John Brown called Old Brown of Osawatomie (1800-59)was an American abolitionist, born in Torrington, Connecticut. John Brown's family moved to Ohio when he was five years old. He acquired, early in life, the hatred of slavery which marked his subsequent career, his father having been actively hostile to the institution. John Brown initiated (1834) in Pennsylvania, where he was then living, a project among sympathetic abolitionists to educate young Negros. The next twenty years of his life were largely dedicated to the furtherance of this and similar abolitionist ventures, a course that entailed many sacrifices for himself and his large family. In 1855, he followed five of his sons to Kansas Territory, then a center of struggle between the antislavery and pro slavery forces. Under the leadership, the Brown boys became active participants in the fight against marauding pro slavery terrorists from Missouri, whose activities culminated in the murder of a number of abolitionists at Lawrence, Kansas. John Brown and his sons avenged this crime, on May 24, 1856, at Pottawatomie, killing five pro slavery adherents. This act and his success, in August, at Osawatomie, in withstanding a large party of attacking Missourians, made him nationally famous as an irreconcilable foe of slavery.
Aided by increased financial support from the abolitionists in the northeastern States, John Brown began, in 1857, the start of a plan, which he had long entertained, to free the slaves by armed force. He secretly recruited a small band of supporters for this project, which included the establishment of a refuge for fugitive slaves in the mountains of Virginia. After several setbacks, he finally launched on the night of October 16, 1859, with a force of 18 men (including several of his sons), seizing the U.S. Arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Va., and winning control of the town. He made no attempt at offensive action, however, following this initial success, occupying instead, defensive positions within the arsenal. His force was surrounded by local militia, which was reinforced, on October 17, by a company of U.S. Marines under the command of Colonel Robert E. Lee. Ten of Browns men, including two of his sons, were killed in the ensuing battle, and he was wounded and forced to capitulate. He was arrested and charged with various crimes, including treason and murder. He distinguished himself during his trial, which took place before a Virginia court, by his eloquent defense of his efforts in behalf of his slaves. Convicted, he was hanged (December 2) at Charlestown, Va.. For many years after his death John Brown was generally regarded among abolitionists as a martyr to the cause of human freedom. He became the subject of a famous song, known generally by the first line as "John Brown’s body lies a-mould,ring in the grave".
Stephen Vincent Benét is famous for his long poem John Brown's Body which won him a 1929 Pultizer Prize. John Brown's Body was published by the Franklin Library.
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Fairly done remembrance of John Brown. Biographically, however, he did not initiate the program to educate blacks in Pennsylvania in 1834 or any time. For reasons unknown to us, Brown never moved forward on his plan, although the idea of a black school seems to have stayed with him into the late 1840s. Crawford County, in northwestern Penn., where Brown lived at the time, would have been an ideal setting for such a school--the area had a small free black population and the white population in that area was sympathetic to them. However Brown was overworked and preoccupied with business, family, and community concerns and his idea of a black school remained a dream.
Yours truly,
Louis A. DeCaro Jr.
Biographer of John Brown
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