In October 1859 John Brown's raid on the Harpers Ferry Armory in what is now Harpers Ferry, West Virginia (at the time part of the state of Virginia) sent shock waves through the South. Although Brown was quickly captured and executed, the incident had a profound effect on the 1860 presidential election. When Abraham Lincoln won over three Democratic Party candidates, it triggered Southern secession. At the outbreak of the Civil War, the 40 western counties of Virginia were strongly against secession and they seceded from Virginia. The counties that later became West Virginia had relatively few slaves.