.





The raid by John Brown and his followers on Harper's Ferry, Virginia, occurred on the night of October 16, 1859.