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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      • GalaxyBrain [they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
        2·
        1 day ago

        Damn, that’s a lot. We didnt end out with nearly as much as previous years. Less than 100 people all day for reservations and I doubt there was much walk in. Takeout was busy. Last year was a nightmare, 300 on the books and in the owner’s infinite wisdom we had a new POS system installed earlier that week had just switched from paper chits to a computer. They fucked up entering the mother’s day special menu so whenever the line cleared any ticket with a pasta it would just dissappear into the ether instead of sending over to my screen on expo, but we didnt know that was the problem cause it’s a new system and cause we did a different special menu for brunch that didnt have pasta, this issue didnt come up until I had full board of orders. So I had to just let the servers take whatever they needed for wherever and ASAP refire whatever went to the wrong place. It was a nightmare. So we all had that mindset going in. It was a pretty chill night.