John A. Brown of Kansas was a fierce abolitionist who led an attack in Kansas at the so-called Pottawatomie Massacre and later most famously led a failed slave revolt in Harper’s Ferry, Virginia. Brown’s attack at Harper’s Ferry on a federal arsenal was suppressed by U.S. military forces led by Colonel Robert E. Lee, who later led the Confederate forces in the Civil War. Buchanan put a bounty on Brown’s head for $250 dollars, which caused Brown to retort by placing a bounty on Buchanan’s head of only $2.50.