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John Brown And The Raid That Sparked The Civil War

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“Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid that Sparked the Civil War” is written by Tony Horwitz. Horwitz is a bestselling author and a Pulitzer Prize-winner who worked for The Wall Street Journal. Throughout the book, Horwitz tells the story of a man named John Brown, who was an abolitionist and leader of many riots and raids that influenced the Civil War. Horwitz’s thesis is that John Brown had a significant impact on the events leading up to the Civil War, particularly the raid on Harpers Ferry.
John Brown was born to a deeply religious family in 1800 in Torrington, Connecticut. His father, Owen Brown, who was “a committed pacifist”, was passionately opposed to slavery, which heavily influenced John Brown to become an abolitionist (Horwitz, 2011, p.19). John Brown is described as “a warrior at heart”, who was focused on the task to “undermine slavery (Horwitz, 2011, p.19, 31). This obsession to terminate slavery was his inspiration throughout all the skirmishes he fought in and slaves he helped free. The most infamous battle was his raid on Harper’s Ferry, where he was captured, trialed, and later hung. This battle is believed to be a major …show more content…

Horwitz successfully supported his argument by providing the information of Brown’s raids, particularly emphasizing the raid on Harpers Ferry. He provides the reader with the impacts and events leading to the raid from beginning to end, starting “when word of trouble in Harpers Ferry spread” to Brown facing “his own imminent and ignoble death” (Horwitz, 2011, p. 173, 184). Brown was obviously not the only abolitionist that had an impact on the beginning of the war; as is shown when Horwitz informs the reader of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and Bloody Kansas. He believed that slavery was a violation of God’s and the nation’s beliefs. Brown’s raid was a critical aspect that led an already broken nation to the brink of

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