Town Hall Meeting

John Brown

My name is John Brown, an abolitionist from Virginia. I led a small group on a raid against a federal armory in Harpers Ferry, Virginia, attempting to start an armed revolt of enslaved people and destroy the institution of slavery. Before all of this, I moved around throughout Ohio, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and New York, trying to find a way to support my large family. In 1849, I finally settled down in Elba, New York, a black community founded on antislavery land. After being around Gerrit Smit, another antislavery philanthropist, I found my passion for finding justice for enslaved black people. 

Six years later, I led a small revolt in the Kansas Territory with five of my sons. There, we assisted antislavery forces that were struggling to take control of the territory, this battle was later called Bleeding Kansas. We stole a wagon full of guns and ammunition and from there, I settled in Osawatomie and became a leader of multiple antislavery groups. I hate how these white people treat blacks and enslave them, they need to be held responsible, an eye for an eye. On May 24, 1856, I led a nighttime raid on a very proslavery town near Pottawatomie Creek. During this raid, my men and I took five of the settlers there and stabbed them to death. This calmed me, it made me feel like finally there was vengeance. Word got around, and soon all of the local proslavery settlements lived in fear that one night, they too would be attacked.

Albany Movement - New Georgia Encyclopedia. https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/albany-movement/.

 During the spring of 1858, I called for a meeting of both black and white supporters in Chatham, Canada. There, I announced my plan that I've been drawing up for quite some time now, a haven in the Maryland and Virginia mountains for all escaping slaves. During the meeting, we established a government, and there, I was elected commander in chief of this government. We gained support from other abolitionist groups throughout the United States, and there we formed the “Secret Six”. In this group, we had a physician, educator, teacher and journalist, industrialist, and ministers. During the summer of 1859, I led a group of sixteen white and five black, armed abolitionists to a farmhouse I rented in Maryland. We were across the federal armory, and on October 16, my men and I moved out at night.We took 60 men hostage, hoping the escaped slaves at this settlement would join us. We were under attack, the local militia found us and fought back for about a day and a half. 

Sadly, we were overpowered and surrendered. It was a sad day, I, myself was already wounded, and I had to see two of my sons killed in action. They tried me for murder, slave insurrection, and treason against the state and sentenced me to execution via hanging. Although I didn't get to accomplish all the goals I set out for, nor did I live to see my end goal come to life, I hope I sparked hope in the slave's eyes. I hope they saw that they were not alone, and they had people from the outside on their side. I hope that my efforts made an impact on slavery and that my way of solving the problem wasn't that last attempt at getting back at those who owned slaves.

Albany Movement - New Georgia Encyclopedia. https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/albany-movement/.