Heroes of The Civil War: John Brown

Of the several almost mythical figures to emerge from the era of the Civil War, the abolitionist John Brown is certainly among the most controversial. From an old New England family with a tradition of opposing slavery, Brown was writing as early as 1834 of his intention to devote his life to abolish slavery. Although he worked at various jobs—the wool business, surveying, and postmaster—but the issue of slavery was his real concern.

          In 1855, he deliberately moved to Kansas with his five sons in order to bring the territory into the Union as a free state. Possessing the physical courage to back up his moral views, he soon emerged as a leader of the anti-slavery settlers, and in 1856 he led an attack that killed five pro-slavery men in retaliation for raids and murders by their side. 

          What distinguished Brown, however, was his insistence that he was acting as an instrument of God. With a national reputation, he then conceived of a plan for establishing a stronghold in the Appalachian Mountains where escaped slaves and freed blacks could take refuge—and then possibly come out to lead an armed uprising throughout the South. It was all rather vague, but Brown did get several of the most reputable abolitionists to endorse his general goals.

          He rented a farm near Harper’s Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia), and from this base he launched an attack, with 21 men on October 16, 1859. He seized the town and the US Armory there, but the local militia kept them under siege until a troop of US Marines, led by Robert E. Lee, assaulted the engine house where Brown and his followers were making their last stand. Ten of them were killed, and the wounded Brown was captured. Tried and convicted of treason, Brown was hanged in Charleston on December 2nd.

          If his raid failed, Brown’s eloquent defense during the trial convinced many Northerners that the abolition of slavery was a noble cause that required drastic, possibly violent action. At the same time, Brown’s raid convinced the South that Northerners were planning just such action, and so Brown’s last prediction that ‘much bloodshed’ would follow proved to be right.

Although his violent tactics were not approved by many and were discreetly disowned by the prominent abolitionists who had encouraged him, Brown became something of a martyr, and he inspired the words to the marching song, “John Brown’s Lies A’mouldering in its Grave,’ that was the unofficial anthem of the Union troops.