AMERICAN CRISIS BIOGRAPHIES
Edited by
Ellis Paxson Oberholtzer, Ph. D.
The American Crisis Biographies
Edited by Ellis Paxson Oberholtzer, Ph.D. With the counsel and advice of
Professor John B. McMaster, of the University of Pennsylvania.
Each 12mo, cloth, with frontispiece portrait. Price $1.25 net; by mail,
$1.37.
These biographies will constitute a complete and comprehensive
history of the great American sectional struggle in the form of
readable and authoritative biography. The editor has enlisted the
co-operation of many competent writers, as will be noted from the
list given below. An interesting feature of the undertaking is that
the series is to be impartial, Southern writers having been assigned
to Southern subjects and Northern writers to Northern subjects, but
all will belong to the younger generation of writers, thus assuring
freedom from any suspicion of war-time prejudice. The Civil War will
not be treated as a rebellion, but as the great event in the history
of our nation, which, after forty years, it is now clearly
recognized to have been.
Now ready:
=Abraham Lincoln.= By ELLIS PAXSON OBERHOLTZER.
=Thomas H. Benton.= By JOSEPH M. ROGERS.
=David G. Farragut.= By JOHN R. SPEARS.
=William T. Sherman.= By EDWARD ROBINS.
=Frederick Douglass.= By BOOKER T. WASHINGTON.
=Judah P. Benjamin.= By PIERCE BUTLER.
=Robert E. Lee.= By PHILIP ALEXANDER BRUCE.
=Jefferson Davis.= By PROF. W. E. DODD.
=Alexander H. Stephens.= By LOUIS PENDLETON.
=John C. Calhoun.= By GAILLARD HUNT.
=“Stonewall” Jackson.= By HENRY ALEXANDER WHITE.
=John Brown.= By W. E. BURGHARDT DUBOIS.
In preparation:
=Daniel Webster.= By PROF. C. H. VAN TYNE.
=William Lloyd Garrison.= By LINDSAY SWIFT.
=Charles Sumner.= By Prof. GEORGE H. HAYNES.
=William H. Seward.= By EDWARD EVERETT HALE, Jr.
=Stephen A. Douglas.= By PROF. HENRY PARKER WILLIS.
=Thaddeus Stevens.= By PROF. J. A. WOODBURN.
=Andrew Johnson.= By PROF. WALTER L. FLEMING.
=Henry Clay.= By THOMAS H. CLAY.
=Ulysses S. Grant.= By PROF. FRANKLIN S. EDMONDS.
=Edwin M. Stanton.= By EDWIN S. CORWIN.
=Jay Cooke.= By ELLIS PAXSON OBERHOLTZER.
[Illustration: John Brown]
AMERICAN CRISIS BIOGRAPHIES
JOHN BROWN
by
W. E. BURGHARDT DU BOIS, Ph. D.
_Professor of Sociology, Atlanta University_
Author of “The Suppression of the African Slave Trade,” “The
Philadelphia Negro,” “The Souls of Black Folk,” etc.
[Illustration]
PHILADELPHIA
GEORGE W. JACOBS & COMPANY
PUBLISHERS
COPYRIGHT, 1909, BY
GEORGE W. JACOBS & COMPANY
_Published September, 1909_
_All rights reserved_
Printed in U. S. A.
_To
the memory of
ELIZABETH_
------------------------------------------------------------------------
PREFACE
After the work of Sanborn, Hinton, Connelley, and Redpath, the only
excuse for another life of John Brown is an opportunity to lay new
emphasis upon the material which they have so carefully collected, and
to treat these facts from a different point of view. The view-point
adopted in this book is that of the little known but vastly important
inner development of the Negro American. John Brown worked not simply
for Black Men—he worked with them; and he was a companion of their daily
life, knew their faults and virtues, and felt, as few white Americans
have felt, the bitter tragedy of their lot. The story of John Brown,
then, cannot be complete unless due emphasis is given this phase of his
activity. Unfortunately, however, few written records of these
friendships and this long continued intimacy exist, so that little new
material along these lines can be adduced. For the most part one must be
content with quoting the authors mentioned (and I have quoted them
freely), and other writers like Anderson, Featherstonhaugh, Barry,
Hunter, Boteler, Douglass and Hamilton. But even in the absence of
special material the great broad truths are clear, and this book is at
once a record of and a tribute to the man who of all Americans has
perhaps come nearest to touching the real souls of black folk.
W. E. BURGHARDT DU BOIS.
CONTENTS
CHRONOLOGY 11
I. AFRICA AND AMERICA 15
II. THE MAKING OF THE MAN 21
III. THE WANDERJAHRE 28
IV. THE SHEPHERD OF THE SHEEP 48
V. THE VISION OF THE DAMNED 75
VI. THE CALL OF KANSAS 123
VII. THE SWAMP OF THE SWAN 145
VIII. THE GREAT PLAN 198
IX. THE BLACK PHALANX 235
X. THE GREAT BLACK WAY 273
XI. THE BLOW 308
XII. THE RIDDLE OF THE SPHINX 338
XIII. THE LEGACY OF JOHN BROWN 365
BIBLIOGRAPHY 397
INDEX 401
CHRONOLOGY
BOYHOOD AND YOUTH
1800— John Brown is born in Torrington, Conn., May 9th. Attempted
insurrection of slaves under Gabriel in Virginia, in
September.
1805— The family migrates to Ohio.
1812— John Brown meets a slave boy.
1816— He joins the church.
1819— He attends school at Plainfield, Mass.
THE TANNER
1819–1825— John Brown works as a tanner at Hudson, O.
1821— He marries Dianthe Lusk, June 21st.
1822— Attempted slave insurrection in South Carolina in June.
1825–1835— He works as a tanner at Randolph, Pa., and is postmaster.
1831— Nat Turner’s insurrection, in Virginia, August 21st.
1832— His first wife dies, August 10th.
1833— He marries Mary Ann Day, July 11th.
1834— He outlines his plan for Negro education, November 21st.
1835–1840— He lives in and near Hudson, O., and speculates in land.
1837— He loses heavily in the panic.
1839— He and his family swear blood-feud with slavery.
1840— He surveys Virginia lands for Oberlin College, and proposes
buying 1,000 acres.
THE SHEPHERD
1841— John Brown begins sheep-farming.
1842— He goes into bankruptcy.
1843— He loses four children in September.
1844— He forms the firm of “Perkins and Brown, wool-merchants.”
1845–51— He is in charge of the Perkins and Brown warehouse,
Springfield, O.
1846— Gerrit Smith offers Adirondack farms to Negroes, August 1st.
1847— Frederick Douglass visits Brown and hears his plan for a
slave raid.
1849— He goes to Europe to sell wool, and visits France and
Germany, August and September.
1849— First removal of his family to North Elba, N. Y.
1850— The new Fugitive Slave Law is passed.
1851–1854— Winding up of the wool business.
1851— He founds the League of Gileadites, January 15th.
IN KANSAS
1854— Kansas and Nebraska Bill becomes a law, May 30th. Five sons
start for Kansas in October.
1855— John Brown at the Syracuse convention of Abolitionists in
June. He starts for Kansas with a sixth son and his
son-in-law in September. Two sons take part in Big Springs
convention in September. John Brown arrives in Kansas,
October 6th. He helps to defend Lawrence in December.
1856— He attends a mass meeting at Osawatomie in April. He visits
Buford’s camp in May. The sacking of Lawrence, May 21st.
The Pottawatomie murders, May 23–26th. Arrest of two sons,
May 28th. Battle of Black Jack, June 2d. Goes to Iowa with
his wounded son-in-law and joins Lane’s army, July and
August. Joins in attacks to rid Lawrence of surrounding
forts, August. Battle of Osawatomie, August 30th.
Missouri’s last invasion of Kansas, September 15th. Geary
arrives and induces Brown to leave Kansas, September.
Brown starts for the East with his sons, September 20th.
THE ABOLITIONIST
1857— John Brown is in Boston in January. He attends the New York
meeting of the National Kansas Committee, in January.
Before the Massachusetts legislature in February. Tours
New England to raise money, March and April. Contracts for
1,000 pikes in Connecticut.
1857— He starts West, May. He is at Tabor, I., August and
September. He founds a military school in Iowa, December.
1858— John Brown returns to the East, January. He is at Frederick
Douglass’s house, February. He reveals his plan to Sanborn
in February. He is in Canada, April. Forbes’ disclosures,
May. Chatham convention, May 8–10th. Hamilton’s massacre
in Kansas, May 19th. Plans postponed, May 20th. John Brown
starts West, June 3d. He arrives in Kansas, June 25th.
He is in South Kansas, coöperating with Montgomery,
July-December. The raid into Missouri for slaves, December
20th.
THE HARPER’S FERRY RAID
1859— John Brown starts with fugitives for Canada, January 20th.
He arrives in Canada, March 12th. He speaks in Cleveland,
March 23d. Last visit of John Brown to the East, April and
May. He starts for Harper’s Ferry, June. He and three
companions arrive at Harper’s Ferry, July 3d. He gathers
twenty-two men and munitions, June-October. He starts on
the foray, Sunday, October 16th at 8 P. M. The town and
arsenal are captured, Monday, October 17th at 4 A. M.
Gathering of the militia, Monday, October 17th at 7 A. M.
to 12 M. Brown’s party is hemmed in, Monday, October 17th
at 12 M. He withdraws to the engine-house, Monday, October
17th at 12 M. Kagi’s party is killed and captured, Monday,
October 17th at 3 P. M. Lee and 100 marines arrive,
Monday, October 17th at 12 P. M. Brown is captured,
Tuesday, October 18th at 8 A. M.
1859— Preliminary examination, October 25th. Trial at Charleston
(then Virginia, now West Virginia), October 27th-November
4th. Forty days in prison, October 16th-December 2d.
Execution of John Brown at Charleston, December 2d. Burial
of John Brown at North Elba, N. Y., December 8th.
JOHN BROWN
CHAPTER I
AFRICA AND AMERICA
“That it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the
prophet saying, ‘Out of Egypt have I called My son.’”
The mystic spell of Africa is and ever was over all America. It has
guided her hardest work, inspired her finest literature, and sung her
sweetest songs. Her greatest destiny—unsensed and despised though it
be,—is to give back to the first of continents the gifts which Africa of
old gave to America’s fathers’ fathers.
Of all inspiration which America owes to Africa, however, the greatest
by far is the score of heroic, men whom the sorrows of these dark
children called to unselfish devotion and heroic self-realization:
Benezet, Garrison and Harriet Stowe; Sumner, Douglass and Lincoln—these
and others, but above all, John Brown.
John Brown was a stalwart, rough-hewn man, mightily yet tenderly carven.
To his making went the stern justice of a Cromwellian “Ironside,” the
freedom-loving fire of a Welsh Celt, and the thrift of a Dutch
housewife. And these very things it was—thrift, freedom, and
justice—that early crossed the unknown seas to find asylum in America.
Yet they came late, for before they came greed, and greed brought black
slaves from Africa.
The Negroes came on the heels, if not on the very ships of Columbus.
They followed De Soto to the Mississippi; saw Virginia with D’Ayllon,
Mexico with Cortez, Peru with Pizarro; and led the western wanderings of
Coronado in his search for the Seven Cities of Cibola. Something more
than a a decade after the Cavaliers, and a year before the Pilgrims,
they set lasting foot on the North American continent.
These black men came not of their willing, but because of the hasty
greed of new America selfishly and half thoughtlessly sought to revive
in the New World the dying but unforgotten custom of enslaving the
world’s workers. So with the birth of wealth and liberty west of the
seas, came slavery, and slavery all the more cruel and hideous because
it gradually built itself on a caste of race and color, thus breaking
the common bonds of human fellowship and weaving artificial barriers of
birth and appearance.
The result was evil, as all injustice must be. At first, the black men
writhed and struggled and died in their bonds, and their blood reddened
the paths across the Atlantic and around the beautiful isles of the
Western Indies. Then as the bonds gripped them closer and closer, they
succumbed to sullen indifference or happy ignorance, with only here and
there flashes of wild red vengeance.
For, after all, these black men were but men, neither more nor less
wonderful than other men. In build and stature, they were for the most
part among the taller nations and sturdily made. In their mental
equipment and moral poise, they showed themselves full brothers to all
men—“intensely human”; and this too in their very modifications and
peculiarities—their warm brown and bronzed color and crisp curled hair
under the heat and wet of Africa; their sensuous enjoyment of the music
and color of life; their instinct for barter and trade; their strong
family life and government. Yet these characteristics were bruised and
spoiled and misinterpreted in the rude uprooting of the slave trade and
the sudden transplantation of this race to other climes, among other
peoples. Their color became a badge of servitude, their tropical habit
was deemed laziness, their worship was thought heathenish, their family
customs and the government were ruthlessly overturned and debauched;
many of their virtues became vices, and much of their vice, virtue.
The price of repression is greater than the cost of liberty. The
degradation of men costs something both to the degraded and those who
degrade. While the Negro slaves sank to listless docility and vacant
ignorance, their masters found themselves whirled in the eddies of
mighty movements: their system of slavery was twisting them backward
toward darker ages of force and caste and cruelty, while forward swirled
swift currents of liberty and uplift.
They still felt the impulse of the wonderful awakening of culture from
its barbaric sleep of centuries which men call the Renaissance; they
were own children of the mighty stirring of Europe’s conscience which we
call the Reformation; and they and their children were to be prime
actors in laying the foundations of human liberty in a new a century and
new land. Already the birth pains of the new freedom were felt in that
land. Old Europe was begetting in the new continent a vast longing for
spiritual space. So it was builded into America the thrift of the
searchers of wealth, the freedom of the Renaissance and the stern
morality of the Reformation.
Three lands typified these three things which time planted in the New
World: England sent Puritanism, the last white flower of the Lutheran
revolt; Holland sent the new vigor and thrift of the Renaissance; while
Celtic lands and bits of lands like France and Ireland and Wales, sent
the passionate desire for personal freedom. These three elements came,
and came more often than not in the guise of humble men—an English
carpenter on the _Mayflower_, an Amsterdam tailor seeking a new
ancestral city, and a Welsh wanderer. From three such men sprang in the
marriage of years, John Brown.
To the unraveling of human tangles, we would gladly believe that God
sends especial men—chosen vessels that come to the world’s deliverance.
And what could be more fitting than that the human embodiments of
freedom, Puritanism and trade—the great new currents sweeping across the
back eddies of slavery, should give birth to the man who in years to
come pointed the way to liberty and realized that the cost of liberty
was less than the price of repression? So it was. In bleak December
1620, a carpenter and a weaver landed at Plymouth—Peter and John Brown.
This carpenter Peter came from goodly stock, possibly, though not sure,
from that very John Brown of the early sixteenth century whom bluff King
Henry VIII of England burned for his Puritanism, and whose son was all
too near the same fate. Thirty years after Peter Brown had landed, came
the Welshman, John Owen, to Windsor, Conn., to help in the building of
that commonwealth, and near him settled Peter Mills, the tailor of
Holland. The great-grandson of Peter Brown, born in Connecticut in 1700,
had for a son a Revolutionary soldier, who married one of the Welshman’s
grandchildren and had in turn a son, Owen Brown, the father of John
Brown, in February of 1771. This Owen Brown a neighbor remembers “very
distinctly, and that he was very much respected and esteemed by my
father. He was an earnestly devout and religious man, of the old
Connecticut fashion; and one peculiarity of his impressed his name and
person indelibly upon my memory: he was inveterate and most painful
stammerer—the first specimen of that infirmity that I had ever seen,
and, according to my recollection, the worst that I had ever known to
this day. Consequently, though we removed from Hudson to another
settlement early in the summer of 1807, and returned to Connecticut in
1812, so that I rarely saw any of that family afterward, I have never to
this day seen a man struggling and half strangled with a word stuck to
his throat, without remembering good Mr. Owen Brown, who could not speak
without stammering, except in prayer.”[1]
In 1800, May 9th, wrote this Owen Brown: “John was born, one hundred
years after his great-grandfather. Nothing else very uncommon.”[2]