 Home Index Freedom Documents Constitution In-Depth About Us Contact Us Education Site Map Links Archives E-Mail The History of America 
Chapter VIII - A Martyr for Abolition
A Martyr for Abolition 1859
As politicians vainly sought a compromise to narrow the gulf between the increasingly divided sections of the United States, an incident in October 1856 widened it. On October 16, John Brown of Pottawatomie Massacre infamy led a band of zealots, including five black men, in an attack on Harper's Ferry, Virginia. seizing both the federal arsenal there and several hostages as a "signal for a general slave insurrection." The next morning, however, Lieutenant Colonel Robert E. Lee and his cavalry completely surrounded the arsenal, stormed the barricaded doors and captured the radical Brown and his men. A frenzied young lieutenant savagely stabbed Brown and beat him unconscious before Brown could fire a shot. By the time the violent skirmish had ended, ten of Brown's men lay dead, five had escaped and the remainder were captured.
Brown was swiftly tried for treason, convicted on October 31 and sentenced to hang on December 2, 1859. Revealing his intention to martyr himself for the antislavery cause, Brown told his executioners, "Let them hang me, I am worth inconceivably more to hang than for any other purpose." During his sentencing he belligerently told expectant onlookers who packed the courtroom:
If it is necessary to forfeit my life for the furtherance of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood further with the blood of my children, and with the blood of millions in this slave country whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel, and unjust enactments, I say, let it be done.
On the way to the gallows, Brown handed his jailer a note which predicted that the "crimes of this guilty land" would require purging by bloodshed.
In the North Brown was revered as a "new saint," and even long-time pacifists were passionately stirred to call for "success to every slave insurrection in the South and in every slave country." However, Brown's raid reconfirmed the Southerners' worst night-mare: that hot-blooded Northern citizens and slaves would join forces to rape and murder defenseless Southerners. An Atlanta newspaper editorial hysterically condemned Brown's attack and cautioned every Southerner to be highly suspicious of anyone "who does boldly declare that he believes African slavery to be a social, moral and political blessing." As the dark days grew shorter and colder, Americans in both the North and the South feared that the unity of the nation was in dreadful peril. Many fervently believed that the election of 1860, only a little more than ten months away, would forever seal the fate of their beloved Union.
|