BROWN, JOHN (1800-1859), American abolitionist, leader of the famous attack upon Harper's Ferry, in 1859, was born on May 9, 1800, at Torrington, Connecticut. He is said to have been descended from Peter Brown, who went to America in the May flower, and he was the grandson of Capt. John Brown, who served in the War of Independence. He was taken by his father, Owen Brown, to Hudson, 0., in 1805. At the age of 18 he began to pre pare himself for the Congregational ministry, but soon changed his mind and turned his attention to land surveying. He engaged suc cessively in the tanning business, in sheep-raising, and in the wool trade, but met with small reward and in 1842, at Akron, 0., became bankrupt. In 1849, after having lived in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, he removed to North Elba, N.Y., where he en gaged in farming on part of the land which was being given in small tracts, by its owner, Gerrit Smith, to negro settlers. Long before this he had conceived a strong hatred for the institution of slavery, and had determined to do what he could to bring about its destruction.
In 1854 five of his sons removed to Kansas, where the violent conflict was beginning between the "free-state" and the pro-slav ery settlers, and in the following year Brown, leaving the rest of his family at North Elba, joined them, settling near Osawatomie and immediately becoming a conspicuous figure in the border war fare. His name became particularly well known in connection with the so-called "Pottawatomie massacre," the killing in cold blood, on May 25, 1856, by men under his orders, of five pro-slavery set tlers in retaliation for the murder a short time previously of five "free-state" settlers. He also, on June 2, at the head of about 3o men, captured Capt. H. C. Pate and 22 pro-slavery men at Black Jack, and on Aug. 3o, 1856, with a small body of supporters, vig orously resisted an attack of a superior pro-slavery force upon Osawatomie. Brown then visited the Eastern States for the pur pose of raising money to be used in the Kansas struggle and of arousing the people against slavery. After spending a short time in Kansas, in 1858-59 he proceeded to carry out a long-cherished scheme for facilitating the escape of fugitive slaves by establishing in the mountains of Virginia a stronghold in which such fugitives could take refuge and defend themselves against their pursuers. At Chatham, Canada, with II white and 35 negro associates, he adopted a "Provisional constitution and ordinance for the people of the United States." Brown was elected commander-in-chief, and from among this group a secretary of state, a secretary of war, a secretary of the treasury, and members of Congress were chosen.
Later, with only 22 men supplied with arms furnished by the Massachusetts-Kansas committee, and with funds contributed (in ignorance of Brown's plans) by his intimate associates, Theodore Parker, George L. Stearns, T. W. Higginson, and F. B. Sanborn, all of Boston, and Gerrit Smith, of Peterboro, N.Y., he removed to a farm near Harper's Ferry, the site of a Federal arsenal, which he intended to capture as a preliminary to the carrying out of the main part of his plan. On the night of Oct. 16, 1859, with only 18 men, five of whom were negroes, he made the attack, easily cap turing the arsenal and taking about 6o of the leading citizens pris oners to be used as hostages. On the following morning Brown and his followers were vigorously attacked, and on the i8th—a small force of United States marines under Colonel Robert E. Lee hav ing arrived—were overpowered, Brown being seriously wounded after he had surrendered. Of the 22 men who had participated in the raid, io were killed, seven were taken prisoners, and five es caped. On the other side five were killed and nine wounded. Brown was committed to the Charlestown, Va. (now W.Va.), gaol on Oct. 19; on the 27th his trial began; on the 31st he was convicted of "treason, and conspiring and advising with slaves and other rebels, and murder in the first degree"; and on Dec. 2. he was hanged at Charlestown. His fellow-prisoners were likewise hanged soon afterwards. Brown was buried at North Elba, New York. The attack upon Harper's Ferry created widespread excitement, par ticularly in the Southern States; and among the abolitionists in the North Brown was looked upon as a martyr to their cause. Shortly after his death a famous popular song became widely current in the North beginning: John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave, But his soul goes marching on.
Intensely religious in his nature, Brown possessed something of the gloomy fanaticism of his Puritan ancestors. The secret of his whole career lies in his emphatic conviction, to use the words of Wendell Phillips, that he had "letters of marque from God"; that he had a Divine commission to destroy slavery by violent means. He scouted the "milk and water principles" of the milder abolitionists, advocated vigorous resistance to the slave power, and expressed his ideas by actions rather than by words. It now seems that this policy aided very little in making Kansas a free State, and that the attack on Harper's Ferry, while creating much feeling at the moment, had very little effect on the subsequent course of events.
Brown was twice married and was the father of 20 children, eight of whom died in early childhood. His sons aided him in all his undertakings, two of them being killed at Harper's Ferry.