John Brown's Body
Who was John Brown? It seems like a very common name. There must be many people named John Brown, right? If you google "John Brown" images this is what you get.
So who was he? Why did Union soldiers sing about him at the start of the war? What happened to that song?
John Brown was an abolitionist, a person who is strongly against slavery. Most abolitionists were very peaceful people. They tried to help end slavery by singing songs, giving speeches and writing newspapers. It was helping, but to John Brown, it wasn't helping fast enough. He decided to take action.
Violent action.
In 1859, two years before the Civil War started, he lead a raid on the arsenal at Harper's Ferry, VA. The arsenal is a building where weapons are stored. There were 100,000 muskets and rifles stored there. With 18 men, including 5 of his sons, he hoped to steal the weapons, free slaves and lead them into the mountains where they could fight against all the slave owners and eventually form a free state. It was not a good plan.
After kidnapping several slave owners, John Brown and his group broke into the arsenal but got surrounded by a company of US Marines before they could escape. The company that captured him was lead by Army Captain Robert E. Lee who would resign from the US Army to become the South's lead general during the war, 2 years later.
After being captured, John Brown was quickly taken to court and convicted of treason, trying to start a war against Virginia. He was sentenced to death by hanging.
On the morning of his hanging he handed a note to guard which said:
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 very much bloodshed it might be done.
He was hung on December 2, 1859.
The raid, trial and hanging were reported upon extensively. As a result, John Brown and his actions became extremely famous. He became a hero to abolitionists, free blacks and slaves.
The war started a year and half later. Union soldiers, who often sang songs while marching, sang "The John Brown Song" or "John Brown's Body."
