Portrait of an Abolitionist

by Charles E. Heller

1996 · Bloomsbury Publishing USA

George Luther Stearns became John Brown's single most important financial backer. He personally owned the 200 Sharps rifles Brown brought to Harper's Ferry. Massachusetts Governor John Andrew asked Stearns to recruit the first northern state African-American regiment, the 54th Massachusetts Infantry, recently made famous by the Hollywood movie Glory. Stearns was made a major and made Assistant Adjutant General for the Recruitment of Colored Troops. He recruited over 13,000 African-Americans, established schools for their children, and found work for their families. After Emancipation, he worked tirelessly for African-American civil rights. Friends and associates included the Emersons and the Alcotts, Thoreau, Lydia Maria Child, Charles Sumner, Andrew Johnson, and Frederick Douglass.