John Brown, born on this day in 1800, was a militant abolitionist who advocated for and practiced armed insurrection to overthrow the system of slavery in the U.S. He became the first American executed for treason after raiding Harpers Ferry.
Brown first gained national attention when he led small groups of volunteers during the Bleeding Kansas crisis of 1856. He was dissatisfied with the pacifism of the organized abolitionist movement, stating "These men are all talk. What we need is action - action!"
In October 1859, Brown led a raid on the federal armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (modern day West Virginia), intending to start a liberation movement that would spread south through the mountainous regions of Virginia and North Carolina.
Although Brown's group successfully seized the armory at first, his raid was defeated by a combination of volunteer militia and state forces led by Robert E. Lee, who later commanded the Confederate States Army. Seven people were killed, two of whom were Brown's sons Oliver and Watson, and at least ten more were injured.
Brown had intended to arm enslaved people with weapons from the armory, but only a small number of locals were willing to join him, possibly due to an unfamiliarity with firearms. Within 36 hours, those of Brown's men who had not fled were killed or captured by local farmers, militiamen, or U.S. Marines.
Brown was hastily tried for treason against the Commonwealth of Virginia, the murder of five men, and inciting a slave insurrection. He was found guilty on all counts and was hanged, becoming the first person executed for treason in the history of the United States.
"I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land can never be purged away but with blood. I had, as I now think, vainly flattered myself that without very much bloodshed, it might be done."
- John Brown
Megathreads and spaces to hang out:
- 🐻 Link to all Hexbear comms https://hexbear.net/post/1403966
- 🐼 Hexbear Matrix Chat https://matrix.to/#/#Hexbear:matrix.org
- 📀 Come listen to music and Watch movies with your fellow Hexbears nerd, in Cy.tube](https://live.hexbear.net/c/movies
- 🔥 Read and talk about a current topics in the News Megathread https://hexbear.net/post/8026521
- ⚔ Come talk in the New Weekly PoC thread https://hexbear.net/post/8030647
- 🏳️⚧️ Talk with fellow Trans comrades in the New Weekly Trans thread https://hexbear.net/post/8034428
- 👊 New Weekly Improvement thread https://hexbear.net/post/8027723
- 🧡 Disabled comm megathread https://hexbear.net/post/7886148
- ☕ Parenting Chat https://hexbear.net/post/8025314
- 🐉 Anime & Manga discussion thread https://hexbear.net/post/7546692
- 🎩Fashion megathread https://hexbear.net/post/7228810
- 🎨 Art & Drawings megathread https://hexbear.net/post/8070591
reminders:
- 💚 You nerds can join specific comms to see posts about all sorts of topics
- 💙 Hexbear’s algorithm prioritizes comments over upbears
- 💜 Sorting by new you nerd
- 🐶 Join the unofficial Hexbear-adjacent Mastodon instance toots.matapacos.dog
Links To Resources (Aid and Theory):
Aid:
Theory:
Financial Support to the Bearsite
Going bird watching at a garbage dump is such a Dutch people thing to do.
@Maturin@hexbear.net can perhaps help me with my fuzzy memory of this but that reminds me of the Aubrey-Maturin novel where they're stuck on an island in the sub-Antarctic and have to drink bird shit.
Anyone who wants to take a cruise should read a naval war novel and be instantly disabused of the notion. There are so many bad things that can happen that the author chronicling your exploits will have to dilate time to fit all of the possible complications into a human lifetime!
I think it’s in the first book but maybe the second. Stephen gets someone to take him to a bird covered island to windward of the ship (Sophie or Polycrest). Then a storm comes through, sweeps his companion and all the supplies out to sea never to been heard from again. Stephen’s only water sources are the blood of birds he’s knocked on the head and the guano-laden puddles around the island. He survives on this until the ship works its way back to the island to save him.
I think you may be mixing that with Desolation Island, where they are stuck on that island with what is left of the full crew (those who stayed with the horrible old Leopard). Their water sources are better in that one (it’s basically a light rain all the time), but they also rely on cabbage that they don’t know were planted there by whalers for the vitamin c, which gives everyone bad gas/the runs and pisses off the whalers when they find they’ve all been picked and eaten.
Yes, you're right, I was thinking of a different book; it's not the one where they're on an island with the full crew. It's definitely an early one. I recall the island being somewhere near St. Helena. Thanks for the better memory of the books. I must go back and finish the series one of these days. Or start over and go through all of them. It's been about ten years.
Edit - aha, it was H.M.S. Surprise.
Oh shoot I was one book off! Yeah you should dig back in. And the re-reads if the first books are so good because you miss so much the first time. The audio books are a great way to churn through them. I think Patrick Tull reads them basically perfectly. And it makes it easier to get through the jargon because you can get the sense of what’s being said by how he reads it.
Thanks for the tip. There was a website I used that had a glossary, but oftentimes I wouldn't want to break immersion. I think I made it up to book #8 or 9 before getting distracted by a frustrating semester.
You should start again with 8 and go from there. That’s maybe my favorite one.
Looks like it was my reading of The Ionian Mission that was indeed . . . curtailed.
I appreciate your expertise. I'll let you know when I'm back at sea.
I smoked it! That one is so good. I've read that book more than than any of the others. His re-introduction of Awkward Davies is one of my favorite lines in the entire series. And the battle at the end is superb. But I will not spoil it (anymore).