<Tr> <Td> U.S. Marines: 1 killed 1 wounded Virginia and Maryland Militia: 8 wounded </Td> <Td> 10 killed 7 captured 5 escaped </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> Civilians: 6 killed 9 wounded </Td> </Tr> <P> John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry (also known as John Brown's raid or The raid on Harper's Ferry) 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 was defeated by a company of U.S. Marines, led by First Lieutenant Israel Greene . 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 . </P> <P> John Brown rented the Kennedy Farmhouse, with a small cabin nearby, 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Harpers Ferry near the community of Dargan in Washington County, Maryland, and took up residence under the name Isaac Smith . Brown came with a small group of men minimally trained for military action . His group included 18 men besides himself (13 white men, 5 black men). Northern abolitionist groups sent 198 breech - loading . 52 caliber Sharps carbines ("Beecher's Bibles") and 950 pikes (obtained in late September from Charles Blair of Collinsville Axe Co., Collinsville, CT), in preparation for the raid . The United States Armory was a huge complex of buildings that manufactured small arms for the U.S. Army (1801--1861), with an Arsenal (storehouse) that was thought to contain 100,000 muskets and rifles at the time . </P>

What was the purpose of the raid on harper's ferry