The War Between the States

Many northern abolitionists reacted to the Dred Scott Decision by making secret trips to the South to free the slaves. One of those abolitionists was John Brown.

John Brown was born in Connecticut and did not have much success in business. He was a religious man, but he was also considered a fanatic. He felt his purpose in life was to free the slaves no matter the consequences.

In 1856 John and his sons massacred five settlers in Potawatomie, Kansas because the settlers believed in the right to own slaves. When his son was killed in revenge, John Brown said:

"I have only a short time to live ~ only one death to die, and I will die fighting for this cause. There will be no more peace in this land until slavery is done for."

Then he traveled to New England to raise money to build a fort in the Appalachian Mountains. He wanted to organize raids into the South to rescue slaves. He needed the fort as a headquarters for his operations.

On October 16, 1859 John Brown and eighteen followers wanted to start a slave rebellion. They captured a federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry in Virginia. Colonel Robert E. Lee and Sergeant J.E.B. Stuart of the United States Army marched to Harpers Ferry the next day and regained control of the arsenal.

Ten of John Brown's men were killed and the others, including John Brown, were captured. When newspapermen asked him why he did it, he replied: "To free the slaves from bondage."

John Brown was tried for murder, treason, and rebellion. He was found guilty and hung. The Northerners who once thought he was a lunatic now saw him as a martyr in the fight against slavery. Ralph Waldo Emerson described him as "that new saint ... who will make the gallows glorious like the cross."