Chapter 10

With John Brown at Harpers Ferry

Summary

      This chapter begins with John Brown, an extremely religious abolitionist, meeting with his followers and planning their raid on Harpers Ferry, the first step toward a journey across the South, liberating slaves and making slave owners pay for their sins. In Brown's "daring venture," he and his men would "seize the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry with its twenty thousand rifles and distribute them to a slave army that Brown [would] lead in a war of emancipation" (151). His followers had faith in him - he had fought for antislavery before, although, in reality, he had slaughtered and mutilated five men. He did, however, manage to turn it around so he looked like a hero, gaining support for his raid from six wealthy Northerners.

      The night of October 16th, Brown and eighteen of his men marched to Harpers Ferry, cut telegraph lines, took control of the armory, and took hostages. Soon after the raid began, militiamen began pouring in, blocking off Brown's exits from Harpers Ferry and firing into the armory. Then, Brown and ten hostages ran into a brick firehouse, and the two sides were locked into a stalemate, firing back and forth for hours. General Robert E. Lee arrived next; his men stormed the firehouse, and in 60 seconds the hostages were freed and Brown was taken down. The author talks about how Brown had been a failure his whole life, but he'd always believed that "God was guiding his every step," and how, over the years, there was evidence that he had begun to lose his mind (165). Brown's legacy ends up as being a cross between a hero, fighting to free slaves, and a madman, and his raid on Harpers Ferry had a major impact on the gulf between North and South, which came to a head during the bloody Civil War two years later.

Reflection

      One of the lines that stood out to me most was a quote from a Southern senator saying, "John Brown's invasion was condemned [in the North] only because it failed" (168). It clearly showed the division and the distrust between the North and the South. Another good quote from the book was, "John Brown's soul is an amalgam of religious faith and volcanic hate," because it showed how one's religious beliefs can sometimes go too far when paired with an extreme emotion like hate (155). I agree with the author, who thought that there should have been a better way to free the slaves other than "the shedding of blood" (170).