JOHN BROWN
John Brown has been referred to as a
horse thief, hero, mad-man, fanatic and
murderer. He may have been any one of
these or he may have been all of these.
However, he was oblivious to these
names. To him these names meant nothing
compared to what he saw himself to be in the
eyes of God. He saw himself as God’s chosen
hand to rid the country of slavery. Perhaps he
was mad, for who else but a mad man, who
had never experienced being a slave, could
let their passion against slavery lead to brutal
murder. Murder committed in the most
gruesome fashion and with no display of
concern for his victims.
He and his followers massacred five pro
slavers along Pottawatomie Creek Kansas.
Some of these were brutally massacred.
Either before or after they had been shot their
skulls were split open and their hands and
fingers cut off. There was nobody who hated
slavery more than himself. His acts of
vengeance played a vital role in bringing on
the Civil War.
He was also not adverse to using duplicity.
While telling his New England supporters
that he would use the money that they raised
for him to fight the spread of slavery in
Kansas, he intended to use it to invade
Virginia perpetrating a bloody mass slave
uprising that would rid the country of
slavery. He knew that if he told the truth the
money would not be forth coming. Such tactics
were contrary to the go slow method of
liberating the country of slavery supported by
most of his Abolitionist associates.
He did not receive all of the money that he
wanted; however he did receive enough
support which enabled him to carry out his
ill-fated plan. On October 16, 1859 he sent
shock waves through the South with his failed
invasion of Harper’s Ferry Virginia. Brown
was confident that he would pick up enough
slaves along the way to fill his ranks and
guaranty success. However on his arrival to
Harper’s Ferry his army consisted of a pitiful
few. His band numbered just twenty five, five
of these were Black. When news arrived in
Washington about the take over of the armory
by Brown, Colonel Robert E. Lee was
dispatched with ninety Marines to put down the
up-rising.
There was not much of a fight at the armory and
Brown was captured, tried and found guilty of
treason against the State of Virginia. He was
executed by hanging on December 2, 1859.
However his struggle did not end with the cool
calm demeanor that he portrayed standing of
the gallows. It was as if he saw his prediction
forthcoming: A land purged of its sins with
blood.
He portrayed the image painted by Wendell
A. Phillips in 1856 when describing Brown:
“...He stands like a solitary rock..,a fiery
nature, and a cold temper, and a cool head -- a
volcano beneath a covering of snow.”
The eruption beneath the snow exhibited
during his life paled when compared to the
eruption forthcoming with the Civil War. His
spirit reverberated throughout the country
years following his death. It was not to long
after Brown’s execution that Federal troops
would go into battle singing: “John Brown’s
body lies a-moldering in the grave, but his soul
goes marching on.”
"That this nation might have a new birth of freedom.
That slavery should be removed forever from American Soil."
"John Brown"
WILLIAM L. GARRISON
1844 - 1858
Garrison was the leading and most
influential Abolitionist. Frederick Douglass
was mentored by Garrison. They both wrote
articles in Garrison’s weekly newspaper the
“Liberator.” This newspaper fueled the
anti-slavery movement and never missed a
copy for thirty-five years. It did not stop
publication until the Thirteenth Amendment
to the Constitution abolished slavery in
December 1865. When Garrison started the
Liberator Harriet Tubman was a ten year
Maryland field hand.
John Brown sought the support of Garrison
in matters of advisement and finance. Garrison supported Brown
with advice but hardly ever aided him financially.
Garrison promised that the Liberator would
make the slave holding community tremble --
with his fiery rhetoric, and he did. He stated:
"I will speak
God’s simple truth “I am in earnest
- I will not equivocate - I will not excuse - I
will not retreat a single inch AND I WILL BE
HEARD!”
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