Breaking News: November 1859
November Henry David Thoreau delivers the lecture, "A Plea for Captain John Brown," in Concord, Massachusetts, winning over an unsympathetic crowd with this defense of a man popularly thought to be a criminal. This speech and two subsequent essays on John Brown reveal Thoreau’s growing acceptance of violent protest over civil disobedience.
Nov. 1 The Charleston Mercury, discussing Southern church rules, carries this story: “The wedding services of Negroes, which have been held in the Church, have been in every case conducted with the consent of, and in many cases in the presence of their owners, under the express prohibition in every case of any ostentation and display. Finding a growing tendency to overlook this prohibition, the Church session have now adopted a resolution forbidding these church weddings entirely.” [NYT, p. 8]
Nov. 2 A number of Northern journals lean toward life imprisonment for John Brown and his associates, rather than execution: “It cannot be doubted that Brown’s personal bearing throughout his trial—his courage, his courtesy, his perfect self-possession, and his evident conviction of the rightfulness of his acts, have awakened a personal sympathy for him, even in the hearts of those who most detest his principles and his conduct. His execution would deepen this feeling immensely and would give the active Abolitionists fresh ground for renewing their appeals to public sympathy and support. They would have an accession of martyrs to their cause,—and in any crusade of fanaticism martyrdom is infinitely the most available weapon which its enemies can devise or its friends desire.” [New York Times, p. 4]
Nov. 3 John Brown is sentenced to be hanged. The speech he makes in response is widely
printed in newspapers across the country.
“ TN “Wm. Oneal was convicted at the October term 1859 of the Circuit Court of
Roane County, crime Placing obstruction on the track of the East Tennessee Rail Road. Sentence six years from the 3rd of November 1859 – His conduct since my agency hasn’t been good further I am not advised. James Cavert [sic], agt.” [Gov. Harris Papers, Box 4, folder 1, 1859]
Nov. 5 TN “The South will certainly have trouble if matters are not changed. Northern abolitionists have been among us indeavoring [sic] to raise insurrection & rebellion. No telling where it will end . . . .” [Cartmell]
“ Cornelius Vanderbilt sues the New York Times for libel for implying a connection between the Vanderbilt shipping empire and William Walker’s invasion of Nicaragua. [New York Times, p. 1]
Nov. 9 The trials of John Brown’s co-conspirators continue in Virginia. John Anthony
Copeland, a free black who has studied at Oberlin College, is found innocent of
treason, since African Americans are not citizens, but he is found guilty of murder and conspiracy to rebel. [New York Times, p. 8]
Nov. 10 U.S. troops in Arizona and New Mexico engage in several battles against Apache
warriors. [New York Times, p. 8] Indian attacks on mail coaches and settlers in western states occupy the attention of the U.S. military during the rest of the month.
“ Twelve new steamships and gunboats are completed for the U.S. Navy, as ordered
by Congress in 1856-1857. [New York Times, p. 2]
Nov. 11 Four of John Brown’s co-conspirators are sentenced to be hanged with him: John A.
Copeland (see Nov. 9), Shields Green (a fugitive slave from South Carolina), Edwin Coppick/Coppoc (a former settler from Kansas), and John E. Cook (a book agent). After rumors circulate across the country that a raid is planned to rescue Brown and the others, troop levels are increased. The raid never materializes. [New York Times]
Nov. 16 TN The same George G. Poindexter (Nashville Union & American editor) who had
received a bullet wound in the leg during a May 31 clash with a Banner editor, is shot to death by Allen A. Hall, editor of the Daily News. The shooting comes in the wake of a bitter editorial battle between the two newspapers. [Nagy]
Nov. 22 A series of fires in New Orleans, believed to be caused by an arsonist, leave
hundreds of people homeless. [New York Times, p. 8]
Nov. 23 Henry McCarty, later to be known as William Bonney and Billy the Kid, is born in
an Irish neighborhood of New York City.
Nov. 24 Charles Darwin publishes On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection,
or The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. The book
quickly sells out its initial print run; it will go through six editions by 1872.
Nov. 28 Death of American novelist Washington Irving, best known for his stories “Rip Van
Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.”
Nov. 29 Military reinforcements continue to arrive in Charles Town, Virginia, to support the
3,000 men already present to take part in the execution of John Brown. [NYT, p. 1]