John Brown

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John Brown (1800-59) was an American abolitionist who famously led a raid on the U.S. federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry and was hanged for his efforts. He was viewed as a terrorist, while at the same time becoming a martyr for the antislavery movement.

Prior to that, Brown, who engaged with mixed success in a variety of occupations for his livelihood, was active in the antislavery movement around the country. In 1855, he moved to Kansas with several of his sons and became a leader in the antislavery faction in the strife following the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

In 1859, he and a small band of followers seized the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry (then in Virginia, now in West Virginia) hoping to spark a slave insurrection. The arsenal was retaken by marines led by Col. Robert E. Lee and Brown was tried for insurrection, treason, and murder by a Virginia court and hanged.

A popular song, John Brown's Body was composed in his honor. Later, Julia Ward Howe composed the Battle Hymn of the Republic which was written to the same tune.

References

• Oates, Stephen B., To Purge This Land with Blood: a Biography of John Brown