Life span: 08/24/1833 to 02/10/1891TabsLife SummaryFull name: James RedpathPlace of Birth: Berwick Upon Tweed, Northumberland, EnglandBirth Date Certainty: ExactDeath Date Certainty: ExactGender: MaleRace: WhiteSectional choice: NorthOrigins: Free StateNo. of Spouses: 2No. of Children: 0Family: Ninian Davidson Redpath (father), Maria Main (mother), Mary Cotton Kidder (first wife, 1857), Carrie Dunlap Chorpenning (second wife, 1888)Occupation: DiplomatEducatorJournalistWriter or ArtistRelation to Slavery: White non-slaveholderChurch or Religious Denomination: PresbyterianPolitical Parties: Free SoilOther Affiliations: Abolitionists (Anti-Slavery Society) Note Cards James Redpath (American National Biography) ScholarshipAfter being educated in his father's academy, Redpath emigrated with his family to the United States in 1849 and soon found work as a reporter for Horace Greeley's New York Tribune. In the mid-1850s he made three journeys through the South, secretly interviewing slaves and publishing their accounts of slavery in abolitionist newspapers and in The Roving Editor: or, Talks with the Slaves (1859). He reported finding many discontented slaves prepared to revolt if aided by the abolitionists. In 1855 Redpath moved to Kansas Territory, where he reported on events for the St. Louis Missouri Democrat, the Chicago Tribune, the New York Tribune, and other northern papers. In 1857 he briefly edited his own newspaper, the Doniphan (Kans.) Crusader of Freedom. During these years, Redpath became a close associate of John Brown in the campaign to make Kansas Territory a free state. In 1858 Brown encouraged Redpath to move to Boston to help rally support for Brown's plan to incite a southern slave insurrection. After the failure of Brown's attack at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, Redpath participated in unsuccessful efforts to rescue captured raiders. Soon after, Redpath wrote the first biography of the executed abolitionist, The Public Life of Capt. John Brown (1860). This work was uncompromisingly sympathetic toward its subject and helped secure for Brown a lasting reputation as a martyr for freedom. John R. McKivigan, "Redpath, James," American National Biography Online, February 2000, http://www.anb.org/articles/16/16-01354.html. Events Date span begin Life span End Event 01/15/1860 01/15/1860 Scores of free blacks sail from New Orleans to begin a new life in Haiti 01/02/1861 01/02/1861 Fifty-six free blacks sail from the United States for a new life as emigrants to Haiti Major TopicsBleeding KansasHarpers Ferry Raid Documents Subject Docs Date Title 12/09/1859 New York Herald, “Anti-Slavery Theatres and Litterateurs,” December 9, 1859 12/13/1860 Charlestown (VA) Free Press, “John Brown Anniversary,” December 13, 1860 01/25/1861 New York Times, “Rumored Invasion of the South,” January 25, 1861 Images James Redpath James Redpath, detail Bibliography Chicago Style Entry Link Redpath, James. Echoes of Harper's Ferry. Boston: Thayer and Eldridge, 1860. View Record Redpath, James. The Public Life of Capt. John Brown. Boston: Thayer and Elderidge, 1860. View Record McKivigan, John R. "James Redpath, John Brown, and Abolitionist Advocacy of Slave Insurrection." Civil War History 37, no. 4 (1991): 293-313. View Record von Frank, Albert J. "John Brown, James Redpath, and the Idea of Revolution." Civil War History 52, no. 2 (June 2006): 142-160. View Record McKivigan, John R. Forgotten Firebrand: James Redpath and the Making of Nineteenth-Century America. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2008. View Record Redpath, James. The Roving Editor: or, Talks with the Slaves in Southern States. New York: A. B. Burdick, 1859. View Record
James Redpath (American National Biography) ScholarshipAfter being educated in his father's academy, Redpath emigrated with his family to the United States in 1849 and soon found work as a reporter for Horace Greeley's New York Tribune. In the mid-1850s he made three journeys through the South, secretly interviewing slaves and publishing their accounts of slavery in abolitionist newspapers and in The Roving Editor: or, Talks with the Slaves (1859). He reported finding many discontented slaves prepared to revolt if aided by the abolitionists. In 1855 Redpath moved to Kansas Territory, where he reported on events for the St. Louis Missouri Democrat, the Chicago Tribune, the New York Tribune, and other northern papers. In 1857 he briefly edited his own newspaper, the Doniphan (Kans.) Crusader of Freedom. During these years, Redpath became a close associate of John Brown in the campaign to make Kansas Territory a free state. In 1858 Brown encouraged Redpath to move to Boston to help rally support for Brown's plan to incite a southern slave insurrection. After the failure of Brown's attack at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, Redpath participated in unsuccessful efforts to rescue captured raiders. Soon after, Redpath wrote the first biography of the executed abolitionist, The Public Life of Capt. John Brown (1860). This work was uncompromisingly sympathetic toward its subject and helped secure for Brown a lasting reputation as a martyr for freedom. John R. McKivigan, "Redpath, James," American National Biography Online, February 2000, http://www.anb.org/articles/16/16-01354.html.
