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 338 BROWN and other periodicals, many of which, on pro- fessional and other subjects, have been repub- lished under the title of " Horro Subseoivte " (2 vols.). Among the most popular of these are several relating to the character and habits of the dog, an animal held by him in peculiar esteem. That entitled " Rab and his Friends " has been frequently published in separate form, and is perhaps the best known and most popu- lar of his writings. BROWN, John, an American abolitionist, born in Torrington, Conn., May 9, 1800, hanged at Charlestown, Va., Dec. 2, 1859. He was fifth in descent from Peter Brown, who landed at Plymouth, Mass., from the Mayflower in 1620. At the age of five years he emigrated with his father to Hudson, Ohio, where his youth and early manhood were passed. When a boy he was often sent distances of 100 miles or more in charge of droves of cattle, and visiting seve- ral encampments of American troops during the war of 1812, he acquired so great a disgust for military life that he invariably refused to perform military duty, choosing rather to be fined than to serve as a soldier even in time of peace. He then resolved never to take part in any war which was not one for liberty. About this time, as appears from a fragment of an au- tobiography left by him, he conceived that de- testation of slavery which became the master passion of his life. He received a strict reli- gious education, and at 16 years of age was a communicant of the Congregational church and a diligent reader of the Bible. In 1819 he went to Plainfield, Mass., with a view of enter- ing the orthodox Calvinistic ministry; but a chronic inflammation of the eyes compelled him to abandon his studies and return to Ohio, where he resumed the tanner's trade, which he had previously practised in his father's service. For the next 20 years he carried on this busi- ness partly in Ohio and partly in Crawford county, Penn. ; but having lost the greater part of his property by unfortunate specula- tions in land, he returned to Ohio, and in 1840 embarked in the wool trade. In 1846 he re- moved with his family to Springfield, Mass., where he opened a wool warehouse. Many wool-growers of northern Ohio consigned their stock to him to be sold at discretion ; but hav- ing attempted to establish a system of grading wools, he brought himself into collision with the manufacturers of New England, who com- bined to purchase wool directly from the pro- ducers. Brown thereupon took a largo quan- tity of wool to Europe, which was sold in London at half its value, and he returned to America a ruined man. In 1849 he removed his family to North Elba, Essex county, N. Y., and began to reclaim a tract of wild land given to him by Gerrit Smith. For ten years pre- vious to this time he had harbored the thought of becoming the liberator of the southern slaves ; and as the region in which he settled was partially occupied by negro colonists, whom Mr. Smith's liberality had planted there on free homesteads, he undertook to counsel and instruct them, hoping thereby to further indi- rectly the scheme which lay nearest to his heart. But the negroes, unaccustomed to the rigors of a northern climate, and disheart- ened by the toils and hardships involved in clearing their mountain farms, soon relin- quished them. Brown and his family, which now included a number of grown-up sons and daughters, persevered, and ultimately estab- lished comfortable homes for themselves. In 1851 he returned to Ohio and again engaged in the wool business. In 1854 his four eldest sons, residing in Ohio, migrated to Kansas. They went unarmed, and settled in Lykins county, about 8 m. distant from the village of Ossawattomie, and near the Missouri border. Partaking strongly in the anti-slavery opinions of their father, they were harassed, plundered, and threatened by marauding bands of pro- slavery men from Missouri; and they finally wrote to their father to bring them a supply of arms and ammunition. To this summons he lent a ready ear. Having brooded for fifteen years over schemes for arresting and over- throwing the slave power, he conceived that the moment had now arrived when he ought to take the field actively in that behalf. Trained by a life of toil to endure hardships, tough and sinewy of body, strictly temperate in his hab- its, and a brave, resolute, and God-fearing man of the type of his Puritan ancestor, he was sin- gularly fitted to become a leader in the rough encounters which marked the border warfare of Kansas in 1854-'6. Moving his family back to the farm in North Elba, he departed in 1855 for Kansas, with no intention of settling there, bnt prepared to lay down his life if necessary in the anti-slavery cause. In November of this year the people of Lawrence, the head- quarters of the free-state men, armed them- selves to repel an attack from a largo body of Missourians, who, organized as Kansas militia, had laid siege to the town. While the hostile forces were watching each other, John Brown, accompanied by his four sons, all armed to the teeth, appeared among the besieged. He re- ceived a command and counselled an imme- diate movement upon the enemy ; but the leaders of the free-state men, unwilling to bring on a collision, were endeavoring to adjust the diffi- culty by negotiation. This disgusted Brown, who, in reply to an invitation from Gen. J. H. Lane to attend a council of war, said : " Tell the general when he wants me to fight to say so ; but that is the only order I will ever obey." Thenceforth his operations were of an irregular character and conducted exclusively by him- self. In May, 1856, at the head of a small body of determined men, he went into camp on the Pottawattamie, near the residence of his sons. A few days later he was engaged in the combat of Black Jack, which resulted in the capture of a superior force of Missourians, with a considerable amount of plundered goods. Other affairs of the kind occurring during the