while weep the sons of bondage whom he ventured all to save

Happy Sesquicentennial, John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry!



That's right boys and girls! 150 years ago today, hardcore abolitionist John Brown took 20 men, a broadsword and a dream and brutally murdered his way into the annals of history, all in a valiant effort to spark a gigantic revolt to end slavery. Brown's plan was to start by capturing the town of Harpers Ferry, then arm every slave in the nearby plantations, whom he expected to join his raid enthusiastically, along with pro-abolition whites. Unfortunately, things did not exactly go according to plan, and soon after capturing the armory and killing a handful of people, Brown was surrounded and trapped inside the town's engine house, where he held ground for two days, long enough to see both his sons killed in the crossfire. Then Robert E. Lee (yes, THAT Robert E. Lee) showed up with a company of Marines and coordinated an attack on the engine house, using a wooden ladder as a battering ram and ending the raid. All told, 17 people were killed, including 10 of Brown's men.



John Brown was captured, tried and found guilty of murder, conspiracy with slaves to rebel, and treason. During the trial, he had a few words:

"...had I so interfered in behalf of the rich, the powerful, the intelligent, the so-called great, or in behalf of any of their friends, either father, mother, brother, sister, wife, or children, or any of that class, and suffered and sacrificed what I have in this interference, it would have been all right; and every man in this court would have deemed it an act worthy of reward rather than punishment....I believe that to have interfered as I have done as I have always freely admitted I have done in behalf of His despised poor, was not wrong, but right. Now, if it is deemed necessary that I should 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 submit; so let it be done!"

On December 2nd, 1859, John Brown refused to be ministered to by a pro-slavery clergyman and was executed on the gallows. A little more than a year later, the Civil War began.


John Brown, American Badass.