UC-NRLF 
 
 3 375 475 
 
LIBRARY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 SAYIS 
 
</~OTA^Y^ 
 
 [May, 1859.] 
 
1 
 
 THE 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS 
 
 OF 
 
 JOHN BROWN, 
 
 LIBERATOR OF KANSAS, AND MARTYR OF 
 VIRGINIA. 
 
 EDITED BY F. B. SANBORN. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 ROBERTS BROTHERS. 
 1885. 
 
Copyright, 1SS5, 
 BY F. B. SANBORN. 
 
 JSnxfatrsitg press: 
 JOHN WILSON AND SON, CAMBRIDGE. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. ANCESTRY AND CHILDHOOD 1 
 
 II. YOUTH AND EARLY MANHOOD 31 
 
 III. JOHN BROWN AS A BUSINESS MAN 54 
 
 IV. PIONEER LIFE IN THE ADIRONDACS 90 
 
 V. PREPARATIONS FOR THE CONFLICT 116 
 
 VI. FAMILY COUNSELS AND HOME LIFE 139 
 
 VII. KANSAS, THE SKIRMISH-GROUND OF THE CIVIL WAR . 160 
 
 VIII. THE BROWN FAMILY IN KANSAS 187 
 
 IX. THE POTTAWATOMIE EXECUTIONS 247 
 
 X. THE KANSAS STRUGGLE CONTINUED 283 
 
 XI. JOHN BROWN AND THE KANSAS COMMITTEES . . . 344 
 
 XII. THE PLANS DISCLOSED 418 
 
 XIII. FROM CANADA, THROUGH KANSAS, TO CANADA . . . 469 
 
 XIV. JOHN BROWN AND ins FRIENDS 495 
 
 XV. THE FORAY IN VIRGINIA 519 
 
 XVI. JOHN BROWN IN PRISON 576 
 
 XVII. THE DEATH AND CHARACTER OF JOHN BROWN . 621 
 
 INDEX ... 633 
 
THE TOUCHSTONE. 
 
 A MAN there came, whence none could tell, 
 
 Bearing a touchstone in his hand, 
 
 And tested all things in the land 
 By its unerring spell. 
 
 A thousand transformations rose 
 
 From fair to foul, from foul to fair ; 
 
 The golden crown he did not spare, 
 Nor scorn the beggar's clothes. 
 
 Of heirloom jewels prized so much, 
 
 Were many changed to chips and clods ; 
 And even statues of the gods 
 
 Crumbled beneath its touch. 
 
 Then angrily the people cried, 
 
 " The loss outweighs the profit far, 
 
 Our goods suffice us as they are, 
 We will not have them tried." 
 
 But since they could not so avail 
 To check his unrelenting quest, 
 They seized him, saying, " Let him test 
 
 How real is our jail ! " 
 
 But though they slew him with the sword, 
 
 And in the fire the touchstone burned, 
 
 Its doings could not be o'erturned, 
 Its undoings restored. 
 
 And when to stop all future harm, 
 
 They strewed its ashes to the breeze, 
 
 They little guessed each grain of these 
 Conveyed the perfect charm. 
 
 WILLIAM ALLINGHAM. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 IN that " History of Napoleon I." which he never lived 
 to complete, Lanfrey says : " Do not misconstrue 
 events ; history is not a school of fatalism, but one long 
 plea for the freedom of man." In this pleading chronicle 
 there are few chapters more pathetic than the career of 
 my old friend JOHN BROWN, which I long since undertook 
 to set forth, though strangely delayed in completing my 
 task. It was begun in those dismal years when the 
 Southern oligarchy and their humble followers at the 
 North still controlled our degraded politics ; and it has 
 been continued through all the vicissitudes, the anxieties, 
 and the assured repose of subsequent years. More than 
 once in those earlier days recurred to me that gloomy 
 magniloquence of the Roman annalist, where Tacitus 
 complains that the tyranny of Domitian had suppressed 
 the unheralded renown of Agricola : " Patient sufferance 
 we showed, no doubt. Our ancestors saw the extreme 
 of license, but we of servility ; for our inquisitors would 
 permit us neither to hear nor to tell, and we might 
 have lost the use of memory along with free speech, if to 
 forget had been no harder than to forego praise. Now at 
 last the occasion has returned, and we speak out ; . . . but 
 few of us are left, survivors of others, and even of our old 
 selves, so many years have passed over us in silence, 
 
VI INTRODUCTION. 
 
 bringing the young to old age, and the old to the very 
 sunset of life." l 
 
 Since the printing of these pages began, four months 
 ago, two of those who stood with us in the contest against 
 slavery have died, Dr. CABOT, of Boston, and the famous 
 VICTOR HUGO ; and every year removes the actors and the 
 witnesses of memorable deeds. I have therefore sought 
 to preserve the record of one hero's life, in his own words 
 (when I could), and in the contemporary evidence of those 
 who saw and bore witness to what he did, mingling my 
 self with the account as little as possible, except for attes 
 tation and comment, when doubt might else arise. The 
 plan was at first to print all the extant letters of BROWN, 
 which I fancied would easily find place in a volume of four 
 hundred pages ; but I have in my hands letters enough to 
 fill another book, and have not been able to use them. 
 Those selected, however, exhibit his life sufficiently ; it 
 was straightforward and all of a piece, so that even the 
 details which are here given may seem tedious to some 
 readers. In a second volume, should I live to publish it, 
 on e( The Companions of John Brown," I may carry the 
 story further, and complete the record of a remarkable 
 episode in American history. I have aimed at accuracy, 
 but of course have not always succeeded ; and have neces 
 sarily omitted much that other writers will supply. My 
 intention has been to put the reader in possession of evi 
 dence which either verifies itself or can readily be verified 
 
 1 Dedimus profecto grande patientise documentum ; et sicut vetus 
 sefas vidit quid ultimum in libertate esset, ita nos quid in servitnte, 
 adempto per inquisitiones etiara loquendi audiendique commercio. Memo- 
 riam quoque ipsam cum voce perdidissemus, si tarn in nostra potestate 
 esset oblivisci quain tacere. Nunc demum redit animus, . . . pauci, ut 
 ita dixerim, non modo aliorum, sed etiam nostri superstates sumus, ex- 
 emptis c media vita tot annis, quibus juvenes ad seneetutem, senes prope 
 ad ipsos aetatis terminos per silentiam venimus. TACITUS, Agricola, ii. 
 
INTRODUCTION. vii 
 
 by a little research. Holding the key to much that has 
 heretofore been obscure or ill related, I have furnished 
 the true connection between events and persons where, in 
 some cases, this had escaped notice. I shall gladly receive 
 any correction of mistakes, but shall not pay much regard 
 to inferential and distorted statements which traverse my 
 own clear recollections, supported, as these often are, 
 by written evidence which I have not here printed, but 
 hold in reserve. 
 
 I could not have completed this task of nearly thirty 
 years but for the constant and friendly aid of the family of 
 JOHN BROWN, who have placed without reserve their papers 
 in my hands. I have had also the co-operation of Colonel 
 Higginson, Edwin Morton, Mrs. Stearns, Lewis Hayden, 
 Thomas Thomas, and other friends among the living ; and 
 of the late Dr. Howe, Wendell Phillips, George L. Stearns, 
 F. J. Merriam, Osborn Anderson, and many more, who 
 are now dead. To all these, named and unnamed, I would 
 here return my acknowledgments. Particularly, I must 
 thank those gentlemen of Kansas, rny college friend and 
 brother journalist Mr. D. W. Wilder, and Mr. F. G. 
 Adams of the Kansas Historical Society, who by their 
 accurate knowledge of Kansas history and topography, 
 and the free access they have given me to important 
 papers, have made it possible for me to write the chap 
 ters that concern their State. I am also indebted to 
 Mr. James Eedpath, Mr. Richard Hinton, Mr. Frederick 
 Douglass, Mr. W. S. Kennedy, and to many correspond 
 ents and admirers of JOHN BROWN whose names are 
 mentioned in the pages that follow. I might include in 
 this 'acknowledgment a few malicious slanderers and 
 misjudging censors of BROWN, who by their publica 
 tions have caused the whole truth to be more carefully 
 searched out. 
 
THE 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 ANCESTRY AND CHILDHOOD. 
 
 WHEN a man of mark is to appear in the world and 
 give a new turn to the affairs of men, there has always 
 been preparation made for him. Even the weeds and ver 
 min of the field have their heredity and evolution, much 
 more, a predestined hero like John Brown, of Kansas and 
 Virginia. His valor, his religion, his Saxon sense, his 
 Calvinistic fanaticism, his tender and generous heart were 
 inherited from a long line of English, Dutch, and American 
 ancestors, men and women neither famous nor powerful, 
 nor rich, but devout, austere, and faithful ; above all free, 
 and resolved that others should be free like themselves. 
 
 No genealogist has yet traced the English forefathers 
 of Peter Brown the carpenter, who came over in the " May 
 flower," and landed at Plymouth with the other Pilgrims 
 in December, 1620 ; but his presence in that famous band 
 is evidence enough of his character, even if the deeds of 
 his descendants had not borne witness to it. He drew his 
 house-lot on Leyden Street in the little town, with Bradford, 
 Standish, and Winslow, and like them soon migrated to 
 Duxbury, at the head of Plymouth Bay, where his family 
 dwelt after his early death, in 1633, not far from Stan- 
 dish's abode at the foot of " Captain's Hill." A brother of 
 Peter, John Brown, a weaver (sometimes confounded with 
 a more distinguished John, who became a magistrate), also 
 lived at Duxbury, and took some care of his deceased 
 
 1 
 
2 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1620. 
 
 brother's four children, two sons and two daughters, 
 who survived him. Peter Brown was unmarried when he 
 landed at Plymouth, but within the next thirteen years he 
 was twice married, and died, as we learn from unques 
 tionable authority, the "History of Plymouth Plantation," 
 left in manuscript by William Bradford, who succeeded 
 Carver in 1021 as governor of the colony, and died in 
 1657. Writing about 1650, Bradford says : " Peter Brown 
 married twice. By his first wife he had two children, who 
 are living, and both of them married, and one of them hath 
 two children; by his second wife he had two more. He 
 died about sixteen years since." It is supposed that his 
 first wife was named Martha, and that Mary and Priscilla 
 Brown were her daughters, the two who are mentioned 
 by Bradford as married in 1650. In 1644 they were placed 
 with their uncle John, and in due time received each 15, 
 which their father had left them by will. The rest of 
 Peter's small estate went to his second wife and her two 
 sons, of whom the younger, born in 1632, at Duxbury, was 
 the ancestor of the Kansas captain. 1 He was named Peter 
 for his father, removed from Duxbury to Windsor in Con 
 necticut between 1650 and 1658, and there married Mary, 
 daughter of Jonathan Gillett, by whom he had thirteen 
 children. He died at Windsor, March 9, 1692, leaving to 
 his family an estate of 409. One of his children, John 
 Brown, born at Windsor, Jan. 8, 1668, married Elizabeth 
 Loomis in 1691, and had eleven children. Among these 
 was John Brown (born in 1700, died in 1790), who was 
 the father and the survivor of the Eevolutionary Captain 
 John Brown, of West Simsbury. He lived and died in 
 Windsor, there married Mary Eggleston, and Captain John 
 Brown just mentioned, the grandfather of our hero, was his 
 
 1 It would be curious to trace the English ancestry of Captain Brown, 
 which, some suppose, goes back to that stout-hearted John Brown of 
 Henry VIII. 's time, who was one of the victims of Popish persecution in 
 the early years of that king. Fox, in his " Book of Martyrs," tells the 
 story of his martyrdom at the stake, in the early summer of 1511, at Ash- 
 ford, where he dwelt ; and adds that his son, Richard Brown, was impris 
 oned for his faith in the latter days of Queen Mary, and would have been 
 burned but for the proclaiming of Queen Elizabeth, in 1558. 
 
1728.] 
 
 ANCESTRY AND CHILDHOOD. 
 
 oldest son, born Nov. 4, 1728. He married Hannah Owen, 
 of Welsh descent, in 1758, whose father was Elijah Owen, of 
 Windsor, and her first ancestor in this country John Owen, 
 a Welshman who married in Windsor in 1650, just before 
 young Peter Brown went thither from Duxbury. A few 
 years afterward an Amsterdam tailor, Peter Miles or Mills, 
 came to Connecticut from Holland, settled in Bloom field 
 near Windsor, and became the ancestor of John Brown's 
 grandmother, Ruth Mills, of West Simsbury. Thus three 
 streams of nationality English, Welsh, and Dutch united 
 in New England to form the parentage of John Brown. 
 His forefathers were mostly farmers, and among them was 
 the proper New England proportion of ministers, deacons, 
 squires, and captains. Both his grandfathers were officers 
 in the Connecticut contingent to Washington's army, and 
 one of them, Captain John Brown, died in the service. It 
 is his gravestone which the pilgrim to his grandson's grave, 
 in the Adirondac woods, sees standing by the great rock 
 that marks the spot ; and among the other inscriptions * 
 which there preserve the memory of his slaughtered de 
 scendants, that of the Kevolutionary captain stands first. 
 
 Owen Brown, " Squire Owen," son of this captain, 
 and father of the Kansas captain, was named for his mother's 
 
 1 These remarkable epitaphs, several of which were written by John 
 
 Brown, of Kansas, are as follows 
 
 In 
 
 Memory of 
 CAPT. JOHN BROWN, 
 
 who Died at 
 
 New York, Sept. y e 
 
 3, 1775, in the 48 
 
 year of his age. 
 
 Born Dec. 31, 1830, and 
 Murdered at Osawatomie, 
 
 Kansas, Aug. 30, 1856, 
 For his adherence to 
 
 the cause of freedom. 
 
 JOHN BROWN 
 
 Born May 9, 1800 
 
 Was executed at Charlestown 
 
 Va., Dec. 2, 1859. 
 
 WATSON BROWN 
 
 Born Oct. 7, 1835, was wounded 
 
 at Harper's Ferry, 
 
 Oct. 17, and Died 
 
 Oct. 19, 1859. 
 
 In memory of 
 FREDERICK, 
 
 Son of John and Dianthe 
 BROWN, 
 
 OLIVER BROWN 
 
 Born May 9, 1839, was 
 
 Killed at Harper's Ferry 
 
 Oct. 17, 1859. 
 
4 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1771. 
 
 family, and was the earliest of these Browns who seems to 
 have left any written memoirs. He migrated from Con 
 necticut to Ohio, among the first of those who settled on 
 the Western Reserve, early in the century, and when nearly 
 eighty years old, while living at Hudson, Ohio, wrote an 
 autobiography for his children's perusal, which gives some 
 characteristic details of the state of society where he lived, 
 and where his renowned son was born. 
 
 li My life has been of little worth, mostly filled up with vanity. 
 I was born at West Simsbury (now Canton), Connecticut, Feb. 16, 
 1771. I have but little recollection of what took place until the years 
 '75 and 76. I remember the beginning of war, and some things that 
 took place in 1775 : but only a little until 76, when my father went 
 into the army. 1 He was captain in the militia of Connecticut, and 
 died in New York, with the dysentery, a few weeks after leaving 
 home. My mother had ten children at the time of my father's death, 
 and one born soon after, making eleven of us all. The first five 
 were daughters, the oldest about eighteen ; 2 the next three were 
 sons ; then two daughters, and the youngest a son. The care and 
 support of this family fell mostly on my mother. The laboring men 
 were mostly in the army. She was one of the best of mothers; 
 active and sensible. She did all that could be expected of a mother ; 
 yet for want of help we lost our crops, then our cattle, and so became 
 poor. I very well remember the dreadful hard winter of 1778-79. 
 The snow began to fall in November, when the water was very low 
 in the streams ; and while the snow was very deep, one after another 
 of our hogs and sheep would get buried up, and we had to dig; them 
 out. Wood could not be drawn with teams, and was brought on 
 men's shoulders, they going on snow-shoes until paths were made 
 hard enough to draw wood on hand-sleds. The snow was said to 
 be five feet deep in the woods. Milling of grain could not be had, 
 only by going a great distance : and our family were driven to the 
 necessity of pounding corn for food. We lost that winter almost 
 all of our cattle, hogs, and sheep, and were reduced very low by 
 the spring of 1779. 
 
 1 He entered the army of Washington in the summer of 1776, and died 
 shortly before the battle of Long Island, in which his regiment took part. 
 
 2 John Brown married Hannah Owen in 1758, and his eldest daughter 
 was but little more than seventeen at his death in 1776. 
 
1784.] ANCESTRY AND CHILDHOOD. 5 
 
 " I lived at home in 178*2; this was a memorable year, as there was 
 a great revival of religion in the town of Canton. My mother and my 
 older sisters and brother John dated their hopes of salvation from 
 that summer's revival, under the ministry of the Rev. Edward Mills. 
 I cannot say as I was a subject of the work ; but this I can say, that 
 I then began to hear preaching. 1 I can now recollect most, if not 
 all, of those I heard preach, and what their texts were. The change 
 in our family was great; family worship, set up by brother John, 
 was ever afterward continued. There was a revival of singing in 
 Canton, and our family became singers. Conference meetings were 
 kept up constantly, and singing meetings, all of which brought 
 our family into a very good association, a very great aid of restrain 
 ing grace. 
 
 " About 1784 the Rev. Jeremiah Hallock 2 became the minister at 
 Canton. I used to live with him at different times, and received a 
 great deal of good instruction from him. About this time I began to 
 make shoes, and worked mostly winters at shoemaking, and at farm 
 ing at home summers. In the winter of 1787 I took a trip into 
 Massachusetts, through Granville, Otis, and Blaudford. In these 
 towns I worked at shoemaking over half of the winter. I was but a 
 bungling shoemaker, yet gave good satisfaction, was kindly treated 
 as a child, and got my pay well, in clothing and money. 1 then 
 went to Great Barrington, Sheffield, and Salisbury. Here I hired 
 out to a very good shoemaker, at about half price, with a view of 
 learning to be a better workman. I returned home in the spring of 
 1788 and worked on the farm through the summer. In 1789 I lived 
 at home, but in the fall I went to Norfolk, and worked at shoemaking 
 all winter, mostly around at houses, for families. 
 
 1 He was then in his twelfth year; his brother John was, perhaps, 
 fifteen or sixteen. This brother was a faithful and honored deacon of 
 the church in New Hartford, Conn., for many years. Another brother, 
 Frederick, born Aug. 14, 1769, in Canton, Conn., represented the neigh 
 boring town of Colebrook in the State Legislature during the war of 1812, 
 but in 1816 removed to Wadsworth, Medina County, Ohio, and assisted in 
 founding that town. On the organization of the county, he was chosen 
 senior Associate Judge for fourteen years. During this term of office, the 
 Presiding Judge having a large circuit, most of the business in Wadsworth 
 came before Judge Brown, who gained a high reputation as a magistrate 
 and citizen. "He never spoke disparagingly of a neighbor, nor of any 
 other church than his own." Two of his sons were physicians of celebrity; 
 another a successful minister of the Gospel. 
 
 2 The Hallock family were connected by marriage with the Browns, and 
 we shall find them mentioned hereafter, John Brown having studied for 
 a while with the Rev. Moses Hallock. 
 
6 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1793. 
 
 11 In the spring of 1791 we as a family were rising in the gain of 
 property ; we had good crops ; our stock had increased, and we felt 
 able to make a small purchase of land ; our credits were good for the 
 payment of debts. In all this, we must acknowledge the kind provi 
 dence of God. Our former poverty had kept us out of the more loose 
 and vain company, and we appeared to be noticed by the better class 
 of people. There was a class of young men and ladies that were a 
 little older than my brothers, who had rich parents that dressed their 
 families in gay clothing, giving them plenty of money to spend, and 
 good horses to ride. Oh, how enviable they appeared to me, while 
 my brothers and sisters lacked all these things ! Now, while I write, 
 I am thinking what was the change of fifteen or twenty years with 
 these smart young folks. I cannot think of more than one or two 
 that became even common men of business, but a number of them did 
 become poor drunkards, and three came to their end by suicide. God 
 knows what is best. 
 
 " In the spring of 1790 I returned and hired out to the Rev. Jere 
 miah Hallock for six months. Here I had good instruction and good 
 examples. I was under some conviction of sin, but whether 1 was 
 pardoned or not, God only knows j this I know, I have not lived 
 like a Christian. 
 
 " About this time I became more acquainted with Ruth Mills 
 (daughter of the Rev. Gideon Mills), who was the choice of my 
 affections ever after, although we were not married for more than 
 two years. In March, 1793, we began to keep house ; and here "was 
 the beginning of days with me. I think our good minister felt all 
 the anxiety of a parent that we should begin right. He gave us 
 good counsel, and, I have no doubt, with a praying spirit. And I 
 will say, never had any person such an ascendancy over my conduct 
 as my wife. This she had without the least appearance of usurpa 
 tion or dictation ; and if I have been respected in the world, I must 
 ascribe it to her influence more than to any one thing. We began 
 with very little property, but with industry and frugality, which gave 
 us a comfortable support and a small increase. We took children to 
 live with us very soon after we began to keep house. Our own first 
 child was born at Canton, June 29, 1794, a son, we called Salmon, 
 a thrifty, forward child. 
 
 li We lived in Canton about two years, I working at shoemaking, 
 tanning, and farming; we made butter and cheese on a small scale, 
 and all our labors turned to good account ; we were at peace with all 
 our neighbors, and had great cause for thanksgiving. We were 
 living in a rented house, and I felt called to build or move. I thought 
 of the latter, and went directly to Norfolk, as I was there acquainted, 
 and my wife had taught school there one summer. The people of 
 
g 
 
 O O 
 
1804.J ANCESTRY AND CHILDHOOD. 7 
 
 Norfolk encouraged me, and I bought a small farm with a house and 
 barn on it. I then sold what little I had, and made a very sudden 
 move to Norfolk. We found friends in deed and in need. I there set 
 up shoemaking and tanning, employed a foreman, did a small good 
 business, and gave good satisfaction. 
 
 " Feb. 18, 1796, my little son Salmon died. This was a great 
 trial to us. In the spring of 1796 my business was very much in 
 creased, but owing to sickness of wife and self, I could not get but a 
 small part of the leather out in the fall. The people became some 
 what dissatisfied with me, and things went hard that winter ; but 
 when spring returned, my leather came out well, and from that time I 
 gave good satisfaction to the people, as far as I knew. July 5, 1798, 
 my daughter Anna was born in Norfolk. Soon after this, my wife 
 and I made a public profession of religion, which I have so poorly 
 manifested in my life. 
 
 11 In February, 1799, I had an opportunity to sell my place in 
 Norfolk, which I did without any consultation of our neighbors, who 
 thought they had some claim on my future services, as they had been 
 very kind and helped; and they questioned whether I had not been 
 hasty. But I went as hastily to Torrington and bought a place, 
 although I had but little acquaintance there. I was quick on the 
 move, and we found there good neighbors, and were somewhat pros 
 perous in business. In 1800, May 9, John was born, one hundred 
 years after his great grandfather; nothing else very uncommon. We 
 lived in peace with all men, so far as I know. (I might have said 
 the years of '98 and '99 were memorable years of revivals of religion 
 in the churches of our town and the towns about us. Perhaps there 
 has never been so general a revival since the days of Edwards and 
 Whitfield.) April 30, 1802, my second son Salmon was born. 
 
 " In 1804 I made my first journey to Ohio. I left home on the 8th 
 of August, came through Pennsylvania and saw many new things. 
 Arrived in Hudson about the 1st of September; found the people very 
 harmonious and middling prosperous, and mostly united in religious 
 sentiments. I made a small purchase of land at the centre of Hud 
 son, with the design of coining at a future day. I went to Austin- 
 burg, and was there talien sick, which proved to be the fever arid 
 ague ; was there a month, very sick and homesick. I started for 
 home against counsel, and had a very hard journey, ague almost 
 every day or night, but arrived home on the 16th of October. I 
 had the ague from time to time over one year ; yet my determination 
 to come to Ohio was so strong that I started with my family in com 
 pany with Benjamin Whedon, Esq., and his family, on the 9th of 
 June, 1805. We came with ox teams through Pennsylvania, and I 
 found Mr. Whedon a very kind and helpful companion on the road. 
 
8 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1808. 
 
 " We arrived in Hudson on the 27th of July, and were received 
 with many tokens of kindness. We did not come to a land of idle 
 ness ; neither did I expect it. Our ways were as prosperous as we 
 had reason to expect. I came with a determination to help build up, 
 and be a help in the support of religion and civil order. We had some 
 hardships to undergo, but they appear greater in history than they 
 were in reality. I was often called to go into the woods to make 
 division of lands, sometimes sixty or seventy miles from home, and 
 be gone some weeks, sleeping on the ground, and that without serious 
 injury. 
 
 " When we came to Ohio the Indians were more numerous than 
 the white people, but were very friendly, and I believe were a benefit 
 rather than an injury. In those days there were some that seemed 
 disposed to quarrel with the Indians, but I never had those feelings. 
 They brought us venison, turkeys, fish, and the like ; sometimes 
 they wanted bread or meal more than they could pay for at the time, 
 but were always faithful to pay their debts. In September, 1806, 
 there was a difficulty between two tribes : the tribe on the Cuya- 
 hoga River came to Hudson, and asked for assistance to build them 
 a log-house that would be a kind of fort to shelter their women and 
 children from the firearms of their enemy. Most of our men went 
 with teams, and chopped, drew, and carried logs, and put up a house 
 in one day, for which they appeared very grateful. They were our 
 neighbors until 1812, but when the war commenced with the British, 
 the Indians left these parts mostly, and rather against my wishes. 
 
 tl In Hudson my business went on very well, and we were some 
 what prosperous in most of our affairs. The company that we re 
 ceived being of the best kind, the missionaries of the gospel and 
 leading men travelling through the country called on us, and I became 
 acquainted with the business people and ministers in all parts of the 
 Western Reserve, and some in Pennsylvania. In 1807 (Feb. 13) 
 Frederick, my sixth child, was born. I do not think of anything else 
 to notice but the common blessings of health, peace, and prosperity, 
 for which I would ever acknowledge the goodness of God with 
 thanksgiving. I had a very pleasant, orderly family, until Dec. 9, 
 1808, when all my earthly prospects seemed to be blasted. My be 
 loved wife gave birth to an infant daughter who died in a few hours ; 
 as my wife expressed it, ' She had a short passage through time.' 
 My wife followed a few hours after. These were days of affliction. 
 I was left with five small children (six, including Levi Blakesly, 
 my adopted son), the eldest but about ten and a half years old; The 
 remembrance of this scene makes my heart bleed now. These were 
 the first that were buried in the ground now occupied as a cemetery 
 at the centre of Hudson. I kept my children mostly around me, 
 
1812.] ANCESTRY AND CHILDHOOD. 9 
 
 and married my second wife, Sally Root, Nov. 8, 1809. Through all 
 these changes I experienced much of the goodness of God in the 
 enjoyment of health in myself and family, and general prosperity in 
 my business. April 19, 1811, Sally Marian was born. 
 
 u In July, 1812, the war with England began ; and this war called 
 loudly for action, liberality, and courage. This was the most active 
 part of my life. We were then on the frontier, and the people were 
 much alarmed, particularly after the surrender of General Hull at 
 Detroit. Our cattle, horses, and provisions were all wanted. Sick sol 
 diers were returning, and needed all the assistance that could be given 
 them. There was great sickness in different camps, and the travel 
 was mostly through Hudson, which brought sickness into our families. 
 By the first of 1813 there was great mortality in Hudson. My fam 
 ily were sick, but we had no deaths. July 22, 1813, Watson Hughs, 
 my seventh son was born ; he was a very thrifty, promising child. 
 We were mostly under the smiles of a kind Providence. Florilla, 
 my fourth daughter, was born May 19, 1816. From this time I had 
 many calls from home, and was called to fill some places of trust 
 which others were more capable of filling. I now believe it was an 
 injury to my family for me to be away from them so much j and here 
 I would say that the care of our own families is the pleasautest and 
 most useful business we can be in. Jeremiah Root, my eighth son, 
 was born Nov. 8, 1819, and Edward, my ninth son, July 13, 1823. 
 
 u Nothing very uncommon in this period, save that there was a 
 change in general business matters. Money became scarce, property 
 fell, and that which I thought well bought would not bring its cost. 
 I had made three or four large purchases in which I was a heavy 
 loser. I can say the loss or gain of property in a short time appears 
 of but little consequence ; they are momentary things, and will look 
 very small in eternity. Job left us a good example. About this 
 time my son Salmon was studying law at Pittsburgh. I had great 
 anxiety and many fears on his account. Sept. 21, 1825, Martha, 
 our fifth daughter, was born ; Sept. 18, 1826, she died from whoop 
 ing-cough. Lucian, my tenth son, was born Sept. 18, 1829. Here 
 I will say my earthly cares were too many for the good of my family 
 and for my own comfort in religion. I look back upon my life with 
 but little satisfaction, but must pray, ' Lord, forgive me for Christ's 
 sake, or I must perish.' Jan. 29, 1832, my son Watson died, making 
 a great breach in my family. He had not given evidence in health 
 of being a Christian, but was in great anxiety of mind in his sickness ; 
 we sometimes hope he died in Christ. Martha, my sixth daughter, 
 was born June 18, 1832; and Sept. 6, 1833, Salmon, my third son, 
 died in New Orleans with yellow fever. He was a lawyer, and editor 
 of a French and English newspaper called the l New Orleans Bee ; ' 
 
10 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1840. 
 
 was of some note as a gentleman, but I never knew that he gave 
 evidence of being a Christian. Aug. 11, 1840, my second wife died 
 with consumption, which she had been declining under for a long 
 time. I think she died a Christian. Here my old wounds were 
 broken open anew, and I had great trials. 
 
 u Some little time before this there had been great speculation in 
 village lots, and I had suffered my name to be used as security at the 
 banks. My property was in jeopardy; I expected all to be lost. 
 I had some to pity me, but very few to help me ; so I learned that 
 outward friendship and property are almost inseparably connected. 
 There were many to inform me that I had brought my troubles upon 
 myself. April, 1841, I was married to the Widow Lucy Hinsdale. 
 My worldly burdens rather increased, but I bore them with much pa 
 tience. April, 1843 : about this time my family had so scattered 
 some by marriage and other ways that I thought best to leave my 
 favorite house and farm, and to build new at the centre of Hudson. 
 
 ... I have great reason to mourn my unfaithfulness to my chil 
 dren. I have been much perplexed by the loss of property, and a 
 long tedious lawsuit ; while my health has been remarkably good 
 for one of my age, and I have great reason for thanksgiving." 
 
 This artless narrative, written by Owen Brown at the age 
 of seventy-eight, discloses his character, and sketches in 
 some manner the conditions of life under which John 
 Brown was born and bred. But another paper from the 
 same hand shows how naturally the son inherited from his 
 Connecticut ancestors his hatred of slavery. Owen Brown 
 thus described, about 1850, some events of which he had 
 been cognizant sixty or seventy years earlier : 
 
 " I am an Abolitionist. I know we are not loved by many ; I 
 have no confession to make for being one, yet I wish to tell how long 
 I have been one, and how I became so. I have no hatred to negroes. 
 When a child four or five years old, one of our nearest neighbors had 
 a slave that was brought from Guinea. In the year 1776 my father 
 was called into the army at New York, and left his work undone. 
 In August, our good neighbor Captain John Fast, of West Sims- 
 bury, let my mother have the labor of his slave to plough a few days. 
 I used to go out into the field with this slave, called Sam, and 
 he used to carry me on his back, and I fell in love with him. He 
 worked but a few days, and went home sick with the pleurisy, and 
 died very suddenly. When told that he would die, he said he 
 should go to Guinea, and wanted victuals put up for the journey. 
 As I recollect, this was the first funeral I ever attended in the days 
 
1798.] ANCESTRY AND CHILDHOOD. 11 
 
 of my youth. There were but three or four slaves in West Simsbury. 
 In the year 1790, when I lived with the Rev. Jeremiah Hallock, the 
 Rev. Samuel Hopkins, D.D. came from Newport, and I heard him 
 talking with Mr. Hallock about slavery in Rhode Island, and he de 
 nounced it as a great sin. I think in the same summer Mr. Hallock 
 had sent to him a sermon or pamphlet-book, written by the Rev. 
 Jonathan Edwards, then at New Haven. I read it, and it denounced 
 slavery as a great sin. From this time I was antislavery, as much 
 as I be now. In the year 1798 I lived in Norfolk. There was a 
 Presbyterian or Congregational minister settled in Virginia at the 
 beginning of the Revolutionary War, by the name of Thomson, who 
 on account of the war came to North Canaan with slaves, and not 
 knowing how long the war would last, he bought a small farm in 
 North Canaan, and lived on it till the close of the war; he then 
 moved back to Virginia, and left a family of blacks on the farm. 
 About 1798 he came up to sell his farm and move back his slaves, as 
 he called them. Some time before this, slavery had been abolished 
 in Connecticut. Mr. Thomson had difficulty in getting away his 
 slaves. One man would not go, and ran into the woods, and Mr. 
 Thomson hired help to catch him. He was secreted among blacks 
 that lived in a corner of Norfolk. Mr. Thomson preached for Mr. 
 Robbins at Norfolk, assisted in the administration of the sacrament, 
 etc. There were blacks who belonged to the church, that absented 
 themselves. Mr. Thomson attended meetings, I think, three Sab 
 baths ; preached about twice. The last Sabbath it was expected he 
 would preach in the afternoon ; but there were a number of the 
 church members who were dissatisfied with his being asked to preach, 
 and requested Deacon Samuels and Deacon Gay lord to go and ask 
 Mr. Robbins not to have Mr. Thomson preach, as it was giving dis 
 satisfaction. There was some excitement amongst the people, some 
 in favor and some against Mr. Thomson ; there was quite a debate, 
 and large numbers to hear. Mr. Thomson said he should carry the 
 woman and children, whether he could get the man or not. An old 
 man asked him if he would part man and wife, contrary to their 
 minds. He said : ' I married them myself, and did not enjoin obe 
 dience on the woman.' He was asked if he did not consider marriage 
 to be an institution of God ; he said he did. He was again asked 
 why he did not do it in conformity to God's word. He appeared 
 checked, and only said it was the custom. He was told that the 
 blacks were free by act of the Legislature of Connecticut ; he replied 
 that he belonged to another State, and that Connecticut had no con 
 trol over his property. I think he did not get away his ' property,' 
 as he called it. Ever since, I have been an Abolitionist ; and I am 
 so near the end of life I think I shall die an Abolitionist." 
 
12 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1800. 
 
 To these papers of his father should now be added John 
 Brown's own account of his childhood and youth, written 
 for Harry Stearns, a boy of thirteen. This is printed and 
 punctuated exactly as Brown wrote it. 
 
 THE CHILDHOOD OF JOHN BKOWN. 
 
 RED ROCK, IA., 15th July, 1859. 
 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 to 
 put it off a long time. I do not natter myself that I can write any 
 thing which will very much interest you : but have concluded to 
 send you a short story of a certain boy of my acquaintance : & for 
 convenience & shortness of name, I will call him John. This story 
 will be mainly a narration 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 perse 
 vering effort ; & that is the degree of success in accomplishing his 
 objects which to a great degree marked the course of this boy through 
 out my entire acquaintance with him ; notwithstanding his moderate 
 capacity; & still more moderate acquirements. 
 
 John was born May 9th, 1800, at Torrington, Litchfield Co. Con 
 necticut ; of poor but respectable parents : a decendant on the side 
 of his father of one of the company of the Mayflower who landed at 
 Plymouth 1620. His mother was decended from a man who came 
 at an early period to New England from Amsterdam, in Holland. 
 Both his Father's and his Mother's Fathers served in the war of the 
 revolution: His Father's Father ; died in a barn in New York while 
 in the service ; in 1776. 
 
 I can not tell you of anything in the first Four years of John's life 
 worth mentioning save that at that early age he was tempted by 
 Three large Brass Pins belonging to a girl who lived in the family 
 & stole them. In this he was detected by his Mother; & after hav 
 ing '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 & Mother) & learned to think 
 he could accomplish smart things in driving the Cows; & 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 
 
1805.1 ANCESTRY AND CHILDHOOD. 13 
 
 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 C years old John was installed a young Buck 
 Skin. He was perhaps rather observing as he ever after remem 
 bered the entire process of Deer Skin dressing ; so that he could at 
 any time dress his own leather such as Squirel, Raccoon, Cat, Wolf 
 and Dog Skins, and also learned to make Whip Lashes, which 
 brought him some change at times, & was of considerable service in 
 many ways. At Six years old he began to be a rambler in the 
 wild new country finding birds and squirrels and 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 necessary 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 & small. These were the beginning of a severe but much 
 needed course of dicipline which he afterwards was to pass through ; 
 & which it is to be hoped has learned him before 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 perfectly 
 tamed, so that he almost idolized his pet. Tliis 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 Bobtail, if possible. I must not neglect to tell you of 
 a verry bad & foolish babbit 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 oftener 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 (in 
 after life) obliged to struggle so long with so mean a habit. 
 
 John was never quarelsome ; but was excessively fond of the hard 
 est & 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 com 
 pensation for the confinement, & restraints of school. I need not 
 
14 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1812. 
 
 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 j & during the warm season might generally be seen bare 
 footed & bareheaded: with Buck skin Breeches suspended often with 
 one leather strap over his shoulder but sometimes with Two. To 
 be sent off through the wilderness alone to very considerable dis 
 tances 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; & he would have 
 thought his character much 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 & pearmanent for notwithstanding his Father again 
 married to a sensible, intelligent, and on many accounts a very esti 
 mable woman; yet he never adopted her in feeling ; but continued 
 to pine after his own Mother for years. This opperated very unfa 
 vourably uppon him ; as he was both naturally fond of females ; &, 
 withall, extremely diffident; & deprived him of a suitable connecting 
 link between the different sexes; the want of which might under 
 some circumstances, have proved his ruin. 
 
 When the war broke out with England, his Father soon com 
 menced furnishing the troops with beef cattle, the collecting & driv 
 ing of which afforded him some opportunity for the chase (on foot) 
 of wild steers & other cattle through the woods. During this war 
 he had some chance to form his own boyish judgment of men & mea 
 sures : & to become somewhat familiarly acquainted with some who 
 have figured before the country since that time. The effect of what 
 he 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 until 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 since a United States Marshall 
 who held a slave boy near his own age very active, inteligent 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 ; & lodged in cold 
 
1815.] ANCESTRY AND CHILDHOOD. 15 
 
 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 chil 
 dren : for such children have neither Fathers or 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, & 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 verry 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 time 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 & frivolous 
 conversation & 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. 
 
 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 inteligeut ; & better 
 portion of every community. By all means endeavour 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 & earnest were his atachments. 
 
 John had been taught from earliest childhood to " fear God and 
 keep his commandments ; " & 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. 
 
16 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1816. 
 
 Now some of the things I have been telling of; were just such 
 as I would recommend to you : & I would like to know that you had 
 selected these out j & adopted them as part of your own plan of life ; 
 & I wish you to have some deffinite 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 
 ownership 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 independent ; 
 & perfect right of property. One of those means was to exchange 
 with his Father for something of far less value. Another was by 
 trading with others 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 Bachelors hall } & he 
 officiating as Cook ; & for most of the time as foreman of the estab 
 lishment 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 com 
 pany of men, & boys ; made him quite a favorite with the serious & 
 more inteligent portion of older persons. This was so much the case j 
 & secured for him so many little notices from those he esteemed ; 
 that his vanity was very much fed by it : & he came forward to man 
 hood quite full of self-conceit ; & self-confident ; notwithstanding his 
 extreme bashfulness. A younger brother 1 used sometimes to remind 
 him of this : & to repeat to him this expression which you may some 
 where 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 or dictating way. From Fif 
 teen years & upward he felt a good deal of anxiety to learn ; but could 
 only read & studdy a little ; both for want of time j & on account of 
 inflammation of the eyes. He however managed by the help of books 
 to make himself tolerably well acquainted with common arithmetic ; 
 & Surveying ; which he practiced more or less after he was Twenty 
 years old. 
 
 1 This was Salmon, no doubt. 
 
1820.] ANCESTRY AND CHILDHOOD. 17 
 
 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 practical common sense; about one year younger than 
 himself. This woman by her mild, frank, & more than all else: 
 by her very consistent conduct; 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 ; & as soon as 
 circumstances would enable him he began to be a practical Shep 
 herd: it being a calling for which in early life he had a kind of 
 enthusiastic longing : together with the idea that as a business it bid 
 fair to afford him the means of carrying out his greatest or principal 
 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 I will do it. 
 
 You will discover that in using up my half sheets to save paper ; 
 I have written Two pages, so that one does not follow the other as it 
 should. I have no time to write it over; & 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 contri 
 bution in aid of the cause in which I serve. God Almighty bless 
 you ; my son. 
 
 J. B. 
 
 This autobiography had its origin, as did so many other 
 words and acts of John Brown in 1857-1859, in the hospi 
 talities of one house in Massachusetts where the old hero 
 was always welcome. Mr. George Luther Stearns, a wealthy 
 merchant and manufacturer of Boston, but living in a beau 
 tiful villa at Medford, had invited Brown to Boston in 
 December, 1856, when he came eastward from his first 
 campaigns in Kansas. Brown accepted the invitation, and 
 reached Boston a little after Christmas, 1856, meeting Mr. 
 Stearns in the street and going with him to the rooms of 
 the Massachusetts Kansas Committee, where I first met 
 
18 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 him. The next Sunda}', the first in January, 1857, Brown 
 went to the Boston Music Hall to hear Theodore Parker 
 preach, and there met Mrs. Stearns (a niece of Mrs. Child, 
 the graceful author of -'Philothea"), who invited him to 
 her house in Medford. He spent there the second Sunday 
 in January, 1857, and made a deep impression on the oldest 
 son of .the family, then in his thirteenth year, by the stories 
 he told of the sufferings of the pioneer families in Kansas. 
 Running to the next room, and bringing forth his hoard of 
 pocket-money, the boy thrust it into John Brown's hand, 
 saying, " Will you buy something, a pair of shoes, or 
 something, for one of those little Kansas children?" 
 and then adding, as the old man thanked him, "Captain 
 Brown, will you not write me, sometime, what sort of a 
 little boy you were ? " Brown looked at him with surprise 
 and pleasure, and promised him to do so. In due time this 
 long letter reached Medford, addressed to Harry, but with a 
 short note to Mr. Stearns at the end of it. Mrs. Stearns, 
 who at once saw its value, treasured it carefully ; and after 
 Brown's death she requested her friend Mr. Emerson to 
 make this autobiography part of a' sketch of the hero which 
 he was urged to write. Mr. Emerson admired and praised 
 it, but was compelled to decline the task of writing Brown's 
 Life, as also dkl Henry Thoreau (who knew Brown well) and 
 Mrs. Child. Then Mrs. Stearns permitted Mr. Redpath to 
 print it in his biography, for the sake of bringing money to 
 supply the needs of the widow and children of Brown. It 
 has been since reprinted again and again from Mr. Red- 
 path's book. I have made my copy from the original let 
 ter, and thus corrected some variations in the punctuation 
 and spelling, which had crept into the published copies. 
 Brown's writing was peculiar in these respects, and by no 
 means uniform; but his style everywhere shows the same 
 vigor and simplicity, and he had the art of Homer and 
 Herodotus to mingle the colloquial with the serious, with 
 out any loss of dignity or effect. He thought humbly of 
 his own composition, and would sometimes say, " I know 
 no more of grammar than one of that farmer's calves ; " 
 but he had what is essential in all grammars, the power 
 to make himself understood. 
 
1856.] ANCESTRY AND CHILDHOOD. 19 
 
 The house in which John Brown was born, as mentioned 
 in this autobiography, 1 still stands in Torrington, Conn., in 
 the western part of the town, three miles from Wolcottville, 
 six from Litchfield, and ten from Winsted, on a by-road. It 
 much resembles the old farm-house in Concord in which 
 Thoreau was born, and the engraving of one might easily 
 pass for that of the other. The log-house of Owen Brown, 
 in Hudson, Ohio, stood on what is now the public square in 
 that town; and in a little valley near by, not far from 
 the railroad, was the tannery where John Brown learned 
 his father's trade. His childhood was passed in Hudson 
 and its vicinity in the manner above described. He read 
 the Bible, the " Fables of ./Esop," the " Life of Franklin," 
 the hymns of Dr. Watts, "Pilgrim's Progress," and a few 
 more books ; but his school education was very scanty. 
 
 Although in order of time the following correspondence 
 belongs in a later chapter, I introduce it here to show what 
 were the relations throughout life of John Brown and his 
 father. The latter lived till within four years of John 
 Brown's execution, dying May 8, 1856, at the age of eighty- 
 five. Only six weeks before his death he wrote as follows 
 to his son in Kansas, verbatim et literatim: 
 
 Letter of Owen Brown to John Brown. 
 
 HUDSON (OHIO), March 27, '56. 
 
 DEAR SON JOHN, I received yours of 13th on the 25th, and was 
 very glad to larn that all your Famelys were so well, and that you had 
 not been distourbed by the enemy. Your letters come very regular, 
 and we look carfuly after them. I have been faithfull to answer 
 
 1 It was after hearing this letter read that Miss Osgood, of Medford, re 
 marked, " If Captain Brown had not been called, in the providence of God, 
 to a very different work, what charming stories he could have written for 
 young children ! " The original manuscript tills six pages of closely writ 
 ten letter-paper, without division into paragraphs. The contributions 
 made by Harry Stearns and by others "in aid of the cause in which I 
 serve," were given to help the oppressed pioneers of Kansas whom Brown 
 was then defending. His father, Owen Brown, as a beef contractor, was 
 with Hull's army at or just before the surrender at Detroit in 1812, accom 
 panied by his son John. John, then twelve years old, circulated among the 
 American soldiers and officers, and overheard many conversations in camp 
 
20 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [185G. 
 
 them, not out of ambishon, but to keep one or more on the road all 
 the time. My health at present is not so good ; for three weeks past I 
 am somewhat put to it to breathe, mostly nights, and sometimes feel as 
 though death was at the dore. I feel as though God was very merso- 
 full to keep such a great sinner on probation so long. I ask all of 
 you to pray more earnestly for the salvation of my soul than for the 
 life of my body, and that I may give myself and all 1 have up to 
 Christ, and honer him by a sacrafise of all we have. 
 
 I think that the moovrnents of Congress will prevent an invasion 
 of your rights ; they have voted to send to Kansas to investigate the 
 situation [and] elections. I think of cliping from some papers some 
 short Acts of Congress and inclose them in a private letters and send 
 them to you. I think I shall have them very regular. I wrote Mr. 
 Giddeons 1 ["Giddings" in John Brown's hand written over this 
 name] about 3 weeks ago to send me the debats and Acts of Con 
 gress on the subjects of Kansas from time to time. He was at home 
 then sick, but has now returned to Con [in John Brown's hand 
 " Washington" is written in before " Con "] and the papers begin to 
 come. 
 
 Friends are in idling well as far as I know. I am now at Ed 
 ward's j it is rather a cold, stormy day. We have had a remarkable 
 cold, snowe winter, and the snow is mostly on the ground now. We 
 have 3 only plesent dayes this week, but have had no rain through 
 the winter. I consider all of my Children at Kansas as one Famely, 
 and hope you will take turns in writeing. They are midling well at 
 Edward's, and wish to be remembered. 
 
 Your unfaithful Parent, 
 
 OWEN BROWN. 
 
 N B. 28th. After writing the above, Edward had a paper from 
 which we dipt the within.' 2 0. B. 
 
 concerning General Hull and his position. He saw much of General Cass, 
 then a captain under Hull; and it is to him, no doubt, that allusion is 
 made as one of those "who have figured before the country since that 
 time." Long afterward (in 1857), he told me that he overheard such conver 
 sation from Cass, McArthur, and other officers as would have branded them 
 as mutineers, if he could have reported it to the Washington authorities. 
 He believed that Hull was forced into the false position which led to his 
 surrender, by the ill-conduct of his subordinate officers. 
 
 1 Owen Brown and most of his sons and grandsons when in Ohio were 
 constituents of Joshua R. Giddings, the famous antislavery Congressman 
 from the Western Reserve. 
 
 2 This letter is addressed in the feeble handwriting of an old man to 
 "John Brown, Osawatomie, K. T.," and is indorsed in his son's hand 
 writing, " Owen Brown's Letter, March 27, 1856." The original is among 
 
184C.] ANCESTRY AND CHILDHOOD. 21 
 
 This was the last of many letters written to his son in the 
 forty years since 1817, when John first left home for long 
 absences. A few of John Brown's replies have come into 
 my hands, chiefly of the years 1846-1849, of which the 
 following are specimens : 
 
 John Brown to his Father. 
 
 SPRINGFIELD, MASS., 29th Oct., 1846. 
 
 DEAR FATHER, Yours of the 22d, telling us of the death of 
 brother King, is received. I must say, that, with all his imperfections 
 and faults, 1 certainly feel that if he has not been a very warm 
 hearted, yet he has been a steady, friend, and on some accounts a 
 useful friend; and I mourn his frailties and death sincerely. You 
 say he expected to die, but do not say how he felt in regard to the 
 change as it drew near. I have to confess my unfaithfulness to my 
 friend in regard to his most important interest. I did not tail to write 
 you, as soon as I returned myself, from want of inclination, but be 
 cause I thought it would please you quite as much to get a letter from 
 Jason. We are getting along moderately with our business, but when 
 M T e shall be able to close it up will be difficult to say, for we still 
 continue to receive large quantities of wool. Prices rather improve. 
 We expect to be ready to close up all the lots Jerry brought on in a 
 very few days. Have contracted away the lowest he brought at 
 twenty-five cents per pound. There is no doubt but we might make 
 the most advantageous exchanges of wool for any description of 
 woollen goods that are wanted in the country. We shall probably 
 take hold of the business with a view to such exchanges another year, 
 if we continue the wool business. We find no difficulty in disposing 
 of the very coarsest wools, now that we have learned better where to 
 sell them, and can turn them cash. Please write often, and let us hear 
 how you all get along, and what you think proper to say to us. 
 Your affectionate son, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 SPRINGFIELD, MASS., 10th Dec., 1846. 
 
 DEAR FATHER, Yours, dated 2d and 3d December, we re 
 ceived this evening. It is perhaps needless for me to say that I am 
 always grateful for everything of that kind I receive from you, and 
 
 the Brown Papers in the library of the Kansas Historical Society at Topeka, 
 from whose invaluable collections I have drawn much material for this 
 work. 
 
22 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1847. 
 
 that I think I have your whole correspondence for nearly thirty years 
 laid up to remember you by, I mean, of course, what you have di 
 rected to me. I would further say, that I feel grateful to you, and my 
 brother, for calling to see my dear afflicted wife and children in their 
 calamity. It is a great comfort that / can in my imagination see my 
 always kind and affectionate old father with them, while at the same 
 time the responsibilities I have assumed constrain me to be absent, 
 very contrary to my feeling (and it may be contrary to my duty, too ; 
 but trust not). I mean to return sometime in February, and should 
 feel like one out of prison could I leave to-morrow. I hope you will 
 visit my family as often as you can during my absence, and that you 
 will write us often while here. We will endeavor, one of us, to reply 
 promptly at least. We are getting along with our business slowly, 
 but prudently, I trust, and as well as we could reasonably expect 
 under all the circumstances ; and so far as we can discover, we are 
 in favor with this people, and also with the many we have had to do 
 business with. I sent home a good supply of excellent cloth for 
 pantaloons, from which you can have some if it suits you, and should 
 arrive safe. If it does not, please write me without delay. Jason 
 took the cloth with him (cost eighty-five cents per yard). I can 
 bring more cloth of almost any kind when I return, should there be 
 need. 
 
 When I think how very little influence I have even tried to use 
 with my numerous acquaintances and friends, in turning their minds 
 toward God and heaven, I feel justly condemned as a most wicked 
 and slothful servant, ; and the more so, as I have very seldom had 
 any one refuse to listen when I earnestly called him to hear. I 
 sometimes have dreadful reflections about having fled to go down to 
 Tarshish. 
 
 Affectionately yours, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 SPRINGFIELD, MASS., April 2, 1847. 
 
 DEAR FATHER, Your very kind as well as rational letter I 
 received last evening. I trust I do in some measure realize that only 
 a few, a very few, years will of necessity bring tome a literal accom 
 plishment of the sayings of the Preacher. I am quite sensible of the 
 truth of your remark, that my family are quite as well off as though 
 we possessed millions. I hope we may not be left to a feeling of 
 ingratitude, or greediness of gain ; and I feel unconscious of a desire 
 to become rich. I hope my motive for exerting myself is higher. 
 I feel no inclination to move my family to Springfield on account of 
 any change that I am itching for, and think it very doubtful whether 
 I ever conclude on it as the best course. My only motive would be 
 
1848.] ANCESTRY AND CHILDHOOD. 23 
 
 to have them with me, if I continue in my present business, which I 
 am by no means attached to. I seem to get along middling well, and 
 hope to return in a short time. Wrote Jeremiah some days since. 
 I shall pay ten cents very cheerfully to hear that you are alive and 
 well, at any time ; and should not grudge to pay more for such kind 
 and ever seasonable pointing me to the absolute vanity of this world's 
 treasures, as well as the solemn future which is before me. It affords 
 me great satisfaction to get a letter from you at this period of your 
 life, so handsomely written, so well worded, and so exactly in point, 
 both as to manner and (what is much more) matter. I intend to 
 preserve it carefully. 
 
 Your affectionate son, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 SPRINGFIELD, MASS., 1st Nov., 1847. 
 
 DEAR FATHER, After some three or four days' delay on the 
 road, we arrived here safe to-day about noon, and found all here well ; 
 but our hard hearts are never thankful as they should be. Always 
 dependent and constantly receiving, we are ungrateful enough to be 
 cast off, if that were our only fault ! Our business, so far as I can 
 judge, has gone along middling well during my absence. Watson is 
 not yet very stout, but is perhaps a little improved since I left. We 
 shall all be anxious to hear from Lucian, and from you all, and how 
 you got home from Austinburg, as soon and as often as we can. 
 Affectionately yours, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 Mr. Hubbard has deeded his swamp farm to John Sherman. Has 
 not sold his thirty-acre lot at Muuroville, but has offered it for sale 
 to William Hickox and Kelsey. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 J. B. 
 
 SPRINGFIELD, MASS., 2d Dec., 1847. 
 
 DEAR FATHER, Yours of the 9th November was received a few 
 days since, but I have delayed writing on two accounts since receiving 
 it. One is the greater press of business,' and increased anxiety on 
 account of the sudden change in money matters ; the other, that it is 
 always hard for me to make out a letter without something to make it 
 out of. We have been middling well since I returned, except John 
 and Watson. John has had a short turn of fever, and Watson has 
 seemed to have a number of complaints, but both are better now. Our 
 business seems to be going on middling well, and will not probably 
 be any the worse for the pinch in the money concerns. I trust that 
 
24 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1847. 
 
 getting or losing money does not entirely engross our attention ; but 
 T ain sensible that it occupies quite too large a share in it. To get a 
 little property together to leave, as the world have done, is really 
 a low mark to be firing at through life. 
 
 " A nobler toil may I sustain, 
 A nobler satisfaction gain." 
 
 You wrote us that Lucian seemed to decline. This is not unex 
 pected ; but we hope that a life still lengthened may not all be mis 
 spent, and that the little of duty to God and mankind it may yet be 
 in his power to do may be done with his might, and that the Lord 
 Jesus Christ will be the end of the law for righteousness, for that 
 which must be left undone. This is the only hope for us lankmpts, 
 as we may see at once if we will but look at our account. We hope 
 to hear how you all are again soon. 
 
 Affectionately yours, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 SPRINGFIELD, MASS., 16th Jan., 1848. 
 
 DEAR FATHER, It is Sabbath evening ; and as I have waited 
 now a long time expecting a letter from you, I have concluded to 
 wait no longer for you to write to me. I received the Hudson paper 
 giving an account of the death of another of our family. I expected 
 to get a letter from you, and so have been waiting ever since getting 
 the paper. I never seemed to possess a faculty to console and com 
 fort my friends in their grief; I am inclined, like the poor comforters 
 of Job, to sit down in silence, lest in my miserable way I should only 
 add to their grief. Another feeling that I have in your case, is an 
 entire consciousness that I can bring before your mind no new source 
 of consolation, nor mention any which, I trust, you have not long 
 since made full proof of. I need not say that I know how to sympa 
 thize with you j for that you equally well understand. I will only 
 utter one word of humble confidence, ll Though He slay me, yet 
 will I trust in Him, and bless His name forever." We are all in 
 health here, but have just been taking another lesson on the uncer 
 tainty of all we hold here. One week ago yesterday, Oliver found 
 some root of the plant called hemlock, that he supposed was carrot, 
 and eat some of it. In a few minutes he was taken with vomiting 
 and dreadful convulsions, and soon became senseless. However, by 
 resorting to the most powerful emetics he was recovered from it, like 
 one raised from the dead, almost. 
 
 The country in this direction has been suffering one of the sever 
 est money pressures known for many years. The consequence to us 
 has been, that some of those who have contracted for wool of us are 
 
1849.] ANCESTRY AND CHILDHOOD. 25 
 
 as yet unable to pay for and take the wool as they agreed, and we 
 are on that account unable to close our business. This, with some 
 trouble and perplexity, is the greatest injury we have suffered by it. 
 We have had no winter as yet scarcely, the weather to-day being 
 almost as warm as summer. We want to hear how you all are very 
 much, and all about how you get along. I hope to visit you in the 
 spring. Farewell. 
 
 Your affectionate, unworthy son, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 SPRINGFIELD, MASS., 5th Feb., 1849. 
 
 DEAR FATHER, I write you at this time more because you 
 said in your last that you " love letters more now than ever before," 
 than on account of anything I have to write. We are here all mid 
 dling well, except our youngest child, who has been quite feeble since 
 last fall. Owen's arm seems to be improving slowly. We have 
 been selling wool middling fast of late, on contract, at 1847 prices. 
 We have in this part of the country the strongest proofs that the great 
 majority have made gold their hope, their only hope. I think that 
 almost every product of industry will soon become high, from the 
 fact alone that such a vast number of those who have hitherto been 
 producers will cease to be so, and hereafter, for a time at least, be 
 only consumers, I am inclined to think that persons who are in 
 debt, and who hold any property of value, are likely to have a most 
 favorable time to get out of debt. Would it not be well to have 
 the word go round amongst all the Broivns, that they may get ready 
 to sell off enough of something to pay all debts ? I really wish that 
 Oliver and Frederick 1 would take the hint, and when things get up 
 (which I feel confident they will do), go at once to selling off and 
 paying up. There is no way of making money so easy as by selling 
 when every one wants to buy. It may cost us some little sacrifice of 
 feeling at first, but would open a new world almost, if thoroughly 
 done. 
 
 I have felt a good deal of anxiety about the injury you received 
 on your way home; was glad to hear that you was in any measure 
 comfortable. I did not intend to put off writing so long; but I al 
 ways find it exceedingly hard work to write when I have nothing to 
 communicate that is worth as much as the paper and postage. Your 
 letters are not of so barren a character ; so that we shall not expect 
 you to pay the postage when you write, which we hope will be often. 
 Your affectionate but unworthy son, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 1 His brothers, or cousins ; not his sous. 
 
26 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1833. 
 
 These letters show upon what terms of affection and re 
 ligious sympathy John Brown lived with his pious father, 
 a man everywhere respected. Colonel Perkins, of Akron, 
 Ohio, who was the capitalist partner of John Brown in the 
 wool business, and lost money thereby, had no great respect 
 for his partner's prudence, but said : " His father had more 
 brains than John Brown, and was a more prudent man." 
 He was long a trustee of Oberlin College, and it was 
 through him that John Brown was sent to Virginia in 
 1840, to survey the wild lands there which belonged to that 
 college. John Brown, Jr., says : " My grandfather, Owen 
 Brown, of Hudson, had no son for whom he entertained 
 more sincere regard than for his son John. I was myself 
 for years almost as one of my grandfather's family, and had 
 the best means of knowing.' 7 His aunt, John Brown's half- 
 sister, Mrs. Marian Hand, of Wellington, Ohio, now living, 
 confirms this statement. She also furnishes me with some 
 facts concerning her brother Salmon, for whom his father 
 had " great anxiety and fears " while he was studying law 
 at Pittsburg in 1824, and who, he says, '' was of some note 
 as a gentleman, but I never knew that he gave evidence of 
 being a Christian." 
 
 It seems that Salmon Brown, after beginning to practise 
 law, travelled far and wide over the United States, and 
 particularly in the South, where he finally took up his resi 
 dence at New Orleans, and became the editor of a news 
 paper, " The Bee," which was published both in French and 
 English, and seems to have opposed the administration of 
 Andrew Jackson. His career as a journalist was from 1830 
 to 1833, and he died at Thibodeauxville, or New Orleans., 
 in the autumn of 1833. A letter from John Brown to his 
 brother Frederick thus mentions Salmon's death, among 
 other matters of smaller concern : 
 
 RANDOLPH, PENN., Oct. 26, 1833. 
 
 DEAR BROTHER, < I arrived at home without any mishap on 
 Saturday of the week I left you, and found all well. I had received 
 newspapers from Thibodeauxville during my absence, similar to those 
 sent to father, but no letters respecting the death of our brother. I 
 believe I was to write father as soon as I returned, but I have 
 
1829.] ANCESTRY AND CHILDHOOD. 27 
 
 nothing farther to write, and you can show him this. I will imme 
 diately let him know what answer I get to the letter I shall send to 
 the South by this mail, respecting our dear brother. 
 
 I enclose fifteen dollars, and wish you to let me know that you re 
 ceive it. Destroy my note, and accept my thanks. If you afford 
 my colt plenty of good pasture, hay, and salt, it is all I wish, unless 
 he should fall away badly or be sick. Your's bore his journey well. 
 Please tell Milton Lusk that I wish to have him pay over the money 
 
 I left with him to Julian, without delay. 
 
 Affectionately yours, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 P. S. I want to be informed of any news respecting Salmon as 
 soon as any of you get any. 
 
 The three following letters are all that I have received 
 from the papers of Salmon Brown, who wrote a neat hand 
 and rather a diffuse, ceremonious style, at variance with the 
 direct, laconic manner of his father and brother, but who re 
 sembled them in the earnestness with which he pursued his 
 objects, and the serious affection he manifested for all his 
 family, and particularly for his father. 
 
 Salmon Broiun to Owen Brown, Sr. 
 
 HUNTSVILLE, ALA., Feb. 28, 1829. 
 HONORED FATHER, In order to avoid that circumlocution of 
 
 II compliments," which I have heard you mention as one of the de 
 fects of my letters in general, it shall be the object of this to make 
 known to yon, with the least preamble and in the fewest possible 
 number of words, all that a parent, kind and solicitous as you have 
 ever been, might desire to know in relation to the welfare of an ab 
 sent child. My health, thank God, has been uniformly good since I 
 was at Hudson last July. From New York, if I mistake not, some 
 time in the month of September, I wrote you a letter, and inclosed 
 one of my printed circulars, by which I presumed you would be made 
 acquainted with the tour I had in contemplation, and the several 
 points to which letters might be directed in season to reach me. 
 This probably was not received till after your return from New 
 England, which circumstance sufficiently accounts for its not being 
 answered. I have pursued almost literally the track indicated by the 
 circular alluded to, and still intend to persevere, till I have accom 
 plished the entire journey. My operations have been as successful as 
 heretofore, though I have experienced more delays than usual. On 
 
28 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1829. 
 
 leaving this place, I shall proceed South, by the way of Tuscaloosa 
 and Mobile, to New Orleans ; but having business to transact, at a 
 great many intermediate places, I cannot determine with any degree 
 of certainty when I shall reach there, or how early I shall be able to 
 leave that place in the spring. 
 
 This, I am resolved, shall be my last tour in the United States, at 
 least on the extensive scale I have practised for the last three years. 
 I however still intend to execute the project which I disclosed to 
 you last summer; and I cannot neglect the present opportunity to 
 thank you for the very valuable hint which you suggested to me, in 
 respect of availing myself of the facilities which my travels afford, to 
 collect materials and information to be made use of hereafter in pub 
 lic lecturing. I have reflected much on the subject, and I am fully 
 persuaded the business may be turned to a good practical account, 
 in reference to my intended operations abroad. I am therefore ap 
 plying myself to the subject in good earnest, both by extending my 
 own personal observations as widely as possible, and by consulting 
 any written authority which may throw light upon my object of 
 research. But pray let this matter, as well as the other, rest for the 
 present between ourselves exclusively. 
 
 I am exceedingly anxious to receive a letter from you. When 
 shall I be gratified I On my arrival at New Orleans ? I hope so. 
 I also hope that you will not be sparing of the local news of your 
 vicinity. I should like to know something of the results of your jour 
 ney to the East. You doubtless heard of me among our family 
 relations. I am obliged to leave off abruptly, and 1 will not delay 
 sending this for the sake of filling out the sheet at another time. My 
 love to all our family, and to my friends in general. Adieu. 
 
 SALMON BROWN. 
 
 ST. Louis, June 18, 1829. 
 
 HONORED FATHER, Having ascended the river to this place, 
 and being under the necessity of returning again to Natchez in order 
 to close some unfinished business, I write to advise you of my in 
 tended movements. By the ordinary course of steamboat navigation 
 I shall reach there (Natchez) in the course of five or six days, and 
 my stay in that region will be as short as possible. It is my inten 
 tion afterwards to proceed by the interior of Alabama to Florida, and 
 thence through Georgia and the Carolinas to the North. I cannot at 
 this time name with certainty any place where letters directed to my 
 address would be received, though Tallahassee in Florida would seem 
 to be the most eligible point ; at all events, I hope you will write to 
 me there. I left New Orleans without receiving any letters from you, 
 
1830.] ANCESTRY AND CHILDHOOD. 29 
 
 which was a great disappointment. I however made arrangements 
 by which I shall still get them, if any come on to that post-office. I 
 have enjoyed good health and thus far a reasonable share of pros 
 perity in the prosecution of my business, though delays have been 
 more frequent than I anticipated, and of longer duration, which will 
 be the means of detaining me all summer in the Southern country. 
 1 beg you will not permit yourself to be uneasy on account of my 
 health. I shall avoid the low country on the sea-coast, and by con 
 fining myself to the high ground of the interior, I apprehend very 
 little danger. Finally, go where I may, I am in the hands of the 
 same kind Providence that has heretofore guided me safely through 
 an infinity of perils. I have been preserved, no doubt, for some wise 
 purpose. I hope it may be to accomplish some great good in the 
 world ; if not, why should I desire to live ? 
 
 I am still occupied, heart and soul, with the scheme I have inti 
 mated to you before. It is the theme of my constant meditations, 
 night and day; and I am devoting all my leisure moments for its ac 
 complishment. That the design is a good and laudable one, I have 
 no doubt. This gives me confidence to expect great success. 1 
 
 I cannot write more at this moment, but if I am prospered, you 
 shall hear from me frequently. Adieu. 
 
 Your affectionate son, 
 
 SALMON BROWN. 
 
 LOUISVILLE, KY., Aug. 22, 1830. 
 
 HONORED FATHER, I avail myself of the first moment of leisure 
 on my arrival at this place to relieve you from the anxiety which I 
 am conscious you have ere this begun to feel on my account. I could 
 not have neglected writing so long had I anticipated the possibility of 
 being detained so long at the South. One cause of delay after an 
 other prolonged the period of my departure from New Orleans till the 
 latter part of July, and having to stop at several places on the river 
 where I had business to look after, and the rivers being almost too 
 low for steamboat navigation at this season, August has almost passed 
 away before I could reach here. My health, thank God, has been 
 uniformly good, and I am quite well at this time. 
 
 I am without news from any of my family or friends these several 
 months past, which makes me exceedingly anxious about their wel 
 fare. I hope some of you will write instantly on receiving this, and 
 
 1 It does not appear what this "laudable design" was, but it must have 
 been, in part at least, of a public nature. At this time Salmon Brown was 
 twenty-seven years old. He was the brother next in age to John, and was 
 at school with him for a time in Connecticut. 
 
30 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1830. 
 
 direct to Wheeling, Virginia, where I expect to be in the course of 
 three or four weeks. It is impossible for me to determine whether I 
 can visit Hudson this fall or not. I am engaged about some political 
 arrangements in opposition to the present unprincipled and corrupt 
 Administration, to which I have become so committed as not to be 
 master of my own time. The arrangements alluded to have for their 
 object the best interests of our common country ; and believing that I 
 may be instrumental in doing good in this way, I feel it to be my duty 
 to exert my endeavors. I go from this place to Frankfort, thence to 
 Lexington, 1 thence to Maysville, and thence to Wheeling. If it shall 
 be possible for me to visit Hudson before I proceed to the eastward, 
 I will do so. 
 
 An infirmity of my nerves, proceeding from an unknown cause, 
 makes it difficult to write legibly. I have been conscious that this 
 was growing on me for years, without being able to apply any 
 remedy. I never lived so temperately as I have the year past. 
 Pray present me to the recollection of my brothers and sisters, and to 
 all my friends affectionately. Years do but increase and confirm the 
 sense of filial duty and gratitude with which I remain 
 
 Your son, 
 
 SALMON BROWN. 
 
 1 Henry Clay lived near Lexington, and it was doubtless in the interest 
 of that statesman and his friends that young Brown undertook this crusade 
 against the " unprincipled and corrupt administration " of General Jackson, 
 who had been elected in 1828 and inaugurated in 1829, in spite of Clay, 
 defeating John Quincy Adams. I have not yet found copies of Brown's 
 "New Orleans Bee," but doubtless the sting of this journal was directed 
 against Jackson in the city which he rescued from British invasion. 
 
1816.1 YOUTH AND EARLY MANHOOD. 31 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 YOUTH AND EARLY MANHOOD. 
 
 JOHN BROWN'S childhood passed, like that of most 
 boys in a new country, in the midst of active labor 
 and rude sport, but with little advantage of schooling at 
 home. Like all serious-minded lads of Puritan stock, how 
 ever, he dreamed at one time of completing his education in 
 a college, and then studying for the ministry. He " expe 
 rienced religion," and joined the " Orthodox " or Congre 
 gational Church at Hudson in 1816. Soon after this he 
 revisited Connecticut, and went to the town of Canton to 
 consult a kinsman of his father, the Rev. Jeremiah Hal- 
 lock, concerning his studies in divinity, whose advice 
 was that Owen Brown's son should fit for Amherst College 
 (where his uncle, the Rev. He man Humphrey, was soon 
 to be President), and that his teacher* should be the Rev. 
 Moses Hallock, of Plainfield, in Massachusetts. 1 This 
 school at Plainfield was famous for graduating ministers 
 and missionaries, and the poet Bryant had been a student 
 there a few years before, Plainfield being next to Cum- 
 mington, where Bryant was born, and not far from Amherst. 
 No doubt the lad's hope was to fit himself at Plainfield and 
 then enter at Amherst, working his way by his own efforts, 
 as so many young men have since done. But he was at- 
 
 1 John Brown seems to have been for a short time at the Morris 
 Academy in Connecticut, in company with his younger brother Salmon, 
 already mentioned. A story of the two brothers is told, how John, 
 finding that Salmon had committed some school offence, for which the 
 teacher had pardoned him, said to the teacher: " Mr. Vaill, if Salmon had 
 done this thing at home, father would have punished him. I know he 
 would expect you to punish him now for doing this, and if you don't, I 
 shall." That night, finding that Salmon was likely to escape punishment, 
 John made good his word, more in sorrow than in anger, giving his 
 brother a severe flogging. 
 
32 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1820. 
 
 tacked with inflammation of the eyes, which soon became 
 serious, so that he was forced to give up study, and go back 
 to his father's tan-yard in Hudson. The time spent at the 
 Plainfield school was short, and there are few reminiscences 
 of him at that period. In December, 1859, Hem an Hallock, 
 the youngest son of the Rev. Moses Hallock, wrote to 
 his brother Gerard Hallock, then editor of the New York 
 " Journal of Commerce," as follows: 
 
 " Your youngest brother does remember John Brown, who studied 
 at our house. How long he lived there, or at what period, I do not 
 know. I think it must have been at the time of my visits to Plain- 
 field, when I was or had been at Amherst Academy, perhaps 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 Hal- 
 lock's wife, arid that Uncle J. directed him to Plainfield. He was a 
 tall, sedate, dignified young man, from twenty-two to twenty-five 
 years old. 1 He had been a tanner, and relinquished a prosperous 
 business for the purpose of intellectual improvement. He brought 
 with him a piece of sole-leather about a foot square, which he had 
 himself tanned, for seven years, to re-sole his boots. He had also 
 a piece of sheep-skin 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 fin 
 gers said, with a triumphant turn of the eye and mouth, ' I shall 
 snap it.' The very marked yet kind immovableness of the young 
 man's face, on seeing father's defeat, father's own look, and the 
 position of people and things in the old kitchen, somehow gave 
 me a fixed recollection of this little incident." 
 
 From theology, young Brown turned his attention to sur 
 veying ; and his text-book, "Flint's Survey," now owned by 
 his son John Brown, Jr., bears date at Hudson in 1820. He 
 became a skilful surveyor ; but his chief occupation from 
 1819 for nearly twenty years was the tanning of leather, 
 
 1 The maturity of John Brown's appearance at the age of nineteen is 
 shown by this remark : he could not have heen twenty years old when study 
 ing at Plainfield. My own date for this experience would be 1819; for Brown 
 was married to Dianthe Lusk, June 21, 1820. He had previously been dis 
 appointed in love, and as he said in a letter written from Gerrit Smith's 
 house, Feb. 24, 1858, "felt for a number of years in earlier life a steady, 
 strong desire to die." This letter will be found on a later page, in its due 
 connection. 
 
1820.] YOUTH AND EARLY MANHOOD. 33 
 
 which his father had taught him, and in which he had ac 
 quired much skill before 1820, as may be inferred from his 
 autobiography. His log-house and tan-yard were a mile 
 or more from his father's, and northwest of the village of 
 Hudson. The home which was built under his direction in 
 1824 is a large wooden farm-house, standing in pleasant ru 
 ral scenery ; and Hudson itself, which is one of the oldest vil 
 lages in Northern Ohio, and for many years the seat of a small 
 college, has the air of a thriving Connecticut town. When 
 John Brown first occupied his cabin in 1819-20, he was un 
 married, and his housekeeper was Mrs. Lusk, the widow of 
 Amos Lusk, a Hudson farmer, and the mother of Brown's 
 future wife. Her brother, Milton Lusk, who was living in 
 1882, gave me then some reminiscences of his brother-in-law, 
 which may serve to complete the sketch drawn by Brown 
 himself of his resolute, serious, and headstrong youth. 
 
 a I am now seventy-nine years old," said this kinsman of John 
 Brown, "for I was horn in 1803, my sister Dianthe in 1801, and 
 Brown in 1800. I knew him from a boy, went to school with him, 
 and remember well what a commanding disposition he always bad. 
 There was once a Democratic school and a Federal school m Hudson 
 village, and the boys used to snow-ball each other. Brown and I 
 were federalists, as our fathers, Squire Brown and Captain Lusk, 
 were. One day the Democratic boys found a wet hollow in the bat 
 tle-field of snow-balls, and began to throw wet balls, which were 
 hard and hurt 'masterly.' John stood this for awhile, then he 
 rushed alone upon the little Democrats, and drove them all before 
 him into their schoolhouse. He did not seem to be angry, but there 
 was such force and mastery in what he did, that everything gave way 
 before him. He doted on being the head of the heap, and he was; 
 he doted on his ability to hit the mark. Dianthe, my sister, was not 
 tall like my father (who fought at the siege of Sandusky and died in 
 the spring of 1813), but about her mother's height; she was plain, 
 but attracted John Brown by her quiet, amiable disposition. She 
 was my guiding-star, my guardian angel ; she sung beautifully, 
 most always sacred hymns and tunes ; and she had a place in the 
 woods, not far from the house, where she used to go alone to pray. 
 She took me there sometimes to pray with me. She was a pleasant, 
 cheerful person, but not funny; she never said anything but what 
 she meant. When mother and Diauthe were keeping house for 
 John Brown at the old log-cabin where he had his tannery, I was 
 working as a boy at Squire Hudson's in the village, and had no 
 
 3 
 
34 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1820. 
 
 time to go up and see my mother and sister except Sundays. 1 Brown 
 was an austere feller, and lie did n't like that ; one day he said to me, 
 1 Milton, I wish you would not make your visits here on the Sab 
 bath.' I said, ' John, I won't come Sunday, nor any other day,' 
 and I stayed away a long time. When Dianthe was married, I 
 would not go to the wedding. I did not get along very well with 
 him for some years ; but when he was living in Pennsylvania, and I 
 had my controversy with the church in Hudson, he came and prayed 
 with me, and shed tears, and said perhaps I was nearer right than he 
 had thought. After my sister's death he said to John, his son, ' I 
 feel sure that your mother is now with me and influencing me.' He 
 was tasty in his dress, about washing, bathing, brushing, etc. ; 
 when he washed him, he pushed his hair back from his forehead." 
 
 John Brown, Jr., who was born at his father's first home 
 in Hudson, gives the following account of one of his first 
 recollections of that neighborhood : 
 
 " Our house, on a lane which connects two main roads, was built 
 under father's direction in 1824, and still stands much as he built it, 
 
 1 Hudson was named for a Connecticut farmer, David Hudson (born in 
 Goshen, 1758), commonly called "the Squire," who led the settlement 
 there in 1799, and whose daughter, Mrs. Harvey Baldwin, whom I saw 
 in 1878, was the first white child born in the town. Her father is 
 buried in the cemetery not far from the grave of Owen Brown, out of which 
 a young hemlock tree, twelve feet high, was growing when I visited it 
 in 1878. Squire Hudson gave the land in Hudson on which the West 
 ern Reserve College was built ; he was a strict Calvinist, and an original 
 abolitionist, like Owen Brown. Mr. Elizur Wright, now of Boston, 
 formerly a schoolmate of John Brown, and afterwards a professor in the 
 college at Hudson, tells me that he met Squire Hudson, one day in Sep 
 tember, 1831, coming from his post-office, and reading a newspaper he 
 had just received, which seemed to excite him very much as he read. 
 As Mr. Wright came within hearing, the old Calvinist was exclaiming, 
 "Thank God for that ! I am glad of it. Thank God they have risen at 
 last ! " Inquiring what the news was, Squire Hudson replied, " Why, the 
 slaves have risen down in Virginia, and are lighting for their freedom as 
 we did for ours. I pray God they may get it." This was the " Southamp 
 ton massacre" of Aug. 23, 1831, in which Nat Turner, with six fellow- 
 slaves, raised a revolt in Southampton County, on the edge of the Dismal 
 Swamp in Virginia, and had killed more than fifty whites, without the loss 
 of a single follower, when his band was dispersed on the 25th of August. 
 Turner escaped arrest for eight weeks longer, but w r as captured Oct. 30, 
 1831, tried November 5, and hanged November 11, almost exactly twenty- 
 eight years before John Brown's execution, Dec. 2, 1859. 
 
1826.] YOUTH AND EARLY MANHOOD. 35 
 
 with the garden and orchard around it which he laid out. In the 
 rear of the house was then a wood, now gone, on a knoll leading 
 down to the brook which supplied the tan-pits. I was born in an 
 older log-house. When I was four or five years old, and probably no 
 later than 1825, there came one night a fugitive slave and his wife 
 to father's door, sent, perhaps, by some townsman who knew John 
 Brown's compassion for such wayfarers, then but few. They were 
 the first colored people I had seen ; and when the woman took me 
 up on her knee and kissed me, I ran away as quick as I could, 
 and rubbed my face ' to get the black off; J for I thought she would 
 1 crock ' me, like mother's kettle. Mother gave the poor creatures 
 some supper; but they thought themselves pursued, and were un 
 easy. Presently father heard the trampling of horses crossing a 
 bridge on one of the main roads, half a mile off; so he took his guests 
 out the back door and down into the swamp near the brook, to hide, 
 giving them arms to defend themselves, but returning to the house 
 to await the event. It proved a false alarm : the horsemen were 
 people of the neighborhood going to Hudson village. Father then 
 went out into the dark wood, for it was night, and had some 
 difficulty in finding his fugitives ; finally he was guided to the spot 
 by the sound of the man's heart throbbing for fear of capture. He 
 brought them into the house again, sheltered them awhile, and sent 
 them on their way." 
 
 At this time John Brown could not have been more than 
 twenty-six years old. The children of his first marriage 
 were born, married, and died as follows : 
 
 John Brown, Jr., born July 25, 1821, at Hudson, Ohio ; 
 married Wealthy C. Hotchkiss, July. 1847. 
 
 Jason Brown, Jan. 19, 1823, at Hudson ; married Ellen 
 Sherbondy, July, 1847. 
 
 Owen Brown, Nov. 4, 1824, at Hudson (never married). 
 
 Frederick Brown (1), Jan. 9, 1827, at Kichmond, Pa.; 
 died March 31, 1831. 
 
 Ruth Brown, Feb. 18, 1829, at Richmond, Pa. ; married 
 Henry Thompson, Sept. 26, 1850. 
 
 Frederick Brown (2), Dec. 31, 1830, at Richmond, Pa.; 
 murdered at Ossawatomie by Rev. Martin White, Aug. 30, 
 1856. 
 
 An infant son, Aug. 7, 1832 ; was buried with his mother 
 three days after his birth, at Richmond, Pa. 
 
 A letter of John Brown to his father, of which only a 
 
36 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 portion is preserved, describes the death of his first wife in 
 the most touching manner. Her character has already been 
 given in the fragmentary autobiography, and in the recollec 
 tions of her brother, Milton Lusk. She was descended 
 through her mother (Mary Adams, of West Stockbridge, 
 Mass., daughter of John Adams, an army contractor in the 
 Revolution) from the same ancestors as John Adams the 
 second President, and Samuel Adams the Revolutionary 
 patriot. 1 Of the seven children above-named, the four 
 eldest are still living (1885), John and Owen at Put-in- 
 Bay Island, Ohio ; and Jason and Ruth (who married a New 
 Hampshire farmer's son, Henry Thompson, at North Elba, 
 N. Y.) at Pasadena, Cal. I am indebted to all of them for 
 many details of their father's career, and many letters 
 
 1 In December, 1867, John Brown, Jr., copied the following record from 
 the Lusk family Bible in the possession of Judge Stephen H. Pitkin, hus 
 band of his aunt Julia Lusk, by which it appears that Mary (Adams) 
 Lusk was five years older than her husband, and was a widow when Cap 
 tain Lusk married her : 
 
 Amos Lusk, born Thursday, March 6, 1773 ; Mary (Hull) Lusk (his 
 wife), born Sunday, May 15, 1768 ; Sophia Hull, born Wednesday, April 
 29, 1789 ; Laura Hull, born Thursday, Dec. 8, 1791 ; Minerva Lusk, born 
 Sunday, Oct 18, 1795 ; Maria Lusk, born Sunday, June 27, 1797 ; Loving 
 Lusk, horn Tuesday, June 3, 1799 ; Dianthe Lusk, born Monday, Jan. 12, 
 1801 ; Milton Adams Lusk, born Thursday, June 2, 1803 ; Julian H. 
 Lusk, born Monday, Sept. 16, 1805 ; Sophia H. Lusk, born Thursday, 
 July 28, 1808 ; Julia Lusk, born Saturday, Feb. 10, 1810 ; Edward Lusk, 
 born Tuesday, Dec. 31, 1811 ; Laura Hull, married Sept. 23, 1810 ; Amos 
 Lusk, died May 24, 1813; Dianthe Lusk Brown, died Aug. 10, 1832 ; 
 Mary Lusk, wife of Amos Lusk, died Jan. 20, 1843. 
 
 Captain Lusk removed to Ohio from East Bloomfield, N. Y., with his 
 family, then consisting of his wife and her six children (including Sophia 
 and Laura Hull by her first husband), in 1801. Several families, includ 
 ing his sister's (Mrs. Hannah Lindley), made up the emigrating party. 
 Buffalo was then a small village, and Ohio almost an unbroken wilderness. 
 On their journey, while stopping at a tavern, an incident occurred which 
 came near terminating the life of Dianthe Lusk, then a baby six weeks old. 
 While the mother was preparing food for their breakfast, the father, anx 
 ious to move on in the morning, proceeded to gather up the bedding, on 
 which, unperceived by him, the baby was lying. Pillows, blankets, etc., 
 were thrown on the feather-bed, and quickly tied together with a rope, and 
 the whole hastily rolled downstairs. The mother, recollecting where she 
 had left her baby, gave the alarm, but by the time it could be uncovered 
 it was nearly lifeless. 
 
1856.] YOUTH AND EARLY MANHOOD. 37 
 
 which concern the family. Ruth, the only daughter of the 
 first marriage, gives me these incidents of her early re 
 collections : 
 
 " Father used to hold all his children, while they were little, at 
 night, and sing his favorite songs, one of which was, ' Blow ye the 
 trumpet, blow!' One evening after he had been singing to me, he 
 asked me how I would like to have some poor little black children 
 that were slaves (explaining to me the meaning of slaves) come and 
 live with us ; and asked me if I would be willing to divide my food 
 and clothes with them. He made such an impression on my sympa 
 thies, that the first colored person I ever saw (it was a man I met on 
 the street in Meadville, Penn.,) I felt such pity for him that I wanted 
 to ask him if he did not want to come and live at our house. When 
 I was six or seven years old, a little incident took place in the church 
 at Franklin, Ohio (of which all the older part of our family were 
 members), which caused quite an excitement. Father hired a col 
 ored man and his wife to work for him, he on the farm, and she in 
 the house. They were very respectable people, and we thought a 
 great deal of them. One Sunday the woman went to church, and 
 was seated near the door, or somewhere back. This aroused father's 
 indignation at once. He asked both of them to go the next Sunday ; 
 they followed the family in, and he seated them in his pew. The 
 whole congregation were shocked ; the minister looked angry ; but I 
 remember father's firm, determined look. The whole church were 
 down on him then." She adds : u My brothers were so disgusted to 
 see such a mockery of religion that they left the church, and have 
 never belonged to another." 
 
 This daughter remembers when she was admitted to the 
 church, in Richmond, by baptism. She says : 
 
 "The first recollection I have of father was being carried through 
 a piece of woods on Sunday, to attend a meeting held at a neighbor's 
 house. After we had been at the house a little while, father and 
 mother stood up and held us, while the minister put water on our 
 faces. After we sat down, father wiped my face with a brown silk 
 handkerchief with yellow spots on it in diamond shape. It seemed 
 beautiful to me, and I thought how good he was to wipe my face 
 with that pretty handkerchief. He showed a great deal of tenderness 
 in that and other ways. He sometimes seemed very stern and strict 
 with me ; yet his tenderness made me forget that he was stern. He 
 told me, a few years before his death, to reason calmly with my chil 
 dren when they had done wrong, and in that way encourage them 
 
38 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1847. 
 
 to be truthful ; and never to punish them, whatever they had done, 
 if they told the truth about it. Said he : ' If I had my life to live 
 over again, I should do very differently with my children. I meant 
 to do right, but I can see now where I failed.' 
 
 li Whenever he and I were alone, he never failed to give ine the 
 best of advice, just such as a true and anxious mother would give a 
 daughter. He always seemed interested in my work, and would 
 come around and look at it, when I was sewing or knitting ; and 
 when I was learning to spin he always praised me, if he saw that I 
 was improving. He used to say : ' Try to do whatever you do in the 
 very best possible manner.' " 
 
 Writing to Euth when she was eighteen years old, her 
 father said : 
 
 " I will just tell you what questions exercise my mind in regard to 
 an absent daughter, and I will arrange them somewhat in order as 
 I feel most their importance. 
 
 u What feelings and motives govern her? In what manner does 
 she spend her time 1 ? Who are her associates? How does she con 
 duct in word and action? Is she improving generally? Is she pro 
 vided for with such things as she needs, or is she in want? Does 
 she enjoy herself, or is she lonely and sad? Is she among real 
 friends, or is she disliked and despised ? 
 
 u Such are some of the questions which arise in the mind of a certain 
 anxious father ; and if you have a satisfactory answer to them in 
 your own mind, he can rest satisfied." 
 
 The testimony of all John Brown's children is the same 
 respecting his domestic life and his affection for them. 
 His daughter has perhaps related more particulars of his 
 home life, because she saw it more constantly, having- 
 seldom been separated from him until her marriage, except 
 by his long absences upon business, of which more will be 
 said hereafter. She thus describes his reading and his 
 family worship, as she remembers it: 
 
 " My dear father's favorite books, of a historical character, were 
 ' Rollin's Ancient History/ Josephus, Plutarch, ' Napoleon and 
 his Marshals,' and the Life of Oliver Cromwell. Of religious 
 books, Baxter's l Saints' Rest ' (in speaking of which at one time ho 
 said he could not see how any person could read it through carefully 
 without becoming a Christian), the ' Pilgrim's Progress,' and 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 
 
1840.] YOUTH AND EARLY MANHOOD. 39 
 
 person was reading it, he would correct the least mistake. His 
 favorite passages were these, as near as I can remember : 
 
 " i 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. 1 
 
 '"He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed; for he giveth his 
 bread to the poor.' 
 
 u l A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and 
 loving favor rather than silver or 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 to the Lord, and that 
 which he hath given will He pay to him again.' 
 
 " ' Give to him that asketh of thee, and from him that would 
 borrow of thee turn not thou away.' 
 
 " i A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast; but the tender 
 mercies of the wicked are cruel.' 
 
 " l Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in 
 the power of thine hand to do it.' 
 
 11 ' Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build 
 it; except the Lord keepeth the city, the watchman walketh in 
 vain.' 
 
 '"I hate vain thoughts, but thy law do I love.' 
 
 tl The last chapter of Ecclesiastes was a favorite one, and on Fast- 
 days and Thanksgivings he used very often to read the fifty-eighth 
 chapter of Isaiah. 
 
 u 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 almost 
 always say, 'Read one of David's Psalms.' 
 
 "His favorite hymns (Watts's) \vere these: 'Blow ye the trum 
 pet, blow ! ' ' Sweet is Thy word, my God, my King ! ' ' I '11 praise 
 my Maker with my breath;' ' Oh, 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 ! ' ' 
 
 John Brown, Jr., says that the first time he ever saw his 
 father kneel in prayer was when he communicated to the 
 older children (about 1837) his purpose to make active war 
 upon slavery, and then implored the blessing of God upon 
 such an undertaking, and His pity for the oppressed slaves. 
 The three sons entered into a solemn compact with their 
 father to labor for emancipation ; and when, in 1838, and 
 
40 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1834. 
 
 subsequently, John the eldest son went from home to get 
 a better education, his father said " he had lost one of the 
 main spokes of his wheel." Owen Brown, like his son, 
 was fervent in prayer ; and it was noticed that he, though 
 a sad stammerer in conversation, spoke much more clearly 
 in prayer. 
 
 There was always great tenderness and delicacy in John 
 Brown's conduct towards his family, notwithstanding the 
 natural austerity of his character. In childhood he gov 
 erned them strictly, not sparing the rod ; but no sooner 
 were they men and women than he ceased to command and 
 almost to request their obedience, but left it for them to be 
 persuaded in their own minds towards any course he wished 
 them to take. He very early imparted to them his own 
 fixed purposes in regard to slavery, and sought their co 
 operation, which they readily gave. Ruth's reminiscences 
 show this, and so also does this curious letter, written and 
 franked by John Brown when he was postmaster, under 
 President Jackson, at Randolph, Pa. 1 
 
 John Brown to his brother Frederick. 
 
 RANDOLPH, Nov. 21, 1834. 
 
 DEAR BROTHER, As I have had only one letter from Hudson 
 since you left here, and that some weeks since, I begin to get uneasy 
 and apprehensive that all is not well. I had satisfied my mind about 
 it for some time, in expectation of seeing father here, but I begin to 
 give that up for the present. Since you left me I have been trying 
 to devise some means whereby I might do something in a practical 
 way for my poor fellow-men who are in bondage, and having fully 
 consulted the feelings of my wife and my three boys, we have agreed 
 to get at least one negro boy or youth, and bring him up as we do our 
 owllj v i z>? j ve i mn a good English education, learn him what we 
 can about the history of the world, about business, about general 
 subjects, and, above all, try to teach him the fear of God. We think 
 of three ways to obtain one : First, to try to get some Christian slave 
 holder to release one to us. Second, to get a free one if no one will 
 let us have one that is a slave. Third, if that does not succeed, we 
 
 1 The town of Randolph in which it was written, and where John Brown 
 was appointed postmaster in the administration of John Quincy Adams, 
 seems to have included Richmond, which is now a separate town. 
 
1834.] YOUTH AND EARLY MANHOOD. 41 
 
 have all agreed to submit to considerable privation in order to buy 
 one. This we are now using means in order to effect, in the con 
 fident expectation that God is about to bring them all out of the 
 house of bondage. 
 
 I will just mention that when this subject was first introduced, 
 Jason had gone to bed ; but no sooner did he hear the thing hinted, 
 than his warm heart kindled, and he turned out to have a part in the 
 discussion of a subject of such exceeding interest. I have for years 
 been trying to devise some way to get a school a-going here for 
 blacks, and I think that on many accounts it would be a most favor 
 able location. Children here would have no intercourse with vicious 
 people of their own kind, nor with openly vicious persons of any 
 kind. There would be no powerful opposition influence against 
 such a thing ; and should there be any, I believe the settlement might 
 be so effected in future as to have almost the whole influence of the 
 place in favor of such a school. Write me how you would like to 
 join me, and try to get on from Hudson and thereabouts some first- 
 rate abolitionist families with you. I do honestly believe that our 
 united exertions alone might soon, with the good hand of our God 
 upon us, effect it all. 
 
 This has been with me a favorite theme of reflection for years. I 
 think that a place which might be in some measure settled with a 
 view to such an object would be much more favorable to such an 
 undertaking than would any such place as Hudson, with all its con 
 flicting interests and feelings ; and I do think such advantages ought 
 to be afforded the young blacks, whether they are all to be imme 
 diately set free or not. Perhaps we might, under God, in that way 
 do more towards breaking their yoke effectually than in any other. 
 If the young blacks of our country could once become enlightened, it 
 would most assuredly operate on slavery like firing powder confined 
 in rock, and all slaveholders know it well. Witness their heaven- 
 daring laws against teaching blacks. If once the Christians in the 
 free States would set to work in earnest in teaching the blacks, the 
 people of the slaveholding States would find themselves constitu 
 tionally driven to set about the work of emancipation immediately. 
 The laws of this State are now such that the inhabitants of any 
 township may raise by a tax in aid of the State school-fund any 
 amount of money they may choose by a vote, for the purpose of 
 common schools, which any child may have access to by application. 
 If you will join me in this undertaking, I will make with you any 
 arrangement of our temporal concerns that shall be fair. Our health 
 is good, and our prospects about business rather brightening. 
 
 Affectionately yours, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
42 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1833. 
 
 .Randolph is in Crawford County, Penn., and now contains 
 some two thousand inhabitants ; but in 1834 it was very 
 thinly settled. John Brown was one of the chief persons 
 there ; he managed a large tannery in the present township 
 of Richmond, and the school of the settlement had been at 
 one time kept for part of the year in his great log-house, 
 near the tan-yard. His proposition to his brother Fred 
 erick, 1 who then lived with or near his father in Hudson, 
 Ohio, was in effect to remove to Richmond, and take part 
 in a j)lan for settling colored families there, with a view to 
 their better education, before their race should be emanci 
 pated. At this time it was a penal offence in most of the 
 slave States to teach them to read,' and practically it was so 
 in some free States. In the year preceding the date of this 
 letter, the State of Connecticut (in consequence of the ad 
 mission by Miss Prudence Crandall of colored girls to her 
 private school in Canterbury) passed a law (May 24, 1833) 
 that no school should be established in any town in Connec 
 ticut for the education of colored persons from other towns, 
 "without the consent in writing, first obtained of a majority 
 of the civil authority, and the selectmen of the town." 
 Under this law Miss Crandall was arrested and sent to jail ; 
 and during that year (1833) her house was set on fire, and 
 she was otherwise so persecuted by the people of Canter 
 bury that she was forced to give up her school about a year 
 before the above letter of John Brown was written. 
 
 It was while Brown was living at Randolph (now Rich 
 mond) that he was married a second time, July 11, 1833, 
 to Mary Anne Day, daughter of Charles Day, of Whitehall, 
 K. Y., but then living at Troy, Penn. She survived him 
 twenty -five years, and died in San Francisco, in 1884. 2 Her 
 children were thirteen in number, of whom seven died in 
 early childhood ; two were killed at Harper's Ferry, and 
 four, Salmon, Anne, Sarah, and Ellen, are still living 
 
 1 This letter is thus addressed and post-marked : 
 
 Randolph, Pa. Free. 
 
 Nov. 22. /. Brown, P. M. 
 
 MR. FREDERICK BROWN, 
 
 HUDSON, PORTAGE Co., Ohio. 
 
 2 February 29. 
 
1834.] YOUTH AND EARLY MANHOOD. 43 
 
 in California with, their children and grandchildren. The 
 record of this whole family is as follows : 
 
 CHILDREN OF JOHN BROWN AND HIS WIFE MARY. 
 
 Sarah Brown, born May 11, 1834, at Richmond, Pa. ; died 
 Sept. 23, 1843. 
 
 Watson Brown, born Oct. 7, 1835, at Franklin, Ohio; 
 married Isabella M. Thompson, September, 185G j killed at 
 Harper's Ferry, Oct. 19, 1859. 
 
 Salmon Brown, born Oct. 2, 1836, at Hudson, Ohio ; mar 
 ried Abbie C. Hinckley, Oct. 15, 1857. 
 
 Charles Brown, born Nov. 3, 1837, at Hudson, Ohio ; died 
 Sept. 11, 1843. 
 
 Oliver Brown, born March 9, 1839, at Franklin, Ohio ; 
 married Martha E. Brewster, April 7, 1858 ; killed at Har 
 per's Ferry, Oct. 17, 1859. 
 
 Peter Brown, born Dec. 7, 1840, at Hudson, Ohio ; died 
 Sept. 22, 1843. 
 
 Austin Brown, born Sept. 14, 1842, at Richfield, Ohio ; 
 died Sept. 27, 1843. 
 
 Anne Brown, born Dec. 23, 1843, at Kichfield, Ohio. 
 
 Amelia Brown, born June 22, 1845, at Akron, Ohio ; died 
 Oct. 30, 1846. 
 
 Sarah Brown, born Sept. 11, 1846, at Akron, Ohio. 
 
 Ellen Brown, born May 20, 1848, at Springfield, Mass. ; 
 died April 30, 1849. 
 
 Infant son, born April 26, 1852, at Akron, Ohio ; died May 
 17, 1852. 
 
 Ellen Brown, born Sept. 25, 1854, at Akron, Ohio. 1 
 
 The loss of so many children in their early years was a 
 sore trial to John Brown, and is often mentioned in his 
 family letters. In. their illness he was a devoted nurse, and 
 
 1 It was at the house of this youngest daughter, Mrs. Ellen Fablinger, 
 of Saratoga, Cal., that the widow of John Brown spent the last years of her 
 life ; but she died in San Francisco, under the care of her daughter Sarah, 
 after a painful illness. Miss Sarah Brown resides in San Francisco ; Mrs. 
 Anne Brown Adams, in Eohnerville, Humboldt County; and Salmon 
 Brown, farther north, in the same county, where he keeps sheep, as his 
 father did in Ohio. 
 
44 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1848. 
 
 he had acquired much skill in the care of all invalids. Con 
 cerning the death of his first daughter Ellen, in April, 1849, 
 Mrs. Thompson thus writes : 
 
 u In the fall of 1848, father and mother, with our youngest sister, 
 a babe of six months old, visited a brother of Mrs. Brown (Orson 
 Day), who was then living at Whitehall, N. Y., she stopping there 
 with the child, while father went into the Adirondac wilderness to 
 North Elba. He was charmed with the grand mountain scenery, 
 and felt that he was needed there to encourage and help by his expe 
 rience the few colored families who had already settled in the wilder 
 ness, and those who might move there the following spring. Here 
 was an opportunity also to train some of the bravest of those men for 
 the great work which had been his life-long study. He went back 
 to Springfield much encouraged. While on their journey back the 
 little babe took a violent cold that ended in quick consumption, and 
 she died at the end of April, 1849. Father showed much tenderness 
 in the care of the little sufferer. He spared no pains in doing all 
 that medical skill could do for her, together with the tenderest care 
 and nursing. The time that he could be at home was mostly spent 
 in caring for her. He sat up nights to keep an even temperature in 
 the room, and to relieve mother from the constant care which she had 
 through the day. He used to walk with the child and sing to her so 
 much that she soon learned his step. When she heard him coming 
 up the steps to the door, she would reach out her hands and cry for 
 him to take her. When his business at the wool store crowded him 
 so much that he did not have time to take her, he would steal around 
 through the wood-shed into the kitchen to eat his dinner, and not go 
 into the dining-room, where she could see or hear him. I used to be 
 charmed myself with his singing to her. He noticed a change in her 
 one morning, and told us he thought she would not live through the 
 day, and came home several times to see her. A little before noon he 
 came home, and looked at her and said, ' She is almost gone.' She 
 heard him speak, opened her eyes, and put up her little wasted hands 
 with such a pleading look for him to take her that he lifted her from 
 the cradle, with the pillows she was lying on, and carried her until she 
 died. He was very calm, closed her eyes, folded her hands, and laid 
 her in her cradle. When she was buried, father broke down com 
 pletely, and sobbed like a child. It was very affecting to see him so 
 overcome, when all the time before his great tender heart had tried 
 to comfort our weary, sorrowing mother, and all of us." 
 
 It was not the temporal welfare and happiness of his 
 children that lay nearest the heart of Brown : their spirit- 
 
1852.] YOUTH AND EARLY MANHOOD. 45 
 
 ual interests, their religious state, were much more a care to 
 him. His letters show this constantly; and in one written 
 to his oldest daughter three years later (January, 1852), his 
 anxiety finds expression in these words : 
 
 " My attachments to this world have beeii very strong, and Divine 
 Providence has been cutting me loose, one cord after another. Up 
 to the present time, notwithstanding I have so much to remind me 
 that all ties must soon be severed, I am still clinging, like those who 
 have hardly taken a single lesson. I really hope some of my family 
 may understand that this world is not the home of man, and act in 
 accordance. Why may I not hope this of you ? When I look for 
 ward, as regards the religious prospects of my numerous family, 
 the most of them, lam forced to say, and feel too, that I have 
 little, very little, to cheer. That this should be so is, I perfectly well 
 understand, the legitimate fruit of my own planting ; and that only 
 increases my punishment. Some ten or twelve years ago I was 
 cheered with the belief that my elder children had chosen the Lord 
 to be their God, and I relied much on their influence and example 
 in atoning for my deficiency and bad example with the younger 
 children. But where are we now ? Several have gone where neither 
 a good nor a bad example from me will better their condition or 
 prospects, or make them worse. I will not dwell longer on this 
 distressing subject, but only say that, so far as I have gone, it is 
 from no disposition to reflect on any one but myself. I think I can 
 clearly discover where I wandered from the road. How now to get 
 on it with my family is beyond my ability to see or my courage to 
 hope. God grant you thorough conversion from sin, and full purpose 
 of heart to continue steadfast in his way, through the very short 
 season you will have to pass." 
 
 The earlier letters of Brown to his elder children contain 
 many remarks of this character ; and there is one long letter 
 to his son John, mainly made up of Scripture texts arranged 
 so as to bring forcibly to the young man's mind the Calvin- 
 istic theology, point by point, its terrors as well as its 
 promises. Here it is : 
 
 AKRON, OHIO, Aug. 26, 1853. 
 
 DEAR SON JOHN, Your letter of the 21st instant was received 
 yesterday, and as I may be somewhat more lengthy than usual I begin 
 my answer at once. The family have enjoyed as good health as 
 usual since I wrote before, but my own health has been poor since 
 
46 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1853. 
 
 in May. Father has had a short turn of fever and ague; Jason and 
 Ellen have had a good deal of it, and were not very stout on Sunday 
 last. The wheat crop has been rather light in this quarter; first 
 crop of grass light; oats very poor; corn and potatoes promise well, 
 and frequent rains have given the late grass a fine start. There has 
 been some very fatal sickness about, but the season so far has been 
 middling healthy. Our sheep and cattle have done well; have raised 
 five hundred and fifty lambs, and expect about eighty cents per pound 
 for our wool. We shall be glad to have a visit from you about the 
 time of our county fair, but I do not yet know at what time it comes. 
 Got a letter from Henry dated the 16th of August; all there well. 
 Grain crops there very good. We are preparing (in our minds, at 
 least) to go back next spring. Mrs. Perkins was confined yesterday 
 with another boy, it being her eleventh child. The understanding 
 between the two families continues much as formerly, so far as I 
 know. 
 
 In Talmadge there has been for some time an unusual seriousness 
 and attention to future interests. In your letter you appear rather 
 disposed to sermonize ; and how will it operate on you and Wealthy 
 if I should pattern after you a little, and also quote some from the 
 Bible ? In choosing my texts, and in quoting from the Bible, I per 
 haps select the very portions which *' another portion" of my family 
 hold are not to be wholly received as true. I forgot to say that rny 
 younger sons (as is common in this u progressive age 7 ') appear to 
 be a little in advance of my older, and have thrown off" the old 
 shackles entirely; after THOROUGH AND CANDID investigation they 
 have discovered the Bible to be ALL a fiction ! Shall I add, that 
 a letter received from you some time since gave me little else th;m 
 pain arid sorrow? "The righteous shall hold on his way;" "By 
 and by he is offended." 
 
 My object at this time is to recall your particular attention to the 
 fact that the earliest, as well as all other, writers of the Bible seem 
 to have been impressed with such ideas of the character of the religion 
 they taught, as led them to apprehend a want of steadfastness among 
 those who might profess to adhere to it (no matter what may have 
 been the motives of the different writers). Accordingly we find the 
 writer of the first five books putting into the mouth of his Moses ex 
 pressions like the following, and they all appear to dwell much on 
 the idea of two distinct classes among their reputed disciples; namely, 
 a genuine and a spurious class : 
 
 u Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or 
 tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the Lord our God, to 
 serve the gods of these nations ; lest there should be among you a 
 root that beareth gall and wormwood." " Then men shall say, 
 
1853. 
 
 YOUTH AND EARLY MANHOOD. 47 
 
 because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord God of their 
 fathers." u But if thine heart turn away so that thou wilt not hear, 
 but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them." 
 " Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach it to the chil 
 dren of Israel ; put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness 
 for me against the children of Israel." " For I know that after my 
 death ye will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way 
 which I have commanded you.' 7 " They have corrupted themselves, 
 their spot is not the spot of his children." " Of the Rock that begat 
 thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee." 
 " Oh, that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would 
 consider their latter end ! " 
 
 The writer here makes his Moses to dwell on this point with a 
 most remarkable solicitude, a most heart-moving earnestness. The 
 writer of the next book makes his Joshua to plead with Israel with 
 the same earnestness. " Choose you this day whom you will serve." 
 " Ye are witnesses against yourselves that ye have chosen you the 
 Lord, to serve him." The writer of the book called Judges uses 
 strong language in regard to the same disposition in Israel to back 
 slide : " And it came to pass when the judge was dead, that they 
 returned and corrupted themselves more than their fathers; they 
 ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way." 
 The writer of the book Ruth makes Naomi say to Orpah, " Thy 
 sister-in-law is gone back unto her people and unto her gods." The 
 writer of the books called Samuel represents Saul as one of the same 
 spurious class. Samuel is made to say to him, u Behold, to obey is 
 better than sacrifice; and to hearken, than the fat of rams," clearly 
 intimating that all service that did not flow from an obedient spirit 
 and an honest heart would be of no avail. He makes his Saul turn 
 out faithless and treacherous in the end, and finally consult a woman 
 " having a familiar spirit," near the close of his sad career. The 
 same writer introduces Ahitophel as one whose counsel " was as if 
 a man had inquired at the oracle of God ; " a writer of the Psalms 
 makes David say of him, " We took sweet counsel together, and 
 walked to the house of God in company ; " but he is left advising the 
 son of David to incest publicly, and soon after hangs himself. The 
 spot of those men seems not to be genuine. 
 
 One distinguishing mark of unsoundness with all the Old Testa 
 ment writers was aversion to the character of the God whom Moses 
 declares in his books, and by whose direction all the so-called proph 
 ets affirmed that they spoke and wrote. The writer of the books 
 called Kings says of Solomon: ''And the Lord was angry with 
 Solomon, because his heart was turned away from the Lord God of 
 Jsrael, which had appeared to him twice." The same writer makes 
 
48 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1853. 
 
 Elijah inquire of Israel : " Plow long halt ye between two opinions? 
 If the Lord be God, follow him ; but if Baal, then follow him." He 
 makes Elijah pray thus: "Hear me, O Lord! hear me, that this 
 people may know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast 
 turned their heart back again." The same writer makes God say 
 to Elijah, " Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the 
 knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath 
 not kissed him." The same writer makes John say, " Come with 
 me and see my zeal for the Lord ; '' but says of him afterward, " But 
 John took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with 
 all his heart." This writer also says of Josiah, " And like unto him 
 there was no king before him, that turned to the Lord with all his 
 heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all 
 the law of Moses ; neither after him arose there any like him." The 
 writer of the book called Chronicles says of Judah, in a time of most 
 remarkable reformation : " And they sware unto the Lord with a 
 loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets ; 
 And all Judah rejoiced at the oath, for they had sworn with all their 
 heart, and sought him with their whole desire, and he was found of 
 them, and the Lord gave them rest round about." Those who wrote 
 the books called Ezra and Nehemiah notice the same distinguishing 
 marks of character. 
 
 The writer of the book (sailed Job, makes God to say of him : 
 " There is none like him in the earth ; a perfect and an upright man, 
 one who feareth God and escheweth evil, and still he holdeth fast his 
 integrity." The same writer makes Eliphaz put to Job these ques 
 tions, remarkable, but searching : "Is not this thy fear, thy confi 
 dence, thy hope, and the uprightness of thy ways ? " This writer 
 makes his different characters call the unstable and unsound, hypo 
 crites. Bildad says, "So are the paths of all that forget God, and 
 the hypocrite's hope shall perish. Whose hope shall be cut off, and 
 whose trust shall be a spider's web." Zophar says of the same class 
 v>f persons, " And their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost." 
 Eliphaz says, "Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity, for 
 vanity shall be his recompense." Job says, "I know that my Re 
 deemer liveth, whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes behold, 
 and not another." Zophar says, " The triumphing of the wicked is 
 short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment." Job is made 
 to inquire concerning those who deceive themselves (as though the 
 thing had come to be well understood in his day) : " Will he de 
 light himself in the Almighty ? Will he always call upon God ? " 
 One writer of the Psalms says of those who did not love Israel's God, 
 " Through the pride of his countenance he will not seek after God. 
 God is not in all his thoughts." 
 
1853.] YOUTH AND EARLY MANHOOD. 49 
 
 A writer of the Psalms, in view of the different feelings of men 
 toward the God of the Bible, has this language : " With the mer 
 ciful thou wilt show thyself merciful, with an upright man thou wilt 
 show thyself upright, with the pure, thou wilt show thyself pure, and 
 with the froward thou wilt show thyself froward." Again in the 
 Psalms we read, u The meek shall eat and be satisfied, they shall 
 praise the Lord that seek him." Again, " The meek will he guide 
 in judgment, and the meek will he teach his way." " All the paths 
 of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and 
 testimonies." ll The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him, 
 and he will show them his covenant." " Oh, how great is thy good 
 ness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee, which thou hast 
 wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men ! " u The 
 angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and 
 delivereth them." " The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants, 
 and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate." " Though 
 he fall, yet he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth 
 him with his hand." " The law of his God is in his heart ; none of 
 his steps shall slide." " But the salvation of the righteous is of the 
 Lord ; he is their strength in the time of trouble." " Mark the per 
 fect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace." 
 "The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing; thou 
 wilt make all his bed in his sickness." " Our heart is not turned 
 back, neither have our steps declined from thy way." " They go 
 from strength to strength ; every one of them in Zion appear before 
 God." " Great peace have they that love thy law, and nothing shall 
 offend them." "Then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect 
 unto all thy commandments." " If T forget thee, Jerusalem ! let 
 my right hand forget her cunning." " The backslider in heart shall 
 be filled with his own ways." " To the law and to the testimony ! if 
 they speak not according to their word, it is because there is no light 
 in them." " Thus saith the Lord, What iniquity have your fathers 
 found in me that they are gone far from me, and have walked after 
 vanity, and have become vain ? " " Turn, back-sliding children, 
 saith the Lord." "But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, 
 but walked in the counsels and in the imaginations of their evil 
 heart, and went backward and not forward." " Yea, the stork in 
 the heaven knoweth her appointed times, and the turtle and the crane 
 and the swallow observe the time of their coming, but my people 
 know not the judgment of the Lord. " " The heart is deceitful above 
 all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?" "Thy 
 prophets have seen vain and foolish things for thee, and they have 
 not discovered thine iniquity." " They that observe lying vanities 
 forsake their own mercy." " Then they shall answer, Because they 
 
 4 
 
50 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1853. 
 
 have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God." " Forty years 
 long was I grieved with this generation, and said it is a people that 
 do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways." " But 
 they like men have transgressed the covenant ; there have they dealt 
 treacherously against me." " Many shall be purified and made white 
 and tried, but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked 
 shall understand, but the wise shall understand." "The preacher 
 sought to find out acceptable words, and that which was written was 
 upright, even words of truth." ''That the generation to come might 
 know them, even the children which should be born, who should 
 arise and declare them to their children ; that they might set their 
 hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his com 
 mandments ; and might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and re 
 bellious generation ; a generation that set not their heart aright, and 
 whose spirit was not steadfast with God." " Who is wise and shall 
 understand these things; prudent, and he shall know them ? For the 
 ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them ; but the 
 transgressor shall fall therein." 
 
 " Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I also 
 confess before my Father which is in Heaven." " And many false 
 prophets shall arise, and shall deceive many ; and because iniquity 
 shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." " And blessed is he 
 whosoever shall not be offended in me." " They on the rock are 
 they which when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these 
 have no root, and for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall 
 away." u From that time many of his disciples went back, and 
 walked no more with him." u He that rejecteth me, and receiveth 
 not my words, hath one that judgeth him : the word that I have 
 spoken, the same shall judge him at the last day." u Every branch 
 in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away." il But if our gospel 
 be hid, it is hid to them that are lost." " I marvel that ye are so 
 soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ, 
 unto another gospel." " Ye did run well: who did hinder you that 
 ye should not obey the truth ? " " Beware lest any man spoil you 
 through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after 
 the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." " For now we 
 live, if ye stand fast in the Lord." " For the time will come when 
 they will not endure sound doctrine." " Therefore we ought to give 
 the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any 
 time we should let them slip." " Let us therefore fear lest a promise 
 being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come 
 short of it." il And we desire that every one of you do show the 
 same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end; that ye be 
 not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience 
 
1853.] YOUTH AND EARLY MANHOOD. 51 
 
 inherit the promises." " Now the just shall live by faith j but if any 
 man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him." ." And this 
 I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge 
 and in all judgment, that ye may approve things that are excellent, 
 that may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ. 7 ' "And 
 make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned 
 out of the way, but let it rather be healed." " Looking diligently 
 lest any man fail of the grace of God." " For it had been better for 
 them not to have known the way of righteousness, than after they 
 have known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto 
 them." " Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou 
 hast left thy first love. Eemember therefore from whence thou art 
 fallen, and repent." u Be watchful, and strengthen the things which 
 remain and are ready to die, for I have not found thy works perfect 
 before God." " He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in 
 white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of 
 life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his 
 angels." " Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, 
 lest he walk naked and they see his shame. Amen." " And I 
 beseech you [children] to suffer the word of exhortation." 
 
 AKRON, OHIO, Sept. 23, 1853. 
 
 DEAR CHILDREN. It is now nearly a month since I began on 
 another page. Since writing before, father has seemed quite well, 
 but Jason, Ellen, Owen, and Frederick have all had more or less of 
 the ague. They were as well as usual, for them, yesterday. Others 
 of the family are in usual health. I did mean that my letter should 
 go off at once, but I have not become very stout, and have a great 
 deal to look after, and have had many interruptions. We have done 
 part of our sowing, and expect to get all our corn (of which we have 
 a good crop) secure from frost this day. We shall be glad to see you 
 here at the time of our county fair, which is to be on the twelfth and 
 thirteenth of October. 
 
 I hope that through the infinite grace and mercy of God you may 
 be brought to see the error of your ways, and be in earnest to turn 
 many to righteousness, instead of leading astray : and then you might 
 prove a great blessing to Essex County, or to any place where your 
 lot may fall. I do not feel " estranged from my children," but I 
 cannot flatter them, nor "cry peace when there is no peace." My 
 wife and Oliver expect to set out for Pennsylvania before long, and 
 will probably call on you j but probably not until after the fair. We 
 have a nice lot of chickens fattening for you, when you come. 
 Your affectionate father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
52 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1837. 
 
 The blending of spiritual and worldly considerations in 
 this apostolic epistle is characteristic. The kingdom of 
 heaven and the affairs of earth were closely associated in 
 John Brown's mind, as in Cromwell's. He could trust in 
 God and keep his powder dry. The explanation of his son's 
 indifference to the Calvinistic Church and its Bible-worship 
 is not wholly discreditable to the young man, however ; and 
 since John Brown, Jr., has not only furnished me this let 
 ter, but has related the origin of his coldness towards the 
 churches, I will quote his words. He says : 
 
 "About 1837 mother, Jason, Owen, and I joined the Congrega 
 tional Church at Franklin, the Rev. Mr. Burritt pastor. Shortly 
 after the other societies, including Methodists and Episcopalians, 
 joined ours in an undertaking to hold a protracted meeting under 
 the special management of an Evangelist preacher from Cleveland, 
 named Avery. The house of the Congregationalists being the largest, 
 it was chosen as the place for this meeting. Invitations were sent 
 out to Church folks in adjoining towns to ' come up to the help of 
 the Lord against the mighty ; ' and soon the house was crowded, the 
 assembly occupying by invitation the pews of the church generally. 
 Preacher Avery gave us in succession four sermons from one text, 
 ' Cast ye up, cast ye up ! Prepare ye the way of the Lord ; make 
 his paths straight ! ' Soon lukewarm Christians were heated up to a 
 melting condition, and there was a bright prospect of a good shower 
 of grace. There were at that time in Franklin a number of free 
 colored persons and some fugitive slaves. These became interested 
 and came to the meetings, but were given seats by themselves, where 
 the stove had stood, near the door, not a good place for seeing 
 ministers or singers. Father noticed this, and when the next meet 
 ing (which was at evening) had fairly opened, he rose and called 
 attention to the fact, that, in seating the colored portion of the au 
 dience, a discrimination had been made, and said that he did not 
 believe God is l a respecter of persons.' He then invited the colored 
 people to occupy his slip. The blacks accepted, and all of our family 
 took their vacated seats. This was a bomb-shell, and the Holy 
 Spirit in the hearts of Pastor Burritt and Deacon Beach at once 
 gave up his place to another tenant. Next day father received a call 
 from the Deacons to admonish him and ' labor ' with him ; but they 
 returned with new views of Christian duty. The blacks during the 
 remainder of that protracted meeting continued to occupy our slip, 
 and our family the seats around the stove. We soon after moved to 
 Hudson, and though living three miles away, became regular attend- 
 
1837.J YOUTH AND EARLY MANHOOD. 53 
 
 ants at the Congregational Church in the centre of the town. In 
 about a year we received a letter from good Deacon Williams, in 
 forming us that our relations with the church in Franklin were ended 
 in accordance with a rule made by the church since we left, that ' any 
 member being absent a year without reporting him or herself to that 
 church should be cut off.' This was the first intimation we had of 
 the existence of the rule. Father, on reading the letter, became 
 white with anger. This was my first taste of the proslavery diabo 
 lism that had intrenched itself in the Church, and I shed a few un 
 called for tears over the matter, for instead I should have rejoiced in 
 my emancipation. From that date my theological shackles were a 
 good deal broken, and I have not worn them since (to speak of), 
 not even for ornament." l 
 
 Milton Lusk, the uncle of the elder children of John 
 Brown, told me in 1882 that he first separated from the 
 Congregational Church in Hudson upon the issue of coloni 
 zation for the colored people, although in his case there 
 were other grounds of difference. His brother-in-law never 
 " came out " from the Church in the sense of the early aboli 
 tionists, although he censured the subservience of the clergy 
 and the laity to the prejudices of the people. Brown's rev 
 erence for the Jible as a divine gift to man and a rule of life 
 never faltered, and his ancestral faith was declared as fer 
 vently in his last days of glorious imprisonment as any of 
 the Christian martyrs avowed theirs. But he grew more 
 tolerant of differences of opinion as he advanced in years, 
 and he found no fault with the religion of Theodore Parker, 
 though it was so unlike his own. 
 
 1 A shorter account of this affair, as remembered by Kuth Thompson, 
 has already been given. 
 
54 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1826. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 JOHN BROWN AS A BUSINESS MAN. 
 
 '"PHE letters of Brown to his father, already cited, show 
 that he was diligent in his worldly calling. His 
 vocations were various, as is customary with Americans 
 of New England origin, and with all his higher quali 
 ties, John Brown was a true Yankee. His autobiography 
 shows how active and ambitious he was when a boy ; and 
 this activity never deserted him. His father had trained 
 him to his own occupation, that of a tanner ; but he 
 was also a land-surveyor, lumber-dealer, postmaster, wool- 
 grower, breeder and trainer of race-horses, stock-fancier, land 
 speculator, farmer, orchardist, wool-factor, wool-sorter, and 
 pioneer in a new country, like the Adirondac wilderness 
 around Whiteface and Lake Placid. Emerson almost de 
 scribed him when he wrote in his " Self-EeJiance " of that 
 " sturdy lad from New Hampshire or Vermont, who in turn 
 tries all the professions, who teams it, farms it, peddles, 
 keeps a school, preaches, edits a newspaper, goes to Con 
 gress, buys a township, and so forth, in successive years, 
 and always like a cat falls on his feet." This man, says 
 Emerson further, "walks abreast of his days, and feels 
 no shame in not ' studying a profession ; ' for he does not 
 postpone his life, but lives already." 
 
 Following the advice of Franklin, who was one of Brown's 
 oracles, he married young, as we have seen, so that his old 
 est son was but twenty-one years younger than himself. 
 Having begun thus early to " give hostages of fortune," as 
 Bacon says, John Brown devoted himself with diligence to 
 his occupation, for the support of his young family. He 
 was a tanner and land-surveyor at Hudson until 1825, when 
 he moved to Richmond, near Meadville, in Pennsylvania, 
 and there carried on the same vocations. He remained 
 until 1835, then removed to Franklin Mills, Portage County, 
 
1837.] JOHN BROWN AS A BUSINESS MAN. 55 
 
 Ohio, and there mingled speculation in land with his tan 
 ning. Upon this point, John Brown, Jr., says : " When 
 the Pennsylvania and Ohio canal was located through Frank 
 lin, father purchased the old Haymaker farm and divided 
 it into village lots. In the reverses and pecuniary disas 
 ters of 1836-37, he made an assignment of all his property 
 for the benefit of his creditors. His farm in South Kent 
 (then Franklin), now covered by valuable residences and 
 shops, went with the rest. Those who visit Kent now 
 [1884] will see that father's business anticipations were 
 only a little in advance of the times." It was at a later 
 date that the sale of Brown's farms in Hudson was followed 
 by an adventure which has given occasion for some petty 
 scandal against him. This has been answered, and the 
 affair explained by his son John, as follows : " The farm 
 in question father lost by indorsing a note for a friend. It 
 was attached and sold by the sheriff at the county seat. 
 The only bidder against my father was an old neighbor, 
 hitherto regarded as a friend, who became the purchaser. 
 Father's lawyer advised him to ' hold the fort ' for a time 
 at least, and endeavor to secure terms from the purchaser. 
 There was, as I remember, an old shot-gun in the house, but 
 it was not loaded nor pointed at. any one. No sheriff came 
 on the premises ; no officer or posse was resisted ; no threat 
 of violence offered. The purchaser finally swore out a peace 
 warrant against father ; and within half an hour after our 
 arrest by a constable, he tore down that terrible old log 
 fort." 
 
 The bankruptcy of John Brown, to which he alludes in 
 several of his letters, and in connection with which he was 
 once imprisoned in the county jail at Akron, occurred in 
 1842, and the imprisonment was in consequence of this 
 affair of the Hudson farm. Among his creditors then was 
 the New England Woollen Company at Bockville in Con 
 necticut, to whose agent he gave the following agreement, 
 with the letter annexed : 
 
 RICHFIELD, Oct. 17, 1842. 
 
 Whereas I, John Brown, on or about the 15th day of June, A. D. 
 1839, received of the New England Company (through their agent, 
 George Kellogg, Esq.), the sum of twenty-eight hundred dollars for 
 
56 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1842. 
 
 the purchase of wool for said company, and imprudently pledged the 
 same for my own benefit, and could not redeem it ; and whereas I 
 have been legally discharged from my obligations by the laws of the 
 United States, I hereby agree (in consideration of the great kind 
 ness and tenderness of said Company toward me in my calamity, 
 and more particularly of the moral obligation I am under to render 
 to all their due), to pay the same and the interest thereon, from 
 time to time, as Divine Providence shall enable me to do. Witness 
 my hand and seal. 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 RICHFIELD, SUMMIT COUNTY, OHIO, Oct. 17, 1842. 
 GEORGE KELLOGG, ESQ. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I have just received information of my final discharge 
 as a bankrupt in the District Court, and I ought to be grateful that 
 no one of my creditors has made any opposition to such discharge 
 being given. I shall now, if my lite is continued, have an oppor 
 tunity of proving the sincerity of my past professions, when legally 
 free to act as I choose. I am sorry to say that in consequence of the 
 unforeseen expense of getting the discharge, the loss of an ox, and 
 the destitute condition in which a new surrender of my effects has 
 placed me, with my numerous family, I fear this year must pass 
 without my effecting in the way of payment what I have encouraged 
 you to expect (notwithstanding I have been generally prosperous in 
 my business for the season). 
 
 Respectfully your unworthy friend, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 These papers show the real integrity of Brown in a trans 
 action where he might have escaped the obligation which he 
 thus assumed. He had not paid the whole of this debt at 
 his death in 1859. In his will then made he bequeathed 
 fifty dollars toward paying the claim, which the Company 
 received and placed to his credit. 
 
 Another of Brown's creditors at a later period was Dwight 
 Hopkins, formerly of Ohio, but lately of Montana, who 
 followed him to Kansas in 1855-56 to collect some part of 
 his debt. He found Brown, as the story goes, " in a little 
 cabin with his toes out of his boots, and nothing but mush 
 and milk on the table, the old man tearfully regretting 
 his lack of better entertainment." 1 Hopkins got his pay 
 
 1 Letter of Hosea Paul, of Wabash, Ind., Jan. 17, 1875, from which 
 some of the above statements are taken. 
 
1844.] JOHN BROWN AS A BUSINESS MAN. 57 
 
 finally ; but that was not always the case with Brown's 
 creditors, as we have seen, and shall see. He would seem 
 to have been " a visionary man in business affairs, and of a 
 restless, speculating disposition, not content with the plod 
 ding details of ordinary trade." As to his wool specula 
 tions, Colonel Simon Perkins, of Akron, when questioned by 
 me in 1878 l about Brown's wool-growing and wool-dealing, re 
 plied, " The less you say about them the better." I answered 
 that the more I knew, the better I should be able to say 
 the less. He then said that Brown was a rough herdsman, 
 though a good wool-sorter; "in general terms, he was not a 
 good shepherd, though a nice judge of the quality of wool." 
 He used shepherd dogs, " because it was then the fashion to 
 use them, as much for company as anything else ; but they 
 did more harm than good." He said he kept but one thou 
 sand five hundred sheep when Brown had charge of them, 
 and that he could easily distinguish every sheep from every 
 other, for " shdep look about as much alike as men do." 
 " Brown took all the care and risk of the flock, and accounted 
 to me at the end of the year, when we divided the profits ; 
 he was here off and on for ten or twelve years. In the 
 wool business at Springfield I furnished the capital ; Brown 
 managed according to his own impulses : he would not 
 listen to anybody, but did what he took into his head. He 
 was solicitous to go into the business of selling wool, and I 
 allowed him to do it ; but he had little judgment, always 
 followed his own will, and lost much money. His father 
 had more judgment and less will. I had no controversy 
 with John Brown, for it would have done no good." " Do 
 
 1 May 29, 1878, I visited the large farm of Colonel Perkins, lying just 
 outside the city limits of Akron, in the township of Portage, where Brown 
 herded sheep as late as 1854. Calling on Colonel Perkins a little before 
 noon, I found him walking in his garden, a white-bearded man with a for 
 bidding manner, who evidently grudged me the half-hour I asked of him 
 to talk about Brown. He said he had letters of Brown ; but they were 
 business letters, and not to be shown. He said he no longer kept sheep, 
 because " it does not pay to keep them here, so near to the city ; " that 
 his crops were wheat, fruit, vegetables, etc. I told him that I knew much 
 of Brown's Virginia campaign, but little of his life as a sheep-farmer, and 
 obtained the information given above. 
 
58 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1843. 
 
 you mean to connect me with that Virginia affair ? " said 
 Colonel Perkins. " I consider him and the men that helped 
 him in that the biggest set of fools in the world." Evi 
 dently he had treated Brown more generously than he now 
 spoke of him, and no doubt sympathized with him in his ef 
 fort to help the wool-growers. Mr. T. B. Musgrave, of ISTew 
 York, who was then well acquainted with the wool-trade, has 
 told me that the warehousing of wool at Springfield and else 
 where was a new feature introduced by Brown, in order to 
 enhance prices in the interest of the farmers. 
 
 Brown went from Franklin to Hudson in 1839, having 
 also lived at Hudson in 1836-37, and in 1840 for a time. 
 In 1841 he kept the sheep of Captain Oviatt, a farmer and 
 merchant of Eichfield. After his reverses in 1837 he had 
 taken up the romantic life of a shepherd, that, as he says, 
 " being a calling for which in early life he had a kind of 
 enthusiastic longing." At the age of thirty-nine, when he 
 entered fully upon this " calling," he also had, as he says, 
 "the idea that as a business it bid fair to afford him the 
 means of carrying out his greatest or principal object." 
 This object was the liberation of the slaves; and the plan 
 which he had formed for this was in substance the same in 
 1839 that it was twenty years later, when he put it in exe 
 cution. " If he kept sheep," said Emerson, " it was with 
 a royal mind ; and if he traded in wool, he was a merchant- 
 prince, not in the amount of wealth, but in the protection 
 of the interests confided to him." A few of his letters at 
 this period may be cited to show how he dealt with these 
 interests, whether of animals or of men. 
 
 Letters of John Broivn to his Children. 
 
 RICHFIELD, OHIO, July 24, 1843. 
 
 DEAR SON JOHN, I well know how to appreciate the feelings 
 of a young person among strangers, and at a distance from home ; and 
 no want of good feeling towards you, or interest in you, has been 
 the reason why I have not written you before. I have been careful 
 and troubled with so much serving, that I have in a great measure 
 neglected the one thing needful, and pretty much stopped all corres 
 pondence with heaven. My worldly business has borne heavily, and 
 still does ; but we progress some, have our sheep sheared, and have 
 
1844.] JOHN BROWN AS A BUSINESS MAN. 59 
 
 done something at our haying. Have our tanning business going on 
 in about the same proportion, that is, we are pretty fairly behind 
 in business, and feel that I must nearly or quite give up one or other 
 of the branches, for want of regular troops on whom to depend. We 
 should like to know how you expect to dispose of your time hereafter, 
 and how you get along, what your studies are, and what difficulties 
 you meet. I w r ould send you some money, but I have not yet re 
 ceived a dollar from any source since you left. I should not be so dry 
 of funds could I but overtake my work ; but all is well, all is well. 
 Will you come home or not this fall f I suppose there are some per 
 sons in Richfield who would be middling fond of seeing you back once 
 more, wherever you may be. I hope you may behave yourself wisely 
 in all things. 
 
 From your affectionate father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 RICHFIELD, Jan. 11, 1844. 
 
 DEAR SON JOHN, Your letter, dated December 21, was re 
 ceived some days ago, but I have purposely delayed till now, in 
 order to comply with your request that I should write about every 
 thing. We are all in health ; amongst the number is a new sister, 1 
 about three weeks old. I know of no one of our friends that is not in 
 comfortable health. I have just met with father ; he was with us a 
 few days since, and all were then well in Hudson. Our flock is well, 
 and we seem to be overtaking our business in the tannery. Divine 
 Providence seems to smile on our works at this time ; I hope we 
 shall not prove unthankful for any favor, nor forget the giver. (I 
 have gone to sleep a great many times while writing the above.) 
 The boys and Ruth are trying to improve some this winter, and are 
 effecting a little I think. I have lately entered into a copartnership 
 with Simon Perkins, Jr., of Akron, with a view to carry on the 
 sheep business extensively. He is to furnish all the feed and shelter 
 for wintering, as a set-off against our taking all the care of the flock. 
 All other expenses we are to share equally, and to divide the profits 
 equally. This arrangement will reduce our cash rents at least $250 
 yearly, and save our hiring help in haying. We expect to keep the 
 Captain Oviatt farm for pasturing, but my family will go into a very 
 good house belonging to Mr. Perkins. say from a half a mile to a 
 mile out of Akron. I think this is the most comfortable and the most 
 favorable arrangement of my worldly concerns that I ever had, and 
 calculated to afford us more leisure for improvement, by day and by 
 night, than any other, I do hope that God has enabled us to make 
 
 1 Anne Brown, now Mrs. Adams. 
 
60 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1844. 
 
 it in mercy to us, and not that he should send leanness into our souls. 
 Our time will all be at our own command, except the care of the 
 flock. We have nothing to do with providing for them in the winter 
 excepting harvesting rutahagas and potatoes. 
 
 This, I think, will be considered no mean alliance for our family, 
 and I most earnestly hope they will have wisdom given to make the 
 most of it. It is certainly indorsing the poor bankrupt and his family, 
 three of whom were but recently in Akron jail, in a manner quite un 
 expected, and proves that notwithstanding we have been a company 
 of u Belted Knights," our industrious and steady endeavors to main 
 tain our integrity and our character have not been wholly overlooked. 
 Mr. Perkins is perfectly advised of our poverty, and the times that 
 have passed over us. Perhaps you may think best to have some 
 connection with this business. I do not know of ANY person in 
 KICHFIELD that you would be likely to be fond of hearing from in 
 particular, excepting one at Cleveland ; and if hearing from ANY 
 person prove to be a very up-stream business, I would advise not 
 to worry at present. Will you let me know how it stands between 
 you and all parties concerned ? l 
 
 Your father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 To his wife he wrote thus at this period : 
 
 SPRINGFIELD, MASS., March 7, 1844. 
 
 MY DEAR MARY, It is once more Sabbath evening, and nothing 
 so much accords with my feelings as to spend a portion of it in con 
 versing with the partner of my choice, and the sharer of my poverty, 
 trials, discredit, and sore afflictions, as well as of what comfort and 
 seeming prosperity has fallen to my lot for quite a number of years. 
 I would you should realize that, notwithstanding I am absent in 
 body, I am very much of the time present in spirit. I do not forget 
 the firm attachment of her who has remained my fast arid faithful 
 affectionate friend, when others said of me, " Now that he lieth, he 
 shall rise up no more." ... I now feel encouraged to believe that 
 my absence will not be very long. After being so much away, it 
 seems as if I knew pretty well how to appreciate the quiet of home. 
 There is a peculiar music in the word which a half-year's absence in 
 a distant country would enable you to understand. Millions there 
 are who have no such thing to lay claim to. I feel considerable regret 
 by turns that I have lived so many years, and have in reality done so 
 
 1 The allusion at the close of this letter is to some affairs of the heart in 
 which the young man then had an interest ; for love was no more a stranger 
 to these Ohio shepherds than to those of Sicily. 
 
1844.] JOHN BROWN AS A BUSINESS MAN. 61 
 
 little to increase the amount of human happiness. I often regret that 
 my manner is no more kind and affectionate to those I really love 
 and esteem ; but I trust my friends will overlook my harsh, rough 
 ways, when I cease to be in their way as an occasion of pain and un- 
 happiness. In imagination I often see you in your room with Little 
 Chick and that strange Anna. You must say to her that father 
 means to come before long and kiss somebody. I will close by 
 saying that it is my growing resolution to endeavor to promote fny 
 own happiness by doing what I can to render those about me more 
 so. If the large boys do wrong, call them alone into your room, and 
 expostulate with them kindly, and see if you cannot reach them by a 
 kind but powerful appeal to their honor. I do not claim that such 
 a theory accords very well with my practice ; I frankly confess it does 
 not j but I want your face to shine, even if my own should be dark 
 and cloudy. You can let the family read this letter, and perhaps you 
 may not feel it a great burden to answer it, and let me hear all about 
 how you get along. 
 
 Affectionately yours, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 CLEVELAND, June 22, 1844. 
 
 DEAR SON JOHN, I received your letter some days ago, but was 
 so busy in preparing for my journey to Lowell (on which I now am) 
 that I could find no time to write before. We had been waiting for 
 news from you for some time, not knowing where you were, and were 
 all glad of your letter. I will give a little account of things since 
 you left. We moved to Akron about the 10th of April ; get along 
 very pleasantly with our neighbors Perkins ; find them very affable 
 and kind. Have had a good deal of loss amongst our sheep from 
 grub in the head. Have raised 560 lambs, and have 2,700 pounds 
 of wool ; have been offered 56 cents per pound for one ton of it. 
 Jason spends most of his time in Kichfield. Have not yet done 
 finishing leather, but shall probably get through in a few weeks 
 after my return. The general aspect of our worldly affairs is favor 
 able. Hope we do not entirely forget God. I am extremely ignorant 
 at present of miscellaneous subjects. Have not been at Richfield for 
 some time, and have but, a moment to write, on board a boat. I 
 enclose three dollars, and would more, but may be short of expense 
 money. May write you at Lowell or Boston j l may return by you. 
 Your affectionate father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 1 Mr. Amos A. Lawrence, of Boston, writes me (Feb. 25, 1885), "Brown 
 was the agent of our Firm to buy wool in Ohio, as early as 1843." 
 
62 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1846. 
 
 AKRON, Jan. 27, 1846. 
 
 DEAR SON JOHN, I arrived at home December 2d ; had a fa 
 tiguing but I should think a prosperous journey, and brought with 
 me a few choice sheep. Our wool sold by the sort, at from 24 cents 
 to $1.20 per pound, just as we wash it on the sheep; average, about 
 the same as last year, perhaps a little better. Our flock have done 
 remarkably this winter, and are in good condition and health. We 
 have lost but three by disease since sometime in the fall. Our sales 
 of sheep (mostly bucks) since August amount to about $ 640. Since 
 my return, I have been troubled considerably with my eyes. They are 
 better now. Your letter to Ruth is received, and she is preparing to 
 go with you when you come out. I have a plan to lay before you for 
 your operations after the first of June next, and hope you will not com 
 mit yourself for a longer time until you hear it. I think we have quite 
 as much worldly prosperity as will be likely to be a real blessing to 
 us. Fred is in Richfield for the present, with about 250 sheep arid a 
 dog under his command. He seems disposed to reading and some 
 thought. Would like to have you write him there, or here perhaps 
 would be better. Write often. 
 
 Affectionately your father, JOHN BROWN. 
 
 RICHMOND, JEFFERSON COUNTY, OHIO, March 24, 1846. 
 
 DEAR SON, I am out among the wool-growers, with a view to 
 the next summer's operations. Left home about a week ago; all were 
 then in middling health except some very hard colds. I expect to be 
 out some three or four weeks yet, and on that account do not know as 
 I shall be able to hear from you and Ruth until I get home. Hope to 
 hear from you then. Mr. Perkins came home a day or two after you 
 left, full in the faith of our plan, having completed our arrangements. 
 Our plan seems to meet with general favor. Jason and I have talked 
 of a visit to Canada on our return next fall. We would like to know 
 more about that country. We should be glad to hear something from 
 George Delamater, and to know where he is, and what he really means 
 to be. You may, if you think best, say so to him, and tell him we 
 have not forgotten him. Our unexampled success in minor affairs 
 might be a lesson to us of what unity and perseverance might do in 
 things of some importance. If you learn of any considerable wool- 
 dealers or wool-growers, you can use the circular, and more may be 
 sent if best ; of that you can judge after a little inquiry. I may 
 write you again before I go home. Say to Ruth, to be all that to-day 
 which she intends to be to-morrow. 
 
 Your father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
1846.1 
 
 JOHN BROWN AS A BUSINESS MAN. 
 
 63 
 
 The " circular " mentioned in the last letter is the follow 
 ing, first issued in 1846, and written by Brown : 
 
 THE UNDERSIGNED, commission wool-merchants, wool -graders, 
 and exporters, have completed arrangements for receiving wool of 
 growers and holders, and for grading and selling the same for cash at 
 its real value, when quality and condition are considered. Terms for 
 storing, grading, and selling will be two cents per pound, and about one 
 mill per pound additional for postage and insurance against loss by fire. 
 These will cover all charges. Those consigning wool to us should 
 pay particular attention to the marking of their sacks j near one end 
 
 of each sack should be marked in plain characters, "From " 
 
 (here give the owner's name in full, together with the No. and weight 
 of each bale). On the side of each sack direct to Perkins & Brown, 
 Springfield, Mass. 
 
 REFERENCES. 
 
 Persons wishing for information in regard to our responsibility, 
 punctuality, etc., are referred to the following gentlemen : 
 
 Hox. JEREMIAH H. HALLOCK, Steu- 
 
 benville, Jefferson County, Ohio. 
 ADAM HELDENBRAND, Esq., Massil- 
 
 lon, Stark County, Ohio. 
 JAMES W. WALLACE, Esq., Brandy- 
 wine Mills, Summit County, Ohio. 
 MATTHEW MC!\EEVER, Esq., West 
 
 Middletown, Washington Co., Penn. 
 JOHN SMART, Esq., Darlington, 
 
 Beaver County, Penn. 
 FEED'K BRANDT, Esq., Gennano, 
 
 Harrison County, Ohio. 
 BISHOP ALEXANDER CAMPBELL, 
 
 Bethany College, Va. 
 J. D. & W. H. LADD, Richmond, 
 
 Jefferson County, Ohio. 
 H. T. KIRTLAND, Esq., Poland, 
 
 Trumbull County, Ohio. 
 JOHN R. JONES, Esq., Vernon, N. Y. 
 AUSTIN B. WEBSTER, Esq., Vernon, 
 
 Oneida County, N. Y. 
 
 SPRINGFIELD, MASS., 1846. 
 
 WILLIAM PATTERSON, Esq., Patter 
 son's Mills, Washington County, 
 Penn. 
 
 JAMES PATTERSON, Esq., Patterson's 
 Mills, Washington County, Penn. 
 
 SAMUEL PATTERSON, Esq., Patter 
 son's Mills, Washington County, 
 Penn. 
 
 JESSE EDDINGTON, Esq., Steuben- 
 ville, Jefferson County, Ohio. 
 
 PATTERSON & EWING, Burgettstown, 
 Washington County, Penn. 
 
 WM. BROWNLP:E, Esq.. Washington, 
 Washington County, Penn. 
 
 FRED'K KINSMAN, Esq., Warren, 
 Trumbull County, Ohio. 
 
 HEM AN OVIATT, Esq., Richfield, 
 Summit County, Ohio. 
 
 VAN R. HUMPHREY, Esq., Hudson, 
 Summit County, Ohio. 
 
 PERKINS & BROWN. 
 
 In 1846, while in the midst of these occupations as a 
 wool-grower and wool-dealer, John Brown came back to 
 New England for a few years, and took up his abode at 
 Springfield, in Massachusetts, not very far from the first 
 
64 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1847. 
 
 Connecticut home of his ancestors in Windsor. He went 
 there to reside as one of this firm of Perkins & Brown, 
 agents of the sheep-farmers and wool-merchants in North 
 ern Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Virginia, whose 
 interests then required an agency to stand between them 
 and the wool-manufacturers of New England, to whom they 
 sold their fleeces. The Ohio wool-growers fancied that 
 they were fleeced as well as their flocks in the transactions 
 they had with these manufacturers, who would buy wool 
 before it was graded, pay for it at the price of a low grade, 
 and then sort it so as to bring themselves a large profit. In 
 the contest which Brown carried on with them, these New 
 England manufacturers finally won, but, as he thought, by 
 bribing one of his subordinates. Concerning his business 
 life at Springfield, I have the following particulars and 
 anecdotes from Mr. E. C. Leonard, now of New Bedford, 
 who had an office in the same block with Brown, at Spring 
 field, near the 'railroad station and the Massasoit House. 
 Mr. Leonard calls him, familiarly, "Uncle John," but not 
 from relationship. 
 
 il I first knew John Brown in the summer of 1847, when he rented 
 the upper part of John L. King's old warehouse by the railroad, and 
 I occupied the lower floor and cellar. He was busy with his men 
 sorting wool upstairs, and seldom stopped to say more than a short 
 pleasant word, in passing up or down through my store. 
 
 " Chester W. Chapin was building a block next south of the old 
 railroad office, and Uncle John had engaged one store and the lofts, 
 into which he moved early in 1848. In 1850 he was winding up 
 his wool business, and I engaged the room he occupied, and moved in 
 to the store while he still held the lofts. I was then more intimately 
 in contact with him, and learned more of his nature and opinions, 
 and then learned to respect him highly. His wool business was un 
 successful. I always understood that some time in 1845-46, the 
 wool- growers of Pennsylvania and Ohio, and perhaps of Illinois, had 
 a convention in some western city, among them Uncle John, who 
 then owned a flock of Saxony sheep with Mr. Perkins of Akron, 
 Ohio, said to be the finest and most perfect flock in the United States, 
 arid worth about $20,000. At this convention Uncle John suggested 
 the plan of having an agent in Massachusetts to whom the growers 
 should send their wool, have it graded, and sold at a certain sum per 
 pound. The idea took, and to the surprise of Uncle John, they pitched 
 
1849.] JOHN BROWN AS A BUSINESS MAN. , 65 
 
 upon him as their agent. I understood that he was finally persuaded 
 to take the agency with considerable difficulty, but at last consented, 
 and went into it with his usual energy. The idea of the Association 
 was, that all their wool should go there, be graded, sold, and each 
 to share proportionally in the price, according to quality, fineness, 
 cleanliness, etc. This was all very well the first year, when wool 
 advanced somewhat upon the opening market, and the growers 
 netted better prices than they had been in the habit of getting ; 
 but it did not last. Uncle John tried to carry out the idea impar 
 tially, with all the rigor of theory and of his habits of thought. But 
 those growers who had taken pains with the fineness, cleanliness, 
 etc., of their wool found they had to discount from the price it 
 brought on account of the carelessness of other growers, when the 
 general average was made up at the end of the season. Those, too, 
 who had brought their wool to market early, and had it graded and 
 sold early at good prices, found there was a discount from the falling 
 of the market later in the season. Besides, Uncle John was no 
 trader: he waited until his wools were graded, and then fixed a 
 price ; if this suited the manufacturers they took the fleeces; if not, 
 they bought elsewhere, and Uncle John had to submit finally to a 
 much less price than he could have got. Yet he was a scrupulously 
 honest and upright man, hard and inflexible, but everybody had 
 just what belonged to him. Brown was in a position to make a for 
 tune, and a regular-bred merchant would have done so, benefiting 
 the wool-growers and the manufacturers mutually. But, as I said, 
 it was a failure." 
 
 How extensive this business became before it closed may 
 be seen by some calculations before me, in Brown's hand 
 writing, but without any date of the year, presumably, 
 however, before he went to Europe, in 1849. These fig 
 ures evidently represent the agent's transactions in one 
 year's business : 
 
 Freight $1,000.52 
 
 Insurance 140.76 
 
 Commissions 2,598.49 
 
 Postage 1.10 
 
 Cash 52,701.33 
 
 Interest to 7th Aug 1,332.21 
 
 Sundries 110.07 
 
 Total paid, "$57,884.48 
 
 Total received, 49,902.67 
 
 5 " $7,981.81 
 
66 LITE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1847. 
 
 This seems to indicate that Brown had advanced money 
 on the wool stored in Springfield, and that the excess of his 
 advances over the cash received and the expenses of the 
 business had been nearly $8,000 at this time. The whole 
 stock of wool covered by this account was nearly one hun 
 dred and thirty thousand pounds, and the average price 
 received apparently less than forty cents a pound, the 
 different prices ranging from twenty-five to eighty-five 
 cents a pound. 
 
 Frederick Douglass (once a Maryland fugitive, and since 
 the Marshal of the United States at Washington, twenty 
 years after Brown's death, but who knew him in 1847-48 as 
 a radical abolitionist, very friendly to all men of color, and 
 especially to fugitive slaves) describes Brown's way of life 
 at Springfield as he then saw it. Douglass had called at his 
 wool warehouse first, and finding that a substantial brick 
 building on a prominent street, he inferred that the occu 
 pant must be a man of wealth. But the dwelling-house of 
 the wool-merchant amazed him : 
 
 11 It was a small wooden building on a hack street, in a neighbor 
 hood chiefly occupied by laboring men and mechanics ; respectable 
 enough, to be sure, but not quite the place, I thought, where one 
 would look for the residence of a flourishing and successful merchant. 
 Plain as was the outside of the house, the inside was plainer. Its 
 furniture would have satisfied a Spartan. It would take longer to 
 tell what was not in this house than what was in it. There was an 
 air of plainness about it which almost suggested destitution. My first 
 meal passed under the misnomer of tea, though there was nothing 
 suggestive of that meal as it is generally understood. It consisted of 
 beef soup, cabbage, and potatoes, a meal such as a man might relish 
 after following the plough all day. There were no servants, the 
 mother, daughters, and sons did the serving, and did it well. They 
 were evidently used to it, and had no thought of any impropriety or 
 degradation in being their own servants. It is said that a house in 
 some measure reflects the character of its occupants ; this one cer 
 tainly did. In it there were no disguises, no illusions, no make- 
 believes: everything implied stem truth, solid purpose, and rigid 
 economy. . . . He fulfilled St. Paul's idea of the head of the family. 
 His wife believed in him, arid his children observed him with rever 
 ence. Whenever he spoke his words commanded earnest attention. . 
 His arguments, which I ventured at some points to oppose, seemed 
 
1850.J JOHN BROWN AS A BUSINESS MAN. 67 
 
 to convince all ; his appeals touched all, and his will impressed all. 
 Certainly, I never felt myself in the presence of a stronger religious 
 influence than while in this man's house." 
 
 Douglass soon learned that his host was living in this 
 Spartan way in order to save as much money as possible for 
 his great enterprise of freeing the slaves ; and this agrees 
 with what we know from other sources. It was from James 
 Forman probably that Mr. Eedpath obtained the typical 
 anecdote that Brown would not sell leather by the pound 
 from his tannery until the. last drop of moisture had been 
 dried out of it, "lest he should sell his customers water 
 instead of leather." The general testimony of his business 
 associates is that of Heman Oviatt who knew him at Rich 
 field, and who said in 1859 : " Through life he has been 
 distinguished for his integrity, and esteemed a very con 
 scientious man by those who have known him." 
 
 It was to advance the price of wool that Brown visited 
 Europe, hoping to open there a market for American wool, 
 some lots of which he had previously forwarded to his agents, 
 the Pickersgills, in London. As will be seen later, the price 
 actually got at auction in England for the second grade of 
 wool was less than thirty cents a pound, or far below the 
 American average. Mr. Leonard happened to be an eye 
 witness to one of the instances in which Brown was griev 
 ously disappointed in his English speculation, and has thus 
 described what took place. We must suppose the time to 
 be after Brown's return from Europe. Mr. Musgrave, the 
 Yorkshire manufacturer, established in Northampton, Mass., 
 was the father of T. B. Musgrave of New York, already 
 cited. 
 
 " A little incident occurred in 1850. Perkins & Brown's clip had 
 come forward, and it was beautiful ; the little compact Saxony fleeces 
 were as nice as possible. Mr. Musgrave of the Northampton Woollen 
 Mill, who was making shawls and broadcloths, wanted it, and offered 
 Uncle John sixty cents a pound for it. ' No, I am going to send it 
 to London.' Musgrave, who was a Yorkshire man, advised Brown 
 not to do it, for American wool would not sell in London, not being 1 
 thought good. He tried hard to buy it, but without avail. Uncle 
 John graded it himself, bought new sacking, and had it packed 
 under his own eye. The bags were firm, round, hard, and true 
 
68 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1839. 
 
 almost as if they had been turned out in a lathe, and away it went. 
 Some little time after, long enough for the purpose, news came that 
 it was sold in London, but the price was not stated. Musgrave came 
 into my counting-room one forenoon all aglow, and said he wanted 
 me to go with him, he was going to have some fun. Then he went 
 to the stairs and called Uncle John, and told him he wanted him to 
 go over to the Hartford depot and see a lot of wool he had bought. 
 So Uncle Jolin put on his coat, and we started. When we arrived at 
 the depot, and just as we were going into the freight-house, Musgrave 
 says : ' Mr. Brune, I want you to tell me what you think of this lot 
 of wull that stands me in just fifty-two cents a pund.' One glance 
 at the bags was enough. Uncle John wheeled, and I can see him 
 now as he ' put back ' to the lofts, his brown coat-tails floating be 
 hind him, and the nervous strides fairly devouring the way. It was 
 his own clip, for which Musgrave, some three months before, had 
 offered him sixty cents a pound as it lay in the loft. It had been 
 graded, new-bagged, shipped by steamer to London, sold, and re- 
 shipped, and was in Springfield at eight cents in the pound less than 
 Musgrave offered. 
 
 " The last time I saw him was in 1851. He had some native wine 
 that he had made, and he asked me to taste it, I think from currants, 
 native grapes, and the raspberry. The latter was very excellent, and 
 when I told him of the great quantities of Franconia raspberries 
 growing by the roadsides in the White Mountain region, he took 
 down directions, and said he should try to go there the next season 
 and make a quantity of wine." 
 
 So it seems he was a vintager as well as a shepherd; 
 indeed, he sought perfection in all his undertakings, and 
 was constantly improving the stock of cattle, the quality of 
 orchards, grape-vines, etc., as his sons do still. In March, 
 1839, he drove a herd of cattle from Ohio to Connecticut, 
 and in July brought back with him a few fine sheep, from 
 which he bred his first flock in Eichfield. He had made a 
 previous journey to Connecticut the same year, in connec 
 tion with his financial embarrassment, and in the course of 
 it wrote the following letter to his wife : 
 
 NEW HARTFORD, CONN., Jan. 23, 1839. 
 
 ... I have felt distressed to get my business done and return, 
 ever since I left home, but know of no way consistent with duty but 
 to make thorough work of it while there is any hope. Things now 
 look more favorable than they have, but I may still be disappointed. 
 
1840.] JOHN BROWN AS A BUSINESS MAN. 69 
 
 We must all try to trust in Him who is very gracious and full of 
 compassion and of almighty power ; for those that do will not be made 
 ashamed. Ezra the prophet prayed and afflicted himself before God, 
 when himself and the Captivity were in a straight, and I have no 
 doubt you will join with me under similar circumstances. Don't get 
 discouraged, any of you, but hope in God, and try all to serve him 
 with a perfect heart. 
 
 In 1840 he had returned to Hudson, where his father still 
 lived, and there engaged largely in sheep-raising. 1 His part 
 ner at first was Captain Oviatt, of Kichfield, a neighboring 
 town ; and in 1842 Brown had removed to Kichfield, where 
 he lived for two years, and where his daughter Anne was 
 born. Here, too, he lost four children in less than three 
 weeks, Sarah, aged nine ; Charles, almost six ; Peter, not 
 quite three ; and Austin, a year old. Three of these were 
 carried out of his house at one funeral, and were buried in 
 the same grave, in September, 1843. In Springfield also, as 
 we have seen, one of his children died under pathetic cir 
 cumstances. Yet he looked back on his life in that city 
 with pleasure. 
 
 1 John Brown bred racing-horses in Franklin in 1836-37, from a horse 
 called "Count Piper," and from another called "John McDonald." There 
 was a race-course at Warren, Ohio, frequented by Kentuckians and others, 
 the only racing-ground then in the Western Reserve. A certain Dr. Har 
 mon owned or kept "Count Piper" and "John McDonald," from which 
 Brown bred several colts ; and young John, who gave me these facts, says 
 that he " broke " a young McDonald at three or four years old, perhaps 
 in 1837-38. His father had no scruple about breeding race-horses at that 
 time, but afterwards gave it up on principle. " He had no wish to breed 
 merely draft-horses, but was always thinking of running with horses and 
 of military operations." He wanted his sons to become familiar with swift 
 horses, and to understand all about their management, and was himself a 
 good rider, not particularly graceful, his sons say, "but it was very 
 hard to throw him." He "broke" racing-horses himself. At first, he 
 argued that if he did not breed them, somebody else would ; but his son 
 John "convinced him that was the gamblers and the slaveholders argu 
 ment, and he abandoned the business, and went into sheep-farming and tan 
 ning." This I heard from John and Owen Brown in 1882, when they were 
 relating to me their adventures on horseback in Kansas, in which they 
 owed their escape from their enemies to the speed of their horses and the 
 training of the latter to leap fences, etc. Among the men who were asso 
 ciated with John Brown in business were Gilbert Hubbard (son of a ship 
 chandler of Boston, and afterwards a chandler himself at Chicago), who was 
 
70 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1849- 
 
 While engaged in his Springfield agency, and wishing to 
 make a market for his wool, which he thought he could sell 
 in Europe to advantage, he went abroad in 1849, and trav 
 ersed a part of England and the Continent, on business, but 
 also with an eye to his future campaigns against slavery. 
 He visited wool-markets and battle-fields, and took notice 
 of the tricks of trade and the manoeuvres of armies with 
 equal interest. He was then noted among wool-dealers for 
 the delicacy of his touch in sorting the different qualities 
 and his skill in testing them when submitted to him. Give 
 him three samples of wool, one grown in Ohio, another in 
 Vermont, and a third in Saxony, and he would distinguish 
 them from each other in the dark, by his sense of touch. 
 Some Englishmen, during his sojourn abroad, put this power 
 to the test in an amusing manner. One evening, in com 
 pany with several English wool-dealers, each of whom had 
 brought samples in his pocket, Brown was giving his opinion 
 as to the best use to which certain grades and qualities 
 should be put. One of the party very gravely drew a sam 
 ple from his pocket, handed it to the Yankee farmer, and 
 asked him what he would do with such wool as that. 
 Brown took it, and had only to roll it between his fingers 
 to know that it had not the minute hooks by which the 
 h'bres of wool are attached to each other. "Gentlemen," 
 said he, " if you have any machinery in England that will 
 work up dog's hair, I advise you to put this into it." The 
 jocose Briton had sheared a poodle and brought the fleece 
 with him; but the laugh went against him when Brown 
 handed back his precious sample. His skill in trade was 
 not so great ; and, as we saw, after trying the markets 
 of Europe, he finally sold his Liverpool consignments of 
 wool at a lower price than they would have brought in 
 Springfield. 
 
 connected with Brown at Hudson in sheep-raising, and afterwards with him 
 at Springfield in the wool business, and J. C. Fairchild, father of General 
 Lucius Fairchild, of Wisconsin, who was a partner with Brown in tanning 
 at Hudson, and afterwards lived at Cleveland. A young man named For- 
 man, who became connected afterwards by marriage with the Fairchilds, 
 was brought np by Brown at Randolph, and was living in 1861 at Youngs- 
 ville, Penn. 
 
1849.] JOHN BROWN AS A BUSINESS MAN. 71 
 
 A few letters of his from Europe are in existence, and 
 will soon be given. The only other record of his European 
 experiences is, perhaps, that noted down by me from con 
 versations in 1857-59, in which he described what he chiefly 
 noticed abroad, the agricultural and military equipment of 
 the countries visited, and the social condition of the people. 
 He thought a standing army the greatest curse to a country, 
 because it drained away the best of the young men, and left 
 farming and the industrial arts to be managed by inferior 
 persons. The German farming, he said, was bad husbandry, 
 because the farmers there did not live on their land, but in 
 villages, and so wasted the natural manures which ought to 
 go back without diminution to the soil. He thought Eng 
 land the best cultivated country he had ever seen ; but as 
 we were driving away one morning in 1859 from the coun 
 try seat of Mr. John M. Forbes at Milton, near Boston, he 
 told me that he had seen few houses of rich men in England 
 so full of beauty and comfort as this, in which he had 
 passed the night. He had followed the military career of 
 Napoleon with great interest, and visited some of his battle 
 fields. We talked of such things while driving from Con 
 cord to Medford one Sunday in April, 1857. He then told 
 me that he had kept the contest against slavery in mind 
 while travelling on the Continent, and had made a special 
 study of the European armies and battle-fields. He had 
 examined Napoleon's positions, and assured me that the 
 common military theory of strong places was unsound ; that 
 a ravine was in truth more defensible than a hill-top. So 
 it is for an army of heroes, as Leonidas demonstrated at 
 Thermopylae ; but for ordinary warfare, we may believe 
 that Napoleon was right. Brown often witnessed the evo 
 lutions of the Austrian troops, and declared that they could 
 always be defeated (as they have since been in Italy and 
 elsewhere) by soldiers who should manoeuvre more rapidly. 
 The French soldiers he thought well drilled, but lacking 
 individual prowess ; for that he gave the palm to our own 
 countrymen. 
 
 John Brown sailed for England in August, 1849, and 
 returned to Springfield in October. He wrote to his son 
 as follows : 
 
72 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1849. 
 
 LONDON, Aug. 29, 1849. 
 
 DEAR SON JOHN, I reached Liverpool on Sabbath day, the 
 26th hist., and this place the 27th at evening, a debtor to Grace for 
 health and for a very pleasant and quick passage. Have called on 
 the Messrs. Pickersgill, and find they have neither sold any wool nor 
 offered any. They think that no time has been lost, and that a good 
 sale can yet be expected. It is now the calculation to offer some 
 of it at the monthly sale, September next, commencing a little before 
 the middle of the month. I have had no time to examine any wools 
 as yet, and can therefore express no opinion of my own in the matter. 
 England is a fine country, so far as I have seen; but nothing so very 
 wonderful has yet appeared to me. Their forming and stone-masonry 
 are very good ; cattle, generally more than middling good. 1 Horses, 
 as seen at Liverpool and London, and through the fine country 
 betwixt these places, will bear no comparison with those of our 
 Northern States, as they average. I am here told that I must go to 
 the Park to see the fine horses of England, and I suppose I must ; 
 for the streets of London and Liverpool do not exhibit half the dis 
 play of fine horses as do those of our cities. But what I judge 
 from more than anything is the numerous breeding mares and colts 
 among the growers. Their hogs are generally good, and mutton- 
 sheep are almost everywhere as fat as pork. Tell my friend Middle- 
 ton and wife that England affords me plenty of roast beef and 
 mutton of the first water, and done up in a style not to be exceeded. 
 As I intend to write you very often I shall not be lengthy; shall 
 probably add more to this sheet before I seal it. Since writing the 
 above, I find that it will be my best way to set out at once for the 
 Continent, and I expect to leave for Paris this evening. So farewell 
 for this time, now about four o'clock p. M. 
 
 Your affectionate father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 LONDON, Sept. 21, 1849. 
 
 DEAR SON JOHN, I have nothing new to write excepting that I 
 am still well, and that on Monday a lot of No. 2 wool was sold 
 at the auction sale, at from twenty-six to twenty-nine cents per pound. 
 This is a bad sale, and I have withdrawn all other wools from the 
 
 1 Writing Sept. 30, 1850, to an inquiring correspondent, John Brown 
 said : " None of rny cattle are pure Devons, but a mixture of that end 
 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. I was several months in England last season, and saw no one 
 stock on any farm that would average better than my own." 
 
1849.] JOHN BROWN AS A BUSINESS MAN. 73 
 
 market, or public sales. Since the other wools have been withdrawn, 
 I have discovered a much greater interest among the buyers, and I 
 am in hopes to succeed better with the other wools ; but cannot say 
 yet how it will prove on the whole. I have a great deal of stupid, 
 obstinate prejudice to contend with, as well as conflicting interests, 
 both in this country and from the United States. I can only say that 
 I have exerted myself to the utmost, and that if I cannot effect a 
 better sale of the other wools privately I shall start them back. I 
 believe that not a pound of No. 2 wool was bought for the United 
 States ; and I learn that the general feeling is now that it was 
 quite undersold. About one hundred and fifty bales were sold. I 
 regret that so many bales were put up ; but it cannot be helped now, 
 for after wool has been subjected to a London examination for public 
 sale, it is very much injured for selling again. The agent of Thirion, 
 Mallard, & Co., has been looking at them to-day, and seemed highly 
 pleased ; said he had never seen superior wools, and that he would 
 see me again. We have not yet talked about price. 
 
 I now think I shall begin to think of home quite in earnest at 
 least in another fortnight, possibly sooner. I do not think the sale 
 made a full test of the operation. Farewell. 
 
 Your affectionate father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 WESTPORT, N. Y., Nov. 9, 1849. 
 
 DEAR SON JOHN, I reached home last week, and found all well, 
 and the weather fine, which has been the case since you left Essex 
 County. I expect to return to Springfield some day next week, but 
 wish you would forward me (without delay} by letter directed to me 
 at this place (Westport, Essex Co.), care of F. H. Cutting, a draft 
 on New York for $250, payable to my order. Please let my wife 
 know. 
 
 Your affectionate father, JOHN BROWN. 
 
 John Brown landed in England, Sunday, Aug. 26, 1849, 
 and was in Paris on the 29th and 30th of August. His 
 journey through Germany must have been swift, for he was 
 again in London, September 21 ; but he may have visited 
 the Continent again in October, for he did not land in New 
 York until the last week in October, and proceeded from 
 there to Westport on his way to North Elba (where his 
 family were then settled), as the short letter above printed 
 shows. His wife, however, was then at a water-cure 
 establishment in Northampton, while John was managing 
 
74 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1850. 
 
 the business in Springfield. The story of his settlement in 
 the wilderness of northern New York will be more fully 
 given hereafter. So far as his wool business was concerned, 
 this forest home afforded him a quiet retreat from the 
 annoyances which the failure of his mercantile enterprise 
 brought upon him. All through 1850 it was evident that 
 the result would be unfortunate, and it was feared his losses 
 might be large. Brown was anxious, not without reason, 
 lest his partner in Ohio, Simon Perkins, might blame him 
 for his peculiar and obstinate course in trying to force the 
 market, without success. The following letters show how 
 this affair turned : 
 
 John Brown to his Family. 
 
 BURGETTSTOWN, PfiNN., April 12, 1850. 
 
 DEAR SON JOHN AND WIFE, When at New York, on my way 
 here, I called at Messrs. Fowler & Wells's office, but you were 
 absent. Mr. Perkins has made me a visit here, and left for home 
 yesterday. All well at Essex when I left; all well at Akron when 
 he left, one week since. Our meeting together was one of the most 
 cordial and pleasant I ever experienced. He met a full history of 
 our difficulties and probable losses without a frown on his counte 
 nance, or one syllable of reflection ; but, on the contrary, with words 
 of comfort and encouragement. He is wholly averse to any separa 
 tion of our business or interest, and gave me the fullest assurance of 
 his undiminished confidence and personal regard. He expresses 
 strong desire to have our flock of sheep remain undivided, to become 
 the joint possession of our families when we have gone off the stage. 
 Such a meeting I had not dared to expect, and I most heartily wish 
 each of my family could have shared in the comfort of it. Mr. Per 
 kins has in the whole business, from first to last, set an example 
 worthy of a philosopher, or of a Christian. I am meeting with a 
 good deal of trouble from those to whom we have over- advanced, but 
 feel nerved to face any difficulty while God continues me such a 
 partner. Expect to be in New York within three or four weeks. 
 Your affectionate father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 AKRON, April 25, 1850. 
 
 DEAR SON JOHN AND WIFE, I reached here well yesterday, 
 and found all well. Since I came I have seen your letter to Jason, 
 by which I am taken somewhat by surprise; but am exceedingly 
 
1850.] JOHN BROWN AS A BUSINESS MAN. 75 
 
 gratified to learn that you have concluded to quit that city. I have 
 only to say at this moment, do suspend all further plans and move 
 ments until you can hear the result of a general consultation over 
 matters with Mr. Perkins, your grandfather, and Jason. I will just 
 say, in few words, that such is the effect here of the California fever, 
 that a man is becoming more precious than gold ; and I very much 
 want my family to take the legitimate and proper advantage of it. 
 Edward has got married and gone to California. 
 Your affectionate father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 WHITEHALL, N. Y., Nov. 4, 18:0. 
 
 DEAR SON JOHN, I was disappointed in not seeing you and 
 Wealthy l while in Ohio ; and not till within a few days did I get to 
 know where to write you, as I have been on the move most of the 
 season. I should have written you while at Ravenna, but expected 
 every day to see you. We have trouble : Pickersgills, McDonald, 
 Jones, Warren, Burlington, and Patterson & Ewing, these differ 
 ent claims amount to some forty thousand dollars, and if lost will 
 leave me nice and flat. This is in confidence. Mr. Perkins bears the 
 trouble a great deal better than I had feared. I have been trying to 
 collect, and am still trying. Have not yet effected a sale of our wool. 
 I expect to take some of the best of my cattle to Akron. Our crops 
 in Essex were very good this season, and expenses small. The fam 
 ily were well when last heard from. Am now on my way home. 
 Ruth was married in September, and I think has done well. I want 
 you to write me at Springfield all how you get along, and what you 
 are doing and intend to do, and what your prospects are. I have in 
 no way altered my plan of future operations since conversing with 
 you, and I found Mr. Perkins's views fully correspond with my own. 
 I have my head and hands quite full ; so no more now. 
 Your affectionate father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 SPRINGFIELD, MASS., Dec. 4, 1850. 
 
 DEAR SONS JOHN, JASON, FREDERICK, AND DAUGHTERS, I 
 this moment received the letter of John and Jason of the 29th No 
 vember, and feel grateful not only to learn that you are all alive and 
 well, but also for almost everything your letters communicate. I am 
 much pleased with the reflection that you are all three once more to 
 gether, and all engaged in the same calling that the old patriarchs 
 followed. I will say but one word more on that score, and that is 
 
 1 The wife of John. 
 
76 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1850. 
 
 taken from their history : " See that ye fall not out by the way," arid 
 all will be exactly right in the end. I should think matters were 
 brightening a little in this direction, in regard to our claims; but I 
 have not yet been able to get any of them to a final issue. I think, 
 too, that the prospect for the fine- wool business rather improves. 
 What burdens me most of all is the apprehension that Mr. Perkins 
 expects of me in the way of bringing matters to a close what no 
 livino- man can possibly bring about in a short time, and that he is 
 getting out of patience and becoming distrustful. If I could be with 
 him in all I do, or could possibly attend to all my cares, and give him 
 full explanations by letter of all my movements, I should be greatly 
 relieved. He is a most noble- spirited man, to whom I feel most 
 deeply indebted ; and no amount of money would atone to my feel 
 ings for the loss of confidence and cordiality on his part. If my sons, 
 who are so near him, conduct wisely and faithfully and kindly in 
 what they have undertaken, they will, beyond the possibility of a 
 doubt, secure to themselves a full reward, if they should not be the 
 means of entirely relieving a father of his burdens. 
 
 I will once more repeat an idea I have often mentioned in regard 
 to business life in general. A world of pleasure and of success is the 
 sure and constant attendant upon early rising. It makes all the busi 
 ness of the day go off with a peculiar cheerfulness, while the effects of 
 the contrary course are a great and constant draft upon one's vitality 
 and good temper. When last. at home in Essex, I spent every day 
 but the first afternoon surveying or in tracing out old lost boundaries, 
 about which I was very successful, working early and late, at two dol 
 lars per day. This was of the utmost service to both body and mind ; 
 it exercised me to the full extent, and for the time being almost en 
 tirely divested my mind from its burdens, so that I returned to my 
 task very greatly refreshed and invigorated. 
 
 John asks me about Essex. I will say that the family there were 
 living upon the bread, milk, butter, pork, chickens, potatoes, turnips, 
 carrots, etc., of their own raising, and the most of them abundant iu 
 quantity and superior in quality. I have nowhere seen such pota 
 toes. Essex County so abounds in hay, grain, potatoes, and ruta 
 bagas, etc., that I find unexpected difficulty in selling for cash oats 
 and some other things we have to spare. Last year it was exactly 
 the reverse. The weather was charming up to the 1 5th November, 
 when I left, and never before did the country seem to hold out so many 
 things to entice me to stay on its soil. Nothing but a strong sense of 
 duty, obligation, and propriety would keep me from laying my bones 
 to rest there ; but I shall cheerfully endeavor to make that sense my 
 guide, God always helping. It is a source of the utmost comfort to 
 feel that I retain a warm place in the sympathies, affections, and 
 
1850.] JOHN BROWN AS A BUSINESS MAN. 77 
 
 confidence of my own most familiar acquaintance, my family and 
 allow me to say that, a man can hardly get into difficulties too big to 
 be surmounted, if he has a firm foothold at home. Remember that. 
 
 I am glad Jason has made the sales he mentions, on many accounts. 
 It will relieve his immediate money wants, a thing that made me 
 somewhat unhappy, as I could not at once supply them. It will 
 lessen his care and the need of being gone from home, perhaps to the 
 injury somewhat of the flock that lies at the foundation, and possibly 
 to the injury of Mr. Perkins's feelings on that account, in some 
 measure. He will certainly have less to divide his attention. I had 
 felt some worried about it, and I most heartily rejoice to hear it; for 
 you may all rest assured that the old flock has been, and so long as 
 we have anything to do with it will continue to be, the main root, 
 either directly or indirectly. In a few short months it will afford 
 another crop of wool. 
 
 I am sorry for John's trouble in his throat ; I hope he will soon 
 get relieved of that. I have some doubt about the cold-water prac 
 tice in cases of that kind, but do not suppose a resort to medicines of 
 much account. Regular out-of-door labor I believe to*be one of the 
 best medicines of all that God has yet provided. As to Essex, I have 
 no question at all. For stock-growing and dairy business, consider 
 ing its healthfulness, cheapness of price, and nearness to the two best 
 markets in the Union (New York and Boston), I do not know where 
 we could go to do better. I am much refreshed by your letters, and 
 until you hear from me to the contrary, shall be glad to have you 
 write me here often. Last night I was up till after midnight writing 
 to Mr. Perkins, and perhaps used some expressions in my rather 
 cloudy state of mind that I had better not have used. I mentioned 
 to him that Jason understood that he disliked his management of the 
 flock somewhat, and was worried about that and the poor hay he 
 would have to feed out during the winter. I did not mean to write 
 him anything offensive, and hope he will so understand me. 
 
 There is now a fine plank road completed from Westport to Eliza- 
 bethtown. \\ r e have no hired person about the family in Essex. 
 Henry Thompson is clearing up a piece of ground that the*" colored 
 brethren" chopped for me. He boards with the family; and, by the 
 way, he gets lluth out of bed so as to have breakfast before light, 
 mornings. 
 
 I want to have you save or secure the first real prompt, fine-look 
 ing, black shepherd puppy whose ears stand erect, that you can get ; 
 I do not care about his training at all, further than to have him 
 learn to come to you when bid, to sit down and lie down when 
 told, or something in the way of play. Messrs. Cleveland & Titus, 
 our lawyers in Xew York, are anxious to get one for a plaything ; 
 
78 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1850. 
 
 and I am well satisfied, that, should I give them one as a matter of 
 friendship, it would be more appreciated by them, and do more to 
 secure their best services in our suit with Pickersgill, than would a 
 hundred dollars paid them in the way of fees. I want Jason to ob 
 tain from Mr. Perkins, or anywhere he can get them, two good junk- 
 bottles, have them thoroughly cleaned, and filled with the cherry 
 wine, being very careful not to roil it up before filling the bottles, 
 providing good corks and filling them perfectly full. These I want 
 him to pack safely in a very small strong box, which he can make, 
 direct them to Perkins & Brown, Springfield, Mass., and send them 
 by express. We can effect something to purpose by producing un 
 adulterated domestic wines. They will command great prices. 1 It 
 is again getting late at night; and 1 close by wishing every present 
 as well as future good. 
 
 Your affectionate lather, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 Sl'lUNGFIELD, MASS., Dec. 6, 1850. 
 
 DEAR SON^ JOHN, Your kind letter is received. By same mail 
 I also have one from Mr. Perkins in answer to one of mine, in which 
 I did in no very indistinct way introduce some queries, not altogether 
 unlike those your letter contained. Indeed, your letter throughout is 
 so much like what has often passed through my own mind, that were 
 I not a little scoptical yet, I should conclude you had access to some 
 of the knocking spirits. 2 I shall not write you very long, as I mean 
 
 1 This fixes the date of the anecdote told by Mr. Leonard concerning 
 the wines which Brown had to exhibit ; it must have been after this time, 
 and probably in 1851. John Brown, Jr., lias been for many years cultivat 
 ing the grape on an island in Lake Erie, and his brother Jason is now 
 doing the same in Southern California. Their principles, however, forbid 
 them to make wine. 
 
 2 This was the period when the Fox family, at Rochester, N. Y., were 
 astonishing the world with their knockings and the messages from another 
 world which these were supposed to convey. John Brown, Jr., was inclined 
 to believe-in the reality of this "rat-hole revelation " (as Emerson described 
 it to Henry Ward Beecher) ; but his father was sceptical. He talked with 
 his son at the American House, Springfield, in 1848, concerning this mat 
 ter, and told him that the Bible contains the whole revelation of God ; that 
 since that canon was closed, "the book has been sealed." In his later 
 years he was less confident of this ; and in 1859, when he last talked with 
 John Brown, Jr., on the subject, he said he had received messages, as he 
 believed, from Dianthe Lusk, which had directed his conduct in cases of 
 perplexity. Milton Lusk has been a believer in " Spiritualism " for many 
 years ; indeed, he is naturally heretical, and was excommunicated by the 
 church in Hudson, in 1835. 
 
1853.J JOHN BROWN AS A BUSINESS MAN. 79 
 
 to write again before many days. Mr. Perkins's letter, to which I 
 just alluded, appears to be written in a very kind spirit ; arid so long 
 as he is right-side up, I shall by no means despond ; indeed, I think 
 the fog clearing away from our matters a little. I certainly wish to 
 understand, and I mean to understand, " how the land lies" before 
 taking any important steps. You can assist me very much about 
 being posted up ; but you will be able to get hold of the right end 
 exactly by having everything done up first-rate, and by becoming 
 very familiar, and not by keeping distant. I most earnestly hope 
 that should I lose caste, my family will at least prove themselves 
 worthy of respect and confidence ; and I am sure that my three sons 
 in Akron can do a great job for themselves and for the family if 
 they behave themselves wisely. Your letter so well expresses my 
 own feelings, that were it not for one expression I would mail it 
 with one I have just finished, to Mr. Perkins. Can you not all 
 three effectually secure the name of good business men this winter! 
 That you are considered honest and rather intelligent I have no 
 doubt. 
 
 I do not believe the losses of our firm will in the end prove so very 
 severe, if Mr. Perkins can only be kept resolute and patient in regard 
 to matters. I have often made mistakes by being too hasty, and 
 mean hereafter to *' ponder well the path of my feet." I mean to 
 pursue in all things such a course as is in reality wise, and as will in 
 the end give to myself and family the least possible cause for regret. 
 I believe Mr. Newton is properly authorized to take testimony. If 
 so, I wish you to ascertain the fact and write me ; if not, I want you 
 to learn through Mr. Perkins who would be a suitable person for that 
 business, as I expect before many weeks to want your testimony, 
 and I want you to give me the name. I forgot to write to Mr. Per 
 kins about it, and have sealed up my letter to him. I mentioned 
 about your testimony, but forgot what I should have written. 
 Your affectionate father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 As may be inferred from these letters, the settlement of 
 Perkins & Brown's affairs involved several lawsuits, some 
 brought by them and some against them. These were tried 
 in several places, at New York, at Troy, and in one in 
 stance at Boston. The latter was tried before Caleb Gushing 
 in the winter of 1852-53, and was one of the last cases 
 heard by Judge Cashing before leaving his seat in the Su 
 preme Court of Massachusetts to take his place in President 
 Pierce's cabinet as attorney-general. The suit was brought 
 
80 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1853. 
 
 by the Burlington Mills Company of Vermont, represented 
 in Boston by Jacob Sleeper and others, against John Brown 
 and others, for a breach of contract in supplying wool to 
 these mills of certain grades ; and the damages were laid at 
 sixty thousand dollars. It was pending for a long time, the 
 counsel against Brown being Rufus Choate and Francis B. 
 Hayes, and his own senior counsel being the eminent Xew 
 York lawyer, Joshua Y. Spencer. It finally came to trial 
 in Boston, Jan. 14, 1853, and after several postponements 
 and the taking of much testimony it was settled, Feb. 3, 
 1853, by a compromise between the counsel, the anticipated 
 decision of the court being against Brown. About a year 
 later he won a similar suit in a iS ew York court ; and he 
 always believed that he should have won his Boston suit, if 
 the case had been tried on its merits. An appeal was taken 
 from the verdict in Brown's favor, at Troy, N. Y. ; and 
 while this was pending, in the spring of 1854, he was at Ver- 
 non, near Utica, N. Y., assisting his counsel, Mr. Jenkins, 
 to prepare the case. A person in the law-office of his coun 
 sel tells this anecdote, to show how his love of liberty 
 interfered with his business : 
 
 " The morning after the news of the Burns affair reached Yernon, 
 Brown went at his work immediately after breakfast; but 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.' ' Going to Boston ! ' said the astonished lawyer ; 
 ' why do you want to go to Boston 1 ' Old Brown continued walking 
 vigorously, and replied, l Anthony Burns must be released, or I will 
 die in the attempt.' The counsel dropped his pen in consternation j 
 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 labor would 
 be lost: and no one was sufficiently familiar with the whole case 
 except himself. It took a long and earnest talk with old Brown to 
 persuade him to remain. His memory and acuteness in that long 
 and tedious lawsuit often astonished his counsel. While here he 
 wore an entire suit of snuff-colored cloth, the coat of a decidedly Qua 
 kerish cut in collar and skirt. He wore no beard, and was a clean 
 shaven, scrupulously neat, well dressed, quiet old gentleman. He 
 was, however, notably resolute in all that he did." 
 
1851.] JOHN BROWN AS A BUSINESS MAN. 81 
 
 At this time Brown was fifty-four years old, but looked 
 five years beyond his age ; and this aged appearance was 
 increased by his hardships in Kansas, so that he might have 
 passed for seventy at his death in 1859. 
 
 The following letters relate to these lawsuits : 
 
 STEUBENVILLE, OHIO, May 15, 1851. 
 
 DEAR SON JOHN, I wrote you some days since, enclosing ten 
 dollars, and requesting you to acknowledge it, and also to hold your 
 self in readiness to go to Pittsburgh when called upon ; since which 
 I have not heard from you. I am now on my way to Akron ; arid 
 as our causes at Pittsburgh have been continued until next fall, we 
 shall not need you there until then. We have now no prospect of 
 any trial until fall, except with Henry Warren; and we wish you to 
 so arrange your business that you can leave for Troy upon a short 
 notice. I also want you to keep me advised at Akron of your where 
 abouts, so that I may call upon you should I have time. I did ex 
 pect to go to Hartford when I left home, but find I must alter my 
 course. I was in Essex on Tuesday last. Left Ruth and husband 
 well, and very comfortably situated. We seem to get along as pleas 
 antly as I expected, so far ; can't say how long it will be so ; hope 
 we may continue. I want you to write often and let us know how 
 you get along. Had sad work among our Saxony ewes and lambs 
 by dogs, Saturday night last : probably forty killed and wounded. 
 Your affectionate father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 CLEVELAND, Oct. 30, 1851. 
 
 DEAR SON JOHN, I have just landed here from Buffalo, and 
 expect to leave for Akron by next train. As soon as I learn at what 
 time we shall want you at Pittsburgh I will let you know ; but I 
 now suppose we shall want you there immediately, and wish you to 
 hold yourself in constant readiness. Have heard nothing further 
 from home or from Essex since we parted. Met Mr. Jenkins at Al 
 bany, and we came on together to Utica. He was pleased with the 
 course we took at Lanesboro, and was in very good spirits; says he 
 learned through Brigham, while at Albany, that Warren's attorneys 
 feel pretty well cornered up : l says we did right in not taking your 
 deposition in Burlington case. 
 
 Your affectionate father, JOHN BROWN. 
 
 1 In a previous letter to his family, Brown says (Oct. 6, 1851) : " I have 
 strong hopes of success finally in disposing of our business here [Troy], but 
 it is exceedingly troublesome and expensive." 
 
 6 
 
82 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1852. 
 
 AKRON, Omo, Dec. 1, 1851. 
 
 DEAR SON JOHN, Yours, dated November 14, came on in season, 
 but an increased amount of cares has prevented me from answering 
 sooner. One serious difficulty has been with Frederick, who has 
 been very wild again. He is again, however, to all appearance 
 nearly recovered from it by the return to an abstemious course of 
 living, almost, if not quite, the only means used. He had gradu 
 ally slid back into his old habit of indulgence in eating, the effect of 
 which I consider as being now fully demonstrated. I now expect to 
 set out for Troy on Wednesday of this week, at furthest ; and if you 
 do not see me at Vernon before the stage leaves on Thursday, I wish 
 you to take it on that day, so as to meet me at Bonnet's Temperance 
 House in Buffalo. The going is too bad to go by private convey 
 ance, and I am yet at a loss how I can get through from Warren 
 to Vernon with my trunk of books, etc. I intend to bring my 
 watch with me. I have accomplished a good deal in the way of 
 preparation for winter, but shall be obliged to leave a great deal un 
 done. If you do not find me at Buffalo (or before you get there), 
 you may wait there not longer than till Saturday evening, and then 
 take the cars for Troy. You will learn at Bonnet's whether I am 
 behind or not. If you have not funds sufficient to take you to Troy, 
 you can probably borrow a little, to be refunded immediately when I 
 see you, by Perkins & Brown. 
 
 Yours, J. B. 
 
 NEW YORK, March 11, 1852. 
 SIMON PERKINS, ESQ. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I called on Messrs. Cleveland & Titus to-day. Found 
 Mr. Cleveland intended to charge us three hundred dollars as a bal 
 ance of accounts. I asked him for the principal items of his charge, 
 which he promised to make up, and leave, directed to you, care of 
 Messrs. Delano, Dunlevy, & Co., 39 Wall Street. He said he could 
 not make it up without keeping me detained over night. As I could 
 see no advantage to be derived from waiting, after hearing his expla 
 nation of the matter, I concluded not to wait. He says he drew an 
 amended bill after drawing the first complaint, and that he gave 
 more time to that than he did to the complaint. Since I left him I 
 have thought this was not quite right, after the conversation we had 
 with him together, and after our letter to them dated May 16, 1851. 
 He said to me that if I was not satisfied with the charge it should be 
 reduced. I did not tell him what I thought ; but if I had thought 
 of our letter at the time I should have asked him to refer to it, as 
 I think he went contrary to his own advice, and also to our last 
 instructions. If you call on him, I wish you would ask him to read 
 
1852.] JOHN BROWN AS A BUSINESS MAN. 83 
 
 that letter to you. I think it can do no harm, and that he will prob 
 ably abate something from his charge. I should not now, after 
 reflecting upon it, hesitate to say that I think he ought to do it (and 
 since looking up the copy of our letter to them). In haste, 
 
 Your friend, JOHN BROWN. l 
 
 P. S. If you call on Cleveland & Titus, and can find room, I 
 would be glad to have you bring the papers in that case. I forgot 
 to ask for them. 
 
 Yours truly, J. B. 
 
 The Boston trial was put off from time to time, from 
 September, 1852, to November, and then to December. John 
 Brown wrote to his son John in September : " When our suit 
 comes on in November, we shall not need to detain you but 
 a few days, and the want of your testimony might work our 
 ruin. Write me on receipt of this." Nov. 20, 1852, he wrote 
 again, 
 
 I parted with Frederick at Ravenna, on his way to your place ; 
 he has told you of the death of our Mr. Jenkins (of Vernou, N. Y., a 
 brother of Timothy Jenkins). We have employed Timothy Jenkins, 
 M. C., to finish up his business, and I am now on my way to assist 
 him to understand it, previous to having our trial with 0. J. Richard 
 son. We now expect our trial at Boston to come off sometime about 
 the middle of December, and hope to see the end of it before the 
 close. We hope the situation of your family is such, before this time, 
 that you are relieved in regard to the anxiety you have expressed, so 
 that you can leave at once, and go on when you get notice of the time. 
 I will send you funds for your expenses and the earliest possible in 
 formation of the exact time when the trial will come on. All were well 
 at home and at Hudson this morning. I should wait and go on with 
 you, did not our Warren business require my immediate attention. I 
 suppose our Pittsburgh cause is decided before this ; but we had not 
 heard from it when I left. I will only add that you all have my most 
 earnest desire for your real welfare. Will you drop me a line (care 
 of A. B. Ely, Esq., Boston), on receipt of this, to let me hear how 
 you all do ? 
 
 Your aifectionate father, JOHN BROWN. 
 
 1 On the same date (March 11, 1852), but from New Haven, Brown 
 writes to his family : " I received Henry's letter of the 3d at Troy, which 
 place I left yesterday in order to meet Mr. Perkins, who has come on here 
 on railroad business. I have at last got through trying our cause at Troj% 
 but have not yet got a decision. I think it will, without doubt, be in our 
 favor." 
 
84 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1852. 
 
 VERXON, ONEIDA COUNTY, N. Y., Dec. 8, 1852. 
 DEAR SON JOHN, I have this moment got a line from Mr. Ely, 
 saying our trial at Boston will not come on until the first week in 
 January next. I give you this early notice, in hopes that it will re 
 lieve your mind in a measure, and that it will be more convenient for 
 you to be absent at that time. I do not know whether I shall be able 
 to go home again before that time or not. Will write you hereafter 
 when to set out for Boston, and supply you with funds for expenses. 
 My best wishes for you all. 
 
 AKRON, OHIO, Dec. 9, 1852. 
 
 DEAR SON JOHN, I reached home last night, and found all well. 
 I came by the Erie Railroad, and got along very well until I left 
 Dunkirk. Fare from Dunkirk to Cleveland, $8.90; expenses from 
 same to same, $4.02, and was two and a half entire days getting 
 through, the roads being vastly worse than when we went out. Had 
 I expected so hard and so expensive a trip, I should not have re 
 turned. I mean to go back by Pittsburgh and Philadelphia", there 
 being on that route but twenty-eight miles of sleighing, from Troy to 
 Hudson, and that on a good road. I intend to get back to Troy by 
 the 17th if I can. Have not yet seen Mr. Perkins, to have any con 
 versation with him of any account. Whatever you may do in the 
 preparation of papers will be all well for the Burlington case. You 
 will have saved a great amount of exposure, hardship, and expense by 
 staying behind. 
 
 Your affectionate father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 VERGENNES, VERMONT, Dec. 22, 1852. 
 
 DEAR SON JOHN, I have written Mr. Perkins to send you money 
 for expenses, so that you may set out for Boston by the 21st January 
 at furthest. I am too much used up about money to remit, or I should 
 do so. I have written Mr. Perkins to come on himself by way of 
 Vernon ; but if he does not get on, or send you money in time, do 
 not on any account delay setting out, if you have to borrow the 
 money for a few days. The money will be sent, and if it does not 
 reach you in time, Wealthy 1 can use it to pay, should you not have 
 it on hand. Mr. Beebe has got home from Europe, which we think 
 very fortunate. Mr. Harrington is here with me from Troy ; he has 
 got his case against Warren affirmed during the last week. I hope 
 this may prove a sickness to Warren about standing out against us. 
 
 1 The wife of John Bro\vn, Jr. 
 
1851.] JOHN BROWN AS A BUSINESS MAN. 85 
 
 I am so much in haste, and have my mind so full, that I can think 
 of no more now, except that I stop at the Exchange Coffee House in 
 Boston. May God in mercy bless you all. 
 
 Your affectionate father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 This trial, so anxiously awaited and prepared for, went 
 against Brown, as has been said, and he withdrew from 
 trade and litigation, for which he was ill-fitted, to the life 
 of a shepherd and a pioneer once more. Profiting by his 
 experience, however, he gave this good advice to his son 
 John, who at one time was tempted to take up the business 
 of wool-buying : 
 
 HUDSON, OHIO, May 20, 1851. 
 
 DEAR SON JOHN, I learn by brother Jeremiah, who has just 
 returned, that you have engaged yourself to buy wool. I have no 
 objection to your doing so ; but an untiring anxiety for your welfare 
 naturally inclines me to remind you of some of the temptations to 
 which you may be exposed, as well as some of the difficulties you 
 may meet with. Wool-buyers generally accuse each other of being 
 unscrupulous liars; and in that one thing perhaps they are not so. 
 Again, there are but very few persons who need money, that can 
 wholly resist the temptation of feeling too rich, while handling any con 
 siderable amount of other people's money. They are also liable to 
 devote God's blessed Sabbath to conversation or contrivances for fur 
 thering their schemes, if not to the examination and purchase of wool. 
 Now, I would not have you barter away your conscience or good name 
 for a commission. You will find that many will pile away their wool, 
 putting the best outside, and will be entirely unwilling you should 
 handle it all. I would at once leave such lots, unless that point is 
 yielded. I would have an absolute limit of prices on the different 
 grades. You can throw into different grades, pretty fast, a lot of wool, 
 so as to see pretty nearly whether it will average above or below the 
 grade you wish generally to buy. Do not let your anxiety to buy carry 
 you one inch beyond your judgment. Do not be influenced a particle 
 by what you hear others have offered. Never make an absolute offer 
 to any one for his wool. If persons will not set a price on it, which you 
 feel confident you are authorized to pay, you can ask them if they will 
 not take so much, without really making any bid. If you make bids, 
 some other buyer will follow you, and get the wool by offering a 
 trifle more. A very trifling difference will very often do as much 
 towards satisfying persons as would a greater one. You will gener- 
 
86 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1851. 
 
 ally buy to the best advantage where the wool is generally good and 
 washed: you can buy to better advantage by finding a good stand, 
 and there buying no more than you have the funds on hand to pay 
 for. Do not agree to pay money you have not on hand. Remember 
 that. Say who you are employed to buy for frankly if asked. The 
 less you have to say about the why or wherefore the better, other 
 than that you are limited. A book containing the grading of numer 
 ous lots of wool is with me at Akron, to which you can have access ; 
 it may be of service to you about knowing how different lots will 
 average. Buy you a superior cow, one that you have milked your 
 self, and know to give a good quantity of milk, before getting a 
 horse. The getting of a horse will get for you numerous absolute 
 wants you would otherwise not have. All well. Shall want to know 
 where to find you. 
 
 Your affectionate father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 We see here the homely, Franklin-like wisdom and Con 
 necticut caution of the man. In his whole business life, 
 though his judgment was often at fault, his uprightness was 
 manifest. Though unfortunate, lie was never unjust. He 
 was industrious in whatever he undertook, fair and scru 
 pulous in his business transactions, but with a touch of eccen 
 tricity, which showed itself particularly, his friends thought, 
 in his deeds of charity. While living in Pennsylvania he 
 declined to do military duty, and paid his fine rather than 
 encourage war by learning the art, resolving, as Thoreau 
 said in 1859, " that he would have nothing to do with any 
 war unless it were a war for liberty. 7 ' He caused the arrest 
 of an offender there, who had done him no injury, but was 
 a plague to the community ; and while this man was in 
 prison, Brown supplied his wants and supported his family 
 until the trial, out of his own earnings. One of the appren 
 tices in his tanyard at that time bears testimony to the 
 singular probity of his life. "I" have known him from 
 boyhood through manhood," said Mr. Oviatt, of Richfield, 
 " and he has always been distinguished for his truthfulness 
 and integrity." Another Ohio acquaintance, who first knew 
 him in 1836, says : " 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 
 
1842.] JOHN BROWN AS A BUSINESS MAN. 87 
 
 a portion of the time a member of a Bible-class taught by 
 me. I always regarded him as a man of more than ordinary 
 mental capacity, of very ardent and excitable temperament, 
 of unblemished moral character ; a kind neighbor, a good 
 Christian, deeply imbued with religious feelings and sympa 
 thies. In a business point of view, his temperament led him 
 into pecuniary difficulties, but I never knew his integrity 
 questioned by any person whatsoever." Mr. Baldwin, of 
 Hudson, son-in-law of that Squire Hudson for whom the 
 town was named, said that he first knew John Brown in 
 1814, and always found him " of rigid integrity and ardent 
 temperament," which describes him well. When he went 
 to live in Springfield, he was for some years the client of the 
 late Chief-Justice Chapman, who called him "a quiet and 
 peaceable citizen and a religious man," and further said : 
 " Mr. Brown's integrity was never doubted, and he was hon 
 orable in all his dealings, but peculiar in many of his notions, 
 and adhering to them with great obstinacy." This was true, 
 also, of the chief-justice, and is a New-England trait. But 
 for Brown's " peculiar notions " and "great obstinacy," there 
 would have been no occasion to write this biography. 
 
 John Brown, Jr., who was well acquainted with his 
 father's business life from 1837 onward, has furnished 
 me this statement bearing on several of the events in this 
 period of his life : 
 
 11 The bankruptcy of 1842 had little to do with any speculation in 
 wool, for at that time my father was not a wool-dealer on a large 
 scale, but sold his own ' clip,' as other farmers did. His failure, 
 as I now remember, was wholly owing to his purchase of land on 
 credit, including the Haymaker farm at Franklin, which he bought 
 in connection with Seth Thompson of Hartford, Trumbull County, 
 Ohio, and his individual purchase of three rather large adjoining 
 farms in Hudson. When he bought those farms, the rise in value 
 of his place in Franklin was such that good judges estimated his 
 property worth fully twenty thousand dollars. He was then thought 
 to be a man of excellent business judgment, and was chosen one of 
 the Directors of a Bank at Cuyahoga Falls. The financial crash 
 
88 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1842. 
 
 came in 1837, and down came all of father's castles, and buried the 
 reputation he had achieved of possessing at least good common-sense 
 in respect to business matters. In his conversations with me in later 
 years respecting the mistakes he had made, I have heard him say 
 that ' these grew out of one root, doing business on credit.' 
 4 Where loans are amply secured/ he would say, ' the borrower, 
 not the lender, takes the risks, and all the contingencies incident to 
 business; while the accumulations of interest and the coming of 
 pay-day are as sure as death. Instead of being thoroughly im 
 bued with the doctrine of pay as you go,' he said, ' I started out in 
 life with the idea that nothing could be done without capital, and 
 that a poor man must use his credit and borrow ; and this pernicious 
 notion has been the rock on which I, as well as so many others, 
 have split. The practical effect of this false doctrine has been to 
 keep me like a toad under a harrow most of my business life. Run 
 ning into debt includes so much of evil that I hope all my children 
 will shun it as they would a pestilence.' 
 
 " His imprisonment in the county jail had nothing to do with any 
 of his wool matters, but related entirely to the affair of ' the old log 
 fort.' The purchaser of the Hudson farm got out a warrant against 
 father, Jason, Owen, and me for breach of the peace, alleging 
 that he feared personal harm in his attempts at taking possession ; 
 and, alleging further that he could not obtain justice in Hudson, he 
 swore out his warrant before a Justice in an adjoining township. 
 We made no resistance whatever to the service of the writ, and 
 appeared for examination before the Justice in that town, who was 
 plainly in full sympathy with the complainant ; and after a brief 
 hearing he required us to enter into bonds for our appearance at the 
 county court in Akron. These we would not give; and next day 
 we went to jail. The sheriff, a friend of father, and who under 
 stood the merits of the case, went through the form of turning the 
 jail-key on us, then opened the door and gave us the liberty of the 
 town, putting us upon our honor not to leave it. We were then taken 
 to board at a nice private residence, at county expense, for three or 
 four days only, as it was just before the sitting of Court. On call 
 ing the case it was ' nolled? and we returned home. This scheme of 
 the purchaser resulted in his getting possession of one of the fine 
 farms which father then owned in Hudson, and that too within half 
 an hour after our arrest. This is all there was in the matter of our 
 having once been in Akron Jail. 
 
 " In correction of what you told me Colonel Perkins said to dis 
 parage my father's skill as a shepherd, his success in business, 
 etc., let me remark that the correspondence of Perkins & Brown, if 
 exhibited, would not confirm these statements. Since father had 
 
1850.] JOHN BROWN AS A BUSINESS MAN. 89 
 
 become well known as a grower of the finest Saxony wool by 
 the fine-wool growers of Pennsylvania and Ohio, and somewhat 
 of Western Virginia, when these men all thought they were vic 
 timized by the manufacturers of fine wool, father was urged by 
 these growers to undertake the work of grading their wool and 
 selling it on commission, in hopes to obtain in this way fairer 
 prices. Mr. Perkins not only ' allowed ' father to undertake this, 
 but entered heartily into the plan, which for a year or two was 
 successful, until the manufacturers discovered that Perkins & 
 Brown were receiving a large share of the really fine \vool grown in 
 this country, and that if they bought it they must pay a fairer price 
 for it. This would greatly diminish the profits heretofore made by 
 the manufacturers of these very fine wools ; and so this high-handed 
 attempt, not to ''control,' as stated by Mr. Musgrave, but to 
 influence the price somewhat ' in the interest of the farmers,' must 
 be squelched. The manufacturers combined, and 'boycotted' these 
 upstart dealers. From the quoted prices in the London market of 
 grades of wool not equal, as father well knew, to the wool he had, 
 he became satisfied that rather than take the prices which the com 
 bination would pay it would be better to send the wool abroad. The 
 clique had long arms, and finally bought at low rates and brought 
 back the wool he shipped to London ; and the farmers, most of 
 whom had consented to the undertaking of sending it abroad, suffered 
 great loss. Thus ended the wool business of Perkins & Brown." 
 
90 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1826. 
 
 CHAPTEE IV. 
 PIONEER LIFE IN THE ADIRONDACS. 
 
 THE Brown family were born to be pioneers, and none 
 of them more than our Kansas hero. His first Ameri 
 can ancestor was a pioneer at Plymouth in 1620 ; the next 
 generation were pioneers in Connecticut ; and their descend 
 ants went from wilderness to wilderness until New Eng 
 land was fairly civilized. Then Owen Brown, of Torrington, 
 took up the march again, and encamped in Ohio, where his 
 famous son took the first lessons of a pioneer among the 
 Indians of Cuyahoga and the Great Portage. This expe 
 rience ended, and the attractions of civilization proving too 
 weak for him, he pushed eastward into the woods of Penn 
 sylvania, where we have seen him serving as postmaster, 
 and planning a negro village for the education of that en 
 slaved race. 
 
 What his way of life was at Eichmond has been told by 
 one of his neighbors, Mr. Delamater, who was born at 
 Whitehall, N. Y., but remembers when Brown built there 
 in 1826-27, and cleared up his small farm. 1 The houses of 
 John Brown and of the elder Delamater were four miles 
 apart; and in these was kept the school of the neighbor 
 hood, at Brown's house in the winter, and at Delamater's 
 in the summer. Both houses were of logs, with two large 
 rooms on the ground floor, one used as kitchen, dining- 
 room, and living-room ; and the other for the school, and as 
 a sleeping-room. In family worship, which daily took 
 place in the family room, Brown gave each person present 
 some part to take, himself leading in prayer. The post- 
 office, of course, was kept in this log -cabin of Brown, and 
 
 1 Brown owned five hundred acres of land heavily timbered with hem 
 lock, the bark of which, he used for tanning. Delamater's log-house was 
 near the State Road, about eight miles east of Meadville . 
 
1824.] PIONEER LIFE IN THE ADIRONDACS. 91 
 
 the men who worked in his tannery boarded with him. It 
 was here that his first wife died, and to this cabin he brought 
 his second wife (who was related to the Delamaters) in 
 1833. Ruth and Frederick were bom in this house, and 
 John, Owen, and Jason received a part of their schooling 
 there. Their father kept a record of their boyish sins, and 
 on one occasion, at least, when they amounted to twenty 
 in number, he allowed one blow of the rod for each fault ; 
 but only half the blows were given to the boy, who then 
 took the rod and punished his father with just as many 
 blows. This was an earlier example of Mr. Alcott's method 
 of punishment in his Boston school. 1 
 
 Among the childish recollections of the eldest son (who 
 was born in a log-cabin near where his father built in 1824 
 a large frame house, which is still standing) are the follow 
 ing, which relate chiefly to Richmond, but date back to the 
 Hudson tannery : 
 
 " Father had a rule not to threaten one of his children. He com 
 manded, and there was obedience. Up to this time (1824) I had not 
 heard a threat. I was playing round where the timbers for the new 
 house were being hewed, and occasionally I picked up the tools be 
 longing to Mr. Herman Peck the carpenter, who spoke up sharp to 
 me and said, ' John, put them down, or I'll cut your ears off! ' Be 
 lieving he would do so, I scrambled under the timbers which were 
 laid up on logs to be hewed (and in my hurry I bumped the back of 
 my head on most of them as I went), and ran off to the tannery, in 
 a room of which we were temporarily living ; for the log-house in 
 which I was born had been torn down to give place to the new one. 
 Besides the sharpest recollection of this, I have heard father mention, 
 
 1 The family government of Brown was always strict, but with some 
 thing humorous about it too. His son John relates that when he and 
 George Delamater were playing one winter evening in the school-room, and 
 were so noisy as to disturb the father who was sitting in the kitchen, Brown, 
 after repeating several times, " Children, you make too much noise," all at 
 once called out, " John and George, you may come here to me ! " When 
 they came and stood one on each side of him, he said, " Boys, I think you 
 need to hear the bell ring." Then taking out his clasp-knife and opening 
 it, he held it by the blade and tapped his son John with the handle, smartly 
 on the top of the head. This made his mirthful expression change so 
 quickly that George burst out laughing. Thereupon Brown tapped George 
 on the head, and John burst out laughing. After " ringing the bell " twice 
 or three times in this way their mirth was changed to melancholy. 
 
92 LIFE AND LETTERS OE JOHN BROWN. [1829. 
 
 when speaking of the matter of threatening children, how greatly 
 alarmed I was on that occasion. 1 cannot say how old I was then, 
 probably less than three, yet my memory of the event is clear. I 
 don't know the year when we moved to Pennsylvania, though I re 
 member the circumstances. Owen was then a baby. 
 
 " My first apprenticeship to the tanning business consisted of a three 
 years' course at grinding bark with a blind horse. This, after months 
 and years, became slightly monotonous. While the other children 
 were out at play in the sunshine, where the birds were singing, I 
 used to be tempted to let the old horse have a rather long rest, espe 
 cially when father was absent from home; and I would then join the 
 others at their play. This subjected me to frequent admonitions and 
 to some corrections for ' eye-service,' as father termed it. I did not 
 fully appreciate the importance of a good supply of ground bark, and 
 on general principles I think my occupation was not well calculated 
 to promote a habit of faithful industry. The old blind horse, unless 
 ordered to stop, would, like Tennyson's Brook, ' go on forever/ and 
 thus keep up the appearance of business ; bnt the creaking of the 
 hungry mill would betray my neglect, and then father, hearing this 
 from below, would come up and stealthily pounce upon me while at 
 a window looking upon outside attractions. He finally grew tired of 
 these frequent slight admonitions for my laziness and other short 
 comings, and concluded to adopt with me a sort of book -account, 
 something like this : 
 
 JOHN, DR., 
 
 For disobeying mother 8 lashes 
 
 " unfaithfulness at work 3 " 
 
 " telling a lie 8 " 
 
 This account he showed to me from time to time. On a certain Sun 
 day morning he invited me to accompany him from the house to the 
 tannery, saying that he had concluded it was time for a settlement. 
 We went into the upper or finishing room, and after a long and tear 
 ful talk over my faults, he again showed me my account, which ex 
 hibited a fearful footing up of debits. I had no credits or off-sets, 
 and was of course bankrupt. I then paid about one-third of the 
 debt, reckoned in strokes from a nicely-prepared blue-beech switch, 
 laid on ' masterly.' Then, to my utter astonishment, father stripped 
 off his shirt, and, seating himself on a block, gave me the whip and 
 bade me ' lay it on ' to his bare back. I dared not refuse to obey, 
 but at first I did not strike hard. ' Harder ! ' he said ; ' harder, 
 harder! ' until he received the balance of the account. Small drops of 
 blood showed on his back where the tip end of the tingling beech cut 
 through. Thus ended the account and settlement, which was also 
 
1833.] PIONEER LIFE IN THE ADIRONDACK 93 
 
 my first practical illustration of the Doctrine of the Atonement. I 
 was then too obtuse to perceive how Justice could be satisfied by in 
 flicting penalty upon the back of the innocent instead of the guilty ; 
 but at that time I had not read the ponderous volumes of Jonathan 
 Edwards's sermons which father owned." 
 
 Ruth Thompson, in her reminiscences of her father, 
 says : 
 
 " My mother, Dianthe Lusk Brown, died at Randolph, Pa., in 
 August, 1832. The baptism of myself and my brother Fred must 
 have been in the spring of 1832, when I was a little more than three 
 years old, and while my own mother was living. The first house 
 work that I remember is wiping some dishes for my new mother, 
 perhaps when I was five years old. My father was married a second 
 time to Mary Anne Day, July 11, 1833, and I continued to live at 
 Randolph (now Richmond) until 1835, when we went back to Ohio, 
 where my grandfather, Owen Brown, was living. While I was 
 wiping the knives, at the time I mention, I cut my finger and was 
 faint, so that father got some wine for me, and told me to drink it. 
 The boys bothered me about that wine for a long time, but were very 
 careful never to say anything about it before father, who was some 
 times very stern and strict. He used to whip me quite often for tell 
 ing lies, but I can't remember his ever punishing me but once when 
 I thought I did n't deserve it, and then he looked at me so stern that 
 I did n't dare to tell the truth. He had such a way of saying ' tut, 
 tut ! ' if he saw the first sign of a lie in us, that he often frightened us 
 children. When we were moving back from Pennsylvania to Ohio, 
 father stopped at a house and asked for a pail of water and a cup to 
 give us a drink ; but when he handed the cup of water to mother he 
 said, with a queer, disgusted look, * This pail has sore ears. 7 
 
 11 When T first began to go to school, I found a piece of calico one 
 day behind one of the benches, it was not large, but seemed quite 
 a treasure to me, and I did riot show it to any one until I got home. 
 Father heard me then telling about it, and said, ' Don't you know 
 what girl lost it ? ' I told him I did not. ' Well, when you go to 
 school to-morrow take it with you, and find out if you can who 
 lost it. It is a trifling thing, but always remember that if you 
 should lose anything you valued, no matter how small, you would 
 want the person that found it to give it back to you.' The impres 
 sion he made on me about that little piece of calico has never been 
 forgotten. Before I had learned to write, the school-teacher wanted 
 all the scholars to write a composition or read a piece. Father 
 wanted me to read one of ^Esop's fables, I can't remember what 
 
94 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1838. 
 
 fable. Brother John said he would write it for me. ' No,' I said, 1 1 
 had rather have one of the other boys write it, for if you do the whole 
 school will soon know I did not write it.' My father spoke up quickly 
 and said, l Never appear to be what you are not, honesty is the 
 best policy.' When I was telling something done by another girl 
 that I thought was wrong, he said, ' Who made you to diifer f ' He 
 showed a great deal of tenderness to me ; and one thing I always 
 noticed was my father's peculiar tenderness and devotion to his father. 
 In cold weather he always tucked the bedclothes around grandfather, 
 when he went to bed, and would get up in the night to ask him if he 
 slept warm, always seeming so kind and loving to him that his 
 example was beautiful to see. He used to tell us a story of a man 
 whose old father lived with him, and broke a plate while he was 
 eating ; and then his son concluded to make him a trough to eat out 
 of. While he was digging the trough, his little boy asked him what 
 he was making. ' I am making a trough for your grandfather to eat 
 out of.' The little boy said, l Father, shall I make a trough for you 
 to eat out of when you are old ? ' This set the man thinking, and he 
 concluded his father might still eat on a plate. He often told us 
 when we were where old people were standing, always to offer them 
 a seat if we had one, and used to quote this verse, ' Thou shalt 
 rise up before the hoary head, and honor the face of the old man.' 
 While we were living at Hudson, an old man, leading an old white 
 ox, came to our house one rainy afternoon, asking for something to 
 eat and to stay over night. Father and the older boys were gone 
 from home, and mother and we younger children were afraid of him, 
 he acted so strangely, did not talk much, but looked down all 
 the time, and talked strangely when he said anything. Mother gave 
 him something to eat, and told him there was a tavern a half mile 
 from there, where he could stay. He went on, and we thought no 
 more about him. The next Sunday father was talking to us about 
 how we should treat strangers, and read this passage from the Bible, 
 * Forget not to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained 
 angels unawares.' Mother then told about the old man. John said, 
 ' I met that same old man as I was coming home from Franklin 
 about midnight, riding his old white ox j it. was raining and cold.' 
 When father heard that he said, ' Oh, dear ! no doubt he had no 
 money, and they turned him off at the tavern, and he could get no 
 place to stay, and was obliged to travel all night in the rain.' He 
 seemed to feel really hurt about it. When his children were ill 
 with scarlet fever, he took care of us himself, and if he saw persons 
 coming to the house, would go to the gate and meet them, not wish 
 ing them to come in, for fear of spreading the disease. Some of his 
 friends blamed him very much for not calling in a physician, but 
 
1843.] PIONEER LIFE IN THE ADIRONDACS. 95 
 
 he brought the whole family through nicely, and without any of the 
 terrible effects afterward, which many experience. Right away he 
 became famous as a doctor, and those who blamed him most were 
 the first to call for him when they were taken with the same disease. 
 " As a shepherd, he showed the same watchful care over his sheep. 
 I remember one spring a great many of his sheep had a disease 
 called ' grub in the head,' and when the lambs came the ewes would 
 not own them. For two weeks he did not go to bed, but sat up or 
 slept an hour or two at a time in his chair, and then would take a 
 lantern, go out and catch the ewes, and hold them while the lambs 
 sucked. He would very often bring in a lit.tle dead-looking lamb, 
 and put it in warm water and rub it until it showed signs of life, 
 and then wrap it in a warm blanket, feed it warm milk with a tea 
 spoon, and work over it with such tenderness that in a few hours it 
 would be capering around the room. One Monday morning I had 
 just got my white clothes in a nice warm suds in the wash-tub, when 
 he came in bringing a little dead-looking lamb. There seemed to be 
 no sign of life about it. Said he, ' Take out your clothes quick, and 
 let ine put this lamb in the water.' I felt a little vexed to be hindered 
 with my washing, and told him I did n't believe he could make it 
 live ; but in an hour or two he had it running around the room, and 
 calling loudly for its mother. The next year he came in from the 
 barn and said to me, 'Ruth, that lamb that I hindered you with 
 when you were washing, I have just sold for one hundred dollars.' 
 It was a pure-blooded Saxony lamb." 
 
 From Pennsylvania back to Ohio, in 1835-36, and from 
 Ohio to Massachusetts in 1845-46, were for the Brown 
 family a temporary recall from their frontier and pioneer 
 duty to the haunts of civilization ; and in this interval the 
 children of the second marriage were nearly all born, and 
 in part educated. The older children also received some 
 education which the backwoods could not furnish ; and it 
 was seriously contemplated at one time to send John Brown, 
 Jr., to West Point, where he might receive a military educa 
 tion in the national school. At Franklin in 1836 and during 
 the short period when the wool business at Springfield was 
 flourishing, John Brown had hopes of becoming a capitalist, 
 not for the sake of giving himself an easier life, but to 
 educate his children better, and to lay up money with which 
 he could carry out his chosen purpose of setting the slaves 
 free. This hope faded away, but the purpose remained fixed, 
 
96 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1848 
 
 and was the occasion of his seeking once more the freedom 
 and the hardships of a backwoodsman. On the anniversary 
 of West India emancipation, August 1, 1846, Gerrit Smith, 
 the agrarian emancipationist of New York, had offered to 
 give one hundred thousand acres of his wild land in that 
 State to such colored families, fugitive slaves or citizens 
 of New York, as would occupy and cultivate them in 
 small farms. Two years later (April 8, 1848) when a 
 few of these families had established themselves in the 
 Adirondac wilderness, John Brown visited Mr. Smith at 
 Peterboro', New York, and proposed to take up land in 
 the same region for himself and his children, while at 
 the same time he would employ and direct the labor of 
 those colored backwoodsmen who had settled there. Mr. 
 Smith, who had inherited from his father landed prop 
 erty in more than fifty of the counties of New York, knew 
 very well when he made his princely offer that those who 
 might accept it would need all the encouragement and di 
 rection they could receive from men like Brown, for there 
 were many difficulties in the way of its acceptance by the 
 Southern fugitives and the free people of color in the 
 Northern cities. The Adirondac counties were then, much 
 more than now, a backwoods region, with few roads, schools, 
 or churches, and very few good farms. The great current 
 of summer and autumn travel, which now flows through it 
 every year, had scarcely begun to move ; sportsmen from 
 New York and New England, and the agents of men in 
 terested in iron-mines and smelting-forges, were the chief 
 visitors. The life of a settler there was rough pioneer 
 work : the forest was to be cut down and the land burned 
 over ; the family supplies must be produced mainly in the 
 household ; the men made their own sugar from the maple 
 woods, and the women spun and wove the garments from 
 the wool that grew on the backs of the farmers' sheep. 
 Winter lingers there for six months out of the twelve, and 
 neither wheat nor Indian corn will grow on these hillsides 
 in ordinary years. The crops are grass, rye, oats, potatoes, 
 and garden vegetables ; cows, and especially sheep, are the 
 wealth of the farmer ; and, as Colonel Higginson mentioned 
 in 1859, the widow of Oliver Brown, when he was killed at 
 
1849.] PIONEER LIFE IN THE ADIRONDACK 97 
 
 Harper's Ferry, was considered not absolutely penniless, 
 because her young husband had left her five sheep, valued 
 at ten dollars. Such a region was less attractive to the 
 negroes than Canada, for it was as cold, less secure from 
 the slave-hunter, and gave little choice of those humble but 
 well-paid employments, indispensable in towns, to which 
 the colored race naturally resort. There was no opening in 
 the woods of Essex for waiters, barbers, coachmen, washer 
 women, or the other occupations for which negroes had been 
 trained. 
 
 In spite of these discouragements, at the date of Brown's 
 first call at the hospitable home of Mr. Smith (where he 
 was ever after a welcome visitor) a small colony of colored 
 people had gone to North Elba in Essex County, to clear up 
 the forest land, and were braving the hardships of the first 
 year in the cold backwoods of Northern New York. Brown 
 introduced himself to Mr. Smith, and made him this pro 
 posal : " I am something of a pioneer ; I grew up among the 
 woods and wild Indians of Ohio, and am used to the climate 
 and the way of life that your colony find so trying. I will 
 take one of your farms myself, clear it up and plant it, and 
 show my colored neighbors how such work should be done ; 
 will give them work as I have occasion, look after them in 
 all needful ways, and be a kind of father to them." His 
 host knew the value of such services ; with his quick eye 
 for the nobler traits of human nature, he saw the true 
 character of Brown, and the arrangement was soon made. 
 Brown purchased a farm or two, obtained the refusal of 
 others, and in 1848-49, while still engaged in his wool busi 
 ness, he removed a part of his family from Springfield to 
 North Elba, where they remained much of the time between 
 1849 and 1864, and where they lived when he was attacking 
 slavery in Kansas, in Missouri, and in Virginia. Besides 
 the other inducements which this rough and bleak region 
 offered him, he considered it a good refuge for his wife and 
 younger children, when he should go on his campaign ; a 
 place where they would not only be safe and independent, 
 but could live frugally, and both learn and practise those 
 habits of thrifty industry which Brown thought indispen 
 sable in the training of children. When he went there, his 
 
 7 
 
98 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1850. 
 
 youngest son Oliver was ten years old, and his daughters 
 Anna and Sarah were six and three years old. Ellen, his 
 youngest child, was born afterwards. 
 
 Brown soon fell in love with the region thus chosen for 
 his home and burial-place. His romantic spirit, which in 
 early life made him long to be a shepherd, made him also 
 keenly alive to the attractions of the wild and sublime in 
 Nature. Had he been born among these mountains he could 
 not have felt their beauty more deeply. In the summer and 
 early autumn, for a few mouths, this wilderness is charming. 
 The mountains rise grand and beautiful on all sides ; the 
 untamed forest clothes their slopes and fills up the plains 
 and valleys, save where the puny labors of men have here 
 and there rescued a bit of fertile land from its gloom. On 
 such spots the houses are built, and around them grow the 
 small cultivated crops that can endure the climate, while 
 the woods and meadows are full of wild fruits. Many of 
 the dwellings were then log-cabins ; and in the whole town 
 ship of North Elba there was scarcely a house worth a 
 thousand dollars, or one which was finished throughout. 
 Mrs. Brown's house, at my first visit, in 1857, had but two 
 plastered rooms, yet two families lived in it, and at my 
 second visit, in February, 1860, two widowed women besides, 
 whose husbands were killed at Harper's Ferry. I slept on 
 both occasions in a little chamber partitioned off with a rude 
 framework, but not plastered, the walls only ornamented 
 with a few pictures (among them a portrait of Brown) ; and 
 in winter the snow sifted through the roof and fell upon the 
 bed. I arrived at nightfall, closely pursued from the shore 
 of Lake Champlain by a snowstorm, which murmured and 
 moaned about the chamber all night ; and in the morning I 
 found a small snowdrift on my coverlet, and another on the 
 floor near the bed. 1 This house had been built by John 
 Brown about 1850, and the great rock beside which he lies 
 buried is but a few rods from its door. At that time, far 
 more than now, the wild raspberries and other fruits were 
 
 1 The new-born babe of Oliver Brown (the captain's youngest son, who 
 had been killed at Harper's Ferry four months before) died in the house 
 that night, and the poor young mother did not long survive. 
 
1850.] PIONEER LIFE IN THE ADIRONDACS. 99 
 
 in abundance, the woods abounded in game, and the streams 
 and lakes with hsh. But the mode of life was rude and 
 primitive, with no elegance, and little that we should call 
 comfort, as will appear by the reminiscences of Mrs. Thomp 
 son, soon to be cited. The contrast between this region, in 
 1849, and the thriving towns of Massachusetts, like Spring 
 field, was striking. 
 
 One of the first things that Brown did in this wilderness 
 was to introduce his favorite breed of ca,ttle, and to exhibit 
 them for a prize at the annual cattle-show of Essex County, 
 in September, 1850. They were a grade of Devons, and the 
 first stock of the kind that had ever been seen at the county 
 fair. The agricultural society, in its annual report for 1850, 
 said : " 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 se 
 cluded 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." The same result, on a much 
 grander scale, was observed some years later, when John 
 Brown exhibited specimens of a choicer and bigger breed of 
 men than had been seen lately in Virginia or New England. 
 " We have no doubt," added the Essex County farmers, 
 " that this influence upon the character of our stock will be 
 permanent and decisive." 
 
 Mrs. Euth Thompson has given some anecdotes of the 
 pioneer life at North Elba, whither she went at the age of 
 twenty. She says : 
 
 u Before moving to North Elba, father rented a farm, having a 
 good barn on it, and a one-story house, which seemed very small for 
 a family of nine. Father said, * It is small ; but the main thing is, 
 all keep good-natured.' He had bought some fine Devon cattle in 
 Connecticut, near his birthplace ; these my brothers Owen, Watson, 
 and Salmon drove to North Elba. At West-port he bought a span of 
 good horses, and hired Thomas Jefferson (a colored man, who with 
 his family were moving to North Elba from Troy) to drive them. He 
 proved to be a careful and trusty man, and so father hired him as long 
 as he stayed there, to be his teamster. Mr. Jefferson by his kind ways 
 
100 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1850. 
 
 soon won the confidence of us all. He drove so carefully over the 
 mountain roads that father thought he had heen very fortunate in meet 
 ing him. The day we crossed the mountain from Keene was rainy 
 and dreary; but father kept our spirits up by pointing out some 
 thing new and interesting all the way. We stopped occasionally to get 
 a cup of water from the sparkling streams, that were so clear we could 
 see the bottom covered with clean sand and beautiful white pebbles. 
 We never tired of looking at the mountain scenery, which seemed 
 awfully grand. Father wanted us to notice how fragrant the air was, 
 filled with the perfume of the spruce, hemlock, and balsams. The 
 little house of Mr. Flanders, which was to be our home, was the sec 
 ond house we came to after crossing the mountain from Keene. It 
 had one good -sized room below, which answered pretty well for 
 kitchen, dining-room, and parlor; also a pantry and two bedrooms ; 
 and the chamber furnished space for four beds, so that whenever ' a 
 stranger or wayfaring man ' entered our gates, he was not turned 
 away. We all slept soundly; and the next morning the sun rose 
 bright, and made our little home quite cheerful. Before noon a 
 bright, pleasant colored boy came to our gate (or rather, our bars) 
 and inquired if John Brown lived there. l Here is where he stays,' 
 was father's reply. The boy had been a slave in Virginia, and 
 was sold and sent to St. Augustine, Fla. From there he ran away, 
 and came to Springfield, where by his industry and good habits he 
 had acquired some property. Father hired him to help carry on 
 the farm, so there were ten of us in the little house; but Cyrus did 
 not take more than his share of the room, and was always good- 
 natured. 
 
 " As soon as father could go around among the colored families, 
 he employed Mrs. Eeed, a widow, to be our housekeeper and cook ; 
 for mother was very much out of health. 
 
 " While we were living in Springfield our house was plainly fur 
 nished, but very comfortably, all excepting the parlor. Mother and 
 I had often expressed a wish that the parlor might be furnished 
 too, and father encouraged us that it should be ; but after he made 
 up his mind to go to North Elba he began to economize in many 
 ways. One day he called us older ones to him and said : ' I want 
 to plan with you a little ; and I want you all to express your minds. 
 I have a little money to spare; and now shall we use it to furnish 
 the parlor, or spend it to buy clothing for the colored people who may 
 need help in North Elba another year ? ' We all said, l Save the 
 money. 7 He was never stingy in his family, but always provided 
 liberally for us, whenever he was able to do so. Frederick Douglass 
 has said in his last book, that John Brown economized so closely in 
 order to carry out his plans, that we did not have a cloth on the 
 
1850.] PIONEER LIFE IN THE ADIRONDACS. 101 
 
 table at meal-times. I think our good friend is mistaken ; for I never 
 sat down to a meal at my father's table without a cloth. He was 
 very particular about this. Father had been planning ever since a 
 boy how he could help to liberate the slaves at the South, and never 
 lost an opportunity to aid in every possible way those who were es 
 caping from bondage. He saw in Mr. Smith's proposal an opening 
 through which he thought he might carry out his cherished scheme. 
 He knew that the colored people who might settle on those Adiron- 
 dac lands were inexperienced. Most of them had lived in cities, 
 and were unused to the hardships and privations they must necessa 
 rily undergo in making homes in that wild mountain region. There 
 fore, as soon as we had got fairly settled, father began to think what 
 lie could do to help the new colored settlers to begin work on their 
 lands. The greater number of them were intelligent, industrious 
 people, and glad to do the best they could ; but many of them had 
 been cheated badly by a land-surveyor, who took advantage of their 
 ignorance, and got them to settle on lands that did not correspond 
 with the deeds Gerrit Smith had given them. Some of them began 
 working on low land that was hard to cultivate; and when they 
 found they had been cheated they were discouraged, and many went 
 back to their city homes. Father felt deeply over the way so many 
 of them had been treated, and tried to encourage and help them in 
 every way he could. He spent much of his time in surveying their 
 land, running out their lines, and helping them to locate on land 
 actually belonging to them ; and he also employed several of the 
 colored men to cut the timber off a part of the farm where he now 
 lies buried. He bought a quantity of provisions for them, and some 
 cloth to be made up into garments. 
 
 " It was not long after we settled in North Elba that Mr. R. H. 
 Dana, with Mr. Metcalf, of Eastern Massachusetts, and Mr. Aikens, 
 of Westport, came to our house one morning, and asked for some 
 thing to eat. They met father in the yard, and told him they had 
 been lost in the woods, and had eaten nothing since the morning be 
 fore. Father came in, and asked me if I could get breakfast for some 
 men that had been out all night, and were very hungry. l Certainly 
 I can,' said I. They lay on the grass while I made preparations to 
 cook something substantial for them, but they were so hungry they 
 could not wait ; so they came in and said, l Do not wait to cook 
 anything; just give us some bread and milk, for we are nearly 
 starved.' I hurried some bread, butter, and milk on the table, 
 and they ate as only hungry men can. I filled the milk-pitcher and 
 bread-plate several times, until I was afraid they would hurt them 
 selves ; and then I persuaded them to go upstairs and sleep a few 
 hours until I could get them a cooked dinner, and they did so. 
 
102 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1849. 
 
 While they were resting on the beds upstairs, our excellent cook 
 got dinner for them, venison and some speckled brook-trout, with 
 other things necessary to make a substantial dinner. After all was 
 ready I called them, and the three came down and ate alone. They 
 seemed to enjoy the dinner; but their appetites did not appear as 
 keen as in the morning, when they ate the bread and milk. They 
 paid us liberally for their meals, and thanked us kindly for our 
 trouble ; took their boots in their hands (for their feet were too much 
 swollen to put them on), and bade us good-by. Their teamster had 
 been sent for, and he took them to Mr. Osgood's, as Mr. Dana 
 mentions. We saw at once that they were gentlemen, despite their 
 forlorn appearance; we were interested in their story, and were glad 
 to entertain them." 
 
 Mr. Dana wrote an account of this adventure, which was 
 printed in the u Atlantic Monthly " for July, 1871, and in 
 which he thus describes the country as John Brown first 
 saw it in 1848 : 
 
 " From Keene westward we began to meet signs of frontier life, 
 log-cabins, little clearings, bad roads overshadowed by forests, moun 
 tain torrents, and the refreshing odor of balsam firs and hemlocks. In 
 the afternoon we came into the Indian Pass. This is a ravine or gorge, 
 formed by two close and parallel walls of nearly perpendicular cliffs, 
 thirteen hundred feet in height, and almost black in their hue. Before 
 I had seen the Yosemite Valley these cliffs satisfied my ideal of steep 
 mountain walls. From the highest level of the Pass flow two moun 
 tain torrents in opposite directions, one the source of the Hudson, 
 and so reaching the Atlantic ; and the other the source of the Au 
 Sable, which runs into Lake Cham plain, and at last into the Gulf of 
 St. Lawrence. . . . The Adirondac Mountains wave with woods, and 
 are green with bushes to their summits; torrents break down into the 
 valleys on all sides ; lakes of various sizes and shapes glitter in the 
 landscape, bordered by bending woods whose roots strike through 
 the waters. There is none of that dreary barren grandeur that marks 
 the White Mountains, although Tahawus [Mt. Marcy], the highest 
 peak, is about fifty-four hundred feet high, only some six or seven 
 hundred feet less than Mt, Washington. . . . From John Brown's 
 small log-house, old White Face, the only exception to the uniform 
 green and brown and black hues of the Adirondac hills, stood plain 
 in view, rising at the head of Lake Placid, its white or pale-gray 
 side caused, we were told, by a landslide; all about were the distant 
 highest summits." 
 
1849.] PIONEER LIFE IN THE ADIRONDACS. 103 
 
 This was not the house that Brown built, and near 
 which he now lies buried, but the smaller one that he first 
 occupied. Of Brown's appearance and family arrangements 
 in June, 1849 (he was then forty-nine years old), Mr. Dana 
 says : 
 
 11 He was a tall, gaunt, dark-complexioned man, walking before his 
 wagon, having his theodolite and other surveyor's instruments with 
 him. He came forward and received us with kindness ; a grave, 
 serious man he seemed, with a marked countenance and a natural 
 dignity of manner, that dignity which is unconscious, and cornes 
 from a superior habit of mind. At table he said a solemn grace. I 
 observed that he called the two negroes by their surnames, with 
 the prefixes of Mr. and Mrs. He introduced us to them in due form, 
 l Mr. Dana, Mr. Jefferson,' etc. We found him well informed on 
 most subjects, especially in the natural sciences. He had books, and 
 evidently made a diligent use of them. He had confessedly the best 
 cattle and best farming utensils for miles round. He seemed to have 
 an unlimited family of children, from a cheerful, nice, healthy woman 
 of twenty or so [Ruth], and a full-sized, red-haired son [Owen], 
 through every grade of boy and girl, to a couple that could hardly 
 speak plain. Friday, June 29, we found them at breakfast in the 
 patriarchal style, Mr. and Mrs. Brown, and their large family of 
 children, with the hired men and women, including three negroes, 
 all at the table together. Their meal was neat, substantial, and 
 wholesome." 
 
 Concerning the house in which Mr. Dana visited her 
 father, Mrs. Thompson says : 
 
 " It stood near the schoolhouse, on the road to Keene and Westport, 
 from the grave by the great rock on father's own farm, and more than a 
 mile east from that spot. The Indian Pass, mentioned by Mr. Dana, 
 is a 'notch' between Mt. Marcy and Mt. Mclntyre, a few miles south 
 of our cabin, while Mt. White Face was as many miles to the north. 
 The Au Sable River is the stream which drains these mountains, and 
 flows through North Elba in a winding course into Lake Cham plain, 
 at Port Kent. Westport is the town on Lake Champlain, south of 
 the mouth of the Au Sable, from which travellers commonly start in 
 going into the Adirondac wilderness by Keene ; and it was through 
 this town that father usually went to and from North Elba. On one 
 of his trips home from Springfield, in the winter, he hired a man to 
 take him from Westport to Keene, but could not get any one to carry 
 him over the mountain to North Elba that afternoon. Being very 
 
104 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1850. 
 
 anxious to get home, he started from Keene on foot, carrying a heavy 
 satchel. Before he came within several miles of home, he got so 
 tired and lame that he had to sit down in the road. The snow was 
 very deep, and the road but little trodden. He got up again after 
 a while, went on as far as he could, and sat down once more. He 
 walked a long distance in that way, and at last lay down with fatigue 
 in the deep snow beside the path, and thought he should get chilled 
 there and die. While lying so, a man passed him on foot, but did 
 not notice him. Father guessed the man thought he was drunk, or 
 else did not see him. He lay there and rested a while, and then 
 started on again, though in great pain, and made out to reach the 
 first house, Robert Scott's. (This was afterwards a noted tavern 
 for sportsmen and travellers, and became known far and wide as 
 ' Scott's.' It is now kept by Mr. Scott's kinsman Mr. Ames, and 
 is the nearest hotel to the ' John Brown Farm/ where father lies 
 buried.) Father rested at this house for some time, and then Mr. 
 Sflott hitched his oxen to the sled, and brought him home to us. 
 Father could scarcely get into the house, he was so tired. 
 
 11 1 had in the mean time married Henry Thompson, of North Elba 
 (two of whose brothers were afterwards killed at Harper's Ferry), 
 and was living with my husband on his farm not far from where 
 father's grave now is. Father's lawsuits about his wool business 
 had brought him back from Ohio to Troy, N. Y., nearly a hundred 
 miles from North Elba j but hearing that the small-pox was in one 
 of the mountain towns not far from us, he made the long journey 
 into the wilderness, and came to our house early one morning (fearing 
 my husband had not been vaccinated, and so might get the small 
 pox). We were much surprised to see him ; and when he told us 
 what brought him back, I thought was there ever such love and 
 care as his ! When any of the family were sick, he did not often trust 
 watchers to care for the sick one, but sat up himself, and was like a 
 tender mother. At one time he sat up every night for two weeks 
 while mother was sick, for fear he would oversleep if he went to bed, 
 and then the fire would go out, and she take cold. No one outside 
 of his own family can ever know the mingled strength and tenderness 
 of his character. Oh, what a loss his death seemed to us ! Yet we 
 did not half know him until he was taken from us. 
 
 il He did not lose his interest in the colored people of North Elba, 
 and grieved over the sad fate of one of them, Mr. Henderson, who 
 was lost in the woods in the winter of 1852, and perished with the 
 cold. Mr. Henderson was an intelligent and good man, and was 
 very industrious, and father thought much of him. Before leaving 
 for Kansas in 1855, to help defend the Free State cause, and, if an 
 opportunity offered, to strike a blow at slavery, he removed his family 
 
1854.] PIONEER LIFE IN THE ADIRONDACS. 105 
 
 from Ohio back to the farm in North Elba. On leaving us finally to 
 go to Kansas that summer, he said,* i If it is so painful for us to part 
 with the hope of meeting again, how dreadful must be the feelings of 
 hundreds of poor slaves who are separated for life ! ' " 
 
 When John Brown, Jr., visited with his father at North 
 Elba in 1858, he thus described the place in a letter to his 
 brother : 
 
 " From Keene we came by a new road, laid south of the old route 
 over the mountains. This new road is open for travel in the winter 
 months, as it leads by Long Pond, which is itself used as a road when 
 frozen over. The route is the most romantically grand and beautiful 
 that I ever saw in my life. I am fully convinced that North Elba is 
 the country for us to come to. Building materials of good quality 
 are very cheap ; and I can purchase the wild lands having excellent 
 sugar orchards on them, of from two hundred to one thousand good 
 maple-trees, for about one dollar per acre. The land is easily cleared 
 by ' slashing ' and burning, and by sowing on grass-seed can be con 
 verted into good pasture within a year. It is excellent for rye, 
 spring-wheat, oats, potatoes, carrots, turnips, etc., and hi some places 
 hardy apples can be raised to advantage. I can get Mr. Dickson's 
 place (forty acres, with five or six improved, or at least cleared), 
 with a good log-house, a frame barn, 20 X 30 feet, for $150." 
 
 John Brown himself often declared his fondness for this 
 region, and it was by his express request that he was buried 
 on the hill-side, in view of Tahawus and White Face. In 
 June, 1854, while living in Ohio, he thus wrote to his son 
 John : 
 
 " My own conviction, after again visiting Essex County (as I did 
 week before last), is that no place (of which I know) offers so many 
 inducements to me, or any of my family, as that section ; and I would 
 wish when you make a move that you go in that direction. I will 
 give my reasons at length when I have a little more time. Henry 
 and family are well, and appear satisfied that North Elba is about 
 the place after all. I never saw it look half so inviting before." 
 
 In an earlier letter he thus writes : 
 
 NORTH ELBA, N. Y., Dec. 15, 1852. 
 
 DEAR SON JOHN, I got here last night, and found all very com 
 fortable and well, except Henry, who is troubled with a lame back, 
 
106 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1850. 
 
 something like rheumatism I presume. The weather has been very 
 mild so far, and things appear to be progressing among our old 
 neighbors ; so that I feel as much as ever disposed to regard this as 
 my home, and I can think of no objection to your coming here to live 
 when you can sell out well. A middling good saw-mill is now run 
 ning a few rods down the river l from the large pine log we used to 
 cross on, when we went to help Henry take care of his oats. The 
 more I reflect on all the consequences likely to follow, the more I am 
 disposed to encourage you to come here ; and I take into the account 
 as well as I can the present and future welfare of yourself and 
 family, and prospects of usefulness. Our trial at Boston is to come 
 on by agreement on the 6th January. I shall write Mr. Perkins to 
 send you money for expenses, so that you can get on to Boston by 
 the 3d January. We shall want to look the papers over, and talk 
 the business over beforehand. Ruth intends occupying the balance 
 of the sheet. My best wishes for you all. 
 
 Your affectionate father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 The hardships of existence in a new country like North 
 Elba fall heaviest on the women. Mrs. Brown had been an 
 invalid before leaving Springfield, arid she was long out of 
 health in this forest home. To encourage her, as he 'fre 
 quently did, Brown had recourse to letters of sympathy 
 and exhortation, mingled with prosaic details of the econ 
 omy they must practise at North Elba. One or two of 
 these letters will here be given, together with letters to 
 Ruth and his other children. 
 
 John Brown to his Wife. 
 
 SPRINGFIELD, MASS., Nov. 28, 1850. 
 
 DEAR WIFE, ... Since leaving home I have thought that under 
 all the circumstances of doubt attending the time of our removal, and 
 the possibility that we may not remove at all, I had perhaps en 
 couraged the boys to feed out the potatoes too freely. ... I want 
 to have them very careful to have no hay or straw wasted, but I 
 would have them use enough straw for bedding the cattle to keep 
 them from lying in the mire. I heard from Ohio a few days since ; 
 all were then well. It now seems that the Fugitive Slave Law was 
 to be the means of making more Abolitionists than all the lectures 
 
 1 A branch of the Au Sable. 
 
1851.] PIONEEK LIFE IN THE A13IRONDACS. 107 
 
 we have had for years. It really looks as if God had his hand on 
 this wickedness also. I of course keep encouraging my colored 
 friends to " trust in God, and keep their powder dry." I did so 
 to-day, at Thanksgiving meeting, publicly. . . . While here, and at 
 almost all places where 1 stop, I am treated with all kindness and 
 attention ; but it does not make home. I feel lonely and restless, no 
 matter how neat and comfortable my room and bed, nor how richly 
 loaded may be the table; they have few charms for me, away from 
 home. I can look back to our log-cabin at the centre of Richfield, 
 with a supper of porridge and johnny-cake, as a place of far more 
 interest to me than the " Massasoit" 1 of Springfield. But "there 's 
 mercy in every place." 
 
 Jan. 17, 1851. 
 
 ... I wrote Owen last week that if he had not the means on hand 
 to buy a little sugar, to write Mr. Cutting,, of Westport, to send out 
 some. I conclude you have got your belt before this. I could not 
 manage to send the slates for the boys, as I intended, so they must 
 be provided for some other way. . . . Say to the little girls that I 
 will run home the first chance I get ; but I want to have them learn 
 to be a little more still. May God in his infinite mercy bless and 
 keep you all is the unceasing prayer of 
 
 Your affectionate husband, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 To Henry Thompson. 
 
 NORTH HUDSON, N. Y., March 15, 1851. 
 
 I have drawn an order on you, payable in board of Mail -carrier, 
 horse-feed, or oats, in favor of Mr. Judd for $7.09, which you will 
 oblige me by paying in oats at forty cents per bushel, or in board as 
 above, whichever he may choose. When you can sell my stuff please 
 pay your father $2.00 for me. I also wish you to send on of my shin 
 gles that Hiram Brown carried out, two thousand to Alva Holt, as 
 we settled about the oats on condition of my sending him two thou 
 sand. I wish you to open an account of debt and credit with me from 
 this time on, as I shall have a good many errands to trouble you 
 with. I wish you would notify Mr. Flanders by letter at once (if 
 Nash calls on you for the $3.00) to go ahead with tho suit. Mr. 
 Kellogg told me he thought the Trustees would settle with me, were 
 he to write to them. We are getting along very well ; the boys are 
 still ahead, and Jack is with us. Mr, Blood talked of taking the 
 shingles before I sold the two thousand to Holt, and said he would 
 
 1 A noted inn. 
 
108 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1852. 
 
 go and look at them, and give me $1.50 per thousand for them if he 
 liked them. I wish to do the handsome thing by him about it. 
 Would be glad to have you see him about it. My love unceasing 
 to Euth. 
 
 Affectionately yours, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 TROY, N. Y., Oct. 6, 1851. 
 
 DEAR CHILDREN, As I am still detained at this place, I improve 
 a leisure moment to write you, as the only means of communicating 
 with a part of my family in whose present and future interests I have 
 an inexpressible concern. Words and actions are but feeble means 
 of conveying an idea of what I always feel whenever my absent chil 
 dren come into mind ; so I will not enlarge on that head. . . . 
 
 I wish you to say to Mr. Epps l that if Mr. Hall does not soon 
 take care of the boards that are fallen down about the house he 
 built, I wish he and Mr. Dickson would go and take them away, 
 as I paid for them, and am the rightful owner of them. I wish to 
 have them confine themselves entirely to those of the roof and gable- 
 ends. I mean to let Hall have them if he will occupy the building, 
 or have any one do it on his account ; but I do not mean to have him 
 let them lie year after year and rot, and do no one any good. I wish 
 this to be attended to before the snow covers them up again. 
 
 ELIZABETHTOWN, Feb. 6, 1852. 
 
 DEAR HENRY, Mr. Judd is wanting to buy a large quantity of 
 oats, for which he is now paying one cent per pound, cash. He also 
 wants to buy a supply for his teams that carry the mail to Saranac, 
 for the next season. He says oats that have rye mixed with them 
 will be worth as much by the pound for his own teams as those 
 which have none. Thinking it might be of advantage to you to 
 know of this, and perhaps to see him, I concluded to send you a line 
 
 at any rate. 
 
 Affectionately yours, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 To his Wife. 
 
 UTICA, N. Y., Dec. 27, 1852. 
 
 ... I seem to be pretty much over the effects of the ague, except 
 as to my sight, which is some impaired, and which will not probably 
 ever become much better. I made a short visit to North Elba, and 
 left them all well and very comfortable, one week ago to-day. . . . 
 The colored families appear to be doing well, and to feel encouraged. 
 
 1 One of his colored neighbors at North Elba. 
 
1853.] PIONEER LIFE IN THE ADIRONDACK 109 
 
 They all send much love to you. They have constant preaching on 
 the Sabbath ; and intelligence, morality, and religion appear to be 
 all on the advance. Our old neighbors appear to wish us back. I 
 can give no particular instructions to the boys, except to take the 
 best care of everything, not forgetting their own present and eter 
 nal good. If any young calves come that are nice ones, I want them 
 to be well looked after, and if any very mean ones, I would have them 
 killed at once. I am much pleased to get such a good account from 
 the boys, and from Anne and Sarah. 
 
 To Henry and Riith Thompson. 
 
 AKKON, April 6, 1853. 
 
 I have thought a good deal how to arrange as well as possible in 
 regard to a home, should I live to go back to North Elba. I am a 
 good deal at a loss how to divide the land so as to accommodate both 
 families in the best way ; and I wish to call your attention to that 
 matter, as you may perhaps be able to think of some way that will 
 exactly suit all hands. I would be glad if Henry will send me his 
 views freely in regard to the following questions, namely : Are you 
 fond of the business or care of a sawmill ? Are there any springs on 
 that part of the lot lying east of the river, so situated as to accommo 
 date a family on that side ; or do you think there is a prospect of 
 getting a good well where the strip is of some width, and the face 
 such as would be convenient to build on ? Would you divide the 
 land by the river, or by a line running east and west ? Will it be 
 any damage to you if you defer building your house until we can hit 
 on some plan of dividing the land, or at least for another year? If I 
 was sure of going back next spring I should want to get some logs 
 peeled for a house, as I expect to be quite satisfied with a log-house 
 for the rest of my days. Perhaps by looking over the land a little 
 with a view to these things, you can devise a plan that will suit well. 
 I do not mean to be hard to please ; but such is the situation of the 
 lot, and so limited are my means, that I am quite at a loss. Will it 
 be convenient to have the ground that is gone over on the east side 
 of the river got into grass this season ? . . . I can think of but little 
 to write that will be worth reading. Wishing you all present and 
 future good, I remain, 
 
 Your affectionate father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 AKRON, OHIO, June 30, 1853. 
 
 DEAR CHILDREN, Your very welcome letters were received last 
 night. In regard to a house, I did not prefer a log one, only in view 
 
110 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1854. 
 
 of the expense ; and I would wish Henry to act according to his o\vn 
 best judgment in regard to it. If he builds a better house than I can 
 pay for, we must so divide the land as to have him keep it. I would 
 like to have a house to go into next spring, if it can be brought about 
 comfortably. I ought to have expressed it more distinctly in better 
 season, but forgot to do so. We are in comfortable health, so far as 
 I know, except father, Jason, and Ellen, all of whom have had a run 
 of ague. Father, when I saw him last, was very feeble; and I fear 
 that in consequence of his great age he will never get strong again. 
 It is some days since I went to see him. We are not through sheep- 
 shearing or hoeing, and our grass is needing to be cut now. We have 
 lately had very dry weather. ... I am much rejoiced at the news 
 of a religious kind in Ruth's letter; and xvould be still more rejoiced 
 to learn that all the sects who bear the Christian name would have 
 no more to do with that mother of all abominations, man-stealing. 
 I hope, unfit and unworthy as I am, to be allowed a membership in 
 your little church before long ; and I pray God to claim it as his own, 
 and that he will most abundantly bless all in your place who love him 
 in truth. " If any man love not his brother whom he hath seen, how 
 can he love God whom he hath not seen ? " I feel but little force 
 about me for writing or any kind of business, but will try to write 
 you more before long. Our State fair commences at Dayton the 20th 
 of September, and will be held open four days. 
 
 Your affectionate father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 AKRON, April 14, 1854. 
 
 DEAR CHILDREN, I did not get Ruth's letter, dated on the 1st 
 instant, until the 12th, but was very glad to hear from you then, and 
 to learn that you found things as well as you did. In fact, God 
 never leaves us without the most abundant cause for gratitude ; and 
 let us try and have it in habitual exercise. We have had some com 
 plaints among several of us of late, but none of us have been very 
 unwell. We had a most comfortable settlement of last year's busi 
 ness with Mr. Perkins, and division of stock. I had nine of the 
 company calves, and he sold me four of the old for one hundred dol 
 lars, which I used to have. I have two young bull calves, one a 
 full blood, which I think among the best I ever saw. 
 
 AKRON, Nov. 2, 1854. 
 
 DEAR CHILDREN, I feel still pretty much determined to go back 
 to North Elba ; but expect Owen and Frederick will set out for Kan 
 sas on Monday next, with cattle belonging to John, Jason, and them- 
 
1855.] PIONEER LIFE IN THE ADIRONDACS. Ill 
 
 selves, intending to winter somewhere in Illinois. I expect to set 
 out for Albany to-morrow, and for Connecticut after the 8th. I mean 
 to go and see you before I return, if my money for expenses will hold 
 out. Money is extremely scarce, and I have been some disappointed, 
 so that I do not now know as I shall be able to go and see you at 
 this time. Nothing but the want of means will prevent me, if life 
 and health are continued. Gerrit Smith wishes me to go back to 
 North Elba ; from Douglass and Dr. McCune Smith I have not yet 
 heard. I shipped you a cask of pork containing 347 pounds clear 
 pork, on the 19th, directed to Henry Thompson, North Elba, Essex 
 Co., N. Y., care C. B. Hatch & Son, Westport. We are all in 
 usual health. 
 
 Your affectionate father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 This letter was preliminary to Brown's first expedition to 
 Kansas in 1855, in defence of the free settlers there, par 
 ticularly his own sons. 
 
 While he was preparing for the further defence of Kansas 
 in 1857-58, and for his attack on slavery elsewhere, he 
 did not by any means forget or neglect the family at North 
 Elba, but busied himself in securing for them an addition 
 to the two farms in the wilderness on which his wife and 
 married daughter, Mrs. Thompson, were living. Several of 
 his Massachusetts friends, chief among whom were Mr. 
 George L. Stearns and Mr. Amos A. Lawrence, raised a 
 subscription of one thousand dollars to purchase one hun 
 dred and sixty acres of land for division in equal portions 
 between these farms. Mr. Stearns contributed $260 to this 
 fund, and Mr. Lawrence $310, these two gentlemen hav 
 ing made up the sum by which the original subscription fell 
 short of one thousand dollars. The connection of Mr. Law 
 rence with this transaction, and his personal acquaintance 
 with Brown in 1857, 1 were afterwards held to imply that he 
 
 1 At this time neither Gerrit Smith nor Mr. Stearns nor myself had any 
 knowledge of Brown's scheme for a campaign in Virginia. The subscrip 
 tion paper was as follows : 
 
 " The family of Captain John Brown, of Ossawatomie, have no means of 
 support, owing to the oppression to which he has been subjected in Kansas 
 Territory. It is proposed to put them (his wife and five children) in pos 
 session of the means of supporting themselves, so far as is possible for per 
 sons in their situation. The undersigned, therefore, will pay the following 
 
112 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1857. 
 
 had some knowledge of Brown's Virginia plans, which was 
 not the case. The subscription thus raised was expended 
 in completing the purchase of the tract in question, origi 
 nally sold by Gerrit Smith to the brothers of Henry Thomp 
 son (Brown's son-in-law), but which had not been wholly 
 paid for. In August, 1857, as the agent of Messrs. Stearns 
 and Lawrence, I visited North Elba, examined the land, paid 
 the Thompsons their stipulated price for improvements, and 
 to Mr. Smith the remainder of the purchase money, took 
 the necessary deeds, and transferred the property to Mrs. 
 Brown and Mrs. Thompson, according to the terms arranged 
 by Captain Brown in the preceding spring. I have before 
 me as I write the pencil memorandum, in Gerrit Smith's 
 
 sums, provided one thousand dollars should be raised. With this sum a 
 small farm can now be purchased in the neighborhood of their late resi 
 dence in Essex County, New York. 
 
 May, '57. Paid. William R. Lawrence, Fifty dollars. 
 
 !one hundred dollars. 
 $235 more. 
 $335 
 
 } Fifty dollars. 
 Paid. George L. Stearns, \ $235 more 
 
 j $285 
 
 Paid. John E. Lodge, twenty-five dollars. 
 
 Paid. J. Carter Brown [by A. A. L.], one hundred dollars. 
 
 Paid. J. M. S. Williams, fifty dollars. 
 
 Paid. John Bertram [by M. S. W.], seventy-five dollars. 
 
 Paid. W. D. Pickman, fifty dollars. 
 
 Paid. R P. Waters [by YV. D. P.], ten dollars. 
 
 Paid. S. E. Peabody, ten dollars. 
 
 Paid. John H. Silsbee, ten dollars. 
 
 Paid. B. Silsbee, five dollars. 
 
 Paid. Cash, ten dollars. 
 
 Paid. Wendell Phillips, twenty-five dollars. 
 
 Paid. W. J. Rotch, ten dollars. 
 
 Paid. George L. Stearns, two hundred and thirty-five dollars. 
 
 Paid. A. A. Lawrence, two hundred and thirty-five dollars. 
 One thousand dollars in all. July 27, 1857. 
 
 BOSTON, Nov. 5, 1857. John Bertram's subscription being $75, instead 
 of $25, as I supposed, I have returned to Amos A. Lawrence twenty-five 
 dollars, making his whole subscription, $310 ; my subscription, $260 ; all 
 others, $430, total, $1000. 
 
 (Signed) GEORGE L. STEARNS." 
 
1857.] PIONEER LIFE IN THE ADIRONDACS. 113 
 
 familiar handwriting, showing this transaction. Here it 
 is : 
 
 Draft of F. B. S ......... $1000 
 
 Due Thompsons ......... $574 
 
 Due me on note ......... 111.66 
 
 " " on land ......... 288.89 974.55 
 
 $25.45 
 
 This sum ($25.45) I handed to Mrs. Brown at North Elba, 
 Aug. 13, 1857. 
 
 A few days later I reported to Mr. Stearns as follows : 
 
 11 1 wrote you from Buffalo, I think, telling you of the settling of 
 the business of Captain Brown with Mr. Smith ; since when I have 
 heen in North Elba, and passed a night under his roof. There I 
 found Mrs. Brown, a tall, large woman, fit to be the mother of heroes, 
 as she is. Her family are her two sons and three daughters, one of 
 them a child of three years. One of the sons has been in Kansas ; 
 the other was to go with his father this summer, but I think his mar 
 riage, which took place in April, may have prevented it. Owen is 
 now with his father, and both, I suppose, are in Kansas, for on the 
 17th of July they were beyond Iowa City with their teams. I shall 
 have much to tell you about this visit. The subscription could not 
 have been better bestowed, and the small balance, which I paid Mrs. 
 Brown, came very opportunely." 
 
 I had previously written to" Brown, August 14, from Au 
 Sable Forks, to which he replied from Tabor, in Iowa, Aug. 
 27, 1857, as follows : 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEND, Your most welcome letter of the 14th hist., 
 from Au Sable Forks, is received. I cannot express the gratitude I 
 feel to all the kind friends who contributed towards paying for the 
 place at North Elba, after I had bought it, as I am thereby relieved 
 from a very great embarrassment both with Mr. Smith and the young 
 Thompsons, and also comforted with the feeling that my noble-hearted 
 wife and daughters will not be driven either to beg or become a bur 
 den to my poor boys, who have nothing but their hands to begin with. 
 I am under special obligation to you for going to look after them and 
 cheer them in their homely condition. May God reward you all a 
 thousandfold! No language I have can express the satisfaction it 
 affords me to feel that I have friends who will take the trouble to look 
 after them and know the real condition of my family, while I am " far 
 away," perhaps never to return. I am still waiting here for company, 
 
 8 
 
114 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1857. 
 
 additional teams, and means of paying expenses, or to know that I can 
 make a diversion in favor of our friends, in case they are involved 
 again in trouble. Colonel Forbes has come on and has a small 
 school at Tabor. I wrote you some days ago, giving a few particu 
 lars in regard to our movements; and I intend writing my friend 
 Stearns, as soon as I have anything to tell him that is worth a 
 stamp. Please say to him, that, provided I do not get into such a 
 speculation as shall swallow up all the property I have been furnished 
 with, I intend to keep it all safe, so that he may be remunerated in 
 the end ; but that I am wholly in the dark about it as yet, and that I 
 cannot flatter him much now. Will direct where to write me when 
 1 know how to do so. 
 
 Very respectfully your friend, 
 
 N. H. 
 
 " N. H." stands for " Nelson Hawkins," one of the names 
 by which Brown was known to his friends when in an 
 enemy's country. Soon afterwards he did write to Mr. 
 Stearns : " I have learned with gratitude what has been done 
 to render my wife and children more comfortable. May 
 God himself be the everlasting portion of all the contri 
 butors ! This generous act has lifted a heavy load from 
 my heart." 
 
 John Brown had returned to North Elba in April, 1857, 
 after two years' absence ; and it was on this visit that he 
 carried with him the old tombstone of his grandfather, Cap. 
 tain John Brown, the Revolutionary soldier, from the burial 
 place of his family in Canton, Conn. He caused the name 
 of his son Frederick, who fell in Kansas, to be carved on 
 this stone, with the date of his death, and placed it where 
 he desired his own grave to be, beside a huge rock on the 
 hillside where his house stands, giving directions that his 
 own name and the date of his death should be inscribed there 
 too, when he should fall, as he expected, in the conflict with 
 slavery. That stone now marks his grave, and tells a story 
 which more costly monuments and longer inscriptions could 
 not so well declare. Beside him are buried, after a strange 
 separation of many years, the bones of his son Watson, 
 over which funeral services were performed on this hillside 
 in October, 1882, in the presence of his mother, his wife, 
 his two eldest brothers, and his sister Euth. The wander- 
 
1882.J PIONEER LIFE IN THE ADIRONDACK. 115 
 
 ings of the father and the son have ceased, and they rest 
 together in this mountain-home of their affections, these 
 pioneers of Liberty, their long march ended at last. 1 
 
 1 This pioneer instinct of the family has led the sons of John Brown into 
 many a new country, either for exploration or for settlement. All of them 
 at one time or another tried their fortune in Kansas ; the youngest surviv 
 ing son, after the Civil War was decided, journeyed with his mother and 
 sisters across the great plains to California, where he is a sheep-farmer on 
 the ranges of Humboldt County. Others of the family have since gone to 
 Southern California ; while the two eldest sons established themselves 
 among the first on one of the charming vineyard islands of Lake Erie. 
 The oldest son, in 1875, while exploring the region about the Black Hills, 
 encountered Indians on the journey, who made some threats of attacking 
 "men with hats" if the United States should try to remove them from 
 their hunting-grounds as had been proposed ; but they were friendly to the 
 exploring party, and being told that this was the son of Captain Brown, 
 of Harper's Ferry, of whom, though wild Indians, they had heard the story, 
 they testified much respect for the son of such a brave. The whole Brovvu 
 family now live widely separated, and all are far away from their father's 
 grave among the Adirondac Mountains. Ruth, the oldest daughter, with 
 her husband Henry Thompson, is living with her children and grand 
 children at Pasadena, Cal. ; Anne has long been married, and has a fam 
 ily of children ; Salmon has seven or eight children ; John, the eldest 
 brother, has two children, so that the grandchildren of Captain Brown 
 already number about twenty. There is no danger of that family becoming 
 extinct, even though it lost so many members in the war with slavery. 
 Nor are the Browns likely to become enervated by too much contact with 
 luxury and the life of cities, for they follow the romantic impulse of their 
 father, and of Daniel Boone, and keep on the advancing edge of civilization, 
 whereof they are pioneers, in more senses than one. 
 
116 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1857. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 PREPARATIONS FOR THE CONFLICT. 
 
 ALL this unwearied industry of John Brown in pioneer 
 life, in the pursuit of wealth, in the establishment 
 of his children, in the formation of acquaintance, and the 
 maintenance of his family, was but preparatory, in his 
 thought and in fact, to the fore-ordained and chosen task of 
 his life, the overthrow of American slavery. During the 
 English war of 1812 he began to reflect, he says, " on the 
 wretched, hopeless condition of fatherless and motherless 
 slave children, sometimes raising the question, ' Is God their 
 Father ? ' When this was answered in the Old Testament 
 way, the boy in his teens declared and swore ' eternal war 
 with slavery. 5 r> He did not hasten forward towards the 
 achievement of what he had undertaken, until the fulness 
 of time had come, and he had furnished himself with such 
 military and general knowledge as he deemed requisite, 
 He kept it steadily before him for forty years, educated 
 himself and his children for it, and made it as much a part 
 of his household discipline as were his prayers at morning 
 and evening. Emerson, indeed, in his speech at Salem in 
 1859, a month before Brown's death, fixes a much earlier 
 date as the beginning of his enterprise against slavery in 
 Virginia. "It was not a piece of spite or revenge, a plot 
 of two years or of twenty years, but the keeping of an 
 oath made to heaven and earth forty-seven years before. 
 Forty-seven years at least, though I incline to accept his 
 own account of the matter at Charlestown, which makes 
 the date a little older, when he said, ' This was all settled 
 millions of years before the world was made.' " Mrs. Brown 
 told me in 1860 that she had known his design and been 
 pledged to aid it for more than twenty years ; and John 
 Brown himself had said in 1857, early in my acquaintance 
 
1858.] PREPARATIONS FOR THE CONFLICT. 117 
 
 with him, " I always told her that when the time came to 
 fight against slavery, that conflict would be the signal for 
 our separation. She made up her mind to have me go long 
 before this ; and when I did go, she got ready bandages and 
 medicine for the wounded." 
 
 " For twenty years," he told Eichard Hinton in 1858, " I 
 have never made any business arrangement which would 
 prevent me at any time answering the call of the Lord. I 
 have kept my affairs in such condition that in two weeks 
 I could wind them up and be ready to obey that call ; per 
 mitting nothing to stand in the way of duty, neither wife, 
 children, nor worldly goods. Whenever the time should 
 come, I was ready ; that hour is very near at hand, and all 
 who are willing to act should be ready." 
 
 In 1820, at the time of the Missouri Compromise, when 
 his hostility to slavery took definite shape ; in 1837, when he 
 formed his plans for attacking slavery by force ; and even 
 in 1858, when he had organized an armed band to carry them 
 out, his scheme would have seemed mere madness to most 
 persons. But Brown had the spirit of his ancestors, the Pil 
 grim Fathers ; he entered upon his perilous undertaking with 
 deliberate resolution, after considering what was to be said for 
 and against it, as did the Pilgrims before they set forth from 
 Holland to colonize America. William Bradford, their brav 
 est leader and their historian, has recorded the arguments 
 for attempting the voyage to America in words which will 
 apply, with very little change, to the adventure undertaken 
 two centuries and a half later by Peter Brown's stalwart 
 descendant, the last of the Puritans. 
 
 11 It was answered," says Bradford in his History, u that all great 
 and honourable actions are accompanied with great difficulties, and 
 must be both enterprised and overcome with answerable courages. It 
 was granted the dangers were great, but not desperate ; the difficulties 
 were many, but not invincible. For though there were manie of them 
 likely, yet they were not certain. It might be sundrie of the things 
 feared might never befall; others, by provident care and the use of 
 good means, might in a great measure be prevented ; and all of them, 
 through the help of God, by fortitude and patience, might either be borne 
 or overcome. True it was that such attempts were not to be made and 
 undertaken without good ground and reason ; not rashly or lightly as 
 
118 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1820. 
 
 many have done for curiosity or hope of gaine, etc. But their condi 
 tion was not ordiuarie; their ends were good and honourable; their 
 calling lawfull and urgeutej and therefore they might expecte the 
 blessing of God in their proceeding. Yea, though they should loose 
 their lives in this action, yet might they have comforte in the same, 
 and endeavors would be honourable." 
 
 The world now sees how honorable the endeavors of Brad 
 ford, Standish, and John Brown were, and what momentous 
 results have followed. " Christ died on the tree," said Car- 
 lyle to Emerson at Craigenputtock in August, 1833 : " that 
 built Dunscone kirk yonder ; that brought you and me to 
 gether." The sequence of events in John Brown's case was 
 the same, and far more important, since from the cruci 
 fixion at Jerusalem a light sprang forth that was reflected 
 back without obstruction from the ugly gallows of Virginia. 
 John Brown took up his cross and followed his Lord ; and 
 it was enough for this servant that he was as his Master. 
 
 Even from the statesman's point of view the enterprise 
 was glorious, as the event has proved. John Quincy Adams 
 was a statesman sufficiently prudent ; yet when the Mis 
 souri Compromise was under fierce debate in Congress (Mr. 
 Adams being then Secretary of State, and Mr. Calhouu 
 Secretary of War, to James Monroe) he made this entry in 
 his journal : 
 
 11 Feb. 24, 1820. I had some conversation with Calhoun on the 
 slave-question pending in Congress. He said he did not think it 
 would produce a dissolution of the Union, but if it should, the South 
 would be compelled to form an alliance, offensive and defensive, with 
 Great Britain. I said that would be returning to the colonial state. 
 He said, ' Yes, pretty much ; but it would be forced upon them.' . . . 
 I pressed the conversation no further. But if the dissolution of the 
 Union should result from the slave-question, it is as obvious as any 
 thing that can be foreseen of futurity, that it must shortly afterwards 
 be followed by the universal emancipation of the slaves ; . . . the 
 destructive progress of emancipation, which, like all great religious 
 and political reformations, is terrible in its means, though happy and 
 glorious in its end. Slavery is the great and foul stain upon the 
 North American Union, and it is a contemplation worthy of the most 
 exalted soul whether its total abolition is or is not practicable ; if 
 practicable, by what means it may be effected, and if a choice of 
 
1559.] PREPARATIONS FOR THE CONFLICT. 119 
 
 means be within the scope of the object, what means would accomplish 
 it at the smallest cost of human sufferance ? A dissolution, at least 
 temporary, of the Union as now constituted would be necessary ; and 
 the dissolution must be upon a point involving the question of slav- 
 ery, and no other. The Union might then be reorganized on the 
 fundamental principle of emancipation. This object is vast in its 
 compass, awful in its prospects, sublime and beautiful in its issue. 
 A life devoted to it would be nobly spent or sacrificed." 
 
 Such a life was that of John Brown. He entered upon it 
 when as a boy, " during the Avar with England," seven years 
 before this colloquy of Adams with Calhoun, he saw his 
 little black playmate starved and beaten, and with boyish 
 ardor " swore eternal war with slavery." He ended it upon 
 the gallows in Virginia, and men said he "died as a fool 
 dieth." But the method that he devised for emancipation 
 was that which, within five years from his death, the nation 
 adopted and carried to a successful issue. It was the method 
 of force ; and it proceeded gradually, as Brown had foreseen 
 that it must, from State to State, and without overthrowing 
 the general government. There was, however, what Adams 
 had predicted, a temporary dissolution of the Union, fol 
 lowed by " amendment and repeal," as Brown desired ; and 
 then by that which Adams and Brown both had longed for, 
 a reorganization of the Union " on the fundamental question 
 of emancipation." Thus, again, in human history, as so many 
 times before, did the divine paradox reassert itself, and the 
 stone which the builders rejected became the head of the 
 corner. Beside the Potomac, where the founder of our Re 
 public lived and died, crowned with honors, it was decreed 
 that the restorer of the Eepublic should also die by the 
 hangman's hand. The work that Washington and Jeffer 
 son left unfinished, Brown came to complete ; and Lincoln 
 with his proclamations, Grant and Sherman with their 
 armies, did little more than follow in the path that Brown 
 had pointed out. " Of all the men who were said to be my 
 contemporaries," wrote a Concord poet, " it seemed to me 
 that John Brown was the only one who had not died. I 
 meet him at every turn. He is more alive than ever he was ; 
 he is no longer working in secret ; he works in public, and 
 in the clearest light that shines on this land." 
 
120 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1874. 
 
 This was Thoreau's verdict in 1860, before the great Civil 
 War had shown the world what Brown's true place was among 
 the successful champions of humanity. Fifteen years after 
 his death, when the American Eepublic had regained the 
 universal freedom of men, for which Jefferson formulated 
 its charter in 1776, and when the French Republic had re 
 called Victor Hugo from his long and honorable exile, that 
 commanding genius of his century thus addressed the widow 
 of John Brown : a 
 
 MADAM, Several years have passed away since your noble hus 
 band completed the sacrifice of a life consecrated to the most generous 
 of all aims. The gallows on which lie suffered called forth a cry of 
 universal indignation, which was the signal for securing the emanci 
 pation of a race till then disinherited. Honor be to him, and to 
 his worthy sons who were associated with him in his endeavors ! 
 To the blessing with which the present age crowns their memory 
 shall be added that of future generations. These thoughts, Madam, 
 
 1 This letter, written by Hugo, was signed also by the other members of 
 a French committee which presented to Mrs. Brown in 1874 a gold medal 
 in honor of her husband. Their names were Louis Blanc, Victor Schoelcher, 
 Patrice Larroque, Eugene Pelletan, Melvil-Bloncourt, Capron, Ch. L. Chas- 
 sin, Etienne Arago, Laurent- Pichat, and L. Gornes. The medal itself was 
 modelled by "Wurder, of Brussels, bearing on one side a bearded head of 
 Brown, and on the reverse this inscription : "To the memory of John 
 Brown, judicially murdered at Charlestown, in Virginia, on the 2d of De 
 cember, 1859 ; and in commemoration also of his sons and comrades who, 
 with him, became the victims of their devotion to the cause of negro eman 
 cipation." This medal (weighing nearly five ounces) was sent to Mrs. 
 Brown in California by her son John, who received it from William Lloyd 
 Garrison, to whom the French committee gave a bronze copy of the medal, 
 with the following letter : 
 
 PARIS, Oct. 20, 1874. 
 Wm. Lloyd Garrison. 
 
 SIR, We have received, through the hands of M. Victor Schcelcher, the letter by 
 which the son of John Brown informs you that the family will receive, with all due 
 appreciation, the gold medal struck in memory of the glorious death of his father. We 
 beg you, therefore, to be kind enough, in accordance with your generous offer, to charge 
 yourself with its delivery to the Brown family, together with the letter to Mrs. Brown 
 accompanying it. In thanking you for your kind intervention, we beg you to accept 
 the assurance of our high esteem ; and also a copy of the medal, in bronze, which is the 
 work (without remuneration) of a sympathizing artist. We have sent to the agency of 
 the house of Lebeau, who represent the line of steamers from Liverpool to Boston, the 
 box containing the gold medal addressed to the widow of John Brown, expenses pre 
 paid. 
 
 The Delegate CAPRON. 
 
 PATRICE LARROQUE, Secretary. 
 
1839.] PREPARATIONS FOR THE CONFLICT. 121 
 
 must assuredly tend greatly to alleviate your great sorrow. But you 
 have sought a higher consolation for your grief, in the reflection that 
 beyond the imperfect justice of man sits enthroned that Supreme 
 Justice which will leave no good action unrewarded and no crime 
 unpunished. We hope, also, that you may derive some comfort from 
 this expression of our sympathy, as citizens of the French Kepublic, 
 which would have reached you earlier but for the prolonged and cruel 
 sufferings through which our unfortunate country has been forced to 
 
 Though Brown drew this applause from the French 
 Eepublicans for his generous martyrdom, nothing could be 
 further from the Eed Kepublican temper and from French 
 impiety than were his temper and devout purpose. He was 
 a Saxon, follower of the French Calvin and the Mauritanian 
 Augustine, as they were followers of the Hebrew Scriptures. 
 John Brown was a Bible-worshipper, if ever any man was. 
 He read and meditated on the Bible constantly ; in his will 
 he bequeathed a Bible to each of his children and grand 
 children ; and he wrote to his family a few days before his 
 execution, " I beseech you every one to make the Bible your 
 daily and nightly study." Such was the man of the best 
 New England blood, of the stock of the Plymouth Pilgrims, 
 and bred up like them " in the nurture and admonition of 
 the Lord" who was selected by God, and knew himself to 
 be so chosen, to overthrow the bulwark of oppression in 
 America. His prayers and meditations from childhood had 
 been leading him towards this consecration of himself to a 
 great work, and he had no dearer purpose in life than to 
 fulfil the mission. He seems to have declared a definite 
 plan of attacking slavery in one of its strongholds, by force, 
 as early as 1839 ; and it was to obtain money for this enter 
 prise that he engaged in land-speculations and wool-mer 
 chandise for the next ten or twelve years. His ventures 
 failed ; it was not destined that he should grow rich and be 
 able to help the poor from his abundance ; and he accepted 
 the narrow path of poverty. While tending his flocks in 
 Ohio, with his sons and daughters about him, he first com 
 municated to them his purpose of attacking slavery in arms. 
 From that time forward, a period of more than twenty years, 
 he devoted himself, not exclusively, but mainly, to the un- 
 
122 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 dertaking in which, he sacrificed his life. He looked on his 
 mercantile connections, on his acquaintance at home and his 
 travels abroad, as means to this great end ; he came back 
 from Europe poor, but more in love than ever with Amer 
 ican democracy, and more resolved that American slavery 
 should be destroyed. In his campaign against it he did not 
 contemplate insurrection, but partisan warfare, at first on a 
 small scale, then more extensive ; yet he did not shrink from 
 the extreme consequences of his theory. A man of peace 
 for more than fifty years of his life, he nevertheless under 
 stood that war had its uses, and that there were worse evils 
 than battles for a great principle. He more than once said 
 to me, and doubtless to others, " I believe in the Golden 
 Rule 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." He also told me that " he had much considered the 
 matter, and had about concluded that forcible separation of 
 the connection between master and slave was necessary to 
 fit the blacks for self-government." First a soldier, then a 
 citizen, was his plan with the liberated slaves. "When they 
 stand like men, the nation will respect them," he said ; " it 
 is necessary to teach them this." He looked forward, no 
 doubt, to years of conflict, in which the blacks, as in the later 
 years of the Civil War, should be formed into regiments 
 and brigades and be drilled in the whole art of war, like 
 the black soldiers of Toussaint L'Ouverture and Dessalines, 
 in Hayti. But in his more inspired moments he foresaw a 
 speedier end to the combat which he began. Once he said, 
 " A few men in the right, and knowing they are right, can 
 overturn a mighty king. Fifty men, twenty men, in the 
 Alleghanies, could break slavery to pieces in two years." 
 
 The actual attempt of Brown in Virginia to break in 
 pieces this national idol of slavery was judged as mad 
 ness by his countrymen at the moment, and even now, as 
 we look back on it, seems devoid of the elements which 
 would make success possible. But with God all things are 
 possible, and success followed the noble madness of his 
 
1851.] PREPARATIONS FOR THE CONFLICT. 123 
 
 assault. That brief campaign, with its immediate frustra 
 tion and its ultimate and speedy triumph, is now seen to 
 have been an omen of the divine purpose. It has already 
 become a part of the world's history and literature, a new 
 chapter added to the record of heroism and self-devotion, a 
 new incident in the long romance which has been for three 
 hundred years the history of Virginia. It was little to the 
 honor of Virginia then ; but so heavy has been the penalty 
 since visited on that State and her people, that we may omit 
 all censure upon what was done. God has judged between 
 them and John Brown ; and His judgment, as always, will be 
 found not only just but merciful, since it has removed from 
 a brave and generous people the curse of human slavery. It 
 was for this result, and this alone, that Brown plotted and 
 fought, prayed and died ; and even befpre his death he saw 
 that his prayers would be answered. 
 
 Although John Brown would have justified a slave insur 
 rection, or indeed almost any means of destroying slavery, 
 he did not seek to incite general insurrection among the 
 Southern slaves. The venture in which he lost his life was 
 not an insurrection in any sense of the word, but an invasion 
 or foray, similar in its character to that which Garibaldi was 
 to make six months later in Sicily for the overthrow of the 
 infamous Bourbon tyranny there. The Italian hero suc 
 ceeded, and became dictator of the island he had conquered; 
 the American hero failed for the moment, and was put to 
 death. But his soul went marching on; and millions of his 
 countrymen followed in his footsteps two years later, to 
 complete the campaign in which Brown had led the forlorn 
 hope. As usual, the forlorn hope was sacrificed, but by their 
 death the final victory was won. 
 
 While this servant and prophet of God was waiting for 
 the accepted time, he continued those efforts in behalf of 
 fugitive slaves which began so early. He was specially ac 
 tive in this after the enactment of Senator Mason's Fugitive 
 Slave Bill in 1850, supported as it was by Webster, of 
 Massachusetts, and Clay, of Kentucky. Poor black men were 
 then hunted down at the instigation of rich white men, even 
 in Boston ; and the courts of Massachusetts were disgraced 
 by the chains of Virginian slavery. Early in 1851, while 
 
124 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1851. 
 
 Brown was nominally a resident of the Adirondac woods, 
 he was at his old home in Springfield, and there formed an 
 organization among the colored people, many of whom were 
 refugees, to resist the capture of any fugitive slave, no mat 
 ter by what authority. The letter of instructions given by 
 Brown at that time to his Springfield " Gileadites," as he 
 called them, deserves to be cited here, as an authentic docu 
 ment throwing light on the character and purposes of 
 Brown at that time, nearly nine years before his campaign 
 in Virginia. It is somewhat condensed from his manuscript : 
 
 WORDS OF ADVICE. 
 
 Branch of the United States League of Gileadites. Adopted Jan. 15, 1851, 
 as written and recommended by John Brown. 
 
 "UNION IS STEENGTH." 
 
 Nothing so charms the American people as personal bravery. 
 Witness the case of Cinques, of everlasting memory, on board the 
 " Amistad." The trial for life of one bold and to some extent successful 
 man, for defending his rights in good earnest, would arouse more sym 
 pathy throughout the nation than the accumulated wrongs and suffer 
 ings of more than three millions of our submissive colored population. 
 We need not mention the Greeks struggling against the oppressive 
 Turks, the Poles against Russia, nor the Hungarians against Austria 
 and Russia combined, to prove this. No jury can be found in the 
 Northern States that would convict a man for defending his rights to 
 the last extremity. This is well understood by Southern Congressmen, 
 who insisted that the right of trial by jury should not be granted to 
 the fugitive. Colored people have ten times the number of fast 
 friends among the whites than they suppose, and would have ten 
 times the number they now have were they but half as much in ear 
 nest to secure their dearest rights as they are to ape the follies and 
 extravagances of their white neighbors, and to indulge in idle show, 
 in ease, and in luxury. Just think of the money expended by indi 
 viduals in your behalf in the past twenty years ! Think of the num 
 ber who have been mobbed and imprisoned on your account ! Have 
 any of you seen the Branded Hand f Do you remember the names 
 of Lovejoy and Torrey ? 
 
 Should one of your number be arrested, you must collect together 
 as quickly as possible, so as to outnumber your adversaries who are 
 taking an active part against you. Let no able-bodied man appear 
 on the ground unequipped, or with his weapons exposed to view : 
 
1851.1 PREPARATIONS FOR THE CONFLICT. 125 
 
 let that be understood beforehand. Your plans must be known only 
 to yourself, and with the understanding that all traitors must die, 
 wherever caught and proven to be guilty. " Whosoever is fearful or 
 afraid, let him return and part early from Mount Gilead " (Judges, 
 vii. 3; Deut. xx. 8). Give all cowards an opportunity to show it on 
 condition of holding their peace. Do not delay one moment after you 
 are ready : you will lose all your resolution if you do. Let the first 
 blow be the signal for all to engage ; and when engaged do not do 
 your work by halves, but make clean work with your enemies, and 
 be sure you meddle not with any others. By going about your busi 
 ness quietly, you will get the job disposed of before the number that 
 an uproar would bring together can collect ; and you will have the 
 advantage of those who come out against you, for they will be wholly 
 unprepared with either equipments or matured plans ; all with them 
 will be confusion and terror. Your enemies will be slow to attack 
 you after you have done up the work nicely ; and if they should, they 
 will have to encounter your white friends as well as you ; for you 
 may safely calculate on a division of the whites, and may by that 
 means get to an honorable parley. 
 
 Be firm, determined, and cool ; but let it be understood that you 
 are not to be driven to desperation without making it an awful dear 
 job to others as well as to you. Give them to know distinctly that 
 those who live in wooden houses should not throw fire, and that you 
 are just as able to suffer as your white neighbors. After effecting a 
 rescue, if you are assailed, go into the houses of your most prominent 
 and influential ichite friends ivith your wives; and that will effectually 
 fasten upon them the suspicion of being connected with you, and will 
 compel them to make a common cause tvith you, whether they would 
 otherwise liua up to their profession or not. This would leave them 
 no choice in the matter. Some would doubtless prove themselves 
 true of their own choice j others would flinch. That would be taking 
 them at their own words. You may make a tumult in the court-room 
 where a trial is going on, by burning gunpowder freely in paper pack 
 ages, if you cannot think of any better way to create a momentary 
 alarm, and might possibly give one or more of your enemies a hoist. 
 But in such case the prisoner will need to take the hint at once, and 
 bestir himself; and so should his friends improve the opportunity for 
 a general rush. 
 
 A lasso might possibly be applied to a slave-catcher for once 
 with good effect. Hold on to your weapons, and never be persuaded 
 to leave them, part with them, or have them far away from you. 
 Stand by one another and by your friends, while a drop of blood re 
 mains ; and be hanged, if you must, but tell no tales out of school. 
 Make no confession. 
 
126 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1851. 
 
 Union is strength. Without some well-digested arrangements 
 nothing to any good purpose is likely to be done, let the demand he 
 never so great. Witness the case of Hamlet and Long in New York, 
 when there was no well-defined plan of operations or suitable prepa 
 ration beforehand. 
 
 The desired end may be effectually secured by the means pro 
 posed; namely, the enjoyment of our inalienable rights. 
 
 AGREEMENT. 
 
 As citizens of the United States of America, trusting in a just 
 and merciful God, whose spirit and all-powerful aid we humbly im 
 plore, we will ever be true to the flag of our beloved country, always 
 acting under it. We. whose names are hereunto affixed, do constitute 
 ourselves a branch of the United States League of Gileadites. That 
 we will provide ourselves at once with suitable implements, and will 
 aid those who do not possess the means, if any such are disposed to 
 join us. We invite every colored person whose heart is engaged in 
 the performance of our business, whether male or female, old or 
 young. The duty of the aged, infirm, and young members of the 
 League shall be to give instant notice to all members in case of an 
 attack upon any of our people. We agree to have no officers except 
 a treasurer and secretary pro tern., until after some trial of courage 
 and talent of able-bodied members shall enable us to elect officers 
 from those who shall have rendered the most important services. 
 Nothing but wisdom and undaunted courage, efficiency, and general 
 good conduct shall in any way influence us in electing our officers. 
 
 Then follows, in the original manuscript, a set of resolves, 
 such as John Brown, with Ms methodical, forward-looking 
 mind, was in the habit of drawing up whenever lie organized 
 any branch of his movement against slavery. This paper, 
 which is sufficiently curious, reads as follows : 
 
 Resolutions of the Springfield Branch of the United States League 
 of Gileadites. Adopted 15th Jan., 1851. 
 
 1 . Resolved, That we, whose names are affixed, do constitute our 
 selves a Branch of the United States League, under the above name. 
 
 2. Resolved, That all business of this Branch be conducted with 
 the utmost quiet and good order; that we individually provide our 
 selves with suitable implements without delay ; and that we will 
 sufficiently aid those who do not possess the means, if any such are 
 disposed to join us. 
 
1851.] PREPARATIONS FOR THE CONFLICT. 127 
 
 3. Resolved, That a committee of one or more discreet, influential 
 men be appointed to collect the names of all colored persons whose 
 heart is engaged for the performance of our business, whether male 
 or female, whether old or young. 
 
 4. Resolved, That the appropriate duty of all aged, infirm, fe 
 male, or youthful members of this Branch is to give instant notice to 
 all other members of any attack upon the rights of our people, first 
 informing all able-bodied men of this League or Branch, and next, all 
 well known friends of the colored people ; and that this information 
 be confined to such alone, that there may be as little excitement as 
 possible, and no noise in the so doing. 
 
 5. Resolved, That a committee of one or more discreet persons 
 be appointed to ascertain the condition of colored persons in regard 
 to implements, and to instruct others in regard to their conduct in 
 any emergency. 
 
 6. Resolved, That no other officer than a treasurer, with a pres 
 ident and secretary pro tern., be appointed by this Branch, until after 
 some trial of the courage and talents of able-bodied members shall 
 enable a majority of the members to elect their officers from those 
 who shall have rendered the most important services. 
 
 7. Resolved, That, trusting in a just and merciful God, whose 
 spirit and all-powerful aid we humbly implore, we will most cheer 
 fully and heartily support and obey such officers, when chosen as be 
 fore ; and that nothing but wisdom, undaunted courage, efficiency, and 
 general good conduct shall in any degree influence our individual votes 
 in case of such election. 
 
 8. Resolved, That a meeting of all members of this Branch shall 
 be immediately called for the purpose of electing officers (to be chosen 
 by ballot) after the first trial shall have been made of the qualifica 
 tions of individual members for such command, as before mentioned. 
 
 9. Resolved, That as citizens of the United States of America we 
 will ever be found true to the flag of our beloved country, always 
 acting under it. 1 
 
 1 This is signed by the following mem bers : 
 
 B. C. Dowling. Henry Johnson. Henry Hector. 
 
 John Smith. G. W. Holmes. John Strong. 
 
 Reverdy Johnson. C. A. Gazam. Wm. Burns. 
 
 Samuel Chandler. Eliza Green. Wm. Gordon. 
 
 J. N. Howard. Jane Fowler. Joseph Addams. 
 
 Charles Rollins. H. J. Jones. Wm. Green. 
 
 Scipio Webb. Ann Johnson. Wm. H. Montague. 
 
 Charles Odell. Cyrus Thomas. Jane Wicks. 
 
 L. Wallace. Henry Robinson. James Madison. 
 
 And seventeen others. 
 
128 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1850. 
 
 This was not the only undertaking of the sort in which 
 John Brown lent his aid and advice to the fugitive slaves 
 and their free brethren of color at the North. For years 
 he labored quietly among them, seeking to bring them to 
 a better knowledge of their position, and to form habits 
 that would fit them for freedom ; and in this period he 
 wrote some curious papers. Among these are the following 
 chapters of an unfinished pamphlet called "Sambo's Mis 
 takes," which he began to publish in an obscure Abolitionist 
 journal called "The Kamshorn," with a distant allusion, 
 I suppose, to the downfall of Jericho at the blowing of the 
 Hebrew horns. The manuscript of these chapters is now in 
 the library of the Maryland Historical Society at Baltimore, 
 in the handwriting of John Brown, and reads thus : 
 
 SAMBO'S MISTAKES. 
 I. 
 
 MESSRS. EDITORS, Notwithstanding I may have committed a 
 few mistakes in the course of a long life, like others of my colored 
 brethren, yet you will perceive at a glance that I have always been 
 remarkable for a seasonable discovery of my errors and quick percep 
 tion of the true course. I propose to give you a few illustrations in 
 this and the following chapters. 
 
 For instance, when I was a boy I learned to read ; but instead of 
 giving my attention to sacred and profane history, by which I might 
 have become acquainted with the true character of God and of man ; 
 learned the true course for individuals, societies, and nations to pur 
 sue ; stored my mind with an endless variety of rational and prac 
 tical ideas ; profited by the experience of millions of others of all 
 ages ; fitted myself for the most important stations in life, and for 
 tified my mind with the best and wisest resolutions, and noblest 
 sentiments and motives, I have spent my whole life devouring 
 silly novels and other miserable trash, such as most newspapers of 
 the day and other popular writings are filled with ; thereby unfitting 
 myself for the realities of life, and acquiring a taste for nonsense and 
 low wit, so that I have no relish for sober truth, useful knowledge, 
 or practical wisdom. By this means I have passed through life 
 without profit to myself or others, a mere blank on which noth 
 ing worth perusing is written. But I can see in a twink where I 
 missed it. 
 
1850.] PREPARATIONS FOR THE CONFLICT. 129 
 
 Another error into which I fell in early life was the' notion that 
 chewing and smoking tobacco would make a man of me, but little 
 inferior to some of the whites. The money I spent in this way 
 would, with the interest of it, have enabled me to have relieved a 
 great many sufferers, supplied me with a well- selected, interesting 
 library, and paid for a good farm for the support and comfort of my 
 old age ; whereas I have now neither books, clothing, the satisfac 
 tion of having benefited others, nor where to lay my hoary head- 
 But I can see in a moment where I missed it. 
 
 Another of the few errors of my life is, that I have joined the 
 Free Masons, Odd Fellows, Sons of Temperance, and a score of 
 other secret societies, instead of seeking the company of intelligent, 
 wise, and good men, from whom I might have learned much that 
 would be interesting, instructive, and useful ; and have in that way 
 squandered a great amount of most precious time, and money enough, 
 sometimes in a single year, which if I had then put the same out on 
 interest and kept it so, would have kept me always above board, 
 given me character and influence among men, or have enabled me 
 to pursue some respectable calling, so that I might employ others 
 to their benefit and improvement ; but, as it is, I have always been 
 poor, in debt, and now obliged to travel about in search of employment 
 as a hostler, shoe-black, and fiddler. But I retain all my quickness 
 of perception ; I can see readily where I missed it. 
 
 II. 
 
 Another error of my riper years has been, that when any meeting 
 of colored people has been called in order to consider of any impor 
 tant matter of general interest, I have been so eager to display my 
 spouting talents, and so tenacious of some trifling theory or other 
 that I have adopted, that I have generally lost all sight of the busi 
 ness in hand, consumed the time disputing about things of no mo 
 ment, and thereby defeated entirely many important measures calcu^ 
 lated to promote the general welfare ; but I am happy to say I can 
 see in a minute where I missed it. 
 
 Another small error of my life (for I never committed great blun 
 ders) has been that I never would (for the sake of union in the 
 furtherance of the most vital interests of our race) yield any minor 
 point of difference. In this way I have always had to act with but 
 a few, or more frequently alone, and could accomplish nothing worth 
 living for ; but I have one comfort, I can see in a minute where I 
 missed it. 
 
 Another little fault which I have committed is, that if in anything 
 another man has failed of coming up to my standard, notwithstanding 
 
 9 
 
130 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1850. 
 
 that he might possess many of the most valuable traits, ami be most 
 admirably adapted to fill some one important post, I would reject him 
 entirely, injure his influence, oppose his measures, and even glory 
 in his defeats, while his intentions were good, and his plans well 
 laid. But I have the great satisfaction of being able to say, without 
 fear of contradiction, that I can see very quick where I missed it. 
 
 III. 
 
 Another small mistake which I have made is, that I could never 
 bring myself to practise any present self-denial, although my theories 
 have been excellent. For instance, I have bought expensive gay 
 clothing, nice canes, watches, safety -chains, finger-rings, breastpins, 
 and many other things of a like nature, thinking I might by that 
 means distinguish myself from the vulgar, as some of the better class 
 of whites do. I have always been of the foremost in getting up 
 expensive parties, and running after fashionable amusements ; have 
 indulged my appetite freely whenever I had the means (and even 
 with borrowed means) ; have patronized the dealers in nuts, candy, 
 etc., freely, and have sometimes bought good suppers, and was 
 always a regular customer at livery stables. By these, and many 
 other means, I have been unable to benefit my suffering brethren, 
 and am now but poorly able to keep my own soul and body together ; 
 but do not think me thoughtless or dull of apprehension, for I can 
 see at once where I missed it. 
 
 Another trilling error of my life has been, that I have always ex 
 pected to secure the favor of the whites by tamely submitting to every 
 species of indignity, contempt, and wrong, instead of nobly resisting 
 their brutal aggressions from principle, and taking my place as a 
 man, and assuming the responsibilities of a man, a citizen, a husband, 
 a father, a brother, a neighbor, a friend, as God requires of every 
 one (if his neighbor will allow him to do it) j but I find that I get, 
 for all my submission, about the same reward that the Southern 
 slaveocrats render to the dough-faced statesmen of the North, for 
 being bribed and browbeat and fooled and cheated, as the Whigs and 
 Democrats love to be, and think themselves highly honored if they 
 may be allowed to lick up the spittle of a Southerner. I say I get 
 the same reward. But I am uncommon quick-sighted; I can see in 
 a minute where I missed it. 
 
 Another little blunder which I made is, that while I have always 
 been a most zealous Abolitionist, I have been constantly at war with 
 my friends about certain religious tenets. I was first a Presbyterian, 
 but I could never think of acting with my Quaker friends, for they 
 were the rankest heretics ; and the Baptists would be in the water, 
 
1851.] PREPARATIONS FOR THE CONFLICT. 131 
 
 and the Methodists denied the doctrine of Election, etc. Of later 
 years, since becoming enlightened by Garrison, Abby Kelly, and 
 other really benevolent persons, I have been spending all my force 
 on my friends who love the Sabbath, and have felt that all was at 
 stake on that point ; just as it has proved to be of late in France, in 
 the abolition of slavery in their colonies. Now I cannot doubt, 
 Messrs. Editors, notwithstanding I have been unsuccessful, that vou 
 will allow me full credit for my peculiar quick-sightedness. I can see 
 in one second where I missed it. 
 
 This paper, dating before 1850, illustrates the points 
 of resemblance between Franklin and John Brown, for 
 "Poor Kichard" himself might have written these keen 
 and kindly sayings. Brown disliked the effort of writing, 
 which led him to shorten almost everything he wrote; so 
 that " Sambo's Mistakes " was one of his longest essays, 
 and perhaps the most satirical. He took little part in the 
 public debates on slavery, and when in the last year of his 
 life (1859), he was present for a day or two at the Antislav- 
 ery. meetings in Boston, he came out saying, "Talk ! talk ! 
 talk ! that will never set the slave free." His form of 
 activity was something that would operate, as he said in 
 his letter of 1834, "like powder confined in rock;" and 
 such was the effect of his own movements in Kansas and 
 in Virginia. 
 
 His daughter, Mrs. Thompson, thus speaks of his concern 
 for the fugitive slaves in the anxious season of 1850-51, 
 when the slaveholders, encouraged by the success of the 
 Clay and Webster Compromises, sought to insult and worry 
 the people of the North by reclaiming all runaway slaves 
 wherever they might be : 
 
 " Father did not close up his wool business in Springfield when he 
 went to North Elba, and had to make several journeys back and forth 
 in 1849-50. He was at Springfield in January, 1851, soon after the 
 passage of the Fugitive Slave Law, and went round among his colored 
 friends there who had been fugitives, urging them to resist the law, 
 no matter by what authority it should be enforced. He told them to 
 arm themselves with revolvers, men and women, and not to be taken 
 alive. When he got to North Elba he told us about the Fugitive 
 Slave Law, and bade us resist any attempt that might be made to 
 take any fugitive from our town, regardless of fine or imprisonment. 
 
132 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1851. 
 
 Our faithful boy Cyrus was one of that class ; and our feelings were 
 so roused that we would all have defended him, though the women 
 folks had resorted to hot water. Father at this time said, ' Their 
 cup of iniquity is almost full.' One evening as I was singing ' The 
 Slave Father Mourning for his Children,' containing these words, 
 
 ' Ye 're gone from me, my gentle ones, 
 With all your shouts of mirth ; 
 A silence is within my walls, 
 A darkness round my hearth,' 
 
 father got up and walked the lloor, and before I could finish the 
 song, he said, ' Ruth ! don't sing any more; it is too sad ! ' " 
 
 This letter to Mrs. Brown relates to the same emer 
 gency : 
 
 SPRINGFIELD, MASS., Jan. 17, 1851. 
 
 DEAR WIFE, ... Since the sending off to slavery of Long 
 from New York, I have improved my leisure hours quite busily with 
 colored people here, in advising them how to act, and in giving them 
 all the encouragement in my power. They very much need encour 
 agement and advice ; and some of them are so alarmed that they tell 
 me they cannot sleep on account of either themselves or their wives 
 and children. I can only say I think I have been enabled to do 
 something to revive their broken spirits. I want all in y family to 
 imagine themselves in the same dreadful condition. My only spare 
 time being taken up (often till late hours at night) in the way I 
 speak of, has prevented me from the gloomy homesick feelings 
 which had before so much oppressed me : not that I forget my 
 family at all. 
 
 Some of the advice thus given has already been copied : 
 more condensed suggestions are as follows : 
 
 a Collect quietly, so as to outnumber the adversaries who are taking 
 an active part against you ; make clean work M^ith all such, and be 
 sure you meddle not with any other. Do not delay one moment after 
 you have a fair majority of your own men over those who are actually 
 about the mischief. Let the collection of a fair majority be your sig 
 nal to engage ; and when engaged do not do your business by halves. 
 When one of you engage, let all the others fall to work without noise 
 or confusion. Stand by one another and by your friends while a drop 
 of blood remains, and be hanged if you must, but tell no tales out of 
 school ; make no confessions. Hold on to your tools, and never be 
 
1846.] PREPARATIONS FOR THE CONFLICT. 133 
 
 scared or persuaded, by the world combined, to part with them, or to 
 leave them away from you. Do not trust them with friend or foe. 
 Always keep your families advised of the places where you may be 
 found when absent from home." 
 
 Four or five years earlier than this, and soon after 
 Brown's arrival in Springfield, he had begun to communi 
 cate his purpose of attacking slavery by force to the colored 
 men whom he found to be worthy of trust. In 1846 there 
 was living in Springfield (where he still resides) a fugitive 
 slave from the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Thomas Thomas 
 by name, whom Brown engaged to work for him as a porter 
 in his wool warehouse. " How early shall I come to-morrow," 
 said Thomas the day he was hired. " We begin work at 
 seven," said Brown ; " but I wish you would come round 
 earlier, so that I can talk with you." Thomas therefore 
 went to his employer's the next morning between five and 
 six o'clock, found Brown waiting for him, and there re 
 ceived' from him the outlines of his plan to liberate the 
 slaves, and was invited to join in the enterprise, which he 
 agreed to do. This was nine years before Brown went to 
 Kansas, and two years before Simmer, Wilson, Adams, S. C. 
 Phillips, Hoar, and their friends formed the Free Soil party 
 of Massachusetts. Thomas was afterward sent by Brown to 
 look up Madison Washington, the leader of the courageous 
 slaves of the vessel " Creole," who was wanted as a leader 
 among the colored recruits that were to join the band of 
 liberators ; but Washington, when found, proved to be an 
 unfit person for such a task. 
 
 It is said that the first definite thought of the place where 
 he should make his attack upon the slave system came to 
 Brown while he was surveying lands for Oberlin College, in 
 what is now West Virginia, in 1840. These lands were, in 
 part at least, in the county of Jackson, which borders on 
 Ohio, and is separated from that State by the Ohio River. 
 It is west of the Alleghanies, and is not very mountainous ; 
 but in approaching or leaving it Brown had occasion to ob 
 serve how useful those mountains would be to any band of 
 men who were aiming at emancipation by force. " The 
 mountains and swamps of the South," said Brown in Kansas, 
 
134 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1840. 
 
 " were intended by God as a refuge for the slave, and a de 
 fence against his master." That he cherished this purpose 
 when he wrote the following from West Virginia, nearly 
 twenty years before his foray at Harper's Ferry, is certain ; 
 and the thought that he had his great project in mind then, 
 gives an interest to the brief letter : 
 
 To his Family. 
 
 RIPLEY, VA., April 27, 1840. 
 
 ... I like the country as well as 1 expected, and its inhabitants 
 rather better ; and 1 have seen the spot where, if it be the will of 
 Providence, I hope one day to live with my family. . . . Were 
 the inhabitants as resolute and industrious as the Northern people, 
 and did they understand how to manage as well, they would become 
 rich j but they are not generally so. They seem to have no idea of 
 improvement in their cattle, sheep, or hogs, nor to know the use of 
 enclosed pasture-fields for their stock, but spend a large portion 
 of their time in hunting for their cattle, sheep, and horses ; and the 
 same habit continues from father to son. ... By comparing them 
 with the people of other parts of the country, I can see new and 
 abundant proof that knowledge is power. I think we might be very 
 useful to them on many accounts, were we so disposed. May God 
 in mercy keep us all, and enable us to get wisdom ; and with all our 
 getting or losing, to get, understanding ! 
 
 Affectionately yours, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 Before John Brown went to the Adirondacs to look after 
 the colored people there, he seems to have had another 
 project of the same sort in view, in connection with these 
 Obeiiin lands. The records of that Ohio college (where 
 white and colored students were educated together, before 
 any other such institution ventured to do so) show the fol 
 lowing entries : 
 
 " April 1, 1840. In the Prudential Committee, Brother John 
 Brown from Hudson being present, some negotiations were opened 
 in respect to our Virginia lands. 
 
 " April 3, 1840. A communication from Brother John Brown, of 
 Hudson, was presented and read by the Secretary, containing a pro 
 position to visit, survey, and make the necessary investigation re 
 specting boundaries, etc., of those lands, for one dollar per day, and 
 a moderate allowance for necessary expenses; said paper frankly 
 
1840.] PREPARATIONS FOR THE CONFLICT. 135 
 
 expressing also his design of viewing the lands, as a preliminary step 
 to locating his family upon them, should the opening prove a favor 
 able one : whereupon, Voted, that said proposition be acceded to, and 
 that a commission and needful outfit be furnished by the Secretary 
 and Treasurer." 
 
 "July ]4, 1840. The report of John Brown, respecting his 
 agency to Virginia and examination of the Smith donation of land, 
 was read by the Secretary and deferred." 
 
 u Aug. 11, 1840. Voted, that the Secretary address a letter to 
 John Brown, of Hudson, in reference to the Virginia land agency." 
 
 In the records of the Board of Trustees, under date of 
 Aug. 28, 1840, is the following minute : 
 
 " Voted, that the Prudential Committee be authorized to perfect 
 negotiations, and convey by deed to Brother John Brown, of Hudson, 
 one thousand acres of oar Virginia land on the conditions suggested 
 in the correspondence which has already transpired between him and 
 the committee." 
 
 There is nothing in the record of the subsequent action of 
 the Prudential Committee or of the Trustees which goes to 
 show that a deed was actually given to John Brown, or that 
 the conditions were fulfilled by him. 
 
 Concerning the opening of this negotiation, I find this 
 letter from an Oberlin official, Levi Burnell, to John Brown's 
 father, Owen, who was a Trustee of the college : 
 
 OBERLIN, April 3, 1840. 
 
 DEAR BROTHER BROWN, I received your favor by your son 
 John, and our committee have opened negotiations with him pre 
 liminary to his visiting our Virginia lands. We hope for a favorable 
 issue, both for him and the institution. When he has thoroughly 
 examined the papers and spent the necessary time upon the premises, 
 we expect that he will know more than all of us about the matter ; 
 and I trust we shall feel disposed to offer liberal inducements for him 
 and others to settle there, if that is best. Should he succeed in clear 
 ing up titles without difficulty or lawsuits, it would be easy, as it 
 appears to me, to make provision for religious and school privileges, 
 and by proper efforts, with the blessing of God, soon see that wilder 
 ness bud and blossom as the rose. 
 
 The main outlines of Brown's plan have been given by 
 one of his Kansas company, Richard Eealf, who heard him 
 
136 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1858. 
 
 explain it in Canada in 1858, and who professed to have 
 made this statement up from Brown's own words. It is 
 evidently colored and exaggerated in many particulars by 
 the imagination of the reporter, and at several points is 
 contrary to what is otherwise known. But with these 
 abatements, it may be taken as a general outline of what 
 Brown actually said. This is RealFs report, which it needs 
 a long breath to read, for its odd rhetoric : 
 
 "John Brown stated that for twenty or thirty years the idea had 
 possessed him like a passion of giving liberty to the slaves ; that he 
 made a journey to England, during which he made a tour upon the 
 European continent, inspecting all fortifications, and especially all 
 earthwork forts which he could find, with a view of applying the 
 knowledge thus gained, with modifications and inventions of his own, 
 to a mountain warfare in the United States. He stated that he had 
 read all the books upon insurrectionary warfare that he could lay his 
 hands on : the Roman warfare, the successful opposition of the Span 
 ish chieftains during the period when Spain was a Roman province, 
 how with ten thousand men, divided and subdivided into small 
 companies, acting simultaneously yet separately, they withstood the 
 whole consolidated power of the Roman Empire through a number 
 of years. In addition to this, he had become very familiar with the 
 successful warfare waged by Schamyl, 1 the Circassian chief, against 
 the Russians; he had posted himself in relation to the war of Tous- 
 saint L'Ouverture ; he had become thoroughly acquainted with the 
 wars in Hayti and the islands round about ; arid from all these things 
 he had drawn the conclusion, believing, as he stated there he did 
 believe, and as we all (if I may judge from myself) believed, that 
 upon the first intimation of a plan formed for the liberation of the 
 slaves, they would immediately rise all over the Southern States. 
 He supposed that they would come into the mountains to join him, 
 
 1 It is singular that while this Schamyl, the daring Lesghian chieftain, 
 who, in alliance with the Circassians, had defied the Czar for twenty years, 
 was visiting St. Petersburg as the honored guest of his foeman, John Brown 
 at that very time was captured and executed by the American slaveholders. 
 Schamyl was at once the warrior and the prophet of his race, and in the fast 
 nesses of the Caucasus, where the Russians assailed him, he had worn out 
 their armies by delays, ambuscades, and surprises. At last, after enormous 
 losses of men and material by the Russians, they stormed his stronghold, 
 and he surrendered in 1859. The same New York newspapers which con 
 tained the news of Brown's failure described the hospitable reception of 
 Schamyl at the capital of Nicholas. 
 
1858.] PREPARATIONS FOR THE CONFLICT. 137 
 
 where he purposed to work, and that by flocking to his standard 
 they would enable him (making the line of mountains which cuts 
 diagonally through Maryland and Virginia, down through the South 
 ern States into Tennessee and Alabama, the base of his operations) 
 to act upon the plantations on the plains lying on each side of that 
 range of mountains ; that we should be able to establish ourselves 
 in the fastnesses. And if any hostile action were taken against us, 
 either by the militia of the States or by the armies of the United 
 States, we purposed to defeat first the militia, and next, if possible, 
 the troops of the United States; and then organize the free blacks 
 under the provisional constitution, which would carve out for the 
 locality of its jurisdiction all that mountainous region in which the 
 blacks were to be established, in which they were to be taught 
 the useful and mechanical arts, and all the business of life. Schools 
 were also to be established, and so on. The negroes were to be his 
 soldiers." 
 
 This was in fact the purpose of Brown, to enlist a suffi 
 cient number of the slaves and the free negroes of the North 
 as soldiers, without exciting a general insurrection, and then 
 to establish his armed force where it could best annoy the 
 slaveholders and make their property unsafe. He intended 
 to officer his army with white arid colored men, but to use 
 the latter for soldiers chiefly. He had a higher opinion 
 than most men at that time of the capacity of the negro as 
 a soldier and a citizen, an opinion since justified by events. 
 I have often heard Brown dwell on this subject, and mention 
 instances of his fitness to take care of himself ; saying, in 
 his quaint way, " negroes behaved so much like folks, he 
 almost thought they were so." He thought a forcible sepa 
 ration between master and slave might be necessary, in order 
 to educate the slaves for self-government. 
 
 A part of Brown's preparation for the warfare in which 
 he meant to engage was his Spartan mode of life and his 
 self-denial in most matters of food, dress, amusement, and 
 personal comfort. His daughter's testimony is clear on this 
 point ; and all who knew him can recall instances of this 
 self-denial. He followed strictly the sage's injunction, " At 
 rich men's tables eat thou bread and pulse ; " and he was 
 rather averse to accept the hospitality of those friends who 
 lived luxuriously. He avoided the sumptuous hotels of 
 
138 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BRO.WN. [1839. 
 
 New York and other cities, and went by preference to plain 
 taverns where farmers and drovers were entertained. His 
 dress was neat but plain, and he wore the same garments a 
 long time, always from choice, and sometimes from necessity. 
 He never used tobacco in any form, and seldom drank wine 
 or spirits. When at home he drank milk or water. It was 
 not till a few years before his death that he drank tea or 
 coffee, and he took up 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 guest drink 
 water instead of tea. He never ate cheese or butter ; and 
 said that as a boy, ten years old, he was once sent of an 
 errand where a lady gave him a piece of bread and butter ; 
 he was so bashful that he did not dare tell her he never ate 
 butter, but as soon as he got out of the house he ran as fast 
 as he could for a long time, and then threw her gift out of 
 sight. He had great skill in providing for a company of 
 men, and could have maintained a force in the field at very 
 little cost. But his health was much affected in his later 
 years by malaria and other ills of advancing age, from which, 
 when he entered upon active service, he lost much time and 
 suffered great hardships. 1 
 
 1 Jason Brown, who remembers well the oath taken by himself and his 
 family when his father first made known to them his purpose of attacking 
 slavery by force, thinks the time was not 1837, but 1839. The place, he 
 says, was Franklin, and the time was "when the colored preacher Mr. 
 Fayette was at father's; and he (Mr. F. ) and mother, John, Jason, and 
 Owen were sworn to secrecy, and to do all in their power to abolish slav 
 ery." Jason also thinks he cut the date of the year on a rock near the 
 swimming-place in Hudson which he and Owen used to frequent. Mrs. 
 Brown gave me the impression it was in 1838 ; but the exact date is 
 unimportant. The Oberlin College enterprise was connected with the suc 
 cessful effort made by Miss Martineau and others in England in December, 
 1839, to raise funds for the college in which education was given without 
 distinction of color or sex. See "Harriet Martineau's Autobiography," 
 edited by Mrs. Chapman, vol. ii. pp. 345, 346. 
 
1841.] FAMILY COUNSELS AND HOME LIFE. 139 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 FAMILY COUNSELS AND HOME 
 
 A LTHOUGH he lived so actively in his business affairs, 
 '** and planned so much public activity, yet a great part 
 of John Brown's life was spent in the most quiet, humble, 
 and domestic manner. Before entering, therefore, upon 
 the startling record of his public career, let me disclose more 
 fully his home life, and his affectionate, practical relations 
 to all those who depended upon him ; which can best be 
 done by his family letters at different dates, before he sent 
 his sons to Kansas or set forth to join them there. 
 
 To his Children. 
 
 HUDSON, Jan. 18, 1841. 
 
 DEAR SON JOHN, Since I parted with you at Hudson some 
 thoughts have passed through my mind which my intense anxiety 
 for your welfare prompts me to communicate by writing. I think 
 the situation in which you have been placed by Providence at this 
 early period of your life will afford to yourself and others some little 
 test of the sway you may be expected to exert over minds in after life, 
 and I am glad, on the whole, to have you brought in some measure 
 to the test in your youth. If you cannot now go into a disorderly 
 country school and gain its confidence and esteem, and reduce it to 
 good order, and waken up the energies and the very soul of every ra 
 tional being in it, yes, of every mean, ill-behaved, ill-governed boy 
 and girl that compose it, and secure the good- will of the parents, 
 then how are you to stimulate asses to attempt a passage of the Alps f 
 If you run with footmen and they should weary you, how should you 
 contend with horses ? If in the land of peace they have wearied yon, 
 then how will you do in the swelling of Jordan ? Shall I answer the 
 question myself? "If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, 
 who giveth liberally and upbraideth not." Let me say to you again, 
 
140 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1845. 
 
 love them all, aud commend them and yourself to the God to whom 
 Solomon sought in his youth, and he shall bring it to pass. You 
 have heard me tell of dividing a school into two large spelling-classes, 
 and of its effects j if you should think best, and can remember the 
 process, you can try it. Let the grand reason, that one course is 
 right and another wrong, be kept continually before your own mind 
 and before your school. 
 
 From your affectionate father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 AKRON, May 23, 1845. 
 
 DEAR SON JOHN, Yours of the 28th April we did not get very 
 seasonably, as we have been very busy, and not at the post-office 
 often. We are all obliged for your letter, and I hope thankful for 
 any comfort or success that may attend you. If the days of mourn 
 ing have indeed and in truth ceased, then I trust all is well, all is 
 well as it should be ; and I have known fair days to follow after very 
 foul weather. The great trouble is, we are a.pt to get too damp in a 
 wet, foggy spell. We are all well but little Annie, who is afflicted 
 with a singular eruption of the skin, and is withal quite unwell. We 
 get along in our business as well as we ever have done, I think. We 
 have some sheep, but not as many as for two seasons past. Matters 
 seem to go well betwixt us and our friend Perkins, and for anything 
 that I know of, our worldly prospects are as good as we can bear. 
 I hope that entire leanness of soul may not attend any little success 
 in business. I do not know as we have yet any new plans ; when we 
 have, we will let you hear. We are nearly through another yean 
 ing time, and have lost but very few. Have not yet counted tails : 
 think there may be about four hundred. Never had a finer or more 
 thrifty lot. Expect to begin washing sheep next week. Have re 
 ceived our medals and diploma. They are splendid toys, and appear 
 to be knock-down arguments among the sheep-growers who have 
 seen them. All were well at Hudson a few days since. Father was 
 here, and had just moved into the Humiston house out west. You 
 did not say in your letter whether you ever conversed with him in 
 regard to his plans for his old age, as was talked of when you were 
 here and were helping pick sheep ; should like to know if you did, 
 etc. Cannot tell you much more now, except it be that we all appear 
 to think a great deal more about this world than about the next, 
 which proves that we are still very foolish. I leave room for some 
 others of the family to write, if they will. 
 
 Affectionately yours, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
1846.] FAMILY COUNSELS AND HOME LIFE. 141 
 
 May 30, 1845. 
 
 DEAR SON, We are at this time all well, but very busy prepar 
 ing for shearing. Have had a most dreadful frost over night, and am 
 afraid the wheat is all killed. There will be here no article of fruit. 
 I trust you will perform your service with patient spirit, doing with 
 your might The children will write you hereafter. 
 Affectionately yours, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 AKRON, OHIO, June 6, 1846. 
 
 DEAR SON AND DAUGHTER, I wrote you some time since, en 
 closing five dollars ; but neither of you have let me know whether 
 you received it or not, nor how much you were in immediate want of. 
 Two lines would have told me all, and that you were or were not 
 well. I now enclose you ten dollars ; and I want to hear from you 
 without one moment's delay, or I cannot till I get to New England 
 (possibly). Say to me how much you must have for your bills at 
 Austinburg and expenses back to this place. I can calculate for 
 John's expenses to Springfield from here, and will provide for that. 
 I have some nice cloth for an entire suit, which I think I had better 
 take for you (John) to Springfield, so that you can have it made up 
 there if you have any want of clothes before winter. We have plenty 
 of it on hand, and it will save paying out the money. We are getting 
 a good pair of calfskin boots made for you. We intend to take on 
 a good supply of nice well-made shirts, in order to save your paying 
 there for such things more than is indispensable, and also to prevent 
 your being delayed after you come back here with Euth. 
 
 It is barely possible that Jason and I may come by way of Austin- 
 burg. We expect to start in a little more than a week from this. 
 If I do not come by your place on my way, you may look for another 
 letter before I start for the East. It may be that some of your bills 
 can lie unpaid till I can sell some of our wool, and let you draw on 
 Perkins & Brown at Springfield for the amount, instead of making 
 a remittance by mail. Some of your merchants or other business 
 men might be glad to get a small draft of that kind, payable at sight. 
 Let me know all about matters. All are well here. 
 Affectionately yours, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 The letter above printed was written to John and Euth 
 Brown, who were then at school, or taking lessons, in Aus 
 tinburg, Ohio. Their father was about removing to Massa 
 chusetts. 
 
142 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1846. 
 
 To his Wife and Children. 
 
 SPRINGFIELD, Sept. 29, 1846. 
 
 DEAR MARY, ... Your letter dated the 20th was received last 
 night, and afforded me a real though a mournful satisfaction. That 
 you had received, or were to receive, a letter from either John or 
 Jason I was in perfect ignorance of till you informed me ; and I am 
 glad to learn that, wholly uninfluenced by me, they have shown a 
 disposition to afford you the comfort in your deep affliction which the 
 nature of the case would admit of. Nothing is scarcely equal with 
 me to the satisfaction of seeing that one portion of my remaining 
 family are not disposed to exclude from their sympathies and their 
 warm affections another portion. I accept it as one of the most 
 grateful returns that can he made to me for any care or exertion on 
 my part to promote either their present or their future well-being : 
 and while I am able to discover such a feeling, I feel assured that 
 notwithstanding God has chastised us often and sore, yet he has not 
 entirely withdrawn himself from us nor forsaken us utterly. The 
 sudden and dreadful manner in which he has seen fit to call our dear 
 little Kitty to take her leave of us is, I need not tell you how much, 
 in my mind ; but before Him I will bow my head in submission and 
 hold my peace. ... I have sailed over a somewhat stormy sea for 
 nearly half a century, and have experienced enough to teach me 
 thoroughly that I may most reasonably buckle up and be prepared 
 for the tempest. Mary, let us try to maintain a cheerful self-command 
 while we are tossing up and down , and let our motto still be Action, 
 Action, as we have but one life to live. 
 
 Affectionately yours, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 SPRINGFIELD, MASS., Jan 5, 1847. 
 
 DEAR DAUGHTER RUTH, Yours dated the 20th and Jason's dated 
 the 16th of December were both received in season, and were very 
 grateful to our feelings, as we are anxious to hear from home often, 
 and had become very uneasy before we got word from Jason. We 
 are middling well, and very much perplexed with our work, accounts, 
 and correspondence. We expect now to go home, if our lives and 
 health are spared, next month, and we feel rejoiced that the time is 
 so near when we hope to meet you all once more. Sometimes my 
 imagination follows those of my family who have passed behind the 
 scenes; and I would almost rejoice to be permitted to make them a 
 personal visit. I have outlived nearly half of all my numerous fam 
 ily, and I ought to realize that in any event a large proportion of my 
 journey is travelled over. 
 
1847.] FAMILY COUNSELS AND HOME LIFE. 143 
 
 You say that you would like very much to have a letter from me, 
 with as much good advice as I will give. Well, what do you sup 
 pose I feel most anxious for in regard to yourself and all at home ? 
 Would you believe that I ever had any such care on my mind about 
 them as we read that Job had about his family (not that I would 
 ever think to compare myself with Job) ? Would you believe that 
 the long story would be that ye sin not, that you form no foolish 
 attachments, and that you be not a companion of fools ? 
 Your affectionate father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 SPRINGFIELD, March 12, 1847. 
 
 DEAR SON JOHN, Yours dated Feb. 27th I this day received. 
 It was written about the same time I reached this place again. I 
 am glad to learn that you are relieved in a good measure from another 
 season of suffering. Hope you will make the right improvement of 
 it. I have been here nearly two weeks. Have Captain Spencer, 
 Freeman, the Hudsons, together with Schlessinger and Ramsden, all 
 helping me again. Have turned about four thousand dollars' worth 
 of wool into cash since I returned ; shall probably make it up to 
 seven thousand by the 16th. Sold Musgrave the James Wallace lot 
 yesterday for fifty-eight cents all round. Hope to get pretty much 
 through by the middle of April. Have paid your account for the 
 " Cincinnati Weekly Herald and Philanthropist," together with two 
 dollars for one year's subscription to "National Era/' being in all 
 three dollars. I should have directed to have the " National Era " 
 sent you at Austinburg, but could not certainly know as you would 
 be there to take it. You had better direct to have it sent to you 
 there. I now intend to send Ruth on again soon after my return. 
 Jason writes on the 3d that all are well at home. I feel better than 
 when I left home, and send my health to all in and about Austinburg. 
 Yours affectionately, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 SPRINGFIELD, MASS., April 12, 1847. 
 
 DEAR SON JOHN, Yours of the 5th is just received. I was very 
 glad to learn by it that you were then well. I had begun to feel 
 anxious, not hearing for so long a time since you wrote, that you 
 were unwell. My own health is middling good ; and I learn that 
 all at home were well a few days since. I enclose ten dollars; and 
 I must say that when you continue to make INDEFINITE applica 
 tions for money, without giving me the least idea of the amount you 
 need, after I have before complained of the same thing, namely, 
 
144 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1847. 
 
 your not telling me frankly how much you need, it makes me feel 
 injured. Suffice it to say that it always affords me the greatest 
 pleasure to assist you when I can; but if you want five, ten, twenty, 
 or fifty dollars, why not say so, and then let me help you so far as I 
 am able I It places me in an awkward fix. I am much more will 
 ing to send you all you actually need (if in my power), than to send 
 any when you do not tell what your wants require. 
 
 I do not now see how we could make the exchange Mr. Walker 
 proposes in regard to sheep, but should suppose it might be done to 
 his mind somewhere in our direction. I should think your brother 
 student might pay the postage of a letter ordering the " Era" to you 
 at Austinburg till the year expires. I have ten times as many papers 
 as I can read. Have got on middling well, since I wrote you, with 
 the wool-trade, and mean to return shortly, and send Ruth to Austin- 
 burg. Do not see how to take time to give you further particulars 
 now, having so much every hour to attend to. Write me on receipt 
 of this. Will send you a Steubenville report. 
 
 Affectionately your father, 
 
 JOHN BROWX. 
 
 P. S. Had I sent you twenty dollars, you deprive me of the com 
 fort of knowing that your wishes have been at all complied with. 
 
 AKRON, July 9, 1847. 
 
 DEAR SON JOHX, I wrote you yesterday to urge your coming 
 here to keep up the family for a few months, as I knew of no way to 
 provide for Jason or Owen's board ; but that matter is all got over, 
 and the probability is that Jason will have a wife as soon as you. 
 We mean to have the business done up before we leave, so as to 
 have no breaking up of the family here. I would now say that if 
 you can get ready and meet us at Buffalo on the 14th or 15th, we 
 shall be glad to have you go on with us. I would be willing to 
 delay for a day or more in order to bring it about. It would seem as 
 though you might bring it about by that time, so early as to get here 
 on the 16th, as you wrote. As matters now stand, I feel very anx 
 ious to have you go on with us, and partly on Frederick's account. 
 I sent you yesterday a certificate of deposit for fifty dollars, directed to 
 Vernon, care of Miss Wealthy Hotchkiss. 1 Should it so happen that 
 you get to Buffalo before we do, wait for us at Bennett's Hotel ; or 
 we will wait for you awhile. Inquire for us at Bennett's, or of George 
 Palmer, Esq. If you get this in season, you may perhaps get to 
 
 1 Soon to be Mrs. John Brown, Jr. 
 
1851.] FAMILY COUNSELS AND HOME LIFE. 145 
 
 Buffalo before we can. Mary is still quite feeble. Frederick appears 
 to be quite as well as when you left. Say to Ruth I remember her. 
 Affectionately yours, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 SPRINGFIELD, Sept. 1, 1847. 
 
 DEAR DAUGHTER RUTH, I have not heard from you since John 
 left to come on here ; and I can assure you it is not for want of inter 
 est in your welfare that I have so long delayed writing you. We 
 got over the tedious job of moving as well as we could expect, and 
 have both families comfortably fixed. Frederick has been under the 
 treatment of one of the most celebrated physicians in Massachusetts, 
 and for some part of the time has appeared to be as well as ever, but 
 has not appeared so well for a few days past. Your mother is quite 
 unwell with a bilious fever, and has been so for a day or two. We 
 think she is doing well now, and hope she will get around soon. 
 We have almost all of us complained more or less since we got on 
 here. We have heard from Akron every few days since we came on. 
 All were well there a short time since. 
 
 Our business here seems to go on middling well, and should noth 
 ing befall me I hope to see you about the last of this month or early 
 next. John says he will write you soon. I supposed he had done 
 so before this, until now. We are very busy, and suppose we are 
 likely to be for the present. We expect you to write us how you get 
 along, of course. 
 
 Affectionately yours, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 VERNON, ONEIDA Co., N. Y., March 24, 1851. 
 
 DEAR SON JOHN, I now enclose draft on New York for fifty 
 dollars, which I think you can dispose of to some of the merchants 
 for a premium at this time in the season. I shall pay you the bal 
 ance as soon as I can ; but it may be out of my power until after we 
 sell our wool, which I think there is a prospect now of doing early. 
 I hope to get through here so as to be on our way again to Ohio be 
 fore the week closes, but want you and Jason both to hold on and 
 take the best possible care of the flock until I do get on, at any rate. 
 I wrote you last week that the family is on the road : the boys are 
 driving on the cattle, and my wife and the little girls are at Oneida 
 Depot, waiting for me to go on with them. 1 
 
 Your affectionate father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 1 The family were removing from North Elba to Akron, leaving Ruth 
 and her husband, Henry Thompson, in the Adirondac woods. 
 
 10 
 
146 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1851. 
 
 To his Wife. 
 
 BOSTON, MASS., Dec. 22, 1851. 
 
 DEAR MARY, ... There is an unusual amount of very inter 
 esting things happening in this and other countries at present, and no 
 one can foresee what is yet to follow. The great excitement pro 
 duced by the coming of Kossuth, and the last news of a new revolution 
 in France, with the prospect that all Europe will soon again be in a 
 blaze, seerns to have taken all by surprise. I have only to say in 
 regard to those things, I rejoice in them, from the full belief that God 
 is carrying out his eternal purpose in them all. I hope the boys 
 will be particularly careful to have no waste of feed of any kind, for 
 I a in strongly impressed with the idea that a long, severe winter is 
 before us. 
 
 This letter shows how closely Brown attended to politics 
 in Europe as well as in America, notwithstanding his la 
 borious life and the urgency of his private affairs. The 
 " new revolution in France " was the coup d'etat of Louis 
 Napoleon, which happened in this month of December, 
 1851. At the same time the Hungarian patriot Kossuth 
 was exciting great enthusiasm in Massachusetts and the 
 Northern States in general ; Charles Sumner was celebrat 
 ing him in an eloquent speech at Washington ; Emerson at 
 Concord was bidding him welcome to the historic battle 
 ground there ; and Theodore Parker, in his Boston pulpit, 
 was preaching in behalf of Hungarian independence. The 
 friends of Brown, on whom he relied in later years, were 
 singularly in accord with him in 1851, though neither Emer 
 son nor Parker nor Sumner had then seen Brown. I was 
 then a student at Exeter, preparing for Harvard College, 
 and I remember the interest that Kossuth aroused there. 
 An old lady with whom I sometimes took tea, and with 
 whom in her youth Daniel Webster had taken tea when a 
 student at Exeter fifty-five years before, used to divide the 
 talk at her little round tea-table between anecdotes of Web 
 ster (whom she admired for his beauty and eloquence, but 
 abhorred for his betrayal of the Northern cause) and eulogies 
 of Kossuth, Sumner, Garrison, and the other friends of free 
 dom in Europe and America. While Miss Betsey Clifford 
 thus manifested her enthusiasm at the age of seventy, her 
 
1850.J FAMILY COUNSELS AND HOME LIFE. 147 
 
 young guest at the age of twenty was publishing verses ad 
 dressed to Kossuth in praise and to Webster in censure of 
 their public action. But the pithy comment of John Brown 
 " God is carrying out his eternal purpose in them all " 
 was as profitable an utterance as that of any scholar or 
 statesman of that period. He belonged to the school of the 
 prophets, though a herdsman like Amos the Hebrew and 
 the Arabian seer. I have been able to find but few of 
 Brown's letters in the years 1850-51, when the first general 
 agitation against the aggression of Southern slaveholders 
 took place in the North ; nor do his earlier letters contain 
 much allusion to the antislavery crusade of Garrison, Gerrit 
 Smith, Arthur Tappan, Wendell Phillips, and the other 
 emancipationists. But he took the warmest interest in 
 these discussions from the first, and like Garrison and his 
 associates early declared against the colonizationists, who 
 would send the free negroes away to Liberia. Milton Lusk, 
 Brown's brother-in-law, already quoted, has given me some 
 details of antislavery action at Hudson fifty years ago. At 
 that time Rev. Henry R. Storrs, a devoted antislavery man, 
 was at the head of the Western Reserve College in Hudson, 
 and a communicant, if not pastor, of a Congregational church 
 there. In that to which Mr. Lusk belonged it had been 
 customary before 1835 to take up a collection occasionally 
 for the cause of colonization, which was advocated from the 
 pulpit by agents of the Colonization Society. On one of 
 these occasions "Brother Lusk" was asked to take up the 
 collection as usual, but refused. His pastor earnestly ques 
 tioned him why ; whereupon Milton Lusk showed the cler 
 gyman a speech or letter of Chief-Justice Marshall, in 
 which colonization was advocated as a relief to the Virginia 
 slaveholders, by removing the troublesome class of the free 
 negroes from the State. " If that is genuine," argued Mr. 
 Lusk, "then the slaveholders are asked to give money for 
 colonization to protect slavery ; while we are asked for 
 money to remove slavery by colonization. If our contri 
 butions go into the same fund, I for one will never help 
 to raise another dollar." The pastor could not deny the 
 premises of his parishioner, and was forced to accept his 
 conclusion ; but not long afterward Milton Lusk was ex- 
 
148 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1852. 
 
 communicated for various errors of opinion, among which 
 the colonization incident was not quite forgotten. 1 
 
 TROY, N. Y., Jan. 23, 1852. 
 
 DEAR CHILDREN, I returned here on the evening of the 19th 
 inst., having left Akron on the 14th, the date of your letter to John. 
 I was very glad to hear from you again in that way, not having re 
 ceived anything from you while at home. I left all in usual health, 
 and as comfortable as could be expected ; but am afflicted with you 
 on account of your little boy. Hope to hear by return mail that you 
 are all well. As in this trouble yqu are only tasting of a cup I have 
 had to drink deeply, and very often, I need not tell you how fully I 
 can sympathize with you in your anxiety. . . . 
 
 How long we shall continue here is beyond our ability to foresee, 
 but think it very probable that if you write us by return mail we 
 shall get your letter. Something may possibly happen that may 
 enable us (or one of us) to go and see you, but do not look for us. I 
 should feel it a great privilege if I could. We seem to be getting 
 along well with our business so far, but progress miserably slow. 
 My journeys back and forth this winter have been very tedious. If 
 you find it difficult for you to pay for Douglass 7 paper, I wish you 
 would let me know, as I know I took liberty in ordering it contin 
 ued. You have been very kind in helping me, and I do not mean 
 to make myself a burden. 
 
 Your affectionate father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 AKRON, OHIO, March 20, 1852. 
 
 DEAR CHILDREN, I reached home on the 18th at evening, meet 
 ing with father on the way, who went home with me and left us 
 yesterday ; he kept me so busied that I had no time to write you 
 yesterday. I found all in usual health but Frederick, who has one 
 of his poor turns again ; it is not severe, and we hope will not be so. 
 I now enclose the Flanders lease. You will discover that the bar 
 gain I had with him for the second year is simply an extension of the 
 
 1 " ' I threw down Judge Marshall's speech and stamped on it,' said Mil 
 ton Lusk. ' Why, Milton, what ails yon ? ' said my sister. I told her I 
 had got through raising money for colonization. I asked our minister if 
 our contributions here in Ohio went into the same chest with those from 
 Virginia, where men sold slaves and put a part of the purchase-money into 
 the contribution -box ? He said he supposed so. Then, I said, I could have 
 nothing to do with it." 
 
1852.] FAMILY COUNSELS AND HOME LIFE. 149 
 
 time made on the back of it, except that for the last year I was to 
 pay the taxes. Owen says he thinks the tooth fell out of the harrow 
 while lying on a pile of sticks and old boards near the corner of the 
 barn, between that and the house; and that if you do not find it 
 among the rubbish, nor in the house or barn, over the door from 
 the barn into the back shed, he cannot tell where it will be found. 
 Expecting to hear from you again soon, 
 
 I remain your affectionate father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 AKRON, OHIO, May 14, 1852. 
 
 DEAR CHILDREN, I have a great deal to write, and but very 
 little time in M'hich to do it. A letter was received from you, which 
 Salmon put in his pocket before it had been opened, and lost it. This 
 grieved me very much indeed j I could hardly be reconciled to it. 
 We have been having the measles, and now have the whooping- 
 cough among the children very bad. Your mother was confined by 
 the birth of the largest and strongest boy she ever had two weeks 
 ago, and has got along well considering all our difficulties. The 
 little one took the measles, and was very sick, and has now the 
 whooping-cough so bad that we expect to lose him; we thought 
 him dying for some time last night. Annie and Sarah cough badly ; 
 Oliver is getting over it. Our little one has dark hair and eyes like 
 Watson's ; notwithstanding our large number, we are very anxious to 
 retain him. 
 
 Jason and Owen have gone on to a large farm of Mr. Perkins over 
 in Talmadge. Frederick is with us, and is pretty well. The family 
 of Mr. Perkins have the whooping-cough, and have had the measles. 
 They have another son, a few days older than ours. Our other 
 friends are well, so far as we know. Father was with us, quite well, 
 a few days ago. We have had so much rain that we could do but 
 little towards spring crops. Have planted our potatoes. The grass 
 is forward ; great prospect of apples and cherries, but no peaches 
 scarcely. Have twelve of the finest calves I ever saw. Our Troy 
 suit went in our favor, but not to the extent that it ought. I 
 have bought out the interests of Jason and Owen in the lot we 
 got of Mr. Smith, on which, I suppose, you are living before this. 
 I can send you no more now than my earnest wishes for your 
 good, and my request that as soon as you can you send me the 
 substance of your last letter, with such additions as you may be able 
 to make. 
 
 Your affectionate father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
150 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1852. 
 
 AKRON, OHIO, July 20, 1852. 
 
 DEAR SON JOHN, I wrote you a few days before the death of 
 our infant son, saying we expected to lose him ; since then we have 
 some of us been sick constantly. The measles and whooping-cough 
 went so hard with Sarah that we were quite anxious on her account, 
 but were much more alarmed on account of my wife, who was taken 
 with bleeding at the lungs two or three days after the death of her 
 child. She was pretty much confined to her bed for some weeks, and 
 suffered a good deal of pain, but is now much more comfortable, and 
 able to be around. About the time she got about I was taken with 
 fever and ague, and am unable to do much now, but have got the 
 shakes stopped for the present. The almost constant wet weather 
 put us back very much about our crops, and prevented our getting in 
 much corn. What we have is promising. Our wheat is a very good 
 quality, but the crop is quite moderate. Our grass is good, and we 
 have a good deal secured. We shall probably finish harvesting 
 wheat to-day. Potatoes promise well. Sheep and cattle are doing 
 well ; and I would most gladly be able to add that in wisdom and 
 good morals we are all improving. The boys have done remarkably 
 well about the work ; I wish I could see them manifest an equal 
 regard for their future well-being. Blindness has happened to us in 
 that which is of most importance. 
 
 We are at a loss for a reason that we .do not hear a word from you. 
 The friends are well, so far as I know. Heard from Henry and B,uth 
 a few days since. 
 
 Your affectionate father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 AKRON, OHIO, Aug. 6, 1852. 
 
 DEAR SON JOHN, I had just written a short letter to you, di 
 rected and sealed it, when I got yours of the 1st instant. I am glad 
 to hear from you again, and had been writing that I could not re 
 member hearing anything from you since early last spring. I am 
 pretty much laid up with the ague, and have been for more than a 
 month. The family are about in their usual health. Your mother 
 is not well, but is about the house at work. The other friends are 
 well, so far as I know. After something of a drouth, the weather 
 has become very unsteady ; yet we have not had a great amount of 
 rain. We get a little so often that we progress slowly with our hay 
 ing, of which we have yet considerable to do ; we have also some 
 late oats to cut. Have our wheat secured. Our corn we had to 
 plant over once ; it now looks promising. The prospect for potatoes, 
 since the rains have begun to come, is good. Our sheep and cattle 
 
1852.] FAMILY COUNSELS AND HOME LIFE. 151 
 
 are doing well; we think of taking some to Cleveland to show. 
 Have not heard from Henry and Ruth since June 26, when they were 
 well. Mr. Ely of Boston writes us that our trial there will come on 
 about the 21st September, and that we must then be ready. He says 
 Mr. Beebe had not returned from Europe July 24, but is expected 
 this month. We want you without fail to have your business so 
 arranged that you can go on and be there by that date, as we cannot 
 do without you at all. We have not yet sold our wool. I hope 
 your corn and oats will recover ; ours that was blown down last year 
 did in a good measure. 
 
 One word in regard to the religious belief of yourself, and the ideas 
 of several of my children. My affections are too deep-rooted to be 
 alienated from them; but u iny gray hairs must go down in sorrow 
 to the grave" unless the true God forgive their denial and rejection 
 of him, and open their eyes. I am perfectly conscious that their 
 eyes are blinded to the real truth, their minds prejudiced by hearts 
 unreconciled to their Maker and Judge ; and that they have no right 
 appreciation of his true character, nor of their own. "A deceived 
 heart hath turned them aside." That God in infinite mercy, for 
 Christ's sake, may grant to you and Wealthy, and to my other chil 
 dren, " eyes to see," is the most earnest and constant prayer of 
 Your affectionate father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 AKRON, OHIO, Aug. 10, 1852. 
 
 DEAR RUTH, Your letter to mother and children is this day 
 received. We are always glad to hear from you, and are much 
 pleased with the numerous particulars your letters contain. I have 
 had a return of the ague (rather severe), so that I am pretty much 
 laid up, and not good for much anyway; am now using means to 
 break it up again. Your mother is still more or less troubled with 
 her difficulties, but is able to keep about and accomplish a good deal. 
 The remainder of the family (and friends, so far as I know) are quite 
 well. We are getting nearly through haying and harvest. Our hay 
 crop is most abundant ; and we have lately had frequent little rains, 
 which for the present relieves us from our fears of a terrible drouth. 
 We are much rejoiced to learn that God in mercy has given you some 
 precious showers. It is a great mercy to us that we frequently are 
 made to understand most thoroughly our absolute dependence on a 
 power quite above ourselves. How blessed are all whose hearts and 
 conduct do not set them at variance with that power ! Why will not 
 my family endeavor to secure his favor, and to effect in the one only 
 way a perfect reconciliation f 
 
152 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1852. 
 
 The cars have been running regularly from Akron to Cleveland 
 since July 5, so that there is now steam conveyance from Akron to 
 Westport. This is a great comfort, as it reduces the journey to such 
 a trifling affair. We are making a little preparation for the Ohio 
 State Fair at Cleveland, on 15th, 16th, 17th September next, and 
 think we shall exhibit some cattle and sheep. Mr. and Mrs. Per 
 kins have been away at New York for about three weeks. Mr. 
 Perkins is away for a great part of the time. We are quite obliged 
 to our friend Mrs. Dickson for remembering us ; are glad she is with 
 you, and hope you will do a little towards making her home with you 
 happy on our account, as we very much respect her, and feel quite an 
 interest in her welfare. 
 
 Our Oliver has been speculating for some months past in hogs. I 
 think he will probably come out about even, and maybe get the inter 
 est of his money. Frederick manages the sheep mostly, and butchers 
 mutton for the two families. Watson operates on the farm. Salmon 
 is chief captain over the cows, calves, etc., and he has them all to 
 shine. Jason and Owen appear to be getting along with their farm 
 ing middling well. The prospect now is that the potato crop will be 
 full middling good. Annie and Sarah go to school. Annie has be 
 come a very correct reader. Sarah goes singing about as easy as an 
 old shoe. Edward still continues in California. Father is carrying on 
 his little farming on his own hook still, and seems to succeed very 
 well. I am much gratified to have him able to do so, and he seems 
 to enjoy it quite as much as ever he did. 1 I have now written about 
 all I can well think of for this time. 
 
 Your affectionate father, JOHN BROWN. 
 
 AKRON, OHIO, Sept. 21, 1852. 
 
 DEAR SON JOHN, I now enclose five dollars to pay you for the 
 expense of your trip to Cleveland as near as I can. I would have 
 given you more at Cleveland had I met with Mr. Perkins in season 
 after you concluded to leave. We will hereafter arrange about your 
 time so as to make that satisfactory. We drew three second pre 
 miums at the fair, but no first premium. Our bull -by far the most 
 extraordinary animal we have got no premium at all. We heard 
 a very strong expression of dissatisfaction with the award on Devon 
 bulls from numerous strangers, as well as from many good judges of 
 our acquaintance, before we left the ground. We received a first 
 premium on a yearling buck, and he was the meanest sheep of four 
 teen that we exhibited ; we got no other premium on sheep. 
 
 1 Owen Brown was now eighty-one years old. Edward was his youngest 
 son. Sarah was John Brown's daughter, at this time six years old. 
 
1853.] FAMILY COUNSELS AND HOME LIFE. 153 
 
 AKRON, OHIO, Sept. 24, 1852. 
 
 DEAR CHILDREN, We received Kuth's letter of the 31st August 
 a few days before our State fair at Cleveland, which came off on the 
 15th, 16th, and 17th instant. John and myself expected to go from 
 there to Boston, and John came on to Cleveland for that purpose ; 
 but just then we learned that our trial would not come on until 
 November next. I may leave to go on to Boston before November, 
 but cannot say now. We got four premiums on cattle and sheep at 
 the fair, two of ten dollars e.ach, one of fifteen dollars, and one of 
 twenty-five dollars. The Perkinses were much pleased with the 
 show of stock we had to make, but felt, as many others did, that 
 great injustice was done in not giving us but one first premium, and 
 that on our poorest buck exhibited. The premiums were paid in 
 silver cups, goblets, etc., and are of little use, except for mere show. 
 All the friends were well at the time of the fair, and a large portion 
 of them on the show-ground, father among the rest. It was sup 
 posed to be the greatest exhibition ever had in the Western States, far 
 exceeding those of the State of New York ; but a vast majority of 
 those who were at much pains and cost to exhibit their stock and 
 other things went away disappointed of any premiums. This is a 
 mortifying reflection. 
 
 We are busy taking care of our potatoes and apples, and preparing 
 to sow our grain. I have had no shake of ague for some time, but 
 am not strong. The family are in usual health. Write again. 
 
 Your affectionate father, 
 
 To his Wife. 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 BOSTON, MASS., Jan. 16, 1853. 
 
 DEAR WIFE, I have the satisfaction to say that we have at last 
 got to trial, and I now hope that a little more than another week will 
 terminate it. Up to this time our prospects appear favorable. ... I 
 have no word for the boys, except to say I am very glad to hear they 
 are doing so well, and that every day increases iny anxiety that they 
 all will decide to be wise and good ; and I close by saying that such 
 is by far my most earnest wish for you all. 
 
 Your affectionate husband, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 The Boston trial went badly, as we have seen in a former 
 chapter, nor did the religious views of Brown's children ever 
 square perfectly with his own. As years went forward he 
 
154 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1853. 
 
 became less anxious on this point, and was more willing to 
 leave the matter with Providence ; but his own opinions 
 never changed. 
 
 AKUOX, Onio, Feb. 21, 1853. 
 
 DEAR CHILDREN, It was my intention, on parting with John at 
 Conneaut, to have written you soon; but as Mr. Perkins (imme 
 diately on my return home) expressed a strong desire to have me 
 continue with him at least for another year, I have deferred it, in 
 hopes from day to day of being able to say to you on what terms I 
 am to remain. His being absent almost the whole time has pre 
 vented our making any definite bargain as yet, although we have 
 talked considerably about it. Our bargain will not probably vary 
 much from this, namely, he to furnish land, stock of all kinds, teams, 
 and tools, pay taxes on lands, half the taxes on other property, and 
 furnish half the salt ; I to furnish all the work, board the hands, pay 
 half the taxes on personal property put in, half the interest on capital 
 on stock, and half the insurance on same, and have half the proceeds 
 of all grain and other crops raised, and of all the stock of cattle, 
 sheep, hogs, etc. He seems so pleasant, and anxious to have me 
 continue, that I cannot tear away from him. He is in quite as good 
 spirits since he came home as I expected. 
 
 We are all in good health; so also was father and other Hudson 
 friends a few days ago. Our sheep, cattle, etc., have done very well 
 through the winter. Got a letter from Ruth a few days ago. All 
 appears well with them. She writes that they have had quite a 
 revival of religion there, and that Henry is one of the hopefully con 
 verted. My earnest and only wish is, that those seeming conversions 
 may prove genuine, as I doubt not u there is joy over one sinner that 
 repenteth." Will you write me ? 
 
 Your affectionate father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 AKRON, OHIO, Sept. 24, 1853. 
 
 DEAR CHILDREN, We received Henry's letter of the 16th August 
 in due time, and when it carne I intended to reply at once ; but not 
 being very stout, and having many things to look after, it has been 
 put off until now. We were very glad of that letter, and of the 
 information it gave of your health and prosperity, as well as your 
 future calculations. We have some nice turkeys and chickens fatten 
 ing, to be ready by the time you come on to Akron. Father and 
 Jason were both here this morning. Father is quite well. Jason, 
 Ellen, Owen, and Fred have all been having the ague more or less 
 
1854.] FAMILY COUNSELS AND HOME LIFE. 155 
 
 since I wrote before. Other friends are in usual health, I believe. 
 We have done part of our sowing, got our fine crop of corn all se 
 cured against frosts yesterday, and are digging potatoes to-day. The 
 season has been thus far one of great temporal blessing ; and I would 
 fain hope that the Spirit of God has not done striving in our hard 
 hearts. I sometimes feel encouraged to hope that my sons will give 
 up their miserable delusions and believe in God and in his Son our 
 Saviour. I think the family are more and more decided in favor of 
 returning to Essex, and seem all disposed to be making little prepa 
 rations for it as we suppose the time draws near. Our county fair 
 comes off on the 12th and J3th October, but we suppose we can 
 hardly expect you so soon. Should be much pleased to have you 
 here then. . . . 
 
 AKRON, OHIO, Jan. 25, 1854. 
 
 DEAR CHILDREN, I remember I engaged to write you so soon as 
 I had anything to tell worth the paper. I do not suppose the balance 
 will be great now. So far as I know, the friends here are about in 
 usual health, and are passing through the winter prosperously. My 
 wife is not in as good health as when you were here. Have not 
 heard from Hudson for some days. The loss of sheep has been merely 
 a nominal one with us. We have skinned two full-blood Devon 
 heifers, from the effects of poison, as we suspect ; for several of our 
 young cattle were taken sick about the same time. The others appear 
 to be nearly well. 
 
 This world is not yet freed from real malice or envy. It appears 
 to be well settled now that we go back to North Elba in the spring. 
 I have had a good-natured talk with Mr. Perkins about going away, 
 and both families are now preparing to carry out that plan. I do 
 not yet know what his intentions are about our compensation for the 
 last year. 1 Will write you when I do, as I want you to hold yourself 
 (John, I mean) in readiness to come out at once, should he decide to 
 give me a share of the stock, etc. Should that be the case, I intend 
 to let you have what will give you a little start in the way of red 
 cattle. 
 
 I learn, by your letters to others of the family, that you have pretty 
 much decided to call your boy John, and that in order to gratify the 
 feelings of his great-grandfather and grandfather. I will only now 
 say that I hope to be able sometime to convince you that I appreciate 
 the sacrifices you may make to accommodate our feelings. I noticed 
 
 1 By referring to a previous letter of Feb. 21, 1853, it will be seen that 
 Mr. Perkins's mind had changed within the year. It has been intimated 
 that political opinions had something to do with this change. 
 
156 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1854. 
 
 your remark about the family settling near each other; to this I 
 would say, I would like to have my posterity near enough to each 
 other to be friendly, but would never wish them to' be brought so in 
 contact as to be near neighbors or to intermarry. I may possibly 
 write you again very soon. 
 
 Your affectionate father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 AKRON, OHIO, Feb. 9, 1854. 
 
 DEAR SON JOHN, I write by direction of Mr. Perkins to ask you 
 to come out immediately to assist him, instead of Mr. Newton, in 
 closing up my accounts. He has seen the above, and it is a thing of 
 his own naming ; so I want you, if possible, to come right away. 
 He has told me he intends to give me one share, but would like to 
 have the stock mostly. We are on excellent terms, so far as I know. 
 All well except my wife, and I hope she will soon be better. 
 Your affectionate father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 AKRON, OHIO, Feb. 24, 1854. 
 
 DEAR SON JOHN, Since writing you before, I have agreed to go 
 on to the Ward place for one year, as I found I could not dispose of 
 my stuff in time to go to North Elba without great sacrifice this 
 spring. We expect to move the first of next week, and do not wish 
 you to come on until we get more settled and write you again. As I 
 am not going away immediately, there will be no particular hurry 
 about the settlement I wrote about before. On reckoning up our 
 expenses for the past year, we find we have been quite prosperous. I 
 have sold my interest in the increase of sheep to Mr. Perkins for 
 about $700, in hogs for $51, in wheat on the ground for $176. These 
 will pay our expenses for the year past, and the next year's rent for 
 the Ward place, Crinlen place, and Old Portage place. These places 
 I get for one year in exchange for my interest in wheat on the 
 ground j and it leaves me half the wool of last season (which is on 
 hand yet), half the pork, corn, wheat, oats, hay, potatoes, and 
 calves sixteen in number. If I could have sold my share of the wool, 
 I might have gone to Essex this spring quite comfortably ; but I 
 have to pay Henry $100 before he leaves, and I cannot do that and 
 have sufficient to move with until I can sell my wool. We are all 
 middling well. Henry and Ruth intend to leave for home about the 
 15th March, and to go by your place if they can. We have great 
 reason to be thankful that we have had so prosperous a year, and 
 have terminated our connection with Mr. Perkins so comfortably and 
 
1854.J FAMILY COUNSELS AND HOME LIFE. 157 
 
 on such friendly terms, to all appearance. Perry Warren, to whom 
 Henry Warren conveyed his property, was here a few days ago, feel 
 ing ahout for a compromise : did nothing, and left, to return again 
 soon as he said. We think they are getting tired of the five years' 
 war. I shall probably write you again before a great while. 
 Your affectionate father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 AKRON, OHIO, April 3, 1854. 
 
 DEAR SON JOHN, We received your letter of the 24th March two 
 or three days since, and one from Henry, dated 25th March, about the 
 same time. They had got on well so far, but had to go by stage the 
 balance of the way. Father got home well, and was with us over 
 night Friday last. We have all been middling well of late, but very 
 busy, having had the care of the whole concern at Mr. Perkins's place 
 until Friday night. I had a most comfortable time settling last year's 
 business, and dividing with Mr. Perkins, and have to say of his deal 
 ing with me that he has shown himself to be every inch a gentle 
 man. I bring to my new home five of the red cows and ten calves ; 
 he to have $100 out of my share of the last year's wool, to make us 
 even on last year's business ; after dividing all crops, he paying me 
 in hand $28.55, balance due me on all except four of the five cows. 
 I am going now to work with a cheap team of two yoke oxen, on 
 which I am indebted, till I can sell my wool, $89 ; $46 I have paid 
 towards them. I would like to have all my children settle within a 
 few miles of each other' and of me, but I cannot take the responsibil 
 ity of advising you to make any forced move to change your location. 
 Thousands have to regret that they did not let middling u well alone." 
 I should think you ought to get for your place another $J25; and 
 I think you may, if you are not too anxious. That would buy you 
 considerable of a farm in Essex or elsewhere, and we may get the 
 Homestead Law passed yet. It has been a question with me whether 
 you would not do better to hire all your team work done than to have 
 your little place overstocked possibly, after some trouble about buy 
 ing them, paying taxes, insurance, and some expense for implements 
 to use them with. If you get a little overstocked, everything will 
 seem to do poorly. Frederick is very much better, but both he and 
 Owen have been having the ague lately. They leave the Hill farm 
 soon. I do not at this moment know of a good opening for you this 
 way. One thing I do not fear to advise and even urge ; and that is 
 the habitual " fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom." 
 Commending you all to his mercy, I remain 
 
 Your affectionate father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
158 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1854. 
 
 AKRON, OHIO, Aug. 24, 1854. 
 
 DEAR CHILDREN, I have just received Henry's letter of the 
 13th instant, and have much reason to be thankful for the good news 
 it brings. We are all in middling health, so far as I know, in this 
 quarter, although there is some sickness about us. Mother Brown, 
 of Hudson, was complaining some last week ; have not heard from 
 her since then. This part of the country is suffering the most dread 
 ful drouth ever experienced during this nineteenth century. We 
 have been much more highly favored than most of our neighbors in 
 that we were enabled to secure a most excellent hay crop, whilst 
 many others did not get theirs saved in time, and lost it notwith 
 standing the dry weather. Our oats are no better than those of our 
 neighbors, but we have a few. We shall probably have some corn, 
 while others, to a great extent, will have none. Of garden vegetables 
 we have more than twenty poor families have in many cases. Of 
 fruit we shall have a comfortable supply, if our less favored neigh 
 bors do not take it all from us. We ought to be willing to divide. 
 Our cattle (of which we have thirty-three head) we are enabled to 
 keep in excellent condition, on the little feed that grows on the moist 
 grounds, and by feeding the stalks green that have failed of corn, 
 and we have a good many of them. We have had two light frosts, 
 on August the 9th and 18th, but have had more extreme hot 
 weather in July and August than ever known before, thermometer 
 often up to 98 in the shade, and was so yesterday } it now stands 
 (eleven o'clock p. M.) at 93. 
 
 I am thinking that it may be best for us to dispose of all the cattle 
 we want to sell, and of all our winter feed, and move a few choice 
 cattle to North Elba this fall, provided we can there buy hay and 
 other stuff considerably cheaper than we might sell our stuff for here, 
 and also provided we can get a comfortable house to winter in. I 
 want you to keep writing me often, as you can learn how hay, all 
 kinds of grain, and roots can be bought with you, so that I may be the 
 better able to judge. Our last year's pork proves to be a most per 
 fect article, but I think not best to ship any until the weather gets a 
 little cooler. The price Mr. Washburn asks for his contract may not 
 be much out of the way, but there seems to be some difficulty about 
 a bargain yet. First, he wants' to hang on all his stock, and I do not 
 know at present as I want any of them. I do not know what he has 
 on hand ; he may perhaps be able to get them off himself. Then, 
 again, I do not know as Mr. Smith 1 would give a deed of half the lot 
 before the whole purchase-money for the entire lot and interest are 
 paid. You may have further information than I have. Early in 
 
 1 Gerrit Smith, who still owned much land at North Elba. 
 
1854.] FAMILY COUNSELS AND HOME LIFE. 159 
 
 the season all kinds of cattle were high, scarce and ready cash; 
 now, as the prospects are, I am entirely unable to make an estimate 
 of what money I can realize on them, so as to be able to say just now 
 how much money I can raise, provided those other impediments can 
 be got over. I intend to turn all I consistently can into money, and 
 as fast as I can, and would be glad to secure the purchase of Wash- 
 burn, if it can be done consistently and without too much trouble. 
 Write me again soon, and advise as far as you can about all these 
 matters. We could probably sell all our produce at pretty high 
 prices. How are cattle, horses, sheep, and hogs selling in your 
 quarter ? 
 
 Your affectionate father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 These family letters, full of repetitions, of petty concerns, 
 of old-fashioned forms of expression, and with their whim 
 sical mixture of important and unimportant affairs, have a 
 value, in exhibiting the true character of John Brown, that 
 more elaborate epistles, elegantly written with an eye to 
 the public, could not possibly hold. Like the rude verses 
 of Lucilius, they paint the whole life of the old man ; but 
 they were written, unlike the Koman verses, without the 
 least thought of publication. The later letters of the series 
 written five years before he engaged in his Virginia 
 campaign, which Colonel Perkins thought so foolish 
 point to the final separation between these two unequally 
 yoked partners. They had worked together, each in his own 
 way, for more than ten years ; and they parted amicably, 
 though with some after-thoughts which hindered them from 
 ever uniting in sentiment again. At this time the sons of 
 Brown were beginning to look towards Kansas as a place for 
 their husbandry ; and we shall see in the next chapter why 
 its open territory attracted them. 
 
160 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1784. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 KANSAS, THE SKIRMISH-GROUND OF THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 HpHE State of Kansas, which gave John Brown his first 
 * distinction, occupies territory with which the names of 
 other famous men are associated, though with none is it 
 more closely connected than with his. The first of Euro 
 peans to visit Kansas was Vasquez de Coronado, a Spanish 
 captain, who in 1541-42 reached its southern and western 
 counties, coming up from Mexico in search of gold, silver, 
 and fabulous cities. He called the land " Quivira," and de 
 scribed it as " the best possible soil for all kinds of Spanish 
 productions, very strong and black, and well watered by 
 brooks, springs, and rivers ; " but in reaching it from Mex 
 ico he marched nine hundred and fifty leagues, and traversed 
 " mighty plains and sandy heaths, smooth and wearisome, 
 and bare of wood." These plains he found " all the way 
 as full of crook-back oxen [buffaloes] as the mountain Serena 
 in Spain is full of sheep." At this very time De Soto was 
 discovering the river Mississippi ; but neither he nor Father 
 Marquette, one hundred and thirty years later, set foot in 
 Kansas. La Salle, in 1687, might have crossed it, on his way 
 from Texas to Canada, if he had not fallen by the hand of 
 mutiny ; but the first Frenchman to explore it was Dutisne, 
 in 1719, who, in travelling westward from the Osage River, 
 may have crossed the Pottawatomie near where John Brown 
 afterward labored and fought. It was then and long after a 
 part of the French king's broad colony of Louisiana, and as 
 such was ceded by Napoleon to Jefferson in 1802. Nearly 
 twenty years before this, in 1784, Jefferson had undertaken 
 to free the whole northwestern territory of the United States 
 from the curse of slavery, by what has since been known 
 as the Ordinance of 1787. As drawn by Jefferson in 1784, 
 
1820.] KANSAS AND THE CIVIL WAR. 161 
 
 this great charter of Western freedom provided that all new 
 States to be carved out of the national domain should in 
 their governments uphold republican forms, " and after the 
 year 1800 of the Christian era there shall be neither slavery 
 nor involuntary servitude in any of them." This was de 
 feated by a single vote in Congress, much to Jefferson's 
 disgust. In 1786 he said : " The voice of a single individual 
 would have prevented this abominable crime [the introduc 
 tion of slavery into new territory]. Heaven will not always 
 be silent ; the friends to the rights of human nature will in 
 the end prevail." They did prevail in John Brown's time, 
 and largely through his heroism ; and in the conflict Kansas 
 became the skirmish-line of our Civil War. 
 
 After the cession of Louisiana, which brought with it to 
 the United States all the region then known as "the Mis 
 souri territory," including Kansas, the latter was again de 
 clared free soil by the Missouri Compromise of 1820 ; 1 for 
 it was then enacted by Congress (March 6, 1820), when 
 erecting Missouri into a State, 
 
 " That in all that territory ceded by France to the United States, 
 under the name of Louisiana, which lies north of 36 30' north lati 
 tude, not included within the limits of the State contemplated by this 
 act, slavery and involuntary servitude, otherwise than in the punish 
 ment of crimes, shall be. and is hereBy, forever prohibited." 
 
 It was in the face of this solemn declaration that the 
 slaveholders of 1854-56 undertook to establish slavery by 
 
 1 The Missouri Compromise as Charles Sumner said in his great speech 
 of May 19 and 20, 1856, "The Crime against Kansas" was the work of 
 slaveholders, who insisted that Missouri should come into the Union as a 
 slave State, but for this concession were willing to give up all the Northern 
 territory to freedom. Sumner says : " It was hailed by slaveholders as a 
 victory. Charles Pinckney, of South Carolina, in an oft-quoted letter 
 written at eight o'clock on the night of its passage, says: ' It is considered 
 here by the slaveholding States as a great triumph.' At the North it was 
 accepted as a defeat, and the friends of freedom everywhere throughout the 
 country bowed their heads with mortification. " The chief advocates of this 
 compromise were William Pinkney, of Maryland, and Henry Clay, of Ken 
 tucky ; among the chief advocates of excluding slaveiy from Missouri were 
 Rufus King, then of New York, and Harrison Gray Otis, a nephew of the 
 Revolutionary orator James Otis, of Massachusetts. 
 
 11 
 
162 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1820. 
 
 force and by fraud in Kansas. As a preliminary, they had 
 carried through Congress, under the lead of Senator Douglas 
 of Illinois, what was known as the " squatter sovereignty " 
 clause of the Kansas-Nebraska bill, leaving the people at 
 each election to determine the existence of slavery for them 
 selves. This plausible form of words covered a purpose on 
 the part of the South to fasten slavery upon the new States, 
 which Jefferson had striven to free from the possibility of 
 such a misfortune ; and when the prairies of Kansas were 
 opened to settlement in 1854, this purpose became offensively 
 manifest. Indeed, there could be no doubt why Douglas had 
 introduced his bill, or what was the intention of the Demo 
 cratic administration under Franklin Pierce of New Hamp 
 shire, and of the presidential candidates, including Douglas, 
 who hoped to succeed Pierce in office. A new slave State 
 was wanted, since California had excluded slavery, and there 
 were one or two Northern Territories likely soon to come in 
 as States with slavery also excluded. By this time the 
 Southern slaveholders, abandoning the early doctrine of 
 Washington, Jefferson, George Mason, Madison, and Mar 
 shall, and even the cautious ground that Clay arid Pinckney 
 held in 1820, were thirsting to extend the area of their de 
 testable institution. They had annexed Texas and made 
 war on Mexico for this purpose ; and they were seeking to 
 deprive Spain of Cuba, and conquer San Domingo, in order 
 to re-establish slavery where it first cursed Spanish America, 
 and to carry on the slave-trade openly once more. The 
 prediction made by Taylor of New York, in opposing the 
 Missouri Compromise, had been singularly verified. Taylor 
 said to the slaveholders in 1820 : 
 
 tl On an implied power to acquire territory by treaty, you raise an 
 implied right to erect it into States, and imply a compromise by which 
 slavery is to be established and slaves represented in Congress. Is 
 this just? Is it fair? Where will it end? . . . Your lust of acquir 
 ing is not yet satiated. You must have the Floridas. Your ambition 
 rises. You covet Cuba, and obtain it; you stretch your arms to the 
 other islands in the Gulf of Mexico, and they become yours. Are the 
 millions of slaves inhabiting those countries to be incorporated into 
 the Union and represented in Congress ? Are the freemen of the old 
 States to become the slaves of the representations of foreign slaves ? '' 
 
1854.) KANSAS AND THE CIVIL WAR. 163 
 
 Such was, indeed, the dream of South Carolina and Mis 
 sissippi and Louisiana; such the purpose of Jefferson Davis, 
 Soule of New Orleans, and Mason of Virginia, a degenerate 
 descendant of Washington's friend George Mason. "Mani 
 fest Destiny " was the watchword of these politicians, to 
 whom the Northern Democrats Pierce, Buchanan, Cass, 
 and Douglas basely submitted. As the discussion on 
 Douglas's Kansas-Nebraska bill proceeded, it became evi 
 dent, from the very nature of the case, that there was a 
 purpose to force slavery into Kansas, the more southern 
 Territory of the two. There would have been no need 
 of repealing the Missouri Compromise except to carry out 
 this purpose. It was also evident that the great mass of 
 Northern and European emigration would turn away from 
 Kansas if it became probable that slavery would enter there. 
 "No single man or single family unwilling to enter a slave 
 State would trust themselves, unsupported, in a Territory 
 which would probably become one," said Edward Hale in 
 1854, speaking as the organ of the Massachusetts Emigrant 
 Aid Company, which Eli Thayer, Dr. Howe, Richard Hil- 
 clreth, and other antislavery men of Boston and Worcester 
 had joined with Mr. Hale, then a clergyman of Worcester, 
 to organize, but which in its management soon fell into the 
 hands of men like Amos A. Lawrence, Judge Chapman of 
 Springfield, and others who were not considered fanatical 
 against slavery. Mr. Hale further said: 1 
 
 11 Meanwhile a rapid emigration has been going on into the Terri 
 tories, particularly into Kansas, quite independent of the Emigrant 
 Aid Companies. During the close of the winter of 1853-54, it is 
 said, large numbers of persons from Northwestern States collected in 
 the towns on the eastern side of the Missouri, awaiting the opening of 
 the Territories, that they might go in and stake out their locations. As 
 the spring opened, a rapid current of emigration began. At first the 
 Northern settlers went generally into Nebraska ; but so soon as it. was 
 known that determined and combined arrangements would be made to 
 settle Kansas from the North, the natural attractions of that Territory 
 began to exercise their influence, and the preponderance of emigration 
 
 1 See "Kansas and Nebraska," by Edward E. Hale (Boston : Phillips, 
 Sampson, & Co., 1854), a very useful book at the time. The passage 
 cited is at pp. 233, 234. 
 
164 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1854. 
 
 through the summer of 1854 has been into its borders. The Indian 
 treaties were ratified only at the close of the session of the Senate ; 
 some of them not till the beginning of August. Settlement on the 
 Indian lands was therefore, until that time, strictly illegal. But per 
 sons intending to emigrate, in many instances, made arrangements 
 with the Indians, or, at the least, staked off the land on which they 
 wished to settle, and made registry of the priority of their claim 
 on the books of some ' Squatters' Association.' A large number of 
 the residents of Western Missouri have in this manner passed over 
 the line, and made claim to such sections as pleased them, intending, 
 at some subsequent period, to make such improvements as will give 
 them a right of pre-emption, when the lauds are offered for sale, but 
 for the present not residing in the new Territory." t 
 
 Some of these last-named persons were actually intending 
 to settle in Kansas ; but most of them were either land-specu 
 lators or slavery-propagandists, who meant to make Kansas 
 a slave State, whether they lived there or not. The acting 
 Vice-President of the United States, David R. Atchison, of 
 Western Missouri, whose name, along with that of Presi 
 dent Pierce, is signed to the Kansas-Nebraska law (May 30, 
 1854), five months afterwards made a speech in the county 
 of Platte, in which he said : 
 
 " The people of Kansas in their first elections will decide the ques 
 tion whether or not slaveholders are to be excluded. Now, if a set 
 of fanatics and demagogues a thousand miles off [meaning Messrs. 
 Lawrence, Chapman, John Carter Brown, etc.] can afford to ad 
 vance their money and exert every nerve to aholitionize Kansas and 
 exclude the slaveholder, what is your duty, when you reside within 
 one day's journey of the Territory, and when your peace, quiet, and 
 property depend on your action? You can, without an exertion, 
 send five hundred of your young men who will vote in favor of your 
 institutions. Should each county in the State of Missouri only do its 
 duty, the question will be decided quietly and peaceably at the 
 ballot-box." 
 
 This was the advice of Vice-President Atchison, much 
 of the same character as if Senator Edmunds, of Vermont, 
 who has honored the place that Atchison disgraced, should 
 advise the citizens of Northern Vermont to march over into 
 Canada and vote at the elections there. A Vermonter has 
 now as much right to vote in Sherbrooke or Montreal as a 
 
1855.] KANSAS AND THE CIVIL WAR. 165 
 
 Missourian in 1854 had to vote in Leavenworth or Law 
 rence ; and this was practically admitted by a confederate 
 of Atchison, General Stringfellow, of Missouri, who said 
 in 1855 : 
 
 u 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, since your rights and property are in danger. 
 And I advise you, one and all, to enter every election district in 
 Kansas in defiance of Reeder and his vile myrmidons, and vote at 
 the point of the bowie-knife and revolver. Neither give nor take 
 quarter : our cause demands it. It is enough that the slaveholding 
 interest wills it, from which there is no appeal." 
 
 They acted on this advice, as appears by another speech 
 of Atchison after the first invasion : 
 
 " Well, what next? Why, an election for members of the Legis 
 lature to organize the Territory must be held. What did I advise 
 you to do then? Why, meet them on their own ground, and beat 
 them at their own game again ; and, cold and inclement as the 
 weather was, I went over with a company of men. My object in 
 going was not to vote. I had no right to vote, unless I had dis 
 franchised myself in Missouri. I was not within two miles of a 
 voting place. My object in going was not to vote, but to settle a 
 difficulty between two of our candidates. The Abolitionists of the 
 North said, and published it abroad, that Atchison was there with 
 bowie-knife and revolver, and, by God, ' tvas true ! I never did 
 go into that Territory, I never intend to go into that Territory, 
 without being prepared for all such kind of cattle." 
 
 The whole South, and particularly South Carolina, Geor 
 gia, and Alabama, were urged to send men into Kansas, as 
 Atchison and Stringfellow urged the Missourians to go in, 
 law or no law. to secure the triumph of slavery. String- 
 fellow wrote to the " Montgomery Advertiser " (published 
 at the town in Alabama where the Southern Confederacy 
 first established its seat of government in 1861) : " Not 
 only is it profitable for slaveholders to go to Kansas, but 
 politically it is all-important.' 7 A South Carolina youth, 
 Warren Wilkes by name, who commanded for a while an 
 armed force of Carolina and Georgia settlers in Kansas, 
 
166 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1 856. 
 
 wrote to the " Charleston Mercury," of South Carolina, 
 in the spring of 1856 : 
 
 . u By consent of parties, the present contest in Kansas is made the 
 turning-point in the destinies of slavery and abolitionism. If the 
 South triumphs, abolitionism will be defeated and shorn of its power 
 for all time. If she is defeated, abolitionism will grow more insolent 
 and aggressive, until the utter ruin of the South is consummated. If 
 the South secures Kansas, she will extend slavery into all territory 
 south of the fortieth parallel of north latitude, to the Eio Grande; 
 and this, of course, will secure for her pent-up institution of slavery 
 an ample outlet, and restore her power in Congress. If the North 
 secures Kansas, the power of the South in Congress will be gradually 
 diminished, and the slave population will become valueless. All 
 depends upon the action of the present moment. " 
 
 To this reasoning men like John Brown assented, and 
 were ready to join issue for the control of Kansas upon this 
 ground alone. But Brown had another and quite different 
 object in view ; he meant to attack slavery by force, in the 
 States themselves, and to destroy it, as it was finally de 
 stroyed, by the weapons and influences of war. 
 
 What, then, was the slavery which South Carolina wished 
 to establish in Kansas and all over the Xorth, and upon 
 what grounds was it advocated ? It is hard, at this distance 
 of time and in the complete change of circumstances that 
 the Civil War has produced, to show another person or make 
 real to one's self the despotism which a few slaveholders ex 
 ercised in 1856 over the rest of mankind in this country. 
 Though a meagre minority in their own South, they abso 
 lutely controlled there not only four millions of slaves, but 
 six millions of white people, nominally free, while they 
 directed the policy and the opinions of more than half the 
 free people of the non-slaveholding States. They dictated 
 the nomination and secured the election of Pierce and after 
 ward of Buchanan as President, the most humble ser 
 vants of the slave-power who ever held that office ; they had 
 not only refused to terminate the slave-trade (as by treaty 
 we were bound to assist in doing), but they had induced the. 
 importation of a few cargoes of slaves into Carolina and 
 Georgia ; they had not only broken down the Missouri 
 
1857.] KANSAS AND THE CIVIL WAR. 167 
 
 Compromise of 1820 (imposed by themselves on the un 
 willing North), but had done their best to extend slavery 
 over the new Territories of the nation, and to legalize its 
 existence in all the free States. Through the mouth of 
 Chief-Justice Taney, who simply uttered the decrees of the 
 slaveholding oligarchy, they were soon to make the Supreme 
 Court of the nation declare virtually, if not in set terms, 
 that four million Americans, of African descent,, had prac 
 tically " no rights which a white man was bound to re 
 spect ; " and they were exerting themselves in advance in 
 every way to give effect to that foregone conclusion. The 
 Dred Scott decision was not made by Taney until 1857, 
 when it led at once to the execution of John Brown's long- 
 cherished purpose of striking a. blow at slavery in its own 
 Virginian stronghold. That decision flashed into the minds 
 of Northern men the conviction which Brown held and John 
 Quincy Adams had long before formulated and expressed, 
 that " the preservation, propagation, and perpetuation of 
 slavery was the vital and animating spirit of the National 
 Government." It was this conviction that led to the elec 
 tion of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, as it had led John Brown 
 and his small band of followers to assert freedom by force in 
 Kansas. 
 
 At the time when the young South Carolinian wrote the 
 words above-cited, his State was an oligarchy founded upon 
 negro slavery, and its State Constitution provided that a 
 citizen should not " be eligible to a seat in the House of Rep 
 resentatives unless legally seized and possessed in his own 
 right of a settled freehold estate of five hundred acres of 
 land and ten negroes." A few years earlier, Chancellor 
 Harper, of South Carolina, in an address before a Society 
 for the Advancement of Learning, at Charleston, made 
 these statements, which were cited by J. B. De Bow, a Lou 
 isiana writer, in 1852 : 
 
 " The institution of slavery is a principal cause of civilization. It 
 is as much the order of nature that men should enslave each other as 
 that other animals should prey upon each other. The African slave- 
 trade has given the boon of existence to millions and millions in our 
 country who would otherwise never have enjoyed it. It is true that 
 the slave is driven to his labor by stripes. Such punishment would 
 
168 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1852. 
 
 be degrading to a free man, who had the thoughts and aspirations of 
 a freeman. In general, it is not degrading to a slave, nor is it felt to 
 be so. Odium has been cast upon our legislation, on account of its 
 forbidding the elements of education to be communicated to slaves. 
 But, in truth, what injury is done them by this ? He who works 
 during the day with his hands does not read in intervals of leisure for 
 his amusement or the improvement of his mind. A knowledge of 
 reading, writing, and the elements of arithmetic is convenient and 
 important to the free laborer, but of what use would they be to the 
 slave ? Would you do a benefit to the horse or the ox ~by giving him a 
 cultivated understanding or fine feelings The law has not provided 
 for making the marriages of slaves indissoluble, nor could it do so- 
 It may perhaps be said that the chastity of wives is not protected by 
 law. It is true that the passions of the men of the superior caste 
 tempt and find gratification in the easy chastity of the female slave. 
 But she is not a less useful member of society than before. She has 
 done no great injury to herself or any other human being ; her off 
 spring is not a burden, but an acquisition to her owner ; his support is 
 provided for, and he is brought up to usefulness. If the fruit of in 
 tercourse with a free man, his condition is perhaps raised somewhat 
 above that of his mother. I am asked, How can that institution be 
 tolerable, by which a large class of society is cut off from improve 
 ment and knowledge, to whom blows are not degrading, theft no 
 more than a fault, falsehood and the want of chastity almost venial ; 
 and in which a husband or parent looks with comparative indifference 
 on that which to a freeman would be the dishonor of wife or child ? 
 But why not, if it produce the greatest aggregate of good ? Sin and 
 ignorance are only evil because the)/ lead to misery." 
 
 Except for these utterances of shame and guilt, the name 
 of Chancellor Harper is now forgotten. But the name of 
 JEFFERSON remains in honor, and rises higher with each 
 succeeding year which, by the lapse of time, converts him 
 from a statesman into a prophet. A hundred years ago 
 (May 10, 1785), the printers in Paris finished Jefferson's 
 "Notes on Virginia," which he at once sent to his most inti 
 mate friends and disciples in America, Madison and Monroe, 
 who afterwards succeeded him in the Presidency. In trans 
 mitting the little book, he wrote to Madison : " I wish to 
 put it into the hands of the young men at the college, as 
 well on account of the political as physical parts ; but there 
 are sentiments on some subjects which might be displeasing 
 
1782.] KANSAS AND THE CIVIL WAR. 169 
 
 to the country, perhaps to the Assembly, or to some who lead 
 it. I do not wish to be exposed to their censure, nor do I 
 know how far their influence,, if exerted, might effect a mis 
 application of law to such a publication, were it made. If you 
 think it will give no offence, I will send a copy to each of 
 the students of William and Mary College, and some others 
 to my friends and to your disposal." 1 Being informed that 
 he might send them to his Virginia friends without risk 
 of censure, Jefferson did so. The eighteenth chapter, or 
 " Query," contains these often-quoted words, written at 
 Monticello in 1782 : 
 
 "There must doubtless be an unhappy influence on the manners 
 of our people produced by the existence of slavery among us. The 
 whole commerce between master and slave is a perpetual exercise of 
 the most boisterous passions, the most unremitting despotism, on the 
 one part, and degrading submissions on the other. Our children see 
 this, and learn to imitate it ; for man is an imitative animal. If a 
 parent could find no motive, either in his philanthropy or his self-love, 
 for restraining the intemperance of passion towards his slave, it should 
 always be a sufficient one that his child is present. But generally it 
 is not sufficient. The parent storms ; the child looks on, catches the 
 lineaments of wrath, puts on the same airs in the circle of smaller 
 slaves, gives a loose rein to his worst passions, and thus nursed, 
 educated, and daily exercised in tyranny, cannot but be stamped by 
 it with odious peculiarities. The man must be a prodigy who can 
 retain his manners and morals undepraved by such circumstances. 
 And with what execration should that statesman be loaded who, per 
 mitting one half the citizens to trample on the rights of the other, 
 transforms those into despots and these into enemies, destroys the 
 morals of the one part and the amor patrice of the other? For if a 
 
 1 It appears by a letter from Monroe to Jefferson (New York, Jan. 19, 
 1786), that it was what he had said of the Indians of Virginia, rather than 
 his attack upon negro slavery, which Jefferson feared might not be well re 
 ceived in his native State, he loved to call it his "country." Monroe 
 thanks Jefferson for the book, "which I have read with pleasure and im 
 provement," and then says : " I should suppose the observations you have 
 made on the subjects you allude to would have a very favorable effect, since 
 no considerations would induce them but a love for the rights of Indians and 
 for your country." It would seem that the passage concerning slavery gave 
 no offence, but the eloquent speech of Logan did ; and in 1797, while Jef 
 ferson was Vice-President, he felt compelled to give chapter and verse for 
 the incidents of that world-famous affair of Logan and Cresap. 
 
170 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1782. 
 
 slave can have a country in this world, it must be any other in pref 
 erence to that in which he is born to live and labor for another ; in 
 which he must lock up the faculties of his nature, contribute, as far 
 as depends on his individual endeavors, to the evanishment of the 
 human race, or entail his own miserable condition on the endless 
 generations proceeding from him. 1 With the morals of the people 
 their industry is also destroyed ; for in a warm climate no man will 
 labor for himself who can make another labor for him. This is so 
 true, that of the proprietors of slaves a very small proportion indeed 
 are ever seen to labor. And can the liberties of a nation be deemed 
 secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction 
 in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God, 
 that they are not to be violated without his wrath? Indeed, I trem 
 ble for my country [Virginia] when I reflect that God is just; that 
 His justice cannot sleep forever; that considering numbers, nature, 
 and natural means only, a revolution of the wheel of fortune is among 
 possible events ; that it may become probable by supernatural inter 
 ference. The Almighty has no attribute that can take sides with us 
 in such a contest." 
 
 After this generous outburst of indignation against what 
 he saw everywhere about him in Virginia, Jefferson added, 
 with that wise optimism which was so strong a feature in 
 his character : " I think a change already perceptible since 
 the origin of the present Revolution. The spirit of the mas 
 ter is abating ; that of the slave is rising from the dust, his 
 condition is mollifying; the way, I hope, preparing under 
 the auspices of Heaven for a total emancipation ; and that 
 this is disposed, in the order of events, to be with the consent 
 of the masters rather than by their extirpation" This pre 
 diction was fulfilled within half a century from Jefferson's 
 death, though not in the way he had conceived, and not with 
 out that manifestation of God's awakened justice, at the 
 thought of which the true Virginian trembled for Virginia. 
 Kansas, a part of the vast region which Jefferson had wrested 
 from Spain and France and devoted to liberty, was to be the 
 first theatre of God's judgments ; and John Brown, Jeffer- 
 
 1 Sole estate his sire bequeathed 
 (Hapless sire to hapless son), 
 "Was the wailing song he breathed, 
 And his chain when life was done. 
 
 EMEIISON, Voluntaries. 
 
1854.] KANSAS AND THE CIVIL WAR. 171 
 
 son's most radical disciple, who went even beyond his master 
 in devotion to freedom, was that servant of the Lord who 
 most clearly comprehended and fulfilled the divine purpose, 
 whether in Kansas or Virginia. This the heart of the people 
 instinctively recognized from the first, and to this even his 
 enemies have borne witness. One of the most garrulous of 
 these enemies (though formerly professing to be Brown's 
 friend), Charles Kobinson of Kansas, wrote thus to a true 
 friend of Brown, James Hanway, in February, 1878, con 
 cerning one of the Kansas hero's most debated deeds : " I 
 never had much doubt that Captain Brown was the author 
 of the blow at Pottawatomie, for the reason that he was 
 the only man who comprehended the situation and saw the 
 absolute necessity of some such blow, and had the nerve to 
 strike it." 
 
 The condition of affairs in Kansas when John Brown 
 appeared there, in October, 1855, had become such that no 
 milder measures than he adopted would meet the exigency. 
 The advice given by Atchisoii and the leaders of the slave 
 oligarchy all over the South had been followed, and had 
 borne fruit accordingly. The first of many Territorial gov 
 ernors of Kansas, a Pennsylvania Democrat, Andrew H. 
 Reeder by name, reached Leaven worth in October, 1854, 
 and established his office temporarily there. He ordered an 
 election for delegate to Congress, Xov. 29, 1854, at which 
 hundreds of Missourians voted, casting, with other pro- 
 slavery men, 2,258 votes for Whitfielcl. the proslavery can 
 didate, out of 2,905 votes thrown. On the 28th of February, 
 1855, a census of the voters was completed by Governor 
 Reeder, and the number declared to be 2,905, the whole num 
 ber of inhabitants in eighteen election districts being then 
 8,501. The most important election, that for members of 
 the Territorial Legislature, was appointed for March 30, 
 1855, at which time the genuine population could not have 
 exceeded ten thousand, nor could there have been more than 
 three thousand legal voters in Kansas. Yet the vote actu 
 ally counted was 6,307, of which no less than 5,427 were for 
 the proslavery candidates. Not less than four thousand of 
 these were fraudulent votes. A writer, whose home was in 
 Lawrence at the time, says that for some days before 
 
172 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1855. 
 
 the election crowds of men began to assemble at certain 
 rendezvous on the border counties of Missouri, " rough, 
 brutal-looking men, of most nondescript appearance," but all 
 wearing the proslavery badge, a white or blue ribbon. 
 Many Missourians who did not or could not join these voting 
 excursions gave money or provisions or lent their wagons to 
 help on the expedition. At St. Joseph, near the Missouri 
 border, Stringfellow made the speech already quoted, in 
 which he also said, according to the " Leavenworth Herald," 
 a proslavery newspaper : " I tell you to mark every scoun 
 drel among you that is the least tainted with free-soilism or 
 abolitionism, and exterminate him. Neither give nor take 
 
 quarter from the d d rascals. I propose to mark them 
 
 in this house and on the present occasion, so you may crush 
 them out." This phrase, " Neither give nor take quarter," 
 became the watchword of the Border Ruffians, as these in 
 vaders were fitly called. Provisions were sent before these 
 parties ; and those intended for use at Lawrence were stored 
 in the house of one Lykins, for whose kinsman a county had 
 been named. The polls were also opened at his house. Some 
 of these Lawrence voters came in from Missouri the even 
 ing before election, pitched tents near Lawrence, and held a 
 meeting that night, in which Colonel Young, of Boone County, 
 Mo., declared " that more voters were here than would be 
 needed to carry the election," but that there was a scarcity 
 at Tecumseh, Bloomington, Hickory Point, and other places 
 eight, ten, and twelve miles distant. Volunteers came for 
 ward for those elections, and the next morning left Lawrence 
 to vote there. The village of Lawrence, then containing a 
 few hundred persons, was entered March 30, 1855, by about 
 a thousand men, under the command of Colonel Young 
 and of a distinguished Missourian, Claiborne F. Jackson. 
 They came in about a hundred wagons and on horseback, 
 with music and banners ; armed with guns, pistols, rifles, 
 and bowie-knives. They brought also two cannon loaded 
 with musket balls, but had no occasion to use them, for 
 the Lawrence people submitted quietly to this outrage. 
 Colonel Young did not send off any of his armed volunteers 
 to other points until he was satisfied, as he said, that " the 
 citizens of Lawrence were not going to offer any resistance 
 
1855.] KANSAS AND THE CIVIL WAR. 173 
 
 to their voting." Mrs. Charles Robinson, who published a 
 volume about Kansas in 1856, says, what is confirmed by 
 the testimony taken by the Congressional Committee of 
 1856: l - 
 
 " When this band of men were coming to LaM r rence, they met Mr. 
 N. B. Blanton, formerly of Missouri, who had been appointed one of 
 the judges of election by Governor Reeder. Upon his saying that he 
 should feel bound, in executing the duties of his office, to demand the 
 oath as to residence in the Territory, they attempted, by bribes first, 
 and then with threats of hanging, to induce him to receive their votes 
 without the oath. Mr. Blanton not appearing on the election day, 
 a new judge, by name Robert A. Cummins, who claimed that a man 
 had a right to vote if he had been in the Territory but an hour, was 
 appointed in his place. The Missourians came to the polls from the 
 second ravine west of the town, where they were encamped in tents, 
 in parties of one hundred at a time. Before the voting commenced, 
 however, they said that ' if the judges appointed by the governor did 
 not allow them to vote, they would appoint judges who would.' 
 They did so in the case of Mr. Abbott, one of the judges, who had 
 become indignant, and resigned. The immediate occasion was Colo 
 nel Young's refusing to take the oath that he was a resident of Kan 
 sas. When asked by Mr. Abbott i if he intended to make Kansas 
 his future home,' he replied that ' it was none of his business j ' that 
 ' if he was a resident there, he should ask no more.' Colonel Young 
 then mounted on the window-sill, telling the crowd ' he had voted, 
 and they could do the same.' He told the judges ' it was no use 
 swearing them, as they would all swear as he had done.' The other 
 judges deciding to receive such votes, Mr. Abbott resigned." 
 
 At other voting-places the judges of election were treated 
 with great indignity, and particularly at Bloomington, where 
 an " old soldier," John A. Wakefield, was one of the chief 
 citizens. Upon the refusal of the judges to resign, the mob 
 broke in the windows of the polling-place, and, presenting 
 pistols and guns, threatened to shoot them. A voice from 
 the outside cried, "Do not shoot them ; there are proslavery 
 men in the house ! " The two Free-State judges still refusing 
 to allow Missourians to vote, one Jones led on a party with 
 bowie-knives drawn and pistols cocked, telling the judges 
 
 1 Of this committee John Sherman, now Senator from Ohio, was a 
 member. 
 
174 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1855. 
 
 "lie would give them five minutes to resign or die." The 
 five minutes passed by. Jones said he " would give another 
 minute, but no more." The proslavery judge snatched up 
 the ballot-boxes, and, crying out " Hurrah for Missouri ! " 
 ran into the crowd. The other judges, persuaded by their 
 friends, who thought them in imminent peril, passed out, 
 one of them putting the poll-books in his pocket. The Mis 
 souri mob pursued him, took the books away, and then 
 turned upon Wakefield, shouting, " Take him, dead or 
 alive ! " What followed may be given in Wakefield's own 
 words : 
 
 " I ran into the house and told Mr. Ramsay to give me his double- 
 barrelled shot-gun. The mob rode up, and I should think a dozen or 
 more presented their pistols at me. I drew up the gun at Jones, the 
 leader. We stood that way perhaps for a minute. A man profess 
 ing to be my friend undertook to take the gun from me ? saying, ' If 
 you shoot, we will all be killed : we can't fight this army.' My reply 
 was, to stand off, or I would shoot him which he did. Then one 
 of my friends spoke in a very calm manner and said, ' Judge, you 
 had better surrender; we cannot fight this army without arms.' I 
 then said I must know the conditions; and remarked to the mob, 
 ' Gentlemen, what do you want with me ? ' Some one said, ' We 
 want you to go back to the polls and state whether it was not you 
 that persuaded the judges to take away the poll-books.' I said I 
 could easily say no, for I could not get in hearing of the judges ; but 
 if I could have, I should have done it. I said I would go back, but 
 go alone ; I went back, and got upon a wagon and made them a 
 short speech. I told them I was an old soldier, and had fought 
 through two wars for the rights of my country, and I thought I had 
 a privilege there that day. I said they were in the wrong, that 
 we were not the Abolitionists they represented us to be, but were 
 Free-State men j that they were abusing us unjustly, and that their 
 acts were contrary to organic law and the Constitution of the United 
 States. A man cried out, while I was speaking, several times, 
 ' Shoot him ! he 's too saucy.' When I got through and got down 
 from the wagon, a man came up and told me he wanted to tie a white 
 ribbon in my button-hole, or ' the boys would kill me.' I first re 
 fused ; but, he insisted, and I let him do it; then I turned round and 
 cut it out with my knife. I then made an attempt to leave, when 
 they cried out, ' Stay with us and vote ; we don't want you to leave.' 
 I thanked them, but told them they could have it to themselves 
 then, I should leave them ; and I went." 
 
1855.] KANSAS AND THE CIVIL WAR. 175 
 
 There was something of Falstaff about this old Judge 
 Wakefield, whose house was afterward burned in some of 
 the raids of 1856, and of whom many anecdotes are told. 
 But neither he nor the other brave men who took part in 
 this election could do much against an invasion from Mis 
 souri in such overwhelming numbers. An English traveller, 
 Mr. Thomas H. Gladstone, distantly related to the English 
 premier, who visited Kansas in 1856, and has written a book 
 about it, 1 relates, on the authority of others, some incidents 
 of this fraudulent, or "bogus," election thus: 
 
 u A Presbyterian clergyman, the Rev. Frederic Starr, who was an 
 eye- witness' of the fraud and intimidation practised at Leaven worth 
 City, and lias published a statement of this and preceding events, 
 describes a scene by no means rare on the occasion of this election. 
 ' Some four days later,' he writes, 1 1 was on my horse returning from 
 Platte City to Weston, when four wagons came along, and on the 
 bottoms sat six men. A pole about five feet high stuck bolt upright 
 at the front of the wagon ; on its top stuck an inverted empty whiskey- 
 bottle ; across the stick at right angles was tied a bowie-knife j a 
 black cambric flag, with a death's-head-and-bones daubed on it in 
 white paint, and a, long streamer of beautiful glossy Missouri hemp, 
 floated from the pole j there was a revolver lashed across the pole, 
 and a powder-horn hanging loosely by it. They bore the piratical 
 symbols of Missouri ruffians returning from Kansas.' " 
 
 A Missouri newspaper friendly to the Border Ruffians 
 said, soon after this affair : 
 
 11 From five to seven thousand men started from Missouri to attend 
 the election ; some to remove, but the most to return to their fami 
 lies, with an intention, if they liked the Territory, to make it their 
 permanent abode at the earliest moment practicable. But they in 
 tended to vote. The Missourians were, many of them, Douglas 
 County men. There were one hundred and fifty voters from this 
 county, one hundred and seventy-five from Howard, one hundred 
 from Cooper. Indeed, every county furnished its quota; and when 
 they set out it looked like an army. They were armed ; and as there 
 were no houses in the Territory, they carried tents. Their mission 
 
 1 The Englishman in Kansas ; or, Sqiiatter Life and Border Warfare. 
 By T. H. Gladstone, Esq., author of the "Letters from Kansas" in the 
 London Times. New York : Miller & Co., 1857. The hook has 328 
 pages, and contains a clear statement of the Kansas question. 
 
176 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1855. 
 
 was a peaceable one, to vote, and to drive down stakes for future 
 homes. After the election, some fifteen hundred of the voters sent a 
 committee to Mr. Reeder to ascertain if it was his purpose to ratify 
 the election. He said that it was, and that the majority must carry 
 the day. But it is not to be denied that the fifteen hundred, appre 
 hending that the governor might attempt to play the tyrant, since 
 his conduct had already been insidious and unjust, wore on their 
 hats bunches of hemp. They icere resolved, if a tyrant attempted to 
 trample on the rights of a sovereign people, to hang him." 
 
 The Legislature chosen in the manner above described held 
 its sessions within a mile or two of the Missouri border, at 
 a place called the Shawnee Mission, but spent the time when 
 they were not in session at the Missouri town of Westport. 
 They unseated most of the few Free-State members who 
 were declared by Governor Reeder elected ; but the most 
 distinguished member of the Council, or upper house, Martin 
 F. Conway (a Maryland lawyer, who afterward represented 
 Kansas in Congress), resigned his seat on the ground that 
 the whole election was illegal. Governor Reeder early no 
 tified both houses that he could not recognize their legality 
 or approve their legislation; but he was removed by the 
 subservient President Pierce, who dared not resist the dic 
 tates of the slaveholders ; and the " bogus " Legislature 
 proceeded, in August and September, 1855, to the most ex 
 treme and infamous action in support of slavery. A res 
 olution offered by J. H. Stringfellow was adopted in these 
 words : 
 
 " Be it resolved by the House of Representatives, the Council concur 
 ring therein, That it is the duty of the proslavery party, the Union- 
 loving men of Kansas Territory, to know but one issue, Slavery; 
 and that any party making, or attempting to make, any other is and 
 should be held as an ally of Abolitionism and Disunionism." 
 
 The same Stringfellow (so appropriately named), in a 
 letter to the " Montgomery Advertiser," wrote : " We have 
 now laws more efficient to protect slave-property than any 
 State in the Union. These laws have just taken effect 
 (Sept. 1, 1855), and have already silenced Abolitionists ; for 
 in spite of their heretofore boasting, these know they will be 
 
1855.] KANSAS AND THE CIVIL WAR. 177 
 
 enforced to the very letter and with the utmost rigor." Let 
 us see, then, what these laws were, which John Brown was 
 even then journeying towards Kansas, through Illinois and 
 Missouri, to confront and overthrow. Mr. Gladstone says of 
 this Missouri-born Legislature : 
 
 " Being in haste to give a code of laws to Kansas, they transferred 
 into a volume of more than a thousand pages the greater part of the 
 laws of their own State, substituting the words ' Territory of Kan 
 sas ' for ' State of Missouri. 7 In protection of slavery they enacted 
 far more rigorous laws than obtain in Missouri, or than were ever 
 before conceived of, making it a felony to utter a word against the 
 institution, or even to have in possession a book or paper which 
 denies the right to hold slaves in Kansas. It will be seen that for 
 every copy of a Free-State paper which a person might innocently 
 purchase, the law would justify that person's condemnation to penal 
 servitude for two or five years, dragging a heavy ball and chain at 
 his ankle, and hired out for labor on the public roads or for the ser 
 vice of individuals at the fixed price of fifty cents per diem. So com 
 prehensive did these legislators make their slave-code, that by the 
 authority they thus gave themselves they could in a very short time 
 have made every Free-State man a chained convict, standing side by 
 side, if they so pleased, with their slaves, and giving years of forced 
 labor for the behoof of their proslavery fellow-citizens. The Legis 
 lature proceeded also to elect officers for the Territory. Even the 
 executive and judiciary were made to hold office from itself; and a 
 board of commissioners chosen by the Legislature, instead of the in 
 habitants themselves, was empowered to appoint the sheriffs, justices 
 of the peace, constables, and all other officers in the various counties 
 into which the Territory was divided. Every member of succeeding 
 legislatures, every judge of election, every voter, must swear to his 
 faithfulness on the test questions of slavery. Every officer in the 
 Territory, judicial, executive, or legislative, every attorney admitted 
 to practice in the courts, every juryman weighing evidence on the 
 rights of slaveholders, must attest his soundness in the interest of 
 slavery, and his readiness to indorse its most repugnant measures. 
 For further security the members of the . assembly submitted their 
 enactments to the chief-justice 1 for confirmation. This judicial 
 
 1 " Had he not the Chief- Justice," said Burke, in his impeachment of 
 Warren Hastings, "the tamed and domesticated Chief- Justice, who waited 
 on him like a familiar spirit ?" The Kansas dignitary of this name and 
 function was he of whom John Brown once said, "he had a perfect right to 
 be hung." 
 
 12 
 
178 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1855. 
 
 confirmation \vas gratefully given. All they had done was declared 
 legal j and the sheriffs and other local officers appointed by the Leg 
 islature were equally ready with their aid in the execution of these 
 unjust laws." 
 
 To show that our English visitor, in his blunt indignation 
 at the iniquity he found flagrant in Kansas, has exaggerated 
 nothing, let me cite the very words of this slave-code : 
 
 CHAPTER CLI. Slaves. An Act to punish Offences against Slave 
 
 Property. 
 
 SEC. 3. If any free person shall, hy speaking, writing, or print 
 ing, advise, persuade, or induce any slaves to rebel, conspire against, 
 or murder any citizen of this Territory, or shall bring into, print, write, 
 publish, or circulate, or cause to be brought into, printed, written, 
 published, or circulated, or shall knowingly aid or assist in the bring 
 ing into, printing, writing, publishing, or circulating, in tliis Terri 
 tory any look, pamphlet, paper, magazine, or circular, for the purpose 
 of exciting insurrection, rebellion, revolt, or conspiracy on the part of 
 the slaves, free negroes, or mulattoes, against the citizens of the Terri 
 tory or any part of them, such person shall be guilty of felony, and 
 suffer death. 
 
 SEC. 4. If any person shall entice, decoy, or carry away out of this 
 Territory any slave belonging to another, with intent to deprive the 
 owner thereof of the services of such slave, or with intent to effect or 
 procure the freedom of such slave, he shall be adjudged guilty of 
 grand larceny, and on conviction thereof, shall suffer death, or be 
 imprisoned at hard labor for not less than ten years. 
 
 SEC. 5. If any person shall aid or assist in enticing, decoying, 
 persuading, or carrying away, or sending out of this Territory any 
 slave belonging to another, with intent to effect or procure the free 
 dom of such slave, or with intent to deprive the owner thereof of the 
 services of such slave, he shall be adjudged guilty of grand larceny, 
 and on conviction thereof he shall suffer death, or be imprisoned at 
 hard labor for not less than ten years. 
 
 SEC. 6. If any person shall entice, decoy, or carry away out of 
 any State or other Territory of the United States any slave belonging 
 to another, with intent to procure or effect the freedom of such slave, 
 or to deprive the owners thereof of the services of such slave, and shall 
 bring such slave into this Territory, he shall be adjudged guilty of 
 grand larceny, in the same manner as if such slave had been enticed, 
 decoyed, or carried away out of this Territory; and in such case the 
 
1855.1 KANSAS AND THE CIVIL WAR. 179 
 
 larceny may be charged to have been committed in any county of 
 this Territory into or through which such slave shall have been 
 brought by such person ; and on conviction thereof, the person oflend- 
 ing shall suffer death, or be imprisoned at hard labor for not less than 
 ten years. 
 
 SEC. 9. If any person shall resist any officer while attempting to 
 arrest any slave that may have escaped from the service of his master 
 or owner, or shall rescue such slave when in the custody of any officer 
 or other person, or shall entice, persuade, aid, or assist such slave 
 from the custody of any officer or other person who may have such 
 slave in custody, whether such slave have escaped from the service 
 of his master or owner in this Territory or in any other State or Ter 
 ritory, the person so offending shall be guilty of felony, and punished 
 by imprisonment at hard labor for a term not less than two years. 
 
 SEC. 11. If any person print, write, introduce into, publish, or 
 circulate, or cause to be brought into, printed, written, published, or 
 circulated, or shall knowingly aid or assist in bringing into, printing, 
 publishing, or circulating within this Territory any book, paper, 
 pamphlet, magazine, handbill, or circular containing any statements, 
 arguments, opinions, sentiment, doctrine, advice, or innuendo calcu 
 lated to produce a disorderly, dangerous, or rebellious disaffection 
 among the slaves of this Territory, or to induce such slaves to escape 
 from the service of their masters, or resist their authority, he shall be 
 guilty of felony, and be punished by imprisonment at hard labor for 
 a term not less than five years. 
 
 SEC. 12. If any free person, by speaking or by writing, assert or 
 maintain that persons have not the right to hold slaves in this Ter 
 ritory, or shall introduce into this Territory, print, publish, write, 
 circulate, or cause to be printed, published, written, circulated, or 
 introduced into this Territory, any book, paper, magazine, pamphlet, 
 or circular containing any denial of the right of persons to hold slaves 
 in this Territory, such person shall be deemed guilty of felony, and 
 punished by imprisonment at hard labor for a term not less than 
 two years. 
 
 SEC. 13. No person who is conscientiously opposed to holding 
 slaves, or who does not admit the right to hold slaves in this Ter 
 ritory, shall sit as a juror on the trial of any prosecution for any 
 violation of any of the sections of this act. 
 
 It is plain at a glance, that Thomas Jefferson, through 
 whom the existence of Kansas as a part of the United States 
 
180 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1855. 
 
 was made possible, and who wrote the first charter of our 
 national existence, the Declaration of Independence, had he 
 been living in Kansas under these detestable laws, could not 
 have held office nor sat on a jury ; nay, he would have been 
 liable to punishment as a felon, certainly under section eleven, 
 and probably to the punishment of deatli under section three. 
 If he dreaded in 1785 some mild " misapplication of law " 
 which would have prevented the circulation of his " Notes 
 on Virginia/' what would he have said in 1855 of that worse 
 than British or French tyranny which punished all generous 
 sentiments in favor of the poor slave with imprisonment 
 and with death ? Yet the men who enacted these laws, and 
 the baser men at Washington who had them enforced by the 
 national courts and the national army, were the professed 
 followers of Jefferson, and one of them, the Secretary of 
 War, bore his name. 1 
 
 Such a crisis could not escape the eye nor fail to command 
 the presence of John Brown. The disciple of Franklin and 
 Jefferson, he could not be other than the sworn foeman of 
 Franklin Pierce and Jefferson Davis, whom God, for our 
 sins, had allowed to be set in authority over us and over 
 Kansas. He went far beyond Jefferson and Franklin, those 
 founders of American democracy, in his sternness of hostil 
 ity to oppression. Jefferson had said, quoting an imaginary 
 epitaph on Bradshaw the regicide, " Rebellion to tyrants is 
 obedience to God ; " and the spirit of that maxim had sought 
 expression in the escutcheon of Virginia, with its proud 
 legend, " Sic semper tyrannis" But Brown found in the 
 tenets of Calvinism, in the practice of his Puritan ancestors, 
 and in the oracles of the Bible, a more imperative and prac 
 tical duty enjoined, which he hastened to perform at Potta- 
 watomie and elsewhere. There rang in his ears those deep 
 notes of " the ballad-singer of Calvinism " (as Emerson called 
 Isaac Watts) chanting in Puritan verse the avenging justice 
 of the Hebrew Jehovah : 
 
 1 Jefferson Davis was Secretary of "War under Franklin Pierce ; but 
 Franklin and Jefferson, for whom they were named, could both have been 
 shot or hanged in Kansas under their administration, if then living and 
 maintaining the doctrines which gave them renown. 
 
1856.1 KANSAS AND THE CIVIL WAR. 181 
 
 " Judges who rule the world by laws, 
 Will ye despise the righteous cause, 
 When tli' injured poor before you stands ? 
 Dare ye condemn the righteous poor, 
 And let rich sinners 'scape secure, 
 While gold and greatness bribe your hands ? 
 
 " Ilavs ye forgot, or never knew, 
 That God will judge the judges too ? 
 High in the heavens his justice reigns ; 
 Yet you invade the rights of God, 
 And send your bold decrees abroad 
 To bind the conscience in your chains. 
 
 " Break out their teeth, eternal God ! 
 Those teeth of lions dyed in blood, 
 And crush the serpents in the dust ! 
 As empty chaff, when whirlwinds rise, 
 Before the sweeping tempest flies, 
 So let their hopes and names be lost. 
 
 " Thus shall the justice of the Lord 
 Freedom and peace to men afford ; 
 And all that hear shall join and say, 
 ' Sure there 's a God that rules on high, 
 A God that hears his children cry, 
 And all their sufferings will repay.' " 
 
 Until Brown arrived on the scene in Kansas, few blows 
 had been struck in the Lord's cause. Mr. Gladstone, who 
 reached Kansas City May 22, 1856, at the very moment 
 when Brown heard of the burning of Lawrence, says : 
 
 li Among all the scenes of violence I witnessed it is remarkable 
 that the offending parties were invariably on the proslavery side. 
 The Free-State men appeared to me to be intimidated and overawed 
 in consequence, not merely of the determination and defiant boldness 
 of their opponents, but still more through the sanction given to these 
 acts by the Government." 
 
 He was deeply impressed with the wild and fierce aspect 
 of the Border Ruffians, as he first saw them. He says : 
 
 u It was on the night of May 22, 1856, that I first came in contact 
 with the Missourian patriots. I had just arrived in Kansas City, and 
 shall never forget the appearance of the lawless mob that poured into 
 the place, inflamed with drink, glutted with the indulgence of the 
 
182 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 vilest passions, displaying with loud boasts the l plunder ' they had 
 taken from the inhabitants, and thirsting for the opportunity of re 
 peating the sack of Lawrence on some other offending place. Men, 
 tor the most part of large frame, with red flannel shirts and immense 
 boots worn outside their trousers, their faces unwashed and unshaven, 
 still reeking with the dust and smoke of Lawrence, wearing their 
 most savage looks, and gi\ 7 ing utterance to the most horrible impre 
 cations and blasphemies; armed, moreover, to the teeth with ritles 
 and revolvers, cutlasses, and bowie-knives, such were the men I 
 saw around me. Some displayed a grotesque intermixture in their 
 dress, having crossed their native red rough shirt with the satin vest 
 or narrow dress-coat, pillaged from some Lawrence Yankee, or having 
 girded themselves with the cords and tassels which the day before had 
 adorned the curtains of the Free-State Hotel. Looking around at these 
 groups of drunken, bellowing, blood-thirsty demons, who crowded 
 around the bar of the hotel, shouting for drink, or vented their furious 
 noise on the levee outside, I felt that all my former experiences of 
 Border men and Missourians bore faint comparison with the spectacle 
 presented by this wretched crew, who appeared only the more terrify 
 ing from the darkness of the surrounding night. The hotel in Kan 
 sas City, where we were, was the next, "they said, that should fall, 
 the attack was being planned that night ; and such, they declared, 
 should be the end of every place which was built by Free-State men, 
 or harbored ' those rascally Abolitionists. 7 Happily, this threat was 
 not fulfilled." 
 
 Nor was the astonished Englishman left in any doubt 
 what all this meant. He had visited New York, Washing 
 ton, and most of the Southern States before going to Kansas, 
 and went there from Mississippi. He says : " When in South 
 Carolina and other Southern States, I witnessed extraordi 
 nary meetings, presided over by men of influence, at which 
 addresses of almost incredible violence were delivered on 
 the necessity of 'forcing slavery into Kansas/ of 'spreading- 
 the beneficent influence of Southern institutions over the 
 new Territories,' of driving back at the point of the bayonet 
 the nigger-stealing scum poured down by Northern fanati 
 cism." He knew what was the temper of Pierce, Gushing, 
 Davis, Mason, and Toombs at Washington ; and he had not 
 learned, as many of his countrymen did a few years later, 
 to identify the oligarchy of slavery with the aristocracy of 
 Europe, and to exult in the anticipated downfall of demo 
 cratic freedom in America. 
 
1859.J KANSAS AND THE CIVIL WAR. 183 
 
 Long before Mr. Gladstone's arrival in Kansas, the real 
 inhabitants of that Territory had declared their purpose to 
 resist the " bogus " laws of the usurping Legislature. At a 
 convention held in " Big Springs," Sept. 5, 1855, General 
 Lane and ex-Governor Keeder had each brought forward res 
 olutions, somewhat inconsistent with each other, but which 
 the convention adopted. Those written by Keeder, which the 
 Kansas people afterward fully confirmed by their action, 
 contained these declarations : " We owe no allegiance or 
 obedience to the tyrannical enactments of this spurious 
 Legislature ; their laws have no binding force upon the peo 
 ple of Kansas, and every freeman among us is at full liberty 
 (consistent with all his obligations as a citizen and a man) 
 to resist them if he chooses so to do. We will endure and 
 submit to these laws no longer than the best interests of 
 the Territory require as the least of two evils, and will re 
 sist them to a bloody issue so soon as we ascertain that 
 peaceable remedies shall fail, and forcible resistance shall 
 furnish any reasonable prospect of success. In the mean 
 time we recommend to our friends throughout the Territory 
 the organization and discipline of volunteer companies, and 
 the procurement and preparation of arms.' 7 Upon this plat 
 form John Brown (who was not in Kansas when it was 
 adopted, although four of his sons were) consistently acted 
 from 1855 to 1859, when he finally left the Territory with 
 a party of rescued slaves whom he carried to Canada early in 
 1859, in utter defiance of the Kansas law r s and the Fugitive 
 Slave Law of Senator Mason. What his course had been in 
 the mean time will be seen in the following chapters. The 
 contest in Kansas went forward, with many changes and re 
 verses, in those four years ; and towards the close of 1859, 
 just before Brown's death, the other great martyr of eman 
 cipation, Abraham Lincoln, came for a few days to look 
 upon the scene of conflict. Mr. Wilder, the Kansas his 
 torian, speaking at Wathena, in Doniphan County, July 4, 
 1884, said : - 
 
 " The greatest man who ever set foot in this township arrived here 
 on the first day of December, 1859, a warm and beautiful day. The 
 late Judge Delahay and I met him at the depot in St. Joseph, Mo., 
 
184 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 that day, and rode up town with him ; took him to a barber's shop on 
 Francis Street, just east of the Planter's House, where there is now a 
 planing-mill ; and I went up to Wool worth's news-stand, in the next 
 block, and bought him the latest papers. Then the three went down 
 to the ferry landing, near the old Kobidoux building, and sat down in 
 the dirt, on the bank, waiting for Captain Blackiston's boat. Mr. Lin 
 coln's talk, sitting on that bank, was of Douglas and Colonel Thomas 
 L. Harris, the famous Illinois Congressman. Mr. Lincoln always 
 spoke kindly, almost tenderly, of his political opponents. On some 
 occasion I asked him about John Calhoun, the first surveyor-general 
 of Kansas and Nebraska, the president of the Lecompton Constitu 
 tional Convention, and probably the ablest Democratic manager we 
 have ever had in Kansas. Mr. Lincoln spoke of Calhoun in terms 
 of the highest esteem, and with affection. Mr. Calhoun had given 
 him a surveying job when he was poor, needy, unknown ; and the 
 great and good man had never forgotten it. Calhouu did his best 
 and that was much to plant slavery in Kansas, but he was not the 
 monster that our papers and speeches pictured him. By the way, 
 Mr. Lincoln made Mark Delahay Surveyor-General, and when Dela- 
 hay resigned, gave the place to me without my asking for it. Mr. 
 Lincoln made a speech that evening at the Great Western Hotel, in the 
 dining-room, a very great speech, to an audience called together 
 by a man who went through the town sounding a gong. The next 
 day, December 2d, the day on which John Brown was hanged, lie 
 spoke at Troy; and I think Colonel Ege replied to him, and fully 
 vanquished the future President. He also spoke in Asahel Low's 
 hotel in Doniphan ; and that completes the great man's connection 
 with this county." 
 
 The audiences in Kansas, even on the threshold of civil 
 war, could not recognize the full greatness of the plain, awk 
 ward Illinois lawyer who was to lead his people like a true 
 shepherd through dark and bloody ways. The qualities of 
 John Brown were more obvious, and they attracted more 
 attention in Kansas ; yet it was only here and there that his 
 real rank was seen and appreciated, and by a singular in 
 gratitude it is in Kansas that his most malicious enemies 
 are now found. Their malice cannot harm his renown ; he 
 is as much above their reach now as he was above their 
 comprehension while he fought in their cause, and traversed 
 their prairies to make them glorious. "In a great age,' 7 
 says Cousin, speaking of Pascal, " everything is great." 
 
1859.] KANSAS AND THE CIVIL WAR. 185 
 
 John Brown, like Abraham Lincoln, came to prominence in 
 an age by no means grand or noble ; but such was his own 
 heroic character that he conferred importance on events in 
 themselves trivial. His petty conflicts in Kansas and the 
 details of his two days' campaign in Virginia will be remem 
 bered when a hundred battles of our Civil War are forgot 
 ten. He was one of ten thousand, and, as Thoreau said, 
 could not be tried by a jury of his peers, because his peers 
 did not exist ; yet so much was he in accord with what is 
 best in the American character, that he will stand in history 
 for one type of our people, as Franklin and Lincoln do, 
 only with a difference. He embodied the distinctive quali 
 ties of the Puritan, but with a strong tincture of the more 
 humane sentiments of later times. No man could be more 
 sincere in his faith toward God, more earnest in love for man ; 
 his belief in foreordination was absolute, his courage not 
 less. The emotion of fear seemed quite unknown to him, 
 except in the form of diffidence, if that were not rather a 
 sort of pride. He was diffident of his power in speech or 
 writing ; yet who, of all his countrymen, has uttered more 
 effective, imperishable words ? Part of the service he ren 
 dered to his country was by this heroic impersonation of 
 traits that all mankind recognize as noble. The cause of 
 the poor slave had need of all the charm that romantic 
 courage could give it ; his defenders were treated with the 
 contempt which attached to himself. They were looked 
 upon with aversion by patriots ; they were odious to trade, 
 distasteful to fashion and learning, impious in the sight of 
 the Church. At the stroke of Brown's sword all this was 
 changed : the cause that had been despised suddenly became 
 hated, feared, and respected ; and out of this new fear and 
 hatred our national safety was born. 
 
 It was on the soil of Kansas that this transformation be 
 gan, though it was not completed until Brown's desperate 
 onset and valiant death in Virginia. In Kansas he had with 
 him the hopes and the support of millions, to whom he was 
 then the defender of white men's rights ; in Virginia lie 
 stood almost alone, the omen and harbinger of that na 
 tional calamity which was to avenge the black man's wrongs. 
 But in his devout mind the two causes united, as they were 
 
180 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 soon seen to unite in the event of the Civil War, to 
 which the course and the result of the Kansas skirmish 
 were as beacons lighting the way, and warning against use 
 less concession. navis ! fortiter occi^a portuni, was the 
 lesson of Kansas. 
 
 NOTE. On page 162, the statement that the Kansas-Nebraska Act left 
 the people i'ree "at each election to determine the existence of slavery for 
 themselves " is too strong, and interprets this juggling bill of Douglas too 
 favorably. All that it did was to declare that the Territory, " at the tima 
 of its admission into the Union as a State, shall be received with or without 
 slavery, as its Constitution may provide." But it also declared the right 
 of the people "to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their 
 own way, subject only to the Constitution of the United States." The mis 
 chief in this clause lay in the fact that by the Dred Scott decision the Fed 
 eral Constitution was interpreted to hold slavery forever in a Territory, 
 as Abraham Lincoln forcibly showed in his speech at Springfield, 111., June 
 17, 1858, saying, "The second point of the Dred Scott decision is that, 
 'subject to the Constitution of the United States,' neither Congress nor a 
 Territorial Legislature can exclude slavery from any United States Terri 
 tory." I am indebted to Mr. T. D wight Thacher, of Topeka, for calling 
 my attention to this. 
 
JOHN BROWN. 
 [1855.] 
 
1855.] THE BROWN FAMILY IN KANSAS. 187 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 THE BROWN FAMILY IN KANSAS. 
 
 long contest against Southern slavery ended at last 
 in a revolution, of which Kansas saw the first outbreak. 
 Then followed a bloody civil war, after which the South was 
 reorganized, or, as it was called, " reconstructed," with 
 the corner-stone of its old social structure, negro slavery, 
 left out, and emancipation, " the stone which the builders 
 rejected," at last adopted in its place. In this contest, 
 continuing for almost a century, but active and violent for 
 about fifty years, there were four distinct parties or groups 
 of men, varying in number as the struggle proceeded, but 
 now nearly all merged in one great antislavery party, just 
 as the persecution of the Christians ended in the conver 
 sion of the whole Roman world to Christianity. These par 
 ties were (1) the Abolitionists, beginning with Franklin, 
 Jefferson, and George Mason, and ending with Garrison, 
 Lincoln, and Phillips ; (2) the proslavery men ; (3) the 
 great body of neutrals ; and (4) the Brown family, by which 
 I mean John Brown of Osawatomie, his father Owen Brown, 
 and his children. This one household constituted itself an 
 outpost of emancipation when the early Abolitionists had 
 been defeated and Jefferson had grown silent ; it was an 
 active force long before Garrison began his agitation (about 
 1830), and it continued in the service until the freedom of 
 the slaves was assured. There was no discharge in that- 
 war for the Brown family. As one generation passed away, 
 another took its place ; and when the struggle became one 
 of arms, the sons replaced each other in the fight, as the 
 children of the old clansman in Scott's romance came for 
 ward to die one by one for their chieftain. " Another for 
 Freedom ! " was as potent a call with them as " Another for 
 
188 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1854. 
 
 Hector ! " with the sons of the defeated clan. The Browns 
 too were defeated, but only for a time, and in such a way 
 that their renown was increased thereby. From a local 
 leader John Brown became a world-famous martyr. 
 
 " Are you Captain Brown of Kansas ? " asked the Vir 
 ginian at Harper's Ferry of the old hero, as he recovered 
 from the stabs and blows of Lee's soldiers. 
 
 " I am sometimes called so." 
 
 " Are you Osawatomie Brown ? " 
 
 " / tried to do my duty there" 
 
 So long as these manly answers and the manly acts that 
 preceded them remain on the record ; so long as the public 
 murder of John Brown for the crime of emancipation is a 
 part of the history of that republic which within five years 
 completed emancipation at the cost of half a million lives, 
 so long will the deeds and sufferings of the Brown family 
 in Kansas be as important a chapter in the history of that 
 State as any that can be written. 
 
 Let us then resume the homely series of family letters in 
 which the father and his children told each other the story 
 of their pilgrimage to Kansas in 1854-55, and what befell 
 them there ; beginning with the account given in November, 
 1883, by the present head of the family, John Brown, Jr., 
 of the circumstances attending and preceding this removal 
 from Ohio and the Adirondac forest to Osawatomie in Kan 
 sas. The town of this name is ten miles from the vari 
 ous settlements of the Brown family on the branches of the 
 Pottawatomie Creek (properly a river) ; but the brother-in- 
 law of Brown, the Rev. S. L. Adair, established himself at 
 Osawatomie in 1854, and his log-cabin served as a rendez 
 vous for the family so long as they remained in Kansas. 
 John Brown, Jr., says : 
 
 " During the years 1853 and 1854 most of the leading Northern 
 newspapers were not only full of glowing accounts of the extraordi 
 nary fertility, healthfulness, and beauty of the Territory of Kansas, 
 then newly opened for settlement, but of urgent appeals to all lovers 
 of freedom who desired homes in a new region to go there as settlers, 
 and by their votes save Kansas from the curse of slavery. Influenced 
 by these considerations, in the month of October, 1854, five of the 
 sons of John Brown, John, Jr., Jason, Owen, Frederick, and Sal- 
 
1855.] THE BROWN FAMILY IN KANSAS. 189 
 
 inou, then residents of the State of Ohio, made their arrangements 
 to emigrate to Kansas. Their combined property consisted chiefly 
 of eleven head of cattle, mostly young, and three horses. Ten of 
 this number were valuable on account of the breed. Thinking these 
 especially desirable in a new country, Owen, Frederick, and Salmon 
 took them by way of the lakes to Chicago, thence to Meridosia, 111., 
 where they 'were wintered; and in the following spring drove them 
 into Kansas to a place selected by these brothers for settlement, about 
 eight miles west of the town of Osawatomie. My brother Jason and 
 his family, and I with my family followed at the opening of naviga 
 tion in the spring of 1855, going by way of the Ohio and Mississippi 
 rivers to St. Louis. There we purchased two small tents, a plough, 
 and some smaller farming-tools, and a hand-mill for grinding corn. 
 At this period there were no railroads west of St. Louis ; our journey 
 must be continued by boat on the Missouri at a time of extremely 
 low water, or by stage at great expense. We chose the river route, 
 taking passage on the steamer ' New Lucy,' which too late we found 
 crowded with passengers, mostly men from the South bound for Kan 
 sas. That they were from the South was plainly indicated by their 
 language and dress; while their drinking, profanity, and display of re 
 volvers and bowie-knives openly worn as an essential part of their 
 make-up clearly showed the class to which they belonged, and 
 that their mission was to aid in establishing slavery in Kansas. 
 
 " A box of fruit-trees and grape-vines which my brother Jason had 
 brought from Ohio, our plough, and the few agricultural implements 
 we had on the deck of that steamer looked lonesome ; for these were 
 all we could see which were adapted to the occupations of peace. 
 Then for the first time arose in our minds the query : Must the fertile 
 prairies of Kansas, through a struggle at arms, be first secured to free 
 dom before free men can sow and reap ? If so, how poorly we were 
 prepared for such work will be seen when I say that, for arms, five of 
 us brothers had only two small squirrel rifles and one revolver. But 
 before we reached our destination other matters claimed our attention. 
 Cholera, which then prevailed to some extent at St. Louis, broke out 
 among our passengers, a number of whom died. Among these 
 brother Jason's son Austin, aged four years, the elder of his two chil 
 dren, fell a victim to this scourge; and while our boat lay by for 
 repair of a broken rudder at Waverley, Mo., we buried him at night 
 near that panic-stricken town, our lonely way illumined only by the 
 lightning of a furious thunderstorm. True to his spirit of hatred of 
 Northern people, our captain, without warning to us on shore, cast 
 off his lines and left us to make our way by stage to Kansas City, 
 to which place we had already paid our fare by boat. Before we 
 reached there, however, we. became very hungry, and endeavored to 
 
190 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1855. 
 
 buy food at various farm-houses on the way ; but the occupants, 
 judging from our speech that we were not from the South, always 
 denied us, saying, ' We have nothing for you.' The only exception 
 to this answer was at the stage-house at Independence, Mo. 
 
 "Arrived in Kansas, her lovely prairies and wooded streams seemed 
 to us indeed like a haven of rest. Here in prospect we saw our cat 
 tle increased to hundreds and possibly to thousands, fields of corn, 
 orchards, and vineyards. At once we set about the work through 
 which only our visions of prosperity could be realized. Our tents 
 would suffice for shelter until we could plough our land, plant corn 
 and other crops, fruit-trees, and vines, cut and secure as hay enough 
 of the waving grass to supply our stock the coming winter. These 
 cheering prospects beguiled our labors through late spring until mid 
 summer, by which time nearly all of our number were prostrated by 
 fever and ague that would not stay cured ; the grass cut for hay 
 mouldered in the wet for want of the care we could not bestow, and 
 our crop of corn wasted by cattle we could not restrain. If these 
 minor ills and misfortunes were all, they could be easily borne ; but 
 now began to gather the dark clouds of war. An election for a first 
 Territorial Legislature had been held on the 30th of March of this 
 year. On that day the residents of Missouri along the borders came 
 into Kansas by thousands, and took forcible possession of the polls. 
 In the words of Horace Greeley, ' There was no disguise, no pre 
 tence of legality, no regard for decency. On the evening before and 
 the morning of the day of election, nearly a thousand Missourians 
 arrived at Lawrence in wagons and on horseback, well armed with 
 rifles, pistols, and bbwie-kriives, and two pieces of cannon loaded 
 with musket balls. Although but 831 legal electors in the Territory 
 voted, there were no less than 6,320 votes polled. They elected all 
 the members of the Legislature, with a single exception in either 
 house, the two Free-Soilers being chosen from a remote district 
 which the Missourians overlooked or did not care to reach.' 
 
 " Early in the spring and summer of this year the actual settlers 
 at their convention repudiated this fraudulently chosen Legislature, 
 and refused to obey its enactments. Upon this, the border papers of 
 Missouri in flaming appeals urged the ruffian horde that had pre 
 viously invaded Kansas to arm, and otherwise prepare to march 
 again into the Territory when called upon, as they soon would be, 
 to ' aid in enforcing the laws.' War of some magnitude, at least, 
 now appeared to us brothers to be inevitable ; and I wrote to our 
 father, whose home was in North Elba, N. Y., asking him to procure 
 and send to us, if he could, arms and ammunition, so that we could 
 be better prepared to defend ourselves and our neighbors. He soon 
 obtained them ; but instead of sending, he came on with them him- 
 
1855.] THE BROWN FAMILY IN KANSAS. 191 
 
 self, accompanied by my brother-in-law Henry Thompson, and my 
 brother Oliver. In Iowa he bought a horse and covered wagon ; 
 concealing the arms in this and conspicuously displaying his survey 
 ing implements, he crossed into Missouri near Waverley, and at that 
 place disinterred the body of his grandson, and brought all safely 
 through to our settlement, arriving there about the 6th of October." 
 
 In August, 1854, when John Brown, Jr., had first men 
 tioned to his father his purpose of emigrating to Kansas, it 
 was not the intention of the father to accompany them, 
 although he was willing and rather desirous his children 
 should go. In a letter written from Akron (Aug. 21, 1854), 
 he said to John : " If you or any of my family are disposed to 
 go to Kansas or Nebraska, with a view to help defeat Satan 
 and his legions in that direction, I have not a word to say ; 
 but I feel committed to operate in another part of the field. If 
 I were not so committed, I would be on my way this fall. 
 Mr. Adair [who married Brown's half-sister Florilla] is 
 fixing to go, and wants to find 'good men and true' to go 
 along. I would be glad if Jason would give away his Rock 
 and go. Owen is fixing for some move ; I can hardly say 
 what." In fact, the four brothers, John, Jason, Owen, and 
 Frederick Brown, as above mentioned, set out for Kansas 
 in 1854, arriving there in the early spring of 1855, and set 
 tling near their uncle Mr. Adair. John Brown himself soon 
 changed his mind and prepared to follow them, first visit 
 ing North Elba and New England ; and at this point his let 
 ters to his family at North Elba may be taken up, relating. 
 in their simple way, the domestic history in these removals, 
 and the frugal plans he formed for the maintenance and 
 comfort of those dependent on him or under his guidance. 
 Here will be found little speech of the great objects he had 
 in view, but much concerning cattle and household affairs ; 
 as in the correspondence, were it preserved, of some Oriental 
 patriarch migrating from land to land in Scripture times. 
 
 John Brown to his Children. 
 
 AKRON, OHIO, Jan. 3, 1855. 
 
 DEAR CHILDREN, Last night your letters to Jason were re 
 ceived (dated December 26), and I had the reading of them. T 
 
192 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1855. 
 
 conclude from the long time mine to you from Albany was on the 
 way, that you did not reply to it. On my return here from North 
 Elba I was disappointed of about three hundred dollars for cattle 
 sold to brother Frederick, and am still in the same condition, he 
 having gone to Illinois just before I left to go East, and not having 
 returned nor written me a word since. This puts it out of my power 
 to move my family at present, and will until 1 get my money, unless 
 I sell off my Devon cattle, which I cannot, without great sacrifice, 
 before spring opens. Your remarks about hay make me doubt the 
 propriety of taking on any cattle till spring, as I have here an abun 
 dance of feed. I am now entirely unable to say whether we can get 
 off before spring or not. All are well here, so far as we know. Owen 
 and Frederick were with their uncle Edward in Meridosia, 111. (where 
 they expect to winter), on the 23d December; they were well, and 
 much pleased with the country, and with him. You can write them 
 at that place, care of Edward Lusk, Esq. I may send on one of the 
 boys before the family go, but am not now determined. Can write 
 no more now for want of time. Write me, on receipt of this, any and 
 every thing of use or interest. 
 
 Your affectionate father, JOHN BROWN. 
 
 AKRON, OHIO, Feb. 13, 1855. 
 
 DEAR CHILDREN, I have deferred answering your very accept 
 able letter of January .30 for one week, in the hope of having some 
 news to write you about Owen and Frederick ; but they are so negli 
 gent about writing that I have not a word to send now. I got quite 
 an encouraging word about Kansas from Mr. Adair the other day. 
 He had before given quite a gloomy picture of things. He and fam 
 ily were all well. The friends here were all well a few days since. 
 John and Wealthy have gone back to Vernon, John taking with him 
 my old surveyor's instruments, in consideration of having learned to 
 survey. I have but little to write that will interest you, so I need 
 not be lengthy. I think we may be able to get off in March, and I 
 mean to sell some of our Devon cattle in order to effect it, if I can do 
 no better. I should send on Watson within a few days, if I thought 
 I could manage to get along with the family and cattle without his help. 
 I may conclude to do so still before we get away. The last of January 
 and February, up to yesterday, have been very remarkable for unin 
 terrupted cold weather for this section. We were glad to learn that 
 you had succeeded in getting the house so comfortable. I want 
 Johnny should be so good a boy that " 95 will not turn him off." 
 Can you tell whether the Stout lot was ever redeemed in December 
 or not by the owners ? 
 
1855.] THE BROWN FAMILY IN KANSAS. 193 
 
 ROCKFORD, WIKNEBAGO COUNTY, ILL., May 7, 1855. 
 DEAR CHILDREN, I am here with my stock of cattle to sell, in 
 order to raise funds so that I can move to North Elba, and think I 
 may get them off in about two weeks. Oliver is here with me. We 
 shall get on so late that we can put in no crops (which I regret), so 
 that you had perhaps better plant or sow what you can conveniently 
 on u 95." 1 I heard from John and Jason and their families (all 
 well) at St. Louis on the 21st April, expecting to leave there on the 
 evening of that day to go up the Missouri for Kansas. My family 
 at Akron were well on the 4th inst. As I may be detained here some 
 days after you get this, I wish you to write me at once what wheat 
 and corn are worth at Westport now, as near as you can learn. 
 People are here so busy sowing their extensive fields of grain, that I 
 cannot get them even to see my cattle now. Direct to this place, care 
 of Shepard Leach, Esq. 
 
 ROCKFOIID, WlNNEBAGO COUNTY, ILL., June 4, 1855. 
 
 DEAR CHILDREN, I write just to say that I have sold my cattle 
 without making much sacrifice, and expect to be on my way home 
 to-morrow. Oliver expects to remain behind and go to Kansas. 
 After I get home I expect to start with my family for North Elba as 
 soon as we can get ready. We may possibly get off this week, but 
 I hardly think we can. I have heard nothing further as yet from 
 the boys in Kansas. All were well at home a few days since. 
 
 HUDSON, OHIO, June 18, 1855. 
 
 DEAR CHILDREN, I write to say that we are (after so long a 
 time) on our way to North Elba, with our freight also delivered at 
 the Akron depot; we look for it here to-night. If this reaches you 
 before we get on, I would like to have some one with a good team go 
 out to Westport on next Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday forenoon, 
 to take us out or a load of our stuff. We have some little thought 
 now of going with our freight by the Welland Canal and by Ogdens- 
 burgh to Westport, in which case we may not get around until after 
 you get this. All are well here, so far as we know. 
 
 Your affectionate father, JOHN BROWN. 
 
 To his Wife. 
 
 SYRACUSE, June 28, 1855. 
 
 DEAR WIFE AND CHILDREN, I reached here on the first day 
 of the convention, and I have reason to bless God that I came ; for 
 
 1 Brown's farm at North Elba. 
 13 
 
194 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1855. 
 
 I have met with a most warm reception from all, so far as I know, 
 and except by a few sincere, honest peace friends a most hearty 
 approval of my intention of arming my sons and other friends in 
 Kansas. I received to-day donations amounting to a little over sixty 
 dollars, twenty from Gerrit Smith, five from an old British officer ; 1 
 others giving smaller sums with such earnest and affectionate expres 
 sions of their good wishes as did me more good than money even. 
 John's two letters were introduced, and read with such effect by Ger 
 rit Smith as to draw tears from numerous eyes in the great collection 
 of people present. The convention has been one of the most in 
 teresting meetings I ever attended in my life ; and I made a great 
 addition to the number of warm-hearted and honest friends. 
 
 Letters from John Brown's Sons in Kansas to their Father. 
 
 BROWNSVILLE, BROWN Co., 2 K. T., 
 Friday Morning, June 22, 1855. 
 
 DEAR FATHER, Day before yesterday we received a letter from 
 you dated Rockford, 111., 24th May, which for some unaccountable 
 cause has been very long delayed on the road. We are exceed 
 ingly glad to hear from you, and that you still intend coming on. 
 Our health is now excellent, and our crops, cattle, and horses look 
 finely. We have now about twelve acres of sod corn in the ground, 
 more than a quarter acre of white beans, two and a half bushels seed 
 potatoes planted and once hoed, besides a good garden containing corn, 
 potatoes, beets, cabbages, turnips, a few onions, some peas, cucum 
 bers, melons, squashes, etc. Jason's fruit-trees, grape-vines, etc., 
 that survived the long period of transportation, look very well : prob 
 ably more than half he started with are living, with the exception of 
 peaches ; of these he has only one or two trees. As we arrived so 
 late in the season, we have but little expectation of harvesting much 
 
 1 This was Charles Stewart, a retired captain of the British army, who 
 had served under Wellington in India or Spain, afterwards emigrated to 
 America, and who became one of the zealous associates of Gerrit Smith in 
 the antislavery crusade of 1835-50. He was visiting at Mr. Smith's house 
 in 1855 ; and I found him there again in February, 1858, when I met 
 Brown in Mrs. Smith's parlor, to hear the disclosure of his Virginia plans. 
 The money given to Brown at Syracuse, in June, 1855, was in part ex 
 pended by him at Springfield, in July, for arms. He then saw his old 
 friend Thomas Thomas, the Maryland freedman, and urged him to join in 
 the Kansas expedition ; but Thomas, who had made his arrangements to 
 live in California, declined, and never met Brown again. 
 
 2 This is now Cutler, in Franklin County. 
 
1855.] THE BROWN FAMILY IN KANSAS. 195 
 
 corn, and but few potatoes. The rainy season usually commences 
 here early in April or before, and continues from six to eight weeks, 
 during which a great amount of rain falls. This year we had no rain 
 of any consequence before the 12th or 15th of May ; since then have 
 had two heavy rains accompanied with some wind and most tremen 
 dous thunder and lightning ; have also had a number of gentle rains, 
 continuing from one to twenty-four hours ; but probably not more 
 than half the usual fall of rain has yet come. As the season last 
 year was irregular in this respect, probably this will be to some 
 extent. We intend to keep our garden, beans, and some potatoes 
 watered if we can, so as to have something if our corn should be a 
 failure. As it is, the prospect is middling fair, and the ground is 
 ploughed ready for early planting next year. Old settlers here say that 
 people should calculate on having the spring's sowing and planting 
 all done by the middle of April j in that case their crops are more 
 abundant. The prairies are covered with grass, which begins to 
 wave in the wind most beautifully ; shall be able to cut any quan 
 tity of this, and it is of far better quality than I had any idea. 
 
 In answer to your questions : Good oxen are from $50 to $80 per 
 yoke, have been higher ; common cows, from $15 to $25, prob 
 ably will not be higher ; heifers in proportion. Limited demand as 
 yet for fine stock. Very best horses from $100 to $150 each ; aver 
 age fair to good, $75 to $80. No great demand now for cattle or 
 horses. A good strong buggy would sell well, probably a Lum- 
 beree best. Mr. Adair has had several chances to sell his. Very few 
 Lumberee buggies among the settlers. White beans, $5 per bushel ; 
 corn meal, $1.75 per bushel of fifty pounds, tending downward; 
 flour, $7 per hundred pounds ; dried apples, 12i cents per pound ; 
 bacon, 12 to 14 cents here; fresh beef, 5 to 6 cents per pound. 
 Enclosed is a slip cut from a late number of the " Kansas Tribune'' 
 giving the markets there, which differ somewhat from prices in this 
 section. It is the paper published at Lawrence by the Speers. 
 
 I have no doubt it would be much cheaper and healthier for you 
 to come in the way you propose, with a " covered lumber buggy and 
 one horse or mule," especially from St. Louis here. The navigation 
 of the Missouri River, except by the light-draught boats recently built 
 for the Kansas River, is a horrid business in a low stage of water, 
 which is a considerable portion of the year. You will be able to see 
 much more of the country on your way, and if you carry some pro 
 visions along it is altogether the cheaper mode of travelling ; besides, 
 such a conveyance is just what you want here to carry on the busi 
 ness of surveying. You can have a good road here whithersoever 
 you may wish to go. Flour, white beans, and dried fruit will doubt 
 less continue for some time to come to be high. It is believed that 
 
196 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1855. 
 
 a much larger emigration will arrive here this fall than before. 
 Should you buy anything to send by water, you can send it either to 
 Lawrence, thirty-five miles north of us, or to Kansas City, Mo., care 
 of Walker & Chick, sixty miles northeast of us. 
 
 A surveyor would soon find that great numbers are holding more 
 land, and especially timber, than can be covered by 160 acres, or 
 even 320, and that great numbers are holding claims for their 
 friends ; so that I have no doubt people will find a sufficient amount 
 of timber yet for a long time. Owing to the rapid settlement of the 
 country by squatters, it does not open a good field for speculators. 
 
 The land on which we are located was ceded by the Pottawatoinie 
 Indians to the Government. The Ottawa lands are soon to be sold, 
 each person of the tribe reserving and choosing two hundred acres ; 
 the remainder open to pre-emption after their choice is made. The 
 Peoria lands have been bargained for by the Government, and are to 
 be sold to the highest bidder without reservation. But Missourians 
 have illegally gone on to these Peoria lands, intending to combine 
 and prevent their going higher than $1.25 per acre, and then claim, 
 if they go higher, a large amount of improvements, thus cheating 
 the Indians. The Ottawas intend to divide into families, and cul 
 tivate the soil and the habits of civilized life, as many of them are 
 now doing. They are a fine people. The Peorias are well advanced, 
 and might do the same but for a bad bargain with our Government. 
 
 [Here is drawn a plan of the Brown settlement or claim.] 
 
 There is a town site recently laid out on the space marked "village 
 plat ; " as there are two or three in sight, it is uncertain which will 
 be taken. The semicircle is even ground, sloping every way, and 
 affording a view in every way of from twenty to thirty miles in every 
 direction, except one small point in the direction of Osawatomie ; the 
 view from this ground is beautiful beyond measure. The timbered 
 lands on Middle Creek are covered with claims j the claimants, many 
 of them from Ohio, Illinois, and the East, are mostly Free-State 
 folks. There are probably twenty families within five or six miles 
 of us. 
 
 Day before yesterday Owen and I ran the Peoria line east to see 
 if there might not be found a patch of timber on some of the numer 
 ous small streams which put into the Osage, and which would be 
 south of the Peoria line. We found on a clear little stream sufficient 
 timber for a log-house, and wood enough to last say twenty families for 
 two or three years, perhaps more, and until one could buy and raise 
 more. Here a good claim could be made by some one. The prairie 
 land which would be included is of the very best I have ever seen ; 
 plenty of excellent stone on and adjoining it. Claims will soon be 
 made here that will have no more than two or three acres of timber ; 
 
1855.] THE BROWN FAMILY IN KANSAS. 197 
 
 and after these are exhausted prairie claims will be taken, the claim 
 ants depending on buying their timber. Already this is the case, and 
 many are selling off twenty, thirty, and forty acres from their timber 
 claims to those who have none. 
 
 The above, though without signature, is in the handwrit 
 ing of John Brown, Jr. ; and the plan of " Brown's Sta 
 tion " is drawn in his neat surveyor's manner. In the same 
 envelope evidently went the two following letters from Jason 
 Brown (familiarly called " Jay " by his family) and Salmon, 
 the eldest son of the second marriage. 
 
 OSAWATOMIE, K. T., June 23, 1855. 
 
 DEAR FATHER, MOTHER, BROTHERS, AND SISTERS, We re 
 ceived a few days since a letter from mother, since then one from 
 father, which we were all very glad to get. I should have written you 
 before, but since we laid little Austin in the grave I have not felt as 
 if I could write. I shall not attempt to say much now. We fully 
 believe that Austin is happy with his Maker in another existence ; 
 and if there is to be a separation of friends after death, we pray God 
 to keep us in the way of truth, and that we may so run our short 
 course as to be able to enjoy his company again. Ellen feels so 
 lonely and discontented here without Austin, that we shall go back 
 to Akron next fall if she does not enjoy herself better. I arn well 
 pleased with the country, and can be as well content here as any 
 where else if it proves to be healthy. It is a very rich and beautiful 
 country. I should think it would be altogether best for father to 
 come by land from St. Louis. Salmon has a very good claim (as 
 well as the rest of us), and seems to be very much pleased with it. 
 We are all living together in tents and in the wagon, and have no 
 houses yet. I used all the money I had for freight and passage be 
 fore I got here, and had to borrow of John. We have no stoves ; I 
 wish now that we had brought ours along. We would all like to 
 hear from you often. All well. 
 
 Your affectionate son and brother, 
 
 J. L. BROWN. 
 
 P. S. If you should come by Akron on your way here, and could 
 buy and box up a middle-sized stove and furniture, with about four 
 lengths of pipe, and send or bring it to me at Kansas City, I will 
 contrive some way to pay you for it. I think they can be got there 
 and shipped here cheaper than they can be bought here. I would 
 like to have you inquire, if you will. 
 
198 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1855. 
 
 OSAWATOMIE, K. T., June 22, 1855. 
 
 DEAR FATHER, We received your letter from Rockford, 111., this 
 week, and are very glad that you are going to get through there soon, 
 and that you are going to be here before fall. In answer to your 
 questions about what you will need for your company, I would say 
 that I have one acre of corn that looks very well, and some beans and 
 squashes and turnips. You will want to get some pork and meal, 
 and beans enough to last till the crop comes in, and then I think 
 we will have enough grain to last through the winter. I will have a 
 house up by the time that you will get here. My boots are very near 
 worn out, and I shall need some summer pants and a hat, I bought 
 an axe, and that you will riot have to get. There are slaves owned 
 within three miles of us. 
 
 Your affectionate son, 
 
 SALMON BROWN. 
 
 From Oliver Brown to his Mother at North Elba. 
 
 EOCKFORD, WlNXEBAGO COUNTY, ILL., Aug. 8 [1855]. 
 
 DEAR MOTHER, I just received yours of the 31st, and also of 
 the 1st, and was very much pleased to hear that you were all well. 
 I also received letters from father and Ruth at the same time, which 
 I was very glad to get ; but I much more expected to see father than 
 to hear from him. My health is very good at present, but has been 
 very poor for a week or ten days back. I am working now for a man 
 named Goodrich, getting $1.50 per day, which I have to earn, every 
 cent of it. I never worked so hard before. I am quite sorry to hear 
 that you are likely to have rather tough times of it for a year to come. 
 Was I certain that father would not be distressed for money when he 
 gets here, I would send you enough to buy another cow; but I think 
 M*e must try and see what we can do for you when we get to Kansas. 
 Have written to Salmon twice, but have received no answer as yet. 
 My shirts hold out very well so far, but I think the ones you were 
 going to send by father will come in play in course of the season. 
 I very much hope to see Alexis Hinkley with him. Should much 
 like to have Watson with us, but do not see that it is possible. I 
 hope to see you all in Kansas in the course of a year or two. It hns 
 been very dry here, but crops look very well. I received that receipt 
 for cholera medicine, and went at once and got the whole dose mixed 
 up. I do not think of more at present, so please all write me soon ; 
 and Wat. you must spur up about writing, and Anna too. 
 From your affectionate son, 
 
 OLIVER BROWN. 
 
1855.1 THE BROWN FAMILY IN KANSAS. 199 
 
 From John Brown to his Family at North Elba. 
 
 CHICAGO, ILL., Aug. 23, 1855. 
 
 DEAR WIFE AND CHILDREN, EVERY ONE, I see that Henry 
 has given you so full a history of our matters that I have but little to 
 say uow, but to add that we start from here this morning, all well. 
 We have a nice young horse, for which we paid here $120, but have 
 so much load that we shall have to walk a good deal enough prob 
 ably to supply ourselves with game. We have provided ourselves 
 with the most of what we need on our outward march. If you get 
 this on Tuesday and answer it on Wednesday, some of you directing 
 on the outside to Oliver, at Rock Island, 111., we should probably get 
 your answer there. Oliver's name is not so common as either Henry's 
 or mine. We shall write you often, and hope you will do so by us. 
 You may direct one to Oliver at Kansas. City, Mo., as we may go 
 there, and shall be very glad to hear from you. Write us soon at 
 Osawatomie. Kansas, and may God Almighty bless you all ! 
 Your affectionate husband and father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 SCOTT COUNTF, IOWA, Sept. 4 [1855], in Morning. 
 
 DEAR WIFE AND CHILDREN, ALL, I am writing in our tent 
 about twenty miles west of the Mississippi, to let you know that we 
 are all in good health and how we get along. We had some delay 
 at Chicago on account of our freight not getting on as we expected ; 
 while there we bought a stout young horse that proves to be a very 
 good one, but he has been unable to travel fast for several days from 
 having taken the distemper. We think he appears quite as well as 
 he has, this morning ; and we hope he will not fail us. Our load is 
 heavy, so that we have to walk most of the time ; indeed, all the 
 time the last day. The roads are mostly very good, and we can 
 make some progress if our horse does not fall us. We fare very well 
 on crackers, herring, boiled eggs, prairie chicken, tea, and sometimes a 
 little milk. Have three chickens now cooking for our breakfast. We 
 shoot enough of them on the wing as we go along to supply us with 
 fresh meat. Oliver succeeds in bringing them down quite as well as 
 any of us. Our expenses before we got away from Chicago had been 
 very heavy ; since then very light, so that we hope our money will 
 not entirely fail us ; but we shall not have any of account left when 
 we get through. 
 
 We expect to go direct through Missouri, and if we are not obliged 
 to stop on account of our horse, shall soon be there. We mean to 
 write you often when we can. We got to Rock Island too soon for 
 
200 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1855. 
 
 any letter from you, but shall not be too curly at Kansas City, where 
 we hope to hear from you. The country through which we have 
 travelled from Chicago has been mostly very good ; the worst fault 
 is want of living streams of water. With all the comforts we have 
 along our journey, I think, could I hope in any other way to an 
 swer the end of my being, I would be quite content to be at North 
 Elba. 
 
 I have directed the sale of the cattle in Connecticut, and to have 
 the rest sent in a New York draft payable to Watson's order, which 
 I hope will make you all quite comfortable. Watson should get 
 something more at Elizabethtown than the mere face of the draft. 
 He will need to write his name across the back of the draft when he 
 sells it : about two inches from the top end would be the proper place. 
 I want you to make the most of the money you get, as I expect to be 
 very poor about money from any other source. Commend you all to 
 the mercy and infinite grace of God. I bid you all good-by for this 
 time. 
 
 Your affectionate husband and father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 1 
 
 OSAWATOMIE, K. T., Oct. 13, 1855. 
 Saturday Eve. 
 
 DEAR WIFE AND CHILDREN, EVERY ONE, We reached the 
 place where the boys are located one week ago, late at night; at 
 least Henry and Oliver did. I, being tired, stayed behind in our 
 tent, a mile or two back. As the mail goes from here early Monday 
 morning, we could get nothing here in time for that mail. We found 
 all more or less sick or feeble but Wealthy and Johnny. 2 All at 
 Brownsville appear now to be mending, but all sick or feeble here at 
 
 1 The following receipts belong in this portion of the family papers : the 
 first one is for arms purchased with money contributed by Gen-it Smith 
 and others for use in Kansas ; the second is for the wagon in which Brown 
 made the journey to Kansas : 
 
 SPRINGFIELD, MASS., July 24, 1855. 
 
 Received of John Brown one box firearms and flasks, to be forwarded by railroad 
 to Albany, and consigned to him at Cleveland, Ohio, care of H. B. Spellman of that 
 place. 
 
 THOMAS O'CONNELL, 
 
 For W. R. R. Company. 
 
 $100. Received of John Brown one hundred dollars in full for a heavy horse wagon, 
 this day sold him, and which we agree to ship immediately to J. B., Iowa City, Iowa, 
 care of Dr. Jesse Bowen. 
 
 BILLINGS & BRYANT. 
 
 2 Son of John Brown, Jr. 
 
1855.] THE BROWN FAMILY IN KANSAS. 201 
 
 Mr. Adair's. Fever and ague and chill-fever seem to be very general. 
 Oliver has had a turn, of the ague since he got here, but has got it 
 broken. Henry has had no return since first breaking it. We met 
 with no difficulty in passing through Missouri, but from the sickness 
 of our horse and our heavy load. The horse has entirely recovered. 
 We had, between us all, sixty cents in cash when we arrived. We 
 found our folks in a most uncomfortable situation, with no houses to 
 shelter one of them, no hay or corn fodder of any account secured, 
 shivering over their little fires, all exposed to the dreadful cutting 
 winds, morning and evening and stormy days. We have been trying 
 to help them all in our power, and hope to get them more comfortable 
 soon. I think much of their ill health is owing to most unreasonable 
 exposure. Mr. Adair's folks would be quite comfortable if they were 
 well. One letter from wife and Anne to Salmon, of August 10, and 
 one from Ruth to John, of 19th September, is all I have seen from 
 any of you since getting here. Henry found one from Ruth, which 
 he has not shown me. Need I write that I shall be glad to hear 
 from you ? I did not write while in Missouri, because I had no confi 
 dence in your getting my letters. We took up little Austin and 
 brought him on here, which appears to be a great comfort to Jason 
 and Ellen. We were all out a good part of the last night, helping 
 to keep the prairie fire from destroying everything ; so that I am 
 almost blind to-day, or I would write you more. 
 
 Sabbath Eve, October 14. 
 
 I notice in your letter to Salmon your trouble about the means of 
 having the house made more comfortable for winter, and I fondly 
 hope you have been relieved on that score before now, by funds 
 from Mr. Huiibut, of Winchester, Conn., from the sale of the cattle 
 there. Write me all about your situation ; for, if disappointed from 
 that source, I shall make every effort to relieve you in some other 
 way. Last Tuesday was an election day with Free-State men in 
 Kansas, and hearing that there was a prospect of difficulty we all 
 turned out most thoroughly armed (except Jason, who was too fee 
 ble) ; but no enemy appeared, nor have I heard of any disturbance 
 in any part of the Territory. Indeed, I believe Missouri is fast be 
 coming discouraged about making Kansas a slave State, and I think 
 the prospect of its becoming free is brightening every day. Try to 
 be cheerful, and always " hope in God," who will not leave nor for 
 sake them that trust in him. Try to comfort and encourage each 
 other all you can. You are all very dear to me, and I humbly trust 
 we may be kept and spared to meet again on earth ; but if not, let 
 us all endeavor earnestly to secure admission to that eternal home, 
 
202 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1854. 
 
 where will be no more bitter separations, u where the wicked shall 
 cease from troubling and the weary be at rest." We shall probably 
 spend a few days more in helping the boys to provide some kind of 
 shelter for winter, and mean to write you often. May God in infinite 
 mercy bless, comfort, and save you all, for Christ's sake ! 
 Your affectionate husband and father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN 
 
 In addition to the account given by John Brown, Jr., of 
 the pilgrimage to Kansas, the following notice of it, written 
 by the father, and found among his papers at North Elba, 
 may here be cited. He wrote thus : 
 
 " Tn 1854 the four eldest sons of John Brown, named John, Jr., 
 Jason, Owen, and Frederick (all children by a first wife), then living 
 in Ohio, determined to remove to Kansas. John, Jr., sold his place, 
 a very desirable little property, near Vernon, in Trumbull County. 
 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 other two sous held no landed property, but both were 
 possessed of some valuable stock (as were als 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. 
 The two first-named, John and Jason, both had families. Owen had 
 none. Frederick was engaged to be married, and was to return for 
 his wife. 
 
 " In consequence of an extreme dearth in 1854 the crops in North 
 ern 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 Southwestern Illinois to 
 winter, and to have them on early in the spring of 1855. This was 
 done at a very considerable expense, and with some loss of stock to 
 John, Jr., some of his best 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 them, 
 Owen, being to some extent a cripple from childhood by an injury 
 of the right arm ; and Frederick, though a very stout man, was sub 
 ject to periodical sickness for many years, attended with insanity. 
 It has been 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 just through with his confinement when 
 he started on his journey, pale and weak. They were obliged to 
 
1855.] THE BROWN FAMILY IN KANSAS. 203 
 
 husk corn all winter, out cf doors, in order to obtain fodder for their 
 animals. Salmon Brown, a very strong minor son of the family, 
 eighteen years old, was sent forward early in 1855, to assist 
 the two last-named, and all three arrived in Kansas early in the 
 spring." 
 
 In such patriarchal fashion did the Browns enter the land 
 which they were foreordained to defend. These young men 
 were of the true stuff, worthy sons of such a sire ; active, 
 enterprising persons, fond of labor, inured to hardship, and 
 expecting, as their father had taught them, to earn their 
 living with the toil of their own hands. The narrow cir 
 cumstances of the family made it necessary that these young- 
 men should support themselves somewhere. Love of free 
 dom, love of adventure, and a desire for independence in 
 fortune combined to tempt them ; but the father, besides his 
 wish to aid them, had constantly in view his main object, 
 as the last letter shows. 
 
 More Family Letters. 
 
 BROWNSVILLE, K. T., Nov. 2, 1855. 
 
 DEAR WIFE AND CHILDREN, EVERY ONE, We last week re 
 ceived Watson's letter of October 3, too late to answer till now. I 
 felt grateful to learn that you were all then well, and I think I fully 
 sympathize with you in all the hardships and discouragements you 
 have to meet ; but you may be assured you are not alone in having 
 trials. I believe I wrote you that we found every one here more or less 
 unwell but Wealthy and Johnny, without any sort of a place where 
 a stout man even could protect himself from the cutting cold winds 
 and storms, which prevail here (the winds, I mean, in particular) much 
 more than in any place where we have ever lived ; and that no crops 
 of hay or anything raised had been taken care of; with corn wasting 
 by cattle and horses, without fences; and, I may add, without any 
 meat ; and Jason's folks without sugar, or any kind of breadstuffs but 
 corn ground with great labor in a hand-mill about two miles off. Since 
 I wrote before, Wealthy, Johnny, Ellen, and myself have escaped 
 being sick. Some have had the ague, but lightly ; but Jason and 
 Oliver have had a hard time of it, and are yet feeble. They appear 
 some better just now. Under existing circumstances we have made 
 but little progress ; but we have made a little. We have got a shanty 
 three logs high, chinked, and mudded, and roofed with our tent, and 
 
204 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1855. 
 
 a chimney so far advanced tliat we can keep a fire in it for Jason. 1 
 John has his shanty a little better fixed than it was, but miserable 
 enough now ; and we have got their little crop of beans secured, 
 which, together with johimycake, mush and milk, pumpkins, and 
 squashes, constitute our fare. Potatoes they have none of any ac 
 count; milk, beans, pumpkins, and squashes a very moderate supply, 
 just for the present use. We have also got a few house- logs cut for 
 Jason. I do not send you this account to render you more unhappy, 
 but merely to let you know that those here are not altogether in 
 paradise, while you have to stay in that miserable frosty region. 
 We had here, October 25, the hardest freezing I ever witnessed south 
 of North Elba at that season of the year. 
 
 After all, God's tender mercies are not taken from us, and blessed 
 be his name forever ! I believe things will a little brighten here 
 before long, and as the winter approaches, and that we may be able 
 to send you a more favorable account. There is no proper officer 
 before whom a deed can be acknowledged short of Lawrence, and 
 Jason and Owen have not been able to go there at all since we got 
 here. 1 want to learn very much whether you have received any 
 return from the cattle of Mr. Hurlbut, in Connecticut, so that I may 
 at once write him if you have not. I trust you will not neglect this, 
 as it takes so long to get letters through, and it will greatly lessen my 
 anxiety about your being made in some measure comfortable for the 
 winter. We hear that the fall has been very sickly in Ohio and other 
 States. I can discover no reason why this country should continue 
 sickly, but it has proven exceedingly so this fall. I feel more and 
 more confident that slavery will soon die out here, and to God be 
 the praise ! Commending you all to his infinite grace, I remain 
 Your affectionate husband and father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 To his Family. 
 
 OSAWATOMIE, K. T., Nov. 23, 1855. 
 
 DEAR WIFE AND CHILDREN, ALL, Ruth's letter to Henry, 
 saying she was about moving, and dated 23d October (I think), 
 was received by last week's mail. We were all glad to learn again 
 of your welfare ; and as to your all staying in one house, I can see 
 no possible objection, if you can only be well agreed, and try to 
 
 1 His home was a freezing cabin, 
 Too bare for the hungry rat ; 
 Its roof was thatched with ragged grass, 
 And bald enough of that. 
 
 HOLMES, The Pilgrim's Vision. 
 
1855.] THE BROWN FAMILY IN KANSAS. 205 
 
 make each other as comfortable as may be. Nothing new of account 
 has occurred amongst us since I wrote. Henry, Jason, and Oliver 
 are unable to do much yet, but appear to have but little ague now. 
 The others are all getting middling well. We have got both families 
 so sheltered that they need not suffer hereafter ; have got part of the 
 hay (which had lain in cocks) secured] made some progress in prep 
 aration to build a house for John and Owen ; and Salmon has caught 
 a prairie wolf in the steel trap. We continue to have a good deal of 
 stormy weather, rains with severe winds, and forming into ice as 
 they fall, together with cold nights that freeze the ground consider 
 ably. " Still God has not forsaken us," and we get " day by day 
 our daily bread," and I wish we all had a great deal more gratitude 
 to mingle with our undeserved blessings. Much suffering would be 
 avoided by people settling in Kansas, were they aware that they 
 would need plenty of warm clothing and light warm houses as much 
 as in New Hampshire or Vermont; for such is the fact. 
 
 Since Watson wrote, I have felt a great deal troubled about your 
 prospects of a cold house to winter in, and since I wrote last I have 
 thought of a cheap ready way to help it much, at any rate. Take 
 any common straight-edged boards, and run them from the ground 
 up to the eaves, barn fashion, not driving the nails in so far but that 
 they may easily be drawn, covering all but doors and windows as 
 close as may be in that way, and breaking joints if need be. This 
 can be done by any one, and in any weather not very severe, and the 
 boards may afterwards be mostly saved for other uses. I think much, 
 too, of your widowed state, and I sometimes allow myself to dream a 
 little of again some time enjoying the comforts of home ; but I do 
 not dare to dream much. May God abundantly reward all your 
 sacrifices for the cause of humanity, and a thousandfold more than 
 compensate your lack of worldly connections ! We have received two 
 newspapers you sent us, which were indeed a great treat, shut away 
 as we are from the means of getting the news of the day. Should 
 you continue to direct them to some of the boys, after reading, we 
 should prize them much. 
 
 Your affectionate husband and father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 These letters disclose the hardships of the first year of 
 pioneer life in Kansas, suffered from the elements and nat 
 ural causes alone. Yet the troubles of this family were but 
 just begun when the inclemency of the season had been in 
 some measure guarded against. The Browns had " located," 
 as already mentioned, ten or twelve miles from Osawatomie ; 
 
206 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1855. 
 
 their kinsman Mr. Adair living between them and the 
 village. James Haiiway, another pioneer, living on the 
 Pottawatomie, near Dutch Henry's Crossing, in Franklin 
 County, a few miles southeast of Brownsville (which is 
 now in the township of Cutler), thus speaks of the loca 
 tion : " On North Middle Creek, on the farm of Mr. Day, 
 eight miles southeast of Ottawa, John Brown caused to be 
 erected a cabin for the purpose of pre-empting a claim for 
 his brother-in-law Mr. Day, the father of the present occu 
 pant of the farm ; but I never learned that Brown lived on 
 it, for after the month of May, 1856, he was never station 
 ary, but all the time on the war-path, until he left Kansas 
 for a season. After the Pottawatomie tragedy occurred, 
 the John Brown, Jr., cabin, with a valuable library, was 
 burned down by the ruffians. This cabin was located a 
 short distance south of the Day cabin. The other sons of 
 John Brown had claims about one and a half miles south, 
 now known as ' Brown's Kim.' " The family were therefore 
 within a circuit of two miles of each other, and at some dis 
 tance from any other settlers. Their post-office was Osawa- 
 tomie ; for there was then no town at Ottawa, which is now 
 a thriving village, with a third part of the whole county 
 population. The township of Pottawatomie, in which the 
 Shermans and Doyles lived, was about as far south from 
 the Browns as Osawatomie was on the east. 
 
 Scarcely had the Brown family got over the first hard 
 ships of the sickly season and the frosty autumn, when they 
 were called upon to arm and muster for the defence of their 
 threatened neighbors at Lawrence. The murdering of Free- 
 State men had begun (Oct. 25, 1855) with the shooting of 
 Samuel Collins at Doniphan by Pat Laughlin, a noisy pro- 
 slavery Irishman, who was aided in his attack by three or 
 four armed associates. No attempt was made to punish 
 Laughlin. Four weeks later, November 21, Charles Dow 
 was murdered by Franklin Coleman, a proslavery bully, 
 near Hickory Point. The next night, Jacob Branson, a wit 
 ness against Coleman, was arrested by the proslavery sheriff 
 Jones, for taking part in a Free-State meeting, contrary to 
 the " bogus laws ; " but before Jones and his posse could 
 carry their prisoner to the proslavery capital, Lecompton, 
 
1855.J THE BROWN FAMILY IN KANSAS. 207 
 
 they were waylaid by an equal force of Free-State men, who 
 rescued Branson, near Blanton's Bridge, on the very night 
 of his arrest. J. R. Kennedy, now of Colorado, has given a 
 graphic account of the rescue scene, which I will quote in 
 his own words, for the sake of showing what men and what 
 events might be heard of at any time in Kansas. 1 The date 
 is Nov. 22, 1855 ; the men acting on the Free-State side 
 were Major James B. Abbott, Captain Philip Hutchinson, 
 Philip Hupp, and his son Miner Hupp, Colonel Samuel 1ST. 
 Wood (an Ohio man, six months resident in Kansas), Elmore 
 Allen, Edmund Curless, Lafayette Curless, William Hughes, 
 Paul Jones, J. K. Kennedy, Collins Holloway, Isaac Shap- 
 
 pet, John Smith, and Smith. The party were waiting 
 
 at Abbott's house at eleven o'clock at night, when the 
 chronicle begins. Kennedy says : 
 
 11 While I was standing by the door, still on the watch, I heard 
 Philip Hupp (and no braver man ever lived) say, ' Well, boys, I 
 tell you what's the matter; they have taken Branson and crossed the 
 Wakarusa at Cornelius's Crossing, and have him at old Crane's hotel. 
 All we have to do, and what we ought to do, is to march right down 
 there, and if Branson is in the house, tell him to come out, that he 
 is a free man, and will be protected.' Just at this time I walked out 
 a little from the door, and looking south saw fifteen or twenty mounted 
 men riding slowly along the road toward the house. Stepping quickly 
 back to the door, I caught Major Abbott's eye, and beckoned him to 
 come out, which he did. I showed him the men, and exclaiming, 
 * That 's the party ! ' he rushed into the house, telling the boys they 
 
 1 Mr. Wilder, the Kansas historian, with the national turn for humor, 
 says : "We had a Kansas war here once, civil, internecine, fratricidal. 
 Some fellow in long hair and buckskin breeches, armed and mounted like 
 Jesse James, would ride up to you and kill you because you could read and 
 write, and were a Yankee. He controlled the elections in that way for 
 several years. Those who fought you at the polls also counted the votes 
 after the election. There was a proslavery bully here name happily for 
 gotten who made it a business to fight on election day, to knock down 
 and drag out, and to keep timid men from the polls. But at one election 
 the bully woke up the wrong passenger, namely, John Lawler, of Elwood. 
 When John came home that night, after taking a square Free-State drink, 
 he said he had found the way to carry a Free-State election : ' Break a 
 Democratic leg early in the morning.' And that was just what John had 
 done." 
 
208 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1855. 
 
 were coming, and to go out quick. Mrs. Abbott handed the boys 
 their guns, and they did go out with a rush, Abbott going first, fol 
 lowed by Philip Hupp ; then came Captain Hutchinson, PaulJones, 
 and others. We turned to the left around the corner of the house 
 into the road a few rods in front of the horsemen. Phil Hupp was 
 the first man who crossed the road. He said afterwards he was 
 watching the man on the gray horse, Sheriff Jones ; and he did 
 watch him, sure enough. Next to Hupp was Paul Jones, and botli 
 were armed with squirrel rifles. Next came Captain Hutchinson, 
 armed with two large stones j next were Holloway and myself, I 
 thinking Captain Hutchiuson was a good man to stay with, as he 
 had been three years in the Mexican War. The rest of the boys 
 ranged along the side of the road near the house. This was about the 
 order we occupied when the party approached close to those in the 
 road, and very close to those by the side of the road. Mr. Hupp 
 being in front, and seeing the boys scattered along from where he was 
 to the side of the house, called out, ( Boys, what the hell are you 
 doing there ? Here is the place for you.' They then all crowded 
 rapidly up in front of the other party, when one of these said, 
 ' What 's up ? ' Major Abbott replied, ; That is what we want to 
 know/ which remark was followed by a shot on our side. (The 
 Major had a self-cocking revolver, and he had, in his excitement, 
 pulled it a little too hard, causing it to go off.) Then the question 
 was asked him again by the other side, ' What 's up ? ' Thinking of 
 what Mr. Hupp had said in the house, I said to Major Abbott, l Ask 
 them if Branson is there.' He did so, and the answer was, ' Yes, I 
 am here, and a prisoner.' Three or four of our men spoke at once, 
 Major Abbott, Colonel Wood, and others whom I do not remem 
 ber, saying, t Come out of that,' or i Come over to your friends,' 
 or perhaps both were said. Branson replied, ' They say they will 
 shoot me if I do.' Colonel Sam Wood answered quickly, ' Let 
 them shoot and be damned ; we can shoot too.' Branson then said, 
 ' I will come if they do shoot,' starting his mule. (The man who 
 was leading it let the halter slip through his hands very quietly.) 
 The rest of the proslavery party raised their shot-guns and cocked 
 them. Our little crowd raised their guns, and were ready in as 
 good time as the others. Sam Wood and two or three of our 
 men helped Branson. Wood asked Branson, ' Is this your mule ? ' 
 1 No,' was the reply, whereupon Wood kicked the mule and said, 
 1 Go back to your masters, damn you.' In the mean time Branson 
 had disappeared, and was seen no more by these brave ' shot-gun ' 
 men. 
 
 " About this time some one of them said, l Why, Sam Wood, you 
 are very brave to-night ; you must want to fight.' Colonel Wood 
 
1855.J THE BROWN FAMILY IN KANSAS. 209 
 
 replied that he l was always ready for a fight.' Just at this moment 
 Sheriff Jones interposed, saying, ' There is no use to shed hlood in 
 this affair; but it will be settled soon in a way that will not be very 
 pleasant to Abolitionists/ and started to ride through those standing 
 in the road. He did not then know old Philip Hupp, but soon made 
 his acquaintance ; and I do not think he will be stopped by death any 
 quicker than Phil Hupp stopped him that night. Just as soon as 
 he started, old Philip set the trigger and cocked his old squirrel rifle 
 quicker than he or any other man ever did it before, and said to Sheriff 
 Jones, ' Halt ! or I will blow your damned brains out in a moment.' 
 He stopped, and stayed right there, saying gently to Mr. Hupp, 
 ' Don't shoot.' There was then a general talk among all hands, and 
 we were told about the ' Kansas militia, three thousand strong, that in 
 three days' time would wipe that damned Abolition town Lawrence 
 out, and corral all the Abolitionists and make pets of them.' How 
 ever, Colonel Sam Wood and others out-talked them so bad that they 
 were glad to get away on any terms. Miner Hupp, who wanted to 
 square accounts with his two men, 1 was prevented from doing so. It 
 was not his fault, for he had a ' bead ' on them several times ; but his 
 father was watching him all the time after he got Sheriff Jones in 
 shape." 
 
 As the affair, thus described, was the first instance of 
 combined and forcible resistance to the usurping authorities 
 created by the fraudulent elections of March 30, 1855, it 
 was naturally looked upon as very serious by both parties. 
 Sheriff Jones (the notorious ruffian who afterward led the 
 successful attack on Lawrence in May, 1856) was full of 
 wrath and cursing. He rode on with his posse that night to 
 a little village near Lawrence, then called Franklin, where 
 they decided to appeal both to Wilson Shannon (the drunken 
 governor of Kansas, who had superseded Governor Reeder), 
 and to Colonel Boone, of Westport, Mo. (Jones's father-in- 
 law and a descendant of Daniel Boone), for aid in punishing 
 the rebellious Yankees. Jones wrote a despatch to W 7 est- 
 port, which he sent by a mounted messenger, saying, as the 
 
 1 This alludes to a previous saying of young Hupp, that he "wanted to 
 square accounts with two of the posse that had threatened and abused him 
 a day or two before, and was afraid the ball would be over before he got 
 there." 'The above account is part of a letter written by Kennedy from 
 Colorado Springs, where he was living in 1879, and may not be minutely 
 accurate ; but it is the best I have seen. 
 
 14 
 
210 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1855 
 
 man rode off, " That man is taking my despatch to Mis 
 souri, and, by God ! I will have revenge before I see Missouri 
 again." Being reminded that he had not notified his offi 
 cial superior Governor Shannon, he next sent a message to 
 him at the Sliawnee Mission by one Hargous, who was an 
 accessory to the murder of Dow two days before. Mean 
 time the Free-State men were not idle. They held a public 
 meeting, November 27, at Lawrence, at which Branson the 
 rescued prisoner spoke, telling the story of his friend's 
 murder and his own arrest. Dow, he said, was a mild and 
 peaceable young man, esteemed by those who knew him, an 
 immigrant from Ohio, who was boarding at Branson's house. 
 Coleman had repeatedly threatened to kill him, and on the 
 morning of the 21st, when Dow went on some errand to the 
 blacksmith's shop, Branson advised him to take his gun, 
 but Dow did not. On his return to Branson's, and when a 
 few steps from the shop, hearing the click of a gun, he turned 
 round, and received in his breast the charge of a double- 
 barrelled shot-gun loaded with slugs. This happened about 
 one o'clock ; and the body was left lying by the side of the 
 road where he fell until sundown, when some of the acces 
 sories sent word to Branson " that a dead body was lying by 
 the roadside." He had begun to fear some ill had befallen 
 his friend, and at once recognizing the body, conveyed it to 
 his house. Coleman then took refuge with Governor Shan 
 non at the Shawnee Mission, and was nominally arrested by 
 Jones, who was serving as sheriff of Douglas County in Kan 
 sas, while living at Westport, and acting postmaster there. 
 Branson had taken no part in the affair; but the next morn 
 ing a proslavery justice at Lawrence, named Cameron, issued 
 a " peace-warrant " against Branson on the complaint of a 
 proslavery neighbor at Hickory Point, where the murder 
 occurred. That evening, after Branson had gone to bed with 
 his family, Sheriff Jones, with a party of mounted men, rode 
 up to his lone cabin upon the prairies, a half-mile from 
 neighbors, knocked at the door, and to the question " Who 
 is there ? " replied, " A friend." " Come in then ; " and 
 the little cabin was at once full of rough, savage^ armed 
 men. Jones went to the bedside, and, presenting his 
 pistol to Branson's breast, said, "You are my prisoner." 
 
1855.] THE BROWN FAMILY IN KANSAS. 211 
 
 Branson asked, " By what authority ? " Oaths, and the 
 threat " I will blow you through," were the only an 
 swer 5 the ruffians, with guns cocked, gathered round, and 
 took him prisoner, an innocent, defenceless man, kid 
 napped from his home and family by a gang of twenty- 
 five half-drunken men, showing no papers of arrest, and 
 answering with oaths and threats of death any question of 
 their authority. 
 
 Such was the story told by Branson and the other speak 
 ers at the Lawrence meeting. Branson, a plain elderly 
 farmer, "of quiet and modest deportment," says Mrs. Robin 
 son, 1 then went on to say, " with tears at times stealing down 
 his weather-beaten cheeks," that he had been requested by 
 some friends to leave Lawrence, to seek some other place of 
 safety, so that no excuse could be given to the enemy for an 
 attack upon Lawrence. He said he would go, Lawrence 
 should not be involved in difficulty on his account ; if it was 
 the decision of the majority, he would go to his home, and 
 die there, and be buried by the side of his friend. This 
 statement was met by cries of " No ! no ! " The principal 
 speakers after Branson were Grosvenor P. Lowry, a young 
 lawyer from Pennsylvania, who proposed a committee of 
 ten for the common defence ; Colonel Wood, who had taken 
 part in the rescue ; and Martin F. Conway (born in Maryland 
 in 1828), who had emigrated to Kansas in October, 1854, 
 and had resigned his seat in the fraudulent Territorial 
 Council of 1855. 2 
 
 What Mr. Conway said had much weight, as coming from 
 the best lawyer in Kansas. He advised them to move cau 
 tiously, but boldly, having a care to take every step properly. 
 They had ignored and repudiated the Legislature at the 
 Shawnee Mission : they would never give their allegiance 
 
 1 Kansas : Its Exterior and Interior Life, pp. 105-110. 
 
 2 Mr. Conway was among the ablest of the men who made Kansas a free 
 State, and was a steady friend of John Brown. He had been bred a Demo 
 crat, and was a protege of Henry May, a Democratic Congressman from 
 Baltimore, but was hostile to slavery, and a radical in his construction of 
 the Constitution and laws. He was chosen Chief-Justice of Kansas under 
 the Topeka Constitution, and was the first Congressman from the State. 
 He died at Washington in 1883. 
 
212 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1855. 
 
 to such a monstrous iniquity. To the United States author 
 ities, to the organic act, to the courts created under it, and 
 to the judges and marshals appointed by the President, they 
 would yield obedience. These might oppress them, but they 
 would submit, and seek redress for grievances at the United 
 States Supreme Court, which would give them a fair hear 
 ing. 1 He did not dissuade them from defending their rights 
 and insisting on all the safeguards of the law. Fortunately, 
 however, the friends of Kansas in New England and New 
 York had not suffered their emigrants to rely wholly upon 
 what proved to be a broken reed, the protection of the 
 courts. Notwithstanding the protest of Mr. Amos Law 
 rence and others before the Congressional Investigating 
 Committee of May and June, 1856, that "the Emigrant Aid 
 Company had never invested a dollar in cannon or rifles, in 
 powder or lead, or in any of the implements of war," the 
 truth is, that the officers and agents of this company (and 
 Mr. Lawrence among the foremost) raised money and pur 
 chased arms, which were sent to Kansas in May, 1855, in 
 August, 1855, and at other times. The chief agent of this 
 company in Kansas was Charles Robinson, who despatched 
 G. W. Deitzler to Massachusetts in April, 1855, to obtain 
 weapons, and again sent Major Abbott (already mentioned 
 as the leader in the rescue of Branson) in July for the same 
 purpose. Robinson gave Abbott a letter to Eli Thayer, 
 the originator of the Emigrant Aid Company, in which he 
 told Mr. Thayer that " the rifles in Lawrence [the so-called 
 1 Beecher Bibles '] have had a very good effect, and T 
 think the same kind of instruments in other places would 
 do more to save Kansas than almost anything else." This 
 was John Brown's opinion also, as was shown by his start 
 ing for Kansas at that time with a supply of weapons. Mr. 
 Branscomb, a Boston agent of the Emigrant Aid Com 
 pany, indorsed Robinson's suggestion, and "cheerfully rec 
 ommended Mr. J. B. Abbott to the public," under date of 
 
 1 Judge Conway then supposed what the events of the next year sadly 
 disproved by Taney's atrocious Dred Scott decision that the court of Mar 
 shall and Story would decree justice, and not hasten to make itself the mere 
 tool of the slave-power, as Pierce and Buchanan were. In fact, the United 
 States Court in Kansas anticipated Taney in this submission. 
 
1855.] THE BROWN FAMILY IN KANSAS. 213 
 
 August 10, 1855. Mr. Lawrence, vice-president of the com 
 pany, 011 the next day (August 11) wrote to Major Abbott 
 at Hartford, Conn, (where iSharpe's rifles were then made), 
 as follows : 
 
 11 Request Mr. Palmer to have one hundred Sharpe's rifles packed 
 in casks, like hardware, and to retain them subject to my order ; also 
 to send the bill to me by mail. I will pay it either with my note, 
 according to the terms agreed on between him and Dr. Webb, 1 or in 
 cash, less interest at seven per cent per annum." 
 
 August 20. 
 
 This instalment of carbines is far from being enough, and I hope 
 the measures you are taking will be followed up until every organized 
 company of trusty men in the Territory shall be supplied. Dr. 
 Cabot 2 will give me the names of any gentlemen here who subscribe 
 money, and the amount, of which I shall keep a memorandum, and 
 promise them that it shall be repaid, either in cash or rifles, whenever 
 it is settled that Kansas shall not be a province of Missouri. There 
 fore keep them in capital order, and, above all, take good care that 
 they do not fall into the hands of the Missourians after you once get 
 them into use. You must dispose of these ichere tliey will do the 
 most good ; and for this purpose you should advise with Dr. Robin 
 son and Mr. Pomeroy. 3 
 
 August 24. 
 
 The rifles ought to be on the way. Have you forwarded them ? 
 How much money have you received f The Topeka people will 
 require half of these. 
 
 1 Secretary of the Emigrant Aid Company, and a devoted friend of free 
 Kansas. 
 
 2 Samuel Cabot, Jr., M.D., a noted surgeon in Boston, and one of the 
 most active in raising money for rifles and other material aid to the Kansas 
 farmers in 1855-57. He has preserved a list of the subscribers to the 
 arms fund, which the historian of Kansas should print in his volume. 
 
 3 In view of these manly letters of Mr. Lawrence, his statements to the 
 Massachusetts Historical Society (May 8, 1884) in praise of the peaceful 
 character of Charles Robinson are very grotesque. Mr. Lawrence then 
 said : " Charles Robinson never bore arms, nor omitted to do whatever he 
 considered to be his duty. He sternly held the people to their loyalty to the 
 Government, against the arguments and the example of the ' higher law ' 
 men, who were always armed." One of these "higher law " men was Major 
 Abbott, who rescued Branson contrary to law, and who was armed by Mr. 
 Lawrence himself, at the urgent request of Robinson ! Sad is the effect 
 of time on the human memory. 
 
214 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1855. 
 
 Ill presenting these letters of Kobinson and Lawrence to 
 the Kansas Historical Society in 1882, Major Abbott said, 
 among other things : " I went to the Emigrant Aid folks in 
 Boston, and to Amos A. Lawrence, who immediately gave 
 the money for the purchase of one hundred Sharpe's rifles. 
 His action and these letters show what a friend of Kansas 
 he was at that early period, and how quick he was to com 
 prehend the character of the struggle into which we had 
 been precipitated. When I reached home, the latter part 
 of September, I found the rifles, which I had sent ahead of 
 me, at Lawrence, and ready for use. The howitzer came 
 later, but was in time to be brought to the defence of Law 
 rence at the invasion in December, 1855, the pretence for 
 which was the rescue of Branson, which rescue, as it 
 happened, I had a hand in," To meet this invasion Kobin 
 son was made a major-general, and in that capacity commis 
 sioned John Brown as captain. 1 
 
 The story of the arms earlier sent out by the " Emigrant 
 Aid folks " may here be given as told by General Deitzler 
 and the Kev. Edward E. Hale in 1879. General Deitzler 
 said : 
 
 " Some six weeks after my arrival in the Territory, and only a few 
 days after the Territorial election of March 30, 1855, at which time 
 
 1 The position of Kobinson towards Major Abbott and the rescuers of 
 Branson may be inferred from the fact that they reported at Robinson's 
 house, ten miles from Blanton's Bridge, before sunrise, November 23, the 
 day after the affair. Mrs. Robinson thus tells the story in her book : "The 
 slight form of the leader stood a little nearer the door ; and when his pecu 
 liarly dry manner of speech fell upon the ear in his brief inquiry, ' Is Dr. 
 R. in ?' his identit} r was also known. The Doctor opened the door and 
 invited them in. The fact of the rescue was stated, and Mr. Branson, lie- 
 ing in the ranks, was ordered to 'step forward and tell his story,' which 
 he did with much feeling, and with the appearance of a person who is 
 heart-broken. 1 shall never forget the appearance of the men in simple 
 citizen's dress, some armed and some unarmed, standing in unbroken line, 
 just visible in the breaking light of a November morning. This little band 
 of less than twenty men had, through the cold and upon the frozen ground, 
 walked ten miles since nine o'clock of the previous evening. Mr. Branson 
 a large man, of fine proportions stood a little forward of the line, with his 
 head slightly bent, which an old straw hat hardly protected from the cold, 
 looking as though, in his hurry of departure from home in charge of the 
 ruffianly men, he took whatever came first." 
 
1855.J THE BROWN FAMILY IN KANSAS. 215 
 
 Kansas was invaded by an armed force from the Southern States and 
 the actual Free- State settlers were driven from the polls, Governor 
 Charles Kohinson requested me to visit Boston with a view to secur 
 ing arms for our people, to which I assented. . Preparations were 
 quickly and quietly made, and no one knew of the object of my mis 
 sion except Governor Kobinson and Joel Grover. At Worcester I 
 presented my letter from Governor Robinson to Mr. Eli Thayer, just 
 as he was leaving his Oread Home for the morning Boston train. 
 Within an hour after our arrival in Boston, the Executive Committee 
 of the Emigrant Aid Society held a meeting, and delivered to me 
 an order for one hundred Sharpe's rifles, and I started for home on 
 Monday morning. The boxes were marked ' Books.' I took the 
 precaution to have the (cap) cones removed from the guns, and car 
 ried them in my carpet-sack, which would have been missing in the 
 event of the capture of the guns by the enemy. On the Missouri 
 River I met John and Joseph L. Speer for the first time. They did 
 not know me, but may remember the exciting incidents at Boone- 
 ville and other points along the river. I arrived at Lawrence 
 with the 'Beecher Bibles' several days before the special election 
 in April, called by Governor Reeder. But no guns were needed 
 upon that occasion, as the ruffians ignored said election; and when 
 the persons elected upon that day presented their credentials at 
 Pawnee, they were kicked out without ceremony. ... It was 
 perhaps the first shipment of arms for our side ; and it incited a 
 healthy feeling among the unarmed Free-State settlers, which 
 permeated and energized them until even the Quakers were ready 
 to fight." ! 
 
 Mr. Hale gave his recollections as follows : 
 
 " In the spring of 1855 my friend Mr. Deitzler came on in haste to 
 New England, to say that fighting was certain, and that you must 
 have more weapons. The breech-loading rifle was then a new and 
 costly arm. It was then that we gave to the Sharpe's Rifle Com 
 pany the first of a series of orders which became historical. In the 
 next year Henry Ward Beecher won the nickname which he has 
 never lost, ' Sharpe's Rifle Beecher ; ' and I fancy there is no nickname 
 of which he is more proud. With your permission I will read the 
 answer of the company to that order, and then I will ask our friend 
 Mr. Adams to accept that letter as an historical document for his 
 Society." 2 
 
 1 Kansas Memorial, 1879, pp. 184, 185. 
 
 2 Ibid., p. 147. 
 
216 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1855. 
 
 SHARPE'S RIFLE MANUFACTURING Co., 
 HARTFORD, May 7, 1855. 
 
 DEAR SIR, Annexed find invoice of one hundred carbines, am 
 munition; etc., delivered Mr. Deitzler this morning. For balance of 
 account, I have ordered on Messrs. Lee, Higginson, & Co., at thirty 
 days from this date, for $2,155.65, as directed by you. We shall be 
 pleased to receive further orders from you, and will put up arms at 
 our lowest cash prices to the trade, with interest added for time. The 
 sample carbine for your use shall go forward immediately. Our 
 negotiations with you I trust will be entirely confidential, as the trade 
 in Boston and elsewhere might take offence if they understood that 
 we had made you better terms than we grant to others. 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 J. C. PALMER, Pres. 
 THOS. H. WEBB, ESQ. 
 
 Dr. Webb was then, and continued to be, the secretary of 
 the Emigrant Aid Company ; and when Mr. Hale said " we," 
 he meant the managers of that company, whose best title to 
 the gratitude of Kansas and the nation is this very gift of 
 arms to the emigrants, without which the invasion of Law 
 rence in December, 1855, could not have been met. This 
 invasion was made under a proclamation issued by Governor 
 Shannon, November 29, calling out the "Kansas militia." 
 He meant thereby the Missouri men, as appears by an early 
 message sent from Woodson, the governor's secretary, to a 
 proslavery commander at Leaven worth, named Eastin, who 
 had been appointed by the usurping Legislature to be gen 
 eral of the Territorial militia. 
 
 (Private.) 
 
 DEAR GENERAL, The Governor has called out the militia, and 
 you will hereby organize your division, and proceed forthwith to 
 Lecompton. As the Governor has no power, you may call out the 
 Platte Rifle Company. They are always ready to help us. What 
 ever you do, do not implicate the Governor. 
 
 DANIEL WOODSON. 
 
 On the same day (November 27) a despatch was sent from 
 Westport to the capital of Missouri in these words : 
 
1855.] THE BROWN FAMILY IN KANSAS. 217 
 
 HON. E. C. McCLAREM, Jefferson City, Governor Shannon has 
 ordered out the militia against Lawrence. They are now in open 
 rebellion against the laws. Jones is in danger. 
 
 From another border town in Missouri, this despatch was 
 sent : 
 
 WESTON, Mo., November 30. 
 
 The greatest excitement continues to exist in Kansas. The offi 
 cers have been resisted by the mobocrats, and the interposition of the 
 militia has been called for. A secret letter from Secretary Woodson 
 to General Eastin has been written, in which the writer requests 
 General Eastin to call for the Rifle Company at Platte City, Mo., 
 so as not to compromise Governor Shannon. Four hundred men 
 from Jackson County are now en route for Douglas County, K. T. 
 St. Joseph and Weston are requested to furnish each the same num 
 ber. The people of Kansas are to be subjugated at all hazards. 
 
 The invasion took place, and resulted in threats on the 
 Missouri side, fortifications and drilling on the Lawrence 
 side ; and finally this little " Wakarusa war " was ended by 
 a treaty with Shannon, who conceded all that the Free-State 
 men had asked. Brown and his family rallied to the de 
 fence of their neighbors and their cause, and were said to 
 be the best-armed men that came forward for service. They 
 were mustered in as Kansas militia; John Brown was made 
 captain, and his son John lieutenant, in the Osawatomle 
 company. His own report of this affair is as follows : 
 
 BROWN'S FIRST CAMPAIGN : THE WAKARUSA WAR. 
 
 OSAWATOMIE, K. T., Dee. 10, 1855. 
 Sabbath Evening. 
 
 DEAR WIFE AND CHILDREN, EVERY ONE, I improve the first 
 mail since my return from the camp of volunteers, who lately turned 
 out for the defence of the town of Lawrence in this Territory; and not 
 withstanding I suppose you have learned the result before this (pos 
 sibly), will give a brief account of the invasion in my own way. 
 
 About three or four weeks ago news came that a Free-State man 
 by the name of Dow had been murdered by a proslavery man by 
 the name of Colernan, who had gone and given himself up for trial to 
 the proslavery Governor Shannon. This was soon followed by fur 
 ther news that a Free-State man who "was the only reliable witness 
 
218 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1855. 
 
 against the murderer had been seized by a Missourian (appointed 
 sheriff by the bogus Legislature of Kansas) upon false pretexts, ex 
 amined, and held to bail under such heavy bonds, to ausvv r er to those 
 false charges, as he could not give; that while on his way to trial, 
 in charge of the bogus sheriff, he was rescued by some men belong 
 ing to a company near Lawrence; and that in consequence of the 
 rescue Governor Shannon had ordered out all the proslavery force he 
 could muster in the Territory, and called on Missouri for further help ; 
 that about two thousand had collected, demanding a surrender of the 
 rescued witness and of the rescuers, the destruction of several build 
 ings and printing-presses, and a giving up of the Sharpe's rifles by 
 the Free-State men, threatening to destroy the town with cannon, 
 with which they were provided, etc. ; that about an equal number of 
 Free-State men had turned out to resist them, -and that a battle was 
 hourly expected or supposed to have been already fought. 
 
 These reports appeared to be well authenticated, but we could got 
 no further account of matters; and I left this for the place where the 
 boys are settled, at evening, intending to go to Lawrence to learn 
 the facts the next day. John was, however, started on horseback ; 
 but before he had gone many rods, word came that our help was im 
 mediately wanted. On getting this last news, it was at once agreed 
 to break up at John's camp, and take Wealthy and Johnny to Jason's 
 camp (some two miles off), and that all the men but Henry, Jason, 
 and Oliver should at once set off for Lawrence under arms; those 
 three being wholly unfit for duty. We then set about providing a little 
 corn-bread and meat, blankets, and cooking utensils, running bullets 
 and loading all our guns, pistols, etc. The five set off in the after 
 noon, and after a short rest in the night (which was quite dark), con 
 tinued our march until after daylight next morning, when we got our 
 breakfast, started again, and reached Lawrence in the forenoon, all of 
 us more or less lamed by our tramp. On reaching the place we found 
 that negotiations had commenced between Governor Shannon (having 
 a force of some fifteen or sixteen hundred men) and the principal 
 leaders of the Free-State men, they having a force of some five hun 
 dred men at that time. These were busy, night and day, fortifying 
 the town with embankments and circular earthworks, up to the time 
 of the treaty with the Governor, as an attack was constantly looked 
 for, notwithstanding the negotiations then pending. Tins state of 
 things continued from Friday until Sunday evening. 1 On the even 
 ing we left Osawatomie a company of the invaders, of from fifteen to 
 twenty-five, attacked some three or four Free-State men, mostly un 
 armed, killing a Mr. Barber from Ohio, wholly unarmed. His body 
 was afterward brought in and lay for some days in the room after- 
 1 December 7-9. 
 
1855.] THE BROWN FAMILY IN KANSAS. 219 
 
 ward occupied by a part of the company to which we belong* (it being 
 organized after we reached Lawrence). The building was a large 
 unfinished stone hotel, in which a great part of the volunteers were 
 quartered, who witnessed the scene of bringing in the wife and other 
 friends of the murdered man. I will only say of this scene that it was 
 heart-rending, and calculated to exasperate the men exceedingly, and 
 one of the sure results of civil war. 
 
 After frequently calling on the leaders of the Free- State men to 
 come and have an interview with him, by Governor Shannon, and 
 after as often getting for an answer that ii' lie had any business to 
 transact with any one in Lawrence, to come and attend to it, he 
 signified his wish to come into the town, 1 and an escort was sent to 
 the invaders' camp to conduct him in. When there, the leading Free- 
 State men, finding out his weakness, frailty, and consciousness of the 
 awkward circumstances into which he had really got himself, took 
 advantage of his cowardice and folly, and by means of that and the 
 free use of whiskey and some trickery succeeded in getting a written 
 arrangement with him much to their own liking. He stipulated with 
 them to order the proslavery men of Kansas home, and to proclaim 
 to the Missouri invaders that they must quit the Territory without 
 delay, and also to give up General Pomeroy (a prisoner in their 
 camp), which was all done; he also recognizing the volunteers as 
 the militia of Kansas, and empowering their officers to call them out 
 whenever in their discretion the safety of Lawrence or other portions 
 of the Territory might require it to be done. He (Governor Shan 
 non) gave up all pretension of further attempt to enforce the enact 
 ments of the bogus Legislature, and retired, subject to the derision 
 and scoffs of the Free-State men (into whose hands he had committed 
 the welfare and protection of Kansas), and to the pity of some and 
 the curses of others of the invading force. 
 
 So ended this last Kansas invasion, the Missourians returning 
 with flying colors, after incurring heavy expenses, suffering great ex 
 posure, hardships, and privations, not having fought any battles, 
 burned or destroyed any infant towns or Abolition presses ; leaving 
 the Free-State men organized and armed, and in full possession of 
 the Territory; not having fulfilled any of all their dreadful threaten- 
 ings, except to murder one unarmed man, and to commit some rob 
 beries and waste of property upon defenceless families, unfortunately 
 within their power. We learn by their papers that they boast of a 
 great victory over the Abolitionists ; and well they may. 2 Free-State 
 
 1 December 7, 8. 
 
 2 Brown seems to have been divided in mind concerning this treaty with 
 Shannon, at first denouncing it strongly, as well as the manner of making 
 
220 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1855. 
 
 men have, oiily hereafter to retain the footing they have gained, 
 and Kansas is free. Yesterday the people passed upon the Free- 
 State constitution. The result, though not yet known, no one 
 doubts. 
 
 One little circumstance, connected with our own number, showing 
 a little of the true character of those invaders : On our way, about 
 three miles from Lawrence, we had to pass a bridge (with our arms 
 and ammunition) of which the invaders held possession ; but as the 
 five of us had each a gun, with two large revolvers in a belt exposed 
 to view, with a third in his pocket, and as we moved directly on to 
 the bridge without making any halt, they for some reason suffered 
 us to pass without interruption, notwithstanding there were some 
 fifteen to twenty-five (as variously reported) stationed in a log-house 
 at one end of the bridge. We could not count them. A boy on our 
 approach ran and gave them notice. Five others of our company, 
 well armed, who followed us some miles behind, met with equally 
 civil treatment the same day. After we left to go to Lawrence, 
 until we returned when disbanded, I did not see the least sign of 
 cowardice or want of self-possession exhibited by any volunteer of 
 the eleven companies who constituted the Free-State force; and I 
 never expect again to see an equal number of such well-behaved, 
 
 it, and afterward seeing the respite it gave the Kansas farmers to make 
 good their position. Mr. E. A. Coleman writes me: "When Lawrence 
 was besieged, we sent runners to all parts of the Territory, calling on every 
 settler. We met at Lawrence. Robinson was commander-in-chief ; I was 
 on his staff, appointed of course by order of the commander. We had gath 
 ered to the number of about two hundred and fifty, all told. The ruffians 
 were gathered at Franklin, four miles east, with four or five hundred men. 
 We were not well armed, all of us, at the same time being somewhat 
 afraid of getting into trouble with the General Government. Robinson sent 
 to Shannon, at Lecompton, to come down and see if something could not 
 be done to prevent bloodshed. He came ; we all knew his weakness. We 
 had plenty of brandy, parleyed with him until he was drunk, and then he 
 agreed to get the ruffians to go home, which he did b} r telling them we 
 had agreed to obey all the laws, which was a lie. As soon as Brown heard 
 what had been done, he came with his sons into our council-room, the 
 maddest man I ever saw. He told Robinson that what he had done was 
 all a farce ; that in less than six months the Missourians would find out 
 the deception, and things would be worse than they were that day (and 
 so it was) ; that he came up to help them fight, but if that was the way 
 Robinson meant to do, not to send for him again." Mr. Foster, of Osa- 
 watomie, meeting Brown on his return from Lawrence, asked him about 
 Robinson and Lane. "They are both men without principle," said Brown ; 
 " but when worst comes to worst, Lane will fight, and there is no fight in 
 Robinson." 
 
1855.] THE BROWN FAMILY IN KANSAS. 221 
 
 cool, determined men, fully, as I believe, sustaining the high char 
 acter of the Revolutionary fathers. But enough of this, as we intend 
 to send you a paper giving a more full account of the affair. We 
 have cause for gratitude in that we all returned safe and well, with 
 the exception of hard colds, and found those left behind rather 
 improving. 
 
 We have received fifty dollars from father, and learn from him 
 that he has sent you the same amount, for which we ought to be 
 grateful, as we are much relieved, both as respects ourselves and you. 
 The mails have been kept back during the invasion, but we hope to 
 hear from you again soon. Mr. Adair's folks are well, or nearly so. 
 Weather mostly pleasant, but sometimes quite severe. No snow of 
 account as yet. Can think of but little more to-night. 
 
 Monday Morning, December 17. 
 
 The ground for the first time is barely whitened with snow, and it is 
 quite cold ; but we have before had a good deal of cold weather, with 
 heavy rains. Henry and Oliver and, I may [say], Jason were disap 
 pointed in not being able to go to war. The disposition at both our 
 camps to turn out was uniform. I believe I have before acknowl 
 edged the receipt of a letter from you and Watson. Have just taken 
 one from the office for Henry that I think to be from Ruth. Do 
 write often, and let me know all about how you get along through 
 the winter. May Gk>d abundantly bless you all, and make you 
 faithful. 
 
 Your affectionate husband and father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 1 
 
 1 Soon after this "Wakarasa war," and perhaps in consequence of his 
 service therein, Brown became the owner of one small share in the Emigrant 
 Aid Company, as appears by this certificate : 
 
 No. 638. BOSTON, Jan. 15, 1856. 
 
 This is to certify that John Brown, Lawrence, K. T., is proprietor of one share, of 
 the par value of twenty dollars each, in the capital stock of the New England Emigrant 
 Aid Company, transferable on the books of said Company, on the surrender of this 
 certificate. 
 
 JOHN M. S. WILLIAMS, Vice- President. 
 THOMAS H. WEBB, Secretary. 
 
 This paper is indorsed, in John Brown's handwriting, "Emigrant Aid 
 Co., Certificate," and was found among his papers after his death. He 
 derived no profit from it, as indeed was the case with the other sharehold 
 ers ; but it perhaps gave him some standing among his Kansas neigh 
 bors to have even this connection with a corporation supposed to be very 
 rich. 
 
222 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 During this arctic winter Brown wrote as follows to the 
 family at North Elba, where it was still more arctic : 
 
 John Brown to his Family. 
 
 OSAWATOMIK, K. T., Feb. 1, 1856. 
 
 DEAR WIFE AND CHILDREN, EVERY ONE, Yours and Watson's 
 letters to the boys and myself, of December 30 and January 1, were 
 received by last mail. We are all very glad to hear again of your 
 welfare, and I am particularly grateful when I am noticed by a letter 
 from you. I have just taken out two letters for Henry [Thompson], 
 one of which, I suppose, is from Ruth. Salmon and myself are so 
 far on our way home from Missouri, and only reached Mr. Adair's 
 last night. They are all well, and we know of nothing but all are 
 well at the boys' shanties. The weather continues very severe, and 
 it is now nearly six weeks that the snow has been almost constantly 
 driven, like dry sand, by the fierce winds of Kansas. Mr. Adair has 
 been collecting ice of late from the Osage River, which is nine and 
 a half inches thick, of perfect clear solid ice, formed under the 
 snow. By means of the sale of our horse and wagon, our present 
 wants are tolerably well met, so that, if health is continued to us, we 
 shall not probably suffer much. The idea of again visiting those of 
 my dear family at North Elba is so calculated to unman me, that I 
 seldom allow my thoughts to dwell upon it, and I do not think best 
 to write much about it ; suffice it to say, that God is abundantly 
 able to keep both us and you, and in him let us all trust. We have 
 just learned of some new and shocking outrages at Leavenworth, and 
 that the Free-State people there have fled to Lawrence, which 
 place is again threatened with an attack. Should that take place, 
 we may soon again be called upon to " buckle on our armor," which 
 by the help of God we will do, when I suppose Henry and Oliver 
 will have a chance. My judgment is, that we shall have no general 
 disturbance until warmer weather. T have more to say, but not time 
 now to say it ; so farewell for this time. Write ! 
 Your affectionate husband and father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 OSAWATOMIE, K. T., Feb. 6, 1856. 
 
 DEAR WIFE AND CHILDREN, EVERY ONE, ... Thermometer 
 on Sunday and Monday at twenty- eight to twenty-nine below zero. 
 Tee in the river, in the timber, and under the snow, eighteen inches 
 thick this week. On our return to where the boys live we found 
 Jason again down with the ague, "but he was some better yesterday. 
 
1856.] THE BROWN FAMILY IN KANSAS. 223 
 
 Oliver was also laid up by freezing his toes, one great toe so badly 
 frozen that the nail has come off. He will be crippled for some days 
 yet. Owen has one foot some frozen. We have middling tough 
 times (as some would call them), but have enough to eat, and abun 
 dant reasons for the most unfeigned gratitude. It is likely that when 
 the snow goes off, such high water will prevail as will render it diffi 
 cult for Missouri to invade the Territory ; so that God by his elements 
 may protect Kansas for some time yet. . . . Write me as to all your 
 wants for the coming spring and summer. I hope you will all be led 
 to seek God " with your whole heart: " and I pray him. in his mercy, 
 to be found of you. All mail communications are entirely cut off by 
 the snowdrifts, so that we get no news whatever this week. . . . 
 
 OSAWATOMIE, K. T., Feb. 20, 1856. 
 
 DEAR WIFE AND CHILDREN, EVERY ONE, Your letter to 
 Salmon, and Ruth's to Henry and Ellen, of 6th and 16th January, 
 were received by last week's mail. This week we get neither letter 
 nor paper from any of you. I need not continually repeat that we 
 are always glad to hear from you. and to learn of your welfare. I 
 wish that to be fully understood. Salmon and myself are here again, 
 on our way back from Missouri, where we have been for corn, as 
 what the boys had raised was used up, stock and families having to 
 live on it mainly while it lasted. We had to pay thirty cents per 
 bushel for corn. Salmon has had the ague again, while we have 
 been gone, and had a hard shake yesterday. To-day is his well day. 
 We found Henry and Frederick here helping Mr. Adair ; and I have 
 been helping also yesterday and to-day. Those behind were as well 
 as usual a day or two since. I have but little to write this time, 
 except to tell you about the weather, and to complain of the almost 
 lack of news from the United States. We are very anxious to 
 know what Congress is doing. We hear that Frank Pierce means 
 to crush the men of Kansas. I do not know how well he may suc 
 ceed; but I think he may find his hands full before it is all over. 
 For a few days the snow has melted a little, and it begins to seem 
 like early March in Ohio. I have agreed either to buy the line- 
 backed cow of Henry, or to pay five dollars for the use of her and 
 keep her a year, whichever may hereafter appear best ; so that, if 
 she lives, you can calculate on the use of her. I have also written 
 Mr. Hurlbut, of Connecticut, further in regard to the cattle, and 
 think you will soon hear something from him. No more now. May 
 God Almighty bless you and all good friends at North Elba ! 
 Your affectionate husband and father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
224 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 Brown seems to have written about this time to his 
 former representative in Congress, Mr. Giddings of Ohio, 
 to inquire the purpose of the Government, and was thus 
 answered : 
 
 HALL OF REPRESENTATIVES, U. S., 
 March 17, 1856. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, We shall do all we can, but we are in a minor 
 ity, and are dependent on the " Know Nothings" l for aid to effect 
 anything, and they are in a very doubtful position ; we know not how 
 they will act. All I can say is, we shall try to relieve you. In the 
 mean time you need have no fear of the troops. The President never 
 will dare employ the troops of the United States to shoot the citi 
 zens of Kansas. The death of the first man by the troops will in 
 volve every free State in your own fate. It loill light up the fires of 
 civil war throughout the North, and we shall stand or fall with you. 
 Such an act will also bring the President so deep in infamy that the 
 hand of political resurrection will never reach him. Your safety de 
 pends on the supply of men and arms and money which will move 
 forward to your relief as soon as the spring opens. I am confident 
 there will be as many people in Kansas next winter as can be sup 
 plied with provisions. I may be mistaken, but I feel confident there 
 will be no war in Kansas. 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 J. E. GIDDINGS. 
 
 JOHN BROWN, ESQ. 
 
 In this last prediction Mr. Giddings was wide of the 
 mark; for within two months from the time this letter 
 reached Kansas, the Territory was again invaded, Lawrence 
 was captured and pillaged, and the Pottawatomie execu 
 tions had taken place. These events had been preceded by 
 many others, which can here be noticed only briefly, though 
 they were of great importance. An election had been held, 
 Jan. 15, 1856, for State officers and a Legislature, under 
 the Free-State constitution adopted at Topeka in 1855. At 
 some points in Kansas, particularly at Leavenworth, the 
 usurping proslavery men forbade this election ; and an ad 
 journed election was held for that county at Easton (a few 
 miles northwest of Leavenworth and near Kickapoo, where 
 that infamous Border-Euffian military company, the " Kick 
 apoo Eangers," had their headquarters) on the 17th of 
 
 1 A political party (the "Native Americans ") so designated. 
 
1856.] THE BROWN FAMILY IN KANSAS. 225 
 
 January. That night, very late, while a Free-State man 
 named Sparks was returning home with his sons, he was 
 surrounded by the ruffians, and rescued by H. P. Brown 
 (no relative of John Brown), who was a leader of the Free- 
 State men in Leavenworth County, and a member elect of 
 the Topeka Legislature, as Sparks also was. The next morn 
 ing, as Brown, with seven other Free-State men, among 
 whom was Henry J. Adams, afterward Mayor of Leaven- 
 worth, was returning to his home, about half-way between 
 Easton and Leavenworth, and near Kickapoo, he was sur 
 rounded by a force of fifty men or more, all armed, and 
 some of them drunk, who took them prisoners. The 
 drunken ruffians tried to kill the Free-State men, but were 
 prevented by their leaders, among whom were several per 
 sons holding Territorial or United States office. The pris 
 oners were carried by this howling mob back to Easton ; but 
 Brown was separated from them. A rope was purchased 
 and shown to the prisoners, who were threatened with 
 hanging. Unwilling that all these men should be murdered, 
 Martin, the Kickapoo captain, allowed Adams and the other 
 prisoners to escape. Adams hastened to Fort Leavenworth 
 in hopes of getting United States troops to rescue Brown, 
 but was refused. Meantime Brown had surrendered his 
 arms, and was helpless. His enemies, who dared not face 
 him the night before, though they had a superior force, 
 crowded around him ; and one of the " Eangers," a drunken 
 wretch named Gibson, inflicted the fatal blow, a large 
 hatchet gash in the side of the head, penetrating the skull 
 and brain. The gallant man fell, while his enemies jumped 
 on him and kicked him. Desperately wounded, he said, 
 " Don't abuse me ! it is useless ; I am dying." One of the 
 mob (afterward United States deputy marshal) stooped 
 over the prostrate man, and spat tobacco juice in his eyes. 
 Finally a few of the ruffians, whom a little spark of con 
 science or fear of punishment animated, raised the dying 
 man, still groaning, and placing him in a wagon, in a cold 
 winter day, drove him to the grocery, where they dressed 
 his wounds ; but seeing the hopelessness of his case they 
 took him home to his wife, to whom he said, " I have 
 been murdered by a gang of cowards in cold blood." 
 
 15 
 
226 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [185G. 
 
 To one of the neighbors who came to Brown's house at 
 three o'clock on the morning of January 19, and found him 
 lying on the floor soaked in blood, the murdered man said, 
 " I am dying, but in a good cause." " I sat down," says 
 this neighbor, " took his head upon my lap, and examined 
 the wound in his head ; opened his vest, but found no other 
 wound. He raised apparently from one side, as if he 
 wanted to turn over, exclaimed, 'I am dying,' and imme 
 diately died, with his head on my lap. Charles Dunn [a 
 Border-Kuffian ' captain,' who brought Brown home] told 
 me that after receiving the wound Brown had made his 
 escape, fled to the woods, had been caught and brought 
 back, and that he [Dunn] had been instrumental in keeping 
 them from shooting or hanging him. Dunn was at that 
 time very much intoxicated." 
 
 The offence that this murdered man had committed was, 
 first, voting ; second, defending the ballot-box from drunken 
 ruffians who tried to break up the election ; and, finally, with 
 fifteen men, rescuing his neighbor Sparks from twenty or 
 thirty of these ruffians. A proslavery man of the better 
 class, Pierce Kively, who kept a store near Brown's farm 
 in " Salt Creek Valley," testified before the Congressional 
 Committee, four months later: "I do not know that the 
 grand jury has made any inquiry into this matter, or has 
 ever attempted it. I have been a member of the grand 
 jury since, and nothing was said about it ; " yet Eively was 
 present when Brown received his death-blow, and helped 
 the drunken Dunn to put him into the wagon. The wife 
 and child of Brown went to live with a neighbor until 
 spring, and then went back to Michigan. The wife of 
 Stephen Sparks, the Free-State man whom Brown rescued, 
 testified that on the day Brown was murdered a party of 
 proslavery horsemen, commanded by Dunn, rode up to her 
 cabin on Stranger Creek, four miles south of Easton. They 
 first gave chase to two Free-State men near by, shooting at 
 them and shouting, "Kill the damned Abolitionists," and 
 then returned to the Sparks cabin, where Dunn cried, 
 " Now we will take the house : shoot Captain Sparks at 
 sight ! " Whereupon, Mrs. Sparks says : 
 
1856.] THE BROWN FAMILY IN KANSAS. 227 
 
 " I then told them I had an afflicted son, and that anything that 
 excited him threw him into spasms right at once, and that his father 
 and all but him were away from home. When I stepped back to the 
 door and looked in, I saw Captain Dunn with a six-shooter presented 
 at my son's breast. 1 did not hear the question asked, but I heard 
 my son's answer, ' I 3 am on the Lord's side ; and if you want to kill 
 me, kill me! lam not afraid to die.' Dunn then left him, and 
 turned to my little son, twelve years old, put the pistol to his breast, 
 and asked him where his father's Sharpens rifle was. My son told 
 him he had none. Dunn then asked where those guns were, 
 pointing to the racks, and told him if he did not tell the truth he 
 would kill him. My son told him ' the men-folks generally took care 
 of the guns.' When they came out, I asked Captain Duwn, ' What 
 does all this mean ? ' He answered that ' they had taken the law into 
 their own hands, and they intended to use it.' Late in February 
 eight men came to the house ; two men came up first, and the others 
 followed. They asked for Mr. Sparks, and left a paper with me, 
 ending thus: ' Believing that your further residence among us is in 
 compatible with the peace and welfare of this community, we advise 
 you to leave as soon as you can conveniently do so.' This was 
 signed by forty men, only one of whom is an actual resident in the 
 neighborhood ; most of them are Kickapoo Rangers and Missourians. 
 One of the two who first came to the door said his name was 
 Kennedy, from Alabama ; the other, I think, emigrated from Mis 
 souri. I asked him what he had against Mr. Sparks. He said 
 he had nothing against him ; but he ' was too influential in his 
 party, and they intended to break it down ; ' that I must tell Mr. 
 Sparks to leave by March JO or abide the consequences. Anight 
 or two before the 10th of March four men came into the house, 
 about ten o'clock, and searched for Mr. Sparks, but did not find 
 him. They asked for the 'notice to leave,' and if I had given it 
 to Mr. Sparks, and made many threats, and charged us to leave 
 at that time, saying that if he was there they would cut him to 
 pieces." l 
 
 1 This testimony was given by Mrs. " Esseneth " Sparks (who signed 
 with a mark because she could not write), May 24, 1856, the very day 
 that Brown with his party was executing the Doyles and other ruffians on 
 the Pottawatomie. Stephen Sparks was a Missourian, who had lived in 
 Platte County from 1845 to 1854, then moved into Kansas, and was in 
 1856 elected to the Free-State Legislature. He was a man of cool courage, 
 who behaved well throughout the violent scenes of January 17-19, and 
 told the Congressional Committee, " I belong to the Free-State party, but 
 am no Abolitionist, cither." On the night of the 17th, as he said, "My 
 son was wounded (and knocked down within six or eight feet of me) in 
 
228 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 The Topeka Legislature (of which Sparks and the mur 
 dered Brown were members, as well as John Brown, Jr., 
 and Major Abbott, the rescuer of Branson) met on the 4th 
 of March, and remained in session four days, adjourning to 
 July 4. During this session they elected James H. Lane 
 (who had commanded an Indiana regiment in the Mexican 
 War and distinguished himself at Buena Vista) one of the 
 United States senators from Kansas, not yet admitted as a 
 State. On the 19th of March the House of Representatives 
 at Washington voted a special committee (W. A. Howard 
 of Michigan, John Sherman of Ohio, and M. 1ST. Oliver of 
 Missouri) to investigate the troubles of Kansas j and on the 
 24th of March General Cass presented in the United States 
 Senate the Topeka Free-State Constitution. Early in April, 
 Jefferson Buford, of Eufaula, Ala., who had left his home 
 in March, reached Kansas with a large force of Southern 
 men, armed champions of slavery, and encamped not far 
 from Osawatomie ; while on the 16th of April the Free- 
 State men round there John Brown and his son John, 
 0. V. Dayton, Richard Mendenhall, Charles A. Foster of 
 Massachusetts, and others met in public assembly, and 
 agreed not to pay taxes to the usurping Legislature, for 
 which they were afterward indicted as conspirators. These 
 occurrences should be borne in mind when reading John 
 Brown's next letter. 
 
 John Brown to his Family at North Ella. 
 
 BROWN'S STATION, K. T., April 7, 1856. 
 
 DEAR WIFE AND CHILDREN, EVERY ONE, I wrote you last 
 week, enclosing New York draft for thirty dollars, made payable to 
 Watson } twenty dollars of which were to be given to Ruth, in part 
 payment for the spotted cow, the balance to be used as circumstances 
 might require. I would have sent you more, but I had no way to do 
 it, arid money is very scarce with me indeed. Since I wrote last, 
 three letters have been received by the boys from Ruth, dated March 
 5 and 9, and one of same date from Watson. The general tone of 
 those letters I like exceedingly. We do not want yon to borrow 
 
 the arm and head slightly ; but he raised afrain and fired." See Report 
 of the Special Committee on the Troubles in Kansas, 1856, pp. 981-1020. 
 
1856.] THE BROWN FAMILY IN KANSAS. 229 
 
 trouble about us, but trust us to the care of " Him who feeds the young 
 ravens when they cry." I have, as usual, but little to write. We 
 are doing off a house for Orson Day, which we hope to get through 
 with soon ; after which we shall probably soon leave this neighbor 
 hood, but will advise you further when we do leave. It may be that 
 Watson can manage to get a little money for shearing sheep if you 
 do not get any from Connecticut. I still hope you will get help from 
 that source. We have no wars as yet, but we still have abundance 
 of " rumors." We still have frosty nights, but the grass starts a 
 little. There are none of us complaining much just now, all being 
 able to do something. John has just returned from Topeka, 1 not 
 having met with any difficulty ; but we hear that preparations are 
 making in the United States Court for numerous arrests of Free- 
 State men. 2 For one, I have no desire (all things considered) to 
 have the slave-power cease from its acts of aggression. " Their 
 foot shall slide in due time." No more now. May God bless and 
 keep you all ! 
 
 Your affectionate husband and father. 
 
 It was in the early part of May that John Brown exe 
 cuted a manoeuvre which has often been related, not always 
 in the same manner, and which he may have repeated when, 
 necessary, his visit to the camp of the proslavery men 
 in the guise of a land-surveyor. Mr. Foster, now living 
 in Quincy, Mass,, but then a young lawyer at Osawatomie, 
 newly married and beginning to practise in Miami County, 
 
 1 The meeting of the Free-State Legislature. 
 
 2 James Han way, of Pottawatomie, speaking of his old log-cabin, not 
 far from Dutch Henry's Crossing, said, some years since : " It was in this 
 cabin that the Pottawatomie Rifle Company, under Captain John Brown, 
 Jr., stacked their arms when they paid a friendly visit to Judge Cato's 
 court, in April, 1856. The Free-State settlers were anxious to learn what 
 position Judge Cato would take, in his charge to the grand jury, concern 
 ing the celebrated ' bogus laws ' of the Shawnee Mission. This visit of 
 our citizens was .construed by the court as a demonstration unfavorable to 
 the execution of the bogus laws. Before daylight the next morning Cato 
 and his proslavery officials had left (they were on their way to Lecomp- 
 ton), and the grand jury was dismissed from further labor. This was the 
 first and the last time that this section of the country was visited by 
 proslavery officials." But we shall see, when we come to consider the 
 Pottawatomie executions, that this court did take action ; and perhaps 
 their action led to the killing of the five proslavery men near Dutch 
 Henry's. 
 
230 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 is authority for one version of it. Mention has just been 
 made of the arrival of Jefferson Buford from Alabama, 
 with an armed company, which divided into colonies. Two 
 of these directed their course towards the town of Osa- 
 watomie, one settling in a block-house 011 the Miami 
 Reserve, about a mile and a half from the town ; the other, 
 and larger, colony made their first halt in the Osage bottom, 
 near the town of Stanton, about eight miles from where the 
 Shermans, Wilkinson, and the Doyles lived. At this time 
 John Brown was not generally known, although he had been 
 in the country six months. It was a matter of importance 
 to the Free-State men to know what was the purpose of these 
 bodies of armed men, so that they might shape their action 
 accordingly. Brown, without consulting any one, deter 
 mined to visit their camp and ascertain their plans. He 
 therefore took his tripod, chain, and other surveying imple 
 ments, and with one of his younger sons started for the 
 camp. Just before reaching the place he struck his tripod, 
 sighted a line through the centre of the camp, and then 
 with his son began "chaining" the distance. The Southern 
 men supposed him to be a Government surveyor (in those 
 times, of course, proslavery), and were very free in telling 
 him their plans. They were going over to Pottawatomie 
 Creek to drive off all the Free-State men ; and there was a 
 settlement of Browns on North Middle Creek, who had some 
 of the finest stock, these also they would " clean out," as 
 well as the Dutch settlement between the two rivers. 1 They 
 were asked who had given them information about the 
 Browns, etc., and who was directing them about the county ; 
 and without any hesitation the Shermans, Doyles, Wilkin 
 son, George Wilson, and others were named. In the midst 
 of the talk these men walked into the camp, as Mr. Foster 
 says, and were received with manifestations of pleasure. A 
 few days after, the camp was moved over to Pottawatomie 
 Creek, and the men began stealing horses, arms, etc. This 
 
 1 This was the neighborhood where Benjamin, Bondi, and Wiener had 
 settled, and where the valuable warehouse of Wiener was afterward burned. 
 The Doyles and Wilkinson were not far off, and the Shermans at Dutch 
 Henry's Crossing were between the "Dutch settlement" and Buford's 
 camp. 
 
1856.] THE BROWN FAMILY IN KANSAS. 231 
 
 Lad been going on for some weeks when the attack upon 
 Lawrence was made in May. 1 
 
 The immediate occasion of the invasion of Lawrence a 
 second (or rather a third) time was the resistance of the 
 Lawrence Free-State men to an attempt made by Sheriff 
 Jones, as deputy marshal of the United States, to arrest 
 S. N. Wood, one of the rescuers of Branson the previous 
 November. Jones made the first attempt April 19, tried 
 again on the 20th, and on the 23d came with a file of United 
 States troops to support him. He arrested several citizens, 
 but not Wood, and at night was himself shot at and wounded 
 slightly. Advantage was taken of this act to inflame the 
 minds of the Missourians ; and the United States District 
 Court, which was organized by this time, with Judge Le- 
 compte at its head, took up the matter as an affair of rebel 
 lion and treason. Early in May Lecompte gave a charge to 
 the grand jury at the town named for him (Lecompton), 
 in which he said : 
 
 " This Territory was organized by an act of Congress, and so far 
 its authority is from the United States. It has a Legislature elected 
 in pursuance of that organic act. This Legislature, being an instru 
 ment of Congress by which it governs the Territory, has passed laws. 
 These laws, therefore, are of United States authority and making ; 
 and all that resist these laics resist the power and authority of the 
 United States, and are therefore guilty of high-treason^ Now, gen 
 tlemen, if you find that any persons have resisted these laws, then you 
 must, under your oaths, find bills against them for high-treason. If 
 you find that no such resistance has been made, but that combinations 
 have been formed for the purpose of resisting them, and individuals 
 of influence and notoriety have been aiding and abetting in such 
 combinations, then must you still find hills for constructive treason." 
 
 It was under this monstrous instruction, by which usur 
 pation was made legal and put on a level with the existence 
 of the United States, that indictments were soon found 
 against the Browns, Robinson, and others for treason, con 
 spiracy, etc. Robinson, who was seeking to leave Kansas, 
 was arrested May 10, and held a prisoner four months, when 
 
 1 See Mr. Coleman's version of this surveying adventure in the next 
 chapter. 
 
232 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 he was released on bail. The grand jury then proceeded to 
 indict other persons, and even the new hotel at Lawrence, 
 - thus giving an air of burlesque to the tragedy they had 
 begun. One of this jury, a Free-State man named Legate, 
 who has since been conspicuous in Kansas now in one way 
 and now in another, has told this amusing story of the secret 
 proceedings at the Lecompton court-house : l 
 
 " I was honored, as I have been oftentimes, "by holding distin 
 guished positions in the State of Kansas, being a member of the 
 grand jury ; and what a sweet-scented jury it was ! Uncle Jimmy 
 McGee and myself were members from Lawrence. We had a caucus 
 semi-occasionally. There were seventeen members, all told. Uncle 
 Jimmy and I were temperate, but there were at least fifteen bottles 
 of whiskey in the room all the time. The first and most important 
 case to be tried was the indictment of Sam Wood and John Speer. 
 I have forgotten whether it was John Speer for assuming to hold an 
 office that he was not legally elected to, and Sam Wood for re 
 sisting an officer, or vice versa. Attorney -General Isaacs was sent 
 for. Like a great many Yankees I was inquisitive, and there was a 
 very important point to be decided, in my mind; so I said to him, 
 ' You have John Speer charged with treason. Under what law or 
 circumstance do you make his offence treason ? ' ' Well, sir,' said 
 he, taking hold of the flask of whiskey, ' the facts are these : a man 
 who pretends to hold an office, having once held that office, and is 
 defunct, and assumes to still hold it against the constituted authori 
 ties, commits treason.' Said I, l What about Sam Wood? 7 He 
 replied, ' If a man undertakes to carry out the decrees of such an 
 officer, he commits treason also.' I thought that was good enough. 
 There were thirteen votes, Stuart not voting. Uncle Jimmy 
 McGee and I voted no. 2 
 
 1 See " The Kansas Memorial," 1879, pp. 62, 63. This volume contains 
 much material for history, undigested and ill-arranged, along with some 
 worthless stuff. 
 
 2 " Uncle Jimmy McGee " was a Kansas settler of Scotch-Irish descent, 
 a Methodist of some property, who when the defenders of Lawrence were 
 throwing up rifle-works said to them, " "Work away, hoys ! there 's two 
 thousand bushels of corn in Jimmy McGee's crib, and while it lasts ye 
 sha'n't starve." James F. Legate himself is a Massachusetts man (born in 
 Leominster in 1829), who saw a great deal of the machinery that in 1855-56 
 was used to produce political effect in Kansas and in the East. He said in 
 this speech of 1879 : "I remember, twenty-five years ago, when the Free- 
 State men of Kansas (that meant Lawrence, Topeka, and a few fellows over 
 
1856.] THE BROWN FAMILY IN KANSAS. 283 
 
 " The next thing was this ' cussed ' Emigrant Aid Society. 
 They had built a hotel here in Lawrence with about a foot and a 
 half of wall above the roof, and fitted it up with port-holes, and they 
 called that the Fort. It was designed to protect the town against 
 the officers of the law from executing the decrees of court, they said. 
 About that time I remembered that I had a pressing engagement out 
 at old Judge Wakefield's. So I went out afoot (that is the way we 
 used to ride a good deal in those days), and got a pony and saddle 
 there, rode up to Tecumseh, where I had a talk with John Sherman, 
 Governor Robinson, and Mr. Howard; and I gave them a pretty 
 clear idea of what was going on, that is, I intimated it to them. I 
 then went back to Judge Wakefield's, slept about an hour, walked 
 over to Lecornpton, and was arrested for contempt of court. I went 
 into the court-room, and the court wanted to know what excuse I 
 had. I gave a truthful answer, as I always do. I said I went over 
 to Judge Wakefield's, went to sleep, and had overslept myself. I 
 was excused; and I went back to Judge Wakefield's, got the pony, 
 and came over to Lawrence. I do not think Governor Robinson was 
 there at the time. I believe he had pressing duties which called him 
 East, and he went as far as Lexington, where he found a stopping- 
 place. He came back by way of Leavenworth to Lecompton. They 
 made some arrests in Lawrence, and then they went about abating 
 the nuisance of the Fort hotel. They had a cannon on the opposite 
 side of the street ; and old Atchisou got down on his knees, took de 
 liberate aim at the hotel, and shot clear over it, and struck the hill 
 near where a crowd of women were, who had left the town for safety. 
 Their gunners were so good (?) that they could not hit the whole side 
 of a hotel across the street. However, they finally demolished it." 
 
 In this humorous chronicle Mr. Legate has comprised all 
 the time from the 8th to the 20th of May, closing with the 
 attack on Lawrence by the United States marshal and his 
 posse, Sheriff Jones, too, with his posse, including the 
 
 in Leavenworth) would hold a convention as often as the Yankees eat in 
 hay-time, and that is, three regular meals a day and a luncheon between. 
 And a solemn convention it would be, with ' Dr. Charles Robinson, presi 
 dent,' ' George W. Brown, secretary ' (now and then Joel K. Goodin or John 
 Speer for secretary }, and about a dozen awfully ragged, deplorably forlorn- 
 looking cusses (who wanted to get back East again, and had n't the money 
 to take them there) to make up the audience. And W. A. Phillips, Jim 
 Redpath, and Hinton would report it, and it would make two and a half 
 and sometimes three columns in the ' New York Tribune.' " It was after 
 coming out of some such convention that John Brown said, " Great cry and 
 little wool, all talk and no cider." 
 
234 LITE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 Border Ruffians, and Atchison, lately Vice-President of the 
 United States, at their head. The marshal, Donaldson, 
 acted under Judge Lecompte, and collected his men by this 
 proclamation, dated May 11 : 
 
 u Whereas certain judicial writs have been directed to me, by the 
 First District Court of the United States, etc., to be executed within 
 the county of Douglas ; and whereas an attempt to execute them by 
 the United States deputy marshal was violently resisted by a largo 
 number of the citizens of Lawrence ; and as there is every reason to 
 believe that an attempt to execute these writs will be resisted by a 
 large body of armed men, now, therefore, the law-abiding citizens 
 of the Territory are commanded to be and appear at Lecomptori, as 
 soon as practicable, and in numbers sufficient for the proper execu 
 tion of the law. 77 
 
 Atchison, on the morning of May 20, made a foul speech 
 near Lawrence to five hundred Border Ruffians, 1 among whom 
 were the Kickapoo Rangers, who had murdered Brown at 
 Easton. He said : 
 
 u Boys, this day I am a Kickapoo Ranger, by God! This day 
 we have entered Lawrence with ' Southern Rights ' inscribed upon 
 our banner, and not one damned Abolitionist dared to fire a gun. 
 Now, boys, this is the happiest day of my life. We have en 
 tered that damned town, and taught the damned Abolitionists a 
 Southern lesson that they will remember until the day they die. 
 And now, boys, we will go in again, with our highly honorable 
 Jones, and test the strength of that damned Free- State Hotel, and 
 teach the Emigrant Aid Company that Kansas shall be ours. Boys, 
 ladies should, and I hope will, be respected by every gentleman. 
 
 1 I quote this speech, with all its profanity and drunken gravity, because 
 in no other way than by reading their utterances can the men of to-day un 
 derstand how vile and coarse were the men who were carrying out in Kansas 
 the behests of the Southern slaveholders and their willing tools at Wash 
 ington. The term "Border Ruffians" is also used for the same purpose, 
 since none could be so descriptive of these men who followed Atchison and 
 his comrades. Among their leaders were men of cultivation, wealth, and 
 humanity; and such persons did much to mitigate the horrors of the brutal 
 mob-despotism which then prevailed, by intervals, where the flag of the 
 nation should have secured peace and justice to all who lived under it. 
 But from the rabble who filled the ranks came in due time such outlaws as 
 Quantrell, who in 1863 sacked Lawrence and murdered one hundred and 
 fifty of its people ; and the James brothers, who were in his band. 
 
1856.] THE BROWN FAMILY IN KANSAS. 235 
 
 But when a woman takes upon herself the garb of a soldier by 
 carrying a Sharpens rifle, then she is no longer worthy of respect. 
 Trample her under your feet as you would a snake ! Come on, 
 boys ! Now do your duty to yourselves and your Southern friends. 
 Your duty I know you will do. If one man or woman dare stand 
 before you, blow them to hell with a chunk of cold lead." 
 
 As soon as Atchison concluded, the men moved towards 
 the town until near the hotel, when the advance company 
 halted. Jones said the hotel must be destroyed ; he was 
 acting under orders ; he had writs issued by the First 
 District Court of the United States to destroy the Free- 
 State Hotel, and the offices of the " Herald of Freedom " and 
 " Free State." The grand jury at Lecompton had indicted 
 them as nuisances, and the court had ordered them to be 
 destroyed. Here is the indictment : 
 
 " The Grand Jury sitting for the adjourned term of the First, 
 District Court, in and for the County of Douglas, in the Territory of 
 Kansas, beg leave to report to the Honorable Court, from evidence 
 laid before them showing it, that the newspaper known as * The 
 Herald of Freedom,' published at the town of Lawrence, has from 
 time to time issued publications of the most inflammatory and 
 seditious character, denying the legality of the Territorial au 
 thorities ; addressing and commanding forcible resistance to the 
 same; demoralizing the popular mind, and rendering life and prop 
 erty unsafe, even to the extent of advising assassination as a last 
 
 resort. 
 
 u Also, that the paper known as ' The Kansas Free State ' has 
 been similarly engaged, and has recently reported the resolutions 
 of a public meeting in Johnson County, in this Territory, in which 
 resistance to the Territorial laius even unto blood has been agreed 
 upon. And that we respectfully recommend their abatement as a 
 nuisance. Also, that we are satisfied that the building known as 
 the 'Free-State Hotel' in Lawrence has been constructed with the 
 view to military occupation and defence, regularly parapeted and 
 portholed for the use of cannon and small arms, and could only have 
 been designed as a stronghold of resistance to law, thereby endanger 
 ing the public safety and encouraging rebellion and sedition in this 
 country, and respectfully recommend that steps be taken whereby 
 this nuisance may be removed. 
 
 " OWEN C. STEWART, Foreman." 
 
236 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 Incredible as it may now appear, this indictment was 
 carried out : the hotel was destroyed, the offending news 
 paper had its type and press thrown into the Kansas Eiver ; 
 and all this was done under the cover of United States 
 authority. The President (Fierce), his Cabinet, in which 
 Jefferson Davis was a controlling member, the Senate of 
 the United States, and the national courts appeared as the 
 accomplices of murder, arson, and pillage, and as the cham 
 pions of pettier tyrants who would hesitate at no crime. 
 It was under these circumstances that John Brown now 
 took the field ; and he shall be his own reporter. 
 
 NEAR BROWN'S STATION, K. T., June, 1856. 
 
 DEAR WIFE AND CHILDREN, EVERY ONE, It is now about five 
 weeks since I have seen a line from North Elba, or had any chance 
 of writing you. During that period we here have passed through 
 an almost constant series of very trying events. We were called to 
 go to the relief of Lawrence, May 22, and every man (eight in all), 
 except Orson, turned out ; he staying with the women and children, 
 and to take care of the cattle. 1 John was captain of a company to 
 \vhich Jason belonged ; the other six were a little company by our 
 selves. On our way to Lawrence we learned that it had been already 
 destroyed, and we encamped with John's company overnight. Next 
 day our little company left, and during the day we stopped and 
 searched three men. 
 
 Lawrence was destroyed in this way : Their leading men had (as 
 I think) decided, in a very cowardly manner, not to resist any pro 
 cess having any Government official to serve it, notwithstanding the 
 process might be wholly a bogus affair. The consequence was that 
 a man called a United States marshal came on with a horde of 
 ruffians which he called his posse, and after arresting a few persons 
 turned the ruffians loose on the defenceless people. They robbed the 
 inhabitants of their money and other property, and even women of 
 their ornaments, and burned considerable of the town. 
 
 On the second day and evening after we left John's men we 
 encountered quite a number of proslavery men, and took quite a 
 
 1 " Orson " was Mr. Orson Day, a brother of Mrs. John Brown. The 
 " other six " were probably John Brown, Owen, Frederick, Salmon, Oliver, 
 and Henry Thompson. 
 
1856.] THE BROWN FAMILY IN KANSAS. 237 
 
 number prisoners. Our prisoners we let go ; but we kept some four 
 or five horses. 1 We were immediately after this accused of murdering 
 five men at Pottawatomie, and great efforts have since been made by 
 the Missourians and their ruffian allies to capture us. John's com 
 pany soon afterward disbanded, and also the Osawatomie men. 2 
 
 Jason started to go and place himself under the protection of the 
 Government troops; but on his way he was taken prisoner by the 
 Bogus men, and is yet a prisoner, I suppose. John tried to hide for 
 several days ; but from feelings of the ungrateful conduct of those 
 who ought to have stood by him, excessive fatigue, anxiety, and con 
 stant loss of sleep, he became quite insane, and in that situation 
 gave up, or, as we are told, was betrayed at Osawatomie into the 
 hands of the Bogus men. We do not know all the truth about this 
 affair. He has since, we are told, been kept in irons, and brought to 
 a trial before a bogus court, the result of which we have not yet 
 learned. We have great anxiety both for him and Jason, and 
 numerous other prisoners with the enemy (who have all the while 
 had the Government troops to sustain them). We can only commend 
 them to God. 3 
 
 1 This is all that Brown says in this letter about the events of that night 
 in May when the Doyles were executed. Doubtless his text for the next 
 morning was from the Book of Judges : " 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 by night. And when the men of the city arose early in the morn 
 ing, behold the altar of Baal was cast down. 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." 
 
 2 In the original something has been erased after this, to which this note 
 seems to have been appended : "There are but very few who wish real 
 facts about these matters to go out." Then is inserted the date " June 
 26," as below. 
 
 3 John Brown, Jr.'s, own account of this campaign, as given by him 
 to a reporter of the "Cleveland Leader," April, 1879, is as follows: 
 "During the winter of 1856 I raised a company of riflemen from the 
 Free-State settlers who had their homes in the vicinity of Osawatomie and 
 Pottawatomie Creek, and marched with this company to the defence of 
 Lawrence, May, 1856, but did not reach the latter place in time to save it 
 from being burned by the Missourians at that time. On this march I was 
 joined by three other companies, and was chosen to the command of the 
 combined forces. Returning to our homes, we found them burned to the 
 ground by Buford's men from Alabama, who had marched in from Missouri 
 on our rear. Our cattle and horses were driven off and dispersed, there 
 only being three or four which we ultimately recovered. In that destruc 
 tion of our houses I lost my library, consisting of about four hundred 
 volumes, which I had been accumulating since I was sixteen. Reaching 
 
238 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 The cowardly mean conduct of Osawatomie and vicinity did not 
 save them j for the ruffians came on them, made numerous prisoners, 
 fired their buildings, and robbed them. After this a picked party of 
 the Bogus men went to Brown's Station, 1 burned John's and Jason's 
 houses, and their contents to ashes ; in which burning we have all 
 suffered more or less. Orson and boy have been prisoners, but were 
 soon set at liberty. They are well, and have not been seriously in 
 jured. Owen and I have just come here for the first time to look at 
 the ruins. All looks desolate and forsaken, the grass and weeds 
 fast covering up the signs that these places were lately the abodes of 
 quiet families. After burning the houses, this self-same party of 
 picked men, some forty in number, set out as they supposed, and as 
 was the fact, on the track of my little company, boasting, with awful 
 profanity, that they would have our scalps. They however passed 
 the place where we were hid, and robbed a little town some four or 
 five miles beyond our camp in the timber. 2 I had omitted to say 
 that some murders had been committed at the time Lawrence was 
 sacked. 
 
 On learning that this party were in pursuit of us, my little company, 
 now increased to ten in all, started after them in company of a Cap 
 tain Shore, with eighteen men, he included (June 1). We were all 
 mounted as we travelled. We did not meet them on that day, but 
 took five prisoners, four of whom were of their scouts, and well 
 armed. We were out all night, but could find nothing of them until 
 
 Osawatomie, my brother Jason and I were arrested on the charge of treason 
 against the United States, by United States troops, acting as posse for the 
 marshal of the Territory, and taken to Paola, where Judge Cato was to hold 
 a preliminary examination ; but he did not hold his court. It was from the 
 latter place that I was tied by Captain Wood of the United States cavalry, 
 and driven on foot at the head of the column a distance of nine miles at 
 full trot to Osawatomie. My arms were tied behind me, and so tightly as 
 to cheek the circulation of the blood, especially in the right arm, causing 
 the rope, which remained on me twenty-seven hours, to sink into the flesh, 
 leaving a mark upon that arm which I have to this day. The captain of that 
 company was, I think, a Georgian, and finally, I believe, entered the Con 
 federate service during the late war. From there we were marched, chained 
 two by two, carrying the chain between us, to a camp near Lecompton, 
 where we met the other treason prisoners and were turned over to the cus 
 tody of Colonel Sacket, who had command of a regiment of United States 
 cavalry. We were held here until September of 1856, when we were re 
 leased on bail ; and a few days after I took part in the defence of Lawrence 
 against the third attack. At that time Franklin was burned, a few miles 
 from Lawrence." 
 
 1 Ten miles west of Osawatomie. 
 
 2 This town was Palmyra. 
 
1856.] THE BKOWN FAMILY IN KANSAS. 239 
 
 about six o'clock next morning, when we prepared to attack them at 
 once, on foot, leaving Frederick and one of Captain Shore's men to 
 guard the horses. As I was much older than Captain Shore, the prin 
 cipal direction of the fight devolved on me. We got to within about 
 a mile of their camp before being discovered by their scouts, and then 
 moved at a brisk pace, Captain Shore and men forming our left, and 
 my company the right. When within about sixty rods of the enemy, 
 Captain Shore's men halted by mistake in a very exposed situation, 
 and continued the fire, both his men arid the enemy being armed 
 with Sharpe's rifles. My company had no long-shooters. We (my 
 company) did not fire a gun until we gained the rear of a bank, 
 about fifteen or twenty rods to the right of the enemy, where we 
 commenced, and soon compelled them to hide in a ravine. Captain 
 Shore, after getting one man wounded, and exhausting his ammuni 
 tion, came with part of his men to the right of my position, much 
 discouraged. The balance of his men, including the one wounded, 
 had left the ground. Five of Captain Shore's men came boldly down 
 and joined my company, and all but one man, wounded, helped to 
 maintain the fight until it was over. I was obliged to give my con 
 sent that he 1 should go after more help, when all his men left but 
 eight, four of whom I persuaded to remain in a secure position, and 
 there busied one of them in shooting the horses and mules of the 
 enemy, which served for a show of fight. After the firing had con 
 tinued for some two to three hours, Captain Pate with twenty-three 
 men, two badly wounded, laid down their arms to nine men, myself 
 included, four of Captain Shore's men and four of my own. One 
 of my men (Henry Thompson) 2 was badly wounded, and after con 
 tinuing his fire for an hour longer was obliged to quit the ground. 
 Three others of my company (but not of my family) had gone off. 
 Salmon was dreadfully wounded by accident, soon after the fight; but 
 both lie and Henry are fast recovering. 
 
 A day or two after the fight, Colonel Sumner of the United States 
 army came suddenly upon us, while fortifying our camp and guard 
 ing our prisoners (which, by the way, it had been agreed mutually 
 should be exchanged for as many Free-State men, John and Jason 
 included), and compelled us to let go our prisoners without being 
 exchanged, and to give up their horses and arms. They did not go 
 more than two or three miles before they began to rob and injure 
 Free-State people. We consider this as in good keeping with the 
 
 1 By "he" is apparently meant Captain Shore. 
 
 2 Brown's son-in-law, the husband of Ruth Brown. The agreement 
 with Pate, referred to above, is still in existence to confirm this letter ; 
 both copies of it having found their way to the Historical Library at 
 
240 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 cruel and unjust course of the Administration and its tools through 
 out this whole Kansas difficulty. Colonel Sumner also compelled us 
 to disband ; and we, heing only a handful, were obliged to submit. 
 
 Since then we have, like David of old, had our dwelling with the 
 serpents of the rocks and wild beasts of the wilderness ; being obliged 
 to hide away from our enemies. We are not disheartened, though 
 nearly destitute of food, clothing, and money. God, who has not 
 given us over to the will of our enemies, but has moreover deliv 
 ered them into our hand, will, we humbly trust, still keep and deliver 
 us. .We feel assured that He who sees not as men see, does not lay 
 the guilt of innocent blood to our charge. 
 
 I ought to have said that Captain Shore and his men stood their 
 ground nobly in their unfortunate but mistaken position during the 
 early part of the fight. I ought to say further that a Captain Ab 
 bott, being some miles distant with a company, came onward promptly 
 to sustain us, but could not reach us till the fight was over. After 
 the fight, numerous Free- State men who could not be got out before 
 were on hand ; and some of them, I am ashamed to add, were very 
 busy not only with the plunder of our enemies, but with our private 
 effects, leaving us, while guarding our prisoners and providing in 
 regard to them, much poorer than before the battle. 
 
 If, under God, this letter reaches you so that it can be read, T wish 
 it at once carefully copied, and a copy of it sent to Gerrit Smith. I 
 know of no other way to get these facts and our situation before the 
 world, nor when I can write again. 
 
 Topeka, where Mr. F. G. Adams, the secretary, showed them to me in 
 1882. Here is a copy : 
 
 This is an article of agreement between Captains John Brown, Sr., and Samuel T. 
 Shore of the first part, and Captain H. C. Pate and Lieutenant W. B. Brockett of the 
 second part ; and witnesses that, in consideration of the fact that the parties of the first 
 part have a number of Captain Pate's company prisoners, that they agree to give up 
 and fully liberate one of their prisoners for one of those lately arrested near Stanton, 
 Osawatomie, and Pottawatomie, and so on, one of the former for one of the latter alter 
 nately, xmtil all are liberated. It is understood and agreed by the parties that the sons 
 of Captain John Brown, Sr. Captain John Brown, Jr., and Jason Brown are to be 
 among the liberated parties (if not already liberated), and are to be exchanged for 
 Captain Pate and Lieutenant Brockett, respectively. The prisoners are to be brought on 
 neutral ground and exchanged. It is agreed that the neutral ground shall be at or near 
 the house of John T. (or Ottawa) Jones of this Territory, and that those who have been 
 arrested and have been liberated will be considered in the same light as those not liber 
 ated ; but they must appear in person, or answer in writing that they are at liberty. 
 The arms, particularly the side arms of each one exchanged, are to be returned with 
 the prisoners ; also the horses, so far as practicable. 
 
 (Signed) JOHN BROWN. 
 
 S. T. SHORE. 
 
 H. C. PATE. 
 
 W. B. BROCKETT. 
 PRAIRIE CITY, K. T., June 2, 1856. 
 
1856.1 THE BROWN FAMILY IN KANSAS. 241 
 
 Owen has the ague to-day. Our camp is some miles off. Have 
 heard that letters are in for some of us, but have not seen them. Do 
 continue writing. We heard last mail brought only three letters, 
 and all these for proslavery men. It is said that both the Lawrence 
 and Osawatomie men, when the ruffians came on them, either hid or 
 gave up their arms, and that their leading men counselled them to 
 take such a course. 
 
 May God bless and keep you all ! 
 
 Your affectionate husband and father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 P. S. Ellen and Wealthy are staying at Osawatomie. 
 
 The above is a true account of the first regular battle fought be 
 tween Free-State and proslavery men in Kansas. May God still 
 gird our loins and hold our right hands, and to him may we give the 
 glory ! I ought in justice to say, that, after the sacking and burning 
 of several towns, the Government troops appeared for their protection 
 and drove off some of the enemy. J. B. 
 
 June 26. Jason is set at liberty, and we have hopes for John. 
 Owen, Salmon, and Oliver are down with fever (since inserted) ; 
 Henry doing well. 
 
 With this chapter of Brown's commentaries on the Kan 
 sas war may properly go the following papers, although 
 they were not written until some months later, the first 
 in August, 1856, and the second after Brown left Kansas 
 in October, 1856. The first is addressed to his friend Ed 
 mund B. Whitman, who then lived at Lawrence. 
 
 For Mr. Whitman. 
 
 Names of sufferers and persons who have made sacrifices in en 
 deavoring to maintain and advance the Free-State cause in Kansas, 
 within my personal knowledge. 
 
 1. Two German refugees (thoroughly Free-State), robbed at Pot- 
 tawatomie, named Benjamin and Bondy (or Bandy). One has served 
 under me as a volunteer ; namely, Bondy. Benjamin was prisoner 
 for some time. Suffered by men under Coffee and Pate. 
 
 2. Henry Thompson. Devoted several months to the Free -State 
 cause, travelling nearly two thousand miles at his own expense for 
 the purpose, leaving family and business for about one year. Served 
 under me as a volunteer; was dangerously wounded at Palmyra, or 
 Black Jack j has a bullet lodged beside his backbone ; has had a 
 
 16 
 
242 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 severe turn of fever, and is still very feeble. Suffered a little in burn 
 ing of the houses of John Brown, Jr., and Jason Brown. 
 
 3. John, Jr., and Jason Brown. Both burned out ; both prisoners 
 for some time, one a prisoner still ; both losing the use of valuable, 
 partially improved claims. Both served repeatedly as volunteers for 
 defence of Lawrence and other places, suffering great hardships and 
 some cruelty. 
 
 4. Owen and Frederick Brown. Both served at different periods 
 as volunteers under me', were both in the battle of Palmyra; both 
 suffered by the burning of their brothers' houses ; both have had 
 sickness (Owen a severe one), and are yet feeble. Both lost the use 
 of partially improved claims and their spring and summer work. 
 
 5. Salmon Brown (minor). Twice served under me as a volun 
 teer ; was dangerously wounded (if not permanently crippled) by 
 accident near Palmyra ; had a severe sickness, and still feeble. 
 
 6. Oliver Brown (minor). Served under me as a volunteer for 
 some months; was in the battle of Palmyra, and had some sickness. 
 
 7. [B. L. ] Cochran (at Pottawatouiie). Twice served under me 
 as a volunteer ; was in the battle of Palmyra. 1 
 
 8. Dr. Lucius Mills devoted some months to the Free-State cause, 
 collecting and giving information, prescribing for and nursing the 
 sick and wounded at his own cost. Is a worthy Free- State man. 
 
 9. John Brown has devoted the service of himself and two minor 
 sons to the Free-State cause for more than a year; suffered by the 
 fire before named and by robbery ; has gone at his own cost for that 
 period, except that he and his company together have received forty 
 dollars in cash, two sacks of flour, thirty-five pounds bacon, thirty- 
 five do. sugar, and twenty pounds rice. 
 
 I propose to serve hereafter in the Free-State cause (provided my 
 needful expenses can be met), should that be desired; and to raise a 
 small regular force to serve on the same condition. My own means 
 are so far exhausted that I can no longer continue in the service 
 at present without the means of defraying rny expenses are fur 
 nished me. 
 
 I can give the names of some five or six more volunteers of special 
 merit I would be glad to have particularly noticed in some way. 
 
 J. BROWN. 
 
 The second paper is part of the notes which Brown drew 
 up for his speeches at Hartford, Boston, Concord, and other 
 New England towns, in the spring of 1857. In this speech 
 he laid stress not only on the sins of the Border Ruffians 
 
 1 Better known as Black Jack. 
 
1356.] THE BROWN FAMILY IN KANSAS. 243 
 
 and the unpatriotic conduct of the National Government, but 
 on the pecuniary loss which he and the other settlers had 
 undergone in being kept from their work, at the busiest 
 season of the year, by the raids from Missouri. This gives 
 a strange air to the paper, which is otherwise noticeable for 
 the facts set forth. 
 
 AN IDEA OF THINGS IN KANSAS. 
 
 I propose, in order to make this meeting as useful and interest 
 ing as I can, to try and give a correct idea of the condition of things 
 in Kansas, as they were while I was there, and as I suppose they 
 still are, so far as the great question at issue is concerned. And here 
 let me remark that in Kansas the question is never raised of a man, 
 Is he a Democrat ? Is he a Republican ? The questions there 
 raised are, Is he a Free-State man ? or, Is he a proslavery man ? 
 
 I saw, while in Missouri in the fall of 1855, large numbers on 
 their way to Kansas to vote, and also returning after they had so 
 done, as they said. I, together with four of my sons, was called out 
 to help defend Lawrence in the fall of 1855, and travelled most of the 
 way on foot, and during a dark night, a distance of thirty-five miles, 
 where we were detained with some five hundred others, or there 
 about, from five to fifteen days, say an average of ten days, at 
 a cost to each per day of $1.50 as wages, to. say nothing of the actual 
 loss and suffering it occasioned ; many of them leaving their families 
 at home sick, their crops not secured, their houses unprepared for 
 winter, and many of them without houses at all. This was the case 
 with myself and all my sons, who were unable to get any house 
 built after our return. The loss in that case, as wages alone, would 
 amount to $7,500. Loss and suffering in consequence cannot be 
 estimated. I saw at that time the body of the murdered Barber, 
 and was present when his wife and other friends were brought in 
 to see him as he lay in the clothes he had on when killed, no very 
 pleasant sight ! 
 
 I went, in the spring of last year, with some of my sons among 
 the Buford men, in the character of a surveyor, to see and hear from 
 them their business into the Territory; this took us from our work. 
 I and numerous others, in the spring of last year, travelled some ten 
 miles or over on foot, to meet and advise as to what should be done 
 to meet the gathering storm ; this occasioned much loss of time. I 
 also, with many others, about the same time travelled on foot a sim 
 ilar distance to attend a meeting of Judge Cato's court, to find out 
 what kind of laws he intended to enforce ; this occasioned further 
 
244 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 loss of time. I with six sons and a son-in-law was again called out 
 to defend Lawrence, May 20 and 21, and travelled most of the way 
 on foot and during the night, being thirty-five miles. From that 
 date none of us could do any work about our homes, but lost our 
 whole time until we left, in October last, excepting one of my sons, 
 who had a few weeks to devote to the care of his own and his broth 
 er's family, who had been burned out of their houses while the two 
 men were prisoners. 
 
 From about the 20th of May of last year 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, at $1.50 per 
 day, which would be, to say nothing of attendant losses, $90,000. 
 I saw the ruins of many Free- State men's houses at different places 
 in the Territory, together witli stacks of grain wasted and burning, 
 to the amount of, say $50,000 ; making, in lost time and destruction 
 of property, more than $150,000. On or about the 30th of May last 
 two of my sons, with several others, were imprisoned without other 
 crime than opposition to bogus enactments, and most barbarously 
 treated for a time, one being held about one month, the other 
 about four months. Both had their families in Kansas, and destitute 
 of homes, being burned out after they \vere imprisoned. In this 
 burning all the eight were sufferers, as we all had our effects at the 
 two houses. One of my sons had his oxen taken from him at this 
 time, and never recovered them. Here is the chain with which one 
 of them was confined, after the cruelty, sufferings, and anxiety he 
 underwent had rendered him a maniac, yes, a maniac. 
 
 On the 2d of June last my son-in-law was terribly wounded (sup 
 posed to be mortally), and two other Free-State men, at Black Jack. 
 On the 6th or 7th of June last one of my sons was wounded by acci 
 dent in camp (supposed to be mortally), and may prove a cripple for 
 life. In August last I was present and saw the mangled and shock 
 ingly disfigured body of the murdered Hoyt, of Deerfield, Mass., 
 brought into our camp. I knew him well. I saw several other 
 Free-State men who were either killed or wounded, whose names I 
 cannot now remember. I saw Dr. Graham, who was a prisoner with 
 the ruffians on the 2d of June last, 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 of Black Jack. 
 I know that for much of the time during the last summer the travel 
 over a portion of the Territory was entirely cut off, and that none but 
 bodies of armed men dared to move at all. I know that for a con 
 siderable time the mails on different routes were entirely stopped, and 
 that notwithstanding there were abundant United States troops at 
 
1856.] THE BROWN FAMILY IN KANSAS. 245 
 
 hand to escort the mails, such escorts were not furnished as they 
 might or ought to have been. I saw while it was standing, and 
 afterward saw the ruins of, a most valuable house, full of good arti 
 cles and stores, which had been burned by the ruffians for a highly 
 civilized, intelligent, and most exemplary Christian Indian, for be 
 ing suspected of favoring 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 Stanton, on the north side of the Osage 
 or Marais des Cygnes Kiver, as it is called, from which every inhab 
 itant had fled (being in fear of their lives), after having built them, 
 at a heavy expense, a strong block-house or wooden fort 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 a most 
 gloomy scene, and like a visit to a vast sepulchre. 
 
 During last summer and fall deserted houses and cornfields were to 
 be met with in almost every direction south of the Kansas River. 
 I saw the burning of Osawatomie by a body of some four hundred 
 ruffians, and of Franklin afterward by some twenty-seven hundred 
 men, the first-named on August 30, the last-named September 
 14 or 15. Governor Geary had been for some time in the Territory, 
 and might have saved Franklin with perfect ease. It would not have 
 cost the United States one dollar to have saved Franklin. 
 
 I, with five sick and wounded sons and son-in-law, was obliged for 
 some time to lie on the ground, without shelter, our boots and clothes 
 worn out, destitute of money, and at times almost in a state of starva 
 tion, and dependent on the charities of the Christian Indian and his 
 wife whom I before named. 1 I saw, in September last, a Mr. Parker, 
 
 1 Notwithstanding the losses and chanties of this good Indian in 1856, 
 he was the next year in condition to make further gifts to Brown, as 
 appears by this letter : 
 
 OTTAWA CREEK, K. T., Oct. 13, 1857. 
 MR. JOHN BROWN. 
 
 DEAR SIR, Respecting the account you have against us as a band, I would respect 
 fully inform you that I have presented the matter before them two or three different 
 times, and 1 cannot persuade them but what was paid by them was all that could be 
 reasonably demanded of them, from the bargain they entered into with Jones the agent. 
 For my part I think the charge is just, and it ought to be paid. The Ottawa payment 
 comes off some time this week, and T will present your case before them again, and do 
 what I can to induce them to attend to the account, though I entertain no hopes of its 
 being allowed ; but nothing like trying. In contributing my rnite in aiding you in your 
 benevolent enterprise, I enclose you ten dollars on the State Bank of Indiana (I presume 
 it is good, though hundreds of other banks are worthless), and throw in the young 
 man's bill and horse-hire, which amounts to four dollars. Accept it, sir, as a free-will 
 offering from your friend. 
 
 Times are coming round favorably in Kansas. Mr. Parrott for Congress will have 
 8,000 to 10,000 majority over Ransom, and both branches of the Legislature the same in 
 proportion. I am quite encouraged that all things will work together for good for those 
 who are trying to work out righteousness hi the land. May God bless you in your work 
 
246 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 whom I well know, with his head all bruised over and his throat 
 partly cut, having hefore been dragged, while sick, out of the house of 
 Ottawa Jones, the Indian, when it was burned, and thrown for dead 
 over the bank of the Ottawa Creek. 
 
 I saw three mangled bodies of three young men, two of which 
 were dead and had lain on the open ground for about eighteen hours 
 for the flies to work at, the other living with twenty buckshot and 
 bullet-holes in him. One of those two dead was my own son. 
 
 Here, then, we may pause to review the position of the 
 Brown family in Kansas, twelve months after John Brown 
 had set forth from Illinois to support his children in making 
 free and peaceful homes on those beautiful prairies. One 
 of his sons was dead ; another a prisoner charged with trea 
 son ; a third was desperately wounded ; a fourth stricken 
 down with illness ; all had lost their cabins, their crops, 
 their books and papers ; their wives and children were scat 
 tered or far away. Only one son of the six remained in 
 fighting condition ; all were in extreme poverty ; the cause 
 of freedom, for which they had ventured so much, seemed 
 almost lost. Everything was subdued except the inexorable 
 will of John Brown. 1 That remained ; his faith in God and 
 his obedience to the voice of God were as quick as ever ; and 
 he had begun the warfare against slavery by a dire blow, 
 which was destined in its consequences to make Kansas free, 
 even as his master-stroke in Virginia, three years later, was 
 to set in motion the avalanche that destroyed slavery in the 
 whole land. This blow was the execution at Pottawatomie 
 on the 24th of May. 
 
 of benevolence and philanthropy ; and may God reward you more than double for your 
 toil and losses in the work to bring about liberty for all men ! Write me if you can, and 
 let me know how you are getting along, etc. 
 
 I remain your sincere friend, JOHN T. JONES. 
 
 By " us as a band " is meant the Ottawa tribe of Indians, and their 
 " payment " was the allowance periodically given to them by the Federal 
 Government. I saw one of the last nomadic Indians of this tribe sitting 
 bareheaded on his pony in the busy streets of Ottawa, in August, 1882, 
 staring with his stolid eye at the white man's way of life. 
 1 Audire magnos jam videor duces 
 Non indecoro pulvere sordidos, 
 Ef, ctmcta terrarum subacta 
 Prceter atrocem animum Catonis. 
 
 HORACE, Odes, lib. ii. ear. i. 
 
1856.1 THE POTTAWATOMIE EXECUTIONS. 247 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 THE POTTAWATOMIE EXECUTIONS. 
 
 / *~PHE story of John Brown will mean little to those who 
 J- do not believe that God governs the world, and that 
 He makes His will known in advance to certain chosen men 
 and women who perform it, consciously or unconsciously. 
 Of such prophetic, Heaven-appointed men John Brown was 
 the most conspicuous in our time, and his life must be con 
 strued in the light of that fact, as the career of Cromwell 
 must be, and has been, since Carlyle set it forth to the world 
 in its true colors. Cotton Mather, in 1720, intimated to the 
 young friend for whom he wrote his quaint " Directions for 
 a Candidate of the Ministry," that he must not look at 
 Cromwell through Clarendon's glasses. " I do particularly 
 advertise you," said Mather, "that this mighty man has 
 never yet had his history fully and fairly given ; and when 
 you read it given with the greatest impartiality wherein 
 you have hitherto seen it, you may bear this in your mind, 
 that the principal stroke in his character, and the princi 
 pal spring of his conduct, is forever defectively related." 
 Brown has not suffered so much as Cromwell in this way, 
 for his worldly success was not so great, and therefore he 
 offered a lesser mark for envy and malice ; he was also a 
 more simple and ingenuous Calvinist than Cromwell, and 
 could not lay himself so open to the charge of hypocrisy 
 and self-seeking. But the source of his greatness and the 
 motive of his public conduct were essentially the same, 
 an impression that God had called him to a high and pain 
 ful work, and that he must accomplish this even with 
 bloodshed and at the loss of friends, life, and reputation. 
 Milton, in so many points like Cromwell, though in more 
 like Brown (I speak not of his genius, but of his character), 
 
248 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 understood this, and also that there is a divine antinomi- 
 anism as well as a loose and diabolic one. Therefore he 
 said in one of those matchless choral passages of the 
 <l Sainson,'' 
 
 " Just are the ways of God, 
 And justifiable to men ; 
 Unless there be who think not God at all. 
 If any be, they walk obscure ; 
 For of such doctrine never was there school, 
 But the heart of the fool, 
 And no man therein doctor but himself. 
 
 Yet more there be who doubt His ways not just, 
 As to His own edicts found contradicting ; 
 
 As if they would confine th' Interminable, 
 
 And tie Him to His own prescript, 
 
 Who made our laws to bind us, not Himself, 
 
 And hath full right to exempt 
 
 Whom it so pleases Him by choice 
 
 From national obstriction, without taint 
 
 Of sin or legal debt ; 
 
 For with His own laws He can best dispense." 
 
 This is a high doctrine, applying only to heroes ; but it 
 holds good of John Brown, and particularly in regard to 
 the Pottawatomie executions of May, 1856. Such a deed 
 must not be judged by the every-day rules of conduct, which 
 distinctly forbid violence and the infliction of death for 
 private causes; branding the act, and justly, by the odious 
 names of " murder " and " assassination." The cause here 
 was a public one ; the crisis was momentous, and yet invisible 
 to all but the eyes divinely appointed to see it and to foresee 
 its consequences. Upon the swift and secret vengeance of 
 John Brown in that midnight raid hinged the future of Kan 
 sas, as we can now see ; and on that future again hinged the 
 destinies of the whole country. Had Kansas in the death- 
 struggle of 1856 fallen a prey to the slaveholders, slave- 
 holding would to-day be the law of our imperial democracy ; 
 the sanctions of the Union and the Constitution would now 
 be on the side of human slavery, as they were from 1840 to 
 1860. And the turning point in the Kansas conflict was 
 
1856.] THE POTTAWATOMIE EXECUTIONS. 249 
 
 that week of May, 1856, when the whole power of the 
 United States was shamefully put forth to conquer the little 
 town of Lawrence, to abase the free spirit of the Northern 
 farmers on the Kansas prairies, and to give supremacy 
 to the vilest and most inhuman elements in the American 
 nationality. The attack on Lawrence (May 20) was coin 
 cident in time with the close of Charles Simmer's great 
 speech in the Senate on the " Crime against Kansas ; " and 
 the temporary downfall of the Free-State cause west of 
 the Missouri was echoed at Washington in the contrived 
 and almost completed murder of Simmer by the weapons of 
 South Carolina, as he sat in the Senate chamber two days 
 after (May 22, 1856). One shout of exultation went up 
 from the slaveholding States over the two events ; and one 
 thrill of anguish ran through the free North when the 
 tidings came in the same day from Kansas and from Wash 
 ington. A venerable citizen of Boston, Josiah Quincy, 
 then in his eighty-fifth year, who had seen the Indepen 
 dence of America declared by Jefferson and maintained by 
 Washington, Franklin, and Lafayette, raised his aged voice 
 in protest against the degeneracy of their descendants. 
 Writing to Judge Hoar, of Concord (May 27, 1856), Mr. 
 Quincy said : 
 
 " My mind is in no state to receive pleasure from social 
 scenes and friendly intercourse. I can think and speak of 
 nothing but the outrages of slaveholders at Kansas, and the 
 outrages of slaveholders at Washington, outrages which, 
 if not met in the spirit of our fathers of the Revolution 
 (and I see no sign that they will be), our liberties are but a 
 name, and our Union proves a curse. But, alas ! sir, I see 
 no principle of vitality in what is called freedom in these 
 times. The palsy of death rests on the spirit of freedom in 
 the so-called free States." 
 
 Thus Quincy spoke ; and in the same sense, to a result 
 such as Quincy could not foresee, John Brown had already 
 acted. He also felt that " our liberties are but a name and 
 our Union proves a curse," if the deeds done at Lawrence, 
 preceded by murders and followed by the flight of freemen 
 from Kansas, were not to be met with retaliation. The 
 blow at Pottawatomie followed, as a signal to every Kansas 
 
250 LIFE AND LETTEKS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 ruffian that blood must recompense blood. For every cold 
 blooded murder heretofore perpetrated, for Dow, Barber, 
 Brown, Stewart, and Jones, the sabres of Pottawatomie 
 requited life with life. Five representative defenders of 
 slavery were struck down in a single night, in reprisal for 
 the five sons of liberty slain in the previous six months. 
 The lesson was terrible, but salutary ; the oppressors of 
 Kansas never forgave it, but they could not forget it, and 
 it wrought their defeat in the end. It shocked the Free- 
 State men, no doubt ; but it soon gave them confidence that 
 God's justice did not sleep, and that their cause was not 
 lost. I have already cited what Charles Robinson said of it 
 in 1878, that he had always believed John Brown to be 
 the author of the Pottawatomie executions, because he was 
 the only man then in Kansas who comprehended the situ 
 ation, and had the nerve to strike the blow. John Brown, 
 Jr., in this respect agrees with Robinson, and says : "It has 
 never been asserted by me, nor by any one else who compre 
 hended the situation at that time, that the killing of those 
 men at Pottawatomie was wholly on account of the emer 
 gency in that neighborhood. That blow was struck for 
 Kansas and the slave ; and he who attempts to limit its 
 object to a mere settlement of accounts with a few proslav- 
 ery desperadoes on that creek, shows himself incapable of 
 rendering a just judgment in the case." When Jason Brown 
 met his father for the first time after the executions, near 
 the empty cabins from which the Brown families had fled for 
 safety to Osawatomie, the tender-hearted son said : "Father, 
 did you have anything to do with that bloody affair on the 
 Pottawatomie ? " Brown's reply was, " I approved of it." 
 Jason then said : " Whoever did it, the act was uncalled for 
 and wicked." Brown answered, " God is my judge, the 
 people of Kansas will yet justify my course." This predic 
 tion was true. An old friend of his. James Hanway, who 
 lived near the scene of the executions, and at first strongly 
 abhorred them, has given this testimony on the point : 
 
 11 In the month of January, 1859, the last time I met John Brown 
 before he left the Territory for the last time, he asked me, in the 
 presence of my family, ' What do the old settlers now think about 
 
1856.] THE POTTAWATOMIE EXECUTIONS. 251 
 
 the affair ? ' alludiiig to the killing of the Doyles, etc. My reply 
 was, ' A great change in public opinion has taken place j it is not 
 now looked upon with that feeling of horror which prevailed soon 
 after the event took place.' Brown replied, < I knew all good men 
 who loved freedom, when they became better acquainted with the 
 circumstances connected with the case, would approve of it. The 
 public mind was not ready tkeii to accept such hard blows.' Captain 
 Brown firmly believed that he was an instrument in the hands of 
 Providence to smite the slave-power, and roll back its blasphemous 
 threats. The question with him was the proper time to strike the 
 blow. He thought the hour had come, and the Pottawatomie tragedy 
 was the result." 
 
 The scene of this act of wild justice was one of the most 
 romantic in Kansas. The broad prairies of that State are 
 fertile and sunny, but they have the tameness and sameness 
 of landscape that soon wearies the eye of the traveller. 
 Around Osawatomie, however, this monotony is broken by 
 winding streams, swelling hills, and steep ravines ; while 
 along the streams is a noble border of woodland. That in 
 stinctive love of the picturesque which led John Brown and 
 his sons to the forests of Ohio, the mountains of the Adiron- 
 dac wilderness, and the snow-capped heights of California, 
 guided their steps in Kansas also, and pitched their tents in 
 this wildest tract of a tame region. Two copious rivers, 
 though condescending to bear the commonplace name of 
 " creek," the Marais des Cygnes, and the Pottawatomie, 
 unite near Osawatomie, in what was then the home of Indian 
 tribes, to form the Osage River, the largest tributary of 
 the Missouri below the mountain-torrents. Each of these 
 Kansas rivers is formed by tributary streams, and all wind 
 gracefully among fringes of woodland, below which in many 
 places the banks shelve steeply down to the lazy waters. 1 
 
 1 I visited Osawatomie, August 21, 1882, and made this entry in my 
 journal : " Crossed the Marais des Cygnes by a bridge on the road from Paola 
 between the insane asylum and the village of Osawatomie, a large stream 
 with high banks, heavily timbered, perhaps one hundred feet wide at this 
 season, and in some places twenty or thirty feet deep ; so that men fording 
 it have often been drowned. It was on the northern bank of this river, one 
 mile or more from the village, that John Brown was encamped (August 29, 
 30) before the battle of Osawatomie. 1 saw one of Brown's friends, the 
 
252 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 Beyond this forest selvage stretches broad and grand the 
 grassy, flower-enamelled prairie, now dotted at many points 
 with orchards, groves, farm-houses and villages, but in 
 1856 a virgin soil, which the plow had only scarred a little 
 now and then, and over which ranged and flitted countless 
 beasts and birds, with here and there a herd of cattle, or 
 a group of half-wild horses. The Indian hunter pursued 
 his game there, and the buffalo had not wholly forsaken his 
 old grazing-ground. The villages of Osawatomie, which 
 gave John Brown a distinctive name, and of Lane, which 
 has grown up near the old ford of the Pottawatomie in 
 the township of that ilk, once known as Dutch Henry's 
 Crossing, are neither of them large or specially flourishing, 
 but a historic interest attaches to both from their asso 
 ciation with Brown's career. Lane is southwest of Osa 
 watomie, and therefore, as the river runs, above it ; and 
 above the old Crossing, where there is now a modern 
 bridge, are the neighborhoods which Brown visited on 
 that tragic night. Professor Spring, the latest historian 
 of Kansas, thus describes the country as he saw it three 
 years ago : 
 
 11 The Dutch Henry's Crossing of 1882 is a paradise of rural peace 
 and happiness. The fiercest sounds I heard during a visit to that 
 region were the clatter of agricultural machinery and the fervent 
 hallelujahs of a l holiness ' camp-meeting. Here quiet and security 
 seem to have reached their utmost limit. The Pottawatomie half 
 limpid, with slighter mixtures of discoloring mud than any Kansas 
 stream that I have seen winds languidly between beautifully 
 shaded banks toward the Mara is des Cygnes. The vast fields of 
 
 Sniders of the Trading Post massacre, a blacksmith of Osawatomie now, 
 standing tall and swarthy in his shop at the village ; and then drove the 
 next morning two miles farther west to the log-house of Rev. S. L. Adair, 
 on the high prairie along which the Missourians came the morning of the 
 fight. The road from the village to Mr. Adair's is steep and rocky, more 
 so than any I have } r et seen in Kansas. His house is the one he built in 
 the spring of 1855, though it has since been enlarged ; it is the common 
 cabin of squared logs, chinked in with clay, and the main room has two 
 beds in it. In this room John Brown was sick with typhoid fever for six 
 weeks, in 1858, Kagi and the Adairs taking care of him. The house has 
 orchards about it, and in front two or three pine-trees which Mr. Adair 
 brought from the East about 1860, one of which is now twenty feet high." 
 
1856.] THE POTTAWATOMIE EXECUTIONS. 253 
 
 corn and wheat, with their picturesque borders of orange hedge, lie 
 mapped upon the rolling prairie in every direction, 
 
 ' As quietly as spots of sky 
 Among the evening clouds.' 
 
 " The Dutch Henry's Crossing of 1856 stands in antithesis to all 
 this Arcadian repose. Then there was no law but force, no rule but 
 violence, in the Territory of Kansas. A veritable reign of terror was 
 inaugurated. Marauders were prowling about in whose eyes nothing 
 was sacred that stood in the way of their passions. The opposing 
 factions into whose hands the question of slavery or no slavery for 
 Kansas had fallen, hunted each other like wolves. Pistol-shots and 
 sword-slits were the prevailing style of argument. For purposes 
 of ambush and concealment this location was admirably chosen. 
 The surface is cut up by gulches affording natural defences which 
 ten resolute men could hold against a hundred. I spent half a day in 
 exploring this region with one of Brown's men, who had not been on 
 the ground for twenty-six years, in an effort to recover the exact site 
 of Brown's bivouac of May 23. But so marked is the change which 
 time has wrought in the landscape, so great the number and similar 
 ity of the ravines, that all our efforts failed. Indeed, nothing here 
 remains as it was in the Border period. The earliest cabins have 
 been pulled down, frontier characteristics are gone, and the customs 
 of older civilizations appear. The ford retains its quaint and primitive 
 name of Dutch Henry's Crossing, but has ceased to be used. The 
 once broad and travelled road leading down to it has now shrunk to 
 a narrow, weed-choked path, right across which lies a half-decayed 
 tree. I found one direct, and to me pathetic, memorial of the Potta- 
 watomie raid (even that is being rapidly obliterated), the grave 
 of three of its victims. They were buried coffinless in one shallow 
 trench. No stone or tablet marks their resting-place, only a slight 
 heaving of the turf, in an open field near the ford." 
 
 The two Shermans, Dutch Henry and Dutch Wil 
 liam, who lived here and gave their name to the ford, 
 were brothers, from Oldenburg in Germany, who had been 
 long in America, and were among the earliest white settlers 
 of this region. They were men of harsh and brutal charac 
 ter, who profited by the neighborhood of peaceful Indians 
 to advance their own interests at the expense of the red men, 
 and who looked upon Indians and negroes with, equal con 
 tempt. Their house was a sort of tavern, as many of the 
 prairie cabins were in those days, and their most acceptable 
 
254 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 visitors were the proslavery men from Missouri and farther 
 south. At this very time, in the words of John Brown the 
 younger, " the Doyles, Wilkinsons, and Shermans were fur 
 nishing places of rendezvous and active aid to the armed 
 men who had sworn to kill us and others." With the Browns 
 it was simply a question as to which, to use a Western phrase, 
 should " first get the drop " on the others. Upon this point, 
 which of late years has been the subject of controversy, the 
 testimony is clear and ample. The men who suffered death 
 were not only leagued with the Missouri invaders, but had 
 themselves committed gross outrages, such as they had 
 threatened a year before their death. An early citizen of 
 Kansas (now or recently a police magistrate at Salina), Au 
 gust Bondi by name, went to settle, in May, 1855, on the 
 Musquito branch of the Pottawatomie, four miles from Dutch 
 Henry's. Being a German, and having two compatriots 
 (Theodore Wiener and Jacob Benjamin) owning near him, 
 Bondi went to call on Henry Sherman, whom he had heard 
 of as a German also, and therefore sought his acquaintance. 
 After a short conversation with him, Henry Sherman said 
 "he had heard that Bondi and Benjamin were Freesoilers, 
 and therefore would advise them to clear out, or they might 
 meet the fate of Baker," - a Vermont man whom the Bor 
 der Euffians had taken from his cabin on the Marais des 
 Cygnes, whipped, and hanged upon a tree, but had cut him 
 down before death, and released him upon his promise to 
 leave Kansas. Allen Wilkinson, who was a member of the 
 usurping Legislature, talked to Bondi in much the same way. 
 The two Germans (Bondi and Benjamin, for Wiener had 
 not yet arrived) took counsel what should be done. Benja 
 min, who had worked several days at the settlement on the 
 Marais des Cygnes, reported that no help could be expected 
 thence, where the settlers were all from Missouri or Arkan 
 sas. He had heard, however, of a small settlement of Ohio 
 men about five miles to the northeast, and both agreed that 
 these ought to be seen. Next morning Benjamin went there, 
 and about noon returned with Frederick Brown, who brought 
 word from his three brothers that they would always be 
 found ready to assist Bondi and his friend. No attack was 
 made that summer, during which there was a large immi- 
 
1856.] THE POTTAWATOMIE EXECUTIONS. 255 
 
 gration into the Pottawatomie region, both from the North 
 and the South, the Northern men in the majority, but the 
 proslavery men having the advantage of being generally 
 well armed and under better organization. On their side, 
 too, were the gangs of robbers and murderers on the borders 
 of Missouri and the Indian Territory. 
 
 But in the spring of 1856 the Shermans and their com 
 rades began to carry out their threats. George Grant, who 
 then lived on the Pottawatomie, testified in 1879 : 
 
 "My father, John T. Grant, came from Oneida County, N. Y., 
 and settled on Pottawatomie Creek, in 1854. We were near neigh 
 bors of the Shermans, of the Doyles, and of Wilkinson, who were 
 afterward killed. There was a company of Georgia Border Ruffians 
 encamped on the Marais des Cygnes, about four miles away from us, 
 who had been committing outrages upon the Free-State people ; and 
 these proslavery men were in constant communication with them. 
 They had a courier who went backward and forward carrying mes 
 sages. When we heard on the Pottawatomie that the Border Ruf 
 fians were threatening Lawrence, and that the Free-State men wanted 
 help, we immediately began to prepare to go to their assistance. 
 Frederick Brown, sou of John Brown, went to a store at Dutch 
 Henry's Crossing, kept by a Mr. Morse, from Michigan, known as 
 old Squire Morse, a quiet, inoffensive old Free-State man, living 
 there with his two boys, and bought some bars of lead, say twenty 
 or thirty pounds. He brought the lead to my father's house on Sun 
 day morning, and my brother Henry C. Grant and my sister Mary 
 spent the whole day in running Sharpe's and other rifle bullets for 
 the company. As Frederick Brown was bringing this lead to our 
 house, he passed by Henry Sherman's house, and several proslavery 
 men, among them Doyle and his sons, William Sherman, and others, 
 were sitting on the fence, and inquired what he was going to do with 
 it. He told them he was going to run it into bullets for Free-State 
 guns. They were apparently much incensed at his reply, as they 
 knew that the Free- State company was then preparing to go to 
 Lawrence. The next morning, after tbe company had started to go 
 to Lawrence, a number of these proslavery men Wilkinson, Doyle, 
 his two sons, and William Sherman, known as 'Dutch Bill' took 
 a rope arid went to old Squire Morse's house, and said they were 
 going to hang him for selling the lead to the Free-State men. They 
 frightened the old man terribly ; but finally told him he must leave 
 the country before eleven o'clock, or they would hang him. They 
 then left and went to the Shermans' and went to drinking. About 
 
256 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 eleven o'clock a portion of them, half drunk, went back to Mr. 
 Morse's, and were going to kill him with an axe. His little boys 
 one was only nine years old set up a violent crying, and begged 
 for their father's life. They finally gave him until sundown to leave. 
 He left everything and came at once to our house. He was nearly 
 frightened to death. He came to our house carrying a blanket and 
 leading his little boy by the hand. When night came he was so 
 afraid that he would not stay in the house, but went out doors and 
 slept on the prairie in the gra^s. For a few days he lay about in the 
 brush, most of the time getting his meals at our house. He was 
 then taken violently ill and died in a very short time. Dr. Gilpatrick 
 attended him during his brief illness, and said that his death was 
 directly caused by the fright and excitement of that terrible day when 
 he was driven from his store. The only thing they had against Mr. 
 Morse was his selling the lead, and this he had previously bought of 
 Henry Sherman, who had brought it from Kansas City. While the 
 Free-State company was gone to Lawrence, Henry Sherman 1 came 
 to my father's house and said : l We have ordered old Morse out of 
 the country, and he has got to go, and a good many others of the 
 Free-State families have got to go.' The general feeling among the 
 Free-State people was one of terror while the company was gone, 
 as we did not know at what moment the Georgia ruffians might come 
 in and drive us all out." 
 
 1 Mr. Foster, already quoted, who knew the Shermans and their repu 
 tation, tells this story of the brutality of "Dutch Bill," who was one of the 
 five men executed by Brown : "In the spring of 1856 William Sherman 
 had taken a fancy to the daughter of one of his Free- State neighbors, and 
 had been refused by her. The next time he met her he used the most vile 
 and insulting language toward her, in the midst of which Frederick Brown 
 appeared and was besought for protection, which was readily granted. 
 Sherman then drew his knife, and, speaking to the young woman, said : 
 ' The day is soon coming when all the damned Abolitionists will be driven 
 out or hanged ; we are not going to make any half-way work about it ; and 
 as for you, Miss, you shall either marry me or I '11 drive this knife to the 
 hilt until I find your life.' Frederick Brown quietly warned Sherman 
 that if he attempted any violence he would be taken care of ; when, with 
 an oath and threat, Sherman left them." His viler brother, Henry Sher 
 man, who escaped Brown's avenging hand, was shot not long afterward, I 
 have heard, by one of Brown's soldiers, not a member of the party which 
 slew William Sherman. The chief wonder was, that a wretch so outra 
 geous as Dutch Henry, in a country so full of tumult as Southern Kansas, 
 had not been killed sooner. His house has long been destroyed, and only 
 a few apple-trees remain to mark the spot where he lived and persecuted 
 his Free- State neighbors. 
 
1856.] THE POTTAWATOMIE EXECUTIONS. 257 
 
 Notwithstanding the controversy which has so long been 
 kept up concerning these executions, the facts are plain and 
 simple, and are now almost universally accepted. The char 
 acter of the men slain was notoriously bad, as has been 
 shown ; and they had long been plotting with the Missou- 
 rians, and more recently with Buford's armed colonists from 
 the South, to exterminate the Free-State settlers along the 
 Pottawatomie and its tributaries. While the Free-State 
 men were on their way to the defence of Lawrence, and 
 their families were left unprotected, word was sent to the 
 camp of John Brown, Jr., who commanded the Pottawato 
 mie Rifles, that the Free-State families along the Creek 
 were to be attacked and driven out. This news followed 
 hard upon the tidings that Lawrence had been captured and 
 burned by the Missouri ruffians. After that dismal mes 
 sage, John Brown, who was a member of his son's company, 
 proposed marching at once on Lawrence. But word soon 
 came from that town requesting the company not to come, 
 since the ruffians had gone back to Missouri, and the Free- 
 State men were short of provisions. A vote was therefore 
 taken in the company not to visit Lawrence, but to go into 
 camp near the house of Captain Shore on the Middle Ottawa 
 Creek ; and this was done on the night of May 22. The 
 place is about five miles from the town of Palmyra, and 
 not more than ten miles from where Brown afterward won 
 the fight of Black Jack. James Hanway, already quoted, 
 was a member of the Pottawatomie Rifles, and a witness 
 of entire credibility. He says : 
 
 " When we were in camp on Middle Ottawa Creek, in Franklin 
 County, a young man, son of Mr. Grant, 1 brought the intelligence 
 that certain proslavery citizens of the Pottawatomie had visited some 
 of the Free-State families, and threatened them with death, and their 
 property with destruction, if they did not leave the neighborhood by 
 the following Saturday or Sunday night. Old John Brown, who had 
 a firm belief that Providence directed his steps in all undertakings, 
 immediately raised a small party of men, and visited those who had 
 been the instigators of this threatened movement. I think it was 
 May 23, about two p. M., that John Brown and his party left our 
 
 1 Others say another was the messenger. 
 17 
 
258 LITE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 camp. When Brown was packing up his camp kettles, etc., at 
 Middle Ottawa Creek. I was invited to become one of the party, by 
 one of the eight who formed the company. I was informed at the 
 time of the purpose of the expedition, and the necessity there was to 
 carry out the programme. 
 
 " The following day we camped at Palmyra. We had heard of the 
 arrest of Governor Robinson, and our object was to rescue him if 
 they brought him by the Santa Fe road to Lecompton. On Sunday 
 morning, May 25, we broke camp, and took up quarters near Prairie 
 City, on Liberty Hill. It was then and there that four persons came 
 riding across the prairie, and reported what had taken place on the 
 Pottawatomie. That night we camped in the yard of Ottawa Jones, 
 and during the night John Brown's party, who had left our company 
 several days before, made their appearance. I was with Jason Brown 
 in what was called the Brown tent. John Brown asked if his son 
 John was there. I replied no ; he was in Ottawa Jones's house. 
 This was about the middle of the night." 
 
 Between the departure of John Brown from his son's 
 camp early in the afternoon of May 23, and his return 
 thereto in the night of May 25-26, the deed of death was 
 done. Those who accomplished it were under Brown's 
 orders, and were directed in all their movements by him. 
 Of this there is now no doubt, although at the time, and for 
 many years afterward, John Brown's presence at the execu 
 tions was denied ; and this denial was supposed to be sup 
 ported by his words. But upon inquiry of all those who 
 talked with him. on the subject, it does not appear that he 
 ever denied his presence at the scene, while he constantly 
 justified the act. One of the earliest witnesses has already 
 been cited, Jason Brown. John Brown, Jr., was not in 
 formed of the deed by his father. An old Kansas settler, 
 E. A. Coleman, now living near Lawrence, where he was in 
 1855-56, bears witness thus : 
 
 " John Brown frequently visited me at my house, and stayed with 
 me. In fact, my latch-string was always out for such men. John 
 Brown knew where his friends lived, and could go to them night or 
 day. One evening, not long before the fight at Osawatomie, we ate 
 supper out of doors in the shade of my cabin at five o'clock. As 
 soon as supper was over, Captain Brown commenced pacing back 
 and forth in the shade of the house. My wife stood by the dishes, 
 
1856.1 THE POTTAWATOMIE EXECUTIONS. 259 
 
 and I sat in my chair. I finally said, ' Captain Brown, I want to 
 ask you one question, and you can answer it or not as you please, 
 and I shall not be offended.' He stopped his pacing, looked me 
 square in the face, and said, ' What is it ? ' Said I, l Captain 
 Brown, did you kill those five men on the Pottawatomie, or did you 
 not?' He replied, 'I did not; but I do not pretend to say they 
 were not killed by my order j and in doing so I believe I was doing 
 God's service.' My wife spoke and said, ' Then, Captain, you think 
 that God uses you as an instrument in his hands to kill men ? ' 
 Brown replied, * I think he has used rne as an instrument to kill 
 men ; and if I live, I think he will use me as an instrument to kill a 
 good many more.' He went on and said : l Mr. Coleman, I will 
 tell you all about it, and you can judge whether I did right or wrong. 
 I had heard that these men were coming to the cabin that my son and 
 I were staying in [I think he said the next Wednesday night] to 
 set fire to it and shoot us as we ran out. Now, that was not proof 
 enough for me ; but I thought I would satisfy myself, and if they 
 had committed murder in their hearts, I would be justified in killing 
 them. I was an old surveyor, so I disguised myself, took two men 
 to carry the chain, and a flagman. The lines not being run, I knew 
 that as soon as they saw me they would come out to find out where 
 their lines would come.' And taking a book from his pocket, he 
 said, 'Here is what every man said that was killed. I ran my 
 lines close to each man's house. The first that came out said, u Is 
 that my line, sir ? " I replied, " I cannot tell ; I am running test 
 lines." I then said to him, u You have a fine country here; great 
 pity there are so many Abolitionists in it." u Yes, but by God we 
 will soon clean them all out," he said. I kept looking through my 
 instrument, making motions to the flagman to move either way, and 
 at the same time I wrote every word they said. Then I said, ' I 
 hear there are some bad men about here by the name of Brown." 
 " Yes, there are ; but next Wednesday night we will kill them." So 
 I ran the lines by each one of their houses, and I took down every 
 word; and here it is, word for word, by each one. [Shows wife and 
 me the book]. I was satisfied that each one of them had committed 
 murder in his heart, and according to the Scriptures they were guilty 
 of murder, and I felt justified in having them killed ; but, as I told 
 you, I did not do it myself.' He then said, ' Now, Mr. Coleman, 
 what do you think ? ' I told him I thought he did right, and so did 
 my wife. This statement we are both willing to be sworn to." 1 
 
 1 See " The Kansas Memorial," 1879, pp. 196, 197. I have a letter from 
 Mr. Coleman, written in 1885, in which he repeats this striking conversa 
 tion, with some variations, but in substance as recited above. He says : 
 
260 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 John Brown, Jr., has thus expressed himself concerning 
 the mystery which long concealed the true facts in this af 
 fair ; and no person who knows him will doubt his word : 
 
 " The only statement that I ever heard my father make in regard 
 to this was, ' I did not myself kill any of those men at Pottawatomie, 
 but I am as fully responsible as if I did. ? . This statement of his is 
 strictly in accordance with the facts, as I have now abundant evi 
 dence. The statements of others, giving a different version, I believe 
 
 "The Browns were hunted as we hunt wolves to-day ; and because they un 
 dertook to protect themselves, they are called cold-blooded murderers, 
 merely because they ' had the dare,' and were contented to live and die a.s 
 God intended them to. Brown was a Bible-man, he believed it all ; 
 and though I am not, I give him credit for being honest, and the most 
 consistent so-called Christian I have ever met. Brown and his sons had 
 claims, and worked them, as I did mine, when these devils were not prowl 
 ing about, killing a man now and then, stealing our stock arid running 
 them off to Missouri." 
 
 John Brown, Jr.'s, version of the surveying adventure, and doubtless 
 the more correct one, is as follows : " Early in the spring of 1856, Colonel 
 Buford, of Alabama, arrived with a regiment of armed men, mostly from 
 South Carolina and Georgia. They came with the openly declared purpose 
 to make Kansas a slave State at all hazards. A company of these men was 
 reported to us as being encamped near the Marais des Cygnes, a little south 
 of the town now called Rantoul, I think, and distant from our place about 
 two miles. Father took his surveyor's compass, and with him four of my 
 brothers, Owen, Frederick, Salmon, and Oliver, as chain-carriers, ax- 
 man, and marker, and found a section line which, on following, led through 
 the camp of these men. The Georgians indulged in the utmost freedom of ex 
 pression. One of them, who appeared to be the leader of the company, said : 
 ' We' ve come here to stay. We won't make no war on them as minds 
 their own business ; but all the Abolitionists, such as them damned Browns 
 over there, we' re going to whip, drive out, or kill, any way to get shut of 
 them, by God.' The elder Doyle was already there among them, having 
 come from the Pottawatomie, a distance of nine miles, to show them the 
 best fords of the river and creek." 
 
 Upon reading Mr. Colernan's letter, John Brown has written me thus : 
 "While we had in the spring of 1856 abundant and entirely satisfactory 
 evidence that our family were marked for destruction, I am not aware of 
 any information having been received by any of our number that a par 
 ticular day had been decided upon for the undertaking. It is probable 
 that father related to Mr. Coleman the story of his running that line 
 through a camp of Buford's men and of the information he obtained ; but 
 further than this I think he did not go. The running of that line occurred 
 a few days before our second call to assist Lawrence, May 20, 1856." 
 
1859.] THE POTTAWATOMIE EXECUTIONS. 261 
 
 have been made in good faith upon reports which they supposed were 
 true, or upon their interpretation of father's words as given above. I 
 have yet to learn of any authentic statement made by him touching 
 this matter which in substance differs from his words as I have given 
 them. In the fall of 1856 I was told by one who as I supposed was 
 in possession of the facts, that when my father and his men, on their 
 return from our camp near Ottawa Creek, had reached Middle Creek, 
 his party divided; that he and some of the men crossed the Marais 
 des Cygues to reconnoitre the position of a party of Buford's men, and 
 that consequently he was several miles away when those men were 
 killed on the Pottawatomie. I accepted this statement as true, and 
 whenever I had occasion to refer to the matter I stated it in accord 
 ance with what I supposed was fact. It was not until July, 1860, 
 that I was more correctly informed by one who had himself partici 
 pated in that affair. At that time a large reward was offered by the 
 State of Virginia for my capture. Soon after, stimulated by that 
 reward, kidnappers attempted the work of my abduction: and from 
 that time until the close of the Civil War other matters more urgent 
 claimed my attention than the correction of my own statements in 
 regard to Pottawatomie, or of Mr. Redpath's mistake, which I have 
 no doubt was as innocently made as my own." x 
 
 The most direct statement made by any of the party who 
 accompanied John Brown on his expedition of May 23, 
 that was made public before the Civil War, is, I think, a 
 letter from one of his sons, who undertook, a few weeks 
 after his father's death, to answer a question on the subject 
 which was asked of his mother. She had no knowledge con 
 cerning the matter, as she told me in 1882 ; but knowing 
 that her son Salmon had been Brown's constant companion 
 in Kansas, she requested him to reply. He was then living 
 with her at North Elba, and he wrote as follows : 
 
 NORTH ELBA, Dec. 27, 1859. 
 
 DEAR SIR, Your letter to my mother was received to-night. 
 You wish me to give you the facts in regard to the Pottawatomie 
 execution, or murder, and to know whether my father was a partici 
 pator in the act. I was one of his company at the time of the homi 
 cide, and was never away from him one hour at a time after we took 
 up arms in Kansas; therefore I say positively that he was not a 
 
 1 In confirmation of this, I may say that my last letters from Mr. Red- 
 path continued to declare that John Brown was not at the executions. 
 
262 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 participator in the deed, although I should think none the less of 
 him if he had been there ; for it was the grandest thing that was 
 ever done in Kansas. It was all that saved the Territory from "being 
 overrun with drunken land-pirates from the Southern States. That 
 was the first act in the history of Kansas which proved to the demon 
 of Slavery that there was as much room to give blows as to take 
 them. It was done to save life, and to strike terror through their 
 wicked ranks. 
 
 Yours respectfully, 
 
 SALMON BROWN. 
 
 The member of Brown's company of eight who first dis 
 closed the details of the expedition of May 23-25, was James 
 Townsley, a Maryland man, who had emigrated to Kansas 
 in October, 1855, and settled on the Pottawatomie, a mile 
 west of the present town of Greeley. This is several miles 
 southwest of Dutch Henry's Crossing, and therefore higher 
 up on the creek. Townsley had been a cavalry soldier in 
 the United States army from 1839 to 1844, and had fought 
 against Indians in Florida ; by trade he was a painter, and 
 he was an acquaintance of Martin and Jefferson Conway, 
 who like himself migrated from Maryland to Kansas, but 
 were opposed to slavery. He set out from Baltimore with 
 his wife and four children and eleven hundred dollars in 
 money, and, leaving his family in Kansas City, went into 
 the Pottawatomie region and bought a " claim," for which 
 he paid eighty dollars, put up a rude cabin, and moved his 
 family into it. They suffered much from cold during the 
 winter, and were just beginning to plant their land in the 
 spring, when Townsley, who had joined the "Pottawatomie 
 Eifles " in April, was called upon to march for the protec 
 tion of Lawrence. This was on the afternoon of May 21. 
 What followed has thus been told by himself : 
 
 " About two miles south of Middle Creek we were joined by the 
 Osawatoraie company, under Captain Dayton, and proceeded to 
 Mount Vernon, where we waited about two hours until the moon 
 rose. We then marched all night, camping the next morning (the 
 22d) for breakfast, near Ottawa Jones's. Before we arrived at this 
 point news had been received that Lawrence had been destroyed, and 
 a question was raised whether we should return or go on. During 
 the forenoon, however, we proceeded up Ottawa Creek to within 
 
1856.] THE POTTAWATOMIE EXECUTIONS. 263 
 
 about five miles of Palmyra, and went into camp near the residence 
 of Captain Shore. Here we remained undecided over night. About 
 noon the next day, the 23d, old John Brown came to me and said he 
 had just received information that trouble was expected on the Potta- 
 watomie, and wanted to know if I would take my team and take him 
 and his boys back, so that they could keep watch of what was going 
 on. I told him I would do so. The party consisting of John Brown, 
 Frederick Brown, Owen Brown, Watson Brown, Oliver Brown, 
 Henry Thompson (John Brown's son-in-law), and Mr. Wiener were 
 soon ready for the trip, and we started, as near as I can remember, 
 about two o'clock p. M. All of the party except Mr. Wiener, who 
 rode a pony, rode with me in my wagon. When within two or three 
 miles of the Pottawatomie Creek we turned off the main road to the 
 right, drove down into the edge of the timber between tw r o deep ra 
 vines, and camped about one mile above Dutch Henry's Crossing. 
 After my team was fed and the party had taken supper, John Brown 
 told me for the first time what he proposed to do. He said he wanted 
 me to pilot the company up to the forks of the creek, some five or 
 six miles above, into the neighborhood in which I lived, and show 
 them where all the proslavery men resided ; that he proposed to 
 sweep the creek as he came down of all the proslavery men living on 
 it. I positively refused to do it. He insisted upon it ; but when 
 he found that I would not go he decided to postpone the expedition 
 until the following night. I then wanted to take my team and go 
 home, but he refused to let me do so, and said I should remain with 
 them. We remained in camp that night and all day the next day. 
 Sometime after dark we were ordered to march." 
 
 Townsley has related, not always in the same manner, and 
 with more or less variation from the fact (as in the above 
 statement, which is somewhat incorrect, though mainly 
 true), how the five men were called out and despatched, 
 alleging that he had no hand in the actual slaughter, but 
 that John Brown had. 1 I have talked with those present, 
 and find reason to doubt this. Whatever Townsley's part 
 may have been, I am convinced that John Brown did not 
 raise his own hand or discharge his weapon against his vic 
 tims. He was no less responsible for their death than if he 
 had done so, and this he never denied. But for some reason 
 he chose not to strike a blow himself; and this is what Sal 
 mon Brown meant when he declared that his father " was 
 
 1 Owen Brown and Henry Thompson deny this. 
 
264 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 not a participator in the deed." It was a very narrow inter 
 pretation of the word " participator " which would permit 
 such a denial ; but it was no doubt honestly made, although 
 for the purpose of disguising what John Brown's real agency 
 in the matter was. He was, in fact, the originator and per 
 former of these executions, although the hands that dealt 
 the wounds were those of others. The actual executioners 
 were but three or four. The weapons used were short cut 
 lasses, or artillery sabres, which had been originally worn by 
 a military company in Ohio, and were brought from Akron 
 in 1855 by John Brown. 1 They were straight and broad, 
 like an old Roman sword, and were freshly ground for this 
 expedition at the camp of John Brown, Jr. 2 When the 
 bodies of the dead were found, there went up a cry that they 
 had been mutilated ; but this was because of the weapons 
 used. Their death was speedy and with little noise, the use 
 of fire-arms being forbidden. A single shot was fired during 
 the five executions ; but when, and for what purpose, the 
 witnesses are in dispute. The Doyles were first slain, then 
 
 1 The swords used were not sabres exactly, but weapons made like the 
 Roman short-sword, of which six or eight had been given to Brown in 
 Akron, Ohio, just before he went to Kansas, by General Bierce of that 
 city, who took them from an old armory there. They had been the swords 
 of an artillery company, then disbanded, which General Bierce had some 
 thing to do with, and there were also some guns and old bayonets among 
 these arms. The bayonets would not fit any guns the Kansas people 
 had ; and so in December, 1855, when the Browns went up to defend 
 Lawrence for the first time, they fastened some of them on sticks, and 
 intended to use them in defending breastworks. They were thrown 
 loosely "into the bed of the wagon," not set up about it for parade, as 
 some have said. There were also some curved swords among these Akron 
 arms. 
 
 2 When Brown called for volunteers to go on a secret expedition, his son 
 at first questioned the wisdom of reducing his main force in this way ; but 
 as only eight men were wanted no serious opposition was made, and John 
 Brown, Jr., says: "We aided him in his outfit, and I assisted in the 
 sharpening of his cutlasses. James Townsley, who resided near Pottawa- 
 tomie Creek, volunteered to return with his team, and offered to point out 
 the abodes of such as he thought should be disposed of. No man of our 
 entire number could fail to understand that a retaliatory blow would fall ; 
 yet when father and his little band departed, they were saluted by all our 
 men with a rousing cheer." All the survivors of the " little band," except 
 Townsley, deny that Brown " proposed to sweep the creek." 
 
1856.] THE POTTAWATOMIE EXECUTIONS. 265 
 
 Wilkinson; and finally the Shermans were visited, their 
 guests captured and questioned, but only William Sherman 
 executed. The testimony of James Harris, one of the com 
 rades of William Sherman, who was allowed to go unpun 
 ished, was given in these words before the Congressional 
 Committee of 1856 : 1 
 
 " On Sunday morning, May 25, 1856, about two A. M., while my 
 wife and child and myself were in bed in the house where we lived, 
 near Henry Sherman's, we were aroused by a company of men who 
 said they belonged to the Northern army, and who were each armed 
 with a sabre and two revolvers, two of whom I recognized ; namely, 
 a Mr. Brown, whose given name I do not remember (commonly 
 known by the appellation of l old man Brown'), and his son Owen 
 Brown. They came into the house and approached the bedside 
 where we were lying, and ordered us, together with three other men 
 who were in the same house with me, to surrender; that the Northern 
 army was upon us, and it would be no use for us to resist. The 
 names of these other men who were then in the house with me were 
 William Sherman and John S. Whiteman ; the other man I did 
 not know. They were stopping with me that night. They had 
 bought a cow from Henry Sherman, and intended to go home the 
 next morning. When they came up to the bed, some had drawn 
 sabres in their hands, and some revolvers. They then took into their 
 possession two rifles and a bowie-knife, which I had there in the 
 room (there was but one room in my house), and afterwards ran 
 sacked the whole establishment in search of ammunition. They 
 then took one of these three men, who were staying in my house, 
 out. (This was the man whose name I did not know.) He came 
 back. They then took me out, and asked me if there were any 
 more men about the place. I told them there were not. They 
 searched the place, but found no others but us four. They asked 
 me where Henry Sherman was. (Henry was a brother to William 
 Sherman.) I told them he was out on the plains in search of some 
 cattle which he had lost. They asked me if I had ever taken any 
 hand in aiding proslavery men in coming to the Territory of Kansas, 
 or had ever taken any hand in the last troubles at Lawrence ; they 
 asked me whether I had ever done the Free-State party any harm, or 
 ever intended to do that party any harm ; they asked me what made 
 
 1 James Hanway, who talked with Harris more than once after the 
 affair, says that this testimony differed from the accounts Harris privately 
 gave. 
 
266 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 me live at such a place. I then answered that I could get higher 
 wages there than anywhere else. They asked me if there were any 
 bridles or saddles about the premises. I told them there was one 
 saddle, which they took ; and they also took possession of Henry 
 Sherman's horse, which I had at my place, and made me saddle him. 
 They then said if I would answer no to all the questions which they 
 had asked me, they would let me loose. Old Mr. Brown and his son 
 then went into the house with me. The other three men Mr. Wil 
 liam Sherman, Mr. Whiteman, and the stranger were in the house 
 all this time. After old man Brown and his son went into the 
 house with me, old man Brown asked Mr. Sherman to go out with 
 him; and Mr. Sherman then went out with old Mr. Brown, and an 
 other man came into the house in Brown's place. I heard nothing 
 more for about fifteen minutes. Two of the Northern army, as they 
 styled themselves, stayed in with us until we heard a cap burst, and 
 then these two men left. That morning, about ten o'clock, I found 
 William Sherman dead in the creek near my house. I was looking 
 for him; as he had not come back, I thought he had been murdered. 
 I took Mr. William Sherman out of the creek and examined him. 
 Mr. Whiteman was with me. Sherman's skull was split open in 
 two places, and some of his brains w r as washed out by the water. A 
 large hole was cut in his breast, and his left hand was cut off except 
 a little piece of skin on one side. We buried him." 
 
 Mr. Hanway used to declare that this James Harris told 
 him that when the avenging party first entered the house 
 his wife supposed they were Missouri men, arrived there for 
 the purpose of driving out the Free-State settlers. Mrs. 
 Wilkinson, an unfortunate woman who had tried in vain to 
 keep her husband from engaging in the outrages against 
 their Free-State neighbors, was visited early in the morn 
 ing after the executions by Dr. Gilpatrick and Mr. Grant, 
 two Free-State men, who went to her house (which was the 
 post-office) to get their mail. They found the poor woman 
 weeping, and saying that a party of men had been to the 
 house during the night and taken her husband out ; she bad 
 heard that morning that Mr. Doyle had been killed within 
 the night, and she was afraid that her husband had been 
 killed also. Among other reasons that she gave for fearing 
 this, he had said to her the night before that there was going 
 to be an attack made upon the Free-State men, and that 
 by the next Saturday night there would not be a Free-State 
 
1856.] THE POTTAWATOMIE EXECUTIONS. 267 
 
 settler left on the creek. These, she said, were his last 
 words to her the night before as they were going to sleep. 
 Her testimony before the Congressional Committee was as 
 follows : 
 
 . . . "On the 25th of May last, somewhere between the hours of 
 midnight and daybreak, I cannot say exactly at what hour, after we 
 all had retired to bed, we were disturbed by the barking of the dog. 
 I was sick with the measles, and woke up Mr. Wilkinson, and asked 
 him if he heard the noise, and what it meant. He said it was only 
 some one passing about, and soon after was again asleep. It was 
 not long before the dog raged and barked furiously, awakening me 
 once more ; pretty soon I heard footsteps as of men approaching ; 
 saw one pass by the window, and some one knocked at the door. I 
 asked, ' Who is that ? ; No one answered. I awoke my husband, 
 who asked, ' Who is that ? ' Some one replied, ' I want you to 
 tell me the way to Dutch Henry's.' He commenced to tell them, 
 and they said, l Come out and show us.' He wanted to go, but I 
 would not let him ; he then told them it was difficult to find his 
 clothes, and could tell them as well without going out of doors. The 
 men out of doors after that stepped back, and I thought I could hear 
 them whispering ; but they immediately returned, and as they ap 
 proached, one of them asked my husband, ' Are you a Northern 
 arrnist ? ' He answered, 'I am. 7 I understood the answer to 
 mean that my husband was opposed to the Northern or Free-Soil 
 party. I cannot say that I understood the question. My husband 
 was a proslavery man, and was a member of the Territorial Legisla 
 ture held at Shawnee Mission. When my husband said, i I am,' 
 one of them said, l You are my prisoner; do you surrender?' He 
 said, ' Gentlemen, I do.' They said, l Open the door.' Mr. Wil 
 kinson told them to wait till he made a light, and they replied, ' If 
 you don't open it, we will open it for you.' He opened the door 
 against my wishes ; four men came in ; my husband was told to put 
 on his clothes, and they asked him if there were not more men about. 
 They searched for arms, and took a gun and powder-flask, all the 
 weapon that was about the house. I begged them to let Mr. Wil 
 kinson stay with me, saying that I was sick and helpless, and could 
 not stay by myself. The old man, who seemed to be in command, 
 looked at me, and then around at the children, and replied, l You 
 have neighbors.' I said, l So I have ; but they are not here, and I 
 cannot go for them.' The old man replied, f It matters not.' They 
 then took my husband away. One of them came back and took two 
 saddles; I asked what they were going to do with him, and he said, 
 ' Take him a prisoner to the camp.' I wanted one of them to stay 
 
268 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 with me. He said t he would, but they would not let him.' After 
 they were gone, I thought I heard my husband's voice in complaint, 
 but do not know; went to the door, and all was still. Next morn 
 ing Mr. Wilkinson was found about one hundred and fifty yards from 
 the house, in some dead brush. I believe that one of Captain Brown's 
 sons was in the party who murdered my husband; I heard a voice 
 like his. I do not know Captain Brown himself. The old man who 
 seemed to be commander wore soiled clothes and a straw hat, pulled 
 down over his face. He spoke quick j is a tall, narrow-faced, 
 elderly man. I would recognize him if I could see him. My hus 
 band was a quiet man, and was not engaged in arresting or disturbing 
 anybody." l 
 
 There is little reason to doubt that this account is sub 
 stantially correct. The particulars of the action, like the 
 deed itself, were bloody, and it is not pleasant to read them 
 or relate them ; but they were the opening scenes of war, and 
 in requital for bloodier and quite inexcusable deeds which 
 had preceded them. Brown long foresaw the deadly conflict 
 with the slave-power, which culminated in the Civil War, and 
 was eager to begin it, that it might be the sooner over. He 
 knew what few could then believe that slavery must 
 perish in blood ; 2 and, though a peaceful man, he had no 
 scruples about shedding blood in so good a cause. The 
 American people a few years after engaged in organized 
 bloodshed for the attack and defence of slavery, and hundreds 
 of thousands of men died in the cause that Brown had killed 
 and been killed to maintain. Yet we who praise Grant for 
 those military movements which caused the bloody death 
 of thousands, are so inconsistent as to denounce Brown for 
 the death of these five men in Kansas. If Brown was a 
 murderer, then Grant and Sherman, and Hancock and the 
 other Union generals, are tenfold murderers, for they 
 simply did on a grand scale what he did on a small one. 
 War is murder, in one of its aspects it is deliberate and 
 repeated murder ; and yet the patriot warrior who goes 
 
 1 On the contrary, Mr. Grant and his other neighbors speak of him as 
 a vicious, malignant man, who ill-treated his wife as well as the Free-State 
 men. 
 
 2 " Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins," was a 
 favorite text with Brown. 
 
1856.] THE POTTAWATOMIE EXECUTIONS. 269 
 
 to battle in behalf of his country is not arraigned for murder, 
 but honored as a hero. This is so even when by stratagem, 
 or midnight assault, he slays hundreds of defenceless peo 
 ple ; for the cause in which he fights is supposed to excuse 
 all atrocious deeds. A like excuse must serve for this 
 violent but salutary act of John Brown ; 1 and it was in this 
 way that he defended it to those who served under him, 
 and by whose hands the deed was done. I have talked 
 with more than one of these men, and from one of them I 
 had this statement : 
 
 " John Brown did no shooting in my presence, and I think he had 
 nothing to do with the killing of any of the five men. At a consul 
 tation on Middle Creek the question came up who would join ; I 
 opposed the scheme for a time, and - - opposed it all the time, 
 and had nothing to do with it, except that he went along with us. 
 John Brown thought it a matter of duty that there should be a little 
 bloodletting on both sides ; he not only approved these executions, 
 but planned and carried them through very successfully. 2 I reflected 
 that these men were influential persons, leading men, and among the 
 worst holding office [referring particularly to Wilkinson and George 
 Wilson], and I agreed with Brown it was a matter of duty j yet I 
 
 1 Charles Robinson, who had as many minds about the Pottawatomie 
 affair as his Democratic friends used to have about slavery itself, charac 
 terized it thus in a letter of Dec. 21, 1879, published in the Topeka " Com 
 monwealth " of Jan. 8, 1880 (he has since called John Brown all sorts of 
 names, jussit quod splendida bilis) : "It had the effect to strike terror 
 into the hearts of all proslavery men, and had its influence in the general 
 melee. The proslavery party could take no exceptions to it, as it had 
 inaugurated the war, and all the Free-State men can say in its defence is, 
 it was an incident of the civil war set on foot by the slave-power. . . . 
 But was John Brown at heart a murderer in this butchery ? I think not. 
 He worshipped the God of Joshua and David, who ordered all the enemies 
 of his people slaughtered, including non-combatants, women, and children, 
 flocks and herds, and ' everything that breathed.' John Brown seemed 
 to believe he was the special messenger and servant of this God ; and he 
 may have been as sincere as was Abraham when he stretched forth his 
 hand to take the knife to slay his own son, or as Joshua when he slaughtered 
 all that breathed of his enemies." 
 
 2 The following anecdote is said to rest on the testimony of James 
 Christian, a Kansas Democrat. How good authority this may be I can 
 not say, but give it as I find it: "Jerome Glanville was the man who 
 was stopping at Dutch Henry's on the night of the massacre, and was 
 taken out to be killed, as the others were. On examination he was found 
 
270 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 was opposed to doing it myself. I saw the inconsistency of this, and 
 afterwards acted consistently. I had seen Doyle and his boys two or 
 three times, and knew them ; they harbored the worst ruffians, and 
 I thought them as guilty as if they had done the deeds themselves. 
 There was a signal understood, and no firing done in the first opera 
 tion (at Doyle's). The signal was when John Brown was to raise a 
 sword; then we were to begin, and there were to be no shots fired. I 
 heard hut one shot when I was keeping guard over the family of 
 Henry Sherman ; it was fired down the creek, half a mile away, and 
 I did not know what it meant. The antislavery people in the Terri 
 tory disapproved of the killing, Mr. Adair among them. He said 
 to one of us, ' You are a marked man. You see what a terrible 
 calamity you have brought upon your friends, and the sooner you go 
 away the better.' The reply was, ' I intend to be a marked man. 7 
 The Border Ruffians had for their watchword ' War to the knife, 
 and the knife to the hilt,' in the spring before the Pottawatomie 
 executions ; after that, they thought the knife might come from 
 the other side. Liberty can only live or survive by the shedding 
 of blood." 
 
 Townsley declares that when he and others of the party 
 were unwilling to slay men taken by surprise and unarmed, 
 John Brown argued that it was a just and necessary stroke 
 of war; and said, "It is better that ten guilty proslavery 
 men should die, than that one Free-State settler should be 
 driven out." Townsley adds that he was unwilling to have 
 the proslavery men who lived in his neighborhood (Ander 
 son County, near Greeley) attacked by Brown, because some 
 of them were good men, and others had wives who had been 
 kind to his wife. He thought as ill as Brown did of the 
 proslavery probate judge Wilson, then supposed to be at 
 Dutch Henry's, and was willing to have the attack made 
 there. He was also ready to go to the Doyles, who, " when 
 they had drunk a little whiskey, were ready to do what- 
 
 to be only a traveller, but was kept a prisoner until morning and then 
 discharged. He informed me personally who were the principal actors in 
 that damning midnight tragedy, and said that the next morning, while 
 the old man raised his hands to Heaven to ask a blessing, they were 
 stained with the dried blood of his victims. For being too free in his 
 expressions about the matter he was soon after shot in his wagon, between 
 Black Jack and the head of Bull Creek, while on his way to Kansas 
 City." 
 
1856.] THE POTTAWATOMIE EXECUTIONS. 271 
 
 ever Dutch Henry told them." According to Townsley, 
 Wilkinson was born in the North, but had married a Ten 
 nessee wife, and adopted her view of slavery ; he was the 
 postmaster at Shermansville (now called Lane), and was an 
 active proslavery leader, like Henry Sherman and George 
 Wilson. 1 Townsley and all the witnesses agree that the 
 horses of the Shermans were taken and carried with the 
 party to the camp of John Brown, Jr., near Ottawa Jones's, 
 where they arrived late on the night of the 24th. The next 
 morning Oliver Brown showed his brother John a horse 
 with his mane and tail sheared, saying, " Did you ever see 
 that horse before ? That is Dutch Henry's gray pony.' 7 
 This horse was soon after taken to northern Kansas by 
 some Free-State men, who gave in exchange for that and 
 other horses captured on the Pottawatomie some fast Ken 
 tucky horses, on one of which Owen Brown afterward 
 escaped from his pursuers. August Bondi says of the 
 executions : 
 
 11 Late in the evening of May 25 I arrived at my claim, in company 
 with an old neighbor, Austin, who was afterward named Old Kill 
 Devil, from a rifle he had of that name. The family of Benjamin 
 (whom we had left when we departed for camp) had disappeared, 
 and no cattle were to be seen. . This latter was a serious matter, for 
 there was nothing left in the shape of provisions. When I told Aus 
 tin that I was willing to stay with him until the last of the Border 
 Ruffians had left the country, he encouraged me, and assured me 
 that he would find Benjamin's family and protect them at all events. 
 This the old man faithfully did. The next evening (May 26) I arrived, 
 tired and hungry, at the camping-ground of John Brown, a log-cabin 
 on the banks of Middle Creek upon the claim of his brother-in-law 
 Orson Day. This is one of the houses which, under the name of 
 ' John Brown's cabin/ has since become famous. The Browns 
 built it as a first shelter in the winter of 1855-56, and Day dwelt 
 
 1 Mrs. Rising, a New Hampshire woman, who then lived next neighhor 
 to the Wilkinsons, told a friend of mine that she knew Mrs. Wilkinson 
 very well before and after the killing of her husband ; that Mrs. Wilkin 
 son said she had persuaded him to take the proslavery side, but was sorry 
 for it, since he was a worse man after it than before, and had treated 
 her badly. Mrs. Rising added that he was harsh and cruel to his wife, 
 who was a delicate, sickly woman ; and that he was a bad man in other 
 respects. 
 
272 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 in it after March, 1856. It stands west from Osawatomie on the 
 bottom land of North Middle Creek. Here also I found my friend 
 Wiener, 1 from whom I first heard an account of the killing of Doyle 
 and his sons, Wilkinson, and Dutch Henry's brother William. In 
 this account Wiener never expressed himself positively as to who 
 killed those persons, and I could only guess about it. I was as 
 tonished, but not at all displeased. The men killed had been our 
 neighbors, and I was sufficiently acquainted with their characters 
 to know that they were of the stock from which afterwards came the 
 James brothers, the Youngers, and the rest, who never shrank from 
 perpetrating crime if it was done in the interest of the proslavery 
 cause. As to their antecedents, the Doyles had been ' slave- 
 hunters ' before they came to Kansas, and had brought along two of 
 their blood -hounds. Dutch Bill (Sherman), a German from 
 Oldenburg, and a resident of Kansas since 1845, had amassed con 
 siderable property by robbing cattle droves and emigrant trains. He 
 was a giant, six feet four inches high, and for the last weeks before 
 his death had made it his pastime (in company with the Doyles) to 
 break in the doors of Free-State settlers, frightening and insulting 
 the families, or once in a while attacking and ill-treating a man 
 whom they encountered alone. Wilkinson was one of the few 
 Southerners who were able to read and write, and who prided him 
 self accordingly. He was a member of the Border Ruffian Legisla 
 ture, and a principal leader in all attempts to annoy and extirpate 
 the Free-State men. Although he never directly participated in the 
 murders and. robberies, still it was well understood that he was always 
 informed a short time before an invasion of Missourians was to occur ; 
 and on the very day of his death he had tauntingly said to some Free- 
 State men that in a few days the last of them would be either dead 
 or out of the Territory. In this he referred to the coming invasion 
 of Cook, at the head of two hundred and fifty armed men from Bates 
 County, Mo., who made his appearance about the 27th of May and 
 plundered the whole region." 
 
 A startling tale has been told, but without good authority, 
 concerning the effect produced in the camp on the Ottawa 
 
 1 Wiener, who took part in the Pottawatomie executions, was residing 
 in St. Louis, September, 1855, but then agreed with Benjamin to go to 
 Kansas and open a store on Bondi's claim. He invested some $7,000 in 
 goods, and took them to Kansas just after Bondi had gone back to St. 
 Louis, in November. In May, 1856, Wiener went there to buy more 
 goods, and Bondi returned to Kansas with him. Wiener furnished as a 
 gift all the provisions needed by the two rifle companies of sixty-five men, 
 when they set out for Lawrence. 
 
1856.] THE POTTAWATOMIE EXECUTIONS. 273 
 
 by the return of John Brown, how his son resigned the 
 command and became insane, and how general was the exe 
 cration against Brown for his bloody deed. No doubt it was 
 regretted by most of the company, and it is true that John 
 Brown, Jr., resigned his captaincy. But this was for other 
 reasons, and the insanity which soon appeared had other 
 causes. Jason Brown, who was in his brother's company, 
 says : " On the afternoon of Monday, May 26, a man came 
 to us at Liberty Hill (eight miles north of Ottawa Jones's 
 house), his horse reeking with sweat, and said, < Five men 
 have been killed on the Pottawatomie, horribly cut and 
 mangled ; and they say old John Brown did it.' Hearing 
 this, I was afraid it was true, and it was the most ter 
 rible shock that ever happened to my feelings in my life ; 
 but brother John took a different view. The next day, 
 as we were on the east side of Middle Creek, I asked 
 father, ' Did you' have any hand in the killing ? ' He 
 said, 'I did not, but I stood by and saw it.' I did not 
 ask further, for fear I should hear something I did not 
 wish to hear. Frederick said, ' I could not feel as if it was 
 right ; ' but another of the party said it was justifiable as a 
 means of self-defence and the defence of others. What I 
 said against it seemed to hurt father very much ; but all he 
 said was, ' God is my judge, we were justified under the 
 circumstances.'" The occasion upon which John Brown, 
 Jr., resigned his command had occurred the day before, the 
 setting free by him of some slaves, who were afterward re 
 turned to their master. On the Sunday following the Pot- 
 tawatomie executions, but before the tidings reached him, 
 he had gone with Captain Abbott, the rescuer of Branson, 
 to see the ruins of Lawrence, and on his way back with a file 
 of men, John Brown, Jr., liberated two slaves from their 
 Missouri master, near Palmyra, and took them up to his 
 camp, while the master fled to Missouri. 
 
 The arrival of these slaves in camp caused a commotion. 
 The act of freeing them, though attended by no violence or 
 bloodshed, was freely denounced, and in accordance with 
 a vote given by a large majority of the men they were or 
 dered to go back to their master. The driver of the team 
 which carried them back, overtaking him on his way to 
 
 18 
 
274 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 Westport, received a side-saddle as Iris reward from the 
 grateful slaveholder. Young Brown, feeling insulted by 
 this act of his men, refused to command them any longer. 
 But in the mean time (so fast did events move that day), 
 while the company from Osawatomie was still at Liberty 
 Hill, two or three miles south of Palmyra, a company of 
 United States dragoons came up, and their leader, a lieuten 
 ant, asked t<5 see the commander of the Free-State force. 
 John Brown, Jr., who had not yet resigned, sent word that 
 if the lieutenant would come forward without his men he 
 (Brown) would meet him. Thereupon, says John Brown, 
 Jr., " A solitary horseman from their number came toward 
 us, and I rode out and met him. He introduced himself as 
 Lieutenant Ives, if I am not mistaken, and told me that he 
 had been sent by Colonel Sumner, then in command of the 
 Federal troops in Kansas, with an order for all armed bodies 
 of men on either side to disperse and return to their homes, 
 adding that Colonel Sumner had undertaken to prevent 
 hostile meetings of armed men. The lieutenant hoped we 
 would not delay in complying with the order, and further 
 said that he was then on his way to disperse the force of 
 Georgians, who, he had been informed, were in camp a few 
 miles east. He and his men then rode away in that direc 
 tion, while I returned and related what the lieutenant had 
 said. It gave much satisfaction ; for we were all anxious 
 to be at home and attend to the planting of our spring 
 crops, which had seemed likely to be prevented, in accord 
 ance with the openly avowed plan of our enemies. We 
 did not return to our first place of encampment, but at 
 once began our homeward march, and reached Ottawa 
 Jones's place, where we met my father, about ten o'clock 
 that evening." The attack of insanity, which came on 
 after this, does not seem to have been caused by the news 
 from Pottawatomie, but by the hardships, exposure, and 
 anxiety to which John Brown, Jr., had been subjected, and 
 which were soon to be redoubled by the harsh treatment 
 of his captors 
 
 The tidings of the executions inflamed the Border Ruf 
 fians greatly, as was natural, and gave an excuse for the 
 activity of the Federal troops on the side of the slave- 
 
1856.] THE POTTAWATOMIE EXECUTIONS. 275 
 
 holders. Warrants had already been issued for the arrest 
 of the Browns as conspirators against the Territorial gov 
 ernment ; and these were now served bj civil officers who 
 had a strong military force behind them. We saw in the 
 last chapter John Brown's explanation of his sons' capture. 1 
 I will now give in the words of those sons the events 
 accompanying it. John Brown, Jr., says : 
 
 " We got back to Osawatomie from our five days' campaign, toward 
 evening on the 26th of May. The same night I went to the house of 
 Mr. Adair, where I found my wife and son, Jason and his wife and 
 their little boy. Jason and I remained there all night; but next 
 morning, learning that a man named Hughes, of Osawatomie, a pre 
 tended Free-State man, was heading a party to capture us, Mr. 
 Adair did not consider it prudent for us to stay longer, and advised 
 us to secrete ourselves in a ravine on his place well filled with small 
 undergrowth. He told us he had received word that the United States 
 Marshal had warrants for us and all of our family, also for Mr. 
 Williams, William Partridge, and several others, and that Hughes 
 wanted to distinguish himself by taking us, though pretending to be 
 friendly. Jason started at once on foot for Lawrence, saying that 
 if there was a warrant out for him he would go there and give 
 himself up to a United States officer rather than be taken by & posse 
 made up of Missourians and Buford's men. While on his way to 
 Lawrence he was captured near Stanton (now called Rantoul) by 
 just such a gang as he hoped to avoid, and was taken at once to 
 Paola, then called Baptisteville. I took my rifle and horse and went 
 into the ravine on Mr. Adair's land, remaining there through that 
 day (May 27) and the following night. About four o'clock p. M. I 
 was joined by my brother Owen, who had been informed at Mr. 
 Adair's of my whereabouts. He brought with him into the brush 
 a valuable running horse, mate of the one I had with me. These 
 horses had been taken by Free-State men near the Nebraska line 
 and exchanged for horses obtained in the way of reprisals further 
 south ; and while on foot a few miles south of Ottawa Jones's place, 
 May 26, 1 had been offered one of these to ride the remaining distance 
 to Osawatomie. Owen's horse was wet with sweat j and he told me 
 of the narrow escape he had just had from a number of armed pro- 
 slavery men who had their headquarters at Tooley's, a house at the 
 foot of the hill, about a mile and a half west of Mr. Adair's. Their 
 guards, seeing him in the road coming down the hill, gave a signal, 
 
 1 See Brown's Second Campaign in Kansas, p. 237. 
 
276 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 and at once the whole gang were in hot chase. The superior tieet- 
 ness of the horse Owen rode alone saved him. He exchanged horses 
 with me, and that night forded the Marais des Cygnes, and going by 
 Stanton (or Standiford, as it was sometimes called), recrossed the 
 river to father's camp about a mile north of the house of Mr. Day. 
 Until Owen told me that night, 1 did not know where father could be 
 found. The next morning early I went to Mr. Adair's house; and 
 was there but a few moments when there suddenly rode up a number 
 of United States cavalry, whom I was quite willing to see ; but while 
 in conversation with them a large number of mounted Missourians 
 came up also, and with them the United States Marshal; whom I 
 knew, but did not wish to see. He read to me a warrant for my 
 arrest, which charged me with treason against the United States. 
 Resistance was of course out of the question. It was then I dis 
 covered that the soldiers were there simply as a posse to aid the 
 marshal ; and I went along in a wagon accompanied by all of 
 these as far as where Captain Wood of the cavalry had his camp, 
 near Osawatomie, when the soldiers returned to their camp, and 
 the others went on with me to Paola. There I found Jason and 
 several others of our men, including Mr. Williams, Mr. Partridge, 
 and, I think, Mr. Benjamin." 
 
 Such were the adventures of one brother, before he joined 
 the other in captivity at Baptisteville, 1 now called Paola. 
 Jason's adventures were even more romantic. He had 
 parted from his father, May 26, early in the morning, after 
 the conversation already quoted, and had returned with a 
 heavy heart to Osawatomie, where his family were. His 
 brother John was suffering from his sleepless anxieties, al 
 though he afterward became much worse ; 2 and the conduct 
 
 1 This is a town of some importance between Osawatomie and the 
 Missouri border, and about ten miles northeast of Mr. Adair's house. 
 Its name in 1856 (pronounced colloquially " Batteesville") was given 
 in honor of an Indian, Baptiste Peoria, from whose last name, by 
 corruption, the present title of the town seems to be derived. It was a 
 proslavery settlement at that time, while Osawatomie was celebrated for 
 its antislavery character. 
 
 2 Mr. Adair told me, when I visited him in 1882, among his orchards 
 and vines at Osawatomie, that John Brown, Jr., was "beside himself" 
 when he came to the Adair place Monday night, May 26, with Jason ; that 
 he had been without sleep several nights, and was perhaps disturbed also 
 by the killing of the Doyles, etc. Thinking him in such a condition as 
 made it unsafe to have him, fully armed, in the house, some of his friends, 
 
1856.] THE POTTAWATOMIE EXECUTIONS. 277 
 
 of his father at Pottawatomie weighed on Jason's compas 
 sionate mind. His uncle Adair could give them no protec 
 tion, and was endangered himself by their presence. Jason 
 therefore set forth alone and on foot across the prairie 
 north of the Marais des Cygnes, to go back to the friendly 
 house of Ottawa Jones, the Christian Indian, and thence to 
 Lawrence, where he meant to give himself up to " Uncle 
 Sam's " troops, and not to the Border Kuffians. He had 
 not gone far when he saw in the distance towards Paola a 
 dozen horsemen, whom he took to be Missourians, moving 
 southwest toward the Browns' settlement on Middle Creek, 
 while he was travelling northwest from Osawatomie. Their 
 lines of travel soon intersected, and Jason, going up to one 
 of the horsemen, inquired the way to Ottawa Jones's. The 
 leader of the party with an oath exclaimed : " You are one 
 of the men we're hunting for; "and levelled his rifle at 
 him. Jason stood still, and the men began to question him 
 rapidly. " What is your name ? " " Jason Brown." " The 
 son of old John Brown ? " " Yes." - - " Are you armed ? " 
 "Yes, with a revolver." "Give it up. Have you any 
 money ? " He produced two or three dollars, which he 
 happened to have, and gave that up. "Now step in front 
 of the horses." Upon this, he knew they meant to shoot 
 him ; so he stepped backward, facing them, opened his 
 bosom, and said : " I am an Abolitionist ; I believe that 
 slavery is wrong, and that Kansas ought to be a free State. 
 I never knowingly harmed any man in the world. If you 
 want to take my blood for believing in the doctrines of the 
 Declaration of Independence, do it now." When he said 
 this with emphasis, 1 three or four of the Missourians laid 
 their rifles across their saddles, but the rest kept aiming at 
 him. The leader, who proved to be Martin Wliite, a pro- 
 slavery preacher (the same who afterward shot Frederick 
 Brown), said, " Well, we won't shoot you now, but make a 
 
 or those who professed to be such, tried to have him give up his arms, 
 and be himself given up to the United States troops and put under their 
 protection. Owen Brown, who spent some hours with John the night be 
 fore his arrest, denies this alleged insanity at that time. 
 
 1 " I could talk then," said the modest man, telling me the story ; "I 
 can't talk now." 
 
278 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 prisoner of you ; " and they took him back toward Paola. 
 On the way they halted, and he, overcome with fatigue, sat 
 down on the ground and fell asleep. He was waked by 
 men who seemed to be threatening his life again; but he 
 began to talk to them, denouncing slavery and declaring 
 himself an Abolitionist, with the reasons why. One or 
 two of the company, who seemed more intelligent than 
 the rest, listened to him ; and when they reached Paola, 
 these men Judge Cato and Judge Jacobs, as they were 
 called caused their prisoner to be put in a good bed, and 
 returned his money and revolver to him. He met his 
 brother John the next day ; and there soon happened to 
 them another adventure, which is related by the elder 
 brother, and is a good example of the fear inspired by 
 John Brown : 
 
 " The day after we were taken to Paola, a proslavery man from near 
 Stanton brought in and gave to the Missourians and Buford's men 
 who held our little company as prisoners a scrap of paper containing 
 only these words : ' I am aware that you hold my two sons, John 
 and Jason, prisoners. John Brown.' The bearer of the paper said 
 he brought it under the assurance that his own life depended on its 
 delivery. Brother Jason and I occupied a room which contained a 
 bed and a small lamp-stand or table. Two others also occupied the 
 room as guards. The early part of the night of this day had been 
 spent by our guards at card-playing at the little table. Jason, with 
 out removing his clothes, had lain down on the front side of the bed, 
 and was in deep sleep. Occupying in like manner the side of the 
 bed next the wall, at about midnight, as near as I can judge, I was 
 awakened by the sudden opening of the outside door and the rushing 
 in of a number of men with drawn bowie-knives. Seizing the can 
 dle, and saying, ' Which are they ? 7 they crowded around our bed 
 with uplifted knives. Believing that our time had come, and wish 
 ing to save Jason, still asleep, from prolonged suffering, I opened 
 the bosom of his shirt, and pointing to the region of his heart, said, 
 ' Strike here ! ' At this moment the sudden and loud barking of 
 dogs outside and a hurrying of steps on the porch caused a most 
 lively stampede of our assailants within, and this attack was ended 
 without a blow. From the hour at Pottawatomie, father had 
 become to slaveholders and their allies in Kansas an omnipresent 
 dread, filling them with forebodings of evil by day and the spec 
 tre of their imaginings at night. Owing to that fear, our lives 
 were saved.' 
 
1856.] THE POTTAWATOMIE EXECUTIONS. 279 
 
 The next day they were placed in custody of Captain 
 Walker, of the United States cavalry, a Southerner, who 
 himself tied John's arms back in such a manner as to pro 
 duce the most intense suffering, with one end of a long rope, 
 of which he gave the other end to a sergeant ; the captive 
 was then placed a little in advance of the column headed by 
 Captain Walker, and to avoid being trampled by the horses 
 which had been ordered to trot, he was driven at this pace 
 in the hot sun to Osawatomie, a distance of nine miles. 
 The rope had been tied so tight as to stop circulation. In 
 stead of loosening it at camp, a mile south of Osawatomie, 
 no change was made in it through that day, all the follow 
 ing night, nor until about noon the next day. By that time 
 the poor man's arms and hands had swollen to nearly double 
 their size, and turned black as if mortified. On removing 
 the rope, a ring of the skin came off; and the scar of this, 
 which he calls " slavery's bracelet," is still visible on Mr. 
 Brown's arms. Such treatment, of course, increased his 
 insanity, throwing him into a kind of fever, and for some 
 time his recovery was doubtful. During this period he was 
 sometimes chained with a common trace-chain, which his 
 father afterward obtained, and occasionally exhibited in 
 his journeys through the North, to show his hearers what 
 slavery could do for white men in Kansas. 
 
 John Brown, meanwhile, was pursuing the course de 
 scribed by him in the long letter of June, 1856, printed in 
 the last chapter. His fame was wonderfully increased by 
 the bloody deed of Pottawatomie, which rumor instantly 
 ascribed to him, and which was not doubted to be his act at 
 the time, in Kansas or Missouri. He had counted, most 
 likely, on this very result, and profited in his campaign by 
 the terror and rage it inspired. The two or three weeks 
 that intervened between the attack on Lawrence and the 
 successful skirmishes of BroAvn in June, were the critical 
 period of the contest for the Free-State men. Had he not 
 held up the standard then, and checked the insolence of the 
 slaveholders, Kansas would have been given up to them, 
 and the immigration of Northern men prevented. This 
 opinion has been expressed to me by many of the Kansas 
 
280 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [185G. 
 
 people; while others, who do not go so far, admit that 
 Brown's course was very useful to the cause. Colonel 
 Walker, of Lawrence, in quoting to me Brown's saying in 
 August, 1882, " the Pottawatomie execution w T as a just 
 act, and did good," added, " I must say he told the truth. 
 It did a great deal of good by terrifying the Missourians. I 
 heard Governor Robinson say this himself in his speech at 
 Osawatomie in 1877 ; he said he rejoiced in it then, though 
 it put his own life in danger, for he [Robinson] was a 
 prisoner at Lecomptoii, when Brown killed the men at 
 Pottawatomie." 
 
 This also was the deliberate and often-expressed opinion 
 of Judge Hanway, who lived near the scene of the execu 
 tions, and who knew all the circumstances. This worthy 
 man published the following statement in December, 1879, 
 in addition to what I have already quoted : 
 
 " I was informed by one of the party of eight who left our camp on 
 Ottawa Creek, May 22, 1856, to visit the Pottawatomie, what their 
 object and purposes were. I protested, and begged them to desist. 
 Of course my plea availed nothing. After the dreadful affair had 
 taken place, and after a full investigation of the whole matter, I, like 
 many others, modified my opinion. Good men and kind-hearted 
 women in 1856 differed in regard to this affair in which John Brown 
 and his party were the leading actors. John Brown justified it, and 
 thought it a necessity; others differed from him then, as they do 
 now. I have had an excellent opportunity to investigate the matter, 
 and like others of the early settlers was finally forced to the conclu 
 sion that the Pottawatomie ' massacre,' as it is called, prevented the 
 ruffian hordes from carrying out their programme of expelling the 
 Free-State men from this portion of the Territory of Kansas. It 
 was this view of the case which reconciled the minds of the settlers 
 on the Pottawatomie. They would whisper one to the other : ' It 
 was fortunate for us ; for God only knows what our fate and condition 
 would have been, if old John Brown had not driven terror and con 
 sternation into the ranks of the proslavery party.' " 
 
 Upon this result, as well as upon the ground first named 
 in this chapter, that Brown believed himself to be, and 
 in fact was, divinely inspired to make a slavish peace in 
 Kansas impossible, must rest his justification for the 
 bloody act I have described. Men will continue to doubt 
 
1359.] THE POTTAWATOMIE EXECUTIONS. 281 
 
 whether his justification is ample ; but such he held it to 
 be, and was willing to rest his cause with God, and with pos 
 terity. A few men who now denounce him for this deed long 
 upheld it, and have profited by its good consequences, - 
 among them Charles Eobinson, whose emphatic approval 
 in 1878 has already been cited. 1 With the excuses of such 
 men for their change of tone, history has nothing to do. 
 During the period when they must have best known the 
 circumstances attending Brown's act, its provocations, 
 its timeliness, and its results, they publicly excused it, 
 and honored him. Their voice in accusation and mali 
 cious interpretation of Brown will now be judged at its 
 true value. Those of us who long refused to believe that 
 Brown participated in these executions would not perhaps 
 
 1 At a public meeting held in Lawrence, Dec. 19, 1859 (according to 
 the newspaper reports at the time), the citizens passed resolutions concern 
 ing the Pottawatomie executions, declaring " that according to the ordinary 
 rules of war said transaction was not unjustifiable, but that it was per 
 formed from the sad necessity which existed at that time to defend the 
 lives and liberties of the settlers in that region." This resolution was 
 supported by Charles Robinson, who said that he had always believed 
 that John Brown was connected with that movement. Indeed, he believed 
 Brown had told him so, or to that effect ; and when he first heard of the 
 massacre, he thought it was about right. A war of extermination was in 
 prospect, and it was as well for Free-State men to kill proslavery men, as 
 for proslavery men to kill Free-State men. All he wanted to know was 
 that these men were put out of the world decently, not hacked and cut to 
 pieces, as was R. P. Brown. G. "W. Brown believed the murder of those 
 men on Pottawatomie Creek was not justifiable ; but he (Robinson) thought 
 it was. Mr. Adair, a nephew of John Brown, remarking that he had 
 heard his uncle say he was present and approved of the deed, but that he 
 did not raise a finger himself to injure the men, that his skirts were clear 
 of blood, Robinson said it made no difference whether he raised his hand 
 or otherwise. John Brown was present, aiding and advising ; he did not 
 attempt to stop the bloodshed, and is of course responsible, though justi 
 fiable according to Robinson's understanding of the matter. He added 
 that while the war in Kansas continued, he was pleased with the co-oper 
 ation of John Brown ; but after peace was restored, and the offices passed 
 into Free-State hands, he thought the sheriffs of the several counties should 
 have been called upon to preserve the peace. With them the responsibility 
 should have rested, not with the unauthorized individuals, old John 
 Brown or anybody else ; and any interference of Brown subsequent to 
 the troubles in 1856 he repudiated. 
 
282 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 have honored or trusted him less had we known the whole 
 truth. I for one should not ; though I should have deeply 
 regretted the necessity for such deeds of dark and provi 
 dential justice. 
 
 " Not yet the wise of heart would cease 
 To hold his hope through shame and guilt, 
 And, with his hand against the hilt, 
 Would pace the troubled land like Peace ; 
 Would love the gleams of good that broke 
 From either side, nor veil his eyes ; 
 And if some dreadful need should rise, 
 Would strike, and firmly, and one stroke." 
 
1856.1 THE KANSAS STRUGGLE CONTINUED. 283 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 THE KANSAS STRUGGLE CONTINUED. 
 
 THE events already chronicled are but a small part of 
 those which took place in Kansas while John Brown 
 maintained his connection with the friends of freedom there. 
 It was more than three years from his first arrival at Osa- 
 watomie before he finally withdrew (late in January, 1859) 
 from the Territory, wliose admission as a free State was 
 then secure, although the date was delayed. But he spent 
 less than half those three years in Kansas. His first sum 
 mer there, in 1856, was the most eventful portion of that 
 period ; and this has been in part described. But much 
 remains to be told, although the incidents of that sum 
 mer, which then seemed so momentous, have shrunk almost 
 into insignificance in comparison with the campaigns of 
 the Civil War that so soon followed. What we used to 
 call " battles " in Kansas, if the whole sum of them were 
 thrown together, would hardly equal in their numbers or 
 tangible results a single heavy skirmish along the front 
 of Grant's army. The total loss of life on both sides 
 during 185G, by the casualties of war, did not exceed a 
 hundred men, and the property destroyed was hardly so 
 much as a hundred thousand dollars. Yet though this com 
 putation makes the struggle appear trivial, it was not so 
 in fact ; while in the qualities of mind which it developed 
 it became all-important. In Kansas, first of all, the patient 
 and too submissive citizen of the North learned to stand 
 firm against Southern arrogance and assumption ; for that 
 scantily settled prairie exhibited more courage to the square 
 mile than the most populous Northern States had before 
 displayed. John Brown alone was worth all the trouble 
 that Kansas gave the nation, and his significance atones for 
 the littleness of the affair, even as we now view it. 
 
284 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 Yet, in truth, the creation of a free State, colonized by 
 the best yeomanry of the North, on the western frontier of 
 the slaveholding South, was in itself a great event ; and the 
 possibility of success in the enterprise aroused an interest 
 throughout the country that nothing else had excited. The 
 attempt was made, too, on the eve of one of our periodic 
 political contests, the election of President ; and this 
 issue became inevitably connected with the canvass. It was 
 the fear of losing the presidential vote of Pennsylvania for 
 James Buchanan in 1856 that inspired the recall of the 
 worst Territorial governors of Kansas, Shannon and Wood- 
 son, and the appointment, just before the decisive October 
 election, of that upright Pennsylvania Democrat Governor 
 Geary. His private instructions were said to be, " Quiet 
 the Territory at any cost ; for if the warfare continues in 
 Kansas, Pennsylvania will vote for Fremont." This, as the 
 other States then stood, would have defeated Buchanan. 
 Just before Geary's appointment, Jefferson Davis (of all 
 men in the world), who was then Secretary of War, had 
 directed General Persifor Smith, who commanded the United 
 States forces at Leavenworth, to put down the " open rebel 
 lion" of the freemen of Kansas. 1 But more patriotic and 
 peaceful counsels prevailed ; Governor Geary quieted the 
 Territory, and Buchanan was elected President. 
 
 The occasion for this manifesto from Jefferson Davis was 
 the lively campaign, offensive as well as defensive, which had 
 been carried on by John Brown, General Lane, Major Abbott, 
 Captain Walker, and others, during the three months be 
 tween the Pottawatomie executions and the burning of Osa- 
 watomie at the end of August. Having already published 
 
 1 Davis wrote to General Smith : "The President has directed rne to 
 say to you that you are authorized from time to time to make requisitions 
 upon the Governor [of Kansas] for such militia force as you may require to 
 enable you to suppress the insurrection against the government of the Ter 
 ritory of Kansas. Should you not be able to derive from the military of 
 Kansas an adequate force for the purpose, you will derive such additional 
 number of militia as may be necessary from the States of Illinois and 
 Kentucky. . . . The position of the insurgents is that of open rebellion 
 against the laws and constitutional anthoriti.es, with such manifestation of 
 purpose to spread devastation over the land as no longer justifies further 
 hesitation or indulgence." 
 
1856.] THE KANSAS STRUGGLE CONTINUED. 285 
 
 John Brown's report to his family of the fight at Black 
 Jack, near Palmyra, early in June, I will i^ext quote from 
 other authorities, and finally from Brown himself, some his 
 torical notes of this disturbed summer. One of his soldiers, 
 Luke F. Parsons, has within a few years made this statement 
 respecting his own conduct in the Kansas feud : 
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF L. F. PARSONS. 
 
 " At daylight on the morning of the 3d of June, ]856, Major Hoyt 
 and I galloped to Black Jack, where I tendered my services to 
 Captain Brown, and was immediately put on guard; and I was the 
 only post sentinel who challenged Colonel Sumner when he came to 
 release our prisoners. Again, sometime in the latter part of August 
 I met John Brown in Lawrence ; he told me he came to get help to 
 defend Osawatomie. I told him to try the ' Stubs ' (which was a 
 Lawrence Sharpe's rifle company to which I belonged). He replied 
 that he had, but they would not leave Lawrence. I told him I 
 would get my rifle and go with him. He said he would surely show 
 me how to fight, if the rascals would give him a chance. When I 
 went for my gun Lieutenant Cutler asked what I was going to do. 
 I told him, and he -said, l The guns belong to the company, and shall 
 not be taken away.' Brown borrowed a Sharpe's rifle of Captain 
 Harvey for me, and I went with him to his camp near Osawatomie. 
 
 11 Aug. 30, 1856, we were camped a half-mile east of that town, 
 at Mr. Crane's place. While we were cooking breakfast, before 
 sunrise, a man dashed into camp, saying the Border Ruffians were 
 coming from the west, and had just killed Fred Brown and David 
 Garrison near Mr. Adair's. Brown started right off. and said, ' Men, 
 come on! ' He did not say go. I started with him, and it was some 
 minutes before any overtook us. While we were hurrying on by 
 ourselves, Brown said, 'Parsons, were you ever under fire?' I re 
 plied, l No ; but I will obey orders. Tell me what you want me to 
 do.' He said, ' Take more care to end life well than to live long.' 
 
 11 When we reached the blockhouse in the village he .motioned to 
 several to go in, myself with the rest. He then said to me, ' Hold 
 your position as long as possible, and hurt them all you can ; while 
 we will go into the timber and annoy them from that side.' I fast 
 ened the door with a large bar, and thought all secure. Soon firing 
 commenced up the Marais des Cygnes, where Brown had gone. 
 There was a second floor in the blockhouse, and part of the boys had 
 gone up there. While we all selected our port-hole, Brown had drawn 
 their attention, so that we were not molested. After some twenty 
 
286 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 minutes or so, some one on the second floor called out : ' They have 
 cannon, and will blow us all to pieces in here. I am going to get 
 out of this.' I said: t No, you must stay.' Old man Austin said, 
 ' Stay here, and let them blow us to hell and back again ! ' I went 
 upstairs to get a better view of the enemy, and before I knew it the 
 door was opened and most of the men gone. I don't know even 
 where they went. Austin and I, and I think two others, four in 
 all, then went up the Marais des Cygnes lliver, in the timber, and 
 joined Brown at the fight, on his left. Clinc had gone before this. 
 We had not been there long when we all fell back across the river. 
 Partridge was shot while in the river. 
 
 " At this place the water was deep, and I said to Austin, ' T cannot 
 swim with my gun,' which I soon threw into the river. So we both 
 ran down the river. The bank was high, so \ve were most of the 
 time out of sight. I ran too fast for the old man [Austin], and 
 he called to me not to leave him. As we approached the old saw 
 mill the bank became lower, and we were seen by the ruffians, 
 three of whom were after us. I told Austin that as I could see the 
 bottom, I would cross. He replied, ' I won't run another inch ; ' 
 and dropped down behind a large log. I waded through ; but the 
 opposite bank was steep and high ; and as I was clinging to brush 
 and scrambling up, I heard the words ' Halt ! halt ! halt ! ; in rapid 
 succession, and immediately several guns were fired, and the dirt torn 
 up by my side. I was on the bank in a twinkle, and returned their 
 salute as well as I could. Two were putting spurs to their horses the 
 best they could. One horse bore an empty saddle, and one man was 
 kicking his last kick ; and Austin jumped up and came over to me. 
 As we went up the river he told me that they did riot see him, but 
 passed rather in front of him, and all shot at me ; while he shot one 
 in the back just at the very moment they shot at me. In an hour or 
 so after this we got together at a log-house on the north side of the 
 river. Dr. Updegraff was then in the house, shot in the thigh. 
 Brown was with him. But before we got together the smoke of the 
 burning town was seen. They burned twenty-nine houses. 
 
 '' The next day we moved to the south side, to a Mr. Hauser's. 
 We commenced to fell timber round a place selected by Brown as pos 
 sessing natural advantages for defence. We felled the tree-tops out, 
 and trimmed them with sharp points. Most of the men became sick 
 with the ague, and work was suspended. Soon after this, I too was 
 taken with fever, and Brown hauled me to Lawrence. I was very 
 sick. Brown asked me if he should take me to the hospital. I told 
 him that I would rather go to Mrs. Killum's (a boarding-house 
 where I had previously lodged), if she would take care of me. He 
 went and found her, and returned saying, ' Mrs. Killnrn says, 
 
1856.] THE KANSAS STRUGGLE CONTINUED. 287 
 
 11 Bring him here : I would do as much for Luke Parsons as for my 
 own son." 7 Under her care I recovered so that I was again under 
 Brown's command. I shouldered my gun and marched out to meet 
 the twenty-eight hundred men who came up from Missouri in 
 September. If I remember aright, in about a year after this I went 
 with John E. Cook to Tabor, Iowa, where I next saw Brown, and 
 from Tabor went on to Springdale. 
 
 u I also take pride in saying that I was under arms in Topeka, on 
 July 4, 1856, when Colonel Stunner dispersed the Legislature. I 
 was with Captain Walker in the capture of Colonel Titus, near 
 Lecompton. I claim to be the man who shot Colonel Titus. 
 
 " I was near our Captain Shombre when he was struck by the 
 fatal ball. I received a very sore but slight wound there. It was on 
 my shin, made by a very small ball or a buck-shot. 
 
 '' Kansas was admitted into the Union in 1861, with every inch free 
 soil, and still the object for which Brown fought was not entirely 
 accomplished. I enlisted in the Union army, and fought for nearly 
 four years, until that object ivas fully attained, and there was 
 nowhere to be found a ' slave to clank his chains by the graves of 
 Monticello or the shades of Mt. Vernon.' " 
 
 The name of this soldier of Brown's company appears in 
 the "Articles of Enlistment and By-Laws of the Kansas 
 Regulars, made and established by the commander, A. D. 
 1856, in whose handwriting it is," as Brown described the 
 book to me when he gave me a copy in April, 1857. Here 
 are its contents, given, as to spelling and punctuation, in 
 exact accordance with the original : 
 
 KANSAS TERRITORY, A. D. 1856. 
 1. The Covenant. 
 
 We whose names are found on these and the next following pages 
 do hereby enlist ourselves to serve in the Free-State cause under 
 John Brown as Commander : during the full period of time affixed 
 to our names respectively and we severally pledge our word and our 
 sacred honor to said Commander ; and to each other, that during the 
 time for which we have enlisted we will faithfully and punctually 
 perform our duty (in such capacity or place as may be assigned to us 
 by a majority of all the votes of those associated with us : or of 
 the companies to which we may belong as the case may be) as a 
 regular volunteer force for the rnaintamance of the rights & liberties 
 of the Free- State Citizens of Kansas : and we further agree ; that as 
 
288 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 individuals we will conform to the l)y Laics of this Organization & 
 that we will insist on their regular & punctual enforcement as a first 
 & last duty: & in short that we will observe & maintain a strict & 
 thorough Military discipline at all times untill our term of service 
 expires. 
 
 Names, date of enlistment, and term of service on next Pages. 
 Term of service omitted for want of room (principally for the 
 War}. 
 
 2. Names and date of enlistment. 
 
 Aug. 22. * Wm. Patridge (imprisoned), John Salathiel, S. Z. 
 Brown, John Goodell, L. F. Parsons, N. B. Phelps, Wm. B. 
 Harris. 
 
 Aug. 23. Jason Brown (son of commander ; imprisoned). 
 
 Aug. 24. J. Benjamin (imprisoned). 
 
 Aug. 25. Cyrus Taton, R. Reynolds (imprisoned), Noah Frazee 
 (1st Lieut,), Wm. Miller, John P. Glenn, Wm. Quick, M. D. Lane, 
 Amos Alderman, August Bonclie, Charles Kaiser (murdered Aug. 
 30), Freeman Austin (aged 57 years), Samuel Hereson, John W. 
 Troy, Jas. H. Holmes (Capt.). 
 
 Aug. 26. Geo. Patridge (killed Aug. 30), Wm. A. Sears. 
 
 Aug. 27. S. H. Wright, 
 
 Aug. 29. B. Darrach (Surgeon), Saml. Farrar. 
 
 Sept. 8. Timothy Kelly, Jas. Andrews. 
 
 Sept, 9. W. H. Leman, Charles Oliver, D. H. Hurd. 
 
 Sept. 15. Wm. F. Haniel. 
 
 Sept. 16. Saml. Geer (Commissary). 
 
 3. Bylaws of the Free- State regular Volunteers of Kansas enlisted 
 under John Brown. 
 
 Art. I. Those who agree to be governed by the following articles 
 & whose names are appended will be known as the Kansas 
 Regulars. 
 
 Art,. II. Every officer connected with organization (except the 
 Commander already named) shall be elected by a majority of the 
 members if above a Captain ; & if a Captain ; or under a Captain, 
 by a majority of the company to which they belong. 
 
 Art. IE!. All vacancies shall be filled by vote of the majority of 
 members or companies as the case may be, & all members shall be 
 alike eligible to the highest office. 
 
 Art. IV. All trials for misconduct of Officers ; or privates ; shall 
 be by a jury of Twelve; chosen by a majority of Company, or 
 
 1 1856. 
 
1856.] THE KANSAS STRUGGLE CONTINUED. 289 
 
 companies as the case may be. Each Company shall try its own 
 members. 
 
 Art. V. All valuable property taken by honorable warfare from 
 the enemy, shall be held as the property of the whole company, or 
 companies, as the case may be : equally, without distinction ; to be 
 used for the common benefit or be placed in the hands of responsible 
 agents for sale : the proceeds to be divided as nearly equally amongst 
 the company : or companies capturing it as may be : except that no 
 person shall be entitled to any dividend from property taken before 
 he entered the service j and any person guilty of desertion, or 
 convicted of gross violation of his obligations to those with whom 
 he should act, whether officer or private: shall forfeit his interest in 
 all dividends made after such misconduct has occurred. 
 
 Art. VI. All property captured shall be delivered to the receiver 
 of the force, or company as the case may be ; whose duty it shall be 
 to make a full inventory of the same (assisted by such person, or 
 persons as may be chosen for that purpose), a coppy of which shall 
 be made into the Books of this organization ; & held subject to 
 examination by any member, on all suitable occasions. 
 
 Art. VII. The receiver shall give his receipts in a Book for that 
 purpose for all moneys & other property of the regulars placed in his 
 hands ; keep an inventory of the same & make copy as provided in 
 Article VI. 
 
 Art. VIII. Captured articles when used for the benefit of the 
 members : shall be receipted for by the Commissary, the same as 
 moneyes placed in his hands. The receiver to hold said receipts. 
 
 Art. IX. A disorderly retreat shall not be suffered at any time & 
 every Officer & private is by this article fully empowered to prevent 
 the same by force if need be, & any attempt at leaving the ground 
 during a fight is hereby declared disorderly unless the consent or di 
 rection of the officer then in command have authorized the same. 
 
 Art. X. A disorderly attack or charge ; shall not be suffered at 
 any time. 
 
 Art. XI. When in camp a thorough watch both regular and 
 Piquet shall be maintained both by day, & by Night : and visitors 
 shall not be suffered to pass or repass without leave from the 
 Captain of the guard and under common or ordinary circumstances it 
 is expected that the Officers will cheerfully share this service with 
 the privates for examples sake. 
 
 Art. XII. Keeping up Fires or lights after dark ; or firing of Guns, 
 Pistols or Caps shall not be allowed, except Fires and lights when 
 unavoidable. 
 
 Art. XIII. When in Camp neither Officers shall be allowed to 
 leave without consent of the Officer then in command. 
 
 19 
 
290 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 Art. XIV. All uncivil ungentlemanly profane, vulgar talk or 
 conversation shall be discountenanced. 
 
 Art. XV. All acts of petty theft needless waste of the property of 
 the members or of Citizens is hereby declared disorderly : together 
 with all uncivil, or unkind treatment of Citizens or of prisoners. 
 
 Art. XVI. In all cases of capturing property, a sufficient number 
 of men shall be detailed to take charge of the same j all others shall 
 keep in their position. 
 
 Art. XVII. It shall at all times be the duty of the quarter 
 Master to select ground for encampment subject however to the 
 approbation of the commanding officer. 
 
 Art. XVIII. The Commissary shall give his receipts in a Book for 
 that purpose for all moneys provisions, and stores put into his hands. 
 
 Art. XIX. The Officers of companies shall see that the arms of 
 the same are in constant good order and a neglect of this duty shall 
 be deemed disorderly. 
 
 Art. XX. No person after having first surrendered himself a 
 prisoner shall be put to death : or subjected to corporeal punishment, 
 without first having had the benefit of an impartial trial. 
 
 Art. XXI. A Waggon Master and an Assistant shall be chosen 
 for each company whose duty it shall be to take a general care and 
 oversight of the teams, waggons, harness and all other articles or 
 property pertaining thereto : and who shall both be exempt from 
 serving on guard. 
 
 Art. XXII. The ordinary use or introduction into the camp of 
 any intoxicating liquor, as a beverage : is hereby declared disorderly. 
 
 Art. XXIII. A Majority of Two Thirds of all the Members may 
 at any time alter or amend the foregoing articles. 
 
 4. List of Volunteers either engaged or guarding Horses during the 
 fight of Black Jack or Palmyra, June 2, 1856. 
 
 1. Saml. T. Shore (Captain). 2. Silas More. 3. David Hen- 
 dricks (Horse Guard). 4. Hiram McAllister. 5. Mr. Parmely 
 (wounded). 6. Silvester Harris. 7. 0. A. Carpenter (wounded). 
 8. Augustus Shore. 9. Mr. Townsley (of Pottawatotnie). 10. 
 Wrn. B. Hayden. 11. John Mewhinney. 12. Montgomery Shore. 
 13. Elkana Timmons. 14. T. Weiner. 15. August Bondy. 16. 
 Hugh Mewhinney. 17. Charles Kaiser. 18. Elizur Hill. 19. 
 William David. 20. B. L. Cochran. 21. Henry Thompson 
 (wounded). 22. Elias Basinger. 23. 0\ven Brown. 24. Fredk. 
 Brown (horse guard; murdered Aug. 30). 25. Salmon Brown. 
 26. Oliver Brown. 27. This blank may be filled' by Capt. Shore 
 as he may have the name. JOHN BROWN. 
 
1856.] THE KANSAS STRUGGLE CONTINUED. 291 
 
 5. List of names of the wounded in the Battle of Black Jack (or 
 Palmyra) and also of the Eight who held out to receive the 
 surrender of Capt. Pate and Twenty -Two men on that occasion. 
 June 2, 1856. 
 
 1. Mr. Parmely wounded in Nose, & Arm obliged to leave. 2. 
 Henry Thompson dangerously wounded but fought for nearly one 
 Hour afterward. 3. 0. A. Carpenter Badly wounded and obliged to 
 leave. 4. Charles Kaiser, murdered Aug. 30. 5. Elizur Hill. 
 
 6. Win. David. 7. Hugh Mewhinney (17 yrs. old). 8. B. L. 
 Cochran. 9. Owen Brown, 10. Salmon Brown. Seriously 
 wounded (soon after by accident). 11. Oliver Brown 17 years 
 old. 
 
 In the battle of Osawatomie Capt. (or Dr.) Updegraph ; and 
 Two others whose names I have lost were severely (one of them 
 shockingly) wounded before the fight began Aug. 30, 1856. 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 In these lists appear a few of the men who afterward 
 fought under Captain Brown at Harper's Ferry ; but only a 
 few, for most of them seem to have been settlers in Kansas 
 who would fight to protect themselves, but not to attack 
 slavery at a distance. The dates given in the list, when 
 this man or that was " murdered,''" denote the day on which 
 Brown's most famous engagement that of Osawatomie, 
 Aug. 30, 1856 was fought. The fight at Black Jack, or 
 Palmyra, on the 2d of June, 1856, was more remarkable, 
 though the whole force engaged on both sides was less than 
 eighty. I have quoted Brown's report of it, but will here 
 describe it more fully. 
 
 Brown had taken to the prairie for guerilla warfare 
 against the Missourians and other Southern invaders of 
 Kansas, after the Pottawatomie executions. Among their 
 leaders was Captain Pate, a Virginian. Brown, hearing of 
 the capture of his sons, pursued Pate, and came up with 
 him on Monday, the 2d of June, at his camp on the Black 
 Jack Creek (so called from the black oak growing on its 
 banks), within the present limits of Palmyra. 
 
 In the interval between the Pottawatomie executions and 
 the fight at Black Jack, during which the sons of John 
 Brown were captured as has been related, many important 
 events occurred ; but I will confine my narrative chiefly to 
 
292 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [185G. 
 
 those in which the Brown family were directly concerned. 
 Several witnesses are still alive who took part in them ; but 
 my chief reliance will be (besides the letters of John Brown) 
 the detailed statements made by Owen Brown and by 
 August Bondi (the German citizen of Kansas already men 
 tioned), both of whom were in camp, or rather in hiding, 
 with John Brown while the Border Ruffians and the United 
 States dragoons were scouring the country between Law 
 rence and Osawatomie to find the perpetrators of the bloody 
 deed of May 24. Bondi has published a minute report, in 
 which he says that he rode, with nine others, on the morn 
 ing of May 26, to the claim of John Brown, Jr., on " Vine 
 Branch, a mile and a half from Middle Creek Bottom," 
 where they halted, and were joined in the afternoon by 
 0. A. Carpenter, a Free-State man then living on Ottawa 
 Creek, not far from Prairie City, who came to request John 
 Brown in the name of the settlers there that he would come 
 and protect them against the Missourians. This little vil 
 lage of Prairie City (described by Redpath as " a munici 
 pality consisting of two log-cabins and a well ") is a part 
 of the township of Palmyra, and now figures as a railroad 
 station on the route from Lawrence to the Indian Territory 
 and Texas. It has been eclipsed by Baldwin City in the 
 same township, which is the nearest station (on the South 
 ern Kansas Railway) to the field of Black Jack. Baldwin 
 City had three hundred and twenty-five inhabitants in 1880 ; 
 while Prairie City has disappeared from separate enumera 
 tion, and contributes its few citizens to the aggregate popu 
 lation of Palmyra township, about twenty -five hundred. 
 These places are in the southeastern corner of Douglas 
 County, of which Lawrence is the chief town, and so near 
 the Shawnee Mission and the Missouri border that they 
 were peculiarly exposed to raids by the Ruffians. Moreover 
 they lay near the road from Lawrence to Osawatomie (some 
 forty miles apart), and the protection of the Free-State men 
 there was important in keeping up communications between 
 central and southern Kansas, as those terms were then used. 
 South of Palmyra, in Miami County, was the armed colony 
 of Buford's men, and eastward were the Missouri counties 
 of Cass and Jackson. Carpenter's mission was, then, to 
 
1856.] THE KANSAS STRUGGLE CONTINUED. 293 
 
 secure Brown's small band as a protection for the southern 
 part of Douglas County, checking the thieving raids which 
 were then so frequent, and, if necessary, making reprisals. 
 Brown accepted the duty, and at dusk on the 26th of May, 
 with his force now increased to nine men besides himself, set 
 out under Carpenter's guidance towards Prairie City, twenty 
 miles northeastward. Bondi says : 
 
 u There were ten of us, Captain Brown, Owen, Frederick, Sal 
 mon, and Oliver Brown; Henry Thompson, Theodore Wiener, James 
 Townsley, Carpenter, and myself. Our armament was this : Captain 
 Brown carried a sabre and a heavy seven- shooting revolver ; all his 
 sons and his son-in-law were armed with revolvers, long knives, and 
 the common ' squirrel rifle; ' Townsley with an old musket, Wiener 
 with a double-barrelled gun, I with an old-fashioned flint-lock mus 
 ket, and Carpenter with a revolver. The three youngest men 
 Salmon Brown, Oliver, and I rode without saddles. By order of 
 Captain Brown, Fred Brown rode first, Owen and Carpenter next ; 
 ten paces behind them, old Brown : and the rest of us behind him, 
 two and two. Our way from Middle Creek to Ottawa Creek was 
 along the old military road between Fort Scott and Fort Leav- 
 enworth. When we had nearly reached the crossing of the old 
 California road at the ford of the Marais des Cygnes, we saw by the 
 fading watch-fires of a camp, hardly a hundred and fifty steps before 
 us, an armed sentinel pacing. While Fred Brown rode slowly for 
 ward, Carpenter turned back and told Captain Brown that here was 
 probably a division of United States dragoons who were acting as 
 posse for the marshal. Brown thereupon gave Carpenter his in 
 structions in a few words. We were to ride forward slowly with no 
 indication of the least anxiety, and otherwise to imitate his example. 
 The sentry let Fred Brown and Carpenter approach within twenty- 
 five paces, and then cried, i Who goes there ? ' Fred answered just as 
 loud, l Free-State.' The sentry called the officer of the guard, and 
 while he was coming the rest of us rode, by Brown's order, within five 
 paces of where Fred and Carpenter were halted, forming ourselves 
 in an irregular group. When the officer appeared, Carpenter spoke 
 up and said we were farmers, living not far from Prairie City, who 
 had gone to Osawatomie upon invitation of the settlers to protect 
 them against an expected invasion from Missouri ; had been there 
 two days, seen and heard nothing of the Missourians, and so had 
 resolved to return home. Upon this Lieutenant Mclutosh, the com 
 manding officer, appeared, and Carpenter repeated what he had said. 
 None of the rest of us said a word ; but the deputy marshal came 
 
294 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN [185G. 
 
 forward and requested the lieutenant to detain us till daylight, so that 
 he might make further inquiries. Melntosh replied sternly : 1 1 have 
 no orders to stop peaceable travellers, such as these people are ; they 
 are going home to their farms;' adding to Carpenter and the rest of 
 us : ' Pass on ! pass on ! ; We defiled slowly through the camp, 
 forded the stream, and when the soldiers were a mile behind us pushed 
 on rapidly. About four o'clock in the morning of May 27 we reached 
 the secluded spot on Ottawa Creek which Carpenter had indicated to 
 us as a safe place for camping. In the midst of a primeval wood, 
 perhaps half a mile deep before you come to the creek, we pitched 
 our camp beside a huge fallen oak, and tethered our horses in the un 
 derwood. Old Brown inspected the region, and set guards ; Carpenter 
 brought corn for the horses and coarse flour for ourselves, and then 
 Brown began to get breakfast." 
 
 In this secure retreat they remained until June 1, when 
 they set forth to find the enemy, whom they defeated at 
 Black Jack ; and it was here that James Redpath on May 
 30, and Colonel Sumner on June 5, visited Brown. Red- 
 path was at that time a Kansas correspondent of the 
 " New York Tribune " and other Eastern newspapers, and 
 was spending a few days near Prairie City to watch the 
 movements of the Missouriaiis and the dragoons, and, if 
 possible, to give some aid to the Free-State men. His 
 horse had been stolen in Palmyra by one of the Border 
 Ruffians, and he was arrested himself the next day on 
 suspicion of stealing dragoon horses, but soon discharged. 
 While looking about on Friday for an old preacher who 
 lived near Ottawa Creek, and who was to carry his New 
 York letter for mailing to Kansas City, some twenty miles 
 off, the lively newspaper correspondent stumbled upon the 
 hiding-place of John Brown, whom he then saw for the first 
 time. Redpath's description of the adventure, somewhat 
 abridged, is this : 
 
 " The creeks of Kansas are all fringed with wood. I lost my way, 
 or got off the path that crosses Ottawa Creek, when suddenly, thirty 
 paces before me, I saw a wild-looking man, of fine proportions, with 
 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 shaven for many months. We 
 were similarly dressed, with red-topped boots worn over the pan- 
 
1856.1 THE KANSAS STRUGGLE CONTINUED. 295 
 
 taloons, a coarse blue shirt, and a pistol-belt. This was the usual 
 fashion of the times. 
 
 <; ' Hello ! ' he cried, ' you 7 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 '11 
 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, shook hands with Frederick, and put up my 
 pistol. He talked wildly as he walked before me, turning round 
 every minute as he spoke of the then recent affair of Pottawatomic. 
 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 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 sad 
 dled 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 ; 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, near by. One of them was the youngest son 
 of old Brown, and the other was l 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 fork 
 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 only 
 for a moment, for the Captain ordered them to renew their work. 
 He respectfully but firmly forbade conversation on the Pottawatomie 
 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 it was proper to communicate. In this 
 camp no manner of profane language was permitted j no man of im 
 moral character was allowed to stay, except as a prisoner of war. 
 
 " . . . 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 
 
296 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 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 South 
 erners. Give me men of good principles ; God-fearing men ; men 
 who respect themselves, and with a dozen of them, I will op 
 pose any hundred such men as these Buford ruffians.' I remained 
 in the camp about an hour. Never before had I met sucli a band 
 of men. They were not earnest, but earnestness incarnate. Six of 
 them were John Brown's sons." l 
 
 Bondi remembers this adventure of Kedpath, and relates 
 some other conversation that then took place. Their chance 
 visitor told them it looked well for their neighbors that in 
 spite of the great rewards already offered for their arrest, 
 no traitor had been found to pilot the enemy to that camp, 
 although many in the neighborhood had by that time come 
 to know where it was. He told them further that on their 
 perseverance might depend the success of the good cause 
 in Kansas ; that when he should go back to Lawrence he 
 would try to have the Lawrence " Stubs," a small military 
 company, join them ; and meantime hoped they would not 
 forsake Douglas County, as Brown had threatened to do, 
 unless the settlers took up arms to aid him in his warfare. 
 The cheerful counsel of the young correspondent encouraged 
 them, and, as Bondi says, " they felt as if they were the ex 
 treme outpost of the free North in Kansas." Doubtless 
 they were ; and with prophetic insight Brown said that day, 
 " We shall stay here, young man ; we will not disappoint 
 the hopes of our friends." 2 
 
 " Charley, the brave Hungarian," of whom Eedpath 
 speaks, was Charles Kaiser, a Bavarian, who had settled 
 
 1 In fact, there were but four of Brown's sons here, and his son-in-law 
 Thompson. In some other points the account is exaggerated ; but in the 
 main it gives a true picture of the scene, as remembered by Bondi, Owen 
 Brown, and others. At this time John and Jason Brown were prisoners, 
 on their way to Lecompton. Jason was soon discharged ; but John Brown, 
 Jr., remained at Lecompton until September 10, when he was released on 
 bail and went to Lawrence. 
 
 2 According to Bondi, Brown had suggested, a day or two before, that 
 if they had to leave Kansas on account of the cowardice or indifference of 
 their friends, they might go to Louisiana and head an uprising of the slaves 
 there, to make a diversion in favor of Kansas. 
 
1856-1 THE KANSAS STRUGGLE CONTINUED. 297 
 
 in Hungary when young, and in 1849 had served in the 
 Hungarian revolutionary army as a hussar. His face, says 
 Bondi, was marked with lance and sabre-cuts ; and he had 
 a taste for war. He was living on a claim three or four 
 miles from this camp, and had made the acquaintance of 
 Brown in the " Wakarusa war " the winter before. Kecog- 
 nizing in Bondi and Wiener fellow-countrymen of the 
 same political opinions, he became intimate with them as 
 soon as he joined Brown's company on the 28th of May. 
 The same day they had been joined by Ben Cochrane, a 
 member of the Pottawatomie Rifles, and a neighbor of 
 Bondi and Wiener, who told them how their houses had 
 been burned, their cattle driven off, and their goods plun 
 dered a day or two before ; while the United States dra 
 goon officer refused to interfere on behalf of the settlers 
 on the Pottawatomie, saying, " I have no orders." Bondi 
 goes on to say : 
 
 " The next day (May 29), Captain Shore, of the Prairie City Kifles, 
 and Dr. Westfall, a neighbor of Carpenter, came to our camp and 
 told us that many horses and other property had been stolen near Wil 
 low Springs, ten or fifteen miles distant. They asked Brown ' what 
 he calculated to do ? ' Brown replied, ' Captain Shore, how many 
 men can you furnish me f ' Shore answered that his men were just 
 now very unwilling to leave home ; to which Brown said, * Why did 
 you send Carpenter after us ? I am not willing to sacrifice my 
 men, without having some hope of accomplishing something.' That 
 evening (May 29) Shore visited us again, and brought some flour, 
 of which we had great need, as a present. Brown then said to him 
 that if his neighbors did not soon take the offensive, he should cer 
 tainly be compelled to leave that region, for the Missourians would 
 sooner or later find out our hiding-place. Captain Shore asked him 
 To delay his departure a few days, saying that he knew the Missou 
 rians suspected we were in ambush somewhere near Prairie City, and 
 that nothing save the foar of us had protected this neighborhood so 
 long against attack and pillage ; but should Shannon's militia find 
 out that we were away, it would be all over with the Free-State 
 men. Brown gave him till next Sunday to gather the settlers, so that 
 with combined forces we might hunt for the militia and offer them 
 battle wherever we might find them; Shore promised to do his best, 
 and so the matter stood when Redpath visited us. The day after his 
 visit (May 31) Shore came to tell us that a large band of Shannon's 
 
298 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856, 
 
 militia were encamped on the Santa Fe road, by Black Jack Spring, 
 and at ten o'clock p. M. returned with Carpenter and Mewhinney 
 bringing serious news. They said that three men from the Black 
 Jack camp had attacked a block house in Palmyra, three miles from 
 Prairie City, where several neighbors' families were visiting; that the 
 seven Free-State men there, though well armed, had, upon a simple 
 demand, given up to the three Missourians three rifles, three revolv 
 ers, and five double-barrelled guns. Such a disgrace, our visitors 
 thought, could not be endured patiently ; and Shore said he had 
 sent word to all the settlers to muster at Prairie City by ten the next 
 morning (Sunday), where he would expect us with our arms and 
 horses. Captain Brown grasped his hand and said, ' We will be 
 with you ! ' and our friends departed about midnight. The next morn 
 ing Brown had breakfast earlier than common, and when Carpenter 
 came back about nine o'clock, to escort us to Prairie City, we were 
 ready to start. Carpenter, Kaiser, and Townsley assisted Wiener 
 to empty his bottle. Captain Brown called out, ' Ready, Forward, 
 March ! ' arid we were on the road towards the enemy. Our appear 
 ance was indescribable. Except Kaiser, none of us had proper 
 attire ; for our clothes readily showed the effects of bush-whacking, 
 continued for the last eight days; we had come down to wearing 
 ideas, suspicions, and memories of what had once been boots and 
 hats. Still in the best of spirits, and with our appetite still better, 
 just whetted by our scant breakfast, we followed Captain Brown, 
 he alone remaining serious, and riding silent at our front." 1 
 
 Prairie City is half -way between Lawrence and Osa- 
 watomie, and near by is Hickory Point, where Dow was. 
 murdered by Coleman. Pate had been encamped a day or 
 two among the " black-jack oaks," which gave an uncouth 
 name to the stream, and though Brown's force was much 
 the smaller, only twenty-eight men including Brown him 
 self, he did not hesitate to attack at once. The day was 
 Sunday, and Brown had attended a prayer-meeting at Prairie 
 City ; while there, three men who had been at the sack of 
 Lawrence came up and brought exact word of Pate's where 
 abouts. Brown set out that night, and at four o'clock the 
 next morning reached a patch of black oaks on a slope to- 
 
 1 I have abridged this account from the letters of Bondi, printed both 
 in German and English in the Kansas newspapers of 1883-84. Occasion 
 ally the English version varies from the German, and 1 follow the latter in 
 preference. Prairie City is about five miles southwest of Black Jack. 
 
1856.] THE KANSAS STRUGGLE CONTINUED. 299 
 
 wards the north near Pate's camp, but away from the water. 
 Leaving the horses there in the charge of his son Fred, he 
 marched his other twenty-six men in double file until he 
 came within reach of the enemy's fire, and still pushed for 
 ward under fire until he gained a place of shelter in sight 
 of Pate's tents, but screened by the slope of land, where he 
 took position in a ravine ten feet deep. The firing began a 
 little after six A. M., and lasted until one or two o'clock in 
 the afternoon. During this time many of the men on both 
 sides deserted ; but Captain Brown crept round on his hands 
 and knees behind the ridge, and persuaded some of the de 
 serters to fire on the horses of the enemy. At this point 
 Fred Brown (who " was a little flighty," as his brother 
 Owen says) came riding up on Ned Scarlet, Owen's colt, 
 waving his sword, and shouting, " Hurrah ! come on, boys ! 
 we 've got 'em surrounded ; we 've cut off all communica 
 tion." He could be heard a long way off; and his great size 
 and odd gestures alarmed the enemy. He was shot at, but 
 not hit, and the firing upon Pate's horses was kept up by the 
 stragglers. Alarmed at all this, Captain Pate tied a white 
 handkerchief on a ramrod as a flag of truce, and sent a lieu 
 tenant forward to meet Captain Brown, who was returning 
 from his successful ruse. 1 Brown said to the lieutenant, 
 " Are you the captain of that company ? " " No." " Then 
 stay with me and send your companion back to call the cap 
 tain out ; I will talk with him, and not with you." Thus 
 summoned, Captain Pate himself appeared, saying that he 
 was an officer acting under orders of the United States Mar 
 shal of Kansas, and that he supposed they did not intend to 
 fight against the United States. He was going on in this 
 
 1 Owen Brown adds (April, 1885) : "When my brother Frederick rode 
 ' Ned Scarlet ' entirely around where the fight was going on, he was not so 
 flighty but he knew well what he was doing ; he made a dashing appear 
 ance, brandished his sword, and shouted so loud that all could distinctly 
 hear, ' Come on, boys, we 've got them surrounded, and have cut off their 
 communications.' At this very time Pate's horses and mules were tum 
 bling down pretty lively, and within five or eight minutes Pate came out 
 with his white handkerchief tied to a ramrod, and with him a Free-State 
 prisoner. I think Fred's riding around there as he did, happened just at 
 the right time, and had a most excellent effect." Like all the witnesses, 
 Owen praises the courage of Captain Shore. 
 
300 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856 
 
 way when Brown stopped him by saying, " I understand 
 exactly what you are, and do not wish to hear any more 
 about it. Have you any proposition to make me ? " There 
 being no definite answer to this query, Brown continued, 
 " Very well ; I have one to make to you : you must sur 
 render unconditionally." Then, taking his pistol in hand, 
 Brown returned with Captain Pate to the enemy's line, 
 leading with him eight of his own men, and among them 
 Owen Brown, to receive the surrender of the one-and-twenty 
 men who were left under Pate's orders. As they drew near 
 the line, where Pate's lieutenant Brockett was in command, 
 Brown called upon him also to surrender. He hesitated ; and 
 Captain Pate, to whom Brown turned requesting that he 
 should order his lieutenant to yield, also hesitated, seeing 
 the great apparent superiority of his force over Brown's. 
 Quick as thought, Brown placed his pistol at Pate's head, 
 and cried in a terrible voice, " Give the order ! " The Vir 
 ginian yielded, and bade his men lay down their arms, which 
 they sullenly did. Brown's force of eight unwounded men 
 then took the guns and other arms of the discomfited party, 
 threw them into wagons, and marched off the twenty odd 
 prisoners to their own position. Here a treaty or agree 
 ment was drawn up and signed by John Brown and Captain 
 Shore on one side, and Captain Pate and Lieutenant Brockett 
 on the other. 
 
 This agreement (or rather Pate's copy of it) seems to have 
 been folded as a letter, and indorsed or addressed on the back 
 as follows : " United States Marshal Hays, Colonel Coffey, 
 General Heiskell, or Judge Cato, or friends at Baptiste Pa- 
 ola, K. T." These were the persons into whose hands Pate 
 and Brockett hoped the paper would fall ; and it did appar 
 ently reach William A. Heiskell, of Paola, one of the persons 
 named, whose widow a few years since sent it to the Kansas 
 Historical Society. 1 The agreement was not carried out, for 
 
 1 Two copies of this agreement were made, one of which Brown kept, 
 and it was sent by his widow, long after his death, to the Kansas Historical 
 Society at Topeka, where it has been for six or eight years. Sometime 
 after this, the duplicate, which had been retained by Pate, was also sent 
 to the. librarian of the Historical Society, Mr. F. G. Adams ; and now 
 the two papers, torn and faded, but still legible, are exhibited side by 
 
1856.] THE KANSAS STRUGGLE CONTINUED. 301 
 
 a knowledge of the capture of Pate (communicated to his 
 friends perhaps by this very paper, sent to Paola) brought 
 from Missouri a large force under General Whittield to res 
 cue him. Brown also was presently largely reinforced ; and 
 a sanguinary battle seemed imminent. But on the 5th of 
 June Colonel Sumner appeared with a force of United 
 States troops and summoned Captain Brown to an inter 
 view, which resulted in his prisoners being set at liberty. 
 It is said that Pate was at the sacking of Osawatomie two 
 days afterward, while John Brown, Jr., was not liberated 
 till the 10th of September following. 
 
 Brown's report of his men after the fight, made to a com 
 mittee at Lawrence, was much the same as the list already 
 given : 
 
 (On the face of the sheet.) 
 
 List of names of men wounded in the battle of Palmyra or Black 
 Jack ; also of eight volunteers who maintained their position during 
 that fight, and to whom the surrender was made June 2d, 1856. 
 
 Herty Thompson, } Bunded badly, Thompson dangerously. 
 
 Mr. Parmely, wounded slightly in nose, also in arm so that he had 
 
 to leave the ground. 
 Charles Keiser. 
 Elizur Hill. 
 Wm. David. 
 Hugh Mewhinney. 
 
 Mr. Coohran, of Pottawatomie (B. L.). 
 Owen Brown. 
 Salmon Brown, accidentally wounded after the fight, and liable to 
 
 remain a cripple. 
 Oliver Brown. 
 
 (Names of all who either fought or guarded the horses during the 
 fight at Palmyra, June 2d, 1856, will be found on other side.) 
 
 Respectfully submitted by JOHN BROWN. 
 
 Messrs. WHITMAN, ELDRIGE, and others. 
 
 side in Mr. Adams's invaluable collection. The copy printed on page 
 240 was obtained by Mr. Bobinson, of Paola, from Mrs. Heiskell of the 
 same town, which in the address is termed " Baptiste Paola." The form 
 of the agreement and the order of signatures proves that Captain Brown 
 and not Captain Shore was the real leader at Black Jack, a fact which 
 some have questioned. 
 
302 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 (On the back of the sheet.) 
 
 List of volunteers, either engaged or guarding horses during the fight 
 at Palmyra or Black Jack, June 2d, 1856. 
 
 Saml. T. Shore, Captain. 0. A. Carpenter, badly wounded. 
 
 Silas More. Augustus Shore. 
 
 David Hendricks, Horse Guard. Mr. Townsley, of Pottawatomie. 
 
 Hiram McAllister. Win. B. Hay den. 
 
 Mr. Pannely, wounded. John Mewhinney. 
 
 Silvester Harris. Montgomery Shore. 
 
 Elkanah Timmons. Henry Thompson, dangerously 
 
 T. Werner. wounded. 
 
 A. Bondy. Elias Basinger. 
 
 Hugh Mewhinney. Owen Brown. 
 
 Charles Reiser. Fred'k Brown, Horse Guard. 
 
 Elizur Hill. Salmon Brown, wounded & 
 
 Win. David. crippled. 
 
 Mr. Cochran, of Pottawatomie. Oliver Brown. 
 
 - (this blank to be filled). 
 
 (Signed) JOHN BROWN. 
 
 (Indorsed in Brown's handwriting, " List of Volunteers, etc., at 
 Black Jack.") 
 
 It will be noticed that Brown omits his own name in 
 these lists, except as signed to the report ; and also that he 
 puts Captain Shore first, as being next himself in rank. 
 Apparently the fight would not have ended with the capture 
 of Pate and his men had it not been for the daring of Brown 
 and his sons, who were the true heroes of the day ; al though 
 others did well. These sons were all worthy of their father ; 
 they knew as little how to give way or to fear odds as he 
 did. Owen Brown once said to me of his brothers, " I never 
 could discover the least sign of cowardice about those boys ; " 
 and to another person he said, "None of us ever made much 
 pretension to being scared.'"' 
 
 Mrs. Robinson, wife of the nominal Free-State governor 
 of Kansas, whose husband had been under arrest for some 
 weeks when the fight at Black Jack occurred, returned to 
 Kansas from Massachusetts two days after this fight, and 
 about ten days after the Pottawatomie executions. She 
 came up the Missouri River from St. Louis by steamboat, '' 
 
1856.] THE KANSAS STRUGGLE CONTINUED. 803 
 
 and reached Kansas City, on the Missouri side of the 
 Kansas border, at midnight of June 3, 1856. She says 
 in her book : 
 
 11 The last day or two of the trip on the Missouri River rumors of 
 war hecame more frequent. Inflammatory extras were thrown upon 
 the boats at different landings. People at Lexington and other 
 points along the river were much excited and preparing for a new 
 invasion. The extras stated the murder of eight proslavery men by 
 the Abolitionists and the cruel mutilation of their bodies, the death 
 of the United States Marshal, of H. C. Pate, and J. McGee. Deeds 
 of blood and violence, of which they were hourly guilty, were charged 
 upon the Free-State men. The following is a sample of the incen 
 diary extras which flew through the border counties : ' Murder is 
 the watchword and midnight deed of a scattered and scouting band of 
 Abolitionists, who had courage only to fly from the face of a wronged 
 and insulted people when met at their own solicitation. Men, peace 
 able and quiet, cannot travel on the public roads of Kansas without 
 being caught, searched, imprisoned, and their lives perhaps taken. 
 No Southerner dare venture alone and unarmed on her roads ! ' ' 
 
 Concerning the fight at Black Jack, Mrs. Eobinson says : 
 
 " After a two hours' fire Pate sent forward one of his men with a 
 prisoner and a white flag, and surrendered unconditionally. A few of 
 his company fled into Missouri j among them was Coleman the mur 
 derer. Twenty-six men were taken prisoners by Captain Brown, and 
 a quantity of goods stolen from Lawrence was found in their wagons. 
 The delegate to Congress, Whitfield (a proslavery man), left his seat 
 before the Congressional Investigating Committee, June 2, at the 
 head of a large body of armed men, his stated object being to relieve 
 Pate. While Governor Shannon in every instance has stationed 
 troops in a town after it has been sacked, he now saw the Free- State 
 men rallying to protect themselves, and feared the slave-power would 
 lose the ground gained through his servility. He heard, too, of aid 
 coming from out of Kansas, and issued a proclamation on the 4th, 
 1 commanding all persons belonging to military companies unau 
 thorized by law, to disperse, otherwise they would be dispersed by 
 the United States troops.' The President's proclamation of Febru 
 ary 11 was appended, and Governor Shannon stated that it would 
 be strictly enforced. A requisition was also made upon Colonel 
 Sumner for a force sufficient to compel obedience to the proclama 
 tion. On the 5th of June Colonel Sumner broke in upon the Free- 
 State camp and released Captain Pate and his fellow-prisoners. 
 
304 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 Colonel Surrmer ordered the Free-State men to return quietly to 
 their homes; and then, turning to Pate, said : i What business have 
 you here ? ' 
 
 u i I am here by orders of Governor Shannon.' 
 
 "'I saw Governor Shannon yesterday, and your case was specially 
 considered ; and he asserted you were not here by his orders.' He 
 then added : l You are Missourians, all of you, and when you crossed 
 your State line you trampled on State sovereignty. Now, go, sir, 
 in the direction whence you came ; ' and as he closed his remarks 
 Colonel Sumner waved his hand for Pate and his party to leave. So 
 the brave Pate returned to Westport 1 and Kansas City. He ac 
 knowledged the bravery of Brown, for he said Captain Brown rode 
 about them sword in hand and commanded a surrender, and they 
 were obliged to make it. He spoke well of them in their treatment 
 of him while a prisoner." 
 
 The victory of Brown at Black Jack roused the proslavery 
 men in Missouri and in Kansas to new fury, while it stimu 
 lated the freemen of Kansas to new efforts. Both parties 
 mustered in large force near Palmyra ; and on the 5th of 
 June a battle seemed unavoidable, until Colonel Sumner, as 
 Mrs. Robinson mentions, came down with a force of United 
 States cavalry and put a stop to hostilities. He also sent 
 for Captain Brown, as soon as he heard where he was, desir- 
 
 1 The title of this unfortunate Captain Pate, who was an editor in 
 Westport, was derived from his commanding the Westport Sharpshoot 
 ers, a Border Ruffian company, which seems to have emulated the repu 
 tation of the Kickapoo Rangers. With his command he had obeyed the 
 war proclamation of Governor Shannon, been mustered in as a part of 
 the Kansas militia, though living in Missouri, and in that capacity had 
 escorted Gaius Jenkins and George W. Brown, two of the Lawrence men 
 arrested for treason, from Westport to a point near Lecompton, where they 
 arrived on the evening of the 19th of May. He was present, taking part 
 with his command, at the sacking of Lawrence ; after which he visited 
 Lecompton, where he learned on the evening of the 25th of the executions 
 on the Pottawatomie. As a United States deputy marshal he resolved to 
 arrest John Brown and his party wherever found. "Without following 
 his steps in detail to Palmyra and Prairie City, and noting the outrages 
 which Pate perpetrated at these places and in their vicinity, enough to 
 cover his name with infamy," says an enemy of Brown, "the two men 
 came in contact at a place on the Santa Fe road known as Black Jack." 
 What resulted from that contact we know ; the would-be captor was him 
 self captured, held a prisoner for three days by Brown, and then released 
 by the United States, only to engage again in the same career. 
 
1856.] THE KANSAS STRUGGLE CONTINUED. 305 
 
 ing an interview. Brown left his intrenched camp on the 
 Ottawa and went into the camp of Colonel Suinner, who at 
 once visited Brown's camp and came to terms with him, 
 bidding him release his prisoners, but making no attempt to 
 arrest or punish him, 1 except to ask the civil officer who 
 accompanied him if he had not some warrants to serve. 
 The officer declared that he saw no one whom he wished 
 to arrest ; and Brown with his men, though charged with 
 murder at the Pottawatomie, as well as with treason and 
 conspiracy against the Territorial laws, was allowed to go 
 forth unpunished and without being disarmed. Captain 
 Pate and his men were chided by Colonel Sumner, as Mrs. 
 Robinson says ; but their horses, arms, etc., were restored 
 to them, even though their guns might have been stolen 
 from the national arsenal in Missouri, as was done a few 
 months before. Brown felt and complained of this injus 
 tice, but to no avail. He and his little band dispersed at 
 Colonel Sumner's command ; but they soon came together 
 again, and kept up their organization during the whole 
 summer. 
 
 John Brown himself was near Topeka, July 4, when the 
 proslavery usurpers in Kansas had determined to disperse 
 
 1 All this is concisely described by John Brown in his letter of June, 
 printed in a former chapter. The account by Mrs. Robinson varies in 
 some points from that of Brown ; but in such variations Brown is almost 
 always correct. The dispersal of the Free-State legislature at Topeka by 
 Colonel Sumner, July 4, is described by William A. Phillips in the " Atlan 
 tic Monthly " for 1879, who brings in Brown as present and advising resist 
 ance, even to Federal authority. It is doubtless true that Brown did more 
 than once, while in Kansas, declare that the Federal troops might properly 
 be resisted when they upheld the usurping rulers of the Territory ; but 
 there is no evidence that he ever sought to attack them. He did finally 
 attack an arsenal of the United States in Virginia ; but that was when he 
 had fully proved the complicity of the national Government in every evil 
 design of the slave-power. The Government which he would have resisted 
 in Kansas had Jefferson Davis for one of its ministers ; and the cabinet 
 officer controlling the arsenal at Harper's Ferry was Floyd, who afterward 
 put government arms into the hands of rebels, and led a division himself. 
 In fact, the Federal authority from 1856 to 1861 was but a mask for the 
 slave oligarchy. Colonel Phillips commanded a regiment of Indians dur 
 ing the Civil War, then served in Congress, and now lives at Washington. 
 I have condensed a little his " Atlantic " paper. 
 
 20 
 
306 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 the Free-State legislature, which had adjourned to meet 
 there on that day. Mr. W. A. Phillips has given some in 
 teresting details of this period. He met Brown at Law 
 rence, July 2, and rode with his party from Mount Oread, 
 where the Kansas University now stands, along the Cali 
 fornia road, by Coon Point, and within four miles of 
 Lecompton, the proslavery capital (where Brown's son was 
 a prisoner), until they reached Big Springs. Mr. Phillips 
 says : 
 
 u There we left the road, going in a southwesterly direction for a 
 mile, when we halted on a hill, and the horses were stripped of their 
 saddles, and picketed out to graze. The grass was wet with dew. 
 The men ate of what provision they had with them, and I received a 
 portion from the captain, dry beef (which was not so bad), and 
 bread made from corn bruised between stones, then rolled in balls and 
 cooked in the ashes of the camp fire. Captain Brown observed that 
 I nibbled it very gingerly, and said, i I am afraid you will be hardly 
 able to eat a soldier's harsh fare.' 
 
 " We next placed our two saddles together, so that our heads lay 
 only a few feet apart. Brown spread his blanket on the wet grass, 
 and, when we lay together upon it, mine was spread over us. It 
 was past eleven o'clock, and we lay there until two in the morning, 
 but we slept none. He seemed to be as little disposed to sleep as I 
 was, and we talked ; or rather he did, for I said little. I found that 
 he was a thorough astronomer j he pointed out the different constel 
 lations and their movements. ' Now,' he said, l it is midnight/ as 
 he pointed to the finger-marks of his great clock in the sky. The 
 whispering of the wind on the prairie was full of voices to him, 
 and the stars as they shone in the firmament of God seemed to 
 inspire him. ' How admirable is the symmetry of the heavens ; 
 how grand and beautiful ! Everything moves in sublime harmony in 
 the government of God. Not so with us poor creatures. If one 
 star is more brilliant than others, it is continually shooting in some 
 erratic way into space.' 
 
 " He criticised both parties in Kansas. Of the proslavery men he 
 said that slavery besotted everything, and made men more brutal and 
 coarse j nor did the Free- State men escape his sharp censure. He 
 said that we had many noble and true men, but too many broken- 
 down politicians from the older States, who would rather pass reso 
 lutions than act, and who criticised all who did real work. A profes 
 sional politician, he went on, you never could trust ; for even if he had 
 convictions, he was always ready to sacrifice his principles for his 
 
1856.] THE KANSAS STRUGGLE CONTINUED. 307 
 
 advantage. 1 One of the most interesting things in his conversa 
 tion that night, and one that marked him as a theorist, was his treat 
 ment of our forms of social and political life. He thought society 
 ought to be organized on a less selfish basis ; for while material 
 interests gained something by the deification of pure selfishness, men 
 and women lost much by it. He said that all great reforms, like the 
 Christian religion, were based on broad, generous, self-sacrificing 
 principles. He condemned the sale of land as a chattel, and thought 
 that there was an infinite number of wrongs to right before society 
 would be what it should be, but that in our country slavery was the 
 * sum of all villanies,' and its abolition the first essential work. If 
 the American people did not take courage and end it speedily, human 
 freedom and republican liberty would soon be empty names in these 
 United States. 
 
 " He ran on during these midnight hours in a conversation I can 
 never forget. The stars grew sharper and clearer, and seemed to be 
 looking down like watchers on that sleeping camp. My companion 
 paused for a short time, and I thought he was going to sleep, when 
 he said : * It is nearly two o'clock, and it must be nine or ten miles 
 to Topeka 5 it is time we were marching,' and he again drew my 
 attention to his index marks in the sky. He rose and called his men, 
 who responded with alacrity. In less than ten minutes the company 
 had saddled, packed, and mounted, and was again on the march. 
 He declined following the road any farther, but insisted on taking a 
 straight course over the country, guided by the stars. It was in vain 
 that I expostulated with him, and told him that three or four creeks 
 were in the way, and the country rough and broken, so that it would 
 be difficult to find our way in the dark. We had a rough time of it 
 that night, arid day broke while we were floundering in the thickets 
 of a creek-bottom some miles from Topeka. As soon as daylight 
 came and we could see our way, we rode more rapidly } but the sun 
 had risen above the horizon before we rode down the slopes. Across 
 the creek and nearly two miles to the right we saw the tents, and in 
 the morning stillness could hear the bugles blow in Colonel Sumner's 
 camp. Brown would not go into Topeka, but halted in the timber 
 of the creek, sending one of his men with me as a messenger to bring 
 him word when his company was needed. He had his horse picketed, 
 and walked down by the side of my horse to the place where I crossed 
 the creek. He sent messages to one or two gentlemen in town, 
 and, as he wrung my hand at parting, urged that we should have 
 
 1 In a later conversation with Phillips, speaking of a Kansas politician, 
 he took out his pocket compass, uncovered it, and said : "You see that 
 needle : it wobbles about, and is mighty unsteady ; but it wants to point to 
 the North. Is your friend like that needle ? " 
 
308 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 the Legislature meet, resist all who should interfere with it, and 
 fight, if necessary, even the United States troops. He had told me 
 the night before of his visit to many of the fortifications in Europe, 
 and criticised them sharply, holding that modern warfare did away 
 with them, and that a well-armed brave soldier was the best fortifica 
 tion. He criticised all the arms then in use, and showed me a fine 
 repeating-rifle which he said would carry eight hundred yards j but, 
 he added, 'the way to fight is to press to close quarters.'" 
 
 In August Brown joined the forces of General James H. 
 Lane in northern Kansas, having first carried his wounded 
 son-in-law, Henry Thompson, into Iowa to be taken care of. 
 Returning about the 10th of August with General Lane, 
 he proceeded with him to Lawrence and to Franklin, where 
 there was some skirmishing ; and from the middle of August 
 to the 20th of September he was in the field with his com 
 pany, fighting the Missourian invaders. The following de 
 spatch invited him to join Lane (under the name of Cook) 
 in an expedition : 
 
 MR. BROWN, General Joe Cook wants you to come to Law 
 rence this night, for we expect to have a fight on Washington 
 Creek. Come to Topeka as soon as possible, and I will pilot you 
 to the place. Yours in haste, 
 
 H. STRATTON. 
 
 TOPEKA, 7 o'clock, p. M., Aug. 12, 1856. 
 
 Concerning this affair Mr. Stratton (who now lives in 
 Colorado) writes me in these words : 
 
 u John Brown was with us when ' Fort Saunders,' on Wakarusa 
 Creek (I think), was destroyed, and commanded the cavalry. A 
 few days before this event Major Hoyt had been murdered at Fort 
 Saunders, where he had gone trusting to the fact that he was a 
 Free Mason ; but he was murdered, and partially buried out on the 
 prairie. General Lane sent out an expedition under Captain Shorn- 
 bre, 1 who was afterwards shot in the groin at Lecompton, and died 
 from the wound. I was second in command of the expedition. We 
 discovered Major Hoyt's remains, and removed them to our camp, 
 which I believe was on the Wakarusa, west of Lawrence. The 
 next day we marched on Fort, Saunders. General Lane drew up his 
 forces in front of the fort, Captain Brown occupying the right wing 
 
 1 Or Chambree. 
 
1856.] THE KANSAS STRUGGLE CONTINUED. 309 
 
 with his cavalry. A charge was ordered, and the fort taken ; but 
 the murderers had fled into the timber and escaped. 
 
 " Large stores of bacon, sugar, flour, etc., were captured and loaded 
 into our train- wagons. The diuner was left uutasted on the tables 
 by the ruffians, so precipitate had been their flight. Captain Brown, 
 with his men, was among the first to reach the fort, which was 
 surrounded by a high rail fence, inside of which heavy earth-works 
 had been thrown up. I was acting as Aid to General Lane, and 
 that night piloted him to Topeka. This is the only time I can 
 call to mind when I was with Captain Brown on any expedition, 
 though I used to meet him often at different points. I am not 
 certain about Captain Brown being with our party when we carne 
 in from Nebraska, but think he was. While with General Lane I 
 was charged with his personal safety, as a price had been- offered for 
 his head. If I could sit down with some one who was an active 
 participant during the border war, I presume in talking over old 
 times I could recall many incidents that have now escaped me." 
 
 By this time Brown's name had become such a terror, 
 that wherever the enemy were attacked they believed he 
 was in command. In an appeal to the citizens of Lafay 
 ette County, Missouri, urging them to take horses and guns 
 and march into Kansas, General Atchison wrote thus, under 
 date of Aug. 17, 1856 : - 
 
 " On the 6th of August the notorious Brown, with a party of three 
 hundred abolitionists, made an attack upon a colony of Georgians, 1 
 murdering 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 plows burned to ashes. August 1*2, at night, three hundred 
 abolitionists, under this same Brown, attacked the town of Franklin, 
 robbed, plundered, and burned, took all the arms in town, broke 
 open and destroyed the post-office, captured the old cannon ' Sacra 
 mento,' which our gallant Missourians captured in Mexico, and are 
 now turning its mouth against our friends. August 15 Brown, with 
 four hundred abolitionists, mostly Lane's men, mounted and armed, 
 attacked Treadwell's Settlement, in Douglas County, numbering 
 about thirty men. They planted the old cannon l Sacramento ' 
 towards the colony, and surrounded them." 
 
 1 At Baptisteville, ten miles northeast of Osawatomie, on an Indian 
 reservation. " Preacher Stewart " really commanded the Free-State men. 
 
310 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 It is not necessary (nor was it in 1856) to believe all the 
 stories of battles and sieges which were related on one side 
 or the other during this Kansas imbroglio. Even when 
 there was a desire to tell the truth, circumstances often 
 proved too strong for the narrator. But the great reputa 
 tion of Brown as a partisan leader is as fully proved by 
 these fictions as by the authentic reports. 
 
 The following letters from John Brown, Jr., in prison at 
 Lecompton, seem to be in reply to a suggestion from his 
 father that he might be visited arid rescued : 
 
 From John Brown, Jr., to his Father. 
 
 LECOMPTON, Aug. 14, 1856. 
 
 You can, at any time you think it best, come to camp and see me, 
 especially at evening, without observation. Come to the bouse of 
 Mrs. Wesley, about fifty rods east from tbe camp, and she will send 
 up her boy to let me know that a man wants to see me. You could 
 no doubt find a temporary stopping-place either at Captain Thome's 
 or at Mr. Lewis's, about a mile south of our camp, near tbe Cali 
 fornia road. In coming here you will notice two camps ; ours is the 
 more easterly. If you wish to see me, come at evening, early, to the 
 captain's tent, and say that you wish to see the prisoners, and you 
 will be admitted, without a doubt. The captain is very accommo 
 dating ; you can come and go incog. The captain of Company I 
 says he has been after you more than two months. Don't let them 
 get you. I very much want to see you, but don't run any great risk 
 on this account. At any time you wish to write me, direct to 
 X. Y. Z., and enclose in an envelope to C. W. Babcock, Lawrence. 
 
 Aug. 16, 1856. 
 
 The prospect now appears so favorable for us that it does seem as 
 though I had better not try to meet you just now. The prospect is 
 that there will be either a writ of habeas corpus issued, or a change 
 of venue, which will in either case take us into the States for trial. 
 Have sent you several letters lately by persons going to Topeka, and 
 I enclose one which I wrote on the 13th. 1 The bearer of it, not 
 seeing you there, has returned it. I was in hearing of the attack on 
 Colonel Titus this morning. A messenger has just come in, stating 
 that he (Titus) and several others were taken prisoners ; Titus 
 wounded. He also reports that a Free-State man was either killed 
 
 1 Not extant. 
 
1856.] THE KANSAS STRUGGLE CONTINUED. 311 
 
 yesterday or last night, as he was found at Titus's stiff and cold. I 
 saw the fire of Titus's house. Well, it seems that Heaven is 
 smiling on our arms. The case may be that within a few days I 
 shall think it altogether best to try to meet you. A very few days 
 will determine. All well. May God bless you ! G-ood-by. 
 
 I should be very glad to see you, if you think it prudent to visit 
 me. There is nothing here, that I know of, in the way. If you 
 come just at edge of evening, no one need know it is you ; but don't 
 risk yourself if you are aware of danger. There are spies around. 
 In view of present prospects, the prisoners think best that no at 
 tempt should be made at present to release them. We are all well 
 treated here. Captain Sackett is a noble man. Should be very 
 glad to know where I could communicate with you from time to 
 time. J. B., JR., in prison. 
 
 Indorsed by John Brown. 
 
 The allusion to the attack on (t Titus/' in the above letter, 
 will be made more clear by a longer letter to Jason Brown, 
 written in part on the same day, but apparently begun ear 
 lier in the day. The same letter contains some notice of 
 what had been happening in Kansas since the middle of 
 July. These chronicles are not wholly exact ; but it was 
 not possible then to obtain precise information in Kansas, 
 and the news sent to the prisoners was likely to come from 
 both sides. They were not held in strict confinement, and, 
 after a while at first, did not suffer much hardship. Indeed, 
 they might easily have escaped, as will soon appear. 
 
 From John Brown, Jr. 
 
 CAMP OF U. S. CAVALRY, NEAR LECOMPTON, KANSAS, 
 Aug. 16, 1856. 
 
 DEAR BROTHER JASON AND OTHERS, Agreeably with my 
 promise to write often, I have sent you lately not less than four 
 letters, one or two by private hands, the others by mail. Events 
 of the most stirring character are now passing within hearing 
 distance. I should think more than two hundred shots have been 
 fired within the past half hour, and within a mile of our camp. 
 Have just learned that some eighty of our Free- State men have 
 11 pitched into " a proslavery camp this side of Lecornpton, which 
 was commanded by a notorious proslavery scoundrel named Titus, 
 one of the Buford party from Alabama. A dense volume of smoke 
 
312 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 is now rising in the vicinity of bis bouse. The firing has ceased, 
 and we are most impatient to learn the result. 
 
 During the past month the Kuffians have been actively at work, 
 and have made not less than five intrenched camps, where they have 
 in different parts of the Territory established themselves in armed 
 bands, well provided with provisions, arms, and ammunition. From 
 these camps they sally out, steal horses, and rob Free- State settlers 
 (in several cases murdering them), and then slip back into their 
 camp with their plunder. Last week a body of our men made a 
 descent upon Franklin, 1 and after a skirmishing fight of about three 
 hours took their barracks, and recovered some sixty guns and a 
 cannon, of which our men had been robbed some months since, on 
 the road from Westport. Our loss was one man killed and two 
 severely wounded, but it is thought they will recover. The enemy 
 were in a log building, from which they kept up a sharp fire, while 
 they themselves were quite unexposed. Our men then had recourse 
 to a system of tactics not laid down in Scott. They procured a 
 wagon loaded with hay, and running it down against the building 
 set it on fire, when the rascals immediately surrendered. Yesterday 
 our men had invested another of their fortified camps on Washington 
 Creek, a south branch of the Wakarusa ; and it was expected that 
 an attack would be made upon it last night. 
 
 Hurrah for our side ! A messenger has just come in, stating that 
 on the approach of our men, some two hundred and fifty or three 
 hundred in number, at Washington Creek yesterday, towards even 
 ing, the enemy broke and fled, leaving behind, to fall into the hands 
 of our men, a lot of provisions and a hundred stand of arms. But 
 this is not all. The notorious Colonel Titus, who only a day or two 
 since was heard to declare that " Free-State men had only two 
 weeks longer to remain in Kansas," went out last night on a 
 marauding expedition, in which he took six prisoners and a lot of 
 horses. This morning our men followed him closely and fell upon 
 his camp, killed two of his men, liberated the prisoners he had 
 taken, took him and ten other prisoners, set fire to his house, and 
 with a lot of arms, tents, provisions, etc., returned, having in the 
 fight had only one of our men seriously wounded. 
 
 August 19. 
 
 The affair last mentioned was conducted with such expedition that 
 the United States troops, located about a mile off, had not time to 
 reach the scene before it was all over and our men on their return, 
 marching in good order. Our men numbered four hundred, and had 
 
 1 Four miles south of Lawrence. The fights that followed are those 
 mentioned by Atchison on page 309. 
 
1856.] THE KANSAS STRUGGLE CONTINUED. 313 
 
 the cannon which they had taken at Franklin. With this they tired 
 six balls, out of seven shots, through Colonel Titus's house before 
 his gang surrendered. This series of victories has caused the greatest 
 fear among the proslavery men. While the firing was going on, the 
 citizens at Lecompton fled across the river in the greatest consterna 
 tion. Great numbers are leaving for Missouri. Colonel Titus was 
 seriously wounded by a Sharpe's-rifle ball passing through his hand, 
 and lodging in his shoulder too deep to be reached. It is thought 
 the wound will prove fatal. 
 
 Day before yesterday Governor Shannon and Major Sedgwick of 
 .the army went to Lawrence to obtain the prisoners our men had 
 taken j but our men would consent to give them up only on condition 
 that they on the other side should give up the prisoners that had been 
 taken on warrants at Franklin, the next day after the battle there, 
 for participating in it ; and, as a further condition, that they should 
 give up the cannon which had been taken from Lawrence at the time 
 it was sacked ; and still further agree to do all in their power to 
 break up the camps of armed desperadoes, as well as to prevent their 
 coming in from Missouri. These terms were complied with ; and 
 yesterday the prisoners were exchanged and the cannon at Lecompton 
 given up to our men, and it is now once more in Lawrence. Thus 
 you see they have themselves set their own laws at nought by that 
 exchange of prisoners whom they had taken on warrants for those 
 we had taken by the might of the people. Lane's men were on hand 
 and did good service. The Chicago company that had been turned 
 back on the Missouri River were on hand and in the thickest of the 
 fight. Some say Colonel Lane was in it himself. Father returned 
 with the overland emigrants, leaving in Nebraska Henry Thompson, 
 Owen, Salmon, Frederick, and Oliver, much improved in health. 
 He was in the fight at Franklin, and also aided in routing the gang 
 on Washington Creek, as well as in the capture of Titus and his 
 crew. By this time he is in Iowa, or some other distant region. 
 He is an omnipresent dread to the ruffians. I see by the Missouri 
 papers that they regard him as the most terrible foe they have to 
 encounter. He stands very high with the Free- State men who will 
 fight ; and the great majority of these have made up their minds that 
 nothing short of war to the death can save us from extermination. 
 Say to the men of Osawatomie to become thoroughly prepared, for 
 at any time their lives may depend upon their efficiency and vigi 
 lance ; that military organization is needed for something else than 
 amusement. Don't fail to urge the enrolment of every able-bodied 
 Free-State man, and place yourselves in a position to act both offen 
 sively and defensively in the most efficient manner. Stringfellow 
 and Atchison are said to be again raising a force to come in from 
 
314 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 Missouri and carry out their long-cherished plan to drive out or ex 
 terminate our people. If our men are wide awake we shall gain the 
 day. The prospect for Kansas becoming a free State never looked 
 brighter. Now is the time to prepare, and continue prepared. 
 
 Have not yet learned of any definite action of Congress in regard 
 to us prisoners, but we doubtless shall in a few days. Wealthy con 
 tinues to have the chills and fever every few days. Write often. 
 Ever your affectionate brother, 
 
 JOHN. 
 
 The last light at Osawatoinie, which for some reason or 
 other was more celebrated than any of the encounters in 
 which Brown engaged during 1856, was the third skirmish 
 that had taken place at or near that historic village. The 
 first was on June 2, and is mentioned by Brown in bis letter 
 of June 24 ; the second was early in August, and is probably 
 the same as the attack on Buford's men about Middle Creek, 
 soon to be spoken of, which occurred August 5 ; l the third 
 was on the 30th of August, and was provoked by the defeat 
 of Buford's men. In both these August encounters John 
 Brown bad some share. 
 
 A Boston clergyman (Rev. J. W. Winkley). who was in 
 Kansas as a young man in 1856, bas described to me with 
 some detail John Brown on the war-path, as he saw him 
 during the fights of August. Mr. Winkley was then liv 
 ing on the South Pottawatomie, twenty miles above Osawa- 
 tomie, and had enlisted to join Brown there, with twenty 
 others, upon the news of an invasion of Missourians. They 
 travelled all night, reached Osawatoinie in the morning, 
 breakfasted there, and then went with Captains Cline and 
 Shore (seventy men in all) to attack the enemy, whom they 
 surprised and defeated to the number of two hundred or 
 more. Soon after, Brown came up from Osawatoinie and 
 congratulated the men on their victory, at which he had not 
 been present. A Missourian, mortally wounded, wished 
 greatly to see Brown before he died. The old hero rode up 
 to the wagon where the wounded man was, and said with 
 some sternness : " You wish to see me ; here I am. Take 
 a good look at me, and tell your friends when you get back 
 to Missouri what sort of man you saw." Then in a gentler 
 
 1 This is one of the battles reported by Atchison. 
 
1856.] THE KANSAS STRUGGLE CONTINUED. 315 
 
 tone he added : " We wish no harm to you or your compan 
 ions. Stay at home, let us alone, and we shall be friends. 
 I wish you well." Meantime the wounded man had with 
 an effort raised himself up, viewed Brown from head to 
 foot, as if feasting his eyes on the greatest curiosity, and 
 then sank back exhausted, saying : " I don't see as you are 
 so bad ; you don't look or talk like it." Then, reaching out 
 his hand, the dying Missourian said : " I thank you." Brown 
 clasped his hand, said " God bless you ! " and rode away 
 with tears in his eyes. Mr. Winkley also describes an onset 
 made by Brown upon some of his own men, supposing them 
 to be the enemy, the next morning. He had taken volun 
 teers the day before, after the fight, and ridden away on 
 some excursion, bidding the rest go home to their farms. 
 They went back and camped where they had met the enemy 
 that morning. While at breakfast Brown came upon them 
 suddenly, supposed them to be foes, and in a moment went 
 charging down upon them at the head of his little band of 
 thirty men. Before he attacked he discovered who they 
 were ; but had they been Missourians he would have put 
 them to rout by his ready courage. 
 
 The condition of matters in Kansas and Missouri was such 
 at this time that it was almost impossible to obtain correct 
 information of what was going on, even from eye-witnesses. 
 Owen Brown, who had been badly injured after the campaign 
 of June, and afterward very ill in Iowa, whither he had gone 
 to regain his health, wrote just before the fight at Osawato- 
 mie the following letter to his mother in the Adirondacs, 
 which illustrates the exaggerations then everywhere current ; 
 while it gives some true touches concerning men and things : 
 
 Owen Brown to his Mother at North Elba. 
 
 TABOR, FREMONT COUNTY, IOWA, Aug. 27, 1856. 
 DEAR MOTHER, The last news we had from Kansas, father 
 was at Lawrence, and had charge of a company, the bravest men 
 the Territory could afford. Those who come through here from the 
 Territory say that father is the most daring, courageous man in 
 Kansas. You have no doubt heard that the Free-State men have 
 taken two forts, or blockhouses, with a fine lot of arms, several 
 prisoners, and two cannon. Shannon was obliged to flee for his life j 
 
S16 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 afterwards came to Lane to negotiate for peace. He proposed that 
 the Free- State men should give up the prisoners and arms they 
 had taken; at the same time they (the enemy) should still hold 
 our men as prisoners, and keep all the arms they had taken from 
 the Free-State men. But Lane would not consent to that ; he 
 required Shannon to deliver up the howitzer they had taken at 
 Lawrence, release some prisoners, disarm the proslavery men in 
 the Territory, and do all in his power to remove the enemy from 
 the Territory. With fear and trembling, Shannon consented to 
 all of Lane's demands. 
 
 There is now at this place a company of volunteers from Maine, 
 Massachusetts, and Michigan, about eighty in all. We hear lately 
 that about three thousand Missourians have crossed at St. Joe and 
 other places, and have gone armed into the Territory; that Gov 
 ernor Woodsou has sent four hundred mounted men on to the fron 
 tier to intercept our volunteers and prevent them from carrying in 
 provisions and ammunition, which are much needed now in Kansas. 
 The last information comes from reliable sources, and is probably 
 true, a portion of it. We also learn that the Free-State men 
 have melted up all the old lead-pipe they can get hold of for ammu 
 nition ; and now the news comes from reliable sources that Lane is 
 about to enter Leavcnworth with two thousand men ; that he has 
 sent word to the citizens of Leavenworth, requiring them to deliver 
 up a few prisoners they had taken, with some wagons and other 
 property, or he will destroy the town forthwith. Colonel Smith, of 
 Leavenworth, commander of Government troops, refuses to protect 
 the proslavery men of the Territory, replying that Lane is able to 
 dress them all out, troops and all. Shannon made a speech to them, 
 urging them to cease hostilities, that he could not defend them 
 (that is, our enemies). At present our enemies and the Missourians 
 are trembling in their boots, if reports are true. 
 
 I have gained strength quite fast, and am now- determined to go 
 back into the Territory, and try the elephant another pull. We 
 hope that men will volunteer by the thousands from the States, well 
 armed, with plenty of money to buy provisions with, which are 
 scarce in Kansas Territory. There are probably several thousand 
 acres less of corn in Kansas than there would have been had it not 
 been for the \var. We look hard for help : now comes the tug of 
 war. We have sent on men to learn the state of affairs on the 
 frontier, and will move on into the Territory shortly. We are now 
 waiting for one other company, which is within a few days' drive 
 of here. For the want of time I leave out many particulars in 
 connection with the taking of those forts, which would be quite 
 interesting, and show Yankee skill and strategy, at least. If any 
 
1856.] THE KANSAS STRUGGLE CONTINUED. 317 
 
 of our folks write to us, or to me (I assume another mime, George 
 Lyman), direct to George Lyman, Tabor, Fremont County, Iowa, 
 care Jonas Jones, Esq. Mr. Jones will take them out of the office 
 here and send them on by private conveyance. We cannot hear 
 from you in any other way. Perhaps you know of a different way, 
 
 but I do not. 
 
 Your affectionate son, 
 
 OWEN BROWN. 
 
 P. S. Have not heard from Fred since Oliver and William 
 Thompson took him into the camp ; nor have I heard from Henry, 
 Salmon, William, and Oliver since they left this place to go home. 
 
 " Fred " was John Brown's son Frederick, who three days 
 after this letter was written was shot down by Missounans 
 near his uncle Adair's house in Osawatomie, the morning 
 of the fight there. William Thompson was the brother of 
 Henry, and had just come from North Elba. 
 
 John Brown made two written reports of the Osawato 
 mie engagement of August 30. The more concise is that 
 sent to his family ten days after. A longer report of the 
 same date, which he published in the newspapers, follows 
 it immediately : 
 
 John Brown to his Family. 
 
 LAWRENCE, KANSAS TERRITORY, Sept. 7, 1856. 
 DEAR WIFE AND CHILDREN, EVERY ONE, I have one moment 
 to write to you, to say that I am yet alive, that Jason and family 
 were well yesterday ; John and family, I hear, arc well (he being 
 yet a prisoner). On the morning of the 30th of August an attack 
 was made by the Ruffians on Osawatomie, numbering some four 
 hundred, by whose scouts our dear Frederick was shot dead without 
 warning, he supposing them to be Free-State men, as near as we 
 can learn. One other man, a cousin of Mr. Adair, was murdered by 
 them about the same time that Frederick was killed, and one badly 
 wounded at the same time. At this time I was about three miles 
 off, where I had some fourteen or fifteen men over night that I had 
 just enlisted to serve under me as regulars. These I collected as 
 well as I could, with some twelve or fifteen more ; and in about 
 three quarters of an hour I attacked them from a wood with thick 
 undergrowth. With this force we threw them into confusion for 
 about fifteen or twenty minutes, during which time we killed or 
 wounded from seventy to eighty of the enemy, as they say, and 
 
318 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 then we escaped as well as we could, with one killed while escaping, 
 two or three wounded, and as many more missing. Four or five 
 Free-State men were butchered during the day in all. Jason fought 
 bravely by my side during the fight, and escaped with me, he being 
 unhurt. I was struck by a partly-spent grape, canister, or rifle shot, 
 which bruised me some, but did not injure me seriously. " Hitherto 
 the Lord has helped me," notwithstanding my afflictions. Things 
 seem rather quiet just now, but what another hour will bring I can 
 not say. I have seen three or four letters from Ruth, and one from 
 Watson, of July or August, which are all I have seen since in June. 
 I was very glad to hear once more from you, and hope that you will 
 continue to write to some of the friends, so that I may hear from you. 
 I am utterly unable to write you for most of the time. May the God 
 of our fathers bless and save you all ! 
 
 Your affectionate husband and father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 Monday morning, Sept. 8, 1856. 
 
 Jason has just come in ; left all well as usual. John's trial is to 
 come off or commence to-day. Yours ever, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 THE FIGHT OF OSAWATOMIE. 
 
 Early in the morning of the 30th of August the enemy's scouts 
 approached to within one mile and a half of the western boundary of 
 the town of Osawatomie. At this place my son Frederick (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 proslavery preacher named White, 
 shot my son dead in the road, while he as I have since ascer 
 tained 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 one 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 
 breakfast 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 direc 
 tion of the enemy. After going a few rods we could see them 
 
1856.] THE KANSAS STRUGGLE CONTINUED. 319 
 
 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 I had no time to recall 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 northwest from the 
 village. Here the men, numbering not more than thirty in all, 
 were directed to scatter and secrete themselves as well as they could, 
 aud 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 posi 
 tively. When the left wing of the enemy had approached to within 
 common rifle-shot, we commenced firing, arid 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 oppor 
 tunity 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 ; namely, Dr. Updegraff aud 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 by 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 state 
 ments 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. 
 
320 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 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, Sept. 7, 1856. 
 
 Jason Brown ("my second son"), who was his father's 
 body-guard in this fight, relates this incident of the 
 campaign : 
 
 " Captain Shore is a good and brave man, but I cannot learn that 
 he claims to be the hero of Black Jack. I care nothing for the 
 honors of war. It matters but little whether the battles of Black 
 Jack arid Osawatomie are looked upon as victories or defeats. I 
 was at the latter engagement, but I do not know whether I had the 
 honor of killing (as it is looked upon by some persons) anybody at 
 Osawatomie or not. If I did, I would gladly transfer the honor of 
 the whole slaughtering part of it to the Rev. David N. Utter, and to 
 his brother in divinity, Rev. Martin White. The only real comfort 
 ing recollection of my part in it is, that I did all in my power to 
 alleviate the sufferings of a young and very intelligent Mississippian 
 named Kline, if I remember correctly, who was terribly wounded, 
 but able to talk. He had been wounded a day or two before, in an 
 attack by Free-State men on a camp of Georgians, seven or eight 
 miles southeast of Osawatomie. The weather was hot, and the 
 wound below the knee of the right leg, which was terribly shattered 
 by a Sharpe's-rifle ball, was filled with maggots. How it was that 
 he did not have the right care I do not know. All about the house 
 where he was lying was excitement and hurry, to be ready to meet 
 the enemy we expected soon to attack us. I got help, cleansed his 
 wound of the vermin, dressed it, bathed him, and changed his 
 clothes. While this was being done he asked my name. I told 
 him. He said, ( I thought the Abolitionists were savages before I 
 was brought here.' As he lay there, pale and exhausted from loss of 
 blood and suffering, he spoke of his home and friends in Mississippi, 
 and how he wished he had never come to Kansas. He said he would 
 soon be at rest. He asked me if I would not take care of him for 
 the few hours he had to live. I told him I would. As I was sitting 
 by his bed and saw the tears flowing from a heart full of sorrow and 
 trouble, alone among strangers, and far from home, I thought this : 
 If these are some of the things which make war glorious and honor 
 able, deliver me from the honors of war. In a moment more I was 
 suddenly called away to defend my own life, and probably to do more 
 of such work. I would rather have the real good it did me then to 
 care as best I could for a few hours for a misguided dying enemy, 
 
1856.] THE KANSAS STRUGGLE CONTINUED. 321 
 
 than to have all the glory ever gained by the proudest and most 
 successful warrior that ever shook the earth with the thunder of his 
 guns and the tread of his mighty armies of beasts and men, since the 
 world began. I heard afterwards that this young man was rescued 
 from ' the abolition fiends ' by Reid's army, and thrown into a 
 wagon with other wounded men, and died somewhere on the way to 
 Missouri. I don't know that this is true." 
 
 A contemporary proslavery account of this fight is as 
 follows, copied from a Missouri newspaper : 
 
 11 The attack on Osawatomie was by part of an army of eleven 
 hundred and fifty men, of whom Atchison was major-general. Gen 
 eral Reid, with two hundred and fifty men and one piece of artillery, 
 moved on to attack Osawatomie ; he arrived near that place, and was 
 attacked by two hundred Abolitionists under the command of the no 
 torious John Brown, who commenced firing upon Reid from a thick 
 chaparral four hundred yards off. General Reid made a successful 
 charge, killing thirty-one, and took seven prisoners. Among the 
 killed was Frederick Brown. The notorious John Brown was also 
 killed, by a proslavery man named White, in attempting to cross the 
 Marais des Cygnes. The proslavery party have five wounded. On 
 the same day Captain Hays, with forty men, attacked the house of 
 the notorious Ottawa Jones, burned it, and killed two Abolitionists. 
 Jones fled to the cornfield, was shot at by Hays, and is believed to 
 be dead." 
 
 The Indian missions in Kansas were little centres of civi 
 lization, and that which was first established near the crossing 
 of the Ottawa River, near what is now Ottawa, was long an 
 oasis in the desert. There the Presbyterians and Baptists 
 started missions ; thither the Rev. Joseph Meeker, in 1834, 
 brought the first printing-press, and there the first Kansas 
 book was printed ; there lived the famous Indian and his 
 excellent white missionary wife, John Tecumseh Jones 
 (usually called " Tawey Jones," Ottawa being properly pro 
 nounced Ot-taw-wsi). There John Brown and his friends 
 were always welcome, and the great house of this Christian 
 Indian was " long the hospitable headquarters of Free-State 
 men," as Wilder says, with whom Horace Greeley made this 
 part of his tour in Kansas in 1859, spending a night at 
 Jones's house. Brown said of it and its owner in 1857 : " I 
 
 21 
 
322 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 saw while it was standing, and afterwards saw the ruins of, 
 a most valuable house, the property of a highly civilized, in 
 telligent, and exemplary Christian Indian, which was burned 
 to the ground by the Ruffians, because its owner was sus 
 pected of favoring Free-State men." l The house was after 
 wards rebuilt. Its destruction by the Missouri invaders, 
 a detachment from the force that burned Osawatomie, Au 
 gust 30, has been described to me by Jason Brown : 
 
 u On the 29th of August word came to my father, who was posted 
 a mile from Osawatomie, on the road to Paola and West-port, on 
 the Missouri side of the Marais des Cygnes, near where the State 
 Insane Asylum now stands, that the Missourians were on their way 
 from Westport. At the same time that they attacked Osawatomie, 
 they sent a force of fifty men to burn the house of our friend Jones, 
 and kill him if possible. He was a tall and stout Christian Indian, 
 who had married a Miss Emery from Vermont ; he owned much 
 land, had two or three hundred head of cattle, improved breeds of 
 all domestic animals, and had committed no oifence, except being 
 friendly to the Free-State men. A little after midnight he heard a 
 great noise among his dogs, and sprang out of bed ; as he did so, he 
 heard the scabbards of the Missourians strike on the flag-stones in 
 front of his house as they dismounted from their horses. They had 
 let down his cornfield fences, and ridden on all sides, hoping to 
 find a force of Free- State men there in his double log-house, 
 at that time the best in Kansas ; but there was nobody in it except 
 Jones and his wife, an Indian boy, and a ' neutral ; named Parker 
 
 1 Mr. Adair wrote from Osawatomie, July 16, 1856, to " Bro. John 
 Brown," by Jason, informing him that of $49.50 received in June from 
 " Bro. J. R. B.," he had assigned $25 to John Brown, Sr., and his unmar 
 ried sons ; $10 to J. B., Jr. ; $7.25 to Jason, and $7.28 to S. L. Adair. 
 He says lie had sent him $10 immediately, but it had come back to him, 
 and he had now sent it by George Partridge to " you or some of your sons " 
 at Ottawa Jones's ; $8 was paid to Frederick and $7 to Henry Thompson, 
 July 2, at Jones's. This shows that the house of this Indian farmer was a 
 rendezvous for Brown and his party, while they were under arms in that 
 anxious summer, and while they were hunted like wolves over the prairie. 
 Sarah Brown says : " On the day that my brother Frederick was killed, 
 near Osawatomie, my father lost his hat in fighting. When he found the 
 body of his son he was forced to take his hat to cover his own head. After 
 ward, the Indian (Ottawa Jones), of whom he often spoke, gave him a cap. 
 When on one of his visits home, at North Elba, he brought the cap with 
 him, and said he wanted it kept in memory of Ottawa Jones." 
 
1856.] THE KANSAS STRUGGLE CONTINUED. 323 
 
 from Missouri. The Kuffians shouted, ' We 've got you now, 
 come out, come, out ! ' Nobody replying, and fearing an ambush, 
 they cried, ' Fire the house ! ' and began to do so, setting it on fire in 
 several places. Jones had seized his gun and stood in his front hall, 
 thinking what he could do. 1 1 knew we must shoot,' he told me ; 
 1 we must fight, or make our escape the best way we could.' He 
 opened the door and cocked his gun ; the enemy hearing it called 
 out, ; Don't shoot ! ' whereupon he sprang out in his night-clothes, 
 and ran as far as he could into a thirty-acre cornfield close by, the 
 enemy shooting at him, but missing him. It was a wet and cold 
 night (August 29). He ran through his corn, and far beyond, about 
 two miles in all; looking back, he saw his house burning. The 
 guide in this attack was Henry Sherman, of Pottawatomie, who had 
 worked for Jones and knew the house well. Mrs. Jones, in the 
 mean time, had put about four hundred dollars in gold and silver 
 into a bag, and tried to conceal it and herself in the house. The 
 captain of the Ruffians, looking through the door, saw her and said : 
 1 Come out ! we won't hurt you, you have been kind to us.' As 
 she went out, she dropped the money in the grass, and it w r as picked 
 up by Sherman or some of the band. They found Parker, the Mis- 
 sourian, ill in bed ; as they approached him with their weapons, he 
 said, ' Don't kill me, I 'm sick.' ' We always find a good many 
 sick men when we come round,' was the reply, and with that they 
 dragged him out into the road, knocked him on the head and cut his 
 throat, but did not sever the jugular vein ; then dragged him to the 
 bank of the Ottawa and threw him in among some brush. I found 
 him afterward in a hospital at Lawrence, able to tell his story ; to 
 which he added, ' I 'm not a neutral any more ; I 'm a Free-State 
 man now ; they '11 never take me alive again.' The Ruffians sacked 
 the house, which was burned to the ground, as described by my father 
 in one of his speeches." 
 
 A marble monument now stands at Osawatomie, erected 
 in 1877 to commemorate the battle there, and bearing on 
 one side this legend : 
 
 THIS INSCRIPTION IS ALSO IN COMMEMORATION OF THE 
 HEROISM OF CAPTAIN JOHN BROWN, WHO COM 
 MANDED AT THE BATTLE OF OSAWATOMIE, 
 
 AUG. 30, 1856, WHO DIED AND CON 
 QUERED AMERICAN SLAVERY 
 AT CHARLESTON, VA., 
 DEC. 2, 1859. 
 
324 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 In dedicating this monument on the twenty-first anni 
 versary of the fight (Aug. 30, 1877), Charles Bobinson, of 
 Lawrence, who presided, said among other thiogs : 
 
 11 This is an occasion of no ordinary merit, being for no less an 
 object than to honor and keep fresh the memory of those who freely 
 offered their lives for their fellow-men. We are told that ' scarcely 
 for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man 
 some would dare to die ; ' but the men whose death we commemorate 
 this day, cheerfully offered themselves a sacrifice for strangers and a 
 despised race. They were men of convictions, though death stared 
 them in the face. They were cordial haters of oppression, and would 
 fight injustice wherever found ; if framed into law, then they would 
 fight the law ; if upheld and enforced by government, then govern 
 ment must be resisted. They were of Revolutionary stock, and held 
 that when a long train of abuses had put the people under absolute 
 despotism, it was right and duty to throw off such government and 
 provide guards for future security. The soul of John Brown was the 
 inspiration of the Union armies in the emancipation war, and it will 
 be the inspiration of all men in the present and distant future who 
 may revolt against tyranny and oppression ; because he dared to be 
 a traitor to the government that he might be loyal to humanity. To 
 the superficial observer John Brown was a failure. So was Jesus 
 of Nazareth. 1 Both suffered ignominious death as traitors to the 
 
 1 The comparison here drawn by this speaker is too close and literal to 
 be accepted by all Christians, but it was designed to express the deepest 
 reverence for John Brown, and to indicate that his memory is immortal. 
 In fact, this Ohio Puritan is the best-known name in Kansas ; not that the 
 million people, white, black, and red, who now dwell in this State, all 
 know accurately who he was and what he did ; but they have all heard of 
 him, and keep his memory alive by tales and disputes. And in the districts 
 where he moved about, armed at all points, the air is full of legends con 
 cerning him, some true, some false, and most of them neither true nor 
 false, but a mixture of both. This is specially the case in the region around 
 Osawatomie, that village of a single street and a few detached houses, in 
 the angle where those two romantic rivers, the Marais des Cygnes (or as 
 Brown spelled it, " Merodezene ") and the Pottawatomie, come together 
 and form the Osage. The town takes its name from the first three letters 
 of " Osage " prefixed to the last three syllables of " Pottawatomie." This 
 centaur-like epithet was the work of another Brown, who early settled in 
 this spot, but who is now quite forgotten in the greater fame of his name 
 sake. The Marais des Cygnes has a more picturesque name, as if the old 
 French voyageurs who gave the title had found the swan swimming there. 
 They never did, but it was some other great bird to which they gave the 
 
1856.] THE KANSAS STRUGGLE CONTINUED. 325 
 
 government, yet one is now hailed as the savior of a world from sin, 
 and the other of a race from bondage." 
 
 On the 8th of September, after hearing the particulars of 
 the Osawatoraie fight, John Brown, Jr., wrote to his father 
 at Lawrence thus : 
 
 MONDAY MORNING, Sept. 8, 1856. 
 
 DEAR FATHER AND BROTHER, Colonel Blood has just handed 
 me your letter, for which I am most grateful. Having before heard 
 of Frederick's death and that you were missing, my anxiety on your 
 account has been most intense. Though my dear brother I shall 
 never again see here, yet I thank God you and Jason still live. Poor 
 Frederick has perished in a good cause, the success of winch cause I 
 trust will yet bring joy to millions. 
 
 My ''circumstances and prospects" are much the same as when I 
 last wrote you. The trial of Mr. Williams and me is before Cato, in 
 October, T believe the 4th. Don't know whether or not the others 
 will get any trial here. Judge Lecompte is reported sick, and as no 
 notice of the names of the jurors and witnesses has been served on 
 them, it looks as if the intention is to hold them over to another 
 term. 
 
 Wealthy has the chills and fever almost every day. She succeeds 
 in checking it only a short time. It would afford us a great satisfac 
 tion to see you and Jason ; he, and I have no doubt you, could come 
 up with some one without any risk. If Governor Geary should not 
 release us, I still think of going with you, whenever you think it best, 
 to some place out of reach of a re-arrest. I can, I have no doubt, 
 succeed in making my escape to you from here, where W. and Johnny 
 
 old poetic name ; and here, too, on this " Marsh of the Swans," the 
 vulture of slavery croaked its foulest note before committing suicide. A 
 long, slow, winding, and sombre stream, fringed everywhere with dark 
 woods, it creeps through the counties south of Lawrence, where the worst 
 ruffians had their roosts, and where the darkest deeds were done. The 
 annals of theft and murder and arson on the Scotch border, around which 
 Walter Scott and the older ballad-makers cast an atmosphere of romance, 
 were repeated in ruder ways in these Missouri Marches, of which John 
 Brown and James Montgomery came to be the self-appointed wardens. 
 Montgomery was himself a Scotchman by descent, whose great-grandfather 
 had fought for the young Chevalier at Culloden ; but Brown was of the un 
 mixed Puritan breed, and inherited from deacons and captains of Connec 
 ticut " the sword of the Lord and of Gideon." Montgomery's widow and 
 sons still live in Kansas, but none of the Browns remain there alive. 
 
326 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 might join us. There is some talk of our being removed to Leaven- 
 worth soon. If we are, I suppose the difficulty of escape would be 
 very much increased. I am anxious to see you both, in order to per 
 fect some plan of escape in case it should appear best. Coine up if 
 you consistently can. 
 
 The battle of Osawatomie is considered here as the great fight so 
 far, and, considering the enemy's loss, it is certainly a great victory 
 for us. Certainly a very dear burning of the town for them. This 
 has proven most unmistakably that u Yankees " will "fight." 
 Every one I hear speaking of you is loud in your praise. The 
 Missourians in this region show signs of great fear. Colonel Cook * 
 was heard to say that if our party were prudent in view of their suc 
 cess, there was nothing to prevent our having everything our own 
 way. 
 
 Hoping to see you both soon, I am as ever 
 
 Your affectionate son and brother. 
 
 (Not signed.) 
 
 On the reverse, " Captain J. B , Lawrence." 
 
 Near the above, in John Brown's handwriting, is " J. Brown, Jr., 
 in prison." 
 
 In connection with this fight, I may quote from a let 
 ter concerning John Brown which I received after his 
 death from Richard Mendenhall, a Quaker, then living 
 near Osawatomie. He said : " I was at a public meeting 
 held in the spring of 1856 at Osawatomie, for the purpose 
 of considering what course should be pursued relative to 
 submitting to the ' bogus laws ' (of Governor Shannon's Ter 
 ritorial Legislature), more especially the payment of taxes 
 under them. I was very unexpectedly chosen chairman of 
 the meeting. John Brown was present, and made a very 
 earnest, decisive, and characteristic speech. For the action 
 of that meeting in taking a bold stand against the ' bogus 
 laws ' we were all indicted, but the warrants were never 
 served. I next met John Brown again on the evening before 
 the battle of Osawatomie. He with a number of others was 
 driving a herd of cattle which they had taken from proslavery 
 men. He rode out of the company to speak to me, when I 
 playfully asked him where he got those cattle. He replied, 
 with a characteristic shake of the head, that < they were good 
 
 1 Of the United States Army. 
 
1856] THE KANSAS STRUGGLE CONTINUED. 327 
 
 Free-State cattle now.' In the tenth month, 1858, John 
 Brown and two others one of them Stevens came to my 
 house and stayed several days, being detained by high water. 
 I found him capable of talking interestingly on almost every 
 subject. He had travelled a good deal in Europe on account 
 of his business, and he imparted to me some valuable hints 
 on different branches of business. I once heard a stranger 
 ask the Rev. S. L. Adair if he knew what John Brown's 
 principles were ; and he replied that his relation to John 
 Brown gave him a right to know that Brown had an idea 
 impressed upon his mind from childhood that he was an 
 instrument raised up by Providence to break the jaws of 
 the wicked ; and his feelings becoming enlisted in the affairs 
 of Kansas, he thought this was the field for his operations. 
 Last winter, when Brown took those negroes from Missouri, 
 he sent them directly to me ; but I had a school then at my 
 house, and the children were just assembling when they 
 came. I could not take them in, and was glad of an excuse, 
 as I could not sanction his mode of procedure." Neverthe 
 less, Richard Mendenhall added, much in the spirit of John 
 A. Andrew's phrase ("Brown himself was right"), "Men 
 are not always to be judged so much by their actions as by 
 their motives. I believe that John Brown was a good man, 
 and that he will be remembered for good in time long hence 
 to come." 
 
 The state of affairs immediately preceding the fight was 
 made known by many letters such as the following, written 
 by a Kansas farmer, Cyrus Adams, who emigrated from 
 Massachusetts, to his brother at home : 
 
 LAWRENCE, KANSAS, Aug. 24, 1856. 
 
 DEAR BROTHER, You probably learn of the state of affairs here 
 in Kansas as well as I can describe them. We live under a repub 
 lican form of government, so called, a form of government which 
 allows its people to be murdered every day, and lifts no hand for 
 their protection ; and so we are all of us liable to be murdered any 
 day. Every little while we are set upon by bands of ruffians acting 
 under the officers of the General Government j towns are sacked and 
 burned, men murdered, and property destroyed. Until lately the 
 Free-State folks have not offered much resistance to these outrages. 
 
328 LIFE AND LETTEKS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 It was known that bands of these ruffians encamped in the vicinity, 
 where they carried on their trade of horse-stealing and robbery ; and 
 murdered a man with whom I was well acquainted : he was riding 
 by near one of these camps, and was shot dead by some of the guard. 
 His name was Major Hoyt, of Deerfield, Mass. Another man was 
 shot near the same place. A few days ago a brother-in-law of Mr. 
 Nute, whom you saw in Concord, came into the Territory. He in 
 tended to stop in Leavenworth. He brought his wife, and left her 
 with Mr. Nute until he could go back and put up a house. When 
 returning, and within two miles of Leavenworth, he was shot, and, 
 horrible to relate, was scalped in the Indian fashion. A man or 
 a beast took his scalp and carried it about the streets of Leaven- 
 worth on a long pole, saying that he " went out to get a damned 
 Abolition scalp, and got one." Another man went to Kansas City 
 for a load of lumber ; he was shot and scalped in the same way. So 
 you may judge of the folks we have to deal with. If they catch a 
 man alone they show no mercy. 
 
 Two weeks after the date of this letter, Governor Geary 
 reached Kansas to supersede Shannon and his proslavery 
 secretary Woodson, who was acting governor. At that 
 time Lawrence was a military camp. All the roads lead 
 ing thither were blockaded by armed bodies of Southern 
 marauders, and every day violence was offered to Free- 
 State citizens. Guerilla parties of Free-State men were 
 also abroad, making reprisals on proslavery men. Between 
 these bodies there was little safety for any one. Geary at 
 once distributed large numbers of his proclamations, order 
 ing all bodies of armed men to lay down their arms and 
 retire to their homes and ordinary occupations. He de 
 clared his intention to protect the Territory from further 
 violence, and this promise was tolerably well kept. When 
 questioned by the people at Lawrence (which he visited 
 for the first time September 12) whether it would be safe 
 for them to go to their homes in other parts of the Terri 
 tory, he replied : " You had better stay in town a few days 
 longer, for mutual protection ; but be careful that you do 
 nothing in violation of the spirit of my proclamation. To 
 defend yourselves against an attack will not incur my dis 
 pleasure." At this time there were some eight hundred 
 Free-State men assembled in Lawrence, but a few days 
 
1856.] THE KANSAS STRUGGLE CONTINUED. 329 
 
 after the number was much reduced. Soon after Geary's 
 removal by Buchanan, he wrote a " Farewell Address to 
 the People of Kansas," dated March 12, 1857, in which he 
 fully describes the condition of things on his first arrival, 
 the time of which I am writing. He says : " I reached 
 Kansas, and entered upon the discharge of my official duties 
 in the most gloomy hour of her history. Desolation and 
 ruin reigned on every hand ; homes and firesides were 
 deserted ; the smoke of burning dwellings darkened the 
 atmosphere ; women and children, driven from their habi 
 tations, wandered over the prairies and among the wood 
 lands, or sought refuge and protection even among the 
 Indian tribes. The highways were infested with numerous 
 predatory bands, and the towns were fortified and garrisoned 
 by armies of conflicting partisans, each excited almost to 
 frenzy, and determined upon mutual extermination. Such 
 was, without exaggeration, the condition of the Territory at 
 this period." 
 
 It was in the midst of such scenes that the Border Ruf 
 fians, provoked by the recent successes of the Kansas farm 
 ers, raised an army of twenty-seven hundred men for their 
 last great invasion of the Territory, and what they meant 
 should be a final attack on Lawrence, where John Brown 
 then was. AVhile this force was mustering, Charles Robin 
 son, who had just been discharged from prison, wrote a few 
 letters to John Brown, of which the first is as follows : 
 
 LAWRENCE, Sept. 13, 1856. 
 CAPTAIN JOHN BROWN. 
 
 DEAR SIR, Governor Geary has been here and talks very well. 
 He promises to protect us, etc. There will be no attempt to arrest 
 any one for a few days, and I think no attempt to arrest you is 
 contemplated by him. He talks of letting the past be forgotten, 
 so far as may be, and of commencing anew. If convenient, can you 
 not come to town and see us "I l I will then tell you all that the 
 governor said, and talk of some other matters. 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 C. ROBINSON. 
 
 1 The interview solicited by Robinson did take place at a house in 
 Lawrence, and in course of it, according to John Brown, Jr., who was 
 present, Robinson not only did not censure Brown for his Pottawatomie 
 
330 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 On the same sheet of letter-paper is a longer letter to 
 Brown from his son John, written the same day : 
 
 John Brown, Jr., to his Father. 
 
 All seem to be pleased with Geary. They think that while he 
 must talk of enforcing the Territorial laws, he has intended to let 
 them lie a dead letter ; says no Territorial officer or court shall arrest 
 or try. Although he says in his proclamation that all armed men 
 must disband, yet he says our men better hold together a few days 
 until he can clear the Territory of the militia ; requests our men to 
 enroll themselves, choose their own officers, and consider him as chief 
 and themselves as his guard. I am inclined to the belief that unless 
 something unusual shall turn up within a few days, you had better 
 return home, as I have no doubt an attempt will be made to arrest 
 you, as well as Lane, whom Geary says he is under obligations to ar 
 rest. His plan, no doubt, will be to get the assistance of Free-State 
 men to aid in making arrests. Don't allow yourself to be trapped 
 in that way. Captain Walker thinks of going East via Nebraska 
 soon. I do hope you will go with him, for I am sure that you will 
 be no more likely to be let alone than Lane. Don j t go into that 
 secret military refugee plan as talked of by liobinson, I beg of you. 
 I shall go into Mr. Whitman's house, about two and a half miles west 
 of Lawrence, where I shall make arrangements for Jason and com 
 mence cutting hay. 
 
 Robinson to John Brown. 
 
 LAWRENCE, Sept. 14, 1856. 
 CAPTAIN JOHN BROWN. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, I take this opportunity to express to you 
 my sincere gratification that the late report that you were among 
 the killed at the battle of Osawatomie is incorrect. Your course, 
 so far as I have been informed, has been such as to merit the 
 highest praise from every patriot, and I cheerfully accord to you 
 my heartfelt thanks for your prompt, efficient, and timely action 
 against the invaders of our rights and the murderers of our citi 
 zens. History will give your name a proud place on her pages, 
 and posterity will pay homage to your heroism in the cause of God 
 
 executions, but urged him to undertake similar work elsewhere ; to which 
 Brown replied, " If you know of any job of that sort that needs to be done, 
 I advise you to do it yourself," or words to that effect. Robinson now 
 denies that he made such a proposition. 
 
1856.] THE KANSAS STRUGGLE CONTINUED. 331 
 
 and humanity. Trusting that you will conclude to remain in Kan 
 sas, and serve " during the war" the cause you have done so much 
 to sustain, and with earnest prayers for your health, and protection 
 from the shafts of death that so thickly beset your path, I subscribe 
 myself, Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 C. ROBINSON. 
 
 LAWRENCE, Sept, 14, 1856. 
 
 To THE SETTLERS OF KANSAS, If possible, please render 
 Captain John Brown all the assistance he may require in defending 
 Kansas from invaders and outlaws, and you will confer a favor upon 
 your co-laborer and fellow-citizen, 
 
 C. EOBINSON. 
 
 At this time, as these letters prove, there was no question 
 among the Free-State men of Kansas concerning the ser 
 vices which Brown had rendered. The feeling against him 
 in consequence of the Pottawatomie affair had subsided ; 
 nor was it till years afterward that this feeling was mali 
 ciously revived. The general effect of Brown's deadly blow 
 has been described ; but it may be asked what were its im 
 mediate consequences in the region where it was directly 
 felt. There are no better witnesses to this than the two 
 neighbors of the men that suffered, George Grant and 
 James Hanway, already quoted. Grant said in 1880 : 
 " Both parties were greatly alarmed at first. The proslav- 
 ery settlers almost entirely left at once, and the Free-State 
 people were constantly fearful of vengeance. As a matter 
 of fact, there was no more killing on either side in that 
 neighborhood. Dutch Henry, Henry Sherman, was 
 killed in the spring of 1857, but politics had nothing to do 
 with it." Judge Han way, who died in 1881, said : - 
 
 " It was thought that the effect of the Pottawatomie affair would 
 be disastrous to the settlers who had taken up their quarters in this 
 locality. 1 For a few weeks it looked ominous. I spent most of my 
 
 1 As to the wisdom of John Brown's general policy of brave resistance and 
 stern retaliation, the sagacious Judge Hanway says : " In the early Kansas 
 troubles, I considered the extreme measures which he adopted as not the 
 best under the circumstances. We were weak and cut off, as it were, from 
 our friends. Our most bitter enemies received their support from an ad 
 joining State. We were not in a condition to resist by force the power of 
 
332 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 time in the brush. The settlement was overrun by the ' law and 
 order ' men, who took every man prisoner whom they came across, 
 'jay-hawked' horses and saddles, and even, in several cases, work 
 cattle ; but after these raids ceased, the proslavery element became 
 willing to bury the hatchet and live in peace. The most ultra of 
 those who had been leaders left the Territory, only to return at 
 periods to burn the house of some obnoxious Free-State man. The 
 Pottawatomie affair sent a terror into the proslavery ranks, and those 
 who remained on the creek were as desirous of peace as any class of 
 the community." 
 
 Brown's only autograph account, so far as I know, of the 
 attack on Lawrence, in September, 1856, is the following, 
 written in January, 1857, as part of his address before New 
 England audiences : 
 
 THE LAWRENCE FORAY. 
 
 " I well know, that, on or about the 14th of September last, a large 
 force of Missourians and other ruffians, numbering twenty-seven hun 
 dred (as stated by Governor Geary), 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 possible 
 reason why they did not attack and burn that place except that about 
 one hundred Free-State men volunteered to go out on the open plain 
 before the town and there give them the offer of a fight, which they de 
 clined, after getting some few scattering shots from our men, and then 
 retreated back towards Franklin. I saw that whole thing. The 
 government troops at this time were with Governor Geary at Lecomp- 
 ton, a distance of twelve miles only from Lawrence, and, notwith 
 standing several runners had been to advise him in good time of the 
 approach or of the setting out of the enemy, who had to inarch some 
 
 the Border Ruffians, backed and supported as they were by the administra 
 tion at Washington. Events afterward proved that the most desperate 
 remedies, as in the Pottawatomie affair, were best. In place of being 
 the forerunner of additional strife and turmoil, the result proved it was a 
 peace measure." Charles Robinson, in an article written for the "Kansas 
 Magazine" many years ago, said of the executions by Brown: "They had 
 the effect of a clap of thunder from a clear sky. The slave men stood 
 aghast. The officials were frightened at this new moA-e on the part of 
 the supposed subdued free men. This was a warfare they were not pre 
 pared to wage, as of the bona fide settlers there were four free men to one 
 slave man." 
 
1856.J THE KANSAS STRUGGLE CONTINUED. 333 
 
 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 
 back to Franklin, and had been gone for more than five hours. He 
 did get the troops there about midnight afterwards ; and that is the 
 way he saved Lawrence, as he boasts of doing in his message to the 
 bogus Legislature ! 
 
 " This was just the kind of protection the administration and its 
 tools have afforded the Free- State settlers of Kansas from the first. 
 It has cost the United States more than half a million, for a year 
 past, to harass poor Free-State settlers in Kansas, and to violate all 
 law, and all right, moral and constitutional, for the sole and only 
 purpose of forcing slavery upon that Territory. I challenge this 
 whole nation to prove before God or mankind the contrary. Who 
 paid this money to enslave the settlers of Kansas and worry them 
 out ? I say nothing in this estimate of the money wasted by Con 
 gress in the management of this horrible, tyrannical, and damnable 
 affair." 
 
 In what Brown here says of Governor Geary, he does 
 some injustice to that officer, who proved to be the best 
 governor that Kansas had during the reign of terror in 
 1855-56. His motives were political, no doubt ; but he had 
 the heart of a man and the courage of a soldier, and soon 
 placed himself, in effect, on the Free-State side. He might 
 have dispersed the invaders about Lawrence more speedily, 
 but he was not then wholly master of the situation, or did 
 not feel himself to be. As the course of events at Law 
 rence, September 14-15, has been variously represented, I 
 will here cite the evidence of eye-witnesses and contem 
 porary reporters. H. L. Dunlop, then of Lawrence, but 
 now of Topeka, says : 
 
 11 1 was at that time a member of John Wright's company. What 
 name I went by on the rolls I will not say. Many of us went under 
 fictitious names. My next younger brother, who was with me in that 
 command, went by the name of Henry Preston. You will find his 
 name on the list of Lecornpton prisoners. He was captured at Hick 
 ory Point with Colonel Harvey. On the day preceding the attack on 
 Lawrence (September 13), I went east of Lawrence, through the 
 town of Franklin, with a detachment of Captain Wright's men, on a 
 scout, the balance of Captain Wright's company having gone with 
 Colonel Harvey. We found a large body of men crossing at the 
 lower ford of the Wakarusa ; they camped that night on the bottom. 
 
334 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 We counted their tents to ascertain about how many there were, as 
 near as possible. The next morning they commenced to advance. 
 We fell back slowly through Franklin, ducking their advance-guard 
 occasionally. They fired the mill at Franklin and came on, and 
 when we arrived near Lawrence their advance was pressing us 
 closely. The Stub Rifles, Captain Walkers men, came up and 
 deployed on our right, and we went into position in the rifle pits 
 near the head of Massachusetts Street. John Brown was there. I 
 think he had on a reddish plush cap, which had side pieces to turn 
 down. I heard him talk to some of the boys who were playing 
 cards, ' that it was no time or place for that,' saying that the pro- 
 slavery men would soon be there. He cautioned them to fire low, 
 and talked quite awhile. At this time Walker's men had opened 
 fire on the proslavery advance, and they were falling back. 
 
 u Just before sunset John Brown pointed out to me a stone huilding 
 that stood south and west of where we were, and asked me to take some 
 men and hold the position ready for the morrow. I called for volun 
 teers, and selected ten or twelve men. They were mostly Wright's 
 men; We inarched to the spot. The building was not completed ; 
 no floor laid. I had boards laid so that we could fire from the window 
 openings, and placed some videttes out. The balance went to sleep 
 in the building. During the night I heard a rattling of sabres and a 
 command to halt. I went to one of the sentinels, who was on the 
 Santa Fe trail leading west towards Lecompton. I found there a 
 detachment of United States troops, and conversed with the officer in 
 command, gave him a detailed account of the day's doings arid the 
 positions of the different forces. He said he would take a position 
 between us, and inarched his men past. In the morning the regulars 
 were between us and the proslavery men. You, no doubt, recollect 
 that on the disbandment of the proslavery men it was proposed that 
 a portion of them should cross the river at Lawrence, whereupon 
 several of us notified Governor Geary that we should fire on them 
 from the buildings, and the order was changed, and they crossed at 
 De Soto." 
 
 John Brown, who was in Lawrence September 8, soon after 
 went to Topeka, and was on his way from that town to Osa- 
 watomie, when the Missourians began to show themselves 
 about Lawrence, September 12 or 13. The latter was the 
 date of an expedition sent out from Lawrence to capture a 
 fort of the Border Ruffians at Hickory Point. On the 14th, 
 while many of the armed men of Lawrence were absent on 
 this expedition, the people of the town were alarmed by the 
 
1856.] THE KANSAS STRUGGLE CONTINUED. 335 
 
 news " that twenty -eight hundred Missourians were march 
 ing down upon Lawrence, with drums beating and with 
 eagles upon their banners." The actual number reported 
 by Governor Geary, who visited their camp at Franklin on 
 Monday the loth, was twenty-seven hundred, and their 
 leaders were General John W. Reid, David E. Atchison, B. 
 F. Stringfellow, etc., the same who had led an invasion 
 three weeks before. The whole number of fighting-men in 
 Lawrence that Sunday did not exceed two hundred, and 
 many of them were unarmed; but Brown was there, and 
 soon made himself known. He was asked to take command 
 of the defences of the town, and though he declined this, he 
 did his whole duty. Between four and five o'clock in the 
 afternoon he assembled the people in the main street, and, 
 mounted on a dry-goods box in the midst of them, made 
 this speech, which is reported by one who heard him : 
 
 u GENTLEMEN, It is said there are twenty-five hundred Mis 
 sourians 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. Now 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-five 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 the neglect of this that I 
 myself have so many times escaped ; for if all the bullets that have 
 ever been aimed at me had hit, I should have been as full of holes as 
 a riddle." 
 
 After this exhortation, which reminds one of John Stark 
 at Bunker Hill and Bennington, Brown sent a small force 
 to the few defences about the town, and others ordered all 
 the men who had the far-shooting Sharpe's rifle then a new 
 weapon to go out upon the prairie, half a mile south, where 
 by this time the invading horsemen could be seen, two miles 
 off. After a halt for reconnoitring purposes, the enemy made 
 an advance upon Brown's left, and came within half a mile 
 of his advance guard, just as the sun was setting. Under 
 
336 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 cover of the dusk some approached nearer ; but the dis 
 charge of a few Sharpe's rifles and the coining of a brass 
 cannon, which had been ordered up to support the rifles, 
 caused the enemy (who may have been only a reconnoitring 
 party) to turn and retreat; and no further attack was 
 made. The stone building which Dunlop mentions was a 
 stone church, still standing, on the southwest side of Law 
 rence ; and John Brown, Jr., was one of thirty or forty 
 men sent out to hold that position. He is my authority 
 for the statement that Brown placed men armed with 
 pitchforks (for want of better weapons) in places of defence 
 where they could be useful with such arms. He heard his 
 father make the speech above cited, and says it was longer 
 than reported, but the substance of it was caught and 
 printed. Colonel Walker, of Lawrence, told me in 1882 
 that on the 14th of September, 1856, Brown was not in 
 command, " but went about with his rifle on his shoulder." 
 In Lane's absence on an expedition the chief command fell 
 to Captain Abbott, the rescuer of Branson, who was " officer 
 of the day." There was little fighting, but much firing on 
 both sides at long range. Walker himself went out toward 
 Franklin with ten or fifteen mounted men, to reconnoitre ; 
 saw the enemy, two or three thousand in number, as he 
 judged, and fell back toward Lawrence, followed by two 
 hundred or more of them. When these men came near 
 Lawrence they were fired at by the few men who were 
 there, but there was no engagement. If the main body had 
 come up then, they might have captured Lawrence, in 
 Colonel Walker's opinion. 
 
 During his excursion northward, early in August, we get 
 a glimpse of John Brown as he appeared to the armed 
 emigrants from Massachusetts and New York. A brother 
 of Brown's wounded son-in-law, on learning of the casual 
 ties at Black Jack, at once left North Elba, and joined the 
 second Massachusetts company of emigrants at Buffalo. 
 Brown rode into their camp in Nebraska, inquiring if 
 William Thompson was there, 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 
 
t 
 1856.] THE KANSAS STRUGGLE CONTINUED. 337 
 
 about him was scrupulously clean." He made a great im 
 pression on several of the company, who, without knowing 
 him, at once declared that he must be a distinguished man 
 in disguise. Brown and his party then proceeded to Tabor, 
 in Iowa, left the wounded man and his brother there, and 
 went back to Kansas in company with General Lane and 
 Colonel Walker. 
 
 Let me make a digression here, in order to introduce 
 some anecdotes which I heard from Colonel Walker con 
 cerning Captain Brown and General Lane, the two Kansas 
 men who were always ready for fighting. Colonel Walker 
 was a Pennsylvania Democrat when he settled in Kansas, a 
 little earlier than John Brown went there. He has always 
 lived there, except when in the military service ; and no 
 man's character for truth and courage stands higher. He 
 told me that he first saw Brown when he came with his sons 
 in a wagon from Osawatomie to Lawrence, to help defend 
 it from the Missourians in the " Wakarusa War " of 1855. 
 They were then the best-armed men he had seen in Kansas. 
 There was no fighting then, but earthworks were thrown up 
 near Governor Robinson's old house on Mount Oread, where 
 now the State University stands ; and these old lines are 
 still visible. Walker was sent by Robinson in August, 
 1856, to meet General Lane, then comiug on with a party 
 of emigrants who had crossed Iowa and Nebraska, and to 
 prevent him from being intercepted by General Richardson 
 and the Missourians or the United States troops, on his 
 way into Kansas with his company of armed emigrants. 
 Walker rode up to the Nemaha River, and found what he 
 supposed was a camp of Missourians, but which turned out 
 to be John Brown, with his sick son Owen and a few men, 
 working their way along northward to where he was to 
 leave Owen at Tabor, in Iowa. Brown and Walker then 
 went northward together until they came near where Lane 
 was. When Walker told Lane that he must not come into 
 Kansas with his emigrants, for if he did he would certainly 
 be arrested by the United States troops. Lane said : " Then 
 I will shoot myself to-night; for I have told the Kansas 
 people that I am coming back, and I have told these emi- 
 
 22 
 
338 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 grants that I am going in with them ; if I give it up now it 
 will be said that I deserted them, and there will be no way 
 of disproving it. I must go back into Kansas." 
 
 Walker then told Lane that he must disguise himself. 
 " So we tried nitrate of silver on his face, but it would not 
 change him ; and then we tried putting old clothes on him ; 
 but the worse clothes we put on, the more like Jim Lane 
 he looked." Then Walker said he would take him back 
 under escort, with Brown's help ; and they started so, with 
 twenty or thirty men, and Brown among them. When 
 they camped for the night, Brown, according to his custom, 
 went away to sleep by himself ; and Walker describes him 
 as sitting bolt upright on his saddle, with his back against 
 a tree, his horse " lariated " to the saddle-peak, and Brown 
 asleep with his rifle across his knees. At early dawn 
 Walker went up to waken Brown, and as he touched him 
 on the shoulder Brown sprang up "quick as a cat," lev 
 elled, cocked, and discharged his piece, which Walker 
 threw up with his hand in time to escape death ; but the 
 bullet grazed his shoulder. "That shows how quick he 
 was ; but he was frightened afterward, when he saw it was 
 I he had fired at." Then, said Walker, il As we rode along 
 together, Brown was in a sort of study ; and I said to him, 
 i Captain Brown, 1 would n't have your thoughts for any 
 thing in the world.' Brown said, ' I suppose you are think 
 ing about the Pottawatomie affair.' Said I, 'Yes/' Then 
 he stopped and looked at me, and said, l Captain Walker, I 
 saw that whole thing, but I did not strike a blow. I take 
 the responsibility of it : but there were men who advised 
 doing it, and afterward failed to justify it,' " meaning, 
 as Walker supposed, Lane and Kobinson. Walker now 
 believes Brown, and cannot think that Townsley's state 
 ment about Brown's shooting Doyle through the head is 
 correct ; " for Brown would never tell me what was not 
 true, and would not deny to me anything he had really 
 done." 
 
 In respect to Governor Geary's friendly feeling toward 
 Brown, Walker said that one morning, after a deed of Brown 
 which had made much noise, Geary sent a note to Walker, 
 as he was drilling his men out on the field, telling him to get 
 
1856.] THE KANSAS STRUGGLE CONTINUED. 339 
 
 word to Brown that a warrant was out against him, which 
 must be served, and that Brown must get away. Walker saw 
 a man looking on whom he had before seen in Brown's camp ; 
 he took him one side, showed him Geary's note, and told him 
 to find and warn Brown. Not long after came an orderly 
 from Governor Geary with a warrant against Brown, which 
 Walker must serve with his posse. " Take him dead or 
 alive ; and for this I shall hold you, Captain Walker, per 
 sonally responsible," was the order. Walker took the war 
 rant and made search for Brown ; but of course he had 
 gone. At that time Brown's camp was on the Wakarusa, 
 eight or ten miles from Lawrence. The man who warned 
 Brown, Walker afterwards found, was James Montgomery, 
 who succeeded to the reputation of Brown as a good fighter 
 in southern Kansas. 
 
 Soon after Governor Geary came to Kansas, he persuaded 
 Walker to become a deputy marshal of the United States, 
 and to summon jurymen, serve processes, and make arrests. 
 At first Walker refused, saying there were thirty-seven in 
 dictments against himself found by the proslavery grand- 
 jury ; and he feared he should be arrested if he undertook 
 to serve warrants on other men. It was finally agreed that 
 the District Attorney should refuse to prosecute (noL pros.) 
 these indictments, and then Walker should be sworn in as 
 a deputy, marshal of the United States, and should use his 
 armed band of Free-State men as his posse in making arrests. 
 Before the matter was thus settled, Governor Geary came 
 to Lawrence from Lecompton one day, and sent word that 
 he would dine at Walker's house ; but, as it happened, that 
 very day the other United States Marshal with a posse of 
 mounted proslavery men came into Lawrence to arrest 
 Walker, went to his house, and was fired upon there by the 
 people inside, Walker being on the street with Governor 
 Geary at the time. His little boy came running up to him in 
 the street, and said before the Governor, " Mother says the 
 Marshal and his men are surrounding the house and firing ; 
 and you must not come home." Geary turned white with 
 anger, and said, "You're mistaken, boy; they are firing at 
 birds." But he found it was the Marshal, and went back at 
 once to Lecompton and put a stop to such proceedings. Soon 
 
340 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 after, Walker was sworn in ; and his first act was to sum 
 mon a jury of Free-State men. He had his pocket full of 
 warrants against Free-State men, some of which he served 
 and some he would not serve. Several were against John 
 Ritchie, with whom Walker often spent the night ; when 
 Ritchie, who was a brave Free-State soldier, would say to 
 him : " Walker, I like you as well as any man in Kansas ; 
 but if you try to serve your warrants on me, by God, I '11 
 kill you ! " " I never did try," said Walker ; " but by and 
 by another deputy a Free-State man had the warrants 
 given him to serve, and thought he must try it ; he did so, 
 and Ritchie shot him.' 7 
 
 It was probably upon the hint which Walker gave through 
 Montgomery, that John Brown left Kansas in 1856, pursued 
 by the United States troops. He started for northern Kan 
 sas before the 20th of September, journeying with his four 
 sons and with a fugitive slave, whom he picked up on the 
 way. The old hero was sick, as he often was, and travelled 
 slowly : appearing to be a land-surveyor on a journey. He 
 had a light wagon in which he rode, with his surveyor's in 
 struments ostentatiously in sight ; and inside, covered up in 
 a blanket, was the fugitive slave. Sometimes he pitched 
 his camp at night near the dragoons who were ordered to 
 arrest him, but who little suspected that the formidable 
 fighter was so near them in the guise of a feeble .old man. 
 A spy had notified the dragoons that Brown was on the road, 
 and they were on the watch for him, five hundred mounted 
 men, as one of his sons told me, with four cannon. Early 
 in the morning two of the sons, John and Jason, rose early 
 and made a long circuit round the camp, while their father, 
 ill and weak, followed on later in the day. It was proposed 
 to carry him along this dangerous part of his journey con 
 cealed in the wagon, as his fugitive slave was. " No," said 
 Bro*wn, who scorned to hide himself; " I may as well die by 
 the enemy as be jolted to death in the wagon." At Ply 
 mouth, not far from the Nebraska border, Redpath, in one 
 of his journeys through the Territory, found him lying ill 
 in a log hut, while his four sons were camped near by. A 
 few hours after, the dragoons, hearing he was so near them, 
 came up to arrest him ; but he had crossed the border into 
 
1856.] THE KANSAS STRUGGLE CONTINUED. 341 
 
 Nebraska, and was out of their reach. He went forward 
 till he came to Tabor in Iowa, not far northeast of Nebraska 
 City, and there remained among friends for two weeks in 
 early October. In the latter part of that month he reached 
 Chicago, and made himself known to the National Kansas 
 Committee, which then had headquarters in that city. 1 Af 
 terward he travelled eastward, to Ohio, to Peterboro', N. Y., 
 where he visited his friend Gerrit Smith ; to Albany and 
 Springfield, and finally to Boston, where I first saw him in 
 the early part of January, 1857. 
 
 That Brown was in Chicago as early as October 25 will 
 be seen by the two following letters, the first by General 
 J. D. Webster, then a member of the National Kansas Com 
 mittee, and the other by Mr. Horace White, its assistant 
 secretary : 
 
 NATIONAL KANSAS COMMITTEE ROOMS, 
 CHICAGO, Oct. 25, 1856. 
 
 DEAR SIR, We have requested Captain Brown to join you and 
 give you the benefit of his counsel in reference to the safe transporta 
 tion of your freight. 12 Colonel Dickey will also be able to assist you. 
 We hope every precaution will be taken. Captain Brown says the 
 immediate introduction of the supplies is not of much consequence 
 compared to the danger of losing them. We trust your foresight and 
 
 1 On his way from Kansas to Chicago he passed one of his sons, who 
 was going to join his father in Kansas, as appears by this letter : 
 
 ST. CHARLES, IOWA, Oct. 30, 1856. 
 
 DEAR MOTHER, BROTHERS, AND SISTERS, I sent you a draft for thirty dollars a few- 
 days ago in a sheet of paper with a very few words on it, they being all I had time to 
 write then. We are well and in fine spirits, besides being in good company. We are in 
 the company of a train of Kansas teams loaded with Sharpe's rifles and cannon. I heard 
 a report that father had gone East. We travel very slow ; you can write to us at Tabor. 
 On our way we saw Gerrit Smith, F. Douglass, and other old friends. We have each a 
 .Sharpe's rifle. Oliver, your watch was all that saved us. I want you to write and let 
 us know how you get along. No more now. 
 
 Yours truly, WATSON BROWN. 
 
 From this it would seem that Oliver Brown, the youngest son, had gone 
 back to North Elba in advance of his father. Watson also turned back 
 and joined his father at Chicago, and then returned home to the Adiron- 
 dacs, where I saw him in the summer of 1857. 
 
 2 This " freight" included the two hundred rifles sent forward in Sep 
 tember by the Massachusetts Kansas Committee, and afterward carried by 
 Brown to Virginia when he attacked Harper's Ferry. 
 
342 LITE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 discretion will prevent any loss, and be of essential aid to the good 
 cause. 
 
 Yours truly, J. D. WEBSTER. 
 
 DR. J. P. ROOT. 
 
 OFFICE NATIONAL KANSAS COMMITTEE, 
 
 CHICAGO, Oct. 26, 1856. 
 
 CAPTAIN BROWN, We expect Mr. Arny, our general agent, just 
 from Kansas, to be in to-morrow morning. He has been in the 
 Territory particularly to ascertain the condition of certain affairs for 
 our information. I know he will very much regret not having seen 
 you. If it is not absolutely essential for you to go on to-night, 1 
 would recommend you to wait and see him. I shall confer with 
 Colonel Dickey on this point. Rev. Theodore Parker, of Boston, is 
 at the Briggs House, and wishes very much to see you. 
 Yours truly. 
 
 HORACE WHITE, Assist. Sec., etc. 
 
 P. S. If you wish one or two of those rifles, 1 please call at our 
 office between three and five this afternoon, or between seven and 
 eight this evening. 
 
 In his testimony before Senator Mason's investigating 
 committee in January, 1860, Mr. White thus explained the 
 allusion to rifles in the letter just cited : " Our committee 
 sent John Brown, twenty -five navy revolvers of Colt's manu 
 facture, in August, 1856, by Mr. Arny, our agent ; but they 
 never reached him. They were sent to Lawrence and stored 
 there for a time, subject to Brown's order ; but he did not- 
 come forward to claim them, and they were loaned to a mili 
 tary company in Lawrence called the 'Stubs;' but Brown 
 never afterward appeared to claim them. He told me that 
 the reason was, he had had so much trouble and fuss and 
 difficulty with the people of Lawrence, that he never would 
 go there again to claim anything. I gave no other arms to 
 Brown himself, but gave rifles to two of his sons. After all 
 the arms of the committee had been distributed in Kansas, 
 or all but two or three, Mr. Brown made his appearance at 
 the committee-rooms with two of his sons in October, 1856. 
 One of them was Watson, and the other, I think, was Owen 
 Brown. We ^had three or four rifles left, and I gave one to 
 
 1 These were perhaps from the Massachusetts stock of rifles, but most 
 likely belonged to another lot which was then on its way to Kansas. 
 
1856.] THE KANSAS STRUGGLE CONTINUED. 348 
 
 each of those sous ; and, as they were very poorly clad, I 
 went down^to a fur store in Chicago and purchased each of 
 them a pair of fur gloves and fur overshoes and caps." Mr. 
 White also fitted out Captain Brown with a new suit of 
 clothes, in which he made his visits that winter to his New 
 England friends, who had begun to take a strong interest in 
 his course, as the following note from the Emigrant Aid 
 Office in Boston sufficiently indicates : 
 
 BOSTON, Sept. 22, 1856. 
 
 No. 3 Winter Street. 
 JOHN BROWN, ESQ. 
 
 DEAR SIR, The Messrs. Chapin, who keep the Massasoit House 
 in Springfield, in this State, wish to give you fifty or one hundred 
 dollars, as a testimonial of their admiration of your brave conduct 
 during the war. Will you write to them, stating how they can 
 send you the money ? Call upon Mr. S. N. Simpson, of Lawrence. 
 He will tell you who I am. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 CHARLES H. BRANSCOMB. 
 
 Indeed, at this time Brown had the confidence of all 
 lovers of liberty. 
 
 NOTE. While these events were occurring in Kansas, Congress was 
 in session at Washington, adjourning Aug. 30, 1856. The Senate was 
 controlled by Senator Mason and his slaveholding associates, who were 
 obediently followed by Cass, Douglass, and the other Northern " dough 
 faces," as John Randolph called such persons. The House, under the lead 
 of the Speaker, General Banks, of Massachusetts, was on the side of 
 freedom, and votod that the Territorial laws of Kansas were oppressive ; 
 it also refused for some weeks to pass the Army Bill, except with a clause 
 forbidding the "dough-face" President Pierce to use the army against 
 the freemen of Kansas. Finally, a few Northern men yielded, and the bill 
 passed the House as Mason and Douglass forced it through the Senate (Aug. 
 30, 1856). The American news from Kansas and Washington, "through 
 some certain strainers well refined," reached London in a damaged state ; 
 for Lord Malmesbury wrote in his diary, Sept. 6, 1856 : " Civil war has 
 broken out in the United States between the Abolitionists and the proslav- 
 ery party, and a great deal of blood has been already shed. The Govern 
 ment refused to take part with either side, upon which the slave-party in 
 Congress would not vote the supplies for the army, which accordingly must 
 be disbanded." As this peer had been Foreign Secretary, he might have 
 been supposed to know something about America ; but he writes in 1865, 
 after the fighting around Richmond, that Grant and Sheridan "drove Lee 
 into Pittsburg." Such is English material for American history ! 
 
344 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1854. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 JOHN BROWN AND THE KANSAS . COMMITTEES. 
 
 'T^HE committees appointed from 1854 to 1859 to attend 
 -*' to Kansas and its affairs were legion, and as various in 
 kind as possible. The Boston Emigrant Aid Company was 
 the first of these committees ; next the Free-State men of 
 Lawrence formed a singular secret committee in 1855, to 
 protect themselves from the Border Ruffians ; and of this 
 the chief members were General Lane and Charles Robin 
 son. A penitent or treacherous member, who had been 
 admitted to this secret committee, disclosed what he said 
 were its oaths and signs ; but there was much exaggeration 
 in what Dr. Francis swore to before the next Kansas com 
 mittee, that of Congress, sent out in the spring of 1856. 
 Some parts of his testimony may here be cited to show what 
 he wished to have us believe : 
 
 THE KANSAS REGULATORS. 1 
 
 " Offers were made to me by various persons to introduce me to 
 a secret political organization. The only name I ever received as 
 a member of the lodge was Kansas Regulators. ... I went with 
 
 1 John Brown, Jr., says : I belonged to this secret organization, though 
 I cannot say it had this name : it seems to me the name was "Kansas 
 Defenders." I was initiated by Lane himself, in a room of Garvey's Hotel 
 at Topeka, in the spring of 1856, at the time of the first assembling of the 
 legislature under the Topeka Constitution. The oath, as stated by Dr. 
 Francis, is the same substantially as administered by Lane to me. I do 
 not think we were required by our oath to resist United States authorities 
 in attempts to enforce the bogus laws, though it was understood by us that 
 we might be driven to do so, when we ivould so resist, rather than tamely 
 submit. Our badge was a narrow black ribbon, from six to eight inches 
 long, tied in the button-hole of the shirt collar. 
 
1855.] THE KANSAS COMMITTEES. 345 
 
 Colonel Lane to the law-office of John Hutchinson, as I afterward 
 found out. Governor Reeder did not go into the room where I was 
 initiated. Dr. Robinson -was standing just before the door with a 
 lady, I should think. Colonel Lane asked him to leave the lady and 
 go into the office with us. Robinson rather objected at first, but 
 finally came in with us, and said he would explain the nature of the 
 organization he was about to initiate me into. The substance of 
 the explanation was, that Kansas was a beautiful country and well 
 adapted to freedom, and the best Territory in the world for the 
 friends of freedom to operate on, more especially for those who were 
 engaged in the free white State cause. After proceeding in that 
 strain for a while, he asked me if I was willing to pledge my word 
 and honor that I would keep secret what I saw there, and whom I 
 saw there, provided he would pledge his word and honor that there 
 was nothing which would interfere with my duties as a citizen, or that 
 was disloyal in any respect." 
 
 The oath was this : 
 
 " I furthermore promise and swear that I will at all times and 
 under all circumstances bear upon my person a weapon of death ; 
 that I will at all times and under all circumstances keep in my house 
 at least one gun, with a full supply of ammunition ; that I will at 
 all times and under all circumstances, when I see the sign of distress 
 given, rush to the assistance of the person giving it, where there is 
 a greater probability of saving his life than of losing my own. I 
 furthermore promise and swear that I will, to the utmost of my 
 power, oppose the laws of the so-called Kansas Legislature; and 
 that when 1 hear the words of danger given I will repair to the place 
 where the danger is. ... 
 
 "... The regalia was this: The private members wore a black 
 ribbon tied upon their shirt-bosoms; the colonel wore a red sash; 
 the lieutenant-colonel a green sash, the major a blue sash, the adju 
 tant a black sash, the captains white sashes, the lieutenants yellow 
 sashes, the orderly sergeant a very broad black ribbon upon his 
 shirt-bosom. . . . Colonel Lane wore the red sash, and some one 
 else, but I am not certain who it was. I do not recollect seeing any 
 body with a green sash. Dr. Robinson had a beautiful sash on, 
 looking like a blue and red one joined together, trimmed with gold 
 lace. I was told it denoted some higher office than colonel ; but I 
 did not learn what it was. . . . 
 
 u In regard to the laws which were to be resisted, I understood 
 from Dr. Robinson and Colonel Lane that they were the laws of 
 the late Territorial Legislature. Colonel Lane said : t We will not 
 
346 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1855. 
 
 submit to any laws passed by that Legislature ; and we arc mak 
 ing preparations to place in the hands of every Free-State man a 
 Sharpe's rifle and a brace of Colt's revolvers j and, if need be, we 
 will resist even the United States troops if they attempt to enforce 
 those laws. 7 He also stated at the sumo time that an attack had 
 been anticipated on the town of Lawrence the day before, and that 
 he saw five hundred men there, at their business in the streets, 
 armed. . . . Dr. Robinson and Col. Lane told me they expected 
 to form lodges or councils in every county in the Territory. They 
 proclaimed me a Kansas Regulator; and that was all the name 
 I learned for a member of the organization ; and they gave me 
 authority to institute lodges, and conferred upon me a sort of brevet 
 rank of captain. This was at the time I was initiated. During the 
 first Lawrence war they sent me a commission as captain, which I 
 never used." 
 
 A Free-State man, Mr. G. P. Lowrey, testified thus : 
 
 "... I have no distinct recollection of all the oath, but I know 
 Dr. Francis testifies to matters as being in the oath which were not 
 contained in it. The oath required us to keep fire-arms and ammu 
 nition ; to use all lawful and honorable means to make Kansas a free 
 State ; to wear at all times upon our persons a weapon of death ; 
 and I think to go to the assistance of a brother when the probability 
 of saving his life was greater than of losing our own. I do not 
 recollect anything in the oath which required us to deal with Free- 
 State men in preference to proslavery men, or to wear upon the per 
 son at all times the insignia of the order, or to obey at all times the 
 orders of superior officers even unto death." 
 
 That Brown had something to do with both these com 
 mittees is probable, almost certain. He was at times in 
 close relations with the officers of the Emigrant Aid Com 
 pany, and, as we have seen, was a small stockholder there 
 in. There is no record that he was ever initiated in the 
 secret order of Robinson and Lane ; but it has been asserted 
 that he executed the five men on the 24th of May in accord 
 ance with a decree of these " Regulators." I have seen no 
 good evidence of this, but have no doubt that some of the 
 "Regulators " counselled such acts and justified them when 
 done. The committees under which Brown chiefly acted 
 however, when he would connect himself with any such 
 organizations at all, were the National Kansas Committee, 
 
1857.] THE KANSAS COMMITTEES. 347 
 
 which was formed in Buffalo in the summer of 1856, and 
 the State Kansas Committee of Massachusetts, formed about 
 the same time, but continuing much longer in its work. 
 The creation of such unofficial bodies for public service was 
 natural enough, and in accord with a national custom. The 
 people of the North had resolved that Kansas should be con 
 trolled by freemen, and that slavery should never be toler 
 ated there. In pursuance of this resolution, they formed 
 these societies and committees to colonize Kansas with 
 Northern men, who would never vote to establish slavery ; 
 and by one of these organizations, the New England 
 Emigrant Aid Company, a portion of Kansas was in fact 
 colonized during the years 1854 and 1855. At that time I 
 was in college, and so occupied with my private affairs that, 
 except to vote and read the newspapers, I took little inter 
 est in those of the public. But upon leaving college and 
 going to reside in Concord in 1855, I became more actively 
 concerned in regard to the political situation, and early took 
 up the opinion that the battle between the North and the 
 South was first to be fought in Kansas. In the spring of 1856 
 one of my brothers became a Kansas colonist. Soon after, 
 the outrages of the Missouri invaders of Kansas grew so fre 
 quent and alarming that the indignation of Massachusetts 
 and of the whole North was roused, and further action be 
 gan to be taken in this form. " Kansas committees " were 
 organized in towns, counties, and States, and very soon a 
 national committee, among the members of which were 
 Abraham Lincoln, Gerrit Smith, and Dr. S. G. Howe. Mr. 
 Lincoln never acted, so far as I know ; but the committee 
 did much work for a year, and raised thousands of dollars 
 to colonize towns and support armed colonists in Kansas. 
 Between May, 1856, and January, 1857, I passed through 
 all the grades of these Kansas committees, beginning in 
 June, 1856, as secretary of the Concord town committee ; 
 then in July helping to organize a county committee for 
 Middlesex, of which I was secretary ; then serving as secre 
 tary to the Massachusetts State Kansas Committee, from 
 December, 1856, until the committee dissolved in 1858-59 ; 
 and finally serving upon the National Committee at its last 
 meeting, in January, 1857, as proxy for Dr. Howe. 
 
348 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1857- 
 
 What a few years later the Sanitary Commission did for 
 the Union armies as a whole, these committees of 1856-57 did 
 for the pioneers of Kansas. Something more was done, too ; 
 for they supplied rifles, cartridges, and cannon to the defend 
 ers of freedom in Kansas, a work which the Sanitary Com 
 mission could leave to the National Government. The first 
 large sum of money raised to buy arms for Kansas was that 
 contributed in Boston during the spring of 1855, some 
 thousands of dollars, which were expended in the purchase 
 of Sharpe's rifles. The Faneuil Hall Committee, of Bos 
 ton, organized in May, 1856, pledged itself to raise money 
 for use " in. a strictly lawful manner " in Kansas ; but most 
 of the other committees were not so scrupulous, and gave 
 their money freely to arm the colonists who went out to 
 defend the Free-State cause. The National Kansas Com 
 mittee, which had its headquarters at Chicago, had received 
 and forwarded many of these arms ; but some members of 
 this committee soon became distrustful of Captain Brown, 
 who was too radical for them. A general meeting of this 
 National Committee, which was made up of one or more 
 members from each free State, assembled in New York on 
 the 23d of January, 1857. At this meeting, which took 
 place at the Astor House, and remained in session two days, 
 Captain Brown was present, urging his plan to organize a 
 company of mounted rangers for service in Kansas and Mis 
 souri. I was there as a delegate from Massachusetts, and 
 caused a resolution to be introduced, transferring the cus 
 tody of two hundred Massachusetts rifles to our own State 
 committee. This was passed without much opposition ; 
 but another resolution, introduced I think by Mr. Newton, 
 the delegate from Vermont, and appropriating five thousand 
 or ten thousand dollars to Captain Brown for his special 
 purposes, was vehemently opposed by Mr. Henry B. Hurd, 
 of Chicago, and a few others, among them Mr. Arny, of 
 Illinois, who had taken Abraham Lincoln's place on the 
 committee. The reasons given by these gentlemen were 
 that Captain Brown was so ultra and violent that he would 
 use the money, if voted, in ways which the committee 
 would not sanction ; and I remember that Mr. Hurd, when 
 Captain Brown had withdrawn, urged this argument very 
 
1857.] THE KANSAS COMMITTEES. 349 
 
 earnestly. The views of the more radical Eastern members 
 prevailed however, and the money was voted, although only 
 one hundred and fifty dollars of it was ever paid over to 
 Captain Brown. 
 
 The friends of Kansas in Massachusetts, and particularly 
 the State Kansas Committee (which grew out of the Faneuil 
 Hall Committee and some others appointed in the Massachu 
 setts counties), had no hesitation in buying rifles and ammu 
 nition, and did, in fact, buy the rifles which John Brown 
 carried to Harper's Ferry. This State committee, and its 
 auxiliaries in the towns and counties, raised throughout 
 Massachusetts, during 1856, nearly one hundred thousand 
 dollars in money and supplies, which were sent to the Kan 
 sas people. Some towns, Concord for example, raised in 
 proportion to their population much more than this ; for it 
 was estimated that if all Massachusetts had contributed as 
 freely as Concord, the amount raised in the State would 
 have been nearly a million dollars. Personally, I under 
 took to canvass Middlesex County that summer and autumn, 
 and visited more than half the towns to appoint committees, 
 hold meetings, or solicit subscriptions. Enough was sub 
 scribed, in Massachusetts and the other Northern States, to 
 carry our colonists in Kansas through their worst year ; and 
 but for these supplies of money, arms, and clothing, it is 
 quite possible they would have been driven out or con 
 quered by the Missourians, the United States troops, and 
 their other enemies. 1 
 
 1 The records of the Massachusetts Kansas Committee, including its 
 large correspondence, were in my possession for a few years as secretary. 
 Before the attack on Harper's Ferry, or soon after, I transferred them to 
 the custody of the chairman of the committee, George L. Stearns, and 
 some of them have since been destroyed. They contained much historical 
 information and some curious revelations concerning political movements in 
 those years. They will also confirm the statements made in the " Atlantic 
 Monthly " in 1872, concerning the ownership of the arms carried by Brown 
 to Virginia. The Massachusetts Committee voted them to John Brown as 
 its agent in 1857, and though they were nominally reclaimed in 1858, they 
 were never out of his custody till captured in Maryland. They had ceased 
 to be the property of the committee, except in name, before the corres 
 pondence of Ma)', 1858 (printed in Senator Mason's Report of 1860, pp. 
 176, 177), in which Mr. Stearns, the real owner of the arms, warned 
 
350 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWX. [1856. 
 
 Mr. Stearns, before Senator Mason's committee in 1860, 
 gave this account of the State committee : 
 
 " In the spring of 1856 I wont to the Boston Committee for the 
 relief of sufferers in Kansas, and offered my services. I worked for 
 them until June of that year; and then being willing to devote all my 
 time to the cause, I was made chairman of the Kansas State Com 
 mittee of Massachusetts, which took the place of the first-named com 
 mittee, and continued the work throughout the State. In five months, 
 including August and December of that year (1856), I. raised, through 
 my agents, about $48,000 in money ; and in the same time my wife 
 commenced the formation of societies for contributions of clothing, 
 which resulted in sending from $'^0,000 to $30,000 more, in supplies 
 of various kinds. In January, 1857, our work was stopped, by ad 
 vices from Kansas that no more contributions were needed except 
 for defence. If we had not been thus stopped, our arrangements 
 then made would have enabled us to have collected $100,000 in the 
 next six months. Soon after our State committee had commenced 
 work, I think in August, 1856, a messenger from Kansas, 
 who came through Iowa (for the Missouri River was then closed by 
 the Missourhms to all Free-State travellers), came to us asking 
 earnestly for arms and ammunition for defence of the Free-State 
 party. Our committee met the next day, and immediately voted to 
 send two hundred Sharpe's rifles, and the necessary quantity of ammu 
 nition, which was procured and sent to the National Kansas Com- 
 
 Brown not to use them for any other purpose than the defence of Kansas, 
 "and to hold them subject to my order as chairman of the committee." 
 On the 20th of May, 1858, Mr. Stearns wrote thus to Colonel Higginson, 
 then cognizant of Brown's designs, but not a member of the Kansas Com 
 mittee : "I have felt obliged, for reasons that cannot be written, to recall 
 
 the arms committed to B 's custody. We are all agreed on that point; 
 
 and if you come to Boston, I think we can convince you that it is for the 
 best." That this recall was only nominal appears from a memorandum 
 made by Higginson when he did " come to Boston " early in June. " I 
 found," he says, " that the Kansas Committee had put some five hundred 
 dollars in gold into Brown's hands, and all the arms, with only the under 
 standing that he should go to Kansas, and then be left to his own discre 
 tion." In fact, no member of the committee who was consulted ever 
 suggested the actual recall of the arms from Brown, well knowing that he 
 would not give them up unless he pleased. Nor, according to my recol 
 lection, did any member who gave advice (probably only Mr. Stearns, Dr. 
 Howe, and myself, who had long been the three acting members of a com 
 mittee practically defunct, were consulted) desire to have Brown surrender 
 them. 
 
1857.] THE KANSAS COMMITTEES. 351 
 
 mittee at Chicago, to be by them forwarded through Iowa to Kansas. 
 From some cause, which I have never heard explained, these arms 
 were delayed in Iowa ; and in November or December of that year 
 we directed an agent to proceed to Iowa at our charge, and take 
 possession of them as our property. Early in January, 1857, John 
 Brown, of whom I had heard, but had not seen, came to Boston and 
 was introduced to me by one of our Kansas agents ; and after repeated 
 conferences with him, being strongly impressed with his sagacity, 
 courage, and stern integrity, I, through a vote of our committee, 
 made him our agent to receive and hold these arms and the ammu 
 nition, for the defence of Kansas, appropriating $500 to pay his 
 expenses. Subsequently, in April of that year, we authorized him 
 to sell one hundred rifles, if expedient, and voted $500 more to 
 enable him to proceed to Kansas with his armament. About this 
 time, on his representing that the force to be organized in Kansas 
 ought to be provided with revolvers, I authorized him to purchase 
 two hundred from the Massachusetts Arms Company, and when they 
 were delivered to him in Iowa, paid for them from my own funds : 
 the amount was $1,300. At the same time I gave him, by a letter 
 of credit, authority to draw on me at sight for $7,000 in sums as 
 it might be wanted, for the subsistence of one hundred men, pro 
 vided that it should be necessary at any time to call that num 
 ber into the field for active service in the defence of Kansas, in 
 1857. As the exigency contemplated did not occur, no money was 
 drawn under it, and the letter was subsequently returned to me. 
 Besides these transactions, which were for specific purposes, I have 
 given him money from time to time, how much I do not know, as I 
 never keep any account of my personal expenses, or of money I give 
 to others ; it is all charged to my private account as paid me. I 
 should think it might amount to, say, from $1,500 to $2,000. In 
 addition to what I have before stated, I raised money and sent an 
 agent to Kansas to aid the Free- State party in the Lecornpton 
 election, and again for the election of 1858. 
 
 11 Question. Was it at Brown's request that you put him in pos 
 session of those arms in January, 1857 ? 
 
 u Answer. No, sir ; but. because we needed an agent to secure 
 them. They were left in Iowa, and under circumstances that made 
 it doubtful whether they would not be lost entirely ; and we put them 
 into his hands because it was necessary to have some agent to pro 
 ceed there and reclaim them from the hands they were in, and take 
 proper care of them." 
 
 The operations of the National Kansas Committee (to 
 which Gen-it Smith contributed one thousand dollars a 
 
352 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1857. 
 
 month during the summer and autumn of 1856) were active 
 and efficient for a time. 1 
 
 This committee, through its assistant-secretary Horace 
 White, reported, Jan. 25, 1857, at New York, as follows : 
 
 11 There have been forwarded by this committee about two thousand 
 emigrants. These have gone exclusively by the land route of Iowa 
 and Nebraska. The committee have expended between $20,000 and 
 $30,000 in provisions and groceries for the needy settlers. These sup 
 plies have been purchased mostly in Western Missouri, where food 
 is cheap and abundant. There were also forwarded prior to the 1st 
 of December about four hundred boxes of clothing, valued at $60,000. 
 The receipts in money have been as follows, classified by States : 
 
 Massachusetts $26,107.17 
 
 New York 33,707.39 
 
 Illinois 8,882.00 
 
 Ohio 2,709.41 
 
 Connecticut 3,182.13 
 
 Wisconsin 3,054.35 
 
 Michigan 2,519.15 
 
 Pennsylvania 1,360.19 
 
 Indiana 1,349.20 
 
 Vermont 956.25 
 
 Rhode Island 643.37 
 
 New Hampshire 138.00 
 
 Iowa 313.85 
 
 Minnesota 10.00 
 
 New Jersey 254.00 
 
 The Slave States 10.00 
 
 Unknown 10.00 
 
 1 The following were the names of its members : 
 
 Dr. Samuel Cobb, Jr., ) Boston, S. S. Barnard, Detroit, Mich. 
 
 Dr. S. G. Howe, ) Mass. J. H. Tweedy, Milwaukee, Wis. 
 
 B. B. Newton, St. Albans, Vt. W. Perm Clark, Iowa City, Iowa. 
 
 Governor W. W. Hoppiu, Providence, R. I. F. A. Hunt, St. Louis, Mo. 
 W. H. Russell, New Haven, Conn. A. H. Reeder, Kansas. 
 
 Thaddeus Hyatt, New York City. S. W. Eldridge, Kansas. 
 
 Alexander Gordon, Pittsburgh, Pa. J.D.Webster, \ 
 
 W. H. Stanley, Cleveland, Ohio. H. B. Kurd, I chicago< 
 
 John W. Wright, Logansport, Ind. G. W. Dole, j 
 
 W. F. M. Amy, Blooraington, 111. J. Y. Scammon, / 
 
 OFFICERS. 
 
 Thaddeus Hyatt, President, N. Y. City. Eli Thayer, Agent for Organization of States, 
 J. D. Webster, Vice-President, Chicago. Worcester, Mass. 
 
 H. B. Hurd, Secretary, Chicago. Edward Daniels, Agent of Emigration, Chi- 
 
 Horace White, Assistant Secretary, Chicago. cago. 
 
 G. W. Dole, Treasurer, Chicago. E. B. Whitman, General Agent, Lawrence, 
 
 Kansas. 
 
1857.] THE KANSAS COMMITTEES. 353 
 
 " The New York 'Tribune' Fuud and Gerrit Smith's donations 
 are included in the amount from New York. Gerrit Smith has paid 
 in $10,000. These accounts do not indicate the entire amount con 
 tributed for the Free-State cause by the various Northern States. 
 Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio have given liberally through 
 State organizations. Massachusetts has been the recipient of dona 
 tions from other States, and has herself contributed largely without 
 the intervention of the National Committee. 
 
 u Of clothing, our committee have received seven hundred and 
 sixty-three packages, valued at $110,000, and have incurred an 
 expense on the same, up to the present date, of $4,108.79. 
 
 " I have prepared a schedule exhibiting the receipts of clothing 
 from each of the States by towns. The following are the totals re 
 ceived from each of the States in the order of their precedence : 
 
 Packages. 
 
 Massachusetts 310 
 
 New York 134 
 
 Illinois 96 
 
 Ohio 51 
 
 Michigan 26 
 
 Wisconsin 25 
 
 New Hampshire 8 
 
 Connecticut - 6 
 
 Pennsylvania 6 
 
 Rhode Island 5 
 
 Vermont 4 
 
 Indiana 2 
 
 Unknown 89 
 
 Total 762 
 
 "It is proper to state that contributions from some -of the New 
 England States were forwarded to the Boston and Massachusetts 
 State Eelief committees, and by them forwarded to us at Chicago, 
 and also, without our intervention, to the Territory direct. Thus, for 
 example, Maine, which has very liberally contributed, her popu 
 lation and resources considered, does not appear on my list, her 
 donations being included in the list of packages forwarded by Dr. 
 Cabot. The State of Iowa should also receive credit for large con 
 tributions in clothing, grain, provisions, and money presented to the 
 conductors of our different overland companies of emigrants." 
 
 Mr. Bed path, who reported this meeting of the committee 
 at New York, said at the time : " At least $250,000, in cash 
 and clothing, have been contributed by the Republicans of 
 
 23 
 
354 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1857. 
 
 the North in various ways for the relief and protection 
 of their brethren in Kansas." Of this sum, not less than 
 $100,000 came from the single State of Massachusetts ; l and 
 the whole amount of money alone raised there was more 
 than $60,000, of which at least $20.000 was paid for the 
 purchase and forwarding of arms to the Free-State men. 
 Yet of all these supplies only a few rifles and a few hun 
 dred dollars in money went into the hands of John Brown 
 and his men in 1856. He sought to obtain a greater share 
 in 1857, when, during the winter and spring, he was busily 
 engaged in efforts to raise money enough to arm and equip 
 a hundred mounted men for service in Kansas and Missouri, 
 but without much success. Although the National Com 
 mittee at its Astor House meeting voted him an appropria 
 tion of five thousand dollars, he received nothing under this 
 vote except one hundred and fifty dollars, and that not until 
 the summer of 1857. The money voted him by the Massa 
 chusetts Committee about the same time was soon exhausted, 
 and so were the small collections he had made in New Eng 
 land from January to April, 1857. The efforts made for 
 legislative appropriations in Massachusetts, New York, and 
 other Northern States in aid of the Kansas colonists all 
 failed. Brown had labored in person for such an appropria 
 tion in Massachusetts, going before the joint committee of 
 the legislature in the State House at Boston, on the 18th 
 
 1 Mr. White (who lias since been editor of the " Chicago Tribune," and 
 connected with the "Evening Post" and other journals in New York) said 
 at the close of his report, Jan. 26, 1857 : "I desire to bring before your 
 notice the remarkable services rendered by Dr. Samuel Cabot, Jr., of Bos 
 ton, from whom we received directly and indirectly over two hundred and 
 fifty boxes of clothing Avithin the short space of two months. Let us not 
 forget, however, that it is to women almost solely that the people of Kan 
 sas are indebted for this invaluable aid. Everywhere they have been the 
 most devoted and untiring friends of freedom. It is impossible to notice 
 all who deserve especial mention : but I might specify the young ladies of 
 the Oread Institute, at Worcester, Mass., who contributed forty-two water 
 proof overcoats for the 'Stubs' of Lawrence ; the ladies of Norwalk, Ohio, 
 who furnished one hundred new bed-comforters ; Mrs. Captain Cutter, of 
 Warren, Mass., Mrs. Dr. Cabot, of Boston, Mass., Mrs. H. L. Hibbard, of 
 Chicago, and Mrs. H. M. T. Cutler, of Dwight, 111., who have been partic 
 ularly active in organizing the efforts of the ladies of the North." 
 
1856.] THE KANSAS COMMITTEES. 355 
 
 of February, and giving his testimony as an eye-witness of 
 what had happened in Kansas the year before. 
 
 With this preliminary explanation, I may now give some 
 correspondence of these committees with Brown and others, 
 beginning with a letter sent by the Massachusetts Kansas 
 Committee, before they saw Brown, to the late Senator 
 Grimes, of Iowa, then Governor of that State. 
 
 STATE KANSAS AID COMMITTEE ROOMS, 
 BOSTON, Dec. 20, 1856. 
 
 DEAR SIR, Your letter of the 16th has been received, and we 
 are glad to find that the importance of State action in regard to Kan 
 sas is appreciated in Iowa as well as here. The first question seems 
 to be, Is such action really needed ? And I will state what I believe 
 to be substantially the views of this committee, who are now labor 
 ing to obtain an appropriation from our legislature. 
 
 There can be no doubt that the measures of which you speak (the 
 purchase of land, erection of mills, etc.) could not well be engaged in 
 by a State ; and certainly no grant for that purpose could be obtained 
 here. But although present destitution may be relieved in Kansas, 
 it is by no means certain that there will not be great suffering there 
 in the spring, before any crops can be raised, especially if for any 
 cause business should not be active. Then who can be sure that the 
 scenes of last summer will not be acted again ? True, things look 
 better ; but the experience of the past ought to teach us to prepare 
 for the future. But even if things go on prosperously there, money 
 may still be needed. Men have been subjected to unjust punish 
 ments, or at least threatened with them, under the unconstitu 
 tional laws of the Territory. It is desirable that these cases should 
 be brought before a higher tribunal ; while the accused person may 
 he a poor man unable to bear the expense of such a suit. The State 
 appropriations could then be drawn upon for this purpose, and used 
 to retain counsel, furnish evidence, and in other ways to forward the 
 suit of the injured man. 
 
 Would it not therefore be well for each State to make an appro 
 priation, which should remain in the hands of the Governor, as in 
 Vermont, or of a committee, until it should be needed in Kansas ? 
 It would thus be a contingent fund, to be drawn on only in cases of 
 necessity, and it would be ready against any emergency. It might 
 never be called for, or only a portion of it might be used; but should 
 occasion arise, it would save our citizens in Kansas from many of the 
 horrors vrhich have afflicted them the past year. A bill embodying 
 
356 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 these ideas will be introduced into our legislature ; and from the 
 tone of our people we have good hope that it will pass. If a similar 
 bill could pass your legislature I have no doubt the example would 
 be followed by New York, Maine, Michigan, Connecticut, and per 
 haps by Ohio, New Hampshire, and lihode Island. A general 
 movement of this kind would give us all we want ; and we might 
 make Kansas free, I think, without expending a dollar of the money 
 voted. The moral effect of such action on emigration from the North, 
 and on the employment of capital, would be very important. Secu 
 rity would be given that the rights of emigrants would be supported ; 
 and the first result would be the emigration of thousands as soon as 
 spring opens ; so that by July we should have a force of Northern 
 settlers there, enough to sustain any form of law which might be set 
 up. Without this, I fear that next year, in spite of the nattering 
 promises of the present, will only see the last year's history repeated. 
 There will be no confidence in the tranquillity of the Territory ; 
 capital will shun it ; emigration be almost stopped ; and a year hence 
 we may be no better off than now, and perhaps worse. With these 
 opinions, we look on State appropriations as the salvation of Kansas, 
 and hope that the whole North may be led to the same view. 
 With much respect, 
 
 F. B. SANBORN, 
 Corresponding Secretary of State Committee. 
 
 Although my name is signed to this letter, it was the joint 
 composition of the chairman (Mr. Stearns) and myself ; and 
 had been preceded by the following letters : 
 
 BOSTON, Dec. 18, 1856. 
 H. H. VAN DYCK, ESQ. 
 
 DEAR SIR, Since my return I have received a letter from Gov 
 ernor Robinson, a copy of which is enclosed. 
 
 In Connecticut they are ready to form a strong State committee to 
 co-operate with New York and Massachusetts, but, like you, aro 
 waiting for light. In Philadelphia they have a very large committee, 
 and are taking measures for the ultimate formation of a State com 
 mittee. We are taking measures to have a petition to our legisla 
 ture signed in every town in our State, and find it meets the general 
 approval of our citizens. We have also taken measures to get full 
 information from Chicago and Kansas as to the past, which, when 
 sent us, we will forward to you. Please let me know how you pro 
 gress in the work, and believe me 
 
 Your sincere friend, 
 
 GEORGE L. STEARNS, 
 Chairman M. S. K. Committee. 
 
1856.] THE KANSAS COMMITTEES. 357 
 
 BOSTON, Dec. 18, 1856. 
 E. B. WHITMAN, ESQ. 
 
 DEAR SIR, We have to-day written to H. B. Hurd, Esq., ask 
 ing for permission for an examination of his committee's doings and 
 accounts by you. We have endeavored from time to time to get 
 from them definite information of their operations; and now, when 
 grave charges are brought in our newspapers by Kansas men against 
 them and their agents (the Central Committee in Kansas), we are 
 entirely without the means of contradicting these assertions, and can 
 only oppose our general knowledge of their good character arid 
 belief in their wise conduct to the positive statements now daily 
 current. We therefore wish you to inform yourself as fully as pos 
 sible of all their operations from the commencement to the present 
 time, taking such minutes of your researches as will enable you to 
 give a full and close account to us, and also before our legislature, 
 should you be called upon for that purpose. We want to know the 
 disposition made of the money we have sent to them (about $21, GOO, 
 and two hundred riHes), an account of which you have enclosed. 
 We hope soon to see you in good health, and are 
 Truly your friends, 
 
 GEORGE L. STEARNS, 
 Chairman M. S. K. Committee. 
 
 In connection with the letter to Mr. Whitman given above, 
 a letter was sent to Mr. Hurd, the Secretary of the National 
 Committee, portions of which are as follows: 
 
 STATE KANSAS COMMITTEE ROOMS, 17 NILES BLOCK, 
 
 BOSTON, Dec. 18, 1856. 
 H. B HURD, ESQ., CHICAGO, ILL. 
 
 DEAR SIR, Yours of the 10th was received to-day, and the 
 arrangement which you have made with regard to the money will 
 no doubt be satisfactory. I am sorry to say, however, that our 
 committee are not satisfied with the infrequent and irregular commu 
 nication which exists between us and you. It is now more than 
 four months since our committee has been expecting and hoping for 
 an account of the money we have sent you, . . . and yet we can 
 get no definite information as to the way in which your agents have 
 expended our money ; nor have we had from time to time much 
 knowledge of the general course of your operations. You say that 
 you have no time for such communications; but certainly a com 
 mittee like ours, representing so many people and so much money, 
 ought to take precedence in a correspondence with individuals. 
 Such information as we seek is absolutely necessary to our acting in 
 
358 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1857. 
 
 concert with you; and for want of it we are now compelled to act 
 by ourselves. In order to satisfy the committee and our contribu 
 tors as to what lias been done, it is necessary that we should have 
 copies of your accounts, so far, at least, as they relate to our 
 money ; and therefore we ask for the copy mentioned in the indorsed 
 vote. And I am further directed to request that you will give our 
 agent, Mr. E. B. Whitman, such information on this point as he may 
 desire. . . . All that our committee wish is a full and business-like 
 statement of what you have done and are doing; for want of this 
 they are compelled to cease acting as collectors of money for which 
 they can obtain no sufficient vouchers. 
 Truly yours, 
 
 F. B. SANBORN, 
 Corresponding Secretary Mass. State Committee. 
 
 These letters, together with the movement to obtain 
 legislative appropriations (one being actually voted by the 
 State of Vermont), were the occasion of calling together 
 the National Committee at the Astor House late in Jan 
 uary. But previously it was found needful to notify that 
 committee as follows : 
 
 STATE KANSAS COMMITTEE ROOMS, 
 BOSTON, Jan. 3, 1857. 
 
 H. B. HTJRD, ESQ., Secy. National Kansas Committee. 
 
 DEAR SIR, The Massachusetts Kansas Committee have thought 
 it best to rescind the vote by which certain rifles OAvned by S. Cabot, 
 Jr., are made subject to the order of the Kansas Central Committee, 
 and to resume possession of the same. They were taken on to 
 Tabor, it is understood, by Dr. J. P. Root ; but they seem to be 
 still at Tabor, and not to be at present needed in Kansas. Any 
 information which you can give our agent Mr. Clark, or any direc 
 tions to your agents which will facilitate his business, we hope you 
 will give him. The necessary expense of transporting the rifles will 
 be reimbursed by this committee when they have obtained actual 
 possession of them ; and they will be held in trust for the people 
 of Kansas for the present. 
 
 Truly yours, 
 
 F. B. SANBORN, 
 
 Cor. Sec. Mass. S. K. Com. 
 
 These were the very rifles which were carried to Mary 
 land by Brown, for use in Virginia, two years and a half 
 
1857.] THE KANSAS COMMITTEES. 359 
 
 later ; but at this time there was no thought of any such 
 campaign. Brown's purpose, as he disclosed it in Boston in 
 January, 1857, was to equip and arm a hundred mounted 
 men for defence and reprisal in Kansas ; and it was upon 
 this plan that the National Committee, when it assembled, 
 held a warm discussion, in which Brown himself took part. 
 His request was for arms and money which he might be at 
 liberty to use in his own way, his past conduct being his 
 guaranty that he would use them wisely. A compromise 
 was the result. The arms chiefly in question were voted 
 back to the Massachusetts Committee, who, it was under 
 stood, would place them in Brown's hands ; and an appro 
 priation of five thousand dollars was made from the almost 
 empty treasury of the National Committee for his benefit ; 
 while he was also to have the reversion of any arms in 
 their possession not otherwise disposed of. This appears 
 by the following votes : 
 
 At a meeting of the National Kansas Committee, held at the 
 Astor House, in the city of New York, on the twenty-fourth day of 
 January, A. D. 1857, the following resolutions were adopted : 
 
 1. Eesolved, That the treasurer be directed to reserve in the 
 treasury, out of any unappropriated moneys in his custody, or which 
 may he hereafter sent to the National committee, the sum of five 
 thousand dollars, to be used by the committee in aid of Captain 
 John Brown in any defensive measures that may become neces 
 sary ; and that Captain Brown be, and he is hereby, authorized to 
 draw upon the treasurer for the sum of five hundred dollars, as a 
 portion of said sum, at such time as he may deem it expedient, 
 for the said purposes. 
 
 2. Resolved, That such arms and supplies as the committee may 
 have, and which may be needed by Captain Brown, are appropri 
 ated to his use, provided, that the arms and supplies be not more 
 than enough for one hundred men ; and that a letter of approbation 
 be given him by this committee. 
 
 H. B. KURD, 
 Sec. National Kansas Com. 
 
 Any person having property covered by the above Resolution is 
 requested to deliver the same to Mr. John Brown or his agent. 
 
 H. B. KURD. 
 
360 LIFE AND LETTEKS OF JOHN BROWN. [1857. 
 
 In furtherance of these votes, Brown at once made out 
 the following schedule, which he called a "Memorandum 
 of small outfit : " 
 
 Memorandum of articles wanted as an outfit for fifty volunteers to 
 serve under my direction during the Kansas war, or for such speci 
 fied time as they may each enlist for ; together 'with estimated cost 
 of the same, delivered in Lawrence or Topeka. 
 
 2 siibstantial (but not heavy) baggage wagons with 
 
 good covers $200.00 
 
 4 good serviceable wagon-horses . 400.00 
 
 2 sets strong plain harness 50.00 
 
 100 good heavy blankets, say at $2 or $2.50 .... 200.00 
 
 8 substantial large-sized tents 100.00 
 
 8 large camp-kettles 12.00 
 
 50 tin basins 5.00 
 
 50 tin spoons 2.00 
 
 4 plain strong saddles and bridles 80.00 
 
 4 picket ropes and pins 3.00 
 
 8 wooden pails 2.00 
 
 8 axes and helves 12.00 
 
 8 frying-pans (large size) 8.00 
 
 8 large size coffee-pots 10.00 
 
 8 " l ' spiders or bake-ovens 10.00 
 
 8 " " tin pans 6.00 
 
 12 spades and shovels 18.00 
 
 6 mattocks 6.00 
 
 2 weeks provisions for men and horses 150.00 
 
 fund for horse-hire and feed ; loss and damage of 
 
 same 500.00 
 
 $1774.00 
 
 Upon this list Mr. White remarked as follows : 
 
 ASTOR HOUSE, NEW YORK, Jan. 27, 1857. 
 CAPTAIN JOHN BROWN. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I am unable yet to give yon the schedule of articles 
 which the committee propose placing in your hands. Please address 
 me at Chicago, stating whether a letter may be still sent to you at 
 the Massasoit House. It will be necessary for me to examine ship 
 ping-books, etc., in our office at Chicago. I "brought your matters 
 before the notice of the committee yesterday. Resolutions were 
 passed directing the secretary to instruct Mr. Jones, of Tabor, to 
 retain the supplies, etc., in his hands until you had made your 
 
1857.] THE KANSAS COMMITTEES. 361 
 
 selections. Resolutions were also adopted empowering me to ship 
 clothing, boots, etc., to you at Tabor, which will be done on the 
 opening of navigation. Very truly, 
 
 HORACE WHITE. 
 
 OFFICE NATIONAL KANSAS COMMITTEE, 
 11 MARINE BANK BUILDING, CHICAGO, Feb. 18, 1857. 
 JOHN BROWN, ESQ. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, The articles specified in the schedule and order 
 which you gave me in New York will be forwarded next week. I 
 think we shall be able to make out the whole number required, 
 filling the blanks with 100. They will be shipped as directed, and 
 freight paid through. Mr. Jones has been notified to expect them. 
 We hope to hear from you soon. 
 
 Very truly, 
 
 HORACE WHITE, 
 
 Ass't Sec. N. K. Com. 
 
 If any evidence were needed of Mr. White's entire confi 
 dence in Brown at this time, it would be furnished by this 
 letter : 
 
 CHICAGO, March 21, 1857. 
 CAPTAIN JOHN BROWN. 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEND, I find it quite impossible to prepare a sched 
 ule of the property which belongs to you under the New York reso 
 lution. It can only be ascertained in the Territory. I am going 
 there myself about the first of next month, and I need not say that 
 you may command my services at all times. Mr. Arny is there, and 
 with the help of him and Mr. Whitman we shall probably be able 
 to secure everything. At any rate we will work for it. Please let 
 me hear how you are prospering. Write me a line directed to Chi 
 cago. If I am not here it will be forwarded to me. State when you 
 expect to be in Kansas. If you should think it undesirable to have 
 one of your letters sent through Missouri, you need not sign your 
 name to it. I shall know the handwriting. I anticipate perilous 
 times ; and when the Philistines are upon us, I may possibly be found 
 carrying a bayonet on the right side. 
 
 Very truly, 
 
 HORACE WHITE. 
 
 P. S. I suppose the Boston people will fix you out with a return 
 ticket. Perhaps it may not be amiss to send you the enclosed note. 
 If you have other means of procuring just as well a free ticket, I 
 would prefer you would not use this, because the railroads have done 
 very liberally by us, and I do not wish to seem to be bleeding them. 
 
362 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1857. 
 
 I would rather no one but yourself should have the benefit of the en 
 closed, because our credit with the companies for the future depends 
 somewhat upon the fairness which they experience this summer. 1 
 Again very truly, 
 
 H. W. 
 
 Mr. Arn}', General Agent of this committee, also wrote to 
 Brown as follows : 
 
 LOUISVILLE, KY., March 11, 1857. 
 CAPTAIN BROWN. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I last week packed fourteen boxes clothing for you, 
 marked " J. B., care Jonas Jones, Tabor, Iowa." In one of the 
 boxes I put three mills to grind wheat or corn for bread, which I 
 think will be useful to the men of your settlement. I could not get 
 in every instance the full amount of clothing required ; but have done 
 the best I could. Anything I can do further for you, please let me 
 know ; and please acknowledge the receipt of this, directed to me, 
 care of Simmons & Leadbeator, St. Louis, Mo. 
 
 As ever your friend and well-wisher, 
 
 W. F. M. ARNY. 
 
 On the opposite page you will find a statement of the contents of 
 the boxes. 2 
 
 1 The note enclosed runs thus : 
 
 OFFICE NATIONAL KANSAS COMMITTEE, 11 MARINE BANK BUILDING, 
 
 CHICAGO, March 21, 1857. 
 
 DEAR SIR, Allow me to introduce Captain Jolm Brown, of Osawatomie, Kansas 
 Territory. If you could consistently give him a trip pass over your road it would be 
 regarded a special favor by the committee, and a personal one to most of us. We shall 
 not be in the habit of making such requests, but in the present instance it is peculiarly 
 wanted, and will be rightly appreciated. 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 HORACE WHITE, 
 
 Assistant Secretary N. K. Committee, 
 
 To C. B. GREENOUGH, ESQ. , General Ticket Agent, New York & Erie Railroad, New 
 York. 
 
 WILLIAM R. BARR, ESQ., General Agent Lake Shore Railroad, Buffalo, N. Y. 
 DUDLEY P. PHELPS, ESQ., General Ticket Agent, Michigan Southern Railroad, Toledo, 
 Ohio. 
 
 Upon which is the following indorsement in the handwriting of John 
 Brown : "Horace White, March 21, 1857." 
 
 2 These were given thus : 
 
 "CONTENTS : Box No. 1,- 5 coats, 6 pairs pants, 1 vest, 6 quilts, 8 
 pairs boots, 10 caps, 20 pairs socks, 10 pairs drawers, 22 shirts, and 5 pairs 
 mits. Box No. 2, 24 coats, 22 pants, 12 vests, 12 quilts, 12 pairs 
 drawers, 12 shirts. Box No. 3, 4 coats, 12 pants, 2 vests, 12 quilts, 2 
 pairs boots, 2 caps, 13 socks, 5 shirts, 9 pairs mits. Box No. 4, 12 pairs 
 boots. Box No. 5, 12 pairs boots. Box No. 6, 18 pairs pants, 6 
 vests, 11 quilts, 13 pairs boots, 18 caps, 42 socks, 1 pair drawers, 18 shirts, 
 
1857.] THE KANSAS COMMITTEES. 36B 
 
 These votes arid letters, with the letters which had pre 
 ceded them, and served as Brown's introduction where he 
 was not personally known, fully refute the statements made 
 many years later that Brown was looked upon with indif- 
 erence or aversion by the friends of Kansas in 1856-57. 
 
 The letter of Charles Robinson, dated Sept. 14, 1856, at 
 Lawrence (printed on page 330), was filled with praise of 
 John Brown, and when it reached me in Boston, Jan. 2, 
 1857, it bore these two indorsements : 
 
 Governor Chase's Indorsement. 
 
 COLUMBUS, Dec. 20, 1856. 
 
 Captain John Brown, of Kansas Territory, is commended to me 
 by a highly reputable citizen of this State as a gentleman every way 
 worthy of entire confidence. I have also seen a letter from Governor 
 Charles Robinson, whose handwriting I recognize, speaking of Cap 
 tain Brown and his services to the cause of the Free-State men in 
 Kansas in terms of the warmest commendation. Upon these testi 
 monials I cordially recommend him to the confidence and regard of 
 all who desire to see Kansas a free State. 
 
 S. P. CHASE. 1 
 
 13 pairs raits. Box No. 7, 15 quilts. Box No. 8, 19 quilts. Box 
 No. 9, 2 coats, 4 pants, 3 vests, 12 socks, 12 drawers, 16 shirts. Box 
 No. 10, 12 pairs boots. Box No. 11, 48 coats, 4 quilts, 12 pairs 
 boots. Box No. 12, 41 pairs pants, 15 vests, 9 quilts, 9 boots, 46 caps, 
 16 pairs socks. Box No. 13, 1 coat, 2 pants, 7 quilts, 9 pairs socks, 56 
 pairs drawers, 31 shirts. Box No. 14, 17 quilts. Whole amount as 
 follows : 84 coats, 105 pairs pants, 39 vests, 100 quilts and blankets, 68 
 pairs boots, 76 caps, 112 pairs socks, 91 pairs drawers, 104 shirts, 27 pairs 
 mits. 3 hand-mills for grinding grain." 
 
 Upon all which is the following indorsement in the handwriting of John 
 Brown : " W. F. M. Amy. Aifcwered March 21." 
 
 1 This eminent man, afterward Senator from Ohio and Chief-Justice of 
 the United States, sent another letter to Brown six months later, but while 
 he was still Governor of Ohio. It is interesting as showing that Governor 
 Chase either did not know or did not choose to recognize the alias of 
 " Nelson Hawkins," by which Brown was then addressed to avoid the open 
 ing of his letters by proslavery postmasters. 
 
 COLUMBUS, OHIO, June 6, 1857. 
 NELSON HAWKINS. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, Captain John Brown lately wrote me, requesting that I put a sub 
 scription paper in aid of the cause of freedom in Kansas in the hands of some reliable 
 and efficient person here. I am sorry to say that on consideration I do not find there is 
 
364 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1857. 
 
 Gerrit Smith's Letter. 
 
 PETERBORO', Dec. 30, 1856. 
 
 CAPTAIN JOHN BROWN, You did not need to show me letters 
 from Governor Chase and Governor Robinson to let me know who 
 and what you are. I have known you many years, and have highly 
 esteemed you as long as I have known you. I know your unshrink 
 ing bravery, your self-sacrificing benevolence, your devotion to the 
 cause of freedom, and have long known them. May Heaven preserve 
 your life and health, and prosper your noble purposes ! 
 
 GERRIT SMITH. 
 
 I may also cite here a letter from one of Brown's neigh 
 bors in Osawatomie, and still a resident of that town, writ 
 ten a year later than Robinson's, but breathing the same 
 admiration and respect for the old captain : 
 
 Letter from Henry U. Williams. 
 
 OSAWATOMIE, Oct. 12, 1857. 
 CAPTAIN BROWN. 
 
 DEAR SIR, Learning that there is a messenger in town from 
 you, I will take the opportunity to drop you a line. We are just 
 through with the October election, and as far as this county is con 
 cerned it went off bright. This was owing in a great measure to 
 our thorough military organization here, and the well-known repu 
 tation that our boys have for fighting. There were about four 
 hundred and twenty-five votes cast in this county : about three 
 hundred and fifty Free- State. I have a company organized here of 
 about eighty men, and we drilled twice a week for several weeks 
 previous to election, which no doubt had a wholesome effect upon 
 the borderers. Our company is a permanent institution. We have 
 sent on to St. Louis for three drums and two fifes. We are very 
 
 any probability of obtaining any contributions here beyond the twenty-five dollars which 
 I obtained for the Captain when here early last winter. The capital of a State, where 
 calls are so constant and must have attention, is a hard place to raise money ; and 
 there are very few indeed who can be brought to see that the cause of freedom in Kansas 
 at this time requires further contributions. I write this note to you at the request of 
 Captain Brown, who speaks of you as his special friend. 
 
 Very respectfully and truly, 
 
 S. P. CHASE. 
 
 Upon which is the following indorsement in the handwriting of John 
 Brown: " S. P. Chase. Requires no reply." Probably the twenty-five 
 dollars was Mr. Chase's own gift. 
 
1857.] THE KANSAS COMMITTEES. 365 
 
 poorly supplied with arms. However, I understand that you have 
 some arms with you which you intend to bring into the Territory. 
 I hope that you will not forget the ~boys here, a considerable number 
 of whom have smelt gunpowder, and have had their courage tried on 
 several occasions. I do not like to boast, but I think we have some 
 of the best fighting stock here that there is in the Territory. Speak 
 ing of arms reminds me that there was a box containing five dozen 
 revolvers sent to you at Lawrence last fall to be distributed by you to 
 your boys. K. and W. two renegade Free-State men from here 
 went up to Lawrence about that- time, told a pitiful tale, and said 
 that they were your boys ; and the committee that had the revolvers 
 in charge gave them each one, and a Sharpe's rifle. A few days after, 
 I was in Lawrence, and applied to the committee to know if they 
 intended to distribute the revolvers; if they did, that I would like to 
 have one. They refused, however, to let me have one, because for 
 sooth I could not tell as big a yarn about what I had done for the 
 Free-State cause as K. and W. could. I have since learned that 
 the committee have distributed the revolvers to the " Stubs" and 
 others about Lawrence, with the understanding that they are to 
 return them at your order. But I think it is doubtful if you get 
 them. There has been plenty of Sharpe's rifles and other arms dis 
 tributed at Manhattan and other points remote from the Border, 
 where they never have any disturbances, and a Border Ruffian is a 
 curiosity ; while along the Border here, where we are liable to 
 have an outbreak at any time, we have had no arms distributed 
 at all. 
 
 Two or three weeks before election I visited the Border counties 
 south of this, and organized a company of one hundred men on the 
 Little Osage, and a company on Sugar Creek ; also at Stanton and 
 on the Pottawatomie above this point. According to the election 
 returns, we have done much better in this and the Border counties 
 south than they have in the Border counties north of this point. 
 The boys would like to see you and shake you by the hand once 
 more. Nearly all would unite in welcoming you back here; those 
 that would not, you have nothing to fear from in this locality. The 
 sentiment of the people and the strength and energy of the Free- 
 State party here exercise a wholesome restraint upon those having 
 Border Ruffian proclivities. 
 
 Yours as of old for the right, 
 
 HENRY H. WILLIAMS. 1 
 
 1 This letter was addressed " To Captain John Brown, Tabor, Fremont 
 County, Iowa," and among Brown's papers was accompanied with the 
 following memorandum of the distribution made at Lawrence of the arms 
 
366 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1857. 
 
 These letters, covering the whole period in 1856-57 during 
 which Brown was absent from Kansas, are conclusive proof 
 of the estimation in which he was held by the Free-State 
 settlers during " the time that tried men's souls." The 
 votes and letters of the National Committee show that they, 
 too, as they came to know Brown better, trusted him more. 
 But their affairs had not been very well managed, and their 
 treasury became empty ; so that the money voted at New 
 York did not appear, and when Brown wrote for it from 
 New England, he received the following reply : 
 
 which Mr. Williams mentions, and which are the same spoken of by Mr. 
 White in his testimony on page 342. 
 
 Memorandum of William flutchinson, Lcticrence. 
 
 Bloomington. A. Curtis, Navy Revolver. No. 50,400 
 
 Osawatomie. N. King, " " " 49,860 
 
 J. B. Way, " " " 50,966 
 Eeokuk. J. M. Arthur, eight revolvers with accoutre 
 ments. Numbers not taken. 
 
 Pottawatomie. Win. Partridge, Navy Revolver. No. 50,410 
 
 Lawrence. E. C. Harrington, " " 51,171 
 
 A. Cutler, " " " 50,995 
 
 Minniola. O. A. Bassett, " 51,140 
 
 The following are the numbers of others given to the " Stubs" : 
 
 49,986, 51,208, 50,992, 50,410, 51,203, 50,963, 49,947, 51,101, 
 
 50,998, 50,969, 50,944, 51,043, 51,021, 51,033, 51,195, 50,994, 
 
 50,980, 49,741, 50,446, 50,040, 51,019, 51,218, 51,200, 51,204. 
 
 51,059, 50,948, 51,149, 50,958, 51,255, 
 
 Mr. Whitman has one, and I think the others were distributed by 
 Eldridge without taking receipts. 
 
 Feeling too unwell to walk the distance, I gave up going to my sister's, 
 and have looked up the above numbers. Sorry to hear of your ill -health. 
 Still it is nothing unusual to hear of sickness all over the Territory. 1 
 have waited for Eldridge to act; but he has left, I think, without doing 
 anything for you, and as soon as 1 can take the time I will make one more 
 earnest effort for you in this place, and am sure that some can be obtained. 
 Say to Mr. Kagi I gave the order for Parsons's gun into the hands of Mr. 
 Lyon's family, and they promised to bring it to town, but it has not come 
 yet. 
 
 If you get any news of importance, please inform me. 
 
 Yours again, 
 
 WM. HUTCHINSON. 
 
 Upon which is the following indorsement in the handwriting of John 
 Brown : " Wm. Hutchinson's letter." The date is not given, but it must 
 be in 1857-58. 
 
1857.] THE KANSAS COMMITTEES. 367 
 
 OFFICE NATIONAL KANSAS COMMITTEE, 
 
 11 MARINE BANK BUILDING, 
 
 CHICAGO, April ], 1857. 
 CAPTAIN JOHN BROWN, Springfield, Mass. 
 
 At a meeting of the National Kansas Committee, held this day, it 
 was 
 
 liesolved, That as according- to the present state of the public 
 feeling, evinced by the almost total cessation of contributions to 
 the funds of the committee, it appears that the means of carrying on 
 our operations will not be forthcoming from the usual sources ; there 
 fore, it is expedient to take immediate measures to settle the liabili 
 ties, and close the accounts of the committee, and to reduce the 
 current expenses to the lowest possible point ; and that the secretary 
 be instructed to take measures accordingly. 
 
 Resolved, further, That the secretary be instructed to write to the 
 members of the committee residing in other cities, to Messrs. Gree- 
 ley & McElrath, Hon. Gen-it Smith, and other prominent donors 
 and friends, setting forth the fact of the cessation of contributions 
 as above stated, and the necessity we arc under of closing our opera 
 tions, unless immediately sustained by liberal contributions. 
 
 We are sorry to be obliged to come to the above conclusion, but 
 are compelled to do so. There are several important undertakings 
 now in hand, which we shall have to abandon, unless further means 
 are forthcoming. The committee are at present out of money, and 
 are compelled to decline sending you the five hundred dollars you 
 speak of. They are sorry this has become the case, but it was un 
 avoidable. I need not state to you all the reasons why. The country 
 has stopped sending us contributions, and we have no means of re 
 plenishing our treasury. We shall need to have aid from some 
 quarter to enable us to meet our present engagements. 
 
 I send you a copy of the list of articles selected fur you by Mr. 
 Amy. Our opinion is that some things have been selected that you 
 do not need; such, for instance, as quilts, unless it is intended to 
 supply the families of the company, and mits, which I suppose means 
 ladies' mits. If he means mittens they would be useful. 1 
 Yours, etc., 
 
 H. B. KURD. 
 Secretary National Kansas Committee. 
 
 Thus ended the hopes of further material aid from the 
 National Committee. The Massachusetts Committee kept 
 
 1 Upon this is the following indorsement in the handwriting of John 
 Brown : " H. B. Hurd. Needs no comment." 
 
368 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1857. 
 
 its word better. Before the Astor House meeting it had 
 made Browu the custodian of the two hundred rifles at Tabor, 
 and had suggested to him the following receipt, which, with 
 its erasures, is among the Brown Papers at Topeka : 
 
 STATE KANSAS AID COMMITTEE ROOM, 
 
 BOSTON, Jan. 7, 1857. 
 
 Received of George L. Stearns, Chairman of the Massachusetts 
 Kansas Aid Committee, an order on Edward Clark, Esq., of Law 
 rence, K. T., for two hundred Sharpe's rifles, carbines, with four 
 thousand ball cartridges, thirty-one thousand military caps, and six 
 iron ladles, the same to be delivered to said committee, or to their 
 order, on demand. It being further understood and agreed that I 
 (am at liberty to distribute one hundred of the carbines, and to use 
 the ammunition for maintaining the cause of freedom in Kansas and 
 in the United States, and that such distribution and use shall be con 
 sidered a delivery to said committee). [Have authority to use one 
 hundred of the carbines, and all the ammunition, as I may think the 
 interests of Kansas require. Keeping an account of my doings] ; 
 and that such delivery and use shall be considered as such delivery. 1 
 
 A week later I wrote to Edward Clark, another agent of 
 our committee (Jan. 15, 1857) : 
 
 il We have made the rifles subject to Captain Brown's order, as we 
 wrote you. From Mr. Winchell's account, we conclude that you will 
 find them in the Territory, and in the hands of the Central Commit 
 tee. 2 In the quarrel between the National and the Central Com 
 mittees, we hope you will keep yourself strictly neutral, and inform us 
 how the case really stands. We hear charges of misconduct from both 
 
 1 The words in parentheses are marked across in the original, evidently 
 for the purpose of erasure ; the words in brackets are in a different hand 
 writing from the rest of the paper. There is no indorsement except the 
 word "Boston " written twice in Brown's handwriting. 
 
 2 Originally they had been forwarded to this committee, as appears by 
 the following note : 
 
 STATE KANSAS AID COMMITTEE ROOMS, 
 
 BOSTON, Sept. 30, 1856. 
 
 DEAR SIR, At a meeting of this committee it was voted, That the arms purchased 
 by Dr. Cabot, in accordance with a vote of the committee, passed September 10, be 
 forwarded to the Kansas Central Committee at Lawrence, with instructions that they 
 be loaned to actual settlers for defence against unlawful aggressions upon their rights 
 and liberties. 
 
 GEORGE L. STEARNS, Chairman. 
 H. B. HURD, ESQ., Chicago. 
 
1857.] THE KANSAS COMMITTEES. 369 
 
 sides. The order of Captain Brown will not probably be issued till 
 spring, if it is at all, since his use of the riiies depends on a contingency 
 which may not occur.' 7 
 
 On Jan. 30, 1857, still later instructions followed to Mr. 
 Clark : 
 
 " The National Committee, at their meeting in New York, voted 
 to resign all claim to the rifles at Tabor to our committee ; and Mr. 
 Hurd is to notify you of the fact officially. If, therefore, you have 
 commenced any proceedings to get possession of them from the 
 National Committee, you may suspend all action until you receive 
 Mr. Kurd's letter, which will give you full power in the premises. 
 We learn that the rilles are at Tabor, in charge of a certain Jonas 
 Jones, and that they are properly stored and cared for. If this 
 should not be so, or if the Central Committee at Lawrence have 
 interfered with them at all, you may take measures to get immediate 
 possession, as directed by us. All matters at issue between our 
 committee and the National Committee have been satisfactorily 
 settled, and we trust there will be no further misunderstandings. 
 Mr. Hurd has been in Boston and arranged all things. We have 
 been expecting a letter from you for some days. By the time this 
 reaches you, you will have been at Tabor, we presume. There 
 write us a full account of your proceedings, and also of the present 
 condition of things in Kansas, the position of the Central Committee, 
 etc. Much business was done at the New York meeting ; but no 
 final settlement of accounts could be made, by reason of the absence 
 of important persons and papers. Conway and Whitman are here, 
 preparing to appear before the legislative committee about a State 
 appropriation." 
 
 The closing sentence of this letter indicates that the 
 Massachusetts Committee, in furtherance of the policy ex 
 plained to Governor Grimes, was preparing to obtain a 
 State appropriation from the legislature which was then 
 in session at Boston. John Brown was summoned as 
 a witness before this legislature, and gave his testimony 
 in the hall of the House of Representatives, February 
 18, 1857, the committee on Federal Eelations holding a 
 hearing in that place for the purpose. There are but 
 few letters from Brown at this time. Here is one of 
 them : 
 
 24 
 
370 LITE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1857. 
 
 John Brown to the Rev. S. L. Adair. 
 
 BOSTON, MASS., Feb. 16, 1857. 
 
 DEAR BROTHER AND SISTER ADAIR, It is a long time since I 
 have heard a word from you, but I suppose it is because I have been 
 continually shifting about since my return to the States. I am 
 getting quite anxious to hear from you, and to get your views on 
 your own prospects and present condition, together with your ideas 
 of Governor Geary and of Kansas matters generally. I have not 
 heard a word from Hudson or Akron since December ; but that is 
 owing to the fact that I have had no place fixed upon, till of late, 
 where to receive letters. This has been from a kind of necessity ; 
 but I can now say, do write me at Springfield, Mass., care of the 
 Massasoit House, leaving the title of Captain off. I now expect to 
 go to Kansas (quietly) before long ; but I do not wish it noised 
 about at all. Can you tell me what has become of Captain Holmes 
 of your place ? I expect to appear before a committee of the Massa 
 chusetts legislature in a day or two. My family were well about a 
 week ago. Your affectionate brother, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 It fell to ray lot to introduce Brown to the legislative 
 committee, February 18 ; and I did so in these words : 
 
 " As one of the petitioners for State aid to the settlers of Kansas, 
 I appear before you to state briefly the purpose of the petition. No 
 labored argument seems necessary ; for if the events of the last 
 two years in Kansas, and the prospect there for the future, are not of 
 themselves enough to excite Massachusetts to action, certainly no 
 words could do so. We have not provided ourselves with advocates, 
 therefore, but with witnesses; and we expect that the statements of 
 Captain Brown and Mr. Whitman will show conclusively that the 
 rights and interests of Massachusetts have suffered gross outrage in 
 Kansas, an outrage which is likely to be repeated unless measures 
 are taken by you to prevent so shameful an abuse. Your petitioners 
 desire that a contingent appropriation be made by the legislature, 
 to be placed in the hands of a commission of responsible and conser 
 vative men, and used only in case of necessity to relieve the distress 
 of the settlers of Kansas, especially such as have gone from our 
 own State. It is possible that no such necessity will occur; but 
 nothing, in the opinion of your petitioners, would do so much to 
 obviate it as the proposed appropriation. Such an act would both 
 encourage our friends in Kansas and dishearten their oppressors ; and 
 
1857.] THE KANSAS COMMITTEES. 371 
 
 the moral effect of it would be greater than any which would follow 
 from the expenditure of a much larger sum. 
 
 11 Let it not be understood, however, that the petitioners ask for 
 this as a simple act of charity, or are willing to rest their case on 
 the common arguments for a charitable donation. The question 
 involved is not merely whether the hungry shall be fed, the naked 
 clothed, and the houseless sheltered ; it reaches far beyond this : it is 
 the issue between freedom and slavery, in Kansas and in the nation. 
 Why should we refuse to see this manifest fact? 
 
 " Viewed in this light, we feel justified in regarding our petition as 
 the most important matter which the General Court has now to con 
 sider. The interests of banks and railroads, points of etiquette 
 between different branches of the government, even the solemn 
 discussions which involve the lives of condemned men, all seem 
 trivial beside this most public and pressing business. I think, Mr. 
 Chairman, that the people of Massachusetts will soon ask, if they 
 have not already begun, ' What preparation are our Senators and 
 Representatives making for the crisis which they were elected specially 
 to meet ? How are they raising themselves to the height of this great 
 argument ? ' Is it not true, sir, that yourself and nine tenths of 
 your colleagues in this body were elected as declared supporters of 
 two all-important measures, the re-election of Charles Sumner 
 and the establishment of freedom in Kansas ? And do you believe 
 that the one which you have so triumphantly accomplished is one 
 whit more dear to the people than the other? Let the liberal con 
 tributions of the whole State, in money and clothing, and the 
 numerously signed petitions which are presented here daily, answer 
 that. Can you hesitate, then, to give expression to the will of the 
 people, not merely in words, which cost nothing and are worth 
 nothing, but in substantial deeds? 
 
 " It has been suggested that some persons doubt the constitution 
 ality of the proposed measure. That is rather a question to be 
 decided by the legislature than a point to be argued by the petition 
 ers ; but should it be necessary, which I can hardly think possible, I 
 have no doubt they can fully show its constitutionality, of which 
 they make no question. The name of Judge Parker, attached to the 
 Cambridge petition, and the decided opinion of several eminent 
 jurists, confirm their belief. We have invited Captain Brown and 
 Mr. Whitman to appear in our behalf, because these gentlemen are 
 eminently qualified either to represent Massachusetts in Kansas or 
 Kansas in Massachusetts. The best blood of the i Mayflower' runs 
 in the veins of both, and each had an ancestor in the army of the 
 Revolution. Mr. Whitman, seventh in descent from Miles Standish. 
 laid the foundation of the first church and the first schoolhouse in 
 
372 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1857. 
 
 Kansas j John Brown, the sixth descendant of Peter Browne, of the 
 ' Mayflower/ has been to Kansas what Standish was to the Plymouth 
 Colony. These witnesses have seen the things of which they testify, 
 and have felt the oppression we ask you to check. Ask this gray- 
 haired man, gentlemen, if you have the heart to do it, where lies 
 the body of his murdered son ; where are the homes of his four other 
 sons, who a year ago were quiet farmers in Kansas. I am ashamed, 
 in presence of this modest veteran, to express the admiration which 
 his heroism excites in me. Yet he, so venerable for his years, his 
 integrity, and his courage, a man whom all Massachusetts rises 
 up to honor. is to-day an outlaw in Kansas. To these witnesses, 
 whose unsworn testimony deserves arid will receive from you all 
 the authority which an oath confers, I will now yield place." 
 
 Brown then addressed the commitee and a large audience 
 who had assembled to hear him. He made in substance the 
 same speech which he gave that winter at Hartford, at Con 
 cord, and elsewhere ; reading from his manuscript (which I 
 have already cited) an account of the destruction of property 
 and of life by the Missouri invaders in 1855-56, and speak 
 ing of the inactivity of the Federal Government, except in 
 the protection of these invaders. He described modestly 
 the last attack -on Lawrence, and denied that it had been 
 saved from destruction by Governor Geary. In answer to 
 questions by the chairman of the committee (Senator Albee, 
 of Marlborough) he gave the account since so well known 
 of his visiting Buford's men near Osawatomie in the guise 
 of a surveyor ; and quoted them as telling him that the 
 Yankees could not be coaxed, driven, or whipped into a 
 fight, and that one Southerner could whip a dozen Aboli 
 tionists ; they intended to drive out the whole Free-State 
 population of Kansas, if that should be necessary to estab 
 lish slavery in the new State ; if Kansas was free, Missouri 
 could not maintain slavery, they told him. When asked 
 what sort of emigrants were needed to make Kansas free, 
 Brown replied, " We want good men, industrious and honest, 
 who respect themselves, and act only from principle, from 
 the dictates of conscience ; men who fear God too much 
 to fear anything human." Questioned by Senator Albee 
 concerning the probable need and effect of such an appro 
 priation as was sought for, Brown replied : " Whenever we 
 
1857.] THE KANSAS COMMITTEES. 373 
 
 heard last year that the people of the North were doing 
 anything for us, we were encouraged and strengthened to 
 keep up the contest. At present there is not much danger 
 of an invasion from Missouri. God protects us in winter ; 
 but when the grass gets high enough to feed the horses of 
 the Border Ruffians we may have trouble, and should be 
 prepared for the worst. Things do not look one iota more 
 encouraging now except that the winter is milder than 
 they did last year at this time. You may remember that 
 from the Shannon treaty, which ended the Wakarusa war, 
 till early in May, 1856, there was general quiet in Kansas. 
 No violence was offered to our citizens when they went to 
 Missouri. I frequently went there myself to buy corn and 
 other supplies. I was known there ; yet they treated me 
 well. I do not know that there will be another invasion, 
 but should expect one. Yet the actual settlers who go to 
 Kansas from the slave States have many of them turned to 
 be the most determined Free-State men, fighting in all 
 our battles. The comparative strength of the parties as 
 regards numbers, intelligence, industry, and good habits gen 
 erally, is all on our side ; but the machinery of a genuine 
 territorial government is not yet in operation, while the 
 Federal Government is wholly on the side of slavery." 
 
 The movement for a State appropriation was unsuccessful, 
 but the Massachusetts Committee continued their contribu 
 tions to John Brown. 
 
 Among the contributors to his fund was Mr. Amos Law 
 rence, of Boston, who wrote to Brown as follows the day 
 after the speech in the State House : 
 
 BOSTON, Feb. 19, 1857. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, Enclosed you will find seventy dollars. Please 
 write to John Conant, of East Jaffrey, N. H., and acknowledge re 
 ceipt ; or write to me saying you have received the Jaffrey money, 
 and I will send your letter to them. It is for your own personal use, 
 and not for the cause in any other way than that. I am sorry not to 
 have seen you hefore you left. It may not be amiss to say that you 
 may find yourself disappointed if you rely on the National Kansas 
 Committee for any considerable amount of money. Please to con 
 sider this as confidential ; and it is only my own opinion, without 
 definite knowledge of their operations. I hope they will get a great 
 
374 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1857. 
 
 deal of money, but think they will not. The old managers have 
 not inspired confidence, and therefore money will be hard for them 
 to get now and hereafter. This check, you will see, needs your 
 indorsement. 
 
 May God bless you, my dear sir, is the wish of your friend, 
 
 AMOS A. LAWRENCE. 
 
 While Brown was ordering his pikes in Connecticut, Mr. 
 Lawrence wrote him again in these words : 
 
 (Private.) 
 
 BOSTON, March 20, 1857. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, Your letter from New Haven is received. I 
 have just sent to Kansas near fourteen thousand dollars to establish 
 a fund to be used, first, to secure the best system of common schools 
 for Kansas that exists in this country ; second, to establish Sunday- 
 schools. 
 
 The property is held by two trustees in Kansas, and cannot return 
 to me. On this account, and because I am always short of money, 
 I have not the cash to use for the purpose you name. But in case 
 anything should occur, while you are engaged in a great and good 
 cause, to shorten your life, you may be assured that your wife and 
 children shall be cared for more liberally than you now propose. The 
 family of "Captain John Brown of Osawatomie" will not be turned 
 out to starve in this country, until Liberty herself is driven out. 
 Yours with regard, 
 
 AMOS A. LAWRENCE. 
 
 I hope you will not run the risk of arrest. 
 
 I never saw the offer to which you refer, in the ''Telegraph," and 
 have now forgotten what it was. Come and see me when you have 
 time. 
 
 A. A. LAWRENCE. 
 
 Soon after the Boston hearing, Brown visited his fam 
 ily at North Elba ; and early in March returned to New 
 England, where he revisited the graves of his ancestors in 
 Connecticut. These letters relate to this period : 
 
 John Brown to his Wife. 
 
 HARTFORD, CONN., March 6, 1857. 
 
 DEAR WIFE, I enclose with this a letter from Owen, written 
 me from Albany. He appeared to be very much depressed before he^ 
 
1857.] THE KANSAS COMMITTEES. 375 
 
 left me ; but there was no possible misunderstanding between us that 
 I knew of. I did not pay Samuel Thompson all that I ought to have 
 given him for carrying us out, and wish you would make it up to 
 him, if you can well, out of what I have sent you. If you get hay 
 of him, I will send or fetch the money soon to pay for it. I shall 
 send you some newspapers soon to let you see what different stories 
 are told of me. None of them tell things as I tell them. Write me, 
 care of the Massasoit House, Springfield, Mass. 
 Your affectionate husband, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 SPRINGFIELD, MASS., March 12, 1857. 
 
 DEAR WIFE AND CHILDREN ALL, I have just got a letter from 
 John. All middling well, March 2, but Johnny, who has the ague 
 by turns. I now enclose another from Owen. 1 sent you some 
 papers last week. Have just been speaking for three nights at Can 
 ton, Conn., and at Collinsville, a village of that town. At the two 
 places they gave me eighty dollars. Canton is where both father 
 and mother were raised. They have agreed to send to my family at 
 North Elba grandfather John Brown's old granite monument, about 
 eighty years old, to be faced and inscribed in memory of our poor 
 Frederick, who sleeps in Kansas. 1 I prize it very highly, and the 
 family all will, I think. I want to see you all very much, but can 
 not tell when I can go back yet. Hope to get something from you 
 here soon. Direct as before. May God bless you all! 
 Your affectionate husband and father. 
 
 Mr. Rust, to whom the next letters were written, says 
 that he had a " store " at Collinsville in 1857, and John 
 Brown was there in April, showing to various persons the 
 bowie-knife that he captured with Pate in Kansas. As he 
 did so, Brown said : " Such a blade as this, mounted upon a 
 strong shaft, or handle, would make a cheap and effective 
 weapon. Our friends in Kansas are without arms or money 
 
 1 This note from a friend in Connecticut shows how soon the gravestone 
 was removed to North Elba : 
 
 COLLINSVILLE, April 17, 1857. 
 CAPTAIN J. BROWN. 
 
 DEAR SIR, Your favor of the 16th is just at hand. The pistols I shall send to 
 morrow morning. I received the package for S. Brown, and delivered it. The expense 
 on the parcel was one dollar fifty, but I am very willing to pay that myself Your 
 friends have sent the old stone to your place. Hoping to see you soon, I remain 
 Yours respectfulh r , 
 
 H. N. RUST. 
 
376 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1857. 
 
 to get them ; and if I could put such weapons into their 
 hands, they could make them very useful. A resolute wo 
 man, with such a pike, could defend her cabin door against 
 man or beast. What can such a weapon be made for ? " Mr. 
 Rust guessed for a dollar each, in quantity. " Very well," 
 said Brown ; " I would be glad to pay that price for a 
 thousand ; " and it was agreed that Mr. Rust should try to 
 get them made in Collinsville for that price, by Charles 
 Blair. Mr. Rust further says : 
 
 " During one of his visits I carried him to Canton to see his 
 relatives. Not far from their house he noticed a tombstone leaning 
 against the stone wall by the roadside. He got out and examined it, 
 and found it to be his grandfather's ; whereupon he said, ' I will go 
 back and see if my cousins will let me have it.' They consented, 
 and afterwards brought it to me at Collinsville ; and I sent it to his 
 address at North Elba. * That stone/ said he, l formerly marked 
 the grave of my grandfather, who died fighting for the liberties of 
 his country ; my son has just been murdered in the same cause in 
 Kansas, and the Government applauded the murderer. This stone 
 shall bear his name also ; and I will have it set up at North 
 Elba.' " 
 
 John Brown to H. N. Rust. 
 
 SPRINGFIELD, MASS., April 16, 1857. 
 H. N. RUST, ESQ. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, Your favor of the 9th is received. Please for 
 ward to me by express the pistols you have received, and also send 
 me with them the amount you had to pay on the whole package. Be 
 kind. enough to say to my friend Blair that I expect funds within a 
 day or two to meet my engagement, and that I mean to call on him. 
 Please direct the package to John (not Captain) Brown, care Mas- 
 easoit House, Springfield, Mass. Did you receive the package for 
 SeldenH. Brown? 
 
 Very respectfully your friend, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 SPRINGFIELD, MASS., April 25, 1857. 
 H. N. RUST, ESQ. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, I did not see you the other morning before I 
 left, as I expected. Please hand line arid draft to Mr. Blair at once. 
 The sabre you got is the identical one taken from Lieutenant 
 Brocket at Black Jack surrender. I would on no account have you 
 
1857.] THE KANSAS COMMITTEES. 377 
 
 buy it of me, as you really have done, but that I am literally driven 
 to beg, which is very humiliating. 
 
 Very respectfully your friend, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 (Note by Mr. Bust.) 
 
 The draft was spoken of in the letter of April 16, and was 
 handed to Mr. Blair ; the sabre was a present to me from Captain 
 Brown, received with the pistols ; the pay spoken of was the bill 
 for the pistols, which I did not send him as requested. The pistols 
 had been used in Kansas and sent East for repairs ; the funds spoken 
 of were to be the first payment for the pikes which had been ordered 
 not long before. 
 
 CHARLES BLAIR'S CONTRACT. 
 
 COLLINSVILLE, CONN., March 30, 1857. 
 
 The undersigned agree to the following: First, Charles Blair, of 
 this place, is to make and deliver at the railroad depot in Collins- 
 ville one thousand spears with handles fitted, of equal quality to one 
 dozen already made and sent to Springfield, Mass. The handles are 
 to t>e six feet in length, and the ferules to be made of strong malleable 
 iron. The handles to be well tied in bundles ; and the blades with 
 screws for fastening to be securely packed in strong boxes suitable 
 for the transportation of edge tools. In consideration whereof, John 
 Brown, late of Kansas, agrees to deposit five hundred dollars with 
 Samuel W. Collins within ten days from this date, in part payment ; 
 and four hundred and fifty dollars as payment in full for the above- 
 named one thousand spears and handles within thirty days thereafter. 
 The whole money to be deposited with said Collins at Collinsville, 
 and the spears and handles to be held subject to the order of said 
 Brown, on or before the first of July next. 
 
 CHARLES BLAIR. 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 COLLINSVILLE, March 30, 1857. 
 
 Received of John Brown, Esq., fifty dollars on account of spear 
 contract. 
 
 CHARLES BLAIR. 
 
 Received on the within contract one hundred dollars. 
 
 COLLINSVILLE, April 22, 1857. 
 Received the same date two hundred dollars. 
 
378 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1857. 
 
 Letters to John Brown by C. Blair. 
 
 HARTFOKD, April 15, 1857. 
 MR. BROWN. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I received yours in relation to the funds which you 
 expected from the Kansas Committee, and I would say that I have 
 not taken any further measures with the spears than to ascertain 
 where I can get the handles and ferules, etc. If you do not find it 
 convenient to raise the funds for a thousand, I will make you five 
 hundred at the same rate. I should think the committee were not 
 treating you very fairly by not honoring your drafts after the promise 
 they had made you. I shall wait further orders from you before I 
 proceed further. 
 
 Truly yours, 
 
 CHARLES BLAIR. 
 
 COLLINSVILLE, CONN., Aug. 27, 1857. 
 MR. BROWN. 
 
 DEAR SIR, Yours of the 14th instant came to hand last Satur 
 day. In regard to those articles, I have to say that I commenced the 
 whole number ; have all the handles well seasoned, the ferules and 
 guards, screws, etc., and have some over five hundred of them ground, 
 but not hearing anything further from you, I have let them rest until 
 such times as you can make your arrangements. I thought I would 
 not make any farther outlay upon them, at least until I heard from you. 
 I did not know but things would take such a turn in Kansas that they 
 would not be needed. Of this you can judge better than I can. I 
 did not feel able to bear the loss of having them left on my hands 
 after I had finished them up, as you are aware that we did not expect 
 much profit on the manufacture of the articles; but I am not disposed 
 to cast the least blame upon you. I very well know that when a man 
 is depending upon the public for money he is very liable to be disap 
 pointed, and I judge from the tenor of your letter that you will not 
 blame me for stopping them, as I had used up the funds. I therefore 
 wait your further orders whether to finish them up or to let them rest 
 where they are. Don't give yourself any uneasiness about the affair, 
 for if I go no'further with them, I shall lose nothing, or but little; 
 and I have no doubt you and I can make the matter satisfactory in 
 some way. Your son (Oliver) is in the village, but is not now at 
 work for me. My work in the shop was too hard for him in the hot 
 w r eather, and he has been out at haying. I think he may get some 
 job in the shop soon. Let me hear from you when convenient. 
 Very respectfully yours, 
 
 CHARLES BLAIR. 
 
1857.] THE KANSAS COMMITTEES. 379 
 
 In speaking at Hartford and Canton, Brown used the 
 same manuscript as at Boston ; but at the end of his ad 
 dress made this appeal to the citizens of Connecticut, where 
 he felt more at home than in Massachusetts : - 
 
 "I am trying to raise from twenty to twenty- five thousand dol 
 lars in the free States, to enable me to continue my efforts in the 
 cause of freedom. Will the people of Connecticut, my native State, 
 afford me some aid in this undertaking ? Will the gentlemen and 
 ladies of Hartford, where I make my first appeal in this State, set 
 the example of an earnest effort f Will some gentleman or lady 
 take hold and try what can be done by small contributions from 
 counties, cities, towns, societies, or churches, or in some other way ? 
 I think the little beggar-children in the streets are sufficiently inter 
 ested to warrant their contributing, if there was any need of it, to 
 secure the object. I was told that the newspapers in a certain city 
 were dressed in mourning on hearing that I was killed and scalped 
 in Kansas, but I did not know of it until I reached the place. Much 
 good it did me. In the same place I met a more cool reception than 
 in any other place where I have stopped. If my friends will hold up 
 my hands while I live, I will freely absolve them from any expense 
 over me when I am dead. I do not ask for pay, but shall be most 
 grateful for all the assistance I can get." 
 
 At the same time, or a little earlier, Brown published 
 this letter in the "New York Tribune" of March 4, 
 1857 : - 
 
 To the Friends of Freedom. 
 
 The undersigned, whose individual means "were exceedingly lim 
 ited when he first engaged in the struggle for liberty in Kansas, 
 being now still more destitute, and no less anxious than in time past 
 to continue his efforts to sustain that cause, is induced to make this 
 earnest appeal to the friends of freedom throughout the United 
 States, in the firm belief that his call will not go unheeded. I ask 
 all honest lovers of liberty and human rights, both male and female, 
 to hold up my hands by contributions of pecuniary aid, either as 
 counties, cities, towns, villages, societies, churches, or individuals. 
 T will endeavor 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. Callender, cashier State Bank, Hartford, 
 Conn. It is 7ny intention to visit as many places as I can during 
 my stay in the States, provided I am first informed of the disposition 
 
380 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1857. 
 
 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, who 
 love the cause, volunteer to take up the business ? It is with no 
 little sacrifice of personal feeling that I appear in this manner before 
 the public. 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 About a mouth after his address in the State House at 
 Boston, Brown visited me in Concord, and held a successful 
 public meeting there. He afterwards spoke in Worces 
 ter, and the following correspondence relates to matters 
 there : 
 
 Letters of Eli Thayer. 
 
 WORCESTER, March 18, 1857. 
 
 FRIEND BROWN, I have just returned from Albany, and find 
 your favor of the 16th. I am glad you had a good meeting at Con 
 cord, as I knew you would have, for the blood of heroes is not ex 
 tinct in that locality. I will see some of our friends here to-morrow, 
 and we will decide at once about your speaking here. If you are to 
 speak, you will do well to be here a day or two in advance, and con 
 verse with some of our citizens. I will write you again to-morrow. 
 
 Truly yours, 
 
 ELI THAYER. 
 
 WORCESTER, March 19, 1857. 
 
 FRIEND BROWN, I have seen some of our friends to-day, and 
 they say you had better come here next Monday. There is to be an 
 antislavery meeting in the evening, and I think it will be a very good 
 time for you to present your cause, which is the Free-State cause 
 of Kansas, which is the cause of mankind. I shall expect you to do 
 me the favor of stopping at my house. 
 
 Truly yours, 
 
 ELI THAYER. 
 
 Upon both these letters is this indorsement in the hand 
 writing of John Brown : " Eli Thayer. Answered March 
 23d in person." This means that he went to Worcester, 
 
1857.] THE KANSAS COMMITTEES 381 
 
 Monday, the 23d, and spoke that night at the antislavery 
 meeting, 1 of which he had been notified. 
 
 WORCESTER, March 30, 1857. 
 
 CAPTAIN BROWN, I have received your letter from Easton, 
 Perm. Some of the men engaged in the Virginia scheme care 
 nothing for slavery or antislavery but to make money. Of course 
 such will do nothing for Kansas ; but most of us have been doing, 
 and shall continue to do, till the thing is settled. We have not 
 the remotest idea of relinquishing Kansas, not at all. I have 
 just seen Mr. Higginson, and he informs me that our county commit 
 tee will let you have fifty dollars. Perhaps, also, something will be 
 raised by subscription, I gave the papers to Mr. Higginson. He 
 will write to you. Please let me know when you are coming this 
 way. Do not pay postage on your letter to me, let Uncle Sam do 
 his part. Truly yours, 
 
 ELI THAYER. 2 
 
 While Brown was at Worcester on this second visit, he 
 was introduced by Mr. Thayer to the manufacturers of arms 
 
 1 Dr. "Wayland, of Philadelphia, who was then a young clergyman in 
 Worcester, thus writes respecting the occasion : 
 
 " In the spring of 1857, just after the Dred Scott decision of the 
 Supreme Court, I, being then a resident of Worcester, was getting up 
 a lecture for Frederick Douglass, at which the then Mayor of the city 
 for the first time in an American city presided at an address of Mr. 
 Douglass. I called at the house of Eli Thayer, afterwards member of 
 Congress from that District, to ask him to sit on the platform. Here I 
 found a stranger, a man of tall, gaunt form, with a face smooth-shaven, 
 destitute of the full beard that later became a part of history. The 
 children were climbing over his knees ; he said, ' The children always 
 come to me.' I was then introduced to John Brown of Osawatomie. 
 How little one imagined then that within less than three years the name 
 of this plain home-spun man would fill America and Europe ! Mr. Brown 
 consented to occupy a place on the platform, and at the urgent request of 
 the audience spoke briefly. It is one of the curious facts, that many men 
 who do it are utterly unable to tell about it. John Brown, a flame of iire 
 in action, was dull in speech." 
 
 a This letter is indorsed by John Brown, " Hon. Eli Thayer. Answered 
 1st April," which was soon after Brown's return from a visit he had made 
 with Martin Conway and myself to Governor Eeeder at his home at Easton, 
 in the hope of persuading him to go back and take the lead of the Free- 
 State men in Kansas in place of Robinson, who had lost the confidence of 
 the people. 
 
882 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1857. 
 
 in that city, of which this note and the subsequent corres 
 pondence is evidence : 
 
 APRIL 4, 1857. 
 
 MESSRS. ALLEN & WIIEELOCK, Captain Brown wishes to get 
 a cannon and rifle which 1 have given him so sighted as to secure 
 accuracy. I hope you will attend to his wishes. 
 
 Truly yours, 
 
 ELI THAYER. 
 
 What the further errand of the Kansas hero was with 
 this firm will be seen below : 
 
 Letters to and from Eli Thayer, etc. 
 
 SPRINGFIELD, MASS., April 16, 1857. 
 Hon. ELI THAYER. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, I am advised that one of u Uncle Sam's hounds 
 is on my track ; " and I have kept myself hid for a few days to let my 
 track get cold. I have no idea of being taken, and intend (if God 
 will) to go hack with irons in rather than upon my hands. Now, my 
 dear sir, let me ask you to have Mr. Allen & Co. send me by express 
 one or two navy-sized revolvers as soon as may be, together with his 
 best cash terms (he warranting them) by the hundred with good 
 moulds, flasks, etc. I wish the sample pistols sent to John (not 
 Captain) Brown, care of Massasoit House, Springfield, Mass. I now 
 enclose twenty dollars towards repairs done for me and revolvers ; the 
 balance I will send as soon as I get the bill. I have written to have 
 Dr. Howe send you by express a rifle and two pistols, which with the 
 guns you gave me and fixings, together with the rifle given me by 
 Mr. Allen & Co. , I wish them to pack in a suitable strong box, per 
 fectly safe, directing to J. B., care of Orson M. Oviatt, Esq., Cleve 
 land, Ohio, as freight, to keep dry. For box, trouble, and packing I 
 will pay when I get the bill. I wish the box very plainly marked, 
 and forwarded to Cleveland, as soon as you receive the articles from 
 Dr. Howe. I got a fine list in Boston the other day, and hope Wor 
 cester will not be entirely behind. I do not mean you or Mr. Allen 
 &Co. 
 
 Very respectfully your friend, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 P. S. Direct all letters and bills to care of Massasoit House. 
 Please acknowledge. 
 
1857.] THE KANSAS COMMITTEES. 383 
 
 April 17, 1857. 
 
 FRIEND BROWN, I have received your letter containing twenty 
 dollars, and have given it over with contents to Allen & Wheelock, 
 who will attend to your requests. I shall leave to-night for New 
 York City, and may not be back again to look after the things. Please 
 send any directions you wish to Allen & Wheelock. The Boston 
 people have done nobly, especially Mr. Stearns. Dr. Howe has not 
 forwarded the articles named in your letter. As soon as received, I 
 will place them in the hands of Allen & Wheelock. Ithought.it 
 best to give them your letters, so that they might attend to your re 
 quests understandingly. They will be secret. 
 
 Will you allow me to suggest a name for your company ? I should 
 call them " the Neighbors," from Luke, tenth chapter: "Which 
 thinkest thou was neighbor to him who fell among thieves ? " 
 
 Our Virginia scheme is gaining strength wonderfully. 1 Every 
 mail brings me offers of land and men. The press universally favors 
 it, that is, so far as we care for favor. It is bound to go ahead. 
 You must have a home in Western Virginia. 
 Very truly your friend, 
 
 ELI THAYER. 
 
 WORCESTER, April 20, 1857. 
 JOHN BROWN, ESQ. 
 
 DEAR SIR, Your letter to Mr. Thayer was handed us by him 
 with the twenty dollars, and in reply would say that we are very 
 sorry we cannot send you the sample revolvers, owing to great delay 
 in some of our work, etc. We shall not be able to supply you with 
 any at present, and recommend that you obtain Colt's pistols for your 
 immediate use. We will send you one or more as soon as we can 
 get them ready, if we can know where to send them, and would then 
 be glad to supply you with what you may want. We have got the 
 large gun ready ; and at the request of Mr. Thayer we have been 
 and got the cannon and brought it here ; and are waiting for the rifle 
 and pistols that you wrote were to be sent from Dr. Howe, on the 
 receipt of which we shall forward them, together with the cannon, 
 rifles, etc., as you directed ; which we hope will be safely received in 
 due time. Yours truly, 
 
 ALLEN & WHEELOCK. 
 
 1 Lest it should be thought that this refers to Brown's plan for compul 
 sory emancipation (which was not then disclosed), I hasten to say that this 
 "Virginia scheme" was a combination of political campaigning and land 
 speculation, which Mr. Thayer had originated and put in motion at a place 
 named by him C'eredo, in West Virginia. 
 
384 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1857. 
 
 Eli Thayer, whose support of Brown in his most aggres 
 sive measures was at this time cordial and active> was one 
 of the chief managers of the Emigrant Aid Company. 
 Other managers took a like interest in Brown's character 
 or his plans, or in both. Mr. Charles Higginson, a Boston 
 cousin of Wentworth Higginson (who was then preaching 
 at Worcester), had written somewhat earlier as follows : 
 
 EMIGRANT AID ROOMS, BOSTON, Jan. 10, 1857. 
 CAPTAIN JOHN BROWN OF OSAWATOMIE. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I have a small fund in my hands to be used for the 
 benefit of Kansas men. I enclose thirty dollars, with the request 
 that you will use it as you see fit, remembering that you are to 
 regard yourself and your sons as entitled to your consideration as 
 well as any others. Respectfully yours, 
 
 C. J. HIGGINSON. l 
 
 Meantime the Massachusetts Kansas Committee had com 
 pleted the transaction concerning the rifles at Tabor, and 
 given Brown the following orders and votes to show his 
 authority. The first is dated at Boston, Jan. 8, 1857 : 
 
 DEAR SIR, Enclosed we hand you our order on Edward Clark, 
 Esq., of Lawrence, K, T., for two hundred Sharpe's rifled carbines, 
 with four thousand ball cartridges, thirty-one thousand military caps, 
 and six iron ladles, all, as we suppose, now stored at Tabor in 
 the State of Iowa. We wish you to take possession of this property, 
 either at Tabor or wherever it may be found, as our agent, and to 
 hold it subject to our order. For this purpose you are authorized 
 to draw on our treasurer, Patrick T. Jackson, Esq., in Boston, for 
 such sums as may be necessary to pay the expenses as they accrue, 
 to an amount not exceeding five hundred dollars. 
 Truly yours, 
 
 GEORGE L. STEARNS, 
 
 Chairman Massachusetts State Kansas Committee. 
 MR. JOHN BROWN, 
 
 Of Kansas Territory. 
 
 1 Upon this is the following indorsement in Brown's handwriting : 
 "C. J. Higginson, or H. L. Higginson." The latter was a kinsman of 
 Charles Higginson ; and has since been known as the wealthy Boston 
 banker, who supplies his native city with cheap concerts of the best music. 
 I suppose he may have handed the above note or the money to Captain 
 Brown. 
 
1857.] THE KANSAS COMMITTEES. 385 
 
 BOSTON, April 15, 1857. 
 
 DEAR Sm, By the enclosed vote of the llth instant we place 
 in your hands one hundred Sharpe's rifles to be sold in conformity 
 therewith, and wish you to use the proceeds for the benefit of the 
 Free-State men in Kansas ; keeping an account of your doings as 
 far as practicable. Also a vote "placing a further sum of five hun 
 dred dollars at your disposal, for which you can, in need, pass your 
 draft on our treasurer, P. T. Jackson, Esq. 
 Truly yours, 
 
 GEORGE L. STEARNS, 
 
 Chairman Massachusetts State Kansas Committee. 
 MR. JOHN BROWN, 
 
 Massasoit House, Springfield, Mass. 
 
 BOSTON, April 15, 1857. 
 
 At a meeting of the executive committee of the State Kansas Aid 
 Committee of Massachusetts, held in Boston, April 11, 1857, it was 
 
 Voted, That Captain John Brown be authorized to dispose of one 
 hundred rifles, belonging to this committee, to such Free-State inhab 
 itants of Kansas as he thinks to be reliable, at a price not less than 
 fifteen dollars ; and that he account for the same agreeably to his 
 instructions, for the relief of Kansas. 
 
 At the same meeting it was 
 
 Voted, That Captain John Brown be authorized to draw on P. T. 
 Jackson, treasurer, for five hundred dollars, if on his arrival in Kan 
 sas he is satisfied that such sum is necessary for the relief of persons 
 iu Kansas. 
 
 GEORGE L. STEARNS, 
 Chairman Massachusetts State Kansas Committee. 
 
 Having assumed so much responsibility for the property 
 of the committee. Captain Brown, before leaving Boston, 
 made the following will for the protection of his friends : 
 
 I, John Brown, of North Elba, N. Y., intending to visit Kansas, 
 and knowing the uncertainty of life, make my last will as follows : 
 I give and bequeath all trust funds and personal property for the aid 
 of the Free-State cause in Kansas, now in my hands or in the hands 
 of W. H. D. Callender, of Hartford, Conn., to George L. Stearns, of 
 Medford, Mass., Samuel Cabot, Jr , of Boston, Mass., and William 
 H. Russell, of New Haven, Conn., to them and the survivor or sur 
 vivors and their assigns forever, in trust that they will administer 
 said funds and other property, including all now collected or hereafter 
 
 25 
 
386 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1857. 
 
 to be collected by me or in my behalf for the aid of the Free-State 
 cause in Kansas, leaving the manner of so doing entirely at their 
 discretion. 
 
 Signed at Boston, Mass., this 13th day of April, A. D. 1857, in 
 presence of us, who, in presence of said Brown and of each other, 
 have at his request affixed our names as witnesses of his will. The 
 words u and personal property" and u and other property" interlined 
 before signature by said Brown, and u said Callender," erased. 
 
 (Signed) JOHN BROWN. 
 
 DANIEL FOSTER, } 
 
 MARY ELLEN RUSSELL, > Witnesses. 
 
 THOMAS RUSSELL, ) 
 
 The purposes of the Massachusetts Committee will be seen 
 by the letter of Mr. Stearns to a New York committee, dated 
 May 18, 1857. He said : 
 
 " Since the close of the last year we have confined our operations 
 to aiding those persons in Kansas who were, or intended to become, 
 citizens of that Territory, believing that sufficient inducements to 
 immigrate existed in the prosperous state of affairs there; and we 
 now believe that should quiet and prosperity continue there for an 
 other year, the large influx of Northern and Eastern men will secure 
 the State for freedom. To insure the present prosperity we propose 
 
 " 1. To have our legislature make a grant of one hundred thousand 
 dollars, to be placed in the hands of discreet persons, who shall use 
 it for the relief of those in Kansas who are, or may become, destitute 
 through Border-Ruffian outrage. We think it will be done. 
 
 " 2. To organize a secret force, well armed, and under control of 
 the famous John Brown, to repel Border-Ruffian outrage and defend 
 the Free-State men from all alleged impositions. This organization 
 is strictly to be a defensive one. 
 
 ' 3. To aid by timely donations of money those parties of settlers 
 in the Territory who from misfortune are unable to provide for their 
 present wants. 
 
 " I am personally acquainted with Captain Brown, and have great 
 confidence in his courage, prudence, and good judgment. He has 
 control of the whole affair, including contributions of arms, clothing, 
 etc., to the amount of thirteen thousand dollars. His presence in the 
 Territory will, we think, give the Free- State men confidence in their 
 cause, and also check the disposition of the Border Ruffians to impose 
 on them. This I believe to be the most important work to be done 
 in Kansas at the present time. Many of the Free-State leaders being 
 engaged in speculations are willing to accept peace on any terms. 
 
1857.] THE KANSAS COMMITTEES. 387 
 
 Brown and his friends will hold to the original principle of making 
 Kansas free, without regard to private interests. If you agree with 
 me, I should like to have your money appropriated for the use of 
 Captain John Brown. If not that, the other proposition, to aid par 
 ties of settlers now in the Territory, will be the next best." 
 
 As has already been mentioned, Captain Brown, in com 
 pany with Martin F. Con way and myself, representing the 
 Massachusetts Committee, met by appointment at the Metro 
 politan Hotel in New York late in March, 1857, and pro 
 ceeded in company to Easton, Penn., where Mr. Reeder, a 
 former governor of Kansas, was living, for the purpose of 
 inducing him, if possible, to return to Kansas and become 
 the leader of the Free-State party there. The journey was 
 undertaken at the request of the Massachusetts Committee, 
 of which both Brown and Conway were agents. It resulted 
 in nothing ; for Mr. Reeder was unwilling to leave his 
 family and his occupations at Easton to engage again in the 
 political contests of Kansas. Captain Brown had quite a 
 different conception of his own duty to his family, as com 
 pared with his duty to the cause. Although he had been 
 absent from home nearly two years, he refrained from a visit 
 to North Elba, where his family then were, until he had ar 
 ranged his military affairs in Boston and New York ; and he 
 finally reached his rough mountain home late in February. 
 He found his daughter Ellen, whom he had left an infant 
 in the cradle, old enough to hear him sing his favorite hymn, 
 " Blow ye the trumpet, blow ! " to the old tune of Lenox. 
 "He sung all his own children to sleep with it," writes 
 his daughter Anne, " and some of his grandchildren, too. 
 He seemed to be very partial to the first verse ; I think that 
 he applied it to himself. When he was at home (I think it 
 was the first time he came from Kansas), he told Ellen that 
 he had sung it to all the rest, and must to her, too. She was 
 afraid to go to him alone [the poor child had forgotten her 
 father in his two years' absence], so father said that I 
 must sit with her. He took Ellen on one knee and me on 
 the other and sung it to us." His sons were now inclined 
 to give up war and remain at North Elba, and so his wife 
 wrote him, March 21. He replied : 
 
388 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1857. 
 
 To his Wife. 
 
 SPRINGFIELD, MASS., March 31, 1857. 
 
 DEAR WIFE, Your letter of the 21st is just received. I have 
 only to say as regards the resolution of the hoys to u learn and prac 
 tice war no more,'' that it was not at my solicitation that they en 
 gaged in it at first ; and that while I may perhaps feel no more love 
 of the business than they do, still I think there may be possibly in 
 their day what is more to be dreaded, if such things do not now 
 exist. ... I have just got a long letter from Mr. Adair. All 
 middling well, March 11, but had fears of further trouble after a 
 while. 9 
 
 Your affectionate husband, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 He found means to overcome the reluctance of his chil 
 dren to sacrifice themselves for the cause of the slave, and 
 this in spite of many discouragements of his own. In reply 
 to Mr. Adair, he wrote this short note : 
 
 SPRINGFIELD, MASS., March 31, 1857. 
 
 DEAR BROTHER AND SISTER ADAIR, I received Mr. Adair's 
 most welcome letter to-day, and am greatly obliged for it indeed. I 
 also yesterday saw your letter to Mr. Burt, at Canton, Conn. Mr. 
 Burt died in January. In him truth, right, and humanity lost a 
 faithful friend. I have but a moment to write, and but little to say 
 that would afford you any interest, except that friends are well, so far 
 as I know, and that I think of going West somewhere, soon. The 
 excitement is getting up this way in view of Supreme Court pro 
 ceedings, 1 Walker's appointment as governor of Kansas, etc. May 
 God still preserve and keep you all ! 
 
 Your affectionate brother, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 It was about this time that Brown made the unlucky 
 acquaintance of Hugh Forbes, was pleased with him, and 
 engaged him to drill his soldiers at a salary of one hundred 
 dollars a month, even going so far as to pay him six hun 
 dred dollars in advance, early in April. Mr. Callender, of 
 the State Bank in Hartford, thus testified before Senator 
 Mason's committee : 
 
 1 The Dred Scott decision. 
 
1857.] THE KANSAS COMMITTEES. 389 
 
 "I had instructions from Mr. Brown to pay Forbes six hundred 
 dollars ; that was about the 1st of April, 1857 j the two drafts I have 
 with me. 
 
 [The witness produced two drafts, which are in the following words and 
 figures : 
 No.. $400. NEW YORK, April 27, 1857. 
 
 At sight, pay to the order of Ketclmm, Howe, & Co. four hundred dol 
 lars, value received, and charge the same to account of 
 
 (Signed) HUGH FORBKS. 
 
 Indorsed : Cr. our account, 
 
 KETCHUM, HOWE, & Co. 
 
 No. . $200. NEW YORK, April 29, 1857. 
 
 Pay to the order of Ketchum, Howe, & Co. two hundred dollars, value 
 received, and charge the same to account of 
 
 (Signed) HUGH FORBES. 
 
 "W. H. D. CALLENDER, ESQ., Hartford, Conn.] 
 
 " Mr. Brown told me that Mr. Forbes might draw upon me for six 
 hundred dollars; that was about the 1st of April, 1857 ; these drafts 
 soon afterwards came on, and I paid them. Brown furnished me, I 
 think, with four hundred dollars, which came from Springfield." 
 
 The fish had swallowed the golden hook, but it was not 
 easy to " land " him. He should have followed Brown to 
 the West in May, but he loitered in New York, and Brown 
 was forced to warn him as follows. Mr. Callender says : 
 
 " Here is an order drawn by John Brown, dated the 22d of June, 
 1857, upon Colonel H. Forbes, at New York City, in these words : 
 
 ' SIR, If you have drawn on W. H. D. Callender, Esq., cashier at 
 Hartford, Conn., for six hundred dollars, or any part of that amount, and 
 are not prepared to come on and join me at once, you will please pay over to 
 Joseph Bryant, Esq., who is my agent, six hundred dollars, or whatever 
 amount you have so drawn.' 
 
 " The indorsement on it is, 
 
 * I did not present this to the colonel, as I presumed it would be of no 
 use ; and then he is, I am persuaded, acting on good faith. 
 
 (Signed) JOSEPH BRYANT.' " 
 
 Forbes was printing his precious Manual in New York, 
 and also enjoying the advantages of the city, instead of 
 hurrying away to the prairies. Mr. Bryant at various dates 
 thus reports him : 
 
390 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1857. 
 
 June 1. I this day saw your friend Colonel Forbes; he is trying 
 to raise funds to get his family brought to this country, but I fear he 
 will not succeed very well. I will have, when collected, some six 
 dollars only in my hands ; this I intend passing into his hands. I 
 may get a few dollars more, but the prospects are not very good here 
 at present to raise money. The colonel says he is getting along well 
 in getting his printing done (and is losing no time). 
 
 June 16. I called on the colonel last night ; found him well, ex 
 cept very anxious about getting his family to this country. He is 
 not ready to join you ; thinks nothing will be needed out West be 
 fore winter, not till Congress have met and acted in favor of the 
 constitution about being framed; so he thinks. He is getting along, 
 he tells me, as fast as possible with his book ; will have it ready in 
 about ten days ; has as yet raised no funds to pay the passage of his 
 family. Thinks they will have to come in the third class passage, 
 which grieves him very much, as his wife is not in good health. I 
 had promised what money was in my hands to defray the expenses of 
 publishing his book ; this I promised him on account of your intro 
 duction to me of him. 
 
 June 25. Yours of the 22d was duly received by me on yesterday, 
 and I, according to your request, called on the colonel. I learned that 
 he intends to leave here to join you in about ten days (certainly, barring 
 accidents}. I learned, too, that he had drawn the money, and I think 
 it is pretty well used up by this time. I did not say anything about 
 his refunding, as he assured me, in the most positive way he could, 
 that he would set out as soon as he got his book finished, which 
 would be done in about a week. He says he is as anxious as you are 
 to do everything that can be done; but he still thinks that there will 
 be no need of action before winter. Yet he admitted it was best to be 
 ready; and he thinks his book of extracts is all-important. a part of 
 the necessary tools to work with. He has given up the idea of get 
 ting his family over to this country, and is about sending his daughter 
 back to her mother. She will leave in a few days. He sent his 
 family (I understood from himself) about one hundred and twenty 
 dollars some time ago of the money he drew, and I suppose it will 
 take some hundred dollars for his daughter to go home on; yet I 
 think the colonel is acting in good faith, and is an honorable man. 
 
 The character of Hugh Forbes and his final connection 
 with Brown will be considered hereafter. It is enough to 
 say, now, that he was unfitted for the work given him to do, 
 and that the money paid to him was worse than thrown 
 away ; yet the lack of this sum six or seven hundred 
 
1857.] THE KANSAS COMMITTEES. 391 
 
 dollars embarrassed Brown at every step of his course in 
 the summer of 1857, and prevented his reaching Kansas 
 until late in the year. Meantime his friends there were 
 expecting him, and he was corresponding with them at in 
 tervals. Through one of these friends, Augustus Wattles, 
 then living at Lawrence, he sent messages to others ; and 
 one of these letters expresses so pungently his opinion of 
 Kansas affairs in the early spring of 1857, that I will quote 
 it here : 
 
 BOSTON, MASS., April 8, 1857. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, Your favor of the 15th March, and that of friend 
 Holmes of the 16th, I have just received. I cannot express my grati 
 tude for them both. They give me just that kind of news I was most 
 of all things anxious to hear. I bless God that he has not left the 
 Free-State men of Kansas to pollute themselves by the foul and 
 loathsome embrace of the old rotten whore. I have been trembling 
 all along lest they might "back down" from the high and holy 
 ground they had taken. I say, in view of the wisdom, firmness, and 
 patience of my friends and fellow- sufferers in the cause of humanity, 
 let God's name be eternally praised ! I would most gladly give my 
 hand to all whose u garments are not defiled ; " and I humbly trust 
 that I shall soon again have opportunity to rejoice (or suffer further 
 if need be) with you in the strife between heaven and hell. I wish 
 to send my most cordial and earnest salutation to every one of the 
 chos'en. My efforts this way have not been altogether fruitless. I 
 wish you and friend Holmes both to accept this for the moment ; may 
 write soon again, and hope to hear from you both at Tabor, Fremont 
 County, Iowa, care of Jonas Jones, Esq. 
 Your sincere friend, 
 
 NELSON HAWKINS. 
 
 AUGUSTUS WATTLES, ESQ., Lawrence, K. T. 
 
 " Friend Holmes " was Brown's youngest lieutenant, who 
 thus wrote to him after he had left New England for North 
 Elba : - 
 
 Letters of J. H. Holmes to John Brown. 
 
 LAWRENCE, KANSAS, April 30, 1857. 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEND BROWN, I have been anxiously expecting to 
 hear from you direct, but have only heard through Mr. Wattles. I 
 want to see you as soon as possible after you arrive in the Territory.. 
 
392 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1857. 
 
 I have .settled at Emporia, six miles above the junction of the Neo- 
 sho and the Cottonwood. My address is either Emporia or Law- 
 .rence, as you may choose. My letters all come and go safe. War, ere 
 six months shall have passed away, is inevitable. Secretary Stanton 
 has made a public speech in Lawrence, and says that those laws (the 
 l)ogus) shall be enforced, and that the taxes shall be paid. The peo 
 ple shout, " Never ! " " Then," he says, " there is war between you 
 and me, war to the knife, and the knife to the hilt." There will be 
 no voting ; no paying of taxes ; and I think the Free-State men will 
 remove the Territorial Government and set up their own. Then we 
 want you. Please write. All your friends, as far as I know, are 
 well. Very truly yours, 
 
 JAMES H. HOLMES. 1 
 
 This letter was immediately followed by another, in 
 which Holmes opens a little of the mystery of Kansas pol 
 itics in this third year of the struggle there : 
 
 LAWRENCE, KAN., 3 o'clock, p. M., April 30, 1857. 
 
 DEAR FRIEND BROWN, This morning I received your letter 
 which came by the way of Tabor, and also your letter which came 
 through the mail. I had previously written you a short letter. I 
 now write to let you know that I have received them, and to an 
 swer them hastily ; though I presume you will leave Springfield for 
 Kansas ere this reaches you. I do not think there is any disposition 
 to ll back down " by the Free-State men, other than by the specu 
 lators ; and they are, as a class, never to be relied on, of course. I 
 have full faith in the virtue of the Free-State men of Kansas. You 
 have something to learn in the political world here. 
 
 You will hear of me either at Lawrence, through J. E. Cook, of the 
 firm of Bacon, Cook, & Co., or I may be at Emporia, where I have 
 taken a claim and make it my home. At any rate, Cook can tell 
 you where I may be. A case has recently occurred of kidnapping a 
 Free-State man, which is this : Archibald Kandell, a young fellow 
 who came in with Redpath under Eldridge, last fall, and has been 
 all winter on a claim near Osawatomie, was some two weeks since 
 enticed out under pretence of trading horses, by four men, and 
 abducted into Missouri. Archy was in my company, and is a good 
 
 1 Holmes was at this time nineteen years old, the son of a New York 
 broker, and had gone to Kansas to aid the cause of freedom. He has since 
 been a journalist, and under President Lincoln was secretary of New 
 Mexico. Brown used to call him "my little hornet." 
 
1857.] THE KANSAS COMMITTEES. 393 
 
 brave fellow. How long he is to remain incarcerated and in chains I 
 will not in this place and time attempt to predict. 
 
 Judge Conway is here, radical and right. Dr. Robinson recently 
 made a proposition with some leading proslavery men to compro 
 mise. The Free-State men won't do it. We are talking of running 
 Phillips for governor next fall. 
 
 Very truly your constant friend, 
 
 JAMES. 
 
 This letter was months in reaching Brown, who did not 
 answer it until September 9. Mr. Wattles wrote in the 
 summer, touching upon matters political, and in reply to a 
 second letter from Brown, who was meditating his proposed 
 attack on slavery in Missouri, and for this time called him 
 self " James Smith," instead of "Hawkins.''* 
 
 John Brown to A. Wattles. 
 
 HUDSON, OHIO, June 3, 1857. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, I write to say that I started for Kansas some 
 three weeks jer more since, but have been obliged to stop for the 
 fever and ague. I am now righting up, and expect to be on my way 
 again soon. Free-State men need have no fear of my desertion. 
 There are some half-dozen men I want a visit from at Tabor, Iowa, 
 to come off in the most QUIET WAY ; namely, Daniel Foster, late of 
 Boston, Massachusetts ; Holmes, Frazee, a Mr. Hill, and William 
 David, on Little Ottawa Creek ; a Mr. Cochran, on Pottawatomie 
 Creek ; or I would like equally well to see Dr. Updeyraff and S. H. 
 Wright, of Osawatomie ; or William Phillips, or CONWAY, or your 
 honor. I have some very important matters to confer with some of 
 you about. Let there be no words about it. Should any of you come 
 out to see me, wait at Tabor if you get there first. Mr. Adair, at 
 Osawatomie, may supply fifty dollars (if need be) for expenses, on 
 my account, on presentation of this. Write me at Tabor, Iowa, 
 Fremont County. Very respectfully yours, 
 
 JAMES SMITH. 1 
 
 1 The persons mentioned in this letter were supposed by Brown to be 
 specially friendly and true to him. Foster was a clergyman, formerly set 
 tled at Concord, Mass., but then in Kansas. Holmes was Brown's lieu 
 tenant in 1856, and afterward in 1858-59. Frazee was Brown's teamster 
 and soldier in 1856, and fought at Black Jack, as did B. L. Cochran. Dr. 
 Updegraff fought at Osawatomie. Concerning David, Hill, and Wright 
 I have little information. Phillips was afterwards Congressman. 
 
394 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1857. 
 
 The Reply. 
 
 LAWRENCE, K. T., June 18, 1857. 
 JAMES SMITH, ESQ. 
 
 DKAR SIR, Your favor of the 3d instant was duly received. I 
 am much pleased to hear from you. We talked over matters here, and 
 concluded to say, come as quietly as possible, or not come at present, 
 as you may choose. Holmes is at Emporia, plowing ; Con way is 
 here, talking politics ; Phillips is here, trying to urge the Free-State 
 men to galvanize the Topeka constitution into life. Dr. Robinson's 
 absence at the assembling of the Free-State Legislature last winter 
 dispirited thp Free-State party. It is difficult to make them rally 
 again under him. Foster I do not know. Frazee has not returned. 
 The others are as you left them. We are prospering finely. You 
 will hear much against- G. W. Brown and the " Herald of Freedom," 
 but be careful about believing it. Brown is as good as ever. 
 Most truly your friend, 
 
 AUGUSTUS WATTLES.* 
 
 In reply to a letter of Brown, sent in August from 
 Tabor, Mr. Wattles wrote again on Kansas politics, and 
 more definitely. 
 
 Letters from Kansas Friends. 
 
 LAWRENCE, K. T., Aug. 21, 1857. 
 
 DEAR SIR Your favor of August 8 came duly to hand, as did 
 yours to Dr. Prentice. The business you speak of was put into the 
 hands of Mr. Realf. Mr. Whitman and Mr. Edmonds 2 are both 
 gone East. In regard to other inquiries, I can hardly tell you satis 
 factorily. I think Dr. Robinson's failure to meet the legislature 
 last winter disheartened the people so that they lost confidence in 
 him and in the movement. Although in the Convention we invited 
 him to withdraw his resignation (which he did), yet the masses 
 could never be vitalized again into that enthusiasm and confidence 
 which they had before. Another mistake which he made, equally 
 fatal, was his attack upon George W. Brown and the " Herald of 
 Freedom ; " thus leading off his friends into a party by themselves, 
 and leaving all who doubted and hated him in another party. This 
 war between the leaders settled the question of resistance to outside 
 
 1 Indorsed by John Brown: "A. "Wattles, No. 2. Requires no, reply." 
 
 2 Two names for the same man. 
 
1857.J THE KANSAS COMMITTEES. 395 
 
 authority at once. Those who had entertained the idea of resistance 
 have entirely abandoned it. Dr. Robinson was not alone in his blun 
 ders. Colonel Lane, Mr. Phillips, and "The Republican" made 
 equally fatal ones. Colonel Lane boasted in his public speeches 
 that the Constitutional Convention would be driven into the Kaw 
 River, etc., by violence. Mr. Phillips boasted this, and much more, 
 in the " New York Tribune." " The Republican" boasted that old 
 Captain Brown would be down on Governor Walker and Co. like an 
 avenging god, etc. This excited Walker and others to that degree 
 they at once took refuge under the United States troops. Whatever 
 might have been intended, much more was threatened and boasted 
 of than could possibly have been performed, unless there was an 
 extensive conspiracy. This, I believe, Governor Walker says was 
 the case. 
 
 I saw Con way to-day. He says he thinks all will go off quietly 
 at the election. Phillips, you will see by the " Tribune," has come 
 out in favor of voting in October. They intend to cheat us ; but we 
 expect to beat them. Walker is as fair as he can be, under the 
 circumstances. Yours truly, 
 
 A. WATTLES. 1 
 
 A few days earlier than this letter was written, Holmes, 
 who differed a little from Wattles, sent a word of warning 
 to his captain, along with other information, thus : 
 
 LAWRENCE, K. T., Aug. 16, 1857. 
 
 My DEAR FRIEND, I received your letter of the 8th inst. yes 
 terday. I am glad to hear that you are so near. Messrs. Realf, 
 Phillips, and Wattles also received letters from you yesterday. I 
 have a word of caution to say in regard to Mr. Wattles. He is a 
 friend whom I most highly esteem ; yet he is so connected in politics 
 that I think it unsafe for you to communicate to him any plans you 
 would not like to communicate directly to Governor Walker. For 
 this reason : Mr. Wattles is under George W. Brown ; and both be 
 lieve in submitting in good faith, under Governor Walker, to the Ter 
 ritorial authorities. Governor Walker comes to town frequently, and 
 stops at the " Herald of Freedom" office, in secret conclave with 
 G. W. Brown. When you come here (if you should), you can judge 
 for yourself. 
 
 1 Indorsed by John Brown : " A. Wattles, ISTo. 6." The rest of these 
 letters are not in my hands. The election mentioned was to occur in 
 October, and was carried by the Free-State men. "Walker" was the 
 new Governor, R. J. Walker, of Pennsylvania. 
 
396 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1857. 
 
 Messrs. Phillips, Wattles, and Realf I have seen ; they will write 
 to you themselves, and I will merely give you my own mind on 
 the subject. T do not know what you would have me infer by 
 "business." I presume, though, by the word being emphasized, 
 that you refer to the business for which I learn you have a stock of 
 material with you. If you mean this, I think quite strongly of a 
 good(?) opening for this business about the first Monday in October 1 
 next. If you wish other employments, I presume you will find just 
 as profitable ones. I am sorry that you have not been here in the 
 Territory before. I think that the sooner you come the better, so 
 that the people and the Territorial authorities may become familiar 
 ized with your presence. This is also the opinion of all other friends 
 with whom I have conversed on this subject. You could thus exert 
 more influence. Several times we have needed you very much. I 
 have much to communicate to you, which I cannot do through this 
 medium ; therefore you must try to let me know of your approach 
 or arrival as soon as possible, through Mr. Phillips, or through the 
 Lawrence postoffice. I presume Mr. Phillips wrote to you in re 
 gard to teams and means, which, as Mr. Whitman is now East, will 
 be, I fear, scarce. 
 
 Most sincerely your friend, 
 
 JAMES H. HOLMES. 
 
 This letter was directed to " Captain Brown." and so was, 
 perhaps, sent by a safe messenger ; for the Free-State men 
 had much distrust of the mails. This was one reason for 
 the change of names which John Brown adopted ; another 
 was, that he was still proscribed in Kansas, as he had been 
 in 1856, and might be arrested at any time by the Terri 
 torial authorities. Mr. Whitman wrote to him soon after, 
 arid wishing to free him from this anxiety, chose as his 
 messenger the Englishman Realf, of whom we shall soon 
 hear more : 
 
 LAWRENCE, June 30, 1857. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I send you by the bearer, Richard Realf, one hun 
 dred and fifty dollars, minus the reasonable expenses of the messen 
 ger on his way up. You will please make arrangements for him to 
 return with you. Your friends are desirous of seeing you. The 
 dangers that threatened the Territory and individuals have been 
 removed, in the shape of quashed indictments. Y OUT furniture can 
 
 1 Election day. 
 
1857.] THE KANSAS COMMITTEES. 397 
 
 be brought and safely stored while you are seeking a location ; and 
 your family can find board among the settlers. Hoping to see you 
 soon in good health, I remain, as ever, 
 
 Yours truly, E. B. W. 
 
 To CAPTAIN BROWN. 
 
 Mr. Phillips, afterward in Congress from Kansas, and a 
 general during the Civil War, wrote thus : 
 
 LAWRENCE, K. T., June 24, 1857. 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEND, I received your letter, dated from Ohio the 
 9th instant, a few days ago. I fear I shall not be able to meet you 
 at Tabor. I have just received (on the 13th) the task of superin 
 tending and taking the census for the State election. As means are 
 limited, those who can must do this. I have therefore assumed the 
 task, which will require my presence and most active efforts until the 
 15th of July. I have tried to arrange it so as to get off for a week ; 
 but it is impossible without a sacrifice of duty. Should it be so, or 
 if no one else can go, I will still try. Holmes I have seen ; he is 
 busy, and will not be able to come up. Several of those you men 
 tioned are gone, and others cannot go to Tabor. I sent a message 
 to Osawatomie, and enclosed your letter to Mr. Adair ; told him that 
 Holmes and the others could not go, and urged that some go from 
 Osawatomie, if possible. I have not yet heard from him. I start 
 to Osawatomie when I finish this ; I will make it on my round, ap 
 pointing deputies and taking the census. Two young men from 
 this place have promised me that they will go if possible ; but they 
 have no horses, and horses cannot be hired for such a journey. I 
 still hope to have a few friends at Tabor to meet you in a week. 
 
 As to your future action, for fear I should be prevented from going 
 to meet you, let me say I think you should come into Kansas, pro 
 vided you desire to do so. I think it will be our duty to see you 
 protected. There is no necessity for active military preparations at 
 this time ; but so far as you have the elements of defence at your 
 command, I think they are safer with you than with any one else. 
 Your old claim has, I believe, been jumped. If you do not desire to 
 contest it, let me suggest that you make a new settlement at some 
 good point, of which you will be the head. Lay off a town and take 
 claims around it. You would thus rally round you a class of useful 
 men, who could be prepared for an emergency at the same time that 
 they furthered their own interests, which they have a right to do. 
 Any information I could render as to the best sites or otherwise you 
 may cheerfully call upon. Should I not be able to come to meet you, 
 I hope at least to see you shortly after you enter. I have not time to 
 
398 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1857. 
 
 detail the present condition of the Free-State party. Until 1 see 
 you, adieu. Respectfully, 
 
 WILLIAM A. PHILLIPS. 
 JAMES SMITH. 1 
 
 Mr. Whitman's messenger reached Tabor nearly a month 
 before Brown got there, and went back to Kansas again, 
 leaving this note : 
 
 TABOR, IOWA, July 6, 1857. 
 JOHN BROWN, ESQ. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I arrived here to-day from Lawrence, bringing $150, 
 minus my expenses np and down. These will amount to ahout $40, 
 leaving you $110. Mr. Whitman could not, as you will see from his 
 note signed " Edmunds," spare you more; and the mule team you 
 asked for could not he procured. I am sorry you have not arrived : 
 I should like to have gone back with you. The Governor has in 
 structed the Attorney- General of Kansas to enter a nolle prosequi in 
 the case of the Free-State prisoners ; so that you need be under no 
 apprehension of insecurity as to yourself or the munitions you may 
 bring with you. By writing a line to me or Mr. Whitman or Phil 
 lips at Lawrence immediately on your arrival here, we will come 
 and meet you by way of Topeka. God speed you ! 
 
 Truly, RICHARD REALF. 
 
 Brown reported to me at the end of September his prog 
 ress then made, as follows : 
 
 TABOR, FREMONT COUNTY, IOWA, Oct. 1, 1857. 
 F. B. SANBORN, Concord, Mass. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, Two days since I received your very kind letter 
 of the 14th September; also one from James Hunnewell, Esq., say 
 ing he had sent me $72.68 through P. T. Jackson, Esq., of Boston ; 
 for both which I am very glad. 2 I cannot express my gratitude for 
 
 1 Indorsed by John Brown : "William A. Phillips. Requires no reply. 
 No. 1." The tone of this letter shows how Brown was regarded in Kansas 
 as the custodian of arms, which, of course, was the "furniture" men 
 tioned by Mr. Whitman. 
 
 - This note explains the source and object of this seasonable contri 
 bution : 
 
 BOSTON, Sept. 14, 1857. 
 NELSON HAWKINS, ESQ., care of Jonas Jones, Tabor, Iowa. 
 
 DEAR SIR, By order of the (Mass.) Middlesex County Kansas Aid Committee, I 
 have sent to you through P. T. Jackson, Esq. , treasurer of the State Committee, $72.68, 
 " to be appropriated to the use of Captain John Brown, now at Tabor, Iowa, in support 
 of the cause of freedom in Kansas." 
 
 Very respectfully yours, 
 
 JAMES HUNNEWELL, 
 Treasurer of Middlesex County Kansas Aid Committee. 
 
1357.] THE KANSAS COMMITTEES. 399 
 
 your earnest and early attention to my wants and those of my family. 
 I regret that Mr. Hunnewell did not at once send me either a check 
 or a draft on New York or Boston, as it will probably be one month 
 or more before I can realize it ; and I have not the means of paying 
 my board bill here, not having as yet received anything from Mr. 
 Whitman toward a balance of five hundred dollars, nor heard from 
 him. If I get the money from Mr. Hunnewell and Mr. Whitman, it 
 will answer my present wants, except the secret service I wrote you 
 about. I have all the arms I am likely to need, but am destitute 
 of saddle-bags or knapsacks, holsters and belts; have only a few 
 blankets, no shovels or spades, no mattocks, but three or four adzes 
 (ought to have been one hundred), and am nearly destitute of cook 
 ing utensils. The greater part of what I have just named I must do 
 without till another spring, at any rate. I found here one brass 
 field-piece complete, and one damaged gun-carriage, with some am 
 munition suitable for it ; some seventy to seventy-five old damaged 
 United States rifles and muskets, one dozen old sabres, some powder 
 and lead (enough for present use; weight not known), I suppose 
 sent by National Committee. Also one dozen boxes and barrels of 
 clothing, boots, etc., with three hand gristmills, sent to Nebraska 
 City, from same source. I also got from Dr. Jesse Bowen, of Iowa 
 City, one old wagon, which broke down with a light load on the 
 M'ay; also nine full-rigged tents, three sets tent-poles (additional), 
 eleven pairs blankets, and three axes, sent there by National Com 
 mittee. Also from Mr. Hurd I got an order for fifty dollars' worth 
 of tents, wagon-covering, ropes, etc., at Chicago, which was paid 
 me. I find one hundred and ninety-four carbines, about thirty-three 
 hundred ball cartridges, all the primers, but no iron ladles. This, I 
 believe, with the teams and wagon I purchased, will give you a pretty 
 good idea of the stuff I have. I had a gun and pair of pistols given 
 me by Dr. Howe, and some three or four guns made for experiment 
 by Mr. Thayer (a little cannon and carriage is one of them), and one 
 nice rifle by the manufacturing company at Worcester. 1 I had also 
 a few revolvers, common guns, and sabres left on hand, that I took 
 on with me in 1855. While waiting here I and my son have been 
 trying to learn a little of the arts of peace from Colonel F., who is 
 still with us. That is the school I alluded to. 
 
 Before I reached here, I had written particularly to friends in 
 Kansas, saying that I wanted help to meet me here, and to wait for 
 me should I be detained on the way. I also arranged with Mr. 
 Whitman in regard to it in Chicago. He sent one man with one 
 hundred and fifty dollars ; forty of it he kept, and went immediately 
 
 1 These are the arms mentioned in Eli Thaver's letters. 
 
400 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1857. 
 
 back. From that time I send you copies of some of the correspon 
 dence between Kansas and me, as rather essential to give you a 
 correct idea of things in connection with my statements yet to be 
 made. When I got on here I immediately wrote Mr. Whitman 
 and several others what was my situation and wants. He (Mr. 
 Whitman) has not written me at all since what 1 send. Others 
 have written, as you will see. I wrote the man Mr. Whitman 
 sent me, among the rest, but get no word from him since what I 
 now send. 
 
 As to the policy of voting on Monday next, I think Lane hit his 
 mark at the convention of Grasshopper's, if never before ; I mean 
 " An escape into the filthy sluice of a prison." I had not been able 
 to learn by papers or otherwise distinctly what course had been taken 
 in Kansas till within a few days; and probably the less I have to 
 say, the better. 
 
 I omitted above to say that I paid out five hundred and fifty dol 
 lars on a contract for one thousand superior pikes, as a cheap but 
 effectual weapon to place in the hands of entirely unskilful and un 
 practised men, which will not easily get out of order, and require no 
 ammunition. They will cost, handles and all complete, a little short 
 of one dollar each. That contract I have not been able to fulfil ; and 
 wise military men may ridicule the idea; but "I take the whole 
 responsibility of that job," so that I can only get them. 
 
 On hearing that Lane had come into Nebraska, I at once sent a 
 young man with a line, saying I had been hurt, and was exceedingly 
 anxious to see him early in September. To this he scut me no reply, 
 unless Kedpath's letter be one. I am now so far recovered from my 
 hurt as to be able to do a little ; and foggy as it is, " we do not give 
 up the ship." I will not say that Kansas, watered by the tears and 
 blood of my children, shall yet be free or I fall. I intend at once to 
 put the supplies I have in a secure place, and then to put myself and 
 such as may go with me where we may get more speedy communi 
 cations, and can wait until we know better how to act than we now 
 do. I send this whole package to you, thinking Concord a less offen 
 sive name just now than Boston at this end of the route. I wish the 
 whole conveyed to my friend Stearns and other friends, as old Brown's 
 last report. 
 
 Until further advised, I wish all communications addressed to Jonas 
 Jones, Esq., Tabor, Fremont County, Iowa, outwardly ; and I hope 
 you will all write often. 
 
 I had forgotten to say, that day before yesterday one single man, 
 with no team at all, came from Lane to have me start at once for 
 Kansas, as you will see by copies. He said he had left ten fine 
 fellows about thirty miles back. The names he gave me were all 
 
1857.] THE KANSAS COMMITTEES. 401 
 
 strange to me, as well as himself. Tabor folks (some of them) 
 speak slightingly of him, notwithstanding that he too is a general. 
 
 October 3, 1857. 
 
 Yours, covering check, is this moment to hand, and will afford 
 most seasonable relief. Express goes to K. at once to see how the 
 land lies. You will hear again soon. 
 
 Yours most truly, 
 
 J. BROWN. 
 
 The following correspondence will find its key in the 
 letter just given. General Lane was at the head of the 
 organization mentioned, and Mr. Whitman was his quarter 
 master-general. 
 
 (Private.) 
 
 LAWRENCE, Sept. 7, 1857. 
 
 SIR, We are earnestly engaged in perfecting an organization for 
 the protection of the ballot-box at the October election (first Mon 
 day). Whitman and Abbot have been East after money and arms 
 for a mouth past; they write encouragingly, and will be back in a 
 few days. We want you, with all the materials you have. I see no 
 objection to your coming into Kansas publicly. I can furnish you 
 just such a force as you may deem necessary for your protection here 
 and after your arrival. I went up to see you, but failed. Now what 
 is wanted is this : write me concisely what transportation you require, 
 how much money, and the number of men needed to escort you into 
 the Territory safely; and if you desire it I will come up with them. 
 Yours respectfully, 
 
 J. H. LANE. 
 
 To CAPTAIN JOHN BROWN, Tabor. 
 
 Brown's answer was as follows : 
 
 TABOR, FREMONT COUNTY, IOWA, Sept. 16, 1857. 
 GENERAL JAMES H. LANE. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, Your favor of the 7th hist, is received. I had 
 previously written you expressive of my strong desire to see you. I 
 suppose you have my letter before this. As to the job of work you 
 inquire about, I suppose that three good teams, with well covered 
 wagons, and ten really ingenious, industrious (not gassy) men, with 
 about one hundred and fifty dollars in cash, could bring it about 
 in the course of eight or ten days. 
 
 Very respectfully your friend, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 26 
 
402 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1857. 
 
 This letter was returned to Brown by Mr. Jamison, Sep 
 tember 30, and the following note from General Lane came 
 with it. Falls City is in southern Nebraska, comparatively 
 near Tabor. In addressing Brown as " Dear General/'' 
 Lane had in mind the fact that he had made Brown a brig 
 adier of the new army which Lane had organized : 
 
 FALLS CITY, Sept. 29, 18f>7. 
 
 DEAR GENERAL, I send you Mr. Jamison (quartermaster-gen 
 eral second division), to assist you in getting your articles into Kan 
 sas in time. Mr. Whitman wrote us a week ago he would be at 
 Wyandotte yesterday, and that he was supplied with the things ; but 
 he had not arrived when I left. It is all-important to Kansas that 
 your things should be in at the earliest possible moment, and that you 
 should be much nearer at hand than you are. I send you all the money 
 I have (fifty dollars), and General Jamison has some more. We 
 want every gun and all the ammunition. I do not know that we will 
 have to use them, but I do know we should be prepared. I send you 
 ten true men. You can rely upon the General ; and what he tells 
 you comes from me. Yours ever, 
 
 J. H. LANE. 
 
 To GENERAL JOHN BROWN, Tabor. 
 
 To this Brown replied : 
 
 TABOR, FREMONT COUNTY, IOWA, Sept. 30, 1857. 
 GENERAL JAMES H. LANE. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, Your favor from Falls City by Mr. Jamison is 
 just received; also fifty dollars sent by him, which I also return by 
 same hand, as I find it will be next to impossible in my poor state of 
 health to go through on such very short notice, four days only remain 
 ing to get ready, load up, and go through. I think, considering all 
 the uncertainties of the case, want of teams, etc., that I should do 
 wrong to set out. I am disappointed in the extreme. 1 
 
 Very respectfully your friend, JOHN BROWN. 
 
 John Brown to E. B. Whitman. 
 
 TABOR, FREMONT COUNTY, IOWA, Oct. 5, 1857. 
 E. B. WHITMAN, ESQ. 
 
 DEAR SIR, Please send me by Mr. Charles P. Tidd what money 
 you have for me, not papers. He is the second man I have sent in 
 
 1 Brown explained this refusal to comply with Lane's request in his letter 
 to me of October 1, already given, as well as in the letter which follows. 
 
1857.] THE KANSAS COMMITTEES. 403 
 
 order to get the means of taking me through. General Lane sent a 
 man \vho got here without any team, with but fifty dollars of Lane's 
 money (as he said), which I returned to him, and wanted me to start 
 right off, with only four days' time to load up and drive through before 
 this bogus election day, which my state of health and the very wet 
 weather rendered it impossible to do in time; and I did not think it 
 right to start from here under such circumstances. Do try to make 
 me up the money, all in good shape, before Mr. Tidd returns, and 
 also write me everything you know about the aspect of things in 
 Kansas. Please furnish Mr. Tidd with a horse to take him to Osa- 
 watomie, and greatly oblige me. The fifty dollars Lane sent was 
 only about enough to pay up my board bill here, with all I had on 
 hand. I need not say my disappointments have been extreme. 
 Your friend, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 P. S. Before any teams are now sent, I want to hear further from 
 Kansas. 
 
 What was the object of Lane's organization will appear 
 by Mr. Whitman's report below : 
 
 (Order No. 2.) 
 
 QUARTERMASTER'S DEPARTMENT, HEADQUARTERS KANSAS 
 
 VOLUNTEERS FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE BALLOT-BOX, 
 
 LAWRENCE, Oct. 19, 1857. 
 
 Whereas, On the 3d day of August an order was issued from this 
 department requesting the appointment of company, brigade, and 
 division quartermasters, and an immediate return to be made of the 
 number and description of all arms available for the use of the respec 
 tive companies; and whereas, said returns have been generally made : 
 Now, therefore, in reply, and in explanation of the failure to furnish 
 an entire supply for the deficiency, it is deemed proper to declare, that 
 while no efforts were spared by this department, and by the entire 
 staff, promptly to supply the necessary quota of arms, yet the unex 
 pected obstacles which the great financial pressure threw in their 
 way have prevented the anticipated success for the time being. It 
 is, however, a cause for congratulation, that while the reports show 
 a considerable deficiency, yet the entire armament is by no means 
 insignificant. 
 
 The immense immigration of the past year, composed largely of 
 those who deceived by official promises of protection had anticipated 
 no occasion for personal defence, readily accounts for this deficiency. 
 In our disappointment we may rejoice that the effect of the organiza- 
 
404 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1857. 
 
 tion, with all its imperfections, has been in the highest degree satis 
 factory. The knowledge that an outraged people had at length 
 banded themselves together, almost to a man, for the protection of 
 the most sacred rights of freemen, and were ready to die in their de 
 fence, has most manifestly deterred an organized invasion. Voting- 
 lists ready manufactured and false returns have been made to supply 
 its place ; against this the organization could afford no protection. 
 
 It remains to be seen whether the people of Kansas will have any 
 further use for this organization. It is always true that the surest 
 way to prevent an evil is to be prepared to meet it, and three years' 
 experience in the past should teach us not to indulge in any pre 
 mature feelings of security and safety. In view of possible contin 
 gencies, this department hereby announces that it will still continue 
 its exertions to furnish the means of protection and defence to all who 
 may be destitute of them, and in all cases first to supply those locali 
 ties most exposed to invasion and attack. 
 
 E. B. WHITMAN, 
 Quartermaster -General Kansas Volunteers. 
 
 Approved : J. II. LANE, Organizer: 
 
 Mr. Whitman replied as follows to Brown's letter of 
 October 5 : 
 
 LAWRENCE, Oct. 24, 1857. 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEND, Your first two messengers are sick at 
 Tecumseh. I helped them start back with the information that you 
 should soon hear from me, but they were taken sick on their way. 
 Mr. Tidd has been waiting some time for me to receive remittances 
 from the East ; but as the crisis approaches I feel in a hurry to get 
 him off. You are wanted here a week from Tuesday. I will wait 
 no longer, but by great personal exertion have raised on my personal 
 responsibility one hundred and fifty dollars. General Lane will send 
 teams from Falls City, so that you may get your goods all in. 
 Leave none behind if you can help it. Come direct to this place and 
 see me before you make any disposition of your plunder, except to 
 keep it safe. Make the Tabor people wait for what you owe them. 
 They must. Make the money I send answer to get here, and I hope 
 by that time to have more for you. Mr. Tidd will explain all. 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 E. B. WHITMAN. 1 
 
 Finally, this correspondence closes with a letter from 
 Lane. 
 
 1 Indorsed by Brown : "Received at Tabor, Nov. 1." 
 
1857.] THE KANSAS COMMITTEES. 405 
 
 FALLS CITY, Oct. 30, 1357. 
 
 DEAR SIR, By great sacrifice we have raised, and send by Mr. 
 Tidd, one hundred and fifty dollars. I trust this money will.be used 
 to get the guns to Kansas, or as near as possible. If you can get 
 them to this point, we will try to get them on in some way. The 
 probability is Kansas will never need the guns. One thing is cer 
 tain : if they are to do her any good, it will be in the next few days. 
 Let nothing interfere in bringing them on. 
 
 Yours, J. H. LANE. 
 
 Brown accepted this invitation, and entered Kansas ; 
 but without the rifles, and with only a part of his other 
 supplies. 
 
 These tedious delays in the armed expedition under 
 Brown's direction, from which the Massachusetts Com 
 mittee and the majority of the National Committee hoped 
 so much, were very annoying to Brown himself, more so, 
 as it happened, than to those who had placed the arms and 
 money in his hands. " God protects us in winter," he had 
 told his Massachusetts friends ; and the same protection 
 was extended throughout the whole year 1857 to the poor 
 farmers of Kansas, who had suffered in 1856 to the verge 
 of ruin. The resignation of Governor Geary in March and 
 the appointment of Governor Walker had not led, as was 
 feared, to a repetition of the scenes of Shannon's adminis 
 tration. Peace was preserved, emigrants flocked into Kan 
 sas, and the political campaign which ended in the October 
 election had a result unexpectedly favorable to the Free- 
 State men. Consequently the rifles and cannon of Brown 
 were not needed, and but few of them ever were carried 
 into Kansas. Had he gone in with them in June, as he ex 
 pected, the result would not have been materially different, 
 although his presence would have given more confidence to 
 the radical wing in the Free-State party, which ultimately 
 triumphed. In truth, Brown had done his work during the 
 summer of 1856 that season of hardship and terror so 
 thoroughly that there was no need to continue it in 1857. 
 When resumed in 1858-59, it was chiefly to protect the 
 settlers in the border counties, and to aid the escape of 
 slaves in Missouri. What Brown thought and felt during 
 
406 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BKOWN. [1857. 
 
 this year of inaction may be inferred from these letters, 
 which begin with his final departure from New England in 
 April : 
 
 John Brown to his Family and Friends. 
 
 NEW HAVEN, CONN., April 23, 1857. 
 
 DEAR CHILDREN, I received your letter of the 6th and 8th inst. 
 Will endeavor to get the article Ruth wrote for. I now expect to 
 buy the place of Franklin and Samuel. I would be very glad to 
 have some of the friends take a horse-team and meet me at West- 
 port as soon as this is received. Inquire for me at Mr. Judd's, 
 Elizabethtown. I want to get a passage, and to have some things 
 taken out. Have but a moment to write. If I am not found at 
 Westport, wait a little for me. 
 
 Your affectionate father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 VERGKNNES, VT., May 13, 1857. 
 GEORGE L. STEARNS, ESQ., Boston, Mass. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, ... In regard to the security you mention, 
 for being responsible for Colonel Carter, I will say, it is most reason 
 able ; but as I deem it most uncertain what will become of things I 
 carry into the war, and as I need arms "more than I do bread," I 
 propose not to draw on you for the amount named, thirteen hun 
 dred dollars, and will not. 
 
 This, I trust, will be entirely satisfactory to you, and a vastly bet 
 ter security. I am exceeding glad of the arrangement with Colonel 
 Carter, \vhom I have written. I leave here for the West to-day, 
 with health some improved, and shall be much gratified with getting 
 a line from you, addressed to Orson M. Oviatt, Esq., Cleveland, 
 Ohio. Please remember me to Mrs. S., family, and other friends; 
 and believe me 
 
 Your sincere friend, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 The allusion above is to the generous offer of Mr. Stearns 
 to guarantee the payment for two hundred revolvers, made 
 by him in these letters of May, 1857 : 
 
 May 4. I have written to Colonel Carter that I will be responsi 
 ble for the payment of thirteen hundred dollars for two hundred 
 revolvers, as you propose, and have requested him to write to you if 
 
1857.] THE KANSAS COMMITTEES. 407 
 
 he accepts my proposal. 1 If he does not, I will write to you again. 
 If I pay for these revolvers, I shall expect that all the arms and am 
 munition, rifles as well as revolvers, not used for the defence of 
 Kansas, shall be held as pledged to me for the payment of this 
 amount. To this our committee have assented by a vote passed on 
 Saturday, and I have no doubt you will assent to it. If you do not, 
 let me know your reasons. 
 
 May 6. I think you ought to go to Kansas as soon as possible, 
 and give Robinson and the rest some backbone. 
 
 May 11. I am glad to know that you are on your way to Kansas : 
 the Free-State leaders need somebody to talk to them. I hope you 
 will see Conway very soon after your arrival. I did not expect you 
 to return, or hold pledged to me, any arms you used in Kansas, but 
 only such as were not used. 
 
 Truly yours, 
 
 GEORGE L. STEARNS. 
 
 Although Mr. Stearns had given authority to draw on 
 him for seven thousand dollars during 1857, what John 
 Brown actually did was to abstain from drawing for a dol 
 lar, to take nothing from this abundance either for his 
 own comforts or the wants of his family, but to push for 
 ward with the work he had undertaken, burdened in heart, 
 but faithful to the trust his friends reposed in him. They, 
 alas ! were not always so thoughtful for him as he for them ; 
 they did not consider that the promises of rich men to poor 
 men should be kept not only sacredly but promptly. Bis 
 dat qui cito dat would have been Greek to John Brown ; 
 but the meaning of that maxim was burned into his soul by 
 the delay in that petty subscription which Mr. Lawrence 
 had undertaken for the relief of Brown's family. Here are 
 some of the letters which Mr. Stearns and I received from 
 him in the spring and summer of 1857 : 
 
 1 Mr. Stearns's letter to Colonel Carter, agent of the Massachusetts 
 Arms Company, was as follows : 
 
 BOSTON, May 4, 1857. 
 
 DEAR SIR, Being desirous of aiding Captain Brown in his Kansas enterprise, I am 
 willing to purchase of you the two hundred revolvers, to be delivered to him as pro 
 posed, and to pay you by my note at four months from date of delivery. This will give 
 me time to get the money, should I wish to raise the amount by subscription. Should 
 you accept my proposition, you will please notify Captain Brown that you are ready to 
 deliver ; aud your draft, accompanied by his receipt for the property, will be accepted. 
 
408 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1857. 
 
 To Mr. Stearns. 
 
 VERGENNES, VT., May 13, 1857. 
 
 Some days since, while on my way home [to North Elba, N. Y.], 
 sick with fever and ague, I got your favor of the 29th April, saying, 
 " Mr. Lawrence has agreed with me that the one thousand dollars 
 shall be made up, and will write to Gerrit Smith to-day or to-mor 
 row, to say that he can depend on the money from him. 7 ' After 
 getting home I agreed with two young men (by the name of 
 Thompson) who had bargained with Mr. Smith for the farm sev 
 eral years ago, and paid him in part for it, and who had made the 
 improvements on it, that I would take the farm, pay the balance 
 due Mr. Smith (some two hundred dollars), and the remainder, 
 about eight hundred dollars, to them; which would enable them 
 TO pay for another farm which they had before bought of a Mr. 
 Lawtori, and were unable to pay for. Three days ago one of these 
 men set out for Peterboro' (the home of Gerrit Smith) to meet 
 me there, on my way West, and have the thing completed. I 
 will now say ( u frankly," as you suggest) that I must ask to have 
 the one thousand dollars made up at once and forwarded to Gerrit 
 Smith. I did not start the measure of getting up any subscription 
 for me (although I was sufficiently needy, as God knows), nor had 
 I a thought of further burdening either of my dear friends Stearns or 
 Lawrence. 
 
 To F. B. Sanborn. 
 
 PETERBORO', N. Y., May 15, 1857. 
 
 Your most kind letter of the 26th of April I did not get till 
 within the last two or three days, and then I was on my way 
 West, full of cares, and in feeble health. I have just written my 
 friend Stearns a letter of explanation, in which I frankly ask that 
 the one thousand dollars' donation I was so generously encouraged 
 to expect for the permanent assistance of my wife and children be, 
 under the circumstances as so explained, promptly raised. This, 
 I think, much the cheapest and most proper way to provide for 
 them, and far less humiliating to my wife, who, though not above 
 getting her bread over the washtub, will never tell her trials or her 
 wants to the world. This I know by the experience of the past two 
 years, while I was absent ; but I would never utter a syllable in re 
 gard to it, were I not conscious that I am performing that service 
 which is equally the duty of millions, who need not forego a single 
 hearty dinner by the efforts they are called on to make. I did not 
 mean to burden my friends Stearns and Lawrence further with the 
 thing. I do not love to " ride free horses till they fall down dead." 
 
1857.] THE KANSAS COMMITTEES. 409 
 
 In reply to Brown's letter of May 13, Mr. Stearns wrote 
 on the 19th a letter containing this passage, the reference 
 to Gerrit Smith on my authority being understood by me 
 to concern Brown's main work, and not this purchase of 
 land : 
 
 BOSTON, May 19, 1857. 
 
 Your favor of the 13th was received yesterday. Mr. Lawrence 
 agreed with me that the one thousand dollars should he made up for 
 you, and requested me to write you so. The next day he sent me a 
 note stating that he had written to Mr. Smith to receive from him six 
 hundred dollars, and let you mortgage for four hundred dollars. I 
 learn to-day from Mr. Sanborn that Gerrit Smith intends to aid you 
 in this, and also obtain something for your enterprise in his neigh 
 borhood. My agreement with Mr. Lawrence was that he having 
 live hundred and fifty dollars towards the one thousand dollars, I 
 would be responsible for one-half of the deficiency, if he would 
 provide the other half, and when he returns I shall tell him he must 
 fulfil the agreement with me. He will be home the 1st of June. 
 
 To this Brown replied at once : 
 
 AKRON, OHIO, May 23, 1857. 
 GEORGE L. STEAUNS, ESQ., Boston, Mass. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, On my arrival at Cleveland yesterday, I found 
 with 0. M. Oviatt, Esq., your favors of the 16th and 19th inst. I 
 had made no previous arrangement with Mr. Smith about the land, 
 other than to say that I wanted the contract with the Thompsons 
 made over to me on payment, or to that effect. He had given me no 
 encouragement of any help about it from him; and when I met one 
 of the Thompsons there, 1 all I could do was to get both parties to 
 agree to the arrangement, and to wait until the money could get on 
 from Boston. Mr. Smith had before written me that his last year's 
 efforts for Kansas had embarrassed him, but that when the struggle 
 was renewed he would do all he could. He gave me fifty dollars, 
 Mrs. S. ten dollars and some little useful articles ; Peterboro' friends 
 gave me thirty-one dollars, and I came on with the understanding 
 that probably the thousand dollars would soon be sent on to Mr. 
 Smith. I lost about one week on my way to my family with ague 
 and fever, and left home feeble, and am still so. I could promise 
 Colonel Carter no more than pay for primings, which I had not bar 
 gained for. I shall redeem my promise to you as soon as I am able 
 
 1 At Peterboro'. 
 
410 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1857. 
 
 to do so. Please write me next to Dr. Jesse Brown, Iowa City, 
 Iowa, on envelope. I send my earnest good wishes to Mrs. S. and 
 the children. Am disappointed in not having Mr. Foster and child 
 for company. 
 
 Very respectfully your friend, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 Upon this statement of the case, Mr. Stearns proposed 
 to Mr. Lawrence that the money should be sent on at 
 once. To this proposition he finally assented, but in the 
 mean time wrote to Mr. Stearns as followd : 
 
 JUNE 3 [1857]. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, I did not intend to do any more than to write a 
 u heading" for a subscription for Captain Brown, and subscribe for 
 myself. But he was desirous to have me do more, and I have, as 
 the paper shows. I wish I could do the whole. But I am behind 
 hand in everything. My business extends through a large part of 
 the twenty-four hours, and prevents my devoting as much time as 
 would be desirable to push on this and similar good projects for 
 individual advantage. If Captain Brown should be killed or dis 
 abled, then I should be held for the one thousand dollars. 1 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 A. A. LAWRENCE. 
 
 HUDSON, OHIO, May 27, 1857. 
 
 DEAR WIFE AND CHILDREN, EVERY ONE, ... I have got 
 Salmon's letter of the 19th instant, and am much obliged for it. 
 There is some prospect that Owen will go on with me. If I should 
 never return, it is my particular request that no other monument 
 be used to keep me in remembrance than the same plain one that 
 records the death of my grandfather and son ; and that a short story, 
 like those already on it, be told of John Brown the fifth, under that 
 of grandfather. I think I have several good reasons for this. I 
 would be glad that my posterity should not only remember their 
 parentage, but also the cause they labored in. I do not expect to 
 leave these parts under four or five days, and will try to write again 
 
 1 I take it this last sentence implies that Brown was going to "bear 
 arms," that he was on a dangerous errand, and that Mr. Lawrence approved 
 of what he was going to do with the arms and money in his hands. At this 
 time there was no talk of the Virginia plan, nor did any property of the 
 Kansas Committee go for that plan, but the property of individual mem 
 bers who gave it freely, knowing what might be done with it. 
 
1857.] . THE KANSAS COMMITTEES. 411 
 
 before I go off. I am much confused in mind, and cannot remember 
 what I wish to write. May God abundantly bless you all ! ... 
 Your affectionate husband and father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 These letters are all brief and to the point. 
 
 WASSONVILLE, IOWA, July 17, 1857. 
 
 DEAR WIFE AND CHILDREN, EVERY ONE, Since I last wrote 
 I have made but little progress, having teams and wagons to rig up 
 and load, and getting a horse hurt pretty badly. Still we shall get on 
 just as well arid as fast as Providence intends, and I hope we may 
 all be satisfied with that. We hear of but little that is interesting 
 from Kansas. It will be a great privilege to hear from home again ; 
 and I would give anything to know that I should be permitted to 
 see you all again in this life. But God's will be done. To his 
 infinite grace I commend you all. 
 
 Your affectionate husband and father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 TABOR, IOWA, Aug. 8, 1857. 
 GEORGE L. STEARNS, ESQ., Boston, Mass. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, In consequence of ill -health and other hin 
 drances too numerous and unpleasant to write about, the least of 
 which has not been the lack of sufficient means for freight bills and 
 other expenses, I have never as yet returned to Kansas. This has 
 been unavoidable, unless I returned without securing the principal 
 object for which I came back from the Territory ; and I am now 
 waiting for teams and means to come from there to enable me to go 
 on. 1 I obtained two teams and wagons, as I talked of, at a cost of 
 seven hundred and eighty-six dollars, but was obliged to hire a 
 teamster and to drive one team myself. This unexpected increase of 
 labor, together with being much of the time quite unwell and de 
 pressed with disappointments and delays, has prevented my writing 
 sooner. Indeed, I had pretty much determined not to write till I 
 should do it from Kansas. I will tell you some of my disappoint 
 ments. I was flattered with the expectation of getting one thousand 
 dollars from Hartford City and also one thousand dollars from New 
 Haven. From Hartford I did get about two hundred and sixty dol 
 lars, and a little over in some repair of arms. From New Haven I 
 got twenty-five dollars; at any rate, that is all I can get any advice 
 of. Gerrit Smith supplied me with three hundred and fifty dollars, 
 
 1 Have here and at Nebraska City five full loads. 
 
412 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. . [1857. 
 
 or I could not have reached this place. He also loaned me one hun 
 dred and ten dollars to pay to the Thompsons who were disappointed 
 of getting their money for the farm I had agreed for and got posses 
 sion of for use. I have been continually hearing from them that 1 
 have not fulfilled, and that I told them I should not leave the country 
 till the thing was completed. This has exceedingly mortified me. I 
 could tell you much more had I room and time. Have not given up. 
 Will write more when I get to Kansas. 
 
 Your friend, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 To F. B. Sanborn. 
 
 TABOR, FREMONT COUNTY, IOWA, Aug. 13, 1857. 
 Much as I love to communicate with you, it is still a great burden 
 for me to write when I have nothing of interest to say, and when 
 there is something to be active about. Since I left New England I 
 have had a good deal of ill-health ; and having in good measure ex 
 hausted my available means toward purchasing such supplies as I 
 should certainly need if again called into active service, and without 
 which I could accomplish next to nothing, I had to begin my jour 
 ney back with not more than half money at any time to bear my 
 expenses through and pay my freights. This being the case, I was 
 obliged to stop at different points on the way, and to go to others off 
 the route to solicit help. At most places I raised a little ; but it 
 consumed my time, and my unavoidable expenses so nearly kept 
 pace with my incomes that I found it exceedingly discouraging. 
 With the help of Gerrit Smith, who supplied me with sixty dollars 
 at Peterboro', and two hundred and fifty dollars at Chicago, and 
 other smaller amounts from others, I was able to pay freights and 
 other expenses to this place; hiring a man to drive one team, and 
 driving another myself ; and had about twenty-five dollars on hand, 
 with about one hundred dollars' worth of provisions, when I reached 
 here. Among all the good friends who had promised to go with me, 
 not one could I get to stick by me and assist me on my way through. 
 I have picked up, at different times on the way, considerable value 
 in articles (indispensable in active service) which were scattered on 
 the way, and had been provided either by or for the National Com 
 mittee. On reaching here I found one hundred and ten dollars, sent 
 me by Mr. Whitman, from sale of articles in Kansas, sent there by 
 the National Committee. This is all the money I have got from 
 them on their appropriation at New York. On the road one of my 
 horses hurt himself so badly that I lost about ten days in conse-- 
 quence, not being in condition to go on without him, or to buy or to 
 
1857.1 THE KANSAS COMMITTEES. 413 
 
 hire another. I find the arms and ammunition voted me by the 
 Massachusetts State Committee nearly all here, and in middling good 
 order, some a little rusted. Have overhauled and cleaned up the 
 worst of them, and am now waiting to know what is best to do 
 next, or for a little escort from Kansas, should I and the supplies be 
 needed. I am now at last within a kind of hailing distance of our 
 Free-State friends in Kansas. 
 
 On the way from Iowa City I and my third son (the hired man I 
 mentioned), in order to make the little funds we had reach as far as 
 possible, and to avoid notice, lived exclusively on herring, soda 
 crackers, and sweetened water for more than three weeks (.sleeping 
 every night in our wagons), except that twice we got a little milk, 
 and a few times some boiled eggs. Early in the season, in conse 
 quence of the poor encouragement I met with, and of their own 
 losses and sufferings, my sons declined to return ; and my wife wrote 
 me as follows : " The boys have all determined both to practise and 
 learn war no more." This I said nothing about, lest it should pre 
 vent my getting any further supplies. After leaving New England 
 I could not get the scratch of a pen to tell whether anything had 
 been deposited at Hartford, from New Haven and other places, for 
 me or not; until, since I came here, a line comes from Mr. Callender, 
 dated 24th July, saying nothing has been deposited, in answer to 
 one I had written June 22, in which he further says he has an 
 swered all my letters. The parting with my wife and young uned 
 ucated children, without income, supplies of clothing, provisions, or 
 even a comfortable house to live in, or money to provide such things, 
 with at least a fair chance that it was to be a last and final separa 
 tion, had lain heavily on me, and was about as much a matter of self- 
 sacrifice and self-devotion on the part of my wife as on my own, and 
 about as much her act as my own. When Mr. Lawrence, of his 
 own accord, proposed relieving me on that score, it greatly eased a 
 burdened spirit ; but I did not rely upon it absolutely, nor make any 
 certain bargain on the strength of it, until after being positively as 
 sured by Mr. Stearns, in writing, that it should, and by yourself that 
 it would, certainly be done. 
 
 It was the poor condition of my noble-hearted wife and of her 
 young children that made me follow up that encouragement with a 
 tenacity that disgusted him and completely exhausted his patience. 
 But after such repeated assurances from friends I so much respected 
 that I could not suspect they would trifle with my feelings, I made 
 a positive bargain for the farm; and when I found nothing for 
 me at Peterboro', I borrowed one hundred and ten dollars of Mr. 
 Smith for the men who occupied the farm, telling him it would cer 
 tainly be refunded, and the others that they would get all their 
 
414 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1857. 
 
 money very soon, and even before I left the country. This has 
 brought me only extreme mortification and depression of feeling j 
 for all my letters from home, up to the last, say not a dime has 
 been paid in to Mr. Smith. Friends who never know the lack of 
 a sumptuous dinner little comprehend the value of such trifling 
 matters to persons circumstanced as I am. But, my noble-hearted 
 friend, I am " though faint, yet pursuing." My health has been 
 much better of late. I believe my anxiety and discouragements 
 had something to do with repeated returns of fever and ague I have 
 had, as it tended to deprive me of sleep and to debilitate me. I 
 intend this letter as a kind of report of my progress and success, as 
 much for your committee or my friend Stearns as yourself. I have 
 been joined by a friend since I got here, and get no discouraging 
 news from Kansas. Your friend, 
 
 J. BROWN. 
 
 TABOR, IOWA, Aug. 17, 1857. 
 
 DEAR WIFE AND CHILDREN, EVERY ONE, I have just received 
 the letter of Henry and Ruth, of 2(>th and 27th July, enclosing one 
 from Mr. Day. We are very glad to learn that all were well so 
 lately ; and I am pleased to discover that Mr. Day is willing I 
 should pay Henry, if I have any funds of his in my hands. This I 
 shall certainly try to do, should that prove to be the case. I do not 
 know how that is, as I have not yet had time to overhaul some 
 papers left by me last fall in my old chest with Owen. Shall try 
 to do that soon. I wrote home from here week before last, on Satur 
 day. Since then we have been waiting either for news or for a small 
 escort of men and teams to go with us. We get no special news 
 from the West as yet. We are beginning to take lessons, and have 
 (we think) a very capable teacher. Should no disturbance occur, 
 M-e may possibly think best to work back eastward ; 1 cannot deter 
 mine yet. I hope you will continue to write me here till I say to 
 you where else; and I want you to give me all the particulars con 
 cerning your welfare. God bless you all ! 
 
 N. HAWKINS. 
 
 TABOR, FREMONT COUNTY, IOWA, Sept. 12, 1857. 
 DEAR WIFE AND CHILDREN, EVERY ONE, It is now nearly two 
 weeks since I have seen anything from home, and about as long 
 since I wrote. . . . We get nothing very definite from Kansas yet, 
 
 1 Here is the first intimation in these letters of a purpose to use his 
 armed force against slavery in the eastern States, as he did two years 
 after. 
 
1857.] THE KANSAS COMMITTEES. 415 
 
 but think we shall in the course of another week. . . . Got a most 
 kind letter from Mr. F. B. Saiiborn yesterday ; also one from Mr. 
 Blair, where Oliver was living. You probably have but little idea 
 of my anxiety to get letters from you constantly ; and it would afford 
 me great satisfaction to learn that you all regularly attend to reading 
 your Bibles, and that you are all punctual to attend meetings on 
 Sabbath days. I do not remember ever to have heard any one com 
 plain of the time he had lost in that way. 
 
 Your affectionate husband arid father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 Of all the Brown family who had settled in Kansas two 
 years before, there now remained only the household of 
 the Eev. Mr. Adair, Brown's brother-in-law, who wrote him 
 at Tabor thus : 
 
 OSAWATOMIE, K. T., Oct. 2, 1857. 
 MR. J. B. 
 
 DEAR FRIEND, Yours of September 5 was received yesterday, 
 having been mailed at Lawrence the day before. Your whereabouts 
 had for some time been to us unknown. The letter you sent to " Mr. 
 Addis " was forwarded to me in the latter part of June. 1 I secured the 
 sum of money requested, but the men failed to go. I was in Law 
 rence about a month since; Mr. Whitman was East. " Mr. Addis" 
 said that the last he had heard of you, you had gone to Chicago, 
 but expected you would return to Tabor again before long ; thought 
 some persons would go and meet you, talked some of going him 
 self. You desire much a personal interview with me, and also defi 
 nite information about matters as they "really are" now in the 
 Territory. As to a personal interview, I should be happy to have 
 one ; but the state of my own health and of my family forbids my 
 going to Tabor at present. For nearly five weeks past I have spent 
 most of my time in taking care of the sick, when able to do anything. 
 I had a man hired to work for me, who about the 1st of September 
 was taken very sick (fever and internal inflammation) ; has been 
 better, and again worse, and is still dangerous. I was absent nearly 
 one week at Lecoinpton, as a witness in the case of the Osawatomie 
 town site ; some outsiders having tried to preempt a part of it. 
 Had to hire a man during my absence, to take care of the sick man. 
 Since my return I have been much troubled with illness, sometimes 
 severe when I exercise much. Florella and the babe have very sore 
 throats ; the babe is teething, has chills sometimes, and requires 
 
 1 I suppose " Mr. Addis " was W. A. Phillips. 
 
416 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1857. 
 
 much care. Charles and Emma are well at present. Mrs. Garrison J 
 and babe have been with us since the first of June until last week. 
 She came back, went to Lecompton to preempt her claim in June, 
 just before the land-office closed ; but did not succeed, because I 
 could not swear that she had as a widow built, or caused to be 
 built, a house on the claim. The house her husband built they 
 would not recognize as being built by her u as a tcidow." She had 
 to return and have another built, which has been done. She went 
 last week and preempted, and has returned to Ohio. For a number 
 of weeks before she left she and her babe had both been sick. 
 Though we have not had much sickness among the members of our 
 own family proper, yet we are in a measure worn out taking care of 
 the sick. We greatly feel the need of rest and quiet. There is a 
 good deal of sickness around, chiefly among the more recent 
 emigrants. It has been drier here this year than last. My corn and 
 potatoes are almost an entire failure. Mine were planted early; 
 later crops have done better. 
 
 As to political matters, 1 have my own views of things. Walker 
 has disgraced himself, has not fulfilled a pledge made in his 
 Topeka speech ; indeed, I never had confidence to believe he would. 
 But the Free-State men have determined to go into the October 
 election, and many arc sanguine that they will carry it. I may be 
 disappointed, but cannot see tilings in so favorable a light as they do. 
 An invasion such as we had in '54 and '55 I do not expect ; but 
 doubtless many voters from slave States will be smuggled in, and 
 fraudulent returns will be made j nor do I suppose it will be possible 
 for the Free- State men to show up the frauds so as to gain their 
 ends. The showing up of frauds does not amount to much where 
 those who are to decide upon the frauds are abettors or perpetrators 
 of them, and the highest rewards are given from headquarters for 
 the most bold and outrageous perpetrators. Hence I rather expect 
 that the proslavcry men will carry the day October 5. If disap 
 pointed, I shall rejoice. What course things will take if the Free- 
 State men .fail, I do not know. Some prophesy trouble right alon^. 
 This would not surprise me were it to occur. But I would deplore 
 a renewal of war. If it is to be commenced again, the boil had 
 better be probed in the centre, at, Washington, where the corrup 
 tion is the worst. The proslavery men in the Territory are but 
 petty tools. 
 
 No recent word from Hudson, Akron, or Grafton. We have now 
 a tri-weekly mail to Westport, and also to Lawrence ; mails gen 
 erally regular. I know of no means of sending you by private 
 
 1 Widow of a neighbor killed August 30, 1856. 
 
1857.] THE KANSAS COMMITTEES. 417 
 
 conveyance. Send ly mail, addressing on tlie envelope as you 
 requested. 
 
 S. L. AD AIR. 
 
 P. S. A letter from you to me "by mail would probably reach me 
 without much risk. 
 
 Sucli letters depict the every-day situation of matters in 
 Kansas at this time. But Brown was meditating a stroke 
 which should accomplish more than the most garrulous 
 chronicler could narrate. 
 
 NOTE. It will be plain from the letters given in this chapter that 
 Brown was regarded in Kansas, at the close of 1857, by all the leading 
 Free- State men, and by their friends in New England and New York, as 
 neither a dangerous nor a deceitl'ul man. They actually felt that reliance 
 upon him which these letters express ; any subsequent opinion of theirs to 
 the contrary was an afterthought. The active hostility of liobinson and 
 G. W. Brown to John Brown began in 1858. 
 
 27 
 
418 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1858. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 THE PLANS DISCLOSED. 
 
 JOHN BKOWN'S long-meditated plan of action in Vir 
 ginia was wholly his own, as he more than once 
 declared ; and it was not until he had long formed and 
 matured it that he made it known to the few friends out 
 side of his own household who shared his confidence in 
 that matter. I cannot say how numerous these were ; but 
 beyond his family and the armed followers w r ho accom 
 panied him, I have never supposed that his Virginia plan 
 was known to fifty persons. Even to those few it was not 
 fully communicated, though they knew that he meant to 
 fortify himself somewhere in the mountains of Virginia or 
 Tennessee, and from that fastness, with his band of sol 
 diers, sally out and emancipate slaves, seize hostages and 
 levy contributions on the slaveholders. Moreover, from the 
 time he first matured it, there were several changes amount 
 ing at last to an entire modification of the scheme. As he 
 disclosed it to me in 1858, in the house of Gerrit Smith at 
 Peterboro', it was very different from the plan he had un 
 folded to Thomas and to that other Maryland freedman 
 Frederick Douglass, at Brown's own house in Springfield in 
 1847. 1 I have already quoted Douglass's description of this 
 house and its master, whose guest he was. In respect to 
 his disclosure of the great plan, Douglass says in his " Life 
 and Times " (edition of 1881, pp. 279-282) : 
 
 " Captain Brown cautiously approached the subject which he 
 wished to bring to my attention, for he seemed to apprehend oppo 
 sition to his views. He denounced slavery in look and language 
 
 1 This house, on Franklin Street, north of the railroad station, near which 
 was Brown's wool -warehouse, is still standing. It was rented by Brown, 
 who never owned a house in New England, nor lived so long in any ther 
 as in that where he was born at Torrington. 
 
1854.] THE PLANS DISCLOSED. 419 
 
 fierce and bitter; thought that slaveholders had forfeited their right 
 to live, and that the slaves had the right to gain their liberty in any 
 way they could ; did not believe that ( moral suasion ' would ever 
 liberate the slave, nor that political action would abolish the system. 
 He had long had a plan which could accomplish this end, and had 
 invited me to his house to lay that plan before me ; he had been 
 some time looking for colored men to whom he could safely reveal 
 his secret, and at times he had almost despaired of finding such men ; 
 but now he was encouraged, for he saw heads of such rising up in all 
 directions. He had observed my course, at home and abroad, and he 
 wanted my co-operation. His plan, as it then lay in his mind, had 
 much to commend it. It did not, as some suppose, contemplate a 
 general rising among the slaves, and a general slaughter of the 
 slavemasters : an insurrection, he thought, would only defeat the 
 object ; but his plan did contemplate the creating of an armed force 
 which should act in tlxe very heart of the South. He was not averse 
 to the shedding of blood, and thought the practice of carrying arms 
 would be a good one for the colored people to adopt, as it would give 
 them a sense of their manhood. No people, he said, could have self- 
 respect, or be respected, who would not fight for their freedom. He 
 called my attention to a map of the United States, and pointed out 
 to me the ranges which stretch away from the borders of New York 
 into the Southern States. ' These mountains,' he said, ' are the basis 
 of my plan. God has given the strength of the hills to freedom ; they 
 were placed here for the emancipation of the negro race ; they are 
 full of natural forts, where one man for defence will be equal to a 
 hundred for attack ; they are full also of good hiding-places, where 
 large numbers of brave men could be concealed, and baffle and elude 
 pursuit for a long time. I know these mountains well, and could 
 take a body of men into them and keep them there, despite of all the 
 efforts of Virginia to dislodge them. The true object to be sought is, 
 first of all, to destroy the money-value of slave property ; and that 
 can only be done by rendering such property insecure. My plan, 
 then, is to take at first about twenty-five picked men, and begin on 
 a small scale ; supply them arms and ammunition, and post them in 
 squads of five on a line of twenty-five miles. The most persuasive 
 and judicious of them shall then go down to the fields from time to 
 time, as opportunity offers, and induce the slaves to join them, seek 
 ing and selecting the most .restless and daring.' He saw that in this 
 part of the work the utmost care must be used to avoid treachery and 
 disclosure. Only the most conscientious and skilled should be sent 
 on this perilous duty ; with care and enterprise he thought he could 
 soon gather a force of a hundred hardy men, who would be content 
 to lead the free and adventurous life to which he proposed to train 
 
420 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1854. 
 
 them. When these were properly drilled, and each man had found 
 the place for which he was best suited, they would begin work in 
 earnest; they would run off the slaves in large numbers, retain the 
 brave and strong ones in the mountains, and send the weak and 
 timid to the North by the ' underground railroad ; ' his operations 
 would be enlarged with increasing numbers, and would not be con 
 fined to one locality. 
 
 il When I asked him how he would support these men, he said 
 emphatically he would subsist them upon the enemy. Slavery was 
 a state of war, and the slave had a right to anything necessary to his 
 freedom. i Bat,' said I, ' suppose you succeed in running off a few 
 slaves, and thus impress the Virginia slaveholders with a sense of in 
 security in their slaves, the effect will only be to make them sell their 
 slaves farther South.' 'That,' said he, ' will be first what I want to 
 do ; then I would follow them up. If we could drive slavery out of 
 one county, it would be a great gain j it would weaken the system 
 throughout the State.' ' But they would employ bloodhounds to 
 hunt you out of the mountains.' * That they might attempt,' said 
 lie, ' but the chances are we should whip them ; and when we should 
 have whipped one squad, they would be careful how they pursued.' 
 ; But you might be surrounded and cut off from your means of sub 
 sistence.' He thought that could not be done so they could not cut 
 their way out ; but even if the worst came, he could but be killed, 
 and he had no better use for his life than to lay it down in the cause 
 of the slave. When I suggested that we might convert the slave 
 holders, he became much excited, and said that could never be; ' he 
 knew their proud hearts, and that they would never be induced to 
 give up their slaves until they felt a big stick about their heads.' He 
 thought I might have noticed the simple manner in which he lived, 
 adding that he had adopted this in order to save money to carry out 
 his purposes. This was said in no boastful tone, for he felt that he 
 had delayed already too long, and had no room to boast either his 
 zeal or his self-denial. Had some men made such display of rigid 
 virtue, I should have rejected it as affected, false, or hypocritical, but 
 in John Brown I felt it to be as real as iron or granite. From this 
 night spent with John Brown in 1847, while I continued to write 
 and speak against slavery, I became all the less hopeful of its peace 
 ful abolition. My utterances became more and more tinged by the 
 color of this man's strong impressions." 1 
 
 1 Mr. Douglass adds the true version of a famous anecdote : " Speaking 
 at an antislavery convention in Ohio, I expressed my apprehension that 
 slavery could only be destroyed by bloodshed, when I was suddenly and 
 sharply interrupted by my good old friend Sojourner Truth, with the ques- 
 
1858] THE PLANS DISCLOSED. 421 
 
 There can be no question that what Brown saw and did 
 in Kansas gave a new tone to his scheme. I do not much 
 rely upon the memory of Mr. Amy, who as a witness before 
 Senator Mason's committee showed himself apt at forget 
 ting and misplacing events ; but a part of his testimony 
 bearing upon this matter must have some foundation in fact. 
 He mentions a conversation held with Brown in Kansas 
 late in 1858, in which Brown said the only way to abolish 
 slavery was to post a company of men somewhere in the 
 mountains of the slave States to assist slaves in escaping, 
 and thus make the system of slavery insecure. " I told 
 him that I thought he was doing an injury to the whole 
 country in pursuing that course ; that it was contrary to his 
 former views on the subject ; that I did not suppose he 
 could get any person to assist him in it ; that I felt satisfied 
 his good friend Gerrit Smith would not assist him, because 
 Mr. Smith had placed in our hands ten thousand dollars, 
 and made it an especial condition that every dollar of it 
 should go for food or medicine, and not for matters of war ; 
 he professed to be a peace man. I told him I knew he was 
 acquainted with Dr. Howe, and I did not suppose Dr. Howe 
 would do anything of that sort : no Republican would. His 
 answer was, that he disliked the do-nothing policy of the 
 Abolitionists ; they would never effect anything by their 
 milk-and-water principles. As to the Republicans, they were 
 of no account, for they were opposed to carrying the war 
 into Africa; they were opposed to meddling with slavery in 
 the States where it existed. He said his doctrine was to 
 free the slaves by the sword. I then again asked him how 
 
 tion, 'Frederick, is God dead?' 'No,' I answered, 'and because God 
 is not dead, slavery can only end in blood.' My quaint old sister was of 
 the Garrison school of non-resistants, and was shocked at my sanguinary 
 doctrine ; but she, too, became an advocate of the sword when the war for 
 the maintenance of the Union was declared." I have slightly abbreviated 
 Douglass's statement here and there. Possibly in writing from memory, 
 after Brown's death, he may have unconsciously mingled with the scheme 
 of 1847 features that did not take shape in Brown's mind until after his 
 Kansas experiences. Thomas Thomas assures me that Brown's plan before 
 1851 was to occupy land at the South as a slaveholder, using trusty colored 
 men as his nominal slaves, and through them indoctrinating the real slaves 
 with the hopes of freedom. 
 
422 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1857. 
 
 he reconciled such opinions with his peace principles that 
 he held when I first knew him in Virginia, more than twenty 
 years ago. He said that the aggressions of slavery, the 
 murders and robberies perpetrated upon himself and mem 
 bers of his family, the violation of the laws by Atchison and 
 others in Kansas in 1855, and from that time down to the 
 murders on the Marais des Cygnes, convinced him that peace 
 was but an empty word." 
 
 It was a year before this that Brown, in September, 1857, 
 began to prepare the minds of his Eastern friends for the 
 full scope of his purposes. He was then at Tabor, in West 
 ern Iowa, where he had opened a small school for military 
 drill, at the head of which was the Garibaldian Briton, Hugh 
 Forbes, the adventurer already described. Brown wrote to 
 Theodore Parker, September 11, 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, Please find on other side first number of a series 
 of tracts lately gotten up here. I need not say I did not prepare it; 
 but I would be glad to know what you think of it, and much obliged 
 for any suggestions you see proper to make. My particular object in 
 writing is to say that I am in immediate want of some five hundred 
 or one thousand dollars for secret service, and no questions asked. I 
 want the friends of freedom to " prove me now herewith." Will you 
 bring this matter before your congregation, or exert your influence in 
 some way to have it, or some part of it, raised and placed in the hands 
 of George L. Stearns, Esq., of Boston, subject to my order? I should 
 highly prize a letter from you, directed on the envelope to Jonas 
 Jones, Esq., Tabor, Fremont County, Iowa. Have no news to send 
 by letter. 
 
 Very respectfully your friend, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 The tract enclosed was a dull and heavy paper entitled 
 " The Duty of the Soldier," and bearing on its face the in 
 scription, " Presented with respectful and kind feelings to 
 the officers and soldiers of the United States army in Kan 
 sas." Parker probably caused Brown to know what was his 
 opinion of this tract, as I did when I received a similar letter. 
 It was not easy for any of us in that autumn, when business 
 was greatly depressed, to raise money for an object so indefi 
 nite. I sent him some money (seventy-two dollars), which 
 
1857.] THE PLANS DISCLOSED. 423 
 
 he received Oct. 3, 1857, and others no doubt contributed 
 something ; but no movement was made before winter, nor 
 did he further disclose his purposes to us at that time. But 
 when he reached Kansas at last, in November, he hastened 
 to communicate them in general terms to Kagi, Cook, Ste 
 phens, and others who afterward joined him in his Virginia 
 campaign. Cook's confession, while in prison, is explicit on 
 this point, and is confirmed by Parsons, Moffat, and others, 
 who received some part of the plan from Brown in Kansas. 
 Cook said: 
 
 " I became acquainted with Captain Brown in his camp on Middle 
 Creek, K. T., just after the battle of Black Jack, and was with him 
 in camp until it was broken up and his company disbanded by Colonel 
 IS limner, of the First Cavalry. I next saw him at the convention at 
 Topeka, July 4, and some days afterward in Lawrence. I did not 
 see him again until the fall of 1857, when I met him at the house of 
 E. B. Whitman, four miles from Lawrence, about the first of Novem 
 ber. I was then told that he intended to organize a company for the 
 purpose of putting a stop to the aggressions of the proslavery 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. I recom 
 mended Richard Realf, Luke F. Parsons, and R. J. Hinton. I 
 received a note from Brown the next Sunday morning while at 
 breakfast, in Lawrence, requesting me to come up that day, and 
 to bring Realf, Parsons, and Hinton with me. Realf and Hinton 
 were not in town. Parsons and myself went, and had a long talk 
 with Captain Brown. A few days afterward I received another 
 note which read as follows : 
 
 CAPTAIN COOK. 
 
 DEAR SIR, You will please get everything ready to join me at To 
 peka 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 about the matter. 
 
 Yours, etc., 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 u I made all my arrangements for starting at the time appointed. 
 Parsons, Realf, and Hinton could not be ready. I left them at Law 
 rence and started for Topeka ; stopped at the hotel over night, and 
 loft early the next morning for Mrs. Sheridan's to meet Captain 
 Brown. At Topeka we were joined by Stephens, Moffat, and Kagi. 
 Left Topeka for Nebraska City, and camped at night on the prairie 
 
424 LIFE AND LETTERS OP JOHN BROWN. [1857. 
 
 northeast of Topeka. Here for the first time I learned that we were 
 to leave Kansas to attend a military school during the winter in Ash- 
 tabula County, Ohio. Next morning I was sent back to Lawrence 
 to get a draft of eighty dollars cashed, and get Parsons, Realf, and 
 Hinton to come back with me. Captain Brown had given me orders 
 to take boat to St. Joseph, Mo., and stage from there to Tabor, Iowa. 
 Hinton could not leave at that time. I started with Realf and Par 
 sons on a stage for Leavenworth, and then left for Weston, where 
 we took stage for St. Joseph, and thence to Tabor. I found C. P. 
 Tidd and Leeman at Tabor, where we stayed some days, making 
 preparations 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 Missouri. Realf and Par 
 sons were of the same opinion with me. After a good deal of wrang 
 ling we consented to go on, as 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 
 brought on as far as Tabor a year before, awaiting the order of Cap 
 tain Brown. There were also other stores, consisting of blankets, 
 clothing, boots, ammunition, and about two hundred revolvers of the 
 Massachusetts Arms patent, all of which we transported across 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 from there transported to the Kennedy 
 Farm, which Brown had rented for six months, and which was 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 the 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, and it was decided we 
 should remain in the neighborhood of Springdale, and that our in 
 structor, Colonel Forbes, should be sent to us from the East. We 
 stopped over winter at Mr. Maxon's, where we pursued a course of 
 military studies." 
 
 It thus appears that Brown had started for Virginia with 
 a few men, and with the Kansas rifles and revolvers, at least 
 three months before he communicated to Mr. Stearns, the 
 owner of the arms, that he had any purpose of using them 
 outside of Kansas and Missouri. It is also plain that he 
 imparted his purposes little by little to his armed followers. 
 Edwin Coppoc, an Iowa youth, who joined Brown at Spring- ' 
 
1858.] THE PLANS DISCLOSED. 425 
 
 dale, said to the Virginians who captured and hung him : 
 " I am a Republican philanthropist, and came here to aid in 
 liberating negroes. I made the acquaintance of Captain 
 Brown in Iowa as he returned from Kansas, and agreed to 
 join his compan}^ Brown wrote to me in July to come on 
 to Chambersburg, where he first revealed the whole plot. 
 The whole company was opposed to making the first demon 
 stration at Harper's Ferry, but Captain Brown would have 
 it his own way, and we had to obey orders." 1 
 
 C. W. Moffat, of Montour, Iowa, who was one of Brown's 
 company in the winter of 1857-58, says : 
 
 " We spent the winter in the vicinity of Iowa City. Our efforts 
 there were directed towards starting a Sharpens rifle military school, 
 of which a man named Stephens, known better in Kansas as 
 Whipple, was to be the instructor ; but our plans were interfered 
 with by pecuniary embarrassments. Then Brown went to Ohio (for 
 which we had started in the first place) to form another school. 
 There was also to be one in Canada, three in all. When Brown 
 left he gave Whipple charge of the school, and I had sent Forbes 
 round by water to Ohio. Forbes had been engaged as drill-master 
 at a hundred dollars a month, and when we stopped in Iowa Brown 
 said he would have to give Forbes the choice of the schools : if Forbes 
 would come back to Iowa, Whipple would take the school in Ohio 
 or in Canada. But when he got to Ohio, Brown found that Forbes 
 had gone away, and so gave up the Ohio school." 
 
 This is as good a place as any to speak once for all of 
 this Hugh Forbes, who proved to be the false member of 
 the little band, and betrayed the confidence of his employer 
 through vanity and emptiness of head, rather than through 
 malice of heart. I have already spoken of his employment 
 by Brown eight months before ; but his earlier history and 
 his general character were thus portrayed by Horace Greeley, 
 in his usual lively manner, in October, 1859, after Forbes 
 had promulgated some futile disclosures of Brown's plans : 
 
 "This Forbes appeared in New York sometime after the explosion 
 of the European revolution of 1848, and claimed to have borne an 
 important part in that movement. Of course he was needy, and the 
 
 1 See Owen Brown's statement in chap. xv. 
 
426 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [185& 
 
 Herald says he was l at one time a reporter or translator on the 
 Tribune.' This is quite probable, though I do not recollect it. 
 Some time late in 1856 (I think it was) 1 I was apprised that he was 
 going out to Kansas to help the Free-State men, then threatened 
 with annihilation by the Border Ruffians of Missouri, backed by 
 Federal functionaries and troops. Lawrence had then been twice 
 beleaguered and once sacked ; Osawatomie had been twice ravaged 
 and burned ; Leavenworth had been swept clean of Free-State men 
 by a Missouri raid, William Phillips being butchered while de 
 fending his own house, his brother badly wounded and captured, 
 while those who made no resistance were sent down the river at an 
 hour's notice. As Forbes professed to be a capable and experienced 
 military officer, especially qualified for guerilla or border warfare, and 
 as he had always claimed to be an earnest Red Republican and foe of 
 every form of human slavery, I thought his resolution natural and 
 commendable. Knowing him to be poor, I gave him twenty dollars 
 as he was starting; others gave him larger sums, how much in all 
 I do not know ; but I think his total receipts from friends of Free 
 Kansas cannot have fallen below seven hundred dollars. He went 
 was absent some months came back : that is all / know of his 
 services to the Free-State cause in any shape. Whether he was not 
 needed, or was not trusted, or was found incompetent, I do not 
 know ; I only know that he did nothing, and was practically worth 
 nothing. 2 I believe he spent part of the money given him in print 
 ing a pamphlet embodying his notions of guerilla or partisan war 
 fare : of course, no dollar ever came back. I think I heard of him 
 before his return, clamoring for more money. In due time, he reap 
 peared in New York, and came to me (as to others) with complaints 
 that he had been deceived, misled, swindled, beggared, his family (in 
 
 1 Really in April, 1857. 
 
 2 Forbes could not rest quiet under Greeley's censure, and published in 
 the " Herald " this card : 
 
 NEW YORK, Oct. 25, 1859. 
 
 There having appeared in yesterday's "Tribune " a false and malicious attack upon 
 me, I shall, after the trial of John Brown, publish the correspondence between himself, 
 his friends, and myself, which correspondence commenced about two years ago, and was 
 continued during the spring of 1859. Some Abolitionists of good judgment insisted 
 strongly that I should make Brown desist from his projects, which they considered 
 would prove fatal to the antislavery cause ; and as there were sundry persons in the 
 free States interested, copies of most of the letters were furnished to each of them and 
 to Brown. I could not myself take all the copies, therefore some friends occasionally 
 copied for me. I feel sure that none of these letters were suffered to be seen by the 
 Secretary of "War : first, because I have faith in the reliability of those who had them in 
 their hands ; and, secondly, because it is absolutely impossible that, had such authen 
 tic evidence been placed before him, he could have been taken so by surprise as he was 
 at Harper's Ferry. 
 
 IT. FORBES. 
 
1857.] THE PLANS DISCLOSED. 427 
 
 Paris) turned into the streets to starve, etc. I tried to ascertain who 
 had deceived him, what promises made to him had been broken, etc., 
 but with little success. All I could make out was that some one 
 he now says it was Brown had promised him something in the 
 way of pecuniary recompense for his services, which had not been 
 made good, and that his family were consequently reduced to the 
 brink of starvation. I do not believe that John Brown ever wilfully 
 deceived him or any one else. I am very sure that no one was ever 
 authorized to engage the services of f Colonel Forbes ' in behalf of 
 the Free- State men of Kansas on condition that said Forbes should 
 be authorized to charge his own price for those services and draw at 
 pleasure on some responsible party for payment. I have never heard 
 of any one's version of the matter but Forbes's ; and I confidently 
 infer from this, that, if there was mutual misunderstanding and disap 
 pointment in the premises, the employing party had decidedly the 
 worst of it." 
 
 In December, 1857, there began to arrive a series of let 
 ters written by this Forbes to Dr. Howe, Charles Sumner, 
 and myself, which greatly puzzled us all. Brown's Massa 
 chusetts friends, either from his inadvertence, or because he 
 was not yet ready to disclose his ultimate purpose, had not 
 been informed by him who Forbes was; they had never 
 seen him, and only heard of him casually and incidentally. 
 They had never been consulted by Brown in regard to pay 
 ing Forbes, nor of course had Brown given Forbes any 
 assurances that they would pay him the salary stipulated 
 for his services ; of which, in fact, they knew nothing what 
 ever. It was therefore with much surprise and mystifica 
 tion that about Christmas-time, 1857, we received passionate 
 and denunciatory letters, written by Forbes, complaining of 
 ill-treatment at our hands, and assuming to hold us respon 
 sible for the termination of his engagement with Brown ; 
 by which, he said, he had been reduced to poverty, and his 
 family in Paris, deprived of pecuniary aid from him, had 
 suffered great hardship. Two of these letters were ad 
 dressed to Senator Sumner, and were forwarded by him to 
 Dr. Howe and to me, who, in great ignorance as to what 
 such abusive epistles meant, answered them with curtness 
 and severity. This correspondence temporarily closed in 
 January, 1858, and the substance of it was communicated 
 
428 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1858. 
 
 to Brown, then in Iowa, with the request that he would ex 
 plain the meaning of Forbes's course, and state what their 
 relations with each other were. I also communicated the 
 matter to Theodore Parker, with whom I was then in fre 
 quent correspondence ; and, as it happens, my letter of 
 January, 1858, to Parker has been preserved. I wrote : 
 
 F. B. Sanborn to T. Parker. 
 
 CONCORD, Jan. 15, 1858. 
 
 DEAR FRIEND, I send you a letter this day received from 
 Forbes. During the week I have received a note from Mr. Sum- 
 ner, who sent me two letters of Forbes to him, in which he says 
 these same things. Now, if it were not for the wife and children, 
 who are undoubtedly in suffering, the man might be hanged for all 
 me, for his whole style towards me is a combination of insult and 
 lunacy. But I fear there was such an agreement between him and 
 Brown, though Brown has told me nothing of it ; and if so, he has a 
 claim upon somebody, though not particularly upon us. Is there 
 anything that can be done for him ? I have written to Brown in 
 quiring about the matter, but cannot get an answer before the middle 
 of February. Have you heard anything from Brown or Whitman 0( . 
 When you do, please let me hear of it. Forbes's threats are of no 
 account, and they, with the vulgar abuse which lie uses, show 
 what sort of man he is. I shall answer his letter, and send him 
 ten dollars. 
 
 January 17. 
 
 Mr. Sumner suggests that in my note to Forbes I might have 
 been "less sharp; " but the character of F.'s epistles convinces me 
 that, if I erred at all, it was on the side of gentleness. I have since 
 received a letter from Forbes himself, in which he goes over the 
 same charges and insinuations with " damnable iteration." This 
 I have also answered, explaining more fully my position in the mat 
 ter. Forbes threatens terrible things, meaning, as I conjecture, to 
 give notice at the South of Brown's position and designs. Should he 
 do this, he would deserve all the suffering which his own carelessness 
 has brought on his family ; but their suffering troubles me, and I am 
 trying to do something to relieve it, and also to find out from Brown 
 the true condition of affairs. 
 
 Yours affectionately, 
 
 F. B. SANBORN.' 
 
1858.] THE PLANS DISCLOSED. 429 
 
 I wrote thus to Forbes himself, and cite the letter here 
 only because it preserves some facts and dates which might 
 otherwise be lost : 
 
 F. B. Sanborn to Hugh Forbes. 
 
 CONCORD, Jan. 15, 3858. 
 
 SIR, Yours of the 9th and 14th is received. I regret that you 
 should have continued the abusive strain of your letter to Mr. Sum- 
 ner, towards a person of whom you are wholly ignorant, and whose 
 character you so greatly mistake. Let me give you some facts, 
 which you may believe or not, as you choose. I hecame acquainted 
 with Captain Brown a little more than a year ago, and have since 
 been his warm friend and admirer. Being a member of the Mas 
 sachusetts Kansas Committee, I interested myself with my col 
 leagues in his behalf, and we furnished him with some live thousand 
 dollars in arms and money. As a temporary member of the National 
 Committee, I procured the passage of a resolution appropriating five 
 thousand dollars from that committee also, of which, however, only 
 five hundred dollars has been paid. I also introduced him to a pub 
 lic meeting of my townsmen, who raised something for him. In the 
 summer I visited Mr. Gerrit Smith, and made arrangements with 
 him for the settlement of property worth one thousand dollars on the 
 wife and daughter of Captain Brown. The money was raised in 
 Boston by the men whom you calumniate. I visited the families in 
 the wilderness where they live, and arranged the transfer of property. 
 Mr. Smith first mentioned your name to me, unless it were a 
 member of his family, Mr. Morton. Captain Brown had never 
 done so, nor did any one hint to me that there was any agreement 
 between you and him of the kind you mention. I think I wrote to 
 Brown from Peterboro', informing him that you were at Davenport, 
 having seen your letter to Mr. Smith announcing that fact. On 
 September 14 I received Mr. Smith's letter, asking that some money 
 be raised for your family, but merely on general grounds. I was 
 pledged to aid and support Brown, and could not give money to 
 persons of whom I knew little or nothing. Had Brown or yourself 
 informed me of your agreement, the case would have been different. 
 I kept Mr. Smith's draft just a week, returning it to him September 
 21 ; it was out of his hands just eleven days. Since then, I have 
 had a few letters from Brown, and have seen some from you, but 
 have heard nothing of any compact. To answer Brown's call for 
 " secret service " money, I procured about six hundred dollars to be 
 s^nt him, which, as he has not yet come into active operations, has 
 
430 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1853. 
 
 probably been sufficient. My property is small, my income tins 
 year hardly up to my expenses ; but to carry out the plan which Cap 
 tain Brown has matured, if the time seemed favorable, I would sacri 
 fice both income and property, as he very well knows. But it is 
 probable that Captain Brown placed too much confidence in the 
 expectations of others, and that he may have mistaken hopes for 
 promises. Does he join in your vituperation of his Boston friends ? 
 I know he does not. 
 
 I can excuse much to one who has so much reason for anxiety as 
 you have in the distress of your family. Yet be assured that if you 
 had written to me (or if Captain Brown had done so) the true nature 
 of your compact with him, I would have supported your wife and 
 children rather than have allowed what has happened to take place. 
 You knew my address, why, then, did you not write to me rather 
 than send a slanderous letter to Mr. Sumner ? 
 
 As for your threats, you are at liberty to speak, write, and publish 
 what you please about me, only be careful to keep within the 
 limits of your knowledge ; do not tax your imagination for facts. I 
 have written to Captain Brown for his statement of the relation be 
 tween you, and have also sent to Mr. Gerrit Smith for any information 
 in his possession. In the mean time I send you ten dollars, promising 
 that if I find you have any further claim on me, either in law, jus 
 tice, or humanity, I will discharge it to the uttermost. 
 
 The gentlemen with whom I am associated, and for whose action 
 I am in any way responsible, are honorable men, and as far from 
 deserving the vulgar slanders you heap upon them as your language 
 is lacking in common courtesy and justice. They always keep and 
 always will keep their engagements ; but they have made none with 
 you. You cite the people of New Haven. I have nothing to do 
 with them, nor with the other towns which have failed in their 
 promises. 
 
 I never saw Hugh Forbes, and have no personal reason to 
 esteem him, since his entire correspondence with me and 
 with my Boston friends was absurdly violent and unreason 
 able. Horace Greeley, and those who were bored by him 
 in person, at New York and Washington, have spoken of 
 him with much impatience, declaring that he was at once 
 fanatical and mercenary, and wholly wanting in common- 
 sense. In New York he was a fencing-master and a hang 
 er-on at the " Tribune " office, while his wife and daughter 
 lived in Paris upon remittances sent by him from New 
 York. Gerrit Smith, at whose house he once spent a day 
 
1857.] THE PLANS DISCLOSED. 431 
 
 or two, spoke of him to me as a handsome, soldierly-looking 
 man, skilful in the sword-exercise, and with some military 
 experience, picked up under Garibaldi in 1848-49. He had 
 been a silk-merchant of some sort at Sienna, it was said, 
 before he joined Garibaldi. Judged by his letters, his lit 
 tle book (" Manual of the Patriotic Volunteer "), and the 
 various accounts given by persons who knew him, he was 
 a brave, vainglorious, undisciplined person, with little dis 
 cretion, and quite wanting in the qualities which would 
 fit him to be a leader of American soldiers. Yet he was 
 ambitious, eager to head a crusade against slavery, and 
 apparently desirous of taking Brown's place as commander 
 of what he regarded as a great antislavery movement, sup 
 ported by thousands in the Northern States. Accustomed 
 to see European insurrections managed by committees out 
 wardly similar to the various antislavery committees which 
 he found or heard of in America, he hastily inferred that 
 these American committees were all working for the same 
 revolutionary end, and were ready to promote a design 
 which Brown had as yet communicated to none of them, 
 and which none of them would have aided, had they known 
 it. He was really connected with Brown's enterprise but a 
 few months ; having joined his rendezvous at Tabor, in 
 Iowa, on the 9th of August, 1857, and parted from him in 
 early November of the same year. His complaining letters 
 were the first intimation received by the Boston friends of 
 Brown that there was any peculiar relation between him 
 and the Kansas hero ; and these letters, by a singular chance, 
 occasioned the first disclosure of Brown's plans to his Bos 
 ton friends. 
 
 Frederick Douglass says of Forbes, whom he saw in 
 November, 1857, and afterwards kept track of for a 
 while : 
 
 " After remaining with Brown a short time, he came to me in Ro 
 chester with a letter from him, asking me to receive and assist him. 
 I was not favorably impressed with Forbes at first ; but I l conquered 
 my prejudices/ took him to a hotel, and paid his board while he 
 remained. Just before leaving, he spoke of his family in Europe 
 as in destitute circumstances, and of his desire to send them some 
 money. I gave him a little, I forget how much, and through 
 
432 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1858. 
 
 Miss Ottilia Assing, a German lady deeply interested in the John 
 Brown scheme, he was introduced to several of my German friends 
 in New York. But he soon wore them out by his endless begging ; 
 and when he could make no more money by professing to advance 
 the John Brown project, he threatened to expose it and all connected 
 with it. I think I was the first to be informed of his tactics, and I 
 promptly communicated them to Captain Brown. Through my 
 friend Miss Assing I found that Forbes had told Brown's designs to 
 Horace Greeley, and to the government officials at Washington, of 
 which I informed Captain Brown ; and this led to the postponement 
 of the enterprise another year. It was hoped that by this delay the 
 story of Forbes would be discredited ; and this calculation was 
 correct, for nobody believed the scoundrel, though he told the 
 truth." 
 
 Brown's own method of dealing with the loquacious 
 betrayer of his counsels (with which so slight a person 
 should never have been intrusted) was peculiar. While at 
 the house of Douglass, in Rochester, he received, early in 
 February, a letter from Forbes, forwarded by John Brown, 
 Jr., from West Andover, Ohio, where the latter was then 
 living. Upon this he wrote to his son as follows : 
 
 To John Brown, Jr. 
 
 DEAR SON JOHN, Forbes's letter to me of the 27th of January I 
 enclose back to you, and will be glad to have you return it to him with 
 something like the following (unless you can think of some serious 
 objection), as I am anxious to draw him out more fully, and would 
 also like to keep him a little encouraged and avoid an open rupture 
 for a few weeks, at any rate. Suppose you write Forbes thus : 
 
 11 Your letter to my father, of 27th January, after mature reflec 
 tion, I have decided to return to you, as I am unwilling he should, 
 with all his other cares, difficulties, and trials, be vexed with what I 
 am apprehensive he will accept as highly offensive and insulting, 
 while I know that he is disposed to do all he consistently can for 
 you, and will do so, unless you are yourself the cause of his disgust. 
 I was trying to send you a little assistance myself, say about forty 
 dollars ; but I must hold up till I feel different from what I now do. 
 I understood from my father that he had advanced you already six 
 hundred dollars, or six months' pay (disappointed as he has been), 
 to enable you to provide for your family ; and that he was to give 
 you one hundred dollars per month for just so much time as you con 
 tinued in his service. Now, you in your letter undertake to instruct 
 
1858.] THE PLANS DISCLOSED. 433 
 
 him to say that he had positively engaged you for one year. I fear he 
 will not accept it well to be asked or told to state what he considers 
 an untruth. Again, I suspect you have greatly mistaken the man, 
 if you suppose he* will take it kindly in you, or any living man, to 
 assume to instruct him how he should conduct his own business and 
 correspondence. And I suspect that the seemingly spiteful letters 
 you say you have written to some of his particular friends have not 
 only done you great injury, but also weakened his hands with them. 
 While I have, in my poverty, deeply sympathized with you and 
 your family, who, I ask, is likely to be moved by any exhibition of 
 a wicked and spiteful temper on your part, or is likely to be dictated 
 to by you as to their duties ? 
 
 " I ask you to look over your letter again. You begin with say 
 ing, i With a little energy, all will yet be right.' Is that respectful ? 
 and does it come with ^a. good grftce from you to the man you thus 
 address ? Look it all over j and if, after having done so, you wish 
 him to have it, go on ! you can do so. But as a friend I would 
 advise a very different course." 
 
 As I conclude Forbes does not hold you as deeply committed to 
 him, he may listen to you ; and I hope he will. I want to see how 
 a sharp but well-merited rebuke will affect him ; and should it have 
 the desired effect, I would like to get a draft for forty dollars, pay 
 able to his order, and remit him at once. I do not mean to dic 
 tate to you, as he does to me ; but I am anxious to understand him 
 fully before we go any further, and shall be glad of the earliest 
 information of the result. . . . 
 
 Your affectionate father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 Having established his little company at Springdale, in 
 Iowa, under the military instruction of Stephens, who had 
 served in the United States Army, Brown came eastward 
 in January, 1858, first to West Andover, in Ohio, where 
 his son John was then living, and soon after to Rochester, 
 K. Y., where he showed himself, early in February, to his 
 good friend Frederick Douglass, and took shelter from ob 
 servation in his house. Douglass says : " Brown desired to 
 stop with me several weeks, but added, ' I will not stay un 
 less you will allow me to pay board.' Knowing that he was 
 no trifler, but meant all he said, and desirous of retaining 
 him under my roof, I charged three dollars a week. W r hile 
 here he spent most of his time in correspondence. He 
 
 28 
 
434 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BKOWN. [1858. 
 
 wrote often to George L. Stearns, of Boston, Geri'it Smith, 
 of Peterboro', and many others, and received many let 
 ters in return. When he was not writing letters, he was 
 writing and revising a constitution, which he meant to put 
 in operation by the men who should go with him in the 
 Virginia mountains. He said that to avoid anarchy and 
 confusion, there should be a regularly constituted govern 
 ment, which each man who came with him should be sworn 
 to honor and support. I have a copy of this constitution, 
 in Captain Brown's own handwriting, as prepared by him 
 self at my house." Douglass adds : - 
 
 " His whole time and thought were given to this subject. It was 
 the first thing in the morning, and the last thing at night; till, I 
 confess, it began to be something of a bore to me. Once in a while 
 he would say lie could, with a tew resolute men, capture Harper's 
 Ferry and supply himself with arms belonging to the Government at 
 that place ; but he never announced his intention to do so. It was, 
 however, very evidently passing in his mind as a thing that he might 
 do. I paid but little attention to such remarks, although I never 
 doubted that he thought just what he said. Soon after his coming to 
 me he asked me to get for him two smoothly planed boards, upon which 
 he could illustrate, with a pair ot dividers, by a drawing, the plan of 
 fortification which he meant to adopt in the mountains. These forts 
 were to be so arranged as to connect one with the other by secret 
 passages, so that if one was carried another could be easily fallen 
 back upon, and be the means of dealing death to the enemy at the 
 very moment when he might think himself victorious. I was less 
 interested in these drawings than my children were ; but they 
 showed that the old man had an eye to the means as well as to 
 the end, and was giving his best thought to the work he was about 
 to take in hand." 
 
 From Douglass's house Brown wrote again to Theodore 
 Parker in these words : 
 
 ROCHESTER, N. Y., Feb. 2, 1858. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, I am again out of Kansas, and am at this time 
 concealing my whereabouts ; but for very different reasons, however, 
 from those I had for doing so at Boston last spring. I have nearly 
 perfected arrangements for carrying out an important measure in 
 which the world has a deep interest, as well as Kansas; and only, 
 lack from five to eight hundred dollars to enable me to do so, the 
 
1858.] THE PLANS DISCLOSED. 435 
 
 same object for which I asked for secret-service money last fall. It- 
 is my only errand here ; and I have written to some of our mutual 
 friends in regard to it, but they none of them understand my views 
 so well as you do, and I cannot explain without their first committing 
 themselves more than I know of their doing. I have heard that 
 Parker Pillsbury and some others in your quarter hold out ideas 
 similar to those on which I act ; but I have no personal acquaintance 
 with them, and know nothing of their influence or means. Cannot 
 you either by direct or indirect action do something to further me ? 
 Do you not know of some parties whom you could induce to give 
 their abolition theories a thoroughly practical shape? I hope this 
 will prove to be the last time I shall be driven to harass a friend in 
 such a way. Do you think any of my Garrisonian friends, either at 
 Boston, Worcester, or any other place, can be induced to supply a 
 little " ; straw," if I will absolutely make " bricks"? I have written 
 George L. Stearns, Esq., of Mcdford, and Mr. F. 13. Sanborn, of 
 Concord ; but I am not informed as to how deeply-dyed Abolitionists 
 those friends are, and must beg you to consider this communication 
 strictly confidential, unless you know of parties who will feel and 
 act, and hold their peace. I want to bring the thing about during 
 the next sixty days. Please write N. Hawkins, care William J. 
 Watkins, Esq., Rochester, N. Y. 
 
 Very respectfully your friend, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 1 
 
 Brown's letters of the same date and for a few weeks af 
 ter, to Colonel Higginson and to me, were of a similar tenor, 
 though rather more explicit ; but they conveyed no distinct 
 intimation of his plans. He wrote to Higginson, February 
 2. from Eochester: "I am here, concealing my whereabouts 
 for good reasons (as I think), not, however, from any 
 anxiety about my personal safety. I have been told that you 
 are both a true man and a true Abolitionist, and I partly 
 believe the whole story. Last fall I undertook to raise from 
 five hundred to one thousand dollars for secret service, and 
 succeeded in getting five hundred dollars. I now want to 
 get, for the perfecting of by far the most important under 
 taking of my whole life, five hundred to eight hundred 
 dollars within the next sixty days. I have written Eev. 
 Theodore Parker, George L. Stearns, and F. B. Sanborn, 
 Esqs., on the subject, but I do not know as either Mr. 
 
 1 Weiss's Life of Theodore Parker, vol. ii. pp. 163, 164. 
 
436 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1858. 
 
 Stearns or Mr. Sanborn are Abolitionists. I suppose they 
 are." On the 12th of February he wrote again, in response 
 to a remark in Higginson's reply about the Underground 
 Railroad in Kansas : " Railroad business on a somewhat ex 
 tended scale is the identical object for which I am trying to 
 get means. I have been connected with that business, as 
 commonly conducted, from my boyhood, and never let an 
 opportunity slip. I have been operating to some purpose 
 the past season ; but I now have a measure on foot that I 
 feel sure would awaken in you something more than a com 
 mon interest if you could understand it. I have just writ 
 ten my friends G. L. Stearns and F. B. Sanborn, asking them 
 to meet me for consultation at Peterboro', N. Y. I am 
 very anxious to have you come along, certain as I feel that 
 you will never regret having been one of the council." It 
 was inconvenient for any of the persons addressed to take 
 the long journey proposed; and on the 13th I wrote for 
 myself and Mr. Stearns, inviting Brown to visit Boston, and 
 offering to pay his travelling expenses. To this request 
 Brown replied, February 17 : " It would be almost impos 
 sible for me to pass through Albany, Springfield, or any of 
 those parts, on my way to Boston, and not have it known ; 
 and my reasons for keeping quiet are such that when I left 
 Kansas I kept it from every friend there ; and I suppose it 
 is still understood that I am hiding somewhere in the Terri 
 tory ; and such will be the idea until it comes to be gener 
 ally known that I am in these parts. I want to continue 
 that impression as long as I can, or for the present. I want 
 very much to see Mr. Stearns, and also Mr. Parker, and it 
 may be that I can before long; but I must decline accepting 
 your kind offer at present, and, sony as I am to do so, ask 
 you both to meet me by the middle of next week at the 
 furthest. I wrote Mr. Higginson, of Worcester, to meet me 
 also. It may be he would come on with you. My reasons 
 for keeping still are sufficient to keep me from seeing my 
 wife and children, much as I long to do so. I will endeavor 
 to explain when I see you." l 
 
 1 This letter was written from Douglass's house, at Rochester, but fixed 
 the place of meeting at Gen-it Smith's house in Peterboro'. At this time 
 one of my Kansas correspondents sent word that Brown had disappeared 
 
1858.] THE PLANS DISCLOSED. 437 
 
 On the 7th of February my friend Edwin Morton wrote 
 me from Gerrit Smith's house, giving the substance of a 
 similar letter which Smith had just received from Brown. 
 " He wants from five to eight hundred dollars for secret 
 service, and thinks he can do more with it than all that has 
 yet been done. That is his errand. He wishes to avoid 
 publicity, and so does not come here, and will not see his 
 family. Meantime he is staying with Fred Douglass under 
 the nom de guerre of ]S T . Hawkins, to which name he de 
 sires letters addressed, care of Douglass. This is news, 
 he ' expects to overthrow slavery ' in a large part of the 
 country." On the 19th of February Morton wrote me again : 
 "John Brown is here, and asks, me to say he is waiting here 
 to see you. If you cannot come within the time he named, 
 say the middle of next week, let him know by letter 
 here (Peterboro'), enclosed to me, when you can come. He 
 says 't is not possible for him to go East under the circum 
 stances. He would very much like to see you. He is pleased 
 to find Mr. Smith more in harmony with his general plan 
 than he thought he might be." On the next day (February 
 20) Brown himself wrote as follows to his son . 
 
 PETERBORO', N. Y., Feb. 20, 1858. 
 
 DEAR SON JOHN. I am here with our good friends Gerrit Smith 
 and wife, who, I am most happy to tell you, are ready to go in for 
 a share in the whole trade. I will say (in the language of another), 
 in regard to this most encouraging fact, ' My soul doth magnify the 
 Lord." I seem to be almost marvellously helped ; and to His name 
 be praise ! I had to-day no particular thing to write, other than to 
 let you share in my encouragement. I have been looking for a letter 
 from you to be forwarded from Kochester ; and may get one to-day. 
 When I get one, will write you further. I do not expect to remain 
 here long, but shall be glad to have you write me here, enclosing to 
 Caleb Calkins, 1 Esq., Peterboro', Madison County, N. Y. Jason 
 and family well on the 8th. 
 
 Your affectionate father, JOHN BROWN. 
 
 from among them, and that some of the Kansas people thought him insane. 
 All this, combined with the complaints and intimations of Forbes, led me 
 to imagine that Brown had some plan for an uprising of slaves ; but, if so, 
 I supposed it would be on the Kansas border, or in some part of Missouri. 
 1 This was the faithful clerk of Gerrit Smith, to whose hands most of 
 
438 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1858. 
 
 Feb. 22. 
 
 I have still need of all the help I can possibly get, but am greatly 
 encouraged m asking for it. Mr. Smith thinks you might operate 
 to more advantage in New England, about Boston, than by going to 
 Washington, say in the large country towns. I think he may be 
 right. Do as you think best. 
 
 Yours ever, J. B. 
 
 Theodore Parker and George Stearns being at the time un 
 able to accept this second and pressing request from Brown 
 for a meeting at Peterboro', I determined to go, and invited 
 Colonel Higginson to join me at Worcester, February 20. 
 But in fact I made the journey alone, and reached Cana- 
 stota, ten miles from Peterboro', on the afternoon of Mon 
 day, February 22. There I either took the stage-coach, or 
 was met by Mr. Smith's sleigh, and drove up over the hills 
 to his house, where I arrived early in the evening of W r ash- 
 ington's birthday. Brown had been there since the preced 
 ing Thursday, and had unfolded much of his plan to the 
 Smiths. After dinner, and after a few minutes spent with 
 other guests in the parlor, I went with Mr. Smith, John 
 Brown, and my classmate Morton, to the room of Mr. Mor 
 ton in the third story. Here, in the long winter evening 
 which followed, the whole outline of Brown's campaign in 
 Virginia was laid before our little council, to the astonish 
 ment and almost the dismay of those present. The constitu 
 tion which he had drawn up for the government of his men, 
 and of such territory as they might occupy, was exhibited 
 by Brown, its provisions recited and explained, the proposed 
 movements of his men indicated, and the middle of May was 
 named as the time of the attack. To begin this hazardous 
 adventure he asked for but eight hundred dollars, and would 
 think himself rich with a thousand. Being questioned and 
 opposed by his friends, he laid before them in detail his 
 methods of organization and fortification ; of settlement in 
 the South, if that were possible, and of retreat through the 
 
 his large pecuniary affairs were intrusted, and whose business it was in such 
 matters as this to " hear and see, and say nothing." Morton, at that time 
 the tutor of Mr. Smith's son, was born in Plymouth, Mass., of the Pilgrim 
 stock. 
 
1858.] THE PLANS DISCLOSED. 439 
 
 North, if necessary ; and his theory of the way in which 
 such an invasion would be received in the country at large. 
 He desired from his friends a patient hearing of his state 
 ments, a candid opinion concerning his plan, and, if that 
 were favorable, then such aid in money and support as we 
 could give him. We listened until after midnight, proposing 
 objections and raising difficulties ; but nothing could shake 
 the purpose of the old Puritan. Every difficulty had been 
 foreseen and provided against in some manner ; the grand 
 difficulty of all, the manifest hopelessness of undertaking 
 anything so vast with such slender means, was met with 
 the text of Scripture : " If God be for us, who can be against 
 us ?" He had made nearly all his arrangements : he had so 
 many men enlisted, so many hundred weapons ; all he now 
 wanted was the small sum of money. With that he would 
 open his campaign in the spring, and he had no doubt that 
 the enterprise " would pay," as he said. 
 
 On the 23d of February the discussion was renewed, and, 
 as usually happened when he had time enough, Captain 
 Brown began to prevail over the objections of his friends. 1 
 At any rate, they saw that they must either stand by him, 
 or leave him to dash himself alone against the fortress he 
 was determined to assault. To withhold aid would only 
 delay, not prevent him ; nothing short of betraying him to 
 the enemy would do that. As the sun was setting over the 
 snowy hills of the region where we met, I walked for an 
 hour with Gerrit Smith among those woods and fields (then 
 included in his broad manor) which his father had purchased 
 of the Indians and bequeathed to him. Brown was left at 
 home by the fire, discussing points of theology with Charles 
 Stewart, an old captain under Wellington, who also hap 
 pened to be visiting at the house. Mr. Smith restated in 
 his eloquent way the daring propositions of Brown, whose 
 import he understood fully ; and then said in substance : 
 " You see how it is ; our dear old friend has made up his 
 mind to this course, and cannot be turned from it. We 
 cannot give him up to die alone ; we must support him. I 
 
 1 " Ah, gentlemen," said Edwin Coppoc at Harper's Ferry, " you don't 
 know Captain Brown : when he wants a man to do a thing he does it." 
 
440 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1858. 
 
 will raise so many hundred dollars for him ; you must lay 
 the case before your friends in Massachusetts and perhaps 
 they will do the same. I see no other way." For myself, 
 I had reached the same conclusion, and engaged to bring 
 the scheme at once to the attention of the three Massachu 
 setts men to whom Brown had written, and also of Dr. 
 S. G. Howe, who had sometimes favored action almost as 
 extreme as this proposed by Brown. I returned to Boston 
 on the 25th of February, and on the same day communi 
 cated the enterprise to Theodore Parker and Wentworth 
 Higginson. At the suggestion of Parker, Brown, who had 
 gone to Brooklyn, N. Y., was invited to visit Boston secretly, 
 and did so the 4th of March, taking a room at the American 
 House, in Hanover Street, and remaining for the most part 
 in his room 1 during the four days of his stay. Mr. Parker 
 was deeply interested in the project, but not very san 
 guine of its success. He wished to see it tried, believing 
 that it must do good even if it failed. Brown remained at 
 the American House until Monday, March 8, when he de 
 parted for Philadelphia. On the 6th of March he wrote to 
 his son John from Boston : " My call here has met with a 
 most hearty response, so that I feel assured of at least toler 
 able success. I ought to be thankful for this. All has been 
 effected by quiet meeting of a few choice friends, it being 
 scarcely known that I have been in the city." 
 
 Before visiting Gerrit Smith, and while doubly occupied 
 in managing his delicate negotiation with Forbes, and ar 
 ranging for a full disclosure of his purposes to his wealthy 
 friends, John Brown, from his hiding-place in Rochester, 
 addressed this pathetic letter to his household in the wintry 
 forest of North Elba : 
 
 To his Family. 
 
 ROCHESTER, N. Y., Jan. 30, 1858. 
 
 MY DEAR WIFE AND CHILDREN, EVERY ONE, I am (praised 
 be God !) once more in York State. Whether I shall be permitted 
 to visit you or not this winter or spring, I cannot now say ; but it is 
 some relief of mind to feel that I am again so near yon. Possibly, if 
 I cannot go to see yon, I may be able to devise some way for some 
 
 1 This was No. 126, I remember. 
 
1858.] THE PLANS DISCLOSED. 441 
 
 one or more of you to meet me somewhere. The anxiety I feel to 
 see my wife and children once more I am unable to describe. I want 
 exceedingly to see my big baby and Ruth's baby, and to see how that 
 little company of sheep look about this time. The cries of my poor 
 sorrow-stricken despairing children, whose " tears on their cheeks " 
 are ever in my eyes, and whose sighs are ever in my ears, may how 
 ever prevent my enjoying the happiness I so much desire. But, 
 courage, courage, courage ! the great work of my life (the unseen 
 Hand that " guided me, and who has indeed holden my right hand, 
 may hold it still," though I have not known him at all as I ought) I 
 may yet see accomplished (God helping), and be permitted to return, 
 and " rest at evening." 
 
 my daughter Ruth ! could any plan be devised whereby you 
 could let Henry go "to school " (as you expressed it in your letter to 
 him while in Kansas), I would rather now have him " for another 
 term " than to have a hundred average scholars. I have a particular 
 and very important, but not dangerous, place for him to till in the 
 " school," and I know of no man living so well adapted to fill it. I 
 am quite confident some way can be devised so that you and your 
 children could be with him, and be quite happy even, and safe; but 
 God forbid me to flatter you into trouble ! I did not do it before. 
 My dear child, could you face such music if, on a full explanation, 
 Henry could be satisfied that his family might be safe f I would 
 make a similar inquiry of my own dear wife ; but I have kept her 
 tumbling here and there over a stormy and tempestuous sea for so 
 many years that I cannot ask her such a question. The natural in 
 genuity of Salmon in connection with some experience he and Oliver 
 have both had, would point him out as the next best man I could now 
 select ; but I am dumb in his case, as also in the case of Watson and 
 all my other sons. Jason's qualifications are, some of them, like 
 Henry's also. 
 
 Do not noise it about that I am in these parts, and direct to N. 
 Hawkins, care of Frederick Douglass, Rochester, N. Y. I want to 
 hear how you are all supplied with winter clothing, boots, etc. 
 
 God bless you all ! 
 
 Your affectionate husband and father, JOHN BROWN. 
 
 Ruth's reply to this letter should not fail to be quoted 
 here : 
 
 Ruth Thompson to John Brown. 
 
 NORTH ELRA, Feb. 20, 1858. 
 
 MY DEAR FATHER, Your letter of January 30 we received this 
 week, it having lain in the postoffice a week. Oliver went to the 
 
442 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1858. 
 
 office and got our news } there were two letters for me, but the 
 postmaster did not give him yours. We did not get it this week in 
 time to answer it, or we should have done so immediately. I am 
 sorry for such a delay. We were rejoiced to hear that you were so 
 near us, and we hope that you can visit us yet before leaving York 
 State. It really seems hard that we cannot see you, when you have 
 been so long from home ; yet we are glad that you still feel encour 
 aged. Dear father, you have asked me rather of a hard question. 
 I want to answer you wisely, but hardly know how. I cannot bear 
 the thought of Henry leaving me again ; yet I know I am selfish. 
 When I think of my poor despised sisters, that are deprived of both 
 husband and children, I feel deeply for them ; and were it not for 
 my little children, I would go almost anywhere witli Henry, if by 
 going I could do them any good. What is the place you wish him to 
 fill? How long would you want him? Would my going be of any 
 service to him or you ? I should be very glad to be with him, if it 
 would not be more expense than what good we could do. I say we ; 
 could I not do something for the cause I Henry's feelings are the 
 same that they have been. He says: u Tell father that I think he 
 places too high an estimate on my qualifications as a scholar; and tell 
 him I should like much to see him." I wish we could see you, and 
 then we should know better what to do ; but will you not write to us 
 and give us a full explanation of what you want him to do ? ... 
 Please write often. 
 
 Your affectionate daughter, 
 
 RUTH THOMPSON. 
 
 In a letter of February 24 from Gen-it Smith's house, 
 Brown wrote to his wife : " I have been here for a short 
 time, and am making middling good progress, I think. 
 Mr. Smith and family go all lengths with me." A week 
 later he was more explicit : 
 
 To his Wife. 
 
 NEW YORK, March 2, 1858. 
 
 MY DEAR WIFE, I received yours of the 17th of February yes 
 terday j was very glad of it, and to know that you had got the ten 
 dollars safe. I am having a constant series of both great encourage 
 ments and discouragements, but am yet able to say, in view of all, 
 " hitherto the Lord hath helped me." I shall send Salmon some 
 thing as soon as I can, and will try to get you the articles you men 
 tion. I find a much more earnest feeling among the colored people 
 
1858.] THE PLANS DISCLOSED. 443 
 
 than ever before ; but that is by no means unusual. On the whole, 
 the language of Providence to me would certainly seem to say, 
 " Try on." I flatter myself that I may be able to go and see you 
 again before a great while ; but I may not be able. I long to see 
 you all. All were well with John and Jason a few days since. I 
 had a good visit with Mr. Sanborn at Gerrit Smith's a few days ago. 
 It would be no very strange thing if he should join me. May God 
 abundantly bless you all ! No one writes me but you. 
 Your affectionate husband, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 As this letter shows, Brown had left Peterboro' in or 
 der to visit and confer with the colored people of New 
 York, Brooklyn, and Philadelphia concerning his main 
 plan. He was to have visited Philadelphia with Douglass 
 before going to Boston ; but while in Brooklyn he received 
 this letter from Douglass : 
 
 SYRACUSE, Feb. 27, 1858. 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEND, When we parted, we were to meet in Phila 
 delphia on Friday, March 5. I write now to postpone going to 
 Philadelphia until Wednesday, March 10. Please write me at 
 Rochester if this will do, and if you wish me to come at that time. 
 You can, I hope, find work enough in and about New York up to 
 that date. Please make my warmest regards to Mrs. and Mr. 
 Gloucester, and accept that and more for yourself. 
 
 FRED DOUGLASS. 
 JOHN BROWN, ESQ. 
 
 Brown answered this note March 2, and had previously 
 written me from Brooklyn as follows : 
 
 BROOKLYN, Feb. 26, 1858. 
 F. B. SANBORN, ESQ., Concord, Mass. 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEND, I want to put into the hands of my young 
 men copies of Plutarch's " Lives," Irving's " Life of Washington," 
 the best- written Life of Napoleon, and other similar books, together 
 with maps and statistics of States. Could you not find persons who 
 might be induced to contribute old copies (or other ones) of that 
 character, or find some person who would be willing to undertake to 
 collect some for me ? I also want to get a quantity of best white 
 cotton drilling, some hundred pieces, if I can get it. The use of 
 this article I will hereafter explain. Mr. Morton will forward your 
 
444 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1858. 
 
 letter here to me. Anything you may be disposed to say to me 
 within two or three days please enclose to James N. Gloucester, 
 No. 265 Bridge Street, Brooklyn, N. Y. 
 
 Very respectfully your friend, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 P. S. Persons who would devote their time to the good work, as 
 agents in different parts, might do incalculable good. Can you find 
 any such ? 
 
 Yours, J. B. 
 
 From Gerrit Smith's house, the day I departed for Bos 
 ton, Brown wrote to me one of those touching and prophetic 
 letters which so seldom flowed from his pen, and which I 
 have cherished as the most complete evidence of his confi 
 dence in my friendship and unison with him : 
 
 John Brown to F. B. Sanborn. 
 
 PETEKBORO', N. Y., Feb. 24, 1858. 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEND, Mr. Morton has taken the liberty of saying 
 to me that you felt half inclined to make a common cause with me. 
 I greatly rejoice at this ; for I believe when you come to look at the 
 ample field I labor in, and the rich harvest which not only this entire 
 country but the whole world during the present and future genera 
 tions may reap from its successful cultivation, you will feel that you 
 are out of your element until you find you are in it, an entire unit. 
 What an inconceivable amount of good you might so effect by your 
 counsel, your example, your encouragement, your natural and ac 
 quired ability for active service ! And then, how very little we can 
 
 possibly lose ! Certainly the cause is enough to live for, if not to 
 
 for. I have only had this one opportunity, in a life of nearly sixty 
 years ; and could I be continued ten times as long again, I might 
 not again have another equal opportunity. God has honored but 
 comparatively a very small part of mankind with any possible chance 
 for such mighty and soul-satisfying rewards. But, my dear friend, 
 if you should make up your mind to do so, I trust it will be wholly 
 from the promptings of your own spirit, after having thoroughly 
 counted the cost. I would flatter no man into such a measure, if I 
 could do it ever so easily. 
 
 I expect nothing but to " endure hardness ;" but I expect to effect 
 a mighty conquest, even though it be like the last victory of Sam r 
 sou. I felt for a number of years, in earlier life, a steady, strong 
 
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1858.] THE PLANS DISCLOSED. 445 
 
 desire to die : but since I saw any prospect of becoming a '' reaper " 
 in the great harvest, I have not only felt quite willing to live, but 
 have enjoyed life much j and am now rather anxious to live for a 
 few years more. 
 
 Your sincere friend, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 1 
 
 Till I follow my noble friend to that other world on 
 which his hopes were fixed, I can never read this letter 
 without emotion. Yet it did not persuade me to comply 
 with his wish. Long accustomed to guide my life by lead 
 ings and omens from that shrine whose oracles may destroy 
 but can never deceive, I listened in vain, through months 
 of doubt and anxiety, for a clear and certain call. But it 
 was revealed to me that no confidence could be too great, 
 no trust nor affection too extreme, towards this aged poor 
 man whom the Lord had chosen as his champion. In any 
 event of his designs, had he failed as conspicuously as 
 he has succeeded, I could still have had nothing to regret 
 in the little aid I afforded him, except that I could not aid 
 him more. The work upon which he entered was danger 
 ous, and even desperate ; none saw this better than those 
 who stood with him : but his commission was from a Court 
 that could bear him out, whatever the result. It is a 
 maxim even of worldly prudence that desperate diseases 
 require desperate remedies, in rebus arduis ac tenui spe 
 fortissimo, quceque consilia sunt optima. But it is also the 
 
 1 This letter, which is now in possession of Mrs. Stearns, was received 
 by me soon after my return to Concord. On my way through Boston I 
 had communicated to Theodore Parker (at his house in Exeter Place, to 
 which I had taken Brown in January, 1857, and where he met Mr. Gar 
 rison and other Abolitionists) the substance of Brown's plan ; and upon 
 receiving the letter I transmitted it to Parker. He retained it, so that it 
 was out of my possession in October, 1859, when I destroyed most of the 
 letters of Brown and others which could compromise our friends. Some 
 time afterward, probably in 1862, when Parker had been dead two years, 
 my letters to him came back to me, and among them this epistle. It has 
 to me an extreme value, from its association with the memory of my best 
 and noblest friends ; but in itself it is also a remarkable utterance. That 
 it did not draw me into the field as one of Brown's band was due to the 
 circumstance that the interests of other persons were then too much in my 
 hands and in my thoughts to permit a change of my whole course of life. 
 
446 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1858. 
 
 privilege of heroism, as of beauty and of sanctity, to im 
 pose its own conditions upon the beholder : they claim and 
 they receive their due homage. A casual glance, a frivo 
 lous mind, might be deceived in John Brown. His homely 
 garb and plain manners did not betoken greatness, but 
 neither could they disguise it. That antique and magnani 
 mous character which amid wounds and fetters and fero 
 cious insults suddenly fastened the gaze of the whole 
 world ; those words of startling simplicity uttered among 
 the corpses of his men, or before his judges, or in his 
 prison cell, and listened to by all mankind, all things 
 that were peculiar to John Brown and distinguished him 
 among the multitude, lost nothing of their force when he 
 was seen at nearer view and heard within the walls of a 
 chamber. That impressive personality, whose echoes so 
 long filled the air of our camps, lacked nothing of its effect 
 upon the few who came within his influence before the 
 world recognized him. We saw this lonely and obscure 
 old man choosing poverty before wealth, renouncing the 
 ties of affection, throwing away his ease, his reputation, 
 and his life for the sake of a despised race and for " zeal to 
 his country's ancient liberties." Moved by this example, 
 shamed by this generosity, was it to be imagined that 
 young men and devoted Abolitionists would examine cau 
 tiously the grounds of prudence, or timidly follow a scrupu 
 lous conservatism ? Without accepting Brown's plans as 
 reasonable, we were prepared to second them merely because 
 they were his, under the impulse of that sentiment to 
 which Andrew afterward gave utterance when he said : 
 " Whatever might be thought of John Brown's acts, John 
 Brown himself was right" Three courses were open to us, 
 to aid him so far as we could ; to discountenance and op 
 pose his plans ; or to remain neutral. Of course there was 
 no thought of betraying his confidence, nor of treating him 
 as a madman incapable of counsel. And it was soon evi 
 dent that where Brown was concerned there could be no 
 neutrality and no indifference. 
 
 In the winter and spring of 1858 the Kansas rifles, pistols, 
 etc., were in the care of John Brown, Jr., to whom his father 
 wrote from Mr. Smith's house, Feb. 23, 1858 : 
 
THE PLANS DISCLOSED. 447 
 
 " I have become satisfied that it will be entirely best to have all 
 my freight removed from Conneaut, and stored away safe with very 
 quiet friends, and all marks removed from the boxes. 1 I have lately 
 learned of some circumstances which satisfy me that this will certainly 
 be a prudent measure ; and I wish you to effect it as soon as you can 
 without extra effort and sacrifice. Have not heard from you for some 
 days. Write N. Hawkins, care of F. Douglass." 
 
 The arrival of Brown in Boston was thus indicated, 
 Parker being the first to learn it : 
 
 Brown to Theodore Parker. 
 
 AMERICAN HOUSE, BOSTON, March 4, 1858. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, I shall be most happy to see you at my room 
 (126) in this house, at any and at all hours that may suit your own 
 convenience, or that of friends. Mr. Sanborn asked me to be here 
 by Friday evening, and as I was anxious to have all the time I could 
 get, I came on at once. Please call by yourself and with friends as 
 you can. Please inquire for Mr. (not Captain) Brown, of New 
 York. Your friend, JOHN BROWN. 
 
 Parker was one of the first persons who called on Brown 
 during his short visit to Boston, which it was then sup 
 posed would be his last until he should have struck his 
 great blow in Virginia. I had come from Gerrit Smith's 
 house directly to Parker's house in Boston, and had com 
 municated Brown's plans to Parker at Brown's request and 
 Smith's. On the same day at Worcester/ 2 and the next day 
 at Boston, I told Higginson and Dr. S. G. Howe, as Brown 
 desired me to do. I asked him what I should say to Mr. 
 
 1 See note at the end of Chapter XIII. , for the disposal of these arms 
 and their removal to Harper's Ferry. 
 
 2 Before Brown had quite converted us to his support at Peterboro', on 
 the 23d of February, I began a letter to Higginson which was never fin 
 ished, but on the back of which Brown that day drew rude outlines of his 
 Virginia forts. I have this sheet still ; the fragment runs thus : " DEAR 
 FRIEND, You ought to be here to see our friend Hawkins, who is about 
 entering largely into the wool business, in which he has been more or less 
 engaged all his life. He now has a plan the result of many years' care 
 ful study Here the note ends ; and on the other side of the sheet are 
 Brown's pencillings, above which 1 then wrote, "Woollen machinery, in 
 vented by N. Hawkins." 
 
448 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1858. 
 
 Stearns. Brown replied that he would make the communi 
 cation himself in Boston, as he did about March 5. He de 
 sired that Wendell Phillips should not be informed, nor did 
 he ever reveal his plans fully to Phillips. On the suc 
 ceeding Friday, Saturday, and Sunday he saw Parker, Dr. 
 Howe, Mr. Stearns, Mr. Higginson, and two or three other 
 persons. He did not think it prudent to show himself at 
 Parker's Sunday-evening reception, on the 7th of March, as 
 he had done when in Boston the year before ; and therefore 
 he wrote Mr. Parker a letter, which I carried to him that 
 afternoon. 
 
 Brown to Theodore Parker. 
 
 BOSTON, MASS., March 7, 1858. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, Since you know I have an almost countless brood 
 of poor hungry chickens to " scratch for," you will not reproach me 
 for scratching even on the Sabbath. At any rate, I trust God will 
 not. I want you to undertake to provide a substitute for an address 
 you saw last season, directed to the officers and soldiers of the United 
 States Army. The ideas contained in that address I of course like, 
 for I furnished the skeleton. I never had the ability to clothe those 
 ideas in language at all to satisfy myself; and I was by no means 
 satisfied with the style of that address, and do not know as I can give 
 any correct idea of what I want, I will, however, try. 
 
 In the first place it must be short, or it will not be generally read. 
 It must be in the simplest or plainest language, without the least 
 affectation of the scholar about it, and yet be worded with great 
 clearness and power. The anonymous writer must (in the language 
 of the Paddy) be " afther others," and not " afther himself at all, at 
 all." If the spirit that communicated Franklin's Poor Richard (or 
 some other good spirit) would dictate, I think it would be quite as 
 well employed as the " dear sister spirits" have been for some years 
 past. The address should be appropriate, and particularly adapted 
 to the peculiar circumstances we anticipate, and should look to the 
 actual change of service from that of Satan to the service of God. It 
 should be, in short, a most earnest and powerful appeal to men's 
 sense of right and to their feelings of humanity. Soldiers are men, 
 and no man can certainly calculate the value and importance of get 
 ting a single " nail into old Captain Kidd's chest." It should be 
 provided beforehand, and be ready in advance to distribute by all 
 persons, male and female, who may be disposed to favor the right. 
 
 I also want a similar short address, appropriate to the peculiar 
 circumstances, intended for all persons, old and young, male and 
 
1858.] THE PLANS DISCLOSED. 449 
 
 female, slaveholding and non-slaveholding, to be sent out broadcast 
 over the entire nation. So by every male and female prisoner on 
 being set at liberty, and to be read by them during confinement. I 
 know that men will listen, and reflect too, under such circumstances. 
 Persons will hear your aiitislavery lectures and abolition lectures 
 when they have become virtually slaves themselves. The impres 
 sions made on prisoners by kindness and plain dealing, instead of 
 barbarous and cruel treatment, such as they might give, and instead 
 of being slaughtered like wild reptiles, as they might very naturally 
 expect, are not only powerful but lasting. Females are susceptible 
 of being carried away entirely by the kindness of an intrepid and 
 magnanimous soldier, even when his bare name was but a terror the 
 day previous. 1 Now, dear sir, I have told you about as well as I 
 know how, what I am anxious at once to secure. Will you write 
 the tracts, or get them written, so that I may commence colporteur? 
 Very respectfully your friend, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 P. S. If I should never see you again, please drop me a line 
 (enclosed to Stephen Smith, Esq., Lombard Street, Philadelphia), 
 at once, saying what you will encourage me to expect. You are at 
 liberty to make any prudent use of this to stir up any friend. 
 Yours for the right. 
 
 J. B. 
 
 Perhaps Brown was not aware how hard was the task 
 imposed by these masterly directions in the art of writing. 
 Parker, who was then overweighted with work, never under 
 took to write the tracts desired, nor were they written by 
 any one else ; but Parker sent Brown from his library on 
 this Sunday the report of General McClellan on the Euro 
 pean armies, which was then a new book, and was thought 
 likely to be of service to Brown. At the same time Brown 
 praised Plutarch as a book he had read with great profit for 
 
 1 A Kansas newspaper said in 1859 : " At the sacking of Osawatomie 
 one of the most bitter proslavery men in Lykins County was killed. His 
 name was Ed. Timrnons. Sometime afterward 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 dis 
 tresses, and supported them until their 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 John Brown 
 was her benefactor." 
 
 29 
 
450 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1858. 
 
 its military and moral lessons, and particularly mentioned 
 the life of Sertorius, the Roman commander who so long 
 carried on a partisan warfare in Spain. He wished, as he 
 had before written me, to get a few copies of Plutarch for 
 his men to read in camp, and inquired particularly about 
 the best edition. 
 
 Although Brown communicated freely to the four persons 
 just named his plans of attack and defence in Virginia, it 
 is not known that he spoke to any but me of his pur 
 pose to surprise the arsenal and town of Harper's Ferry. 
 Both Dr. Howe and Mr. Stearns testified before Mason's 
 committee, in 1860, that they were ignorant of Brown's plan 
 of attack ; which was true so far as the place and manner 
 of beginning the campaign were concerned. It is probable 
 that in 1858 Brown had not definitely resolved to seize 
 Harper's Ferry ; yet he spoke of it to me beside his coal-fire 
 in the American House, putting it as a question, rather, with 
 out expressing his own purpose. I questioned him a little 
 about it ; but it then passed from my mind, and I did not 
 think of it again until the attack had been made, a year and 
 a half afterward. That it was then seriously a part of his 
 plan may be inferred, however, from letters to his son John 
 written from Douglass's house, Feb. 4-5, 1858, in which he 
 said : " I have been thinking that I would like to have you 
 make a trip to Bedford, Chambersburg, Gettysburg, and 
 Uniontown, in Pennsylvania, travelling slowly along, and 
 inquiring out every man on the way, or every family of the 
 right stripe, and getting acquainted with them as much as 
 you could. When you look at the location of those places, 
 you will readily perceive the advantage of getting up some 
 acquaintance in those parts." After advising his son to go 
 to Washington and call on such members of Congress as Mr. 
 Giddings and John Sherman of Ohio, Dr. Chaffee and Mr. 
 Burlingame of Massachusetts, and Mr. Olin, of Troy, N. Y., 
 in hopes to raise five hundred or one thousand dollars by 
 their aid for secret service (" Mr. Burlingame gave me fifty 
 dollars at Boston "), Brown writes : " You can say to our 
 friends that I am out from Kansas for that express purpose. 
 I think Mr. Sherman and Giddings will give you a good lift. 
 Eli Thayer is a particular friend. I have no doubt he would 
 
1858.] THE PLANS DISCLOSED. 451 
 
 hook on his team. . . . Do not lisp my plans or theories of 
 any kind, other than by mere hints to such persons as will 
 first commit themselves. You may say we are as strong 
 Abolitionists as Gerrit Smith." March 4, Brown wrote 
 from Boston : " As it may require some time to hunt out 
 friends at Bedford, Chambersburg, Gettysburg, Hagerstown, 
 Md., or even Harper's Ferry, Va., I would like to have you 
 arrange your business so as to set out very soon, unless you 
 hear to the contrary from me right away. Have pretty 
 much concluded not to have you go to Washington. I have 
 but little "'trust in princes' myself; still I have no doubt 
 but something might be done there. I expect to go from 
 here to Philadelphia with our Rochester friend in three or 
 four days." March 6, he wrote again from Boston : " My 
 call here has met with a most hearty response, so that I feel 
 assured of at least tolerable success. I ought to be thankful 
 for this ; all has been effected by quiet meetings of a few 
 choice friends, it being scarcely known that I have been 
 in the city. I go from here to Philadelphia, to be there 
 by the 10th instant. I want you to meet me there, if 
 possible, on or before the 15th, as I will wait until then 
 to see or learn from you. (Day before yesterday, when I 
 wrote, I did not fully understand what my success would 
 be here.) I expect to meet our Rochester and other choice 
 friends there, and to be accompanied by one, at least, from 
 here." 
 
 John Brown, Jr., accordingly met his father, with Doug 
 lass, Henry Highland Garnet, Stephen Smith, and other col 
 ored men at Philadelphia, conferred with them there, and 
 then went on with his father to New York and New Ha 
 ven, where they called (March 18) at the house of Mr. W. H. 
 Russell. From New Haven they went, March 19, to New 
 York, and thence to North Elba, where they arrived March 
 23, having travelled on foot from Elizabethtown to save 
 time and money. They remained at North Elba a few days, 
 and reached the house of Gerrit Smith, at Peterboro', as Mr. 
 Smith's diary shows, April 2, 1858. l They remained there 
 
 1 About a month before the Forbes disclosures, which caused the post 
 ponement of the attack until 1859. 
 
452 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1858. 
 
 from ten o'clock that day till the next morning at six, and 
 reported to Mr. Smith (" who seemed then fully acquainted 
 with the Virginia plan, and in hearty sympathy with it," 
 says John Brown, Jr.) what had been said and done at Bos 
 ton and Philadelphia. I had already written to Mr. Smith, 
 according to our agreement of February 23, what Brown's 
 Boston friends could and would do. Both father and son 
 discussed the plan with Mr. Smith in his study, and Mrs. 
 Smith took part in the conversation, as she had done when 
 I was at Peterboro' six weeks before. During the afternoon 
 Brown and Smith walked out to Mr. Smith's former home, 
 a mile or two away, and talked over the scheme alone. 
 When they returned, Mr. Smith (says John Brown, Jr.,) 
 " was buoyant and hopeful about it, and showed great ani 
 mation and interest." 
 
 From Peterboro' the father and son went to the house of 
 Douglass, in Rochester, where they separated about April 
 4, 1858, John Brown proceeding at once to St. Catherine's 
 in Canada, whence he wrote to his son on the 8th of April 
 as follows : 
 
 " I came on here direct with J. W. Loguen the day after you 
 left Rochester. I am succeeding, to all appearance, beyond my ex 
 pectations. Harriet Tubman hooked on his whole team at once. 1 He 
 (Harriet) is the most of a man, naturally, that I ever met with. 
 There is the most abundant material, and of the right quality, in 
 this quarter, beyond all doubt. Do not forget to write Mr. Case 
 (near Rochester) at once about hunting up every person and family 
 of the reliable kind about, at, or near Bedford, Chambersburg, 
 Gettysburg, and Carlisle, in Pennsylvania, and also Hagerstowri and 
 vicinity, Maryland, and Harpers Ferry, Vn. The names and resi 
 dences of all, I want to have sent me at Linden ville." 
 
 This shows that Brown was constantly thinking of the 
 place where he finally made the attack ; yet John Brown, 
 Jr., declares that he did not suppose that to be the place 
 fixed upon, but some less accessible spot in the mountains 
 near by. He testified on this point in 1867 : " According 
 to the plans of John Brown, as explained to me by him, and 
 talked over at an interview between John Brown, Gerrit 
 
 1 This was a woman. See p. 453. 
 
1858.] THE PLANS DISCLOSED. 453 
 
 Smith, and myself in the summer of 1859, 1 Harper's Ferry 
 was not designated as the place of attack, nor was any par 
 ticular place named ; but it was expressly stated that the 
 first blow would be struck at some place in Virginia or 
 Maryland ; and the news of the attack on Harper's Ferry 
 surprised me, both on account of the place upon which it 
 had been made and the time when it occurred, as I did not 
 expect it at so early a period." 
 
 On the 14th of April Brown was still at St. Catherine's 
 among the Canadian fugitives from slavery. The woman 
 of whom he spoke in his letter of April 8 was temporarily 
 living there among those she had helped away from bon 
 dage ; but her more permanent home was in Auburn, 1ST. Y., 
 on some property she had bought of Senator Seward. She 
 was fully conversant with Brown's plans, and did what she 
 could in her wild sibylline way to further them. From 
 Canada he went to Chicago, where he was on the 25th of 
 April. But on his way westward he sent this cautionary 
 letter to North Elba : 
 
 To his Family. 
 
 INGEHSOL, CANADA WEST, April 16, 1858. 
 
 DEAR WIFE AND CHILDREN, EVERY ONE, Since I wrote you 
 I have thought it possible, though not probable, that some persons 
 might be disposed to hunt for any property I may be supposed to 
 possess, on account of liabilities I incurred while concerned with Mr. 
 Perkins. Such claims I ought not to pay if I had ever so much 
 given me for my service in Kansas, as most of you well know I 
 gave up all I then had to Mr. Perkins while with him. I think if 
 Henry and Kuth have not yet made out a deed, as was talked of, 
 they had better not do it at present, but merely sign a receipt I now 
 
 1 Allusion is here made to a second visit of John Brown and his son 
 together at Peterboro' a few months before the attack. When in consulta 
 tion with Mr. Smith, says' John Brown, Jr., " My father informed him that 
 he had so far got his plans perfected that within a few months at least he 
 should strike the blow. The place in Pennsylvania at which arms, etc., 
 should be first sent had been fixed upon previous to this time. It was 
 Chambersburg; and the whole plan, as far as then matured, was fully 
 made known to Mr. Smith. The exact place had not been determined 
 on, but it had been determined to commence operations in the vicinity 
 of Harper's Ferry." 
 
454 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1853. 
 
 send, which can be held by Watson ; and I also think that when the 
 contract of Gerrit Smith with Franklin and Samuel Thompson is 
 found, he had better lay it by carefully with the receipt, and that all 
 the family had better decline saying anything about their land mat 
 ters. Should any disturbance ever be made, it will most likely come 
 directly or indirectly through a scoundrel by the name of Warren, 
 who defrauded Mr. Perkins and me out of several thousand dollars. 
 He may set persons we suppose to be friends (who may, in fact, be 
 so) to inquiring out matters. It can do no harm to decline saying 
 much about such things; you can very properly say the land belongs 
 to the family. 1 If a deed has been made by Henry and Ruth, it 
 need not be recorded at present. I expect to leave for Iowa in a few 
 days j write me at Chicago, directing to Jason Brown, care of John 
 Jones, Esq., Box 764. May God bless you all ! 
 Your affectionate husband and father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 P. S. Show this to John when he gets on. Henry and Euth 
 should both sign the receipt. 
 
 SPUINGDALE, IOWA, April 27, 1858. 
 
 DEAR WIFE AND CHILDREN, EVERY ONE, We start from here 
 to-day, and shall write you again when we stop, which will be in 
 two or three days. I have just bought eight barrels of flour for you, 
 which will be shipped to Watson, care of James A. Allen, Westport. 
 You can divide it among the different branches of the family so as to 
 make all as comfortable as may be. If I should not be able to send 
 you money to pay the freight, you can perhaps sell some of it to 
 some of your neighbors for cash, and pay the freight in that way. 
 I shall try to send you some pork and leather soon. I am trying to 
 arrange so as to have Henry come out to see me at Pennsylvania 
 with Oliver (and any others), if it can be consistently done. I shall 
 write Oliver and any others when and where to find us, and also 
 provide about travelling expenses. They will not probably be called 
 on before the middle of May, and possibly not so soon. May God 
 bless you all ! Write Jason Brown at Chatham, Canada West. 
 Yours ever, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 P. S. The flour, taken either by John, Henry, Watson, or Sal 
 mon, may be credited to their mother. Do not fail to write, all of 
 you, Ellen as well as the others. Yours, 
 
 J. B. 
 
 1 This relates to the farms bought with the subscription of one thousand 
 dollars from Boston in 1857. 
 
1858.] THE PLANS DISCLOSED. 455 
 
 CHICAGO, ILL., April 28, 1858. 
 
 DEAR WIFE AND CHILDREN, EVERY ONE, The letters of 
 Henry, Ruth, and Oliver are all received, and most glad were we 
 to get them. I am entirely satisfied with the arrangement about 
 who shall go out surveying. Would it be entirely satisfactory all 
 round to have Henry manage the farms for both families, and let 
 Watson go with Oliver and friend Hinkley ? Say frankly, wife and 
 all concerned. Ten of the company got here this morning j three 
 more will probably be on to-morrow. We that are now here leave 
 for Canada West this evening. Owen is here, and is well. Write 
 as directed before. I now enclose two drafts (amount, twenty-five 
 dollars) to help pay travelling expenses, and shall send more. 
 Acknowledge these. Will write again soon. God bless you all! 
 Your affectionate husband and father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 CHATHAM, CANADA WEST, May 12, 1858. 
 
 MY DEAR WIFE AND CHILDREN, EVERY ONE, I have just re 
 ceived Oliver's letter of the 14th of April ; also one from wife and 
 Oliver, of the 5th inst. I am most glad of them ; and I am thank 
 ful to be able to say that all here were well yesterday, when Owen 
 and some others left for the eastward. I with others remain behind 
 to wait for funds to arrive. I have also a letter from John, dated 
 April 22, enclosing lines from Forbes, with printed slips attached. 
 It seems now, by what we can learn, that his management may 
 occasion some hindrance j that being the case, you at home will have 
 the more time to prepare, and will wait for further advice in the 
 matter. It would seem as though F. has a correspondent some 
 where. Can it be at Lindenville or New York? I wish John 
 would think over the matter, and see if he can get any light on the 
 subject, and write me, enclosing what F. has lately written him, 
 and also the substance of what he has lately written F. I suspect 
 some one in Dr. McCune Smith's confidence is furnishing F. with 
 information. It must be traced out, and the utmost care observed in 
 doing it, as well as prudence exercised in all that is said, written, or 
 done. I shall write you as often as I can, and shall assist you all I 
 can. I cannot say what either flour or pork will be worth when 
 you get them ; you can easily find that out when you have them. 
 Shall send you more money as soon as J can. It may be best to sell 
 off much of the flour. I expect to leave here shortly, but I want to 
 hear from you right away. Enclose in a sealed envelope, the outer 
 one directed to James M. Bell, Chatham, as above. Was very glad 
 to hear from Ellen. May God bless and finally save you all ! Had 
 
456 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1858. 
 
 a good Abolition convention here, from different parts, on the 8th 
 and 10th hist. Constitution slightly amended and adopted, and so 
 ciety organized. Great unanimity prevailed. I hope you may be 
 able to get the old granite monument home this summer. 
 Your affectionate husband and father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 CHATHAM, CANADA WEST, May 25, 1858. 
 
 DEAR WIFE AND CHILDREN, EVERY ONE, Oliver's letter of 
 the 19th is just received. I have to commend him for his prompti 
 tude in replying to mine, as well as the comprehensiveness, brevity, 
 and spirit of that reply. We are completely nailed down at present, 
 for want of funds ; and we may be obliged to remain inactive for 
 mouths yet, for the same reason. You must all learn to be patient, 
 or, at least, I hope you will. If you have not been obliged to 
 use the two drafts (amount, twenty-five dollars) before you get this, 
 do try and hold them till I write you further. I have heard nothing 
 from John since in March, and feel quite anxious on his account. 
 You need not reply till further advised. 
 
 Your affectionate husband and father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 Meanwhile the Boston friends of Brown were receiving 
 plain information that Forbes was at Washington, betraying 
 the Virginia plan to Eepublican Senators, and perhaps to 
 members of the proslavery Administration. Startled by 
 this, some of us wrote to Brown at Chatham, May 10, to 
 which he soon replied thus : 
 
 John Brown to F. B. Sanborn. 
 
 CHATHAM, CANADA WEST, May 14, 1858. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, Your much -prized letter of the 10th inst. is re 
 ceived. I have only time to say at this moment that as it is an invari 
 able rule with me to be governed by circumstances, or, in other words, 
 not to do anything while I do not know what to do, none of our friends 
 need have any fears in relation to hasty or rash steps being taken by 
 us. As knowledge is said to be power, we propose to become pos 
 sessed of more knowledge. We have many reasons for begging our 
 Eastern friends to keep clear of F. personally, unless he throws him 
 self upon them. We have those who are thoroughly posted up to put 
 on his track, and we beg to be allowed to do so. We also beg our 
 friends to supply us with three or four hundred dollars without delay, 
 
1858.] THE PLANS DISCLOSED. 457 
 
 pledging ourselves not to act other than to secure perfect knowledge 
 of facts in regard to what F. has really done, or will do, so that we 
 may ourselves know how we ought to act. None of us here or with 
 you should he hasty, or decide the course to be taken, while under 
 excitement. " In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall 
 direct thy paths." A good cause is sure to he safe in the hands of 
 an all-good, all- wise, and all-powerful Director and Father. Dear 
 Sir, please send this to the friends at Boston and Worcester at once ; 
 and in the mean time send me on a plain copy of all that F. may 
 hereafter write and say. The copy, together with fifteen dollars, 
 is received. Direct all communications on outside envelope to 
 James M. Bell, Chatham, Canada West ; the inside, sealed, to 
 Jason Brown. 
 
 Yours ever. 
 (No signature.) 
 
 P. S. You can say with perfect truth to F. that you do not know 
 what has become of me; and you might ask him when he last heard 
 from me, and where I was at the time. 
 
 The narration must now go back a few weeks in order 
 to take up events as they occurred at the East while Brown 
 was making his arrangements for a foray in Virginia, by 
 visiting Canada and the West. 
 
 Brown's first request in 1858 was for a fund of a thousand 
 dollars only ; with this in hand he promised to take the field 
 either in April or May. Mr. Stearns acted as treasurer of 
 this fund, and before the 1st of May nearly the whole amount 
 had been paid in or subscribed, Stearns contributing 
 three hundred dollars, and the rest of our committee smaller 
 sums. It soon appeared, however, that the amount named 
 would be too small, and Brown's movements were embar 
 rassed from lack of money before the disclosures of Forbes 
 came to his knowledge. I do not find among my papers the 
 precise language of Forbes's threats, but the effect of them 
 is visible enough in the letters extant. On the 20th of 
 April, 1858, I had written thus to Higginson of the secret 
 committee : 
 
 u I have lately had two letters from Mr. Hawkins, who has just 
 left Canada for the West, on business connected with his enterprise. 
 He has found in Canada several good men for shepherds, and, if not 
 embarrassed by want of means, expects to turn his flock loose about 
 
458 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1858. 
 
 the J5th of May. He has received four hundred and ten dollars of 
 the five hundred guaranteed him in Massachusetts, but wants more ; 
 and we must try to make up to him the other five hundred dollars. 
 Part of it is pledged, and the rest ought to he got, though with some 
 difficulty. . . . Hawkins's address is ' Jason Brown,' under cover to 
 John Jones, Chicago. He has gone West to move his furniture and 
 bring on his hands. He has received two hundred and sixty dollars 
 from other sources than our friends, and is raising more elsewhere, 
 but got little in New York or Philadelphia." 
 
 On the 28th of April Brown was still at Chicago, ignorant 
 of Forbes's treachery, and was on his way a day or two later, 
 with a dozen or twenty " shepherds," for the " market " at 
 Chatham in Canada, where he wrote his Massachusetts 
 friends to meet him. But just then came a letter to me 
 from Forbes, followed by one to Dr. Howe, threatening to 
 make the matter public. On the 2d of May, Dr. Howe, 
 Mr. Stearns, and myself met for consultation on the new 
 aspect of affairs presented by these letters from Washing 
 ton, where Forbes then was. Parker was also consulted on 
 the same day, and I wrote the result (May 5) to Higginson 
 as follows : 
 
 " It looks as if the project must, for the present, be deferred, for I 
 find by reading Forbes's epistles to the doctor that he knows the de 
 tails of the plan, and even knows (what very few do) that the doctor, 
 Mr. Stearns, and myself are informed of it. How he got this knowl 
 edge is a mystery. He demands that Hawkins be dismissed as agent, 
 and himself or some other be put in his place, threatening otherwise 
 to make the business public. Theodore Parker and G. L. Stearns 
 think the plan must be deferred till another year ; the doctor does 
 not think so, and I am in doubt, inclining to the opinion of the two 
 former." 
 
 On the 7th of May Gerrit Smith wrote me : l "It seems 
 to me that in these circumstances Brown must go no fur 
 ther, and so I write him. I never was convinced of the 
 wisdom of his scheme. But as things now stand, it seems 
 to me it would be madness to attempt to execute it. Colonel 
 Forbes would make such an attempt a certain and most dis 
 astrous failure. I write Brown this evening" On the 9th 
 
 1 This letter is now in Colonel Higginson's possession. 
 
1858.) THE PLANS DISCLOSED. 459 
 
 of May Higginson wrote to Parker a brief note from Brat- 
 tleboro, protesting against delay. " I regard any postpone 
 ment/'' lie said, " as simply abandoning the project ; for if 
 we give it up now, at the command or threat of H. F., it 
 will be the same next year. The only way is to circumvent 
 the man somehow (if he cannot be restrained in his malice). 
 When the thing is well started, who cares what he says ? " 
 He soon after wrote more fully to Parker, giving many ar 
 guments against delay. Parker replied : " If you knew all 
 we do about ' Colonel ' Forbes, you would think differently. 
 Can't you see the wretch in New York ? " At the same 
 time Dr. Howe wrote to Higginson : " T. P. will tell you 
 about matters. They have held a different view from the 
 one I have taken, which agrees mainly with yours. I think 
 that the would-be traitor is now on the wrong track. I told 
 him some truth, which he will think to be false l ( for he 
 
 1 Dr. Howe wrote to Forbes as follows : " I said to Senator Sunnier that I 
 had confidence in the integrity and ability of Captain Brown ; but it is utterly 
 absurd to infer from that any responsibility for his acts. I have confidence 
 in the integrity and ability of scores and hundreds of men for whose words 
 and acts I am in no wise responsible. I never made myself responsible, as 
 a member of the Kansas Committee, or as an individual, neither legally nor 
 morally, for any contract between Captain Brown and you. I was an active 
 member of the committee from its formation until it ceased active opera 
 tions (which was long, long ago), and never heard of any contract with 
 you ; and I know that the committee never delegated power to any one to 
 bind it by any legal or even moral obligation with you. So the brains are 
 out of that allegation, and I will not heed any ghosts of it which you may 
 parade before me or the public. Your mistaken notion about my being in 
 any way responsible for Captain Brown's actions is the key, I suppose, to 
 certain enigmatical allusions in your last letter to some projected expedi 
 tion of his ; as though I was to be responsible through all time for him ! I 
 infer from your language that you have obtained (in confidence) some in 
 formation respecting an expedition which you think to be commendable, 
 provided you could manage it, but which you will betray and denounce if 
 he does not give it up ! You are, sir, the guardian of your own honor ; 
 but 1 trust that for your children's sake, at least, you will never let your 
 passion lead you to a course that might make them blush. In order, how 
 ever, to disabuse you of anv lingering notion that I, or any of the members 
 of the late Kansas Committee (whom I know intimately) have any respon 
 sibility for Captain Brown's actions, I wish to say that the very last com 
 munication I sent to him was in order to signify the earnest wish of certain 
 gentlemen, whom you name as his supporters (in your letter and in the 
 
460 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1858. 
 
 thinks evil), and he will probably be bungling about in the 
 dark and hesitating until the period for his doing harm has 
 passed. Forbes has disclosed what he knows to Senator 
 Seward, or says he has." A few days after this, Dr. Howe 
 also admitted that the enterprise must be postponed. 1 
 was in almost daily consultation with him, and on the 18th 
 of May I wrote to Higginson : ''Wilson as well as Hale and 
 Seward, and God knows how many more, have heard about 
 the plot from Forbes. To go on in the face of this is mere 
 madness, and 1 place myself fully 011 the side of Parker, 
 Stearns, and Dr. Howe. Mr. Stearns and the doctor will 
 see Hawkins in New York this week, and settle matters 
 finally." 
 
 Following up Parker's hint, but without being able to 
 meet Forbes in New York, Higginson wrote to him a letter 
 which after a time found him out, and to which Forbes re 
 plied from Philadelphia, June 6, some days after Brown 
 had definitely agreed to the postponement, and had left New 
 England for Kansas. The letter was long and rambling, 
 and reads more like the epistle of a lunatic than the pro 
 position of a military leader, such as Forbes professed to be. 
 He said : 
 
 " The patent business which called me to Washington detained 
 me longer than I anticipated; besides, certain financial difficulties 
 threw obstacles in my way. ... I am little disposed to trust certain 
 letters by the United States mail addressed to obnoxious individuals. 
 You can get from F. B. Sanborn and Dr. S. G. Howe a sight of my 
 letters to them, unless Dr. H. may have thrown them behind the 
 fire, as he said he would do if he did not like their tone, as if he 
 
 anonymous one), that he should go at once to Kansas and give his aid in 
 the coming elections. Whether he will do so or not, we do not know. I 
 may, perhaps, save you trouble by declaring that though I am willing to 
 do my uttermost to aid your family, or any distressed family, and though 
 I am willing to listen to any supposed claim of yours upon me, or any of 
 my friends, I will not read letters couched in such vituperative and abusive 
 language as you have hitherto used to Mr. Sanborn and me. I will read 
 only far enough to see the spirit of the communication; and if it is similar 
 to that of your former letters, I shall put it in the fire, with a real feeling 
 of regret at seeing a man of ability and acquirements wilfully injuring 
 himself and his family by his own passions." With this plain statement, 
 all correspondence with Forbes from Boston closed. 
 
1858.] THE PLANS DISCLOSED. 461 
 
 thought himself the Pope, or the autocrat of Austria, Japan, or 
 China. I have been grossly defrauded in the name of humanity and 
 antislavcry. ... I have for years labored in the antislavery cause, 
 without wanting or thinking of a recompense. Though I have made 
 the least possible parade of my work, it has nevertheless not been 
 entirely without fruit; the very protest presented to the United States 
 Senate and House against the Clayton clause of the organic act, 
 which deprived foreigners of the right of voting in Kansas, was 
 mainly my doing. ... I consider, therefore, that if my family were 
 from any circumstance to be in distress, that distress ought cheer 
 fully and effectually to be alleviated by the antislavery men of every 
 school. . . . Patience and mild measures having failed, I reluctantly 
 have recourse to harshness. Let them not flatter themselves that I 
 shall eventually become weary and shall drop the subject ; it is as 
 yet quite at its beginning. The Massachusetts senators, Sumner 
 and Wilson, wrote to Boston about it ; but Howe, Lawrence, 
 Sanborn, and associates prefer to accumulate injury on injury rather 
 than acknowledge their fallibility by redressing a wrong they have 
 committed. I am on my way to New York, but I shall stop in this 
 city (Philadelphia) tor three days, because I wish to see some anti- 
 slavery people here. I had letters to Mr. Miller McKim, but by him 
 I was told that I could expect nothing from the Pennsylvania wing 
 of the antislaveryites, because my remedy lay in New England, and 
 because funds were low and prospects gloomy,'' etc. 
 
 On the 14th of May (the day when Brown's letter last 
 cited was written), Mr. Stearns had sent to Brown in Canada 
 an important letter, to which he added a second on the 15th. 
 Here they are : 
 
 BOSTON, May 14, 1858. 
 MR. JOHN BROWN, Chatham, Canada West. 
 
 DEAR SIR, Enclosed please find a copy of a letter to Dr. Howe 
 from Hon. Henry Wilson. You will recollect that you have the cus 
 tody of the arms alluded to, to be used for the defence of Kansas, 
 as agent of the Massachusetts State Kansas Committee. In conse 
 quence of the information thus communicated to me, it becomes my 
 duty to warn you not to use them for any other purpose, and to hold 
 them subject to my order as chairman of said committee. A member 
 of our committee will be at Chatham early in the coming week, to 
 confer with you as to the best mode of disposing of them. 
 Truly your friend, 
 
 GEORGE L. STEARNS, 
 Chairman Mass. State Kansas Committee* 
 
462 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1858. 
 
 MAY 15, 1858. 
 Mn. JOHN BROWN, Chatham, Canada West. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I wrote to you yesterday informing you that a 
 member of the Massachusetts State Kansas Committee would visit 
 Chatham, to confer about the delivery of the arms you hold. As 1 
 can find no one who can spare the time, I have to request that you 
 will meet me in New York City sometime next week. A letter to 
 me, directed to care of John Hopper, 110 Broadway, New York, will 
 be in season. Come as early as you can. Our committee will pay 
 your expenses. Truly yours, 
 
 GEOROE L. STEARNS, 
 Chairman Mass. State Kansas Committee. 
 
 Dr. Howe will go on as soon as he knows you are in New York. 
 
 On or before the 20tli of May Mr. Stearns met Brown in 
 New York by appointment, and wrote to Higginson from 
 there that " we are all agreed " about the recall of these 
 arms from Virginia, "for reasons that cannot be written." 
 Previously, on the 12th and 15th of May, Dr. Howe had re 
 plied to Senator Wilson's letter of May 9 as follows : 
 
 BOSTON, May 12, 1858. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I have just received your letter of the 9th. I under 
 stand perfectly your meaning. No countenance has been given to 
 Brown for any operations outside of Kansas by the Kansas Commit 
 tee. I had occasion, a few days ago, to send him an earnest message 
 from some of his friends here, urging him to go at once to Kansas 
 and take part in the coming election, and throw the weight of his 
 influence on the side of the right. There is in Washington a disap 
 pointed and malicious man, working with all the activity which hate 
 and revenge can inspire, to harm Brown, and to cast odium upon the 
 friends of Kansas in Massachusetts. You probably know him. He 
 has been to Mr. Seward. Mr. Hale, also, can tell you something 
 about him. God speed the right ! 
 
 MAY 15, 1858. 
 
 When I last wrote to you, I was not aware fully of the true state 
 of the case with regard to certain arms belonging to the late Kansas 
 Committee. Prompt measures have been taken, and will be resolutely 
 followed up, to prevent any such monstrous perversion of a trust as 
 would be the application of means raised for the defence of Kansas 
 to a purpose which the subscribers of the fund would disapprove and 
 vehemently condemn. Faithfully yours, 
 
 S. G. HOWE. 
 
1858.] THE PLANS DISCLOSED. 463 
 
 Dr. Howe, with his usual ardor to act, had at first agreed 
 with Brown and with Higginson ; but, as these letters show, 
 he was moved by the awkward complication which Brown's 
 possession of these Kansas rifles created to acquiesce in a 
 different view, and favor postponement of the attack, as 
 Parker, Stearns, and Sanborn did. For since these rifles, 
 which had been purchased by the Massachusetts Kansas Com 
 mittee and intrusted to Brown, were still, so far as Senator 
 Wilson and the public knew, the property of that committee 
 (though really, as has been explained, the personal property 
 of Mr. Stearns), it would expose the Kansas Committee, who 
 were ignorant of Brown's later plans, to suspicions of bad 
 faith if those arms were used by him in any expedition to 
 Virginia. Brown saw that nothing further could then be 
 done, and yielded, though with regret, to the postponement. 
 
 When, about May 20, Mr. Stearns met Brown in New 
 York, it was arranged that hereafter the custody of the 
 Kansas rifles should be in Brown's hands as the agent, not 
 of this committee, but of Mr. Stearns alone. It so hap 
 pened that Gerrit Smith, who seldom visited Boston, was 
 coming there late in May, to deliver an address before the 
 Peace Society at its anniversary. He arrived and took 
 rooms at the Revere House, where, on the 24th of May, 
 1858, the secret committee (organized in March, and con 
 sisting of Smith, Parker, Howe, Higginson, Stearns, and 
 Sanborn) held a meeting to consider the situation. It had 
 already been decided to postpone the attack, and the arms 
 had been placed under a temporary interdict, so that they 
 could only be used, for the present, in Kansas. The ques 
 tions remaining were whether Brown should be required to 
 go to Kansas at once, and what amount of money should be 
 raised for him in future. Of the six members of the com 
 mittee only one (Higginson) was absent, and as this was 
 the only occasion when Smith acted personally with his 
 associates, who met in his chamber at the Revere House, 
 he was made chairman of the meeting. It was unanimously 
 resolved that Brown ought to go to Kansas at once. 
 
 As soon as possible after this, Brown visited Boston 
 (May 31), and while there held a conversation with Hig 
 ginson, who made a record of it at the time, saying that 
 
464 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1858- 
 
 Brown was full of regret at the decision of the Revere 
 House council to postpone the attack till the winter or 
 spring of 1859, when the secret committee would raise for 
 Brown two or three thousand dollars; "he meantime to 
 blind Forbes by going to Kansas, and to transfer the prop 
 erty so as to relieve the Kansas Committee of responsibil 
 ity, and they in future not to know his plans. On probing 
 Brown," Higginson goes on, " I found that he . . . consid 
 ered delay very discouraging to his thirteen men, and to 
 those in Canada. Impossible to begin in the autumn ; and 
 he would not lose a day [he finally said] if he had three 
 hundred dollars ; it would not cost twenty -five dollars apiece 
 to get his men from Ohio, and that was all he needed. The 
 knowledge that Forbes could give of his plan would be 
 injurious, for he wished his opponents to underrate him; 
 but still . . . the increased terror produced would perhaps 
 counterbalance this, and it would not make much difference. 
 If he had the means he would not lose a day." He com 
 plained that some of his Eastern friends were not men of 
 action ; that they were intimidated by Wilson's letter, and 
 magnified the obstacles. Still, it was essential that they 
 should not think him reckless, he said ; " and as they held 
 the purse, he was powerless without them, having spent 
 nearly everything received this campaign, on account of 
 delay, a month at Chatham, etc." Higginson notes down 
 a few days later that Dr.Howe told him Brown left Boston, 
 June 3, with five hundred dollars in gold, and liberty to 
 retain all the arms, and that " he went off in good spirits." 
 He visited North Elba, Ohio, and Iowa, on his way to Kan 
 sas, and finally reached Lawrence, June 25, 1858. 1 
 
 1 The relation of the Kansas Committee of Massachusetts to the rifles they 
 had bought was one thing ; that of Mr. Stearns, chairman of that commit 
 tee, to these arms was quite another thing in 1858. He had then virtually 
 bought back the two hundred rifles from the committee, which at this time, 
 though never formally dissolved, and still continuing at intervals to pass 
 votes and write letters in its executive committee, had long been practi 
 cally defunct, for the very good reason that its funds were exhausted and 
 there was little expectation of raising more. It had supplied the starving 
 people of Kansas with wheat and clothing in 1857; and in order to do this 
 had advanced money far beyond the amount raised in that year. I remem 
 ber this with some distinctness, because I had myself advanced two or three" 
 
1858.] THE PLANS DISCLOSED. 465 
 
 It is still a little difficult to explain this transaction con 
 cerning the arms without leaving a suspicion that there was 
 somewhere a breach of trust ; but it will be seen that Mr. 
 Stearns, and those of his colleagues who acted with him, 
 although they could not in honor disclose what Brown had 
 imparted to them, took pains to free their uninformed asso- 
 
 hundred dollars at that time ; but the principal advances were made by 
 our chairman, Mr. Stearns, whose liberality where his heart was interested 
 knew no bounds. At the time, therefore, when his Massachusetts friends 
 tirst heard of the Virginia plans of Brown, and gave them their reluctant 
 approval, as has been mentioned, the rifles in Brown's possession, though 
 nominally belonging to the Massachusetts Kansas Committee, were pledged 
 to Mr. Stearns, along with the other property, for the reimbursement of 
 his advances. I have forgotten how many thousand dollars he paid in this 
 way, but it was so many that the value of the arms was not enough to re 
 imburse him; and it was agreed that he should not only have these, but 
 should also be at liberty to reimburse himself out of the avails of promis 
 sory notes given by the Kansas farmers in payment for the wheat and other 
 supplies furnished to them in 1857. At the time these notes were given it 
 was hoped that most of them would be paid, and some of them were ; but 
 I fancy very little of the money ever came into the hands of Mr. Stearns. 
 Some of it was paid to John Brown, as the agent of the committee, in the 
 summer and autumn of 1858, by the agents of Mr. Whitman, in whose 
 hands most of the notes were first placed. I have before me, in Brown's 
 handwriting, an "account of money, etc., collected of E. B. Whitman's 
 agents on National Kansas Committee account," in which something less 
 than two hundred dollars, mostly in small sums, is set down as received 
 from S. L. Adair, William Partridge, William Hutchinson, and other 
 Kansas residents, between Aug. 21, 1858, and Jan. 20, 1859. Mr. Whit 
 man acted as agent both for the National Committee and for the Mas 
 sachusetts Committee ; and the business had become so complicated in 
 one way and another that when Brown levied upon the agents for 
 moneys claimed by him under votes of the committees, it excited a lively 
 dispute in Kansas. The Massachusetts Committee, however, stood firmly 
 by Brown, even after its three active members (Stearns, Howe, and San- 
 born) were apprised of his Virginia plans, as they were before he began 
 to collect money on their notes in 1858. In reality everything that the 
 committee had done was completely regular, and appropriate to the exi 
 gency of 1856-57. They had collected much money, had expended it 
 judiciously, and had allowed a generous individual, their chairman, to 
 place in their hands more money, for which he was willing to wait without 
 payment until the property of the committee could be turned into cash ; 
 then, to give him all the security in its power, the committee had made 
 over this property to him, with no restriction as to what he should do with 
 it ; and Mr. Stearns had chosen to give it to Brown. 
 
 30 
 
466 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1858. 
 
 elates of the old Kansas Committee from all reproach of hav 
 ing aided Brown in his Virginia campaign. They were 
 themselves indifferent to this reproach ; but they could not 
 bear to be charged with diverting other people's money into 
 his hands. The public had not been notified in 1857 that the 
 Kansas Committee had overdrawn its account on Dr. Howe, 
 Mr. Stearns etc. ; and that the arms had been pledged to 
 the chairman, to meet this overdraft, long before any of 
 us knew aught of Brown's Virginia scheme. "When we did 
 know this, it was too late to inform the public, except 
 in the manner undertaken by Dr. Howe in his letters to 
 Senator Wilson. As soon as possible after Brown had con 
 sented to the alternative of going to Kansas in the summer 
 of 1858, the business of the Kansas Committee was put in 
 such shape that its responsibility for the arms in Brown's 
 possession should no longer fetter his friends in aiding his 
 main design. 
 
 Moreover, it was agreed that Brown should not inform 
 them of his plans in detail, nor burden them with knowl 
 edge that would be to them both needless and inconvenient. 
 They were willing to trust him with their money, and did not 
 want him to report progress except by action. This was the 
 general sentiment of the six persons who formed the secret 
 committee of 1858-59, Gerrit Smith, Theodore Parker, 
 Dr. Howe, Mr. Stearns, Wentworth Higginson, and myself, 
 and it was thus pithily expressed by Mr. Smith, when I 
 wrote to him six weeks after Brown had left Boston : 
 
 PETERBORO', July 26, 1858. 
 MR. F. B. SANBORN. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, I have your letter of the 23d instant. I have 
 great faith in the wisdom, integrity, and bravery of Captain Brown. 
 For several years I have frequently given him money toward sus 
 taining him in his contests with the slave-power. Whenever he 
 shall embark in another of these contests I shall again stand ready 
 to help him ; and I will begin by giving him a hundred dollars. I 
 do not wish to know Captain Brown's plans ; I hope he will keep 
 them to himself. Can you not visit us this summer? We shall be 
 very glad to see you. 
 
 With best regards, your friend, 
 
 GERRIT SMITH. 
 
^J -V^L_^. /jrf 
 
1859.] THE PLANS DISCLOSED. 467 
 
 Thus matters stood fifteen months before the foray at 
 Harper's Ferry, so far as Brown's last committee were con 
 cerned. His own movements in Canada and Kansas will 
 soon be related ; but I may here continue the record of Mr. 
 Smith's hospitality toward the old hero. Early in the spring 
 of 1859, Brown again directed his steps to Peterboro', where 
 he arrived with a single follower (Jerry Anderson), April 
 11, 1859. My classmate Morton was still residing in Mr. 
 Smith's family, and wrote me as follows at the dates 
 named : 
 
 Wednesday Evening, April 13, 1859. 
 
 You must hear of Brown's meeting this afternoon, few in num 
 bers, but the most interesting I perhaps ever saw. Mr. Smith spoke 
 well ; G. W. Putnam read a spirited poem ; and Brown was exceed 
 ingly interesting, and once or twice so eloquent that Mr. Smith and 
 some others wept. Some one asked him if he had not better apply 
 himself in another direction, and reminded him of his imminent peril, 
 and that his life could not be spared. His replies were svvitt and 
 most impressively tremendous. A paper was handed about, with 
 the name of Mr. Smith for four hundred dollars, to which others 
 added. Mr. Smith, in the most eloquent speech I ever heard from 
 him, said : " If I were asked to point out I will say it in his pres 
 ence to point out the man in all this world I think most truly a 
 Christian, I would point to John Brown." I was once doubtful in 
 my own mind as to Captain Brown's course. I now approve it 
 heartily, having given my mind to it more of late. 1 
 
 April 18. 
 
 Brown left on Thursday the 14th, and was to be at North Elba 
 to-morrow the 19th. Thence he goes " in a few days" to you. [He 
 actually reached my house in Concord, Saturday, May 7, and spent 
 half his last birthday with me.] He says he must not be trifled with, 
 and shall hold Boston and New Haven to their word. New Haven 
 advises him to forfeit five hundred dollars he has paid on a certain 
 
 1 When I first met Brown at Peterboro', in 1858, Morton played som^ 
 fine music to us in the parlor, among other things Schubert's " Serenade," 
 then a favorite piece, and the old Puritan, who loved music and sang a 
 good part himself, sat weeping at -the air. 
 
 "Northward he turneth through a little door, 
 
 And scarce three steps ere music's golden tongue 
 Flattered to tears this aged man and poor. 
 But, no ; already had his death-bell rung ; 
 The joys of all his life were said and sung." 
 
468 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 contract, and drop it. He will not. From here he went in good 
 spirits, and appeared better than ever to us, barring an affection of 
 the right side of his head. I hope he will meet hearty encourage 
 ment elsewhere. Mr. Smith gave him four hundred dollars, I twenty- 
 five, and we took some ten dollars at the little meeting. ..." L'ex- 
 perience demontre, avec toute Tcvideuce possible, que c'est la societe 
 que prepare le crime, et que le coupable u'est que 1'iustrument que 
 PexeVute." Do you believe Quetelet If 
 
 June 1. 
 
 Mr. Smith has lately written to John Brown at New York to find 
 what he needed, meaning to supply it. He now sends to him ac 
 cording to your enclosed address. I suppose you know the place 
 where this matter is to be adjudicated. Harriet Tubman suggested 
 the 4th of July as a good time to " raise the mill." 
 
 June 30. 
 
 News from Andover, Ohio, a week or more since, from our friend. 
 He had received two hundred dollars more from here, 1 was full of 
 cheer, and arranging his wool business j but I do not look for a 
 result so soon as many do. 
 
 This message from Brown, about June 20, 1859, shows 
 that he was already mustering his men and moving his arms 
 toward Virginia ; and it was about the 4th of July, as Har 
 riet Tubman the African Sibyl had suggested, that Brown 
 first showed himself in the counties of Washington and 
 Jefferson, on opposite sides of the lordly Potomac. Before 
 relating his adventures there, I must pause to recite his last 
 Kansas episode. 
 
 1 That is, from Gerrit Smith. 
 
1858.1 THROUGH KANSAS TO CANADA. 469 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 FROM CANADA, THROUGH KANSAS, TO CANADA. 
 
 IT is now a humiliating thought that in 1858-59 Canada 
 was the only safe refuge of the American fugitive slave. 
 That simple hero, whose guide was the North Star, and to 
 whom the roar of Niagara meant freedom, used to call his 
 resort to British protection "shaking the paw of the Lion." 
 " Slaves could not breathe in England " a hundred years 
 ago ; but the atmosphere of Canada was as wholesome to 
 the freedmen in Judge Taney's time as that of England was 
 in Lord Mansfield's. When John Brown wished to organize 
 quietly his foray against Virginian slavery, he withdrew to 
 Chatham, in Canada, where, in May, 1858, he held his little 
 convention among the fugitives, and promulgated his " Pro 
 visional Constitution." Here is the beginning of the in 
 strument, as it came from the mind and the pen of John 
 Brown : 
 
 PROVISIONAL CONSTITUTION 1 AND ORDINANCES FOR THE 
 PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Preamble. 
 
 Whereas, Slavery, throughout its entire existence in the United 
 States, is none other than a most barbarous, unprovoked, and un 
 justifiable war of one portion of its citizens upon another portion 
 
 1 On the 10th of May, 1858, when the Chatham convention adjourned, 
 it was voted "that John Brown (eommander-m-chief), J. H. Kagi (secre 
 tary of war), Richard Realf (secretary of state), Charles P. Tidd, E. Whip- 
 pie' (A. D. Stephens), C. W. Moffat, John E. Cook, Owen Brown, Stewart 
 Taylor, Osbornc P. Anderson, A. M. Ellsworth, Richard Richardson, W. 
 H. Leeman, and John Lawrence be, and hereby are, appointed a committee 
 to whom is delegated the power of the convention to fill by election all the 
 offices specially named in the Provisional Constitution which may be va 
 cant after the adjournment of this convention." Those in italics were 
 colored men. 
 
470 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1858. 
 
 the only conditions of which are perpetual imprisonment and hope 
 less 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, 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 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 persons, prop 
 erty, lives, and liberties, and to govern our actions : 
 
 Qualifications for Membership. 
 
 ART. I. All persons of mature age, whether proscribed, oppressed, 
 and enslaved citizens, or of the proscribed and oppressed races of the 
 United States, who shall agree to sustain and enforce the Provisional 
 Constitution arid Ordinances of this organization, together witli all 
 minor children of such persons, shall be held to be fully entitled to 
 protection under the same. 
 
 This whole constitution, much ridiculed in 1859, will 
 bear a careful examination, and will be found well suited to 
 its purpose, the government of a territory in revolt, of 
 which the chief occupants should be escaped slaves. Mr. 
 Bagehot once said that " the men of Massachusetts could 
 work any constitution ; " and so perhaps Brown and his 
 men might have done. 
 
 Upon the intelligence received from Boston, in May. 
 1858, the little party of liberators in Canada separated, 
 some going one way, some another. Richard Realf wrote 
 to Brown, May 31, from Cleveland, Ohio : 
 
 " I learn from George Grill that a certain Mr. Warner, living at 
 Milan, has been told that a quantity of material was located in a 
 certain county 1 (name correctly given), and that this Warner has 
 
 1 At this time the arras of Brown were stored at Lindenville, Ohio, in 
 charge of Mr. E. A. Fobes, to whom Brown had written from Chatham, 
 May 11, saying : "The conduct of Colonel Forbes has been so strange of 
 late as to render it important that he get no clew to where the arms are 
 stored, or other articles, and that he should know nothing of my where 
 abouts. You will greatly oblige me and many other friends of freedom by 
 
1858.] THROUGH KANSAS TO CANADA. 471 
 
 mentioned it to another man. All these are, Gill says, true men ; 
 but I do not like the idea any more for that. Nor am I better pleased 
 to learn from the same source that a certain Mr. Reynolds (colored), 
 who attended our convention, has disclosed its objects to the members 
 of a secret society (colored) called * The American Mysteries, 7 or 
 some other confounded humbug. I suppose it is likely that these 
 people are good men enough ; but to make a sort of wholesale di vulge- 
 ment of matters at hazard is too steep even for me, who am not by any 
 means over-cautious. Cook also, I learn, conducted himself here in a 
 manner well calculated to arouse suspicion. According to Parsons, 
 he stated in his boarding-house that he was here on a secret expedi 
 tion, and that the rest of the company were under his orders. He 
 made a most ostentatious display of his equipments ; was careful to let 
 it be known that he had been in Kansas; stated, among other recitals 
 of impossible achievements, that he had killed five men ; and, in short, 
 drew largely on his imagination in order to render himself conspicu 
 ous. He found out and called upon a lady friend whom he knew in 
 Connecticut, talked a great deal too much to her ; and wound up his 
 performances by proposing to Parsons, Gill, and Taylor a trip to the 
 same locality on the same errand in the event of postponement. 1 He 
 has taken his tools with him. It pains me to be obliged to say these 
 things of one whom I have known so long ; but I should be lacking 
 in common honesty if 1 withheld them from you, and especially 
 now, when we have to tread with double care. I am not at all sure 
 but that, in the event of deferment, our chief danger will accrue from 
 him and his dreadful affliction of the caco'e'thes loquendi, which, ren 
 dered into English, means 'rage for talking,' or ' tongue malady.'" 
 
 At the time Eealf wrote, Brown was in Boston ; June 9 
 he was at North Elba ; a few days later, at West Andover, 
 Ohio ; June 22, at Chicago ; and on Sunday, June 25, he 
 reached Lawrence, in Kansas ; where James Redpath met 
 him in company with Richard Hinton. Redpath says : 
 
 11 We were at supper that day at a hotel in Lawrence, when 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." 
 
 getting all who may know anything about either to observe the utmost 
 secrecy about the whole matter." 
 
 1 This trip to Harper's Ferry is perhaps that mentioned in Brown's last 
 interview with Cook, Dec. 2, 1859. 
 
472 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1858. 
 
 The narrative is continued by Hinton, who says : 
 
 " On this Sunday I held a 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 political affairs. He was very particular as to the 
 movements and character of Captain Montgomery. The massacre 
 of the Marais des Cygues 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 to me 
 most impressively, ' Young men must learn to wait. Patience is 
 the hardest lesson to learn. I have waited for twenty years to 
 accomplish my purpose.' He reminded me of a message that I had 
 sent him in 1857, and said he hoped I meant what I said, for he 
 should ask the fulfilment of that promise, and perhaps very soon ; 
 further adding that 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 importance; and I must be prepared 
 to stand by it, or disavow it now. Kagi, who was present at the 
 same time, gave me to understand that their visit to Kansas was 
 caused by the betrayal of their plans by Colonel Forbes to the Ad 
 ministration ; and that they wished to give a different impression by 
 coming to the West. Both said they intended to stay some time ; 
 and that night Captain Brown announced that they should go to 
 southern Kansas in the morning, to see Captain Montgomery and 
 visit the Adairs near Osawatomie. 
 
 "I did not see Brown again until September, when I met him at 
 Mr. Adair's. Both he and Kagi were sick with the fever and ague, 
 and had been for some time. In the interim Brown had been in 
 Linn and Bourbon Counties, and other parts of southern Kansas. 
 One of his first acts was to negotiate with Snyder the blacksmith, 
 upon whose claim the massacre of the Marais des Cygnes occurred, 
 for its purchase. This claim is about half a mile from the State line, 
 the buildings in an admirable -position for defence. Brown saw 
 both the moral and material advantages of the position, and was de 
 sirous of obtaining possession. Snyder agreed to sell ; but soon 
 after, having a better offer, he broke the contract. The Captain had 
 in the interval, with the assistance of Kagi, Tidd, Stephens, Lee- 
 man, and another member of his company, prepared a very strong 
 fortification, where they could have successfully resisted a large force. 
 In my journey through the border counties I found that a general 
 feeling of confidence prevailed among our friends because John 
 Brown was near. Over the border the Missourians were remarkably 
 
1858.] THROUGH KANSAS TO CANADA. 473 
 
 quiet from June until October, in the belief that the old hero was in 
 their vicinity. When the farm was abandoned, Brown and Kai 
 came to Mr. Adair's, where I met them. . . . Brown was then more 
 nervous and impatient in his manner than I had before observed. 
 Captain Montgomery's name was introduced, and Brown was enthu 
 siastic in praise of him, avowing perfect confidence in his integrity 
 and purposes. t Captain 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. 7 He spoke of General Lane and his recent killing of 
 Gains Jenkins ; said he would not say one word against Lane in his 
 misfortunes, but he told the General himself that he was his own 
 worst enemy. Of his own early treatment at the hands of ambitious 
 leaders, 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 way of their schemes. While they had this feeling, of 
 course they opposed me. Committees and councils could not control 
 my movements, therefore they did not like me. Many men did not like 
 the manner in which I conducted warfare, and they too opposed me. 
 But politicians and leaders soon found that I had different purposes, 
 and forgot their jealousy. They have all been kind to me since.' " 
 
 Brown preferred Montgomery to the other Kansas lead 
 ers; and on the 9th of July he wrote to his son John from 
 Sugar Mound, in southern Kansas: "I am now writin"" in 
 the log-cabin of the notorious Captain James Montgomery, 
 whom I deem a very brave and talented officer, and, what is 
 infinitely more, a very intelligent, kind, gentlemanly, and 
 most excellent man and lover of freedom." l 
 
 Not long after this letter Brown wrote to me from the 
 region made famous by the Marais des Cygnes murders, 
 where he was then residing under the name of Captain 
 Shubel Morgan, with a small company whom he had en 
 listed according to this compact, which he signed by his 
 assumed name : 
 
 ARTICLES' OF AGREEMENT FOR SHUBEL MORGAN'S COMPANY. 
 
 We, the undersigned, members of Shubel Morgan's company, 
 hereby agree to be governed by the following rules : 
 
 1 James Montgomery, one of the bravest partisans on the Kansas border, 
 and during the Civil War colonel of a black regiment in South Carolina. 
 
474 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1858. 
 
 I. A gentlemanly and respectful deportment shall at all times and 
 places be maintained towards all persons ; and all profane or indecent 
 language shall be avoided in all cases. 
 
 II. No intoxicating drinks shall be used as a beverage by any 
 member, or be suffered in camp for such purpose. 
 
 III. No member shall leave camp without leave of the com 
 mander. 
 
 IV. All property captured in any manner shall be subjected to an 
 equal distribution among the members. 
 
 V. All acts of petty or other thefts shall be promptly and properly 
 punished, and restitution made as far as possible. 
 
 VI. All members shall, so far as able, contribute equally to all 
 necessary labor in or out of camp. 
 
 VII. All prisoners who shall properly demean themselves shall 
 be treated with kindness and respect, and shall be punished for 
 crime only after trial and conviction, being allowed a hearing in 
 defence. 
 
 VIII. Implicit obedience shall be yielded to all proper orders of 
 the commander or other superior officers. 
 
 IX. All arms, ammunition, etc., not strictly private property, 
 shall ever be held subject to, and delivered up on, the order of the 
 commander. 1 
 
 NAMES. DATE, 1858. NAMES. DATE, 1858. 
 
 Shubel Morgan, July 12. E. W. Snyder, July 15. 
 
 C. P. Tidd, " " Elias J. Snyder, " " 
 
 J. H. Kagi, " " John II. Snyder, " " 
 
 A. Wattles, " " Adam Bishop, " " 
 
 Saml. Stevenson, " " Wm. Hairgrove, " " 
 
 J. Montgomery, " " John Mikel, " " 
 
 T. Horn yer[ Wiener ?], " " Wm. Partridge, " " 
 
 Simon Snyder, " 14. 
 
 John Broiun on Guard at Fort Snyder. 
 
 MISSOURI LINE (ON KANSAS SIDE), July 20, 1858. 
 
 F. B. SAXBORN, ESQ., AND FRIENDS AT BOSTON AND WORCES 
 TER. I am here with about ten of my men, located on the same 
 quarter-section where the terrible murders of the 19th of May were 
 committed, called the Hamilton or trading-post murders. Deserted 
 farms and dwellings lie in all directions for some miles along the 
 
 1 This paper is in Kagi's handwriting, and contains the signature of 
 Montgomery as a private. 
 
1858.] THROUGH KANSAS TO CANADA. 475 
 
 line, and the remaining inhabitants watch every appearance of per 
 sons moving about, with anxious jealousy and vigilance. Four of 
 the persons wounded or attacked on that occasion are staying with 
 me. The blacksmith Snyder, who fought the murderers, with his 
 brother and son, are of the number. Old Mr. Hairgrove, who was 
 terribly wounded at the same time, is another. The blacksmith re 
 turned here with me, and intends to bring back his family on to his 
 claim within two or three days. A constant fear of new troubles 
 seems to prevail on both sides of the line, and on both sides are com 
 panies of armed men. Any little affair may open the quarrel afresh. 
 Two murders and cases of robbery are reported of late. I have also 
 a man with me who tied from his family and farm in Missouri but a 
 day or two since, his life being threatened on account of being ac 
 cused of informing Kansas men of the whereabouts of one of the 
 murderers, who was lately taken and brought to this side. I have 
 concealed the fact of my presence pretty much, lest it should tend to 
 create excitement ; but it is getting leaked out, and will soon be 
 known to all. As I am not here to seek or secure revenge, I do not 
 mean to be the first to reopen the quarrel. How soon it may be 
 raised against me I cannot say ; nor am I over anxious. A portion 
 of my men are in other neighborhoods. We shall soon be in great 
 want of a small amount in a draft or drafts on New York, to feed us. 
 We cannot work for wages, and provisions are not easily obtained 
 on the frontier. 
 
 I cannot refrain from quoting, or rather referring to, a notice of 
 the terrible affair before alluded to, in an account found in the " New 
 York Tribune " of May 31, dated at Westport, May 21. The writer 
 says: " From one of the prisoners it was ascertained that a number 
 of persons were stationed at Snyder's, a short distance from the Post, 
 a house built in the gorge of two mounds, and flanked by rock-walls, 
 a fit place for robbers and murderers." At a spring in a rocky 
 ravine stands a very small open blacksmith's-shop, made of thin slabs 
 from a saw-mill. This is the only building that has ever been known 
 to stand there, and in that article is called a " fortification." It is to 
 day, just as it was on the 19th of May, a little pent-up shop, con 
 taining Snyder's tools (what have not been carried off) all covered 
 with rust, and had never been thought of as a " fortification " be 
 fore the poor man attempted in it his own and his brother's and son's 
 defence. I give this as an illustration of the truthfulness of that 
 whole account. It should be left to stand while it may last, -and 
 should be known hereafter as Fort Snyder, 
 
 I may continue here for some time. Mr. Russell and other friends 
 at New Haven assured me before I left, that if the Lecompton abom 
 ination should pass through Congress something could be done there 
 
476 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1853. 
 
 to relieve me from a difficulty I am in, and which they understand. 
 Will not some. of my Boston friends " stir up their minds" in the 
 matter? I do believe they would he listened to. 1 
 
 You may use this as you think best. Please let friends in New 
 York and at North Elba 2 hear from me. I am not very stout ; have 
 much to think of and to do, and have but little time or chance for 
 writing. The weather, of late, has been very hot. I will write you 
 all when I can. 
 
 I believe all honest, sensible Free-State men in Kansas consider 
 George Washington Brown's u Herald of Freedom " one of the most 
 mischievous, traitorous publications in the whole country. 
 
 July 23. Since the previous date another Free-State Missourian 
 has been over to see us, who reports great excitement on the other 
 side of the line, and that the house of Mr. Bishop (the man who fled 
 to us) was beset during the night after he left, but on finding he was 
 riot there they left. Yesterday a proslavery man from West Point, 
 Missouri, came over, professing that he wanted to buy Bishop's farm. 
 1 think he was a spy. He reported all quiet on the other side. At 
 present, along this part of the line, the Free-State men may be said, 
 in some sense, to ll possess the field; " but we deem it wise to u be 
 on the alert." Whether Missouri people are more excited through 
 fear than otherwise, I am not yet prepared to judge. The black 
 smith (Snyder) has got his family back ; also some others have re 
 turned, and a few new settlers are coming in. Those who fled or 
 were driven off will pretty much lose the season. Since we came 
 here about twenty- five or thirty of Governor Denver's men have 
 moved a little nearer to the line, I believe. 
 
 August G. Have been down with the ague since last date, and 
 had no safe way of getting off my letter. I had lain every night 
 without shelter, suffering from cold rains and heavy dews, together 
 with the oppressive heat of the days. A few days since, Governor 
 Denver's officer then in command bravely moved his men on to the 
 line, and on the next adjoining claim with us. Several of them im 
 mediately sought opportunity to tender their service to me secretly. 
 I however advised them to remain where they were. Soon after I 
 
 1 The allusion here is to Brown's contract with Charles Blair, who was 
 to make the thousand pikes. Brown had not been able, for lack of money, 
 to complete the payment, and was afraid his contract would be forfeited, 
 and the money paid would be lost. He therefore communicated the facts 
 to Mr. Russell, who was then the head of a military school at New Haven, 
 and had some assurance from him of money to be raised in Connecticut to 
 meet this contract. 
 
 2 Gerrit Smith, and his own family. 
 
1858.] THROUGH KANSAS TO CANADA. 477 
 
 came on the line my right name was reported; but the majority did 
 not credit the report. 
 
 I am getting better. You will know the true result of the election 
 of the 2d inst. much sooner than I shall, probably. I am in no place 
 for correct general information. May God bless you all ! 
 Your friend, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 When recovering from fever he wrote this shorter letter : 
 
 OSAWATOMIE, KANSAS, Sept. 10, 1858. 
 
 DEAR FRIEND, AND OTHER FRIENDS, Your kind and very 
 welcome letter of the llth July was received a long time since, 
 but I was sick at the time, and have been ever since until now ; so 
 that I did not even answer the letters of my own family, or any one 
 else, before yesterday, when I began to try. I am very weak yet, 
 but gaining well. All seems quiet now. I have been down about 
 six weeks. As things now look I would say that if you had not 
 already sent forward those little articles, 1 do not do it. Before I was 
 taken sick there seemed to be every prospect of some business very 
 soon ; and there is some now that requires doing ; but, under all the 
 circumstances, I think not best to send them. 
 
 I have heard nothing direct from Forbes for months, but expect to 
 when I get to Lawrence. I have but fourteen regularly employed 
 hands, the most of whom are now at common work, and some are 
 sick. Much sickness prevails. How we travel may not be best to 
 write. I have often met the " notorious " Montgomery, and think 
 very favorably of him. 
 
 It now looks as though but little business can be accomplished 
 until we get our mill into operation. I am most anxious about that, 
 and want you to name the earliest date possible, as near as you can 
 learn, when you can have your matters gathered up. Do let me hear 
 from you on this point (as soon as consistent), so that I may have 
 some idea how to arrange my business. Dear friends, do be in earn 
 est : the harvest we shall reap, if we are only up and doing. 
 
 Sept. 13, 1858. 
 
 Yours of the 25th August, containing draft of Mr. S. for fifty dol 
 lars is received. I am most grateful for it, and to you for your kind 
 
 1 The whistles, etc., mentioned in this note, sent to me from Brooklyn 
 in March, 1858. " Please get for me (if you can) a quantity of whistles 
 such as are used by the boatswain on ships of war. They will be of great 
 service. Every ten men ought to have one at least. Also some little 
 articles as marks of distinction, which I mentioned to you." 
 
478 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1858. 
 
 letter. This would have been sooner mailed but for want of stamps 
 and envelopes. I am gaining slowly, but hope to be on my legs 
 soon. Have no further news. 
 
 Mailed, September 15. Still weak. 
 
 Your friend. 
 
 To his Family* 
 
 OSAWATOMIE, KANSAS, Sept. 9, 1858. 
 
 DEAR WIFE AND CHILDREN, ALL, I received Henry's letter 
 of the 21st July a long time ago, but was too sick to answer it at 
 the time, and have been ever since till now. I am still very weak, 
 but gaining pretty well. I was never any more sick. I left the 
 Missouri line about six weeks since ; soon after, T was taken down. 
 Things are now very quiet, so far as I know. What course I shall 
 next take, I cannot tell, till I have more strength. I have learned 
 with pain that the flour did not go on, and shall try to send you some 
 money instead of it, so that Mr. Allen may be well paid for the bar 
 rel he lent. I can write you no more now, but I want to know how 
 you all get along. Enclose everything to Augustus Wattles, Moneka, 
 Linn County, Kansas, in sealed envelope, with my name only on it. 
 God bless you all ! 
 
 Your affectionate husband and father. 
 
 OSAWATOMIE, KANSAS, Sept. 13, 1858. 
 
 DEAR WIFE, Your letter of the 25th August I was most glad 
 to get, notwithstanding it told me of your trials ; and 1 would be 
 thankful that the same hand that brought me your letter brought me 
 another, supplying me with the means of sending you some relief. I 
 hope you will all learn to put your trust in God, and not become dis 
 couraged when you meet with poor success and with losses. I wrote 
 you two or three days ago, telling you how I had been sick, but was 
 getting better. I am still very weak, and write with great labor. I 
 enclose draft for fifty dollars, payable to Watson. I want Mr. Allen 
 paid out of it, to his full satisfaction, for the barrel of flour lent, as a 
 first thing, and the balance used to supply substantial comforts for 
 the family, or to pay any little debts. I shall have the means, afrer a 
 while, of paying for another yoke of oxen, and I hope to have it soon; 
 but of that I cannot be certain. It would be well to make consider 
 able inquiry for a good, youngish yoke, without faults, and also to 
 find where you can get them most reasonably for the money. Do 
 not, any of you, go in debt for a team. You may, perhaps, hire a 
 few days' work of some good team to log with, or of some good man 
 to help to pile logs without a team, and I will endeavor to send the pay 
 
1853.] THROUGH KANSAS TO CANADA. 479 
 
 on for that soon. Do the best you can, and neither be hasty nor dis 
 couraged. You must acknowledge the receipt of this at once, and 
 tell me all how you get along. May God abundantly bless you all ! 
 
 Your affectionate husband. 
 
 OSAWATOMIE, KANSAS, Oct. 11, 1858. 
 
 DEAR WIFE AND CHILDREN, ALL, I wrote you sometime 
 since, enclosing G. Smith's check for fifty dollars, payable to order 
 of Watson. Since then I have no word from any of you, but am in 
 hopes of getting something to-morrow. I have been very feeble ever 
 since, but have improved a good deal now for about one week. I can 
 now see no good reason why I should not be located nearer home, as 
 soon as I can collect the means for defraying expenses. I still intend 
 sending you some further help as soon as I can. Will write you how 
 to direct to me hereafter. No more now. 
 
 Your affectionate husband and father. 
 
 MONEKA, KANSAS, Nov. 1, 1858. 
 
 DEAR WIFE AND CHILDREN, ALL, I have just written to John 
 H. Painter, of Springdale, Cedar County, Iowa, to send you a New 
 York draft, payable to Oliver. I have strong hopes of your getting 
 one to the amount of his note. At any rate, it is all the means I now 
 have of giving you a little further help. Should you get it, you need 
 not send him the note, as my letter is good against the note. I would 
 be glad to have you pay the taxes, if you can so manage as to do it and 
 be comfortable. I shall do all I can to help you, and as fast as I can. 
 How soon I shall be able to see you again, I cannot tell, but I still 
 live in hopes. I cannot now tell you how to direct to me, but will 
 advise you further as soon as I can. Things at this moment look 
 quite threatening along the line. I am much better in health than I 
 was when I wrote last, but not very strong yet. May God bless you 
 all! 
 
 Your affectionate husband and father. 
 
 MONEKA, KANSAS, Nov. 1, 1858. 
 
 DEAR FRIENDS, Your letter of the 10th October from Hudson 
 was received in good time, but I was not then in a condition to reply 
 at once. Things at this moment look rather threatening in this im 
 mediate neighborhood ; but what will come up I cannot say. I am 
 obliged to you for your efforts to prevent Watson from going to Cali 
 fornia, and will try to express my gratitude by hinting to you that a 
 business and copartnership, such as you allude to, would be very likely 
 to require a good deal of the capital (real or fictitious) of others, where- 
 
480 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1858. 
 
 by yon would be likely to run into debt, and into some other entan 
 glements. Could you not do moderately well by taking a dairy again ? 
 That business has for the last half century been subject to as few 
 tluctuations in Ohio as any other (I think). Beside that, I suppose 
 you already understand it, tolerably well at least. I may take wholly 
 a wrong view of the subject. My health is some improved, but I am 
 still weak. Shall write to you where to direct when I know where 
 to do so. 
 
 May God bless you all ! Your friend. 
 
 These letters are not signed, because Brown was still a 
 proscribed person in Kansas, and was liable at any time to 
 engage in new contests which might lead to his arrest by 
 the Democratic governor or the Federal troops. At the 
 date of the last letter, Governor Denver, who had succeeded 
 Walker and Stanton, had resigned, and there was a short 
 interregnum. Captain Montgomery, with an armed force 
 much larger than any that Brown had commanded, for 
 some months patrolled southern Kansas, and retaliated 
 on the Border Ruffians as he saw occasion. Montgomery 
 was Brown's friend, and had carried Brown's opinions 
 very far. Just before April 1, 1858, while pursued by 
 United States troops, he turned and put them to flight, 
 tiring upon them and killing two dragoons, the first 
 and last time that the national soldiers were fired upon by 
 the Free-State men in Kansas. These troubles in southern 
 Kansas were mainly over when Brown wrote the following 
 letter to his family, just a year before his execution : 
 
 John Brown to his Children in Ohio. 
 
 OSAWATOMIE, KANSAS, Dec. 2, 1858. 
 
 DEAR CHILDREN, I have a moment to write yon, and I hasten 
 to improve it. My health is some improved since I wrote you last, 
 but still I get a shake now and then. Other friends are middling 
 well, I believe. In some of the border counties south, there is the 
 worst feeling at this time, which affords but little prospect of quiet. 
 Other portions of the Territory are comparatively undisturbed. The 
 winter may be supposed to have fairly set in, which may compel 
 parties to defer hostilities at least. I want you to write my family to 
 inquire particularly whether they are so circumstanced as to be able 
 to get through the winter without suffering, so that I may hear from 
 
1859.] THROUGH KANSAS TO CANADA. 481 
 
 them when I know where to have you direct to me. I have but this 
 moment returned from the south, and expect to go back at once. 
 
 Your affectionate friend. 
 
 P. S. Am still preparing for my other journey. Yours. 
 
 P. S. I want you, some of you, for the present, to write John, 
 saying all about the condition of your different families, and whether 
 you are suffering for anything, or are likely to be, and for what, that 
 I may get the information by-and-by, through him, when there is 
 any chance. You may depend on my doing all in my power to 
 make you comfortable. To God and his infinite grace I commend 
 you all. 
 
 By his "other journey," Brown meant his Virginia expe 
 dition; but he was then preparing also for his raid into 
 Missouri, to rescue slaves from one or two plantations 
 there. He has told the story of this raid in his own 
 inimitable manner, summing up in a short letter the his 
 tory of the whole year 1858 in southern Kansas. It was 
 addressed to the " New York Tribune," and published both 
 there and in the Lawrence " Republican " : 
 
 JOHN BROWN'S PARALLELS. 
 
 TRADING POST, KANSAS, January, 1859. 
 
 GENTLEMEN, You will greatly oblige a humble friend by allow 
 ing the use of your columns while I briefly state two parallels, in my 
 poor way. 
 
 Not one year ago eleven quiet citizens of this neighborhood, 
 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 Hamil 
 ton, and without trial or opportunity to speak in their own defence 
 were formed into line, and all but one shot, five killed 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 proslavery or Administration man, to 
 ferret out and punish the perpetrators of this crime f 
 
 31 
 
482 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BKOWN. [1859. 
 
 Now for the other parallel. 1 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 following) night, two small com 
 panies 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, lib 
 erated 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 plan 
 tation 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 beneath." It is currently reported that the 
 
 1 On the back of the original draft of " Old Brown's Parallels," in 
 Brown's handwriting, is the following indorsement by him in pencil of 
 stations on the " Underground Railroad" through Kansas : 
 
 Raynard, Holton. Nemalia City. 
 
 Dr. Fuller, six miles. On River Road, Martin Stowell, Mount Ver- 
 
 Smith, Walnut Creek, fifteen. non. 
 
 Mills and Graham (attorneys), Albany, Dr. Whitenger and Sibley, Nebraska City, 
 twenty-five. Mr. Vincent, Ira Reed, Mr. Gardner. 
 
 Besides these entries appear the following : 
 
 Teamsters, Dr. To cash each, $1.00 $2.00 
 
 Linsley, Dr. at Smith's 1.00 
 
 On the other end of the same page, 
 
 Cash received by J. Brown on his private account, of J. H. Painter 
 on note $100.00 
 
 Cash received by J. Brovra on his private account, of J. H. Painter 
 for saddle 10.00 
 
 Cash received by J. Brown on his private account, of J. H. Painter 
 for wagon 38.10 
 
 " J. Brown paid for company : For G. Gill, $5.70 ; to Pearce, $39.00 ; 
 to Painter, $8.00 ; to Townsend for shoes, $1.65 ; to Pearce, $3.00 ; to Car 
 penter, $10.00 ; to Kagi, $8.00 ; to Carpenter for making shirts, $2.00." 
 
 These are part of the cost of the journey, no doubt. 
 
1859.] THROUGH KANSAS TO CANADA. 483 
 
 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 u enforce the laws." 
 All proslavery, conservative, Free-State, and dough-face men and 
 Administration tools are filled with holy horror. 
 
 Consider the two cases, and the action of the Administration party. 
 Kespectfully yours, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 When Brown was about to set forth from Osawatomie 
 with his freedmen, Gerrit Smith, who had heard of his foray 
 in Missouri, and rejoiced at it, sent me this letter : 
 
 PETERBOEO', Jan. 22, 1859. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, I have yours of the 19th. I am happy to learn 
 that the Underground Railroad is so prosperous in Kansas. I cannot 
 help it now, in the midst of the numberless calls upon me. But I 
 send you twenty-five dollars, which I wish you to send to our noble 
 friend John Brown. Perhaps you can get some other contributions 
 to send along with it. He is doubtless in great need of all he can 
 get. The topography of Missouri is unfavorable. Would that a 
 spur of the Alleghany extended from the east to the west borders of 
 the State! Mr. Morton has not yet returned. We hope he may 
 come to-night. In haste, your friend, 
 
 GERRIT- SMITH. 
 
 P. S. Dear Theodore Parker ! May Heaven preserve him to us ! 
 
 It was not far from January 20 when Brown started 
 northward with his freedmen from the neighborhood of the 
 Pottawatomie, where he had sheltered them. The follow 
 ing letter was received by Brown while tarrying a day at 
 Major J. B. Abbott's house on the Wakarusa, near Lawrence, 
 with the eleven fugitives, the same brave Abbott who 
 rescued Branson three years before. It was written in reply 
 to one sent from Brown by messenger to Judge Conway ; 
 upon the back of it is a pencil memorandum in the hand 
 writing of Brown, apparently giving the names of safe 
 stopping-places on the route northward, as follows : " Sheri 
 dan's, Hill, Holton, Fuller's, Smith's, Plymouth, Indians, 
 Little Nemeha, Dr. Blanchard's, Tabor." 
 
484 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 Judge Conwaij to John Brown. 
 
 LAWRENCE, K. T., Jan. 23, 1859. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I have been able to see Whitman but once since I 
 got your previous letter, and then he promised to come and see me 
 about it ; but he has not done so. I am of opinion that you will not 
 be able to get any funds from him. He expressed himself to me 
 since his return from the East as dissatisfied at your proceedings in 
 Lawrence when you were here before. He has always complaints 
 to make about his pecuniary sufferings in connection with the Na 
 tional Kansas Committee. Still, it may be as well for you to look 
 after him at this time. Anything I can do for you I will do ; but I 
 am extremely pinched for money, and am unable to do anything in 
 that way. If, however, you can suggest anything within my power 
 by which I may aid you, I am at your service. You know Mr. 
 Whitman is living out of town. He does not covne in very often. I 
 shall keep u entirely dark," of course. 
 
 Very truly your friend, M. F. CON WAY. 
 
 The retreat from southern Kansas with his freedmen, 
 and particularly the first stage of his journey from Osawa- 
 tomie to Lawrence, was one of ther boldest adventures of 
 Brown. With a price on his head, with but one white 
 companion, himself an outlaw, with twelve fugitives who 
 had been advertised the world over, and with their prop 
 erty loaded into an odd-looking wagon and drawn by the 
 cattle taken from the slave-owner in Missouri, Brown pushed 
 forward, in the dead of winter, regardless of warnings and 
 threats, but relying on the mercy of God and on his own 
 stout heart. His next and most dangerous stage was from 
 Holton in Jackson County, thirty miles north of Topeka, 
 to the Nebraska border. At Holton he occupied the cabin 
 of Albert Fuller, and went forth from there with his Topeka 
 reinforcements, to win "the battle of the spurs." It was 
 at this encounter that he made that capture of his pursuers 
 concerning which Brown's biographers have romanced a lit 
 tle, saying, among other things, that he forced his prisoners 
 to pray or be shot. The truth of that matter is better nar 
 rated thus : 
 
 " One of the party captured was Dr. Hereford, a young physician 
 from Atchison, a wild, rattling, devil-may-care kind of fellow, 
 
1859.] THROUGH KANSAS TO CANADA. 485 
 
 always ready for an adventure, but who really had nothing very bad 
 in his composition. Brown took him under his especial care. One 
 evening he called upon the doctor to offer prayer. 
 
 " ' By God ! ' said the doctor, 1 1 can't pray.' 
 
 " ' Did your mother never teach you to pray ? ' 
 
 " ; Oh, yes; but that was a long time ago.' 
 
 u l But you still remember the prayer she taught you,' said 
 Brown. 
 
 "'Yes. 1 
 
 " l Well, for lack of a better one, say that.' And the doctor re 
 peated before black and white comrades of the camp that night the 
 rhyme, ' Now I lay me down to sleep,' etc., to the amusement of his 
 fellow-prisoners and others. 
 
 " On his return home he related this, and said with an oath that 
 John Brown was the best man he had ever met, and knew more 
 about religion than any man. When asked whether Brown had 
 ever treated them badly, or used harsh language while they were 
 with him, he said, 'No/ that they were all treated like gentlemen ; 
 had the same fare as the others j but it did go a little against the 
 grain to eat with and be guarded by ' damned niggers.' " l 
 
 Brown appears to have made no written report of his 
 retreat with the freedmen through Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, 
 Illinois, and Michigan to Canada ; but I find copious accounts 
 of it by others. He reached Lawrence January 24, 1859, 
 and travelled northward slowly. About thirty miles from 
 Topeka he found shelter in a vacant log-cabin, belonging to 
 Dr. Fuller. 
 
 " Our party," says a comrade, " consisted only of the captain, 
 myself, and a man known by the name of Whipple in Kansas, but 
 afterward as Stephens at Harper's Ferry. Kagi and Tidd had stayed 
 at Topeka to procure provisions, and our teamster had been sent back 
 to bring them along. While waiting for them, we found ourselves 
 surrounded by a band of human bloodhounds, headed by the notorious 
 deputy-marshal of the United States, Wood. I afterward learned 
 
 1 The prisoners all cursed terribly at their ill luck in being captured. 
 Brown said to them : " Gentlemen, you do very wrong to thus take the 
 name of God in vain. Besides, it is very foolish ; for if there is a Cod 
 you can gain nothing by such profanity ; and if there is no God, how fool 
 ish it is to ask God's curses on anything ! " The men saw their folly, 
 ceased swearing, and joined willingly in the morning and evening prayers 
 of the party during the five days they were held prisoners. 
 
486 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 that he was put on our track by a traitor from New Hampshire, 
 named Hussey. Whipple lived alone in a small empty cabin near 
 the one we occupied. There had been heavy rains, which produced 
 a freshet ; and one day as he walked a short distance from the cabin 
 to see whether the waters had subsided, eight of the marshal's men 
 came upon him suddenly, and asked him if he had seen any negroes 
 thereabout. He told them if they would come with him he would 
 show them some, and conducted them to his cabin where he had left 
 his rilie. He came back immediately and pointed his rifle at the 
 leader, commanding him to surrender, which he did at once. The 
 other men put spurs to their horses, and rode off as fast as possible. 
 From that time I was the sole bodyguard of Captain Brown, the 
 eleven fugitives, and the prisoner who had surrendered, Whipple 
 keeping a sharp lookout as our sentry. We were detained at this 
 place about three days. At last our provisions arrived, and we were 
 joined by a band of Topeka boys who had walked down in the night 
 to aid us. We then started on our journey. A short distance from 
 our road was Muddy Creek, where the marshal, supposing our party 
 must pass that way, stationed himself on the opposite side of the 
 creek, with eighty armed men, for he had made careful preparations, 
 well knowing that it was no joke to attack old Brown. Captain 
 Brown had with him only twenty-three white men, all told. He 
 placed them in double file, in front of the emigrant wagons, and said, 
 * Now go straight at 'em, boys ! They '11 be sure to run.' In obe 
 dience to this order, we marched towards the creek, but scarcely had 
 the foremost entered the water when the valiant marshal mounted his 
 horse, and rode off in haste. His men followed as fast as possible, 
 but they were not all so lucky as he was in untying their horses from 
 the stumps and bushes. The scene was ridiculous beyond descrip 
 tion ; some horses were hastily mounted by two men. One man 
 grabbed tight hold of the tail of a horse, trying to leap on from be 
 hind, while the rider was putting the spurs into his sides ; so he went 
 flying through the air, his feet touching the ground now and then. 
 Those of our men who had horses followed them about six miles, 
 and brought back with them four prisoners and five horses. Mean 
 while Captain Brown and the rest of his company succeeded in draw 
 ing the emigrant wagons through the creek by means of long ropes. 
 This battle of Muddy Creek was known ever after in Kansas as ' The 
 Battle of the Spurs.' When we resumed our journey, the captain did 
 not think it prudent to allow the five prisoners to mount their horses 
 lest they should escape and bring a fresh party to attack us. So he 
 told them they must walk ; but as he meant them no unkindness, he 
 would walk with them. They went on together, he talking with them 
 all the way concerning the wickedness of slavery, and the meanness of 
 
1859.] THROUGH KANSAS TO CANADA. 487 
 
 slavehunting. He kept them with us all night j in the morning he 
 told them that they might make the best of their way back on foot. 
 Their horses were retained from prudential motives, as it was ob 
 viously not for the safety of our colored emigrants to have these men 
 return very speedily. The horses captured from Marshal Wood's 
 posse were given to the brave Topeka boys who had walked so far 
 to help us." 
 
 Another comrade, Jacob Willetts, of Topeka. says : 
 
 "I lived on a farm a short distance from Topeka at the time 
 Brown was last in Kansas. When he came up north he stopped 
 with my near neighbor, Mr. Sheridan, and sent for me. When I got 
 there he wanted me to go to town on business for him. I came down 
 that night with him to cross the river, and on the way he told me he 
 had some colored people with him, who were in need, and asked me if 
 I could do anything to help them. They had no shoes, and but little 
 to eat. I went out among the houses and into several stores and got 
 a number of pairs of shoes and some little money for the good cause. 
 As we were going down to the river, I noticed Brown shivering, and 
 that his legs trembled a good deal. I suspected something, and as I 
 sat beside him on my horse I reached down and felt of his panta 
 loons, and found they were of cotton, thin and suited to summer, not 
 to the cold weather we had then. I asked him : l Mr. Brown, have 
 you no drawers ? 7 He said he had not. l Well,' I said, ' there is no 
 time to go to the store now ; but I have on a pair that were new to 
 day, and if you will take them you can have them and welcome.' 
 After a few words he agreed to it. We got down beside the wagons 
 on the boat ; I took the drawers off, and he put them on. I don't re 
 member what day this was ; but one Sunday morning, not a great 
 while after, we got word that Brown was surrounded near Holton. I 
 could not go just then, but got started during the day, arid when we 
 got to Holton we found that the way had been cleared and Brown 
 had gone on." 
 
 Another writer continues the narrative thus : 
 
 11 The trip after leaving Holton was accompanied with great hard 
 ships. By pressing through rapidly, despite extremely cold weather 
 and drifted roads, the crossing of the Missouri was made at Nebraska 
 City before a force could be gathered to intercept them. At Tabor 
 Brown had formerly been received with great hospitality and treated 
 in the friendliest manner; but the very people who had formerly con 
 tributed to his wants so liberally now felt called upon to assemble and 
 resolve that Brown's conduct in crossing into a slave State and forcing 
 
488 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 negroes away was inconsistent with the teachings of the Bible and 
 with Christianity. This was very disagreeable to Brown, who sup 
 posed the good men of Tabor were the friends of fugitives. But the 
 Tabor people, though good llepublican. voters, were alarmed, and 
 declared such fugitives contraband. A public meeting was called for 
 Monday morning, and announced in the churches of that whole region 
 on the Sunday preceding. The people flocked in, and a Missouri slave 
 holder was there as well as John Brown and his lieutenant John Henry 
 Kagi, who was killed at Harper's Ferry. The meeting was addressed 
 by a deacon, who had hitherto been reckoned an Abolitionist, but 
 now called on his fellow-Christians to declare that the forcible rescue 
 of slaves was robbery and might lead to murder, and that the citizens 
 of Tabor had no sympathy with John Brown in his late acts. 1 When 
 the deacon had offered his resolution and made his speech, another 
 resolution was offered as a substitute by James Vincent, but drawn 
 up by Kagi, to this effect : 
 
 ' Whereas, John Brown and his associates have been guilty of robbery 
 and murder in the State of Missouri, 
 
 ' Resolved, That we, the citizens of Tabor, repudiate his conduct and 
 theirs, and will hereupon take them into custody, and hold them to await 
 the action of the Missouri authorities.' 
 
 u The meeting evaded this caustic test of its sincerity, but went on 
 denouncing Brown and his acts. In the midst of these natural but 
 disgraceful proceedings, John Brown arose, and left the meeting, in 
 aggrieved silence." 
 
 He never returned to Tabor, but from Springdale, a week 
 or two later, he wrote to a friend in Tabor as follows : 
 
 RECEPTION OF BROWN AND PARTY AT GRINNELL, IOWA, COM 
 PARED WITH PROCEEDINGS AT TABOR. 
 
 SPRINGDALE, IOWA, Feb. 25, 1859. 
 
 1. Whole party and teams kept for two days free of cost. 
 
 2. Sundry articles of clothing given to the captives. 
 
 3. Bread, meat, cakes, pies, etc., prepared for our journey. 
 
 4. Full houses for two nights in succession, at which meetings 
 Brown and Kagi spoke, and were loudly cheered and fully indorsed. 
 
 1 Here is the resolution adopted by the citizens of Tabor, Feb. 7, 1859 : 
 . Resolved, That while we sympathize with the oppressed, and will do all that we con 
 scientiously can to help them in their efforts for freedom, nevertheless we have no 
 sympathy with those who go to slave States to entice away slaves and take property 
 or life when necessary to attain that end. 
 
 J. S. SMITH, Secretary. 
 
1859.] THROUGH KANSAS TO CANADA. 489 
 
 Three Congregational clergymen attended the meeting on Sabbath 
 evening (notice of which was given out from the pulpit). All of 
 them took part in justifying our course and in urging contributions 
 in our behalf. There was no dissenting speaker present at either 
 meeting. Mr. Grinnell spoke at length; and has since labored to 
 procure us a free and safe conveyance to Chicago, and effected it. 
 
 5. Contributions in cash amounting to $26.50. 
 
 6. Last, but not least, public thanksgiving to Almighty God of 
 fered up by Mr. Grinnell in the behalf of the whole company for His 
 great mercy and protecting care, with prayers for a continuance of 
 those blessings. 
 
 As the action of Tabor friends has been published in the newspa 
 pers by some of her people (as I suppose), would not friend Gaston 
 or some other friend give publicity to all the above ? 
 
 Respectfully your friend, JOHN BROWN. 
 
 P. S. Our reception among the Quaker friends here has been most 
 cordial. Yours truly, J. B. 
 
 To quiet the scruples of some persons in the North, Brown 
 made these notes for a speech : 
 
 "VINDICATION OF THE INVASION, ETC. 
 
 11 The Denver truce was broken; and (1) It was in accordance 
 with my settled policy ; (2) It was intended as a discriminating blow 
 at slavery ; (3) It was calculated to lessen the value of slaves ; (4) It 
 M 7 as (over and above all other motives) right. 
 
 "Duty of all persons in regard to this matter. 
 
 "Criminality of neglect in this matter. 
 
 " Suppose a case. 
 
 "Ask for further support." 
 
 The family letters at this period are few, but I find some. 
 The first was written while in southern Kansas with his 
 fugitives, waiting for a favorable time to take them to Can 
 ada ; but he did not trust the tidings of what he had done 
 or exactly where he was to a letter, which might be taken 
 from the mails in Missouri. 
 
 To his Family. 
 
 OSAWATOMIE, KANSAS, Jan. 11, 1859. 
 
 DEAR CHILDREN, ALL, I have but a moment in which to tell 
 you that I am in middling health ; but have not been able to tell you 
 
490 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 as yet where to write me. This I hope will he different soon. I 
 suppose you get Kansas news generally through the papers. 1 May 
 God ever hless you all ! 
 
 Your affectionate father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 TABOR, IOWA, Feb. 10, 1859. 
 
 DEAR WIFE AND CHILDREN, ALL, I am once more in Iowa, 
 through the great mercy of God. Those with me, and other friends, 
 are well. I hope soon to be at a point where I can learn of your 
 welfare, and perhaps send you something besides my good wishes. I 
 suppose you get the common news. May the God of my fathers be 
 your God ! 
 
 SFRINGDALE, CEDAR COUNTY, IOWA, March 2, 1859. 
 
 DEAR WIFE AND CHILDREN, ALL, I write to let you know that 
 all is yet well with me, except that I am not very strong. I have 
 something of the ague yet hanging about me. I confidently expect 
 to be able to send you some help about team, etc., in a very few 
 days. However, if I should be delayed about it longer than I could 
 wish, do not be discouraged. I was much relieved to find on coming 
 here that you had got the draft sent by Mr. Painter. He has been 
 helping me a little in advance of its being due, since I got on. Do 
 not be in haste to buy a team until you can have time to get further 
 word from me. I shall do as fast as I can ; and may God bless and 
 keep you all ! 
 
 Your affectionate husband and father. 
 
 Iowa City is not far from Springdale, and it may have 
 been the proslavery postmaster there concerning whom this 
 anecdote is told: In the midst of a crowd on the street- 
 corner a quiet old countryman was seen listening to a cham 
 pion of slavery, who was denouncing Brown as a reckless, 
 bloody outlaw, a man who never dared to fight fair, but 
 skulked, and robbed, and murdered in the dark ; adding, 
 
 1 They would thus learn that he had made his foray, and that both 
 Governor Medary of Kansas and President Buchanan had set a price on his 
 head. Charles Robinson's account of this foray (published twenty years 
 later in the " Topeka Commonwealth") is characteristic : "Brown and 
 his heroes went over the line into Missouri, killed an old peaceable citi 
 zen, and robbed him of all the personal effects they could drive or carry 
 away. Such proceedings caused the Free-State men to organize to drive 
 him from the Territory; and he went to Harper's Ferry, where he dis 
 played his wonderful generalship in committing suicide." 
 
1859.] THROUGH KANSAS TO CANADA- 491 
 
 " If I could get sight of him I would shoot him on the spot ; 
 I would never give him a chance to steal any more slaves." 
 " My friend," said the countryman in his modest way, " you 
 talk very brave ; and as you will never have a better oppor 
 tunity to shoot Old Brown than right here and now, you can 
 have a chance." Then, drawing two revolvers from his 
 pockets he offered one to the braggart, requesting him to 
 take it and shoot as quick as he pleased. The mob orator 
 slunk away, and Brown returned his pistols to his pocket. 
 
 When this affair happened, Brown's expedition from Kan 
 sas back to Canada was nearly over. On the 12th of March, 
 1859, he saw his twelve freedmen (among them a new 
 born infant) safely ferried across from Detroit to Windsor, 
 where " the paw of the Lion " protected them. 1 After 
 Brown's capture in Virginia, public attention was directed 
 to them ; and their condition was described by several 
 friends who visited them. When they heard Brown's 
 speech in court read to them they burst into tears and sobs, 
 declaring that they wished they could die instead of their 
 liberator ; and one woman said, " If the Bible is true, he 
 will have his reward in heaven, for he followed the Bible 
 in this world." His action, however, like that of earlier 
 Christians, brought much reproach upon himself at first. 
 Even his stanch friend Dr. Howe, who as a young man 
 had taken part in the Greek revolution, the French revolu 
 tion of July, and the Polish revolution of 1831, was dis 
 tressed, on his return from Cuba in the spring of 1859, to 
 find that Brown had actually been taking the property of 
 slaveholders to give their escaping slaves an outfit, and 
 for a time withdrew his support. Nor did he ever sustain 
 Brown's Virginia scheme again so heartily as he had done 
 before this visit to Cuba and Carolina. 2 Meanwhile, the 
 
 1 When he parted from them Brown said : "Lord, permit Thy servant 
 to die in peace ; for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation ! I could not 
 brook the thought that any ill should befall you, least of all, that you 
 should be taken back to slavery. The arm of Jehovah protected us." 
 
 2 Dr. Howe, returning from Cuba (whither he accompanied Theodore 
 Parker in February, 1859), journeyed through the Carolinas, and there ac 
 cepted the hospitality of Wade Hampton and other rich planters ; and it 
 shocked him to think that he might be instrumental in giving up to fire 
 
492 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 secret committee were not idle. The fifty dollars sent 
 to Brown in Kansas, Aug. 25, 1858, and acknowledged by 
 him September 13, came from Gerrit Smith, who first and 
 last gave him more than a thousand dollars. 1 The long 
 letters from Kansas were sent by me to Higginson, Oct. 13, 
 1858, with this comment : 
 
 " I received the enclosed letter from our friend a week or two 
 since. You see he is anxious about future operations. Can you do 
 anything for him before next March ; and if so, what ? The partners 
 in Boston have talked the matter over, but have not yet come to any 
 definite proposal. I send you also an older letter, which should have 
 been sent to you, but by some fault of others was not." 
 
 Higginson expressed the hope that the enterprise would 
 not be deferred longer than the spring of 1859, and made 
 some contribution to the fund ; as did also Parker and 
 the other members of the secret committee. No active 
 movement to raise money was undertaken, however, until 
 the next spring. On the 19th of January, 1859, three 
 weeks after Brown's incursion into Missouri,' I wrote to 
 Higginson : 
 
 "I have had no private advices from J. B. since I wrote you. 
 He has begun the work in earnest, I fancy, and will find enough to do 
 where he is, for the present. I earnestly hope he may not fall into 
 the hands of the United States or Missouri. If he does not, I think 
 we may look for great results from this spark of fire. If Forbes is a 
 traitor, he will now show his hand, and we can pin him in some 
 
 and pillage their noble mansions. But the Civil "War did that five or six 
 years later, with Howe's full consent. 
 
 1 Most of the smaller sums which Brown received during the years 
 1858 and 1859, I suppose, passed through my hands ; while the larger 
 sums were paid to him directly by Mr. Stearns or other contributors. 
 Most of the correspondence on this Virginia business also went through 
 my hands ; it being Brown's custom to write one letter, to be read by the 
 half-dozen persons with whom he desired to communicate ; and this letter 
 generally (by no means always) coming to me in the first instance. My 
 custom was to show it to Mr. Parker and Dr. Howe, when they were at 
 home, then to send it to Mr. Stearns, who sometimes forwarded it to 
 Higginson or some more distant correspondent, and sometimes returned it 
 to me. 
 
1859.] THROUGH KANSAS TO CANADA. 493 
 
 I also wrote later, as follows : 
 
 March 4. 
 
 " Brown was at Tabor on the 10th of February, with his stock in 
 fine condition, as he says in a letter to Gr. Smith. He also says he 
 is ready with some new men to set his mill in operation, and seems 
 to be coming East for that purpose. Mr. Smith proposes to raise 
 one thousand dollars for him, and to contribute one hundred dollars 
 himself. I think a larger sum ought to be raised ; but can we raise 
 so much as this? Brown says he thinks any one of us who talked 
 with him might raise the sum if we should set about it ; perhaps this 
 is so, but I doubt. As a reward for what he has done, perhaps 
 money might be raised for him. At any rate, he means to do the 
 work, and I expect to hear of him in New York within a few weeks. 
 Dr. Howe thinks John Forbes and some others not of our party 
 would help the project if they knew of it." l 
 
 Following up this last suggestion, I sounded several anti- 
 slavery men of wealth and influence in the spring of 1859, 
 and did obtain subscriptions from persons who were willing 
 to give to a brave man forcibly interfering with slavery, 
 without inquiring very closely what he would do next. 
 But Parker (who never returned to Boston, but died in 
 Florence soon after Brown's execution) contributed nothing 
 after 1858 ; nor did Higginson give so much, or interest 
 himself so warmly in the enterprise after its first postpone 
 ment. All this would have made it more difficult to raise the 
 money which Brown needed, had it not been for the munifi 
 cence of Mr. Stearns, who at each emergency came forward 
 with his indispensable gifts. After placing about twelve 
 hundred dollars in Brown's hands in the spring and sum 
 mer of 1859, he still continued to aid him, in one way and 
 
 1 Dr. Howe gave me the following letter at New York, Feb. 5, 
 1859: 
 JOHN M. FORBES, ESQ. 
 
 DEAR SIR, If you would like to hear an honest, keen, and veteran backwoodsman 
 disclose some plans for delivering our land from the curse of slavery, the bearer will do 
 so. I think I know him well. He is of the Puritan militant order. He is an enthusi 
 ast, yet cool, keen, and cautious. He has a martyr's spirit. He will ask nothing of 
 you but the pledge that you keep to yourself what he may say. 
 Faithfully yours, 
 
 S. G. Howe. 
 
 I never used this letter, but personally introduced Brown to Mr. Forbes 
 in May, 1859, at his house in Milton, near Boston. 
 
494 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 another, until almost the day of the attack at Harper's 
 Ferry. Gerrit Smith, also, was better than his word, and 
 gave Brown more than seven hundred dollars between 
 his return to Canada in March and his interview with 
 Frederick Douglass in September, 1859. 
 
 From Canada Brown went to Ohio, where he publicly 
 sold the horses he had captured in Kansas, warning the 
 purchasers of a possible defect in the title. 1 He then 
 reported for counsel and encouragement at North Elba, 
 at Peterboro', and finally, in May, 1859, at Concord and 
 Boston. 
 
 1 A Vermont judge refused to recognize a slave as property, until his 
 owner could bring before the court "a bill of sale from the Almighty." 
 Brown fancied he held these horses by such a title. 
 
 NOTE. John Brown, Jr., says : "In the winter of 1857-58 I brought 
 the arms from the railroad at Conneaut to Cherry Valley, stored them in 
 the furniture warerooms of the King Brothers, and covered the boxes with 
 a lot of ready-made coffins. In the following spring I was made slightly 
 anxious one day by a visit from the township assessor, who in the line 
 of his duty went up into the room where they were stored and took 
 the number of the coffins in a somewhat hurried way, but fortunately 
 without examining what was beneath them. On receipt of the letter from 
 father, of May 11, 1858, I moved the arms (two wagon-loads) by night to 
 the western part of the next township of Wayne, and stored them in the 
 barn of a farmer named William Coleman, who helped me by night to 
 build a little store-room under his hay-mow. There they remained per 
 fectly secreted (his wife, even, did not know it) until I took them, again by 
 night, to the canal at Hartstown, Penn., early in the summer of 1859, and 
 shipped them as hardware to Chambersburg." This refers to the rifles, 
 etc., afterward captured at the Kennedy farm. 
 
1859.1 JOHN BROWN AND HIS FRIENDS. 495 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 JOHN BROWN AND HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 T N the broad and permanent sense of that comforting 
 -*- word " friendship,' 7 John Brown had innumerable 
 friends. When Wordsworth, in the flush of the noble 
 pantheism which breathes through his earlier verse, ad 
 dressed the fallen Toussaint L'Ouverture in his French 
 dungeon, he described the state of John Brown, and 
 every generous champion of God's cause : 
 
 " Live, and take comfort ! Thou hast left behind 
 Powers that will work for thee, air, earth, and skies. 
 There 's not a breathing of the common wind 
 That will forget thee ; thou hast great allies : 
 Thy friends are exultations, agonies, 
 And Love, and man's unconquerable Mind." 
 
 In the same sense, but more definitely, Emerson said at 
 Salem five weeks after Brown's execution, 1 
 
 " I am not a little surprised at the easy effrontery with which politi 
 cal gentlemen, in and out of Congress, take it upon them to say that 
 there are not a thousand men in the North who sympathize with 
 John Brown. It would be far safer and nearer the truth to say that 
 all people, in proportion to their sensibility and self-respect, sym 
 pathize with him. For it is impossible to see courage and disin 
 terestedness and the love that casts out fear, without sympathy. 
 All women are drawn to him by their predominance of sentiment. 
 All gentlemen, of course, are on his side. I do not mean by ' gen 
 tlemen ' people of scented hair and perfumed handkerchiefs, but men 
 of gentle blood and generosity, fulfilled with all nobleness/ who, 
 like the Cid, give the outcast leper a share of their bed ; like the 
 dying Sidney, pass the cup of cold water to the wounded soldier who 
 
 1 Emerson's "Miscellanies" (Boston, 1884), pp. 262, 263. 
 
496 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 needs it more. For what is the oath of gentle blood and knight 
 hood ? What but to protect the weak and lowly against the strong 
 oppressor ? Nothing is more absurd thau to complain of this sym 
 pathy, or to complain of a party of men united in opposition to slav 
 ery. As well complain of gravity or the ebb of the tide. Who makes 
 the Abolitionist f The slaveholder. The sentiment of mercy is the 
 natural recoil which the laws of the universe provide to protect man 
 kind from destruction by savage passions. And our blind statesmen 
 go up and down, with committees of vigilance and safety, hunting 
 for the origin of this new heresy. They will need a very vigilant 
 committee, indeed, to find its birthplace, and a very strong force to 
 root it up. For the arch-Abolitionist, older than Brown, and older 
 than the Shenandoah Mountains, is Love, whose other name is Jus 
 tice, which was before Alfred, before Lycurgus, before slavery, and 
 will be after it." 
 
 But in the narrower meaning of men and women who 
 knew the purposes of John Brown, and gave him aid and 
 comfort while he most needed them, he had but few friends, 
 and some of those fell away from him when the hour of trial 
 came. In his own family he was always understood, and 
 had no cause to feel the full bitterness of that Scripture, 
 " A man's foes shall be they of his own household." But 
 beyond that family the number of persons who at any time 
 both understood and sympathized with him in his main 
 purpose was very small, so that he valued and cherished 
 disproportionately, perhaps, those who accepted his mission 
 and helped it forward even by words and friendly listening. 1 
 There may have been a thousand men who knew that he 
 meant to harass the slaveholders in some part of the South, 
 with an armed force ; but of those who knew with any ful 
 ness the details of his Virginia enterprise, I suppose the 
 number never at any one time exceeded a hundred, and 
 these were scattered over the whole country from Boston to 
 Kansas, from Maryland to Canada. 
 
 The earliest, most devoted, most patient, and noblest friend 
 of Brown in this enterprise was his second wife, of whom 
 too little has hitherto been known. Now that death has 
 
 1 "It is some relief to a poor body," says Izaak Walton, speaking of 
 George Herbert, "to be but heard with patience ;" and it was not every, 
 one who did Brown that justice. 
 
1816.1 JOHN BROWN AND HIS FRIENDS. 497 
 
 released her from her long bereavement, and her modest 
 reserve can no more be wounded by the public mention of 
 her virtues, it is due to her silent and tender constancy that 
 the tale of her life should be told. Mary Anne Brown (the 
 daughter of Charles Day, a blacksmith of New England an 
 cestry, but settled in New York until about 1825) was born 
 in Granville, N. Y., April 15, 1816. Her only school educa 
 tion was acquired before the age of ten, when she removed 
 with her father and his younger children to a farm near 
 Meadville, Penn., not far from the Delamaters (with whom 
 she was connected) and from John Brown's tannery in Ran 
 dolph. 1 Early in life she became a member of the Congre 
 gational Church, and continued in its communion until her 
 death. When but sixteen years of age she became the wife 
 of John Brown, and assumed the care of his five children, 
 the eldest of whom was near her own age. She brought to 
 the task good health, a strong, well-balanced mind, and an 
 earnest desire to discharge every duty conscientiously. She 
 became the mother of thirteen children, seven of whom 
 died in childhood, three of them in one week. She once 
 remarked, " That was the time in my life when all my reli 
 gion, all my philosophy, and all my faith in God's goodness 
 were put to the test. My husband was away from home, 
 prostrated by sickness ; I was helpless from illness ; in one 
 week three of my little ones died of dysentery, this but 
 three months before the birth of another child. Three years 
 after this sad time another little one, eighteen months old, 
 was burned to death. Yet even in these trials God upheld 
 me." 
 
 She was of a large and firm mould, like a Eoman mother, 
 but with all the susceptible and yearning affection which 
 the milder types of constancy display. She labored with her 
 hands, and taught all her children to do the same ; she was 
 trained to endure long absences from her husband and her 
 sons, and that in periods of great anxiety, and when they 
 were ill-spoken of among her neighbors. She soon became 
 separated from her own kindred, and, like Euth in the Scrip- 
 
 1 The Delamaters are of Huguenot descent, and had intermarried with 
 the Days, as well as with wealthier families of New York. 
 
 32 
 
498 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1882. 
 
 tures, she silently said to her much-wandering husband : 
 " Whither thou goest, I will go ; and where thou lodgest, I 
 will lodge ; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my 
 God ; the Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but 
 death part thee and me." But in his perilous campaigns, 
 and with his scanty means, she could not accompany him 
 save in prayers and wishes; she was even denied that facility 
 in writing letters which so often beguiles the weariness of 
 absence. 1 This modern Penelope had her loom and spindle, 
 like the fabled one, but her labors were real, and supported 
 her household. 
 
 During all the time her husband was in Kansas she re 
 mained at North Elba with her three young daughters, and 
 sometimes with no son to till her rocky farm. When the 
 struggle at Harper's Ferry was terminated, and she knew 
 that her husband's life-work was ended, she visited him and 
 received his last messages ; her warrior was brought home 
 to her and buried by her door. After all was over, she re 
 mained in her lonely home until 1863 ; and in the following 
 year, in company with her son Salmon and her daughters, 
 made the long journey across the plains to California. 
 For six years their home was at Red Bluff, and then in the 
 town of Rohnerville for ten years. About 1880, with two 
 daughters, she removed to Saratoga, Santa Clara County, 
 which was her home until death. She had long felt a desire 
 to return to the East, to visit scenes with which she had 
 been familiar, and to greet friends from whom she had long 
 been separated ; but the narrowness of her fortunes had pre 
 vented this. She was not even able to revisit the grave of 
 her husband, to which thousands of strangers resorted. In 
 1882, as she told me when I met her at North Elba, the 
 way was providentially opened for the accomplishment of 
 this desire, and she accepted the opportunity. Her journey 
 was pleasant and mournful. In course of it she was per 
 mitted to recover the remains of her son Watson, and to see 
 him buried, with the praise of friends and neighbors, beside 
 his father on the Adirondac hillside. Public receptions were 
 
 1 Heaven first taught letters for some wretch's aid, 
 Some banished lover, or some captive maid. POPE. 
 
1883.] JOHN BROWN AND HIS FRIENDS. 499 
 
 tendered to her at Chicago, Boston, Springfield, and at the 
 capital of Kansas ; she visited the battle-grounds of her 
 family there, and saw for the first time the dark waters of 
 the Marais des Cygnes and the Ottawa. 1 
 
 Returning to California, the fatigues of her journey and 
 the strain upon her deep sensibilities, little perceived at the 
 time (such was her silent fortitude), began to tell upon her 
 robust constitution. During a visit to her son Salmon 
 among the sheep-walks of northern California she was 
 attacked with a lingering disease, from which she never 
 recovered. The last two months of her life were spent 
 in San Francisco for medical treatment, carefully watched 
 over by her daughter Sarah, to whom she had been sister 
 as well as mother, so strong was the bond of sympathy 
 between them. 
 
 The wife of John Brown was of a type more common 
 in our age than is the austere Puritanic order to which 
 he belonged, but by no means frequent, resembling those 
 mothers in Israel, diligent and God-fearing, of whom her 
 Bible told her. She was far from the culture of modern 
 life, but keenly alive to great ideas, and of a broad catholi 
 city in spirit, which embraced slaveholders and murderers in 
 its love, and never sought vengeance as justice. She read 
 the Bible daily, and with humble attention. A true Chris 
 tian of the antique pattern, she gladly recognized as brethren 
 all whom she believed to be God's children, wherever she 
 found them, or by whatever name they were called. Nar 
 rowness in religion she could riot understand, nor ever sought 
 to confine God to the purlieus of her own church. 
 
 Upon so firm a basis rested the domestic happiness of 
 John Brown ; and his children, though he sometimes eluded 
 
 1 Mr. Dwight Thacher, of Topeka, writes me (March 30, 1885) : 
 "When the widow of John Brown made her first and only visit to Kan 
 sas, in November, 1882, she was for several days my guest. Reflected in 
 her bearing, her words, her style of thought and expression, I fancied I 
 could see unmistakable evidences of the lofty and rugged plane of life upon 
 which the whole family had lived. She was the soul of truthfulness, of 
 candor, and had an unworldly air, as of one who had dwelt among high 
 and eternal verities. John Brown's gravity and devotion to duty were 
 admirably reflected in his widow." 
 
500 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1856. 
 
 their religious dissent, were worthy of such parents. His 
 quiver was full of those arrows which the wise king praises, 
 and he drew from it the means of attack upon wrong. But 
 for his sons, how different might have been his own fate ! 
 They stood about him as guards and recruits, and died for 
 him as bravely as he would have died for them. Not often 
 in the divergent and estranging paths of modern life have 
 we seen a family so patriarchal in habit and in action. 
 
 Outside of his household the friends of John Brown were 
 found in every rank and condition of life, and those whom 
 he once attached were seldom estranged from him, though 
 they might not keep pace with him in his methods or pur 
 poses. Perhaps the best exemplification of this was given 
 by that generous and right-minded man, John A. Andrew, 
 afterward Governor of Massachusetts, and one of the most 
 helpful patriots in the Civil War. In the tumult of pub 
 lic opinion which followed Brown's foray in Virginia, Mr. 
 Andrew, then a leading lawyer and Republican politician 
 in Boston, said manfully, " Whatever may be thought of 
 John Brown's acts, John Brown himself was right" 
 
 Foremost among the friends of John Brown in New Eng 
 land must be named Emerson, the poet-sage of Concord. In 
 1856 he had taken the same view of things in Kansas which 
 Mr. Andrew and Josiah Quincy expressed, but he knew 
 how to utter his thought in more trenchant words. At 
 a Kansas aid meeting in Cambridge (Sept. 10, 1856), he 
 said : 
 
 " In this country for the last few years the Government has been 
 the chief obstruction to the common weal. Who doubts that Kansas 
 would have been very well settled if the United States had let it alone ? 
 The Government armed and led the ruffians against the poor farmers. 
 ... In the free States we give a snivelling support to slavery. The 
 judges give cowardly interpretations to the law, in direct opposition 
 to the known foundation of all law, that every immoral statute is 
 void. And here, of Kansas, the President says, ' Let the complain 
 ants go to the courts j ' though he knows that when the poor plundered 
 farmer comes to the court, he finds the ringleader who has robbed him 
 dismounting from his own horse, and unbuckling his knife to sit as 
 his judge.' 1 ' 1 l 
 
 1 Emerson's " Miscellanies," pp. 244-246. 
 
1857.] JOHN BROWN AND HIS FRIENDS. 501 
 
 Mr. Emerson's Diary for March, 1857, says : 
 
 11 Captain John Brown gave a good account of himself in the 
 Town Hall last night to a meeting of citizens. One of his good 
 points was the folly of the peace party in Kansas, who helieved that 
 their strength lay in the greatness of their wrongs, and so discoun 
 tenanced resistance. He wished to know if their wrong was greater 
 than the negro's, and what kind of strength that gave to the negro f 
 He believes, on his own experience, that one good, believing, strong- 
 minded man is worth a hundred nay, twenty thousand men with 
 out character, for a settler in a new country, and that the right men 
 will give a permanent direction to the fortunes of a State. For one of 
 these bullying, drinking rowdies, he seemed to think cholera, small 
 pox, and consumption were as valuable recruits. The first man who 
 went into Kansas from Missouri to interfere in the elections, he 
 thought, ' had a perfect right to be shot. 7 He gave a circumstantial 
 account of the battle of Black Jack, where twenty-three Missourians 
 surrendered to nine Abolitionists. He had three thousand sheep in 
 Ohio, and would instantly detect a strange sheep in his flock. A cow 
 can tell its calf by secret signals, he thinks, by the eye, to run away, to 
 lie down, and hide itself. He always makes friends w r ith his horse or 
 mule (or with the deer that visit his Ohio farm) ; and when he sleeps 
 on his horse, as he does as readily as on his bed, his horse does not 
 start or endanger him. Brown described the expensiveness of war in 
 a country where everything that is to be eaten or worn by man or 
 beast must be dragged a long distance on wheels. ' God protects 
 us in winter,' he said ; ' no Missourian can be seen in the country 
 until the grass comes up again.'" 
 
 Thus far the first Diary, as it now stands. , t But from 
 time to time, as he saw Brown again, or heard of him from 
 friends or from the newspapers, Emerson made other notes, 
 which he has thus edited : 
 
 u For himself, Brown is so transparent that all men see him 
 through. He is a man to make friends wherever on earth courage 
 and integrity are esteemed. the rarest of heroes, a pure idealist, with 
 no by-ends of his own. Many of us have seen him, and every one 
 who has heard him speak has been impressed alike by his simple, 
 artless goodness and his sublime courage. He joins that perfect 
 Puritan faith which brought his ancestor to Plymouth Rock, with 
 his grandfather's ardor in the Revolution. He believes in two articles 
 two instruments, shall I say ? the Golden Rule and the Declara 
 tion of Independence j and he used this expression in a conversation 
 
502 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 here concerning them: t Better that a whole generation of men, wo 
 men, and children should pass away hy a violent death, than that one 
 word of either should be violated in this country.' There is a Union 
 ist, there is a strict constructionist for you ! He believes in the 
 Union of the States, and he conceives that the only obstruction to 
 the Union is slavery; and for that reason, as a patriot, he works for 
 its abolition. 
 
 " He grew up a religious and manly person, in severe poverty j a 
 fair specimen of the best stock of New England, having that force of 
 thought and that sense of right which are the warp and woof of great 
 ness. Our farmers were Orthodox Calvinists, mighty in the Scrip 
 tures : had learned that life was a preparation, a ' probation/ to use 
 their word, for a higher world, and was to be spent in loving and 
 serving mankind. Thus was formed a romantic character, absolutely 
 without any vulgar trait ; living to ideal ends, without any mixture 
 of self-indulgence or compromise, such as lowers the value of benevo 
 lent and thoughtful men we know; abstemious, refusing luxuries, not 
 sourly and reproachfully, but simply as unfit for his habit ; quiet and 
 gentle as a child, in the house. And as happens usually to men of 
 romantic character, his fortunes were romantic. Walter Scott would 
 have delighted to draw his picture and trace his adventurous career. 
 A shepherd and herdsman, he learned the manners of animals, and 
 knew the secret signals by which animals communicate. He made 
 his hard bed on the mountains with them ; he learned to drive his 
 flock through thickets all but impassable ; he had all the skill of a 
 shepherd by choice of breed arid by wise industry to obtain the best 
 wool, and that for a course of years." 
 
 To the like purpose do the Diaries of Thoreau, during the 
 years 1857-59, speak of Brown : 
 
 u I should say that he is an old-fashioned man in his respect for 
 the Constitution, and his faith in the permanence of this Union. 
 Slavery he deems to be wholly opposed to these, and he is its deter 
 mined foe. He is by descent and birth a New England farmer, a 
 man of great common-sense, deliberate and practical as that class is, 
 and tenfold more so, like the best of those who stood at Concord 
 Bridge once, on Lexington Common, and on Bunker Hill; only he 
 was firmer and higher-principled than any that I have chanced to 
 hear of as there. It was no Abolition lecturer that converted him. 
 Ethan Allen and Stark, with whom he may in some respects be 
 compared, were rangers in a lower and less important field. They 
 could bravely face their country's foes, but he had the courage to face 
 
1859.] JOHN BROWN AND HIS FRIENDS. 503 
 
 his country herself when she was in the wrong. A Western writer 
 says, to account for his escape from so many perils, that he was con 
 cealed under a ' rural exterior/ as if, in that prairie-land, a hero 
 should, by good rights, wear a citizen's dress only. 
 
 11 He was never able 'to find more than a score or so of recruits 
 whom he would accept, and only about a dozen (among them his 
 own sons) in whom he had perfect faith. When he was here, he 
 showed me a little manuscript book, his ' orderly-book' I think he 
 called it, containing the names of his company in Kansas, and the 
 rules by which they bound themselves ; and he stated that several 
 of them had already sealed the contract with their blood. When 
 some one remarked that with the addition of a chaplain it would 
 have been a perfect Cromwellian troop, he observed that he would 
 have been glad to add a chaplain to the list, if he could have found 
 one who could fill that office worthily. I believe that he had prayers 
 in his camp morning and evening, nevertheless. He is a man of 
 Spartan habits, and at sixty was scrupulous about his diet at your 
 table, excusing himself by saying that he must eat sparingly and fare 
 hard, as became a soldier, or one who was fitting himself for difficult 
 enterprises, a life of exposure. A man of rare common-sense and 
 directness of speech as of action, a transcendentalist. above all a man 
 of ideas and principles, that is what distinguishes him. Not yield 
 ing to a whim or transient impulse, but carrying out the purpose of a 
 life. I noticed that he did not overstate anything, but spoke within 
 bounds. I remember particularly how, in his speech here, he referred 
 to what his family had suffered in Kansas, without ever giving the 
 least vent to his pent-up fire. It was a volcano with an ordinary 
 chimney-flue. Also referring to the deeds of certain Border Ruffians, 
 he said, rapidly paring away his speech, like an experienced soldier 
 keeping a reserve of force and meaning, ' They had a perfect right to 
 be hung.' He was not in the least a rhetorician, was not talking to 
 Buncome or his constituents anywhere, had no need to invent any 
 thing, but to tell the simple truth, and communicate his own resolu 
 tion ; therefore he appeared incomparably strong, and eloquence in 
 Congress and elsewhere seemed to me at a discount. It was like the 
 speeches of Cromwell compared with those of an ordinary king. 
 
 li When I expressed surprise that he could live in Kansas at all 
 with a price set on his head, and so large a number, including the 
 authorities, exasperated against him, he accounted for it by saying, 
 ' It is perfectly well understood that I will not be taken.' Much 
 of the time for some years he has had to skulk in swamps, suffer 
 ing from poverty and from sickness which was the consequence of 
 
504 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 exposure, befriended only by Indians and a few whites. But though it 
 might be known that he was lurking in a particular swamp, his foes 
 commonly did not care to go in after him. He could even come out 
 into a town where there were more Border Ruffians than Free- State 
 men, and transact business without delaying long, and yet not be 
 molested. l For,' said he, ' no little handful of men were willing to 
 undertake it, and a large body could not be got together in season.' 
 
 11 Yet he did not foolishly attribute his success to his ' star,' or to 
 any magic. He said truly, that the reason why such greatly superior 
 numbers quailed before him was, as one of his prisoners confessed, 
 because they ' lacked a cause,' a kind of armor which he and his 
 party never lacked. When the time came, few men were found 
 willing to lay down their lives in defence of what they knew to be 
 wrong ; they did not like that this should be their last act in this 
 world." 
 
 Mr. Alcott's record of the man is more methodical as to 
 days and events. He writes : 
 
 OSAWATOMIE BROWN. 
 
 " Concord, May 8, 1859. This evening I hear Captain Brown 
 speak at the town hall on Kansas affairs, and the part taken by him 
 in the late troubles there. He tells his story with surpassing sim 
 plicity and sense, impressing us all deeply by his courage and reli 
 gious earnestness. Our best people listen to his words, Emerson, 
 Thoreau, Judge Hoar, my wife ; and some of them contribute some 
 thing in aid of his plans without asking particulars, such confidence 
 does he inspire in his integrity and abilities. I have a few words 
 with him after his speech, and find him superior to legal traditions, 
 and a disciple of the Right in ideality and the affairs of state. He 
 is Sanborn's guest, and stays for a day only. A young man named 
 Anderson accompanies him. They go armed, I am told, and will 
 defend themselves, if necessary. I believe they are now on their 
 way to Connecticut and farther south ; but the Captain leaves us 
 much in the dark concerning his destination and designs for the 
 coming months. Yet he does not conceal his hatred of slavery, nor 
 his readiness to strike a blow for freedom at the proper moment. I 
 infer it is his intention to run off as many slaves as he can, and so 
 render that property insecure to the master. I think him equal to 
 anything he dares, the man to do the deed, if it must be done, and 
 with the martyr's temper arid purpose. Nature obviously was, 
 deeply intent in the making of him. He is of imposing appearance, 
 
1859.] JOHN BROWN AND HIS FRIENDS. 505 
 
 personally, tall, with square shoulders and standing ; eyes of deep 
 gray, and couchaut, as if ready to spring at the least rustling, daunt 
 less yet kindly : his hair shooting backward from low down on his 
 forehead; nose trenchant and Romanesque; set lips, his yoice sup 
 pressed yet metallic, suggesting deep reserves ; decided mouth ; the 
 countenance and frame charged with power throughout. Since here 
 last he has added a flowing beard, which gives the soldierly air 
 and the port of an apostle. Though sixty years old, he is agile and 
 alert, and ready for any audacity, in any crisis. I think him about 
 the manliest man I have ever seen, the type and synonym of the 
 Just. I wished to see and speak with him under circumstances per 
 mitting of large discourse. I am curious concerning his matured 
 opinions on the great questions, as of personal independence, the 
 citizen's relation to the State, the right of resistance, slavery, the 
 higher law, temperance, the pleas and reasons for freedom, and ideas 
 generally. Houses and hospitalities were invented for the entertain 
 ment of such questions, for the great guests of manliness and no 
 bility thus entering and speaking face to face : 
 
 " ' Man is his own star ; and the soul that can 
 Render an honest and a perfect man 
 Commands all light, all influence, all fate. 
 Nothing to him falls early or too late : 
 Our acts our angels are, or good or ill, 
 Our fatal shadows, that walk by us still.' " 
 
 The days pass on, and Brown makes his foray in Vir 
 ginia, the news of it reaching Concord on the 18th of Octo 
 ber, 1859. For some days the dismal tidings find no entry 
 in the daily journal at the Orchard House, since Mr. Alcott 
 is busy harvesting his apples. But a week after the attack 
 at Harper's Ferry this record appears, followed by many 
 more : 
 
 " October 23. Read with sympathy and a sense of the impossibil 
 ity of any justice being done him by South or North, by partisans or 
 people, by the general mankind, the newspaper accounts of 
 Captain Brown's endeavor at Harper's Ferry, now coming to us and 
 exciting politicians and everybody everywhere. This man I heard 
 speak early in the season at our town hall, and had the pleasure of 
 grasping his firm hand and of speaking with him after his lecture. 
 This deed of his, so surprising, so mixed, so confounding to most 
 persons, will give an impulse to freedom and humanity, whatever 
 becomes of its victim and of the States that howl over it. There 
 
506 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 should be enough of courage and intrepidity in the North, in Mas 
 sachusetts men, to steal South, since they cannot march openly 
 there, rescue him from the slaveholders, the State and United States 
 courts, and save him for the impending crisis. Captain Higginson 
 would be good for that leadership, and No. 64 1 will be ready to 
 march with the rest. Captain Brown is of Puritan stock, and comes 
 from Connecticut. He was born at Torrington, in Litchfield County, 
 May 9, 1800, about fifteen miles from the place of my nativity. 
 
 " Concord, Sunday, Oct. 30, 1859. Thoreau reads a paper of his 
 on John Brown, his virtues, spirit, and deeds, at the vestry this 
 evening, and to the delight of his company, I am told, the best 
 that could be gathered on short notice, and among them Emerson. 
 I am not informed in season, and have my meeting at the same 
 time. I doubt not of its excellence and eloquence, and wish he may 
 have opportunities of reading it elsewhere. 2 
 
 11 Friday, Nov. 4. Thoreau calls and reports about the reading of 
 his lecture on Brown at Boston and Worcester. Thoreau has good 
 right to speak fully his mind concerning Brown, and has been the 
 first to speak and celebrate the hero's courage and magnanimity. It 
 is these which he discerns and praises. The men have much in 
 common, the sturdy manliness, straightforwardness, and indepen 
 dence. It is well they met, and that Thoreau saw what he sets 
 forth as none else can. Both are sons of Anak and dwellers in Na 
 ture, Brown taking more to the human side, and driving straight 
 at institutions, while Thoreau contents himself with railing at and 
 letting them otherwise alone. He is the proper panegyrist of the 
 virtues he owns himself so largely, and so comprehends in another. 
 
 11 Saturday, November 5. Dine with Sanborn. He suggests that I 
 should go to Virginia and get access to Brown if I can, and Governor 
 Wise ; thinks I have some advantages to fit me for the adventure. 
 I might ascertain whether Brown would accept a rescue from any 
 company we might raise. Ricketson, from New Bedford, arrives. 
 He and Thoreau take supper with us. Thoreau talks freely and 
 
 1 Mr. Alcott himself. 
 
 2 Thoreau' s editor, Mr. Harrison Blake, has sent me this note from his 
 
 friend : 
 
 CONCORD, Oct. 31 [1859]. 
 
 MR. BLAKE, I spoke to my townsmen last evening, on "The Character of Captain 
 Brown, now in the Clutches of the Slaveholder." I should like to speak to any com 
 pany in Worcester who may wish to hear me ; and will come if only my expenses are paid. 
 I think that we should express ourselves at once, while Brown is alive. The sooner, 
 the better. Perhaps Higginson may like to have a meeting. Wednesday evening would 
 be a good time. The people here are deeply interested in the matter. Let me have an 
 answer as soon as may be. 
 
 HENB.Y D. THOREAU. 
 
 P. S. I may be engaged toward the end of the week. 
 
1859.] JOHN BROWN AND HIS FRIENDS. 507 
 
 enthusiastically about Brown, denouncing the Union, the President, 
 the States, and Virginia particularly ; wishes to publish his late 
 speech, and has seen Boston publishers, but failed to find any to 
 print it for him." 
 
 No list of Brown's friends could be complete without the 
 names of those two practical idealists of Medf ord, George 
 and Mary Stearns, to whom he was more indebted for hos 
 pitalities and for liberal gifts of money and arms than to 
 any, perhaps all, other persons. Mr. Stearns was a merchant 
 of Boston, of large income, but of larger heart, who was in 
 spired and seconded in all his patriotic efforts by his sensi 
 tive and clear-sighted wife, from whom no trait of character 
 was hidden. Mrs. Stearns saw at a glance across the whole 
 field, and was critical in her judgments; but she accepted 
 John Brown as a prophet and hero from the first. Her 
 husband, of slower speech and more deliberate temper, had 
 misgivings now and then, but followed confidently the in 
 spiration of his wife. Of him Emerson said, in a funeral 
 address in 1867 : 
 
 "We recall the all but exclusive devotion of this excellent man 
 during the last twelve years to public and patriotic interests. Known 
 until that time in no very wide circle as a man of skill and persever 
 ance in his business, of pure life, of retiring and affectionate habits, 
 happy in his domestic relations, his extreme interest in the national 
 politics, then growing more anxious year by year, engaged him to 
 scan the fortunes of freedom with keener attention. He was an early 
 laborer in the resistance to slavery. This brought him into sympathy 
 with the people of Kansas. As early as 1855 the Emigrant Aid So 
 ciety was formed, and in 1856 he organized the Massachusetts State 
 Kansas Committee, by means of which a large amount of money was 
 obtained for the Free- State men at times of the greatest need. He 
 was the more engaged to this cause by making, in 1857, the ac 
 quaintance of Captain John Brown, who was not only an extraordi 
 nary man, but one who had a rare magnetism for men of character, 
 and attached some of the best and noblest to him, on very short 
 acquaintance, by lasting ties. Mr. Stearns made himself at once 
 necessary to Captain Brown as one who respected his inspirations, 
 and had the magnanimity to trust him entirely, and to arm his hands 
 with all needed help. For the relief of Kansas in 1856-57 his own 
 contributions were the largest and the first. He never asked any one 
 to give so much as he himself gave; and his interest was so mani- 
 
508 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 festly pure and sincere that he easily obtained eager offerings in 
 quarters where other petitioners failed. He did not hesitate to he- 
 come the hanker of his clients, and to furnish them money and arms 
 in advance of the subscriptions which he obtained. His first dona 
 tions were only entering wedges of his later; and, unlike other bene 
 factors, he did not give money to excuse his entire preoccupation in 
 his own pursuits, hut as an earnest of the dedication of his heart and 
 hand to the interests of the sufferers, a pledge kept until the success 
 he wrought and prayed for was consummated." 
 
 But for the Stearnses and their gifts to Brown it is hard 
 to see how lie could have gone forward in his campaigns of 
 the last two years, 1858-59 ; and how much he valued them 
 we all knew who could read his heart. But the extent of 
 their aid to him, and the length to which they were prepared 
 to go, is not generally known, although Brown knew it well. 
 At my request, Mrs. Stearns has furnished me an account of 
 the origin of a most characteristic paper which Brown read 
 to her in the first draft, and which is this : 
 
 To the Plymouth Rocks, Bunker Hill Monuments, Charter Oaks, and 
 Uncle Tom's Cabins. 
 
 He has left for Kansas ; has heen trying since he came out of the 
 Territory to secure an outfit, or, in other words, the means of arming 
 and thoroughly equipping his regular minute-men, who are mixed up 
 with the people of Kansas. And he leaves the States with a feeling 
 of deepest sadness, that after having exhausted his own small means, 
 and with his family and his brave men suffered hunger, cold, naked 
 ness, and some of them sickness, wounds, imprisonment in irons, 
 with extreme cruel treatment, and others death ; that after lying on 
 the ground for months in the most sickly, unwholesome, and uncom 
 fortable places, some of the time with sick and wounded, destitute of 
 any shelter, hunted like wolves, and sustained in part by Indians ; 
 that after all this, in order to sustain a cause which every citizen of 
 this ll glorious republic" is under equal moral obligation to do, and 
 for the neglect of which he will he 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, amid all the wealth, luxury, 
 
1857.J JOHN BROWN AND HIS FRIENDS. 509 
 
 and extravagance of this a heaven -exalted" people, even the ne 
 cessary supplies of the common soldier. " How are the mighty 
 fallen ! " 
 
 I am destitute of horses, baggage-wagons, tents, harness, saddles, 
 bridles, holsters, spurs, and belts; camp equipage, such as cooking 
 and eating utensils, blankets, knapsacks, intrenching-tools, axes, 
 shovels, spades, mattocks, crowbars; have not a supply of ammuni 
 tion ; have not money sufficient to pay freight and travelling expen 
 ses ; and left my family poorly supplied with common necessaries. 
 
 BOSTON, April, 1857. 
 
 Mrs. Stearns writes me thus (April, 1885) : 
 
 u The newspaper reports of the Hon. Thomas Russell's address at 
 a John Brown commemoration in 1880, mentioning Mr. Stearns as 
 the generous friend of John Brown, contain a statement concerning 
 myself and the ' carriage and horses, 7 which must be my excuse for 
 relating the exact truth, both concerning the seven thousand dollars 
 offered by Mr. Stearns, and how John Brown came to write his 
 ' Farewell to the Plymouth Rocks,' etc., which has appeared several 
 times in print, but without a word of explanation. As the address 
 states, Brown was keeping very quiet at Judge Russell's house in 
 Boston, partly on account of a warrant issued in Kansas for his arrest 
 for high treason, and partly because he \vas ill with fever and ague, 
 a chronic form of which had been induced by his exposures in Kan 
 sas. It was in April, 1857, and a chilling easterly storm had pre 
 vailed for many days. Mr. Stearns went frequently to visit him ; 
 and on Saturday preceding the Sunday morning mentioned by Judge 
 Russell, Captain Brown expressed a wish that I should go to see 
 him, as he could not venture in such weather on a trip to Mcdford, 
 emphasizing the request by saying that he wished to consult me about 
 a plan he had, and that I might come soon. Mr. Stearns gave me 
 his message at dinner, and I drove at once to Judge Russell's house. 
 As soon as my name was announced Brown appeared, and thanking 
 me for the promptness of my visit, proceeded to say that he had been 
 ' amusing himself by preparing a little address for Theodore Parker 
 to read to his congregation the next (Sunday) morning ; and that he 
 would feel obliged to me for expressing my honest opinion about the 
 propriety of this. He then went upstairs, and returned with a paper, 
 which proved in the reading to be ' Old Brown's Farewell.' The 
 emphasis of his tone and manner I shall never forget, and wish I 
 could picture him as he sat and read, lifting his eyes to mine now 
 and then to see how it impressed me. When he finished he said : 
 ' Well, now, what do you think ? Shall I send it- to Mr. Parker ? ' 
 
510 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1857. 
 
 ' Certainly ; by all means send it. He will appreciate every word 
 you have written, for it rings the metal he likes. But I have my 
 doubts about reading it to his congregation. A few of them would 
 understand its significance, but the majority, I fear, would not. Send 
 it to Mr. Parker, and he will do what is best about it.' In reply he 
 thanked me, and said I had confirmed his own judgment, had cleared 
 his mind, and conferred the favor he desired. Then, I told him, he 
 must give rne a copy to preserve among my relics. He replied : ' I 
 would give you this, but it is not fit. I bad such an ague while 
 writing that I could not keep my pen steady ; but you shall have a 
 fair copy.' In a few days he sent the copy I now have, by the hand 
 of Mr. Stearns. It will be forwarded with other memorials to the 
 Kansas Historical Society. The copy he gave Mr. Parker was 
 found among his papers after Parker's death. I think it stimulated 
 Mr. Parker to further exertions, for he collected quite a handsome 
 sum from those parishioners who never failed to respond to his 
 appeal. 
 
 " This matter being settled, Brown began talking upon the subject 
 always uppermost in his thought, and, I may add, action also. Those 
 who remember the power of his moral magnetism will understand 
 how surely and readily he lifted his listener to the level of his own 
 devotion; so that it suddenly seemed mean and unworthy not to 
 say wicked to be living in luxury while such a man was strug 
 gling for a few thousands to carry out his cherished plan. ' Oh,' 
 said he, l if I could have the money that is smoked aicay during a 
 single day in Boston, I could strike a blow which would make sla 
 very totter from its foundations.' As he said these words, his look 
 and manner left no doubt in my mind that he was quite capable of 
 accomplishing his purpose. To-day all sane men everywhere ac 
 knowledge its truth. Well, I bade him adieu and drove home, 
 thinking many thoughts, of the power of a mighty purpose lodged 
 in a deeply religious soul ; of only one man with God on his side. 
 The splendor of spring sunshine filled the room when I awoke the 
 next morning ; numberless birds, rejoicing in the returning warmth, 
 filled all the air with melody; dandelions sparkled in the vivid grass; 
 everything was so beautiful, that the wish rose warm in my heart to 
 comfort and aid John Brown. It seemed not much to do to sell our 
 estate and give.the proceeds to him for his sublime purpose. What 
 if another home were not as beautiful ! When Mr. Stearns awoke I 
 told him my morning thoughts. Reflecting awhile, he said : ' Per 
 haps it would not be just right to the children to do what you sug 
 gest ; but I will do all I can in justice to them and you.' When 
 breakfast was over, he drove to the residence of Judge Russell and . 
 handed Captain Brown his check for seven thousand dollars. But 
 
1358.] JOHN BROWN AND HIS FRIENDS. 511 
 
 this fact was not known at that time, and only made public after the 
 death of Mr. Stearns." 
 
 Brown's plan for Kansas was cordially approved by Theo 
 dore Parker, who, as Mrs. Stearns says, raised some money 
 in aid of it, as he afterwards did for the Virginia enterprise. 
 It was in connection with the latter that Brown made and 
 showed to a few friends this draft of a letter introduc 
 ing him to antislavery men, which I find among Brown's 
 papers : 
 
 JOHN BROWN'S DESCRIPTION OF HIMSELF (1858). 
 
 " This will introduce a friend who visits (Worcester) in order to 
 secure means to sustain and further the cause of freedom in the 
 United States and in all the world. In behalf of this cause he has 
 so far exhausted his own limited means as to place his wife and three 
 young daughters in circumstances of privation and of dependence 
 upon the generosity of their friends, who have cared for them. He has 
 contributed the entire services of two strong minor sons for two years, 
 and of himself for more than three years, during which time they 
 have all endured great hardships, exposure of health, and other pri 
 vations. During much of the past three years he had with him in 
 Kansas six sons and a son-in-law, who, together with himself, were 
 all sick ; two were made prisoners, and subjected to most barbarous 
 treatment ; two were severely wounded, and one murdered. During 
 this time he figured with some success under the title of ' Old Brown,' 
 often perilling his life in company with his sons and son-in-law, who 
 all shared these trials with him. His object is commended to the 
 best feelings of yourself and all who love liberty and equal rights 
 in (Massachusetts), and himself indorsed as an earnest and steady- 
 minded man, and a true descendant of Peter Brown, one of the 
 ' Mayflower ' Pilgrims." 
 
 Theodore Parker first met Brown at his Snndaj 7 congrega 
 tion in the Boston Music Hall in January, 1857, unless he 
 had briefly encountered him at Chicago two months earlier. 
 They soon became warm friends, for Brown had heard Par 
 ker preach as early as 1853, and admired his deep piety, 
 popular eloquence, and devotion to liberty, although they 
 were far apart in theology. In April, 1857, when " Uncle 
 Sam's hounds " were said to be on Brown's track, and ho 
 
512 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1857. 
 
 took refuge at the house of Judge Eussell l in Boston, Parker 
 wrote to Russell in these words : 
 
 Sunday Morning. 
 
 MY DEAR JUDGE, If John Brown falls into the hands of the 
 marshal from Kansas, he is sure either of the gallows or of something 
 yet worse. If I were in his position, I should shoot dead any man 
 who attempted to arrest me for those alleged crimes j then I should 
 be tried hy a Massachusetts jury and be acquitted. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 T. P. 
 
 P. S. I don't advise J. B. to do this, but it is what I should do. 
 
 Parker was one ot the first in Boston to hear and entertain 
 Brown's Virginia plans. Plots in some degree similar were 
 familiar to him, for other enthusiasts had brought their pro 
 jects to be criticised or rejected by the clear judgment of 
 the Boston radical. Like others, Parker was deeply im 
 pressed with the sagacity of many parts of Brown's scheme 
 and the wildness of the rest ; but he was willing to help it 
 forward for Brown's sake, and raised money in aid of it. 
 After it had culminated, he wrote from Rome the week 
 following Brown's execution in these words concerning 
 American, Italian, and universal affairs : 
 
 1 Judge Eussell gives these anecdotes of Brown during this retirement at 
 his house : "He used to take out his two revolvers and repeater every 
 night before going to bed, to make sure of their loads, saying, ' Here are 
 eighteen lives.' To Mrs. Russell he once said, ' If you hear a noise at 
 night, put the baby under the pillow. I should hate to spoil these car 
 pets, too, but you know I cannot be taken alive. ' Giving an account one 
 day of his son Frederick's death, who was shot by Martin White, a 
 Methodist preacher, Mrs. Russell broke out, ' If I were you, Mr. Brown, 
 I would fight those ruffians as long as I lived.' 'That,' he replied, 'is 
 not a Christian spirit. If I thought I had one bit of the spirit of revenge, 
 I would never lift my hand ; I do not make war on slaveholders, even 
 when I fight them, but on slavery.' He would hold up Mrs. Russell's 
 little girl, less than two years old, and tell her, 'When I am hung for 
 treason, you can say that you used to stand on Captain Brown's hand ; ' 
 and when he came to Boston two years after, in May, 1859, on his way to 
 Harper's Ferry, he brought her some cakes of maple sugar from the Adiron- 
 dac home." 
 
1859.1 JOHN BROWN AND HIS FRIENDS. 513 
 
 Theodore Parker to R. W. Emerson. 
 
 Dec. 9, 1859. 
 
 MY DEAR EMERSON, Mr. Apthorp leaves me a corner of his 
 paper, which I am only too glad to fill with a word or two of greet 
 ing to you and yours. I rejoiced greatly at the brave things spoken 
 by you at the Fraternity Lecture, and the hearty applause I knew it 
 must meet with there. Wendell Phillips and you have said about 
 all the brave words that have been spoken about our friend Captain 
 Brown No ! J. F. Clarke preached his best sermon on that brave 
 man. Had I been at home, sound and well, I think this occasion 
 would have either sent me out of the country as it has Dr. Howe 
 or else have put me in a tight place. Surely I could not have been 
 quite unconcerned and safe. It might not sound well that the minis 
 ter of the Twenty-Eighth Congregational Church had "left for parts 
 unknown/' and that " between two days," and so could not fulfil his 
 obligations to lecture or preach. Here to me " life is as tedious as 
 a twice-told tale ; " it, is only a strenuous idleness, studying the 
 remains of a dead people, and that too for no great purpose of help 
 ing such as are alive, or shall ever become so. I can do no better and 
 no more. Here are pleasant Americans, Mrs. Crawford, my friend 
 Dr. Appleton, and above all the Storys, most hospitable of people, 
 and full of fire and wit. The Apthorps and Hunts are kind and wise 
 as always, and full of noble sentiments. Of course, the great works 
 of architecture, of sculpture and painting, are always here; but I con 
 fess I prefer the arts of use, which make the three millions of New 
 England comfortable, intelligent, and moral, to the fine arts of 
 beauty, which afford means of pleasure to a few emasculated dil 
 ettanti. None loves beauty more than I, of Nature or Art ; but 
 I thank God that in the Revival of Letters our race the 
 world-conquering Teutons turned off to Science, which seeks 
 Truth and Industry, that conquers the forces of Nature and trans 
 figures Matter into Man ; while the Italians took the Art of Beauty 
 for their department. The Brownings are here, poet and poetess 
 both, and their boy, the Only. Pleasant people are they both, with 
 the greatest admiration for a certain person of Concord, to whom I 
 also send my heartiest thanks and good wishes. To him and his 
 long life and prosperity ! 
 
 THEODORE PARKER. 1 
 
 1 Parker's letter to Francis Jackson on the deed and death of Brown was 
 one of his last public utterances, for he died and was buried in Florence, 
 where Mrs. Browning was afterwards buried, in May, 1860. 
 
514 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 I have spoken of the unstinted gifts of George and Mary 
 Stearns, in aid of Brown and his work. Gerrit Smith, the 
 baronial democrat of rural New York, was the counterpart 
 of Stearns in generosity of giving. He did not finally be 
 stow so much money on Brown's enterprises as Mr. Stearns. 
 but he stood ready at all times to meet responsibility, and 
 to contribute when appeals were made. He was early in 
 formed of the Virginia scheme, which he did not disap 
 prove, and to aid which he gave hundreds of dollars, and 
 would have given thousands if necessary. He saw fit after 
 Brown's death to disguise in some ways his deep interest in 
 the old hero ; but this was from no disregard of Brown's 
 great qualities, which he never ceased to praise. I will not 
 enter now upon the reasons for this course of Smith, and I 
 have set forth the facts in their proper place. To me he 
 never denied his share in the enterprise of Brown ; and he 
 lived to see its grand results in the years directly following 
 Brown's death. The part taken by Dr. Howe and Colonel 
 Higginson in the enterprise has also been related, and need 
 not be remarked upon further. Dr. Howe shrank at first 
 from acknowledging his connection with Brown, and dis 
 tressed some of his friends thereby ; for he was overcome 
 by the contemplation of results which he might have fore 
 seen, but did not. Higginson desired even greater publicity 
 for the truth than then seemed necessary, and the records 
 which he has preserved are of material value in confirming 
 any authentic account of the conspiracy. 1 
 
 1 Brown's secret committee kept no records, and its members generally 
 destroyed their letters to each other after his capture, so that nobody should 
 he injured by what had been written. Mrs. Gerrit Smith wrote to me in 
 January, 1874, what I had heard from her son-in-law Charles Miller in No 
 vember, 1859 : " Immediately after the Harper's Ferry affair Mr. Smith 
 destroyed all the letters touching Brown's movements which he had re 
 ceived from persons in any degree privy to those movements ; and he took 
 it for granted that his own similar letters to others had been destroyed." 
 In replying (Jan. 16, 1874), I said : " My first proceeding upon hearing of 
 the attack at Harper's Ferry, was to go over carefully all the papers and 
 letters then in my hands, and destroy all that could implicate Mr. Smith 
 or other persons. Two months later, when John A. Andrew placed in my 
 hands my own letters to Brown (with a few from other persons) which Mr. 
 Phillips had brought down from North Elba, after the funeral there, I 
 
1859.] JOHN BROWN AND HIS FRIENDS. 515 
 
 Although not specially a friend of John Brown before 
 then, the Boston sculptor Brackett was one of those pro 
 foundly impressed by his heroism at Harper's Ferry. He 
 had seen Brown once in a Boston street in 1857, and been 
 attracted by the dignity of his mien. The impression then 
 and afterwards made, kindled a glowing desire to perpetuate 
 in marble this remarkable man. The story of his bust of 
 Brown, as he told it at the time, runs thus : 
 
 " I could hardly sleep or eat, so absorbing was the desire that took 
 possession of my mind. I had no money to make the journey to 
 Virginia, and I finally went, in turn, to Dr. Howe and Wendell 
 Phillips, requesting a loan for the purpose. Neither of them con 
 sidered a marble bust of Brown really important, with so many other 
 things to be thought of. But I said there is one man who if he can 
 not help me will listen, and perhaps give me furtherance ; so I went 
 to Mr. Stearns. When I entered his counting-room he was just 
 leaving it for Medford. In a few moments, while walking along 
 with him, I explained in brief why I had come. He replied : ' You 
 are right : it ought to be done ; but just now I am fully occupied in 
 efforts to obtain funds for Brown's defence. I will mention the mat 
 ter to Mrs. Stearns ; come to me to-morrow morning, and you shall 
 have her reply.' I did so ; when, putting the money needful into 
 my hand, he said: 'Mrs. Stearns says, "Take that, and start 
 
 went over these also carefully, before I left Boston that day, and destroyed 
 what would implicate others. But some of the correspondence of 1858-59 
 had lodged with Theodore Parker, and came back to me a year or two after 
 his death ; this I did not destroy. Colonel Higginson also had retained 
 some of the letters which passed through my hands, with copies of many 
 that he wrote to me or to Brown, and all these still exist. It is likely 
 Mrs. Stearns has documents touching the matter. I should doubt if Dr. 
 Howe had many ; but Vice-President Wilson told me, some weeks ago, 
 that he had recovered an important letter of his own, which in 1859-60 
 was supposed to be lost, when it went to Canada or somewhere, but has 
 now got home again. It cannot, therefore, be assumed that all written 
 evidence in the case is lost." In fact, I have since found several of the 
 notes which passed between members of the secret committee. Here is one 
 from Mr. Stearns, concerning a meeting at Theodore Parker's house, to 
 consult about raising money for Brown : 
 
 BOSTON, Sept. 29, 1858. 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEND, Yours of yesterday is at hand. I should prefer Saturday at 
 seven p. M., if that is agreeable to Mr. Parker and yourself. If you decide on that time, 
 please notify Mr. Parker and Dr. Howe. If you do not write me to change the time, I 
 shall be there without further notice. 
 
516 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 immediately;" and these are her instructions: "John Brown will 
 refuse to have his hust taken ; he will say, ' All nonsense ; better give 
 the money to the poor ! ' And if Mr. Brackett replies that posterity 
 will want to know how he looked, he may also say, ' No consequence 
 to posterity how I looked ; better give the money to the poor ! ' Then, 
 if every argument fails to convince him, let Mr. Brackett say that 
 he has come at the express wish and expense of Mrs. Stearns, and 
 that she will be deeply disappointed if he returns without the meas 
 urements." ' The next morning I was on my way to Virginia, and 
 found on arriving at Charlestown that I had not come an hour too 
 soon. The excitement over the arrival of a stranger from the North 
 was intense and ridiculous. I was seized, arid only escaped imprison 
 ment by appealing to Mr. Griswold, whose services had been secured 
 for the defence. Through his efforts and influence the officials were 
 reassured, arid I was allowed to accompany him to the prison, but 
 not to cross the threshold. Through the open door I saw the object 
 of my pilgrimage quietly reading, but heavily loaded with chains. 
 He was sitting in a chair, with both hands chained, and his feet 
 chained to the floor. Only those who saw him in that miserable 
 prison can have any adequate conception of the moral grandeur of 
 his presence ! Everybody and everything was dwarfed in com 
 parison. He looked up from his book, when addressed by his counsel, 
 and listened attentively to the request conveyed from me. Impressive 
 as the scene was, I could not restrain a smile when his reply repeated 
 the very words of Mrs. Stearns, ' Nonsense ! All nonsense ! Bet 
 ter give the money to the poor ! ' When Mr. Griswold said he must 
 remember that he was becoming famous, and that posterity would 
 like to see how he looked, the prophecy was again fulfilled, and the 
 response came, even more emphatic, ' No consequence to posterity 
 hotv I looked ! Give the money to the poor ! ' For some time Mr. 
 Griswold labored to change his purpose, but finally returned to me 
 (still standing outside the door) and said : * It is no use, he will not 
 yield one jot. I am sorry for your disappointment, but it is useless 
 arguing further.' The moment then had come for i the last resort.' 
 ' Please say to him that I have come at the express wish and pecuni 
 ary expense of Mrs. Stearns, and that she will be deeply disappointed 
 if I return without the measurements for a bust.' I watched his face 
 eagerly while Mr. Griswold repeated to him these words, on which 
 hung all my hopes. As he listened, I could see signs of interest, 
 mingled with surprise, in his face ; then a grave thoughtfulness. 
 Presently his hands dropped at his sides, and he seemed lost in 
 thought. Then, lifting his head and straightening himself up, he 
 said, with emotion : ' Anything Mr. or Mrs. Stearns desire. Take 
 the measurements.' n 
 
1859.] JOHN BROWN AND HIS FRIENDS. 517 
 
 The measurements were thus secured, and the bust was 
 made. It shows to what extent the artist was inspired by 
 his subject, and faithfully represents the moral sublimity 
 of the martyr. Charles Sumner exclaimed on seeing it, 
 " There is nothing the sun shines upon so like Michael 
 Angelo's Moses ! " and the art critic Jarves said : " If in 
 some future age it should be dug up, men would ask, What 
 old divinity is this ? " It is an idealized portrait of Brown, 
 yet recalling the features of the man, as well as his 
 grand air. 
 
 Mention must be omitted of the other friends of Brown ; 
 nor need I dwell on my own friendship with him, which this 
 volume sufficiently attests. My opinions were those of 
 Brown, of Parker, of Emerson, Thoreau, Smith, and the 
 older men who foresaw the catastrophe of American slavery. 
 On the day of his death Brown penned this sentence, which 
 he handed to one of his guards in the prison : 
 
 CHARLESTOWN, VA., Dec. 2, 1859. 
 
 I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty 
 land will never be purged away but with blood. I had, as I now 
 think vainly, flattered myself that without very much bloodshed it 
 might be done. 
 
 A week before, Parker had written from Rome to Francis 
 Jackson in Boston : " A few years ago it did not seem diffi 
 cult first to check slavery, and then to end it, without any 
 bloodshed. I think this cannot be done now, nor ever in 
 the future. All the great charters of humanity have been 
 writ in blood. I once hoped that of American Democracy 
 would be engrossed in less costly ink ; but it is plain now 
 that our pilgrimage must lead through a Red Sea, wherein 
 many a Pharaoh will go under and perish." So it hap 
 pened ; and not only the Pharaohs, but the leaders of the 
 people perished. Standing on the battle-field at Gettys 
 burg, four years after Brown's execution (Nov. 19, 1863), 
 Abraham Lincoln pronounced his eulogy on those who 
 " gave their lives that the nation might live," calling on his 
 hearers to resolve " that these dead shall not have died 
 in vain ; that this nation, under God, shall have a new 
 
518 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 birth of freedom ; and that government of the people, by 
 the people and for the people, shall not perish from the 
 earth," thus echoing the very words of Parker, so often 
 heard in prayer and sermon from his Boston pulpit. Not 
 long afterward Lincoln himself fell, the last great victim in 
 the struggle, as John Brown had been its first great martyr. 
 Henceforth their names are joined and their words remem 
 bered together, the speech of the condemned convict at 
 Charlestown and that of the successful statesman at Gettys 
 burg going down to posterity as the highest range of elo 
 quence in our time. But those brave men whom Lincoln 
 commemorated went forth to battle at the call of a great 
 people ; they were sustained by the resources and the ardor 
 of millions. I must daily remember my old friend, lonely, 
 poor, persecuted, making a stand with his handful of fol 
 lowers on the outpost of Freedom, our own batteries trained 
 upon him as the furious enemy swept him away in the storm 
 of their vengeance ; and then I see that history will exalt 
 his fame with that of the liberators of mankind, who sealed 
 their testament of benefactions with the blood of noble 
 hearts. 
 
1859.1 THE FORAY IN VIRGINIA. 519 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 THE FORAY IN VIRGINIA. 
 
 T T so happens that Brown left behind him a brief Diary, 
 -* serving as a key to his correspondence from the time he 
 reached Michigan with his freedmen in March, 1859, to the 
 final arrangements for his campaign in October. Printed 
 here with notes and comments, this Diary will make plain 
 what might not be so clear from his letters alone, consider 
 ing that most of Brown's own letters of this year were de 
 stroyed, either by those who received them or by members 
 of the family who feared that they would compromise his 
 friends. 
 
 JOHN BROWN'S LATEST DIARY. 
 
 From Detroit, March 10, 1859, to the Kennedy Farm, October 8. 
 
 March 10. Wrote Augustus Wattles to enclose to E. and A. 
 King ; also wrote Frederick Douglass at Detroit ; also wrote W. 
 Perm Clarke, Iowa City ; also C. P. Tidd. Gave Kagi $1.25. 
 
 March 16. Wrote J. B. Grinnell. Wrote A. Hazlett, Indiana 
 P. 0., Indiana County, Pa. 
 
 March 25. Wrote wife and children to write me, care of Ameri 
 can House, Troy, N. Y. Enclosed draft for $150. J. H. Kagi, 
 Dr. : To cash for Carpenter, five dollars. Clinton Gilroy, Esq., 
 Nexv London, Conn. 
 
 [Between the dates March 25 and June 18, Brown was at Peter- 
 boro' (April 11-14), at Concord (May 7-9), at Boston (May 9-June 
 3), and at North Elba (June 6-9 ).J 
 
 West Andover, Ohio, June 18. Borrowed John's old compass, 
 and left my own, together with Gunley's book, with him at West 
 Andover; also borrowed his small Jacob staff; also gave him for ex 
 penses fifteen dollars ; write him, under cover to Horace Lindsley, 
 West Andover. Henry C. Carpenter. 
 
 June 21. Gave J. H. Kagi fifty dollars for expenses at Cleve 
 land. 
 
520 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 June 23. Wrote wife and children, and enclosed five dollars. 
 Also wrote J. Henrie Kagi to inquire at Bedford for letters. If 
 none found, he will wait. 
 
 June 27. Wrote J. Henrie that he will find a line at Chambers- 
 burg, or three Smiths and Anderson. 
 
 June 29. Wrote Horace Greeley & Co., enclosing three dollars 
 for " New York Tribune." Gave Watson fifty dollars for P. 
 
 June 30. Wrote J. Henrie to write I. Smith & Sons at Harper's 
 Ferry, if he needs to do so. 
 
 July 5. Wrote John and Jason about freight, etc. ; also wife ; 
 also Charles Blair to forward freight; also to write I. Smith & Sons 
 at Chambersburg. Gave Oliver for expenses $160. Gave Stephens 
 for expenses, June 17, at West Andover, $25. 
 
 July 8. Wrote John, enclosing two fifty-dollar drafts. Gave 
 John Henrie forty dollars for expenses. 
 
 July 12. Wrote John Henrie and J. Smith. Also Jacob Frery, 
 Esq., about hogs. 
 
 July 22. Wrote John, enclosing draft for $100, with instructions. 
 Also wrote Watson some instructions. Also John Henrie. 
 
 July 27. Wrote wife and children for Watson not to set out till 
 we write him. 
 
 August 2. Wrote wife for Watson and Dauphin Thompson to 
 come on ; also wrote James N. Gloucester and J. Heurie. 
 
 August 6. Wrote J. Henrie. 
 
 August 8. Wrote same ; also wife and children that friends had 
 arrived, and about wintering stock. Date altered to August 11. 
 
 August 16. Wrote wife and John, Jr., for instructions, etc. 
 
 August 17. Wrote Jason for box, etc. 
 
 August 18. Wrote F. B. S[anborn] and other friends. 1 
 
 August 24. Wrote Charles Blair. 
 
 September 9. Wrote wife, F. B. S[anborn], Frederick Douglass, 
 
 1 This was about the time that Douglass visited Brown at Chambers- 
 burg. The purpose of Brown's letter to me was to raise three hundred 
 dollars more, since he was delayed for want of money ; and I undertook to 
 raise it. On the 4th of September I had sent him two hundred dollars, of 
 which Dr. Howe gave fifty ; on the 14th I had all but thirty-five dollars of 
 the remaining hundred, Colonel Higginson having sent me twenty dollars. 
 I think the balance was paid by Mr. Stearns, who on the 8th of September 
 had written thus to Higginson : " By reading Mr. Sanborn's note to me a 
 second time, I see that the enclosed ought to have been sent to you with 
 his note. Please read it and enclose again to him. I hope you will be 
 able to get the fifty dollars. We have done all we could, and fall short 
 another fifty as yet." The "enclosed" here was an urgent appeal from 
 Chambersburg for money. 
 
1859.] THE FORAY IN VIRGINIA. 521 
 
 James N. Gloucester, J. W. L[oguen] ; also came on the 20th of 
 September. 
 
 October 1. Wrote wife and children on various matters, win 
 tering stock, money, etc. Also wrote (to J. B., Jr.) home, and at 
 Cleveland. Also J. B. L. (September 30 and October 1). 
 
 October 8. Wrote wife and children about Bell and Martha, and 
 to write John. 
 
 [To this paper was added the following.] 
 
 Names of Men to Call upon for Assistance. 
 
 Isaac J. White and William Burgess, Carlisle, Cumberland 
 County, Pa. ; Joseph A. Crowley, Elias Rouse, and John Fidler, 
 Bedford, Pa.; E. D. Bassett, 718 Lombard Street, Philadelphia; 
 John D. Scoville. 
 
 It will be seen that this Diary is incomplete, naming but 
 a portion of the letters that Brown wrote in this period, 
 and specifying less than half his expenses, which from 
 March 10 to October 16 must have exceeded twenty-five 
 hundred dollars. His sources of revenue have already been 
 pointed out ; but they may be more plainly indicated, now 
 that it is no longer invidious to be known as the friend of 
 John Brown. When he reached Canada from Kansas with 
 his rescued fugitives, his exchequer was nearly exhausted, 
 although he had supplied it to some extent in Kansas by 
 collecting debts and property belonging to the defunct 
 National Committee, as has been mentioned. 1 
 
 1 An evidence of this is found in the following notification to one of 
 Mr. Whitman's Kansas agents, twelve months before the attack on Har 
 per's Ferry : 
 
 OTTUMWA, Oct. 7, 1858. 
 MR. JOHN T. Cox. 
 
 SIR, You are hereby notified that I hold claims against the National Kansas 
 Committee which are good against them and all persons whatever ; and that I have 
 authority from said committee to take possession, as their agent, of any supplies be 
 longing to said committee, wherever found. You will therefore retain in your hands all 
 moneys, notes, or accounts you may now have in your custody, by direction of said 
 committee or any of its agents, and hold them subject to my call or order, as I shall 
 hold you responsible for them to me, as agent of said committee. 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 Agent National, Kansas Committee. 
 
 Of the same date is the following receipt : 
 
 Received as agent National Kansas Committee, of J. T. Cox, seven men's coarse cot 
 ton shirts, placed in his custody by E. B. Whitman, as agent of said committee, for sale 
 or distribution. JOHN BROWN, 
 
 Agt. Nat. Kan. Com. 
 
522 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 The following letter from John Brown to Kagi gives his 
 own report of the success he had in raising money at Gerrit 
 Smith's, and of the arrangement proposed by Mr. Smith for 
 the support of the Virginia campaign of 1859 : 
 
 John Brown to Kagi. 
 
 WESTPOUT, N. Y., April 16, 1859. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I am here, waiting a conveyance to take me home ; 
 have been quite prostrated almost the whole time since you left me 
 at John's, with the difficulty in my head and ear, and with the ague 
 in consequence. I am now some better. Had a good visit at 
 Rochester, but did not effect much. Had a first-rate time at Peter- 
 boro' ; got of Mr. Smith and others nearly one hundred and sixty 
 dollars, and a note (which I think a good one) for two hundred and 
 eighty-five dollars. Mr. S. wrote to Eastern friends to make up at 
 least two thousand dollars, saying he was in for one fifth the amount. 
 I feel encouraged to believe it will soon be done, and wish you to let 
 our folks all round understand how the prospects are. Still, it will 
 be some days (and it may be weeks) before I can get ready to return. 
 I shall not be idle. If you have found my writing-case and papers, 
 please forward them without delay, by express, to Henry Thompson, 
 North Elba, Essex County, N. Y. 
 
 Your friend in truth, B. 
 
 J. H. KAGI, ESQ. 
 
 Kagi replied to this on the 21st and 27th of April, while 
 Brown was at North Elba ; but no answer came from Brown 
 until he had been a week in Boston, after his last visit to 
 Concord, May 7-9, 1859. He then wrote as follows from 
 the United States Hotel in Boston, where he was then 
 lodging : - 
 
 John Brown to Kagi. 
 
 BOSTON, MASS., May 16, 1859. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I should have acknowledged the receipt of yours of 
 April 21, to Henry Thompson, together with writing-case and 
 papers (all safe, so far as I now see), and also yours of April 27 to 
 me, but for being badly down with the ague, so much so as to 
 disqualify me for everything, nearly. I have been here going on 
 two weeks, and am getting better for two days past ; but am very 
 weak. I wish you to say to our folks, all as soon as may be, that 
 there is scarce a doubt but that all will be set right in a very few 
 
1859.] THE FORAY IN VIRGINIA. 523 
 
 days more, so that I can be on my way back. They must none of 
 them think I have been slack to try and urge forward a delicate and 
 very difficult matter. I cannot now write you a long letter, being 
 obliged to neglect replying to others, and also to put off some very 
 important correspondence. My reception has been everywhere most 
 cordial and cheering. Your friend in truth, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 J. H. KAGI, ESQ. 
 
 A brief note from Mr. Stearns, May 27, 1859, lias this 
 passage : " We are getting on slowly, about fifty dollars 
 per day ; and if Gerrit Smith accepts, will send the old man 
 off early next week." This was done, and the " accept 
 ance " of Mr. Smith was shown by his sending Brown two 
 hundred dollars early in June. I have accounts of seven 
 hundred and fifty dollars given by Smith to Brown during 
 1859, while Mr. Stearns in that year gave him more than 
 a thousand dollars. Out of a little mote than four thou 
 sand dollars in money which passed through the hands of 
 the secret committee in aid of his Virginia enterprise, or 
 was known to them as contributed, at least thirty-eight hun 
 dred dollars were given with a clear knowledge of the use 
 to which it would be put. 
 
 When the Boston visit was over, and Brown had again 
 spent a few days at North Elba, he wrote thus : 
 
 KEENE, K Y., June 9, 1859. 
 
 DEAR SIR, After being delayed with sickness and other hin 
 drances, I am so far on my way back, and hope to be in Ohio within 
 the corning week. Will you please advise the friends all of the fact, 
 and say to them that as soon as I do reach, I will let them know 
 where I will be found. I have been middling successful in my 
 business. Yours in truth, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 J. HENRIE, ESQ. 
 
 Before leaving Westport, June 10 r Brown probably re 
 ceived a letter from Gerrit Smith, mentioned in the letter 
 of June 4, which is given below with corrections from 
 the copy published soon after Brown's capture, that first 
 directed attention toward Mr. Smith as one of Brown's 
 friends in his last campaign : 
 
524 LIFE AND LETTEKS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 PETERBORO', June 4, 1859. 
 CAPTAIN JOHN BROWN. 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEND, I wrote you a week ago, directing my letter 
 to the care of Mr. Stearns. He replied, informing me that he had 
 forwarded it to Westport ; but as Mr. Morton received last evening a 
 letter from Mr. Sanborn, saying your address would be your sou's 
 home, namely, West Andover, I therefore write you without de 
 lay, and direct your letter to your sou. I have done what I could thus 
 far for Kansas, and what I could to keep you at your Kansas work. 
 Losses by indorsement and otherwise have brought me under heavy 
 embarrassment the last two years, but I must, nevertheless, continue 
 to do, in order to keep you at your Kansas work. I send you here 
 with my draft for two hundred dollars. Let me hear from you 
 on the receipt of this letter. You live in our hearts, and our prayer 
 to God is that you may have strength to continue in your Kansas 
 work. My wife joins me in affectionate regard to you, dear John, 
 whom we both hold in very high esteem. I suppose you put the 
 Whitman note into Mr. Stearns's hands. It will be a great shame if 
 Mr. Whitman does not pay it. What a noble man is Mr. Stearns ! 1 
 How liberally he has contributed to keep you in your Kansas work ! 
 
 Your friend, 
 
 GERRIT SMITH. 
 
 On the same day that Mr. Smith sent the letter last 
 cited, I wrote to Higginson from Concord : 
 
 June 4, 1859. 
 
 Brown has set out on his expedition, having got some eight hun 
 dred dollars from all sources except from Mr. Stearns, and from him 
 
 1 To those who could read between the lines, this letter disclosed the 
 whole method of the secret committee . No one of them might know at any 
 given time where Brown was, but some other was sure to know, and in 
 this one note four persons are named who might be at any time in commu 
 nication with Brown wherever he was, George L. Stearns, Edwin Mor 
 ton, F. B. Sanborn, and Mr. Smith himself. The phrase " Kansas work " 
 misled none of these persons, who all knew that Brown had finally left 
 Kansas and was to operate henceforth in the slave States. The hundred 
 dollars given by Mr. Smith April 1 4, added to the two hundred named in 
 this letter, and the note of E, B. Whitman, of Kansas, which Brown re 
 ceived from Mr. Smith, make up five hundred and eighty-five dollars, or 
 more than one-fifth of the two thousand dollars which he told Brown he 
 would help his "Eastern friends" raise. Those friends were Stearns, 
 Howe, Higginson, and Sanborn, for Parker was then in Europe, and 
 unable to contribute. 
 
1859.] THE FORAY IN VIRGINIA. 525 
 
 the balance of two thousand dollars ; Mr. S being a man who, 
 
 u having put his hand to the plow, turneth not back." Brown left 
 Boston for Springfield and New York on Wednesday morning at 8.30, 
 and Mr, Stearns has probably gone to New York to-day, to make final 
 arrangements for him. Brown means to be on the ground as soon 
 as he can, perhaps so as to begin by the 4th of July. He could 
 not say where he should be for a few weeks, but letters are addressed 
 to him, under cover to his son John, Jr., at West Andover, Ohio. 
 This point is not far from where Brown will begin, and his son will 
 communicate with him. Two of his sons will go with him. He is 
 desirous of getting some one to go to Canada, and collect recruits for 
 him among the fugitives, with Harriet Tubman or alone, as the 
 case may be. 
 
 This letter shows I had then no thought that the attack 
 would be made at Harper's Ferry ; nor had Mr. Stearns, to 
 whom I was in the habit of talking or writing about this 
 matter every few days. I have no doubt he knew as much 
 as I did about the general plan, while Mr. Smith knew 
 more. On the 6th of October ten days before the attack 
 was made I wrote to Higginson, " The three hundred 
 dollars desired has been made up and received. Four or 
 rive men will be on the ground next week, from these 
 regions and elsewhere." These facts were all known to 
 Mr. Stearns, who within a fortnight of the outbreak was in 
 consultation with Mr. Lewis Hayden, and other colored men 
 of Boston, about forwarding recruits to Brown. I think he 
 paid some of the expenses of these recruits, as Merriam 
 certainly did. 
 
 As Brown was setting forth for Virginia, he wrote 
 thus : 
 
 John Brown to his Family. 
 
 UNITED STATES HOTEL, BOSTON, May 13, 1859. 
 DEAR WIFE AND CHILDREN, ALL, I wrote you from Troy last 
 week, saying I had sent on the balance of articles I intended to buy, 
 and that it might be well to call on James A. Allen, Westport, for 
 them soon. I would now say, if you are not in a strait for them, 
 it may be as well to defer sending for a little, as I expect soon to be 
 at home again, and iray in that case be able to save considerable 
 expense. They are all directed to John Brown at Westport. I feel 
 now very confident of ultimate success, but have to be patient, and I 
 
526 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 have the ague to hinder me some lately. May God he the portion 
 of you all ! 
 
 Your affectionate hushand and father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 BOSTON, MASS., May 19, 1859. 
 
 DEAR WIFE AND CHILDREN, ALL, I intend to be with you 
 again next week ; but as I may fail to bring it about, I now write to 
 say to Watson and Oliver that I think it quite certain that I shall 
 very soon be off for the southwest, so that they may (I think safely) 
 calculate their business accordingly. I shall be glad to have my 
 summer clothing put in order, so far as it can be done comfortably ; 
 I have had no shake now for five days, and am getting quite smart 
 again, and my hearing improves. You all may as well be still about 
 my movements. God bless you all ! 
 
 Your affectionate husband and father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 AKRON, OHIO, June 23, 1859. 
 
 DEAR WIFE AND CHILDREN, ALL, My best wish for you all 
 is that you may truly love God and his commandments. We 
 found all well at West Andover, and all middling well here. I have 
 the ague some yet. I sent a calf-skin from Troy by express, directed 
 to Watson Brown, North Elba, to go by stage from Westport. I 
 now enclose five dollars to help you further about getting up a good 
 loom. We start for the Ohio River to-day. Write me under cover 
 to John at West Andover, for the present. The frost has been far 
 more destructive in Western New York and in Ohio than it was 
 in Essex County. Farmers here are mowing the finest-looking 
 wheat I ever saw, for fodder only. Jason has been quite a sufferer. 
 May God abundantly bless and keep you all ! 
 
 Your affectionate husband and father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 John Broivn to J. H. Kagi. 
 
 CHAMBERSBURG, PENN., June 30, 1859. 
 JOHN HENRIE, ESQ. 
 
 DEAR SIR, We leave here to-day for Harper's Ferry, via 
 Hagerstown. When you get there you had best look on the hotel 
 register for I. Smith & Sons, without making much inquiry. We 
 shall be looking for cheap lands near the railroad in all probability. 
 You can write I. Smith & Sons, at Harpers Ferry, should you need 
 to do so. Yours, in truth, 
 
 I. SMITH [JOHN BROWN]. 
 
1859.1 THE FORAY IN VIRGINIA. 527 
 
 The " three Smiths and Anderson/' mentioned by Brown 
 in his diary for June 27, were himself (" Isaac Smith "), his 
 two sons, Owen (" Watson Smith "), and Oliver (" Oliver 
 Smith "), and his henchman, Jerry Anderson, who all ap 
 peared at Hagerstown June 30, and spent that night at a 
 tavern there. July 3, these four were at Harper's Ferry, 
 where Brown's lieutenant Cook had been living for some 
 months ; and on the 4th they strolled up the river road on 
 the Maryland side toward the house of J. C. Unseld, a 
 Maryland slaveholder, living on a mountain path a mile 
 northwest of the Ferry. Early that forenoon Unseld riding 
 down to the Ferry met them strolling along the edge of the 
 mountain which here overlooks the Potomac. " Well, gen 
 tlemen," said the planter, " I suppose you are out hunting 
 minerals, gold and silver, perhaps ? " " No," said Brown, 
 u we want to buy land ; we have a little money, and want to 
 make it go as far as we can. How much is land worth an acre 
 here ? " Being told that it ranged from fifteen to thirty 
 dollars in that neighborhood, he said, " That is high ; I 
 thought I could buy for a dollar or two an acre." " No, 57 
 said the Mary lander, " not here ; if you expect to get land 
 for that price, you '11 have to go farther west, to Kansas, 
 or some of those Territories where there is Congress land. 
 Where are you from ? " " The northern part of New York 
 State." " What have you followed there ? " " Farming," 
 said Brown ; but the frost had been so heavy of late years 
 it had cut off their crops, they could not make anything 
 there, so he had sold out, and thought they would come 
 farther south and try it awhile. 
 
 Having thus satisfied a natural curiosity, Unseld rode on ; 
 but returning some hours afterward, he again met Smith 
 and his young men not far from the same place. " I have 
 been looking round your country up here," said he, " and it 
 is a very fine country, a pleasant place, a fine view. The 
 land is much better than I expected to find it : your crops 
 are pretty good." As he said this he pointed to where the 
 men had been cutting grain, some white men and some 
 negroes at work in the fields, as the custom is there ; for in 
 Washington County there were few slaves even then, and 
 most of the field work was done by whites or free-colored 
 
528 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 men. Brown then asked if any farm in the neighborhood 
 was for sale. " Yes, there is a farm four miles up the road 
 here, toward Boorisborough, owned by the heirs of Dr. Booth 
 Kennedy ; you can buy that." " Can I rent it ? " said 
 Brown ; then turning to his companions he said : " I think 
 we had better rent awhile, until we get better acquainted, 
 so that they cannot take advantage of us in the purchase of 
 land." To this they appeared to assent, and Mr. Unseld 
 then said : " Perhaps you can rent the Kennedy farm ; it is 
 for sale I know." Brown then turned to his sons and said : 
 " Boys, as you are not very well, you had better go back and 
 tell the landlord at Sandy Hook that Oliver and I shall not 
 be there to dinner, but will go on up and see the Kennedy 
 place. However, you can do as you please." Watson Brown 
 looked at Anderson, and then said, " We will go with you." 
 " Well," said the friendly Mary lander, " if you will go on 
 with me up to my house, I can then point you the road ex 
 actly." Arrived there he invited them to take dinner, for 
 by this time it was nearly noon. They thanked him, but 
 declined ; nor would they accept an invitation to " drink 
 something." " Well," said Unseld, " if you must go on, just 
 follow up this road along the foot of the mountain ; it is 
 shady and pleasant, and you will come out at a church up 
 here about three miles. Then you can see the Kennedy 
 house by looking from that church up the road that leads to 
 Boonsborough, or you can go right across and get into the 
 county road, and follow that up." Brown sat and talked 
 with Unseld for a while, who asked him " what he expected 
 to follow, up yonder at Kennedy's ? " adding that Brown 
 " could not more than make a living there." " Well," said 
 Brown, " my business has been buying up fat cattle and 
 driving them on to the State of New York, and we expect 
 to engage in that again." Three days later, Unseld, again 
 jogging to or from the Ferry, again met the gray-bearded 
 rustic, who said : " T think that place will suit me ; now 
 just give me a description where I can find the widow Ken 
 nedy and the administrator," which Unseld did. A lew 
 days after, he once more met the new-comer, and found Mr. 
 Smith had rented the two houses on the Kennedy farm, - 
 the farm-house, about three hundred yards from the public 
 
1859.] THE FOKAY IN VIRGINIA. 529 
 
 road on the west side, where, as Unseld thought, " it makes 
 a very pretty show for a small house," and " the cabin," 
 which stood about as far from the road on the east side, 
 " hidden by shrubbery in the summer season, pretty much." 1 
 "For the two houses, pasture for a cow and horse, and fire 
 wood, from July till March, Brown paid thirty-five dollars, 
 as he took pains to tell Unseld, showing him the receipt of 
 the widow Kennedy. 
 
 How was it possible to mistrust a plain Yankee farmer 
 and cattle-drover who talked in that way, and had no con 
 cealments, no tricks, and no airs ? Evidently the Mary- 
 lander did not once mistrust him, though he rode up to the 
 Kennedy farm, nearly every week from the middle of July 
 till the first of October. " I just went up to talk to the old 
 man," said he; "but sometimes, at the request of others, 
 on business about selling him some horses or cows. He was 
 in my yard frequently, perhaps four or five times. I 
 would always ask him in, but he would never go in, and of 
 course I would not go in his house. He often invited me 
 in ; indeed, nearly every time I went there he asked me to go 
 in, and remarked to me frequently, ' We have no chairs for 
 you to sit on, but we have trunks and boxes.' I declined 
 going in, but sat on my horse and chatted with him." Be 
 fore the 20th of July he saw there "two females," who were 
 Martha, the wife of Oliver Brown, and Anne, the eldest un 
 married sister of Oliver, then a girl of not quite sixteen 
 years. " Twice I went there," says Unseld, " and found 
 none of the men, but the two ladies ; and I sat there on my 
 horse, there was a high porch on the house, and I could 
 sit there and chat with them ; and then I rode off and left 
 them. They told me there were none of the men at home, 
 but did not tell me where they were. One time I went 
 there and inquired for them, and one of the females an 
 swered me, ' They are across there at the cabin ; you had 
 better ride over and see them.' I replied it did not make 
 
 1 It was at this cabin (since torn down) that Brown kept his boxes of 
 rifles and pistols, after they reached him from Ohio. The pikes from 
 Connecticut, a thousand in number, were stored in the loft or attic of the 
 farm-house, where Brown and his family lived. 
 
 34 
 
530 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 any difference ; I would not bother them ; and I rode back 
 home." 1 
 
 John Brown to his Family. 
 
 CHAMBERSBURG, PENN., July 22, 1859. 
 
 DEAR FRIENDS, ALL, Oliver, Martha, and Anne all got on safe 
 on Saturday of the week they set out. If W. and D. set out in ten 
 days or a week after getting this, they will be quite in time. All 
 well. When you write, direct to I. Smith & Sons, Chambersburg, 
 Penn. Your friend, 
 
 ISAAC SMITH. 
 
 CHAMBERSBURG, PENN., July 27, 1859. 
 
 DEAR WIFE AND CHILDREN, ALL, I write to say that we are 
 all well^arid that I think Watson and D. had not best set out until 
 we write again, and not until sufficient hay has been secured to win 
 ter all the stock well. To be buying hay in the spring or last of the 
 winter is ruinous, and there is no prospect of our getting our freight 
 on so as to be ready to go to work under some time yet. We will give 
 you timely notice. When you write, enclose first in a small enve 
 lope, put a stamp on it, seal it, and direct it to I. Smith & Sons, 
 Harpers Ferry, Va. ; then enclose it under a stamped envelope, 
 which direct to John Henrie, Chambersburg, Penn. I need not say, 
 do all your directing and sealing at home, and not at the post-office. 
 Your affectionate husband and father, 
 
 I. SMITH. 
 
 ClIAMBRRSBURG, PENN., Atlg. 2, 1859. 
 
 DEAR WIFE AND CHILDREN, ALL, If Watson and D. should 
 set out soon after getting this, it may be well. They will avoid say 
 ing anything on the road about North Elba. It will be quite as well 
 to say they are from Essex County ; and need not say anything about 
 it unless they are questioned, when they had better say as above. 
 Persons who do not talk much are seldom questioned much. They 
 should buy through tickets at Troy or at New York for Baltimore, 
 
 1 This gossip pictures, as no description could, the quiet and drowsiness 
 of this woodland, primitive, easy-going, hard-living population, amid the 
 hills and mountains of Maryland, where John Brown spent the last three 
 months of his free life, and gathered his forces for the battle in which he 
 fell. It is a region of home-keeping, honest, dull country people ; and so 
 completely did Brown make himself one of its denizens, that he was accepted, 
 as part and parcel of it, even when plotting his most audacious strokes. 
 
1859.] THE FORAY IN VIRGINIA. 531 
 
 where they will get tickets for Harper's Ferry ; and there, by inquir 
 ing of Mr. Michael Ault, who keeps the toll-bridge over which they 
 have to pass, they can find I. Smith on the Kennedy farm. Watson 
 will be a son and D. his brother-in-law Thompson, if any inquiry is 
 made at the bridge or elsewhere. They had better not bring trunks. 
 We are all well. May God abundantly bless and keep you all ! 
 Your affectionate husband and father. 
 
 Brown had not been living at the Kennedy farm many 
 weeks when a touching incident occurred, which is thus 
 related by his daughter Anne, who was then his housekeeper : 
 
 u One day, a short time after I went down there, father was sitting 
 at the table writing, I was near by sewing (he and I being alone in 
 the room), when two little wrens that had a nest under the porch 
 came flying in at the door, fluttering and twittering ; then flew back 
 to their nest and again to us several times, seemingly trying to attract 
 our attention. They appeared to be in great distress. I asked 
 father what he thought was the matter with the little birds. He 
 asked if I had ever seen them act so before ; I told him no. ' Then 
 let us go and see,' he said. We went out and found that a snake 
 had crawled up the post and was just ready to devour the little ones 
 in the nest. Father killed the snake ; and then the old birds sat on 
 the railing and sang as if they would burst. It seemed as if they 
 were trying to express their joy and gratitude to him for saving their 
 little ones. After we went back into the room, he said he thought 
 it very strange the way the birds asked him to help them, and asked 
 if I thought it an omen of his success. He seemed very much im 
 pressed with that idea. I do not think he was superstitious ; but you 
 know he always thought and felt that God called him to that work ; 
 and seemed to place himself, or rather to imagine himself, in the po 
 sition of the figure in the old seal of Virginia, with the tyrant under 
 her foot." 
 
 CHAMBERSBUUG, PENN., Aug. 16, 1859. 
 
 DEAR WIFE AND CHILDREN, ALL, I left all well at home yes 
 terday but Martha, who was complaining a little. Am in hopes 
 nothing serious is the matter. I will only now say I am getting 
 along as well, perhaps, all things considered, as I ought to expect. 
 We all want to hear from you ; but we do not want you all to write, 
 and you need only say all is well, or otherwise, as the case may be. 
 When you write, enclose in a small envelope such as I now send, 
 seal it, and write on it no other directions than I. Smith & Sons. 
 
532 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 Enclose that in a stamped envelope and direct it to John Henrie, 
 Esq., of Chambersburg, Franklin County, Penn., who will send it 
 to us. Affectionately yours, I. S. 
 
 CHAMBERSBURG, PA., Sept. 8, 1859. 
 
 DEAR WIFE AND CHILDREN, ALL, I write to say that we are 
 all well, and are getting along as well as we could reasonably expect. 
 It now appears likely that Martha and Anne will be on their way 
 home in the course of this month, but they may be detained to a little 
 later period. I do not know what 'to advise about fattening the old 
 spotted cow, as much will depend on what you have to feed her with ; 
 whether your heifers will come in or not next spring ; also upon her 
 present condition. You must exercise the best judgment you have 
 in the matter, as I know but little about your crops. I should like 
 to know more as soon as I can. I am now in hopes of being able to 
 send you something in the way of help before long. May God abun 
 dantly bless you all ! Ellen, I want you to be very good. 
 
 Your affectionate husband and father, I. S. 
 
 Sept. 9. Bell's letter of 30th August to Watson is received. 
 
 Sept. 20, 1859. All well. Girls will probably start for home soon. 
 Yours ever, T. S. 
 
 CHAMBERSBFKG, PA., Oct. 8, 1859. 
 
 DEAR WIFE AND CHILDREN, ALL, Oliver returned safe on 
 Wednesday of this week. I want Bell and Martha both to feel that 
 they may have a home with you until we return. We shall do all 
 in our power to provide for the wants of the whole as one family till 
 that time. If Martha and Anne have any money left after getting 
 home, I wish it to be used to make all as comfortable as may be for 
 the present. All are in usually good health. I expect John will 
 send you some assistance soon. Write him all you want to say to us. 
 God bless you all ! 
 
 Your affectionate husband and father. 
 
 From his rustic retreat Brown thus wrote to his comrades 
 and his son : 
 
 To Kagi, at Chamberslmrg. 
 
 (About July 12, 1859.) 
 
 u Look for letters directed to John Henrie at Chambersburg. In 
 quire for letters at Chambersburg for I. Smith & Sons, and write 
 them at Harper's Ferry as soon as any does come. 1 See Mr. Henry 
 
 1 See the Diary for July 12. 
 
1859.] THE FORAY IN VIRGINIA. 533 
 
 Watson at Chambersburg, and find out if the ' Tribune ' comes on. 
 Have Mr. Watson and his reliable friends get ready to receive com 
 pany. Get Mr. Watson to make you acquainted with his reliable 
 friends, but do not appear to be any wise thick with them, and do 
 not often be seen with any such man. Get Mr. Watson, if he can, 
 to find out a trusty man or men to stop with at Hagerstown (if any 
 such there be), as Mr. Thomas Henry has gone from there. Write 
 Tidd to come to Chambersburg, by Pittsburg and Harrisburg, at 
 once. He can stop oif the Pittsburg road at Hudson, and go to 
 Jason's for his trunk. Write Carpenter and Hazlett that we are all 
 well, right, and ready as soon as we can get our boarding-house 
 fixed, when we will write them to come on, and by what route. I 
 will pay Hazlett the money he advanced to Anderson for expenses 
 travelling. Find yourself a comfortable, cheap boarding-house at 
 once. Write I. Smith & Sons, at Harper's Ferry. Inquire after 
 your four Cleveland friends, and have them come on to Chambers- 
 burg if they are on the way ; if not on the road, have them wait till 
 we are better prepared. Be careful what you write to all persons. 
 Do not send or bring any more persons here until we advise you of 
 our readiness to board them." 
 
 At this time Kagi was stationed at Chambersburg to re 
 ceive and forward letters, arms, men, etc. He replied to 
 the above letter, and to other messages of Brown, on Mon 
 day, July 18, and again July 22, enclosing letters from 
 Charles Blair and from John Brown, Jr., who forwarded the 
 rifles, etc., from West Andover, Ohio, on the 22d, 25th, and 
 27th of July, to "Isaac Smith & Sons," at Chambersburg. 
 Kagi writes thus : 
 
 July 18. 
 
 I wrote to Tidd one week ago to-day, several days before receiving 
 your letter directing me to do so, and enclosing letter to H. Lindsley, 
 which I forwarded by first mail. None of your things have yet ar 
 rived. The railroad from Harrisburg here does no freight business 
 itself, that all being done by a number of forwarding houses, which 
 run private freight cars. I have requested each of these (there are 
 six or eight of them) to give me notice of the arrival of anything 
 for you. 
 
 CHAMBERSBURG, Friday, July 22. 
 
 I received the within, and another for Oliver, to-day. I thought 
 best not to send the other j it is from his wife. There are other 
 reasons, which I need not name now. Have here no other letters 
 from any one. J. HENRIE. 
 
534 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 " The within " was this note from John Brown, Jr., writ 
 ing under the name of "John Smith," whose father was 
 " Isaac " or " Squire " Smith : 
 
 ASHTABULA, AsHTABULA COUNTY, OHIO, Monday, July 18, 1859. 
 DEAR FATHER, Yours, dated at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, 
 July 5, and mailed at Troy, New York, July 7, and also yours of the 
 8th, with enclosed drafts tor one hundred dollars, I received in due 
 season; am here to-day to get drafts cashed. Have now got all my 
 business so arranged that I can devote my time, for the present, en 
 tirely to any business you may see fit to intrust me ; shall immedi 
 ately ship your freight, as you directed, most probably by canal, from 
 Hartstown (formerly Hart's Cross Eoads, Crawford County), to the 
 river at Rochester, Pennsylvania (formerly Beaver), thence by rail 
 road via Pittsburg, etc., as you directed. Shall hold myself in readi 
 ness to go north on any business you choose to direct or confide in 
 my hands. All well; have two or three letters from N. E., which I 
 will forward to J. H. [Kagi] . 
 
 In haste, your affectionate son, 
 
 JOHN SMITH. 
 
 "N. E.' 7 was New England, and the letters were from 
 our secret committee, or some members of it. 
 
 In a note to John Brown, written August 27. Kagi says : 
 " I to-day received the enclosed letter and check [fifty dol 
 lars]." This was the money sent on by Dr. Howe about 
 August 25, and the letter was this : 
 
 DEAR FRIEND, I begin the investment with fifty dollars, and 
 will try to do more through friends. Our friend from Concord called 
 with your note. DOCTOR. 
 
 I was the " friend from Concord," and on the 27th-30th 
 August I wrote to Brown from Springfield, thus : 
 
 DEAR FRIEND, Yours of the 18th has been received and com 
 municated. S. G. Howe has sent you fifty dollars in a draft on New 
 York, and I am expecting to get more from other sources (perhaps 
 some here), and will make up to you the three hundred dollars, if 
 I can, as soon as I can ; but I can give nothing myself just now, 
 being already in debt. I hear with great pleasure what you say of 
 the success of the business, and hope nothing will occur to thwart it.- 
 Your son John was in Boston a week or two since. I tried to find 
 
1859.] THE FORAY IN VIRGINIA. 535 
 
 him, but did not ; and being away from Concord, he did not come 
 to see me. He saw S. G. Howe, George L. Stearns, Wendell Phil 
 lips, Francis Jackson, etc. ; and everybody liked him. I am very 
 sorry I could not see him. All your Boston friends are well. The 
 odore Parker is in Switzerland, much, better, it is thought, than when 
 he left home. Henry Sterns, of Springfield, is dead. 
 
 July 28. 
 
 I reached here yesterday and have seen few people as yet. Here 
 I expect letters from those to whom I have written. I conclude that 
 your operations will not be delayed if the money reaches you in course 
 of the next fortnight, if you are sure of having it then. I cannot 
 certainly promise that you will, but I think so. Harriet Tubman 
 is probably in New Bedford, sick. She has stayed here in N. E. a 
 long time, and been a kind of missionary. Your friends in C. are 
 all well ; I go back there in a week. God prosper you in all your 
 works ! I shall write again soon. 
 
 Yours ever, F. 
 
 SPRINGFIELD, August 30, 1859. 
 
 DEAR FRIEND, I enclose you a draft for fifty dollars on New 
 York, bought with money sent by Mrs. Russell. Dr. Howe has 
 already sent you fifty dollars, and G. S., of P., 1 writes me has sent, 
 or will send, one hundred dollars. The remainder will perhaps 
 come more slowly ; but I think it will come. I have sent your letter 
 to Gerrit Smith. Please acknowledge the receipt of these sums. 
 
 Yours ever, F. 
 
 John Broivn to his son John. 
 
 CHAMBERSBURG, PA., August, 1859. 
 
 DEAR FRIEND, I forgot to say yesterday that your shipments of 
 freight are received all in apparent safety ; but the bills are very 
 high, and I begin to be apprehensive of getting into a tight spot for 
 want of a little more funds, notwithstanding my anxiety to make my 
 money hold out. As it will cost no more expense for you to solicit 
 for me a little more assistance while attending to your other business, 
 say two or three hundred dollars in New York, drafts payable to 
 the order of I. Smith & Sons, will you not sound my Eastern or 
 Western friends in regard to it, ? It was impossible for me to foresee 
 the exact amount I should be obliged to pay out for everything. Now 
 that arrangements are so nearly completed, I begin to feel almost cer 
 tain that I can squeeze through with that amount. All my accounts 
 
 1 Gerrit Smith, of Peterboro'. 
 
536 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 are squared up to the present time ; but how I can keep my little 
 wheels in motion for a few days more I am beginning to feel at a 
 loss. It is terribly humiliating to me to begin soliciting of friends 
 again; but as the harvest opens before me with increasing encourage 
 ments, I may not allow a feeling of delicacy to deter me from asking 
 the little further aid I expect to need. What I must have to carry 
 me through I shall need within a very few days, if I am obliged to 
 call direct for further help ; so you will please expect something quite 
 definite very soon. I have endeavored to economize in every possible 
 way ; and I will not ask for a dollar until I am driven to do so. I 
 have a trifle over one hundred and eighty dollars on hand, but am 
 afraid I cannot possible make it reach. I am highly gratified with 
 all our arrangements up to the present time, and feel certain that no 
 time has yet been lost. One freight is principally here, but will have 
 to go a little further. Our hands, so far, are coming forward promptly, 
 and better than I expected, as we have called on them. We have to 
 move with all caution. 
 
 As will appear by the next series of letters, John Brown, 
 Jr., undertook to organize forces in Canada after forwarding 
 to his father the arms stored in Ohio : 
 
 SYRACUSE, N. Y., Thursday, Aug. 11, 1859. 
 
 FRIEND J. HENRIE, Day before yesterday I reached Rochester. 
 Found our Rochester friend 1 absent at Niagara Falls. Yesterday 
 he returned, and I spent remainder of day and evening with him and 
 Mr. E. Morton, with whom friend Isaac [John Brown] is acquainted. 
 The friend at Rochester will set out to make you a visit in a few days. 
 He will be accompanied by that "other young man," and also, if it 
 can be brought around, by the woman l that the Syracuse friend could 
 tell me of. The son will probably remain back for awhile. I gave 
 11 Fred'k " 1 twenty-two dollars to defray expenses. If alive and well, 
 you will see him ere long. I found him in rather low spirits ; left 
 him in high. Accidentally met at Rochester Mr. E. Morton. He 
 was much pleased to hear from you ; was anxious for a copy of that 
 letter of instructions to show our friend at u Pr." 1 [Peterboro'j , who, 
 Mr. M. says, has his whole soul absorbed in this matter. I have 
 just made him a copy and mailed him at R., where he expects to be 
 for two or three weeks. He wished me to say to you that he had 
 
 1 F. Douglass. The " woman " spoken of was Harriet Tubman, a Mary 
 land Deborah. "Fred'k" is also Douglass. "Our friend at Pr." was 
 Gen-it Smith, in whose family, it will be remembered, Edwin Morton was 
 living ; but he happened then to be visiting in Eochester. 
 
1859.] THE FORAY IN VIRGINIA. 537 
 
 reliable information that a certain noted colonel, whose name you 
 are all acquainted with, is now in Italy. By the way, the impression 
 prevails generally that a certain acquaintance of ours headed the 
 party that visited St. J. in Missouri lately. Of course I don't try to 
 deny that which bears such earmarks. Came on here this morning. 
 Found Loguen gone to Boston, Mass., and also .said woman. As 
 T. does not know personally those persons in Canada to whom it is 
 necessary to have letters of introduction, he thinks I had better get 
 him to go with me there. I have made up my mind, notwithstand 
 ing the extra expense, to go on to Boston. Loguen is expecting to 
 visit Canada soon, anyway, and his wife thinks would contrive to go 
 immediately. I think for other reasons, also, I had better go on to 
 Boston. Morton says our particular friend Mr. Sanborn, in that 
 city, is especially anxious to hear from you ; has his heart and hand 
 both engaged in the cause. Shall try and find him. Our Eochester 
 friend thinks the woman whom I shall see in Boston, " whose ser 
 vices might prove invaluable," had better be helped on. I leave 
 this evening on the 11.35 train from here; shall return as soon as 
 possible to make my visit at Chatham. Will write you often. So 
 far, all is well. Keep me advised as far as consistent. 
 
 Fraternally yours, 
 
 JOHN SMITH. 
 
 SYRACUSE, N. Y., Thursday, Aug. 18, 1859. 
 
 FRIEND HENRIE, I am here to-day, so far on my way back 
 from Boston, whither I went on Friday last. Found our Syracuse 
 friend there, but his engagements were such that he could not pos 
 sibly leave until yesterday morning. We reached here about twelve 
 o'clock last night. While in Boston I improved the time in making 
 the acquaintance of those stanch friends of our friend Isaac. First 
 called on Dr. Howe, who, though I had no letter of introduction, 
 received me most cordially. He gave me a letter to the friend who 
 does business on Milk Street [Mr. Stearns] . Went with him to his 
 home in Medford, and took dinner. The last word he said to me 
 was, " Tell friend Isaac that we have the fullest confidence in his 
 endeavor, whatever may be the result." I have met no man on 
 whom I think more implicit reliance may be placed. He views mat 
 ters from the standpoints of reason and principle, and I think his 
 firmness is unshakable. The friend at Concord [F. B. Sanborn] I 
 did not see ; he was absent from home. The others here will, how 
 ever, communicate with him. They were all, in short, very much 
 gratified, and have had their faith and hopes much strengthened. 
 Found a number of earnest and warm friends, whose sympathies and 
 theories do not exactly harmonize; but in spite of themselves their 
 
538 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 hearts will lead their heads. Our Boston friends thought it better 
 that our old friend from Syracuse [J. W. Loguen] should accompany 
 me in my journey northward. I shall leave in an hour or two for 
 Rochester, where I will finish this letter. I am very glad I went to 
 Boston, as all the friends were of the opinion that our friend Isaac 
 was in another part of the world, if not in another sphere. Our 
 cause is their cause, in the fullest sense of the word. 
 
 Going on to Rochester, the home of Douglass, John 
 Brown, Jr., writes from there, Aug. 17, 1859, to Kagi, 
 saying : 
 
 " On rny way up to our friend's [F. Douglass's] house, I met his 
 son Lewis, who informs me that his father left here on Tuesday, 
 August 16, via New York and Philadelphia, to make you a visit." 
 
 The exact date of Douglass's visit to Brown at Chambers- 
 burg seems to have been Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, 
 August 19-21. He was at Mrs. Gloucester's in Brooklyn 
 August 18, and carried to Brown from her the following 
 letter : 
 
 BROOKLYN, Aug. 18, 1859. 
 
 ESTEEMED FRIEND, I gladly avail myself of the opportunity 
 afforded by our friend Mr. F. Douglass, who has just called upon us 
 previous to his visit to you, to enclose to you for the cause in which 
 you are such a zealous laborer a small amount, which please accept 
 with my most ardent wishes for its and your benefit. The visit of our 
 mutual friend Douglass has somewhat revived my rather drooping 
 spirits in the cause ; but seeing such ambition and enterprise in him, 
 I am again encouraged. With best wishes for your welfare and 
 prosperity, and the good of your cause, I subscribe myself 
 Your sincere friend, 
 
 MRS. E. A. GLOUCESTER. 
 
 What took place during the stay of Douglass and Brown 
 in Chambersburg has thus been narrated by Douglass, 
 omitting some particulars not essential to the story : 
 
 JOHN BROWN IN CONFERENCE WITH DOUGLASS. 
 
 u At my house John Brown had made the acquaintance of a col 
 ored man, who called himself by different names, sometimes 
 1 Emperor/ at other times ' Shields Green/ a fugitive slave 
 
1859.] THE FORAY IN VIRGINIA. 539 
 
 who had made his escape from Charleston, S. C. He was a man 
 of few words (and his language was singularly broken), but of 
 courage and self-respect. Brown saw at once what stuff Green was 
 made of, and confided to him his plans and purposes. Green easily 
 believed in Brown, and promised to go with him whenever he should 
 be ready to move. About nine weeks before the raid on Harper's 
 Ferry, Brown wrote to me that a beginning would soon be made, 
 and that before going forward he wanted to see me ; he appointed an 
 old stone-quarry near Chambersburg as our place of meeting. Mr. 
 Kagi, his secretary, would be there, and they wished me to bring 
 any money I could command and Shields Green along with me. He 
 said that his ' mining-tools ' and .stores were then at Chambersburg, 
 and that he would be there to remove them. I obeyed the summons, 
 taking Shields ; we passed through New York, where we called upon 
 the Rev. James Gloucester and his wife, and told them where we were 
 going, and that our old friend needed money. Mrs. Gloucester gave 
 me ten dollars for John Brown, with her best wishes. When I 
 reached Chambersburg surprise was expressed that I should come 
 there unannounced ; and I was pressed to make a speech, which I 
 readily did. Meanwhile I called upon Mr. Henry Watson, a simple- 
 minded and warm-hearted man, to whom Brown had imparted the 
 secret of my visit, to show me the appointed rendezvous. Watson 
 was busy in his barber's-shop, but he dropped all and put me on 
 the right track. I approached the old quarry cautiously, for Brown 
 was generally well armed and regarded strangers with suspicion. 
 He was under the ban of the Government, and heavy rewards were 
 offered for his arrest. He was passing under the name of Isaac 
 Smith. As I came near, he regarded me suspiciously ; but he soon 
 recognized me, and received me cordially. He had in his hand a 
 fishing-tackle, with which he had apparently been fishing in a 
 stream hard by j but I saw no fish . fishing was simply a disguise, 
 and certainly a good one. He looked every way like a man of the 
 neighborhood, and as much at home as any of the farmers around 
 there. His hat was old and storm-beaten, and his clothing about 
 the color of the stone-quarry itself. His face wore an anxious ex 
 pression, and he was much worn by thought and exposure. I felt 
 that I was on a dangerous mission, and was as little desirous of dis 
 covery as himself. 
 
 " Captain Brown, Kagi, Shields Green, and myself sat down 
 among the rocks, and talked over the enterprise about to be under 
 taken. The taking of Harper's Ferry, of which Brown had merely 
 hinted before, was now declared his settled purpose, and he wanted 
 to know what I thought of it. I at once opposed it with all the 
 arguments at my command. To me ; such a measure would be fatal 
 
540 LIFE AM) LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 to running off slaves (the original plan), and fatal to all engaged. It 
 would be an attack on the Federal Government, and would array the 
 whole country against us. Captain Brown did most of the talking 
 on the other side. He did not at all object to rousing the nation j it 
 seemed to him that something startling was needed. He had com 
 pletely renounced his old plan, and thought that the capture of Har 
 per's Ferry would serve as notice to the slaves that their friends had 
 come, and as a trumpet to rally them to his standard. I was no match 
 for him in such matters, but I told him that all his arguments, and all 
 his descriptions of the place convinced me that he was going into a 
 perfect steel-trap, and that once in, he would never get out alive j he 
 would be surrounded at once, and escape would be impossible. He 
 was not to be shaken, but treated my views respectfully, replying 
 that even if surrounded, he would find means to cut his way out. 
 But that would not be forced upon him ; he should have the best 
 citizens of the neighborhood as prisoners at the start, and holding 
 them as hostages should be able to dictate terms of egress from 
 the town. I told him that Virginia would blow him and his host 
 ages sky-high rather than that he should hold Harper's Ferry an 
 hour. Our talk was long and earnest ; we spent the most of Satur 
 day and a part of Sunday in this debate, Brown for Harper's Ferry, 
 and I against it ; he for striking a blow which should instantly rouse 
 the country, and I for the policy of gradually and unaccountably 
 drawing off the slaves to the mountains, as at first suggested and 
 proposed by him. When I found that he had fully made up his 
 mind and could not be dissuaded, I turned to Green and told him he 
 heard what Captain Brown had said ; his old plan was changed, and 
 I should return home, if he wished to go with me he could do so. 
 Captain Brown urged us both to go with him. In parting, he put 
 his arms around me in a manner more than friendly, and said, ' Come 
 with me, Douglass ; I will defend you with my life. I want you for 
 a special purpose. When I strike, the bees will begin to swarm, and 
 I shall want you to help hive them.' When about to leave, I asked 
 Green what he had decided to do, and was surprised by his saying, 
 in his broken way, ' I b'lieve I '11 go wid de ole man.' " l 
 
 1 Among the papers captured at the Kennedy farm was this copy of a 
 letter to Douglass which was signed by colored citizens of Philadelphia, and 
 received at Rochester in September : 
 
 F. D., ESQ. 
 
 DEAR SIR, The undersigned feel it to be of the utmost importance that our class 
 be properly represented in a convention to come o'ff right away (near) Chambersburg, in 
 this State. We think you are the man of all others to represent us ; and we severally 
 pledge ourselves that in case you will come right on we will see your family well pro 
 vided for during your absence, or until your safe return to them. Answer to us and to 
 
[1882.] 
 
1859.] THE FORAY IN VIRGINIA. 541 
 
 In regard to the opposition of his followers to Brown's 
 plan of beginning the campaign at Harper's Ferry, Owen 
 Brown makes this statement (May 5, 1885) : 
 
 " In the early part of September, 1859, father and I went with the 
 horse and covered wagon from the Kennedy farm to Chambershurg, 
 and at different times after in September and October, to see if any 
 express packages (colored volunteers) had arrived. We had many 
 earnest discussions as to the feasibility of making the attack at Har 
 per's Ferry, which plan was not known to any of us until after our 
 arrival at the Kennedy farm. All of our men, excepting Merriam, 
 Kagi, Shields Green, and the colored men (the latter knowing nothing 
 of Harper's Ferry), were opposed to striking the first blow there. 
 During our talk on the road, I said to father : ( You know how it 
 resulted with Napoleon when he rejected advice in regard to march 
 ing with his army to Moscow. I believe that in your anxiety to see 
 that all is going on well at the three different points proposed to be 
 taken (the Arsenal, the Rifle- works, and the Magazine), you will so 
 expose yourself as to lose your life.' He said, finally, ' I feel so de 
 pressed on account of the opposition of the men, that at times I am 
 
 John Henrie, Esq., Chambersburg, Penn., at once. We are ready to make you a re 
 mittance, if you go. We have now quite a number of good but not very intelligent 
 representatives collected. Some of our members are ready to go on with you. 
 
 Mr. Douglass writes me (April 15, 1885) : " You must be right about the 
 time of my going to Chambersburg (Aug. 19, 1859). I took no note as to 
 the exact time ; it was a night or two before Brown proposed to remove 
 his arms to Harper's Ferry. This letter was sent to me from Philadelphia 
 soon after I returned from meeting Captain Brown. It was signed by a 
 number of colored men ; I never knew how they came to send it, but it 
 now seems to have been prompted by Kagi, who was with Brown when 
 I told him I would not go to Harper's Ferry. He probably thought I 
 would reconsider my determination, if urged to do so by the parties 
 who signed the letter." One of Brown's agents wrote thus to Kagi at the 
 
 time of Douglass's visit : 
 
 CLEVELAND, Aug. 22, 1859. 
 
 I wrote you immediately on- receipt of your last letter then went up to Oberlin to 
 see Leary. I saw Smith, Davis, and Mitchell ; they all promised, and that was all. 
 Leary wants to provide for his family ; Mitchell to lay his crops by ; and all make such 
 excuses, until I am disgusted with myself and the whole negro set. If you were here 
 your influence would do something ; but the moment you are gone all my speaking 
 don't amount to anything. I will speak to Smith to-day. I knew that Mitchell had n't 
 got the money, and I tried to sell my farm and everything else to raise money, but have 
 not raised a cent yet. Charlie Langston says " it is too bad," but what he will do, if any 
 thing, I don't know. I wish you would write to him, for I believe he can do more good 
 than T. Please write to him immediately, and I will give up this thing to him. I 
 think, however, nothing will inspire their confidence unless you come. I will do all 
 I can. 
 
542 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 almost willing to temporarily abandon the undertaking.' I replied, 
 ' We have gone too far for that, we must go ahead.' In the course 
 of our talk he said to me, as he had many times to his men before, 
 'We have here only one life to live, and once to die; and if we 
 lose our lives it will perhaps do more for the cause than our lives 
 could be worth in any other way.' I agreed with him in this. As 
 we found no express packages at Chambersburg, he remained there 
 with Kagi, and I went back alone. In a day or two both returned 
 to the Kennedy farm, and the next morning he called all his men 
 together in the chamber of the Kennedy house, and said to them, ' I 
 am not so strenuous about carrying out any of my particular plans as 
 to do knowingly that which might probably result in an injury to the 
 cause for which we are struggling; ' and in the course of his remarks 
 he repeated what he had said to me about our losing our lives. He 
 then added, l As you are all opposed to the plan of attacking here, I 
 will resign ; we will choose another leader, and I will faithfully obey, 
 reserving to myself the privilege of giving counsel and advice where 
 I think a better course could be adopted.' He did then resign. I 
 first replied that I did not know of any one to choose as a leader in 
 preference to him. In a short time, probably within five minutes, he 
 was again chosen as the leader, and though we were not satisfied with 
 the reasons he gave for making our first attack there, all controversy 
 and opposition to the plan from that time was ended." 
 
 It must have been about the time of this journey of 
 the father and son that Watson Brown wrote thus to his 
 wife : 
 
 Sept. 8, 1859. 
 
 DEAR BELLE, You can guess how I long to see you only by 
 knowing how you wish to see me. I think of you all day, and dream 
 of you at night. I would gladly come home and stay with you 
 always but for the cause which brought me here, a desire to do 
 something for others, and not live wholly for my own happiness. I 
 am at home, five miles north of H. F., in an old house on the Ken 
 nedy farm, where we keep some things, and four of us sleep here. 
 I came here to be alone ; Oliver has just come in and disturbed me. 
 I was at Chambersburg a few days ago, and wrote you a line from 
 there. The reason I did not write sooner was that there are ten of 
 us here, and all who know them think they are with father, and have 
 an idea what he is at ; so you see if each and every one writes, all 
 his friends will know where we all are ; if one writes (except on 
 business) then all will have a right to. It is now dark, and I am in 
 this old house all alone; but I have some good company, for I have 
 
1859.] THE FORAY IN VIRGINIA. 543 
 
 just received your letter of August 30, arid you may as well think I 
 am glad to hear from you. You may kiss the baby a great many 
 times a day for me ; I am thinking of you and him all the time. 
 
 Two events in no way connected with this visit of Doug 
 lass, but happening about that time, may be mentioned. 
 The anonymous warning to the Government, from Cincin 
 nati, that Brown was to strike at Harper's Ferry, was dated 
 the Saturday that Douglass met Brown in Chambersburg, 
 arid mailed three days later. This was followed within a 
 week by Gen-it Smith's letter to the colored men of Syra 
 cuse, in which he predicted almost exactly what happened 
 at Harper's Ferry. The Cincinnati letter was as follows : 
 
 CINCINNATI, August 20. 
 
 SIR, I have lately received information of a movement of so 
 great importance, that I feel it my duty to impart it to you without 
 delay. I have discovered the existence of a secret association, having 
 for its object the liberation of the slaves at the South by a general 
 insurrection. The leader of the movement is " old John Brown," 
 late of Kansas. He has been in Canada during the winter, drilling 
 the negroes there, and they are only waiting his word to start for the 
 South to assist the slaves. They have one of their leading men (a 
 white man) in an armory in Maryland, where it is situated I have 
 not been able to learn. As soon as everything is ready, those of 
 their number who are in the Northern States and Canada are to come 
 in small companies to their rendezvous, which is in the mountains in 
 Virginia. They will pass down through Pennsylvania and Mary 
 land, and enter Virginia at Harper's Ferry. Brown left the North 
 about three or four weeks ago, and will arm the negroes and strike 
 the blow in a few weeks; so that whatever is done must be done at 
 once. They have a large quantity of arms at their rendezvous, and 
 are probably distributing them already. As I am not fully in their 
 confidence, this is all the information I can give you. I dare not 
 sign rny name to this, but trust that you will not disregard the warn 
 ing on that account. 1 
 
 1 The envelope is directed, "Hon. Mr. Floyd, Secretary of "War, Wash 
 ington," marked " private," and postmarked Cincinnati, August 23, 1859. 
 Although the information sent to Floyd was very exact, and one would 
 have supposed a Virginian specially sensitive to such intelligence, it does 
 not appear that he gave the matter more than a passing thought. He 
 received the letter at a Virginian watering-place, but did not read it twice, 
 
544 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 This letter was not heeded; nor was the more public 
 warning given by Gerrit Smith, who, writing August 27, 
 said, among other things : 
 
 " It is, perhaps, too late to bring slavery to an end by peaceable 
 means, too late to vote it down. For many years I have feared, 
 and published my fears, that it must go out in blood. These fears 
 have grown into belief. So debauched are the white people by slav 
 ery that there is not virtue enough left in them to put it down. If 
 I do not misinterpret the words and looks of the most intelligent and 
 noble of the black men who fall in my way, they have come to 
 despair of the accomplishment of this work by the white people. 
 The feeling among the blacks that they must deliver themselves 
 gains strength with fearful rapidity. No wonder, then, is it that 
 intelligent black men in the States and in Canada should see no 
 hope for their race in the practice and policy of white men. . . . 
 Whoever he may be that foretells the horrible end of American slav 
 ery is held both at the North and the South to be a lying prophet, 
 another Cassandra. The South would not respect her own Jeffer 
 son's prediction of servile insurrection ; how then can it be hoped that 
 she will respect another's ? . . . And is it entirely certain that these 
 insurrections will be put down promptly, and before they can have 
 spread far ? Will telegraphs and railroads be too swift for even the 
 swiftest insurrections ? Remember that telegraphs and railroads can 
 be rendered useless in an hour. Remember too that many who 
 would be glad to face the insurgents would be busy in transporting 
 their wives and daughters to places where they would be safe from 
 that worst fate which husbands and fathers can imagine for their 
 wives and daughters. I admit that but for this embarrassment 
 Southern men would laugh at the idea of an insurrection, and would 
 quickly dispose of one. But trembling as they would for beloved 
 ones, I know of no part of the world where, so much as in the South, 
 men would be like, in a formidable insurrection, to lose the most 
 important time, and be distracted and panic-stricken." 
 
 although he laid it away at first as a paper of some moment. It has never 
 been ascertained who wrote it, but perhaps a young man then connected 
 with a Cincinnati newspaper. This person had become acquainted with a 
 Hungarian refugee, formerly in the suite of Kossuth, then living in Kan 
 sas, and who had fought on the side of the North, possibly under Brown, 
 and had learned in some detail the plan of the Virginia campaign. This 
 it is believed he communicated in an unguarded moment to the Cincinnati 
 reporter, who could not contain the secret, but sat down at once and wrote 
 to the Secretary of War. It is possible that the information came indi 
 rectly from Cook, who talked too freely. See p. 471. 
 
1859.] THE FORAY IN VIRGINIA. 545 
 
 Gerrit Smith's prediction passed unnoticed, although, as 
 his biographer says, "this Cassandra spoke from certainty." 
 He knew what Brown's purpose was j 1 and his last contribu 
 tion of money to Brown's camp-chest was sent about the 
 time this Syracuse letter was written. Whether he also 
 knew that Harper's Ferry was to be attacked is uncertain ; 
 for this was communicated only to a few persons except 
 those actually under arms. Yet it was known by the Cin 
 cinnati correspondent of Secretary Floyd. Late in Septem 
 ber Jeremiah Anderson, one of Brown's men who was 
 killed at the side of his captain in the engine-house at 
 Harper's Ferry, wrote to his brother in Iowa, 
 
 " Our mining company will consist of between twenty-five and thirty 
 well equipped with tools. You can tell Uncle Dan it will be impos 
 sible for me to visit him before next spring. If my life is spared, I 
 will be tired of work by that time, and I shall visit my relatives and 
 friends in Iowa, if I can get leave of absence. At present, I am 
 bound by all that is honorable to continue in the course. We go in 
 to win, at all hazards. So if you should hear of a failure, it will be 
 after a desperate struggle, and loss of capital on both sides. But 
 that is the last of our thoughts. Everything seems to work to our 
 hands, and victory will surely perch upon our banner. The old man 
 has had this operation in view for twenty years, and last winter was 
 just a hint and trial of what could be done. This is not a large 
 place, 2 but a precious one to Uncle Sam, as he has a great many 
 tools here. I expect (when I start again travelling) to start at this 
 place and go through the State of Virginia and on south, just as 
 circumstances require ; mining and prospecting, and carrying the ore 
 with us. I suppose this is the last letter I shall write before there is 
 something in the wind. Whether I shall have a chance of sending 
 letters then I do not know, but when I have an opportunity, I shall 
 improve it. But if you don't get any from me, don't take it for 
 granted that I am gone up till you know it to be so. I consider my 
 life about as safe in one place as another." 
 
 1 This must also have been known to a writer in the "Anglo-African," 
 a magazine for colored men, who said, in August, 1859 : 
 
 " So profoundly are we opposed to the favorite doctrine of the Puritans and their 
 co-workers the colonizationists, Ubi Libertas, ibi Patria, that we could almost 
 beseech Divine Providence to reverse some past events, and to fling back into the heart 
 of Virginia and Maryland their Sam Wards, Highland Garnets, J. W. Penningtons, 
 Frederick Douglasses, and the twenty thousand who now shout hosannas in Canada, - 
 and we would soon see some stirring in the direction of Ubi Patria, ibi Libertas." 
 
 2 Harper's Ferry. 
 
 35 
 
546 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 This letter shows the smallness of the force with which 
 Brown undertook his campaign. A few of those who were 
 expected to join him did not arrive, and his actual force 
 when he began was but twenty-two besides himself, per 
 haps only twenty-one, for there is some doubt concerning 
 the presence of John Anderson, the person last-numbered 
 in this list of Brown's band : 
 
 1. John Brown, conunander-in-chief ; 2. John Henry Kagi, adju 
 tant ; 3. Aaron C. Stephens, captain ; 4. Watson Brown, captain ; 
 5. Oliver Brown, captain ; 6. John E. Cook, captain ; 7. Charles 
 Plummer Tidd,* captain; 8. William H. Leeman, lieutenant; 9. 
 Albert Hazlett, lieutenant; 10. Owen Brown,* captain; 11. Jere 
 miah G.Anderson, lieutenant; 12. Edwin Coppoc, lieutenant: 13. 
 William Thompson, lieutenant ; 14. Dauphin Thompson, lieuten 
 ant; 15. Shields Green; 1 16. Danger jidd Newby ; 17. John A. 
 Copeland ; 18. Osborn P. Anderson ; * 19. Lewis Leary ; 20. Stew 
 art Taylor ; 21. Barclay Coppoc ;* 22. Francis Jackson Merriam ; * 
 23. John Anderson.* 
 
 It will be seen that this company was but the skeleton 
 of an organization which it was intended to fill up with 
 recruits gathered from among the slaves and at the North ; 
 hence the great disproportion of officers to privates. Accord 
 ing to the general orders by Brown, dated at Harper's Ferry, 
 Oct. 10, 1859, his forces were to be divided into battalions 
 of four companies, which would contain, when full, seventy- 
 two officers and men in each company, or two hundred and 
 eighty-eight in the battalion. Provision was made for offi 
 cering and arming the four companies of the first battalion, 
 which in the event of Brown's success would have been 
 filled up as quickly as possible. Each company was to be 
 divided into bands of seven men under a corporal, and every 
 two bands made a section of sixteen men, under a sergeant. 
 Until the companies were filled up, the commissioned offi 
 cers were intended to act as corporals and sergeants in these 
 bands and sections, and they did so during the operations in 
 Maryland and Virginia. 
 
 Brown's youngest son wrote thus : 
 
 1 Those in italics were colored men ; those marked (*) escaped, but all 
 save Owen Brown are now dead. He was treasurer as well as captain. 
 
1859.] THE FORAY IN VIRGINIA. 547 
 
 Oliver Brown to his Family. 
 
 PARTS UNKNOWN, Sept. 9, 1859. 
 
 DEAR MOTHER, BROTHER, AND SISTERS, Knowing that you all 
 feel deeply interested in persons and matters here, I feel a wish to write 
 all I can that is encouraging, feeling that we all need all the encour 
 agement we can get while we are travelling on through eternity, of 
 which every day is a part. I can only say that we are all well, and 
 that our work is going on very slowly, but we think satisfactorily. I 
 would here say that I think there is no good reason why any of us 
 should he discouraged ; for if we have done hut one good act, life is 
 not a failure. I shall probably start home with Martha and Anna 
 about the last of this month. Salmon, you may make any use of 
 the sugar things you can next year. I hope you will all keep a stiff 
 lip, a sound pluck, and believe that all will come out right in the 
 end. Nell, I have not forgotten you, and I want you should remem 
 ber me. Please, all write. Direct to John Henrie, Chambersburg, 
 Pennsylvania. 
 
 Believe me your affectionate son and brother, 
 
 OLIVER SMITH. 
 
 How fully the Brown family were apprised of the details 
 of the Virginia campaign it is hardly possible to infer from 
 the letters extant; but so cautious was John Brown, and 
 so irregular in his correspondence, that many points came 
 late or not at all to the knowledge of individual members 
 of the family. Thus John Brown, Jr., wrote to Kagi five 
 weeks before the attack : 
 
 WEST ANDOVER, Sept. 8, 1859. 
 
 FRIEND HENRIE, I yesterday evening received yours of Sep 
 tember 2, and I not. only hasten to reply, but to lay its contents 
 before those who are interested. . . . Through those associations 
 which I formed in Canada, I am able to reach each individual mem 
 ber at the shortest notice by letter. I am devoting my whole time to 
 our company business. Shall immediately go out organizing and 
 raising funds. From what I even had understood, I had supposed 
 you would no f think it best to commence opening the coal banks before 
 spring, unless circumstances should make it imperative. However, 
 I suppose the reasons are satisfactory to you, and if so, those who 
 own smaller shares ought not to object. I hope we shall be able to 
 get on in season some of those old miners of whom T wrote you. 
 Shall strain every nerve to accomplish this. You may be assured 
 
548 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 that what you say to me will reach those who may be benefited 
 thereby, and those who would take stock, in the shortest possible 
 time ; so don't fail to keep me posted. 
 
 There is a general dearth of news in this region. By the way, I 
 notice, through the "Cleveland Leader," that "Old Brown" is 
 again figuring in Kansas. Well, every dog must have his day, and 
 he will no doubt find the end of his tether. Did you ever know of 
 such a high-handed piece of business ? However, it is just like him. 
 The Black Republicans, some of them, may wink at such things ; 
 but I tell you, friend Henrie, he is too salt a dose for many of them 
 to swallow, and I can already see symptoms of division in their 
 ranks. We are bound to roll up a good stiff majority for our side 
 this fall. I will send you herewith the item referred to, which I 
 clipped from the " Leader." Give regards to all, and believe me 
 faithfully yours, JOHN. 
 
 Other correspondence followed this, but little that need 
 be cited. The five weeks intervening between this letter 
 and the attack were busy ones ; and, as usual, Brown was 
 embarrassed for lack of money. I sent him through Kagi a 
 draft for fifty dollars, August 30, and made a further remit 
 tance in September, amounting to one hundred and five 
 dollars ; this completed the sum I had agreed to raise, 
 nearly one third of which was given by Gerrit Smith. The 
 last contribution which Brown received was about six hun 
 dred dollars in gold, carried to him by Francis Merriam l 
 
 1 Young Merriam was a grandson and namesake of Francis Jackson, the 
 Boston Abolitionist (well known as the friend of Garrison, Phillips, Parker, 
 Quincy, and the other extreme Antislavery men), who had heard from Red- 
 path and Hinton of Brown's general purpose, and in December, 1858, wrote 
 to Brown, offering to join him "in any capacity you wish to place me, as 
 far as my small capacities go." He had been in Kansas in 1857-58, with 
 a letter from Wendell Phillips, but did not find Brown. In the spring of 
 1859, while Redpath and Merriam were in Hayti, Kagi had written to Hin 
 ton, asking the three to meet him in Boston ; but this meeting never took 
 place. In September, 1859, Merriam learned the details of the Virginia 
 plan from Lewis Hayden, a Kentucky freedman, long resident in Boston, 
 and came to me to renew the offer of his services. His father was dead, 
 and he had inherited a small property which he was eager to devote to 
 some practical enterprise for freeing the slaves. He was at this time 
 twenty-two years old, enthusiastic and resolute, but with little judgment, 
 and in feeble health. 
 
1859.] THE FORAY IN VIRGINIA. 549 
 
 from Boston the. week before the attack was made at Har 
 per's Ferry. Kagi's diary (October 10-15) records Merriam's 
 arrival and movements : 
 
 " Monday, October 10. Mr. Merriam came ; went down with 
 me to M , 
 
 " Tuesday. Dimas returned to Mrs. Ritner's. Wrote J. B., Jr. 
 Saw Watson, and appointed meeting for Thursday eve. Saw Car 
 lisle about purchases. 
 
 " Wednesday. Wrote William Still. Wrote to S. Jones, send 
 ing men off. Leary and Copeland arrived. 
 
 " Thursday. Received letter from Merriam, dated Baltimore. 
 
 "Friday, October 15. Sent telegram to Merriam at Baltimore." 
 
 " Watson " was one of Brown's sons, from whose letters 
 to his young wife during September and -October a few sen 
 tences may be quoted : 
 
 We have only two black men with us now } one of these has a 
 wife and seven children in slavery. I sometimes feel as though I 
 could not make the sacrifice j but what would I want others to do, 
 were I in their place? . . . Oh, Bell, I do want to see you and the 
 little fellow [the young babe born in the father's absence] very much, 
 but I must wait. There was a slave near here whose wife was sold 
 off South the other day, and he was found in Thomas Kennedy's or 
 chard, dead, the next morning. Cannot corne home so long as such 
 things are done here. ... I sometimes think perhaps we shall not 
 meet again. If we should not, you have an object to live for, to 
 be a mother to our little Fred. He is not quite a reality to me yet. 
 We leave here this afternoon or to-morrow for the last time. You 
 will probably hear from us very soon after getting this, if not before. 
 We are all eager for the work, and confident of success. There was 
 another murder committed near our place the other day, making in 
 all five murders and one suicide within five miles of our place since 
 we have lived there ; they were all slaves, too. . . . Give my re 
 gards to all the friends, and keep up good courage : there is a better 
 day a-coining. I can but commend you to yourself and your friends 
 if I should never see you again. Believe me yours wholly and forever 
 in love. Your husband, 
 
 WATSON BROWN. l 
 
 1 Watson was just twenty-four, and had been married for three years 
 to Isabel Thompson, whose brothers William and Dauphin Thompson, like ' 
 her husband and brother-in-law, were killed at Harper's Ferry. 
 
550 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 Brown himself wrote thus to his family : 
 
 CHAMBEUSBURG, PENN., Oct. 1, 1859. 
 
 DEAR WIFE AND CHILDREN, ALL, I parted with Martha and 
 Anne at Harrisburg, yesterday, in company with Oliver, on their 
 way home. I trust before this reaches you the women will have ar 
 rived safe. I have encouragement of having fifty dollars or more 
 sent you soon, to help you to get through the winter; and I shall cer 
 tainly do all in my power for you, and try to commend you always 
 to the God of my fathers. 
 
 Perhaps you can keep your animals in good condition through the 
 winter on potatoes mostly, much cheaper than on any other feed. I 
 think that would certainly be the case if the crop is good, and is 
 secured well and in time. 
 
 I sent along four pairs blankets, with directions for Martha to 
 have the first choice, and for Bell, Abbie, and Anne to cast lots for a 
 choice in the three other pairs. My reason is that I think Martha 
 fairly entitled to particular notice. 1 
 
 To my other daughters I can only send my blessing just now. 
 Anne, I want you, first of all, to become a sincere, humble, earnest, 
 and consistent Christian ; and then acquire good and efficient business 
 habits. Save this letter to remember your father by, Anne. 
 
 You must all send to John hereafter anything you want should get 
 to us ; and you may be sure we shall all be very anxious to learn 
 everything about your welfare. Read the "Tribune" carefully. It 
 may not always be certainly true, however. Begin early to take 
 good care of all your animals, and pinch them at the close of the 
 winter, if you must at all. 
 
 God Almighty bless and save you all ! 
 
 Your affectionate husband and father. 
 
 Harper's Ferry was named for Robert Harper, an English 
 millwright, who obtained a grant of it in 1748 from Lord 
 Fairfax, the friend of Washington. The first survey of this 
 tract was made by Washington, who is said to have selected 
 the Ferry, in 1794, as the site of a national armory. The 
 scenery has been described by Jefferson in his " Notes on 
 Virginia," written shortly before the death of Kobert Har 
 per in 1782, and presenting the view from Jefferson's rock, 
 
 1 Martha was the wife of Oliver, and was to be confined in March. 
 Bell was the wife of Watson, and the sister of William and Dauphin 
 Thompson ; Abbie was the wife of Salmon Brown, who stayed at home 
 with his mother. 
 
1859.] THE FORAY IN VIRGINIA. 551 
 
 above the village. " You stand on a very high point of 
 land ; on your right comes up the Shenandoah, having 
 ranged along the foot of the mountain a hundred miles to 
 find a vent ; on your left approaches the Potomac, in quest 
 of a passage also. In the moment of their junction they 
 rush together against the mountain, rend it asunder, and 
 pass off to the sea. The scene is worth a voyage across the 
 Atlantic ; . . . these monuments of a war between rivers 
 and mountains which must have shaken the earth itself to 
 its centre." Around this junction of the two rivers had 
 grown up a village of three or four thousand inhabitants. 
 North of the Potomac rise the Maryland Heights almost 
 perpendicular to the river's bank, thirteen hundred feet 
 above it. The Loudon Heights, across the Shenandoah, are 
 lower, but both ridges overtop the hill between them, and 
 make it untenable for an army, while this hill itself com 
 mands all below it, and makes the town indefensible against 
 a force there. Therefore, when Brown captured Harper's 
 Ferry, he placed himself in a trap where he was sure to be 
 taken, unless he should quickly leave it. His first mistake 
 (and he made many in this choice of his point of attack and 
 his method of warfare) was to cross the Potomac at a place 
 so near Washington and Baltimore, which are distant but 
 sixty and eighty miles respectively from the bridge over 
 which he marched his men. This bridge is used both by 
 the Baltimore and Ohio railroad and by the travellers along 
 the public highway ; and the only approach to it from the 
 Maryland side is by a narrow road under the steep cliff, or 
 by the railroad itself. On the Virginia side there are roads 
 leading up from the Shenandoah valley, and both up and 
 down the Potomac. Harper's Ferry is. indeed the Ther 
 mopylae of Virginia. General Lee, the Hector of the South 
 ern Troy, came here with soldiers of the national army to 
 capture Brown in 1859 ; he came again and repeatedly as 
 commander of the Southern armies during the next five 
 years. His soldiers and their opponents of the Union army 
 cannonaded, burned, pillaged, and abandoned the town, 
 which has not yet recovered from the ruin of the war. 
 
 Before Brown's foray, one of his captains (Cook) had 
 visited the house of Colonel Lewis Washington (great- 
 
552 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 grandson of George Washington's brother), and learned 
 where to put his hand upon the sword of Frederick the 
 Great and the pistols of Lafayette, presented by them to 
 Washington, and by him to his brother's descendants. 
 With that sense of historical association which led Brown 
 to make his first attack upon slavery in Virginia and amid 
 the scenes of Washington's early life, this liberator of the 
 slaves had determined to appear at their head w r ielding 
 Washington's own sword, and followed by freedmen who 
 had owed service in the Washington family. He therefore 
 assigned to Stephens and to Cook, as their first duty after 
 Harper's Ferry should be taken, to proceed to Colonel Wash 
 ington's plantation of Bellair, about four miles south of the 
 Ferry, seize him, with his arms, set free his slaves, and 
 bring him as a hostage to the captured town ; and he even 
 directed that Osborn Anderson, a free black, should receive 
 from Washington the historical weapons. 1 
 
 Cook in his confession said : 
 
 11 There were some six or seven in Brown's party who did not 
 know anything of our Constitution, and were also ignorant of the 
 plan of operations until Sunday morning, October 16. Among this 
 number were Edwin and Barclay Coppoc, Merriam, Shields Green, 
 Copeland, and Leary. The Constitution was read to them by Ste 
 phens, and the oath afterward administered by Captain Brown. On 
 Sunday evening Captain Brown made his final arrangements for the 
 capture of Harper's Ferry, and gave to his men their orders. In 
 closing, he 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. 7 " 
 
 At the Kennedy farm-house, about eight o'clock on the 
 evening of Sunday, a cold and dark night, ending in rain, 
 Brown mustered his eighteen followers, saying, "Men, 
 
 1 The Puritanic Quixotism and the prophetic symbolism of Brown's 
 character united in this act, which will be remembered longer than many 
 of his exploits that were more important in their results. 
 
1859.] THE FORAY IN VIRGINIA. 553 
 
 get on your arms ; we will proceed to the Ferry." His horse 
 and wagon were brought to the door of the farmhouse, and 
 some pikes, a sledge-hammer, and a crowbar Avere placed in 
 the wagon. Brown " put on his old Kansas cap," mounted 
 the wagon, and said, " Come, boys ! " at the same time driv 
 ing his horse down the rude lane into the main road. His 
 men followed him on foot, two and two, Charles Plummer 
 Tidd, a Maine farmer who had joined him in Kansas, and 
 John E, Cook taking the lead. At a proper time they were 
 sent forward in advance of the wagon to tear down the tel 
 egraph wires on the Maryland side of the Potomac. The 
 other couples walked at some distance apart and in silence, 
 making no display of arms. Now and then some of them 
 rode beside Brown. When overtaken by any one, the rear 
 couple were to detain the stranger until the party had passed 
 on or concealed themselves, and the same order was given if 
 they were met by any one. The road was unfrequented 
 that night, and they passed down through the woods to the 
 bridge across the Potomac without delay or adventure. 
 Upon entering the covered bridge they halted and fastened 
 their cartridge-boxes, with forty rounds of ammunition, out 
 side their coats, and brought their rifles into view. As they 
 approached the Virginia side, the watchman who patrolled 
 the bridge met them and was arrested by Kagi and Ste 
 phens, who took him to the armory gate, leaving Watson 
 Brown and Stewart Taylor to guard the bridge. The rest 
 of the company proceeded with Brown, in his wagon or on 
 foot, to the armory gate, which was but a few rods from the 
 Virginia end of the bridge. There they halted at about 
 half past ten o'clock, broke open the gate with the crowbar 
 in the wagon, rushed inside the armory yard, and seized one 
 of the two watchmen on duty. Brown himself with two 
 men then mounted guard at the armory gate, and the other 
 fourteen men were sent to different parts of the village. 
 Oliver Brown and William Thompson occupied the bridge 
 over the Shenandoah, and there arrested a few prisoners. 
 Kagi, with John Copeland, went up the Shenandoah a half- 
 mile or more to that part of the armory called "the rifle 
 works," where he captured the watchmen, sent them to 
 Brown, and occupied the buildings. Edwin Coppoc and 
 
554 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 Albert Hazlett went across the street from the armory gate 
 and occupied the arsenal, which was not in the armory in- 
 closure. All this was done quietly and without the snapping 
 of a gun ; and before midnight the whole village was in the 
 possession of Brown and his men. He then dispatched 
 Stephens, Cook, and others, six in all, on the turnpike 
 toward Charlestown to bring in Colonel Washington and 
 some of his neighbors, with their slaves. 1 This was done 
 before four in the morning ; and then some of the same party 
 went across into Maryland and brought in Terence Byrne, 
 a small slaveholder, at whose house they had expected to 
 find slaves, but did not. In the mean time, at 1.30 A. M. ? 
 the railroad train from the west had come in, and a negro 
 porter, who was crossing the bridge to find the missing 
 watchman, was stopped by Watson Brown's guard. Turn- 
 
 1 The interview between Brown and Colonel Washington (who was one 
 of the military staff of the Governor of Virginia, and thence derived his 
 title) is thus described by Washington : " We drove to the armory gate. 
 The person on the front seat of the carriage said : ' All 's well ; ' and the 
 reply came from the sentinel at the gate, 'All 's well.' Then the gates 
 were opened, and I was driven in and was received by Old Brown. He did 
 not address me by name, but said : ' You will rind a fire in here, sir ; it is 
 rather cool this morning.' Afterwards he came and said : ' I presume you 
 are Mr. Washington. It is too dark to see to write at this time ; but when 
 it shall have cleared off a little and become lighter, if you have not pen 
 and ink I will furnish them, and shall require you to write to some of 
 your friends to send a stout, able-bodied negro. I think, after a while, 
 possibly I shall be able to release you ; but only on condition of getting 
 your friends to send in a negro man as a ransom. I shall be very atten 
 tive to you, sir ; for I may get the worst of it in my first encounter, and if 
 so, your life is worth as much as mine. My particular reason for taking 
 you first was, that as an aid to the Governor of Virginia I knew you 
 would endeavor to perform your duty ; and apart from that, I wanted 
 you particularly for the moral effect it would give our cause having one 
 of your name as a prisoner.' I supposed at that time, from his actions, 
 that his force was a large one, that he was very strong. Shortly after 
 reaching the armory I found the sword of General Washington in Old 
 Brown's hand. He said, ' I will take especial care of it, and shall en 
 deavor to return it to you after you are released.' Brown carried it in 
 his hand all day Monday ; when the attacking party came on, Tuesday 
 morning, he laid it on the fire-engine, and after the rescue I got it." 
 
 Colonel Washington survived the Civil War, in which he took no part. 
 His widow has sold this sword, with other mementos of Washington, 
 to the Sta.te of New York. 
 
1859.] THE FORAY IN VIRGINIA. 555 
 
 ing to run back and refusing to halt, he was shot and mor 
 tally wounded by one of the bridge guard, which was now 
 increased to three. This was the first shot fired on either 
 side, and was three hours after the entrance of Brown into 
 the village. Shots were fired in return by some of the rail 
 road men, and then no more firing took place until after 
 sunrise. Before sunrise the train had been allowed to go 
 forward, Brown and one of his men walking across the 
 bridge with the conductor of the train to satisfy him that 
 all was safe, and that the bridge was not broken down. The 
 work of gathering up prisoners as hostages had also been 
 pushed vigorously, and before noon Brown had more than 
 twice the number of his own force imprisoned in the armory 
 yard. None of his own men were killed or captured until 
 ten or eleven o'clock on Monday morning, when Dangerfield 
 N"ewby, the Virginia fugitive, was shot near the armory 
 gate. Shortly afterward Stephens was wounded and cap 
 tured, Watson Brown wounded, and William Thompson 
 captured. For from nine o'clock (when the terrified citizens 
 of Harper's Ferry found a few arms and mustered courage 
 enough to use them) until night, the Virginians, armed and 
 officered, had been surrounding Brown's position, and before 
 noon had cut off his retreat into Maryland. During the 
 four or five hours after daybreak when he might have es 
 caped from the town, he was urged to do so by Kagi, by 
 Stephens, and by others ; but delayed until it was too late. 
 For twelve hours he held the town at his mercy ; after that 
 he was firmly caught in the trap he had entered, and the de 
 feat of his foray was only the question of a few hours' time. 
 He drew back his shattered forces into the engine-house 
 near the armory gate, soon after noon ; but neither his men 
 at the rifle works, nor those at the arsenal across the street, 
 nor his son Owen, on the Maryland side of the Potomac, 
 could join him. He fought bravely, and so did Kagi and 
 his few men on the bank of the Shenandoah ; but the latter 
 were all killed or captured before the middle of the after 
 noon ; and at evening, when Colonel Lee arrived from Wash 
 ington with a company of United States marines, nothing 
 was left of Brown's band except himself and six men, two 
 of them wounded, in his weak fortress, and two unharmed 
 
556 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BKOWN. [1859. 
 
 and undiscovered men, Hazlett and Osborn Anderson, in the 
 arsenal not far off. His enterprise had failed, and through 
 his own fault. 
 
 Why, then, did Brown attack Harper's Ferry,, or, having 
 captured it, why did he not leave it at once and push on 
 into the mountains of Virginia, according to his original 
 plan ? His explanation is characteristic : it was foreor 
 dained to be so. " All our actions," he said, " even all the 
 follies that led to this disaster, were decreed to happen ages 
 before the world was made." He declared that had he be 
 taken himself to the mountains he could never have been 
 captured, " for he and his men had studied the country 
 carefully, and knew it a hundred times better than any of 
 the inhabitants." He ascribed his ruin to his weakness in 
 listening to the entreaties of his prisoners and delaying his 
 departure from the captured town. "It was the first time," 
 somebody reports him as saying, "that I ever lost command 
 of myself ; and now I am punished for it." But he soon 
 began to see that this mistake was leading him to his most 
 glorious success, a victory such as he might never have 
 won in his own way. 
 
 Among many accounts of the final scenes of tragedy at 
 Harper's Ferry, one of the best is that of Captain Danger- 
 field, who at the time was a clerk in the armory, and was 
 made prisoner early in the morning of October 17. He 
 says : 3 
 
 11 1 walked towards my office, then just within the armory inclosure, 
 and not more than a hundred yards from my house. As I proceeded, 
 I saw a man come out of an alley, then another and another, all 
 coining towards me. I inquired what all this meant ; they said, 
 1 Nothing, only they had taken possession of the Government works.' 
 I told them they talked like crazy men. They answered, ' Not so 
 crazy as you think, as you will soon see.' Up to this time I had 
 not seen any arms. Presently, however, the men threw back the 
 short cloaks they wore, and disclosed Sharp's rifles, pistols, and 
 knives. Seeing these, and fearing something serious was going on, 
 I told the men I believed I would return home. They at once cocked 
 
 1 See the "Century Magazine" for June, 1885. I have abridged the 
 narrative here and there. 
 
1859.] THE FORAY IN VIRGINIA. 557 
 
 their guns, and told me I was a prisoner. This surprised me, but I 
 could do nothing, being unarmed. I talked with them some little 
 time longer, and again essayed to go home ; but, one of the men 
 stepped before me, presented his gun, and told me if I moved I would 
 be shot down. I then asked what they intended to do with me. 
 They said I was in no personal danger; they only wanted to carry 
 me to their captain, John Smith. I asked them where Captain Smith 
 was. They answered at the guard house, inside of the armory in- 
 closure. I told them I would go there; that was the point for which 
 F first started. (My office was there, and I felt uneasy lest the vault 
 had been broken open.) 
 
 " Upon reaching the gate, I saw what indeed looked like war, 
 negroes armed with pikes, and sentinels with muskets all around. I 
 was turned over to ' Captain Smith,' who called me by name, and 
 asked if I knew Colonel Washington and others, mentioning familiar 
 names. I said I did ; and he then said, i Sir, you will find them 
 there,' motioning me towards the engine-room. We were not kept 
 closely confined, but were allowed to converse with him. I asked 
 him what his object was. He replied, * To free the negroes of 
 Virginia.' He added that he was prepared to do it, and by 
 twelve o'clock would have fifteen hundred men with him, ready 
 armed. Up to this time the citizens had hardly begun to move 
 about, and knew nothing of the raid. When they learned what was 
 going on, some came out with old shotguns, and were themselves 
 shot by concealed men. All the stores, as well as the arsenal, were 
 in the hands of Brown's men, and it was impossible to get either 
 arms or ammunition, there being hardly any private weapons. At 
 last, however, a few arms were obtained, and a body of citizens 
 crossed the river and advanced from the Maryland side. They made 
 a vigorous attack, and in a few minutes caused all the invaders who 
 were not killed to retreat to Brown inside of the armory gate. Then 
 he entered the engine-house, carrying his prisoners along, or rather 
 part of them, for he made selections. After getting into the engine- 
 house, he made this speech : ' Gentlemen, perhaps you wonder why 
 I have selected you from the others. It is because I believe you 
 to be more influential ; and I have only to say now, that you will 
 have to share precisely the same fate that your friends extend to my 
 men.' He began at once to bar the doors and windows, and to cut 
 portholes through the brick wall. 
 
 "Then commenced a terrible firing from without, at every point 
 from which the windows could be seen, and in a few minutes every 
 window was shattered, and hundreds of balls came through the doors. 
 These shots were answered from within whenever the attacking party 
 could be seen. This was kept up most of the day, and, strange to 
 
558 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 say, not a prisoner was hurt, though thousands of balls were im 
 bedded in the walls, and holes shot in the doors almost large enough 
 for a man to creep through. At night the firing ceased, for we were 
 in total darkness, and nothing could be seen in the engine-house. 
 During the day and night I talked much with Brown. I found him 
 as brave as a man could be, and sensible upon all subjects except 
 slavery. He believed it was his duty to free the slaves, even if in 
 doing so he lost his own life. During a sharp fight one of Brown's 
 sons was killed. He fell; then trying to raise himself, he said, ' It 
 is all over with me/ and died instantly. Brown did not leave his 
 post at the porthole ; but when the fighting was over he walked to 
 his son's body, straightened out his limbs, took off his trappings, and 
 then, turning to me, said, < This is the third son I have lost in this 
 cause.' Another son had beeji shot in the morning, and was then 
 dying, having been brought in from the street. Often during the 
 affair in the engine-house, when his men would want to fire upon 
 some one who might be seen passing, Brown would stop them, say 
 ing, l Don't shoot ; that man is unarmed.' The firing was kept 
 up by our men all day and until late at night, and during that time 
 several of his men were killed, but none of the prisoners were hurt, 
 though in great danger. During the day and night many proposi 
 tions, pro and con, were made, looking to Brown's surrender and the 
 release of the prisoners, but without result. 
 
 " When Colonel Lee came with the Government troops in the 
 night, he at once sent a flag of truce by his aid, J. E. B. Stuart, to 
 notify Brown of his arrival, and in the name of the United States to 
 demand his surrender, advising him to throw himself on the clemency 
 of the Government. Brown declined to accept Colonel Lee's terms, 
 and determined to await the attack. When Stuart was admitted 
 and a light brought, he exclaimed, ' Why, are n't you old Osawa- 
 tomie Brown of Kansas, whom I once had there as my prisoner?' 
 t Yes,' was the answer, l but you did not keep me.' This was the 
 first intimation we had of Brown's real name. When Colonel Lee 
 advised Brown to trust to the clemency of the Government, Brown 
 responded that he knew what that meant, a rope for his men and 
 himself; adding, 'I prefer to die just here.' Stuart told him he 
 would return at early morning for his final reply, and left him. 
 When he had gone, Brown at once proceeded to barricade the doors, 
 windows, etc., endeavoring to make the place as strong as possible. 
 All this time no one of Brown's men showed the slightest fear, but 
 calmly awaited the attack, selecting the best situations to fire from, 
 and arranging their guns and pistols so that a fresh one could be 
 taken up as soon as one was discharged. During the night I had a 
 long talk with Brown, and told him that he and his men were coin- 
 
1859.] THE FORAY IN VIRGINIA. 559 
 
 mitting treason against the State and the United States. Two of his 
 men, hearing the conversation, said to their leader, ' Are we commit 
 ting treason against our country by being here f ' Brown answered, 
 1 Certainly.' Both said, ' If that is so, we don't want to fight any 
 more ; we thought we came to liberate the slaves, and did not know 
 that was committing treason.' Both of these men were afterwards 
 killed in the attack on the engine-house. When Lieutenant Stuart 
 came in the morning for the final reply to the demand to surrender, 
 I got up and went to Brown's side to hear his answer. Stuart asked, 
 'Are you ready to surrender, and trust to the mercy of the Govern 
 ment ? ' Brown answered, ' No, I prefer to die here.' His manner 
 did not betray the least alarm. Stuart stepped aside and made a 
 signal for the attack, which was instantly begun with sledge-ham 
 mers to break down the door. Finding it would not yield, the 
 soldiers seized a long ladder for a battering-ram, and commenced 
 beating the door with that, the party within firing incessantly. I 
 had assisted in the barricading, fixing the fastenings so that I could 
 remove them on the first effort to get in. But I was not at the door 
 when the battering began, and could not get to the fastenings till 
 the ladder was used. I then quickly removed the fastenings ; and, 
 after two or three strokes of the ladder, the engine rolled partially 
 back, making a small aperture, through which Lieutenant Green of 
 the marines forced his way, jumped on top of the engine, and stood 
 a second, amidst a shower of balls, looking for John Brown. When 
 he saw Brown he sprang about twelve feet at him, giving an under 
 thrust of his sword, striking Brown about midway the body, and 
 raising him completely from the ground. Brown fell forward, with 
 his head between his knees, while Green struck him several times 
 over the head, and, as I then supposed, split his skull at every 
 stroke. I was not two feet from Brown at that time. Of course I 
 got out of the building as soon as possible, and did not know till 
 some time later that Brown was not killed. It seems that Green's 
 sword, in making the thrust, struck Brown's belt and did not pene 
 trate the body. The sword was bent double. The reason that 
 Brown was not killed when struck on the head was, that Green was 
 holding his sword in the middle, striking with the hilt, and making 
 only scalp wounds. 
 
 " When Governor Wise came and was examining Brown, I heard 
 the questions and answers, and no lawyer could have used more care 
 ful reserve, while at the same time he showed no disrespect. Gov 
 ernor Wise was astonished at the answers he received from Brown. 
 After some controversy between the United States and the State of 
 Virginia, as to which had jurisdiction over the prisoners, Brown was 
 carried to the Chariest-own jail, and after a fair trial was hanged. Of 
 
560 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 course I was a witness at the trial ; and I must say that I have never 
 seen any man display more courage and fortitude than John Brown 
 showed under the trying circumstances in which he was placed. I 
 could not go to see him hanged. He had made me a prisoner, but 
 had spared my life and that of other gentlemen in his power; and 
 when his sons were shot down beside him, almost any other man 
 similarly placed would at least have exacted life for life." 
 
 This Colonel Lee was the same officer who as General of 
 the Confederate Army afterwards maintained so bravely 
 the lost cause of slavery, and surrendered to General Grant 
 and the Army of the Potomac in April, 18G5. He was in 
 1859 in high command, under General Scott, in the United 
 States Army, and then, as afterwards, a defender of slav 
 ery and slaveholding Virginia. 1 Both he and his subordi 
 nate, Major Russell, treated Brown, who was supposed to 
 be dying, with consideration. After his capture the crowd 
 gathered round Brown, who told them not to maltreat him, 
 that he was dying, and would soon be beyond all injury. 
 Major Russell had him conveyed into a room, and kindly 
 ordered all attention to be paid him. Brown, recognizing 
 Russell, said, "You entered first. I could have killed 
 you, but I spared you." In reply to which the Major 
 bowed and said, "I thank you." Brown said: 
 
 " My name is John Brown; I have been well known as Old 
 Brown of Kansas. Two of my sons were killed here to-day, and 
 I'm dying too. I came here to liberate slaves, and was to receive no 
 reward. I have acted from a sense of duty, and am content to 
 await my fate ; but I think the crowd have treated rne badly. I am 
 an old man. Yesterday I could have killed whom I chose; but I had 
 no desire to kill any person, and would not have killed a man had 
 they not tried to kill me and my men. I could have sacked and 
 
 1 A year before General Lee's death he said to John Leyburn, at Balti 
 more, that he had never been an advocate of slavery, had emancipated 
 most of his slaves before the war, and rejoiced that slavery was abolished ; 
 adding : "I would cheerfully have lost all I have lost by the war, and 
 have suffered all I have suffered, to have this object attained." I print 
 this in justice to a brave soldier ; but his warfare was as much in defence 
 of slavery as Hector's in defence of Helen, though the great Trojan did not 
 approve of Paris as against Menelaus. General Lee's 
 " One best omen was Virginia's cause." 
 
1859.] THE FORAY IN VIRGINIA. 561 
 
 burned the town, but did not ; I have treated the persons whom I 
 took as hostages kindly, and I appeal to them for the truth of what 
 I say. If I had succeeded in running off slaves this time, I could 
 have raised twenty times as many men as I have now, for a similar 
 expedition. But I have failed." 
 
 To the master of the armory, while a prisoner, Brown 
 had said : 
 
 " We are Abolitionists from the North, come to take and release 
 your slaves ; our organization is large, and must succeed. I suffered 
 much in Kansas, and expect to suffer here, in the cause of human 
 freedom. Slaveholders I regard as robbers and murderers; and I 
 have sworn to abolish slavery and liberate my fellow-men." 
 
 To a reporter he said : 
 
 11 A lenient feeling towards the citizens led me into a parley with 
 them as to compromise ; and by prevarication on their part I was 
 delayed until attacked, and then in self-defence was forced to in 
 trench myself." 
 
 While Brown was thus undergoing questions from offi 
 cers, reporters, citizens, and others, Colonel Lee said that 
 he would exclude all visitors from the room if the wounded 
 men were annoyed by them. Brown said that on the con 
 trary he was glad to be able to make himself and his 
 motives clearly understood. He conversed freely, fluently, 
 and cheerfully, without fear or uneasiness, weighing well 
 his words. 
 
 The " New York Herald " correspondent says : 1 
 
 1 In a paper printed in the " Atlantic Monthly," July, 1874, I used 
 this expression : "It was the. everlasting reporter of the ' New York 
 Herald ' who then and there [at Harper's Ferry, in October, 1859] noted 
 down the undying words that mi^ht else have been lost, or distorted in 
 the recital of the base men to whom they were spoken." In the last let 
 ter I ever received from Gerrit Smith, soon after my latest visit to him in 
 the summer of 1874, he thus alluded to my remark : "By the way, I 
 never before knew of the essential service of the ' New York Herald ' in 
 preserving ' the undying words' of John Brown. Remember that I was 
 sick at that time. As Providence chose filthy ravens to feed Elijah, so did 
 Providence choose this vile sheet to carry to mankind the precious truths 
 which came from the lips of dear John Brown." 
 
562 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 u When I arrived in the armory at Harper's Ferry, shortly after 
 two o'clock in the afternoon of October 19, Brown was answering 
 questions put to him hy Senator Mason, who had just arrived from 
 his residence at Winchester, thirty miles distant ; Colonel Faulkner, 
 mernher of Congress, who lives hut a few miles off; Mr. Vallandig- 
 ham, member of Congress from Ohio; and several other distin 
 guished gentlemen. The following is a verbatim report of the 
 conversation : 
 
 BROWN'S INTERVIEW WITH MASON, V ALL AND I GUAM, 
 AND OTHERS. 
 
 Senator Mason. Can you tell us who furnished money for your 
 expedition ? 
 
 John Brown. I furnished most of it myself ; I cannot implicate 
 others. It is hy my own folly that I have been taken. I could 
 easily have saved myself from it, had I exercised my own better 
 judgment rather than yielded to my feelings. 
 
 Mason. You mean if you had escaped immediately? 
 
 Brown. No. I had the means to make myself secure without 
 any escape ; but I allowed myself to be surrounded by a force by 
 being too tardy. 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 cross the bridge, and gave them full liberty to 
 pass on. I did it only to spare the feelings of those passengers and 
 their families, and to allay the apprehensions that you had got hero 
 in your vicinity a band of men who had no regard for life and prop 
 erty, nor any feelings of humanity. 
 
 Mason. But you killed some people passing along the streets 
 quietly. 
 
 Brown. 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 every possible means \vas taken to prevent it. I 
 did not allow my men to fire when there was danger of killing those 
 we regarded as innocent persons, if I could help it. They will tell 
 you that we allowed ourselves 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. 
 
 Brown. See here, my friend ; it is useless to dispute or contra 
 dict the report of your own neighbors who were my prisoners. 
 
1859.] THE FORAY IN VIRGINIA. 563 
 
 Mason. If you would tell us who sent you here, who provided 
 the means, that would be information of some value. 
 
 Brown. I will answer freely and faithfully about what concerns 
 myself I w jll answer anything I can with honor, but not about 
 others. 
 
 Mr. Vallandigham (who had just entered). Mr. Brown, who 
 sent you here ? 
 
 Brown. No man sent me here j 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. 
 
 Vallandigham. Did you get up the expedition yourself? 
 
 Broivn. I did. 
 
 Vallandigham. Did you get up this document that is called a 
 Constitution ? 
 
 Brown. I did. They are a constitution and ordinances of my 
 own contriving and getting up. 
 
 Vallandigham. How long have you been engaged in this 
 business ? 
 
 Brown. 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. 
 
 Mason. How many are there engaged with you in this 
 movement ? 
 
 Brown. Any questions that I can honorably answer I will, not 
 otherwise. So far as I am myself concerned, I have told everything 
 truthfully. I value my word, sir. 
 
 Mason. What was your object in coming ? 
 
 Brown. We came to free the slaves, and only that. 
 
 A Volunteer. How many men, in all, had you ? 
 
 Brown. I came to Virginia with eighteen men only, besides 
 myself. 
 
 Volunteer. What in the world did you suppose you could do here 
 in Virginia with that amount of men ? 
 
 Broivn. Young man, I do not wish to discuss that question here. 
 
 Volunteer. You could not do anything. 
 
 Brown. Well, perhaps your ideas and mine on military subjects 
 would differ materially. 
 
 Mason. How do you justify your acts ? 
 
 Brown I think, my friend, you are guilty of a great wrong 
 against God and humanity, I say it without wishing to be offen 
 sive, 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. 
 
 Mason. I understand that. 
 
564 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 Brown. I think I did right, and that others will do right who 
 interfere with you at any time and at all times. I hold that the 
 Golden Rule, " Do unto others as ye would that others should 
 do unto you," applies to all who would help others to gain their 
 liberty. 
 
 Lieutenant Stuart. But don't you believe in the Bible ? 
 
 Brown. Certainly I do. 
 
 Mason. Did you consider this a military organization in this 
 Constitution ? 1 have not yet read it. 
 
 Brown. I did, in some sense. I wish you would give that paper 
 close attention. 
 
 Mason. You consider yourself the commander-in-chief of these 
 11 provisional " military forces'? 
 
 Brown. I was chosen, agreeably to the ordinance of a certain 
 document, commander-in-chief of that force. 
 
 Mason. What wages did you offer? 
 
 Brown. None. 
 
 Stuart. li The wages of sin is death.'' 
 
 Brown. I would not have made such a remark to you if you had 
 been a prisoner, and wounded, in my hands. 
 
 A Bystander. Did you not promise a negro in Gettysburg twenty 
 dollars a month ? 
 
 Brown. I did not. 
 
 Mason. Does this talking annoy you ? 
 
 Brown. Not in the least. 
 
 Vallandigliam. Have you lived long in Ohio ? 
 
 Brown. I went there in 1805. I lived in Summit County, which 
 was then Portage County. My native place is Connecticut ; my 
 father lived there till 1805. 
 
 VallandigTiam. Have you been in Portage County lately ? 
 
 Brown. I was there in June last. 
 
 VallandigJiam. When in Cleveland, did you attend the Fugitive 
 Slave Law Convention there ? 
 
 Brown. No. I was there about the time of the sitting of the 
 court to try the Oberlin rescuers. I spoke there publicly on that 
 subject ; on the Fugitive Slave Law and my own rescue. Of course, 
 so far as I had any influence at all, I was supposed 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 I spoke in Cleveland 
 before the Convention. I do not know that I had conversation with 
 any of the Oberlin rescuers. I was sick part of the time I was in 
 Ohio with the ague, in Ashtabula County. 
 
1859.] THE FORAY IN VIRGINIA. 565 
 
 Vallandigham. Did you see anything of Joshua R. Giddings 
 there ? 
 
 Brown. I did meet him. 
 
 Vallandigham. Did you converse with him ? 
 
 Brown. I did. I would not tell you, of course, anything that 
 would implicate Mr. Giddiugs ; but I certainly met with him and 
 had conversations with him. 
 
 Vallandigham. About that rescue case ? 
 
 Brown. Yes ; I heard him express his opinions upon it very 
 freely and frankly. 
 
 Vallandigham. Justifying it ? 
 
 Brown. Yes, sir ; I do not compromise him, certainly, in saying 
 that. 
 
 Vallandigham. Will you answer this : Did you talk with Gid 
 dings about your expedition here ? 
 
 Brown. No, I won't answer that ; because a denial of it I would 
 not make, and to make any affirmation of it I should be a great 
 dunce. 
 
 Vallandigham. Have you had any correspondence with parties at 
 the North on the subject of this movement ? 
 
 Brown. I have had correspondence. 
 
 A Bystander. Do you consider this a religious movement ? 
 
 Brown. It is, in my opinion, the greatest service man can render 
 to God. 
 
 Bystander. Do you consider yourself an instrument in the hands 
 of Providence ? 
 
 Brown. I do. 
 
 Bystander. Upon what principle do you justify your acts ? 
 
 Brown. Upon the Golden Rule. I pity the poor in bondage that 
 have none to help them : that is why I am here ; not to gratify any 
 personal animosity, revenge, or vindictive spirit. It is my sympathy 
 with the oppressed and the wronged, that are as good as you and as 
 precious in the sight of God. 
 
 Bystander. Certainly. But why take the slaves against their 
 will f 
 
 Brown. I never did. 
 
 Bystander. You did in one instance, at least. 
 
 Stephens, the other wounded prisoner, here said, " You are right. 
 In one case I know the negro wanted to go back." 
 
 Bystander. Where did you come from ? 
 
 Stephens. I lived in Ashtabula County, Ohio. 
 
 Vallandigham. How recently did you leave Ashtabula County ? 
 
 Stephens. Some months ago. I never resided there any length of 
 time ; have been through there. 
 
566 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 Vallandigham. How far did you live from Jefferson ? 
 
 Brown. Be cautious, Stephens, about any answers that would 
 commit any friend. I would not answer that. 
 
 [Stephens turned partially over with a groan of pain, and was 
 silent.] 
 
 Vallandigham. Who are your advisers in this movement ? 
 
 Brown. I cannot answer that. I have numerous sympathizers 
 throughout the entire North. 
 
 Vallandigham. In northern Ohio ? 
 
 Brown. No more there than anywhere else ; in all the free 
 States. 
 
 Vallandigham. But you are not personally acquainted in south 
 ern Ohio ? 
 
 Brown. Not very much. 
 
 A Bystander. Did you ever live in Washington City? 
 
 Brown. I did not. I want yoii to understand, gentlemen, and [to 
 the reporter of the " Herald "] you may report that, I want you to 
 understand that I respect the rights of the poorest and weakest of 
 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 satis 
 faction of endeavoring to do for those in distress and 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. 
 
 Bystandei\ Why did you do it secretly ? 
 
 Brown. Because I thought that necessary to success ; no other 
 reason. 
 
 Bystander. Have you read Gerrit Smith's last letter ? 
 
 Brown. What letter do you mean ? 
 
 Bystander. The " New York Herald " of yesterday, in speaking 
 of this affair, mentions a letter in this way : 
 
 " Apropos of this exciting news, we recollect a very significant passage 
 in one of Gerrit Smith's letters, published a month or two ago, in which he 
 speaks of the folly of attempting to strike the shackles off the slaves by the 
 force of moral suasion or legal agitation, and predicts that the next move 
 ment made in the direction of negro emancipation would be an insurrection 
 in the South." 
 
 Brown. I have not seen the " New York Herald ' r for some days 
 past ; but I presume, from your remark 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 till some other 
 argument is resorted to than moral suasion. 
 
1859.] THE FORAY IN VIRGINIA. . 567, 
 
 Vallandigliam. Did you expect a general rising of the slaves in 
 case of your success f 
 
 Brown. No, sir j nor did I wish it. I expected to gather them: 
 up from time to time, and set them free. 
 
 Vallandigliam. Did you expect to hold possession here till then ? 
 
 "Brown. Well, probably I had quite a different idea. I do not know 
 that I ought to reveal my plans. I am here a prisoner and wounded, 
 because I foolishly allowed myself to be so. You overrate your 
 strength in supposing I could have been taken if I had not allowed 
 it. I was too tardy after commencing the open attack in delaying 
 my movements through Monday night, arid 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 Jarge. I had no knowledge of the shooting of the 
 negro Heywood. 
 
 Vallandigliam. What time did you commence your organization 
 in Canada f 
 
 Brown. That occurred about two years ago; in 1858. 
 
 Vallandigliam. Who was the secretary ? 
 
 Brown. That I would not tell if I recollected; but I do not recol 
 lect. 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 obscure on dates, etc. 
 
 Dr. Biggs. Were you in the party at Dr. Kennedy's house? 
 
 Brown. I was the head of that party. I occupied the house 
 to mature rny plans. I have not been in Baltimore to purchase 
 caps. 
 
 Dr. Biggs. What was the number of men at Kennedy's ? 
 
 Brown. I decline to answer that. 
 
 Dr. Biggs. Who lanced that woman's neck on the hill ? 
 
 Brown. I did. I have sometimes practised in surgery when I 
 thought it a matter of humanity and necessity, and there was no one 
 else to do it ; but I have not studied surgery. 
 
 Dr. Biggs. It was done very well and scientifically. They 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 
 movements. They were represented as eight or nine persons ; on 
 Friday there were thirteen. 
 
 Brown. There were more than that. 
 
 Q. Where did you get arms ? A. I bought them. 
 
 Q. In what State ? A. That I will not state. 
 
 Q. How many guns ? A. Two hundred Sharpe's rifles and two 
 hundred revolvers, what is called the Massachusetts Arms Com-y 
 pany's revolvers, a little under navy size. 
 
568 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 Q. Why did you not take that swivel you left in the house ? 
 A. I had no occasion for it. It was given to me a year or two 
 ago. 
 
 Q. In Kansas? A. No. I had nothing given to me in Kansas. 
 
 Q. By whom, and in what State? A. I decline to answer. It 
 is not properly a swivel ; it is a very large rifle with a pivot. The 
 ball is larger than a musket ball; it is intended for a slug. 
 
 Reporter. I do not wish to annoy you ; but if you have anything 
 further you would like to say, I will report it. 
 
 Brown. I have nothing to say, only that I claim to be here in 
 carrying out a measure I believe perfectly justifiable, and not to act 
 the part of an incendiary or ruffian, but to aid those suffering great 
 wrong. I wish to say, furthermore, that you had better all you 
 people at the South prepare yourselves for a settlement of this 
 question, that must come up for settlement sooner than you are pre 
 pared for it. The sooner you are prepared the better. 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 j the end 
 of that is not yet. These wounds were inflicted upon me both 
 sabre cuts on my head and bayonet stabs in different parts of my 
 body some minutes after I had ceased fighting and had consented to 
 surrender, for the benefit of others, not for my own. 1 I believe the 
 Major would not have been alive ; I could have killed him just as 
 easy as a mosquito when he came in, but I supposed he only came 
 in to receive our surrender. There had been loud and long calls 
 of a surrender " from us, as loud as men could yell; but in the 
 confusion and excitement I suppose we were not heard. I do not 
 think the Major, or any one, meant to butcher us after we had 
 surrendered. 
 
 An Officer. Why did you not surrender before the attack ? 
 
 Brown. I did not think it was my duty or interest to do so. We 
 assured the prisoners that we did not wish to harm them, and they 
 should be set at liberty. I exercised my best judgment, not believ 
 ing the people would wantonly sacrifice their own fellow -citizens, 
 when we offered to let them go on condition of being allowed to 
 change our position about a quarter of a mile. The prisoners agreed 
 by a vote among themselves to pass across the bridge with us. We 
 
 1 At the trial of Copelancl the following evidence was given : 
 
 Mr. Sennott. You say that when Brown was down you struck him in the face with 
 your sabre ? 
 
 Lieutenant Green. Yes. 
 
 Q. This was after he was down? A. Yes ; he was down. 
 
 Q. How many times, Lieutenant Green, did you strike Brown in the face with your 
 sabre after he was down ? A. Why, sir, he was defending himself with his gun. 
 
 Mr. Hunter. I hope the counsel for the defence will not press such questions as these. 
 
1859.] THE FORAY IN VIRGINIA. 569 
 
 wanted them only as a sort of guarantee of our own safety, that we 
 should not be fired into. We took them, in the first place, as host 
 ages and to keep them from doing any harm. We did kill some 
 men in 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. Brown, suppose you had every nigger in the United States, 
 what would you do with them ? A. Set them free. 
 
 Q. Your intention was to carry them off and free them ? A. Not 
 at all. 
 
 A Bystander. To set them free would sacrifice the life of every 
 man in this community. 
 
 Brown. I do not think so. 
 
 Bystander. I know it. I think you are fanatical. 
 
 Brown. And I think you are fanatical. " Whom the gods would 
 destroy they first make mad," and you are mad. 
 
 Q. Was it your only object to free the negroes ? A. Absolutely 
 our only object. 
 
 Q. But you demanded and took Colonel Washington's silver and 
 watch ? A. Yes : we intended freely to appropriate 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. 
 
 Bystander. Did you know Sherrod in Kansas ? I understand you 
 killed him. 
 
 Brown. I killed no man except in fair fight. I fought at Black 
 Jack Point and at Osawatomie ; and if I killed anybody, it was at 
 one of these places. 
 
 There is no record so full as this of any conversation held 
 with Brown after his capture. We have notes and reports, 
 more or less conflicting, of what took place in his conversa 
 tion with Wise, the Governor of Virginia, a few hours after 
 the engine-house was taken. Wise had been a leading and 
 turbulent Congressman from Virginia, had belonged to more 
 than one political party, and was a man of force and courage, 
 though infatuated, like most Virginians of his time, with 
 slavery and Southern institutions. A correspondent of 
 " Harper's Weekly " (which was then supporting slavery 
 as a pillar of the Union) has thus described Wise's inter 
 view with Brown : 
 
 " The mid-day train (October 18) brought Governor Wise, ac 
 companied by several hundred men from Richmond, Alexandria, 
 
570 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 Baltimore, and elsewhere. Accompanied by Andrew Hunter, the 
 Governor repaired to the guard-room where the two wounded prison 
 ers lay, and had a conversation with Brown. The Governor treated 
 the wounded man with a courtesy that evidently surprised 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) white 
 and blood-stained. His speech was frequently interrupted by deep 
 groans, reminding me of the agonized growl of a ferocious beast. A 
 few feet from the leader lay Stephens, 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. 
 
 u Brown was frank and communicative, answering all questions 
 without reserve, except such as might implicate his associates. I 
 append extracts from notes taken 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 prin 
 cipally by himself ; under its provisions he was appointed Commander- 
 in-Chief. His two sons and Stephens were each captains, and Coppoc a 
 lieutenant ; they each had 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 48 ; but he con 
 fidently expected large reinforcements from Virginia, Kentucky, Maryland, 
 North and South Carolina, and several other Slave States, besides the Free 
 States, taking it for granted that it was only necessary to seize the pub 
 lic 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 disappointed.' 
 
 "When Governor Wise went away, some of us lingered, and 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 was so. ' How many bodies did you take from the engine- 
 house ? ' he asked. He was told three. ' Then 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.' His prayer was vain. Both his boys lay stark and bloody 
 by the Armory wall." 
 
1859.] THE FORAY IN VIRGINIA. 571 
 
 In this conversation, according to Governor Wise, Brown 
 did not say a word which was personally offensive to him. 
 Somebody in the crowd called Brown " robber," and Brown 
 retorted, " You [the slaveholders] are the robbers." And 
 in this connection he said, " If you have your opinions 
 about me, I have my opinions about you." Wise then said : 
 " Mr. Brown, the silver of your hair is reddened by the 
 blood of crime, and you should eschew these hard words 
 and think upon eternity. You are suffering from wounds, 
 perhaps fatal ; and should you escape death from these 
 causes, you must submit to a trial which may involve death. 
 Your confessions justify the presumption that you will be 
 found guilty ; and even now you are committing a felony 
 under the laws of Virginia, by uttering sentiments like 
 these. It is better you should turn your attention to your 
 eternal future than be dealing in denunciations which can 
 only injure you." Brown replied, "Governor, I have from 
 all appearances not more than fifteen or twenty years the 
 start of you in the journey to that eternity of which you 
 kindly warn me ; and whether my time here shall be fifteen 
 months, or fifteen days, or fifteen hours, I am equally pre 
 pared to go. There is an eternity behind and an eternity 
 before ; and this little speck in the centre, however long, is 
 but comparatively a minute. The difference between your 
 tenure and mine is trifling, and I therefore tell you to be 
 prepared. I am prepared. You all have a heavy respon 
 sibility, and it behooves you to prepare more than it does 
 me." 
 
 In speaking of this conversation, 1 Wise said publicly : 
 
 " They are mistaken who take Brown 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 
 
 1 A Virginian gives me this addition to Brown's conversation with 
 Wise : 
 
 Jailer. I see in the papers that yon told Governor Wise you had promises of aid 
 from Virginia, Tennessee, and the Carolinas. Is that true, or did you make it up to 
 " rile " the old Governor? 
 
 Brown. No ; I did not tell Wise that. 
 
 Jailer. What did you tell him that could have made that impression on his mind? 
 
 Brown. Wise said something about fanaticism, and intimated that no man in full 
 possession of his senses could have expected to overcome a State with such a handful 
 
572 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 simple ingenuousness. He is cool, collected, and indomitable, and 
 it is but just to him to say that he was humane to his prisoners, 
 and he inspired me with great trust in his integrity as a man of 
 truth. He is a fanatic, vain and garrulous, but firm, truthful, and 
 intelligent. He professes to be a Christian in communion with the 
 Congregational Church of the North, and openly preaches his pur 
 pose of universal emancipation; and the negroes themselves were to 
 be the agents, by means of arms, led on by white commanders. . . . 
 Colonel Washington says that he was the coollest and firmest 
 man he ever saw in defying danger and death. With one son 
 dead by his side, and another shot through, he felt the pulse of his 
 dying son with one hand, 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." 
 
 BROWN'S SPEECHES AT HIS TKIAL. 
 
 On the first day of his trial under indictment (October 
 25), in the court-house at Charlestown not far from Har 
 per's Ferry, Brown and Coppoc were brought in manacled 
 together. Brown appeared weak, haggard, and with eyes 
 swollen from the effects of the wound in his head. The 
 prisoners were severally charged with treason and murder. 
 The Court asked if they had counsel, when Brown spoke as 
 follows : 
 
 u 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 assurances that I should have a fair trial ; but under no 
 
 of men as I had, backed only by struggling negroes ; and I replied that T had prom 
 ises of ample assistance, and would have received it too if I could only have put the 
 ball in motion. He then asked suddenly and in a harsh voice, as you 've seen lawyers 
 snap up a witness : "Assistance ! From what State, sir?" I was not thrown off my 
 guard, and replied : " From more than you F d believe if I should name them all ; but I 
 expected more from Virginia, Tennessee, and the Carolinas than from any others." 
 
 Jailer. You "expected" it You did not say it was promised from the States 
 named ? 
 
 Brown. No ; I knew, of course, that the negroes would rally to my standard. If I 
 had only got the thing fairly started, you Virginians would have seen sights that would 
 have opened your eyes ; and I tell you if I was free this moment, and had five hundred 
 negroes around me, I would put these irons on Wise himself before Saturday night. 
 
 Jailer. Then it was true about aid being promised? What States promised it? 
 
 Brown (with a laugh). Well, you are about as smart a man as Wise, and I '11 give 
 you the same answer I gave him. 
 
 So far as the language goes, this is perhaps not very correctly reported, 
 being from memory and at second hand. 
 
1859.] THE FORAY IN VIRGINIA. 573 
 
 circumstances whatever shall I be able to have a fair trial. If you 
 seek my blood, you can have it at any moment, without this mockery 
 of a trial. I have had no counsel. I have not been able to advise 
 with any one. I know nothing about the feelings of my fellow- 
 prisoners, and am utterly unable to attend in any way to my own 
 defence. My memory does n't serve me ; my health is insufficient 
 although improving. There are mitigating circumstances that I 
 would urge in our favor, if a fair trial is to be had ; 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 beg for no 
 mockery of a trial, no insult, nothing but that which conscience 
 gives or cowardice drives you to practise. I ask again to be excused 
 from the mockery of a trial. I do not even 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 not be foolishly insulted, only as cowardly 
 barbarians insult those who fall into their power." 
 
 As the trial went on, Brown again rose from the pallet 
 on which he lay wounded, and said : 
 
 u 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 to 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 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 dues,' 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 said this morning. I would be glad to hear what 
 is said on my trial, and I 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 feel very 
 much obliged." 
 
 The Court refused his requests, and a jury having been 
 sworn, directed that the prisoner might forego the form of 
 standing while arraigned, if he desired it. He therefore 
 continued to lie prostrate on his cot-bed while the long 
 
574 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 indictment was read, for conspiring with negroes to pro 
 duce insurrection ; for treason to the Commonwealth, and 
 for murder. 
 
 In the course of the first day's proceedings, Brown rose, 
 evidently excited, and standing on his feet said : 
 
 u May it please the Court, I discover that, notwithstanding all 
 the assertions 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 1 
 could get at them, of the persons I wished to have called as witnesses, 
 .and was assured that they would be subpoenaed. t I wrote down a 
 memorandum to that effect, saying where those parties were, but it 
 appears that they have not been subpoenaed, 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, thit this proceeding be deferred until to-mor 
 row morning ; for I have no counsel, as I have before stated, in whom 
 I feel that I can rely, but I am in hopes counsel may arrive who will 
 see that I get the witnesses 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 errand, for my 
 money was all taken from me when I was hacked 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 go any errands for me, and I have not 
 had all the witnesses subpoenaed. They are not within reach, and 
 are not here. I ask at least until to-morrow morning to have some 
 thing done, if anything is designed. If not, I am ready for anything 
 that may come up." 
 
 Brown then lay down again, drew his blanket over him, 
 closed his eyes, and appeared to sink in tranquil slumber. 
 The day after, when insanity was pleaded in his defence, 
 he desired his counsel to say that he did not put in the 
 plea of insanity. This movement was made without his 
 approbation or concurrence, and was unknown to him till 
 then. He then raised himself up in bed, and 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. As I remarked to Mr. Green, insane 
 prisoners, 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 
 
1859.] THE FORAY IN VIRGINIA. 575 
 
 think I knew more than all the rest of the world. But I do not 
 think so. I am perfectly unconscious of insanity, and I reject, so 
 far as I am capable, any attempts to interfere in my behalf on that 
 score." 
 
 Brown was ably defended, among others, by a young 
 Massachusetts attorney, George H. Hoyt, but of course 
 was convicted. The prosecutor was Andrew Hunter, of 
 Charlestown, who in his argument 
 
 " Contended that the code of Virginia defines citizens of Virginia as 
 ' all those white persons born in any other State of this Union, who 
 may become residents here ; ' and that evidence shows without a 
 shadow of a question that when Brown went to Virginia, and planted 
 his feet at Harper's Ferry, he came there to reside, and to hold the 
 place permanently. True, he occupied a farm four or five miles oft' 
 in Maryland, but not for the legitimate purpose of establishing his 
 domicil there ; no, for the nefarious and hellish purpose of rallying 
 forces into this Commonwealth, and establishing himself at Harper's 
 Ferry, as the starting-point for a new government. Whatever it was, 
 whether tragical, or farcial and ridiculous, as Brown's counsel had 
 presented it, his conduct showed, if his declarations were insufficient, 
 that it was not alone for the purpose of carrying off slaves that he 
 came there. His ' Provisional Government ' was a real thing and 
 no debating society, as his counsel would have us believe; and in 
 holding office under it and exercising its functions, he was clearly 
 guilty of treason. As to conspiring with slaves and rebels, the law 
 says the prisoners are equally guilty, whether insurrection is made or 
 not. Advice may be given by actions as well as words. When you 
 put pikes in the hands of slaves, and have their master captive, that 
 is advice to slaves to rebel, and is punishable with death." 
 
 During most of the arguments Brown lay on his back, 
 with his eyes closed. When the verdict was read, " Guilty 
 of treason, and of conspiring and advising with slaves and 
 others to rebel, and of murder in the first degree," not 
 the slightest sound was heard in the crowd present, who 
 a moment before, outside the court, had joined in threats 
 and imprecations. Brown himself said not a word, but as 
 on any previous day turned to adjust his pallet, and then 
 composedly stretched himself upon it. A motion for an 
 arrest of judgment was put in, but counsel on both sides 
 being too much exhausted to go on, Brown was removed 
 unsentenced to prison. 
 
576 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 JOHN BROWN IN PRISON. 
 
 OF all the work done by this hero in behalf of the slave 
 throughout a life almost wholly devoted to emancipa 
 tion, none was so wonderful as that wrought by him in 
 prison and on the scaffold. History seeks in vain for par 
 allels to this achievement, a defeated, dying old man, 
 who had been praying arid fighting, pleading and toiling, 
 for years, to persuade a great people that their national life 
 was all wrong, suddenly converting millions to his cause by 
 the silent magnanimity or the spoken wisdom of his last 
 days as a fettered prisoner. For Brown was not figuratively 
 and rhetorically in chains during that period of frenzied ter 
 ror which lay between his capture of Harper's Ferry, Octo 
 ber 16, and his death at Charlestown, Dec. 2, 1859. He 
 was loaded with chains, hand and foot ; he was fastened to 
 the floor of his cell, and watched day and night by armed 
 men, whose instructions- were to kill him if he should have 
 any, the most remote, chance of escape. He was forced to 
 rise from what was feared to be his dying bed, to hear the 
 ferocious indictment against him recited ; and during the 
 most of his trial he lay on a pallet in the court-room. But 
 that Divine Wisdom which he adored, and whose purposes 
 he alone, of living or dying men, could best fulfil, was his 
 guide and his guard ; from the hand which had armed him 
 with sword and rifle he now received that sword of the 
 Spirit, heavenly in temper and in power, which won for 
 him his final victory. 
 
 "For in all things, Lord! Thou didst magnify Thy servant, 
 and glorify him; neither didst Thou lightly regard him, but didst 
 assist him in every time and place. When unrighteous men thought 
 
1859.] JOHN BROWN IN PRISON. 577 
 
 to oppress this righteous one in prison, they themselves, the pris 
 oners of darkness, aiid fettered with the bonds of a long night, 
 lay there exiled from the Eternal Providence. Yea, the tasting of 
 death touched the righteous also ; but then the blameless man made 
 haste, and stood forth to defend them ; and bringing the shield of his 
 proper ministry, even prayer and propitiation, set himself against the 
 wrath, and brought the calamity to an end. Declaring himself Thy 
 servant, he overcame the destroyer, not with the strength of body or 
 the force of arms ; but with a word subdued he him that punished, 
 alleging the oaths and covenants made with the fathers. 
 
 ; ' This was he whom we had sometime in derision and a proverb 
 of reproach ; we, fools, accounted his life madness, and his end to be 
 without honor. But how is he numbered among the children of 
 God ! His lot is among the saints. In the sight of the unwise he 
 seemed to die ; and his departure was taken for misery, his going 
 from us to be utter destruction. But he is in peace. Though he 
 be punished in the sight of men, yet is his hope full of immortality ' } 
 and having been a little chastised, he shall be greatly rewarded. 
 
 11 God proved him and found him worthy of Himself; he shall 
 judge the nations, and have dominion over the people ; and his Lord 
 shall reign forever." 
 
 These words of an old Scripture, long disregarded, were 
 found true of John Brown, literally and exactly fulfilled, 
 like the computations of the astronomer. And who shall 
 doubt that there is an astronomy for the period of great 
 souls, as for the stars in their courses, a lore which the 
 devout may learn, if they will but obey ? To this John 
 Brown had meekly schooled his imperious will ; and no 
 where in history do we find a more punctual submission to 
 the Divine purpose, a more perfect resignation and com 
 posure, than this headstrong old warrior now displayed. 
 Then appeared, what had before been but little regarded, 
 the strange power and pathos of his unschooled words. 
 His speech to the Court was the first great example of this, 
 although his replies to Mason and Wise of Virginia had 
 already taught the world to listen for every sentence he 
 uttered. " What avail all your scholarly accomplishments 
 and learning, compared with wisdom and manhood ? " said 
 Thoreau, speaking of John Brown. "To omit his other be 
 havior, see what a work this comparatively unread and unlet 
 tered man wrote within six weeks ! He wrote in prison, not 
 
 37 
 
578 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 a ' History of the World/ like Baleigh, but an American 
 book which I think will live longer than that. What a va 
 riety of themes he touched on in that short space ! " It is 
 the virtue of such writings that" they continue to influence 
 mankind forever, so long as they continue to be read ; and 
 we may predict for these prison letters as long a life as for 
 the " Apology " of Socrates and the dying address to his 
 disciples. But what a work they have accomplished al 
 ready, in the few brief years since John Brown was borne 
 from the scaffold in Charlestown to his resting-place beside 
 the great rock at North Elba, where the grave became his 
 stronghold, while " his soul went marching on ! " Those 
 who mourned his death, now finding him risen and trium 
 phant, may exclaim with Milton's Hebrews, after that 
 "last victory of Samson" which Brown had foretold for 
 himself : 
 
 " All is best, though we oft doubt 
 What the unsearchable dispose 
 Of highest wisdom brings about, 
 And ever best found in the close. 
 Oft He seems to hide His face, 
 But unexpectedly returns, 
 And to His faithful champion hath in place 
 Borne witness gloriously ; whence Gaza mourns, 
 And all that band them to resist 
 His uncontrollable intent. 
 His servants He, with new acquist 
 Of true experience from this great event, 
 With peace and consolation hath dismissed, 
 And calm of mind, all passion spent." 
 
 PRISON LETTERS AND SPEECHES. 
 Letter to Judge Russell, of Boston. 1 
 
 CHARLESTOWN, JEFFERSON COUNTY, VA., Oct. 21, 1859. 
 HON. THOMAS RUSSELL. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I am here a prisoner, with several sabre-cuts in my 
 head and bayonet-stabs in my body. My object in writing to you is 
 to obtain -able and faithful counsel for myself and fellow-prisoners 
 
 1 A copy of this letter was also sent to Reuben A. Chapman, of Spring 
 field, Mass., and a third to Daniel R. Tilden, of Ohio. 
 
1859-1 JOHN BROWN IN PRISON. 579 
 
 (five in all), as we have the faith of Virginia pledged through her 
 Governor and numerous other prominent citizens to give us a fail- 
 trial. Without we can obtain such counsel from without the slave 
 States, neither the facts in our case can come before the world, uor 
 can we have the benefit of such facts as might be considered miti 
 gating in the view of others upon our trial. I have money in hand 
 here to the amount of two hundred and fifty dollars, and personal 
 property sufficient to pay a most liberal fee to yourself, or to any 
 suitable 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 BROWN. 
 
 Indorsed, ll The trial is set for Wednesday next, the 25th inst. 
 J. W. Campbell, Sheriff of Jefferson County.' 1 ' 1 
 
 To his Family. 
 
 CHARLESTOWN, JEFFERSON COUNTY, 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, William 
 Thompson killed, and Dauphin slightly wounded ; that on the fol 
 lowing day I was taken prisoner, immediately after which I received 
 several sabre-cuts on 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 guilty of treason, etc., and of murder in 
 the first degree. I have not yet received my sentence. No others of 
 the company with whom you were acquainted were, so far as I can 
 learn, either killed or taken. Under all these terrible calamities, I 
 feel quite cheerful in the assurance that God reigns and will overrule 
 all for his glory and the best possible good. I feel no consciousness 
 of guilt in the matter, nor even mortification on account of my im 
 prisonment and irons; and I feel perfectly sure 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 sym 
 pathy, are cheering me with the assurance that posterity, at least, 
 will do me justice. I shall commend you all together, with my be 
 loved but bereaved daughters-in-law, to their sympathies, which I 
 
580 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 do not doubt will soon reach you. I also commend you all to Him 
 "whose mercy endureth forever,' 7 to the God of my fathers, "whose 
 I am, and whom I serve." " He will never leave you nor forsake 
 you," unless you forsake Him. Finally, my dearly beloved, be of 
 good comfort. Be sure to remember and follow 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 be 
 liever. Never forget the poor, nor think anything you bestow on 
 them to be lost to you, even though they may be black as Ebedme- 
 lech, 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 "Remem 
 ber them that are in bonds as bound with them." 
 
 I am in charge of a jailer like the one who took charge of Paul 
 and Silas ; and you may rest assured that both kind hearts and kind 
 faces are more or less about me, while thousands are thirsting for 
 my blood. " These light afflictions, which are but for a moment, 
 shall work out for us a for more exceeding and eternal weight of 
 glory." I hope to be able to write you again. Copy this, Ruth, 
 and send it to your sorrow- stricken brothers 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. Charlestown, Jefferson County, Va., care of 
 Captain John Avis. 
 
 Your affectionate husband and father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 Nov. 3, 1859. 
 
 P. S. Yesterday, November 2, I was sentenced to be hanged on 
 December 2 next. Do not grieve on my account. I am still quite 
 cheerful. God bless you ! Yours ever, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 To Mrs. Child. 
 
 October 31. 
 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 dif 
 ferent 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 
 
1859.] .JOHN BROWN IN PRISON. 581 
 
 humane gentleman, who with his family have rendered me every 
 possible attention I have desired or that could be of the least advan 
 tage ; and I am so tar recovered from my wounds as no longer to re 
 quire nursing. Then, again, it would subject you to great personal 
 inconvenience and heavy expense, without doing me any good. Al 
 low 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, N. Y. 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 chil 
 dren 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 you in giving a like amount, 
 to constitute a little fund for the purpose named ? 
 
 I cannot see how your coining 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 I humbly trust, u the peace of God, which passeth all 
 understanding," 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 a Quaker Lady to John Brown. 
 
 NEWPORT, R. I., Tenth Month, 27th, '59. 
 CAPTAIN JOHN BROWN. 
 
 DEAR FRIEND, Since thy arrest I have often thought of thee, 
 and have wished that, like Elizabeth Fry toward 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. 
 
582 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 * 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 ap 
 prove 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 oh, I do 
 pray that God will be with thy soul. Posterity will do thee justice. 
 Jf Moses led out the thousands of Jewish slaves from their bondage, 
 and God destroyed the Egyptians iu 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 mil 
 lions from a more cruel oppression. If the American people honor 
 Washington for 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 Ke- 
 deemer give thee safety and happiness now and always ! 
 From thy friend, 
 
 E. B. 
 
 John Brown's Reply. 
 
 CHARLESTOWN, JEFFERSON COUNTY, VA., Nov. 1, 1859. 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEND E. B. OP K. I., Your most cheering letter of 
 the 27th of October is received ; and may the Lord reward you a 
 thousandfold for the kind feeling you express toward me ; but more 
 especially for your fidelity to the a 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 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 u mighty to the pulling down 
 of strongholds." I always loved my Quaker friends, and I commend 
 
1859.] JOHN BROWN IN PRISON. 583 
 
 to their kind regard my poor bereaved widowed wife and my daugh'- 
 ters 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 daughters, 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 County, 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), or 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 but 
 work for me li a far more exceeding and eternal weight 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. 
 
 An Appeal. 
 
 CHARLESTOWN, JEFFERSON COUNTY, VA., Nov. 1, 1859. 
 
 To MY FRIENDS IN NEW ENGLAND AND ELSEWHERE, Aaron 
 D. Stephens, one of the prisoners now in confinement with me in 
 this place, is desirous of obtaining the assistance of George Sennott, 
 Esq., of Boston, Mass., in defending him on his trial to come off 
 before the United States Court. Anything you can do toward 
 securing the services of Mr. Sennott for the prisoner will add to the 
 many obligations of your humble servants. 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 The above contains the expression of my own wishes. 
 
 A. D. STEPHENS. 
 
 When brought into court, the day after his conviction, 
 to receive his sentence, Brown was taken by surprise at 
 being called on to say why sentence of death should not be 
 pronounced. He had expected some further delay, and 
 was unprepared at the moment. He rose, however, and in 
 a singularly mild and gentle manner made his famous plea, 
 
584 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 in which we may recognize some of the phrases he had 
 used in his letters : 
 
 JOHN BROWN'S LAST SPEECH (NOV. 2). 
 
 " 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 clean thing of that matter, as I did last winter, 
 when I went into Missouri and there took slaves without the snap 
 ping 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. 1 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. 
 
 11 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 ad 
 mit, 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 chil 
 dren, 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. 
 
 1 In explanation of this passage, Brown three weeks afterward handed 
 to Mr. Hunter this letter : 
 
 CHARLESTOWN, JEFFERSON COUNTY, VA. , Nov. 22, 1859. 
 
 DEAR SIR, I liave just had my attention called to a seeming confliction between 
 the statement I at fi.rst made to Governor Wise and that which I made at the time I 
 received my sentence, regarding my intentions 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 anything 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 brfore intended to say, and did not con 
 sider the full bearing of what I then said. I intended to convey this idea, that it was 
 my object to place the slaves in a condition to defend their liberties, if they would, with 
 out 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 superhuman in respect to 
 the exact purport of every word he might utter. What I said to Governor Wise was spo 
 ken 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 then gave. Please make such use of this as you think calculated to correct any wrong 
 impressions I may have given. Very respectfully yours, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 ANDREW HUNTER, ESQ., Present. 
 
1859.] JOHN BROWN IN PRISON. 585 
 
 u 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 
 whatsoever I would that men should do to me, I should do even so 
 to them. It teaches me, further, to l remember them that are in 
 bonds, as bound with them.' I endeavored to act up to that instruc 
 tion. I say, I am yet too young to understand that God is any re 
 specter 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 ! 
 
 u Let me say one word further. 
 
 " I feel entirely satisfied with the treatment I have received on rny 
 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 discour 
 aged any idea of that kind. 
 
 " Let me say, also, a word in regard to the statements 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. I do not say this to injure them, but as regretting their weak 
 ness. There is not one of them but joined me of his own accord, 
 and the greater part of them 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." 
 
 Brown was then taken from the court-room back to his 
 prison, where he continued to recover from his wounds, but 
 did not write many letters until a week after his conviction. 
 He then wrote first to his family, as follows : 
 
 CHARLESTOWN, JEFFERSON COUNTY, VA., Nov. 8, 1859. 
 DEAR WIFE AND CHILDREN, EVERY ONE, I will begin by say 
 ing 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 
 
586 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 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. I am, besides, quite cheerful, 
 having (as I trust) "the peace of God, which passeth all under 
 standing," 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 toward 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 sub 
 mit to this, not feeling yourselves in the least degraded on that 
 account. Remember, dear wife and children all, that Jesus of Naza 
 reth suffered a most excruciating death on the cross as a felon, under 
 the most aggravating circumstances. Think also of the 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 u have no comforter." I charge you all never in your 
 trials to forget the griefs u 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 comfortable hereafter. For let me tell you that the sym 
 pathy 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 " nig 
 gers." 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 circum 
 stances would only add to our distress. If she comes on here, she 
 must be only a gazing-stock throughout the whole journey, to be re 
 marked upon in every look, word, and action, and by all sorts of 
 creatures, and by all sorts of papers, throughout the whole country. 
 Again, it is my most decided judgment that in quietly and submis 
 sively 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. Oh, Mary ! 
 do not come, but patiently wait for the meeting of those who love 
 
1859.J JOHN BROWN IN PRISON. 587 
 
 God and their fellow-ineii, 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 wel 
 fare. I sent you ten dollars the other day ; did you get it ? I 
 have also endeavored 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, Virginia. 
 
 11 Finally, my beloved, be of good comfort." May all your names 
 be " written in 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. 
 Nov. 9. 
 
 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 re 
 turn 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. 
 
 J. B. 
 
 To Mrs. /Spring. 1 
 
 CHARLESTOWN, JEFFERSON COUNTY, VA., Nov. 8, 1859. 
 MRS. REBECCA B. SPRING. 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEND, When you get home, please enclose this to 
 Mrs. John Brown, North Elba, Essex County, N. Y. It will com 
 fort her broken heart to know that I received it. Captain Avis will 
 kindly let you see what I have written her. May the God of my 
 fathers bless and reward you a thousandfold ; and may all yours be 
 partakers of his infinite grace ! 
 
 Yours ever, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 Nov. 9. 
 
 P. S. Will try to write you at your home. I forgot to acknowl 
 edge the receipt of your bounty. It is hard for me to write, on 
 account of my lameness. 
 
 Yours in truth, 
 
 J. B. 
 
 1 " Written by John Brown on the back of a note sent by him to Mrs. 
 Marcus Spring. This note and indorsement is now in my possession." 
 James Freeman Clarke, January, 1883. 
 
588 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 To his Brother, Jeremiah Brown. 
 
 CHARLESTOWN, JEFFERSON COUNTY, YA., Nov. 12, 1859. 
 DEAR BROTHER JEREMIAH, Your kind letter of the 9th inst. is 
 received, and also one from Mr. Tilden ; for both of which I am 
 greatly obliged. You inquire, u Can I do anything for you or your 
 family?" I would answer that my sons, as well as my wife and 
 daughters, are all very poor ; and that anything that may hereafter be 
 due me from my father's estate I wish paid to them, as I will en 
 deavor 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 re 
 mit 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 convey 
 ance. 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 mem 
 orandum 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 arn 
 worth inconceivably more to hang than for any other purpose. God 
 Almighty bless and save you all ! 
 
 Your affectionate brother, JOHN BROWN. 
 
 November 13. 
 
 P. S. 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. I feel a 
 thousand times more on account of my sorrowing friends than on my 
 own account. So far as I am concerned, I u 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. 
 
 To George Adams, Boston. 
 
 CHARLESTOWN, JEFFERSON COUNTY, VA., Nov. 15, 1859. 
 MY DEAR SIR, Your kind mention of some things in my con 
 duct here which you approve is very comforting, indeed, to my 
 
1859.1 JOHN BROWN IN PRISON. 589 
 
 mind. Yet I am conscious that you do me no more than justice. I 
 do certainly feel that through Divine grace I have endeavored to be 
 " faithful in a few things," mingling with even these much of im 
 perfection. 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 u new obedi 
 ence" through my little remainder 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. 1 
 do feel, dear brother, that I am wonderfully " strengthened from on 
 high." May I use that strength in u showing His strength unto this 
 generation," 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 ll the God of my fathers." I have many opportunities for faithful 
 plain-dealing 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 u God reigns," and I think I 
 can truly say, " Let the earth rejoice! " May God take care of his 
 own cause, and of his own great name, as well as of those who love 
 their neighbors. Farewell ! Yours in truth, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 To his Old Teacher, 
 
 ClIARLESTOWN, JEFFERSON COUNTY, VA., Nov. 15, 1859. 
 
 BRV. H. L. VAILL. 
 
 MY DEAR, STEADFAST FRIEND, Your most kind and most 
 welcome letter of the 8th inst. reached me in due time. I 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, notwithstanding " my soul is among lions," 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 trib 
 ulations ; " that I do not feel condemned of Him whose judgment is 
 just, nor of my own conscience. Nor do I feel degraded by my im 
 prisonment, my chains, 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 oppor 
 tunities for " preaching 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 notwith 
 standing he was one of the bravest of all who fought 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 
 
590 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 prove their courage by their ferocity." It may be done in that way 
 with but little risk. 
 
 I 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, 
 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 certainly 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 prosperous still; and looking forward to a time when il peace 
 on earth and good-will to men " shall everywhere prevail, I have no 
 murmuring thoughts or envious feelings to fret my mind. "I'll 
 praise my Maker with my breath." 
 
 I am an unworthy nephew of Deacon John, and I loved him much ; 
 and in view of the many choice friends I have had here, I am led the 
 more earnestly to pray, " gather not my soul with the unrighteous." 
 
 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 
 anything I have done, suffered, or may yet suffer will be lost to the 
 cause of God or of humanity. And before I began my work at Har 
 per's Ferry, I felt assured that in the worst event it would certainly 
 pay. I often expressed that belief ; and I can now see no possible 
 cause to alter my mind. I am not as yet, in the main, at all disap 
 pointed. I have been a good deal disappointed as it regards myself 
 in not keeping up to my own plans ; but I now feel entirely recon 
 ciled 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 determina 
 tion of not telling Delilah wherein his great strength lay, he would 
 probably have never overturned the house. I did not tell Delilah, 
 
1859.] JOHN BROWN IN PEISON. 591 
 
 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, like that erring servant of whom I have just been writing, even 
 I may (through infinite mercy in Christ Jesus) yet "die in faith." 
 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. 1 and her 
 
 son George, and to all dear friends. May the God of the poor and 
 oppressed be the God and Savior of you all ! 
 
 Farewell, till we meet again. 
 
 Your friend in truth, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 To his Wife. 
 
 CHARLESTOWN, JEFFERSON COUNTY, VA., Nov. 16, 1859. 
 MY DEAR WIFE, I write you in answer to a most kind letter of 
 November 13 from dear Mrs. Spring. 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 per 
 sonally. 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 miti 
 gate the sufferings of my poor distressed family. May God Almighty 
 and their own consciences be their eternal rewarders ! I am ex 
 ceedingly rejoiced to have you make the acquaintance and be 
 surrounded by such choice friends, as I have long known by 
 reputation some of those to be with whom you are staying. I 
 
 1 The Rev. Leonard "Woolsey Bacon, then of Litchfield, Conn., who first 
 printed this letter, said in 1859 : " 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 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. But a short time since, Mr. Vaill wrote to Brown, in his prison, a 
 letter of Christian friendship, to which he has received this heroic and 
 sublime reply. 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 handwriting 
 is clear and firm, but toward 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.' " 
 
592 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 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 forgotten 
 
 by me. I mean dear gentle . Many and many a time have 
 
 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 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. "I 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. I 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 gen 
 erosity may lead them to undertake in their behalf, while I give anew 
 a little expression of my own choice respecting it. You, my wife, per 
 fectly 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 I received in early life ; nor as some of our children enjoyed. 
 When I say plain but practical, I mean enough of the learning of the 
 schools to enable them to transact the common business of life com 
 fortably 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, etc., should first be learned at all events, and that of the 
 piano, etc., afterwards. I put them in that order as most condu 
 cive to health of body and mind ; and for the obvious reason, that 
 after a life of some experience and of much observation, I have 
 found ten women as well as ten men who have made their mark 
 in life right, whose early training was of that plain, practical kind, 
 to one who had a more popular and fashionable early training. But 
 enough of that. 
 
 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, I shrink from 
 it. Your composure 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 
 
1859.] JOHN BROWN IN PRISON. 593 
 
 journey till about the 27th or 28th of this month. The scenes which 
 you will have to jmss through on coming here will he anything but 
 those you now pass, with tender, kind-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 pain 
 ful 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 let 
 ters to all our poor children. What I write to one must answer for 
 all, till I have more strength. I get numerous kind letters from 
 friends in almost all directions, to encourage me to " be of good 
 cheer," and I still have, as I trust, " 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. 
 
 To Thomas B. Mus grave. 1 
 
 CHARLESTOWN, JEFFERSON COUNTY, VA., Nov. 17, 1859. 
 T. B. MUSGRAVE, ESQ. 
 
 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 
 kindnesses you have shown me, especially since my disaster. May 
 God and your own consciousness ever be your rewarders. Tell your 
 father that 1 am quite cheerful ; that I do not feel myself in the least 
 degraded by my imprisonment, my chains, or the near prospect of 
 the gallows. Men cannot imprison, or chain, or hang the soul. I 
 go joyfully in behalf of millions that ll have no rights " that this 
 great and glorious, 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 u the fashion of this world passeth 
 away." I am unable now to tell you where my friend is, that you 
 inquire after. Perhaps my wife, who I suppose is still with Mrs. 
 Spring, may have some information of him. I think it quite un 
 certain, however. 
 
 Farewell. May God abundantly bless you all ! 
 
 Your friend, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 1 The father of this gentleman was Mr. Musgrave, the English manufac 
 turer at Northampton, mentioned in Chapter III. 
 
 38 
 
594 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 To his Cousin, Rev. Mr. Humphrey. 
 
 CHARLESTOWN, JEFFERSON COUNTY, VA., Nov. 19, 1859. 
 REV. LUTHER HUMPHREY. 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEND, Your kind letter of the 12th instant is now 
 before me. So far as my knowledge goes as to our mutual kindred, 
 I suppose I am the first since the landing of Peter Brown from the 
 u Mayflower' 7 that has either been sentenced to imprisonment or to the 
 gallows. But, my dear old friend, let not that fact alone grieve you. 
 You cannot have forgotten how and where our grandfather fell in 
 1776, and that he. too, might have perished on the scaffold had cir 
 cumstances been but a very little different. The fact that a man 
 dies under the hand of an executioner (or otherwise) has but little to 
 do with his true character, as I suppose. John Rogers perished at 
 the stake, a great and good man, as I suppose ; but his doing so does 
 not prove that any other man who has died in the same way was 
 good or otherwise. 
 
 Whether I have any reason to " be of good cheer" or not in view 
 of my end, I can assure you that 1 feel so; and I am totally blinded 
 if I do not really experience that strengthening and consolation you 
 so faithfully implore in my behalf: the God of our fathers reward 
 your fidelity ! I neither feel mortified, degraded, nor in the least 
 ashamed of my imprisonment, my chains, or near prospect of death 
 by hanging. I feel assured "that not one hair shall fall from my 
 head without the will of my Heavenly Father." I also feel that T 
 have long been endeavoring to hold exactly " such a fast as God has 
 chosen." (See the passage in Isaiah which you have quoted. 1 ) No 
 part of my life has been more happily spent than that I have spent 
 here j and I humbly trust that no part has been spent to better pur 
 pose. I would not say this boastingly, but thanks be unto God, who 
 giveth us the victory through infinite grace. 
 
 1 The reference here is to the familiar text in the fifty-eighth chapter 
 of the prophet, who may be said to have foretold Brown as clearly as he 
 predicted any event in Hebrew history : "Is not, this the fast that I have 
 chosen, to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and 
 to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke ? Is it not to 
 deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast 
 out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him : and 
 that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh ? . . . Then shalt thou 
 call, and the Lord shall answer ; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here 
 I am. . . . Thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations ; and 
 thou shalt be called the Repairer of the breach, the Restorer of paths to 
 dwell in." 
 
1859.] JOHN BROWN IN PRISON. 595 
 
 I should be sixty years old were I to live to May 9, 1860. I have 
 enjoyed much of life as it is, and have been remarkably prosperous, 
 having early learned to regard the welfare and prosperity of others as 
 my own. I have never, since I can remember, required a great 
 amount of sleep ; so that I conclude that I have already enjoyed full 
 an average number of. working hours with those who reach their 
 threescore years and ten. I have not yet been driven to the use of 
 glasses, but can see to read and write quite comfortably. But more 
 than that, I have generally enjoyed remarkably good health. I might 
 go on to recount unnumbered and unmerited blessings, among which 
 would be some very severe afflictions, and those the most needed 
 blessings of all. And now, when I think how easily I might be left 
 to spoil all I have done or suffered in the cause of freedom, I hardly 
 dare wish another voyage, even if I had the opportunity. 
 
 It is a long time since we met ; but we shall come together in our 
 Father's house, I trust. Let us hold fast that we already have, re 
 membering we shall reap in due time if we faint not. Thanks be 
 unto God, who giveth us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
 And now, my old, warm-hearted friend, good- by. 
 Your affectionate cousin, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 To his Wife. 
 
 CHARLESTOWN, JEFFERSON COUNTY, VA., Nov. 21, 1859. 
 
 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, u 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 
 wipe away all tears from our eyes." Soon " we shall be satisfied 
 \vhen we are awake in His likeness." There is now here a source of 
 much disquietude to me, namely, the fires which are almost of 
 daily and nightly occurrence in this immediate neighborhood. While 
 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 say to me whether you had any crops mature 
 this season ? If so, what ones ? Although I may nevermore inter- 
 
596 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 meddle 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 " 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 Westport. If you go soon, the route by Glens Falls to Eliza- 
 bethtown will probably be the best. 
 
 I have just learned that our poor Watson lingered until Wednesday 
 about noon of the 19th of October. Oliver died near my side in a 
 few moments after he was shot. Dauphin died the next morning 
 after Oliver and William were killed, namely, 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, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 To his younger Children. 
 
 CHARLESTOWN, JEFFERSON COUNTY, VA., Nov. 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, writ 
 ten 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, ex 
 cept 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 form death may come is but of small mo 
 ment. I feel just as content to die for God's eternal truth and for 
 suffering humanity on the scaffold as in any other way ; and I do 
 
1859.] JOHN BROWN IN PRISON. 597 
 
 not say this from any disposition to " brave it out." 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 "fair in the face" as I am capable of doing; and 1 
 now feel it most grateful that I am counted in the least possible de 
 gree 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 j 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 shall thou dwell in the land j and verily 
 thou shalt be fed." I have enjoyed life much; why should I com 
 plain 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 com 
 mend you all." Your affectionate father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 To his older Children. 
 
 CHARLESTOWN, JEFFERSON COUNTY, VA., Nov. 22, 1859. 
 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" ever since my confinement, and I humbly 
 trust that " I know in whom I have trusted." A calm peace, per 
 haps 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, my 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 will 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, 1 will 
 
 1 Mrs. Jason Brown. 
 
598 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 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 assistance, fifteen dollars, to such 
 of you as might be most destitute. I got 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 grate 
 ful to me than your earnest sympathy, except it be to know that you 
 are fully persuaded to be Christians. And now, dear children, fare 
 well for this time. I hope to be able to write you again. The God 
 of my fathers take you for his children. 
 
 Your affectionate father, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 To the Rev. McFarland. 
 
 JAIL, CHARLESTOWN, Wednesday, Nov. 23, 1859. 
 
 THE 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 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, no. There are no ministers of Christ here. These minis 
 ters 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, 
 
1859.] JOHN BROWN IN PRISON. 599 
 
 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 tl whether it be right to obey God or 
 men, judge ye." Christ told me to remember them that were in 
 bonds as bound with them, to do towards them as I would wish 
 them to do towards me in similar circumstances. 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 u where the wicked 
 cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest." Farewell. 
 Your friend, and the friend of all friends of liberty, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 To Mrs. Marcus Spring. 
 
 CHARLESTOWN, JEFFERSON COUNTY, VA., Nov. 24, 1859. 
 
 MY DEAR MRS. SPRING, Your ever welcome letter of the 19th 
 inst., together with the one now enclosed, were received by me last 
 night too late for any reply. I am always grateful for anything you 
 either do or write. I would most gladly express my gratitude to you 
 and yours by something more than words ; but it has come to that, I 
 now have but little else to deal in, and sometimes they are not so 
 kind as they should be. You have laid me and my family under 
 many and great obligations. I hope they may not soon be forgotten. 
 The same is also true of a vast 'many others, that I shall never be 
 able even to thank. I feel disposed to leave the education of my dear 
 children to their mother, and to those dear friends who bear the bur 
 den of it; only expressing my earnest hope that they may all be 
 come strong, intelligent, expert, industrious, Christian housekeepers. 
 I would wish that, toge.ther with other studies, they may thoroughly 
 study Dr. Franklin's " Poor Richard." I want them to become 
 matter-of-fact women. Perhaps I have said too much about this 
 already j I would not allude to this subject now but for the fact that 
 you had most kindly expressed your generous feelings with regard 
 to it. 
 
 I sent the letter to my wife to your care, because the address she 
 sent me from Philadelphia was not sufficiently plain, and left me 
 quite at a loss. I am still in the same predicament, and were I not 
 
600 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 ashamed to trouble you further, would ask you either to send this to 
 her or a copy of it, in order that she may see something from me 
 often. 
 
 I have very many interesting visits from proslavery persons almost 
 daily, and I endeavor to improve them faithfully, plainly, and kindly. 
 I do not think that 1 ever enjoyed life better than since my confine 
 ment here. For this I am indebted to Infinite Grace, and the kind 
 letters of friends from different quarters. I wish I could only know 
 that all my poor family were as much composed and as happy as I. 
 
 I think that nothing but the Christian religion can ever make any 
 one so much composed. 
 
 " My willing soul would stay 
 In such a frame as this." 
 
 There are objections to my writing many tilings while here that T 
 might be disposed to write were I under different circumstances. I do 
 not know that my wife yet understands that prison rules require that 
 all I write or receive should first be examined by the sheriff or State's 
 attorney, and that all company 1 see should be attended by the jailer 
 or some of his assistants. Yet such is the case ; and did she know 
 this, it might influence her mind somewhat about the opportunity she 
 would have on coming here. We cannot expect the jailer to devote 
 very much time to us, as he has now a very hard task on his hands. I 
 have just learned how to send letters to my wife near Philadelphia. 
 
 I have a son at Akron, Ohio, that I greatly desire to have located 
 in such a neighborhood as yours ; and you will pardon me for giving 
 you some account of him, making all needful allowance for the 
 source the account comes from. His name is Jason; he is about 
 thirty-six years old ; has a wife and one little boy. He is a very la 
 borious, ingenious, temperate, honest, and truthful man. He is very 
 expert as a gardener, vine-dresser, and manager of fruit-trees, but 
 does not pride himself on account of his skill in anything ; always 
 has underrated himself; is bashful and retiring in his habits; is not 
 (like his father) too much inclined to assume and dictate ; is too con 
 scientious in his dealings and too tender of people's feelings to get 
 from them his just deserts, and is very poor. He suffered almost 
 everything on the way to and while in Kansas but death, and re 
 turned to Ohio not a spoiled but next to a ruined man. He never 
 quarrels, and yet I know that he is both morally and physically 
 brave. He will not deny his principles to save his life, and he 
 
 II turned not back in the day of battle." At the battle of Osa- 
 watomie he fought by my side. He is a most tender, loving, and 
 steadfast friend, and on the right side of rhings in general, a practical 
 Samaritan (if not Christian) ; and could I know that he was located 
 
1859.] JOHN BROWN IN PRISON, 601 
 
 with a population who were disposed to encourage him, without ex 
 pecting him to pay too dearly in the end for it, I should feel greatly 
 relieved. His wife is a very neat, industrious, prudent woman, who 
 has undergone a severe trial in " the school of affliction.'' 
 
 You make one request of me that I shall not be able to comply 
 with. Am sorry that I cannot at least explain. Your own account 
 of my plans is very well. The son I mentioned has now a small 
 stock of choice vines and fruit-trees, and in them consists his worldly 
 store mostly. I would give you some account of others, hut I sup 
 pose my wife may have done so. 
 
 Your friend, JOHN BROWN. 
 
 To his Counsel. 
 
 CHARLESTOWN, JEFFERSON COUNTY, VA., Nov. 24, 1859. 
 GEORGE H. HOYT, ESQ. 
 
 DEAR SIR, Your kind letter of the 22d instant is received. I 
 exceedingly regret my inability to make you some other acknowledg 
 ment 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 for 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 u 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. I am very sorry for any wrong 
 that may be done him, but I have no means of contradicting any 
 thing that may be said, not knowing what is 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. 
 My 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. 
 
 In contrast with the letter of the good Quaker woman of 
 Rhode Island, and as a key to the answer made by John 
 Brown, I print next the expostulatory, not to say Phari 
 saical, letter of his aged cousin, the Rev. Dr. Heraan Hum 
 phrey, of western Massachusetts, addressed to the martyr 
 in his Virginia prison. 
 
602 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 Dr. Humphrey to Captain Brown. 
 
 PITTSFIELD, MASS., Nov. 20, 1859. 
 MR. JOHN BROWN. 
 
 MY POOR WOUNDED AND DOOMED KlNSMAN, I should have 
 
 written you before now if I had known what to say. That we all 
 deeply feel for you in your present extraordinary circumstances you 
 will not doubt. Most gladly would we fly to your relief, if the sen 
 tence under which you lie had not put you entirely beyond the reach 
 of hope. All we can do is to pray for you. This we can do; and I 
 am sure that prayer is offered without ceasing for you, that you may 
 be prepared for that death from which I am persuaded nothing short 
 of a miracle would save you. Oh, that we had known the amazing 
 infatuation which was urging you on to certain destruction before it 
 was too late ! We should have felt bound to have laid hold upon 
 and retained you by violence, if nothing short would have availed. 
 You will not allow us to interpose the plea of insanity in your be 
 half; you insist that you were never more sane in your life, and 
 indeed, there was so much "method in your madness," that such a 
 plea would be of no avail. I do not intend to use the word madness 
 reproachfully. I am bound to believe that you were as conscientious 
 as Saul of Tarsus was in going to Damascus ; and I am sure it was 
 in an infinitely better cause. But what you intended was an impossi 
 bility ; and all your friends are amazed that you did not see it. They 
 can never believe that if you had been John Brown of better days, 
 if you had been in your right mind, you would ever have plunged 
 headlong, as you did, into the lion's den, where you were certain to 
 be devoured. Oh, that you would have been held back ! But, alas ! 
 these are unavailing regrets ; it is too late j it is done. The sentence 
 is passed. 
 
 You have come almost to the foot of the scaffold, and I presume 
 you have no hope of escape. All that remains is to prepare for the 
 closing scene of the awful tragedy. Are you prepared ? You have 
 long been a professor of religion. I take it for granted that you will 
 now anxiously examine yourself whether you are in the faith ; whether 
 you are a true child of Glod, and prepared to die and go to the judg 
 ment. I do not believe you had murder in your heart. Your object, 
 as you say, was to liberate the slaves. You wanted to do it without 
 killing anybody. It is astonishing you did not consider that it could 
 not be done without wading in blood. The time has not come. It 
 is not the right way, and never will be. It is right to pray, " 
 Lord, how long ? " but not to run before and take the avenging 
 swoi'd into our own hands. You have nothing more to do in this 
 world. You have done with the Border Ruffians, who hunted for 
 
1859.] JOHN BROWN IN PRISON. 603 
 
 your precious life. It becomes you prayerfully to inquire how far 
 you will be answerable at the bar of God for the blood which was 
 shed at Harper's Ferry, and for the fate of those who are to die with 
 you. I judge you not; but there is One that judgeth, with whom is 
 mercy and plentiful forgiveness to all who truly repent and savingly 
 believe on him whose blood cleanseth from all sin. There is a great 
 deal more danger that we shall think too little of our sins than too 
 much. The time is now so short that it becomes you to spend it 
 mostly in prayer and meditation over your Bible. Oh, how precious 
 is every hour ! I am sure you will welcome any pious friend who 
 may visit you in prison ; and I hope there is some godly minister 
 who may come to you with his warmest sympathies and prayers. 
 May God sustain you, my dying friend ! Vain is the help of man. 
 
 Christ can stand by you and carry you through. Other help there 
 is none. Oh, that there was a possibility that your life might be 
 spared! But, no! there is nothing to' hang a hope on. Farewell, 
 my wounded and condemned friend. We shall not meet again in 
 this world. Should I outlive you, it will not be long. I have passed 
 my fourscore years. We trust that many of our kindred have gone 
 to heaven. Oh, may we be prepared to meet, and to meet them 
 there, washed in the Redeemer's blood ! 
 
 From your affectionate and deeply affected kinsman, 
 
 H. HUMPHREY. 
 
 Captain Brown to Rev. Dr. Humphrey. 
 
 CHARLESTOWN, JEFFERSON COUNTY, VA., Nov. 25, 1859. 
 REV. HEMAN HUMPHREY, D.D. 
 
 MY DEAR AND HONORED KINSMAN, Your very sorrowful, kind, 
 and faithful letter of the 20th instant is now before me. I accept it 
 with all kindness. I have honestly endeavored to profit by the faith 
 ful advice it contains. Indeed, such advice could never come amiss. 
 You will allow me to say that I deeply sympathize with you and all 
 my sorrowing friends in their grief and terrible mortification. I feel 
 ten times more afflicted on their account than on account of my own 
 circumstances. But I must say that I am neither conscious of be 
 ing " infatuated " nor " mad." You will doubtless agree with me in 
 this, that neither imprisonment, irons, nor the gallows falling to 
 one's lot are of themselves evidence of either guilt, "infatuation, 
 or madness." 
 
 I discover that you labor under a mistaken impression as to some 
 important facts, which my peculiar circumstances will in all proba 
 bility prevent the possibility of my removing ; and I do not propose 
 to take up any argument to prove that any motion or act of my life 
 
604 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 is right. But I will here state that I know it to be wholly my own 
 fault as a leader that caused our disaster. Of this you have no proper 
 means of judging, not being on the ground, or a practical soldier. I 
 will only add, that it was in yielding to my feelings of humanity 
 (if I ever exercised such a feeling), in leaving my proper place arid 
 mingling with my prisoners to quiet their fears, that occasioned our 
 being caught. I firmly believe that God reigns, and that he over 
 rules all things in the best possible manner; and in that view of the 
 subject I try to be in some degree reconciled to my own weaknesses 
 and follies even. 
 
 If you w T ere here on the spot, and could be with me by day and by 
 night, and know the facts and how my time is spent here, I think 
 you would find much to reconcile your own mind to the ignominious 
 death I am about to suffer, and to mitigate your sorrow. I am, to 
 say the least, quite cheerful. u He shall begin to deliver Israel out 
 of the hand of the Philistines." This was said of a poor erring ser 
 vant many years ago ; and for many years I have felt a strong im 
 pression that God had given me powers and faculties, unworthy as 
 I was, that he intended to use for a similar purpose. This most 
 unmerited honor He has seen fit to bestow; and whether, like the 
 same poor frail man to whom I allude, my death may not be of vastly 
 more value than my life is, I think quite beyond all human foresight. 
 I really have strong hopes that notwithstanding all my many sins, I 
 too may yet die " in faith." 
 
 If you do not believe I had a murderous intention (while I know I 
 had not), why grieve so terribly on my account'? The scaffold has 
 but few terrors for me. God lias often covered my head in the day 
 of battle, and granted me many times deliverances that were almost 
 so miraculous that I can scarce realize their truth ; and now, when 
 it seems quite certain that he intends to use me in a different way, 
 shall I not most cheerfully go? I may be deceived, but I humbly 
 trust that he will not forsake me " till I have showed his favor to 
 this generation and his strength to every one that is to come." Your 
 letter is most faithfully and kindly written, and I mean to profit by 
 it. I am certainly quite grateful for it. I feel that a great responsi 
 bility rests upon me as regards the lives of those who have fallen and 
 may yet fall. I must in that view cast myself on the care of Him 
 " whose mercy endureth forever." If the cause in which I engaged 
 in any possible degree approximated to be "infinitely better" than 
 the one which Saul of Tarsus undertook, I have no reason to bo 
 ashamed of it; and indeed 1 cannot now, after more than a month 
 for reflection, find in my heart (before God in whose presence I 
 expect to stand within another week) any cause for shame. 
 
1859.] JOHN BROWN IN PRISON. 605 
 
 1 got a long and most kind letter from your pure-heartea brother 
 Luther, to which T replied at some length. The statement that 
 seems to he going around in the newspapers that I told Governor 
 Wise that I came on here to seek revenge for the wrongs of either 
 myself or my family, is utterly false. I never intended to convey 
 such an idea, and I bless God that I am able even now to say that I 
 have never yet harbored such a feeling. See testimony of witnesses 
 who were with me while I had one son lying dead by my side, and 
 another mortally wounded and dying on my other side. I do not 
 believe that Governor Wise so understood, and I think he ought to 
 correct that impression. The impression that we intended a general 
 insurrection is equally untrue. 
 
 Now, my much beloved and much respected kinsman, farewell. 
 May the God of our fathers save and abundantly bless you and yours ! 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 The following is an extract from the last letter received 
 by Mrs. Brown before she started to go to Charlestown, 
 bearing date Charlestown, Jefferson County, Va., Nov. 26, 
 1859, in which, after referring to his wife's being under 
 Mrs. Mott's roof, he proceeds to say : 
 
 ... 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 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 payable to your order. I have also fifteen dollars to send to 
 our crippled and destitute unmarried son. When I can I intend 
 to send you, 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 1 do assure you and all other friends that I 
 am quite husy, 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. 
 
606 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 I trust that God, who has sustained me so long, will not forsake 
 me when 1 most feel my need of Fatherly aid and support. Should 
 he hide his face, my spirit will droop and die; hut not otherwise, he 
 assured. My only anxiety is to he 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 arid thirst after righteousness." If it he only 
 genuine, I make no douht I "shall he 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 likely to 
 succeed well ahout 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 more 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 com 
 ing to see me before I suffer. I am entirely willing. 
 Your affectionate husband, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 CHARLESTOWN, JEFFERSON COUNTY, 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. I can 
 form no idea of the objections to your mode of operating in their be 
 half, to which my friend Dr. Webb refers ; and I suppose it is now 
 too late for any explanations from him that would enlighten me. 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 
 relieved 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 felt very grateful to know, while I was yet living, of almost 
 any active measure being taken. I hope no offence is taken at your 
 self 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. 
 
1859.] JOHN BROWN IN PRISON. 607 
 
 To Miss Sterns, of Springfield. 
 
 ClIAULESTOWN, JEFFERSON COUNTY, VA., Nov. 27, 1859. 
 
 MY DEAR Miss STERNS, Your most kind and cheering letter of 
 the 18th instant is received. Although I have not been at all low- 
 spirited or cast down in feeling since being imprisoned and under 
 sentence (which I am fully aware is soon to be carried out), it is ex 
 ceedingly gratifying to learn from frifends that there are not wanting 
 in this generation some to sympathize with me arid 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 hopes of being able to meet the consequences 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 
 has 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 or degraded by my cir 
 cumstances ; 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. 
 
 To his sisters Mary and Martha. 
 
 CHARLESTOWN, JEFFERSON COUNTY, VA., 
 Nov. 27, 1859 (Sabbath). 
 
 MY DEARLY BELOVED SISTERS MARY A. AND MARTHA, I am 
 
 obliged to occupy a part of what is probably my last Sabbath on 
 earth in answering the very kind and comforting letters of sister 
 Hand and son of the 23d inst., or I must fail to do so at all. I do 
 not think it any violation of the day that God made for man. 
 Nothing could be more grateful to my feelings than to learn that you 
 do not feel dreadfully mortified, and even disgraced, on account of 
 your relation to one who is to die on the scaffold. I have really 
 
608 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859 
 
 suffered more, by tenfold, since my confinement here, on account of 
 what I feared would he the terrible feelings of my kindred on my 
 account, than from all other causes. I am most glad to learn from 
 you that my fears on your own account were ill founded. I was 
 afraid that a little seeming present prosperity might have carried you 
 away from realities, so that u the honor that cometh from men " 
 might lead you in some measure to undervalue that which "corneth 
 from God." I bless God, who has most abundantly supported and 
 comforted me all along, to find you are not ensnared. Dr. Heman 
 Humphrey has just sent me a most doleful lamentation over my 
 11 infatuation and madness" (very kindly expressed), in which, I 
 cannot doubt, he has given expression to the extreme grief of others 
 of our kindred. I have endeavored to answer him kindly also, and 
 at the same time to deal faithfully with my old friend. I think I 
 will send you his letter ; and if you deem it worth the trouble, you 
 can probably get my reply, or a copy of it. Suffice it for me to say, 
 a None of these things move me." Luther Humphrey wrote me a 
 very comforting letter. 
 
 There are things, dear sisters, that God hides even from the wise 
 and prudent. I feel astonished that one so exceedingly vile and un 
 worthy as I am should even be suffered to have a place anyhow or 
 anywhere among the very least of all who, when they come to die 
 (as all must), were permitted to pay the debt of nature in defence of 
 the right and of God's eternal and immutable truth. Oh, my dear 
 friends, can you believe it possible that the scaffold has no terrors 
 for your own poor old unworthy brother? I thank God, through 
 Jesus Christ my Lord, it is even so. I am now shedding tears, but 
 they are no longer tears of grief or sorrow ; I trust I have nearly 
 done with those. I am weeping for joy and gratitude that I can in 
 no other way express. I get many very kind and comforting letters 
 that I cannot possibly reply to ; wish I had time and strength to 
 answer all. I am obliged to ask those to whom I do write to let 
 friends read what I send as much as they well can. Do write my 
 deeply afflicted and affectionate wife. It will greatly comfort her to 
 have you write her freely. She has borne up manfully under accumu 
 lated griefs. She will be most glad to know that she has not been 
 entirely forgotten by my kindred. Say to all my friends that I 
 am waiting cheerfully and patiently the days of my appointed time ; 
 fully believing that for me now to die will be to me an infinite gain 
 and of untold benefit to the cause we love. Wherefore, " be of good 
 cheer," and " let not your hearts be troubled.'" " To him that over- 
 cometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also over 
 came and am set down with my Father in his throne." I wish my 
 friends could know but a little of the rare opportunities I now get for 
 
1859.J JOHN BKOWN IN PRISON. 609 
 
 kind and faithful labor in God's cause. I hope they have not been 
 entirely lost. 
 
 Now, dear friends, I have done. May the God of peace bring 
 us all again from the dead ! 
 
 Your affectionate brother, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 CHARLESTOWN, JEFFERSON COUNTY, VA., 
 
 Monday, Nov. 28, 1859. 
 HON. D. E. TILDEN. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, Your most kind and comforting letter of the 23d 
 inst. is received. I have no language to express the feelings of grat 
 itude and obligation 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. I do not claim to have been 
 one of the latter, and I leave it to an impartial tribunal to decide 
 whether the world has been the worse or the better for my living 
 and dying in it. My present great anxiety is to get as near in readi 
 ness for a different field of action as I well can, 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 thousandfold all the kind efforts made in their behalf! I have en 
 joyed remarkable cheerfulness and composure of mind ever since my 
 confinement j and it is a great comfort to feel assured that I am per 
 mitted 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 these scenes, just as they occur, I think 
 they would feel very well reconciled to my being here, just what I 
 am, and just as I arn. My whole life before had not afforded me one 
 half the opportunity to plead for the right. In this, also, I h'nd much 
 to reconcile me to both my present condition and my immediate 
 prospect. I may be very insane j and I 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 least degree conscious of my ravings, of my fears, or of any 
 terrible visions whatever j but fancy 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 ot 
 the same calm but delightful dream, until I come to know of those 
 
 89 
 
610 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 realities which 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 cer 
 tainly 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 may 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. 
 
 To Various Friends. 
 
 CHARLESTOWN, JEFFERSON COUNTY, VA., Nov. 29, 1859. 
 
 MY DEAR COVENANTER [Rev. A. M. Milligan], Notwithstand 
 ing I now get daily more than three times the number of kind letters 
 I can possibly answer, I cannot deny myself the satisfaction of say 
 ing a few words to a stranger, whose feelings and whose judgment 
 so nearly coincide with my own. No letter, of a great number I 
 have got to cheer, encourage, and advise me, has given more heart 
 warming satisfaction or better counsel than your own. I hope to 
 profit by it; and I am greatly obliged for this your visit to my 
 prison. It really seemed to impart new strength to my soul, notwith 
 standing I was very cheerful before. I trust, dear brother/that God, 
 in infinite grace and mercy for Christ's sake, will neither leave me 
 nor forsake me till I u have showed His power to this generation, 
 and his strength to every one that is to come." I would most gladly 
 commune further as we journey on ; but I am so near the close of 
 mine that I must break off, however reluctant. 
 
 Farewell, my faithful brother in Christ Jesus ! Farewell ! 
 
 Your friend, JOHN BROWN. 
 
 CHARLESTOWN, JEFFERSON COUNTY, VA., Nov. 29, 1859. 
 MRS. GEORGE L. STEARNS, Boston, Mass. 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEND, No letter I have received since my imprison 
 ment here has given me more satisfaction or comfort than yours 
 of the 8th instant. I am quite cheerful, and was never more happy. 
 Have only time to write a word. May God forever reward you and 
 all yours ! My love to all who love their neighbors. I have asked 
 to be spared from having any weak or hypocritical prayers made 
 over me when I am publicly murdered, and that my only religious 
 
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1859.] JOHN BROWN IN PRISON. 611 
 
 attendants be poor little dirty, ragged, bareheaded, and barefooted 
 slave boys and girls, led by some old gray-headed slave mother. 
 Farewell ! Farewell ! 
 
 Your friend, JOHN BROWN. 
 
 This is the copy of a letter that Mrs. Brown brought from 
 Virginia, and sent to Mrs. Stearns, in a Bible. 
 
 CHARLESTOWN, JEFFERSON COUNTY PRISON, VA., Nov. 29, 1859. 
 J. Q. ANDERSON, ESQ. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, Your letter of the 23d instant is received ; but 
 notwithstanding it would afford me the utmost pleasure to answer 
 it at length, it is not in my power to write you but a few words. 
 Jeremiah G. Anderson was fighting bravely by my side at Harper's 
 Ferry up to the moment when I fell wounded, and I took no further 
 notice of what passed for a little time. 1 I have since been told that 
 
 1 At this point may be introduced the letter of an eye-witness of what 
 happened during this "little time," when the hero had swooned from loss 
 of blood and pain, and was believed to be dead. Mr. Tayleure, a South 
 Carolinian, wrote thus to John Brown, Jr., six years ago: 
 
 864 BROADWAY, NEW YORK, June 15, 1879. 
 
 DEAR SIR, Duty took me to Harper's Ferry at the time of the raid in 1859 (I was 
 then connected Avith the Baltimore Press), arid by chance I was brought into close per 
 sonal contact with both your father and your brother Watson. After the assault I 
 assisted your father to rise, as he stumbled forward out of the historic engine-house ; 
 and was able to administer to your brother, just before he died, some physical comfort, 
 which won me his thanks. Subsequent to the capture of the party, I accompanied 
 Captain J. E. B. Stuart and the battalion he commanded to the Kennedy farm ; and 
 there, by another strange chance, I came into possession of a number of papers belong 
 ing to your father. These I afterwards delivered to Governor Wise, upon his requisition" 5 ; 
 but there yet remains in my possession an old manifold letter-writer which belonged to 
 your father. In this are several letters, in his handwriting, entitled " Sambo's Mis 
 takes," written, apparently, for publication, and addressed "To the Editor of the 
 ' Ramshorn.' " They contain a satirical summing up, related in the first person, of the 
 mistakes and weaknesses common to the colored people. This book, together with a 
 common carpet-bag, a red and white check blanket, a rifle, pistol, and pike, all of 
 which I found at the Kennedy house, I kept, and yet have, I think, as mementos of 
 that tragic affair. Two or three years ago I read in one of the magazines Owen Brown's 
 relation of his escape from the Ferry, and was minded to supplement it with my narra 
 tive of the capture and its incidents, but the many demands upon my time prevented 
 my doing so. 
 
 I am a South Carolinian, and at the time of the raid was very deeply imbued with 
 the political prejudices of my State ; but the serenity, calm courage, and devotion to 
 duty which your father and his followers then manifested impressed me very pro 
 foundly. It is impossible not to feel respect for men who offer up their lives in support 
 of their convictions ; and the earnestness of my respect I put upon record in a Balti 
 more paper the day succeeding the event. I gave your brother a cup of water to quench 
 his thirst (this was at about 7.30 on the morning of the capture), and improvised a 
 couch for him out of a bench, with a pair of overalls for a pillow. I remember how he 
 looked, singularly handsoine, even through the grime of his all-day struggles, and the 
 
612 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 he was mortally wounded at the same moment, and died in a short 
 time afterwards. I believe this information is correct ; but I have 
 no means of knowing from any acquaintances, not being allowed in 
 tercourse with other prisoners, except one. The same is true as to 
 the death of one of my own sons. I have no doubt but both are 
 dead. Your friend ; JOHN BROWN. 
 
 CHARLESTOWN, JEFFERSON COUNTY, VA., Nov. 29, 1859. 
 S. E. SEWALL, ESQ., Boston. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, Your most kind letter of the 24th instant is re 
 ceived. It does indeed give me " pleasure " and the greatest encour 
 agement 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 God of the oppressed and the poor in great mercy 
 remember all those to whom we are so deeply indebted ! 
 
 Farewell ! Your friend, JOHN BROWN. 
 
 CHARLESTOWN, VA., Nov. 30, 1859. 
 DR. THOS. H. WEBB, Boston. 1 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, I would most gladly comply with your request 
 most kindly made in your letter of the 26th inst., but it came too 
 late. It is out of iny power. Farewell : God bless you ! 
 
 Your friend, JOHN BROWN. 
 
 intense suffering which he must have endured. He was very calm, and of a tone and 
 look very gentle. The look with which he searched my very heart I can never forget. 
 One sentence of our conversation will give you the key-note to the whole. I asked him, 
 " What brought you here? " He replied, very patiently, "Duty, sir." After a pause, I 
 again asked : " Is it then your idea of duty to shoot men down upon their own hearth 
 stones for defending their rights? " He answered : '.' I am dying ; I cannot discuss the. 
 question ; I did my duty, as I saw it." This conversation occurred in the compartment 
 of the engine-house adjoining that in which the defence had been made, and was lis 
 tened to by young Coppoo with perfect equanimity, and by Shields Green with uncon 
 trollable terror. 
 
 I met at Pittsburg, some years ago, Mr. Richard Realf (if that is the name ; he was 
 connected with the "Commercial" of that city) ; and on relating my experience, he not 
 only expressed much interest in it, but said he thought the surviving members of John 
 Brown's family would be gratified to hear what I had to tell. 'T is in remembrance of 
 Colonel Realf that I obey the impulse to write you now. I do so with deep earnestness 
 and with respect. The war, in which I took part on the Southern side, eradicated 
 many errors of political opinion, and gave growth to many established truths not then 
 recognized. I have, for my own part, no regrets for my humble share in the revolt ; but 
 I have now to say, that I firmly believe the war was ordained of God for the extermina 
 tion of slavery ; and that your father was an elected instrument for the commencement 
 of that good work. I am, sir, with respect. 
 
 Yours truly, C. W. TAYLEURE. 
 
 1 This note refers to the publication of a photograph of Brown, for the 
 benefit of his family, the same mentioned in the letter to T. Hyatt. 
 
1859.] JOHN BROWN IN PRISON. 613 
 
 John Brown's Last Letter to his Family. 
 
 CHAELESTOWN PKISON, JEFFERSON COUNTY, VA., 
 Nov. 30, 1859. 
 
 MY DEARLY BELOVED WlFE, SONS, AND DAUGHTERS, EVERY 
 
 ONE, As I now begin probably what is 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 another place. 
 
 I recently received a letter from my wife, from near Philadelphia, 
 dated November 22, by which it would seem that she was about 
 giving up the idea of seeing me again. I had written 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 
 1 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 she will in the end be 
 satisfied it was for the best at least, if not most for her comfort. 
 
 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 merciful 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 circumstances, even those more severely trying ones 
 in 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 success. 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 confi 
 dence in the certain and near approach of a bright morning and glo 
 rious day than I have felt, and do now feel, since my confinement 
 here. I am endeavoring 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. 
 
 Oh, 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 
 
614 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 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 im 
 agine how much you may soon need the consolations of the Christian 
 religion. Circumstances like my own for more than a month past 
 have convinced me, beyond all doubt, of my own great need of some 
 theories treasured up, when our prejudices are excited, our vanity 
 worked up to the highest pitch. Oh, 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 reason. 
 
 My dear young children, will you listen to this last poor admoni 
 tion of one who can only love you? Oh, 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 thoughtless, 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 con 
 sciousness that your life and example bless and leave others stronger. 
 Still, it is ground of the utmost comfort to rny 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 in 
 spiration of the Bible, notwithstanding I 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 everywhere 
 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 conviction 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 endea 
 voring to leave a valuable copy of the Bible, to be carefully preserved 
 in remembrance 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 
 
1859.] JOHN BROWN IN PRISON. 615 
 
 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 anything, 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 for ever 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. 
 
 CHARLESTOWN, JEFFERSON- COUNTY, VA., Nov. 30, 1859. 
 
 MRS. MARY GALE (or the writer of the writing). 1 
 
 DEAR FRIEND, I have only time to give you the names of those 
 that I know were killed of my company at Harper's Ferry, or that 
 are said to have been killed ; namely, two Thompsons, two Browns, 
 J. Anderson, J. H. Kagi, Stewart Taylor, A. Hazlett, W. H. Leman, 
 and three colored men. Would most gladly give you further infor 
 mation had I the time and ability. 
 
 Your friend, 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 CHARLESTOWN PRISON, JEFFERSON COUNTY, VA., 
 
 Dec. 1, 1859. 
 To MR. JAMES FOREMAN. 2 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEND, I have only time to say I got your kind 
 letter of the 26th of November this evening. Am very grateful for 
 all the good feelings 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 in 
 finite 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. 
 
 1 "Written to the sister of Charles Plummer Tidd, one of those who 
 escaped with Owen Brown. 
 
 2 A former apprentice when Brown was a tanner in Pennsylvania. 
 
616 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 On the day before his death, when with his wife, the 
 conversation turned upon matters of business, which Brown 
 desired to have arranged after his death. He gave his wife 
 all the letters and papers needed for this purpose, and read 
 to her the will which had been drawn up for him by Mr. 
 Hunter, carefully explaining every portion of it. 
 
 JOHN BROWN'S WILL. 
 
 CHARLESTOWN, JEFFERSON COUNTY, VA., Dec. 1, 1859. 
 
 I give to 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. Y., to receive upon its two sides a further in 
 scription, 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 $50 in cash, 
 to be paid him from the proceeds of my father's estate, in consider 
 ation of his terrible suffering in Kansas and his crippled condition 
 from his childhood. 
 
 I give to my son Salmon Brown $50 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, 
 as good a copy of the Bible as can be purchased at some bookstore 
 in New York or Boston, at a cost of $5 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 $3 each. 
 
 All the Bibles to be purchased at one and the same time for cash, 
 on the best terms. 
 
 I desire to have $50 each paid out of the final proceeds of my 
 father's estate to the following named persons, to wit : To Allan 
 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, $50 to Silas 
 
1859.] JOHN BROWN IN PRISON. 617 
 
 Havens, formerly of Lewisburg, Summit County, Ohio, if he can be 
 found. Also, $50 to a man of Stark County, Ohio, at Canton, who 
 sued my father in his lifetime, through Judge Humphrey and Mr. 
 Upsou 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 Munro- 
 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 Oliver 
 Brown, by my brother. JOHN BROWN. 
 
 JOHN Avis, Witness. 
 
 CODICIL. 
 
 CHARLESTOWN, JEFFERSON COUNTY, VA., Dec. 2, 1859. 
 
 It is my desire that my wife have all my personal property not 
 previously disposed of by me j and the entire use of all my lauded 
 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 j 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 ; arid 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). 
 No 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 the end ! 
 
 Your affectionate husband, JOHN BROWN. 
 
 This was undoubtedly the last work of the old hero with 
 his pen. He had previously given directions for an in 
 scription on his tombstone, and now sent his wife this paper, 
 which was brought to Mrs. Brown after the execution : 
 
 TO BE INSCRIBED ON THE OLD FAMILY MONUMENT AT NORTH ELBA. 
 
 OLIVER BROWN, born , 1839, was killed at Harper's Ferry, Va., 
 
 Oct. 17, 1859. 
 
 WATSON BROWN, born , 1835, was wounded at Harper's Ferry, 
 
 Oct. 17, and died Oct. 19, 1859. 
 
 (My wife can fill up the blank dates as above.) 
 
 JOHN BROWN, born May 9, 1800, was executed at Charlestown, Va., 
 
 Dec. 2, 1859. 
 
618 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 Brown's frequent mention in these letters of his oppor 
 tunity to do good by preaching the truth to men who came 
 to see him out of curiosity, or to labor with him for his sins, 
 demands some explanation. Although fettered and guarded 
 as no man had ever been in Virginia since the capture of 
 John Smith by Powhatan and his Indians, John Brown was 
 visited by the sachems and priests of the tribe then domi 
 nant in Powhatan's country, and by many good men who 
 were moved by his courage and fidelity. To such persons 
 Brown applied his touchstone of sincerity, and treated them 
 as their character deserved, whatever their opinions. He 
 was, of course, often visited by Virginia clergymen and 
 itinerant preachers, desirous of praying with him and of 
 converting him from his errors. One of these afterward 
 said that when he offered to pray with Brown the old man 
 asked if he was willing to fight, in case of need, for the free 
 dom of the slaves. Receiving a negative reply, Brown said : 
 u I will thank you to leave me alone ; your prayers would 
 be an abomination to my God.' 7 To another he said that he 
 " would not insult God by bowing down in prayer with any 
 one who had the blood of the slave on his skirts." A Meth 
 odist preacher named March having argued to Brown in 
 his cell in favor of slavery as " a Christian institution," his 
 hearer grew impatient and replied : " My dear sir, you know 
 nothing about Christianity ; you will have to learn its A, 
 B, C ; I find you quite ignorant of what the word Chris 
 tianity means." Seeing that his visitor was disconcerted by 
 such plain speaking, Brown added, " T respect you as a gen 
 tleman, of course j but it is as a heathen gentleman." 1 To 
 
 1 This "heathen gentleman" seems to have left a successor at Charles- 
 town, the Presbyterian minister there in 1882, Abner C. Hopkins by 
 name, who in that year wrote to the English author Thomas Hughes, cor 
 recting certain errors of fact concerning Brown, and then adding, ex mero 
 motu, and by way of certifying his own Christian spirit : 
 
 " We know, and records prove, that John Brown, after full and fair trial before the 
 proper civil tribunal, was duly convicted of murders, including a negro slave's. . . . 
 The very copy of the Bible, owned and used by him in jail here, lies before me. Its 
 passages touching 'oppression,' etc. , are heavily and frequently pencilled, but no pencil 
 mark distinguishes or emphasizes a single passage that is distinctively Christian. He was 
 religious, but not Christian; religion was the crutch on which his fanaticism walked. 
 It was the ' higher law ' religion, under whose baleful influence many tears have been 
 wrung from the innocent, and the buttresses of governments have fairly crumbled, and 
 
1859.] JOHN BROWN IN PRISON. 619 
 
 a lady who visited him in prison he said : "I do not believe 
 I shall deny my Lord and Master Jesus Christ, as I should 
 if I denied my principles against slavery. Why, I preach 
 against it all the time ; Captain Avis knows I do ; " whereat 
 his jailer smiled and said, "Yes." A citizen of Charles- 
 town, named Blessing, had dressed Brown's wounds while 
 in prison, and had shown him other kind attentions, for 
 which Brown, who was very scrupulous about acknowledg 
 ing and returning favors, desired to make him some acknowl 
 edgment. On one of the last days of November, therefore, 
 in the last week of his life, Brown sent for Mr. Blessing, 
 and asked him to accept his pocket Bible as a token of grat 
 itude. In this book, which was a cheap edition in small 
 print, much worn by use, Brown had marked many hundred 
 passages bearing witness more or less directly against hu 
 man slavery, by turning down the corner of a page and by 
 heavy pencillings in the margin. On the fly-leaf he had 
 written this : 
 
 To JOHN F. BLESSING, of Charlestown, Va., 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, childlike, 
 and teachable spirit. 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 CHARLESTOWN, Nov. 29, 1859. 
 
 He had written his own name as owner of the book on 
 the opposite page, and immediately following it was this 
 inscription : 
 
 the order and stability of society have been made to tremble on your continent and ours. 
 It has found further development in assassinations, of the Czar in Russia, of the Em 
 peror in Germany, of your own Lord Lieutenant and Secretary in Ireland, and of our 
 own President. There are many points of resemblance between the behavior of John 
 Brown and Guiteau ;-both claimed to be 'God's man,' to be doing God's work, to be 
 receiving strength from God ; and Guiteau exceeded Brown in the resolution with 
 which he met death." 
 
 "New Presbyter is but old priest writ large." I will venture to call 
 this priest's attention to one or two passages " distinctively Christian." 
 "But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they 
 should ask Barabbas and destroy Jesus." Matt, xxvii. 20. " Then cried 
 they all again, saying, Not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a 
 robber." John xviii. 40. 
 
620 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 " The leaves were turned down by him while in prison at Charles- 
 town. But a small part of those passages which in the most positive 
 language condemn oppression and violence are marked." 
 
 Possibly the very last paper written by John Brown was 
 this sentence, which he handed to one of his guards in the 
 jail on the morning of his execution : 
 
 CHARLESTOWN, VA., Dec. 2, 1859. 
 
 I. John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty 
 land will never be purged away but with Itlood. I had, as I now 
 think vainly, flattered myself that without very much bloodshed it 
 might be done. 
 
 "Without the shedding of blood there is no remission 
 of sins." This was John Brown's old-fashioned theology, 
 which the nation was so soon to verify by a fierce but salu 
 tary civil war. In my earliest serious conversation with 
 him, in January, 1857, when he assured me that Christ's 
 Golden Rule and Jefferson's Declaration meant the same 
 thing, he said further : "I have always been delighted with 
 the doctrine that all men are created equal; and to my 
 mind it is like the Saviour's command, f Thou shalt love thy 
 neighbor as thyself,' for how can we do that unless our 
 neighbor is equal to ourself ? That is the doctrine, sir ; and 
 rather than have that fail in the world, or in these States, 
 7 t would be better for a whole generation to die a violent 
 death. Better that heaven and earth pass away than that 
 one jot or one tittle of this be not fulfilled." Such was the 
 faith in which he died. 
 
1859.] DEATH AND CHARACTER OF JOHN BROWN. 621 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 THE DEATH AND CHARACTER OF JOHN BROWN. 
 
 prison-life of Brown may be inferred from his let- 
 ters ; but there were sayings of his, during the month 
 between his sentence and its execution, which have been 
 reported by those who talked with him in his fetters. To 
 Mrs. Spring, of New York, who obtained admission to his 
 cell November 6. he said : " I do not now reproach myself 
 for my failure ; I did what I could. I think I cannot 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. The sentence 
 they have pronounced against me does not disturb me in the 
 least ; this is not the first time I have looked death in the 
 face. I sleep as peacefully as an infant ; or if I am wake 
 ful, glorious thoughts come to me, entertaining my mind. I 
 do not believe I shall deny my Lord and Master Jesus 
 Christ, in this prison or on the scaffold ; but I should do so if 
 I denied my principles against slavery. I have been trained 
 to hardships," added Brown, "but I have one unconquerable 
 weakness ; I have always been more afraid of going into an 
 evening party of ladies and gentlemen than of meeting a 
 company of men with guns." An old Pennsylvania neigh 
 bor, Mr. Lowry, was permitted to see him in prison, and 
 asked him about his Kansas campaigns. " Time and the 
 honest verdict of posterity," said Brown, " will approve 
 every act of mine to prevent slavery from being established 
 in Kansas. I never shed the blood of a fellow-man, except 
 in self-defence, or in promotion of a righteous cause." Dur 
 ing this conversation Governor Wise was reviewing the Vir 
 ginia militia near the prison, and the drums and trumpets 
 made a great noise. His friend said : " Does this martial 
 music annoy you ? " " Not in the least," said Brown, " it is 
 
622 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 inspiring. 1 Tell my friends without that I am cheerful." 2 
 A son of Governor Wise soon after accompanied a Virginia 
 colonel to Brown's cell, when the colonel asked him if he 
 desired the presence of a clergyman to give him "the con 
 solations of religion." Brown repeated what he had said to 
 the Methodists, that he did not recognize as Christians 
 any slaveholders or defenders of slavery, lay or clerical ; add 
 ing that he would as soon be attended to the scaffold by 
 " blacklegs" or robbers of the worst kind as by slaveholding 
 ministers ; if he had his choice he would rather be followed 
 to his " public murder," as he termed his execution, by 
 " barefooted, barelegged, ragged slave children and their 
 old gray -headed slave mother," than by such clergymen. " I 
 should feel much prouder of such an escort," he said, " and 
 I wish I could have it." From this saying of his, several 
 times repeated, no doubt arose the legend, that on his way 
 to the gallows he took up a little slave-child, kissed it, and 
 gave it back to its mother's arms. 8 On the same day with 
 this interview, Brown was again questioned concerning the 
 Pottawatomie executions, and said, as he uniformly had done 
 since that deed, " I did not kill any of those men, but T 
 
 i " Virginia," said Wendell Phillips at Brooklyn, while Brown lay in 
 prison, "is only another Algiers. The barbarous horde who gag each 
 other, imprison women for teaching children to read, prohibit the Bible, 
 sell men on the auction-block, abolish marriage, condemn half their wo 
 men to prostitution, and devote themselves to the breeding of human 
 beings for sale, is only a larger and blacker Algiers. The only prayer of 
 a true man for such is, ' Gracious heaven ! unless they repent, send soon 
 their Exmouth and Decatur.' " It was not long till Grant and Sheridan. 
 2 " A music heard by thee alone 
 To works as noble led thee on." 
 
 EMERSON'S Threnody. 
 
 3 It was physically impossible that this should have happened, for before 
 Brown left the jail his hands were fastened behind his back, as usual with 
 condemned criminals. His jailer, Avis, now dead, testified April 25, 1882, 
 thus : " Brown was between Sheriff Campbell and me, and a guard of sol 
 diers surrounded him and allowed no person to come between them and the 
 prisoner, from the jail to the scaffold, except his escorts. . . . The only 
 thing that he said at or on the scaffold was to take leave of us, and then, 
 just about the time the noose was adjusted, he said, ' Be quick.' I did 
 not think his bearing on the scaffold was conspicuous for its heroism, yet 
 not cowardly." 
 
1859.] DEATH AND CHARACTER OF JOHN BROWN. 623 
 
 approved of their killing." He expressed pleasure that his 
 body was ordered by Governor Wise to be delivered to his 
 wife for burial at North Elba, and requested his jailer to 
 assist Mrs. Brown, not only in this, but in getting together 
 the remains of his sons and the other farmers of North 
 Elba who had been slain at Harper's Ferry, for burial with 
 him, expressing the wish that their bodies should be 
 burned, and the bones and ashes conveyed to his Adirondac 
 home. 1 In regard to his own rescue from prison he had 
 previously said : " I doubt if I ought to encourage any 
 attempt to save my life. I may be wrong, but I think that 
 my great object will be nearer its accomplishment by my 
 death than by my life. I must give some thought to this." 
 Having reflected on it, he said a few days before his death : 
 " I am sure my sons cannot look forward to my fate with 
 out some effort to rescue me ; but this only in case I am 
 allowed to remain in prison for some time with no more 
 than ordinary precautions against escape. No such attempt 
 will be made in view of the large military force now upon 
 guard." In fact, he had intimated to his friends that he 
 did not wish to be rescued, 2 and it soon became evident to 
 all, as it was directly revealed to Brown, that his death, 
 like Samson's, was to be his last and greatest victory. 
 
 1 He did not make this suggestion in regard to his own remains, but 
 only of those who had then been dead six weeks ; nor did he suggest it to 
 Mrs. Brown at all, as she told me in 1882. She added that the published 
 account of her interview with her husband the day before his death was 
 incorrect. 
 
 2 I was in daily communication with Brown's friends during November, 
 and learned this with certainty. Mr. Emerson proposed that some gentle 
 men from the North should visit Governor Wise, and urge upon him the 
 reprieve of Brown, and Mr. Alcott offered to go on this errand. On the 
 10th of November I answered Mr. Emerson's suggestion thus : 
 
 " There is hope in every effort to save Brown, but not much, as it would 
 seem, in the representations of a private gentleman to Governor Wise, who 
 is in this matter the servant of others. It is the Bellua multorum capitum 
 of Virginia that will execute the sentence if it is done ; and that is perhaps 
 implacable. Escape, difficult as it seems, is probably Brown's best chance 
 for life. If a reprieve, or an arrest of judgment for another month were 
 possible, a rescue would not be so hard to manage. Brown's heroic char 
 acter is having its influence on his keepers, as we learn; but at present he 
 does not wish to escape." 
 
624 LIFE AND LETTEKS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 " Living or dying, tliou liast fulfilled 
 The work for which thou wast foretold 
 To Israel, and now liest victorious 
 Among thy slain, self-killed, 
 Not willingly, but tangled in the fold 
 Of dire necessity ; whose law in death conjoined 
 Thee with thy slaughtered foes, in number more 
 Than all thy life had slain before." 
 
 It was perhaps through the Russells, of Boston, the first 
 of his personal friends to visit him, that we learned his in 
 tuition concerning a rescue. Judge Russell and his wife 
 hastened from Boston as soon as it seemed expedient for 
 any of his Antislavery associates to attempt the difficult 
 task of an interview with Brown, the former going to 
 counsel with him as a lawyer in his defence, and Mrs. Rus 
 sell, with a woman's instinct, joining in this journey. She 
 took her needle with her, mended his torn and cut gar 
 ments, sent the guard out of the room for a clothes-brush, 
 and exchanged a few words privately with the martyr. Of 
 this visit Judge Russell says : 
 
 " I was just in time to hear the sentence of death pronounced on 
 Brown, and to hear that magnificent speech in which, instead of as 
 suming that his hearers were Christians, and arguing on that basis, 
 he said : ' I see a book kissed here which I suppose to be the Bible, 
 or at least the New Testament,' from which he inferred that Chris 
 tianity was not quite unknown. I then went with Mrs. Russell to 
 see him in the jail, and found him in the best of spirits. He said : 
 1 1 have no fault to find with the manner of my death ; the disgrace 
 of hanging does not trouble me in the least. Indeed, I know that 
 the very errors by which rny scheme was marred were decreed be 
 fore the world was made. I had no more to do with the course I 
 pursued than a shot leaving a cannon has to do with the spot where 
 it shall fall.' He was satisfied with what he had done." 
 
 I pass over the farewell between Brown and his wife the 
 day before his death ; it was simple and heroic, in keeping 
 with the character of both. They supped with the jailer in 
 his own apartment ; and thus, perhaps for the first time, 
 the condemned man was allowed to leave his cell, after sen 
 tence and before the day of execution. Upon that morn 
 ing, Dec. 2, 1859, he was led from his cell to say farewell 
 
1859.] DEATH AND CHARACTER OF JOHN BROWN. 625 
 
 to his companions. Copeland and Shields Green were con 
 fined together ; Cook and Coppoc were in another cell, and 
 Stephens by himself. To the two faithful colored men 
 Brown said : " Stand up like men, and do not betray your 
 friends ! " To Cook, who had made a confession, Brown 
 said : " You have made false statements, that I sent you 
 to Harper's Ferry : you knew I protested against your com 
 ing." Cook demurred, but dropped his head, and replied at 
 last, " Captain Brown, you and I remember differently." 
 To Coppoc, Brown said : " You also made false statements, 
 but I am glad to hear you have contradicted them. Stand 
 up like a man ! " He shook the hands of all, and gave to 
 each a small silver coin for remembrance. With Stephens 
 his interview was more intimate ; for he had greatly relied 
 on this stout soldier. " Good by, Captain," said Stephens ; 
 " I know you are going to a better land." " I know I am," 
 was the reply ; " bear up, as you have done, and never be 
 tray your friends." Brown would not visit the sixth pris 
 oner, Hazlett, always persisting that he did not know 
 such a man. 1 
 
 Meantime the soldiers of Virginia, more than two thou 
 sand in number, were mustered in the field where the gal 
 lows had been erected, with cannon and cavalry, and all the 
 pomp of war. At eleven o'clock Brown came forth from 
 his prison, walking firmly and cheerfully, and mounted the 
 wagon which was to carry him to the scaffold. He sat be 
 side his jailer, and cast his eyes over the town, the soldiery, 
 the near fields, and the distant hills, behind which rose the 
 mountains of the Blue Ridge. He glanced at the sun and 
 sky, taking his leave of earth, and said to his companions : 
 " This is a beautiful country ; I have not cast my eyes over 
 it before, that is, in this direction." Reaching the scaf 
 fold, he ascended the steps, and was the first to stand upon 
 it, erect and calm, and with a smile on his face. With 
 his pinioned hands he took off his hat, cast it on the scaf 
 fold beside him, and thanked his jailer again for his kindness, 
 
 1 One of Brown's prison guards says : " He was a brave man, and had 
 the utmost contempt for a coward. He did not seem to care what became 
 of him after the capture, but his whole mind seemed to be bent on saving 
 the men who were taken with him ; and he pretended not to know them." 
 
 40 
 
626 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 submitting quietly to be closer pinioned and to have the 
 cap drawn over his eyes and the rope adjusted to his neck. 
 " I can't see, gentlemen," said he ; " you must lead me ; " 
 and he was placed on the drop of the gallows. " I am ready 
 at anytime, do not keep me waiting," were his last re 
 ported words. No dying speech was permitted to him, nor 
 were the citizens allowed to approach the scaffold, which was 
 surrounded only by militia. 1 He desired to make 110 speech, 
 but only to endure his fate with dignity and in silence. 
 The ceremonies of his public murder were duly performed ; 
 and when his body had swung for nearly an hour on the 
 gibbet, in sight of earth and heaven, for a witness against 
 our nation, it was lowered to its coffin and delivered to his 
 widow, who received and accompanied it through shud 
 dering cities to the forest hillside where it lies buried. 
 The most eloquent lips in America pronounced his funeral 
 eulogy beside this grave ; while in hundreds of cities and 
 villages his death was sadly commemorated. The Civil 
 War followed hard upon his execution ; and the place of his 
 capture and death became the frequent battle-ground of the 
 fratricidal armies. Not until freedom was declared, and 
 the slaves liberated as Brown had planned, by force, 
 was victory assured to the cause of the country. 
 
 I knew John Brown well. He was what all his speeches, 
 letters, and actions avouch him, a simple, brave, heroic 
 person, incapable of anything selfish or base. But above 
 and beyond these personal qualities, he was what we may 
 best term a historic character ; that is, he had, like Cromwell, 
 a certain predestined relation to the political crisis of his 
 time, for which his character fitted him, and which, had he 
 striven against it, he could not avoid. Like Cromwell and 
 all the great Calvinists, he was an unquestioning believer in 
 God's fore-ordination and the divine guidance of human 
 
 1 Among the Virginia militia, pompously parading, who surrounded the 
 scaffold, was John Wilkes Booth (afterward the assassin of Abraham Lin 
 coln), who was then an actor at Richmond, and left his theatre to join Com 
 pany F from that city. This fact is given by the Virginia correspondent 
 of the "New York Tribune," Nov. 28, 1859. Booth assisted, therefore, 
 at the two chief murders of his time, " Washington slaying Spartacus," 
 as Victor Hugo said, and Sicarius slaying the second Washington. 
 
1859.] DEATH AND CHARACTER OF JOHN BROWN. 627 
 
 affairs. Of course, he could not rank with Cromwell or with 
 many inferior men in leadership ; but in this God-appointed, 
 inflexible devotion to his object in life he was inferior to no 
 man ; and he rose in fame far above more gifted persons be 
 cause of this very fixedness and simplicity of character. 
 His renown is secure. 
 
 A few words may be given to the personal traits of this 
 hero. When I first saw him, he was in his fifty-seventh 
 year, and though touched with age and its infirmities, was 
 still vigorous and active, and of an aspect which would have 
 made him distinguished anywhere among men who know 
 how to recognize courage and greatness of mind. At that 
 time he was close shaven, and no flowing beard, as in later 
 years, softened the expression of his firm wide mouth and 
 positive chin. That beard, long and gray, which nearly all 
 his portraits now show, added a picturesque finish to a face 
 that was in all its features severe and masculine, yet with a 
 latent tenderness. His eyes were those of an eagle, 
 piercing blue-gray in color, not very large, looking out from 
 under brows 
 
 "Of dauntless courage and considerate pride," 
 
 and were alternately flashing with energy, or drooping and 
 hooded like the eyes of an eagle. His hair was dark-brown, 
 sprinkled with gray, short and bristling, and shooting back 
 from a forehead of middle height and breadth ; his nose was 
 aquiline ; his ears large ; his frame angular ; his voice deep 
 and metallic ; his walk positive and intrepid, though com 
 monly slow. His manner was modest, and in a large com 
 pany diffident ; he was by no means fluent of speech, but 
 his words were always to the point, and his observations 
 original, direct, and shrewd. His mien was serious and 
 patient rather than cheerful ; it betokened the " sad wise 
 valor " which Herbert praises ; but though earnest and often 
 anxious, it was never depressed. In short, he was then, to 
 the eye of insight, what he afterward seemed to the world, 
 a brave and resolved man, conscious of a work laid upon 
 him. and confident that he should accomplish it. His 
 figure was tall, slender, and commanding; his bearing 
 military ; and his garb showed a singular blending of the 
 
628 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 soldier and the deacon. He had laid aside in Chicago 
 the torn and faded summer garments which he wore 
 throughout his Kansas campaign, and I saw him at one 
 of those rare periods in his life when his clothes were 
 new. He wore a complete suit of brown broadcloth or ker 
 seymere, cut in the fashion of a dozen years before, and 
 giving him the air of a respectable deacon in a rural parish. 
 But instead of a collar he had on a high stock of patent 
 leather, such as soldiers used to wear, a gray military over 
 coat with a cape, and a fur cap. He was, in fact, a Puritan 
 soldier, such as were common in Cromwell's day, though not 
 often seen since. Yet his heart was averse to bloodshed, 
 gentle, tender, and devout. 
 
 Mr. Leonard, already quoted, who knew him at the age 
 of fifty, says : 
 
 11 It is almost impossible to convey by writing his appearance. I 
 can see it plainly, that firm, decided set of the mouth, a certain 
 nervous twitch of the head ; but the flash of his eye, who can de 
 scribe it ? It spoke the soul of the man, and carried conviction to 
 every one that he was in thorough earnest. In Kedpath's ' Life ' 
 there is a good engraving of the old man, when he had drawn him 
 self up into his lofty look, which he sometimes did ; but generally 
 he carried his head pitched forward and a little down, and shoved his 
 right shoulder forward in walking. And he could look pleasant, 
 as I have witnessed many a time, when I have been bantering him 
 about something." 
 
 Frederick Douglass says : 
 
 " In person he was lean, strong, and sinewy ; of the best New 
 England mould, built for times of trouble, fitted to grapple with the 
 flintiest hardships. Clad in plain American woollen, shod in boots of 
 cowhide leather, and wearing a cravat of the same substantial mate 
 rial; under six feet high, less than a hundred and fifty pounds in 
 weight, aged about fifty, he presented a figure straight and sym 
 metrical as a mountain pine. His bearing was singularly impres 
 sive. His head was not large, but compact and high. His hair was 
 coarse, strong, slightly gray, and closely trimmed, and grew low on 
 his forehead. His face was smoothly shaved, and revealed a strong 
 square mouth, supported by a broad and prominent chin. His eyes 
 were bluish gray, and in conversation they were full of light and 
 fire. When on the street, he moved with a long, springing, race- 
 
1859.] DEATH AND CHARACTER OF JOHN BROWN. 629 
 
 horse step, absorbed by his own reflections, neither seeking nor 
 shunning observation." 
 
 Such were his outward traits and belongings. The in 
 ward man was of singular faith and constancy. Of his last 
 few months in life Mr. Wilder speaks thus : 
 
 " Think of the slow movement to the Kennedy farm, the mystery, 
 the anxiety about money, the opposition of Douglass, the resignation 
 of his leadership by Brown, bad health, in that most dispiriting 
 of all diseases, the ague, and yet the man goes forward ! What 
 courage, what faith ! Common men live for years in despair, with 
 only ordinary bad luck to contend with ; but here is a man abso 
 lutely alone, exiled from family, among hostile strangers, where bar 
 barism is made popular by law and by fashion, yet never in de 
 spair. Why this contrast ? He believed in God and justice, and in 
 nothing else ; we believe in everything else, but not in God." 
 
 It is easy now to perceive the true mission of Brown, and 
 to measure the force of the avalanche set in motion by him. 
 But to the vision of genius and the illuminated moral sense 
 this was equally perceptible in 1859-60 j and it was declared, 
 in words already cited, by Emerson, Alcott, and Thoreau. 
 No less clearly and prophetically was it declared by Victor 
 Hugo, and by the saintly pastor of Wayland, Edmond Sears. 
 On the day of Brown's execution, and in the midst of the 
 funeral services we were holding at Concord, Mr. Sears, who 
 had made the opening prayer, wrote these lines in the Town 
 Hall, 1 where Brown had twice addressed the sons of those 
 yeomen who fought at Concord Bridge : 
 
 " Not any spot six feet by two 
 
 Will hold a man like thee ; 
 John Brown will tramp the shaking earth 
 
 From Blue Ridge to the sea, 
 Till the strong angel come at last 
 
 And opes each dungeon door, 
 And God's Great Charter holds and waves 
 
 O'er all his humble poor. 
 
 1 Mr. Alcott's Diary (Dec. 2, 1859) says : " Ellen Emerson sends me 
 her fair copy of the Martyr Service. At 2 P. M. we meet at the Town Hall, 
 our own townspeople present mostly, and many from the adjoining towns. 
 Simon Brown is chairman ; the readings are by Thoreau, Emerson, C. 
 Bowers, and Alcott ; and Sanborn's * Dirge ' is sung by the company, 
 
630 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 "And then the humble poor will come 
 
 In that far-distant day, 
 And from the felon's nameless grave 
 
 They '11 brush the leaves away ; 
 And gray old men will point the spot 
 
 Beneath the pine-tree shade, 
 As children ask with streaming eyes 
 
 Where Old John Brown is laid." 
 
 On the same day, from his place of exile in Guernsey, 
 Victor Hugo thus addressed the American republic : 
 
 " At the thought of the United States of America, a majestic form 
 rises in the miiid, Washington. In this country of Washington 
 what is now taking place ? There are slaves in the South ; and this 
 most monstrous of inconsistencies offends the logical conscience of 
 the North. To free these black slaves, John Brown, a white man, a 
 free man, began the work of their deliverance in Virginia. A Puri 
 tan, austerely religious, inspired by the evangel, l Christ hath set 
 us free/ he raised the cry of emancipation. But the slaves, unmanned 
 by servitude, made no response; for slavery stops the ears of the 
 soul. John Brown, thus left alone, began the contest. With a hand 
 ful of heroic men he kept up the fight j riddled with bullets, his two 
 youngest sons, sacred martyrs, falling at his side, he was at last 
 captured. His trial ? It took place, not in Turkey, but in America. 
 Such things are not done with impunity under the eyes of the civil 
 ized world. The conscience of mankind is an open eye ; let the 
 court at Charlestown understand Hunter and Parker, the slave- 
 holding jurymen, the whole population of Virginia that they are 
 watched. This has not been done in a corner. John Brown, con 
 demned to death, is to be hanged to-day. His hangman is not the 
 attorney Hunter, nor the judge Parker, nor Governor Wise, nor the 
 little State of Virginia, his hangman (we shudder to think it and 
 say it !) is the whole American republic. . . . Politically speaking, 
 the murder of Brown will be an irrevocable mistake. It will deal 
 the Union a concealed wound, which will finally sunder the States. 
 Let America know and consider that there is one thing more shock 
 ing than Cain killing Abel, it is Washington killing Spartacus." 
 
 standing. The bells are not rung. I think not more than one or two of 
 Brown's friends wished them to be ; I did not. It was more fitting to 
 signify our sorrow in the subdued way, and silently, than by any clamor 
 of steeples or the awakening of angry feelings or any conflict, as needless 
 as unamiable, between neighbors. The services are affecting and impres 
 sive, distinguished by modesty, simplicity, and earnestness, worthy alike 
 of the occasion and of the man." 
 
1859.] DEATH AND CHARACTER OF JOHN BROWN. 631 
 
 A few months later (March 30, 1860) Victor Hugo wrote 
 again : 
 
 u Slavery in all its forms will disappear. What the South slew 
 last December was not John Brown, but Slavery. Henceforth, no 
 matter what President Buchanan may say in his shameful message, 
 the American Union must be considered dissolved. Between the 
 North and the South stands the gallows of Brown. Union is no 
 longer possible : such a crime cannot be shared." 
 
 Again, upon the triumph of Garibaldi in Sicily, Victor 
 Hugo said (June 18, 1860) : - 
 
 " Grand are the liberators of mankind ! Let them hear the grate 
 ful applause of the nations, whatever their fortune ! Yesterday we 
 gave our tears ; to-day our hosannas are heard. Providence deals in 
 these compensations. John Brown failed in America, but Garibaldi 
 has triumphed in Europe. Mankind, shuddering at the infamous 
 gallows of Charlestown, takes courage once more at the flashing 
 sword of Catalafimi." l 
 
 Although the course of events in America did not follow 
 the exact line anticipated by the French republican, the 
 general result was what he had foreseen, that the achieve 
 ment and death of John Brown made future compromises 
 between slavery and freedom impossible. What he did in 
 Kansas for a single State, he did in Virginia for the whole 
 nation, nay, for the whole world. 
 
 It has been sometimes asked in what way Brown per 
 formed this great work for the world, since he won no bat 
 tle, headed no party, repealed no law, and could not even 
 save his own life from an ignominious penalty. In this 
 respect he resembled Socrates, whose position in the world's 
 history is yet fairly established ; and the parallel runs even 
 closer. When Brown's friends urged upon him the des 
 perate possibilities of a rescue, he gave no final answer, 
 
 1 Victor Hugo's " Actes et Paroles pendant 1'Exil" (1859-60). In the 
 Edition Definitive of his complete works, which was still going through the 
 press at his death, in 1885, the author added this note to the passages 
 cited above: "Victor Hugo avait, & propos de John Brown, predit la 
 guerre civile k 1' Amerique, et, a propos de Garibaldi, predit 1'unite k 1'Italie. 
 Ces deux predictions se realiserent." He had a right to claim this. 
 
632 LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN BROWN. [1859. 
 
 until at last came this reply, that he " would not walk 
 out of the prison if the door was left open." He added, as 
 a personal reason for this choice, that his relations with 
 Captain Avis, his jailer, were such that he should hold it a 
 breach of trust to be rescued. There is an example even 
 higher than that of Socrates, which history will not fail to 
 hold up, that Person of whom his slayers said : " He 
 saved others : himself he cannot save." 
 
 Here is touched the secret of Brown's character, abso 
 lute reliance on the Divine, entire disregard of the present, 
 in view of the promised future. 
 
 " For best befriended of the God 
 He who in evil times, 
 Warned by an inward voice, 
 Heeds not the darkness and the dread, 
 Biding by his rule and choice ; 
 Feeling only the fiery thread 
 Leading over heroic ground 
 (Walled with mortal terror round) 
 To the aim which him allures, 
 And the sweet heaven his deed secures." 
 
 NOTE. In Chapter XV., pp. 537 and 548, John Brown, Jr., speaks 
 of an affair at "St. J.," in Missouri, which was ascribed to his father. 
 John Brown had nothing to do with this gallant action of his old friend 
 Abbott, who had rescued Branson in 1855. Briefly, the facts were these : 
 "Dr. John Doy, imprisoned in St. Joseph, Mo., for abducting slaves from 
 that State, was released July 23, 1859, by Kansas men, led by Major 
 James B. Abbott, now living at De Soto, Johnson County. They entered 
 the jail at night, under pretence of wishing to confine a horse-thief. The 
 rescue was admirably managed, and its moral influence throughout Mis 
 souri and the whole South was very great." 
 
 In Chapter XVI., p. 576, the expression, "He was forced to rise from 
 what was feared to be his dying bed," does not refer to his attitude while 
 the indictment was read, but to his presence in the court-room. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 ABBOTT, Major James B., rescues 
 Branson, 207, 212 ; purchases rifles, 
 214; rescues Dr. Doy 632. 
 
 Adair, Rev. S. L., 188, 252, 270 ; shel 
 ters the Browns, 275 ; opinion of 
 Brown, 327 ; letters from, 322, 415. 
 
 Adams, Cyrus, Border Ruffianism de- 
 scribed/327-328. 
 
 Adams, John Q., Journal quoted, 118. 
 
 Adams, Henry J., 225. 
 
 Adirondacs, the, grave of Capt. John 
 Brown, 3 ; visit of John Brown, 44 ; 
 pioneer life of Brown, 97; descrip 
 tion of, 96; R. H. Dana's impres 
 sions of, 102. 
 
 Akron, Ohio, imprisonment of John 
 Brown at, 55, 60, 88. 
 
 Alcott, A. Bronson, 91; record of 
 Brown, 504; Diary quoted, 629. 
 
 Allingham's "Touchstone," iv. 
 
 Anderson, Jeremiah, letter from, 545. 
 
 Anderson, Osborne, 556, 611. 
 
 Andrew, Gov. John A., quoted, 327, 
 500. 
 
 Arago, Etienne, 120. 
 
 Arms furnished for Kansas, 212-215, 
 342, 349, 350, 351, 494. 
 
 Arny, W. F. M., 352 ; letter to Brown, 
 362; testimony of, 421. 
 
 Articles of Enlistment of Kansas reg 
 ulars, 287. 
 
 Assing, Miss Ottilia, 432. 
 
 Atchison, David R., advice to Missou- 
 rians, 164; speeches of, 165, 234; 
 appeals to Missourians, 309; leads 
 attack upon Lawrence, 235. 
 
 Atlantic Monthly, quoted, 561. 
 
 Austin, "old Kill Devil," 271; adven 
 tures of, 285, 286. 
 
 Avis, Captain John, 587, 619. 
 
 gAGEHOT, Mr., quoted, 470. 
 
 Baker, Mr., threatened with death, 
 254. 
 
 Baldwin City, 292. 
 
 Baldwin, Mr., testifies to Brown's 
 integrity, 87. 
 
 Baptisteville, 276, 301, 309. 
 
 Barber, Mr., murder of, 218; his body, 
 243. 
 
 "Beecher Bibles," 212. 
 
 Benjamin, Jacob, 230, 254, 271, 288. 
 
 "Black Jack," 244, 291; battle of, 
 291, 303. 
 
 Blair, Charles, contracts to deliver 
 spears, 377; letter from, 378. 
 
 Blanc, Louis, 120. 
 
 Blessing, John F., receives a Bible 
 from Brown, 619. 
 
 Bondi, August, 230, 254 ; story of the 
 Pottawatomie executions, 271; re 
 ports of, 292, 293. 
 
 Booth, J. Wilkes, at Brown's execu 
 tion, 626. 
 
 Border Ruffians, watchword, 172 ; 
 treatment of judges of election, 173, 
 175; aspect of, 181. 182; brutalities, 
 206, 225, 238; anger, 274; activity, 
 312; burn house of Ottawa Jones, 323; 
 met by Brown and Montgomery, 480. 
 
 Brackett, the sculptor, visit to Brown in 
 prison, 516; makes bust of Brown, 
 517. 
 
 Branson, Jacob, rescue of, 207; tells 
 story of, 210. 
 
 Brown, Anne, story told by, 531. 
 
 Brown, Ellen, 43, 387. 
 
 Brown, Frederick, removes to Kansas, 
 202, 255; shot, 317; death, 325. 
 
 Brown, Jason, 35, 41 ; story of oath, 
 138 ; death of son, 189 ; arrested, 238 ; 
 
634 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 sufferings in Kansas, 238-242; ad 
 ventures and capture, 275, 276, 277, 
 278; anecdotes of campaign, 320; of 
 burning of Ottawa Jones's house, 
 322; mentioned by his father, 600, 
 616. 
 
 Brown, John, 1st, weaver and citizen 
 of Duxbury, 1 . 
 
 Brown, John, 2d, of Windsor, birth, 
 2; marriage and children, 3. 
 
 Brown, John, marriage of, 2. 
 
 Brown, Captain John, birth, 3; death, 
 3 ; tomb, 3 ; tombstone at North Elba, 
 114, 375. 
 
 Brown, John, parentage, 3, 12; hatred 
 of slavery an inheritance, 10, 11; 
 his own account of childhood and 
 youth, 12-17; becomes converted, 
 15, 31; tenacity of purpose, 16; a 
 tanner and currier, 16, 32; marries 
 Dianthe Lusk, 17, 33 ; visits Boston, 
 17 ; guest of Mr. George L. Stearns, 
 17; writes sketch of early life, 17; 
 scanty education, 19; relations to 
 his father, Owen, 19, 20, 21, 22; 
 studies surveying, 32; shelters fugi 
 tive slaves, 35; children by first 
 marriage, 35; death of wife, 36; 
 kindness to colored servants, 37 ; 
 testimony of family, 38, 91; favorite 
 books, 38; makes a compact with 
 his sons to labor for emancipation, 
 39; conduct in family, 40; devises 
 schemes for educating the Negro, 40, 
 41; in Randolph as tanner, second 
 marriage, 42; children by second 
 marriage, 43; loss of infants, 43; de 
 votion to children, 44, 45; growing 
 toleration in old age, 53; a true 
 Yankee, 54; indorses for friend and 
 loses farm, 55 ; in jail at Akron, 55 ; 
 a bankrupt, 56; business integrity, 
 56; a shepherd at Richfield, 58 ; ad 
 vice to wife, 61; becomes wool-grow 
 er and dealer, 61, 63; returns to 
 New England, 63; at Springfield, 
 63; an agent, 64; visited by Doug 
 lass, 66; loses four children, 69; 
 breeds race-horses at Franklin, 69; 
 visits Europe, 67-70; delicacy of 
 touch in handling wool, 70 ; opin 
 ions of England and of German 
 farming, 71; of Napoleon, 71; visits 
 
 the Continent, 73 ; returns home, 
 73 ; views on early rising, 76 ; busi 
 ness troubles, 78, 83; on "knock 
 ing" spirits, 78; law-suits, 82, 83, 
 84, 87 ; the Boston trial, 79, 83 ; 
 again a shepherd. 85 ; advice to 
 son, 85; probity of life, 86; fam 
 ily government, 91 ; devotion to 
 his father, 94 ; introduces himself 
 to Gerrit Smith, 97 ; life at North 
 Elba, 97-100 ; interest in colored 
 people there, 101, 104 ; love for the 
 region, 105; carries tombstone of 
 his grandfather to North Elba, 114 ; 
 the task of his life, 116; method 
 for emancipation, 119 ; a Bible 
 worshipper, 121; creed, 122; ad 
 vice to League of Gileadites, 124; 
 points of resemblance to Franklin, 
 131; concern for fugitive slaves, 131 ; 
 opinion of the Negro's capacity, 
 137; Spartan mode of life, 67, 137, 
 138; home life, 139, 146; in the 
 school of the Prophets, 147; a far 
 mer, 152; a disciple of Jefferson, 
 171; journey to Kansas, 199, 200, 
 202; his first campaign, 217; will 
 not pay illegal taxes, 228 ; visits pro- 
 slavery camp as surveyor, 229; tells 
 story of destruction of Lawrence, 
 236-238 ; of events in Kansas, 242- 
 244; his Pottawatomie executions, 
 251, 258, 259, 264; his reasons given, 
 270; results of the deed, 279, 280; 
 in retreat, 294; meeting with Red- 
 path, 294, 295; victory at Black 
 Jack, 298, 299, 300, 304; talk with 
 Col. Phillips, 306, 307; joins forces 
 of General Lane, 308; his name a 
 terror, 309; best known name in 
 Kansas, 324; autograph account of 
 attack on Lawrence, 332 ; in Chicago, 
 341; esteemed by Free State settlers, 
 366, 417; addresses Legislative com 
 mittee, 372; visits North Elba, 374; 
 at Concord, 380; makes will, 385; 
 receives aid, 399 ; expedition de 
 layed, 405; inaction, 406; disinter 
 estedness, 407; Virginia plan, 418; 
 dealings with Hugh Forbes, 432; 
 with Gerrit Smith, 438, 439 ; pathetic 
 letters, 440-444; personality. 446; 
 enjoyment of Plutarch, 449; makes 
 
INDEX. 
 
 635 
 
 arrangements for Virginia plan, 457 ; 
 leaves Boston with money and arms, 
 464; Provisional Constitution, 464, 
 469; alias Shu.be! Morgan, 473; at 
 Fort Snyder, 474; his Parallels, 481; 
 retreat from Southern Kansas, 484, 
 485, 486; captures pursuers, 484; at 
 Tabor, 488; at Grinnell, 489; his 
 friends, 495-518; relations with his 
 family, 496; describes himself, 511; 
 not actuated by revenge, 51'2 ; in 
 Maryland, 527; rents Kennedy farm, 
 528; confers with Douglass, 538; op 
 position to campaign at Harpers 
 Ferry. 541; smallness of force, 546 ; 
 musters followers, 552 ; takes Harp 
 er's Ferry, 553, 554; wounded and 
 captured, 559 ; questioned by Senator 
 Mason et al., 562-569; conversation 
 with Governor Wise, 570, 571 ; 
 speeches at trial, 572; pronounced 
 guilty, 575; his life in prison, 576- 
 625; sentenced, 583; last speech, 584; 
 joyful in tribulations, 589, 594, 596, 
 609; no murderous intention, 604, 
 605; last letter to wife, 605; to sis 
 ters, 608; to family, 613; last will, 
 616; preaching in 'prison, 618, 619; 
 farewell to wife, 624; no wish for 
 rescue, 623; on the way to scaffold, 
 625; execution, 626; character, 626; 
 personal traits, 627 ; his true mission, 
 629; secret of his character, 632. 
 
 Brown, John, Jr., 35, 36 ; recollections 
 of Hudson, 34; statement as to 
 father's business life, 87; childish 
 recollections, 91; views of North 
 Elba, 105; emigration to Kansas, 
 188; second campaign in Kansas, 
 236; arrest and sufferings, 238, 241; 
 testimony as to Pottawatomie execu 
 tions, 260; resigns captaincy, 273; 
 insanity of, 273, 274 ; adventures 
 of, 276; a prisoner, 310; Virginia 
 plan confided to, 450, 451; organ 
 izes forces in Canada, 536. 
 
 Brown, Mary Anne Day, becomes 
 second wife to John Brown, 42; 
 their children, 43; invalidism, 106; 
 described, 113; sympathy with hus- 
 band's plans, 116; reticence, 408; 
 self-sacrifice, 413; story oflife, 497. 
 
 Brown, Mary and Priscilla, 2. 
 
 Brown, Martha, marries Peter Brown, 
 2; their children, 2. 
 
 Brown, Oliver, 43, 193, 198, 218, 242, 
 293; with Mr. Blair, 415; in Mary 
 land, 527; killed at Harper's Ferry. 
 579; bequest of, 97, 242. 
 
 Brown, Owen, the elder, removes to 
 Ohio from Connecticut, 4; autobi 
 ography, 4; shoemaking and farm 
 ing, 4, 5; travels, 5; with Rev. 
 Mr. Hallock, 6; marries Ruth Mills, 
 6; birth of first child, 6; at Nor 
 folk, 7; at Torrington, 7; in Ohio, 
 7; death of wife, 8; marries Sallv 
 Root, 9 ; their children, 9 ; death of 
 second wife, 10; hatred of slavery, 
 10, 11; letters to his son, John 
 Brown, 19, 20; relations to son, 20, 
 21, 22, 152, 221. 
 
 Brown, Owen, 35, 238, 242; adventures 
 after the Pottawatomie executions, 
 275, 276; views of men and things 
 in Kansas, 315; in -Maryland, 527; 
 escape from Harper's Ferry, 611. 
 
 Brown, Peter, carpenter in Plymouth, 
 1; marriage, children, and death, 2. 
 
 Brown, Ruth, recollections, 37; bap 
 tism, 37; marriage and life, 75, 77, 
 81; reminiscences of North Elba, 
 99-104; of Mr. Dana's visit, 101; 
 in California, 115 ; letter from, 441. 
 
 Brown, R. P., 225; his murder. 281. 
 
 Brown, Salmon, 26, 30, 42-43, 99, 198, 
 206, 261, 290-293, 313. 
 
 Brown, Sarah, 43, 322, 499. 
 
 Brown, Watson, 43, 341; at Chambers- 
 burg, 542 ; letters to wife, 542, 549 ; 
 wounded at Harper's Ferry, 555; 
 death, 579; story of death, 611. 
 
 Buchanan, James, a servant of the 
 slave-power, 166; presidential can 
 didate, and election of, 284. 
 
 Buford, Jefferson, in Kansas, 228, 230, 
 260. 
 
 Burnell, Levi, letter to 0. Brown, 135. 
 
 QABOT, Dr., raises money for Kan 
 sas, 213 ; member of National 
 Kansas Committee, 352-354; dies 
 in 1885, vi. 
 
 Canada, a refuge, 469; Brown's expe 
 dition to, 484, 491. 
 
636 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Canton, or West Simsbury, 4, 376. 
 Carpenter, O. A., 292; mission of, 
 
 293. 
 
 Cass, General, as captain, 20. 
 Cato, Judge, 243, 278. 
 Century Magazine, Captain Danger- 
 field's account quoted, 556. 
 Chapin, the Messrs., testimonial to 
 
 Brown, 343. 
 Chapman, Chief-Justice, testimony as 
 
 to Brown's integrity, 87. 
 Chase, Chief-Justice, letters to Brown, 
 
 363. 
 Child, Mrs. Lydia Maria, letter from 
 
 John Brown, 580. 
 Christian, James, story of the Potta- 
 
 watomie executions, 269. 
 Civil war in Kansas, 160-343. 
 Circular of John Brown, 63. 
 Clay, Henry, supports Fugitive Slave 
 Bill, 123; advocates Missouri Com 
 promise, 161. 
 Cleveland and Titus, charges against 
 
 Perkins and Brown, 82. 
 Clifford, Miss Betsey, anecdotes re 
 lated by, 146. 
 
 Cochrane, Ben, 297, 301, 302. 
 Code, Slave, given to Kansas, 177, 
 
 178. 
 Coleman, E. A., statement of, 258, 
 
 260. 
 
 Coleman, Franklin, 206. 
 Collins, Samuel, murdered, 206. 
 Collinsville, 375, 376. 
 Committees for Kansas, 344, 355. 
 Company, Emigrant Aid, 163. 
 Congressional Committee of 1856, 173. 
 Connecticut, contingent, 3; slavery 
 
 abolished in, 11. 
 
 Conway, Martin F., resigns, 176; ad 
 vice of, 211; visits Reeder, 387. 
 Cook, John E., 423 ; censured by Realf, 
 
 471 ; by Brown, 625. 
 Copeland, John A., 546, 625. 
 Coppoc, Edwin, speech to Virginians, 
 
 425 ; at Harper's Ferry, 553, 625. 
 Coionado, Vasquez de, in Kansas, 
 
 160. 
 
 Covenant of Kansas Regulars, 287. 
 Crandall, Prudence, arrested and 
 
 house burned, 42. 
 Cromwell and Brown, 247, 626. 
 Cashing, Caleb, trial before. 79. 80. 
 
 J)ANA, RICHARD H., visits North 
 Elba, 102; describes Brown, 103, 
 104. 
 
 Dangerfield, Captain, narrative of, 556- 
 Davis, Jefferson, Secretary of War in 
 1856, 2-36; manifesto concerning 
 Kansas, 284. 
 
 Day, Mary Anne. See Brown. 
 Day, Orson, 236; prisoner, 238. 
 Dayton, Captain, 228, 262. 
 Delamater , Mr. , story of Brown at Rich 
 mond, 90. 
 
 Delahay, Mark, 184. 
 De Soto, 160. 
 Deitzler, G. W., 212; obtains rifles, 
 
 215, 216. 
 
 Doniphan, 184, 206. 
 Douglass, Frederick, describes Brown's 
 life at Springfield, 66; "Life and 
 Times " quoted, 418 ; visited by 
 Brown, 433; confers with Brown at 
 Chambersburg, 538; letters to and 
 from, 443, 519, 540, 541; describes 
 Brown, 628. 
 
 Dow, Charles, murdered, 206, 210. 
 Doyles, the, 230 ; execution of, 237, 251, 
 
 264 ; antecedents of, 272. 
 Doy, Dr. John, 632. 
 Dred Scott decision, 167, 186. 
 Dunlop, H. L., describes attack on 
 
 Lawrence, 333. 
 Dunn, Charles, 226. 
 Dutisne, 160. 
 
 Dutch Henry, death of, 256, 331. 
 Dutch Henry's Crossing, 206, 252, 255, 
 
 262, 267. 
 "Dutch William," 253, 272. 
 
 Jj^ARLY Life of John Brown, 12-17; 
 of John Brown, Jr., 91; of Ruth 
 Brown, 37, 93. 
 
 Edwards, Rev. Jonathan, Sermon on 
 Slavery, 11. 
 
 Eggleston, Mary, marriage of, 2. 
 
 Epitaphs written by John Brown, 3, 617. 
 
 Emerson, R. W., declines to write 
 Life of John Brown, 18; welcomes 
 Kossuth, 146; speech at Salem. 495; 
 a friend to Brown, 500, 501; quoted, 
 116, 170, 180, 500, 502, 507, 623, 632. 
 
 Emigrant Aid Company of New Eng 
 land, 163 ; hotel built by, 233 ; arms 
 
INDEX. 
 
 637 
 
 sent to Kansas by, 214, 344, 349; 
 nature of, 347. 
 
 Essex County, John Brown's life in, 
 76 ; opinions of, 77. 
 
 T^AYETTE, Mr., sworn to secrecy, 
 138. 
 
 Flint's Survey, 32. 
 
 Floyd, Secretary, warning sent to, 
 543. 
 
 Forbes, Hugh, Brown's drill-master, 
 388; his Manual, 389; character of, 
 390, 425, 431; at Tabor, 399, 422; 
 treachery of, 425, 456, 458; letters 
 of, 426, 460; letters to, 429, 432, 459. 
 
 Forbes, JohnM., 71, 493; letter to, 
 493. 
 
 Foray in Virginia, 519, et seq. 
 
 Foster, C.A., 228, 230. 
 
 Francis, Dr., testimony as to " Kansas 
 Regulators," 344. 
 
 Franklin, Benjamin, and John Brown 
 compared, 131. 
 
 Franklin, Ohio, Brown at, 69. 
 
 Frederick the Great, sword of, 552, 554. 
 
 Friends of Brown, Emerson, 500 ; 
 Thoreau, 502; Alcott, 504; George 
 and Mary Stearns, 507; Theodore 
 Parker, 512; Dr. Howe, Colonel 
 Higginson, 514 ; Thomas Russell, 
 512, 624; F. B. Sanborn, Gerrit 
 Smith, et al., 517. 
 
 Fugitive Slave Bill, enactment of, 123; 
 Brown's opinion of, 106. 
 
 /^ ARIBALDI, 431 ; John Brown com 
 pared to, 123. 
 
 Geary, Governor, an upright Democrat, 
 284; reaches Kansas, 328; farewell 
 address, 329; injustice done to, by 
 Brown, 333 ; friendly feeling to 
 Brown, 338, 339. 
 
 Giddings, Joshua R., letter to John 
 Brown, 224. 
 
 Gileadites, League of, 124; resolutions 
 of Springfield branch of, 126. 
 
 Gilpatrick, Dr., 256, 266. 
 
 Gladstone, Thomas H., book quoted, 
 175; views of Kansas Legislature, 
 177; impressions of Kansas, 181, 182. 
 
 Glanville, Jerome, 269, 270. 
 
 Graham, Dr., 224. 
 
 Grant, George, testimony of, 255, 331. 
 
 Green, Shields, 539, 625. 
 
 Grimes, J. W., of Iowa, letter to, 
 
 355. 
 Grinnell, Brown at, 488. 
 
 TTALE, Rev. Edward E., organizes 
 Emigrant Aid Company, 163 ; 
 quoted, 164; story of the rifles, 214, 
 215. 
 
 Hallock, Heman, recollections of, 32. 
 
 Hallock, Rev. Jeremiah, 5, 11. 
 
 Hand, Mrs. Marian, 26; letter to, 607. 
 
 Hanway, James, pioneer in Kansas, 
 206, 229; testimony of, 250, 257, 266, 
 280; defends Brown's course, 331. 
 
 Harper, Chancellor, quoted, 167. 
 
 Harper's Ferry, Brown's plan to cap 
 ture, 450, 451, 539 ; warning given, 
 543; origin of name, 550; described 
 by Jefferson, 551; in Brown's pos 
 session, 554, 558 ; scenes at, 556-569. 
 
 Harpers' Weekly, quoted, 569. 
 
 Harris, James, testimony concerning 
 Pottawatomie executions, 265. 
 
 Hawkins, Nelson, alias John Brown, 
 114, 363, 391, 435, 458. 
 
 Hazlitt, Albert, 546, 554, 556, 615, 
 625. 
 
 Heiskell, W. A., receives Pate's agree 
 ment, 300. 
 
 Hereford, Dr., 484. 
 
 Herald, New York, quoted, 426, 561, 
 566. 
 
 Hickory Point, 298. 
 
 Higginson, C. J., 384. 
 
 Higginson, H. L., 384. 
 
 Higginson, T. Wentworth, 96 ; letter 
 from Brown and reply, 435-436; 
 learns Brown's Virginia plan, 440, 
 447; protests against delay, 459 ; 
 confers with Brown, 463, 464; rec 
 ords preserved by, 492, 514. 
 
 Hildreth, Richard, 163. 
 
 Hinsdale, widow Lucy, 10. 
 
 Hinton, Richard J., 423-424, 472. 
 
 Holmes, James H., 288, 391, 392, 394, 
 395, 397. 
 
 Hopkins, Rev. Abner C., letter to 
 Thomas Hughes, 618. 
 
 Hopkins, Dwight, creditor of John 
 Brown, 56. 
 
638 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Hopkins, Rev. Samuel, D.D., de 
 nounces slavery, 11. 
 
 Hotchkiss, Wealthy, 144. 
 
 Howe, Dr. S. G., 163; on Kansas com 
 mittee, 347; testimony before Ma 
 son's committee, 450; letter to Hugh 
 Forbes 459; favors postponement 
 of attack, 463; withdraws support 
 for a time, 490; letter to John M. 
 Forbes, 493 ; part taken by, 514. 
 
 Hoyt, D. S., murdered, 244,' 328. 
 
 Hoyt, George H., defends John Brown, 
 575. 
 
 Hubbard, Gilbert, business associate 
 of Brown, 69. 
 
 Hudson, David, settlement in Ohio, 
 34; an Abolitionist, 34. 
 
 Hudson, Ohio, home of Owen Brown, 
 4, 7, 8; log-house at, 19; its name, 
 34. 
 
 Hugo, Victor, letter to Brown's widow, 
 120 ; address to American Republic, 
 630; quoted, 631. 
 
 Hull, General, at Detroit in 1812, 19. 
 
 Hupp, Philip and Miner, 207. 
 
 Humphrey, Heman, letter to John 
 Brown, 602; Brown's reply, 603. 
 
 Hunter, Andrew, a Virginia lawyer, 
 570; his argument in court, 575; 
 Brown's letter to, 584; mentioned 
 by Victor Hugo, 630. 
 
 Hurd, H. B., Kansas committee-man, 
 348, 352, 357, 358, 359, 367, 369. 
 
 Hutchinson, Captain Philip, 207. 
 
 Hutchinson, William, letter from, 366. 
 
 INDIANS of Ohio, 12, 13; of Kansas, 
 
 - 1 - 245, 252, 321. 
 
 Invasion of Kansas, 172, 217, 236, 245, 
 
 318, 332. 
 Ives, Lieutenant, orders armed men to 
 
 disperse, 274. 
 
 JACKSON, Claiborne F., 172. 
 Jacobs, Judge, 278. 
 
 James brothers, the, 272. 
 
 Jefferson, Thomas, Notes on Virginia, 
 168; views of slavery, 169; gener 
 ous indignation, 170; prediction, 
 170; his fate if a Kansas settler in 
 1855, 179. 
 
 Jones, Jonas, of Tabor, 400. 
 
 Jones, Ottawa, 245; letter from, 262; 
 
 destruction of house, 322. 
 Jones, Sheriff, 209, 231, 234. 
 
 TTAGI, J. H., 423, 469, 472, 474, 
 485, 488, 519-523 ; at Chambers- 
 burg, 533, 536-542; at Harper's 
 Ferry, 546, 553. 
 
 Kaiser, Charles, 290, 296, 301. 
 
 Kansas, John Brown's expedition to, 
 111; a skirmish ground, 160; ex 
 plored by Dutisne, part of Louisiana 
 and ceded to Jefferson, 160; Emi 
 grants drawn to, 164; first elections, 
 171, 172; slavery forced upon, 173, 
 176, 182 ; Emigration of the Browns 
 to, 188-203; hardships of pioneer 
 life in, 204, 205, 222 ; settlers mur 
 dered, 210, 225; Investigating Com 
 mittee, 228; Civil war there, 236- 
 246, 285-336 ; battles and their value, 
 283; admitted to the Union, 287; 
 Indian Missions of, 321. 
 
 Kansas Committees, 344-374, 461-466. 
 
 Kansas Regulators, the, 344; oath and 
 regalia, 345; Established by Lane 
 and Robinson, 346. 
 
 Kennedy, J. R., account of Branson's 
 rescue", 207. 
 
 Kennedy farm, 528, 531, 557, 567. 
 
 Kickapoo Rangers, the, 234, 304. 
 
 King, Rufus, opposes slavery in Mis 
 souri, 161. 
 
 Kline, wounded at Osawatomie, 320. 
 
 Kossuth in America, 146. 
 
 T AFAYETTE, pistols of, 552. 
 
 Lane, James H., General, resolu 
 tions, 183, 308 ; elected Senator, 
 228; anecdotes of, 337, 345, 401; 
 letters from, 401-405. 
 
 La Salle, 160. 
 
 Laughlm, Pat, 206. 
 
 Lawrence, town of, public meeting, 
 210; attack threatened, 211, 217; 
 invasions of, 217 ; pillage of, 224 ; 
 occasion of third invasion, 230; 
 destruction of hotel, 235 ; of town, 
 236 ; again threatened, 332, 335. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 639 
 
 Lawrence, Amos A., employs Brown 
 as agent, 61; assists Brown, 111; 
 no knowledge of Virginia plans, 
 112; in Emigrant Aid Company, 
 163; purchases Sharpe's rifles, 213 ; 
 statements to Massachusetts Histor 
 ical Society, 213; a friend to Kan 
 sas, 214; letters from, 213, 373, 374, 
 410 ; raises money to buy land, 112, 
 409, 410. 
 
 Lecompte, Judge, 231. 
 Lecompton, 232 ; grand jury of, 235; 
 prisoners at, 238, 310, 314, 325; ex 
 change of prisoners at, 313. 
 Lee, Colonel Robert E., 555, 558 ; cap 
 tures John Brown, 560; views of, 
 560. 
 
 Legate, J. F., speech of, 232. 
 Leonard, E. C., anecdotes of Brown, 
 
 64, 67, 628. 
 
 Letters from John Brown 
 In 1833-1854. 
 To his family, 51, 58-62, 74-79, 108, 
 
 109-111, 134, 139-146, 148-153, 
 
 154-159. 
 
 To Frederick Brown, 26-27, 40-41. 
 To John Brown, Jr., 45-51, 58-59, 
 
 61-62, 72-73, 75-78, 81-86, 105, 
 
 139-141, 143, 144-145, 150, 152, 
 
 156-157. 
 To his wife, Mary Brown, 68, 106, 
 
 107, 108, 109, 132, 146, 153. 
 To his father, Owen Brown, 21, 22, 
 
 23, 24-25. 
 To G. Kellogg, 56. 
 To Simon Perkins, 82-83. 
 To "The Ramshorn" ("Sambo's 
 
 Mistakes "), 128-131. 
 To Springfield fugitive slaves 
 
 (" Words of Advice "), 124-126. 
 To Henry Thompson, 107, 108, 109, 
 
 110, 154, 158. 
 
 In 1855-1856. 
 To his family, 191-193, 199-202, 
 
 203-205, 217-221, 222-223, 228, 
 
 236-241, 317-320. 
 To his wife, Mary, 193. 
 To N. Y. Tribune, 379, 481, 508. 
 To E. B. Whitman, 241, 301. 
 
 In 1857-1858. 
 To S. L. Adair, 370, 388. 
 To his family, 406, 410-411, 414-415, 
 
 440-441, 453-456, 478-480. 
 
 Letters from John Brown 
 To John Brown, Jr., 432-433, 437- 
 
 438, 447, 450, 452 (extract). 
 To his wife, Mary, 374, 388, 442-443. 
 To John E. Cook, 423. 
 To J. T. Cox, 521. 
 To H. Forbes, 389, 432. 
 To J. H. Lane, 401-402. 
 To Theodore Parker, 422, 434-435, 
 
 447-449, 508. 
 To H. N. Rust, 376-377. 
 To F. B. Sanborn, 113, 398-401, 
 
 408-409, 412-414, 443-445, 456- 
 
 457, 474, 477. 
 To George L. Stearns, 368, 406, 408- 
 
 410, 411-412, 511. 
 To Eli Thayer, 382. 
 To Augustus Wattles, 391, 393. 
 To E. B. Whitman, 402-403. 
 
 In 1859. 
 
 To George Adams, 588-589. 
 To J. Q. Anderson, 611-612. 
 To E. B., 582. 
 To his family, 489-490, 525-526, 
 
 530-532, 550, 579-580, 585-586, 
 
 596-597, 613-615, 616 (his will). 
 To John Brown, Jr., 535-536. 
 To his wife, Mary, 591-593, 595-596, 
 
 605-606, 617. 
 To his sisters, 607-608. 
 To Mrs. L. M. Child, 580. 
 To friends in New England, 583. 
 To James Foreman, 615. 
 To Mr. Gaston, at Tabor, 488. 
 To Mrs. Mary Gale, 615. 
 To G. H. Hoyt, 609. 
 To Rev. Heman Humphrey. 603. 
 To Rev. Luther Humphrey, 594. 
 To T. Hyatt, 606. 
 To J. H. Kagi, 522-523, 526, 532- 
 
 533, 536-538. 
 
 To Rev. Mr. McFarland, 598. 
 To Rev. A. M. Milligan, 610. 
 To T. B. Musgrave, 593. 
 To Thomas Russell, 578. 
 To Samuel E. Sewall, 612. 
 To Mrs. R. B. Spring, 587, 596, 
 
 599. 
 
 To Mrs. Stearns, 610. 
 To Miss Mary L. Sterns, 607. 
 To D. R. Tilden, 609. 
 To Rev. H. L. Vaill. 589. 
 To Dr. T. H. Webb, 612. 
 
640 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Letters to John Brown 
 
 In 1855-1856. 
 From S. L. Adair, 322. 
 From C. H. Branscomb, 343. 
 From the Brown family in Kansas, 
 
 194-198. 
 From John Brown, Jr., 310-311, 
 
 325, 330. 
 
 From Owen Brown, Sr., 19-20. 
 From J. R. Giddings, 224. 
 From Charles Robinson, 329, 330- 
 
 331. 
 
 From Gerrit Smith, 364. 
 From H. Stratton, 308. 
 From Horace White, 342. 
 From H. H. Williams, 304. 
 From W. F. M. Amy, 362. 
 
 In 1857-1858. 
 From S. L. Adair, 415. 
 From Allen & Wheelock, 383. 
 From Charles Blair, 378. 
 From J. Bryant, 390. 
 From S. P. Chase, 363. 
 From Frederick Douglass, 443. 
 From C. J. Higginson, -384. 
 From James H. Holmes, 391-393, 
 
 395-396. 
 From James H, Lane, 401-402, 
 
 405. 
 
 From Amos A. Lawrence, 373-374. 
 From Massachusetts Kans'as Com 
 mittee, 360-362, 367-368, 384- 
 
 385, 461-462. 
 
 From William A. Phillips, 397. 
 From Richard Realf, 398. 
 From George L. Stearns, 406-407, 
 
 409. 
 
 From Eli Thayer, 380, 381, 383. 
 From Ruth Thompson, 441-442. 
 From Augustus Wattles, 394, 395. 
 From E. B. Whitman, 396-397, 403- 
 
 404. 
 From H. H. Williams, 368. 
 
 In 1859. 
 
 From E. B. (a Quaker lady), 581. 
 From John Brown, Jr., 534. 
 From Martin F. Con way, 484. 
 From Mrs. E. A. Gloucester, 538. 
 From Dr. Samuel G. HOAVC, 534. 
 From Rev. Heman Humphrey, 602, 
 
 603. 
 
 From F. B. Sanborn, 534, 535. 
 From Gerrit Smith, 364, 524. 
 
 Letters to other persons, 
 In 1829-1854. 
 
 From Salmon Brown to Owen 
 Brown, Sr., 27-30. 
 
 From Levi Burnell to Owen Brown, 
 135. 
 
 In 1855-1856. 
 
 From Cyrus Adams to Adams, 
 327. 
 
 From John Brown, Jr., to Jason 
 Brown, 311-314. 
 
 From Owen Brown to Mrs. John 
 Brown, 315; from Watson Brown, 
 341. 
 
 From Amos A. Lawrence to James 
 B. Abbott, 213. 
 
 From Massachusetts Kansas Com 
 mittee to J. W. Grimes, 355; to 
 Edward Clark, 368-369 ; to Henry 
 B. Kurd, 357, 358; to H. H. Van 
 Dyck, 356; to E. B. Whitman, 
 357. 
 
 From J. C. Palmer to Dr. Webb, 216. 
 
 From J. D. Webster to J. P. Root, 
 341. 
 
 From Daniel Woodson to Gen. 
 Eastin, 216. 
 
 In 1857-1858. 
 
 From John Brown, Jr., to Jason, 105. 
 
 From T. W. Higginson to F. B. 
 Sanborn (extract), 492. 
 
 From S. G. Howe to Henry Wilson, 
 462. 
 
 From Massachusetts Kansas Com 
 mittee to H. B. Hurd, 358. 
 
 From F. B. Sanborn to Hugh Forbes, 
 424-430; to T. Parker, 428; to 
 T. W. Higginson, 457-458; to H. 
 B. Hurd, 358 ; to G. L. Stearns, 
 113. 
 
 From Gerrit Smith to F, B. San 
 born, 458, 466. 
 
 From G. L. Stearns to F. B. San 
 born, 515. 
 
 In 1859 and later. 
 
 From J. G. Anderson to J. Q. An 
 derson, 545. 
 
 From John Brown, Jr., to J. H. 
 Kagi, 547, 548. 
 
 From Oliver Brown to his family, 
 547. 
 
 From Salmon Brown to J. Redpath, 
 261. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 641 
 
 Letters to other persons, 
 
 From Watson Brown to his wife, 
 549. 
 
 From S.G.Howe to Hugh Forbes, 459. 
 
 From S. G. Howe to John M Forbes, 
 493. 
 
 From Theodore Parker to R. W. 
 Emerson, 513. 
 
 From Theodore Parker to Thomas 
 Russell, 512. 
 
 From Edwin Morton to F. B. San- 
 born, 437, 407. 
 
 From F. B. Sanhom to T. W. Hig- 
 ginson (extract), 492-403, 524, 525. 
 
 From Gerrit Smith to F. B. San- 
 born, 483. 
 
 From G. L. Stearns to Higginson,520. 
 
 From H. D. Thoreau to Harrison 
 Blake, 506. 
 
 From Victor Hugo to Mrs. John 
 Brown (1874), 120. 
 
 From Gerrit Smith to F. B. San- 
 born, 561. 
 
 From Mrs. Mary E. Stearns to F. B. 
 Sanborn, 509-511. 
 
 From H. Stratton to F. B. Sanborn, 
 308. 
 
 From C. W. Tayleure to John 
 
 Brown, Jr., 611. " 
 Leyburn, John, 560. 
 Lincoln, Abraham, in Kansas, 183; 
 
 compared with Brown, 185, 518; in 
 terest in Kansas, 347. 
 Louisiana, cession of, 161. 
 Lowry, Grosvenor P., 211 ; testimony 
 
 of, "346. 
 Lusk, Dianthe, birth, 33; marriage, 
 
 34; children of, 35; death, 36; an 
 cestry, 36. 
 Lusk, Milton, recollections of, 33; 
 
 leaves his church, 53 ; a spiritualist, 
 
 53; acolonizationist at Hudson, 147; 
 
 excommunicated, 148. 
 Lykins (now Miami) county, 172. 
 
 jyjACDONALD, John (a horse), 69. 
 Malmesbury, Lord, Diary quoted, 
 343. 
 
 Manifest Destiny, a political watch 
 word, 163. 
 
 Marais des Cygncs, 251, 276 ; origin of 
 -> name, 324. 
 
 41 
 
 Marshall, Chief-Justice, letters of, 147, 
 148. 
 
 Martineau, Harriet, connection with 
 Oberlin College, 138. 
 
 Mason, Senator, Fugitive Slave Bill of, 
 123 ; interview with Brown, 562; his 
 investigating committee, 450, 527. 
 
 Massachusetts, disgrace of its courts, 
 123 ; subscriptions to Kansas colo 
 nists, 349, 354; Kansas Committees. 
 349, 350, 355-358, 368-373; their 
 purpose, 386 ; their relation to 
 Brown's Virginia foray, 461-466. 
 
 Maryland, Brown in, 527. 
 
 McGee, Uncle Jimmy, 232. 
 
 Medal, gold, given to Brown's widow. 
 120. 
 
 Medford, visit of Brown to, 17. 
 
 Meeker, Rev. Joseph, brings first 
 printing press to Kansas, 321. 
 
 Mendenhall, Richard, 228; letter 
 concerning Brown, 326. 
 
 Merriam, F. J., 546, 548. 
 
 Miles, Peter, 3. 
 
 Mills, Ruth, marries Owen Brown, 3 ; 
 their children, 6, 7, 8 ; death of, 8. 
 
 Mills, Dr. Lucius, sufferings in Kansas, 
 242. 
 
 Milton, quoted, 248, 578, 624. 
 
 Missions, Indian, of Kansas, 321. 
 
 Missouri Compromise, debated in 
 Congress, 117 ; declares Kansas 
 free soil, 161 ; remarkable declara 
 tions of J. Q. Adams and J. C. Cal- 
 houn concerning, 118. 
 
 Moffat, C. W., 425. 
 
 Montgomery, Captain James, 325, 474, 
 477; fires" on U. S. dragoons, 480. 
 
 Morgan, Shubel, alias John Brown, 
 473. 
 
 Morse, a Kansas trader, 255. 
 
 Morton, Edwin, 429, 437, 444, 467, 
 483, 524, 536. 
 
 Musgrave, Mr., buys wool of Brown, 
 68. 
 
 Musgrave, T. B., letter from Brown, 
 593. 
 
 "MAPOLEON, Louis, the coup d'etat, 
 
 146. 
 
 National Kansas Committee, 346, 348 ; 
 its operations, 351; me-mbers of, 
 
642 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 352; repor., of, 359; dealings with 
 Brown, 341, 348, 359, 361, 367, 412; 
 criticised by Mr. Lawrence, 373. 
 
 New England Emigrant Aid Company. 
 See Emigrant Aid Company. 
 
 Newby Dangerfield, shot, 555. 
 
 Norfolk, Conn., 5, 6. 
 
 North Canaan, story of Parson Thomp 
 son and his slaves, 11. 
 
 North Elba, Brown family at, 73, 97; 
 life at, 98, 99; described by John 
 Brown, Jr., 105; hardships of life 
 at, 106 ; burials there, 3, 114, 617, 620. 
 
 Notes for speeches by Brown, 242. 
 
 QBERLIN COLLEGE, 133; records 
 of, 134; connection with Miss 
 Martineau, 138. 
 
 Ohio, journey of Owen Brown to, 7 ; 
 of John Brown, 12; Indians of, 8. 
 
 "Old Brown's Farewell," 508; his 
 "Parallels," 481. 
 
 Oread, Mt., seat of Kansas University, 
 306. 
 
 Osage River, the, 251. 
 
 Osawatomie, 188; location of the 
 Browns, 205; Proslavery camp at, 
 230; burning of, 245; description, 
 251; last fight in, 314, 318; Pro- 
 slavery account, 321 ; monument at, 
 323. 
 
 Osawatomie Brown, 188, 317, 504, 558. 
 
 Otis, Harrison Gray, opposes Mis 
 souri Compromise, 161. 
 
 Ottawas, the, 196, 246. 
 
 Ottawa Jones. See Jones. 
 
 Oviatt, Captain, employs Brown, 58; 
 testimony to business character of, 
 67, 86 ; partner of Brown, 69. 
 
 Owen, John, 3; marriage, 3. 
 
 Ownership of arms carried to Virginia, 
 349, 350, 368, 384, 413, 464. 
 
 pALMYRA, robbed, 238; camp at, 
 258; battle at, 299, 300. 
 
 Paola, 278, 279, 301, 309. 
 
 Parentage of Brown, 3. 
 
 Parker, Mr., wounded by Border Ruf 
 fians, 245. 
 
 Parker, Rev. Theodore, first meets 
 Brown, 16; corresponds about him, 
 
 428, 459, 513, 515, 517; letters from 
 Brown, 434, 438, 447, 448; death, 
 492; a friend to Brown, 511; letter 
 to Emerson from Rome, 513; letter 
 to F. Jackson, 517. 
 
 Parsons, Luke F., statement respecting 
 Kansas, 285; respecting book, 471. 
 
 Pate, Captain, his capture described 
 by Brown, 239 ; by Owen Brown, 
 298; his agreement with Brown, 
 240, 300; release of, 304; his con 
 duct, 301, 304. 
 
 Perkins and Brown, 64; settlement of 
 affairs, 79, 88, 155, 157. 
 
 Phillips, W. A., 305, 393, 397. 
 
 Phillips, Wendell, 187, 514, 622. 
 
 Pierce, Franklin, president in 1856, 
 166, 176, 236, 343. 
 
 Pilgrimage to Kansas, 189, 191, 202. 
 
 Pioneer instinct of the Brown family, 
 90, 115. 
 
 Pinckney, Charles, 161. 
 
 Pinkney, William, 161. 
 
 Plainfield, John Brown at school at, 
 31, 32. 
 
 Plymouth Plantations, History of, 2. 
 
 Pottawatomie Creek, 188. 251^ 260. 
 
 Pottawatomie Indians, 196. 
 
 Pottawatomie executions, 171, 227, 
 247, 248; scene of, 251; facts of, 
 257, 259, 262, 265, 269, 271 ; effect 
 in Ottawa camp, 273; on the Bor 
 der Ruffians, 274, 278, 280; prosla- 
 very account of, 331, 332. 
 
 QUETELET, quoted, 468. 
 Quivira, the land of, 160. 
 Quincy, Josiah, letter to Judge Hoar, 
 
 249." 
 
 RANDOLPH, Penn, 42. 
 
 Realf, Richard, reports Brown's 
 plan, 136; sent to Brown as mes 
 senger, 396; letter to Brown, 470. 
 
 Redpath, James, biographer of Brown, 
 18; mistaken, 261; describes Prairie 
 City, 292; meets Brown, 294, 340, 
 471; report of New York meeting, 
 353. 
 
 Reeder, Governor Andrew H., 171 ; re 
 moved by Pierce, 176; declarations 
 of, 183; visited by Brown, 387. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 643 
 
 Reid, General J. W., leads attack on 
 Osawatomie, 321 ; on Lawrence, 335. 
 
 Richfield, Brown a shepherd at, 58. 
 
 Richmond, Brown at, 90. 
 
 Rively Pierce, testimony of, 226. 
 
 Robinson, Charles, letters of, 171, 
 212, 329, 330; agent of Emigrant 
 Aid Company, 212; defends Brown's 
 share in Pottawatomie executions, 
 171, 281; speech at Osawatomie, 
 280, 324; compares Brown to Christ, 
 325 ; calls Brown a robber and mur 
 derer, 490. 
 
 Robinson, Mrs. Charles, quoted from, 
 214; concerning Black Jack, 303. 
 
 Rockville, Woollen Co. of, 55. 
 
 Root, Sally, marries Owen Brown, 9; 
 their children and death, 9, 10. 
 
 Russell, Thomas, 509, 512; interview 
 with Brown in prison, 624. 
 
 Russell, Major, 560. 
 
 Russell, William H., a trustee under 
 Brown's will of 1857, 385; reassures 
 Brown, 476. 
 
 Rust, H. N., orders pikes, 376; letters 
 to and from Brown, 375, 377. 
 
 jgACRAMENTO, the old cannon, 309. 
 Sambo's mistakes, 128. 
 
 Sanborn, F. B., sonnets to John Brown 
 by, ix; first meets Brown, 17; Kan 
 sas Committees, member of, 347; 
 action taken by, 348, 355, 368; 
 introduces Brown to Legislative 
 Committee, .370; corresponds with 
 Brown, 113, 349, 381, 398, 408, 412, 
 435, 440, 443, 456, 474, 520, 534, 
 548; Virginia plan disclosed to, 418, 
 450 ; letter to Forbes, 429 ; at Gerrit 
 Smith's, 112, 438, 561; corresponds 
 with Smith about Brown's Virginia 
 plans, 458, 466, 483, 514, 524, 535, 
 548; advocates delay. 460; in secret 
 committee, 463, 492, 514, 520, 523- 
 525; letter to R. W. Emerson, 623. 
 
 Schamyl, compared with Brown, 136. 
 
 Scott, General, 560. 
 
 Sears, Rev. Edmond H., poem of, 629. 
 
 Shannon, Governor, 210 ; proclamation 
 of, 216; Lawrence treaty, 219; re 
 called, 284; apprehends failure, 303, 
 304; superseded, 328. 
 
 Sharpe's Rifles, purchased by Emi 
 grant Aid Company, 213, 214, 215; 
 by Dr. Cabot for Massachusetts 
 Committee, 349, 358. 
 
 Shawnee Mission, 176, 210. 
 
 Shermans, the, 230, 253 ; execution of 
 William, 265; his vile character, 
 255; death of Henry, 331; he guides 
 the ruffians to Jones's house, 323. 
 
 Shore, Captain, 239, 240, 297; at Pal 
 myra, 302. 
 
 Slavery, American, its nature, 167; 
 attempts to establish it in Kansas, 
 161, 176-184. 
 
 Smith, Mrs. A. C., corresponds with 
 Sanborn, 514. 
 
 Smith, Gerrit, offers lands, 96, 101; 
 interview with Brown, 97; donation 
 by, 194; generosity to Kansas colo 
 nists, 353; impression of Forbes, 
 430; receives Brown and friends, 
 438, 467; Virginia plan revealed to, 
 452; chairman of secret committee, 
 463; a friend to Brown, 514, 523; 
 gives public warning, 544; letters 
 concerning Brown, 364, 385, 458, 
 466, 483, 514, 524, 536, 561. 
 
 Smith, Isaac, alias John Brown, 539. 
 
 Smith, James, alias John Brown, 
 393. 
 
 Socrates, compared with Brown, 631. 
 
 Southampton Massacre, the, 34. 
 
 Sparks, Stephen, rescue, 225; testi 
 mony of wife, 226, 227. 
 
 v c peer, John and Joseph, 215; indict 
 ment of, 232. 
 
 Spring, Mrs. Marcus, letters of Brown 
 to, 591, 599 ; last words to, 621. 
 
 Spring, Professor, describes " Dutch 
 Henry's Crossing," 252. 
 
 Springdale, Iowa, 433, 479. 
 
 Springfield, Mass., removal of Brown 
 to, 63; his life in, 64; branch of 
 Gileadite League, 124; resolutions 
 of same, 126. 
 
 Spurs, battle of, 486. 
 
 Stearns, Mr. George Luther, hospital 
 ities to Brown, 17, 18; aid given by, 
 111; chairman of Massachusetts 
 Kansas Committee, 349, 350, 384, 
 385; generosity of, 406, 464, 493; 
 owns the arms for Virginia, 461, 
 462; a practical idealist, 507; letters 
 
644 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 to and from Brown, 112, 368, 406, 
 408, 409, 410, 411. 
 
 Stearns, Mrs. Mary E., invites Brown 
 to Medford, 17; recognizes Brown's 
 character, 507 ; letter from, 509 ; 
 sends Mr. Brackett to Charlestown, 
 515; Brown's letters to, 509, 610. 
 
 Stearns, Harry, letter from Brown, 
 12; anecdote of. 17. 
 
 Stephens, alias Whipple, 485, 565; 
 farewell to Brown, 625. 
 
 Stewart, Charles, Captain, 194, 439. 
 
 Stuart, J. E. B., 558, 559, 611. 
 
 Stratton, H., 308. 
 
 Stringfellow, J. II., Letter to " Mont 
 gomery Advertiser," 165; speeches 
 of, 165, 172; letter, 176; in the at 
 tack on Lawrence, 325. 
 
 Stubs, The, 285, 296, 342. 
 
 Sumner, Charles, welcomes Kossuth, 
 146; views of Missouri Compromise, 
 161; speech in Senate, 249; corre 
 spondence with Hugh Forbes, etc., 
 427, 430. 
 
 Sumner, Colonel, 239, 303, 305. 
 
 Surveyor, Brown disguised as a, 230. 
 
 TABOR, Brown at, 488. 
 
 Tacitus quoted, v. 
 Tayleure, C. W., letter to John Brown, 
 
 Jr., 611. 
 
 Thacher, T. Dwight, 186, 499. 
 Thayer, Eli, 163; letters, 212, 380, 
 
 381 ; Manager of Emigrant Aid Com 
 pany, 384. 
 
 Thomas, Thomas, 133, 194. 
 Thomson, Rev. Mr., and his slaves, 
 
 11. 
 Thompson, Dauphin, 530, 546, 549, 
 
 552, 579, 596. 
 Thompson, Henry, marries Ruth 
 
 Brown, 77; in Kansas, 239, 241, 
 
 293, 313, 322; wounded, 244, 291, 
 
 301. 
 
 Thompson, Ruth. See Ruth Brown. 
 Thompson, William, in Nebraska, 317, 
 
 336 ; capture of, 555. 
 Thoreau, verdict on John Brown, 119, 
 
 185, 503, 506; diaries quoted, 502; 
 
 letter from, 506. 
 Titus, Colonel, shot, 287; attack on, 
 
 311, 312. 
 
 Tombs-tone of Captain Brown, 3, 114, 
 375, 376. 
 
 Topeka, scenes near, 307, 485. 
 
 Townsle}^ James, discloses details of 
 Pottawatomie executions, 262, 264 
 270, 275. 
 
 Trial of Brown at Charlestown, 572- 
 576. 
 
 Tribune, New York, Brown's letters 
 to, 379, 481 : fund f, r Kansas colo 
 nists, 353; quoted, 426. 
 
 Tubman, Harriet, 452, 468. 
 
 Turner, Nat, his insurrection, 34. 
 
 "UNCLE SAM'S HOUNDS" on 
 
 Brown's track, 382, 511. 
 United States courts, 167, 186, 212, 229, 
 
 231, 235. 
 United States troops in Kansas, 224. 
 
 231, 239, 274, 276, 279, 284, 293, 
 
 301, 305, 307, 312, 316, 333, 340, 
 
 480. 
 
 Unseld, J. C., 527. 
 Updegraff, Dr., 286; wounded, 319. 
 
 Y ALL AN DIGRAM, C. L., interview 
 with John Brown, 563. 
 
 Van Dyck, H. H., letter to, 356. 
 
 Virginia foray, 519. 
 
 Virginia plan disclosed, 418, 452, 453. 
 
 Virginia punished for slavery, 170, 
 622. 
 
 Virginia savages, 618, 622. 
 
 Virginia soldiers, 625. 
 
 Virginia slavery defended by Gen. 
 Lee, 560; denounced by Jefferson, 
 169; by John Brown, 563; by Phil 
 lips, 622 ; by Victor Hugo, 630. 
 
 Virginia statesmen oppose slaverv, 
 162, 169. 
 
 WAKEFIELD, John A., mobbed, 
 
 173 ; house burned, 175. 
 
 Wakarusa War, 217-221. 
 
 Walker, Captain, cruelty to captives, 
 279. 
 
 Walker, R. J., 388, 395, 405, 416. 
 
 Walker, Samuel, 287; testimony of, 
 280, 336; anecdotes by, 337; 'dep 
 uty marshal, 339. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 645 
 
 Washington, Colonel Lewis W., 551; 
 
 arrested by Brown, 554. 
 Washington", George, 4, 550, 554, 630. 
 Washington, Madison, 133. 
 Watson] Henry, 539. 
 Wattles, Augustus, 391; on politics, 
 
 393. 394. 
 
 Watts, Isaac, quoted, 180. 
 Webb, Dr. T. H., 216; letter from 
 
 Brown, 612. 
 Webster, Daniel, supports Fugitive 
 
 Slave Bill, 123. 
 Webster, General J. D , letter from, 
 
 341. 
 Western Reserve, settlement of Owen 
 
 Brown, 4. 
 
 Whedon, Benjamin, 7. 
 Whipple, alias Stephens, 486. 
 White, Horace, letters from, 341, 354, 
 
 360, 362; testimony as to rifles, 342; 
 
 report of, 352; confidence in Brown, 
 
 361. 
 White, Martin, arrests Jason Brown, 
 
 277; kills Frederick Brown, 320. 
 Whittield, Proslavery candidate, 171. 
 Whitman, Edmund B., 241, 301, 330, 
 
 352, 366, 370, 394, 398, 402, 415, 521, 
 
 524; correspondence of, 357, 396, 
 
 403, 404. 
 
 Wiener, T., warehouse burned, 230, 
 254; account of Pottawatomie execu 
 tions, 272; at Black Jack, 290, 293. 
 
 Wilder, D. W., historian of Kansas, 
 quoted, 183, 207, 629. 
 
 Wilkes, Warren, 165. 
 
 Wilkinson, Allen, 230: killed at Pot 
 tawatomie, 266; testimony of wife, 
 267; antecedents, 271. 
 
 Williams, H. H., 325; letter to Brown, 
 364. 
 
 Wills of Jnlm Brown, 385, 616. 
 
 Wilson, Henry, 460, 466, 515; letters 
 from Dr. Howe, 462. 
 
 Winkley, Rev. J. W., 314. 
 
 Winter of 1778, hardships of, 4. 
 
 Wise, Governor of Virginia, 559; in 
 terview with Brown, 569, 570; tes 
 timony as to Brown, 571 ; mentioned 
 by Brown, 572, 584, 605 ; otherwise 
 mentioned, 572, 621, 623. 
 
 Wood, Samuel N., indictment of, 232. 
 
 Woodson, Daniel, 216, 284, 328. 
 
 Wright, Captain, 333. 
 
 VOUNG, Colonel, declarations of, 
 
 172. 
 Youth of John Brown, 31-35. 
 
 ERRATA. The name of Dr. Samuel Cabot is misspelled " Cobb " on page 352, 
 note. 
 
 There were two Stringfellows, whose initials were "B. F." and "J. H." 
 They are not always distinguished from each other in these pages. 
 
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