John Brown Controversy Continues

"Simply too volatile to perform in West Virginia," David Matheny was told in 1990 after the West Virginia Humanities Council’s primary sponsor refused to fund his John Brown performance. Remember this was 139 years after Brown attacked Harpers Ferry, which astounded Matheny, a retired Emporia State University professor. Instead of having zealous John Brown come to their annual dinner, the West Virginia Humanities Council settled for former president Rutherford B. Hayes.

John Brown is not too volatile for the Kansas Humanities Council to bring to Junction City, Colby, Fort Scott, and Lawrence in June 2004 for Kansas Chautauqua to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Kansas Territory. Matheny and five other scholars will portray Brown and other historical figures who played key roles in Kansas and nationally during the period from 1854-1861 known as Bleeding Kansas.

More than 145 years after his ill-fated raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859 to free the slaves, John Brown is one of the most controversial figures in American history. Depending on one's point of view, he is either an abolitionist martyr or a crazed murderer. The fiery abolitionist’s complexities attracted Chautauqua-veteran Matheny.

"After reading Stephen Oates' To Purge this Land with Blood, I was convinced that Brown had enough contradictions to be a very interesting character. He was a human with his strengths and faults rather than a blood crazed demon. I have done four Chautauqua characters, and except for the beard, Brown is the most challenging and the most fun," Matheny said.

Brown is best known for his attack on Harpers Ferry, but the time he spent in the Kansas Territory laid the groundwork for the raid. After failing in the east as a farmer, a tanner, a land speculator, and a wool broker and with a trail of lawsuits behind him, Brown followed five of his sons to the territory in 1855, heavily armed and eager to join the fight brewing there. The ruling passion of his life, said historian Kenneth S. Davis, was a hatred of slavery and slaveholders, fueled by his Calvinist upbringing. This passion soon pulled Brown into the political events that engulfed northeast Kansas as the territory struggled over whether Kansas would be a free or slave state.

Brown was involved in numerous skirmishes and hostilities, but one act plunged Bleeding Kansas into more violence. Incensed by the sacking of Lawrence in May 1856 by pro-slavery supporters and the failure of the free-state men to retaliate, Brown led a midnight raid on a group of slavery sympathizers at Pottawatomie Creek. The raiders killed five men, which sparked the Battle of Black Jack and the border war that raged across northeast Kansas in the summer of 1856.

After leaving Kansas in October 1856, Brown returned briefly in late 1857 and in the summer of 1858, but spent most of his time searching for money to fund his war against slavery. The first step was to capture the government arsenal at Harpers Ferry, which would supply his guerilla army of 22 men, including recruits from Kansas, with the necessary arms. Brown hoped to inspire the slaves to rebel, but instead he was captured, tried, and executed.

Abraham Lincoln spoke in Leavenworth on December 3, 1859, the day after John Brown was hanged. He said, "Old John Brown has been executed for treason against the state. We cannot object, even though he agreed with us in thinking slavery wrong. That cannot excuse violence, bloodshed, and treason. It could avail him nothing that he might think right now."

Was John Brown the "liberator of Kansas" or a bearded maniac? Historians continue to argue this point. Most Kansans know Brown as he is portrayed in the controversial John Steuart Curry mural in the state Capitol, with a Bible in one hand and a rifle in his hand. During Kansas Chautauqua, Matheny will use Brown’s words and deeds to explore the legend who helped ignite Kansas during the turbulent period before the Civil War.

In June 2004 the Kansas Humanities Council sponsors a statewide, month-long event, Bleeding Kansas: Where the Civil War Began, a Kansas Chautauqua. Through evening programs featuring portrayals including Clarina Nichols, Abraham Lincoln, and John Brown, workshops, historic tours, and reenactments, participants learn about Bleeding Kansas and Kansas’ rich history. Kansas Chautauqua will be in Junction City (June 4-8), Colby (June 11-15), Fort Scott (June 18-22), and Lawrence (June 25-29). For more information, contact info@kansashumanities.org or call 785/357-0359.

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