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 FROfi CANADIAN MAGAZINE, DEC, 1894. 
 
^ ((^ &^tIl^^^^-^---1/^ 
 
JOHN BROWN IN CANADA. 
 
 HY JAMES CLELAND HAMILTON. 
 
 " A story worth telling, our annals afford." 
 
 -C. Mnh: 
 " A moral warfare with the crime, 
 
 And fully of an evil time." — Whlttier. 
 
 A bioi^raphy b}' one who was an 
 eye-witness of some of the stormy 
 scenes in the fifties, of the tierce con- 
 flict then wao-ed between the pro- 
 slavery and anti-slaver}^ parties, brings 
 to mind many matters of interest to 
 residents on both 
 sides of the Great 
 Lakes, (a) 
 
 The author, Mr. 
 Richard J. Hinton, 
 was a trusted friend 
 and adviser of Cap- 
 tain John Brown, and 
 writes with the au- 
 thority of personal 
 knowledge. He shows 
 also an enthusiasm 
 for the holy cause, 
 and a personal affect- 
 ion undiminished by 
 the age that has 
 passed since his hero 
 gave up his brave 
 life on the Charles- 
 town gallows. 
 
 But this period has 
 not sufiiced for many 
 of his contemporaries, 
 whose personal feelings or fortunes 
 were aflected by the turmoil which fol- 
 lowed, to form an unbiased judgment 
 of the character and career of John 
 Brown, the man of sad and stern fur- 
 rowed countenance, whose word was 
 Spartan law to those who best knew 
 him, and whose arm was ever strong 
 and ready to shelter the oppressed and 
 to crush the oppressor. 
 
 Even in Canada, during the times 
 
 (a) John Brown and His Men. By Richard J. Hinton. 
 Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1894, New York and Toronto. 
 
 JOHN 1;K()WX 
 
 de]:>icted by our author, some could 
 have been found whose s^nnpathies 
 were more with Bomija and Maximi- 
 lian, the representatives of reaction, 
 than with Garibaldi, free Italy, and 
 piogressive Mexico. Some, too, there 
 were among us, and perhaps still are, 
 who regarded the period when the 
 slave-masters ruled in Washington as 
 the halcyon days of the Common- 
 wealth. 
 
 Few admirers of 
 John Brown will be 
 found among such 
 readers. He was an 
 iconoclast, who spared 
 no idols, however ven- 
 erable, who respected 
 no authority whose 
 creed was oppression, 
 and regarded no form 
 of belief as sacred, if 
 by it the mind of man 
 was in any way con- 
 fined. 
 
 The fastidious will 
 find it hard to realize 
 a pure-blooded An- 
 glo-Saxon not onlj'^ 
 taking up the cause 
 of the African with 
 enthusiasm, but ex- 
 hibiting no repul- 
 sion from his sooty skin, and treat- 
 ing the meanest slave as a broth- 
 er. The descendant of the May- 
 flower Puritan who had fled across 
 the sea for conscience'-sake, him.self 
 embarks on an ocean of moral con- 
 flict, and is destined to be engulphed 
 in its dark waves. 
 
 There is one class of our people 
 
 Brown as, 
 
 that of a 
 
 To their 
 
 who look on the career of 
 without doubt or gainsay, 
 true patriot and saviour, 
 minds, — 
 
JOHN BROWN IN CANADA. 
 
 "There sounds not to the trump of fame 
 The echo uf a nobler name." 
 
 Such, indeed, is the reverence and 
 love of the African race for John 
 Brown, hero of the Free Soil move- 
 ment in Kansas, and leader of the 
 Harpei" s Ferry raid. 
 
 They know that he fell a willing 
 martyr to the cause of freedom, and 
 how full of consequence that event 
 was to the lace he Joved. It was the 
 Hash that tired the powder, the spark 
 that kindled the blaze soon to light 
 up all the land. 
 
 THE VERY REV. WALTER HAWKINS. 
 Su))criiUendent {Bishop) of the B/\ii.E. Church. 
 
 It will be my object now to show 
 what part Canadians had in this mat- 
 ter. As far back as March 24th, 1 84(J, 
 in a letter written at Richmond, Ohio, 
 John FJrown says : " Jason and I have 
 talked of a visit to Canada next fall. 
 We would like to know more of that 
 country." Soon after this, he remov- 
 ed to North Elba, Essex Co., New 
 York, in the Adirondacks, in which 
 beautiful and romantic region he made 
 his liome. Here he raised his favorite 
 
 Devon cattle and choice sheep, and 
 aided colored people who came to set- 
 tle on lands given them by Mr 
 Gerrit Smith. His poetic spirit, 
 lov'e of nature, and benevolence, had 
 full and happy scope for a time. 
 His teachings and example were 
 greatly prized by his poor neigh- 
 bors, who required both encourage- 
 ment and a spur to activity in free 
 labor. 
 
 Wherever Brown's lot was cast, his 
 earnest, manly character was conspicu- 
 ous. His letters to members of his 
 family showed fatherly atftction 
 most sincere, but abounded in les- 
 sons urging to duty. Writing to 
 his son Jolni, he says, " Say to 
 Ruth, to be all that to-day which 
 she intends to be to-morrow." 
 His life was a living example of 
 Carlyle's heroic words : " Not 
 sport, but earnest, is what we 
 should require. It is a most earn- 
 est thing to be alive in this world : 
 to die is not sport for a man. 
 Man's life never was a sport to 
 him ; it w^as a stern reality, alto- 
 gether a serious matter to be 
 alive." (a) 
 
 The colony grew under Brown's 
 inspiring spirit and Gerrit Smith's 
 benevolence. Among refugees who 
 lived there for a time was Walter 
 Hawkins, a bright young colored 
 man, who had escaped from Mary- 
 land. In 1852, he removed to 
 Canada, became honored and re- 
 vered as a minister of the Gos- 
 pel, and when he died in Juh^ 
 1894, was Presiding Bishop of the 
 British Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 But the attacks of pro-slavery men 
 from Missouri upon " free-soil " set- 
 tlers in Kansas, called Brown and his 
 devoted sons to aid in defending the 
 cause of freedom there. He stood 
 firm, and grim as a great rock, on the 
 disputed territory. The waves of 
 violence swept around him, carrying 
 the worst elements engendered by 
 slavery, but broke baffled at hi'i feet. 
 
 (fl) Kroni " Ikroes and Hero Woisliip. 
 
 x^;^:*?.; ri- 
 
 >^ 
 
 ^M 
 
JOHN BROWN IN CANADA. 
 
 " Before the monstrous wrong he set him down, 
 One man against a stone-walled city of sin." 
 
 He organized forces, obtained sup- 
 plies, arms, and provisions from sym- 
 pathisers in the Eastern States, and 
 soon manfully, and with interest, 
 avenged the attacks of the " Border 
 Ruffians." 
 
 The slaves in Missouri were scat- 
 tered on the plantations, prevented 
 from meetinii- or consultinu' toi^ether, 
 and kept as ignorant and illiterate as 
 possible. All hope for betterment 
 was suppressed by cruel punishment, 
 or removal to the far south, of those 
 who showed any manliness. 
 
 The Haytien proverb, " Zie blanc 
 bouille negres," " The eyes of the 
 whites burn up the negroes," was ex- 
 emplified. The new territory of Kan- 
 sas was fast filling with people, and 
 elections were approaching which 
 would decide whether the domain of 
 slavery should be extended to it. 
 That power never scrupled in the use 
 of means to accomplish its ends. The 
 Government of the United States, 
 then in the hands of a temporizing 
 president, and pro-slavery officials, 
 failed to see fair play or to punish out- 
 rage. Brown determined to fight fire 
 with fire. He found promises broken, 
 conventions and compromises only 
 made and used as a means to forward 
 the pro-slavery movement. He could 
 see little use in conferences. " Talk 
 is a national institution, but it does no 
 manner of good to the slave," he would 
 say. Slaves were in his eyes prison- 
 ers of war; their masters, tyrants 
 who had taken the sword and must 
 perish by it. He took his Bible and 
 the Declaration of American Indepen- 
 dence as his guides. He fought in 
 the spirit of Joshua and of (iideon, 
 whose stories and characters had 
 strong fascination for him. 
 
 In December, 1858, Brown entered 
 Missouri with two small companies of 
 brave men. His lieutenants, John 
 Henry Kagi and Aaron D. Stevens, 
 who were both with him afterwards 
 at Harper's Ferr}^ commanded one, 
 
 and Brown the other. A negro called 
 Jim had come and stated that he, 
 with his wife and two children and 
 another sla\e would be soon sold, and 
 he begged for help. First these five 
 slaves were liberated, then six other 
 slaves, and two white nien were 
 marched ofi". The companions joined 
 and moved slowly back to the terri- 
 tory, when the white men were re- 
 leased. In the raid, Kagi's party had 
 been opposed by Mr. Cruise, a white 
 man, who was shot down by Stevens 
 in self-defence, as he claimed, while 
 endeavoring to detain a man-chattel. 
 This was unfortunate, but is to be re- 
 garded as an incident of the war, for 
 such in fact, was the desultory con- 
 flict that then raged in the western 
 outskirts of the Republic. 
 
 This invasion and bold attack on 
 the " peculiar institution," in its home, 
 raised a great connnotion. Brown 
 and Kagi were proclaimed outlaws, 
 and prices were put on their heads. 
 They determined to carry the freed 
 people to Canada. The retreat was 
 through Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, 
 Illinois and Michigan, and was one of 
 the boldest adventures of the cam- 
 paign. After passing the village of 
 Topeka with various incidents, shelter 
 was found in an enjpty log cabin, 
 where pursuers, headed by a United 
 States marshal, overtook them. 
 
 They remained on the defensive 
 until a band of young men from To- 
 peka joined them. At Hilton, or 
 Muddy Creek Crossing, the marshal 
 stationed himself with eighty armed 
 men. Brown had only twentj^-three 
 white men and three negroes. The wo- 
 men were sheltered in the cabins with 
 emigrant waggons in front of them. 
 The little company formed in double 
 file. At the word, " Now go straight 
 at 'em boys, they'll be sure to run," 
 Brown and his party marched cpiickly 
 towai'ds the creek, but the foremost 
 had not reached its margin, when the 
 marshal rode ofi' in hot haste, follow- 
 ed liy such of his men as could untie 
 and mount their horses in time. " The 
 
JOHN BROWN IN CANADA. 
 
 scene was ridiculous bej'ond descrip- 
 tion," says one of the party. " Some 
 liorses were hastily mounted b}^ two 
 men ; one man grabbed tight hold of 
 the tail of a horse, trying to leap on 
 from behind, wliile the rider was put- 
 ting spurs into his sides, so he went Hy- 
 ing through the air, his feet touching 
 the ground noA^' and then." Those of 
 our comrades who had horses followed 
 them about six miles, and brought 
 l.)aek four prisoners and five horses. 
 
 The aiiray at Muddy Creek is known 
 in the history of Kansas as " The 
 Battle of the Spurs, as these instru- 
 ments were the only weapons used. 
 The reader will remember the more 
 famous " Battle of the Spurs," of the 
 year 4513, when the French fled, and 
 some of their most noted men fell into 
 the hands of the soldiers of Henry 
 VIII. The prisoners were made to 
 walk along beside their captors, Brown 
 talking with them on the way concern- 
 ing the wickedness of slavery. In 
 the morning they were set at liberty, 
 but their horses were contiscated, and 
 given to the brave Topeka Boys. 
 
 As the contrabands advanced into 
 strange territory their remarks showed 
 their simple aft'ectionate nature. One 
 of the women pitied " poor massa 1 
 he's in a bad fix ; hogs not killed, corn 
 not shucked, and niggers all done 
 o-one." A man driving the oxen, asked 
 the distance to Canada, and was told 
 that it was fifteen hundred miles. 
 "Oh", golly! we uns never get dar 
 befo' spring," he exclaimed, shouting, 
 as he brought the goad down, " Git 
 up dar, buck ; bung along 1" 
 
 With manj^ adventures, the party 
 pi-essed on towards the North. One 
 of the women gave birth to a child on 
 the way, which was named John 
 Brown. One of the prisoners, taken 
 en route, was a gay young medical 
 man, a rattling blade, whom Brown 
 took under his especial care, and gave 
 him, under compulsion, more moral 
 and religious training than he had re- 
 ceived for years. On his return home 
 he told his story, and said Brown was 
 
 the best man he had ever met, and 
 knew more about religion than any 
 man. 
 
 The party reached Detioit on 12th 
 March, 1859, and crossed over to 
 Windsor in Canada. Here these people 
 settled and lived industriously. 
 
 When the friend they loved so well 
 suffered at Charlestown Court House 
 a few months later, he had no mourn- 
 ers more sincere than these lowly ones 
 of the earth whom he brought to Can- 
 adian manhood and freedom from 
 Missouri an bondage. 
 
 Samuel Harper, one of the band, 
 lives now with his wife in a comfort- 
 able cottage on Bruce avenue in 
 Windsor. He says that he and she 
 are the only survivors of the party of 
 eleven, except the boy called after 
 John Brown, who, now a man of 35 
 years of age, lives at Detroit. Harper 
 speaks very gratefully of Brown, say- 
 ing, " I wash I was in a position to 
 pay John Brown. Junior, one half 
 what I owe his father, for what he 
 did for us." He also speaks of the 
 raid, and his old home, with the air 
 of one who reviews the past and feels 
 strongly. He said his " Boss " came 
 after him to Windsor, and wanted him 
 to go back, promising to treat him 
 better than ever before. Harper was 
 indignant, and replied : " I thought 
 you was a smarter man dan dat, but 
 I find you's a fool, come all dis way 
 to ask me to go back to slavery." 
 
 He told his story as follows. The 
 statement is as accurate as can be ex- 
 pected from one in the position of this 
 freed man, after an age has pas.sed. 
 The person he referred to as Stevens 
 was sometimes called Whipple. He 
 followed Brown to Harper's Ferry, 
 and figured there as Capt. Aaron D. 
 Ste\'ens. He was a man without fear. 
 He was captured, as will be seen, after 
 being wounded, and was tried and ex- 
 ecuted under Virginia law, 
 
 SAMUEL harper's STORY. 
 " Way back een 1858, w'en Capt'iu Brown 
 kem down inter INIissoureye," said Harpsr, 
 " I was on'y 'bout 18 yeahs ole, but my wife 
 
JOHN BROWN IN CANADA. 
 
 5 
 
 ovah diir, she was 'bout 35. We kep' liearin' 
 of de Capt'in takin' slaves away an' sendin' 
 dera north, till Hn'lly, 'bout Christmas, we 
 he'ad dat de Capt'in was nigh to de fa'ni we 
 wuz Avorkin'. So we done sent him we'd 
 dat we was awaitin' to be took away, an' a few 
 weeks afterwa'ds the capt'in, with his part- 
 ner Kagi, came at night wid a wagin, an' 
 away we druv inter Kansas. 
 
 " But it was mighty slow trabelin'. You 
 see dey was severil difierent parties 'mongst 
 ouali band, an' ouali niarsers had people look- 
 in' all ovah for us. We'd ride all night, and 
 den maybe, we'd hev ter stay severil days in 
 one house ter keep from gettin' cot. In a 
 montli we'd on'y got to a place near Topeka, 
 which was 'bout forty miles from whar we 
 started. Dey was .12 of us stoppin' at de 
 house of a man named Doyle, besides de 
 capt'in an' his men, w'en dere comes along 
 a gang of slave huntahs. One of Capt'in 
 Brown's men, Stevens, he went downtodem 
 and sayed : — 'Gentlemen, you look 'sif you 
 was lookin' fo' somebody o' somefin'. ' A'y, 
 yas, ' says de leader, ' we think ez how you 
 hav some uv ouah slaves up yondeh een dat 
 'ere house.' 
 
 " ' 'S that so ? ' says Stevens. ' Well, come 
 on right along up wid me, an' you kin look 
 hem ovah an' see ' 
 
 " We wuz a watchin" this yere conve'sation 
 all de time, an' w'en we see Stevens comin' 
 up to de house wid dat 'ere man we jes' 
 didn't know w'at to make of it. AVe began 
 to git scared dat Stevens was goin' to give 
 us up to dem slave huntahs. But de looks 
 o' things changed w'en Stevens got up to de 
 house. He jes' f)pened the do' long 'nough 
 fer to grab a doubled-barreled gun. He pint- 
 ed it at de slave huntah, an' says : 
 
 " ' Yo' want to see yo"r slaves, does yo' ] 
 Well, jes' yo' look up dem barrels an' see ef 
 yo' kin find 'em.' 
 
 "That man jes' went all to pieces. He 
 drapped his gun. his legs was tremblin', an' 
 de tears mos' sta'ted f'um hees eyes. Stevens 
 took an' locked him up in de house. W'en 
 de rest o' his crowd seen him capcha'ed, dey 
 ran away 's fas' ez dey could go. Capt'in 
 Brown went in to see de prisoner, an' .says 
 to him, ' I'll show you w'at it ees to look 
 aftah slaves my man.' Thet frightened de 
 prisoner awful. He was a kind old fellow, 
 an' wen he heerd Av'at de capt'in said, I 
 s'pose he thought he was goin' to be killed. 
 He began t(j cry an' beg to be let go. Da 
 capt'in he only smiled a leetle bit, and talked 
 some mo' to him, an' de next day he was 
 let go. 
 
 " A few days afterwards, the United States 
 Marshal came uj), with another gang to cap- 
 cha us. Dar was 'bout 75 of dem, an' dey 
 surrounded de house, and we was all'fraid 
 we was goin' to be took for sure. l'>ut de 
 capt'in he jes' said, 'Git ready, boys, an' 
 
 we'll w'ip 'em all.' Dar was onh'y 14 of us 
 altogetlier, but de capt'in was a terror to 
 'em, an' w'en we stepped out o' de house an' 
 went for 'em de hull saiventy-five f)f 'em 
 sta'ted runnin'. Capt'in Brown an' Kagi an' 
 some others cha.sed em, an' capclia'ed five 
 prisoners. Dar was a doctah an' a lawyah 
 amongst 'em. Dey all lied nice ho'ses De 
 capt'in made 'em all get down. Den he told 
 five of us slaves to mount de beasts an' we 
 rode 'em w'ile de wite men hed to walk. It 
 was early in de spring, an' de mud on de 
 roads was away over dere ankles. I jes' tell 
 you it was mighty tough walkin', an' you 
 ken b'lieve dose fellers had enough of slave 
 huntin'. De next day de capt'in let 'em all 
 
 go 
 
 " Ouah massers kep' spies watchin' till we 
 crossed de border. W'en we got to Si)ring- 
 dale, loway, a man came ter see Capt'in 
 Brown, an' tole him dey wuz a lot of his 
 fren's down in a town in Kansas dat wanted 
 to see him. The capt'in said he did not care 
 to go down, but ez soon 's the man started 
 b.ack, Capt'in Brown follered him. W'en he 
 came back he said dar was a hull crowd 
 comin' up to capcha us. We all went up to 
 de school house an' got ourse'v's ready to 
 fight. 
 
 " De crowd came an' hung aroun' de 
 school 'ouse a few days, but dey didn't try 
 to capcha us. De gov'nor of Kansas, he 
 telegraphed to de United States Ma'shal at 
 Springdale : — 'Capcha John Brown, daid or 
 alive.' De Ma'shal, he ans'ed : ' Ef I try to 
 capcha John Brown, it'll be daid, an' it'll be 
 me dat'll Ije daid.' Fin'ly those Kansas 
 people went home, an' den dat same Ma'- 
 shal put us in a carh an' sent us to Chicago. 
 
 " It took us over three months to get to 
 Canada. If I'd knowed dat de slaves was 
 a goin' to be freed so soon as dey was, I'd 
 never a come to Windsor. W'y \ Cos I 
 could a bought Ian' down dar een Missour- 
 eye fo' 25 cents an acre, an' de climate is 
 much l)ettah dan up heah 
 
 " W'at kin' of a man was Capt'in Bro" n \ 
 He was a great beeg man, ovah six feet tall, 
 with great beeg shouldehs, and long hair, 
 white ez snow. He was a vairy (piiet man, 
 awful quiet. He never e\ en laughed. After 
 we was freed, we was wild of ct> se, and we 
 used to cut up all kinds ol) foolishness. But 
 de capt'in 'ud always hiok as solemn ez a 
 graveya'd. Sometimes he jes' let out de 
 tiniest bit of a smile, an' say : ' You'd bet- 
 tah quit yo' foolin' an' take up y<mr book.' 
 
 " D(! capt'iii's son, John Brown, Jr , lives 
 down to Put-in Bay Island. He raises grapes 
 down dere. an' we goes down to see him 
 every summah. He hez a nice family, an' 
 he's always glad to see hees ole frens." 
 
 How often Brown had been in Can- 
 ada before thi.s time does not appear 
 
6 
 
 JOHN BROWN IN CANADA. 
 
 l)Uthis visits and correspondence with 
 people of color, and others liere, were 
 frequent, and all with the one end in 
 view. 
 
 As the tirae ^rew ripe, Chatham and 
 St. Catharines were the places where 
 the conspirators in the cause of free- 
 dom met to perfect their plans. In 
 St. Catharines was then a wonderful 
 woman, Harriet Tubman. She was a 
 Maryland negress, who had escaped 
 from slavery, went back from time to 
 time, and brought away her old father 
 and mother, her brother's wife and 
 children, and many others, some of 
 whom are still living in Canada. She 
 gained the name " Deborah " and 
 " Moses," for saving her people from 
 bondage. In a conversation between 
 Captain Brown and Wendell Phillips, 
 in 1858, the former called her " the 
 General of us all," and said she had 
 led two thousand slaves from bondage 
 to northern freedom. She is also re- 
 ferred to as " The woman " in letters 
 of the period, written when it was 
 deemed best not to mention true names 
 of confederates. When the raid at the 
 Ferry was made, she was residing at 
 Chambersburg, Pennsjdvania. 
 
 Southern people, who lost valuable 
 chattels through her daring efforts, 
 offered Si 0,000 reward for her, dead 
 or alive. Frederick Douglas, Gerrit 
 Smith, and other friends, warned her 
 of the danger she incurred, but she re- 
 plied, " God will take care of me, whe- 
 ther in the North or in the South." 
 She was of unmixed blood, and of ver}^ 
 negrine features She was a wise and 
 faithful agent of the " Underground 
 Kailroad,' and ailviser of her people, 
 till the Avar opened another field of 
 usefulness, when she enlisted as an 
 hospital or army nurse. This heroine 
 lived at Auburn X.Y., subse<]uently, 
 but is since dead. The story of her 
 life was published in a small volume. 
 Mrs Tubman was one of Brown's 
 Canadian advisers and co-workers in 
 the anti-slavery movement. 
 
 On the twelfth d.iy of May, 1858, 
 he wrote to his wife from Chatham. 
 
 the seat of law of the county of Kent : 
 " Had a grand abolition Convention 
 here, from different parts, on the 8th 
 and 10th inst. Constitution slightly 
 amended and adopted, and Society or- 
 ganized." 
 
 After the Convention, Brown wrote 
 the letter to one of his sons given at 
 end of this article, under name of 
 James M. Bell. 
 
 The names of the members of the 
 Chatham Convention were : William 
 Charles Monroe, G. J. Reynolds, J. G. 
 Grant, A. J. Smith, James Monroe 
 Jones, George B. Gill, M. F. Bailey, 
 William Lambert, S. Hunton, JoJin J. 
 Jackson, Osborne P. Anderson, Alfred 
 Whipper, C.W. Moffett, James M. Bell, 
 W. H. Lehman, Alfred M. Ellsworth, 
 John E. Cook, Steward Taylor, Jame.-< 
 W. Purnell, George Akin, Steplien Det- 
 tin, Thomas Hick"rson, John Cannel, 
 Robinson Alexander, Richard Realf, 
 Thomas F. Gary, Richard Richardson, 
 Luke F. Parsons, Thos. M. Kennard, 
 Jeremiah Anderson, J. H. Delaney, 
 Robert Van Vaiden, Thos. M. String- 
 er, Charles P. Tidd, John A. Thomas, 
 C. Whipple, alias Aaron D. Stevens, 
 ,/. D. Shadd, Robert Newman, Owen 
 Brown, John Brown, J. H. Harris, 
 Gharles Smith, Simon Fislin, Isaac 
 Holden, James Smitli, and John H. 
 Kagi ; the Secretar^^, Dr. 21. R. De- 
 laney, was a corresponding member. 
 The members whose names aie in 
 italics were colored men. 
 
 The preliminary meeting was held 
 in a frame cottage on Princess-street, 
 south- of Kino-street. This cottage was 
 then known as the " Kmg-street 
 School," and is now a dwelling-house. 
 Some meetings were also held in the 
 First Baptist Church on the north 
 side of King-street. Pretence was 
 made in orderto mislead the inquisi- 
 tive, that the persons assembling were 
 organizing a Masonic Lodge of colored 
 peoj^le. But the most important pro- 
 ceedings took place in what was 
 known as " No. 3 Engine House," a 
 wooden building near McGregor's 
 '"'reek, erected bv Mr Holden and 
 
[OHN BROWN IN CANADA. 
 
 other colored men. Tlie sketch of this 
 is given by Mr. •). M. Jones from 
 memory. 
 
 It is a remarkable coincidence that 
 Brown laid his plans in this Chatham 
 Fire Engine Hall, and was ca])tured 
 in another tire hall at Harper's Ferry. 
 
 The Convention met on the 8th of 
 May, 1858, at 10 a.m, It had been 
 convened by notes from John Brown 
 to tho.se whom he desired to attend. 
 There was scant ceremony at the open- 
 ing proceedings by these earnest men. 
 They were of two colors, but of one 
 mind, and all were equal in degree 
 aud station here. No civic address of 
 welcome to the Canadian town, no 
 beat of drum, or firincr of ouns, was 
 heard. The place was rude and un- 
 adorned. Yet the object of the mem- 
 bers of this little parliament was to 
 gain freedom for four millions of 
 slaves. Many of those here convening 
 had already done, in self-sacrifice and 
 in lirave deeds, a fair share in the 
 work. The result was destined to 
 prove a factor of historical importance 
 in the future of the American people 
 
 The following is a cop}' of one of 
 the invitations to attend : 
 
 Chatham, Canada. 
 
 May 5th, ]cS58. 
 My Deae Friend, 
 
 I have called a '/i/hA Convention in 
 this place of true friends of freedom. Your 
 attendance is earnestly requested on the 10th 
 inst. * * * 
 
 Yovu" friend, 
 
 JoHX Bkowx. 
 
 The motives causing Brown to 
 choose this. Canadian 'town as the 
 place of meeting will be obvious when 
 we regard the position. There were 
 at this time, as Mr. Hinton estimates, 
 seventy-five thousand colored people 
 in Canada. This number was more 
 than were really here : Upper Canada 
 held 40,000; Toronto, \;1Q0. Some 
 of these citizens were in good circum- 
 stances, and were free-born ; many of 
 them were intelligent, and A\'atching 
 with lively interest the state of affairs 
 in the Republic, relating to their race. 
 
 Settlements of immigrant negroes 
 had been for a score or more of years 
 gradually growing in various parts of 
 the Upper Province, among these be- 
 ing Amherstburg, Colchester, and Mai- 
 den on the western extremity. The 
 (^)ueen's Bush in the townships of Peel 
 and Wellesley was an important set- 
 tlement, containing many well-to-do 
 colored men. The cities of London, 
 Hamilton, and St. Catharines, had 
 their share. Dresden was an import- 
 ant centre, where Josiah Henson, best 
 known as the " original Uncle Tom," 
 held patriarchal swa}', and had, with 
 aid from England and New England, 
 established the Dawn Institute, or 
 Manual Labor School. 
 
 The Rev. William King had been 
 laboring at Buxton, near the shore of 
 Lake Erie, since 1848: had founded 
 there, under the name of the Elgin As- 
 sociation, a model colony, where the 
 poor fugitive came, weary and foot- 
 sore, from his race for freedom, found 
 shelter, and made himself a home. 
 
 Near this was Chatham, the chief 
 town of the county of Kent, whose 
 rich soil and moderate climate had at- 
 tracted many dusky immigrants. Not 
 a few of them had become well-to-do 
 farmers. Others engaged in trade, or 
 labored as mechanics. Their children 
 were educated at the Wilberforce In- 
 stitute, a graded school. In this count}' 
 especially was the problem being woi'k- 
 ed out, as to the capacity of the African 
 to take equal place with the Anglo- 
 Saxon in the race of civilization. 
 In addition to the educational facil- 
 ities, the colored folk of Chatham 
 had churches of their own, a news- 
 paper, conducted in their interest by 
 Mr. I. D. Shadd, an accomplished col- 
 ored man, and societies for social in- 
 tercourse and improvement, in which 
 their affairs were discussed, mutual 
 wants made known, and help provid- 
 ed. But there were also here and 
 elsewhere, at each centre of colored 
 population, meetings and discussions 
 of a more earnest character: Conduc- 
 tors of the "Underground Railroad." 
 
JOHN BROWN IN CANADA. 
 
 an organization whose influence in aid 
 of the fleeing slaves, was felt from the 
 lakes and St. Lawrence River to the 
 centre of the slave populations, were 
 often seen here. The " League of the 
 Gileadites," as tirst formed by Brown 
 in 1851. enlisted in its ranks many a 
 courageous, freedom loving man, and 
 had some members in Western Can- 
 ada. The name was taken from Judges 
 vii. 3 : " Whosoever is fearful or afraid, 
 let him return and depart early from 
 Mount Gilead." Members, when join- 
 ing each band, agreed to provide suit- 
 
 and an engine manned by colored 
 men. This town, liearing the name 
 of England's great Prime Minister, 
 was well chosen as the seat of the 
 Convention. 
 
 The writer has obtained much of 
 his information as to the events de- 
 scribed in Canada, by incjuirj?^ from 
 persons who were parties to them, or 
 members of the Convention. To gain 
 this was not a matter of course. The 
 secrets which many of the old col- 
 ored men had were often of vast im- 
 portance to them in time of slavery. 
 
 JWin. 3muyt sTav tri . fj-Ti j 
 
 B.^cn MaU.Jr'i. ^— ' 
 
 C SaAiti^t <l^u.r ek, Colour t el 
 I'.Olcl KnxcSt Sck.U. 
 r Prese ni Wdht rfc nt Tr, siitute 
 
 PS 
 
 .-5ITK OF llll. CllATliA.M CONVKMION, 1 S.')S. 
 
 able im])lements (meaning weapons), 
 and to aid all colored people in gain- 
 ing freedom and resisting attack. 
 
 Such were some of the elements that 
 then largely influenced the colored 
 people here. They were fairly indus- 
 trious, happy under British law, and, 
 as Brown afterwards found, the great- 
 er portion of them were so occupied 
 in seeking a livelihood and compe- 
 tence, that they hesitated or refused 
 to risk many chances in a cause and 
 struggle the result of wliicli was dim 
 and doubtful. 
 
 Not to be behind their white neigh- 
 bors, they had a tire hall in Chatham, 
 
 They had escaped, sometimes witli a. 
 struggle, and even bloodshed. Some 
 had boldly gone back from their 
 Canadian homes, and guided kinsmen 
 or friends on the M'ay to freedom. 
 Of the acts of daring so done there 
 was no open boasting. Secrecy was 
 for years expedient, and so became 
 habitual. A colored man of edu- 
 cation and position acknowledged 
 that he still met this feeling when 
 making inijuiries for the writer as to 
 the Convention. "I And it very difli- 
 cult, " he writes, " to obtain any infoi'- 
 ination from our people. We can not 
 blame them nnich, because, in the 
 
JOHN BROWN IN CANADA. 
 
 course of two hnndred aud fifty years 
 of intercourse with the Anglo-Saxon, 
 they have not formed a very favor- 
 able opinion of him. When it comes 
 to prying into the old-time secrets, 
 they always think there is a cat in 
 the meal, so you must make allow- 
 ance and bear with them." 
 
 And now we return to the Conven- 
 tion. The leading spirit was John 
 Brown, a man with well-set muscular 
 form, of average size, his hair prema- 
 turely grey, closely trimmed and low 
 on the forehead. His eyes bluish- 
 grey, were, w'hen he warmed in 
 speech, full of fire. His face, with 
 beard unshaven, and covering a stron^f, 
 square mouth, with broad and prom- 
 inent chin. His general appearance 
 is thus descx'ibed by Frederick Doug- 
 lass and others. He was born on the 
 9th of May, 1800, of blue, New Eng- 
 land blood, with descent from Peter 
 Brown, who came in the Mayflower 
 to Plymouth Rock in 1620 ; lived in 
 Duxbury, near the hill where Miles 
 Standish's house was built, and where 
 his monument may now be seen. 
 John Brown was of Calvinistic creed, 
 and with a tendency to fatalism ; with 
 the taciturnity, wariness and contempt 
 of danger of a Mohawk ; an admirer 
 of Theodore Parker, Wendell Phillips, 
 Emerson and Sumner, apostles of 
 Emancipation and opponents of South- 
 ern aggression. He was of great 
 natural intelligence, and well read, 
 especially in history, but not college- 
 bred, tie had travelled in Europe, 
 and was interested in foreign affairs. 
 He was full of affection to his family, 
 and ever constant to his friends. But 
 the cause of liberty had the foremost 
 place in his heart and soul. Quoting 
 from Cowper, he could say : 
 
 • " 'Tis liberty alone that gives the tlower 
 Of fleeting life its lustre and perfume. 
 And we are wteds without it." 
 
 It was not of his own choice that he 
 left his farm, and went into the 
 bloody arena. One who met him be- 
 fore the Harper's Ferry affair, wrote : 
 " Stranger than tictiou have been his 
 
 escapes and exploits in Kansas. Com- 
 bining the gentlenej-s of a Christian, 
 the love of a patriot, and the skill 
 and boldness of a commander, whether 
 ending his career in the (juiet of home, 
 or bloody strife, the freeman of Kan- 
 sas will liallow his memory, and his- 
 tory will name him the Cromwell of 
 our Border Wars.* 
 
 He was of earnest and stern re- 
 solve, brave and true, Brown's .sons 
 inherited his Spartan spirit. With 
 six of them, and a son-in-law, he had 
 done a hero's part to save Kan.«as, 
 and now he proposed to formulate 
 bold plans for the future, before trust- 
 ed adherents. 
 
 John Henry Kagi was a lawyer by 
 profession, and full of zeal in the cause. 
 He was his leader's right hand in 
 Kan.sas and in the Convention, lie 
 aided in drawing the Constitution. 
 He returned to the West, was in the 
 raid in Missouri, and ended his life at 
 Harper's Ferry. Capt. John E. Cook 
 was from Indiana, well connected, 
 and much trusted by Brown. He 
 also fell in the final contest in Vir- 
 ginia. Owen Brown was the son of 
 John Brown. Richard Realf was an 
 English Chartist, of good literary 
 ability. Rej-nolds was an active mem- 
 ber of the Gileadite, or liberty League. 
 The Convention was called to order 
 by Mr. Jackson, on whose motion 
 the Rev. William C. Monroe, a colored 
 minister from Detroit, was chosen 
 President, and Capt. Kagi was elected 
 Secretary. Mr. Brown then proceeded 
 to state at iength the object of the 
 meeting, and the proposed plan of 
 action, and presented a paper entitled 
 " Provisional Constitution and Ordi- 
 nances for the People of the United 
 States." Before this, on motion by 
 Mr. Kennard, seconded b}' Mr. De- 
 laney, a parole of honor was taken 
 by all the members, who each de- 
 clared ; " I solemnly affirm that I will 
 not, in any way, divulge an}' of the 
 secrets of this Convention, except to 
 the per.-ons entitled to know the 
 
 -Redpaths Life of Brown, p. 225. 
 
lO 
 
 JO HN BROWN IN CA NA DA . 
 
 jscinie, on the pain of forfeiting tlie 
 respect anrl protection of this organi- 
 zation." 
 
 The plan unfolded sought no war 
 of o fence against tlie South, but to 
 restore to the African race its natu- 
 ral rights, and to enable it to en- 
 force and maintain them ; not negro 
 supremac3^ but citizenship. There 
 
 c^uv^sfslVoi;'^ 
 
 was much discussion over the article 
 finally adopted as No. XLVI., which 
 was as follows : " The foregoing ar- 
 ticles shall not be construed so as in 
 any way to encourage the overthrow 
 of ' any State Government, or the gen- 
 eral (Jo\ernment of the United States, 
 and look to no dissolution of the 
 Tnion, but simply to amendment and 
 repeal, and our flag shall be the same 
 that our fathers fought for under the 
 Revolution." 
 
 Article XL\'III. provided that every 
 otficev connected with the organiza- 
 tion should make solenni oath to abide 
 by the Constitution, and so with each 
 citizen and soldier, before being en- 
 rolled. 
 
 Among the chief speakers were, 
 John Brown, and Messrs. Delaney, 
 Kagi, Kennard,Reynolds,Owen Brown, 
 Realf and Jones. On motion of John 
 Brown, a resolution was passed ap- 
 pointing himself, with J. H. Kagi, 
 Richard Realf. 1. ^I\ Parsons, V. P. 
 Tidd, C. Whipple. ('. \V. Moflat, John 
 K. Cook, Owini Brown, Steward Tay- 
 lor, Osborne P. Anderson, A. U. Ellis- 
 worth, Richai-d Richardson, W. H. 
 Lehman, and John Lawrence, a com- 
 mittee to whom was di-legated the 
 jiower of the Convention to till all of- 
 fices named in the constitution which 
 shouhl become vacant. W'Ikii the iiai-- 
 
 [)ers Ferry att'air took i)lace, Thomas 
 F. Carey was chairman, and I. D. 
 Shadd and M. F. Bailey Avere secre- 
 taries of this counnittee. The mem- 
 bers of the Convention stayed about 
 two weeks in Chatham. John Brown 
 and Kagi visited other Canadian towns 
 also, to see coloured men, and to inter- 
 est them in the grand project. 
 
 Some months before the Conven- 
 tion, Mr. Brown visited Toronto and 
 held meetings with them in Temper- 
 ance Hall, and also met many at the 
 house of the late Mr. Holland, a col- 
 ored man, on Queen-street west. On 
 one occasion. Captain Brown remain- 
 ed as a guest with his friend Dr. A. 
 M. Ross, who is distinguished as a 
 naturalist, as well as an intrepid aboli- 
 tionist, who risked his life on several 
 occasions in excursions into the South 
 to enable slaves to flee to Canada. Dr. 
 Ross has been honored with titles and 
 decorations from several European 
 governments on account of his valu- 
 able contrilnitions to science, but, 
 above all these, he prizes the fact that 
 he was the trusted friend of John 
 Brown. 
 
 Di-. Ross speaks of the hero with 
 the deepest love and admiration. He 
 describes him as walking with noise- 
 less tread, his eyes intent and watch- 
 ful, and body bent somewhat forward, 
 ar if in search of an object : his 
 speech well-guarded — all this the ef- 
 fect of the life of danger he had led 
 with a reward offered for his head. 
 But in the evening at the Doctor's 
 house, reserve was thrown otf, as he 
 conversed with the few friends who 
 were called in, and when the children's 
 hour came, the grim warrior was all 
 smiles, and the little ones gathered 
 around him as he told them stories and 
 made "shadow i-abbits " on the wall, 
 and then, kneeling on the carpet, hidp- 
 ed them to build block-houses. Dr. 
 Ross saw him on board the steamer 
 bound for Niagara, on a Monday 
 morning about the middle of May, 
 when Brown bade him an aflectionate 
 adieu, took out a "York slulling," and 
 
JOHN JiROU'N IN CANADA. 
 
 1 1 
 
 handed it to liiiii, saying, ''' Keep this, 
 and whenever yuu see it, j^ou'll re- 
 member John Brown." It is needless 
 to say that the little silver piece is 
 treasured by the Doctor as one of his 
 most valued possessions. 
 
 Dr. Ross had known Brown intim- 
 ately' for three years j^revious to his 
 death. " His manner and conversa- 
 tion, " sa3"s the Doctor, " had a mag- 
 
 aflectionate letter. I aia sorry your eflorts to 
 reacli tlii.s place have been unavailing. I thank 
 you for your faitiifulness, and the as.surance 
 you give me that my poor and deejjly afflicted 
 family will be provided for. It takes from 
 my mind the greate.st cause of sadness I have 
 experienced since my imprisonment. In a 
 few liours I .shall be in another and better 
 state of existence. I feel (piite clieerful, and 
 ready to die. My dear friend, do not give 
 up }^)ur labors for "the poor that crj", and 
 them that are in bonds." 
 
 netic influence, which rendered him Jf • t^ x 
 
 attractive,and stamped him as a.man "/^"^^t^C^-L^^^^r/A-^f /j^ ^ ^^jP^^ 
 of more than ordinary coolness, tena /x^ ^ ^f /^ 
 
 city of purpose, and devotion to what 
 he considered I'i^ht. He was, in m}" 
 estimation, a Christian, in the full 
 sen.se of that word. No idle, jirofane, 
 or immodest word fell from his lips. 
 He was deeply in earnest in the work, 
 in which he believed himself a special 
 instrument in the hands of God." He 
 had for many years been studying the 
 guerilla system of warfare, adopted 
 in the mountainous portions of Spain 
 and the Caucasus, and, in a ruder man- 
 ner, by the Maroons of Jamaica, and 
 by that system he thought he could, 
 with a small bod}' of picked men, in- 
 augurate and maintain a negro insur- 
 rection in the mountains of Virginia, 
 more successful than that of the Ro- 
 man Spartacus, and cause so much 
 annoj'ance to the United States Govern- 
 ment, and dread in the minds of slave- 
 holders, that they would ultimately be 
 glad to " let the oppressed go free." 
 
 The Doctor also has the original of 
 the remarkably prophetic lines which 
 John Brown wrote, just before he was 
 led out to die on the following day : 
 
 " Charle.sto\vx, Va., 
 
 December, 2, 1859. 
 I, John Brown, am now (/iftfe certain that 
 the crimes of "this yuilty land will never be 
 washed away except with much blood. I 
 had, as I now think, vainly flattered myself, 
 that without much bloodshed it might "be 
 done." 
 
 John* Bkowx. 
 
 Dr. Ross has a farewell letter, writ- 
 ten to him by John Bi-own the day 
 before his execution. It is as follows : 
 
 Mv Dear Friend — Captain Avis, my jail- 
 er, has just handed me your most kind and 
 
 
 Charleston Jail, \ 
 
 Deceud:)er l.st, 18.Mt. 
 
 It may be well here to give a shoi-t 
 account of Browns three leading suj)- 
 portei-s at the Convention: — First 
 came John Henr}' Kagi, of old Virginia 
 stock, attractive in person, and of ani- 
 mated, even magnetic address. He 
 had, our author states, just pa sed the 
 seventh month of his twenty-fourth 
 year, when slain at Harper's Ferry. 
 " He had more the appearance of a 
 divinity student than a warrior." His 
 language Avas elegant, his deportment 
 unassailable : his habits, strictly tem- 
 perate ; kind in his feelings to every- 
 one, especially to children, whose con- 
 fidence he acquired at first acquaint- 
 anc ." M)-. Hinton graphicall}' recalls 
 his friend as a man of personal beauty, 
 with a fine, well-shaped head, a voice 
 of gentle, sweet tones, that could be 
 penetrating aii"! cutting, too, almo.st to 
 sharpness. The eyes largo, full, well- 
 set, hazel-gre}'' in color, irridescent in 
 light and effect. Mentally, he Avas the 
 ablest of those who supported Brown 
 in council, and followed him to Har- 
 per's Ferry. George B. Gill, wlio was 
 associated with Kagi in the cause, said 
 of him : — " In mental fields, he pos- 
 sessed abundant and ingenious re- 
 sources. He was full of a wonderful 
 vitalit}^ His was a model disposition. 
 No strain or stress couM shake his un- 
 ruffled serenitv. Hi.^ ft rtilitv of re- 
 
12 
 
 JOHN BROWN IN CANADA. 
 
 sources made liiin a tower of strength 
 to John Brown." 
 
 Next in importance to Captain 
 Kagi was Captain John E. Cook, born 
 in 1880, of Puritan ancestry, at Had- 
 dam, Connecticut. He was thus de- 
 scribed when in his ceb, from whence 
 he was taken to the gallows : " His 
 long silken blonde hair curled care- 
 lessl}'^ about hs neck; his deep blue 
 eyes were gentle in expression as a 
 ■woman's, and his slightly bronzed com- 
 plexion did not conceal the soft effem- 
 inate skin that would have befitted 
 the gentler sex. He was small in 
 stature, nervous and impatient." Mr. 
 Hinton, who knew him well, says, 
 " ( ook never lacked the courage which 
 Napoleon termed the ' three o'clock in 
 
 from the millions who have but just 
 cast aside the fetters and shackles that 
 bound them. But ere that day ar- 
 rives, I fear that we shall hear the 
 crash, the battle shock, and see the 
 red glare of the cannon's lightning. 
 .... Inclosed, you will tind a few 
 flowers that I gathered in my rambles 
 about town." 
 
 On the 3rd of July, 1859, he writes, 
 " I shall start up among the mountains 
 to gaze upon the grand and beautiful. 
 .... God's blessed air sweeps over 
 them, and the wands, as it w^ere, 
 breathe a mournful song of liberty. . . . 
 Time passes slowdy, as I idle thus. 
 Heart and soul are all absorbed in the 
 thought of what I owe my country 
 and my God. . . . To-morrow is the 
 
 t\ 
 
 
 the morning.' Cook formed the plan 
 for capturing Lewis Washington, and 
 obtaininjx his historical relics. He 
 also advocated the seizure of Harper's 
 Ferry, wanted to Vjurn the buildings 
 and railway bridges, carrying off such 
 United States arms as their means of 
 transport would allow " He went 
 with Brown from Canada to Cleve- 
 laml. Writing soon after the conven- 
 tion, he said : ' The prospects of our 
 cause are prowino- brighter and 
 brighter. Through the dark gloom 
 of the future I almost fancy I can see 
 the daAvning light of freedom break- 
 ing through the mi<lnight darkness of 
 wrong and oppression. I can almost 
 hear the swelling antliem of liberty 
 
 Fourth ! the glorious day which saw 
 our Freedom's birth, but left sad hearts 
 beneath the slave lash and clanking 
 chain ... .1 feel self-condenuied when 
 I tliink of it. The contents of the 
 cup may be hitter, but it is our duty ; 
 let us drain it to tlie very dregs." 
 
 On the lOtli of August, he wrote in 
 a like exalted strain, enclosing some 
 stanzas, beginning : 
 
 " We see the gathering tempest in the sky, 
 
 We see the l)lack ch)ud.s as aln g they roll, 
 
 We sec from outthegloon>theli>4lituing.sfly, 
 
 O'urthrowing all who would their course 
 
 control." 
 
 Aaron Dwight Stevens had been a 
 subaltern in the United States army, 
 when an othcer unjustly treated a pri- 
 
JOHN BROWN IN CA NA DA . 
 
 13 
 
 vate, and was about to punish him 
 cruelly. Stevens witnessing this, be- 
 came indignant, knocked the officer 
 down and deserted from Fort Leaven- 
 worth. He changed his name to con- 
 ceal his identity, and when with 
 Brown, was known as Charles Whip- 
 ple. He was a native of Connecticut, 
 riis great grandfather was a revolu- 
 tionary officer, and his grandfather 
 served in the war of 1812. He fought 
 gallantly in the Mexican war, and 
 afterwards helped to keep the Navajo 
 and Apache Indians in check. When 
 he deserted, he, for a time, concealed 
 himself among the Delawares on the 
 Kaw River, then joined the Free Soil 
 men in Kansas under his assumed 
 name. He stood six feet two inches 
 in his stockings, and was well propor- 
 tioned. His eye was restless and 
 brilliant. His qualities were soldierly, 
 and he would have won fame under 
 happier auspices 
 
 He was prone to hasty anger and 
 passionate action, the " Simon Peter " 
 of the party, and this sometimes called 
 for rebuke from his leader, who, on 
 the day of his death, wrote him as 
 follows ; 
 
 Charleston Prison, 2nd Dec, 1859. 
 John Brown to Aaron D. Stevens, 
 
 "He that is slow to anger is better than 
 the mighty, and he that ruleth his spirit than 
 he that taketha city." — Solomon. 
 
 The hint, so singularly given, had 
 the effect, perhaps, of aiding Stevens 
 in curbing his temper during his te- 
 dious trial and imprisonment. Unlike 
 his leader, Stevens had not the Chris- 
 tian faith to console him. " He died," 
 says Mr. Hinton, " a devoted Spirit- 
 ualist, believing absolutely in the 
 immortality of life." It would be en- 
 croaching too much on the biographer, 
 and would be beyond n)y present 
 scope, were I to attempt more at length 
 to depict the strong, sterling charac- 
 ters, of both colors, drawn together by 
 the wonderful magnetism of our hero. 
 
 Only one colored man of remark- 
 able courage may be mentioned, 
 
 Shields Green, " with Congo face, big 
 misplaced words and huge feet, knew 
 instinctively what courageous man- 
 hood meant," writes the narrator. 
 When Frederick Douglass turned from 
 Brown after his last interview, he met 
 Green and told him he could go with 
 him to Roche.ster. The black man 
 glanced back at the figure of his leader, 
 bowed under the pain of Douglass' 
 refusal, and simply asked, " Is he 
 going to stay." " Yes," said Douglass, 
 " Well I guess I goes wid de old man," 
 was the decision. When Brown was 
 in the thick of the Harper's Ferry 
 fight. Green came, under fire, with a 
 message to Osborne Anderson and 
 Hazlett at the arsenal, when Anderson 
 told him he had better retreat with 
 them, " You think der's no chance, 
 Osborne ?" he said. "Not one," was 
 the reply. " And de old Captain 
 can't get away i " " No," said 1 »oth 
 men. " Well, I guess I'll go back to 
 de old man." And so he went into 
 the very jaws of death, and finally 
 died a brave martyr's death, at (.har- 
 lestown. Not last on the scroll of 
 fame will be enrolled the name of 
 this single-hearted freedman. 
 
 Some other members of the Chatham 
 Convention, in addition to the Browns 
 and his lieutenants just described, 
 were from the United States, but 
 manj^ of them were then Canadian 
 residents. John Brown was chosen 
 Commander-in-Chief : J. H. Kagi, 
 Secretary of War : Alfred W. Ells- 
 worth and Osborne P. Anderson, 
 Members of Congress ; Owen Brown, 
 Treasurer; George B. Gill, Secretary 
 of the Treasurer ; and Richard Realf, 
 Secretary of State. 
 
 Mr. J. M. Jones, Mr. Isaac Holden, 
 and Mr. Hunton, were, it is thought, the 
 only members of the Convention sur- 
 viving, until a late date, in Canada. 
 They lived in Chatham, where Messrs. 
 Hunton and Holden died recently, 
 Mr. Holden was a merchant and 
 surveyor, and Brown resided in hii^ 
 house during his visit. Mr. Jones is 
 a skilled gunsmith and engraver, and 
 
H 
 
 JOHN BROWN IN CANADA. 
 
 a Justice of the Peace for his county. 
 He is a native of Ealeig-li, North Caro- 
 lina, and was echicated at Oberlin, 
 Ohio, oraduatini^ in the class of 1849. 
 Particulars of this historical event, 
 stated by Mr. Jones mainly, but con- 
 
 ^. :m. .lONEs. 
 
 tinned by Mr. Holden and Mr. Hun- 
 ton, ^^'^ll be interesting. Most of 
 these were committed by Mr. Jones to 
 paper a few years after the Conven- 
 tion was held. " Mr. P)rown," says 
 Mr. Jones, "called almost daily at m^^ 
 gunshop, and spoke freely of the great 
 subject that lay uppermost in his 
 mind. He submitted his plans, and 
 only asked for tlieir appi-oval by the 
 Convention." One evening the cjues- 
 tion came up as to what liag should 
 be u.sed ; our English coloi'ed subjects, 
 who had been naturalized, .said they 
 would never think of lighting under 
 the hated ' Stars and Stripes.' 
 
 " Too many of them thought they 
 carried their emblem on their backs. 
 But Brown said the old flag was good 
 enough for him ; under it, freedom 
 had been won from the tyrants of the 
 old world, for white men ; now he in- 
 tended to make it do duty 
 for black men. He declared 
 emphatically that he would 
 not give up the Stars and 
 Stripes. That settled the 
 ({uestion." 
 
 Some one proposed the 
 admission of women as 
 members, but Brown stren- 
 uously opposed this, and 
 warned the members not 
 to intimate, even to their 
 wives, what was done. 
 
 During one of the sit- 
 tings, Mr. Jones had the 
 floor, and discussed the 
 chances of the success or 
 failure of the slaves rising 
 to support the plan pro- 
 posed. Mr. Brown's scheme 
 was to fortify some place 
 in the mountains, and call 
 the slaves to rally under his 
 colors. Jones expi-essed 
 fear that he w'ould be 
 disappointed, because the 
 slaves did not know 
 enough to rally to his 
 support. The American 
 slaves, Jones argued, were 
 different from those of 
 the West India island of San Dom- 
 ingo, whose successful uprising is 
 matter of history, as they had there 
 imbibed some of the impetuous char- 
 acter of their French masters, and 
 were not so over-awed by white men. 
 " Mr. Brown, no doubt thought," says 
 Mr. Jones, " that I was making an im- 
 pression on some of the members, if 
 not on him, for he arose suddenly and 
 i-emarked, ' Friend Jones, you will 
 ))lease say no more on that side. 
 There will be plenty to defend that 
 side of the question.' A general laugh 
 took place. 
 
 " One day in my shop I told liiui 
 
JOHN BROWN IN CANADA. 
 
 how utterly hopeless his plans would 
 be it" he persisted in making an attack 
 with the few at his command, and 
 that we coidd not afford to spare 
 white men of his stamp, ready to sa- 
 crifice their lives for the salvation of 
 black men. While I was speaking, 
 Mr. Brown walked to and fro, with 
 his hands behind his l)ack, as was his 
 custom when thinking on his favorite 
 subject. He stopped suddenly, and 
 bringing down his right hand with 
 great force, exclaimed : ' Did not my 
 Master Jesus Christ come down from 
 Heaven and sacrifice Himself upon the 
 altar for the salvation of 
 the race, and should I, a 
 worm, not worthy to crawl 
 under his feet, refuse to 
 sacrifice myself ? ' With a 
 look of determination he re- 
 sumed his walk. 
 
 " In all the conversations 
 I had with him during his 
 stay in Chatham of nearly 
 a month, 1 never once saw 
 a smile light up his coun- 
 tenance. He seemed to be 
 always in deep and earnest 
 thought. 
 
 " J. E. Cook worked with 
 me a month, cleaning and 
 repairing the revolvers and 
 other arms beloncjinsf to the 
 party. During this time he 
 told me that while they 
 were in Kansas fighting the 
 Border Ruffians, Brown's 
 son Frederick was killed. 
 ' When we arrived,' said 
 Cook, 'we found the young- 
 man lying dead on the road. 
 He was going to a barn on 
 his uncle's farm when he 
 fell, riddled with bullets. 
 The old man looked on his 
 dead boy for a moment, 
 then raising his eyes heaven- 
 ward, said, ' B3' the Eternal, 
 now they have done it, and from this 
 forward they will pay for it.' This 
 event had a fixed and lasting effect 
 on Mr. Brown ; and from this time 
 
 on I never saw a smile on his face. 
 ■' A (j[uestion as to the time for mak- 
 ing the attack came up in the Con- 
 vention. Some advocated that we 
 should wait until the United States 
 became involved in war with some 
 first-class power ; that it would be next 
 to madness to plunge into a strife for 
 the abolition of slavery while the 
 Government was at peace with other 
 nations. Mr. Brown listened to the 
 argument for some time, then slowly 
 arose to his full height, and said : ' Mr. 
 Chairman, I am no traitor ; I would be 
 the last one to take advantage of my 
 
 ISAAC HOLUKN, 
 
 country in the face of a foreign foe.' 
 He seemed to regard it as a great in- 
 sult. That settled the matter in my 
 mind that John Brown was not insane. 
 
i6 
 
 JOHN BROWN IN CANADA. 
 
 " In his conversation during his stay 
 here, he appeared intensely American. 
 He never for a moment thought of 
 tio-hting the United States, as such, but 
 simply the defenders of slavery in the 
 States. Only the ulcer, slavery, he 
 would cut from the body politic. 
 
 " ]\Ir. Brown called before the last 
 meeting, and induced Mr. Jones, who 
 had not attended all the sittings, to 
 come to that, as the Constitution must 
 be signed, and he wished his name to 
 be on the roll of honor. As the paper 
 was presented for signature, Brown 
 said ' iNow, friend Jones, give us John 
 Hancock, bold and strong.' I replied 
 that I thought it would resemble 
 Stephen Hopkins. The reference was 
 to the difference in the two signatures 
 in the American Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence — the one large and bold, the 
 other that of a shaking, hand. 
 
 " John Brown, never, I think," said 
 Mr. Jones, " communicated his whole 
 plan, even to his immediate followers. 
 In his conversations with me he led 
 me to think that he intended to sacri- 
 fice himself and a few of his follow- 
 ers for the purpose of arousing the 
 people of the North from the stupor 
 they were in on this subject. He 
 seemed to think such sacrifice neces- 
 sary to awaken the people from the 
 deep sleep that had settled upon the 
 minds of the whites of the North. 
 He well knew that the sacrifice of 
 any number of negroes would have 
 no efi'ect. What he intended to do, 
 so far as I could gather from his con- 
 versation, from time to time, was to 
 emulate Arnold Winkelried, the Swiss 
 Chieftain, when he threw himself 
 upon the Austrian spearsmen, crying, 
 ' Make way for Liberty.' If that 
 was his real object, the event that fol- 
 lowed justified his design. He had 
 said to another friend, ' It is nothing 
 to die in a good cause, but an eternal 
 disgrace to sit still in the presence 
 of the barbarities of American Slav- 
 ery. 
 
 The plan of campaign, as promul 
 gated at Chatham, was, to use the 
 
 mountains and swamps of Virginia as 
 places into which slaves could be in- 
 duced to escape, and there await the 
 issue. 
 
 Kagi pointed out a chain of coun- 
 ties extending through South Caro- 
 lina, Georgia, Alabama and Missis- 
 sippi, well fitted to receive and conceal 
 refugees. \Yith the aid of Canadian 
 negroes, who were expected to join in 
 large numbers, these places were to be 
 fortified and manned. They would so 
 become centres of moral force, and 
 strategic points from which, in time, 
 attacks could be made and reprisals 
 secured. 
 
 The Constitution adopted was in- 
 tended as a framework for organiza- 
 tion. Brown had proposed to found 
 several schools in which to train young 
 men in military tactics, and especially 
 in rifle practice. One of these was 
 to be at Chatham, and Mr. C. Whipple 
 (Stevens) was to be drill instructor. 
 Mr. Brown did not over-estimate the 
 state of education of the colored peo- 
 ple. He knew that they would need 
 leaders, and require training. His 
 great hope was that the struggle 
 would be supported by volunteers 
 from Canada, educated and accus- 
 tomed to self-government. He looked 
 on our fugitives as picked men of 
 sufficient intelligence, which, com- 
 bined with a hatred to the South, 
 would make them wiling abettors of 
 any enterprise destined to free their 
 race. 
 
 There wei-e some earnest abolition- 
 ists in Canada, who, while they 
 admired his braverj^ and self-devotion, 
 yet doubted the wisdom of his plan. 
 Among these were the Hon. George 
 Brown, of the Toronto Globe, who 
 regarded his namesake as of too Quix- 
 otic a tj^pe, and the Rev. W. King, of 
 Buxton, who was approached for his 
 sanction, but declined to attend the 
 Convention. 
 
 His influence would have been of 
 weight with his colored friends and 
 former pupils in obtaining recruits. 
 It was soon found that the proceed- 
 
fOHN HKOWN m CANADA. 
 
 iugs at Chatham had been marie 
 known to the pro-slavery rulers at 
 VVashincrton. News of the massacre 
 of the Marais ties Cygnes was the 
 cause of Brown's speedy return to 
 Kansas, so that the plan which he 
 had in contemplation in Canada, the 
 attack on Harper's Ferry, and the in- 
 citing of the blacks in Virginia to 
 rise, was laid aside till October, 1859. 
 The raid into Missouri, the " battle of 
 the spurs," and the carrying of the 
 rescued slaves to Windsor, already 
 described, took place meanwhile. Cap- 
 tain Brown, in time, laid aside his 
 scheme of forming a place of refuge, 
 and working out from it, and adopted' 
 the more daring plan of seizing the 
 United States' arsenal at Harper's 
 Ferry in Virginia: and so striking 
 terror into the slave power liy show- 
 ing that its stronghold might be 
 broken into, and assaults successfully 
 made at its most ancient and central 
 domain, as well as in outlying Mis- 
 souri. Large supplies of guns, pikes 
 and ammunition were purchased, and 
 stealthily conveyed to the Kennedy 
 farm, a short distance from the Ferry. 
 This quiet place was rented for the 
 purpose, and here Brown and his fol- 
 lowers gathered. The sum of $1,500 
 was furnished by Mr. George L. 
 Stearns, of Boston, and spent in pro- 
 curing supplies, and otherwise prepar- 
 ing for the contemplated attack. Pap- 
 ers showing exactly how this money 
 was spent, and that it was used in the 
 manner intended by the donors, are in 
 the hands of Dr. Ross. Attacks on 
 Brown's character have recently been 
 made in regard to this fund by some 
 who think it manly to bark" at the 
 dead lion. While such slanders can- 
 not reach him, they are sorely felt by 
 worthy members of Brown's family 
 and personal friends still living, whose 
 reverential love is unabated, and who 
 know of a certainty that the old war- 
 rior's honor rests as unsullied a.s his 
 courage is undisputed. 
 
 The cut of pike and gun given ex- 
 actly represents those used at Harp- 
 
 17 
 
 ers Ferry, and is taken from weai)()nH 
 in ])r. Ross' possession. 
 
 On the tenth of October, 1859, 
 Brown's plans for attack were com- 
 plete. About this time. Dr. Ross re- 
 ceived the following note : — 
 
 ('HAMBERSBrRO, PkNN,, 
 
 Oct. 6th, 1859. 
 Dear Frikxi.— I shall moct about the end 
 of this month. Can you help the cause in 
 the way ))roini.se(l. .\ddress your reply t« 
 Isaac Smith, Chambersburg, Penn. 
 Vour friend, 
 
 John Brown. 
 
 The town of Harper's Ferry is about 
 tifty-three miles north-west from 
 Washington, at the confluence of the 
 Shenandoah with the Potomac. The 
 Blue Ridge of the Alleghanies rises 
 grandly on one side The Baltimore and 
 Ohio railway spans the Potomac here. 
 It was the site of the United States 
 arnioury and arsenal, and witnessed 
 various struggles during the late civil 
 war. It was against this unsuspect- 
 ing stronghold that the wild move- 
 ment was to be made. 
 
 As organized, on paper, by Brown, 
 his force was to be divided into four 
 companies, each composed of seventy- 
 two officers and men. Each company 
 was to be subdivided into corporal - 
 guards of seven men each, with their 
 subaltern. Two such bands made a sec- 
 tion of sixteen men, under a sergeant. 
 While^ at the Kennedy farm. Brown 
 and Kagi were visited by Fredeiick 
 Douglass, who was informed of the in- 
 tention of taking the Ferry and arsenal. 
 He opposed it with all the arguments 
 at his command, but found that Brown 
 was not to be shaken from his pur- 
 pose. "Our talk was long and earnest," 
 said Douglass. " We spent the most of 
 Saturday and a part of Sunday in this 
 debate, — Brown for Harper's Ferry; 
 and I against it ; I for the policy of 
 gradually drawing off" the slaves to the 
 mountains, as at first suggested and 
 proposed by him." Brown was im- 
 movable and Mr. Douglass left, after 
 a friendly parting, never to see the old 
 hero again. 
 
 W hen the attack was made, only 
 
i8 
 
 /OHX BROWN IN CANADA. 
 
 twenty-two men had enlisted at the 
 Kennedy farm, of whom Shields Green, 
 Dangerfield Newby, John A. Cope- 
 land, Osborne P. Anderson, W. H. 
 Leary, and J(^hn Andfrson, were col- 
 ored men. 
 
 The affair of the 1 7th ( )ctobei-, 1 .S59, 
 is now a matter of history. It relates 
 that Brown with his little company, 
 actually captured the Ferry and ar- 
 senal, and sent a thrill of fear through 
 the whole south. In Virginia, the loss 
 in the value of slaves, till then, but 
 never since, a staple propertj^ was es- 
 timated to be ten millions of dollars, 
 and nearly a (juarter of a million more 
 was spent by the frightened authori- 
 ties in (]uelling the criwafe and pro- 
 viding safe-guards. Brown's two sons, 
 Watson and Oliver, fell, fighting 
 bravely. The leader himself, after a 
 fearless attack and defence, fell into 
 the hands of the State. Colonel, after- 
 wards the famous General, Robert E. 
 Lee, came with a regiment of soldiers, 
 to avert the danger and guard the 
 commonwealth. Wilkes Booth, who 
 assassinated President Lincoln, was 
 there in the ranks. Then followed, at 
 Charlestown Court House, the trial of 
 the leader, and of those who were 
 taken with him ; the conviction on 
 the charge of treason, and the execu- 
 tion — from whose terrors our hero did 
 not flinch. 
 
 Nowhere was the news received 
 with more intense or sadder interest 
 than in Chatham. From the day of 
 the attack until the fatal :^nd of De- 
 cember following, meetings for |)ra3'er 
 and consultation were held continu- 
 ously. Earnest eulogiums upon the 
 character of the departed hero were 
 delivered on the evening of the day of 
 his execution, by J. M. Bell, and J. H. 
 Harris, who had been membei-s of the 
 Convention. The same issue of the 
 Provincial Freeman that chronicles 
 this tells of thirty-six persons who 
 had been driven from Kentucky to 
 Northern Territor3% for the crime of 
 sympathizing with the Charlestown 
 sufferers. 
 
 They were the precursors of many 
 whom the civil war was destined, 
 within a few months, to drive to Can- 
 adian shelter, ])()litical refugees, such 
 as ( u'neral John C. Breckenridge, and 
 Hon. Jacob I'hompson, and " skedad- 
 dlers," by the hundreds, as those were 
 called, who thus escaped military en- 
 rolment. Many of these remained 
 until the end of the war, and some are 
 here still. 
 
 The interval in prison was cheer- 
 fully spent. To a friend he wrote, 
 "I am (|uite cheerful. Men cannot 
 imprison, or chain, or bind the soul. 
 I go joyfully, in behalf of those mil- 
 lions that ' have no rights,' that this 
 great and glorious — this Christian Re- 
 public 'is Itound to respect.' " 
 
 Captain Brown's last act, before be- 
 ing led from prison, was to visit the 
 cells of his fellow-captives and cheer 
 them. He had imparted to these poor 
 people much of his own brave spirit. 
 He had a power to so influence those 
 with him that they followed him with 
 a reverential love, exceeding that of 
 Ruth to Naomi, nor did -Any of them 
 shrink from sacrifice ; though Capt. 
 Kagi and Brown's sons saw the great 
 dangers, and had urged the hopeless- 
 ness of moving before tlie ranks were 
 filled. 
 
 It was not expected that the blow 
 would be struck till the 24th of Octo- 
 ber. The precipitation of the attack, 
 on the 1 7th, was caused by Brown's 
 fear of betrayal by a Judas. The 
 smallness of the band, and the fact 
 that most of them had military titles, 
 show that they were intended simply 
 as the nucleus of the formidable force 
 that Blown expected to join in the 
 enterprise. 
 
 When he ascended the scaffold, on 
 the 2nd of December, 1850, at Char- 
 lestown, it was with no faltering step. 
 He stood erect and looked finnly dow^n 
 on the lines of soldiery that surround- 
 ed him. He met his end as one who 
 had done his duty, as he saw it, and 
 feai'ed not that which was to coniQ 
 after. We can say of him, as of Sam- 
 
JONN BROWN IN CANADA. 
 
 19 
 
 son, "The dead which he slew at his treasure. He sleeps in the lilessing 
 
 death, were more than they which he oi* the slave." 
 
 .slew in his life." Colonel Lee and Garibaldi, liberator of Italy, writing 
 
 Lieutenant J. E. B. Stuart, who looked from his Caprera home, declared tliat 
 
 on, and were soon valiantly hghting "John Brown was the instiuniental 
 
 as generals for the South, did not then precursor of the liberty of the slave." 
 
 see that our hero conquered more than The engine hall to which Brown 
 
 death : that the monster slavery then and some of his men retired, and 
 
 received a grievous wound which all where they were taken at last, wa,s 
 
 their bravery could not avert or cure, carried to the Chicago World's Exposi- 
 
 Victor Hugo, in referring to this per- 
 
 tion of 189)i, and there seen by many 
 thousands. 
 
 The fate of some only of those 
 who were at the Chatham Con- 
 vention is known. Martin R. 
 Delaney, M. D., became a Major 
 of the l()4th regiment colored 
 troops, and a Commissioner of 
 the U. S. Bureau of Refugees, 
 and in 186(S publislied an inter- 
 esting biography of his life and 
 times. Capt. Kagi fell in the 
 Shemandoali, riddled with bul- 
 lets. Capt. J. E. Cook, Cope- 
 land, the young mulatto, and 
 Chas. Whipple (Aaron D. Stev- 
 ens), were taken prisoners at 
 the Ferry, and were tried and 
 executed at Charlestown. All 
 of them died like the brave men 
 they were, some days after their 
 leader. Richard Realf agreed to 
 be at the contest, but failed to be 
 present, having gone to Eng- 
 land. Osborne P. Anilerson 
 returned to ('hatham after the 
 iod, wrote, " What the South slew last attiay. He was proceeding to the 
 December, was not John Brown, but scene of action with a load of pikes, 
 
 Slavery Slavery in all its thinking Bi-own held the arsenal. 
 
 forms will disappear." Discovering his mistake, and seeing 
 
 Brown's body was caii'ied to his marines approaching, he tied and es 
 
 DR. A. M KOSS. 
 
 loved home in the Adirondacks. Wen 
 dell Phillips made a eulogy at his 
 grave. " John BiH)wn," he said, " has 
 loosened the roots oF slavery. It may 
 gasp, but it is dead. He said he could 
 take the town with twenty men, and 
 he did it. How sultlime tiiat last fort- 
 night ! His words ai"e stronger than 
 tiw.n his rifles. The.se crushed a State ; 
 those will y»^t crush Slavery. 'J'he 
 
 caped. Owen Brown also, foreseeing 
 the result, escaped to the woods. He 
 lived for some years afterwards in 
 Ohio, then settled, with others of his 
 father's family, at Pasadena, in Cali- 
 fornia, where he recently died. He 
 was a man of considerable ability and 
 mental resources, and was brave and 
 determined. 
 
 Dr. Ross had, at John Browns le- 
 
 echoes of his rifl«;s have died away quest, gone to Richmond, and, being 
 among the hills: his words, millions there at the time of the attack, was 
 
20 
 
 JOHN BROWN IN CANADA. 
 
 arrested, but not long detained. As 
 the day for his old friend's execution 
 came on, he went to Harper's Ferr}^ 
 and applied for peiinission to go to 
 Charlestown, but the officer in command 
 ordered him to leave, and sent him 
 under guard to Baltimore, calling to 
 the captain in charge, " Captain, if he 
 returns to Harpei-'s Ferry, shoot him 
 at once." The intrepid doctor then 
 went to Governor Wise at Richmond, 
 and, after an interview, related in his 
 little volume, " Recollections and Ex- 
 periences of an Abolitionist," the Gov- 
 ernor refused him permission, and 
 when he asked for a permit to leave 
 the State, wrote on a card, " The bear- 
 er is hereby ordered to leave the State 
 of Virginia within twenty-four hours, 
 — Henry A. Wise." Dr. Ross, finding 
 it impossible to see his old friend once 
 more, wrote a farewell letter to John 
 Brown, and received the answer al- 
 ready given. 
 
 Dr. Ross has ever since kept up an 
 affectionate correspondence with the 
 members of John Bi'own's family. 
 From two letters received by him, we 
 have been allowed to make extracts. 
 The first is from his eldest daughter : 
 
 I know luy dear father ]()\ed you, and it 
 is but natural tliat his children should love 
 you. For your dev<ition to father, and tlie 
 interest you have shown in his children, my 
 heart goes out gratefully. 
 
 Ruth Brown Thompson. 
 
 Pasadena, California, Dec. 30th, 1892 
 
 The second is from his youngest 
 daughter : 
 
 May the (iod that .John Bi'own believed in 
 and trusted l)less you and yours, for yotir 
 kindne.ss to his sick and helpless daughters. 
 This (the aid sent) will keeji my children 
 from going hungry. 
 
 Annie Brown Ait.\Ms. 
 
 Petrolia, California, Jan. 7th, 1893. (a) 
 
 (a) The Rev. O. B. Frothingham in his life of tierrit 
 Smith, says: "Alexander M. Ross, of Canada, whose re- 
 markable exploits in running off slaves, caused such con- 
 bternation in the Southern States, was in conimuniofttion 
 with Gerrit Smith from first to last, was aided bj him in 
 his preparation with information and counsel, and had a 
 close understanding with him in regard to his course of 
 procedure. Both these men made the rescue of slaves a 
 I)ersonal matter." To a very few of his New York and 
 I'hiladcliibia friends, I>r. Ross was known by his name, 
 but the (Quakers knew him as "The Helper," Emerson 
 and his Boston iissociates as " The Canadian Knight." 
 The colored people called him "Moses" and " The Help- 
 er." Other names were adopted as emergencies and safety 
 required 
 
 Two Canadians fell at Harper's 
 Ferry. William H. Lehman, who 
 had been the youngest member of 
 the Chatham Convention, was shot 
 and killed, after surrendering, by 
 Shoppart, a militiaman. Steward 
 Taylor was a fellow-countryman of 
 Lehman's. Both were natives of 
 the township of ftlarkham, near To- 
 ronto, as Dr. Ross informs me, but 
 Mr. Hinton gives Maine as the lat- 
 ter's birth-place, and his name as 
 Leeman. 
 
 Richard Richai'dson was a Missouri 
 slave, rescued by Brown. He is since 
 dead. Some of the other members of 
 the Convention are yet living in the 
 L^nited States. Since the decease of 
 Messrs. Hunton and Holden, Mr. Jones 
 is, as stated, the only survivor in Can- 
 ada. They did not go to Virginia. 
 Mr. Jones and Mr. Holden had then 
 gone on a visit to the Pacific Coast. 
 Mr. J. Madison Bell was a writer of 
 ability, who lived for a time in St. 
 Catharines and Chatham, and then 
 settled in Toledo, Ohio. Ira D. Shadd 
 and his brother Isaac, Chatham boys, 
 removed to the South, and both of 
 them became men of prominence. 
 James H. Harris was a representative 
 in Congress from North Carolina. 
 
 Some refer to the taking of Forts 
 Moultrie and Castle Pinkney, or to the 
 attack on Fort Sumter by the Confed- 
 eracy, as the first blows of the late 
 civil wai'. Others find in the Harper's 
 FeiTy affair, the initial outbreak, the 
 bursting forth of the fire which had 
 been long angrily smouldering on the 
 south-western boi-dei"Sof the Common- 
 wealth. Few will, in the light of his- 
 tory, deny that in tlie little school- 
 house and engine hall of Chatham, the 
 train was laid that fired the mine, 
 whence resvdted the overthrow of the 
 ])i'oud Southern oligarchy. 
 
 'I'he presiding genius of the Chat- 
 ham Convention was the soul which 
 soon after animated thousands of 
 Union soldiers, as tliey fought for 
 their country, and brought joy and 
 freedom to the bondmen. When the 
 
JOHN BROWN IN CANADA. 
 
 21 
 
 men moved on, under Grant and Sher- 
 man and Sheridan, the memory of the 
 old hero's pious valor cheered their 
 hearts, and roused to euuilation of his 
 bravery, as they marched, they sang : 
 
 John Brown died that the slave might be 
 
 free ; 
 John Brown's body lies a mouldering in the 
 
 grave, 
 But his soul is marching on." 
 
 JOHN BROWN'S PIKE AN1> UUN. 
 
 Copy of the letter from Brown, using name 
 of Mr. Bell, after the Convention : 
 
 Chatham, Canada West, 
 
 May 21 st, 1858. 
 
 Deak Son and Other Friends All — The 
 letters of three of your number are received, 
 dated the 16th, by which we learn the diffi- 
 culty you find in getting employment. It 
 seems that all but three have managed to 
 stop their board bills, and I do hope the bal- 
 ance will follow the maulilce and noble exam- 
 ple of patience and perseverance set them by 
 the others, instead of being either discour- 
 aged or out of humor. The weather is so 
 wet here that no work can be obtained. I 
 have only received $15 from the east, and 
 .such has been the effect of the course taken 
 by F. (Col. Forbes), on our eastern friends, 
 that I have some fears that we shall be com- 
 pelled to delay further action for the present. 
 They (his Eastern friends) urge us to do so, 
 promising us liberal assistance after a while. 
 I am in liourly expectation of help sufficient 
 to pay off our board bills here, and to take us 
 on to Cleveland, to see and advise with you, 
 which we shall do at once when we get the 
 means. Suppose we do have to defer our 
 direct efforts, shall great and noble minds 
 either indulge in useless com])laint, or fold 
 their arms in discouragement, f)r sit in idle- 
 ness, when we may at least avoid losing 
 ground. It is in times of difficulty that men 
 show what they are ; it is in such times that 
 men mark themselves. Are our difficulties 
 such as to make us give up one of the m iblest 
 entei'prisoK in which men ever were en- 
 gaged 1 
 
 Write .Iames M. Bell, 
 Your Sincere Friend. 
 
 The following letter was received bj' the 
 
 author from Mr. John Brown, Jr., with a 
 photograph of his father given : 
 
 PuT-iN-BAY, Ottawa Co., 
 
 Ohio, Aug 4th. 
 J. C. Hamilton, Esw., 
 
 Toronto, Canada. 
 
 Dear Sir — Yours of the 6th July enclos- 
 ing manuscript, came duly, but illness had 
 prevented an earlier reply. Have read the 
 articles you sent with deep interest, and most 
 sincerely do I thank you for sending thejn. 
 Wish it were in my power to 
 add anything which would give 
 additional interest to your 
 story of my father's career in 
 Canada. 'J'he account \ou have 
 given of it is ably written, and 
 shows that true (tppreheit^iou 
 of hifi real character, which in 
 my view gives great value to 
 your paper. 
 The C. Whipple referred to (whose real 
 name is Aaron D. Stevens), accompanied 
 father and Kagi at the time the 12 slaves 
 (Sam. Harper being one), were taken from 
 Missouri through Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, 
 Illinois and Michigan into Canada. He was 
 at the ccmvention you describe ; was at Har- 
 per's Ferry, and was subsequently executed 
 at Charlestown. Va. 
 
 Father was only about live feet ten and 
 one half inches in height, and not so bi-oad- 
 shouldered as many have represented him. 
 His weight was about 1.^0 lbs. ; he was mus- 
 cular and active, and had uncommon endur- 
 ance, physical and mental. The de8cri})tion 
 of him, as without a beard, would apply to 
 him only up to the last two or three years of 
 his life, when he ceased to shave. His beard 
 was white, his hair iron-grey. With your 
 valuable paper, which I return to you by to- 
 morrow's mail, I send you a photograph of 
 my father, copied from a copy of the oi iginal 
 which he gave to me at Andover, Ashtabula 
 Co., Ohio, June 18th, 1859, when on his way 
 to Harper's Ferry. This is an excellent pic- 
 ture, showing him with full beard as it was at 
 the time of his execution, December 2nd, 1859. 
 Please accept, with the sincere regards of 
 Faithfully yours, 
 
 John Brown, Jk. 
 
 Authorities referred to : 
 
 The Public Life of John Brown. Ky 
 James Redpath, 186U. 
 
 Life and Letters of John Brown, liberator 
 of Kansas, and Martyr of Virginia. By F. 
 B. Sanborn, 1885. 
 
 John Brown and His Men. By Richard 
 J. Hinton, artirle in Frank L»'.slie's Monthly, 
 June, 1880. 
 
 Book by same autlnir, under same title. 
 Funk it Wagnalls Co , 18!>4. 
 
 Original papers in possession of Dr. A. M. 
 Ross, Toronto. 
 
^ 
 
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