Summary
Highlights
John Brown was a complex and driven individual, described as morbid and an old testament man. Born in 1800, he witnessed the beating of a slave boy at age 12, an experience that likely shaped his fervent anti-slavery views. Despite his strong convictions, he was also domineering and had an extensive history of business failures, lawsuits, and bankruptcy, leading to a poverty-stricken life for his family.
Brown believed slavery was so deeply entrenched that it required revolutionary ideology and violence to eradicate. He saw violence in a righteous cause as a form of purification. His sons moved to Kansas in 1854, urging him to join them as violence escalated between pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions. He developed a guerrilla band in Kansas.
In 1856, after hearing of the beating of Senator Charles Sumner, Brown and three of his sons retaliated. They dragged five men from their homes along Pottawatomie Creek, an area settled by pro-slavery individuals, and hacked them to death with broadswords, leaving their bodies in front of their cabins. This act became known as the Pottawatomie Creek massacre.
After a period of hiding and fundraising, Brown began planning what would become the Harpers Ferry conspiracy. He wrote a 'provisional constitution' for the state of Virginia in Frederick Douglass's attic, envisioning himself as governor. He held a convention in Chatham, Ontario, to recruit for his 'abolitionist army,' attracting 46 delegates, mostly fugitive slaves.
In December 1858, Brown and 13 men crossed into Missouri, attacked three farms, seized 11 slaves, and killed one owner. He then led these freed slaves on an 82-day, 1000-mile winter trek through Kansas, Nebraska, and Iowa, eventually reaching Canada via train and the Detroit River. A baby born during the journey was named John Brown Daniel.
Brown rented a farm near Harpers Ferry, Maryland, and tried to recruit Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman to his cause (both declined to join the raid). Five black men eventually joined his raid. His plan was to seize the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, arm slaves, and establish mountain hideaways to launch a guerrilla war against slavery in Virginia. The raid, however, only lasted 48 hours.
Brown's first strategic mistake was allowing a train to leave Harpers Ferry after seizing it, leading to news of the raid reaching Washington D.C. rapidly. President Buchanan dispatched U.S. Marines under Robert E. Lee to crush the insurrection. Brown and his men engaged in a pitched battle with townspeople and militia. Brown was captured in the engine house, severely injured.
Brown was jailed in Charlestown, Virginia, and faced a sensational trial in November 1859. He refused a state-appointed lawyer and lay injured on a cot during proceedings. After a three-and-a-half-day trial, the jury deliberated for 45 minutes, finding him guilty on all three death-punishable counts. He was sentenced to be hanged on December 2, 1859. During his month in jail, he wrote approximately 100 letters, crafting his own public image before his execution.
The aftermath of John Brown's raid was profound. Many abolitionists who had supported him, including Frederick Douglass, fled the country. Intellectuals and poets grappled with his meaning, viewing him as a Christian hero or a martyr. His actions sparked crucial discussions about the nature of revolutionary violence, terrorism, and whether the 'means justify the ends' in a moral cause, questions that continue to resonate in American society.