John Brown - Fanatic on a Mission

John Brown had long been zealous to free all slaves, and while living in Pennsylvania he had served as an agent for the Underground Railroad which transported slaves out of the South.  In 1849 Brown settled in a black community in New York.  Two years later, although living in Ohio, he found time to help blacks in Massachusetts organize a League of Gileadites to protect fugitive slaves.  During those years Brown was non-violent until 1855, when he followed five of his sons to Kansas where pro-slavery and free state settlers were at odds.

News of May 21, 1866 and the burning and looting in Lawrence enraged Brown.  The result was a massacre of pro-slavery Missouri settlers at Pottawatomie Creek. When Brown's enemies marched on him, he killed four more and took 25 prisoners at Black Jack.  In retaliation, two of Brown's sons were captured and the settlement of Osawatomie, where Brown lived, was attacked and his son Frederick was murdered.

By 1858 the violence in Kansas had cooled.  It was then Brown raided Missouri, financed by the gold and arms of the wealthy, to liberate slaves.  On October 16, 1859, Brown and 21 men seized the federal arsenal and fire engine house at Harper's Ferry, Virginia.  No slaves were freed but within a day a company of marines led by Col. Robert E. Lee arrived and drove Brown's men into the fire house.  All were killed, including two of Brown's sons. 

Brown was tried for treason, convicted and sentenced to death.  Before he was hanged on December 2, he wrote this message to his country: "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 much bloodshed it might be done."

Next time...First Westerner in the White House
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Today in Pioneer Pieces Blog: "On October 12, 1810, the origin of Oktoberfest - Bavarian Crown Prince Louis, later King Louis I of Bavaria, marries Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen. The Bavarian royalty invited the citizens of Munich to attend the festivities, held on the fields in front of the city gates. The decision to repeat the festivities and the horse races in the subsequent year gave rise to the tradition of the annual Oktoberfest, which now begins in late September and lasts until the first Sunday in October.

Bleeding Heart Kansas

The stage was set in the West for the first direct confrontation between the North and the South in 1854.  In Missouri, the pro-slavery senator, David Atchinson, took up the challenge and urged his constituents to "send 500 of your young men (from Kansas) who will vote in favor of your institutions."  He issued the invitation to stuff the ballot boxes, and then led a gang of Missouri supporters into Kansas in November 1854 to vote in the territory's first election.  Meanwhile, scores of northerners from the Old Northwest were also heading west to match the Missouri "border ruffian" votes.

Most of the pioneers who flocked to Kansas between 1854 and 1860 were more interested in securing good land than the politics of slavery.  Inevitably, however, they had to choose allegiance to one side or the other for protection.  As the split grew wider, each side tried to claim all of Kansas - conducting separate elections for legislatures and constitutions.  Free and fair elections were tried but failed with even the help of the pro-South President of the United States!

Political confrontation finally resulted in bloodshed on May 21, 1856 when 800 pro-slavers met in Lawrence, the anti-slavery center.  They destroyed two newspapers, looted stores and wound up by burning the Free State Hotel and the Governor's house.  Reaction was swift...just three days later fanatical  John Brown led six of his followers to a pro-slavery settlement at Pottawatomie Creek, then watched as his men hacked five residents to death. 

Next time...Fanatical John Brown
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Today in Pioneer History: "On October 9, 1868, the 14th Amendment was adopted, guaranteeing to African Americans citizenship and all its privileges.