George H. Steuart (militia General) - John Brown's Raid On Harper's Ferry

John Brown's Raid On Harper's Ferry

In 1559 Steuart's militia participated in the suppression of John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry, an abortive attempt to ignite a slave rebellion. Steuart personally led six companies of Militia: the City Guard, Law Greys and Shields Guard from Baltimore, and the United Guards, Junior Defenders and Independent Riflemen from the city of Frederick. The departing Baltimore militia were cheered on by substantial crowds of citizens and well-wishers. After Harper's Ferry, militias in the South began to grow in importance as Southerners began to fear slave rebellion inspired by Northern Abolitionists.

The following year, in a letter to the National Intelligencer on November 19, 1860, Steuart congratulated the editors on their support for the Fugitive Slave Acts, and set out his own support for the Supreme Court's 1857 decision to uphold slavery in the case of Dred Scott v. Sandford. He also criticized the recent election of then President-elect Abraham Lincoln on a platform opposed to slavery. Steuart argued for "the invalidity of Lincoln's election, because of the negro votes cast and counted for him in the states of New York, Ohio, and Massachusetts".

In 1861, as war grew closer, Steuart established a family trust, administered by four of his sons, in order to look after his large family. The trust income consisted chiefly of ground rents from his estates.