ISSUE FOUR
Fascinating Articles About the American Civil War
"In firing his gun, John Brown merely told what time of day it is. It is high noon thank God" - William Lloyd Garrison, Abolitionist
It was a cold rainy Sunday night when eighteen men left a Maryland farmhouse and began a four mile trek south. Their 59 year old leader rode ahead on a wagon. His followers were armed with rifles which were barely disguised by the shawls which covered them. The date was 16 October 1859; John Brown's raid would soon begin.
For over a decade Brown had been involved in the anti-slavery crusade. Fired by a fanatical religious fervour, he inherited the commitment to abolition from his father. But it was in Kansas that Brown first came to prominence. He and four of his sons hacked five pro slavery men to death with broadswords, all in the name of defeating "Satan and his legions". The brutality of his raiding party's actions at Pottawatomie and Osawatomie made him a hero to a small group of radical abolitionists. From these men, Brown obtained money for a conspiracy to liberate the Negro from slavery. He rented a Maryland farm in the summer of 1859, and planned a raid on Harper's Ferry in Virginia. Brown aimed to establish a fortified base in the Virginia mountains and set about freeing slaves. This would provide popular support for an alternative government in the south which would then be able to force emancipation. When he set out with his wagon containing 200 rifles, 200 pistols, 1000 pikes and a large quantity of ammunition, his followers, 13 whites and 5 blacks, Brown did so as a self styled president and commander in chief of the "provisional government" he had drawn up on paper.
The invaders reached the railroad bridge that spanned the river, captured the watchman, and left behind two men as guards. They then slipped into the town, as the Federal arsenal was the target for Brown who would need arms for the Negroes who'd flock to join his freedom army. The arsenal, and the fire engine house were all grouped together and Brown captured all three. He then ordered his men to bring in hostages; each could be ransomed, said Brown, if replaced by a stout Negro, but the captives refused and so the hope for slave rebellion never took place. Soon after midnight, the Baltimore and Ohio express approached the town. Told that the arsenal was in hostile hands. the conductor refused to take the train any further. A little later the station baggage master, Shephard Hayward, walked out on to the bridge, and was shot. He was the first victim and a free Negro. The train resumed its eastward passage to Monocacy, where the conductor informed Washington authorities by telegraph of the situation at Harpers Ferry. President Buchanan then sent a detachment of Marines under Colonel R E Lee, who arrived Monday night. Earlier in the day, the alarm had been raised in the nearby county seat of Charles Town and the armed citizenry and militia had driven Brown from their separate strongholds into the engine house. Brown tried to bargain with Lee, but refused to surrender. Lee responded by ordering men to batter down the engine house door.
The first of Brown's hostages to be released was George Washington's great, great, grand nephew, and the first of Brown's followers to die was Dangerfield Newby, a former slave who hoped to liberate his wife and child. Someone in the crowd cut off his ears as souvenirs. During the two day siege, Brown lost 10 men. On the other side, 7 were killed.
He was taken and turned over to Virginia to be tried for treason against the state, murder and insurrection, along with his surviving men. Throughout the court proceedings in Charles town Brown played the part of the wronged hero. He rejected the charges and claimed his sole purpose was to set slaves free. Brown was found guilty on all counts on 1 November 1859. The next day he was sentenced to death. A month later, 2 December, he was led from his cell in Charles Town to the gallows. 1500 troops guarded the scene of the hanging, led by Thomas J Jackson. Amongst the troops were John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of Lincoln, and Herman Melville, author of 'Moby Dick, on the gallows he handed a note to one of his guards, it read "I John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood".
To many in the north, Brown became an instant martyr, crucified by the evil of slavery; to Southerners he was an insane instrument of aggressive abolitionism. In the north, his words would be immortalized in song, but in the South, the Richmond Enquirer wrote "The Harper's Ferry invasion has advanced the cause of disunion more than any other event that has happened since the formation of the Government.
DID YOU KNOW?
In 1862, the king of Siam offered Abraham Lincoln a herd of war elephants. Lincoln kindly refused the offer.
That a 17,000lb mortar nicknamed "The Dictator", lobbed 200lb shells over 2.5 miles
That Stonewall Jackson was the symbol of Southern Resistance, but his sister Laura, a union sympathizer, remained unshaken in her devotion to the old republic and was applauded for her stand by union soldiers. She sent a message by a union soldier to effect that she could "take care of wounded Federals as fast as brother Thomas would wound them"
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