John Brown was a hero, undaunted, true, and brave,
And Kansas knew his valor, when he fought her rights to save;
And now, though the grass grows green above his grave,
His soul is marching on.
He captured Harper’s Ferry with his nineteen men so few,
And he frightened ‘Old Virginny’ till she trembled through and through:
They hung him for a traitor, themselves a traitor crew,
For his soul is marching on, &c.
John Brown was John the Baptist, of the Christ we are to see,—
Christ, who of the bondman shall the Liberator be;