 |
| Original John Brown Pike (Smithsonian) |
 |
| John Brown (NY State Parks) |
The story goes that John Brown at age 5 witnessed an enslaved boy about his own age being beaten with a shovel. From then on, Brown was determined to put an end to the system of bondage.
Years later and while in his 50s, Brown and his family moved to
“Bleeding Kansas," where they became engaged in the struggle over slavery. After
an attack on abolitionists in Lawrence, Brown led an 1856 raid that left five
men and boys believed to be slavery proponents dead.
Brown traveled to his native New England in 1857 to raise
money for the cause. He carried a captured Bowie knife and contracted with
Connecticut blacksmith Charles Blair to make 950 pikes for $1 each. At some
point, Brown decided to use them in the South, rather than Kansas. He hatched a
scheme for the weapons to be given to freed and escaped blacks, who would use them on anyone who dared to stop their rebellion.
“Give a slave a pike and you make him a
man,” Brown said. “Deprive him of the means of resistance and you keep him
down.”
We, of course, know what was to come.
Brown, his sons and a small band of followers aimed to take the federal arsenal and armory in Harpers Ferry in what is now West Virginia. From there, they would fan the
flames of a slave revolt.
It did not come to be. The October 1859 raid ended in failure and deaths, and Brown was convicted of murder, treason and inciting a slave insurrection, among other charges. The pikes, about 7 feet long and featuring a 10-inch blade, never saw service. There's some question whether the intended recipients would have welcomed them, given the odds against success.
It did not come to be. The October 1859 raid ended in failure and deaths, and Brown was convicted of murder, treason and inciting a slave insurrection, among other charges. The pikes, about 7 feet long and featuring a 10-inch blade, never saw service. There's some question whether the intended recipients would have welcomed them, given the odds against success.
 |
| Brown with slave mother and child (Library of Congress) |
But Brown was resolute to the end. Upon hearing of his death sentence, Brown said: “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 submit; so let it be done!”
He was hanged that December. The Civil War would begin less than two years later.
To this day, Brown remains a
controversial figure. Was he a patriot or heroic revolutionary? A terrorist? A 2011 article by historian Paul
Finkelman argues that the definition of terrorism has changed over time and
examines how the term may or may not be applied to Brown.
The Picket talked with officials at
three Brown-associated sites about his legacy and the primitive pikes, which
themselves strengthened the South’s resolve to preserve slavery. Several of the rare items are in museums and
others occasionally come up for auction.
The federal
site has what are believed to be two original pikes and four replicas made for
commemorative purposes.
Museum
curator Michael Hosking said Brown was determined to be a martyr when he and
his followers arrived in town. They brought their load of pikes and kept most
at a nearby farm.
Asked why the
abolitionist chose to arm slaves with pikes rather than guns, Hosking said the arsenal and armory “had guns but we
didn’t necessarily have ammunition. You didn’t have to worry about ammunition
if you had the pike.”
 |
| John Brown pike, other items in museum (NPS) |
Brown believed the assault would be conducted quickly and that his scheme would spread among slaves in Virginia and elsewhere. “The dream was the rumor would spread through the countryside and they would see it as a chance and run for it, to safety,” Hosking said.
“He had this vision that all these slaves would come flocking
to him,” said Hosking, adding the group was only able to briefly arm three or
four hesitant slaves during the hostage-taking and brief clash.
Hosking told the Picket that the idea was for more slaves to
obtain firearm training for weapons to be taken at Harpers Ferry. “Not having
the weapons at the beginning of the raid was another reason to have the pikes.”
The discovery
of the pikes whipped up anti-North sentiment across the South.
 |
| Georgia pike (Old Governor's Mansion) |
Now, as then, there are different perspectives on
Brown’s actions.
“During the time, I would consider him a
terrorist,” said Hosking.
Fast forward to the early 21st century. “Most of us feel he is a patriot and did a great thing. We
are talking 150 years different from the event.”
“He was a fascinating individual. Very driven, and he is one
of those in modern terminology who became radicalized and used the Bible to
defend his actions.”
Brown and his
family lived for a time in the village of North Elba, where they supported a
farming community for freed blacks, who were able to vote. Brown, two sons
and a few Harpers Ferry raiders are buried on the grounds near a large rock.
Site manager
Brendan Mills said the residence, which does not have any pikes in its collection,
was the second homestead in the area for the Browns. He told a local newspaper
a few years ago, “On a nice day, (Brown) would put a chair up here and look out
at the mountains, so he asked to buried up here (the rock) if possible or have
his ashes spread here if it was possible.”
After failing
in his wool buying business, the Connecticut-born Brown and other relatives eventually
returned to Ohio and then on to Kansas. “He got word from his sons they were
being harassed by pro-slavery men in Kansas.”
 |
| Interior of Brown home (New York State Parks) |
In Kansas, Mills told the Picket, there is some evidence that Brown’s family might have been killed if he did not act. “It was the worst thing he could do for his reputation.”
The
abolitionist, Mills said, did not favor a “violent free for all.” As his work
moved toward a slave insurrection, Brown wanted an organized army with white
and black officers and did not want his followers to kill unnecessarily, he
said.
Mills acknowledges
some portray the small park as a cheerleader for Brown. The key, he said, is
for people to make up their own minds.
“There is a
lot of disinformation about him.”
 |
| The Adair cabin (Courtesy of John Brown Museum) |
JOHN BROWN MUSEUM STATE HISTORIC SITE, Osawatomie, Ks.
The Rev. Samuel and Florella Adair settled near Osawatomie, an
abolitionist community and center of conflict during "Bleeding
Kansas." The log cabin – now surrounded by a pergola -- was a station on
the Underground Railroad and Brown, Florella's half brother, used this cabin as
his headquarters.
“The Adairs were very peaceful abolitionists,” says
volunteer Phyllis Sharp. “They did not believe in the harsher ways.”
The sacking of Lawrence by pro-slavery activists enraged
Brown, who took a band of men to Pottawatomie Creek in May 1856.
“The men dragged five unarmed men and boys, believed to be
slavery proponents, from their homes and brutally murdered them. Afterward,
Brown raided Missouri -- freeing 11 slaves and killing the slave owner,”
according to the American Battlefield Trust.
Site manager Grady Atwater wrote a 2017 article that argues Brown was
not as violent as he is often portrayed and that he did not seek revenge on a
man who killed one of Brown’s sons in Kansas.
 |
| Cabin is covered by a protective pergola (John Brown Museum) |
“John Brown did not commit random acts of violence for personal gratification, but only fought militant proslavery men who were either fighting Free State forces in Kansas or actively supplying and supporting the militant proslavery forces,” Atwater wrote in the Miami County Republic.
Sharp said the cabin has one original John Brown pike and several
swords. It features Adair family furnishings and objects that tell the story of
Brown, the guerrilla violence in Kansas and the Civil War.
Sharp said there were ruffians on both
sides fighting over the future of slavery.
“We try to be
indifferent.”
****
So, how to
judge Brown? For one view, we’ll close with these paragraphs from Finkelman’s
2011 essay in Prologue magazine:
“In
the end, we properly view Brown with mixed emotions: admiring him for his
dedication to the cause of human freedom, marveling at his willingness to die
for the liberty of others, yet uncertain about his methods, and certainly
troubled by his incompetent tactics at Harpers Ferry.
“Perhaps
we end up accepting the argument of the abolitionist lawyer and later governor
of Massachusetts, John A. Andrew, who declared ‘whether the enterprise of John
Brown and his associates in Virginia was wise or foolish, right or wrong; I
only know that, whether the enterprise itself was the one or the other, John
Brown himself is right.’"
• Part one: Southern states made their own pikes in response
• Part one: Southern states made their own pikes in response
