u* 
 
 i 
 
 o 
 
LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN BEOWN. 
 
THE PUBLIC LIFE 
 
 OP 
 
 CAPTAIN JOHN BROWJST, 
 
 BY JAMES BEDPATH^ 
 
 WITH AN 
 
 0f 
 
 'srA' of translation is reserved.] 
 
 LONDON: 
 THICKBROOM & STAPELTON, 13, PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 
 BOSTOX : 
 THAYER & ELDRIDGE, 114 & 116, WASHINGTON STREET. 
 
 1860. 
 
 ^ ( f 
 
LONDON : 
 BEARE AND JEALOUS, PRINTERS, 335, STRAND, 
 
 AND GRAY'S INX ROAD. 
 
3 5 a ' 3 . g 
 
 Library 
 
 DEDICATION 
 
 TO 
 
 jjt WENDELL PHILLIPS, RALPH WALDO EMERSON, AND 
 
 HENRY D. THOREAU, 
 
 k 
 
 DEFENDERS OF THE FAITHFUL, 
 
 WHO, WHEN THE MOB SHOUTED, "MADMAN!" SAID, "SAINT! 
 
 I HUMBLY AND GRATEFULLY 
 
 DEDICATE THIS WORK. 
 
 JAMES REDPATH. 
 
" The Saint, whose fate yet hangs in suspense, but whose martyrdom, if it 
 shall be perfected, will make the gallows glorious like the Cross." Ralph Waldo 
 Emerson. 
 
 " He was one who recognized no unjust human laws, but resisted them as he 
 was bid. No man in America has ever stood up so persistently for the dignity 
 of human nature, knowing himself for man, and the equal of any and all 
 governments. He could not have been tried by his peers, for his peers did not 
 exist." Henry D. Thoreau. 
 
 " God makes him the text, and all he asks of our comparatively cowardly lips 
 is to preach the sermon, and say to the American people that, whether that old 
 man succeeded in a worldly sense or not, he stood a representative of law, of 
 government, of right, of justice, of religion, and they were pirates that gathered 
 about him, and sought to wreak vengeance by taking his life. The banks of the 
 Potomac, doubly dear now to History and to Man ! The dust of Washington 
 rests there ; and History will see for ever on that river side the brave old man 
 on his pallet, whose dust, when God calls him hence, the Father of his Country 
 would be proud to make room for beside his own. Wendell Phillips" 
 
PUBLISHERS' CARD. 
 
 IN presenting this work, the publishers deem it proper 
 to congratulate themselves and the public on having 
 secured as the biographer of Captain John Brown, a 
 gentleman so well qualified, both by personal know- 
 ledge and literary ability, for the task, and whose 
 previous life has been so identified in feeling and 
 character with the career of the sainted hero, as to 
 enable him to do that justice to his motives and acts 
 which a less friendly pen would fail to render. 
 
 They would also call the attention of the public to 
 the fact that a large percentage on each copy sold is 
 secured by contract to the family of Captain John 
 Brown, and every purchaser thereby becomes a con- 
 tributor to a charitable object which appeals to all 
 freemen with a force that is irresistible. 
 
 The publishers would remind the public, and espe- 
 cially the press, that the work is copyrighted, and 
 any reprinting of the Autobiography, or the chapter 
 entitled " The Father of the Man," will be prosecuted 
 as an infringement, as it is the desire of the friends 
 who contribute it that it should appear exclusively in 
 this volume, for the benefit of the family. 
 
PUBLISHER'S CARD. 
 
 The work is published with the sanction and ap- 
 proval of the family of Captain Brown, as may be 
 seen by the following letters : 
 
 North Elba, Dec., 1859. 
 Messrs. Thayer cj* Eldridge. 
 
 Dear Friends : I am satisfied that Mr. Redpath is THE man to 
 write the life of my beloved husband, as he was personally acquainted 
 
 with him, and I think will do him justice I think that the 
 
 portrait is a very good one. 
 
 Yours respectfully, 
 
 MARY A. BROWN. 
 
 North Elba, Dec., 1859. 
 t-s. Thayer $ Eldridge-. 
 Dear Sirs : I was somewhat acquainted with James Redpath in 
 Kansas. I am also familiar with his writings, and I consider him an 
 able biographer, and THE MAN ABOVE ALL OTHERS to write the 
 life of my beloved father. I believe him to be a man of undoubted 
 veracity, and fully believe he will do justice to the work he has 
 undertaken. 
 
 Yours respectfully, 
 
 SALMON BROWN. 
 
PKEFACE. 
 
 WHEN the news of the arrest of John Brown reached 
 Boston, I could neither work nor sleep ; for I loved 
 and reverenced the noble old man, and had perfect 
 confidence in his plan of emancipation. I knew him 
 to be one of earth's worthiest souls the last of the 
 Puritans ; and yet I heard, on every side, people 
 calling him a madman, and sneering at his "crazy 
 scheme," Now, or never, was the time to defend 
 my friend, when no voice, however faint, was heard 
 to praise him. An opportunity offered ; I indorsed 
 John Brown. A few years hence this will seem 
 absurd ; as ridiculous, now, as an indorsement of 
 Warren ; but necessary in October last and pro- 
 nounced insane ! I heard of no one man who fully 
 approved my doctrines or defence when my first 
 article appeared ; but, before the series that I had 
 contemplated was finished, I turned again to other 
 work for already the highest talent of the nation 
 was marshalling to the rescue of the conquering 
 prisoner of Chaiiestown Jail. Like Samson, in a 
 single day, if not with the jawbone of an ass, yet 
 
10 PREFACE. 
 
 with the help of that of a Member of Congress, the 
 mighty man of valor had smitten his enemies, hip 
 and thigh, from " Dan even unto Beersheba, and all 
 the region round about." Now that the most skilful 
 trained soldiers of Freedom were in the field to 
 encounter the reserve forces of the enemy, I with- 
 drew myself from the conflict for a time for, a 
 guerilla skirmisher only, unfitted both by habit and 
 nature for a place in any regular army, I did not care 
 to fight under any general, or to fire except where I 
 wanted to kill. 
 
 A publisher of New York asked me to write a Life 
 of John Brown. He wanted it as a Eepublican cam- 
 paign document. I declined. I would not help to 
 light cigars from the fire above the altar. The pub- 
 lishers of this work made a nobler request ; they 
 believed in John Brown ; they wished to do him 
 justice ; and they desired to assist his destitute 
 family. This volume is the result of their request. 
 
 I have written this book, because I could not resist 
 it. Equally at war with the cant of conservatism, of 
 politics, and of non-resistance, and a firm believer in 
 the faith that made Bunker Hill classic, I think that 
 John Brown did right in invading Virginia and 
 attempting to liberate her slaves. I hold God in 
 infinitely greater reverence than Congress, and His 
 
PREFACE. 11 
 
 holy laws than its enactments. I would as soon 
 think of vindicating Washington for resisting the 
 British Government to the death, as to apologize for 
 John Brown in assailing the Slave Power with the 
 only weapons that it fears. 
 
 Therefore, reader, if you think that white makes 
 right, or might makes right, or if the opposite doc- 
 trine is abhorrent to you, lay this volume aside at 
 once, for I will not promise that I shall try to avoid 
 giving you offence. 
 
 I have no apology to make for this work ; not be- 
 cause I am unconscious of its defects, but because it 
 is the best that I could write in the allotted time, and 
 because nowhere else can so correct a biography of 
 John Brown be found. It is compiled from hundreds 
 of sources newspapers, books, correspondence, and 
 conversations. Much of it, also, is the record of my 
 personal knowledge. Materials came to me from all 
 quarters ; and not always in the order of time. Thus, 
 the third chapter of the first Book was written two 
 weeks after the account of his execution ; the history 
 of his Kansas exploits before I obtained the auto- 
 biographical sketch of his childhood and youth. 
 Hence, if there be occasional repetitions, whether of 
 fact or idea, the just or generous reader will overlook 
 this defect. I do not think that there are such itera- 
 
12 PKEFACE. 
 
 tions ; but it is a possibility that I desire to explain 
 in advance. 
 
 Writing in this way, the volume grew faster than 
 I foresaw. I had intended to write the Life of John 
 Brown, private and public, and biographies of his 
 men also. But Kansas, and Harper's Ferry, and 
 Charlestown, and an unexpected gift of materials 
 from North Elba, compelled me to defer the biogra- 
 phies of John Brown's men, as well as a minuter 
 record of his own private life and correspondence. 
 For, on the return of my wife from the home of John 
 Brown, I found myself in possession, in trust, of 
 hundreds of private letters every one that has been 
 preserved written during the long and active career 
 of the illustrious Liberator, which exhibit his daily 
 life in its every relation, and the exceeding beauty of 
 the religion which inspired its actions. These records, 
 with other memorials of him, will be published in 
 due time, in a supplementary volume. 
 
 The latest telegraphic news makes one correction 
 necessary. I have spoken of Eichard Eealf as dead. 
 I thought that he died a natural death on the ocean. 
 It appears that he still lives in the body ; but dead 
 to honor, the voice of conscience, and the cries of the 
 poor. He has chosen the part of Judas, and promises 
 to play it well. 
 
PREFACE. 13 
 
 I am indebted to several friends for valuable aid in 
 the preparation of this volume first, to every one 
 whom I have mentioned in the notes, or text, or 
 whose letters I have quoted ; and to Dr. Thomas 
 H. Webb, of Boston, Eichard J. Hinton, of Kansas ; 
 and, lastly, but not least among them, to " a nearer 
 one still and a dearer one " for her visit to North 
 Elba and its results. 
 
 I still desire information (whether anecdotes, letters, 
 or conversational remarks) respecting John Brown 
 and his heroic associates, and will be greatly obliged 
 for all such contributions. 
 
 How unworthy soever this volume may be, I shall 
 not regard it as a useless work, if, in the minds of its 
 destined readers, it shall arouse the inquiries : 
 
 How far, as men, have we strayed from the Mount 
 where Jesus taught ? and 
 
 How far, as citizens, have we wandered from the 
 Hill where Warren fell ? 
 
 MALDEN, MASSACHUSETTS, UNITED STATES, 
 December 25, 1859. 
 
Jirsi 
 
 HE KEEPETH THE SHEEP. 
 
11. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children ? And he said, 
 There remaineth yet the youngest, and behold he keepeth the sheep. And 
 Sanrnel said unto Jesse, Send and feteh him ; for we will not sit down till he 
 come hither. 
 
 12. And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and withal of a 
 beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the Lord said, Arise, anoint 
 him : for this is he. 1 Samuel, chapter xvi. 
 
I 
 
 THE CHILD AND HIS ANCESTORS. 
 
 DECEMBER 2, 1859. 
 
 HOW, worthily, write the Life of worthy John Brown? The task is 
 as difficult as the man was heroic. In every part and phase of it, 
 numerous and serious obstacles present themselves. For to-day John 
 Brown was hanged by a semi-barbarous Commonwealth as a traitor, 
 murderer, and robber, and fifteen despotic States are rejoicing at 
 his death ; while, in the free North, every noble heart is sighing at 
 his fate, or admiring his devotion to the principles of justice, or 
 cursing the executioners of their warrior-saint. Thus opposite are 
 the views men have of him ; and this is the first difficulty that con- 
 fronts his biographer. 
 
 But putting it aside, by utterly disregarding the opinion and de- 
 nunciations of the mob, looking steadily at the old man only, and 
 drawing him as he strove to be and was a warrior of the Lord and 
 of Gideon : to satisfy the public expectation, and, at the same time, 
 to do justice to the hero of their hearts, is a far more important 
 and a still more embarrassing task. For an immediate publication 
 is demanded ; and it is impossible, at once, to collate all the facts that 
 should be told of him. But one alternative remains to do the best 
 that is possible for the present day, and, if a still more extended 
 biography be demanded, to endeavour, at another time, to supply 
 that want. 
 L 
 
 PATERNAL ANCESTRY OF JOHN BROWN. 
 
 Among the group of godly exiles who knelt at Plymouth Rock, 
 on the 22nd of December, 1620, and returned thanks to the Almighty 
 for his goodness to them in preserving them from the dangers of the 
 deep, was an unmarried English Puritan, a carpenter by trade, of 
 whose personal history all that now can be known is, that his name 
 
 B 
 
18 THE CHILD AND HIS ANCESTORS. 
 
 was Peter Brown. That he came over in the Mayflower is evidence 
 enough that he feared his God, respected himself, and strove prayer- 
 fully to obey the divine commands ; choosing rather to sacrifice the 
 comforts of English civilization, and enjoy in the wilderness his 
 inherent rights, than calmly contemplate the perpetration of wrong 
 by sinners in high places, or to rest satisfied with the sophistical 
 belief, that by the philosophy of an enlightened selfishness, or the 
 diffusion of correct principles of political economy, all the evils of the 
 age~ would peacefully be rectified in a century or two! He died 
 in 1633. 
 
 Peter Brown, the second, was born in 1632. A monument in the 
 churchyard of Windsor, Connecticut, is his only biography, It tells 
 us that he married Mary Gillett in 1658, and died October 16, 1692. 
 
 He had four boys the second-born named John Brown; who, 
 in his turn, married Elizabeth Loomis in 1692, had eight daughters 
 and three sons, the eldest of whom was his namesake. 
 
 John, the second, had seven girls and two boys, of whom the first- 
 born son became the third of the name in the family. He died in 
 1790, at the age of ninety, having been the husband of Mary Eggleston 
 (who preceded him twelve months to the spirit-world) for the long 
 period of sixty-five years. Mary, the eldest child of this marriage, 
 remained a spinster till her death at the age of one hundred. 
 
 John, the third, was born November 4, 1728 ; married Hannah 
 Owen in 1758 ;* was the father of John, Frederick, Owen, and Abiel 
 Brown; and the honored grandfather of Captain John Brown, the 
 hero of Kansas and Harper's Ferry. John Brown, the third, at the 
 outbreak of the revolutionary war, was chosen Captain of the West 
 Simsbury (now Canton f) train-band; and, in the spring of 1776. 
 joined the forces of the continental army at New York. His com- 
 mission from Governor Trumbull is dated May 23, 1776. After a 
 sendee of two months' duration, he fell a victim to the prevailing 
 epidemic of the camp, at the age of forty-eight years.} He died in 
 a barn, attended only by a faithful subordinate, a few miles north of 
 New York City, where the continental army was at that time en- 
 camped. His body was buried on the Highlands, near the wHbeni 
 banks of the East River. On a marble monument in the graveyard 
 of Canton Centre, this inscription may be seen : 
 
 * John Owen, the ancestor of Hannah, was a native of Wales. He was among 
 the first settlers of Windsor, where he was married in 1650. 
 
 t In 1806, West Simsbury, with a narrow strip of New Hartford, was incor- 
 porated, by act of legislature, into a township named Canton. 
 
 $ He served under Colonel Jonathan Pettibone. 
 
THE CHILD AND HIS ANCESTORS. 19 
 
 " In memory of Captain John Brown, who died in the revolutionary army, at 
 New York, September 3, 1776. He was of the fourth generation, in regular 
 descent, from Peter Brown, one of the Pilgrim Fathers, who landed from the 
 Mayflower, at Plymouth, Massachusetts, December 22, 1620." 
 
 Thus far we see that same spirit of resistance to wrong, which 
 recently nay, at this very hour men are branding as insane ! Why 
 did Captain John Brown, " of the fourth generation in regular descent," 
 risk his life " throw it away," as our politicians phrase it by op- 
 posing it to the hitherto resistless strength of a mighty empire ? Why 
 not wait until, by the aid of a " constitutional republican party," the 
 evils then endured should have been peacefully abolished? What 
 was he to Massachusetts, or Massachusetts to him, that he should leave 
 his family and fight her battles? Personal liberty he had; his house 
 was his castle ; no power on earth dared molest his property, or wife, 
 or children. It was only a petty question of taxation that called him 
 to the field, but in it there lay embodied a political right ; and, rather 
 than submit to an infringement of it, he resolved to throw " his life 
 away," if need be. We now honor him for it ; for we see in it the 
 spirit of the first Peter Brown, who would not wait for the convenient 
 season of corrupt and heartless demagogues, but chose rather to aban- 
 don his native land, and enjoy his liberty at once. But it is far nobler 
 than the first Peter's conduct ; for it is not solely for himself, as in 
 the Puritan's case, that he abandons home and friends. It is for a 
 neighboring colony and the rights of his race, rather than for his 
 personal immunities. Only one step further was possible in the ladder 
 of disinterested benevolence to fight for a race poor, despised, friend- 
 less, and inferior; and this crowning glory to the family of Peter 
 Brown, the Puritan, was reserved for the grandson of the revolutionary 
 captain. 
 
 Captain John Brown, the third, left a widow and eleven children, 
 of whom the eldest daughter was eighteen years of age, and the first 
 son nine years only. " They were reared by his widow, with singular 
 tact and judgment, to habits of industry and principles of virtue, and 
 all became distinguished citizens in the communities in which they 
 resided. One of the sons became a judge in one of the courts of Ohio- 
 One of the daughters had the honor of giving to one of our most 
 flourishing New England colleges a president for twenty years, in the 
 person of her son."* 
 
 * My authority is William H. Hallock, of Canton Centre. The preceding facts 
 were chiefly furnished by Lancet Foote, Selden H. Brown, of the same place, and 
 by a pamphlet, now out of print, entitled, "Genealogical History, with Short 
 Sketches and Family Records of the Early Settlers of "West Simsbury, &c., by 
 Abiel Brown," an uncle of the liberator. 
 
20 THE CHILD AND HIS ANCESTORS. 
 
 "She was a woman of great energy and economy," writes a de- 
 scendant,* "the economy being a needful virtue. I have heard my 
 grandfather tell of her cooking always just what the children needed, 
 and no more, and they always ' licked their trenchers,' when they had 
 done with knife and fork. They all grew up to respectability. Their 
 average age was considerable, that of five of them being seventy years, 
 and I forget how much more." 
 
 Of the sons of these parents, John afterwards known as Deacon 
 Brown lived many years in New Hartford, and died there. Abiel 
 lived and died on the old homestead iu Canton, Connecticut, while 
 Frederick and Owen both lie buried in the State of Ohio. 
 
 MATERNAL ANCESTRY OF JOHN BROWN. 
 
 Owen Brown, the last named of these sons, and the father of Captain 
 John Brown, the greatest and most heroic of the race, married the 
 daughter of Gideon Mills. ' who was himself an officer in the revolu- 
 tionary army, and was intrusted with the command who had in charge 
 a large portion of the prisoners comprising Burgoyne's army : thus 
 proving that John Brown inherits his military spirit through a 
 patriotic ancestry." 
 
 A very brief record of John Brown's maternal ancestry (all that 
 it is now possible to write) will prove that his descent was as honorable 
 and patriotic by his mother's family, as from Peter Brown, the Puritan 
 of the Mayflower. 
 
 Peter Miles was an emigrant from Holland, who settled at Bloom- 
 field, Connecticut, near the confines of Windsor Plain. He had seven 
 sons, was a tailor by trade, and died in 1754, at the age of eighty-eight. 
 
 Of these seven sons, Jedediah graduated at Yale College in 1772, 
 and was a clergyman and theological author of considerable note, 
 Pelatiah was a useful citizen, and an able attorney-at-law. John 
 was the father of two clergymen. Peter had a numerous offspring, 
 one of whom was the first minister of East Granby. Of two other 
 and younger sons no record exists; of Return, a daughter, all that is 
 told is the date of her death, 1689. 
 
 Gideon, the seventh son, and the great-grandfather of John Brown 
 the liberator, married Elizabeth Higley, a cousin of the first Governor 
 Trtunbull, of Lebanon. He was the minister at Old Simsbury about 
 ten years previous to 1755 : and, after living and preaching one or two 
 years at West Simsbury, was installed in 1759, and died there in 1772. 
 
 * Professor C. F. Hudson, a distinguished theological author. 
 
THE CHIL D AND HIS ANCESTORS. 21 
 
 His character may be judged by the following interesting incident of 
 his life : 
 
 At the time of his ministry in "West Simsbury, he lived two and a half miles 
 from the meeting house, over a very hilly, cold, and uneven road, which would 
 now be called a hard Sabbath-day's journey for a clergyman or a layman. This 
 road he travelled weekly, and sometimes much oftener. One incident respecting 
 the Rev. Gideon Mills is thought worthy of notice. He was habitually fond of 
 sacred music, and would request others that could sing to join with him, and he 
 retained his relish for singing even to his dying moments. He died of a cancer 
 in the face, which kept him in great suffering for many of the last weeks of his 
 life. He dwelt much on the sentiments expressed in the thirty-eighth psalm, 
 (Watts,) " Amidst thy wrath remember love," &c. ; also, the thirty-ninth " God 
 of my life, look gently down." Just before he expired, he requested the friends 
 in attendance to sing the thirty-eighth psalm " Amidst thy wrath remember 
 love," and -ttempted to join with them, but when the fore part of the psalm 
 was sung h spired ; so that it was said by Mr. Hallock, on a certain occasion, 
 that he died singing the thirty-eighth psalm." 
 
 This stout-hearted Puritan left three sons and three daughters. 
 Elizabeth and Faithe were married twice, and Anna was the third 
 wife of the Rev. William Robinson. The biography of Jedediah is 
 brief enough : " Born in 1755-6 married Miss Wells." 
 
 Rev. Samuel Mills, second son of the Rev. Gideon Mills, graduated 
 at Yale College in 1776, "with a view to the gospel ministry." 
 
 Being full of the patriotism prevalent at that time, he entered the American 
 .army as lieutenant in the cavalry. In one of those actions which took place in 
 1777, this young officer received a wound from a horseman's sword in the fore- 
 head, was taken prisoner, and conveyed into Philadelphia with a deep and dan- 
 gerous wound, the scar of which he carried through the remainder of his life. 
 The sick and wounded prisoners in Philadelphia experienced far different treat- 
 ment from that which those unfortunate American prisoners received from the 
 British and tones in New York in 1776. A kind Providence furnished a goodly 
 number of ministering angels, (if the expression may be allowable,) in the persons 
 of some of the most accomplished ladies of Philadelphia. Those of superior rank 
 and refinement took it upon them to visit and minister to the wants of the 
 suffering prisoners. Among those worthy ladies was Miss Sarah Gilpin, a 
 person of high refinement and accomplishments. Her labors of benevolence 
 brought her and Lieutenant Samuel to an acquaintance which eventuated in his 
 obtaining her hand and heart. He pursued and finished his theological studies, 
 and was married to Miss Gilpin, and was settled pastor over the church and 
 society of Chester, then a part of Saybrook." 
 
 Gideon, the eldest son of the Rev. Gideon Mills, and the grand- 
 father of John Brown, the liberator, was also a lieutenant in the 
 American army, and died in 1813, at Barkhamsted, Connecticut, at 
 the age of sixty-four. He left two sons and four daughters, of whom 
 Ruth, the eldest child, married Owen Brown, the father of our hero. 
 
 JOHN BROWN BORN. 
 
 The town records of Torrington supply these dates : 
 
 " Owen Brown, now of Torrington, late of Simsbury, was married at Simsbury, 
 on the llth day of February, A.D. 1793. 
 
22 THE CHILD AND HIS ANCESTORS. 
 
 " Anna Ruth Brown, daughter of Owen and Ruth Brown, was born in the town 
 of Norfolk, the 5th day of July, 1798. 
 
 " John Brown, son of Owen and Ruth Brown, was born in Torrington, the 9tk 
 day of May, 1800. 
 
 " Salmon Brown, son of Owen and Ruth Brown, was born on the 30th day of 
 April, 1802. 
 
 " Oliver Owen Brown, son of Owen and Ruth Brown, was born the 26th day of 
 October, A.D. 1804." 
 
 John Brown, therefore, was born in the year 1800, at Torrington, 
 Connecticut, where he lived, " about a mile north-west of the meeting 
 house," until the age of five, when his father emigrated to Hudson, 
 Ohio ; where, we are told, " he became one of the principal pioneer 
 settlers of that then new town, ever respected for his probity and 
 decision of character;" was "commonly called 'Squire Brown, and 
 was one of the Board of Trustees of Oberlin College ;" was " endowed 
 with energy and enterprise, and went down to his grave honored and 
 respected, about the year 1852 or 1853, at the age of eighty-seven." 
 
II. 
 
 THE FATHER OF THE MAN 
 
 TBUL.Y says the poet, that the child is father of the man. This is 
 why every incident of the childhood of great men is so eagerly sought 
 and cherished by their friends and admirers. When the fruit is 
 glorious, we desire to see the blossom, too. Happily, in the case of 
 Captain John Brown, this desire can be amply gratified ; and in a 
 way, and by the pen, of all others the best fitted to do justice to it. 
 Gladly I here step aside for the old hero; to permit him, in his 
 own inimitable style, to narrate the history of his infancy and early 
 manhood. 
 
 All that it becomes me to write, by way of preface, is a brief 
 statement of the story of this autobiography. 
 
 When John Brown was in Boston in the winter of 1857, among 
 other noble friends of freedom here, he made the acquaintance of Mr. 
 and Mrs. Stearns, of Medf ord ; who, recognizing him at once as an 
 historic character although clad in a plain suit of clothes only, and 
 with a leathern strap for a neck-tie received him at their hospitable 
 home with all the honor justly due to a hero and a saint. Their 
 children soon learned to love the old warrior; for, like all godlike 
 men, he loved little children ; and, like all young souls, they instinc- 
 tively recognized the true hero. One of them asked him many ques- 
 tions about his childhood ; and he recounted, with great interest, the 
 incidents of his infancy and boyish days. When the old man was 
 preparing to return to Kansas, Master Henry (to whom the letter is 
 addressed) asked his father's permission to give all his pocket-money 
 to Captain Brown. The permission was readily given, and the old 
 hero received the money. He promised at the same time if he 
 should ever find the leisure for it to write out for his young friend 
 an account of his own early life. 
 
 When crossing the State of Iowa, with military supplies, in the 
 month of July following he himself driving a team he was detained 
 for some time by the failure of certain parties to fulfil their promises 
 to send him money. He then fulfilled his promise, and wrote this 
 autobiographical sketch. I have copied it with the fidelity of a 
 
24 THE FATHER OF THE MAN. 
 
 Chinese artist Itatics, punctuation, orthography, and omissions. I 
 add a few notes only, and divide it into paragraphs. It fills six 
 pages of letter-paper in the original manuscript, which is very closely 
 written, and contains two paragraphs only the letter and the post- 
 script. 
 
 It is hardly necessary for me to say that the internal evidences of 
 its perfect fidelity are overwhelming ; for we see throughout it the 
 same grand traits in the barefooted, bareheaded boy, clad in " buck- 
 skin breeches, suspended often with one leather strap and sometimes 
 with two ;" who idolized the " bobtail squirrel," and had " a mourning 
 season " at its death : and who, at the age of twelve, swore eternal 
 war against slavery ; which, when in the jail and the Court-room, and 
 on the gallows of Charlestown, Virginia, astonished and delighted the 
 world. 
 
 This is the letter : 
 
 RED ROCK, IOWA, 15th July, 1857. 
 MR. HENRY L. STEARNS 
 
 My Dear Young Friend 
 
 I have not forgotten my promise to write you; but my constant 
 care, & anxiety have obliged me put it off a long time. I do not 
 flatter myself that I can write any thing that will very much interest 
 you : but have concluded to send you a short story of a certain boy of 
 my acquaintance : & for convenience and shortness of name, I will 
 call him John. His story will be mainly a naration of follies and 
 errors ; which it is to be hoped you may avoid; but there is one thing 
 connected with it, which will be calculated to encourage any young 
 person to persevering effort : & that is the degree of success in accom- 
 plishing his objects which to a great extent marked the course of this 
 boy throughout my entire acquaintance with him ; notwithstanding 
 his moderate capacity ; & stiJJ more moderate acquirements. 
 
 John was born May 9th 1800, at Torrington, Litchfield Co, Con- 
 necticut; of poor but respectable parents: a descendant on the side 
 of his father of one of the company of the Mayflower who landed at 
 Plymouth 1G20. His mother was descended from a man who came at 
 an early period to New England from Amsterdam, in Holland. Both 
 his Father's & his Mother's Fathers served in the war of the revolu- 
 tion : His Father's Father ; died in a barn at New York while in the 
 sendee, in 1770. 
 
 I cannot tell you of any thing in the first Four years of John's life 
 worth mentioning save that at that early age he was tempted by Three 
 
THE FATHER OP THE MAN. 25 
 
 large Brass Pins belonging to a girl who lived in the family & stole 
 them. In this he was detected by his Mother ; & after having a full 
 day to think of the wrong : received from her a thorough whipping. 
 When he was Five years old his Father* moved to Ohio; then a 
 wilderness filled with wild beasts, & Indians. During the long journey 
 which was performed in part or mostly with an ox team ; he was called 
 on by turns to assist a boy Five years older (who had been adopted by 
 his Father and Mother) & learned to think he could accomplish smart 
 things in driving the Cows; and riding the horses. Sometimes he 
 met with Rattle Snakes which were very large; & which some of the 
 company generally managed to kill. After getting to Ohio in 1805 he 
 was for some time rather afraid of the Indians, & of their Rifles ; but 
 this soon wore off : & he used to hang about them quite as much as 
 was consistent with good manners; & learned a trifle of their talk. 
 His Father learned to dress Deer Skins, & at 6 years old John was 
 installed a young Buck Skin He was perhaps rather observing as he 
 ever after remembered the entire process of Deer Skin dressing ; so 
 that he could at any time dress his own leather such as Squirel, 
 Raccoon, Cat, Wolf or Dog Skins; & also learned to make Whip 
 Lashes : which brought him some change at times ; & was of consi- 
 derable service in many ways. At Six years old John began to be 
 quite a rambler in the wild new country finding birds & Squirels, & 
 sometimes a wild Turkey's nest. But about this period he was placed 
 in the school of adversity ; which my young friend was a most neces- 
 sary part of his early training. You may laugh when you come to 
 read about it ; but these were sore trials to John ; whose earthly 
 treasures were very few cj 1 small. These were the beginning of a 
 severe but much needed course of discipline which he afterwards was 
 to pass through ; & which it is to be hoped has learned him before 
 
 * A correspondent thus writes of John Brown's father : " My recollections of 
 John Brown begin in the winter of 1806-7. I was then five years old. My 
 father's family lived that winter at Hudson,*Ohio, which was then one of the 
 remotest of the settlements made by Connecticut people on their Western Reserve. 
 One of our nearest neighbors there was Mr. Owen Brown, who had removed to 
 Hudson, not long before, from Connecticut. I remember him very distinctly, 
 and that he was very much respected and esteemed by my father. He was an 
 earnestly devout and religious man, of the old Connecticut fashion ; and one 
 peculiarity of his impressed his name and person indelibly upon my memory. 
 He was an inveterate and most painful stammerer the first specimen of that 
 infirmity that I had ever seen, and, according to my recollection, the worst that 
 I had ever known to this day ; consequently, though we removed from Hudson 
 to another settlement early in the summer of 1807, and returned to Connecticut 
 in 1812, so that I rarely saw any of that family afterwards, I have never to this 
 day seen a man struggling and half strangled with a word stuck in his throat, 
 without remembering good Mr. Owen Brown, who could not speak without 
 stammering, except in prayer." 
 
26 THE FATHER OP THE MAN. 
 
 this time that the Heavenly Father sees it best to take all the little 
 things out of his hands which he has ever placed in them. When 
 John was in his Sixth year a poor Indian boy gave him a Yellow 
 Marble the first he had ever seen. This he thought a great deal of ; 
 & kept it a good while ; but at last he lost it beyond recovery. It took 
 years to heal the wound ; & I think he cried at times about it. About 
 Five months after this he caught a young Squirrel tearing off his tail 
 in doing it ; & getting severely bitten at the same time himself. He 
 however held on to the little bob tail Squirrel; & finally got him per- 
 fectly tamed, so that he almost idolized his pet. This too he lost ; by 
 its wandering away ; or by getting killed : & for a year or Two John 
 was in mourning ; and looking at all the Squirrels he could see to try 
 & discover Bob tail, if iwssiMe, I must not neglect to tell you of a, 
 very bad tyjoolish habbit to which John was somewhat addicted. I 
 mean telling lies: generally to screen himself from blame; or from 
 punishment. He could not well endure to be reproached ; & I now 
 think had he been of tener encouraged to be entirely frank ; by making 
 frankness a kind of atonement for some of his faults ; he would not 
 have been so often guilty of this fault ; nor have been obliged to 
 struggle so long in after life with so mean a habit. John was never 
 quarrelsome ; but was excessively fond of the hardest $ roughest kind of 
 plays ; & could never get enough of them. 
 
 Indeed when for a short time he was sometimes sent to School the 
 opportunity it afforded to wrestle & Snow ball & run & jump & knock 
 off old seedy wool hats ; offered to him almost the only compensation 
 for the confinement, & restraints of school. I need not tell you that 
 with such a feeling & but little chance of going to school at all : he did 
 not become much of a schollar.* He would always choose to stay at 
 home & work hard rather than be sent to school ; and during the 
 warm season might generally be seen barefooted and bareheaded : with 
 Buck skin Breeches suspended often with one leather strap over his 
 shoulder but sometimes with Two. To be sent off through the wil- 
 derness alone to very considerable distances was particularly his 
 delight ; & in this he was often indulged so that by the time he was 
 Twelve years old he was sent off more than a Hundred .Miles with 
 companies of cattle ; and he would have thought his character much 
 
 * " He did not go to Harvard. He was not fed on the pap that is there fur- 
 nished. As he phrased it, ' I know no more grammar than one of your calves.' 
 But he went to the University of the West, where he studied the science of 
 Liberty ; and, having taken his degrees, he finally commenced the public practice 
 of humanity in Kansas. Such were his humanities he would have left a Greek 
 accent slanting the wrong way, and righted xip a falling man." HEXRY JJ. 
 THOBEAU. 
 
THE FATHER OF THE MAN. 27 
 
 injured had he been obliged to be helped in any such job. This was 
 a boyish kind of feeling but characteristic however.* 
 
 At Eight years old John was left a Motherless boy which loss was 
 complete & permanent, for notwithstanding his Father again married 
 to a sensible, intelligent, & on many accounts a very estimable woman : 
 yet he never addopted her in feeling : but continued to pine after his 
 own Mother for years. This opperated very unfavourably uppon him ; 
 as he was both naturally fond of females ; & withall extremely diffi- 
 dent ; & deprived him of a suitable connecting link between the diffe- 
 rent sexes ; the want of which ^might under some circumstances have 
 proved his ruin. 
 
 When the war broke out with England^ his Father soon commenced 
 furnishing the troops with beef cattle, the collecting & driving of 
 which afforded him some opportunity for the chase (on foot) of wild 
 steers and other cattle through the woods. During this war he had 
 some chance to form his own boyish judgment of men $ measures ; & 
 to become somewhat familiarly acquainted with ^some who have 
 figured before the country since that time.J The effect of what he 
 
 * A Mend, referring to a later period, thus writes of John Brown's woodman- 
 ship : " In his early manhood he had been a surveyor, and as such had traversed 
 a large part of Ohio and Pennsylvania and Western Virginia, and was thus in 
 some degree familiar with the locality where, it would seem, he intended to 
 operate. This life in the woods, to which he was trained from a boy, gave him. 
 the habits and the keen senses of a hunter or an Indian. He told me he had 
 been remarkably clear-sighted and quick of ear, and that he had smelled the 
 frying of doughnuts at five miles' distance ; but this was when extremely hungry* 
 He knew all the devices of woodcraft ; declared he could make a dinner for forty 
 men out of the hide of one ox, and thought he understood how to provide for an. 
 army's subsistence." 
 
 Last Spring, when in Boston, John Brown asked me where he could learn to 
 " make crackers in a rough way," in ovens, to be burrowed out.in hill-sides ; and 
 where, also, he could be taught how to manufacture beef-meal. He had often 
 found it inconvenient, he said, to keep a herd of oxen, as they required too many- 
 men to tend them, and could not always be concealed. He wanted to know how 
 to boil a herd down into a few barrels of beef-flour, so as to be ready for a speedy 
 transportation, and to keep his men employed when not engaged in other duties* 
 I believe he learned the process ere he left. 
 
 t " He accompanied his father to the camp, and assisted him in his employ- 
 ment, seeing considerable of military life, more, perhaps, than if he had been 
 a soldier, for he was often present at the councils of the officers. He learned by 
 experience how armies are supplied and maintained in the field. He saw enough 
 of military life to disgust him with it, and to excite in him a great abhorrence 
 of it. Though tempted by the offer of some petty office in the army when about 
 eighteen, he not only declined to accept this, but refused to train, and was fined 
 in consequence. He then resolved that he would have nothing to do with any 
 war unless it were a war for liberty." HENRY D. THOBEATJ. 
 
 t A friend, in his " Reminiscences of John Brown," thus writes of this period : 
 " As a boy, he was present at Hull's surrender, in 1812, and overheard conver- 
 sations between Cass, McArthur, and other subordinate officers of that General,, 
 which, he said, if he could have reported them to the proper persons at Washing- 
 ton, would have branded them as mutineers. To their disorderly conduct he 
 ascribed the surrender, and thought great injustice had been done to Hull, who, 
 though an old man and unfit for such a command, was brave and honest." 
 
28 THE FATHER OF THE MAN. 
 
 saw during the war was to so far disgust him with military affairs that 
 he would neither train, or drill ; but paid fines ; & got along like a 
 Quaker untill his age finally has cleared him of Military duty. 
 
 During the war with England a circumstance occurred that in the 
 end made him a most determined Abolitionist : & led him to declare, or 
 Swear : Eternal war with Slavery. He was staying for a short time 
 with a very gentlemanly landlord once' a United States Marshall who 
 held a slave boy near his OWH age very active, intelligent and good 
 feeling; & to whom John was under considerable obligation for 
 numerous little acts of kindness. The master made a great pet of 
 John : brought him to table with his first company ; & friends ; called 
 their attention to every little smart thing he said, or did ; & to the fact 
 of his being more than a hundred miles from home with a company 
 of cattle alone ; while the negro boy (who was fully if not more than 
 his equal *) was badly clothed, poorly fed ; fy lodged in cold weather : 
 & beaten before his eyes with Iron Shovels or any other thing that 
 came first to hand. This brought John to reflect on the wretched ; 
 hopeless condition, of Fatherless $ Motherless slave children : for such 
 children have neither Fathers nor Mothers to protect, & provide for 
 them. He sometimes would raise the question is God their Father ? 
 
 At the age of Ten years an old friend induced him to read a little 
 history ; and offered him the free use of a good library ; by ; which he 
 acquired some taste for reading : which formed the principle part of 
 his early education; & diverted him in a great measure from bad 
 company. He by this means grew to be very fond of the company, & 
 conversation of old & intelligent persons. He never attempted to 
 dance in his life ; nor did he ever learn to know one of a pack of cards 
 from another. He learned nothing of Grammer ; nor did he get at 
 school so much knowledge of common arithmetic as the Four ground 
 rules. This will give you some general idea of the first Fifteen years 
 of his life ; during which he became very strong & large of his age & 
 ambitious to perform the full labour of a man ; at almost any kind of 
 hard work. By reading the lives of great, wise & good men their 
 sayings, and writings ; he grew to a dislike of vain and frivolous con- 
 versation cj- persons ; & was often greatly obliged by the kind manner 
 in which older & more inteligent persons treated him at their houses ; 
 & in conversation ; which was a great relief on account of his extreme 
 bashfulness.f 
 
 * This early fact is as characteristic of his modesty as humanity ; both dis- 
 tinguishing traits of his old age. 
 
 t " He told me," writes a distant relative of John Brown, " that when a lad, 
 say of fourteen, he had been at work on the road along with a man who should 
 
THE FATHER OF THE MAN. 29 
 
 He very early in life became ambitious to excel in doing anything 
 he undertook to perform. This kind of feeling I would recommend 
 to all young persons both male $ female : as it will certainly tend to 
 Secure admission to the company of the more intelligent; & better 
 portion of every community. By all means endeavor to excel in some 
 laudable pursuit. 
 
 I had like to have forgotten to tell you of one of John's misfortunes 
 which set rather hard on him while a young boy. He had by some 
 means perhaps by gift of his Father become the owner of a little Ewe 
 Lamb which did finely till it was about Two Thirds grown ; & then 
 sickened & died. This brought another protracted mourning season : 
 not that he felt the pecuniary loss so much : for that was never his 
 disposition : but so strong and earnest were his atachments. 
 
 John had been taught from earliest childhood to " fear God & keep 
 his commandments;" and though quite skeptical he had always by 
 turns felt much serious doubt as to his future well being ; & about this 
 time became to some extent a convert to Christianity & ever after a 
 firm believer in the divine authenticity of the Bible.* With this book 
 he became very familiar, & possessed a most unusual memory of its 
 entire contents. 
 
 Now some of the things I have been telling of; were just such as I 
 would recommend to you : & I wd like to know that you had selected 
 these out ; & adopted them as part of your own plan of life ; & I wish 
 you to have some definite plan. Many seem to have none ; & others 
 never stick to any that they do form. This was not the case with 
 John. He followed up with tenacity whatever he set about so long 
 as it answered his general purpose : & hence he rarely failed in some 
 good degree to effect the things he undertook. This was so much the 
 case that he habitually expected to succeed in his undertakings. With 
 this feeling should be coupled; the consciousness that our plans are right 
 in themselves. 
 
 During the period I have named John had acquired a kind of owner- 
 ship to certain animals of some little value but as he had come to 
 understand that the title of minors might be a little imperfect; he had 
 recourse to various means in order to secure a more independant ; & 
 
 have been above mere trifling and nonsense, but who talked nothing else. 
 Iteturning home at evening with the company in the ox-cart, as the convenient 
 custom was, he dropped some expression of contempt for this man. This led 
 my paternal grandfather to take special notice of him as a thoughtful boy, and 
 to improve every opportunity to advise and instruct him as he might." 
 
 * He joined the Congregational church in Hudson, Ohio, at the age of sixteen. 
 Ten years later, on moving to Pennsylvania, he transferred his membership to 
 the Presbyterian church, with which he remained connected till the day of his 
 martyrdom. 
 
30 THE FATHER OP THE MAN. 
 
 perfect right of property. One of those means was to exchange with 
 his Father for some thing of far less value. Another was by trading 
 with other persons for something his Father had never owned. Older 
 persons have some times found difficulty with titles. 
 
 From Fifteen to Twenty years old, he spent most of his time work- 
 ing at the Tanner & Currier's trade keeping Bachelor's hall ; & he 
 officiating as Cook; & for most of the time as formanof the establish- 
 ment under his Father. During this period he found much trouble 
 with some of the bad habits I have mentioned & with some that I have 
 not told you off : his conscience urging him forward with great power 
 in this matter; but his close attention to business; & success in its 
 management ; together with the way he got along with a company of 
 men, & boys ; made him quite a favorite with the serious & more in- 
 teligent portion of older persons. This was so much the case ; and 
 secured for him so many little notices from those he esteemed ; that 
 his vanity was very much fed by it : & he came forward to manhood 
 quite full of self-concet ; & self-confident ; notwithstanding his extreme 
 basfulness. A younger brother used sometimes to remind him of this : 
 & to repeat to him this expression which you may somewhere find, " A 
 King against whom there is no rising up." The habit so early formed 
 of being obeyed rendered him in after life too much disposed to speak 
 in an imperious & dictating way. From Fifteen years & upward he 
 felt a good deal of anxiety to learn ; but could only read and studdy 
 a little ; both for want of time ; & on account of inflammation of the 
 eyes. He however managed by the help of books to make himself 
 tolerably well acquainted with common arithmetic ; and Surveying : 
 which he practiced more or less after he was Twenty years old. 
 
 At a little past Twenty years led by his own inclination $ prompted 
 also by his Father, he married a remarkably plain ; but neat industrious 
 & economical girl ; of excellent character ; earnest piety ; & good prac- 
 tical common sense ; about one year younger than himself. This woman 
 by her mild, frank, & more than all else : by her very consistent con- 
 duct ; acquired & ever while she lived maintained a most powerful ; & 
 good influence over him. Her plain but kind admonitions generally 
 had the right effect ; without arousing his haughty obstinate temper. 
 John began early in life to discover a great liking to fine Cattle, Horses, 
 Sheep, & Swine : and as soon as circumstances would enable him he 
 began to be a practical Shepherd: it being a calling for which in early 
 life he had a kind of enthusiastic longing :* together with the idea that 
 
 * A friend writes : " So keen was his observation, that, as was told me, he 
 knew when a strange sheep had got into his flock of two or three thousand head. 
 He was a great lover of good stock of all kinds cattle, sheep, swine, and horse?, 
 and cared tenderly for all the beasts he owned or used." 
 
THE FATHER OF THE MAN. 31 
 
 as a business it bid fair to afford him the means of carrying out 
 his greatest or principle object. I have now given you a kind of 
 general idea of the early life of this boy ; & if I believed it would be 
 worth the trouble : or afford much interest to any good feeling person : 
 I might be tempted to tell you something of his course in after life ; 
 or manhood. I do not say that / will do it. 
 
 You will discover that in using up my half sheets to save paper; I 
 have writtten Two pages, so that one does not follow the other as it 
 should. I have no time to write it over; and but for unavoidable 
 hindrances in traveling I can hardly say when I should have written 
 what I have. With an honest desire for your best good, I subscribe 
 myself, Your Friend 
 
 J. BROWN. 
 
 P. S. I had like to have forgotten to acknowledge your contribution 
 in aid of the cause in which 1 serve. God Allmighty bless you ; my son. 
 
 J. B. 
 
 HE STUDIES FOR THE MINISTRY. 
 
 To this autobiographical sketch there is one important incident of 
 John Brown's early life to be added. " At the age of eighteen or 
 twenty," writes a reliable authority, " he left Hudson, Ohio, and came 
 East, with the design of acquiring a liberal education through some 
 of our New England colleges. His ultimate design was the gospel 
 ministry. In pursuance of this object he consulted and conferred with 
 the Rev. Jeremiah Hallock, then clergyman at Canton, Connecticut, 
 and in accordance with advice there obtained, proceeded to Plainfield, 
 Massachusetts, where, under the instruction of the late Rev. Moses 
 Hallock, he was fitted or nearly fitted for college." 
 
 The youngest brother of this clergyman thus describes John 
 Brown : 
 
 " He was a tall, sedate, dignified young man. He had been a tanner, and re- 
 linquished a prosperous business for the purpose of intellectual improvement, 
 but with what ultimate end I do not now know. He brought with him a piece 
 of sole leather, about a foot square, which he had himself tanned for seven years 
 to resole his boots. He had also a piece of sheepskin which he had tanned, and 
 of which he cut some strips about an eighth of an inch wide for other students 
 to pull upon. Father took one string, and, winding it around his fingers, said, 
 ' I shall snap it.' The very marked, yet kind unmovableness of the young man's 
 face on seeing father's defeat father's own look, and the position of the people 
 and things in the old kitchen somehow gave me a fixed recollection of this 
 little incident. How long John Brown lived at our house, or at what period, I 
 do not know. I think it must have been in 1819 or 1820. I have the name John 
 Brown on my list of father's students. It is said that he was a relative of uncle 
 Jeremiah Hallock's wife, and that uncle J. directed him to Plainfield." 
 
THE FATHER OF THE MAN. 
 " While pursuing his studies," says the first writer 
 
 " He was attacked with inflammation of the eyes, which ultimately became 
 chronic, and precluded him from the possibility of the further pursuit of his 
 studies, when he returned to Ohio. Had not this inflammation supervened, 
 John Brown would not have died a Virginia culprit on a Virginia gallows, but 
 in all probability would have died on a feather bed, with D.D. affixed to his 
 name." 
 
 God had higher work for this sedate, dignified young man than to 
 write and deliver sermons to a parish. HE was raising him up as 
 a deliverer of captives and a teacher of righteousness to a nation ; as 
 the conserver of the light of true Christianity, when it was threatened 
 with extinction, under the rubbish of creeds and constitutions, and 
 iniquities enacted into laws. 
 
III. 
 
 THE MAN. 
 
 I DO not propose, in the present volume, to minutely trace the life 
 of John Brown from the date of his first marriage in 1821, up to the 
 time of his removal to Massachusetts, in 1846. Although this period 
 embraces twenty-five years, its incidents do not form an essential part 
 of his public career ; nor is a knowledge of them requisite to correctly 
 comprehend the illustrious actions of his later age. Every record of 
 this quarter of a century, let it suffice for me to state, exhibits to us 
 the same earnest, pious, and heroic character, which, by its unusual 
 manifestations during the last two months, has thrilled the pulses of 
 sixteen States. The keeper of sheep, the humble farmer and tanner, 
 appears, by the writings he has left behind him, and the testimony 
 of all who knew him, equally as courageous and devout a personage 
 as the Liberator of Kansas, the Invader of Virginia, and the Prisoner 
 of the Jail of Charlestown. 
 
 The last chapter, indeed, is a prophecy of what his future life would 
 be, too faithful in its outline, and too minute in its details, to^render 
 any record of its fulfilment, in every varying phase of his business 
 career, essential to a just conception of his character. It would be 
 easy and safe enough to pass over these twenty- five years, without 
 looking at a solitary incident of them, and yet to know that he would, 
 and how he would, pour them full to the brim of the living waters of 
 earnest deeds. Given : a stern inflexibility of purpose, and an earnest- 
 ness of nature so intense that it did not seem to exist as wheels that 
 revolve with the velocity of lightning, hardly seem to the looker-on 
 to be moving at all ; adding to them an infinite faith in God, and 
 man, and freedom, growing out of a soul of the utmost integrity, self- 
 reliance, modesty, and almost child -like simplicity, transfused with 
 the teachings of Jesus Christ, and inspired by the examples of the Old 
 Testament ; putting this rare creation into the walks of lowly life, at 
 the head of a loyal and patriarchal household, and in a nation which, 
 in its eager hunt after gold, too often extinguishes the Holy Lamp 
 
 C 
 
34 THE MAN. 
 
 placed by the hand of Deity in the human soul ; and one can readily 
 foresee how, wherever it shall move, common men at times must stand 
 aghast at it smiling sometimes in derision of tener speaking in a pity 
 begotten of involuntary admiration for the poor " monomaniac," who 
 is so erratic as to follow his Heaven-implanted instincts, " no matter 
 how ridiculous " in the eyes of fools they may be, " or how inconve- 
 nient to himself;" and "without the intellect to comprehend the 
 necessities, the nature, and the obligations arising out of civil society."* 
 To understand John Brown, the first thing needed is, to know what 
 earnest sincerity means. Do you believe in God ? Do you believe 
 the Bible ? John Brown believed in Jehovah and His Word. Sin- 
 cerely, for nothing was permitted to stand between the commandments 
 of Jehovah and his obedience to them : sincerely, for while our scribes 
 and pharisees derided him, he translated his belief into earnest deeds, 
 and thereby proved how vain and false were their loud professions. 
 He was the last of the old Puritan type of Christians. Gideon to him, 
 and Joshua, and Moses, were not interesting historic characters merely, 
 as, judging from their acts, modern Christians regard them ; but holy 
 examples set before us, by Deity himself, for our imitation and our 
 guidance. Is the Bible true? Yes, say many modern Christians, 
 never doubting their own sincerity, and then denounce any forcible 
 emancipation of God's enslaved poor. If the Bible is the true Word, 
 it follows that it is right to slay God's enemies, if it be necessary thus 
 to deliver God's persecuted people. In John Brown's eyes, what 
 Joshua did, and Jehovah sanctioned, could not be wrong. And so 
 with every doctrine. Between the command of the Lord of Hosts and 
 implicit obedience to it, he permitted neither Creed nor Platform, 
 Constitution nor Law, to intervene. Did the Fathers of the Republic 
 intend to tolerate slavery ? He might admit the historic fact ; but 
 still would he obey the divine command and interfere with slavery. 
 There was in him no deep gulf fixed, as there in most men is, between 
 the Third Heaven of their abstract theories and the Bottomless Pit 
 of their civil actions. 
 
 It was thus in every relation of his private life, during this long 
 period of twenty-five years, over which we will now hurriedly pass, 
 in order that we may the sooner come to those gigantic cameras- 
 Harper's Ferry and the Jail of Charlestown in which, for forty days, 
 every line and lineament of the old Puritan's noble soul were drawn 
 with the unvarying fidelity of Nature. 
 
 * These phrases are quoted from conservative Republican journals. I spare 
 the editors the misfortune of their names. 
 
THE MAN. 35 
 
 THE FAMILY RECORD. 
 
 John Brown was married to his first wife, Dianthe Lusk, June 21, 
 1820, at Hudson, in Ohio. In order to make no interruptions in the 
 narrative, or confusion of dates, I subjoin here the family record as it 
 stood at John Brown's death. 
 
 By his first wife, John Brown had seven children : 
 
 JOHN BROWN, junior, July 25, 1821, at Hudson, Ohio; married Wealthy C. 
 llotchkiss, July, 1847. He now lives in Ashtabula County, Ohio; now well 
 recovered from his once dangerous malady. 
 
 JASON BROWN, January 19, 1823, Hudson, Ohio; married Ellen Sherboud}-, 
 July, 1847. 
 
 OWEN BROWN, November 4, 1824, Hudson, Ohio ; he escaped from Harper's 
 Ferry. 
 
 FREDERICK BROWN (1st), January 9, 1827, Eichmond, Pennsylvania; died 
 March 31, 1831. 
 
 RUTH BROWN, February 18, 1829, Eichmond, Pennsylvania ; married Henry 
 Thompson, September 26, 1850. 
 
 FREDERICK BROWN (2nd), December 21, 1830, Richmond, Pennsylvania; 
 murdered at Osawatomie by Rev. Martin White, Aug. 30, 1856. 
 
 AN INFANT SON, born Aug. 7, 1832, \a^s buried with his mother three days 
 after his birth. ^ 
 
 By his second wife, Mary A. Day, to whom he was married at 
 Meadville, Pennsylvania (while he was living at Richmond, in Craw- 
 ford County), he had thirteen children : 
 
 SARAH BROWN, born May 11, 1834, at Eichmond, Pennsylvania ; died Sep- 
 tember 23, 1843. 
 
 WATSON BROWN, October 7, 1835, Franklin, Ohio; married Isabella M. 
 Thompson, September, 1856 ; wounded at Harper's Ferry, October 17, while 
 bearing a flag of truce ; died October 19, 1859. 
 
 SALMON BROWN, October 2, 1836, Hudson, Ohio ; married Abbie C. Hinckley, 
 October 15, 1856 ; lives at North Elba. 
 
 CHARLES BROWN, November 3, 1837, Hudson, Ohio ; died September 11, 1843. 
 
 OLIVER BROWN, March 9, 1839, Franklin, Ohio ; married Martha E. Brewster, 
 April 17, 1858; killed at Harper's Ferry, October 17, 1859. 
 
 PETER BROWN, December 7, 1840, Hudson, Ohio ; died September 22, 1843 
 
 AUSTIN BROWN, September 14, 1842, Richfleld, Ohio ; died September 27,1843. 
 
 ANNE BROWN, December 23, 1843, Richfield, Ohio. 
 
 AMELIA BROWN, June 22, 1845, Akron, Ohio ; died October 30, 1846 
 
 SARAH BROWN (2nd), September 11, 1846, Akron, Ohio. 
 
 ELLEN BROWN (1st), May 20, 1848, Springfield, Massachusetts ; died April 30, 
 Io49. 
 
 INFANT SON, April 26, 1852, Akron, Ohio ; died May 17, aged 21 days 
 
 ELLEN BROWN (2nd), September 25, 1854, Akron, Ohio. 
 
 Thus, eight children now survive ; four by each wife. 
 
 THE YOUNG TANNER. 
 
 From his twenty-first 1 to his twenty sixth year, John Brown was 
 engaged in the tanning business, and as a farmer, in Ohio. 
 In 1826 he went to Richmond, Richland township, Crawford County, 
 
36 THE MAN. 
 
 Pennsylvania, where he carried on the old business till 1835. One of 
 his apprentices at this period informs us that he was characterized 
 for singular probity of life, and by his strong and " eccentric " bene- 
 volent impulses. He would refuse to sell leather until the last drop 
 of moisture had been dried from it, " lest he should sell his customers 
 water, and reap the gain." 
 
 "He is said to have caused a man to be arrested, or re-arrested, for 
 some small offence, not easily substantiated to a jury, or who had 
 already passed a preliminary examination without effect, although he 
 had sustained no personal injury, but simply because he thought the 
 crime should be punished ; and his benevolence induced him to supply 
 the wants of the offender out of his private means, and to provide for 
 the family until the trial." * 
 
 That stern old English sense of justice that grand Puritan spirit 
 of inflexible integrity how beautifully do they bloom out, thus early, 
 in the life of this illustrious man! Evidently, in honour of this 
 bright trait, history will place Jgkn Brown in her American Pan- 
 theon, not among Virginia's culprate, but as high, at least, as Virginia's 
 greatest chief, whose best sayings and achievements that young man. 
 just, was afterwards to be slaughtered by Washington's native State, 
 for attempting to carry out to their legitimate results. 
 
 CHANGES OF RESIDENCE. 
 
 In 1835 he removed to Franklin Mills, Portage County, Ohio, 
 where until 1841 he was engaged in the tanning trade, and speculated 
 in real estate. He made several unfortunate investments, and lost a 
 considerable amount of money. 
 
 In March, 1839, he started from Ohio for Connecticut, with a drove 
 of cattle. He returned in July of the same year, and brought back 
 with him a few sheep, his first purchases in that business, in which 
 he afterwards was so largely interested. 
 
 In 1840 he went to Hudson, Ohio, and engaged in the wool business 
 with Captain Oviatt, of Richfield; to which in 1842 John Brown 
 removed, and remained two years, when he entered into a partnership 
 with Colonel Perkins. During his residence in Richfield he lost four 
 children, all of them within eleven days ; and three were carried out 
 together, and interred in the same grave. " From boyhood," writes 
 
 * This incident is related by a citizen of Warren, Pennsylvania, who knew 
 him well, and regarded Mm at that time as an exemplary and highly Christian 
 man. 
 
THE MAN. 37 
 
 Mr. Oviatt, " I have known him through manhood ; and through life 
 he has been distinguished for his truthfulness and integrity ; he has 
 ever been esteemed, by those who have known him, as a very con- 
 scientious man." 
 
 It was in 1839 that he conceived the idea of becoming a Liberator 
 of the Southern slaves. He had seen, during the twenty -five years 
 that had elapsed since he became an Abolitionist, every right of 
 human nature, and of the Northern States, ruthlessly trodden under 
 the feet of the tyrannical Slave Power; he saw it blighting and 
 blasting the manhood of the nation, and he listened to " the voice of 
 the poor that cried." He heard Lafayette loudly praised, but ho saw 
 no helper of the bondman. He saw the people building the sepulchres 
 of the fathers of '76, but lynching and murdering the prophets that 
 were sent unto them. He believed that 
 
 " Who would be free, themselves must strike the blow." 
 
 But the slaves, scattered ; closely watched ; prevented from assembling 
 to conspire ; without arms ; apparently overpowered ; at the mercy of 
 every traitor ; knowing the white man only as their foe ; seeing, every- 
 where and always, that (as the Haytian proverb pithily expresses it), 
 " Zie blanc, bouille negues " the eyes of the whites burn up the negroes 
 in order to arise and strike a blow for liberty, needed a positive sign 
 that they had friends among the dominant race, who sympathized 
 with them, believed in their right to freedom, and were ready to aid 
 them in their attempt to obtain it, John Brown determined to let 
 them know that they had friends, and prepared himself to lead them 
 to liberty. From the moment that he formed this resolution, he en- 
 gaged in no commercial speculations which he could not, without loss 
 to his friends and family, wind up in fourteen days. He waited 
 patiently. " LEAKN to WAIT : I have waited twenty years," he often 
 said to the young men of principle and talent, who loved and flocked 
 around him when in Kansas. 
 
 In 1844, John Brown removed to Akron, Ohio ; in 1846 he went to 
 Springfield, Massachusetts, where in the following year his family 
 joined him. 
 
 A few life-notes now are all that can be given here. 
 
 JOHN BROWN'S FAVORITE BOOKS, TEXTS, AND 
 HYMNS. 
 
 "My dear father's favorite books, of an historical character," 
 writes a daughter, " were Rollin's Ancient History, Josephus's Works, 
 
38 THE MAN 
 
 Napoleon and his Marshals, and the Life of Oliver Cromwell. Of 
 religious books : Baxter's Saints' Rest (in speaking of this work, at 
 one time, he said he could not see how any person could read it 
 through carefully without becoming a Christian), the Pilgrim's Pro- 
 gress, Henry on Meekness ; but, above all others, the BIBLE was his 
 favorite volume, and he had such a perfect knowledge of it that, when 
 any person was reading it, he would correct the least mistake. His 
 favorite passages were these, as nearly as I can remember : 
 
 " ' Remember them that are in bonds as bound with them.' 
 
 " ' Whoso stoppeth his ear at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but 
 shall not be heard.' 
 
 " ' He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed ; for he giveth his bread to 
 the poor.' 
 
 " ' A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favor 
 rather than silver and gold.' 
 
 " ' Whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker, and he that is glad at 
 calamities shall not be unpunished.' 
 
 " ' He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord, and that which he 
 hath given will he pay him again.' 
 
 " ' Give to him that asketh of thee, and from him that would borrow of thee 
 turn not thou away.' 
 
 " ' A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast ; but the tender mercies of 
 the wicked are cruel.' 
 
 " ' Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power 
 of thine hand to do it.' 
 
 " ' Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it ; except 
 the Lord keep the city, the watchman walketh in vain.' 
 
 " ' I hate vain thoughts, but thy law do I love.' 
 
 " The last chapter of Ecclesiasticus was a favorite one, and on Fast 
 days and Thanksgivings he used very often to read the fifty-eighth 
 chapter of Isaiah. 
 
 " When he would come home at night, tired out with labor, he 
 would, before going to bed, ask some of the family to read chapters 
 (as was his usual course night and morning), and would most always 
 say, ' Bead one of David's Psalms.' 
 
 " His favorite hymns (Watts's) were these I give the first lines 
 only : 
 
 " ' Blow ye the trumpet, blow.' 
 
 " ' Sweet is Thy work, my God, my King.' 
 
 " ' I'll praise my Maker with iny breath.' 
 
 " ' O, happy is the man who hears.' 
 
 " ' Why should we start, and fear to die ?' 
 
 " ' With songs and honors sounding loud.' 
 
 " ' Ah, lovely appearance of death.' " 
 
 He was a great admirer of Oliver Cromwell. Of coloured heroes, 
 Nat Turner and Cinques stood first in his esteem. "How often," 
 writes a daughter, have I heard him speak in admiration of Cinques' 
 character and management in carrying his points with so little 
 
THE MAN. 3D 
 
 bloodshed !" Of American writings, he chiefly admired the sayings 
 of Franklin, and the Farewell Address of Washington. 
 
 I do not see how any one could draw the character of John Brown 
 better than by referring the reader to his favorite books. The Bible, 
 first and above all other volumes, inspired every action of his life. 
 He searched it continually to find there the words of eternal life. 
 Nay, years hence, Christendom will recognize in John Brown a trans- 
 lation of the Old Testament, not into English words, but American 
 flesh and blood. 
 
 As a father, he was tenderly austere ; as a husband, devotedly 
 faithful and kind. 
 
 He brought up his family as the Hebrew patriarchs reared their 
 children. The law of God was fcheir earliest and most constant study ; 
 unbounded and willing obedience to it, their first and chief lesson. 
 They bended their knees every morning and evening at God's altar ; 
 daily read the sacred volume, and sung psalms and hymns, and 
 spiritual songs. Grace before and after meat sanctified their board. 
 The patriarchal principle of filial reverence was in this family a dis- 
 tinguishing trait. Self-sacrifice was their idea of earthly life. He 
 was a Puritan to the backbone. 
 
 " The Puritan idea " here it was outlived : nowhere else was the 
 grandest thing brought over in the Mayflower so sacredly pre- 
 served. Other descendants of the passengers in that classic ship have 
 chairs, and tables, and other material evidences of her voyage to 
 America ; but this great family had the Idea that she personifies, not 
 pompously displayed in parlors or musuems, but modestly, uncon- 
 sciously, in their daily lives. 
 
 The sayings of Franklin, as will be seen in another chapter, were 
 exhibited in daily life in the household of John Brown. And the 
 Declaration of Independence we will see how it was incarnated 
 when we find the old man and his sons in Kansas and Virginia. 
 
 " One of his favorite verses was," says a daughter, 
 
 " Count that day lost whose low, descending sun 
 Views from thy hand no worthy action done." 
 
 Here, although in advance of the time, two incidents may be 
 related, which show how the ideas of the Bible interpenetrated his 
 whole being. 
 
 " I asked him," says a child, " how he felt when he left the eleven 
 slaves, taken from Missouri, safe in Canada ? His answer was, 
 ' Lord, permit now thy servant to die in peace, for mine eyes have 
 seen thy salvation. I could not brook k the idea that any ill should 
 
40 THE MAN. 
 
 bef al them, or they be taken back to slavery. The arm of Jehovah 
 protected us.' " 
 
 The next anecdote, related since the old man's captivity, by a 
 distinguished citizen of Pennsylvania, is no less characteristic : 
 
 He has elements of character, which, under circumstances favorable to thgir 
 proper development and right direction, would have made him one of the great 
 men of the world. Napoleon himself had -no more blind and trusting confidence 
 in his own destiny and resources ; his iron will and unbending purpose were 
 equal to that of any man, living or dead ; his religious enthusiasm and sense of 
 duty (exaggerated and false though it was) were yet earnest and sincere, and not 
 excelled by that of Oliver Cromwell or any of his followers ; while no danger 
 could for a moment alarm or disturb him. Though doubtless his whole nature 
 was subject to and almost constantly, for the last three or four years, pervaded 
 by the deepest excitement, his exterior was always calm and cool. His manner, 
 though conveying the idea of a stern and self-sustaining man, was yet gentle 
 and courteous, and marked by frequent and decided manifestations of kindness ; 
 and it can probably be said of him with truth, that, amid all his provocations, 
 he never perpetrated an act of wanton or unnecessary cruelty. He was scrupu- 
 lously honest, moral, and temperate, and never gave utterance to a boast. Upon 
 one occasion, when one of the ex-Governors of Kansas said to him that he was a 
 marked man, and that the Missourians were determined, sooner or later, to take 
 his scalp, the old man straightened himself up, with a glance of enthusiasm and 
 defiance in his gray eye, 'Sir,' said he, 'the angel of the Lord will camp round 
 about me."' 
 
 His self-sacrificing spirit, his devotion to the American idea in 
 its spirit, "which giveth life," not in its letter, "which is death" 
 may be clearly seen in a single sentence from one of his family : 
 " On leaving us the first time that he went to Kansas, he said, ' If it 
 is so painful for us to part, with the hope of meeting again, how 
 dreadful must be the separation for life of hundreds of poor 
 slaves P " 
 
 He inspired every one of his family with this heroic Christianity. 
 His sons were all young fathers; John Browns, junior, every one. 
 His son-in-law, also, was touched with the holy fire from the altar of 
 the old man's soul. 
 
 " When William Thompson," * writes a sister-in-law, " talked of 
 going to Harper's Ferry, his wife begged of him not to go, telling 
 him that she was afraid he would be murdered : he said, ' O Mary, 
 you do not think of anything but self ! What is my life in comparison 
 to thousands of poor slaves in bondage ?' " 
 
 For John Brown's habits a few words will suffice. He was a very 
 early riser, and a very hard worker. His dress was extremely plain ; 
 never in the fashion, and never made of fine cloth. But he was 
 always scrupulously clean and tidy in his personal appearance. When 
 first I saw him in his camp at Kansas, although his clothing was 
 
 * He whom the " party of Virginia gentlemen " murdered in cold blood. 
 
THE MAN. 41 
 
 patched and old, and he was almost barefooted, he was as tidy, both 
 in person and dress, as any gentleman of Boston. He was noted for 
 his orderly and systematic business habits. His account-books and 
 correspondence (which have been sacredly preserved) are models of 
 systematic arrangement. Even to the day of his death he regularly 
 filed his letters, writing the name of the correspondent, and the word 
 " Answered," or " Not time to read," or " No answer needed," on 
 every one of them. His food was always plain and simple. He never 
 used tobacco in any form, or wine or spirits on any pretence what- 
 ever. When at home he drank milk, or water only. It was not till 
 within a few years before his death, that he ever tasted tea or coffes, 
 He relinquished this habit only from the desire to give no trouble to 
 others ; for he found that in travelling it sometimes annoyed good 
 people to see their guests drink water instead of tea. He never ate 
 cheese or butter. " When a little boy, ten years of age, he was sent of 
 an errand, where a lady gave him a piece of bread and butter. He 
 was so bashful, that he did not dare to tell her he never ate butter ; 
 and as soon as he got out of the house, he ran as fast as he could for a 
 long distance, and then threw the gift out of sight." 
 
 Mr. Doolittle, of Ohio, Mr. Weeks and Mr. Hallock, of Connecticut, 
 were his favorite pastors. Although a rigid Puritan, he loved Theodore 
 Parker. " I am free to say," he once told me, " that I do not agree 
 with Mr. Parker in religious matters ; I think he is mistaken in most 
 of his views ; but I like him, sir ; he is a good man." 
 
 " Captain Brown," writes a friend, " was extremely fond of music. 
 I once saw him sit listening with the most rapt attention to Schubert's 
 Serenade, played by a mutual friend ; and, when the music ceased, 
 tears were in the old man's eyes. He was indeed most tender-hearted ; 
 fond of children and pet creatures, and always enlisted on the weaker 
 side. The last time I saw him in Boston, he had been greatly annoyed 
 fcy overhearing in the street some rude language addressed to a black 
 girl, who, he said, would never have been insulted if she had been 
 white. To him might well be applied the words of the old Scotch 
 ballad:" 
 
 " Douglas, Douglas, tender and true." 
 
 Of the different members of John Brown's family I cannot write 
 now ; but, on another occasion, I shall try to do justice to the old hero 
 as a father. I think, from what I know of him, that John Brown by 
 his wife's chair, and the cradle of his children, was even a greater 
 man than John Brown at Osawatomie, and on the scaffold of Charles- 
 town. 
 
42 THE MAN. 
 
 Mrs. Brown, the present -widow, was a fit mate for her husband. 
 Is it necessary to say more ? If it be, I cannot write it. His first 
 wife's character he himself has drawn, and the reader has seen the 
 portrait. 
 
 I have a few testimonials of John Brown's character during this 
 long period from men who knew him well. Mr. Baldwin, of Ohio, 
 who has known him from 1814, " considered him a man of rigid in- 
 tegrity and of ardent temperament." Mr. George Leech, who knew 
 him from early boyhood, says that he " always appeared strictly con- 
 scientious and honest, but of strong impulses and strong religious 
 feelings." Mr. William S. C. Otis writes: "I became acquainted 
 with John Brown about the year 1836; soon after my removal to 
 Akron, he became a client of mine ; subsequently, a resident of the 
 township in which the town of Akron is situated; and, during a 
 portion of the latter time, a member of a Bible class taught by me. 
 In these relations which I sustained to Mr. Brown, I had a good 
 opportunity to become acquainted with his mental, moral, and reli- 
 gious character. I always regarded him as a man of more than ordi- 
 nary mental capacity, of very ardent and excitable temperament, of 
 unblemished moral character; a kind neighbor, a good Christian, 
 deeply imbued with religious feelings and sympathies. In a business 
 point of view, his ardent and excitable temperament led him into 
 pecuniary difficulties ; but I never knew his integrity questioned by 
 any person whatever." 
 
 Since the foregoing chapter was stereotyped, I have found among the North 
 Elba manuscripts the following " Phrenological Description of John Brown, as 
 given by O. S. Fowler." It is dated New York, February 27, 1847 : 
 
 " JOHN BROWX PHBENOLOGICALLY DESCRIBED." 
 
 " You have a brain of good size, and a physical organization of much more 
 than ordinary strength to sustain it. I should judge that you were from a long- 
 lived ancestry, and that you yourself have inherited such a constitution as would 
 enable you, under ordinary circumstances, to live to a good old age. Your mind 
 did not mature as early as the majority of persons, but it is of the kind that is 
 continually expanding and improving, and will continue to augment in power 
 to a more advanced age than that of most persons. You are very active, both 
 physically and mentally are positive in your likes and dislikes, ' go the whole 
 figure or nothing,' and want others to do the same. Your first ideas and im- 
 pressions are your best ; and, as a general thing, you will find them a more safe 
 guide than your after deliberations. You have the faculty to take in all the 
 various conditions of a thing at once, and hence the reason for the correctness 
 of your first impressions. You are quick and clear in your perceptions, have 
 good judgment of the quality and value of property, are a great observer, and 
 want to see. You are moi'e known for your practical off-hand talent than for 
 depth and profundity of comprehension have a discriminating mind, are quick 
 
THE MAN. 43 
 
 to draw inferences, and are quite disposed to criticise. You reason more by 
 analogy than from abstract principles, and are more practical than theoretical. 
 You have a remarkable memory of faces and places, but poor of names and 
 dates. You can measure well by your eye, and are annoyed if you see any thing 
 out of proportion, or not exactly plumb have an excellent memory of shape, 
 outline, and size of whatever you see are a systematic, methodical man : like 
 to have a place for things, and things in their places. Your ability to reckon 
 figures mentally is naturally good you have a great deal of mechanical ingenuity, 
 are just the man to set others at work, to make bargains, and do up the out-door 
 business. You have a pretty good opinion of yourself would rather lead than 
 be led have great sense of honour, and would scorn to do anything mean or 
 disgraceful. In making up your mind you are careful and judicious, but are 
 firm as the hills when once decided. You might be persuaded, but to drive you 
 would be impossible. You like to have your own way, and to think and act for 
 yourself are quite independent and dignified, yet candid, open, and plain ; say 
 just what you think, and most heartily despise hypocrisy and artificiality ; yet 
 you value the good opinion of others, though you would not stoop to gain applause. 
 You are quite cautious and prudent, and generally look out for breakers ahead, 
 and realize quite as much as you expect. It would be an advantage to you if 
 you had a little more hope, and would allow yourself to look more on the bright 
 side of things. As a religious man, you would be more inclined to deal justly 
 and love mercy, than to pay much regard to forms and ceremonies. You have 
 not enough devotional feeling, nor of what we term spirituality of mind, to give 
 harmony and balance to the moral sentiments. They should be cultivated. You 
 believe what can be incontestably proved, and nothing else. You like to do busi- 
 ness on a large scale, and can make money better than save it you want it for 
 its uses, in one form or another, rather than for its own sake. Yoiir ability to- 
 read the characters of others is excellent, but you have little tact in adapting 
 yourself to them. You are too blunt and free-spoken you often find that your 
 motives are not understood, and that you give offence when you do not intend 
 to. When you criticise, you are apt to do it in such a plain, pointed manner, 
 that it does not produce so good an effect as it would if you should do it in a 
 more bland and affable way. You have strong domestic feelings, are very fond 
 of children, home, and friends ; you may be irritable, but are not contentious. 
 You do not like to plod over one subject for a length of time ; but, on the con- 
 trary, like variety and change. Your thoughts and feelings are more rapid and 
 lasting. lu your character and actions you are more original than imitative, 
 and have more taste for the useful than the beautiful and ornamental." 
 
IV. 
 
 PERKINS AND BROWN, WOOL FACTORS. 
 
 JOHN BSOWN went to Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1846. The fol- 
 lowing extract from a private letter by an eminent citizen of that 
 place, to whom, when in prison, he wrote for legal assistance, will 
 show the estimation in which he was held by the Conservative men 
 with whom he came in contact in his business relations there. 
 
 "JOHN BROWN IN SPRINGFIELD. 
 
 " Your letter asking for such information as I am able to give you respecting 
 John Brown is received, and in order to enable me to answer it more fully than 
 I could otherwise hare done, I have called upon a man who was his book-keeper 
 when he lived here. This person informs me that he came here from Akron, 
 Ohio, in the spring of 1846, and engaged in the business of wool-dealing. He 
 was afterwards associated in business with a Mr. Perkins, of Ohio, and their firm 
 was Perkins and Brown. They sold large quantities of wool on commission ; 
 most of it was for farmers living in Western Pennsylvania. Mr. Brown left 
 here in 1850 or 1851, and removed with his family to North Elba, Essex County, 
 New York. This person says Gerritt Smith gave him a large tract of land there. 
 
 He says he knows it because he saw the deed Mr. Brown's integrity was 
 
 never doubted, and he was honorable in all his dealings, but peculiar in many 
 of his notions, and adhering to them with great obstinacy. Mr. Brown was a 
 quiet and peaceable citizen, and a religious man. Rev. Mr. Conklin, who was 
 settled here in the North Congregational Church, and who separated himself in 
 a great measure from other ministers because he thought them culpably in- 
 different to the sin of slavery, was intimate with Mr. Brown, and they sympathized 
 in their anti-slavery ideas. Mr. Brown used to talk much on the subject, and 
 had the reputation of being quite ultra. His book-keeper tells me that he and 
 his eldest son used to discuss slavery by the hour in his counting room, and that 
 he used to say that it was right for slaves to kill their masters and escape, and 
 thought slaveholders were guilty of a very great wickedness. He says Brown 
 had lived in Ohio forty years, and had been out there from Connecticut several 
 times on foot ; that he was familiar with the region about Harper's Ferry, and 
 knew the wool growers in all that part of the country. 
 
 " Since Brown went to Kansas he has been in town several times. I have 
 seen him repeatedly. Once he called on me to inquire whether the Emigrant 
 Aid Company would assist him to purchase arms for the protection of himself 
 and his neighbors. I told him he could get no aid from them. I understood 
 he afterwards solicited subscriptions from individuals. I never knew how he 
 succeeded. He was here again last summer, and called on me, and told me what 
 he had been doing in Kansas. His story was such that I told him I did not think 
 he had done wrong. He professed to have acted solely for the protection of 
 himself and his neighbors, and said he went to Missouri to help the slaves escape, 
 merely to frighten the Missourians, and keep them from going to Kansas to dis- 
 turb the people, and that he was successful in it. I cannot learn that he spoke 
 to any one in this region of his Harper's Ferry enterprise, and do not believe that 
 he did. A lady here asked him if he was not going to lead a quiet life hereafter 
 and he replied that he should unless he had a call from the Lord" 
 
PERKINS AND BROWN, WOOL FACTORS. 45 
 
 A local journalist thus writes of John Brown's character in Spring- 
 field : 
 
 " While a resident of this city, Brown was respected by all who knew him for 
 
 his perfect integrity of character He is so constituted that when he gets 
 
 possessed of an idea he carries it out with unflinching fidelity to all its logical 
 consequences, as they seem to him, hesitating at no absurdity, and deterred by 
 no unpleasant consequences to himself.*. . . . Brown was here about a year ago, 
 and spent several days. He talked freely with his friends in respect to his run- 
 ning off slaves from Missouri. He seemed to feel that he had a special mission 
 in respect to slavery, and he justified the running off of slaves, not on the ground 
 of personal vengeance for the bitter wrongs he had received, but as an effective 
 mode of operation against the institution itself. His theory was then, and it 
 was the secret of his Harper's Ferry movement, that his mission was to make 
 the institution insecure, to increase the general feeling of its insecurity at the 
 South, and thus to act upon the fear and prudence of the slaveholders. In all this 
 he was deliberate, calm, and conscientious. Doubtless his personal wrongs had 
 contributed to the establishment of this fixed purpose of his life ; but his ven- 
 geance was directed not against slaveholders, but against the institution itself. 
 It was a matter of religion with him. He is a Presbyterian in his faith, and 
 feels that it is for this very purpose that God raised him up.f 
 
 HIS FAILURE IN WOOL SPECULATIONS. 
 
 There are conflicting accounts of the reasons that induced John 
 Brown to remove to Springfield. The best authenticated records, thus 
 far produced, go to show that it was the result of that same spirit of 
 resistance to organised wrong that had distinguished itself in his own 
 history and the history of his ancestry. A half-friendly writer says : 
 
 " John Brown initiated the system of grading wools a system at this day 
 universally adopted, and with perfect success ; but the New England manufac- 
 turers combined against him. He had at Springfield, Massachusetts, a large 
 deposit of graded Western wools, and he warred against the combination of New 
 
 * This statement was advanced as a proof that John Brown was a monomaniac. 
 I think it is the bitterest satire on the age that I have ever read ; an unconscious 
 and unintentional, but no less resplendent eulogium on the character of my 
 friend. 
 
 t A correspondent who visited Springfield in 1847, and saw John Brown there, 
 thus records an incident illustrative of his great strength of memory : 
 
 "In the summer of 1847, it happened to me that I spent a Sunday at the 
 American House, in Springfield, Mass. A stranger who had seen my name on 
 the register of the hotel, came to my room, and claimed acquaintance with me. 
 He was a plain man, intelligent in his appearance, with something of that inde- 
 pendent air which so naturally characterizes Western men, his head beginning 
 to be whitened (if I remember correctly), but his upright frame still perfectly 
 firm and sinewy. As I was quite unable to recognize him, he told me he was 
 John Brown, and made me remember, at las*, that we were schoolfellows more 
 than fifty years before, when I was one of the least of the pupils in the little 
 log-cabin school at Hudson. I cannot recollect distinctly what he told me about 
 his residence, his occupation, or his history ; but I remember clearly the im- 
 pression that he was an earnestly religious man, with somewhat more of the 
 old Puritan sternness than is common in these days, and with some tendency to 
 that eccentricity of opinion and of action which in modern phrase is called 
 ' Ultraism.' I am not sure that slavery was spoken of between us ; but it was 
 evident that his mental and moral idiosyncrasy would place him among men 
 to whom extreme opinions on such a subject are most natural." 
 
46 PERKINS AND BROWN, WOOL FACTORS. 
 
 England marmfacturers, who, having had the wool buying all their own way, did 
 not fancy that a party should step in between them and the prodiicers to ?how 
 the latter what was for their interest, and to prevent the practice of imposition 
 upon them. The combination was successful, and Brown, impetuous and in- 
 dignant, shipped his wools to England, to find out that the price in Massachusetts 
 was better than in Europe." 
 
 Another writer says : 
 
 " In 1848 we find him in a large woollen warehouse in Springfield, Massa- 
 chusetts, where he was known as a quiet, modest man, of unswerving integrity. 
 Indeed, hundreds of wool-growers in Northern Ohio consigned their stock to him 
 to be sold at discretion. A combination of Eastern manufacturers, who wished 
 to have no such stern and unflinching man between themselves and the wool 
 growers, formed in league against him, and forced him to send his wool to 
 Europe for a market, which resulted in a second disaster, and Brown was again 
 reduced to poverty." 
 
 The amount thus taken to Europe was two hundred thousand 
 pounds, which was sold in London for half its value, and then 
 reshipped for Boston. 
 
 JOHN BROWN IN EUROPE. 
 
 Of John Brown's travels in Europe, the only record in existence, as 
 far as the writer can ascertain, is the following extract from remi- 
 niscenses of conversations with him (already quoted) by a noted 
 friend of freedom in Massachusetts : 
 
 " I heard from him an account of his travels in Europe, and his experience as 
 a wool-grower. He had chiefly noticed in Europe the agricultural and military 
 equipment of the several countries he visited. He watched reviews of the 
 French, English, and German armies, and made his own comments on their 
 military systems. He thought a standing army the greatest curse to a country, 
 because it drained off the best of the young men, and left farming and the 
 industrial arts to be managed by inferior men. The German armies he thought 
 slow and unwieldy ; ths German farming was bad husbandry, because there the 
 farmers did not live on their land, but in towns, and so Avasted the natural 
 manures which should go back to the soil. England he thought the best cul- 
 tivated country he had ever seen, but the seats of the English gentry he thought 
 inferior to those of the wealthy among us. He visited several of the famous 
 battle grounds of Napoleon, whose career he had followed with great interest ; 
 but he thought him wrong in several points of strategy, particularly in his choice 
 of ground for a strong position, which Captain Brown maintained should be a 
 ravine rather than a hill top. In riding with him in an adjoining county, he 
 pointed out several such ravines, which, he said, could, be held by a few men 
 against a large force, adding that he had acted on this principle in Kansas, and 
 never suffered from it. He ascribed his winning the battle of Black Jack to his 
 choice of ground.* He thought no American could visit Europe without coming 
 home more in love with our own country, for which he had a most ardent 
 affection, while he so cordially hate/i its greatest curse SLAVERY. 
 
 " He was noted for his skill in testing and recognizing different qualities of 
 wool. Give him two samples of wool, one grown in Ohio and the other in 
 Vermont, and he would distinguish each of them in the dark. I have heard this 
 story told of him while in England, where he went to consult wool merchants 
 and wool growers. One evening, in company with several of these persons, each 
 of whom had brought samples of wool in his pocket, Captain Brown was 
 
 * John Brown had undoubtedly great skill in choosing his ground and in. 
 erecting rude fortifications. Many of them still exist in Southern Kansas. 
 
PERKINS AND BROWN, WOOL FACTORS. 47 
 
 giving his opinion as to the best use to be made of certain varieties of wool, 
 when one of the party, wishing to play a trick on the Yankee farmer, handed 
 him a sample, and asked him what he would do with such wool as that? His 
 eyes and fingers were then so good, that he had only to touch it to know that it 
 had not the minute hooks by which the fibres of wool are attached to each 
 other. ' Gentlemen,' said he, ' if you have any machinery that will work up 
 dog's hair, I would advise you to put this into it.' The jocose Briton had 
 sheared a poodle, and brought the hair in his pocket ; but the laugh went against 
 him ; and Captain Brown, in spite of some peculiarities of dress and manner, 
 soon won the respect of all whom he met." 
 
 When in England at this time, John Brown divulged his plan of 
 liberation to several prominent anti-slavery men ; but there, as else- 
 where, while they felt and professed an unbounded sympathy for the 
 slave, they neither countenanced nor approved of the very earnest 
 scheme of this dreadfully-in-earnest abolitionist. The Peters had 
 but little sympathy with the Richards the Heralds of Freedom, al- 
 though an earnest people, looked with suspicion and distrust on the 
 equally earnest Crusaders. Singular that the preachers of the Word 
 should only half welcome the actors of it ! Both are noble, and 
 needed, and God-commissioned; but the greatest of the Heralds, I 
 think, was not worthy to untie the latchet of John Brown's shoes. 
 
 JOHN BROWN AND ANTHONY BURNS. 
 In the course of the partnership of Perkins and Brown, a law-suit 
 arose, which is thus described by a correspondent at Vernon, near 
 Utica : 
 
 " During the years 1852, '3, and '-1, Mr. Brown was one of the firm of Perkins 
 and Brown, doing a large wool trade, buying and selling, in Ohio, New York, 
 and Massachusetts. The sale of a large quantity of wool to parties in Troy, 
 N. Y., brought on a lawsuit between Perkins & Brown and those parties. Mr. 
 Brown's counsel resided in Vernon, and he was here many times during those 
 years. He prosecuted that suit with all the vigor and pertinacity which he is 
 said to have since displayed in other matters. He obtained a verdict in his favor, 
 just before the Anthony Burns affair in Boston I think in 1853. The Trojans 
 appealed from their verdict, and Brown then spent some weeks here in looking 
 over the testimony with his counsel, and preparing an answer. 
 
 " The morning after the news of the Burns' affair reached here, Brown went 
 at his work immediately after breakfast ; biit in a few minutes started up from 
 his chair, walked rapidly across the room several times, then suddenly turned 
 to his counsel, and said, ' I am going to Boston.' 4 Going to Boston ! ' said the 
 astonished lawyer ; ' why do you want to go to Boston ? ' Old Brown continued 
 walking vigorously, and replied, ' Anthony Burns must be released, or I will die 
 in the attempt.' The counsel dropped his pen in consternation. Then he began 
 to remonstrate ; told him the suit had been in progress a long time, and a verdict 
 just gained. It was appealed from, and that appeal must be answered in so many 
 days, or the whole labour would be lost, and no one was sufficiently familiar with 
 the whole case except himself. I took a long and earnest talk with old Brown 
 to persuade him to remain. His memory and acuteness in that long and tedious 
 lawsuit not yet ended, I am told often astonished his counsel. While here 
 he wore an entire suit of snuff-colored cloth, the coat of a decidedly Quakerish 
 cut in collar and skirt. He wore no beard, and was a clean-shaven, scrupiilously 
 neat, well-dressed, quiet old gentleman. He was, however, notably resohite iu 
 all that he did." 
 
V. 
 
 NORTH ELBA. 
 
 JOHN BROWN and his family removed to North Elba, in Essex 
 County, New York, in 1849. It was about this time that Mr. Gerritt 
 Smith, the eminent philanthropist, offered to colored settlers his wild 
 lands in that district of the Adirondack wilderness. Many of them 
 accepted the offer, and went there to make the experiment. 
 
 " At this period," writes a friend, " John Brown appeared one day at Peterboro', 
 and said to Mr. Smith, ' I see, by the newspapers, that you have offered so many 
 acres of wild land to each of the colored men, on condition that they cultivate 
 them. Now, they are mostly inexperienced in this kind of work, and unused to 
 the climate, while I am familiar with both. I propose, therefore, to take a farm 
 there myself, clear it, and plant it, showing the negroes how such work should 
 be done. I will also employ some of them on my land, and will look after them 
 in all ways, and will be a kind of father to them.' Mr. Smith accepted the generous 
 proposal, gave John Brown the land, and allowed him to make the experiment, 
 although he had never before seen him." 
 
 So far as the negroes were concerned, this proved a failure, but 
 through no fault of John Brown's. He did his part faithfully by 
 them. 
 
 " Captain Brown had a higher notion of the capacity of the negro race than 
 most white men. I have often heard him dwell on this subject, and mention 
 instances of their fitness to take care of themselves, saying, in his quaint way, 
 that ' they behaved so much like folks that he almost thought they were so.' He 
 thought that perhaps a forcible separation of the connection between master and 
 slave was necessary to educate the blacks for self-government ,-* but this he threw 
 out as a suggestion merely." 
 
 The home of John Brown, and the romantic region around it, have 
 been visited by a scholar worthy of the original, whose translation of 
 their grandeur, physical and moral, into the English language, makes 
 the journey henceforward unnecessary save only for " instruction in 
 godliness." We see both the glory of the mountains, and the grandeur 
 of the faith that animates its greatest family, in the vivid and touching 
 
 * There is a terrible truth wrapped up in this suggestion. To obtain a recog- 
 nition of their equality in countries where negro slavery has existed, the blacks 
 must either fight the whites and defeat them, or seek to establish a separate 
 nationality elsewhere. 
 
NORTH ELBA. 49 
 
 description of a visit to the home of John Brown, herewith subjoined, 
 from the true and worthy pen of Thomas Wentworth Higginson. No 
 woman can read it without being deeply moved ; and if there be a 
 man who can do so God pity him. 
 
 THE ROUTE TO NORTH ELBA. 
 
 " The traveller into the enchanted land of the Adirondack has his choice of 
 two routes from Keeseville to the Lower Saranac Lake, where his out-door life 
 is to begin. The one least frequented and most difficult should be selected, for 
 it has the grandest mountain pass that the Northern States can show. After 
 driving twenty-two miles of mountain road from Keeseville, past wild summits 
 bristling with stumps, and through villages where every other man is black from 
 the iron foundry, and every alternate one black from the charcoal pit, your path- 
 way makes a turn at the little hamlet of Wilmington, and you soon find yourself 
 facing a wall of mountain, with only glimpses of one wild gap through which 
 you must penetrate. In two miles more you have passed the last house this side 
 the Notch, and you then drive on over a rugged way, constantly ascending, with 
 no companion but the stream which ripples and roars below. Soon the last 
 charcoal clearing is past, and thick woods of cedar and birch close around you 
 the high mountain on your right comes nearer and nearer, and close beside, upon 
 your left, are glimpses of a wall, black and bare as iron, rising sheer for four 
 hundred feet above your head. Coming from the soft marble country of Ver- 
 mont, and from the pale granite of Massachusetts, there seems something weird 
 and forbidding in this utter blackness. On your left the giant wall now appears 
 nearer now retreats again ; on your right foams the merry stream, breaking 
 into graceful cascades and across it the great mountain Whiteface, seamed with 
 slides. Now the woods upon your left are displaced by the iron wall, almost 
 touching the road-side; against its steep abruptness scarcely a shrub can cling, 
 scarcely a fern flutter it takes your breath away ; but five miles of perilous 
 driving conduct you through it ; and beyond this stern passway, this cave of 
 iron, lie the lovely lakes and mountains of the Adirondack, and the homestead 
 of JOHN BROWN. 
 
 THE HOMESTEAD AND ITS ORNAMENTS. 
 
 " The Notch seems beyond the world, North Elba and its half-dozen houses 
 are beyond the Notch, and there is a wilder little mountain road which rises 
 beyond North Elba. But the house we seek is not even on that road, but behind 
 it and beyond it ; you rid* a mile or two, then take down a pair of bars ; beyond 
 the bars, faith takes you across a half-cleared field, through the most difficult 
 of wood-paths, and after half a mile of forest you come out upon a clearing. 
 There is a little frame house, unpainted, set in a girdle of black stumps, and with 
 all heaven about it for a wider girdle ; on a high hilt-side, forests on north and 
 west, the glorious line of the Adirondacks on the east, and on the south one 
 slender road leading off to Westport, a road so straight that you could sight a 
 United States marshal for five miles. 
 
 " There stands the little house, with no ornament nor relief about it it needs 
 none with the setting of mountain horizon. Yes, there is one decoration which 
 at once takes the eye, and which, stern and misplaced as it would seem else- 
 where, seems appropriate here. It is a strange thing to see anything so old, 
 where all the works of man are new ! But it is an old, mossy, time-worn tomb- 
 stone not marking any grave, nor set in the ground, but resting against the 
 house, as if its time were either past or not yet come. Both are true it has a 
 past duty and a future one. It bears the name of Captain John Brown, who 
 died during the Revolution, eighty-three years ago; it was his tombstone, 
 brought hither by his grandson, bearing the same name and title: the latter 
 caused to be inscribed xipon it, also, the name of his son Frederick, ' murdered 
 at Osawatomie for his adherence to the cause of freedom ' (so reads the inscrip- 
 
 D 
 
50 NORTH ELBA. 
 
 tion),and he himself has said for years that no other tombstone should mark 
 his grave. 
 
 " For two years, now, that stone has stood there ; no oath has been taken upon 
 it, no curses been invoked upon it : it marks the abode of a race who do not 
 curse. But, morning and noon, as the sons have gone out to their work on that 
 upland farm, they have passed by it ; the early light of the Adirondacks has 
 gilded it, the red reflection of sunset has glowed back upon it ; its silent appeal 
 has perpetually strengthened and sanctified that home and as the two lately 
 wedded sons went forth joyfully on their father's call to keep their last pledge at 
 Harper's Ferry, they issued from that doorway between their weeping wives on 
 the one side and that ancestral stone upon the other. 
 
 THE FARM, AND WHY JOHN BROWN BOUGHT IT. 
 
 " The farm is a wild place ; cold and bleak. It is too cold to raise corn there ; 
 they can scarcely, in the most favorable seasons, obtain a few cars for roasting. 
 Stock must be wintered there nearly six months in every year. I was there on 
 the first of November ; the ground was snowy, and winter had apparently begun 
 and it would last till the middle of May. They never raise anything to sell 
 off that farm, except sometimes a few fleeces. It was well, they said, if they 
 raised their own provisions, and could spin their own wool for clothing. 
 
 " Do you ask why they lived in such a bleak spot ? With John Brown and his 
 family there is a reason for everything, and it is always the same reason. Strike 
 into their lives anywhere, and you find the same firm purpose at bottom, and 
 to the widest questioning the same prompt answer comes ringing back, the 
 very motto of the tomb-stone ' For adherence to the cause of freedom.' The 
 same purpose, nay, the selfsame project that sent John Brown to Harper's Ferry, 
 sent him to the Adirondack. 
 
 " Twenty years ago, John Brown made up his mind that there was an 
 irrepressible conflict between Freedom and Slavery, and that in that conflict he 
 must take his share. He saw at a glance, moreover, what the rest of us arc only 
 beginning to see, even now that Slavery must be met, first or last, on its own 
 ground. The time has come to tell the whole truth now that John Brown's 
 whole Kansas life was the result of this self-imposed mission, not the cause of it. 
 Let us do this man justice ; he was not a vindictive guerilla, nor a maddened 
 Indian ; nor was he of so shallow a nature that it took the death of a son to 
 convince him that right was right, and wrong was wrong. He had long before 
 made up his mind to sacrifice every son he ever had, if necessary, in fighting 
 Slavery. If it was John Brown against the world, no matter ; for, as his friend 
 Frederick Douglass had truly said, " In the right, one is a majority." On this 
 conviction, therefore, he deliberately determined, twenty, years ago this summer, 
 that at some future period he would organize an armed party, go into a Slave 
 State, and liberate a large number of slaves. Soon after, surveying professionally 
 in the mountains of Virginia, he chose the very ground for his purpose. Visiting 
 Europe afterwards, he studied military strategy for this purpose, even making 
 designs (which I have seen) for a new style of forest fortification, simple and 
 ingenious, to be used by parties of fugitive slaves when brought to bay. He 
 knew the ground , he knew his plans, he knew himself; but where should he 
 find his men? He came to the Adirondack to look for them. 
 
 *' Ten years ago, Gerritt Smith gave to a number of colored men tracts of 
 ground in the Adirondack Mountains. The emigrants were grossly defrauded 
 by a cheating surveyor, who, being in advance of his age, practically anticipated 
 Judge Taney's opinion, that black men have no rights which white men arc 
 bound to respect. By his villain- the colony was almost ruined in advance ; nor 
 did it ever recover itself ; though some of the best farms which I have seen in 
 that region are still in the hands of colored men. John Brown heard of this ; he 
 himself was a surveyor, and he would have gone to the Adirondack, or anywhere 
 else, merely to right this wrong. But he had another object ; he thought that 
 among these men he should find coadjutors in his cherished plan. He was not 
 wholly wrong, and yet he afterwards learned something more. Such men as he 
 needed are not to be found ordinarily ; they must be reared. John Brown did 
 
NORTH ELBA. 51 
 
 not merely look for men, therefore; he reared them iu his sons. During long 
 years of waiting and postponement, he fo\md others ; but his sons and their 
 friends (the Thompsons) formed the nucleus of his force in all his enterprises, 
 what services the females of his familly may have rendered, it is not yet time to 
 tell ; but it is u satisfaction to think that he was repaid for his early friendship 
 to these New York colored men, by some valuable aid from freed slaves and 
 fugitive slaves at Harper's Ferry ; especially from Dangerfield Newby, who, poor 
 fellow ! had a slave wife and nine slave children to fight for, all within thirty 
 miles of that town. 
 
 " To appreciate the character of the family, it is necessary to know these 
 things ; to understand that they have all been trained from childhood on this 
 one principle, and for this one special project taught to believe in it as they be- 
 lieve in their God or their father. It has given them a wider perspective than 
 the Adirondacks. Five years before, when they first went to Kansas, the father 
 and sons had a plan of going to Louisiana, trying this same 'project, and then 
 retreating into Texas with the liberated slaves. Nurtured on it so long, for years 
 sacrificing to it all the other objects of life, the thought of its failure never 
 crossed their minds ; and it is an extraordinary fact that when the disastrous 
 news first came to North Elba, the family utterly refused to believe it, and were 
 saved from suffering by that incredulity till the arrival of the next weekly mail." 
 
 A PAUSE AT THE THRESHOLD. 
 
 " I had left the world outside, to raise the latch of this humble door amid the 
 mountains ; and now my pen falters on the threshold, as my steps did then. 
 This house is a home of sacred sorrow. How shall we enter it ? Its inmates are 
 bereft and ruined men and women, as the world reckons ; Avhat can we say to 
 thertT ? Do not shrink ; you are not near the world ; you are near John Brown's 
 household. ' In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer: 
 they have overcome the world.' 
 
 " It had been my privilege to live in the best society all my life namely, that 
 of abolitionists and fugitive slave. I have seen the most eminent persons of the 
 age : several men on whose heads tens of thousands of dollars had been set ; a 
 black woman, who, after escaping from slavery herself, had gone back secretly 
 eight times into the jaws of death to bring out persons whom she had never 
 seen ; and a white man, who, after assisting away fugitives by the thousand, had 
 twice been stripped of every dollar of his property in fines, and Avhen taunted by 
 the Court, had mildly said, ' Friend, if thee knows any poor fugitive in need of a 
 breakfast, send him to Thomas Garrett's door.' I had known these, and such as 
 these ; but I had not known the Browns. Nothing short of knowing them can 
 be called a liberal edxication. Lord Byron could hot help clinging to Shelley, 
 because he said he was the only person in whom he saw anything like disinter- 
 ested benevolence. He really believed that that man would give his life for 
 another. Poor Byron! he might well have exchanged his wealth, his peerage, 
 and his genius for a brief training at North Elba. 
 
 " Let me pause a moment, and enumerate the members of the familly. John 
 Brown was bom in 1800, and his wife in 1816, though both might have been 
 supposed older than the ages thus indicated. He has had in all twenty children 
 seven being the offspring of his first wife, thirteen of his second. Four of each 
 race are living eight in all. The elder division of the surviving family are 
 John and Jason, both married, and living in Ohio ; Owen, unmarried, who es- 
 caped from Harper's Ferry, and Ruth, the wife of Henry Thompson, who lives on 
 an adjoining farm at North Elba, an intelligent and noble woman. The younger 
 division consists of Salmon, aged twenty-three, who resides with his youngwlfe 
 in his mother's house, and three unmarried daughters, Anne (sixteen), Sarah 
 (thirteen), and Ellen (five). In the same house dwell also the widows of the two 
 slain sons young girls aged but sixteen and twenty. The latter is the sister of 
 Henry Thompson, and of the two Tompsons who were killed at Harper's Ferry ; 
 they also lived in the same vicinity, and one of them also has left a widow. Thus 
 complicated and intertangled is this genealogy of sorrow. 
 
 " All these young men went deliberately from North Elba for no other 
 
52 NOETH ELBA. 
 
 purpose than to join in this enterprise. ' They could not,' they told their 
 mother and their wives, ' live for themselves alone;' and so they went. One 
 young wife, less submissive than the others, prevailed on her husband to 
 remain; and this is the only reason why Salmon Brown survives. Oliver 
 Brown, the youngest son, only twenty, wrote back to his wife from Harper's 
 Ferry in a sort of premonition of what was coming, ' If I can do a single 
 good action, my life will not have been all a failure.'" 
 
 THE FAMILY OF JOHX BKOWX. 
 
 " Having had the honor of Captain Brown's acquaintance for some years, I 
 was admitted into the confidence of the family, though I could see them 
 observing me somewhat suspiciously as I approached the door. Everything 
 that was said of the absent father and husband, bore testimony to the same 
 simple, upright character. Though they had been much separated from him 
 for the. last few years, they all felt it to be a necessary absence, and had not 
 only no complaint to make, but cordially approved it. Mrs. Brown had been 
 always the sharer of his plans. ' Her husband always believed,' she said, 
 ' that he was to be an instrument in the hands of Providence, and she believed 
 it too.' ' This plan had occupied his thoughts and prayers for twenty ye.irs.' 
 * Many a night he had lain awake, and prayed concerning it.' ' Even now,' she 
 did not doubt, ' he felt satisfied, because he thought it would be overruled by 
 Providence for the best.' ' For herself,' she said, ' she had always prayed that 
 her husband might be killed in fight rather than fall alive into the hands of slave- 
 holders ; but she coiild not regret it now, in view of the noble words of freedom 
 which it had been his privilege to utter.' When, the next day, on the railway 1 
 was compelled to put into her hands the newspaper containing the death warrant 
 of her husband, I felt no fears of her exposing herself to observation by any undue 
 excitement. She read it, and then the tall, strong woman beat her head for a 
 few minutes on the seat before us ; then she raised it, and spoke as calmly as 
 before. 
 
 " I thought that I had learned the lesson once for all in Kansas, which no 
 one ever learns from books of history alone, of the readiness with which danger 
 and death fit into the ordinary grooves of daily life, so that on the day of a battle, 
 for instance, all may go on as usual ; breakfast and dinner are provided, children 
 cared for, and all external existence has the same smoothness that one observes 
 at Niagara, just above the American Fall ; but it impressed me anew on visit- 
 ing this household at this time. Here was a familly out of which four noble 
 young men had, within a fortnight, been killed. I say nothing of a father under 
 sentence of death, and a brother fleeing for his life, but only speak of those 
 killed. Now that word killed is a word which one hardly cares to mention in a 
 mourning household circle, even under all mitigating circumstances, when sad 
 unavailing kisses and tender funeral rites have softened the last memories ; how 
 much less here, then, where it suggested not merely wounds, and terror, and 
 agony, but also coffinless graves in a hostile land, and the last ignominy of the 
 dissecting room. 
 
 " Yet there was not one of that family who could not pronounce that awful 
 word with perfect quietness ; never, of course, lightly, but always quietly. For 
 instance, as I sat that evening, with the women busily sewing around me, pre- 
 paring the mother for her sudden departure with me on the morrow, some 
 daguerreotypes were brought out to show me, and some one said, ' This is Oliver, 
 one of those who were killed at Harper's Ferry.' I glanced up sidelong at the 
 young, fair-haired girl, whosatnearme by thelittle table a wife at fifteen, a widow 
 at sixteen ; and this was her husband, and he was KILLED. As the words were 
 spoken in her hearing, not a muscle quivered, and her finger did not tremble as 
 she drew the thread. For her life had become too real to leave room for wincing 
 at mere words. She had lived through, beyondthe word, to the sterner fact, and 
 having confronted (hat, language was an empty shell. To the Browns, killing 
 means simply dying nothing more ; one gate into heaven, and that one a good 
 deal frequented by their family ; that is all. 
 
 " There was no hardness about all this, no mere stoicism of will ; only God 
 
NORTH ELBA. 53 
 
 liad inured them to the realities of tilings. They were not supported by any no- 
 tions of wordly honor or applause, nor by that chilly reflection of it, the hope 
 of future fame. In conversing with the different members of this family, I can- 
 not recal a single instance of any heroics of that description. There, in that 
 secluded home among the mountains, what have they to do with the world's 
 opinion, even now, still less next century? You remember Carlyle and his 
 Frenchman, to whom he was endeavoring to expound the Scottish Covenanters. 
 ' These poor, persecuted people,' said Carlyle, ' they made their appeal.' ' Yes,' 
 interrupted the Frenchman, ' they appealed to posterity, no doubt.' 'Not a bit 
 of it,' quoth Carlyle ; ' they appealed to the Eternal God !' So with these whom 
 I visited. I was the first person who had penetrated their solitude from the outer 
 world since the thunderbolt had fallen. Do not imagine that they asked, What 
 is the world saying of us? Will justice be done to the memory of our martyrs ? 
 Will men build the tombs of the prophets? Will the great thinkers of the age 
 affirm that our father ' makes the gallows glorious, like the cross ' ? Not at all ; 
 they asked but one question after I had told them how little hope there was of 
 acquittal or rescue. Does it seem as if freedom icere to gain or lose by this ? That 
 was all. Their mother spoke the spirit of them all to me, next day, when she 
 said, ' I have had thirteen children, and only four are left ; but if I am to see 
 the ruin of my house, I cannot but hope that Providence may bring out of it 
 some benefit to the poor slaves.' 
 
 " No; this family work for a higher price than fame. You know it is said 
 that in all Wellington's despatches you never meet with the word Glory ; it is 
 always DUTY. In Napoleon's you never meet with the word Duty; it is 
 always Glory. Ihe race of John Brown is of the Wellington type. Principle 
 is the word I brought away with me as most familiar in their vocabulary. That 
 is their standard of classification. A man may be brave, ardent, generous ; no 
 matter if he is not all this from principle, it is nothing. The daughters, who 
 knew all the Harper's Ferry men, had no confidence in Cook, because ' he was 
 not a man of principle.' They would trust Stevens round the world, because 
 ' he was a man of principle.' ' He tries the hardest to be good,' said Annie 
 Brown, in her simple way, ' of any man I ever saw.' 
 
 " It is pleasant to add that this same brave-hearted girl, who had known most 
 of her father's associates, recogni/ced them all but Cook as being men of 
 principle. ' People are surprised,' she said, ' at father's daring to invade Virginia 
 with only twenty-three men ; but I think if they knew what sort of men they 
 were, there would be less surprise. / never saw such men.' * 
 
 " And it pleases me to remember that since this visit, on the day of execution, 
 while our Worcester bells were tolling their melancholy refrain, I took from the 
 post office a letter from this same young girl, expressing pity and sorrow for the 
 recreant Cook, and uttering the hope that allowances might be made for his 
 conduct, ' though she could not justify it.' And on the same day I read that 
 infuriated letter of Mrs. Mahala Doyle a letter which common charity bids us 
 suppose a forgery, uttering fiendish revenge in regard to a man, against whom, 
 by her own showing, there is not one particle of evidence to identify him with 
 her wrongs. Nothing impressed me more in my visit to the Brown family, and 
 in subsequent correspondence with them, than the utter absence of the slightest 
 vindictive spirit, even in words." 
 
 JOHN BROWN AMONG HIS CHILDREN. 
 
 "The children spoke of their father as a person of absolute rectitude,, 
 thoughtful kindness, unfailing foresight, and inexhaustable activity. On his 
 flying visits to the farm, every moment was used ; he was ' up at three, A.M., 
 seeing to everything himself,' providing for everything, and giving heed to the 
 
 * It was so in Kansas . "I never saw such men " outside of John Brown's camp 
 as I saw when in it. When the old hero was last in Boston, I said of Cook : 
 " He is brave, generous, but too talkative, and without discretion ; he has no 
 moral foundation for his bravery." " You've hit the nail exactly, sir," he said. 
 "That's just my opinion of him." J. R. 
 
54 NORTH ELBA. 
 
 minutest points. I* was evident that some of the older ones had stood a little 
 in awe of him in their childish years. ' We boys felt a little pleased sometimes, 
 after all,' said the son, ' when father left the farm for a few days.' ' We girls 
 never did,' said the married daughter, reproachfully, the tears gushing to her 
 eyes. ' Well,' said the brother repenting, ' we were always glad to see the old 
 man come back again ; for if we did get more holidays in his absence, we always 
 missed him.' 
 
 "Those dramatic points of character in him, which will of course make him the 
 favorite hero of all American romance hereafter, are nowhere appreciated more 
 fully than in his own family. In the midst of ail their sorrow, their strong and 
 healthy hearts could enjoy the record of his conversations with the Virginians, and 
 applaud the keen, wise, simple answers which I read to them, selecting here and 
 there from the ample file of newspapers I carried with me. When, for instance, I 
 read the inquiry, ' Did you go out u n der the auspices of the Emigrant Aid Society ?' 
 and the answer, ' No, sir ; I went out under the auspices of John Brown,' three 
 voices eagerly burst in with, That's true, 'and ' That's so.' And when it was re- 
 lated that the young Virginia volunteer taxed him with want of military fore- 
 sight in bringing so small a party to conquer Virginia, and the veteran imper- 
 turbably informed the young man that probably their views on military matters 
 would materially differ, there was a general delightful chorus of, ' That sounds 
 just like father.' And his sublimer expressions of faith and self-devotion pro- 
 duced no excitement or surprise among them since they knew in advance all 
 which we now know of him and these things only elicited, at times, a half- 
 stifled sigh as they reflected that they might never hear that beloved voice 
 again. 
 
 " References to their father were constant. This book he brought them ; the 
 one sitting room had been plastered with the last money he sent ; that desk, 
 tiiat gun were his ; this was his daguerreotype ; and at last the rosy little Ellen 
 brought me, with reverend hands, her prime treasure. It was a morocco case, 
 enclosing a small Bible ; and in the beginning, written in the plain, legible hand 
 I knew so well, the following inscription, which would alone (in its touching 
 simplicity) have been worthy the pilgrimage to North Elba to see. 
 
 " This Bible, presented to my dearly beloved daughter Ellen Brown, is not 
 intended for common use, but to be carefully preserved for her and by her, in 
 remembrance of her father (of whose care and attentions she was deprived in 
 her infancy), he being absent in the Territory of Kansas from the summer 
 of 1855. 
 
 " ' May the Holy Spirit of God incline your heart, in earliest childhood, " to 
 receive the truth in the love of it,' " and to form your thoughts, words, and ac- 
 tions by its wise and holy precepts, is my best wish and most earnest prayer to 
 Him in whose care I leave you. Amen. 
 
 From your affectionate father, 
 <f ' April 2, 1857. JOHN BROWN.' 
 
 " This is dated two years ago ; but the principles which dictated it were per- 
 manent. Almost on the eve of his last battle, October 1, 1859, he wrote home 
 to his daughter Anne, in a letter which I saw, ' Anne, I want you first of all to 
 become a sincere, humble, and consistent Christian and then [this is charac- 
 teristic] to acquire good and efficient business habits. Save this, to remember 
 your father by, Anne. God Almighty bless and save you all." 
 
 JOHN BROWN'S ORTHODOXY. 
 
 " John Brown is almost the only radical abolitionist I have ever known who 
 was not more or less radical in religous matters also. His theology was Puritan, 
 like his practice ; and accustomed as we now are to see Puritan doctrines and 
 Puritan virtues separately exhibited, it seems quite strange to behold them com- 
 bined in one person again. He and his wife were regular communicants of the 
 l'i .sbyterian church : but it tried his soul to see the juvenile clerical gentlemen 
 who came into the pulpits up that way, and dared to call themselves Presbyterians 
 preachers of the gospel with all the hard applications left out. Since they 
 had lived in North Elba, his wife said but twice had the slave been men- 
 
NORTH ELBA. 55 
 
 tioned in the Sunday services, and she had great doubts about the propriety of 
 taking part in such worship as that. But when the head of the family made his 
 visits home from Kansas, he commonly held a Sunday meeting in the little 
 church, ' under the auspices of John Brown,' and the Lord heard the slave men- 
 tioned pretty freely then. 
 
 " In speaking of religious opinions, Mrs. Brown mentioned two preachers 
 whose sermons her sons liked to read, and ' whose anti-slavery principles she 
 enjoyed, though she could not agree with all their doctrines.' She seemed to re- 
 gard their positions as essentially the same. I need not say who the two are 
 the thunders of Brooklyn and of Boston acquire much the same sound as they 
 roll up among the echoes of the Adirondacks." 
 
 POLITICS. 
 
 " In respect to politics, Mrs. Brown told me that her husband had taken little 
 interest in them since the election of Jackson, because he thought that politics 
 merely fo llo wed the condition of public sentiment on the slavery question, and 
 that this public sentiment was mainly created by actual collisions between 
 slavery and freedom. Such, at least, was the view which I was led to attribute to 
 him, by combining this fact which she mentioned with my own personal know- 
 ledge of his opinions. He had an almost exaggerated aversion to words and 
 speeches, and a profound conviction of the importance of bringing all questions 
 to a dirrect issue, and subjecting every theory to the test of practical application." 
 
 THE CHARGE OF INSANITY. 
 
 " I did not, of course, insult Mrs. Brown by and reference to that most shallow 
 charge of insanity against her husband, which some even of his friends have, 
 with what seems most cruel kindness, encouraged, thereby doing their best to 
 degrade one of the age's prime heroes into a mere monomaniac, but it may be 
 well to record that she spoke of it with surprise, and said if her husband were 
 insane, he had been consistent in his insanity from the first moment she knew 
 him. 
 
 PECUNIARY CONDITION OF THE FAMILY. 
 
 " Now that all is over, and we appear to have decided, for the present, not to 
 employ any carnal weapons, such as steel or iron, for the rescue of John Brown, 
 but only to use the safer metals of gold and silver for the aid of his family, it 
 may be natural for those who read this narrative to ask, What is the pecuniary 
 condition of this household? It is hard to answer, because the whole standard i"s 
 different, as to such matters, in North Elba and in Massachusetts. The ordinary 
 condition of the Brown family may be stated as follows : They own the farm, 
 such as it is, without incumbrance, except so far as unt'elled forest constitutes 
 one. They have ordinarily enough to eat of what the farm yields, namely, bread 
 and potatoes, pork and mutton not any great abundance of these, but ordinarily 
 enough. They have ordinarily enough to wear, at least of woollen clothing, 
 spun by themselves. And they have no money. When I say this I do not 
 merely mean that they have no superfluous cash to go shopping with, but I mean 
 almost literally that they have none. For nearly a whole winter, Mrs. Brown 
 said, they had no money with which to pay postage, except a tiny treasury 
 which the younger girls had earned for that express object, during the previous 
 summer, by picking berries for a neighbour three miles off. 
 
 " The reason of these privations simply was, that it cost money to live in 
 Kansas in ' adherence to the cause of freedom ' (see the tombstone inscription 
 again), but not so much to live at North Elba ; and therefore the women must 
 stint themselves that the men might continue their Kansas work. But when 
 the father came upon his visits, he never came empty-handed, but brought a 
 
56 NORTH ELBA. 
 
 little money, some plain -household stores, flour, sugar, rice, salt fish ; tea and 
 coflfee they do not use. But what their standard of expense is, may be seen 
 from the fact that Mrs. Brown seemed to speak as if her youngest widowed 
 daughter were not totally and absolutely destitute, because her husband had 
 left a property of five sheep, which would belong to her. These sheep, I found, 
 on inquiry, were worth, at that place and season, two dollars apiece : a child of 
 sixteen, left a widow in the world, with an estate amounting to ten dollars ! 
 The immediate financial anxieties of Mrs. Brown herself, seemed chiefly to 
 relate to a certain formidable tax bill, due at New Year's time; if they could 
 only weather that, all was clear for the immediate future. How much was it, I 
 asked, rather surprised that that wild country should produce a high rate of 
 taxation. It was from eight to ten dollars, she gravely said ; and she had put 
 by ten dollars for the purpose, but had had occasion to lend most of it to a poor 
 black woman, with no great hope of repayment. And one of the first things 
 done by her husband, on recovering his money in Virginia, was to send her, 
 through me, fifteen dollars, to make sure of that tax bill. 
 
 "I see, on looking back, how bare and inexpressive this hasty narrative is; 
 but I could not bear to suffer such a privilege as this visit to pass away un- 
 recorded. I spent but one night at the house, and drove away with Mrs. Brown, 
 in the early frosty morning, from that breezy mountain home, which her 
 husband loved (as one of them told me) ' because he seemed to think there was 
 something romantic in that kind of scenery.' There was, indeed, always a sort 
 of thrill in John Brown's voice, when he spoke of mountains. I never shall 
 forget the quiet way in which he once told me that ' God had established the 
 Alleghany Mountains from the foundation of the world that they might one day 
 be a refuge for fugitive slaves. I did not then know that his own home was 
 among the Adirondacks. 
 
 "Just before we went, I remember, I said something or other to Salmon 
 Brown about the sacrifices of their family ; and he looked up in a quiet, manly 
 way, which I shall never forget, and said briefly, ' I sometimes think that is 
 what we came into the world for to make sacrifices.' And I know that the 
 murmuring echo of those words went with me all that day, as we came down 
 from the mountains, and out through the iron gorge ; and it seemed to me that 
 any one must be very unworthy the society which I had been permitted to enter, 
 who did not come forth from it a wiser and a better man." 
 
 From the f amily we learn that : 
 
 " In 1851 John Brown and his family returned to Akron, Ohio, where he 
 managed Mr. Perkins's farm, and carried on the wool business. In 1855, on 
 starting for Kansas, he again moved his household to North Elba, where they 
 still reside, and where his body lies buried." 
 
 At the Agricultural Fair of Essex County, for 1850, a great sensation was 
 created by the unlooked-for appearance on the grounds of a beautiful herd of 
 Devon cattle. They were the first that had been exhibited at the county 
 festival, and everyone was surprised and delighted at the incident. The inquiry 
 was universal, Whose are these cattle, and from whence do they- come ? The 
 surprise and excitement were not diminished when it was understood that a 
 certain John Brown was the owner, and that he resided in the town of North Elba. 
 The report of the society for that year contains the following reference to that 
 event: "The appearance upon the grounds of a number of very choice and 
 beautiful Devons, from the herd of Mr. John Brown, residing in one of our 
 most remote and secluded towns, attracted great attention, and added much to 
 the interest of the fair. The interest and admiration they excited, have attracted 
 public attention to the subject, and have already resulted in the introduction of 
 several choice animals into this region. We have no doubt that this influence 
 upon the character and stock of our country will be permanent and decisive." 
 (Trans. 1850, page 229.) 
 
NORTH ELBA. 57 
 
 The writer of this article soon after opened a correspondence with Brown, in 
 relation to these cattle. His reply is now before me. The letter is written in a 
 strong and vigorous hand, and, by its orthography, accurate punctuation, and 
 careful arrangement of paragraphs, evinces far more than ordinary taste and 
 scholarship. 1 consider it remarkable, not only for the force and precision of the 
 language, for a business letter, and for the distinctness of its statesments, but 
 equally for its sound sense and honesty of representation. I think I am not 
 wrong in the impression that an extract will interest your readers, as illustrating 
 the former habits and pursuits of a man who has impressed an ill-omened 
 episode upon our national history. 
 
 " Your favor of the 30th of September came on seasonably ; but it was during my 
 absence in Ohio, so that I could not reply sooner. In the first place, none of my 
 cattle are pure Devons, but are a mixture of that and a particular favorite stock 
 from Connecticut, a cross of which I much prefer to any pure English cattle, 
 .after many years' experience of different breeds of imported cattle. * 
 was several months in England last season, and saw no one stock on any farm 
 that would average better than my own, and would like to have you see them 
 all together." Correspondence of the New York Observer. 
 
GOLIATH'S CHALLENGE ACCEPTED. 
 
26. And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, 
 
 Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the 
 living God ? 
 
 32. And David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of him; thy 
 servant will go and fight with this Philistine. 
 
 42. And when the Philistine looked about and saw David, he disdained him. 
 
 43. And the Philistine cursd David by hi* gods. 
 
 44. And the Philistine said to David, Come to me and I will give thy flesh 
 unto the fowls of the air and to the beasts of the field. 
 
 45. Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and 
 with a spear, and with a shield ; but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of 
 Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, Avhom thou hast defied. 
 
 46. This day will the Lord deliver thee into my hands : and I will smite thee, 
 and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcasses of the host of the 
 Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, 
 that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. 
 
 50. Thereupon David ran and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, 
 and drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slew him, and cut off his head there- 
 with. And when the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled. 
 1 SAMUEL chapter xvii. 
 
THE LORD'S FIRST CALL. 
 
 THE 25th day of May, 1854, was a day of great sorrow, and of the 
 wildest exultation at Washington. An infamous statute had been 
 still more infamously repealed. Thirty-four years before this the 
 passage of the Kansas-Nebraska act the representatives of the 
 nation, in Congress assembled, for the first time in our history, and in 
 defiance of the moral sentiment of Christendom, as well as in oppo- 
 sition to the noblest instincts of human nature, and, resting on them, 
 the spirit of the Federal Constitution, solemnly, as they phrased it, 
 and for ever prohibited the existence of slavery " in all that territory 
 which lies north of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes ;" but, by 
 the same law, as a " compromise " with the South, established and 
 legalized her organized and distinguishing crime in that portion of the 
 Union now known as Missouri. Triumphant crime is never satisfied 
 with temporary advantages. Missouri now secured, the South coveted 
 Kansas, the most fertile portion of the remaining territory. By the 
 pliancy of Northern politicians, the compromise was repealed, and 
 Kansas and ^Nebraska thrown open for settlement. The vital and 
 moral question of the extension of slavery, it was pretended, in justice 
 to "the people," should be settled solely, and could only constitutionally 
 be determined by the first inhabitants themselves. This atrocious 
 doctrine, so revolting to every Christian or manly heart, was eupho- 
 niously designated, in the act of repeal and organization, the right to 
 " form their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to 
 the constitution of the United States." Thus the nation solemnly 
 repudiated the validity of the will of God, disregarded the principles 
 of the revolutionary Fathers, and ignored the venerated maxim of the 
 common law, that all immoral statutes are void. The enslaving of 
 God's poor children ; the traffic in human souls and bodies ; the forced, 
 frequent, and final separation of families ; the violation of all marital 
 obligations all the crimes of which slavery is the source, and by 
 which it is supported the expansion and perpetuation of the sum of 
 
62 THE LORD'S FIRST CALL. 
 
 all villanies, were questions, this instrument declared, which should be 
 settled by the squatters alone, " subject only to the constitution of the 
 United States." For, that the authors of the bill intended nothing 
 else, or more, was admitted in all their subsequent discussions ; by the 
 president in his message ; and by the South and the Government, in 
 all their actions. Non-intervention was the order of the day. Great 
 and undisguised was the rejoicing at the South; for they thought that 
 Kansas was now secured to them for ever. 
 
 But, in the North, the indignation of the people, thus treacherously 
 defrauded of the territorial bribe that had been tendered long ago for 
 the surrender of Missouri, was organized into companies for the 
 encouragement of emigration, and it was everywhere determined, that, 
 if the pioneers or first denizens of Kansas should pronounce the doom 
 of slavery there, the Free States should have a voice and a vote in the 
 solemn and momentous decision. 
 
 Emigration flowed rapidly into Kansas, both from the North and 
 South. But, for a long time, all the advantages were on the side of 
 slavery. Missouri her borders on Kansas peopled with semi- 
 barbarous ruffians was the jealous guardian of the interests, and a 
 fit representative of the Southern States. Every obstacle was soon 
 thrown in the way of the Northern emigrants. They were driven 
 back ; they were tarred and feathered ; their claims were seized ; their 
 cabins were burned down ; they were often ordered, by Committees of 
 Southern emigrants, or the Missouri rabble, to leave the territory 
 at once, under penalty of death. A single paragraph from a single 
 speech, by one of the acknowledged champions of the South, will 
 better illustrate their early career in Kansas, than even an extended 
 account of their outrages. It is from a speech delivered at St. Joseph, 
 Missouri, in 1854, by General Stringfellow,* a prominent citizen of 
 that vandal state : 
 
 " I tell you to mark every scoundrel among: you who is the least tainted with 
 abolitionism, or free soilism, and exterminate him. Neither give nor take 
 quarter from the d d rascals. To those who have qualms of conscience as to 
 violating laws, state or national, I say, the time has come when such impositions 
 must be disregarded, as your rights and property are in danger. I advise you, 
 one and all, to enter every election district in Kansas, in defiance of Reeder and 
 his myrmidons, and vote at the point of the bowie knife and revolver. Neither 
 take nor give quarter, as the cause demands it. It is enough that the slave- 
 holding interest wills it, from which there is no appeal." 
 
 This advice, reiterated by every paper and politician in the Platte 
 Purchase which was pre-eminently the border ruffian region was 
 translated into action on the 29th of November, 1854, at the first 
 
 * This is an honorary title ; he had no right to it ; he proved himself a great 
 coward. 
 
THE LORD'S FIRST CALL. 63 
 
 election ever held in Kansas for a delegate to Congress. Seventeen 
 hundred men from Missouri marched over the border and voted in the 
 Territory for the pro-slavery candidate. 
 
 The news of this crime against republican institutions excitedlhe 
 renewed indignation of the North. Liberty-loving hearts were every- 
 where moved by it. Instead of deterring, it incited emigration. 
 Among the brave pulses thus stirred were those of [the family of old 
 John Brown. 
 
 "In 1854, the four eldest sons of John Brown,* named John, jun., 
 Jason, Owen, and Frederick, all children by a first wife, then living in 
 Ohio, determined to remove to Kansas. John, jun., sold his place, a 
 very desirable little property near Akron, in Summit County. The 
 other two sons held no landed property, but both were possessed of 
 some valuable stock (as were also the two first named), derived from 
 that of their father, which had been often noticed by liberal premiums, 
 both in the State of New York and also of Ohio. 
 
 " Jason Brown had a very valuable collection of grape vines,*and 
 also of choice fruit trees, which he took up and shipped in boxes at a 
 heavy cost. The two first named, John and Jason, had both families. 
 Owen had none. Frederick was engaged to be married, and was to 
 return with his wife. In consequence of an extreme dearth in 1854 
 the crops in Northern Ohio were almost an entire failure, and it was 
 decided by the four brothers that the two youngest should take the 
 teams and entire stock, cattle and horses, and move them to South- 
 western Illinois to winter, and to have them on early in the spring of 
 1855. This was done at very considerable expense, and with some loss 
 of stock to John, jun., some of his bast stock having been stolen on 
 the way. 
 
 " The wintering of the animals was attended with great expense, 
 and with no little suffering to the two youngest brothers, one of whom, 
 Owen, being to some extent a cripple from childhood by'an injury of 
 the right arm, and Frederick, though a very stout man, was subject 
 to periodical sickness for many years, attended with insanity. It has 
 been publicly stated that he was idiotic ; nothing could be more false. 
 He had subjected himself to a most dreadful surgical operation but a 
 short time before starting for Kansas, which had well nigh cost him 
 his life; and was but jusb through with his confinement when he 
 started on his journey, pale and weak. They were obliged to husk 
 corn all winter, out of doors, in order to obtain fodder for their 
 animals. 
 
 * This is a quotation from a manuscript in John Brown's handwriting, found 
 at his house near Harper' Ferry. 
 
64 THE LORD'S FIRST CALL. 
 
 " Solomon Brown, a very strong minor son of the family, eighteen 
 years of age, was sent forward early in 1855, to assist the two last 
 named, and all three arrived in Kansas early in the spring. During 
 this slow journey with their stock across the entire width of Missouri, 
 they heard much from her people of the stores of wrath and venge- 
 ance which were then and there gathering for the free state men and 
 abolitionists gone or going to Kansas, and were themselves often 
 admonished, in no very mild language, to stop ere it should be ' too 
 late.' " 
 
 They settled near the Pottawattomie, a little stream in Southern 
 Kansas, in Lykins County, about eight miles distant from the site of 
 Osawatomie, which their father subsequently converted into classic 
 ground. Of the hardships they endured, and the outrages inflicted on 
 them by the champions of slavery, their father, in the paper above 
 quoted, gave a detailed account ; but as to have published it would 
 have damaged the democratic party in the elections then pending, 
 we are told that " a portion of the manuscript was lost," and that 
 "the history was of considerable length, and did not further possess 
 special interest." 
 
 " The brothers," writes a friend of the family, " were all free state 
 men in opinion ; but, removing thither with the intention of settling 
 there, went without arms. They were harassed, plundered, threatened, 
 and insulted by gangs of marauding border ruffians, with whom the 
 prime object was plunder; and noisy pro-slavery partizanship was 
 equivalent to a free charter to do so with impunity. The sons wrote 
 to their father, requesting him to procure such arms as might enable 
 them, in some degree, to protect themselves, and personally to bring 
 them to Kansas." 
 
 It was not in the nature of John Brown to resist this petition. He 
 undoubtedly regarded it as a call from the Almighty to gird up his 
 loins and go forth to the battle " as the warrior of the Lord," as 4i the 
 warrior of the Lord against the mighty," in behalf of his despised 
 poor and his downtrodden people. The moment long waited for had 
 at length arrived ; the sign he patiently expected had been given ; and 
 the brave old soldier of the God of Battles prepared at once to obey 
 the summons. 
 
 A meeting of abolitionists was held in a county adjoining Essex, 
 New York, in the summer of 1855. " When in session, John Brown 
 appeared in that convention, and made a very fiery speech, during 
 which he said he had four sons in Kansas, and had three others who 
 were desirous of going there, to aid in fighting the battles of freedom. 
 He could not consent to go unless he could go armed, and he would 
 
THE LORD'S FIRST CALL. G5 
 
 like to arm all his sons ; but his poverty prevented him from doing so. 
 Funds were contributed on the spot ; principally by Gerritt Smith." 
 
 He had only two objects in going to Kansas: first, to begin the 
 work for which, as he believed, he had been set apart, by so acting 
 as to acquire the confidence of the friends of freedom, who might 
 thereby subsequently aid him ; and, secondly, because, to use his own 
 language, "with the exposure, privations, hardships, and wants of 
 pioneer life, he was familiar, and thought he could benefit his children, 
 and the new beginners from the older parts of the country, and help 
 them to shift and contrive in their new home." 
 
 John Brown did not go to Kansas to settle there. Already, else- 
 where, I have made this statement ; and have seen it doubted by men 
 who are friendly to him not from knowledge of his motives, but the 
 dictates of policy because democratic journals and pro-slavery 
 politicians have sought to create a prejudice against him for having 
 voluntarily gone to Kansas, and solely to fight the battles of freedom : 
 as if it had been a crime or a disgrace, instead of an illustrious, 
 patriotic, and Christian act for a Northern man to defend Northern 
 rights; for an anti-slavery champion to oppose by the sword the 
 armed propagandists of slavery ; for a believer in the Bible to emulate 
 the examples of Moses, Joshua, and Gideon, and obey the solemn 
 utterances of the Most High God. Believing God to be a Being 
 infallible and unchangeable ; believing that He once had ordered His 
 enemies to be smitten hip and thigh ; believing that the Ever Just 
 had commanded liberty to be proclaimed " throughout all the land, 
 unto all the inhabitants thereof ;" John Brown did not dare to remain 
 tending sheep at North Elba, when the American Goliath and his 
 hosts were in the field, defying the little armies of the living Lord, 
 and sowing desolation and great sorrow on the soil set apart for his 
 chosen people. Either Freedom has no rights, and the Bible is a 
 lie, or John Brown, in thus acting, was a patriot and a consistent 
 Christian. 
 
II. 
 
 THE WOKK BEGUN. 
 
 BEFORE John Brown reached Kansas, the South had thrown off its 
 flimsy disguises. Its hypocritical pretence of enabling the people to 
 determine the nature of "their own domestic institutions" that 
 is to say, in honest English, to establish or prohibit the cowardly 
 crime of American slavery was finally abandoned in the month, 
 and on the fourth, of March, 1856; when, instead of permitting 
 the inhabitants of the Territory "freely" to vote for the members 
 of their legislature, four thousand nine hundred and eight non- 
 residents, citizens of Missouri, invaded Kansas, and controlled the 
 elections at every precinct save one.* They elected several men 
 who did not live in Kansas; who never intended to settle there: 
 who are citizens of Missouri still. The writer was present at the 
 first session of the legislature thus chosen, and saw it pass laws 
 establishing human slavery, and punishing "offences" against it 
 such as liberating negroes with the penalty of death; prohibiting, 
 by incarceration in the penitentiary, the exercise of the rights of 
 free speech and a free press; excluding Northern (if anti-slavery) 
 men from the bar, the bench, the ballot box, and the jury chamber ; 
 and many other statutes, transcribed from Southern codes, of equal 
 moral atrocity and despotic character. 
 
 The Free State men declared that they would never recognize the 
 code thus compiled, or obey the executive officers, whom, by an 
 unprecedented usurpation, this legislature had chosen to enforce their 
 statutes. 
 
 During the last week of November, 1855, an incident occurred 
 to test the sincerity of the Free State men. A cowardly murder was 
 committed by a person named Coleman, a pro-slavery settler, on 
 
 * Manhattan. It was distant a hundred miles, and more, from Missouri ; and 
 the company elected to control it remained at home, in order to watch the 
 movements of Colonel Park, until it was too late to go to their appointed post. 
 
THE WORK BEGUN. 67 
 
 Mr. Dow, a quiet New England emigrant. The authorities, instead of 
 arresting the assassin, leagued themselves with him ; and seized an 
 innocent Free State squatter, in order to have him rescued in 
 Lawrence the Boston of the prairies that, thereby, they might 
 have a plausible excuse for calling on Missouri to destroy the town, 
 under the pretence of enforcing the territorial laws. The prisoner 
 was unexpectedly rescued several miles from Lawrence : but, despite 
 of this accident, the "territorial militia" as the rabble from 
 Missouri was officially styled were called to arms ; and, in Decem- 
 ber, Lawrence was invested by a force of fifteen hundred armed men. 
 Not more than seventy-five, at any time, were residents of Kansas. 
 " Missouri," confessed Governor Shannon, " sent not only her young 
 men, but her gray-haired citizens were there ; the man of seventy 
 winters stood shoulder to shoulder with the youth of sixteen." 
 
 The writer and three companions were taken prisoners at this 
 period, a few miles from Lawrence, by a company of eighteen men, 
 who were presently joined by a still larger number; and not one of 
 them, as their leader confessed, was, or had ever been, a resident of 
 Kansas, or had any social or pecuniary interest in its present or future 
 prosperity. 
 
 To Lawrence at once repaired the fighting men from every district 
 of the Territory. Five hundred Free State men were soon gathered 
 there, drilled daily, and prepared to defend the town to a " bloody 
 issue." The Southern invaders, although three to one, and armed 
 with United States muskets although furnished with heavy artillery, 
 and having horseman in great numbers, were afraid to attack the free 
 men of the North in Lawrence assembled. Governor Shannon, 
 alarmed at the tempest he had raised, but could not control, hastened 
 up from the Shawnee Mission to effect a compromise with the leaders 
 of the rebels. He saw hundreds of ruffians around Lawrence armed 
 with gtins, which they acknowledged to have stolen from a United 
 States arsenal in Missouri ; yet he never complained of them, and 
 none of them have ever been indicted or arrested, although the 
 affidavits attesting the fact of the robbery are in the archives of Govern- 
 ment, and the perpetrators of it are well-known persons, men of 
 influence and position in the border districts. 
 
 This army encamped around Lawrence nearly two weeks. The 
 Free State boys were impatient for a fight. But it was the policy of 
 the leaders to avoid a collision, if possible ; or, at least, to compel the 
 enemy to commence the conflict. 
 
 " When the siege was pending," writes an eye witness, " the old 
 man, John Brown, and his four sons, arrived in Lawrence. The 
 
68 THE WORK BEGUN. 
 
 balance he reported sick. As they drove up in front of the Free State 
 hotel, they were all standing in a small lumber wagon. To each of 
 their persons was strapped a short, heavy broadsword. Each was 
 supplied with a goodly number of fire-arms and navy revolvers, and 
 poles were standing endwise around the wagon box, with fixed 
 bayonets pointing upwards. They looked really formidable, and 
 were received with great eclat. A small military company was 
 organized at once, and the command was given to Old Brown. From 
 that moment, he commenced fomenting difficulties in camp, disre- 
 garding the command of superior officers, and trying to induce the 
 men to go down to Franklin, and make an attack upon the pro-slavery 
 f orces encamped there. The Committee of Public Safety were called 
 upon several times to head off his wild adventure, as the people of 
 Lawrence had planted themselves on the law, claiming that they had 
 not been guilty of its infraction, and that no armed body of men 
 should enter the town for any purpose whatever, and that they would 
 not go out of town to attack any such body. Peace was established, 
 and old Brown retired in disgust." 
 
 I have quoted this passage rather to contrast it with the ideas of 
 John Brown than for the facts that it contains, and to show the timid 
 spirit of politicians as compared with the undaunted bearing of 
 earnest, truth-devoted men. The Free State party, when it first 
 met, resolved unanimously and with unbounded enthusiasm to resist 
 the enforcement of the invader's code : if need be " to a bloody 
 issue." Now that the test came, the people were armed and ready 
 to translate their resolution into revolution ; to repeat their accla- 
 mations of that brave determination through the muzzles of their 
 rifles and with the edges of their swords. But the politicians 
 quibbled; sought other grounds to stand on; "planted themselves 
 on the law ;" restrained the ardor of the people which sought to drive 
 the ruffians homeward or to the grave : saw the good Thomas Barber 
 murdered in the open day for the crime of having visited their 
 town ; and yet, with hundreds of invaders of their soil within sight, 
 who were sacking their cabins and robbing and imprisoning their 
 citizens, they calmly " urged them not to allow the daily outrages to 
 drive them to commence hostilities ! " * 
 
 The leading military man made frequent fierce speeches ; but, as 
 the Kansas phrase is, "they all fizzled out" in urging inaction. He 
 loved to have the citizens under arms, for in tumults he was king : while 
 the leading politician dreaded war for the sake of the republican party. 
 
 * See Conquest rf Kansas, by William Phillips, p. 214. 
 
THE WORK BEGUN. 69 
 
 John Brown was not of this spirit. Slavery to him was a heinous 
 crime, and its propagandists the enemies of his God ; and with hosts of 
 such men embattled and in view, who added to their championship of 
 slavery the additional crime of invading the soil set apart for freedom 
 he did not hesitate to express his contempt for the " Committee of 
 Safety "most of them ox-intellects, vainly striving to fill an office fit 
 for lion-hearts only and to denounce the political preachers of peace 
 as recreant to their recent and loudly-vaunted resolutions. He went 
 out once with a dozen men to meet the Missouri invaders " to draw a 
 little blood," as he styled it but, at the earnest entreaties of General 
 Lane, he returned to the town without doing it. 
 
 Lane sent for him to attend a council of war. The reply was 
 characteristic of the brave old man, who despised all manner of 
 assumptions with no fact behind them to give them vitality and a title 
 to respect. 
 
 " Tell the General," he said, " that when he wants me to fight, to say 
 so : but that is the only order I will ever obey." * 
 
 Governor Shannon soon arrived in Lawrence, and was duly made 
 drunk by the sagacious Free State leaders. While in this condition, 
 or approaching it, he made a treaty with General Lane and Dr. 
 Robinson, in behalf of the " abolition rebels;" and after guaranteeing 
 that he would disperse the Missourians, or take from them, at least, 
 the cover of legality, he authorized these gentlemen to "take such 
 measures, and use the enrolled force under their command in such 
 manner, for the preservation of the peace, and protection of the 
 persons and property of the people of Lawrence and vicinity, as, in 
 their judgment, should best secure that end." f 
 
 This negotiation undoubtedly exhibited both diplomatic tact and 
 Yankee ingenuity ; but John Brown, a prophet by virtue of his purity 
 of life and devotion to ideas, foresaw that it was in fact a coming 
 victory to the South. For what was this enrolment of the Free State 
 men but a tacit acknowledgment of Southern usurpation ? 
 
 * To better understand John Brown's reasons for despising the commands of 
 these so-called " superior officers," it may be necessary for some minds to know 
 his opinions of the two chief leaders : 
 
 "I am sorry for friend Lane," he remarked, as we were speaking of his 
 blustering style of oratory ; " I am afraid he does not respect himself." 
 
 Of the other prominent leader, Dr. Robinson, as some radicals were speaking 
 of his subsequent conversion, he said, " What a pity it is that men, when they 
 begin life, should not get hold of some fixed principles make up their minds 
 that they are right, and then hold on to them ! He did not do that. That is his 
 fault." 
 
 t Kansas, Its Interior and Exterior Life, &c., by Mrs. Sara T. L. Robinson, 
 p. 154. 
 
70 THE WORK BEGUN. 
 
 Governor Shannon, on recovering from his drunkenness, made a 
 speech to the people assembled in Lawrence. He said, 
 
 " There was a part of the people of this Territory, who denied the validity of 
 the laws of the Teiritorial Legislature. He was not there to urge that validity, 
 but these laws should be submitted to until a legal tribunal set them aside. He 
 did not see how there was any course but such submission to them, and it 
 certainly was not his part, as an executive officer, to set them aside or disregard 
 them. He was happy to announce that, alter having an interview with the 
 officers of their Committee of Safety, he had induced them thus far to respect 
 those laws, they being willing to see them enforced, provided they had the 
 reserved right of testing and escaping from them legally. He was happy to 
 announce that all difficulties were settled. (Faint cheers.) There was a perfect 
 understanding between the Executive and the Committee." 
 
 Lane uttered a few fiery sentences, " which were cheered heartily,' ' 
 when Dr. Robinson was called for ; who is reported as having 
 " nothing to say but that they had taken an honorable position." 
 
 I now quote the book of Mr. William Phillips, the most trustworthy 
 historian of Kansas as to facts : " There was an evident suspicion 
 among the people that the negotiations had been closed too easily, and 
 that their leaders had concealed something. 
 
 " CAPTAIN BROWN got up to address the people ; but a desire was 
 manifested to prevent his speaking. Amid some little disturbance, he 
 demanded to know what the terms were. If he understood Governor 
 Shannon's speech, something had been conceded, and he conveyed the 
 idea that the Territorial laws were to be observed. Those laws they 
 denounced and spit upon, and would never obey no ! 
 
 " Here the speaker was interrupted by the almost universal cry. 
 No, no ! Down with the bogus laws. Lead us down to fight first ! 
 
 "Seeing a young revolution on the tapis, the influential men 
 assured tte people that there had been no concession. They had yielded 
 nothing. They had surrendered nothing to the usurping Legislature. 
 With these assurances the people were satisfied and withdrew. At that 
 time it was determined to keep the treaty secret, but before many days 
 it was sufficiently public. 1 ' 
 
 The politicians feared the old man, knowing that neither cunning 
 nor duplicity would please him. Hence their desire to prevent his 
 speaking ; hence their determination to keep the Treaty secret ; hence 
 their unblushing announcement that nothing had been conceded. 
 
 This Treaty, when published, justified the old man's suspicions. 
 By an adroit but dishonest use of the phrases, " legal process " and 
 " the laws," the Treaty was susceptible of a double interpretation ; 
 the most obvious and honest one, construing them to refer to Terri- 
 torial enactments and Territorial legal instruments ; while the other, 
 or the Free State translation, rendered it Federal laws and Federal 
 processes only. 
 
THE WORK BEGUN. 71 
 
 John Brown ever afterwards regretted that he returned at General 
 Lane's request, and maintained that this Treaty, and the policy which 
 led to it, only served to postpone the inevitable conflict then rapidly 
 approaching, and to demoralize the spirit of the Free State party. 
 It occasioned, he thought, the death of many Northern men, whom, 
 encouraged by this compromising action, the marauders, on their 
 return, murdered in cold blood or in desultory warfare. 
 
 " I have often heard him lament," says an able correspondent of the 
 New York Tribune, " the loss of this chance, with the most earnest 
 sincerity. The odds of five to one he accounted as nothing. ' What 
 are five to one ? ' said he, ' when our men would be fighting for their 
 wives, their children, their homes and their liberties against a party, 
 one half of whom were mercenary vagabonds, who enlisted for a mere 
 frolic, lured on by the whiskey and the bacon, and a large portion of 
 the others had gone under the compulsion of opinion and proscription, 
 and because they feared being denounced as abolitionists if they 
 refused?'" 
 
 The politicians* called John Brown an "impracticable man" but 
 their own subsequent history, and the history of Lawrence, afford an 
 ample vindication of his conduct at this crisis. His predictions, in less 
 than a year, were historical facts. 
 
 * The following amusing paragraph occurs in a Life of John Brown, written 
 by a Republican politician, and published in the New York Herald. To spare 
 an old acquaintance from ridicule, I omit a few words only. 
 
 "In December, 1855, during the 'Shannon war,' Brown first made his 
 appearance among the Free State men at Lawrence. His entrance into the 
 place at once attracted the attention of the people towards him. He brought a 
 wagon load of calvary sabres, and was accompanied by twelve men, seven of 
 whom were his own sons. He first exhibited his qualities at the time the Free 
 State and pro-slavery parties, under the lead of Governor Robinson on one side, 
 and Governor Shannon on the other, met to make a treaty of peace. After 
 Governor Robinson had stated to the people who were gathered around the 
 hotel, the terms of peace, Brown took the stand uninvited, and opposed the 
 terms of the treaty. He was in favour of ignoring all treaties, and such leading 
 men as Robinson, Lane, &c., and, proceeding at once against the border ruffian 
 invaders, drive them from the soil, or hang them if taken. The chairman of 
 the Committee of Safety ordered Brown under arrest. The latter made no 
 physical resistance, but it teas soon discovered that he was altogether too com- 
 bustible a person to retain as a prisoner, and a compromise was made with him 
 by the Free State men, and he was released. He was informed by the leaders 
 of that party, that his remarks were intended to undo what they were trying to 
 accomplish by means of the treaty ; that he was a stranger in Lawrence and 
 Kansas, and ought not, by his rash remarks, to compromise the people of 
 Lawrence, until he had known them longer and knew them better." 
 
III. 
 
 "SOUTHERN RIGHTS TO ALL." 
 
 THE siege of Lawrence raised, the ruffians, on returning homeward, 
 on the 15th of December, 1855, destroyed the Free State ballot box 
 at Leavenworth ; and, on the 20th, threw the press and types of the 
 Territorial Register, the political organ of the author of the Kansas- 
 Xebraska act, into the muddy streets of the little town, and the still 
 muddier bed of the Missouri River. The leaders of the riot did the 
 writer of this volume the honor to say that the outrage was occasioned 
 by an offensive paragraph emanating from his pen, and expressed 
 themselves exceedingly solicitous to see him dangling in the air 
 for daring " freely " to exercise the rights of a free press! This was 
 my first public honor ; a good beginning, I hoped, for a friend of the 
 slave ; and one which, ever since, I have striven to deserve. 
 
 The election, thus riotously interrupted by the ruffians at Leaven- 
 worth, was held under the auspices of a voluntary political 
 organization ; and the question submitted was Shall the Topeka 
 Constitution be rejected or sustained ? 
 
 The Topeka Constitution, ever intrinsically valueless, but sacred 
 as the rallying standard of the Free State men, was an instrument 
 which originated in the "ostensible and vaunted principles of the 
 Organic Act the right of a people, inhabiting a Territory, to form 
 their own domestic institutions in their own way; among which, if 
 there had been any honesty in the framers of the Bill, or the advo- 
 cates of the doctrine, the right of choosing a Governor, Judges, 
 Legislators, Executive State officers and municipal functionaries 
 must inevitably have been included. Assuming the good faith of the 
 framers of the Act, the Free State men proceeded to carry out their 
 principles first, by repudiating the code of enactments compiled by 
 the invaders, and denying the authority of the officers they had 
 elected and appointed to execute them ; and, secondly, by calling on 
 the pioneers to choose representatives to a Convention to be held at 
 Topeka, for the purpose of forming a State Constitution. The 
 squatters did so ; the Topeka Constitution was adopted; and, on the 
 
"SOUTHERN EIGHTS TO ALL." 7o 
 
 loth of January, 1856, an election under it, for State officers and 
 legislators, was held throughout the Territory. 
 
 The pro-slavery Mayor at Leavenworth forbade an election being 
 held there. But there was one man, Captain R. P. Brown, as 
 brave a hero as his venerable namesake who determined to resist 
 this tyranny ; and, on the adjournment of the polls to a neighboring 
 town, went out there with a few friends to defend the rights of free 
 men. The Kickapoo Rangers, a ruffianly gang of Southern despera- 
 does, marched out there also ; a skirmish ensued ; they were 
 successfully resisted and driven back ; but Captain Brown, on the 
 following day, in returning home, was surrounded by an overwhelming 
 force ; and, at the earnest entreaty of his companions, although 
 against his own judgment, surrendered under a promise that their 
 persons should be safe. 
 
 " But the moment this was complied with," writes Mr. Phillip?, 
 whose every statement 1 know to be correct : 
 
 " The terms were violated. One young man was knocked down, and a ruffian 
 was going to cut him with his hatchet (the Kickapoo Rangers carried hatchets), 
 but was prevented by the Captain of the Company. The prisoners were taken 
 back to Easton : but Brown was separated from them, and put in an adjoining 
 building. A rope was purchased at the store, and was shown to the prisoners, with 
 the intimation that they should be hanged with it. ... It was fiercely discussed 
 for hours what should be done with them; and meanwhile liquor was drank 
 pretty freely ; and they who were brutal enough, without anything to make 
 them more so, became ungovernably fierce. Unwilling that all of these men 
 should be murdered, the Captain allowed the other prisoners to escape. One of 
 them hastened to Fort Leavenworth, in hopes of getting some troops to go and 
 rescue Brown ; but it was a vain attempt such protection was refused. Then 
 followed a scene of atrocity and horror. Captain Brown had surrendered his 
 arms, and was helpless. His enemies, who dared not face him the night before, 
 though they had a superior force, now crowded round him. When they began 
 to strike him, he rose to his feet, and asked to be permitted to fight any one of 
 them. He challenged them to pit him against their best man he would fight 
 for his life; but not one of the cowards dared thus to give the prisoner a chance. 
 Then he volunteered to fight two, and then three ; but it was in vain . . . These men 
 or rather demons, rushed around Brown, and literally hacked him to death with 
 their hatchets. One of the rangers, a large, coarse-looking wretch named Gibson, 
 inflicted the fatal blow a large hatchet gash in the side of the head, which pene- 
 trated the skull and brain many inches. The gallant Brown fell, and his remorse- 
 less enemies jumped on him, while thus prostrate, or kicked him. Desperately 
 wounded though he was, he still lived ; and, as they kicked him, he said, ' Don't 
 abuse me ; it is useless ; I am dying.' It was a vain appeal. One of the wretches 
 [since a United States Deputy Marshal} stooped over the prostrate man, and, 
 with a refinement of cruelty, exceeding the rudest savage, spit tobacco juice in 
 his eyes. Satiated brutality at last went back to its carousals, and it was then 
 that a few of their number, whom a little spark of conscience, or a fear of 
 punishment had animated, raised the dying man, still groaning, and, placing 
 him in a wagon, his gaping wounds but poorly sheltered from the bitter cold of 
 that winter's day, drove him to the grocery, where they went through the farce 
 of dressing his wounds ; but, seeing the hopelessness of his case, took him home 
 to his wife. . . . The pulse of life was ebbing out. She asked him what 
 was the matter, and how he came thus. ' I have been murdered by a gang of 
 cowards, in cold blood, without any cause!' he said. And, as the poor wife 
 stooped over the body of her gallant husband, he expired." 
 
74 "SOUTHEBX RIGHTS TO ALL." 
 
 And, as she thus stooped, with a fiendishness truly Southern, one 
 of the ruffians dared to offer her an insult. 
 
 No notice has ever been taken of this atrocious murder by the 
 powers that be ; never once did they interfere to preserve the purity 
 of the ballot-box or the right of free speech. The polls were not per- 
 mitted to be opened either at Kickapoo, or Atchison, or the other 
 pro-slavery villages ; and a clergyman, who, at Atchison, said in a 
 private conversation, that he was a Free State man, was tarred and 
 feathered, and sent down the river on a raft Federal officeholders 
 leading and encouraging the rioters. 
 
 John Brown, Junior, was elected a member of the Topeka 
 Legislature. 
 
 In the month of February, the President, in an official proclama- 
 tion, denounced the Topeka Legislature as an illegal assembly ; 
 endorsed the code of the invaders as the laws of Kansas ; and ordered 
 the Federal troops to aid the Territorial officers in the execution of 
 these infamous enactments. With the opening of navigation on the 
 river came hordes of Southern highwaymen from Georgia, the 
 Carolinas, and Alabama, with the avowed intention of exterminating 
 or banishing the Free State men. Organizing into guerilla com- 
 panies, they soon scattered desolation throughout the Territory ; but 
 first were enrolled as Territorial militia, by Governor Shannon, and 
 armed with United States muskets, the more effectually to enable 
 them to carry out their purpose. An excuse was needed to march 
 against Lawrence, in order to destroy it; for while it stood, they 
 could hardly hope to succeed in their nefarious mission. A pretext 
 was soon afforded. Sham writs were issued for the arrest of its 
 citizens ; United States troops entered Lawrence to enforce them. To 
 Federal authority no opposition was made ; for the sentiment of 
 devotion to the Union, notwithstanding that to Kansas the Union 
 was a curse, was in almost every breast an uneradicable prejudice. 
 The Sheriff, thus protected and unopposed, in order to incite the 
 people to resist him, encamped with his prisoners in Lawrence over 
 night, and, in coarse and filthy language, abused the Northern 
 citizens and his captives. Tired of the cowardice of the politicians, 
 and exasperated by the outrages daily committed by the Southern 
 marauders, one brave but wayward boy, on hearing the abusive 
 language of the Sheriff, swore that he would bring matters to a crisis 
 forthwith ; and, in the evening, he and two companions, half drunk, 
 and wholly incensed, fired at and wounded the insolent office-holder 
 as he stood at the entrance of his tent. 
 
 He was not dangerously wounded ; but, to subserve the interests of 
 
"SOUTHERN EIGHTS TO ALL," 75 
 
 the South, it was reported that he was dead. Missouri, again appealed 
 to, invaded the Territory ; the far Southern marauders assembled at 
 Lecompton ; and now, in order that they might march together on 
 devoted Lawrence, ' under the shadow of the wings of the Federal 
 eagle," it was determined to arrest Governor Reeder, then the leader 
 of the party, under the pretence of needing him as a witness at 
 Tecumseh. Mr. Reeder, dismissed from his office as Federal 
 Governor, in consequence of his refusal to be the passive instrument 
 of the ruffians, was elected as the Free State delegate to Washington, 
 and was now in Kansas, with the Congressional Committee of Inves- 
 tigation, collecting evidence to sustain his claim to a seat in the 
 National House of Representatives. 
 
 Governor Reader, of course, refused to go for to have gone would 
 have interrupted his duties, and have forfeited his life. He knew 
 nothing of the case, in which, it was pretended, he was needed as a 
 witness. This refusal was instantly made the pretext for marching 
 on Lawrence, under the authority of a United States Marshal. 
 
 The news spread rapidly, that Lawrence was to be destroyed. 
 
 John Brown, junior, at the head of sixty men, or more,* marched 
 from Osawatomie, and offered to defend the town; but the Com- 
 mittee of Safety, now so odious, that it was ironically styled the 
 Safety Valve, while valiantly declaring that " they would fight first," 
 rather than submit to ignominious terms, and receiving from 
 Governor Shannon the very courteous and patriotic answer, " Then 
 war it is, by God!" took no efficient measures for defence, and 
 determined to offer no resistance. John Brown, junior, marched 
 back to Osawatomie ; but ere he reached it and disbanded, his 
 father, with a company of seven men, left his camp, and began in 
 right earnest the war of liberty. 
 
 Meanwhile, Messrs. Reeder, Robinson, and others, urged to it by 
 the Congressional Committee, had fled ; but, excepting Reeder, were 
 overtaken, arrested, and imprisoned on a charge of high treason. 
 Their crime consisted in accepting office under the Free State Con- 
 stitution ; save one, an editor, whose offence was the publication of a 
 Free_State journal.f 
 
 On the 5th of May, the two Free State papers in Lawrence, and a 
 hotel erected by the Emigrant Aid Company ; as, also, a bridge over a 
 stream to the south of Lawrence, which had been built by a Free 
 
 * My personal recollection is, that there were one hundred and twenty men 
 in his company ; but, as I cannot recal my authority, I give the lowest number 
 stated by others. -V^3 ^-.>t"~g 
 
 t He subsequently sold_himseirto the Federal Administration. 
 
76 "SOUTHERN RIGHTS TO ALL." 
 
 State man ; were each indicted by a jury, under the instructions of 
 the Federal Judge, Lecompte, as a public nuisance, and orders for their 
 destruction were issued by the Court. 
 
 On the llth of the same month, the United States Marshal issued a 
 proclamation assembling the " militia ;" and from that time, as the 
 writer personally knows, till the 20th instant, in the words of a demo- 
 cratic author,* "preparations were going forward, and vigorously 
 prosecuted, for the sacking of Lawrence. The pro-slavery people 
 were to .wipe out this ill-fated town, under authority of law. They 
 had received the countenance of the President, the approbation of the 
 Chief Justice, the favorable presentiment of the Grand Jury, the 
 concurrence of the Governor, the order of the Marshal, and were pre- 
 pared to consummate their purpose with the arms of the Government, in 
 the hands of a militia force gathered from the remotest sections of the 
 Union. They concentrated their troops in large numbers around the 
 doomed city, stealing, or, as they termed it, ' pressing into the service ' 
 all the horses they could find belonging to Free State men ; whose 
 cattle were also slaughtered, without remuneration, to feed the 
 Marshal's forces; and their stores and dwellings broken open and 
 robbed of arms, provisions, blankets, and clothing. And all this 
 under the pretence of ' law and order,' and in the name and under the 
 sanction of the government of the United States." 
 
 These, and worse outrages, the murdering of the young boys Stewart 
 and Jones, and the ravishing of a mother and a daughter among them, 
 were speedy and infallible illustrations of the spirit of the South; 
 convincing proofs to every man who would look with his own eyes, 
 instead of using the false mirror of a conservative education, that the 
 American Union is not a Nation, but an unnatural joining of two 
 hostile peoples of a free, progressive, tolerant, enlightened, law- 
 loving race, on the one hand ; and, on the other, of lawless organized 
 bands of despots, with able but unprincipled leaders, and with a lower 
 class only slightly in advance of our barbarous semi-civilized Indian 
 tribes of the West. 
 
 On the 20th of May, the United States Marshal, at the head of 
 eight hundred men, entered the town of Lawrence, and made arrests ; 
 and then, with an ingenuity worthy of the South, or Austria, or any 
 other power satanic, dismissed his immense force within the limits of 
 the corporation. Had the army then committed any lawless act, how 
 could the Democracy have been held responsible ? The posse comitatus 
 was now a mob. But the shot Sheriff, who so lately had been 
 
 * Gihon. 
 
"SOUTHERN RIGHTS TO ALL." 77 
 
 lamented as dead, stepped forward at this juncture; reorganized the 
 force as his official staff; and then, filling the streets with these 
 Southern marauders, destroyed the presses and offices of the two 
 Northern papers, battered at with cannon, and finally burned down, 
 the recently finished and splendid hotel. In the eyes of the Govern- 
 ment, they were " public nuisances." This mob was headed by an 
 ex-Senator, and ex- Vice President of the United States. 
 
 Among the brave young men who saw these outrages committed, 
 were Charley Lenhart and John E. Cook. Next day they left the 
 town, to commence reprisals. Nearly two hundred thousand dollars' 
 worth of property had been stolen or destroyed, without reckoning, in 
 this amount, nearly two hundred horses that had been " pressed into 
 the service" of the South. 
 
 North of the Kansas River, the conquest of the Territory was 
 complete ; and, south of it, several Free State districts had submitted 
 to the power of the invaders. All the towns on the Missouri River 
 were in their hands; Lawrence had been sacked, its prosperity 
 checked, and its prestige broken; while Tecumseh, and Lecompton, 
 Fort Scott, and the far Southern region, had always been faithful to 
 the traffic in human souls. On a flag that waved in the ranks of the 
 lawless sheriff's Southern force, on that memorable 20th of May, was 
 printed the Goliath-like boast of the embattled propagandists of 
 oppression : 
 
 " You Yankees tremble, and Abolitionists fall ; 
 Our motto is, Southern Rights to All." 
 
 The cause of God, and his servants, and despised poor, looked 
 gloomy ; but there were many hearts, fully conscious that, armed with 
 justice and Sharpe's rifles, the right would come uppermost ere long. 
 And among them, encamped in the woods of Southern Kansas, was a 
 stern old man, whose cold blue eye lighted up with a holy lustre, as he 
 read in the Sacred Book, written by the finger of his God and 
 Father : 
 
 " Be strong and courageous ; be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of 
 Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him : for there be more with us 
 than with him ; 
 
 " With him is an arm of flesh ; but with us is the Lord our Go3, to help us, 
 and to fight our battles." 
 
IV. 
 IN CAUCUS AND CAMP. 
 
 IN CAUCUS. 
 
 THE first time that I heard of Old Brown was in connection with a 
 caucus at the town of Osawatomie.* It was shortly after his arrival 
 in the Territory. The politicians of the neighborhood were carefully 
 pruning resolutions so as to suifc every variety of anti-slavery exten- 
 sionists ; and more especially that class of persons whose opposition to 
 slavery was founded on expediency the selfishness of race, and caste, 
 and interest: men who were desirous that Kansas should be con- 
 secrated to free white labor only, not to FREEDOM for all and above 
 all The resolution that aroused the old man's anger declared that 
 Kansas should be a free white State, thereby favoring the exclusion of 
 negroes and mulattoes, whether slave or free. He rose to speak, and 
 soon alarmed and disgusted the politicians by asserting the manhood 
 of the negro race, and expressing his earnest, anti-slavery convictions 
 with a force and vehemence little likely to suit the hybrids then 
 known as Free State Democrats. There were a number of emigrants 
 from Indiana, I was told, whom his speech so shocked that they went 
 over and remained in the pro-slavery party. This was John Brown's 
 first and last appearance in a public meeting in Kansas. Like most 
 men of action, he underrated discussion. He secretly despised even 
 the ablest anti-slavery orators. He could see " no use in this talking," 
 he said. " Talk is a national institution, but it does no manner of 
 good to the slave." He thought it an excuse very well adapted for 
 weak men, with tender consciences. Many abolitionists, too cowardly 
 to fight, and yet too honest to be silent, deceived themselves with the 
 belief that they faithfully discharged their duties to the slave by 
 fiercely denouncing his oppressors. His ideas of duty were far 
 different. The slaves, in his eyes, were prisoners of war; their 
 tyrants, he held, had taken the sword, and must perish by it. 
 
 * I bad no personal knowledge of his opposition to the Treaty of Peace. 
 
IN CAUCUS AND CAMP. 79 
 
 HIS POLITICAL CREED. 
 
 Here let me speak of his political affinities. It has been asserted 
 that he was a member of the Republican party. It is false. He 
 despised the Republican party. It is true that, like every abolitionist, 
 he was opposed to the extension of slavery ; and, like the majority of 
 anti-slavery men, in favor, also, of organized political action against it. 
 But he was too earnest a man, and too devout a Christian, to rest 
 satisfied with the only action against slavery consistent with one's duty 
 as a citizen, according to the usual Republican interpretation of the 
 Federal Constitution. That teaches us that we must content our- 
 selves with resisting the extension of slavery. Where the Republicans 
 said Halt ; John Brown shouted, Forward ! to the rescue ! He was 
 an abolitionist of the Bunker Hill school. He followed neither Gar- 
 rison nor Seward, Gerritt Smith nor Wendell Phillips : but the 
 Golden Rule, and the Declaration of Independence, in the spirit of 
 the Hebrew warriors, and in the God-applauded mode that they 
 adopted. " The Bible story of Gideon," records a man who betrayed 
 him, " had manifestly a great influence on his actions." He believed 
 in human brotherhood and in the God of Battles ; he admired Nat 
 Turner, the negro patriot, equally with George Washington, the 
 white American deliverer. He could not see that it was heroic to 
 fight against a petty tax on tea, and war seven long years for a, 
 political principle ; and wrong to restore, by force of arms, to an out- 
 raged race, the rights with which their Maker had endowed them, but 
 of which the South, for two centuries had robbed them. The old man 
 distrusted the republican leaders. He thought that their success, in 
 1860, would be a serious check to the anti-slavery cause.* ' His 
 reason was, that the people had confidence in these leaders, and would 
 believe that by their action in Congress they would peacefully and 
 speedily abolish slavery. That the people would be deceived ; that the 
 Republicans would become as conservative of slavery as the Democrats 
 themselves, he sincerely and prophetically believed. Apathy to the 
 welfare of the slave would follow; and hence, to avert this moral 
 and national calamity, he hurried on to Harper's Ferry. 
 
 He was no politician. He despised that class with all the energy of 
 his earnest and determined nature. He was too large a man to stand 
 on any party platform. He planted his feet on the Rock of Ages 
 
 " The Republicans of 1858 will be the Democrats of 1860 "a pithy prophecy 
 found among the manuscripts at Harper's Ferry, is a brief and clear statement 
 of John Brown's ideas. 
 
80 IN CAUCUS AND CAMP. 
 
 the Eternal truth and was therefore never shaken in his policy or 
 principles. 
 
 MY FIRST JOURNEY SOUTH. 
 
 A few days after the sacking of Lawrence, a startling rumor reached 
 us. A messenger from Lecompton stated that a Southern squatter 
 from Pottawattomie had arrived there with despatches for the 
 Governor, which announced that five pro-slavery settlers had been 
 murdered, at midnight, and their bodies shockingly disfigured and 
 mutilated, by a party of Free State men. He brought a request for a 
 body of troops to protect the pro-slavery people there ; who, up to this 
 time, had ruled that region with a rod of iron. This fact caused every 
 one to doubt the truth of the report. It was regarded as a pretext 
 for hurrying down the troops to arrest Captain John Brown, Junior, and 
 the Free State force that he commanded. While the people of Lawrence 
 were discussing the news, a body of troops from Lecompton passed the 
 town, and it was discovered that they were destined for Osawatomie. 
 Not a moment was to be lost if John Brown, the younger, and his boys, 
 were to be warned of their coming and design. I was urged to go down 
 and inform him of the approach of the troops. A horse was hired for 
 me, and I started on the mission at once. Already the troops were 
 several miles ahead, and I was not familiar with the road ; for this was 
 my first journey to the country south of the Wakerusa. 
 
 My first object was to overtake the troops; the second, to pass them, 
 and defeat their design. Of every one whom I met I inquired if, and 
 where, they had seen the soldiery. Just at twilight I rode up a hill ; 
 and, on the opposite side of the brush, heard the noise of the tramp of 
 horses. I rode through it, and found myself in camp. The dragoons 
 were preparing to dismount aud remain there for the night. There 
 were two or three civilians of the ruffian-breed along with them, who, 
 after eyeing me with fierce looks, went and spoke to the captain. He, like 
 the majority of the army officers at Kansas, was an ultra pro-slavery 
 man. He looked steadily at me, and I returned the stare ; but, knowing 
 his character, I did not salute him. Without speaking to- any one, I 
 rode out of camp. In five minutes it was already dark ; and I had 
 not gone' half a mile ere I heard two men riding up behind me. I 
 stopped my horse at once ; turned off the road ; and, with my pistol 
 ready for service, halted till they came up to me. They also were 
 heavily armed ; but their pistols were in their belts. I inquired of them 
 the way to Prairie City ; one, in giving directions, tried to ride outside 
 of me. It was no time, I felt, for too tender a regard for the forms of 
 
IN CAUCUS AND CAMP. 81 
 
 etiquette ; so I rode still farther out, slightly raising my pistol as I did 
 so. We understood each other at once. I rode with them a little dis- 
 tance ; and then, they having separated, I halted until both were out of 
 sight. Prairie City, according to their directions, was to be reached by 
 an Indian trail, which, difficult enough to trace in the daylight, it was 
 impossible for a stranger to find or follow at night. I rode on to a 
 hamlet of half a dozen log houses, dignified with the name of the City 
 of Palmyra ; and there, at the cabin of a moderate pro-slavery man, 
 rested till the following morning, when I found that my horse had been 
 stolen, and that my host had suffered with me in the loss of an Indian 
 pony. H. Clay Pate and his friend Coleman, the murderer, were sup- 
 posed to be encamped in the neighborhood, and were with reason sus- 
 pected of having commited this theft. After the battle of Black Jack, 
 and not till then, the horses were discovered and returned. 
 
 I walked over to Prairie City, a municipality which consisted of two 
 log cabins and a well, and from there, having told my errand, a mes- 
 senger was instantly despatched to inform John Brown, junior, of the 
 approach and supposed design of the Federal troops. I remained in 
 Prairie City several days, to ascertain and describe the condition of the 
 country. 
 
 I found that, in this region, when men went out to plough, they al- 
 ways took their rifles with them, and always tilled in companies of from 
 five to ten ; for, whenever they attempted to perform their work sepa- 
 rately, the Georgia and Alabama bandits, who where constantly hover- 
 ing about, were sure to make a sudden descent on them, and carry off 
 their horses and oxen. Every man went armed to the teeth. Guard 
 was kept night and day. Whenever two men approached each other, 
 they came up, pistol in hand, and the first salutation invariably was : 
 Free State or Pro-Slave ? or its equivalent in intent : Whar ye from? 
 It not unf requently happened that the next sound was the report of a 
 pistol. People who wished to travel without such collisions, avoided 
 the necessity of meeting any one, by making a circuit or running away 
 on the first indication of pursuit. 
 
 And why this condition of things? Because the North had con- 
 sented to compromise with the deadly crime of Southern slavery ; 
 because it had been taught that this stupendous and organized 
 iniquity could have any other right than to be crushed under the feet 
 of Christian freemen. 
 
82 IX CAUCUS AND CAMP. 
 
 ARREST AS A HORSE THIEF. 
 
 On the afternoon of my first day at Prairie City, I was sitting 
 reading a book at the door of the cabin, when, unexpectedly, I saw a 
 company of the dragoons approaching. They were riding, in double 
 file, up to where I sat ; but I did not look at them again, until the 
 horse of the captain was about to tread on me. I knew that it was 
 designed, in revenge for my indifference, on the captain's part ; and to 
 anger him still more, as soon as I stepped aside, instead of saluting 
 him or looking at his men, I reopened my book and recommenced my 
 reading. 
 
 In a voice of stifled anger, he asked me if my name was Redpath ? 
 
 I told him that it was. 
 
 " Then, sir, you are my prisoner," he said. 
 
 " Indeed ! " I responded. " Why ? Where is your warrant ? " 
 
 " I have none," he answered angrily. 
 
 "Then how can you arrest me? This is said to be a country of 
 law." 
 
 " We won't discuss that, sir," he said, savagely ; " but you must go 
 with me to my camp. If you are not guilty, you need have nothing to 
 fear." 
 
 "I don't fear, Captain," I interrupted ; " I know enough of law to 
 know that Federal troops dare not punish citizens." 
 
 His eyes snapped. I had been trying to provoke him, without 
 giving him an excuse for violence, and I saw that I had thus far 
 been successful in hitting the most sensitive part of dragoon pride 
 the superiority of the civil Bench over the military Saddle. 
 
 " But what is my offence? " I asked. 
 
 " You are suspected of stealing horses ! You came into our camp 
 last night, acted very strangely, never spoke to any one, and, half-an- 
 hour after you were gone, two of our best horses were missing." 
 
 I angered the vain dragoon still more by laughing heartily at the 
 accusation, and explaining my reason for sympathizing with him, as 
 well as my willingness to go to his camp, if only to have so good a 
 chance to write an amusing letter. This intimation did not restore 
 him to good humor. 
 
 " Well, sir, I hope you are innocent," he said, and then put his men 
 into marching order. 
 
 I found that the strongest evidence against me was the fact they 
 had discovered, that, on the previous evening, I had anxiously asked 
 of every one where the soldiers were. Such is circumstantial 
 evidence. 
 
IN CAUCUS AND CAMP. 83 
 
 Returning in less than half-an-hour from the camp of the soldiery, 
 to which the horses, traced by a squatter, had been returned, I sat 
 down and wrote a description of the adventure, which I entitled the 
 Confessions of a Horse Thief. Now, how to send it? The mails 
 were not safe ; the country was covered with guerillas ; Leavenworth 
 was in the hands of the ruffians ; to send it from Lawrence was 
 impossible. I heard of an old preacher, who lived a few miles off, 
 and who was going to Kansas City in Missouri. I went to find him. 
 His house was situated on the southern side of a creek, which is two 
 or three miles from Prairie City. I was advised to seek the cabin of 
 Captain Carpenter ; and there, where armed men were constantly on 
 guard, they would lead me to " Old Moore, the minister." 
 
 IN CAMP. 
 
 The creeks of Kansas are all fringed with wood. I lost my way, or 
 got off the path that crosses the creek above alluded to, when, 
 suddenly, thirty paces before me, I saw a wild-looking man, of fine 
 proportions, with half-a-dozen pistols of various sizes stuck in his 
 belt, and a large Arkansas bowie-knife prominent among them. His 
 head was uncovered ; his hair was uncombed ; his face had not been 
 shaved for many months. We were similarly dressed with red- 
 topped boots worn over the pantaloons, a coarse blue shirt, and a 
 pistol belt. This was the usual fashion of the times. 
 
 " Hullo ! " he cried, " you're in our camp ! " 
 
 He had nothing in his right hand he carried a water-pail in his 
 left ; but, before he could speak again, I had drawn and cocked my 
 eight-inch Colt. 
 
 I only answered, in emphatic tones, " Halt ! or I'll fire ! " 
 
 He stopped, and said that he knew me ; that he had seen me in 
 Lawrence, and that I was true ; that he was Frederick Brown, the 
 son of old John Brown ; and that I was now within the limits of 
 their camp. After a parley of a few minutes, I was satisfied that I 
 was among my friends, put up my pistol, and shook hands with 
 Frederick. 
 
 He talked wildly, as he walked before me, turning round every 
 minute, as he spoke of the then recent affair of Pottawattomie. His 
 family, he said, had been accused of it ; he denied it indignantly, with 
 the wild air of a maniac. His excitement was so great that he 
 repeatedly recrossed the creek, until, getting anxious to reach the 
 camp, I refused to listen to him until he took me to his father. He 
 then quietly filled his pail with water; and, after many strange 
 
84 IN CAUCUS AND CAMP. 
 
 turnings, led me into camp. As we approached it, we were twice 
 challenged by sentries, who suddenly appeared before trees, and as 
 suddenly disappeared behind them. 
 
 I shall not soon forget the scene that here opened to my view. 
 Near the edge of the creek a dozen horses were tied, all ready saddled 
 for a ride for life, or a hunt after Southern invaders. A dozen rifles 
 and sabres were stacked against the trees. In an open space, amid 
 the shady and lofty woods, there was a great blazing fire with a pot on 
 it; a woman, bare-headed, with an honest, sun-burnt face, was 
 picking blackberries from the bushes ; three or four armed men were 
 lying on red and blue blankets on the grass ; and two fine-looking 
 youths were standing, leaning on their arms, on guard, near by. One 
 of them was the youngest son of Old Brown, and the other was 
 "Charley," the brave Hungarian, who was subsequently murdered at 
 Osawatomie. Old Brown himself stood near the fire, with his shirt- 
 sleeves rolled up, and a large piece of pork in his hand. He was 
 cooking a pig. He was poorly clad, and his toes protruded from his 
 boots. The old man received me with great cordiality, and the little 
 band gathered about me. But it was for a moment only; for the 
 Captain ordered them to renew their work. He respectfully but 
 firmly forbade conversation on the Pottawattomie affair; and said 
 that, if I desired any information from the company in relation to 
 their conduct or intentions, he, as their Captain, would answer for 
 them whatever was proper to communicate. 
 
 In this camp no manner of profane language was permitted ; no 
 man of immoral character was allowed to stay, excepting as a prisoner 
 of war. He made prayers in which all the company united, every 
 morning and evening ; and no food was ever tasted by his men until 
 the Divine blessing had been asked on it. After every meal, thanks 
 were returned to the Bountiful Giver. Often, I was told, the old man 
 would retire to the densest solitudes, to wrestle with his God in secret 
 prayer. One of his company subsequently informed me that, after 
 these retirings,he would say that the Lord had directed him in visions 
 what to do ; that, for himself, he did not love warfare, but peace, 
 only acting in obedience to the will of the Lord, and fighting God's 
 battles for his children's sake. 
 
 It was at this time that the old man said to me : "I would rather 
 have the small-pox, yellow fever, and cholera all together in my camp, 
 than a man without principles. It's a mistake, sir," he continued, 
 "that our people make, when they think that bullies are the best 
 fighters, or that they are the men fit to oppose these Southerners. 
 Give me men of good principles ; God-fearing men ; men who respect 
 
IN CAUCUS AND CAMP. 85 
 
 themselves ; and, with a dozen of them, I will oppose any hundred 
 such men as those Buford ruffians." 
 
 I remained in the camp about an hour. Never before had I met 
 such a band of men. They were not earnest, but earnestness incarnate. 
 Six of them were John Brown's sons. 
 
 I left this sacred spot with a far higher respect for the great struggle 
 than ever I had felt before, and with a renewed and increased faith in 
 noble and disinterested champions of the right ; of whose existence 
 since I had seen so much of paltry jealousy, selfishness, and unprin- 
 cipled ambition among the free state politicians I was beginning to 
 doubt, and to regard as a pleasant illusion of my youth. I went away, 
 thoughtful, and hopeful for the cause ; for I had seen, for the first 
 time, the spirit of the Ironsides armed and encamped. And I said 
 also, and thought, that I had seen the predestined leader of the second, 
 and holier American revolution. 
 
V. 
 
 POTTAWATTOMIE. 
 
 I HAVE spoken of the rumors of midnight murder in the Pottawattomie 
 region, and stated that Captain Brown was accused by the invaders of 
 having done the deed. The charge is false. It was first made by his 
 enemies, who feared him, and desired to drive him out of the district, 
 and subsequently repeated by a recreant Free State journalist, who 
 sold himself to the Federal Administration for the paltry bribe of the 
 public printing. 
 
 The killing of the ruffians of Pottawattomie was one of those stern 
 acts of summary justice with which the history of the West and of every 
 civil war abounds. Lynch law is one of the early necessities of far- 
 western communities; and the terrors of it form the only efficient 
 guarantee of the peaceful citizen from the ruffianism which distinguishes 
 and curses every new Territory. The true story of Pottawattomie is 
 briefly told. 
 
 In all that region, ever since the opening of the Territory for settle- 
 ment, the pro-slavery party had been brutally tyrannical. Free State 
 men were daily robbed, beaten, and killed ; their property was stolen, 
 openly, before their eyes ; and yet they did not dare to resist the out- 
 rages. One or two families alone were occasionally exempted, by their 
 character for desperate courage, from these daring and unwarrantable 
 assaults. Among them were the sons and son-in-law of Old John 
 Brown ; and even they had repeatedly suffered from the conduct of 
 the ruffians, until the arrival of their father in the autumn, with arms. 
 Then, until the months of April and May, a season of peace was al- 
 lowed them. But when, in fulfilment of the plan of the Missouri secret 
 lodges, the Territory was to be conquered for slavery, it at once became 
 a question of life, death, or immediate banishment to the settlers in 
 Southern Kansas how they should act against the invading pro-slavery 
 party and their allies among the squatters. Men who have passed their 
 lives in the quiet of New England's valleys, or in Eastern cities, can 
 never know what it is to be in earnest on what is seemingly a mere 
 question of political right or constitutional interpretation. Hence this 
 chapter may shock them ; but it is my duty nevertheless, to write it. 
 
POTTAWATTOMIE. 87 
 
 The pro-slavery party, in all the region around Pottawattomie, re- 
 newed their system of aggressions on the Free State men. John Brown 
 began to stir himself and prepare for the defence of his neighborhood. 
 With two sons or friends he went out into the prairies where a number 
 of invaders were encamped, and, pretending to survey the country, drove 
 his imaginary lines through the middle of their camp. All the govern- 
 ment officers in Kansas, from the Governor down to the humblest work- 
 man, were at this time, and for long afterwards, ultra pro-slavery men ; 
 many of them professed Secessionists who publicly cursed the Union as 
 a burden to the South. John Brown frequently adopted this plan of 
 entering the camp of the invading forces, and not only never was sus- 
 pected, but was never asked what his political opinions were. Never 
 doubting that he was a Government surveyor, the Southrons never 
 doubted his political orthodoxy. 
 
 The men in this camp freely told him their plans. There was an 
 old man of the name of Brown, they said, who had several sons here, 
 whom it was necessary to get out of the way, as, if they were driven 
 out or killed, the other settlers would be afraid to offer any further re- 
 sistance. They told him how Wilkinson, the Doyles, and a Dutchman 
 named Sherman had recently been in Missouri, and succeeded in se- 
 curing forces to drive out the Browns, and that it was determined to 
 kill them in the latter part of May. They mentioned several other 
 prominent Free State men who were to share this fate. 
 
 John Brown left their camp, and at once notified the settlers who 
 had been marked out for destruction, of the murderous designs of the 
 Missourians. A meeting of the intended victims was held ; and it was 
 determined that on the first indication of the massacre, the Doyles, a 
 father and two sons, Wilkinson, and Sherman should be seized, tried 
 by Lynch law, and summarily killed. 
 
 On the 23rd of May, John Brown left the camp of his son, at 
 Osawatomie, with seven or eight men, and from that moment began his 
 guerilla warfare in Southern Kansas. He ordered them to the vicinity 
 of his home, to be ready for the Missourians when they came. He 
 himself went in a different direction, for the purpose of obtaining fur- 
 ther aid. 
 
 On the night of the 25th of May, the Doyles, Wilkinson, and Sher- 
 man were seized, tried, and slain. This act was precipitated by a brutal 
 assault committed during the forenoon on a Free State man at the store 
 of Sherman, in which the Doyles were the principal and most ruffianly 
 participators. These wretches, on the same day, called at the houses of 
 the Browns ; and, both in words and by acts, offered the grossest in- 
 dignities to a daughter and daughter-in-law of the old man. As they 
 
8 POTTAWATTOMIE. 
 
 went away, they said " Tell your men that if they don't leave right off, 
 we'll come back to-morrow and kill them." They added, in language 
 too gross for publication, that the women would suffer still worse in- 
 dignities. 
 
 What redress could the husbands of these women have received, had 
 they asked the protection of the law ? They would have been obliged 
 to seek it from "Wilkinson, one of these ruffians, who was the magis- 
 trate of the Pottawattomie District ! This instance had hundreds of 
 parallels. 
 
 I do not know whether New England people will be able to vindicate 
 the summary punishment inflicted on these wretches : but I do know 
 that nearly every Free State man then in Kansas, when he came to 
 know the cause, privately endorsed it as a righteous act, although many 
 of them, " to save the party," publicly repudiated and condemned it. 
 
 These facts I derived from two squatters who aided in the execution, 
 and who were not ashamed of the part they took in it. Neither of 
 them was a son of John Brown. They were settlers in the neighborhood. 
 
 John Brown himself subsequently corroborated their statements, 
 without knowing that they had made them, by his account of the affair 
 and denial of any participation in it. " But, remember," he added, 
 " I do not say this to exculpate myself ; for, although I took no hand 
 in it, I would have advised it had I known the circumstances ; and I 
 endorsed it as it was." 
 
 " Time and the honest verdict of posterity," he said, in his Virginia 
 cell, " will approve of every act of mine." I think it will also endorse 
 all the acts that he endorsed ; and among them this righteous slaughter 
 of the ruffians at Pottawattomie. John Brown did not know that these 
 men were killed until the following day ; for, with one of his sons, he 
 was twenty-five* miles distant at the time. He was at Middle Creek. 
 This fact can be proved by living witnesses. It is false, also, that the 
 ruffians were cruelly killed. They were tried, made confession, al- 
 lowed time to pray, and then slain in a second. 
 
 The effect of this act was highly beneficial to the security of the 
 Free State men. It gave, indeed, to a preconcerted invasion, an ex- 
 cuse for entering the Territory ; but, by the terror which it inspired, 
 by teaching the Missourians that the sword of civil war had a double 
 edge, it saved the lives of hundreds who otherwise would have fallen the 
 victims of Southern aggression. Every one in Kansas at the time ad- 
 mitted that fact, although many of them deny it now. 
 
VI. 
 
 H. CLAY PATE. 
 
 AMONG the unhappy men whom Old John Brown has dragged into an 
 exceedingly undesirable immorality is H. Clay Pate, author, journalist 
 and warrior, alike unfortunate in each of these capacities, and in every- 
 thing that he has tried and lied and done or hoped for. A man-butter- 
 fly, whom no one would have ever thought of disturbing, with the 
 vanity of the fabled frog he aspired to equal John Brown, and flew 
 against his soul of fire but only to be scorched for his pains, and 
 pinned to a page of history by the stern old Puritan, and then placed, 
 as a curious study, in the cabinet of human imbecilities for evermore. 
 
 By way of a contrast, if for no other reason, he deserves a separate 
 chapter here does H. Clay Pate, of Black Jack and Virginia. 
 
 Pate, by birth a Virginian, first sought to find fame and fortune in 
 the city of Cincinnati. He published " a thin volume of collegiate 
 sketches," and " several pointless, bombastically written stories,'* 
 which, we are told, " was embellished with the author's portrait and 
 autograph." He failed to get readers or even favorable reviewers, 
 although he sought to make genial critics by entering into sanctums 
 " armed with a cowhide and revolver." Not even by his next effort, 
 "a large engraved portrait of himself," could the hunger er after 
 literary reputation find satisfaction. 
 
 He then sought fame as a journalist, and again was pre-eminently 
 unsuccessful. As the parasite of the Protestant demagogue, Gavazzi, 
 he gained in pocket, but he lost in caste ; and what he earned in purse 
 he again squandered in publication in a new and equally fruitless 
 effort to win a literary reputation without the intellect to found it on, 
 or the moral character to dignify and support it. " He had a signboard 
 on his door, inscribed, H. Clay Pate, Author ;" but as heaven had not 
 written this inscription on his forehead, the sign in due time disap- 
 peared, and " the author" with it. 
 
 He hurried to the borders to seek notoriety as a champion of the 
 South. He determined at first to be distinguished by his pen ; but, 
 
90 H. CLAY PATE. 
 
 surpassed on every hand as a journalist and writer, he next sought the 
 ever-flying phantom of fame -with sword in hand, and in the tented 
 field. 
 
 At Lawrence, when the town was sacked, we are informed, " he dis- 
 tinguished himself chiefly by riding about on a fine horse, he being 
 decorated with ribbons." 
 
 What a contrast was this vain Virginian to the stern old Puritan, 
 who always dressed in the plainest clothing, regarding the purchase of 
 fine apparel as a robbery of the poor who, only to gratify his most 
 intimate acquaintances, would consent, and then unwillingly, to sit for 
 a daguerreotype ; and who, when an admiring friend, without his per- 
 mission, inscribed a volume to him, regretted it, lest it should seem to 
 be courting notoriety, which he said, with simple honesty, is " not in 
 my way." 
 
 The vain, shallow, boasting pro-slavery propagandist, and the 
 modest, thoughtful, humble warrior of the Lord, were destined soon to 
 meet as foes. 
 
 Mr. Pate set out from "Westport, Missouri, about the end of May, 
 with the avowed intention of arresting old Brown, whom the pro- 
 slavery men had charged with the slaughter of the ruffians of Potta- 
 wattomie, and for whom already they had a salutary and daily 
 increasing dread. His only fear, he said, was, that he might not find 
 him! 
 
 Captain Pate's achievments, from the day he left Westport until 
 u Old Moore, the minister," started for Missouri, with my letters 
 from Prairie City, are thus narrated by my friend, Mr. Phillips, in his 
 " Conquest of Kansas :" 
 
 "While near Osawatomie, he contrived to seize two of the old man's sons 
 Captain John Brown, jun., and Mr. Jason Brown. These were taken while 
 quietly engaged in their avocations. Captain Brown, jun., had been up with 
 his company at Lawrence, immediately after the sacking of the place, and at 
 the time the men at Pottawattomie were killed. He had returned home when 
 he saw he could not aid Lawrence, and quietly went to work. He and his 
 brother Jason were taken by Pate, charged with murder, kept in irons in their 
 camp, and treated with the greatest indignity and inhumanity. While Pate was 
 thus taking people prisoners without any legal authority or writs, he was joined 
 by Captain Wood's company of dragoons, who, so far from putting a stop to his 
 violent career, aided him in it, and took from him, at his desire; the two 
 prisoners, keeping them under guard in their camp, heavily ironed and harshly 
 treated. While these companies were thus travelling close to each other, Captain 
 Pate's company burned the store of a man named Winer, a German ; the home 
 of John Brown, jun., in which, amongst a variety of household articles, a 
 valuable library was consumed ; and also the house of another of the Browns 
 for the old man had six grown sons ; and also searched houses, men, and Free 
 State settlers, and acted in a violent and lawless manner generally. Not being 
 able to find Captain Brown, senior, at Osawatomie, Pate's company and the 
 troops started back for the Santa F road. In the long march that intervened, 
 under a hot sun, the two Browns, now in charge of the dragoons, and held 
 without even the pretence of bogus law, were driven before the dragoons, 
 
H. CLAY PATE. 91 
 
 chained like beasts. For twenty-five miles they thus suffered under this out- 
 rageous inhumanity. Nor was" this all. John Brown, jun., who had been 
 excited by the wild stories of murder told against his father, by their enemies, 
 and who was of a sensitive mind, was unable to bear up against this and his 
 treatment during the inarch, and afterwards, while confined in camp, startled 
 his remorseless captors by the wild ravings of a maniac, while he lashed his 
 chains in fury till the dull iron shone like polished steel.* To rescue his two 
 sons from their captors became the determination of Captain Brown. Like a 
 wolf robbed of its young, he stealthily but resolutely watched for his foes, while 
 he skirted through the thickets of the Marais des Cygnes and Ottawa Creeks. 
 Perhaps it was a lurking dread of Captain Brown's rescuing the prisoners, that 
 made Captain Pate deliver them to the United States dragoons. The dragoons, 
 with their prisoners, encamped on Middle Ottawa Creek, while Pate went on 
 with his men to the Santa Fe road, near Hickory Point. On the evening of 
 Saturday, the 31st of May, he encamped on the head of a small branch or ravine, 
 called Black Jack, from the kind of timber growing there." 
 
 As soon as Captain Pate had reached the ground that was destined 
 to witness his failure as a military man, and at the same time, with a 
 humor almost puritanic in its grimness, to satisfy his longings for 
 extended fame although possibly not the kind of it he most desired 
 his friend Mr. Coleman, the murderer, and others of his company, 
 marched on Palmyra, sacked a free state store there, and then blew it 
 up with a keg of gunpowder. I heard of this robbery and outrage, and 
 wrote an account of it, which, with my " Confessions," and a note to 
 a lady, I handed to " Old Moore, the minister." I advised him, if he 
 were pursued, to destroy the large letters, which were intended for pub- 
 lication ; but to preserve the other, the note, as there was nothing in 
 it that could implicate him with pro- slavery men. 
 
 He had not gone many miles before he was seen, and pursued by Clay 
 Pate's scouts. In his excitement he forgot my directions preserved 
 the "incendiary documents," and destroyed the harmless billet-doux ! 
 He was captured, and brought to the camp of the marauders. Pate 
 
 * Mrs. Robinson, whose husband was detained at Lecompton on a charge of 
 high treason, thus describes the arrival of John Brown, jun., in their camp : 
 " On the 23rd June, the prisoners received an accession to their numbers in the 
 persons of Captain John Brown, jun., and H. H. Williams, likewise dignified 
 with the name of traitors. The former was still insane from the ill-treatment 
 received while in charge of the troops. . . . Captain Brown had a rope tied 
 around Ins arms so tightly, and drawn behind him, that he will for years bear 
 the marks of the ropes where they wore into his flesh. He was then obliged to 
 hold one end of a rope, the other end being carried by one of the dragoons ; and 
 for eight miles, in a burning sun, he was driven before them, compelled to go 
 fast enough to keep from being trampled on by the horses. On being taken to 
 Tecumseh, they were chained two and two, with a common trace chain, and 
 padlock at each end. It was so fixed as to clasp tightly around the ankle. One 
 day they were driven thirty miles, with no food from early morn until night. 
 The journey, in a hot June day, was most torturing to them. Their chains wore 
 upon their ankles until one of them, unable to go farther, was placed upon a 
 horse." 
 
 This son was detained in camp till the 10th September, although he was never 
 even indicted. 
 
H. CLAY PATE. 
 
 ordered the letters to be opened as soon as he learned that they were 
 mine, and appointed Coleman, the murderer whom I had denounced, 
 to read my productions to his men ! 
 
 First, came my humorous " Confessions of a Horse Thief." Captain 
 Wood, the United States officer who arrested me, was spared the ridicule 
 I had endeavored to throw on him, for Pate threw the letter into the 
 fire! 
 
 Next, came my description of the sacking of Palmyra, and the Saxon 
 names for Pate and his company. Old Moore declared afterwards that 
 he felt uneasy for his safety when he saw the rage which my letters 
 aroused. It was universally admitted that I ought to be hanged ; and 
 they swore that they would do it, too when the cat was belled. Pate's 
 revenge was characteristic. He wrote to the Missouri Republican an 
 account of the arrest of Mr. Moore by his company, and stated that a 
 number of my incendiary documents had been found on this person. 
 This Redpath, he added, as if parenthetically, was arrested a few days 
 ago by Captain Wood, of the United States army, on a charge of horse 
 stealing, and was not released until the horses were produced ! This 
 was strictly and literally true, and yet, in its inference, such a splendid 
 lie, that I should have admired the highwayman for his ingenuity, and 
 given him credit for it, if he had not shown, by the sentence following, 
 that the construction of the words was accidental only : " He was only 
 released," he added, " because Captain Wood could not find a magis- 
 trate to indict him ! " 
 
 This was his revenge on me ; on Mr. Moore it was more brutal and 
 cowardly, and still more characteristic. Some of Pate's company had 
 known the old man in Missouri, and knew that he was strictly tem- 
 perate in his habits and his principles. They therefore seized him, 
 and, putting a tin funnel in his mouth, poured liquor down his throat, 
 the ruffians swearing that they would make the old minister drunk. 
 
 These were the men whom John Brown was following to fight. 
 
VII 
 
 BATTLE OF BLACK JACK. 
 
 A FEW days after I left the camp of Old Brown, and returned to rny 
 post at Lawrence, he had his long-looked-for fight with Captain Pate's 
 marauders. A friend has so faithfully narrated this action, that I 
 prefer to transcribe his account of it, rather than describe the fight 
 from my own recollections of the event. I make a few additions and 
 corrections only. 
 
 A SABBATH GATHERING. 
 
 After dinner on Sunday, Pate's men wanted to go over to Prairie 
 City and plunder it. Fancying that it would be easily taken, and that 
 no resistance would be offered, six of Pate's men started on the ex- 
 pedition. At the time this party approached Prairie City, the people 
 of that place and vicinity were congregated in the house of Dr. 
 Graham to hear preaching, the doctor himself being a prisoner in the 
 camp at Black Jack. They could watch as well as pray, however. 
 There were some twenty men present, and most of them, after the old 
 Revolutionary pattern, had gone to church with their guns on their 
 shoulders. It was one of those primitive meetings which may often 
 be found in the West, with the slight addition of its military aspects ; 
 simple and unostentatious garb; easy and primitive manners; a log 
 house, the ribbed timbers of which gave a rough-cast look to the 
 simple scene, with here 'and there the heavy octagon barrel of a long 
 Western rifle, or the smooth barrel of a shot gun, were visible, where 
 they leaned against the wall, ready for action. The worshippers were 
 nearly through their devotions, and the closing psalm was echoing 
 through the timbers of that log house to one of those quaint old 
 melodies to be found in the Missouri Harmony, when the sacred strain 
 was snapped by another Missouri harmony. A watcher entered, saying, 
 *' The Missourians ! They are coming /" 
 
 Never was a congregation dismissed on shorter notice. The holy 
 man forgot the benediction in remembering his rifle. The six ruffians 
 had galloped up ; when the congregation, suddenly rushing out, sur- 
 rounded them. Two of the number, who were a little back, wheeled 
 
94 BATTLE OF BLACK JACK. 
 
 their horses and galloped off, more than one bullet going whizzing 
 after them ; but, thanks to their fleet steeds, or their enemy's hurried 
 shooting, they got off scathless, and got back to tell a frightful story to 
 Pate about the other men being killed horribly ! <fcc. Their less 
 lucky companions were merely taken prisoners of war. One of them, 
 however, had come very near getting his quietus. A son of Dr. 
 Graham, a boy of about eleven years, seized his father's double- 
 barrelled gun at the first alarm, and hurried out to the fence, the 
 Missourians, who were all thus taken aback, being immediately outside 
 of it. The daring boy, with his Kansas blood up, went within three 
 rods of him, and, poking his gun over the fence, took deliberate aim at 
 one of the men, and would have fired the next moment, for " Bub " 
 was not enlightened in the mysterious " articles of war," when a 
 Free State man put aside his gun, and said, 
 
 " Bub, what are you doing ? " 
 
 " Going to shoot that fellow." 
 
 " You mustn't." 
 
 Bub shook his head, and began to put up his gun again, muttering. 
 " He's on pap's horse." * 
 
 A SEARCH FOR PATE. 
 
 Through the whole of that Sunday night did Captain Brown and 
 Shore's united company hunt for Captain Pate ; but their search was 
 unsuccessful. As the gray dawn of Monday morning, June 2nd, glim- 
 mered in, they had returned to Prairie City, when two scouts brought 
 the tidings that the enemy was encamped on Black Jack, some four or 
 five miles off. A small party was" left to guard the four prisoners, and 
 the remainder immediately took jip their line of march for the enemy. 
 Of those who thus left Prairie City, Captain Shore's company 
 numbered twenty men, himself included; and Captain Brown had 
 nine men besides himself. They rode towards the Black Jack. 
 Arrived within a mile of it, they left their horses, and two of their 
 men to guard them. They despatched two other messengers to distant 
 points for additional assistance, if it should be needed. The remainder 
 twenty-six men, all told in two divisions, each captain having his 
 own men, marched quietly forward on the enemy. 
 
 * A similar incident, illustrating the warlike spirit of the children, during the 
 Kansas conflict, came under my own notice at the same house, a few days only 
 before this occurrence. A scout came in and said that a pro-slavery guerilla 
 band wag approaching : 
 
 " O," shouted a little girl of five summers, " don't I wish I could shoot one of 
 them!" 
 
BATTLE OP BLACK JACK. 95 
 
 On Sunday night there were sixty men in the pro-slavery camp on 
 the Black Jack. Three or four waggons had been drawn up in a line, 
 as a sort of breastwork, several rods out on the prairie from the ravine, 
 and one of the tents was there. Such was the state ( f affairs when the 
 outer picket-guard, about seven o'clock in the morning, galloped in 
 and reported, "The abolitionists are coming!" "Where how 
 many ? " There was a hurrying to and fro, and seizing of arms. 
 " Across the prairie there's a hundred of them," cried the frightened 
 border ruffians, whose fears had multiplied the approaching force by 
 four, and who probably had never stopped to examine carefully or to 
 count, but had galloped off as soon as he caught the first glimpse of 
 them. 
 
 PATE FOUND AND FOUGHT. 
 
 Captain Pate's position at Black Jack was a very strong one. It 
 afforded shelter for his men, and, except by force coming up the 
 ravine or stream from the timber at Hickory Point, had to be 
 approached over an open prairie, sloping up from the place where the 
 Missourians were posted. When the alarm was sounded, Captain Pate 
 drew up his men in line behind the breastwork of waggons. 
 
 When they neared the enemy's position, Captain Brown wished 
 Shore to go to the left and get into the ravine below them, while he, 
 with his force, would get into the upper or prairie part of the ravine, 
 in the bottom of which was long grass. As the ravine made a bend, 
 they would thus have got in range of the enemy on both sides, and had 
 them in cross fire, without being in their own fire. Captain Brown, 
 with his nine men, accordingly went to the right. Captain Shore, 
 with more bravery than military skill, approached the foe over the 
 hill, to the west of their camp, marching over the prairie up within 
 good range, fully exposed, and with no means of shelter near them. 
 
 " Who comes there ? What do you want ? " cried Captain Pate. 
 
 "When I get my men in line, I'll show you," cried the gallant 
 Captain Shore ; and, true to his word, without waiting for or wanting 
 any humbug parley, the gallant band poured in a volley on the Missou- 
 rians, who were drawn up behind the waggons : the latter instantly 
 returning it. 
 
 Volley after volley pealed through the air, and echoed through the 
 ravine at Black Jack, away up to the dense timber of Hickory Point. 
 
 Meanwhile, Captain Brown had hurried into the ravine on the right 
 of Captain Shore ; and posting; his men well, began to discourse the 
 music of the spheres from that quarter. 
 
96 BATTLE OF BLACK JACK. 
 
 "We're whipped! we're whipped!" yelled the Missourians, before 
 the battle had lasted ten minutes ; and, breaking from the waggon, they 
 retreated to the ravine, and concealed themselves there, some seven or 
 eight of them being wounded. One was shot through the mouth by a 
 Sharpe's rifle bullet. He had been squatted behind the waggon wheel; 
 the ball hit one of the spokes, shivering it, and the border ruffian, in 
 trying the juggler's feat of catching it in his mouth, got it lodged 
 somewhere away about the root of the tongue or the back of his neck. 
 Another was shot in the upper part of the breast, or the lower part of 
 his neck, the bullet descending and lodging in his back. Another, a 
 citizen of Westport, as he was galloping off, was dangerously wounded 
 in the groin. He, with several others, who were also wounded, left 
 their camp by the eastern side and escaped. 
 
 After Pate's men retreated to the ravine, he endeavored to rally 
 them, and a fire was kept up from the spot where they lay concealed, 
 although the bullets where whistling over their heads at a fearful rate. 
 And soon the position of Captain Shore was found to be hazardous 
 and critical : fully exposed to an enemy who could shoot at his men 
 almost without running risk, they began to give way ; and soon they 
 had nearly all retreated some two hundred yards up the slope, to the 
 high ground, where they were out of range. Captain Shore, however, 
 and two or three of his men, went over and joined Brown, where the 
 force lay in the long grass, firing down the ravine. While this firing 
 was going on, to little purpose on either side, Captain Brown went 
 after the boys on the hill. Some few of them had gone off after 
 ammunition ; one or two of them were sitting in the grass, fixing their 
 guns. Finding that they could not be brought up again to a charge, 
 he led them rather nearer the enemy, and induced them to shoot at 
 their horses, which were over the ravine, at long shot. This he did to 
 get up their spirits as most of them were mere boys and to intimi- 
 date the enemy. He returned to the ravine ; the firing was still kept 
 tip. It is proper to state that Brown and Shore's men had but four 
 guns of long range ; there were only three or four Sharpe's rifles in 
 both companies. 
 
 PATE'S PRISONERS AND THE WOUNDED. 
 
 While the firing was going on, one of Pate's men got up and swore 
 he would see to the prisoners. A guard had been stationed to watch 
 the three Free State prisoners, the tent in which they were being the 
 most exposed of the camp. This guard was in great trepidation. The 
 prisoners had thrown themselves on the ground, and the trembling 
 
BATTLE OF BLACK JACK. 97 
 
 guard also lay down, taking care to get the person of Dr. Graham 
 between his own precious carcass and the enemy. So matters were, 
 when the ruffian to whom I have alluded went to the tent with fierce 
 oaths. Dr. Graham saw him approach with ferocious expression, and, 
 just at that moment, the ruffian raised his pistol, aiming at the Doctor, 
 who gave a spring just as the piece went off, the ball hitting him in 
 the side, and inflicting a flesh wound. Graham sprang into the ditch 
 of the ravine ; and, as he did so, received another ball in his hip. He 
 broke from the camp and fled, fifteen pistol shots being fired after him 
 by the person who first attacked him, assisted by the guard. He got 
 off without further injury, and joined his friends on the hill. 
 
 The firing had lasted three hours. Only two Free State men were 
 wounded. One of them was shot in the arm in the early part of the 
 engagement. The other, a young man, with a great exuberance of 
 spirits, kept springing up in the grass, shouting and firing his gun, 
 when, on one of these occasions, he was struck by a ball in the side. 
 Luckily it. glanced off the ribs, or it would have killed him ; as it was, 
 it inflicted a severe wound, and two of his friends had to take him off 
 the field. There were now only nine Free State men in the ravine 
 keeping up a fire ; and about as many more on the hill, three hundred 
 yards from the enemy, who kept firing at the horses, and occasionally 
 making a sally, but never near enough to do much mischief. 
 
 CAPTAIN PATE CAPTURED. 
 
 At this juncture, Frederick Brown, who had been left in charge of 
 the horses, becoming excited by the prolonged firing on both sides, 
 suddenly appeared on the top of the hill, midway between the two 
 divisons of the Free State force, and in full view of the enemy ; and, 
 brandishing a sword, shouting, " Come on come on ! I have cut off 
 all communication ! the sword of the Lord and of Gideon ! " and other 
 wild expressions, struck the ranks of the marauders with panic. 
 
 The Missourians in the ravine were getting discouraged ; they did 
 not dare to venture out of their shelter ; and the bullets of the Free 
 State men were making it a decidedly uncomfortable shelter. They 
 began to drop off, one by one, by gliding down the ravine till they 
 were out of range, running to where their horses were tied, and then 
 galloping away. As the Free State men had no cavalry force in the 
 field, and no men to spare, this prudential policy was very successful. 
 
 At last, Captain Pate sent out his lieutenant and a prisoner with a 
 flag of truce. They walked up the slope together to where the Free 
 State men were, who, seeing them and their flag, ceased their fire. 
 
 G 
 
98 BATTLE OF BLACK JACK. 
 
 When they reached Captain Brown, he demanded of the Lieutenant 
 whether he was the Captain of the Company. 
 
 " No," said the Lieutenant. 
 
 " Then," said the old man, " you stay here with me, and let your 
 companion go and bring him out. I will talk with him." 
 
 Thus summoned, Captain Pate came out; and, as he approached 
 Captain Brown, began to say that he was an officer under the United 
 States Marshal, and that he wanted to explain this fact ; as, he sup- 
 posed, the Free State men would not continue to fight against him, if 
 they were aware of that circumstance. He was running on in this 
 way, when the old man cut him short : 
 
 " Captain, I understand exactly what you are, and do not want to 
 hear more about it. Have you a proposition to make to me ? " 
 
 "Well, no; that is " 
 
 " Very well, Captain," interrupted the old man, " I have one to make 
 to you : your unconditional surrender." 
 
 There was no evading this demand, and just as little chance to 
 deceive Old Brown, who, pistol in hand, returned with Pate and his 
 Lieutenant to their camp in the ravine, where he repeated his demand 
 for the unconditional surrender of the whole company. They sur- 
 rendered forthwith, although there were only nine Free State men in 
 the ravine, or in sight, when the demand was made ; and four of them, 
 by Brown's orders, had remained where they were stationed. Five 
 heroes, therefore, of whom John Brown was one, received the surrender 
 of the arms and persons of twenty-one men, exclusive, too, of the 
 wounded marauders. A large namber of arms were obtained, many 
 of which had been taken from Lawrence and Palmyra ; twenty-three 
 horses and mules, many of them recently stolen from the Northern 
 squatters ; a portion of the goods plundered at the sacking of the Free 
 State store, two days before ; as well as waggons, ammunition, camp- 
 equipage, and provisions for the men. The waggons were all injured 
 by the bullets. 
 
 The prisoners, being now disarmed, were ranged in file by the 
 slender band of captors. The boys on the hills were induced to come 
 in, thereby swelling the Free State force to sixteen persons. Captain 
 Brown marched with the prisoners and a large portion of the spoils to 
 his own camp. The wounded men were carefully cared for, and, on 
 their recovery, admonished to do better in the future, and sent home 
 to Missouri. 
 
VIII. 
 
 THE CONQUEST OF KANSAS COMPLETE. 
 
 WHEN the news of the defeat of Clay Pate reached Missouri, a force 
 of twenty-one hundred mounted men, not one of them a citizen of 
 Kansas, set out from the border village of Westport, under the lead of 
 the Territorial delegate to Congress, with the triple purpose of rescuing 
 their brother-highwaymen, seizing Old Brown, and completing the 
 conquest of the disputed land. 
 
 A few days before this invasion they had sent on supplies of pro- 
 visions to the town of Franklin, with cannon and ammunition for 
 their coming forces ; and there the Georgians began to concentrate 
 and committed robberies and other outrages on the persons and pro- 
 perty of the Free State men. To defeat the design of the Missourians 
 we marched upon Franklin on the night of the 2nd of June only a 
 few days after the fight at Black Jack and after two or three hours 
 of firing, chiefly in the dark, drove the ruffians out, and captured 
 their provisions. We then retired to Hickory Point, and there con- 
 centrated to oppose the invading force ; which, although doubling us 
 in numbers, we saw with great delight, on the 5th of June, in battle 
 array on the prairies near Palmyra. Every one in our camp was 
 exultant at the prospect of obliterating and avenging the disgrace of 
 Lawrence. But the Federal troops hastened down, and induced the 
 Missourians to retire, which, knowing our readiness to fight, they 
 willingly consented to do ; but not until, in cold blood, they had 
 murdered seven Free State men, not one of whom was armed, when 
 they were taken prisoners by the invading forces. Mr. Cantroll was 
 murdered by a ruffian named Forman, one of Captain Pate's men, 
 who was wounded at Black Jack, carefully nursed at Prairie City, 
 and dismissed by his captors uninjured. Of such were the Southern 
 companies. 
 
 The Captain of the dragoons, when near Prairie City, heard that 
 Old John Brown was in the neighborhood, and sent a messenger to 
 him, requesting to have an interview. The old man came in response 
 to the call, and voluntarily offered to give up his prisoners, in order 
 
100 THE CONQUEST OF KANSAS COMPLETE. 
 
 that they might be tried for their highway robberies. But the 
 dragoons insisted that they should be unconditionally surrendered, as, 
 whatever their offences might be, there was no warrant out against 
 them ; and to receive them as prisoners, as the old man proposed, 
 would be tacitly to admit that civil war existed, which, as a Federal 
 officer, he could not acknowledge. 
 
 John Brown had voluntarily entered the camp of the dragoons, who 
 never could have discovered or dared to penetrate his hiding-place : 
 for, as a Kansas author has truly said, " So carefully could he conceal 
 his quarters, that when you wished to find him, when he does not wish 
 it, you might as well hunt for a needle in a haystack." He was asto- 
 nished and indignant when the Federal officer informed him that he 
 must consider himself a prisoner, as a civil functionary, who accom- 
 panied the troops, had a warrant out for him which he was there to 
 serve. u Take my advice," said the officer. " and make no resistance." 
 Captain Brown answered that, if any territorial official dared to serve 
 a writ on him, he would shoot him dead on the spot ; and, fixing his 
 stern glance on the Marshal, convinced that trembling official that the 
 presence of a company of soldiers would not save him from the fate 
 the old man threatened. 
 
 PATE LIBEBATED. 
 
 " Colonel S ordered him to stand by his stirrup and lead him into camp. 
 
 Under these circumstances, the dragoons went into the camp of Old Brown. So 
 rapidly and unexpectedly did the thing occur, that there was no opportunity to 
 secure the arms and horses taken at Black Jack. Only fifteen of Brown's men 
 
 were in the camp at the moment they entered it ;* but that camp, Colonel S , 
 
 who was astonished at it, afterwards said, a small garrison could have held 
 against a thousand men, as, from the peculiar nature of the ground, artillery 
 
 could not be brought to bear on it. It is not wonderful that both Colonel S 
 
 and the Deputy Sheriff should come to the conclusion that the handful of Free 
 State men they saw, with nearly twice their own number of prisoners, were only 
 a part of Brown's force. They believed that a hundred riflemen must be con- 
 cealed in the thickets around it ; consequently the tone of these gallant officers 
 
 and gentlemen grew more urbane and polite. Colonel S asked the Deputy 
 
 Sheriff if he had not some wr^ts of arrest. Deputy looked carefully around him, 
 fixed his timid, ii-resolute eyes on the prisoners, and the small band Captain 
 Brown had with him, and at the dejise and mysterious looking thickets around 
 him, and said, in a hesitatfng voice, 
 
 " ' Well, I believe. I don't see any body here against whom I have any writ.' 
 
 " ' Yon don't! ' said Colonel S , indignantly. ' What did you tell me you 
 
 had for? What did you mean by getting my help to make arrests, if you have 
 none ? ' 
 
 " ' Well,' faltered the hesitating Deputy, ' I don't think there is anybody here 
 I want to arrest ! ' 
 
 " Colonel S , who is rather blunt and off-handed, and not much of a be- 
 liever in humbug, gave the Deputy an objurgatory piece of his mind, which I 
 need not inflict on the reader. , He then liberated Captain Pate and the other 
 
 * Among them was John E. Cook, who. a few days before, after Lenhart's 
 camp was broken up by the dragoons, went and joined Old Brown for a time. 
 
THE CONQUEST OF .KANSAS COMPLETE. 101 
 
 prisoners. These men had been treated exceedingly well by Captain Brown. 
 They were allowed to use their own blankets and camp equipage, which were 
 much better than anything Brown had ; they also were fed, while thus held 
 captive, much better than Brown was able to feed his own soldiers. Not only 
 did the prisoners get their liberty, but their horses, arms, equipage, and stores ; 
 nearly all that had been taken, and all except what Brown had given to those 
 who came the day of the battle to help, or was in the hands of some others who 
 had been there, and who were not now here. The guns these men had were 
 United States arms. 
 
 " ' Where did you get these arms ?' asked Colonel S of Captain Pate. 
 
 " ' We got them from a friend,' was the reply.* 
 
 " ' A friend ! ' growled S . ' What friend had a right, or could give you 
 
 United States' arms ? ' 
 
 " In this dilemma, Captain Pate did as many a wise man has done before him 
 evaded the question when he did not feel it advisable to answer it. The arms 
 in question were the public Territorial arms, given in charge of the Federal 
 officers of the Territory, for the use of the Territory, and by them given to the 
 Missourians. This not being exactly a fit story to tell, Pate entered into a dis- 
 quisition on the general subject of his imprisonment, and told S that he was 
 acting under orders of General Shannon ; and that his being taken prisoner was 
 an outrage. 
 
 " ' That is false, sir ! ' said Colonel S sternly ; ' I had a conversation with 
 
 Governor Shannon aboiit your particular case, and he declared that you had no 
 authority for going about the country with an armed force.' 
 
 " There was no replying to this ; and the enraged and silenced Pate bit his 
 
 lip. Colonel S went on and denonnced him for his conduct in language 
 
 more pointed and succinct than complimentary. He wound up his remarks, 
 however, by allowing Pate to take everything his company had even the public 
 arms. Captain Brown and his company were then ordered to disperse. "t 
 
 This was the first instance in which the Missourians were officially 
 reprimanded ; and for this rebuke, Colonel Sumner, a relative of the 
 distinguished Massachusetts' Senator, was immediately superseded in 
 command ! 
 
 SACKING OF OSAWATOMIE. 
 
 The force under Whitfield, although they had given their word of 
 honor to disperse, committed numerous and brutal depredations and 
 outrages ; and on the 7th of June one division of it entered the town 
 of Osawatomie without resistance. Lest I should be supposed to be 
 a partisan historian, I will transcribe an account of their proceedings 
 there, as written by a National Democrat, then a Federal office- 
 holder : 
 
 " On the 7th, Keid, with one hundred and seventy men, m rched into Osawa- 
 tomie, and, without resistance, entered each house, robbing it of everything of 
 value. There were but few men in the town, and the women and children were 
 treated with the utmost brutality. Stores and dwellings were alike entered and 
 
 * A more truthful answer was never given by man. The Government of the 
 United States was the friend of every Missouri highwayman and fur-Southern 
 assassin, horse-thief, or burglar, who at this period infested Kansas. 
 
 t Mr. Phillips, to whom I am indebted for this narrative, r:ceired the facts 
 from Captain Brown, Cook, and other witnesses of the scene. 
 
102 THE CONQUEST OF KANSAS COMPLETE. 
 
 pillaged. Trunks, boxes, and desks were broken open, and their contents ap- 
 propriated or destroyed. Even rings were rudely pulled from the ears and 
 fingers of the women, and some of the apparel from their persons. The liquor 
 found was freely drank, and served to incite the plunderers to increased violence 
 In the prosecution of their mischievous work. Having completely stripped the 
 town, they set fire to several houses, and then beat a rapid retreat, carrying off a 
 number of horses, and loudly urging each other to greater haste, as ' the d d 
 abolitionists were coming! ' There are hundreds of well-authenticated accounts 
 of the cruelties practised by this horde of ruffians ; some of them too shocking 
 and disgusting to relate, or to be accredited if told. The tears and shrieks of 
 terrified women, folded in their foul embrace, failed to touch a chord of mercy in 
 their brutal hearts ; and the mutilated bodies of murdered men hanging upon 
 the trees, or left to rot upon the prairies, or in the deep ravines, or furnish food 
 for vultures and wild beasts, told frightful stories of brutal ferocity, from which 
 the wildest savages might have shrunk with horror."* 
 
 And why ? Because the North had consented to league and com- 
 promise with the hideous crime of Southern slavery. 
 
 THE SOUTH TRIUMPHANT. 
 
 Ever}' movement made by the Free State men to defeat and punish 
 the crimes of these organized marauders was thwarted by the Federal 
 troops, who, in an official proclamation, were ordered to disperse " all 
 persons belonging to military companies, unauthorized by law ;" in 
 which were not included the banded Southern invaders, for they, as 
 soon as they crossed over the border, were organized into Territorial 
 militia. The face of Freedom was gloom)' ; everywhere the South was 
 triumphant, or had conquered ; only one additional indignity remained 
 to be inflicted. Topeka had hitherto escaped the ravages of the ruf- 
 fians. There, Colonel Aaron C. Stevens, a man afterwards destined 
 to be immortally associated in fame with John Brown, had a company 
 of Free State boys, who were ever on the alert to defeat the designs 
 of the invaders, and always ready, at call, to march out against them. 
 
 Up to this time, also, the Free State Constitution had preserved its 
 vitality. On the 4th of July, 1856, the crowning victory of the South 
 was gained not by their own cowardly forces, whom Black Jack, 
 Franklin, and a series of successful guerilla fights had inspired with a 
 salutary aversion to battles, but by companies of artillery and dragoons 
 of the United States army, led on by a Federal officer. On that day, 
 when, elsewhere, Americans were celebrating the birthday of their 
 liberty, the Free State Legislature was broken up by force, and by the 
 command of the Federal Executive. 
 
 This was the last drop of bitterness in the Free State cup, and this 
 was, also, the culmination of Southern success; the date, at once, of 
 the death and the resurrection of Freedom in Kansas. 
 
 * " Geary in Kansas." By John H. Gihon, p. 91. 
 
THE CONQUEST OF KANSAS COMPLETE. 103 
 
 The Missouri River was closed against Northern emigration ; " the 
 roads were literally strewed with dead bodies ;" * the entire Free State 
 population of Leavenworth had been driven from their homes ; almost 
 every part of Kansas was in the power of the invaders ; the army, 
 and the Government, Federal and Territorial, the Bench and the Jury 
 box, were in the hands of the oppressor, and our State Organization 
 had been destroyed by the dragoons; but this assemblage of eight 
 hundred men at Topeka, on the 4th of July, inspired a feeling of 
 unity and power never known before ; and, slowly coming to the 
 Territory, with a little army, but a mightier influence of inspiring 
 rude men with furious passions, was General " Jim Lane ;" while, in 
 the woods near the town, lay John Brown encamped, who did not 
 despair, but was ready to release the prisoners at Lecompton, or attack 
 the dragoons, if the party would advise it. They did not, and he left 
 the town. 
 
 * Declaration of Governor Shannon. 
 
IX. 
 
 BATTLE OF OSAWATOMIE. 
 
 CAPTAIN BROWN, after the 4th of July, returned to Lawrence. 
 Early in the month of August, General Lane entered Kansas by the 
 way of Nebraska Territory. The confidence that the fighting men 
 felt in his military ability, made his return an event of historical im- 
 portance. Several revolting atrocities the mutilation of Major Hoyt, 
 for example ; the scalping of Mr. Hopps ; and a dastardly outrage on 
 a Northern lady f aroused once more the military ardor of the Free 
 State men. Aggressive hostilities began. The cowardice that the 
 Southerners, now vigorously assailed, displayed at every point, has 
 never probably been equalled in American history ; excepting recently, 
 indeed, in the very valiant and venerable State of Virginia. 
 
 Hitherto, the Republican leaders in the East, by every mail and 
 numerous messengers, had earnestly and successfully counselled peace 
 urging the Free State men, for party purposes, to submit to outrage 
 rather than strike an offensive blow. The insult of the Fourth of July, 
 followed up, on the 13th of August, by the Governor's proclamation 
 which practically called on the Missourians to make a new invasion 
 exhausted the patience of the Northern settlers, and, in a rapid series 
 of surprises, they soon, and with unexampled precipitation, drove the 
 Southern invaders from their inland strongholds. 
 
 Let us follow John Brown during this eventful period. From the 
 4th of July till the 30th of August, he was neither idle nor inactive. 
 With a wounded son-in-law, who had been shot at the battle of Black 
 Jack, he left Topeka about the end of July ; and on the oth of August 
 entered the camp of the organized Northern companies, then known 
 as Jim Lane's army, at a place four miles from the northern boundary 
 
 * "On the following morning, a young lady of Bloomington was dragged 
 from her home by a party of merciless wretches, and carried a mile or two into 
 the country, when her tongue was pulled as far as possible from her mouth, and 
 tied with a cord. Her arms were then securely pinioned, and despite her violent 
 and convulsive struggles But let the reader imagine, if possible, the savage 
 brutality that followed. She had been guilty of the terrible offence of speaking 
 adversely of the institution of slavery." Gilson's Geary in Kansas, p. 98. 
 
BATTLE OP OSAWATOMIE. 105 
 
 line, which the emigrants had named Plymouth, in honor of the 
 Puritans, who had crossed the sea for the same purpose that they were 
 now crossing the prairie : 
 
 " To make the West as they the East, 
 The homestead of the Free." 
 
 A brother of John Brown's wounded son-in-law, on learning of the 
 casualties of Black Jack, at once left North Elba, and joined the 
 second Massachusetts Company at Buffalo. The old man rode into 
 camp, and inquired if William Thompson* was there. He found 
 him, and they left the camp together. The Captain was riding a 
 splendid horse, and was dressed in plain white summer clothing. He 
 wore a large straw hat, and was closely shaven ; everything about him 
 was scrupulously clean. He made a great impression, by his appear- 
 ance, on several of the company ; who, without knowing him, at once 
 declared that he must be a " remarkable man " in disguise. The old 
 hero and his party then proceeded to Nebraska City, or Tabor, in Iowa, 
 and left the wounded man and his brother there. 
 
 General Lane was not with his army, but came down with a few 
 friends among them Captain Brown reached Topeka on the nighfc 
 of the 10th of August, and at once took command of the Free State 
 forces. He immediately started for Lawrence, and on arriving there 
 found that the Northern boys were preparing to attack the Georgians, 
 then at Franklin. He and Captain Brown were both present at that 
 skirmish. They proceeded on the same night to Rock Creek, for the 
 purpose of seizing the murderers of Major Hoyt; and Captain Brown 
 there assumed the command of a small company of cavalry. They 
 encamped near Rock Creek ; the disfigured body of Major Hoyt was 
 discovered, and decently buried : and, in the morning, they started for 
 Fort Sanders, on Washington Creek, to find that the Missourians had 
 fled. It is probable that the old man was also at the capture of Fort 
 Titus ; and it is certain that, on the 26th of August, his company was 
 at Middle Creek, at a point now called Battle Mound, eight miles from 
 Osawatomie, where there was a camp of one hundred and sixty Southern 
 invaders. The Free State forces, consisting of sixty men the united 
 companies of John Brown, Captain Shore, and Preacher Stewardf 
 surprised and attacked these marauders at noon, and utterly routed 
 them in a few mintes, killing two of them, and capturing thirteen 
 
 * He fell at Harper's Ferry. 
 
 t This gentleman was even more expert with the sword of Gideon than with 
 the sword of the Spirit. He has been in more fights and liberated more slaves 
 than any other man now in Kansas. He has won the honorable title of the 
 Fighting Preacher. He "still lives." 
 
106 BATTLE OF OSAWATOMIE. 
 
 prisoners, and twenty-nine horses, three waggon loads of provisions, and 
 one hundred stand of arms. 
 
 On the same night, a detachment of this Free State force travelled 
 to a point on the Sugar Creek, fifteen miles distant, and captured over 
 sixty head of cattle, which the southern marauders had brought into 
 the Territory, or stolen from the settlers. 
 
 A NEW INVASION. 
 
 On the 17th of August, the Missourians, alarmed at the threatening 
 aspect of affairs in the territory, issued at Lexington an inflammatory 
 appeal fur another grand and overwhelming expedition against the 
 Northern men in Kansas. It is so characteristic of the times and the 
 spirit of the Slave States, and indicates so clearly the terror which Old 
 Brown had inspired in Missouri, that I subjoin it with a few rhetorical' 
 omissions only : 
 
 To THE CITIZENS OF LAYFAYETTE COUNTY: 
 
 It becomes our painful duty to inform you that civil -war has again commenced 
 in Kansas. Four hundred abolitionists, under Lane, have actually come into 
 the territory, and commenced a war of extermination upon the pro-slavery 
 settlers. 
 
 On the Gth of August, the notorious Brown, with a party of three hundred 
 abolitionists, made an attack upon a colony of Georgians, numbering about two 
 hundred and twenty-five souls, one hundred and seventy-five of whom were 
 women, children, and slaves. Their houses were burned to the ground, all their 
 property stolen, horses, cattle, clothing, money, provisions, all taken away 
 from them, and their ploughs burned to as>hes. This colony came from 
 Georgia to settle peaceably in Kansas, and were quietly cultivating the soil, and 
 disturbing no one. They did not even have arms for defence. They are now 
 driven from the territory, with nothing left but their clothes on their backs 
 indeed, they even took the boots off the men's feet, and put them on their own. 
 Captain Cook, who has charge of the colony, is now here asking for arms and 
 men to aid his colony to settle again in the territory.* 
 
 * This " peaceable colony of Georgia men, women, and children, and slaves," 
 was really composed of about one hundred and sixty of Burford's Southron 
 invaders, the Georgia contingent of that marauding force. About the beginning 
 of July, they camped near Battersville, a village of the "Wea Indians, on the 
 Keserve belonging to that nation. This place is about eight miles south-east of 
 Osawatomie. They made no improvements, or took any steps toward a settle- 
 ment, the fact of camping on the Wea lands being siifficient proof that they had 
 no such intention, for they were not open to settlement. They lived there in 
 tents, sold whiskey to the Weas and Miamis, with whom they pretended to form 
 some sort of treaty, and plundered and annoyed the Free State settlers. About 
 the 2nd of August, they took prisoner Preacher Stewart, robbed him of his horse, 
 and stated that they intended to hang him. Preparatory to the execution of this 
 murderous threat, he was left in charge of two drunken Miami Indians. Stewart, 
 not being desirous of a " suspension," made his escape, and reached Lawrence as 
 speedily as possible. He immediately raised a company of ninety Free State 
 men, and started for the Southern camp. They heard of his approach, and left 
 in haste. When the Lawrence "boys" arrived at Battersville, they found some 
 whiskey and a broken waggon. Captain Brown was on the northern boundary 
 line at the time. Preacher Stewart and Captain Cutler were in command of the 
 Free State men. 
 
BATTLE OF OSAWATOMIE. 107 
 
 August 12. At night three hundred abolitionists, under this same Brown, 
 attacked the town of Franklin, robbed, plundered, and burnt, took all the arms in 
 town, broke open and destroyed the post office, carried away the old cannon 
 " Sacramento," which our gallant Missourians captured in Mexico, and are now 
 turning its mouth against our friends. Six men were killed, and Mrs. Crane 
 knocked down by an abolitionist. [All false.] 
 
 The same day a Mr. Williams, a settler near St. Bernard, was shot by an 
 abolitionist, who sneaked upon him while he was quietly mauling rails on his 
 claim.* 
 
 August 13. About fifty abolitionists attacked the house of Mr. White,! in 
 Lykins Coimty, robbed him of everything, and drove him into Missouri. He is 
 a Free State man, but sustains the laws of the territory. 
 
 Aiigust 15. Brown, with four hundred abolitionists, mostly Lane's men, 
 mounted and armed, attacked Treadwell's settlement, in Douglass County, num- 
 bering about thirty men. 
 
 They planted the old cannon " Sacramento " towards the colony, and surrounded 
 them. They, being so largely overpowered, attempted to escape ; but as they 
 were on foot, it is feared they have all been taken and murdered. 
 
 ****** 
 
 Meet at Lexington on Wednesday, August 20, at 12 o'clock. BRING YOUR 
 HORSES, YOUR GUNS, AND YOUR CLOTHING all ready to go on to Kansas. Let 
 every man who can possibly leave home, go now to save the lives of our friends. 
 Let those who cannot go hitch up their waggons and throw in a few provisions, 
 and get more as they come along by their neighbors, and bring them to Lexington 
 on Wednesday. Let others bring horses and mules, and saddles and guns, all 
 to come in on Wednesday. We must go immediately. There is no time to spare, 
 and no one must hold back. Let us all do a little, and the job will be light. We 
 want two hundred to three hundred men from this county. Jackson, Johnson, 
 Platte, Clay, Ray, Saline, Carroll, and other counties are now acting in this 
 matter. All of them will send up a company of men, and there will be a concert 
 of action. NEW SANTA FE, Jackson County, will be the place of rendezvous for 
 the whole crowd, and our motto this time will be, " No quarter." Come up, 
 then, on Wednesday, and let us have concert of action. Let no one stay away. 
 We need the old men to advise, the young men to execute. We confidently look for 
 eight hundred to one thousand citizens to be present. 
 
 At the same time a similar address, more general in its character, 
 was issued from Westport, and dated August 16th. It was signed by 
 David R. Atchison, W. H. Russell, A. G. Boone, and B. F. String- 
 fellow. 
 
 Thus appealed to, a force of two thousand men assembled at the 
 village of Santa Fe, on the border ; and, after entering the territory, 
 divided into two forces one division, led by Senator Atchison, march- 
 ing to Bull Creek, and the other wing, under General Reid, advancing 
 to Osawatomie. 
 
 The force under Atchison fled precipitately on the morning of 
 August 31st, on the approach of General Lane, and after a slight 
 skirmish between the advance guards of the Northern and Southern 
 " armies," which occurred about sunset on the previous evening. They 
 
 * Mr. Williams was a quiet, peaceable man. He was murdered by a pro- 
 slavery ruffian named McBride, for the crime of being a Missourian and Free 
 State. 
 
 t Preacher White, the murderer of Frederick Brown. This statement also is 
 false. 
 
108 BATTLE OF OSAWATOMIE. 
 
 fled in company with the division that had just returned from Osawa- 
 tomie. 
 
 The reception of this force at Osawatomie by Captain John Brown 
 is one of the most brilliant episodes of Kansas history. They were 
 between four and five hundred strong armed with United States 
 muskets, bayonets, and revolvers, with several pieces of cannon, and 
 a large supply of ammunition. When John Brown saw them coming 
 he resolved, to use his own modest phrase, to " annoy them." 
 
 This is his own account of the way in which he did it : 
 
 CAPTAIN BROWN'S ACCOUNT OF THE BATTLE. 
 
 " Early in the morning of the 30th of August, the enemy's scouts 
 approached to within a mile and a half of the western boundary of the 
 town of Osawatomie. At this place my son Frederick K. (who was 
 not attached to my force) had lodged, with some four other young men 
 from Lawrence, and a young man named Garrison, from Middle Creek. 
 
 " The scouts, led by a pro-slavery preacher named White, shot my 
 son dead in the road, whilst he, as I have since ascertained, supposed 
 them to be friendly. At the same time they butchered Mr. Garrison, 
 and badly mangled one of the young men from Lawrence, who came 
 with my son, leaving him for dead. 
 
 " This was not far from sunrise. I had stopped during the night 
 about two and a half miles from them, and nearly one mile from 
 Osawatomie. I had no organized force, but only some twelve or fifteen 
 new recruits, who were ordered to leave their preparations for break- 
 fast, and follow me into the town as soon as this news was brought to me. 
 
 " As I had no means of learning correctly the force of the enemy, I 
 placed twelve of the recruits in a log house, hoping we might be able 
 to defend the town. I then gathered some fifteen more men together, 
 whom we armed with guns, and we started in the direction of the 
 enemy. After going a few rods, we could see them approaching the 
 town in line of battle, about half a mile off, upon a hill west of the 
 village. I then gave up all idea of doing more than to annoy, from 
 the timber near the town, into which we were all retreated, and which 
 was filled with a thick growth of underbrush, but had no time to recal 
 the twelve men in the log house, and so lost their assistance in the fight. 
 
 " At the point above named I met with Captain Cline, a very active, 
 young man, who had with him some twelve or fifteen mounted men, 
 and persuaded him to go with us into the timber, on the southern shore 
 of the Osage, or Marais-des Cygnes, a little to the north-west from the 
 village. Here the men, numbering not more than thirty in all, were 
 
BATTLE OF OSAWATOMIE. 109 
 
 directed to scatter and secrete themselves as well as they could, and 
 await the approach of the enemy. This was done in full view of them 
 (who must have seen the whole movement), and had to be done in the 
 utmost haste. I believe Captain Cline and some of his men were 
 not even dismounted in the fight, but cannot assert positively. When 
 the left wing of the enemy had approached to within common rifle shot 
 we commenced firing, and very soon threw the northern branch of the 
 enemy's line into disorder. This continued some fifteen or twenty 
 minutes, which gave us an uncommon opportunity to annoy them. 
 Captain Cline and his men soon got out of ammunition, and retired 
 across the river. 
 
 " After the enemy rallied, we kept up our fire ; until, by the leaving 
 of one and another, we had but six or seven left. We then retired 
 across the river. 
 
 "We had one man killed a Mr. Powers, from Captain Cline's 
 company, in the fight. One of my men, a Mr. Partridge, was shot in 
 crossing the river. Two or three of the party who took part in the 
 fight are yet missing, and may be lost or taken prisoners. Two were 
 wounded, viz., Dr. Updegraff and a Mr. Collis. 
 
 " I cannot speak in too high terms of them, and of many others I 
 have not now time to mention. 
 
 " One of my best men, together with myself, was struck with a par- 
 tially spent ball from the enemy in the commencement of the fight, but 
 we were only bruised. The loss I refer to is one of my missing men. 
 The loss of the enemy, as we learn by the different statements of our 
 own as well as their people, was some thirty-one or two killed, and 
 from forty to fifty wounded. After burning the town to ashes and 
 killing a Mr. Williams they had taken, whom neither party claimed, 
 they took a hasty leave, carrying their dead and wounded with them. 
 They did not attempt to cross the river, nor to search for us, and have 
 not since returned to look over their work. 
 
 " I give this in great haste, in the midst of constant [interruptions. 
 My second son was with me in the fight, and escaped unharmed. This 
 I mention for the benefit of his friends. 
 
 " Old Preacher White, I hear, boasts of having killed my son. Of 
 course he is a lion. 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 LAWRENCE, KANSAS, September 7th, 1856. 
 
 The brilliancy of this exploit can only faintly be traced in the old 
 hero's modest and characteristic account of it. Nearly five hundred 
 men, as the Missourians subsequently admitted, and all of them heavily 
 
110 BATTLE OF OSAWATOMIE. 
 
 armed, were arrested in their march of desolation by a little band of 
 sixteen heroes, imperfectly equipped ; for the company of Captain 
 Cline, after firing a few shots, retired from the conflict, in consequence 
 of being out of ammunition, and there was only one Sharpens rifle in 
 Captain Brown's command. This shows what faith in God and a good 
 cause can do. The old man stood near a " sapling," which is still pointed 
 out, during the whole of this memorable engagement, quietly giving 
 directions to his men, and " annoying the enemy " with his own steady 
 rifle, indifferent to the grape shots and balls which whizzed around 
 him, and hewed down the limbs, scattered the foliage, and peeled off 
 the bark from the trees on every side. When the writer visited the 
 site, many months after this event, the wood still bore the marks of 
 that glorious conflict. The General of the invading army afterwards 
 admitted, that if Brown had been provided with Sharpe's rifles, 
 nothing could have prevented his men from making an ignominious 
 'retreat. 
 
 The fearful slaughter was occasioned by the lawless character of the 
 invading force. Alarmed at being fired at, they refused to obey orders, 
 and foolishly huddled around the dead and wounded, instead of stand- 
 ing in their ranks, and " closing up." Into these panic-stricken groups 
 Old Brown poured a deadly fire ; and, before the officers of the enemy 
 could restore order in their companies, thirty-two men lay dead, and 
 more than fifty wounded. The brave band of Captain Brown saw the 
 whites of the enemy's eyes, ere the old man gave the order to retreat. 
 
 The invaders, true to the Southern instinct, murdered a wounded 
 prisoner who fell into their hands, arrested and killed a Mr. Williams, 
 who was " claimed by neither party," and who took no part in this or 
 any other conflict; and, on the following morning, offered " Charley,' ' 
 the Hungarian, a chance for his life, if he should escape their fire a 
 cowardly excuse, as the fearless boy told them, for riddling him with 
 balls. They fired a volley into him, as he faced them defiantly. 
 
 Erroneously supposing that they had shot Captain Brown, they re- 
 turned to Missouri, and boasted of their success ; but the large number 
 of corpses and wounded men whom they brought from Osawatomie, 
 and a knowledge of the insignificant force of abolitionists that had 
 opposed them, created a feeling of terror in the State, from which the 
 Missourians never fully recovered. They never afterwards thought, 
 and seldom said, that the Yankees would not fight. Captain Brown 
 first created a dread of the NORTH and her men in the minds of the 
 Missourians ; which, more than any other terror, prevented them from 
 proceeding vigorously with the project of re-conquering Kansas. For 
 General Lane, in the North, with hardly any loss of life, had done 
 
BATTLE OP OSAWATOMIE. Ill 
 
 what Captain Brown, with his salutary slaughter, had effected in the 
 South of Kansas made it necessary to effect a re-subjugation of the 
 Territory, or to give it up to freedom. Lane frightened the Southern 
 invaders, but Brown struck terror into the centre of their souls. 
 
 "OLD PREACHER WHITE." 
 
 Old Preacher White, who shot Frederick Brown through the heart, 
 although his victim was quietly walking along on the road, unsuspecting 
 and unarmed and afterwards, as the corpse lay stiff and bloody on the 
 ground, discharged a loaded pistol into its open mouth, was a " National ' ' 
 Divine, of "the Church South," of course, whose fate deserves a passing 
 notice here. 
 
 In order to make capital against the Northern correspondents in the 
 Territory, by throwing discredit on their statements of Southern out- 
 rage, a pro-slavery man of Westport, Missouri, wrote an account of the 
 recent murder of a person whom he called " Poor Martin White, a Free 
 State preacher of the Gospel." It served its purpose for it was ori- 
 ginally published in a Republican paper and widely copied, when as 
 had been arranged Martin White re-appeared, denied the story of his 
 death, and ridiculed the Republicans for believing such stories. For 
 a long time afterwards, the pro- slavery papers, whenever an outrage 
 was recorded, would sneeringly allude to " Poor Martin White." 
 
 For his services in furthering this stratagem, and as a reward for the 
 murder of Frederick Brown, " Poor Martin White " was elected a 
 member of the Territorial Legislature which assembled at Lecompton. 
 During the course of the session he gave a graphic account of the 
 killing of Frederick ; laughingly described how, when shot, he " toppled 
 over " the honorable members roared at this Southern-Christian phrase 
 and abused my friend Phillips, author of " The Conquest of Kansas,' ' 
 for having spoken of the act as a murder; when, said the assassin- 
 preacher, calmly, " I was acting as a part of the law and order militia." 
 
 Poor Martin White, when the session was finished, proceeded to his 
 home. But he never reached it. " He went to his own place," indeed ; 
 his corpse was found stiff and cold on the prairie, with a rifle ball in 
 it. Poor Martin White ! 
 
 BROWN'S ADDRESS TO HIS MEN. 
 
 THEY are coming men, make ready ; 
 
 See their ensigns hear their dru^n ; 
 See them march with steps unstead}* ; 
 
 Onward to their graves they come. 
 
112 BATTLE OF OSAWATOMIE. 
 
 God of Freedom ! ere to-morrow, 
 Slavers' corpses tliou shalt see ; 
 
 Georgia maids shall wail in sorrow, 
 if or my sacrifice to tliee ! 
 
 Philistines shall fall the river 
 That meanders through this wood 
 
 Shall be red with blood that never 
 Throbbed for outraged womanhood. 
 
 Blood of men, who, when their brothers 
 Traffic human flesh for gold, 
 
 Laugh, like arch fiends, as poor mothers' 
 Heartstrings break for daughters sold ; 
 
 Men who scoff at higher statutes 
 Than their codes of legal wrong ; 
 
 Men whom only tyrant-rule suits ; 
 3Ien whom hell would blush to own : 
 
 I will lay them as on altars, 
 
 Prairies ! on your grasses green : 
 
 Cursed be the man who falters 
 Better had he never been. 
 
 Brothers ! we are God-appointed 
 Soldiers in these holy wars ; 
 
 Set apart, sealed and anointed 
 Children of a heavenly Mars ! 
 
 Weakness we need not dissemble 
 But Jehovah leads us on : 
 
 Who is he that dares to tremble, 
 Led by God of Gideon ? 
 
 Let them laugh in mad derision 
 At our little feeble band 
 
 God has told me in a vision 
 We shall liberate the land. 
 
 Puse, then, brothers ; do not doubt me ; 
 
 I can feel his presence now, 
 Feel his promises about me, 
 
 Like a helmet on my brow. 
 
 We must conquer, we must slaughter ; 
 
 We are God's rod, and his ire 
 Wills their blood shall flow like water : 
 
 In Jehovah's dread name Fire! 
 
 A KANSAS POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 Since the foregoing chapter was stereotj'ped, an unfriendly Kansas 
 paper has related the following incident of the battle of Osawatomie : 
 
 " We have no disposition to extenuate the crimes recently committed 
 by this noted man. But there is no reason why the acts of kindness 
 
BATTLE OP OSAWATOMIE. II 'j 
 
 and charity which he was wont to perform should be forgotten, now 
 that he is about to suffer the doom of a felon. 
 
 u An instance of this sort fell under our personal observation. At 
 the sacking of Osawatomie, one of the most bitter pro-slavery men in 
 Lykins County was killed. His name was Ed. Timmons. Some time- 
 afterwards, Brown stopped at the log house where Timmons had lived. 
 His widow and children were there, and in great destitution. He 
 inquired into their wants, relieved their distresses, and supported them 
 until her friends in Missouri, informed through Brown of the condition 
 of Mrs. Timmons, had time to come to her and carry her to her former 
 home. Mrs. Timmons fully appreciated the great kindness thus shown 
 her, but never learned that Captain John Brown was her benefactor." 
 
X. 
 
 JOHN BEOWN'S DEFENCE OF LAWKENCE. 
 
 WB next find our hero in the town of Lawrence, at the most perilous 
 crisis of its history. His defence of it is still remembered with grati- 
 tude by all the brave men who witnessed and participated in it. The 
 writer at that time was in Iowa, in charge of a train of provisions, 
 clothing, and military supplies, furnished for the Free State men by 
 the patriotism and philanthropy of the generous North. He has, 
 therefore, no personal knowledge of John Brown's conduct at that 
 eventful period of the history of Lawrence; but from a friend who 
 was an "eye witness, and a brave actor in it under the command of the 
 "mighty man of valor," he has been furnished with the following 
 faithful and graphic narration. Brave like his captain, but, like the 
 old man, modest also, we are not permitted to announce his name. 
 
 On the 13th day of September, 1856, Jim Lane, with an army of 
 some seventy-five or eighty men, pursued a number of the "enemy,"' 
 and compelled them to take shelter in some log houses at Hickory 
 Point. These were so situated on a high, rolling prairie as to com- 
 mand a view of the whole country about it ; and being well fortified 
 in them, the besieged considered themselves safe, even from the 
 destructive effects of Sharpe's rifles ; and knowing that the besiegers 
 were destitute of cannon they ran up from the top of their main 
 building a black flag " No Surrender." This was too much for the 
 besiegers, for they were the descendants of those brave-hearted men 
 who had once intrusted their lives and their fortunes to the Mayflower 
 and to their God. Immediately despatching a messenger to Lawrence 
 for re-enforcements and a small six-pound howitzer, with directions 
 to come via Topeka, Lane withdrew his men a few miles to the west, 
 and encamped for the night near a spring, where he found a copy of 
 the inaugural of Governor Geary, whose arrival in the territory had 
 been announced only a few days before. Upon reading this document, 
 Lane at once became satisfied of the good intentions of Geary towards 
 the people of Kansas, and thereupon disbanded his men; and after 
 
DEFENCE OF LAWRENCE. 115 
 
 having sent another messenger, also by the way of Topeka, to counter- 
 mand his previous order for re-enforcements, he proceeded in person 
 to the north line of the territory. But Colonel Harvey, to whom this 
 message was sent, instead of going by Topeka, commenced his march 
 directly for Hickory Point, on Saturday night, about ten o'clock, with 
 about one hundred and fifty men, and one piece of cannon. He 
 arrived there about two o'clock on Sunday afternoon ; and being un- 
 able to agree upon any terms with the besieged, immediately com- 
 menced a cannonade upon their fortresses, and ere the sun set on that 
 Sabbath eve, that black flag was taken down, and a white one run up 
 in its place. The vanquished came to terms, and agreed to leave the 
 territory if Colonel Harvey would graciously permit them to do so ; 
 which reasonable request, it is hardly necessary to say, was granted. 
 
 But during this transaction, another scene in the Kansas drama was 
 enacted at Lawrence. Brown, who had been up to Topeka, was on his 
 way home, and remained in Lawrence over Sunday. His little army 
 which consisted of some eighteen or twenty men, and probably never 
 exceeded thirty at one time was at Osawatomie, where he lived. This 
 was an independent company so independent, indeed, that they 
 trusted alone for victory to their Sharpe's rifles and to the God of 
 battles. With these brave and resolute men, six of whom were Brown's 
 own sons, he carried on a guerilla warfare ; and whatever may be said 
 of his movements at Harper's Ferry, whether they militate against his 
 sanity or his loyalty to our government, his efforts in behalf of free 
 Kansas will not soon be forgotten by those who witnessed them. 
 
 I was up early on Sunday morning, and went down to the river and 
 bathed, and came back to my tent, which was on the west side of 
 Lawrence, and busied myself in the forenoon in writing letters home, 
 and in writing in iny journal the proceedings of the last week, for I 
 had been absent that length of time, and my journal had necessarily 
 been neglected. The number of men in town on that day was con- 
 siderably less than was usual ; for, besides those at Hickory Point and 
 Osawatomie, there were several other companies in different parts of 
 the territory, leaving Lawrence unprotected by a single company. The 
 number of available men citizens, parts of companies, and strangers 
 that were in town that day, would not, when all told, amount to 
 more than two hundred ; so that it would not have been a very diffi- 
 cult job for a thousand well-armed and well-disciplined troops to have 
 marched into the heart of the city, and burned it, as was partially 
 done in the month of May previous, by federal authority. It was not. 
 therefore, a very desirable piece of information, on this Sabbath 
 morning the morning of sacred rest when the church bells should 
 have been tolling the hour for the worship of Almighty God, an hour 
 
116 DEFENCE OF LAWRENCE. 
 
 that is made holy by the long-remembered associations of aged pastor* 
 tind Sabbath-school teachers, whose frail forms are now fast fading 
 from our view the announcement that " twenty-eight hundred Mis- 
 sourians were marching down upon Lawrence, with drums beating, 
 and with eagles upon their banners." Yet such was actually the case. 
 Such an announcement was actually made, with the expectation that 
 we would believe it. But we did not ; for we considered it, as we had 
 become accustomed to consider all of like character, only rumors, and 
 gave them no consideration until we should become convinced of their 
 truth. We continued our several occupations, whatever they happened 
 to be, whether reading, writing, cooking, moulding bullets, or cleaning 
 guns, and paid but little attention to rumors, having found by expe- 
 sience that a large majority of them were false alarms. Yet, notwith- 
 rtanding this seeming indifference to danger, messenger after messenger 
 arrived in town during the day, each one bringing additional news of 
 the invading army, and corroborating the statements of those who had 
 preceded him viz., that Atchison and Reid were at the head of a 
 large force of Missourians, variously estimated at from fifteen hundred 
 to three thousand, and that Lawrence would be the object of their 
 attack that afternoon. 
 
 At about four o'clock in the afternoon of the same day we were 
 compelled to give credence to these rumors, for we had almost ocular 
 demonstration of their truth ; for we saw the smoke of Franklin, a 
 little town five miles south-east of Lawrence, curling up towards 
 heaven, and mingling with the clouds. There were dwellings, under 
 whose roofs were clustered many little ones ; the domicile in whose 
 sanctuary are holily kept all the sacred household gods, that receptacle 
 for man's happiness here below, which, by the principles of the great 
 common law, is termed the freeman's castle, was crumbling to ashes 
 before his eyes the work of a horde of incendiaries, who are urged on 
 to their deeds of darkness and death by the influence of that missionary 
 system which a northern contemporary gravely terms "a southern 
 economical interest of paramount magnitude." Then there was "hur- 
 rying to and fro," but not in "hot haste," and with " tremblings and 
 tears of distress," but with the cool and determined resolution to repel 
 the invaders, if there was enough virtue in powder to do so. 
 
 I believe it is the first impulse of an unorganized populace, during 
 the impending of such danger as now threatened us, to desire a leader 
 r commander, and to obey his orders. At least, it was so in the 
 present instance ; for it was very evident that without a concert of 
 action, and a combination of the different forces that were in town, 
 there would be but little safety in that immediate vicinity. The 
 
DEFENCE OF LAWRENCE. 117 
 
 inquiry was next, Who shall be that leader ? Who can so arrange the 
 effective force of the place as to defend it to the best advantage V It 
 was no sooner known that Captain Brown was in town, than he was 
 unanimously voted general-in-chief for the day. The principal portion 
 of the people had assembled in Main Street, opposite the post-office 
 and Captain Brown, standing upon a dry -goods box in their midst, 
 addressed them somewhat as follows : 
 
 " Gentlemen, It is said there are twenty-five hundred Missourians 
 down at Franklin, and that they will be here in two hours. You can 
 see for yourselves the smoke they are making by setting fire to the 
 houses in that town. ]^ow is probably the last opportunity you will 
 have of seeing a fight, so that you had better do your best. If they 
 should come up and attack us, don't yell and make a great noise, but 
 remain perfectly silent and still. Wait till they get within twenty- 
 live yards of you ; get a good object ; be sure you see the hind sight 
 of your gun : then fire. A great deal of powder and lead, and very 
 precious time, is wasted by shooting too high. You had better aim 
 at their legs than at their heads. In either case, be sure of the hind 
 sights of your guns. It is from this reason that I myself have so 
 many times escaped ; for, if all the bullets which^have ever been aimed 
 at me had hit me, I would have been as full of holes as a riddle." 
 
 Having thus taught them in the arts of war, he commenced his pre- 
 parations for defence. There were several forts and breastworks, and 
 also one or two unfinished churches in the south, south-west, and south- 
 cast sides of the town : these were all manned with as many soldiers 
 as could be spared for them. On the north of the town ran the Kansas 
 River ; on the west was a ravine ; and the enemy were looked for on 
 the south. As for myself, I occupied, with some fifteen or twenty 
 others, a breastwork thrown across the south end of Massachusetts 
 Street a precaution which had been found necessary in the early part 
 of the season. 
 
 Captain Brown was always on the alert, visiting every portion of 
 the town, and all the fortifications, in person ; giving directions, and 
 exhorting every man to keep cool and do his duty, and his reward 
 would be an approving conscience. Among other preparations for a 
 vigorous defence, a number of merchants went into their stores and 
 brought out a large lot of pitchforks; and every man who was not 
 provided with a bayonet on his gun was furnished with a fork, which 
 certainly would be no mean weapon, if dexterously handled. 
 
 In the meantime the invading army had left Franklin, and were 
 marching towards Lawrence ; and about five o'clock in the afternoon 
 their advance guard, consisting of four hundred horsemen, crossed the 
 
118 DEFENCE OF LAWRENCE. 
 
 Wakerusa, and presented themselves in sight of town, about two miles 
 off, when they halted, and arrayed themselves for battle, fearing, per- 
 haps, to come within too close range of Sharpe's rifle balls. Brown's 
 movement now was a little on the offensive order ; for he ordered out 
 all the Sharpe's riflemen from every part of town in all, not more 
 than forty or fifty marched them a half mile into the prairie, and 
 arranged them three paces apart, in a line parallel with that of the 
 enemy ; and then they lay down upon their faces? in'^the grass, awaiting 
 the order to fire. While occupying this position, a'gallant trooper from 
 the enemy's side rode up about half a mile in advance of his com- 
 rades to reconnoitre ; halting upon a little rise in the road, and while 
 feasting his eyes with a sight of ' Lane's Banditti," a full mile off, 
 one of them, not having the fear of the Missourians before his eyes, 
 drew a bead on him, and fired at him, waiting with breathless anxiety 
 to see what came of it. In two or three seconds the ball struck in the 
 road, immediately at the horse's feet ; and the rider, satisfied with this 
 demonstration, immediately wheeled about, and,;"putting spurs to his 
 horse, was soon out of the reach of even Sharpe's rifle balls. 
 
 Brown now changed the position of his men to a rising piece of 
 ground, about a quar^r of a mile to the left, which overlooked a small 
 cornfield of eight or ten acres, and there stationed them as before, 
 with their faces to the ground. A simultaneous movement on the part 
 of the enemy brought the two armies face to face, about half a mile 
 apart, and with the cornfield between them. 
 
 It was now just approaching dusk. The shades of evening were 
 fast settling upon all Kansas ; and instead of there being a Joshua 
 there, to charter a little more of the light of day, the sun, in antici- 
 pation of a fratricidal strife, went rapidly down behind the mountains ; 
 there was no light, even of the moon and stars, for the intervening 
 clouds; and Night the good angel that she was came and spread 
 her dark mantle over the earth, and concealed the further shedding of 
 blood from those who would weep at sight of it. But during this 
 cover, there were those among us who were to depart and be no more 
 with us for ever. They were to 
 
 " lie down 
 
 With patriarchs of the infant world with kings, 
 The powerful of the earth," 
 
 in that grand receptacle for the dead, " the distant Aidenn," on the 
 confines of whose shores there are doubtless worthier and "better" 
 soldiers, as well as u elder." 
 The distance now between the contending armies was such ato give 
 
DEFENCE OF LAWRENCE. 119 
 
 to Sharpe's rifle-balls, that were fired with precision, a deadly effect ; 
 as was evinced by the fact that several horses were found riderless. In 
 a few moments, the firing became general ; and in the darkness, and 
 otherwise stillness of the night, the continual flash, flash, flash of those 
 engines of death along that line of living fire, presented a scene the 
 appearance of which was at once not only terrible, but sublimely 
 beautiful. For fear that the few men detailed to meet the enemy 
 would be surrounded in the darkness by the superior number of 
 horsemen, and cut to pieces, a twelve-pound brass-piece, under guard 
 of twelve men, was sent to their assistance ; but before it had arrived 
 upon the ground the foe had become panic -stricken, and fled. The 
 sons of chivalry and of the sunny South, four hundred strong, well 
 armed and mounted, precipitately fled before thirty or forty footmen. 
 
 That night, T. and I took our blankets and lay down immediately 
 within the breastwork before mentioned, with a stone for a pillow 
 and the clouds for a covering. We had been here for a few moments 
 only, when Captain Brown came along, and said, " With your per- 
 mission, I will be the third one to aid in defending this fortification 
 to-night." We readily granted his request, and he then lay down by 
 our side, and told us of the trials and the wars he had passed through ; 
 that he had settled in Kansas with a large family, having with him 
 six full-grown sons ; that he had taken a claim in Lykins county, and 
 was attending peacefully to the duties of husbandry, when the hordes 
 of wild men came over from Missouri, and took possession of all the 
 ballot-boxes, destroyed his corn, stole his horses, and shot down his 
 cattle, and sheep, and hogs, and repeatedly threatened to shoot him, 
 hang him, or burn him, if he did not leave the territory ; and as many 
 times endeavored to put their threats in force, but were as often pre- 
 vented by his " eternal vigilance," which he found to be the price of 
 his life, and of those of his family ; that they afterwards did kill and 
 murder one of his sons, in cold blood, in his own hearing, and almost 
 in his own sight ; and all, forsooth, because he hated slavery ! When 
 he told me that he held that promising son in his arms as he drew his 
 last breath, and thought of the resemblance he bore to his mother, I 
 thought, in the indignation of the moment, that, had that been my 
 son, I would have sworn, by the blood that crimsoned his face, for ever 
 to raise my voice and my arm against the measures and the men who 
 had thus hunted him to an untimely death. 
 
 Another eye-witness and participator in this memorable action, who 
 was posted with Major Bickerton on Mount Oread, afterwards pub- 
 lished a poetical account of it ; which, as the writer Richard Realf 
 had engaged to be at Harper's Ferry, but died on his passnge from 
 
l-'O DEFENCE OF LAWRENCE. 
 
 England as he was coming over for that purpose, I subjoin, as well as 
 on account of its historical accuracy, literary merit, and an indication 
 of the range of intellect which the brave old hero gathered around 
 him : 
 
 THE DEFENCE OF LAWRENCE. 
 
 All night, upon the guarded hill, 
 
 Until the stars were low, 
 Wrapped round as with Jehovah's will, 
 
 We waited for the foe ; 
 All night the silent sentinels 
 
 Moved by like gliding ghosts ; 
 All night the fancied warning bells 
 
 Held all men to their posts. 
 
 We heard the sleeping prairies breathe, 
 
 The forest's human moans, 
 The hungry gnashing of the teeth 
 
 Of wolves on bleaching bones ; 
 We marked the roar of rushing fire?, 
 
 The neigh of frighted steeds, 
 And voices as of far-off lyres 
 
 Among the river reeds. 
 
 We were but thirty-nine who lay 
 
 Beside our rifles then ; 
 We were but thirty-nine, and they 
 
 Were twenty hundred men. 
 Our lean limbs shook and reeled about, 
 
 Our feet were gashed and bare, 
 And all the breezes shredded out 
 
 Our garments in the air. 
 
 Sick, pick, at all the woes which spring 
 
 Where falls the Southron's rod, 
 Our very souls had learned to cling 
 
 To Freedom as to God ; 
 And so we never thought of fear, 
 
 In all those stormy hours, 
 For every mother's son stood near 
 
 The awful, unseen powers. 
 
 And twenty hundred men had met, 
 
 And swore an oath of hell, 
 That, ere the morrow's sun might set, 
 
 Our smoking homes shotild tell 
 A tale of ruin and of wrath, 
 
 And damning hate in store, 
 To bar the freeman's western path 
 
 Against him evermore. 
 
 They came : the blessed Sabbath day, 
 
 That soothed our swollen veins, 
 Like God's sweet benediction, lay 
 
 On all the singing plains ; 
 The valleys shouted to the sun, 
 
 The great woods clapped their hands, 
 And joy and glory seemed to run 
 
 Like rivers through the lands. 
 
DEFENCE OF LAWRENCE. 121 
 
 They came : our daughters and our wives, 
 
 And men whose heads were white, 
 Rose sudden into kingly lives. 
 
 And walked forth to the fight ; 
 And we drew aim along our guns, 
 
 And calmed our quickening breath ; 
 Then, as is meet for Freedom's sons, 
 
 Shook loving hands with Death. 
 
 And when three hundred of the foe 
 
 Rode \ip in scorn and pride, 
 Whoso had watched us then might know 
 
 That God was on our side ; 
 For all at once, a mighty thrill 
 
 Of grandeur through us swept, 
 And strong and swiftly down the hill 
 
 Like Gideons we leapt. 
 
 And all throughout that Sabbath day 
 
 A wall of fire we stood, 
 And held the baffled foe at bay, 
 
 And streaked the ground with blood ; 
 And when the sun was very low, 
 
 They wheeled their stricken ranks, 
 And passed on, wearily and slow, 
 
 Beyond the river banks. 
 
 Beneath the everlasting stars, 
 
 We bended child-like knees, 
 And thanked God for the shining scars 
 
 Of his large victories ; 
 And some, who lingered, said they heard 
 
 Such wondrous music pass, 
 As though a seraph's voice had stirred 
 
 The pulses of the grass. 
 
XL 
 
 RETURN TO THE EAST. 
 
 AS soon as the Missourians retreated from Franklin, John Brown, 
 with four sons, left Lawrence for the East, by the way of Nebraska 
 Territory. When at Topeka he found a fugitive slave, whom, covering 
 up in his wagon, he carried along with him. 
 
 He was sick, and travelled slowly. Northern squatters, at this time, 
 were constantly leaving the Territory in large numbers. In coming 
 down with a train of emigrants in October, I met two or three hun- 
 dred of these voluntary exiles all of them having terrible stories of 
 Southern cruelty to tell. 
 
 Not contented with having closed the Missouri River against 
 Northern emigration, the South, through the Government, determined, 
 also, to arrest the emigration from the Free States by the Nebraska 
 route. It was intended to stop and disarm my train, but a few forced 
 marches defeated that design. It was known that another large party 
 was coming in after me : this train several companies of cavalry and 
 artillery marched northward to arrest. John Brown went up with 
 them, and camped with them every night, although the Marshal, who 
 led the force, had a writ for his arrest ! " He was then acting in the 
 capacity of a surveyor or appeared as such to them. He had a light 
 wagon and a cow tied behind it. His surveyor's instruments were in 
 the wagon in full sight."* 
 
 As soon as the military supplies had been stored, I left Topeka in 
 company with a friend, and overtook the troops a few miles from 
 Lexington, a town- site on the prairie, thus named by the Massachu- 
 setts companies. Passing them, and travelling twelve miles farther, 
 I found, lying sick in bed, at the solitary log-hut at Plymouth, the 
 venerable hero of Osawatomie and Lawrence. My companion was a 
 physician, who at once prescribed remedies for his fever. I urged the 
 old man to move on, as the troops were approaching, not knowing that 
 
 * Letter from Joel Grover, of Lawrence. 
 
RETURN TO THE EAST. 1.23 
 
 he had recently encamped with them. I told him that they intended 
 to remain at Plymouth until the train should arrive there ; and that, 
 as many of the people here knew his name, he might, without inten- 
 tional treachery, be discovered and arrested. He thanked me for the 
 advice, and promised to follow it. Leaving the house he remained at, 
 I saw the camp of his little company five men in all, and four of 
 them his sons. I urged on them, also, the importance of moving on. 
 
 A few hours before we overtook the troops, a young man joined us, 
 and reported that he had recently escaped from the ruffians at Leaven- 
 worth. Not suspecting or doubting his story, as we rode along I 
 expressed, in enthusiastic terms, my admiration of the character of 
 Old Brown. Our new acquaintance suddenly pretended to be sick, 
 and as he was, withal, rather a bore to us, we advised him to return to 
 Plymouth. He seemed to follow our advice, but rode back to the 
 dragoons, who had encamped for the night, and informed them where 
 Old Brown lay sick. A detachment of the soldiery was instantly sent 
 on to arrest him. Fortunately for the cause of the slave and American 
 honor, they arrived too late. The old man had crossed the Nebraska 
 line, and the officer in command did not dare to assume the respon- 
 sibility of following him. 
 
 At Tabor, in Iowa a little village of true friends of freedom the 
 old man and his sons remained two or three weeks. This village was 
 a colony from Oberlin in Ohio, and contributed more money and pro- 
 visions, in proportion to its population, than any other community in 
 the Union. 
 
 About the end of November, John Brown reached Chicago, and 
 appeared before the National Kansas Committee, from whom, how- 
 ever, the only aid he obtained was a suit of clothes, which, although 
 of the plainest cut and most common material, he did not like, because 
 they were too fine, and not strong enough for a man of his simple 
 habits and tastes. In December he was at Albany, urging on the 
 leading friends of Kansas the necessity of more efficient action against 
 the Southern marauders. 
 
 When on his way to New York, he stayed for a few days at Cleve- 
 land. The Herald, of that city, recently said of this visit : 
 
 " He was so demented as to suppose he could raise a regiment of men in Ohio 
 to march into Missouri to make reprisals against the Slave forces, and even 
 asked a friend if the power of the State could not be enlisted in that matter. He 
 was then told by many that he was a madman, and the poor man left sorrowing 
 that there was no sympathy here for the oppressed." 
 
 How very demented ! The whole North was shouting itself hoarse 
 in execrating the Southern invaders of Kansas; and yet, when an 
 earnest old man proposed to organize this resentment into an effective 
 
124 RETURN TO THE EAST. 
 
 system of aggressive action, "he was told by many that he was a 
 madman ! " 
 
 His half brother, Jeremiah, seems to have been one of those unfor- 
 tunate men with whom earnest heroism is synonymous with insanity. 
 When the illustrious old man, who redeemed his name and family 
 from the obscurity of an excessive familiarity, and made the name 
 of JOHN BROWN, hitherto a generic title for the Saxon race, mean 
 the highest Christian military heroism this relative, under oath, 
 declared : 
 
 " My brother John, from my earliest recollection, has been an honest, con- 
 scientious man ; and this was his reputation among all who knew him in that 
 section of the country. Since the trouble growing out of the settlement of 
 Kansas Territory, I have observed a marked change in brother John. Previous 
 to this, he devoted himself entirely to business ; but since these troubles he has 
 abandoned all business, and has become wholly absorbed by the subject of 
 Slavery. He had property left him by his father, and of which I had the agency. 
 He has never taken a dollar of it for the benefit of his family, but has called for 
 a portion of it to be expended in what he called the Service. After his return to 
 Kansas he called on me, and I urged him to go home to his family and attend to 
 his private affairs ; that I feared his course would prove his destruction and that 
 of his boys. This was about two years ago. He replied that he was sorry that 
 [ did not sympathize with him ; that he knew he was in the line of his duty, 
 and he must pursue it, though it should destroy him and his family. He stated 
 to me that he was satisfied that he was a chosen instrument in the hands of 
 God to war against Slavery. From his manner and from his conversation at the 
 time, I had no doubt he had become insane upon the subject of Slavery, and 
 i;ave him to understand this was my opinion of him ! ' 
 
 With such insane men are the highest heavens peopled, and of such 
 are the angels -who minister at God's throne. 
 
XII. 
 
 SPEECH TO THE MASSACHUSETTS LEGISLATURE. 
 
 JOHN BROWN arrived in Boston in January, 1857. At that period 
 there was an effort made, by the friends of freedom in the Common- 
 wealth, to induce the Legislature of Massachusetts to vote an appro- 
 priation of ten thousand dollars, for the purpose of protecting the 
 interests of the North and the rights of her citizens in Kansas, if the 
 Territory should be again invaded by organized marauders from tho 
 Southern States. 
 
 A Joint Committee was appointed by the General Court to consider 
 the petitions in favour of a State appropriation. It held its sittings 
 publicly. Eminent champions of freedom in Massachusetts, and men 
 who had distinguished themselves during the conflict in Kansas, were 
 invited to address the Committee. Among the Kansas men was Cap- 
 tain John Brown, who, on the 18th of February, appeared at the capitol 
 to make a statement of his views. 
 
 The writer was present at this sitting, and reported the old man's 
 speech. 
 
 Captain Brown, as he stepped forward, was received with applause. 
 He said he intended to speak exclusively of matters of which he was 
 personally cognizant ; and, therefore, the committee must excuse him 
 if he should refer more particularly to himself and family than he 
 otherwise would do. 
 
 He then read the following statement in a clear, ringing tone: 
 
 SPEECH TO THE LEGISLATURE. 
 
 " I saw, while in Missouri, in the fall of 1855, large numbers of men 
 going to Kansas to vote, and also returning after they had so done, as 
 they said. 
 
 " Later in the year, I, with four of my sons, was called out, and tra- 
 velled, mostly on foot and during the night, to help defend Lawrence, 
 a distance of thirty-five miles, where we were detained, with some five 
 
1_>0 SPEECH TO THE MASSACHUSETTS LEGISLATURE. 
 
 hundred others, or thereabouts, from five to ten days say an average 
 of ten days at a cost of not less than a dollar and a half per day, as 
 wages ; to say nothing of the actual loss and suffering occasioned to 
 many of them by leaving their families sick, their crops not secured,, 
 their houses unprepared for winter, and many without houses at all. 
 This was the case with myself and sons, who could not get houses built 
 after returning. Wages alone would amount to seven thousand five 
 hundred dollars ; loss and suffering cannot be estimated. 
 
 u I saw, at that time, the body of the murdered Barber, and was 
 present to witness his wife and other friends brought in to see him 
 with his clothes on, just as he was when killed.* 
 
 "I, wibh six sons and a son-in-law, was called out, and travelled, 
 most of the way on foot, to try and save Lawrence, May 20fch and 21st, 
 and much of the way in the night. From that date, neither I, nor my 
 sons, nor my son-in-law could do any work about our homes, but lost 
 our whole time until we left, in October, except one of my sons, who 
 had a few weeks to devote to the care of his own and his brother's 
 family, who were then without a home. 
 
 " From about the 20th of May, hundreds of men, like ourselves, lost 
 their whole time, and entirely failed of securing any kind of crop 
 whatever. I believe it safe to say, that five hundred Free State men 
 lost each one hundred and twenty days, which, at one dollar and a 
 half per day, would be to say nothing of attendant losses ninety 
 thousand dollars. 
 
 " On or about the 30th of May, two of my sons, with several others, 
 were imprisoned without other crime than opposition to bogus legis- 
 lation, and most barbarously treated for a time, one being held about 
 one month, and the other about four months. Both had their families 
 on the ground. After this, both of them had their houses burned, and 
 all their goods consumed by the Missourians. In this burning, all 
 the eight suffered. One had his oxen stolen, in addition." 
 
 The Captain, laying aside his paper, here said that he had now at 
 his hotel, and would exhibit to the Committee, if they so desired, the 
 chains which one of his sons had worn, when he was driven, beneath 
 a burning sun, by federal troops, to a distant prison, on a charge of 
 treason. The cruelties he there endured, added to the anxieties and 
 sufferings incident to his position, had rendered him, the old man said, 
 as his eye flashed and his voice grew sterner, "a maniac yes, a 
 MANIAC.'' 
 
 * By a federal office-holder, who was afterwards promoted to a more lucrative 
 
 post. 
 
fc-L-EECH TO THE MASSACHUSETTS LEGISLATUfiE. 127 
 
 He paused a few seconds, wiped a tear from his eye, and continued 
 his narration : 
 
 " At Black Jack, the invading Missourians wounded three Free 
 State men, one of them my son-in-law ; and, a few days afterwards, 
 one of my sons was so wounded that he will be a cripple for life. 
 
 " In August, I was present and saw the mangled and disfigured 
 body of the murdered Hoyt, of Deerfield, Massachusetts, brought into 
 our camp. I knew him well. 
 
 " I saw the ruins of many Free State men's houses in different parts 
 of the Territory, together with grain in the stack, burning, and wasted 
 in other ways, to the amount, at least, of fifty thousand dollars. 
 
 " I saw several other Free State men, besides those I have named, 
 during the summer, who were badly wounded by the invaders of the 
 Territory. 
 
 " I know that for much of the time during the summer, the travel 
 over portions of the Territory was entirely cut off, and that none but 
 bodies of armed men dared to move at all. 
 
 u I know that for a considerable time the mails on different routes 
 were entirely stopped; and notwithstanding there were abundant 
 troops in the Territory to escort the mails, I know that such escorts 
 were not furnished as they ought to have been. 
 
 " I saw while it was standing, and afterwards saw, the ruins of a 
 most valuable house, the property of a highly civilised, intelligent, and 
 exemplary Christian Indian, which was burned to the ground by the 
 ruffians, because its owner was suspected of favouring the free state 
 men. He is known as Ottawa Jones, or John T. Jones. 
 
 " In September last, I visited a beautiful little free state town called 
 Staunton, on the north side of the Osage (or Marais-des-Cygnes, as it 
 is sometimes called), from which every inhabitant had fled for fear of 
 their lives, even after having built a strong log-house, or wooden fort, 
 at a heavy expense, for their protection. Many of them had left their 
 effects liable to be destroyed or carried off, not being able to remove 
 them. This was to me a most gloomy scene, and like a visit to a 
 sepulchre. 
 
 " Deserted houses and cornfields were to be found in almost every 
 direction south of the Kansas River. 
 
 " I have not yet told all I saw in Kansas. 
 
 " I once saw three mangled bodies, two of which were dead, and one 
 alive, but with twenty bullet and buck shot holes in him, after the 
 two murdered men had lain on the ground, to be worked at by flies, 
 for some eighteen hours. One of these young men was my own. 
 son," 
 
128 SPEECH TO THE MASSACHUSETTS LEGISLATURE. 
 
 The stern old man faltered. He struggled long to suppress all 
 exhibition of his feelings ; and soon, but with a subdued and in a 
 faltering tone, continued : 
 
 " I saw Mr. Parker, whom I well know, all bruised about the head, 
 and with his throat partly cut, after he had been dragged, sick, from 
 the house of Ottawa Jones, and thrown over the bank of the Ottawa 
 Creek for dead. 
 
 " About the 1st of September, I and five sick and wounded sons, and 
 a son-in-law, were obliged to lie on the ground, without shelter, for a 
 considerable time, and at times almost in a state of starving, and 
 dependent on the charity of the Christian Indian I have before 
 named, and his wife. 
 
 " I saw Dr. Graham, of Prairie City, who was a prisoner with the 
 ruffians on the 2nd of June, and was present when they wounded him, 
 in an attempt to kill him, as he was trying to save himself from being 
 murdered by them during the fight at Black Jack. 
 
 " I know that numerous other persons, whose names I cannot now 
 remember, suffered like hardships and exposures to those I have 
 mentioned. 
 
 " I know well that on or about the 14th of September, 1856, a large 
 force of Missourians and other ruffians, said by Governor Geary to 
 be twenty-seven hundred in number, invaded the Territory, burned 
 Franklin, and, while the smoke of that place was going up behind 
 them, they, on the same day, made their appearance in full view of. 
 and within about a mile of Lawrence ; and I know of no reason why 
 they did not attack that place, except that about one hundred Free 
 State men volunteered to go out, and did go out on the open plain 
 before the town, and give them the offer of a fight; which, after 
 getting scattering shots from our men, they declined, and retreated 
 back towards Franklin. I saw that whole thing. The government 
 troops at this time were at Lecompton, a distance of twelve miles only 
 from Lawrence, with Governor Geary ; and yet, notwthstanding run- 
 ners had been dispatched to advise him in good time of the approach 
 and setting out of the enemy (who had to march some forty miles to 
 reach Lawrence), he did not, on that memorable occasion, get a single 
 soldier on the ground until after the enemy had retreated to Franklin, 
 and been gone for more than five hours. This is the way he saved 
 Lawrence. (Laughter.) And it is just the kind of protection the 
 Free State men have received from the Administration from the 
 first." 
 
 These things the old man saw in Kansas. 
 
 He concluded his remarks by denouncing the traitors to freedom^ 
 
SPEECH TO THE MASSACHUSETTS LEGISLATURE. 129 
 
 who, when a question of this kind was raised, cried out, " Save the 
 people's money ! the dear people's money ! " He made a detailed 
 estimate of how much the National Government had expended in 
 endeavoring to fasten slavery on Kansas ; and asked why these poli- 
 ticians had never cried out, " Save the people's money!" when it was 
 expended to trample under the foot of the " peculiar " crime of the 
 South the rights, lives, and property of the Northern squatters. They 
 were silent then. (Applause.) 
 
 THE CHAIRMAN. Captain Brown, I wish to ask you regarding 
 Buford's men.* Did you ever mingle with them ? And if so, what 
 did you see or hear ? 
 
 CAPTAIN BROWN replied, that he saw a great deal of them at first ; 
 that they spoke without hesitation before him, because he employed 
 himself as a surveyor ; and, as nearly all the surveyors were pro- 
 slavery men, they probably thought he was " sound on the goose." f 
 They told him all their plans ; what they intended to do ; how they 
 were determined to drive off the Free State men, and possess them- 
 selves of the Territory, and make it a Slave State at all hazards cost 
 what it might. They said that the Yankees could not be whipped, 
 coaxed, nor driven into a fight, and that one pro-slavery man could 
 whip a dozen abolitionists. They said that Kansas must be a Slave 
 State to save Missouri from abolition ; that both must stand or fall 
 together. They did not hesitate to threaten that they would burn, 
 kill, scalp, and drive out the entire Free State population of the 
 Territory, if it was necessary to do so to accomplish their object. 
 
 THE CHAIRMAN then asked who commanded the Free State men 
 at Lawrence? 
 
 His answer was characteristic of the man, whose courage was only 
 equalled by his modesty and worth. He explained how bravely our 
 boys acted gave every one the credit but himself. When again asked 
 who commanded them, he said No one ; that he was asked to take 
 the command, but refused, and only acted as their adviser ! 
 
 THE CAPTAIN spoke, in conclusion, about the emigrants needed 
 for Kansas. 
 
 " We want," he said, " good men, industrious men, men who respect 
 themselves, who act only from the dictates of conscience men who 
 Jear God too much to fear anything human" 
 
 THE CHAIRMAN. What is your opinion as to the probability of a 
 
 * Colonel Buford was the leader of several companies of Georgia and Alabama 
 bandits, who came to Kansas, in the spring of 1856, with the avowed intention of 
 expelling or exterminating the emigrants from the North. 
 
 t Western phrase : equivalent to, a reliable friend of slavcrj*. 
 
 I 
 
130 SPEECH TO THE MASSACHUSETTS LEGISLATURE. 
 
 renewal of hostilities in Kansas of another invasion ? and what do 
 you think would be the effect, on the Free State men, of an appro- 
 priation by Massachusetts ? 
 
 CAPTAIN BROWN. Whenever we heard, out in Kansas, that the 
 Korth was doing anything for us, we were encouraged and strengthened 
 to struggle on. As to the probability of another invasion, I do not 
 know. We ought to be prepared for the worst. Things do not look 
 one iota more encouraging now, than they did last year at this time. 
 You ought to remember that, from the date of the Shannon treaty till 
 May last, there was perfect quiet in Kansas ; no fear of a renewal of 
 hostilities ; no violence offered to our citizens in Missouri. I fre- 
 quently went there myself ; was known there : yet treated with the 
 greatest kindness." 
 
THE SWORD OF GIDEON. 
 
12. And the angel of the Lord appeared uato him, and said, The Lord is with 
 thee, thou mighty man of valor. 
 
 14. And the Lord looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou 
 shalt save Israel from the hands of the Midianites : have not I sent thee ? 
 
 16. And the Lord said unto him. Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt 
 smite the Midianites as one man. 
 
 27. Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the Lord had said 
 unto him : and so it was that he did it hy night. 
 
 28. And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, Toehold, the 
 altar of Baal was cast down. 
 
 29. And they said one to another, Who hath done this thing ? And when 
 they inquired and asked, they said, Gideon the son of Joash hath done this 
 thing. (Chapter vi.) 
 
 21. And all the host ran, and cried, and fled. Book of Judges, chapter vii. 
 
WHETTING THE SWORD. 
 
 THUS far John Brown's action has been exclusively defensive, even 
 according to the usual but unjust definition of the word. He had 
 never struck a blow but in defence of a threatened party. He had 
 fought against the invaders of Free Soil, but never yet invaded a slave 
 country. 
 
 We are now to see him acting as an aggressor, if we accept the popular 
 interpretation of the phrase. Rather, in truth, we are now to see him 
 as a defender of the faith delivered to the fathers : for error is always 
 an innovator ever an aggression. It has supplanted and fills the place 
 that God intended for the truth. Hence the radical reformer is the 
 only conservative ; and the monomaniac is the man who supports any 
 untrue thing, whether creed, party, church, or civil institution. 
 
 The North says that slavery is a wrong. Why not, then, destroy it V 
 The Constitution, the Union, Federal laws, State rights it answers, 
 refusing to believe that no real good can be gained by nourishing a 
 gigantic wrong. Thus does the devil deceive men ! 
 
 .When John Brown walked, he neither turned to the right nor left. 
 With a solemn, earnest countenance, he moved straight on, and every- 
 one he met made way for him. So in his ideas. He felt that he was 
 sent here, into this earnest world of ours, not to eat, and sleep, and 
 dress, and die merely, but for a divinely pre-appointed purpose to see 
 justice done, to help the defenceless, to clear God's earth of the Devil's 
 lies, in the shortest time and at any cost. 
 
 He looked over the American field, and saw a huge embodied false- 
 hood there a magazine of all manner of ungodliness the sum of all 
 villanies. He heard people call it slavery, and regret its existence 5 
 others style it the peculiar institution, and hope that it might finally 
 disappear. Others he heard loudly cursing it ; but not one grappling 
 with it. He was amazed at what he saw and heard ; and, when he said 
 so, people called him a monomaniac. He saw some afraid to assail it, 
 because it was guarded by two lions in the way called the Union and 
 
134 WHETTING THE SWORD. 
 
 the Constitution : while others, seeing the cotton that it belched from 
 its mouth, were so pleased with that performance, that they would not 
 look behind the bales. Some he saw bound with the chains of policy, 
 and others with the manacles of non-resistance. But not one living, 
 dreadf ully-in-earnest foe among them all ! 
 
 That is what he saw, or thought he saw. Perhaps had he seen the 
 hidden mines that some men were digging, he would have changed his 
 opinion of the value of their labor ; but even had he known it, as he 
 was not a miner, but a fighter on the earth, he still would have acted 
 as he did act. He marched straight ahead, trampling under foot the 
 rotten stubble of unjust laws and constitutions that stood between him 
 and his foe. It is true that he finally fell among them ; but not before 
 he proved how very powerless they are to resist a MAN. 
 
 JOHN BROWN'S SCHEME. 
 
 John Brown returned to Kansas in the month of November, 1857. 
 
 What had he been doing since January, when we reported him in 
 Boston V Whetting his sword. And how ? In our free Republic, with 
 its barbaric Southern rulers, it would not be here safe to say how. 
 Only brief traces of his movements, therefore, can, in justice to his 
 noble friends, be recorded at this time. 
 
 It should be stated first, that at this period there was every prospect 
 of renewed disturbances in Kansas. Our need of officers had been 
 greatly felt in the recent conflict there. One hundred mounted men, 
 well armed and officered, would at any time have swept the invaders 
 from the territory. John Brown fully appreciated this necessity, and 
 the terror that his own name inspired arose from the dread, he modestly 
 thought, of his military knowledge, as much as from the victories he 
 had gained. Hence he desired to have funds to equip a sufficient 
 force for the protection of the squatters, as well as to drill a select 
 number of the young men of Kansas, who had proved themselves 
 faithful to principle. 
 
 He well knew, from his power over men, that, should the ^Kansas- 
 difficulties cease, the youths thus drilled would follow him to Harper's 
 Feriy, which, for many years, he had selected as the grand point of 
 attack on slavery. 
 
 JOHN BROWN IN BOSTON. 
 
 I met John Brown in Boston in January, 1857, and many of the 
 facts of this volume he told me at that period. To a gentleman of note 
 
WHETTING THE SWORD. lo,j 
 
 in Massachusetts, who made his acquaintance at that time, I am in- 
 debted for the reminiscences that follow : 
 
 " He brought me a letter of introduction in January, 1857. His business was 
 to raise money for the purpose of further protecting the Free State men of 
 Kansas; and for this purpose he desired to equip one hundred mounted men. 
 His son Owen accompanied him. He immediately impressed me as a person of 
 no common order, and every day that I saw him strengthened this impression. 
 
 His brown coat of the fashion of ten years before, his waistcoat buttoning 
 
 nearly to the throat, and his wide trousers, gave him the look of a well-to-do 
 farmer in his Sunday dress ; while his patent leather stock, gray surtout, and 
 fur cap, added a military air to his figure. At this time he wore no beard.* 
 
 THE IDEALIST AMONG IDEALISTS. 
 
 " I found him frank and decided in his conversation ; expressing his opinions 
 <>f men and things with a modest firmness, but often in the most striking 
 manner. I think it was in his second call on me that he used the language, 
 ' I believe in the Golden Rule, sir, and the declaration of Independence. I think 
 they both mean the same thing ; and it is better that a whole generation should 
 pass off the face of the earth men, women, and children by a violent death* 
 than that one jot of either should fail in this country. I mean exactly so, sir.' 
 i have twice or thrice heard him repeat this sentiment, which I particularly 
 noticed at the time. He staid but a short time in Boston; but returned in 
 February, and soon after appeared before a committee of the Massachusetts 
 
 Legislature In March he visited Concord, and spoke at a public meeting 
 
 in the Town Hall, where, I am told, he exhibited the chain worn by his son 
 John in Kansas, and, with a gesture and voice never to be forgotten by those 
 who heard him, denounced the administration and the South for their work in 
 Kansas. He spent several days in Concord, and made the acquaintance of many 
 of its citizens ; among others, of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry D. Thoreau 
 w r ho have testified so clearly to his nobility of character. 
 
 " Near the end of March, 1857, being on my way to Washington, I met Captain 
 Brown in New York City, and spent a night with him at the Metropolitan 
 Hotel. Capt. Brown objected to the show and extravagance of such an establish- 
 ment, and said he preferred a plain tavern, where drovers and farmers lodged in 
 a plain way. We went on to Philadelphia, and while there I was taken unwell, 
 and could scarcely sit up. Capt. Brown nursed me as much as I had need of, 
 and showed great skill and tenderness. In May he set out for Kansas, and I lost 
 sight of him for nearly a year." 
 
 Emerson is reported at this time to have said that John Brown was 
 the truest hero-man he had ever met. Theodore Parker also said to a 
 friend of mine, who spoke of Captain Montgomery as a man of more 
 harmonious and cultivated intellect than John Brown, " Do you know 
 what you say, sir V John Brown is one of the most extraordinary men 
 of this age and nation. Henry D. Thoreau styled him a u true tran- 
 scendentalist." 
 
 Mr. Stearns, an active and generous friend of Kansas, tells two in- 
 cidents of John Brown's visit to Boston at this time, which are ex- 
 ceedingly characteristic of the old Puritan. 
 
 * The steel engraving which embellishes this volume is from a daguerreotype 
 taken at the time, and presented to me by the old hero as a token of friendship. 
 
136 WHETTING THE SWOKD. 
 
 Shortly after his introduction to him, Mr. Stearns said one day, half 
 jestingly, "I suppose, Captain Brown, that if Judge Lecompte had 
 fallen into your hands, he would have fared rather hard." 
 
 The old man turned round in his chair, and, in the most earnest 
 tones, said, " If the Lord had delivered Judge Lecompte into my hands, 
 I think it would have required the Lord to have taken him out again." 
 
 A meeting of prominent friends of freedom in Kansas Avas to be held 
 on the Sabbath, as no other day could a full attendance be obtained. 
 Mr. Stearns, not knowing how the old Puritan might regard this use 
 of the day of rest to him and to us a very holy use of it inquired if 
 it would be consistent with his religious conviction to give his at- 
 tendance. 
 
 " Mr. Stearns," said the old man, " I have a poor little ewe that has 
 fallen into the ditch, and I think the Sabbath is as good a day as any 
 to help her out. I will come." 
 
 TRAVELS IN THE EASTERN STATES. 
 
 The winter and spring of 1857 John Brown spent in travelling. He 
 visited North Elba once. He spoke at different cities, and employed 
 all hia energies in collecting money. I believe that a large sum was 
 voted for his use by the National Kansas Committee ; but I know that 
 it is said through the dishonesty of an agent he received only a 
 very trifling portion of it. He published also the following appeal, 
 which was widely copied by the press, and undoubtedly liberally re- 
 sponded to : 
 
 To the Friends of Freedom : 
 
 The undersigned, whose individual means were exceedingly limited when ho 
 first engaged in the struggle for liberty in Kansas, being now still more destitute, 
 and no less anxious than in times past to continue his efforts to sustain that 
 cause, is induced to make this earnest appeal to the friends of freedom through- 
 out the United States, in the firm belief that his call will not go unheeded. 
 
 I ask all honest lovers of liberty and human right*, loth male and female, to 
 hold up my hands by contributions of pecuniary aid, either as counties, cities, 
 towns, villages, societies, churches, or individuals. 
 
 I will endeavour to make a judicious and faithful application of all such means 
 as I may be supplied with, Contributions may be sent, in drafts, to W. H. D. 
 Calender, Cashier State Bank, Hartford, Conn. It is my intention to visit as 
 many places as I can during my stay in the States, provided I am informed of 
 the disposition of the inhabitants to aid me in my efforts, as well as to receive 
 my visit. Information may be communicated to me (care of Massasoit House), 
 at Springfield, Mass. Will editors of newspapers, friendly to the cause, kindly 
 second the measure, and also give this some half-dozen insertions? Will either 
 gentlemen or ladies, or both, volunteer to take up the business? It is with no 
 little sacrifice of personal feeling I appear in this manner before the public. 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 In February, when in Collinsville, Connecticut, he ordered the manu- 
 
WHETTING THE SWORD. 137 
 
 facture of his pikes. I remember that, when in Boston, he spoke with 
 great contempt of Sharpe's rifles as a weapon for inexperienced men, 
 and said that with a pike, or bow and arrows, he could arm recruits 
 more formidably than with patent guns. How he ordered the pikes 
 is thus stated by the maker of them : 
 
 " In the latter part of February, or the early part of March, 1857, Old Brown, 
 as he is familiarly called, came to Coliinsville to visit his relatives, and by 
 invitation addressed the inhabitants at a public meeting. At the close of it, or 
 on the following day, he exhibited some weapons which he claimed to have 
 taken from Capt. H. C. Pate, at the battle of Black Jack. Among others was a 
 bowie knife or dirk, having a blade about eight inches long. Brown remarked 
 that such an instrument, fixed to the end of a pole about six feet long, would be 
 a capital weapon to place in the hands of the settlers in Kansas, to keep in their 
 cabins to defend themselves against ' border ruffians or wild beasts,' and asked 
 me what it would be worth one thousand. I replied that I would make them for 
 one dollar each, not thinking that it would lead to a contract, or that such an 
 instrument would ever be wanted or put to use in any way, if made ; but, to my 
 surprise, he drew up a contract for one thousand, to be completed within three 
 months, he agreeing to pay me five hundred dollars in thirty days, and the 
 balance within thirty days thereafter." * 
 
 In March and April Captain Brown made an agreement with a drill 
 master named Hugh Forbes, on Englishman, and a Revolutionary 
 exile, to instruct a number of young Kansas men in military science. 
 Forbes engaged to be at Tabor, in Iowa, in June, to meet John Brown 
 and his men there. 
 
 In May, John Brown set out for Kansas, but was delayed in the 
 Central States for some time. Here is an incident of his travels, re- 
 cently published to prove his insanity, by a citizen of Ohio : 
 
 " During the summer of 1857, I met John Brown in the cars between Cleve- 
 land and Columbus. He was about to return to Kansas. I sought to gather 
 some information respecting the probable advantage of wool growing in that 
 section ; but found his mind was very restless on wool and sheep husbandry, 
 and soon began to talk with great earnestness of the evil of Slavery, on which 
 he soon became enthusiastic, and claimed that any course, whether stealing or 
 coaxing niggers to run away from their masters, was honorable ; at which 1 
 attempted to point out a more conservative course, remarking very kindly to 
 him that Kentucky, in my opinion, would have been a free State ere this, had it 
 not been for the excitement and prejudices engendered by ultra abolitionists of 
 Ohio. At this remark, he rose to his feet, with clenched fist, eyes rolling like an 
 insane man (as he most assuredly was), and remarked that the South would 
 become free within one year were it not that there were too many such 
 
 scoundrels as myself to rivet the chains of Slavery I must though, in justice 
 
 to Mr. Urown, state that, when not under excitement or mental derangement, he 
 has ever manifested to me a kind, benevolent, and humane disposition, as a man 
 of strict integrity, moral and religious worth. "f 
 
 * Having failed to raise the necessaiy money, the pikes were left unfinished 
 at this time ; but, in the following year, in the month of June, John Brown 
 was again in Collinsville, and completed the contract, and in August, under the 
 name of J. Smith and Sons, ordered them to be forwarded to Chambersburg, 
 Pennsylvania, upon which they were transported across the country to Harper's 
 Ferry. 
 
 t Affidavit of S. X. Goodale, of Cleveland, Ohio. 
 
138 WHETTING THE SWORD. 
 
 Another person who also met John Brown in the cars at this time 
 subsequently said that he regarded him as a monomaniac; and his 
 chief reason was, that the old man u spoke of the Eastern people gene- 
 rally as criminally lukewarm on the subject and sin of slavery, and 
 manifested a very great deal of warmth on the subject ! " 
 
 That it is true that John Brown was not fully satisfied with the 
 results of his trip to the east, maybe seen by the following characteristic 
 note, which was found in his own handwriting among the papers left 
 at the homestead of North Elba. It is entitled 
 
 OLD BROWN'S FAREAVELL 
 
 To the Plymouth Rocks, Bunker Hill Monuments, Charter Oats, and Uncle 
 Thorn's Cabbins. 
 
 He has left for Kansas. Has been trying since he came out of the Territory to 
 secure an outfit, or, in other words, the means of arming and thoroughly equip- 
 ping his regular minuet men, who are mixed up with the people of Kansas, and 
 he leaves the States WITH A FEELING OP DEEPEST SADNESS : that after having 
 exhausted his own small means, and with his family and his BRAVE MEX ; 
 suffered hunger, cold, nakedness, and some of them sickness, wounds, imprison- 
 ment in Irons; with extreme cruel treatment, and others death: that after lying 
 on the ground for months in the most sickly, unwholesome, and uncomfortable 
 places ; some of the time icitli sick and icounded destitute of any shelter ; and 
 hunted like wolves; sustained in part by Indians : that after all this ; in order 
 to sustain a cause which every citizen of this " glorious Republic " is under 
 equal moral obligations to da : and for the neglect of which he will be held 
 accountable by God: a cause in which every man, woman, and child; of the 
 entire human family has a DEEP and AWFUL interest ; that when no wages are 
 asked ; or expected ; he cannot secure, amidst all the wealth, luxury and extra- 
 vagance of this " Heaven exalted " people ; even the necessary supplies of the 
 common soldier. " How are the mighty fallen ? " 
 
 Boston, April, A.I). IS." 7. 
 
 The diary of one of the old man's sons, which was found among the 
 papers at the Kennedy Farm, gives an outline of his movements after 
 starting for the Territory. 
 
 JOURNAL OF ONE OF BROWN'S SONS. 
 
 The journal, which opens on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 1857, is contained in an ordi- 
 nary-sized account book, upon the fly-leaf of which is impressed a circular 
 stamp, inscribed " Tabor, Fremont County, Iowa," and around the rim the name 
 of "Jason Jones, Notary 1'nblic." 
 
 The first entry, of Aug. 25, states that the writer started at a certain date iu 
 June for Tabor, from Akron to Hudson : got goods at Henrichs, &c. ; harness ; 
 bought red mail stage at Jerries ; next day went to Cleveland ; shipped chest by 
 express ; staid at Bennett's Temperance House ; next day went to church through 
 the day and evening. 
 
 July 4, the entry is, " Father left for Iowa City," where he was joined by Jason , 
 on the - r >th, who records a meeting with Dr. Bowen, Mrs. Bowen, and Jessie and 
 Eliza Horton. 
 
 The entries until the 10th record the purchases of wood for spears, staples, 
 chains for mules, and canvas for waggon cover. A horse and buggy was swapped 
 for two horses on the 13th ; on the 14th tents and tent poles were carefully packed 
 in the waggons, and additional blankets purchased. 
 
 July 15, the entry is, " The party crossed Iowa River " (Fort des Moines River 
 
WHETTING THE SWOED. 139 
 
 at lied Rock, from which the autobiography is dated), " stopped at noon on the 
 stream beyond Six Mile House." 
 
 The entry of Aug. records the " arrival of Colonel Forbes " (at Tabor), who, 
 from the frequent mention made of that work, the deference which the entries 
 betray for the military j uclgment of the Colonel, and from the fact of the discovery 
 of several copies of his work among the effects of Old Brown, we suppose to be 
 Hugh Forbes, author of a Manual of the Patriotic Volunteer, the reading of which 
 was the daily occupation of the writer, varied with the " cleaning of rifles and 
 revolvers," and " fired twelve shots, drilled, cleaned guns and loaded, received 
 letters from J. and G. Smith." 
 
 September 23, the record acknowledges the receipt of letters from Rcdpath and 
 G. Smith; 011 the 30th the writer finishes "reading G. Smith's speech," and 
 states that " efforts were made to raise a fund to send cannon and arms to 
 Lane," but adds that they proved a failure. On the 1st of October the journalist 
 visits Nebraska City with " Mr. Jones and Carpenter." 
 
 October 3d proves a lucky date to the writer, who records the receipt then of 
 " seventy-two dollars from friend Sanborn." The succeeding day (Sunday) our 
 journalist improves his leisure by perusing "speech of Judge Curtis, delivered 
 before the students of Union College, New Jersey, and of Dartmouth College, and 
 at the Normal School Convention, Westficld, Mass., and at Brown University* 
 R. I. ; the entry of the same date continues, " Read of the awful disaster to thc3 
 Central America, formerly the George Law ; read answer of the Connecticut men 
 to Buchanan, and had to shed a few tears over it." 
 
 On Nov. 4, the journalist rose at " ten minutes before four o'clock," elate with 
 the remembrance that he is " thirty-three years old this day." 
 
 John Brown reached Tabor on the 7th of August, and Colonel Forbes 
 two days after him. They were obliged to remain there, inactive, till 
 the 2nd of November, in consequence of being out of funds. 
 
 " During this interval of suspense," writes Col. Forbes, Captain Brown advo- 
 cated the adoption of his plan, and I supported mine of stampedes. The conclusion 
 arrived at was, that he renounced his Harper's Ferry project, and I consented to 
 co-operate in stampedes in Virginia and Maryland instead of the part of the 
 country I indicated as the most suitable. I perceived, however, that his mind 
 constantly wandered back to Harpers Ferry, and it was not till it had been 
 definitely settled that neither of iis should do anything unless under the direction 
 or with the consent of a committee, that I felt easy in my mind respecting his 
 curious notions of Harper's Ferry. He was very pious, and had been deeply 
 impressed for many years with the -Bible Start/ of Gideon, believing that he, with 
 a handful of men, could strike down Slavery." 
 
 On the 2nd of November, Colonel Forbes took steamer at Nebraska 
 City for the East, and Captain Brown went down to Kansas by the 
 emigrants' road, in a waggon driven by one of his sons. He left two 
 others at Tabor. 
 
 Here Cook's confession (which, although false in some particulars, is 
 mainly a correct statement of facts) becomes an authority of historical 
 interest to the biographer of John Brown : 
 
 "... I did not see him again until the fall of 18-37, when I met him at 
 the house of E. B. Whitman, about four miles from Lawrence, K. T., which, I 
 think, was abotit the 1st of November following. I was told that he intended to 
 organise a company for the purpose of putting a stop to the aggressions of the 
 pro-slavery men. I agreed to join him, and was asked if I knew of any other 
 young men, who were perfectly reliable, who I thought would join also. I 
 recommended Richard Realf, L. F. Parsons, and R. J. Hinton. I received a note 
 on the next Sunday morning, while at breakfast in the Whitney House, from 
 Captain Brown, requesting me to come up that day, and to bring Realf, Parsons, 
 
140 WHETTING THE SWORD. 
 
 aud Hinton with me. Eealf and Hinton were not in town, and therefore I could 
 not extend to them the invitation. Parsons and myself went, and had a long 
 talk with Captain Brown. A few days afterwards I received another note from 
 Captain Brown, which read, as near as I can recollect, as follows: 
 
 DATE . 
 
 CAPTAIN COOK. Dear Sir : You will please get everything ready to join me- 
 at Topeka by Monday night next. Come to Mrs. Sheridan's, two miles south of 
 Topeka, and bring your arms, ammunition, clothing, and other articles you may 
 require. Bring Parsons with you if he can get ready in time. Please keep very 
 quiet afcout the matter. Yours, &c., JOHN BROWN. 
 
 " I made all my arrangements for starting at the time appointed. Parsons, 
 Eealf, and Hinton could not get ready. I left them at Lawrence, and started in 
 a carriage for Topeka. Stopped at the hotel over night, and left early the next 
 morning for Mrs. Sheridan's, to meet Captain Brown. Staid a day and a half at 
 Mrs. Sheredan's then left for Topeka, at which place we were joined by Stephens, 
 Moffitt, and Kagi. Left Topeka for Nebraska City, and camped at night on the 
 prairie north-east of Topeka. Here, for the first, I learned that we were to 
 leave Kansas to attend a military school during the winter. It was the intention 
 of the party to go to Ashtabiila County, Ohio. Next morning I was sent back to 
 Lawrence to get a draft of eighty dollars cashed, and to get Parsons, Eealf, and 
 Hinton to go back with me. I got the draft cashed. Captain Brown had given 
 me orders to take boat to St. Joseph, Mo., and stage from there to Tabor, Iowa, 
 where he would remain for a few days. I had to wait for Kealf for three or four 
 days ; Hinton could not leave at that time. I started with Eealf and Parsons on 
 a stage for Leavenworth. The boats had stopped running on account of the ice. 
 Staid one day in Leavenworth, and then left for Westen, where we took stage for 
 St. Joseph, and from thence to Tabor. I found C. P. Tidd and Leeman at Tabor. 
 Our party now consisted of Captain John Brown, Owen Brown, A.I). Stephens, 
 Charles Moffitt, C. P. Tidd, Richard Robertson, Col. Richard Eealf, L. F. Parsons, 
 William Leeman, and myself. We stopped some days at Tabor, making prepara- 
 tions to start. Here we found that Captain Brown's ultimate destination was the 
 State of Virginia. Some warm words passed between him and myself in regard 
 to the plan, which I had supposed was to be confined entirely to Kansas and 
 Missoiiri. Eealf and Parsons were of the same opinion with me. After a good 
 deal of wrangling we consented to go on, as we had not the means to return, and 
 the rest of the party were so anxious that we should go with them. At Tabor 
 we procured teams for the transportation of about two hundred Sharpe's rifles, 
 which had been taken on as far as Tabor, one year before, at which place they 
 had been left, awaiting the order of Captain Brown. There were, also, other 
 stores, consisting of blankets, clothing, boots, ammunition, and about two hun- 
 dred revolvers of the Massachusetts arms patent, all of which we transported 
 across the State of Iowa to Springdale, and from there to Liberty, at which place 
 they were shipped for Ashtabula County, Ohio, where they remained till brought 
 to Chambersburg, Pa. , and were from there transported to a house in Washington 
 County, Md.. which Captain Brown had rented for six months, and which was 
 situated about five miles from Harper's Ferry. It was the intention of Captain 
 Brown to sell his teams in Springdale, and, with the proceeds, to go on with tin- 
 rest of the company to some place in Ashtabula County, Ohio, where we were 
 to have a good military instructor during the winter ; but he was disappointed 
 in the sale. As he could not get cash for the teams, it was decided we should 
 remain in the neighbourhood of Springdale, and that our instructor, Col. H. 
 Forbes, should be sent on. We stopped in Pedee, Iowa, over winter, at Mr. 
 Maxson's, where we pursued a course of military studies. Col. H. Forbes and 
 Captain Brown had some words, and he (Col. F.) did not come on ; consequently, 
 A. D. Stephens was our drill-master. The people of the neighbourhood did not 
 know of our purpose. We remained at Pedee till about the middle of April, 
 when we left for Chatham, Canada, r;d Chicago and Detroit." 
 
 In this extract there are two false statements ; that u some warm 
 words passed " between Cook and Brown, and that there was a " good 
 deal of wrangling " between the Captain, and Parsons, and Realf . 
 
II. 
 
 SOME SHADOWS BEFORE. 
 
 WE were at supper on the 25th of June, 1858, at a hotel in Lawrence, 
 Kansas. A stately old man, with a flowing white beard, entered the 
 room, and took a seat at the public table. I immediately recognized 
 in the stranger, JOHN BROWN. Yet many persons who had previously 
 known him did not penetrate his patriarchal disguise. A phrenologist 
 who was conversing with me having noticed him, suddenly turned, and 
 asked if I knew that man ? Such a head, such developments, he said, 
 were infallible indications of " a most remarkable person." 
 
 I had several long conversations with the venerable hero, but do not 
 deem it prudent to disclose their nature. Instead of relating, there- 
 fore, what I heard him say at this time, I subjoin some reminiscences 
 by a friend who was fully in his confidence, and fully worthy of it. 
 These notes distinctly foreshadow the Liberator's plans ; and, as they 
 have been so grossly misrepresented, it is due to him, I think, that they 
 should now be published, as far as prudence permits. 
 
 After premising that all the young men of principle in Kansas, by 
 the law of attraction or mental affinity, were the devoted friends and 
 admirers of John Brown and mentioning that in November, 1857, 
 Cook, Realf, and Kagi left the Territory for Tabor, in Iowa, in his 
 company and recording his arrival in Lawrence under the name of 
 Captain Morgan, on the 25th of June, 1858, he thus continues : 
 
 A TALK WITH JOHN BROWN AND KAGI. 
 
 " On Sunday I held a very interesting conversation, with Captain Brown, 
 which lasted nearly the whole afternoon. The purport of it was, on his part, 
 inquiries as to various public men in the Territory, and the condition of poli- 
 tical affairs. He was very particular in his inquiries as to the movements and 
 character of Captain Montgomery. The massacre of the Marais-des-Cygnes 
 was then fresh in the minds of the people. I remember an expression which he 
 used. Warmly giving utterance to my detestation of slavery and its minions, 
 and impatiently wishing for some effectual means of injuring it, Captain Brown 
 said, most impressively : 
 
 " ' Young men must learn to wait. Patience is the hardest lesson to learn. 
 ! hare waited for twenty years to accomplish my purpose.' 
 
 " In the course of the conversation he reminded me of a message that I had 
 
142 SOME SHADOWS BEFORE. 
 
 tent him in 1857,* and said, ' he hoped I meant what I said, for he should ask 
 the fulfilment of that promise, and that perhaps very soon ;' and further added, 
 ' he wanted to caution me against rash promises. Young men were too apt to 
 make them, and should be very careful. The promise given was of great im- 
 portance, and I must he prepared to stand by it or disavow it now.' My answer 
 need not be stated. 
 
 " In this conversation he gave me no definite idea of his plans, but seemed 
 generally bent on ascertaining the opinions and characters of our men of anti- 
 slavery reputations. 
 
 " Kagi, at the same time, gave me to understand that their visit to Kansas 
 was caused by a betrayal of their plans, by a Colonel Forbes, to the Administra- 
 tion, and that they wished to give a different impression from what these 
 disclosures had, by coming to the West. Both stated they intended to stay some 
 time, and that night (Sunday) Captain Brown announced they should go South 
 in the morning to see Captain Montgomery, and visit his relatives. The 
 Rev. Mr. Adair's wife is the half-sister of Captain Brown. They live near 
 Osawatomie." 
 
 JOHN BROWN IN SOUTHERN KANSAS. 
 
 " Captain Brown started for Southern Kansas, on Monday morning, June 26 . 
 I did not see him again until the middle of September, when I met him at 
 Mr. Adair's. Both the Captain and Kagi were sick with the fever and ague, and 
 had been for some time. In the interim, Captain Brown had been in Linn and 
 Bourbon Counties, and also visited other parts of Southern Kansas. One of his 
 first acts, after arriving South, was to negotiate with Synder, the blacksmith, 
 upon whose claim the terrible massacre of the Marais-des-Cygues occurred, fru- 
 its purchase. This claim is situated about a half mile from the State line. The 
 buildings are located in an admirable position for defence. John Brown saw 
 both the moral and material advantages of the position, and was desirous of 
 obtaining possession. It will be remembered that Synder successfully resisted 
 Hamilton's gang on the day of the massacre. Captain Brown stated his object 
 in wishing to obtain possession of the land, and Synder agreed to sell. But 
 though a brave, he was not specially an upright man, and, soon after making a 
 bargain with John Brown, having a better offer, he broke the contract. The 
 Captain had, in the interval, with the assistance of Kagi, Tidd, Stephens. 
 Leeman, and another member of his company, prepared a very strong fortifica- 
 tion, where they coxild have successfully resisted a large force. In my journey 
 through the Southern border counties, I found that a general feeling of confidence 
 prevailed among our friends, because John Broirn was near. Over the border 
 the Missourians were remarkably quiet from June until October, from the belief 
 that the old hero was in their vicinity. By the bad faith of Synder the farm 
 was abandoned, and Captain Brown and Kagi came to Mr. Adair's, where I met 
 them. The others were living in Linn and Anderson Counties. I called at 
 the house about ten in the morning, and remained until past three in the 
 afternoon." 
 
 ANOTHER CONVERSATION. 
 
 " Captain Brown had been quite unwell, and was then somewhat more impa- 
 tient and nervous in his manner than I had before observed. Soon after my 
 arrival, he again engaged in conversation as to various public men in the 
 Territory. Captain Montgomery's name was introduced, and I inquired how 
 Mr. Brown liked him. The Captain was quite enthusiastic in praise of him, 
 avowing a most perfect confidence in his integrity and purposes. ' Captain 
 
 * This message was an expression of regret, in a letter given to Richard Realf 
 for John Brown, that the writer could not then join him, in consequence of 
 other engagements ; but promising, at any future time, to be ready to obey 
 is call. 
 
SOME SHADOWS BEFORE. 143 
 
 Montgomery,' he said, ' is the only soldier I have met .among the prominent 
 Kansas men. He understands my system of warfare exactly. He is a natural 
 chieftain, and knows how to lead.' The Captain spoke of General Lane, and 
 alluded to the recent slaying of Gains Jenkins. He said, ' he would not say one 
 word against Lane in his misfortunes. His only comment Avas what he told the 
 ( General himself that he was his own worst enemy.' Of his own early treat- 
 ment at the hands of ambitious 'leaders,' to Avhich I had alluded in bitter 
 terms, he said : 
 
 " ' They acted up to their instincts. As politicians, they thought every man 
 wanted to lead, and therefore supposed I might be in the Avay of their schemes. 
 While they had this feeling, of course they opposed me. Many men did not like 
 the manner in which I conducted Avarfare, and they too opposed me. Committees 
 and councils could not control my movements, therefore they did not like me. 
 But politicians and leaders soon found that I had different purposes, and forgot 
 their jealousy. They have all been kind to me since.' 
 
 " Further conA'ersation ensued relatiA'e to the Free State struggle, in which I, 
 criticising the management of it from an anti-slavery point of vieAV, pronounced 
 it ' an abortion.' Captain Brown looked at me with a peculiar expression in the 
 eyes, as if struck by the word, and in a musing manner remarked, ' Abortion! 
 yes, that's the word.' 
 
 " He then spoke of Governor Robinson's actions as being of a ' weather-cock 
 character,' and asked if it Avas true that Colonel Phillips had written his first two 
 messages to the Topeka Legislature. I told him my reasons for believing the 
 truth of the statement, among other things mentioning that the first draft of the 
 message sent to the Legislature at Topeka, in June, 18-37, as placed in the hands 
 of the printers, Avas in Phillips' handwriting. At this John Brown gre\v angry 
 the only time I ever saAV him so. He denounced the act seA T erely, declaring it 
 * a deception to which no one should lend himself.' I replied that Phillips had 
 done for the best Avithout doubt; that the Free State men had placed Robinson 
 in the position, and that they must sustain him in it. 
 
 " The Captain answered shortly, ' All nonsense. Xo man has a right to lend 
 himself to a deception. Phillips had no business toAvritcthe messages. Robinson 
 must be a perfect old Avoman, John Brown, sir, Avould, if he Avas governor, write 
 his OAvn documents, if they contained but six lines.' Kagi interposed, and made 
 some remarks which calmed down the Captain, and the conversation became 
 more general. 
 
 " The conviction Avas expressed that tnnible Avould breakout again in Southern 
 Kansas. At this time I mentioned my intention of embarking in a newspaper 
 enterprise. Captain BroAvn, in an impressive manner, reminded me of my pro- 
 mise to obey his call, and expressed a wish that I should not enter into any 
 entangling engagements, referring to my letter of 1857. He said ' that he thought 
 all engagements should be considered sacred, and liked my adhering to the one I 
 had at the time. That Avas the reason he had not sent to me ; but now he hoped 
 I Avould keep myself free.' In this connection he used Avords which I have often 
 thought of since. 
 
 " ' For twenty years,' he said, ' I have never made any business arrangement 
 Avhich Avould prevent me at any time answering the call of the Lord. I have 
 kept my business in such condition, that in IAVO Avceks I could always wind up 
 my affairs, and be ready to obey the call. I have permitted nothing to be in the 
 Avay of my duty, neither Avife, children, nor Avorldly goods. WheneA r er the occa- 
 sion offered, I Avas ready. The hour is A r ery near at hand, and all Avho are Avilling 
 to act should be ready.' 
 
 " I Avas not at this time aware of the precise plans, but had a general conception 
 of his purpose, Avhich, as it dawned upon me, filled my AA-hole being Avith the 
 radiance of its grandeur, as the July sunrise filleth the heavens with glory. All 
 through that conversation I had the impression that those blue eyes, mild yet 
 inflexible, and beaming with the steady light of a holy purpose, Avere searching 
 my soul, and that my whole being was as transparent to him as the bosom of one 
 of his own Adirondack Lakes. I shall never forget the look or the expression 
 Avith which he said : 
 
 " ' Young men should have a purpose in life, and adhere to it through all 
 trials. They would be sure to succeed if their purpose is such as to deserve the 
 blessing of God.' 
 
144 SOME SHADOWS BEFORE. 
 
 KAGI UNFOLDS THE GREAT PLAN. 
 
 " After dinner, Kagi had some conversation with the Captain apart. lie then 
 asked me if I would walk down to the Marais-des-Cygnes, ' as he was going to 
 rish.' I acquiesced, and we started. About half way to the river we stopped 
 and sat on a fence. Kagi asked me what I supposed was the plan of Captain 
 Brown ? My answer was, that I thought it had reference to the Indian Territory 
 and the South- Western States. He shook his head, and gradually unfolded the 
 whole of their plans, a portion of which only has been elucidated in the Harper's 
 Ferry outbreak. I shall not, for obvious reasons, give the the full details. A 
 full account of the convention in Canada was made, as Avell as of the organization, 
 its extent and objects, thereby effected. The mountains of Virginia were named 
 as the place of refuge, and as a country admirably adapted in which to carry on 
 a guerilla warfare. In the course of the conversation, Harper's Ferry was men- 
 tioned as a point to be seized, but not held, on account of the arsenal. The 
 white members of the company were to act as officers of different guerilla bauds, 
 which, under the general command of John Brown, were to be composed of 
 Canadian refugees, and the Virginia ^aves who would join them. A different 
 time of the year was mentioned for the commencement of the warfare from that 
 which has lately been chosen. It was not anticipated that the first movement 
 would have any other appearance to the masters than a slave stampede, or local 
 insurrection at most. The planters would pursue their chattels and be defeated. 
 The militia would then be called out, and would also be defeated. It was not 
 intended that the movement should appear to be of large dimensions, but that, 
 gradually increasing in magnitude, it should, as it opened, strike terror into the 
 heart of the Slave States by the amount of organization it would exhibit, and 
 the strength it gathered. They anticipated, after the first blow had been struck, 
 that, by the aid of the free and Canadian negroes who would join them, they 
 could inspire confidence in the slaves, and induce them to rally. No intention 
 was expressed of gathering a large body of slaves, and removing them to Canada. 
 On the contrary, Kagi clearly stated, in answer to my inquiries, that the design 
 was to make the fight in the mountains of Virginia, extending it to North 
 Carolina and Tennessee, and also to the swamps of South Carolina if possible. 
 Their purpose teas not the extradition of one or a thousand slaret, but their libera- 
 tion in the states wherein they tcere born, and were now held in bondage. 'The 
 mountains and swamps of the South were intended by the Almighty,' said John 
 Brown to me afterwards, ' for a refuge for the slave, and a defence against the 
 oppressor.' Kagi spoke of having marked out a chain of counties extending con- 
 tinuously through South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. He had 
 travelled over a large portion of the region indicated, and from his own personal 
 knowledge, and with the assistance of Canadian negroes who had escaped from 
 those states, they had arranged a general plan of attack. The counties he named 
 were those which contained the largest proportion of slaves, and would, there- 
 fore, be the best in which to strike. The blow struck at Harper's Ferry was to 
 be in the spring, when the planters were busy, and the slaves most needed. The 
 arms in the arsenal were to be taken to the mountains, with such slaves as 
 joined. The telegraph wires were to be cut, and the railroad tracks torn up in 
 all directions. As fast as possible other bands besides the original ones were to 
 be formed, and a "Continuous chain of posts established in the mountains. They 
 were to be supported by provisions taken from the farms of the opprtssors. They 
 expected to be speedily and constantly reinforced ; first, by the arrival of those 
 men, who, in Canada, were anxiously looking and praying for the time of 
 deliverance, and then by the slaves themselves. The intention was to hold the 
 egress to the Free States as long as possible, in order to retreat when that was 
 advisable. Kagi, however, expected to retreat southward, not in the contrary 
 direction. The slaves were to be armed with pikes, scythes, muskets, shot guns, 
 and other simple instruments of defence; the officers, white or black, and such 
 of the men as were skilled and trustworthy, to have the use of the Sharpe's 
 rifles and revolvers. They anticipated procuring provisions enough for subsist- 
 ence by forage, as also arms, horses, and ammunition. Kagi said one of the 
 reasons that induced him to go into the enterprise was a full conviction that at 
 no very distant day forcible efforts for freedom would break out among the 
 .slaves, and that slavery might be more speedily abolished by such efforts than 
 
SOME SHADOWS BEFORE. 145 
 
 by any other means. He knew by observation in the South, that in no point 
 was the system so vulnerable as in its fear of a slave-rising. Believing that 
 such a blow would soon be struck, he wanted to organize it so as to make it more 
 effectual, and also, by directing and controlling the negroes, to prevent some 
 of the atrocities that would necessarily arise from the sudden upheaval of siich 
 a mass as the Southern slaves. The constitution adopted at Chatham was 
 intended as the framework of oi-ganization among the emancipationists, to enable 
 the leaders to effect a more complete control of their forces. Ignorant men, in 
 fact all men, were more easily managed by the forms of law and organization 
 than without them. This was one of the purposes to be served by the Provisional 
 Government. Another was to alarm the Oligarchy by discipline and the show 
 of organization. In their terror they would imagine the whole North was upon 
 them pell-mell, as well as all their slaves. Kagi said John Brown anticipated 
 that by a system of forbearance to non-slaveholders many of them might be 
 induced to join them." 
 
 My friend here explains at great length an admirably devised plan 
 of an extended insurrection in the Southern States ; but as its publi- 
 cation might prevent its successful execution and of that, or an at- 
 tempt to fulfil it, there is no doubt in my own mind I deem it more 
 prudent to suppress this portion of his narrative. He thus continues 
 the report of his conversation with Mr. Kagi : 
 
 NO POLITICIANS TRUSTED. 
 
 " One thing I remember distinctly. In answer to an inquiry, Kagi stated that 
 ' no politician, in the Republican or any other party, knew of their plans, and but 
 few of the abolitionists. It was no use talking,' he said, ' of Anti-slavery action 
 to Non-resistant Agitators.' That there were men who knew of John Brown's 
 general idea is most true; but, south of the, Canadian. Provinces and of North 
 Elba, there were but few who were cognizant of the mode by which he intended 
 to mould those ideas into deeds." 
 
 JOHN BROWN ON INSURRECTION. 
 
 " After a long conversation, the substance of which I have given, we returned 
 to the house. I had some further conversation with John Brown, mostly upon 
 his movements, and the use of arms. The Captain expressed tersely his ideas of 
 forcible emancipation. Of the terror inspired by the fear of slaves rising, he 
 said : 
 
 " ' Nat Turner, with fifty men, held Virginia five weeks. The same number, 
 well organized and armed, can shake the system out of the State.' 
 
 " I remember also these sentences : 
 
 " ' Give a slave a pike, and you make him a man. Deprive him of the means 
 of resistance, and you keep him down." 
 
 '"The land belongs to the bondman. He has enriched it, and been robbed of 
 its fruits.' 
 
 " ' Any resistance, however bloody, is better than the system which makes 
 every seventh woman a concubine.' 
 
 " ' I would not give Sharpe's rifles to more than ten men in a hundred, and 
 then only when they have learned to use them. It is not every man who knows 
 how to use a rifle. I had one man in my company who was the bravest man 
 and worst marksman I ever knew.' 
 
 " ' A ravine is better than a plain. Woods and mountain sides can be held by 
 resolute men against ten times their force.' 
 
 K 
 
146 SOME SHADOWS BEFORE. 
 
 " ' A few men in the right, and knowing they arc, can overturn a king. 
 Twenty men in the Alleghanies could break slavery to pieces in two years.' 
 
 " ' When the bondmen stand like men, the nation will respect them. It is 
 necessary to teach them this.' 
 
 " Much more was said which I cannot rccal. The afternoon had more than 
 half passed before I left for my destination. I rode over the prairies till sunset ; 
 and in the glory of the grand scheme, which had been opened to me, it seemed 
 as if the whole earth had become broader, and the heavens more vast. Since 
 that day, when I stood in the light of those searching eyes, I have known what 
 John Brown meant when he said : 
 
 " ' Young men should have a purpose in life, and adhere to it in all trials. 
 They will be sure to succeed if their purpo&e is such as to deserve the blessing of 
 God.' " 
 
III. 
 
 FLESHING THE SWORD. 
 
 IN order to understand the reason of John Brown's movements during 
 this his third visit to the Territory, it is first necessary briefly to re- 
 view the history of Kansas from September, 1856, when the old man 
 and his sons left Lawrence, up to the date when the reminiscences of 
 my friend report him at the village of Osawatomie. 
 
 NORTHERN KANSAS. 
 
 In Northern Kansas there were no further disturbances or outrages 
 committed from the date of the retreat of the Twenty- seven Hundred 
 Invaders under General Reid, who, on their return to Missouri, burned 
 the village of Franklin, a Free State hotel, and a number of private 
 houses, stole four hundred head of cattle, and sacked, plundered, and 
 devastated the Free State settlements in every direction. Abandoning 
 the agency of force in Northern Kansas for the immense emigration 
 of the spring of 1857 placed the pro-slavery party there in a hopeless 
 minority the South and the Federal Administration directed their 
 energies to the formation of a fraudulent Constitution, which, by 
 various devices excluding, for example, by test oaths, the majority of 
 the people from voting, and using the names of the Cincinnati Direc- 
 tory for the purpose of increasing the vote in favour of slavery they 
 pretended to adopt, and then carried up to Congress. Its history there 
 is well known. In August, 1858, this Constitution, on being submitted 
 to the vote of the people of Kansas, was voted down by an unpre- 
 cedented majority. From John Brown's defence of Lawrence, there- 
 fore, in the autumn of 1856, up to the present hour, the history 
 of Northern Kansas has been a mere record of political intrigues and 
 counter- intrigues, and of a rapid progress in material wealth, popula- 
 tion, and civilization. 
 
148 . FLESHIXG THE SWOKD. 
 
 SOUTHERN KANSAS. 
 
 In Southern Kansas, also, there were no difficulties until the winter 
 of 1857-8 until shortly after John Brown paid his visit of three days 
 to Lawrence for the purpose of bringing out his young followers to 
 drill them. 
 
 In the summer of 1850, the entire Free State population of Lynn 
 and Bourbon Counties had been driven from the cabins and claims by 
 organised marauders from Arkansas and the Indian Territory, under 
 the command of General Clarke, a Federal office-holder, and the 
 murderer of Robert Barber. The emigrants thus expelled began to 
 return to their homes in the spring, summer, and autumn of 1857. 
 They found their houses and farms occupied by the Southern ruffians. 
 Instead of driving them out, or hanging them, as, in strict justice, 
 by the squatter code, they would have been justified in doing, the 
 Free State men built other cabins on their claims thus feloniously 
 occupied, and avowed their willingness to abide by the decision of the 
 Land Office, of which the real chief was General Clarke, but from 
 whose decison there was an appeal to Washington. Fort Scott at this 
 time was the head-quarters of the ruffians in Southern Kansas ; among 
 them, the Hamiltons, the Littles, and Brockett, all of whom had been 
 members of the Lecompton Constitutional Convention ; Brockett, the 
 Hamiltons, and Clarke having attested their devotion to slavery by 
 murdering Free State citizens in cold blood. In the expectation that 
 the Lecompton Constitution would be passed by Congress, and enforced 
 by the hireling legions of the United States, these leaders formed the 
 plan of renewing the disturbances in Southern Kansas, for the purpose 
 of securing to their Missouri friends the farms and cabins they had 
 stolen, facilitating the reconquest of the soil to slavery, and preventing 
 the stream of Northern emigration from overflowing into the Indian 
 Territory. In November this plan was carried into operation by 
 organized bands of pro-slavery ruffians, who, issuing from Font Scott, 
 stole cattle, arrested men under false charges, and in other ways 
 annoyed the Northern settlers. A Free State Squatter's Court was 
 formed in November for the trial of these ruffians by the process 
 of Lynch law. In order to inspire terror, the judge of this orga- 
 nization was called Old Brown ; and, although the Captain was in Iowa 
 at the time, the deception was not discovered for many months. It 
 was at this time that Captain James Montgomery, called on by the 
 people, took the field. Little, one of the chief ruffians, acting as a 
 deputy United States Marshal, attempted, with a posse of eighty well- 
 
FLESHING THE SWORD. 149 
 
 armed men, to arrest this Court. Major Abbott,* with ten Sharped 
 riflemen, drove them back in disgrace to Fort Scott. The United 
 States forces marched to their rescue ! Jim Lane went down to call out 
 the Free State militia ; and between these hostile fires the cause of the 
 ruffians fell temporarily to the ground. Neither force fought, but 
 Lane's men frightened ; and the Missourians stayed at home. General 
 Lane returned ; but the United States troops remained, and then joined 
 the ruffians. Many of the soldiers, dressed in civilians' clothes, partici- 
 pated in their midnight forays. Montgomery organized a force to 
 resist them. Brockett, in one of these nocturnal excursions, murdered 
 two Free State men, and wounded two others.f These events occurred 
 in February and March, 1858. The disturbances continued with vary- 
 ing success until the month of April, when Montgomery and his men 
 were pursued by a force of forty dragoons, who were acting with 
 the ruffians of Fort Scott. He had eight men only, but, posting them 
 in a good position, resisted the. charge of the soldiery, and drove them 
 back killing one man, wounding four or five others, and leaving 
 a number of horses dead on the field. This was the first time in 
 American history that the Federal troops were resisted by citizens. 
 "Old Captain Brown," we are told by Montgomery's biographer, 
 " when he learned the particulars of the engagement, said that the like 
 had not happened before in the Territory, and that the manner of his 
 availing himself of the strong position that offered, and the skill with 
 which he conducted the engagement, stamped him as one of the first 
 commanders of the age." 
 The news of this engagement exasperated Denver, and he declared 
 
 * The Major was a spiritualist and peace man when he came to Kansas, but 
 soon took up carnal weapons, and did heroic service in the cause. He deserves 
 honorable mention in every history of Kansas. 
 
 t On the night of the 27th of March, 1858, the ruffians of the Fort made a 
 drive on the Free State settlements on the Little Osage, being informed by their 
 spies that the river was unguarded. They first rode up to the house of a 
 Mr. Denton an inoffensive Free State man called him out, and, after asking 
 a few trifling questions, deliberately shot him. Some five shots were fired at 
 him, two of which took effect. He expired in two hours. Before his death he 
 charged his assassination to two men by the names of Brockett and Hardwick. 
 They then proceeded to the residence of a Mr. Davis, a neighbor of Mr. Denton's, 
 and demanded entrance Suspecting them of being enemies, Mr. Davis refused 
 to open the door. The ruffians fired several times through the door ; one of their 
 shots took effect in his hand, but he was not seriously injured by any of their 
 discharges. The next place visited was the house of a Mr. Hedrick. They 
 arrived there about two o'clock. Mr. Hedrick was up, waiting on his sick wife. 
 The attending physician was also present and up at the time. A call was made 
 for admittance, and as soon as Mr. Hedrick opened the door and stepped into the 
 opening, he was shot down, five buck shot entering his side just below the breast. 
 He never spoke, but fell dead upon the threshold of his dwelling. All these 
 dark deeds were committed in one night. WILLIAM TOMLINSON'S " Kansas in 
 Eighteen Hundred and Fifty-eight." 
 
150 FLESHING THE SWORD. 
 
 that Montgomery should be arrested. At this time one of Montgo- 
 mery's men stopped a messenger from Fort Scott, and found a letter on 
 his person addressed to the Governor. Montgomery opened it, found 
 an account of the plans laid for his arrest, and then enclosed in 
 it a note to Denver, in -which he stated that if the Governor wanted 
 him, he had only to do justice to the Free State men, and recal the 
 troops from Fort Scott. This double letter was then forwarded to 
 Lecompton ! 
 
 About this time Hamilton marched into the Territory at the head of 
 twenty-five men, and committed the hideous massacre of the Marais- 
 des-Cygnes. This act aroused the most terrible passions. The whole 
 Free State population took up arms. It needed only a leader and 
 a provocation to create a revolution. The leader was there the 
 troops were coming. But, alarmed by these symptoms of a rebellion, 
 Governor Denver recalled the soldiery ; and, accompanied by a promi- 
 nent Free State politician, went down and made a treaty with Mont- 
 gomery. He agreed that all bygones should be forgotten, and that the 
 troops and obnoxious civil officers should be removed. This treaty 
 restored peace. 
 
 ARRIVAL OF JOHN BROWN IN THE SOUTH. 
 
 Up to the middle of September, the movements of John Brown have 
 been given in the preceding chapter. At this time it was reported that 
 he had left the country, and the ruffians began to take courage. The 
 volunteer militia company was dissolved. Now began a new disturb- 
 ance, created by the Free State democrats, who, jealous of Mont- 
 gomery's political influence, desired to annoy him by prosecutions until 
 he should leave the country. Up to this time he had been quietly 
 working on his farm ; but he was the real Governor of all the Southern, 
 country, nevertheless. On the llth of October, a packed Grand Jury 
 was impanelled at Fort Scott the Marshal and Prosecuting Attorney 
 being bitter personal enemies of Montgomery. On the 21st, learning 
 that he and a number of his men had been indicted, in violation of the 
 treaty with Governor Denver, Montgomery visited Fort Scott with 
 a small party, took the Court and Grand Jury prisoners, quietly 
 adjourned it, and made a bonfire of the indictments ! John Brown 
 was not present at this postponement, but "acted as an adviser." 
 Several of the men who fought at Harper's Ferry were there. This 
 proceeding shocked the politicians in Northern Kansas, who were ever 
 ready to indorse any wickedness if the words Free State preceded 
 it. These men, who had sworn resistance "to a bloody issue" with 
 
FLESHING THE SWORD. 151 
 
 the Usurpation, but, as soon as they got offices under it, indorsed and 
 defended it, were naturally indignant at this translation of their Big 
 Spring resolutions into Fort Scott actions. 
 
 Early in November Montgomery's little cabin was surrounded and 
 fired into by a party of marauders. The buck shot from their guns fell 
 on the clothing of the bed in which Mrs. Montgomery was sleeping. 
 She shouted, " O, we're going to have a fight ! " The marauders heard 
 her, and, supposing from the expression that a number of men were 
 inside, turned about and fled fired at, as they ran, by Kagi, who had 
 been lying in another bed. 
 
 During this period Captain Brown, expecting a renewal of disturb- 
 ances, was busily engaged in building fortifications, which may still be 
 seen on the Little Osage and Little Sugar Creeks. One of them was a 
 cabin near the Little Sugar Creek, in which the old man and his fol- 
 lowers lived. They show great military ability. 
 
 In the month of November the politicians began to exert themselves 
 to incite a feeling of dissatisfaction among the people against Montgo- 
 mery and Brown. On the 25th of that month, a meeting for this pur- 
 pose was held at Mapleton; but the friends of the two chieftains 
 appeared in great force, and adjourned it to the 30th. On the same 
 day one of Montgomery's men was arrested, in violation of the treaty, 
 taken to Fort Scott in chains, and imprisoned in a filthy cell. 
 
 ATTACK ON JOHN BROWN'S HOUSE. 
 
 On the 29th Captain Brown left his house for Osawatomie, and 
 Captain Montgomery for Osage City ; and, at the same time, the 
 Sheriff called out a posse of pro-slavery settlers, Missourians and Free 
 State Democrats, for the purpose of arresting the old man and his 
 boys. On the 30th the posse assembled at Paris, one hundred strong, 
 and marched to the cabin of John Brown, on the Little Sugar Creek. 
 Stevens and Kagi were its only occupants. As soon as it was known 
 that the posse was approaching, a messenger was sent for Montgomery, 
 who arrived at midnight with thirteen men. They had previously 
 been re-enforced by thirteen neighbours. In the morning their num- 
 ber was still further increased, although they still numbered only 
 thirty-four men. The Sheriff's posse approached within a quarter of a 
 mile, about one hundred and twenty strong. Stevens and Kagi went 
 out to meet the officer, who had ridden up within a few rods of the 
 cabin. 
 
 They asked him what he wanted. 
 
 He replied, " To disarm them and demolish their fort." 
 
 Kagi told him to produce his authority. 
 
152 FLESHING THE SWORD. 
 
 " You are an illegal body, and it is my right to disperse you," said 
 the Sheriff. " I have no writ, but I must disperse you, as you are more 
 than five armed men ; and if I don't do it, I'll be covered with shame, 
 and have to leave the country." 
 
 u We can't help that," retorted Kagi ! " it is no business of ours ; 
 there is no use having any nonsense about this ; if Paris* wants peace, 
 the whole Treaty, amnesty and all, must be observed ; if not, there 
 must be war." 
 
 At this time the officer could not see more than five armed persons, 
 not knowing that there were thirteen squatters in the cabin, or that 
 Montgomery lay in ambush in a ravine close by, covering the whole 
 wing of the posse, with twenty-one picked men. who were eager for the 
 fight. He was so placed that, in ten minutes, he could have swept the 
 entire posse from the face of the earth. 
 
 " But you can't resist," said a politician, who accompanied the 
 Sheriff; u look at our force opposed to you." 
 
 Stevens stretched his manly form to its full height, and, raising his 
 right arm, with a defiant glance, in a ringing tone, gave a reply, every 
 word of which the followers of the Sheriff heard, and which evidently 
 made a great impression on them : 
 
 u But, believing we are right, before God, we will resist if the whole 
 Universe is against us ! " 
 
 The posse retired without firing a shot ! On the same day the 
 Sheriff and his companion were disarmed by two men who fell at 
 Harper's Ferry. 
 
 " Do you know who we are ? " asked the Sheriff. " I am the High 
 Sheriff of this county." 
 
 " To the devil with the High Sheriff of Lynn County ! " said Kagi. 
 " Hand over that gun." 
 
 John Brown returned from Osawatomie as soon as he heard of the 
 attack on his house. The pro-slavery men, and Free State sycophants 
 of the Federal Administration, had just again sent for United States 
 troops : for they now saw that it was impossible to subdue the earnest 
 Republican squatters, or with impunity break treaties made with anti- 
 slavery men. John Brown and James Montgomery, foreseeing further 
 trouble, prepared for a formidable defence ; being resolutely deter- 
 mined to fight all comers, whether troops, pro-slavery ruffians, in- 
 vaders, or Free State Democrats, who should endeavour to " crush 
 out" the defenders of freedom. John Brown resolved to invade 
 Missouri, and stop at once the incursions from that State, which were 
 now the sole reliance of the friends of Slavery in Kansas. 
 
 * The lesser head-quarters of the ruffians and Democrats. 
 
FLESHING THE SWORD. 15 
 
 Montgomery marched on Fort Scott, on the 15th of December, with 
 one hundred and fifty men, officered by John Brown's followers 
 Kagi, among others, and Anderson and rescued his friend whom the 
 ruffians had incarcerated.* 
 
 Governor Medary ordered down four companies of United States 
 dragoons ; called out four bodies of militia, consisting chiefly of in- 
 vaders and pro-slavery settlers ; the Missourians began to assemble on 
 the borders ; everything gave promise of a renewed civil war ; when, 
 unexpectedly, the aspect of affairs changed by the recal of the troops 
 by order of the Cabinet, and the successful attack on a Missouri force 
 by a party of Free State men, led by Captain Snyder, the blacksmith, 
 whose name is inseparably associated with the history of the massacre 
 of the Marais-des-Cygnes. This cabin was the head-quarters of these 
 ruffians. When they saw the Free State men coming they offered 
 fight ; a conflict ensued ; they refused to surrender : the cabin was 
 fired, and four of the murderers perished in its flames. 
 
 At this time John Brown and his men were at Bain's Cabin, in 
 Bourbon County, preparing for any emergency that might demand 
 their aid. Two hundred Missourians had assembled at Fail's store, 
 eight miles distant, in Missouri, for the purpose of invading the 
 Territory ; but, hearing that Old Brown was recruiting his forces to 
 attack them, they withdrew fifteen miles farther from the borders. 
 
 While John Brown was stating his plan of following them, and, by 
 invading Missouri and carrying off slaves, teaching the citizens of that 
 State to attend to their own affairs, a negro man named Jim came 
 over ; and, stating that he and his family and a friend were about to 
 be sold South, implored assistance and deliverance. 
 
 The poor that cried for deliverance from oppression never appealed 
 in vain to the heart of John Brown. 
 
 * Among the prisoners taken were Epaphroditus Ransom, a very portly Federal 
 official, who had been a Governor of Michigan, and was now a dignitary in the 
 Land Office. On hearing the noise, (it was early in the morning,) he came to 
 the door in his drawers and night dress ; when a boy of seventeen years, carrying 
 a musket longer than himself, shouted, " Come out here; you're my prisoner.'' 
 "What do you mean, sir?" said Ransom; "I am a Federal officer, sir." 
 " Federal officer, eh ? " said the boy, " who the devil cares ? Come out here ! " 
 Ransom showed no willingness to do so ; whereupon the boy cocked his musket, 
 and the " Federal officer" came out. He ordered him to march to the middle 
 cf the square, obliging him to walk dressed as he was at a sharp trot, in order 
 to keep clear of the bayonet, which the boy held in dangerous proximity to his 
 body. The wiggling gait of the portly dignitary, and the ludicrous contrast 
 between captive and capturer, were long afterwards described by all who saw 
 them as one of the most ludicrous of Kansas incidents. When Ransom reached 
 the place appointed for him, "See what we sons of Freedom can do, old fellow ! " 
 said the boy. 
 
IV. 
 EXODUS. 
 
 JOHN BROWN, in January, 1859, wrote a letter in relation to his 
 invasion of Missouri, which, of course, should precede all other 
 accounts of it. It became a celebrated document, and was known 
 
 JOHN BROWN'S PARALLELS. 
 
 TRADING POST, KANSAS, January, 1859. 
 
 Gentlemen : You will greatly oblige a humble friend by allowing the use of 
 your columns while I briefly state two parallels, in my poor way. 
 
 Not one year ago, eleven quiet citizens of this neighbourhood, viz. : William 
 Robertson, William Colpetzer, Amos Hall, Austin Hall, John Campbell, Asa 
 Snyder, Thomas Stilwell, William Hairgrove, Asa Hairgrove, Patrick Ross, and 
 B. L. Reed, were gathered up from their work and their homes by an armed 
 force under one Hamilton, and without trial or opportunity to speak in their own 
 defence, were formed into line, and all but one shot five lulled and five 
 wounded. One fell unharmed, pretending to be dead. All were left for dead. 
 The only crime charged against them was that of being Free State men. Now, 
 I inquire, what action has ever, since the occurrence in May last, been taken by 
 either the President of the United States, the Governor of Missouri, the Governor 
 of Kansas, or any of their tools, or by any pro-slavery or administration man, to 
 ferret out and punish the perpetrators of this crime ? 
 
 Now for the other parallel. On Sunday, December 19, a negro man called 
 Jim came over to the Osage settlement, from Missouri, and stated that he, 
 together with his wife, two children, and another negro man, was to be sold 
 within a day or two, and begged for help to get away. On Monday (the fol- 
 lowing) night, two small companies were made up to go to Missouri and forcibly 
 liberate the five slaves, together with other slaves. One of these companies I 
 assumed to direct. We proceeded to the place, surrounded the buildings, 
 liberated the slaves, and also took certain property supposed to belong to the 
 estate. 
 
 We, however, learned before leaving, that a portion of the articles we had 
 taken belonged to a man living on the plantation as a tenant, and who was 
 supposed to have no interest in the estate. We promptly returned to him all we 
 had taken. We then went to another plantation, where we found five more 
 slaves, took some property and two white men. We moved all slowly away into 
 the Territory for some distance, and then sent the white men back, telling them 
 to follow us as soon as they chose to do so. The other company freed one female 
 slave, took some property, and, as I am informed, killed one white man (the 
 master), who fought against the liberation. 
 
 Now for a comparison. Eleven persons are forcibly restored to their natural 
 and inalienable rights, with but one man killed, and all " hell is stirred from 
 
EXODUS, 155 
 
 beneath." It is currently reported that the Governor of Missouri has made a 
 requisition upon the Governor of Kansas for the delivery of all such as were 
 concerned in the last-named " dreadful outrage." The Marshal of Kansas is 
 said to be collecting a posse of Missouri (not Kansas men) at West Point, in 
 Missouri, a little town about ten miles distant, to " enforce the laws." All pro- 
 slavery, conservative free-state, and doughface men, and Administation tools,, 
 are filled with holy horror. 
 
 Consider the two cases, and the action of the Administration party. 
 Respectfully yours, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 THE INVASION. 
 
 Of these two parties of liberators, John Brown and Kagi were the 
 captains. The old man's force consisted of twelve men ; Kagi's com- 
 pany of eight only. The slaves were to have been removed to Texas 
 on the following day. Captain Brown went to the house of Hicklan, 
 the master of Jim, and liberated that negro and four others. He then 
 proceeded to the house of Isaac Jarne', another slaveholder, and re- 
 leased five more. Jarne was taken prisoner, and carried into the 
 Territory, to prevent an alarm being given. 
 
 John Brown was not merely an emancipationist, but a reparationist. 
 He believed, not only that the crime of slavery should be abolished, 
 but that reparation should be made for the wrongs that had been done 
 to the slave. What he believed, he practised. On this occasion, after 
 telling the slaves that they were free, he asked them how much their 
 services had been worth, and, having been answered, proceeded to take 
 property to the amount thus due to the negroes. 
 
 Kagi went on the southern side of the Little Osage, and called at 
 several houses for the purpose of rescuing slaves. But he failed 
 to find one, until he reached the residence of David Cruse. That 
 robber of God's poor children, on learning the purpose of the party, 
 raised his rifle to fire at it, but was shot dead before he pulled the 
 trigger. He had one slave only, who immediately filled his place in 
 the census of freemen. 
 
 The two parties soon reunited. Jarne' was carried several miles into 
 the Territory. One of his late female slaves attempted to console 
 him ; but, like Rachael mourning for her children, he was not to be 
 comforted ; upon which the sympathetic negress remarked : 
 
 " Gosh ! massa's in a bad fix ! Hog no killed corn no gathered 
 nigger run away ! Laws-a-me ! what'll massa do ? " 
 
 Jim, who was driving an ox- team, " supposed to belong to the 
 estate," asked one of the liberators, " How far is it to Canada?" 
 
 " Twenty-five hundred miles." 
 
 " Twenty-ftce hundred ! Laws-a-massa ! Twenty-five hundred miles ! 
 
15G EXODUS. 
 
 No get dar 'fore spring ! " cried Jim, as, raising his heavy whip, 
 and bringing it down on the ox's back, he shouted impatiently, 
 A ' Whoa-ha, Buck, get up dar glang, Bell ! " 
 
 A little boy of the party grasped his father by the leg. and asked : 
 
 " Hows ye feel, fadder, when you's free ? " * 
 
 These liberated slaves constituted four families : one man, his wife, 
 and two children ; a widowed mother, two daughters, and a son ; a 
 young man, a boy, and a woman who had been separated from her 
 husband. They were taken by one party several miles into Kansas 
 and there they remained for two or three weeks. 
 
 FIGHT OR TWO. 
 
 Captain Brown and Kagi returned to their fortified position known 
 as Bain's Fort on the Little Osage, in w r hich fifty men could have 
 resisted five hundred. 
 
 "When the news of the invasion of Missouri spread, a wild panic 
 went with it, which in a few days resulted in clearing Bates and 
 Vernon Counties of their slaves. Large numbers were sold south : 
 many ran into the Territory, and escaped ; the others were removed 
 farther inland. When John Brown made his invasion, there were 
 five hundred slaves in that district where there are not fifty negroes 
 now. For a short time a dead calm in the Territory followed this 
 movement ; the public seemed to hold their breath in anxious expec- 
 tation for the next step. The Governor of Missouri, appealed to by 
 the Borderers, offered a reward of three thousand dollars for the arrest 
 of John Brown, to which the President added a further reward of two 
 hundred and fifty dollars. The politicians of Lawrence, of both 
 parties, became alarmed at a movement which defied their pusillani- 
 mous policy ; and men who had only hypocritically cursed when their 
 territory was invaded, now worked in earnest to arrest the schemes of 
 the brave retaliators. Some honest men, also, aided in this effort " to 
 restore tranquillity ;" but it owed its embodiment into a law to the 
 Free State sycophants of the South. That embodiment was the 
 Amnesty Act, which pardoned all "political offences" up to that 
 time ; and which the Federal Governor was compelled, by the fear of 
 renewed disturbances, to approve, in order to induce Montgomery to 
 disband his organization. 
 
 Montgomery, sent for by the politicians, reached the town of Law- 
 rence while John Brown was on his journey to it, for the purpose of 
 
 * These incidents were related by Kagi. 
 
EXODUS. 157 
 
 arranging to carry off his negroes. To save Montgomery from the 
 odium that his enemies had attempted to cast on him, for his supposed 
 implication in the invasion of Missouri, the old man wrote his Parallels 
 from the " Trading Post " in Lynn County. 
 
 During the absence of Montgomery and Brown, Kagi, who had been 
 left in command, had two or three fights with the invaders. 
 
 BATTLE OF THE SPURS. 
 
 About the 20th of January, John Brown left Lawrence for iTebraska 
 with his emancipated slaves, who had been increased in number by the 
 birth of a child at Osawatomie. It was named Captain John Brown. 
 
 When at the third resting-place of "Jim Lane's army," which had 
 been named Concord, but which subsequent settlers called Holton, a 
 party of thirty pro-slavery men, who had followed them from Le- 
 compton, approached so near that it was necessary to halt and make a 
 defence. The old man had at this time four white companions and 
 three negro men. The whites were Stevens, Tidd, and Anderson (who 
 fought at Harper's Ferry), and another Kansas boy. The Captain 
 took possession of two log-cabins in the wood, which the pursuers 
 surrounded at a distance while they sent to Atchison and Lecompton 
 for further aid. From Atchison twelve men arrived, thus making a 
 force of forty-two men opposed to eight only. They were preparing 
 for the attack, when Captain Brown and his men issued from the 
 woods for the purpose of offering fight. The Sheriff's Lecompton 
 posse turned and fled ! Not a shot was fired, not a drum was heard, 
 as, putting spurs to their horses, they ran panic-stricken across the 
 prairie. Only four men ashamed of the conduct of their comrades 
 stood their ground ; and ,they were made prisoners forthwith. This 
 incident was ironically called the Battle of the Spurs, as those sharp 
 instruments of torture were the only weapons used on the occasion. 
 
 The old man caused them to dismount, and put the negroes on their 
 horses. They swore. He ordered them to be silent, as he would 
 permit no blasphemy in his presence. They swore again. 
 
 " Kneel ! " said the old man, as, with stern earnestness, he drew his 
 pistol. 
 
 They knelt down, and he ordered them to pray. He detained them 
 for five days, and compelled them to pray night and morning. They 
 never swore again in the old man's presence. They returned to 
 Atchison, I was told, and one of them indiscreetly related the story : 
 the ridicule that overwhelmed them compelled them to leave the 
 town. 
 
158 EXODUS. 
 
 THE OVERLAND JOURNEY. 
 
 Kagi, in the mean time, arrived at Topeka from the South, and found 
 the town in a great commotion. News had just arrived that Old Brown 
 was surrounded. As soon as he appeared, all the fighting boys flocked 
 around him. At the head of forty mounted men he started at once to 
 rescue his old Captain. He came up just in time to see the last of the 
 posse retreating across the prairie. He advocated the hanging of the 
 captured slavehunters, but the old man opposed it, and the kidnappers 
 were saved.* 
 
 Seventeen of the u Topeka boys " escorted the party of liberators to 
 Nebraska City. 
 
 The kidnappers, on being released, asked the old man to restore their 
 horses and weapons. 
 
 "No," said John Brown, gravely; " your legs will carry you as fast 
 as you want to run ; you won't find any more Old Browns between this 
 and Atchison." 
 
 The party reached Tabor in the first week of February, and travelled 
 slowly across the State of Iowa. 
 
 As he was performing this journey, men panting for the price of 
 blood closely followed him ; but the sight of his well-armed company 
 prevented an attack on the band of liberators. He stopped at several 
 villages, and was well received by the friends of freedom. From one 
 of his hosts we have the following letter, which was published at the 
 time : 
 
 CAPTAIN BROWN IN IOWA. 
 
 " 'Old Captain Brown of Kansas ! ' I have set my eyes on this old hero, feared 
 ~by Missouri invaders, and loved by the legions of liberty in Kansas as a father. 
 He had a company of twelve colored people (who 1 only guess were once slaves), 
 en route for Canada, where I trust they are safe. To me he is an historic cha- 
 racter. In the family, simple-hearted as a child, he narrates stirring scenes, 
 placing himself in the background of the picture ; while an eye of the most 
 determined expression I ever saw at once supplies what the modesty of the 
 narrator has withheld as personal. He is the impersonation of firmness. Among 
 his company, white and black, with a long gray beard and a head i'rosted with 
 sixty winters, he walks like a patriarch, if that early name implies' leadership 
 and devotion. 
 
 " Captain Brown avows his philosophy to be, the showing of Border Ruffians 
 that they have enough to do in taking care of slavery in Missouri, without 
 making a foray on the people of Kansas to establish slavery there against the 
 
 * One of these men, since the capture of Captain Brown at Harper's Ferry, has 
 spoken of him with the greatest admiration ; and said, that " although evidently 
 a monomaniac on the subject of slavery," he was an honest and brave man. 
 On being jestingly advised to go into mourning for him, he said he might go into 
 black for many a worse man. This testimony from a kidnapper is not without 
 value. 
 
EXODUS. 159 
 
 votes and wishes of the people. As God spares him, he says, he will 'deliver 
 the poor that cry;' and does not conceal the fact that, in open day, he conducted 
 out those who dreaded, next to death, a more Southern prison house. Two 
 companies of slave-hunters, headed by a Marshal, looked upon them, but were 
 not ready to lose their lives in a negro hunt. A reward of three thousand 
 dollars by the Governor of Missouri, with the value of his company as chattels, 
 has made him quite a lion through the state of Iowa. The ' dirt-eating ' 
 Democracy covet the reward, but keep at a good distance from the cold lead, 
 and have no desire to be awed into silence and shame by one glance from the old 
 hero, who feels that ' God will cover his head in the day of battle.' Stranger 
 than fiction hare been his escapes and exploits in Kansas. Combining the 
 gentleness of a Christian, the love of a patriot, and the skill and boldness of a 
 commander, whether ending his career in the quiet of home or in bloody strife, 
 the freemen of Kansas will hallow his memory, and history will name him the 
 Cromwell of our Border Wars. 
 
 " How unlike the Old Brown sketched by fiendish hate is the man at your 
 fireside ! his mouth unpolluted with tobacco, strong drinks abjured, regimen 
 plain, conversation grave, and occupied with pleasant memories of other days. 
 
 He drops a tear of gratitude on the mention of the practical kindness of 
 
 to him in the hour of extremity. He recurs to the solid principles and hearty 
 affection of Dr. Osgood, of Springfield, on whose ministry he attended for many 
 years. He had a lucrative occupation as wool grower and dealer in Ohio, and 
 gained a medal as exhibitor of wool at the World's Fair; and now finds himself 
 in the ' wool business' still, in a land where men find more dreaded foes than 
 the young Hebrew shepherd found in the beasts that took a lamb out of the 
 flock. I am well informed that the people at Grinnell took care of the company 
 for two days, furnishing them food for their journey, and, on Sabbath evening, 
 took up a collection for them, as well as on Saturday evening." 
 
 The same writer, in a letter published since the trial of John Brown, 
 gives additional particulars of the old hero's talks when under his 
 roof : 
 
 Nothing seemed to so much excite him as an intimation that oppression 
 aroused a spirit of revenge. As he spoke in public there was no boasting, nor a 
 display of himself. The wrongs of Kansas, and the atrocities of slavery, he 
 pictured in a clear style, declaring : 
 
 " That it was 'nothing to die in a good cause, but an eternal disgrace to sit still 
 in the presence of the barbarities of American slavery.' 
 
 "His logic, with all who were captious as to his course, was like a chain-shot 
 argument ; yet he courted no discussion, being then occupied with the safe 
 escape of the eleven supposed chattels from Missouri. 
 
 " ' Providence,' said he, ' has made me an actor, and Slavery an outlaw. 
 
 " ' A price is on my head, and what is life to me ? 
 
 " 'An old man should have more care to end I'fe well, than to live long. 
 
 " 'Duty is the voice of God, and a man is neither worthy of a good home here, 
 or a heaven, that is not willing to be in peril for a good cause! 
 
 " ' The loss of my family and the troubles in Kansas have shattered my consti- 
 tution, and I am nothing to the world but to defend the right, and that, by God's 
 help, I have done, and will do.' 
 
 "This, in substance, and much more, was said in reply to a wish which I 
 expressed that he would not return to Kansas, but seek that quiet with his 
 family which his health demanded. 
 
 " He scouted the idea of rest while fie held ' a commission direct from God 
 Almighty to act against slavery.' 
 
 " He claimed to be responsible for the wise exercises of his powers only, and 
 not for the quality of certain acts. In taking slaves out of Missouri, he said that 
 he would teach those 'living in glass housesnot to throw stones,' and they 
 would have more than they could do to keep slavery in Missouri, without 
 extending it against the will of Kansas. The battle of "Black Jack' and 
 others, he was free to say, he thought had scared Missouri, and that was Gen. 
 Lane's opinion. They did not report half the number killed, which they were 
 
160 EXODUS. 
 
 ashamed to do, nor will it ever be known. I could repeat much that he said 
 which showed a wonderful sagacity, and a bold, undaunted spirit. His whole 
 demeanor was that of a well-bred gentleman, and his narratives were given with 
 child-like simplicity. He feared nothing, for, said he, 
 
 11 'Any who will try to take me and my company are cowards, and one man in 
 the right, ready to die, will chase a thousand. Not less than thirty guns have 
 been discharged at me, but theri only touched my hair. 
 
 "'A man dies when his time comes, and a man who fears is born out of 
 time.' 
 
 " The nation was net worthy of him. Tyranny is relentless as the 
 
 grave, and its tools want a victim. Cowardice will hang him, but humanity will 
 stand appalled at the sacrifice of such a victim to the cruel Moloch." 
 
 When in Chicago he sent his men in different directions, retaining 
 Kagi and Stevens with him. A gentleman who conversed with him in 
 that city thus writes to me : 
 
 " There is one thing he charged me to do when I last saw him. It was this : 
 " Do not allow any one to say I acted from revenge. I claim no man has 
 
 a right to revenge myself. It is a feeling that does not enter into my heart. 
 
 What I do, I do for the cause of human liberty, and because I regard it as 
 
 necessary." 
 
 The party reached Detroit on the 12th of March, and immediately 
 crossed over to Canada. There, free children of the God of the op- 
 pressed, the old warrior of the Lord left the people he had snatched 
 from the earthly hell of American slavery. Eight months afterwards, 
 when their deliverer lay in prison for endeavoring to free others of the 
 same despised race, we hear the sobbings of this little group, inter- 
 mingled with prayers for their benefactor's safety, as they waft across the 
 Lakes to the Southern jail. A Canadian correspondent thus writes : 
 
 JOHN BROWN'S COLONY. 
 
 WINDSOR, UPPER CANADA, Nov. 6, 1859. 
 
 As everything relative to " Old John Brown " is mm interesting, I would 
 inform your readers that I have spent a few hours in Windsor, Upper Canada, 
 with seven of the twelve colored Missourians who are now residing in that place. 
 The other five are living about nine miles in the country. These make the 
 twelve persons taken by Brown last January into Canada. As various reports 
 are afloat concerning them, I wish to inform all parties that those living here are 
 very industrious. Two of the seven are men. They " team," saw wood, and 
 "job round." One, a boy about twelve, helps around generally. Two of the 
 women, who were field hands in Missouri last spring, on arriving at Windsor, 
 hired, for four dollars, an acre of land, and, with a spade each, they actually 
 spaded it, planted it with corn and potatoes, and attended it well ; this crop 
 would challenge any crop I ever saw in Missouri, and not often beaten even in 
 Kansas, where soil and climate are superior to most portions of this world ; their 
 potatoes are very fine all dug and put up in a secure manner in the garden 
 back of their house for winter; the corn, of which I brought some away, is 
 beautiful. One of their houses has a. small garden attached ; they pay two 
 dollars a month for this. In thil little garden they have grown some very fine 
 onicns, carrots, parsnips, and some extraordinary cabbages ; the cabbage are 
 taken up, put together, and covered thick with fodder or straw, rather neatly 
 packed. They have amply sufficient corn, potatoes, &c., for winter. As to 
 
EXODUS. 161 
 
 meat, they do without, till they have some fit to kill. They have three hogs 
 growing finely, which they paid one dollar each for, and feed them on what they 
 collect in swill from neighbors, &c. As to clothing, they are neat, with well- 
 patched articles. They say they have twenty dollars salted down. They 
 informed me that, after being here a short time, they were burned out, losing 
 all, or nearly all, of the useful articles given them by friends on their way, 
 while escorted by that man whom they venerate. While I read aloud the 
 sentence of Brown, with his speech, from the paper, to them, O, how affecting 
 to see their tears and hear their sobs ! Two women declared, if it could be, they 
 would willingly die instead of their liberator. A woman among them remarked, 
 if the Bible was true, John Brown practised most of it here ; so he would be 
 rewarded by "old Master," up higher, with greater happiness. The father, 
 mother, and three children in the country, work a farm on shares ; they have 
 about sixteen acres of corn, potatoes, &c., part of which are theirs ; and they are 
 all anticipating the day when they can get a piece of land of their own. 
 
V. 
 
 ASSEMBLING TO CONSPIRE. 
 
 IN the Canadian Provinces there are thousands of fugitive slaves. They 
 are the picked men of the Southern States. Many of them are intel- 
 ligent and rich, and all of them are deadly enemies of the South. Five 
 hundred of them, at least, annually visit the Slave States, passing from 
 Florida to Harper's Ferry, on heroic errands of mercy and deliverance. 
 They have carried the Underground Railroad and the Underground 
 Telegraph into nearly every Southern State. Here, obviously, is a 
 power of great importance for a war of liberation. 
 
 Up to the period when the last chapter closes, John Brown, wherever 
 he had lived, had acquired the reputation of a prudent man. In Kansas, 
 although, by the Missourians, he was regarded as a reckless desperado, 
 those who best knew him and his plans gave him credit for great 
 caution and foresight. Nothing that he did or tried, however seemingly 
 insane, but, when examined, gave proofs of his prudence no less than 
 his courage. Recently the nation saw him undertake the conquest of 
 Virginia with a band, seemingly, of twenty-one followers only. People 
 called the attempt an insane one : but they did not know that many 
 hundreds of men, earnest haters of the Slavery whose terrors they had 
 known, and drilled for the service, were eagerly awaiting, in the Canadian 
 Provinces, for the signal to be given at Harper's Ferry, to hasten south- 
 ward and join the army of Immediate Emancipation. 
 
 To conquer the South, a small band only is needed ; but it must have 
 backers in the North, who shall send down recruits from time to time. 
 It is necessary, also, in order to prevent unnecessary bloodshed, for the 
 liberated negroes to be held under strict control. John Brown knew 
 all these facts. To inspire the Canadian fugitives with confidence in 
 his plans, and, at the same time, to indicate his intentions in order to 
 induce them to participate in it, he called a secret Convention of the 
 friends of freedom at Chatham, in Canada. 
 
ASSEMBLING TO CONSPIRE. 163 
 
 At this time he intended to attack Virginia within a very few months. 
 Oook, in his confession, thus writes of the Convention : 
 
 " While we were in Chatham, he called a Convention, the purpose of which 
 was to make a complete and thorough organization. He issued a written circular, 
 which he sent to various persons in the United States and Canada. The circular, 
 as near as I can recollect, reads as follows : 
 
 CHATHAM, May , 1859. 
 
 Mr. . Dear Sir : We have issued a call for a very quiet Convention at this 
 
 place, to which we shall be happy to see any true friends of freedom, and to 
 which you are most earnestly invited to give your attendance. 
 
 Yours, respectfully, JOHN BROWN. 
 
 " The names were left blank ; but as they were directed by Captain Brown or 
 J. H. Kagi, I do not know the parties to whom they were addressed. I do 
 know, however, that they were sent to none save those whom Captain Brown 
 knew to he radical Abolitionists. I think it was about ten days from the time 
 the circulars were sent that the Convention met. The place of meeting was in 
 one of the negro churches in Chatham. The Convention, I think, was called to 
 order by J. H. Kagi. Its object was then stated, which was to complete a 
 thorough organization and the formation of a constitution. The first business 
 was to elect a president and secretary. Elder Monroe, a colored minister, was 
 elected President, and J. H. Kagi, Secretary. The next business was to form a 
 Constitution. Captain Brown had already drawn up one, which, on motion, was 
 read by the Secretary. On motion it was ordered that each article of the Con- 
 stitution be taken up, and separately amended and passed, which was done. On 
 motion, the Constitution was then adopted as a whole. The next business was 
 to nominate a Commander-in-Chief, Secretary of War, and Secretary of State. 
 Captain John Brown was unanimously elected Commander-in-Chief, J. H. Kagi 
 Secretary of War, and Richard Ilealf, Secretary of State. Elder Monroe was to 
 act as President until another was chosen. A. M. Chapman, I think, was to act 
 as Vice-President. Dr. M. K. Delaney was one of the Corresponding Secretaries 
 of the organization. There were some others from the United States, whose 
 names I do not now remember. Most of the delegates to the Convention were 
 from Canada. After the Constitution was adopted, the members took their oath 
 to support it. It was then signed by all present. During the interval between 
 the call for the Convention and its assembling, regular meetings were held at 
 Barbour's Hotel, where we were stopping, by those who were known to be true 
 to the cause, at which meetings plans were laid and discussed. There were no 
 white men at the Convention save the members of our company. Men and money 
 had both been promised from Chatham and other parts of Canada. When the 
 Convention broke up, news was received that Colonel H Forbes, who had joined 
 in the movement, had given information to the Government. This, of course, 
 delayed the time of attack. A day or two afterwards most of our party took the 
 boat to Cleveland J. H. Kagi, Richard Realf, William H. Leeman, Richard 
 Robertson, and Captain Brown remaining. Captain Brown, however, started in 
 a day or two for the East. Kagi, I think, went to some other town in Canada to 
 set up the type, and to get the Constitution printed, which he completed before 
 he returned to Cleveland. We remained in Cleveland for some weeks, at which 
 place, for the time being, the company disbanded." 
 
 Another report, which was found among John Brown's papers at 
 Harper's Ferry, gives some additional information respecting this 
 assembly. The full reports, not only of this public Convention, but 
 of many secret meetings which are mentioned in Cook's confession, and 
 were written in phonography, and then translated into a secret cipher 
 by Kagi, have happily not yet been discovered, or it is probable that the 
 
164 ASSEMBLING TO CONSPIRE. 
 
 scheme with which John Brown's name is now for ever inseparably 
 united, would have perished with his earthly life at Charlestown. 
 
 CHATHAM, CANADA WEST, 
 Saturday, May 8, 1S5S 10 A.M. 
 
 The Convention met in pursuance of a call of John Brown and others, and was 
 called to order by Mr. Jackson, on whose motion Mr. Wm. C. Monroe was chosen 
 President ; when, on motion of Mr. Brown, Mr. J. H. Kagi was elected 
 Secretary. 
 
 On motion of Mr. Delany, Mr. Brown then proceeded to state the object of the 
 Convention at length, and then to explain the general features of the plan of 
 action in execution of the project in view by the Convention Mr. Delany and 
 others spoke in favor of the project and plan, and both were agreed to by a 
 general consent. 
 
 Mr. Brown then presented a plan of organization, entitled Provisional Con- 
 stitution and Ordinances for the People of the United States, and moved the 
 reading of the same. 
 
 Mr. Kinnard objected to the reading until an oath of secrecy be taken by each 
 member of the Convention, whereupon Mr. Delany moved that the following 
 parole of honor be taken by all members of the Convention : 
 
 " I solemnly affirm that I will not, in any way, divulge any of the secrets of 
 this Convention, except to the persons entitled to know the same, on the pain of 
 forfeiting the respect and protection of this organization." 
 
 Which motion was carried. 
 
 The President then proceeded to administer the obligation, after which the 
 question was taken on reading of the plan proposed by Mr. Brown, and the same 
 carried. 
 
 The plan was then read by the Secretary, after which, on motion of Mr. 
 Whipple, it was ordered that it be now read by articles for consideration. 
 
 The articles from 1 to 45 were then read and adopted. On reading of the 46th, 
 Mr. Reynolds moved to strike out the same. Reynolds spoke in favor, and Brown, 
 Monroe, Owefl Brown, Delany, Realf, Kinnard, and Page against striking out. 
 The question was fhen taken and lost, there being but one vote in the affirmative. 
 The article was then adopted. The 47th and 48th articles, with the schedule,, 
 were then adopted in the same manner. It was then moved by Mr. Delany that 
 the title and preamble stand as read. Carried. 
 
 On motion of Mr. Kagi, the Constitution, as a whole, was then unanimously 
 adopted. 
 
 Mr. Whipple nominated John Brown for Commander-in-Chief, who was, on 
 the seconding of Delany, elected by acclamation. 
 
 Mr. Realf nominated J. H. Kagi for Secretary of War, who was elected in the 
 same manner. On motion of Mr. Brown, the Convention adjourned to nine P.M. 
 of Monday, the 10th. 
 
 MONDAY, May 10th, 1859 9} P.M. The Convention assembled and went into 
 balloting for the election of Treasurer and Secretary of Treasury. Owen Brown 
 was elected to the former office, and George B. Gill to the latter. 
 
 The following resolution was then introduced by Mr. Brown, and unanimously 
 
 Resolved, That John Brown, J. H. Kagi, Richard Realf, L. F. Parsons, C. H. 
 Tidd, C. Whipple, C. W. Moffitt, John E. Cook, Owen Brown, Stewart Taylor, 
 Osborn Anderson, A. M. Ellsworth, Richard Richardson, W. H. Leeman, and 
 John Lawrence be, and are hereby, appointed a Committee, to whom is delegated 
 the power of the Convention to fill by election all offices specially named in the 
 Provisional Constitution, which may be vacant after the adjournment of the 
 Convention. The Convention then adjourned sine die. 
 
 Signed, J'. KAGI, Secretary of the Convention* 
 
 Names of the Members of the Convention, written bii each Person. 
 Wm. Charles Monroe, President of the Convention ; G. J. Reynolds, J. C. 
 Grant, A. J. Smith, James M. Jones, Geo. B. Gill, M. F. Bailey, Wm. Lambert, 
 C. W. Moffitt, John J. Jackson, J. Anderson, Alfred Whipple, James M. Bue> 
 
ASSEMBLING TO CONSPIRE. % 165 
 
 W. H. Leeman, Alfred M. Ellsworth, John E. Cook, Stewart Taylor, James W. 
 Pumell, Geo. Akin, Stephen Dettin, Thos. Hickerson, John Cannet, i <,binson 
 Alexander, Richard Realf, Thomas F. Gary, Richard Richardson, I. T. Parsons, 
 Thos. M. Kinnard, J. H. Delany, Robert Vanranker, Thomas M. Stringer, 
 Charles H. Tidd, John A. Thomas, C. Whipple, J. D. Shadd, Robert Newman, 
 Owen Brown, John Brown, J. H. Harris, Charles Smith, Simon Fislin, Isaac 
 Holley, James Smith. 
 
 Signed, J. H. KA.GI, Secretary of the Convention. 
 
 Memorandum Offices filled. 
 
 Commander-in-Chief John Brown. Secretary of War J. H. Kagi. Members 
 of Congress Alfred M. Ellsworth, Osborn Anderson. Treasurer Owen Brown. 
 Secretary of Treasury George B. Gill. Secretary of State Richard Realf. 
 
 Premising that the plan of the Liberators was not extradition into 
 the North, but emancipation in the South not to run off negroes to 
 Canada, but to free them in Virginia, and to keep them there the 
 Constitution adopted at this time is at once divested of the ridicule 
 with which it has hitherto been clothed. Special attention should be 
 paid, as indications of the design of the Liberators, to Article 1st, from 
 .28 to 38, an'Q from 43 to 46, of as much of the Constitution as Virginia 
 permitted to be published. It will be seen that, even in this its frag- 
 mentary state, it organizes a Government eminently adapted to pre- 
 serve order amongst insurgent slaves, and to prevent unnecessary 
 suffering and devastation. They sought no offensive warfare against 
 the South, but only to restore to the African race its inherent rights 
 by enabling it to demand them of its oppressors, with the power to 
 enforce and maintain the claim. Not revolution, but justice; not 
 aggression, but defence; not negro supremacy, but citizenship; not 
 war against society, but jor freedom. Such were the beneficent objects 
 -which they designed to effect. 
 
 The following document is the Constitution as mutilated by the 
 Virginians : 
 
 Provisional Constitution and Ordinances for the People of the United States. 
 
 PREAMBLE. Whereas, Slavery, throughout it* entire existence in the United 
 States, is none other than the most barbarous, unprovoked, and unjustifiable war 
 of one portion of its citizens against another portion, the only conditions of which 
 are perpetual imprisonment and hopeless servitude, or absolute extermination, 
 in utter disregard and violation of those eternal and self-evident truths set 
 forth in our Declaration of Independence ; 
 
 Therefore, We, the citizens of the United States, and the oppressed people, 
 who, by a recent decision of the Supreme Court, are declared to have no rights 
 which the white man is bound to respect, together with all the other people 
 degraded by the laws thereof, do, for the time being, ordain and establish for 
 ourselves the following Provisional Constitution and ordinances, the better to 
 protect our people, property, lives, and liberties, and to govern our actions. 
 
 ARTICLE I. Qualifications of Membership, All persons of mature age, 
 whether proscribed, oppressed, and enslaved citizens, or of proscribed and 
 oppressed races of the United States, who shall agiee to sustain and enforce the 
 Provisional Constitution and ordinances of organization, together with all minor 
 
166 ASSEMBLING TO CONSPIRE. 
 
 children of such persons, shall be held to be fully entitled to protection under 
 the sa:ue. 
 
 ART. II. Branches of Government. The Provisional Government of this 
 organization shall consist of three branches, viz., the Legislative, the Executive, 
 and Judicial. 
 
 ART. III. The Legislature. The Legislative Branch shall be a Congress or 
 House of Representatives, composed of not less than five, nor more than ten 
 members, who shall be elected by all the citizens of mature age and sound mind 
 connected with this organization, and who shall remain in ollice for three years, 
 unless sooner removed for misconduct, inability, or death. A majority of 
 such members shall constitute a quorum. 
 
 ART. IV. Executive. The Executive Branch of the organization shall 
 consist of a President and Vice-President, wh& shall be chosen by the citizens 
 or members of this organization, and each of whom shall hold his office for three 
 years, unless sooner removed by death, or for inability, or lor misconduct. 
 
 ART. V. Judicial. The Judicial Branch consists of one Chief Justice of the 
 Supreme Court, and four Associate Judges of the said Court, each of them con- 
 stituting a Circuit Court. They shall each be chosen in the same manner as the 
 President, and shall continue in office until their places have been filled in the 
 same manner by an election of citizens. 
 
 ART. XIII. to XXV. provide for the trial of the President and other officers, 
 and Members of Congress, the impeachment of Judges, the duties of the Presi- 
 dent and Vice-President, the punishment of crimes, army appointments, salaries, 
 &c., &c. These articles are not of special interest, and are therefore omitted. 
 
 ART. XXVI. Treaties of Peace. Before any treaty of peace shall take full 
 effect, it shall be signed by the President, Vice-President, Commander-in-Chief, 
 a majority of the House of Representatives, a majority of the Supreme Court, and 
 a majority of the general officers of the army. 
 
 ART. XXVII. Duty of the Militart/.It shall be the duty of the Commander- 
 in-Chief, and all the officers and soldiers of the army, to afford special protection, 
 when needed, to Congress, or any member thereof, to the Supreme Court, or 
 any member thereof, to the President, Vice-President, Treasurer, and Secretary 
 of War, and to afford general protection to all civil officers, or other persons 
 having a right to the same. 
 
 ART. XXVIII. Property. All captured or confiscated property, and all the 
 property the product of the labor of those belonging to this organization, and of 
 their families, shall be held as the property of the whole equally, without dis- 
 tinction, and may be used for the common benefit, or disposed of for the same 
 object. And any person, officer or otherwise, who shall improperly retain, 
 secrete, use, or needlessly destroy such property, or property found, captured, or 
 confiscated, belonging to the enemy, or shall wilfully neglect to render a full and 
 fair statement of such property by him so taken, or held, shall be guilty of a 
 misdemeanor, and, on conviction, shall be punished accordingly. 
 ' ART. XXIX. Safety or Intelligence Fund. All money, plate, watches, or 
 jewellery captured by honorable warfare, found, taken, or confiscated, belonging 
 to the enemy, shall be held sacred, to constitute a liberal safety or intelligence 
 fund; and any person who shall improperly retain, dispose of, hide, use, cr 
 destroy such money or other article above named, contrary to the provisions and 
 spirit of this article, shall be deemed guilty of theft, and, on conviction thereof, 
 shall be punished accordingly. The Treasurer shall furnish the Commander- 
 in-Chief at all times with a full statement of the condition of such fund, and its 
 nature. 
 
 ART. XXX. The. Commander-in-Chief and the Treasury. The Commander- 
 in-Chief shall have power to draw from the Treasury the money and other 
 property of the fund provided for in Article XXIX., but his orders shall be 
 signed also by the Secretary of War, who shall keep a strict account of the same, 
 subject to examination by any member of Congress or General Officer. 
 
 ART. XXXI. Surplus of the Safety or Intelligence Fund. It shall be the 
 duty of the Commander-in-Chief to advise the President of any surplus of the 
 
ASSEMBLING TO CONSPIRE. 1G7 
 
 Safety or Intelligence Fund, and he shall have power to draw the same, his order 
 being also signed by the Secretary of State, to enable him to carry on the pro- 
 visions of Article XXII. 
 
 ART. XXXII. Prisoners. No person, after having surrendered himself a 
 prisoner, and who shall properly demean himself or herself as such, to any officer 
 or private connected with this organization, shall afterwards be put to death, or 
 be subjected to any corporeal punishment, without first having had the benefit 
 df a fair and impartial trial; nor shall any prisoner be treated with any kind of 
 cruelty, disrespect, insult, or needless severity; but it shall be the duty of all 
 persons, male and female, connected herewith, at all times, and uncler'all cir- 
 cumstances, to treat all such prisoners with every degree of respect and kindness 
 that the nature of the circumstances will admit of, and insist on a like course of 
 conduct from all others, as in fear of the Almighty God, to whose care and. 
 keeping we commit our cause. 
 
 ART. XXXIII. Volunteers. All persons who may come forward, and shall 
 voluntarily deliver up slaves, and have their names registered on the books of 
 this organization, shall, so long as they continue at peace, be entitled to the 
 fullest protection in person and property, though not connected with this 
 organization, and shall be treated as friends, and not merely as persons neutral. 
 
 ART. XXXIV. Neutrals. The persons and property of all non-slaveholders 
 who shall remain absolutely neutral shall be respected so far as circumstances 
 can allow of it, but they shall not be entitled to any active protection. 
 
 ART. XXXV. No needless Waste. The needless waste or destruction of any 
 useful property or article by fire, throwing open of fences, fields, buildings, or 
 needless killing of animals, or injury of either, shall not be tolerated at any time 
 or place, but shall be promptly and peremptorily punished. 
 
 ART. XXXVI, Property confiscated The entire personal and real property 
 of all persons known to be acting, either directly or indirectly, with or for the 
 enemy, or found in arms with them, or found wilfully holding slaves, shall be 
 confiscated and taken whenever and wherever it may be found, in either Free or 
 Slave States. 
 
 ART. XXXVII. Desertion. Persons convicted, on impartial trial, of deser- 
 tion to the enemy after becoming members, acting as spies, of treacherous 
 surrender of property, arms, ammunition, provisions or supplies of any kind, 
 roads, bridges, persons, or fortifications, shall be put to death, and their entire 
 property confiscated. 
 
 ART. XXXVIII. Violation of Parole of Honor. Persons proved to be 
 guilty of taking up arms, after having been set at liberty on parole of honor, 
 or after the same to have taken any active part with or for the enemy, direct or 
 indirect, shall be put to death, and their entire property confiscated. 
 
 ARTS. XXXIX., XL., and XLI., require, all labor for the general good, ar.ct 
 prohibit immoral actions. 
 
 ART. XLII. The Marriage Relation Schools The Sabbath. Marriage 
 relations shall be at all times respected, and families shall be kept together as 
 far as possible, and broken families encouraged to re-unite, and intelligence 
 offices shall be established for that purpose. Schools and churches shall be 
 established as may be, for the purpose of religious and other instruction, and the 
 first day of the week shall be regarded as a day of rest, and appropriated to 
 moral and religious instruction and improvement, to the relief of the suffering,, 
 the instruction of the young and ignorant, and the encouragement of personal 
 cleanliness ; nor shall any person be required, on that day, to perform ordinary 
 manual labor, unless in extremely urgent cases. 
 
 ART. XLIII. To carry Arms openly. All persons known to b3 of good 
 character, and of sound mind, and suitable age, who are connected with this 
 organization, whether male or female, shall be encouraged to carry arms openly. 
 
 ART. XLIV. No Person to carry concealed Weapons. No person within 
 the limits of conquered territory, except regularly appointed policemen, 
 express officers of army, mail carriers, or other fully accredited messengers of 
 Congress, the President, Vice-President, members of the Supreme Court, or 
 
168 ASSEMBLING TO CONSPIRE. 
 
 commissioned officers of the army, and those under peculiar circumstances, 
 shall be allowed at any time to carry concealed weapons ; and any person not 
 especially authorised so to do, who shall be found so doing, shall be deemed a 
 
 ighly investigj 
 be dealt with as circumstances on proof shall require. 
 
 ART. XLV. Persons to be seized. Persons living within the limits of territory 
 holden by this organization, and not connected with this organization, having 
 arms at all, concealed or otherwise, shall be seized at once, or be taken in charge 
 of by some vigilarit officer, and their case thoroughly investigated ; and it shall 
 be the duty of all citizens and soldiers, as well as officers, to arrest such parties 
 as are named in this and the preceding section or article, without formality of 
 complaint or warrant ; and they shall be placed in charge of some proper officer 
 for examination or for safe keeping. 
 
 ART. XLVI. These Articles not for the Overthrow of Government. The 
 foregoing articles shall not be construed so as in any way to encourage the over- 
 throw of any State Government, or of the General Government of the United 
 States, and look to no dissolution of the Union, but simply to amendment and 
 repeal, and our flag shall be the same that our fathers fought under in the 
 Revolution. 
 
 ART. XLVII. ICo plurality of Offices. No two offices specially provided for 
 by this instrument shall be filled by the same person, at the same time. 
 
 ART. XLVIII. Oath Every officer, civil or military, connected with this 
 organization, shall, before entering upon the duties of office, make a solemn oath 
 or affirmation to abide by and support the Provisional Constitution and these 
 ordinances. Also, every citizen and soldier, before being recognised as such, 
 shall do the same. 
 
 Schedule. The President of this Convention shall convene, immediately on 
 the adoption of this instrument, a Convention of all such persons as shall have 
 given their adherence by signature to the Constitution, who shall proceed to fill, 
 by election, all offices specially named in said Constitution the President of 
 this Convention presiding and issuing commissions to such officers elect; all 
 such officers being hereafter elected in the manner provided in the body of this 
 instrument. 
 
 There are many things not yet clear to the public, and sometimes 
 quoted as proofs of insanity, but, rightly understood, giving evidence 
 of a comprehensive and penetrating intellect, which it is impossible, at 
 this time fully to explain, in justice to the cause for which John Brown 
 died, and to the noble friends By whom he was supported. Among 
 these mysteries must be placed some parts of the Constitution ; for, 
 apart from the explanation already given, there are portions of it which 
 still require a further elucidation. The organization behind the letter 
 of the Constitution cannot now be described. To persons familiar with 
 it there is neither insanity nor inconsistency in the instrument ; but, 
 on the contrary} every evidence of a judicious and humane statesman- 
 ship. The day will yet come when John Brown's name will stand 
 first in the list of American statesmen. We may say in his case, with 
 a solemn earnestness of meaning, " He was not understood." 
 
 Why John Brown did not proceed at once to Harper's Ferry is thus 
 stated by Cook in his confession : 
 
 " V>'e stayed about two weeks in Chatham some of the party stayed six or seven 
 weeks. We left Chatham for Cleveland, and remained there until late in June. 
 
ASSEMBLING TO CONSPIRE. 169 
 
 In the meantime, Captain Brown went East on business ; but, previous to his 
 departure, he had learned that Colonel Forbes had betrayed his plans to some 
 extent. This, together with the scantiness of his funds, induced him to delay 
 the commencement of his work, and was the means, for the time being, of dis- 
 banding the party. He had also received some information which called for his 
 immediate attention in Kansas. I wished to go with him ; but he said that I 
 was too well known there, and requested me and some others to go to Harper's 
 Ferry, Va., to see how things were there, and to gain information. 
 
 " In his trip East, he did not realize the amount of money that he expected. 
 The money had been promised bond fide ; but, owing to the tightness of the 
 money market, they failed to comply with his demands. The funds were neces- 
 sary to the accomplishment of his plans. I afterwards learned that there was a 
 lack of confidence in the success of his scheme. It was, therefore, necessary that 
 a movement should be made in another direction, to demonstrate the practica- 
 bility of his plan. This he made about a year ago by his invasion of Missouri, 
 and the taking of about a do/en slaves, together with horses, cattle, &c., into 
 Kansas, in defiance of the United States Marshal and his posse." 
 
 The news of the massacre of the Marais-des-Cygnes was the imme- 
 diate cause of John Brown's return to Kansas ; although it is also 
 true that the action of Colonel Forbes rendered it imperatively neces- 
 sary to divert the attention of the Government from his original plan. 
 
VI. 
 
 MAKING KEADY. 
 
 FROM the 16th of March, when John Brown was in. Canada, up to the 
 IGth of October, when he conquered Virginia a period of eight months 
 it would neither be prudent nor just to trace his movements too 
 minutely ; and I do not propose to do so now. From the 20th to the 
 oOth of March, he was at Cleveland with Kagi. An incident of this 
 residence is thus related by Wendell Phillips : 
 
 " Prudence, skill, courage, thrift, knowledge of his time, knowledge of his 
 opponents, undaunted daring in the face of the nation, all these he had. He 
 was the man who conl.,1 leave Kansas and go into Missouri, and take eleven men 
 and give them to liberty, and bring them off on the horses which he carried with 
 him, and two which he took as tribute from their masters in order to facilitate 
 escape. Then, when he had passed his human proteges from the vulture of the 
 United States to the safe shelter of the English lion, this is the brave, frank, 
 and sublime truster in God's right and absolute justice, that entered his name, 
 in. the city of Cleveland, ' John Brown, of Kansas,' and advertised there two 
 horses for sale, and stood in front of the aiictioneer's stand, notifying all bidders 
 of the defect in the title. But', he added, with nonchalance, when he told the 
 story, ' They brought a very excellent price. 1 " 
 
 At this time there was great excitement in Cleveland, in consequence 
 of the arrest and imprisonment of a number of prominent citizens of 
 Oberlin, charged with the manly virtue of liberating a fugitive slave 7 
 which, by the laws of the United States, is an indictable and peniten- 
 tiary offence. On Tuesday, the 22nd of March, a large meeting was 
 held at Cleveland, at which Kagi and John Brown were invited to 
 speak. Kagi described the scenes I have endeavoured to depict in the 
 chapter entitled, Fleshing the Sword. John Brown was then called on 
 and made a speech ; but the report preserved of it is exceedingly im- 
 perfect. Such as it is, here it is : 
 
 JOHN BROWN'S SPEECH. 
 
 " He prefaced his remarks by saying that he had called for an admission fee 
 that he might use in place of money he had expended upon the slaves on their 
 way to Canada. He remarked that since his last return to Kansas he had had 
 r.o fight with the pro-slavery ruffians, although he had been threatened abun- 
 dantly. He wished to say that he had never lifted a finger towards any one 
 whom he did not know was a violent persecutor of the Free State men. He had 
 
MAKING READY. 171 
 
 never killed any body ; although, on some occasions, he had shown the young 
 men with him how some things might be done as well as others ; and they had 
 done the business. He had never destroyed the value of an ear of corn, and had 
 never set fire to any pro-slavery man's house or property, and had never by his 
 own action driven out pro-slavery men from the territory ; but if occasion 
 demanded it, he would drive them into the ground, like a fence stake, where 
 they would remain permanent settlers. Further, he had yet to learn of any pro- 
 slavery men being arrested or punished [by the Territorial authorities] for any 
 crime. He related the circumstance of the murder of his sou at Osasvatomie, 
 who was shot down for the crime of being a Free State man. On the afternoon 
 of the same day the Osawatoinie fight occurred. Mr. Brown remarked that he 
 was an outlaw, the Governor of Missouri having offered a reward of 3,000 dollars, 
 and James Buchanan 250 dollars more for him. He quietly remarked, paren- 
 thetically, that John Brown would give two dollars and fifty cents for the safe 
 delivery of the body of James Buchanan in any jail of the Free States. He would 
 never submit to an arrest, as he had nothing to gain from submission ; but he 
 should settle all questions on the spot if any attempt was made to take him. 
 The liberation of those slaves was meant as a direct blow to slavery, and he laid 
 down his platform that he considered it his duty to break the fetters from any 
 slave when he had an opportunity. He was a thorough abolitionist. The 
 remainder of his speech was a narration of Kansas affairs. 
 
 "At the close of his remarks, the audience, by resolution, indorsed and ap- 
 proved of his course in Kansas, for which he heartily thanked them." 
 
 In the beginning of April he was in Ashtabula County, sick of the 
 ague. On the 16th he was at Westport, Essex County, New York 
 near home. On his journey there he staid over at Peterboro', the resi- 
 dence of Gerritt Smith, and at Rochester, where he delivered a public 
 speech and met the brave negro, Shields Green, or Emperor. In May 
 he was in Boston, New York City, and Rochester. At Boston he 
 learned how to manufacture crackers and beef meal. 
 
 On the 3rd of June he was at Collinsville, and concluded the con- 
 tract for the pikes afterwards found on the Kennedy farm. On the 
 7th he was at Troy, from which he sent a draft of three hundred 
 dollars to pay for the pikes. He then proceeded to Summit, Portage, 
 and Ashtabula Counties, in Ohio. He went from Ohio to Chambers- 
 burg, stopping at Pittsburg City and Bedford. He remained at Cham- 
 bersburg, toward the close of June, for several days ; and, on the 30th, 
 with two sons and Captain Anderson, left for Hagerstown, in Mary- 
 land. 
 
 The next movements of the party are thus described by a resident of 
 Hagerstown, a pro- slavery man, in a letter written after the arrest of 
 Captain Brown at Harper's Ferry : 
 
 " John Brown, his two sons, and a Captain Anderson, spent a night here, at 
 the Washington House, in June, and were taken to Harper's Ferry next day in a 
 hack. When here I was struck with the long beard of one of them, and called 
 over to learn who they were and where they came from. Brown registered as 
 ' Smith and two sons,' from Western New York, and told Mr. Singling, the land- 
 lord, that they had got tired of farming in that region ; that the frosts had taken 
 their crops for two or three years ; that they were going to Virginia to look out a 
 location for raising sheep and growing wool, &c. After looking around Harper's 
 Ferry a few days, and prowling through the mountains in search of minerals, 
 as they said, they came across a large farm with three unoccupied houses the 
 
172 MAKING READY. 
 
 owner, Dr. Booth Kennedy, bavin g died in the spring. These houses they rented 
 from the family till next March, and paid the rent in advance, and also purchased 
 a lot of hogs from the family for cash, and agreed to take care of the stock until 
 a sale could be had ; and they did attend most faithfully to them, and have it all 
 in first-rate order ; were gentlemen, and kind to every body. After living there 
 a few weeks, others joined them, until as many as twelve were in these three 
 houses, and every few days a stranger would appear and disappear again without 
 creating the least surprise." 
 
 A correspondent of a New York paper gives these additional par- 
 ticulars : 
 
 " About five or six miles distant from Harper's Ferry, on the Maryland side, is 
 the Kennedy Farm, which John Brown hired in July at a rent of thirty-five 
 
 dollars a year A short time afterwards the party was increased by the 
 
 arrival of two women, said to be his wife and daughter ; and about three weeks 
 ago three men arrived. The, house is located in the midst of a thickly-settled 
 neighborhood, five or six families living within hail, and the movements of the 
 strangers were regarded with much curiosity. They seemed to have no settled 
 purpose ; but a large number of boxes and packages were sent to them by rail- 
 road, which they carted home, and nearly every day one or more of them paid a 
 visit to the village. They paid for everything they wanted in hard cash, and 
 were sociable and friendly towards their neighbors. A great deal of their time 
 appeared to be passed in hunting in the mountains, although they never brought 
 home any game.* On one occasion a neighbor remarked to Mr. Smith (as Old 
 Brown was called) that he had observed twigs and branches bent down in a 
 peculiar manner, which Smith explained by stating that it was the habit of the 
 Indians, in travelling through a strange countiy, to mark their path in that way, 
 so as to find their way back. He had no doubt, he said, that Indians passed over 
 these mountains, unknown to the inhabitants." 
 
 These statements of conversations with John Brown must not be 
 iully credited ; but the accounts of the hiring of the farm are sub- 
 stantially correct. " The greater part of the men," according to Cook's 
 confession, " kept out of sight during the day, for fear of attracting 
 attention. The arms, munitions, &c., were carted from Chambersburg 
 to his rendezvous. The spear heads and guards came in strong boxes, 
 and the shafts passed for fork handles. They were put together by our 
 men at the house, where most of them were afterwards found." 
 
 During his residence at the Kennedy Farm," writes one who lived 
 with him, " the old man used often to take his Bible, sit down on a 
 stool in the corner near the door, and read a chapter, and then make a 
 prayer. He always did so in the morning. We never ate a meal at 
 * head-quarters' until a blessing was asked on it." 
 
 During the period that elapsed from the hiring of his farm till his 
 invasion of Virginia, John Brown had occasion to revisit the North. 
 On the 14th of October he is supposed to have been in Baltimore ; and 
 on the 16th he took occasion to report himself at Harper's Ferry. The 
 announcement was made so loudly, that it reached every home in the 
 North, and penetrated every cabin of the Southern plantations. 
 
 * " We strike at higher and wickeder game," said Mr. Hunter acted Captain 
 Brown. 
 
VII 
 
 THE BLOW STRUCK. 
 
 IT was the original intention of Captain Brown to seize the Arsenal at 
 Harper's Ferry on the night of the 24th of October, and to take the 
 arms there deposited to the neighboring mountains, with a number of 
 the wealthier citizens of the vicinity as hostages, until they should 
 redeem themselves by liberating an equal number of their slaves. When 
 at Baltimore, for satisfactory reasons, he determined to strike the blow 
 that was to shake the Slave System to its foundations, on the night of 
 the 17th. One of the men who fought at Harper's Ferry gave me as 
 the chief reason for the precipitate movement, that there was a Judas 
 whom they suspected in their midst. That the reasons were just and 
 important, the prudence that John Brown had always hitherto mani- 
 fested satisfactorily proves. But this decision, however necessary, was 
 unfortunate ; for the men from Canada, Kansas, New England, and 
 the neighboring Free States, who had been told to be prepared for the 
 event on the 24th of October, and were ready to do their duty at 
 Harper's Ferry at that time, were unable to join their Captain at this 
 earlier period. 
 
 Many who started to join the Liberators halted half way ; for the 
 blow had already been struck, and their Captain made a captive. Had 
 there been no precipitation, the mountains of Virginia to-day would 
 have been peopled with free blacks, properly officered, and ready for 
 field action.* 
 
 The negroes, also, in the neighboring counties, who had promised to 
 be ready on the 24th of October, were confused by the precipitate attack ; 
 and, before they could act in concert which they can only do by secret 
 nocturnal meetings were watched, overpowered, and deprived of every 
 chance to join their heroic liberators. 
 
 * John Brown had en-gaged a competent military officer to take charge of the 
 liberated slaves as soon as it became necessary to descend from the mountains, 
 and meet the militia forces in the field. 
 
174 THE BLOW STRUCK. 
 
 Having sent of? the women who lived at their cabins Cook's wife 
 and others the neighbors began to talk about the singularity of the 
 proceeding ; and it became necessary, on that account also, to precipitate 
 an attack on Harper's Ferry. 
 
 On Saturday a meeting of the Liberators was held, and the plan of 
 operations discussed. On Sunday evening a council was again con- 
 vened, and the programme of the Captain unanimously approved. " In 
 closing/' wrote Cook, "John Brown said : 
 
 " And now, gentlemen, let me press this one thing on your minds. You all 
 know how dear life is to you, and how dear your lives are to your friends ; and, 
 in remembering that, consider that the lives of others are as dear to them as 
 yours are to you. Do not, therefore, take the life of any one if you can possibly 
 avoid it ; but if it is necessary to take life in order to save your own, then make 
 sure work of it." 
 
 HARPER'S FERRY. 
 
 " Fearful and Exciting Intelligence ! Negro Insurrection at Harper's Ferry ! 
 Ejctensire Negro Conspiracy in Virgin ia and Maryland! Seizure of the United 
 States Arsenal by the Insurrectionists ! Anns taken and sent into the Interior ! 
 The Bridge fortified and defended by Cannon! Trains fired into and stopped! 
 Several Persons killed. Telegraph Wires cut. Contributions levied on the 
 Citizens. Troops despatched against the Insurgents from Washington and 
 Baltimore. 
 
 Such were the headings of the first telegraphic reports of John Brown's 
 brave blow at American Slavery. 
 
 Before briefly describing the events that they foreshadow, it is neces- 
 sary to speak of the place where they occurred. The standard Virginia 
 authority of the day thus writes : 
 
 " Harper's Ferry is situated in Jefferson County, Virginia, at the confluence of 
 the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers, on a point just opposite the gap through 
 which the United Streams pass the Blue Ridge on their way toward the ocean. 
 The Ridge here is about twelve hundred feet in height, showing bare, precipitous 
 cliffs on either side on the river, and exhibiting some of the most beautiful and 
 imposing natural scenery to be found in the country. The town was originally 
 built on two streets, stretching along a narrow shelf between the base of the bluff 
 and the rivers, meeting at the point at nearly a right angle, and named respec- 
 tively Potomac and Shenandoah Streets. To accommodate its increasing popu- 
 lation, the town has straggled up the steep bluff, and, in detached villages and 
 scattered residences, occupies the level ground above about four hundred feet 
 above the streams. 
 
 " It has altogether a population of five thousand, is distant from Richmond 
 one hundred and seventy-three miles, from Washington City fifty-seven miles 
 by turnpike road, and from Baltimore eighty miles by rail. Here the Baltimore 
 and Ohio Railroad crosses the Potomac by a magnificent covered bridge, nine 
 hundred feet long, and passes along Potomac Street westward, its track lying 
 forty feet above the river. The Winchester and Harper's Ferry Railroad, lying 
 along Shenandoah Street, connects with the Baltimore and Ohio at the bridge. 
 Potomac Street is entirely occupied by the workshops and offices of the National 
 Armory, and its entrance is enclosed by a handsome gate and iron railing. 
 Nearly at the angle of junction are the old Arsenal buildings, where usually 
 from one hundred thousand to two hundred thousand stand of arms are stored. 
 The other buildings on the point and nearer the bridge are railroad offices, 
 hotels, eating-houses, stores, shops, &c. Shenandoah Street contains stores and 
 
THE BLOW STRUCK. 175 
 
 dwelling-houses for half a mile or more, when we come to Hall's rifle works, 
 situated on a small island in the Shenandoah River. 
 
 Harper's Ferry, by the admission of military men, was admirably 
 chosen as the spot at which to begin a war of liberation. The neigh- 
 boring mountains, with their inaccessible fastnesses, with every one of 
 which and every turning of their valleys John Brown had been familiar 
 for seventeen years, would afford to guerilla forces a protection the 
 most favorable, and a thousand opportunities for a desperate defence, 
 or rapid retreats before overwhelming numbers of an enemy. 
 
 THE FIRST NIGHT. 
 
 The first movement of the Liberators was to extinguish the lights of 
 the town, and take possession of the Armory buildings. This they did 
 without opposition, or exciting alarm ; although they took the three 
 watchmen prisoners, and locked them up in the Guard-house. They 
 were aided, it is believed, by friendly negroes. The number of Libe- 
 rators in the town was twenty-two only, of whom 'seventeen were whites 
 and five blacks and mixed bloods. But outside of the town there were 
 others (who afterwards succeeded in escaping) , to whom were assigned 
 the duty, which they successfully performed, of cutting down the tele- 
 graphic wires, and, after the train had passed, of tearing up the railroad 
 track. 
 
 At half -past ten the watchman at the Potomac Bridge was arrested 
 and imprisoned. At midnight his successor, who came down to take 
 his place, was hailed by the sentinels placed there by Captain Brown ; 
 but, supposing that they were robbers, he refused to surrender, and ran 
 off, one shot being fired at him from the bridge. He gave the alarm, 
 but it produced no immediate action. The train eastward-bound arrived 
 at a quarter-past one o'clock, and the conductor was made aware of the 
 possession of the bridge by armed men. The officers of the train, ac- 
 companied by some passengers, attempted to walk across the bridge, 
 but presently saw the muzzles of four rifles resting on a railing, and 
 prudently turned back. One man, refusing to surrender, was shot in 
 the back, and died next morning. It was found that he was a negro 
 porter. At this time there were several shots exchanged between a 
 clerk of the hotel and one or two of the Liberators. The passengers 
 in the train went into the hotel, and remained there, in great alarm, 
 for four or five hours. The conductor, although permission was granted 
 to him at three o'clock to pass over with his train, refused to do so till 
 he could see for himself that all was safe. 
 
 "After taking the town," says Cook, " I was placed tinder Captain Stevens, 
 
176 THE BLOW STRUCK. 
 
 who received orders to proceed to the house of Colonel Lewis Washington, and 
 to take him prisoner, and to bring his slaves, horses, and arms ; aud, as we 
 came back, to take Mr. Alstadtt and his slaves, and to bring them all to Captain 
 Brown at the Armory." 
 
 This party of six arrived at the house of Colonel Washington shortly 
 after midnight, took him prisoner, seized his arms, horses, and carriage, 
 and liberated his slaves. " It is remarkable," said Governor Wise, 
 speaking of this event, " that the only thing of material value which 
 they took, besides his slaves, was the sword of Frederick the Great, 
 which was sent to General Washington. This was taken by Stevens to 
 Brown, and the latter commanded his men with that sword in this 
 fight against the peace and safety of Washington's native State." 
 
 In returning to the Armory, Mr. Alstadtt and his son were taken 
 prisoners, and the slaves on their estate were freed. 
 
 " On entering the Armory," said Washington, " I found some eight or ten 
 persons, who recognised me. We were seated together and conversing, when 
 the old man, whom we found by this time to be Brown, after asking our names, 
 said, ' It is now too dark to write, but when it is sufficiently light, if you have 
 not paper and pens, I will furnish you, and I require that you shall each write 
 to your friends to send a 'negro man apiece as ransom.' " 
 
 At daylight, every person who appeared in the street was taken 
 prisoner, until they numbered between forty and fifty men. The train 
 was also allowed to proceed, Captain Brown himself walking over the 
 bridge with the conductor. Whenever the Virginians asked the object 
 of their captors, the uniform answer was, " To free the slaves." One 
 of the workmen, we are told, on seeing an armed guard at the gate, 
 asked by what authority they had taken possession of the public pre- 
 mises. The guard replied, " By the authority of God Almighty." 
 
VIII. 
 
 SWORD IN HAND. 
 
 THE train that left Harper's Ferry carried a panic to Virginia, Mary- 
 land, and Washington with it. The passengers, taking all the paper 
 they could find, wrote accounts of the insurrection, which they threw 
 from the windows as the train rushed onward. 
 
 At daylight, the news spread in Harper's Ferry that the town was 
 in the hands of Abolitionists and the slaves. A terrible panic ensued. 
 Report magnified the numbers of the invaders forty-fold. The public 
 buildings were already in the hands of the Liberators ; and at the 
 bridges, and the corners of the principal streets, armed sentinels, 
 wrapped in blankets, were seen stationed, or walking up and down. 
 Every man who appeared in the street was forthwith arrested and 
 imprisoned in the Armory. Captain Brown and his sons Oliver and 
 Watson, Stevens and two others, were stationed inside of the Armory 
 grounds; Kagi, with Leeman, Stewart Taylor, Anderson (black), and 
 Copeland (colored), held the lower part of the town and the rifle 
 works ; Cook, Owen Brown, Tidd, Merriam, and Barclay Coppoc, 
 were stationed at the cabins of the Kennedy Farm and the school- 
 house ; while the remainder were posted as guards at the bridges and 
 at the corners of the streets and the public buildings. 
 
 Early in the morning Captain Brown sent an order to the Wager 
 House for breakfast for forty-five men his hostages and company. 
 By eight o'clock the number of Virginians thus held was over sixty 
 persons. 
 
 The first firing after daybreak was by a person named Turner, who 
 fired at the guards as they were ordering two citizens to halt. Mr. 
 Boerley, a grocer, fired the second shot : a bullet from a Sharpe's rifle 
 instantly killed him. A number of Virginians then obtained posses- 
 sion of a room overlooking the Armory gates, and fired at a party of 
 the sentinels. One of the Liberators fell dead, and another Watson 
 Brown retired mortally \vo r.ided. 
 
 M 
 
178 SWOKD IX HAND. 
 
 The panic that these proceedings caused in the town is thus 
 described by a Virginian panegyrist of the people : 
 
 " As the sun rose upon the scene, the reported outrages and the bodies of the 
 murdered men showed that, from whatever source the movement came, it was 
 of a serious nature. Sentinels, armed with rifles and pistols, were seen guarding 
 all the public buildings, threatening death or firing at all who questioned or in- 
 terfered with them ; and the savage audacity with which they issued their orders 
 gave assurance that the buildings were occupied by large bodies of men. Mes- 
 sages were despatched to all the neighboring towns for military assistance, while 
 panic-stricken citizens seized such arms as they could find, and gathered in small 
 bodies on the outskirts of the town, and at points remote from the works. All 
 was confusion and mystery. Even the sight of several armed negroes among 
 the strangers did not at once excite suspicion that it was an anti-slavery move- 
 ment, and the report of one of the captured slaves, confirmatory of the fact, was 
 received with doubt and incredulity. Indeed, so averse was the public mind to 
 the acceptance of this belief, that the suggestion was everywhere received with 
 derision, and every and any other explanation adopted in preference. Some 
 supposed it was a strike among the discontented armorers, or the laborers on a 
 government dam, who had taken this means to obtain redress for real or imagi- 
 nary grievances. Others argued that it was a band of robbers organized in some 
 of the cities for the purpose of robbing the paymaster's strong box, known to con- 
 tain some thousands of public money ; that the armed negroes were whites in 
 disguise ; that the idea of inciting a servile insurrection was a ruse put forth to 
 distract the public mind, and enable them to escape with their booty." 
 
 During all the forenoon the Liberators had full possession of the 
 town. There was a good deal of desultory firing, but no men were 
 reported killed on either side. The prisoners were permitted fre- 
 quently to visit their families, under guard, in order to quiet the 
 apprehension of their wives and children. Had John Brown carried 
 out his original plan, he would now have retreated to the mountains. 
 He could have done so unopposed. But two reasons seem to have 
 induced him to delay : first, to prove to the people that the prisoners 
 would suffer no cruelty while in his hands ; and, secondly although 
 this we infer only the hope of being joined by the slaves when the 
 night set in. 
 
 The delay was fatal to his plans : for, half an hour after midday, 
 the first detachment of militia, one hundred strong, arrived at Harper's 
 Ferry from Charlestown. Their movements are thus described by 
 their Colonel in command : 
 
 " I proceeded on, with the few troops we had under arms, on foot to Harper's 
 Ferry, where we arrived about twelve o'clock. 1, found the citizens in very great 
 excitement. By this time the insurgents occupied all the lower part of the town, 
 had their sentinels posted on all the different streets, and had shot one of our 
 citizens and a negro man who had charge of the depot on the Baltimore and Ohio 
 Railroad. I here formed two companies of the citizens, and placed them under 
 the command of Captain Lawson Botts and Captain John Avis. Their forces 
 wore variously estimated from three hundred to five hundred strong, armed with 
 Sharpe's rifles and revolvers. 
 
 " I detached the Jefferson Guards, under the command of Captain Rowan, and 
 ordered them to cross the Potomac River in boats, about two miles above Harper's 
 Ferry, and inarch down on the Maryland side, and take possession of the bridge, 
 and permit no one to pass. This order was strictly executed. The command 
 
SWORD IN HAND. 17U 
 
 tinder Captain Botts was ordered to pass down the hill below Jefferson's Rock, 
 and take possession of the Shanandoah Bridge, to leave a strong guard at that 
 point, and to march down to the Gait House, in the rear of the Arsenal building, 
 in which we supposed their men were lodged. Captain Avis's command was 
 ordered to take possession of the houses directly in front of the Arsenal. Both. 
 the above commands were promptly executed. By this movement we prevented 
 any escape." 
 
 The first attack was made by the Charlestown Guards at the She- 
 nandoah Bridge. William Thompson, was taken prisoner, unwounded, 
 having just previously returned from the school-house. A companion, 
 was killed at the same time. 
 
 The rifle works were then attacked, and, as only five persons were 
 stationed inside, the building was soon carried. Kagi and his men 
 attempted to cross the river, and four of them succeeded in reaching 
 the rock in the middle of it. As soon as they stood on the rock they 
 renewed the fight, drawing on them the fire of two hundred Virginians, 
 who shot at them from both sides of the river. Yet not one of these 
 brave Liberators cried for quarter, or ceased to keep up the unequal 
 conflict, until the corpse of Kagi, riddled with balls, floated down the 
 river, followed by one of his faithful black comrades, and Leary lay 
 mortally wounded. Copeland, the unwounded survivor, seeing that 
 the fight was over, yielded himself a prisoner ; and, with Leary, who 
 lingered twelves hours in agony, was taken to the town and 
 imprisoned. 
 
 About the same time, or just previous to the taking of the rifle 
 works, William H. Leeman, having probably been despatched by Kagi 
 with a message to Captain Brown, was seen, pursued, and attempted 
 to escape by swimming the river. He was the youngest of the party 
 only twenty-two years of age. A dozen shots were fired at him as he 
 ran ; he partially fell, but rose again, threw away his gun, drew his 
 pistols and tried to shoot, but both of them snapped. He then un- 
 sheathed his bowie-knife, cut off his accoutrements, and plunged into 
 the river. George Schoppart, one of the Virginia militia, waded in 
 after him. Leeman turned round, threw up his hands, and said, 
 "Don't shoot!" Unheeding this cry of surrender, the cowardly Vir- 
 ginian fired his pistol in the young man's face, and blew it into bloody 
 fragments. He then cut off the coat-skirts of the corpse, and found 
 in the pockets a Captain's commission.* 
 
 * Whereas, W. H. Leeman has been nominated a Captain in the Army esta- 
 blished under the Provisional Constitution ; now, therefore, in pursuance of the 
 authority vested in me by said Constitution, we do hereby appoint and com- 
 mission the said W. II. Leeman, Captain. 
 
 Given at the office of the Secretary of War, the 15th day of October, 1859. 
 
 JOHN BROWN, Coinmaniler-in-Chief. 
 
 J. H. KAGI, Secretary of War. 
 
180 SWORD IN HAND. 
 
 While the fight at the rifle works was going on, Captain Avis and 
 his company took possession of the houses around the Armory 
 buildings. As they were doing so, Captain Turner, who had opened 
 the fire in the morning, was shot dead while in the act of raising his 
 rifle. He was killed by a sentinel at the Arsenal gate. About the 
 same time, Dangerfield Newby, a man of color, and a native of the 
 neighbourhood, who still had a wife and nine children in slavery in 
 the vicinity, fell dead as he was bravely fighting for the freedom of 
 his enslaved little ones and their mother. His courage was warmly 
 eulogized by the Liberators who witnessed it. Jim, one of Washing- 
 ton's negroes, was also slain at this period, as he, also, was valiantly 
 asserting his manhood through the muzzle of a rifle.* A free negro, 
 his companion, who had lived on Washington's estate, was shot for the 
 same virtue at the same hour. 
 
 Shortly after the death of Captain Turner, a stray shot killed Mr. 
 Beckman, the Mayor of the town, who foolishly came within range of 
 the rifles, as the Liberators and Virginians were exchanging volleys. 
 In the course of this fight, Oliver Brown was shot, retreated inside of 
 the gate, " spoke no word, but yielded calmly to his fate," and died 
 in a few seconds after his entrance. 
 
 At the request of Mr. Kitzmiller, one of John Brown's hostages, 
 Stevens went out of the Arsenal with him, in order to enable him, if 
 he could do so, to "accommodate matters" for the benefit of the 
 prisoners. Stevens carried a flag of truce ; but yet he was shot down, 
 and seized by the ruffianly militia. 
 
 Thompson was then ordered to prepare for death by a number of 
 young Virginian gentlemen, whose conduct on this occasion is a vivid 
 illustration of the effects of slavery on the manners of men. 
 
 " In 1608, an Indian girl flung herself before her father's tomahawk, 
 on the bosom of an English gentleman ; and the Indian refrained from 
 touching the English traveller, whom his daughter's affection protected. 
 Pochahontas lives to-day, the ideal beauty of Virginia, and her proudest 
 names strive to trace their lineage to the brave Indian girl. That was 
 Pagan Virginia, two centuries and a half ago." Far different is the 
 Virginia of 1859. These Virginians tried to murder Mr. Thompson in 
 the parlor where he was detained a prisoner of war, and were only 
 prevented from doing so by a young lady throwing herself between 
 their rifles and his body. They then dragged him to the bridge, where 
 they killed him in cold blood. They shot him off the bridge ; shot 
 him as he was falling the fearful height of forty feet; and, some 
 
 * " He fought like a tiger," said an eye-witness ; and of Newby, another said, 
 " He fought like the very devil." Negroes can fight. 
 
SWOED IN HAND. 181 
 
 appearance of life still remaining, riddled him with balls as he was 
 seen crawling at the base of the pier. Contrast the Virginian savages 
 of the olden time with the Virginian gentlemen of the present day. 
 The contrast does not stop here. Miss Foulke, the modern Pocha- 
 hontas, when asked why she shielded Mr. Thompson, replied, not that 
 she loathed a murder, but that she " didn't want to have the carpet 
 spoiled!"* 
 
 While these gallant young Virginians were murdering an unarmed 
 prisoner, a party of men from Martinsburg arrived, and, led by a rail- 
 road conductor, attacked the Armory buildings in the rear. Another 
 detachment of the same company attacked the buildings in front 
 Seeing them approach on both sides in overwhelming numbers, Captain 
 Brown retreated to the engine-house, after exchanging volleys with the 
 advancing forces. The company that attacked the rear broke open 
 several windows, which enabled eighteen prisoners to escape. An 
 attempt to carry the engine-house was repulsed with the loss of two 
 men killed and six wounded. The attacking party was fifty strong. 
 
 During the day, three trains had been detained outside of the town ; 
 re-enforcements were constantly arriving from the surrounding 
 counties : the telegraph and railroad tracks were under repair ; and 
 the Cabinet at Washington, the Governor of Virginia, and the City of 
 Baltimore, had ordered troops to hasten on to subdue the Liberators. 
 
 The last militia force, under Captain Simms, from Maryland, arrived 
 at five o'clock in the afternoon ; and, with the other companies already 
 there, completely surrounded the Armory buildings. He arrived in 
 time to prevent another cowardly murder ; for the Virginia gentlemen, 
 afraid to attack the engine-house, and fresh from the murder of 
 Thompson, were exhibiting the nature of their valor by yelling for the 
 blood of the wounded Stevens. 
 
 The united forces were placed under the command of Colonel Baylor. 
 An offer made by Captain Brown to liberate the hostages, if his men 
 were permitted to cross the bridge, was refused by him ; and by this 
 time, as the night had fallen, the firing ceased on both sides. 
 
 The result of the day's fight to the Liberators looked extremely 
 
 * Wendell Phillips, in his great speech recently delivered at New York, in 
 which he so successfully subdued the satraps of Virginia who had assembled to 
 put him down, related another incident of the fight at Harper's Ferry, iu which 
 this Miss Foulke was a participator : 
 
 " When, in the midst of the battle of Harper's Ferry, the Mayor's body lay 
 within range of the rifles of those northern boys, his friends wanted to bring it off, 
 but none of them would go. At last the porter of the hotel said to a lady, If you 
 will stand between me and the rifles, I will go ; and he went. He knew he could 
 trust the gentle sacredness of a woman in the eyes of those brave northern boys. 
 He went and placed the body in a carriage, and, sheltered by her presence, carried 
 it back in safety. That is the difference between Northern blood and Southern." 
 
182 SWORD IN HAND. 
 
 gloomy. In the rivers floated the corpses of Kagi, Leeman, Stewart 
 Taylor, and William Thompson. Imprisoned, and near to death, lay 
 Lewis Leary and Stevens. Copeland was a captive. On the street lay 
 the dead bodies of Hazlitt and Newby. In the engine-house were the 
 remains of Oliver Brown and Dauphin Thompson ; while Watson, the 
 Captain's son, lay without hope of recovery. The only unwounded 
 survivors of the Liberators in the engine-house were Captain Brown, 
 Jerry Anderson, Edwin Coppoc, and Shields Green, the negro. Eight 
 Virginian hostages, and a small number of armed negroes, were with 
 them. 
 
 Where were the others, and what had they been doing ? John E. 
 Cook, in his Confession, thus stated their position : 
 
 " When we returned from the capture of Washington, I stayed a short time in 
 the engine house to get warm, as I was chilled through. After I got warm, 
 Captain Brown ordered me to go with C. P. Tidd, who was to take William H. 
 Leeinan, and I think four slaves with him, in Colonel Washington's large waggon 
 across the river, and to take Terrence Burns and his brother and their slaves 
 prisoners. My orders were to hold Burns and brother as prisoners at their own 
 house, while Tidd and the slaves who accompanied him were to go to Captain 
 Brown's house, and to load in the arms and bring them down to the school-house, 
 stopping for the Burnses and their guard. William H. Leeman remained with 
 me to guard the prisoners. On return of the waggon, in compliance with orders, 
 we all started for the school-house. When we got there, I was to remain, by 
 Captain Brown's orders, with one of the slaves to guard the arms, while C. I*. 
 Tidd, with the other negroes, was to go back for the rest of the arms, and Burns 
 was to be sent with William H. Leeman to Captain Brown at the Armory. It 
 was at this time that William Thompson came up from the Ferry and reported 
 that everything was all right, and then hurried on to overtake William H. Lee- 
 man. A short time after the departure of Tidd, I heard a good deal of firing, and 
 became anxious to know the cause ; but my orders were strict to remain at the 
 school-house and guard the arms, and I obeyed the orders to the letter. About 
 four o'clock in the evening C. T. Tidd came with the second load. I then took 
 one of the negroes with me and started for the Ferry. I met a negro woman a 
 short distance below the school-house, who informed me they were fighting hard 
 at the Ferry. I hurried on till I came to the lock kept by George Hardy, about a 
 mile above the bridge, where I saw his wife and Mrs. Elizabeth Read, who told 
 me that our men were hemmed in, and that several of them had been shot. I 
 expressed my intention to try to get to them, when Mrs. Hardy asked me to try 
 to get her husband released from the engine-house. I told her I would. Mrs. 
 Read begged of me not to go down to the Ferry. She said I would be shot. I 
 told her I must make an attempt to save my comrades, and passed on down the 
 road. A short distance below the lock I met two boys whom I knew, and they 
 told me that our men were all hemmed in by troops from Charlestown, Martins- 
 burg, Hagerstown, ahd Shepherdstown. The negro who was with me had been 
 very much frightened at the first report we received, and as the boys 'told me the 
 troops were coining up the road after us soon, I sent him (the negro) back to 
 inform Tidd, while I hastened down the road. After going down opposite the 
 Ferry, I ascended the mountain in order to get a better view of the position of 
 our opponents. 
 
 " I saw that our party were completely surrounded, and as I saw a body of 
 men on High Street firing down upon them, they were about half a mile distant 
 from me, I thought I would draw their fire upon myself ; I therefore raised my 
 rifle and took the best aim I could and fired. It had the desired effect, for the 
 very instant the party returned it. Several shots were exchanged. The last one 
 they fired at me cut a small limb I had hold of just below my hand, and gave me 
 a fall of about fifteen feet, by which I was severely bruised, and my flesh some- 
 what lacerated. I descended from the mountain and passed down the road to 
 
SWORD IN HAND. 183 
 
 the Crane on the back of the canal, about fifty yards from Mr. W.'s store. I saw 
 several heads behind the door-post looking at me ; I took a position behind the 
 Crane, and cocking my rifle, beckoned to some of them to come to me. After 
 some hesitation, one of them approached, and then another, both of whom knew 
 me. I asked them if there were any armed men in the store. They pledged me 
 their word and honor that there were none. I then passed down to the lock- 
 house, and went down the steps to the lock, where I saw William McGreg, and 
 questioned him in regard to the troops on the other side. He told me that the 
 bridge was filled by our opponents, and that all of our party were dead but seven 
 that two of them were shot while trying to escape across the river. He begged 
 me to leave immediately. After questioning him in regard to the position and 
 number of Ihe troops, and from what sources he received his information, I bade 
 him good night, and started up the road at a rapid walk. I stopped at the house 
 of an Irish family at the foot of the hill, and got a cup of coffee and some eatables. 
 I was informed by them that Captain Brown was dead ; that he had been shot 
 about four o'clock in the afternoon. At the time I believed this report to be true. 
 I went on up to the school-house, and found the shutters and door closed ; called 
 to Tidd and the boys, but received no answer ; cocked my rifle, and then opened 
 the door : it was dark at the time. Some of the goods had been placed in the 
 middle of the floor, and, in the dark, looked like men crouching. I uncocked my 
 rifle, and drew my revolver, and then struck a match ; saw that there was no 
 one in the school-house ; went into the bushes back of the school-house, and 
 called for the boys ; receiving no answer, I went across the road into some pines, 
 and again called, but could find no one. . I then started tip the road towards 
 Captain Brown's house ; I saw a party of men coming down the road ; when 
 within about fifty yards, I ordered them to halt ; they recognised my voice, and 
 called me. I found them to be Charles P. Tidd, Owen Brown, Barclay Coppice, 
 F. J. Merriam, and a negro who belonged to Washington or Alstadtt. They 
 asked me the news, and I gave the information that I received at the canal lock 
 on the road. It seemed that they thought it would be sheer madness in them to 
 attempt a rescue of our comrades, and it was finally determined to return to the 
 house of Captain Brown. I found that Tidd, before leaving the school-house to 
 go for Brown, Coppice, and Merriam, had stationed the negroes in a good position 
 in the timber back of the school-house. On his return, however, they could not 
 be found. We therefore left for Captain Brown's house. Here we got a few 
 articles which would be necessary, and then went over into the timber on the 
 side of the mountain, a few yards beyond the house where the spears were kept. 
 Here we laid down and went to sleep. About three o'clock in the morning one 
 of our party awakened, and found that the negro had left us. He immediately 
 aroused the rest of the party, and we concluded to go to the top of the mountain 
 before light. Here we remained for a few hours, and then passed over to the 
 other side of the mountain, where we waited till dark, and then crossed the valley 
 to the other range beyond." 
 
 The town was filled with militia forces, which guarded every street 
 and approach to the Ferry. There were fifteen hundred men under 
 arms. During the night, Colonel Lee, with ninety United States 
 marines, and two pieces of artillery, arrived in the town, took pos- 
 session of the Armory guard, in immediate proximity to the engine- 
 house. 
 
 The scene in the town is thus described by a correspondent of the 
 Frederick Herald, a Maryland pro-slavery paper : 
 
 " The dead lay on the streets, and in the river, and were subjected to every 
 indignity that a wild and madly excited people could heap upon them. 
 
 " Curses were freely uttered against them, and kicks and blows inflicted upon 
 them. The huge mulatto that shot Mr. Turner was lying in the gutter in front 
 of the Arsenal, with a terrible wound in his neck, and though dead and gory, 
 vengeance was unsatisfied, and many, as they ran sticks into his wound, or beat 
 
184 SWORD IN HAND. 
 
 him with them, wished that he had a thousand lives, that all of them might he- 
 forfeited in expiation and avengement of the foul deed he had committed. 
 
 " Leeman lay upon a rock in the river, and was made a target for the practice 
 of those who had captured Sharpe's rifles in the fray. Shot after shot was fired 
 at him, and when tired of this sport, a man waded out to where he lay, and set 
 him up, in grotesque attitudes, and finally pushed him off, and he floated down 
 the stream. His body, and that of Thompson, which was also in the water, were 
 subsequently brought to shore, and were buried, as were all of them except a few 
 which were taken by some of the physicians. It may be thought that there was 
 cruelty and barbarity in this ; but the state of the public mind had been frenzied 
 by the outrages of these men ; and being outlaws, were regarded as food for 
 carrion birds, and not as human creatures." 
 
IX. 
 
 FALLEN AMONG THIEVES. 
 
 UP to the close of Monday evening, John Brown had successfully 
 maintained his position against the united forces of Virginia and 
 Maryland. With his three surviving followers he was now prepared 
 to oppose the Nation ; and, knowing no fear but the failure to do his 
 duty, he prepared to resist her forces also. 
 
 Hemmed in by an overwhelming force, with the knowledge that, 
 when the morrow's sun should rise, he must fall before its superiority r 
 he never once faltered in his resolution, or exhibited the slightest 
 sign of fear. During the live-long night, said one of the hostages, 
 the voice of Brown was heard continually repeating, Are you awake, 
 men? Are you ready? "And Colonel Washington said that he 
 Brown was the coolest man he ever saw in defying death and 
 danger. With one son dead by his side, and another shot through, 
 he felt the pulse of his dying son with one hand, and held his rifle 
 with the other, and commanded his men with the utmost composure, 
 encouraging them to be firm, and to sell their lives as dearly as 
 possible." * The old man, we are told, spoke freely with Colonel 
 Washington, and referred to his sons. He said he had lost one in 
 Kansas, and two here. He had not pressed them to join in the 
 expedition, but did not regret their loss they had died in a good 
 cause. 
 
 At seven o'clock the preparations for an assault began. Watson 
 Brown lay writhing in agony on the ground, xinable to assist in the 
 defence ; but his undaunted comrades stood fearless and ready to 
 defend their lives, and resist the hireling bands of the oppressor. 
 
 The correspondent of a Baltimore paper thus describes the closing 
 scenes : 
 
 " Shortly after seven o'clock, Lieutenant E. B. Stuart, of the 1st Cavalry, who 
 was acting as aid for Colonel Lee, advanced to parley with the besieged, Samuel 
 Strider, Esq., an old and respectable citizen, bearing a flag of truce. They were 
 
 * Speech of Governor Wise, at Richmond, on his return from Harper's Ferry. 
 
186 FALLEN AMONG THIEVES. 
 
 received at the door by Captain Bro\vn. Lieutenant Stuart demanded an uncon- 
 ditional surrender, only promising them protection from immediate violence, and 
 a trial by law. CaptainBrown refused all terms but those previously demanded, 
 which were substantially, " That they should be permitted to march out with 
 their men and arms, taking their prisoners with them ; that they should proceed 
 unpursued to the second toll-gate, when they would free their prisoners ; the 
 soldiers would then be permitted to pursue them, and they would fight if they 
 could not escape." Of course, this was refused, and Lieiitenant Stuart pressed 
 upon Brown his desperate position, and urged a surrender. The expostiUation, 
 though beyond earshot, was evidently very earnest. At this moment the interest 
 of the scene was most intense. The volunteers were ranged all around the build- 
 ing, cutting off escape in every direction. The marines, divided in two squads, 
 were ready for a dash at the door. 
 
 " Finally, Lieutenant Stuart, having failed to arrange terms with the deter- 
 mined Captain Brown, walked slowly from the door. 
 
 " Immediately the signal for attack was given, and the marines, headed by 
 Major Russell and Lieutenant Green, advanced in two lines on each side of the 
 door. Two powerful fellows sprung between the lines, and with heavy sledge 
 hammers attempted to batter down the door. The door swung and swayed, but 
 appeared to be secured with a rope, the spring of which deadened the effect of 
 the blows. Failing thus, they took hold of a ladder, some forty feet long, and, 
 advancing at a run, brought it with tremendous effect against the door. At the 
 second blow it gave way, one leaf falling inward in a slanting position. The 
 marines immediately advanced to the breach, Major Russell and Lieutenant 
 Green Leading. A marine in front fell. The firing from the interior was rapid 
 and sharp. They fired with deliberate aim, and for a moment the resistance was 
 serious, and desperate enough to excite the spectators to something like a pitch 
 of frenzy. The next moment the marines poured in, the firing ceased, and the 
 work was done. In the assault a private of the marines received a ball in the 
 stomach, and was believed to be fatally wounded. Another received a slight 
 flesh wound." 
 
 One of the Liberators fell dead Jerry Anderson and only three 
 shots were fired ; Brown, Coppoc, and Green each discharging their 
 rifles at the marines on their first assault. 
 
 Before the entrance of the troops, the Liberators ceased firing ; 
 and, therefore, by all the rules of honorable warfare, should now have 
 been sacredly protected from violence. Offering no resistance, every 
 civilized people would have taken them prisoners of war. But not 
 so the assailants in Virginia. 
 
 Before the fight began, John Brown, according to the testimony of 
 Colonel Washington, urged his hostages to seek places of safety to 
 keep themselves out of harm's way ; while the crowd in the streets, 
 judging the Liberators by their own standard of humanity, supposed 
 that they were killing them in cold blood. How did the descendant of 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON reciprocate this consideration? Let his 
 friend and eulogist reply : 
 
 " Colonel Washington, who, through all these trying scenes, had borne himself 
 Avith an intrepid coolness that excited the admiration of the brigand chief him- 
 self, now did important service. The moment the marines entered, he sprang 
 upon one of the engines, told his fellow-prisoners to hold up their hands that 
 they might be recognized as non-combatants, and then rapidly pointed out the 
 outlaws to the vengeance of the soldiers. . . . A soldier, seeing Colonel Wash- 
 ington in an active and prominent position, mistook him for one of the outlaws, 
 levelled his piece, and put his finger on the trigger; but, fortunately remembering 
 
FALLING AMONG THIEVES. 187 
 
 the caution in regard to the prisoners, lie desisted. Shields Green, alias Emperor, 
 a negro M. C. under the future Provisional Government, sneaked among the slave 
 prisoners, hoping thus to escape notice and detection ; but, perceived by Colonel 
 Washington, he was hauled forth to meet his doom." 
 
 Lieutenant Green, as soon as lie saw John Brown, although he was 
 unarmed (according to the testimony of a Virginian), struck him in the 
 face with his sabre, which instantly knocked him down. Not content 
 with this brutality, the Lieutenant repeated the blow several times, and 
 then another soldier ran a bayonet twice into the prostrate body of the 
 old man.* 
 
 The scenes that followed this assault are so discreditable to Virginia 
 nay, to human nature that I dara not trust myself to describe them, 
 but will content myself with quoting the accounts of two ultra pro- 
 slavery journalists. This is the report of the Baltimore American : 
 
 " When the insurgents were bnnight out, some dead and others wounded, they 
 were greeted with execrations, and only the precautions that had been taken 
 saved them from immediate execution. The crowd, nearly every man of which 
 carried a gun, swayed with tumultuous excitement, and cries of ' Shoot them 
 shoot them!' rang from every side. The appearance of the liberated prisoners, 
 all of whom, through the steadiness of the marines, escaped injury, changed the 
 current of feeling, and prolonged cheers took the place of howls and execrations. 
 
 " The lawn in front of the engine-house, after the assault, presented a dreadful 
 sight. Lying on it were two bodies of men killed on the previous day, and found 
 inside the house ; three wounded men, one of them just at the last gasp of life, 
 [Anderson], and two others groaning in pain. One of the dead was Brown's son 
 Oliver. The wounded father and his son Watson were lying on the grass, the 
 old man presenting a gory spectacle. He had a severe bayonet wound in his 
 side, and his face and hair were clotted with blood." 
 
 Porte-Crayon, a Virginia artist and author, and a fiendish historian 
 of the holy Invasion, thus writes of the same infamous scene : 
 
 " The citizen captives, released from their long and trying confinement, hurried 
 out to meet their friends with every demonstration of joy ; while the bloody 
 carcasses of the dead and dying outlaws were dragged into the lawn amidst the 
 howls and execrations of the people. It was a hideous and ghastly spectacle. 
 Some, stark and stiff, with staring eyes and fallen jaws, Avere the dead of yester- 
 day; while others, struck with death wounds, writhed and wallowed in their 
 blood. Two only were brought out unhurt, Coppoc, and Green the negro, and 
 they only escaped immediate death by accident, the soldiers not at once distin- 
 guishing them from the captive citizens and slaves." 
 
 * In the trial of Copeland, the following dialogue occurred : 
 
 MR. SENNOTT. You say that when Brown was down you struck him in the 
 face with your sabre ? 
 
 LIEUT. GREEN. Yes, sir. 
 
 MR. SENNOTT. This was after he was down ? 
 
 LIEUT. GREEN. Yes, sir, he was down. 
 
 MR. SENNOTT. How many times, Lieut. Green, did you strike Brown in the 
 face after he was down ? 
 
 LIEUT. GREEN. Why, sir, he was defending himself with his gun. 
 
 MR. HUNTER. / hope the counsel for the defence will not press such questions 
 as these. 
 
 MR. SENNOTT. Very well, sir. 
 
188 FALLEN AMONG THIEVES. 
 
 There is only one account of the conversation of John Brown, as he 
 lay wounded and bloody on the lawn. It is thus narrated : 
 
 " A short time after Captain Brown was brought out, he revived, and talked 
 earnestly to those about him, defending his course, and avowing that he had 
 done only what was right. He replied to qtiestions siibstantially as follows : 
 
 " ' Are you Captain Brown, of Kansas?' 
 
 "' I am sometimes called so.' 
 
 " ' Are you Osawatomie Brown ?' 
 
 " ' I tried to do my duty there.'" 
 
 These two replies are eminently characteristic so manly and, so 
 modest. He never himself assumed the title of Captain even in Kansas, 
 where titles are as common as proper names. " I tried to do my duty 
 there." The sentence was a key to his whole life. Neither honor nor 
 glory moved him ; the voice of duty was the only one he heard. 
 
 " ' What was your present object ? ' 
 
 " ' To free the slaves from bondage.' 
 
 " ' Were any other persons but those with you now connected with the move- 
 ment?' 
 
 " ' No.' 
 
 " ' Did you expect aid from the North ?' 
 
 " ' No ; there was no one connected with the movement but those who came 
 with me.' 
 
 " ' Did you expect to kill people in order to carry your point ? ' 
 
 " ' I did not wish to do so, but you force us to it.' 
 
 " Various questions of this kind were put to Captain Brown, which he answered 
 clearly and freely, with seeming anxiety to vindicate himself. 
 
 " He urged that he had the town at his mercy ; that he could have burned it, 
 and murdered the inhabitants, but did not ; he had treated the prisoners with 
 courtesy, and complained that he was hunted down like a beast. He spoke of 
 the killing of his son, which he alleged was done while bearing a flag of truce, 
 and seemed very anxious for the safety of his wounded son. His conversation 
 bore the impression of the conviction that whatever he had done to free slaves 
 was right, and that in the warfare in which he was engaged he was entitled to 
 be treated with all the respect of a prisoner of war. 
 
 " He seemed fully convinced that he was badly treated, and had a right to 
 complain. Although at first considered dying, an examination of his wounds 
 proved that they were not necessarily fatal. He expressed a desire to live, and 
 to be tried by his country. In his pockets nearly three hundred dollars were 
 found in gold. Several important papers, found in his possession, were taken 
 charge of by Colonel Lee, on behalf of the government. To another, Brown said 
 it was no part of his purpose to seize the public arms, He had arms and ammu- 
 nition enough reshipped from Kansas. He only intended to make the first 
 demonstration at this point, when he expected to receive a rapid increase of the 
 allies from Abolitionists everywhere settled through Maryland and Virginia, 
 sufficient to take possession of both States, with all of the negroes they could 
 capture. He did not expect to encounter the Federal troops. He had only a 
 general idea as to his course ; it was to be a general south-west course through 
 Virginia, varying as circumstances dictated or required. Mr. Washington reports 
 that Brown was remarkably cool during the assault. He fell under two bayonet 
 wounds one in the groin, and one in the breast and four sabre cuts on the 
 head. During the fight he was supposed to be dead, or doubtless he would have 
 been shot. He was not touched by a ball. The prisoners also state that Brown 
 was courteous to them, and did not ill-use them, and made no abolition speech 
 to them. Coppoc, one of the prisoners, said he did not want to join the expedi- 
 tion, but added, ' Ah, you gentlemen don't know Captain Brown ; when he call? 
 for us we never think of refusing to come.' "* 
 
 * These statements are unworthy of belief. 
 
FALLEN AMONG THIEVES. 189 
 
 Captain Brown, after his pockets were rifled, was carried, with hi 
 dying son, to the Guard House, and Stevens was soon brought and laid 
 down beside them on the floor. No beds were provided for the pri- 
 soners. Coppoc, the brave Iowa boy, thus described, in a letter to their 
 mother, the death of John Brown's sons, and the accommodations pro- 
 vided for them by the Virginians : 
 
 " I was with your sons when they fell. Oliver lived but a very few moments 
 after he was shot. He spoke no word, but yielded calmly to his fate. Watson, 
 was shot at ten o'clock on Monday morning, and died about three o'clock on. 
 Wednesday morning. He suffered much. Though mortally wounded at ten. 
 o'clock, yet at three o'clock Monday afternoon he fought bravely against the men 
 who charged on us. When the enemy were repulsed, and the excitement of the 
 charge was over, he began to sink rapidly. After we were taken prisoners, he 
 was placed in the Guard House with me. He complained of the hardness of the 
 bench on which he was lying. I begged hard for a bed for him, or even a 
 blanket, but could obtain none for him. I took off my coat, and placed it under 
 him, and held his head in my lap, in which position he died, without a groan or 
 .struggle." 
 
X. 
 
 SPOILS OF WAR. 
 
 SOME time after the capture of the Liberators, a negro, held in bondage 
 by Colonel Washington, reported that Captain Cook was in the moun- 
 tains, only three miles off. Scouting parties went out in search of 
 him, but all of them returned unsuccessful. From this time until the 
 day of John Brown's death, the whole country around Harper's Ferry 
 and Charlestown was kept in a condition of perpetual alarm. Rumors 
 of invasion, and rescue, and murder letters written by lovers of fun 
 in the North, for the purpose of frightening the authorities " mys- 
 terious Roman lights seen shooting up at night among the mountains ' ' 
 and cows of bellicose propensities, who rebelliously refused to advance 
 and give the countersign ; all aided to exhibit the exceeding cowardice 
 of Virginia, and how dastardly a spirit her criminal institution has 
 created among a people once brave and chivalrous. The invasion of 
 John Brown, if it had done no more than effect this object, was an 
 eminent success; for, more effectually than ever all the pens and 
 tongues of eloquent champions of Freedom had done, it tore away the 
 veil of decency and courage which hitherto had hidden the enormities 
 of Slavery. 
 
 All Virginia was in alarm. Her militia forces were everywhere 
 called out, and all business for the time was suspended. They who had 
 boasted of the stability of slave society, now acknowledged that its 
 foundations lay in fire, whose irruption they daily feared would over- 
 whelm them with ruin. 
 
 COMPLICITY OF SLAVES. 
 
 At "Washington City the military force w r as increased, and every pre- 
 caution taken to keep the negroes down. A telegraphic despatch from 
 the Capital on the 18th the day when John Brown was captured 
 thus portrays their fears and the reason for them : 
 
 " It appears, from intelligence received here to-day from various portions of 
 Virginia and Mary-land, that a general stampede of slaves lias taken place. There 
 must have been an understanding of some nature among them in reference to 
 this affair, for in numerous instances so I am informed by the slaveholders 
 since this insurrection they have found it almost impossible to control them. 
 The slaves were in many instances insolent to their masters, and even refused to 
 work. It is believed by the slaveholders, since this insurrection, that the slaves 
 were aware of it, but were afraid to co-operate. This view of the case is corrobo- 
 rated by Brown and other leaders." 
 
SPOILS OF WAR. 191 
 
 Large numbers of negroes were also reported to have left the neigh- 
 borhood of Hagerston, Maryland, and Alexandria, Virginia. A re- 
 porter of a pro-slavery paper gives additional information with respect 
 to the " complicity " of the slaves : 
 
 " The inhabitants are not by any means easy in their minds as to the temper 
 of the slaves and free negroes among them. Col. Washington, who was one of 
 Old Brown's hostages, does not spend his nights at home, and we are assured 
 that many other wealthy slave owners, whose residences lie at a distance from 
 those of their neighbours, also regard it prudent to lodge elsewhere for the 
 present ; and yet the personal courage of these gentlemen cannot be questioned. 
 It has been ascertained, reports to the contrary notwithstanding, that many 
 negroes in the neighborhood, who had been tampered with by Cook and others 
 of Brown's gang, had at least cognizance of the plans of the marauders, if they 
 did not sympathize with them. On the night that Col. Washington was taken, 
 a free negro, who has a wife on the Colonel's plantation, was spending the night 
 there, and although he might in half-an-hour have raised an alarm at Charles- 
 town, only two or three miles distant, he refrained from doing so, and the first 
 news of the affair was brought to that village by citizens of Harper's Ferry the 
 next day. There is no doubt that Washington's negro coachman Jim, who was 
 chased into the river by citizens and drowned, had joined the rebels with a good 
 will. A pistol was found on him, and he had his pockets filled with ball cart- 
 ridges when he was fished out of the river. On Sunday evening, before the 
 attack, a gentleman on the way to Harper's Ferry was stopped in a lonely place, 
 three or four miles distant, by a white man, carrying a rifle, and two negroes, 
 armed with axes, who told him there was something going on at Harper's Ferry, 
 and he must turn back. He did so, and the men remained standing there until 
 he was out of sight. Who those parties were, or what their connection with 
 Brown's party, it still a mystery. It is certain that Brown's party was consider- 
 ably larger when the attack was made than he has acknowledged, or was at first 
 supposed. There must have been at least thirty men." 
 
 The Richmond Examiner found yet another trace of slave " conspiracy." 
 
 It says : 
 
 " We are informed by a highly respectable gentleman of this city that he saw, 
 yesterday morning, a letter which Mr. Samuel Gordon took from his negro, 
 which was addressed to a negro from Baltimore, saying that he (the recipient of 
 the letter) was expected in Baltimore by the 13th of this month, that a post had 
 been assigned him, and that he was expected to be there by that time. The letter 
 concluded in these words : ' And you know what will happen next day.' " 
 
 These few and faint indications of sympathy among the slaves struck 
 terror to the hearts of the Virginians. What would they have done, 
 had they known the terrible facts that now lie buried with the corpse 
 of John Brown ? Not buried eternally, however ; for they will rise 
 again with the slaves. 
 
 CAPTURE OF THE ARMS. 
 
 The Independent Grays of Baltimore, who went out in search of 
 Cook for the Virginians did not dare to venture beyond the parade 
 ground returned in two hours with the arms and ammunition found 
 in the school house. The brave exploit by which they 'captured these 
 arms, which was the most courageous action of the sober militia forces 
 for the company of the editor, Albertus, by their own confession, 
 were intoxicated when they charged on the Armory buildings is thus 
 
192 
 
 SPOILS OF WAS. 
 
 described by a native historian, worthy of the heroes whose valor he 
 extols : 
 
 FEARFUL CHARGE ON AN ARMED LOG CABIN. 
 
 " The gallant Grays proceeded at ' double-quick ' time along a constantly 
 ascending and rocky road, to execute the order. About a mile from the Ferry 
 they arrived within sight of the school-house, a cabin situated in a gloomy 
 hollow, and, apparently, closely barricaded. Halting for a few moments, the 
 Grays formed into platoons, under the respective commands of Lieuts. Simpson 
 and Kerchner, and, at a given signal, dashing down the declivity of the road, and 
 with the butt-ends of their muskets, battered in the doors and windows, through 
 which they entered. The cabin teas entirely empty of occupants. Against the 
 front door were piled sixteen long and heavy boxes, one of which, upon being 
 burst open, was found to contain ten newly-finished Sharpe's breech- loading rifles, 
 evidently fresh from the hands of their maker. There was also discovered one 
 large square box, exceedingly heavy, which was suffered to remain unopened ; a 
 large and heavy black trunk, a box filled with bayonets and sabres, and several 
 boxes of rifle cartridges and ammunition. There were in all twenty-one boxes, 
 several of which were filled with Maynard's large-sized patent revolvers, with 
 powder flasks accompanying. The room was littered with Sharpe's rifles, revol- 
 vers, and pikes, evidently distributed with a view to their immediate use, either 
 for the purpose of defence or an aggressive action. After satisfying themselves 
 that the traitors had fled, the gallant Grays proceeded to possess themselves 
 each man of a rifle and a pair of revolvers, the remainder being placed, together 
 with a large number of pikes, &c., upon a large new waggon (purchased a few 
 days before, by Smith, or Captain Brown, as he is now known), to which the 
 captors harnessed a pair of fine horses they caught grazing in the enclosure, and 
 conveyed their valuable prize into town, where they were received with loud 
 cheers by the citizens and military. 
 
 " The captured boxes were placed for safe keeping in the Arsenal of the United 
 States, though the Grays asserted an exclusive right to their possession, as the 
 lawful prize of the captors." 
 
 The stores found in this cabin are thus classified : 
 
 102 Sharpe's Rifles. 
 12 Mass. Arms Company's Pistols, j 
 56 Ditto Powder Flasks. 
 4 Large Powder Flasks. 
 10 Kegs Gunpowder. 
 23,000 Percussion Rifle Caps. 
 100,000 Percussion Pistol Caps. 
 13,000 Sharpe'sRifleCartridges slightly 
 
 damaged by water. 
 160 Sharpe's Primers. 
 14 Ibs. Lead Balls. 
 1 Old Percussion Pistol. 
 1 Major General's Sword. 
 55 Old Bayonets. 
 12 Old Artillery Swords. 
 483 Pikes. 
 
 150 Broken Handles for Pikes. 
 16 Picks. 
 40 Shovels. 
 
 [The railroad way bill called for several 
 dozen, showing that more were to 
 come.] 
 
 1 Tin Powder Case. 
 
 1 Sack Coat. 
 
 1 Pair Cloth Pants. 
 
 1 Pair Linen Pants. 
 
 Canvas for Tent. 
 1 Old Porte-monnaie. 
 625 Envelopes. 
 1 Pocket Map of Kentucky. 
 
 1 Pocket Map of Delaware. 
 3 Gross Steel Pens. 
 
 5 Inkstands. 
 21 Lead Pencils. 
 34 Pen Holders. 
 
 2 Boxes Wafers. 
 
 47 Small Blank Books. 
 
 2 Papers Pins. 
 
 5 Pocket Small Tooth Combs.* 
 
 1 Ball Hemp Twine. 
 
 1 Ball Cotton Twine. 
 50 Leather Water Caps. ' 
 
 1 Emery. 
 
 2 Yards Cotton Flannel. 
 
 1 Roll Sticking Plaster for Wounds. 
 12 Reams Cartridge Paper. 
 
 2 Bottles Medicine. 
 1 Large Trunk. 
 
 1 Horse Waggon. 
 
 * The discovery of these " deadly" implements of domestic warfare, it has been 
 argued, proved incontestably the intention of the Liberators to make war upon 
 the " peculiar institutions " of Virginia. 
 
SPOILS OF WAB. 193 
 
 JOHN BROWN'S CARPET BAG. 
 
 The next military movement must also be described in the glowing 
 language of the friends of the fearless heroes who executed it : 
 
 " The excitement attending this clever exploit (the charge on the deserted 
 school-house) had scarcely subsided, when another alarm was given, that the 
 notorious insurgent leader, Cook, had a few minutes before been seen upon the 
 mountains on the Maryland shore. A scouting party, consisting of several mtm- 
 bers of the Grays, (the only foreign corps in the town, quite or nearly all of those 
 present in the forenoon having left for their homes,) some score or more of volun- 
 teers, and about twenty United States marines, under command of Capt. J. E. B. 
 Stewart, was instantly formed, and proceeded rapidly in pursuit. Following the 
 same path which the Grays had pursued in making their discoveries, and which 
 is known as the ' County Koad," leading into the heart of Washington Co., Md., 
 the party continued their course for a distance of four and-a-half miles from the 
 Ferry, until they reached the farm and house bought and occupied by Brown, 
 under the name of John Smith. The dwelling, a log-house, containing two un- 
 paved basement rooms, used apparently for storage, and in which were several 
 empty gun boxes ; two rooms and a pantry upon the second floor ; and one large 
 attic room, in which were six husk mattresses was discovered to be unoccupied, 
 save by a huge savage-looking mastiff, tied with a rope to the railing of a unall 
 piazza outside the house ; but there was abundant evidence of its recent hurried 
 vacation. The floors of all the rooms were littered with books, papers, documents, 
 and wearing apparel of several persons, hastily snatched from eight or ten trunks 
 and an equal number of valises and coarse carpet bags strewn around, the fasten- 
 ings of all of which had been forcibly broken, as if their violators were too much 
 pressed for time to adopt the tardier method of entrance by looking up keys. In 
 the pantry, which appeared to have been used for kitchen purposes, besides an 
 almost new cooking stove, and an abundance of tin utensils, were, two barrels of 
 flour, a large quantity of sausage meat and cured hams, together with several 
 pounds of butter, lard, &c. The fire was yet smouldering in the stove, and the 
 water in the boilers was quite hot at the time of the entrance. But the most 
 valuable discovery was a trunk belonging to Captain Brown, containing a great 
 number of highly important papers, documents, plans, and letters from private 
 individuals throughout the Union all revealing the existence of an extensive 
 and thoroughly organi/ed conspiracy. 
 
 " The telegraphic account of this ' clever exploit ' stated that they found a large 
 quantity of blankets, boots, shoes, clothes, tents, and 1,500 pikes with large blades 
 affixed. They also discovered a carpet bag containing 'documents throwing 
 much light on the affair, printed constitutions and by-laws of an organization 
 showing or indicating ramifications in various States of the Union."' 
 
 In this carpet bag were found various unimportant notes from pro- 
 minent persons in different States ; letters to " J. Henrie," meaning 
 Kagi; and "Friend Isaac," meaning Captain Brown referring chiefly 
 to the old man's Kansas work; brief entries in journals of subscriptions 
 received, and journeys made, and hardships endured in Iowa, the East- 
 ern States, and Canada ; copies of the Constitution, and of books of 
 military tactics, with numerous receipts and bills for stock and pro- 
 visions purchased for the war of liberation. 
 
 In the mean time, now that the fight was over, the valiant Virginians 
 flocked to Harper's Ferry. Governor Wise came down by the midday 
 train, and, after ridiculing the people, visited the prisoners. The in- 
 terview lasted several hours. None but the bitterest enemies of the 
 Liberators were present during this confronting of the representatives 
 
 N 
 
194 SPOILS OF WAR . 
 
 of the North and South. The most graphic narrative is written by a 
 Virginia artist, who stands high in the estimation of her people, and 
 is regarded as a true representative of her chivalry. The character of 
 her gentry, therefore, may be judged from the spirit of his description : 
 
 " The midday train of Tuesday brought Governor Wise, accompanied by several 
 hundred men from Richmond, Alexandria, Baltimore, and elsewhere. There 
 was real disappointment to find that the fight was all over, and when the 
 Governor was informed of the mere handful of men who had created all this 
 bobbery, he boiled over. In his wrath he said some good things. Indeed, it 
 was universally seen and felt that Governor Wise was just the man for such an 
 occasion. 
 
 "Accompanied by Andrew Hunter, Esq., a distinguished lawyer of Jefferson 
 County, the Governor presently repaired to the guard room where the two 
 wounded prisoners lay, and there had a protracted and interesting conversation 
 with the chief of the outlaws. It had more the character of a conversation than 
 a legal examination, for the Governor treated the wounded man with a stately 
 courtesy that evidently surprised and affected him. Brown was lying upon the 
 floor with his feet to the fire and his head propped upon pillows on the back of a 
 chair. His hair was a mass of clotted gore, so that I could not distinguish the 
 original color ; his eye a pale blue or gray ; nose, Roman ; and beard, originally 
 sandy, was white and blood-stained. His speech was frequently interrupted by- 
 deep groans, not awakening sympathy like those of the young soldier dying in 
 the adjacent office, but reminding one of the agonized growl of a ferocious 
 beast. 
 
 " A few feet from the leader lay Stevens, a fine-looking fellow, quiet, not in 
 pain apparently, and conversing in a voice as full and natural as if he were 
 unhurt. However, his hands lay folded upon his breast in a child-like, helpless 
 way a position that I observed was assumed by all those who had died or were 
 dying of their wounds. Only those who were shot stone dead lay as they fell. 
 
 " Brown was frank and communicative, answering all questions without 
 reserve, except such as might implicate his immediate associates not yet killed 
 or taken. I append some extracts from notes taken during the conversation by 
 Mr. Hunter : 
 
 " Brown avers that the small pamphlet, many copies of which were found on 
 the persons of the slain, and entitled " Provisional Constitution and Ordinances 
 for the People of the United States," was prepared principally by himself, and 
 adopted at a convention of Abolitionists held about two years ago at Chatham, 
 Canada West, where it was printed. That, under its provisions, he was appointed, 
 ' Commander-in-Chief.' His two sons and Stevens were each captains, and 
 Coppoc a lieutenant. They each had their commissions, issued by himself. 
 
 " He avers that the whole number operating under this organization was but 
 twenty-two, each of whom had taken the oath required by Article XLVIII. ; but 
 he confidently expected large reinforcements from Virginia, Kentucky, Maryland^ 
 North and South Carolina, and other Slave States, besides the Free States- 
 taking it for granted that it was only necessary to seize the public arms and 
 place them in the hands of the negroes and non-slaveholders to recruit his forces 
 indefinitely. In this calculation he reluctantly and indirectly admitted that he 
 had been entirely disappointed. 
 
 " Concluding that the prisoner must be seriously weakened by his vigils and 
 his wound?, the Governor ordered some refreshment to be given him, and 
 appointing a meeting on the following day, took his leave. As some of us 
 lingered, the old man recurred again to his sons, of whom he had spoken several 
 times, asking if we were sure they were both dead. He was assured that it 
 
 " ' How many bodies did you take from the engine house ? ' he asked. 
 
 " He was told three. 
 
 " ' Then,' said he, quickly, ' they are not both dead ; there were three dead 
 bodies there last night. Gentlemen, my son is doubtless living, and in your 
 power. I will ask for him what I would not ask for myself ; let him have kind 
 treatment, for he is as pure and noble-hearted a youth as ever breathed the 
 breath of life.' 
 
SPOILS OP WAR, 195 
 
 " There was some show of human feeling in the old felon at last, but his prayer 
 was vain. Both his boys lay stark and bloody by the Armory wall. 
 
 "I had observed Stevens holding a small packet in his folded hands, and feeling 
 some curiosity in regard to it, it was handed to me. It contained miniatures of 
 his sisters ; one, a sweet girlish face of about fourteen, the other more mature, 
 but pretty. What strange reflections these incidents awakened ! This old man 
 craves a boon for his noble boys which neither pain nor death can bring him to 
 ask for himself. The other clasps to his dying breast a remembrance of his 
 gentle sisters and his father's elm-shaded cottage, far away in peaceful Con- 
 necticut. Is this pity that thus dims my eyes ? a rising sympathy that struggles 
 in my heart? Away with puling weakness. Has not this hoary villain, that 
 prates about his sons, been for months a deliberate plotter against the lives and 
 happiness of thousands ? Did he not train these very boys to aid him in his 
 attempt to waste, with fire and sword, the fairest land under the cope of heaven ! 
 And this bloody dupe his follower how many men's sisters did he propose to 
 murder? how many social hearths to qiiench in blood ? For what use were those 
 hundreds of deadly rifles, those loads of pikes, those bundles of incendiary fagots ? 
 A felon's death! Almighty Providence! is man indeed so weak that he can 
 inflict no more ? " 
 
 The man whom God had anointed, and the man whom the people 
 had appointed, both were too conscious of their earthly position, as 
 they stood in the guard house of Harper's Ferry, to feel that either 
 could do the other a favor. The assertion that John Brown was 
 affected by the conduct of Governor Wise, is one that none but an 
 unheroic pen could make. Coarse brutality and stately courtesy were 
 alike indifferent to the venerable warrior. Conscious of having tried 
 to do his duty, he serenely awaited his pre-appointed fate. What was 
 it to him that he would be brutally accused of having sought to lay 
 "waste, with fire and sword, the fairest land under the cope of heaven?' 1 
 of having proposed to murder innocent women, or having conspired 
 against the lives and happiness of thousands ? Knowing that he had 
 obeyed the Divine behest only by listening to the poor that cried ; that 
 he had done unto others as he would have desired that others should 
 have done unto him ; he was neither to be awed into fear nor softened 
 into gratitude to the enemies of his God : and thus he aroused, by the 
 modest manliness of his demeanor, the astonishment almost the vene- 
 ration of the able but distorted intellect who stood beside him. 
 When Governor Wise, on his return to Richmond, appeared before the 
 people, he thus spoke of the wounded Liberator : 
 
 " They are themselves mistaken who take him to be a madman. He is a 
 bundle of the best nerves I ever saw, cut and thrust, and bleeding and in bonds. 
 He is a man of clear head, of courage, fortitude, and simple ingenuousness. He 
 is cool, collected, and indomitable, and it is but just to him to say, that he was 
 humane to his prisoners, as attested to me by Col. Washington and Mr. Mills, 
 and he inspired me with great trust in his integrity, as a man of truth. He is a 
 fanatic, vain and garrulous, but firm, and truthful, and intelligent. His men, 
 too, who survive, except the free negroes with him, are like him. He professes 
 to be a Christian, in communion with the Congregational Church of the North, 
 and openly preaches his purpose of universal emancipation : and the negroes 
 themselves were to be the agents, by means of arm?, led on by white com- 
 manders. When Col. Washington was taken, his watch, and plate, and jewels, 
 
196 SPOILS OF WAR. 
 
 and money were demanded, to create what they call a " safety fund,' to compen- 
 sate the liberators for the trouble and expense of taking away his slaves. This, 
 by a law, was to be done with all slaveholders. Washington, of course, refused 
 to deliver up anything ; and it is remarkable that the only thing of material 
 value which they took, besides his slaves, was the sword of Frederick the Great, 
 which was sent to General Washington. This was taken by Stevens to Brown, 
 and the latter commanded his men with that sword in this fight against the 
 peace and safety of Washington's native State ! He promised Col. Washington 
 to return it to him when he was done with it. And Col. Washington says that 
 he, Brown, was the coolest and firmest man he ever saw in defying danger and 
 death. With one son dead by his side, and another shot through, he lelt the 
 pulse of his dying son with one hand and held his rifle with the other, and com- 
 manded his men with the utmost composure, encouraging them to be firm, and 
 to sell their lives as dearly as they could." 
 
XL 
 
 THE POLITICAL INQUISITORS. 
 
 AS soon as it was known that John Brown was not dead, and that 
 three of his followers had been safely protected from the fury of the 
 populace, four political inquisitors hastened down to see him ; to ex- 
 tort, if possible, from the lips of the dying chief, or the fears or hopes 
 of the younger captives, confessions that might criminally implicate 
 the champions or friends of the Republican party. From the South 
 came Governor Wise and Senator Mason of Virginia ; from the North, 
 a United States Marshal named Johnson, and Mr. Vallandingham, a 
 member of Congress from Ohio. 
 
 The result of these visits was one of John Brown's greatest victories. 
 From the three published reports of it, carefully compared and cor- 
 rected, we give the conversation that ensued between the wonnded 
 insurrectionists and their cowardly political inquisitors. 
 
 Never before, in^the United States, did a recorded conversation pro- 
 duce so sudden and universal a change of opinion. Before its publi- 
 cation, some, who subsequently eulogized John Brown with fervor and 
 surpassing eloquence, as well as the great body of the press and people 
 who knew not the man, lamented that he should have gone insane, 
 never doubting that he was a maniac ; while after it, from every corner 
 of the land came words of wonder, of praise rising to worship, and of 
 gratitude mingling with sincerest prayers for the holy old hero. Enemies 
 and friends were equally amazed at the carriage and sayings of the 
 wounded warrior. " During his conversation," wrote a Southern pro- 
 slavery reporter to a Southern pro-slavery paper, u no signs of weak- 
 ness were exhibited. In the midst of enemies whose home he had 
 invaded, wounded and a prisoner, surrounded by a small army of 
 officials and a more desperate army of angry men, with the gallows 
 staring him full in the face, Brown lay on the floor ; and, in reply to 
 every question, gave answers that betokened the spirit that animated 
 him. The language of Governor Wise well expresses his boldness when 
 
198 THE POLITICAL INQUISITORS. 
 
 he said, ' He is the gamest man I ever saw.' I believe the worthy 
 Executive had hardly expected to see a man so act in such a trying 
 moment." 
 
 " Such a word as insane" said an eloquent speaker, unconsciously 
 uttering the opinion of the people of the I^orth, " is a mere trope with 
 those, who persist in using it ; and I have no doubt that many of them 
 in silence, have already retracted their words. Read his admirable 
 answers to Mason and others. How they are dwarfed and defeated by 
 the contrast ! On the one side, half -brutish, half-timid questioning ; 
 on the other, Truth, clear as lightning, crashing into their obscene 
 temples. They are made to stand as Pilate or Gesler and the Inquisi- 
 tion. Probably all the speeches of all the men whom Massachusetts 
 has sent to Congress for the last few years do not match, for manly 
 directness and force and for simple truth, the few casual remarks of 
 John Brown on the floor of the Harper's Ferry engine house that man 
 whom you are about to send to the other world, though not to represent 
 you there. He is too fair a specimen of a man to represent the like 
 of us. Who, then, were his constituents? Read his words under- 
 standingly, and you will find out. In his case there is no idle eloquence. 
 Truth is the inspirer and earnestness the polisher of his sentences. He 
 could afford the loss of his Sharpe's rifles while he retained the faculty 
 of speech a rifle of far straighter sight and longer range." 
 
 It is seldom that men of views so opposite meet together, either in 
 the events themselves, or in their subsequent views of those events, as 
 met at Harper's Ferry, when Captain John Brown and Senator Mason 
 the abolitionist and the extraditionist the slave liberator in virtue 
 of the higher law, and the slaveholding author of^ the fugitive slave 
 law gazed at each other face to face ; or when the Baltimore American 
 and the hermit of Concord united to do honor to the venerable invader 
 of Virginia ! The reader will notice, also, how the two earnest men 
 respected each other ; how Mason, the " fanatic," unlike his compro- 
 mising compeer, was courteous to the old man, fearless and almost 
 reverential in his questionings. 
 
 THE CONVERSATION. 
 
 SENATOR MASON. Can you tell us, at least, who furnished money for your 
 expedition ? 
 
 CAPT. BROWX. I furnished most of it myself. I cannot implicate others. 
 It is by my own folly that I have been token. I could easily have saved myself 
 from it if I had exercised my own better judgment, rather than yielded to my 
 feelings. I 'should have gone away, but I had thirty odd prisoners, whose wives 
 and daughters were in tears for their safety, and I felt for them. Besides, I 
 wanted to allay the fears of those who believed we came here to burn and kill. 
 For this reason I allowed the train to pass the bridge, and gave them full liberty 
 to pass on. I did it only to spare the feelings of those passengers and their 
 
THE POLITICAL INQUISITORS. 199 
 
 families, and to allay the apprehension that you had got here in your vicinity a 
 tand of men who had no regard for life and property, nor any feeling of 
 humanity. 
 
 SENATOR M. But you killed some people passing along the streets quietly. 
 
 CAPT. B. Well, sir, if there was anything of that kind done, it was without 
 my knowledge. Your own citizens, who were my prisoners, will tell you that 
 very possible means were taken to prevent it. I did not allow my men to fire, 
 or even to return flre, when there was danger of killing those we regarded as 
 innocent persons, if I could help it. They will tell you that we allowed our- 
 selves to be fired at repeatedly, and did not return it. 
 
 A BYSTANDER. That is not so. You killed an unarmed man at the corner 
 of the house, over there (at the water tank), and another besides. 
 
 CAPT. B. See here, my friend ; it is useless to dispute or contradict the report 
 of your own neighbors, who were my prisoners. 
 
 SENATOR M. If you would tell us who sent you here, who provided the 
 means, that would be information of some value. 
 
 CAPT. B. I will answer freely and faithfully about what concerns myself I 
 will answer anything I can with honor, but not about others. 
 
 MR. VALLANDINGHAM (member of Congress from Ohio, who had just 
 entered). Mr. Brown, who sent you here ? 
 
 CAPT. B. No man sent me here ; it was my own prompting, and that of my 
 Maker, or that of the devil, whichever you please to ascribe it to. I acknowledge 
 .no master in human form. 
 
 ME. V. Did you get up the expedition yourself ? 
 
 CAPT. B. I did. 
 
 MR. V. Did you get up this document called a constitution ? 
 
 CAPT. B. I did. They are a constitution and ordinances of my own con- 
 triving and getting up. 
 
 MR. V. How long have you been engaged in this business ? 
 
 CAPT. B. From the breaking out of the difficulties in Kansas. Four of my 
 sons had gone there to settle, and they induced me to go. I did not go there to 
 settle, but because of the difficulties. 
 
 SENATOR M. How many are engaged in this movement? I ask these 
 questions for your own safety. 
 
 CAPT. B. Any questions that I can honorably answer,! will; not otherwise. 
 So far as I am myself concerned, I have told everything truthfully. I value my 
 word, sir. 
 
 SEXATOR M. What was your object in coming? 
 
 CAPT. B. We came to free the slaves, and only that. 
 
 A YOUNG MAN (in the uniform of a volunteer company) .How many men 
 in all had you ? 
 
 CAPT. B. I came to Virginia with eighteen men besides myself. 
 
 VOLUNTEER. What in the world did you suppose you could do here in 
 Virginia with that amount of men ? 
 
 CAPT. B. Young man, I don't wish to discuss that question here. 
 
 VOLUNTEER. You could not do anything. 
 
 CAPT. B. Well, perhaps your ideas and mine, on military subjects, would 
 differ materially. 
 
 SENATOR M. How do you justify your acts ? 
 
 CAPT. B. I think, my friend, you are guilty of a great wrong against God and 
 humanity I say it without wishing to be offensive and it would be perfectly 
 right for any one to interfere with you so far as to free those you wilfully and 
 wickedly hold in bondage. I do not say this insultingly. 
 
 SENATOR M. I understand that. 
 
 CAPT. B. I think I did right, and that others will do right who interfere with 
 jou, at any time, and all times. I hold that the golden rule, " Do unto others 
 as you would that others should do unto you," applies to all who would help 
 others to gain their liberty. 
 
 LIEUTENANT STUART. But you don't believe in the Bible? 
 
 CAPT. B. Certainly I do. 
 
 MR. V. Where did your men come from ? Did some of them come from 
 Ohio? 
 
 CAPT. B. Some of them. 
 
200 THE POLITICAL INQUISITORS. 
 
 MR. V. From the Western Reserve, of course! None came from Southern 
 Ohio? 
 
 CAPT. B. Oh, yes. I believe one came from Steiibenville, down not far from 
 Wheeling. 
 
 MR. V. Have you been in Ohio this Bummer? 
 
 CAPT. B. Yes, sir. 
 
 3IR.V. How lately? 
 
 CAPT. B. I passed through to Pittsburg on my way, in June. 
 
 Mr. V. Were you at any county or state fair there ? 
 
 CAPT. B. I was not there since June. 
 
 SENATOR M. Did you consider this a military organization in this paper ? 
 (Showing a copy of John Brown's constitution and ordinance.) I have not yet 
 read it. 
 
 CAPT. B. I did in some measure. I wish you would give that paper your 
 close attention. 
 
 SENATOR M. You considered yourself the commauder-in-chief of this pro- 
 visional military force ? 
 
 CAPT. B. I was chosen, agreeably to the ordinance of a certain document, 
 commander-in-chief of that force. 
 
 SENATOR M. What wages did you offer ? 
 
 CAPT. B. None. 
 
 LIEUT. S. " The wages of sin is death." 
 
 CAPT. B. I would not have made such a remark to you, if you had been a 
 prisoner and wounded in my hands. 
 
 BYSTANDER. Did you not promise a negro in Gettysburg twenty dollars a 
 month ? 
 
 CAPT. B. I did not. 
 
 BYSTANDER. He says you did. 
 
 MR. V. Were you ever in Dayton, Ohio ? 
 
 CAPT. B. Yes, I must have been. 
 
 MR. V. This summer ? 
 
 CAPT. B. No ; a year or two since. 
 
 SENATOR M. Does this talking annoy you at all? 
 
 CAPT B. Not in the least. 
 
 Mr. V. Have you lived long in Ohio? 
 
 CAPT. B. I went there in 1805. I lived in Summit County, which was then 
 Trumbull County. My native place is York State. 
 
 MR. V. Do you recollect a man in Ohio named Brown, a noted counterfeiter ? 
 
 CAPT. B. I do. I knew him from a boy. His father was Henry Brown, of 
 Irish or Scotch descent. The family was very low. 
 
 MR. V. Have you ever been in Portage County ? 
 
 CAPT. B. I was there in June last. 
 
 MR. V. When in Cleveland, did you attend the Fugitive Slave Law Conven- 
 tion there? 
 
 CAPT. B. 3fo. I was there about the time of the sitting of the court to try 
 the Oberlin rescuers. I spoke there, publicly, on that siibject. I spoke on the 
 fugitive slave law, and my own rescue. Of course, so far as I had any influence 
 at all, I was disposed to justify the Oberlin people for rescuing the slave, because 
 I have myself forcibly taken slaves from bondage. I was concerned in taking 
 eleven slaves from Missouri to Canada, last winter. I think that I spoke in 
 Cleveland before the Convention. I do not know that I had any conversation 
 with any of the Oberlin rescuers. I was sick part of the time I was in Ohio. I 
 had the ague. I w r as part of the time in Ashtabula County. 
 
 MR. V. Did you see anything of Joshua R. Giddings there ? 
 
 CAPT. B. I did meet him. 
 
 MR. V. Did you converse with him ? 
 
 CAPT. B. I did. I would not tell you, of course, anything that would impli- 
 cate Mr. Giddings ; but I certainly met with him, and had a conversation with 
 him. 
 
 MR. V. About that rescue case ? 
 
 CAPT. B. Yes, I did. I heard him express his opinion upon it very freely 
 and frankly. 
 
 MR. V. Justifying it? 
 
THE POLITICAL INQUISITORS. 201 
 
 CAPT. B. Yes, Sir. I do not compromise him, certainly, in saying that. 
 
 A BYSTANDER. Did you go out to Kansas under the auspices of the Emigrant 
 Aid Society? 
 
 CAPT. B. No, sir ; I went out under the auspices of John Brown, and nobody 
 else. 
 
 MB. V. Will you answer this? Did you talk to Giddings about your expedi- 
 tion here ? 
 
 CAPT. B. No, sir ! I won't answer that, because a denial of it I would not 
 make ; and to make an affidavit of it, I should be a great dunce. 
 
 MB. V. Have you had any correspondence with parties at the North on the 
 subject of this movement? 
 
 CAPT. B. I have had no correspondence.* 
 
 BYSTANDEB. Do you consider this a religious movement? 
 
 CAPT. B. It is, in my opinion, the greatest service a man can render to his 
 God. 
 
 BYSTANDEB. Do you consider yourself an instrument in the hands of Pro- 
 vidence ? 
 
 CAPT. B. I do. 
 
 BYSTANDEB. Upon what principle do you justify your acts? 
 
 CAPT. B. Upon the golden rule. I pity the poor in bondage that have none 
 to help them. That is why I am here ; it is not to gratify any personal animosity, 
 or feeling of revenge, or vindictive spirit. It is my sympathy with the oppressed 
 and the wronged, that arc as good as you, and as precious in the sight of God, 
 
 BYSTANDEB. Certainly. But why take the slaves against their will? 
 
 CAPT. B. I never did. 
 
 BYSTANDEB. You did in one instance, at least. 
 
 STEVENS. (To the inquirer, interrupting Brown.) You are right, sir, in one 
 case (a groan from the wounded man) in one case, I know the negro wanted to 
 go back. (To Brown.) Captain, the gentleman is right. 
 
 BYSTANDEB (To Stevens). Where did you come from ? 
 
 STEVENS. I lived in Ashtabula County, Ohio. 
 
 MB. V. How recently did you leave Ashtabula County ? 
 
 STEVENS. Some months ago. I never resided there any length of time. 
 I have often been through there. 
 
 MR. V. How far did you live from Jefferson ? 
 
 CAPT. B. (To Stevens). Be very cautious, Stevens, about an answer to that ; 
 it might commit some friend. I would not answer it at all. 
 
 Stevens, who had been gi-oaning considerably, as if the exertion necessary to 
 conversation seriously affected him, seemed content to abide by the captain's 
 advice. He turned partially over, with a groan of pain, and was silent. 
 
 MR. V. (To Capt. Brown). Who are your advisers in this movement ? 
 
 CAPT. B. I cannot answer that. I have numerous sympathizers throughout 
 the entire North. 
 
 MB. V. In Northern Ohio ? 
 
 CAPT. B. No more there than anywhere else in all the Free States. 
 
 MR. V. But are you not personally acquainted in Southern Ohio ? 
 
 CAPT. B. Not very much. 
 
 MR. V. (To Stevens). Were you at the convention last June ? 
 
 STEVENS. I was. 
 
 MR. V. (To Capt. Brown). You made a speech there ? 
 
 CAPT. B. I did, sir. 
 
 BYSTANDEB. Did you ever live in Washington city? 
 
 CAPT. B. I did not. I want you to understand, gentlemen, that I respect 
 the rights of the poorest and weakest of the colored people, oppressed by the 
 slave system, just as much as I do those of the most wealthy and powerful. 
 That is the idea that has moved me, and that alone. We expected no reward 
 except the satisfaction of endeavoring to do for those in distress the greatly 
 oppressed as we would be done by. The cry of distress, of the oppressed, is 
 my reason, and the only thing that prompted me to come here. 
 
 BYSTANDER Why did you do it secretly? 
 
 One report reads thus: the other omits the word " no.' 
 
202 THE POLITICAL INQUISITORS. 
 
 CAPT. B. Because I thought that necessary to success, and for no other 
 reason. 
 
 BYSTANDER. And you think that honorable, do you? Have you read 
 <}errit Smith's last letter ? 
 
 CAPT. B. What letter do you mean ? 
 
 BYSTANDER. The New York Herald of yesterday, in speaking of this affair, 
 mentions a letter, in which he says, " that it is folly to attempt to strike the 
 shackles off the slave by the force of moral suasion or legal agitation," and 
 predicts that the next movement made in the direction of negro emancipation 
 will be an insurrection in the South. 
 
 CAPT. B. I have not seen a New York Herald for some days past ; but I 
 presume, from your remarks about the gist of the letter, that I should concur 
 with it. I agree with Mr. Smith, that moral suasion is hopeless. I don't think 
 the people of the Slave States will ever consider the subject of slavery in its true 
 light until some other argument is resorted to than moral suasion. 
 
 MR. V. Did you expect a general rising of the slaves in case of your 
 success ? 
 
 CAPT. B. Xo, sir ; nor did I wish it. I expected to gather strength from 
 time to time ; then I could set them free. 
 
 MR. V. Did you expect to hold possession here till then ? 
 
 CAPT. B. Well, probably I had quite a different idea. I do not know that 
 I ought to reveal my plans. am here a prisoner, and wounded, because I 
 foolishly allowed myself to be so. You overrate your strength when you suppose 
 I could have been taken if I had not allowed it. I was too tardy, after com- 
 mencing the open attack, in delaying my movements through Monday night, and 
 up to the time I was attacked by the government troops. It was all occasioned 
 by my desire to spare the feelings of my prisoners and their families, and the 
 community at large. 
 
 MR. V. Did you not shoot a negro on the bridge, or did not some of your 
 party? 
 
 CAPT. B. I knew nothing of the shooting of the negro (Heywood). 
 
 Mr. V. What time did you commence your organization over in Canada ? 
 
 CAPT. B. It occurred about two years ago. If I remember right, it was, 
 I think, in 1858. 
 
 MR. V. Who was the secretary ? 
 
 CAPT. B. That I would not tell if I recollected; but I do not remember. 
 I think the officers were elected in May, 1858. I may answer incorrectly, but not 
 intentionally. My head is a little confused by wounds, and my memory of dates 
 and such like is somewhat confused. 
 
 DR. BIGGS. Were you in the party at Dr. Kennedy's house ? 
 
 CAPT. B. I was the head of that party. I occupied the house to mature my 
 plans. I would state here that I have not been in Baltimore to purchase 
 percussion caps. 
 
 DR. B. What was the number of men at Kennedy's ? 
 
 CAPT. B. I decline to answer that. 
 
 DR. B. Who lanced that woman's neck on the hill ? 
 
 CAPT. B. I did. I have sometimes practised in surgery, when I thought it 
 a matter of humanity or of necessity when there was no one else to do it ; but 
 I have not studied surgery. 
 
 DR. B. (To the persons around.) It was done very well and scientifically. 
 These men have been very clever to the neighbors, I have been told, and we 
 had no reason to suspect them, except that we could not understand their move- 
 ments. They were represented as eight or nine persons ; on Friday there were 
 thirteen. 
 
 CAPT. B. There were more than thirteen. 
 
 Questions were now put in by almost every one in the room. 
 
 Q. Where did you get arms to obtain possession of the armory ? 
 
 CAPT. B. I bought them. 
 
 Q. In what state ? 
 
 CAPT. B. That I would not state. 
 
 Q. How many guns ? 
 
 CAPT. B. Two hundred Sharpe's rifles, and two hundred revolvers what is 
 called the Massachusetts Arms Company's revolvers a little under the navy size. 
 
THE POLITICAL INQUISITORS. 203 
 
 Q. Why did you not take that swivel you left in the house? 
 
 CAPT. B. I had no occasion for it. It was given to me a year or two ago. 
 
 A REPORTER. I do not wish to annoy you; but if you have anything else 
 you would like to say, I will report it. 
 
 CAPT. B. I do not wish to converse any more ; I have nothing to say. I will 
 only remark to these reporting gentlemen, that I claim to be here in carrying 
 out a measure I believe to be perfectly justifiable, and not to act the part of an 
 incendiary or ruffian ; but, on the contrary, to aid those suffering \inder a great 
 wrong. I wish to say, furthermore, that you had better all you people of the 
 South prepare yourselves for a settlement of this question. It must come up 
 for settlement sooner than you are prepared for it, and the sooner you commence 
 that preparation the better for you. You may dispose of me very easily. I am 
 nearly disposed of now ; but this question is still to be settled this negro 
 question, I mean. The end of that is not yet. These wounds were inflicted 
 viponme both the sabre cut on my head, and the bayonet stabs in the different 
 parts of my body some minutes after I had ceased fighting, and had consented 
 to surrender for the benefit of others, and not for my own benefit. 
 
 (Several persons vehemently denied this statement. Without noticing the 
 interruption, the old man continued :) 
 
 I believe the Major here (pointing to Lieut. Stuart) would not have been alive 
 but for me. I might have killed him just as easy as I could kill a mosquito, 
 when he came in ; but I supposed that he came in only to receive our sur- 
 render. There had been long and loud calls of surrender from us as loud as 
 men could yell but in the confusion and excitement I suppose we were not 
 heard. I do not believe the major, or any one else, wanted to butcher us 
 after we had surrendered. 
 
 An officer present here stated that special orders had been given to the 
 marines not to shoot anybody ; but when they were fired upon by Brown's men, 
 and one of them had been killed, and another wounded, they were obliged to 
 return the compliment. 
 
 Captain Brown insisted, with some warmth, that the marines fired first. 
 
 AN OFFICER. Why did you not surrender before the attack ? 
 
 CAPT. B. I did not think it was my duty or interest to do so. We assured 
 our prisoners that we did not wish to harm them, and that they should be set at 
 liberty. I exercised my best judgment, not believing the people would wantonly 
 sacrifice their fellow-citizens. When we offered to let them go upon condition 
 of being allowed to change our position about a quarter of a mile, the prisoners 
 agreed by vote among themselves to pass across the bridge with us. We wanted 
 them only as a sort of guarantee for our own safety that we should not be fired 
 into. We took them, in the first place, as hostages, and to keep them from doing 
 any harm. We did kill some men when defending ourselves ; but I saw no one 
 fire except directly in self-defence. Our orders were strict not to harm any one 
 not in arms against us. 
 
 Q. Well, Brown, suppose you had every nigger in the United States, what 
 would you do with them ? 
 
 CAPT. B. (In a loud tone, and with emphasis.) Set them free, sir ! 
 
 Q. Your intention was to carry them off and free them ? 
 
 CAPT. B. Not at all. 
 
 BYSTANDER. To set them free would sacrifice the life of every man in this 
 community. 
 
 CAPT. B. I do not think so. 
 
 BYSTANDER. I know it. I think you are fanatical. 
 
 CAPT. B And I think you are fanatical. " Whom the gods would destroy, 
 they first make mad ;" and you are mad. 
 
 Q. Was your only object to free the negroes? 
 
 CAPT. B. Absolutely our only object. 
 
 BYSTANDER. But you went and took Col. Washington's silver and watch. 
 
 CAPT. B. Oh, yes ; we intended freely to have appropriated the property of 
 slaveholders, to carry out our object. It was for that, and only that ; and with 
 no design to enrich ourselves with any plunder whatever. 
 
 Q. Did you know Sherrod in Kansas ? I understand you killed him. 
 
 CAPT. B. I killed no man except in fair fight. I fought at Black Jack, and 
 at Osawatomie ; and if I killed anybody, it was at one of those places. 
 
204 THE POLITICAL INQUISITORS. 
 
 During this conversation, the wounded Liberators, we are told by 
 pro-slavery writers, " lay stretched on miserable shake-downs." John 
 Brown's " long gray hair was matted and tangled, and his hands and 
 clothes all smooched and smeared with blood, and begrimed with dirt 
 the effect of continued exposure to the smoke of powder. His 
 manner and conversation were courteous and affable, and he appeared 
 to make a favorable impression upon his auditory." 
 
 Mr. Vallandingham, not ashamed of having attempted to extort 
 political capital from the lips of a dying man or having inquired if 
 he knew one Brown, a noted counterfeiter, or having striven to bring 
 dishonor on the people of Ohio, in the eyes of the South returned to 
 his native state, and, unconscious of the immortality of infamy he had 
 gained, publicly and in writing declared that " I have only to regret 
 now that I did not pursue the matter further, asking more questions, 
 and making them more specific." Of the old hero he said : 
 
 I [" It is in vain to underrate either the man or the conspiracy. Captain John 
 Brown is as brave and resolute a man as ever headed an insurrection, and, in a 
 good cause, and with a sufficient force, would have been a consummate partisan 
 commander. He has coolness, daring, persistency, the stoic faith and patience, 
 and a firmness cf will and purpose unconquerable. He is the farthest possible 
 remove from the ordinary ruffiian, fanatic, or madman. Certainly it was one of 
 the best planned and best executed conspiracies that ever failed." 
 
XII. 
 
 LODGED IN JAIL. 
 
 AFTER a public exhibition of more than thirty hours, as they lay 
 unattended and bloody on the floor of the guard-house, interrogated 
 by unmanly politicians, and insulted by the brutal mob, the surviving 
 Liberators, on Wednesday evening, October 19th, were conveyed to 
 the jail of Charlestown, under an escort of marines. 
 
 A United States Marshal from Ohio, after the political inquisitors 
 had finished with the whites, endeavored to extort from the negroes, 
 Copeland and Green, confessions to criminate the friends of freedom 
 in his native State. He succeeded in procuring no confession what- 
 ever, but only a few brief answers to leading questions, which served 
 to show at once his political purpose, and his depravity of heart. 
 
 A Virginia journalist thus describes the journey to Charlestown : 
 
 " On Wednesday evening they were conveyed to the jail of Jefferson County, 
 under an escort of marines. Stevens and Brown had to be taken in a waggon, 
 but the negro Green and Coppoc, being unhurt, walked between a file of soldiers, 
 followed by hundreds of excited men, exclaiming, 'Lynch them;' but Governor 
 Wise, who was standing on the platform of the cars, said, ' O, it would be 
 cowardly to do so now;' and the crowd fell back, and the prisoners were safely 
 placed on the train. Stevens was placed in the bottom of the car, being unable 
 to sit up. Brown was propped up on a seat with pillows, and Coppoc and Green 
 seated in the middle of them ; the former was evidently much frightened, but 
 looked calm, while the latter was the very impersonation of fear. His nerves 
 were twitching, his eyes wild and almost bursting from their sockets, his whole 
 manner indicating the dreadful apprehensions that filled his mind. This fellow 
 was a member of Congress under the Provisional Government, had been very 
 daring while guarding the arsenal, and very impudent while in the engine 
 house, but when the marines entered it, he jumped back among the imprisoned, 
 and cried out that he was a prisoner. Washington thrust him forward, and 
 informed the besiegers that he was one of the guerillas, upon which a stab was 
 made at him, but missed him, and he still lives to expiate his guilt on the 
 gallows." 
 
 These statements, with regard to the negroes, are in all probability 
 false. The Virginians, who had not dared to fight them armed, 
 mustered courage to insult them when manacled. 
 
 On the same evening there was another panic at Harper's Ferry : it 
 was Cook, this time, who was murdering all the people at Sandy Hook! 
 
206 LODGED IN JAIL. 
 
 The marines hastened out to protect the citizens, but found neither 
 Cook nor a broil there. When they returned to Harper's Ferry, the 
 Virginia militia, who had been afraid to follow, now valiantly offered 
 to go out to defend their fellow-citizens. 
 
 But the limits of this volume will not permit me to recount how 
 often and pusillanimously the Virginians acted. From the arrest of 
 the Liberators till the death of their Chief, the shivering chivalry of 
 the once gallant State of Virginia suffered from a chronic but 
 ludicrously painful fright. 
 
 Governor Wise, and Mr. Hunter, accompanied the prisoners to 
 Charlestown, where they were lodged in jail, and placed under the 
 charge of Capt. John Avis. Of the jail and jailer a trust-worthy 
 writer says : 
 
 "Brown is as comfortably situated as any man can be in a jail. He has a 
 pleasant room, which is shared by Stevens, whose recovery remains doubtful. 
 He has opportunities of occupying himself by writing and reading. His jailer, 
 Avis, was of the party who assisted in capturing him. Brown says that Avis is 
 one of the bravest men he ever saw, and that his treatment is precisely what he 
 should expect from so brave a fellow. Avis is a just and humane man. He does 
 all for his prisoners that his duty allows him to. I think he has a sincere respect 
 for Brown's undaunted fortitude and fearlessness. Brown is permitted to 
 receive such visitors as he desires to see. He states that he welcomes every one, 
 and that he is preaching, even in jail, with great effect upon the enormities of 
 Slavery, and with arguments which everybody fails to answer. His wounds, 
 excepting one cut on the back of the head, have all now healed, without suppu- 
 ration, and the scars are scarcely visible. He attributes his very rapid recovery 
 to his strict abstemious habits through life. He is really a man of imposing 
 appearance, and neither his tattered garments, the rents in which were caused 
 by sword cuts, nor his scarred face, can detract from the manliness of his mien. 
 He is always composed, and every trace of disquietude has left him." 
 
 On the following day, Thursday, October 20th, the body of Kagl 
 was taken from the river, and the other corpses was buried in a large 
 pit. The body of Watson Brown, however, was crammed into a box, 
 and carried off for medical dissection. The corpses of the negroes, 
 were horribly mutilated by the brutal populace. A.D. 1850 VA., 
 U.S. A.! 
 
AMONG THE PHILISTINES. 
 
8. And he smote them hip and thigh, with great slaughter. (Chapter xv.) 
 21. But the Philistines took him, and brought him down to Gaza. 
 
 23. Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together for to offer a great 
 sacrifice unto Dagon, their god, and to rejoice : for they said, Our god hath 
 delivered Samson our enemy into our hand. 
 
 24. And when the people saw him, they praised their god : for they said, Our 
 god hath delivered into our hands our enemy, and the destroyer of our country, 
 which slew many of us. 
 
 30. The dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew 
 in his life. Book of Judges, chapter xvi. 
 
I. 
 
 THE PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION. 
 
 THE prisoners were formally committed to jail on the 20th of October, 
 by a Justice of the Peace of Charlestown, on the oaths of Henry A. 
 Wise and two others, " for feloniously conspiring with each other, and 
 other persons unknown, to make an abolition insurrection and open 
 war against the Commonwealth of Virginia," and for the additional 
 crimes of murder and " conspiring with slaves to rebel and to make 
 insurrection." On the same day a warrant was issued to the Sheriff, 
 commanding him to summon eight Justices of the Peace to hold a 
 Preliminary Court of Examination on the 25th of October. 
 
 On the day thus appointed the Preliminary Court assembled ; a 
 person named Colonel Davenport presiding. At half -past ten o'clock 
 in the forenoon, the prisoners were conducted from the jail under a 
 guard of eighty armed men. Another military force was stationed 
 around " the Court House, which was bristling with bayonets on all 
 sides." 
 
 John Brown and Coppic were manacled together. " The prisoners, 
 as brought into Court," writes a pro-slavery eye-witness, " presented a 
 pitiable sight, Brown and Stevens being unable to stand without assist- 
 ance. Brown had three sword-cuts in his body, and one sabre-cut 
 over the head. Stevens had three balls in his head and two in his 
 breast, and one in his arm ; he was also cut on the forehead with a 
 rifle bullet, which glanced off, leaving a bad wound. Brown seemed 
 weak and haggard, with eyes swollen from the effects of wounds on 
 the head. Stevens seemed less injured than Brown, but looked 
 haggard and depressed." 
 
 Never before, in our Christian country, or in any other civilized 
 land, were men, thus suffering and disabled, dragged from their bed 
 of sickness to a Court of Justice, to be tried for a capital offence. 
 Judge Jeffreys, of England, never fully equalled this atrocity; it 
 
 
 
210 THE PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION. 
 
 needed, for its perpetration, men brutalized by the influence of 
 American slavery. 
 
 Charles B. Harding, attorney for the County of Jefferson, and 
 Andrew Hunter, counsel for the State, appeared for the prosecution. 
 The Sheriff read the commitment of the prisoners, and the Prosecuting 
 Attorney asked the Court that counsel might be assigned them. The 
 Presiding Magistrate then inquired if the prisoners had counsel. 
 
 John Brown replied : 
 
 FIRST SPEECH IN COURT. 
 
 " Virginians : I did not ask for any quarter at the time I was taken. I did not 
 ask to have my life spared. The Governor of the State of Virginia tendered me 
 his assurance that I should have a fair trial ; but under no circumstances what- 
 ever will I be able to attend to my trial. If you seek my blood, you can have it 
 at any moment without this mockery of trial. 
 
 " I have no counsel. I have not been able to advise with any one. I know- 
 nothing about the feelings of iny fellow-prisoners, and am utterly unable to 
 attend in any way to my own defence. My memory don't serve me. My health 
 is insufficient, although improving. 
 
 " If a fair trial is to be allowed us, there are mitigating circumstances that I 
 would urge in our favor. But, if we are to be forced with a mere form a trial 
 for execution you might spare yourselves that trouble. I am ready for my fate. 
 I do not ask a trial. I beg for no mockery of a trial no insult nothing but 
 that which conscience gives or cowardice would drive yon to practise. 
 
 ." I ask again to be excused from the mockery of a trial. I do not know what 
 the special design of this examination is. I do not know what is to be the benefit 
 of it to the Commonwealth. I have now little further to ask, other than that I 
 may be not foolishly insulted, only as cowardly barbarians insult those who fall 
 into their power." 
 
 Without paying the slightest attention to this brave speech, calmly 
 delivered in the midst of infuriated enemies, the Court assigned 
 Charles J. Faulkner and Lawson Botts, both Virginians and pro- 
 slavery men, as counsel for the defendants. Mr. Faulkner, after con- 
 sultation with the prisoners, desired to decline the appointment 
 because he doubted the authority of the Court to order him to defend 
 them ; because John Brown had declared that such a defence would 
 be a mockery ; and because, having been at the place of action, and 
 having heard all the admissions of the defendants, it would be im- 
 proper and inexpedient for him to be their counsel. But if the Court 
 peremptorily ordered him, and the prisoners consented, he would see 
 that full justice was done them. Mr. Botts accepted. 
 
 " MB. HARDING then asked John Brown if he was willing to accept these 
 gentlemen as counsel. 
 
 JOHN BROWN replied: "I wish to say that I have sent for counsel. I did 
 a PPly through the advice of some persons here, to some persons whose names I 
 do not now recollect, to act as counsel for me ; and I have sent for other coonsel, 
 who have not had time to reach here, and have had no possible opportunity to 
 see me. I wish for counsel, if I am to have a trial ; but if I am to have nothing 
 
THE PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION. 211 
 
 but the mockery of a trial, as I said, I do not care anything about counsel. Tt is 
 unnecessary to trouble any gentleman with that duty." 
 
 MB. HABDING. You are to have a fair trial. 
 
 JOHN BROWN. There were certain men I think Mr. Botts was one of them 
 who declined acting as counsel, but I am not positive about it; I cannot 
 remember whether he was one, because I have heard so many names. I am a 
 stranger here, and do not know the disposition or character of the gentlemen 
 named. I have applied for counsel of my own, and doubtless could have them, 
 if I am not, as I have said before, to be hurried to execution before they can 
 reach here. But if that is the disposition that is to be made of me, all this 
 trouble and expense can be saved. 
 
 MB. HABDING. The question is, do you desire the aid of Messrs. Faulkner 
 and Botts as your counsel ? Tleasc to answer yes or no. 
 
 JOHN BBOWN. I cannot regard this as an examination under any circum- 
 stances. I would prefer that they should exercise their own pleasure. I feel it 
 as a matter of little account to me. If they had designed to assist me as counsel, 
 I should have wanted an opportunity to consult with them at my leisure. 
 
 MB. HABDING. Stevens, are you willing those gentlemen should act as your 
 counsel ? 
 
 STEVENS. I am willing that gentleman shall (pointing to Mr. Botts). 
 
 MB. HABDING. Do you object to Faulkner? 
 
 STEVENS. No; I am willing to take both. 
 
 Mr. Harding then addressed each of the other prisoners separately, and each 
 stated his willingness to be defended by the counsel named. 
 
 The Court then issued peremptory orders that the press should not publish 
 detailed testimony, as it would render the getting of a jury before the Circuit 
 Court impossible." * 
 
 Eight witnesses were then examined, who testified to the arrest of 
 citizens, the occupation of the armory, the fight, the casualties of the 
 conflict, and the self-avowed object of the Liberators. Kitzmillar 
 admitted that Stevens was fired at and shot while under a flag of 
 truce, with which, accompanied by the witness, and at his request, he 
 had left the armory, to permit him to try to a accommodate matters " 
 for the safety of the citizens detained there ; that Brown, while the 
 Virginia prisoners were in his power, treated them with great courtesy 
 and respect ; and repeatedly stated that his only object was to liberate 
 the negroes, and that, to accomplish it, he was willing to fight the pro- 
 slavery men. The witnesses who were prisoners in the Armory also 
 testified that during the conflict they were requested by the Liberators 
 to keep themselves out of the fire of the marines. One thought that 
 Coppic shot Beckman, and Brown the marine. 
 
 At one stage of the proceedings, Stevens, weak from his wounds, 
 appeared to be fainting, and a mattress was procured for him, on which 
 he reposed during the remainder of the examination. What a scene 
 for an American Court ! 
 
 The prisoners were of course remanded to the Circuit Court for 
 trial. 
 
 The telegraph, although entirely managed by the partisans of Slavery 
 
 * Telegraphic report of the Associated Press. 
 
212 THE PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION. 
 
 at this time, involuntarily told truths disgraceful to Virginia, and 
 illustrative of the effect of her iniquitous institution on the character 
 of her citizens of every rank, as well as of the danger that this criminal 
 tenacity to Human Slavery creates to the stability of Southern society. 
 Two paragraphs will suffice to sustain me. 
 
 "There is an evident intention to hurry the trial throtigh, and execute the pri- 
 soners as soon as possible FEARIXG attempts to rescue them. It is rumored 
 that Brown is desirous of making a full statement of his motives and intentions 
 through the press, but the Court has refused all access to reporters FEARING 
 that he may put forth something calculated to influence the public mind, and to 
 have a bad effect on the slaves." 
 
 "The reason given for hurrying the trial is, that the people of the whole 
 country are kept in a state of excitement, and a large armed force is required to 
 prevent attempts at rescue." 
 
II. 
 
 JUDICIAL ALACKITY. 
 
 HARDLY had the Preliminary Court adjourned, ere the Circuit Court 
 assembled. At two o'clock the Grand Jury were called, and charged 
 by Judge Richard Parker. By way of a contrast to the subse- 
 quent proceeding, the plausible yet Jesuitical address of the Judge, 
 which promises and urges a fair trial, but, at the same time, so clearly 
 indicates the spirit of Virginia, is deserving of a record here. 
 
 CHARGE TO THE GRAND JURY. 
 
 GENTLEMEN OF THE JURY: In the state of excitement into which our whole 
 community has been thrown by the recent occurrences in this county, I feel that 
 the charge which I usually deliver to a Grand Jury would be entirely out of 
 place. These occurrences cannot but force themselves upon your attention. 
 They must necessarily occupy a considerable portion of that time which you 
 will devote to your public duties as a Grand Jury. However guilty the unfor- 
 tunate men who are now in the hands of justice may prove to be, still they 
 cannot be called upon to answer to the offended laws of our Commonwealth for 
 any of the multifarious crimes with which they are charged, until a Grand Jury, 
 after "dignified " inquiry, shall decide that for these offences they be put upon 
 their trial. I will not permit myself to give expression to any of those feelings 
 which at once spring up in every breast when reflecting upon the enormity of the 
 guilt in which those are involved who invade by force a peaceful, unsuspecting 
 portion of our common country, raise the standard of insurrection amongst us, 
 and shoot down without mercy Virginia citizens defending Virginia soil against 
 their invasion. I must remember, gentlemen, that, as a minister of justice, 
 bound to execute our laws faithfully, and in the very spirit of Justice herself, 
 I must, as to every one accused of crime, hold, as the law holds, that he is 
 innocent until he shall be proved guilty by an honest, an independent, and an 
 impartial jury of his countrymen. And what is obligatory upon me is equally 
 binding upon you, and upon every one who may be connected with the prose- 
 cution and trial of these offenders. In these cases, as in all others, you will be 
 controlled by that oath which each of you has taken, and in which you have 
 solemnly sworn that you will diligently inquire into all offences which may be 
 brought to your knowledge ; and that "you will present no one through ill-will," 
 as well as "that you will leave no one un presented through fear or favor, 
 but in all your presentments you shall present the truth, the whole truth, and 
 nothing but the truth." Do but this, gentlemen, and you will have fulfilled 
 your whole duty. Go beyond this, and, in place of that diligent inquiry and 
 calm investigation which you have sworn to make, act upon prejudice or from 
 excitement of passion, and you will have done a wrong to that law in whose 
 service you are engaged. As I before said, these men are now in the hands of 
 justice. They are to have a fair and an impartial trial. We owe it to the cause 
 
214 JUDICIAL ALACRITY. 
 
 of justice, as well as to our own characters, that such a trial should be afforded 
 them. If guilty, they will be sure to pay the extreme penalty of their guilt ; 
 and the example of punishment, when thus inflicted by virtue of law, will be 
 beyond all comparison more efficacious for our future protection than any torture 
 to which mere passion could subject them. Whether, then, we be in public or 
 private position, let each one of us remember that, as the law has charge of 
 these alleged offenders, the law alone, through its recognized agents, must deal 
 with them to the last. It can tolerate no interference by others with duties it 
 lias assumed to itself. If true to herself and true she will be our Common- 
 wealth, through her courts of justice, will be as ready to punish the offence of 
 such interference as she is to punish these grave and serious offences with which 
 she is now about to deal in case these offences be proved by legal testimony to 
 have been perpetrated. Let us all, gentlemen, bear this in mind, and in patience 
 await the result confident that that result will be whatever strict and impartial 
 justice shall determine to be necessary and proper. It would seem, gentlemen 
 and yet I speak from no evidence, but upon vague rumors which have reached 
 me that these men who have thrown themselves upon us confidently expected 
 to be joined by our slaves and free negroes, and unfurled the banner of insur- 
 rection, and invited this class of our citizens to rally under it. And yet, I am 
 told, they are unable to obtain a single recruit.* 
 
 The Preliminary Court reported the result of their examination, and 
 the Grand Jury at once retired with the witnesses. At five o'clock 
 they returned, and asked to be discharged for the day. They re- 
 assembled at ten o'clock on the following forenoon, "Wednesday, and, 
 at twelve o'clock, reported " a true bill " against each of the prisoners : 
 First, For conspiring with negroes to produce insurrection ; second, 
 For treason in the Commonwealth, and, third, For murder. The 
 Grand Jury was then discharged. 
 
 This is the indictment of the Grand Jury : 
 
 THE INDICTMENT. 
 
 Judicial Circuit of Virginia, Jefferson County, to wit. The Jurors of the Com- 
 monwealth of Virginia, in and for the body of the County of Jefferson, duly 
 impanelled, and attending upon the Circuit Court of said county, upon their 
 oaths do present that John Brown, Aaron C. Stephens, alias Aaron D. Stephens 
 and Edwin Coppic, white men, and Shields Green and John Copeland, free 
 negroes, together with divers other evil-minded and traitorous persons to the 
 Jurors unknown, not having the fear of God before their eyes, but being moved 
 and seduced by the false and malignant counsel of other evil and traitorous 
 persons, and the instigations of the devil, did, severally, on the sixteenth, 
 seventeenth, and eighteenth days of the month of October, in the year of our 
 Lord eighteen hundred and fifty-nine, and on divers other days before and after 
 that time, within the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the County of Jefferson 
 aforesaid, and within the jurisdiction of this Court, -with other confederates to 
 the Jurors unknown, feloniously and traitorously make rebellion and levy war 
 against the said Commonwealth of Virginia, and to effect, carry out, and fufi\ 
 
 * It is true that the slaves did not join John Brown. But why ? Because 
 they had not time to know his design, and to act, ere their heroic liberators were 
 either killed or imprisoned. But one negro, I know a slave of Washington- 
 whom Governor Wise pretended had probably been killed by Captain Cook in 
 endeavoring to return home, was shot in the river as he was fighting for freedom. 
 I know this fact from one of John Brown's men who saw him. I have positive 
 knowledge, also, of sixteen slaves who succeeded in escaping from Harper's 
 Ferry. 
 
JUDICIAL ALACRITY. 215 
 
 their said wicked and treasonable ends and purposes did, then and there, as a 
 band of organized soldiers, attack, seize, and hold a certain part and place 
 within the county and State aforesaid, and within the jurisdiction aforesaid, 
 known and called by the name of Harper's Ferry, and then and there did 
 forcibly capture, make prisoners of, and detain divers good and loyal citizens of 
 said Commonwealth, to wit : Lewis W. Washington, John M. Allstadt, Archibald 
 M. Kitzmiller, Benjamin J. Mills, John E. P. Dangerfield, Armstead Ball, John 
 Donoho, and did then and there slay and murder, by shooting with firearms, 
 called Sharpe's rifles, divers good and loyal citizens of said Commonwealth, to 
 wit : Thomas Boerly, George W. Turner, Fontaine Beckham, together with 
 Luke Quinn, a soldier of the United States, and Hayward Sheppard, a free 
 negro, and did then and there, in manner aforesaid, wound divers other good 
 and loyal citizens of said Commonwealth, and did then and there feloniously 
 and traitorously establish and set up, without authority of the Legislature of 
 the Commonwealth of Virginia, a government separate from, and hostile to, 
 the existing Government of said Commonwealth; and did then and there hold 
 and exercise divers offices under said usurped Government, to wit : the said 
 John Brown as Commander-in-Chief of the military forces, the said Aaron C. 
 Stephens, alias Aaron D. Stephens, as Captain ; the said Edwin Coppic, as 
 Lieutenant; and the said Shields Green and John Copeland as soldiers; and did 
 then and there require and compel obedience to said officers ; and then and 
 there did hold and profess allegiance and fidelity to said usurped Government ; 
 and under colour of the usurped authority aforesaid, did then and there resist 
 forcibly, and with warlike arms, the execution of the laws of the Common- 
 wealth of Virginia, and with firearms did wound and maim divers other good and 
 loyal citizens of said Commonwealth, to the Jurors unknown, when attempting, 
 with lawful authority, to uphold and maintain said Constitution and laws of the 
 Commonwealth of Virginia, and for the purpose, end, and aim of overthrowing 
 and abolishing the Constitution and laws of said Commonwealth, and estab- 
 lishing, in the place thereof, another and different government, and constitution 
 and laws hostile thereto, did then and there feloniously and traitorously, and in 
 military array, join in open battle and deadly warfare with the civil officers and 
 soldiers" in the lawful service of the said Commonwealth of Virginia, and did 
 then and there shoot and discharge divers guns and pistols, charged with gun- 
 powder and leaden bullets, against and upon divers parties of the militia and 
 volunteers embodied and acting under the command of Colonel Robert W. 
 Baylor, and of Colonel John Thomas Gibson, and other officers of said Com- 
 monwealth, with lawful authority to quell and subdue the said John Brown, 
 Aaron C. Stephens, alias Aaron D. Stephens, Edwin Coppic, Shields Green, and 
 John Copeland, and other rebels and traitors assembled, organized, and acting 
 with them, as aforesaid, to the evil example of all others in like case offending 
 and against the peace and dignity of the Commonwealth. 
 
 Second Count. And the Jurors aforesaid, upon their oaths aforesaid, do 
 further present that the said John Brown, Aaron C. Stephens, alias Aaron D. 
 Stephens, Edwin Coppic, Shields Green, and John Copdand, severally, on the 
 sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth days of October, in the year of our Lord 
 eighteen hundred and fifty-nine, in the said County of Jefferson, and Common- 
 wealth of Virginia, and within the jurisdiction of this Court, not having the fear 
 of God before their eyes, but moved and seduced by the false and malignant 
 counsels of others, and the instigations of the devil, did each severally, mali- 
 ciously, and feloniously conspire with each other, and with a certain John E. 
 Cook, John Kagi, Charles Tidd, arid others to the Jurors unknown, to induce 
 
 certain slaves, to wit, Jim, Sam, Mason, and Catesby 
 
 the slaves and property of Lewis W. Washington, and Henry, Levi, Ben, Jerry, 
 Phil, George, and Bill, the slaves and property of John H. Allstadt, and other 
 slaves to the Jurors unknown, to rebel and make insurrection against their 
 masters and owners, and against the Government and the Constitution and laws 
 of the Commonwealth of Virginia : and then and there did nlaliciously and felo- 
 niously advise said slaves, and other slaves to the Jurors unknown, to rebel and 
 make insurrection against their masters and owners, and against the Government, 
 the Constitution and laws of the Common wealth of Virginia, to the evil example of 
 all others in like cases offending, and against the peace and dignity of the 
 Commonwealth. 
 
216 JUDICIAL ALACRITY. 
 
 Third Count. And the Jurors aforesaid, upon their oaths aforesaid, further 
 present that the said John Brown, Aaron C. Stephens, alias Aaron D. Stephens, 
 Edwin Coppic, Shields Green, and John Copeland, severally, on the sixteenth, 
 seventh, and eighteenth days of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand 
 eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the County of Jefferson and the Commonwealth 
 of Virginia aforesaid, and within the jurisdiction aforesaid, in and upon the 
 bodies of Thomas Boerly, George W. Turner, Fontaine Beckham, Luke Quinn, 
 white persons, and Hayward Sheppard, a free negro, in the peace of the Com- 
 monwealth then and there being, feloniously, wilfully, and of their malice afore- 
 thought, did make an assault, and with firearms called Sharpe's rifles, and other 
 deadly weapons to the Jurors unknown, then and there, charged with gun- 
 powder and leaden bullets, did then and there feloniously, wilfully, and of their 
 malice aforethought, shoot and discharge the same against the bodies severally 
 and respectively of the said Thomas Boerly, George W. Turner, Fontaine 
 Beckham, Luke Quinn, and Hayward Sheppard; and that the said John Brown, 
 Aaron C. Stephens, alias Aaron D. Stephens, Edwin Coppic, Shields Green, and 
 John Copeland, with the leaden bullets aforesaid, out of the firearms called 
 Sharpe's rifles, aforesaid, shot and discharged as aforesaid, and with the other 
 deadly weapons to the jurors unknown, as aforesaid, then and there feloniously, 
 wilfully, and of their malice aforethought, did strike, penetrate and wound the 
 said Thomas Boerly, George W. Turner, Fontaine Beckhain, Luke Quinn, 
 Hayward Sheppard, each severally ; to wit, the said Thomas Boerly in and upon 
 the left side ; the said George W. Turner in and upon the left shoulder ; the said 
 Fontaine Beckham in and upon the right breast ; the said Luke Quinn in and 
 upon the abdomen, and the said Hayward Sheppard in and upon the back and 
 side, giving to the said Thomas Boerly, George W. Turner, Fontaine Beckham, 
 Luke Quinn, Hayward Sheppard, then and there with the leaden bullets, so as 
 aforesaid shot and discharged by them, severally and respectively, out of the 
 Sharpe's rifles aforesaid, and with the other deadly weapons to the Jurors 
 unknown, as aforesaid, each one mortal wound, of which the said mortal wounds 
 they the said Thomas Boerly, George W. Turner, Fontaine Beckham, Luke- 
 Quinn, a?id Hayward Sheppard each died; and so the Jurors aforesaid, upon 
 their oaths aforesaid, do say that the said John Brown, Aaron C. Stephens, alias 
 Aaron D. Stephens, Edwin Coppic, Shields Green, and John Copeland, then and 
 there, them the said Thomas Boerly, George W. Turner, Fontaine Beckham, 
 Luke Quinn, and Hayward Sheppard, in the manner aforesaid, and by the 
 means aforesaid, feloniously, wilfully, and of their, and each of their, malice 
 aforethought, did kill and murder, against the peace and dignity of the 
 Commonwealth. 
 
 Fourth Count. And the Jurors aforesaid, upon their oaths aforesaid, further 
 present that the said John Brown, Aaron C. Stephens, alias Aaron D. Stephens, 
 and Edwin Coppic, and Shields Green, each severally on the seventeenth day 
 of October, in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and fifty-nine, in the 
 County of Jefferson and Commonwealth of Virginia aforesaid, and within the 
 jurisdiction of this Court, in and upon the bodies of certain Thomas Boerly, 
 George W. Turner, and Fontaine Beckham, in the peace of the Commonwealth, 
 then and there being, feloniously, wilfully, and of their malice aforethought, did 
 make an assault, and with guns called Sharpe's rifles, then and there charged 
 with gunpowder and leaden bullets, did then and there feloniously, wilfully, 
 and of their, and each of their, malice aforethought, shoot and discharge the 
 same against the bodies of the said Thomas Boerly, George W, Turner, and 
 Fontaine Beckham; and that the said John Brown, Aaron C. Stephens, alias 
 Aaron D. Stephens, Edwin Coppic, and Shields Green, with leaden bullets 
 aforesaid, shot out of the Sharpe's rifles aforesaid, then and there, feloniously, 
 wilfully, and of their malice aforethought, did strike, penetrate, and wound the 
 said Thomas Boerly, George W.Turner, and Fontaine Beckham, each severally 
 viz. : The said Thomas Boerly in and upon the left side ; the said George W. 
 Turner in and upon the left shoulder and breast ; and the said Fontaine Beck- 
 ham in and upon the right breast, giving to the said Thomas Boerly, George 
 W. Turner, and Fontaine Beckham, then and there, with leaden bullets afore- 
 said, shot by them severally out of Sharpe's rifles aforesaid, each one mortal 
 wound, of which said mortal wounds they the said Thomas Boerly, George W. 
 Turner, and Fontaine Beckham then and there died ; and that the said John 
 
JUDICIAL ALACRITY. 217 
 
 Copeland, then and there, feloniously, wilfully, and of his malice aforethought, 
 was present, aiding, helping, abetting, comforting, and assisting the said John 
 Brown, Aaron C. Stephens, alias Aaron D. Stephens, Edwin Coppic, and Shields 
 Green in the felony and murder aforesaid, in manner aforesaid to commit. And 
 so the Jurors aforesaid, upon their oaths, do say that the said John Brown, 
 Aaron C. Stephens, alias Aaron D. Stephens, Edwin Coppic, Shields Green, and 
 John Copeland, then and there, them the said Thomas Boerly, George W. Turner, 
 and Fontaine Beckham, in the manner aforesaid, and by the means aforesaid, 
 feloniously, wilfully, and of their, and each of their, malice aforethought, did 
 kill and murder, against the peace and dignity of the Commonwealth of 
 Virginia. 
 
 Lewis W. Washington, John H. Allstadt, John E. P. Dangerfield, Alexander 
 Kelly, Emanuel Spangler, Armstead M. Ball, Joseph A. Brua, William Johnson, 
 Lewis P. Starry, Archibald H. Kitzmiller, were sworn in open Court this 26th 
 day of October, 1859, to give evidence to the Grand Jury upon this bill of 
 indictment. 
 
 Teste: ROBERT T. BROWN, Clerk. 
 
 A true copy of said indictment. 
 
 Teste: ROBERT T. BROWN, 
 
 Clerk of the Circuit Court of Jefferson County, in the State of Virginia. 
 
 Which bill of indictment the Grand Jury returned this 26th day of October. 
 
 A true bill. THOMAS RUTHERFORD, Foreman. 
 
 October 26, 1859. 
 
 Before the indictment was read, as Mr. Faulkner had gone home, 
 the Court requested a Mr. Green, a Virginian, to act as assistant 
 counsel for the defendants. It was understood that all the prisoners 
 were willing that this arrangement should be made. 
 
 APPEAL FOR A DECENT DELAY. 
 
 John Brown then rose and said : 
 
 I do not intend to detain the Court, but barely wish to say, as I have been 
 promised a fair trial, that I am not now in circumstances that enable me to 
 attend a trial, owing to the state of my health. I have a severe wound in the 
 back, or rather in one kidney, which enfeebles me very much. But I am doing 
 well, and I only ask for a very short delay of my trial, and I think I may get 
 able to listen to it; and I merely ask this that, as the saying is, "the devil may 
 have his due "no more. I wish to say, further, that my hearing is impaired, 
 and rendered indistinct, in consequence of wounds I have about my head. I 
 cannot hear distinctly at all ; I could not hear what the court has said this 
 morning. I would be glad to hear what is said on my trial, and am now doing 
 better than I could expect to be under the circumstances. A very short delay 
 would be all I would ask. I do not presume to ask more than a very short delay, 
 so that I may in some degree recover, and be able at least to listen to my trial, 
 and hear what questions are asked of the citizens, and what their answers are. 
 If that could be allowed me, I should be very much obliged. 
 
 Mr. Hunter said that the request was rather premature. The 
 arraignment should be made, and this question could then be 
 considered. 
 
 The Court ordered the indictment to be read, so that the prisoner 
 
218 JUDICIAL ALACRITY. 
 
 could plead guilty or not guilty, and it would then consider Mr. 
 Brown's request. 
 
 The indictment was now read, and each of the prisoners pleaded 
 Not Guilty, and demanded to have separate trials. One incident of 
 this scene is so revolting, that I must record it in the language of the 
 enemies of the prisoners : 
 
 "The prisoners were brought into court, accompanied by a body of armed 
 men. Cannon were stationed in front of the court house, and an armed guard 
 were patrolling round the jail. Brown looked something better, and his eye was 
 not so much swollen. Stevens had to be supported, and reclined on a mattress 
 on the floor of the court room evidently unable to sit. He has the appearance of 
 a dying man, breathing with great difficulty. The prisoners were compelled to 
 stand during the indictment, but it was with difficulty, Stevens being held upright 
 by two bailiffs." 
 
 As soon as the prisoners had responded to the arraignment, Mr. 
 Hunter rose and said, " The State elects to try John Brown first." 
 A discussion and decision, fit accompaniments to the scene above 
 described, then ensued ; which are thus reported by the partisans of 
 the State : 
 
 MR. BOTTS said, I am instructed by Brown to say that he is mentally and 
 physically unable to proceed with his trial at this time. He has heard to-day 
 that counsel of his own choice will be here, whom he will, of course, prefer. 
 He only asks for a delay of two or three days. It seems to be but a reasonable 
 request, and I hope the Court will grant it. 
 
 MR. HUNTER said, he did not think it the duty of the prosecutor for the 
 Commonwealth, or for one occupying the position, to oppose anything that 
 justice required, nor to object to anything that involved a simple consideration 
 of humanity, where it could be p 
 
 be properly allowed ; yet, ir 
 
 tion to delay the trial of John Brown two or three days, they deemed it their 
 duty that the Court, before determining matters, should be put in possession of 
 facts and circumstances, judicially, that they were aware of in the line of their 
 duties as prosecutors. His own opinion was, that it was not proper to delay the 
 trial of this prisoner a single day, and there was no necessity for it. He alluded 
 in general terms to the condition of things that surrounded them. They were 
 such as rendered it dangerous to delay, to say nothing of the exceeding pressure 
 upon the physical resources of the community, growing out of circnmstances 
 connected with affairs for which the prisoners were to be tried. He said our 
 laws, in making provisions for allowing, in the discretion of the Court, briefer 
 time than usual, in cases of conviction, for such offenders, between the con- 
 demnation and execution, evidently indicates, indirectly, the necessity of acting 
 promptly and decisively, though always justly, in proceedings of this kind. In 
 reference to Brown's physical condition, he asked the Court not to -receive the 
 unimportant statements of the prisoners as sufficient ground for delay, but that 
 the jailer and physicians be examined. As to expecting counsel from abroad, he 
 said that no impediment had been thrown in the way of the prisoners' procuring 
 such counsel as they desired, but, on the contrary, every facility had been 
 afforded; able and intelligent counsel had been assigned them here, and he 
 apprehended that there was little reason to expect the attendance of those gen- 
 tlemen from the North who had been written for. There was also a pi. ',lic duty 
 resting upon them to avoid as far as possible, within the forms of law, and with 
 reference to the great and never to be lost sight of principle of giving a fair and 
 impartial trial to the prisoners, the introduction of anything likely to weaken our 
 present position, and give strength to our enemies abroad, whether it issues from 
 the jury in time, or whether it comes from the mouths of the prisoners, or any 
 
JUDICIAL ALACEITY. 219 
 
 other source. It was their position that had been imperilled and jeopardized, as 
 they supposed, by enemies. 
 
 MR. HARDING concurred in the objection of Mr. Hunter, on the ground of 
 danger in delay, and also because Brown was the leader of the insurrection, and 
 his trial ought to be proceeded with on account of the advantage thereby accruing 
 in the trial of the others. 
 
 MR. GREEN remarked that he had had no opportunity of consulting with the 
 prisoner, or preparing a defence. The letters for Northern counsel had been sent 
 off, but not sufficient time had been afforded to receive answers. Under the cir- 
 cumstances, he thought a short delay desirable. 
 
 MR. BOTTS added, that at present the excitement was so great as perhaps to 
 deter Northern counsel from coming out ; but now that it had been promised 
 that the prisoners should have a fair and impartial trial, he presumed that they 
 would come and take part in the case. 
 
 The COURT stated that, if physical inability were shown, a reasonable delay 
 must be granted. As to the expectation of other counsel, that did not constitute 
 a sufficient cause for delay, as there was no certainty about their coming. Under 
 the circumstances in which the prisoners were situated, it was rational that they 
 should seek delay. The brief period remaining before the close of the term of the 
 Court rendered it necessary to proceed as expeditiously as practicable, and to be 
 cautious about granting delays. He would request the physician who had 
 attended Brown to testify as to his condition. 
 
 Were ever before, in any civilized State, such reasons given for 
 refusing the delay of a few days only to a wounded prisoner, charged 
 with a capital offence, whose sole request was, that time might be 
 allowed for honest counsel, whom he knew, to arrive and defend him? 
 Even had the old man been unwounded, surrounded as he was by 
 excited enemies, in a county and Commonwealth where a verdict of 
 acquital was an impossible event, it would have been a very grave 
 judicial outrage to have tried him until he could obtain proper 
 counsel, or before considering a demand for a change of venue. 
 Because the expense of a trial was great ; because the offences charged 
 on the prisoner were declared to be grave ones by the unjust Virginia 
 code; because the arrival of Northern counsel might elicit facts 
 unfavorable to the reputation of the State, but that might tend to 
 exculpate the defendant for this is what Mr. Hunter's last orphic 
 sentence meant; because there might be danger, if the request was 
 granted, of a second conquest of Virginia by the friends of her first 
 anti-slavery invader ; and, because, how and why is not yet explained 
 a speedy trial of the leaders would result in a benefit to his followers 
 in jail : these were the reasons, as extraordinary as inhuman, advanced 
 by the prosecution why a wounded man's request should be refused by 
 a Court of Justice ; not one of them, by all the rules of law, either 
 pertinent or just, and one of them the strongest argument why the 
 case should be protracted. The graver the crime, the more lenient the 
 law should be in granting opportunities of defence to the accused. 
 The Judge's reply ignores this salutary rule, and assumes that it 
 was necessary to try the prisoners at that particular term of the 
 Court. With every faculty undimmed, with every legal facility 
 
220 JUDICIAL ALACRITY. 
 
 around him, with able lawyers and a Pardoning Power unpledged 
 against the exercise of his highest prerogatives, the prisoner had a 
 right to demand a postponement of the trial until the prejudices of 
 the people were less excited against him. 
 
 The physician was called, and swore, of course, that the old man 
 was able to go on with the trial, and did not think that his wounds 
 were such as to affect his mind and recollection. 
 
 The Court, accordingly, refused to postpone the trial. 
 
 IMPANELLING A JURY. 
 
 The afternoon session, which lasted three hours, was occupied in 
 obtaining a jury. At this time no Republican reporters were per- 
 mitted to enter Charlestown, or had succeeded in obtaining entrance 
 to the prison or Court. Hence, for the only accounts of the trial, we 
 are obliged to accept the statements of John Brown's bitterest foes. 
 
 This is their report of that afternoon's proceedings : 
 
 " The jailer was ordered to bring Brown into Court. He found him in bed, 
 from which he declared himself unable to rise. He was accordingly brought 
 into Court on a cot, which was set dotcn within the bar. The prisoner lay most of 
 the time with his eyes closed, and the counterpane drawn up close to his chin. 
 The jury were then called and sworn. The Court excluded those who were 
 present at Harper's Ferry during the insurrection, and saw the prisoners perpe- 
 trating the act for which they were about to be tried. They were all from 
 distant parts of the country, mostly farmers some of them owning a few slaves, 
 and others none. The examination was continued until twenty-four were 
 decided by the Court and counsel to be competent jurors. Out of these twenty- 
 four, the counsel for the prisoner had a right to strike off eight, and then twelve 
 are drawn by ballot out of the remaining sixteen. The following were the 
 questions put to the jurors : Were you at Harper's Ferry on Monday or Tuesday ? 
 How long did you remain there ? Did you witness any of the proceedings for 
 which this party is to be tried ? Did you form or express any opinion, from, 
 what you saw there, with regard to the guilt or innocence of these people ? 
 Would that opinion disqualify you from giving these men a fair trial ? Did you 
 hear any of the evidence in this case before the Examining Court ? What was 
 your opinion based on ? Was it a decided one, or was it one which would yield 
 to evidence, if the evidence was different from what you supposed ? Are you 
 sure that you can try this case impartially from the evidence alone, without 
 reference to anything you have heard or seen of this transaction ? Have you 
 any conscientious scruples against convicting a party of an offence to which 
 the law assigns the punishment of death, merely because that is the penalty 
 assigned ? " 
 
 But these statements give no just notion of the manner of impanel- 
 ling the juries in the trials of the Liberators. As they were all 
 similarly conducted, it will be proper here to quote, from the graphic 
 sketches of an eye witness, a description of the impanelling of the jury 
 who tried Edwin Coppic, 
 
 Let me endeavor to represent to you how some of the jurors in these cases are 
 qualified. 
 
JUDICIAL ALACEITY. 221 
 
 A stolid and heavy man stands up before the judge to answer the necessary 
 questions. His countenance is lighted only by the hope of getting a chance to 
 give his voice against the wounded man upon the ground. You can see this as 
 plainly as if he told you. 
 
 JUDGE. Were you at Harper's Ferry, sir, during these proceedings ? 
 
 JUROR. No, sir. 
 
 JUDGE. You are a freeholder of this county? 
 
 JUROR. Yes, sir. 
 
 JUDGE. Have you heard the evidence in the other cases ? 
 
 JUROR. (Eagerly.) Yes, sir. 
 
 JUDGE. I mean, if you have heard the evidence, and are likely to be 
 influenced by it, you are disqualified here. Have you heard much of the 
 evidence ? 
 
 JUROR. No, sir. 
 
 JUDGE. Have you expressed any opinion as to the guilt of these parties ? 
 
 JUROR. Yes, sir. (Eagerly again.) 
 
 JUDGE. Are you, then, capable of judging this case according to the 
 evidence, without reference to what you have before heard said ? 
 
 JUROR. Yes, sir. 
 
 JUDGE. Have you any conscientious scruples, which will prevent you finding 
 this man guilty, because the death-penalty may be his punishment? 
 
 JUROR, Yes, sir. (Promptly.) 
 
 JUDGE. I think you do not understand my question. I ask you if you would 
 hesitate to find this man guilty, because he would be hung if you did ! 
 
 Juror looks around puzzled, overcome by the abstract nature of the 
 proposition. 
 
 JUDGE. This man will be hung, if you find him guilty. Will that certainty 
 of his being hung prevent you from finding him guilty, if the evidence con- 
 vinces you he is so ? 
 
 JUROR. (Catching the idea.) No, sir no, sir. 
 
 JUDGE. Very well, sir ; you can take your seat as a juror. 
 
 Mr. Botts, who had solemnly promised to John Brown to defend 
 him faithfully, did not fulfil this moral and professional obligation, 
 for a jury was obtained without delay and without any objection on 
 his part. The names of these unfortunate men * were announced, but 
 they were not sworn till the following day. 
 
 At five o'clock " the prisoner was carried over to jail on his cot, and 
 the Court adjourned till morning." 
 
 * They were Richard Timberlake, Joseph Myers, Thomas Watson, jun., Isaac 
 Dust, John C. McClure, William Rightsdale, Jacob J. Millar, Thomas Osborne, 
 George W. Boyer, John C. Wiltshare, George W. Tapp, and William A. Martin. 
 
III. 
 
 STATE EVIDENCE. 
 
 ON Thursday morning, October 27, the trial began in earnest. John 
 Brown was brought from jail, supported on either side for he was 
 too feeble to walk alone and laid down on his cot within the bar. 
 The author of the Fugitive Slave Law was present. Did he know 
 that he was witnessing the beginning of the end of the rule of the 
 wicked Power that he represents ? Did he think that the wounded 
 old man on the pallet was undermining, with his every groan and 
 breath, the foundations of Human Slavery in America? As John 
 Brown embodied the Northern religious anti-slavery idea, so Senator 
 Mason, who now gazed at him, incarnated the Southern idolatrous 
 principle of infidelity to man. Yet, seemingly, how reversed did their 
 positions appear. The Slave Liberator with no earthly prospect but a 
 speedy death on the gallows ; and the Slave Extraditionist buoyed up 
 with the hope of soon filling the Presidential Chair. 
 
 A PLEA OF INSANITY. 
 
 The plea of insanity first advanced by political monomaniacs in 
 the Northern States, who could not understand a heroic action when 
 they saw one, and yet, admiring his spirit, were unwilling to denounce 
 John Brown was brought forward, before the jury were sworn, by 
 the production of a telegraphic despatch from Ohio. It asserted that 
 insanity was hereditary in John Brown's family ; that his mother's 
 sister died with it, and her daughter was now in an insane asylum ; 
 and that three of the children of his maternal uncle were also mentally 
 deranged. 
 
 " MR. BOTTS said that, on receiving the above despatch, he went to the jail 
 with his associate, Mr. Green, and read it to Brown, and was desired by him to 
 say that in his father's family there has never been any insanity at all. On his 
 mother's side there have been repeated instances of it. He adds that his first 
 
STATE EVIDENCE. 223 
 
 wife showed symptoms of it, which were also evident in his first and second 
 sons by that wife. Some portions of the statements in the despatch he knows to 
 be correct, and of other portions he is ignorant. He does not know whether his 
 mother's sister died in the lunatic asylum ; but he does believe that a daughter 
 of that sister has been two years in the asylum. He also believes that a son and 
 daughter of his mother's brother have been confined in an asylum; but he is 
 not apprised of the f; ct that another son of that brother is now insane, and in 
 close confinement. Brown also desires his counsel to say that he does not put 
 in the plea of insanity." * 
 
 John Brown then rose, and spurned the plea thus sought to be 
 introduced. He said : 
 
 " I will add, if the Court will allow me, that I look upon it as a miserable 
 artifice and pretext of those who ought to take a different course in regard to 
 me, if they took any at all, and I view it with contempt more than otherwise. 
 Insane persons, so far as my experience goes, have but little ability to judge of 
 their own sanity ; and if I am insane, of course I should think I knew more 
 than all the rest of the world. But I do not think so. I am perfectly uncon- 
 scious of insanity, and I reject, so far as I am capable, any attempts to interfere 
 in my behalf on that score." 
 
 A DAY'S DELAY REFUSED. 
 
 " The course taken by Brown this morning," writes a pro-slavery 
 correspondent, " makes it evident that he sought no postponement for 
 the mere purpose of delay." And yet, although the prisoner again 
 asked for a suspension of the proceedings for one day only, until a 
 lawyer, in Ohio, to whom he had written, and who had telegraphed a 
 reply, should arrive in Charlestown, the Court again refused to grant 
 the request, and ordered the examination to proceed. Mr. Hunter, in 
 opposing the request, involuntarily showed that he regarded the trial 
 as a form only a mockery of justice and expressed his belief that 
 the old man was less solicitous for a fair trial than to give to his 
 friends the time and opportunity to organize a rescue. Mr. Harding, 
 with greater brutality, asserted that the prisoner was merely shamming 
 sickness although he could not stand unsupported for any length of 
 time, and was covered with wounds, not one of which had healed. 
 
 The Jury were sworn, and the indictment read. The Court 
 permitted the prisoner, while arraigned, to remain prostrate on his 
 pallet. He did so. The indictment charged Insurrection, Treason, 
 and Murder. John Brown pleaded Not Guilty. 
 
 ARGUMENTS OF THE COUNSEL. 
 
 Mr. Hunter then stated the facts that he designed to prove by the 
 
 Report of Associated Press. 
 
224 STATE EVIDENCE. 
 
 evidence for the prosecution, and reviewed the laws relating to the 
 offences charged on the prisoner, and concluded by hypocritically 
 
 "Urging the jury to cast aside all prejudices, and give the prisoners a fair 
 and impartial trial ; and not to allow their hatred of Abolitionists to influence 
 them against those who have raised the black flag on the soil of this Common- 
 wealth." 
 
 Mr. Green responded, stating what should Ibe proved, and how, to 
 convict of the offences charged : 
 
 1. To establish the charge of treason it must be proven that the 
 prisoner attempted to establish a separate and distinct government 
 within the limits of Virginia, and the purpose also of any treasonable 
 acts ; and this, not by any confessions of his own, elsewhere made, but 
 by two different witnesses for each and every act. 
 
 2. To establish the charge of a conspiracy with slaves, 
 
 " The jury must be satisfied that such conspiracy was done within the State 
 of Virginia, and within the jurisdiction of this Court. If it was done in Mary- 
 land, this Court could not punish the act. If it was done within the limits of 
 the Armory at Harper's Ferry, it was not done within the limits of this State, the 
 Government of the United States holding exclusive jurisdiction within the said 
 grounds. Attorney-General Cushing had decided this point with regard to the 
 Armory grounds at Harper's Ferry, which opinion was read to the jury, showing 
 that persons residing within the limits of the Armory cannot even be taxed by 
 Virginia, and that crimes committed within the said limits are punishable by 
 Federal Courts." 
 
 3. Over murder (he argued), if committed within the limits of the 
 Armory, the Court had no jurisdiction ; and, in the case of Mr. 
 Beckham, if he was killed on the railroad bridge, it was committed 
 within the State of Maryland, which claims jurisdiction up to the 
 Armory grounds. 
 
 Mr. Botts followed him, and supported these views. The only 
 noteworthy thing he said was, that 
 
 " It is due to the prisoner to state that he believed himself to be actuated by 
 the highest and noblest feelings that ever coursed through a human breast. 
 They could prove by those gentlemen who were prisoners that they were treated 
 with respect, and that they were kept in positions of safety, and that no violence 
 was offered to them. These facts must be taken into consideration, and have 
 their due weight with the jury." 
 
 Mr. Hunter replied. The State law of treason, he argued, was more 
 full than that of the Federal Constitution. 
 
 " It includes within its definition of treason the establishing, without the 
 authority of the Legislature, any Government within its limits separate from the 
 existing Government, or the holding or executing, under such Government, of 
 any office, professing allegiance or fidelity to it, or resisting the execution of 
 law under the color of its authority ; and it goes on to declare that such treason, 
 if proved by the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or by con- 
 fession in Court, shall be punished with death. Any one of these acts constitutes 
 treason against this Commonwealth ; and he believed that the prisoner had been 
 
STATE EVIDENCE. 225 
 
 guilty of each ami all these acts, which would be proven in the clearest manner, 
 not by two, but by a dozen witnesses, unless limited by the lack of time. The 
 prisoner had attempted to break down the existing Government of the Common- 
 wealth, and establish on its ruins a new Government ; he had usurped the 
 office of Commander-in-Chief of this new Government, and, together with his 
 whole band, professed allegiance and fidelity to it ; he represented not only the 
 civil authorities of State, but our own military ; he is doubly, trebly, and quad- 
 ruply guilty of treason. Mr. Hunter proceeded again to the question of 
 jurisdiction over the Armory grounds, and examined the authority, cited on 
 the other side, of Attorney-General Cushing. The latter was an able man ; but 
 he came from a region of country where opinions are very different from ours in 
 relation to the power of the Federal Government as affecting State rights. Our 
 Courts are decidedly averse to Mr. Cushing's views. In all time past, the juris- 
 diction of this County of Jefferson in criminal offences committed at Harper's 
 Ferry has been uninterrupted and unchallenged, whether they were committed 
 on the Government property or not. He cited an instance, twenty-nine years 
 ago, where an atrocious murder was committed between the very shops in front 
 of which these men fought their battles, and the criminal was tried here, con- 
 victed, and executed under our laws. There was a broad difference between the 
 cession of jurisdiction by Virginia to the Federal Government, and mere assent 
 of the State that the Federal Government should become a landowner within 
 its limits. The law of Virginia, by virtue of which the grounds at Harper's 
 Ferry were purchased by the Federal Government, ceded no jurisdiction. Brown 
 was also guilty, on his own notorious confession, in advising conspiracy. In 
 regard to the charge of murder, the proof will be, that this man was not only 
 actually engaged in murdering our citizens, but that he was the chief director 
 of the whole movement. No matter whether he was present on the spot or a 
 mile off, he is equally guilty." 
 
 EXAMINATION OF WITNESSES. 
 
 The examination of witnesses was commenced at the afternoon ses- 
 sion. The conductor of the train was first called, narrated the circum- 
 stances of its stoppage on the morning of Monday, October 17, and 
 thus described his interview with Captain Brown : 
 
 " I met a man whom I now recognize as Coppic, and asked what they meant. 
 He replied, ' We don't want to injure you or detain your train. You could 
 have gone at three o'clock : all we want is to free the negroes.' I then asked if 
 my train could now start, and went to the guard at the gate, who said, ' There 
 is Captain Smith ; he can tell you what you want to know.' I went to the 
 engine house, and the guard called Captain Smith. The prisoner at the bar 
 came out, and I asked him if he was captain of these men. He replied he was. 
 I asked him if I could cross the bridge, and he peremptorily responded, ' No, 
 sir.' I then asked him what he meant by stopping my train. He replied, ' Are 
 you the conductor on that train?' I told him I was, and he said, "Why, 
 I sent you word at three o'clock that you could pass.' I told him that, after 
 being stopped by armed men on the bridge, I would not pass with my train. 
 He replied, ' My head for it, you will not be hurt ; ' and said he was very sorry. 
 It was not his intention that any blood should be spilled ; it was bad manage- 
 ment on the part of the men in charge of the bridge. I then asked him what 
 security I would have that my train would pass safely, and asked him if he 
 would walk over the bridge ahead of my train with me. He called a large, stout 
 man to accompany him, and one of my passengers, Mr. McByrne, asked to 
 accompany me ; but Brown ordered him to get into the train, or he would take 
 them all prisoners in five minutes ; but it was advice more in the form of a 
 threat. Brown accompanied me ; both had rifles. As we crossed the bridge, 
 the three armed men were still in their places. When we got across, Brown said 
 to me. " You, doubtless, wonder that a man of my age should be here with a 
 
226 STATE EVIDENCE. 
 
 band of armed men ; but if you knew my past history, you would not wonder at 
 it so much.' My train was then through the bridge, and I bade him good 
 morning, jumped on my train, and left him." 
 
 He narrated the conversation between Captain Brown and Governor 
 Wise, when the Liberator was confined in the guard house at Harper's 
 Ferry, in which he said that the prisoner stated, in reply to a question, 
 that he thought he had been betrayed to the Secretary of War, but had 
 practised a ruse to prevent suspicion ; yet refused to inform them whom 
 he believed to be the traitor, or how he had acted to avert the con- 
 sequences of the betrayal. 
 
 John Brown thus alluded to Colonel Forbes and his own third visit to 
 Kansas. 
 
 During the examination of this witness, a despatch arrived from 
 Cleveland, announcing that Northern counsel would arrive in Charles- 
 town that evening ; whereupon the Virginia counsel for John Brown, 
 in his name, asked that the cross-examination might be postponed till 
 the following morning. It was already late in the evening, but the 
 prosecuting attorney resisted the request, because 
 
 " If the cases were not pushed on, the whole balance of the term would not 
 be sufficient to try these men. He thought there was no reason for delay, espe- 
 cially as it was uncertain whether the counsel could get here before to-morrow !" 
 
 The Court, as usual, ordered the case to proceed. 
 
 Colonel Washington described his arrest, and testified that Captain 
 Brown permitted his prisoners to keep in a safe position; that he 
 never spoke rudely or insultingly to them ; that he allowed them to go 
 out, to quiet their families, by assuring them of their personal safety ^ 
 that he heard him direct his men on several occasions never to fire on 
 an unarmed citizen ; that he assured the captives that they should be 
 treated well, and none of their property destroyed ; and that he over- 
 heard a conversation between Stevens and another person, on Southern 
 Institutions, in the course of which that Liberator asked, " If he was 
 in favor of slavery ? " and, on receiving the reply, that, although a non- 
 slaveholder, yet, " as a citizen of the South, he would sustain the cause/' 
 immediately answered, " Then you are the first man I would hang ; 
 you deserve it more than a man who is a slaveholder and sustains his 
 interests." He could not swear whether the marines fired after they 
 broke into the engine house ; the noise, he said, was great, and several 
 shouted from the inside that some one had surrendered among the 
 prisoners. 
 
 This evidence ended the proceedings of the Court on Thursday. The 
 official report closed with this extraordinary announcement : " Orders 
 
STATE EVIDENCE. 227 
 
 have been given to the jailers to shoot all the prisoners if an attempt is made 
 Jar their rescue" 
 
 When it is borne in mind that the only offence of these prisoners 
 was an effort to fulfil two commands of Jesus, " Do unto others as ye 
 would that others should do unto you," and, " Remember those in bonds, 
 as bound with them ;" and that, by the laws of every free Common- 
 wealth, the accused man, until convicted of a crime, is held to be guilt- 
 less what a fearful picture of the civilization and Christianity of 
 Virginia does this barbarous and bloody order hold up to our view 
 
IV. 
 
 STATE EVIDENCE CLOSED. 
 
 THERE was great exultation in Charlestown on Friday, October 28. 
 John E. Cook was brought in as a prisoner, by men who, in a Free 
 State, betrayed and seized him, for the price of his blood, previously 
 offered by Governor Wise. But until this record of the outrage called 
 the trial of John Brown be completed, I will not divert the attention 
 of the reader to the fears and hopes, the crimes and prayers which were 
 agitating the world outside of the Court House and the Jail of Charles- 
 town. 
 
 On Friday morning, Mr. Hoyt, a young Boston lawyer, arrived as a 
 volunteer counsel for John Brown ; and, although declining to act until 
 he obtained a knowledge of the case, was qualified as a member of 
 the bar. 
 
 The testimony for the prosecution was resumed. Colonel Washing- 
 ton, recalled, stated that he heard Captain Brown frequently complain 
 of the bad faith of the people by firing on his men when under a flag of 
 truce ; " but he heard him make no threat, nor utter any vindictireness against 
 them ;" and that, " during the day, one of Brown's sons was shot in the 
 breast, the ball passing around to the side ; but he took his weapon 
 again and fired repeatedly, before his sufferings compelled him to 
 retire." 
 
 Mr. Hunter then laid before the Jury the printed Constitution and 
 Ordinance of the Provisional Government, and a large bundle of letters 
 and papers. He asked that the Sheriff, who knew the handwriting of 
 the prisoner, be brought to identify his handwriting. 
 
 John Brown. I will identify any of my handwriting, and save all that 
 trouble. I am ready to face the music. 
 
 Mr. Hunter. I prefer to prove them by Mr. Campbell. 
 
 John Brown. Either way you please. 
 
 The bundle of letters was then opened ; each was identified by Camp- 
 
STATE EVIDENCE CLOSED. 229 
 
 bell, and then handed to the prisoner, who, in a firm* tone, replied, 
 " Yes that is mine," as soon as he recognized his writing. 
 
 MB. HUNTER presented the form of Government established by the insurgents, 
 and read a list of the members of the Convention. It is headed, " William Charles 
 Morris, President of the Convention, and H. Kagi, Secretary of the Convention." 
 On handing the list to Brown, he exclaimed, with a groan, " That is my 
 signature." 
 
 MR. BALL, master machinist of the Armory, one of the prisoners made by 
 Captain Brown, testified as to his arrest, and stated that he " was conducted to 
 Captain Brown, who told me his object was to free the slaves, and not the making 
 of war on the people ; that my person and private property would be safe ; that 
 his war was against the accursed system of slavery ; that he had power to do it, 
 and would carry it out ; it was no child's play he had undertaken. He then gave 
 me permission to return to my family, to assure them of my safety and get my 
 breakfast ; started back home, and was accompanied by two armed men, who 
 stopped at the door : breakfast not being ready, went back, and was allowed to 
 return home again, under escort, at a later hour ; on returning again, Captain 
 Brown said it was his determination to seize the arms and munitions of the 
 Government, to arm the blacks to defend themselves against their masters." 
 
 He testified, also, as to several incidents narrated in the account of 
 the fight. He added, in his cross-examination, that 
 
 " Brown repeatedly said that he would injure no one but in self-defence, and 
 Coppic frequently nrged us to seek places of safety ; but Brown did not he ap- 
 peared to desire us to take care of ourselves. There were three or four slaves in 
 the engine-house ; they had spears, but all seemed badly scared ; Washington 
 Phil was ordered by Brown to cut a port-hole through the brick wall ; he con- 
 tinued until a brisk fire commenced outside, when he said, ' This is getting too 
 hot for Phil,' and he squatted. Brown then took up the tools and finished the 
 hole." 
 
 John Allstadt told how he was brought from his farm by a party of 
 men who declared that their object was to " free the country from 
 slavery;" described his detention at the engine house, and various 
 incidents of the fight there ; said that " the negroes were placed in the 
 watch house with spears in their hands, but showed no disposition to 
 use them ; that he saw Phil making port-holes by the Captain's order, 
 but that the other negroes did nothing, and had dropped their weapons 
 some of them being asleep nearly all the time ; that John Brown's 
 rifle was always cocked, and that he believed, although he would not 
 swear, that it was the old man himself who shot the marine. 
 
 Alexander Kelly described the manner of Thomas Boerley's death. 
 He was armed with a gun when killed. George W. Turner, also, was 
 killed as he was levelling his rifle. 
 
 Albert Grist described his arrest, by a man armed with a spear, on 
 Sunday night, and his detention in the Armory until he was dismissed 
 by Captain Brown, after delivering a message to the conductor of the 
 train. "Brown," he said, "declared that his object was to free the 
 slaves. I told him there were not many there. He replied : ' The good 
 Book says we are all free and equal.' " 
 
230 STATE EVIDENCE CLOSED. 
 
 At the afternoon session of Friday, three additional witnesses were 
 produced for the State, but their testimony presented no new facts, and 
 Henry Hunter, who is described as " a very intelligent young gentle- 
 man, apparently about twenty-two years of age, the son of Andrew 
 Hunter, Esq., who conducts the prosecution," was examined as to the 
 murder of Thompson. 
 
 Although, technically, the record of the evidence for the prosecution 
 should here close, it will be seen, by the subsequent proceedings, that, 
 in consequence of the intentional negligence of the prisoner's Virginia 
 counsel, it was not concluded till the adjournment of the Court. The 
 defence began on the following day. Yet, in this Friday's proceedings, 
 one incident of the conflict at Harper's Ferry, as described by a witness 
 first introduced by the State, is so characteristic of the spirit engendered 
 by slavery so faithful a mirror of modern Southern chivalry that it 
 deserves to be reported in full, and preserved as a contrast to the con- 
 duct of the Liberators. 
 
 THE MURDER OF THOMPSON. 
 
 MR. GREEN stated to the Court that he desired to bring out testimony relative 
 to the shooting of Thompson, one of the insurgents, on the bridge ; but the State 
 objected to it, unless Brown had a knowledge of that shooting. 
 
 MR. HUNTER said there was a deal of testimony about Brown's forbearance 
 and not shooting citizens, that had no more to do with this case than the dead 
 languages. If he understood the offer, it was to show that one of those men, 
 named Thompson, a prisoner, was despatched after Beckham's death. The 
 circumstances of the deed might be such as he himself might not at all 
 approve. He did not know how that might be, but he desired to avoid any 
 investigation that might be used. Not that it was so designed by the respectable 
 counsel employed in the case, but because he thought the object of the prisoner 
 in getting at it was for out-door effect and influence. He therefore said if the 
 defence could show that this prisoner was aware of these circumstances, and the 
 manner in which that party was killed, and still exerted forbearance, he would 
 not object. But unless the knowledge of it could be brought home to the 
 prisoner and his after conduct, he could not see its relevancy. 
 
 MR. GREEN, counsel for defence, contended that they had a right to infer that 
 Brown had been made aware of it, as it was already proved that communications 
 passed between him and the citizens several times after the killing of Thompson. 
 
 JUDGE PARKER decided that the whole transaction of that day constituted a 
 part of the res gestae, and might be inquired into. 
 
 HENRY HUNTER called, examined by counsel for defence. 
 
 Q. Did you witness the death of this man Thompson ? 
 
 A. I witnessed the death of one whose name I have been informed was 
 Thompson. 
 
 Q. The one who was a prisoner? 
 
 A. Yes, sir. 
 
 Q. Well, sir, what were the circumstances attending it? 
 
 A. Do you wish my own connection with it, or simply a description of the 
 circumstances ? Shall I mention the names ? 
 
 MR. ANDREW HUNTER. Every bit of it, Henry ; state all you saw. 
 
 WITNESS. There was a prisoner confined in the parlor of the hotel, and after 
 Mr. Beckham's death he was shot down by a number of us there belonging to this 
 sharp-shooting band. 
 
 MR. ANDREW HUNTER. Will you allow him to state, before proceeding fur- 
 ther, how he was connected with Mr. Beckham ? 
 
STATE EVIDENCE CLOSED. 231 
 
 MR. GREEN. Certainly, sir. 
 
 WITNESS. He was my grand-uncle and my special friend a man I loved 
 above all others. After he was killed, Mr. Chambers and myself moved forward 
 to the hotel for the purpose of taking the prisoner out and hanging him ; we 
 were joined by a number of other persons, who cheered us on in that work ; we 
 went up into his room, where he was bound, with the undoubted and undisguised 
 purpose of taking his life ; at the door we were stopped by persons guarding 
 the door, who remonstrated with us, and the excitement was so great that persons 
 who remonstrated with us at one moment would cheer iis on the next ; we burst 
 into the room where he was, and found several around him, but they offered only 
 a feeble resistance ; we brought our guns down to his head repeatedly, myself 
 and another person, for the purpose of shooting him in the room. 
 
 There was a young lady there, the sister of Mr. Fouke, the hotel keeper, who 
 sat in this man's lap, covered his face with her arms, and shielded him with her 
 person whenever we brought our guns to bear ; she said to us, " For God's sake 
 wait and let the law take its course ;" my associate shouted to kill him ; " Let us 
 shed his blood," were his words ; all round were shouting, " Mr. Beckham's life 
 was worth ten thousand of these vile abolitionists ;" I was cool about it, and 
 deliberate ; my gun was pushed up by some one who seized the barrel, and I then, 
 moved to the back part of the room, still with purpose unchanged, but with a 
 view to divert attention from me, in order to get an opportunity, at some moment 
 when the crowd would be less dense, to shoot him ; after a moment's thought, it 
 occurred to me that that was not the proper place to kill him ; we then proposed 
 to take him out and hang him ; some portion of our band then opened a way to 
 him, and first pushing Miss Fouke aside, we slung him out of doors ; I gave him 
 a push, and many others did the same ; we then shoved him along the platform 
 and down to the trestle-work of the bridge ; he begged for his life all the time, 
 very piteously at first. 
 
 By-the-by, before we took him out of the room, I asked the question what he 
 ame here for : he said their only purpose was to free the slaves or die ; then he 
 begged, "Don't take my life a prisoner;" but I put the gun to him, and he said, 
 " You may kill me, but it will be revenged ; there are eighty thousand persons 
 sworn to carry out this work ;" that was his last expression ; we bore him out on 
 the bridge with the purpose then of hanging him ; we had no rope, and none 
 could be found ; it was a moment of wild excitement ; two of us raised our guns 
 which one was first I do not know and pulled the trigger; before he had 
 reached the ground, I suppose some five or six shots had been fired into his body ; 
 he fell on the railroad track, his back down to the earth, and his face up ; we then 
 went back for the purpose of getting another one (Stevens), but he was sick or 
 wounded, and persons around him, and I persuaded them myself to let him 
 alone ; I said, " Don't let us operate on him, but go around and get some more ;" 
 we did this act with a purpose, thinking it right and justifiable iinder the circum- 
 stances, and fired and excited by the cowardly, savage manner in which Mr. 
 Beckham's life had been taken. 
 
 MR, ANDREW HUNTER. is that all, gentlemen? 
 
 MR. BOTTS. Yes, sir. 
 
 MR. ANDREW HUNTER (to the witness). Stand aside. 
 
 This sworn statement of a cold-blooded murder, by one of the per- 
 petrators of it, elicited not one word of condemnation from any journal 
 published in the Southern States, 
 
 WM. M. WILLIAMS, the watchman, stated the particulars of his arrest and 
 confinement in the watch house. Captain Brown told the prisoners to hide 
 themselves, or they would be shot by the people outside ; he said he would not 
 hurt any of them. He told Mr. Grist to tell the people to cease firing, or he would 
 burn the town ; but if they didn't molest him, he wouldn't molest them; heard 
 two shots on the bridge about the time the express train arrived, but did not see 
 Hayward killed. 
 
 CAPT. BROWN. State what was said by myself, and not about his being shot. 
 
232 STATE EVIDENCE CLOSED. 
 
 WILLIAMS. I think you said that if he had taken care of himself, he would 
 not have suffered. 
 
 EEASON CROSS. I prepared a proposition that Brown should retain the pos- 
 session of the Armory, that he should release us, and that the firing should stop. 
 
 CAPT. BROWN. Were there two written propositions drawn up while you 
 were prisoner ? 
 
 CROSS. Yes, there was another paper prepared hy Kitzmiller and some others. 
 I went out to stop the firing ; a man went with me, and they took him prisoner 
 and tied him ; this was Thompson, who was afterwards taken out and shot ; 
 Brown's treatment of me was kind and respectful ; heard him talk roughly to 
 some men who were going in to where the blacks were confined. 
 
 Several witnesses for the defence were then called, but none of them 
 answered to their subpoenas. They had not been returned. There was 
 no doubt now that the trial would have been closed at once ; for, up to 
 this period, no earnest effort had been made, by the counsel for the 
 defence, to compel the Court to grant a brief delay ; when, unexpectedly 
 John Brown arose from his mattress and addressed the Judge. 
 
 JOHN BROWN'S SPEECH. 
 
 May it Please the Court. I discover that, notwithstanding all the assurances 
 I have received of a fair trial, nothing like a fair trial is to be given me, as it 
 would seem. I gave the names, as soon as I could get them, of the persons I 
 wished to have called as witnesses, and was assured that they would be sub- 
 poanaed. I wrote down a memorandum to that effect, saying where these parties 
 were ; but it appears that they have not been subpcenaed, so far as I can learn. 
 And now I ask, if I am to have anything at all deserving the name and shadow 
 of a fair trial, that this proceeding be deferred until to-morrow morning ; for I 
 have no counsel, as I have before stated, on whom I feel that I can rely ; but I 
 am in hopes counsel may arrive who will attend to seeing that I get the witnesses 
 who are necessary for my defence. I am myself unable to attend to it. I have 
 given all the attention I possibly could to it, but am unable to see or know about 
 them, and can't even find out their names ; and I have nobody to do any errands, 
 for my money was all taken from me when I was sacked and stabbed, and I have 
 not a dime. I had two hundred and fifty or sixty dollars in gold and silver taken 
 from my pocket, and now I have no possible means of getting anybody to do my 
 errands for me, and I have not had all the witnesses subpomaed. They are not 
 within reach, and are not here. I ask at least until to-morrow morning to have 
 something done, if anything is designed; if not, I am ready for anything that 
 may come up. 
 
 The old man lay down again, drew his blanket over him, closed his 
 eyes, and appeared to sink in tranquil slumber. 
 
 This bold speech, with its modest request (which was seconded by 
 Mr. Hoyt, who, we are told, u arose amid great sensation," and stated 
 that other counsel would arrive to-night), shamed the unfaithful Vir- 
 ginia advocates into an immediate resignation, and the Court into 
 an adjournment till the following morning. But it is due to the 
 reputation of Mr. Hunter to say, that he resolutely resisted this 
 action. 
 
 " The town," flashed the telegraph, " is greatly excited ; the guard 
 has been increased ; the conduct of Brown is regarded as a trick." The 
 very appearance of decency alarmed the citizens of Charlestown ! 
 
V. 
 
 THE DEFENCE. 
 
 JOHN BKOWN cared little for posthumous fame ; but for his reputa- 
 tion, as a help or hindrance to the cause of the slave, he had a just 
 degree of solicitude. He did not wish to die with the character of a 
 robber or a murderer. He desired to show that he had shed no blood, 
 committed no violence, done no uncourteous act, uttered no unkind or 
 vindictive saying, beyond what the furtherance of his plan demanded 
 above or outside of the absolute necessities of his holy scheme and 
 dangerous situation. While freely admitting every act that he com- 
 mitted, therefore, and having no hope whatever of a verdict of acquittal,, 
 or of a pardon, he sought to prove in Court, by the evidence of hi& 
 enemies, that he had not in any way transcended the obligations of his 
 divinely-appointed mission. This design, of course, was not acceptable 
 to Virginia ; and her loyal sons, therefore Messrs. Botts and Green 
 although they often stated their determinaton to see justice done, took 
 no efficient steps to secure its fulfilment. 
 
 The Court assembled at ten o'clock on Saturday. John Brown was 
 brought in and laid on his pallet. Mr. Samuel Chilton, of Washington 
 City, and Mr. Henry Griswold, of Ohio, appeared as additional counsel 
 for the prisoner. 
 
 Mr. Chilton rose and said, that on his arrival in Charlestown, after 
 finding that the counsel whom he had come to assist had retired from 
 the case, he hesitated about undertaking it ; it was only at the urgent 
 solicitation of the prisoner and his friends, that he had now consented 
 to do so ; but, not having had time to read the indictment or the 
 evidence already given, it was impossible for him to discharge the full 
 duty of a counsel. So, also, with Mr. Griswold. A short delay a 
 few hours only would enable them to make some preparation. 
 
 The Court, as usual, refused the request, and referred, with some 
 asperity, to the recent speech of the plain-spoken prisoner. " This 
 term," said the Judge, " will very soon end ; and it is my duty to en- 
 
234 THE DEFENCE. 
 
 deavor to get through with all the cases if possible, in justice to the prisoners, 
 and in justice to the State. The trial must proceed." 
 
 Mr. Hoyt, after objecting to certain papers (which were withdrawn), 
 and asking certain questions relative to the witnesses he had summoned, 
 called on John P. Dangerfield, of Harper's Ferry, to testify. From 
 the evidence for the defence, it is unnecessary to quote more than those 
 passages which refer to the object that John Brown had in view, and 
 a few brief incidents of the conflict not elsewhere noted : 
 
 JOHN P. DANGERFIELD. Was a prisoner in the hands of Captain Brown at 
 the engine-house. About a dozen black men were there, armed with pikes, 
 which they carried most awkwardly and unwillingly. During the firing they 
 were lying about asleep, some of them having crawled under the engines. From 
 the treatment of Captain Brown, he had no personal fear of him or his men 
 during his confinement. Saw one of John Brown's sons shot in the engine- 
 house; he fell back, exclaiming, "It's all up with me!" and died in a few 
 moments. Another son came in and commenced to vomit blood ; he was wounded 
 while out with Mr. Kitzmuller (carrying a flag of truce). The prisoner frequently 
 complained that his men were shot down while carrying a flag of truce. 
 
 Mr. Hunter again tried to arrest the production of evidence so dis- 
 graceful to the Virginians, but even the barbarous code of his native 
 State did not prevent the presentation of proof tending to show the 
 absence of malice. The witness was allowed to proceed: 
 
 " Brown promised safety to all descriptions of property except slave property. 
 After the first attack, Captain Brown cried out to surrender. Saw Brown 
 wounded on the hip by a thrust from a sabre, and several sabre-cuts on his head. 
 When the latter wounds were given, Captain Brown appeared to be shieldiny 
 himself with his head down, but making no resistance. The parties outside 
 appeared to be firing as they pleased." 
 
 Major Mills, master of the armory, was next sworn. 
 
 " "Was one of the hostages of Captain Brown in the engine-house Brown's 
 
 son went out with a flag of truce, and was shot. Heard Brown frequently com- 
 plain that the citizens had acted in a barbarous manner. He did not appear to 
 have any malicious feeling. His intentions were to shoot nobody unless they 
 were carrying or using arms." 
 
 John Brown here asked whether the witness saw any firing on his 
 part that was not purely defensive. 
 
 WITNESS. It might be considered in that light, perhaps ; the balls came into 
 the engine-house pretty thick. 
 
 A conversation here ensued between John Brown, lying on his cot, 
 and Mr. Dangerfield, as to the part taken by the prisoner in not unne- 
 cessarily exposing his hostages to danger. The witness generally 
 corroborated the Liberator's version of the circumstances attending 
 the attack on the engine-house, but could not testify to all the inci- 
 dents that he enumerated. He did not hear him say that he sur- 
 rendered. The wife and daughter of the witness were] permitted to 
 
THE DEFENCE. 235 
 
 visit him unmolested, and free verbal communication was allowed 
 with those outside. " We were treated kindly, but were compelled to 
 stay where we didn't want to be." 
 
 Samuel Snider, the next witness, corroborated the evidence of Mr. 
 Dangerfield ; asserting that the prisoner honestly endeavored to protect 
 his hostages, and wished to make peace more for their sake than his 
 personal safety. 
 
 Mr. Hoyt's sudden indisposition caused the Court to adjourn for an 
 hour. 
 
 At two o'clock in the afternoon the testimony was resumed, and the 
 examination conducted by Mr. Griswold. 
 
 Captain Simms, commander of the Frederick Volunteers, was the 
 first witness. 
 
 " Brown complained," he said, " that his men were shot down like dogs while 
 bearing a flag of truce. I told him that they must -expect to be shot down like 
 dogs, if they took up arms in that way." 
 
 What an appalling declaration for an American citizen to make 
 that men who interfere in behalf of the heavily oppressed, the despised 
 poor, for whom Jesus suffered on the Cross of Calvary, but whom 
 Virginia converts into mere articles of merchandise, " must expect " 
 in a country which boasts of its freedom and devotion to human rights 
 " to be shot down like dogs ! " How horrible, and how horribly 
 true! 
 
 " Brown said he knew what he had to undergo when he came there. He had 
 weighed the responsibility, and should not shrink from it ; he said he had full 
 possession of the town, and could have massacred all the inhabitants, had he 
 thought proper to do so ; but, as he had not, he considered himself entitled to 
 some terms. He said he shot no one who had not carried arms. I told him 
 that Mayor Beckham had been killed, and that I knew he was altogether un- 
 armed. He seemed sorry to hear of his death, and said, ' I fight only those who 
 fight me.' I saw Stevens at the hotel after he had been wounded [while carrying 
 a flag of truce], ( and shamed some young men who were endeavouring to shoot 
 
 Mm, as he lay in his bed, apparently dying He had no sympathy for the acts 
 
 of ^the prisoner, but he regarded him as a brave man." 
 
 Two other witnesses corroborated these evidences of the old hero's 
 courage and humanity, and of the cowardly barbarity of the Virginians. 
 The defence here rested their case. 
 
 LAWYERS' TONGUE-FENCING. 
 
 Whereupon, the lawyers began their preliminary duties to submit 
 various motions and make objections thereto. For such as admire 
 this description of debate, I submit the official report of it : 
 
 A MOTION. 
 
 MB. CHILTON, for the prisoner, rose and submitted a motion that the prose- 
 cution in this case be compelled to elect one count of the indictment and abandon 
 
236 THE DEFENCE. 
 
 the others. The indictment consists of four counts, and is indorsed thus : " An 
 indictment for treason, and advising and conspiring with slaves and others to 
 rebel." The charge of treason is in the first, and the second count alleges a 
 charge different from that which is indorsed on the back of the indictment, and 
 which is upon record. The second count is under the following statute : If a 
 free person advise or conspire with a slave to rebel or make an insurrection, he 
 shall be punished with death, whether such rebellion or insurrection be made 
 or not." But the second count of the indictment is, that these parties, who are 
 charged by the indictment, " conspired, together with other persons, to induce 
 certain slaves, the property of Messrs. Allstadt and Washington, to make rebel- 
 lion and insurrection." There is a broad distinction between advising and con- 
 spiring with slaves to rebel, and conspiring with others to induce slaves to rebel. 
 Whether he was to avail himself of their irregularity by instruction from the 
 Court to the Jury to disregard this second count entirely, or whether it would 
 be proper to wait until the conclusion of the trial, and then move an arrest of 
 judgment, he left his Honor to decide. He proceeded to argue the motion that 
 the prosecution be compelled to elect one count, and abandon the others, quoting 
 Archibald's Criminal Pleading in support of his view. He further alluded to the 
 hardship which rests upon the prisoner to meet various and distinct charges in 
 the same trial. From the authority he read, it would be seen that in a case of 
 treason, different descriptions of treason could not be united in the same indict- 
 ment : high treason could not be associated with other treason. If an inferior 
 grade of the same character could not be included in separate covints, still less 
 can offences of higher grade. Treason in this country is high treason. Treason 
 against the State of Virginia is treason against her sovereignty. We have no 
 other description of treason, because treason can only be committed against 
 sovereignty, whether that of the United States or of a sovereign State. 
 
 OBJECTIONS. 
 
 MR. HARDIXG could not see the force of the objection made by the learned 
 counsel on the other side. In regard to separate offences being charged, these 
 were but different parts of the same transaction. Treason against the Govern- 
 ment is properly made the subject of one of the counts. But we have also a 
 count of murder, for it can hardly be supposed that treason can exist without 
 being followed or accompanied by murder. Murder arose out of this treason, 
 and was the natural result of this bloody conspiracy ; yet, after ail the evidence 
 has been given on all these points, the objection is made that we must confine 
 ourselves to a single one of them. He hoped that no such motion would be 
 granted. 
 
 MB. HUNTEK, in reply to the argument of Mr. Chilton, said that the discretion 
 of the Court, compelling the prosecution to elect on one count in the indictment, 
 is only exercised where great embarrassment would otherwise result to the 
 prisoner. As applied to this particular case, it involved this point, that not- 
 withstanding the transaction, as has been disclosed by the evidence, be one 
 transaction, a continued, closely-connected series of acts, which, according to- 
 our apprehension of the law of the land, involves the three great offences of 
 treason, conspiring with and advising slaves to make insurrection, and the per- 
 petration of murder ; whether, in a case of this character, it is right and proper 
 for the Court to put the prosecution upon their election, as to one of the three, 
 and bar us from investigation of the two others, although they relate to facts 
 involved in one grand fact. Notwithstanding the multiplicity of duties devolving 
 upon the prosecutor and assistant prosecutors, yet we have found time to be 
 guarded and careful in regard to the mode of framing the indictment. It is my 
 work, and I propose to defend it as right and proper. He then proceeded to 
 quote Chitty's Criminal Law and Robinson's Practice, to prove that the discretion 
 of the Court there spoken of, in reference to the furthering of the great object in 
 view, was the attainment of justice. Where the prisoner is not embarrassed in. 
 making his defence, this discretion is not to be exercised by the Court, and no 
 case can be shown where the whole ground of the indictment referred to one and 
 the same transaction. This very case in point would show the absurdity of the 
 principle, if it were as broad as contended for by his learned friend. As to the 
 other point of objection, it was too refined and subtle for his poor intellect. 
 
THE DEFENCE. 237 
 
 KEPLY TO THEM. 
 
 MR. CHILTON responded. In order to asertain what a party is tried for, we 
 must go to the finding of the Grand Jury. If the Grand Jury return an indictment 
 charging the party with murder, finding a true bill for that, and he should be 
 indicted for manslaughter, or any other offence, the Court would not have 
 jurisdiction to try him on that count in the indictment. And the whole question 
 turns on the construction of the section of the statute which has been read, viz., 
 whether or not advising or conspiring with slaves to rebel is a separate and dis- 
 tinct offence from conspiring with other persons to induce it. 
 
 THE DECISION. 
 
 The COURT said that the difference might perhaps be taken advantage of to 
 move an arrest of judgment ; but the Jury had been charged and had been sworn 
 to try the prisoners on the indictment as drawn. The trial must go on, and 
 counsel could afterwards move an arrest of judgment. As to the other objection, 
 the Court made this answer : The very fact that the offence can be charged in 
 different counts, varying the language and circumstances, is based upon the idea 
 that distinct offences may be charged in the same indictment. The prisoners 
 are to be tried on the various counts as if they were various circumstances. 
 There is no legal objection against charging various crimes in the same indict- 
 ment. The practice has been to put a party upon election where the prisoner 
 would be embarrassed in his defence ; but that is not the law. In this case, these 
 offences charged are all part of the same transaction, and no case is made out for 
 the Court to interfere and put the parties upon an election. 
 
 APPEAL FOR TIME. 
 
 MR. CHILTON said he would reserve the motion as a basis for a motion in 
 arrest of judgment. 
 
 MR. GRISWOLD remarked that the position of all the present counsel of the 
 prisoner was one of very great embarrassment. They had no .disposition to inter- 
 fere with the course of practice, but it was the desire of the defendant that the 
 case should be argued. He supposed that counsel would obtain sufficient know- 
 ledge of the evidence previously taken by reading notes of it. But it was now 
 nearly dark. If it was to be argued at all, he supposed the argument for the 
 Commonwealth would probably occupy the attention of the Court until the usual 
 time for adjournment, unless it was the intention to continue with a late evening 
 session. From what had heretofore transpired, he felt a delicacy in making any 
 request of the Court ; but knowing that the case was now ended except for mere 
 argument, he did not know that it would be asking too much for the Court to 
 adjourn after the opening argument on behalf of the prosecution. 
 
 MR. HUNTER said that he would cheerfully bear testimony to the unexcep- 
 tionable manner in which the counsel who had just taken his seat had con- 
 ducted the examination of witnesses to-day. It would afford him very great 
 pleasure, in all ordinary cases, to agree to the indulgence of such a request as 
 the gentleman had just made, and which was entirely natural. But he was 
 bound to remember, and respectfully remind the Court, that this state of things, 
 which places counsel in a somewhat embarrassing position in conducting the 
 defence, is purely and entirely the act of the prisoner. His counsel will not be 
 responsible for it ; the Court is not responsible for it ; but the unfortunate pri- 
 soner is responsible for his own act in dismissing his faithful, skilful, able, and 
 zealous counsel on yesterday afternoon. He would simply say that not only were 
 the jurors kept away from their families by their delays, but there could not lie 
 a female in this county who, whether with good cause or not, was not trembling 
 with anxiety and apprehension. While their courtesy to the counsel and 
 humanity to the prisoner should have due weight, yet the Commonwealth has 
 its rights, the community has its rights, the Jury have their rights ; and it was 
 for his Honor to weigh these in opposite scales, and determine whether we 
 should not go on and bring this case to a close to-night. "We had until twelve 
 o'clock to do it in. 
 
238 THE DEFENCE. 
 
 ARGUMENT FOR AND AGAINST A DECENT DELAY. 
 
 MR. CHILTON said their client desired that they should argue his case. I 
 was impossible for him to do so now, and he could not allow himself to make 
 an attempt at argument on a case about which he knew so little. If he were to 
 get up at all, it would be for the unworthy purpose of wasting time. He had 
 no such design ; but having undertaken this man's cause, he very much desired 
 to comply with his wishes. He would be the last man in the world to subject 
 the jurors to inconvenience unnecessarily ; but although the prisoner may have 
 been to blame, may have acted foolishly, and may have had an improper purpose 
 in so doing, still he could not see that he should therefore be forced to have his 
 case submitted without argument. In a trial for life and death, we should not 
 be too precipitate. 
 
 The Court here consulted with the jurors, who expressed themselves very 
 anxious to get home. 
 
 His Honor said he was desirous of trying this case precisely as he would try 
 another, without any reference at all to outside feeling. 
 
 ME. HOYT remarked that he was physically incapable of speaking to-night, 
 even if fully prepared. He had worked very hard last night to get the law 
 points, until he fell unconscious from exhaustion and fatigue. For the last five 
 days and nights he had only slept ten hours, and it seemed to him that justice 
 to the person demanded the allowance of a little time in a case so extraordinary 
 in all its aspects as this. 
 
 The Court suggested that we might have the opening argument for the 
 prosecution to-night, at any rate. 
 
 MB. HARDING would not like to open the argument now, unless the case was 
 to be finished to-night. He was willing, however, to submit the case to the jury 
 without a single word, believing they would do the prisoner justice. The prose- 
 cution had been met not only on the threshold, but at every step, with obstruc- 
 tions to the progress of the case. If the case was not to be closed to-night, he 
 would like to ask the same indulgence given to the other side, that he might 
 collate the notes of the evidence he had taken. 
 
 The COURT inquired what length of time the defence would require for argu- 
 ment on Monday morning. He could then decide whether to grant the request 
 or not. 
 
 After consultation, Mr. CHILTON stated that there would be only two speeches 
 by himself and Mr. Griswold, not occupying more than two hours and-a-half 
 in all. 
 
 MR. HUNTEK again entered an earnest protest against delay. 
 
 The Court then -ordered the prosecution to proceed. Mr. Hunter 
 spoke forty minutes, and ridiculed as absurd the expectation of the 
 prisoner that he should have been dealt with by the rules of 
 honorable warfare ! 
 
 The Court then adjourned till Monday; and the brave old man, 
 satisfied that his motives were now correctly understood, and that no 
 injury to the cause would ensue from his heroic unsuccess, was carried 
 back on the pallet to his cell in the prison, He returned there a 
 conqueror. 
 
VI. 
 
 LAWYERS' PLEAS. 
 
 THE Court re-assembled early on Monday morning, October 31.' John 
 Brown was brought from prison between files of armed men, as the 
 practice was, and laid down on his bed within the bar. " He looked 
 better," we are told, "than on the previous day ; his health is evidently 
 improving, and he seemed to be at the most perfect ease of mind." 
 The Court- room and every approach to it were densely crowded. 
 
 From the opening of the Court until the afternoon session, the 
 counsel for the defence (Messrs. Griswold and Chilton) and for the 
 prosecution (Messrs. Hunter and Harding) occupied the attention of 
 the jury in arguing for and against the prisoner. I do not intend to 
 pollute my pages with any sketch of the lawyers' pleas. They were 
 able, without doubt, and erudite, and ingenious ; but they were 
 founded, nevertheless, on an atrocious assumption. For they assumed 
 (as all lawyers' speeches must) that the statutes of the State were 
 just; and, therefore, if the prisoner should be proven guilty of 
 offending against them, that it was right that he should suffer the 
 penalty they inflict. This doctrine every Christian heart must scorn ; 
 John Brown, at least, despised it ; and so also, to be faithful to hi& 
 memory and my own instincts, must I. Mr. Griswold proved con- 
 clusively that, even according to the laws of Virginia, John Brown 
 had not been guilty either of treason, of inciting to insurrection, or of 
 murder with malice prepense ; although, undoubtedly, he had com- 
 mitted other offences against the peace and dignity of that ancient 
 Commonwealth. In any civilized State in Europe, England, or our 
 North these facts would have resulted in the acquittal of the pri- 
 soner ; for, although a person may be proven guilty of murder, if he 
 be arraigned for theft, that indictment in every free country must 
 at once be abandoned. Mr. Chilton's speech is unworthy of further 
 notice, than that it began in falsehood and ended in cant. Two 
 quotations will sustain my statement : 
 
 " He desired, and the whole State desired, and the whole South desired, that 
 the trial should be fair : and it had been fair ! .... He charged the jury 
 
240 LAWYERS' PLEAS. 
 
 to look on this case, as far as the law would allow, with an eye favorable to the 
 prisoner, and when their verdict should be returned no matter what it might 
 be he trusted that every man in the country would acquiesce in it. Unless the 
 majesty of the law were supported, dissolution of the Union must soon ensue, 
 with all the evils that must necessarily follow in its train." 
 
 Mr. Hunter was true to his barbaric instincts to the last ; eulogizing 
 Wise to begin with, filling up his speech with the infamous maxima 
 of iniquitous laws, and closing it with anathemas on godly John 
 Brown. The peroration of his speech is noteworthy from its audacity 
 of assertion: 
 
 " We therefore ask his conviction to vindicate the majesty of the law. While 
 we have patiently borne delays, as well here as outside in the community, in 
 preservation of the character of Virginia, that plumes itself on its moral character, 
 as well as physical, and on its loyalty and its devotion to truth and right, we ask 
 you to discard anything else, and render your verdict as you are sworn to do. 
 . . . Justice is the centre upon which Deity sits. There is another column 
 which represents its mercy. You have nothing to do with that." 
 
 Mr. Hunter closed his speech at half -past one o'clock. 
 
 " During most of the arguments to-day, Brown lay on his back, with his eyes 
 closed. 
 
 " Mr. Chilton asked the Court to instruct the Jury, if they believed the prisoner 
 was not a citizen of Virginia, but of another State, they cannot convict on a 
 count of treason. 
 
 " The Court declined, saying the Constitution did not give rights and immu- 
 nities alone, but also imposed responsibilities. 
 
 " Mr. Chilton asked another instruction, that the Jury must be satisfied that 
 the place where the offence was committed was within the boundaries of 
 Jefferson County, which the Court granted." 
 
 The Jury then retired to consider their verdict, and the Court 
 adjourned for half-an-hour. 
 
 THE VERDICT. 
 
 Thus far, for our record of the trial, we have been obliged- to rely 
 on pro-slavery authority. It was not till the following day that a 
 truthful and impartial reporter succeeded in eluding the cowardly and 
 inquisitorial vigilance of the Virginians, who, in their anxiety to 
 prevent a fair trial or a true report, excluded all Northern men from 
 their City as had been done, a thousand times before, in each of the 
 despotic Commonwealths south of the Potomac, by men who are ever, 
 and in various ways, committing daily violence on the Federal Con- 
 stitution, and accusing, in the same breath, the Northern men who 
 submit to these infractions as guilty of assailing the rights of the 
 South. 
 
 Thus far, then, they have been convicted out of their own mouths ; 
 
LAWYERS' PLEAS. 241 
 
 and, in order to complete their self-condemnation, I will conclude this 
 report with an extract from one of their own journals : 
 
 After sin absence of three-quarters of an hour, the Jury returned into Court 
 with a verdict. At this moment the crowd filled all the space from the couch 
 inside the har, around the prisoner, beyond the railing in the body of the Court, 
 out through the wide hall, and beyond the doors. There stood the anxious but 
 perfectly silent and attentive populace, stretching head and neck to witness the 
 closing scene of Old Brown's trial. It was terrible to look upon such a crowd of 
 human faces, moved and agitated with but one dreadful expectancy to let the 
 eyes rest for a moment upon the only calm and unruffled countenance there, and 
 to think that he alone of all present was the doomed one, above whose head hung 
 the sword of fate. But there he stood, a man of indomitable will and iron nerve, 
 all collected and unmoved, even while the verdict that consigned him to an igno- 
 minious doom was pronounced upon him. After recapitulating his offences set 
 forth in the indictment, the Clerk of the Court said : 
 
 " Gentlemen of the Jury, what say you ? Is the prisoner at the bar, John 
 Brown, guilty, or not guilty?" 
 
 FOREMAN. Guilty. s 
 
 CLERK. Guilty of treason, and conspiring and advising with slaves and 
 others to rebel, and murder in the first degree ? 
 
 FOREMAN. Yes. 
 
 Not the slightest sound was heard in the vast crowd as this verdict was thus 
 returned and read. Not the slightest expression of elation or triumph was 
 uttered from the hundreds present, who, a moment before, outside the Court, 
 joined in heaping threats and imprecations 011 his head ; nor was this strange 
 silence interrupted during the whole of the time occupied by the forms of the 
 Court. Old Brown himself said not even a word, but, as on any previous day, 
 turned to adjust his pallet, and then composedly stretched himself upon it. 
 
 MR. C'HILTON moved an arrest of judgment, both on account of errors in the 
 indictment and errors in the verdict. The objection in regard to the indict- 
 ment has already been stated. The prisoner has been tried for an offence not 
 appearing on the record of the Grand Jury. The verdict was not on each count 
 separately, but was a general verdict on the whole indictment. 
 
 Counsel on both sides being too much' exhausted to go on, the motion was 
 ordered to stand over till to-morrow, and Brown was again removed unsentenced 
 to prison. 
 
 " There he stood ! " Alas ! for the honor of the Union, whom Vir- 
 ginia thus disgraced in the eyes of the world, the brave old man was 
 too feeble to stand. " He sat up in his bed when the Jury entered," 
 writes another and more vindictive Virginia journalist, " and, after 
 listening to the rendition of the verdict, lay down very composedly, 
 without saying a word." The writer adds, intending thereby to 
 eulogize the Virginians, " There was no demonstration of any kind 
 whatever." Thus thoroughly does Slavery corrupt the heart, that the 
 spectacle of an heroic old man, feeble from the loss of blood poured 
 out in behalf of God's despised poor, unable to stand unsupported on 
 his feet, and yet condemned to die on the scaffold, shocked no one 
 Southern conscience excited " no demonstration of any kind what- 
 ever." 
 
VII. 
 
 CONDEMNED TO DIE. 
 
 THE first of November was devoted to the trial of Coppic, which was 
 continued on the following day. No witnesses were called for the 
 defence. Mr. Harding for the State, and Messrs. Hoyt and Griswold 
 for the defence, followed by Mr. Hunter, who clos'ed for the prose- 
 cution, addressed the jury, who presently retired to appear to consider 
 their pre-determined verdict of GUILTY. 
 
 " During the absence of the Jury in Coppic's case," says an eye- 
 witness, " in order that no time should be wasted, John Brown was 
 brought in from jail to be sentenced. He walked with considerable 
 difficulty, and every movement appeared to be attended with pain, 
 although his features gave no expression of it. It was late, and the 
 gaslights gave an almost deathly pallor to his face. He seated himself 
 near his counsel, arid, after once resting his head upon his right hand, 
 remained entirely motionless, and for a time appeared unconscious of 
 all that passed around especially unconscious of the execrations 
 audibly whispered by spectators : ' D d black-hearted villain ! heart 
 as black as a stove-pipe ! ' and many such. While the Judge read his 
 decision on the,, points of exception which had been submitted, Brown 
 sat very firm, with lips tightly compressed, but with no appearance of 
 affectation of sternness. He was like a block of stone. When the 
 clerk directed him to stand and say why sentence should not be passed 
 upon him, he rose and leaned slightly forward, his hands resting on 
 the table. He spoke timidly hesitatingly, indeed and in a voice 
 singularly gentle an'd mild. But his sentences came confused from 
 his mouth, and he seemed to be wholly unprepared to speak at this 
 time.* Types can give no intimation of the soft and tender tones, yet 
 calm and manly withal, that filled the Court-room, and, I think. 
 
 * It was expe3ted that all the prisoners would be condemned and executed on 
 the same day. Hence, John Brown was taken by surprise. 
 
CONDEMNED TO DIE. 243 
 
 touched the hearts of many who had come only to rejoice at the 
 heaviest blow their victim was to suffer." 
 This is what he said : 
 
 JOHN BROWN'S LAST SPEECH. 
 
 " I have, may it please the Court, a few words to say. 
 
 " In the first place, I deny everything but what I have all along 
 admitted the design on my part to free the slaves. I intended cer- 
 tainly to have made a clear thing of that matter, as I did last winter, 
 when I went into Missouri, and there took slaves without the snapping 
 of a gun on either side, moved them through the country, and finally 
 left them in Canada. I- designed to have done the same thing again, 
 on a larger scale. That was all I intended. I never did intend 
 murder, or treason, or the destruction of property, or to excite or 
 incite slaves to rebellion, or to make insurrection. 
 
 " I have another objection : and that is, it is unjust that I should 
 suffer such a penalty. Had I interfered in the manner which I admit 
 and which I admit has been fairly proved (for I admire the truth- 
 fulness and candor of the greater portion of the witnesses who have 
 testified in this case) had I so interfered in behalf of the rich, the 
 powerful, the intelligent, the so-called great, or in behalf of any of 
 their friends, either father, mother, brother, sister, wife, or children, 
 or any of that class, and suffered and sacrificed what I have in this 
 interference, it would have been all right, and every man in this 
 Court would have deemed it an act worthy of reward rather than 
 punishment. 
 
 " This Court acknowledges, as I suppose, the validity of the Law of 
 God. I see a book kissed here which I suppose to be the Bible, or, at 
 least, the New Testament. That teaches me that all things ' whatso- 
 ever I would that men should do unto me I should do even so to 
 them.' It teaches me further, to ' remember them that are in bonds 
 as bound with them.' I endeavored to act up to that instruction. I 
 say, I am yet too young to understand that God is any respecter of 
 persons. I believe that to have interfered as I have done, as I have 
 always freely admitted I have done, in behalf of HIS despised poor, 
 was not wrong, but right. Now, if it is deemed necessary that I 
 should forfeit my life for the furtherance of the ends of justice, and 
 mingle my blood further with the blood of my children, and with the 
 blood of millions in this slave country whose rights are disregarded by 
 wicked, cruel, and unjust enactments I submit : so let it be done. 
 
 " Let me say one word further. 
 
 " I feel entirely satisfied with the treatment I have received on my 
 
244 CONDEMNED TO DIE. 
 
 trial. Considering all the circumstances, it has been more generous 
 than I expected. But I feel no consciousness of guilt. I have stated 
 from the first what was my intention and what was not. I never had 
 any design against the life of any person, nor any disposition to 
 commit treason, or excite slaves to rebel, or make any general insur- 
 rection. I never encouraged any man to do so, but always discouraged 
 any idea of that kind. 
 
 " Let me say, also, a word in regard to the statement made by some 
 of those connected with me. I hear it has been stated by some of 
 them that I have induced them to join me. But the contrary is true. 
 1 do not say this to injure them, but as regretting their weakness. 
 There is not one of them but joined me of his own accord, and the 
 greater part at their own expense. A number of them I never saw. 
 and never had a word of conversation with, till the day they came to 
 me, and that was for the purpose I have stated. 
 " Now I have done." 
 
 Perfect quiet prevailed while this speech was delivered : and. when 
 he finished, the Judge proceeded to pass sentence on him. After a 
 few preliminary remarks, he stated that no doubt could exist of the 
 guilt of the prisoner, and sentenced him to be hanged by the neck till 
 he was dead, on Friday, the 2nd day of December. " At the announce- 
 ment," said a spectator, " that, for the sake of example, the execution 
 would be more than usually public, one indecent fellow, behind the 
 Judge's chair, shouted and clapped hands jubilantly; but he was in- 
 dignantly checked, and in a manner that induced him to believe that 
 he would do best to retire. It is a question, nevertheless, if the general 
 sentiment were not fairly expressed by this action. John Brown was 
 soon after led away again to his place of confinement/' 
 
 "Was ever such a speech delivered in America so fearless, yet so 
 gentle so manly, modest, wise, C4od's-heart-imbued ? 
 
VIII. 
 
 THE CONQUERING PEN. 
 
 FROM the date of his incarceration in the jail of Charlestown, till the 
 day of his execution, John Brown wrote a number of eminently char- 
 acteristic letters to his friends in different parts of the country. Such 
 of them as we have been able to obtain, are herewith subjoined : 
 
 LETTER FOR COUNSEL. 
 
 CHAELESTOWN, JEFFERSON Co., Oct. 22, 1859. 
 To THE HON. JUDGE TILDEN. 
 
 Dear Sir : I am here a prisoner, with several sabre cuts in my head, 
 and bayonet stabs in my body. My object in writing is to obtain able 
 and faithful counsel for myself and fellow-prisoners, five in all, as we 
 have the faith of Virginia, pledged through her governor, and numerous 
 prominent citizens, to give us a fair trial. Without we can obtain 
 such counsel from without the slave states, neither the facts in our 
 case can come before the world, nor can we have the benefit of such 
 facts as might be considered mitigating, in the view of others, upon 
 our trial. 1 have money on hand here to the amount of two hundred 
 and fifty dollars, and personal property sufficient to pay a most 
 liberal fee to yourself, or any able man who will undertake our defence, 
 if I can be allowed the benefit of said property. Can you, or some 
 other good man, come on immediately, for the sake of the young men 
 prisoners at least ? My wounds are doing well. 
 
 Do not send an ultra-abolitionist. 
 
 Very respectfully yours, 
 
 JOHN BROWX. 
 
 P.S. The trial is set for Wednesday next, the 2Gfch instant. 
 
 J. W. CAMPBELL, Sheriff, Jefferson Co. 
 
 A noble lady, a worthy friend of John Brown, when the news of his 
 'failure" and imprisonment reached Boston, determined to go on to 
 Virginia to nurse him ; but, prostrated by the shock thus given to her 
 nervous system, she was prevented, by physical incapacity, from 
 carrying out the generous and heroic impulse. On suggesting the 
 execxition of this design to her distinguished relative, Mrs. Child, that 
 
24G THE CONQUERING PEN. 
 
 lady at once sent a letter to Captain. Brown, forwarding it with a note 
 to Governor Wise' in which she asked permission to go on to Charles- 
 town and nurse the old hero. 
 
 LETTER TO CAPTAIN BROWN. 
 
 WAYLAND, MASS., Oct. 26, 1859. 
 
 Dear Captain Brown : Though personally unknown to you, you will 
 recognize in my name an earnest friend of Kansas, when circum- 
 stances made that territory the battle ground between the antagonistic 
 principles of slavery and freedom, which politicians so vainly strive to 
 reconcile in the government of the United States. 
 
 Believing in peace principles, I cannot sympathize with the method 
 you chose to advance the cause of freedom ; but I honor your generous 
 intentions; I admire your courage, moral and physical; I reverence 
 you for the humanity which tempered your zeal ; I sympathize with 
 you in your cruel bereavement, your sufferings, and your wrongs. 
 In brief, I love you and bless you. 
 
 Thousands of hearts are throbbing with sympathy as warm as mine. 
 I think of you night and day, bleeding in prison, surrounded by hos- 
 tile faces, sustained only by trust in God and your own strong heart. 
 I long to nurse you to speak to you sisterly words of sympathy and 
 consolation. I have asked the permission of Governor Wise to do so. 
 If the request is not granted, I cherish the hope that these few words 
 may at least reach your hands, and afford you some little solace. May 
 you be strengthened by the conviction that no honest man ever sheds 
 blood for freedom in vain, however much he may be mistaken in his 
 efforts. May God sustain you, and carry you through whatsoever may 
 be in store for you. Yours, with heartfelt respect, sympathy, and 
 affection. L. MARIA CHILD. 
 
 Governor Wise's answer to Mrs. Child's request was respectful, but 
 crafty and characteristic. He would forward the letter, he said, to 
 the Commonwealth's Attorney, " with the request that he will ask the 
 permission of the Court to hand it to the prisoner." After asserting 
 that Virginia and Massachusetts were not involved in a civil war ; 
 that the Federal Constitution gave to citizens of Massachusetts going 
 to Virginia the immunities of a citizen of the United States ; that, 
 coming to minister to the captive in prison a mission merciful and 
 humane she had the right to visit Charlestown, and would, " not only 
 be allowed, but be respected, if not welcomed," the politician added, 
 that "a few unenlightened and inconsiderate persons, fanatical in 
 their modes of thought and action to maintain justice and right, might 
 molest you, or be disposed to do so, and this might suggest the impru- 
 dence of risking any experiment upon the peace of a society very much 
 excited by the crimes with whose chief author you seem to sympathize 
 so much." Declaring the readiness of Virginia to protect Mrs. Child 
 against the fury of the populace, the next sentence of the letter was 
 
THE CONQUERING PEN. 247 
 
 worthy of Mark Antony : " I could not permit an insult, even to woman 
 in her walk of charity among us, though it be to one loho whetted knives 
 of butclierij Jor our mothers, sisters, daughters, and babes. . . . His 
 attempt was the natural consequence of your symyathy." He conclu- 
 ded by announcing that whether the lady should see him or not, when 
 she should arrive in Charlestown, would be for the Court and its 
 officers to say. The Executive, he intimates, and the Judiciary are 
 separate branches of the Government; a statement that the first 
 attempt to try Stevens will explain. 
 
 The gilded threat of this letter caused Mrs. Child to delay her 
 departure until she should hear from the old hero himself. When his 
 letter came, it prevented her journey. 
 
 JOHN BROWN'S LETTER TO MRS. CHILD. 
 
 [No date.] 
 MRS. L. MARIA CHILD, 
 
 My dear Friend (such you prove to be, though a stranger) : Your 
 most kind letter has reached me, with the kind offer to come here and 
 take care of me. Allow me to express my gratitude for your great 
 sympathy, and at the same time to propose to you a different course, 
 together with my reasons for wishing it. I should certainly be greatly 
 pleased to become personally acquainted with one so gifted and so 
 kind; but I cannot avoid seeing some objections to it, under present 
 circumstances. First, I am in charge of a most humane gentleman, 
 who, with his family, have rendered me every possible attention I have 
 desired, or that could be of the least advantage; and I am so far 
 recovered from my wounds as no longer to require nursing. Then, 
 again, it would subject you to great personal inconvenience and 
 heavy expense, without doing me any good. 
 
 Allow me to name to you another channel through which you may 
 reach me with your sympathies much more effectually. I have at 
 home a wife and three young daughters the youngest but little over 
 five years old, the oldest nearly sixteen. I have also two daughters- 
 in-law, whose husbands have both fallen near me here. There is also 
 another widow, Mrs. Thompson, whose husband fell here. Whether 
 she is a mother or not I cannot say. All these, my wife included, live 
 at North Elba, Essex County, New York. I have a middle-aged son, 
 who has been, in some degree, a cripple from his childhood, who would 
 have as much as he could well do to earn a living. He was a most 
 dreadful sufferer in Kansas, and lost all he had laid up. He has not 
 enough to clothe himself for the winter comfortably. I have no living 
 son, or son-in-law, who did not suffer terribly in Kansas. 
 
 Now, dear friend, would you not as soon contribute fifty cents now, 
 and a like sum yearly, for the relief of those very poor and deeply 
 afflicted persons, to enable them to supply themselves and their 
 children with bread and very plain clothing, and to enable the children 
 to receive a common English education ? Will you also devote your 
 own energies to induce others to join in giving a like amount, or any 
 other amount, to constitute a little fund for the purpose named? 
 
248 THE CONQUERING PEN. 
 
 I cannot see how your coming here can do me the least good ; and I 
 am quite certain you can do me immense good where you are. I am 
 quite cheerful under all my afflicting circumstances and prospects ; 
 having, as 1 humbly trust, u the peace of God, which passeth all under- 
 standing," to rule in my heart. You may make such use of this as 
 you see fit. God Almighty bless and reward you a thousand fold. 
 
 Yours, in sincerity and truth, JOHN BROWN . 
 
 LETTER FROM THE QUAKER LADY. 
 
 NEWPORT, R. I., Tenth Month, 27th, 1859. 
 CAPT. JOHN BROWN. 
 
 Dear Friend : Since thy arrest, I have often thought of thee, and 
 have wished that, like Elizabeth Fry towards her prison friends, so I 
 might console thee in thy confinement. But that can never be, and so 
 I can only write thee a few lines, which, if they contain any comfort, 
 may come to thee like some little ray of light. You can never know 
 how very many dear friends love thee with all their hearts, for thy 
 brave efforts in behalf of the poor oppressed ; and though we, who are 
 non-resistants, and religiously believe it better to reform by moral, 
 and not by carnal weapons, could not approve of bloodshed, yet we 
 know thee was animated by the most generous and philanthropic 
 motives. Very many thousands openly approve thy intentions, 
 though most friends would not think it right to take up arms. 
 Thousands pray for thee every day ; and, O, I do pray that God will 
 be with thy soul. Posterity will do thee justice. If Moses led out 
 the thousands of Jewish slaves from their bondage, and God destroyed 
 the Egyptians in the sea because they went after the Israelites to 
 bring them back to slavery, then, surely, by the same reasoning, we 
 may judge thee a deliverer who wished to release millions from a more 
 cruel oppression. If the American people honor Washington fox- 
 resisting with bloodshed for seven years an unjust tax, how much 
 more ought thou to be honored for seeking to free the poor slaves ! 
 Oh, I wish I could plead for thee, as some of the other sex can plead : 
 how I would seek to defend thee ! If I had now the eloquence of 
 Portia ; how I would turn the scale in thy favor ! But I can only 
 pray, "God bless thee!" God pardon thee, and, through our 
 Redeemer, give thee safety and happiness now and always. 
 
 From thy friend, E. B. 
 
 JOHN BROWN'S REPLY. 
 CHARLESTOWN, JEFFERSON Co., VA., November 1, 1859. 
 
 My dear Friend, E. B. of R. I. : Your most cheering letter of 27th 
 of October is received, and may the Lord reward you a thousand fold 
 for the kind feeling you express towards me ; but more especially for 
 your fidelity to the "poor that cry, and those that have no help." 
 For this I am a prisoner in bonds. It is solely my own fault, in a 
 military point of view, that we met with our disaster I mean that I. 
 mingled with our prisoners, and so far sympathized with them and 
 
THE CONQUERING PEN. 249 
 
 their families, that I neglected my duty in other respects. But God's 
 will, not mine, be done. 
 
 You know that Christ once armed Peter. So also in my case ; I 
 think he put a sword into my hand, and there continued it, so long as 
 he saw best, and then kindly took it from me. I mean when I first 
 went to Kansas. I wish you could know with what cheerfulness I am 
 now wielding the " sword of the Spirit'" on the right hand and on the 
 left. I bless God that it proves "mighty to the pulling down of 
 strongholds." I always loved my Quaker friends, and I commend to 
 their kind regard my poor, bereaved, widowed wife, and my daughters 
 and daughters-in-law, whose husbands fell at my side. One is a 
 mother, and the other likely to become so soon. They, as well as my 
 own sorrow- stricken daughter, are left very poor, and have much 
 greater need of sympathy than I, who, through Infinite Grace and the 
 kindness of strangers, am " joyful in all my tribulations." 
 
 Dear sister, write them at North Elba, Essex Co., N. Y., to comfort 
 their sad hearts. Direct to Mary A. Brown, wife of John Brown. 
 There is also another, a widow, wife of Thompson, who fell with my 
 poor boys in the affair at Harper's Ferry, at the same place. 
 
 I do not feel conscious of guilt in taking up arms ; and had it been 
 in behalf of the rich and powerful, the intelligent, the great as men 
 count greatness of those who form enactments to suit themselves and 
 corrupt others, or some of their friends, that I interfered, suffered, 
 sacrificed, and fell, it would have been doing very well. But enough 
 of this. 
 
 These light afflictions, which endure for a moment, shall work out 
 for me a far more exceeding and eternal weir/ht of' glory. I would be 
 very grateful for another letter from you. My wounds are healing. 
 Farewell. God will surely attend to his own cause in the best possible 
 way and time, and he will not forget the work of his own hands. 
 
 Your friend, JOHN BROWN. 
 
 LETTER TO HIS FAMILY. 
 
 CHARLESTOWN, JEFFERSON Co., VA., 8th Nov., I85i>. 
 Dear Wife and Children Every One : I will begin by saying that 
 I have in some degree recovered from my wounds, but that I am quite 
 weak in my back, and sore about my left kidney. My appetite has 
 been quite good for most of the time since I was hurt. I am supplied 
 with almost everything I could desire to make me comfortable, and the 
 little I do lack (some articles of clothing, which I lost) I may perhaps 
 soon get again. 1 am, besides, quite cheerful, having (as I trust) the 
 peace of God, which "passeth all understanding," to "rule in my heart," 
 and the testimony (in some degree) of a good conscience that I have 
 not lived altogether in vain. I can trust God with both the time and 
 the manner of my death, believing, as I now do, that for me at this 
 time to seal my testimony (for God and humanity) with my blood, will 
 do vastly more towards advancing the cause I have earnestly endeavored 
 to promote, than all I have done in my life before. I beg of you all 
 meekly and quietly to submit to this, not feeling yourselves in the least 
 degraded on that account. Remember, dear wife and children all, that 
 Jesus of Nazareth suffered a most excruciating death on the cross as a 
 felon, under the most aggravating circumstances. Think, also, of the 
 
250 THE CONQUERING PEN. 
 
 prophets, and apostles, and Christians of former days, who went through 
 greater tribulations than you or I ; and (try to) be reconciled. May 
 God Almighty comfort all your hearts, and. soon wipe away all tears 
 from your eyes. To him be endless praise. Think, too, of the crushed 
 millions who "have no comforter." I charge you all never (in your 
 trials) to forget the griefs of " the poor that cry, and of those that have 
 none to help them." I wrote most earnestly to my dear and afflicted 
 wife not to come on for the present at any rate. I will now give her 
 my reasons for doing so. First, it would use up all the scanty means 
 she has, or is at all likely to have, to make herself and children com- 
 fortable hereafter. For let me tell you that the sympathy that is now 
 aroused in your behalf may not always follow you. There is but little 
 more of the romantic about helping poor widows and their children 
 than there is about trying to relieve poor "niggers." Again, the little 
 comfort it might afford us to meet again would be dearly bought by 
 the pains of a final separation. We must part, and, I feel assured, for 
 us to meet under such dreadful circumstances would only add to our 
 distress. If she come on here, she must be only a gazing stock through- 
 out the whole journey, to be remarked upon in every look, word, and 
 action, and by all sorts of creatures, and by all sorts of papers through- 
 out the whole country. Again, it is my most decided judgment that in 
 quietly and submissively staying at home, vastly more of generous 
 sympathy will reach her, without such dreadful sacrifice of feeling as 
 she must put up with if she comes on. The visits of one or two female 
 friends that have come on here have produced great excitement, which 
 is very annoying, and they cannot possibly do me any good. O Mary, 
 do not come; but patiently wait for the meeting (of those who love 
 God and their fellow-men) where no separation must follow. " They 
 shall go no more out forever." I greatly long to hear from some one 
 of you, and to learn anything that in any way affects your welfare. I 
 sent you ten dollars the other day. Did you get it V I have also en- 
 deavored to stir up Christian friends to visit and write to you in your 
 deep affliction. I have no doubt that some of them at least will heed 
 the call. Write to me, care of Captain John Avis, Charlestown, 
 Jefferson County, Va. 
 
 " Finally, my beloved, be of good comfort." May all your names be 
 il written on the Lamb's book of life " may you all have the purifying 
 and sustaining influence of the Christian religion is the earnest prayer 
 of your affectionate husband and father. 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 P. S. I cannot remember a night so dark as to have hindered the 
 coming day, nor a storm so furious or dreadful as to prevent the return 
 of warm sunshine and a cloudless sky. But, beloved ones, do remember 
 that this is not your rest, that in this world you have no abiding place 
 or continuing city. To God and his infinite mercy I always commend 
 you. 
 
 Nov. 9. J. B. 
 
 LETTER TO HIS HALF-BROTHER. 
 CHARLESTOWN, JEFFERSON Co., VA., Nov. 12, 1859. 
 Dear Brother Jeremiah : Your kind letter of the 9th instant is re- 
 ceived, and also one from Mr. Tilden, for both of which I am greatly 
 
THE CONQUERING PEN. 251 
 
 obliged. You inquire, "Can I do anything for you or your family ?" 
 I would answer that my sons, as well as my wife and daughter, are all 
 very poor, and that anything that may hereafter be due to me from my 
 father's estate I wish paid to them, as I will endeavor hereafter to 
 describe, without legal formalities to consume it all. One of my boys 
 has been so entirely used up as very likely to be in want of comfortable 
 clothing for the winter. I have, through the kindness of friends, fifteen 
 dollars to send him, which I will remit shortly. If you know where 
 to reach him, please send him that amount at once, as I shall remit 
 the same to you by a safe conveyance. If I had a plain statement 
 from Mr. Thompson of the state of my accounts, with the estate of 
 my father, I should then better know what to say about that matter. 
 As it is, I have not the least memorandum left me to refer to. If 
 Mr. Thompson will make me a statement, and charge my dividend fully 
 for his trouble, I would be greatly obliged to him. In that case you can 
 send me any remarks of your own. I am gaining in health slowly, and 
 am quite cheerful in view of my approaching end, being fully persuaded 
 that I am worth inconceivably more to hang than for any other purpose. 
 God Almighty bless and save you all. 
 
 Your affectionate brother, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 P. S. Nov. 13. Say to my poor boys never to grieve for one moment 
 on my account ; and should many of you live to see the time when you 
 will not blush to own your relation to Old John Brown, it will not be 
 more strange than many things that have happened. 1 feel a thousand 
 times more on account of my sorrowing friends than on my own ac- 
 count. So far as I am concerned, I " count it all joy." " I have fought 
 the good fight," and have, as I trust, " finished my course." Please 
 show this to any of my family that you may see. My love to all ; and 
 may God, in his infinite mercy, for Christ's sake, bless and save you 
 all. Your affectionate brother, 
 
 J. BROWN. 
 
 LETTER FROM A CHRISTIAN CONSERVATIVE. 
 
 WEST NEWTON, MASS., Nov. 5, 1859. 
 CAPT. JOHN BROWN. 
 
 Dear Brother: Withholding any expression of opinion respecting 
 the outbreak at Harper's Ferry, I cannot but admire your bravery 
 and effort to save life during the conflict. But, above all, your un- 
 wavering faith in God and fidelity to principle, your fearless answers, 
 your faithful testimony against slavery, and your noble, self-sacrificing 
 spirit, excite the admiration of all who venerate justice, truth, and 
 humanity. 
 
 While I cannot approve of all your acts, I stand in awe of your 
 position since your capture, and dare not oppose you lest I be found 
 fighting against God ; for you speak as one having authority, and seem 
 to be strengthened from on high. Look only to God for aid in these 
 your trying hours, which, if they be brief, may the illumination of his 
 Spirit and of a lifetime be centred in the time allotted you here. If 
 called to ascend the gallows, may you do it joyfully, praising God that 
 you have been counted worthy to die for those ready to perish ; and, 
 like his Son, may you feel to forgive and bless those who take your 
 
252 THE CONQUERING PEN. 
 
 life. Many, yes, a multitude, appreciate you now ; and were you am- 
 bitious of immortal fame, you might now enjoy a foretaste of that 
 which is to come, if you die as you have lived since a prisoner. 
 
 Your family will not be forgotten ; their wants will be attended to 
 abundantly by those who love heroism and integrity to principle, and 
 by the Father who suffers not a sparrow to fall to the ground without 
 his notice. My prayers you have. May God give you strength and 
 resignation, and inspire you to utter words of wisdom, warning, courage, 
 and love to those you leave. 
 
 I would imprint on your sacred face the kiss of sympathy and love 
 ere you join the multitude of martyrs who have gone before you. But 
 this cannot be. God bless you. I would ask a line from you, but would 
 not tax your brief time ; for never having seen you, I should sacredly 
 cherish a line from your hand. Believing God reigns, I feel to view 
 these recent events as his providence, which in time may be fully 
 manifested, although at present inscrutable. A host of friends love 
 and remember you, and I speak for many in my immediate neighbor- 
 hood. Farewell, dear brother ! God bless you. 
 
 JOHN BROWN'S REPLY TO A CHRISTIAN CONSERVA- 
 TIVE. 
 
 CHARLESTOWN, JEFFERSON Co., VA., Nov. 15, 1859. 
 
 My dears Sir : Your kind mention of some things in my conduct here 
 which you approve is very comforting indeed to my mind. Yet I am 
 conscious that you do me no more than justice. I do certainly feel 
 that through divine grace 1 have endeavored to be " faithful in a very 
 few things," mingling with even these much of imperfection. I am 
 certainly " unworthy even to suffer affliction with the "people of God:" 
 yet in infinite grace he has THUS honored me. May the same grace 
 enable me to serve him in a " new obedience," through my little remain- 
 der of this life, and to rejoice in him forever. I cannot feel that God 
 will suffer even the poorest service we may any of us render him or his 
 cause to be lost or in vain. I do feel, " dear brother," that I am won- 
 derfully " strengthened from on high." 
 
 May I use that strength in u showing his strength unto this genera- 
 tion," and his power to every one that is to come. I am most grateful 
 for your assurance that my poor, shattered, heart-broken " family will 
 not be forgotten." I have long tried to recommend them to " the God 
 of my fathers." I have mam/ opportunities for faithful plain deal'tvy 
 with the more powerful, influential, and intelligent classes in this 
 region, which, I trust, are not entirely misimproved. I humbly trust, 
 that I firmly believe that " God reigns," and I think I can truly say. 
 u -Let the earth rejoice." May God take care of his oicn cause, ami 
 of his own great name, as well as of those who love their neighbors. 
 Farewell ! ' Yours, in truth, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 The next letter was addressed to his old schoolmaster, in Litchfield t 
 Connecticut, and is thus introduced by the Rev. L. W. Bacon : 
 
 " My aged friend, the Rev. H. L. Vaill, of this place, remembers 
 John Brown as having been under his instruction in the year 1817, at 
 
THE CONQUERING PEN. 253 
 
 Morris Academy. He was a godly youth, laboring to recover from his 
 disadvantages of early education, in the hope of entering the ministry 
 of the gospel. Since then, the teacher and pupil have met but once to 
 take ' a retrospective look over the route by which God had led them ..' 
 But a short time since, Mr. Vaill wrote to Brown, in his prison, a letter 
 of Christian friendship, to which he has received the following heroic 
 and sublime reply. Has ever such an epistle been written from a con- 
 demned cell since the letter ' to Timotheus,' when Paul ' was brought 
 before Nero the second time?' 
 
 " I have copied it faithfully from the autograph that lies before me, 
 without the change or omission of a word, except to omit the full name 
 of the friends to whom he sends his message. The words in italics 
 and capitals are so underscored in the original. The handwriting is 
 clear and firm ; but towards the end of the sheet seems to show that 
 the sick old man's hand was growing weary. The very characters 
 make an appeal to us for our sympathy and prayers. ' His salutation 
 with his own hand. Remember his bonds.' " 
 
 LETTER TO HIS SCHOOLMASTER. 
 CHABLESTOWN, JEFFERSON Co., VA., Nov. 15, 1850. 
 REV. H. L. VAILL. 
 
 My dear, steadfast Friend : Your most kind and most welcome letter 
 of the 8th instant reach me in due time. 
 
 / am very grateful for all the good feeling you express, and also for 
 the kind counsels you give, together with your prayers in my behalf. 
 Allow me here to say, that notwithstanding " my soul is amongst Uons," 
 still I believe that " God in very deed is with me." You will not, there- 
 fore, feel surprised when I tell you that I am "joyful in all my tribu- 
 lations ;" that I do not feel condemned of Him whose judgment is just, 
 nor of my own conscience. Nor do I feel degraded by my imprison- 
 ment, my chain, or prospect of the gallows. I have not only been 
 (though utterly unworthy) permitted to "suffer affliction with God's 
 people," but have also had a great many rare opportunities for " preach- 
 ing righteousness in the great congregation." I trust it will not all be 
 lost. The jailer (in whose charge I am) and his family and assistants 
 have all been most kind: and, notwithstanding he was one of the 
 bravest of all vflaojought me, he is now being abused for his humanity. 
 So far as my observation goes, none but brave men are likely to be 
 humane to a fallen foe. Cowards prove their courage by their ferocity. 
 It may be done in that way with but little risk. 
 
 1 wish I could write you about a few only of the interesting times I 
 here experience with different classes of men clergymen among others. 
 Christ, the great Captain of liberty as well as of salvation, and who 
 began his mission, as foretold of him, by proclaiming it, saw fit to take 
 from me a sword of steel after I had carried it for a time ; but he has 
 put another in my hand ("the sword of the Spirit"), and I pray God 
 to make me a faithful soldier wherever he may send me not less on 
 the scaffold than when surrounded by my warmest sympathizers. 
 
 My dear old friend, I do assure you I have not forgotten our last 
 meeting, nor our retrospective look over the route by which God had 
 then led us ; and I bless his name that he has again enabled me to 
 hear your words of cheering and comfort at a time when I, at least, 
 
254 THE CONQUERING PEN. 
 
 am on the " brink of Jordan." See Bunyan's Pilgrim. God in infinite 
 mercy grant us soon another meeting on the opposite shore. I have 
 often passed under the rod of Him whom I call my Father ; and cer- 
 tainly no son ever needed it oftener ; and yet I have enjoyed much of 
 life, as I was enabled to discover the secret of this somewhat early. It 
 has been in making the prosperity and happiness of others my own ; 
 so that really I have had a great deal of prosperity. I am very pros- 
 perous still, and looking forward to a time when " peace on earth and 
 good will to men " shall everywhere prevail ; I have no murmuring 
 thoughts or envious feelings to fret my mind. u I'll praise my Maker 
 with my breath." 
 
 Your assurance of the earnest sympathy of the friends in my native 
 land is very grateful to my feelings ; and allow me to say a word of 
 comfort to them : 
 
 As I believe most firmly that God reigns, I cannot believe that any 
 thing I have done, suffered, or may yet suffer, will be lost to the cause of 
 God or of humanity. And before 1 began my work at Harper's Ferry, 
 I felt assured that in the worst event it would certainly PAY. I often 
 expressed that belief, and can now see no possible cause to alter my 
 mind. I am not as yet, in the main, at all disappointed. I have been 
 a good deal disappointed as it regards myself in not keeping up to my 
 own plans; but I now feel entirely reconciled to that even; for God's 
 plan was infinitely better no doubt, or I should have kept to my own. 
 Had Samson kept to his determination of not telling Delilah wherein 
 his great strength lay, he would probably have never overturned the 
 house. I did not tell Delilah ; but I was induced to act very contrary 
 to my better judgment ; and I have lost my two noble boys and other 
 friends, if not my two eyes. 
 
 But " God's will, not mine, be done." I feel a comfortable hope that r 
 like that erring servant of whom I have just been writing, even /may 
 (through infinite mercy in Christ Jesus) yet " die injaith." As to both 
 the time and manner of my death, I have but very little trouble on 
 that score, and am able to be (as you exhort) " of good cheer." 
 
 I send through you my best wishes to Mrs. W and her son 
 
 George, and to all dear friends. May the God of the^oor and oppressed 
 be the God and Saviour of you all. 
 
 Farewell, till we meet again. 
 
 Your friend, in truth, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 LETTER TO HIS WIFE. 
 
 CHARLESTOWN, JEFFERSON Co., VA., 16th Nov., 1859. 
 
 My dear Wife : I write you in answer to a most kind letter, of Novem- 
 ber 13, from dear Mrs. . I owe her ten thousand thanks for her 
 
 kindness to you particularly and more especially than for what she has 
 done, and is doing, in a more direct way for me personally. Although 
 I feel grateful for every expression of kindness or sympathy towards 
 me, yet nothing can so effectually minister to my comfort as acts of 
 kindness done to relieve the wants or mitigate the sufferings of my 
 poor, distressed family. May God Almighty and their own consciousness 
 be their eternal rewarders. * I am exceedingly rejoiced to have you 
 make the acquaintance and be surrounded by such choice friends as I 
 
THE CONQUERING PEN. 255 
 
 have long known some of those to be, with whom you are staying, by 
 reputation. I am most glad to have you meet with one of a family 
 (or I would rather say of two families) most beloved and never to be for- 
 gotten by me. I mean dear, gentle . Many and many a time has 
 
 she, her father, mother, brother, sisters, uncle and aunt (like angels of 
 mercy) ministered to the wants of myself and of my poor sons, both in 
 sickness and in health. Only last year I lay sick for quite a number 
 of weeks with them, and was cared for by all, as though I had been a 
 most affectionate brother or father. Tell her that I ask God to bless 
 and reward them all forever. " / was a stranger, and they took me in." 
 
 It may possibly be that would like to copy this letter, and send 
 
 it to her home. If so, by all means let her do so. / would write them 
 if I had the power. 
 
 Now let me say a word about the effort to educate our daughters. 
 I am no longer able to provide means to help towards that object, and 
 it therefore becomes me not to dictate in the matter. I shall gratefully 
 submit the direction of the whole thing to those whose generosity may 
 lead them to undertake it in their behalf, while I give anew a little 
 expression of my own choice respecting it. You, my wife, perfectly well 
 know that I have always expressed a decided preference for a, very plain, 
 but perfectly practical, education for both sons and daughters. I do not 
 mean an education so very miserable as that you and /received in early 
 life, nor as some of our children enjoyed. When I say plain, but prac- 
 tical, I mean enough of the learning of the schools to enable them to 
 transact the common business of life comfortably and respectably, 
 together with that thorough training to good business habits which 
 best prepares both men and women to be useful, though poor, and to 
 meet the stern REALITIES of life with a good grace. You well know 
 that I always claimed that the music of the broom, wash-tub, needle, 
 spindle, loom, axe, scythe, hoe, flail, &c., should first be learned at all 
 events, and that of the piano, &c., AFTERWARDS. I put them in that 
 order as most conducive to health of body and mind ; and for the 
 obvious reason that, after a life of some experience and of much observa- 
 tion, I have found ten women as well as ten men who have made their 
 mark in life right, whose early training was of thatplain, practical kind, 
 to one who had a more popular and fashionable early training. But 
 enough of this. 
 
 Now, in regard to your coming here : If you feel sure that you can 
 endure the trials and the shock, which will be unavoidable (if you 
 come), I should be most glad to see you once more; but when I think 
 of your being insulted on the road, and perhaps while here, and of only 
 seeing your wretchedness made complete, / shrink from it. Your com- 
 posure and fortitude of mind may be quite equal to it all ; but I am in 
 dreadful doubt of it. If you do come, defer your journey till about 
 the 27th or 28th of this month. The scenes which you will have to 
 pass through on coming here will be any thing but those you now pass, 
 with tender-hearted friends and kind faces to meet you everywhere. 
 Do consider the matter well before you make the plunge. I think I had 
 better say no more on this most painful subject. My health improves a 
 little ; my mind is very tranquil, I may say joyous, and I continue to 
 receive every kind attention that I have any possible need of. I wish 
 you to send copies of all my letters to all our poor children. What I 
 write to one must answer for all till I have more strength. I get nu- 
 merous kind letters from friends in almost all directions, to encourage 
 
250 THE CONQUERING PEN. 
 
 me to " be of good cheer," and I still have, a,< f trust, u the peace of 
 God to rule in my heart." May God, for Christ's sake, ever make his 
 face to shine on you all. 
 
 Your affectionate husband. 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 LETTER TO A YOUNG FRIEND. 
 CHARLESTOWN, JEFFERSON Co., VA., Nov. 17, 1859. 
 My Dear Young Friend : I have just received your most kind and 
 welcome letter of the 15th inst., but did not get any other from you. 
 I am under many obligations to you, and to your father, for all the 
 kindness you have shown me, especially since my disaster. May God 
 and your own consciences ever be your rewarders. Tell your father 
 that I am quite cheerful that I do not feel myself in the least de- 
 graded by my imprisonment, my chains, or the near prospect of the 
 gallows. Men cannot imprison, or chain, or hang the soul. I go joy- 
 fully in behalf of millions that "have no rights " that this yreat and 
 (jloriom, this Christian Republic is " bound to respect." Strange change 
 in morals, political as well as Christian, since 1776 ! I look forward 
 to other changes to take place in God's good time, fully believing that 
 the " fashion of this world passeth away." 
 
 Farewell ! May God abundantly bless you all. 
 
 Your Friend, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 LETTER TO HIS SOX JASON. 
 CHARLESTOWN, JEFFERSON Co., VA., Nov. 22, 185D. 
 Dear Children : Your most welcome letters of the 16th inst. I have 
 just received, and I bless God that he has enabled you to bear the 
 heavy tidings of our disaster with so much seeming resignation and 
 composure of mind. That is exactly the thing I have wished you all 
 to do for me to be cheerful and perfectly resigned to the holy will 
 of a wise and good God. I bless his most holy name that I am (I 
 trust), in some good measure, able to do the same. I am even "joy- 
 ful in all my tribulations," even since my confinement, and I humbly 
 trust that " I know in whom I have trusted." A calm peace, (perhaps) 
 like that which your own dear mother felt in view of her last change, 
 seems to fill my mind by day and by night. Of this, neither the powers 
 of " earth or hell " can deprive me. Do not, dear children, any of you 
 grieve for a single moment on my account. As I trust my life has not 
 been thrown away, so I also humbly trust that my death shall not be 
 in vain. God can make it to be a thousand times more valuable to his 
 own cause than all the miserable service (at best) that I have rendered 
 it during my life. When I was first taken I was too feeble to write 
 much ; so I wrote what I could to North Elba, requesting Ruth and 
 Anne to send you copies of all my letters to them. I hope they have 
 done so, and that you, Ellen, will do the same with what I may send 
 to you, as it is still quite a labor for me to write all that I need to. I 
 want your brothers to know what I write, if you know where to reach 
 them/ I wrote Jeremiah, a few days since, to supply a trifling assist- 
 ance, fifteen dollars, to such of you as might be most destitute. I got 
 
THE CONQUERING PEN. 257 
 
 his letter, but do not know as he got mine. I hope to get another 
 letter from him soon. I also asked him to show you my letter. I know 
 of nothing you can any of you now do for me, unless it is to comfort 
 your own hearts, and cheer and encourage each other to trust in God, 
 and Jesus Christ, whom he hath sent. If you will keep his sayings, 
 you shall certainly " know of his doctrine, whether it be of God or no." 
 Nothing can be more grateful to me than your earnest sympathy, except 
 it be to know that you are fully persuaded to be Christians. And now, 
 dear children, farewell for this time. I hope to be able to write you 
 again. The God of my father take you for his children. 
 
 Your affectionate father 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 NOTE. The remittance referred to was unquestionably intended 
 for Owen Brown, who escaped from Harper's Ferry, but is supposed 
 to be destitute even of a change of clothing. The significant allusion 
 in the letter shows that the father was confident of Owen's safety. 
 Akron (0.) Beacon. 
 
 LETTER TO MR HUNTER. 
 
 CHARLESTOWN, VA., Nov. 22, 1859. 
 ANDREW HUNTER, ESQ., Present. 
 
 Dear Sir : I have just had my attention called to a seeming conflic- 
 tion between the statement I at first made to Governor Wise and that 
 which I made at the time I received my sentence, regarding my in- 
 tentions respecting the slaves we took about the Ferry. There need 
 be no such confliction, and a few words of explanation will, I think, 
 be quite sufficient. I had given Governor Wise a full and particular 
 account of that ; and when called in court to say whether I had any- 
 thing further to urge, I was taken wholly by surprise, as I did not 
 expect my sentence before the others. In the hurry of the moment, I 
 forgot much that I had before intended to say, and did not consider 
 the full bearing of what I then said. I intended to convey this idea : 
 that it was my intention to place the slaves in a condition to defend 
 their liberties if they would, without any bloodshed, but not that I 
 intended to run them out of the Slave States. I was not aware of any 
 such apparent confliction until my attention was called to it, and I do 
 not suppose that a man in my then circumstances should be super- 
 human in respect to the exact purport of every word he might utter. 
 What I said to Governor Wise was spoken with all the deliberation I 
 was master of, and was intended for truth ; and what I said in court 
 was equally intended for truth, but required a more full explanation 
 than I there gave. Please make such use of this as you think calcu- 
 lated to correct any wrong impression I may have given. 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 LETTER TO AN OHIO CLERGYMAN. 
 
 JAIL, CHARLESTOWN, Wednesday. Nov. 23, 1859. 
 REV. MCFARLAND. 
 
 Dear Friend : Although you write to me as a stranger, the spirit you 
 show towards me and the cause for which I am in bonds, makes me 
 
 R 
 
258 THE CONQUERING PEN. 
 
 feel towards you as a dear friend. I would be glad to have you, or any 
 of my liberty-loving ministerial friends here, to talk and pray with me, 
 I am not a stranger to the way of salvation by Christ. From my youth 
 I have studied much on that subject, and at one time hoped to be a 
 minister myself ; but God had another work for me to do. To me it is 
 given in behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer 
 for his sake. But while I trust that I have some experimental and 
 saving knowledge of religion, it would be a great pleasure to me to 
 have some one better qualified than myself to lead my mind in prayer 
 and meditation, now that my time is so near a close. You may wonder, 
 are there no ministers of the gospel here ? I answer, !Xo. There are 
 no ministers of Christ here. These ministers who profess to be 
 Christian, and hold slaves or advocate slavery, I cannot abide them. 
 My knees will not bend in prayer with them while their hands are 
 stained with the blood of souls. The subject you mention as having 
 been preaching on, the day before you wrote to me, is one which I 
 have often thought of since my imprisonment. I think I feel as happy 
 as Paul did when he lay in prison. He knew if they killed him it 
 would greatly advance the cause of Christ ; that was the reason he 
 rejoiced so. On that same ground " I do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice." 
 Let them hang me ; I forgive them, and may God forgive them, for 
 they know not what they do. I have no regret for the transaction for 
 which I am condemned. I went against the laws of men, it is true ; 
 but " whether it be right to obey God or men, judge ye." Christ told 
 me to remember them that are in bonds, as bound icith them, to do 
 towards them as I would wish them to do towards me in similar cir- 
 cumstances. My conscience bade me do that. I tried to do it, but 
 failed. Therefore I have no regret on that score. I have no sorrow 
 either as to the result, only for my poor wife and children. They have 
 suffered much, and it is hard to leave them uncared for. But God will 
 be a husband to the widow, and a father to the fatherless. 
 
 I have frequently been in Wooster ; and if any of my old friends from 
 about Akron are there, you can show them this letter. I have but a 
 few more days, and I feel anxious to be away, " where the wicked cease 
 from troubling, and the weary are at rest." Farewell. 
 
 Your friend, and the friend of all friends of liberty, 
 
 JOHN BKOWN. 
 
 From a subsequent letter, dated Xov. 24, we make the following 
 extract : 
 
 I have had many interesting visits from pro-slavery persons, almost 
 daily, and I endeavor to improve them faithfully, plainly, and kindly. 
 I do not think I ever enjoyed life better than since my confinement 
 here. For this I am indebted to Infinite Grace, and kind letters from 
 friends from different quarters. I wish I could only know that all my 
 poor family were as composed and as happy as /. I think nothing but 
 the Christian religion could ever make any one so composed. 
 
 " My willing soul would stay 
 In such a frame as this.'' 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
THE CONQUERING PEN. 259 
 
 LETTER TO MR. HOYT. 
 
 CHARLESTOWN, JEFFERSON Co., VA., Nov. 24, 185U. 
 GEORGE H. HOYT, ESQ. 
 
 Dear Sir : Your kind letter of the 22nd inst. is received. I exceed- 
 ingly regret my inability to make you some other acknowledgment for 
 all your efforts in my behalf than that which consists merely in words ; 
 but so it is. May God and a good conscience be your continual reward. 
 I really do not see what you can do with me any further. I commend 
 my poor family to the kind remembrance of all friends, but I well 
 understand that they are not the only poor in our world. I ought to 
 begin to leave off saying our world. I have but very little idea of the 
 charges made against Mr. Griswold, as I get to see but little of what is 
 afloat. / am very sorry for any wrong that may be done him ; but I have 
 no means of contradicting anything that may be said, not knowing 
 what he said. I cannot see how it should be any more dishonorable for 
 him to receive some compensation for his expenses and service, than for 
 Mr. Chilton, and I am not aware that any blame is attached to him on 
 that score. I am getting more letters constantly than I well know how 
 to answer. Jfy kind friends appear to have very wrong ideas of my 
 condition as regards replying to all the kind communications I receive. 
 Your friend, in truth, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 This letter needs a word of comment. Mr. Chilton, " John Brown's 
 chivalrous Southern lawyer," demanded a fee of one thousand dollars, 
 which was paid out of the fund contributed for his family and cause in 
 the New England States. Mr. Griswold accepted a fee of two hundred 
 and fifty dollars for travelling expenses and services from John Brown 
 personally; supposing as every one at Charlestown thought at the 
 time that he was a man of independent fortune. For receiving this 
 fee, Mr. Griswold has been denounced in hundreds of democratic 
 papers, while not one of them has printed a reproachful word against, 
 the " distinguished lawyer " from Maryland. Neither is to blame, or 
 both are ; and if to blame, let a fourfold punishment be meted oat to 
 Mr. Chilton. 
 
 LETTER TO HIS WIFE EXTRACTS. 
 
 Before Mrs. Brown started from Philadelphia for Charlestown, she 
 received a letter from her husband, dated November 25, in which, after 
 referring to the fact that she was then staying with Lucretia Mott, he 
 
 ... I remember the faithful old lady well, but presume she has 
 no recollection of me. I once set myself to oppose a mob at Boston, 
 where she was. After I interfered, the police immediately took up the 
 
260 THE CONQUERING PEN. 
 
 matter, and soon put a stop to mob proceedings. The meeting was, I 
 think, in Marlboro' Street Church, or Hotel, perhaps. I am glad to 
 have you make the acquaintance of such old " Pioneers" in the cause. 
 I have just received from Mr. John Jay, of New York, a draft for 
 fifty dollars for the benefit of my family, and will enclose it made pay- 
 able to your order. I have also fifteen dollars to send to our crippled 
 and destitute unmarried son ; when I can, I intend to send j r ou, by 
 express, two or three little articles to carry home. Should you happen 
 to meet with Mr. Jay, say to him that you fully appreciate his great 
 kindness both to me and my family. God bless all such friends. It is 
 out of my power to reply to all the kind and encouraging letters I get ; 
 I wish I could do so. I have been so much relieved from my lameness 
 for the last three or four days as to be able to sit up to read and write 
 pretty much all day, as well as part of the night ; and I do assure you 
 and all other friends that I am quite busy, and none the less happy on 
 that account. The time passes quite pleasantly, and the near approach 
 of my great change is not the occasion of any particular dread. 
 
 I trust that God, who has sustained me so long, will not forsake me 
 when I most feel my need of Fatherly aid and support. Should he 
 hide his face, my spirit will droop and die; but not otherwise, be 
 assured. My only anxiety is to be properly assured of my fitness for 
 the company of those who are "washed from all filthiness," and for the 
 presence of him who is infinitely pure. I certainly think I do have 
 some "hunger and thirst after righteousness." If it be only genuine, 
 I make no doubt I " shall be filled." Please let all our friends read 
 my letters when you can ; and ask them to accept of it as in part for 
 them. I am inclined to think you will not be be likely to succeed well 
 about getting away the bodies of your family ; but should that be so, 
 do not let that grieve you. It can make but little difference what is 
 done with them. 
 
 You can well remember the changes you have passed through. Life 
 is made up of a series of changes, and let us try to meet them in the 
 best manner possible. You will not wish to make yourself and children 
 any mdre burdensome to friends than you are really compelled to do. 
 I would not. 
 
 I will close this by saying that, if you now feel that you are equal to 
 the undertaking, do exactly as you feel disposed to do about coming to 
 see me before I suffer. I am entirely willing. 
 
 Your affectionate husband, JOHN BROWN. 
 
 LETTER TO THADDEUS HYATT. 
 CHARLESTOWN, JEFFERSON Co., VA., Nov. 27, 1859. 
 THADDEUS HYATT, ESQ. 
 
 My dear Sir : Your very acceptable letter of the 24th instant has 
 just been handed to me. I am certainly most obliged to you for it, 
 and for all your efforts in behalf of my family and myself. ... It, 
 your effort, at any rate, takes from my mind the greatest burden I have 
 felt since my imprisonment, to feel assured that, in some way, my 
 shattered and broken-hearted wife and children would be so far re- 
 lieved as to save them from great physical suffering. Others may have 
 devised a better way of doing it. I had no advice in regard to it, and 
 
THE CONQUERING PEN. 261 
 
 felt very grateful to know, while I was yet living, of almost any active 
 measure being taken. I hope no offence is taken at yourself or me in 
 the matter. I am beginning to familiarize my mind with new and 
 very different scenes. Am very cheerful. 
 
 Farewell, my friend. JOHN BROWN. 
 
 LETTER TO A YOUNG LADY. 
 
 CHARLESTOWN, JEFFERSON Co., VA., Nov. 27, 1859. 
 
 My dear Miss : Your most kind and cheering letter of the 18th 
 
 instant is received. Although I have not been at all low-spirited nor 
 cast down in feeling since being imprisoned and under sentence, which 
 I am fully aware is soon to be carried out, it is exceedingly gratifying 
 to learn from friends that there are not wanting in this generation 
 some to sympathize with me and appreciate my motive, even now that 
 I am whipped. Success is in general the standard of all merit. I have 
 passed my time here quite cheerfully ; still trusting that neither my 
 life nor my death will prove a total loss. As regards both, however, I 
 am liable to mistake. It affords me some satisfaction to feel conscious 
 of having at least tried to better the condition of those who are always 
 on the under-hill side, and am in hope of being able to meet the con- 
 sequences without a murmur. I am endeavoring to get ready for 
 another field of action, where no defeat befalls the truly brave. That 
 " God reigns,"' and most wisely, and controls all events, might, it would 
 seem, reconcile those who believe it to much that appears to be very 
 disastrous. I am one who have tried to believe that, and still keep 
 trying. Those who die for the truth may prove to be courageous at 
 last ; so I continue " hoping on," till I shall find that the truth must 
 finally prevail. I do not feel in the least degree despondent nor de- 
 graded by my circumstances, and I entreat my friends not to grieve on 
 my account. You will please excuse a very poor and short letter, as I 
 get more than I can possibly answer. I send my best wishes to your 
 kind mother, and to all the family, and to all the true friends of 
 humanity. And now, dear friends, God be with you all, and ever 
 guide and bless you. 
 
 Your friend, JOHN BROWN. 
 
 LETTER TO JUDGE TILDEK 
 
 CHARLESTOWN, JEFFERSON Co., VA., Nov. 28, 1859. 
 HON. D. R. TILDEN. 
 
 My dear Sir : Your most kind and comforting letter of the 23d instant 
 is received. 
 
 I have no language to express the feelings of gratitude and obliga- 
 tion I am under for your kind interest in my behalf ever since my 
 disaster. 
 
 The great bulk of mankind estimate each other's actions and motives 
 by the measure of success or otherwise that attends them through life. 
 By that rule I have been one of the worst and one of the best of men. 
 / do not claim to have been one of the latter ; and I leave it to an im- 
 partial tribunal to decide whether the world has been the worse or the 
 
262 THE CONQUERING PEN. 
 
 better of my living and dying in it. My present great anxiety is to get 
 as near in readiness for a different field of action as I well *ca/i, since 
 being in a good measure relieved from the fear that my poor, broken- 
 hearted wife and children would come to immediate want. May God 
 reward, a thousand fold, all the kind efforts made in their behalf. I 
 have enjoyed remarkable cheerfulness and composure of mind ever since 
 my confinement; and it is a 'great comfort to feel assured that / am 
 permitted to die (for a cause) not merely to pay the debt of nature, (as 
 all must). I feel myself to be most unworthy of so great distinction. 
 The particular manner of dying assigned to me gives me but very little 
 uneasiness. I wish I had the time and the ability to give you (my dear 
 friend) some little idea of what is daily, and I might almost say, hourly, 
 passing within my prison walls ; and could my friends but witness only 
 a few of those scenes just as they occur, I think they would feel very 
 well reconciled to my being here just ichat I am, and just as I am. My 
 whole life before had not afforded me one half the opportunity to plead 
 J or the right. In this, also, I find much to reconcile me to both my 
 present condition and my immediate prospect. I may be very insane 
 (and / am so, if insane at all). But if that be so, insanity is like a very 
 pleasant dream to me. I am not in the leasb degree conscious of my 
 ravings, of my fears, or of any terrible visions whatever ; but fane?/ 
 myself entirely composed, and that my sleep, in particular, is as sweet 
 as that of a healthy, joyous little infant. I pray God that he will grant 
 me a continuance of the same calm, but delightful, dream, until I come 
 to know of those realities which u eyes have not seen, and which ears 
 have not heard." I have scarce realized that I am in prison, or in 
 irons, at all. I certainly think I was never more cheerful in my life. 
 I intend to take the liberty of sending, by express, to your care, some 
 trifling articles for those of my family who maj' be in Ohio, which you 
 can hand to my brother Jeremiah, when you may see him, together 
 with fifteen dollars I have asked him to advance to them. Please 
 excuse me so often troubling you with my letters, or any of my matters. 
 Please also remember me most kindly to Mr. Griswold, and to all others 
 who love their neighbors. I write Jeremiah to your care. 
 
 Your friend, in truth. 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 LETTER TO MR. SEWALL. 
 
 CHARLESTOWN, JEFFERSON Co., VA., Nov. 29, 1859. 
 8. E. SEWALL, ESQ. 
 
 My dear Sir : Your most kind letter of the 24th instant is received. 
 It does, indeed, give me " pleasure," and the greatest encouragement 
 to know of any efforts that have been made in behalf of my poor and 
 deeply afflicted family. It takes from my mind the greatest cause of 
 sadness I have experienced during my imprisonment here. I feel quite 
 cheerful, and ready to die. I can only say, for want of time, may the 
 Cod of the oppressed and the poor, in great mercy, remember all those to 
 whom we are so deeply indebted. Farewell. 
 
 Your friend, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
THE CONQUERING- PEN. 263 
 
 JOHN BROWN'S LAST LETTER TO HIS FAMILY. 
 
 CHAELESTOWN PRISON, JEFFERSON Co., VA, 
 Nov. 30, 1859. 
 
 My dearly beloved Wife, Sons and Daughters, Every One : As I 
 now begin what is probably the last letter I shall ever write to any of 
 you, I conclude to write to all at the same time. I will mention some 
 little matters particularly applicable to little property concerns in ano- 
 ther place. 
 
 I recently received a letter from my wife, from near Philadelphia, 
 dated Nov. 22, by which it would seem that she was about giving up 
 the idea of seeing me again. I had written to her to come on if she 
 felt equal to the undertaking, but I do not know that she will get my 
 letter in time. It was on her own account chiefly that I asked her to 
 stay back. At first I had a most strong desire to see her again, but 
 there appeared to be very serious objections; and should we never 
 meet in this life, I trust that we shall in the end be satisfied it was for 
 the best at least, if not most for her comfort. I enclosed in my last 
 letter to her a draft of fifty dollars from John Jay, made payable to 
 her order. I have now another to send her, from my excellent old 
 friend Edward Harris, of Woonsocket, R. I., for one hundred dollars, 
 which I shall also make payable to her order. 
 
 I am waiting the hour of my public murder with great composure 
 of mind and cheerfulness, feeling the strong assurance that in no other 
 possible way could I be used to so much advantage to the cause of God 
 and of humanity, and that nothing that either I or all my family have 
 sacrificed or suffered will be lost. The reflection that a wise and mer- 
 ciful, as well as just and holy God rules not only the affairs of this 
 world, but of all worlds, is a rock to set our feet upon under all cir- 
 cumstances even those more severely trying ones into which our own 
 feelings and wrongs have placed us. I have now no doubt but that 
 our seeming disaster will ultimately result in the most glorious suc- 
 cess. So, my dear shattered and broken family, be of good cheer, and 
 believe and trust in God with all your heart, and with all your soul, 
 for he doeth all things well. Do not feel ashamed on my account, nor 
 for one moment despair of the cause or grow weary of well doing. I 
 bless God I never felt stronger confidence in the certain and near 
 approach of a bright morning and glorious day than 1 have felt, and 
 do now feel, since my confinement here. 1 am endeavouring to return, 
 like a poor prodigal as I am, to my Father, against whom I have always 
 sinned, in the hope that he may kindly and forgivingly meet me, 
 though a very great way off. 
 
 O, my dear wife and children, would to God you could know how I 
 have been travailing in birth for you all, that no one of you may fail 
 of the grace of God through Jesus Christ ; that no one of you may be 
 blind to the truth and glorious light of his Word, in which life and 
 immortality are brought to light. I beseech you, every one, to make 
 the Bible your daily and nightly study, with a child-like, honest, 
 candid, teachable spirit of love and respect for your husband and 
 father. 
 
 And I beseech the God of my fathers to open all your eyes to the 
 discovery of the truth. You cannot imagine how much you may soon 
 need the consolations of the Christian religion. Circumstances like 
 
264 THE CONQUERING PEN. 
 
 my own, for more than a month past, have convinced me beyond all 
 doubt of our great need of some theories treasured up when our pre- 
 judices are excited, our vanity worked up to the highest pitch. O, do 
 not trust your eternal all upon the boisterous ocean without even a 
 helm or compass to aid you in steering. I do not ask of you to throw 
 away your reason ; I only ask you to make a candid, sober use of your 
 
 My dear young children, will you listen to this last poor admonition 
 of one who can only love you ? O, be determined at once to give your 
 whole heart to God, and let nothing shake or alter that resolution. 
 You need have no fears of regretting it. Do not be vain and thought- 
 less, but sober-minded; and let me entreat you all to love the whole 
 remnant of our once great family. Try and build up again your 
 broken walls, and to make the utmost of every stone that is left. 
 Nothing can so tend to make life a blessing as the consciousness that 
 your life and example bless and leave you the stronger. Still, it is 
 ground of the utmost comfort to my mind to know that so many of 
 you as have had the opportunity have given some proof of your 
 fidelity to the great family of men. Be faithful unto death ; from the 
 exercise of habitual love to man it cannot be very hard to love his 
 Maker. 
 
 I must yet insert the reason for my firm belief in the divine inspi- 
 ration of the Bible, notwithstanding 1 am, perhaps, naturally sceptical : 
 certainly not credulous, I wish all to consider it most thoroughly 
 when you read that blessed book, and see whether you cannot discover 
 such evidence yourselves. It is the purity of heart, filling our minds 
 as well as work and actions, which is every where insisted on, that 
 distinguishes it from all the other teachings, that commends it to my 
 conscience. Whether my heart be willing and obedient or not, the 
 inducement that it holds out is another reason of my convictions of 
 its truth and genuineness: but I do not here omit this my last 
 argument on the Bible, that eternal life is what my soul is panting 
 after this moment. I mention this as a reason for endeavoring to 
 leave a valuable copy of the Bible, to be carefully preserved in remem- 
 brance of me, to so many of my posterity, instead of some other book 
 at equal cost. 
 
 I beseech you all to live in habitual contentment with moderate 
 circumstances and gains of worldly store, and earnestly to teach this 
 to your children and children's children after you, by example as well 
 as precept. Be determined to know by experience, as soon as may be, 
 whether Bible instruction is of divine origin or not. Be sure to owe 
 no man any thing, but to love one another. John Rogers wrote to his 
 children, " Abhor that arrant whore of Rome." John Brown writes 
 to his children to abhor, with undying hatred also, that sum of all 
 villanies slavery. Remember, he that is slow to anger is better than 
 the mighty, and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a' city. 
 Remember, also, that they, being wise, shall shine, and they that turn 
 many to righteousness, as the stars forever and ever. 
 
 And now, dearly beloved family, to God and the work of his grace 
 I commend you all. 
 
 Your affectionate husband and father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
THE CONQUERING PEN. 265 
 
 LETTER TO JAMES FORMAL. 
 
 CHAELESTOWN PRISON, JEFFERSON Co., VA., 
 
 Dec. 1, 1859. 
 
 My dear Friend : I have only time to say I got your kind letter of 
 the 26th Nov. this evening. Am very grateful for all the good feeling 
 expressed by yourself and wife. May God abundantly bless and save 
 you all. I am very cheerful, in hopes of entering on a better state of 
 existence, in a few hours, through infinite grace in " Christ Jesus, my 
 Lord." Remember the " poor that cry," and " them that are in bonds- 
 as bound with them." Your friend as ever, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 JOHN BROWN'S WILL. 
 
 CHARLESTOWN, JEFFERSON Co., VA., Dec. 1, 1859. 
 
 I give o my son John Brown, Jr.. my surveyor's compass and other 
 surveyor's articles if found ; also, my old granite monument, now at 
 North Elba, N. York., to receive upon its two sides a further inscrip- 
 tion, as I will hereafter direct; said stone monument, however, to 
 remain at North Elba so long as any of my children and my wife may 
 remain there as residents. 
 
 I give to my son Jason Brown my silver watch with my name 
 engraved on inner case. 
 
 I give to my son Owen Brown my double-spring opera-glass, and 
 my rifle gun (if found,) presented to me at Worcester, Mass. It is 
 globe- sighted and new. I give also to the same son fifty dollars in 
 cash, to be paid him from the proceeds of my father's estate, in 
 consideration of his terrible suffering* in Kansas, and his crippled 
 condition from his childhood. 
 
 I give to my son Solomon Brown fifty dollars in cash, to be paid 
 him from my father's estate, as an offset to the first two cases above 
 named. 
 
 I give to my daughter Ruth Thompson my large old Bible, con- 
 taining the family record. 
 
 I give to each of my sons, and to each of my other daughters, my 
 son-in-law Henry Thompson, and to each of my daughters-in-law, a& 
 good a copy of the Bible as can be purchased at some bookstore in 
 New York or Boston, at a cost of five dollars each in cash, to be paid 
 out of the proceeds of my father's estate. 
 
 I give to each of my grandchildren that may be living when my 
 father's estate is settled, as good a copy of the Bible as can be pur- 
 chased (as above) at a cost of three dollars each. 
 
 All the Bibles to be purchased at one and the same time, for cash, 
 on the best terms. 
 
 I desire to have fifty dollars each paid out of the final proceeds of 
 my father's estate to the following named persons, to wit : To Allen 
 Hammond, Esq., of Rockville, Tolland County, Conn., or to George 
 Kellogg, Esq., former agent of the New England Company at that 
 place, for the use and benefit of that company. Also, fifty dollars to 
 Silas Havens, formerly of Lewisburg, Summit County, O., if he can 
 
266 THE CONQUERING- PEN. 
 
 be found : also, fifty dollars to a man of Storck County, O., at Canton, 
 who sued my father in his lifetime, through Judge Humphrey and 
 Mr. Upson of Akron, to be paid by J. R. Brown to the man in person, 
 if he can be found. His name I cannot remember. My father made 
 a compromise with the man by taking our house and lot at Manne- 
 ville. I desire that any remaining balance that may become my due 
 from my father's estate may be paid in equal amounts to my wife, and 
 to each of my children, and to the widows of Watson and Owen 
 Brown, by my brother. 
 JOHN Avis, Witness. JOHN BROWN. 
 
 A FINAL CODICIL. 
 
 CHARLESTOWN, JEFFERSON Co., VA., Dec. 2, 1859. 
 It is my desire that my wife have all my personal property not 
 previously disposed of by me, and the entire use of all my landed 
 property during her natural life ; and that, after her death, the pro- 
 ceeds of such land be equally divided between all my then living 
 children; and that what would be a child's share be given to the 
 children of each of my two sons who fell at Harper's Ferry, and that 
 a child's share be divided among the children of my now living chil- 
 dren who may die before their mother, (my present beloved wife.) 
 Xo formal will can be of use when my expressed wishes are made 
 known to my dutiful and beloved family. 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 My dear Wife : I have time to enclose the within and the above, 
 which I forgot yesterday, and to bid you another farewell. " Be of 
 good cheer," and God Almighty bless, save, comfort, guide, and keep 
 you to u the end." 
 
 Your affectionate husband, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 The three following letters have never hitherto been published : 
 CHARLESTOWN, JEFFERSON Co., VA., Oct. 31, 1859. 
 
 My dear Wife and Children, Every One : I suppose you have learned 
 before this by the newspapers that two weeks ago to-day we were 
 fighting for our lives at Harper's Ferry ; that during the fight Watson 
 was mortally wounded, Oliver killed, Wm. Thompson killed, and 
 Dauphin slightly wounded; that on the following day I was taken 
 prisoner, immediately after which I received several sabre-cuts in my 
 head and bayonet- stabs in my body. As nearly as I can learn, Watson 
 died of his wound on Wednesday the second, or on Thursday the 
 third day after I was taken. Dauphin was killed when I was taken, 
 and Anderson, I suppose, also. I have since been tried, and found 
 guilt}' of treason, <fec., and of murder in the first degree. I have not 
 yet received my sentence. ~No others of the company with whom you 
 
THE CONQUERING PEN. 267 
 
 wore acquainted were, as far as I can learn, either killed or taken. 
 Under all these terrible calamities, I feel quite cheerful in the assur- 
 ance that God reigns, and will overrule all for his glory and the best 
 possible good. I feel no consciousness of (juilt in the matter, nor even 
 mortification on account of my imprisonment and iron ; and I feel 
 perfectly assured that very soon no member of my family will feel 
 any possible disposition to " blush on my account." Already dear 
 friends at a distance, with kindest sympathy, are cheering me with the 
 assurance, that posterity at least will do me justice. I shall commend 
 you all together, with my beloved, but bereaved, daughters-in-law, to 
 their sympathies, which I have no doubt will soon reach you. I also 
 commend you all to Him " whose mercy endureth for ever " to the 
 God of my fathers, " whose I am, and whom I serve." " He will 
 never leave you or forsake you," unless you forsake him. Finally, 
 my dearly beloved, be of good comfort. Be sure to remember and tn 
 j allow my advice, and my example too, so far as it has been consistent 
 with the holy religion of Jesus Christ, in which I remain a most firm, 
 and humble believer. Never forget the poor, nor think anything you 
 bestow on them to be lost to you, even though they may be Hack as 
 Ebedmelech, the Ethiopian eunuch, who cared for Jeremiah in the pit, 
 of the dungeon, or as black as the one to whom Philip preached Christ. 
 Be sure to entertain strangers, for thereby some have . " Re- 
 member them that are in bonds as bound with them." I am in charge 
 of a jailer like the one who took charge of u Paul and Silas ;" and you 
 may rest assured that both kind hearts and kind faces are more or less 
 about me, whilst thousands are thirsting for my blood. " These light 
 afflictions, which are but/or a moment, shall work out for us ajar more 
 <;i''\'\-'!/hia and eternal weight of glory." I hope to be able to write you 
 again. My wounds are doing well. Copy this, and send it to your 
 sorrow- stricken brothers, Ruth, to comfort them. Write me a few 
 words in regard to the welfare of all. God Almighty bless you all, 
 and make you " joyful in the midst of all your tribulations." Write 
 to John Brown, Chaiiestown, Jefferson Co., Va., care of Captain John 
 Avis. Your affectionate husband and father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 Nov. 3, 1859. 
 
 P. S. Yesterday, Nov. 2, I was sentenced to be hanged on Dec. 2nd., 
 next. Do not grieve on my account. I am still quite cheerful. 
 G-od bless you. 
 
 Yours ever, .JOHN BROWN. 
 
 LETTER TO HIS WIFE. 
 
 CHARLESTOWN, JEFFERSON Co., VA., Nov. 12, 1850. 
 My dear Wife : Your most welcome letter of the 13th instant I got 
 yesterday. I am very glad to learn from yourself that you feel so 
 much resigned to your circumstances, so much confidence in a wise 
 and good Providence, and such composure of mind in the midst of all 
 your deep afflictions. This is "just as it should be;" and let me still 
 say, "Be of good cheer;" for we shall soon "come out of all our 
 great tribulations," and very soon (if we trust in him) " God shall 
 
268 THE CONQUERING PEN. 
 
 wipe away all tears from our eyes." Soon " we shall be satisfied when 
 we are awake in his likeness." There is now here a source of much 
 disquietude to me, viz., t/ie fires which are almost of daily and nightly 
 occurrence in this immediate neighborhood. Whilst I well know that 
 no one of them is the work of our friends, I know at the same time 
 that by more or less of the inhabitants we shall be charged with them, 
 the same as with the ominous and threatening letters to Governor 
 Wise. In the existing state of public feeling, I can easily see a further 
 objection to your coming here at present ; but I did not intend saying 
 another word to you on that subject. Why will you not feay to me 
 whether you had any crops mature this season? If so, what ones? 
 Although I may never more intermeddle with your worldly affairs, I 
 have not yet lost all interest in them. A little history of your success 
 or of your failures, I should very much prize ; and I would gratify you 
 and other friends some way, were it in my power. I am still quite 
 cheerful, and by no means " cast down." I u remember that the time 
 is short." The little trunk and all its contents (so far as I can judge) 
 reached me safe. May God reward all the contributors ! I wrote you 
 under cover to our excellent friend Mrs. Spring on the 16th instant. 
 I presume you have it before now. When you return, it is most likely 
 the Lake will not be open ; so you must get your ticket at Troy for 
 Moreau Station, or Glens Falls (for Glens Falls, if you can get one), or 
 get one for Vergennes in Vermont, and take your chance of crossing 
 over on the ice to Westpprt. If you go soon, the route by Glens 
 Falls to Elizabethtown .will probably be the best. I have just learned 
 that our poor Watson lingered with his wound until Wednesday about 
 noon of the 19th Oct. Oliver died near my side in a few moments 
 after he was shot. Dauphin died the next morning after Oliver and 
 William were killed, viz., Monday. He died almost instantly was 
 by my side. William was shot by several persons. Anderson was 
 killed with Dauphin. 
 
 Keep this letter to refer to. God Almighty bless and keep you all. 
 Your affectionate husband, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 Dear Mrs. Spring : I send this to your care, because I am at a loss 
 where it will reach my wife. Your friend, in truth, 
 
 J. BROWN. 
 
 LETTER TO HIS CHILDREN. 
 
 CHARLESTOWN, JEFFERSON Co., VA., Kov. 22, 1859. 
 Dear Children All : I address this letter to you, supposing that your 
 mother is not yet with you. She has not yet come here, as I have 
 requested her not to do at present, if at all. She may think it best 
 for her not to come at all. She has (or will), I presume, written 
 you before this. Annie's letter to us both of the 9th has but just 
 reached me. I am very glad to get it, and to learn that you are in any 
 measure cheerful. This is the greatest comfort I can have, except that 
 it would be to know that you are all Christians. God in mercy grant 
 you all may be so. That is what you all will certainly need. When 
 and in what/orm death may come, is of but small moment. I feel just 
 as content to die for God's Eternal Truth, and for suffering humanity's. 
 
THE CONQUERING PEN. 269 
 
 on the scaffold as in any other way ; and I do not say this from any dis- 
 position to " brave it oui. r ' No ; I would readily own my wrong, were 
 I in the least convinced^ of it. I have now been confined over a month, 
 with a good opportunity to look the whole thing as u fair in the face " 
 as I am capable of doing ; and I now feel it most grateful that I am 
 counted (in the least possible degree) worthy to suffer for the truth. I 
 want you all to " be of good cheer." This life is intended as a season 
 of training, chastisement, temptation, affliction, and trial, and "the 
 righteous shall come out of " it all. Oh, my dear children ! let me 
 again entreat you all to " forsake the foolish and live." What can you 
 possibly lose by such a course ? " Godliness with contentment is great 
 gain, having the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is 
 to come." "Trust in the Lord, and do good, so shalt thou dwell in 
 the land ; and verily thou shalt be fed." I have enjoyed life much ; 
 why should I complain on leaving it ? I want some of you to write 
 me a little more particularly about all that concerns your welfare. I 
 intend to write you as often as I can. " To God and the word of his 
 grace I commend you all." 
 
 Your affectionate father, JOHN BEOWN. 
 
 P. S. I am very grateful to all our friends. 
 
 Yours, J. B. 
 
IX. 
 
 FORTY DAYS IN CHAINS. 
 
 THE old man was imprisoned in the jail of Charlestown for forty - 
 two days. The preceding chapter contains the principal letters that 
 he wrote daring this long period of confinement. His conduct while 
 in jail was in keeping with his previous character. He never 
 wavered in his faith; never faltered in the presence of any man. 
 Prom his first commitment, on the 19th of October, till the 7th of 
 November, no clean clothing was given to him ; he lay as he had 
 fallen at Harper's Ferry, in his dirty and blood-stained garments. 
 
 Such brief notes as have been published of his life in prison, from 
 reliable authorities, I will now record in their chronological order. 
 
 DURING THE TRIAL. 
 
 The first is a telegraphic despatch to the Associated Press, of 
 October 20th : 
 
 " Brown has made no confession ; but, on the contrary, says he has full con- 
 fidence in the goodness of God, and is confident that he will rescue him from the 
 perils that surround him. He says he has had rifles levelled at him, knives at 
 his throat, and his life in as great peril as it is now, but that God has always 
 been at his side. He knows God is with him, and fears nothing." 
 
 On the 2nd of November, Judge Russell, of Boston, and his wife,* 
 arrived in Charlestown, and had an interview with John Brown. 
 The Judge spoke of the charge preferred by an administration 
 
 * "When that Boston wife went down to John Brown's prison, and stood 
 mending the sabre cut of his coat, a young Virginian, doubtless of the lirst, 
 families, who had on a uniform, although requested by a friend to retire for the 
 purpose of letting her and Brown talk of old times alone, looked in through the 
 window. But the wit of the woman got rid of him ; for, having finished her 
 needlework, she turned round and said, ' Young man, get me a brush to clean 
 this coat with ;' but the chivalry of the old State was so livid hot with rage ;il 
 being asked to do anything \iseful, that he went off, and was not seen again for 
 half-an-hour. Now, that is a specimen of this white race in working." Speech 
 of Wendell Phillips, New York, December 15. 
 
FORTY DAYS IN CHAINS. 271 
 
 journalist in Kansas against the Captain, which charged him with 
 having killed the ruffians of Pottawattomie. The old man declared 
 that he did not, in any way, participate in their execution ; but 
 thought here, in jail, as he had believed in Kansas, that the act was 
 just and necessary. A reliable writer, who was admitted to the cell 
 on the same day, thus speaks of the old man : 
 
 "He is permitted to receive such visitors as he desires to see. He states that 
 he welcomes every one, and that he is preaching, even in jail, with great effect, 
 upon the enormities of slavery, and with arguments that everybody fails to 
 answer." 
 
 Another newspaper correspondent who visited him at this time 
 the days of his sentence says : 
 
 " He said that Captain Avis, his jailer, showed as much kindness in treating. 
 him, as he had shown courage in attacking him. ' It is what I should expect 
 from a brave man.' Seeing that one of the deputy jailers was present, he added : 
 ' I don't say this to natter ; it isn't my way. I say it because it is true.' Capt. 
 Brown appears perfectly fearless in all respects says that he has no feeling 
 about death on a scaffold and believes that every act, ' even all the follies that 
 led to the disaster, were decreed to happen ages before the world was made.' 
 The only anxiety he expressed was in regard to the circumstances of his family. 
 He asked and obtained leave to add a postscript to a letter to his wife, telling 
 her that he was to be hanged on the second of December, and requested that it 
 should be directed to Mrs. John Brown, ' for there are some other widow Browns 
 in North Elba.' He speaks highly of his medical attendants, but rejects the 
 offered counsel of all ministers who believe that slavery is right. He will die 
 as fearlessly as he has lived." 
 
 The visit of Judge Russell and his wife was not liked by the self- 
 styled hospitable Virginians, but they were permitted to visit the jail 
 unmolested by the populace, and were not uncourteously received. 
 
 AFTER THE TRIAL. 
 
 The next Northern visitor a Boston sculptor who had come ta 
 take a likeness and a measure of John Brown's head, was less 
 tenderly treated by the authorities. Captain Brown refused, at first, 
 to permit the measurements to be made ; but, when told that a lady, 
 who had been a friend to him in other days, requested it as a personal 
 favor, he at once expressed his willingness to permit it to be done. 
 But the judicial official, and jail authorities interposed, and the 
 sculptor was refused all access to him. A reporter who had access 
 to the cell on the same day November 3rd writes : 
 
 " Brown's cheerfulness never fails him. He converses with all who visit him 
 in a manner so free from restraint and with so much unconcern, that none can 
 doubt his real convictions of self-approval. His daring courage has strongly 
 impressed the people, and I have more than once heard public avowals of 
 admiration of his fearlessness in spite of ominous murmurs of disapprobation 
 from bystanders. A telegraphic despatch, dated Boston, was this morning 
 received from T. "W. Higginson. It said, ' John Brown's wife wishes to go on 
 
272 FORTY DAYS IN CHAINS. 
 
 and see him. Can you obtain permission for her?' This was answered affirma- 
 tively ; bni when the matter was mentioned to Brown, he directed that this 
 message should be immediately sent : ' Do not, for God's sake, come here now. 
 John Brown.'" 
 
 In his next letter he adds : 
 
 " November 4. Certain Northern papers convey the impressions of a very 
 general belief in John Brown's safety from execution. They assume that, for 
 political or other reasons, Governor Wise will be induced to show clemency to 
 this condemned man. Such ideas are received here with indignation. It is 
 evident that any attempt to remove him alive from this town would fail. The 
 people say that a regiment of soldiers, with the Governor at their head, could not 
 accomplish it. You, at a distance, can hardly form an impression of the rage 
 for vengeance which is felt by the citizens of this place. When Brown was in 
 court on trial, there were always faces burning with hatred hanging over him, 
 fiercely watching every movement that he made. In the event of an attempt to 
 rescue, which has been the great fear all along, the jailers have been instructed 
 to shoot him. The populace are resolute in their determination that their victims 
 shall never be taken from them, and it does not seem that this determination is 
 to be shaken by any expedient. 
 
 " Brown's own ideas on the subject are characteristic. He tranquilly says, 
 ' I do not know that I ought to encourage any attempt to save my life. I am not 
 sure that it would not be better for me to die at this time. I am not incapable 
 of error, and I may be wrong ; but I think that perhaps my object would be 
 nearer fulfilment if I should die. I must give it some thought.' There is no 
 insincerity about this, you may be sure. Brown does not value his life ; or, at 
 least, is wholly unmoved at the prospect of losing it. He was never more firm 
 than at this moment. The only compunctions he expresses are in relation to his 
 management at Harper's Ferry, by which he lost not only himself, but sacrificed 
 his associates. He sometimes says that if he had pursued his original plan of 
 immediate escape to the mountains, he could never have been taken, for he and 
 his men had studied the vicinity thoroughly, and knew it a hundred times better 
 than any of the inhabitants. It was, he says, his weakness in yielding to the 
 entreaties of the prisoners, and delaying his departure, that ruined him. ' It 
 was the first time,' are his own words, ' that I ever lost command of myself, and 
 now I am punished for it.' 
 
 " The reason Brown has given for asking his wife to remain away, is also 
 characteristic. He knows it would cause great suffering, and will, possibly, 
 shatter his composure in a manner which he is resolved against, lest his captors 
 should esteem it an evidence of regret for what he has done. The despatch which 
 I told you was sent to Mrs. Brown did not reach her, and to-day another was 
 received, announcing that she was about to leave Philadelphia for this town. 
 Brown will still make another effort to check her. Nothing seems to give Brown 
 greater annoyance than hearing of those threatening anonymous letters that 
 are continually sent to Governor Wise, and to the authorities of Charlestown, 
 respecting his fate. He protests against them, and feels unwilling to believe 
 that they proceed from his own friends." 
 
 A pro- slavery reporter of the New York Herald visited John 
 Brown on the same days, and thus records the results of the interview : 
 
 "I have just seen 'Old Captain Brown.' I inquired after his health and 
 condition ; he replied that his recent wounds had caused some inflammation in 
 an old one, received, doubtless, in some of his ' Kansas work ;' with that excep- 
 tion he was easy in mind and body, and thought he had done his duty to God 
 and man. If it was decreed that he should suffer for it, very well ; it was of but 
 small consequence to him. He cared but little, any way. I asked him if he had 
 no regret for the valuable lives he had destroyed. The old sinner replied he had 
 not intended that. In answer to the query, ' If he thought his designs could be 
 carried out without bloodshed ? ' he replied, ' It had been done in Missouri.' 
 Just at that point the interview terminated. 
 
FORTY DAYS IN CHAINS. 273 
 
 " The prisoners are still guarded with the greatest vigilance. Hundreds of 
 men all the time under arms are stationed at the jail, which, by the way, in its 
 external appearance looks much more like a private residence than a jail, with 
 its curtained windows and porch or stoop to speak in Yankee parlance leading 
 out on the street ; but it is very strong and secure within." 
 
 On the 5th of November, a Northern lady Mrs. Spring arrived 
 in Charlestown to nurse John Brown; and, on the following day, 
 was admitted to his cell. From her account of this interview, all that 
 has not hitherto been published is subjoined : 
 
 " On our way we spent a night at Harper's Ferry. In the parlor we heard a 
 young lady describing to a gentleman the horrors of tho night of terror. ' I 
 wished,' she said, ' I could shoot them all.' She told the story of poor Thompson, 
 brought wounded into the hotel, followed by the infuriated people, protected for 
 a time by Mr. Foulke's sister, at last dragged out and killed on the bridge. She 
 said, ' It was dreadful to drag him out so, but they did right to kill him. / 
 would ' 
 
 " Between Mr. Brown and his jailer there has grown up a most friendly feeling. 
 Captain Avis, who is too brave to be afraid to be kind, has done all he could for 
 the prisoners, and been cursed accordingly. Still their condition was very cheer- 
 less, and Mr. Brown was in the same clothes in which he was taken. A cloth 
 under his head was much stained with blood from a still open wound. It was 
 hard for me to forget the presence of the jailer (I had that morning seen his 
 advertisement of ' fifty negroes for sale ;') but I soon lost all thought of him in 
 listening to Mr. Brown, who spoke at once of his plans and his failure. Twenty 
 years he has laboured, and waited, and suffered ; and at last he believed the time 
 of fulfilment had come. But he failed; and instead of being free on the moun- 
 tains, strong to break every yoke, and let the oppressed go free, he was shorn of 
 his strength, with prison walls about him. ' But,' he said, ' I do not now re- 
 proach myself ; I did what I could.' I said, ' The Lord often leads us in strange 
 ways." ' Yes,' he answered ; ' and / think I cannot now better serve the cause 
 I love so much than to die for it ; and in my death I may do more than in my 
 life.' A pleasant smile came over his face when I exclaimed, ' Then you will be 
 our martyr!' I continued, ' I want to ask one question for others, not for 
 myself: Have you been actuated by any feeling of revenge?' He raised his 
 head, and gave me a surprised look ; then, lying back, he answered slowly, but 
 firmly, ' I am not conscious of having had a feeling of the kind. No ; not in all 
 the wrong done to me and my family in Kansas, have I had a feeling of revenge.' 
 ' That would not sustain you now,' I remarked. ' No, indeed,' he replied quickly ; 
 ' but I sleep peacefully as an infant ; or, if I am wakeful, glorious thoughts come 
 to me, entertaining my mind.' Presently he added, ' The sentence they have 
 pronounced against me did not disturb me in the least ; it is not the first time 
 that I have looked death in the face.' ' It is not the hardest thing for a brave 
 man to die,' I answered ; ' but how will it be in the long days before you, shut 
 up here ? If you can be true to yourself in all this, how glad we shall be ! ' ' / 
 cannot say,' he responded ; ' but I do not believe I shall deny my Lord and Master, 
 Jesus Christ; and I should be, if I denied my principles against slavery. Why, 
 I preach against it all the time Captain Avis knows I do.' The jailer smiled, 
 and said, ' Yes.' We spoke of those who, in times of trial, forgot themselves ; 
 and he said, 'There seems to be just that difference in people; some can bear 
 more than others, and not suffer so much. He had been through all kinds of 
 hardships, and did not mind them.' My son remarked it was a great thing to 
 have confidence in one's own strength. ' I did not mean to say that,' was the 
 answer ; ' it was only a constitutional difference, and I have been trained to 
 hardships.' When twelve years old he went with his father to furnish the 
 American army with cattle. This had led hirn far away from home, and sub- 
 jected him to much exposure. Sometimes he slept in graveyards, but without 
 any superstitious fears ; and in forests a hundred miles from human habitations, 
 surrounded by hostile English and Indians. ' But,' he added, smiling, ' I have 
 one unconquerable weakness : I have always been more afraid of being taken 
 
 S 
 
274 FORTY DAYS IN CHAINS. 
 
 into an evening party of ladies and gentleman, than of meeting a company oj 
 men with guns.' I think he is still more afraid of giving trouble to others. He 
 seems to me to be purely unselfish, and in all that he has done to have never 
 thought of himself, but always of others. In a noble letter to his wife, which I 
 brought away with me, he entreats his ' dear wife and children, every one,31ei-r 
 in all your trials forget the poor that cry, and him that hath none to help him.' 
 
 " While he was talking to me with deepest solicitude of his family, the rabble, 
 ever hanging about the Coiirt House and prison, fearful that we were plotting 
 treason inside, became restless. The sheriff was frightened, and called the jailer, 
 so that I had only a moment to speak to Stevens, and to say farewell to Mr. 
 Brown, who stood up to take leave of us, saying, ' The Lord will bless you for 
 coming here.' 
 
 " There was, I learned afterwards, an angry mob outside the jail, but I did not 
 see it. In a moment we reached the hotel, and at once recorded all we could 
 remember of this interesting visit. That night there were rumors of an attack 
 on the jail, and it was thought best that I should not repeat my visit. 
 
 " But the evening before we left Charlestown, a telegram announced to me 
 that Mrs. Brown was in Philadelphia ; and I was- anxious, therefore, to have 
 another interview with her husband. In the morning I sent for the Judge, who 
 went with us to the prison-door. Mr. Brown was sitting at the table, where he 
 had just finished a letter to his wife, and a note to me. He looked better, and 
 brighter, and happier than at my first visit, and Stevens also looked better. The 
 old man said little except about his family, whom he commended to the kind- 
 ness of good people." 
 
 The next account that we have, is from the correspondence of a 
 pro-slavery paper, the New York Herald, and from so very 
 prejudiced a source, it is an important testimony to John Brown's 
 character and courage ; 
 
 " A person visiting Brown in jail, and seeing him for the first time, with an 
 estimate formed of the man from his conduct during the trial and the speeches 
 there delivered by him, would find his pre-conceived opinions rapidly disappear 
 before the subject of them. It is true that, acting under excitement, and from 
 the consciousness that he was surrounded by his enemies, Brown frequently in- 
 dulged in irascible remarks, feeling somewhat secure in the protection of the 
 law whose victim he must be, while, at the same time, he dared, and indeed 
 seemed to court, the worst his foes could do, thinking perhaps that he might 
 escape the slower and more vengeful process of the law. In this state of feeling, 
 sensitive as an enthusiast in giving to the world the motives of an act which, 
 to his own diseased mind, was great and good, but which the world must con- 
 demn, he claimed with petulence and impatience those delays in the adminis- 
 tration of the law which neither his crimes nor the circumstances of the Court 
 could fairly admit of. His object in this was, as he himself said, to give the 
 world a fair opportunity of judging of his motives. If this opportunity was to 
 be denied him, a summary quietus from one of the Sharpe's rifles in the hands 
 of his enemies was all he next most desired. Now that he has received at the 
 hands of justice and fair play all the delay that he could possibly hope for a 
 trial protracted over five days with the fullest publicity given to the statements 
 of those witnesses who testified most directly and generously to his humanity to 
 his prisoners in the Armory at Harper's Ferry, he is satisfied, and awaits the 
 result with that calm firmness which is the sure characteristic of a brave man. 
 
 " What Brown was most anxious to establish in the eyes of the world, during 
 the trial, was his claim to being considered humane and merciful from his con- 
 duct to his prisoners. Whatever good quality a man possesses in any marked 
 degree he is most anxious to have acknowledged at a time when circumstances 
 point the other way ; and so it was with Brown. Though his deeds in the 
 Kansas border wars did not entitle him to be considered either as humane, or as 
 averse to the shedding of blood, certainly his prisoners at Harper's Ferry had no 
 fault to find with him on that score. They fraukly acknowledged his humanity 
 and courtesy towards them. At all events, the opinions formed of the man from 
 
FOKTY DAYS IN CHAINS. 275 . 
 
 the darker features of his life would fade before the influence of a personal inter- 
 view with him in prison. Now that his fate has been decided by the just and 
 proper process of law, he feels resigned to it. He 110 longer indulges in com- 
 plaints and invectives. He rarely adverts to his trial ; but whenever he does, he 
 pays a tribute to all concerned Judge, counsel, and witnesses. He speaks freely 
 upon all subjects but one, and that is the death of his sons. From his tacitur- 
 nity he has been adjudged as entirely callous as to the fate of his sons and the 
 other unfortunate victims of his mad enterprise ; but this is a very great mistake, 
 and arises from ignorance of the human heart. He avoids the subject, it is true, 
 but in waiving it, should it be started, the observer can mark and understand 
 the feeling which confines it to his own heart. He speaks freely enough of his 
 wife and daughters, and he has been some time considering the propriety of 
 allowing them to visit him. They are now on their way to visit him, although 
 he had resolved on avoiding an interview with them until some few days pre- 
 vioiis to that fixed for his death, and which he has not the slightest hope of 
 seeing put off a single hour. 
 
 " Mrs. Russell, wife of Judge Russell, visited him the other day, and had a 
 long chat with him. He appeared very much pleased with the lady's manner, 
 and was very communicative with her. In illustrating his own character, he 
 said that lie had never known what fear was when brought into opposition or 
 collision with his fellow -man, but that he had a strange feeling of that nature 
 on his first introduction to the higher class of men with whom his peculiar and 
 wayward life brought him into contact. This feeling, he said, was very awk- 
 ward, and very painful, also, when entering the society of women. The interview 
 with Mrs. Russell seemed to touch the old man's heart, and no woman could 
 turn from him, so full of trials and sorrow for woman at such a moment rarely 
 looks back to first causes without emotion. 
 
 " Brown frequently indulges in amusing narratives of his encounters with his 
 border enemies of Kansas and Missouri. He related to me that upon one 
 occasion he had succeeded in running away with a party of slaves from 
 Missouri, but that he was so hotly pursued that some stratagem was necessary 
 to prevent them from being overtaken, in the event of which a severe fight and 
 consequent sacrifice of life must be the result. To avoid this, Brown himself 
 turned off the track of the retreating party, and having completely disguised 
 himself, joined as an amateur the pursuers. With them he remained a day and 
 a night, entering into their counsels and effectually controlling their motions, so 
 that he turned them off the right track, and gave his friends an opportunity to 
 escape. The old man laughed as he recalled the scene, and said, ' I never was 
 jrood at a disguise, but that time I deceived several in the party who had seen 
 and known me before.' With all who corne in a kindly spirit to visit him 
 lirowii is exceedingly free and open. He esteems such as friends, and seems to 
 view their leave-taking with regret. But the^e visits are but as angels' visits, 
 few and far between, for the jealousy and suspicion with which the people of 
 Charlestown regard all who are likely to feel for and sympathize with the 
 prisoner in fact, all strangers keep barred the prison doors. It is net so, 
 however, in regard to those about whose earnest hostility to all abolition move- 
 ments there is no doubt entertained. They enter in flocks, and gape, and stare, 
 and follow the jailer in and out. He is in the same cell with Stevens, at whose 
 loedsiclc he is constantly found sitting, with the Bible (just closed as the visitor 
 enters) placed upon his knees. This is the Bible he always carried with him. 
 It was found, after the final attack and recapture of Harper's Ferry, in the 
 Armory, and was by some kind person restored to its owner in captivity. It is 
 almost needless to say that Brown awaits death with that resignation and 
 tranquillity which disarm the dreaded phantom of all terror." 
 
 A republican correspondent, writing under date of November 8th 
 informs us that, 
 
 "Brown's conversation is singularly attractive. His manner is magnetic. 
 It attracts every one who approaches him, and Avhile he talks he reigns. The 
 other prisoners venerate him. Stevens sits in his bed, usually with his face 
 away from the window, and listens all day to ' the Captain's ' words, seldom 
 
276 FORTY DATS IN CHAINS. 
 
 offering a syllable except when called npon. Sometimes he gets a little excited, 
 and springs forward to make clear some point about which ' the Captain ' is in 
 doubt ; but his five bullets, in head and breast, weigh him down, and he is soon 
 exhausted. As for the other men Copeland, Green, and Coppic they are 
 always sending messages to 'the Captain,' assuring him that ' it was not they 
 who confessed, and he mustn't growl at them, but at Cook.' I cannot forget 
 hearing Brown express himself on the subject of the threatening anonymous 
 letters that have been received by Gov. Wise relating to his case. ' Well, gen- 
 tlemen,' he said, ' I tell you what I think of them. They come from no friends 
 of mine. I have nothing to do with such friends. Why, gentlemen, of all the 
 things in the world that I despise, anonymous letters are the worst. If I had a 
 little job to do, I would sooner take one-half the men I brought down here to 
 help me than as many of these fellows as could fill all Jefferson County, standing 
 close upon every inch. If I don't get out of this jail before such people as they 
 are take me out, I shan't go very soon." 
 
 During all this time, John Brown received large numbers of letters 
 daily. All anonymous notes he burned without reading. He replied 
 to as many of the others as he had time to answer. Previous to this 
 date, also, two militia companies paid him a visit the Continentals 
 and the Frederickburg Guards. He received them cordially ; but 
 objected, he said, " to be made a monkey show of." He told the 
 Continentals that he had seen their uniform on the border during the 
 war of 1812. 
 
 WRIT OF ERROR REFUSED. 
 
 On November 16, says the Neic York Tribune : 
 
 "John Brown, by counsel, made his last appeal to a Virginian tribunal. 
 Within a few hours' time, the five judges of the Supreme Court of Appeals 
 uttered their unanimous opinion that the judgment of the Jefferson County 
 Court, under which the old man awaits death by hanging on the 2nd day of 
 December, was right ; and therefore they denied his petition for a writ of error. 
 The indictment upon which Brown was tried contained four counts for treason, 
 for advising and conspiring with slaves and others to rebel, and for murder. 
 Charged jointly with others, he was tried alone. One general judgment of death 
 was entered upon the whole of it. The grounds of his application for a writ of 
 error were few. He claimed, first, that the judgment against him was erroneous, 
 because it was not averred in the treason count, that at the time of the offence 
 charged he was a citizen of the State of Virginia or of the United States. The 
 law is well settled, that treason is a breach of allegiance, and can be committed 
 only by one who owes allegiance, either temporary or perpetual . Brown appealed 
 to the Court, that if the judgment against him on all the counts,,including this 
 defective one of treason, was to stand, he would be put out of all possible reach 
 of the Executive clemency. That clemency could have reached him, on the 
 contrary, if the judgment had only been on^the other counts of the indictment. 
 Secondly, he claimed that the judgment under which he now awaits death was 
 erroneous, in that the Court below denied his application that the prosecution be 
 made to elect some one count \ipon which to try him, and abandon the rest. 
 He was entitled to that election : First, Because the offence of treason is not 
 pardonable by the Governor of Virginia, and therefore a count charging it 
 should not have been united in an indictment with counts for offences that are 
 pardonable. Second, Because the punishment upon conviction upon each of the 
 counts was necessarily the same ; that while it was inevitably capital upon one 
 of them, upon the others he might have been found guilty only of a misdemea- 
 nor, or of a simple manslaughter. Thirdly, He insisted that the Court below 
 
FORTY DAYS IN CHAINS. 277 
 
 should have instructed the Jury that if they believed, from the evidence, that at 
 the time of the committing of the acts charged in the count for treason, he was 
 not a citizen of Virginia, but of another State, he could not be convicted under it. 
 Fourthly, he claimed that the finding by the Jury upon the counts for con- 
 spiring with slaves to rebel, and for killing ' four white men and one free negro,' 
 'in manner and form as aforesaid,' was too uncertain and inconsistent to 
 warrant a judgment of death. Briefly, and without any delay painful to the 
 tense expectation of the Virginia mind, did the five Judges of the Appeals Court 
 say to John Brown, through his counsel, ' The judgment under which you are 
 to be hung by the neck until you are dead, is plainly right.' His counsel were 
 not alloioed to be heard." 
 
 JOHN BROWN AND THE SOUTHERN CLERGY, 
 
 John Brown had frequent calls from the Virginia clergy, but with 
 none of them would he bow the knee to their Baal. Mr. Lowry, an old 
 neighbor, who visited him in prison, states that 
 
 "Mr. Brown is a member of the Old- School Presbyterian Church, and a 
 decidedly religious man, though he strictly and sternly refuses to be aided in 
 his prayers by the pro-slavery divines of Virginia. One of these gentlemen, in 
 conversation with me, said that he had called on Brown to pray with him. He 
 said that Brown asked if he was ready to fight, if necessity required it, for the 
 freedom of the slave. On his answering in the negative, Brown said that he 
 would thank him to retire from his cell ; that his prayers would be an abomina- 
 tion to his God. To another clergyman he said that he would not insult his 
 God by bowing down with any one who had the blood of the slave upon his 
 skirts." 
 
 A correspondent of the Baltimore American gives this additional 
 testimony to John Brown's fidelity : 
 
 " Captain Brown has also recovered, and is getting quite active. He refuses 
 to receive any ministers who countenance slavery, telling them to go home and 
 read their Bibles. Rev. Alfred Griffith had an interview with him a few days 
 since, which lasted for nearly an hour, principally on the subject of slavery. 
 They quoted Scripture to sustain their views, and had quite a clashing time of 
 it ; but neither was able to convince the other of the correctness of their peculiar 
 doctrines." 
 
 Another writer says : 
 
 " Brown was visited yesterday by Rev. James H. March, of the M. E. Church. 
 The reverend gentleman having advanced an argument in favor of the institu- 
 tion of slavery as it now exists, Brown replied to him, saying, ' My dear sir, you 
 know nothing about Christianity ; you will have to learn the A B C's in the 
 lesson of Christianity, as I find you entirely ignorant of the meaning of the 
 word. I, of course, respect you as a gentleman ; but it is as a heathen gentleman.' 
 The reverend gentlemen here thought it best to draw such a discussion to a close, 
 and therefore withdrew." 
 
 Let the churches of America blush in shame in presence of the 
 faithful Christian of Charlestown jail. Was ever testimony against 
 slavery so firmly or so worthily borne ? The effect of it was note- 
 worthy. The clergymen of Charlestown refused to pray for John 
 Brown before his execution, although that custom is immemorial, and 
 Christianity enjoins the duty of praying even for our enemies. 
 
278 FORTY DAYS IN CHAINS. 
 
 To Mr. Lowry, in speaking of the Pottawattomie executions, and 
 the person who accused him of having killed the ruffians, he said that 
 he was mistaken in supposing that the charge needed any refutation 
 from him. " Time and the honest verdict of posterity," he said, 
 " will approve of every act of mine to prevent slavery from being 
 established in Kansas. / never shed the blood of afelloic-man, except in 
 self-defence or in promotion of a righteous cause." Mr. Lowry adds : 
 
 " During our conversation, the martial music (where Governor Wise was 
 reviewing his army near the prison) made a great noise, and, thinking it must 
 annoy him, I asked him if it did not. ' No,' said the man ; ' it is inspiring! ' 
 
 " And here, as I parted with him, telling him I would see him again, if possible, 
 he repeated to me : ' Tell those without that I am cheerful.' My time was up, 
 and I was invited to leave." 
 
 During this week five fires, caused by incendiaries, occurred within 
 a circuit of fifteen miles. The frightened Virginians attributed them 
 to anti-slavery invaders; but the planters, knowing the feelings of 
 their slaves, slept every night in the town. A cow approached the 
 guards one evening, and, refusing to give the countersign, was shot. 
 In a few days afterwards, companies of infantry and artillery arrived 
 from Petersburg and Richmond, to protect the citizens. 
 
 On their arrival in Charlestown, on November 22, these protectors 
 of Virginia from her graminivorous enemies paid a visit to the old man 
 in prison ; but no one cared or was permitted to describe the interview. 
 Governor Wise, who accompanied them to Charlestown, had a conver- 
 sation with John Brown, who " justified and defended his course." 
 
 On the 24th, the militia Colonel hitherto in command was super- 
 seded by General Taliaferro, and martial law was at once proclaimed. 
 The telegraph was seized by the Government of Virginia, and every 
 train that entered the State was searched and put under guard. The 
 Austrian passport system was inaugurated for the first time in 
 American history. 
 
 The next and only published record of John Brown's life in his cell, 
 until the day preceding his sublime victory over death, is from the 
 pen of a very prejudiced authority, but bears, nevertheless, internal 
 evidences of its truthfulness : 
 
 " Colonel Smith, of the Virginia Military Institute, paid a visit to John Brown 
 to-day, in company with Mr. O. Jennings Wise, son of Governor Wise, who is 
 attached to Company F, of Richmond. I had an interview with one of the jail 
 officials who was present at the conversation that took place between Captain 
 Brown and these gentlemen, and I give you, word for word, what transpired 
 during our interview : 
 
 REPORTER. Did Colonel Smith question Brown as to whether he had any 
 desire to have a clergyman to administer to him the consolations of religion ? 
 
 JAIL OFFICIAL. Yes, he did; but Brown said he did not recognise any 
 slaveholder, lay or clerical, or any man sympathizing with slavery, as a Christian. 
 He gave the same reason yesterday for his refusal to accept the services of some 
 
FORTY DAYS IN CHAINS. 279 
 
 clergymen who called upon him. He also said he would as soon be attended to 
 the scaffold by blacklegs or robbers of the worst kind as by slaveholding minis- 
 ters, or ministers sympathizing with slavery, and that if he had his choice he 
 would prefer being followed to the scaffold by barefooted, barelegged, ragged 
 negro children, and their old gray-headed slave-mother, than by clergymen of 
 this character. He would feel, he said, much prouder of such an escort, and 
 wished he could have it. 
 
 REPORTER. Has he said anything on the subject of religion to the clergymen 
 who have called upon him ? 
 
 OFFICIAL. Yes, he argues with them ; but winds up frequently by telling 
 them that they, and all slaveholders and sympathizers with slavery, have far 
 more need of prayers themselves than he has, and he accordingly advises them 
 to pray for themselves, and exhibit no concern about him. While making these 
 remarks, he requests that he would not be understood as designing to offer any 
 insult. 
 
 REPORTER. Does his health seem impaired by the anxiety which he must 
 necessarily feel in view of his impending fate ? 
 
 OFFICIAL. No, sir ; he looks much better to-day than he did at any period 
 since his imprisonment. He eats his meals regularly, and seems to be in better 
 spirits this morning than he has been for ten days. 
 
 REPORTER. Does he make any reference to his sons who were shot at 
 Harper's Ferry ? 
 
 OFFICIAL. He expressed some anxiety to get the bodies of his sons together, 
 and requested the jailer to give his wife any assistance in his power to get them 
 together. 
 
 REPORTER. What does he mean by getting them together? 
 
 OFFICIAL. He is aware that the body of one of his sons was taken to the 
 Winchester Medical College for dissection, and in using the words " getting them 
 together " he meant to have their bones collected and given to his wife. He also 
 expressed a desire to have the bones of two men, named Thompson, from his 
 neighborhood, who were shot at Harper's Ferry, given to his wife. He expressed 
 an idea that it would be well to have the flesh burned off the bodies of all, and 
 their bones boxed up, so that they might be carried home with more convenience. 
 In expressing this wish he remarked that he meant to do no violence to the 
 feelings or Christian sentiments of the people of Virginia. His sole object 
 was to prevent inconvenience in their transportation, and avoid any disagree- 
 able odor. 
 
 REPORTER. There was a rumor on the streets during yesterday that he was 
 engaged in writing out, or had written, his autobiography. Is there any truth 
 in the rumor ? 
 
 OFFICIAL. No, sir ; there is no truth in it. He is, however, writing a long 
 communication to his family.* 
 
 REPORTER. Does he exhibit much concern about his wife and children ? 
 
 OFFICIAL. Some time since he felt deeply concerned lest they maybe reduced 
 to want. Now, however, he has less concern on that head, doubtless because of 
 the assurance he received of a purpose to make provision for them. He often 
 speaks of his three youngest daughters, the eldest of whom, he says, is rising 
 sixteen, and the youngest six. 
 
 REPORTER. Does he say anything relative to Governor Wise ? 
 OFFICIAL. He speaks of him in the highest terms, and expressed himself 
 much pleased at seeing his son to-day, on account of his father's treatment of 
 him. He observed that the Governor treated him much better than he expected 
 he would have done under the circumstances. 
 
 REPORTER. Does he seek to justify himself for the murder of the men at 
 Tottawattomie Creek, when questioned upon the subject ? 
 
 OFFICIAL. He says he did not kill any of them, but that he approved of 
 their being killed. 
 
 REPORTER. Has he any intercourse with the rest of his confederates now 
 in jail. 
 
 OFFICIAL. He has not, except with Stevens, who occupies the same cell 
 with him. 
 
 * Which they never received. 
 
280 FORTY DATS IN CHAINS. 
 
 KEPORTEB. Did he seem pleased when he was informed that the Governor 
 agreed to hand over his body to his wife ? 
 
 OFFICIAL. He was very much pleased when he read the Governor's letter to 
 the Sheriff, requesting his body to be given to his wife after execution. 
 
 At this stage of the dialogue a Presbyterian clergyman of this town, named 
 Button, entered the jailer's dwelling, and requested to have his name reported 
 to Mr. Brown, with a request for an interview if convenient. The message was 
 delivered, but Mr. Brown declined an interview, on the ground that he was then 
 too busy. Mr. Dutton then left. 
 
 EEPORTER. What is it keeps him busy. 
 
 OFFICIAL. He is engaged in reading about two dozen letters, sent to him 
 this morning. In declining an interview with Mr. Dutton, he desired that he 
 (Mr. D.) be informed of his (Brown's) willingness to see him in the course of the 
 day, and argue with him on the subject of religion. 
 
 REPORTER. What is generally the character of the letters sent to him ? 
 
 OFFICIAL. They are generally letters of sympathy and condolence. 
 
 REPORTER. Does he receive any assuring him of a purpose to rescue him ? 
 
 OFFICIAL. Yes ; several. These, however, are mostly anonymous, and he 
 invariably commits them to the flames. I have observed him throwing them into 
 the fire upon finding them to be anonymous. Kecently he reads no anonymous 
 letter. Any communication, however, applauding him as a martyr to the anti- 
 slavery cause, he carefully files away. Referring to his execution this morning, 
 during his conversation with Mr. O. J. Wise and Colonel Smith, he said he was 
 not to be executed, but publicly murdered. 
 
 REPORTER. Does he profess any religion ? 
 
 OFFICIAL. Yes ; he says he is a member of the Congregationalist Church, 
 and represents himself as a good Christian. 
 
 REPORTER. Have you any idea whether he has written, or intends to write, 
 anything which he would wish to have published ? 
 
 OFFICIAL. He has written nothing that I am aware of, except a short note to 
 a gentleman across the street, stating that his commentaries on Beecher's sermon 
 were not published as he gave them. Some of his commentaries, he said, were 
 omitted, while others were materially altered. 
 
 REPORTER. Does he exhibit any lack of firmness when spoken to on the sub- 
 ject of his approaching doom ? 
 
 OFFICIAL. I remarked to him this morning that the question was frequently 
 asked, " Whether there was any caving in on his part," and his reply was, that 
 there was no caving in about him ; that he would hold up to the last moment as 
 he did at the start. 
 
 REPORTER. What does he say regarding the prospects of his rescue ? 
 
 OFFICIAL. He said he was sure his sons could hardly contemplate his fate 
 without using some efforts to rescue him ; but this, he presumed, they would 
 only do if he was allowed to remain in jail without anything more than ordinary 
 precaution to prevent his escape or rescue being exercised. He said, however, 
 that such an attempt would not be made in view of the precautions now taken. 
 He had no idea that any attempt at rescue would be made with so large a military 
 force as he understood was now present. 
 
 REPORTER. Is he aware that he will not be permitted to make any speech 
 from the scaffold ? 
 
 OFFICIAL. Yes, he is ; and when informed of that fact, he said he did not 
 care about saying anything." 
 
 " In all his conversation," wrote another reporter, " Brown showed 
 the utmost gentleness and tranquillity, and a quiet courtesy withal, 
 that contrasted rather strongly with the bearing of some of his 
 visitors." 
 
X. 
 
 HUSBAND AND WIFE. 
 
 MRS. BROWN, on her return to Philadelphia from Baltimore, wrote a 
 letter to Governor Wise, asking for the bodies of her slain sons, and 
 of her husband, after his execution. He sent her the orders for 
 them, addressed to the Sheriff and the General in command. On 
 Wednesday evening, Mrs. Brown, carrying these sad certificates, 
 arrived at Harper's Ferry, under the escort of two gentlemen from 
 Philadelphia. She intended to have gone to Charlestown with them, 
 on the following morning, to have her last earthly interview with her 
 husband. When the morning came, a despatch from head-quarters 
 ordered the officers to detain the sorrow-stricken wife and her friends 
 until further orders. A trustworthy correspondent says : 
 
 "I learned at Charlestown that for several hours a triangular corre- 
 spondence by telegraph was going on between Charlestown, Richmond, 
 and Harper s Ferry, which ultimated in a despatch from General 
 Taliaferro, saying that he had sent a file of dragoons to escort Mrs. 
 Brown, but not the others. The mortification of the citizens of Harper's 
 Ferry was not less than that of Mrs. Brown, and her friends, at so cruel 
 and unlooked-for an act on the part of the chivalrous sons of Virginia. 
 But as a cow will frighten a private doing sentry duty, one live Northern 
 woman and two Northern men might reasonably be expected to inti- 
 midate a Virginia army. 
 
 " The escort consisted of a file of eight mounted riflemen, under a 
 sergeant. Captain Moore, of the Montgomery Guards, stationed at this 
 place, very kindly offered his own personal escort to Mrs. Brown, and 
 she gladly accepted it. 
 
 " The Captain referred frequently, as they came along, to the unfor- 
 tunate situation of her husband. She exhibited no sorrow or regret, so 
 far as he could observe." 
 
 The gallant Captain had the brutality to attempt to argue with a 
 wife, thus circumstanced, in favor of that great crime against God 
 and man, for assailing whose powers her husband was doomed to die. 
 
 The writer, above quoted, continues : 
 
 " 1 was in sight when the formidable cavalcade arrived. The mili- 
 tary went through manoeuvres in Scott's Manual, named and nameless^ 
 and which were well calculated to impress the beholder with the won- 
 
282 HUSBAND AND WIFE. 
 
 derf ul effectiveness of a Virginia regiment at a general muster, but in 
 a no more sanguinary conflict. At last, however, Mrs. Brown was ad- 
 mitted. She was kindly received by Captain and Mrs. Avis. Mrs. 
 Avis, by order of the powers that be, conducted Mrs. Brown into a 
 private apartment, where her clothing was searched for concealed 
 weapons, or other means which the morbid suspicion of the Virginia 
 army of occupation suggested Mrs. Brown might surreptitiously convey 
 to her husband. 
 
 " In the meantime Captain Brown had been informed that his wife 
 had arrived. The announcement was made by General Taliaferro, 
 when the following dialogue took place : 
 
 " ' Captain Brown, how long do you desire this interview to last V 
 asked the Virginian. 
 
 " ' Not long ; three or four hours will do,' said Captain Brown. 
 
 u ' I am very sorry, Captain Brown,' said the Virginia General, ' that 
 I shall not be able to oblige you. Mrs. Brown must return to-night to 
 Harper's Ferry.' 
 
 " ' General, execute your orders ; I have no favors to ask of the State 
 of Virginia,' was the brave old man's reply. 
 
 u This fact was related to an acquaintance of mine by a Virginia 
 gentleman, as an illustration of Captain Brown's courage and bravery. 
 He did not see in it the scathing rebuke to the pusillanimity of a great 
 State, which, with a cordon of twenty-five hundred men, would not 
 protract the last interview between a brave man and his sorrow- 
 stricken wife." 
 
 Mrs. Brown, we are told, was led into the cell by the jailer. Her 
 husband rose, and, as she entered, received her in his arms. For some 
 minutes they stood speechless, Mrs. Brown resting her head upon 
 her husband's breast, and clasping his neck with her arms. At 
 length they sat down and spoke ; and from Captain Avis, who was 
 the only witness of that sorrowful scene, (his fellow-prisoner, Stevens, 
 having been placed in an adjoining cell before the entrance of the 
 wife,) the following record comes : 
 
 John Brown spoke first. " Wife, I am glad to see you," he said. 
 
 " My dear husband, it is a hard fate." 
 
 " Well, well ; cheer up, cheer up, Mary. We must all bear it in the 
 best manner we can. I believe it is all for the best." 
 
 " Our poor children God help them." 
 
 " Those that are dead to this world are angels in another. How are 
 all those still living V Tell them their father died without a single 
 regret for the course he has pursued that he is satisfied he is right in 
 the eyes of God and of all just men." 
 
 JV1 rs. Brown then spoke of their remaining children and their home. 
 Brown's voice, as he alluded to the bereavements of his family, was 
 broken with emotion. After a brief pause, Brown said : 
 
 ' Mary, 1 would like you to get the bodies of our two boys who were 
 killed at Harper's Ferry, also the bodies of the two Thompsons, and, 
 after I am dead, place us all together on a wood pile, and set fire to the 
 wood ; burn the flesh, then collect our bones and put them in a large 
 box, then have the box carried to our farm in Essex County, and there 
 bury us." 
 
HUSBAND AND WIPE. 283 
 
 Mrs. Brown said, " I really cannot consent to do this. I hope you 
 will change your mind on this subject. I do not think permission 
 would be granted to do any such thing. For my sake, think no more 
 of such an idea." 
 
 "Well, well," Brown answered, "do not worry or fret about it; I 
 thought the plan would save considerable expense, and was the best." 
 
 Mrs. Brown observed a chain about the ankles of her husband. To 
 avoid its galling his limbs, he had put on two pairs of woollen socks. 
 Mrs. Brown said she was desirous of procuring the chain as a family 
 relic. She had already at her home the one with which the limbs of 
 John Brown, jun., were inhumanly shackled in Kansas, and in which 
 he was goaded on by the Border devils until he was mad, and the chain 
 had worn through his flesh to the bone ; and this, too, she desired. 
 Captain Brown said he had himself asked that it be given to his family, 
 and had been refused. 
 
 The conversation then turned upon matters of business, which 
 Brown desired to have arranged after his death. He gave his wife all 
 the letters and papers which were needed for this purpose, and read to 
 her the will which had been drawn up for him by Mr. Hunter, care- 
 fully explaining every portion of it. 
 
 Speaking of the parties to whom sums are directed to be paid, he 
 said : " Dear Mary, if you can find these, pay them personally ; but do 
 not pay any one who may present himself as their attorneys, for if it 
 gets into the hands of attorneys, we do not know what will become 
 of it." 
 
 Subsequently he requested his wife to make a denial of the statement 
 that had gained publicity, that he had said in his interview with 
 Governor Wise that he had been actuated by feelings of revenge. He 
 denied that he had ever made such statement, and wished his denial 
 made known ; and he denied further that any such base motives had 
 ever been his incentive to action. 
 
 After this conversation they took supper together. This occupied 
 only a few minutes. Their last sorrowful meal being concluded, and 
 the time approaching at which they must part, Mrs. Brown asked to 
 be permitted to speak to the other prisoners. But Gen. Taliaferro's 
 orders forbade this, though Capt. Avis expressed a willingness to 
 permit her to see them even at the risk of violating orders. She 
 declined to see them under the circumstances. 
 
 Brown then touched upon business affairs, until an order was 
 received from the Commander-in-Chief , saying that the interview must 
 terminate. Brown then said, " Mary, I hope you will always live in 
 Essex County. I hope you will be able to get all our children together, 
 and impress the inculcation of the right principles to each succeeding 
 generation. I give you all the letters and papers which have been sent 
 me since my arrest. I wish you also to take all my clothes that are 
 here, and carry them home. Good by, good by. God bless you ! " 
 
 Mrs. Brown was escorted back to Harper's Ferry, and reached 
 there, greatly exhausted, at nine o'clock. 
 
 THREE STRAY FACTS. 
 
 The rope with which the old man was to be hanged was publicly 
 exhibited several days before the date of his official murder. South 
 
284 HUSBAND AND WIFE. 
 
 Carolina sent one, Missouri another, and Kentucky a third rope, with 
 which to strangle the fearless man who had dared to beard the lion 
 which the nation dreaded in its oldest and strongest den. The gifts 
 of South Carolina and Missouri were found to be wanting in strength ; 
 and Kentucky had the infamous preference in this choice of the 
 necessities of assassination. 
 
 A forged letter, purporting to be written by Mrs. Doyle, the widow 
 of one of the ruffians of Pottawattomie, was published before John 
 Brown's execution, in order to avert from Virginia the indignation 
 which the slaughter of a hero would inevitably excite in every 
 manly heart in Christendom. It was a fit expedient for its authors ; 
 but it failed to effect its purpose. It proved the brutality of Slavery ; 
 not the crime of its pure-hearted assailant. 
 
 On this day, also, the old man presented to a merchant of Charles- 
 town, who had shown him great kindness, a copy of the Bible, bearing 
 on the fly-leaf this dedication : 
 
 " With the best wishes of the undersigned, and his sincere thanks for 
 many acts of kindness received. There is no Commentary in the 
 world so good in order to a right understanding of this Blessed Book 
 as an honest, child-like, and teachable spirit. JOHN BROWN. 
 
 " Charlestons, 29th November, 1859." 
 
 The opposite page was thus inscribed : 
 
 " John Brown. The leaves were turned down and marked by him 
 while in prison at Charlestown, Va. But a small portion of those 
 passages, which in the most positive terms condemn oppression and 
 violence, are marked." 
 
 "Many hundred passages," writes a correspondent of a Southern 
 paper, " which can by any possibility of interpretation be tortured into 
 a support of his peculiar theory, are carefully marked, both by having 
 the corner of the pages turned over, and by being surrounded by heavy 
 pencil marks." 
 
XI. 
 THE VICTORY OVEE DEATH. 
 
 THE sun rose clear and bright on the 2d of December. A haze, that 
 presently veiled it, soon disappeared ; and ere the hour appointed for 
 the hero's death, not a cloud was to be seen in the ethereal expanse. 
 The temperature was so exceedingly genial, that, until late in the 
 afternoon, the windows of all the houses were open. 
 
 THE SCAFFOLD. 
 
 On the previous evening, the timber for the scaffold had been 
 removed from " the enclosure of the new Baptist church," to a field 
 about half a mile distant from the jail, which had been fixed on by 
 the General in command, and marked out with white flags on short 
 stakes, to indicate the position the several sentries should occupy. At 
 seven o'clock the carpenters began the work of erecting the scaffold. 
 When finished, it was about six feet high, twelve wide, and fifteen 
 or eighteen in length. A hand rail extended around three sides and 
 down the flight of steps. On the other side, stout uprights, with a 
 cross beam, which was supported by strong braces. In the centre of 
 the cross beam was an iron hook, from which the rope was suspended. 
 The trap beneath was arranged to swing on hinges, attached to the 
 platform so slightly as to break from it when the cord was cut that 
 upheld the trap. The cord, knotted at the end, passed through a 
 hole in the trap, through another hole in the cross beam, over the 
 corner, and down the upright, to a hook near the ground, to which it 
 was tied. Thus, the weight of a man being placed on it, when the 
 cord near the hook was cut, the trap would fall at once. 
 
 THE MILITARY PARADE. 
 
 At eight o'clock the troops began to arrive ; and at nine the first 
 company took position. Horsemen clothed in scarlet jackets were 
 
286 THE VICTORY OVER DEATH. 
 
 posted around the field at fifty feet apart, and a double line of sentries 
 was stationed farther in. As each company arrived, it took its 
 allotted position. . The following diagram will explain the position of 
 the military forces : 
 
 M 
 
 L 51 
 
 * * 
 
 **** **** * 
 
 * 
 
 * * 
 
 _!_ " ** 
 
 * 
 
 
 * 
 
 H * 
 
 * 
 
 
 * 
 * 
 
 N N * . 
 
 * 
 
 * 
 
 * 
 
 
 * 
 
 B 1 * * 
 
 * 
 
 * I C ** 
 
 * 
 
 * 
 
 * 
 
 A / D :* 
 
 * 
 
 * 
 
 ' "o * * 
 
 : : 
 
 T G ** 
 
 * 
 
 \ I? * 
 
 * 4 
 
 X P ^J 3 
 
 
 *********** ** 
 
 * 
 
 * 
 
 * 
 
 * 
 
 
 * 
 
 PUBLIC ROAD. 
 
 DESCBIPTIOX OF THE FIELD. A, Scaffold; B, Generals and Staff; C, Vir- 
 ginia Cadets ; D, Cadet Howitzers, with cannon pointed at scaffold ; E, Richmond 
 Company ; F, Winchester Continentals ; G, Fauquier Cavalry ; H, Company A of 
 Richmond ; I, Alexandria Riflemen ; K, Riflemen, and part of Capt. Ashby's 
 Cavalry, to keep order in the small crowd. J, Hunter's Guard, at entrance gate, 
 supported by a piece of artillery under command of Lieut. Green of the United 
 States Marines ; L, Woods scoured by the Woodis Rifles, to have the first brush 
 at the enemy, if approaching from Harper's Ferry; M M M M, Pickets of the 
 Fauquier Cavalry ; N N N, Two lines of Sentries ; O, Petersburg Grays, as Body 
 Guard to prisoner in waggon. 
 
 The first companies of infantry and cavalry having taken their posi- 
 tion, the artillery then arrived, with a huge brass cannon, which was 
 so placed and pointed that, in the event of an attempted rescue, the 
 prisoner might be blown into shreds by the heavy charge of grape shot 
 that lay hidden in it. Other cannon were stationed, with equal care, 
 to sweep the jail and every approach to it. From eight o'clock till ten 
 the military were in constant motion. The extent of these precautions 
 may be inferred from the fact that lines of pickets and patrols encircled 
 the field of death for fifteen miles, and that over five hundred troops 
 
THE VICTORY OVER DEATH. 287 
 
 were posted about the scaffold. Nearly three thousand militia soldiers 
 were on the ground. There were not more than four hundred citizens 
 present ; for the fears of a servile insurrection, or an anti-slavery inva- 
 sion, had kept them at home to watch the movements of their slaves. 
 
 IN JAIL. 
 
 John Brown rose at daybreak, resumed his correspondence with un- 
 diminished energy, and continued to write till half -past ten o'clock, 
 when the Sheriff, Jailer, and assistants entered, and told him that he 
 must prepare to die. 
 
 The Sheriff bade him farewell in his cell. The old man quietly 
 thanked him for his kindness, and spoke of Captain Avis, his jailer, as 
 a brave man. He was then led to the cell of Copeland and Green. 
 This interview is thus reported : 
 
 " He told them to stand up like men, and not betray their friends. 
 He then handed them a quarter of a dollar each, saying he had no 
 more use for money, and bade them adieu. He then visited Cook and 
 Coppic, who were chained together, and remarked to Cook : ' You 
 have made false statements.' 
 
 " Cook asked : l What do you mean ? ' 
 
 " Brown answered : l Why, by stating that I sent you to Harper's 
 Ferry.' 
 
 " Cook replied : ' Did you not tell me in Pittsburg to come to 
 Harper's Ferry and see if Forbes had made any disclosures '?' 
 
 " Brown : ' No, sir ; you knew I protested against your coming.' 
 
 " Cook replied : ' Captain Brown, we remember differently,' at the 
 same time dropping his head. 
 
 " Brown then turned to Coppic and said : ' Coppic, you also made 
 false statements, but lam glad to hear you have contradicted them. 
 Stand up like a man.' He also handed him a quarter. He shook both 
 by the hand, and they parted. 
 
 " The prisoner was then taken to Stevens's cell, and they kindly 
 interchanged greetings. 
 
 " Stevens : ' Good by, Captain ; I know you are going to a better 
 land.' 
 
 " Brown replied : ' I know I am.' Brown told him to bear up, and 
 not betray his friends, giving him a quarter. 
 
 " He did not visit Hazlett, as he has always persisted in denying 
 any knowledge of him." 
 
 How touchingly manly, and yet what child-like simplicity! "I 
 know I am " " he gave them a quarter " are both equally characte- 
 ristic of the man. 
 
 A TRIUMPHAL MARCH. 
 
 At eleven o'clock, John Brown came out of jail. An eye-witness said 
 of his appearance at this solemn moment : " He seemed to walk out of 
 
288 THE VICTORY OVEE DEATH. 
 
 the Gates of Fame ; his countenance was radiant ; he walked with the 
 step of a conqueror." Another spectator every one, in truth, who 
 saw the old man corroborated this report: On leaving the jail, he 
 wrote, John Brown had on his face an expression of calmness and 
 serenity characteristic of the patriot who is about to die, with a living 
 consciousness that he is laying down his life for the good of his fellow- 
 creatures. His face was even joyous, and a forgiving smile rested upon 
 his lips. His was the lightest heart, among friend or foe, in the whole 
 of Charlestown that day ; and not a word was spoken that was not an 
 intuitive appreciation of his manly courage. Firmly, with elastic step, 
 he moved forward. No flinching of a coward's heart there. He stood 
 in the midst of that organized mob, from whose despotic hearts petty 
 tyranny seemed for the nonce eliminated by the admiration they had 
 on once beholding a man : for John Brown was there every inch a 
 man. 
 
 As he stepped out of the door, a black woman, with a little child 
 in her arms, stood near his way. The twain were of the despised race 
 for whose emancipation and elevation to the dignity of children of 
 God he was about to lay down his life. His thoughts at that moment 
 none can know except as his acts interpret them. He stopped for a 
 moment in his course, stooped over, and, with the tenderness of one 
 whose love is as broad as the brotherhood of man, kissed it affection- 
 ately. That mother will be proud of that mark of distinction for her 
 offspring; and some day, when over the ashes of John Brown the 
 temple of Virginia liberty is reared, she may join in the joyful song of 
 praise which on that soil will do justice to his memory. As he passed 
 along, a black woman with a child in her arms ejaculated, " God bless 
 you, old man ; I wish I could help you, but I cannot." He heard her, 
 and, as he looked at her, a tear stood in his eye. 
 
 The vehicle which was to convey John Brown to the scaffold was a 
 furniture waggon. On the front seat was the driver, a man named 
 Hawks, said to be a native of Massachusetts, but for many years a 
 resident of Virginia, and by his side was seated Mr. Saddler, the 
 undertaker. In the box was placed the coffin, made of black walnut, 
 enclosed in a poplar box with a flat lid, in which coffin and remains 
 were to be transported to the North. John Brown mounted the 
 waggon, and took his place in the seat with Captain Avis, the jailer, 
 whose admiration of his prisoner is of the profoundest nature. Mr. 
 Saddler, too, was one of John Brown's stanchest friends in his con- 
 finement, and pays a noble tribute to his manly, qualities. 
 
 He mounted the waggon with perfect calmness. It was immediately 
 surrounded with cavalry. This military escort of the warrior of the 
 
THE VICTORY OVElt DEATH. 289 
 
 Lord to the scene of his last earthly victory, consisted of Captain 
 Scott's company of cavalry, one company of Major Lor ing's battalion 
 of defensibles, Captain Williams' s Montpelier Guard, Captain Scott's 
 Petersburg Greys, Company D, Captain Miller, of the Virginia 
 Volunteers, and the Young Guard, Captain Rady; the whole under 
 the command of Colonel T. P. August, assisted by Major Loring the 
 cavalry at the head and rear of the column. 
 
 The waggon was drawn by two white horses. From the time of 
 leaving jail until he mounted the gallows' stairs he wore a smile upon 
 his countenance, and his keen eye took in every detail of the scene. 
 There was no blenching, nor the remotest approach to cowardice nor 
 nervousness. As he was leaving jail, when asked if he thought he 
 could endure his fate, he said, "I can endure almost anything but 
 parting from friends ; that is very hard." On the road to the scaffold 
 he said, in reply to an inquiry, " It has been a characteristic of me, 
 from infancy, not to suffer from physical fear. I have suffered a 
 thousand times more from bashf ulness. than from fear." 
 
 " I was very near the old man," writes an eye witness, " and scruti- 
 nized him closely. He seemed to take in the whole scene at a glance ; 
 and he straightened himself up proudly, as if to set to the soldiers an 
 example of a soldier's courage. The only motion he made, beyond a 
 swaying to and fro of his body, was that same patting of his knees 
 with his hands that we noticed throughout his trial and while in jail. 
 As he came upon an eminence near the gallows, he cast his eye over 
 the beautiful landscape, and followed the windings of the Blue Ridge 
 Mountains in the distance. He looked up earnestly at the sun, and 
 sky, and all about, and then remarked, ' This is a beautiful country. 
 I have not cast my eyes over it before that is, while passing through 
 the field.' " 
 
 "Yes," was the sad reply of the brave Captain Avis. 
 
 " You are a game man, Captain Brown," said Mr. Saddler. 
 
 " Yes," he said, " I was so trained up ; it was one of the lessons of 
 my mother ; but it is hard to part from friends, though newly made.'' 
 
 " You are more cheerful than I am, Captain Brown," responded Mr. 
 Saddler. 
 
 " Yes," said the hero, 7 ought to be." Bancroft LlblM? 
 
 THE FIELD OF DEATH. 
 
 By this time, the waggon had reached the field of death the warrior's 
 last battle-ground. It is thus described : 
 
 u The field contained about forty acres, I should say, part of it in 
 corn stubble, but the greater part in grass. The surface is undulating, 
 
 T 
 
290 THE VICTORY OVER DEATH. 
 
 and a broad hillock near the public road was selected as the site for 
 the gallows, because it would afford the distant spectators a fair view, 
 and place the prisoner so high that if compelled to fire upon him, the 
 f-oldiers need not shoot each other or the civilians. The field was 
 bounded on the south by the road, on the north by a pretty bit of 
 woodland, and on the remaining two sides by enclosed fields." 
 
 The sun shone with great splendor as the condemned hero's escort 
 came up, and afar off could be seen the bright gleaming muskets and 
 bayonets of his body guard, hedging him in, in close ranks, all about. 
 On the field the several companies glittered with the same sparkle of 
 guns and trappings ; and the gay colors of their uniforms, made more 
 intense in the glare, came out into strong relief, with the dead tints of 
 sod and woods. Away off to the east and south, the splendid mass of 
 the Blue Ridge loomed against the sky and shut in the horizon. 
 Over the woods towards the north-east, long, thin stripes of cloud had 
 gradually accumulated, and foreboded the storm that came in due 
 time ; while, looking towards the south, the eye took in an undulating 
 fertile country, stretching out to the distant mountains. All nature 
 seemed at peace, and the shadow of the approaching solemnity seemed 
 to have been cast over the soldiers, for there was not a sound to be 
 heard as the column came slowly up the road. There was no band of 
 musicians to heighten the effect of the scene by playing the march of 
 the dead, but with solemn tread the heavy footfalls came as of those of 
 one man. Thus they passed to their station to the easterly side of the 
 scaffold. 
 
 As the procession entered the field, the old hero, as if surprised at 
 the absence of the people, remarked, "I see no citizens here where 
 are they ? " 
 
 " The citizens are not allowed to be present none but the troops," 
 was the reply. 
 
 " That ought not to be," said the old man ; " citizens should be 
 allowed to be present as well as others." 
 
 THE MARTYR CROWNED 
 
 The waggon halted. The troops composing the escort took up their 
 assigned position ; but the Petersburg Greys, as the immediate body 
 guard, remained as before, closely hemming the old hero in as if still 
 as afraid of his sword of Gideon, as the State had proved itself to be 
 of his sword of the Lord 4 by preventing the people from listening to 
 his last words. They finally opened ranks to let him pass out ; when, 
 with the assistance of two men, he descended from the waggon. Mr. 
 Hunter and Mayor Green were standing near by. " Gentlemen, good- 
 
THE VICTORY OVER DEATH. 291 
 
 bye," the old man said in an unfaltering tone ; and then, with firm 
 step and erect form, he calmly walked past jailers, sheriff, and officers, 
 and mounted the scaffold steps. He was the first man that stood on 
 it. As he quietly waited the necessary arrangements, he surveyed the 
 scenery unmoved, looking principally in the direction of the people 
 in the far distance. u There is no faltering in his step," wrote 
 one who saw him, " but firmly and erect he stands amid the almost 
 breathless lines of soldiery that surround him. With a graceful 
 motion of his pinioned right arm, he takes the slouched hat from his 
 head, and carelessly casts it upon the platform by his side." " I 
 know," said another witness, " that every one within view was greatly 
 impressed with the dignity of his bearing. I have since heard men of 
 the South say that his courageous fortitude and insensibility to fear 
 filled them with amazement." 
 
 The hour had now come. The officer approached him. To Captain 
 Avis he said : " I have no words to thank you for all your kindness 
 to me." 
 
 His elbows and ankles are pinioned, the white cap is drawn over his 
 eyes, the hangman's rope is adjusted around his neck. John Brown is 
 ready to be ushered into the land of the hereafter. 
 
 " Captain Brown," said the Sheriff, "you are not standing on the 
 drop. Will you come forward ? " 
 
 u I can't see, gentlemen," was the old man's answer, unfalteringly 
 spoken, " you must lead me." 
 
 The Sheriff led his prisoner forward to the centre of the drop. 
 
 * Shall I give you a handkerchief," asked the Sheriff, " and let you 
 drop it as a signal ? " 
 
 " No ; I am ready at any time ; but do not keep me needlessly 
 waiting." 
 
 This was the last of John Brown's requests of Virginia ; and thi.~, 
 like all the others, was refused. When he pleaded for delay during 
 the progress of his trial, the State refused it, and hurried him to his 
 doom ; and now, when he asked, standing on the gallows, blindfolded, 
 and with the rope that was to strangle him around his neck, for no 
 unnecessary delay, the demoniacal spirit of slavery again turned a 
 deaf ear to his request. Instead of permitting the execution to be at 
 once consummated, the proceedings were checked by the martial order 
 " Not < ready yet;" and the hideous mockery of a vast military 
 display began. For ten minutes at least, under the orders of the com- 
 manding officer, the troops trod heavily over the ground, hither and 
 thither, now advancing towards the gallows, now turning about in 
 sham defiance of an imaginary enemy. 
 
292 THE VICTORY OVER DEATH. 
 
 Each moment, to every humane man, seemed an hour, and some of 
 the people, unable to restrain an expression of their sense of the 
 outrage, murmured Shame I Shame ! 
 
 At last the order was given, and the rope was severed with a hatchet. 
 As the trap fell, its hinges gave a wailing sort of screak, that could be 
 heard at every point on the fields.* 
 
 John Brown is slowly strangling for the shortness of the rope 
 prevents a speedy death. 
 
 " There was but one spasmodic effort of the hands to clutch at the 
 neck, but for nearly five minutes the limbs jerked and quivered. He 
 seemed to retain an extraordinary hold upon life. One who has seen 
 numbers of men hung before, told me he had never seen so hard a 
 struggle. After the body had dangled in mid air for twenty minutes, 
 it was examined by the surgeons for signs of life. First the Charles- 
 town physicians went up and made their examination, and after them 
 the military surgeons, the prisoner being executed by the civil power 
 and with military assistance as well. To see them lifting up the arms, 
 now powerless, that once were so strong, and placing their ears to the 
 breast of the corpse, holding it steady by passing an arm around it, 
 was revolting in the extreme. And so the body dangled and swung by 
 its neck, turning to this side or that when moved by the surgeons, and 
 swinging, pendulum like, from the force of the south wind that was 
 blowing, until, after thirty-eight minutes from the time of swinging 
 off, it was ordered to be cut down, the authorities being quite satisfied 
 that their dreaded enemy was dead. The body was lifted upon the 
 scaffold, and fell into a heap. It was then put into the black walnut 
 ccffin, the body guard closed in about the waggon, the cavalry led the 
 van, and the mournful procession moved off." 
 
 There was another procession at that moment unseen by the 
 Virginians : a procession of earth's holiest martyrs before the Throne 
 of God : and from among them came a voice, which said : 
 
 " Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for 
 you from the foundations of the world. . . . Inasmuch as ye have 
 done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it 
 unto me." 
 
 The soul of John Brown stood at the right hand of the Eternal. 
 He had fought the good fight, and now wore the crown of victory. 
 
 * " Was this symbolic," asks an able writer, " of the wail of grief that went up 
 at the moment from thousands of friends to the cause of emancipation throughout 
 the land ? In the dead stillness of the hour it went to my heart like the wail for 
 the departed that may be heard in some highland glen." 
 
THE VICTORY OVER DEATH. 293 
 
 In the prison of Charlestown a plaintive wail was heard. Sustained 
 by no religious convictions, one prisoner was in great agony of mind. 
 The scaffold from which the stainless soul of John Brown leaped from 
 earth into the bosom of the God of the oppressed, was only half a mile 
 behind the jail in which his body had been confined. " From the 
 windows of his cell Cook had an unobstructed view of the whole pro- 
 ceedings. He watched his old Captain until the trap fell and his body 
 swung into mid air, when he turned away and gave vent to his feelings." 
 
 With his sword and his voice John Brown had demonstrated the 
 unutterable villany of slavery. His corpse was destined to continue 
 the lesson. The surgeons pronounced the old man dead ; they declared 
 that his spinal column had been ruptured; they said that the counte- 
 nance was now purple and distorted ; they knew that the cord had cut 
 a finger's depth into the neck of the strangled corpse. 
 
 Yet, as the animal heat still remained in the body, it was not per- 
 mitted to be taken away until it should cool. Even this precaution 
 against an earthly resurrection did not satisfy the hearts corrupted by 
 slavery. 
 
 " I heard it suggested by a Captain," writes a witness of unques- 
 tioned veracity, " that a good dose of arsenic should be administered 
 to the corpse to make sure work ; and many others wished that at 
 least the head might be cut off and retained by them, since the body 
 was to be embalmed, and, on gorgeous catafalques, carried in proces- 
 sion through Northern cities. This bloodthirstiness is on a par," the 
 writer adds, " with that of the students at the Winchester Medical 
 College, who have skinned the body of one of Brown's sons, separated 
 the nervous and muscular and venous systems, dried and varnished, 
 and have the whole hung up as a nice anatomical illustration. Some 
 of the students wished to stuff the skin ; others to make it into game 
 pouches." 
 
 Such is the spirit of Southern Slavery. 
 
 " The body once in its coffin and on its way back to the jail," wrote 
 a correspondent, " the field was quickly deserted, the cannon, limbered 
 up again, rumbled away, and the companies of infantry and troops of 
 cavalry in solid column marched away. The .body had not left the 
 field before the carpenters began to take the scaffold to pieces, that it 
 might be stored up against the 16th instant, when it will be used to 
 hang Cook and Coppic together. A separate gallows will be built for 
 the two negroes." 
 
 " The night after the execution has set in dark and stormy. The 
 south wind has brought up a violent storm." 
 
294 THE VICTORY OVER DEATH. 
 
 The body of John Brown was delivered to his widow at Harper's 
 Ferry, and by her it was carried to North Elba, where it now lies at 
 rest on the bosom of the majestic mountain region that he loved when 
 living. It was interred as only dead heroes should be buried. There 
 was no vast assemblage of " the so-called great ;" no pompous parade ; 
 no gorgeous processions ; but loyal worth and noble genius stood at 
 the grave of departed heroism ; for his friends and his family wept as 
 the Heaven-inspired soul of Wendell Phillips pronounced the eulogium 
 of John Brown the latest and our greatest martyr to the teachings of 
 the Bible and the American Idea. 
 
 As the Coffin was lowered into the grave, a clergyman, with pro- 
 phetic voice, repeated these words of the Apostle Paul : 
 
 u I have fought the good fight ; I have finished my course ; I have kept 
 the faith : henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, 
 which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me ; and not to me 
 only, but unto all that love his appearing." 
 
SAMSON AGONISTES. 
 December 2, 1859. 
 
 YOU bound and made your sport of him, Philistia ! 
 
 You set your sons at him to flout and jeer; 
 You loaded down his limbs with heavy fetters ; 
 
 Your mildest mercy was a smiling sneer. 
 
 One man, among a thousand who defied him, 
 
 One man from whom his awful strength had fled 
 
 You brought him out to lash him with your vengeance ; 
 Ten thousand curses on one hoary head ! 
 
 You think his eyes are closed and blind for ever, 
 Because you seared them to the mortal day ; 
 
 You draw a longer breath of exultation, 
 Because your conqueror's power is torn away. 
 
 O fools ! his arms are round your temple pillars : 
 O blind ! his strength divine begins to wake. 
 
 Hark ! the great roof -tree trembles from its centre 
 Hark ! how the rafters bend, and swerve, and shake !