John Brown was full of the Lord, just doing God’s will.
A fanatic is a person who does what the Almighty would do if he were in possession of all of the facts.
Well, he was not encumbered by realism.
“Although Brown spent years dreaming of the raid, he apparently put little thought into the specifics of its execution. He made no attempt to notify the slaves that he hoped would join him, and he had little idea what to do with the armory he planned to capture.”
"The devil and wicked men are so held in on every side with the hand of God, that they cannot conceive, or contrive, or execute any mischief, any farther than God himself doth not permit only, but command. Nor are they only held in fetters, but compelled also, as with a bridle, to perform obedience to those commands."John Brown was full of something, but I don't think it was the Lord.
"...when God makes angels or men sin, he does not sin himself, because he does not break any law. For God is under no law, and therefore cannot sin."
Really?
Initially, the raid went well, and they met no resistance entering the town. They cut the telegraph wires and easily captured the armory, which was being defended by a single watchman. They next rounded up hostages from nearby farms, including Colonel Lewis Washington, great-grandnephew of George Washington. They also spread the news to the local slaves that their liberation was at hand. Things started to go wrong when an eastbound Baltimore & Ohio train approached the town. The train’s baggage master tried to warn the passengers. Brown’s men yelled for him to halt and then opened fire.
The baggage master, Hayward Shepherd, became the first casualty of John Brown’s war against slavery.
_Ironically, Shepherd was a free black man._
_Two of the hostages’ slaves also died in the raid._
For some reason, after the shooting of Shepherd, Brown allowed the train to continue on its way.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pottawatomie_Massacre
Can’t imagine the Lord was over pleased by all that.
The monument to Hayward Shepherd, paid for and erected by the daughters of the Confederacy was first walled up in plywood after “Brown Worshipers” complained and then removed altogether.
[hubby and I went to pay our respects this spring and leave a memorial and it was simply “vanished” and no one knew (or admitted to) where it went]
Ironically, there’s a wax museum with a scary, psychotic looking Brown figure and a terrified black man in the window.
I’ve often thought the black guy must be Shepherd, considering the sheer horror on his face.
Can’t imagine why.
[unless it’s because he “freed” 3 black folks from their mortal coils that day]
“The wrong execution of the right idea” doesn’t even begin to cover Brown’s “methods”.
Having said that, if you’re into the “paranormal”, Harper’s Ferry is veritable feast for the “sensitive”.
Beautiful place but stay out of the ruined church’s old alcove.
Somebody “persistent” hangs out there...:)