Review of 'Midnight rising' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
John Brown was an American abolitionist, a devout Calvinist, an intuitive sheep herder, a terrible businessman, and a revolutionary idealist and freedom fighter.
Brown and his followers killed 5 supporters of slavery in the Pottawatomie massacre, commanded anti-slavery forces in the Battle of Black Jack (June 2) and the Battle of Osawatomie (August 30, 1856).
John Brown then set his sights higher. He found 6 wealthy donors in the north, allied with General Tubman, wrote a constitution for a new country without slavery and printed it for distribution, gathered 950 pikes for freed slaves, and on October 16, 1859 he led 21 men to take the armory and rifles at Harper's Ferry. Brown fought to start and arm a slave rebellion in the south that used the Blue Ridge Mountains as a base of operations.
Brown failed to start a slave rebellion and was captured, tried, and hung for his …
John Brown was an American abolitionist, a devout Calvinist, an intuitive sheep herder, a terrible businessman, and a revolutionary idealist and freedom fighter.
Brown and his followers killed 5 supporters of slavery in the Pottawatomie massacre, commanded anti-slavery forces in the Battle of Black Jack (June 2) and the Battle of Osawatomie (August 30, 1856).
John Brown then set his sights higher. He found 6 wealthy donors in the north, allied with General Tubman, wrote a constitution for a new country without slavery and printed it for distribution, gathered 950 pikes for freed slaves, and on October 16, 1859 he led 21 men to take the armory and rifles at Harper's Ferry. Brown fought to start and arm a slave rebellion in the south that used the Blue Ridge Mountains as a base of operations.
Brown failed to start a slave rebellion and was captured, tried, and hung for his crimes. Brown met his death without fear, tears, or weakness. Authorities in Virginia prevented Brown from speaking from the scaffold, so Brown slipped a prophesy to his hangman on a piece of paper:
"I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land can never be purged away but with blood."
Brown's raid struck fear into the hearts of whites and slave-owners in the south. Brown was the spark that ignited the kindling of the American Civil War.
161 years later, we are still fighting for de facto equal treatment under the law in the United States.
***
John Brown's exploits are fictionalized in The Good Lord Bird by James McBride: slpl.bibliocommons.com/item/show/1462917116
Showtime is adapting The Good Lord Bird for release on October 4th, 2020. You need to watch the trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-Tm63y-S4s
I just finished Tony Horwitz's Midnight Rising, a history of John Brown's life, raid, and impact: slpl.bibliocommons.com/item/show/1145850116