John Brown’s Raid Ignited War of Liberation and Loss

Black abolitionist Frederick Douglass called John Brown a "brave, heroic, and Christian man," while Henry David Thoreau called him simply "an angel of light." In contrast, Virginia fire-eater Edmund Ruffin described Brown as an "atrocious criminal." Another Virginian stated that Brown's action demonstrated to the people of the slaveholding South "the true character of the danger before them."

Whether viewed as a hero or madman, martyr or terrorist, John Brown and his October 1859 attack on Harpers Ferry, Va., exacerbated the sectional tensions that had already increased tremendously in the decade following the Mexican War.

Born in Connecticut in 1800, Brown fathered 20 children and bounced unsuccessfully through numerous occupations in several states. With his membership in the Congregationalist Church he developed a strong anti-slavery sentiment and became convinced that he could serve as God's instrument in the destruction of the South's "peculiar institution."

Brown catapulted to notoriety as the result of his activities in Kansas, where proand anti-slavery forces battled for control of the new territory. In May 1856, in retaliation for a raid on the anti-slavery town of Lawrence, Brown and a group of followers hacked to death five pro-slavery settlers on the banks of Pottawatomie Creek.

Within a year he envisioned an even bolder operation -- the seizure of the Federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry. Using the weapons he obtained there, Brown planned to launch raids to free slaves and perhaps start a general insurrection. He obtained financial assistance from a number of prominent abolitionists, including most notably a group known as the "Secret Six," who included clergyman Thomas Wentworth Higginson, ex-Congressman Gerrit Smith, and industrialist George Stearns.

On the evening of Oct. 16, 1859, Brown and his followers left their base on the nearby Kennedy Farm for the march to Harpers Ferry. He had delayed his operation in hopes of attracting additional recruits for his army of liberation. Many, including Frederick Douglass, declined Brown's invitation to join in the mission, believing it would turn public opinion against the abolitionist movement. In the end, only a handful of men joined Brown, a force far too small for his grandiose plans; acknowledging the slim chances of the mission's success, Brown hoped that in failure his army might martyr itself for the abolitionist cause.

Little went right over the next two days. After crossing the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Bridge into Harpers Ferry, Brown took several hostages and gained control of the armory and nearby rifle factory. A free black baggage handler named Hayward Shepherd became, ironically, the first casualty when he was mortally wounded after approaching one of the raiders.

By morning, townspeople had begun to resist, followed by Virginia militia and, eventually, a detachment of U.S. Marines, sent from Washington and commanded by army officers Robert E. Lee and J.E. B. Stuart. Brown and his men might have fled the town but, evidently hoping for the arrival of escaped slaves to reinforce them, most remained and were either killed or became trapped in the armory's engine house.

On the morning of Oct. 18, Lee ordered the Marines to assault the building. Smashing open the door, they killed two of Brown's men and seriously wounded their leader with a saber strike to the head.

Brown and the surviving raiders were charged with treason against the Commonwealth of Virginia, conspiracy to commit slave insurrection, and murder. Brown's subsequent trial, conviction, and hanging captivated the nation.

He rejected an insanity defense and, following his sentencing on Nov. 2, remarked to the court: "I believe to have interfered as I have done in behalf of His despised poor, is no wrong, but right." On Dec. 2, 1859, a large crowd gathered in a field near Charlestown to witness Brown's execution, with cadets from the Virginia Military Institute and various militia companies maintaining order.

While being led to the site, Brown handed his jailer a note explaining his actions. It included the prophetic statement: "I John Brown am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty, land: will never be purged away; but with Blood."

In the aftermath of his execution, Brown's supporters were effusive in their praise of the martyred abolitionist. Louisa May Alcott referred to him as "Saint John the Just," while Ralph Waldo Emerson noted that Brown's death "would make the gallows famous like the cross."

Others felt differently. Virginia citizens passed a resolution that breathlessly warned of "insidious and sanguinary assassins dispatched by secret conclaves of Northern abolitionists." More ominously, editorials -- including some in papers that had earlier preached moderation -- now threatened secession.

The Richmond Whig reported that, while many in the state may have previously thought of disunion as "a madman's dream," they now felt America's "days are numbered, [and] its glory diminished."

In the wake of John Brown's raid, Southerners put themselves in a defensive posture from which they could not retreat. Within a year, a national election propelled Republican Abraham Lincoln into the White House, prompting seven states to leave the Union.

April 1861 brought the firing on Fort Sumter and Lincoln's call for 75,000 troops to quell the insurrection, followed by the secession of four additional states, including the Old Dominion. Secession would rend Virginia in two: Harpers Ferry became part of the new state of West Virginia.

Ironically, Virginia, whose citizens voted twice against secession, emerged as the premier battleground of the Civil War. The war ravaged the countryside and divided its people, but it also destroyed slavery and inspired blacks to fulfill their dreams of freedom.

This month marks 150 years since John Brown's raid and with it, the larger sesquicentennial commemoration of the Civil War begins. Like Brown himself, the war should be commemorated from multiple perspectives, viewed as devastating and heroic, full of loss and liberation.

David J. Coles and Larissa Smith Fergeson are associate professors of history at Longwood University in Farmville. Contact Coles (434) 395-2220 or . Contact Fergeson at (434) 395-22776 .