Julia Jones wrote
n message 20010512.123126.-7813.0.rilliara@juno.com, Ellynne G.
rilliara@juno.com writes
JMO, but can I compare this to John Brown and Lincoln? I think it
would
be useful since slavery is pretty uniformly condemned but that doesn't mean everyone who was against it was an angel in disguise.
It's a good example because it's looking at things most of us can consider without personal interest, but you've assumed a greater knowledge of American history than is likely to be found in the non- American portion of the list. Could you give a bit more background detail on John Brown, please? I didn't know anything about him.
Oops.
John Brown was from a family of 19th century abolitionists. He was something of an extremist in a time when most abolitionists still opposed violence.
His mother, I should mention, died insane, a not uncommon occurance in her family.
Five of his sons (he had 20 children [it was the 19th century, after all]) went to Kansas during the 'Bleeding Kansas' era. Kansas was supposed to vote whether it would be a slave state or free. Both proslavery forces (largely from nearby Missouri) and abolitionist ones were encouraging immigration to the territory. Armed conflict eventually broke out. In response to a raid by proslavery forces, Brown led an attack on a neighboring, proslavery town. Five, unarmed men who may have had no connection with the other raid were dragged from their homes, hacked to death, and shot.
After this, Brown went into hiding, although he continued to attack proslavery forces. Some stories have presented him as freeing slaves during this period. However, these stories may be complete fictions from a later period (I was wishy washy about including it in the earlier post, but I thought it played so well to the issue, I did. However, doing a little extra checking before this post, I found out Brown led a raid into Missouri some years later and escorted a group of slaves to Canada, so the other stories may be just folklore).
Brown is most famous for his raid on Harper's Ferry in the South. He planned to raid a military arsenal there and seize 100,000 guns. He then planned to escape into the wilderness where he would, he thought, be joined by huge masses of escaped slaves once they heard what he had done. Frederick Douglas, a famous escaped slave and friend of Brown, told him the plan wouldn't work and that he would not be able to escape Harper's Ferry alive.
Brown launched the raid. Interestingly enough, one of his prisoners was a great-great nephew of George Washington. There were also some slaves among the group, according to one account I read. The impression I got was that they were, understandably, scared stiff of Brown.
It's also worth mentioning that the first person killed in the raid was shot in the back while trying to warn a stopping train about Brown and his men. Ironically, this was a free black man.
For the rest, Douglas was right. The raid failed. Brown seems to have made little effort to escape, although he held off the defenders for about a day and a half. Some historians think he was already planning some kind of martyrdom. Other suggest he was giving into 'magical thinking' and expected some kind of rescue or mass slave rebellion on the spot. Perhaps, having pulled off so many daring attacks before, he simply couldn't believe this one would fail.
He was taken alive, tried, and hanged. This event, more than all the rest, made him a martyr to Northerners and a symbol of abolitionist extremists to the South, where some historians say he might otherwise have been forgotten. The effect it had on public opinion is considered one of the major events in leading to the Civil War.
Oh, and for anyone who's ever wondered about the 'small world' B7 characters seem to live in -
The legendary Pinkerton, of Pinkerton's detectives, provided $600 to Brown when he was helping those slaves escape to Canada.
Robert E. Lee, later to lead the Southern army, led the marines who captured Brown.
Despite only a limited number of people being allowed to be present at Brown's hanging, they included a Professor who would later be nicknamed Stonewall Jackson during the war and gain fame at the Battle of Bull Run. Also present was an actor, John Wilkes Booth, Lincoln's assassin.
As for the phrase, 'nits make lice.' I was told Brown had said this by one of my professors at college. My notes are unclear on the context except that he said it before killing someone unarmed and underage. It may have referred to a 20 year old he killed in Kansas or to a different incident.
Ellynne ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.