TO: Students in CJ 330 (Violence, Crime, and Justice).
FROM: R. B. Taylor
DATE: 9/3/99
RE: More background on John Brown; connections with
extremist current-day violence
From Pottawatomie Creek to the Oklahoma City Bombing of the Federal Building
Later in the course we
will be talking about extreme right-wing militia groups, and
extremist violence associated with that, carried out or advocated
either by individuals or groups. Benjamin Smith, Matt Hale, Buford
Furrow and the like. But we want to consider the origins of this type
of violence in American society. Where did it come from?
I drew on several
current sources for this investigation, and one set of historical
sources. As part of a recent research project on the Civil War and
how it affected people in northern Virginia and Southwestern
Pennsylvania, U. Va researchers put some of articles on line from two
newspapers: the Staunton (VA) Spectator
and the Chambersburg (PA) Valley Spirit.
Needless to say, there were significant differences of opinion on
John Brown, his trial, and the rest. The master list of newspaper
articles about John Brown can be found at the following location:
http://jefferson.village.Virginia.EDU/jbrown/news.html .
Lane makes the claim
(1997, p. 138) that when John Brown, with his sons and others,
murdered five pro-slavers in Kansas in May 1856, he added "a
new element to American homicide: ideological murder as an act of
terrorism." So Lane is suggesting
that we start with John Brown when looking at the origins of this
type of racially, idoelogically motivated terrorism. Before we
consider whether we agree or disagree with this statement, let's get
clear on the situation, and on John Brown.
Brown was born in
Connecticut on May 9, 1800. One source lists his birthplace as
Litchfield, another as Torrington. He grew up in Ohio. "During
most of his adult years Brown wandered from job to job. Ill fortune,
business reverses, and charges of illegal practices followed him from
the 1820s onward. By the 1850s, however, he had become deeply
interested in the slavery quetsion" (Stewart, 1997). He became a
rabid abolitionist, and moved to Kansas in the spring of 1855,
bringing in guns and other weapons. As you recall from Lane, the
situation in Kansas was confused at the time. Rembember, the 1854
Kansas-Missouri Act said let the voters decide if Kansas would be a
free state or a slave state. Missouri, to the south, was a slave
state. But as Lane points out, a vote was impossible. There were two
governments, in effect, a pro-slavery one, and an abolitionist one,
each with law enforcement officers. The abolitionist government set
up their capital in Lawrence (KS), current home of U of K.
Pro-slavery raiders burned the capital in May 1856. In retaliation
for the lives lost in the raid (6), on May 24, 1856, Brown murdered
five people in one night, hacking them to death with swords. He went
on to lead raids throughout the summer and fall, evading capture, and
engaging in pitched battles with posses of up to 100 persons (see
newspaper article "The Making of Black Jack"). Lane
suggests about 200 lives were lost before the group was disarmed. At
this time you also had border groups operating in the southern part
of the state, including later outlaws like Jesse James, keeping out
abolitionists and weapons.
In an article entitled
"The Making of Black Jack" (Staunton Spectator, November 1,
1859), Captain Olay Peterson (sp?) recounts his efforts to capture
Brown immediately after the Potowatomi massacre ("murders done
in cold blood"). You have the text in a handout. After the raid
a "deputy" and some 25 men went to Brown's house. He was
not there but they found "arms, and evidence of
lawlessness." Some scouts in the posse got drunk at one point
when Brown was surrounded, and he escaped. Later in a larger battle
between two militias of about 100 each, Brown through
"treachery" forced the Peterson group to surrender.
After the raid on
Harper's Ferry led by Brown in October 16, 1859 - he hoped to take
the armory there and start a slave rebellion in northern Virginia --
he got a LOT of media attention. His speech at trial was quite
stirring to many, apparently. Here is an excerpt
[John Brown's Speech before the court]
I have, may it please the Court, a few words to say. In the first place, I deny everything but what I have all along admitted: of a design on my part to free slaves . . . Had I interfered in the matter which I admit, and which I admit has been fairly proved . . . had I so interfered in behalf of the rich, the powerful, the intelligent, or the so-called great . . . and suffered and sacrificed, what I have in this interference, it would have been all right. Every man in this Court would have deemed it an act worthy of reward rather than punishment. I see a book kissed which I suppose to be the Bible, or at least the New Testament, which teaches me that all things whatsoever I would that men should do unto me, I should do even so to them. It teaches me further to remember them that are in bonds as bound with them. I endeavored to act up to that instruction. I say that I am yet too young to understand that God is any respecter of persons. I believe that to have interfered as I have done, as I have always freely admitted I have done in behalf of His despised poor, I dod no wrong, but right. Now if it is deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life for the furtherance of the ends of justice and mingle my blood further with the blood of my children and with the blood of millions in this slave country whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel and unjust enactments, I say, let it be done. (Carrasco and Solberg)
Brown was convicted and hung on December 2, 1859.
The poet Stephen Vincent
Benet wrote an epic poem about the Civil War generally, published as
a book in 1928, entitled John Brown's Body.
It won the Pulitzer prize for poetry in 1929. The poem, running
about 300 pages, is generally viewed as a non-partisan work. Here's
an excerpt:
Listen now,
Listen, the bearded lips are speaking now,
There are no more guerilla-raids to plan,
There are no more hard questions to be solved
Of right or wrong, no need to beg for peace,
Here is the peace unbegged, here is the end,
Here is the insolence of the sun cast off,
Here is the voice already fixed with night.
Words about John Brown
were adapted to a popular tune, "The Battle Hymn of the
Republic," the Union Army's theme song later during the Civil
War. I am not clear when this adaptation came about. The adapted tune
was called "John Brown's Body." See: http://ingeb.org/songs/johnbrow.html
; different songbooks list different words to the song; I presume
there are lots of verses, and different songbooks just pick and
choose among them. Again, I am not sure on this one. I have attached
the words and music to both tunes in the handout
As you can tell from the
words of the song, in the eyes of northern abolitionists, he was a
martyr. One theme in his martyrdom was that he had been driven
"mad" by the losses he had suffered in Kansas. He lost at
least one son in the fighting in Kansas. There were some jailhouse
interviews with him after his capture at Harpers Ferry. Here is part
of the interchange with the PA reporter
Q: "When did you first conceive this move?"
[the raid]
A (JB): "While in Kansas. After my property was
destroyed, one of my sons killed, and my happiness destroyed by the
slave party of Kansas, I determined to be revenged. I also was moved
in this matter by a hope to benefit the negroes." (Chambersburg
Valley Spirit; October 26, 1859; online;
retrieved 9/2/99
http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/jbrown/news.vs/vsbrown4.gif
The southern paper
derided this idea, pointing out that he had set out for Kansas with
weapons, intent on countering the pro-slavery gangs operating along
the southern border with Missouri. Here is an excerpt.
Some Northern papers which condemn Brown's [incident?], still seek to mitigate his crime by asserting that he was made desperate and almost crazy by the treatment he received in Kansas. He was, however, no peaceful soldier in that Territory, but went there for a bloody purpose, and thus brought his suffering upon himself [emphasis added]. Moreover, his admirer and associate in Kansas, James Redpath, says in reference to the recent conspiracy: "It was not a 'mad idea' concocted at a Fair in Ohio, but a mighty purpose, born of religious convictions, which he nourished in his heart for half a life time [emphasis in original]. (Staunton Spectator, November 1, 1859; online at: http://jefferson.village.Virginia.EDU/jbrown/spectator.html#10/18 )
The southern paper also
ran articles about correspondence that took place between the
conspirators (see article entitled "Correspondence of the
Conspirators"). "The documents show that the conspiracy
extended throughout portions of Ohio, New York, New England and some
towns in Pennsylvania."
Some questions
I see numerous parallels with current right-wing extremist violence. I want to "plant" these ideas now, so that when we get to the end of the course we can examine them more thoroughly. I am not asking you to agree with me, just to think about this stuff. (1) The question of sanity/insanity. Was a John Brown or a religion-crazed nut or a dedicated social activist? Would any sane person go out and cut down five people, including one old man and his two sons? Would any sane person bomb a federal building with a day care center in it? And if these people are sane, how are we to understand it? (2) Race issues were obviously central to his concerns. When we talk about Smith and Furlong and others we will see that race is also important. Timothy McVeigh, the convicted Oklahoma City bomber, had read and promoted copies of William Pierce's The Turner Diaries, a novel of racist revolution. He sent clippings of sections of the book to relatives. (http://www.adl.org) Even more so, I will connect the racial concerns, and the locations of extremist groups more generally, with unemployment problems linked to nonwhite migration patterns.The extremist violence appeared at a time when the social order was in flux, and many feared the social order they had known was going down the tube. (3) Conspiracy and communication. Many thought there was a "vast conspiracy" out there. This is one of Dees' major themes. Here we see a parallel concern, that what was witnessed was just the tip of the iceberg; there were co-conspirators even in "some towns in Pennsylvania." (4) There is the question of their success economically. In what ways did the job experiences of a John Brown and a Buford Furrow "prepare" them for their later exploits? (5) And, quite obviously, there is the religious theme that is in common. Dees talks extensively about the Christian Identity church. Matt Hale, who inspired Ben Smith, runs a "church:" World Church of the Creator. Brown said God told him to do it. Buford O'Neal Furrow may have been trying to qualify for the"Phineas Priesthood." (6) And here's a rather obvious point: these are all white males.
|
|
|
Another connection you might want to pursue on your
own: from John Brown to the bombing of abortion clinics, and the
shootings of abortion clinic doctors.
References
Carrasco, H., Solberg,
O. Stephen Vincent Benet [online] http://education.ucdavis.edu/NEW/STC/lesson/socstud/railroad/Benet.htm
(retrieved 9/2/99). (part of Underground Railroad Research Project).
Lane, R. (1997). Murder
in America. Columbus: Ohio State University Press.
Stewart, J.B. (1997).
John Brown. 1997
Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia.