A decent chunk of people are probably aware of radical abolitionist John Brown, who led a raid on Harpers Ferry with the intention of inciting a slave revolt that would spread and end slavery in the US. As we are in 2024, we have the ability to look back and hindsight tells us that Brown's plan did not, in fact, work out; he was hanged. Still, it was a major catalyst in triggering the US Civil War, where the marching song 'John Brown's Body' became popular among Union soldiers (and likely gave Lincoln at least one headache).
For a fun little tidbit: one of the prisoners taken before the raid on Harpers Ferry was Lewis Washington—yes, from that Washington family. The Founding Father's great-grandnephew had a ceremonial sword that had come as a gift from Frederick the Great, which John Brown would later carry with him during the raid on Harpers Ferry. An unverifiable but nifty little story claims that a saber thrust, meant to kill brown, was deflected by the blade or the buckle connecting it to Brown.
Also of interest is that, prior to his capture, Old Man Brown became a bit of a bogeyman figure in the area for proslavery men, who were terrified of him. One particular story, which I'd slot into the 'likely apocryphal' category, has Brown encountering a proslavery man bragging about how he'd shoot him on the spot, given the chance—only to have Brown get his attention, unholster his guns, and offer them for the man to carry out his threats. He promptly left, daunted by Brown's enormous balls.
While I don't intend to write a full review, credit to HW Brands' excellent The Zealo and the Emancipator for the brunt of the information here; as ever, a great writer who I highly recommend.
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