Thanks to the train conductor’s swift telegraph message, the top officials in Washington, D.C., knew about the raid on Harpers Ferry by 9 A.M. Secretary of War John Floyd hurried to the White House for a discussion with President Buchanan; together, they decided that their action needed to be swift and furious. The only troops on hand, however, were a few companies of U.S. Marines. Then, too, they needed a leader.