Virginia V. John Brown

Virginia v. John Brown was a criminal trial held in Virginia in October 1859 to prosecute radical anti-slavery abolitionist John Brown for his involvement in a raid on the United States federal armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now part of West Virginia) on October 16–17, 1859. This event resulted in the death of 14 people and the wounding of nine others.

John Brown led 21 armed men, five blacks and 16 whites, on a raid of the railroad town of Harpers Ferry, Virginia. His goal was to seize the Federal arsenal there and then lead a slave insurrection across the South. Brown and his men engaged in a two-day standoff with local militia and Federal troops, in which ten of his men were shot or killed, five were captured, and five escaped. Brown was captured and put on trial. In a Virginia state court, he was found guilty, and hanged.