John Brown, born on this day in 1800, was a militant abolitionist who advocated for and practiced armed insurrection to overthrow the system of slavery in the U.S. He became the first American executed for treason after raiding Harpers Ferry.

Brown first gained national attention when he led small groups of volunteers during the Bleeding Kansas crisis of 1856. He was dissatisfied with the pacifism of the organized abolitionist movement, stating “These men are all talk. What we need is action - action!”

In October 1859, Brown led a raid on the federal armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (modern day West Virginia), intending to start a liberation movement that would spread south through the mountainous regions of Virginia and North Carolina.

Although Brown’s group successfully seized the armory at first, his raid was defeated by a combination of volunteer militia and state forces led by Robert E. Lee, who later commanded the Confederate States Army. Seven people were killed, two of whom were Brown’s sons Oliver and Watson, and at least ten more were injured.

Brown had intended to arm enslaved people with weapons from the armory, but only a small number of locals were willing to join him, possibly due to an unfamiliarity with firearms. Within 36 hours, those of Brown’s men who had not fled were killed or captured by local farmers, militiamen, or U.S. Marines.

Brown was hastily tried for treason against the Commonwealth of Virginia, the murder of five men, and inciting a slave insurrection. He was found guilty on all counts and was hanged, becoming the first person executed for treason in the history of the United States.

“I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land can 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.”

  • John Brown

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  • StillNoLeftLeft [none/use name, she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
    20·
    14 days ago

    Voiced my disgust on other social media about my home country just doing the eurovision and how it checks out considering the history of fascism here.

    Got mansplained by a Canadian middle aged dude who thinks I am being too hard on smol bean nazi country, and I quote:

    You might be being too hard on your country.

    From across the Atlantic, I see how Finland had its complex 20th century history of being under the thumb of the Tsarist Russian Empire, then independence, then losing Karelia to the Soviets in the Winter War (after a brilliant defense), then making an unfortunate alliance during the rest of WW2, then narrowly avoiding ending up behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War.

    Ffs, what a guy! A type of guy even. Shouldn’t have done this to my blood pressure.

    I love how a Canadian lib tells me, a person living in this shithole, how I am being too hard on my own country. A country where I in fact can see the writing on the wall every day.

    Told him that this is just bs, it was class war backed by the Germans that started well before WW2. Karelia being the wannabe colonialist project of the bougies.

    • Keld [he/him, any]@hexbear.netEnglish
      16·
      14 days ago

      I don’t know how Fins managed to turn “Siding with the nazis” into a thing for which they get lauded, but they dang well managed it.

        • Keld [he/him, any]@hexbear.netEnglish
          10·
          14 days ago

          I don’t even know how people managed to spin “The soviets made a non-aggression pact” (And an admittedly poorly thought out resource exchange) into “The fins sided with the nazis against the soviets and that’s okay because the soviets were allied with the nazis”. But it has probably been studied.

          • StillNoLeftLeft [none/use name, she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
            7·
            13 days ago

            Clearly it doesn’t need to make any sense. Similar “logic” is applied to the swastika, to the civil war, to colonial complicity of which there’s been plenty etc.

            It’s the Red Sails brain washing article embodied.