John Brown's Last Words

John Brown was executed by hanging on December 2nd, 1859. His last words were 'I am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land can never be purged away but with blood' The US Civil War would start a little more than a year later. Had John Brown's raid not occurred, it is very possible that the 1860 election would have been a regular two party contest between anti slavery Republicans and pro slavery Democrats says City University of New York historian David Reynolds.