Francis Jackson Meriam (sometimes misspelled Merriam) was an American abolitionist, born on November 17, 1837, in Framingham, Massachusetts, and died on November 28, 1865, in New York City. He was named for his grandfather, Francis Jackson, who had been president of the American Anti-Slavery Society. Hinton describes him as "handsome, well-to-do, cultivated, and traveled". Instead of college, he lived in Paris for some time.[1]: 368  In contrast, Sanborn described him as "enthusiastic and resolute, but with little judgment, and in feeble health; altogether, one would say, a very unfit person to take part actively in Brown’s enterprise."[2] He was blind in one eye. He was the only one of John Brown's raiders who helped him financially.

Participation in John Brown's raid

Meriam is unique among Brown's raiders, as so far as is known, he is the only one to have sent Brown an application letter, asking to participate. He had previously gone to Kansas with a letter of introduction from Wendell Phillips, hoping to meet Brown, but did not find him.[1]: 569–570  He wrote to John Brown on December 23, 1858, that he was going to Haiti for a few months.[3] He continued: "I already consider this [Brown's project] the whole present business of my life. I am entirely free from any family ties which would impede my action. I was much disappointed in not meeting you in Kansas last winter, with a letter of recommendation from Wendell Phillips. Immediately upon my return in the spring, I should wish to be employed in any manner to be of service to you; and, if convenient, to go through your system of training which I propose studying."[4]

In October 1859 he indirectly witnessed the raid on Harpers Ferry led by John Brown. He remained at the Kennedy Farm in Maryland, "to guard the arms and ammunition stored on the premises, until it should be time to move them."[5] Once he learned the raid turned badly, he managed to escape.

After Harpers Ferry

Captain in the Union Army in the Third South Carolina Colored Infantry during the Civil War (at the time, all colored units had white officers), Meriam was wounded in the leg during an engagement under Grant.[6] After the war, he "went to Mexico to join [Benito] Juárez in 1865. He has not since been heard from."[7]

Notes

  1. 1 2 Hinton, Richard J. (1894). John Brown and his men ; with some account of the roads they traveled to reach Harper's Ferry (Revised ed.). New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
  2. ↑ Sanborn, Franklin (July 1872). "John Brown and His Friends". The Atlantic.
  3. ↑ Cameron, Rob (September 24, 2020). "The Case for Black American Self-Defense". Foreign Policy.
  4. ↑ Mason, James M.; Collamer, Jacob (June 15, 1860). Report [of] the Select committee of the Senate appointed to inquire into the late invasion and seizure of the public property at Harper's Ferry. Washington, D.C.: United States Senate. pp. 66–67.
  5. ↑ Keeler, Ralph (March 1874). "Owen Brown's Escape From Harper's Ferry". Atlantic Monthly. (This article was reprinted in several newspapers. Owen sent a letter to the editor with corrections). pp. 342–365, at p. 344. Archived from the original on 2020-11-07. Retrieved 2020-10-19.
  6. ↑ Villard, Oswald Garrison (1910). John Brown, 1800-1859: A Biography Fifty Years After. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. p. 685.
  7. ↑ "John Brown's Descendants. How the Family of the Famous Harper's Ferry Hero Are Scattered". Sandusky Daily Register. Sandusky, Ohio. Feb 9, 1889 – via newspaperarchive.org.
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