Brown, John BrE AmE
(1800–59) a US ABOLUTIONIST (=someone who worked to end slavery) who tried to use violence to end slavery. With followers, he took over a government weapons establishment at Harper's Ferry, Virginia. He was caught and hanged for ↑ treason . Many people felt that he was a ↑ martyr (=someone who dies for a just or holy cause) , and during the American Civil War, a song called John Brown's Body became popular in the North. The song is still well known and contains the words John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave,/But his soul goes marching on.