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Digital
History>eXplorations>John
Brown: Hero or Terrorist?> John
Brown in his Own Words>John Brown
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Thomas
Hovenden,
The Last Moments of John Brown (detail)
1884
Historians
believe that Hovenden read the following account in the
New York Tribune, from December 5, 1859:
"On
leaving the Jail, John Brown had on his face an expression
of calmness and serenity characteristic of the patriot
who is about to die with a living consciousness that he
is laying his life down for the good of his fellow creatures.
As he stepped out of door a black woman, with her little
child in her arms, stood near his way. The twain were
of the despised race for whose emancipation and elevation
to the dignity of children of God he was about to lay
down his life. He stopped for a moment in his course,
stooped over, and with the tenderness of one whose love
is as broad as the brotherhood of man, kissed [the child]
affectionately."
Hovenden
could have also read "Brown
of Osawatomie" by John Greenleaf Whittier.
Historians
do not think that the incident is true, however. The
article
was meant to inflame readers - especially northern abolitionists.
In the accounts of Brown's execution, civilians - like
the woman holding the baby - were not permitted in the
area.
Learn
more: The
John Brown Legend in Pictures. Kissing the Negro
Baby by James C. Malin, Kansas Historical
Quarterly, November, 1939 (Vol. 8, No. 4), pages
339 to 341.
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