Nestled in the foothills above Altadena, the small peak known as Little Round Top was named for the site of a decisive Union victory in the Civil War. It is also the final resting place of one of the unsung heroes of the American abolitionist movement of the 19th Century.

Owen Brown, son of radical abolitionist John Brown (1800-1859), moved to the Pasadena area in 1884, along with his brother Jason, sister, Ruth, and brother-in-law Henry Thompson, and lived in Altadena until his death in 1889.

Known primarily through the notoriety of their father, all four Brown children nevertheless played critical roles in his fight against slavery.

During the so-called "Bleeding Kansas" conflict of the 1850s—the physical and rhetorical battle over whether the territory would become a slave or free state—the three brothers fought proslavery forces alongside their father, and Owen participated in the controversial Pottawatomie Massacre, in which he and other abolitionists executed five proslavery settlers.

Ruth Brown was one of her father's closest confidants. He revealed many of his early antislavery plans to her, and the correspondence between them has proved an invaluable resource to John Brown biographers over the years.

Owen is best remembered for joining his father's raid on the United States Federal Arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, on October 16th, 1859, along with his brothers, Oliver and Watson, and Henry Thompson's brothers, William and Dauphin.

Planned as the first blow in a guerilla campaign against Southern slave owners, the raid quickly deteriorated into a violent standoff, but Owen was spared the worst of the violence that followed, after being ordered to guard a nearby farmhouse that served as the party's headquarters.

Owen played a crucial role in planning the raid. In the months leading up to the attack, he befriended residents of Harpers Ferry and obtained useful information about train routes and the whereabouts of local slaveholders.

On the night of October 16th, a band of 21 men, led by John Brown fanned out over the countryside near Harper's Ferry, freeing several slaves, and taking their owners hostage. One of these included George Washington's great grandnephew.

Under cover of darkness, they infiltrated the town, commandeering key buildings, and stealing weapons from the arsenal. They lingered too long, however, and soon they were surrounded and outnumbered by local militia and U.S. Marines, under the command of future Confederate general Robert E. Lee.

A daylong battle ensued, and eventually Brown and his remaining followers, including Oliver and Watson, barricaded themselves inside a small fire engine house, where they made a desperate last stand.

The raid ended when Marines charged the building, capturing Brown. He was tried for treason, and executed on December 2, 1859, in Charles Town, Virginia.

In all, seventeen people died in the raid, including two of Brown's sons. Ten others were wounded.

Owen and four others managed to escape, and over the course of 36 days, made their way to safety in the North. Living as a fugitive for many years, Owen hid with family in Ohio during the Civil War, where he worked for the Underground Railroad. All four of the other escapees later joined the Union Army.

By the time the Brown children moved to Pasadena in the 1880s, their radical days were long behind them. Their identities, however, were known to many, and soon they became minor celebrities in the growing city.

While Ruth and Henry Thompson were not bothered by the attention, Owen and Jason shied away from the spotlight, instead seeking a pastoral life of gardening, reading and hiking in the Altadena foothills. According to their niece, Mary Thompson, they "did not like cities, even one as small as Pasadena was then, and they loved the outdoor life."

Despite this, they were active in the community. Owen and Jason were elected honorary members of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and were frequent guests at meetings of Civil War veterans. Jason helped lay the foundation for the Echo Mountain House and was curator of Thaddeus Lowe's Wild Animal Museum.

They were "full of a great love of all humanity," recalled their niece. Jason in particular was "as gentle as a dove with all of God's creatures." Owen, nonetheless, always remained on his guard, and carried dual Colt "Navy" revolvers for protection.

Although the Browns became beloved figures in Pasadena, particularly its small African-American community, Owen and Jason cherished their solitude and eventually moved further into the foothills, building a second cabin near Millard Canyon. Here they were happy to receive visitors but rarely made trips into town.

Owen fell sick and died in 1889. His funeral, held at the Methodist Tabernacle on South Marengo Avenue in Pasadena, drew 2,000 people. Among his pallbearers was fellow Pasadena resident John H. Painter, a close friend of John Brown, who was excommunicated by his church for helping to box and ship the weapons used in the Harpers Ferry raid.

"It is quite remarkable," wrote the author of Owen's obituary in The Pasadena Standard, "that there should be found in Pasadena so many men who were associated with John Brown in his mighty work, which heaved up the nation and made the entering wedge for the overthrow of slavery thirty years ago."

Owen was buried in the California mountains he had come to love. He was laid to rest with a modest concrete headstone that read "Owen Brown, Son Of John Brown The Liberator, Died Jan. 9, 1889, Aged 64 Yrs."

Jason Brown remained in Pasadena until he lost his cabin to debt in 1893. After settling for a short time in Santa Cruz County, he eventually moved back to Ohio, where he died in 1912.

Ruth and Henry Thompson lived in Pasadena until their deaths, in 1904, and 1911, respectively. Their funerals were held at All Saints' Episcopal Church  in Pasadena, and they are both buried at Mountain View Cemetery in Altadena, along with 500 Union veterans of the Civil War.

Owen's gravesite remains less accessible. As a sad coda to his remarkable life story, his headstone disappeared from Little Round Top in 2002, casting suspicion on the owner of the adjacent property, who had long tried to prevent hikers from visiting the site. Last year's devastating Station Fire made access to the gravesite even more tricky, but sites like altadenatrails.org are likely to have updates on access.

Author's note: Portions of this article originally appeared in Hometown Pasadena in October 2009.

Editor's note: Henry Thompson was originally described as Owen Brown's stepbrother rather than his brother-in-law in this article.