John Brown (May 9, 1800 – December 2, 1859) was an American abolitionist, the first white abolitionist to advocate and to practice insurrection as a means to the abolition of slavery. He has been called "the most controversial of all nineteenth-century Americans."[1] His attempt to start a liberation movement among enslaved blacks in Virginia in 1859 electrified the nation. He was tried for treason (to the state of Virginia) and hanged, but his behaviour at the trial seemed heroic to millions of Americans. Brown first gained attention when he led small band of volunteers during the Bleeding Kansas crisis. Unlike other Northerners, who advocated peaceful resistance to the pro-slavery faction, Brown demanded violent action. His belief in confrontation led him to murder five pro-slavery southerners in what became known as the Pottawatomie Massacre in May 1856. Brown's most famous deed was the 1859 raid he led on the federal armoury at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (in modern-day West Virginia). Brown's subsequent capture by federal forces, his trial for treason to the state of Virginia, and his execution by hanging were an important part of the origins of the American Civil War, which followed sixteen months later. His role and actions prior to the Civil War, as an abolitionist, and what tactics he chose still makes him a controversial personality today. Depending on the point of view, he could be heralded as an heroic martyr or vilified as a bloodthirsty terrorist. Numerous American historians in the 20th century deprecated Brown as an insane and bloodthirsty zealot and madman. On the other hand, some scholars glorified Brown for his sincere and self-sacrificing devotion to the abolition of slavery. Pro- and anti-Brown scholars have granted him significant credit for starting the American Civil War. One recent scholar, Reynolds (2006) sees him as the inspiration for the Civil Rights Movement a century later, arguing "it is misleading to identify Brown with modern terrorists."