Secret Six

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This article is about the historical Secret Six. For information on the comic book fictional groups with the same name, see Secret Six (comics).

For information about Chicago businessmen who took up the cause against Al Capone, see Secret Six: Taking Down Al Capone

The Secret Six, or the Secret Committee of Six, were six wealthy and influential men who secretly funded the American abolitionist, John Brown. They were Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Samuel Howe, Theodore Parker, Franklin Sanborn, Gerrit Smith and George Luther Stearns. All Six had been involved in the abolitionist crusade prior to their meeting John Brown, and had gradually become convinced that slavery would not die a peaceful death.

Brown was planning to capture weapons from a federal armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia), and lead a slave rebellion in the South. However, while it is unclear whether these men knew of Brown's ultimate plan, the Six did support the use of violence as a way to bring about the destruction of slavery. Brown met with them several times over the course of 1858 and 1859 to discuss how he would attack the slave system.

In October 1859, Brown's plan failed. During and after his trial, the New York Times and the New York Herald began to link the names of the Six with Brown's. On November 7, Smith had himself confined to an insane asylum, denying that he had been involved in supporting Brown. Howe, Sanborn and Stearns fled to Canada temporarily to avoid arrest. Parker, dying of tuberculosis, remained in Europe until his death in 1860. Higginson was the sole member to remain in America and to publicly proclaim his support for Brown. He even developed a plan to have Brown rescued from his jail cell, but Brown wanted no part of it.

In 1867, Gerrit Smith helped post bail to release the imprisoned former Confederate President, Jefferson Davis.

[edit] See also

Origins of the American Civil War

[edit] Further reading

The Secret Six: The True Tale of the Men Who Conspired With John Brown, by Edward Renehan. (1997) (ISBN 1-57003-181-9)

+Ambivalent Conspirators: John Brown, the Secret Six, and a Theory of Slave Violence, by Jeffery Rossbach. (1982)

The Significance of Being Frank, by Tom Foran Clark. http://www.bungalowshop.com/sanborn/index.html
The Secret Six: John Brown and the Abolitionist Movement, by Otto J. Scott. (1979) (ISBN 0-8129-0777-9)