The phrase I’ll be a John Brown or I’ll be John Browned means “I’ll be damned” or “I’ll be hanged.” It’s a reference to the militant abolitionist John Brown, who in 1859 led 21 men on a raid of...
I’ll be John Brown! and I’ll be John Browned! are mild oaths that go back to John Brown’s 1859 raid on the federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia. The abolitionist planned to arm enslaved people for revolt and was caught and hanged. Depending...