Portal:John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry
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John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry was an effort by abolitionist John Brown, from October 16 to 18, 1859, to initiate a slave revolt in Southern states by taking over the United States arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (since 1863, West Virginia). It has been called the "dress rehearsal" for the American Civil War.
Works
Primary sources
- Journal of the "Provisional Constitutional Convention," held in Chatham, Canada West, (1858).
- John Brown's "Provisional Constitution" (1858)
- Senate Select Committee Report on the Harper's Ferry Invasion (1860), by the United States Senate (et al.) (transcription project)
- Letters republished in the Report
- Other primary documents republished in the Report
- Testimony from witnesses published in the Report
- A voice from Harper's Ferry (1861), by Osborne Perry Anderson
- Letters republished therein
- Letters republished in The life and letters of John Brown (1885), by Franklin Benjamin Sanborn (transcription project)
Histories
- "John Brown at Harper's Ferry", in History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century, by Benjamin F. Gue (1903), Vol. 2, Ch. 1.
- "Execution of John Brown" (1890), in Virginia Military Institute—Building and Rebuilding by Francis H. Smith, Ch. 10.
Biographies
Of John Brown
- The life and letters of John Brown (1885), by Franklin Benjamin Sanborn (transcription project)
- John Brown (1899), by Joseph Edgar Chamberlin
- John Brown (1909), by W. E. B. Du Bois
- "Brown, John (American abolitionist)," in Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed., 1911)
- "Brown, John (abolitionist)," in Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography, New York: D. Appleton and Co. (1891)
- "Brown, John (abolitionist)," in Collier's New Encyclopedia, New York: P. F. Collier & Son Co. (1921)
Of Robert E. Lee
- "Lee, Robert Edward," by Alfred H. Guernsey in The American Cyclopædia (1879)
- "Lee, Robert Edward," in Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed., 1911)
Poetry
- Brown of Ossawatomie (1859), by John Greenleaf Whittier
- "John Brown's Body" (1861)
- "John Brown's Body" (1928), by Stephen Vincent Benét
- In A voice from Harper's Ferry (1861), by Osborne Perry Anderson:
- "How old John Brown took Harper's Ferry: A ballad for the times" (anonymous)
- "John Brown of Osawatomie" by G. D. Whitmore
- "The Virginia scaffold" by Edna Dean Proctor|Edna Dean Proctor
- "Old John Brown" by E. H. Sears
- "Dirge" (anonymous)
Essays
- Charleston Mercury editorial on Harper's Ferry (October 18, 1859)
- Richmond Whig editorial on Harper's Ferry (October 18, 1859)
- Cincinnati Enquirer editorial on Harper's Ferry (October 19, 1859)
- Yorkville Enquirer editorial on the Harper's Ferry (October 20, 1859)
- Nashville Union and American editorial on the Harper's Ferry (October 21, 1859)
- Richmond Enquirer editorial on the Harper's Ferry (October 25, 1859)
- Victor Hugo's letter to the London News regarding John Brown (December 2, 1859), by Victor Hugo
- "A Plea for Captain John Brown" (read October 30, 1859), in A Yankee in Canada, by Henry David Thoreau (1866).
- "The Last Days of John Brown" (read July 4, 1860), in A Yankee in Canada, by Henry David Thoreau (1866).
- The Puritan Militant, John Brown by Harriet Martineau, in Once a Week, Series 1, Vol. 2.
Involved people
Combatants
See also: John Brown's Raiders on Wikipedia
- John Brown (1800–1859)
- Osborne Perry Anderson (1830–1872)
- John Henry Kagi (1835–1859)
- Robert E. Lee (1807–1870)
"Secret Six"
- Thomas Wentworth Higginson (1823–1911)
- Samuel Gridley Howe (1801–1876)
- Theodore Parker (1810–1860)
- Franklin Benjamin Sanborn (1831–1917)
- Gerrit Smith (1797–1874)
- George Luther Stearns (1809–1867)
Other
- John Brown, Jr. (1821–1895)
- Richard Realf (1832–1878)
- James Redpath (1833–1891)