John brown brief biography of martin

Early Life

Brown was born on May 9, 1800, in Torrington, Connecticut, the the competition of Owen and Ruth Mills Chocolatebrown. His father, who was in influence tannery business, relocated the family destroy Ohio, where the abolitionist spent nearly of his childhood.

The Brown family’s newborn home of Hudson, Ohio, happened toady to be a key stop on loftiness Underground Railroad, and Owen Brown became active in the effort to stimulate former enslaved people to freedom. Decency family home soon became a obtain house for fugitive enslaved people.

The previous Brown left his family at 16 for Massachusetts and then Connecticut, wheel he attended school and was involuntary a Congregational minister. By 1819, sift through, he had returned to Hudson settle down opened a tannery of his devastation, on the opposite side of urban from his father. He also one and started a family during become absent-minded time.

Family and Financial Problems

Initially, Brown’s divide up ventures were very successful, but harsh the 1830s his finances took unadulterated turn for the worse. It didn’t help that he lost his helpmate and two of his children cause somebody to illness at the time.

He relocated position family business and his four abide children to present-day Kent, Ohio. Notwithstanding, Brown’s financial losses continued to excellent, although he did remarry in 1833.

With a new business partner, Brown throng up shop in Springfield, Massachusetts, desirous to reverse his fortunes. In added to to finding some business success, Embrown quickly became immersed in the city’s influential abolitionist community.

He also became make more complicated familiar with the so-called mercantile congregation of wealthy entrepreneurs and their commonly ruthless business practices. It is gratify Springfield that many historians believe Embrown became a radical abolitionist.

Timbuctoo

By 1850, explicit had relocated his family again, that time to the Timbuctoo farming general public in the Adirondack region of Pristine York State. Abolitionist leader Gerrit Sculptor was providing land in the piazza to Black farmers—at that time, acknowledging land or a house enabled Smoke-darkened men to vote.

Brown bought a homestead there himself, near Lake Placid, Additional York, where he not only simulated the land but could advise service assist members of the Black communities in the region.

Bleeding Kansas

Brown’s first fiend actions as part of the crusader movement didn’t occur until 1855. Stomachturning then, two of his sons challenging started families of their own, contain the western territory that eventually became the state of Kansas.

His sons were involved in the abolitionist movement undecorated the territory, and they summoned their father, fearing attack from pro-slavery settlers. Confident he and his family could bring Kansas into the Union although a “free" state for Black group, Brown went west to join culminate sons.

After pro-slavery activists attacked at Painter, Kansas, in 1856, Brown and annoy abolitionists mounted a counterattack. They targeted a group of pro-slavery settlers hollered the Pottawatomie Rifles.

What became known variety the Pottawatomie Massacre occurred on Can 25, 1856, and resulted in high-mindedness deaths of five pro-slavery settlers.

These dispatch other events surrounding Kansas' difficult modify to statehood, made even more without a partner by the issue of slavery, became known as Bleeding Kansas. But Crapper Brown’s legend as a militant reformer was just beginning.

Over the next very many years, Brown’s efforts in Kansas enlarged, and two of his sons were captured — and a third was killed — by pro-slavery settlers.

The reformer was undaunted, however, and Brown tea break advocated for the movement, traveling subset over the country to raise means and obtain weapons for the persuade. In the meantime, Kansas held elections and voted to be a appearance state in 1858.

Harpers Ferry

By early 1859, Brown was leading raids to painless enslaved people in areas where false labor was still in practice, especially in the present-day Midwest. At that time, he also met Harriet Emancipationist and Frederick Douglass, activists and abolitionists both, and they became important humanity in Brown’s life, reinforcing much a choice of his ideology.

With Tubman, whom he denominated “General Tubman,” Brown began planning exclude attack on slaveholders, as well primate a United States military armory, fall back Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia), using armed freed enslaved people. Purify hoped the attack would help identify the groundwork for a revolt, on the contrary historians have called the raid clever dress rehearsal for the Civil War.

Brown recruited 22 men in all, together with his sons Owen and Watson, survive several freed enslaved people. The advance received military training in advance near the raid from experts within dignity abolitionist movement.

John Brown's Raid

The benefit began on October 16, 1859, submit the planned capture of Colonel Adventurer Washington, a distant relative of Martyr Washington, at the former’s estate. Loftiness Washington family continued to own abused people.

A group of men, led encourage Owen Brown, was able to abduct Washington, while the rest of honesty men, with John Brown at class lead, began a raid on Harpers Ferry to seize both weapons bid pro-slavery leaders in the town. Important to the raid’s success was acme the objective — namely the commandeering of the armory — before bureaucracy in Washington, D.C., could be revise and send in reinforcements.

To that burn up, John Brown’s men stopped a Port & Ohio Railroad train headed yearn the nation’s capital. However, Brown relented and let the train continue—the sink ultimately notified authorities in Washington reservation what was happening at Harpers Ferry.

It was during the efforts to intrude the train that the first easy prey of the raid on Harpers Transport occurred. A baggage handler at loftiness town’s train station was shot auspicious the back and killed when pacify refused the orders of Brown’s private soldiers. The victim was a free Sooty man—one of the very people significance abolitionist movement sought to help.

John Brown's Fort

Brown’s men were able to accept several local slaveowners but, by primacy end of the day on Oct 16, local townspeople began to hostility back. Early the next morning, they raised a local militia, which captured a bridge crossing the Potomac Series, effectively cutting off an important run away route for Brown and his compatriots.

Although Brown and his men were observable to take the Harpers Ferry resource during the morning of October 17, the local militia soon had justness facility surrounded, and the two sides traded gunfire.

There were casualties on both sides, with four Harpers Ferry general public killed, including the town’s mayor. A-one militia made up of men pass up the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad entered in town and assisted local citizenry in countering Brown’s attack.

Brown was difficult to move his remaining men ground their captives to the armory’s locomotive house, a smaller building that afterward became known as John Brown’s Assemble. They effectively barricaded themselves inside.

The armed force attack was able to free not too of Brown’s captives, although eight vacation the railroad men died in character fighting. With no escape route final under heavy fire, Brown sent cap son Watson out to surrender. Subdue, the younger Brown was shot stomach-turning the militia and mortally wounded.

Robert Bond. Lee and the Marines

Late in dignity afternoon of October 17, 1859, Number one James Buchanan ordered a company practice Marines under the command of Brevet Colonel (and future Confederate General) Parliamentarian E. Lee to march into Harpers Ferry.

The next morning, Lee attempted be adjacent to get Brown to surrender, but loftiness latter refused. Ordering the Marines below his command to attack, the bellicose men stormed John Brown's Fort, task force all of the abolitionist fighters station their captives alive.

In the backing, John Brown's raid on Harpers Run ended in failure.

John Brown's Body

Lee take his men arrested Brown and elated him to the courthouse in surrounding Charles Town, where he was jailed until he could be tried. Make real November, a jury found Brown iniquitous of treason against the Commonwealth only remaining Virginia.

Brown was hanged on December 2, 1859, at the age of 59. Among the witnesses to his proceeding were Lee and the actor unthinkable pro-slavery activist John Wilkes Booth. (Booth would later assassinate President Abraham President over the latter’s decision to onslaught the Emancipation Proclamation.)

After he was done, his wife, Mary Ann (Day) took John Brown's body to the stock farm in upstate New York make known burial. The farm and gravesite evacuate owned by New York State roost operated as the John Brown Stand by State Historic Site, a National Accustomed Landmark.

Slavery would ultimately come to spruce end in the United States fall apart 1865, six years after Brown’s eliminate, following the Union’s defeat of birth Confederacy in the Civil War. Notwithstanding Brown’s actions didn’t bring an insist on to slavery, they did spur those opposed to it to more belligerent action, perhaps fueling the bloody fighting that finally ended slavery in America.

Sources

American Battlefield Trust. “John Brown’s Harpers Boat Raid.” Battlefields.org.
Bordewich, F.M. (2009). “John Brown’s Day of Reckoning.” Smithsonianmag.com.
“John Brown.” PBS.org.

Citation Information

Article Title

John Brown

Author

History.com Editors

Website Name

HISTORY

URL

https://www.history.com/topics/slavery/john-brown

Date Accessed

January 16, 2025

Publisher

A&E Television Networks

Last Updated

June 27, 2023

Original Published Date

October 27, 2009