John Brown

Podcast Transcript

In the years prior to the outbreak of the US Civil War, abolitionists had been ratcheting up their efforts to end the institution of slavery.

The battle was fought mainly through politics and persuasion, but some were not satisfied with a peaceful approach and felt that more active means were necessary.

One abolitionist stood above all others in his willingness to do whatever was required to end slavery.

Learn about John Brown and his radical abolitionism on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

John Brown was born to a Puritan household on May 8, 1800, in Torrington, Connecticut.

Many of John Brown’s later beliefs can be traced back to his childhood, specifically to his father, Owen Brown, who taught the young Brown that slavery was a sin against God.

When John was five, his family moved to Hudson, Ohio, where Owen Brown would become an active member of the Underground Railroad. It is in Ohio where John would spend the majority of his childhood.

Brown had limited education as a child. He only attended school up to the elementary level. However, he did study under an abolitionist named Elizur Wright, which further ingrained his abolitionist beliefs.

One of the most defining moments in Brown’s childhood was when he had to drive cattle from his home in Hudson, Ohio, to a cattle market in Michigan.

While traveling, he stayed at a hotel, where the landlord was incredibly respectful and interested in the young-John and his life. While staying at this hotel, John met a young black boy who was roughly the same age as him.

He and the young boy got along, but John had noticed the landlord did not treat the boy with the same respect. He was beaten instead. When John asked why the boy was being beaten, the response was simply that he was a slave.

This event fundamentally changed John, who said that watching the boy being beaten for simply being back made him dedicate his life to liberating slaves and ending slavery.

Brown married Dianthe Lusk in 1820. The couple had seven children over the course of twelve years of marriage, before she died in 1832 due to complications in childbirth.

In his early adulthood, Brown moved to Pennsylvania, where he worked as a postmaster, while simultaneously offering to shelter slaves as part of the Underground Railroad. Through his work on the Underground Railroad, he helped transport runaway slaves over the Pennsylvania border into New York State.

In 1833, Brown married his second wife, Mary Ann Day. They would go on to have thirteen children, seven of whom would join Brown in his abolitionist cause.

In 1837, another key moment in Brown’s life occurred: the murder of Elijah Parish Lovejoy. Lovejoy was a Presbyterian minister who printed an abolitionist newspaper and was murdered by a pro-slavery mob in Alton, Illinois. This event served as a secondary trigger for Brown, who vowed before God that he would dedicate his life to the destruction of slavery.

A few years later, in 1846, Brown moved back to New England to the city of Springfield, Massachusetts. He was officially there to advocate for the use of wool produced in Ohio, but the reality was that Brown wanted to use the time to help develop his plans for emancipation.

There he made financial connections and met with abolitionist leaders, including Fredrick Douglass, whom I’ve covered in a previous episode.

The city had a community that shared his ideology, which only helped deepen his abolitionism. It was here that he began to think that the only way to achieve emancipation would be through militant, violent actions.

These actions were soon going to be used, following the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law in 1850.

Brown, as an abolitionist, was furious about the law, as it mandated that all states were required to return runaway slaves to their owners regardless of their status as a free or slave state.

In response, Brown formed a militia group known as the “League of Gileadites.” This league was mostly made up of free back men and was tasked with preventing slave catchers from capturing runaway slaves.

Following the creation of the group, Brown moved around a few more times, eventually settling in upstate New York, where he established a farm in North Elba, a town with a large population of free blacks.

Brown eventually went back to Ohio, leaving his family at the North Elba home. It was in Ohio where Brown learned about the debate surrounding Kansas and the battle over whether it would become a free or slave state.

Kansas and Nebraska were two territories that were seeking to join the Union. However, there was controversy over their statehood.

The two states were located north of the Missouri Compromise Line, which was established in 1820. This compromise stipulated that no slave states would be admitted to the Union above 36°30′ latitude.

However, this act was repealed by the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act. This act was inherently pro-Southern and was made primarily to create a railroad, but also to “solve” the issue of slavery.

The idea was that instead of the slavery being decided by an arbitrary line, states would have “popular sovereignty,” allowing them to vote on the issue for themselves. By putting the issue of slavery into the hands of the states, it was hoped that the conflicts over the issue would remove it from national politics.

This idea backfired specifically in Kansas.

When slavery was left to be determined by the people of Kansas, pro- and anti-slavery settlers from across the Union flooded into the territory, hopeful to swing the state to their cause.

The initial voting in Kansas can be compared to a mini Civil War. Both southerners and northerners used violence to try to swing the state vote in their favor.

An example of this was the Missouri Border Ruffians, who rode into the Kansas territory, seized polling places, voted in their own legislature, and made it so there would be severe penalties for speaking out against slavery.

Brown had heard about the events occurring in Kansas, but was initially reluctant to join due to his age. He was in his 50s. However, with urging from his son, he decided to make the trek.

Once arriving in Kansas, Brown built a cabin which became known as “Brown’s Station.”

Throughout the following months, Brown heard stories about pro-slavery aggression towards abolitionists, including the tale of a man who was hacked to death.

The President at the time, Franklin Pierce, had declared that any anti-slavery organized retaliation would be viewed as treasonable insurrection.

Despite warnings, the violence in Kansas continued. Brown soon learned about a raid in Lawrence, Kansas, on a free-state hotel, and had had enough. Something needed to be done, and he began marching towards the city.

After assembling a small force, Brown marched to Pottawatomie Creek, a pro-slavery stronghold. Once in the town, Brown and his group killed five pro-slavery men in an event that would be known as the Pottawatomie Massacre.

A manhunt for the murderers quickly ensued, and Brown and his men fled across the border into Missouri. Once there, they murdered a slave owner, freeing eleven slaves in the process.

Whether John Brown’s role in the massacre was known to the public varies by source. A congressional committee that investigated the events cited him as a perpetrator; however, the abolitionist press often denied his involvement, and Brown evaded questioning on the matter.

After his actions during the Bleeding Kansas crisis, Brown decided to escalate his actions further. Brown had started to believe that the only way for slaves to become emancipated was to incite a slave rebellion.

Brown wanted to attack the south where it hurt. By inciting a rebellion, he believed he would cripple the southern economy. The plan was to raid the armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now in West Virginia), and seize the weapons and supplies stored there.

Harpers Ferry was viewed as a convenient entrance into the south, and with the supplies gathered, he hoped to inspire a violent uprising that he would provide the weapons for.

On July 3, 1859, John Brown rented a farm about 5 miles from Harpers Ferry. Throughout the summer, men, including Brown’s sons Oliver and Owen, along with 18 others, stayed at the house planning for the day to strike.

During the following months Brown raised money from his fellow abolitionists and acquired weapons, including guns and pikes. The plan was to use these weapons to raid and plunder Harpers Ferry.

On October 16, 1859, the raid began.

Leaving three men behind to act as guards, the group marched to the armory.

The first night went relatively well, with the group managing to overrun the arsenal and take several hostages. However, news of the initial success of the raid soon got out, and word spread.

The Secretary of War, John B. Floyd, sent an urgent message to Colonel Robert E. Lee, telling him to restore order and take back the arsenal. Quickly assembling a force, they managed to put together marines to march on Harpers Ferry.

Meanwhile, Brown’s attempt to incite a slave rebellion wasn’t going to plan as the majority of nearby slaves refused to join, viewing it as a suicide mission.

Brown’s group was soon surrounded by Lee’s men and had no ability to escape. However, the group continued to hold out for two more days.

There was sporadic fighting between the two groups, but ultimately, the army’s might was too much for Brown and his men. After the death of seventeen of the raiders, Lee and his troops forced Brown to surrender.

Brown was taken prisoner and charged with treason against the Commonwealth of Virginia, murder, and conspiracy to start a slave insurrection.

John Brown’s trial took place over the course of a week, with the jury ultimately finding Brown guilty on all three charges, and he was sentenced to death on November 2.

While awaiting trial, Brown was not allowed to speak to the press, something that greatly frustrated him. This was because the judge feared that any statements Brown made to the press could further escalate tension between pro- and anti-slavery groups.

However, after being convicted and awaiting execution, this restriction was lifted. This gave him the opportunity to explain his motivations to anyone who would listen, and he spoke to anyone except for pro-slavery clergy.

Brown was executed by hanging on December 2, 1859, but his legacy would live on.

Following his raid on Harpers Ferry, Southern fears over abolitionists grew. They were terrified that other abolitionists would emulate Brown’s actions and attempt to start their own slave rebellions.

This led to the South creating militias in preparation for other John Browns. These militias eventually became part of the Confederate army.

The perceptions of John Brown in the years that followed varied throughout the country. Many in the North viewed Brown as a martyr for the anti slavery cause, and those in the South viewed him as attacking their way of life.

John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry and his subsequent execution further drove a wedge between the two halves of the country and pushed the nation further towards civil war.

For the South, Brown was their own personal nightmare; a white man who was willing to arm blacks and die for the cause of ending slavery.

As for the North, abolitionist rhetoric surrounding the violent takedown of slavery became more commonplace. Brown was considered to be a tragic figure, not someone who committed treason. He was viewed as “a prophet of righteousness” who worked to destroy the injustice and immorality of slavery.

These two radically different perspectives showed just how large the divide had become between the North and the South.

The actions taken by John Brown were pivotal moments in the lead-up to the American Civil War. Although he never lived to see it, he ultimately played a significant role in the abolition of slavery in the United States.