Misplaced Pages

#735264

115-403: The John Brown Farm State Historic Site includes the home and final resting place of abolitionist John Brown (1800–1859). It is located on John Brown Road in the town of North Elba , 3 miles (5 km) southeast of Lake Placid, New York , where John Brown moved in 1849 to teach farming to African Americans. It has been called the highest farm in the state, "the highest arable spot of land in

230-425: A Provisional Constitution for the revised, slavery-free United States that he hoped to bring about. He seized the armory, but seven people were killed and ten or more were injured. Brown intended to arm slaves with weapons from the armory, but only a few slaves joined his revolt. Those of Brown's men who had not fled were killed or captured by local militia and U.S. Marines , the latter led by Robert E. Lee . Brown

345-668: A border ruffian , was killed. Preston Brooks 's May 22 caning of anti-slavery Senator Charles Sumner in the United States Senate , news of which arrived by newswire (telegraph), also fueled Brown's anger. A pro-slavery writer, Benjamin Franklin Stringfellow , of the Squatter Sovereign , wrote that "[pro-slavery forces] are determined to repel this Northern invasion, and make Kansas a slave state ; though our rivers should be covered with

460-457: A safe house to Underground Railroad fugitives . Owen became a supporter of Oberlin College after Western Reserve College would not allow a Black man to enroll in the school. Owen was an Oberlin trustee from 1835 to 1844. Other Brown family members were abolitionists, but John and his eccentric brother Oliver were the most active and forceful. John's mother Ruth died a few hours after

575-495: A 'new country". In 1863 Mary leased the farm to Alexis Hinckley, brother of Salmon's wife. In 1865 he purchased it from her, the grave site being exempted, for $ 800 (~$ 15,923 in 2023). It was with the proviso, added to the deed, that any interested party should be allowed to cross the property to access her husband's grave. Registers were kept so that visitors could write their name and any comments; Joshua Young left remarks in 1866. Already in 1864 "many tourists, from various parts of

690-597: A city that shared his own anti-slavery passions, and each seemed to educate the other. Certainly, with both successes and failures, Brown's Springfield years were a transformative period of his life that catalyzed many of his later actions. Two years before Brown's arrival in Springfield, in 1844, the city's African-American abolitionists had founded the Sanford Street Free Church, now known as St. John's Congregational Church , which became one of

805-468: A family of ten, one or more colored helpers, and occasional guests. The ten in the family were Mr. and Mrs. Brown, five sons— Owen , Frederick, Watson , Salmon, and Oliver —and three daughters, Ruth, Annie, and Sarah. ( John Jr. and Jason were married and living separately.) They lived in this house for two years, until Brown moved his family and his cattle to Akron, Ohio , where he needed to be while winding up his wool business. The Flanders house burned in

920-497: A farm where he could provide guidance and assistance to the blacks who were attempting to establish farms in the area. He bought from Smith land in the town of North Elba, New York (near Lake Placid ), for $ 1 an acre ($ 2/ha). It has a magnificent view and has been called "the highest arable spot of land in the State." After living with his family about two years in a small rented house, and returning for several years to Ohio, he had

1035-516: A farm, and organize a community. He agreed to teach these skills to the Blacks. He said that he had purchased the farm from Smith, and he had a deed registered at the county clerk in Elizabethtown, but he never paid Smith anything. The purchase was finally paid for by a collection among his friends. The Timbuctoo experiment was a failure, as almost all the Blacks, save Lyman Epps , left within

1150-506: A few weeks later. Tribune editor Whitelaw Reid purchased the paper following Greeley's death. In 1886, with Reid's support, the Tribune became the first publication in the world to be printed on a linotype machine , which was invented by a German immigrant, inventor Ottmar Mergenthaler . This technique allowed it to exceed the standard newspaper size of only eight pages while still speeding up printing time per copy, thereby increasing

1265-594: A few years; it was too cold and isolated, and clearing land and creating a farm is hard work. However, Brown himself did succeed in building a farm that could support his family. The house was built by John Brown's son-in-law Henry Thompson "with his own hands". His wife was Brown's daughter Ruth. After Brown's failed raid on Harpers Ferry and execution on December 2, 1859, his widow Mary brought his body back to his farm for burial, which took place December 8. Half of those present were Black, most formerly enslaved. Wendell Phillips spoke. John Brown's favorite hymn, "Blow ye

SECTION 10

#1732780507736

1380-411: A fine at Meadville for declining to serve in the militia. During this period, Brown operated an interstate cattle and leather business along with a kinsman, Seth Thompson, from eastern Ohio. In 1829, some white families asked Brown to help them drive off Native Americans who hunted annually in the area. Calling it a mean act, Brown declined, even saying "I would sooner take my gun and help drive you out of

1495-590: A great-great-great-granddaughter of Brown. An annual Blues at Timbuctoo festival is held at the John Brown Farm, presented by the organization John Brown Lives! Friends of Freedom. The festival is a combination of blues music and conversation around race relations. The festival was launched in 2015. In 2016 the John Brown Farm State Historic Site became the permanent home of the “Dreaming of Timbuctoo” exhibition. In 2017,

1610-720: A hero to many Northern abolitionists. On September 7, Brown entered Lawrence to meet with Free State leaders and help fortify against a feared assault. At least 2,700 pro-slavery Missourians were once again invading Kansas. On September 14, they skirmished near Lawrence. Brown prepared for battle, but serious violence was averted when the new governor of Kansas, John W. Geary , ordered the warring parties to disarm and disband, and offered clemency to former fighters on both sides. Brown had become infamous and federal warrants were issued for his arrest due to his actions in Kansas. He became careful of how he travelled and whom he stayed with across

1725-603: A heroic martyr and visionary, and as a madman and terrorist . John Brown was born May 9, 1800, in Torrington, Connecticut , the son of Owen Brown (1771–1856) and Ruth Mills (1772–1808). Owen Brown's father was Capt. John Brown, of English descent, who died in the Revolutionary War in New York on September 3, 1776. His mother, of Dutch and Welsh descent, was the daughter of Gideon Mills, an officer in

1840-576: A large readership, with a circulation of approximately 200,000 during the 1850s. This made the paper the largest circulation daily in New York City—gaining commensurate influence among voters and political decision-makers in the process. During the Civil War Greeley crusaded against slavery, lambasting Democrats while calling for a mandatory draft of soldiers for the first time in the U.S. This led to an Irish mob attempting to burn down

1955-544: A lawyer, politician, and newspaper editor. While Brown was very young, his father moved the family briefly to his hometown, West Simsbury, Connecticut . In 1805, the family moved, again, to Hudson, Ohio , in the Western Reserve , which at the time was mostly wilderness; it became the most anti-slavery region of the country. Owen hated slavery and participated in Hudson's anti-slavery activity and debate, offering

2070-835: A letter of recommendation from a prominent and wealthy merchant, George Walker. Walker was the brother-in-law of Franklin Benjamin Sanborn , the secretary for the Massachusetts State Kansas Committee , who introduced Brown to several influential abolitionists in the Boston area in January 1857. Amos Adams Lawrence , a prominent Boston merchant, secretly gave Brown a large amount of cash. William Lloyd Garrison , Thomas Wentworth Higginson , Theodore Parker and George Luther Stearns , and Samuel Gridley Howe also supported Brown, although Garrison,

2185-425: A local historian, "besides the other inducements which this rough and bleak region offered him, he considered it a good refuge for his wife and younger children, when he should go on his campaign; a place where they would not only be safe and independent, but could live frugally, and both learn and practise those habits of thrifty industry which Brown thought indispensable in the training of children." Actually running

2300-492: A means of developing his scheme of emancipation". The white leadership there, including "the publisher of The Republican , one of the nation's most influential newspapers, were deeply involved and emotionally invested in the anti-slavery movement ". Brown made connections in Springfield that later yielded financial support he received from New England's great merchants, allowed him to hear and meet nationally famous abolitionists like Douglass and Sojourner Truth , and included

2415-463: A mighty king. Fifty men, twenty men, in the Alleghenies would break slavery to pieces in two years. Brown kept his plans a secret, including the care he took not to share the plans with his men, according to Jeremiah Anderson, one of the participants in the raid. His son Owen , the only one who survived of Brown's three participating sons, said in 1873 that he did not think his father wrote down

SECTION 20

#1732780507736

2530-525: A new organization, John Brown Lives!, directed by Martha Swan, revived the celebration of John Brown Day at the farm. At the 150th anniversary of the raid In 2009, a two-day symposium, "John Brown Comes Home", on the influence and reverberations of Brown's raid was held, using facilities in adjacent Lake Placid. Speakers included Bernadine Dohrn , whose relationship with her family has been said to have resembled John Brown's ("a similar history of personal unhappiness, alienation, and parental difficulties"), and

2645-483: A pacificist, disagreed about the need to use violence to end slavery. Most of the money for the raid came from the " Secret Six ", Franklin B. Sanborn , Samuel G. Howe M.D., businessman George L. Stearns , real estate tycoon Gerrit Smith , transcendentalist and reforming minister of the Unitarian church Theodore Parker , and Unitarian minister Thomas Wentworth Higginson . Recent research has also highlighted

2760-630: A partnership with Zenas Kent to construct a tannery along the Cuyahoga River , though Brown left the partnership before the tannery was completed. Brown continued to work on the Underground Railroad. Brown became a bank director and was estimated to be worth US$ 20,000 (equivalent to about $ 590,710 in 2023). Like many businessmen in Ohio, he invested too heavily in credit and state bonds and suffered great financial losses in

2875-567: A preacher for a Congregational Society in Richmond. Their first meetings were held at the farm and tannery compound. He also helped to establish a post office, and in 1828 President John Quincy Adams named him the first postmaster of Randolph Township, Pennsylvania ; he was reappointed by President Andrew Jackson , serving until he left Pennsylvania in 1835. He carried the mail for some years from Meadville, Pennsylvania , through Randolph to Riceville , some 20 miles (32 km). He paid

2990-495: A rugged chain of the Adirondacks; broken, jagged[,] massive, and wonderfully picturesque. Off the left stands, in solitary grandeur, the towering pyramid called " White Face "—deriving its name from the color of the rock, on its summit. The Saranac and Ausable flow at each side of it; and just at its base, they tell us, is Lake Placid , a sheet of water famed through all this country of fine lakes for its exquisite beauty. On

3105-413: A successful tannery outside of town with his adopted brother Levi Blakeslee. The two kept bachelor's quarters, and Brown was a good cook. He had his bread baked by a widow, Mrs. Amos Lusk. As the tanning business had grown to include journeymen and apprentices, Brown persuaded her to take charge of his housekeeping. She and her daughter Dianthe moved into his log cabin. Brown married Dianthe in 1820. There

3220-472: A successful tannery, to be better situated to operate a safe and productive Underground Railroad station. He moved to Richmond Township in Crawford County, Pennsylvania , in 1825 and lived there until 1835, longer than he did anywhere else. He bought 200 acres (81 hectares) of land, cleared an eighth of it, and quickly built a cabin, a two-story tannery with 18 vats, and a barn; in the latter

3335-489: A wagon loaded with weapons and ammunition. Brown stayed with Florella (Brown) Adair and the Reverend Samuel Adair, his half-sister and her husband, who lived near Osawatomie . During that time, he rallied support to fight proslavery forces, and became the leader of the antislavery forces in Kansas. Brown and the free-state settlers intended to bring Kansas into the union as a slavery-free state. After

3450-459: Is common in that part of the country. It has four rooms on the first floor, and corresponding space above." "It is a rude frame building, two stories high, and has anything but a pretentious appearance." The 1861 visitor called it a cabin, "which has recently received the addition of another room, and the logs of the building covered with clap-boards through the liberality of his Boston friends". "What! That humble unpainted farmhouse John Brown's home?"

3565-582: Is most commendable, has, during the present autumn, added some fine animals to his herd. In justice to him we must remark that some of his more valuable stock was not exhibited at the Fair." In 1855 Brown and his family moved back to North Elba and built the surviving home. Brown viewed the house he had built as a place not for himself—he lived there only 6 non-consecutive months—but for his wife and younger children, where they would be safe while he and his four oldest sons were in Kansas fighting slavery. According to

John Brown Farm State Historic Site - Misplaced Pages Continue

3680-400: Is no known picture of her, but he described Dianthe as "a remarkably plain, but neat, industrious and economical girl, of excellent character, earnest piety, and practical common sense". Their first child, John Jr. , was born 13 months later. During 12 years of married life Dianthe gave birth to seven children, among them Owen , and died from complications of childbirth in 1832. Brown knew

3795-707: Is no other tombstone, although two plaques were installed about 1899 (see John Brown's raiders#Symbols ). Kate Field , who is central to the site's history, had wanted to be buried here as well, but this met with local opposition, as did the erection of any monument to Brown other than the boulder. Beginning in 1922, the Negro members of the John Brown Memorial Association, based in Philadelphia, together with some local sympathetic whites, made an annual pilgrimage to Brown's farm and grave. In

3910-710: The John Brown Farm State Historic Site has been owned by New York State and is now a National Historic Landmark . Kansas Territory was in the midst of a state-level civil war from 1854 to 1860, referred to as the Bleeding Kansas period, between pro- and anti-slavery forces. From 1854 to 1856, there had been eight killings in Kansas Territory attributable to slavery politics. There had been no organized action by abolitionists against pro-slavery forces by 1856. The issue

4025-463: The League of Gileadites onward, not one person was ever taken back into slavery from Springfield. His daughter Amelia died in 1846, followed by Emma in 1849. In 1848, bankrupt and having lost the family's house, Brown heard of Gerrit Smith 's Adirondack land grants to poor black men, in so remote a location that Brown later called it Timbuctoo , and decided to move his family there to establish

4140-493: The New York Supreme Court gave that evening what the press called an "impressive and masterful address" on John Brown. The Lake Placid Junior High School Glee Club sang " John Brown's Body ". In 1946, the John Brown Memorial Association held its 24th annual pilgrimage and memorial. After 1970, reports Amy Godine, the tone and goals of this annual pilgrimage shifted and softened, and failed to keep pace with

4255-549: The Panic of 1837 . In one episode of property loss, Brown was jailed when he attempted to retain ownership of a farm by occupying it against the claims of the new owner. In November 1837, Elijah Parish Lovejoy was murdered in Alton, Illinois for printing an abolitionist newspaper. Brown, deeply upset about the incident, became more militant in his behavior, comparable with Reverend Henry Highland Garnet . Brown publicly vowed after

4370-531: The Pottawatomie massacre , a response to the sacking of Lawrence by pro-slavery forces. Brown then commanded anti-slavery forces at the Battle of Black Jack and the Battle of Osawatomie . In October 1859, Brown led a raid on the federal armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (which later became part of West Virginia ), intending to start a slave liberation movement that would spread south; he had prepared

4485-615: The State University of New York at Potsdam held an archeology field school at the site, searching for artifacts linked to Brown. John Brown (abolitionist) John Brown (May 9, 1800 – December 2, 1859) was a prominent leader in the American abolitionist movement in the decades preceding the Civil War . First reaching national prominence in the 1850s for his radical abolitionism and fighting in Bleeding Kansas , Brown

4600-605: The Tribune building in lower Manhattan during the Draft Riots . Greeley ran for president as the nominee of the Liberal Republican Party (and subsequently the Democratic Party ) in the 1872 election against incumbent Ulysses S. Grant in his bid for a second term. Greeley was unsuccessful and, soon after the defeat, checked into Dr. George C.S. Choate's Sanitarium , where he died only

4715-477: The "strong-minded, brave, and dedicated" Eli Baptist, William Montague, and Thomas Thomas —who risked being caught by slave catchers and sold into slavery. Upon leaving Springfield in 1850, he instructed the League to act "quickly, quietly, and efficiently" to protect slaves that escaped to Springfield – words that would foreshadow Brown's later actions preceding Harpers Ferry. From Brown's founding of

John Brown Farm State Historic Site - Misplaced Pages Continue

4830-451: The Bible thoroughly and could catch even small errors in Bible recitation. He never used tobacco nor drank tea, coffee, or alcohol. After the Bible, his favorite books were the series of Plutarch 's Parallel Lives and he enjoyed reading about Napoleon and Oliver Cromwell . He felt that "truly successful men" were those with their own libraries. Brown left Hudson, Ohio , where he had

4945-943: The Congregational church at Kent, then called Franklin, Ohio, for taking a colored man into their own pew; and the deacons of the church tried to persuade him to concede his error. My wife and various members of the family afterward joined the Wesley Methodists, but John Brown never connected himself with any church again. For three or four years he seemed to flounder hopelessly, moving from one activity to another without plan. He tried many different business efforts attempting to get out of debt. He bred horses briefly, but gave it up when he learned that buyers were using them as race horses. He did some surveying, farming, and tanning . Brown declared bankruptcy in federal court on September 28, 1842. In 1843, three of his children — Charles, Peter, Austin — died of dysentery . From

5060-529: The Free State settlements there and then march on Topeka and Lawrence . On the morning of August 30, 1856, they shot and killed Brown's son Frederick and his neighbor David Garrison on the outskirts of Osawatomie. Brown, outnumbered more than seven to one, arranged his 38 men behind natural defenses along the road. Firing from cover, they managed to kill at least 20 of Reid's men and wounded 40 more. Reid regrouped, ordering his men to dismount and charge into

5175-478: The Negro community at Timbuctoo, New York , and organizing in his own mind an anti-slavery raid that would strike a significant blow against the entire slave system, running slaves off Southern plantations. According to his first biographer James Redpath , "for thirty years, he secretly cherished the idea of being the leader of a servile insurrection: the American Moses, predestined by Omnipotence to lead

5290-519: The North Elba farm. In 1860 his three oldest sons, John Jr , Jason, and Owen , were all living in Ohio. Salmon, who later remarked that the Brown family was "despised bitterly" and “our family was long buffeted from pillar to post,” also departed, in his case for California. He was accompanied by his wife, children, mother Mary Brown, and sisters Sarah and Ellen, Mary seeking "a chance to start over in

5405-468: The Revolutionary Army. Although Brown described his parents as "poor but respectable" at some point, Owen Brown became a leading and wealthy citizen of Hudson, Ohio. He operated a tannery and employed Jesse Grant , father of President Ulysses S. Grant . Jesse lived with the Brown family for some years. The founder of Hudson, David Hudson , with whom John's father had frequent contact,

5520-410: The State, if, indeed, soil so hard and sterile can be called arable." According to a 1935 visitor, "the site which so captivated John Brown on his first visit and held his interest to the end of his life is one of the most impressive in the Adirondacks. The awe-inspiring mountains surrounding the spot look down on friendly valleys, lakes, hills, streams, homes, hamlets and villages. The panorama stresses

5635-513: The Underground Railroad, during which, it is estimated to have helped 2,500 enslaved people on their journey to Canada, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. Brown recruited other Underground Railroad stationmasters to strengthen the network. Brown made money surveying new roads. He was involved in erecting a school, which first met in his home—he was its first teacher —, and attracting

5750-716: The United States". Unveiling was by Lyman Epps, Jr., a local celebrity, who was the only person present who had attended, as a boy, Brown's 1859 burial. The plinth is of Ausable granite; the cement foundation, landscaping, walks, and rustic fences were the result of work by the Civilian Conservation Corps ) (CCC). Attendance was 2,000, including the mayor of Lake Placid, state historian Alexander C. Flick, and written greetings from Governor Lehman . A "colored quartet" from Lincoln University (Pennsylvania) sang. The Lake Placid Justice O. Bryan Brewster of

5865-543: The World (1829), which he helped publicize. Before Brown left Springfield in 1850, the United States passed the Fugitive Slave Act , a law mandating that authorities in free states aid in the return of escaped slaves and imposing penalties on those who aid in their escape. In response, Brown founded a militant group to prevent the recapture of fugitives, the League of Gileadites , operated by free Blacks—like

SECTION 50

#1732780507736

5980-444: The blood of their victims, and the carcasses of the abolitionists should be so numerous in the territory as to breed disease and sickness, we will not be deterred from our purpose". Brown was outraged by both the violence of the pro-slavery forces and what he saw as a weak and cowardly response by the antislavery partisans and the Free State settlers, whom he described as "cowards, or worse". The Pottawatomie massacre occurred during

6095-402: The burgeoning civil rights movement. Attendance waned. In 1978, plans to add an interpretative center, parking lot, picnic tables and benches, with 5 employees, were abandoned due to local opposition from the John Brown Memorial Association and from a descendant of Brown and owner of the grave. In 1997 the John Brown Farm and Gravesite was nominated as a National Historic Landmark . In 1999,

6210-442: The conflict on June 2. In the Battle of Black Jack of June 2, 1856, John Brown, nine of his followers, and 20 local men successfully defended a Free State settlement at Palmyra, Kansas , against an attack by Henry Clay Pate . Pate and 22 of his men were taken prisoner. In August, a company of over 300 Missourians under the command of General John W. Reid crossed into Kansas and headed toward Osawatomie , intending to destroy

6325-504: The country, ...have made a pilgrimage..to the tomb of John Brown." In 1867, "nearly every day people from a distance visit this...shrine of John Brown, the martyr." In 1870 Alexis Hinckley, described as a "thin, sad man", whose wife had died, wanted to move. (He turns up later in Pasadena, California , where some Brown family members—Ruth, Owen , and Jason—were.) He listed the farm for sale for $ 2,000 (equivalent to $ 48,189 in 2023). It

6440-416: The country. Brown's plans for a major attack on American slavery began long before the raid. According to his wife Mary, interviewed while her husband was awaiting his execution, Brown had been planning the attack for 20 years. Frederick Douglass noted that he made the plans before he fought in Kansas. For instance, he spent the years between 1842 and 1849 settling his business affairs, moving his family to

6555-506: The country." In 1831, Brown's son Frederick (I) died, at the age of 4. Brown fell ill, and his businesses began to suffer, leaving him in severe debt. In mid-1832, shortly after the death of a newborn son, his wife Dianthe also died, either in childbirth or as an immediate consequence of it. He was left with the children John Jr. , Jason, Owen , Ruth and Frederick (II). On July 14, 1833, Brown married 17-year-old Mary Ann Day (1817–1884), originally from Washington County, New York ; she

6670-401: The current house – now a monument preserved by New York State – built for his family, viewing it as a place of refuge for them while he was away. According to youngest son Salmon, "frugality was observed from a moral standpoint, but one and all we were a well-fed, well-clad lot." After he was executed on December 2, 1859, his widow took his body there for burial ;

6785-476: The death of her newborn girl in December 1808. In his memoir, Brown wrote that he mourned his mother for years. While he respected his father's new wife, Sallie Root, he never felt an emotional bond with her. Owen married a third time to Lucy Hinsdale, a formerly married woman. Owen had a total of 6 daughters and 10 sons. With no school beyond the elementary level in Hudson at that time, Brown studied at

6900-572: The deed, the property consisted of 214 acres (87 ha). The site today (2021) is 270 acres (110 ha) in size, of which the northern third houses the developed part of the site, with the balance in now reforested hills. However, a visitor to the widowed Mary Brown in 1861 described the property as "a circular patch of about 60 acres (24 ha), cleared in the midst of the primeval forest, covered over with blackened stumps, and devoted to grass, buckwheat , oats and potatoes." About 1860 Salmon Brown's potato harvest, which he sold to "the starch factory",

7015-511: The early years especially, the Association would bring prominent speakers, such as attorney Clarence Darrow , Brown biographer Oswald Garrison Villard , and labor leader A. Philip Randolph . In 1935 there was a full program of activities and speakers, centering on the new "impressive heroic-sized statue of John Brown befriending a Negro boy", by Joseph Pollia . The cost of the statue and pedestal "was contributed in small sums by Negroes of

SECTION 60

#1732780507736

7130-413: The east with some success. New York Tribune Among those who served on the paper's editorial board were Bayard Taylor , George Ripley , and Isidor Lewi . The Tribune was created by Horace Greeley in 1841 with the goal of providing a straightforward, trustworthy media source. Greeley had previously published a weekly newspaper, The New Yorker (unrelated to the later modern magazine of

7245-517: The eastern United States". It is sometimes forgotten that when the Browns first came to the Adirondacks , in 1849, North Elba did not exist and the farmhouse had not yet been built. North Elba was separated from the town of Keene effective January 1, 1850. John Brown rented from "Cone" Flanders a little house. His daughter Ruth described it in a letter: The little house of Mr. Flanders, which

7360-584: The entire plan. He did discuss his plans at length, for over a day, with Frederick Douglass, trying unsuccessfully to persuade Douglass, a black leader, to accompany him to Harpers Ferry (which Douglass thought a suicidal mission that could not succeed). To attain financial backing and political support for the raid on Harpers Ferry, Brown spent most of 1857 meeting with abolitionists in Massachusetts, New York, and Connecticut. Initially Brown returned to Springfield, where he received contributions, and also

7475-600: The farm in 1859 was John's son Salmon , aged 23. Much is known about John Brown's farm as it was in 1859. A reporter from the New York Tribune and Thomas Nast , a sketch artist from the New York Illustrated News , were present at Brown's funeral. Rev. Joshua Young , who lost his pulpit (job) in Vermont for having presided over Brown's funeral, also left a lengthy description, and the farm

7590-441: The farm on July 4, 1860, for a memorial service, including the surviving members of Brown's family, all but one (Tidd) of the surviving participants in Brown's raid, and hundreds of friends, including Thaddeus Hyatt . It was the last time Brown's traumatized family would gather together. None ever spoke publicly about him, and none of the many people who wrote of contact with Brown's survivors reports private conversations. The one who

7705-470: The first half of the 20th century. John's cattle were exhibited at the Essex County Fair in 1850: "No incident of the Fair, however, was more exciting and grateful to Essex County than the, to most of us, unlooked-for advent of the splendid specimens of Devons . These most beautiful and noble animals are the property of Mr. John Brown, of North Elba, and as a single entry, triumphantly bore away

7820-415: The foundation of the League of Gileadites . Brown's personal attitudes evolved in Springfield, as he observed the success of the city's Underground Railroad and made his first venture into militant, anti-slavery community organizing. In speeches, he pointed to the martyrs Elijah Lovejoy and Charles Turner Torrey as white people "ready to help blacks challenge slave-catchers". In Springfield, Brown found

7935-801: The free-labor ideology of the Whigs and the radical wing of the Republican Party, especially in promoting the free-labor ideology. Before 1848 he sponsored an American version of Fourierist socialist reform, but backed away after the failed revolutions of 1848 in Europe. To promote multiple reforms, Greeley hired a roster of writers who later became famous in their own right, including Margaret Fuller , Charles Anderson Dana , George William Curtis , William Henry Fry , Bayard Taylor , George Ripley , Julius Chambers , and Henry Jarvis Raymond , who later co-founded The New York Times . In 1852–62,

8050-474: The incident: "Here, before God, in the presence of these witnesses, from this time, I consecrate my life to the destruction of slavery!" Brown objected to Black congregants being relegated to the balcony at his church in Franklin Mills. According to daughter Ruth Brown's husband Henry Thompson, whose brother was killed at Harpers Ferry: [H]e and his three sons, John, Jason, and Owen, were expelled from

8165-677: The mid-1840s, Brown had built a reputation as an expert in fine sheep and wool. For about one year, he ran Captain Oviatt's farm, and he then entered into a partnership with Colonel Simon Perkins of Akron, Ohio , whose flocks and farms were managed by Brown and his sons. Brown eventually moved into a home with his family across the street from the Perkins Stone Mansion . In 1846, Brown moved to Springfield, Massachusetts , as an agent for Ohio wool growers in their relations with New England manufacturers of woolen goods, but "also as

8280-564: The most prominent abolitionist platforms in the United States. From 1846 until he left Springfield in 1850, Brown was a member of the Free Church, where he witnessed abolitionist lectures by the likes of Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth . In 1847, after speaking at the Free Church, Douglass spent a night speaking with Brown, after which Douglass wrote, "From this night spent with John Brown in Springfield, Mass. [in] 1847, while I continued to write and speak against slavery, I became all

8395-575: The next year led to the South's long-threatened secession from the United States and the American Civil War . Southerners feared that others would soon follow in Brown's footsteps, encouraging and arming slave rebellions. He was a hero and icon in the North. Union soldiers marched to the new song " John Brown's Body " that portrayed him as a heroic martyr . Brown has been variously described as

8510-446: The night of May 24 and the morning of May 25, 1856. Under Brown's supervision, his sons and other abolitionist settlers took from their residences and killed five "professional slave hunters and militant pro-slavery" settlers. The massacre was the match in the powderkeg that precipitated the bloodiest period in "Bleeding Kansas" history, a three-month period of retaliatory raids and battles in which 29 people died. Henry Clay Pate , who

8625-716: The overall number of copies that could be printed. Under Reid's son, Ogden Mills Reid , the paper acquired and merged with the New York Herald in 1924 to form the New York Herald Tribune . The New York Herald Tribune continued to be run by Ogden M. Reid until his death in 1947. Copies of the New-York Tribune are available on microfilm at many large libraries and online at the Library of Congress . Also, indices from selected years in

8740-490: The palm. Essex County is deeply indebted to Mr. Brown. While we acknowledge the succor the county derived from his exhibition in her friendly competition with Clinton [County], we trust his public spirit and enterprise will be appreciated and addquately rewarded." "Our readers cannot have forgotten the strong impression produced by the appearance at the recent Fair, of the magnificent [Devons] of Mr. Brown of North Elba. We are happy to Iearn that Mr. Brown, whose zeal and efficiency

8855-404: The paper retained Karl Marx as its London-based European correspondent. Friedrich Engels also submitted articles under Marx's by-line. Marx resented much of his time working for the Tribune , particularly the many edits and deadlines they imposed upon him, and bemoaned the "excessive fragmentation of [his] studies", noting that since much of his work was reporting on current economic events, "I

8970-477: The power, majesty and eternal verities embodied in the towering peaks; calls attention to the peace, grandeur and solitude of the region; and deepens the feeling of man's weakness, finiteness and transitory abode on mother earth." A visiting reporter described the scenery as "absolutely the grandest in all the Adirondack region, being superior to that found at Mirror Lake and Lake Placid. ...A superb view." It

9085-466: The right is to be seen, in the distance, the peak of McCreary Mountain ; and on the right of that again, and still further on, M[a]cIntyre , the loftiest pinnacle of the Adirondack range , raises his towering crest. Just the country, my first thought was, for the heroic soul of John Brown, and a proper place, too, to be the receptacle of his ashes. The family graveyard, which Mary Brown exempted from

9200-409: The sale, is now part of the site, encircled by a modern iron fence. A statue of John Brown by Joseph Pollia , placed in 1935, stands nearby. A 2002 visitor described the grave as "a chaotic memorial, a riot of symbol and meaning." John Brown arrived in upstate New York as part of a project funded by Gerrit Smith to assist Blacks in becoming property owners and thus voters, under New York State law at

9315-467: The same less hopeful for its peaceful abolition." During Brown's time in Springfield, he became deeply involved in transforming the city into a major center of abolitionism, and one of the safest and most significant stops on the Underground Railroad. Brown contributed to the 1848 republication, by his friend Henry Highland Garnet , of David Walker 's An Appeal to the Colored Citizens of

9430-748: The same name), in 1833 and was also publisher of the Whig Party 's political organ, Log Cabin . In 1841, he merged operations of these two publications into a new newspaper that he named the New-York Tribune . Greeley sponsored a host of reforms, including pacifism and feminism and especially the ideal of the hardworking free laborer. Greeley demanded reforms to make all citizens free and equal. He envisioned virtuous citizens who would eradicate corruption. He talked endlessly about progress, improvement, and freedom, while calling for harmony between labor and capital. Greeley's editorials promoted social democratic reforms and were widely reprinted. They influenced

9545-529: The same thing." Brown first gained national attention when he led anti-slavery volunteers and his sons during the Bleeding Kansas crisis of the late 1850s, a state-level civil war over whether Kansas would enter the Union as a slave state or a free state . He was dissatisfied with abolitionist pacifism, saying of pacifists, "These men are all talk. What we need is action – action!" In May 1856, Brown and his sons killed five supporters of slavery in

9660-425: The school of the abolitionist Elizur Wright, father of the famous Elizur Wright , in nearby Tallmadge . In a story he told to his family, when he was 12 years old and away from home moving cattle, Brown worked for a man with a colored boy, who was beaten before him with an iron shovel. He asked the man why he was treated thus, and the answer was that he was a slave. According to Brown's son-in-law Henry Thompson, it

9775-467: The second half of the 20th century to bring about a c. 1860 appearance." An 1859 visitor continued: The next morning I had an opportunity, for the first time, of seeing the place as it appears in daylight, and of beholding the surrounding country. On opening the front door, a glorious sight saluted me [looking northeast]. Directly in front, apparently—perhaps from the thinness of the atmosphere—within two or three miles, but really much further off, looms up

9890-467: The servile nations in our Southern States to freedom." An acquaintance said: "As Moses was raised up and chosen of God to deliver the Children of Israel out of Egyptian bondage, ...he was...fully convinced in his own mind that he was to be the instrument in the hands of God to effect the emancipation of the slaves." Brown said that, A few men in the right, and knowing that they are right, can overturn

10005-611: The site for the dedication ceremony. John Brown's favorite hymn, "Blow ye the trumpet, blow", was sung. There have been three burials on the John Brown Farm: A cenotaph on the grave of John Brown was originally erected and inscribed for his grandfather, Capt. John Brown, who died September 5, 1776, while serving in the Continental Army . It originally sat at the elder Brown's gravesite in Connecticut. When it

10120-481: The substantial contribution of Mary Ellen Pleasant , an African American entrepreneur and abolitionist, who donated $ 30,000 (equivalent to $ 981,000 in 2023) toward the cause. In Boston, he met Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson . Even with the Secret Six and other contributors, Brown had not collected all money needed to fund the raid. He wrote an appeal, Old Browns Farewell , to abolitionists in

10235-549: The time. To this end he gave away hundreds of 40-acre tracts of Adirondack wilderness, to be cleared and farmed. (See Timbuctoo, New York .) John Brown was financially ruined and had lost the family's home because of his disastrous 1849 business trip to England, meaning he could not repay the loans he had taken out to buy wool. Hearing on his return from England that Smith was giving away farms to Blacks, he traveled to Smith's home and asked for one, saying that his years in rural Pennsylvania showed that he knew how to clear land and build

10350-430: The trip took five days, and he was buried on December 8. Watson's body was located and buried there in 1882. In 1899 the remains of 12 of Brown's other collaborators, including his son Oliver, were located and brought to North Elba. They could not be identified well enough for separate burials, so they are buried together in a single casket donated by the town of North Elba; there is a collective plaque there now. Since 1895,

10465-416: The trumpets, blow!" was sung. The Unitarian minister conducting the service, Joshua Young , recited 2 Timothy 4:7–8 as the casket was put in the ground. Upon returning to Burlington , disapproval of his participation in Brown's funeral was so severe that he was forced to resign his pulpit, and his friends said that he had ruined his future, which turned out not to be true. Over 1,000 people were present at

10580-470: The winter snows thawed in 1856, the pro-slavery activists began a campaign to seize Kansas on their own terms. Brown was particularly affected by the sacking of Lawrence , the center of anti-slavery activity in Kansas, on May 21, 1856. A sheriff -led posse from Lecompton, the center of pro-slavery activity in Kansas, destroyed two abolitionist newspapers and the Free State Hotel . Only one man,

10695-514: The woods. Brown's small group scattered and fled across the Marais des Cygnes River . One of Brown's men was killed during the retreat and four were captured. While Brown and his surviving men hid in the woods nearby, the Missourians plundered and burned Osawatomie. Though defeated, Brown's bravery and military shrewdness in the face of overwhelming odds brought him national attention and made him

10810-668: Was "the Mecca of all tourists". By 1894, the cumulative number of visitors was said to have been "tens of thousands". It was given to the State of New York in 1896. In 1897, President McKinley was spending his summer in Plattsburgh, New York , and a special train to Lake Placid took him, Vice-President Hobart , Secretary of War Russell A. Alger , Secretary to the President John Addison Porter , and various Plattsburgh politicians, including Smith M. Weed , to

10925-410: Was 4,500 US bushels (160,000 L; 36,000 US dry gal; 35,000 imp gal). The developed area today (2021) includes John Brown's farmhouse and barn, the exhibit "Dreaming of Timbuctoo" permanently installed on the second floor of the barn, as well as a caretaker's house and other infrastructure for visitors. The house was described in 1859 as "a medium-sized frame building, such as

11040-455: Was a relative of Brown's, and as advised proceeded to Plainfield, Massachusetts , where, under the instruction of Moses Hallock, he prepared for college. He would have continued at Amherst College , but he suffered from inflammation of the eyes which ultimately became chronic and precluded further studies. He returned to Ohio. Back in Hudson, Brown taught himself surveying from a book. He worked briefly at his father's tannery before opening

11155-460: Was a secret, well-ventilated room to hide escaping slaves. He transported refugees across the state border into New York and to an important Underground Railroad connection in Jamestown , about 55 miles (89 km) from Richmond Township. The escapees were hidden in the wagon he used to move the mail, hides for his tannery, and survey equipment. For ten years, his farm was an important stop on

11270-470: Was also described by a visitor to the widowed Mrs. Brown in 1861, and, slightly earlier, by Adirondack tourists who stumbled upon it. The John Brown Farm, on John Brown Road (New York State Route 910M), is in the township of North Elba , south of the modern village of Lake Placid, which did not exist in 1859. It was about 2 miles (3.2 km) from the former hamlet of Black farmers at Timbuctoo, New York , whom Brown attempted to teach to farm. According to

11385-448: Was an abolitionist and an advocate of "forcible resistance by the slaves." The fourth child of Owen and Ruth, Brown's other siblings included Anna Ruth (born in 1798), Salmon (born 1802), and Oliver Owen (born in 1804). Frederick, identified by Owen as his sixth son, was born in 1807. Frederick visited Brown when he was in jail, awaiting execution. He had an adopted brother, Levi Blakeslee (born some time before 1805). Salmon became

11500-542: Was captured, tried, and executed by the Commonwealth of Virginia for a raid and incitement of a slave rebellion at Harpers Ferry in 1859. An evangelical Christian of strong religious convictions, Brown was profoundly influenced by the Puritan faith of his upbringing. He believed that he was "an instrument of God," raised to strike the "death blow" to slavery in the United States , a "sacred obligation." Brown

11615-455: Was compelled to become conversant with practical detail which, strictly speaking, lie outside the sphere of political economy". Engels wrote "It doesn't matter if they are never read again.". In the same correspondence Marx disparagingly referred to the publication as a "blotting paper vendor". Nevertheless, Engels cited this career as a positive achievement of Marx's during a eulogy given at his funeral. Edgar Allan Poe 's poem " Annabel Lee "

11730-399: Was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1998. It has been managed by the state since 1896; the grounds are open to the public on a year-round basis, and tours of the house are offered in the warmer months. The weather was described at the time as "six months winter and the other six months was mighty cold weather". A recent (2002) writer called it "one of the most inhospitable places in

11845-490: Was first published in the newspaper as part of his October 9, 1849, obituary, "Death of Edgar A. Poe", by Rufus Griswold . In addition, Poe's "The Bells" was published in the October 17, 1849, issue as "Poe's Last Poem". Founded in a time of civil unrest, the paper joined the newly formed Republican Party in 1854, named it after the party of Thomas Jefferson , and emphasized its opposition to slavery. The paper generated

11960-481: Was most directly involved in the Harpers Ferry Raid, Owen, 12 years later, after repeated attempts by a journalist, told his story once. Salmon, shortly before he died, dictated to his daughter his recollections, which were incompletely published, and briefly told a journalist some of his recollections of his father. A 20th-century descendant of John Brown, Alice Keesey McCoy, said that within the family, he

12075-479: Was not talked about, that there were feelings of shame. Brown's daughter Annie did not even tell her children "what Browns they were", because she felt it would hinder them to be known as John Brown's grandchildren. Funds collected from Brown followers for the support of Mary Brown, his widow, enabled her to add between 1860 and 1863 the addition with two windows on the right (removed during restoration). Contrary to Brown's wish, none of his family would remain long at

12190-592: Was part of the sacking of Lawrence was, either during or shortly before, commissioned as a Deputy United States Marshal. On hearing news of John Brown's actions at the Pottawatomie Massacre , Pate set out with a band of thirty men to hunt Brown down. During the hunt for Brown, two of his sons (Jason and John Junior ) were captured (either by Pate or another marshal), charged with murder, and thrown in irons. Brown and free-state militia gathered to confront Pate. Two of Pate's men were captured, which led to

12305-407: Was purchased by journalist Kate Field ; a monument with her name and the other nineteen sponsors is displayed at the farm. She formed a John Brown Association to oversee the preservation of what she called "John Brown's Grave and Farm", and make it accessible to visitors. A history of Essex County published in 1885 reports that already there were hundreds of visitors to the grave every year. In 1892 it

12420-460: Was replaced by a newer stone, the younger Brown moved it himself to his farm in New York. The younger Brown had an inscription written for his son Frederick after Frederick was killed by pro-slavery forces at the Pottawatomie massacre in 1856 and buried in Kansas, and then directed before his hanging that the names and epitaphs of his sons Oliver and Watson be inscribed alongside his own on the cenotaph. It has been encased in glass to protect it. There

12535-496: Was that moment when John Brown decided to dedicate his life to improving African Americans' condition. As a child in Hudson, John got to know local Native Americans and learned some of their language. He accompanied them on hunting excursions and invited them to eat in his home. At 16, Brown left his family for New England to acquire a liberal education and become a Gospel minister. He consulted and conferred with Jeremiah Hallock, then clergyman at Canton, Connecticut , whose wife

12650-418: Was the comment of Kate Field , who arranged the purchase and donation of the farm to New York State. A modern description is: "The house is a 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 -story timber-framed structure, with a gable roof and clapboarded exterior. Its front is four bays wide, with the entrance in the left center bay, topped by a transom window. Most of the finishes, both interior and exterior, are restorations performed in

12765-545: Was the leading exponent of violence in the American abolitionist movement , believing it was necessary to end slavery after decades of peaceful efforts had failed. Brown said that in working to free the enslaved, he was following Christian ethics , including the Golden Rule , and the Declaration of Independence , which states that "all men are created equal." He stated that in his view, these two principles "meant

12880-453: Was the younger sister of Brown's housekeeper at the time. They eventually had 13 children, seven of whom were sons who worked with their father in the fight to abolish slavery. In 1836, Brown moved his family from Pennsylvania to Franklin Mills, Ohio , where he taught Sunday school . He borrowed heavily to buy land in the area, including property along canals being built, and entered into

12995-409: Was to be decided by the voters of Kansas, but who these voters were was not clear; there was widespread voting fraud in favor of the pro-slavery forces, as a Congressional investigation confirmed. Five of Brown's sons — John Jr., Jason, Owen, Frederick, and Salmon — moved to Kansas Territory in the spring of 1855. Brown, his son Oliver, and his son-in-law Henry Thompson followed later that year with

13110-444: Was to be our home, was the second house we came to after crossing the mountain from Keene. It had one good-sized room below, which answered pretty well for kitchen, dining-room, and parlour; also a pantry and two bedrooms; and the chamber furnished space for four beds—so that whenever a stranger or wayfaring man entered our gate, he was not turned away. The "chamber" was the unfinished attic, or second story. This small house sheltered

13225-415: Was tried for treason against the Commonwealth of Virginia , the murder of five men, and inciting a slave insurrection. He was found guilty of all charges and was hanged on December 2, 1859, the first person executed for treason against a U.S. state in the history of the United States. The Harpers Ferry raid and Brown's trial , both covered extensively in national newspapers, escalated tensions that in

#735264