John Brown

John Brown Harpers Ferry

(1800-1859)

John Brown was a rebel abolitionist who despised everything the Union was attempting to do. His hatred ran so deep that he enlisted the help of all of his sons against the Northern war effort. The date was October 16, 1859 and the place was the United States Armory at Harpers Ferry. The site was lightly guarded and full of munitions used against the Confederacy in the Civil war.

Brown wanted this stockpile of weapons and thought he could enlist the assistance of the slave population in the area of Harpers Ferry. He was dead wrong. What Brown did accomplish was to bring to the attention of everyone in the war, the true meaning of slavery. For better or worse, the abolitionist did stir things up at the expense of his own life. Historians have researched the passion this man felt for his cause for decades.

He was born in Connecticut in 1800. He was the son of politically active parents and was indoctrinated in theory and other social ideas of the times. He was surrounded by revolt-minded family and local dissidents. His choice was easy and certainly made a long time before his ill-fated decision to attack and armory of the Union army.

Before Brown ever thought of Harpers Ferry, he involved his sons in a series of murders. Escaping, Brown and his sons would traverse the countryside raising money and living off of the land, wanted men they were. The local authorities could never catch up with the Brown's as they utilized their knowledge of backcountry living and eluded the posse three whole years. Brown had a vision one night in his makeshift camp just north of Harpers Ferry.

He would raid the ammunition depot there at Harpers Ferry and then have the necessary gun power to start a camp for runaway slaves. A sort of noble idea if not for the murderous charges and his lack of sincerity displayed to the slaves. His second d mistake, after choosing to attack a US army base, was to rely fully on the assistance of the slave population without first testing the waters. Slaves back then were programmed to stay slaves no matter what. The few that wanted to join and fight would not be enough to do anything of real value. Brown initiated the raid anyways, throwing logic and caution to the proverbial winds of time.

The raid took place in the still of the night and by morning John Brown had control of the Harpers Ferry armory, if only for the briefest of time. The Union army was alerted and brown had a fight on his hands. After a day of house jumping and losing, Brown was captured. He was executed on December 2, 1859. The story of Brown's ill-fated raid on Harpers Ferry went down in history as courageous but planned all wrong.

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