 | | May 9th is John Brown's birthday, and in the year 2000, we celebrate the 200th anniversary of his birth. Opinions of John Brown vary: Leverett Wilson Spring referred to him as "an astray and out-of-season Puritan"; Ironquill described him as "one / Whose faith, whose fight, whose failing, / Fame shall placard upon the walls of time"; and Andrew C. McLaughlin said, "the devotion of Brown to his sense of duty, the calmness with which he met his fate, his readiness to die in the cause of freedom, won the attention even of the scoffer and gave a certain amount of dignity to abolitionism." |
 Ironquill's poem, "John Brown" Leverett Wilson Spring wrote about John Brown in his book, KANSAS: The Prelude to the War for the Union.
Listing from the 1899 A History of America. Words to "John Brown's Body": |
| John Brown's body lies a-mold'ring in the grave John Brown's body lies a-mold'ring in the grave John Brown's body lies a-mold'ring in the grave His soul goes marching on Refrain: Glory, Glory! Hallelujah! Glory, Glory! Hallelujah! Glory, Glory! Hallelujah! His soul is marching on He captured Harper's Ferry with his nineteen men so true He frightened old Virginia till she trembled through and through They hung him for a traitor, themselves the traitor crew His soul is marching on Refrain John Brown died that the slave might be free, John Brown died that the slave might be free, John Brown died that the slave might be free, But his soul is marching on! Refrain The stars above in Heaven are looking kindly down The stars above in Heaven are looking kindly down The stars above in Heaven are looking kindly down On the grave of old John Brown Refrain |
Homer White was considered an expert on John Brown. The 