> for the alternative there was only one John Brown and family and maybe one Free State of Jones situation, for almost everyone else, they either did not see it as evil we see it today and commonplace (so not perhaps evil in their own eyes) or not willing to make the ultimate commitment against it

John Brown was one of many anti-slavery militants who was involved in Bleeding Kansas, and far from being the extremist he's portrayed as today, he was widely considered a hero in the North, with songs being sung in his honor by Union troops during the war, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Brown%27s_Body). Others defied federal law in attempts to free slaves and secret them north towards Canada.

The resolve and radicalism of the abolitionist and free-stater movements shouldn't be underestimated. Many Americans in the antebellum years perceived slavery as an unconscionable evil just as we do today. A few undertook great personal risks to resist it, while many, many more worked through the political system to resist slavery.

Many of our contemporary perceptions of antebellum America are somewhat biased by the historical revisionism of neo-Confederates.