John Brown - Crusading Against Slavery

KANSAS LEGENDS

John Brown (1800-1859) - Frequently referred to as "Osawatomie Brown," the famed abolitionist was born at Torrington, Connecticut on May 9, 1800, a son of Owen and Ruth (Mills) Brown. His earliest American ancestor was Peter Brown, who came over in the Mayflower in 1620, and his grandfather, John Brown, was a captain in the Connecticut Militia during the American Revolution. His maternal grandfather, Gideon Mills, was also a Revolutionary soldier. In 1805 Owen Brown removed with his family to Ohio, where John grew to manhood, working on the farm and as a currier in his father's tannery, part of the time as foreman. When he was about 20 he took up the study of surveying and followed that occupation for a few years. He then went to Crawford County, Pennsylvania, where he lived until 1835, before moving to Portage County, Ohio.

John Brown, 1850's.

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In 1846 he went to Springfield, Massachusetts and engaged in the business of buying and selling wool on commission. No sooner had he established himself in this business than he tried to force up the price of wool, but the New England manufacturers combined against him and he was compelled to ship some 200,000 pounds to Europe, where he sold it at a loss, becoming bankrupt. Gerrit Smith then gave him a piece of land near North Elba, New York in the bleak, desolate region of the Adirondacks, and here Brown lived until 1851. He then returned to Ohio and again engaged in the wool business, this time with better success.

Owen Brown was one of the early school of abolitionists, a disciple of Hopkins and Edwards, and from his earliest childhood John Brown breathed an atmosphere antagonistic to the institution of slavery. He was twice married -- first to Dianthe Lusk, a widow, who bore him seven children; and second to Mary Ann Day, by whom he had thirteen children. Eight of the twenty children died young, and of those who grew to maturity all were abolitionists. Five of his sons moved from Ohio to Kansas in 1854 and selected claims some 8 to 10 miles from Osawatomie, where they were joined by their father on October 5, 1855. Father and sons were mustered in as militia by the free-state party and turned out to aid in the defense of Lawrence. Two of Brown's sons were captured by the United States Cavalry, which was used to aid in enforcing the territorial laws passed by a pro-slavery legislature, and John Brown, Jr., with his hands fastened behind his back, was driven by a cavalry company nine miles on a trot to Osawatomie. Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography says: "This state of things must be fully remembered in connection with the so-called 'Pottawatomie Massacre,' which furnishes, in the opinion of both friends and foes, the most questionable incident in Brown's career."

In January, 1859, Brown left Kansas with a number of slaves taken from Missouri owners and went to Canada, where he arranged the details for his raid on Harper's Ferry, Virginia. Through the National Kansas Committee he secured 200 rifles, and on June 3, 1859, he left Boston with $500 in gold and permission to keep the rifles. Late in that month Brown and his associates rented a small farm near Harper's Ferry, where they were to complete the preparations for their raid. Brown's daughter, Anne, and a daughter-in-law, Owen Brown's wife, were installed as housekeepers. Here, Brown was visited in August by Frederick Douglass, to whom he imparted his plan for the seizure of the United States arsenal at Harper's Ferry, and, if necessary to carry out his purpose, the capture of the town itself.

U.S. Marines storming the Harper's Ferry Engine House,

Harper's Weekly, November, 1859.

Douglass did not look with favor on the scheme, but Brown, having consecrated his life to the abolition of slavery, was not to be dissuaded. Accordingly, on Sunday evening, October 16, 1859, Brown mustered 18 of his men and moved on the arsenal. At half-past ten the gates were broken in with a crow-bar, the small guard was overpowered without difficulty, and by midnight the town was patrolled by the raiders. Six men were sent to bring in some planters living in the vicinity, with their slaves, it being Brown's idea to free and arm the negroes to aid in bringing about a general uprising. Unhappily for the scheme, a train got through Harper's Ferry and carried the news to Washington.

Captain Robert E. Lee, who afterwards won distinction as a Confederate general, hurried from Washington with a company of Marines, and the citizens armed themselves to aid the troops in capturing the raiders. Brown and six of his men barricaded themselves in the engine room and held out against great odds until two of his sons were killed and he was wounded. He was tried before a Virginia court, convicted of treason and sentenced to be hanged. His execution took place on December 2, 1859, and it is said that no man ever met his fate with greater fortitude. His body was buried at North Elba, Essex County, New York, near the farm given him by Gerrit Smith.

John Brown has been called a fanatic, and some have even gone so far as to adjudge him insane, though there is no positive evidence to show that he was mentally unbalanced. From boyhood, the doctrines of abolition had been drilled into him, until the idea that all men ought to be free became with him a sort of obsession. His methods were not always of the best character, but he had the courage of his convictions and was willing to lay down his life for a principle. His battles of Black Jack and Osawatomie were insignificant when compared with Gettysburg or Chickamauga, but they began the conflict that ended in the annihilation of chattel slavery in the United States.

On August 30, 1877, a monument was unveiled at Osawatomie "In memory of the heroes who fell in defense of freedom." The monument was erected by the John Brown Memorial association. Some years later the Women's Relief Corps of Kansas started a movement to have the battlefield of Osawatomie set apart as a public park. The field was purchased on May 13, 1909, and on Aug. 31, 1910, the park was dedicated with imposing ceremonies, ex-President Roosevelt being the orator of the occasion. Besides these recognitions of Brown's valor, the Kansas legislature of 1895 passed a resolution requesting the authorities in charge of the United States statuary hall at Washington to permit the Lincoln Soldiers' and Sailors' National Monument association to place a statue of John Brown in the hall, but nothing farther came of the movement.

Added March, 2009.

About the Article: This above text is based on information in the book Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Volume I; edited by Frank W. Blackmar, A.M. Ph. D.; Standard Publishing Company, Chicago, IL 1912. The text is not verbatim as we have edited for readability, errors, and updates.

John Brown ascending the scaffold to be hanged, Frank

Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, 1859

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