John Brown's Pikes

Joined
Jun 24, 2011
Location
Middle Tennessee
How did this simple weapon contribute to the start of the Civil War? 1000 of these were ordered by John Brown and received a little over 950 before heading to Harper's Ferry. These were intended to be given to revolting slaves as he didn't trust that the slaves were able to handle firearms. Only 12 slaves were given pikes.
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The handles still look new. In fact so do the blades. Surprised they were not taken apart and used for something else.
 
The handles still look new. In fact so do the blades. Surprised they were not taken apart and used for something else.
Some were but most were gathered up within the week of the raid as momentos of the action. Almost all of these have survived and are in private collections and museums to include the Smithsonian. The originals are serial numbered and identifiable from other pikes. Bundles of these were stored by the Government but the officer in charge of the troops that discovered them near Harper's Ferry allowed as many as the population wanted in order to ease his burden of transporting them. They were highly prized then as a piece of history as they are today.
 
The pikes were featured on an episode of History Detectives. The pike on the show, had the mark "C. Hart & Sons". Chauncey Hart was a Unionville, CT blacksmith, and owner of the Hart Manufacturing Co., who contracted to fill an order originally contracted by another blacksmith, Charles Blair. Hart had no idea what Brown's intended use for the pikes was. Hart was ultimately brought up on charges, that were eventually dropped. According to ancestors, the pikes were never mentioned in the family.
http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/investigation/john-brown-pike/
 
Bob Owen - Can you credit the photo in your first post? They are obviously new reproductions, but by whom & where are they?

Great article about them in the current issue of "Man at Arms/Gun Collector" magazine.

J.
 
Here's the link for the Associated Press photo of the replica pikes - http://www.apimages.com/OneUp.aspx?...6b3e&dbm=PY2009&page=1&xslt=1&mediatype=Photo
"Replicas of the John Brown pike are shown on display at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, Wednesday, May 20, 2009, in Harpers Ferry, W.Va. The nearly 1,000 pikes Brown purchased from a Connecticut blacksmith for his abolitionist army were never used for their intended purpose. (AP Photo/Rob Carr)"
 
John Brown should not be considered anything but a blood thirsty killer-regardless of the cause he espoused. First and foremost, insanity ran in John Brown's family and Brown certainly suffered from the condition.

For his "slave republic" he wrote a Constitution that would make himself the absolute dictator. Brown was nothing but a "Terrorist" in the modern sense of the word.
 
John Brown should not be considered anything but a blood thirsty killer-regardless of the cause he espoused. First and foremost, insanity ran in John Brown's family and Brown certainly suffered from the condition.

For his "slave republic" he wrote a Constitution that would make himself the absolute dictator. Brown was nothing but a "Terrorist" in the modern sense of the word.

Mental illness ran in family of browns wife not brown.
 
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