"The first shot of the American Civil War was not fired on April 12, 1861, in Charleston, South Carolina, but instead came on October 16, 1859, in Harpers Ferry, Virginia-or so claimed former-slave-turned-abolitionist Frederick Douglass. John Brown, the infamous fighter on the Kansas plains and detester of slavery, led a band of nineteen men on a desperate nighttime raid that targeted the Federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry. There, they planned to begin a war to end slavery in the United States"-- Provided by publisher.

"A most determined abolitionist" : the making of John Brown -- "The slave will be delivered by the shedding of blood" : planning the raid -- "We will proceed to the ferry" : the Kennedy farmhouse -- "They say they have come to free the slaves" : the raid begins -- "A more dismal night cannot be imagined" : Harpers Ferry, a scene of war -- "The whole was over in a few minutes" : John Brown's Raid suppressed -- "The crimes of this guilty land" : John Brown's confinement, trial, and execution -- "The meteor of the war".