John Brown was born in Torrington Connecticut, in 1800. His father was deeply opposed to slavery which is probably where John got it from. His family moved to Ohio when he was five. Through the first few decades of his life he moved around a lot, taking lots of different kinds of jobs. Brown was a sheep drover, tanner, wool merchant, land speculator, and farmer through his many different career paths. He never had a lot of money and he had to file for bankruptcy once even. He was married twice and had a total of 20 kids. His first wife was Dianthe Lusk who had 7 of his children, about a year after she died he married Mary Anne Day who was 16, she had 13 of his children. Out of his 20 children only 12 lived to adulthood.
Brown lived in North Elba New York for a few years, which was a town made up of mostly blacks. He became a “conductor” on the Underground Railroad. Brown believed that he was chosen by God to help free the slaves. He wanted to make racists and slave holders pay for their sins. In 1856 Brown and four of his sons along with other dragged some proslavery men out of their homes and hacked them to pieces with swords. After this attack Brown was called “Old Osawatomic Brown” and his name scared slavery sympathizers.
Brown wasn’t well known for his contributions to the antislavery movements until 1855 when he started to take parts in some antislavery movements. Brown was a major leader in Osawatomic. In one movement he led Brown killed five proslavery settlers in a town. (Brown believed that the only way to end slavery was through bloodshed. Afterwards Brown went back east and started planning a war in Virginia against slavery. He planned to lead an army in a fight against slavery. The result was Harpers Ferry in 1859. Brown led 21 men in the attack on Harper’s Ferry. They were soon captured by military forces.
Many other big figures in the fight against slavery admired Browns dedication to the fight against slavery. They didn’t know the details of his fights against slavery though. Most people didn’t, they only heard the good side of it while the South suffered from his harsh means of fighting against their proslavery ideas.
Brown was hanged for his treason in 1859. His last words against slavery helped his name to go down in history and rally other abolitionists because he had been willing to die to help further the fight against slavery with his death. A song was made about John Brown after he died, it was called “John Brown’s Body”. It was a marching song for Union soldiers later on. The South saw him as a crazy man who needed to be stopped from killing innocent people (Which was a likely possibility since insanity ran in his family). While the North saw him as a hero and a Martyr even after he was dead.
"John Brown Biography - Facts, Birthday, Life Story - Biography.com." Famous Biographies & TV Shows - Biography.com. Web. 09 Nov. 2011. <http://www.biography.com/people/ john-brown-9228496>.
"John Brown Biography Page." The American Civil War Home Page. Web. 09 Nov. 2011. <http://www.civilwarhome.com/johnbrownbio.htm>.
"John Brown." PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. Web. 09 Nov. 2011.
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