Portrait of an Abolitionist

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 13000 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.