International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest

Extract

Believing from a young age that God had destined him to destroy the institution of slavery, John Brown lit the fuse that sparked the American Civil War . He also brought a level of violence to the anti-slavery campaign that has historians even today debating the morality of his actions and the stability of his mind. The staunchest of abolitionists, he waged a bloody battle against the pro-slavery forces in the struggle over Kansas and led the failed raid at Harper's Ferry, Virginia. Born in Torrington, Connecticut, Brown was the child of strict Calvinists Ruth and Owen Brown. John was close to his mother Ruth and was distraught for years following her death in 1808. His father, a tanner and shoemaker, was an abolitionist who believed that all men were social equals. John Brown's intense hatred of slavery developed due to a combination of his father's influence and his witnessing a slave boy's mistreatment while on a cattle drive as a child. Brown married Dianthe Lusk, the daughter of his housekeeper, on June 21, 1820 in Hudson, Ohio. Together they had five children who survived into adulthood. Dianthe died in 1831, shortly after giving birth. Finding it difficult to tend to the needs of a young family on his own, Brown married Mary Ann Day, the 16-year-old sister of his housekeeper, in 1833 in New Richmond, Pennsylvania. Mary and John Brown had 13 children, but only four outlived ... log in or subscribe to read full text