The famous oratory of John Brown, knowing full well he was being martyred in the process, had been injured and captured in the raid on Harper's Ferry with his 19 men so few. They had frightened Old Virginia till she trembled through and through. He gave his defense in his trial, rejecting any suggestion to plead insanity, and spoke for himself. His wife had already died, and 12 of his children had already died by that point, and so he was fully intending to be the same as them now, and thus they hung him for a traitor, Virginia being the traitorous crew.

Sheats was born on April 10, 1839, to planter William W. Sheats and his wife, Mary Garner Sheats, in Walker County, Alabama. He was raised on a farm and educated at Somerville Academy in Morgan County, Alabama. After graduation, he worked as a school teacher and became involved in politics.

At the age of 21, Sheats was elected to represent Winston County, Alabama, at the Alabama Secession Convention of 1861. Sheats ran on an explicit platform: he promised to vote against secession "first, last, and all the time". He voted against the ordinance of secession at every turn. When the ordinance passed on January 11, 1861, Sheats refused to sign the final document. He argued passionately that if the majority of Alabama could secede from the United States, then the Unionist majority in a county ought to be able to secede from Alabama.

In the Fall of 1861, Sheats was elected by citizens of Winston County, Alabama, to the Alabama House of Representatives. He did not attend the session because of his refusal to swear a required oath of allegiance to the Confederacy. He was subsequently expelled from the legislature the following year on a charge of treason.

Fleeing to the mountains of North Alabama, Sheats avoided conscription in the Confederate Army and encouraged men to join the Union Army, actions which led to the establishment of the 1st Alabama Cavalry. In one recruitment speech, Sheats spoke to an estimated audience of over two thousand citizens. He was determined to enlist himself, but was arrested in July 1862 for his actions. Sheats was released from Confederate custody after several months, but was arrested again in 1863 for his pro-Union sentiments and remained a prisoner until the end of the Civil War.

After the Civil War, Sheats was a member of the Alabama Constitutional Convention of 1865. He also studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1867, and began a legal practice in Decatur, Alabama, where he served as mayor in 1868. He was invited to be a Republican elector when Ulysses S. Grant was elected president in 1868 and 1872. President Grant appointed Sheats as U.S. Consul to Denmark in 1869, where he served until his election to the United States House of Representatives in 1873.

Following an unsuccessful reelection campaign, Sheats returned to Alabama where he was appointed Appraiser of Merchandise for the Port of Mobile and Assistant Collector of Internal Revenue. He married Mary Dickson Anderson on January 27, 1886, and once again settled in Decatur, Alabama, where he remained until his death on May 27, 1904.

John Brown is besieged inside the armory. Why oh why did he let the train go?

During the raid on Virginia, Brown's men captured Colonel Lewis Washington, the great-grandnephew of George Washington, and took a historical steel-hilted smallsword/cuttoe that had belonged to George Washington. Brown strapped on this sword and belt and carried it throughout the remainder of the insurrection.

As we celebrate another Harper’s Ferry Day I wanted to mention a really important distinction I’ve picked up from my biographies I’ve read about him and the broader Antebellum research I’ve done.

One thing people need to think about more with John Brown was, he didnt start the Civil War or cause the South the Secede. All he did was give the Southerners a reason to panic about something they were already scared of. The South for generations before John Brown had a paranoia about slave insurrections and why you ask? Well as much as the Southerners loved to talk about their infinite kindness and love for their slaves many clearly said "I'd rather be dead than be a slave on a plantation" which tells you all you need to know about how most were treated. John Brown was a VERY rare individual for the time, even the elected Republican Party in 1860 only had 10% of the party base be anti slavery. Hell when John was with other radical abolitionists most were uncomfortable with John calling blacks “sir or madam” because that made them sound almost as equal as us!

But as John awaited his martyrdom, bonfires burned around the state and the greater South, and these continued afterwards too. The South was mobilized (entire towns helped on slave patrols and used this as a reason to play army in the woods with other fearful slave enthusiast) to fight the ‘invisible nonexistent abolitionist behind every bush and in every tree just WAITING to let the "belligerent blacks free to kill us all!!!"’

The South seceded because of an invented and imaginary "radical abolitionist threat" that wasnt even there. There was no legal threat to slavery AT ALL in the South when Lincoln was taking power, he said so himself and only removed it BECAUSE of their rebellion. A paranoid suspicion caused so many Americans to die and guess what happened after the slaves were freed? How many Southerners were lynched on their plantations by all their freed slaves? None. The paranoia was invented and perpetuated by those with the most assets (remember the South had more money in slaves at the start of the war than the entire North had in railroads, manufacturing, and banking combined).

A man doing the right thing, caused a whole society to whip themselves into a frenzy causing a Civil War by imagining what else could happen when no real threat existed at all to their beloved and backwards Old Testament institution. I say all this because think about *what paranoias could cause massive causalities today*. What imagined enemies are in the US now that the "paranoid race war obsessed" population could over react about? There is plenty...

So stay diligent, and realize that the imaginary world of reactionary knee jerk backwards looking belligerent Americans can cause untold amounts of suffering and death. The reality of their worry is not a factor, they have been worried about this race war now going on 2 centuries and they STILL want it to happen and portend it is inevitable.

His soul is marching on, but so are the men who hanged him in fear and shame and those un-American traitorous race obsessed psychos won’t put themselves in the ground.

Gross.

The Navajo gave him this serape in 1868 for agreeing to let them go back to their traditional homelands in Arizona and New Mexico. While of course the Navajo Reservation is only 25% of their traditional land (as I point against a bad-faith critic of my video), I would absolutely love to see a movie made of this to highlight a little-known instance of humanity triumphing against the systemic evil of anti-Native genocide. Other statements in videos I've made regarding Native Americans are also on my Substack if interested.

Neat. 1st Minnesota Volunteers forever!

I love this. I miss that kind of low budget TV. It reminds me of the "programmes for schools and colleges" when I was a kid. Low budget but still aiming to do something worthwhile.

Hard to translate the written sources into convincing dialogue though.

Sorry that came up in a video on Charles Sumner's personal life.

https://youtu.be/jJayFkj66cw?is=-SAj79CtsHAoEhde

Months ago I began to write articles about my country Egypt and the interesting ties it had with ACW, and I present to you this list of my articles and promise you to expand it in the future, and I hope you find them interesting, My sincere regards ..
---------------------------------------

”The Anecdotes of Ex Confederate - Union officers in Egypt”

https://www.reddit.com/r/HistoryAnecdotes/comments/1rv6ggz/the_anecdotes_of_ex_confederate_union_officers_in/

---------------------------

"The Anecdotes of Egypt and The American Civil War"

https://www.reddit.com/r/CIVILWAR/comments/1rpb9q3/the_anecdotes_of_egypt_and_the_american_civil_war/

---------------------------

“On the Anniversary of the Assassination of Abe Lincoln – The Story of Capturing the Most Dangerous Conspirator in Egypt“

https://www.reddit.com/r/HistoryAnecdotes/comments/1smptze/on_the_anniversary_of_the_assassination_of_abe/

---------------------------

"A rare Egyptian book about The American Civil War"

https://www.reddit.com/r/USHistory/comments/1rt8gwv/a_rare_egyptian_book_about_the_american_civil_war/

---------------------------

“The story of the Confederate General and the Union Consul in Egypt“

https://www.reddit.com/r/ShermanPosting/comments/1sqe05q/the_story_of_the_confederate_general_and_the/

---------------------------

“The story of Major William Campbell of Tennessee and Egypt“

https://www.reddit.com/r/CIVILWAR/comments/1u0ic5f/the_story_of_major_william_campbell_of_tennessee/

---------------------------

"The Story of the Oppressed General and the Bold Falcon in Egypt"

https://www.reddit.com/r/CIVILWAR/comments/1up8y8r/the_story_of_the_oppressed_general_and_the_bold/

---------------------------

"The story of the Southern knight on the land of Pharaohs"

https://www.reddit.com/r/CIVILWAR/comments/1vq1k2w/the_story_of_the_southern_knight_on_the_land_of/

"Tales of three consuls in Egypt (Civil War & Reconstruction)"

https://www.reddit.com/r/USHistory/comments/1wpzqsg/tales_of_three_consuls_in_egypt_civil_war/