Dangerfield F. Newby (c. 1820 – October 17, 1859), was the oldest of John Brown's raiders, and one of the five black raiders. He died during Brown's raid on the federal armory in Harpers Ferry, Virginia.
Life
As was usual at the time, Newby's skin color was mentioned: he was "a tall and well built mulatto, aged about thirty years." and had several children; under Virginia law they could not marry. Dangerfield was their first child. Dangerfield Newby, his mother, and his siblings were later freed by his father when he moved them across the Ohio River into Bridgeport, Ohio. John Fox, who died in 1859, apparently did not attempt to reclaim Elsey, Dangerfield, or any of his siblings.
Dangerfield worked as a blacksmith, in Ashtabula County, Ohio, where he met John Brown, whose eldest son, John Jr., also lived in the county.
Dangerfield's wife, Harriet Vincent Newby, was the property of Jesse Jennings, of Arlington or Warrenton, Virginia. She and their seven children remained enslaved in Virginia. Newby had been unable to purchase their freedom; their owner raised the price after Newby had saved the $1,500 that had previously been agreed on. A different source says that Newby had raised $742 of the $1,000 price, and this included only one of their seven children (the youngest).
Letters from his wife were found on his body and revealed some of his motivation for joining John Brown and his raid on Harpers Ferry: he hoped to free them by force, since no other way had worked.
The raid on Harpers Ferry
On 17 October 1859, the citizens of Harpers Ferry set to put down the raid. Newby was one of the first shooting, killing a visiting Charles Town resident and friend of Lewis Washington, George Turner; the details are unknown. Harpers Ferry manufactured guns but the citizens had little ammunition, so during the assault on the raiders they fired anything they could fit into a gun barrel. One man was shooting six inch spikes from his rifle, one of which struck Newby in the throat, killing him instantly. His body remained in the street over 24 hours, "exposed to every indignity that could be heaped upon it by the excited populace." The people of Harpers Ferry stabbed it repeatedly, and amputated his limbs. "The treatment the lifeless bodies of those wretched men received from some of the infuriated populace was far from creditable to the actors or to human nature in general." The Baltimore Sun, however, describes Newby's body in the street thus: "No one seemed to notice him particularly, more than any other dead animal."
Hogs were observed eating it. "Hog Alley" in Harpers Ferry is said to have gotten its name from this incident.
Letter from Harriet Newby
The following letter was found on Dangerfield Newby's body after the failed Harpers Ferry raid:
Honors
- In 2009, Newby was honored by the Library of Virginia as a 2009 African American Trailblazers.