Watson Brown (abolitionist) facts for kids
Watson Brown (October 7, 1835 – October 19, 1859) was a son of the abolitionist John Brown and his second wife Mary Day Brown. He was born in Franklin Mills, Ohio (now Kent, Ohio). Watson was married to Isabell "Belle" Thompson Brown. They had a son named Frederick W., who sadly died young from diphtheria at age 4. He is buried in North Elba, New York.
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Watson's Role in the Harpers Ferry Raid
Watson Brown did not go to Kansas in the 1850s. His father, John Brown, was trying to stop Kansas from becoming a slave state during a time known as Bleeding Kansas. Watson wrote to his mother from Iowa in 1856.
He later joined his father in the famous raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia. This area is now in West Virginia. Watson sent letters to his wife Belle from the Kennedy farmhouse before the raid.
During the fighting, Watson was killed. He came out of the engine house at 10 AM on Monday, October 17, carrying a white flag. But he was immediately shot by a townsperson, not a soldier. Even at 3 PM, he was still able to fight. His father said that "poor Watson lingered until Wednesday about noon of the 19th of October."
Watson's Body at Winchester Medical College
After his death, Watson's body was one of many left in the road at Harpers Ferry. Students and teachers from the Winchester Medical College in Winchester, Virginia, took his body.
Instead of using it for regular anatomy study, they prepared it as a special medical display. A doctor at the college, likely Hugh Holmes McGuire, used new methods. He stained the arteries red and treated the muscles to look like wood. He also preserved the nerves with varnish. Parts of his body, like the skin, half of his skull, and his brain, were removed. This display became a teaching exhibit in the college's museum. This happened very quickly after his death because there was no refrigeration.
An Anti-Abolitionist Display
Papers found in Watson's pocket showed he was John Brown's son. But they never knew which son it was. Still, the college used his body to show their strong feelings against abolitionists. Winchester was a city that supported slavery and wanted to separate from the Union.
The exhibit was labeled: "John Brown's son—thus always with Abolitionists." His lips were "purposely distorted" to show disrespect. The college even used his skin to make moccasins. Doctors and others in the area took small pieces of his skin as souvenirs. Four finger joints and all the toes from one foot were also taken by people looking for souvenirs. Some of his teeth were also broken on purpose.
Later, Union soldiers burned the college. They did this as a way to get back at the college for disrespecting a hero of the Union cause. The college never opened again.
Dr. Jarvis Johnson Rescues the Body
When the Civil War began, the college closed. Students and professors joined the war effort. Dr. Hunter McGuire, Hugh's son, was even the personal doctor for Stonewall Jackson. The college building was used as a hospital.
In March 1862, Union troops entered Winchester. General Nathaniel P. Banks put an Army doctor from Indiana, Jarvis J. Johnson, in charge of the city's hospitals. Dr. Johnson found the displayed body. He called it "one of the most beautiful specimens he ever saw." Many important people in Winchester told him it was John Brown's son.
One of the college professors, likely Hugh McGuire, asked Dr. Johnson to return the body. He explained how he had prepared the body. He said it was meant to be a warning and an interesting display. The professor argued that Virginia deserved the body because John Brown's sons had tried to overthrow Virginia's system of slavery.
Dr. Johnson refused. He said that John Brown and his sons were highly respected for fighting for freedom. He felt he could not leave the body in a place that supported slavery.
Dr. Johnson faced a problem: how to save the body from this dishonor. If he buried it in Virginia, it would likely be dug up again. Sending it to Watson's mother in North Elba, New York, might add to her sadness. So, he shipped the body to his home in Indiana and kept it there.
Identifying and Burying Watson's Body
After the Harpers Ferry raid, people knew that the body had to be either Oliver or Watson Brown. These were John Brown's two sons killed during the raid. But no one knew for sure which one it was.
Twenty-three years later, in 1882, Dr. Johnson read that John Brown's widow was visiting Chicago. He wrote to her through someone else. He explained that he had the body of one of her sons and wanted to return it for burial. He made it clear he was not selling the body or asking for money. This made her trust him.
Mrs. Brown asked her stepson, John Jr., to travel to Dr. Johnson's home in Martinsville, Indiana. John Jr. brought pictures with him. He was a guest of the governor of Indiana. He then went to Martinsville with John Collett, a state geologist and expert in phrenology. John Jr. had lectured on phrenology, which might be how they knew each other. Looking at the pictures and a bullet hole, both men decided the body was Watson, not Oliver.
Mrs. Brown took Watson's body to their old home and her husband's grave at the John Brown Farm in North Elba, New York. A funeral was held there. Owen and John Jr. were there, along with Franklin Benjamin Sanborn. Watson was buried next to his father's grave in October 1882. This was 23 years after his death.
The Body of Oliver Brown
Oliver Brown was another son of John Brown. He was described as "a strange character" and "the most original perhaps of them all." He once burned a pulpit because a church would not allow an abolitionist meeting. His mother thought he was the most promising of her children.
Like Watson, Oliver Brown wrote to his family from the Kennedy farm.
Oliver Brown's body, along with seven others who died during the raid, was placed in packing crates. They were buried in a hidden pit without a ceremony or marker. They were briefly dug up later. This was so Mary Brown could try to identify her son's body. But she was too upset, so they were reburied.
Forty years later, in 1899, a scholar found one of the two Black men who had been paid to bury the crates. He led the scholar to the spot. Older citizens who remembered the burial confirmed it. The identities of those buried were known, but the remains could not be told apart. To avoid problems, the bodies were secretly taken out of Virginia. The remains were put in a trunk and carried on a train. They were all reburied together in a single nice casket. The town of North Elba donated the casket. They were buried next to John and Watson Brown's graves.
See also
- Burning of Winchester Medical College
- John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry
- John Brown's raiders
