The Texas in the Civil War Message Board

Re: Nine-Eleven of the Antebellum South

John and Kevin --

Most modern-day reviews of Southern reaction to abolitionists in the 1859-1861 are described as "hysteria" and "witch-hunts". If we read Southern newspapers for the period late 1859 and early 1860, the reaction may seem a bit more reasonable.

We tend to discount John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry as a minor espisode unworthy of much attention. In October of 1859, however, Southerners took the news much as we did Sept. 11, 2001. Harper's Ferry shook the antebellum world just as Nine-Eleven shook ours. News coverage in most Southern papers was continuous from late October through the end of 1859.

Southerners wanted to get answers to several pressing questions --

1) What actually happened at Harper's Ferry - how were the raiders thwarted?
2) Who were the men involved in the raid? Which ones had been killed or caught, and which ones escaped?
3) What were John Brown's plans for slave insurrection? How would his plans have impacted my own neighborhood?
4) Who paid for the 1500 Sharps rifles and the Colt revolvers and pikes found in cases on John Brown's Maryland farm?
5) John Brown's team went into position near Harper's Ferry and waited for months before striking. Could teams of Northern abolitionists be in hiding, planning to strike nearby?
6) How many Southern men, women and children would have been murdered if the attack had succeeded?
7) What are our 'friends' in the North saying about all this? How could they sympathize with these murderers?
8) Are the Republicans allied with John Brown's supporters? What will the Senate investigation uncover?
9) U.S. military forces suppressed the Harpers Ferry raiders. If abolitionists actually attack nearby, who would be available to defend us?
10) Clearly John Brown and his followers were not madmen, but single-minded religious terrorists who did not fear death. How could they be stopped?

For the first time, many Southerners realized that threats by the abolitionists weren't just words or political posturing. As more than one Southern editorial writer said, these people are trying to kill us all. Believing themselves to be on a holy crusade, the abolitionists are willing to commit arson and murder to end slavery. We may not be wiling to face facts, but they are at war with us, and the sooner we wake up to that reality and fight for our lives, the better for all of us.

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