<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>
who led the soldiers in ending the raid on the harper 's ferry arsenal
First Lieutenant Israel Greene