John Brown's Body

John Brown painting done by John Curry

Most Americans know, or have heard often, The Battle Hymn of the Republic with its familiar melody.  It's words give the message of America at war, in diivision, the great Civil War between the states, as the song was written to inspire the Union troops, weary and worn out from battle.  But there was another song that came before that showed the violent side of the war's issues, John Brown's Body.

 John Brown, an abolitionist from the North, was hanged on December 2, 1859.  His crime was the incident of October 16, 1959 when he and his men had been working with others in the freeing of the slaves and had taken refuge in a farmhouse.  They left the farmhouse later on that evening, captured some prominent citizens in a town nearby and took over the federal armory and arsenal.  Brown and his boys hoped the slaves would join in, get some of the weapons, and that more weaponry would be provided slaves so they could fight for their own freedom.

But Brown and his men ended up hiding in the engine house of the arsenal, while Colonel Robert E. Lee and his troops stormed their hiding place, killing many of the raiders. 

For leading a slave rebellion and for treason Lee was hanged.

The song John Brown’s Body is the rallying cry in music for the abolitionists.  It favored the Union side, as did the Battle Hymn of the Republic, but the image of the man whose life ended in death became a symbol as well of the issue of slavery and the importance of the war’s mission with respect to it.