American abolitionist Brown was a saint—or a crackpot, depending on your point of view. He and his followers took violent measures against supports of slavery, hacking them up with swords and claiming it was the Lord’s will. Brown was considered a religious prophet, and he quoted the Old Testament often. But his religion was one of vengeance and bloodshed, not mercy and compassion. After his failed attempt to rid the federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, Brown was executed, and some sympathizers compared him to Christ.
