In his article “The Madness of John Brown”, the author, Robert E. McGlone, discusses the mental state of J. Brown, who is known for his failed raid on Harpers Ferry.
Brown’s raid was an attempt to launch a war against slavery. It ended early in the morning on October 18, 1859. The author mentions that Brown was wounded and his squad was very little: a squad of Marines overwhelmed it. The trial lasted 6 days, and after that he was sentenced to hang. However, his raid had a great impact on society. Brown accepted his sentence with words: ”Now, if it is deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life for the furtherance of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood further with the blood of my children and with the blood of millions in this slave country whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel, and unjust enactments, I say, let it be done.”. So, Brown became a martyr for many reformers in the North. Brown’s correspondence proved some influential Northerners supported him, and Southerners, even those who admired his courage, condemned “those who sent him”. Also, there were Southerners who hated and despised him to the end. Despite his obvious influence on American history, we are distanced from him by the belief that he suffered from mental illness, and it threatened the very meaning of his life. He understood himself that the greatest object of his life would not make sense if he were declared insane. It could save his life, but he insisted on his sanity, because otherwise all his deeds and sacrifices would mean nothing. The author mentions that the raid on Harpers Ferry itself raises the issue of Brown’s mental health, as even some of his contemporaries doubted it when he decided to launch a war against slavery having only 21 active fighter.
Brown all his life supported African Americans and desired to elevate their status, he tried to help them in many different ways. He wrote a declaration of independence, but the interesting fact is that “his embrace of egalitarianism was paternalistic”. He saw himself as a chief leader. He desired to gain support of black people, but he didn’t consult with them much.
Even before Harpers Ferry, Brown was involved in killing several proslavery settlers in 1857. Du Bois understood the inevitability of debates on how can violence bring peace good will, but he also believed that slavery couldn’t be ended without a war. Different historians assumed his insanity because of his violent ways or inconsistencies in behavior, or a religious obsessive. One more thing that convinced some in Brown’s insanity was his “glittering eye”, which was a telltale mark of insanity in those times.
Analyzing his scores of letters, we see quite different John Brown: not so humorless imperious and fanatic as some biographers portray him. They show him as a much warmer person and a kind family man with a good sense of humor. Some writers mistake his notes about “terrible gathering” in his head for an evidence of mental illness, but he actually suffered from malaria. Talking about Brown’s family, all we know is that a number of his maternal relations “were at time committed to mental asylums”. But his children had some mental problems in different periods of life, and that allows the author to make a suggestion that “either John or Dianthe carried a hereditary predisposition to affective disorder”. Brown usually was calm, and did not demonstrate symptoms that could help even modern psychiatrists to diagnose some mental disorder.
Those who wrote petitions to the court for commitment insisted Brown was mad, arguing it with a fact that he wanted to resume fighting that was in Kansas. But if he was not, it would mean that for rational people slavery is a serious enough problem to break the laws and kill people. The issue of importance of lives of slaves and slave owners arose. And Brown made his choice, using righteous violence in his attempts to free the slaves.
Works cited
McGlone, Robert E. “The ‘Madness’ of John Brown.” Civil War Times Oct. 2009: 42-48. Print.
