Was John Brown A Hero Essay

How can one man be seen as both a hero by many but a monster by so many more? The actions of this man are often said to have quickened the start of none other than the American Civil War, the man being John Brown. One of the main catalysts of the American Civil War was the issue of slavery and this issue had divided the nation for many years prior. John Brown was an abolitionist during this period and he had a strong hatred for the slavery that occurred in the U.S at the time due to his father’s same belief. As a result of this hatred he completed mass murders of pro-slavery individuals and lit the fire of violence that led to the war. To many people of the North this was considered the acts of a hero but to the people of the South this was considered the acts of a monster. Was John Brown a horrible, insane man? Or were his acts

There were two accounts on which he brutally murdered people who were pro-slavery; The Pottawatomie Creek Massacre in 1856 and the Harpers Ferry raid in 1859. The Pottawatomie Creek Massacre was his first act of radicalism in which he brutally hacked apart five unarmed men. The Harpers Ferry raid was what pushed John into the public eye as both a hero and a villain. From the view of him being a villain, it showed the brutality of the methods he used to get his message across. On October 16th, 1859, Brown and 21 of his male followers seized an arsenal and armoury in Harpers Ferry. On this evening, he and his men held many people captive and killed seven of them. Brown was surrounded and caught by the militia and a few months later he was hanged for murder and treason against the Commonwealth of Virginia. Harpers Ferry confirmed the fears of the pro-slavers that John Brown was a monster and determined to destroy the South by committing genocide against all slave holders. His actions set the nation on an inevitable course to The Civil