Latest / Creating America / Episode 29: John Brown’s Final Speech | Martyr, Radical, or Both?

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Episode 29: John Brown’s Final Speech | Martyr, Radical, or Both? · Creating America

• I’m sure at some point you’ve heard the Battle Hymn of the Republic (you know, “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord?” With the refrain “Glory, Glory Hallelujah, his truth is marching on!”?) It’s one of the most famous songs from the Civil War era. But initially that tune was sung with different words. “John Brown’s body lies a-mouldering in the grave…” Who was John Brown—and what did he say just weeks before his execution that would make him a martyr to some and a dangerous radical to others? Welcome to the Creating America Podcast, where we are reading through some of the documents and speeches that shaped the United States I’m Will Sarris. I’m an actor and media professional and I’ve always loved the study of history. At one point I realized that often I know ABOUT various speeches and documents that shaped the history of the US, but I haven’t actually read them. Maybe you’re in the same position? Well, I’m a voice actor, so here I hope I can not only read you the text, but make it come alive. Many of these documents and speeches are well known, others you’ve probably never heard of. Some are inspirational, others will probably shock you. As I have stated before, I’m interested in and have studied history over my lifetime, but I am not a historian. I won’t comment too much on these texts, other than to provide a little context. And I’ll try to point you to good historians who can help you out if you want to delve deeper. Additionally, the country has always benefited from a diversity of opinions, and that should be reflected here. So I’ll try to bring you texts from many different sources when I can. We’re proceeding somewhat chronologically through American history, but I’m sure I’ll miss a document of speech you want to hear. If you want to contact me, you can email CreatingAmericaPod@gmail.com and you can interact with me on social media. On Threads, Instagram and Facebook we are “Creating America Pod” and you can also contact me directly many apps. My handle is “williamsarris” one word. And you can subscribe on Patreon at patreon.com/williamsarris. It is my hope that as you listen to these documents and speeches you will gain an appreciation of what our country was, what it is, and what it hopes to be. On October 16, 1859, a small band of armed men entered the town of Harpers Ferry, Virginia, and seized the federal arsenal. Their leader was a 59-year-old abolitionist named John Brown (who, incidentally, was born in Torrington, Connecticut, near where I live). Brown had spent much of his life convinced that slavery was not simply a political disagreement, but a profound moral evil that demanded action. He had fought against pro-slavery forces in Kansas during the violence known as “Bleeding Kansas,” and he had already participated in efforts to liberate enslaved people. In 1856, Brown and his sons participated in the killing of five pro-slavery settlers at Pottawatomie Creek, and later that year he helped defend the abolitionist settlement of Osawatomie against a much larger pro-slavery force. The battle made Brown a national figure and earned him the nickname “Osawatomie Brown.” For supporters of the anti-slavery cause, the name became a symbol of his willingness to fight slavery with force; for his opponents, it represented something much more threatening—a man willing to kill for his beliefs. Now, at Harpers Ferry, he intended to strike at slavery itself by seizing weapons and, ultimately, encouraging enslaved people to rise against the system that held them in bondage. The plan failed almost immediately. Brown and his men were surrounded by local militia and eventually by U.S. Marines under Colonel Robert E. Lee. Ten of Brown’s men were killed, seven were captured, and Brown himself was severely wounded. He was taken to nearby Charles Town, where he was put on trial for treason against Virginia, murder, and conspiring to incite a slave insurrection. He was convicted and sentenced to death. On November 2, 1859, after the verdict was read, Brown delivered a short speech to the court. As you’ll hear, Brown speaks calmly and with an almost absolute certainty about the righteousness of his cause. He invokes the Bible. He argues that he acted on behalf of the enslaved and oppressed. And he declares that if his death is necessary to advance justice, then he is prepared to give his life. Rousing. Emotional. Memorable. But there is something important to keep in mind as you listen. John Brown was not entirely truthful in this speech. He insisted that he had never intended murder, treason, destruction of property, or an insurrection of enslaved people. Yet the evidence surrounding the Harpers Ferry raid—and Brown's own earlier statements—makes that claim considerably more complicated. His plan was to seize weapons and put them into the hands of enslaved people, and his earlier accounts of his intentions did not always match what he told the court. Brown himself later tried to explain those inconsistencies in a letter to the prosecutor of his case. That doesn't necessarily make the speech meaningless. In fact, it makes it more interesting. Brown was not simply describing what had happened. He was making an argument about what had happened—and about how he wanted history to remember him. The speech was quickly circulated in newspapers and printed as a pamphlet. It helped transform Brown, particularly in the North, from a defeated man awaiting execution into a powerful symbol of resistance to slavery. The National Archives notes that his words “electrified” many Northerners who read them. His execution a month later only intensified that image, while his raid and death became part of the growing national conflict over slavery that would soon lead the country into civil war. Brown himself predicted the war. At his execution he gave a slip of paper to the jailer where he had written “I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with Blood. I had, as I now think, vainly flattered myself that without very much bloodshed it might be done." Brown remains a difficult figure to fit neatly into a single category. He was deeply religious, uncompromising in his opposition to slavery, willing to use violence to achieve his goals, and capable of presenting his own actions in a way that served his larger purpose. So as we hear his final address to the court (delivered extemporaneously and recorded by the court reporter), listen not only to the words themselves, but to the man behind them—and to the remarkable moment in American history in which those words were spoken. John Brown's final speech to the court, delivered in Charles Town, Virginia, on November 2, 1859. I have, may it please the Court, a few words to say. In the first place, I deny every thing but what I have already admitted, of a design on my part to free Slaves. I intended, certainly, to have made a clean thing of that matter, as I did last winter, when I went into Missouri, and there took Slaves, without the snapping of a gun on either side, moving them through the country, and finally leaving them in Canada. I desired to have done the same thing again, on a much larger scale. That was all I intended. I never did intend murder, or treason, or the destruction of property, or to excite or incite Slaves to rebellion, or to make insurrection. I have another objection, and that is, that it is unjust that I should suffer such a penalty. Had I interfered in the manner, and which I admit has been fairly proved, – for I admire the truthfulness and candor of the greater portion of the witnesses who have testified in this case, – had I so interfered in behalf of the Rich, the Powerful, the Intelligent, the so–called Great, or in behalf of any of their friends, either father, mother, brother, sister, wife, or children, or any of that class, and suffered and sacrificed what I have in this interference, it would have been all right. Every man in this Court would have deemed it an act worthy a reward, rather than a punishment. This Court acknowledges too, as I suppose, the validity of the LAW OF GOD. I saw a book kissed, which I suppose to be the BIBLE, or at least the NEW TESTAMENT, which teaches me that, "All things whatsoever I would that men should do to me, I should do even so to them." It teaches me further, to "Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them." I endeavored to act up to that instruction. I say I am yet too young to understand that GOD is any respecter of persons. I believe that to have interfered as I have done, as I have always freely admitted I have done, in behalf of his despised poor, I have done no wrong, but RIGHT. Now, if it is deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life, for the furtherance of the ends of justice, and MINGLE MY BLOOD FURTHER WITH THE BLOOD OF MY CHILDREN, and with the blood of millions in this Slave country, whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel, and unjust enactments, – I say; LET IT BE DONE. Let me say one word further: I feel entirely satisfied with the treatment I have received on my trial. Considering all the circumstances, it has been more generous than I expected; but I feel no consciousness of guilt. I have stated from the first what was my intention, and what was not. I never had any design against the liberty of any person, nor any disposition to commit treason, or excite Slaves to rebel, or make any general insurrection. I never encouraged any man to do so, but always discouraged any idea of that kind. Let me say something, also, in regard to the statements made by some of those who were connected with me. I hear that it has been stated by some of them, that I have induced them to join me; but the contrary is true. I do not say this to injure them, but as regarding their weakness. Not one but joined me of his own accord, and the greater part at their own expense. A number of them I never saw and never had a word of conversation with, till the day they came to me, and that was for the purpose I have stated. Now I have done. John Brown’s letter for prosecutor Andrew Hunter on November 22, 1859. I have just had my attention called to a seeming confliction between the statement I at first made to Governor Wise and that which I made at the time I received my sentence, regarding my intentions respecting the slaves we took about the Ferry. There need be no such confliction, and a few words of explanation will, I think, be quite sufficient. I had given Governor Wise a full and particular account of that, and when called in court to say whether I had anything further to urge, I was taken wholly by surprise, as I did not expect my sentence before the others. In the hurry of the moment, I forgot much that I had before intended to say, and did not consider the full bearing of what I then said. I intended to convey this idea, that it was my object to place the slaves in a condition to defend their liberties, if they would, without any bloodshed, but not that I intended to run them out of the slave States. I was not aware of any such apparent confliction until my attention was called to it, and I do not suppose that a man in my then circumstances should be superhuman in respect to the exact purport of every word he might utter. What I said to Governor Wise was spoken with all the deliberation I was master of, and was intended for truth; and what I said in court was equally intended for truth, but required a more full explanation than I then gave. Please make such use of this as you think calculated to correct any wrong impressions I may have given. Thanks for listening to this episode of Creating America, where we read the documents and speeches that shaped the United States as we know it today. I’m Will Sarris, your host and narrator. This show is written and produced by me. If you like this podcast, please subscribe and rate the show and share it with your friends. I’ve also started a Patreon, patreon.com/williamsarris, where you can support this project, which is something I do on my own time. Anything you can contribute is appreciated! If you’d like to send in a comment or request that I read a speech or document you think I missed, the email is CreatingAmericaPod@gmail.com. You can find the show on social media by searching CreatingAmerica, and you can find me there too. If you want to know more about what I do professionally, visit my website williamsarris.net. Till next time! Copyright 2026 William Sarris All rights reserved.