Historian discovers unique account of John Brown's Vt. visit
MONTPELIER - In Arlington, church bells rang throughout the day on Dec. 2, 1859, and for one hour in Peacham, starting at 11 a.m., as abolitionist John Brown was hanged in a field in far-off Charles Town, Va.
"We don't know the full extent of the hanging in Vermont. We do know in Arlington, (Almera Hawley Canfield) was firmly opposed to slavery, and had her grandsons ring the bells in the Episcopal church all day long," said Civil War historian and preservationist Howard Coffin. "One of the grandsons (later) said he couldn't go into Arlington without hearing that long, long tolling."
And in Peacham, Coffin said, abolitionist Leonard Johnson rang the bell at the Congregationalist church as the execution took place...
... It's clear that Coffin also is a fan of Brown, who is a controversial figure because unlike pacifist abolitionists, he promoted armed insurrections that, in the case of a Kansas campaign in 1856, left five pro-slavery people dead. Brown was hanged after an ultimately failed attempt to seize a federal armory at Harpers Ferry, Va., (now West Virginia) that left seven dead.
"The day he's hanged, he leaves a note to his jailer saying he believes 'that the crimes of this guilty land will not be purged away but with blood.' He predicts the war," Coffin said. And historians generally believe the hanging of Brown prompted the South to begin setting up militias, inevitably leading to the U.S. Civil War...
... What Coffin only discovered six weeks ago, however, was that Brown made a visit to Cavendish in 1857, probably in hopes of securing some of the $20,000 the Vermont Legislature had approved to support anti-slavery settlements in Kansas. Although Vermont's governor at that time, Ryland Fletcher, was a devout abolitionist, he turned down Brown's request for some of the money at the Cavendish meeting.
Coffin tripped across a newspaper recounting of the visit in a microfilmed copy of the Rutland Herald from May 7, 1869.
The writer, who is not identified, described how Brown's physical appearance on that visit differed from the bearded photographs taken around the time of the Harpers Ferry raid...
Read entire article at Times Argus
"We don't know the full extent of the hanging in Vermont. We do know in Arlington, (Almera Hawley Canfield) was firmly opposed to slavery, and had her grandsons ring the bells in the Episcopal church all day long," said Civil War historian and preservationist Howard Coffin. "One of the grandsons (later) said he couldn't go into Arlington without hearing that long, long tolling."
And in Peacham, Coffin said, abolitionist Leonard Johnson rang the bell at the Congregationalist church as the execution took place...
... It's clear that Coffin also is a fan of Brown, who is a controversial figure because unlike pacifist abolitionists, he promoted armed insurrections that, in the case of a Kansas campaign in 1856, left five pro-slavery people dead. Brown was hanged after an ultimately failed attempt to seize a federal armory at Harpers Ferry, Va., (now West Virginia) that left seven dead.
"The day he's hanged, he leaves a note to his jailer saying he believes 'that the crimes of this guilty land will not be purged away but with blood.' He predicts the war," Coffin said. And historians generally believe the hanging of Brown prompted the South to begin setting up militias, inevitably leading to the U.S. Civil War...
... What Coffin only discovered six weeks ago, however, was that Brown made a visit to Cavendish in 1857, probably in hopes of securing some of the $20,000 the Vermont Legislature had approved to support anti-slavery settlements in Kansas. Although Vermont's governor at that time, Ryland Fletcher, was a devout abolitionist, he turned down Brown's request for some of the money at the Cavendish meeting.
Coffin tripped across a newspaper recounting of the visit in a microfilmed copy of the Rutland Herald from May 7, 1869.
The writer, who is not identified, described how Brown's physical appearance on that visit differed from the bearded photographs taken around the time of the Harpers Ferry raid...