Edward J. Renehan, Jr. is the author of John Burroughs: An American Naturalist and a contributor to the American Scholar and other publications. He lives in North Kingstown, Rhode Island.
When John Brown was captured after his raid on Harper's Ferry, letters were found from prominent citizens who had been his financial backers since his days in Kansas. The Secret Six included Thomas W. Higgins, publisher of Atlantic Monthly, and other well-to-do men of Boston and New York, all of whom wished anonymity. Their names were published shortly after the raid, prompting two of the six to run to Canada and one to go insane; all concerned thereafter distanced themselves from Brown for fear of being convicted of treason. Renehan (John Burroughs: An American Naturalist, LJ 11/15/92) describes how these pillars of society, with their romantic notions about war, decided after the Fugitive Slave Act and other proslavery decisions that armed conflict was necessary to end slavery. Brown was a violent man with a history of fraud and failed ventures, but he was also a devout abolitionist and a persuasive speaker. His raid on Harper's Ferry in 1859 failed, but it did feed the flames that erupted into civil war. This well-researched book about that turbulent time is strongly recommended for serious collections.-Robert C. Moore, DuPont Merck Pharmaceutical Co. Information Svcs., N. Billerica, Mass.
Renehan provides a significant addition to the literature on abolitionism in this study of six prominent Northerners who supported and financed John Brown's 1859 raid on Harpers Ferry, Va. (now W.Va.). Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Theodore Parker, Samuel Howe, Gerrit Smith, Franklin Sanborn and George Luther Stearns were all men of learning, wealth and status who seemed to inhabit a different world than the rough-hewn Brown. They shared with him, however, an idealistic hatred of slavery and the growing belief that the evil could be purged only by direct action. In the aftermath of the mission's failure, they successfully distanced themselves from the venture, at least publicly. Nevertheless, Renehan establishes the abolitionist movement's essential unity and how Brown and his advocates, willing to use violence, helped push the country toward civil war. Photos. (May)
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