John Brown led violent abolitionists

It is the birthday of fiery abolitionist John Brown (1800), who led antislavery forces in battles against slavery supporters in Kansas in the tumultuous years leading up to the Civil War. Brown resorted to violence in an era when most abolitionists advocated peaceful resistance to slavery. Brown’s final act was raiding the U.S. Armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia) in 1859 and attempting to incite a revolt among the slaves. He was tried for treason in the Commonwealth of Virginia and excited by hanging. He became a martyr for the Union cause and the song John Brown’s Body became an anthem during the Civil War.

Benét won Pulitzer for Civil War poem

Stephen Vincent Benét

It is the birthday of writer Stephen Vincent Benét (1898), who received a Pulitzer Prize for John Brown's Body (1928), a book-length narrative poem about the Civil War, and a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for Western Star, a narrative poem on the settling of the United States that he never finished.

Benét is also known for his short stories, The Devil and Daniel Webster (1936), a fantasy in which the famous lawyer defends a man who has sold his soul to the Devil, and By the Waters of Babylon (1937), a futuristic story set in a time after the destruction of industrial civilization.

Benét's grandfather was born in St. Augustine of Minorcan parents. Benét wrote of 18th century Florida of his ancestors in Spanish Bayonet (1926). His short story The Sobbin' Women was based on the classical Roman tale of the Sabine Women who were abducted by Roman men to be their wives. An adaptation of Benét's story became the movie musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.

Tyrone Power, Judith Anderson and Raymond Massey starred in a dramatic reading of his play John Brown's Body on Broadway in 1953. Charles Laughton directed.