Marines hastily gathered from the Washington Navy Yard and sent by train to Harpers Ferry. This ad hoc force had an army colonel as its leader. This colonel just happened to be available when the news arrived at the War Department in Washington. His second in command was an army cavalry lieutenant, who just happened to be visiting the colonel and decided to come along. Arriving soon after the Marines at Harpers Ferry, the colonel conducted a reconnaissance, made an assessment of the situation, and gave orders for his force to prepare for a direct assault on the building where Brown and his group were holding their hostages. As you can always expect when Marines are given such orders, the battle was both fierce and over in a few minutes. John Brown was wounded and captured. The calm and decisive colonel was Robert E. Lee, one of the U.S. Army’s most capable officers. His lieutenant friend was a cadet at West Point when Lee was superintendent and a frequent guest at his quarters. His name was James E. B. (Jeb) Stuart. Both Lee and Stuart play important roles in the upcoming war.
The results of John Brown’s raid
If this foolish act of a misguided fanatic had transpired ten years earlier, it would have certainly raised little attention outside of Virginia. In 1859, however, after all that had already occurred in the troubled decade, John Brown’s raid (as the incident became known) lost all proportion and became a national calamity. The truth is that many Northerners shared the Southern outrage at Brown’s insane act. The voices of reason were largely drowned out, however, as everyone heard only what he or she wanted to hear. Today, a common expression states that one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter. So it was in 1859 with sectional reaction to the incident at Harpers Ferry. Southerners viewed Brown as a tool of abolitionist Republicans and a murderer; Northerners hailed him as a martyr who was willing to sacrifice himself for the holy cause of freedom. These extreme opinions only hardened hearts further, and raised emotions to a fever pitch. By now, both sides were ready to jump at the least provocation, if only to release those long pent-up emotions in some grand violent act of retribution against the perceived enemy.
John Brown’s end
Just two weeks after his raid, John Brown was tried and executed by the state of Virginia. On the day of his execution, the governor ordered militia and the Corps of Cadets from the Virginia Military Institute to guard the execution site against a possible abolitionist rescue attempt. The units formed a hollow square around the scaffold. Brown was hanged without incident. He faced death impassively, without any sign of fear. Another impassive and fearless man, the commander of the VMI detachment, watched Brown’s death. His name was Major Thomas J. Jackson, a Mexican-American War veteran and a quirky instructor at the school. Jackson, who appeared to be a very unlikely hero, would be heard of again very soon.
“JOHN BROWN’S BODY”
At the beginning of the war, Union volunteers marched off to war singing a song called “John Brown’s Body.” The first line of the song reflected how Brown had become a prophetic figure to many in the North:
“John Brown’s body lies a’moulderin’ in the grave! But his soul goes marching on!”
Julia Ward Howe heard soldiers singing the song as they marched below her hotel window in Washington, D.C. Filled with inspiration by the massed voices, she immediately sat down and composed new, more strident, words to the tune she heard. That tune and her lyrics became more famous than the original as “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” a song that still stirs a powerful sense of patriotism. Listen to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sing it, and you’ll never forget it. The original tune for “John Brown’s Body” (again with new lyrics) has become the battle song of U.S. paratroopers, titled “Blood on the Risers.” Unfortunately, it is doubtful that you’ll ever hear the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sing that version.
The Fighting South, the Angry North
Following John Brown’s raid, the atmosphere became extremely tense. When people believe they are trapped and are threatened with destruction, they take the only option left — to fight. In 1859, many of the Southern states certainly viewed the situation in this way. The North’s opposition to slavery as an institution left the South with very few options. Southerners were defending constitutional guarantees, as they saw it, and those guarantees were worth fighting for.
The North also felt trapped by the debilitating effects slavery had on the nation. As long as the South maintained its hold on political and economic power, the nation would continue to stumble from one crisis to the next. The implied threat of the South using the Constitution and the Supreme Court to impose its repugnant system on the country angered and frightened many Northerners. Many believed the time was coming to resist such attempts at destroying freedom.
By 1859, without a broad national consensus and the ability to see beyond this growing sense of fear, the United States was spinning out of control. At one time, most Americans believed that sectional trouble could be blamed on radical agitators on both sides; this was no longer the case, however. Many Americans came to see some sort of armed clash between the North and South as inevitable, an “irrepressible conflict” in the words of William Seward, a Northern Republican.
The Election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860
Almost a year after Brown’s death, Americans voted in a presidential election. Abraham Lincoln, whose voice over the past three years had become the voice of the Republican Party, was nominated for president. Lincoln had made speeches in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Kansas, and New York, proclaiming as eloquently as anyone of his century that slavery was a moral wrong, “founded on both injustice and bad policy” as he put it. Quoting the Bible, the source of his most inspired speeches, Lincoln told his audiences that the country was “a house divided against itself.” “I believe,” he said, “this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free.” He dissected the Southern defense of slavery, exposing it in a way that the average man could understand.
Although the party had several stronger and more politically powerful candidates, Lincoln emerged as the compromise nominee at the Republican convention because he had the approval of both the very fractious right wing (former Whigs) and left wing (abolitionists) of the party. The Republicans adopted a strong sectional platform, supporting the Wilmot Proviso, internal improvements, a transcontinental railroad, and immigration. The astute reader will note that slavery is missing from this platform. High moral ideals often take a back seat when the political stakes (like the presidency) are so high. Even though clearly a sectional party, the Republicans hedged their bets a bit to try and capture votes outside the North.
A new party emerges
The Know-Nothings, who had changed their name to the American Party in the last presidential election, now became the Constitutional Union Party. Their strategy, true to form, centered on ignoring the slavery issue completely. Their platform was summarized in a slogan that couldn’t possibly insult anyone: “We are for Constitution and Union.” This party (such as it was), with its clever matching name and slogan, nominated John Bell of Tennessee, who had strong support from voters in Maryland and Kentucky.
The Democrats divide
After the Dred Scott decision, the Democrats could no longer maintain a North-South coalition. The party broke into two separate parties, each nominating a candidate advocating a sectional platform. The pro-North wing nominated Stephen Douglas, the author of the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the man who had defeated Lincoln in the 1858 Illinois Senate race. These Democrats vaguely supported both popular sovereignty and the Dred Scott decision. Because there was no clear-cut statement that supported congressional protection for slavery in the territories, several Southern states took action to force the issue. South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Georgia delegates established a pro-South wing of the party and nominated John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky, Buchanan’s vice president.
Lincoln