Compare And Contrast John Brown And Nat Turner

“Fight with fire and strike terror in the heart of the proslavery people” (“UShistory” 1). This inspired John Brown and his followers. John Brown grew up with a father that passionately disagreed with the idea of slavery. As Brown grew older he became a radical abolitionist. He lead the Pottawatomie Creek massacre and the raid at Harpers Ferry. None of these were successful in ending slavery. However, Brown’s death had the greatest impact. Although John Brown and Nat Turner lived two very different beginnings, they ran parallel lives.

John Brown acted like any other kid growing up but, grew up to be a well known radical abolitionist. He was born on May 9, 1800 in Torrington, Connecticut. Because Brown’s father was strongly against slavery,

Brown’s goal was to abolish slavery. His plan for the raid at Harpers Ferry was to arm the slaves with weapons to help kill the slave owners. He wanted to establish a base at Blue Ridge Mountain with him and his army. From there they would assist the runaway slave, give slaves their weapons, and launch attacks on slaveholders. They were prepared to attack in 1859 but postponed the raid for the next year. One of his followers had threatened to reveal his plan, and he did. From their the rest of the group had to go into hiding. The summer following that nightmare Brown rented a farm across from the Potomac river. Once he was settled in he waited for his army to arrive. Many men decided not to be apart of the raid because they felt the plan wouldn’t work or they moved away. Brown had to quickly recruit new men to help successfully carry out the plan. Before the raid Brown met with Douglass one last time and he said, “You’re walking into a perfect steel trap, and you’ll never get out alive” (WGBH Education Foundation 3). At night, Brown set out with his 22 army and crossed the Potomac river in the pouring rain. They didn’t reach town until four a.m. First Brown and his men captured the federal army and arsenal. Next they captured Hall’s works. Brown’s small army rounded up 60 citizens and held them hostage. Brown was hoping that the slaves would come and help but their never did.

John Brown was born in May and grew living a white lifestyle. However, Turner was born in October and grew up as a slave. This lead them to have different reasons why they became an abolitionist. Turner hated slavery and didn’t feel that anyone should have to go through it. Brown grew up with a family of abolitionist and followed his dad’s footsteps. Brown and Turner both had a raid in Virginia but, John’s was in 1859 and Nat’s was in 1831. They are similar because they both had a certain plan for their attack to kill slave owners. The difference between their raids is that Brown’s was the raid at Harpers Ferry and Turner raided in Southampton, known as Nat Turner’s Slave Rebellion. During the raid at Harpers Ferry Brown led 21 fighters to fight. On the other hand Turner only led 6 slaves. Another thing that they have in common is that both raids failed and they were both captured. Brown was captured by US Marines while Turner was captured Phipps, a farmer. Like one and another they were both hanged. Adding to be hanged Turner was skinned and turned into purses. John Brown and Nat Turney lived different lives growing up but in the end they lived almost identical