Remarkable encounter: John Brown’s final moments witnessed by Stonewall Jackson

CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. — On December 1, 1859, abolitionist John Brown, having been convicted and sentenced to death for planning and executing an uprising in Harpers Ferry, Virginia, delivered a final statement to his jailer that he wished to be shared with the public:

The final hours of abolitionist John Brown

“I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood. I had, as I now think, vainly flattered myself that without very much bloodshed it might be done.”

The following day, John Brown was publicly executed by hanging in Charles Town. Due to fears that there might be an attempt to save him from this fate, the state of Virginia ordered troops to the town to ensure that his sentence would be carried out.

A young Stonewall Jackson witnesses John Brown’s hanging

Among the soldiers on duty that day was Thomas Jackson, a professor of natural history at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, who was commanding a group of young cadets.

We cannot be certain that Jackson was aware of the historical significance of the events he would witness that day, but they left a lasting impression on him, which he shared in a letter he wrote to his wife, Mary Anna Jackson.

“John Brown was hung today at about 11 1/2 a.m. He behaved with unflinching firmness,” Jackson wrote.

“Brown rode on the head of his coffin, from his prison to the place of execution. He was dressed in carpet slippers of predominating red, white socks, black pants, black frock coat, black vest & black slouch hat. Nothing around his neck beside his shirt collar. The open wagon in which he rode was strongly guarded on all sides.”

Faith, slavery, and the moral divide between Brown and Jackson

The Clarksburg-born Jackson was a graduate of West Point and a veteran of the Mexican American War. He was also a slaveholder and a man of deep faith, and he believed that the Bible sanctioned the institution of slavery. John Brown was also a man of great faith, but he believed that slavery was the nation’s greatest sin.

Brown’s demeanor that day was evidence that he was at peace with his fate, prepared to ascend to heaven, and that he felt no remorse for leading a violent insurrection designed to accelerate the death of slavery.

In his letter to Anna, Thomas Jackson continued:

“Brown had his arms tied behind him & ascended the scaffold with apparent cheerfulness. After reaching the top of the platform, he shook hands with several who were standing around him. The sheriff placed the rope around his neck, then threw a white cap over his head & asked him if he wished a signal when all should be ready—to which he replied that it made no difference, provided he was not kept waiting too long.

“In this condition, he stood on the trap door, which was supported on one side by hinges and on the other (south side) by a rope for about 10 minutes. When the rope was cut by a single blow, and Brown fell through about 25 inches… With the fall, his arms below the elbow flew up, hands clenched, & his arms gradually fell by spasmodic motions—there was very little motion of his person for several minutes, after which the wind blew his lifeless body to & fro… altogether it was an imposing but very solemn scene.”

Reflecting on what he had witnessed, Jackson wrote, “I was much impressed with the thought that before me stood a man, in the full vigor of health, who must in a few minutes be in eternity. I sent up a petition that he might be saved. Awful was the thought that he might in a few minutes receive the sentence ‘Depart ye wicked into everlasting fire.’ I hope that he was prepared to die, but I am very doubtful—he wouldn’t have a minister with him.”

Within a year of these events, Abraham Lincoln was victorious in the presidential election, and many slaveholding states began to secede from the Union. When Virginia voted to secede in April 1861, Jackson supported this decision and offered his service to the new Confederate state.

For his bold action at the Battle of First Manassas, Jackson earned the nickname “Stonewall” Jackson. By the time he passed away from wounds received at the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863, Stonewall Jackson was a revered icon of the Confederacy.

Lincoln’s reflection on the conflict: God, slavery, and Civil War

When Lincoln delivered his second inaugural address in March 1864, he addressed the puzzling contradiction that two groups of Americans would wage such a bloody war against each other, each believing God to be on their side.

Lincoln noted that “Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces, but let us judge not that we be not judged.”

Lincoln concluded that “The prayers of both could not be answered ~ that of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes.”

Visit the site of John Brown’s execution in Charles Town

You can visit the site of John Brown’s execution at 515 South Samuel Street in Charles Town in the eastern panhandle of West Virginia. An interpretive marker identifies the location where the gallows stood.

Map showing site of John Brown’s Hanging

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