John Brown's 1833 Ames Artillery Sword

[Masich]

This is the 150th anniversary (Oct 16-18, 1859) of John Brown's Harpers Ferry raid and, in many ways, the beginning of the armed conflict we now call the American Civil War. Brown's revolution included a new U.S Constitution and a small army of free men, black and white, bent on inciting bloody servile insurrection and willing to lay down their lives for the idea that "all me are created equal."

But was Brown a terrorist, mad man, visionary, revolutionary or all the above?

The thing I can never erase from my mental picture of Brown is the image of him standing over his pro-slavery victims (on Potowatamie Creek, Kansas, in 1856) with an Ames 1832 Foot Artillery sword sharped to a razor edge. He and his sons and other followers hacked those men to death almost in front of their families. It takes real hard-hearted conviction to stab and chop another man to death (one victims hand was completely severed, probably a defensive wound). Could any of us have done such a thing? What was the mindset of such a man--and if he was unstable, how did he get sane people to follow him (from Boston to Kansas)?

One last question: What's the regulation weight of the Ames 1832 Artillery short sword (I have a cheap repro and want to get a sense of the difference from the original--those I've hefted seemed heavier, and much better made).

Andy Masich

[Malingerer]

Re: John Brown's 1833 Ames Artillery Sword

Andy, in a similar vein, we are a little over a month past the 150th anniversary of the Mountain Meadows Massacre in which a small army of Mormons slaughtered over 120 men, women and children of an immigant party from Arkansas in cold blood. The only survivors were children under the age 0f eight.

[Masich]

Re: John Brown's 1832 Ames Artillery Sword

The Mountain Meadows Massacre actually occurred in late September of 1857--but Bvt Major James H. Carleton (of California Column fame a few years later) did not arrive on the scene of the massacre site until 1859. He found the bleaching bones and tangled tufts of hair of men and women (many of the younger children had been spared and were living with Mormon families in Salt Lake City) which he buried as best he could beneath a rocky cairn.

While religious fanaticism doesn't completely explain either Mountain Meadows or the Pottawatomie killings, religion certainly helped the perpetrators rationalize their actions. Both Brigham Young and John Brown felt threatened by powerful forces (political and military) and believed they were doing God's work, though I think history will be kinder to Brown in the long run.