Nothing is more damning to this country that John Brown was convicted of treason and murder, yet Robert E. Lee (and so many thousands more) got to die of old age.

I never heard of him before. Thank you for posting.

Have you read Midnight Rising by Tony Horwitz? It's a bit dry and not my favorite book by Horwitz, but it's an incredibly detailed account of the attempted raid on Harpers Ferry and the abolitionist movement in the frontier states. Brown may have been on the right side of the issue of slavery, but I came away from the book thinking that he was definitely a nutter.

His last words were "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."

He seemed pretty with it.

Today is also my father's birthday, and yes he is another great American (to me and my family anyways).

And for anyone who has raced Ironman Lake Placid, the bike course goes right past his gravesite.

(Sortof... the grave site is behind the ski jumps)

John Brown's body lies a-moldering in the grave - or so I've heard

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin