To Marymog....another lesson
In posts #12-14, the subject of religion was brought up in the North and South. I had stated the the 'Christianity' of the North had become a social christianity and Jesus was just a social messiah. A good man. A ghandi of sorts. I think it is important to pursue this further. Perhaps some of the yankee idols can be thrown down. Can you sing "The Battle Hymn of the Republic"?
I will use the book (John Brown Abolitionist, David Reynolds, Vintage Books, 2006). You should like it as it is pro-yankee. I like it because, though I disagree with his conclusions, I believe he is honest in his presentation of facts. You probably ask what does John Brown have to do with the religion of the north? Well, it reveals a lot, as I think you will see. This will take more than a day for me to present, but , who knows when you will be back anyway.
We go back to May 24-25th, 1856. This is the day of the Pottawatomie murders by John Brown and his group. Remember, the War between the States would not start until 1861. All of this was leading up to it.
"Around ten o'clock at night on Saturday, May 24, the men seized their weapons and walked a mile north...They went first to the cabin of one of the settlers...to draw him out. The muzzle of a rifle poked at them through a chink, and they backed off. They went on to the nearby home of James Doyle and his family.
"In the cabin James Doyle, his wife, Mahala, and their six children lay asleep. A sharp rap on the door drew Doyle out of bed....As soon as Doyle opened the door...five armed men barged into the house. The leader, John Brown...announced they were from the Northern Army and were taking Doyle prisoner...Mahala Doyle, bursting into tears....
"She watched in horror as the invaders led him and her two oldest sons,...out into the night. She begged them to spare her sixteen-year-old son, John, and they did...As terrified as she and the young children were, they could not have imagined the atrocity that was about to happen.
"Brown's band led the three captives two hundred yards up the road that led into the woods. Owen and Salmon fell on them, hacking away with the heavy swords. In the melee, horrible wounds were inflicted. Drury Doyle's fingers and arms, raised to fen off blows, were severed, and his head and chest were gashed. His brother was stabbed through the head, jaw, and side, and the father was wounded in the breast. Although John Brown did not participate in the attack, he fired a single shot into the head of the senseless James Doyle to make sure of death.
"The group proceeded half a mile to the cabin of Allen Wilkinson...His wife roused him when she heard the dog barking....He asked the callers who they were. The reply was a shouted request for directions...When he opened the door, he found himself surrounded by four men...He was asked curtly to explain his position on slavery...he indicated that he opposed the Free State party, one of them declared, 'you are our prisoner'.....
"A hundred and fifty yards from the cabin Wilkinson met the same fate as the Doyles. Henry Thompson and Weiner, possibly with the help of one of the younger Browns, slashed him to death, stabbing him in the head and side. They heaved his body int dead brush.
The final victim, William Sherman, was staying at the home of a proslavery friend, James Harris,....Brown's party waded across the creek toward Harris's cabin....midnight had passed. The pious John Brown, once so careful about observing the Sabbath that he accepted no visitors on Sunday, was now prepared to kill on that day.
"When Brown and his party learned that Dutch Henry, their main target, was out on the prairie, they decided upon his brother Dutch Bill instead. They led Sherman to the edge of the creek, where Brown's two youngest sons, along with Weiner and Thompson, felled him....In the meantime, Brown and his followers hid out in the wilderness, resurfacing occasionally to battle proslavery forces. By the end of September, he had left Kansas for the East to raise funds for his war against slavery. " (p. 171-174)
to be continued.
Stranger
