Brown, John (1800-1859), was a radical abolitionist whose attempt to free enslaved Black people cost a number of lives and helped indirectly to bring on the American Civil War. His ancestors had sailed to America in the early colonial period. He was born on May 9, 1800, in Torrington, Connecticut, and lived as a child in Ohio. His two marriages resulted in 20 children. He did various types of work and had several business ventures. He was not a successful businessman, and his family lived insecurely. 
The abolitionist.
From his youth, Brown hated slavery and helped fugitive slaves to escape to Canada. He lived in Springfield, Massachusetts, from 1846 to 1849. After he left Springfield, he organized a league among Black people for their protection against slave catchers. In 1849, he moved to North Elba, New York, an area that was settled by Black people. Brown was later buried there. 
In 1855, he followed five of his sons to Kansas. They settled in Osawatomie and worked to keep Kansas from becoming a slave state. In May 1856, proslavery men attacked and burned the nearby town of Lawrence. Two days later, Brown led an expedition to Pottawatomie Creek, where his men brutally murdered five proslavery settlers. A number of small but bloody battles broke out between Free State men and those who wanted slavery. Brown became famous as “Old Osawatomie Brown” after he defended Osawatomie from attack by proslavery men in 1856.
Harpers Ferry.
Brown had been considering an invasion of the South, and began to collect arms and men for that purpose in 1857. Although he was an outlaw, he received sympathy and aid. Some who helped Brown did not know his plans. His idea seems to have been to raid the United States arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia), and then encourage enslaved people to rebel (see Harpers Ferry).
He and 18 followers captured the arsenal on the night of Oct. 16, 1859. The following day, the local militia bottled up Brown with his dead and wounded and a few prisoners in the arsenal. Colonel Robert E. Lee forced the fort open on October 18 and delivered Brown to the state for trial. Brown conducted himself bravely and intelligently. Northern efforts were made to have him declared insane, but he was convicted of treason and hanged on December 2. The event inspired Ralph Waldo Emerson to say that Brown would make the gallows “as glorious as a cross.” Union troops, when the Civil War began, sang: “John Brown’s body lies a-mouldering in the grave, His soul goes marching on.”
