Brown, John

An abolitionist of the nineteenth century who sought to free the slaves by military force. After leading several attacks in Kansas , he planned to start an uprising among the slaves. In 1859, he and a small band of followers took over a federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry , in Virginia . A detachment of marines reclaimed the arsenal and captured Brown, who was tried for treason, convicted, and hanged.

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Notes

Robert E. Lee , soon to be commanding general of the main Confederate army, led the marines who captured Brown.

In death, Brown became a martyr for abolitionists. “ John Brown's Body ,” a popular song in the North during the Civil War , had this refrain: “John Brown's body lies a-mold'ring in the grave; His soul goes marching on.”

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Example Sentences

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To have a majority of even one MP, Keir Starmer, Rachel Reeves, Wes Streeting, Angela Rayner and the rest of his team have to do better - far better - than Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, John Prescott, Jack Straw, David Blunkett and the rest.

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This “wonderfully digressive” tale of James Jesse Strang — an early American con man — “is littered with thumbnail histories of 19th-century cross-dressing, John Brown, John Deere, the Brontës, bloomers, the Underground Railroad, mesmerism, newspaper exchanges, the Illuminati and much else,” our reviewer, Chris Jennings, wrote.

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Said Brown: “John knows literally everything about that playbook. He’s a guy that prepares himself very, very well. That’s something we all know in the building, it’s something we all respect about him. We know he knows everything.”

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In addition to Emerson, Thoreau and Whitman, Brown’s admirers included the poet Julia Ward Howe, wife of the “Secret Six” member Samuel Gridley Howe, who took a popular folk song about Brown, “John Brown’s Body,” and turned it into “Battle Hymn of the Republic.”

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The slaves were accompanied by an associate of Brown, John Kagi, whose sister, Barbara Mayhew, lived in the cabin with her husband, Allen.

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johnboat John Brown's Body

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