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This Union song swept across the country as the Civil War progressed.
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It was not actually composed about the abolitionist who, on October 16, 1959, seized a government storehouse in Harpers Ferry (now West Virginia) in order to arm slaves and start a general uprising. (Brown was caught, put on trial, hanged, and became a martyr for the anti-slavery cause.)
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The words were actually first made up to an old Methodist tune (Say, Brothers, Will You Meet Us? ascribed to William Steffe) and sung by the soldiers of Sergeant John Brown's Company in the Second Battalion, Boston Light Infantry, Massachussetts Volunteer Militia.
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People hearing the song naturally thought it was about the Abolitionist, and everyone in Sergeant John Brown's Company got a kick out the general misunderstanding.
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The song was frequently parodied (most famously as Battle Hymn of the Republic) to relate particular battles and incidents of the Civil War.
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