John Brown (abolitionist)
Many abolitionists in the North believed Brown was a martyr, and that he sacrificed for the evils of the nation. Immediately after the raid, William Lloyd Garrison published a column in The Liberator. He said Brown's raid "[meant well] but sadly unwise" and "wild and [pointless]". However, he defended Brown's character from haters in the Northern and Southern press. He argued that those who supported the ideas of the American Revolution could not consistently oppose Brown's raid. On the day Brown was hanged, Garrison said in Boston: "whenever [it happens], I all slave revolts succeed".