John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry: Difference between revisions

John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry
	Part of pre-Civil War conflicts
	; Harper's Weekly illustration of U.S. Marines attacking John Brown's "Fort"
Date	October 16–18, 1859
Location	Harpers Ferry, (West) Virginia
Result	U.S. victory
Belligerents
United States of America	Abolitionist Insurgents
Commanders and leaders
Robert E. Lee	John Brown
Strength
88 U.S. Marines; Unknown number of Virginia Militia and Maryland Militia	16 white men; three free black men; one freed slave; one fugitive slave
Casualties and losses
U.S. Marines:; 1 killed; 1 wounded	10 killed; seven captured; four escaped
	Civilians:; six killed; nine wounded

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John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry (also known as John Brown's raid or The raid on Harpers Ferry; in many books the town is called "Harper's Ferry" with an apostrophe-s.^[1]) was an attempt by white abolitionist John Brown to start an armed slave revolt by seizing a United States Arsenal at Harpers Ferry in Virginia in 1859. Brown's raid was defeated by a detachment of U.S. Marines led by Col. Robert E. Lee. John Brown had originally asked Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass, both of whom he had met in his formative years as an abolitionist in Springfield, Massachusetts, to join him when he attacked the armory, but illness prevented Tubman from joining him, and Douglass believed that his plan would fail and thus did not join.^[2]

In 1794, George Washington selected Harpers Ferry as the best site for the second of two United States Federal Arsenals. The first site selected – for the Springfield Armory in 1777 – was a hilltop in Springfield, Massachusetts, next to which John Brown lived during his formative years as an abolitionist.

Brown's preparation

John Brown rented the Kennedy Farmhouse, 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Harpers Ferry in Washington County, Maryland,^[3] and took up residence under the name Isaac Smith. Brown came with a small group of men minimally trained for military action. His group included 16 white men, 3 free blacks, 1 freed slave, and 1 fugitive slave. Northern abolitionist groups sent 198 breech-loading .52 caliber Sharps carbines ("Beecher's Bibles") and 950 pikes (obtained from Charles Blair, in late September), in preparation for the raid. The arsenal contained 100,000 muskets and rifles.^{[citation needed]} Brown attempted to attract more black recruits. He tried recruiting Frederick Douglass as a liaison officer to the slaves. Douglass declined, indicating to Brown that he believed the raid was a suicide mission. The plan was "an attack on the federal government" that "would array the whole country against us." You "will never get out alive," he warned.^[4]

Brown’s plan was not to conduct a sudden raid and then escape to the mountains. Rather, his plan was to use those rifles and pikes he captured at the arsenal, in addition to those he brought along, to arm rebellious slaves with the aim of striking terror to the slaveholders in Virginia. He believed that on the first night of action two to five hundred black adherents would join his line. He ridiculed the militia and regular army that might oppose him. Then he would send agents to nearby plantations, rallying the slaves. He planned to hold Harpers Ferry for a short time, expecting that as many volunteers, white and black, would join him as would form against him. He would then make a rapid movement southward, sending out armed bands along the way. They would free more slaves, obtain food, horses and hostages, and destroy slaveholding morale. Brown planned to follow the Appalachian Mountains south into Tennessee and even Alabama, the heart of the South, making forays into the plains on either side.^[5]

The raid

October 16

On Sunday night, October 16, 1859, Brown left three of his men behind as a rear-guard:; his son, Owen Brown; Barclay Coppoc; and Frank Meriam; and led the rest into the town of Harpers Ferry, Virginia. Brown detached a party under John Cook Jr. to capture Colonel Lewis Washington, great-grandnephew of George Washington, at his nearby Beall-Air estate, some of his slaves, and two relics of George Washington: a sword allegedly presented to Washington by Frederick the Great and two pistols given by the Marquis de Lafayette, which Brown considered talismans.^[6] The party carried out its mission and returned via the Allstadt House, where they took more hostages.^[7] Brown's main party captured several watchmen and townspeople in Harpers Ferry.

Brown's men needed to capture the weapons and escape before word could be sent to Washington. The raid was going well for Brown's men. They cut the telegraph wire and seized a Baltimore & Ohio train passing through. An African-American baggage handler on the train named Hayward Shepherd, confronted the raiders; they shot and killed him—ironically a free black man became the first casualty of the raid.^[8] Then, for unknown reasons, Brown let the train continue unimpeded. The conductor alerted the authorities. One of the keys to success was the support of the local slave population^{[citation needed]}. A massive uprising did not occur, and the slaves never rebelled. The townspeople soon began to fight back against the raiders. Nevertheless, Brown's men captured the armory that evening.

October 17

Armory workers discovered Brown's men early on the morning of October 17. Local militia, farmers and shopkeepers surrounded the armory. When a company of militia captured the bridge across the Potomac River, any route of escape was cut off. During the day four townspeople were killed, including the mayor. Realizing his escape was cut, Brown took 9 of his captives and moved into the smaller engine house, which would come to be known as John Brown's Fort. The raiders barred off the windows and doors and exchanged the occasional volley with the surrounding forces. At one point Brown sent out his son, Watson, and Aaron Dwight Stevens with a white flag, but Watson was mortally wounded and Stevens was shot and captured. The raid was rapidly deteriorating. One of the raiders named William H. Leeman panicked and tried to escape by swimming across the Potomac River and was shot and killed. During the intermittent shooting Brown's other son, Oliver, was shot and died after a brief period.^[9]

By 3:30 that afternoon, President James Buchanan ordered a detachment of U.S. Marines (the only troops in the immediate area) to march on Harpers Ferry under the command of Brevet Colonel Robert E. Lee of the 2nd U.S. Cavalry. Lee had been on leave when he was hastily recalled to lead the detachment and had to command it while wearing his civilian clothes.

October 18

Lee first offered the role of attacking the engine house to the local militia units on the spot. Both militia commanders declined, and Lee turned to the Marines. On the morning of October 18, Colonel Lee sent Lt. J.E.B. Stuart, serving as a volunteer aide-de-camp, under a white flag of truce to negotiate a surrender of John Brown and his followers. Lee instructed Lt. Israel Greene that if Brown refused, he was to lead the marines in storming the engine house. Stuart walked towards the front of the engine house where he told Brown that his men would be spared if they surrendered. Brown refused and as Stuart walked away, he signaled a "thumbs down" to Lt. Greene and his men standing nearby. Seconds later, Greene led a platoon of marines to storm the engine house. Two marines armed with sledgehammers tried in vain to break through the door, but were forced to fall back. Greene found a wooden ladder, and he and about 10 marines used it as a battering ram to knock the front doors in. Greene was the first through the door and with the assistance of Lewis Washington identified and singled out John Brown. Greene later recounted what happened next:

"Quicker than thought I brought my saber down with all my strength upon [Brown's] head. He was moving as the blow fell, and I suppose I did not strike him where I intended, for he received a deep saber cut in the back of the neck. He fell senseless on his side, then rolled over on his back. He had in his hand a short Sharpe's cavalry carbine. I think he had just fired as I reached Colonel Washington, for the Marine who followed me into the aperture made by the ladder received a bullet in the abdomen, from which he died in a few minutes. The shot might have been fired by someone else in the insurgent party, but I think it was from Brown. Instinctively as Brown fell I gave him a saber thrust in the left breast. The sword I carried was a light uniform weapon, and, either not having a point or striking something hard in Brown's accouterments, did not penetrate. The blade bent double."^[10]

The action inside the engine house happened very quickly. In three minutes, all of the raiders still alive were taken prisoner and the action was over.

October 19

Robert E. Lee made a summary report of the events that took place at Harpers Ferry. According to Lee's notes Lee believed John Brown was insane, "...the plan [raiding the Harpers Ferry Arsenal] was the attempt of a fanatic or madman." Lee also believed that the African Americans used in the raid were forced to by John Brown himself. "The blacks, whom he [John Brown] forced from their homes in this neighborhood, as far as I could learn, gave him no voluntary assistance." Lee attributed John Brown's "temporary success" by creating panic and confusion and by "magnifying" the number of participants involved in the raid.^[11]

Aftermath

John Brown's last prophecy — *John Brown* wrote his last prophecy on December 2 of 1859.

Colonel Lee and Lt. Greene searched the surrounding country for fugitives who had participated in the attack. John Brown was taken to the court house in nearby Charles Town for trial. He was found guilty of treason against the commonwealth of Virginia and was hanged on December 2. (This execution was witnessed by the actor John Wilkes Booth, who would later assassinate President Abraham Lincoln.) On the day of his execution, Brown wrote his last prophecy, which said,

“I John Brown am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty, land: will never be purged away; but with Blood. I had as I now think: vainly flattered myself that without very much bloodshed; it might be done.”

Four other raiders were executed on December 15 and two more on March 16, 1860.

John Brown was the first white man to use violence in an attempt to end slavery. This first use of violence by a white man scared many in the South, leading the Southern state militias to begin training for defense against further raids and, consequently, to the militarization of the South in preparation for a Northern invasion.^{[citation needed]}

The first Northern antislavery reaction to Brown's Raid was one of baffled reproach. William Lloyd Garrison called the raid "misguided, wild, and apparently insane." But through the trial, Brown transformed into a martyr. Henry David Thoreau, in A Plea for Captain John Brown, said, "I think that for once the Sharp's rifles and the revolvers were employed in a righteous cause. The tools were in the hands of one who could use them," and said of Brown, "He has a spark of divinity in him."^[12] Though "Harper's Ferry was insane," wrote the religious weekly the Independent, "the controlling motive of his demonstration was sublime." To the South, he was a murderer who wanted to deprive them of their property. The North "has sanctioned and applauded theft, murder, and treason," said De Bow's Review.^[13]^[14]

Casualties

John Brown's raiders

Killed

John Henry Kagi (Shot and killed while crossing a river. First buried in common grave at Harpers Ferry; reburied 1899 in a common grave near John Brown at North Elba, New York...)
Jeremiah G. Anderson (At age 26, was mortally wounded and killed by a Marine's bayonet during the final assault on the engine house. Body claimed by Winchester Medical College as a teaching cadaver; last resting place unknown.)
William Thompson (First buried in common grave at Harpers Ferry; reburied 1899 in a common grave near John Brown at North Elba, New York.)
Dauphin Thompson (Killed in the storming of the engine house. First buried in common grave at Harpers Ferry; reburied 1899 in a common grave near John Brown at North Elba, New York.)
Oliver Brown (At age 21, being the youngest of John Brown’s three sons to participate in the action, he was mortally wounded on the 17th inside the engine house, resulting in a death the next day. He was first buried in common grave at Harpers Ferry; reburied in 1899 in a common grave near John Brown at North Elba, New York.)
Watson Brown (At age 24, was mortally wounded outside the engine house while carrying a white flag, trying to negotiate with the responding militia, resulting in death two days later. The body was claimed by Winchester Medical College as a teaching cadaver which caused the college to be burned by Union troops. Reburied in 1882 in a grave near John Brown at North Elba, New York.)
Stewart Taylor. (First buried in common grave at Harpers Ferry; reburied 1899 in a common grave near John Brown at North Elba, New York.)
William Leeman (Shot while trying to escape across the Potomac River. First buried in common grave at Harpers Ferry; reburied 1899 in a common grave near John Brown at North Elba, New York.)
Lewis Sheridan Leary (At age 24 being a free African-American, was mortally wounded while attempting escape across the Shenandoah River. He was stationed in the rifle factory with Kagi. Alleged to be buried at John Brown gravesite at North Elba, New York. Cenotaph memorial in Oberlin, Ohio.)
Dangerfield Newby (At about 35, being born into slavery [despite father being white and not his master], had permission to move to Ohio along with his mother and siblings, but when he tried to attain freedom for his wife and children, the owner refused, leading Newby to join Brown’s raid. He was the first raider killed [body was mutilated]. His ears, for example, were cut off by someone in the crowd as souvenirs. First he was buried at Harpers Ferry; reburied in 1899 in a common grave near John Brown at North Elba, New York.)

Captured

John Brown (also wounded) Hanged December 2, 1859 in nearby Charles Town.
Aaron Dwight Stevens (shot and captured October 18. Hanged March 16, 1860 in Charles Town. First buried in New Jersey; reburied 1899 in a common grave near John Brown at North Elba, New York.)
Edwin Coppock (At age 24, he shot and killed Harpers Ferry mayor Fontaine Beckham during the raid. He was later executed at Charles Town on December 16, 1859 and was buried in Salem, Ohio.)
John Anthony Copeland, Jr. (At age 25, being a free African American, joined the raiders along with his uncle Lewis Leary. He was captured during the raid and executed on December 16, 1859 in Charles Town. The body was claimed by Winchester Medical College as a teaching cadaver. The last resting place is unknown. Cenotaph memorial in Oberlin, Ohio.)
Shields Green (At about age 23, Green was an escaped slave from South Carolina; captured in the engine house on October 18, 1859 and hanged December 16, 1859 in Charles Town. The body was claimed by Winchester Medical College as a teaching cadaver. The last resting place is unknown. Cenotaph memorial in Oberlin, Ohio.)
John Edwin Cook (Escaped into Pennsylvania but soon captured. Hanged December 16, 1859 in Charles Town. Body sent to New York.)
Albert E. Hazlett (Escaped into Pennsylvania but soon captured. Hanged March 16, 1860. Buried at Eagleswood Mansion in Perth Amboy, New Jersey;^[15] reburied 1899 in a common grave near John Brown at North Elba, New York.)
A.D. Stevens (Buried at Eagleswood Mansion in Perth Amboy, New Jersey; disinterred 1899)

^[15])

Four raiders escaped and were captured about six months later.

Escaped and never captured

Barclay Coppock (Died during US Civil War.)
Charles Plummer Tidd (Died during US Civil War.)
Osborne Perry Anderson (Served as an officer in Union Army, and penned a memoir about the raid.)
Owen Brown
Francis Jackson Meriam (Served in the army as a captain in the 3rd South Carolina Colored Infantry.)

Others

Civilians

Hayward Shepherd (African-American B&O baggage handler; killed.)
Thomas Boerly (Townsperson; killed.)
George W. Turner (Townsperson; killed.)
Fontaine Beckham (Town mayor; killed.)
A slave belonging to Col. Washington was killed.
A slave belonging to hostage John Allstad was killed.

(Some claim the two slaves voluntarily joined Brown's raiders, others say Brown forced them to fight. Regardless, one was killed trying to escape across the Potomac River, the other was wounded and died in the Charles Town prison.)

9 other civilians were wounded.

Marines

Luke Quinn (Killed during the storming of the engine house.)
Matthew Ruppert (Shot in the face while storming the engine house.)

References

^ For example, "Col. Robert E. Lee's Report Concerning the Attack at Harper's Ferry, October 19, 1859,"; Horace Greeley, The American Conflict: A History of the Great Rebellion in the United States of America, 1860–64. Volume: 1. (1866), p. 279; French Ensor Chadwick, Causes of the Civil War, 1859–1861 (1906) p. 74; Allan Nevins, The Emergence of Lincoln (1950) vol 2 ch 3; James M. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (1988), p. 201; Stephen W. Sears, Landscape Turned Red: The Battle of Antietam (2003) p. 116.
^ Taylor, Marian (New edition 2004). Harriet Tubman: Antislavery Activist. Chelsea House Publishers. pp. 68–69. ISBN 978-0-7910-8340-6. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)
^ The Kennedy Farmhouse The Kennedy Farmhouse
^ James M. McPherson, Battle cry of freedom: the Civil War era (2003) p. 205
^ Allan Nevins, The Emergence of Lincoln: Prelude to Civil War, 1859–1861 (1950), vol 4 pp:72–73
^ Ted McGee (April 5, 1973). "Template:PDFlink" (Document). National Park ServiceTemplate:Inconsistent citations{{cite document}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
^ Frances D. Ruth (July, 1984). "Template:PDFlink" (Document). National Park ServiceTemplate:Inconsistent citations {{cite document}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: postscript (link)
^ Horton, James Oliver (2006). Slavery and the Making of America. Oxford University Press USA. p. 162. ISBN 978-0195304510. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
^ Greeley, Horace (1864). The American Conflict: A History:Part One. p. 292.
^ Israel Green, Eyewitness Account
^ Col. Robert E. Lee, Report to the Adjutant General Concerning the Attack at Harper's Ferry
^ Norton Anthology of American Literature, Volume B. Page 2057.
^ Reynolds, John Brown (2006), pp. 340
^ James M. McPherson, Battle cry of freedom: the Civil War era (2003) p. 210
^ ^a ^b "John Brown's Men Disinterred.". New York Times. August 29, 1899, Wednesday. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)

Sources

External links

Michael E. Ruane (October 14, 2009). "150 Years Later, John Brown's Failed Slave Revolt Marches On". The Washington Post.
150 Years Ago Today: Abolitionist John Brown Raided Arsenal at Harpers Ferry – video report by Democracy Now!
The Ghost of John Brown by Windy Cooler
John Brown – 150 Years After Harpers Ferry by Terry Bisson, Monthly Review, October 2009

39°19′23″N 77°43′49″W / 39.32306°N 77.73028°W / 39.32306; -77.73028

[1] For example, "Col. Robert E. Lee's Report Concerning the Attack at Harper's Ferry, October 19, 1859,"; Horace Greeley, The American Conflict: A History of the Great Rebellion in the United States of America, 1860–64. Volume: 1. (1866), p. 279; French Ensor Chadwick, Causes of the Civil War, 1859–1861 (1906) p. 74; Allan Nevins, The Emergence of Lincoln (1950) vol 2 ch 3; James M. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (1988), p. 201; Stephen W. Sears, Landscape Turned Red: The Battle of Antietam (2003) p. 116.

[2] Taylor, Marian (New edition 2004). Harriet Tubman: Antislavery Activist. Chelsea House Publishers. pp. 68–69. ISBN 978-0-7910-8340-6. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)

[3] The Kennedy Farmhouse The Kennedy Farmhouse

[4] James M. McPherson, Battle cry of freedom: the Civil War era (2003) p. 205

[5] Allan Nevins, The Emergence of Lincoln: Prelude to Civil War, 1859–1861 (1950), vol 4 pp:72–73

[nrhpinv1-6] Ted McGee (April 5, 1973). "Template:PDFlink" (Document). National Park ServiceTemplate:Inconsistent citations{{cite document}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)

[nrhpinv2-7] Frances D. Ruth (July, 1984). "Template:PDFlink" (Document). National Park ServiceTemplate:Inconsistent citations {{cite document}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: postscript (link)

[8] Horton, James Oliver (2006). Slavery and the Making of America. Oxford University Press USA. p. 162. ISBN 978-0195304510. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

[9] Greeley, Horace (1864). The American Conflict: A History:Part One. p. 292.

[10] Israel Green, Eyewitness Account

[11] Col. Robert E. Lee, Report to the Adjutant General Concerning the Attack at Harper's Ferry

[12] Norton Anthology of American Literature, Volume B. Page 2057.

[13] Reynolds, John Brown (2006), pp. 340

[14] James M. McPherson, Battle cry of freedom: the Civil War era (2003) p. 210

[NYT1899-15] "John Brown's Men Disinterred.". New York Times. August 29, 1899, Wednesday. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)

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@@ Line 22: / Line 22: @@
 '''John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry''' (also known as '''John Brown's raid''' or '''The raid on Harpers Ferry'''; in many books the town is called '''"Harper's Ferry"''' with an apostrophe-''s.''<ref>For example, "Col. Robert E. Lee's Report Concerning the Attack at Harper's Ferry, October 19, 1859,"; Horace Greeley, ''The American Conflict: A History of the Great Rebellion in the United States of America, 1860–64. Volume: 1.'' (1866), p. 279; French Ensor Chadwick, ''Causes of the Civil War, 1859–1861'' (1906) p. 74; Allan Nevins, ''The Emergence of Lincoln'' (1950) vol 2 ch 3; James M. McPherson, ''Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era'' (1988), p. 201; Stephen W. Sears, ''Landscape Turned Red: The Battle of Antietam'' (2003) p. 116.</ref>) was an attempt by white [[abolitionist]] [[John Brown (abolitionist)|John Brown]] to start an armed slave revolt by seizing a [[Harpers Ferry Armory|United States Arsenal at Harpers Ferry]] in Virginia in 1859. Brown's raid was defeated by a detachment of [[U.S. Marines]] led by Col. [[Robert E. Lee]]. John Brown had originally asked [[Harriet Tubman]] and [[Frederick Douglass]], both of whom he had met in his formative years as an abolitionist in [[Springfield, Massachusetts]], to join him when he attacked the armory, but illness prevented Tubman from joining him, and Douglass believed that his plan would fail and thus did not join.<ref>{{cite book|last=Taylor|first=Marian|title=Harriet Tubman: Antislavery Activist|year=New edition 2004|publisher=Chelsea House Publishers|isbn=978-0-7910-8340-6|pages=68–69}}</ref>
-In 1794, [[George Washington]] selected Harpers Ferry as the best site for the second of two United States Federal Arsenals. The first site selected – for the [[Springfield Armory]] in 1777 – was a hilltop in [[Springfield, Massachusetts]], next to which John Brown lived during his formative years as an abolitionist. In 1825, the soldier [[John H. Hall (soldier)|John H. Hall]] was contracted to manufacture his famous rifle, the [[M1819 Hall rifle|M1819 rifle]], at Harper's Ferry.
+In 1794, [[George Washington]] selected Harpers Ferry as the best site for the second of two United States Federal Arsenals. The first site selected – for the [[Springfield Armory]] in 1777 – was a hilltop in [[Springfield, Massachusetts]], next to which John Brown lived during his formative years as an abolitionist.
 ==Brown's preparation==