Norwich - It won't be a 350th anniversary on display Wednesday at Norwich Free Academy but the 150th anniversary of an event that shook the nation, with a Norwich man as part of the cast.

Dec. 2 marks the 150th anniversary of radical abolitionist John Brown's failed raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Va., an event that sent shockwaves through a country already bitterly divided over the issue of slavery.

On Wednesday, the Norwich Historical Society will sponsor "John Brown, the Connecticut Roots of an American Legend" by William Hosley, who has done extensive research on Brown.

Hosley, of Enfield, said the program will be "Ken Burns without the budget," referring to the famed public television documentary director. The presentation will include historic photos, illustrations and other images of Brown and the 1859 raid that helped turn the slavery debate into a violent national crisis.

In his research, Hosley came across a quote to define the times.

After the raid, he said, "the only congressmen who did not go to the floor of Congress without a gun or a sword were the ones who carried two guns."

While Brown didn't come from Connecticut, his surroundings were pretty close, Hosley said. Brown lived in an Ohio town settled by westward-bound Connecticut residents, and Brown made frequent trips to Connecticut throughout his adult life.

One Norwich man eventually joined Brown on his raids in Kansas and at Harpers Ferry.

Aaron S. Stephens, a military bugler, was wounded at Harpers Ferry and nursed back to health by local officials because they wanted to execute him as a healthy man. Hosley said his presentation includes a photograph of Stephens.

In her one-phrase reference to Stephens, 19th-century Norwich historian Frances Manwaring Caulkins called Stephens "the unfortunate participator in the measures of John Brown."

c.bessette@theday.com