Tony Horwitz’s Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid That Sparked the Civil War is one of the most important books on history I have ever read.
Tony Horwitz, like me, believes the raid John Brown led on the United States armory and weapons arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia on October 16, 1859 is one of the most important events in American history.
At roughly 8:00 PM, Brown and 18 of his followers, including two of his sons, took control of the bridges running in and out of Harpers Ferry. By 10:00 PM, they took control of the armory and the weapons arsenal.
Brown and his men, in part because of bad tactical decisions made by Brown, lost control of the armory and weapons arsenal in about a day. But in taking such an aggressive action to oppose slavery, Brown and his team forced America to confront the disgrace of slavery in a way many refused to do prior to the raid.
The politically correct answer is to say that violence is never the answer. But, as Midnight Rising demonstrates, sometimes violence is the only way to get people’s attention. As long as the oppressors are comfortable, there is no chance they will agree to ending the oppression they derive great value from maintaining.
I don’t think anyone, including John Brown, wanted violence. But there simply was no other way to bring about the beginning of the end of slavery. Personally, I have a tremendous amount of respect for John Brown. He gave his life and was okay with several of his children giving their lives for a justice bigger than themselves. Throughout history, there aren’t many examples of people knowingly, willingly risking their lives for others being oppressed.
No matter how you feel about the violent action taken by Brown and his team, I hope you would learn to respect the courage displayed by Brown as he was waiting to be hanged. Horwitz’s work of humanizing Brown and his team is what really makes this book special. As a person who believes deeply in the ideal that we should all fight oppression–even if the oppression isn’t our own–I gained so much respect for John Brown as I read his calm defiance as he faced down pending death. There haven’t been many people who would willingly accept death as a price they must pay to make life better for so many. This is especially true when you consider that in many circles Brown was considered a traitor and was treated as such.
If you want to learn way more about John Brown’s raid than many in America are comfortable knowing, you should read Midnight Rising.