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Primary sourceBook1860

Testimonies of Capt. John Brown, at Harper's Ferry

American Anti-Slavery Society · 1860

An 1860 pamphlet compiling John Brown's letters and his address to the court after his raid on Harper's Ferry.

This pamphlet collects Brown's own letters and courtroom address, used to cast him as a martyr after his execution.

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Title page of an 1860 pamphlet, Anti-Slavery Tracts No. 7, New Series. Title reads: Testimonies of Capt. John Brown, at Harper's Ferry, with his address to the court. Published by the American Anti-Slavery Society, New York, 1860. Handwritten shelf marks in the top left corner.
American Anti-Slavery Society, Testimonies of Capt. John Brown, at Harper's Ferry, 1860.

About this source

What it is

This pamphlet, published by the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1860, gathers letters written by John Brown along with his address to the court that tried him for the raid on Harper's Ferry. It was part of a series of anti-slavery tracts.

Why it matters

The Society compiled these documents to present Brown as a religious martyr for the anti-slavery cause. The opening lines show Brown writing calmly about his fate, expressing religious faith and confidence that history would judge him kindly. This reveals how abolitionists used Brown's own words to shape public sympathy after his execution.

Look closer

  • Why might the Anti-Slavery Society have chosen to publish Brown's own letters rather than summarize them?
  • What does Brown's language about God and faith tell you about how he understood his own actions?
  • Whose voices are missing from this collection of Brown's words?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of John Brown on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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