October 16, 1859: 155 YEARS AGO TODAY! One of my favorite historical events! Abolitionist John Brown attacks the Federal Armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. He and his band of 18 men planned to seize some of the 100,000 muskets and rifles in order to arm slaves in Virginia and (hopefully) start a state-wide slave rebellion. Initially the raid went well for Brown and his men. They captured the armory (it was guarded by a single watchman) and even took hostages. But soon local farmers, shopkeepers, and militia pinned down the raiders in the armory by firing from the heights behind the town. Some of the local men were shot by Browns men and some of Browns men were killed. A company of local militia seized the bridge into Harpers Ferry, blocking Browns only escape route. Brown then moved his prisoners and the remaining Raiders into the engine house, a small brick building at the entrance to the armory. He had the doors and windows barred and loopholes were cut through the brick walls. The surrounding forces besieged the engine house, and the Raiders inside fired back with occasional fury. On the morning of October 18 a company of U.S. Marines under the command of Colonel Robert E. Lee of the United States Army arrived at the Ferry and prepared to attack the engine house. Colonel Lee sent a young Army lieutenant, J.E.B. Stuart, under a white flag and to inform the Raiders that their lives would be spared if they surrendered. Brown refused, saying, No, I prefer to die here. Stuart then gave a signal and the Marines attacked. They used sledge hammers and a makeshift battering-ram to break down the engine room door. Lieutenant Israel Greene cornered Brown and struck him several times with a saber, wounding him. In three minutes the fight was over; Brown and the survivors Raiders were captives. Altogether Browns men killed four people, and wounded nine. Ten of Browns men were killed (including his sons Watson and Oliver). Five of the Raiders escaped (including Browns son Owen), and seven were captured along with Brown. In Concord, Massachusetts word of Browns Raid was met with mixed emotions. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Thoreau and Bronson Alcott were all admirers of Brown and they saw the raid in a positive light and viewed Brown as a Hero and Ant-slavery martyr. Other people in Concord saw Brown as a maniac and murderer. Nathaniel Hawthorne would later call Brown a blood-stained fanatic and say that “Nobody was ever more justly hanged.” Emerson would say of Brown, He is a man to make friends wherever on earth courage and integrity are esteemed, the rarest of heroes, a pure idealist, with no by-ends of his own. Henry Thoreau called Brown a Transcendentalist above all and an angel of light. John Brown would be tried by the State of Virginia for inciting a slave rebellion and found guilty. He would be hanged on December 2, 1859. BELOW: John Brown in 1859, The Marine attack on the Harpers Ferry Engine House, Colonel Robert E. Lee of the US Army.
Posted on: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 13:02:40 +0000
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