On the morning of his execution, December 2, 1859, John Brown slipped a piece of paper to a guard with a scribbled note:
On the morning of his execution, December 2, 1859, John Brown slipped a piece of paper to a guard with a scribbled note: “I John Brown am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away; but with Blood.” Before any shots were fired in the American Civil War, a second American Revolution had begun. But this revolution wasn’t about representation or taxation, it was about the most precious of all rights: Freedom. . . . John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry (October 16, 1859): John Brown was born in the town of Torrington, Connecticut on May 9, 1800. Though he was white, he was sickened by the treatment of slaves and from an early age became obsessed with the idea of taking overt action to help win justice for enslaved black people. By his late 40s, he had failed at multiple business ventures and was struggling to support his large family. The one thing he had going for him was his innate ability to lead men. It’s said that he spoke like a patriarch...