In many ways, John Brown received an education and upbringing not uncommon for a child of his generation living in the abolitionist North. Born on May 9 1800, in Torrington Connecticut, he was one of six sons of Ruth and Owen Brown. Taught to despise the institution of slavery, Brown was deeply affected when he saw a young Black child severely beaten by a cruel white slave master.

By 1812, an adolescent Brown was headed toward a life of service as a minister of the Congregational Church, however, lack of funds and a serious eye infection prevented him from fulfilling his dream.

Through a string of business failures, the death of his wife and several children, John Brown persevered and held fast to his belief that the moral injustice of slavery was an evil that must be resisted. At an abolitionist meeting in Hudson in 1837, Brown was re-energized and dedicated the remainder of his life to the destruction of slavery.

In 1847, Brown met another giant of the abolitionist movement, Frederick Douglass, at Springfield, Mass. From that first meeting right up until his fateful raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia, Brown and Douglass remained in regular contact.

With the strengthening of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, tensions between the slave-holding and abolitionist States were reaching a fateful apex. In January, 1851 Brown responded by forming the League of Gileadites in Springfield with the committed purpose of freeing the slaves of the American South.

When Brown became embroiled in the bitter dispute in the territory of Kansas, his life was already pointed towards an epic climax. Bloodied in Kansas, Brown set his sights on the Federal Arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. From there, he planned to lead an insurrection that would see the formation of a free territory in the United States. The arsenal would supply the means to achieve his end. Though Brown was captured and ultimately executed, the raid had far reaching ramifications for American history and the lives of its enslaved peoples.

Kennedy Farms

John Brown Fort