''It!"!""!!!'!!!!! !!'!i!!!!I|!! I ! 
 
 rown 
 ler of Forturii 
 
 ''L_., 
 I 
 
 Critique 
 
 HILL PEEBLES WILSON 
 
Class LAU 
 
 Book \\ /'l^ Z 
 
 CQEaaGai DEi>osm 
 
John Brown 
 Soldier of Fortune 
 
 A C riticjue 
 
JOHN BROWN 
 SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 
 
 A Critique 
 
 BY 
 
 HILL PEEBLES WILSON 
 
 Mr. yallanJts^ham : Mr. Brown, who sent you here ? 
 John Broivn: No man sent mc here; it was my own prompting 
 and that of my Maker, or that of the Devil, whichever you please 
 to ascribe it to. I acknowledge no master in human form. 
 
 Post, 313 
 
 THE CORNHILL COMPANY 
 BOSTON 
 
L 
 
 .k 
 
 Copyright, 1913 
 Hill Piiblxs Wiuon 
 
 Copyright, 1918 
 The Cornhill Companv 
 
 MAR 22 1919 
 
 e)CI.Ar>!27»>a 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The writer of this book is not an iconoclast, neither has he 
 prejudged John Brown. In 1859 the character was impressed 
 upon his attention in a personal way. An older brother. Joseph 
 E. Wilson, was a member of the company of marines that 
 made the assault on the engine-house at Harper's Ferry, on the 
 morning of October 18th; and from him he heard the story of 
 the tight, and about Brown. 
 
 In 1889 the Topeka (Kansas) Daily Caf^ital took a poll of 
 the members of the Kansas Legislature on the question : "Who 
 was the most distinguished Kansan?" or something to that 
 effect. At that time the writer held the opinitm that the public 
 services rendered by John I'in.wn in Kansas Territory, were of 
 paramount importance in the settlement of the Free-State con- 
 tention : and since the course which the nation was at that time 
 I)ursuing luul been arrested by the result of that contention, and 
 diverted into the path which led to the marvelous achievements 
 of the succeeding years; he. therefore, over his signature cast 
 his vote in favor oi John Bnnvn ; saying, among other things, in 
 his little panegyric, that Brown is the only Kansan whose fanu- 
 was immortal. 
 
 In 1898 he refonnt-d his opinions coiicennng lirown's char- 
 acter and conduct, and the importance of his public services in 
 Kansas. The change came about through an effort on his part 
 to write a sketch of his life for a work entitled 'imminent Men 
 of Kansas." In good faith, and with much of the confidence 
 and enthusiasm characteristic of Brown's eulogists, he began 
 an investigation of the available historical data relating to the 
 sul)ject ; when he found to his surprise, and disgust, that the 
 
10 PREFACE 
 
 liistory of Brown's career contciinecl nothing to justify the pub- 
 He estimate of him. 
 
 Reporting- to his associate that he would not write the sketch, 
 he said that he "could find but little in the record of his life 
 which gave him creditable distinction, and that he did not wish 
 to write the discreditable things about him which it contained." 
 
 Later he gathered up the threads of Brown's life and has 
 W'Oven them, conscientiously, into the web of history. The 
 story reveals little which is creditable to Brown or worthy of 
 emulation and much that is abhorrent. But he indulges the hope 
 that he has made it clear that his conceptions of the character 
 have not been inspired by "prejudice." "blind" or otherwise, 
 fov he has examined the records in the case; an examination 
 which has led him through all the existing testimony concern- 
 ing I'.rown; except, that he has not explored the writings 
 which have been put forth by those who have sought, viciously. 
 to attack Brown's character. 'Phe opinions therefore which he 
 has set forth .nre convictions resulting from serious investiga- 
 tion and thought. 
 
 In conclusion, the author takes great pleasure in acknowledg- 
 ing the deep sense of his obligation to the late Mrs. Sara T. D. 
 Robinson, wife of Charles Robinson of Kansas, whose gen- 
 erosity, and deep interest in the history of our country, made 
 the publication of this book possible. 
 
 Also, he desires to express his gratitude to Dr. William 
 \\\-itson Davis, of the University of Kansas, for the cordial 
 encouragement which he received from him wdiile preparing 
 the work, and for his kindly assistance in molding the text 
 into its present form. Also, to Dr. William Savage Johnson, 
 and to Professor William Asbury WHiitaker. Jr., both of the 
 University of Kansas, he wishes to return his thanks for many 
 valuable suggestions. 
 Lawrence, Kansas, April 15, 1913. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 I The Subject Mattkr 
 
 II The Man .... 
 
 Ill Kansas — A Crisis in Our National 
 History .... 
 
 IV His Public Services 
 
 V Robbery and Murder on the Potta- 
 
 watomie .... 
 
 V'l Black Jack 
 
 \'II OSAWATO.MIi: 
 
 \'III Hypocrisy 
 
 IX .\ Soldier oe Fortune 
 
 X 'I'llK PROVISIf)NAL GOVERN.MENT 
 
 XI Till". SlILHEL MoKCAN PlUNDKR CoMl'AXY 
 
 XII MfjBiLizixc Tin: Pko\ision'al Akmv 
 
 .XIII The I'iasco 
 
 XIV .\ Perversion oi- IIistouv . 
 
 XV His Great .\dvi:nture 
 
 .XVI A Soi.DlKR OI- THE CroSS 
 
 XVII "Vet Shall He Live" 
 
 15 
 26 
 
 55 
 72 
 
 95 
 135 
 154 
 181 
 223 
 243 
 259 
 
 206 
 32i 
 341 
 364 
 395 
 
 APIM'.XDK'I'.S 
 
 I C'oKKKSI'ONDK.NCi: WITH T I IK l.VTl". I >. W. 
 W'll.DI.K loNiI-.KMNC, John I'.KoW X 
 
 II Rkcui. LECTIONS oi" John IJkow .\ at II aki'Er's 
 Ferry in .\i,exani)i:k BoteleR, a Vir- 
 
 C.INIAN WHO WITNIvSSKi) THE I-ICHT 
 
 III Constitution and Ordinanck rou thi: I'eo- 
 
 I'LE OF THE I'.MTED v^TATES 
 I\' loilN r.KOWN's .\UToHIOC.RAPHY 
 
 411 
 
 414 
 
 417 
 431 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 John Brown .... Frontispiece 
 
 Steel engraving made from a photograph compared with a 
 photogravure. The photograph was taken about 1859. Orig- 
 inal in the Kansas State Historical Society. The photo- 
 gravure is from Mr. Oswald Garrison Villard's book: John 
 Brown — A Biography Fifty Years After. 
 
 John P.rown .... f acin i^ page 9S 
 
 Steel engraving, made as above. The photograph was 
 copied from a <lagucrreotype taken in 1856. Original in the 
 Kansas State Historical Society. 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 THE SUBJECT MATTER 
 
 Truth, crushed to earth shall rise again; 
 
 — Bryant 
 
 The object of tlie writer, in publishinjj this book, is to correct 
 a per\ersion of truth, whereby John Brown has acquired fame, 
 as an ahruist and ;i martyr, which should imt be attributed to 
 him. 
 
 The l)ook is a review of the historical data that have been 
 collected and published by his principal hi oi;^ raphe rs : Mr. 
 James Redpath. Mr. hVank li. SanlK)rn and Mr. Oswald Gar- 
 rison Villard. It is aho a criticism of these writers, who have 
 soujii^ht to su|)press. and have suppressed, important truths re- 
 lating to the subject of which they wnjte. and who have misin- 
 fonned and misle«l the jniblic concemini; the true character of 
 this fij:;ure in our national history; and have estal)lislK'd in its 
 stead a fictitious character, which is wholly illoL,ncal and incon- 
 sistent with the facts and circumstances of Brown's life. 
 
 Mr. Kedpath. his first and most lurid biographer, was a 
 newspaper cr)rrespondent of the type now generally called 
 "yellow. " lie was a "Uisunionist," and seems to have been a 
 malcontent, who went to Kansas Territory to oppose the policy 
 which the Free-State men had adopted for a safe and .sane solu- 
 tion of the Free-State problem ; and who sought to thwart their 
 efforts to create a free state by peaceable means. I le said : ' 
 I believed that a civil war iKtweeii the North and vSouth 
 
 would ultimate in insurrection and that the Kansas troubles 
 
 would probahlv create a military conflict of the scctif)ns. 
 
 2 Redpath. h'ovinij Editor. .^00. 
 
16 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 Hence, I left the South, and went to Kansas ; and endeavored 
 personally, and by my pen, to precipitate a revolution. 
 After Brown's spectacular fiasco in Virginia, and tragical 
 death, his cultured partisans, in most conspicuous eloquence 
 proclaimed him to have been a philanthropist — an altruistic 
 hero; and placed a martyr's crown upon his brow. Mr. Red- 
 path's purpose, in putting forth his work, was to make Brown 
 over to fit the part ; to make his life appear to conform with the 
 extravagant attributes of his improvised estate. In pursu- 
 ance thereof he sought to conceal the facts concerning the 
 actions and purposes of his life, rather than to develop them; 
 and to blind the trails leading to the facts with masses of senti- 
 mental rubbish ; and to divert public attention away from them. 
 Upon the publication of his book. The Public Life of Captain 
 John Brown, Mr. Charles Eliot Norton, in a review of the work, 
 expressed his disapproval of it in vigorous langauge. He said :^ 
 It would be well had this book never been written. Mr. 
 Redpath has understood neither the opportunities opened to 
 him, nor the responsibilities laid upon him, in being per- 
 mitted to write the "authorized" life of John Brown. His 
 book, in whatever light it is viewed — whether as the biogra- 
 phy of a remarkable man, as an historic narrative of a series, 
 of important events, or simply as a mere piece of literary 
 job-work — is equally unsatisfactory. . . 
 
 There never was more need for a good life of any man 
 than there was for one of John Brown. . . Those who 
 thought best of him, and those who thought the worst, were 
 alike desirous to know more of him than the newspapers had 
 furnished, and to become acquainted with the course of his 
 life, and the training which had prepared him for Kansas 
 and brought him to Harper's Ferry. Whatever view be 
 taken of his character, he was a man so remarkable as to be 
 well worthy of study. 
 
 In seasons of excitement, and amid the struggles of politi- 
 
 ^ Atlantic Monthly, March, 1860. 
 
THE SUBJECT MATTER 17 
 
 cal contention, the men who use the most extravagant and 
 the most violent words have, for a time, the advantage: 
 but, in the long run. they damage whatever cause they may 
 adopt; and the truth, which their declamations have obscured 
 or their falsehoods have violated, finally asserts itself. . . 
 Extravagance in condemnation has been answered by ex- 
 travagance in praise of his life and deeds. 
 Twenty-five years later, when Mr. Sanborn published his 
 book, Life and Letters of John Brozvu, Liberator of Kansas, 
 and Martyr of J'irginia, Mr. John F. Morse. Jr.. voiced the dis- 
 appointment felt by discriminating persons, in an article pub- 
 lished in February. 1886.* He said: 
 
 So grand a subject cannot fail to inspire a writer able to 
 do justice to the theme ; and when such an one draws i')rown. 
 he will produce one of the most attractive books in the lan- 
 guage. But meantime the ill-starred "martyr" suffers a 
 prolongation of martyr<lom, standing like another St. Se- 
 bastian to be riddled with the odious arrows of fulsome 
 panegyrists. With other unfortunate men of like stamp, he 
 has attracted a horde of writers, who, with rills of versicles 
 and oceans of prose, have overwhelmed his simple noble 
 memory beneath torrents of wild extravagant admiration, 
 foolish thoughts expressed in appropriately silly language, 
 absurd adulation inducing only protest and a dangerous con- 
 tradictory emotion. Amid this throng of ill advised vvor- 
 ship{)ers, Mr. Sanborn, by virtue of his lately published 
 biographical volume, has assumed the most prominent place. 
 Referring to the opinions expressed by these writers, Mr. 
 Villard. in the preface to his book. John Brozvn, A Biography 
 fufty Years After, says : "Since 1886 there have appeared five 
 other lives of Brown.' the most important being that of Richard 
 J. Hinton. who. in his preface gloried in holding a brief for 
 Brown and his men." Concerning his book he says: 
 
 * Atlantic Monthly. 
 
 ' PancK>rics or t-ulogics on llrown would more accurately describe 
 tlu'se writings. 
 
18 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 The present volume is inspired by no such purpose, but is 
 due to a behef that fifty years after the Hari^er's Ferry trag- 
 edy, the time is ripe for a study of John Brown, free from 
 bias, from the errors of taste and fact of the mere panegyrist, 
 and from the bHnd prejudice of those who can see in John 
 Brown nothing but a criminal. The pages that follow were 
 written to detract from or champion no man or set of men. 
 but to put forth the essential truths of history as far as ascer- 
 tainable, and to judge Brown, his followers and associates, 
 in the light thereof. How successful this attempt has been is 
 for the reader to judge. That this volume in no wise ap- 
 proaches the attractiveness which ]\Ir. Morse looked for, the 
 author fully understands. On the other hand no stone has 
 been left unturned to make accurate the smallest detail ; the 
 original documents, contemporary letters and living wit- 
 nesses, have been examined in every quarter of the United 
 States. Materials never before utilized have been drawn 
 upon, and others discovered whose existence has heretofore 
 been unknown. . . 
 
 Under this broad pledge of personal fidelity to the subject, 
 this historian introduced his volume, and has asked the public 
 to give him its full confidence and to accept his work as a faith- 
 ful and complete record of the ascertainable truths of history 
 relating to the subject. For the ardor which he has exhibited, 
 and for the great labor which he has expended in his compila- 
 tion, and for much material of minor importance, which he has 
 uncovered, the student of history will not fail to acknowledge 
 to Mr. Villard the sense of his obligation. In these respects, 
 and in the scholarly features characteristic of the writings, it is 
 an interesting and dramatic contribution to this literature. But, 
 he 'will not be stampeded by protestations of zeal, and by pro- 
 fessions of integrity, to accept it as a presentation of the as- 
 certainable truth. The work is more conspicuous for the ab- 
 sence from its pages of important historical truths, and for the 
 contradiction of others which have been authenticated, than it 
 
THE SUBJECT MATTER 19 
 
 is for the great volume of trivial facts which it presents. A 
 line of derelictions conspicuously prevailing throughout the 
 pages of the book, amply justify the charge that it was not 
 written, primarily, for an historical purpose — "to put forth 
 the truths of history as far as ascertainable, and to judge Brown 
 and his followers in the light thereof." The true purpose seems 
 to be ulterior to that which is effusively proclaimed in the prefa- 
 tory declarations. He has written into the histor\- of our 
 country a concept of the character of John Brown which is in- 
 congruous with the actions and circumstances of Brown's life. 
 He has created a semi-sui^ernatural person — "a comple.x char- 
 acter" — embodying the virtues of the "Hebrew prophets" and 
 "Cromwellian Roundheads" with the depraved instincts and 
 practices of thieves and murderers. He presents a man who. 
 for righteous purposes, "violated the statute and moral laws" ; 
 whose conduct was vile, but whose aims were pure; whose ac- 
 tions were brutal and criminal. but whose motives were unselfish. 
 
 H this author had redeemed the pledge which he solemnly 
 gave to the |)ublic. to put forth the truths of history as far as 
 ascertainable, and. judging Brown and his followers in the light 
 of them, had justified his "terrible violation of the statute and 
 moral laws," the nature of this criticism would be different; it 
 would be directetl against his discrimination or, perhaps, against 
 his intelligence. But that is not the case. The author referred 
 to has sifted the truths of this history, and from the fragments 
 has framed an hyixithetical case; and has judged I'rown and 
 his followers in the light of that creation. "How may the kill- 
 ings on the Pottawatomie, this terrible violation of the statute 
 and the moral law be justified? This is the question that has 
 confronted every student of John Brown's life since it was defi- 
 nitely established that Brown was, if not actually a principal in 
 the criiue, an accessory and an instigator." ' is not the language 
 of an impartial historian ; but it is consistently the language of 
 
 •Villard, 170. 
 
 i 
 
20 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 an advocate who writes for a specious, for an ulterior purpose. 
 Why should an historian seek to justify a crime ? Why should 
 this author, if he intended to write impartially, seek for evi- 
 dence to justify this horror? It was the desire to justify the 
 crime that impelled the author to seek for pretexts for justifica- 
 tion of it among the surviving criminals, and to garble the his- 
 torical facts concerning it. 
 
 The crime was the theft of a large number of horses ; to ac- 
 complish it, and to safeguard the loot, it was necessary to kill 
 the owners thereof. It was a premeditation. The plans for it 
 were laid several weeks before it was executed, and during a 
 time of profound peace. The principals were John Brown ; his 
 unmarried sons ; Henry Thompson, his son-in-law ; Theodore 
 \Veiner,and four confederates : Jacob Benjamin, B.L.Cochrane, 
 John E. Cook and Charles Lenhart. whose names are herein as- 
 sociated with this crime for the first time in history. These 
 confederates received from Brown's party the horses which be- 
 longed to the men whom they murdered, and ran them out of 
 the country ; leaving with Brown a number of horses, "fast run- 
 ning horses," which they had stolen in the northern part of the 
 Territory. That is the crime which this author seeks to justify ; 
 he has concealed these truths, and has suppressed the evidence 
 concerning them. Pretending to put forth the "exact facts as to 
 the happenings on the Pottawatomie." he has suppressed the 
 evidence concerning the most important of the happenings, and 
 has added no material fact concerning them which James 
 Townsley had not. years before, put forth in his confession. 
 
 The public should know that as early as April 16, 1856, John 
 Brown and his unmarried sons planned to abandon Kansas and 
 the Free-State Cause and had disbanded the Free-State com- 
 pany to which they belonged, the "Liberty Guards." of which 
 John Brown was captain ; also, that the "Pottawatomie Rifles" 
 had been organized in its stead, with John Brown, Jr., as cap- 
 tain ; and that neither John Brown nor his unmarried sons be- 
 
THE SUBJECT MATTER 21 
 
 longed to it. They were "a little company" by themselves." The 
 public should also know that prior to that date, as early as April 
 7th, Brown and the members of his little company had decided 
 to abandon their claims and leave the country ; and further, that 
 they desired a recrudescence of pro-slavery atrocities. Con- 
 cerning Brown's character and his life in Kansas, as well as his 
 relation to territorial affairs, and a correct understanding of the 
 Pottawatomie affair, no more important letter was written by 
 him than his letter of April 7th disclosing these facts, a letter 
 which Mr. Villard, in furtherance of his purpose, has seen fit 
 to sift from history and suppress. The public has a right to 
 know what Henry Thompson meant when he wrote in May that 
 "upon Brown's plans would depend his own 'until School is 
 out.' " This biographer, who said that he had left no stone un- 
 turned to make accurate the smallest detail,* interviewed Henry 
 Thompson, and could have obtained from him a statement con- 
 ceming the plans to which he intended to subordinate his con- 
 duct, which involved matters of so much importance as leaving 
 the countr>'. Salmon I>rown and Henry Thompson could have 
 told this historian why the "Liberty Guards" were disbanded 
 and the "Pottawatomie Rifles" organized; and when, and for 
 what purpose the "little company of six." which intended to 
 leave the neighborhood, was formed: and he could have in- 
 cluded the infonnation in his statement of the "e.xact facts." 
 Mr. Villard says it was organized May 23d; but that is not an 
 "exact" statement ; it is a contradiction of a statement which 
 John Brown made over his signature concerning it.® These men 
 could have told Mr. Villard specifically why they abandoned 
 their claims, whither they intended to go, and what thev in- 
 tended to do. And further, they could have told him where 
 they were, and what they were doing, during the fifty days 
 their "whereabouts" are by this biographer reported as being 
 
 ^ Sanborn, 236. 
 * Villard, vii. 
 9 Sanborn. 230. 
 
22 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 "unknown," and their actions unaccounted for/*^ These mat- 
 ters are not trifling details in this history. In view of the au- 
 thor's fine panegyrics concerning Brown's devotion to the 
 Free-State cause, his intention to abandon it, and quit the Ter- 
 ritory as early as March, 1856, is of more striking consequence 
 than his coming into it; and the disbanding of the "Liberty 
 Guards" in March, 1856, was an act of greater significance than 
 was the organization of the company in December, 1855. 
 
 Mr. Villard's treatment of the Pottawatomie incident, "with- 
 out a clear appreciation of which a true understanding of 
 Brown, the man, cannot be reached," ^^ must stand as an in- 
 dictment, either of his discrimination or of the integrity of his 
 purpose, concerning it. Not being a dull man, he could not 
 have been imposed upon by the participants in this riot of rob- 
 bery and blood whom he interviewed, and whose evasions he 
 has certified to the world as the exact facts. It was not the 
 happenings on the night of May 24, 1856, that determine "the 
 degree of criminality, if any," [mark the language, // any] "that 
 should attach to Brown, for his part in the proceedings," ^^ for 
 they were but the execution of the plans which had theretofore 
 been laid for the adventure. Whatever the circumstances of 
 the author's dereliction may have been, the fact remains, that 
 the truths concerning this historical episode have been sifted, 
 and such documents and concurrent evidence as tend to estab- 
 lish the fact that the motive for these murders was robbery, 
 have been consistently suppressed from his exposition of it. 
 
 Brown made no attempt to justify his conduct in the affair. 
 He would have acknowledged his responsibility and would have 
 pleaded justification for his acts, if there had been even a 
 shadow of a pretext for any justification ; for he was shifty and 
 crafty as well as vain ; and was sensitive concerning his reputa- 
 
 10 Villard. 673. 
 
 11 Villard, 148. 
 
 12 Ibid. 
 
THE SUBJECT MATTER 23 
 
 tion.^^ Not having the murdered men's horses in his posses- 
 sion, he denied his comphcity with the murders, denied that he 
 was concerned in the crime. If he had "killed his men" (and 
 stolen their horses) "in the conscientious belief that he was a 
 faithful servant of Kansas and of the Lord," as this author as- 
 serts, he would not have denied his relationishp with the Lord 
 in the matter, and ofiFended Deity by persistently denying his 
 participation in it with Him : neither would he have abandoned 
 Kansas and the Free-State cause within the ensuing sixty days. 
 Cowardly midnight robbery is impossible of justification upon 
 any ordinary circumstantial hypothesis; and is preeminently so 
 when the crime is aggravated by brutal assassinations, such as 
 were incidental to this wholesale theft of horses. 
 
 The derelictions concerning the history of the Pottawatomie 
 are characteristic of Mr. Villard's treatment of the more vital 
 episode of Brown's career: his attempt to incite a revolution in 
 the Southern States and to establish over them the authority of 
 a "provisional govemment." This I'rown planned to jirecipitate 
 and accomplish by an insurrection of the slaves, and a resulting 
 indiscriminate assassination of the slave-holding population; 
 such as the people of that generation. Xorth and South, be- 
 lieved to be impending, if not imminent. This central truth 
 Mr. Villard denies, and seeks to substitute for Brown's inten- 
 tions, the invention that his movement was merely a transit<jry 
 raid, the forerunner of a series of similar raids to be under- 
 taken by "small bands hidden in the mountain fastnesses." 
 This conception is gratituitous and illogical; a contradiction of 
 history and inconsistent with the bold, intrepid, daring, cour- 
 ageous characteristics which he has. except in this sole instance, 
 consistently ascribed to Brown's character. 
 
 Brown's purposes, at Harper's Ferry, are logically foreshad- 
 owed by every act of his life, beginning with March. 1857 ; and 
 are written in letters of living light in the "Constitution and 
 
 «» Sanborn. 240. 
 
24 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 Ordinances for the People of the United States," and in "Gen- 
 eral Order, No. 1," dated: 
 
 "headquarters war department, provisional army. 
 
 "Harper's Ferry, October 10, 1859." 
 
 As in the Pottawatomie incident, and consistent with a pur- 
 pose to pervert this history, and fasten an imposition upon the 
 public, these two "public documents," uttered, ex cathedra, by 
 John Brown, find no place in Mr. Villard's book ; they are not 
 put forth as essential truths of history. The general order 
 providing for the formation of the Provisional Army is not 
 even remotely referred to ; while the Constitution and Ordi- 
 nances are treated contemptuously, and passed over slightingly 
 with a few commonplace and irrelevant criticisms ; and dis- 
 missed from consideration with manifest impatience and irrita- 
 tion as being so inconsistent — not with Brown's purposes, but 
 with the author's theory of them — as to "forbid discussion." ^* 
 
 As a study of John Brown, Mr. Villard's book is mislead- 
 ing, and, in places, worthless. It is a jargon of facts and 
 fancies; a juggling with the truths of history; a recital of the 
 long list of Brown's minor peculations, and the bloody deeds 
 which accent his career, interlarded with half-hearted denuncia- 
 tions of his moral obliquity and conspicuously fulsome pane- 
 gyrics upon his character, and extravagantly illogical attri- 
 butes concerning the nobility of his aims. The book seems to 
 have been put forth not with reference to the truth, but to en- 
 noble an ignoble character ; to shroud the character in a mantle 
 of mystery; to create in the twentieth century, a "complex" 
 character : a mystic with a propensity to do wrong ; wherein 
 there is a compromise of virtue with vice. To the accomplish- 
 ment of this end, this author has not only bent his energies in 
 subordinating the truth, but, as a furtherance of his purpose, 
 he has deemed it necessary to pass beyond the boundaries of 
 
 i*Villard, 335. 
 
THE SUBJECT MATTER 25 
 
 historical research, and seek to strengthen his cause by inviting 
 discredit upon the opinions of any who may venture to dissent 
 from his inventions. 
 
 It may not be held to be a suspicious circumstance, but it cer- 
 tainly is not good form for an historian to presuppose that his 
 statements of fact will be disbelieved, and that the logic of his 
 conclusions concerning them will be challenged by any one. 
 Nor should he seek to discredit hypothetical opinions by the 
 cheap, or vulgar, assertion that such opinions have their origin 
 in prejudice — "blind prejudice" ; for jurors, and even judges, 
 sometimes disagree ; and it is possible for persons, who are con- 
 scientious, to receive divergent impressions in relation to the 
 same subject. He would have preserved a better decorum if 
 he had relied upon candor, and the supreme truthfulness of his 
 narrative, and the clearness of his reasoning, whereby to sup- 
 plant disbelief with faith, and to dispel prejudice by enlighten- 
 ing it. 
 
 The tree is better known by its fruits, than by any tag which 
 the owner may attach to the trunk. .\n historian who con- 
 scientiously writes the truths of history, is not solicitous con- 
 cerning the criticisms of any who may read his lines. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 THE MAN 
 
 A^ot every one that saith unto me Lord, Lord, shall enter 
 unto the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of 
 my Father which is in heaven. — Matthew, 7:21 
 
 The picturesque figure which has been presented to the public 
 as John Brown is an historical myth — a fiction. The charac- 
 ter, as it has been exploited, is a contradiction of the laws that 
 govern in human nature. The material for it was furnished 
 by partisans, who were unscrupulous writers of the times of 
 strenuous political excitement and national unrest, in which 
 Brown, by his deeds of violence, attracted public attention. 
 Following the practice of partisans, these writers wrote with 
 reckless disregard for the truth of their statements. Later, in 
 the ultimate crisis that occurred in his fortunes, he was eulo- 
 gized in surpassing eloquence by sincere people of high ideals, 
 who were unaware of the real character of the object of their 
 adoration. They were not informed concerning the criminal 
 life which he had led, or of the shockingly brutal crimes which 
 he had committed ; neither did they understand that in his final 
 undertaking he sought to involve a section of our fair land in 
 a carnival of rapine and bloodshed exceeding in extent the hor- 
 rors of San Domingo. ^^ They were misled and were moved, in 
 their orations, solely by sentiment and misplaced sympathy. 
 Instead of a grim and unscrupulous soldier of fortune, leading 
 a band of desperate men in an efifort to unloose in the Slave 
 States the demon of insurrection, they could see in him only a 
 15 Hinton, John Brown and His Men, 66. 
 
THE MAX 27 
 
 religious devotee, whom their imaginations had created; whose 
 Hfe they beheved had been a devotion to deeds of charity and 
 benevolence ; who for years had been the especial champion of 
 the slave ; and whose work in Kansas had been, as in the exist- 
 ing crisis, an heroic and consistent consecration to duty. This 
 man now awaited e.xecution for his immutability to a great 
 cause. He appeared to them to be a reincarnation of the virtu- 
 ous primitive Christian — an altruistic hero — who. willing to 
 die for his convictions, had "dared the unequal" ; and. after 
 battling heroically, though vainly, for humanity, had offered 
 himself a sacrifice, making ''the gallows glorious like the cross." 
 These original laudations attracted, as Mr. Morse has stated, a 
 "horde of writers, who, with rills of versicles and oceans of 
 prose ha\e overwhelmed his memory beneath torrents of wild 
 extravagant admiration." 
 
 Many persons therefore Ijelieve Rrown to have been an ex- 
 ceptional person, a man of deep religious fervor, of unim- 
 peachable veracity and of the strictest integrity. I'.ut a careful 
 study of his life, as revealed by himself, and as it has been writ- 
 ten by his personal friends and his friendly biographers, may 
 well result in a different interpretation of the man's character 
 and actions. 
 
 John Brown was lx)m at Torrington. Connecticut, May 9, 
 1800; but he was not. as he claimed to be. "the sixth descendant 
 of Peter Browne of the Mayflower." The Peter P)rown to 
 whom John I'rown's ancestry has been traced, was born in 
 Windsor. Connecticut, in 1632, as Mr. Villard shows in very 
 scholarly fashion.*" The Peter Browne of the Mayflower left 
 no male issue; nor does John Brown's name api)ear upon the 
 rolls of the "Ma-s.sachusetts Society of Mayflower Descend- 
 ants."'^* His grandfather was a captain in the Kighteenth 
 Connecticut Infantry, in the Revolutionary Army. The father 
 
 '« Villard, 10. 
 "Villard. 591. note 6. 
 
28 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 of John Brown — Owen Brown — was a faithful, industrious 
 citizen who for a HveHhood followed the occupation of shoe- 
 maker, tanner, and farmer. John learned the tannery trade and 
 began work when he was fifteen, and for the greater part of 
 the ensuing five years was employed as a foreman in his father's 
 factory at Hudson, Ohio. 
 
 On June 21, 1820, he was married to Miss Dianthe Lusk, 
 the daughter of his housekeeper. She became the mother of 
 seven children ; one of whom — Frederick — was killed at Osa- 
 watomie. Her death occurred August 10, 1832; three days 
 after the birth of a son ; mother and son being buried together. 
 A second marriage was contracted on July 11, 1833, his bride 
 being Miss Mary Anne Day, daughter of Charles Day of 
 Whitehall, New York. Thirteen children were bom of this 
 union ; seven of whom died in early childhood ; two — Watson 
 and Oliver — were killed at Harper's Ferry. 
 
 As a tanner, at Hudson, Brown was successful, but he gave 
 up his business there and moved to Richmond, Pennsylvania, 
 in May, 1825, where he established a tannery. He was ap- 
 pointed postmaster at Richmond in 1828, and held the office 
 until he moved to Franklin Mills, Ohio, in 1835. He left 
 Richmond "because of financial distress." ^^ At Franklin Mills, 
 he secured a contract for building the Ohio and Pennsylvania 
 Canal from there to Akron. The next year, he undertook some 
 speculations in real estate, and in company with a Mr. Thomp- 
 son, borrowed $7,000 with which to buy a tract of one hundred 
 acres, for an "addition to Franklin." During the same year, 
 he, with others, organized the Franklin Land Company, and 
 purchased the water power, mills, lands, etc., in both the "up- 
 per" and "lower" Franklin villages, combining the two water 
 powers at a central town-site, which he and his associates laid 
 out.^^ In these, and other schemes, Brown became so deeply 
 
 18 Villard, 26. 
 
 19 Ibid. 
 
THE MAX 29 
 
 involved that he failed during the bad times of 1837 ; lost nearly 
 all his property by assignment to his creditors, and was then 
 not able to pay all his debts, some of which were never liqui- 
 dated. His father also lost heavily through him.-'^ 
 
 His failure in business should not of itself count against him, 
 but some of the methods which he employed to extricate him- 
 self from his financial embarrassment, were of a most fraudu- 
 lent and criminal character. July 11, 1836, he applied to 
 Heman Oviatt and others, to become security for him on a note 
 for $6,000 to the Western Reserve Bank. The note was not 
 paid, and the bank got judgment against the makers in May, 
 1837. August 2d. the judgment debtors gave a joint judg- 
 ment bond for the amount of the judginent against them, pay- 
 able in sixty days. The bond not being paid, the bank sued 
 again, and Oviatt had to pay the bank in full. The nature of 
 the wrong done to Mr. Oviatt by IJrown is described by Mr. 
 Villard on pages 2>7 and 38. I le relates that at the time of this 
 transaction. Brown had a "jienal l>)nd of conveyance," but not 
 the title, for a piece of property known as "Westlands," which 
 he assigned to Oviatt, as collateral for Oviatt's having endorsed 
 the judgmeiU bond to the bank. When the dtt^d to the West- 
 lands property was duly given to Brown, he recordetl it. with- 
 out notifying Oviatt of this action. Later, he mortgaged the 
 property to two men, again without the knowledge of Heman 
 Oviatt. Meanwiiile. Daniel G. Gaylnrd had rec(jvered a judg- 
 ment against Brown in another transaction, and to satisfy it 
 caused the sale of Westlands by the sherifiF. By collusion with 
 Brown, the projKjrty was bought in at the sale, by his friend, a 
 fonncr business associate. .\mos P. Chamberlain. Oviatt 
 "brought suit to have the .sale of We.stlands to Chamberlain set 
 aside as fraudulent, but the Supreme Court of Ohio held that 
 Chamberlain had a rightful title, and dismissed the suit. John 
 Brown himself was not directly sued by Oviatt. being, to use 
 2" Villard. 28. 
 
30 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 a lawyer's term, 'legally safe' throughout the entire transac- 
 tion. . . Even after this lapse of years his action in se- 
 cretly recording the transfer of the land, and then mortgaging 
 it, bears an unpleasant aspect." ^^ Meanwhile, the parties to the 
 fraud upon Oviatt quarreled. Brown refused to give up occu- 
 pation of the land to Chamberlain ; assuming that Chamberlain 
 had not treated him fairly in the matter; and held possession 
 of the property, in "a shanty on the place, by force of arms, 
 until compelled to desist by the sheriff. . ." Finally, the 
 sheriff arrested Brown and two sons, John and Owen, who were 
 thereupon placed in the Akron jail. Chamberlain, having de- 
 stroyed the shanty which Brown had occupied, and obtained 
 possession of the land, allowed the case to drop, and Brown and 
 his sons were released."' Mr. Sanborn, on page 55, disposes 
 of the matter in this way : 
 
 The affair is explained by his son John as follows : "The 
 farm father lost by endorsing 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 vio- 
 lence offered." 
 
 Brown was not so staid and prosaic in his daily walk and 
 conversation as to be indifferent to the sports and amusements 
 of life. He seems to have been simply an active man of the 
 world, getting as much worldly enjoyment for himself out of 
 his environment as possible. He was a horseman with a fancy 
 for horse racing; and while at Franklin, indulged in the very 
 interesting and sportsmanlike business, or diversion, of breed- 
 
 21 Villard. 38. 
 
 -2 For a full account of this, see Villard, 37-41. 
 
THE MAX 31 
 
 ing "fast running horses for racing purposes." He bred from 
 a well known horse of that time called "Count Piper" ; and the 
 name of another favorite sire was "John McDonald." He is 
 said to have dismissed criticism of his conduct from a moral 
 point of view, by the argimient that "if he did not breed them 
 some one else would." " 
 
 From 1837 to 1841 Brown lived alternately at Franklin, and 
 at Hudson, Ohio. In 1838 he became a "drover," and drove 
 cattle from Ohio to Connecticut. In this business he had 
 trouble with his associates, Tertius Wadsworth and Joseph 
 Wells, who furnished the capital ; and was sued by them for an 
 accounting.-* In December. 1838. "he negotiated for the 
 agency of a Xew York Steel Scythes house." And in January, 
 1839, he made his first venture in sheep, at West Hartford, 
 Connecticut. He brought the sheep to Albany by boat, and 
 drove them from there to Ohio. In June of that year he made 
 his final drive to the east with cattle, and. while at New Hart- 
 ford, committed a crime of unusual enormity. It appears that 
 he proposed to the Xew l-jigland Woolen Company, of Rock- 
 ville, Connecticut, to act as its agent in buying wool, and in- 
 duced it to intrust tu him $2,800 with which to begin purchas- 
 ing the wool. The negotiations for this money were a decep- 
 tion throughout, in jjursuance of theft. Rrown did not intend 
 to buy any wool with the money which he sought to have in- 
 trusted to his keeping for that purpose ; but did intend to con- 
 vert it to his own use — to make "a much brighter day" in his 
 affairs. He also deceived his wife, whom he caused to believe 
 that he was trying to secure a loan. Xor did he hesitate to 
 have the crime, which he was committing, called to the attention 
 of the God whom he pretended to serve, but asked her to ask 
 "God's blessing" upon hini in his pursuit of this purpose. 
 Greater hypocrisy and depravity hath no man than this. The 
 
 -3 Sanborn. 69. 
 2^ Villard, 37. 
 
2>2 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 letter which he wrote to his wife in relation to the transaction 
 is as follows : -^ 
 
 New Hartford, 12th June, 1839. 
 My Dear Wife and Children: 
 
 I write to let you know that I am in comfortable health, 
 and that I expect to be on my way home in the course of a 
 week should nothing befall me. If I am longer detained I 
 will write you again. The cattle business has succeeded 
 about as I expected, but I am now somewhat in fear that I 
 shall fail in getting the money I expected on the loan. Should 
 that be the will of Providence I know of no other way but 
 we must consider ourselves very poor for our debts must be 
 paid, if paid at a sacrifice. Should that happen (though it 
 may not) I hope God who is rich in mercy, will grant us all 
 grace to conform to our circumstances with cheerfulness and 
 resignation. I want to see each of my dear family very much 
 but must wait God's time. Try all of you to do the best you 
 can, and do not one of you be discouraged — tomorrow may 
 be a much brighter day. Cease not to ask God's blessing on 
 yourselves and me. Keep this letter wholly to yourselves, 
 excepting that I expect to start home soon, and that I did not 
 write confidently about my success should any one enquire. 
 Edmond is well and Owen Mills. You may show this to 
 father but to no one else. 
 
 I am not without great hopes of getting relief, I would 
 not have you understand, but things have looked more un- 
 favorable for a few days. I think I shall write you again 
 before I start. 
 
 Earnestly commending every one of you to God, and to his 
 mercy, which endureth forever, I remain your aflfectionate 
 husband and father, John Brown. 
 
 This beautiful letter, written to his wife in relation to the 
 prosecution of a criminal design, stands as a study of John 
 Brown which the student may well contemplate with profit. It 
 
 25 Villard, 30. 
 
The man 33 
 
 is written in the attractive style, and in the spiritual language 
 characteristic of Brown's correspondence. It is strikingly sim- 
 ilar to the letters that he gave out from the Charlestown jail, 
 which, in their apparently devotional simplicity, and humble 
 sincerity and trust in the mercy of God. won for him there his 
 "victory over death." This letter was a dissimulation, the 
 proof of which lies in the consummation of the negotiations for 
 the money ; and in the appropriation of it to his own use, at a 
 time when he was hopelessly involved. It is a real key to the 
 history of his life ; it discloses his true character, and shatters to 
 fragments every hypothesis that Brown was either sincere, de- 
 vout, or honest. 
 
 "Three days after the receipt of this letter," Mr. X'illard 
 relates, "Brown received from the New England Woolen Com- 
 pany at Rockville, C<Jnn.. twenty-eight hundred dollars, through 
 its agent George Kellogg, for the purchase of wool, which 
 money, regretfully enough, he pledged for his own benefit and 
 was then unable to redeem. Fortunately for him the Company 
 exercised leniency toward him." -" Later it permitted him to 
 go through bankruptcy, upon the condition that he would en- 
 deavor to repay the money. Brown's letter in acknowledg- 
 ment of the "great kindness" to him therein, is as follows:" 
 
 Richfield, Octo. 17, 1842. 
 Whereas I, John I'.rown, on or about the 13th day of June 
 1839, received from the New England Company (through 
 their Agent George Kellogg, Esq.) the sum of twenty-eight 
 hundred dollars for 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 dis- 
 charged from my obligations by the laws of the United States 
 — I hereby agree in consideration of the great kindness and 
 tenderness of said Company toward me in my calamity, and 
 
 =8Villard, 30. 
 " Sanborn, 55. 
 
34 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 more particularly of the moral obligation I am under to ren- 
 der them their due, to pay the same and interest thereon, 
 from time to time, as Divine Providence shall enable me to do. 
 Witness my hand and seal. John Brown. 
 
 To Mr. Kellogg, agent for the woolen company, he wrote : 
 
 Richfield, Summit County, Ohio, Octo. 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 opposi- 
 tion to such discharge being given. I shall now if my life is 
 continued, have an opportunity 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 eflFects has placed 
 me, with my numerous family, I fear this year must pass 
 without my effecting in the way of payment what I have en- 
 couraged you to expect (notwithstanding I have been gen- 
 erally prosperous in my business for the season). 
 Respectfully your unworthy friend, 
 
 John Brown. 
 
 To Mr. Villard the public owes its obligation for the quite 
 complete history of this transaction. Mr. Sanborn, in his rec- 
 ord of it, saw fit to suppress the letter of June 12, 1839. He, 
 evidently, garbled the correspondence relating to this criminal 
 incident in Brown's life, with the intention of practicing a de- 
 ception upon the public. Commenting upon the two letters of 
 October 17, 1842, hesaid:'« 
 
 These papers show the real integrity of Brown, in a trans- 
 action in which he might have escaped the obligation which 
 he thus assumed. 
 
 That Brown promised restitution of the money herein, as a 
 means to forestall criminal proceedings against him ; and gave 
 2* Sanborn, 56. 
 
THE MAN 35 
 
 the above acknowledgment of the debt, and renewed promise to 
 pay, as a condition precedent to being permitted to go into the 
 court of bankruptcy, is e\ident from the two preceding letters. 
 It is also apparent from his letter to Mr. Kellogg, that he did 
 not intend to fulfill the promises he had made. At his death, 
 "this debt, like many others, was still unpaid," notwithstanding 
 the fact that two years after his proceedings in bankruptcy he 
 became prosperous, "with the most trying financial periods of 
 his life behind him." "^ 
 
 With money in his pocket wherewith to commence life anew, 
 Brown conceived the idea of leaving that part of the country 
 and settling in Virginia, upon land ^° belonging to Oberlin Col- 
 lege. He probably obtained information concerning the land 
 from his father, who was a trustee of the college. On April 1, 
 1840, he appeared before a committee of the trustees, and 
 opened negotiations with it for an agreement to sur\-ey the Vir- 
 ginia land, and to purchase some of it. Two days later he sub- 
 mitted a proposal "to visit, survey and make the necessary in- 
 vestigation respecting the boundaries, etc. of these lands, for 
 one dollar per day, and a modest allowance for necessary ex- 
 penses." He also stated that this was to be a preliminary step 
 towards locating thereon, with his family, "should the opening 
 pnne a favorable one," and in the event of his so locating, he 
 was to receive one thousand acres of the land. The trustees 
 promptly accepted his offer, and the treasurer was ordered to 
 furnish him with "a Commission and Needful outfit." ^^ which 
 was done the same day. He immediately proceeded to Vir- 
 ginia and entered upon his duties. April 27th he wrote to his 
 wife from Ripley, Virginia: 
 
 I have seen the spot where, if it be the will of Providence, 
 I hope one day to live with my family. 
 
 2»ViIlarcl. 31. 
 
 30 Now in Doddridge and Tyler Counties, West Virginia. 
 3' Villard, 31. 
 s 
 
36 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 July 14, 1840, he filed his report, and on August 11th he was 
 notified that the prudential committee of the trustees had been 
 authorized by the board to "perfect negotiations, and convey 
 to Brother John Brown, of Hudson, Ohio, one thousand acres 
 of our Virginia land, on conditions suggested in the correspond- 
 ence between him and the committee." Replying to the letter 
 January 2, 1841, he wrote : 
 
 ... I feel prepared to say definitely that I expect. 
 Providence willing, to accept the proposal of your Board. 
 . . . I shall expect to receive a thousand acres of land 
 in a body, that will include a living spring of water discharg- 
 ing itself at a height sufficient to accommodate a tannery 
 as I shall expect to pursue that business on a small scale if 
 I go. . . 
 
 The trustees meanwhile, for reasons which have not been 
 made public, changed their minds on the subject, and Brown's 
 letter to their Mr. Bumell of February 5. 1841, reafiirming his 
 intention to accept the land, as proposed, was never answered." 
 Failing in his efifort to establish himself in Virginia, he en- 
 gaged in the sheep raising industry, in the spring of 1841, in 
 company with Captain Oviatt, at Richfield, Ohio. He was 
 successful and "gradually became known as a winner of prizes 
 for sheep, and cattle at the annual fairs, in Summit County." 
 By 1844 he had gained the reputation of a successful wool 
 grower, and in that year formed "a partner-ship with Simon 
 Perkins, Jr. of Akron, Ohio, with a view to carry on the sheep 
 business extensively." ^^ He moved to Akron April 10th of 
 that year. Concerning his home at Akron, Mr. Villard says : 
 They occupied a cottage on what is still known as Per- 
 kins Hill, near Simon Perkins own home, with an extensive 
 and charming view over hill and dale — an ideal sheep coun- 
 try, and a location which must have attracted any one save a 
 predisposed wanderer, 
 
 32 Villard, 32-33. 
 
 33 Villard, 34. 
 
THE MAN 37 
 
 Two years later it was decided to establish a headquarters at 
 Springfield, Massachusetts. There Brown went "to reside as 
 one of the firm of Perkins and Brown, agents of the sheep- 
 farmers and wool merchants in northern 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." " 
 
 Of this arrangement Mr. Villard says on page 35 : "John 
 Brown was within bounds in thus exulting; even though the 
 Perkins partner-ship resulted eventually in severe losses and 
 dissolution. At least it was a connection with a high minded 
 and prosperous man, and it lasted ten years. When it was 
 over, the partners were still friends, but Mr. Perkins did not re- 
 tain a high opinion of John Brown's ability or sagacity as a 
 business man." Mr. Sanborn states on page 57, that when Mr. 
 Perkins was questioned by him. in 1878, about Brown's wool 
 growing and wool dealing, he replied : "The less you can say 
 about them the better." 
 
 As to the business, there seems to have been trouble from the 
 commencement of it. Mr. Villard says on page 60: "More- 
 over some customers had just grievances, for the letter book 
 contains far too many apologies for failure to acknowledge let- 
 ters and shipments, and to make out accurate accounts, for so 
 young a firm." 
 
 In August. 1840. P.rown made his historic trip to London to 
 superintend, personally, the sale of wool, which he had shipped 
 to that market, because he could not obtain prices that were sat- 
 isfactory to him from the manufacturers of woolens in his home 
 market. The amount of wool so consigned was about two 
 hundred thousand pounds. The Northampton Woolen Mills 
 Company of Northampton. Massachusetts, had bid sixty cents 
 a pound for this wool at Springfield. In London, September 
 17th, a lot of one hundred and fifty bales of it was sold for 
 3* Sanborn, 64. 
 
38 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 twenty-six to twenty-nine cents per pound. The buyer was 
 the ''Northampton Woolen Mills Co., of Mass., U. S. A." ^' 
 Brown returned home in October "bringing back with him the 
 portion of the wool which he had been unable to sell. The loss 
 on this venture was probably as high as $40,000." ^'^ The firm 
 of Perkins and Brown then began proceedings in liquidation, 
 which had been under consideration for some time before 
 Brown made the trip to Europe. The losses sustained by the 
 company were upon a large scale. Suits against them were 
 brought for more than one hundred thousand dollars. ^^ 
 
 In 1850 Brown contemplated engaging in the manufacture 
 of wine upon a large scale ; and on December 4th, wrote to his 
 sons to send him some samples of the wines they had made. 
 He said : "I want Jason to obtain from Mr. Perkins, or any- 
 where he can get them, two good Junk bottles, have them thor- 
 oughly cleaned, and filled with 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 afifect something to purpose by pro- 
 ducing unadulterated domestic wines. They will command 
 great prices." ^® 
 
 In 1846, Gerrit Smith, a wealthy philanthropist of Peterboro, 
 New York, set aside one hundred and twenty thousand acres of 
 his large estate in northern New York, to be divided up into 
 farms, and given, without charge, to worthy colored people 
 who would settle upon them and improve them for their per- 
 manent homes. Brown heard of this proposition in course of 
 time, and made a proposal to Mr. Smith to settle among the 
 negroes on these lands, and aid them by precept and example 
 
 35 For an interesting account of this transaction, see Sanborn, 67-68. 
 36Villard, 63. 
 37VilIard, 64-66. 
 38 Sanborn, 78. 
 
THE MAX 39 
 
 in their efforts at home building. In consideration of this, it 
 is probable that Brown secured title to some land on equal terms 
 with the negroes, and possibly secured options on other tracts. 
 at satisfactory prices and tenns of payment. His experience 
 with the Oberlin College people in relation to the Virginia 
 lands, heretofore referred to. was probably of ser^-ice to him in 
 this transaction with Smith. The tracts which he selected 
 were at Timbuctoo. or North Elba, and in the spring of 1849 
 he located his family upon the land : but in March. 1851. moved 
 back to Akron. Brown himself did not go to North Elba to 
 live. His time was taken up in liquidating the tangled affairs 
 of Perkins and Brown, and with the extensive litigation in- 
 volved in the settlement of them. 
 
 Litigation seems to have been a constant and conspicuous 
 feature of Brown's commercial life. Mr. \'illard says'"" that 
 "on the records of the Portage County Court (^f Common Pleas 
 are no less than twenty-one lawsuits in which John Brown fig- 
 ured as defendant during the years 1820 to 1845. Of these, 
 thirteen were actions brought to recover money loaned on prom- 
 issorv notes either to Brown singly or in company with others. 
 The remaining suits were mostly claims for wages, or payments 
 due. or for nonfulfillment of contracts. . In ten other 
 
 ca.ses he was successfully sued and judgments were obtained 
 against him individually or jointly with others. In three cases 
 those who sued him were non-suited as being without real cause 
 for action, and two other cases were settled out of court. Four 
 cases Brown won. among them being a suit for damages for 
 false arrest and assault and battery, brought by an alleged horse 
 thief, because lirown, and other citizens, had aided a constable 
 in arresting him. A number of these suits grew out of Brown's 
 failure in his real estate speculations. A serious litigation was 
 an action brought by the Bank of Wooster to recover on a Bill 
 of Exchange, drawn by Brown and others, on the Leather 
 
 8» V'illard. 36-37. 
 
40 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 Manufacturers Bank of New York, and repudiated by that in- 
 stitution on the ground that Brown and his associates had no 
 money in the bank. During the suit the amount claimed was 
 rapidly reduced, and when the judgment was rendered against 
 him it was for $917.65. . . In 1845 Daniel C. Gaylord, 
 who several times had sued Brown, succeeded in compelling 
 him and his associates to convey to him certain Franklin lands, 
 which they had contracted to sell, but the title for which they 
 refused to convey. The court upheld Gaylord's claim. The 
 only case in which Brown figured as plaintiff was settled out of 
 court." This is consistently a bad record. 
 
 The year 1854 brought the settlement of Kansas to the front 
 and the wrecked and practically penniless Browns decided to 
 emigrate to the new Territory. Not with the "ax and gun" 
 went they, as will be seen, but with the ax, and with the hope of 
 bettering their condition. The necessity for the gun was de- 
 veloped later — in 1855 — and by the Free-State men who had 
 preceded the Browns into the Territory. 
 
 It seems the family planned to establish a little colony or 
 group of farms — "Brownsville" — and that while the sons 
 were to be engaged in opening up the famis, the father would 
 try to earn some money in surveying, which would be a very 
 grateful and necessary assistance to them while struggling with 
 the many discouraging incidents which usually befell the im- 
 pecunious preemptor. That such were their conclusions ap- 
 pears from a letter which Brown wrote February 13, 1855, to 
 Mr. John W. Cook, of Wolcottville, Connecticut. He said : *^ 
 "Since I saw you I have undertaken to direct the operations of 
 a Surveying & exploring party, to be employed in Kansas for a 
 considerable time perhaps for some Two or Three years; & I 
 lack for time to make all my arrangements, and get on the 
 ground in season." In pursuance of his intention to move to 
 Kansas, he relocated with his family on the North Elba farm. 
 
 *o Villard, 84. 
 
THE MAN 41 
 
 This review of Brown's career discloses a life spent, thus far, 
 in a series of strenuous struggles with various problems, cover- 
 ing a wide range in the field of commercial activity. All his 
 efforts had ended in disappointment and failure. The removal 
 to North Elba marks his retirement, in defeat, from the world 
 of trade, and finds him, as the result of his failures, living with 
 his dependent family upon a small tract of mountain land, of 
 little value, that had been given to him as a condition of his set- 
 tlement thereon. They had "moved into an unplastered four- 
 room house, the rudest kind of a pioneer home, built for him by 
 his son-in-law, Henry Thompson, who had married his daugh- 
 ter Ruth." *' 
 
 What Brown's religious belief was is pn)blenKUical. He 
 was a student of the Bible, and. as he >;i!(l. "possessed a most 
 unusual memory of its entire contents." 'l"he Book, as a whole, 
 was his creed, and u]K>n its teachings he placed his personal in- 
 terpretations. He spoke and wrote, when he .so desired, in its 
 phraseology: and by this distinction, in contradiction of the 
 character of his actions, he gained a rcjjutation for being a 
 Christian. He may have l>een a Presbyterian, as has l)een said ; 
 or he may have l)een a Methodist, as has also l)een .stated ; and 
 there is equal authority for the statement that he belonged to 
 the Congregational church; but. it would seem that if he had 
 been a ccjnsistent member of any of these churches, liis historic 
 name would have Ix'en proudly borne u|Min the rolls of metnber- 
 ship, in the congregations to which he Ijelonged ; and the fact 
 of his membership therein clearly established. It would fur- 
 ther seem that he would have stated the fact of such member- 
 ship in cfjnnection with what he did say, in 1857. in relation to 
 his religious experience. It aj)pears however, that while as- 
 suming to l^lieve firmly in the divine authenticity of the Bible, 
 he had become only to "some extent a convert to Christianity." 
 There is no evidence that he ever attended public worship in 
 
 *' Villard. 76. 
 
42 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 Kansas, or at any place during the latter years of his life, or that 
 he engaged in prayer. Also, it would seem, that if he had been 
 "a student at Morris Academy" in either 1816 or 1819, as a 
 preparation for college — Amherst — with an ultimate purpose 
 so creditable as "entering the ministry," he would have referred 
 to the fact, incidentally at least, in his Autobiography which 
 treats specifically of his education.*'" 
 
 The Rev. H. D. King of Kinsman, Ohio, met Brown fre- 
 quently at Tabor, Iowa, during August and September, 1857. 
 He probably regarded him as an infidel, but did not wish to say 
 so. "He was rather skeptical, I think," he said; "not an in- 
 fidel, but not bound by creeds. He was somewhat cranky on 
 the subject of the Bible as he was on that of killing people." *^ 
 In the last letter which Brown wrote to his family, November 
 30, 1859, two days before his execution, he said : ** 
 
 I must yet insert the reason for my firm belief in the Bible, 
 notwithstanding I am, perhaps, naturally skeptical — certain- 
 ly not credulous. . . It is the purity of heart, filling our 
 minds as well as work and actions, which is everywhere in- 
 sisted on, that distinguishes it from all other teachings, that 
 commends it to my conscience. . . 
 
 The late Mr. George B. Gill of Kansas, who was a member 
 
 ■*- Brown relates: "From fifteen to twenty years old, he spent most of 
 his time at the Tanner & Currier's trade keeping Bachelor's hall; & he of- 
 ficiating as Cook ; & for most of the time as foreman of the establishment 
 under his Father. During this time he found much trouble with some of 
 the bad habits I have mentioned : . . . but his close attention to 
 business; & success in its management; together with the way he got 
 along with a company of men & boys made him quite a favorite; . . . 
 From Fifteen years and upward he felt a good deal of anxiety to learn; 
 but could only read & study a little; both for want of time; & on account 
 of inflamation 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." — Appendix, IV. 
 
 « Villard, 299. 
 
 ** Sanborn, 614. 
 
THE MAN 43 
 
 of Brown's cabinet — secretary of the treasury — said of him : 
 "He was very human. The angel wings were so dim and shad- 
 owy as to be almost unseen." 
 
 Brown's younger sons were infidels. They had "discovered 
 the Bible to be all fiction." *'' To the Sabbath day and its 
 sanctity, he was indifferent. In violation of the stricter con- 
 ventions, which prevailed at that time, concerning the observ- 
 ance of it as "Holy unto the Lord." he committed the principal 
 crimes incident to his career, wholly or in part, on the Sabbath. 
 A part of the murders and thefts on the Pottawatomie were 
 committed on Sunday morning. May 25, 1856. Returning to 
 Kansas from Nebraska City (August 9th and 10th) half the 
 journev was made on Sunday. August 10th. "On .\ugust 24," 
 1856 (Sunday), "the Brown and Cline companies set out for 
 the South, marching eight miles and camping on Sugar 
 Creek." *" Sunday night. October 16. 1859. was the time fi.xed 
 for the insurrection of the slaves to occur, and on that night, 
 in pursuance of his j)lans. he occupied Harper's I'\'rr\-. 
 
 Brown was averse to military operations, and military af- 
 fairs. He refused to drill with the local militia, paying the 
 fines instead, which were imi>ose{l by law for such (lelin(|uen- 
 cies. In jxtlitical matters he affiliated with the .Vbolitionists, 
 or with those of the i)arty who were "non-resistants." *' 
 
 The statements which have l)cen put forth in support of the 
 assumption that Brown's life was a (levotit)n to the Anti- 
 Slavery cause — a series of abnormal activities in opposition to 
 slaverv — are not confirmed, nor can they be justified by any 
 contemi)orancous evidence. For notwithstanding the persist- 
 ent, if not offensive, insistence of his biograi)hers to the con- 
 trary ; and the pages without number which ha\c been written in 
 support of such insistence, the rectml of his life is practically 
 
 ♦■' Sanborn. 46. 
 «« Villanl. 236. 
 ♦' Mason h'cfurl. 72. Testimony of Wm. R .\rny. 
 
44 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 barren in relation to the subject. There is not a scrap of con- 
 current evidence which, even remotely, suggests that prior to 
 1855 he might have taken more than a most ordinary interest 
 in securing freedom for the slaves. Even in his letter of that 
 year to Mr. John W. Cook {note 40), informing him of his in- 
 tention to go to Kansas, and of his motive for going thereto, he 
 made no reference to the subject whatever. A statement of 
 everything which Brown did, or that he attempted to do up to 
 that year, in opposition to slavery, may be republished in this 
 book without encumbering its pages. It will therefore be 
 given. 
 
 In 1857, after Brown had ceased to be a non-resistant, and 
 was in the East professionally advocating war in Kansas; he 
 wrote that during the late war with England an incident "oc- 
 curred that made him a most determined Abolitionist: & led 
 him to declare or Sivear: Bternal war with Slavery." But Mr. 
 Villard, having the infant Pardigles prodigy in mind, makes the 
 point that "the oaths of a lad of such tender years do not often 
 become the guiding force of maturity." A Mr. Blakesley, with 
 whom Brown, before his marriage, kept bachelor's hall, relates 
 that one evening a runaway slave came to their door, and asked 
 for food, which was given him freely. John Brown, Jr., relates 
 the same, or a similar, incident as occurring eight years later. 
 The dramatic settings in each case are practically similar: 
 Night! Sound of horses' feet approaching! Flight of fugi- 
 tive, or fugitives, into the adjacent timber! False alarm! 
 Subsequent search for, and locating of the fugitive "by the 
 sound of the beating of his heart!" Finale: "Brown swears 
 eternal enmity to slavery!"*^ Both of the tales are of the 
 legendary type common to Brown literature. Mr. Blakesley 's 
 story is probably in part, true, but whether either of them, or 
 both of them, be true is without significance. It would indeed 
 have been difiicult to find a person living in the North at that 
 
 48 Villard, 18, and Sanborn, 35. 
 
THE MAN 45 
 
 time, who would have refused a poor fugitive slave the measure 
 of assistance asked for in this case. 
 
 On another occasion Brown is represented as taking the 
 members of his family into his confidence, and enlisting them 
 for life in the ''eternal war" which he is said to have been per- 
 sonally waging ; taking the precautiorf to swear them to se- 
 crecy. Jason Brown states that they were "merely sworn to do 
 all in their power to abolish slavery," and does not use the word 
 "force." *^ But as related by John Brown. Jr., the occasion 
 was much more dramatic and far reaching. He says : '^'^ 
 
 It is, of course, impossible for me to say when such idea 
 and plan first entered his (John Brown's) mind and became 
 a purpose ; but I can say with certainty that he first informed 
 his family that he entertained such purpose while we were 
 yet living in Franklin, O. (now called Kent), and before he 
 went to X'irginia, in 1840, to survey the lands which had been 
 donated by Arthur Tappan to Oberlin College; and this was 
 certainly as early as 1839. The place and the circumstances 
 where he first informed us of that purpose are as perfectly in 
 my memory as any other event in my life. I'ather, mother, 
 Jason, Owen and I were, late in the evening, seated arountl 
 the fire in the oi)en fire-place of the kitchen, in the old Hay- 
 maker house where we then lived ; and there he first informed 
 us of his detennination to make war on slavery — not such 
 war as Mr. Garrison informs us "was cf|ually the purpose 
 of the non-resistant alK>litionists," but war by force and arms. 
 He said that he had long entertained such a purpose — that 
 he believed it his duty to devote his life, if need be, to this 
 object, which he made us fully to understand. After spend- 
 ing considerable time in setting forth in most impressive lan- 
 guage the hopeless condition of the slave, he asked who of us 
 wvre willing to make common cause with him in doing all 
 in our power to "break the jaws of the wicked and phick the 
 spoil out of his teeth," naming each of us in succession. Are 
 
 "Villarcl. 45. 
 5» Ibid. 
 
46 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 you, Mary, John, Jason, and Owen? Receiving an affirma- 
 tive answer from each, he kneeled in prayer, and all did the 
 same. This posture in prayer impressed me greatly as it was 
 the first time I had ever known him to assume it. After 
 prayer he asked us to raise our right hands, and he then ad- 
 ministered to us an oath, the exact terms of which I cannot 
 recall, but in substance it bound us to secrecy and devotion to 
 the purpose of fighting slavery by force and arms to the ex- 
 tent of our ability. 
 
 Referring to this incident Mr. Villard says : ^^ "It must be 
 noted here that in this letter John Brown, Jr., gives the date of 
 the oath as 1839; in his lengthy affidavit in the case of Gerrit 
 Smith against the Chicago Tribune, he gave the date as 1836, 
 three years earlier, and in an account given in Mr. Sanborn's 
 book he placed it at 1837; three distinct times for the same 
 event. It can, therefore, best be stated as occurring before 
 1840." 
 
 In the opinion of the writer, it could, perhaps, "best be 
 stated" as not having occurred at all. As has been heretofore 
 stated. Brown was at that time a non-resistant, and there is no 
 concurrent evidence that he treasured a thought of using force 
 against slavery until after Robinson suggested it by arming the 
 Free-State men in Kansas in the spring of 1855. The incident 
 may therefore be considered as apocryphal. It is a part of the 
 mass of legendary literature that has overwhelmed Brown's 
 "simple, noble memor}^" 
 
 The improvisation of these two incidents, shows the strait in 
 which John Brown, Jr., was placed, when called upon, by Mr. 
 Sanborn, to narrate some of the incidents occurring in the 
 course of his father's anti-slavery activities. There being none, 
 nothing whatever to tell, he filched the Blakesley incident and 
 related it as one occurring under his personal observation, and 
 put it forth along with the fiction concerning the dramatic func- 
 
 =1 Villard, 45. 
 
THE MAX 47 
 
 tion just related, to relieve himself from an embarrassing situ- 
 ation. 
 
 In a letter written nearly twenty years after the Blakesley 
 incident is said to have occurred. Brown disclosed the character 
 of the "eternal war" which he really proposed to wage, if any, 
 against slavery. It was to "get at least one negro boy or youth 
 and bring him up as we do our own. — give him 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." In the same letter he seeks 
 to interest his brother — Frederick — in a school for blacks 
 which he wanted to open at Randolph. He thought "if the 
 young blacks of our country could once become enlightened, it 
 would most assuredly operate on slavery like firing powder 
 confined in a rock." Incidentally, he intended to own the 
 school, and thought it would pay.'" 
 
 While the suggestion to attack slavery in the manner <)ut- 
 lint'd in this letter is the first recorded movement, or act of ag- 
 gression, in the much talked of eternal war; and while it may 
 be regarded as a st)rt of opening gun; though not a loud one. 
 the proposal contained therein may be Ci^nsidercd merely as be- 
 ing a commercial venture, for pecuniary profit, that he desired 
 to engage in. rather than as a scheme in negro philanthropy, 
 lie thought the venture would l)e profitable, and offered to di- 
 vide the profits arising from it with his brother upon terms that 
 "shall be fair." Also it may be stated that at the time he made 
 this proposal he was in the toils of insolvency. Six months 
 later he left Randolph in straitened circumstances. It is there- 
 fore probable that he was moved to suggest the opening of a 
 school for blacks by personal considerations, and that but for 
 such reasons the letter contaitiing the proposal w(^uld not have 
 been written. 
 
 In 184S, while a resident of Springfield. Massachusetts, 
 
 " Villanl. 43-44. 
 
48 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 Brown wrote some articles reflecting upon the negro character ; 
 criticising negroes because of their vanity and shiftlessness. 
 They were written under the caption : "Sambo's Mistakes/' 
 and were pubhshed in the Ram's Horn, a newspaper- conducted 
 by negroes, in New York. They do not relate to slavery. ^^ 
 
 In 1850 he made the first, and, it may be said, the only no- 
 ticeable effort in behalf of the anti-slavery cause, that is re- 
 corded of him prior to 1854. The Fugitive Slave Law, enacted 
 by the Thirty-first Congress, provided for the use of all the 
 forces of the Department of Justice, to effect the arrest of fugi- 
 tives from slavery, and the restoration of them to their masters. 
 Brown conceived the idea of uniting the free negroes and fugi- 
 tive slaves in an organization to resist the enforcement of the 
 provisions of this law. The society was to be called "The 
 United States League of Gileadites." The plan failed; the en- 
 rollment so far as known was confined to the Springfield, Mass- 
 achusetts, branch, which numbered fifty-three members.^* But 
 the activities therein undertaken were strictly defensive in their 
 character; they were not directed against slavery, but for the 
 personal protection of fugitive slaves and free negroes living 
 in the Northern States. His letter of advice to the Gileadites 
 is, in part, as follows : ^^ 
 
 WORDS OF ADVICE 
 
 "Union is Strength" 
 
 Nothing so charms the American people as personal brav- 
 ery. 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 sympathy throughout the 
 nation than the accumulated wrongs and sufferings of more 
 than three millions of our submissive colored population. 
 
 ssVillard, 659-661. 
 5* Sanborn, 127. 
 53 Sanborn, 124-125. 
 
THE MAX 49 
 
 We need not mention the Greeks struggling against the op- 
 pressive Turks, the Poles against Russia, nor the Hungarians 
 against Austria and Russia combined, to prove this. Xo jury 
 can be found in the Xorthcrn States that zi^'ould convict a man 
 for defending his rights to the last extremity. This is zi'dl 
 understood by Southern Congressmen, zvho insisted that the 
 right of trial by jury should not be granted to the fugitiz'C. 
 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 earnest to secure their dearest rights as they are to ape the 
 follies and extravagances of their luxury. Just think of the 
 money expended by individuals in your behalf in the past 
 twenty years ! Think of the number who have been mobbed 
 and imprisoned on your account ! Have any of you seen the 
 Branded Hand? Do you remember the names of Love joy 
 and Torrcy? 
 
 Should one of your number be arrested, you must collect 
 together as quickly as ix)ssible, so as to outnumber your ad- 
 versaries who are taking an active part against you. Let 
 no able-bodied man appear on the gnnmd unequipped, or with 
 his weapons exiK>sed to view ; let that be understood before- 
 hand. Your i)lans nnist be known only to yourself, and with 
 the understanding that all traitors mu.st die, wherever caught 
 and proven to be guilty. "Whosoever is fearful or afraid, let 
 him return and depart early from Mount Gilead" (Judges, 
 vii. 3; Dcut. 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 resolu- 
 tion if you do. Let the first bloiv be the signal for all to eti- 
 gage; and 'chen engaged do not do your zi-ork by halz'es, but 
 make clean zcork z<.ith your enemies, and be sure you meddi'e 
 not z^'ith any others. By going about your business 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 
 
50 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 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 calcu- 
 late 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. . . 
 
 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 b\ your friends, 
 zvhile a drop of blood remains; and be hanged, if you must, 
 but tell no tales out of school. Make no confession. 
 In a letter to his wife, January 17, 1851, relating to the same 
 subject, he said : ^'' 
 
 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 encouragement 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 my family to imagine them- 
 selves in the same dreadful condition. My only spare time 
 being taken up (often until late hours at night) in the way I 
 speak of, have prevented me from the gloomy homesick feel- 
 ings which had before so much oppressed me : not that I for- 
 get my family at all. 
 
 The assumption that Brown, "The peaceful tanner and shep- 
 herd," had at this time been transformed "into a man burning 
 to use arms upon an institution which refused to yield to peace- 
 
 56 Sanborn, 132. 
 
THE MAN 51 
 
 ful agitation," ^' is not justified by anything that he had there- 
 tofore said or done relating to slavery : neither is it justified by 
 what he wrote to the "Gileadites." nor by the letter which he 
 wrote to his wife concerning the condition of the free negroes. 
 These papers contain no hint, to say nothing of evidence, that 
 the action taken therein by him was the result of any precon- 
 ceived intention to attack slavery ; or that it was related to any 
 general plan or purpose to oppose slavery : or that it fore- 
 shadowed any disposition on his part, burning or otherwise, to 
 engage in the matter any further than by counsel and advice. 
 The letter to his wife reflects the general sense of compassion 
 that was felt for the negroes, by all humane people throughout 
 the North, because of the distressful condition in which they 
 were placed by the terms of the Fugitive Slave Law. 
 
 The foregoing is a recital of all that is contained in the 
 record of Brown's life concerning his anti-slavery activities up 
 to the year 1852. In the working of that great engine for 
 emancipation, the I'nderground Railway, he took no part. Of 
 the more than seventy-five thousand slaves who were carried 
 from bondage to freedom by the self-sacrificing agencies of the 
 system. Brown, it is said, gave shelter and a meal to but one of 
 them. The late Colonel Thomas Went worth lligginson. mili- 
 tant clergyman and atK)Htionist. in a eulogy upon Brown, said :'"* 
 . . . It had l)ccn niy privilege to live in the best society 
 all my life — namely that of abolitionists and fugitive slaves. 
 I had seen the most eminent persons of the age: several on 
 whose heads tens of thousands of dollars had been set ; a black 
 woman, who, after escaping from slavery herself, had gone 
 hack secretly eight times into the jaws of <leath to bring out 
 persons whom she had never seen ; and a white man, who af- 
 ter assisting away fugitives by the thousand, had twice been 
 stripi>ed of every dollar of his property in fines, and when 
 taunted by the Court, had mildly said, "Friend if thcc knows 
 
 " Villard. 4^. 
 " Redpath. (A. 
 
52 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 any poor fugitive in need of a breakfast, send him to Thomas 
 
 Garrett's door." I had known these, and such as these ; but 
 
 I had not known the Browns. . . 
 
 This well informed man ; this practical and intellectual leader 
 of the anti-slavery movement had been Brow^n's neighbor for 
 years. Why was it that he had never heard of him? There 
 is but one answer: Brown had not been a worker in Mr. 
 Higginson's vineyard. He had not done anything to attract 
 the attention of any one seriously interested in the anti-slavery 
 cause. He was neither an ardent nor a conspicuous laborer 
 in behalf of the slave. 
 
 However, what has been stated herein is the credit side of 
 Brown's account with slavery ; there is also a debit side in this 
 history which exhibits strong presumptive evidence that his 
 "horror" of slavery was neither so "passionate" nor so violent 
 but that it could be controlled and modified to accommodate 
 itself to the advantages of the system. When John Brown, 
 the man of aflfairs, decided to become a resident of the State of 
 Virginia, and engage in business there upon a one thousand 
 acre estate, he knew^ that he would have to employ some slave 
 labor. He knew also that the "good will" and the patronage 
 of the people living in the section of the country in which he in- 
 tended to locate, were necessary for the success of his undertak- 
 ing ; these he knew he could not secure unless he conformed to 
 the commercial and social customs prevailing in Virginia, and to 
 the sentiment of Virginians in relation to slavery. These condi- 
 tions this aggressive speculator and sportsman, did consider and 
 did accept. The letter which he wrote to his wife from Ripley, 
 Virginia, suggests, as a matter of fact, that he had declared a 
 truce in his opposition to slavery, whatever the degree of such 
 opposition may have been ; and that he had changed his attitude 
 toward the system to meet the requirements of his prospective 
 environment. The letter, abridged by Mr. Sanborn, is as fol- 
 lows : "" 
 
 59 Sanborn, 134. 
 
THE MAN 53 
 
 Ripley, Va., April 27, 1840. 
 . . . I like the country as well as I expected and its in- 
 habitants rather better ; and I have seen the spot where, if it 
 be the will of Providence, I hope one day to live with my fam- 
 ily. . . Were the inhabitants as resolute and industrious 
 as the Northern people, and did they understand how to man- 
 age as well, they would become rich ; but they are not gen- 
 erally so. They seem to have no idea of improvement in their 
 cattle, sheep, or hogs, nor to know the use of enclosed pas- 
 ture-field 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 compar- 
 ing them with people of other parts of the country. I can see 
 new and abundant proof that knowledge is power. I think 
 we may be very useful to them on many accounts, were we 
 disposed. May God in mercy keep us all. and enable us to 
 get wisdom ; and with all our getting and losing, to get 
 understanding. 
 
 It would be very much more satisfactory if Mr. Saiilx>rn 
 had published the full te.xt of that part of this letter which 
 treats of the habits of the people, and of the labor conditions 
 existing there. The question of labor was of paraiiiouiit im- 
 portance in lirowii's X'irginia venture. He was an optimist, 
 and in his optimistic forecast saw that the care and cultivation 
 of a thousand acres, and the operation and development of a 
 tanning business would, in time, require a large establishment, 
 necessitating, probably, the labor of a number of slaves. This 
 question then arises: Did John Brown intend or expect to 
 own, ultimately, the necessary slaves to operate this property, 
 or did he intend to hire them from others. His letters con- 
 sistently abound in minute detail. It is therefore improbable, 
 in the opinion of the writer, that he discussed the manners and 
 customs of the white people of that section with his wife, and 
 wrote of minor conditions existing there, without making some 
 reference to the black people of the country ; and to the more 
 important questions of slavery and labor — matters in which 
 
54 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 he would have a deep personal and pecuniary interest. Mr. 
 Villard did not fail to comment, with surprise, upon the omis- 
 sion of the subject from Brown's letter. He said : ®° 
 
 But his letter to his family from Ripley, Virginia, April 27, 
 1840, already cited, is peaceable enough and his hope of set- 
 tling his family there is hardly consistent with his anti-slavery 
 policy of later years. Indeed, while recording his pleasure 
 that the residents of the vicinity were more attractive people 
 than he thought, he had nothing to say about the institution of 
 slavery which he then, for the first time, really beheld at close 
 range. 
 
 No one inspired with an enthusiasm upon the subject of 
 slavery, such as has been attributed to Brown, could have failed, 
 under these circumstances, to dwell upon the theme. A dilem- 
 ma is, therefore, herein presented to his biographers and 
 eulogists which they cannot disregard : either he discussed the 
 questions of labor, and what their relations to slavery would 
 be in their prospective estate, in this letter to his wife; or else, 
 he considered slavery of so little importance in the premises, 
 and was so indifferent at heart upon the subject, that his first 
 sight of real slaves, in actual slavery, failed to elicit from him 
 any expression whatever in regard to it. It is the opinion of 
 the writer that John Brown, the man of iron will, the reckless 
 speculator, optimist and sportsman, was well pleased with the 
 prospect of owning a plantation of a thousand broad acres in 
 Virginia ; and with having it well stocked with fine horses, fine 
 cattle, fine sheep, and Une slaves. 
 
 This opinion of the man is consistent with his reckless specu- 
 lative career, and with his indifference as to the means for the 
 accomplishment of his ends. And after all, it is by a man's 
 actions, and not by any explanation of his motives, furnished 
 by himself or by others, that we must, in the final analysis, esti- 
 mate his character. 
 
 «o Villard, 48. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 KANSAS — A CRISIS IX OLR XATIOXAL HISTORY 
 
 There are no greater heroes in the history of our eountry 
 than Eli Thayer of Massachusetts, and Charles Robinson of 
 Kansas. — William H. Taft 
 
 In its relation to Govemment. our country has completed two 
 periods of its existence. The Colonial period ended at York- 
 town. The period of State Sovereignty had its ending at Ap- 
 pomattox. Kansas was the herald of App<jmattox ; the cHmax 
 in the series of political incidents which led to secession and the 
 war between the States. 
 
 By the Ordinance of 1787. the last Continental Congress ex- 
 cluded slavery from all that part of the public domain lying 
 north of the Ohio Kivcr. In 1X03 our territorial limits were 
 expanded by the jnirchase of Louisiana, and a serious clash 
 between the Free and the Slave sections of the country came 
 upon the division, in relation to slavery, of this newly acquired 
 domain, it was precipitated uimjii Congress by the application 
 of Mis.souri. in 1818. to be admitted into the L'nion. Its con- 
 stitution provided for slavery. The northern part of the new 
 state extended from tiie Mississippi to the Missouri; the north 
 boundary being 40° 30' north latitude ; and this line, taken in 
 coimection with the Platte River from the Missouri to the 
 Rockv Mountains, suggested what the South intended sliould 
 be the dividing line between the sections in the new territory. 
 After two years of acrimonious debate a compromise measure 
 was adopted admitting Missouri, as prayed for, but excluding 
 slavery forever from all the remaining territory, acquired from 
 France, lying north of 36° 30' north latitude. 
 
56 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 The debate upon the measure developed the existence, in the 
 North, of a growing hostile sentiment toward slavery, which 
 confirmed in the minds of Southern statesmen the necessity of 
 keeping the number of Slave States equal, at least, with the 
 number of Free States ; for only by thus maintaining a balance 
 of power in the Senate, could legislation adverse to slavery be 
 prevented. Also, the limitations of the compromise agreement 
 emphasized a further necessity; the acquisition of additional 
 territory south of 36° 30' from which Slave States could be 
 created in the future, to balance the admission into the Union 
 of prospective Free States. This resulted in a propaganda for 
 territorial expansion southward. In pursuance of such policy, 
 the revolt against Mexico, by Texas, was probably encouraged.®^ 
 In discussing the recognition of the Republic of Texas, in Jan- 
 uary, 1836, Mr. Calhoun said, ''It prepared the way for the 
 speedy admission of Texas into the Union, which would be 
 a necessity to the proper balance of power in the Union between 
 the slave-holding and non-slave-holding Commonwealths, upon 
 which the preservation of the Union and the perpetuation of 
 its institutions rested.®^ 
 
 The State of Vermont "apprehended that the political 
 strength which the annexation of Texas would give to the 
 slave-holding interests, would soon lead to a dissolution of the 
 Union, or to the political degradation of the Free States" ; and, 
 in pursuance of that apprehension the "Legislature of Vermont 
 adopted a set of resolutions protesting against the annexation of 
 Texas or the admission of any Slave State into the Union," 
 which was presented in Congress.*^ Having respect for North- 
 em sentiment. Congress kept Florida waiting six years : until 
 Iowa was ready to come into the Union.** The South consented 
 readily to the settlement of the "Oregon Boundary Question" 
 
 *i Schouler, vol. iv, 251. 
 ^2 Burgess, 302. 
 «3McMaster, vol. vi, 481. 
 ** Burgess, 290. 
 
KANSAS — A CRISIS IN OUR HISTORY 57 
 
 at 49^^ north latitude instead of 54° 40'. In fact, at the time 
 the Democratic National Convention of 1844 declared our title 
 to the whole of Oregon as far as 54° 40' to be "clear and un- 
 questionable," Mr. Calhoun, secretary of state, had proposed 
 to Her Majesty's representative to settle the controversy by 
 adopting the 49th parallel as the boundary.®^ Texas was ad- 
 mitted into the Union ; the articles of annexation providing that 
 it might be subdivided into five states, at any time it chose to 
 make such division. Also, after a war of conquest with Mexico, 
 Upper California and New Mexico were added to the public 
 domain. 
 
 The mutual congratulations indulged in by the Southern 
 managers over the accomplishment of the pro-slavery program 
 for territorial expansion, were interrupted by intelligence of the 
 most startling character. Before the Treaty of Guadalupe 
 Hidalgo had been signed, gold was discovered in the Sierras, 
 and the occupation of California by emigrants, principally from 
 the Northern States, was an immediate result. Thus, the con- 
 quest of Mexico — the prize trophy in the triumphal procession 
 of pro-slavery events — carried with it. by the irony of fate, 
 the Nemesis of her de.spoiled pe<iple. Within two years a Free 
 State had l)een carved out of the Territory which the Soutli 
 had won for slavery. 
 
 The contests which were had over the admission of Missouri 
 into the Union, and the annexation of Texas, were trivial in 
 comparison with the storm that burst ui^on the Thirty-first 
 Congress over the admission of Califoniia. The already 
 strained relations l)etween the North and the South reached the 
 limits of tension; and but for the tabling of tiic "W'ilmot Pro- 
 viso," and the adoption of the "Compromise" measui-es. the 
 cords that bound the I'nion would have snapped then and there. 
 "The first weeks of the session were more than enough to show 
 in its full breadth and depth, even to the duller eyes, the abyss 
 
 •* Tiventy Years of Congress, vol. ii, 50. 
 
58 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 that yawned between the North and the South." ^^ "All the 
 Union men, North and South, Whigs and Democrats, for the 
 period of six months were assembled in caucuses every day, 
 with Clay in the chair, Cass upon his right hand, Webster upon 
 his left hand, and the Whigs and Democrats on either side.®"^ 
 It was during this debate that Mr. Seward announced the doc- 
 trine of the "higher lazv" : 
 
 The Constitution regulates our stewardship; the Constitu- 
 tion devotes the domain (the territories not formed into 
 states) to union, to justice, to defence, to welfare, and to lib- 
 erty. But there is a higher law than the Constituioii, which 
 regulates our authority over the domain and devotes it to the 
 same noble purposes. 
 
 Webster thus began his great speech : 
 
 I wish to speak today, not as a Massachusetts man, nor as 
 a Northern man, but as an American. . . The imprisoned 
 winds are let loose. The East, the North, and the stormy 
 South combine to throw the whole sea into commotion, to toss 
 its billows to the skies, and disclose its profoundest depths. 
 . . . I speak today for the preservation of the Union. 
 "Hear me for my Cause. ^® 
 
 Said Toombs of Georgia : 
 
 I do not then hesitate to avow before this House and the 
 Countr}% and in the presence of the living God, that if by your 
 legislation you seek to drive us from the territories of Califor- 
 nia and New Mexico, purchased by the common blood and 
 treasure of the whole people, and to abolish slavery in this 
 district, thereby attempting to fix a National degradation upon 
 half of the states of this confederacy / am for disunion, and 
 if my physical courage be equal to the maintenance of my con- 
 es Von Hoist, vol. iii. 479. 
 
 8'^ Douglas's Speech at Cincinnati, September 9, 1859. 
 68 w. \V. Corcoran sent Mr. Webster a check for $10,000 as an ex- 
 pression of thanks and recognition for his speech on this occasion. — Von 
 Hoist, vol. iii, 503. 
 
KANSAS — A CRISIS IN OUR HISTORY 59 
 
 victions of duty, I will devote all I am, and all I have on earth 
 
 to its consummation.**^ 
 
 This speech was repeatedly interrupted by storms of ap- 
 plause. And Stephens, too. was greeted with loud acclama- 
 tions when he announced his concurrence in every word of his 
 colleague, and declared the Union dissolved from the moment 
 an attack upon a section became an accomplished fact. 
 
 Colcock of South Carolina then announced that he would 
 bring in a formal motion for the dissolution of the Union, as 
 soon as the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia 
 should have been resolved ujxjn. or the Wilmot Proviso passed.'" 
 The compromise agreement was effected by the tine patriotism. 
 the sagacity, and the personal sacrifice of two great figures of 
 that generation : Clay and Webster. In promoting tliis measure, 
 they e.xhausted their political resources, and forfeited their 
 political fortunes. Xeitlier of them could have lx:en reelected 
 to the senate. 
 
 Nothing was settled by the compromise of 1850; l)<)th sides 
 accepting it in a tentative way. "The present Crisis may pass." 
 wrote Mr. Stejjhens in KS50,'' "the present adjustment may be 
 made, but the great <|uestion of i)emianence of slavery in the 
 Southern states will be far from being settled thereby. .And. 
 in my opinion, the crisis of that question is not tar ahead." 
 
 This review, altogether to<j brief, is made herein to show the 
 extreme tension of the sectional feeling which e.xisted in the 
 country on account of the extension of slavery ; and the national 
 significance of the struggle that was soon to develop over the 
 question in Kansas. It also foreshadows the action the South- 
 ern States would surely take, if the Kansas decision declared 
 against them. 
 
 By the admission of California into the I'nion as a h'ree 
 State, the South lost the "balance of p^)wcr" ; but the general 
 
 f^* Congressional Globe. 31st Cong., 1 Sen., 28. 
 T" Von Hoist, vol. iii. 472. 
 7' Von Hoist, vol. iii. 4H2. 
 
60 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 situation at the time was far from being hopeless. Further 
 territorial expansion was necessary — imperatively so — but 
 the prospect was still full of promising possibilites. There was 
 Cuba, that Buchanan had offered a hundred millions for in 1848 ; 
 out of which two, or, if necessary, three States could be made. 
 And, looming up in the more remote horizon, were Nicaragua 
 and the remainder of Mexico. And, last but not least. "Squatter 
 Sovereignty," or, in more modern parlance : "Let the People 
 Rule." 
 
 The "Pearl of the Antilles" was the prize trophy in the new 
 crusade for territorial acquisition, and "Free Cuba" the slogan. 
 The efforts to get control of the island, for purposes of annexa- 
 tion, were persistent, and the history of them is intensely inter- 
 esting. First came filibustering operations. Three expedi- 
 tions were sent out in 1849-1851. The command of the last 
 of these was offered — first to Jefferson Davis, and then to 
 Robert E. Lee.^- It sailed August 3, 1851, under Lopez. In 
 the first scrimmage with the Spaniards, Colonel Crittenden (son 
 of Senator Crittenden of Kentucky) and fifty of his men were 
 captured, taken to Havana, and shot, August 24th. The re- 
 mainder of the Army of Invasion was defeated ; Lopez was 
 taken and garroted; and his followers who had been taken 
 prisoners, were sent to Spain. 
 
 General Quitman's expedition, organized in 1853-1854, would 
 have been more fomiidable than any theretofore undertaken. 
 He had commanded a brigade in General Scott's amiy, in Mex- 
 ico, and had been Governor of Mississippi. His demonstra- 
 tions, however, may have been merely in support of Mr. Marcy's 
 efforts, at the time, to open negotiations with Spain for pur- 
 chasing the island. Meanwhile the Black Warrior incident 
 offered the most promising opportunity of all. The provoca- 
 tion in that case could have been held to be sufficient to justify 
 a declaration of war ; and that surely would have been the result,. 
 
 72 Rhodes, vol. i, 217. 
 
KANSAS — A CRISIS IX OUR HISTORY 61 
 
 had it not been for the tornado of anti-slavery sentiment %vhich 
 was let loose at the time by the promulgation, in the Kansas- 
 Nebraska bill, then pending in Congress, of the new doctrine 
 of "Squatter Sovereignty"; and by Mr. Dixon's amendment 
 thereto, expressly repealing the restriction of the time honored 
 Missouri Compromise. "It may be affirmed with confidence," 
 says Mr. Rhodes." "that Northern public opinion, excited by 
 the Kansas-Nebraska act. alone prevented this unjust war." 
 The New York Courier and Inquirer said June 1st : 
 
 Does any sane man live who believes that if Cuba was ten- 
 dered to us tomorrow, with the full sanction of Enj^land and 
 France, that this people would consent to receive and annex 
 her? . . . There was a time when the North would have 
 consented to annex Cuba, but the Nebraska wrong has for- 
 ever rendered annexation impossible. 
 
 A revolution in Spain gave an opportunity for negotiations 
 to purchase the island ; but the suggestion that a few millions of 
 money should l>e placed at the dispf:»sal of the Executive, during 
 the recess of Congress, to be used in the Spanish-Cuban busi- 
 ness, met no response : ** while the "Ostend Manifesto" received 
 no consideration whatever. TIr- trouble was that the South 
 had been moving with too nuuh energy and too arrogantly. 
 Her statesmen had undertaken to do everything at once. Had 
 they been less aggressive, or more conciliatory and diplomatic, 
 and concentrated their efforts on the acquisition of Cuba, they 
 surely could have succeeded ; " and would then have l>een in 
 position to await the psychological moment to move the Kansas 
 question. The Missouri Compromise was a "solemn covenant 
 entered into by two opposing parties for the preservation of 
 amicable relations." It was not sustained by any constitutional 
 authority. Kansas Territory, therefore, might have been 
 peacefully occupied by emigrants from Missouri and the South- 
 
 •3 Rhodes, vol. ii, 33. 
 T* Rhodes, vol. ii, 37. 
 '» Von Hoist, vol. iv, 61. 
 
62 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 ern States, as Missouri had been, leaving, with confidence, the 
 constitutionaHty of the restrictions against slavery, for future 
 settlement by the courts. 
 
 The creation of the State of Kansas was a political proposi- 
 tion pure and simple. The amendment to the Nebraska bill 
 creating Kansas Territory provided for a ''complete Territorial 
 government; including a legislature with two houses and thirty- 
 nine members ; although, at the time, there was not one white 
 man in the Territory, except those intermarried with Indians 
 and the few who were there under authority of Federal 
 law. . . The project fell upon Congress as suddenly and 
 apparently as uncaused as a meteor from the political sky." ^"^ 
 
 The settlement of the Territory was promoted by the leaders 
 of the pro-slavery and anti-slavery sections of the country. The 
 South was spurred to activity by the extremity of its political 
 and commercial necessities; while the North was impelled by 
 a great moral sentiment, that had developed with time and 
 changes which had occurred in public thought and in economic 
 conditions. But the fact should not be lost sight of, that the 
 ethical emotions which nourished this sentiment had their origin, 
 or beginnings, in the unprofitable and unsatisfactory character 
 of slave labor in that section. The Southern statesmen staked 
 the entire stock of their political assets on the result in Kansas. 
 The North already had a majority of one State, with the Ter- 
 ritories, Minnesota and Oregon, waiting at the threshold of 
 the Union for admission into the family of States. If the South 
 lost Kansas, its political power and prestige would be destroyed ; 
 slavery would thereafter be dependent, in the Union, upon the 
 mercy or charity of the aggressively hostile anti-slavery senti- 
 ment which it had too arrogantly aroused. 
 
 The plans of the Southerners for the creation of the new State, 
 were well matured, and seemed in every way feasible. The 
 geographical situation was ideal. The close proximity of tne 
 
 76 Von Hoist, vol. iv. 322. 
 
KANSAS — A CRISIS IX OUR HISTORY 63 
 
 friendly State of Missouri, with a large percentage of its pop- 
 ulation on its western border, backed by the mutuality of every 
 Southern State, seemed to be sufficient guaranty that tlie neces- 
 sary voting population could, and would, be promptly furnished. 
 They had good cause to believe that they could get their people 
 into the Territory in sufficient numbers to control the necessary 
 elections. 
 
 In the Senate Mr. Seward said. May 25, 1854: 
 
 The sun has set for the last time upon the guaranteed and 
 certain liberties of all the unsettled portions of the American 
 continent that lie within the jurisdiction of the United States. 
 Tomorrow's sun will rise in deep eclipse over these. How 
 long that obscuration shall last, is known only to the power 
 that directs all human events. For myself I know this: 
 that no human jiower can prevent its coming on, and that its 
 passage off will be hastened and secured by otlur-^ than 
 those now belonging to this generation. ^^ 
 
 Authorities by the score might be cited to show the gloom 
 and despondency of the North at this time. The people had 
 reason to believe that Kansas and Nebraska would l)ecome Slave 
 States, and that the prej)onderance »»f Southern influence in gov- 
 ernmental affairs would be perj)etuatcd indefinitely. 
 
 May 30, 1854, the Kansas-Nebraska Bill was signed ;md the 
 doctrine of Scpiatter Sovereignty thereby crystallized into law. 
 Immediately the historic contest for the occupation and political 
 control of Kansas Territ»^ry was on : a contest that marks an 
 epoch in the history of our country. The great events of the 
 succeeding decade: the acts of secession, the war between tlie 
 States, with its tragedies; and the Kmancipation Proclamation, 
 were all involved in the result. 
 
 It cannot be said that the contest was of local concern, carried 
 
 ^T The passing off of this obscuration was "hastened and secured" by 
 the initiative of Eli Thayer and Charles Robinson. Under the able leader- 
 ship of the latter, the political control of Kansas Territory passed into 
 the hands of the Free-State men at the elections in October, 1857. 
 
64 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 on between factions in Kansas over the question whether the 
 State should be a Free State or a Slave State ; for at that time 
 there were no settlers in the Territory to comprise such factions. 
 The interest in the impending struggle was nation wide. Con- 
 gress had merely cleared the ground for action ; "pitched the 
 ring," for what was to be the first political battle in the ''fight 
 to a finish" between the slave-holding and the non-slave-hold- 
 ing sections of our country : the beginning of the final struggle 
 between freedom and slavery. 
 
 The question of slavery in the Territory was to be decided by 
 the votes of the people who would emigrate to and occupy it. 
 The South had chosen to place its reliance upon votes in a con- 
 test where oratory, tact, and statesmanship had theretofore 
 failed. Its slogan was "Squatter Sovereignty." The answer 
 given back by the North was "Organized Emigration:" "a 
 power unknown before in the world's history." 
 
 The rapid settlement of California had shown that any coun- 
 try will draw emigration thereto, if it offers an attractive lure. 
 Mr. Eli Thayer, of Massachusetts, had made a note of that fact 
 and believed that what the discovery of gold had done to pro- 
 mote emigration to that state, the advantages of soil and climate 
 for successful home building, would do for Kansas, if properly 
 advertised. The formation of the Massachusetts Emigrant 
 Aid Company, with an authorized capital of $5,000,000, was a 
 result of his conclusions upon the subject. It proved to be "a 
 stronger defiance to slavocracy than anything ever uttered in 
 the hall of Congress." This commercial novelty put its cap- 
 ital in the advance instead of in the rear of the column of occu- 
 pation. It assisted emigrants to reach their destination, and 
 helped them to develop their farnis. For this purpose it in- 
 stalled saw mills and flour mills, where needed ; furnished ma- 
 chinery and implements; built churches, school houses, and 
 hotels. Also, it proposed to earn dividends for its stockholders 
 by these and other investments. As Mr. Thayer expressed it : 
 
KANSAS — A CRISIS IN OUR HISTORY 65 
 
 "When a man can do a magnanimous act: when he can do a 
 decidedly good thing, and at the same time make money by it, 
 all his faculties are in harmony." 
 
 An incident of the period of the occupation of Kansas is thus 
 related by Mr. Thayer on page 187 of the Crusade : "One day, 
 in 1855, Senator Atchison, with some others, was at the wharf 
 in Kansas City, when a river boat approached with one of our 
 engines on deck. Atchison turned to those on the right and 
 asked: 'What is that on the deck of the steamboat?' His 
 companion answered : 'Senator, that is a steam engine and a 
 steam boiler.' Turning to the others he repeated his question. 
 They repeated the answer before given. He replied: 'You 
 
 are a pack of fools. That is a Yankee city going to 
 
 Kansas; and by ! in six months it will cast a hundred 
 
 Abolition votes.' " 
 
 The affairs of the company in Kansas were placed under the 
 direction of Dr. Charles Robinson, also of Massachu.setts. He 
 came to the Territory eariy in July, 1854; located the town of 
 Lawrence, and established there the head(iuarters of the bureau 
 of northern immigration. 
 
 Naturally the first immigrants to arrive came from Missouri. 
 In sentiment they were quite unanimously pro-slavery; but that 
 was not discouraging, for the publicity bureau, organized by 
 Mr. Thayer and ably backed by Mr. Greeley through the col- 
 umns of the New York Tribune, had proclaimed the advantages 
 and possibilities of the new Territory far and wide; and the 
 public interest thus awakened gave ample promise of satisfac- 
 tory results in the near future. July 31st, tiie first consignment 
 of emigrants from the Xorth, twenty-nine in number, arrived 
 at Lawrence; antl September id the second installment of one 
 hundred and fourteen arrived and joined the initial company. 
 Within a few months "Organized Emigration" was in success- 
 ful operation ; and by the close of the year 1856, it had fulfilled 
 the Kansas prophecy. As Mr. Thayer states it: '" 
 ^' Thayer. Kansas Crusade, 232. \ 
 
66 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 We had triumphed in the great conflict. We had in 
 Kansas four Free-State men to every one of our opponents ; 
 our numbers were rapidly increasing while theirs were di- 
 minishing. Buford had returned to Alabama. Atchinson 
 and Stringfellow had given up the fight. 
 
 'Concerning the Kansas conflict Dr. Burgess says : 
 
 The record of this struggle is certanily one of the most 
 remarkable chapters in the history of the United States. 
 There is much to admire in it, much to be ashamed of, and 
 much to be repudiated as foul and devilish. The prudence, 
 moderation, tact, and bravery of Dr. Robinson and his 
 friends have rarely been excelled by the statesmen and dip- 
 lomatists of the New World or of the Old. They were 
 placed in a most trying situation both by their foes and by 
 those who, professing to be their friends, endangered the 
 cause more by violent and brutal deeds than did their open 
 enemies. Their triumph over all these difficulties is a marvel 
 of shrewd, honest, and conservative management, which may 
 well serve as one of the best object-lessons of our history for 
 succeeding generations.'^^ 
 
 It is not within the purview of this sketch to recite in detail 
 the various incidents, accidents, and extremities which befell the 
 Northern emigrants in working out the problems of state build- 
 ing. They began to acquire experience promptly with the ar- 
 rival of the first colony ; and the authorities all agree, that, dur- 
 ing the ensuing three years an area of low political barometer 
 was general throughout the Territory, with a continuous storm 
 center, of great energy, at Lawrence. "By the sharp logic of 
 the revolver and bowie knife, the people of Missouri became 
 the people of Kansas." Residents of Missouri furnished liberal 
 pro-slavery majorities at the elections, and their personal ser- 
 vices were available at all times, for the preservation of peace 
 and order in the Territory; as well as to enforce, by force, a 
 
 79 Burgess, Middle Period, 471-472. 
 
KANSAS — A CRISIS IX OUR HISTORY 67 
 
 proper respect for the dignity of the Territorial officers, and 
 for the authority of the Legislature itself. 
 
 A revolt against these superimposed attentions, organized 
 and led by Charles Robinson, became the thorn that rankled 
 in the pro-slavery flesh, and led to the discomfiture and defeat of 
 the Slave-State propaganda. Robinson had the temerity to 
 challenge the subtile logic of the revolver and bowie-knife in 
 determining the qualifications of Territorial electors. His 
 dissent, at first, took the mild form of a petition to Governor 
 Reeder. after the election of November 29. 1854, asking that 
 "the entire vote of the districts receiving the votes of citizens of 
 Missouri, be set aside; or that the entire election be set aside." 
 After a brutal usurpation of the polls, at the election for mem- 
 bers of the Territorial Legislature. March 30, 1853, a Legisla- 
 ture which, under the organic act could determine whether the 
 State should be Free or Slave, Robinson again protested and 
 sought redress of the spoilation of the Sf|uatters' rights; and. 
 failing to obtain justice, united the Free-State men in a rtivoh 
 against the authority of the Territorial Legisl.iture. and in a 
 determination to repudiate the laws it intendeil lawlessly to 
 enact. Also, what had still greater significance, he organized 
 his followers into military companies to resist, by force of anus, 
 any further infringement ui)on their rights. Answering his 
 call to duty, the Free-State men of Lawrence and vicinity led 
 the nation in this crisis in public affairs, making its history, and 
 directing its destiny. It was the hour of Destiny. Sending 
 for a second consigmnent of Sharp's rifles, Robinson wrote 
 these impressive and heroic words: 
 
 W'c are in the midst of a revolution, as you will see by tiie 
 
 papers. How we shall come out of the furnace, God only 
 
 knows. That we have got to enter it, some of us, there is 
 
 no doubt ; hut we are ready to be offered. 
 
 In haste very respectfully. Yours, for freedom for a world. 
 
 C. Robinson. 
 
 5 
 
68 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 The organization of a military force by the Free-State men, 
 gave to the Free-State party a soHdarity and prestige it had not 
 theretofore enjoyed. It at once became a popular party; and 
 encouraged by daily accessions to its ranks by immigration, 
 combined with a prospective certainty of becoming the majority 
 party, it became bravely aggressive, and boldly launched its 
 campaign for Free-State supremacy. In furtherance of their 
 plan of campaign, the Free-State men adopted a constitution 
 for a Free State, and organized and put into effect a full fledged 
 State Government in opposition to the existing Territorial Gov- 
 ernment ; and under it, with Charles Robinson as Governor, 
 sought admission into the Union. Only a wise and courageous 
 leadership combined with a high order of executive ability, 
 could successfully handle the delicate problems involved in this 
 complicated program. The leadership required the necessary 
 tact to unite and reconcile divergent convictions and opinions, 
 within the party, upon questions of principle as well as of policy ; 
 it also required prudence to restrain the impetuous, and to avoid 
 complications which, at any time, might make shipwreck of the 
 cause. 
 
 The results accomplished by the Free-State settlers during 
 the first two years of their occupation of the Territory, amply 
 justified the generous congratulations in which they indulged. 
 They had, wisely, withdrawn from under the fire of an arro- 
 gant, domineering majority, and, in their segregation, were 
 surely creating a State to their own liking, in their own way. 
 They matched their wits against the management of their poli- 
 tical opponents, and were more than satisfied with the dilemma 
 in which the situation placed them. It became plainly evident 
 that unless the Free-State organizations, civil and military, were 
 utterly destroyed and further immigration from the North 
 retarded, the Free-State cause would certainly succeed. The 
 situation, therefore, demanded the adoption of more strenuous 
 methods in dealing with it than could be approved by the Na- 
 tional Administration. 
 
KANSAS — A CRISIS IX OUR HISTORY 69 
 
 What they had failed to accomplish by "peaceful" methods, 
 the pro-slavery junta now sought to gain by the execution of 
 more radical measures. They accordingly organized an "Amiy 
 of Invasion," and the Wakarusa War of 1855 became an his- 
 torical incident. They indicted the Free-State Governor. Rob- 
 inson, and the more prominent Free-State men. for "construc- 
 tive" treason ; arrested them, and put them in prison. In May. 
 1856, under cover of judicial authority, the town of Lawrence 
 was l<x)ted and burned. The Free-State Legislature that had 
 been elected, assembled at Topeka. only to be dispersed. July 
 4th, by the armed forces of the United States. A blockade of 
 the Missouri River was declared against Free-State immigrants, 
 and made effective. They also attempted, without success, to 
 cut off communications between Kansas and the Xortheni 
 v^tates. which the Free-State men had o|)ened uj). via bnva and 
 Nebraska. They murdered Dow. and Barber, and Brown, and 
 Stewart, and Ji^nes. and Hoyt. 
 
 A third, and the final invasion, closed this chapter of heroic 
 undertakings .-md lamentable failures. September 14, 1856, 
 their army, J800 strong, occupied I'Vanklin. During the 
 night. Lieutenant Colonel Joseph E. Johnston, U. S. .\nny, 
 with a battalion of cavalry and a section of artillery, 
 arrived at Lawrence. Placing his battery in positi<^n on Mount 
 Oread, the muz/Ies of his guns p<iinting toward b^ranklin. and 
 deploying his cavalry in the valley in front of the town, he 
 awaited the crisis developing in the pn>sla\ery situation. On 
 the morning of the 15th, the newly appointed Territorial Gov- 
 ernor, John W. Geary, accompanied by Lieutenant Colonel 
 Philip St. George Cooke, U. S. Army, arrived upon the scene 
 from Lecompton. After a short ci^nversation with Govemoi 
 Robinson, they rode (JUt to inter\'iew the iinaders. It was 
 the hour of fate. A brief conference with General Atchison 
 was held in front of Atchison's lines: and then, it was all over; 
 the Federal Government had intervened. The campaign of 
 violence had failed, and with it expired the last substantial hope 
 
70 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 of the pro-slavery managers that the balance of power between 
 the warring sections of the country could be restored. Upon 
 receiving Governor Geary's ultimatum : that he must retire 
 with his forces from the Territory, immediately, Atchison 
 turned the head of his column toward M^issouri. Arriving at 
 Westport, he disbanded his army and gave up the struggle. 
 Buford returned to Alabama and Jackson to Georgia. That 
 Kansas would be a Free State was practically assured from 
 that hour. 
 
 Involved in the corollary of the Free-State victory were the 
 startling incidents in history that followed in quick succession, 
 culminating in the stupendous tragedies of war. Mr. F. B. 
 Sanborn said : *** 
 
 Had Kansas in the death struggle of 1856 fallen a prey 
 to the slave holders, slave-holding would today 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. 
 
 The question of slavery domination must and will be 
 fought out on the plains of Kansas.*^ 
 
 Kansas must be a Slave State or the Union will be dis- 
 solved. . . If Kansas is not made a Slave State, it re- 
 quires no sage to foretell that there will never be another 
 Slave State.^^ 
 
 Slavery in South Carolina is dependent upon its establish- 
 ment in Kansas.®^ 
 
 The Touch-stone of our political existence is Kansas.^* 
 
 Georgia, Mississippi, and Alabama stand pledged to secede 
 from the Union, should Kansas applying for admission as a 
 slave state be refused admission.*^ 
 
 so Sanborn, 248. 
 
 *^ New York Weekly Tribune, February 22, 1856. 
 
 S2 De Bow's Review, August, 1856. 
 
 *3 South Carolina Courier, July 5, 1856. 
 
 8* Charleston (S. C.) Mercury, August 5, 1856 
 
 85 Ibid., January, 1858. 
 
KANSAS — A CRISIS IX OUR HISTORY 71 
 
 The question is one of life or death to the South upon the 
 simple alternative of the admission or rejection of Kansas 
 with her slave constitution.*® 
 
 That American is little to be envied who can speak lightly 
 of the decisive contest in Kansas between the two antagonis- 
 tic civilizations of this continent. Either he does not love 
 his country, or he is incapable of understanding her history.*^ 
 
 »« New York Herald, January. 1858. 
 '^ Kansas Crusade, 1 10. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 HIS PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 Peace rules the day, where reason rules the mind. 
 
 — Collins 
 
 It was in the fall of 1855 that John Brown came to Kansas 
 to try another venture with fortune, in a new field of oppor- 
 tunity. 
 
 During the spring of 1854 his son John was seeking a new 
 location, and had written to his father in relation thereto; who 
 replied to him in a letter dated April 3, 1854, "I do not know 
 of a good opening for you this way." ** But during the fall of 
 that )^ear five of Brown's sons — John, Jason, Owen, Frederick, 
 and Salmon — decided to settle in Kansas. Having completed 
 their arrangements they moved to the Territory in the spring 
 of 1855, arriving, about May 1st, in the vicinity of Osawatomie. 
 They were attracted to the Territory, as thousands of others 
 were, by the glowing accounts published by emigration societies 
 north and south. These prospectuses described the beauty of 
 the prairies, the fertility of the soil, the delightful and health- 
 giving climate; and set forth the prospective rewards in wealth, 
 health, and happiness which were awaiting all who took ad- 
 vantage of the great opportunities the country offered. That 
 they were not disappointed upon their arrival, appears from 
 their letters expressing eminent satisfaction with everything 
 pertaining to the settlement, and their desire to have their father 
 locate in Kansas with them. 
 
 May 24th John Brown, Jr., wrote to his father : "Salmon, 
 Frederick, and Owen say that they never was in a country that 
 
 **^ Sanborn, 157. 
 
HIS PUBLIC SERVICES 73 
 
 begun to please them as well, and I will say that the present 
 prospect for health, wealth, and usefulness much exceeds even 
 my most sanguine anticipations. I know of no country where 
 a poor man, endowed with a share of common sense and with 
 health, can get a start as easy. If we can succeed in making 
 this a free state, a great work will be accomplished for man- 
 kind." "■' 
 
 Long before the coming of the Browns, the Free State leaders 
 in the Territory had detemiined to repudiate the laws enacted 
 by the Territorial Legislature: also, to defend themselves by 
 force of amis against the aggressions of their over-zealous 
 pro-slaven,' neighbors in Missouri. They had during April. 
 1855, secured from Boston a hundred Sharp's rifles to arm the 
 companies organized at Lawrence, and were negotiating for 
 further consignments of arms. After their arrival in the Ter- 
 ritory, the Browns realized the importance of this movement, 
 and since they had not brought any serviceable arms with them 
 — having come with axes in.stead of rifles — they wrote to their 
 father to trv to get some for them, and bring them with him 
 when he came. The letter which John Brown. Jr., wrote to his 
 father on the subject is as follows: "" 
 
 And now I conic to the matter, that more than all else I 
 intended should \)c the i)rincii)al subject of this letter. I tell 
 you the truth when I say, that while the interests of despotism 
 has secured to its cause hundreds and thousands of the mean- 
 est and most desperate of men. armed to the teeth with Re- 
 volvers. Howie Knives. Rifles and Cannon — while they are 
 not only thoroughly organized, but imder pay from Slave- 
 holders — the friends of freedom are NOT ONE FOURTl I 
 of them H.\LF .\RMFD. and as to MILITARY ORGAN- 
 IZ.ATION among diem it X( ) WllKRE EXISTS IN THIS 
 TERRITORY unless tliey have recently done something in 
 
 »» Villard. 83. 
 »'>VilI:ir.! K^-S4 
 
74 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 Lawrence. The result of this is that the people here exhibit 
 the most abject and cowardly spirit, whenever their dearest 
 rights are invaded and trampled down by the lawless bands 
 of Miscreants which Missouri has ready at a moment's 
 call to pour in upon them. This is the GENERAL effect 
 upon the people here so far as I have noticed, there are a few, 
 and but a few exceptions. Of course these foreign Scoun- 
 drels know what kind of 'ALLIES" they have to meet. They 
 boast that they can obtain possession of the polls in any of our 
 election precincts without having to fire a gun. I enclose 
 a piece which I cut from a St. Louis paper named the St. 
 Louis Republican ; it shows the spirit which moves them. 
 Now Missouri is not alone in the undertaking to make this a 
 Slave State. Every Slaveholding State from Virginia to 
 Texas is furnishing men and money to fasten Slavery upon 
 this glorious land, by means no matter how foul. 
 
 Now the remedy we propose is, that the Anti slavery por- 
 tion of the inhabitants should IMMEDIATELY, THOR- 
 OUGHLY ARM and ORGANIZE THEMSELVES in 
 MILITARY COMPANIES. In order to effect this, some 
 persons must begin and lead in the matter. Here are 5 
 men of us who are not only anxious to fully prepare, but are 
 thoroughly determined to fight. We can see no other way 
 to meet the case. As in the language of the memorial lately 
 signed by the people here and sent to Congress petitioning 
 help, "it is no longer a question of negro slavery, but it is the 
 enslavement of ourselves." 
 
 The General Government may be petitioned until the peo- 
 ple here are grey, and no redress will be had so long as it 
 makes slavery its paramount interest. . . We have among 
 us 5, 1 Revolver, 1 Bowie Knife, 1 middling good Rifle, 1 
 poor Rifle, 1 small pocket pistol and 2 slung shot. What we 
 need in order to be thoroughly armed for each man, is 1 
 Colts large sized Revolver, 1 ALLEN & THURBER' 
 RIFLE — they are manufactured somewhere in Mass or 
 Connecticut (Mr. Paine of Springfield would probably know) 
 and 1 heavy Bowie Knife — I think the Minnie Rifles are 
 
HIS PUBLIC SEI^VICES 77 
 
 made so that a sword bayonet may be attached, u'lth this 
 we could compete with men who even possessed Cannon. 
 The real Minnie Rifle has a kilHng range almost equal to 
 Cannon and of course is more easHy handled, perhaps enough 
 so to make up the difference. Now we want you to get for 
 us these arms. We need them more than we do bread. 
 Would not Gerrit Smith or someone, furnish the money and 
 loan it to us for one, t^vo or three years, for the purpose until 
 we can raise enough to refund it from the Free soil of Kan- 
 sas? . . . 
 
 In so far as the Brown family is concemed. this letter con- 
 tains the first recorded evidence of an intention, or of a desire 
 of any of them to actively oppose slavery in Kansas or else- 
 where. It treats the subject as an original proposition; as 
 though it had never been theretofore so much as mentioned in 
 their family councils. The letter has historical significance: it 
 secured John Brown's introduction to the public. It opened 
 the way that enabled him to go to Kansas; where he l^egan a 
 career which led, ultiniatcly. to Harper's Ferry and to Charles- 
 town. 
 
 F'ollowing the suggestion of his son he took up witii Gerrit 
 Smith the matter of securing a loan wherewith to purchase the 
 anns desired. The latter, instead of making an arrangement 
 with them for the necessary amount. fK^rsonaliy presented the 
 case before a convention of .\lv)liti«)nists that was held at Syra- 
 cuse. New N'ork. June 2Sth, with the result that a collection 
 was taken up which yielded Brown si.xty dollars in cash, twenty 
 dollars of which was given by Smith. 
 
 The succe.ss Brown met with in collecting funds "for the 
 cause of Kansas" at the Syracuse convention, opened Ijefore his 
 cnmmcrcial vision that easy field for profitable enterprise, which 
 he afterward occupied and worked, in a professional maimer, 
 until the end of his career. After the Syracuse meeting he 
 began a system of personal solicitations for money, amis, and 
 clothing. At .\kron. Ohio, he held open meetings in one of 
 
76 JOHN BR'^OWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 the ptfO.,j .Alls of the village. Mr. Villard says of these meet- 
 ings : "^ 
 
 Because of their interest in the Kansas crisis, and in the 
 Browns, their former neighbors, the people were quickly 
 roused by Brown's graphic words, and liberally contributed 
 arms of all sorts, ammunition and clothing. Committees 
 of Aid were appointed and ex-Sherifif Lane was deputed to 
 accompany Brown in a canvass of the village shops and 
 offices for contributions. 
 
 At Cleveland, also, he solicited aid with very satisfactory re- 
 sults. He obtained there guns, revolvers, swords, powder, 
 caps, and money. He was so successful "that he thought it best 
 to detain a day or two longer on that account." Mr. Villard 
 says, "He had raised nearly two hundred dollars in that way 
 in the two previous days, principally in amis and ammunition." 
 Brown, with his son Oliver and his son-in-law, Henry 
 Thompson, left Chicago August 23d, on their journey to Kan- 
 sas. Brown states that before leaving he purchased "a nice 
 young horse for $120 but have so much load that we shall have 
 to walk, a good deal." The journey was accomplished without 
 either accident or incident worthy of the note, the party arriv- 
 ing at Osawatomie. October 6, 1855. 
 
 Brown himself, being very tired, did not cover the last 
 mile or two until the next day. They arrived in all but 
 destitute condition, with but sixty cents between them, to 
 find the little family settlement in great distress, not only be- 
 cause of the sickness already noted, but because of the ab- 
 sence of any shelter save tents. ^- 
 
 At the time Brown arrived, the Free-State cause in the Terri- 
 tory was well advanced and was progressing satisfactorily. 
 Out of all the meetings and conventions of the nine months 
 after the stolen March 30th election, there had come then, 
 great gains to the Free State Movement. The liberty party 
 
 91 Villard. 85. 
 
 92 Villard, 88. 
 
HIS PUBLIC SERVICES 17 
 
 had been organized, leaders had been developed, and a regu- 
 lar policy of resistance by legal and constitutional measures • 
 adopted. If counsels of compromise were still entirely too 
 apparent, and too potent, the train of events which resulted in 
 Kansas's admission as a free State was well under way.''^ 
 As a result of the measures that had been adopted, an election 
 was pending for the selection of a PVee-State Territorial Dele- 
 gate to Congress : and delegates to a Free-State Constitutional 
 Convention. This election had been called by the Free-State 
 men to be held Octol)er 9th. The regular Territorial election 
 had been held Octol)er 1st. the Free-State men not taking any 
 part therein. Brown and his sons attended the second, nr I^ee- 
 State election. Octol)er 9th. 
 
 An election is a political incident. .\ reference to an election 
 by anv one invites an expression of his opinions upon the (|ues- 
 tions involved in the election, if he have any special interest 
 therein. .Since Brown's presence at this election was his intro- 
 duction into the fK)litical affairs of the Territory, we may rea- 
 sonably conclude that his comments on it cover the range of his 
 general interest in the election and in the issues involved therein. 
 His letters to his family in the East announcing his arrival at his 
 (jcstination, and describing the condition of affairs, domestic 
 as well as jK)litical. are herewith republishe<l. 
 
 Osawatomie. K. T. » )ct. 1.^. 1855. 
 Saturday Eve. 
 Di.AK \\ ni; a.ndCiiii.kkkn, Evkry O.nk — We reached the 
 place where the lx>ys are Unrated one week ago, late at night : 
 at least Henry and ( )liver (li<l. I. Wxw^ tired, stayed behin«l 
 in our tent, a mile or two back, .\s 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 
 V\\-aIthy and Johnny. All at Brownsville appear now to be 
 mending, but all sick or feeble here at Mr. .\dairs. Fever 
 and ague and chill-fever seem to be very general. ( Miver 
 
 »»Villard. 108. 
 
78 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 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 difficuhy in passing through Missouri, but 
 from the sickness of our horse and our heavy load. The 
 horse has entirely recovered. We had, between us ail, 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, shiv- 
 ering 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 confidence 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 prairie fire from 
 destroying everything; so that I am almost blind today, 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 win- 
 ter, and I fondly hope you have been relieved on that score 
 before now, by funds from Mr. Hurlbut, 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 feeble) ; but no enemy appeared, nor have I heard of any 
 
HIS PUBLIC SERVICES 79 
 
 disturbance in any part of the Territory. Indeed, I believe 
 Missouri is fast becoming 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 forsake 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, 
 where will be no more bitter separations, "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 Gcxl in infinite mercy bless, comfort, and 
 save you all, for Christ's sake ! 
 
 Your .\ffcctionate husband and father. 
 
 John Brown. 
 
 In simple language and at considerable length. Brown thus 
 announced his arrival at his destination, and descril)C(l the con- 
 ditions prevailing in Kansas and in the Brown colony. A half 
 dozen lines in this letter sufficed to relate the incident of the 
 important election of Octol)er 9th, and to give his opinions of the 
 vital questions involved in the politcal situation as it then ap- 
 peared to him. These lines are void of any hostile word or 
 phrase; also they are void of any sentiment that can be made to 
 suggest that P.rown was different from the ordinary immigrant 
 that came from the North to found a home and help to make a 
 Free State. No settler from the North ever wnjte a letter less 
 war-like or more peaceful and domestic in its character than 
 this letter written by John r)rown. The clause, "I think the 
 prosjK'Ct of its becoming free is brightening every day." is a 
 truer iiule.x to the state of I'rown's mind, and is better evidence 
 of the peaceful character of his quest in Kansas, tluiii the com- 
 bined reckless assertions of his biographers to the contrary. 
 
 In violence of contemporary evidence, all of his biographers 
 
80 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 and some of the historians have sought to educate the public to 
 beheve that Brown came to Kansas on a hostile mission. The 
 public has been led to accept the fictitious John Brown, the 
 picturesque character of history, instead of the real man under 
 consideration. To this character constructing propaganda Mr. 
 Redpath was an ardent contributer. One of his many effective 
 flights has reference to the letter, heretofore published, which 
 his son John wrote May 24th. He said concerning it: 
 
 He undoubtedly regarded it as a call from the Almighty to 
 gird up his loins and go forth to do battle "as the warrior of 
 the Lord" as "the warrior of the Lord against the Mighty" 
 in behalf of His despised poor and His downtrodden people. 
 The moment long waited for had at length arrived ; the sign 
 he had patiently expected had been given ; and the brave old 
 soldier of the God of Batdes prepared at once, to obey the 
 summons . . . John Brown did )iot go to Kansas to 
 settle there. He did not dare to remain tending sheep at 
 North Elba when the American Goliath and his hosts were 
 in the field, defying the little armies of the living Lord.''* 
 While Mr. Redpath did very well, his panegyric is not com- 
 parable with some of the latest and more scholarly studies of 
 Brown. Here is one of Mr. Villard's efforts : 
 
 Thenceforth John Brown could give free rein to his wan- 
 derlust; the shackles of business life dropped from him. He 
 was now bowed and rapidly turning gray ; to everyone's lips 
 the adjective "old" leaped as they saw him. But this was 
 not the age of senility, nor of weariness with life ; nor were 
 the lines of care due solely to family and business anxieties 
 or to the hard \2L\>or of the fields. They were rather the 
 marks of the fires consuming within ; of the indomitable pur- 
 pose that was the main spring of every action ; of a life de- 
 voted, a spirit inspired. Emancipation from the counter and 
 the harrow came joyfully to him at the time of life when 
 most men begin to long for rest and the repose of a quiet, 
 9* Redpath, 81-82. 
 
HIS PUBLIC SERVICES 81 
 
 well ordered home. Thenceforth he was free to move where 
 he pleased, to devote every thought to his battle with the 
 slave-power he staggered, which then, knew nothing of his 
 existence. 
 
 The metamorphosis was now complete. The staid, sombre 
 merchant and patriarchal family-head was ready to become 
 Captain John Brown of Osawatomie. at the mere mention of 
 whose name Border Ruffians and swashbuckling adherents 
 to the institution of slavery trembled and often fled. Kansas 
 gave John Brown the opportunity to test himself as a guer- 
 rilla leader for which he had longed : for no other purpose 
 did he proceed to the Territory : to become a settler there as 
 he had IioikhI to in \'irginia in 1840 was furthest from his 
 thoughts."'' 
 
 At the time the chrysalis of the Osawatomie guerilla is said 
 to have emancipated himself lx)dily from the harrow and was 
 burning to take up amis against the "swashbucklers." he wrote 
 a letter to his son Salmon concerning his intentions to jnjn the 
 colony and asked him some (juestions relating to their condi- 
 tion, and tf) their re(|uirenients. Strange as it may .seem this 
 letter contained nothing that called for a war-like, or even a 
 moderately ferocious reply from Salmon. His answer to it is 
 -carcelv dramatic; in fact it seems to relate more to the iiarrow, 
 and to such disintcrcsting sublunary toi)ics as the condition of 
 his simple but more or less dilapidated wardrobe, than it does to 
 "indomitable pur])oses" or to armies of a Lord who Mr. Red- 
 [)ath represents as being still alive. He wnHe. June 22d : **" 
 In answer to your questions about what you will need for 
 your company, I would say that I have an acre of corti that 
 looks very well, and some beans and s(|uashes and turnips. 
 Vou will want to get some pork and meal, and beans ctiough 
 to last till the crop comes in. and then 1 think wc will have 
 enough grain to last through the winter. 1 will have a house 
 up by the time you get here. My boots are very near worn 
 
 »•'- Vniard. n. 
 »« Sanborn. 198. 
 
82 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 out, and I shall need some summer pants and a hat. I bought 
 an ax and that you will not have to get. 
 
 In a series of thirty-eight letters, published in Mr. Sanborn's 
 Life and Letters of John Brozvn. commencing with the date, 
 January 18, 1841 ; and ending with the letter herein, of October 
 14, 1855, there is not an expression relating to slavery that has 
 not been heretofore quoted or referred to in this work. That 
 Mr. Sanborn was a partisan writer, and that he sifted Brown's 
 correspondence in a search for letters which could be quoted in 
 support of the assumptions of these and other panegyrists, con- 
 cerning his alleged hostility to slavery, will not be denied. 
 Their assumptions are therefore, wholly fanciful; there is not 
 a sentence contained in any of these letters, that can be quoted 
 in justification of them. The attributes put forth in these eulo- 
 gies are not only gratuitous, but they are illogical and incon- 
 sistent with Brown's circumstances, and incompatible with his 
 environment. Mrs. Anne Brown Adams in a few plain words 
 told why John Brown went to Kansas. She said : 
 
 Father said his object in going to Kansas was to see if 
 something would not turn up to his advantage.^^ 
 
 The often repeated statement that Brown came to Kansas 
 "to fight," and not "to settle" after the manner of other im- 
 migrants, is further discredited in this history. 
 
 Before the Mason Committee, in January, 1860, Mr. Wm. F. 
 Arny, who knew Brow^n to have been a non-resistant, testified 
 that he had conversed with him in Kansas, in 1858 ; and that he, 
 on that occasion, asked him "how he reconciled his opinions 
 then, with the peace principles which he held when he knew 
 him in Virginia twenty years before. To this Brown replied, 
 that the 'aggressions of slavery, the murders and robbery per- 
 petrated upon himself and members of his family, the lawless- 
 ness by Atchison and others in 1855 and from that time down 
 
 8^ Sanborn's Recollections of Seveniy Years, 152. 
 
HIS PUBLIC SERVICES 83 
 
 to the Maris-des-Cygnes, convinced him that peace was but an 
 empty word.' " ®* 
 
 Before the same committee Mr. Augustus Wattles testified : ®'' 
 
 Captain Brown told me that he had no idea of fighting until 
 he heard the Missourians, during the winter he was there, 
 make arrangements to come over into the Territory to vote. 
 He said to me that he had not come to Kansas to settle him- 
 self, having left his family at North Elba, but that he had 
 come to assist his sons in their settlement and to defend them, 
 if necessary, in a peaceable exercise of their political rights. 
 Writing to his wife February 1. 1856. Brown said: 
 
 The idea of again visiting those of my dear family at North 
 Elba is so calculated to unman me, that 1 seldom allow my 
 thoughts to dwell upon it. 
 
 This language bears the interpretation that he had JDcated 
 with the other members of his family in Kansas, and that a re- 
 turn to North Elba would l)e in the nature of a visit. 
 
 Brown told Mr. .\mey that it was his intention, originally, 
 to settle in Kansas. In his testimony before the Mason Com- 
 mittee, he said: "He ( limwn i then referred to the fact that 
 lie had sent his sons into the Territory of Kansas in 1853 or 
 1.S54 witli a lot of blooded cattle and other st<jck witii the in- 
 tention of settling." ""' There is presumptive evidence too, 
 that he did "settle" in Kansas and that he did take a claim ; also 
 that it was "jum[)ed. ' In a letter to Brown dated June 24. 
 1857. the late W'm. .\. PhiMips wrote as follows:"" "Your 
 old claim I believe, has l)een jumped. If you do not desire to 
 contest it. let me suggest that ycni make a new settlement at 
 some good jxiint of which you will be the head. Lay off a 
 town and take claims around it." 
 
 Among the real conditions of ])o\erty described by Brown in 
 
 ^'* Mason Report, 86. Testimony of W'm. F. .Amy. 
 "" A/aj()H Report, 225. Testimony of .Augustus Wattks. 
 i""3/ajOM Report, 75. 
 >"• Sanborn. 397. 
 
 6 
 
84 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 his letters of October 13tli and 14th, and with but "sixty cents" 
 in his pocket, it is irrational to assume that he was free to move 
 "where he pleased" or that he was "free to devote every 
 thought," or any of his thoughts, for that matter, to this "bat- 
 tling" business. He was not "emancipated from the counter 
 and the harrow," and from his natural obligation to continue 
 to provide for the dependent wife and children, who were suf- 
 fering the acute privations of poverty in a miserable home. 
 The letters quoted are evidence of the domestic character of the 
 thoughts which occupied his mind, and of his deep solicitude 
 for the wants of his family. They are earnest letters, written 
 about the pressing affairs of his domestic life, by a man of more 
 than ordinary experience. He dismisses any reference to the 
 subject of the "driving force of a mighty and unselfish pur- 
 pose," with the moderate and sensible opinion, that the "pros- 
 pect of Kansas becoming a Free state is brightening every 
 day." 
 
 November 2, 1855, Brown wrote a long and interesting letter 
 to his wife about affairs in their Kansas home, concluding with 
 this very conservative and peaceful statement: "I feel more 
 and more confident that slavery will soon die out here, — and 
 to God be the praise." ^"- The letter is as follows : 
 
 Brownsville, K. T., Nov. 2, 1855. 
 Dear Wife and Children, Every One — 
 
 I feel 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 everyone 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, much more than in any place 
 where we have ever lived ; and no crops of hay or anything 
 raised had been taken care of; with corn wasting by cattle 
 i«2 Sanborn, 203. 
 
HIS PUBLIC SERVICES 85 
 
 and horses, without fences ; and, I may add without any 
 meat ; and Jason's folks without sugar, or any kind of bread 
 stuffs but corn ground with great labor in a hand-mill about 
 two miles off. Since I wrote you before. Wealthy, Johnny, 
 Elen 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. 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 a chimney so far advanced 
 that we can keep a fire in it for Jason. John has his shanty a 
 little better fi.xed than it was. but miserable enough now ; and 
 we have got their little crop of beans secured, which, together 
 with johnny cake, mush and milk, [)unij)kins and squashes, 
 constitute our fare. I'otatoes they have none of any account ; 
 milk, beans, pumpkins and squashes, a verj- 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. ... I feel more and more con- 
 fident that slavery will soon <Ii<- •■>ut h.-rf. — and to God be 
 the praise! . . 
 November 23d. he wrote : 
 
 Since Watson wrote. I have felt a great deal troubled 
 about your pros|)ccts for a cold house to winter in, and since 
 I wrote last, I have thought of a cheap, ready way to help it 
 much. Take any common straight-edged boards, and run 
 them from the ground up to the eaves. l)arn fashion, not ilriv- 
 ing the nails in so far but that they may easily be drawn, 
 covering all but diH)rs 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 mostly be saved for other uses. I 
 think much too, of your widowed state, and I sometimes al- 
 low myself to dream a little of again sometime enjoying the 
 comforts of a home ; but I do not dare to dream nnicli. . . 
 
86 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 There were no disturbances in the Territory until the latter 
 part of November, when the "Wakurusa War" became im- 
 minent. On the 27th the following dispatch was sent from 
 Westport : 
 
 Hon. E. C. McLaren, Jefferson City — Governor Shannon 
 has ordered out the militia against Lawrence. They are now 
 in open rebellion against the laws. Jones is in danger. 
 December 6th, notice was sent out to all Free-State men to 
 come to Lawrence. John Brown, with others from the vicinity 
 of Osawatomie, answered the call, and upon their arrival at 
 Lawrence he was appointed a captain in the Fifth Regiment, 
 Kansas Volunteers. The men from Brown's neighborhood 
 were assigned to his company which was named the "Liberty 
 Guards." 
 
 There has been much controversy concerning Brown's actions 
 during this brief but very interesting campaign ; due, in some 
 instances, perhaps, to political contention, but principally to the 
 efforts of his biographers and eulogists to make him appear as a 
 conspicuous figure in the proceedings, the hero of the occasion. 
 However, Brown's plain sensible letter, written to his wife at 
 the time, giving her a full and interesting account of what oc- 
 curred, will be accepted by all sane persons, as evidence of what 
 did occur, as well as evidence of his personal opinions of all 
 matters pertaining thereto, so far as they came under his ob- 
 servation. His letter is as follows : ^"^ 
 
 Osawatomie, K. T., Dec. 16, 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 defense of the town of Lawrence in 
 this Territory, and notwithstanding, I suppose you have 
 learned the result before this, (possibly), I will give a brief 
 account of the invasion in my own way. 
 
 About three or four weeks ago news came that a Free- 
 
 103 Sanborn, 217. 
 
HIS PUBLIC SERVICES 87 
 
 State man by the name of Dow had been murdered by a pro- 
 slavery man by the name of Coleman, who had gone and 
 given himself up for trial to the pro-slavery Governor Shan- 
 non. This was soon followed by further news that a Free 
 State man, who was the only reliable witness 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 answer 
 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 belonging to a company near Lawrence ; and that 
 in consequence of the rescue, Governor Shannon had ordered 
 out all the pro-slavery force he could muster in the Terri- 
 tory, and called on Missouri for further help; that about two 
 thousand had collected, demanding a surrender of the res- 
 cued witness and of the rescuers, the destruction of several 
 buiUlings and printing-presses and a giving up of the 
 Sharpe's rifles by the Free-State men. — threatening to de- 
 stroy the town with caiuion, with which they were provided, 
 etc. ; that alxnit an c(|ual number of Free-State men had 
 turned out to resist them, and that a battle was hourly ex- 
 pected or sui)ix)>e(l to have been already fought. 
 
 TiK'se reports appeared to Ix." well autlienticatLMl, but wc 
 could get no further account of matters ; and I left this for 
 the place where the hoys 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 immediately wanted. ( )n 
 getting this last news, it was at once agreed to break up at 
 John's camp, and take Wealthy and Johnny to Ja.son's camp 
 (some two miles off), and that all the men but Henry, Ja.son, 
 and ( )liver should at once set off for Lawrence under arms ; 
 those three being wholly unfit for duty. We then set aliout 
 providing a little corn-bread and meat, blankets, and cooking 
 utensils, running bullets and loading all our gims. pistols, 
 etc. The five .set off in the afternoon and after a short rest 
 in the night (which was (|uite dark), contiiuied our march 
 
88 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 until after daylight next morning, when we got our break- 
 fast, 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 hundred 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. 
 This state of things continued from Friday until Sunday 
 evening. On the evening we left Osawatomie, a company of 
 the invaders, of from fifteen to twenty-five attacked some 
 three or four Free-State men, mostly unarmed, killing a Mr. 
 Barber from Ohio, wholly unarmed. His body was after- 
 ward brought in and lay for some days in the room after- 
 wards occupied by a part of the company to which we belong 
 (it being organized after we reached Lawrence). The build- 
 ing 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 if he 
 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, 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 cir- 
 cumstances into which he had really got himself, took advan- 
 tage 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. 
 
HIS PUBLIC SERVICES 89 
 
 He stipulated with them to order the pro-slavery men of Kan- 
 sas 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 when- 
 ever in their discretion the safety of Lawrence or other por- 
 tions of the Territory might require it to be done. He 
 (Governor Shannon) gave up all pretension of further at- 
 tempt to enforce the enactment 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 re- 
 turning with ^V'.C colors, after incurring heavy expenses, 
 suffering great exposure, hardships, and privations, not hav- 
 ing foifght any battles, burned or destroyed any infant towns 
 or Abolition presses ; leaving the Free-State men organized 
 and armed, and in full p<jssession of the Territory; not hav- 
 ing fulfille<l any of all their dreadful threatenings, except to 
 murder one unarmed man. and to commit some robberies 
 and waste of property ujjon defenseless families, unfortun- 
 atelv within their power. W'c Karii by their j)aiK'rs that they 
 boast of a great victory over the .\lM)litionists ; and well they 
 may. Free-State men have only hereafter to retain the foot- 
 ing they have gained, and Kansas is free. Yesterday the 
 people passed upon the I'Vee-State constitution. The result, 
 though not yet known, no one doubts. 
 
 We have received fifty dollars from father, and learned 
 from him that he has sent you the same amount, — for which 
 we ought to be grateful, as we are much relieved, both as re- 
 spects ourselves and you. . 
 
 This letter will always stand in its completeness as an official 
 expression by John Brown of his entire satisfaction with every- 
 thing that was done by the Free-State men on this occasion. 
 The stipulations contained in tiie peace treaty not only covered 
 
90 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 every point for which the Free-State men were contending, but 
 gave them official recognition, in Territorial affairs, with au- 
 thority therein far greater than they could have hoped to obtain. 
 Brown's entire approval of the agreement, without any reserva- 
 tion whatever, is clearly and fully expressed in the sentence : 
 Free-State men have only hereafter to retain the footing 
 they have gained and Kansas is free. 
 
 No language could make his approval of what had been done 
 more complete or specific; and yet, notwithstanding this un- 
 equivocal record, by Brown himself, of his approval of what 
 had been done, his biographers insist that he was not only dis- 
 satisfied with the proceedings that were had, but that "the 
 peace treaty itself produced in him only anger when he first 
 heard of it." 
 
 John Brown, boiling over with anger, mounted the shaky 
 platform and addressed the audience when Robinson had fin- 
 ished. He declared that Lawrence had been betrayed, and 
 told his hearers that they should make a night attack upon 
 the pro-slavery forces and drive them from the territory. "I 
 am an Abolitionist," he said, "dyed in the wool," and then he 
 offered to be one of ten men to make a night attack upon the 
 Border Ruffian camp. Armed, and with lanterns, his plan 
 was to string his men along the camp far apart. At a given 
 signal in the early morning hours, they were to shout and 
 fire on the slumbering enemy. ^*'* 
 
 That this speech will stand for all time, as a classic in the ex- 
 isting melodramatic literature of John Brown, will be con- 
 ceded. The novel plan of a night attack by ten men, furnished 
 with lanterns, as targets, "strung far apart," against a force of 
 fifteen hundred men, will, of itself, commend it to such recogni- 
 tion. 
 
 A summary of the speeches, recently referred to as "haran- 
 gues," made by Governor Shannon, and by General Lane, and 
 by Charles Robinson, on this occasion, was duly reported at the 
 
 104 Villard. 123. 
 
HIS PUBLIC SERVICES 91 
 
 time and published throughout the country, for this was a not- 
 able incident in our national history. But not a word was re- 
 ported about Brown's speech. It ought to have been the cli- 
 max — the fire-works — of the whole performance for he was 
 the only one of the speakers who is said to have been "boiling 
 over" with anything. It may be assumed however that if John 
 Brown had made a violent speech from this platform on this 
 occasion, the fact would have been reported by the reporter for 
 the Herald of freedom, who was present, and who felt ver>' 
 kindly toward him. It may be true that Brown did some 
 grumbling in camj). or some loud talking somewhere, about the 
 treaty which he may not have understood at the time. 
 
 A very extended report of the incidents occurring in the 
 "Wakurusa War" is contained in the Lawrence Herald of Free- 
 dom of December 1.^, 1S53."'' fn>m which the following are ex- 
 tracts : 
 
 Sunday the negotiations were resumed with Governor 
 Shannon and finally completed, the substance of which was 
 communicated to the peo^)le by the Governor. The settle- 
 ment was received with satisfactiim and yet the terms were 
 not coincided in so fully as many supposed it would be. It 
 was apparent that the Governor was in bad odor, as several 
 attempts to get up cheers in his favor proved a failure, though 
 no insult was shown him. 
 
 Colonel Lane followed and was loudly cheered. He as- 
 sured the public there had been no concession of honor and 
 that the pe«)i)lc of Lawrence and Kansas, would cheerfully 
 acquiesce in the terms of the settlement as soon as they could 
 learn the particulars. . . . 
 
 General Kohinxm was also loudly cheered and congratu- 
 lated by the people on account of the settlement. . . . 
 The day closed by Governor Shannon giving General Rob- 
 inson and Colonel Lane each a commission, and clothing them 
 with full power to preserve the j)eace in the vicinity and to 
 > OS Copy in possession >>i Mr r;ml Ikonks. rvawrcnce. Kansas. 
 
92 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 use the volunteer force at their command for that purpose. 
 
 Tuesday was full of animation. The soldiers were re- 
 viewed and finally formed in a square and addressed by the 
 commanding officers. General Lane spoke as follows : . . . 
 
 At the close of General Lane's speech, he was vociferously 
 cheered. 
 
 General Robinson, as Commander in Chief, delivered the 
 following speech which was loudly applauded. He said : 
 ". . . The moral strength of our position is such that 
 even the 'gates of hell' could not prevail against us, much less 
 a foreign mob and we gained a bloodless victory." ... As 
 General Robinson closed, six cheers were given to him. 
 
 Even a reporter and journalist so enterprising as James Red- 
 path failed to know of Brown's much advertised speech. He 
 said:"« 
 
 I had no personal knowledge of his opposition to the 
 Treaty of Peace, . . . The first time I heard of old 
 Brown was in connection with a caucus at the town of Osa- 
 watomie. 
 
 It was not Redpath's fault that he did not then know John 
 Brow^n or that he had not even heard of him. It was simply 
 because Brown was an ordinary person, and had not done any- 
 thing yet to attract public attention to his personality. Oppor- 
 tunity did not happen to knock at his door on that occasion ; if 
 it had, Brown, doubtless, w^ould have acquitted himself credit- 
 ably, and Mr. Redpath would have heard of him. As soon as 
 Brown did even a little thing, Redpath heard of it promptly. 
 April 16, 1856, a meeting or caucus was held at Osawatomie 
 to consider the question of paying the taxes that had been levied 
 by authority of the Territorial Legislature, and other public 
 measures. To pay the taxes would be a recognition of the 
 "Bogus Legislature" that had enacted the laws relating to taxa- 
 tion. Richard Mendenhall was chainnan of the meeting and 
 Oscar V. Dayton was secretary. Brown, among others, spoke 
 
 106 Redpath, 103. 
 
HIS PUBLIC SERVICES 93 
 
 in opposition to paying the taxes. There was nothing sensa- 
 tional in this incident, but Redpath heard of the meeting and 
 located Brown in his mind, because of it. Referring to the in- 
 cident Mr. Redpath made this authoritative statement : ^'*' 
 "This was John Brown's first and last appearance in a public 
 meeting in Kansas." Therefote. it appears that Mr. Villard 
 has been imposed upon. 
 
 Of Brown himself, the Herald published the following sane 
 and restful paragraph : 
 
 About noon Mr. John Brown, an aged gentleman from 
 Essex County, New York, who has been a resident of the Ter- 
 ritory for several months, arrived with four of his sons, — 
 leaving several others at home sick, bringing a quantity of 
 arms with him which were placed in his hands by eastern 
 friends for the defense of the cause of freedom. Having 
 more than he could well use to advantage, a portion of them 
 were placed in the hands of those who were more destitute. 
 A company was organized and the command given to Mr. 
 Brown for the zeal he had exhibited in the cause of freedom, 
 both before and after his arrival in the Territory.*"* 
 
 Brown, with his sons, rctunied to their homes December 
 14th, and under that date, in a letter to Orson Day, he ex- 
 pressed, further, his satisfaction with what had been accom- 
 plished at Lawrence by the Free-State managers. He said: 
 '*The Territory is now entirely in the power of the Free-State 
 men," and stated h<)j)efully his opiiuon that "the Missourians 
 will give uj) all further hope of making Kansas a slave state." ^^'® 
 January 1, 1856, he wrote from West Point, Missouri : "In this 
 part of the state there seems to be but little feeling on the slave 
 question." "" 
 
 Januarx' 5th. a l**ree-St.itc (•i>nn;\- convention was held at 
 
 >"T Redpath, 1(M. 
 
 '"" //f ni/J of l-reedom, December 15, 1H55. 
 
 '"» Villard. 127. 
 
94 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 Osawatomie to nominate candidates for members of the Free- 
 State Legislature. The Browns took a prominent part in the 
 proceedings. John Brown was chairman of the meeting. 
 Frederick Brown received the nomination for member of the 
 House of Representatives, but at the request of his father, he 
 dechned the nomination, and it was given to John Brown, Jr. 
 
 With his participation in this convention, John Brown closed 
 his public services. Later — probably during March — he 
 abandoned his honorable commission as captain of the "Liberty 
 Guards," disbanded the company, and with his sons, Owen, 
 Salmon, Frederick, Oliver, and his son-in-law, Henry Thomp- 
 son, planned and decided to abandon the Free-State cause, en- 
 ter upon a career of crime, and leave the neighborhood. The 
 course was agreed upon with John Brown, Jr., as accessory 
 thereto; but not with the knowledge of Jason Brown. These 
 men comprised John Brown's "little company of six" who, with 
 others, committed the robbery on the Pottawatomie on the night 
 of May 24th — a robbery that included in the plans for its ex- 
 ecution, the murder of seven persons, five of whom fell beneath 
 the blows of the assassins. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 ROBBERY AND MURDER OX THE POTTAWATOMIE 
 
 A blush as of roses 
 
 Where rose never greic! 
 Great drops on the hunch-grass 
 
 But not of the dew! 
 A taint in the street air 
 
 For li'ild bees to shun! 
 A stain that will never 
 
 Bleach out in the sun! 
 
 Back, steed of the prairies! 
 Szi'cet song bird, Hy back! 
 Wheel hither, bald vulture! 
 Gray wolf, call thy pack! 
 The foul human vultures 
 Have feasted and fled : 
 The wolves of the Border 
 
 Have crept from the dead. 
 —From I.i: Marais du Cycnk. Whittikr 
 
 From a rude hniiie in the bleak mountains of nortlieru Xew 
 York. John P.rown went to Kansas ; not for the purpose of fight- 
 ing, but inspired by the hope of bettering his shattered fortunes; 
 a hope that withered in the budding, and gave place to feelings 
 of deep disappointment and discouragement. He wrote Feb- 
 ruary 1st : 
 
 It is now nearly >ix weeks that the snow has almost con- 
 stantly been driven, like dry sand, by the fierce winds of 
 Kansas. By means of the sale of our lit>rse and wagon, our 
 present wants are tolerably well met ; so that, if health is con- 
 tinued to us, we shall not probably suffer much. . . . 
 
96 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 Thermometer on Sunday and Monday at twenty-eight to 
 twenty-nine below zero. Ice in the river, in the timber, and 
 under the snow, eighteen inches thick this week. . . . 
 Jason down again with the ague, but he was some better yes- 
 terday. OHver 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 
 frozen. We have middling tough times (as some would call 
 them) but have enough to eat, and abundant reason for the 
 most unfeigned gratitude. . . . ^^^ 
 
 These were hard conditions. It would be difficult to im- 
 agine circumstances of greater discomfort and hopelessness. 
 But what about the future — the future for himself and for the 
 wife and the daughters depending upon him for the necessaries 
 of life, for whose benefit he had come to Kansas? Did Brown 
 think of them? Present inconvenience and privation may be 
 borne with fortitude if the future holds out a promise of better- 
 ment. In his case we may reasonably assume that the problems 
 of the future, rather than the present conditions and discourage- 
 ments, engrossed his thoughts. It is altogether unreasonable 
 to suppose that this unscrupulous man of affairs — this restless, 
 aggressive speculator — sat listlessly, amid his environment of 
 discomfort and poverty, and permitted the dreary months to 
 pass without thinking of his precarious financial condition, and 
 of the incessantly urgent family responsibilities impending ; and 
 of the possibilities of bettering his fortunes in the immediate 
 future. His biographers have wisely avoided discussion of the 
 practical side of Bro\vn's condition at this time, preferring to 
 wander in more intangible fields, and to speculate upon the 
 emotional and metaphysical phenomena they seek to involve in 
 the situation. The record of his life at this time, however, re- 
 veals the fact that Brown did think of the future and of its re- 
 sponsibilities ; and that he did mature a plan to better his finan- 
 cial condition. Also, that his plan was in harmony with his 
 
 1" Sanborn, 222. 
 
ROBBERY AND MURDER 97 
 
 latest and best biographer's estimate of his character : "It was 
 not only that he was visionary as a business man." "- says Mr. 
 Villard. "but that he developed the fatal tendency to speculate ; 
 doubtless the outgrowth of his restlessness, and the usual desire 
 of the bankrupt for a sudden coup to restore his fortune." To 
 his wife he wrote as follows: 
 
 Brown's Station, K. T., April 7, 1856. 
 Dear Wife .\nd Children", Every Oxe, — I wrote you 
 last week, . . . We do not want you to borrow 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 prob- 
 ably soon leave this neighborhood, but will advise you fur- 
 ther when we 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 abund- 
 ance of "rumors." We still have frosty nights, but the grass 
 starts a little. There arc none of us complaining much just 
 now, all l)eing able to do something. John has just returned 
 from Topeka. not having met with any difficulty ; but we hear 
 that preparations arc nwking in the United States Court for 
 numerous arrests of Free State men. For one, I have no de- 
 sire (all things considered) to have the slave iK)wer cease 
 from its acts of aggression. "Their f(x>t shall slide in due 
 time." May Cod bless and keep you all. 
 
 Your affectionate husband and father. 
 
 JoH.v Brown. 
 
 This letter f<^reshado\vs the turning point in John P.rown's 
 career. It discloses the fact that he and his sons intended to 
 engage in an enterprise that was related to danger, against 
 which he sought to (piiet his wife's apprehensions. The letter 
 also foreshadows the fact that as a result of what they intended 
 to do, they would probably le.ive the neighborhood; but as to 
 »'=Villanl. .11. 
 
98 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 either the nature of the undertaking which they had in view, or 
 the time at which the venture would be executed, she would not 
 be informed until they left the country. It discloses further 
 the significant fact, that his attitude toward the Free-State 
 cause had undergone a change. That instead of treasuring in 
 his heart a patriotic desire to win freedom for Kansas by peace- 
 able means, he had assumed a hostile attitude. He now de- 
 sired, not peace, but war. 
 
 Three important facts appear at this point in Brown's his- 
 tory: That he had decided to do something of a dangerous 
 character and leave the neighborhood; that he desired a revival 
 of pro-slavery aggressions ; and that he had disbanded the "Lib- 
 erty Guards." 
 
 On the 16th of April, 1856, John Brown, Jr., was in com- 
 mand of the "Pottawatomie Rifles." ^^^ He said : "During 
 the winter of 1856, I raised a company of riflemen, from the 
 Free-State settlers who had their homes in the vicinity of Osa- 
 watomie and Pottawatomie Creek." "* James Townsley, in 
 his "confession," made December 6, 1879, said: "I joined the 
 Pottawatomie Rifle Company at its reorganization in May, 
 1856, at which time John Brown. Jr., was elected captain." 
 
 Why Brown should desire a revival of pro-slavery aggres- 
 sions, if he intended to leave the neighborhood ; and what he in- 
 tended to do, are important questions in this analysis which his 
 versatile biographers have failed to attempt to explain. Brown 
 could not have desired a provocation from the pro-slavery peo- 
 ple because he wanted an opportunity to fight — to march 
 against them at the head of the "Liberty Guards," and "stagger 
 the slave-power by the driving force of his iron will ;" — for he 
 intended to leave the neighborhood; he intended to go away 
 from the scene of the prospective aggressions. He was no 
 longer "Captain of the Liberty Guards," but a private citizen ; 
 therefore, he must have desired an outbreak of pro-slavery hos- 
 
 iisvillard, 136. 
 
 ^1* Sanborn, 2Z7, note 3. 
 
^^T^r^Ayw (J ?>~cr-i^^^r\y 
 
ROBBERY AND MURDER 99 
 
 tility for personal reasons; for reasons relating to operations 
 which he intended to engage in with Henry Thompson as an 
 associate; who wrote, equivocally, to his wife in May, 1856, 
 that "Upon Brown's plans would depend his own, until School 
 is out." 
 
 The operations that Brown and his four unmarried sons and 
 Henry Thompson engaged in immediately after the letter con- 
 taining this extract was written, show that the "plans" therein 
 referred to related to the capital tragedy in the history of Kan- 
 sas Territory. These plans provided for the theft of a large 
 number of horses on Pottawatomie Creek. The horses were 
 duly stolen by Brown and his band. To make the theft pos- 
 sible, and i)crs(.nally safe, they planned to quietly assassinate 
 the owners of tiie horses. To avoid identification, and to dis- 
 pose of the horses which they intended to steal, they planned to 
 deliver them to confederates, who would run them out of the 
 neighborhood ; and, at the same time, they were to receive from 
 such confederates horses of a more desirable character — fast 
 running horses — which were to l)e brought from the northern 
 part of the Territory to a designated rendezvous. 
 
 It was the original intention to steal four lots of horses and 
 murder seven men. The persons nuirdered in pursuance of 
 their plans were John Doyle and two of his sons, Hon. .Mien 
 Wilkinson, and William Shennan. Those who escaped death 
 were 1 lenry Sherman, a brother of William, and another person 
 whose name has l)een withheld from publication."' The silent 
 weapons used in these murders were some of the short swords, 
 gr(»uiid to a keen L'(\i:;v. that lirown had brought with him when 
 he came to the Territory. The unfortunate victims, in holding 
 up their arms in vain attempts to shield their heads from im- 
 pending blows, were struck ujx)!! their forearms and hands; 
 these in some in.stances were almost severed from their bodies. 
 The heads of the murdered men. except in the case of Doyle, 
 
 "^Villard. 15X. 
 
 7 
 
100 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 were split open and their bodies otherwise mutilated. In the 
 case of Doyle, he was shot in the head ; and in addition thereto, 
 a sword was run through his breast. He was the first victim 
 of the tragedies. The shot which struck him was the only shot 
 that was fired in these murders, and the firing of it stands 
 charged to John Brown himself. Of this M.r. Villard says : "' 
 "Salmon Brown will not positively state that his father fired it 
 but admits that no one else pulled a trigger." 
 
 An account in detail of these murders is found in the testi- 
 mony of the widows of Doyle and Wilkinson, and of James 
 Harris, and others, taken before Hon. M. N. Oliver, of Mis- 
 souri, minority member of a congressional committee of which 
 Hon. W. A. Howard was chairman. The committee was ap- 
 pointed in 1855 to investigate and report to Congress upon the 
 troubles in Kansas. The character of the evidence brought out 
 in this investigation incriminated the Browns : but for more than 
 twenty years thereafter the surviving members of the family 
 stoutly denied having any participation in the crime. Even at 
 Harper's Ferry, when standing within the shadow of the gal- 
 lows, John Brown denied having had anything to do with it. 
 To Judge Russell "the prisoner reiterated his assertion -often 
 made in those prison days that he was not personally concerned 
 in the Pottawatomie murders." ^^^ But after the confession of 
 James Townsley, his biographers and friends were forced to 
 acknowledge Brown's directing hand in the crime. Since that 
 time, they have continuously sought, by various pretexts — de- 
 fensive, patriotic and altruistic — to justify him in the killing 
 of these men ; and to distract attention away from the real motive 
 that prompted it ; with the result that they have thus far suc- 
 ceeded in so agitating discussion upon the merits of the mur- 
 ders, as to concentrate public attention upon that feature of the 
 crime — the murders — and to eliminate or silence any allusion 
 
 ii« Villard. 159. 
 117 Villard, 545. 
 
ROBBERY AND MURDER 101 
 
 whatever to the fundamental feature of it — robbery. As 
 a consequence of their propaganda, writers of history have 
 not made any reference to the robberies to which the mur- 
 ders were subordinate and incidental. After the manner of 
 sheep, they have followed the lead of Brown's eulogists into the 
 interesting field of metaphysics ; and have there engaged in 
 profitless speculation upon Brown's mental processes, and the 
 probable psychical impulses which may have controlled his ac- 
 tions.^" 
 
 The confession of James Townsley is as follows : 
 
 I joined the Potawatomie rifle company at its reorganiza- 
 tion in May, 1856, at which time John Brown, Jr., was 
 elected captain. On the 21st of the same month information 
 was received that the Georgians were marching on Law- 
 rence, threatening its destruction. The company was imme- 
 diately called together, and about four o'clock p. m. we 
 started on a forced march to aid in its defense. 
 
 About two miles south of Middle Creek, we were joined 
 by the Osawatomie company under Captain Dayton, and pro- 
 ceeded to Mdunt Vernon, where we waited about two hours, 
 until the moon rose. We then marched all night, camping 
 the next morning, the 22tul, for breakfast, near Ottawa 
 Jones's. Before we arrived at this point, news had been re- 
 ceived that Lawrence had been destroyed, and a question 
 was raised whether we should return or go on. During the 
 forenoon, however, we i)roceeded up Ottawa Creek to within 
 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 23rd, Old John 
 Brown came to me and said he had just received information 
 that trouble was exiK'Cted on the Potawatomie, and wanted to 
 know if I would take my team and take him and his boys 
 back, so they could keep watch on what was going on. I 
 
 ""L. W. Spring in his History of Kansas says of him on page 138: 
 "Whatever else may be laid to his charge — whatever rashness, unwisdom, 
 equivocation, bloodiness — no faintest trace of self-seeking stains his 
 Kansas life." 
 
102 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 told him I would do so. The party, consisting of Old John 
 Brown, Watson Brown, Oliver Brown, Henry Thompson, 
 (John Brown's son-in-law), and Mr. Winer, 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 Winer, who 
 rode a pony, rode with me in my wagon. When within two 
 or three miles of Potawatomie Creek, we turned off the main 
 road to the right, drove down to the edge of the timber be- 
 tween two deep ravines, and camped about one mile above 
 Dutch Henry's crossing. . . . We remained in camp 
 that night and all the next day. Some time after dark we 
 were ordered to march. 
 
 We started, the whole company, in a northerly direction, 
 crossing Mosquito Creek, above the residence of the Doyles. 
 Soon after crossing the creek, some one of the party knocked 
 at the door of a cabin, but received no reply — I have for- 
 gotten whose cabin it was, if I knew at the time. 
 
 The next place we came to was the residence of the 
 Doyles. John Brown, three of his sons, and son-in-law, 
 went to the door, leaving Frederick Brown, Winer, and my- 
 self, a short distance from the house. About this time a 
 large dog attacked us. Frederick Brown struck the dog a 
 blow with his short two edged sword, after which I dealt him 
 a blow with my sabre, and heard no more of him. The old 
 man Doyle and two sons were called out and marched some 
 distance from the house toward Dutch Henry's, in the road, 
 where a halt was made. Old John Brown drew a revolver 
 and shot the old man Doyle in the forehead and Brown's 
 two youngest sons immediately fell upon the younger Doyles 
 with their short two-edged swords. 
 
 One of the young Doyles was stricken down in an instant, 
 but the other attempted to escape, and was pursued a short 
 distance by his assailant and cut down. The company then 
 proceeded down Mosquito Creek to the house of Allen Wil- 
 kinson. Here the old man Brown, three of his sons, and 
 son-in-law as at the Doyle residence, went to the door and 
 ordered Wilkinson to come out, leaving Frederick Brown, 
 
ROBBERY AND MURDER 103 
 
 Winer, and myself standing in the road east of the house. 
 Wilkinson was taken and marched some distance south of his 
 house and slain in the road, with a short sword, by one of the 
 younger Browns. After he was killed, his body was dragged 
 out to one side and left. 
 
 We then crossed the Potawatomie and came to the house 
 of Henry Sherman, generally known as Dutch Henry. Here 
 John Brown and the party, excepting Frederick Brown, 
 Winer, and myself, who were left outside a short distance 
 from the door, went into the house and brought out one or 
 two persons, talked with them some, and then took them in 
 again. They afterwards brought out William Sherman, 
 Dutch Henry's brother, marched him down into the Pota- 
 watomie Creek, where he was slain with swords, by llrown's 
 two youngest sons, and left lying in the creek. . . . 
 
 J.VNtES ToWXSLKY. 
 
 Lane. Kansas. December 6, 1879. 
 
 From this statement it api)ears that John Brown set the ex- 
 ample for his sons to follow by killing Doyle. "Old John 
 Brown drew his revolver and shot old man Doyle in the fore- 
 head, and Brown's two younger sons immediately fell upon the 
 younger Doyles with their short, two edged swords." 
 
 Mrs. Doyle, in her testimony said: 
 
 . . . My son John was spare<i because I asked them in 
 tears to spare him. . . . 
 
 The son testified : 
 
 I found my father and one brother, William, lying dead in 
 the road about two hundred yards from the house. I saw 
 my other brother lying dead on the ground about one hun- 
 dred and fifty yards from the house, in the grass, near a ra- 
 vine, his fingers were cut off. and his arms were cut off; his 
 head was cut oj)en ; there was a hole in his breast. William's 
 head was cut open, and a hole was in his jaw. as though it 
 was made by a knife, and a hole was in his side. My father 
 was shr>t in the forehead and stabbed in the breast.*'" 
 
 ""//oitan/ l\t-[<»rt, 1175. 
 
104 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 Allen Wilkinson was the postmaster for the community, and 
 was a member of the Territorial Legislature. Like Doyle, he 
 was married, and had a family of small children. Mrs. Wilkin- 
 son states that the persons who murdered her husband, came to 
 their home after midnight, and after knocking at the door, in- 
 quired "the way to Dutch Henry's." Wilkinson began to tell 
 them, but they told him to **come out and show them." Her 
 testimony is in part as follows : 
 
 . . . One of them said, "You are our prisoner. Do 
 you surrender?" He said, "Gentlemen, I do." They said, 
 "Open the door." Mr. Wilkinson 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, 
 and four men came in and 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 gtm and powder 
 flask, all the weapon that was about the house. . . . They 
 then took my husband away. One of them came back and 
 took two saddles. I asked him what they were going to do 
 with him and he said, "Take him a prisoner to the camp." 
 . . . After they were gone, I thought I heard my hus- 
 band's voice, in complaint, but do not know ; went to the door 
 and all was still. Next morning Mr. Wilkinson was found 
 about one hundred and fifty yards from the house dead, in 
 some bushes. A lady who saw my husband's body said, 
 that there was a gash in his head and in his side ; others said 
 he was cut in the throat twice. ^-° 
 
 James Harris, at whose house William Sherman was staying 
 on the night of May 24th, states in his testimony, what came 
 under his observation. Harris was a day laborer. He testi- 
 fied in part as follows : 
 
 On last Sunday morning about two o'clock (the 25th of 
 last May) whilst my wife and child and myself were in bed 
 in the house where we lived, we were aroused by a company 
 ^^^ Howard Report, 1179. 
 
ROBBERY AND MURDER 105 
 
 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 name I do 
 not remember, commonly known by the appellation of "old 
 man Brown" and his son Owen Brown. . . . When 
 they came up to the bed, some had drawn sabres in their 
 hands, and some revolvers. They then took possession of 
 two rifles and a Bowie knife which I had with me in the room 
 — there was but one room in my house — and afterward 
 ransacked the whole establishment after ammunition. . . . 
 They asked me where Henry Sherman was. Henn,- Sher- 
 man was a brother to William Sherman. I told them that 
 he was out on the plains in search of some cattle that he had 
 lost. 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 hafl at my place, and made me saddle him. 
 They then said if I would answer no. to all questions which 
 they asked me, they would let [me) loose. Old Mr. Brown 
 and his son then went int(» the house with me. . . . Old 
 man i'>rown asked .Mr. Sherman to go out with him. and Mr. 
 Sherman then went out with t>ld man Brown, and another 
 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 on with us until we heard 
 a cap burst and then these two men left. That morning 
 alxnit ten o'clock I foimd William Sherman dead in the creek 
 near my house. I was looking for Mr. Sherman ; 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 was 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.'*' 
 
 J2> Hou-ord Report, 1177. 
 
106 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 It should be remembered that prior to the date of these mur- 
 ders and robberies, the zone of conflict in the Territory had 
 been confined within the Hmits of Douglas, Leavenworth, and 
 Atchison counties. Also, that the settlers living south of Doug- 
 las county had, up to this time, enjoyed the repose and benefits 
 of a condition of profound peace: and that during all of the 
 time that Brown was tomiulating his plans to rob and murder 
 his unsupecting neighbors, the "Shannon Treaty" was in full 
 force and efifect, and a season of peace prevailing throughout 
 the whole Territory. Mr. Villard says of this period : ^-- 
 Not a single person had been killed in the region around 
 Osawatomie either by the lawless characters, or by armed 
 representatives of the pro-slavery cause. The instances of 
 brutality or murder narrated in the preceding chapters, all 
 took place miles to the north in the vicinity of Lawrence or 
 Leavenworth. 
 
 And John Brown himself, in his speech before a committee of 
 the Massachusetts Legislature, February 18, 1857, said: ^" 
 Things do not look one iota more encouraging now than 
 they did last year at this time. You may remember that from 
 the Shannon Treaty, (December 9th, 1856) 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. 
 
 Some of Buford's men had been in the neighborhood but they 
 were not brutal toward the Free-State settlers. There was a 
 potent restraining influence controlling their conduct. They 
 were at the time on the pay roll of the General Government as 
 deputy L'nited States marshals, and the respectability and re- 
 sponsibility of their official positions demanded reasonably 
 proper behavior on their part.^"* 
 
 122 Villard, 171. 
 
 123 Sanborn. 37^, and Redpath, 184. 
 12-tVon Hoist. 301. 
 
ROBBERY AND MURDER 107 
 
 The most important evidence upon the important subject 
 under consideration, appears in Brown's letter to his wife, writ- 
 ten after his fight at Black Jack ; and in a personal statement 
 made by John Brown, Jr.. to F. B. Sanborn. The letter is, in 
 part, as follows : ^"■' 
 
 Xear Brown's Station. K. T.. June, 1856. 
 
 De.\r Wife .\nd Chiloren, Every O.ne. — 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 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. John was captain of a company to which 
 Jason belonged ; the other six i^'ere 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 com- 
 pany over night. Next day our little company left an<l dur- 
 ing the day we stopped and searched three men. 
 
 ( )u the second day and evening after we left Johns men, 
 we encountered quite a uuiuIkt of proslavery men and took 
 quite a number of prisoners. < )ur prisoners we let go, but 
 we kept some four or five horses. We were immediately 
 after this, accused of murdering five men at Pottawatomie 
 and great efitorts have since been made by the Missourians 
 and their ruffian allies to capture us. John's company soon 
 afterward disbanded, and also the Osawatomie men.»=" 
 
 Since then, we have, like David of old, had our dwelling 
 with the .serpents of the rocks and wild beasts of the wilder- 
 ness ; being oi)liged to iiide away from our enemies. We are 
 not disheartened, though nearly destitute of food, clothing 
 and money. (Vxl. who has not given us over to the will of 
 
 '-"' Sanborn, 22i(i. 
 
 '-^» Italicised by tbe author. 
 
 >2«"In the orJRinal something has been eflfaced and this note seems to 
 have been appended : 'There are l)Ut very few who wish the real facts 
 aU>ut these matters to go out." Tlien is inserted the date "June 26' as hc- 
 low." — Sanborn, 237. 
 
108 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 our enemies, but has moreover delivered them into our hand, 
 will we humbly trust, still keep and deliver us. We feel as- 
 sured that He who sees not as men see, does not lay the guilt 
 of innocent blood to our charge. 
 
 If, under God, this letter reaches you so that it can be read, 
 I 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. . . . 
 
 The statement that John Brown, Jr., made to Mr. Sanborn 
 is, in part, as follows : ^" 
 
 We got back to Osawatomie from our five days' cam- 
 paign, toward evening on the 26th of May. ... 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 Ne- 
 braska 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, I had been offered one of 
 these to ride the remaining distance to Osawatomie. Owen's 
 horse was wet with sweat ; 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 and at once the whole gang were in hot 
 chase. The superior fleetness 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. 
 
 127 Sanborn, 275. 
 
ROBBERY AXD MURDER 109 
 
 Until Owen told me that night, I did not know where father 
 
 could be found. . . . 
 
 Referring to a horse whose mane and tail had been shaved — 
 "Dutch Henry's gray pony" — M.r. Sanborn states : '"^ "This 
 horse was soon taken to northern Kansas by some Free State 
 men who gave in exchange for that and other horses captured 
 on the Pottawatomie, some fast Kentucky horses, on one of 
 which Owen Brown afterward escaped from his pursuers." 
 
 But John Brown. Jr., received his fast running horse on the 
 morning of May 26th and "upon a mate to it" Owen Brown 
 escaped from his pursuers on the same day near Osawatomie. 
 Therefore, the exchange of the horses "taken as reprisals" on 
 the Pottawatomie, for the fast running horses, was not made in 
 northern Kansas some time afterward, as Mr. Sanborn states, 
 but was made immediately after the robbery — May 25th or 
 26th — at the appointed time and place: probably on Middle 
 Creek. 
 
 These statements, made by John Brown, and by his son. com- 
 plete the recorded evidence of lirown's plan to retrieve his shat- 
 tered fortunes by a i)lunge in horse stealing. It shows that he 
 was in |)artnership with others in the transaction, and that his 
 confederates brf)Ught the northern horses, eight at least, to the 
 appointed rendezvous and delivered them to him. It shows 
 also, that John Brown. Jr.. was in his father's confidence, and 
 that he knew enough al)out his father's plans and of what had 
 been done on the night of the 24th. to enable him to walk to a 
 lM)int "a few miles south of Ottawa Jones's place" where he 
 was "offered one of the northern horses," and accepted it as his 
 own. 
 
 Who Brown's confederates were in this transaction, except 
 
 as to Weiner. is as yet unknown. Salmon Brown still guards 
 
 the sacred secret. But it is probable that the "mysterious 
 
 courier." who came to the camj) (»f the Pottawatomie Rifles on 
 
 '-•• Sanborn. 271. 
 
no JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 the morning of the 23cl, was one of them, and that he dehvered a 
 message to John Brown. There has been much debate con- 
 cerning this messenger and his identity.^-*^ B. L. Cochrane may 
 have been the important person, or it may have been Jacob Ben- 
 jamin that bore the important message, or Charles Lenhart, or 
 Mr. John E. Cook. None of these men have heretofore been 
 charged with having taken any part in the Pottawatomie epi- 
 sode, but there are incidents in this history which connect them 
 with it as confederates. Weiner owned the store at "Dutch 
 Henry's Crossing," and Benjamin was in his employ. Weiner 
 disposed of his stock of merchandise and gave up the business 
 to engage in this speculation in horses. He was from Texas 
 and to Texas he returned. It is also probable that he was a pro- 
 slavery man. Benjamin was subsequently "imprisoned" for 
 some act that he committed while in Brown's service ; as appears 
 from a reference which the latter made, during July, concerning 
 him.^^" The name of Benjamin Cochrane also appears in the 
 same reference, as having been with Brown at the Pottawatomie 
 and at the Black Jack. 
 
 On page 101, Mr. Redpath states that Charles Lenhart and 
 John E. Cook left Lawrence on the 21st to "commence re- 
 prisals." There is also evidence that they went southward. 
 They were horse thieves, and at Cleveland in May, 1858, Cook 
 stated that he had killed five men in Kansas.^^^ It is therefore 
 probable that these men were accomplices with the Browns in 
 this deal ; and participated, directly or indirectly, in the mur- 
 ders. Cook was a guest in their camp June 4th, two days after 
 the fight at Black Jack, when they had Pate's horses and mules 
 in their possession. Thereafter he continued to be Brown's 
 faithful lieutenant, and followed his fortunes to the gallows at 
 Charlestown. Charles Lenhart, too, appeared at Charlestown, 
 engaged in an effort to effect Cook's escape from the jail. 
 
 i29Villard, 175. 
 
 130 Sanborn, 241. 
 
 131 Villard, 338. 
 
ROBBERY AND MURDER 111 
 
 The terms of the agreement which the Browns made with 
 these confederates, and the details for the execution of the Pot- 
 tawatomie transaction, would make history of absorbing inter- 
 est. How many horses did Brown turn over to them? Did 
 they trade one bunch of horses for the other, and let it go at 
 that? Or, did his confederates charge him with the value of 
 the horses which they turned over to him ; and then, after off- 
 setting their services in selling Brown's horses, against his ser- 
 vices in stealing them, did they divide the net profits, or the 
 difference in value between the two lots of horses? Then as to 
 the time when Brown was to make his delivery ; it would be in- 
 teresting to know about that. Were the parties to wait until 
 the Border Ruffians started something, and raised some friendly 
 dust that would distract public attention from their oj)erations? 
 Probably so, for Brown was prepared to kill his neighbors and 
 take their horses at any time. His letter of April 7th shows 
 that he intendefl to do this whether the slave-power renewed its 
 acts of aggression or not. He simply preferred to commit his 
 robl>ery under cover of some pro-slavery provocation. Other- 
 wise, after the grass had well started, he intended to execute it 
 in cold blond and leave the country. In that event, he probably 
 intc-nded to "go to Louisiana," and "'head an uprising of the 
 slaves there." '■^' 
 
 For reasons oinious. Mr. \'illard could not obtain the e.xact 
 facts as to all the.se incriminating matters from his friends. Sal- 
 mon Brown and Henry Th(Mnps(jn ; but the former is still liv- 
 ing,'^'' and can yet supply them if he desires to do so. He can, 
 if he be so disjjosed, give out the "exact facts" as to all the prin- 
 cii)al happenings on the Pottawatomie. For instance: He 
 can give the name of the man who.se horses they intended to 
 steal, but failed to get. and the number of them. Townsley 
 referred to this incident, but Salmon Brown gave further 
 
 "2 Sanborn, 296, tiole 2. 
 
 >33 Salmon F5ro\vn died in California tliiring the fall of 1912. 
 
112 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 details and spoke very interestingly upon the subject. He 
 
 said : ''" 
 
 Soon after crossing- the creek, some one of the party 
 knocked at the door of a cabin. There was no reply, but 
 from within came the sound of a gun rammed through the 
 chinks of the cabin walls. It saved the owner's life, for at 
 that we all scattered. We did not disturb that man. With 
 some candle wicking soaked in coal oil to light and throw in- 
 side, so that we could see within while he could not see out- 
 side, we would have managed it, but we had none. It was a 
 method much used later. 
 
 From the expression "it was a method much used later" we de- 
 rive a confession that the Browns continued in the horse stealing 
 business. 
 
 Upon the number of horses that Brown expected to get as a 
 result of the murder of seven men, depends this interesting 
 problem in his psychology : his estimate of the value of a hu- 
 man life in terms of horses. In the case of the Doyles. he took 
 three lives and got, probably, eight or ten horses ; but the whole 
 number of horses taken will never be known unless Salmon 
 Brown, or some one who has his confidence, should decide to 
 reveal it. 
 
 "The Shemians," Bondi says, "had amassed considerable 
 property by robbing cattle droves and emigrant trains." ^^^ 
 They lived at a "crossing" of the Pottawatomie, and were buy- 
 ers and traders in horses, oxen, and cattle passing over the trail. 
 "Crossings" are usually camping places for emigrants and 
 drovers ; and at such locations lame, footsore, or otherwise un- 
 serviceable stock, can be, frequently, bought or traded for at a 
 very profitable margin in favor of the trader. Travelers must 
 either sell or abandon their lame stuff, and replace it with ser- 
 viceable animals, or lie over and w^ait until such animals get in 
 condition to travel. The trader not being compelled to trade, 
 
 i34Villard. 158. 
 135 Sanborn, 272. 
 
ROBBERY AND MURDER 113 
 
 names the price he will pay, or the tenns upon which he will 
 exchange good stuff for bad. When the stock which he buys 
 is recuperated, he sells it for a good profit to other travelers, or 
 to immigrants who locate in his neighborhood. In this way 
 the Shermans, William and Henry, had accumulated wealth in 
 horses and cattle ; and since there was then much travel on the 
 trail, they may have had on hand at that time, from twenty-five 
 to forty or fifty horses."* 
 
 The importance of exchanging the Pottawatomie horses im- 
 mediately, and getting them out of the countr>' was a high card 
 in Brown's play. If he and his gang had been caught with their 
 murdered neighbors' horses in their possession the next morn- 
 ing, there would not have been any sophistical discussion fifty 
 years after about how the "killings on the Pottawatomie" could 
 be "justified"; or about Brown's "sudden impulses"; or of his 
 altruistic convictions that it was necessary to "'remove" any- 
 body. The men of that outraged neighborhood, regardless of 
 party affiliation, wouhi have promptly hanged the outlaws. 
 But the robi)ers were too deep for them. The neighbors lost 
 the trail of the robl)ers and murderers; also, they lost the trail 
 of the Browns. 
 
 The horror of these murders, aggravated by the brutal mutil- 
 ation of the bodies of the victims, seems to have shocked that 
 community into a condition of semi-insensibility. In a lot of 
 resolutions adopted at a public meeting of citizens at Osawat- 
 ninie. on the 27th. "denouncing the murders"; the motive 
 prompting the crime, the theft of the horses oivned by the z'ic- 
 titns, is not referred to. It is probable that the Osawatomie 
 people, who drew the resolutions, did not then know that any 
 horses had Ix'en stolen. .\t any rate, the.se resolutions came to 
 be regarded as the pul)Iic or official announcement of what had 
 occurred ; and since they contained no reference to any robbery, 
 in connection with the murders, the public was thus, uninten- 
 
 139 Kansas farmers usually own from twelve to forty head of horse 
 stock. 
 
114 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 tionally, led to believe that the assassinations were acts of par- 
 tisan warfare ; a killing of obnoxious pro-slavery men by un- 
 known, but over zealous Free-State men. The resolutions are 
 as follows : ^^^ 
 
 Whereas, an outrage of the darkest and foulest nature has 
 been committed in our midst by some midnight assassins un- 
 known, who have taken five of our citizens at the hour of 
 midnight, from their homes and families, and murdered and 
 mangled them in the most awful manner ; to prevent a repeti- 
 tion of these deeds, we deem it necessary to adopt some 
 measures for our mutual protection and to aid and assist in 
 bringing these desperadoes to justice. Under these circum- 
 stances we propose to act up to the following resolutions : 
 
 Resolved, that we will repudiate and discountenance all 
 organized bands of men who leave their homes for the 
 avowed purpose of exciting others to acts of violence, be- 
 lieving it to be the duty of all good disposed citizens to stay 
 at home during these exciting times and protect and if pos- 
 sible restore the peace and harmony of the neighborhood ; 
 furthermore we will discountenance all armed bodies of men 
 who may come amongst us from any other part of the Ter- 
 ritory or from the States unless said parties come under the 
 authority of the United States. 
 
 Resolved, That we pledge ourselves, individually and col- 
 lectively, to prevent a recurrence of a similar tragedy and to 
 ferret out and hand over to the criminal authorities the per- 
 petrators for punishment. 
 
 C. H. Price, President ,, 
 
 R. GoLDiNG, Chairman 
 
 R. GiLPATRICK 
 
 W. C. McDow (.Committee 
 
 S. V, Vandaman 
 A. Castele 
 
 John Blunt ^ 
 
 H. H. Williams, Secretary 
 
 137 Villard, 168. 
 
ROBBERY AND MURDER 115 
 
 The pillage and burning of Lawrence put the killings upon a 
 war basis. They were supposed to have been a war measure, 
 instead of a case of horse stealing: and. instead of the Browns 
 et al. being hanged for their crimes, as they would have been, 
 by common consent, as undesirable citizens, partisan spirit and 
 sectional sentiment soon rallied in their behalf and not only 
 condoned their horrible crimes, but. in time, approved of the 
 murders, and recognized Brown as among the foremost defend- 
 ers of the Free-State cause. At a meeting of the Anti-Slavery 
 Society in Lawrence December 19. 1859. Governor Robinson 
 said : 
 
 It made no diflference whether he ( Brown ) raised his hand 
 or otherwise ( at Pottawatamie ) ; he was ])roscnt aiding and 
 advising to it and flic! not attempt to stoj) the blocKlshed, and 
 is, of course, resjxjnsible. thougii justitial)le. according to his 
 understanding of affairs. 
 
 Robinson also stated at this meeting that he himself thought 
 the murders justifiable at the time. 
 
 The Anti-SIavcry Society, after the discussion, voted that 
 the murders were not unjustifiable, and that they were per- 
 formed from the sad necessity ... to defend the lives 
 and liberty of the settlers of that region. ''■* 
 
 Governor Robinson further ^aid on I'ebruarv 5. 1878: 
 
 I never had much doubt that Captain ISrown was the au- 
 thor 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 character of Charles Robinson is evidence that if he had 
 known, at this time, that the mnrders on the Pottawatomie had 
 been committed in the promotion of robbery, instead of result- 
 ing from a supposed. spasm of patriotic resentment, provoked by 
 the sack and burning of Lawrence, he would not have declared 
 them justifiable. 
 
 '3« VillartI, 610. note, 54. 
 
116 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 In the light of these occurrences, the student of history may 
 readily solve the enigmas involved in Brown's letter of April 
 7th and in Henry Thompson's reference to his relation with 
 Brown's plans : until school is out. He finds in them a logi- 
 cal reason for the disbanding of the "Liberty Guards" ; for the 
 organization of the Pottawatomie Rifles ; and for Brown's de- 
 sire that the slave-pov/er should not "cease from its acts of ag- 
 gression." These preliminary acts are in harmony with, 
 and form a part of his general plan for a "sudden coup" on the 
 Pottawatomie. 
 
 The evidence is complete that the theft of the horses was the 
 part to be performed by Brown in this comprehensive scheme. 
 His crime cannot be excused or justified upon any pretext of 
 supposed conditions or of supposed circumstances. A condi- 
 tion of profound peace was prevailing throughout the entire 
 Territory when he laid his plans for this assault upon his neigh- 
 bors. The settlers in the region south of Douglas County were 
 living in a state of amity and neighborly interdependence; so 
 much so that Jason Brown and the members of the Pottawat- 
 omie Rifles, who started to go to Lawrence, and who expected 
 to be absent for an indefinite period of time, deemed it safe to 
 leave their families and their property in the care of, or at the 
 mercy of these same pro-slavery neighbors. Neither can the 
 crime be justified upon the ground that the robbery and the at- 
 tendant murders were acts of partisan or guerrilla warfare. Such 
 warfare is conducted in the open, with the knowledge and ap- 
 proval of the side to which the guerrillas belong; there is no 
 secrecy concerning their operations. But Brown robbed and 
 murdered in the night for his personal gain ; and sought by se- 
 cretly exchanging the loot to hide his identity therewith from 
 the world, and denied his participation in the crime to shield 
 himself from the wrath of his outraged friends and neighbors. 
 Neither can Brown's crime be compared to the execution of un- 
 desirable persons by vigilance committees, as some have at- 
 
ROBBERY AND MURDER 117 
 
 tempted to do. The swift vengeance of such committees falls 
 upon criminals — persons whose existence in a community is a 
 menace to public order and safety ; it is exercised by reputable 
 persons whose social and commercial interests are involved; 
 and in a public or semi-public manner, and after notice has been 
 served upon the offensive persons. It is simply monstrous to 
 conceive of a vigilance committee secretly murdering well-to-do 
 citizens — heads of families, engaged in legitimate occupations ; 
 and then stealing their property and dividing it up among them- 
 selves. Yet such is the logic of that comparison. 
 
 Also, it is gratuitous to assert that the persons who were 
 killed were disreputable. Wilkinson was the local postmaster, 
 and was, when assassinated, a meml^er of the Territorial Legis- 
 lature ; the Shennan brothers were successful horse dealers and 
 stock men. Concerning the Doyles. notwithstandirtg the ef- 
 forts which have been made to defame them, they seem to have 
 l)een decent, respectable, well-to-do settlers. Of them Mr. EW 
 Moore of Lawrence. Kansas, says: 
 
 William Doyle and his sons were good and desirable citi- 
 zens. In 1854-55 the elder Doyle and his oldest .son were 
 contractors for building the mission houses at Miami. Mi^- 
 souri. I never knew more quiet and industrious men. 1 
 was with them almost daily for a year and never heard either 
 of them utter a word of politics."* 
 
 They were not "jxior whites" as has l)een recently .said.'*" 
 If they had been poor; if they had not owned a lot of good 
 horses, they would not ha\e been murdered. The desperado 
 always appeared upon the fringe of our adwmcing settlements; 
 but he was neither a settler nor a home builder. The men who 
 were murdered and robbed had taken claims, had built homes, 
 and were living i)eaceably and honorably in them. They did 
 not in their lives exhibit the characteristics of the desperado, 
 but their assassins measure up to the part. They had no homes ; 
 
 *" Kansas Historical Collections, vol. xii, 345. 
 »*«Villard. 156. 
 
118 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 they were not cultivating the fertile soil of eastern Kansas; 
 they had abandoned their claims and were living upon their 
 wits; they were floaters who intended to leave the neighbor- 
 hood. These men wore the brands which distinguish the 
 desperado; they carried "slung-shots" ;^" they were swearing, 
 swaggering bullies ^*^ — *'rough-necks" — who infested that 
 border and preyed upon the home builders. 
 
 In the preface to his great book, Mx. Villard states that "to 
 Salmon Brown and Henry Thompson is due his ability to re- 
 cord for the first time the exact facts as to the happenings on the 
 Pottawatomie." It is evident that he was imposed upon by 
 these principals in the "happenings" ; for it is unfair to suppose 
 that he would withhold the facts from his publication if he ha<i 
 correct information in his possession concerning them. He has 
 written voluminously, and in a scholarly manner about this 
 episode, and has shown the inconsistency of a part of the brood 
 of fallacies which were conjured, and put forth as motives jus- 
 tifying Brown's conduct therein ; but he has not added any valu- 
 able fact to the narrative that was given out by Mr. Townsley 
 concerning it. 
 
 Mr. Townsley withheld the facts relating to the robbery and 
 the exchanging of the horses through confederates, for the per- 
 sonal reason that he did not desire to incriminate himself as a 
 horse thief. Salmon Brown and Henry Thompson had greater 
 reasons for withholding from Mr. Villard, and from the public, 
 the damning evidence of the brutal selfishness of this crime. 
 It was theirs rather to guard, jealously guard their father's 
 fame and to defend his memory ; and not to betray it by giving 
 up facts that would disclose the secret of his and of their own 
 dishonor. Statements made by criminals, concerning their 
 criminality, are not usually true. It is well enough to get such 
 statements, but it is the safer way not to attach much importance 
 
 1*1 Ante, note 90. 
 ^*'^Post, page 138. 
 
ROBBERY AND MURDER 119 
 
 to them. These men were not credible witnesses. John Brown, 
 himself, was a very unreliable witness upon any question 
 wherein his personal interests were involved : and was especially 
 so in relation to this incident; and these two men, as witnesses 
 in their own behalf, continually denied having any knowledge 
 of the facts herein, until Townsley gave out the secret of their 
 complicity with the murders. Salmon Brown wrote December 
 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 participant in the act. I was one of the 
 company at the time of the homicide, and never away from 
 him one hour at a time after we took up arms in Kansas ; 
 therefore, I say |xjsitively, that he was not a participator in 
 the deed, — although I should think none the less of him if 
 he had have been there ; for it was the grandest thing that 
 was ever done in Kansas. It was all that saved the Terri- 
 tory 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 tlierc 
 was as much riH)in to give blows as to take them. It was 
 done to save life and to strike terror tlirough their wicked 
 ranks. Yours resjK'Ctfully, 
 
 Sai.mo.v Brow .v. 
 
 Criminals who arc tried and judged upon testimony fur- 
 nished by themselves are usually ac(|uitted. In this important 
 case it is unfortunate that the distinguished author accepted 
 the .statements which these men made to him. as being the whole 
 truth, and th.it he certified them to the public aii<l wrote them 
 into history as the exact facts therein. 
 
 Salmon Brown and Henry Thompson could not fructify the 
 desert, but they held the secrets of the Pottawatomie, and if they 
 had revealed them to Mr. Villard instead of practicing a de- 
 
 '♦' Sanborn. 261. 
 
120 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 ception upon him, he would have written the history of the 
 tragedy differently. 
 
 But Mr. Villard was zealous in a quest for evidence that 
 would sustain the conception of the character of John Brown 
 which he desired to establish for him in history : a "complex 
 character," which only those can understand who hold a chart 
 upon the mysteries of the soul. He said : ^** 
 
 How may the killings on the Pottawatomie, this terrible 
 violation of the statute and the moral laws, be justified? This 
 is the question that has confronted every student of John 
 Brown's life since it was definitely established that Brown 
 was, if not actually a principal in the crime, an accessory and 
 an instigator. 
 
 It thus appears that it was not historical facts that he sought,, 
 but evidence that would counteract the force of the historical 
 facts already existing. It was a partisan zeal that led him to 
 seek the testimony of partisans. 
 
 To obtain a true understanding of John Brown, the man, 
 the student of his life must take up the threads of history that 
 lead to the character making incident of May 24th. Mr. Vil- 
 lard concedes this ^''^ but he made no effort to gather them up. 
 In a chapter of more than thirty pages, under the title, "The 
 Captain of the Liberty Guards," he refers only to the organiza- 
 tion of the company, and to Brown's two days' service with it at 
 Lawrence — December 7th and 8th, 1855. The disorganiza- 
 tion and abandonment of this company by Brown in the spring 
 of 1856, is of far greater significance in this history than the or- 
 ganization of it. In honor, as "Captain of the Liberty Guards 
 in the Fifth Regiment Kansas Volunteers," John Brown first 
 received the historic title of "Captain," and in dishonor he aban- 
 doned his commission three months later. 
 
 Back of every human action there is that which incites the 
 action, that which determines the choice or moves the will. 
 
 1** Villard, 170. 
 1*5 Villard, 176. 
 
ROBBERY AND MURDER 121 
 
 There was that back of the actions of John Brown, and of his 
 sons and confederates, that moved them to do what they did 
 on the night of the 24th of May. 1856; this inciting force was 
 motive. 
 
 John Brown had a motive for disbanding the Liberty Guards. 
 What was it? He had a motive for quitting the Free-State 
 army secretly. Why secretly? He had "no desire all things 
 considered, that the slave-power should cease from its acts of 
 aggression." Why should he not desire peace? He had a 
 purpose in view when he organized the Pottawatomie Rifles 
 under the command of his son, and a motive for organizing five 
 of his sons into a separate company : **a little company by our- 
 selves." What were the purposes? He wrote to his wife that 
 he contemplated leaving the neighborhood, but did not tell her 
 when he would leave, or why he expected to leave, or where he 
 intended to go. What motive prompted him to conceal from 
 her the facts in relation to a subject in which she was so in- 
 timately concerned ? 'i'he matters referred to here are "stones" 
 that have lain iti the path of this history for more than fifty 
 years which iiave ncjt heretofore l>een turned over. Salmon 
 Brown and Henry Thompson could have answered all these 
 questions correctly if they had been asked so to do. Also, they 
 could have cleared the atmosphere of the Pottawatomie of the 
 mcKkeries relating thereto, and of its gl.imour. which have been 
 f(jisted upon the public as history: and could have given to Mr. 
 Villard and to the public the exact facts concerning the rob- 
 beries, and brutal tragedies. It was the duty of Brown's his- 
 torians to take up these matters and to make clear interpreta- 
 tions of them. But, because of his personal pledge of fidelity 
 to the subject, it was especially incumbent upon the author of 
 fiftv Years After, to make kii(«wii the facts that these "stones" 
 were in the record, and to turn them over; and with an analysis 
 characteristic of his distinguished ability, make clear the essen- 
 tial truths which they covered ; for without a clear appreciation 
 
122 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 of them "a true understanding of Brown, the man, cannot be 
 reached." This he has not done; but has elected to conceal 
 these motive interpreting incidents from further historical re- 
 search. He has excluded from history the facts relating to this 
 period of Brown's life. It may be said of this biographer, that 
 having detemiined to issue a certificate of altruism for John 
 Brown, he did not wish to take up these threads of history and 
 follow them to their logical sequence: because they lead, un- 
 erringly, to the robberies and the murders which the Browns in- 
 tended to commit ; and expose, in the character of his hero, the 
 extremity of selfishness. 
 
 None of Brown's biographers has found it convenient to ex- 
 plain or to comment upon his letters of April 7th and June 16th, 
 although the first contains a personal statement that he in- 
 tended to do something of a dangerous nature, and the latter a 
 similar statement concerning dangerous things which he had 
 done. In their treatment of the Pottawatomie incident they 
 have written without regard to the restrictions and limitations 
 contained in these authenticated papers relating to the subject. 
 Mr. Redpath chose to proceed along the lines of the least resist- 
 ance. He suppressed both of these letters ; denied that Brown 
 had anything to do with the incident : and upon the "authority 
 of two witnesses" stated that "he was on Middle Creek twenty- 
 five miles distant, at the time." 
 
 Mr. Sanborn published both letters ; made no comment upon 
 the letter of April 7th, and, concerning the letter of June 26th 
 said : ^*^ 
 
 This is all that Brown says in his letter about the events 
 of that night in May when the Doyles were executed. Doubt- 
 less his text the next inorning was from the Book of Judg-es : 
 "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 morning, be- 
 . hold the altar of Baal was cast down. And they said one to 
 1*8 Sanborn, 237. 
 
ROBBERY AND MURDER 123 
 
 another, Who hath done this thing? And when they in- 
 quired and asked, they said, Gideon, the son of Joash, hath 
 done this thing." 
 
 By this expedient he placed the responsibiHty for the mur- 
 ders and the robbery upon the broad shoulders of the Almighty, 
 and presented the incident to the public as an interesting exhibit 
 in theological, metaphysical, and psychological phenomena. 
 He called the murders executions and said that the victims 
 "were first tried and found guilty ; given time to pray ; and were 
 then executed." 
 
 Following the example of James Redpath, Mr. Villard sup- 
 pressed the letter of April 7th ; and in view^ of his disregard for 
 the statements which Brown made in the letter of June 26th, he 
 might as well have suppressed that letter also. In it Brown re- 
 veals the fact that the band that executed the Pottawatomie hor- 
 ror was already organized when the alarm bells rang out from 
 Lawrence. He says that he and his sons "were a little com- 
 pany by ourselves. On our way to Lawrence we learned that it 
 had been already destroyed, and we camped with John's com- 
 pany over night. Next day our little company left and we 
 stopped and searched three men." This language certifies that 
 Brown's party moved independently of the Pottawatomie Rifles, 
 and that the camping "over night" with "John's company" was 
 but an incident of their march ; it certifies also that they were 
 highwaymen — robbers. 
 
 When men who have banded together during a time of peace, 
 subsequently commit acts of robbery, persons naturally suppose 
 that they united for the purpose of committing such acts, 
 and that the motives prompting them were selfish. So in this 
 case. If Mr. Villard had admitted that Brown organized his 
 little company as early as April, 1856, persons would think 
 that the men composing the company united to do the things 
 which they afterward did do ; and that the motives prompting 
 Brown and his sons to hold up and search men, on the 23d, and 
 
124 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 to steal these horses, were selfish. Therefore, he decided to re- 
 write this bit of history, and change the time of the organiza- 
 tion of Brown's company, and make it appear that it was formed 
 on May 23d, under the popular excitement and indignation ex- 
 isting on that day, that had been aroused by the Lawrence out- 
 rage ; and that the criminal acts included the murders only, and 
 that they were committed the next day, before the excitement 
 had cooled ; thus making it possible for him to assume that the 
 motives prompting these murders were unselfish. Contradict- 
 ing what Brown said in his letter of June 26th, relating to the 
 time when his band was organized, Mr. Villard makes the fol- 
 lowing remarkable statement : ^^ 
 
 About noon, May 23, John Brown selected for his party 
 
 Henry Thompson, Theodore Weiner, and four sons, Owen, 
 
 Frederick, Salmon and Oliver. 
 
 The author herein could not otherwise than have known that 
 this statement was a contradiction of the truth, a falsification of 
 the record, and a perversion of history. It is a clear contradic- 
 tion of a vital point in the authenticated record concerning the 
 history of the organization of this historic company. It is a 
 direct assault upon an established historical fact. 
 
 Following this statement the author proceeds to repeat the 
 fictions, theretofore put forth, concerning the grinding of the 
 sabres for the party, and of the publicity given to the prepara- 
 tions for leaving the camp, and of the departure of the expedi- 
 tion "with the shouts of their comrades ringing in their ears." 
 And, in support of this perversion of history he publishes an il- 
 logical, and scurrilous statement prepared for the purpose by 
 Salmon Brown. ^*^ 
 
 Secrecy was characteristic of all Brown's planning. To 
 
 the Gileadites he had written : "Let no man appear upon the 
 
 ground unequipped or with his weapons exposed to view. Your 
 
 1*7 Villard, 153. 
 "8 Villard, 152. 
 
ROBBERY AND MURDER 125 
 
 plans must be known only to yourself." Brown's expedition 
 herein had for its object the accomplishment of an atrocity, 
 conspicuous for its cowardice and selfish brutality ; a crime that 
 involved the honor, as w^ell as the lives, of every person who was 
 connected with it. The grinding of sabres usually signifies an 
 intention to cut somebody to death. The men of this party in- 
 tended to murder their victims quietly with swords; and had 
 planned, long before the date of this supposed occasion, how to 
 conceal their connection with the cutting, and therefore did not 
 thus advertise their undertaking. There was no "enthusiasm" 
 in the camp of the Pottawatomie Rifles two days later, when a 
 messenger "came tearing into it, — his horse panting and lath- 
 ered with foam, — and without dismounting yelled out : 'Five 
 men have been killed on Pottawatomie Creek, butchered and 
 most brutally mangled, and old John Brown has done it.' " "^ 
 No "cheering," such as "you never heard," greeted this an- 
 nouncement. There was excitement, but not the "wild excite- 
 ment" and enthusiasm of victory. There were no cheers for 
 John Brown and his "avengers." There was, how'ever, the 
 deeper excitement of indignation and resentment against the 
 tribe of Browns. Instead of adopting resolutions and present- 
 ing them to Captain John Brown, Jr., congratulating him upon 
 the prompt and splendid achievements of his father's expedi- 
 tion, a drum-head court martial was convened in the camp of 
 the Pottawatomie Rifles, which stripped him of his command 
 and dismissed him in disgrace from the company ; First Lieuten- 
 ant H. H. Williams being elected captain to succeed him. Jason 
 Brown said : 
 
 This information caused great excitement and fear among 
 
 the men of our company and a feeling arose against John and 
 
 myself that led the men all to desert us.^^° 
 
 If Jason Brown, "whose hatred of blood-letting had deprived 
 i*9Villard, 151. 
 
126 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 him of his father's confidence," when violent deeds were under 
 way/"^ "had devoted" himself to sharpening the cutlasses in 
 John's camp May 23d, as stated by Mr. Villard,'^'- he would 
 have known that "blood-letting" was to ensue; and the news 
 that blood had been shed, would not have come to him as a 
 shock — '* 'the worst shock' that ever came to him in his 
 life." ^^^ Nor would he have "tremblingly" demanded of his 
 father on the night of the 25th : "Did you have anything to do 
 with the killing of those men on the Pottawatomie?" For he 
 would not only have known that there were to be killings, and 
 who were to be killed, but he would have been a party to them, 
 and to the robbery. He would have known all about what was 
 to happen. But to his eternal credit let it be said that his 
 father and brothers had not taken him into their confidence in 
 this matter. Townsley, in his confession, said nothing about 
 the calling for volunteers, and the grinding of sabres, although 
 it is probable that his connection with Brown's scheme began 
 on May 23d, as he stated. 
 
 There were suspicious circumstances which tended to incrim- 
 inate the Brown party ; but the facts that the horses which were 
 stolen had been run out of the country, while the Browns re- 
 mained in the neighborhood, and did not have the murdered 
 men's horses in their possession, were potent in allaying these 
 suspicions, and gave them an opportunity to deny their guilt. 
 But if the sensational scenes of calling for volunteers for a hos- 
 tile purpose, and the sharpening of their sabres had actually 
 occurred, they would have had no possible defense. This evi- 
 dence would have connected them directly with the crime, and 
 it would have been published immediately upon the return of 
 the resentful Pottawatomie Rifles to their homes at Osawat- 
 omie and on the Pottawatomie. Whereas the resolutions 
 
 1^1 It has heretofore been supposed that John Brown's career of vio- 
 lence began with the tragedies on the Pottawatomie. 
 i52ViIlard, 153. 
 i53Villard, 165. 
 
ROBBERY AND MURDER 127 
 
 adopted at the mass-meeting of citizens at Osawatomie May 
 27th, refer to "midnight assassins unknown ;" and on May 31st, 
 Mr. James H. Carruth wrote to the Watertown (New York) 
 Reformer : 
 
 . . . It was murder nevertheless and the Free-State 
 men here co-operate with the pro-slavery men in endeavoring 
 to arrest the murderers. 
 
 In his statement of the facts as to the happenings on the Pot- 
 tawatomie, Mr. Villard makes one sole reference to the rob- 
 beries that happened. It is, that when Owen Brown had been 
 denounced by his uncle, the Rev. Mr. Adair of Osawatomie, 
 on the 26th, as a "vile murderer," and was refused admission to 
 his home, that "he rode away on one of the murdered men's 
 horses." Except for this and another incidental reference to 
 theft, the reader of fifty Years After would not be informed 
 that any robbery had been committed ; and even this statement 
 is artfully written. It is incorrect and misleading. It conceals 
 a thread in this history which would, if exposed, unmask the 
 selfishness that prompted this crime : Owen Brown rode away 
 on one of the "fast Kentucky horses" which John Brown re- 
 ceived i}i exchange for the "murdered men's horses." 
 
 Mr. Villard assumes that Brown's motives for committing 
 the murders herein, and stealing these horses, were unselfish ; a 
 grace that should logically apply to the swaggering, swearing 
 infidels whom he directed. In a summary of his conclusions he 
 says : ^^* 
 
 Fired with indignation at the wrongs he witnessed on ev- 
 ery hand, impelled by the Covenanter's spirit that made him 
 so strange a figure in the nineteenth century, and believing 
 fully that there should be an eye for an eye and a tooth for a 
 tooth, he killed his men in the conscientious belief that he was 
 a faithful servant of Kansas and of the Lord. He killed not 
 to kill, but to free; not to make wives widows and children 
 fatherless, but to attack on its own ground the hideous insti- 
 
 154 Villard, 185-188. 
 
128 JOHN BROWX : A CRITIQUE 
 
 tution of human slavery, against which his whole life was a 
 protest. He pictured himself a modern crusader as much 
 empowered to remove the unbeliever as any armoured 
 searcher after the Grail. It was to his mind a righteous and 
 necessary act ; if he concealed his part in it and always took 
 refuge in half-truth that his own hands were not stained, 
 that was as near to a compromise for the sake of policy as 
 this rigid, self-denying Roundhead ever came. Naturally a 
 tender-hearted man, he directed a particularly shocking 
 crime without remorse, because the men killed typified to him 
 the slave-drivers who counted their victims by the hundreds. 
 It was to him a necessary carrying into Africa of the war in 
 which he firmly desired himself engaged. And always it 
 must not be forgotten that his motives were wholly unselfish, 
 and that his aims were none other than the freeing of a race. 
 With his ardent, masterful temperament, he needed no coun- 
 sel from a Lane or a Robinson to make him ready to strike a 
 blow, or to tell him that the time for it had come. The smoke 
 of burning Lawrence was more than sufificient. 
 
 From the point of view of ethics, John Brown's crime on 
 the Pottawatomie cannot be successfully palliated or excused. 
 It must ever remain a complete indictment of his judgment 
 and wisdom ; a dark blot upon his memory ; a proof that, 
 however self-controlled, he had neither true respect for the 
 laws nor for human life, nor a knowledge that two wrongs 
 never make a right. Call him a Cromwellian trooper with 
 the Old Testament view of the way of treating one's ene- 
 mies, as did James Freeman Clarke, if you please ; it is never- 
 theless true that Brown lived in the nineteenth century and 
 was properly called upon to conform to its standard of morals 
 and right living. 
 
 For John Brown no pleas can be made that will enable him 
 to escape coming before the bar of historical judgment. 
 There his wealth of self-sacrifice, and the nobility of his aims, 
 do not avail to prevent a complete condemnation of his bloody 
 crime at Pottawatomie, or a just penalty for his taking hu- 
 man life without warrant or authority. If he deserves to 
 
ROBBERY AND MURDER 129 
 
 live in history, it is not because of his cruel, gruesome, repre- 
 hensible acts on the Pottawatomie, but despite them. 
 Conceptions of the distinguishing traits in Brown's character 
 are widely divergent ; a divergence not attributable to a ''blind 
 prejudice." Those who knew him best did not have the exalted 
 opinions of the nobility of his aims, or of the sublimity of his 
 humanity, that inspired his eulogists and biographers. Prom- 
 inent among the dissenters was John Brown himself. As late 
 as March 31, 1857, he did not personally understand that what 
 he had been doing in Kansas was either sentimental, patriotic, 
 or romantic. It had not occurred to him that he had been im- 
 pelled by the covenanter's spirit, or that he was a crusader, 
 either ancient or modern. On that date, replying to a letter 
 that he had received from his wife, in which she infonned him 
 that "his sons were now inclined to give up war and remain at 
 North Elba," he said : ''' 
 
 I have only to say as regards the resolution of the boys to 
 "learn and practice war no more," that it was not at my so- 
 licitation that they engaged 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 in their day what is more to be dreaded 
 if such things do not now exist. 
 
 Judged in the light of what has been already shown concern- 
 ing Brown's activities, this letter is fatal to any theor>' that he 
 was instigated by other than sordid motives when he engaged in 
 his course of crime. So j udged it is an acknowledgment by him- 
 self that what he and his sons had been engaged in, in Kansas, 
 w^as "business," simply business. Also, that it was disreputable ; 
 and he sought to absolve himself from any responsibility for 
 their participation therein, by denying that it was at his solicita- 
 tion "that they engaged in it at first." By the declaration that 
 what he had been doing w^as repulsive to him, John Brown dis- 
 credits every altruistic theory which has been put forth in exten- 
 155 Sanborn, 388. 
 
130 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 uation of his crimes, or in justification of his actions. It is evi- 
 dence that it was his hands, and not his heart, that were enHsted 
 in his operations. A man inspired by the righteousness of a 
 cause is not moved to make apology for having invited others to 
 engage in it with him. If he had beheved that in these murders 
 and robberies lie liad been acting as a faithful servant of Kan- 
 sas, and of the Lord, he would have proudly asserted his con- 
 viction, and would have defended his conduct upon the high 
 grounds of duty, loyalty, and humanity. 
 
 Mr. Geo, B. Gill was one who knew Brown better than any 
 of his panegyrists knew him — Mr. Sanborn not excepted. 
 Upon him he practiced no hypocritical pretensions. He was 
 honored by Brown with a place in his cabinet, as secretary of 
 the treasury, under the "Provisional Government of the United 
 States," which he organized in Canada in 1858; and was one of 
 the generals, in embryo, who was to command the Army of the 
 Invasion. In a letter (not heretofore published j^^'^ w'ritten 
 from Milan, Kansas, July 7, 1893, to Colonel Robert J. Hinton, 
 author of John Brozvn and His Men, Mr. Gill expressed, confi- 
 dentially, his opinion of Brown's personality. He said : 
 My dear friend: 
 
 It seems that all great men have their foibles or what we 
 in our differences from them call their weaknesses. "A man 
 is never a hero to his valet" and I am about to give you an 
 expression of truthfulness which I have never given to any 
 one yet. ... I admit that I am sadly deficient as a God 
 or hero worshipper. . . . And the man who may do his 
 fellows the most good may be far from the goody-goody, 
 but may be personally absolutely offensive. 
 
 My intimate acquaintance with Brown demonstrated to me 
 that he was very human ; the angel wings were so dim and 
 shadowy as to be almost unseen. Very superstitious, very 
 selfish and very intolerant, with great self esteem. . . . 
 He could not brook a rival. At first he was very fond of 
 138 Kansas Historical Society, Hinton Papers. 
 
ROBBERY AND MURDER 131 
 
 Montgomery, but when he found that Montgomery had 
 thoughts of his own, and could not be dictated to, why, he 
 loved him no longer. Montgomery, Lane and all others 
 went down before his imperial self. He was intolerant in 
 little things and in little ways, for instance, his drink was 
 tea, others wanted coffee. He would wrangle and compel 
 them to drink tea or nothing, as he was cook and would not 
 make coffee for them. I had it from Owen in a quiet way 
 and from other sources in quite a loud way that in his family 
 his methods were of the most arbitrary kind. ... I have 
 known Stevens to sometimes raise merry hell when the old 
 man would get too dictatorial. He was iron and had neither 
 sympathy or feeling for the timid or weak of will. Not- 
 withstanding claims to the contrary, he was essentially vin- 
 dictive in his nature. Just before we left Kansas, during a 
 trip that Brown and myself were some days away from the 
 _ rest, the boys arrested a man. ( I think by the name of 
 Jackson.) Montgomery gave him a trial and he was re- 
 leased by general consent as not meriting punishment. When 
 we returned Brown was furious because the man had not 
 been shot. ... It seems hard and cruel in me to tell you 
 of Brown^s individuality as I have told you, yet it seemed to 
 me that you, perhaps the last writer on the theme, should 
 know all, whether it be any use to you or not. . . . 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 George B. Gill. 
 There is nothing in Mr. Gill's pen picture of John Brown that 
 suggests to the mind a "misplaced Crusader," or a "self-deny- 
 ing Roundhead," a "Cromwellian trooper" or an "armored 
 searcher for the Grail ;" but there is that in it which does sug- 
 gest a man of low instincts, trifling and contentious about little 
 things ; of a vindictive and quarrelsome disposition ; inordin- 
 ately selfish, inhuman and intolerant. It is for the reader to 
 detennine which of the two estimates of the man is entitled to 
 credit. 
 
 In view of the facts presented herein, this much debated 
 
132 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 event in Brown's life cannot be considered, abstractedly, as a 
 study in altruism ; but as a premeditation in robbery, to which 
 the murders were incidental. 
 
 The movement to execute the Pottawatomie robbery began 
 when Brown and his sons left their homes on the evening of 
 May 21st, ostensibly to engage in the defense of Lawrence. 
 They did not belong to the Pottawatomie Rifles. That was, 
 says John Brown, the company of which "Jol^^'^ was Captain" 
 and to which Jason belonged. The six were "a little company 
 by themselves." This party did not intend to go to Lawrence. 
 They had matters of a personal nature to attend to. After 
 camping "with John's company over night" they left his camp 
 and retracing their steps, proceeded to a secluded spot, about a 
 mile from the scene of their prospective operations ; where they 
 remained thirty hours, awaiting, doubtless, the arrival of their 
 confederates with the northern horses. The owners of the 
 horses that were to be stolen stood in the pathway of the thieves 
 and they thrust them aside in death. If Brown and his band 
 "killed these men in the conscientious belief that they were 
 faithful servants of the Lord and of Kansas," then they stole 
 these horses in the same exalted inspiration. The theft of the 
 horses cannot be put in harmony with any theory of either pa- 
 triotism or humanity. The murders have been defended, quite 
 successfully, from a spiritual point of view ; but there is nothing 
 spiritual in horse-trading, nor is there anything in horse-steal- 
 ing which appeals to the tender susceptibilities of our nature, or 
 to the refinements of life. It is impossible, by any contortions 
 of the imagination, to conceive of anything aesthetic, altruistic, 
 or spiritual being connected with a horse trade wherein all the 
 horses involved in the trade have been stolen, and the trade is 
 being made between the thieves, even though some of the thieves 
 be murderers. The event herein was a plain case of murder 
 and robbery, deliberately planned and executed under most re- 
 volting circumstances. "Murder is murder" and robbery is 
 
ROBBERY AND MURDER 133 
 
 robbery, therefore this combining incident cannot be accepted 
 as an exhibit in metaphysics. The victims of these men were 
 not murdered and their horses taken in behalf of Kansas and of 
 the Lord, but for tlie exckisive benefit of the Browns and their 
 associates in the crime ; they were not moved to "murder these 
 men and boys" by any "sudden overpowering impulse" excited 
 by the spectacle of burning Lawrence ; but by a brutal desire 
 to get possession of their horses. Brown was impatient of the 
 cruel fortune that kept him, as he tersely stated it, "like a toad 
 under a harrow," and he detemiined to break asunder the chains 
 that bound him within his environment of poverty, and to seek 
 relief from their fetters in a life of crime ; a decision due to "an 
 outgrowth of his restlessness and the usual desire of the bank- 
 rupt for a sudden coup to restore his fortune." 
 
 If the robbery on the Pottawatomie were undertaken and exe- 
 cuted in behalf of the Free-State cause, then all the horses which 
 the Browns stole during the time they remained in Kansas, were 
 stolen from motives of patriotism and humanity. The tenn 
 "attacking slavery" was a joke in the vocabulary of these 
 bandits. The theft of a horse was spoken of, wittily, as an 
 "attack upon slavery" or as "fighting for freedom." 
 
 On page 122 Mr. Villard stoutly says : "Where John Brown 
 was, he led." Did he lead in these midnight murders? Were 
 his methods and conduct throughout this bloody affair those of 
 a hero inspired by a devotion to humanity and by the nobility of 
 his aims ; or were they characteristic of the assassin and thief, 
 who kills and robs under cover of the night and hides his identity 
 by flight? In view of his actions as set forth herein, it is vio- 
 lently illogical to suppose that in planning to murder these set- 
 tlers and steal their horses. Brown's motives were unselfish ; and 
 that he was moved by the higher impulses of altruism. Yet 
 such are the assumptions of his biographers. 
 
 A public sentiment in sympathy with "the men in bondage," 
 and excited by the fierce storm of sectional animosity prevail- 
 
134 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 ing during the later fifties, created, of John Brown, an altru- 
 istic hero ; and his biographers have been diligent and successful 
 in perpetuating the fiction. When these murders were commit- 
 ted, had the public known that they were executed in pro- 
 moting the robbery of these settlers; and that Brown and his 
 sons were a band of thieves, working jointly with another party 
 of thieves ; and that they intended to continue their thieving op- 
 erations while they remained in the Territory; the metamor- 
 phosis of John Brown, the criminal into John Brown, the hero, 
 would have been impossible. History would have dealt differ- 
 ently with him. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 BLACK JACK 
 
 There is a tide in the affairs of men zvhich taken at the 
 flood leads on to fortune. — Julius Caesar, act iv 
 
 The tide in Free-State sentiment was soon to flow strongly 
 in Brown's favor. He had wisely deferred the execution of 
 his "sudden coup" on the Pottawatomie, until a time when public 
 attention would be distracted from a close observance and in- 
 quiry into his actions. In the flames of burning Lawrence he 
 saw the fruition of his hopes. The storm of passion awakened 
 by the outrages there, swept by the malignant winds of revenge, 
 spread and lighted the fires of partisan spirit and partisan hate 
 in the hearts of the Free-State men, to the borders of the re- 
 motest prairie. They were aroused and united in their common 
 cause, as never before, and were prepared not only to condone 
 any outrages that might be committed upon pro-slavery men, 
 but to approve of them. In this spirit they received the news 
 of the "murder on the Pottawatomie" and congratulated the 
 murderers. But when Brown won his victory over Captain 
 Pate at Black Jack and humiliated that boasting aggravation of 
 border rufiianism, they went wild in their enthusiasm for him 
 and his name was upon every tongue. The criminal of the age 
 became the hero of the hour. Had Brown sought to serv^e the 
 cause of Freedom, and to engage the forces of slavery at "close 
 quarters," he would have been carried to leadership upon the 
 crest of the wave of Free-State enthusiasm which then swept 
 over the Territory. But such was neither his intention nor his 
 ambition. It was sordid gain which he sought — that, and that 
 
136 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 only. Free booty, and not Free Kansas, was the slogan in the 
 Brown camp. 
 
 May 26th Brown received some reenforcements. August 
 Bondi and A. O. Carpenter joined the band. Bondi was a 
 member of the Pottawatomie Rifles ; also, he was an associate 
 with Benjamin. Carpenter, it is said, knew of a safe hiding 
 place. The retreat to which he invited the party was in a se- 
 cluded ravine, opening into Ottawa Creek bottom, in the vicinity 
 of Palmyra, some twenty miles northward. The flight of the 
 Browns, during the night of the 26th, from their concealment 
 on Middle Creek, to the more secure hiding place on Ottawa 
 Creek, is thus described by Mr. Bondi. He says : ^" 
 
 There were ten of us — Captain Brown, Owen, Frederick, 
 Salmon and Oliver Brown ; Henry Thompson, Theodore 
 Weiner, James Townsley, Carpenter and myself. . . . 
 The three youngest men, Salman Brown, Oliver and I — 
 rode without saddles. By order of Captain Brown, Fred 
 Brown rode first, Owen and Carpenter next ; ten paces be- 
 hind them. Old Brown ; and the rest of us behind him two 
 and two. . . . 
 
 It will be observed that the little company of six which was 
 on foot on the 24th, was now mounted ; and the fact that Bondi 
 rode without a saddle, indicates that his mount was not his own 
 property, but that it had been furnished by the Browns. It 
 thus appears that they had seven horses in their possession, 
 exclusive of the fast running horse in the hands of John 
 Brown, Jr. 
 
 Another incident therein related reflects some historical light 
 upon the state of Brown's mind at the time. Generally, the 
 leader of such a party rides at the head of it. On this occasion 
 Brown assigned to himself a position of safety in the line of 
 march not consistent with the reputation he earned later as a 
 fighter ; or with the biographical axiom : "Where John Brown 
 was, he led." Danger was imminent on the route of this col- 
 1^^ Sanborn, 293. 
 
BLACK JACK 137 
 
 limn. But Brown did not lead. His conduct can only be ac- 
 counted for upon the hypothesis that a man cannot be a thief 
 and a hero at the same time. The subject of personal safety, 
 by Highf, was uppermost in Brown's mind. His study was 
 how to escape from the country with his booty. He was flee- 
 ing, under cover of the night, from the wrath of his fellow citi- 
 zens, and from the officers of the law whom he suspected might 
 be upon his trail. He was in the role of a thief, pure and 
 simple, and he acted the part. June 1st, under very much al- 
 tered circumstances, his conduct was different. Having been 
 encouraged to fight, he had made an honorable alliance with 
 Captain Shore, and had started from his hiding place to join 
 him in a contemplated attack upon a party of Alissourians, then 
 in the vicinity, to effect the arrest of the Browns. This march 
 is also described by Bondi : ^^^ 
 
 Still in the best of spirits, and with our appetites still bet- 
 ter, just whetted by a scant breakfast, we followed Captain 
 Brown, — he alone remaining serious, and riding silent at 
 our front. 
 
 Continuing his narrative of the all-night ride, Bondi says 
 
 that about 4 o'clock on the morning of May 27th, they reached 
 
 the secluded spot, on Ottawa Creek, which Carpenter had in- 
 
 ■ dicated as a safe place for camping; in the midst of a primeval 
 
 wood, perhaps half a mile deep to the edge of the creek. 
 
 Whether by premeditation or otherwise, the party lost no 
 time from the pursuit of the purposes of their organization. 
 During the afternoon of that day they went to the store of Mr. 
 J. M. Bernard, at St. Bernard, or Centropolis, and helped them- 
 selves to such goods as pleased their fancy; principally blankets 
 and clothing, and, returning next day they carried away, prac- 
 tically, the remainder of the stock. The value of the goods 
 taken amounted to probably $3,000.^^^ 
 
 158 Sanborn, 298. 
 
 ^^^ Howard Report. Testimony of Thomas S. Hamilton. 
 
138 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 June 19, 1856, Mr. John Miller testified concerning the rob- 
 bery of Mr. Bernard's store, as follows : 
 
 I was at St. Bernard on Tuesday, May 27th, 1856. I was 
 in the store (J. M. Bernard's) with Mr. Davis. Whilst 
 there a party of 13 men came to the store on horseback, 
 armed with Sharp's rides, revolvers and bowie knives. They 
 inquired for Mr. Hertiard. I told them he had gone to West- 
 port. One of them said to me, "You are telling a God damn 
 lie," and drew up his gun at me. They called for such goods 
 as they wanted and made Mr. Davis and me hand them out 
 and said if we didn't hurry they would shoot us — they had 
 their gims ready. After they had got the goods they wanted 
 — principally, blankets and clothing — they packed them 
 upon their horses and went away. . . . On the next 
 evening, a party of 14 men came to the store on horseback. 
 Thirteen of the party I recognized as the same that came to 
 the store the day before and the other man I knew — William 
 S. Ewitt is his name — and who I know is a Free-State man. 
 They had a wagon along with them. They came into the 
 store each having his gun ready. Some carried goods and 
 some put the goods in the wagon. . . . They also took 
 away with them Mr. Bernard's two large horses and three 
 saddles and two bridles and nearly all the provisions that 
 were there — bacon and flour and other provisions. They 
 asked Mr. Davis for all the money he had in the store. 
 There were but 4 dollars in the drawer which he handed to 
 them. When they first came they looked up at the sign and 
 said they would like to shoot at the name.^"" 
 
 An incident of vast importance to John Brown occurred in 
 his secure retreat. What he then needed above all other earthly 
 things, was a friend who could and would create a diversion in 
 his behalf and present his case in a favorable light to the world. 
 Here he met James Redpath, a correspondent for the New 
 York Tribune, and other newspapers. Redpath had come to in- 
 terview Brown, and to get a story for the press. Just how 
 
 100 Howard Report, 1178. 
 
BLACK JACK 139 
 
 Redpath happened to know that Brown was due to arrive at that 
 time, at that particular point on Ottawa Creek, is not pubhcly 
 known ; but he knew of it, and was there awaiting his arrival. '"^^ 
 The location of Brown's hiding place was so well concealed 
 that Captain Pate, in pursuit of the Browns northward, passed 
 by without discovering it ; and Redpath, notwithstanding he had 
 explicit directions, lost his way and had difficulty in finding the 
 place. His description of the camp is as follows : 
 
 I shall not soon forget the scene that here opened to my 
 view. Near the edge of the creek a dozen horses were tied, 
 all ready saddled for a ride for life, or a hunt after southern 
 invaders. A dozen rifles and sabres were stacked against 
 the trees. In an open space, amid the shady and lofty woods, 
 there was a great blazing fire with a pot on it ; a woman, 
 bareheaded, with an honest, sun-burnt face, was picking 
 blackberries from the bushes ; three or four armed men 
 were lying on red and blue blankets on the grass ; and two 
 fine looking youths were standing, leaning on their arms, 
 on guard near by. One of them was the youngest son of 
 Old Brown, and the other was "Charley," the brave Hun- 
 garian, who was subsequently murdered at Osawatomie. 
 Old Brown himself stood near the fire, with his shirt sleeves 
 rolled up, and a large piece of pork in his hand. He was 
 cooking a pig. He was poorly clad, and his toes protruded 
 from his boots. The old man received me with great cor- 
 diality, and the little band gathered about me. But it was 
 for a moment only, for the Captain ordered them to renew 
 their work. He respectfully but firmly forbade conversa- 
 tion on the Pottawatomie affair, and said, that, if I desired 
 any information from the company in relation to their con- 
 duct or intention, he, as their captain, would answer for 
 them whatever it was proper to communicate. ^'^- 
 
 Redpath remained for an hour in Brown's camp, an hour of 
 
 i«i Redpath received the information, probably, from either John E. 
 Cook or Charles Lenhart. 
 162 Redpath, 112. 
 
140 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 importance to Brown, the most fortunate hour of his Hfe. Red- 
 path not only pledged to him his professional support, but as- 
 sured him that the Free-State men would defend him, and 
 promised to have the formidable "Stubbs" Rifle Company, 
 armed with Sharp's rifles, march immediately to his relief. At 
 the close of the intenaew he returned to Lawrence and began 
 his vivid exploitation of Brown in the Territorial and Northern 
 press. He succeeded in stemming the current of condemna- 
 tion of the Pottawatomie murders which came sweeping up 
 from Osawatomie, and turned the tide of Free-State opinion to 
 Brown's advantage. He was thereafter Brown's foremost rep- 
 resentative, and became his first and most lurid biographer. 
 
 While the incidents herein related were occurring in Brown's 
 camp, the murderers of the pro-slavery men were being dili- 
 gently sought for by voluntary pro-slavery partisans, as well 
 as by the Territorial authorities. The flight of the Browns 
 caused the finger of suspicion to point to them as the guilty 
 persons ; and when Captain Pate at the head of a party of Mis- 
 sourians came into the Osawatomie district, and found out what 
 had happened there, he proceeded to carry off or burn all the 
 available property of the Browns and their allies — Weiner 
 and Bondi. He then followed the trail of the Browns and ar- 
 rived in the vicinity of their camp on Ottawa Creek, May 31st. 
 Brown, in the meantime, encouraged by the arrangements he 
 had made with Redpath, and the prospect of substantial assist- 
 ance, abandoned the idea of further flight and determined to 
 fight, and if possible, capture his pursuers. With Pate's com- 
 pany of twenty-five men, there were as many horses, and prob- 
 ably a dozen mules, besides arms, provisions, and other plunder ; 
 all of which looked good to the plunder band. 
 
 The Free-State men in that neighborhood had organized a 
 military company, the "Prairie City Rifles." It was under the 
 command of Captain S. T. Shore, and numbered eighteen men. 
 Shore agreed to "mobilize" his company, and unite his force 
 
BLACK JACK 141 
 
 with Brown's party of ten, and to attack Pate, by surprise, in 
 his camp. An attack of this character upon undiscipHned men, 
 was practically certain of success. The command was given 
 to Brown, and at daylight on the morning of June 2d, the com- 
 bined forces opened fire upon the front and right flank of the 
 astonished "invaders." The attack was creditable, especially 
 to Brown, who planned it, and who preserved his poise, and dis- 
 played all the skill and courage necessary in such an engage- 
 ment. He was fighting for his existence, and for spoils, and 
 won the battle without loss of life on either side. After an 
 hour or two of desultory firing. Pate surrendered uncondi- 
 tionally. The total casualties were four men wounded, two in 
 Pate's command, and one each in Brown's and Shore's com- 
 panies. Brown took possession of all Pate's horses and other 
 property, and held his men as prisoners until June 5th, when 
 Colonel E. V. Sumner, First United States Cavalry, arrived 
 upon the scene and separated the belligerents. He restored to 
 Pate his horses, and such other property belonging to him as he 
 could find, and ordered all of the "companies" to disband and 
 return to their homes. 
 
 In view of the losses sustained by the parties engaged in the 
 battle, it seems as though the fighting was conducted along con- 
 servative lines. Brown's account of it to his wife reads as 
 
 follows : 
 
 Near Brown's Station K. T. June 1856. 
 Dear Wife and Children, Everyone: 
 
 . . . The cowardly mean conduct of Osawatomie and 
 vicinity did not save them; 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, burned John's and Jason's houses, and 
 their contents to ashes; in which burning we have all suf- 
 fered more or less. Orson and boy have been prisoners, 
 but were soon set at liberty. They are well, and have not 
 been seriously injured. Owen and I have just come here 
 
142 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 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 fam- 
 ilies. After burning the houses, this selfsame 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. I had omitted to say that some 
 murders had been committed at the time Lawrence was 
 sacked. 
 
 On learning that this party was in pursuit of us. my little 
 company, now increased to ten in all, started after them in 
 company of a Captain Shore, with eighteen men, he included' 
 (June 1). We were all mounted as we traveled. We did 
 not meet them on that day, but took five prisoners, four of 
 whom were their scouts, and well armed. We were out all 
 night, but could find nothing of them until 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 principal 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 to fire, both his men and 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 com- 
 pelled them to hide in a ravine. Captain Shore after getting 
 one man wounded and exhausted his ammunition, came with 
 part of his men to the right of my position, much discour- 
 aged. The balance of his men, including the one wounded. 
 
BLACK JACK 143 
 
 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. 1 
 was obliged to give my consent that he should go after more 
 help, when all his men left but eight, four of whom I per- 
 suaded 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 or three hours. Captain Pate with 
 twenty-three men, two badly wounded, laid down their arms 
 to nine men, myself included, — four to Captain Shore's men 
 and four to my own. One of my men (Henry Thompson) 
 was badly wounded, and after continuing 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 he and Henry are fast recovering.^®^. . 
 
 I ought to have said that Captain Shore and his men stood 
 their ground nobly in their unfortunate but mistaken posi- 
 tion during the early part of the fight. I ought to say fur- 
 ther that a Captain Abbott, 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. . . . 
 
 Your affectionate husband and father, 
 
 John Brown. 
 "Articles of Surrender" signed by Captains Brown, Shore, 
 and Pate, and his lieutenant, W. B. Brockett, provided for an 
 exchange of prisoners, stipulating that Brown's sons — John 
 
 163 The character of Salmon's wound and the nature of the exploit on 
 which he was engaged when he received it, have not been made public. 
 
144 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 and Jason — then prisoners, were to be exhanged for Pate and 
 Brockett respectively. It also provided that the side arms of 
 each person exchanged were to be returned, also the horses, 
 "so far as practicable." 
 
 An important incident at Black Jack was the failure of the 
 deputy United States marshal, Wm. J. Preston, to arrest the 
 Browns. He had warrants for their arrest for the murders on 
 the Pottawatomie, and came with Sumner to accomplish it. 
 The Colonel notified Brown that they would be ser\'ed in his 
 presence, but when ordered by Sumner to proceed, the marshal 
 said : ''I do not recognize any one for whom I have war- 
 rants," to which the Colonel replied : "Then what are you here 
 for?" ^®* A man of Brown's years and experience and courage 
 is a dangerous animal when thus situated. That a tragedy was 
 impending is more than probable. At any rate, Preston quailed 
 under the hostile look which Brown fixed upon him. What 
 would have happened if the marshal had attempted to make the 
 arrests, none can say, but Preston decided not to mix up in a 
 tragedy. 
 
 Another incident in the affair of historical importance was 
 the presence of John E. Cook, as a guest in Brown's camp. 
 None of Brown's biographers has referred to this incident, but 
 the fact appears in Cook's confession heretofore quoted from. 
 It will be difficult for anyone to account for Cook's presence 
 there, at that psychological moment, upon any hypothesis other 
 than that he was there by virtue of an invitation from Brown, or 
 other notice or understanding with him. It follows, presump- 
 tively, that this was not the first time they had met, and that 
 they were mutually interested in the problem which Brown had 
 under consideration : how to get away, safely, with the horses 
 and mules which he had taken from Pate. The final clause of 
 the last sentence in the "Articles of Surrender," foreshadows 
 the possibility, or probability, that some of the horses might 
 
 io*Villard, 210. 
 
BLACK JACK 145 
 
 be missing later on, and gives credit to the suspicion, or as- 
 sumption, that Cook liad come to the camp to run the stock off 
 north and turn it into money, as had been done with the Pot- 
 tawatomie horses. That the horses and mules herein were not 
 run off immediately, and disposed of, was doubtless due to the 
 negotiations that were pending for the liberation of Brown's 
 sons. He probably thought that a theft of the horses would 
 be construed as a violation of the terms of the surrender, and 
 might prevent the exchange of prisoners that he hoped to ef- 
 fect. But whatever his hopes and his plans may have been, 
 they were all dissipated and broken up by a fly that unexpectedly 
 dropped into the ointment of his calculations : the arrival upon 
 the scene of Sumner, with his cavalry. He spoiled everything. 
 First he made Brown give back to Pate's men all the property 
 he had taken from them, or as much of it as was visible, and 
 then peremptorily ordered all the combatants to disband and re- 
 turn to their homes. 
 
 Sumner's orders bore lightly upon Captain Shore. It was a 
 simple proposition for his men to "disband and return to their 
 regular vocations." The presence of Pate and his band in the 
 neighborhood was a menace to their peace and security; they 
 had left their work, in response to a call from their captain, to 
 unite in an effort to drive out the intruders ; also they had be- 
 haved creditably, and were ready to return to their homes and 
 to the congratulations which they were sure to receive from their 
 Free-State neighbors on account of their victory. But with 
 the Browns it was different. They were engaged in a different 
 kind of business : the horse and general robbery business. They 
 too had won a victory — a far greater victory than Shore's 
 men. It was their personal fight which they had won. With 
 Shore's assistance they had beaten and captured the posse that 
 had come to arrest them for murder and robbery. They had 
 fought for their lives — also for Pate's horses and mules. But 
 they had no homes to which to go. They belonged to a differ- 
 
146 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 ent class of citizens — the undesirable class. They were outlaws 
 ag-ainst whom their neighbors and relatives had closed their 
 doors. Air. Villard states'"^ that on the evening of May 
 26th, John Brown, Jr., and Jason Brown were refused admit- 
 tance into the house of their uncle, the Rev. Mr. Adair, near 
 Osawatomie. He said to them, "Can't keep you here. Our 
 lives are threatened. Every moment we expect to have our 
 house burned over our heads." However, after assuring Mrs. 
 Adair that they "did not have anything to do with the murders 
 on the Pottawatomie" they were permitted to come in. But 
 later that night, when Owen Brown sought admittance to his 
 uncle's home, Mr. Adair refused even to parley with him, say- 
 ing: "Get away, get away as quickly as you can! You en- 
 danger our lives. You are a vile murderer, a marked man!" 
 
 Bondi states that within an hour after Sumner ordered the 
 companies to disband. Camp Brown had ceased to exist. The 
 wounded Salmon (Thompson) was taken to Carpenter's cabin, 
 nearby, and nursed by Bondi ; the others, with Weiner, camped 
 in a thicket about half a mile from the abandoned camp.^*^^* 
 June 10th settlement was made with Weiner, and he left the 
 country. It is probable that, at this date, the horses which were 
 taken on the Pottawatomie had been sold ; and that final settle- 
 ment was then made between the Browns and Weiner, and their 
 unknown confederates. Mr. Villard states that "on Thursday 
 June 10, at a council held that day. it was agreed to separate. 
 Weiner had business in Louisiana. Henry Thompson [Salmon 
 Brown] was also taken to Carpenter's cabin, and Bondi accom- 
 panied Weiner as far as Leavenworth." 
 
 This was the end of the first John Brown organization. The 
 period of its active operations covered eighteen days. May 24th 
 to June 10th. During this time they murdered five men ; stole 
 a lot of horses ; made a big horse trade, exchanging the whole, 
 or a part of the stolen horses ; robbed a store ; made an alliance 
 
 165 Villard, 167. lesa villard, 210. 
 
BLACK JACK 147 
 
 with Captain Shore, and captured Pate's posse at Black Jack : 
 a record of strenuous activity, characteristic of the aggressive 
 speculator who directed the movements. 
 
 The chapter of robbery and murder on the Pottawatomie, of 
 which Brown's success over Pate at Black Jack was an incident, 
 closes with the settlement herein stated and the dissolution of 
 Brown's band June 10th. It further appears that John Brown 
 and his unmarried sons quit the Territory late in July, en route 
 to the east. Inquiry then, very properly turns to what Brown 
 did during the fifty days intervening between these dates. In 
 the case of an altruistic hero, a "leader of the Free-State 
 Cause," such as the heralds proclaim Brown to have been, the 
 public supposes, naturally, that he did something during these 
 days of opportunity that was worthy of the great distinction 
 with which he is credited. But to the question : WHAT did 
 he do? history gives back no answer. The historical record of 
 John Brown, except as to three days, July 2d to 4th, is a total 
 blank. Even his "whereabouts" during these fifty days is, to 
 the public, unknown. The history of those days of strenuous 
 endeavor, shows clearly where Robinson was, and what he was 
 doing. He was the Free-State Governor of the "State of 
 Kansas," and was in jail, or in confinement, under indictment 
 in the Territorial Court for "Constructive Treason." History 
 shows where Lane was, and where Walker was, and where 
 Sam. Woods, and Deitzler, and G. W. Brown and the others 
 were, but not where John Brown was. His latest biographer 
 dismisses the question as immaterial, with the following gen- 
 eralization : ^^^ 
 
 "Not until the beginning of July," he says, "did John Brown 
 terminate this life in the bush and again become active. On 
 July 2 he boldly entered Lawrence, and called upon the Tribune 
 correspondent. William A. Phillips." Brown's object, in call- 
 ing upon Phillips, was not to make a report of the public ser- 
 ies Villard, 220. 
 
 10 
 
148 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 vices which he had rendered chirino- the thirty days preceding; 
 but for the purpose of having him pubhsh a letter which he had 
 written in reply to Captain Pate's report of the Black Jack affair 
 - - a personal matter between himself and Pate. It may be said 
 that if Brown had done anything creditable during "this life in 
 the bush" he would not have failed to report the fact to Phillips 
 for publication, for he was vain. He did, however, the next best 
 thing; he told Phillips what he intended to do: "That he was 
 on his way to Topeka with his followers, to be on hand at what- 
 ever crisis might arise at the opening of the legislature." Con- 
 tinuing his remarks Mr. Villard says: 
 
 How long John Brown remained at the Willets farm, 
 near Topeka, to which he now proceeded, and where he 
 spent the next two or three weeks, is not known. He neither 
 entered Topeka, on the fateful July 4th, nor immediately 
 thereafter. It is probable that he returned promptly to the 
 neighborhood of his sick sons, more than ever disgusted 
 with the Free-State leaders and their inability to adopt his 
 view that the way to fight was "to press to close quarters." ^^^ 
 Since Brown is herein creditably reported to have "termin- 
 ated this life in the bush and again become active," it is fair to 
 inquire into the nature of the public service which he rendered 
 during the period of activity thus auspiciously announced. Mr. 
 Phillips gave out what Brown said he intended to do. But Mr. 
 Villard states that he did not do that ; and that there is no record 
 of what he did do, or of where he went. It appears, then, that 
 "the termination of the life in the bush" was not a termination of 
 it at all ; and that the period of his public activities "terminated" 
 at the end of a night ride, on stolen horses, from Lawrence to 
 the vicinity of Topeka. It may be worthy of note, that the 
 above example of Brown's activity in public affairs is probably 
 the shortest period of public activity by a hero, that has ever 
 been dignified by historical record. Further : History does not 
 i«7Villara. 222. 
 
BLACK JACK 149 
 
 sustain the statement that Brown "recruited his band" after the 
 disbanding of it, June 10th. There is no reason apparent why 
 he should have enlarged it. He and his sons could operate 
 more profitably than a larger party could, and with less risk of 
 detection. 
 
 Brown was not a loafer; and he was not in idleness during 
 the fifty days of his obscuration; neither was he fighting, 
 "pressing to close quarters," for no fighting was being done 
 during this time. Investigation, however, of the record and of 
 the various admissions and statements subsequently made by 
 his sons, discloses the facts that the activities in which they 
 were engaged were merely akin, or similar to a state of war- 
 fare; that there was continuous "fighting," of a certain kind, 
 where they were, and "trouble" ; so much so that the sons, at 
 least, had a surfeit of it, and were "tired" of the "business," 
 and were anxious to quit it and leave the Territory. 
 
 Salmon Brown stated to Mr. Villard, that they left "because 
 Lucius Mills insisted on the invalids being moved, and because 
 they were a drag on the fighting men" ; and Henry Thompson 
 affirmed that "he, Oliver, Owen and Salmon had had enough 
 of Kansas. They did not wish to fight any more. They felt 
 they had suffered enough ; that the service which they had been 
 called upon to perform at Pottawatomie squared them with 
 duty. They were, they thought, entitled to leave further work 
 to other hands. They were sick of the fighting and trouble."^®^ 
 
 These statements show that there were violent actions 
 somewhere, about something long after Black Jack; and that 
 the invalids impeded the movements of the "fighting" men. 
 But where this fighting took place, or what it was about, history 
 is silent. Salmon Brown could tell all about the occurrences 
 of these fifty days if he were disposed to do so. There is 
 ample evidence, however, of the fact that the Browns led a 
 stormy life during the days they are reported "unaccounted 
 
 168 Villard, 222. 
 
150 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 for." ^^^ The friendly mantle whicli the night spread over 
 their actions, at the time, has not been lifted, but the actors 
 therein have told enough to show that what they did do, was 
 done at the peril of their lives ; and was of such a character that 
 at least one of the party, Lucius Mills, refused to take any part 
 in it. For this. Mills lost caste with Brown "because he had no 
 desire to fight, but played nurse and doctor while the others did 
 the fighting." ^^^ But since there was no fighting anywhere in 
 Kansas, we must conclude that they used the term "fighting" 
 as a convenience, or as a witticism, and that it really means steal- 
 ing horses ; and that the Browns, while in hiding from the world 
 at large, were still carrying on the business they commenced in 
 the bloody tragedy on the Pottawatomie. Further evidence that 
 they were horse thieves, appears in an incident which occurred 
 when they were en route home, as related by Salmon Brown, 
 He says : ^"^ 
 
 "We other four bought a double buggy and harness from 
 the Oberlin people, on credit at Tabor, drove to Iowa City, 
 sold the horses, sent back the money to pay for the wagon, 
 and all four went home. The horses for the double buggy 
 we came by thus: we heard on the way through Nebraska, 
 that some pro-slavery men were after us. Oliver, who was 
 always a dare-devil, and William Thompson ambushed these 
 men, deliberately turning aside for that purpose. The men, 
 ordered off their horses, took it for a regular hold-up in 
 force, and surrendered their animals. Oliver and William 
 immediately jumped on and lit out for Tabor. It was these 
 horses that took us across Iowa." The need of converting 
 pro-slavery animals into good anti-slavery stock, was thus 
 urgent with the Brown sons in peaceful placid Nebraska as it 
 had been in bleeding Kansas. 
 
 This incident bears all the characteristics of the daring pro- 
 
 i«9Villard, 673. 
 iToVillard, 222. 
 171 Villard, 616, }wte 68. 
 
BLACKJACK 151 
 
 fessional at work. It is not probable that two lone Kansas pro- 
 slavery men followed John Brown, who had become the Terror 
 of the Territory, up into Free-State Nebraska. It is much 
 more probable that the Browns held up two unsuspecting, un- 
 anned, citizens of Nebraska, and took their horses. And, hav- 
 ing taken them in this manner, it follows, more than logically, 
 that they also stole the buggy and harness, to complete the out- 
 fit ; for it would be quite impossible that two irresponsible young 
 strangers, traveling through a country, could thus buy a "dou- 
 ble buggy and harness on credit." 
 
 The Browns profited by their operations in Kansas. They 
 did not grow rich during the short period of their outlawry, 
 but they became prosperous in comparison with what their cir- 
 cumstances were before they became robbers. It will be re- 
 membered that Salmon Brown, wdien he was a homebuilder, 
 was very poor. Mr. Villard has been quoted as saying that 
 Brown and his sons "arrived in Kansas in all but destitute con- 
 dition, with but sixty cents between them, to find the settlement 
 in great distress." And Redpath said of Brown, when he met 
 him in his camp May 30, 1856, "He was poorly clad, and his 
 toes protruded from his boots." In contrast with these com- 
 mercial ratings we have a report on Brown, as he appeared in 
 Nebraska about August 1, 1856: ''''' 
 
 The Captain was riding a splendid horse and was in plain 
 white summer clothing. He wore a large straw hat and was 
 closely shaven. Everything about him was scrupulously 
 clean. He made a great impression on several of the com- 
 pany, who, without knowing him, at once declared that he 
 must be a distinguished man in disguise. 
 
 As a result of their "fighting," and of their "pressing to close 
 
 quarters," the Browns were quite independent when they left 
 
 the Territory. ''School was out:' Also, the "/oad" had got 
 
 out from under the harrow. They could now go wherever 
 
 i"'^ Sanborn, 336. 
 
152 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 they wished, and they concluded to give up "their struggle to 
 make Kansas a Free-State"' and to return to their home in New 
 York. At Nebraska City, when Brown changed his mind 
 about going east and decided to return to Kansas, he bought 
 horses for himself and Frederick, who was to accompany him, 
 and sent the remainder of the party on their way to the 
 States."^ When he arrived at Osawatomie, about August 20th, 
 he had, as stated by Bondi, "a spick and span four mule team, 
 the wagon loaded with provisions; besides he was well supplied 
 with money." '" In poverty and on foot, the Browns entered 
 the valley of the Pottawatomie May 23, 1856; seventy days 
 thereafter, they left the Territory, in independent circumstances. 
 During the latter part of July and the first days of August, 
 1856, some incidents occurred in Kansas which are interrelated. 
 The pro-slavery men living in the vicinity of "New Georgia," 
 near Osawatomie, built a "block-house" for the protection of 
 pro-slavery settlers from Free-State aggressions. Following 
 this, John Brown and his band of Free-State aggressors sud- 
 denly left the Territory. August 5th, Captain Cracklin. with 
 the Stubbs Rifles, routed the Georgians at New Georgia and 
 burned their block-house; also, upon receipt of this intelligence, 
 at Nebraska City, Brown changed his mind about going east, 
 and returned to Kansas to raid the Osawatomie district. The 
 first of these incidents, the building of the block-house, was a 
 pro-slavery demonstration in Brown's territory. It was notice 
 to him that further stealing from pro-slavery settlers would 
 be unsafe in that neighborhood ; it was also a challenge to John 
 Brown to fight, if he chose to accept it as such. That the leav- 
 ing of the Browns was not a premeditation, but the result of a 
 "sudden impulse," appears from a statement made by Mr. Adair 
 to Mr. T. H. Hand in a letter dated July 17, 1856: "Bro. J. 
 B. and unmarried sons expect to leave the tcM-ritory immedi- 
 
 I'^Villard, 228. 
 '73Villard, 235. 
 
BLACKJACK 153 
 
 ately." "^^ Also, from tlie furtlier fact that at tlie time they 
 left, WilHam Thompson, brother of Henry Tliompson, was due 
 to arrive in Kansas to join the Brown colony. They met him 
 near the Nebraska line and took him back east with them.'"'' 
 
 The abrupt leaving of the Browns, under these circumstances, 
 is inconsistent with the theory that they were "fighting men ;'' 
 or that they were anxious to fight. If John Brown had actually 
 desired to "engage the slave-power at close quarters" as has 
 been insisted upon, boastfully, for more than fifty years, he 
 would have joined his force with Captain Shore, or others, and 
 would have attacked the Georgians at New Georgia, and driven 
 them out, as Captain Cracklin did August 5th. while they — 
 Brown and his sons — were running away from the job. 
 
 i73avillard, 616, note 64. 
 i"f Sanborn, 336. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 OSAWATOMIE 
 
 Do men gather grapes of thorn or figs of thistles? 
 
 — Matthew 6:16 
 
 At Nebraska City Brown met some distinguished persons : 
 General Lane, Colonel Samuel Walker, and Aaron D. Stevens. 
 These men were commanders in the Free-State army ; they re- 
 ceived him into their confidence, and related to him their plans 
 concerning the pending mihtary operations ; the object of which 
 was to destroy the pro-slavery forces that had occupied strategic 
 positions near Lawrence and Osawatomie, or drive them from 
 the Territory. He knew that the execution of these under- 
 takings would result in important events and decided to return 
 to Kansas. It was evident there was to be real fighting ; fight- 
 ing at close quarters; in fact the fighting had already begun. 
 August 5th, Captain Cracklin had opened the campaign, pros- 
 perously, by a successful attack upon the pro-slavery post at 
 New Georgia, as has been heretofore stated. Mr. Sanborn "'"^ 
 claims that Brown had some share in Cracklin's victory, but of 
 course, he could not be simultaneously at both of these places. 
 News of this victory was received at Nebraska City in 
 a message that came to Walker; whereupon the party, except 
 Brown, "proceeded to Lawrence as fast as humanly possible." 
 They all left Nebraska City August 9th; thirty hours later. 
 Lane arrived at Lawrence, Walker arriving shortly afterward. 
 But Brown stopped at Topeka on the 10th, where no fighting 
 1T3C Sanborn, 314. 
 
OSAWATOMIE 155 
 
 was in contemplation; and his "whereabouts," from that date 
 until the 17th, is reported as being "unknown." ^^* 
 
 August 12th, Captain Bickerton defeated Major Buford's 
 company of Georgians, at Franklin; stormed and burned the 
 block-house; captured some arms and provisions, and recap- 
 tured the six-pounder brass cannon, that Buford had taken pos- 
 session of at Lawrence, May 21st. Buford wrote: "Our 
 money, books, papers, clothing, surveying instruments, and 
 many precious memorials of kindness and friends far away, 
 were all consumed by the incendiary villains who hold sway. 
 . . . We are now destitute of everything except our mus- 
 kets, and an unflinching determination to be avenged. . ." 
 Bickerton lost one man killed and six wounded. Buford's loss 
 was four men wounded — one mortally.^^^ But Brown was 
 not present when Bickerton pressed to close quarters at Frank- 
 lin ; Lane was there, and Sanborn says that Brown was 
 there :^^*' "Returning about the 10th of August," he says, 
 "with General Lane, he proceeded with him to Lawrence and to 
 Franklin where there was some skirmishing." "On the 15th 
 the Free-State men assailed Fort Saunders, a strong log 
 house on Washington Creek, about twelve miles southwest of 
 Lawrence. After the customary fusillade, the pro-slavery men 
 retreated without blood shed on either side." ^'^ Still, no 
 Brown. The following appeal, by General Lane, was sent to 
 him, from Topeka, on August 12th : 
 
 Mr. Brown: — General Joe Cook (Lane) wants you to 
 come to Lawrence 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.^^* 
 
 17-iVillard, 673. 
 
 175 Villard, 231. 
 
 1-6 Sanborn. 308. 
 
 1" Villard. 231. ^ 
 
 178 Villard, 235. 
 
156 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 It seems from this that Brown was somewhere near Topeka, 
 on the 12th, and not at Frankhn. 
 
 On the 16t]i the attack was made on Fort Titus. Of this 
 Mr. Villard says: 
 
 There was real fighting at Fort Titus, which Captain 
 Samuel Walker, Captain Joel Grover, and a Captain Samuel 
 Shombre attacked, at sunrise August 16, with fifty deter- 
 mined men. Captain Shombre was killed, and nine out of 
 ten men with him wounded, in a rush on the block-house. In 
 a short time eighteen out of the forty remaining attackers 
 were wounded, including Captain Walker. After several 
 hours of fighting, Free-State reinforcements appeared, in- 
 cluding Captain Bickerton, with the six pounder, and its 
 slugs of molten type. It was run to within three hundred 
 yards of the fort and fired nine or ten times. ... As 
 Titus still showed no white flag, a load of hay was again 
 resorted to with the same success as at Franklin. As the 
 wagon was backed up to the log fort, and before the match 
 was applied, the party surrendered. . . . Walker cap- 
 tured thirteen horses, four hundred guns, a large number of 
 knives and six pistols, a fair stock of provisions and thirty- 
 four prisoners, six of whom were badly wounded. One 
 dead man was found in the block-house before it was burned. 
 Again this question comes up: Where was Brown when 
 this fighting was taking place? Was he in this very creditable 
 engagement? Continuing his narrative, Mr. Villard says, on 
 page 232 : 
 
 The testimony as to whether John Brown was at Saunders 
 and Titus is conflicting. He himself left no statement bear- 
 ing upon it, and Luke Parsons. James Blood, O. E. Learn- 
 ard and others, are positive that he was not at cither place. 
 The weight of evidence would seem to be on that side. 
 
 But John Brown did leave a statement bearing directly upon 
 the question as to whether, or not, he was present at any of these 
 engagements. In the interview which he gave out after his 
 
OSAWATOMIE 157 
 
 capture at Harper's Ferry, in answer to the question : "Did 
 you know Sherrod in Kansas? I understand you killed him?" 
 Brown replied : "I killed no man except in fair fight. I fought 
 at Black Jack, and at Osawatomie, and if I killed anybody it 
 was at one of these places." ^''^ Brown, therefore, was not 
 present at any of these battles. He was at Lawrence, however, 
 on August 17th, after the fighting was over. Mr. Villard says 
 on page 233 : "That Brown was at Lawrence, when Walker 
 arrived with his prisoners, admits of no doubt. Again his 
 voice was raised for the extreme penalty ; again he asked a sac- 
 rifice of blood." It appears, therefore, that Brown "termin- 
 ated" a seven days "life in the bush" on the 17th, and became 
 active in public affairs, for twenty-four hours. Referring to a 
 concurrent incident Colonel Walker says : 
 
 At a little way out of Lawrence I met a delegation, sent by 
 the committee of safety, with an order for the immediate 
 delivery of Titus into their hands. Knowing the character 
 of the men, I refused to give him up. Our arrival at Law- 
 rence created intense excitement. The citizens swarmed 
 around us, clamoring for the blood of our prisoner. The 
 committee of safety held a meeting and decided that Titus 
 should be hanged, John Brown, and other distinguished men 
 urging the measure strongly. At four o'clock in the even- 
 ing I went before the committee, and said that Titus had 
 surrendered to me ; that I had promised him his life, and that 
 I would defend it with my own. I then left the room. Bab- 
 cock followed me out and asked me if I was fully determin- 
 ed. Being assured that I was, he went back, and the com- 
 mittee, by a new vote, decided to postpone the hanging in- 
 definitely. I was sure of the support of some 300 good men, 
 and among them Captain Tucker, Captain Harvey, and Cap- 
 tain Stulz. Getting this determined band into line, I ap- 
 proached the house where Titus was confined and entered. 
 Just as I opened the door I heard pistol shots in Titus's room 
 
 i79Redpath, 285, and Sanborn, 569, but omitted by Mr. Villard from 
 his narrative. 
 
158 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 and rushed in and found a desperado named ''Buckskin" 
 firing over the guard's shoulders at the wounded man as he 
 lay on his cot. It took but one blow from my heavy dragoon 
 pistol to send the villain heels-over-head to the bottom of the 
 stairs. Captain Brown and Doctor Avery were outside 
 haranguing the mob to hang Titus despite my objections. 
 They said I had resisted the committee of safety, and was 
 myself, therefore, a public enemy. The crowd was terribly 
 excited, but the sight of my 300 solid bayonets held them in 
 check. 
 
 This is a part of the record of these heroic days — days of 
 strenuous efifort and of heroic achievement. The Free-State 
 men were engaged in a supreme effort to drive from the Terri- 
 tory the armed pro-slavery bands that had been organized in 
 the South to intimidate and subdue them. They had fought a 
 splendidly aggressive campaign, dislodging their foes from all 
 their positions, burning their forts, and capturing their supplies. 
 There was, as has been said, real fighting, fighting at close quar- 
 ters, and plenty of it. And now, in view of it, what is to be 
 said about Brown, the hypothetical Kansas hero, the '"Fighting 
 Leader of the Free-State Cause ?" Lane was in evidence ; and 
 Colonel Walker, and Bickerton, and Grover, and the gallant 
 Shombre, were in the thick of it ; but what part did Brown per- 
 form in these undertakings? What contribution did he make 
 to the winning of these victories ? Nothing ! Absolutely noth- 
 ing. He came out of the "brush" after the fighting was over, 
 and endeavored to incite a mob to hang a prisoner who was 
 severely wounded. 
 
 This disreputable action is evidence that Brown w^as not in 
 harmony with the best thought of the occasion ; that he mingled 
 with the lawless element — with the "Buckskin" class, that 
 "fired over the guard's shoulders, at the wounded man, as he lay 
 on his cot." Brown was not interested in these important pub- 
 lic matters ; he was not cooperating with the Free-State men ; 
 his motives for returning to the Territory did not relate to 
 
OSAWATOMIE 159 
 
 Territorial affairs. His plans had to do with something else. 
 They were of a personal character ; and his presence at Lawrence 
 on the 17th, was simply an incident of his trip from Nebraska 
 City to Osawatomie, where he arrived, according to Bondi, 
 "about the 20th, well supplied with money," and wath a "spick 
 and span four mule team, the wagon loaded with provi- 
 sions," "° to make a coup in horses and cattle. Brown had 
 outfitted this four mule team at or near Topeka, and the pres- 
 ence of it at Osawatomie on the 20th, with its stock of provi- 
 sions, is the best evidence of what he had been thinking about, 
 and of what he was doing, while the Free-State men were fight- 
 ing the battles around Lawrence. 
 
 Leaving Nebraska City on the 9th, Brown stopped at To- 
 peka on the 10th. Later developments show that he had 
 planned a scheme of robbery upon a larger scale than anything 
 he had theretofore undertaken. As to the Free-State cam- 
 paign, the battles "at close quarters," the victories, the rejoic- 
 ings, the planning for future operations, he was indifferent, ex- 
 cept as they served his personal purposes. 
 
 Brown's arrival at Osawatomie was his first appearance there 
 after the Pottawatomie murders. By the 24th he had "enlist- 
 ed" nine men : Wm. Partridge, John Salathiel, S. B. Brown, 
 John Godell, L. T. Parsons, N. B. Phelps, Wm. B. Harris, Jason 
 Brown, and J. Benjamin. ^^^ He had also stolen enough horses 
 to mount them. Of this Mr. Villard says : '^'^ 
 
 Naturally, as a good general, John Brown's first concern 
 was for the mounts of his men. Bondi avers that some of 
 Brown's men received prompt orders to capture all of 
 "Dutch Henry" Sherman's horses. He himself obtained, 
 when these orders were executed, "a four year old fine bay 
 horse for my mount" and "old John Brown rode a fine blood- 
 ed bay." 
 
 180 Villard, 235. 
 
 181 Villard, 622. 
 i8ia Villard, 235. 
 
160 JOHN BROWX: A CRITIQUE 
 
 The example set by the Browns, during May, June, and July, 
 brought forth many imitators. Robbery became an indus- 
 try. A new Richmond was in the Osawatomie field — a Cap- 
 tain Cline, with a company of mounted men, every one of whose 
 horses had been stolen. This seems to have been sufiicient rec- 
 ommendation, for Brown joined forces with Cline. and the two 
 commands set out, August 24th, for the south, marching eight 
 miles, and camping on Sugar Creek, Linn County."*- On the 
 26th another merger of the special interests was accomplished. 
 Captain J. H. Holmes also had a company wdiich was con- 
 solidated with Brown's party. Captain Shore was in the vicin- 
 ity, with the Prairie City Rifles, but it seems that he was not 
 stealing anything. The Brown combination probably repre- 
 sented all the plants, or commercial units, then doing "business" 
 in that district. In promptly effecting the merger of these 
 interests, Brown showed his capacity for affairs, and is entitled 
 to receive for the second time the "historic title of Captain,'' 
 — Captain of Industry. The men who belonged to Holmes's 
 Company were, "Cyrus Tator, R. Reynolds, Noah Fraze (First 
 Lieutenant), William Miller, John P. Glenn, Wm. Quick, M. D. 
 Lane, Amos Alderman, August Bondi, Charles Kaiser, Freeman 
 Austin, Samuel Hauser, and John W. Fay,^*^ and, probably, 
 Frederick Brown. Thus organized and equipped, the forces 
 put into effect the purposes of their organization without delay. 
 Mr. Villard says : ^'^* 
 
 John Brown then rode off to raid the pro-slavery settle- 
 ments, on Sugar Creek. . . They visited the home of 
 Captain John E. Brown, taking, as his toll, fifty pro-slavery 
 cattle and all the men's clothes the house contained. . . 
 Other houses were similarly searched, and their cattle taken, 
 on the ground that they had originally been Free-State be- 
 fore being purloined by the pro-slavery settlers. 
 
 182 Villard, 235. 
 
 183 Villard, 622. 
 183a Villard, 238. 
 
OSAWATOMIE 161 
 
 That they moved promptly, worked industriously, and ob- 
 tained satisfactory results without hindrance from any quarter, 
 appears from the further statement by Mr. Villard : ''^^^ 
 
 On Thursday evening, August 28th, Brown reached Osa- 
 watomie. traveling slowly because of the one hundred and 
 fifty cattle he drove before him. Both his company and 
 Cline's bivouacked in the town that night. The next morn- 
 ing, (August 29) early, they divided their plunder and cat- 
 tle, and Brown moved his camp to the high ground north 
 of Osawatomie. where now stands the State Insane Asylum. 
 An ordinary commander would have allowed all his men to 
 rest. But not John Brown. He was in the saddle all day, 
 riding with James H. Holmes, and others of his men, along 
 Pottawatomie Creek, whence he crossed to Sugar Creek, 
 returning to Osawatomie with more captured cattle, by way 
 of the Fort Scott trail. 
 
 This last lot of cattle was probably the drove that the Quaker, 
 Richard Mendenhall, referred to, as quoted by Sanborn on page 
 
 326: 
 
 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 pro- 
 slavery men. 
 
 It is not probable that it will ever be known what Brown 
 intended to do with these cattle. Those who know what his 
 intentions were in the premises, have not revealed them. He 
 was going East, later on, to work out a scheme which he then 
 had in his mind, to raise money. He also had a fancy for fine 
 animals and for the stock business. It is therefore probable that 
 he intended to establish a stock ranch at some point in Kansas, 
 further west, and put his son Frederick in charge of it ; and that 
 the cattle which he was then collecting, and the four mule team 
 that he had bought, and the load of provisions, were to be used in 
 183b Villard, 238. 
 
162 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 starting the enterprise. Mr. Villard quotes Holmes's estimate 
 of Brown as follows : ^^* 
 
 To Holmes, John Brown appeared on that afternoon more 
 than ever the natural leader. He rode a tall strong chestnut 
 horse; his spare form was more impressive when he was 
 mounted than when he was afoot. Alert and clear sighted, 
 he closely watched the landscape for evidence of the enemy. 
 The enemy were the settlers who were being robbed. 
 This short narrative of Brown's operations in stealing horses 
 and cattle, at Osawatomie, discloses the secret motive that 
 prompted his return to Kansas from Nebraska. It gives rea- 
 sonable grounds for the assumption, that when his "where- 
 abouts were unknown," from August 10th to the 16th, inclu- 
 sive, he was working out the details of the new venture ; finan- 
 cing it ; purchasing the necessary outfit ; and making plans for 
 handling the loot after it would be rounded up. It furnishes 
 a reason why he refused to join General Lane and his associ- 
 ates, in the attack on Fort Saunders, and on Fort Titus ; he had 
 business engagements and appointments elsewhere, that re- 
 quired his personal attention. But w-hat is of more historical 
 importance, perhaps, than anything else, is, that it reveals the 
 general channel in which his mind ran ; the things upon which 
 his thoughts and energies were concentrated; the occupation 
 he was following. Also, the magnitude of the hazardous per- 
 formance undertaken in this instance, and successfully exe- 
 cuted, shows clearly, that Brown was not a novice in the busi- 
 ness. Only a strong, bold man, of large experience, could enter 
 such a district, and within four days collect, equip and mount, 
 upon stolen horses, a company of ten men, himself included. 
 Then, within two days more effect a consolidation, under his 
 leadership, of two other similar companies; and within three 
 more days gather up by force, two hundred and fifty head of 
 cattle, besides horses and other plunder, and assemble the whole 
 i»* Villard, 239. 
 
OSAWATOMIE 163 
 
 at the general rendezvous in Osawatomie. Only an expert in 
 horse stealing, and in tlie general plunder business, could accom- 
 plish so much in so short a time. 
 
 To counteract the effect of the Free-State victories, hereto- 
 fore referred to, and to restore pro-slavery supremacy, a 
 pro-slavery army numbering more than a thousand men, led by 
 Major General David R. Atchison, invaded the Territory. 
 This fomiidable force left Westport August 23d, and on the 
 29th arrived at Bull Creek, thirty miles from Lawrence. To 
 oppose it, the Free-State army was being mobilized under the 
 command of General Lane; who sent an urgent message to 
 Brown, and others at Osawatomie. asking them to report to him 
 at Lawrence at once, and take part in the impending battle. 
 The message was delivered to Brown by Alexander G. Hawse, 
 on the evening of August 29th, as he approached Osawatomie, 
 "in a cloud of dust and driving the motley herd" of stolen cat- 
 tle "before him." Captain Shore received a similar request, 
 and promptly responded to the urgent call. He started for 
 Lawrence about three o'clock in the afternoon. Brown did not 
 go. He could not be expected to abandon the horses, and the 
 cattle, and the plunder w^hich he had on hand ; and the robber 
 combine of which he was the head, and which was operating so 
 successfully, and which had before it a future so promising. 
 He was too busy. Besides, the troubles about Lawrence would 
 be "water upon his wheel." He was doing business under 
 cover of the distracting conditions then existing. Mr. Villard 
 says, "After consultation, it was decided that the call should 
 be heeded on the next day." 
 
 At the time Brown received this message, General Atchison 
 had already detached two hundred and fifty mounted men. with 
 one field piece, to march against Osawatomie and burn the 
 place. The command of the expedition was given to Brigadier 
 General John W. Reid, w^ho had served in the war with Mexico. 
 Reid made a night march from Bull Creek. Arriving at Osa- 
 
164 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 watomie. he immediately began liis attack. His official report 
 
 of the fight is as follows : ^^^ 
 
 Camp Bull Creek, Aug. 31st 
 Gentlemen : — I moved with 250 men on the Abolition 
 fort and town of Osawatomie — the head-quarters of Old 
 Brown — on night before last ; marched forty miles and at- 
 tacked the towii without dismounting the men, about sun- 
 rise on yesterday. We had a brisk fight for an hour or more 
 and had five men wounded — none dangerously — Capt. 
 Boice, William Gordon and three others. We killed about 
 thirty of them, among the number, certain, a son of Old 
 Brown and almost certain Brown himself; destroying all 
 their ammunition and provisions, and the boys would burn 
 the town to the ground. / could not help it. . . 
 
 Your friend, Reid. 
 
 Hon. W^illiam Higgins of Bartlesville, Oklahoma, then four- 
 teen years of age, drove one of the three teams that comprised 
 Raid's means of transportation. Concerning Reid's losses in 
 the battle, he says : "The total was three men wounded. Two 
 of these were conveyed back to Missouri in one of the wagons, 
 while the other wounded man was able to ride his horse. No 
 one was killed." ^** 
 
 On the Free-State side the battle seems to have been opened 
 by Dr. Updegraflf. of Osawatomie, and Holmes. The latter 
 was "saddling up," presumably to join Brown in another day's 
 ride after cattle, when the presence of the enemy was an- 
 nounced, and rode up toward the Adairs until he sighted Reid's 
 troopers, upon whom he fired three times from his Sharp's 
 rifle.^" 
 
 From Lawrence, September 7th, Brown wrote to his wife as 
 follows: ^^^ 
 
 is^Villard. 246. 
 
 "8 Letter to the author, date, June 29. 1912. 
 
 isTVillard, 243. 
 
 ^^^ Sanborn, 317. 
 
OSAWATOMIE 165 
 
 Dear Wife and Children Every one: 
 
 I have one moment to write to you, to say that I am yet 
 aUve, that Jason and family were well yesterday — John and 
 Family, I hear, are 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 supposed 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 quar- 
 ters of an hour I attacked them from a wood with thick un- 
 dergrowth. With this force we threw them into confusion 
 for fifteen or twenty minutes, during which time we killed 
 or wounded from seventy to eighty of the enemy — as they 
 say — and then we escaped as well as we could, with one 
 killed while escaping, two or three wounded and as many 
 more were 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 un- 
 hurt. I was struck by a partly spent grape canister, or rifle 
 shot, which bruised me some, but did not injure me seri- 
 ously. "Hitherto the Lord has helped me," notwithstand- 
 ing my afflictions, etc., etc. John Brown. 
 
 On the same day he gave out the following statement for pub- 
 lication : ^^^ 
 
 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 west- 
 ern boundary of the town of Osawatomie. At this place my 
 son Frederick (who was not attached to my force) had 
 189 Sanborn, 318. 
 
166 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 lodged with some four other young- men from Lawrence, 
 and a young man named Garrison, from Middle Creek. 
 The scouts, led by a pro-slavery preacher named White, 
 shot my son dead in the road while he — as I have since 
 ascertained — supposed them to be friendly. At the same 
 time they butchered Mr. Garrison, and badly mangled one 
 of the young men from Lawrence, who came with my son, 
 leaving him for dead. This was not far from sunrise. I 
 had stopped during the night about two and one half miles 
 from them, and nearly one mile from Osawatomie. I had 
 no organized force, but only some twelve or fifteen new re- 
 cruits, 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 direction of the enemy. After going 
 a few rods we could see them approaching the town in line 
 of battle, about half a mile off, upon a hill west of the village. 
 I then gave up all idea of doing more than to annoy, from 
 the timber near the town, into which we were all retreated, 
 and which was filled with a thick growth of underbrush — 
 but I had no time to recall the twelve men in the log house, 
 and so lost their assistance in the fight. At this point above 
 named I met with Captain Cline, a very active young man, 
 who had with him some twelve or fifteen mounted men, and 
 persuaded him to go with us into the timber, on the southern 
 shore of the Osage, or Marais des Cygnes, a little to the 
 north west from the village. Here the men, numbered not 
 more than thirty in all, were directed to scatter and secrete 
 themselves as well as they could, and await the approach of 
 the enemy. This was done in full view of them (who must 
 have seen the whole movement), and had to be done in the 
 utmost haste. I believe Captain Cline and some of his men 
 were not even dismounted during the fight, but cannot assert 
 
OSAWATOMIE 167 
 
 positively. When the left wing of the enemy had approached 
 to within common ritle shot, we commenced firing, and very 
 soon threw the northern branch of the enemy's line into dis- 
 order. This continued for some fifteen or twenty minutes, 
 which gave us an uncommon opportunity to annoy them. 
 Captain Cline and his men soon got out of ammunition, 
 and retired across the river. 
 
 After the enemy rallied we kept up our fire, until, by the 
 leaving of one and another, we had but six or seven left. 
 We then retired across the river. We had one man killed 
 — a Mr. Powers, from Captain Cline's company — in the 
 fight. One of my men, a Mr. Partridge, was shot in cross- 
 ing the river. Two or three of the party who took part in 
 the fight are yet missing, and may be lost or taken prison- 
 ers. Two were wounded — namely. Dr. Updegrafif and Mr. 
 Collis. I cannnot 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 partially spent ball from the enemy, in the commence- 
 ment of the fight, but we were only bruised. The loss I 
 refer to is one of my missing men. The loss of the enemy, 
 as we learn by the different statements of our own as well 
 as their people, was some thirty one or two killed, and from 
 forty to fifty wounded. After burning the town to ashes 
 and killing a Mr. Williams, they had taken, whom neither 
 party claimed, they took a hasty leave, carrying their dead 
 and wounded with them. They did not attempt to cross 
 the river, nor to search for us, and have not since returned 
 to look over their work. 
 
 I give this in great haste, in the midst of constant inter- 
 ruption. My second son was with me in the fight, and es- 
 caped unharmed. This I mention for the benefit of his 
 friends. Old Preacher White, I hear, boasts of having 
 killed my son. Of course he is a lion. 
 
 John Brown. 
 
 Lawrence. Kansas, Sept. 7, 1856. 
 
168 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 In a third statement ^^" Brown says : "In the battle of Osa- 
 watomie, Capt. (or Dr.) Updegraff — and two others whose 
 names I have lost, were severely (one of them shockingly) 
 wounded before the fight began, August 30, 1856." 
 
 The arrival of Reid's forces at Osawatomie, was a complete 
 surprise. Brown knew nothing of their coming until after the 
 battle was on. Mr. Villard states ^°"* that John Brown and 
 his party, with the exception of Holmes, who spent the night 
 in town, crossed the Marias des Cygnes to their camp on 
 the Crane claim (about tw'O miles from the town), taking their 
 cattle with them. Captain Cline and about fifteen men re- 
 mained in the town. Two of Brown's men, Bondi and Benja- 
 min, were on guard (over the cattle) on the morning of the 
 30th, until the firing began. Brown was preparing breakfast 
 at the cattle camp, where a messenger is said to have arrived 
 with the news that Frederick Brown had been killed ; where- 
 upon Brown is said to have "seized his arms" and "cried, 'Men 
 come on !' and with Luke F. Parsons hurried down the hill to the 
 crossing nearest the town." But the men, it seems, finished 
 their breakfast before responding to this request and still had 
 time to overtake their leader. Mr. Villard says that "After 
 finishing their cofYee, most of them overtook their leader before 
 he reached the town" ; and that Parsons, upon following Brown 
 into the timber where the fighting was going on, "met Captain 
 Cline and his company of fifteen well-mounted men retiring 
 through the town, abandoning their cattle and their other 
 plunder. One of his (Cline's) men, Theodore Parker Powers, 
 was killed in the few minutes they were at the front." 
 
 From the data at hand it appears that the l)attle was opened 
 
 by Holmes, who fired upon Reid's advance immediately upon 
 
 the latter's arrival ; that Dr. Updegraff, and other citizens of 
 
 Osawatomie, turned out, and with Captain Cline defended the 
 
 ^9" Sanborn, 291. 
 :90a Villard, 239. 
 
OSAWATOMIE 169 
 
 town for "an hour or more" during which time Powers, of 
 CHne's company, was killed and Dr. Updegraff and two others 
 were severely wounded. These were all the casualties that be- 
 fell the Free-State men in the actual fighting; and Brown 
 states that they occurred "before the fight began" ; by which 
 he meant, before he arrived upon the scene, which was at the 
 time Parsons met Cline retiring in disorder from the field. 
 None of Brown's men was hit while fighting. One of them, 
 Geo. W. Partridge, was killed in the retreat while crossing the 
 river. It seems therefore, that Brown arrived late in the en- 
 gagement and that he, very wisely, attempted nothing "more 
 than to annoy, from the timber near the town, into which we 
 were all retreated." 
 
 Comment or criticism, favorable or unfavorable, as to what 
 John Brown did or did not do in this fight is equally unim- 
 portant. Brown's men were not a military company organized 
 for the defense of Osawatomie. They were a gang of "rustlers," 
 as cattle thieves are sometimes called. Such organizations are 
 not under obligations to fight anybody ; and they do not fight, 
 except as their personal interests or advantage may seem to re- 
 quire at the time. In this case the prospects for defeating 
 Reid's command of two hundred and fifty men. getting his 
 horses, and saving their own plunder, were so unfavorable, that 
 Brown and his men were justified in getting away from the 
 trouble as best they could ; and that is what they did, leaving 
 the town to be pillaged and burned by Reid's army. That 
 "they stood not upon the order of their going" is evident from 
 the fact that Brown lost his hat while making good his escape 
 from the trouble. Of this incident Sarah Brown says : 
 
 On the day that my brother Frederick was killed near 
 
 Osawatomie, my father lost his hat in fighting.^^^ 
 
 General Reid's estimate of the battle as quoted by Mr. Vil- 
 
 191 Sanborn, 322. 
 
170 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 lard/^'* is perhaps more nearly the truth: "Merely the 
 driving out of a flock of quail." And it may be truthfully 
 said that some of the birds flew as far as Lawrence, before 
 alighting; "indeed, Bondi, Benjamin and Hawes set off at 
 once for Lawrence and so by himself did Holmes." ^^- As for 
 Brown, he went deep into the friendly brush and hid. To a 
 legislative committee, February 18, 1857, he read, from a pre- 
 pared address, that about the first of September he was "obliged 
 to lie on the ground, without shelter, for a considerable time ; 
 and at times almost in a state of starvation, and dependent on 
 the charity of a Christian Indian." 
 
 Brown's son Frederick was killed by the Rev. Martin White, 
 who was with the patrol that was scouting the head of Reid's 
 column as it approached Osaw^atomie. Frederick had come 
 from Lawrence the day before with Hawes. The two stopped 
 over night at the Carr cabin, adjoining his uncle Adair's place, 
 where they had left their horses. Frederick arose early to feed 
 them, and noticing two or three mounted men approaching, 
 walked out to see who they were. The parson knew him, and 
 recognized him as being one of a party that had raided his 
 home, and his stables, on the night of August 13th, whereupon 
 he shot him through the heart as he stood in the road. Mr. 
 Villard treats this incident facetiously. He says : ^^^ 
 
 Thus on August 13th, the home of the Rev. Martin White 
 was raided by Free-State men, among them James H. 
 Holmes, and ten pro-slavery horses were weaned from their 
 allegiance to a wicked and failing cause. White, a preju- 
 diced witness, asserted that the horses were laden with 
 plunder, but upon this point the memories of Holmes and 
 Bondi, both participants, failed them. 
 Continuing he says : ^^^^ 
 
 i9ia Villard, 246. 
 
 192 Villard, 247. 
 
 193 Villard. 234. 
 193a Villard, 242. 
 
OSAWATOMIE 171 
 
 White pretended to recognize the boots on Brown as a 
 pair stolen from his son in the raid upon White ; but there 
 is no evidence to show that Frederick Brown was at that 
 time elsewhere than in Lawrence. 
 
 It may be said with equal irrelevancy, that there is no evi- 
 dence to show that Frederick was elsewhere than in the raid. 
 The author knows, or ought to know, the exact facts concern- 
 ing that feature of this deplorable incident. He could have ob- 
 tained the information from Holmes, one of the principals, or 
 from others whom he met, who had knowledge of the facts. 
 However, it is probable that Frederick was a party to this rob- 
 bery. He returned to Kansas with his father from Nebraska 
 City. "Frederick felt," according to the testimony of Henry 
 Thompson, "that Pottawatomie bound him to Kansas. He 
 did not wish to leave. He felt that a great crime had been com- 
 mitted and that he should go back to Kansas and live it out." ^^* 
 August 10th, father and son arrived at Topeka and disappeared. 
 But since Osawatomie was the field of their prospective opera- 
 tions, and robbery the purpose for which they intended to enter 
 it, Frederick probably went direct from Topeka to Osawatomie, 
 and participated, with Holmes and Bondi, in an outrage for 
 which he paid the forfeit of his life. His presence in the rob- 
 bery is not the only probability in the case. The stolen stuff 
 had to be sold somewhere, and, because of his experience in the 
 business, and his knowledge of how to do such things, it is 
 quite probable that after raiding the parson's and other homes, 
 he went north with the horses that had been stolen, and dis- 
 posed of them, and had just returned with the proceeds, August 
 29th, for another consignment of horses ; or, possibly, to drive 
 the cattle, which his father was to steal din-ing his absence, to 
 their destination. 
 
 The death of Frederick was the beginning of the utter col- 
 lapse and failure of Brow-n's "get-rich-quick" expedition. His 
 
 19* Villard, 224. 
 
172 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 camp was raided a few hours later, and his property — the cattle 
 and other loot of the recent foray, and probably the four mule 
 team and provisions — was all taken by the enemy. "The horses 
 and cattle, at hand, were gathered up and carried ofif, including 
 Cline's booty from South Middle Creek." '^' 
 
 The statement put forth, that after the battle Brown "en- 
 camped" several days on the Houser fami, about two and one- 
 half miles from Osawatomie, and attempted to fortify it,^®® is 
 merely trifling with history. Aside from his personal state- 
 ment that he was hiding, and starv^ing, during this time, it fol- 
 lows, logically, that if Brown were human, and could have ob- 
 tained facilities for so doing, he would not have refrained, until 
 September 7th, from writing to his wife at North Elba, the sad 
 news concerning the death of their son. And further, if John 
 Brown had believed that his relation to this battle was honor- 
 able, and that the part which he had performed in it was in any 
 sense heroic or creditable, he would not have concealed him- 
 self and the facts concerning his heroism from the public for 
 eight days. It appears that Brown arrived bare-headed at the 
 Adair home on the evening of the 30th, saw the dead body of 
 his son, took his cap, and disappeared, leaving the burial of the 
 body to be attended to by others. ^^^ The truth seems to be that 
 he was ashamed because of his disgraceful conduct ; and terror 
 stricken because of the calamities which he had brought upon 
 the people of the ill-fated town ; and that he slunk out of sight and 
 hid to avoid arrest, and the public condemnation that was his 
 due. But when at Lawrence, Bondi, Benjamin, and Holmes 
 gave out their exaggerations concerning the battle, but noth- 
 ing about the robberies; and told of their personal prowess 
 in the engagement, and of their leader's heroism ( ?) therein; 
 and when Brown discovered that his band of thieves had come 
 to be recognized as a military organization ; and that he, the 
 
 i»5Villard, 246 
 i96Villard, 235. 
 1^^ Hinton, John Brown and His Men, 696. 
 
OSAWATOMIE 173 
 
 Loki of Osawatomie. had become the "Hero of Osawatomie" ; 
 then, and not till then, came he out of hiding, and affinned 
 what had been put forth by his men concerning him, and accepted 
 the honors which were accordingly thrust upon him. 
 
 With these September days came the climax of the aggressive 
 Free-State campaign. Also, came the collapse of the pro- 
 slavery effort to fasten slavery upon Kansas by force of arms. 
 Lawrence was the headquarters for the Free-State men, and 
 their activities gave to the place an atmosphere of war. Lane 
 led an expedition against Atchison's army which he encoun- 
 tered at Bull Creek. September 7th, the day Brown arrived 
 from Osawatomie, an expedition was launched against Leaven- 
 worth, under the command of Colonel James A. Harvey, but 
 it was ordered back to Lawrence, by General Lane, before it ar- 
 rived at its destination. On September 9th, General John W. 
 Geary arrived in the Territory. He had been appointed Ter- 
 ritorial Governor to succeed Governor Shannon. 
 
 "Almost simultaneously with Harvey's movements. Aaron 
 D. Stevens, alias Charles Whipple, raided Osawkie, a pro- 
 slavery settlement, taking eighty horses and nearly as many 
 arms." ^^* Falling back from the front of Atchison's army at 
 Bull Creek, Lane personally led an attack upon Hickory Point, 
 and finding the pro-slavery men too strong, sent to Lawrence 
 for assistance. "Whipple and fifty men responded; but on 
 their arrival Lane wanted Bickerton's cannon, and sent to Law- 
 rence for it." Colonel Harvey, who had just got back from 
 the Leavenworth campaign, also went to his assistance, arriving 
 on the 14th. Lane in the meantime had abandoned the siege, 
 but Harvey attacked them at once, and after a spirited fight 
 captured the force. His loss was five men wounded. The pro- 
 slavery loss was one man killed and four wounded. There was 
 no robbery involved in this battle."^ Later, Captain Wood, 
 
 i98Villard, 254. 
 i99Villard, 756. 
 
174 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 United States Army, met and captured one hundred of Har- 
 vey's men including their arms, and the cannon. 
 
 The withdrawal of Lane from Lawrence, with a large portion 
 of the organized Free-State forces, left the town quite unpre- 
 pared to resist the advance against it by General Atchison's 
 army, which arrived at Franklin on the 13th. This was the most 
 formidable force that had ever invaded the Territory. It com- 
 prised, at this time, twenty-seven hundred men, including a 
 battery of artillery. The principal subordinate commanders 
 were Generals Johii W. Reid, B. F. Stringfellow, \V. A. Has- 
 kell, and J. W. Whitfield. On the afternoon of the 14th, 
 Atchison made a reconnoissance, his advance guard drawing 
 the fire of the Free-State pickets in front of Lawrence. His 
 attack upon the town on the morning of the 15th, was pre- 
 vented by the armed intervention of the Federal Government. 
 During the night of the 14th, detachments of United States 
 cavalry and artillery arrived at Lawrence, and took up posi- 
 tions to defend the town. The Territorial Governor, Geary, 
 appeared upon the scene on the morning of the 15th, and, pro- 
 ceeding to Atchison's camp, notified him that he could proceed 
 no farther. This forceful intervention was fatal to the pro-slav- 
 ery propaganda. Upon receiving the Governor's ultimatum, the 
 pro-slavery leaders disbanded their army and gave up the strug- 
 gle. Geary's interference was not wholly unexpected. The 
 "hand writing" had heretofore been seen ''upon the wall." Be- 
 fore Atchison's advance upon Lawrence, a South Carolinian, 
 connected with the invading army, stated the situation in this 
 way : "And why should we remain ? We cannot fight, and of 
 course, cannot prevent our enemy from voting. The object of 
 our mission will then, of course, be defeated and we had as well 
 return." -"° 
 
 Brown was well received by the Free-State leaders, on his 
 arrival at Lawrence. He was fresh from the "bloody field of 
 
 -ooVillard, 260. 
 
OSAWATOMIE 175 
 
 Osawatomie." He gave his story to the press, and posed as tlie 
 hero of a splendidly fought battle against odds of nearly ten to 
 one ; and, although defeated, had inflicted heavy losses upon the 
 enemy. 
 
 After his arrival, the Sunday morning council reassem- , 
 bled, and decided on the movement against Leavenworth. 
 Most of the men thereupon ofifered the command to John 
 Brown, a responsibility he declined, out of deference to other 
 leaders, and it was then entrusted to Colonel James A. Har- 
 
 Referring to the defense of Lawrence, Mr. Villard says, with 
 reference to September 14th : 
 
 But the day before Lieutenant Colonel Johnston's arrival, 
 these amateur fortifications were filled with very earnest 
 Free-Soil men, ready to defend Lawrence at any cost. In 
 the absence of Lane, the command was as much in the hands 
 of Major J. B. Abbott and Captain Joseph Cracklin of the 
 "Stubbs" as of any one else. Some partisans of John Brown 
 have attempted to prove that he was in command, but the evi- 
 dence is conclusive that he declined Major Abbott's offer of 
 the command of a company, and then, at his request, went 
 from one of the "forts" to another, encouraging the men, 
 urging them to fire low, and giving them such military in- 
 formation as was his, everywhere, according to Major Ab- 
 bott, with excellent results.-"" 
 Of the invaders, Mr. Villard says : -°-^ 
 
 They had with them no less than twenty-seven hundred 
 men, some of them completely uniformed and well equipped. 
 Besides infantry and cavalry, there was a six-pounder bat- 
 tery; in all a remarkably strong force. Its advance guard 
 had come in sight of the men on guard at Lawrence on the 
 afternoon of the 14th, and after an hour's shooting at long 
 
 201 Villard, 254. 
 
 202 Villard, 258. 
 202a Villard. 257 
 
176 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 range, the Missourians had retired upon Franklin. Natur- 
 ally the people of Lawrence were in great alarm ; few were 
 able to sleep that night, remembering as they did, Atchison's 
 last visit to their town. There was, therefore, general re- 
 joicing when, on the next morning, Lieut. Col. Johnston's 
 troops were found to be encamped on Mount Oread, the hill 
 overlooking Lawrence, where they had arrived during the 
 night. 
 
 The people of Lawrence might well be in a state of alarm 
 during the night of the 14th, believing that with the dawn of 
 the 15th, Atchison's guns would open upon the town. But 
 Brown was not there on the morning of the 15th to help meet 
 the shock of the impending battle. True to the mercenary 
 character of his conduct, he declined all offers of command on 
 the 14th, and left the town to its fate, going to the home, in the 
 country, of Augustus Wattles.^"^ 
 
 Upon assuming control of affairs as Territorial Governor, 
 General Geary released the Free-State leaders wdio had been ar- 
 rested and held as prisoners at Lecompton during the later 
 months of Governor Shannon's administration, an act that 
 caused great rejoicing at Lawrence. 
 
 On the 13th, Charles Robinson addressed the following letter 
 to Brown : 
 
 Lawrence, September 13, 1856. 
 Captain John Brown: 
 
 Dear Sir : Governor Geary has been here and talks very 
 zvell. He promises to protect us, etc. There will be no at- 
 tempt to arrest anyone 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 will 
 then tell you all that the Governor said, and talk of some other 
 matters. Very respectfully, C. Robinson 
 
 In response to this letter, Brown called upon the Governor on 
 
 -03 Villard, 673. 
 
OSAWATOMIE 177 
 
 the 14th; told him the story of his "defense" of Osawatomie, 
 and obtained from him the following beautiful letter: ^°* 
 
 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 
 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 citizens. History will give your name a proud place 
 in her pages and posterity will pay homage to your heroism 
 in the cause of God and humanity. 
 
 Trusting that you will conclude to remain in Kansas, and 
 serve during the war, the cause you have done so much to 
 sustain, and with earnest prayers for your health, and pro- 
 tection from the shafts of death that so thickly beset your 
 path. I subscribe myself, 
 
 Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 C. Robinson. 
 But Brown was seeking neither honors nor honorable men- 
 tion for honorable purposes; he sought only for something of 
 commercial value. He wanted "assistance" ; something upon 
 which he could work the public for money. Robinson, there- 
 fore, addressed to him a second letter, a letter of credit, as fol- 
 lows: 
 
 To the Settlers of Kansas — 
 
 If possible please render Captain John Brown all the as- 
 sistance he may require in defending Kansas from invaders 
 and outlaws, and you will confer a favor upon your co-laborer 
 and fellow citizen. C. Robinson. 
 
 Brown obtained these letters by dissimulation. He took ad- 
 vantage of the Governor's confidence in his statements and 
 deeply imposed upon him. He concealed from him the plans 
 
 20* Sanborn, 330. 
 
178 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 which he had fonned for working a colossal graft upon the Free- 
 State sentiment in the East ; and the fact that he intended to use 
 these letters in pursuance of them. He was equivocal too, as to 
 his plans for leaving the Territory. If he had given Charles 
 Robinson even a hint that he had been robbing the settlers in the 
 Osawatomie district of their horses, cattle, and clothing ; and 
 had thus provoked Reid's descent upon the town, and the burn- 
 ing of it, as a retaliatory measure, and that he intended to use 
 the letters he asked for in grafting operations, they would not 
 have been written. 
 
 Brown's latest biographer regards the foregoing letters of 
 special interest, because of Governor Robinson's subsequent 
 criticism of Brown's actions — assuming that the spirit of these 
 letters in inconsistent with his later estimate of the rectitude of 
 Brown's conduct.^°^ The point is not well taken. The Gov- 
 ernor's endorsement is, plainly, dependent upon the information 
 which he had received relating to it. He said : Your course, so 
 far as I have been informed, has been such as to merit the high- 
 est praise from every patriot, and he then proceeds to state what 
 the heartfelt thanks are for: "For your prompt, efficient, and 
 timely action against the invaders of our right and the murderers 
 of our citizens." This plain language cannot be distorted into 
 an approval, by the Governor, of Brown's crimes in murdering 
 and plundering pro-slavery settlers; who came into the Ter- 
 ritory to build homes for their families, as Brown and his 
 sons originally came to do ; and whose rights, as settlers, were 
 equal to those of their Free-State neighbors. Equality of set- 
 tlers' rights, was the basic principle of the Free-State conten- 
 tion. Robinson wrote it into the platform of the party and un- 
 alterably maintained it, to a victorious finish. The war that 
 was being carried on by the Free-State men, was directed 
 against the invasion of the Free-State settlers' rights by pro- 
 slavery men who were non-residents of the Territory. 
 2or. Villard, 262. 
 
OSAWATOMIE 179 
 
 John Brown remained at the Wattles farm until the 22d. 
 Meanwhile plans were matured for his sons, John and Jason, 
 and their families, to quit the Territory. During the first days 
 of October they left Kansas for the East. Brown's farewell is 
 recorded by Mr. Villard, as follows : -°^ 
 
 On departing from the Territory, Brown left the remainder 
 of his Osawatomie volunteer-regular company under the 
 command of James H. Holmes, with instructions to "carry 
 the war into Africa." This Holmes did by raiding into Mis- 
 souri and appropriating some horses and arms and other 
 property, for which he was promptly and properly indicted 
 and long pursued by the Kansas and Missouri authorities. 
 The foregoing is the record, to date, of John Brown's "activ- 
 ities" in Kansas. The peace and tranquility of the Osawat- 
 omie district to which he came in October, 1855, had not there- 
 tofore been disturbed by any distracting contentions. The set- 
 tlers were pursuing the even tenor of their way. They were 
 comfortable, prosperous, and contented ; living in the security 
 vouchsafed, by the usages of our civilization and the laws of our 
 country, to all of its citizens. They so continued to live, during 
 a period of eight months thereafter, wholly unsuspicious of the 
 designs their neighbor. Brown, was maturing against their 
 peace, their property, and their lives. 
 
 From 1854 to 1860, the great political contest in the country 
 was over the question of the extension of slavery into the public 
 domain. It was the paramount issue in National politics. New 
 alignments were then formed throughout the country in rela- 
 tion to it, as men were differently moved by their sympathies 
 or interests. In Kansas, the division in public sentiment was 
 more pronounced than elsewhere, for reasons that have been 
 stated. Naturally, the settlers in the Osawatomie neighbor- 
 hood were divided upon this political question ; but certainly not 
 with very much greater intensity of feeling than this same 
 206 Villard, 261. 
 
 12 
 
180 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 neighborhood was divided afterward, upon the great moral 
 question of prohibition, or upon the equally great economic 
 question of free-coinage of silver. The differences of opinion 
 there did not promote or arouse personal animosities, or bitter- 
 ness of feeling, among the settlers. Ample authority for this 
 conclusion of fact is found in the letters written, at the time, by 
 John Brown and others of his family, and in the statement which 
 he voluntarily made in 1857, before a committee of the Massa- 
 chusetts legislature, heretofore quoted. A large majority of 
 the settlers in that district belonged to the Free-State party 
 which made the security and peace of the Free-State settlers 
 complete, beyond debate. These conditions of peace and tran- 
 quility continued undisturbed, until the night of May 24, 1856, 
 when John Brown opened his "school" of plunder, and cast 
 the baleful shadow of his presence upon the settlement. The 
 Pottawatomie horror inaugurated a season of assassination and 
 robbery unprecedented in Kansas history: a period of public 
 disorder and crime, that ended only when the Territory was 
 finally rid of John Brown and his marauders. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 HYPOCRISY 
 
 He zvas a man 
 Who stole the livery of the court of Heaven 
 To serve the Devil in. 
 
 — Pollock, Course of Time 
 
 John Brown "struck the trail" of "easy money" June 28, 1855, 
 when Gerrit Smith presented his case to the Syracuse conven- 
 tion and collected sixty dollars to assist him in migrating to 
 Kansas. He had followed it up with profit, while en route 
 thereto, at Springfield, Hudson, Akron, and Cleveland. Now 
 he was returning to the East to work the field again. It was 
 the same graft which he had theretofore worked, but upon 
 greatly improved plans and along broader lines. 
 
 He had two schemes in view. Robinson's letter of Septem- 
 ber 14th addressed "To the Settlers of Kansas," showed that 
 Brown was their accredited defender "from invaders and out- 
 laws." Under the pretext of enlisting, amiing, equipping, and 
 maintaining in Kansas, a company of fifty mounted men to pro- 
 tect the settlers from "invaders and outlaws," he intended to 
 try to secure $30,000, in cash, to finance the pretense. The 
 other scheme was to have the Legislatures of Massachusetts 
 and New York appropriate large sums of money — $100,000 
 each — to reimburse persons who had emigrated to Kansas 
 from these States, for losses which they were supposed to have 
 "suffered in advancing the Free-State cause." Naturally, 
 Brown and all the members of his family were "sufferers," and 
 would be eligible as beneficiaries of this legislation. 
 
 "The National Kansas Committee" was a company formed 
 
182 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 to promote emigration to Kansas Territory. It was also a sort 
 of clearing-house for the various committees which had been 
 organized in the Northern States for a similar purpose. It had 
 offices in New York, Chicago, and other places. Mr. E. B. 
 Whitman was the resident agent of the company in Kansas, a 
 fact which the Browns had not overlooked. 
 
 That Brown had this scheme for raising money in view as 
 early as July, 1856, appears from the fact that before leaving 
 Kansas with his sons, in that month, he called upon Mr. Whit- 
 man, at Lawrence, and filed with him a paper which was in- 
 tended to sen-e as the foundation of a claim for reimbursement 
 for such losses. It reads as follows : ^"^ 
 
 FOR MR. WHITMAN 
 
 Names of sufferers and persons who have made sacrifices 
 in endeavoring to maintain and advance the Free-State cause 
 in Kansas, within my personal knowledge. 
 
 1. Two German refugees (thoroughly Free-State), 
 robbed at Pottawatomie, named Benjamin and Bondy (or 
 Bundy). 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, traveling 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 dan- 
 gerously wounded at Palmyra, or Black Jack; had a bullet 
 lodged beside his backbone ; has had a severe turn of fever, 
 and is still very feeble. Suffered a little in the burning 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 re- 
 peatedly as volunteers for defense of Lawrence and other 
 places, suffering great hardships and some cruelty. 
 
 207 Sanborn, 241. 
 
HYPOCRISY 183 
 
 4. Owen and Frederick Brown. Both served at differ- 
 ent periods as volunteers, under me. Were both in the bat- 
 tle of Pahnyra ; both suffered by the burning of their broth- 
 ers' 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 volunteer; was dangerously wounded (if not permanently 
 crippled) by accident near Palmyra; had a severe sickness 
 and is still feeble. 
 
 6. Oliver Brown (minor). Served under me as a vol- 
 unteer for some months; was in the battle of Palmyra, and 
 had some sickness. 
 
 7. (B. L.) Cochrane (at Pottawatomie). Twice served 
 under me as a volunteer ; was in the battle of Palmyra. 
 
 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 com- 
 pany together have received forty dollars in cash, two sacks 
 of flour, thirty five pounds of bacon, thirty five do. of sugar, 
 and twenty pounds of rice. 
 
 I propose to serve hereafter in the Free-State cause (pro- 
 vided my needful expenses can be met) should they be de- 
 sired ; 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 my expenses are furnished 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 
 
 When one considers the life Brown had been leading and the 
 nature of the atrocities which he had committed, this proposal 
 
184 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 to ask for compensation therefor is a piece of effrontery : a good 
 exhibit of sublime gall. Also, his ultimatum therein is de- 
 serving of consideration. In it he demands, as a condition 
 precedent to the rendering of any further service in the Free- 
 State cause, that he have an assurance that he and his sons 
 would be paid for such services. This demand further dis- 
 closes the fact that the energies which Brown was putting forth 
 were not a devotion to the cause of the men in bondage, but 
 that he sought to work a personal and family graft upon Free- 
 State sentiment of the country. 
 
 During February, 1857, Brown had a bill prepared and in- 
 troduced in the Massachusetts Legislature to appropriate 
 $100,000, as a contingent fund, to relieve the distress of set- 
 tlers in Kansas. And on the 18th of that month he and Mr. 
 Whitman appeared before the committee, having charge of the 
 bill, to urge its passage. 
 
 Brown arrived at Tabor, Iowa, en route to the East, October 
 10th. On the 23d he was at Chicago, where he was well re- 
 ceived by the National Kansas Committee. At this time it was 
 moving a lot of supplies — two hundred Sharp's rifles, a brass 
 cannon, ammunition, clothing, etc. — across Iowa to Kansas, 
 under the direction of Dr. J. P. Root. The committee asked 
 Brown to return and accompany the train to its destination. 
 He, however, advised the management to stop the train, and not 
 attempt to enter Kansas with it ; saying that "The immediate 
 introduction of the supplies is not of much consequence com- 
 pared to the danger of losing them." His remark had refer- 
 ence to the efficient measures which Governor Geary had 
 adopted to put an end to the lawlessness which was prevailing 
 in the Territory at the time he assumed his official duties. 
 Brown went with Root as far as Tabor, Iowa, where the sup- 
 plies were stored, to await further developments. 
 
 Leaving Tabor, he passed through Chicago about the first of 
 December. In Ohio, upon presenting his letters from Gov- 
 
HYPOCRISY 185 
 
 emor Robinson to Governor Chase, he received from him an 
 additional letter of commendation, for use in Ohio, and twenty- 
 five dollars in cash. Thus encouraged, he pushed on, stopping 
 at various places on the way, soliciting money, and arriving in 
 Boston about January 1, 1857. There the congratulatory let- 
 ters which he had in his possession were of inestimable value to 
 him. It was through them that he succeeded in establishing 
 relations with men of ample means and of high character, who, 
 by their generous contributions of money, and by their moral 
 support, enabled him to work out his schemes to their logical 
 conclusions. 
 
 In Boston, Brown met Mr. Frank B. Sanborn, a young man 
 but a year and a half out of Harvard, who was then secretary 
 of the Massachusetts State Kansas Committee. *'He was on 
 fire for the anti-slavery cause, and ready to worship any of its 
 militant leaders." ^°* Brown, being a militant leader, made a 
 deep impression upon this susceptible young enthusiast, who re- 
 ported his find to Mr. Thomas Wentworth Higginson, "the 
 fighting young Unitarian Parson of Worcester," in a letter, as 
 follows : -°« 
 
 "Old Brown" of Kansas is now in Boston, with one of his 
 sons, working for an object in which you will heartily sym- 
 pathize — raising and arming a company of men for the 
 future protection of Kansas. He wishes to raise $30,000 to 
 arm a company, such as he thinks he can raise this present 
 winter, but will, as I understand him, take what money he can 
 raise and use it as far as it will go. Can you not come to 
 Boston tomorrow or next day and see Capt. Brown ? If not, 
 please indicate when you will be in Worcester, so he can see 
 you. I like the man from what I have seen — and his deeds 
 ought to bear witness for him. 
 
 It will be observed that this was to be a cash transaction : he 
 will "take what money he can raise and use it as far as it will 
 
 208Villard. 271. 
 209 jijid^ 
 
186 JOHN BROWX: A CRITIQUE 
 
 go." Most persons will scan this proposal with grave suspi- 
 cion, it bears so prominently the brand of the faker; but it will 
 create no surprise in the minds of those who are familiar with 
 Brown's criminal conduct while in commercial life, and with 
 his career of murder and robbery and association with thieves 
 in Kansas. 
 
 In his enthusiasm for his Kansas hero, Mr. Sanborn led 
 Brown, as the Psalmist had been led, "into green pastures and 
 beside the still waters." Through him he met Dr. Samuel G. 
 Howe, Patrick Tracy Jackson, George L. Stearns, Dr. Samuel 
 Cabot, Judge Thomas Russell, Wendell Phillips, \\'illiam Lloyd 
 Garrison, Henry D. Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and other 
 notable persons, all of whom were intensely interested in the 
 paramount political question of the day, and especially in the 
 contest going on in Kansas to make it a Free State. His East- 
 em campaign opened auspiciously. As the popular leader of a 
 popular cause, he struck the popular fancy. He presented him- 
 self to the public, "modestly," as being the leader of the "fight- 
 ing" forces of the Territory; and as having come from the 
 "front" to organize a more effective force, in order that he 
 might render still more efficient services. January 7th, armed 
 with his congratulatory letter from Governor Robinson, he 
 called upon Mr. Amos A. Lawrence, who wrote of him, admir- 
 ingly, as follows : 
 
 Captain Brown, the old partisan hero of Kansas warfare, 
 came to see me. I had a long talk with him. He is a calm, 
 temperate, and pious man. but when roused he is a dreadful 
 foe. He appears about sixty years old. His severe sim- 
 plicity of habits, his determined energy, his heroic courage 
 in time of trial, all based on a deep religious faith, make him 
 a true representative of the Puritanic warrior. I knew him 
 before he went to Kansas, and have known more of him 
 since, and should esteem the loss of his service, from poverty, 
 or any other cause, almost irreparable. 
 
 Mr. Stearns, too, was deeply impressed with his "sagacity. 
 
HYPOCRISY 187 
 
 courage, and strong integrity." He had him dine with hini at 
 his home on Sunday, January 11th. Brown sought, on this 
 occasion, to advance his personal fortunes by discrediting 
 Charles Robinson and other Free-State leaders. Measured by 
 his standard they were a collection of incompetents. He ex- 
 alted Martin F. Conway as the best of them, but characterized 
 him as "lacking in force." Naturally, if the best of them lacked 
 force, there was an emergency to get Brown back to the Terri- 
 tory as speedily as possible. It became clear to Mr. Stearns's 
 mind that it was the general incompetency and inefficiency of 
 the men in control of affairs in Kansas, their cowardice and 
 consequent inability to "protect" the settlers, that impelled 
 Brown to come East and raise money to equip a force to pro- 
 tect them. He therefore determined "to do everything in his 
 power to get him the arms and money he desired." 
 
 Mr. William Lloyd Garrison, also, was very much taken with 
 him. "They discussed peace and non-resistance together. 
 Brown quoting the Old Testament against Garrison's citations 
 of the New, and Parker, from time to time, injecting a bit of 
 Lexington into the controversy, which attracted a small group 
 of interested listeners." '^*^ 
 
 The first result of his newly formed relations was a contribu- 
 tion to him of two hundred Sharp's rifles, four thousand ball 
 cartridges, and thirty thousand percussion caps, made by the 
 "Massachusetts State Kansas Committee." These were the 
 arms which Brown had stored at Tabor. The committee also 
 voted him a credit of $500 for expenses. The Massachusetts 
 Kansas Committee originally purchased the arms, and had 
 turned them over to the National Kansas Committee, under 
 whose control they then were. 
 
 Before the latter committee, at its offices in the Astor House, 
 New York, Brown appeared, January 24th, and presented his 
 case. He asked for the arms, and for the moderate sum of 
 
 -lovillard, 272. 
 
188 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 $5,000, cash. But this committee had taken pains to inform 
 itself, through its general agent, Air. Arny, with reference to 
 conditions existing in Kansas. The directors, therefore, were 
 not nearly so susceptible as were the more impulsive people of 
 the Massachusetts Committee. . They wanted to know some- 
 thing about the nature of the project which they were being 
 asked to finance, and hoped that Brown would make a more 
 specific and definite declaration. They wanted to know what 
 the cost of the equipment, for the defenders he talked about, 
 would amount to, and called for a list of the articles which he 
 needed, with an estimate of the cost of each ; and wanted to know 
 what he intended to do with the company after it was organized. 
 And then they asked another very relevant question : what he 
 intended to do with the five thousand dollars he wanted them 
 to give him. Brown's scheme was a personal matter, and to 
 have answered these questions, and others that would have, 
 logically, followed, would have caused him some embarrass- 
 ment. He therefore denied their right to inquire into the pri- 
 vacy of his affairs. He wanted five thousand dollars fiat ; with 
 no questions asked; and rising to the height of the occasion. 
 put on a bold front, and refused to be interrogated. He said : ~^^ 
 I am no adventurer. You all know me. You know what 
 I have done in Kansas. I do not expose my plans. No one 
 knows them but myself, except perhaps one. I will not be 
 interrogated ; if you wish to give me anything, I want you to 
 give it freely. I have no other purpose but to serve the cause 
 of liberty. 
 
 The debate being thus closed, the National Committee then 
 settled the question of the amis by transferring them back to 
 the Massachusetts Committee; and with admirable tact, voted 
 the five thousand dollars conditionally - — for "necessary de- 
 fensive purposes in aid of Captain John Brown in any defensive 
 measures that may become necessary." The irony of the res- 
 olution was concealed by an order authorizing him to draw 
 
 211 Mason Report, 245. Testimony of H. B. Hurd. 
 
HYPOCRISY 
 
 189 
 
 upon the committee for five hundred dollars at any time. Ikit 
 he received no part of it, until he showed, by his actions, that he 
 intended to return to Kansas. 
 
 The committee penetrated the veneer that disguised Brown's 
 hypocrisy, and refused to put any money whatever into his 
 hands. After the adjournment, he made up a list of the articles 
 that he thought he would need, which he handed to Mr. Horace 
 White, assistant secretary. It reads as follows : 
 
 Memorandum of aricles wanted as an Outfit for Fifty Vol- 
 unteers to serve under my direction during the Kansas war : 
 or for such specified time as they may each enlist for: to- 
 gether with estimated cost of same delivered in Lawrence or 
 Topeka.-^^ 
 
 2 substantial (but not h^avy) baggage waggons 
 
 with good covers . 
 4 good serviceable waggon Horses 
 2 sets strong plain Harness . 
 100 good heavy Blankets say at 2. or 2 
 8 Substantial large sized Tents . 
 8 Large Camp Kettles . 
 50 Tin basins .... 
 4 Plain strong Saddles & Bridles . 
 4 picket ropes and pins 
 8 Wooden Pails .... 
 8 axes and Helves 
 8 Frying pans (large Size) . 
 8 Large sized Coffee Pots . 
 8 do do Spiders or Bake Ovens 
 8 do do Tin Pans 
 12 Spades & Shovels 
 
 6 Mattocks 
 
 2 Weeks provisions for Men & Horses 
 Fund for Horse hire & feed, loss & 
 
 same 
 
 50 
 
 damage of 
 
 $ 200.00 
 
 400.00 
 
 50.00 
 
 200.00 
 
 100.00 
 
 12.00 
 
 5.00 
 
 80.00 
 
 3.00 
 
 4.00 
 
 12.00 
 
 8.00 
 
 10.00 
 
 10.00 
 
 6.00 
 
 18.00 
 
 6.00 
 
 150.00 
 
 500.00 
 $1,774.00 
 
 212 Original in files of Kansas Historical Soci 
 
 ety. 
 
190 JOHN BROWX: A CRITIQUE 
 
 There was a very handsome margin for profits between 
 $30,000, his original estimate of what he would require to "arm 
 and equip a company such as he thought he could raise this 
 present winter" and his final estimate — $1,774. But that is 
 not material ; Brown was simply working the field for all the 
 money he could get; as Mr. Sanborn truly said "he will take 
 all he can raise and use it as far as it will go." 
 
 The National Committee voted $1,774 to fill this requisition, 
 but it declined to give Brown the money wherewith to make the 
 purchases. He had a right to expect that the committee would 
 give him this money, and trust him to expend it honestly ; but it 
 ordered otherwise. February 18th Mr. White wrote that the 
 articles Brown had requisitioned would be shipped the follow- 
 ing week; and on March 21st he notified him that he would 
 "shortly go to Kansas and work there to fit him out with all the 
 supplies he was entitled to under the New York resolution." ^^^ 
 Brown was keenly disappointed and deeply humiliated by the 
 actions of the National Committee; and in a letter to Mr. 
 William Barnes, of Albany, April 3d, gave expression to his re- 
 sentment. He said : 
 
 I am prepared to expect nothing but bad faith from the 
 
 Kansas National Committee at Chicago, as I will show you 
 
 hereafter. This, for the present, is confidential.-^* 
 
 It was money and not supplies that Brown was eager for at 
 this period in his operations. His plans did not contemplate 
 any defense of Kansas. The "arming and equipping" of the 
 fifty men was a deception. It was but his stock in trade — a 
 pretext upon which he solicited funds. He, and the kind of 
 men he would have enlisted, if he enlisted any, had all the anus 
 they would need, and stealing requires but little ammunition. 
 In his largest successful venture — the Pottawatomie — but 
 one shot was fired, and that one, as stated by Salmon Brown, 
 was "wholly unnecessary." 
 
 2i3Villard. 276. 
 21' Ibid. 
 
HYPOCRISY 191 
 
 February 18, 1857, was an important day in Brown's calen- 
 dar. Mr. Sanborn had prepared his bill to appropriate $100,- 
 000 to relieve the distress of Kansas settlers. It had been in- 
 troduced in the Massachusetts Legislature, and referred to the 
 Joint Committee on Federal Relations, before which it was to 
 be taken up, on that day, for consideration. Mr. Sanborn 
 stood sponsor for the measure ; and Brown and Mr. Whitman 
 appeared before the committee, as advocates, in support of it. 
 Introducing these two distinguished persons Mr. Sanborn said 
 in part : '^^ 
 
 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 out- 
 rage 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 appropria- 
 tion be made by the legislature, to be placed in the hands of 
 a commission of responsible and conservative 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. . . We have invited Captain Brown and Mr. Whit- 
 man to appear in our behalf, because these gentlemen are 
 eminently qualified either to represent Massachusetts in Kan- 
 sas, or Kansas in Massachusetts. The best blood of the 
 "Mayflower" runs in the veins of both, and each had an an- 
 cestor in the army of the Revolution. Mr. Whitman, sev- 
 enth in descent from Miles Standish, laid the foundation of 
 the first church and the first schoolhouse in Kansas; John 
 215 Sanborn, 370. 
 
192 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 Brown, the sixth descendant of Peter Browne, of the "May- 
 flower," has been in Kansas what Standish was to the Ply- 
 mouth 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, gentleman — 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 pres- 
 ence 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 Massachu- 
 setts rises up to honor — is today an outlaw in Kansas. To 
 these witnesses, whose unsworn testimony deserves and will 
 receive from you all, the authority which an oath confers, I 
 will now yield place. 
 
 Mr. Redpath states that Brown then came forward and read 
 his speech, "in a clear ringing tone," as follows : -^^ 
 
 "I saw, while in ^Missouri, in the fall of 1855, large numbers 
 of men going to Kansas to vote, and also returning after they 
 had so done ; as they said. 
 
 "Later in the year, I, with four of my sons, was called out 
 and traveled, mostly on foot and during the night, to help de- 
 fend Lawrence, a distance of thirty-five miles ; where we were 
 detained, with some five hundred others, or thereabouts, from 
 five to ten days — say an average of ten days — at a cost of 
 not less than a dollar and a half per day, as wages, to say 
 nothing of the actual loss and suffering occasioned to many 
 of them, leaving their families sick, their crops not secured, 
 their houses unprepared for winter, and many without houses 
 at all. This was the case with myself and sons who could 
 not get houses built after returning. Wages alone would 
 amount to seven thousand five hundred dollars ; loss and suf- 
 fering cannot be estimated. 
 
 "I saw, at that time, the body of the murdered Barber, and 
 was present to witness his wife and other friends brought in 
 to see him with his clothes on. just as he was when killed. 
 2i« Redpath, 177-184. 
 
HYPOCRISY 193 
 
 "I, with six sons and a son-in-law, was called out, and trav- 
 elled, most of the way on foot, to try and save Lawrence, 
 May 20 and 21, and much of the way in the night. From 
 that date, neither I nor my sons, nor my son-in-law, could 
 do any work about our homes, but lost our whole time until 
 we left, in October ; except one of my sons, who had a few 
 weeks to devote to the care of his own and his brother's fam- 
 ily, who were then without a home. 
 
 "From about the 20th of May, hundreds of men, like our- 
 selves, lost their whole time, and entirely failed of securing 
 any kind of a crop whatever. I believe it safe to say, that 
 five hundred free state men lost each one hundred and twenty 
 days, which, at one dollar and a half per day, would be — to 
 say nothing of attendant losses — ninety thousand dollars. 
 
 "On or about the 30th of May, two of my sons, with sev- 
 eral others, were imprisoned without other crime than op- 
 position to bogus legislation, and most barbarously treated 
 for a time, one being held about one month, and the other 
 about four months. Both had their families on the ground. 
 After this, both of them had their houses burned, and all 
 their goods consumed by the Missourians. In this burning 
 all the eight suffered. One had his oxen stolen, in addition." 
 
 The Captain, laying aside his paper, here said that he had 
 now at his hotel, and would exhibit to the Committee, if they 
 so desired, the chains which one of his sons had worn, when 
 he was driven beneath the burning sun, by federal troops, 
 to a distant prison, on a charge of treason. The cruelties he 
 there endured, added to the anxieties and sufferings incident 
 to his position, had rendered him, the old man said, as his 
 eye flashed and his voice grew sterner. "A maniac — yes, a 
 MANIAC." 
 
 He paused a few seconds, wiped a tear from his eye, and 
 continued his narration. ... 
 
 "I saw while it was standing, and afterwards saw the ruins, 
 of a most valuable house, the property of a highly civilized, 
 intelligent, and exemplary Christian Indian, which was 
 burned to the ground by the ruffians, because its owner was 
 
194 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 suspected of favoring the free state men. He is known as 
 Ottawa Jones, or John T. Jones. 
 
 "In September last, I visited a beautiful little free state 
 town called Staunton, on the north side of the Osage, (or 
 Marais-des-Cygnes, as it is sometimes called,) from which 
 every inhabitant had fled for fear of their lives, even after 
 having built a strong log house, or wooden fort, at a heavy 
 expense, for their protection. Many of them had left their 
 eflfects liable to be destroyed or carried oflf, not being able to 
 remove them. This was to me a most gloomy scene, and like 
 a visit to a sepulchre. 
 
 "About the first of September, I, and five sick and 
 wounded sons, and a son-in-law, were obliged to lie on the 
 ground, without shelter, for a considerable time, and at 
 times almost in a state of starvation, and dependent on the 
 charity of the Christian Indian I have named before, and his 
 wife." 
 
 He concluded his remarks by denoimcing the traitors to 
 freedom, who, when a question of this kind was raised, cried 
 out, "Save the people's money — the dear people's IMoney." 
 He had a detailed estimate of how much the National Gov- 
 ernment had expended in endeavoring to fasten slavery on 
 Kansas ; and asked why these politicians had never cried out, 
 "Save the people's money !" when it was expended to trample 
 under the foot of the "peculiar" crime of the south, the 
 rights, lives, and property of the Northern squatters. They 
 were silent then. (Applause.) 
 
 The Chairman then asked who commanded the free-state 
 men at Lawrence. His answer was characteristic of the 
 man, whose courage was only equalled by his modesty and 
 worth. 
 
 He explained how bravely our boys acted — gave every 
 one the credit but himself. When again asked who com- 
 manded them, he said, — no one; that he was asked to take 
 the command, but refused, and only acted as their AD- 
 VISER! 
 
HYPOCRISY 195 
 
 The Captain spoke in conclusion, about the emigrants 
 needed for Kansas. 
 
 "We want," he said, "good men, industrious men, men 
 who respect themselves ; who act only from the dictates of 
 conscience; MEN WHO FEAR GOD TOO MUCH TO 
 FEAR ANY THING HUMAN." 
 
 When asked by the Chairman : — "What is your opinion 
 as to the probability of a renewal of hostilities in Kansas — 
 of another invasion ; and what do you think would be the 
 effect, on the free state men, of an appropriation by Massa- 
 chusetts?" — replied: — "Whenever we heard, out in Kan- 
 sas that the North was doing any thing for us, we were en- 
 couraged and strengthened to struggle on. As to the prob- 
 ability of another invasion, I do not know. We ought to be 
 prepared for the worst. Things do not look one iota more 
 encouraging now, than they did last year at this time. You 
 ought to remember that, from the date of the Shannon 
 treaty till May last, there was perfect quiet in Kansas ; no 
 fear of a renewal of hostilities; no violence offered to our 
 citizens in Missouri. I frequently went there myself ; was 
 known there; yet treated with the greatest kindness." 
 
 The Massachusetts Kansas Committee, of which Mr. San- 
 born was secretary, was composed of the kind of men described 
 in the resolution, "responsible and conservative men." It 
 seems, therefore, that the scheme was to have the State appro- 
 priate this money, and place it with the Massachusetts Com- 
 mittee, for disbursement among Kansas settlers who had suf- 
 fered, as the Browns and "four or five others" had suffered. 
 
 Of his biographers James Redpath, alone, seems to have been 
 favorably impressed with the speech ; and it is unfortunate 
 for Brown's fame that he gave it publicity ; for, had the re- 
 port of the speech been suppressed and the manuscript de- 
 stroyed, his biographers could have made much of the occasion ; 
 much more than was made of his mythical effort at Lawrence, 
 December 8, 1855. The speech was, in truth, a maudlin plea 
 for compensation for the time which he and his sons had 
 
196 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 spent in secretly murdering- and i)lundering Kansas settlers. 
 It also included a weak attempt to criticise the Free-State lead- 
 ership ; a line of criticism then becoming popular, and still ex- 
 isting within the zone infected by the pernicious influence of 
 the Disunionists of that period. 
 
 Brown did not dare to even hint at the truth concerning what 
 he had seen, and what he had personally done in Kansas. Yet 
 he did not hesitate to seek to impose this measure for compensa- 
 tion upon the Legislature, and to misinform it in relation to his 
 conduct, and to misdirect its official actions. Imagine if possi- 
 ble the dismay, horror, and disgust that would have taken pos- 
 session of the members of this committee, if a correct view of 
 Brown's life, in Kansas, had been portrayed to them. The ar- 
 rangement of the function was audacious and clever ; an illus- 
 tration of his daring hypocrisy, reckless insolence, and con- 
 sistent variance with right doing. The legislative committee 
 penetrated Brown's armor, as the Kansas National Committee 
 had done, and refused to recommend that his bill be passed. 
 
 Three months later, Mr. Stearns was led to make an effort 
 to have the New York Legislature take up a similar measure. 
 Writing on May 18th, to a New York committee, he made the 
 following remarkable statements : -^^ 
 
 Since the close of the last year we have confined our opera- 
 tions to aiding those persons in Kansas who were, or in- 
 tended to become, citizens of that Territory, — believing 
 that sufficient inducements to immigrate existed in the pros- 
 perous state of affairs there; and we now believe that should 
 quiet and prosperity continue there for another 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 per- 
 sons, who shall use it for relief of those in Kansas who are, 
 
 217 Sanborn, 386. 
 
HYPOCRISY 197 
 
 or may become, destitute through Border-Ruffian outrage. 
 We think it will be done. 
 
 2. To organize a secret force, well armed, and under con- 
 trol of the famous John Brown, to repel Border-Ruffian out- 
 rage and defend the Free-State men from all alleged imposi- 
 tions. 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 judg- 
 ment. He has control of the whole affair, including contri- 
 butions 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 ac- 
 cept peace on any terms. Brown and his friends 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 parties of settlers now 
 in the Territory will be the next best. 
 
 It appears from the closing sentences of this letter, that 
 Brown had succeeded in discrediting the men, who were stead- 
 fastly working out the Free-State problem, in order to ingrati- 
 ate himself with the people whom he then sought to delude. 
 His turpitude should not provoke surprise. The crime of in- 
 gratitude cannot further degrade the character of this menda- 
 cious mendicant. Having assassinated his imofifending neigh- 
 bors in the West, and robbed them, he now assassinated the 
 fame of honorable men, and robbed them of the measure of 
 confidence and esteem to which they were justly entitled be- 
 cause of their public services. 
 
 Disappointed in his scheme to have money legislated into his 
 
198 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 pocket, and in his effort to raise the thirty thousand dollars in 
 large sums, he proceeded to canvass the East personally, for 
 money, and to draw upon every possible source of supply — sail- 
 ing under false colors and doing business under false pretenses. 
 Referring to this, Mr. Villard says : "^^ 
 
 It must not be forgotten in this connection that very little 
 was known in Boston at this time, about the Pottawatomie 
 murders, and still less about Brown's connection with them. 
 Frank Preston Stearns, the biographer of his father, states 
 that the latter never knew of John Brown's connection with 
 the crime, and it may be well that Theodore Parker and 
 others passed off the scene without a full realization of the 
 connection between the Harper's Ferry leader and the trage- 
 dy of May 24, 1856. 
 
 Brown was proficient in the art of dissimulation. Mr. Tho- 
 reau was thus impressed with what, to him, seemed to be the 
 sanctity of a Christian character. He said : "^ 
 
 He was never able to find more than a score or so of re- 
 cruits 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 al- 
 ready 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 man who could fill the place worthily. I believe 
 he had prayers in his camp morning and evening, neverthe- 
 less. He is a man of Spartan habits, and at sixty was scru- 
 pulous about his diet at your table, excusing himself by say- 
 ing that he must eat sparingly and fare hard, as became a 
 soldier, or one who was fitting himself for difficult enter- 
 
 218 Villard, 274. 
 
 219 Sanborn, 503. 
 
HYPOCRISY 199 
 
 prises, 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 dis- 
 tinguishes him. Not yielding to a whim or transient im- 
 pulse, 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 giv- 
 ing 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 bun- 
 combe or his constituents anywhere. He had no need to in- 
 vent anything, but to tell the simple truth, and communicate 
 his own resolution; 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. 
 Mr. Emerson recorded his impressions in the following beau- 
 tiful language: 
 
 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 everyone who has heard him speak has 
 been impressed alike by his simple, artless goodness and 
 sublime courage. He joins that perfect Puritan faith which 
 brought his ancestors to Plymouth Rock, with his grand- 
 father's ardor in the Revolution. He believes in two articles, 
 — two instruments shall I say? — The Golden Rule and the 
 Declaration of Independence ; and he used this expression in 
 a conversation here concerning them : "Better a whole gen- 
 eration of men, women and children should pass away by a 
 violent death, than that one word of either should be violated 
 in this country." There is a Unionist, there is a strict con- 
 
200 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 structionist 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.^-" 
 
 These exalted characters, incapable of detecting the vile im- 
 position which he was practicing upon them, gave Brown the 
 full measure of their confidence; even accepting at its face 
 value the assassin's statement that he would have been glad to 
 add a chaplain to his band, if he could have found one who could 
 fill that office worthily. Governor Robinson had been more 
 conservative in his recommendation. He based his approval 
 of Brown upon the infomiation he had received. "Your ca- 
 reer," he said, "so far as I have been informed, has been such as 
 to merit the highest praise." 
 
 As may be supposed. Brown's most dependable contributor 
 was the Massachusetts Committee. January 7th it voted him 
 $500 for expenses and on April 1 1th it voted him $500 more for 
 the same account. April 15th it authorized him to "sell to 
 Free-State settlers in Kansas, one hundred of the rifles it had 
 placed in his care, for not less than fifteen dollars each, and to 
 apply the proceeds to relieve the suffering inhabitants of the 
 Territory." "^ Meanwhile he pursued his personal campaign 
 for money without abatement of energy ; visiting the principal 
 towns and cities in Massachusetts, New York, and Connecti- 
 cut.=^" 
 
 On March 4th he published, in the New York Tribune, the 
 following general advertisement for remittances of money : ^^* 
 
 TO THK FRIENDS OF FREEDOM 
 
 The undersigned, whose individual means were exceed- 
 ingly limited when he first engaged in the struggle for liberty 
 in Kansas, being now still more destitute, and no less anxious 
 
 2-'J Sanborn. £01. 
 
 221 Mason Report, 229. 
 
 222 Villard, 614. 
 
 223 Sanborn, 379. 
 
HYPOCRISY 201 
 
 than in time past to continue his efforts to sustain that cause, 
 is induced to make this earnest appeal to the friends of free- 
 dom throughout the United States, in the firm behef 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. 
 I 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 my intention to visit as many 
 places as I can during my stay in the states, provided I am 
 first informed of the disposition of the inhabitants to aid me 
 in my efforts as well as to receive my visit. Information 
 may be communicated to me (care of the Massasoit House) 
 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. 
 
 At Hartford and Canton, Connecticut, he used a similar ap- 
 peal : 
 
 I am trying to raise from twenty to twenty-five thousand 
 dollars 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 ? 
 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 sufificiently interested 
 to warrant their contributing, if there was any need of it, to 
 secure the object.^^* 
 '24 Sanborn, 379. 
 
202 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 Februar}^ 19th Mr. Lawrence sent Brown a check for seventy 
 dollars which had been contributed to the Massachusetts Com- 
 pany by John Conant, of New Hampshire. About this time 
 Mr. Lawrence pubhshed an offer to be "one of ten, or a smaller 
 number, to pay a thousand dollars per annum till the admission 
 of Kansas into the Union, for the purpose of supporting John 
 Brown's family and keeping the proposed company in the field." 
 Since he did not intend to have any company in Kansas, Brown 
 took up this proposal promptly and pressed tenaciously to com- 
 mute it for a thousand dollars, cash. On March 19th, he wrote 
 Mr. Lawrence from New Haven, as follows :^"^ 
 
 The offer you so kindly made through the Telegraph 
 some time since, emboldens me to propose the following for 
 your consideration : For One Thousand Dollars cash I am 
 offered an improved piece of land which with a little improve- 
 ment I now have, might enable my family, consisting of a 
 Wife & Five minor children (the youngest not yet Three 
 years old) to procure a Subsistence should I never return to 
 them ; my Wife being a good economist, & a real old fash- 
 ioned business woman. She has gone through the Two past 
 winters in our open cold house ; unfinished outside ; & not 
 plastered. I have no other income or means for their sup- 
 port. I have never hinted to any one else that I had a 
 thought of asking for any help to provide in any such way 
 for my family; & SHOULD NOT TO YOU, but for your 
 own suggestion. I fully believe I shall get the help I need to 
 operate with West. Last Night a private meeting of some 
 gentlemen here ; voted to raise one Thousand Dollars in New 
 Haven for that purpose. If you feel at all inclined to en- 
 courage me in the measure I have proposed, I shall be grate- 
 ful to get a line from you ; Care Massasoit House, Spring- 
 field, Mass; & will call when I come again to Boston. I do 
 not feel disposed to weary you with my oft repeated visita- 
 tions. I believe I am indebted to you as the UNKNOWN 
 225Villard, 279. 
 
HYPOCRISY 203 
 
 GIVER of One share of Emigrant aid stock ; as I can think 
 of no other so likely to have done it. IS MY APPEAL 
 RIGHT? 
 
 Mr. Lawrence replied March 20th that he had just sent nearly 
 fourteen thousand dollars to Kansas to establish a school fund 
 there, and was short of money, but assured him that if his life 
 were shortened while engaged in the great cause, "the family of 
 'Captain John Brown of Osawatomie' will not be turned out to 
 starve in this country, until Liberty herself is driven out." Mr. 
 Lawrence and Mr. Steams afterward agreed to raise the thou- 
 sand dollars, but as the payment lagged, Brown "pressed 
 to close quarters." May 13th he wrote quite peremptorily to 
 Mr. Steams : 
 
 I must ask to have the $1000 made up at once ; & 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 any thought of further burdening 
 either of my dear friends Stearns or Lazvrence. . . ."^ 
 The amount was made up and paid late in August, iNIr. Law- 
 rence paying $310 of it and Mr. Stearns $260. 
 
 It will never be known how much money Brown secured dur- 
 ing this raid through the East. Mr. Villard estimates his cash 
 collections at $4,000. The money value of the clothing and 
 war material given to him was about $13,000. In addition to 
 this Mr. Stearns gave him a cash credit of $7,000 against which 
 he could draw from time to time "as it might be needed to sub- 
 sist his company after they entered upon active service." He 
 also had to his credit with the National Kansas Committee the 
 $5,500 it had voted him. His total collections and subscrip- 
 tions amounted therefore to about $30,000. A valuable asset 
 in his collection of amis was two hundred revolvers, which the 
 Massachusetts Arms Company, at Chicopee Falls, agreed, 
 through Mr. Thayer, to sell to him for $1,300, fifty per cent 
 226 Villard, 281. 
 
204 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 of the regular price. Brown notified Mr. Stearns of the offer, 
 who promptly placed the order, agreeing to pay for the arms 
 by his personal note, in four months from date of delivery. In 
 his letter, notifying Brown that he would purchase the revolvers 
 for him, Mr. Stearns remarked incidentally : 
 
 I think you ought to go to Kansas as soon as possible, and 
 give Robinson and the rest some back bone. 
 
 Also on May 11th he said: 
 
 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 
 use in Kansas, but only such as were not used. 
 
 Yours truly, George L. Stearns. 
 
 Encouraged by the success of his deceptions — "the greedy 
 swallowing every where of what I have told," — and flattered 
 by the notoriety he had gained, Brown began to take his per- 
 sonal criticisms of the Kansas leaders seriously. During the 
 latter part of March he became so impressed by his dissatisfac- 
 tion with their "incompetence," and, what was worse, with 
 their "unwillingness to fight," that he decided to take things 
 into his own hands and displace them altogether. He would 
 put abler men in charge of Territorial affairs. With this pur- 
 pose in view, he modestly requested young Mr. Sanborn, and 
 Martin F. Conway, to meet him in conference at the Metro- 
 politan Hotel, in New York. From there the trio went to 
 Easton, Pennsylvania, where they formally offered the leader- 
 ship of the Free-State cause to ex-Governor Reeder. which the 
 latter declined, with appropriate thanks. However, the mis- 
 sion was not wholly without results. Mr. Villard informs us 
 that the ex-Governor was "so heartily in sympathy with 
 Brown's plan, that the latter wrote to him for aid, on his return 
 to Springfield, explaining that the only difference between them 
 was as to the number of men needed, and hoping that Mr. Reed- 
 
HYPOCRISY 205 
 
 er would soon discover the necessity of going out to Kansas this 
 spring." "^^ 
 
 The coming of spring was a serious matter in Brown's af- 
 fairs. His "sagacious" forecast called for a renewal of pro- 
 slavery aggressions in Kansas, and he was not there to resist 
 them, if they arrived. His admirers had responded to his ap- 
 peals for arms and money ; and in return, they expected him to 
 do something creditable; something worthy of his pretensions. 
 Naturally they wanted their hero to be at the front ; they wanted 
 to see him at the post of honor, and, if need be, at the post of 
 danger. Spring came, but Brown was not ready to go — "not 
 yet, but soon." He had not got enough of the kind of money 
 he wanted — "Money without questions asked." Mr. Villard 
 says : "April was for Brown another month of active solicita- 
 tion of funds." He realized that he had to go, and began mak- 
 ing the necessary preparations with reluctance, and in a state of 
 despondence wholly inconsistent with heroism ; but true — 
 strictly true — of the shamming mendicant. April 16th he 
 wrote to Mr. Eli Thayer : 
 
 I am advised that one of "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 back with irons in, rather than upon my 
 hands. ... I got a fine list in Boston the other day, 
 and hope Worcester will not be entirely behind. I do not 
 mean you or Mr. Allen & Co.^-® 
 
 At this time Brown heard, or pretended that he had heard, 
 a rumor that a United States marshal had passed through 
 Cleveland on his way East to arrest him for "high treason." 
 In consequence of this he sought and obtained a hiding place in 
 the home of Judge and Mrs. Russell, in Boston, where he re- 
 mained concealed several days. Here he indulged in several 
 spectacular effects, for the benefit of the Judge and his wonder- 
 
 22V Villard. 282. 
 22* Villard, 287. 
 
206 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 ing wife. Some of his performances were related by Judge 
 Russell, as follows : 
 
 He used to take out his two revolvers, and repeater, every 
 night before going to bed. to make sure of their loads, say- 
 ing, '"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 carpets, 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, 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 trea- 
 son, you can say that you used to stand on Captain Brown's 
 hand." -2'' 
 
 Brown had not been charged with treason in Kansas, nor 
 was he even under suspicion for "constructive" treason. But 
 Kansas treason was then a fashionable offense in the North, 
 and Brown, of course, worked it with fine effect upon his listen- 
 ers. The Rev. Theodore Parker suggested to Judge Russell a 
 way of escape for Brown. He wrote : 
 
 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 al- 
 leged crimes ; then I should be tried by a Massachusetts jury 
 and be acquitted.-^** 
 
 Brown at one time expressed his contempt for the gullible 
 people upon whom he imposed. It was when he was in Kansas 
 in 1858, and intended to write a book. He thought the story 
 
 --'■' Sanborn, 512. 
 230 Ibid. 
 
HYPOCRISY 207 
 
 of his life, as he would write it, would be a good "seller." The 
 title was to be "catchy," if there be such a word. It read : 
 A brief history of John Brown, otherwise (Old B.) and 
 
 his family: as connected with Kansas; By one who knows. 
 
 It was to be "sold for the benefit of the whole of my family 
 or to promote the cause of Freedom as may hereafter appear." 
 There was a mutuality of interest or a unity of Brown and the 
 cause of Freedom. Whatever he did for the cause was done 
 for the benefit of the family. In writing to his son about this 
 venture he said : 
 
 I am certain, from the manner in which I have been pressed 
 
 to narrate, and the greedy swallowing everywhere of what 
 
 I have told, and complaints of the newspapers voluntarily 
 
 made of my backwardness to gratify the public, that the 
 
 book would find a ready sale. -^^ 
 
 But his sons — John and Jason — disapproved of the ven- 
 ture : they were reactionaries ; they thought it best to leave well 
 enough alone, and shied at a proposal to skate upon ice so 
 treacherous as they knew this departure to be. John said : "^ 
 "But many a man has committed his greatest blunder when try- 
 ing to write a book." 
 
 While at the Russell home Brown evolved a scheme, charac- 
 teristic of his craftiness, which he launched in a highly dramatic 
 and effective manner. The paper was named : 
 
 OLD brown's farewell 
 
 To the Plymouth Rocks, Bunker Hill Monuments, Charter 
 Oaks, and. Uncle Tom's Cabbins. 
 
 Having prepared the paper for the specific purpose of im- 
 posing upon Mrs. Stearns, rather than upon Mr. Parker's con- 
 gregation, he paid that lady the flattering compliment of desir- 
 ing to consult her about "a plan he had," asking her to call on 
 
 23iVillard, 86. 
 
 232 Villard, 630, note 20. 
 
208 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 him at the Russell home. Her interesting statement of what 
 
 happened is as follows: 
 
 . . . 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 was ill with fever and ague, a chronic 
 form which had been induced by his exposures in Kansas. 
 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 men- 
 tioned 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 Medford — 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 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?" "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 me a copy to preserve among 
 
HYPOCRISY 209 
 
 my relics. He replied : "I would give you this, but it is not 
 fit. I had 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. 
 
 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 sud- 
 denly seemed mean and unworthy — not to say wicked — to 
 be living in luxury while such a man was struggling for a 
 few thousands to carry out his cherished plan. "Oh," said 
 he, "if I could have the money that is smoked away during 
 a single day in Boston, I could strike a blow which would 
 make slavery totter from its foundation." 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 acknowledge 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 morn- 
 ing; 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, 1 told him my morn- 
 ing thoughts. Reflecting a while, he said: "Perhaps 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 
 
210 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 thousand dollars. But this fact was not known at that time 
 and only made public after the death of Mr. Stearns.-^^ 
 The historical Farezvell, referred to, is herein reproduced : 
 He has left for Kansas ; has been trying since he came out 
 of the Territory to secure an outfit, or, in other words, the 
 means of arming and thoroughly equipping his regular min- 
 ute-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, nakedness, 
 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, unwhole- 
 some, and uncomfortable 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 "glorious re- 
 public" is under equal moral obligation to do, and for the 
 neglect of which he will be held accountable by God — a 
 cause in which every man, woman, and child of the entire 
 human family has a deep and awful interest — that when no 
 wages are asked or expected, he cannot secure, amid all the 
 wealth, luxury, and extravagance of this "heaven-exalted" 
 people, even the necessary 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, in- 
 trenching-tools, axes, shovels, spades, mattocks, crowbars; 
 have not a supply of ammunition ; have not money sufficient 
 to pay freight and travelling expenses ; and left my family 
 poorly supplied with common necessaries.*^* 
 In a letter to Brown of April 17th, Mr. Thayer proposed a 
 name for Brown's prospective company, as follows: 
 
 233 Sanborn, 509-510. 
 
 234 Sanborn, 508. 
 
HYPOCRISY 211 
 
 . . . Will you allow me to sugj^est 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." 
 
 What Brown's thoughts were when he read this friendly sug- 
 gestion can not well be imagined. The association of the word 
 "neighbors" with the phrase "falling among thieves" may have 
 caused him to suspect that Thayer held the secret of his dis- 
 honor; and that his guilt, hypocrisy, and mendacity might be 
 on the verge of exposure. At any rate the effect of the com- 
 bination of these words must have sunk deep into his heart. 
 They could not but call up afresh, and vividly, a mental vision 
 of the scenes on the Pottawatomie, when he and his band of 
 thieves fell among, and upon, their neighbors, at midnight, and 
 murdered and robbed them. 
 
 Brown's trouble now lay in the fact that he had to leave the 
 East and there was nothing which he could do in the West. 
 The Free-State cause under the direction of Robinson, and his 
 co-laborers: Goodin, Roberts, Holliday, Lane, Crawford, 
 Brown, Deitzler, Parrott, Brooks, Dudley. Emery, Wood- 
 ward, Learnard, Phillips, Conway, Wood, and many others, 
 was progressing in an orderly and satisfactory manner toward 
 a decisive victory at the polls. 
 
 Acknowledging the receipt of Mr. Stearns's suggestions that 
 he should go to Kansas immediately. Brown wrote him on the 
 13th : "I leave for the West to-day." It will be observed that 
 he put off no fire-works, nor indulged in any exhibition in he- 
 roics on the occasion of his going to his, pretended, field of 
 achievement. To William Barnes, of Albany, he wrote April 
 
 3d: 
 
 I expect soon to return West ; & to go back without even 
 securing an outfit. I go with a sad heart, having failed to se- 
 cure even the means of equipping ; to say nothing of feeding 
 men. I had when I returned, no more than I could peril; 
 
212 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 and could make no further sacrifice, except to go about in 
 
 the attitude of a beggar: & that I have done, humiliating as 
 
 it is. 
 
 Proceeding slowly westward, almost aimlessly, with two 
 wagons driven by himself and his son Owen, he worked the 
 country he passed through for all. the money and "supplies" he 
 could secure. It was not until August 7th, that he arrived at 
 Tabor, Iowa. "I was obliged," he said,-^^ "to stop at different 
 points on the way, and to go to others off the route to soHcit 
 help." 
 
 While thus engaged, he wrote the "Autobiography" ; a 
 paper held in adoration by his biographers. It is in the form 
 of a letter addressed to Mr. Stearns's twelve year old son, w^ho 
 had obtained "permission from his father to give all his pocket 
 money to Captain Brown." It contains nothing that was un- 
 usual or extraordinary in the lives of those who wrestled with 
 the problems and the privations which were incident to l)order- 
 life during the period of Brown's youth. The paper was writ- 
 ten for a special purpose and is valuable as an exhibit of his 
 scheming to finance the operations he then intended to under- 
 take in Virginia."^* 
 
 John Brown was not a weakling, nor was he wasting any of 
 his time trifling with sentiment when he wrote this letter. In 
 his brain surged the hopes for success, and the fears of a mis- 
 carriage, for lack of funds, of a secret purpose of transcendant 
 importance. The parents of young Stearns were the most val- 
 uable of his fiscal and moral supporters. Also he carried in 
 his pocket the father's check for $7,000. Further, he knew 
 that Mr. Stearns was seeking to have the State of New York 
 appropriate $100,000 to put in his hands for use in his Kansas 
 operations. Though still masquerading under cover of the 
 deception which he practiced upon these people, he had definite 
 
 235 Sanborn, 418. 
 
 238 See Appendix IV. 
 
HYPOCRISY 213 
 
 plans in view, which were not a pretense ; they were secret ; he 
 could not unfold them; but they were none the less real. He 
 intended to ask Mr. Stearns, and others, to finance his new 
 project; and to do so without inquiring too closely into the 
 nature of the details that w-ould be involved in the execution of 
 it. He wanted to retain the confidence which these friends 
 reposed in him, and under these circumstances wrote the letter 
 or autobiography, for the purpose of confirming their faith in 
 his sincerity; and to encourage a belief in their minds that he 
 was well equipped by heredity and training, to accomplish w^hat 
 he intended to undertake, and that he w^ould with certainty 
 succeed. 
 
 The problem of accounting for the impending failure of his 
 Kansas pretentions was also a serious matter. Mr. Steams 
 confidently expected that upon his arrival in Kansas, Brown 
 would promptly take up the subject of public affairs wnth 
 Governor Robinson ct al., and tell them, sharply, what should 
 be done. As he had derived it from Brown, these leaders 
 needed a leader : one wnth courage and energy ; and without a 
 suspicion that he had been deceived in the premises, he thought 
 Brown was equipped for the job, and that he was eager to give 
 the Free-State leaders an effective stimulant for "back-bone." 
 
 To keep up the pretense that his destination was Kansas, and 
 that his going there had some political significance. Brown 
 sought to have some responsible people meet him at Tabor for 
 consultation about Kansas matters. He accordingly wrote to 
 Colonel Phillips, June 9th, asking him to come, designating 
 others whom he desired to meet. Also he wrote to Mr. Wattles 
 and to Holmes, and probably to Cook. Phillips answered his 
 letter June 24th, informing him that none of the men whom he 
 hoped would meet him in the "most quiet way," for a confer- 
 ence about "very important matters," in relation to which there 
 were to be "no words," was sufficiently impressed with the im- 
 portance of his coming to put in an appearance. He also told 
 
214 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 him, what he already knew, that there was no necessity for 
 military operations. 
 
 Whether Brown entered Kansas at all, would depend solely 
 upon whether or not conditions there were favorable for an- 
 other "sudden coup to restore his fortunes." Upon this subject 
 he was in correspondence with "Captain" James H. Holmes of 
 Osawatomie fame. It will be remembered that Holmes had 
 been "promptly and properly indicted and long pursued by the 
 Kansas and Missouri authorities for "carrying the war into 
 Africa" — stealing horses and other property. Holmes must 
 have been a very daring and efficient thief, for Brown greatly 
 admired him and "used to call him *my little hornet.' ' "" One 
 of the Little Hornet's men had been stung. To this Holmes re- 
 ferred in a letter which he wrote to Brown April 30th. He 
 said : ''' 
 
 You will hear of me either at Lawrence, through J. E. 
 Cook, of the firm of Bacon, Cook, & Co., or I may be at Em- 
 poria, 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 re- 
 cently occurred of kidnapping a Free-State man, which is 
 this : Archibald Kendall was some two weeks since, enticed 
 out, under pretense of trading horses, by four men, and ab- 
 diucted into Missouri. Archy was in my company and is a 
 good brave fellow. 
 
 In answer to a letter from Brown, Holmes replied August 
 16th : 
 
 , . . I do not know what you would have me infer by 
 business ; T presume though, by the word being emphasized, 
 that you refer to the business for which I learn that 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 of Oct. next. If you wish other employments, 
 I presume you will find just as profitable ones. -^^ 
 
 -27 Sanborn, 392. 
 
 238 Jtid. 
 
 239 Sanborn, 396. 
 
HYPOCRISY 215 
 
 The 'Xittle Hornet" did not recommend, as profitable, the 
 business that might be had on election-day — October 5th ; that 
 opportunity foreshadowed the possibility of real resistance 
 against pro-slavery aggressions; but other profitable employ- 
 ments could be had. by the act of undertaking them, at any 
 time. These thieves understood each other. The "profitable 
 employments" meant stealing horses. 
 
 With his arrival at Tabor, August 7th. Brown reached the 
 limit of his possibilities. The next day he thus reported his 
 arrival to Mr. Stearns : -^'^ 
 
 In consequence of ill-health and other hindrances too nu- 
 merous 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 secur- 
 ing the principal object for which I came back from the Ter- 
 ritory ; and I am now waiting for teams and means to come 
 from there to enable me to go on. 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 la- 
 bor, together with being much of the time quite unwell and 
 depressed 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 disappointments. 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 dollars, 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, or I could not have reached this place. 
 He also loaned me one hundred and ten dollars to pay 
 
 2*0 Sanborn, 411. 
 
 2*1 His son Owen was the teamster herein referred to. 
 
216 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 to the Thompsons who were disappointed of getting their 
 money for the farm I had agreed for and got possession of 
 for use. I have been continually hearing from them that I 
 have not fulfilled, and 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. 
 
 He now had at Tabor and at Nebraska City, five wagon loads 
 of stuff -*'^ which was wholly useless for any purpose relating to 
 Kansas. He had been posing, for nearly a year, as a hero 
 charged with the responsibility of saving Kansas to freedom, 
 and had finally come to the end of his rope. To Mr. Sanborn 
 he wrote, August 13th : -*^ 
 
 I am now, at last, within a kind of hailing distance of our 
 
 Free-State friends in Kansas. ... I am now waiting to 
 
 know what is best to do next. 
 
 Four days later he wrote to his wife these significant w^ords: 
 
 Should no disturbance occur, we may possibly think best 
 to work back eastward.-** 
 
 To Mr. Adair he wrote : 
 
 I have been trying all season to get to Kansas ; but have 
 
 failed as yet, through ill health, want of means to pay 
 
 Freights, travelling expenses, etc. Hoiv to act now; I do not 
 
 know. -*^ 
 
 There was nothing more that Brown could do. The failure 
 of his pretensions was almost complete. Only his vocabulary 
 had survived the general wreck. It was still intact and in work- 
 ing order. Drawing upon that inexhaustible resource of the 
 charlatan, he wrote to Mr. Sanborn, October 1st: 
 
 2*2 Sanborn, 411. 
 2*3 Sanborn, 412. 
 2^-' Sanborn, 414. 
 2*» Villard, 303. 
 
HYPOCRISY 217 
 
 I am now so far recovered from my hurt, as to be able to 
 do a Httle ; 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."** 
 
 A comparison of Brown's correspondence at this time, with 
 what his eulogists have put forth concerning it, discloses a wide 
 divergence between the facts therein stated, and the biograph- 
 ical fiction relating thereto. Referring to Brown's irrelevant 
 reference to the tears and blood of his children, Mr. Villard 
 says: 
 
 Brave as this sentiment is, it only increases the mystery of 
 Brown's delaying at Tabor. . . . Obviously, Brown, 
 grim, self-willed, resolute chieftain that he generally was, 
 appeared baffled here and lacking wholly in a determination 
 to reach the scene of action at any cost. ... It will be 
 seen that, when he finally reached Kansas, he stayed but a 
 few days, was practically in hiding, . . . ^^ 
 
 Only editorial fiction mystifies the cause of his delay at Ta- 
 bor. The ''grim, self-willed, resolute chieftain" had a clear and 
 unalterable purpose in view, when he was delaying there. It 
 was to attempt the conquest of the Southern States. If he en- 
 tered Kansas, it would be merely an incident in the promotion 
 of that scheme. His attitude was pivotal but not enigmatic; 
 if a "disturbance" occurred in Kansas, he intended to proceed 
 thither, and under cover of it, execute such purposes as he had 
 in view ; otherwise, he would "work back eastward." 
 
 One, at least, of his Eastern admirers, Mr. Thomas Went- 
 worth Higginson, became impatient because of this delaying. 
 After nursing his disappointment a few months, he protested 
 Brown's procrastination, which evoked the following instruc- 
 tive reply from Mr. Sanborn : ^*® 
 
 . . . You do not understand Brown's circumstances. 
 
 '•*6 Sanborn, 400. 
 2*7 Villard, 202. 
 248 Villard, 303. 
 
218 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 . . . He is as ready for a revolution as any other man, 
 and is now on the borders of Kansas, safe from arrest, but 
 prepared for action, but he needs money for his present ex- 
 penses and active support. I beheve he is the best Disunion 
 champion you can find, and witli his hundred men, when he 
 is put where he can raise them, and driU them (for he has an 
 expert drill officer with him) he will do more to split the 
 Union than a list of 50,000 names, for your convention, good 
 as that is. 
 
 What I am trying to hint at is that the friends of Kansas 
 are looking with strange apathy at a movement which has all 
 the elements of fitness and success — a good plan, a tried 
 leader, and a radical purpose. If you can do anything for it 
 now, in God's narhe do it — and the ill result of the new jx)!- 
 icy in Kansas may be prevented. 
 
 On August 13th, the "Cromwellian Trooper" wrote Mr. San- 
 born a long letter,-" which he intended *'as a kind of report of 
 my progress and success, as much for your committee or my 
 friend Steams as yourself." The letter has no public signifi- 
 cance. It is a prolonged whine because he had not received 
 all the money that had been promised him ; also it incidentally 
 but artistically put Mr. Stearns and Mr. Lawrence in a position 
 that practically compelled them to make good the thousand dol- 
 lars which he had theretofore pressed Mr. Lawrence for.-^** 
 He said: 
 
 . . . It was the poor condition of my noble-hearted 
 wife and her young children that made me follow up that en- 
 couragement with a tenacity that disgusted him and com- 
 pletely exhausted his patience. But after such repeated as- 
 surances 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 
 
 2-»9 Sanborn, 412-414. 
 ^-^^Anie, note 226. 
 
HYPOCRISY 219 
 
 would certainly be refunded, and the others that they would 
 get all their money very soon, and even before I left the 
 country. This has brought me only extreme mortification 
 and depression of feeling; for all my letters from home, up 
 to the last, say not a dime has been paid in to Mr. Smith. 
 Friends who never knew the lack of a sumptuous dinner little 
 comprehend the value of such trifling matters to persons cir- 
 cumstanced as I am. But, my noble-hearted friend, I am 
 "though faint, yet pursuing." . . . 
 
 Brown's hope for a "disturbance" in Kansas was nourished 
 by the reports that he received from General Lane, which, doubt- 
 less, encouraged him to prolong his stay at Tabor. Concern- 
 ing this, Mr. Villard says : "" 
 
 Only the erratic Lane, who was then the sole person trying 
 to stir up strife in Kansas, and is accused by respectable wit- 
 nesses, of planning schemes of wholesale massacre of pro- 
 slavery men through a secret order ; was on fire for Brown's 
 presence in the Territory, but it was the Tabor arms, rather 
 than their owner, he really desired. 
 
 Lane wTote Brown, confidentially, September 7th, as fol- 
 lows : '^^ 
 
 f, (Private) 
 
 Sir : 
 
 We are earnestly engaged in perfecting an organization 
 for the protection of the ballot-box at the October election 
 (first Monday). Whitman and Abbott have been East after 
 money & arms, for a month past, they write encouragingly, 
 & will be back in a few days. We want you with all the ma- 
 terials you have. I see no objections to your coming into 
 Kansas publicly. I can furnish you just such a force as you 
 may deem necessary for your protection here & after you ar- 
 rive. I went up to see you but failed. 
 
 Now what is wanted is this — write me concisely what 
 transportation you require, how much money & the number 
 
 251 Villard, 300. 
 
 252 Sanborn, 401. 
 
220 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 of men to escort yoii into the Territory safely & if you desire 
 
 it, I will come up witii them. 
 
 To this letter Brown replied September 16th : 
 
 I suppose that three good teams with icell covered wag- 
 ons, and ten really ingeuious, 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. 
 Lane, hoping to make his proposition more attractive, ap- 
 pointed Brown Brigadier-General, Second Brigade, First Divi- 
 sion. But not until the 29th, did he send his Quartermaster- 
 General, Mr. Jamison, to Brown, for the arms. In a letter ad- 
 dressed to "General John Brown" Lane said that it was "all 
 important to Kansas, that your things should be in at the earli- 
 est possible moment, and that you should be much nearer than 
 you are." He also enclosed fifty dollars, "all the money I 
 have," but said that Jamison "had some more." Naturally 
 Lane's proposal failed to interest Brown. He replied that he 
 could not go to Lawrence on such short notice and returned the 
 fifty dollars. '^^ The election, however, passed off quietly and 
 resulted in a complete victory for the Free-State men. They 
 elected their delegate to Congress, and thirty-three of the fifty- 
 two members of the Legislature. 
 
 Another of Lane's schemes served to keep Brown at Tabor 
 a month longer: a project for "the wholesale assassination of 
 pro-slavery men through a secret order" called Danites. This 
 time Mr. Whitman ably seconded Lane's efforts to interest 
 Brown. He borrowed one hundred and fifty dollars which he 
 enclosed with a letter to him and sent it by Mr. Charles P. Tidd, 
 saying: "General Lane will send teams from Falls City so 
 that you may get your goods all in. Leave none behind. 
 Come direct to this place, and see me before you make any dis- 
 position of your plunder. . . Alake the money I send an- 
 swer to get here, and I hope by that time to have more for you. 
 253 Sanborn, 402. 
 
HYPOCRISY 221 
 
 Mr. Tidd will explain all." ''* That this messenger gave 
 Brown inside information concerning the prospective assassina- 
 tions, there can be little doubt. 
 
 October 25th, Mr. Whitman reported to Mr. Stearns ''^ that 
 Brown would be at Lawrence November 3d, "at a very im- 
 portant council: Free-State Central Com., Executive Com., 
 Vigilance Committee of 52. Generals and Capts. of the entire 
 organization." Such a "disturbance" as this promised to be, 
 could not otherwise than interest Brown. Regarding the money 
 he received from Whitman as money due him from the Na- 
 tional Kansas Committee, he kept it ; and disregarding the in- 
 structions concerning the arms, he proceeded personally to 
 Kansas, arriving at Mr. Whitman's home about November 
 5th : too late, it will be observed, for him to participate in the 
 important council meeting of the 3d ; but not too late to take 
 advantage of any public disturbance that might arise as a result 
 of the proceedings of the council. By messenger Tidd, Brown 
 received one hundred dollars from Mr. Adair, and upon his ar- 
 rival at Lawrence, he received from Mr. Whitman five hundred 
 dollars for account of the Massachusetts Kansas Committee. 
 
 All the prospects for "trouble" in Kansas having vanished, 
 Brown promptly decided to "move eastward." Mr. Villard 
 states that he "remained two days with Mr. Whitman, obtain- 
 ing tents and bedding." From Topeka, when en route to the 
 East, on the 16th, he wrote to Mr. Stearns that he had "been in 
 Kansas for more than a week;" that he had "found matters 
 quite unsettled ;" but was "decidedly of the opinion that there 
 will be no use for amis or ammunition before another Spring ;" 
 that he had them all safe and meant "to keep them so." Also 
 that he meant "to be busily ; but very quietly engaged in per- 
 fecting his arrangements during the Winter." He further 
 said : "Before getting your letter saying to me not to draw on 
 
 254 Sanborn, 404. 
 
 255 Villard, 304. 
 
222 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 you for the $7,000 (by Mr. Whitman) I had fully determined 
 not to do so unless driven to the last extremity." In a post- 
 script he said : "If I do not use the amis and ammunition in 
 actual service ; I intend to restore them unharmed ; but you must 
 not flatter yourself on that score too soon.'' 
 
 It will be observed that Brown did not call upon Governor 
 Robinson, or make any recommendations concerning Terri- 
 torial affairs. To Mr. Adair he wrote on the 17th: "I have 
 been for some days in the territory but keeping very quiet and 
 looking about to see how the land lies. . . I do not wish to 
 have any noise about me at present ; as I do not mean to 'trouble 
 Israel.' I may find it best to go back to Iowa." """ 
 
 The "failure" of Brown's plans to "trouble Israel," or the 
 failure of his hope for another opportunity to plunder Kansas 
 settlers on a large scale, lay in the simple fact that at the time 
 he arrived at Tabor, August 7, 1857, the Free-State leaders had 
 worked out the Free-State problem, and were then in position 
 to make official declaration of the fact at the polls ; and to take 
 over, into their own hands, by right of the law of Squatter 
 Sovereignty, the control of the Territorial government. They 
 had almost accomplished their mighty undertaking. Also, they 
 had established conditions of order, and security from violence, 
 that afforded neither encouragement nor opportunity for or- 
 ganized bands of thieves, of the Brown type, to prey upon the 
 settlements. The activities of the marauder and his "Little 
 Hornet" were barred. 
 
 2-'8 Villard. 306. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 A SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 
 
 He was the mildest manner'd man that ever scuttled ship 
 or cut a throat. — Don Juan 
 
 At Collinsville, Connecticut, about March 1, 1857, John Brown 
 gave out the first evidence that he contemplated inciting an in- 
 surrection in the Southern States. He was there making his 
 usual appeal for money. To a group of citizens, among whom 
 was a Mr. Charles Blair, he told the story of Black Jack ; and, 
 as was his custom in such recitals, he drew from his boot a 
 trophy of the fight — a two-edged dirk-knife with a blade about 
 eight inches long — which he had taken from Captain Pate ; 
 and said, that if he "had a lot of those things to attach to poles 
 about six feet long, they would be a capital weapon of defense 
 for the settlers of Kansas to keep in their log cabins to defend 
 themselves against any sudden attack that might be made upon 
 them." And then turning to Blair, whom he knew to be an edge- 
 tool maker, asked him what it would "cost to make five hundred 
 or a thousand of those things" as he described them. To this 
 Blair replied that he would make "five hundred for a dollar and 
 a quarter apiece; or if he wanted a thousand, they might be 
 made for a dollar apiece." To this Brown replied that he would 
 want them made. March 30th, a contract for the thousand 
 spears was signed, Brown agreeing to pay five hundred dollars 
 within ten days. At the time agreed upon he paid three hun- 
 dred dollars; but April 25th, he remitted two hundred and fifty 
 dollars more. This amount Blair expended in purchasing ma- 
 terial, and in making a part of the order ; after which he suspend- 
 ed work on it until such time as Brown would advance addition- 
 
224 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 al funds. There was some correspondence between the parties 
 in February and March. 1858, but nothing further was done in 
 the matter until June 3, 1859, when Brown again called upon 
 Blair and made satisfactory arrangements for payment of the 
 remaining four hundred and fifty dollars ; whereupon Blair re- 
 newed work upon the order, and, on September 17th, delivered 
 the spears complete, at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.'^^ 
 
 In New York City, Brown made the acquaintance of an Eng- 
 lishman who entered into his life more largely, and gave greater 
 direction to his actions, than his biographers have acknowledg- 
 ed. This man was "Colonel" Hugh Forbes. Brown called upon- 
 him. it is said, with a letter of introduction from the Rev. Joshua 
 Leavitt. The date of their meeting is not given; but. since 
 Brown is not reported as being in that city during 1857. after 
 his visit there, January 23d-26th.-'^ it may be assumed that they 
 met upon that occasion, and together planned to precipitate a 
 revolution in the South, through an insurrection of the slave 
 population. Forbes was a practical as well as a professional 
 revolutionist. He had sensed with Garibaldi. Mr. Villard re- 
 fers to him as "a suave adventurer of considerable ability." 
 To Mr. Horace Greeley he was "fanatical and mercenary and 
 wholly wanting in common sense." Gerrit Smith described 
 him as a "handsome, soldierly-looking man, skillful in the 
 sword-exercise, and with some military experience picked up 
 under Garibaldi." Before entering the latter's service he had 
 been a "silk merchant at Sienna." In Mr. Sanborn's opinion 
 he was a "brave, vainglorious, undisciplined person, with little 
 discretion, and quite wanting in qualities that would fit him to 
 be a leader of American soldiers. Yet he was ambitious, eager 
 to head a crusade against slavery." In New York he taught 
 fencing, and did some work on the Tribune as reporter and 
 translator. 
 
 2" Mason Report, 123-125. Testimony of Charles Blair. 
 258 Villard, 674. 
 
A SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 225 
 
 It was not unnatural that these two adventurers should meet 
 and unite their fortunes in a revolutionary venture. Also, there 
 was some similarity in their lives. Both were "typical of the 
 human flotsam and jetsam washed up by every revolutionary 
 movement." Forbes had been washed up by Garibaldi's "revo- 
 lution" in Italy, and Brown had been washed up by Robinson's 
 revolution in Kansas. Forbes was looking for an adventure, 
 and Brown had a make-believe one on hand, which, if prudently 
 handled, might be made to serve the purposes of their mutual 
 ambitions. The suave adventurer was the stronger character. 
 He impressed Brown with his knowledge of military science, 
 and with the value his sen-ices would be in their undertaking, 
 and so fascinated the "grim, self-willed, resolute chieftain" 
 that he engaged his services at one hundred dollars per month, 
 and paid him six months' salary in advance. Mr. Villard 
 says : ^^® 
 
 John Brown, the reticent and self-contained, unbosomed 
 himself to this man as he had not to his Massachusetts 
 friends who advanced the money upon which he lived and 
 plotted. 
 In relation to this Mr. Sanborn says : -^'^ 
 
 It was about this time that Brown made the unlucky ac- 
 quaintance of Hugh Forbes, was pleased with him, and en- 
 gaged him to drill his soldiers at a salary of one hundred dol- 
 lars a month, even going so far as to pay him six hundred 
 dollars in advance. 
 
 Both of these major transactions — the placing of the order 
 for the spears, and the employment of Forbes, as stated — are 
 so discreditable to ordinary intelligence, that they impeach 
 Brown's sanity, except upon the sole hypothesis, that these two 
 men had, at that time, so matured their plans for attempting 
 a revolution, through an insurrection of the slaves, that Brown 
 felt justified in placing the order for the spears, and in engaging 
 
 259 Villard, 285. 
 2«o Sanborn, 398. 
 
226 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 the services of a man capable of directing large military opera- 
 tions. It is impossible to believe that Brown contemplated giv- 
 ing up a thousand dollars for a purpose so tame and absurd as 
 the distribution of a thousand spears among the Free-State set- 
 tlers of Kansas. They were already well armed wnth modern 
 weapons — fire-arms — and knew how to use them ; while the 
 proposal to employ a '*drill-master" at such a salary, in view of 
 the state of his treasury, to drill such a lot of nightriders 
 as he could use in Kansas, is (]uite as preposterous. If Brown 
 needed the ser\'ices of a drill-master, he knew where one could 
 be had for less money. There were plenty of men available 
 who had served in the volunteer army in Mexico, or had been 
 discharged, or had deserted from the regular army — men of 
 the Aaron D. Stevens class — who were competent to com- 
 mand as well as to drill. He also knew that many such men 
 were ready and anxious to engage in adventures in the Kansas 
 field, who w^ould serve without compensation, other than a share 
 of the prospective plunder. 
 
 From the time of his alliance with Forbes, Brown pressed 
 forward steadily, with a single definite ultimate purpose. The 
 conquest of the Southern States was on ; and the Osawatomie 
 Guerrilla had become the Soldier of Fortune. 
 
 Brown and Forbes moved upon the theory that the slaves 
 were the rightful owners of their masters' property. They be- 
 lieved that every slave regarded his master as an enemy, who 
 denied him a right to his family, and appropriated to himself 
 the fruits of his labor ; that freedom was the hope and the dream 
 of every slave ; that each lived in a state of expectancy, await- 
 ing the coming of a "Liberator" who would lead them in a cru- 
 sade for liberty. Also, they believed that every slave would 
 fight for his freedom. Self-constituting themselves "Libera- 
 tors," they regarded each slave as already enrolled in their ser- 
 vice. The problems before them were how to arouse these 
 units of energy ; how to incite the slaves to simultaneous activ- 
 
A SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 227 
 
 ity, and how to organize and direct them as an operating force. 
 The man who had killed his friendly neighbors with nonchal- 
 ance, and had taken their horses, could not understand why an- 
 other man, a slave, should hesitate to kill an enemy, such as has 
 been described, and take his horses and lands, and be further 
 rewarded by the benefaction of liberty. 
 
 As results of their plotting, and planning, and scheming, they 
 seem to have figured out to their entire satisfaction, how they 
 could destroy the slave-holding population of the Southern 
 States and confiscate their property; and then, with the aid of 
 their negro allies, thus liberated from slavery, and with the as- 
 sistance of the non-slave-holding whites in the South and the 
 ambitious and daring in the North, who would be lured to join 
 them, they could create an army; invade the South; take pos- 
 session of the several State governments, and reorganize them 
 under the jurisdiction of a Provisional Government. 
 
 Brown was a disunionist,*^^ and believed his revolution 
 would result in a dissolution of the Union. His friends — 
 Redpath, Sanborn, Higginson, Smith ct ai, were disunionists, 
 and he lived in an atmosphere saturated with the toxin of dis- 
 union sentiment. Also, he was an optimist, and believed that 
 while he ravaged the South with his bloody scourge, the dis- 
 union propaganda in the North would assert itself to his ad- 
 vantage, and create such a diversion in his favor, as would 
 leave him and Forbes free to deal with the South and its prob- 
 lems in their own way. Only under such conditions could he 
 hope to seize the property of slaveholders, "personal and real, 
 wherever and whenever it may be found in either Free or Slave 
 States." From their point of view, or as they hoped to make 
 it appear, their revolution was to be an affair between the citi- 
 zens of a block of sovereign States, in the result of which the 
 Federal Government would not be especially concerned. They 
 would act within the limits of the States involved for revolu- 
 
 261 Villard, 303. 
 
 15 
 
228 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 tionary purposes, and not in unnecessarily aggressive hostility 
 toward the United States. At the same time, these adventurers 
 well understood that no matter how successful they might be in 
 starting their revolution, there would probably come a time 
 when the Federal army would have to be reckoned with ; that 
 the General Government would attempt to intervene in behalf of 
 local order, at least, and might seriously embarrass their op- 
 erations or wholly defeat them. This visible menace they not 
 only planned to overcome, or eliminate from the problem, but 
 actually to turn it into a valuable asset, by transposing it bodily 
 to their side of the military equation. They planned, in ap- 
 parent sincerity of purpose, to accomplish what appears to be 
 the most colossal of all imaginable absurdities : to have the men 
 of the United States arniy abandon their colors and accept ser- 
 vice in their army; or, as Brown expressed it, to make an 
 "actual exchange of service from that of Satan to the service 
 of God." 
 
 To poison the minds of the soldiery of the Union and to ripen 
 them for revolt against their colors, they planned to begin a 
 campaign of education ; to publish and distribute in the army, a 
 series of tracts, for the instruction of the ofBcers and enlisted 
 men in public morals and in patriotism. In the division of their 
 labors, to Forbes was assigned the Department of Literature. 
 In pursuance of his duties, he proceeded to prepare a "Manual 
 of the Patriotic Volunteer," and a tract, w^hich was the first of 
 what was to be a series of tracts, entitled "The Duty of the 
 Soldier." ''^^ The tract was headed in small type : "Presented 
 with respectful and kind feelings, to the Officers and Soldiers 
 of the United States Army in Kansas." Mr. Villard says ^®^ 
 the object of the tract was to win them from their allegiance 
 to their colors. That it does this indirectly by asking whether 
 the "Soldiers of the Republic" should be "vile living machines 
 
 -"2 Hinton, John Brown and His Men. 615. 
 263 Villard, 297. 
 
A SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 229 
 
 and thus sustain Wrong against Right." That it contained 
 "three printed pages of rambhng and discursive discussion of 
 the soldiery of the ancient RepubHcs and of the princes of An- 
 tiquity, and a consideration of Authority, legitimate and ille- 
 gitimate — as ill-fitted as possible an appeal to the regular sol- 
 dier of 1857." Appended to the copy in his possession is a 
 closing remark in Brown's handwriting as follows : 
 
 It is as much the duty of the common soldier of the U. S. 
 Army according to his ability and opportunity, to be in- 
 formed upon all subjects in any way affecting the political 
 or general welfare of his country; and to watch with jealous 
 vigilance, the course and management of all public function- 
 aries both civil and miltary : and to govern his actions as a 
 citizen Soldier accordingly : as though he were President of 
 the United States. Respectfully yours, 
 
 A Soldier. 
 To one person at least, this literary performance was a seri- 
 ous matter. In the promotion of it, John Brown was deeply, 
 deadly in earnest. The statement that "Forbes and not Brown, 
 was the author of the tract" '®* is not correct, and to character- 
 ize the paper as Forbes's attempt to seduce the soldiery of the 
 Union, "'^^ is equally misleading. The scheme originated with 
 Brown ; he furnished the subject. To Forbes he assigned the 
 duty of preparing the text for publication. Writing to Rev. 
 Theodore Parker, from Boston, March 7, 1858, he said : 
 
 . . . 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 con- 
 tained 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. ... 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 affec- 
 
 264 Villard, 297. 
 265Villard, 298. 
 
230 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 tation of the scholar about it, and yet be worded with great 
 clearness and power. . . . The address should be ap- 
 propriate, and particularly adapted to the peculiar circum- 
 stances 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 getting 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 dis- 
 posed to favor the right. . . . Now, my 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?-"*' 
 There can be no doubt that Brown placed a high estimate 
 upon the value of this tract, but we know from the postscript 
 thereto, that, although the tract was dedicated to the "Officers 
 and Soldiers" of the army, it was the "common soldier" that he 
 hoped to arouse and incite. His effort to convert the army to 
 his service, by means of a tract, may be called madness, but it 
 may also be said there was "method" in the madness. If he 
 had been criticised in relation to this matter, he would probably 
 have said in reply what he said to Mr. Sanborn, defending his 
 action in ordering the thousand spears : "Wise men may rid- 
 icule the idea : but I take the whole responsibility of that job;" 
 which was equivalent to saying : "You do not comprehend the 
 scope of my scheme, or the use which I intend to make of these 
 spears. When they have accomplished their silent but deadly 
 work, the wisdom of my conduct concerning them will ap- 
 pear." The trouble in this case was how to obtain an op- 
 portunity to inject the virus of revolt into the ranks of the army 
 — how to start the contagion — how to get his proposition be- 
 fore the troops, and to explain what he intended to do; and 
 266 Sanborn, 448. 
 
A SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 231 
 
 what he would have at his disposal to offer in the way of re- 
 wards for services in his army, without putting himself and his 
 plans in peril. How he intended to use the tract can only be 
 surmised. But the fact remains that he had to begin this all 
 important move somehow or somewhere, and the tract was, 
 probably, evolved from his inner consciousness to meet that ne- 
 cessity. It may therefore be assumed that, under cover of dis- 
 cussing the generalities contained in the tract, Brown hoped to 
 make acquaintances among the enlisted men of the army in 
 whom he could confide, and who would serve his purpose by 
 fomenting the revolt. 
 
 In projecting his campaign. Brown was a law unto himself, 
 untrammelled by the accepted usages of war. The excess of 
 his ardor and enthusiasm led him to believe that he could cor- 
 rupt the rank and file of the army. In his philosophy, the dar^ 
 ing, dangerous, adventurous men who largely composed the en- 
 listed men of the army at that time, having no hope of promo- 
 tion in the service, would become eager listeners to his 
 proposal. Before them, he would throw open the storehouses 
 of his prospective empire, that they might behold the volume of 
 his treasures, and select that which they desired. His army 
 was to be created ; he had the men in view — the slaves whom 
 he would set free — but not the officers to command them. If 
 the enlisted men would desert from their service singly or en 
 masse, and thus temporarily paralyze the United States forces, 
 and join him, they could immediately become commissioned 
 officers in his army and share with him the honors, the booty, 
 and the beauty of the rich country he intended to ravage. By 
 means of these ''mighty and soul satisfying rewards" he hoped 
 to "seduce the soldiery of the Union." The campaign of edu- 
 cation was a stratagem. 
 
 It is not apparent that Forbes, at any time, showed a desire 
 to quit Brown's service, or any disinclination to follow him 
 westward. It is true that he was in arrears at one time with 
 
232 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 his literary work, but that was due to an incidental diversion of 
 his activities in other directions — soHciting contributions and 
 collecting money from various benevolent persons, including 
 Mr. Greeley and M.r. Gerrit Smith. Forbes also had been mak- 
 ing necessary arrangements for the comfort of his family — a 
 wife and a daughter. The former being in Paris, and the lat- 
 ter in New York, he wisely decided, in view of the character of 
 the pending military operations, to have the latter return to the 
 care of her mother. Brown, who was paying the price, re- 
 quired results rather than explanations. It appears that Forbes 
 had not prepared the ''Manual" within the time in which he had 
 led his impetuous chief to believe it would be forthcoming ; and 
 this had aroused an unwarranted suspicion in his mind that his 
 subordinate was lagging. It is also true that Forbes had been in- 
 discreet from a "military" point of view. He had talked, as 
 one having authority, or knowingly, about the situation in Kan- 
 sas, and had committed the very serious mistake of expressing 
 a doubt that their services would be needed there before winter, 
 which would have a tendency to discourage contributions to 
 the "cause of freedom." In addition to all this. Brown became 
 suspicious that the "Colonel" was ambitious, and aspired to 
 supersede him in command ; or, it may be that he became jealous 
 because of his subordinate's brilliant accomplishments — his 
 "military bearing" and qualifications. Mr. Sanborn confirmed 
 Brown's distrust of him. He says that "Forbes was ambitious 
 and apparently desirous of taking Brown's place in command." 
 It may, however, be nearer the truth to assume that the de- 
 pleted condition of the exchequer had much to do with Brown's 
 "dissatisfaction" with Forbes. 
 
 There is no apparent reason why Forbes should have pre- 
 ceded Brown into Kansas, and the fact that he arrived at Tabor 
 August 9th, two days after the arrival of his chief, is proof of 
 commendable alacrity on his part to take up and continue his 
 duties. Besides, Forbes brought with him copies of the "Man- 
 
A SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 233 
 
 ual," and copies of Brown's specialty : "The Duty of the Sol- 
 dier." With these evidences of his ability, fidelity, and loyalty, 
 the shadows of distrust were all dispelled, and Forbes's restora- 
 tion to Brown's confidence and favor resulted immediately. The 
 next day Brown was in a hopeful mood, and wrote very en- 
 couragingly to Mr. Stearns, sending him copies of the tracts 
 and, incidentally, impressing upon his attention the important 
 fact that he was "in immediate want of Five Hundred to One 
 Thousand Dollars for secret service and no questions asked.'" 
 There can be no doubt that in their poverty, but dreaming of 
 the splendors of war, of marching armies, and the possibilities 
 of empire, these two bankrupt but hopeful speculators in des- 
 tiny gazed wistfully upon the order for the seven thousand dol- 
 lars that Stearns had given to Brown after his "Farewell to the 
 Plymouth Rocks" effort. The question was, how to get some 
 of it. Unfortunately for their purpose, Mars was not doing a 
 thing for them ; they were unable to detect even so much as a 
 trace of a war-cloud upon the Kansas sky ; and the $7,000 could 
 only be used for the subsistence of the make-believe troopers 
 when in "active service." Under these circumstances they did 
 the best they could ; they made as much as possible out of noth- 
 ing. They wrote Mr. Stearns what he already knew^ ; that 
 there was no fighting in Kansas "just then" ; and, that while 
 "Rather interesting times were expected, no great excitement is 
 reported." But "Our next advices may entirely change the as- 
 pect of things." From this, Mr. Steams was to be led to infer 
 that imminent danger to the Free-State cause was lurking 
 somewhere, and that the sagacious leader was already upon the 
 trail of it. Also, the hope that Brown earnestly expressed that 
 the "Friends of Freedom" would respond to his call and "prove 
 me now herewith," was intended to move Mr. Stearns to au- 
 thorize Brown to draw upon him for a part of the seven thou- 
 sand dollars for their immediate necessities. But, although 
 the request was wisely framed and neatly but urgently pressed, 
 
234 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 it failed to raise any money. To Theodore Parker Brown wrote 
 
 September 11th:'*'' 
 
 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." . . Have 
 no news to send by letter. 
 
 Stranded at Tabor, without means to go anywhere, or with 
 which to do anything, the two leaders of the revolution had 
 abundant leisure to compare their respective plans of operation, 
 and their views upon methods of procedure, as well as to formu- 
 late and agree upon final plans for the invasion and conquest. 
 Forbes, later, disclaimed any intention to participate in 
 "Brown's" purpose to overthrow the State Governments, and 
 establish a provisional government ; but that disclaimer came 
 as an incident in his effort to supersede Brown, after his name 
 had been dropped from the muster and pay-roll. November 
 1st, the financial embargo was raised by the receipt of two hun- 
 dred and fifty dollars : one hundred and fifty from Lane, and 
 one hundred from Mr. Adair. It was not a large sum of 
 money, when compared with the expenses usually incurred in 
 "mobilizing" even a small army, or, as compared with the mag- 
 nitude of the operations they intended to inaugurate ; but it 
 was large enough to enable the filibusters to start doing some- 
 thing. 
 
 In their dreams of the Provisional Government and in 
 their planning for the Provisional army, they decided to open 
 a school for instruction in the science of war and in the science 
 of civil government, at some point convenient to the scene of 
 the prospective conflict ; whereat the persons whom Brown had 
 
 -•*' Sanborn, 422. 
 
A SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 235 
 
 in view for his subordinate commanders — general officers, 
 division and military district commanders — could be swiftly 
 educated and fitted for ther respective duties and responsibil- 
 ities. Forbes, whose position was that of a chief of staff, was 
 to have charge of the school. November 2d, he took passage 
 from Nebraska City for the East to find a suitable location, in 
 Ashtabula County, Ohio, for the War College which was to be 
 improvised ; and Brown, as we have seen, proceeded to Kansas 
 to further finance their venture if local conditions — "disturb- 
 ances" — became favorable for fiscal operations; and to matric- 
 ulate the tyros. 
 
 He had been in correspondence with Holmes — the "Little 
 Hornet" — and other adventurers whom he thought would en- 
 gage in his enterprises. Cook agreed to join him and recom- 
 mended others — Richard Realf , Luke F. Parsons, and Richard 
 J. Hinton.-^^ On Sunday, November 8th, Brown met Cook 
 and Parsons, near Lawrence, and came to an understanding 
 with them for organizing a party to steal some horses ; or, as 
 Mr. Villard puts it : "To organize a company for the purpose 
 of putting a stop to the aggressions of the pro-slavery forces." 
 A few days later he notified the members of the party to meet 
 at the appointed rendezvous. Cook met him on the 16th, at 
 Mrs. Sheridan's, near Topeka. The next day Aaron D. Ste- 
 vens, Charles W. Moffet, and John H. Kagi joined them, and 
 the party set out on the contemplated expedition. 
 
 In their camp north of Topeka that evening. Brown took the 
 men into his confidence, and disclosed to them his intention to 
 attempt the conquest of the Southern States.^^*''' "Here," says 
 Cook in his confession, "for the first time I learned that we 
 were to leave Kansas to attend a military school during the 
 winter." It is for the reader to decide for himself whether or 
 not the party stole any horses that night, or what other steps 
 they took, if any, to put "a stop to the aggressions of the pro- 
 
 2«8 Villard, 308. 
 269 Ibid. 
 
236 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 slavery forces." Their destination was Tabor, Iowa; they 
 were horse thieves, and were in a secret camp, north of To- 
 peka. Continuing his narrative Cook says: "Next morning 
 I was sent back to Lawrence to get a draft of $80 cashed, and 
 to get Parsons, Realf and Hinton, to go back with me." He 
 relates how he with Realf and Parsons, made the trip to Tabor; 
 but the route traveled by Brown, Stevens, Moffet, and Kagi, 
 and the incidents of their journey, if any, are not given. 
 
 December 2d, there were assembled at Tabor, John Brown, 
 Owen Brown, A. D. Stevens, Charles W. Aloffett, C. P. Tidd, 
 John H. Kagi, Richard Realf, Luke F. Parsons, John E. Cook, 
 and W. M. Leeman ; also Richard Richardson, a runaway slave 
 whom Brown had picked up at Tabor. "Here," Cook says, 
 "we found that Captain Brown's ultimate destination was the 
 State of Virginia" ; and these were the men he had selected for 
 his commanders in the Army of the Invasion. They were not 
 a coterie of humanitarians or sentimentalists whom he had 
 picked up, mooning about in Kansas ; but a lot of care-free, 
 reckless, ambitious young men who had parted their moorings 
 to an orderly life. Of them Senator Doolittle, speaking for the 
 minority of the Mason Committee said : "It was from such 
 elements [lawless] that John Brown concocted his conspiracy 
 consisting of young men and boys over whom he had entire 
 control, many of them foreigners and none of substance or posi- 
 tion in the country." ^''^ It is not in the "dominating spirit of 
 John Brown himself must be found the true reason for their 
 readiness to join in so desperate a venture as Brown outlined to 
 them or because of their readiness to go any lengths to under- 
 mine slavery." "'^ Cook knew Brown's career from the Pot- 
 tawatomie to Osawatomie, and approved of his system for 
 undermining things. Parsons was with him in the Osawat- 
 omie cattle raid. Stevens had graduated from a volunteer in 
 
 '^-'^Masou Report, 23. 
 2"Villard, 310. 
 
A SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 237 
 
 the Mexican War, to a private in the First Dragoons, United 
 States army. He was insubordinate, and had been tried for 
 mutiny and for assaulting an officer — Major George A. H. 
 Blake, First Dragoons — and sentenced to death. The sen- 
 tence had been commuted to confinement, for three years at 
 hard labor, in the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, from 
 which he escaped and joined the Free-State forces in Kansas. 
 He became colonel of the Second Regiment in the Free-State 
 army under the name of Charles Whipple. It was not Brown 
 and his magnetism or any insipid nonsense about "philanthropy 
 or love for the slave" that appealed to these adventurers, but 
 the scheme which he unfolded before them. It was the charm 
 of the glittering expanse of opportunity which he pressed upon 
 their mental conceptions, that won, and enlisted them in the 
 venture. 
 
 On December 4th, with their plunder, ordnance stores and 
 camp and garrison equipment. Brown and his staff set out from 
 Tabor for Ashtabula. There had been argument, disagree- 
 ment, and some wrangling at Tabor about the practicability of 
 the undertaking; but yielding to the force of Brown's exposi- 
 tion of it, opposition was silenced and confidence of success sup- 
 planted doubt in the minds of all. Of the march across Iowa 
 to Iowa City and Springdale, Mr. Villard, quoting from frag- 
 ments of Owen Brown's diary, that survived the wreck at Har- 
 per's Ferry, says: ''Progress was slow, for all of the 
 men walked and the weather was bitter cold. On De- 
 cember 8, the entry reads : 'Cold, wet and snowy; hot discus- 
 sion about the Bible and war — wann argument about the 
 effects of the abolition of slavery upon the Southern States, 
 Northern States Commerce and manufactures, also upon the 
 British provinces and the civilized world; whence came our 
 civilization and origin? Talk about prejudices against color; 
 question proposed for debate, — greatest general, Washington 
 or Napoleon.' " The party arrived at Springdale, Iowa, on 
 
238 JOHN BROWX: A CRITIQUE 
 
 the 28th or 29th of December. Early in January, 1858, Brown 
 changed his plans about going to Ashtabula County, and for 
 opening there the School of Instruction. On January 11th, he 
 located his men for the winter at the home of Mr. William Max- 
 son, the latter agreeing to take the wagons and horses from 
 Brown on account for boarding. The War College was then 
 opened at Springdale, instead of in Ashtabula County ; and with 
 Stevens in charge instead of Forbes. Continuing his narrative 
 about the doings of the school, Mr. Villard says : '''- "On the 12th 
 (February) there was 'talk about our adventures and plans.' 
 In the main, discussion ranged from theology and spiritualism 
 to caloric engines, and covered every imaginable subject be- 
 tween them. Much talk of war and fighting there was, and 
 drilling with wooden swords. Stevens, by reason of his ser- 
 vice in the Mexican War. and subsequently in the United States 
 Dragoons, was drill-master in default of Forbes. Sometimes 
 they went into the woods to look for natural fortifications; 
 again they discussed dislodging the enemy from a hill-top by 
 means of zig-zag trenches. Forbes manual was diligently 
 perused." Also they organized a "moot legislature and be- 
 guiled the long w^inter evenings, drafting laws for an ideal 
 'State of Topeka.' It followed the regulation procedure with 
 its bills and debates." The curriculum in this school is evi- 
 dence of the character of the duties the students therein were 
 being fitted to perform ; they were being instructed in the higher 
 strategy of war, in the command of troops and in the science 
 pf government. Writing to Mr. Sanborn from Brooklyn, 
 February 26th, Brown said : "^ 
 
 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. . . I also want to get 
 a quantity of best white cotton drilling — some hundred 
 
 272 Villard, 315. 
 
 273 Sanborn, 443. 
 
A SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 239 
 
 pieces, if I can get it. The use of this article I will exi)lain 
 
 hereafter. 
 
 About January 1st, the two Soldiers of Fortune — Brown 
 and Forbes — arrived at the parting of their ways. They 
 seem to have been in agreement and in full sympathy with each 
 other when they separated November 2d; for Brown at that 
 time gave Forbes a letter to Mr. Frederick Douglass, com- 
 mending him to his confidence and asking Douglass to assist 
 him. The letter Forbes lost no time in presenting. He 
 stopped at Rochester, as he went east, and got what money he 
 could. Mr. Douglass says -"* that he was not favorably im- 
 pressed with Forbes at first, but took him to a hotel and paid 
 his board while he remained, and gave him some money for his 
 family in Europe, then in destitute circumstances. He intro- 
 duced him to some of his German friends whom Forbes "soon 
 wore out with his endless begging." 
 
 Failing to collect money for the cause, as fast as he thought 
 he was entitled to, or as fast as he needed it, Forbes began to 
 try to force contributions from Brown's friends, claiming that 
 he had been employed by him, and that sums of money were 
 due him on account of arrears of salary. Later he threatened 
 to expose Brown's plans of invasion, believing, or assuming to 
 believe, that such plans were a part of a general conspiracy, 
 among the northern Abolitionists, to overthrow slavery. In- 
 formation relating to his conduct was received by Brown at 
 Springdale. and caused him to halt there until he could ascer- 
 tain the extent of Forbes's defection. Upon confirmation of 
 his advices, and being unable to pay Forbes's salary, he dropped 
 him; refused to answer his letters, and changed his plans of 
 procedure. Pressed by his necessities, Forbes became aggres- 
 sive, and, carrying his case to Mr. Charles Sumner and to Mr. 
 Henry Wilson, and to Mr. William H. Seward, denounced 
 Brown as "reckless, unreliable and vicious." He approached 
 
 274 Sanborn, 431. 
 
240 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 Mr. Wilson in the Senate chamber at Washington and de- 
 manded that Brown and his men be disarmed. 
 
 While Forbes caused Brown no end of trouble, the case was 
 not nearly so serious as it would have been, if his eastern 
 patrons had known what Forbes was talking about. Brown, 
 whose "sincerity of purpose was above suspicion," and who 
 "was so transparent that all men can see him through," had 
 led them, throughout the whole extent of their intercourse, to 
 think and believe that his operations were to be undertaken 
 solely for the defense of the Free-State settlers in Kansas; 
 they knew nothing about his plans for operations in Virginia. 
 In the face of this condition of affairs, Forbes could make no 
 progress, by means of his threats to make exposures, and was 
 immediately discredited; for, as Mr. Douglass said, "Nobody 
 believed him although the scoundrel told the truth." He was 
 discreet however, in his controversy with Brown and in his 
 denunciation of him, in this respect : he was careful not to 
 give his troubles publicity, or to do anything that would other- 
 wise imperil or wTeck the general proposition. 
 
 Forbes did not, at first, comprehend Brown's autocracy in 
 the scheme — that he had no associates — and, that while he 
 depended upon his generous friends to finance the enterprise, 
 he had not taken them into his confidence, but was in reality 
 practicing a deception upon them. When the facts of the situa- 
 tion finally became apparent to his understanding, he then 
 sought to discredit Brown and his plans, and to ingratiate him- 
 self with his clientage, so as to supersede him in leadership, and 
 in control of any general plan of action, in relation to slavery, 
 that might thereafter be agreed upon and undertaken. With 
 this purpose in view% Forbes addressed a letter to Dr. Samuel G. 
 Howe, May 14, 1858, submitting to him a very weak statement 
 of the violent and dangerous things which Brown intended to do, 
 for comparison with a statement of the safe and sane things, that, 
 in his judgment, could be done; claiming that he had urged his 
 
A SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 241 
 
 plan upon Brown, and that he had. at one time, succeeded in 
 obtaining Brown's consent thereto ; and that it had been adopted 
 by them under the name of "The Well-Matured Plan." Ex- 
 tracts from this letter are published by Mr. Villard on pages 
 313-314. Forbes, setting up a straw man for the purpose of 
 knocking him down, stated that Brown proposed, with from 
 twenty-five to fifty colored and white men, well armed and 
 taking with them a quantity of spare arms, "to beat up a slave 
 quarter in Virginia." To this Forbes offered objections as 
 follows: "No preparatory notice having been given to the 
 slaves [no notice could go or with prudence be given to them] 
 the invitation to rise might, unless they were already in a state 
 of agitation, meet with no response or a feeble one." To this 
 Brown had replied, that he "was sure of a response." He calcu- 
 lated that he could get "on the first night from 200 to 500. Half, 
 or thereabouts, of this first lot, he proposed to keep with him, 
 amounting to a hundred or so of them, and make a dash at the 
 Harper's Ferry manufactory, destroying what he could not 
 carry off. The other men. not of this party, were to be sub- 
 divided into three, four, or five distinct parties, each under two 
 or three of the original band, and would beat up other slave 
 quarters whence more men would be sent to join him." "He 
 [Brown] argued that were he pressed by the U. S. Troops, 
 which, after a few weeks, might concentrate, he could easily 
 maintain himself in the Alleghenies and that his New England 
 partisans would in the meantime, call a Northern Convention, 
 restore tranquility and overthrow the pro-slavery administra- 
 tion." This, Forbes contended, could at most be "a mere local 
 explosion. A slave insurrection, being from the very nature 
 of things deficient in men of education and experience, would 
 under such a system as B. proposed, be either a flash in the pan 
 or would leap beyond his control, or any control, when it would 
 become a scene of anarchy and w^ould assuredly be suppressed." 
 On the other hand Brown considered "foreign intervention as 
 
242 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 not impossible." As to the dream of a Northern convention, 
 Forbes "considered it as a settled fallacy. Brown's New Eng- 
 land friends would not have courage to show themselves as long 
 as the issue was doubtful," and added: "see my letter to J. B. 
 dated 23rd February." 
 
 Since Forbes's letters to Brown deal directly, and without 
 dissimulation, with the matters under consideration, it is ex- 
 ceedingly regrettable that they have been withheld from pub- 
 lication. They would expose the flimsy fictions which have 
 been put forth concerning the fictitious company of "volun- 
 teer-regulars" ; and that Forbes had been employed as a drill- 
 master for it. Also, it is especially regrettable that his let- 
 ter of February 23d has been suppressed. For there can 
 be no doubt that it would disclose their plans for the invasion ; 
 the means they relied upon for success, and the broad lines 
 which they expected to operate upon. It contained, in all prob- 
 ability, a discussion, from Forbes's point of view, of the insur- 
 rection ; of armies and conquest ; of government, and relations 
 with foreign States; of northern conventions, and of interna- 
 tional complications. This correspondence was suppressed, 
 doubtless, because the publication of it would dissipate the 
 theory that it was an altruistic "Foray into Virginia" that 
 Brown had in view, or an illogical guerrilla "raid." 
 
 The passing of Forbes came with an "adroit and stinging" 
 reply from Dr. Howe to his letter of May 14th, who, among 
 other things said : "I infer from your language that you have 
 obtained (in confidence) some information concerning an ex- 
 pedition 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 I 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." ^" 
 
 2-!'" Mason Report, 176. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 Fear made the Gods; audacity has made kings. 
 
 — Crebillon 
 
 Before leaving Springdale for the East, Brown forwarded 
 the ordnance stores to his son John, at Conneaut, Ohio, who 
 carefully concealed them. Proceeding to Rochester, New 
 York, he stopped at the home of Mr. Douglass, where he re- 
 mained until February 15th. From there he commenced his 
 correspondence with the men whom he hoped he could induce 
 to advance the necessary money to float, or to initiate, the rev- 
 olution; and it was at the Douglass home that he wrote and 
 revised the constitution for the Provisional Government which 
 he intended to attempt to set up in the Southern States. Mr. 
 Douglass stated to Mr. Sanborn -"® that he had a copy of this 
 Constitution in Brown's own hand writing, "prepared by him- 
 self at my house." 
 
 February 2d, he wrote to the Rev. Theodore Parker that he 
 had nearly perfected arrangements for carrying out an import- 
 ant measure in which the ''world had a deep interest, as well as 
 Kansas," and that he only lacked from five hundred to eight 
 hundred dollars to enable him "to do it." Also that it was the 
 "same object for which he had asked for secret service money 
 last fall" ; that he had written to some of their mutual friends 
 concerning the matter but that none of them understood his 
 "views as well as you do" ; and that he could not explain them 
 without their committing themselves further than he knew of 
 their doing, closing with the question, "Do you know some 
 -'^ Sanborn, 434. 
 
244 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 parties whom you could induce to give their abohtion the- 
 ories a thoroughly practical shape ? ... Do you think any 
 of my Garrisonian friends at Boston, Worcester, or any other 
 place, can be induced to supply a little 'straw' if I will abso- 
 lutely make 'bricks' ?" -'^ 
 
 He wrote letters in a similar vein to Gerrit Smith, to Mr. 
 Stearns, to Mr. Sanborn, and to Mr. Higginson, and sought to 
 have a meeting with these gentlemen at Mr. Smith's home on 
 February 23d, at which he intended to submit to them as much 
 of his plans as he thought it advisable for them to know, for their 
 consideration and approval. Mr. Sanborn alone responded to 
 his call ; he arrived at Peterboro on Monday evening, February 
 22d. Brown had arrived there on the preceding Thursday, and 
 had gone over the scheme with Mr. Smith. During the night 
 of the 22d, Mr. Sanborn says, the whole outline of the cam- 
 paign in Virginia was laid before the little council. "In aston- 
 ishment and almost in dismay," they listened to the reading of 
 the constitution that he had prepared for the government of the 
 territory which he proposed to conquer ; and to a recital of the 
 details of the hazardous adventure. In the discussion, he ex- ' 
 plained his "plan of organization, of fortification, of occupation, 
 and of settlement in the South" and of his "retreat through the 
 North," if retreat became necessary. He had foreseen every 
 difficulty they could suggest, and had provided for it "in some 
 manner." And then he had "God on his side." "If God be 
 for us who can be against us." All he asked for. in addition 
 to the equipment which he then had. was "but eight hundred 
 dollars, and would think himself rich with a thousand." With 
 that he would open his campaign in the spring, and he had no 
 doubt that the enterprise "would pay'' as he said.^^* 
 
 The next day Mr. Smith and Mr. Sanborn took up Brown's 
 
 proposition for final consideration and agreed to sustain him 
 
 in it. They reasoned in this way : 
 
 2" Sanborn, 434. 
 278 Sanborn, 439. 
 
THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT 245 
 
 To withhold aid would only delay, not prevent him ; noth- 
 ing short of betraying him to the enemy would do that. Mr. 
 Smith restated in his eloquent way the daring propositions 
 of Brown, the import of which 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 will raise so many hundred dollars for 
 him ; you must lay the case before your friends in Massachu- 
 setts, and perhaps they will do the same. I see no other 
 way." 2^^ For myself I had reached the same conclusion, and 
 engaged to bring the scheme at once to the attention of the 
 three Massachusetts men to whom Brown had written, and 
 also to Dr. S. G. Howe, who had sometimes favored action 
 almost as extreme as this proposed by Brown. 
 As to Mr. Smith, he had approved of Colonel Forbes, to 
 whom he gave one hundred and fifty dollars, and thought that 
 he would "make himself very useful in our sacred Kansas 
 work." He approved of Brown's "effort to seduce the soldiers 
 of the Union" and thought his tract, "The Duty of the Soldier, " 
 very well written. After his declaration to Thaddeus Hyatt r^" 
 "We must not shrink from fighting for Liberty — & if the 
 Federal troops fight against her we must fight against them," 
 he had not far to go to approve of the insurrection and in- 
 vasion which Brown now contemplated. 
 
 The outcome of the Peterboro conference was satisfactory. 
 Brown skillfully put his public affairs in the hands of a com- 
 mittee — a war committee, composed of friends who, he had 
 reason to believe, would finance his adventure. He therefore 
 directed his energies to the task of strengthening his organiza- 
 tion for the work before him. Among those whom he sought 
 to enlist under his banner was Mr. Sanbom. To him he wTOte 
 from Peterboro February 24th : "" 
 
 279 Sanborn, 439. 
 
 280 Villard, 287. 
 
 281 Sanborn, 444-445. 
 
246 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 My dear Friend : Mr. Morton -^- has taken the liberty of 
 saying to me that you feU half inclined to make a common 
 cause with me. I greatly rejoiced 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 dur- 
 ing the present and future generations may reap from its 
 successful cultivation, you will feel that you are out of your 
 element until you find that you are in it, an entire unit. What 
 an inconceivable amount of good you might so eiTect by your 
 counsel, your example, your encouragement, your natural 
 and acquired 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 oppor- 
 tunity, in a life of nearly sixty years ; and could I be con- 
 tinued ten times as long again, I might not have again an 
 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 prompting of your own spirit after you have 
 thoroughly counted the cost. I would flatter no man into 
 such a measure, if I could do so 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 Samson. I felt for a number of years in earlier 
 life, a steady, strong desire to die; but since I saw any pros- 
 pect of becoming a reaper in the great harvest, I have not 
 only felt quite willing to live, but have enjoyed life much ; 
 and am now rather anxious to live for a few years more. 
 It is inconsistent with the tenor of this letter, to draw from 
 it the conclusion that the ''mighty conquest" was a profitless 
 "foray," or a "raid," that Brown thus invited Mr. Sanborn to 
 engage in ; nor did the latter so understand it. On the contrary 
 he took the proposal seriously, and was deeply impressed with 
 
 282 Mr. Morton was Mr. Smith's secretary. He and Mr. Sanborn had 
 been classmates at Harvard. 
 
THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT 247 
 
 the broad siginficance of the undertaking herein dimly fore- 
 shadowed. Commenting thereon he, consistently, said : 
 
 Till I follow my noble friend to the 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 leadings 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 re- 
 vealed to me that no confidence could be too great, no trust 
 or affection too extreme toward this aged, poor man whom 
 the Lord had chosen as his champion. 
 
 One might venture to suggest, in this connection, that Mr. 
 Sanborn's failure to catch any note of a "clear and certain call" 
 during his months of doubt and anxiety, might be due, possibly, 
 to facts or conditions existing in the Omnipotent economy. 
 God, "whose mercy endureth forever," may not have desired 
 that a "generation should pass off the face of the earth," at that 
 time, "by a violent death." Also, the absence of any evidence 
 of the Divine approval of Brown's scheme, raises a question of 
 doubt, that the Lord had really appointed "this aged poor man 
 as his chosen champion." While, on the other hand, the la- 
 mentable failure of the expedition undertaken in the accom- 
 plishment of this enterprise : and the overwhelming wreck and 
 ruin of those who engaged in it. point to the theory that God, if 
 he took any active participation in the matter at all, was opposed 
 to Brown — that he was on the other side — on the side of the 
 generation of men, women, and children, who, trusting in His 
 mercy, lived in innocent ignorance of Brown's plot to destroy 
 them. 
 
 Leaving Peterboro on the 24th, Brown began a tour among 
 the colored people to unite them in support of his campaign. 
 February 26th, to March 3d, he was at Brooklyn at the home 
 of Dr. and Mrs. J. N. Gloucester, wealthy colored people, and 
 
248 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 sought their assistance. From Brooklyn he went to Boston. 
 From there, Marcli 4th, he wrote to his son John : ''^^ "As it 
 may require some time to hunt out friends at Bedford. Cham- 
 bersburg, Gettysburg, Hagerstown, Md. or even Harper's Perry, 
 Va., I would like to have you arrange your business so as to set 
 out very soon." March 6th, he was again at Boston, and on the 
 15th, at Philadelphia again, where he met Rev. Stephen Smith, 
 Frederick Douglass, Rev. Henry H. Gamett, William Sill, and 
 other colored men. His son John met him there by appoint- 
 ment and thence they went to New York, New Haven, and 
 to North Elba, where they arrived March 23d. April 2d, they 
 were at Peterboro for consultation with Gerrit Smith, and from 
 there they went to Rochester, where they separated. From 
 Rochester, Brown went to St. Catherine, Canada, in company 
 with a colored man — J. W. Loguen — where they met, by 
 appointment, Mrs. Harriet Tubman, colored, known as the 
 "Moses of her People." Brown was cordially received by the 
 Canadian negroes. They listened to his statement of the things 
 that he intended to do for their race, and gave him encourage- 
 ment to believe that many of them would enter his service. 
 
 Believing the money which had been pledged would be 
 promptly furnished. Brown launched his enterprise, and called 
 a constitutional convention to meet at Chatham, Canada, to 
 fomially adopt a "Provisional Constitution and Ordinances, for 
 the people of the United States." He then proceeded to Spring- 
 dale to report the situation to his captains. 
 
 The war party left Springdale April 27th. and arrived at 
 Chatham on the 29th, Brown stopping at the home of James M. 
 Bell, a colored man. Notices calling the convention were imme- 
 diately sent out : the fomi, as drawn by Cook, was as follows : 
 
 Chatham, May — 1859. 
 Mr. . ; Dear Sir: — We have issued a call for a 
 
 very quiet Convention at this place, to which we shall be very 
 
 '^^ Sanborn, 451. 
 
THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT 249 
 
 happy to see any true friends of freedom and to which you 
 
 are most earnestly invited to give your attendance. 
 
 Yours respectfully, John Brown. 
 
 The convention was represented, at Chatham, as being a meet- 
 ing for the purpose of organizing a Masonic (colored) lodge ; it 
 met May 8th, at 10 o'clock a. m. Only Brown's party and thir- 
 ty-four colored men were present. Richard Realf, in his testi- 
 mony before the Mason Committee, said that Brown opened the 
 convention with an explanation of the purposes for which it had 
 been called. That he spoke of the manner in which he had 
 qualified himself for leadership — by a tour of the European 
 continent, inspecting all fortifications, especially all earthwork 
 forts, that he could find, intending to apply such knowledge, with 
 modifications and inventions of his own, to the warfare he now 
 proposed to undertake. "He spoke of his studies of Roman 
 warfare, and of Schamyal the Circassian chief, and of his knowl- 
 edge of conditions in Hayti, and of Toussaint L'Ouverture." 
 He said that he expected all the free negroes in the Northern 
 States to flock to his standard, as well as the negroes of the 
 Southern States. Mr. Realf further stated that "no salaries 
 were to be paid to the officers" under this constitution. That 
 it was "purely out of that which we supposed to be philanthropy 
 — love for the slave." *** 
 
 After the address Brown produced a copy of the "Provisional 
 Constitution." The articles were read and adopted unanimous- 
 ly. Each person present then signed the constitution, and swore 
 allegiance to the Provisional Government."*^ The nature and 
 purposes of Brown's invasion of Virginia, in October, 1859, are 
 disclosed in the forty-eight articles contained in this remarkable 
 historical document.^**' 
 
 At a meeting held in the evening, John Brown was elected 
 commander-in-chief and John H. Kagi, secretary of war. The 
 
 28* Mason Report, 96. 
 
 285Redpath, 251. 
 
 ^^^ Mason Report, 48. See Appendix III. 
 
250 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 balloting for offices was continued on Monday, May 10th, and 
 Richard Realf was elected secretary of state, George B. Gill, 
 secretary of the treasury, Owen Brown, treasurer, and Osborn 
 P. Anderson and Alfred M. Ellsworth, colored, were elected 
 members of Congress. 
 
 Article I. of the constitution, provides for qualification of 
 membership, and includes "all persons of mature age whether 
 proscribed, oppressed, and enslaved citizens, or of proscribed 
 and oppressed races of the United States, who shall agree to 
 sustain and enforce the Provisional Constitution and ordinances 
 of organization, together with all minor children of such per- 
 sons, shall be held to be fully entitled to protection under the 
 same." Articles II, III. IV, and V relate to the branches of 
 government : Legislative, executive and judicial. A num- 
 ber of articles relate to the trial of officers, impeachment, or 
 recall of judges, army appointments, etc., etc. Article XXVIII 
 treats of "Property." It recites that "All captured or confiscat- 
 ed property, and all property the product of the labor of those 
 belonging to this organization and of their families, shall be 
 held as the property of the whole, equally, without distinction 
 and may be used for the common benefit, or disposed of for the 
 same object." Article XXXVI is especially instructive. It 
 reads as follows : 
 
 "The entire personal and real property of all persons known 
 to be acting, either directly or indirectly, with or for the enemy, 
 or found in arms with them, or found willfully holding slaves, 
 shall be confiscated and taken whenever and wherever it may be 
 found, in either Free or Slave States." 
 
 Mr. Sanborn says this constitution will be found "well suited 
 to its purpose — the government of a territory in revolt, of 
 which the chief occupants should be escaped slaves," an opinion 
 which assumes that the white population had, in some manner, 
 been eliminated from the "territory in revolt." 
 
 The plan of government was written by Brown, and was 
 
THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT 251 
 
 adopted in a solemn manner by sane men, who signed it ; and 
 copies of this Constitution and Ordinances, Brown took with him 
 to Harper's Ferry ; and on the 18th of October, 1859, personally 
 referred to it as an exhibit of his purposes for being there ; and 
 stated that it had been his intention to have a large number of 
 copies of it printed, and distributed "at large," so that all might 
 know the character of his invasion. And yet, after the lapse 
 of fifty years, comes an oracular disquisitor, who, with an 
 assurance de luxe, asserts that Brown and his followers did not 
 intend to establish a Provisional Government in the South, or 
 to do any of the things provided for in this infallible utterance ; 
 that his invasion of Virginia was not an invasion, but a "raid" 
 to carry off some slaves, which, if successful, would be followed 
 by further guerrilla warfare in the mountains of Virginia. 
 
 Referring, with undisguised impatience, to the irrelation of 
 the "Constitution and Ordinances" to his conception of what 
 Brown's purposes were, or to what he desires the historian to 
 declare Brown's purposes to have been, he says, that "it actually 
 contemplates not merely the government of forces in armed 
 insurrection against sovereign States," but that it "actually 
 goes so far as to establish courts, a regular judiciary and a 
 Congress." And, "as if that were not enough it provides 
 for" such heresies in guerrilla warfare as "schools for that 
 same training of the freed slaves in manual labor which is to-day 
 so widely hailed as the readiest solution of the negro problem. 
 Churches too were to be 'established as soon as may be' — as if 
 anything could be more inconsistent with his fundamental plan" ; 
 which Mr. Villard then magisterially states was to "break his 
 forces up into small bands hidden in mountain fastnesses, sub- 
 sisting as well as possible off the land, and probably unable to 
 communicate with each other. At this and at other points," 
 he says, "the whole scheme forbids discussion as a practical 
 plan of government for such an uprising as was to be carried 
 out by a handful of whites and droves of utterly illiterate and 
 
252 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 ignorant blacks, and may stand as a chief indictment of Brown's 
 saneness of judgment and of his reasoning powers" ; admitting 
 however, that "as a chart for the course of a State about to 
 secede from the Union and to maintain itself during a regular 
 revolution, the document was also not without its admirable 
 features." 
 
 Commenting upon the condition of Brown's mind at the time 
 he wrote this paper, Mr. Villard says that it was "fanatical, con- 
 centrated on one idea to the danger point, but still it remained a 
 mind capable of expressing itself with rare clearness and force, 
 focussing itself with intense vigor on the business in hand and 
 going straight to the end in view." "^" 
 
 The preceding clause is in itself a refutation of the author's 
 criticism. If it be true that when Brown drew up this paper 
 "his mind was capable of expressing itself with clearness, focus- 
 sing itself with vigor on the business in hand and of going 
 straight to the end in view." then it must be admitted that the 
 document which he penned was not intended to serve a purpose 
 so trifling as a raid, but that it was what it purported to be — a 
 form of government or charter for a state during a period of 
 revolution. 
 
 It will be observed that it is not the practicability of a revolu- 
 tion, such as the provisions of this document would be consistent 
 with, that constitutes the indictment of Brown's saneness and 
 reasoning powers ; but the fact that the provisions of the con- 
 stitution are inconsistent with this author's invention of what 
 Brown's plans were : "A plan of government for small forces 
 of whites and runaway slaves acting separately as guerrilla 
 bands in mountain fastnesses." It is strictly true that the pro- 
 visions of the constitution are so inconsistent with this fiction as 
 to forbid discussion ; but that fact should not constitute an in- 
 dictment of Brown's sanity. It merely emphasizes the fact that 
 there is disagreement between John Brown and his biographer 
 
 287 Villard, 335-336. 
 
THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT 253 
 
 of fifty years after, concerning the purpose for which Brown 
 wrote the provisional constitution and ordinances, and sug- 
 gests, as a bare possibiHty of the case, that the assumptions of the 
 biographer as to what that purpose was may be inconsistent with 
 the tenor of the constitution. If this biographer had been less 
 eager to confirm in history the theory that it was a foray or a 
 raid that Brown sought to execute at Harper's Ferry, he would 
 have discovered that Brown intended to organize a thorough- 
 going army there, ^** instead of sporadic guerrilla bands; and 
 that he intended to extend the jurisdiction of this Provisional 
 Government over the State of Virginia and the South. 
 
 It was Brown's intention to begin his campaign at once. May 
 1 5th being the date named ; and something, probably, would 
 have happened if he had received the one thousand dollars 
 promptly, that had been pledged in his support. Realf, on his 
 arrival at Chatham, wrote that they would remain there until 
 they had perfected their plans, "which will be in about ten days 
 or two weeks," after which they would "start for China." ^^° 
 Cook also had something to say. He wrote to some young 
 ladies at Springdale : 
 
 . . . I long for the 10th of May to come. I am anxious 
 to leave this place, to have my mind occupied with the 
 great work of our mission. . . Through the dark gloom 
 of the future, I fancy I can almost see the dawning of light 
 of Freedom. . . That I can almost hear the swelling An- 
 them of Liberty rising from the millions who have but just 
 cast aside the fetters and the shackles that bound them. But 
 ere that day arrives, I fear that we shall hear the crash of the 
 battle shock and see the red gleaming of the cannon's light- 
 
 j^Jj^g. 290 
 
 The seance closed abruptly on the 10th, owing to a collapse of 
 the exchequer; whereupon the cabinet officials and officers of 
 
 ^«» Mason Report, 59-60. 
 
 289 Villard, 330. 
 
 290 Jbid. 
 
254 JOHN BROWX : A CRITIQUE 
 
 the general stafif were furloughed, without pay, until such time 
 as they would be called upon to report to the commander-in- 
 chief for service. They went to Cleveland, Ohio, and it is 
 said that some of them chafed under the hardships and incon- 
 veniences of earning a living; with the result that a spasm of 
 "philanthropy and love for the slave" became imminent among 
 them. So pronounced were the symptoms that the honorable 
 secretary of state, Mr. Realf, on May 23d, in an official note to 
 the commander-in-chief, declared that unless "relief" were pro- 
 vided speedily, those affected might be so inspired by philan- 
 thropy and love for the slave as to "go South and raid by them- 
 selves." '" 
 
 The failure to finance the Provisional Government was a re- 
 sult of a flurry on the bourse, that had its origin in the activities 
 of Colonel Forbes. He was threatening the rear of Brown's 
 communications. About the last of April, he wrote from Wash- 
 ington to Mr. Sanborn and to Dr. Howe, declaring his inten- 
 tion to give publicity to Brown's scheme. A "hurry call" was 
 accordingly sent out for a meeting of the war committee. At 
 a conference. May 2d, Mr. Parker and Mr. Steams thought "the 
 plan" should be "deferred till another year." Dr. Flowe thought 
 differently, while Mr. Sanborn, whose mind was not working 
 forcefully, was in a state of doubt, which he expressed. May 5th, 
 in a letter to Mr. Higginson.-^- Gerrit Smith voted with 
 Steams and Parker. He wrote May 7th: "It seems to me 
 that in these circumstances Brown must go no further; and I so 
 write him."''*'' May 9th, Higginson voted with Howe. He 
 wrote : "I regard any postponement as simply abandoning the 
 project." A letter of the 9th from Hon. Henry Wilson to Dr. 
 Howe, settled the question. He went into the matter a little 
 deeper, and suggested that their actions might involve others. 
 He pointed out that if the arms in Brown's possession were 
 
 -•Ji Sanborn, 470; also Villard, 338. 
 
 292 Sanborn, 458. 
 
 293 /t,-j_ 
 
THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT 255 
 
 used for any other purpose than to "arm some force in Kansas 
 for defense, // might be of disadvantage to the men zvho ivere 
 induced to contribute to that very foolish movement'' ; and ad- 
 vised them to "get the arms out of Brown's control, and keep 
 clear of him, at least for the present." '^* To this letter Dr. 
 Howe replied on the 12th: 
 
 I understand perfectly your meaning. No countenance 
 has been given Brown for any operations outside of Kansas 
 by the Kansas Committee. I had occasion a few days ago to 
 send him an earnest message from his friends here, urging 
 him at once to go to Kansas and take part in the coming 
 election, and throw the weight of his influence upon the side 
 of right. . . There is in Washington a disappointed 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 see Mr. Seward. Mr. Hale 
 also can tell you something about him. God speed the 
 right.^®^ 
 
 May 15th, he wrote Mr. Wilson, relating to the arms, that 
 "prompt measures have been taken and will be resolutely fol- 
 lowed up to prevent any such monstrous perversion of a trust 
 as would be the application of means raised for the defense of 
 Kansas, to a purpose which the subscribers of the fund would 
 disapprove and violently condemn." -^^ 
 
 Because of these letters Dr. Howe has been severely criticised ; 
 and by Rear Admiral Chadwick unjustly charged with "gross 
 prevarication." -^^ But, in a time of war, would the distin- 
 guished admiral hesitate to deceive the enemy in a similar man- 
 ner ? The things which the Doctor said were, of course, untrue, 
 but in saying them he did not intend to wrong the Senator or to 
 deceive him to his disadvantage. The correspondence was not 
 
 •^* Mason Report, 176. 
 
 295 Ibid. 
 
 298 Ibid. 
 
 297 Rear Admiral Chadwick, Causes of the Civil War, 75-76. 
 
256 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 personal ; Senator Wilson was an intermediary, or a medium ot 
 communication between Colonel Forbes and Brown's war com- 
 mittee. Howe, acting for the committee, had the right to de- 
 ceive the enemy — Forbes — in this manner. The letters he 
 wrote were a stratagem of the war it was promoting. Brown 
 would have disposed of Forbes in a more heroic manner. He 
 wrote from Chatham: "We have those who are thoroughly 
 posted up" (professional assassins) "to put upon his track and 
 we beg to be allowed to do so." -"* 
 
 On May 14th, Mr. Stearns wrote to Brown enclosing a copy 
 of Senator Wilson's letter, also notifying him officially, as 
 chairman of the Massachusetts State Kansas Committee, that 
 the arms in his care belonging to the committee must not be 
 used for any other purpose than for the defense of Kansas."^" 
 He then forestalled any possibility of future complication re- 
 lating to the arms by foreclosing a lien, which he is said to have 
 held, on all the property of the committee ; and having thus ob- 
 tained the title to the arms, he placed them in Brown's posses- 
 sion as his personal agent. By this arrangement, Mr. Sanborn 
 says. 
 
 The business of the Kansas Committee was put in such 
 shape that its responsibility for the arms in Brown's pos- 
 session should no longer fetter his friends in aiding his main 
 design. 
 
 But as to the character of the transaction he was not quite 
 assured. "It is still a little difficult," he said, "to explain this 
 transaction without leaving a suspicion that there was some- 
 where a breach of trust." It was also agreed between them 
 that Brown should not further inform the members of the war 
 committee of his plans in detail, nor "burden them with knowl- 
 edge that would be to them both needless and inconvenient." ^"^ 
 May 15th, Mr. Stearns wrote to Brown asking him to come to 
 
 -^^ Sanborn, 456. 
 
 209 Mason Report, 231. 
 
 3U0 Sanborn, 465-466. 
 
THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT 257 
 
 New York during the next week for consultation ; but for rea- 
 sons that have not been stated the meeting did not take place ; 
 it was probably called off because arrangements were made for 
 a more interesting function. 
 
 Then as now, there was a Peace Society in existence. Mr. 
 Gerrit Smith was coming to Boston to deliver an address at its 
 anniversary ; and it was decided to take advantage of his pres- 
 ence in the city, to have a full meeting of the secret war com- 
 mittee which, Mr. Sanborn says, had been organized in March, 
 and consisted of Gerrit Smith, Theodore Parker, Doctor Howe, 
 T. W. Higginson, George L. Steams, and himself. Mr. Smith 
 arrived and took lodgings at the Revere House. The commit- 
 tee held its meeting, at his rooms, on the 24th of M^y. At this 
 council it was finally decided to postpone the campaign until the 
 winter or spring of 1859, when the committee would raise for 
 Brown "two or three thousand dollars." ^"^ 
 
 Mr. Smith, because of his great zeal in the promotion of 
 peace, had the honor of being chosen to deliver the address at 
 the anniversary of the Peace Society, and, because of a similar 
 zeal in the promotion of war, he had the honor of being chosen 
 to preside, as chairman, over the Revere House deliberations of 
 the war committee. It may be assumed, because of his versa- 
 tility, that he acquitted himself creditably in both of these posi- 
 tions. 
 
 The impossibility of harmonizing the public professions of 
 these apostles of peace, with their secret undertakings as min- 
 isters of war, discourages analyzation of their philosophy ; and 
 for the same reason, discussion of questions of moral obliquity, 
 or of commercial irregularity in their actions or in the actions of 
 any of them, in juggling with the liability for Brown's war 
 equipment, and in financing an assault upon a State of this 
 Union, may be dismissed as being without profit. 
 
 May 31st, Brown returned to Boston full of regret because of 
 
 301 Sanborn, 464. 
 
258 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 the postponement of the invasion ; but with the amis securely 
 in his possession and with the $500 in gold in his pockets, which 
 his committee gave him as a salve to soothe his wounded hope ; 
 and with the decision of the Revere House council to raise "two 
 or three thousand dollars" for his campaign the next spring, 
 his spirits rose, and he left Boston for North Elba well satisfied 
 with the outcome of the flurry. 
 
 June 20th, he went to Cleveland and disposed of the staff, di- 
 viding with them the $500, and making such arrangements for 
 them as circumstances pemiitted. Cook was sent to Harper's 
 Ferry, to reconnoiter the field, and obtain statistics and other in- 
 formation. It is also probable that Brown would have joined 
 him and begun the work of agitating the slaves for the coming 
 revolt, if the news from Kansas had not offered an opportunity 
 for "other occupations." The "disturbances" there, culmin- 
 ating in the tragedy on the IVIarias des Cygnes, May 19th, ap- 
 pealed to him with irresistible force. They "were the immedi- 
 ate cause of his return to Kansas." ^°^ 
 
 302 Redpath, 237. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE SHUBEL MORGAN PLUNDER COMPANY 
 
 The angel zmngs zvere so dim and shadoi^y as to be scarce- 
 ly z'isible. — Georgk B. Gill 
 
 In company with Kagi and Tidd, Brown arrived at Lawrence 
 on the night of June 27th, and, under the name of "Shubel Mor- 
 gan" left the next day for the zone of opportunity. The poht- 
 ical situation in Kansas, or the progress which the Free-State 
 cause was making at that time, was no part of his concern ; and 
 to so much as mention his name in connection therewith, is to 
 trifle with history. Writing to Mr. Sanborn from Lawrence on 
 the 28th, announcing his arrival in the Territory, he sent a quick 
 delivery order for some whistles. He said : ^°^ 
 
 . . . Can you send me by Express ; Care of E. B. Whit- 
 man, Esqr. half a Doz ; or a full Doz whistles such as I de- 
 scribed? at once? 
 
 The above is the sole reference to Territorial affairs contained 
 in this letter; it may therefore be regarded as an epitome of his 
 interest therein ; it is also an index to the character of the opera- 
 tions he intended to engage in. 
 
 On July 9th, he wrote to his son John that he was now in the 
 log cabin of the "notorious James jMontgomery" whom he 
 deemed a very ''brave and talented officer." Montgomery was 
 tlie author of the recrudescence, in Linn and Bourbon counties, 
 of the lawlessness of 1856. Disapproving of the election, Jan- 
 uary 4. 1858. under the Lecompton Constitution, he destroyed 
 the ballot boxes in his district. His political relations with the 
 pro-slavery settlers in Linn County becoming strained, he served 
 
 303Villard, 353. 
 
 17 
 
260 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 notice on them to leave the Territory, and compelled them to 
 seek refuge in Missouri. A troop of cavalry being- sent to ar- 
 rest him, he, with seven others, opened fire upon it from the 
 timber, killing one enlisted man and wounding the captain — 
 George T. Anderson, First United States Cavalry — and two 
 others. 
 
 While the Free-State men greatly admired Montgomery's 
 prowess, they balked at the retaliatory operations his actions 
 provoked. The deliberate killing of five Free-State men and 
 the wounding of five more on the Marias des Cygnes May 19th, 
 by Charles A. Hamilton, caused them to reflect, seriously, upon 
 the situation. Even if Montgomery had succeeded in burning 
 Fort Scott, in retaliation for these murders, it could not have 
 brought the dead back to life. The settlers therefore, re- 
 gardless of political sentiment, united in an efifort to tran- 
 quilize matters. Governor Denver appeared upon the scene in 
 company with Charles Robinson and Judge J. W. Wright, in 
 an earnest effort to secure a general pacification. June 14th, at 
 a mass-meeting held at Fort Scott, a treaty of peace was nego- 
 tiated. It was called the Denver Treaty. It provided that "by- 
 gones should be by-gones" as far as possible ; that the Federal 
 troops at Fort Scott should be removed ; that militia should be 
 stationed along the border, to prevent further invasions from 
 Missouri ; and that all other armed companies should withdraw 
 from the field. "This compact was religiously adhered to dur- 
 ing the summer and fall." ^°* 
 
 Brown found upon his arrival in the recently distracted dis- 
 trict that the Free-State settlers desired peace, and had so pub- 
 licly declared, and that in response to their wishes Montgomery 
 had disbanded his band of raiders. But with the Free-State 
 settlers' wishes, and with their material and political welfare 
 Brown had no concern. His interests were distinct from theirs. 
 He came not to serve them, nor to serve the Free-State cause, but 
 
 304Vilard. 349. 
 
SHUBEL MORGAN PLUNDER COMPANY 261 
 
 to use them and the Free-State sentiment, as a shield to protect 
 him from violence while in pursuit of the criminal operations 
 in which he intended. to engage. It was a continuation of the 
 graft, upon the Free-State cause, which he was professionally 
 working. Stealthily and in disguise he came into this settle- 
 ment, and by stealth he proceeded to execute the purposes for 
 which he came. 
 
 Disregarding the settlers' peace treaty and Montgomery's 
 example, Brown proceeded to organize a company, or pre- 
 tended that he organized one, and drew up a paper entitled 
 "Articles of Agreement" for Shubel Morgan's Company. 
 However, in view of the character of some of the men whose; 
 names appear upon the roll of its membership, and because of 
 the nature of the business which Brown actually engaged in 
 thereafter, as well as the personality of the men whom he really 
 directed, it probably was merely a paper organization gotten up 
 for the delectation of his Eastern friends, male and female. 
 The articles are as follows : 
 
 We, the undersigned members of Shubel Morgan's Com- 
 pany, hereby agree to be governed by the following Rules : 
 
 1. A gentlemanly and respectful deportment shall at all 
 times and places be maintained toward all persons ; and all 
 profane or indecent language shall be avoided in all cases. 
 
 2. No intoxicating drinks shall be used as a beverage by 
 any member or be suflfered in camp for such purpose. 
 
 3. No member shall leave camp without leave of the 
 Commander. 
 
 4. All property captured in any manner shall be subjected 
 to equal distribution among the members. 
 
 5. All acts of petty or other thefts shall be promptly and 
 properly punished, and restitution made as far as possible. 
 
 6. All members shall, so far as able, contribute equally to 
 all necessary labor in or out of camp. 
 
 7. All prisoners who shall properly demean themselves 
 shall be treated with kindness and respect, and shall be pun- 
 
262 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 ished for crime only after trial and conviction, being allowed 
 a hearing in defense. 
 
 8. Implicit obedience shall be yielded to all proper orders 
 of the commander or other superior officer. 
 
 9. All arms, ammunition, etc., not strictly private proper- 
 ty shall ever be subject to, and delivered up, on the order of 
 the commander. 
 
 Names 
 
 Shubel ]\Iorgan 
 
 C. P. Tidd 
 
 J. H. Kagi 
 
 A. Wattles 
 
 Samuelson Stevenson 
 
 J. IMontgomery 
 
 T. Homyr 
 
 Simon Snyder 
 
 E. W. Snyder 
 
 Elias Snyder 
 
 John H. Snyder 
 
 Adam Bishop 
 
 William Hairgrove 
 
 John Mikel 
 
 William Partridge 
 After his arrival, Brown spent some time upon the tract of 
 land upon which the Hamilton massacre had taken place. It 
 belonged to Mr. Eli Snyder, a blacksmith, and Brown entered 
 into negotiations with him to purchase his claim to it. Nothing 
 came of the dealings, and it is not probable that Brown was 
 very much in earnest upon the subject. While he remained 
 with Snyder he made a reconnoissance into Missouri for the 
 purpose of obtaining information that would be of use to him 
 in his planning for future operations. ^"^ 
 
 In the meantime, Stevens and Gill reported for duty. The 
 following named persons then comprised his band : Kagi, 
 Tidd. Owen Brown, Gill, and Stevens; Albert Hazlett and Jere- 
 miah G. Anderson joined later. 
 305 Villard. 357. 
 
 Date 
 
 1858 
 
 July 
 
 12 
 
 n 
 
 12 
 
 ii 
 
 12 
 
 ii 
 
 12 
 
 ii 
 
 12 
 
 Ii 
 
 12 
 
 " 
 
 12 
 
 ii 
 
 14 
 
 ii 
 
 15 
 
 ii 
 
 15 
 
 (1 
 
 15 
 
 ii 
 
 15 
 
 ii 
 
 15 
 
 (( 
 
 15 
 
 " 
 
 15 
 
SHUBEL MORGAN PLUNDER COMPANY 263 
 
 Just what Brown and his captains did during the first five 
 months of their sojourn in the Territory has not been made pub- 
 Hce. M.any pages of very irrelevant matter, containing 
 very few facts, liave been put forth upon the subject; but from 
 the scraps of evidence occurring in the garbled accounts that 
 have been published concerning their doings, they seem to have 
 been engaged in stealing horses; but no big robbery was under- 
 taken until in December. 
 
 On July 20th, Brown began a letter to Mr. Sanborn which he 
 completed August 6th, in which he said ^^^ that they would soon 
 be in want of a small amount of money "to feed us. We can- 
 not," he said, " work for zcagcs; & provisions arc not easily ob- 
 tained on the frontier." He also gave out the information 
 that a portion of his men were "in other neighborhoods." In 
 response to this request for money, Mr. Sanborn, on August 
 25th, sent him Gerrit Smith's check for fifty dollars. This 
 check Brown enclosed to his wife, endorsed to Watson Brown, 
 in a letter to her September 17th.^" Because Brown returned 
 this money to the East, it may be inferred that the urgency for 
 money had been tided over; that the crisis had passed by the 
 time Mr. Sanborn's letter with the check arrived ; that money 
 had been received from some other source, and that he did not 
 need it then, "to feed us." It is also noticeable that his men, 
 who were "in other neighborhoods," and could "not work for 
 wages," managed to obtain a sufficient amount of money to 
 supply their personal needs in some other way. The exact 
 character of these pursuits has not been stated, but the condi- 
 tions under which they acquired their living have been made 
 public, in an incidental way, and they were by no means ideal. 
 They seem to have worked the Territory in pairs. Mr. Gill, 
 speaking for himself and Mr. Kagi, said,^°^ equivocally: 
 "Sometimes one had the ague, sometimes both. Sometimes 
 
 306VilIard, 354. 
 307 Sanborn, 478. 
 308Villard, 363. 
 
264 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 we fished, sometimes we had our supper and beds; at other 
 times we went supperless and took the prairie for our l)ed with 
 the blue arch for our covering." 
 
 It would perhaps be called harshness to say, at tliis time, that 
 John Brown and his men were a band of horse thieves, al- 
 though Mr. Villard does say that one of them, "Pickles, w'as a 
 well known horse thief;" and it has been more than intimated, 
 within the writer's hearing, that Charles Jennison, who joined 
 the band temporarily, while indulging a penchant for horses 
 generally, was neither solicitous about his title to them, nor 
 about the manner of getting possession of them. As a story 
 tells it, one of the "psalms" sung by these humanitarians had 
 special reference to Jennison ; it ran in this way : 
 
 Am I soldier of the boss — 
 A follower of Jim Lane? 
 
 And shall I fear to steal a boss 
 Or blush to ride the same? 
 
 We are also told that Mr. Albert Hazlett "picked up a fine 
 stallion down in Missouri." ^"° And Mr. Gill, in a letter to 
 Colonel Hinton,^^'* speaks of a trip which he and Brown were 
 on during several days, but does not state the nature of their 
 adventures. Brown was ill a part of the summer ; and for sev- 
 eral weeks was seriously so, in the home of Mr. Adair at Osa- 
 watomie, where he was cared for by the faithful Kagi. The 
 latter wrote to his sister that he was compelled to "lay off" at 
 Osawatomie, for a month, on account of this. He laid off 
 from "fishing," and from sleeping on the prairie, with the "blue 
 arch for a covering." It seems, however, that before Brown 
 was taken ill, he had been doing some of this speculative or 
 professional business himself; in fact he attributed his illness 
 to the exposure which he had been subjected to, while engaged 
 in it, whatever it may have been — "fishing" or other employ- 
 ment. He related to Mr. Sanborn, in his letter of July 20th- 
 
 ao9 Villard, 634, note 98. 
 ^loAiite, >iote 156. 
 
SHUBEL MORGAN PLUNDER COMPANY 265 
 
 August 6th : "Have been down with ague since last date, and 
 had no safe way to get off my letter. I had lain every night 
 without shelter, suffering from cold rains and heavy dews, to- 
 gether with the oppressive heat of the day." It appears, from 
 this statement, that Brown also had had engagements in other 
 neighborhoods, for, in his own neighborhood, "deserted farms 
 and dwellings lay in all directions for some miles," ^'' and he 
 could easily have taken shelter in some of them. It is evident, 
 too, that wherever he may have been, his circumstances were 
 such that he could not call upon the settlers, in such neighbor- 
 hoods, and ask for shelter and accept from them such hospital- 
 ity and entertainment as settlers are wont to give, or he would 
 have done so. His condition seems to liave been similar to the 
 condition which horse thieves are in, when they have stolen 
 horses in their possession : they cannot safely ask for shelter and 
 other entertainment and have to lie out at night, and suffer 
 from cold rains, if there happen to be any, and from heavy dews. 
 It is to be regretted that Brown's later biographer did not 
 secure from Salmon Brown a statement concerning the doings 
 of Brown and his captains, while they were operating in Kan- 
 sas. It transpired, however, that Brown encouraged horse 
 stealing by his subordinates. Reference has been made to the 
 fine stallion which Hazlett had "picked up" down in Missouri. 
 Mr. Gill, in his narrative about this matter, states that Brown 
 bought this fine horse from Hazlett ; giving him, in exchange 
 for it, a United States land warrant for forty acres of land, 
 that had been donated to Brown by Gerrit Smith ; and that he 
 afterward sold the horse, by auction, at Cleveland. 
 
 After recovering from his illness, Brown made a number of 
 trips to Lawrence, where he had some controversy with the 
 Natonal Kansas Committee, for which he assumed to act as 
 agent ; not only without authority from it to do so, but in op- 
 position to its expressed wishes. The committee, through its 
 agent, Mr. E. B. Whitman, at Lawrence, had made advances, 
 
 3iiVillard, 354. 
 
266 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 for necessary supplies, to many Kansas settlers, taking their 
 notes for account of the same. Some of these notes had been 
 given to Mr. Stearns, as security for money which he had ad- 
 vanced to the committee, and Stearns had given them to Brown, 
 or sent them to him, for collection. It appears that the notes 
 had not been endorsed and made payable to Air. Stearns, and 
 that the ownership of them was still in the committee. But 
 Brown, when surrendering the notes to the makers, upon pay- 
 ment to him, cured that defect and extinguished the commit- 
 tee's title by acknowledging payment to him, as its agent. Octo- 
 ber 26th, Mr. H. B. Hurd repudiated Brown's agency in a letter 
 to Mr. Whitman. He said: "Capt. John Brown has no au- 
 thority to take, receive, collect or transfer any notes or accounts 
 belonging to the National Kansas Committee, nor ever has had, 
 nor will such dealings be recognized or sanctioned by our com- 
 mittee." ^^' Of course. Brown kept the money he thus col- 
 lected. He had an offset against the committee. He claimed 
 that it owed him five thousand dollars. Under its resolution 
 of January 24, 1857, it had "voted $5000 in aid of Capt. John 
 Brown in any defensive measures that become necessary" in 
 Kansas. Brown was then engaged in "defensive" measures or 
 operations, as has been related, and from his point of view he 
 had earned the right to claim this money. 
 
 During the latter part of October, Montgomery again made 
 things interesting for his neighborhood. Alleging violation 
 of the Denver Peace Treaty, he entered the court-house at Fort 
 Scott, while the grand jury was in session, took possession of 
 the papers it was considering, destroyed them, and compelled 
 it to adjourn. On the night of October 30th, a very weak at- 
 tempt, or an alleged attempt, was made to assassinate Mont- 
 gomery ; a party, supposed to be pro-slavery men firing a volley 
 into his cabin. Because of this it was decided to fortify it ; Gill, 
 Tidd, and Stevens doing most of the work. Brown "indulging 
 
 3i2Villard, 360. 
 
SHUBEL MORGAN PLUNDER COMPANY 267 
 
 in his favorite occupation of cooking." "'^ The incident may 
 have been a ruse-dc-giierre. Having heard that he had been 
 indicted by a pro-slavery jury, at Paris, for the ballot-box af- 
 fair in January, Montgomery, on November 13th, went there 
 with a party and made an unsuccessful search for the records. 
 He invited Brown to join him. The latter did so, but remained 
 "on the outskirts of the town" while the searching was being 
 done. After this adventure, Acting Governor Walsh wrote the 
 department suggesting that a reward of $300 and $500 be 
 offered respectively, for the arrest of Montgomery and Brown ; 
 such a reward, he thought, "would either eft'ect their arrest or 
 drive them from the Territory." ^^* 
 
 On December 6th, a joint meeting of Free-State and pro- 
 slavery men was held at Sugar Mound, in Linn County, to adopt 
 a peace agreement to replace the Denver Treaty, which the 
 Free-State men claimed had been violated by the court pro- 
 ceedings against Montgomery ; the attack upon his life on the 
 night of October 30th, etc. The resolutions were drafted by 
 Brown, and Montgomery presented them to the meeting. They 
 were adopted, after some modification.^'^ The preamble re- 
 cites that "the citizens of Linn County, assembled in mass meet- 
 ing at Mound City, being greatly desirous of securing a per- 
 manent peace to the people of the Territory generally, and to 
 those along the border of Missouri in particular, have this day 
 entered into the following agreement and understanding, for 
 our future guidance and actions." The articles provide that 
 all criminal processes, pending against Free-State men, grow- 
 ing out of difficulties with pro-slavery parties, shall be forever 
 discontinued and quashed ; that all Free-State men held in con- 
 finement, on account of similar difficulties, shall be immediately 
 released. Article 4 covered a very wide range. It provided 
 that "No troops, marshal or other officers of the General Gov- 
 
 3i3VilIard, 363. 
 si-'Villard, 364. 
 3i=Villard, 666. 
 
268 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 eminent, shall be either sent or called in. to enforce or serve 
 criminal processes aj^ainst any Free-State man or men on ac- 
 count of troubles heretofore existing for any act prior to this 
 date." A "recommendation" that was unanimously agreed to 
 was. "that we earnestly recommend that all those who have re- 
 cently taken money, or other property, from peaceable citizens 
 within this county, immediately restore the same to their proper 
 owners." 
 
 Brown was not sincere in his participation in this meeting as 
 an advocate for peace. His plans were already formed for a 
 grand coup, to raise money. He intended to do something 
 spectacular — something that would be worthy of his name and 
 of his reputation. The homes that he intended to plunder had 
 been selected long before, and the premises in each case thor- 
 oughly reconnoitered. All the essential details had been pro- 
 vided for. He was simply waiting, at this time, in a state of 
 expectancy, for the psychological moment to arrive : then he in- 
 tended to strike. September 10th, he wrote to Mr. Sanborn : 
 Before I was taken sick there was every prospect of some 
 business very soon, and there is some now that requires 
 doing. I have but fourteen regularly employed hands, the 
 most of whom are now at common work, and some are sick. 
 How we travel may not be best to write. I have met the 
 notorious Montgomery and think very favorably of him.^^*' 
 October 11th, he wrote to his wife from Osawatomie: 
 "... I can now see no good reason why I should not be lo- 
 cated nearer home, as soon as I can collect the means for de- 
 fraying the expenses. I still intend sending you some further 
 help, as soon as I can. Will write you how to direct to me 
 hereafter." ^^^ November 1st, he wrote to her from Moneka: 
 "I shall write you where to direct when I know where to do so." 
 From these letters it appears that his plans were complete ex- 
 
 3i« Sanborn, 477. 
 35 7 Sanborn, 479. 
 
SHUBEL MORGAN PLUNDER COMPANY 269 
 
 cept as to the date for the execution of them. December 2(1, he 
 wrote to his family as follows : ^^^ 
 
 I have just this moment returned from the South where 
 the prospect of quiet was probably never so poor. Other 
 parts of the Territory are undisturbed and may very likely re- 
 main so ; unless drawn into the quarrel of the border coun- 
 ties. I expect to go South again immediately. . . When 
 I wrote you last I thought the prospect was that I should 
 soon shift my quarters somewhat. I still have the same pros- 
 pect, but am wholly at a loss as to the exact time. 
 
 His opportunity came December 16th, ^^® when Montgomery,, 
 with a force of nearly one hundred men, marched upon Fort 
 Scott, to effect the release of Mr. Benjamin Rice, who had been 
 arrested, November 16th. in violation of the by-gones-to-be-by- 
 gones provision of the treaty of June 15th; and had not been 
 released after the adoption of the Sugar Mound Treaty of De- 
 cember 6th. In this exploit a merchant of Fort Scott, Mr. J. 
 H. Little, was killed, and his store robbed of goods amounting 
 to about seven thousand dollars. Montgomery organized his 
 company for this raid December 14th. and, upon invitation, 
 Brown, Stevens, and Kagi joined in the expedition. Stevens 
 and Kagi took part in the affair; Stevens being charged, by 
 some writers, with having killed Little. But Brown, "with his 
 customary dislike to serve under another," or probably, because 
 of his higher responsibilities, took no part in the attack. He 
 went "only as far as the rendezvous" at the Wimsett farm, 
 where he probably received his share of the loot. 
 
 Returning on the 19th, he collected his men, and on the night 
 of the 20th, executed his famous raid into Missouri. The party 
 operated in two divisions — one under Brown's direction and 
 the other under Stevens's orders. With Brown were Charles 
 Jennison. Jeremiah Anderson, Geo. B. Gill. Kagi, and three or 
 four others. This party was to rob the plantations of Mr. 
 
 318 Villard, 365. 
 3ioVillard, 366. 
 
270 JOHN BROWX: A CRITIQUE 
 
 Han-ey B. Hicklan and Mr. John Larue. The latter lived 
 about three-fourths of a mile from the Hicklan home. With 
 the Stevens party were Tidd, Hazlett, and five others. This 
 band was to rob the places of David Cruise and Hugh Martin. 
 Cruise, in addition to his other possessions, had a slave girl that 
 Ste\-ens wanted — and got — but not until after he had killed 
 Cruise. A statement by Stevens, made at the Kennedy farm, 
 in Maryland, furnishes all the infomiation that exists concern- 
 ing the details of the murder. He is reported as saying ^'^ that 
 he went to the cabin and demanded the girl ; that the old man 
 asked him to come inside, which he thoughtlessly did, and that 
 then the old man slipped behind him and "pulled a gun." That 
 it then became a case of "shoot first. You might call it a case 
 of self defense, or you might say that I had no business in there 
 and that the old man was right." 
 
 Brown's party arrived at the Hicklan home at midnight, 
 forced the door open, and with pointed revolvers intimidated 
 Hicklan, and proceeded to plunder the establishment. Mr. Gill, 
 who appears to have been in charge of the ethics of the occasion, 
 says, that in spite of his efforts to restrain the men, they took 
 practically everything that was in sight. "Some of our men," 
 he said, "proved to be mere adventurers, ready to take from 
 friend or foe as opportunity offered." This statement, by one 
 who knew whereof he spoke, is the clearest exposition of the 
 character of Brown's thefts that has been made. The robbery 
 on the night of December 20, 1858, was his final transaction of 
 that character. All of the property stolen by him during that 
 night belonged to pro-slavery men. Therefore, Mr. Gill's knowl- 
 edge that "some of their number were mere adventurers, ready 
 to take from friend or foe as opportunity offered" could not have 
 been derived from their conduct on this occasion. The statement 
 is explicit evidence that Brown and his men were not moved or 
 controlled by any sentiment relating to slavery ; or by any polit- 
 ical bias in their thefts, but that they were common thieves, 
 
 320 Villard, 369. 
 
SHUBEL MORGy\N PLUNDER COMPANY 271 
 
 operating under the protection of Free-State sentiment while 
 they robbed and plundered Free-State men and pro-slavery men, 
 without discrimination as opportunity offered. It may be said, 
 in general terms, that all horses look alike to a horse thief. It 
 is the horse, per se, that appeals to the thief, rather than the 
 political affiliations of the owner. In the absence of competent 
 testimony to the contrary, it would be said, promptly, of Brown, 
 that he was an exception to this rule, as well as to all other 
 rules, that control human actions ; that he was moved by loftier 
 motives than those which control the actions of the ordinary 
 horse thief ; that he confined his plundering to pro-slavery men, 
 and robbed them, only, as a private duty, by and with the con- 
 sent of the Almighty. But this direct evidence against him, 
 and the men whom he controlled, is competent and quite con- 
 clusive. 
 
 It has been said that Brown made restitution to Hicklan of 
 some of his property. But that statement belongs in the class 
 of a long line of personal statements, that have been put for- 
 ward from time to time, in palliation of the enormity of Brown's 
 crimes, or in attempts to justify them, or in efforts to make it 
 appear that he was engaged in an unselfish w^arfare against 
 slavery. Mr. Villard swept away a lot of this rubbish by the 
 keen logic of his exposition concerning many of the stories 
 which were made current about the Pottawatomie matter. So 
 this statement, about returning to Hicklan some of his prop- 
 erty, and Mr. Gill's statement that the raid on the night of the 
 20th, was inspired by the "Jim Daniels story," belong in the 
 same general class of rubbish. Mr. Hicklan stated, in 1888, 
 that nothing that was taken was ever recovered. He said : 
 They did not give anything back. Brown said to me that 
 we might get our property if we could ; that he defied us and 
 the whole United States to follow him. He and his men 
 seemed anxious to take more from me than they did for they 
 ransacked the house in search of money, and I suppose they 
 would have taken it if they had found it. . . What I have 
 
272 JOHN BROWX: A CRITIQUE 
 
 stated is the truth and I am willing to swear to it. I do not 
 
 hold any particular malice or prejudice on account of these 
 
 old transactions. Old things have passed away, but the 
 
 truth can never pass away.^^^ 
 
 Along with the plunder of the Hicklan home, five slaves were 
 taken ; these are said to have belonged to the "Lawrence estate" 
 then in Hicklan's care, as administrator. Besides the negroes, 
 he took from the Lawrence estate tw-o good horses, a yoke of 
 oxen, a good wagon, harness, saddles, a considerable quantity 
 of provisions, bacon, flour, meal, coffee, sugar, etc. ; all of the 
 bedding and clothing of the negroes, Hicklan's shot-gun. over- 
 coat, boots, and many other articles belonging to the whites. 
 From Larue were taken five negroes, six head of horses, har- 
 ness, a wagon, a lot of bedding and clothing, provisions, and. in 
 short, all the loot available and portable.^" Besides killing 
 Cruise and looting the home, Stevens took, as claimed by the 
 family, two yoke of oxen, a wagon load of provisions, eleven 
 mules, and two horses. A mule was also taken from the Hugh 
 Martin home. 
 
 After the robberies the tw^o parties united at a point thereto- 
 fore agreed upon, and started on the return trip to Kansas. At 
 daylight they secreted themselves in a deep wooded ravine, 
 W'here they remained until after dark, when they continued their 
 march, arriving at Mr. Wattles's home, two miles north of 
 Mound City, at midnight of Wednesday the 22d. Here Brown 
 stopped until morning, having with him the slaves, one wagon, 
 and two or three of his men ; the others pushing on northward 
 with the swag, to get it beyond danger of recovery, and to di- 
 vide it or sell it for the benefit of all concerned. 
 
 The liberation of the slaves was a cumbersome and dangerous 
 experiment, but it was as necessary as it was dangerous. To 
 have taken all this plunder and carried it off w'ithout the diver- 
 sion of taking the slaves with him, would have been a case of 
 
 32iVilIard, 368. 
 322 Ibid. 
 
SHUBEL MORGAN PLUNDER COMPANY 273 
 
 such plain stealing, that Brown would have been completely dis- 
 credited therefor ; even the "Secret War Committee" might have 
 joined in the general repudiation of him that would have fol- 
 lowed. But the carrying off of the slaves to freedom, in this 
 wholesale spectacular way, was great advertising; it distracted 
 attention from the basic motive of the raid, and secured credit- 
 able notoriety for Brown in the North. It seems, however, 
 that after arriving at the Wattles home with the slaves. Brown 
 practically, or personally at least, abandoned them to their fate. 
 The narrative states : ^-^ 
 
 At dawn on Thursday, the caravan started again, and this 
 time without Brown. Two of his men accompanied the one 
 ox-team, which was sent forward, one going ahead to act as 
 pilot. 
 
 This man, however, turned back, leaving the negroes to make 
 their way to Osawatomie alone. They arrived, without any 
 mishap, at the home of Mr. Adair, near Osawatomie, on Christ- 
 mas Eve, where, it seems, no arrangements had been made to 
 receive them. On the arrival of the slaves at his home, Mr. 
 Adair says he referred the matter of sheltering them to his wife, 
 calling her attention to the responsibility it would involve. 
 "She considered the matter a few moments and then said : *I 
 cannot turn them away.' They were taken around to the back 
 yard, and the colored people were brought into the back kitchen 
 and kept there that night." ^-* Continuing the narrative Mr. 
 Villard says that at two a. m. of the morning after Christmas, 
 the fugitives were finally placed in an old abandoned preemp- 
 tion cabin on the south fork of the Pottawatomie, where kind 
 neighbors brought them food and gave them encouragement.^-^ 
 In this location they remained until they were taken north. It 
 is probable that Brown, in his selfishness, cared but little 
 whether these negroes were returned to slavery or not. He had 
 
 323 Villard, 372. 
 32* Ibid. 
 
 325 Jbid, 
 
274 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 done his stunt in liberating them, and made no pretense of de- 
 fending them or of caring for them until in January, and took 
 care not to be near the fugitives while the pursuing bands were 
 scouring the country in search of them. 
 
 Naturally no public accounting was ever made of the prop- 
 erty taken by the Shubel Morgan Plunder Company, nor has 
 any statement ever been made as to the division of the plunder, 
 or of a division of the proceeds, among the members of it. But 
 it is known that it was the raid and the robbery, that Brown had 
 in view, whereby he expected to raise the money to defray the 
 expense of the return of the party to the East. January 11, 
 1859, he wrote to his family that he had been unable to finish 
 up his business as rapidly as he had hoped to when he wrote pre- 
 viously — December 2d — and the delay of his departure from 
 Kansas until about January 20th, was probably due to the fact 
 that it required that length of time to close out the company 
 property and make distribution of the proceeds. Final settle- 
 ment was probably made at or near Lawrence. Mr. Villard 
 says on page 380 : 
 
 Somehow or other Brown recruited his finances while near 
 Lawrence, and his wagons, when he drove away, were creak- 
 ing with the weight of provisions contributed by Major 
 Abbott and Mr. Grover. 
 
 Pending the sale of the plunder and final settlement for it. 
 Brown remained an unwelcome prowler, in the neighborhood 
 of Moneka, amid a storm of indignation against him that was 
 as general as it was severe. Even his "staunch friend W^at- 
 tles" severely censured him "for going into Missouri, contrary 
 to our agreement, and getting these slaves." On January 2d, 
 Brown wrote a formal letter to Montgomery "asking him to 
 hold himself in readiness to call out reenforcements at a mo- 
 ment's notice, to prevent a possible invasion because of a raid 
 into Missouri." But Montgomery was not holding himself in 
 readiness to. defend Brown, or to repel the retaliatory invasion 
 he had invited; but "was eagerly at work for peace;" seeking 
 
SHUBEL MORGAN PLUNDER COMPANY 275 
 
 to prevent a retaliatory blow from falling upon the Free-State 
 settlement. What Montgomery wrote to Brown in reply to 
 this letter, if he answered it at all, has never been published. 
 He denied having any complicity with Brown, and joined in the 
 general denunciation of him, and in the condemnation of his 
 action. It was this denunciation of him by Montgomery and 
 the Free-State men generally that called forth Brown's personal 
 defense of his conduct, in what he called his "Parallels"; a pa- 
 per conspicuous in Brown literature. 
 
 The Lawrence Herald of Freedom on January 8, 1859. pub- 
 lished a letter from a clergyman at Moneka, from which the fol- 
 lowing paragraphs are extracts : ^■*^ 
 
 I have watched the progress of these troubles here until 
 I am sick-heart-sick with humanity. Here are men claim- 
 ing to be Christians, and even ministers of the Gospel, who 
 profess to be guided in their actions by the teachings of the 
 Prince of Peace, who have organized a body of murderers, 
 robbers, gamblers and horse-thieves, and subsisting by 
 plunder. They are riding over the country and committing 
 the basest of crimes. If this is Christianity anything would 
 be preferable to it. 
 
 The strangest of all is to see peace men, those in the States 
 who were members of peace societies, and who were sending 
 delegates to peace congresses, laboring to inaugurate civil 
 war, with the expressed object of working a revolution 
 throughout the nation, ultimating in a dissolution of the 
 Union ; and all to procure the emancipation of the slave. 
 Simple men ! They should learn that revolutions involving 
 such grave consequences are not usually set on foot by mur- 
 derers and thieves. Though Brutus triumphed over the 
 dead corpse of Caesar, yet it is not believed that in this age 
 of enlightment a few ignoramuses and desperadoes of the 
 character of those in this country can succeed in crushing 
 out slavery and with it American freedom. 
 But Brown's band was the only band of thieves operating in 
 ^^^i Kansas Conflict, 408. 
 
276 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 that neighborhood after July 15, 1858. The Shubel Morgan 
 Company, then, was the "organized body of niunlerers. rolibers, 
 gamblers and horse thieves" described and complained of by the 
 Moneka clergyman — ''Men who prosecute their nefarious 
 business in the name of God and Humanity." The Herald of 
 Freedom seems to have fallen under Brown's displeasure. He 
 thought "all honest, sensible Free-State men in Kansas consider 
 George Washington Brown's 'Herald of Freedom' one of the 
 most traitorous publications in the whole country." ^"' 
 
 On January 11, 1859, Governor Medary asked the Territorial 
 Legislature, then in session, to appropriate $250 as a reward 
 for the arrest of Montgomery, and a similar amount for the ar- 
 rest of Brown. In response to this, Montgomery wrote a letter 
 to the Lawrence Repuhlican, saying, among other things : "For 
 Brown's doings in Missouri, I am not responsible. I know 
 nothing of either his plans or intentions. Brown keeps his own 
 counsels, and acts on his own responsibility. I hear much said 
 about Montgomery and his company. I have no company. 
 We have had no organization since the 5th day of July." ^"* 
 Continuing, Mr. Villard says that Montgomery came to Law- 
 rence on January 18th, and delivered himself up to Judge El- 
 more, who placed him in the custody of the sheriff. There be- 
 ing but one indictment against him, and that for robbing a post- 
 office, he was released on bail, in the sum of $4,000. Three 
 days later he returned home and continued his efforts in behalf 
 of peace. He came back to Lawrence on February 2d, with 
 six of his men. who also surrendered themselves to the Terri- 
 torial officers. 
 
 About this time Brown received a visit from George A. 
 Crawford, a Free-State Democrat residing at Fort Scott. \Vho 
 said some things to Brown at the request of Governor Medary. 
 In a letter to Hon. Eli Thayer of August 4, 1879, Crawford 
 
 3-^ Sanborn, 476. 
 3^8 Villard, i77. 
 
SHUBEL MORGAN PLUNDER COMPANY 277 
 
 states the substance of this conversation. Some extracts from 
 the letter are as follows : ^-^ 
 
 . . . I protested to the Captain against this violence. 
 We were settlers, he was not. He could strike a blow and 
 leave. The retaliatory blow would fall on us. Being a 
 Free-State man, I myself was held personally responsible by 
 pro-slavery ruffians in Fort Scott for the acts of Captain • 
 Brown. One of these ruffians, Brockett, when they gave me 
 notice to leave the town said, "When a snake bites me. I 
 don't go hunting for that particular snake. I kill the first 
 snake I come to." 
 
 I called Captain Brown's attention to the facts that we 
 were at peace with Missouri ; that our Legislature was then 
 in the hands of Free-State men to make the laws ; that even 
 in our disturbed counties of Bourbon and Linn we were in a 
 majority and had elected the officers both to make and ex- 
 ecute the laws ; that without peace we could have no immi- 
 gration; that no Southern immigration was coming; that 
 agitation such as his was only keeping Northern friends 
 away, etc. The old man replied that it was no pleasure to 
 him. an old man. to be living in the saddle, away from home 
 and family and exposing his life ; and if the Free-State men 
 of Kansas felt they no longer needed him, he would be glad 
 to go. . . 
 
 On account of the unfriendly criticism of his conduct. Brown 
 left the neighborhood of Moneka January 11th and went to 
 Osawatomie, and about the 20th, in company with' Gill and 
 Kagi, convoying the slaves, set out on the journey to the North. 
 Stevens and Tidd were with the party at Osawatomie, but they 
 were detailed to steal ''a span of horses" the day the caravan 
 moved, which made it necessary for them to scurry out of the 
 neighborhood as rapidly as the horses which they had stolen 
 could travel. 
 
 Concerning this transaction Mr. Gill says,^^*' that a day or 
 
 ^^9 Kansas Conflict, 405-407. 
 330Villard, 379. 
 
278 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 two before starting he found out that a Missourian. with a span 
 of horses, was stopping temporarily a few miles from Osawat- 
 omie; also that he had a w^ell grounded suspicion that they had 
 been stolen from Free-State men. At Garnett, he says, he 
 communicated his suspicion "to Stevens and Tidd, who set out, 
 the same evening that we did, to replevin these horses. After 
 doing so they proceeded to Topeka to await us ; Kagi also," he 
 says, "scouted ahead for some purpose, most probably to ar- 
 range stopping-places for us, leaving Brown and myself alone 
 with the colored folks." 
 
 With the stealing of these horses "Brown's men wound up 
 their business in South Eastern Kansas." It was probably 
 their last theft in the Territory. What their first one was, and 
 W'hat their intermediate acts were, can only be surmised. Sum- 
 marizing his work in Kansas during 1858 Mr. Villard says : ^" 
 As for John Brown, he was ready to leave the Territory 
 for the last time. Of constructive work there was no more 
 to his credit than when he left the Territory in 1856. . . 
 The sole act of any significance to be credited to him during 
 these six months in Southern Kansas is the capture of the 
 slaves. . . Certain it is that the Missouri raid, in viola- 
 tion of his agreement, caused many peaceful Free-State set- 
 tlers to flee their homes for fear of violence, and might have 
 resulted seriously but for the efforts of certain Missourians 
 to keep the peace. . . 
 
 Brown's successful trip across the country, from Kansas to 
 Canada, in the rigor of winter, with these colored fugitives, 
 will always stand to the credit of his courage, his sagacity, and 
 his perseverance. The initial drive from Osawatomie to Major 
 Abbott's place near Lawrence, where they arrived January 24th, 
 had its discomforts. Mr. Villard, quoting from Gill's narrative 
 says : "Through mud, and then over frozen ground, without 
 a dollar in their pockets, their shoes all but falling apart. Gill 
 and Brown, resolutely drove the slow-going ox-team with its 
 331 Villard, 378. 
 
SHUBEL MORGAN PLUNDER COMPANY 279 
 
 load of women and children. Gill's feet were frozen, and the 
 'old man's fingers, nose and ears frozen.' " From Abbott's 
 hospitable home they sent the ox-team to Lawrence to be sold, 
 and in its place obtained horses and wagons. On the 28th, the 
 narrative states, they arrived at Holton ''amid all the discom- 
 forts of a driving prairie snow storm." But the storm could 
 not have been very severe, because upon their arrival next day 
 at Spring Creek, six miles distant, that stream "was too high to 
 ford" and they were compelled to remain there over Sunday. 
 The storm therefore must have been a rain storm rather than a 
 prairie blizzard. 
 
 About this time Brown's movements were discovered and his 
 location had become knowai ; also the Territorial authorities be- 
 came active in an effort to arrest him. On Saturday, as the 
 story goes, a volunteer posse from Atchison, under Mr. A. P. 
 Wood, arrived upon the scene, and took up a position on the 
 north side of Spring Creek, barring Brown's further progress 
 northward. It looked as though the "chase was trapped" ; and 
 Governor Medary with evident satisfaction announced the fact 
 to President Buchanan. The Governor also sent a special mes- 
 senger — Deputy Marshal Colby — to Colonel Sumner, com- 
 manding at Fort Leavenworth, informing that officer as to the 
 situation, and requesting that troops be sent to capture him. 
 But Brown, in anticipation of hostilities, had sent to Topeka for 
 assistance, and Colonel John Ritchie, with about twenty men, 
 responded to his call, arriving at his camp about noon on Mon- 
 day. Upon the arrival of these reenforcements. Brown 
 promptly moved toward the crossing of the creek, and quite as 
 promptly the Atchison party abandoned its position. The en- 
 gagement that followed seems to have been a contest for speed, 
 and was appropriately named "The Battle of the Spurs." ''' 
 The Leavenworth Times had this to say about the battle : ''' 
 
 332 Villard, 382. 
 ^^^ Ibid. 
 
280 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 The chase was a merry one, and closed by Brown's taking 
 off three of his pursuers as prisoners ; with four horses, pis- 
 tols, guns, etc., as legitimate plunder. 
 
 February 10th, Brown was at Tabor, Iowa. From there he 
 wrote to his wife : ^^* 
 
 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 tvelfare & perhaps 
 send you something besides my good wishes. I suppose you 
 get the common news. May the God of my fathers be your 
 God. 
 
 Brown's reception by the people of Tabor was a disappoint- 
 ment. He arrived on Saturday and hoped to receive an ovation 
 at the chnrcli next day: and that a ''collection" would be taken 
 up for his benefit. To bring this about he prepared the follow- 
 ing notice, which he handed to the Rev. John Todd, as the lat- 
 ter entered his church Sunday morning, which he desired should 
 be read to the congregation : ^^^ 
 
 John Brown respectfully requests the church at Tabor 
 to offer public tlianksgiving to Almighty God in behalf of 
 himself, & company : & of their rescued captives in particular 
 for his gracious preservation of their lives, & health ; & his 
 signal deliverance of all out of the hand of the wicked, hith- 
 erto. "Oh, give thanks unto the Lord ; for he is good ; for 
 his mercy endureth forever." 
 
 But there w-as objection and the note was not read. Tlie fame 
 of Brown's actions, or the infamy of them, had preceded him 
 at Tabor, which was probably confirmed by the swaggering and 
 boasting of his men. At any rate, after conferring with Dr. 
 H. D. King, who occupied the pulpit with Mr. Todd, the latter 
 declined to read the note, or to take up the collection.'-'" Dr. 
 King is reported to have said: 
 
 334Vi]Iard, 383. 
 335Villard. 384. 
 33cvillard, 385. 
 
SHUBEL MORGAN PLUNDER COMPANY 281 
 
 ]^)rother Todd, this is your cliurcli, but if I were you 1 
 would not make a i:)rayer for them. Inasmuch as it is said 
 they have destroyed life, and stolen horses, I should want to 
 take the charge under examination before I made a jjublic 
 prayer. ^^^ 
 
 Brown was equally unfortunate at a public meeting which 
 he called for Monday. It resolved that "we have no Sympathy 
 with those who go to Slave States to entice away Slaves, & take 
 property or life when necessary to attain that end." ^^^ 
 
 At Grinnell Brown held two night meetings, with full houses, 
 at which he and Kagi spoke. Both were loudly cheered. The 
 collections, too, were satisfactory: "$26.50 and whole party 
 and teams kept for Two days without cost. Sundry articles of 
 clothing given to captives. Bread, Meat, Cakes, Pies, etc., pre- 
 pared for our journey." ^^® 
 
 In justification of his Missouri raid. Brown, in March, wrote 
 to Mr. John Teesdale of the Des Moines Register: ^*° 
 
 First, it has been my deliberate judgment, since 1855, that 
 the most ready and effectual way to retrieve Kansas would 
 be to meddle directly with the peculiar institution. Next, 
 we had no means of moving the rescued captives without tak- 
 ing a portion of their lawfully acquired earnings, all we took 
 has been held sacred to that object and will be. 
 The last clause of the latter statement would move Jennison's 
 ghost to smile if it were read to it.^*^ 
 
 The caravan arrived at Springdale February 25th, and re- 
 mained there until March 10th, when the colored people and 
 their traps were loaded into a box car, at West Liberty, and 
 taken by an express train to Chicago. The use of a box car, 
 337Villard, 385. 
 
 338 Jl^id 
 
 339Villard, 387. 
 
 3-'«Villard, 386. 
 
 3" It is the personal opinion of the writer that Jennison got the "long 
 end" of the loot taken in this raid; an opinion that will not be chal- 
 lenged by anyone who knew him. 
 
282 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 and the transportation of the fugitives to Chicago, was quietly 
 arranged by Mr. Grinnell with Superintendent Tracey, of the 
 railroad. The latter refused to accept payment for the service, 
 saying: "We might be held for the value of every one of 
 those niggers." 
 
 Arriving at Chicago, March 11th, at 4:40 a. m.. Brown re- 
 ported his case to Allen Pinkerton, who took charge of the 
 party. Pinkerton also raised a fund of about six hundred dol- 
 lars for Brown ; and arranged with General Superintendent 
 Hammond, of the Michigan Central Railway, for a car and 
 transportation for the outfit to Detroit. Kagi had charge of 
 the party from Chicago to Detroit where they arrived March 
 12th, at 10 o'clock a. m.. Brown having preceded them on an 
 earlier train to arrange for their reception at Windsor, Canada. 
 He met them on the ferry boat and escorted them across the 
 river to freedom. ^*- 
 
 The liberation of these slaves in Missouri, and the safe de- 
 livery of them in Canada was a capable performance. But it 
 is not believable that the department of justice at any time 
 contemplated any interference with Brown, or that it made any 
 attempt to arrest him, or had any desire to effect his arrest. 
 That it had him under surveillance, and had reports of his 
 movements, from the time he arrived at Holton until he disem- 
 barked the fugitives at Windsor, there can be no reasonable 
 doubt; and that it had the power to arrest him, if it desired to 
 do so, will not be denied. But the fugitive slave law, at this 
 time, had become a grievous thorn in the political flesh of the 
 northern Democracy. The Administration had troubles enough, 
 already, in the distracted condition of the country, without fur- 
 ther antagonizing Northern public sentiment, and turning loose 
 upon itself the tempest of criticism and censure that would 
 surely follow if Brown were arrested, and a heartless judge 
 should remand back to slavery and punishment these timid, 
 shrinking, friendless women and children. 
 
 3^2VilIard, 389-390. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 MOBILIZING THE PROVISIONAL ARMY 
 
 Confusion on thy banners zvait ! 
 
 Though fann'd by Conquest's crimson wing. — Gray 
 
 Released from further responsibility for his fugitive wards, 
 and wearing the laurels of his recent adventures. Brown began 
 the reorganization of his forces for the final hazard. Arriving 
 at Cleveland March 15th, he proceeded to sell, publicly, what 
 remained of his share of the Kansas-Missouri plunder which 
 had been forwarded to that point from Springdale : two horses 
 and a mule. Brown announced that, notwithstanding the Mis- 
 souri origin of the stock, they were now 'Abolition" animals; 
 explaining his metaphor by the statement that he had "con- 
 verted" them. A pen picture of Brown by Artemus Ward, 
 reads as follows : ^*" 
 
 He is a medium sized, compactly-built and wiry man, as 
 quick as a cat in his movements. His hair is of a salt and 
 pepper hue and as stiff as bristles ; he has a long, waving, 
 milk white goatee which gives him a somewhat patriarchal 
 appearance. A man of pluck, is Brown. You may bet on 
 that. He shows it in his walk, talk and actions. He must 
 be rising sixty and yet we believe he could lick a yard full 
 of wild cats before breakfast and without taking off his coat. 
 Turn him into a ring with nine Border ruffians, four bears, 
 six injuns and a brace of bull pups and we opine that "the 
 eagles of victory would perch on his banner." We don't 
 mean by this that he looks like a professional bruiser, who 
 hits from the shoulder, but he looks like a man of iron and 
 one that few men would like to "sail into." 
 
 343Villard, 39L 
 
284 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 Kagi appeared to him "like a melancholy brigand, some of 
 whose statements were no doubt false and some shamefully 
 true." A summary of the lecture Brown delivered at Cleve- 
 land reads as follows : ^** 
 
 Brown's description of his trip to Westport and capture 
 of eleven niggers was refreshingly cool, and it struck us, 
 while he was giving it, that he would make his jolly fortune 
 by letting himself out as an Ice Cream Freezer. He meant 
 this invasion as a direct blow at slavery. He did not dis- 
 guise it — he wanted the audience to distinctly understand 
 it. With a few picked men, he visited Westport in the night 
 and liberated eleven slaves. He also "liberated" a large num- 
 ber of horses, oxen, mules and furniture at the same time. 
 
 In this speech Brown made the only acknowledgment of rec- 
 ord, of his relation to the Pottawatomie assassinations. The 
 Leader, which was friendly to Brown, quoted him as saying,^*'^ 
 that "he had never killed anybody, although on some occasions 
 he had shozun his young men zvith him, how some things might 
 be done as well as others and they had done the business." 
 Brown also impressed Mr. Alcott, who said of him after hear- 
 ing his lecture at Concord, May 8th : ^^^ 
 
 He tells his story with surprising simplicity and sense, im- 
 pressing us all deeply with his courage and religious earn- 
 estness. . . I had 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. A young man 
 named Anderson accompanies him. They go armed, I am 
 told, and will defend themselves if necessary. He does not 
 conceal his hatred of slavery, nor his readiness to strike a 
 blow for freedom at the proper moment. He is of imposing 
 appearance. . . I think him about the manliest man I have 
 ever seen. 
 The principal matter in hand now was to finance the initial 
 
 a-»*Villard, 393. 
 
 3« Jbid. 
 
 3+« Sanborn, 504. 
 
MOBILIZING THE PROVISIONAL ARMY 285 
 
 movement of the campaign. All the skies were clear. Time 
 and the Kansas diversion had discredited Forbes's truthful 
 statements and eliminated him from the problem. There was 
 to be no further shifting of the scene, or hesitation or faltering. 
 The flood in his affairs was rising, carrying him on its crest, to 
 his fate. To the intelligent and insistent perseverence of Mr. 
 Sanborn belongs the credit, or the discredit, as the reader may 
 elect, for making Brown's operations possible. He stood, or 
 became sponsor for Brown's integrity of purpose in January, 
 1857, and financed his subsequent career. May 30th, he wrote 
 Colonel Higginson : 
 
 Capt. B. has been here for three weeks, and is soon to leave 
 
 — having got his $2000 secured. He is at the U. S. Hotel ; 
 
 and you ought t6 see him before he goes, for now he is to 
 
 begin. ^*^ 
 
 Mr. Sanborn states ^*'^ that in all, a little more than four 
 thousand dollars passed through the hands of the secret commit- 
 tee or was known to it, as having been contributed in aid of the 
 "Virginia enterprise;" and that those who contributed thirty- 
 eight hundred dollars of this sum, did so "with a clear knowl- 
 edge of the use to which it would be put." 
 
 At North Elba, about June 16th, Brown bid his family fare- 
 well and went to West Andover where he made arrangements 
 with his son John to take upon himself the combined duties of 
 quartermaster general, and recruiting and mustering officer. 
 From Ohio he went to Pennsylvania, writing to Kagi, from 
 Pittsburgh, under the name of S. Monroe. He w^as at Bedford 
 on June 26th, and at Chambersburg on the 28th. From Cham- 
 bersburg, on June 30th, in company with two of his sons, Owen 
 and Oliver, and Jeremiah G. Anderson, Brown left for the 
 "front." On that day he wrote Kagi under the name of "I 
 Smith & Sons" saying that they were leaving for Harper's 
 Ferry and would be looking for "cheap lands near the railroad 
 
 347 Villard, 396. 
 3*7a Sanborn, 423. 
 
286 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 in all probability." July 3(1. they arrived at Sandy Hook, 
 Maryland, and spent the next day reconnoitering the country 
 on the Maryland side of the Potomac above Harper's Ferry. 
 
 To a Mr. Unseld, whom they met during the morning, Brown 
 stated that they were farmers from northern New York and 
 because of late frosts and other disadvantages, they had decided 
 to seek a new location ; that they had a little money and in- 
 tended to buy a farm, but would prefer to rent a place until 
 they became better acquainted with farm values in the neighbor- 
 hood. He also told him that his business would be buying fat 
 cattle for the New York market. Unseld suggested to them 
 a farm belonging to the heirs of a Dr. Kennedy, recently de- 
 ceased, which was then for sale. This farm was located about 
 five miles from Harper's Ferry on the Boonsboro road. It had 
 probably been selected for headquarters for the "Provisional 
 Army" by Cook, who had been stationed at Harper's Ferrv for 
 more than a year. 
 
 The Kennedy farm suited Brown "exactly." He went to 
 Sharpsburg immediately and leased two houses that were on the 
 place, with firewood, and pasture for a horse and a cow, until 
 March 1. 1860: the total consideration being thirty-five dollars. 
 The main house stands about three hundred yards from the road 
 on the south side. "There was a basement, kitchen and a store- 
 room, a living room and bed rooms on the second story, and 
 an attic." The "cabin" stood about the same distance from the 
 road on the north side of it. Notwithstanding the distance 
 from the road, Brown was constantly in danger of being 
 brought under suspicion by the friendly but inquisitive neigh- 
 bors, who were constantly dropping in to see the newcomers ; 
 but who were never invited to come into the house. To further 
 disarm suspicion Brown, on July 3th, sent for his wife and 
 daughter Anne, to report at headquarters. Mrs. "Smith." 
 however, seemed to think she could not so readily abandon her 
 home and her young children. But Oliver Brown's young wife 
 came instead ; she and "Annie" arrived about the middle of July. 
 
MOBILIZING THE PROVISIONAL ARMY 287 
 
 On the 10th of this month. Brown wrote to Kagi, who was at 
 Chambersburg, that it would be "distressing in many ivoys, to 
 have a lot of hands for many days, out of employ. We must 
 make up our lot of hands as nearly at one & the same time as 
 possible." ^** 
 
 August 11th, there was a panic on the bourse of the Pro- 
 visional Government. Kagi reported the arrival of fifteen 
 boxes of arms with freight charges amounting to $85.00, which 
 caused Brown to ask his son John to solicit for him "a little 
 more assistance, say two or three hundred dollars." Continu- 
 ing he said : 
 
 It is terribly humiliating to me to begin soliciting of friends 
 again; but as the harvest opens before me with increasing 
 encouragements, I may not allow a feeling of delicacy to de- 
 ter me from asking the little further I expect to need.^*^ 
 In due time his requisition for funds was honored from the 
 never-failing purse of Gerrit Smith. Brown's means of trans- 
 portation consisted of a horse and a wagon, but a contract for 
 moving the arms from Chambersburg to the Kennedy farm was 
 awarded to a "Pennsylvania Dutchman" w^ho had a large 
 freight wagon. ^^" 
 
 Meanwhile the movement progressed in a systematic and 
 orderly manner. There was grave danger, however, that the 
 secret of the contemplated insurrection would transpire through 
 the loquacity of the many persons, estimated by Mr. Villard at 
 possibly, eighty, who had more or less knowledge of the enter- 
 prise. Brown seems to have feared that Cook, especially, 
 might give up infonnation that would W'Ork disaster. It w^as 
 not that he held his loyalty in doubt, but he had been reported 
 to the commander-in-chief on a previous occasion, by the hon- 
 orable secretary of state, Mr. Realf, for "cacoethes loquendi." 
 and Brown feared a recrudescence of the maladv. In a letter 
 
 348 Villard, 406. 
 
 349 Villard, 407. 
 
 350 Ibid. 
 
288 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 to Kagi at Chambersburg, August 11th, he severely reproved 
 those who had made their business in Maryland a subject for 
 general correspondence. But his expressions of displeasure, 
 did not prevent Leeman from writing to his mother, a month 
 and a half later, as follows: ^''^ 
 
 I am now in a Southern Slazr State and before I leave it 
 it will be a free State, Mother . . . Yes, mother I am 
 waring with Slavery the greatest Curse that ever infested 
 America ; In Explanation of my Absence from you for so 
 long a time I would tell you that for three years I have been 
 Engaged in a Secret Association of as gallant fellows as ever 
 puled a trigger with the sole purpose of the Extermination 
 of Slavery. 
 
 A warning, which was received by the Honorable Secretary of 
 \\'ar. August 25th. notifying the department that Brown was 
 then promoting a general insurrection among the slaves, prob- 
 ably had its origin in Cook's indiscreet volubility. The letter, 
 addressed to "J- B. Floyd, Sec'y of War," "Private" is as fol- 
 lows : ^^^ 
 
 Cincinnati, x\ugust 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 for 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 every thing is ready, those 
 of their number who are in the Northern States and Canada 
 are to come in small companies to their rendezvous, which 
 
 351 Villard. 408. 
 
 35-' Mason [Report, 250. Testimony of Hon. John B. Floyd. 
 
MOBILIZING THE PROVISIONAL ARMY 289 
 
 is in the mountains In Virginia. They will pass down through 
 Pennsylvania and Maryland and enter Virginia at Harper's 
 Ferry. Brown left the North about three or four weeks ago, 
 and will arm the negroes and strike a 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 con- 
 fidence, this is all the information I can give you. I dare not 
 sign my name to this, but trust that you will not disregard the 
 warning on that account. 
 
 This letter, which should have led to the immediate over- 
 throw and wreck of the Provisional Government of the United 
 States, had been enclosed in an envelope addressed to the post- 
 master at Cincinnati, and mailed at Big Rock, Iowa. At Cin- 
 cinnati, August 23d, it was remailed to the Honorable Secre- 
 tary. Mr. Floyd received it at Red Sweet Springs, Virginia, 
 August 25th, and wliile not attaching sufficient importance to the 
 subject of the communication to read it a second time, he pre- 
 served the letter, and, after the denouement, published it. In ex- 
 planation of his indifference to the contents of this letter, he 
 stated to the Mason Committee, that the reference to the arsenal 
 in Maryland misled him, there being no armory in that state. 
 He therefore, supposed the whole thing was a hoax, and gave 
 it no further attention. The history of the letter w^as revealed 
 in later years by its author. David J. Gue, of Scott County, 
 Iowa, who obtained his information from Mr. Moses Varney, 
 of Springdale.^^^ 
 
 As the days passed, the men, wdio were to form the nucleus 
 of the army of invasion, straggled into Harper's Ferry and 
 reported at headquarters for duty. August 6th, Watson Brown 
 arrived, and with him came the Thompson brothers, William 
 and Dauphin. They were brothers to Henry Thompson, who 
 had been with Brown in Kansas in 1856. Then came Tidd 
 and Stevens, et al., and last of all, but one of the most welcome 
 ^^3 Gue, History of lozva. vol. ii, 26-30; Villard, 411. 
 
290 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 of all the recruits, came Francis J. Merriam. He arrived at 
 the Kenneday farm October 15th, with six hundred dollars in 
 gold, in his pockets, which he covered into the Provisional 
 Treasury. The arrival of Merriam willi his gold relieved the 
 strain upon Brown's exchequer. The commander-in-chief had 
 been compelled to negotiate a loan of forty dollars from Lieu- 
 tenant Coppoc, upon the credit of the Provisional Govern- 
 ment, to meet the current expenses of the expedition. That 
 deficit was now made good, leaving a handsome surplus on 
 hand. When Brown was taken into custody three days later, 
 he had with him two hundred and fifty or sixty dollars in gold 
 and silver. j\Irs. Anne Brown Adams said : ^^* "The good 
 Father in Heaven who furnishes daily bread sent Francis J. 
 Merriam down there with his money to help them just at the 
 moment it was needed." But it may also be said that in the 
 varying vicissitudes of Brown's fortunes, almost any moment 
 was just such a moment as this. "His money," Mr. Villard 
 states, was Merriam's "only contribution of value to the 
 cause. . . In addition to his other physical frailties he had 
 lost the sight of one of his eyes." After looking him over, 
 Stevens assigned him to duty as guard over the arms which 
 were to be left at the Kennedy farm. 
 
 On the 29th of September, the two young women left army 
 headquarters to return to their homes. They had rendered 
 faithful and valuable ser\'ices during the months of their stay. 
 If the Provisional Government had succeeded, these two women 
 would have taken rank with the immortals — Betsy Ross and 
 Mollie Stark. Mrs. Adams relates ^^^ that one day, while 
 "we were alone in the yard Owen remarked, as he looked up at 
 the house : Tf we succeed, some day there will be a United 
 States flag over this house. If we do not, it will be consid- 
 ered a den of land pirates and thieves.' " In the division of 
 their labors Anne, and not "Martha," seems to have "chosen 
 
 3^* Villard, 421. 
 355 Villard, 424. 
 
MOBILIZING THE PROVISIONAL ARMY 291 
 
 the better part" ; the latter did the cooking for the company, 
 and was the general head of the department of domestic econ- 
 omy ; while Anne, from the watch towers of the rude farm 
 house, kept vigils over all the approaches thereto. She was 
 the faithful sentinel that sounded the alarm at every sign of 
 danger — the vestal virgin, keeping alive the sacred fires upon 
 their altar of liberty. The approach of any human being was 
 cause for alarm, lest the presence of the invading amiy might 
 be discovered and divulged. An interesting account of the 
 daily life at headquarters, by Mrs. Anne Brown Adams is pub- 
 lished by Mr. Villard.^^*' Of the personnel of the field and staff, 
 she says : 
 
 It is claimed by many that they were a wild, ignorant, 
 fanatical or adventurous lot of rough men. This is not so, 
 they were sons from good families, well trained by orthodox 
 religious parents, too young to have settled views on many 
 subjects, impulsive, generous, too good themselves to believe 
 that God could possibly be the harsh unforgiving being He 
 was at that day usually represented to be. Judging them by 
 the rules laid down by Christ, I think they were uncommon- 
 ly good and sincere Christians, if the term Christian means 
 follower of Christ's example, and too great lovers of free- 
 dom to endure to be trammeled by church or creed. 
 No doubt the conduct of these free-booters, in the presence 
 of the young women, at the Kennedy farm, was circumspect 
 and commendable, and justified the estimate herein expressed 
 of their exemplary characters, and of the Christian lives that 
 she supposed they had led, and were living. 
 
 Little indeed did this pure minded girl know of the reckless 
 careers and the lives of violence these adventurers represented, 
 or of the motives that prompted them to undertake their present 
 enterprise. Measuring them by the standards put forth by 
 Christ, it will have to be admitted that they were a collection 
 of "mis-fit" Christians — as "mild mannered men as ever scut- 
 ate villard, 416-420. 
 
292 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 lied ship or cut a throat." Leeman, for instance, may be taken 
 as an illustration of one of these ideal "followers of Christ's 
 example." "For three years," he had been secretly placing the 
 example of his exalted character before the world, warring 
 with slavery, in an association of as gallant fellows as ever 
 "puled" a trigger. Who these gallant trigger "puling" fel- 
 lows were, and what they did to earn their reputations as trig- 
 ger "pulers," during these three years, is more or less conject- 
 ural. Mrs. Adams turns the light upon Leeman's Christian 
 character a little further, by the statement, that "he smoked a 
 good deal and drank sometimes." Air. Villard states that he 
 went to Kansas in 1856 with the second Massachusetts colony 
 of that year, and became a member of John Brown's "Volun- 
 teer-Regulars," September 9, 1856. Also, that he fought well 
 at Osawatomie. But since he is reported as having enlisted 
 ten days after the battle of Osawatomie there may be some 
 mistake as to that. George B. Gill, who knew a good bit about 
 him and who may have been a trigger "puler" himself, says 
 that he "had a good intellect with great ingenuity." Anne 
 heard Hazlett and Leeman, one day, saying that "Barclay 
 Coppoc and Dauphin Thompson were too nearly like good girls 
 to make soldiers ; that they ought to have gone to Kansas and 
 roughed it awhile, to toughen them, before coming down there." 
 Cook, it may be said, was less Christ-like than Leeman. He 
 was disposed to "swagger," also he "was indiscreet" and 
 "boastful." Once, when in a boastful mood, at Cleveland, he 
 boasted that he had "killed five men in Kansas." Then too 
 he "swaggered openly in his boarding house" which was bad 
 form, from a Christian point of view. Also it is said that he 
 "revealed too much to a woman acquaintance." ^" Then there 
 was Hazlett ; but the record as to his actions is so meager that 
 one cannot estimate with any degree of accuracy how "Christ- 
 like" he really was. About all that is known of him is that he 
 35' Villard, 338. 
 
MOBILIZING THE PROVISIONAL ARMY 293 
 
 stole a horse — a very fine stallion — from somebody in Mis- 
 souri, which, as has been stated, he traded to Brown for a 
 forty-acre United States land warrant. Also, he was with 
 Stevens when the latter killed Cruise, to get possession of the 
 slave girl. As to Stevens, it cannot truthfully be said that he 
 was a follower of Christ's example, in the stricter interpre- 
 tation of that expression. One of Christ's disciples — Peter — 
 it is said, followed the Master "afar off." In that respect Stev- 
 ens resembles the disciple rather than the Master. As a matter 
 of fact, if Stevens followed Christ's example at all, it was at 
 very long range. From what is known of the lives of these 
 men, it may be assumed also, that if Charles Jennison had been 
 under Anne's observation at the Kennedy farm, he too would 
 have secured absolution for his crimes and would have received 
 at her hands a certificate of Christianity. ^^^ 
 
 The details that Brown's biographers have published con- 
 cerning the concentration of the military stores at his head- 
 quarters ; his correspondence with his men ; the assembling of 
 them in Maryland ; his constantly recurring financial embarrass- 
 ments, and the edited statements concerning the daily life which 
 he and his men led after their arrival at the seat of war, are of 
 little or no public interest or value. They fail to touch upon 
 the vital purpose that led Brown, in the disguise of a farmer or 
 cattle buyer, to take up his residence at the Kennedy farm 
 house. They fail to even hint at the broad purpose of his being 
 there, or of the commanding things which he strenuously sought 
 to promote during the months that he occupied the ground. 
 They trifle with their theme and with their characters. These 
 men had not dedicated their lives to martyrdom "that others 
 might live." Their impromptu metamorphosis from "soiled 
 lives" to consecrated lives is gratuitous. They were capifali::- 
 
 358 The writer knew Jennison personally, but the acquaintance with 
 him was made "after the War" ; after the "Red Legs" had gone out of 
 commission. Jennison had reformed by that time and was running a 
 gambling house at Leavenworth, Kansas, in a very orderly manner. 
 
294 
 
 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 cd upon "the monstrous wrong which they beheld," and in- 
 tended to turn it. through a wrong still more monstrous, to a 
 monstrous personal advantage. No maudlin sentiment in- 
 spired these men, "with soiled lives behind them" to dare as 
 few ever dared before. Their "hearts throbbed" with a 
 single mighty purpose — an ambition worthy of the despera- 
 tion of their adventure. Their goal was an empire and its 
 emoluments; their rewards the spoils of conquest of the most 
 promising field that marauders ever planned to plunder. 
 
 The time finally agreed upon and fixed for the great catas- 
 trophe was the night of October 16th. The party consisted of 
 the following persons : 
 
 COLORED : 
 J. A. Copeland, Jr. 
 L. S. Leary 
 O. P. Anderson 
 
 Dangerfield Newby 
 Shields Green 
 
 WHITE: 
 John Brown 
 J. H. Kagi 
 A. D. Stevens 
 J. E. Cook 
 
 C. P. Tidd 
 Albert Hazlett 
 J. G. Anderson 
 William Thompson 
 
 D. O. Thompson 
 Edwin Coppoc 
 Barclay Coppoc 
 W. H. Leeman 
 Owen Brown 
 Oliver Brown 
 Watson Brown 
 F. J. Merriam 
 Stewart Taylor 
 
 The extent of the conspiracy among the slaves and the con- 
 fidential arrangements and agreements which Brown made and 
 entered into with them — his co-conspirators — during the 
 months he spent in secret negotiations with them; and the 
 pledges and promises that had been exchanged between them 
 
MOBILIZING THE PROVISIONAL ARMY 295 
 
 will, of course, never be known. But so far as the plans agreed 
 upon related to the initial movements, the general outline of 
 them was simple enough for the comprehension of every one, 
 the untutored slaves included. Brown and his men w^ere to 
 occupy Harper's Ferry. They were to cut the telegrapl; wires 
 and take possession of the public buildings located there — the 
 armory, the arsenal, and the rifle works — and the military 
 stores contained in them. The slaves, on their part, were to re- 
 volt against their masters ; murder them and their families, and 
 then report to Brown at Harper's Ferry, where they would be 
 organized into conipanies, regiments, and brigades, and be 
 armed and equipped from the stock of w^ar material which he 
 would have in his possession. 
 
 The w^ar department was doing some business. Stevens, 
 Kaei Cook, Owen Brown, Oliver Brown, Watson Brown, Lee- 
 man, William Thompson, J. G. Anderson, Tidd, and Hazlett 
 had been appointed captains in the provisional army, and Edwin 
 Coppoc and Dauphin Thompson first lieutenants. The pri- 
 vates were Taylor, Barclay Coppoc and jMerriam, zchite ; and 
 Green, Leary, Copeland, Osborn P. Anderson, and Newby, col- 
 ored. There is conflict of testimony as to whether Hazlett 
 was a captain or a lieutenant. Colonel Lee reported him and 
 Leeman as lieutenants. A captain's commission, however, was 
 found on Leeman's body. William Thompson and J. G. An- 
 derson were probably captains.^^^ In his confession Cook says : 
 There were six or seven in the party who did not know 
 anything about our Constitution, and were also ignorant of 
 the plan of operations until Saturday morning October 16th. 
 Among this number were Edwin and Barclay Coppoc, ^^ler- 
 riam. Shields Green, Copeland and Leary. The Constitu- 
 tion was then read to them by Stevens, and the oath, after- 
 ward, administered by Captain Brown. 
 
 359 Villard, 678. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 THE FIASCO 
 
 The best laid schemes o' mice and men 
 
 Gani^ aft a gley. — Burns 
 
 On Sunday morning. October 16th, 1859, Captain Owen 
 Brown and Privates Coppoc and Merriam were detailed for 
 duty at the Kennedy farm; the otliers were under marching 
 orders during the day, awaiting the signal to "fall in," and move 
 to the scene of active operations. "The night was dark, end- 
 ing in rain." About eight o'clock Brown is reported to have 
 said : "Men, get your arms, we will proceed to the Ferry." 
 The column was soon in motion. It does not require a long 
 time for eighteen men, who are otherwise in readiness to move, 
 to put on their accoutrements and pick up their arms. In addi- 
 tion to a rifle, two revolvers, and forty rounds of ball cartridges, 
 each man carried, in lieu of an overcoat, a long gray shawl, of 
 the kind whicli was fashionable for men's wear at that time. 
 The headquarters train — a horse and wagon — was brought 
 to the door of the Kennedy farm house, and "some pikes, a 
 crow-bar, and a sledge-hammer, were quickly thrown into the 
 wagon." A recent biographer says, dramatically: 
 
 In a moment more, the commander-in-chief donned his 
 
 old batde-worn Kansas cap, mounted the wagon, and began 
 
 the solemn march. 
 
 Knowledge of the condition, as to wear and tear, of the cap 
 worn by the commander-in-chief on this occasion, is not essen- 
 tial to a true understanding of the purposes of the moven^ent. 
 But knowledge of the fact that the historian drew upon his 
 active and resourceful imagination, when writing the history of 
 
THE FIASCO 297 
 
 these operations, and that it contributed, immoderately, to the 
 character of the writings which he put forth, is essential to such 
 understanding. It is therefore pointed out, that the statement, 
 while purporting to be one of fact, is altogether fanciful. Also, 
 that the biographer's treatment of this trifling incident is char- 
 acteristic of the coloring which embellishes his exposition of the 
 general subject. But to return to the cap. The Kansas origin of 
 it will not be denied ; it may have been bought or stolen in the 
 Territory; but it w'as not "battle-worn." It will be remembered 
 that Brown had but two "battles" in Kansas, so far as the record 
 shows, and that in the last one — the Battle of Osawatomie, 
 August 30, 1856 — Brown "lost his hat" or his cap or whatever 
 his head gear may have been.^°^ 
 
 A special order, "drawn up and carefully read to all," set 
 forth the details of the movement to be executed. In the line 
 of march Captains Cook and Tidd walked ahead of the wagon. 
 The others, in files of two, followed it. At 10:30, after a 
 lonesome but uninterrupted march of more than five miles, they 
 arrived at the bridge which spanned the Potomac at Harper's 
 Ferry. It was used for both railroad and wagon road pur- 
 poses. Cook and Tidd, in the meantime, had detoured to cut 
 the telegraph wires leading into the town, and Kagi and Stev- 
 ens had the head of the column. While crossing the bridge, 
 they took William Williams, the bridge watchman, into cus- 
 tody as a prisoner. Then, after posting Captain Watson Brown 
 and Private Taylor at the bridge, the company proceeded to the 
 Harper's Ferry end of the Shenandoah bridge, a few yards dis- 
 tant, wdiere Captain Oliver Brown, Captain William Thomp- 
 son, and Private Newby were placed on duty. From there 
 they went to the United States Armory, located up the Poto- 
 mac, about sixty yards from the ends of the two bridges. At the 
 armory gate the watchman on duty, Daniel Wheelan, was 
 taken into custodv. Of this incident Wheelan said : ^"^ 
 
 ^^^ Ante, note 191. 
 361 Mason Report, 22. 
 
298 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 One fellow took nie ; they all gathered about me and looked 
 in my face ; I was nearly scared to death, so many guns about ; 
 I did not know the minute or the hour I should drop; they 
 told me to be very quiet and still, and make no noise or else 
 they would put me to eternity. 
 
 Addressing- the two prisoners — Wheelan and Williams — 
 Brown made the following declaration of his intentions:^"" 
 I came here from Kansas, and this is a slave State ; I want 
 to free all the negroes in this State ; I have possession now 
 of the United States armory, and if the citizens interfere 
 with me, I must only burn the town and have blood. 
 
 Brown then crossed the street to the arsenal building, where 
 arms and military equipment, valued at several millions of 
 dollars, were stored, and took possession of it, placing Captain 
 Hazlett and Lieutenant Coppoc in charge of the property. From 
 there, w-ith the remainder of the party, he proceeded to the rifle 
 works, located about a half mile up the Shenandoah. Here 
 the watchman was made a prisoner and Captain Ivagi and Pri- 
 vate Copeland were placed on duty. Private Leary was also 
 assigned to duty at this post and later reported to Kagi. 
 
 These dispositions of his forces having been made. Brown's 
 occupation of Harper's Ferry w^as complete. All of the Unit- 
 ed States property — the military stores accumulated at the 
 arsenal ; the armory and the rifle works ; and the principal high- 
 ways entering the town, w^ere in his possession. The plans for 
 the occupation of the place had been accomplished w'ithout the 
 firing- of a shot. The initial mo\ement of the in\-asion had 
 been successfully executed. 
 
 After the occupation, Brown sent a detail into the country to 
 bring in Colonel Lewis T. Washington and Mr. John H. AU- 
 stadt, whom he intended to hold as hostages for the proper 
 treatment of any of his men who might happen to fall into the 
 hands of the "enemy." The party w^as made up of Captains 
 Stevens. Cook, and Ticld, and Privates O. P. Anderson. Lear\'. 
 
 '^°- Maso)! Report, 22. 
 
THE FIASCO 299 
 
 aiul Green. The Washington lionie was four or five miles 
 from the town. Colonel Washington was a great-grandnephew 
 of George Washington. Of this raid into the country, Mr. 
 Villard says : ^"' 
 
 In Colonel Washington's possession was a pistol presented 
 to General Washington by Lafayette, as well as a sword now 
 in possession of the State of New York, which, according to 
 an unverified legend, was the gift of Frederick the Great to 
 George Washington. John E. Cook had seen these weapons 
 in Colonel Washington's home, and John Brown, beginner of 
 a new American revolution, wished to strike his first blow for 
 the freedom of a race with them in his hands. 
 
 The closing sentence of this quotation is dramatic and rings 
 true ; but it is inconsistent with the author's theory of the move- 
 ment, which is, that Brown intended to do trifling things instead 
 of heroic things. 
 
 The raiders entered the house by breaking down the back 
 door with a fence rail ; and Washington \vas awakened by hear- 
 ing his "name called in an undertone." He opened the bed- 
 chamber door and was met by "four armed men, one, with a 
 revolver, carrying a burning flambeau, and the others with 
 their guns drawn upon him." Stevens was in command. Cook 
 had reconnoitered the Washington home a month or so before 
 and had been shown the historic weapons herein referred to. 
 These Stevens now demanded and received. He also demanded 
 the Colonel's money and his watch, but on the refusal of the 
 latter to deliver them, the demand was not pressed. When 
 asked by Washington what the performance meant, they said, 
 "We have come here for the purpose of liberating all the slaves 
 of the South, and we are able (or propose to do it) or words 
 to that effect." While matters were progressing in-doors, Tidd 
 had been busy hitching up the Colonel's two-horse carriage and 
 four-horse farm wagon. After putting Colonel Washington in- 
 to the carriage and loading the slaves, four men, into the wagon, 
 
 3«^ Villard, 431. 
 
300 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 tlie caravan moved to the Allstadt home, where the front door 
 was broken down with a fence rail, as before, and Allstadt and 
 his son, together with his adult male slaves, were taken into cus- 
 tody. Father and son were put into the seat of the wagon with 
 the negroes and all were driven to Harper's Ferry and delivered 
 to Brown at the armory. Brown told Colonel Washington 
 that he had taken him for the "moral effect it would give his 
 cause to have one of the name a prisoner." With the sword 
 of Frederick the Great, and Washington, in his hand. Brown 
 now directed his desperate defense. Tuesday morning Wash- 
 ington recovered the sword. ^"■* 
 
 In the meantime, at 12 o'clock. Patrick Higgins — also a 
 night-watchman — went to the Potomac bridge to relieve 
 Night- Watchman Williams who had been taken prisoner. As 
 he approached he was "halted" by Oliver Brown, at the Shen- 
 andoah bridge, and upon refusing to obey the order, was fired 
 upon, the bullet making a wound in his scalp.^^^ Upon the arrival 
 at Harper's Ferry, of the east-bound Baltimore and Ohio train, 
 Higgins reported to the conductor — Phelps — what had hap- 
 pened to him. The engineer of the train and the baggage-mas- 
 ter, on going forward toward the bridge to investigate, were 
 also fired upon. At or about the time this incident occurred, 
 Shephard Hayward, the station baggage-master, a free negro, 
 went from the station toward the Potomac bridge to look for 
 Watchman Williams. Upon being ordered to halt, he turned 
 to retrace his steps to the station and was fired upon with fatal 
 effect, by Watson Brown's party, "A bullet passing through 
 his body a little below the heart," from the effect of which he 
 died during the afternoon, about 4 o'clock. The arrival of the 
 train being reported to Brown, he personally infomied Con- 
 ductor Phelps why it was being held, saying : 
 
 We have come to free the slaves and intend to do it at all 
 
 hazards. 
 
 '*6+ ilasoii Report, 29-40. Testimony of Lewis T. Washington. 
 ••'«•'■" Villard, 432. 
 
THE FIASCO 301 
 
 Later, at 3 a. m., Brown notified Phelps that he could now 
 proceed with his train and directed him to say to the manage- 
 ment of the road : '"'This is the last train that shall pass the 
 bridge either East or West; if it is attempted, it will be at the 
 peril of the lives of those having them in charge." '•"''' Phelps 
 however, decided not to move until daylight. From Monocacy, 
 at 7:05 a. m., he wired the situation to Master of Transporta- 
 tion Smith, at Baltimore; repeating what Brown had said to 
 him, and suggesting that he notify the Secretary of War at 
 once; concluding his dispatch with this statement : "The tele- 
 graph wires are cut East and West of Harper's Ferry and this 
 is the first station that I could send a dispatch from." 
 
 The first alarm of what was occurring in the town was given 
 out by a resident physician. Dr. John D. Starry. But the note 
 w^hich he sounded was not of the "Paul Revere" variety. The 
 Doctor was aroused from his slumbers by the firing of the shot 
 that struck Hayward, and went to his relief. The remainder 
 of the night he spent in obsei^-ing what was going on but gave 
 out no information concerning it. "At daylight," it is said, "he 
 could stand it no longer; he saddled his horse, rode to the resi- 
 dence of Mr. A. M. Kitzmiller, who was in charge of the arsenal 
 during the absence of the superintendent. Mr. Barbour ; ac- 
 quainted him, and a number of other officials and workmen with 
 the story of the night. He then put spurs to his horse, and 
 ascended the hill to Bolivar Heights, where he awoke some 
 more sleepers." ^^' After arousing the town, the Doctor rode 
 to Charlestown, eight miles distant, where the alarm was given 
 by ringing all the bells. The local military company — the 
 Jefferson Guards — fell in promptly ; also a second company, 
 composed of men and boys, was organized on the spot, both 
 companies taking a train at 10 o'clock for the scene of the 
 trouble. 
 
 By 10:30 President Garrett of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail- 
 
 3«s Villard, 434. ' 
 3C' Villard, 435. 
 
302 JOHN BROWX: A CRITIQUE 
 
 road Company, had informed the President of the United 
 States of the conditions existing at Harper's Ferry. He also 
 wired the information to Governor Wise, of Virginia; and to 
 Major General Stewart, commanding First Division Maryland 
 Volunteers, at Baltimore.^''^ The news soon became general. 
 From Monocracy it was wired to Frederick, and by 10 a. m. the 
 Frederick companies were under arms and had marching orders. 
 A Martinsburg company, under Captain E. G. Alburtis, arrived 
 at Harper's Ferry during the afternoon, and shortly thereafter 
 a company from Winchester reported for duty. Earlier in the 
 day two local companies were "mustered into service ;" one 
 under command of Captain Botts and the other under Captain 
 John Avis. Two companies from Shepherdstown also arrived 
 — the "Hamtrack Guards" and the "Shepherdstown Troop." 
 During the evening- three companies arrived from Frederick, 
 and five companies from Baltimore. In all sixteen companies 
 of State Volunteers were assembled at Harper's Ferry within 
 twelve hours from the time the first alarm was given out. 
 
 The second casualty of the day occurred about 7 o'clock a. 
 M., when Mr. Thomas Boerly. an Irishman and a resident of 
 Harper's Ferry, was fatally shot by one of Brown's men. From 
 that time until after 10 o'clock nothing of importance occurred 
 in the town, except that Brown ordered breakfast for his war 
 party and his prisoners, forty-five in all. The meals were pre- 
 pared and served from a nearby hotel — the Wagner House. 
 
 In the early morning, after the prisoners — Colonel Washing- 
 ton and the Allstadts — had l)een delivered to Brown at the 
 amiory gate, Cook and Leeman proceeded to the Kennedy farm 
 with the teams that they had taken from Colonel Washington, 
 and began moving the military equipment, which had been left 
 there, in care of Owen Brown, to a school-house, that was locat- 
 ed about a mile from the Ferry. Later, Brown dispatched Wil- 
 liam Thompson to the school-house with a message to Owen, 
 saying that "all was going well." Between 9 and 10 o'clock 
 
 sGSVillard. 435. 
 
THE FIASCO 303 
 
 Leeman and Thompson returned to Harper's Ferry, bringing 
 with them another prisoner, Air. Terence Brown, a Maryland 
 farmer of tlie neighborliood. After 10 o'clock Brown's position 
 became critical. It was fast becoming evident that his plans had 
 miscarried ; that the slaves had failed to strike for their freedom ; 
 that the fundamental movement of the campaign — the insur- 
 rection of the slaves — had not been executed. "THE BLOW" 
 which he planned to strike had not been delivered. The attempt 
 to "assail the Slave Power with the only weapons that it fears," 
 had "flashed in the pan." 
 
 It was not important that the Potomac and the Shenandoah 
 bridges were still in his possession and that access to the Mary- 
 land mountains was free; for Brown was not equipped for 
 flight, and there are limitations upon physical endurance. Be- 
 sides, these Southern mountains were, to him, inhospitable, and 
 would furnish neither subsistence nor shelter. Also the in- 
 habitants of the vicinity were rising in arms against him, their 
 passions inflamed to a condition of frenzy because of the assault 
 which he had made upon their lives and property. He well knew 
 the excited mob would be upon his trail from the start ; and that 
 escape, except for a possible straggler or two, was impossible. 
 But there still existed the possibility that the fifteen hundred 
 self-emancipated slaves, whom he hoped to have under arms by 
 12 o'clock,^"® would begin to arrive. 
 
 Details of the subsequent occurrences are given in a very 
 interesting manner by Mr. Villard, on pages 429 to 454. He 
 relates that after 10 o'clock, the citizens of Harper's Ferry be- 
 came aggressive, and opened a scattering or desultory fire upon 
 Brown's position at the armory building. The "Jefferson 
 Guards," upon their arrival at Bolivar Heights, marched to a 
 point about a mile above the town, where they crossed the Poto- 
 mac in boats, and came down the Maryland side of the riv- 
 er to the Potomac bridge, driving Watson Brown and Taylor 
 
 369 Sanborn, 557. 
 
304 JOHN BROWX: A CRITIQUE 
 
 from their post. This iiu)\-eiiient compelled William Thomp- 
 son and Newby to abandon their station at the Shenandoah 
 bridi^e, and seek shelter in the armory. The Gait Hon.se 
 was then occnpied b}' Captain Botts's coini)any, while Captain 
 Avis took a position near the crest of Bolivar Heights, overlook- 
 ing the town, from where he opened fire upon the armory. 
 Newby was killed by this fire before he reached the armory 
 enclosure. It is said that his body was shockingly mutilated. 
 About 1 o'clock Leeman sought to effect his escape. He left 
 the arsenal and attempted to cross the Potomac, a short dis- 
 tance above the bridge, and succeeded in getting as far as a 
 small island in the river, where he was overtaken and killed by 
 a J\lr. A. G. Schoppert. The body of the late captain, his 
 commission in his pocket, as it lay upon the rocks in the river, 
 became an object for target practice, by citizens, and by mem- 
 bers of the volunteer military companies then assembling. 
 
 During the afternoon Brown sought to have the firing cease 
 l)y negotiating with the citizens for a truce ; and sent out a pris- 
 oner, Mr. Cross, and William Thompson, to make the arrange- 
 ment. Thompson was immediately taken and held as a pris- 
 oner, for a time, at the Gait House. Later he was led out upon 
 the trestle leading to the Shenandoah bridge, where he was shot 
 by a mob luider the leadership of George W. Chambers and 
 Harry Hunter; his body falling into the shallow water below, 
 where it became a general target for the mob, in mob fashion. 
 Still later. Brown sent Stevens and Watson Brown out, accom- 
 panied by Mr. Kitzmiller, under a flag of truce. This flag was 
 fired upon from the windows of the Gait House with the result 
 that both Stevens and Brown received severe wounds. Brown 
 succeeded in dragging himself liack to the armory engine-house, 
 where he died thirty hours later. One of the prisoners, a Mr. 
 Brua, went out and had Stevens carried into the Wager House. 
 
 Between 2 and 3 o'clock a small party, under the com- 
 mand of a young man by the name of Irwin, made an attack 
 upon the rifle-works on the Shenandoah, where Kagi and his 
 
THE FIASCO 305 
 
 men were stationed. 'I'lie latter sought to escape across the 
 river, but were shot down before reaching the middle of the 
 stream. Kagi fell and died in the water. Leaiy was mortally 
 wounded, and died the following night. Copeland was taken 
 prisoner by Mr. James H. Holt, of Harper's Ferry, and by him 
 delivered to the Virginia authorities. In the confusion, the 
 detail at the arsenal — Hazlett and O. P. Anderson — managed 
 to escape unnoticed. They probably abandoned their post as 
 soon as it became evident to them that the insurrection feature 
 of the venture had miscarried. It is said they first went to the 
 Kennedy farm, wdiere they got supplies of provisions, and from 
 there they made their way into Pennsylvania. Five days later 
 Hazlett was captured at Carlisle, and taken back to Virginia 
 under extradition papers, issued by the Governor of the State. 
 His trial was had at Charlestown, and he was hanged there, with 
 Stevens, March 16. 1860. Anderson fared better: he managed 
 to reach Canada, and lived to write a marvelous story of his 
 adventures. 
 
 Cook's party, and the detail under Owen Brown, met with 
 better success. Cook alone being arrested. He was taken at 
 Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. October 25th. and returned to 
 Charlestown, Virginia, where he was hanged December 16th. 
 E. Coppoc, Green, and Copeland were hanged at the same time. 
 The others : Tidd, Barclay Coppoc, Merriam and Owen Brown 
 all succeeded in making good their escape. The negroes who 
 had been taken returned to their masters. 
 
 About 2 o'clock, George W. Turner was killed. Turner was 
 a prosperous farmer of the vicinity. He had been graduated 
 from West Point, and had served creditably W'ith the army, in 
 Florida. Riding into town, with his shot-gun on his shoulder, 
 he became a target for one of Brown's rifles. A shot struck 
 him in the neck and killed him instantly. About 4 o'clock Mr. 
 Fontaine Beckham, the mayor of the town, was killed. Beck- 
 ham was the station agent for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad 
 Company. He stepped out of the station-house to observe what 
 
306 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 was going on, when he was fired upon by Edward Coppoc, from 
 the engine-house, with fatal effect. He also died instantly. 
 
 The beginning of the final collapse came about 4 o'clock, with 
 the arrival of the Martinsl)urg company. Alburtis attacked the 
 amiory enclosure and drove Brown, with his most prominent 
 prisoners — Colonel Washington, the Allstadts, Brua, Byrne, 
 Wells, the annorer, Ball, master-machinist, and J. E. Dainger- 
 field. pay-master's clerk — into the engine-house. Of his at- 
 tack Captain Alburtis said : ^''^ 
 
 During the fight, we found, in the room adjoining the en- 
 gine-house, some thirty or forty prisoners, who had been cap- 
 tured and confined by the outlaws. The windows were brok- 
 en open by our party and these men escaped. The whole of 
 the outlaws were now driven into the engine-house, and owing 
 to the great number of wounded requiring our care, and not 
 being supported by the other companies, as we expected, we 
 were obliged to return. . . Immediately after we drew off, 
 there was a flag of truce sent out to propose terms, which 
 were that they were to be permitted to retire with their arms, 
 and, I think, proceed as far as some lock on the canal, there 
 to release their prisoners. The terms were not acceded to. 
 
 There were troops enough on the ground at this time to have 
 carried Brown's position by assault ; and it is probable that an 
 attack upon the armory would have been ordered, had such ex- 
 treme measures been deemed necessary, which was not the case. 
 Besides, if an assault had been made by these undisciplined men, 
 it would have been attended with the loss of many lives, which, 
 under the circumstances, would have been without justification. 
 Brown and his party were in a position from which they could 
 not escape ; neither could his surrender be long deferred. A pre- 
 vailing report, too, that a detachment of United States troops 
 — marines — would soon arrive, under the command of an 
 experienced officer of the regular army, may have had some 
 influence in determining- what should be done. However, be- 
 
 870VilIard. 443-444. 
 
THE FIASCO 307 
 
 fore nightfall, a M.r. Samuel Strider delivered a summons to 
 Brown, demanding his surrender, to which Brown replied as 
 follows : 
 
 Capt. John Brown Answers : 
 
 In consideration of all my men, whether living or dead, or 
 wounded, being soon safely in and delivered up to me at this 
 point with all their arms and ammunition, we will then take 
 our prisoners and cross the Potomac bridge, a little beyond 
 which we will set them at liberty; after which we can ne- 
 gotiate about the Government property as may be best. Also 
 we require the delivery of our horse and harness at the 
 hotel.^"^ 
 
 The terms of the note were promptly declined by Colonel 
 Robert W. Baylor, of the Virginia Cavalry, who seems to have 
 been the ranking officer present. He said that "under no con- 
 ditions would he consent to a removal of the citizen prisoners 
 across the river." Still later in the evening the three companies, 
 in uniform, arrived from Frederick, Maryland. One of these 
 was under the command of Captain Sinn. This officer pro- 
 ceeded to the engine-house and entered into a lengthy conver- 
 sation with Brown. During this interview Brown renewed 
 his proposal to leave the place, and complained of the treatment 
 his men, bearing a flag of truce, had received; that they "had 
 been shot down like dogs." Being told that men in his posi- 
 tion must expect such treatment. Brown replied that before 
 coming there "he had w-eighed the responsibility and should 
 not shrink from it." He thought, however, that he was en- 
 titled to better treatment from the people because of what he 
 had Jiot done to them; that he "had had full possession of the 
 town and could have massacred all the inhabitants had he 
 thought proper to do so." 
 
 During afternoon of the 17th, President Buchanan ordered 
 three companies of artillery, from Fortress Monroe, to the 
 scene of the trouble; also the detachment of marines, at the 
 
 3"iVillard, 447. 
 so 
 
308 JOTIX RROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 Washington Navy Yard. The latter were under the command 
 of Lieutenant Israel Green. U. S. M. C. He also ordered 
 Lieutenant Colonel Robert E. Lee, Second United States Cav- 
 alr}-, brevet colonel United States arniy, to proceed to Harper's 
 Ferry and assume command of all the L^nited States troops con- 
 centrating there. General J. E. B. Stuart, at that time a first 
 lieutenant in the First United States Cavalry accompanied Lee 
 as a volunteer aide. The artillery from I'ortress Monroe was 
 detained at Baltimore by order of Colonel Lee. With two 
 howitzers and ninety men Green left Washington for Harper's 
 Ferry, at 3 :30 p. m. En route he received orders from Colonel 
 Lee to stop at Sandy Hook, a station within a mile, nearly, of 
 his destination. At 10 o'clock Lee arrived at Sandy Hook on 
 a special train. The marines were then formed, and marched 
 to Harper's Ferry, leaving the howitzers aboard the cars. Ar- 
 riving at the town, after consultation with the volunteer com- 
 manders present, Lee ordered the militia to vacate the armory 
 grounds, and put the control, or care of the situation, in the 
 hands of Lieutenant Green. 
 
 Before ordering the assault upon the engine-house, which, 
 to save the lives of Brown's prisoners, was to be executed with 
 the bayonet, Lee offered the honor of commanding the action 
 to the regimental commanders of the xolunteers : Colonel 
 • Shriver of the Maryland troops and Colonel Baylor of the Vir- 
 ginians; an offer which both of these officers, in behalf of their 
 men, had the moral courage to wisely and properly decline. 
 Colonel Shriver said, in effect, that they had come to help the 
 people of Harper's Ferry in an emergency ; that the emergency, 
 in view of the United States troops present, was now passed ; 
 that his men had wives and children at home, and since it was 
 not necessary to expose thetn to such risk as this attack involved, 
 he would not voluntarily do so. Colonel Baylor expressed 
 similar views. But, later, there was trouble over the matter. 
 The pride of the Governor of Virginia, Henry E. Wise, was 
 hurt because the Virginia troops had not done on the 17th what 
 
THE FIASCO 309 
 
 Lee, Stuart, Green, and the marines did so creditably on the 
 morning of the 18th. As a resuU, charges of misconduct were 
 preferred against Colonel Baylor, by Mr. O. Jennings Wise, a 
 son of the Governor; and a court of inquiry was convened in 
 June, 1860, to investigate the case. Mr. Villard states that in 
 a letter addressed to the court, by Mr. Wise, the latter charged 
 that Colonel Baylor had assumed command on the 17th, "con- 
 trary to his grade and the nature of his commission." That 
 he had acted without orders ; that he was guilty of cowardice in 
 not storming the engine-house, and of "unofficer-like conduct 
 in assigning a false, cowardly and insulting reason for not lead- 
 ins: the attack on the engine-house when the service was offered 
 to him by Colonel Lee : to-wit — that it was a duty which be- 
 longed to the mercenaries of the regular service — meaning 
 the marines — who were paid for it" : and, finally for using 
 "violent and ungentlemanly language about his Commander-in- 
 Chief (Governor Wise)." 
 
 After the militia officers had declined the command of the 
 storming party, it was offered to Lieutenant Green, who, of 
 course, accepted it, and, taking off his cap, thanked his com- 
 mander for the honor, with soldierly courtesy. 
 
 Early on the morning of the 18th, Colonel Lee sent a de- 
 mand upon Brown to surrender, which was read to him at the 
 door o^f the engine-house by Lieutenant Stuart. The order read 
 
 as follows : ^^" 
 
 Headquarters Harper's Ferry, 
 
 October 18, 1859. 
 
 Colonel Lee, United States Army, commanding the troops, 
 sent by the LTnited States to suppress the insurrection at this 
 place, demands the surrender of the persons in the armory 
 buildings. 
 
 If they will peaceably surrender themselves and restore the 
 pillaged property, they shall be kept in safety to await the 
 orders of the President. Colonel Lee represents to them, in 
 all frankness, that it is impossible for them to escape ; that the 
 
 ^''~ Mason Report, 43. 
 
310 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 armory is surrounded on all sides by troops; and that if he is 
 compelled to take them by force, he cannot answer for their 
 safety. R. E. Lee, 
 
 Colonel Commanding United States Troops. 
 
 It had been agreed upon between Stuart and Green, that, 
 after having read the order to Brown, if he should refuse to 
 surrender, as they supposed he would, Stuart would then signal 
 by a wave of his cap, at the sight of which Green would order 
 his company forward to the assault. His plan of attack was to 
 advance with twelve men, holding another twelve in reserve 
 to support them, if they should be disabled, and with a heavy 
 sledge-hammer break down the door of the engine-house, and 
 if successful, then, w^ith the full command rush the insurgents 
 with fixed bayonets. Upon seeing the signal agreed upon. 
 Green ordered the attack. While being fired upon from within 
 the engine-house, the marines, armed with the sledge, attempted 
 to beat down the doors, but without success ; then seeing a heavy 
 ladder lying nearby. Green ordered some of the men to take it 
 up and use it against the doors as a battering-ram. This ex- 
 pedient was successful. Two blows by the improvised engine 
 of war sufficed to break a ragged hole, low down, in the right- 
 hand door. Through the opening thus made. Green, and Major 
 Russell, pay-master. United States Marine Corps, sprang, fol- 
 lowed by the enlisted men. ^" Rising to his feet. Green ran 
 back of the engine to the rear of the room, where he saw Colonel 
 Washington, who, pointing to Brown said, "this is Osawato- 
 mie." Lieutenant Green states: 
 
 When Colonel Washington said to me, "This is Osawa- 
 tomie," Brown turned his head to see who it was to whom 
 Colonel Washington was speaking. Quicker than thought, 
 I brought my sabre down with all my strength, upon his 
 head. He was moving as the blow fell, and I suppose I 
 did not strike him where I intended, for he received a deep 
 sabre cut on the back of his neck. He fell senseless on his 
 
 2'3 Major Russell was in citizen's clothes and unarmed. 
 
THE FIASCO 311 
 
 side, then rolled over on his back. He had in his hand a 
 short Sharp's Cavalry carbine. I think he had just fired 
 as I reached Colonel Washington, for the marine who follow- 
 ed me into the aperture made by the ladder, received a bullet 
 in the abdomen from which he died in a few minutes. The 
 shot might have been fired by some one else in the party, but 
 I think it came from Brown. Instantly, as Brown fell, I 
 gave him a sabre thrust in the left breast. The sw^ord I car- 
 ried was a light uniform weapon and either not having a 
 point, or striking something hard in Brown's accouterments, 
 did not penetrate. The blade bent double. By that time 
 three or four of my men were inside. They came rushing in 
 like tigers, as a storming assault is not a play-day sport. 
 They bayoneted one man, skulking under the engine, and 
 pinned another fellow up against the rear w^all, both being 
 killed instantly. I ordered the men to spill no more blood. 
 The other insurgents were at once taken under arrest, and 
 the contest ended. The whole fight had not lasted over 
 three minutes. ^'^ 
 Of Brown's eleven prisoners, whom he was holding as 
 hostages. Lieutenant Green says : 
 
 They were the sorriest lot of people I ever saw. They 
 had been without food for over sixty hours, in constant dread 
 of being shot, and were huddled up in the corner where lay 
 the body of Brown's son and one or two others of the insur- 
 gents who had been killed. 
 
 The scrimmage being over, Green and Coppoc were taken 
 into custody, and the dead and wounded were carried from the 
 engine-house and laid upon the armory lawn, where they were 
 protected from violence by a guard detailed from the company 
 of marines. Later, Mr. Villard states. Brown was carried to 
 the office of the pay-master of the armory and there given medi- 
 cal attention, when it was found that his wounds were far less 
 serious than they were at first supposed to be. 
 
 Of the twenty-tw^o ambitious men who courageously under- 
 
 s'^* North American Reviezv, December, 1885. 
 
312 JOHN BROWX: A CRITIQUE 
 
 took to organize the "Provisional Army," ten had been killed : 
 Kagi. Oliver Brown, Watson Brown, William Thompson, 
 Dauphin Thompson, Jeremiah G. Anderson, Leeman, Newby, 
 Leary, and Taylor. Five were prisoners: Brown, Stevens, 
 E. Coppoc, Green, and Copeland. Seven had got away : Cook, 
 Hazlett, Tidd, Owen Brown, Barclay Coppoc, Osborn P. An- 
 derson, and Merriam. 
 
 Those killed and wounded by the insurgents were as follows : 
 Killed : G. W. Turner, Thomas Boerley, Fontane Beckham, 
 Heywood Shepherd, and Private Quinn. Wounded : Mr. 
 Murphy, Mr. Young, Mr. Richardson, Mr. Hammond, Mr. 
 McCabe, Mr. Dorsey, Mr. Hooper, Mr. Woolet, and Private 
 Rupert.^''' 
 
 About noon,' on the 18th, some notable persons of that period 
 arrived at Harper's Ferry, anxious to know the facts relating 
 to the alarming events which had taken place. An interview 
 with Brown was accordingly arranged, which was held at the 
 office of the armory pay-master. The wounded Stevens had, 
 in the meantime, been carried into the office and laid upon a 
 mattress on the floor beside Brown. Those present were Gov- 
 ernor Wise, of Virginia, Colonel Robert E. Lee, Lieutenant 
 Stuart, Senator Mason of Virginia, Congressmen Vallandig- 
 ham of Ohio and Faulkner of Virginia, Colonel Lewis Wash- 
 ington, Andrew Hunter, special counsel for the State of Vir- 
 ginia, and a half dozen citizens of the town and vicinity. Brown 
 was able to answer freely, and seemed anxious for an oppor- 
 tunity to ])resent his version of the situation to the public. He 
 was "glad," he said, "to make himself and his motives clearly 
 understood." Extracts from this interview are as follows:^"" 
 Senator Mason. Can you tell us who furnished money 
 
 for your expedition? 
 
 3"'' Report of Colonel Lee to Secretary of War, Mason Rcfort. 40. 
 An excellent account of what occurred under Brown's immediate direc- 
 tion during the 17th and 18th, was given out by Mr. J. E. P. Dangerfield 
 and published in the Century Magazine, June, 1885. 
 
 37" Sanborn, 562-569. 
 
THE FIASCO 313 
 
 John Brozvn. 1 furnished most of it myself; I cannot im- 
 plicate others. It is 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? 
 
 Brozvn. 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 th:it you had got here 
 in your vicinity a band of men who had no regard for life 
 and property, nor any feelings of humanity. 
 
 Mason. But you killed some people passing along the 
 streets quietly. 
 
 Brozvn. 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 was 
 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. 
 
 Brozvn. See here, my friend ; it is useless-to dispute or 
 contradict the report of your own neighbors who were my 
 prisoners. 
 
 Mr. VaUandigliani (zvho had just entered.) Mr. Brown, 
 who sent you here? 
 
 Brozvn. No man sent me here ; it was my own prompting 
 and that of my Maker, or that of the Devil — whichever you 
 
314 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 please to ascribe it to. I acknowledge no master in human 
 form. 
 
 Vallandighani. Did you g"et up this document that is 
 called a Constitution? 
 
 Brozim. I did. They are a constitution and ordinance 
 of my own striving and getting up. 
 
 J^'allandigham. Plow long have you been engaged in this 
 business? 
 
 Brozvn. From the breaking out of the difficulties in Kan- 
 sas. Four of my sons had gone there to settle, and they in- 
 duced me to go. I did not go there to settle, but because of 
 the difficulties. 
 
 Mason. What was your object in coming? 
 Brozvn. We came to free the slaves, and only that. 
 
 A Volunteer. What in the world did you suppose you 
 could do here in Virginia with that amount of men ? 
 
 Brown. Young man, I do not wish to discuss that ques- 
 tion here. 
 
 Volunteer. You could not do anything. 
 
 Brozvn. Well, perhaps your ideas and mine on military 
 subjects would differ materially. 
 
 Mason. Did you consider this a military organization in 
 this Constitution ? I have not yet read it. 
 
 Brozvn. I did in some sense. I wish you would give 
 that paper close attention. 
 
 Mason. You consider yourself the commander-in-chief 
 of these "provisional" military forces? 
 
 Brozvn. I was chosen, agreeably to the ordinance of a 
 certain document, commander-in-chief of that force. 
 
 Mason. What wages did you offer? 
 
 Brozim. None. 
 
 Stuart. "The wages of sin is death." 
 
THE FIASCO 315 
 
 Brozvn. I would not have made such a remark to you if 
 you had been a prisoner, and wounded, in my hands. 
 
 A Bystander. Do you consider this a rehgious move- 
 ment? 
 
 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? 
 
 Brozvn. Upon the Golden Rule. I pity the poor in bond- 
 age 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 wrong- 
 ed, that are as good as you and as precious in the sight of God. 
 
 Bystander. Certainly. But why take the slaves against 
 their will ? 
 
 Brozvn. 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." 
 
 Valhndigham. How far did you live from Jefiferson? 
 
 Brozvn. 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? 
 
 Brozvn. I cannot answer that. I have numerous sym- 
 pathizers throughout the entire North. 
 
 Vallandigham. In northern Ohio? 
 
 Brozvn. No more there than anywhere else ; in all the free 
 States. 
 
 Bystander. Why did you do it secretly? 
 
316 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 Brown. Because I thought that necessary to success ; no 
 other reason. 
 
 Bystander. Have you read Gerrit Smith's last letter? 
 
 Broivn. What letter do you mean? 
 
 Bystander. The "New York HeraM" of yesterday, in 
 speaking of this afifair, mentions a letter in this way : 
 
 "Apropos of this exciting news, we recollect a very sig- 
 nificant passage in one of Gerrit Smith's letters, published a 
 month or two ago, in which he speaks of the folly of attempt- 
 ing 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" 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 peo- 
 ple of the slave States will ever consider the subject of slav- 
 ery in its true light till some other argument is resorted to 
 than moral suasion. 
 
 Vallandigham. Did you expect a general rising of the 
 slaves in case of your success? 
 
 Brown. No, sir; nor did I wi.sh it. I expected to gather 
 them up from time to time, and set them free. 
 
 Vallandigham. Did you expect to hold possession here 
 till then? 
 
 Brown. Well, probably T 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 move- 
 ments through Monday night, and up to the time I was at- 
 tacked by the Government troops. It was all occasioned by 
 my desire to spare the feelings of my prisoners and their fam- 
 ilies and the community at large. I had no knowledge of the 
 shooting of the negro Heywood. 
 
THE FIASCO 317 
 
 Dr. Biggs. Were you in the party at Dr. Kennedy's 
 house? 
 
 BroK'H. I was at the head of that party. T occupied the 
 house to mature my plans. I have not been in Baltimore to 
 purchase caps. 
 
 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 Massachu- 
 setts Arms Company's revolvers, a little under navy size. 
 
 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 an- 
 swer ; 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 in- 
 tended 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. 
 
 Brozcn. 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 ruflian, 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 prepared 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 ; 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 fight- 
 ing and had consented to surrender, for the benefit of others, 
 
318 JOHN BROWX: A CRITIQUE 
 
 not for my own. I believe the Major would not have been 
 alive ; I could have killed him just as easy as a mosquito when 
 he came in to receive our surrender. There had been loud 
 and long calls of "surrender" from us, — as loud as men 
 could yell ; but in the confusion and excitement I suppose we 
 were not heard. I do not think the Major, or any one, meant 
 to butcher us after we had surrendered. 
 
 An Officer. Why did you not surrender before the at- 
 tack? 
 
 Brozvn. I did not think it w^as 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 believing the people would wantonly sacrifice 
 their own fellow-citizens, when we ofifered 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 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 hostages and to keep them from doing any harm. 
 W^e did kill some men in defending ourselves, but I saw no 
 one fire except directly in self-defense. 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. 
 
 Broii'n. I do not think so. 
 
 Bystander. I know it. I think you are fanatical. 
 
 Brozvn. And I think you are fanatical. "Whom the gods 
 would destroy they first made mad," and you are mad. 
 
 Q. Was your only object to free the negroes? A. Ab- 
 solutely our only object. 
 
 Q. But you demanded and took Colonel Washington's 
 silver and watch? A. Yes; we intended freely to appro- 
 priate the property of slaveholders to carry out our object. 
 
THE FIASCO 319 
 
 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 under- 
 stand you killed him. 
 
 Broum. I killed no man except in fair fight. I fought 
 at Black Jack Point and at Osawatomie ; and if I killed any- 
 body, it was at one of these places. 
 
 M,r. Sanborn publishes a conversation that Brown had with 
 his jailer concerning his inter\'iew with Governor Wise.^" 
 
 " 'A Virginian,' " he says, "gives me this addition to Brown's 
 conversation with Wise" : 
 
 Jailer. I see in the papers that you 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? 
 
 Brozun. No ; I did not tell Wise that. 
 
 Jailer. What did you tell him that could have made that 
 impression on his mind ? 
 
 Brozvn. Wise said something about fanaticism, and inti- 
 mated that no man in full possession of his senses could 
 have expected to overcome a State with such a handful of 
 men as I had, backed only by struggling negroes ; and I re- 
 plied that I had promises of ample assistance, and would 
 have received it too if I could only have set the ball in mo- 
 tion. He then asked suddenly 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'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 prom- 
 ised from the States named ? 
 
 Brozi'ii. 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 mo- 
 
 377 Sanborn, 571, note 1. 
 
320 JOHN BROWX: A CRITIQUE 
 
 ment, and had five hundred negroes around me, I would put 
 
 these irons on Wise himself before Saturday night. 
 
 Jaikr. 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'll give you the same answer I gave him. 
 
 A reporter for the New ^'ork Herald who was present said 
 of Brown : ^'** "He converses freely, fluently and cheerfully, 
 without the slightest manifestation of fear or uneasiness, evi- 
 dently weighing well his words, and possessing a good com- 
 mand of language. His manner is courteous and affable, wdiile 
 he appears to be making a favorable impression upon his audi- 
 tory." 
 
 A reporter for the Baltimore American who was present at 
 the interview said : "" "No sign of w-eakness was exhibited by 
 John Brown. In the midst of his enemies, whose homes he had 
 in\'aded ; w^ounded and a prisoner, surrounded by a small army 
 of officials, and a more desperate amiy of angry men ; w4th the 
 gallows staring him full in the face, he lay on the floor, and, in 
 reply to every question, gave answers that betokened the spirit 
 that animated him. The language of Gov. Wise well expresses 
 his boldness when he said, 'He is the gamest man I ever saw.' " 
 
 During the afternoon of the 18th. while the interview with 
 Brown was in progress, Mr. John C. Unseld accompanied Lieu- 
 tenant Green, with a detachment of marines, to Brown's recent 
 headquarters at the Kennedy farm, where a quantity of w^ar 
 material was found, including bed clothing, canvas for tents, 
 some axes, two cast-iron hominy mills, a good deal of clothing 
 boxed up — new clothing for men, and some boots. Here also 
 they found Brown's trunk containing his official papers and 
 correspondence ; copies of the constitution for the Provisional 
 Government and other important documents ; also maps of Ken- 
 tucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, South Caro- 
 
 378 Villard, 456. 
 370 Ibid. 
 
THE FIASCO 321 
 
 lina, Florida, and Georgia. Each map had a shp pasted on the 
 side, evidently cut from the census report of 1850, showing the 
 number and kind of inhabitants (whether free or slave, white 
 or black, male or female) in each county of the State or States 
 which it represented. On the maps of South Carolina, Ala- 
 bama, Mississippi, and Georgia, there were various ink-marks 
 in the shape of crosses at different points.^^" With the consent of 
 Brown, John E. Cook had taken a similar census of the inhab- 
 itants living in the vicinity of Harper's Ferry.^^^ 
 
 On the morning of the 19th the military stores that had been 
 transferred to the school-house, on Monday, from the Kennedy 
 farm, were taken possession of by the "Baltimore Greys," a 
 company belonging to the Maryland regiment present, under the 
 command of Lietutenant Colonel Mills. Among them were 
 the following articles : ^^" 
 
 102 Sharp's Rifles 3 Gross Steel Pens 
 
 10 Kegs Gunpowder 5 Ink Stands 
 
 23000 Percussion Rifle Caps 21 Lead' Pencils 
 
 100000 Percussion Pistol Caps 34 Pen Holders 
 
 13000 Sharp's Rifle Cartridges 2 Boxes Wafers 
 
 483 Pikes 47 Small Blank Books 
 
 16 Picks 
 
 40 Shovels (The railroad waybill called for several doz- 
 en, showing that more were to come) 
 On Wednesday morning, October 19th, the prisoners were 
 safely transferred to Charlestown, under an escort of marines 
 commanded by Lieutenant Green. Upon their arrival there 
 they were delivered into the custody of the sheriff of Jeft'erson 
 County and the United States marshal for the Western District 
 of Virginia, and by them placed in the county jail. Brown and 
 Stevens, being unable to walk, were transferred to and from 
 the train, in a wagon. 
 
 380 Mason Report. Testimony of Andrew Hunter. 
 331 Mason Report, 63-66. 
 382 Redpath, 269. 
 
Z22 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 The comments of the press of the country, upon the occur- 
 rences herein, however interesting they may be, are not espe- 
 cially valuable. The writers of the time had but little correct 
 information upon which to base their opinion as to the scope of 
 the undertaking. Even at the present time, after the lapse of 
 more than fifty years, opinion is divided as to whether this in- 
 cident in our history was just an altruistic ''Foray into Virgin- 
 ia" ; or whether it was, practically, a harmless and utterly sense- 
 less ''raid" or whether it was an organized reality — an inva- 
 sion of the State of Virginia by Brown and his captains, having 
 for their object, the conquest of the Southern States. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 A PERVERSION OF HISTORY 
 
 But many a man has committed his greatest blunder ivhen 
 attempting to write a book. —John Brown, Jr. 
 
 Concerning the things which Brown intended to do, and the 
 plans which he made in pursuance thereof Mr. Redpath says : ^^^ 
 It was the original intention of Captain Brown to seize 
 the Arsenal at Harper's Ferry on the night of the 24th of 
 October, and to take the arms there deposited to the neigh- 
 boring mountains, with a number of the wealthier citizens of 
 the vicinity, as hostages, until they should redeem themselves 
 by liberating an equal number of their slaves. When at 
 Baltimore, for satisfactory reasons, he determined to strike 
 the blow that was to shake the Slave System to its founda- 
 tions, on the night of the 17th. 
 
 Harper's Ferry, by the admission of military men, 
 was admirably chosen as the spot at which to begin a war of 
 liberation. The neighboring mountains, with their inacces- 
 sible fastnesses, with every one of which, and every turning 
 of their valleys, John Brown had been familiar for seventeen 
 years, would afford to guerrilla forces a protection the most 
 favorable, and a thousand opportunities for a desperate de- 
 fense or rapid retreats before overwhelming numbers of an 
 enemy. 
 
 This is the conception of the Harper's Ferry episode that 
 Brown's family, and his partisans, decided should be put forth 
 concerning an incident which was to have been written in 
 streams of blood, such as never flowed upon the continent. 
 That anything so irrational should have been published, or 
 383 Redpath, 243-246. 
 
 21 
 
324 JOHX BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 should have been seriously considered by any one, is beyond the 
 comprehension of thoughtful persons ; and yet, the foolish fic- 
 tions therein suggested were accepted as the truth in the 
 Northern States, and, with some modifications of the more gro- 
 tesque absurdities therein contained, have been approved by 
 subsequent writers and biographers and have been incorporated 
 with the history of our country. 
 
 Why Brown should ha\e intended to abandon Harper's 
 Ferry without a struggle to retain it after having taken fonnal 
 possession of the place and of the war material stored there, if 
 the position was admirably chosen as the spot at which to begin 
 a war of liberation ; or how a voluntary retreat into the moun- 
 tains by a band of twenty-two men could be regarded as a 
 ''blow" of any kind ; or where the inaccessible fastness which 
 he intended to retreat to was located ; or how he intended to 
 shelter and subsist his men and prisoners in an inaccessible fast- 
 ness that had not been supplied with subsistence stores or with 
 camp and garrison equipage of any description; or how he 
 would be able to find his way, if the night happened to be a dark 
 night, up and through the tangled obstructions upon which the 
 fastness relied for its inaccessibility ; or how he intended to 
 transport the military equipment stored at Harper's Ferry, to 
 the fastness, without means of transportation, or roads to travel 
 on; or how he intended to prevent his fastness from being sur- 
 rounded and his communications wnth the world cut off while 
 the altruistic negotiations for the "exchange of the wealthier 
 citizen prisoners for an equal number of slaves." were progres- 
 sing, appear to have been matters of no concern to this bi- 
 ographer. It was sufficient for his purpose to assume that 
 these things, however inconsistent they might be, were the 
 things which Brown intended to do, and that they constituted 
 the blow which he had promised to strike. Mr. Redpath, per- 
 sonally, knew what Brown intended to do. He knew that 
 Brown, pursuant to his pledges, planned to strike a blow that 
 would shake the center of the slave system ; that he planned to 
 
A PERVERSION OF HISTORY 325 
 
 precipitate a war of surpassing atrocity ; a war that was to begin 
 with a carnival of assassinations ; that he intended "to assail 
 slavery with the only weapon that it fears" : ^" a servile insur- 
 rection. 
 
 Mr. Sanborn had been a valuable instrument in Brown's 
 hands for the practice of his Eastern impositions. Taking his 
 cue from Air. Redpath, after describing what occurred on the 
 night of the 16th of October, he rises to the full height of his 
 conception of the occasion to inquire : 
 
 Why then did Brown attack Harper's Ferry, or having 
 captured it, why did he not leave it at once and push into the 
 mountains of \'irginia, according to his original plan?^^^ 
 It was to this Mr. Sanborn, that Brown first suggested his 
 scheme to raise v$30,000 cash, to arm and equip a company of 
 "fifty volunteer-regulars" for the defense of Kansas settlers. 
 M]r. Sanborn was impressed, deeply so, and undertook to pro- 
 mote the proposition. Also, he undertook to promote Brown's 
 scheme to have the Legislatures of Massachusetts and New 
 York appropriate $100,000 each, to reimburse the Brown fam- 
 ily for losses its members had sustained while "fighting" in 
 Kansas; and ever thereafter had been Brown's faithful and 
 efficient sei-vant. He was a member of the "Secret War Com- 
 mittee" of six, and had reason to think, and probably did think, 
 that Brown had taken him into his full confidence. He says : 
 Although Brown communicated freely to the four persons 
 just named, ^ Theodore Parker, Dr. Howe, Mr. Stearns 
 and Col. Higginson, — his plans of attack and defense in 
 Virginia, it is not known that he spoke to any but me of his 
 purpose to surprise the Arsenal and town of Harper's Fer- 
 ry. . . It is probable that in 1858 Brown had not def- 
 initely 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, without expressing his own purpose. I 
 questioned him a little about it ; but it then passed from my 
 
 38* Redpath, 8. 
 385 Sanborn, 556. 
 
326 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 mind, and I did not thini< of it again until the attack had been 
 made a year and a half afterwards. ^^^"^ 
 
 Thus Air. Sanborn acknowledges that Brown had nut en- 
 trusted to him the secret of his intentions, and thereby disqual- 
 ifies himself as an authority upon Brown's plans, or as having 
 correct infomiation concerning what he intended to do in Vir- 
 ginia. It is more than probable that upon the occasion to which 
 Mr. Sanborn refers, Brown contemplated confiding to him his 
 plans for the conquest of the South by means of an insurrection 
 of the slaves and the massacre of the slave-holding population, 
 and intended to offer him a position upon his stafT. Brown 
 and Forbes had laid plans for their campaign, with Harper's 
 Ferry as the base pf operations, as early as January, 1857, and 
 in pursuance thereof had ordered the thousand spears with 
 which to arm the blacks for the opening horror. 
 
 Sitting beside his coal fire in the American House, his 
 thoughts upon his plans, and the hopes of his mighty conquest 
 surging in his brain. John Brown, the grim Soldier of Fortune, 
 drew out his young companion by indirection, and took the 
 measure of his capacity for heroic undertakings. Had the young- 
 man, at the close of that interview, appealed for an omen "from 
 that shrine whose oracles may destroy but can never deceive," 
 he might, in a spiritual vision, have seen upon the invisible tab- 
 lets, where Brown's mental records were kept, an inscription, 
 or word, similar to that which Belshazzar saw traced upon the 
 wall by the finger of an invisible hand. The man of "blood and 
 iron" had invited the interview in his letter to Mr. Sanborn of 
 February 24th. ^^^ Brown's decision was adverse to Mr. San- 
 born. The latter did not suspect that he had passed through 
 the fire of an examination, and had been found deficient. The 
 subject was never again taken up ; the door of opportunity closed 
 against Mr. Sanborn. 
 
 380 Sanborn, 450. 
 ^^"^ Ante, note 281. 
 
A PERVERSION OF HISTORY 327 
 
 Following the trail blazed by a discredited predecessor, the 
 writer of Fifty Years After abandons the teachings which the 
 record discloses concerning this episode, and, concurring with 
 Mr. Redpath, tries to confirm in our history that author's per- 
 version of the facts relating to it. He assumes to believe, and 
 seeks to teach the public to believe, that Brown's plans were, 
 comparatively, crude, and that his movement in execution of 
 them was of a harmless nature ; that he merely intended to at- 
 tempt to carry on a guerrilla warfare from some point in the 
 nearby mountains, and that his entrance to Harper's Ferry was 
 not an occupation of the place but a "raid" upon it, undertaken 
 for the purpose of advertising, in a spectacular way, the guer- 
 rilla warfare which he intended to engage in. He says : ^*** 
 As for their general, he not only was the sole member of 
 the attacking force to believe in the assault on the property 
 of the United States at Harper's Ferry, but he was, as they 
 neared the all-unsuspecting town, without any clear and 
 definite plan of campaign. The general order detailed the 
 men who were to garrison various parts of the town and hold 
 the bridges, but beyond that, little had been mapped out. It 
 was all to depend upon the orders of the commander-in- 
 chief, who seemed bent on violating every military principle. 
 Thus, he had appointed no definite place for the men to re- 
 treat to, and fixed no hour for the withdrawal from the 
 town. He, moreover, proceeded at once to defy the canons 
 by placing a river between himself and his base of supplies,- 
 — the Kennedy Farm, — and then left no adequate force on 
 the river-bank to insure his being able to fall back to that 
 base. Hardly had he entered the town when, by dispersing 
 his men here and there, he made his defeat as easy as possible. 
 Moreover, he had in mind no well-defined purpose in attack- 
 ■ ing Harper's Ferry, save to begin his revolution in a spectac- 
 ular way, capture a few slaveholders and release some slaves. 
 So far as he had thought anything out, he expected to alarm 
 the town and then, with the slaves that had rallied to him, 
 3S8 ViUard, 427, 430. 
 
328 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 to march back to the school-house near the Kennedy Farm, 
 arm his recruits and take to the hills. Another general, with 
 the same purpose in view would have established his moun- 
 tain camp first, swooped down upon the town in order to 
 spread terror throughout the State, and in an hour or two, at 
 most, have started back to his hill-top fastness. . . 
 Hence, he confidently hoped to retire to the mountains before 
 catching sight of a soldier of the regular army or of the 
 militia, — by no means un unjustifiable expectation. . . 
 The danger to any raiding force would come from losing 
 possession of these bridges, in which case the sole means of 
 escape would be by swimming the rivers or climbing up 
 through the town toward Bolivar Heights, in the direction 
 of Charlestown, eight miles away. 
 
 By the gratuitous and irrelevant assumptions herein, this bi- 
 ographer discredits Brown's intelligence; and by unjust, unfair, 
 and illogical criticisms of his conduct, seeks to conceal and to 
 emasculate his intentions. Authenticated facts place limitations 
 upon the presumptions of historians, which challenge the con- 
 sistency of reckless statements, and the logic of their conclu- 
 sions concerning tliem. There is not an authenticated line in 
 this history which justifies a belief that Brown contemplated do- 
 ing the things which this author assumes that he intended to do. 
 His theory that the occupation of Harper's Ferry was merely 
 an incident in a raid, the first one of a series of undertakings in 
 guerrilla warfare, which he represents Brown as intending to 
 execute from a location within walking distance of the town, 
 is a reflection upon the sanity of every person connected with 
 the movement. It is an assumption that Brown and his men 
 believed that they could maintain a headquarters for such war- 
 fare in the Maryland hills — at a "hill-top fastness," if you 
 please — and not be "nm to earth at once," as the author states 
 Cook would have been, if he had attempted to hide in these 
 inhospitable hills. ^^® It is also a general denial of the historical 
 389 Villard, 469. 
 
A PERVERSION OF HISTORY 329 
 
 truth that Brown intended to invade Virg-inia and the Southern 
 States, and to estahlsli over them the juris(hction of a provi- 
 sional government. Moreover, it is so divergent from the les- 
 sons taught by the vast accumulation of authenticated facts 
 which relate to the matter, that it constitutes a contradiction of 
 the facts, and raises a question as to the integrity of the au- 
 thor's purpose in putting it forth. 
 
 There is no room in historical literature for the indulgence 
 of poetic license. If Brown was a man of ''blood and iron,'" 
 and his men "hard-headed Americans" one day, they must be 
 regarded as being such the next day, and every day. It may be 
 said, upon the authority of this author, that Brown and his men 
 were not the stupids which they are, in this instance, represented 
 as being. "Captains John H. Kagi and A. D. Stevens, bravest 
 of the brave" ^"^ were not words idly spoken. "The hard-headed 
 able Americans like Stevens, Kagi, Cook, and Gill, who lived 
 with John Brown month in and month out worshipped no 
 lunatic."^"' Grafter! Hypocrite! Fiend! Monster! Brown 
 was, but never a trifler. If he ever engaged in a trifling enter- 
 prise or attempted to do anything in a trifling manner or upon 
 a trifling scale, it has not been recorded. First, last, and all the 
 time he played the limit of his resources. And in the execution 
 of this venture — the climax of all his undertakings — he was 
 neither trifling nor juggling with its details, as his biographers 
 have persisted in doing with his motives, and with what his in- 
 tentions and his plans were, in these premises. 
 
 Brown was not advertising his revolution wdien he secretly 
 
 entered Harper's Ferry. These men were not baiting Death 
 
 for spectacular effect. They had a well defined purpose in 
 
 view, but it was not to "capture a few slave-holders and release 
 
 sonic slaves." To Daniel Wheelan, Brown stated the purpose of 
 
 his coming: "I want to free all the negroes in this State; I 
 
 3»«Villard, 427. 
 391 Villard, 510. 
 
330 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 have possession now of the United States Armory, and if the 
 citizens interfere with me I must only burn the town and have 
 blood." Conductor Phelps said: "They say they have come 
 to free the slaves and intend to do it at all hazards." Mr. W. H. 
 Seibert states that Kagi told him personally, that their purpose 
 was "not the expatriation of one slave or a thousand slaves, but 
 their liberation in the states wherein they were born and were 
 now held in bondage." ^^" 
 
 To Governor Wise and others, on the afternoon of October 
 18th, Brown stated that his purpose in being at Harper's Ferry 
 would be found in the constitution for the Provisional Govern- 
 ment. A copy of the document being produced, he requested 
 Governor Wise to read it, and said that "within a fortnight he 
 intended to have it published at large and distributed" ; an act 
 which he could not have intended to execute from a location in 
 any "hill-top fastness." In reply to questions, he stated that he 
 intended to put the Provisional Government into operation 
 "here, in Virginia, where I commenced operations" : that he ex- 
 pected to have "three or five thousand" men or as many as he 
 wanted to assist him. He stated "distinctly" that he did not in- 
 tend to run ofT any slaves, but that he "designed to put arms in 
 their hands to defend themselves against their masters, and to 
 maintain their position in Virginia and in the South. That in 
 the first instance he expected they and non-slave holding whites 
 would flock to his standard as soon as he got a footing there at 
 Harper's Ferry ; and, as his strength increased, he would grad- 
 ually enlarge the area under his control, "furnishing a refuge for 
 the slaves and a rendezvous for all whites who were disposed to 
 aid him, until eventually he over- ran the whole South." ''^^ 
 
 January 5, 1860. Mr. John C. Unseld, one of Brown's pris- 
 oners testified : 
 
 I asked him why he made his attack on Virginia and at the 
 
 place he did? His answer was: "I knew there were a 
 
 392 The Underground Railroad, 167. 
 
 393 Mason Report. 63-66. Testimony of Andrew Hunter. 
 
A PERVERSION OF HISTORY 331 
 
 great many guns there that would be of service to me, and, 
 if I could conquer Virginia, the balance of the Southern 
 States would nearly conquer themselves, there being such a 
 large number of slaves in them.^^* 
 
 Brown abandoned the Kennedy farm on October 16th and 
 gave orders to Cook to remove the supplies to a school-house 
 which was located within about a mile of Harper's Ferry. On 
 the morning of the 17th the latter peremptorily dismissed the 
 school and took possession of the building. To the teacher, 
 Ur. L. F. Currie. Cook explained what they were doing and 
 how they intended to do it. Mr. Currie, in his testimony before 
 the Mason Committee stated that Cook, Tidd, and Leeman, 
 having a Mr. Byrne in charge as a prisoner, came to the school- 
 house about 10 o'clock and demanded possession of it. They 
 then with the aid of some negroes unloaded several boxes and 
 a large black trunk from a w^agon and carried them into the 
 school-house. Continuing he said : 
 
 Cook said their intention was to free the negroes; that 
 they intended to adopt such measures as would effectually 
 free them, though he said nothing about running them oflf, 
 or anything of that kind. He said this too: That those 
 slave-holders who would give up their slaves voluntarily, 
 would meet with protection ; but those who refused to give 
 them up would be quartered upon and their property con- 
 fiscated, — used in such a way as they might think proper, 
 — at least they would receive no protection from their or- 
 ganization or party. 
 
 Currie remained at the school-house until evening. Between 
 2 and 3 o'clock the firing at Harper's Ferry became "very rapid 
 and continuous." and Currie asked Cook what it meant; to 
 which he replied: "Well it simply means that those jjeople 
 down there are resisting our men, and we are shooting them 
 down." In answer to a question as to how many men were en- 
 gaged down there Cook replied : "I do not know how many 
 394 Mason Report, 1-12. 
 
2>Z2 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 men are there now ; there may be 5,000 or there may be 10,000 
 for aiig-ht I know." ^"^ 
 
 These exhibits are but a trifling fraction of the direct testi- 
 mony relating to the subject; yet Mr. Villard, in wanton disre- 
 gard of such testimony, and of the overwhelming preponderance 
 of historical facts which corroborate it, puts forth his violent 
 assumptions as to the truth; and asks the public to believe this 
 great undertaking to have been merely a poorly planned raid 
 which another general with the same purpose in view would 
 have conducted differently : ''established his mountain camp 
 first; swooped down upon the town in order to spread terror 
 throughout the state, and in an hour or two at most, have started 
 back to his hill-top fastness." 
 
 "First a soldier then a citizen was Brown's plan" for the up- 
 lift of the "emancipated blacks." "There is no doubt," says 
 this author,^^** "that he still expected the negroes to rise and 
 swell his force to irresistible proportions." Numbers are not 
 irresistible unless they be amied and organized. Why should 
 "the leader of a new revolution," with the sword of Frederick 
 the Great in his hand, plan "to take to the hills" in a trifling re- 
 treat, and abandon the military stores at Harper's Ferry — the 
 stores that were necessary to equip the irresistible numbers for 
 irresistible operations? The assumption that he intended to do 
 so is not only illogical ; it is absurd. 
 
 The declaration that Brown was the sole member of the "at- 
 tacking" force to believe in the assault upon the property of the 
 United States at Harper's Ferry is contradicted by competent 
 testimony, and by the significance of the general order that pro- 
 vided for the occupation of the town, and that designated the 
 ofiicers and men who were to take charge of this same property. 
 As to the unanimity of sentiment that prevailed in relation to 
 the matter, Mr. Redpath says :'^''' "On Saturday a meeting of 
 
 ^^^ Mason Report. 56. 
 
 396 Villard, 438. 
 
 397 Redpath, 244. 
 
A PERVERSION OF HISTORY 333 
 
 the Liberators was held and the plan of operations discussed. 
 On Sunday evening a council was again convened and the pro- 
 gramme of the Captain unanimously approved." 
 
 Other documents disclose the facts that the "Captain" and his 
 men not only intended to seize this United States property — 
 the amis in the arsenal and in the rifle works — but that they 
 intended to keep them and to use them. A general order issued 
 from the headquarters of their war department provided for the 
 organization of an army. 
 
 Jeremiah G. Anderson was one of Brown's veterans, who, 
 with full confidence in the final success of their venture, ap- 
 proved of this movement. Late in September, writing from 
 "near Harper's Ferry" he said : '"' 
 
 Everything seems to work to our hand and victory will 
 surely perch upon our banner. . . This is not a large 
 place but a very precious one to Uncle Sam, he has a great 
 many tools here. 
 
 A victor is one who conquers — who defeats an enemy. In 
 its relation to war. victory means the defeat of the enemy m 
 battle. Anderson had an army in his mind, and battles and con- 
 quest, and the establishment of the Provisional Government, 
 when he referred to victor}^ and used the word advisedly. A 
 "raid" upon a place may be successfully executed but it cannot 
 be, properly, called a victory over anything. John E. Cook be- 
 lieved the amis would be used and approved of the use of them. 
 "But ere that day arrives,' he said, "I fear that we shall hear the 
 crash of the battle shock and see the red gleaming of the can- 
 non's lightning." ^®^ 
 
 Brown leased the Kennedy fami because the location was 
 suitable for his purposes in the furtherance of his plans. From 
 there he conducted his secret negotiations, with the slaves, for 
 the insurrection, and distributed the pikes, probably 500, which 
 his co-conspirators were to use in their secret assassinations; 
 
 398 Sanborn, 545. 
 39'J.4»/c, note 290. 
 
334 JOHN BROWX: A CRITIQUE 
 
 but when he launched the invasion, and debouched his com- 
 mand, he abandoned it. Therefore, it was not necessary for 
 him to leave a force "adequate" or inadequate "on the river 
 bank to insure his beings able to fall back to that base," or to 
 cover a retreat still more illogical : a retreat of his little band, 
 with a lot of slaves, and prisoners as hostages, "to the hills" 
 where barren rocks afforded no shelter and "where starvation 
 would have met him at the threshold of his eyrie." ""'" 
 
 Aside from what the record contains relating to the subject, 
 it is illogical to assume that the veterans of Brown's band would 
 imperil their lives in a scheme so dangerous — a scheme in- 
 volving death upon the gallows for every one of them if they 
 failed — unless they approved of it with the fullest possible de- 
 gree of confidence ; only absolute confidence in the feasibility of 
 their plans, and the hope of reward without a parallel, could 
 have induced these men "with soiled lives behind them," *°^ to 
 undertake this conquest. Their arrogance upon entering the 
 town is evidence of their enthusiasm, and confidence in the suc- 
 cess of what they were doing, and of their approval of it. Their 
 conduct was of the swaggering, domineering kind. It was of 
 the: Halt! or I'll kill you! kind; conduct bred by contamination 
 in an environment supercharged with the scheming for mur- 
 derous deeds, reeking with the planning for assassinations, and 
 nourished by the belief that they were not accountable to any 
 power upon earth for their actions. Men do not shoot down 
 their fellow-men for trivial causes, unless they believe they are 
 in control of the situation, and are immune from punishment. 
 These men were expecting trouble. They had come to Harper's 
 Ferry believing they were about to write the bloodiest chapter 
 in history; that the most desperate struggle in all history was 
 imminent, and they were impatient to have it begin. They cut 
 the telegraph wires ; made prisoners of whomever they met ; 
 stopped the railway train carrying passengers and mails ; shot 
 
 *'io Chadwick, Causes of the Civil JVar, 87. 
 *oi Villard, 415. 
 
A PERVERSION OF HISTORY 335 
 
 at Watchman Higgins; shot and killed the baggage-porter, 
 Hayward, because he did not obey the command to halt ; and 
 killed Mr. Boerly without any apparent provocation. Men who 
 have no confidence in their supremacy; who do not believe they 
 will succeed in what they are doing, but intend to run away, and 
 laboriously "take to the hills" and act upon the defensive with- 
 out facilities for defense, do not thus demean themselves. The 
 logic of Mr. Villard's theory of Brown's plans is : That this 
 score of "hard-headed Americans" believed they could shoot 
 down and kill their fellow-citizens upon the streets of Harper's 
 Ferry with impunity; that they could rob the homes of that 
 neig-hborhood and not be held accountable therefor ; that they 
 could carry ofi property: watches, money, horses, carriages, 
 wagons, and slaves, into the hills adjoining the town, and not 
 be pursued by the local authorities ; that they could take citizens 
 of the United States into custody as prisoners, and carry them 
 to a "hill-top fastness," and maintain themselves there without 
 supplies of either food, water, shelter, or munitions of war, 
 other than what they carried upon their persons. 
 
 They know little of Brown's plans and of his intentions, who 
 criticize his strategy, in occupying Harper's Ferry, and his tena- 
 cious defense of the position. And they know nothing of the 
 agreements at which he had arrived, and the engagements which 
 he had entered into with the slaves of that section, whom he had' 
 taken into his confidence, during the preceding three months, 
 and who were to launch the insurrection he had planned, and 
 who were to constitute the rank and file of his army of invasion. 
 The author of Fifty Years After seems to have no clearer con- 
 ception of the subject herein, than the author of fifty years be- 
 fore assumed to have. Accepting, almost at par, Mr. Redpath's 
 deceptive vagaries, he fomiulates a plan of campaign to conform 
 with the conditions of his absurd conclusions ; and then criti- 
 cizes Brown because he did not execute his conceptions. The 
 plans for their operations, whatever they may have been, were 
 satisfactory to Brown and to the veteran adventurers who fol- 
 
336 JOHN BROWX: A CRITIQUE 
 
 lowed his flag. "The man of blood and iron" and the "hard- 
 headed Americans" had the plans under consideration during 
 the two years preceding, and had placed the seal of their ap- 
 proval upon them. If they were satisfactory to those who made 
 them, and understood them, and staked their lives upon the suc- 
 cessful execution of them, they should not be denounced too 
 confidently, not to say flippantly, by those who do not know, or 
 who assume not to know, what the plans were. 
 
 The details which Brown made from his command were not 
 to "garrison various parts of the town" and "hold the bridges" ; 
 the assignments were made in pursuance of his well defined plan 
 to organize and equip there the army which was to garrison the 
 town and which was thereafter to burn the bridges and hold the 
 approaches to it; the army that was to invade the Southern 
 States; the army that was to "start from here" (Harper's 
 Ferry) "and go through the State of Virginia and on South," 
 conquering and to conquer. 
 
 The dispositions that he made of his forces were in harmony 
 with the theory of the insurrection, which was the key-note of 
 the invasion. The slaves from the east side of the Potomac — 
 the neighborhoods of Sharpsburg. Boonsboro. and Hagerstown 
 — after declaring their right to freedom, by assassinating their 
 owners, were to report to Owen Brown at the "school-house." 
 there to be organized into a battalion under his command, and 
 be amied with the rifles and supplied with the ammunition that 
 were to be deposited there for that purpose. In the same way 
 the slaves who w^ere to arrive from the Middletown Valley, and 
 from the Frederick country, through Pleasant Valley and Sandy 
 Hook, were to report to Watson Brown at the Potomac bridge 
 and by him. or by Taylor who was stationed there with him, 
 taken to the arsenal, where Hazlett was in charge as quarter- 
 master and ordnance officer, and there be armed and equipped 
 from the "precious tools stored there," belonging to the United 
 States, which were to be seized for this purpose. In a similar 
 manner, the slaves from Loudoun Vallev and the west side of the 
 
A PERVERSION OF HISTORY 337 
 
 Shenandoah were to report to OHver Brown and WilHam 
 Thompson and Newby at the Shenandoah bridge; while the 
 slaves coming from the country lying between the Shenandoah 
 and the Potomac were to report to Kagi. at the rifle-works, and 
 by him and his assistants — Copeland and Leary — taken to 
 the arsenal for their equipment. Brown had said to his friend 
 Douglass : "When I strike the bees will swarm and I shall want 
 you to help me hive them." In this manner they were to be 
 hived. a)id furnished zvifli stings. 
 
 This being true. Brown defied no canons when he crossed the 
 Potomac nor did he thereby place a river between himself and 
 his base of supplies. He had. in general orders, designated 
 Harper's Ferry as his headquarters. Harper's Ferry, with its 
 millions of dollars' worth of military stores, was thenceforth 
 to be his base of supplies, and the State of Virginia and the 
 South the field of his operations. Having paralyzed the South 
 with the insurrection, the Potomac was to be his front, and be- 
 hind its banks he intended to entrench his army. He appointed 
 no place for his men to retreat to, nor made any provisions for 
 retreating, for the word had no place in his vocabulary. He 
 fixed no hour for his withdrawal from the town, because he did 
 not intend to withdraw from it. He was not executing a raid. 
 Why should his captains proudly march to Harper's Ferry; 
 "their Sharp's rifles hung from their shoulders, their commis- 
 sions duly signed and officially sealed in their pockets," if they 
 were to trudge back again to the Kennedy farm in demoralizing 
 retreat, with no booty, and without having seen an enemy, and 
 before a hostile shot had been fired ; and then "take to the hills," 
 there to be hunted by dogs and men, as wild beasts are hunted, 
 and be shot down as wild beasts are shot, by slave-catchers, 
 patrols, and marshals. Their campaign was serious, heroic, and 
 desperate beyond the comprehension of Brown's biographers. 
 Rarely in history have men voluntarily stood to win or die as 
 these men stood at Harper's Ferry. There was no place on the 
 earth where they could retreat to and live. When Brown and 
 
338 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 his captains crossed the Potomac, the die was cast ; the inz'asioji 
 was on. Thenceforth they might advance but not retreat ; they 
 might fight but not run. If they came back, it would have to be 
 "with their shields or upon them." 
 
 There was no violation of military principles in Brown's oc- 
 cupation of Harper's Ferry, or in the dispositions which he made 
 of his men, nor in his tenacious defense of his position. The 
 military principles which he violated are not referred to in the 
 charges and specifications preferred against him by this recent 
 biographer. These violations were fatal to his enterprise, but 
 they all antedate the night of October 16, 1859. If the hun- 
 dreds of slaves wdiom Brown secretly amied with the Colli ns- 
 ville spears, with which to assassinate their masters and their 
 masters' families, had done their bloody work as they had prom- 
 ised to do ; then the fifteen hundred men that Brown believed 
 would report to him for duty by 12 o'clock on the l/th,""'" and 
 the 5,000 men whom Cook, at 4 o'clock, thought had already re- 
 ported and were in action, would have arrived, and the story of 
 Harper's Ferry would have been different. There would have 
 been no violations of military principles then in Brown's tactics 
 and strategy, to criticise by any authority wdiatever. "Another 
 general, with the same purpose in view," and with the same 
 forces at his disposal, would not have improved very much upon 
 Brown's plans. 
 
 The hint at a hill-top fastness, where another general w^ould 
 have established his camp before he "swooped" down upon the 
 town, is a modification of Mr. Redpath's invention of an "inac- 
 cessible fastness." It is a delusion none the less, a delusion that 
 was shot to pieces within two years after Mr. Redpath framed it. 
 Such a position has no existence, except it be in authors' im- 
 aginations. There is not now, and there never was a position 
 upon either Maryland Heights or Loudoun Heights that can- 
 not be "stormed at with shot and shell." 
 
 4C2 Sanborn, 557. 
 
A PERVERSION OF HISTORY 339 
 
 During the war between the States, the Union generals forti- 
 fied Mr. Redpath's inaccessible fastness. Half way up the 
 tangled steeps of Maryland Heights, on a small bit of plateau 
 — less than an acre — they placed a battery of siege guns : two 
 9-inch Columbiads, a 50-pounder Parrott, and two or three field 
 pieces. Also, they reenforced the natural defenses of the "hill- 
 top fastness" by fomiidable breastworks, built of rocks and 
 trunks of trees, and protected them by abatis. On the 12th of 
 September, 1862, the Confederate infantry swarmed all over 
 these inacessible fastnesses. During the 13th and 14th, the 
 front of the "hill-top fastness," on the summit of Maryland 
 Heights, was a sheet of flame and lead, enveloped in clouds of 
 smoke. The rifle fire from the opposing lines stripped the bark 
 from the trunks of all the trees, within a hundred and fifty 
 yards of the front of these breastworks, as clean as though they 
 had been girdled with an ax. Not only did Jackson's infantry 
 penetrate these fastnesses, but during the morning of the 14th 
 they took two pieces of artillery to the top of these "inacces- 
 sible" heights and "turned loose" with shot and shell upon the 
 hill-top fastness. During the night of the 14th, the Union com- 
 mander abandoned the inaccessible fastness, dismounted and 
 spiked the guns on the mountain side, and joined the forces at 
 Harper's Ferry, on Bolivar Heights. 
 
 On the 20th, a detachment from what had been Mansfield's 
 Corps, of McClellan's Army — Crawford's Brigade *°^ — then 
 in command of Col. Joseph F. Knipe of the Forty-sixth Penn- 
 sylvania, with a section of artillery, also climbed these inacces- 
 sible heights to drive the Confederates from the position.*"* 
 
 403 Mansfield had been killed and Crawford wounded, on the 17th. at 
 Antietam. 
 
 404 A recollection of the scene at the top of Maryland Heights by a 
 survivor of Knipe's column, is of a mound of stones raised over a shal- 
 low grave. It was located near where the Confederate Hne of battle had 
 been formed. Upon a piece of cracker-box, that was held in place by the 
 stones marking the grave, a comrade's hand had cut in rude letters this 
 
340 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 There are many persons living- who remember having 
 marched or "tramped" or "climbed" or "trudged" or "stum- 
 bled" or "hoofed it" up and down and over these mountains, 
 on campaign and on picket duty, during the years of the great 
 war; but it is doubtful if any of them ever heard of a detach- 
 ment that executed such maneuvers by "swooping." The real 
 movement is different, especially so if it be executed at night. 
 
 In behalf of a patient public that has long been grievously 
 imposed upon by partisan biographers, the writer asks unani- 
 mous consent that references to "fastnesses." with which Brown 
 is said to have been "familiar for seventeen years" be barred, 
 henceforth, from the literature of this subject; the inhibition 
 to include all the patterns of fastnesses which have been ex- 
 ploited; from the inaccessible kind of 1859 dow'u through the 
 intervening years, ending with the hill-top variety of fifty years 
 after. 
 
 tribute to a gallant soul who had met a soldier's death upon these rugged 
 heights. It read : 
 
 "SERGT.— [Name forgotten] 
 
 CO. H. 7th, S. C. 
 
 THE BRAVE DIE 
 
 BUT ONCE." 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 HIS GREAT ADVENTURE 
 
 All merit comes 
 
 From daring the unequal, 
 All glory conies from daring to begin. 
 
 — Eugene Ware 
 
 Beginning with January, 1857. one thing is clearly disclosed 
 and made conclusive by the record of Brown's subsequent activ- 
 ities : that he contemplated an armed invasion and conquest of 
 the Southern States. His correspondence, and the long line of 
 historical incidents which touch his life, during the time inter- 
 vening between that date and the collapse of his fortunes at 
 Harper's Ferry, show that his mind was preoccupied with plans 
 for the accomplishment of that stupendous purpose. He be- 
 lieved that the slaves could be induced to rise against their mas- 
 ters ; assassinate them and their families, and declare their free- 
 dom. From the ranks of the freedmen, he planned to recruit an 
 army for the occupation of the territory affected by the insur- 
 rection, and for further invasion ; and to establish and maintain 
 the authority of a provisional government. 
 
 His scheme for conquest was probably a result of his re- 
 lations with Hugh Forbes. Together the two adventurers 
 planned the details for the undertaking. It was in pursuance 
 of their plans for this purpose that Brown engaged Forbes's 
 services, at a salary of a hundred dollars a month ; ordered the 
 thousand spears ; published the Manual of the Patriotic Volun- 
 teer; planned to lure the soldiery of the Union from their "ser- 
 vice with Satan to the service of God" ; planned to drive a nail 
 into Captain Kidd's treasure-chest — whatever that meant ; 
 
342 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 planned the War College, wliereat tlie ])rospective i^enerals ior 
 the prospective artny, and the prospective members for the 
 prospective cabinet of the prospective Provisional Government, 
 were to be instructed, under the direction of Forbes, in the sci- 
 ence of war, and in the science of civil government. It was for 
 his civil and military leaders that he engaged Stevens, Cook, 
 Kagi, Tidd, Parsons, Realf, Gill, and others, and placed them 
 in the school of instruction. 
 
 To hedge against treason, he met with his embryonic gen- 
 erals and secretaries at Chatham. Canada, and in convention 
 assembled adopted a "Constitution and Ordinances" for the 
 Provisional Government, which, among its provisions, declared 
 the confiscation of the "entire personal and real property of all 
 persons known to be acting with or for the enemy, or found 
 wilfully holding slaves." This constitution had been printed 
 and copies of it were available at the Kennedy farm. Every 
 man who marched with Browm to Harper's Ferry had read it, 
 or had heard it read, and had sworn allegiance to the govern- 
 ment it represented. 
 
 December 23, 1858, Merriam wrote to Brown: "I have 
 heard vaguely of your contemplated action and now Mr. Red- 
 path and Mr. Hinton have told me your contemplated action, 
 in which I earnestly wish to join you in any capacity you wish 
 to place me as far as my small capacities go." *^^ He spent the 
 winter in Hayti in company with Redpath, and knew how 
 Brown intended to "assail the Slave Pow-er." ■*'"' 
 
 The message that Brown requested Conductor Phelps to com- 
 municate to the management of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail- 
 road, interdicting further traffic over the road, was a declara- 
 tion of war. It was the first and only "Proclamation" issued 
 by the commander-in-chief of the army of the Provisional Gov- 
 ernment. At the time he gave out this declaration — 1 :25 
 A. M., October 17, 1859 — he and his ca])tains confidently be- 
 
 *05 Mason Report. 66-67. 
 *o6 Redpath, 8. 
 
HIS GREAT ADVENTURE 343 
 
 lieved their insurrection to be in the fuh tide of successful in- 
 itiation ; that the country in the vicinify ~was-4la^n in the throes 
 of a slaughter that spared neither sex nor age ; tliatTlT)!^^ of 
 black fiends, like furies, were surging over the land in a riot of 
 unimaginable proportions. These adventurers believed that 
 their dreams of conquest were about to be realized; and that 
 the rioting thousands, excited into a frenzy by the bloody deeds 
 which had set them free, were already pressing in bands to join 
 them at the appointed rendezvous to hll the ranks of the "Army 
 of Liberation"; that it was solely a question of time — a few 
 hours at most — until these allies would be arriving, and they 
 would have control of an army sufficiently strong to establish 
 and maintain their authority. 
 
 That the slaves' sole way to freedom lay over the dead bodies 
 of their masters, was a self-evident proposition. The slaves 
 knew by tradition and by experience, and Brown and his cap- 
 tains knew, that if they — the slaves — ran away from their 
 masters to join his forces, the masters, reenforced by the citizen 
 soldiery, would pursue them immediately, and recover them be- 
 fore they could organize for either defensive or aggressive war- 
 fare. The problem of Harper's Ferry had been solved by the 
 philosophy of the Pottawatomie. The same questions were in- 
 volved in each venture : how to get the "goods" and keep them 
 — how to get the slaves for the Provisional i\rmy and fore- 
 stall pursuit. It was the Pottawatomie amplified. 
 
 Brown intended to create the "Provisional Army" in the 
 enemy's country ; hence, it was essential for him to commence 
 the undertaking by striking the most crushing blow that it was 
 possible for him to deliver. The success of the movement de- 
 pended upon his ability to strike a blow so terrible that the sur- 
 vivors of the carnage, dazed and paralyzed by the horrors of the 
 existing conditions, would be incapable of organizing and send- 
 ing any opposing force to attack him. Therefore the assassina- 
 tions — the destruction of the persons who, otherwise, would 
 pursue. That was the central feature of the movement, the 
 
344 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 base of the scheme, the blow which he intended to strike. It 
 was the only blow which he could strike ; the only weapon that 
 he could use of which any one stood in awe. The blow which 
 he would have to strike if he would win, was the blow which 
 he had told his Eastern friends he could strike : a blow that 
 would shake the slave system to its foundation — the blow 
 which he had promised Gerrit Smith he would strike, and 
 doubtless, told him how he intended to strike it. 
 
 To the men from the Pottawatomie, a massacre was simply 
 a means to an end. Brown and his sons harbored no feelings 
 of animosity toward the Doyles, the Shermans, and Wilkin- 
 son ; but they knew that these men would not give up to them, 
 peaceably, the property which they coveted, therefore they mur- 
 dered them and took their horses. They knew that the owners 
 of slaves and lands in the Southern States would not, peaceably, 
 relinquish their ownership of this property; therefore they 
 planned to incite the slaves to kill their masters while they slept 
 — and having thus cinoncipatcd the slaves, confiscate the estates 
 of the slave-holders, and put the assassins and themselves 
 in possession of them. This massacre, the most horrible that 
 was ever seriously contemplated in the brain of man, was to be 
 executed under the pretense that it was an humanitarian meas- 
 ure. In the name of humanity, they proposed to undertake the 
 midnight assassination of millions of men, w^omen, and chil- 
 dren, and to contend for justification for their actions. The 
 word, with Brown, was a convenience, or an interchangeable 
 term. A definition of it. in the sense in which he used the word, 
 is found in his personal understanding, or interpretation rather, 
 of its co-relation, "The Golden Rule." He is quoted by San- 
 born and others as having stated "more than once" : "I be- 
 lieve in the Golden Rule and the Declaration of Independence. 
 I think that 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 
 
HIS GREAT ADVENTURE 345 
 
 either should fail in this cuiintry. 1 mean exactly so, sir." ''^''^ 
 
 The possibility that the blacks in the South might attempt to 
 gain their freedom by a general massacre of the whites, was a 
 condition co-existent with their enslavement. After 1831 that 
 possibility became a fixed impending probability ; and the ques- 
 tion of means to prevent the inevitable cataclysm of blood, was 
 a matter of constant concern in the economy of the Southern 
 States ; with the result that various preventive measures were 
 adopted to discourage the possibility of attempts, by the slaves, 
 to organize for such undertakings, or to fit themselves, by ed- 
 ucation or otherwise, to promote such organizations. 
 
 In the philosophy of John Brown, what Nat Turner had done 
 in a section of Southampton County, Virginia, could, if properly 
 promoted, be done in any other section or locality; and, if in 
 any locality, then in every locality, or throughout the whole 
 South. Therefore, an insurrection by the slaves, having for 
 its object the overthrow of the existing State governments of 
 the South, was a venture, from his point of view, which might 
 be undertaken with reasonable prospects for success ; the ulti- 
 mate result depending largely upon his ability to organize the 
 slaves effectively for revolt ; to equip them for the initial up- 
 rising, and thereafter to capably direct the movement. 
 
 No disaster that ever befell our country, war not excepted, 
 was in any respect comparable with the horrors which would be 
 incidental to a slave insurrection ; yet our people lived during 
 more than half a century in the shadow of that menace. They 
 lived in a state of continual apprehension that it, the most 
 stupendous of conceivable calamities, might at any time over- 
 whelm them. 
 
 For years patrols had ridden the roads and men had 
 
 watched of night lest the negroes turn upon their masters. 
 
 It was an ever present fear. That the Abolitionists wished 
 
 the slaves to rise and kill their masters in their beds was a be- 
 
 40' Sanborn, 122. 
 
346 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 lief widely held in the South and often publicly expressed, 
 
 and no happening that could be imagined contained a greater 
 
 possibility of horror and bloodshed. *'^^ 
 
 It has been said, and there is great force in the statement, 
 that the "Underground Railroad," instead of working hardship 
 and great loss to slave-holders, was. in reality "the safety-valve 
 to the institution." It was the sluice for the overflow of the 
 dangerous class — the able and discontented. The Under- 
 ground was organized at the close of the eighteenth century, 
 and had on its rolls more than 30.000 "employees." It carried 
 away from the South, probably 75,000 slaves of the value of 
 more than $30,000,000. The sla\'es who thus sought and ob- 
 tained their liberty, taking the risk of arrest and punishment in 
 their attempts to gain it, were the ablest and the most influential 
 among them. Had they remained in slavery, these men would 
 ha\'e further developed and become leaders among the slaves, 
 and would have organized them and led them into insurrection. 
 "Had they remained, the direful scenes of San Domingo would 
 have been enacted, and the hot, vengeful breath of massacre 
 would have swept the South as a tornado and blanched the 
 cheek of the civilized world." ^''^ 
 
 Brown knew about the hot vengeful breath w^hich had swept 
 the white population from the fair face of San Domingo. And 
 he was familiar with the attempts which had been made to re- 
 light its fires in this country, and to start the tornado of death. 
 He was familiar with what his predecessors in the insurrection 
 business had done, and with w'hat they had tried to do. He 
 knew, too, or thought he knew, why they had failed. Naturally 
 he sought to avoid the mistakes which they had committed, and 
 to safeguard his operations by improving upon their methods. 
 The seizure of Harper's Ferry was not a "Foray into Virginia," 
 as Mr. Sanborn chooses to call it : neither was it a "Raid" as Mr. 
 Villard, with conspicuous persistence, seeks to make it appear 
 
 "osVillard, 436. 
 
 409 \YjiiJajy,s_ History of Negro Race in America, 59. 
 
HIS GREAT ADVENTURE 347 
 
 to have been; nor was it either an "attack" upon the town or a 
 ''blow" or any other specious form of movement. Brown se- 
 lected the place and "occupied" it as the base for his mihtary 
 operations, because he intended to use the generous supphes of 
 war material, which were then in store there, for the equipment 
 of the army that he planned to organize. The occupation was to 
 be permanent. It was a stratagem of his campaign, an inci- 
 dent in his main design. 
 
 By the logic of the assassinations. Brown believed he would 
 secure immunity from an immediate, or counter assault. In- 
 stead of being compelled to defend his position against attack 
 by the militia, and by companies of armed citizens, which might 
 be improvised for the occasion, he contemplated spending the 
 first "few weeks" of the campaign in comparative security; 
 publishing, far and wide, the proclamation of the Provisional 
 Government, with its lure for adventurers in civil and military 
 life ; debauching the citizenship of the country and the soldiery 
 of the Union. He also contemplated having leisure to attend 
 such diplomatic functions as might be incidental to the situa- 
 tion, including negotiations with foreign nations, and the prob- 
 lems of "Foreign intervention," Northern conventions, etc.*'° 
 
 Forbes's letter of May 14, 1858, heretofore quoted, discloses 
 Brown's theory of the invasion; it deals with the facts of 
 Brown's secret movement then pending in the untried future. 
 These two men had agreed upon an invasion of the South under 
 cover of an "insurrection." The opinion Forbes gave Dr. 
 Howe therein is a dissenting one, for personal reasons, from his 
 agreement with Brown. In the revised opinion, Forbes stated 
 his belief that the insurrection would fail; that it would be 
 "either a flash in the pan, or it would leap beyond his control or 
 any control," and after having spent its force in a riot of blood 
 would be stamped out. Brown thought otherwise; he was 
 "sure of a response," and believed that he could safeguard 
 against "a flash in the pan." With the question of "losing con- 
 "oVillard, 314. 
 
348 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 trol" of tlie insurrection he was not concerned ; that was a 
 bridge which lie would cross when he came to it. Under his 
 control, a whole generation was to pass off the face of the earth 
 by a violent death, and nothing much could occur in excess of 
 that if the insurrection did happen to get beyond it. The hurri- 
 cane of horrors which he proposed to unloose, could not sweep 
 too far for his purposes; he would have it spread to every 
 Southern State, and in the language of Jeremiah Goldsmith 
 Anderson, "make this land of liberty and equality shake to the 
 center." "^ 
 
 That Brown expected to be strongly supported by a secret 
 colored military organization existing in the North, and "that 
 had its ramifications extended through most or nearly all of the 
 Slave States," is more than probable. This organization was 
 represented at the Chatham convention by G. J. Reynolds, of 
 Sandusky, Ohio, "a colored man (very little colored, how- 
 ever)"; and after the convention adjourned, Geo. B. Gill was 
 sent to Oberlin, Berlin Heights, and Milan, Ohio, to verify the 
 statements which Reynolds had made concerning its forces. 
 Gill met him and "under the pledge of secrecy which we gave 
 to each other at the Chatham convention," he says, Reynolds 
 took him to the room where they held their meetings, and used 
 as their arsenal, and showed him "a fine collection of arms." 
 "On my return to Cleveland," continues Gill, "he passed me, 
 through the organization, first to J. J. Pierce, colored, at Milan, 
 who paid my bill one night at the Eagle Hotel, and gave me 
 some money, and a note to E. Moore at Norwalk ; who in turn 
 paid my hotel bill, and purchased a railroad ticket through to 
 Cleveland for me." Reynolds asserted that they were "only 
 waiting for Brown or some one else to make a successful in- 
 itiative move, when their forces would be put in motion." ■*'' 
 
 It must not be assumed, because Brown did not publish a 
 
 ^>i Villard. 682. 
 
 *^^ Hiiiton Papers, Kansas Historical Society. 
 
HIS GREAT ADVENTURE 349 
 
 transcript of his plans for the insurrection and invasion, that he 
 was "without any clear and definite plan of campaign." and that 
 the consequences of his plans had not been anticipated, and pro- 
 vided for in minutest detail, for he was methodical. Also, 
 secrecy was characteristic of his methods. Salmon Brown 
 said : "^ "Father had a peculiarity for insisting on order. . . 
 He would insist on getting everything arranged just to suit 
 him before he would consent to make a move." 
 
 And to Kagi Brown wrote July 10th : "* ''Do not use much 
 paper to put names of persons & plans upon." 
 
 The nature of Brown's plans, and of his intentions, and of his 
 engagements, must therefore be drawn from the documentary 
 evidence obtainable, and from such reasonable inferences as can 
 be derived from the actions of the invaders; from the things 
 which they did while they were free to do as they pleased; 
 while they were yet unrestrained by the forces which later over- 
 came them ; and from such contemporaneous testimony, relat- 
 ing to the subject, as may be available. What they said when 
 in prison, and in view of the impending gallows, about what 
 they intended to do, is not the best evidence of what their in- 
 tentions were. 
 
 On the 19th of August, Mr. Frederick Douglass met John 
 Brown, by appointment, at an old stone quarry in the vicinity 
 of Chambersburg. At that interview, Brown disclosed to Mr; 
 Douglass his intention to seize Harper's Ferry. Mr. Douglass 
 said ; "' 
 
 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 opposed it with all 
 the arguments at my command. . . He was not to be 
 shaken but treated my views respectfully, replying that even 
 
 "3 Villard, 424. 
 4i4Villard, 406. 
 415 Sanborn, 539. 
 
350 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 if surrounded he would find means to cut his way out. 
 . . . In parting, he put his arms around me in a manner 
 more than friendly, and said, "Come with me, Douglas ; I 
 will defend you with my life. I want you for a special pur- 
 pose. When I strike the bees will begin to swarm, and I 
 shall want you to help hive them." . . 
 
 The project that Brown had in view was clearly foreshad- 
 owed by Jeremiah G. Anderson, in a letter which he wrote, late 
 in September, to a brother in low-a. He said : ''^'^ 
 
 Our mining company will consist of between twenty-five 
 and thirty men well equipped with tools. You can tell 
 Uncle Dan it will be impossible for me to see 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 failure, it will be 
 after a desperate struggle, and loss of capital on both sides. 
 But this is the last of our thoughts. Everything seems to 
 work to our hands, and victory will surely perch u]X)n our 
 banner. The old man has had this 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 but a very precious one to 
 Uncle Sam, as he had 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 circum- 
 stances require; mining and prospecting, and carrying the 
 ore with us. I suppose this is the last letter I shall write 
 you before there is something in the wind. Whether I shall 
 have an opportunity 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. 
 
 The following interesting and instructive document discloses 
 the formation of Anderson's mining company, and indicates the 
 
 *"' Sanborn, 545. 
 
HIS GREAT ADVENTURE 351 
 
 character of the "mining" which the operators intended to en- 
 gage in. It reads as follows : 
 
 HEADQUARTliRS WAR DKPARTMKNT, PROVISIONAL ARMY. 
 
 Harper's Ferry, October 10, 1859. 
 General Orders No. 1. 
 
 ORGANIZATION 
 
 The divisions of the provisional army and the coalition are 
 hereby established as follows : 
 
 ' 1 — Company. 
 
 A company will consist of fifty-six privates, twelve non- 
 commissioned officers, (eight corporals, 4 sergeants) three 
 commissioned officers, (two lieutenants, a captain,) and a 
 surgeon. 
 
 The privates shall be divided into bands or messes of seven 
 each numbering from one to eight, with a corporal to each, 
 numbered like his band. 
 
 Two bands shall comprise a section. Sections shall be 
 numbered from one to four. A sergeant shall be attached 
 to each section and numbered like it. 
 
 Two sections shall comprise a platoon. Platoons will be 
 numbered one and two, and each commanded by a lieutenant 
 designated by like number. 
 
 2 — Battalion. 
 
 The battalion will consist of four companies complete. 
 The commissioned officers of the battalion will be a chief of 
 battalion, and a first and second major, one of whom shall be 
 attached to each wing. 
 
 3 — The Regiment. 
 
 The regiment will consist of four battalions complete. 
 The commissioned officers of the regiment will be a colonel 
 and two lieutenant colonels, attached to the wings. 
 
 4 — The Brigade. 
 The brigade will consist of four regiments complete. The 
 commissioned officer of the brigade will be a general of 
 brigade. 
 
352 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 5 — Each General Staff. 
 
 Each of the above divisions will be entitled to a general 
 staff, consisting of an adjutant, a commissary, a musician, 
 and a surgeon. 
 
 6 — Appointment. 
 
 Non-commissioned officers will be chosen by those whom 
 they are to command. 
 
 Commissioned officers will be appointed and commissioned 
 by this department. 
 
 The staff officers of each division will be appointed by the 
 respective commanders of the same. 
 
 (This document is in the handwriting of J. H. Kagi.)*^^ 
 Oliver Brown and Jeremiah G. Anderson were captains in the 
 
 provisional army. A copy of Brow^n's commission is published 
 
 herewith : 
 
 GREETING : 
 
 HEADQUARTERS WAR DEPARTMENT. 
 
 Near Harper's Ferry Maryland. 
 
 Whereas Oliver Broivn has been nominated a captain in 
 the army established under the provisional constitution. 
 
 Now, therefore, in pursuance of the authority vested in us 
 by said constitution, we do hereby appoint and commission 
 the said Oliver Broivn a captain. 
 
 Given at the office of the Secretary of War, this day, Octo- 
 ber 15, 1859. John Brown, 
 
 J. H. Kagi, Commander in Chief. 
 
 Secretary of War. 
 
 (This document is printed in the original, with the exception 
 of the words in italics and the figures, which are in the hand- 
 writing of Kagi. with the exception of the signature of John 
 Brown, which is in his ow'n hand.)*^^ 
 
 Except as to Mr. Sanborn and Mr. Stearns, it is hard to be- 
 lieve that the members of Brown's war committee were ig- 
 
 *^'' Mason Report, 59-60 
 *i8 Mason Report, 60. 
 
HIS GREAT ADVENTURE 353 
 
 norant of his intention to incite a slave insurrection, and invade 
 the South. Rev. Theodore Parker said : 
 
 I should like of all things to see an insurrection of the 
 Slaves. It must be tried many times before it succeeds, as 
 at last it must.*" 
 
 Dr. Howe also knew of the impending insurrection. Mr. 
 Sanborn says : *"" 
 
 Dr. Howe, returning from Cuba, ( whither he accompanied 
 Theodore Parker in February 1859), journeyed through the 
 Carolinas, and there accepted the hospitality of Wade Hamp- 
 ton, and other rich planters ; and it shocked him to think that 
 he might be instrumental in giving up to fire and pillage 
 their noble mansions. 
 
 Thaddeus Hyatt, of New York, too, seems to have known 
 what Brown intended to do, and from whence he derived his 
 inspirations. Also the indiscriminate massacre of non-combat- 
 ants, white women and children, by the negroes of Hayti seems 
 to have had his approbation. He presented to the Black Re- 
 public a portrait *-^ of the man, John Brown, who in 1859 
 sought to incite the negroes of the Southern States to do what 
 the negroes of San Domingo did. when "one August night, in 
 the year 1791 the whole plain of the north was swept with fire 
 and drenched with.blood. Five hundred thousand negro slaves 
 in the depths of barbarism revolted, and the horrors of the 
 massacre made Europe and America shudder." *" 
 
 August 27, 1859, Gerrit Smith wrote the following letter to 
 the "Jerry Rescue Committee" : *" 
 
 It is, perhaps, too late to bring slavery to an end by 
 peaceable means, — too late to vote it down. For many 
 
 ^19 Frothingham, Parker. 475. 
 *20 Sanborn, 491, note 2. 
 
 *2i Two paintings of Brown were made by Nathan B. Onthank ; the 
 other one is in the Boston Athenaeum. Villard, xiii. 
 
 *-- Henry Adams, History of the United States, vol. i, 380. 
 423 Frothingham, Gerrit Smith, 249. 
 
354 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 years I have feared, and published my fears, that it would go 
 out in blood. These fears have grown into a belief. So 
 debauched are the white people by slavery that there is not 
 virtue enough left in them to put it down. . . The feel- 
 ing 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 slavery, is held at the North and the South 
 to be a lying prophet, — another Cassandra. The South 
 would not respect her own Jefferson's prediction of servile 
 insurrection ; how then can it be hoped that she will respect 
 another's? . . . And is it entirely certain that these in- 
 surrections will be put down promptly, and before they can 
 have spread far? Will telegraphs and railroads be too swift 
 for 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 the worst fate that 
 husbands and fathers can imagine for their wives and daugh- 
 ters. 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. 
 
 Commenting upon this letter, Mr. Sanborn, after quoting 
 from Mr. Smith's biographer the expression "This Cassandra 
 spoke from certainty," says that he (Smith) "knew what 
 Brown's purpose was ; and his last contribution to Brown's cam- 
 paign was made about the time the Syracuse letter was written." 
 Referring to the same letter, his biographer, Frothingham, 
 says: 
 
HIS GREAT ADVENTURE 355 
 
 It is hard to believe that the writer of these passages had 
 not had John Brown's general plan in mind. There was no 
 visible sign of peril. The blacks, North and South, were to 
 all appearances quiet. . . But for the whole-handed 
 destruction of documents immediately on the failure of the 
 project, Mr. Smith's participation in John Brown's general 
 plans could be made to appear still closer. 
 As late as 1867, Mr. Smith disclaimed having any knowledge 
 of Brown's plans or of his intentions. He denied that he gave 
 money with the purpose of aiding the insurrection. Concern- 
 ing this Mr. Frothingham continues : 
 
 Did Gerrit Smith really think that this was a complete and 
 truthful statement of his relations with John Brown? A 
 statement in which nothing true was suppressed, and nothing 
 untrue suggested? A statement that would be satisfactory 
 to Edward Morton, and F. B. Sanborn and Dr. Howe and 
 other friends of the Martyr ? . . . We must believe that 
 his insanity obliterated a certain class of impressions, while 
 another class of impressions on the same subject remained 
 distinct. 
 
 The theory of Brown's operations being the conquest of the 
 South through an insurrection of the slaves, the collapse of the 
 scheme was coincident with the failure of the slaves to execute 
 the part assigned to them in the plan of the invasion. It is 
 herein that Brown's leadership may be criticised. The crea- 
 tion of the army depended upon the success of the insurrection. 
 The latter, therefore, should have been made safe — beyond 
 the possibility of failure — before he committed any subordin- 
 ate irremediable acts. 
 
 At Cleveland, Brown took credit for never having killed any- 
 body, but said, in a self conscious manner, referring to his 
 Kansas successes, that on "some occasions he had shozvn his 
 young men zvith him how some things might be done as well as 
 others and that they had done them." Brown plainly attrib- 
 uted the failure of the insurrection, and his consequent failure, 
 
 2S 
 
356 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 to a cause which he could have controlled — to his failure to do 
 things which he could have done, and which he then reproached 
 himself for not having done. 
 
 "It is my own fault," he said, October 18th, "that I have been 
 taken. I could easily have saved myself from it, had I exer- 
 cised my own better judgment rather than yielded to my feel- 
 ings." 
 
 "You mean if you had escaped immediately?" inquired Mr. 
 Mason. 
 
 "No," he said, "I had the means to make myself secure with- 
 out any escape, but I allowed myself to be surrounded by a force 
 by being too tardy." 
 
 Brown had planned how to prevent being surrounded, and 
 continuing said : "I do not know that I should reveal my plans. 
 I am here a prisoner and wounded because I foolishly allowed 
 myself to be so. You overrate yourself in supposing I could 
 have been taken if I had not allowed it." 
 
 Nat Turner had shown his followers how to start an insur- 
 rection. He personally spilled the first blood, the blood which 
 turned loose the furies in Southampton County, and Brown 
 now saw, too late, that if he and his captains had each led a 
 party of negroes, as Turner had led ; and shown them how to 
 kill, as Turner had shown his followers; they too might have 
 turned loose the furies of which Brown and Forbes dreamed, 
 and launched the hurricane of death. Then, with thousands of 
 rioting slaves, brandishing their bloody spears, the occupation 
 of Harper's Ferry would have been but an incident of minor 
 importance in this history. 
 
 Forbes perceived the weak link in the chain of Brown's fore- 
 cast, and made the point, that unless the slaves were "already in 
 a state of agitation, there might be no response, or a feeble 
 one." But Brown, carried away by an enthusiasm inspired by 
 a continuous contemplation of the grandeur of his scheme, 
 failed to give the warning the consideration which its impor- 
 
HIS GREAT ADVENTURE 357 
 
 tance deserved. He dismissed Forbes's caution with the con- 
 fident assertion that he "was sure of a response." His over- 
 confidence led to his immediate undoing. Upon the rock that 
 Forbes had pointed out foundered the new-born ship of state. 
 The great uprising of the blacks upon which he relied, failed to 
 materialize ; the thousands of reenforcements which he looked 
 for, appeared not at all."'" The plans for the conquest of the 
 Southern States, and for the establishment of the Provisional 
 Government miscarried. 
 
 Concerning Brown and his plans Mr. Vallandigham said : 
 It is in vain to underestimate the man or the conspiracy. 
 Captain John Brown is as brave and resolute a man as ever 
 headed an insurrection, and, in a good cause, and with a suf- 
 ficient force, would have been a consummate partisan com- 
 mander. He has coolness, daring, persistency, the stoic 
 faith and patience, and a firmness of will and purpose un- 
 conquerable. He is the farthest possible removed from the 
 ordinary ruffian, fanatic or madman. Certainly it was the 
 best planned and best executed conspiracy that ever failed. "^^ 
 John Brown was not a pioneer in the slave insurrection busi- 
 ness, nor does his plan of procedure at Harper's Ferry suggest 
 any novelties or anything original in the way of such insurrec- 
 tions. He had before him a long line of precedents and ex- 
 amples which he studied ; and ideals, written in blood, which he 
 soug-ht to emulate. His heroes were Toussaint L'Ouverture 
 and Nat Turner, their hands red with the blood of innocence. 
 Turner had killed between fifty and sixty white people, mostly 
 women and children, and Mr. Redpath tells us that Brown 
 "admired this negro patriot equally with George Washing- 
 ton." Turner was his most recent and most direct example. 
 It was from what Turner had done, that Brown and Forbes 
 formed their estimates of what they could do. From the 
 
 ■•2* Villard, 468. 
 ^25 Redpath, 285. 
 
358 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 example furnished by this ideal patriot, they framed the Mary- 
 land-Virginia equation. They reasoned in this way: If an 
 ignorant slave, with a score of poorly armed negro followers, 
 who were also slaves, could kill sixty white people in a day, 
 how many white people could a thousand negroes, who are well 
 equipped for midnight slaughter, kill in a single night? Their 
 solution of that problem found expression in the order which 
 they placed, in March, 1857, with the Collinsville blacksmith. 
 It was Brown's answer to this question, expanded as Brown 
 sought to expand it at Harper's Ferry, that was to "make 
 slavery totter from its foundations." 
 
 Upon several occasions — notably, once in South Carolina, 
 and twice in Virginia — the slaves of this country had en- 
 gaged in conspiracies against their masters. In each instance 
 the men who promoted the revolt were themselves slaves. In 
 two instances the insurgents planned to seize the arsenals, and 
 public arms and ammunition, as Brown planned to do, and did, 
 at Harper's Ferry. In each instance tlie revolt was to be ac- 
 complished by a general massacre of the white inhabitants. 
 Brown and Forbes, in 1857, studied the trails that had been 
 blazed on these occasions, and planned with reference to the ex- 
 periences of the men who had directed the efforts. 
 
 The first attempt at insurrection in this country was led by 
 "General" Gabriel in September, 1800. The date agreed upon 
 was Saturday [Monday], September 1st. The place of rendez- 
 vous was on a brook six miles from Richmond, Virginia. The 
 force was to comprise eleven hundred men, divided into three 
 divisions. The attack was to have been made upon Richmond, 
 then a town of eight thousand population, under cover of the 
 night.'^^ 
 
 The plan for the occupation of Richmond was similar in some 
 respects to Brown's plans at Harper's Ferry. One of the di- 
 visions of the army was to take the penitentiary, which had 
 
 426 Williams, History of the Negro Race in America, 84. 
 
HIS GREAT ADVENTURE 359 
 
 been improvised into an arsenal. Another division was to seize 
 the powder-house. A statement of the trouble was published 
 in the United States Gazette of Philadelphia, September 8, 
 1800: 
 
 The penitentiary held several thousand stand of arms; 
 the powder-house was well stocked; the capitol contained 
 the State Treasury; the mills would give them bread; the 
 control of the bridge across the James river would keep ofif 
 enemies from beyond. Thus secured and provided, they 
 planned to issue proclamations, summoning to their standard 
 "their fellow negroes and the friends of humanity through- 
 out the continent." In a week they estimated they would 
 have 50,000 men on their side, when they would possess 
 themselves of other towns. *^^ 
 
 A fomiidable insurrection was attempted in 1822 by Den- 
 mark Vesey. The slaves involved in this plot were distributed 
 over a territory of forty-five to fifty miles in extent around 
 Charleston, South Carolina. Vesey's plan of revolt contem- 
 plated the wholesale slaughter of the white population and the 
 occupation of the country by the blacks. 
 
 "Every slave enlisted was sworn to secrecy. Household 
 servants were rarely trusted. Talkative and intemperate 
 persons were not enlisted. Women were excluded from par- 
 ticipation in the affair that they might take care of the chil- 
 dren. Peter Poyas, it is said, had enlisted six hundred with- 
 out assistance. 
 
 "During the excitement and the trial of the supposed con- 
 spirators, rumor proclaimed all, and doubtless more than all 
 the horrors of the plot. The city was to be fired in every 
 quarter. The arsenal, in the immediate vicinity, was to be 
 broken open, and the arms distributed to the insurgents and 
 an universal massacre of the white inhabitants was to take 
 place. Nor did there seem to be any doubt in the minds of 
 the people that such would actually have been the result, had 
 not the plot, fortunately, been detected before the time ap- 
 
 i-"! Atlantic Monthly, vol. x, 339. 
 
360 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 pointed for tlie outbreak. It was believed, as a matter of 
 course, that every black in the city would join in the insur- 
 rection, and that, if the original design had been attempted 
 and the city taken by surprise, the negroes would have 
 achieved an easy victory, nor does it seem at all impossible 
 that such might have been, or yet may be the case, if any well 
 arranged and resolute rising should take place." The plot 
 failed because a negro, William I'aul. "made enlistments 
 without authority, and revealed the scheme to a house ser- 
 vant. The leaders of this attempt at insurrection died as 
 bravely as they had lived ; and it is one of the marvels of the 
 remarkable affair, that none of this class divulged any of the 
 secrets to the court. The men who did the talking- were 
 those who knew but little." *-^ 
 
 Two promoters of slave insurrections were born during the 
 year 1800: John Brown and Nat Turner. The latter was 
 born in Southampton County, Virginia. October 2d. Turner 
 became a preacher, and later, saw visions. He saw visions 
 of conflicts "between white spirits and black spirits engaged 
 in battle; and the sun was darkened, the thunder rolled in 
 the heavens, and blood flowed in the streams. . ." Af- 
 terv^^ard he had another vision in which an angel told him that 
 "the time is fast approaching when the 'first shall be last and 
 the last first' " ; which he interpreted as foreshadowing the pro- 
 motion of the blacks to control in public affairs, and the subor- 
 dination of the whites. Encouraged by his conclusion, he de- 
 termined to attempt the promotion of the blacks by eliminating 
 the whites. In pursuance of this he planned a general uprising 
 of the slaves and massacre of their w^hite masters. His blow 
 was struck on the night of August 21, 1831, near Jerusalem 
 Court House, Virginia. 
 
 Turner trusted his plans to four men : Sam Edwards, Hark 
 Travis, Henry Porter, and Nelson Williams. After the plans 
 had been completed. Turner made a speech appropriate to the 
 
 *-« Atlantic Monthly, vol. vii, 737. 
 
HIS GREAT ADVENTURE 361 
 
 occasion. He said : "Our race is to be delivered from slavery, 
 and God has appointed us as the men to do his bidding ; and let 
 us be worthy of our calling. I am told to slay all the whites we 
 encounter without regard to age or sex. We have no arms or 
 ammunition but we will find these in the homes of our oppress- 
 ors; and, as we go on, others can join us. Remember we do 
 not go for the sake of blood and carnage, but it is necessary that 
 in the commencement of this revolution, all the whites we meet 
 should die, until we have an army strong enough to carry on 
 the war on a Christian basis. Remember that ours is not war 
 for robbery nor to satisfy our passions ; it is a struggle for free- 
 dom. Ours must be deeds, not words. Then let us away to 
 the scene of action." In his confession after sentence of death 
 had been passed upon him, Turner described the scenes of the 
 murders which they committed. Of the attack upon the home 
 of Joseph Travis, his master, he said : ''■'' 
 
 On returning to the house, Hark went to the door with 
 an axe, for the purpose of breaking it open, as we knew we 
 were strong enough to murder the family, should they be 
 awakened by the noise; but, reflecting that it might create 
 an alarm in the neighborhood, we determined to enter the 
 house secretly, and murder them whilst sleeping. Hark got 
 a ladder and set it against the chimney, on which I ascended, 
 and, hoisting a window, entered and came down stairs, un- 
 barred the doors, and removed the guns from their places. 
 It was then observed that I must spill the first blood, on 
 which, armed with a hatchet and accompanied by Will, I 
 entered my master's chamber. It being dark, I could not 
 give a death blow. The hatchet glanced from his head. He 
 sprang from the bed and called his wife. It was his last 
 word. Will laid him dead with a blow of his axe. 
 After they had taken the lives of the Travis family, "they 
 went from plantation to plantation, dealing death blows to every 
 white man, woman and child they found." A list of the "dead 
 429 Williams, History of the Negro Race in America, vol. ii, 88. 
 
362 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 that have been buried" was published August 24th: At M.rs. 
 Whitehead's, 7; Mrs. Waller's, 13; Mr. Williams's, 3; Mr. 
 Barrow's, 2 ; Mr. Vaughn's, 5 ; Mrs. Turner's, 3 ; Mr. Travis's, 
 5; Mr. J. Williams's, 5; Mr. Recce's, 4; names unknown, 10; 
 total, 57." 
 
 The news of the massacre spread rapidly, and the excited 
 whites quickly armed themselves to suppress the insurrection. 
 As a result, "Arms and ammunition were dispatched in wagons 
 to the county of Southampton. The four volunteer companies 
 of Petersburg, the dragoons and Lafayette Artillery Company 
 of Richmond, one volunteer company from Norfolk and one 
 from Portsmouth, and the regiments of Southampton and Sus- 
 sex, were at once ordered out. The cavalry and infantry took 
 up their line of march on Tuesday evening, while the artillery 
 embarked on the steamer 'Norfolk' and landed at Smithfield." "° 
 A Mr. Gray, to whom Turner made his confession, said of 
 him : 
 
 . . . I shall not attempt to describe the effects of his 
 narrative, as told, and commented on by himself, in the con- 
 demned hole of the prison ; the calm, deliberate composure 
 with which he spoke of his late deeds and intentions ; the ex- 
 pression of his fiend-like face, when excited by enthusiasm ; 
 still bearing the stains of the blood of helpless innocence 
 about him, clothed with rags and covered with chains, yet 
 daring to raise his manacled hands to Heaven with a spirit 
 soaring above the attributes of man. 
 
 And yet, such were the phenomenal inconsistencies occurring 
 in the philosophy of persons who professed, and who, perhaps, 
 believed themselves to be humane, this negro's crime was ex- 
 ultingly approved of by Brown's Eastern supporters. Mr. Wil- 
 liam Lloyd Garrison, at a meeting called to witness "John 
 Brown's resurrection" said in his speech: 
 
 . . . As a peace man — an "ultra" peace man — I am 
 
 prepared to say : "Success to every slave insurrection at the 
 
 *3<* Richmond Inquirer, August 26, 1831. 
 
HIS GREAT ADVENTURE 363 
 
 South, and in every slave country." And I do not see how 
 I compromise or stain my peace profession in making that 
 declaration. . . *^^ 
 
 *3i Villard, 560. 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 A SOLDIER OF THE CROSS 
 
 A'o man can produce great things who is not thoroughly 
 sincere in dealing with himself. — Lowell 
 
 The regular semi-annual term of the court of Jefferson Coun- 
 ty, Virginia, began October 20th. Brown was taken into cus- 
 tody on Tuesday, October 18th, and on Tuesday morning, 
 October 25th, he was put on trial for his life. For this un- 
 seemly haste the Virginia authorities have been censured. The 
 spectacle of an old man, physically incapacitated, and suffering 
 because of recent wounds, being rushed to trial without rea- 
 sonable time and opportunity to even secure friendly counsel, 
 justified harsh criticism, and did not fail to win sympathy for 
 Brown from right thinking men in all sections of the country. 
 Also, that wrong had much to do with promoting his "martyr- 
 dom." It was, however, his right to the courtesies of judicial 
 procedure, in such cases, rather than any of his legal rights, that 
 was infringed. In his efforts to explain his purpose for being 
 at Harper's Ferry he had not only, in effect, confessed his 
 guilt of all the charges upon which he was being held for trial, 
 but had sought to justify his conduct in relation to them. Mr. 
 Greeley, in the Tribune of October 25th, wrote : *^" 
 
 As the Grand Jury of JefiFerson County is already in ses- 
 sion, the trial of Brown and his confederates may be ex- 
 pected to take place at once, unless delay should be granted 
 to prepare for trial, or a change of venue to some less ex- 
 cited county should be asked for. Neither of these is prob- 
 
 "2Villard, 480. 
 
A SOLDIER OF THE CROSS 365 
 
 able. The prisoners in fact have no defense, and their case 
 
 will be speedily disposed of. 
 
 The jurisdiction of the Federal courts in the premises, was 
 not seriously considered. The State had never ceded to the 
 United States its jurisdiction over the territory that Brown had 
 taken possession of, in behalf of the Provisional Government, 
 and from which he had directed his operations. The question 
 was raised as an expedient, because the Federal court afforded 
 better facilities for incriminating Brown's northern supporters, 
 the men "higher up," than did the State courts. Later, it was 
 agreed upon that Stevens should be surrendered to the United 
 States for trial. Mr. Hunter, for the prosecution, announced 
 the fact, in court, November 7th, saying, that they were now 
 after "higher and wickeder game." *^^ But when, on Decem- 
 ber 15th, the President inquired by wire whether Stevens had 
 been so surrendered, the prosecution hesitated ; Mr. Hunter re- 
 plying : 
 
 Stevens has not been delivered to the authorities of the 
 
 United States. Undetermined as yet whether he will be 
 
 tried here.^*^ 
 
 December 8th, Governor Wise wrote to Mr. Hunter: 
 In reply to yours of the 15th, I say definitely that Stevens 
 
 ought not to be handed over to the Federal authorities for 
 
 trial. . . I hope you informed the President of the status 
 
 of his case before the court. *^^ 
 
 The political necessity for trying Stevens in the Federal 
 court, was obviated by Congress. December 14th, a select com- 
 mittee of the Senate was appointed to "inquire into the late in- 
 vasion and seizure of public property at Harper's Ferry." It 
 was clothed with authority to investigate the whole subject. The 
 members were Mason, of Virginia, chairman; Davis, of Missis- 
 sippi; Fitch, of Indiana; Doolittle, of Wisconsin; and Colla- 
 
 433 Villard, 478. 
 
 434 Ibid. 
 
 435 Ibid. 
 
366 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 nier, of Vermont; the majority being pro-slavery. The find- 
 ings of the committee constitute the Mason Report, referred to 
 in this book. 
 
 At the preHminary examination, the presiding justice of the 
 peace, Mr. Braxton Davenport, appointed as counsel for Brown 
 Mr. Charles J. Faulkner and Mr. Lawson Botts. Mr. Faulk- 
 ner was present at Harper's Ferry during the trouble, and 
 thought it would be improper for him to represent the prisoners 
 as counsel. He was therefore excused, and Mr. Thomas G. 
 Green was appointed in his stead. Mr. Villard states that in 
 ''Messrs. Green and Botts, John Brown had assigned to him 
 far abler counsel than would have been given to an ordinary 
 malefactor." Brown's reply to the Court when asked if he 
 had counsel is deserving of a place in this history. It was 
 worthy of a leader of a lost cause. Though feebly rising to 
 his feet, he said with defiant spirit : "" 
 
 Virginians: I did not ask for any quarter at the time I 
 was taken. I did not ask to have my life spared. The Gov- 
 ernor of the State of Virginia tendered me his assurance 
 that I should have a fair trial, but under no circumstances 
 whatever, will I be able to attend to my trial. If you seek 
 my blood you can have it at any moment without this mock- 
 ery 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 defense. My memory don't serve me, my health 
 is insufficient ; although improving. 
 
 If a fair trial is to be allowed us, there are mitigating cir- 
 cumstances, that I would urge in our favor. But, if we are 
 to be forced with a mere form, — a trial for execution, — 
 you might spare yourselves that trouble. I am ready for my 
 fate. I do not ask a trial, I beg for no mockery of a trial — 
 no insult — Nothing but that which conscience gives, or 
 cowardice drives you to practice. 
 436 Redpath, 292. 
 
A SOLDIER OF THE CROSS 367 
 
 I ask again to be excused from a mockery of a trial. I do 
 
 not know what the special design of this examination is. I 
 
 do not know what the benefit of it is to this Commonwealth. 
 
 I have now little further to ask, other than that I may be not 
 
 foolishly insulted, only as cowardly barbarians insult those 
 
 that fall into their power. 
 
 When the question relating to counsel was submitted to 
 Stevens, he promptly accepted the gentlemen named and the 
 examination was proceeded with. 
 
 At 2 o'clock the preliminary court of examination reported 
 its findings, and the presiding judge, Hon. Richard Parker, of 
 the circuit court, at once submitted the case to the grand jury 
 in an able and dispassionate address. At noon the next day, 
 the 26th, a true bill was returned against each of the prisoners 
 on the following counts : For "Treason to the commonwealth" ; 
 for "conspiring with slaves to commit treason" ; and for "mur- 
 der." After the noon hour the defendants were brought into 
 court to plead to the indictments. Brown, refusing to appear 
 voluntarily, was carried into the court room on a cot. He then 
 made a plea for delay. 
 
 Mr. Hunter objected to consideration of Brown's plea until 
 after the arraignment had been made. The Court held that 
 the indictment should first be read, so that the prisoners could 
 plead guilty or not guilty ; after that he would consider Brown's 
 request. Each prisoner pleaded not guilty and having de- 
 manded separate trials, the State chose to try Brown first. 
 
 The Court did not take the question of Brown's guilt or in- 
 nocence seriously. The trial was simply to be a dignified con- 
 formance with the laws of the Commonwealth relating to the 
 subject. Except as to respect for this formality, it was not 
 considered important whether Brown had any coimsel at all. 
 On the 22d of October, Mr. Hunter, in a letter to Governor 
 Wise said : 
 
 The Judge is for observing all the judicial decencies ; so 
 
 am I, but in double quick time. . . Stephens will hardly 
 
368 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 be fit for trial. He will probably die of his wounds if we 
 don't hang- him promptly. *^^ 
 
 Immediately upon the announcement by the Court that 
 Brown should have a fair trial, arrangements were made to 
 provide friendly counsel for his defense. First, Mr. J. W. 
 Le Barnes, of Boston, at his personal expense, employed Mr. 
 George H. Hoyt, a young lawyer of Athol, Massachusetts, to 
 go to Charlestowm and represent Brown in the dual capacity of 
 counsel and spy. His instructions w^ere, "first, to watch and be 
 able to report proceedings, to see and talk with Browai, and be 
 able to communicate with his friends anything Brown might 
 want to say; and second, to send me (Le Barnes) an accurate 
 and detailed account of the military situation at Charlestown, 
 the number and the distribution of the troops, the location and 
 defences of the jail ; the opportunities for a sudden attack and 
 the means of retreat, with the location and situation of the room 
 in which Brown is confined," etc.*^* 
 
 Hoyt arrived at Charlestown on Thursday night, and on 
 Friday morning, October 28th. reported to the Court and asked 
 to be made additional counsel. His youth and his evident in- 
 efficiency, aroused a suspicion, on the part of Mr. Hunter, that 
 he came as a spy rather than as counsel.*^'' He accordingly 
 asked that Hoyt be excluded from participating in the trial. 
 In this he was overruled. The same day he reported to Gov- 
 ernor Wise that a "beardless boy came in last night as Brown's 
 counsel." And that he thought "he is a spy." **° October 
 21st, Brow^n wrote letters, similar in character, to Judge Dan- 
 iel Tilden, of Cleveland, Ohio, and to Hon. Thomas Russell, 
 of Boston, asking them to appear for him as counsel, saying: 
 "I am here a prisoner, with several sabre-cuts on my head and 
 bayonet stabs in my body." **^ In response to his request. Judge 
 
 "TVillard. 485. 
 «8Villard, 484. 
 "9 Ibid. 
 
 *" Villard, 485. 
 *»i Sanborn, 588. 
 
A SOLDIER OF THE CROSS 369 
 
 Tilden secured the services of Mr. Hiram Griswold, of Cleve- 
 land, to appear in his stead. The latter arrived at Charlestown, 
 Saturday morning, October 29th. At the same time Mr. Sam- 
 uel Chilton, of Washington, D. C, also arrived, and upon 
 reporting to the Court, these two distinguished lawyers were 
 assigned as counsel to Brown's staff. Mr. Chilton came upon 
 the solicitation of Mr. John A. Andrew, of Boston.''*- Judge 
 Russell did not arrive until November 2d. 
 
 On Thursday morning, October 27th, the trial was begun 
 with a surprise for the prosecution — Mr. Botts reading a tele- 
 gram, which stated that insanity was hereditary in Brown's 
 family ; that his mother's sister had died while insane, and that 
 a daughter of that sister had been two years in a lunatic asylum, 
 and citing other instances of insanity in the family.**^ 
 
 Mr. Botts then stated, "That upon receiving the above dis- 
 patch he went to the jail, with his associate, Mr. Green, and 
 read it to Brown, and was desired by him to say that in his 
 father's family there has never been any insanity at all. On 
 his mother's side there have been repeated instances of it. 
 Brown also desires his counsel to say that he does not put in a 
 plea of insanity." *** 
 
 His counsel again moved for a continuance, and, doubtless, 
 pleaded the insanity phase of the question in support of the 
 motion. Upon the conclusion of Mr. Botts's remarks. Brown 
 raised up on his couch 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. Insane persons, 
 so far as my experience goes, have but little ability to judge 
 of their own sanity; and if I am insane, of course I should 
 think I knew more than all the rest of the world. But I do 
 not think so. I am perfectly unconscious of insanity, and I 
 
 ■i^-AIason Report, 138. 
 "3Villard, 506. 
 "^Redpath. 509. 
 
370 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 reject, so far as I am capable, any attempts to interfere in my 
 behalf on that score.**' 
 
 Mr. Griswold, however, after coming into the case, revived 
 the question of Brown's sanity, and on November 7th, enclosed 
 to the Governor a petition and an affidavit affirming the claim 
 that Brown was insane.*" Replying to this letter, Mr. Villard 
 states that the Governor replied that "a plea of insanity could 
 be filed at any time before conviction or sentence, and wrote 
 an admirable letter to Dr. Stribbling, superintendent of the 
 lunatic asylum at Staunton, Virginia, ordering him to pro- 
 ceed to Charlestown and examine the prisoner, saying : 'If 
 the prisoner is insane he ought to be cured; and if not insane 
 the fact ought to be vouched for in the most reliable form, now 
 that it is questioned under oath and by counsel since convic- 
 tion.' Unfortunately, the impetuous Governor countermand- 
 ed these instructions and the letter was never sent." 
 
 Later, acting upon the advice of Mr. Montgomery Blair, 
 the defence secured nineteen affidavits made by friends living 
 at Akron, Cleveland, and Hudson, Ohio, in support of the 
 plea. These affidavits were delivered to Governor Wise by Mr. 
 Hoyt, on the 23d day of November. Mr. Villard states that 
 "these people in their efforts to save Brown laid bare some sad 
 family secrets." However, upon this very important phase of 
 Brown's condition Governor Wise had an opinion of his own. 
 To the Virginia Legislature he said : "I know that he was 
 sane, if quick and clear perception, if assumed rational premises 
 and consecutive reasoning from them, if cautious tact in avoid- 
 ing disclosures and in covering conclusions and inferences, if 
 memory and conception and practical common sense, and if 
 composure and self-possession are evidence of a sound state of 
 mind. He was more sane than his promptors and promoters, 
 and concealed well the secret which made him seem to do an act 
 
 *« Villard, 507. 
 **^ Ibid. 
 
A SOLDIER OF THE CROSS 371 
 
 of mad impulse, by leaving- him, without his backers, at Har- 
 
 J T"* " 447 
 
 per s Perry. 
 
 Brown's line of defense is set forth in a memorandum of 
 sug-g-cstions which he personally prepared iov the guidance of 
 his counsel. '"'^' It reads as follows: 
 
 J0HxN[ brown's DTRlvCTIONS TO HIS COUNSKL 
 
 We gave to numerous prisoners perfect liberty. Get all 
 the names. 
 
 We allowed numerous other prisoners to visit their fam- 
 ilies, to quiet their fears. Get all their names. 
 
 We allowed the conductor to pass his train over the bridge 
 with all his passengers, I myself crossing the bridge with 
 him, and assuring all the passengers of their perfect safety. 
 Get that eondnctor's name, and the names of the passengers, 
 so far as may be. 
 
 We treated all our prisoners with the utmost kindness and 
 humanity. Get all their names, so far as may be. 
 
 Our orders from the first and throughout, were, that no 
 unarmed person should be injured under any circumstances 
 whatever. Prove that by ALL the prisoners. 
 
 We committed no destruction or waste of property. Prove 
 that. 
 
 The defense began Friday afternoon. Mr. Villard states 
 ihat Alessrs. Botts and Green, following John Brown's sugges- 
 tion, "essayed to prove, the kindness with which Brown treated 
 his prisoners," which drew from M.r. Hunter the ''caustic and 
 truthful comment that testimony as to Brown's forbearance in 
 not shooting other citizens had no more to do with the case 
 than had the dead languages." 
 
 Mr. Hunter's objections being overruled, a number of 
 Brown's witnesses w^ere examined to show that he had not only 
 not killed his prisoners and everybody else who came within 
 the range of his rifles, but that he had treated all courteously. 
 
 447 Villard, 509. 
 "8 Redpath, 325. 
 
 24 
 
372 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 notwithstanding the fact that his enemies had fired upon his llag 
 of truce, and had killed one of his men, WilHam Thompson, 
 while he was a prisoner in their hands. 
 
 A scene was precipitated at the trial when the names of some 
 of his witnesses were called and it was found that they were not 
 present; Brown thereupon arose and, denouncing his counsel, 
 demanded that the proceedings be deferred until the next morn- 
 ing. A Herald correspondent stated : **^ 
 
 When Brown rose and denounced his counsel, declaring 
 diat he had no confidence in them, the indignation of the 
 citizens scarcely knew bounds. lie was stigmatized as an 
 ungrateful villain, and some declared he deserved hanging 
 for that act alone. His counsel, Messrs. Botts and Green, 
 had certainly performed the unpleasant task imposed upon 
 them by the Court in an able, faithful and conscientious man- 
 ner ; and only the evening before Brown had told Mr. Botts 
 that he was doing even more for him than he had promised. 
 Mr. Hoyt, of Brown's counsel, added to the interest of the 
 scene by asking that the case be postponed. Anticipating that 
 his colleagues would withdraw from the case as a result of 
 Brown's speech, he said that he was utterly unable to go on 
 with the case alone and that Judge Tilden, of Ohio, was coming 
 to assist the defense, and would arrive during the night. Coun- 
 sel Botts and Green, after asserting that they had done every- 
 thing possible for their client, announced, that since the prisoner 
 had no confidence in them they could no longer act in his behalf. 
 Judge Parker thereupon released them, as counsel, and ad- 
 journed the trial until the next day at 10 o'clock.*^" 
 
 When court convened Saturday morning, Mr. Griswold and 
 Mr. Chilton appeared for Brown, and asked for delay — a few 
 hours only — in which to make some preparation for the de- 
 fense, which was refused. "This term will end very soon," 
 the Judge said, "and it is my duty to endeavor to get through 
 
 ^49Villard, 492. 
 »50 Hid. 
 
A SOLDIER OF THE CROSS 2>7Z 
 
 with all the cases if possible, in justice to the prisoners and to 
 the State." 
 
 With the examination of a few additional witnesses, the testi- 
 mony for the defense closed and the battle of wits began with a 
 motion by Mr. Chilton, that the State be compelled to elect 
 one count in the indictment and abandon the others. That 
 Brown was charged with treason, and with conspiracy and ad- 
 vising with slaves and others to rebel, and with murder in the 
 first degree. He contended, and cited authorities to sustain his 
 contention, that in a case of treason, different descriptions of 
 treason could not be united in the same indictment ; high treason 
 could not be associated with other treason. If an inferior grade 
 of the same character could not be included in separate counts, 
 still less could offense of higher grade, etc., etc., etc. Mr. Hard- 
 ing, associate counsel for the prosecution, of course, could not 
 see the force of the objection made by the learned counsel on the 
 other side. The separate offenses charged were but different 
 parts of the same transactions. ''Murder arose out of the trea- 
 son as the natural result of the bloody conspiracy." Mr. Hunter 
 said the discretion of the Court on one count in the indictment 
 is only exercised where great embarrassment would otherwise 
 result to the prisoner. The Court held that the point might be 
 taken advantage of to move an arrest of judgment ; but since the 
 jury had been charged, and had been sworn to try the prisoners 
 on the indictment as drawn, the trial must go on. . . The 
 very fact that the defense can be charged in different counts, 
 varying the language and circumstances, is based upon the idea 
 that distinct offenses may be charged in the same indictment. 
 The prisoners are to be tried on the various counts as if they 
 were various circumstances, etc. Mr. Chilton then said he 
 would reserve the motion as a basis for a motion in arrest of 
 judgment.*^^ 
 
 Mr. Griswold then stated that the prisoner desired that the 
 
 i-'^ Redpath, 331-339. 
 
374 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 case be argued, and that while he had not been present at the 
 trial, counsel could obtain sufficient knowledge of the evidence 
 by reading the notes; and since it was nearly dark, he supposed 
 argument for the Commonwealth would engage the attention of 
 the Court until the usual hour of adjournment; and asked that 
 the Court adjourn after the opening argument by the prosecu- 
 tion. Mr. Hunter opposed opening the argument "unless the 
 case was to be finished to-night," and protested against any 
 further delay. The Court ordered the trial to proceed, but at 
 the close of Mr. Hunter's speech, of forty minutes' duration, 
 adjournment was had until Monday. Brown sought by all the 
 means in his power on Saturday, to delay the trial, and when 
 court convened after noon he sent word from the jail that he 
 was sick; whereupon the jail physician, Dr. Mason, was sum- 
 moned in the case. He reported that Brown was feigning ill- 
 ness. The Court then directed that he be brought into court on 
 a cot. Mr. Hunter states that after the adjournment was pro- 
 cured, the "crafty old fiend was well enough to walk." 
 
 On Monday, at 1 :30 p. m., the argument was completed. Mr. 
 Chilton asked the Court to instruct the jury that if they be- 
 lieved the prisoner was not a citizen of Virginia, but of another 
 State, they could not convict on a count of treason. The Court 
 declined, saying the Constitution did not give rights and im- 
 munities alone, but also imposed responsibilities. 
 
 At 2:15 the jury returned their verdict of guilty. It was 
 received in respectful silence; no demonstration of satisfaction 
 or evidence of elation greeted the announcement. Of its re- 
 ception by the people in waiting Mr. Villard says : "It is to the 
 credit of the Charlestown crowd and of Virginia that not a 
 single sound of elation or triumph assailed the dignity of th.e 
 court, when the jury sealed Brown's doom. In solemn silence 
 the crowd heard Mr. Chilton make his formal motion for an 
 arrest of judgment, because of errors in the indictment and in 
 the verdict, and it filed out equally silent when Judge Parker 
 ordered the motion to stand over until the next day." 
 
A SOLDIER OF THE CROSS 375 
 
 One person was dissatisfied with Brown's trial ; not the pris- 
 oner — for he acknowledged the deep sense of his obligation, to 
 both Court and counsel, for the treatment he had received — 
 but Mr. James Redpath. He said : 
 
 I do not intend to pollute my pages with any sketch of the 
 lawyers' pleas. They were able, without doubt, and erudite, 
 and ingenious; but they were founded, nevertheless, on an 
 atrocious assumption. For they assumed that the statutes of 
 the State were just; and, therefore if the prisoner should be 
 proven guilty of offending against them, that it was right 
 that he should suffer the penalty they inflict. This doctrine 
 every Christian heart must scorn ; John Brown, at least, de- 
 spised it ; and so also, to be faithful to his memory, and my 
 own instincts, must 1.*'°^ 
 
 On November 1st the Court heard Mr. Chilton's motion in 
 arrest of judgment: reserving its decision upon it until the next 
 day. During the afternoon of November 2d, Brown was 
 brousfht into court for the final scene of the trial. After Mr. 
 Chilton's motion had been overruled, Brown was ordered to 
 rise, and when asked by the clerk if he had anything to say why 
 sentence should not be pronounced upon him, he delivered the 
 following address : *^^ 
 
 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 in- 
 tended certainly 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 snapping of a gun on either side, 
 moved them through the country, and finally left them in 
 Canada. I designed to have done the same thing again, on 
 a larger scale. That was all I intended. I never did intend 
 murder, or treason, or the destruction of property, or to ex- 
 cite or incite slaves to rebellion, or to make insurrection. 
 I have another objection: and that is, it is unjust that I 
 
 •*5^ Redpath, 334. 
 ■153 Redpath, 340-342. 
 
376 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 should suffer such a penalty. Had I interfered in the man- 
 ner which I admit, and which I admit has been fairly proved 
 (for I admire the truthfulness and candor of the greater por- 
 tion of the witnesses who have testified in this case), — had 
 I so interfered in behalf of the rich, the powerful, the intel- 
 ligent, the so-called great, or in behalf of any of their friends, 
 — either father, mother, brother, sister, wife, or children, or 
 any of that class, — and suffered and sacrificed what I have 
 in this interference, it would have been all right ; and every 
 man in this court would have deemed it an act worthy of re- 
 ward rather than punishment. 
 
 This court acknowledges, as I suppose, the validity of the 
 law of God. I see a book kissed here which I suppose to be 
 the Bible, or at least the New Testament. That teaches me 
 that all things whatsoever I would that men should do to me, 
 I should do even so to them. It teaches me, further, to "re- 
 member them that are in bonds, as bound with them." I en- 
 deavored to act up to that instruction. I say, I am yet too 
 young to understand that God is any respecter of persons. 
 I believe that to have interfered as I have done — as I have 
 always freely admitted I have done — in behalf of His de- 
 spised poor, was not wrong, but right. Now, if it is deemed 
 necessary that I should forfeit my life for the furtherance 
 of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood further with the 
 blood of my children and with the blood of millions in this 
 slave country whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel, 
 and unjust enactments, — I submit; so let it be done! 
 
 Let me say one word further. 
 
 I feel entirely satisfied with the treatment I have received 
 on my trial. Considering all the circumstances, it has been 
 more generous that 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 ex- 
 cite slaves to rebel, or make any general insurrection. I 
 never encouraged any man to do so, but always discouraged 
 any idea of that kind. 
 
 Let me say, also, a word in regard to the statements made 
 
A SOLDIER OF THE CROSS 377 
 
 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 weakness. 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. 
 Judge Parker then pronounced the sentence of death upon 
 Brown, fixing the 2d of December, 1859, as the date for the 
 execution of it, and directing that the execution should be pub- 
 lic. He then ordered all persons present to remain in their 
 seats until the prisoner was removed. "There was prompt 
 obedience and John Brown reached his cell unharmed, without 
 even hearing a taunt." ^^* 
 
 There is conflict between the "authorities" as to the manner 
 in which Brown delivered his speech to the Court. In describ- 
 ing the scene, Mr. Villard gave rein to his bias in this choice 
 flight : 
 
 Drawing himself up to his full stature, with flashing 
 eagle eyes and calm, clear and distinct tones, John Brown 
 again addressed, not the men who surrounded him but the 
 whole body of his countrymen, North, South, East and 
 West."^^ 
 
 Mr. Redpath. who has not, in this history, overlooked any 
 favorable opportunity to indulge his penchant, is not a bit dra- 
 matic in his statement of what occurred. He says that when 
 the clerk directed Brown to stand and say why sentence should 
 not be passed upon him, that "he rose and leaned slightly for- 
 ward, his hands resting on the table. He spoke timidly — hes^ 
 itatingly, indeed — and in a voice singularly gentle and mild. 
 But his sentences came confused from his mouth, and he seemed 
 to be wholly unprepared to speak at this time. Types can give 
 
 ■15* Villard, 500. 
 455 Villard, 497. 
 
.578 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 no intiinution of the soft and tender tones, yet calm and manly 
 withal, that filled the Court room. and. I think touched the 
 hearts of many who had come only to rejoice at the heaviest 
 I)lo\v their victim was to suffer." "*^" 
 
 It appears then, that Mr. Villard has framed and o^iven out 
 an exaggeration of the performance; but it is unfortunate 
 that the subject-matter of the speech, fails to measure up to the 
 heit^ht of the exalted standard which has been set for the occa- 
 sion. When one to whom a prodigal biographer has attributed 
 a pair of flashing eagle eyes, draws himself up to his full staturo, 
 and addresses the whole body of his countrymen, he ought to 
 be truthful as well as dramatic. It is bad fonn for an orator un- 
 <lcr such circumstances, to make statements which are not true; 
 it mars the dignity of his utterances, and dwarfs the stateliness 
 of his eloquence. Also, it is embarrassing for a hero to be 
 compelled to retract his more heroic periods, as in this case, 
 after they have "thrilled the world." 
 
 On the 18th of October, Brown, in answer to a question, had 
 distinctly stated to Governor Wise and others, that it was not 
 his purpose to run the slaves out of the country ; but that he 
 "designed to put arms in their hands to defend themselves 
 against their masters, and to maintain their position in Vir- 
 ginia and in the South. That, in the first instance, he expected 
 they and the non-slave-holding whites would flock to his stand- 
 ard as soon as he got a footing there, at Harper's Ferry; and, 
 as his strength increased, he would gradually enlarge the area 
 under his control, furnishing a refuge for the slaves, and a ren- 
 dezvous for all whites who were disposed to aid him, until event- 
 ually he overrun the whole South. . ." *^^ 
 
 Later, when Governor Wise called Brown's attention to the 
 discrepancy between these statements and the statement which 
 he had made in the opening paragraph of his speech to the Court 
 on November 2d, he retracted what he had said to the Court. 
 
 ■♦'•« Redpath, 340. 
 
 ''" Mason Reporl. Ti.»<tinioiiy of Andrew Hunter. 
 
A SOLDIER OF THE CROSS 379 
 
 and w rote the following letter, to Mv. Hunter, explaining the 
 
 dereliction : ■*^'* 
 
 Charlestown, Jefferson County, Va. 
 November 22, 1859. 
 Dear Sni : 1 have just had my attention called to a seem- 
 ing confliction between the statement 1 made to Gov- 
 ernor 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 suffi- 
 cient. 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 sur- 
 prise, as I did not expect my sentence before the others. 
 In the hurry of the moment, I forgot much that I had before 
 intended to say, and did not consider the full bearing of what 
 / then said. I intended to convey the idea, that it was my 
 object to place the slaves in a condition to defend their liber- 
 ties, if they would, unthont any bloodshed, but not that I in- 
 tended to run them out of the slave States. I was not aware 
 of any such apparent confliction until my attention 7i'as 
 called to it, and I do not suppose that a man in my then cir- 
 cumstances should be superhuman in respect to the exact pur- 
 port of every word he might utter. What I said to Gov- 
 ernor Wise was spoken with all the deliberation I was mas- 
 ter of, and zvas intended for the 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 im- 
 pressions I may have given. 
 
 Very respectfully yours, John Brown. 
 
 Andreiv Hunter, Esq., Present, 
 
 Mr. Emer.son. in his oration at the funeral services of Abra- 
 ham Lincoln, held at Concord, April 19th, 1865. saw fit to com- 
 pare Brown's discredited speech with the greatest (^rations of 
 time. He said : 
 
 ^•"'8 Sanborn. 584. 
 
380 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 His speech at Gettysburg will not easily be surpassed by 
 words on any recorded occasion. This and one other Amer- 
 ican speech, that of John Brown to the court that tried him, 
 and a part of Kossuth's speech at Birmingham, can only be 
 compared with each other, and with no fourth.*^^ 
 
 But is this comi^arison really relevant? Will the historian 
 accept Mr. Emerson's comparison of this exhibit of Brown's 
 prevarication, with the immortal words of the immortal Lin- 
 coln ? The speeches are characteristic of the men who uttered 
 them. Mr. Lincoln did not begin his sublime oration with a 
 falsehood. Brown made a speech October 25th, which was 
 truly an heroic utterance and deserving of a place in history.*"^ 
 His words on that occasion, were hurled at his enemies, the 
 ''Virginians" whom he addressed. That speech was as char- 
 acteristic of his splendid courage, as his speech of November 
 2d, was of his craftiness, for John Brown was as brave as he 
 was crafty. 
 
 In a letter to Governor Wise, Mr. Fernando Wood commend- 
 ed him for the firmness and moderation which had characterized 
 the Governor's course in the emergency, and asked, if he dared 
 to "do a bold thing and temper justice with mercy? Have you 
 nerve enough to send Brown to State's Prison instead of hang- 
 ing him?" He thought Brown should not be hung, "though 
 Seward should, and would be if he could catch him." The 
 Governor replied that he had nerve enough to send him to prison 
 and would do so if he didn't think he ought to be hung and that 
 he would be inexcusable for mitigating his punishment. "I 
 could do it," he said, "without flinching, w^ithout a quiver of a 
 muscle against a universal clamor for his life." Continuing he 
 said : "He shall be executed as the law sentences him, and his 
 body shall be delivered over to surgeons, and await the resur- 
 rection without a grave in our soil. I have shown him all the 
 mercy which humanity can claim." ^"^ 
 
 <59 Villard, 646, note 81. 
 *'^° Ante, note 436. 
 *«' Villard, 502. 
 
A SOLDIER OF THE CROSS 381 
 
 Immediately after Brown's incarceration, a movement was 
 started by Mr. Higginson to have Mrs. Brown go to Harper's 
 Ferry to visit her husband. But when the information reached 
 Brown, he peremptorily forbade her coming; w'iring Mr. Hig- 
 ginson : "For God's sake don't let Mrs. Brown come. Send 
 her word by telegraph wherever she is." *"" 
 
 This arbitrary action should not excite surprise. There was 
 no atonement that Brown could make for the ruin which he had 
 wrought : for the dead who would never return. There were 
 no words that he could say which would carry consolation to this 
 woman's stricken heart, nor was it possible for him to make any 
 rift in the clouds of her unutterable woe. He shrank, instinct- 
 ively, from a presence of the bleeding heart of the woman 
 whom he had wronged. November 9th, he wrote to Mr. 
 Hig-ginson : 
 
 If my wife were to come here just now it would ojily tend 
 to distract her mind TEN FOLD ; and would only add to 
 my affliction ; and can not possibly do me any good. It will 
 also use up the scanty means she has to supply Bread & cheap 
 but comfortable clothing, fuel, &c for herself & children 
 through the wijiter. DO PERSUADE her to remain at 
 home for a time (at least) till she can learn further from 
 me. She will receive a thousand times the consolation AT 
 HOME that she can possibly find elsewhere. I have just 
 ziiritten her there & will write her CONSTANTLY. Her 
 presence here would deepen my affliction a thousand fold. I 
 beg of her to be calm and submissive ; & not to go ivild on my 
 account. I lack for nothing & was feeling quite cheerful 
 before I heard she talked of coming on — I ask her to com- 
 pose her mind & to remain quiet till the last of this month ; 
 out of pity to me. I can certainly judge better in the mat- 
 ter than ayiy one ELSE. My warmest thanks to yourself 
 and all other kind friends. 
 
 God bless you all. Please send this line to my afflicted 
 wife by first possible conveyance.*''^ 
 
 «2 Villard, 513. 
 
 *«3 Ihid. "^ 
 
.vS2 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 In a letter addressed to his wife and children, dated Novem- 
 her 8th. he said:"' 
 
 . . . I wrote most earnestly to my dear and afflicted 
 wife not to come on for the present, at any rate. I will now 
 g-ive her my reasons for doing so. First, it would use up 
 all 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 sympathy that is now aroused in your behalf 
 may not always follow you. There is but little more of ihe 
 romantic about helping poor widows and their children than 
 there is about trying to relieve poor "niggers." Again, 
 the little comfort it might afford us to meet agnin would be 
 dearly bought by the pains of a final separation. We must 
 part ; and 1 feel assured for us to meet under such dreadful 
 circumstances would only add to our distress. If she comes 
 on here, she must be only a gazing-stock throughout the 
 whole journey, to be remarked upon in every look, word, and 
 action, and by all sorts of creatures, and by all sorts of pa- 
 pers, throughout the whole country. Again, it is my most 
 decided judgment that in quietly and submissively staying 
 at home vastly more of generous sympathy will reach her, 
 without such dreadful sacrifice of feeling as she must put up 
 with if she comes on. The visits of one or two female friends 
 that have come on here have produced great excitement, 
 which is very annoying ; and they cannot possibly do me any 
 good. Oh, Mary ! do not come, but patiently wait for the 
 meeting of those who love God and their fellow-men, where 
 no separation must follow. "They shall go no more out 
 forever." I greatly long to hear from some one of you, and 
 to learn anything that in any way affects your welfare. 1 
 sent you ten dollars the other day ; did you get it ? I h^.ve 
 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. Mr- 
 ginia. . . 
 
 *6» Sanborn, 5K6. 
 
A SOLDIER OF THE CROSS 383 
 
 The thirty days ensuing November 2(1, were days of great 
 anxiety for the Virginia authorities. It was natural that they 
 should suspect that schemes would be formed to rescue Brown 
 from his impending fate. In this they were not mistaken. In 
 fact the planning to effect his rescue was begun as soon as it 
 became known that he was not seriously wounded; and it is 
 probable that something in this direction might have been at- 
 tempted, if the schemers had received any encouragement from 
 the prisoner. But to the man who had planned and dreamed 
 of conquest, as Brown had planned, and dreamed, their schem- 
 ing was the merest of trifling; they had no conception of daring 
 and striving, as he had dared and striven. As to heroics, he 
 was blase. In the collapse of his great undertaking he had had 
 a surfeit of tragedies and disappointments. The heart of the 
 man of iron was subdued. And there can be no doubt that, at 
 this supreme hour in his life, the world looked small to John 
 Brown. He had toyed with it as with a bauble, and was ready 
 to throw it away. Besides, he had too often measured situa- 
 tions, and calculated the chances for success against formidable 
 odds, to waste any time with adventures such as, in his opinion, 
 his rescuers were capable of executing. Hence, when IMr. 
 Hoyt informed Brown, October 28th, that a plan was being 
 formed to storm the jail and set the prisoners free, he promptly 
 refused to encourage the attempt. Conveying Brown's reply 
 to Mr. Le Barnes, October 30th, Mr. Hoyt wrote : 
 
 There is no chance of his (Brown's) ultimate escape; 
 there is nothing but the most unmitigated failure, and tiie 
 saddest consequences which it is possible to conjure, to ensue 
 upon an attempt at rescue. The country all around is 
 guarded by armed patrols and a large body of troops are con- 
 stantly under arms. If you hear anything about such an 
 attempt, for Heaven's sake do not fail to restrain the enter- 
 prise. 
 
 The planning for his rescue, however, did not cease because 
 Brown disapproved of any attempt being made to execute such 
 
384 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 plans. Mr. Villard, on pages 511 to 528, gives a full and very 
 interesting account of various schemes that were proposed to 
 accomplish something, by force, in Brown's behalf ; as well as of 
 the precautionary measures that were taken by the Virginians 
 to prevent the possibility of a rescue. 
 
 Mr. Stearns, thinking that Charles Jennison was a co-phi- 
 lanthropist, sought to enlist him and James Stewart in one of 
 these schemes. Naturally he received no reply. The plan for 
 another Kansas rescue measure was to be communicated to 
 Brown by a young Kansas woman — Miss Mary Partridge. 
 She was to visit Brown in his cell at Charlestown ; embrace him 
 affectionately and, incidentally, put a paper containing the plan 
 of the rescue into his mouth. "^ 
 
 Mr. Lysander Spooner, of Boston, proposed to kidnap Gov- 
 ernor Wise, carry him out to sea on a fast-going boat, and hold 
 him as a hostage for Brown. Mr. Le Barnes worked out the 
 scheme. He found the man who would undertake to execute 
 the job; and a boat that would steam fifteen to eighteen knots 
 an hour could be had for $5,000 to $7,000. The expedition 
 would cost $10,000 to $15,000. But the necessary funds were 
 not forthcoming and the scheme failed. Another plan was for 
 an open invasion of Jefferson County, Virginia. The volun- 
 teer forces that were coming from Kansas under Colonel Hin- 
 ton, as reported by rumor, were to be consolidated with smaller 
 forces that were being organized in Ohio, under John Brown, 
 Jr., and to these were to be added the "volunteers from New 
 York City and Boston." They were all to unite near Charles- 
 town ; "make a cross country rush on that town and, after free- 
 ing the prisoners, they were to seize the horses of the cavalry 
 companies and escape." "Dr. Howe," it is said, "suggested 
 that tliey be armed with 'Orisini' bombs and hand-grenades, in 
 lieu of artillery." Money was wanted for this campaign, 
 "fifteen hundred or two thousand dollars by Tuesday morning 
 the 29th, and five hundred or a thousand dollars the day after. 
 
 ■'«- Villard, 514. 
 
A SOLDIER OF THE CROSS 385 
 
 Mr. Le Barnes, Mr. James Redpath, and Mr. Sanborn seem 
 to have been at the front, in the promotion of these visionary 
 schemes. Mr. Hoyt, in the meantime, returned from a fruitless 
 mission to Ohio, to raise funds, and reported that no money 
 could be had in that quarter. Upon receiving this report Mr. 
 vSanborn "gave up the undertaking and wired Le Barnes to 
 return." 
 
 October 31st, Brown wrote the following letter to his fam- 
 ily : *«« 
 
 My Dear Wife, & Children Every One 
 
 I suppose you have learned before this by the newspapers 
 that Two weeks ago today we were fighting for our lives at 
 Harpers ferry : that during the fight Watson was mortally 
 wounded ; Oliver killed, Wm. Thompson killed, & Dauphin 
 slightly wounded. That on the following day I was taken 
 prisoner immediately after which I received several Sabre- 
 cuts in my head ; & Bayonet stabs in my body. As nearly 
 as I can learn Watson died of his wound on Wednesday the 
 2d or on Thursday the 3d day after I was taken. 
 
 Dauphin was killed when I was taken ; & Anderson I sup- 
 pose also. I have since been tried, & found guilty of Treas- 
 on, 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 / cmi learn, either killed 
 or taken. Under all these terrible calamities ; I feel quite 
 cheerful in the assurance that God reigns ; & will overrule all 
 for his glory; & the best possible good. I feel no conscious- 
 ness of guilt in the matter ; nor even mortification on account 
 of my imprisonment ; & irons ; & I feel perfectly sure that 
 very soon no member of my family will feel any possible dis- 
 position to "blush on my account." Already dear friends at 
 a distance with kindest sympathy are cheering me with the 
 assurance that posterity at least will do me justice. I shall 
 commend you all together, with my beloved ; but bereaved 
 daughters in law, to their sympathies which I do not doubt 
 will reach you. 
 
 "« Villard, 537. 
 
386 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 I also commend you all to Him "whose mercy endurelli 
 forever:" to the God of my fathers "whose I am; & whom 
 I serve." "He will never leave you nor forsake you," unless 
 you forsake Him. Finally my dearly beloved be of good 
 comfort. Ce sure to remember & to follow my advice & 
 my example too ; so far as it has been consistent with the 
 holy religion of Jesus Christ in which I remain a most firm, 
 & humble believer. Never forget the poor nor think any- 
 thing you bestow on them to be lost, to you even though 
 they may be as black as Ebedmelch the Ethiopean eunuch who 
 cared for Jeremiah in the pit of the dungeon ; or as black 
 as the one to whom Phillip preached Christ. Be sure to en- 
 tertain strangers, for thereby some have — "Remember them 
 that are in bonds as bound -with them." I am in charge of a 
 jailor like the one who took charge of "Paul & Silas" ; & you 
 may rest assured that both kind hearts & kind faces are more 
 or less about me ; whilst thousands are thirsting for my blood. 
 "These ligJit afflictions which are but for a moment shall work 
 out for us a far more exceeding & eternal weight of Glory." 
 I hope to be able to write you again. My wounds are doing- 
 well. Copy this and send it to your sorrow stricken broth- 
 ers, Ruth ; to comfort them. Write me a few words in re- 
 gard to the welfare of all. God Allmighty bless you all; & 
 "make you joyful in the midst of all your tribulations." 
 Write to John Brown Charlestown Jefferson Co. Va, care of 
 Capt John Avis. 
 
 Your affectionate Husband and Father, 
 
 John Brown. 
 
 P. S. Yesterday Nov 2d. I was sentenced to be hanged 
 on Decern 2d next. Do not grieve on my account. I am 
 still quite cheerful. God bless you all. 
 
 Yours ever J. Brown. 
 
 This letter is written in the soft language and in the apparent- 
 ly consecrated spirit that is characteristic of Brown's domestic 
 and social correspondence. But the beauty of his lines is 
 marred, and the sincerity of his purpo.se in putting them forth, 
 as well as his claims to a Christian character, are discredited 
 
A SOLDIER OF THE CROSS 387 
 
 by the falsehoods contained in the openini^ paragraph. Brown 
 was not seriously hurt at Harjier's Ferry. He received two 
 wounds, a light dress-sword cut. on the neck and head, and a 
 sword thrust in the body ■*"'" and these he received, not after he 
 liad been taken prisoner, but while he was yet bravely fighting. 
 Evidence of what he was doing, when he was struck down, 
 appears in a letter which he wrote November 29th. to Mr. J. G. 
 Anderson concerning- one of his captains. He said : *"** 
 
 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. . . 
 
 Brown may have written "the truth concerning his own spirit 
 and composure, in this his first letter from the jail to his fam- 
 ily." '^^'^ but he did not write the truth concerning the character 
 of his wounds, and the conditions under which he received 
 them. 
 
 With the freedom of correspondence that was granted to him 
 came Brown's great opportunity, and the masterful manner in 
 which he quickly turned it to his advantage is one of the marvels 
 of this history. Equipped with a vocabulary of devotional 
 phrases and an ample magazine of biblical quotations, this caged 
 soldier of fortune, the would-be Catiline of his generation, 
 stormed the heights of public opinion ; and disarming righteous- 
 ness of its opposition to wrong, won a moral victory as mar\^el- 
 ous as it was triumphant. These beautifully devotional letters, 
 that stand as monuments, certifying to an humble Christian 
 character, like flights in oratory, were written w^ith regard for 
 the effect which he desired to accomplish, but without regard 
 for the truth of what he uttered. 
 
 The opinion that the letters, which crowned Brown's char- 
 
 *^'' See Appendix II. Recollection of Hon. Alexander R. Botcler of 
 Virginia. 
 
 ■*68 Sanborn. 611. 
 ••eaVillard, 537. 
 
 25 
 
388 JOHX UROWX : A CRITIQL'E 
 
 acter with a dignity akin to sancity. were artfully written, and 
 were not characteristic of him, is not based merely upon a vul- 
 gar suspicion. It finds ample justification in the reckless disre- 
 gard for the truth which prevails throughout the entire series; 
 and in direct evidence. The invasion had failed. Wounded, 
 and a prisoner in irons, with the gallows for his portion. Brown 
 had the opportunty, which solitude affords, to contemplate the 
 terrible disaster which had befallen him : the wreck of his hopes ; 
 the ruin of his family; their utter wretchedness, and the shame 
 and humiliation which they suffered because of him. In his 
 extremity, he planned how best to meet the problems of his en- 
 vironment ; and, substituting the mightier pen for the sword of 
 the great Frederick, which had been stricken from his hand, 
 he began a systematic campaign for a martyr's crown, and for 
 pecuniary assistance for his family, whenever a favorable oppor- 
 tunity presented itself. 
 
 November 10th, he disclosed to his wife the plan of this, his 
 final conception : "I have been whipped as the saying is.'' he 
 said, "but I am sure I can recover all the lost capital occasioned 
 by the disaster ; by only hanging a few moments by the neck ; 
 & I feel determined to make the utmost possible out of a defeat. 
 I am dayly & hourly striving to gather up what little I may 
 from the wreck." *~^ 
 
 In reply to a letter from a kinsman, the Rev. Dr. Humphrey, 
 of Pottsfield, Massachusetts, he wrote November 25th : *'^ 
 I discover that you labor under a mistaken impression as 
 to some important facts which my peculiar circumstances will 
 in all probability 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 is right. But I will here state that 
 I know it to be wholly my own fault as a leader that caused 
 our disaster. . . 
 
 If you do not believe I had a murderous intention (while I 
 
 470Villard, 540. 
 471 Sanborn. 603. 
 
A SOLDIER OF THE CROSS 389 
 
 knozv I had not) why g^rieve so terribly on my account? The 
 scaffold has but few terrors for me. God has often covered 
 my head in the day of battle, and g-ranted me many times 
 deliverances that were almost so miraculous that I can scarce 
 realize the truth ; and now, when it seems quite certain that 
 he intends to use me 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." . . 
 October 27th, a Quaker lady wrote to Brown from Newport, 
 Rhode Island : ''- 
 
 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. 
 
 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 now had 
 the eloquence of Portia, how I would turn the scale in thy 
 favor ! But I can only pray "God bless thee !" God pardon 
 thee and through our Redeemer give thee safety and hap- 
 piness now and always! From thy friend. E. B. 
 Posing as if in the shadow of the sheltering- wings of the 
 Almisrhtv, answering this letter. Brown asserted that he had 
 been the special instrument on earth of a militant Christ, to 
 execute the divine will in Kansas ; and incidentally solicited a 
 contribution for his family. He said : *" 
 
 . . . 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 wield- 
 
 *'- Sanborn, 581. 
 *'3 Sanborn. 582. 
 
390 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 ing the "sword of the spirit" on the right hand and on the 
 left. I bless God that it proves "mighty to the pulling down 
 of strongholds." I always loved my Quaker friends and I 
 commend to their regard my poor bereaved widowed wife 
 and my daughters and daughters-in-law, whose husbands fell 
 at my side. One is a mother and the other likely to become 
 so soon. They, as well as my own sorrow stricken daugh- 
 ters, are left very poor, and have much greater need of sym- 
 pathy than I. who through Infinite Grace, and the great 
 kindness of strangers, am "joyful in all my tribulations." 
 
 Dear Sister, write to them at North Elba, Essex County, 
 N. Y., to comfort their sad hearts. Direct to Mary A. 
 Brown, wife of John Brown. . . 
 
 It may be said of this unsophisticated woman, whose heart 
 was touched by a sympathy undeserved, that if she liad known 
 what took place at the humble cabin of the Doyles on the night 
 of May 24, 1856, when the murderous sword, which Brown 
 says Christ placed in his hands, was run through Doyle's breast, 
 (while others of the party secured the helpless widow's and 
 orphans' horses) she would not have made her contribution to 
 this history. Also. Brown's letter to this woman may be taken 
 as an exhibit or sample of the sacrilege and artful dissimulation 
 that is characteristic of his prison correspondence. And, since 
 his claims to sincerity of purpose, and a devotion to humanity 
 depend largely upon this correspondence, it discloses the fiction, 
 wherewith his fame has been promoted. November 29th he 
 wrote to his friend, Mrs. George L. Stearns: *'* 
 
 My Dear Friend, — No letter I have received since my 
 imprisonment here, has given me more satisfaction, or com- 
 fort, than yours of the 8, instant. I am quite cheerful ; & 
 was never more happy. Mave only time to write a word. 
 May God forever reward you & all yours. My love to All 
 who love their neighbors. I have asked to be spared from 
 having any mock; or hypocritical prayers made over me, 
 when I am publicly murdered: & that my only religions at- 
 
 474 Sanborn, 610. 
 
A SOLDIER OF THE CROSS 391 
 
 tcndantsha poor little, dirty, ragged, bareheaded & barefooted 
 Slave Boys ; & Girls led by some old gray-headed Slave Moth- 
 er. Farewell. Farewell. 
 
 The last paper written by John Brown was handed to one of 
 his guards in the jail on the morning' of his execution. It 
 read : *'^ 
 
 I John Brown, am now quite eertain 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 blood-shed it might be done. 
 
 November 24th Governor Wise wrote to General Taliaferro, 
 giving him directions as follows : 
 
 Keep full guard on the line of the frontier from ]\Iar- 
 tinsburg to Harper's Ferry, on the day of 2d. Dec. Warn 
 the inhabitants to arm and keep guard and patrol on that day 
 and for days beforehand. These orders are necessary to 
 prevent seizures of hostages. Warn the inhabitants to stay 
 away and especially to keep the women and children at home. 
 Prevent all strangers, and especially all parties of strangers, 
 from proceeding to Charlestown on 2d of Dec. To this 
 end station a guard at Harper's Ferry sufficient to control 
 crowds on the cars from the East and West. Form two 
 concentric squares around the gallows, and have a strong 
 guard at the jail and for escort to execution. Let no crowd 
 be near enough to the prisoner to hear any speech he may 
 attempt. Allow no more visitors to be admitted to the 
 jail.*^« . 
 
 Appealing to the President for troops Governor Wise stated 
 that he had reason to believe that an attempt would ''be made to 
 rescue the prisoners, and if that fails then to seize citizens of 
 this State as hostages and victims in case of execution." *'' 
 
 In addition to the Virginia militia assembled at Charlestown 
 December 2d. were a detachment, 264 men. from the Artillery 
 
 ■•" Sanborn, 620. 
 4'«Villard, 523. 
 *" Villard, 527. 
 
392 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 Corps, United States army, and the corps of cadets from the 
 Virginia Mihtary Institute at Lexington. These organizations 
 were commanded, respectively, by two men who were soon to 
 win great renown ; whose names were to become famous in the 
 world's history for deeds of military glory : Colonel Robert E. 
 Lee and Prof. Thomas J. Jackson. 
 
 From the home of Mr. J. M. ^^IcKim. in Philadelphia, No- 
 vember 21st, Mrs. Brown addressed a letter to the Governor 
 asking for the "mortal remains of my husband and his sons" 
 for burial, to which he replied as follows : ^'^ 
 
 I am hapiiy. Madam, that you seem to have the wisdom 
 and virtue to appreciate my position of duty. Would to Go<l 
 that "public considerations could avert his doom." for The 
 Omniscient knows that I take not the slightest pleasure in 
 the execution of any whom the laws condemn. May He 
 have mercy on the erring and the afflicted. 
 
 Enclosed is an order to Major Genl. Wm. B. Taliaferro, 
 in command at Charlestown, Va. to deliver to your order, the 
 mortal remains of your husband "when all shall be over" ; 
 to be delivered to your agent at Harper's Ferry; and if you 
 attend the reception in person, to guard you sacredly in your 
 solemn mission. 
 
 With Tenderness and Truth, I am 
 Very respectfully, your humble servant, 
 
 Henry A. Wise. 
 
 Under the authority of this letter. Mrs. Brown, in company 
 with Mrs. :McKim and Mr. Hector Tyndale, arrived at Har- 
 per's Ferry, November 30th. There she received a telegram 
 from the Governor giving her permission to visit her husband, 
 alone, on the following day. stipulating that she return to Har- 
 per's Ferry the same evening. She was, accordingly, driven 
 to Charlestown the next afternoon in care of an escort — a ser- 
 geant and eight men — of the Faucpiier Cavalry, a captain of 
 infantry occupying a seat beside her. Wlien the time came for 
 
 <78 Villard, 549. 
 
A SOLDIER OF THE CROSS 393 
 
 her to return, Brown begged that her visit might be extended 
 until morning, but, under his orders, the general in command 
 could not grant this request. The hour for the final parting 
 had come ; the heart-broken woman, with her grief, returned to 
 Harper's Ferry to await the tragedy of the tomorrow. 
 
 December 2d, about an hour before his execution. Brown 
 disposed of the wreckage of his campaign supplies in a "will 
 and codicil" which were written for him by Mr. Hunter."'"' It 
 provided that all his property, being personal property, "which 
 is scattered about in the States of Virginia and Maryland," 
 should be carefully gathered up by his executor and "disposed 
 of to the best advantage and the proceeds thereof paid over to 
 his beloved wife, Mary A. Brown." He trusted that his right 
 to such articles as were not of a "war-like character" and all 
 other property that he might be entitled to might be respected. 
 He appointed Sheriff James W. Campbell, "Executor of this 
 my true last Will, hereby revoking all others." The document 
 was sealed, and witnessed by John Avis, the jailer, and Andrew 
 Hunter. 
 
 At 10 :30 Brown was notified by the sheritY to prepare for the 
 execution. He then visited his late companions in arms. To 
 all except Hazlett and Cook, he gave such adieux as he could, 
 in view of the painful circumstances into which he had led them. 
 Hazlett he had refused to recognize when he was first brought 
 before him in the prison, and continued to the end to deny that 
 he had been a member of his band. As to Cook, the relations 
 between them were not cordial. He had stated in his "con- 
 fession" that Brown had sent him to Harper's Ferry in June, 
 1858. This Brown denied; and charged Cook with having 
 made false statements, saying, "you know I protested against 
 your coming." To which Cook replied: "Captain Brown, 
 you and I remember differently." Cook may have asked for 
 the Harper's Ferrv detail, but Brown must have consented to 
 
 -•sVillard, 669. 
 
394 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 the arrangement, iov he furnished the money to defray the ex- 
 penses of his going- thereto. Cook secured valuable informa- 
 tion there, which he reported to Brown, including, among other 
 things, a census of the slave population of that vicinity.^'*" 
 
 The spectacle which met Brown's gaze as he stepped upon the 
 porch from the door of the jail on his way to the scaffold, could 
 not otherwise than recall to his mind the dreams of conquest and 
 of military glory which he had cherished. Three thousand men 
 — infantry, cavalry, and artillery — were under arms. In ad- 
 miration of the display — for the "street was full of marching 
 men," he said : "I had no idea that Governor Wise considered 
 my execution so important." **^^ and for that reason, ]\Ir. Vil- 
 lard says, "no little slave-child was held up for the benison of his 
 lips, for none but soldiery was near." 
 
 The undertaker's wagon, a tw^o seated vehicle, drawn by 
 two white horses, stood near, the driver and undertaker occu- 
 pying the front seat. Brown took his place in the second seat 
 between the sheriff — Campbell — and his jailer. Avis. The 
 party then moved to the place of execution. The escort, under 
 the command of Colonel T. P. August, consisted of a company 
 of cavalry under Captain Scott, and a battalion of infantry under 
 Major Loring. On the way to the field. Brown spoke only of 
 unimportant things, the weather and the scenery. "This is a 
 beautiful country." he is reported to have said, "I never had the 
 pleasure of seeing it before." It was a solemn procession, and 
 was void of any effects in heroic phraseology. 
 
 The time was ripe for the final metamorphosis of John Brown. 
 A blow of a hatchet cut the cord that linked him to earthly 
 things: The Soldier of Fortune became the historical Soldier 
 of the Cross. 
 
 **" Mason Report, 47. 
 "8' Villard, 554. 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 "yet shall he live" 
 
 Much ado about iiofliiiin'. 
 
 — Shakespeare 
 
 John Brown's fame is an unearned increment. It was se- 
 cured by misrepresentations put forth by himself and members 
 of his family, and by the Disunionists — "Union-splitters" — 
 of his time, who inspired his final actions. Through these agen- 
 cies he acquired a creditable rating in history; not because of 
 the things which he did ; nor because of the things which he 
 sought to do ; but because of the things which were said about 
 him ; and because of the things which were done to him. His 
 fame is the result of an exploitation, in eloquent phrases, of 
 virtues, purposes, and motives, which were attributed to him. 
 It has thus been overcapitalized. The stock was watered. In 
 respect to the truth of history, his fame is all "water." It was 
 not based upon fact, but upon fancy ; upon untenable conclusions 
 concerning his character, and wildly extravagant and irrele\'ant 
 assumptions concerning his emotions. These are the sole as- 
 sets to be found in the appraisement of his public estate. 
 
 Of him Mr. Redpath said, /;; part : 
 
 He was too large a man to stand on any platform. He 
 
 planted his feet on the Rock of Ages — the Eternal truth — 
 
 and was therefore never shaken in his policy or principles. 
 He scouted the idea of rest while he held a commission 
 
 direct from God /\lmighty to act against Slavery. . . 
 Where the Republicans said. Halt! John Brown shouted, 
 
 Forward ! to the rescue ! He was an abolitionist of the 
 
 Bunker Hill school. 
 
396 JOHN BROWX: A CRITIQUE 
 
 It did not concern Mr. Redpath that the "Bunker Hill" school 
 of abolitionists were themselves slave-holders. 
 
 Mr. Thoreau. who was also a Union-splitter, said: 
 
 No man in America has ever stood up so persistently 
 for the dignity of human nature, knowing himself for man 
 and the equal of any and all governments. He could not 
 have been tried by his peers, for his peers did not exist. 
 
 He did not go to Harvard. He was not fed on the pap 
 that is there furnished, but he went to the University of 
 the West where he studied the science of Liberty, and hav- 
 ing taken his degree, he finally commenced the practice of 
 humanity in Kansas. 
 
 Of Thoreau, M.r. Alcott wrote in his diary, Saturday, No- 
 vember 5, 1859 : 
 
 . . . Thoreau talks freely and enthusiastically about 
 Brown, denouncing the Union, the President, the States, 
 and N'irginia particularly ; wishes to publish his late speech, 
 and has seen Boston publishers, but failed to find any to 
 print it for him.'*^^ 
 
 Mr. Sanbom said : 
 
 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 over- 
 throw the bulwark of oppression in America. 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 enterprise that he engaged in land- 
 speculations and wool-merchandise for the next ten or twelve 
 years. . . Other men might have been spared but Brown 
 was indispensable. ^^^ 
 
 Said Wendell Phillips : 
 
 God makes him the text, and all he asks of our compara- 
 tively cowardly lips is to preach the sermon, and say to the 
 
 '»2 Sanborn, 506. 
 
 **3 Sanborn, Recollecliuns of Scx'enty Years, 75. 
 
"YET SHALL HE LIVE" . 397 
 
 American people that, whether this old man succeeded in a 
 worldly sense or not, he stood as a representative of law, of 
 government, of right, of justice, of religion, and they were 
 pirates that gathered about him, and sought to wreak venge- 
 ance by taking his life. The banks of the Potomac are 
 doubly dear now to History and to Man ! The dust of 
 Washington rests there ; and History will see forever on that 
 river side the brave old man on his pallet, whose dust, when 
 God calls him hence, the Father of his Country would be 
 proud to make room for beside his own. 
 
 Mr. Higginson said : 
 
 Such men as he needed are not to be found ordinarily ; 
 
 they must be reared. John Brown did not merely look for 
 
 men, therefore, he reared them in his sons. 
 
 John A. Andrew, who did not believe that Brown was present 
 or in any way connected witli the robberies and murders on the 
 Pottawatomie, said : 
 
 Whatever may be thought of John Brown's acts. John 
 
 Broken himself icas right. 
 
 The Rev. Theodore Parker, who believed in slave insurrec- 
 tions and their horrors, wrote : 
 
 Let the American State hang his body and the American 
 
 Church damn his soul. Still, the blessing of such as are 
 
 ready to perish will fall on him, and the universal justice of 
 
 the Infinitely Perfect God will make him welcome home. 
 
 The load to heaven is as short from the gallows as from the 
 
 throne. 
 
 Mr. Emerson said : 
 
 That new saint, than whom none purer or more brave was 
 
 ever led by love of men into conflict and death — the new 
 
 saint awaiting his martyrdom, and who, if he shall suffer, 
 
 will make the gallows glorious like the cross. 
 
 Into a carnival of rhetoric so picturesque, Mr. John James 
 Ingalls could not fail to enter the lists and compete for the prize. 
 Poising his shining lance he delivered this thrust : 
 
398 JOHN BROWX: A CRITIQUE 
 
 But the three men of this era who will loom forever 
 against the remotest horizon of time, as the pyramids 
 above the voiceless desert, or the mountain peaks above the 
 subordinate plains, are Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant 
 and Old John Brown of Osawatomie. 
 \^ictor Hugo said : 
 
 The punishment of John Brown may consolidate slavery in 
 Virginia, but it will certainly shatter the American Democ- 
 racy. You preserve your shame but you kill your glory. 
 Similar exhibits, in the hyperbolical optimism that constitutes 
 this promotion by wind, might be added hereto indefinitely; for 
 the output of such fantastical flights was limited only by the 
 boundaries of taste and imagination. Probably the best things 
 have been said. But that does not whollv discourage the later 
 generations. Emulation in the phrase making competition still 
 places a premium upon inconsistency. Mr. Villard said fifty 
 years after: 
 
 In Virginia, John Brown atoned for Pottawatomie by the 
 nobility of his philosophy and his sublime devotion to prin- 
 ciple, even on the gallows. 
 
 Perhaps nowhere else than in the peculiar philosophy of those 
 who attribute virtue to Brown as a motive for vice, may we 
 find nobility in dissimulation ; atonement without reconciliation : 
 and the sublimity of devotion to principle in the denial of the 
 truth. Awaiting death in the Charlestown jail. Brown denied 
 that he had been a party to the murders and the robberies on the 
 Pottawatomie ; and went from the gallows into the presence of 
 the Almighty to answer for both his participation in that horror 
 and for his repeated denials of having been personally concerned 
 in it."'" 
 
 December 10, 1911, Mr. Clyde McGee, of Chicago, said, 
 among many other worked-over things : 
 
 It grew upon him as he prayed, for John Brown was a 
 
 «« Villard. 545. 
 
"YET SHALL HE LIVE" 399 
 
 man who talked with God as coiitidcntly as a friend speaketh 
 with friend.''*'^ 
 
 When Brown and his sons ])lanncd, during March and April 
 and May, 1856, to steal Doyle's, and Wilkinson's, and other 
 settlers' horses and leave the country ; they planned, as a pre- 
 cautionary measure, to hrst make widows and orphans of the 
 wives and children of these men, and then to steal the horses ; 
 not from the dead men, but from the weeping women and help- 
 less children. Who think you talked with Brown and his swag- 
 gering sons as "friend speaketh with friend" during the time 
 their plans were being made for these assassinations and rob- 
 beries, and while they executed them : The Almighty, or the 
 Devil ? Brow-n was not sure who it was that prompted him 
 to incite the slaves to strike for their liberty, by assassinating 
 tlieir masters. He answered Mr. V^allandigham at Harper's 
 Ferry : 
 
 No man sent me here ; it was my own prompting and that 
 of my Maker, or that of the Devil ; whichever you please to 
 ascribe it to. I acknowledge no master in human form.*^*^ 
 Kansas has done much in honor of John Brown. An asso- 
 ciation, organized for the purpose, erected a stately monument 
 at Osawatomie, which was dedicated to his memory August 30, 
 1877, by Kansas' most picturesque orator and statesman, the 
 late John James Ingalls. Later, the patriotic women connected 
 with the society of the Grand Army of the Republic, in Kansas, 
 purchased the site of the Battle of Osawatomie, for a "State 
 Park" ; which was dedicated, as such, by ex-President Theo- 
 dore Roosevelt, August 30, 1910. Also, the State Legislature 
 of 1895. authorized a society to place a statue of Brown in the 
 national hall of fame, Statuary Hall, in the rotunda of the 
 national capitol ; thus, to the world, certifying his life and public 
 services to have been the most conspicuous and illustrious of all 
 
 485 Xh^ Chicago Reminder, vol. x, no. 5. 
 ^»6 Villard. 457. 
 
400 JOHN BROWX : A CRITIQUE 
 
 its citizens. The text of the resoUition concerning this statue 
 is as follows : 
 
 Whereas, The Lincoln Sailors' and Soldiers' National 
 Monument Association now has in process of construction a 
 statue or monument of John Brown ; and 
 
 Whereas, Said association has made application to the 
 authorities at Washington to have such monument put in 
 statuary hall in the capitol building, and has been advised by 
 the general government that before this permission could be 
 granted a request from the legislature of the State of Kansas 
 would be necessary : therefore, be it 
 
 Resolved by the House of Reprcsentatk'cs, the Senate Con- 
 eurring therein, That we hereby request the proper author- 
 ities in charge of the United States Statuary hall, at Wash- 
 ington, D. C, to permit such monument to be placed therein ; 
 be it further 
 
 Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be forwarded 
 to each of our senators and representatives in Washington, 
 D. C. 
 
 For a reason unexplained by his later biographers, the au- 
 thority to confer this honor upon Brown — the highest honor 
 within the power of the State to bestow — was never exercised ; 
 a delinquency which excites a suspicion that the resolution 
 stated conditions, as existing, which did not exist. 
 
 At the head of the schedule of assumptions concerning the 
 innocence of Brown's intentions, the purity of his motives, and 
 the exaltation of his devotion to humanity, is his "martyrdom." 
 This item has been illuminated with a halo of holiness. As 
 "Christ died to make men holy," so Brown is said to have died 
 to "make meti free." No one has claimed that Hugh Forbes 
 was an humanitarian, or other than an adventurer. Yet in 
 relation to Brown's insurrection, the minds of the two men — 
 John Brown and Hugh Forbes — met in full accord ; there was 
 agreement between them. Together they planned the invasion 
 of the South, for the promotion of their personal fortunes. 
 
"YET SHALL HE LIVE" 401 
 
 Their aims, their ambitions, and their hopes were identical. 
 If Brown's exchequer had been ami)le, Forbes too would have 
 appeared at Harper's Ferry and there would have been a pair 
 of martyrs there : "Two of a kind." 
 
 The logic of the fiction of his martyrdom is founded upon 
 the assumption that Brown held an option upon his life which 
 he elected to forfeit ; and that he offered it as a sacrifice : that 
 he chose to die, as the Redeemer of Men died ; and in thus dy- 
 ing made "the gallows glorious like the cross." Brown did not 
 contemplate dying at Harper's Ferry any more than did Hugh 
 Forbes, or Stevens, or Cook, or Kagi ; and he would not have 
 died at Charlestown if he could have controlled the event. 
 These men knew that some of tliem would, probably, die, but 
 each passed the subject over lightly, believing that in some in- 
 scrutable way, if fatalities occurred, it would be some of the 
 others who would fall. Alen of their type "die but once." 
 Brown accepted the chances of war as did his followers, and as 
 Forbes sought the opportunity of doing. Men who have sim- 
 ilarly risked their lives, times almost without number, are not 
 impressed by such martyrdoms. To his faithful Sanborn. 
 Brown wrote : "I am now rather anxious to live for a few 
 years." *^^ He desired to live to organize, and to command 
 the anny of the Provisional Government : and to be the head of 
 a new nation : a new "LTnited States." He hoped for longevity, 
 that he might wear the honors and enjoy the fame and the 
 emoluments of his prospective achievement. 
 
 The years of Brown's life were a constant, persistent, stren- 
 uous struggle to get money. As to the means which should 
 be employed in the getting of it, he was indifferent. In his 
 philosophy, results were paramount ; the means to the end were 
 of no consequence. A stranger to honor, he violated every con- 
 fidence that should be held sacred among men : and in his avarice 
 trampled upon every law, moral and statute, human and Di- 
 *»« Ante, note 281. 
 
402 JOHN BROWN : A CRITIQUE 
 
 \ine. Consistent with the speculative instinct so distinctly 
 characteristic of his life, his greatest or principal object was to 
 get money, and to get it quickly. 
 
 Mr. Villard asserts that Brown's greatest or principal obiert 
 was to assault slavery, and so entitles an important chapter in 
 the recent biograi)hy. .Assuming liis ]>rcmises to be correct, he 
 commences the chapter with this inquiiw: 
 
 When was it that John Brown, practical shepherd, tanner, 
 farmer, surveyor, cattle expert, real-estate speculator and 
 wool merchant, first conceived what he calls in his autobio- 
 graphy "his greatest or principal object" in life — the forci- 
 ble overthrow of slavery in his native land ? The question is 
 not an idle one, etc.**® 
 
 The question, nevertheless, is an idle one. During the in- 
 terview^ which Brown gave out at Harper's Ferry, October 
 18th, ]\Ir. Vallandigham asked him this pointed question: 
 "How long have you been engaged in this business?" '*®° To 
 which Brown replied : 
 
 From the breaking out of the difficulties in Kansas. Four 
 
 of my sons had gone there to settle and they wanted me to 
 
 go."®^ 
 
 Also, Brown stated over his signature, in March, 1859, that 
 it w'as "since 1855" that it had been his judgment that the way 
 to successfully oppose slavery "would be to meddle directly 
 with the peculiar institution." ^"^ That he had the subject 
 under consideration prior to 1845 is expressly discredited by 
 Brown, in his autobiography, in the statement that he was 
 "averse to military affairs"; that he refused to "train or drill; 
 but paid fines & got along like a Quaker until his age finally 
 cleared him of military duty." *®^ 
 
 ^«s Villard. 42. 
 ■•90 Sanborn, 562. 
 
 ••''•' Mr. Villard omits this question and answer from his account of the 
 interview. 
 
 *^2Aiite. note ,340. 
 ■*93 Autobiography, 433. 
 
"VKT SIlAlJv HE LIVE" 403 
 
 The record of lirown's life, prior to 1857. is barren of any 
 contemporaneous expression by him or by any member of his 
 family which even remotely siij^j^ests the possibility that he 
 mig-ht have contemplated attemptinjj^ a forcible assaitit at^^ainst 
 slavery. Jf his mind had been preoccupied with a desire of 
 such overshado\vin£y importance the fact would have shone in 
 the letters which he wrote to his children January 23. and Aui^- 
 ust 0. 1852. relatin«^ to the conduct of their lives. '*'•'* 'Phere is 
 much, however, in this history which discredits the assumption 
 that he gave the subject any consideration whatever. A man 
 whose life was a "burning" devotion to an ambition so heroic 
 as to become the "David of the Goliath of Slavery." ^''-' ought 
 to have shown some personal interest in the matter: he should 
 not have left it wholly to his panegyrists. It appears however 
 that the peaceful "tanner and shepherd" was so unconscious of 
 having any object in life worth living for that he "felt," during 
 this time, "a strong and steady desire to die" ; *''** a condition of 
 mind wholly inconsistent with heroism or with one "burning" 
 to bear amis, or with a "man of w^ar emerging from the chrys- 
 alis of peace." "'*' The assumptions upon which Mr. Villard re- 
 lies for the relevancy of his question are gratuitous. The 
 chajner is a scholarly example, put forth by a scholar, of the art 
 of making "much ado about nothing." 
 
 It would be proper to say that the conquest of the Southern 
 States was the greatest or principal undertaking in Brown's 
 career, and that it was in 1857 that he first planned to attempt 
 it. His capture of Pate's horses and mules at Black Jack in 
 June: and the days which he spent in stealing- cattle, at and 
 around Osawatomie. during the last days of August, 1856 : and 
 his plundering in Missouri and Kansas in 1858, may be called 
 meddling with slavery : though grafting upon the anti-slavery 
 
 ■*9* Villard. 69-70. 
 •*»•• Villard, 56. 
 ■*•■"' Ante, note 281. 
 -•s- Villard, 50. 
 
404 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 sentiment of the time, would more accurately describe the re- 
 lation, if any. of his operations to slavery. 
 
 There was this difference between Nat Turner and John 
 Brown: the negro was a religious fanatic; he was sincere 
 and consistent. Falsehood, deception, greed, selfishness, are 
 not attributes of fanaticism, but they are characteristic of 
 Brown's life. The sincerity of his "death-bed" professions of 
 godliness, and of sympathy for the men in bondage, is discred- 
 ited by the actions of a lifetime as conspicuous for its turpitude 
 as it was barren of virtues. Neither charitable deed, nor mani- 
 festation of a benevolent, or of a patriotic spirit, appears, even 
 incidentally, along the lines of his life, to break the monotone of 
 selfishness that distinguishes it. In i)ublic alTairs he took no 
 part worthy of consideration. 
 
 Air. Gill gave up a view of his natural or unassumed per- 
 sonality that is consistently discreditable, and Brown's corre- 
 spondence is a confirmation of that estimate. It teaches the 
 lesson that he administered his deportment to suit the circum- 
 stances of the occasion existing at the time ; and that it covered 
 the entire range of the various phases of human intercourse; 
 from that of a coarse, brutal vulgarity, to the saintliness of his 
 latest metamorphosis ; from the use of language so distinctly 
 vulgar and obscene, as to be, in the opinion of the writer, un- 
 printable.*"'* to the crafty assumptions of godliness contained 
 in his letter to the innocent Quakeress.*'''^ 
 
 BrowMi was crafty in the sublimest degree of the art. His 
 craftiness was a distinction. It will be difficult to find in our 
 literature a more interesting example of the refinements of the 
 art than the piece which he set for Mrs. Stearns: his "Old 
 Brown's Farewell : to the Plymouth Rocks ; Bunker Hill Monu- 
 ments; Charter Oaks; and Uncle Toms Cabbins." In the set- 
 ting, and in the dramatic execution of the play, he exhibited the 
 
 '9** Mason Report, 220. Testimony of Augustus Wattles ; letter of 
 April 8, 1857. 
 
 •»»9 Letter to Mrs. Iv B.. Xoveniber 1st, anie, note 473. 
 
"YET SHALL HE LIVE" 405 
 
 perfection of the actor. The paper was not drawn for Mr. 
 Parker to read to his congregation. Brown was not "casting 
 his pearls before swine." It was for Mrs. Stearns personally 
 that the {)aper was written ; it was her heart that he intended to 
 touch, and her generous emotions that he intended to prey upon. 
 How successfully he played the part she has related.'^"'* 
 
 Of Brown, it may be truthfully said that within the limits of 
 his resources, he did nothing in a small way, nor did he move 
 with a faint heart. With him, there was neither halting nor 
 triHing in action. He was consistently an adventurer. His 
 theology scorned all creeds. Without capital he was a plunger 
 among speculators. The deception which he practiced upon 
 the New England Woolen Company netted him a fortune little 
 below the average of that period. In the commission business 
 he was an acrobat, rather than a merchant ; his operations were 
 a series of feats in commercial gymnastics. Chafing because 
 of the restrictions of an extreme poverty that kept him "like a 
 toad under a harrow," he determined to burst the bands of his 
 environment, and there was a massacre in the valley of the Pot- 
 tawatomie out of which he rode with a herd of horses. And 
 he would have ridden away from Black Jack with Pate's horses 
 and mules, if Pate had not deceived him, and led him to believe 
 that he held his sons — John and Jason — prisoners, as host- 
 ages. A guerrilla leader for six days, he drove two hundred 
 and fifty head of cattle into his camp at Osawatomie, and in 
 1858. as a Kansas raider, he dwarfed the operations of James 
 Montgomery. In the East, as a crafty imposter and grafter, he 
 secured $30,000 in cash and plunder, and attempted a coup 
 upon the Legislatures of Massachusetts and New York for 
 $200,000 more. And then, within one year from the date of 
 the outburst of his determination to be freed from poverty, he 
 indulged hopes of a successful conquest : hopes of riches and 
 of fame. An habitual cruelty in his domestic life, which is more 
 
 ^^^Ante, note 233. 
 
406 JOHN BROWN: A CRITIQUE 
 
 than hinted at by his friend and confidant, George R. Gill, 
 nened his hand to execute the ferocious butchery of his neigh- 
 bors on the Pottawatomie, and steeled his heart to incite the 
 slaves at Harper's Ferry to emulate the example of Southamp- 
 ton. His attempt at revolution was not the result of a previous 
 conviction and consecration to duty and to the cause of human- 
 itv, but of a growth — the indulgence and development of an 
 abnormal passion for speculation: the culmination downward 
 of his speculative and criminal instincts. Closing a commercial 
 sas indulging the reasonable hope that in the new country he 
 would find op])ortunity to improve his condition. In the horses 
 owned by the Shermans, and by other well-to-do neighbors, he 
 saw, and grasjjed, the opportunity — a desperate one — to 
 make a "coup to restore his fortunes." Out of that plunge in 
 robbery and murder came the leader of a gang of horse thieves 
 — the chrysalis of the guerrilla captain of Osawatomie. 
 
 Driven out of the Territory by the establishment of order, the 
 crafty marauder raided the East as the militant defender of 
 Kansas. In the practice of his impositions there, he met and 
 established confidential relations with men wdio plotted against 
 the life of the nation : men who planned how to provoke a revo- 
 lution ; liow best to "split the L'nion" ;''"' men who wished "suc- 
 cess to every slave insurrection." From this atmosphere, preg- 
 nant with the sentiment of disloyalty to the Union, Brown de- 
 rived the inspiration which encouraged him to plan to do what 
 his mentors had not the courage to undertake. Out of his nego- 
 tiations with them came money; munitions of w'ar: Hugh 
 Forbes, the revolutionist ; mutual planning for a revolution, and 
 a dream of empire. 
 
 John Brown will live in history; but his name will not be 
 found among the names of those who have wrought for hu- 
 manity and for righteousness ; or among the names of the mar- 
 
 &"! Sanborn to Higginson, ante, note 248. 
 
"virr SHALL htc livi'V 407 
 
 tyrs and the saints who "washed their rohes and made them 
 white in the hlood of tiie Lamb."' 
 
 ''\E'V SILALL HE LlVl'V: but it will be as a soldier of 
 fortune, an adventurer. He will take his place in history as 
 such ; and will rank among adventurers as Napoleon ranks 
 among marshals; as Captain Kidd among pirates: and as Jon- 
 athan \\'ild among thieves. 
 
APPENDICES 
 
APPENDIX I 
 
 CORRESPOM)E\XE WITH THE LATE I). W. WILDER CON- 
 CERNING JOHN BROWN 
 
 Topeka, Kansas, Dec. 18th, 1902. 
 General D. W. Wilder. ' 
 
 Hiawatha, Kansas. 
 My Dear General: 
 
 I would like to have you kindly tell me something valuable 
 about John Brown. I listened to your tribute to his memory, 
 read before the Historical Society on the 2nd inst. It recalled the 
 admiration which I entertained for the "Old Hero" throughout the 
 many years of my life ; from young manhood up to about four years 
 ago ; when I attempted to write a sketch of his life. It was in read- 
 ing up to obtain data for this sketch that the idol, which my credu- 
 lity, I suppose, or imagination had set up, went utterly to pieces in 
 my hands. I read faithfully what his biographers, Sanborn, and 
 Redpath, and the other fellows, have written about him. but none 
 of them give up any valuable facts. They all seem to be long on 
 eulogy. They do overtime on that. The whole performance is 
 a continuous eulogium ; but historical facts, upon which to pred- 
 icate a story, or upon which his "immortal fame" is supposed to 
 rest, are painfully lacking. . . These are some of the things which 
 I went up against when I tried in good faith to write about him, 
 and they broke me all up, so I had to quit. John Brown, the 
 "Hero" and "Martyr," is a creation — Charlestown furnished a 
 simple text and the genius of his generation did the rest. The 
 brilliant minds of this age have exploited him in literary effects, 
 in prose, in poetry and oratory. They have placarded him "upon 
 the walls of time" ; but I am compelled to believe that his fame 
 thus acquired, will not survive. The '"why" may "repel the phil- 
 osophic searcher," but it cannot "defy" the historical searchers. 
 History has no enigmas. 
 
412 APPENDICES 
 
 I will be very glad indeed to have your opinions on this business. 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 Hill P. Wilson. 
 
 In this letter the writer asked Mr. Wilder for his opinion upon 
 
 Brown's motives in their relation to several incidents that occurred 
 
 in his life. Ilis reply is as follows: ^ 
 
 Hiawatha. Kansas, Dec. 20. 1902. 
 My Dkar Wilson : 
 
 . You have stood on various platforms and made many 
 
 political speeches. Did any of them endorse the sentiments you 
 
 now hold? The elder Booth, a man of genius, once staggered up 
 
 to the footlights and said to the crowded house: "You are all 
 
 drunk," and staggered off. 
 
 You think the people of your county, your state, your country 
 and of the civilized world, including its noblest spirits, do not know 
 a hero, an emancipator — first of his state, then of his nation. 
 Only one Kansan has made a speecli that thrilled the world and 
 is immortal. You never read it. Only one Kansan lives in poe- 
 try, in song, in human hearts, and is the constant theme of the 
 historian, the dramatist, the man of letters. You think he was a 
 fool. The whole world has pronounced its verdict on John Brown. 
 Yours truly, D. W. Wilder. 
 
 To this letter the writer replied: 
 
 Topeka, Kans., January 3, 1903. 
 My De.\r Gf:neral: 
 
 Your letter of the 20th ult., is received. I told you that I had 
 gone the limit of my vocabulary in expressing my admiration of 
 John Brown. I read the "speech that thrilled the world." I 
 have read the poetry and have sung the songs. I make the point 
 that the speeches, the poetry, and the songs are all there is behind 
 John Brown. When I asked you about some historical facts, you 
 gave me more oratory. It seems to have become a habit. If you 
 ever analyze this man's character, you will reverse your estimate 
 of him. 
 
 The world sees Brown fighting, heroically, in the engine-house 
 at Harper's Ferry, but it does not inquire how he came to be 
 
 1 Original in possession of the author. 
 
APPENDICES 413 
 
 there. It was his death, and not his Hfe, that gave him renown. 
 Usually it is a man's life — his actions, that determine his place 
 among- men. If it be true that one unimpeachable fact will set 
 aside the most plausible opposing theory, then Brown's fame 
 will not survive. The facts of his life impeach the jx^pular verdict. 
 
 Very truly yours. 
 
 Hill P. Wilson. 
 General D. W. Wilder, 
 
 Hiawatha, Kansas. 
 
APPENDIX II 
 
 RIX'OLLELTIONS OF THR JOHX liROVVX RAID HV THK HON. 
 ALEXANDER R. BOTEEER, A VIRCJIXLW WHO 
 
 witnessp:d the fight 
 
 Taken from The Century 
 
 On entering tlie room where John Brown was. I found him alone, 
 lying- on the floor on his left side, and with his back turned toward 
 nie. The right side of his face was smeared with blood from a 
 sword cut on his head, causing his grim and grizzled countenance 
 to lot)k like that of some aboriginal savage with his war-paint on. 
 Approaching him 1 began the conversation with the inquiry : 
 
 "Captain Brown, are you hurt anywhere except on the head?" 
 
 "Yes, in my side, here," said he, indicating the place with his 
 hand. 
 
 I then told him that a surgeon would be in presently to attend 
 to his wounds, and expressed the hope that they were not very 
 serious. Thereupon he asked me who I was. and on giving him 
 my jiame he muttered as if speaking to himself. 
 
 "Yes. yes — J know you now — member of congress — this 
 district." 
 
 I then asked the ([uestion: 
 
 "Captain, what brought you here?" 
 
 "To free your slaves," was the reply. 
 
 "How did you expect to accomplish it with the small force you 
 brought with you ?" 
 
 "I expected help." 
 
 "Where, whence, and from whom. Captain, cHd vou expect it?" 
 
 "Here and from elsewhere," he answered. 
 
 "Did you expect to get assistance from whites here as well as 
 from the blacks?" was my next (juestion. 
 
 "I did," he re])lied. 
 
APPENDICES 415 
 
 "Then," said I. "you have been (lisai)i)<>int(.'(l in not i^cllinj^ it 
 from either?" 
 
 "Yes," lie muttered, "I have — been — disappointed." 
 Then 1 asked him who planned his movement on Harper's Fer- 
 ry, to which he replied: "I planned it all myself," and upon my 
 remarking that it was a sad affair for him and the country, and 
 that I trusted no one would follow his example by undertaking a 
 similar raid, he made no response. I next inquired if he had any 
 family besides the sons who accompanied him on his incursion, to 
 which he replied by telling me he had a wife and children in the 
 State of New York at North Elba, and on my then asking if he 
 would like to write to them and let them know how he was, he 
 (|uickly responded : 
 
 "Yes. 1 would like to send them a letter." 
 
 "\'ery well," I said, "you doubtless will be permitted to do so. 
 But, Captain," 1 added, "probably you understand that, being in 
 the hands of the civil authorities of the State, your letters will have 
 to be seen by them before they can be .sent." 
 "Certainly," he said. 
 
 "Then, with that understanding," continued 1. "There will. I 
 am sure, be no objection to your writing home ; and although I 
 have no authority in the premises, I promise to do what I can to 
 have your wishes in that respect complied with." 
 
 "Thank you — thank you, sir." he said repeating his acknowl- 
 edgment for the proffered favor and, for the first time, turning 
 his head toward me. 
 
 In my desire to hear him distinctly, I had placed myself by his 
 side, with one knee resting on the floor ; so that, when he turned, it 
 brought his face quite close to mine, and I remember well the 
 earnest gaze of the gray eye that looked straight into mine. I then 
 remarked : 
 
 "Captain, we, too, have wives and children. This attempt of 
 yours to interfere with our slaves has created great excitement and 
 naturally causes anxiety on account of our families. Now, let me 
 ask you : Is this failure of yours likely to be followed by similar 
 attempts to create disaffection among our servants and bring upon 
 our homes the horrors of a servile war?" 
 
416 APPENDICES 
 
 "Time will show," was his significant reply. 
 
 Just then a Catholic priest appeared at the door of the room. 
 He had been administering- the last consolations of religion to 
 Quinn, the marine, who was dying in the adjoining office; and the 
 moment Brown saw him he became violently angry, and plainly 
 showed, by the expression of his countenance, how capable he was 
 of feeling "hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness." 
 
 "Go out of here — I don't want you about me — go out !" was 
 the salutation he gave the priest, who, bowing gravely, immediate- 
 ly retired. Whereupon I arose from the floor, and bidding Brown 
 good-morning, likewise left him. 
 
 In the entry leading to the room where Brown was, I met ISIajor 
 Russell, of the marine corps, who was going to see him. and I 
 detailed to him the conversation I had just had. Meeting the 
 major subsequently he told me that when he entered the apartment 
 Brown was standing up — with his clothes unfastened — exam- 
 ining the wound in his side, and that, as soon as he saw him, forth- 
 with resumed his former position on the floor ; which incident 
 tended to confirm the impression I had already formed, that there 
 was a good deal of vitality left in the old man, notwithstanding his 
 wounds — a fact more fully developed that evening after I had 
 left Harper's Ferry for home, when he had his spirited and his- 
 toric talk with Wise, Hunter and Vallandigham. 
 
APPENDIX III 
 
 THE CONSTITUTION ADOPTED AT CHATHAM, CANADA 
 
 Copy of the Constitution, adopted at Chatham, Canada, May 8, 
 1858. Mason Report, p. 48. 
 
 PROVISIONAL CONSTITUTION AND ORDINANCE FOR 
 THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES 
 
 PREAMBLE 
 
 Whereas, slavery throug-hout 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, 
 the only conditions of which are perpetual imprisonment and hope- 
 less servitude or absolute extermination ; in utter disregard 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 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, Property. Lives and Liberties; and to govern our 
 actions : 
 
 ARTICLE I 
 
 QUALIFICATIONS FOR MEMBERSHIP 
 
 All persons of mature age. whether Proscribed, oppressed, and 
 enslaved Citizens, or of the Proscribed or oppressed races of the 
 United States, who shall agree to sustain and enforce the Pro- 
 visional Constitution and Ordinance of this organization, together 
 with all minor children of such persons, shall be held to be fully 
 entitled to protection under the same. 
 
418 APPENDICES 
 
 ARTICLE II 
 
 BRANCHES OF GOVERNMICNT 
 
 The provisional governnient of this organization sliall consist 
 of three branches, viz.: Legislative, Executive, and Judicial. 
 
 ARTICLE III 
 
 LEGISLATIVE 
 The legislative branch shall be a Congress or House of Repre- 
 sentatives, composed of not less than five, or more than ten mem- 
 bers, who shall be elected by all the citizens of mature age and 
 of sound mind, connected with this organization ; and who shall 
 remain in office for three years, unless sooner removed for mis- 
 conduct, inability, or death. A majority of such members shall 
 constitute a quorum. 
 
 ARTICLE IV 
 
 EXECUTIVE 
 The executive branch of this organization shall consist of a 
 President and Vice-President, who shall be chosen by the citizens 
 or members of this organization, and each of whom shall hold his 
 office for three years, unless sooner removed by death, or for in- 
 ability or misconduct. 
 
 ARTICLE V 
 
 JUDICIAL 
 
 The judicial branch of this organization shall consist of one 
 Chief-Justice of the Supreme Court, and of four Associate Judges 
 of said Court ; each constituting a Circuit Court. They shall each 
 be chosen in the same manner as the President, and shall continue 
 in office until their places have been filled in the same manner by 
 election of the citizens. Said court shall have jurisdiction in all 
 civil or criminal causes, arising under this constitution, except 
 breaches of the Rules of War. 
 
 ARTICLE VI 
 
 VALIDITY OF ENACTMENTS 
 
 All enactments of the legislative branch shall, to become valid 
 during the first three years, have the approbation of the President 
 and the Commander-in-Chief of the Army. 
 
APPENDICES 419 
 
 ARTICLE VII 
 
 COMMANDER-lN-CniKl' 
 
 A Commander-in-Chief of the army shall be chosen ])y the Tres- 
 iclent. Vice-President, a majority of the Provisional Congress, and 
 of the Supreme Court, and he shall receive his commission from 
 the President, signed by the \'ice-President, the Chief Justice of 
 the Supreme Court, and the Secretary of War : and he shall hold 
 his office for three years, unless removed l)y death, or on proof of 
 incapacity of misbehavior. He shall, unless under arrest (and 
 till his place is actually filled as provided by the constitution) 
 direct all movements of the army, and advise with any allies. He 
 shall, however, be tried, removed, or punished, on complaint by 
 the President, by, at least, three general officers, or a majority of 
 the House of Representatives, or of the Supreme Court; which 
 House of Representatives (the President presiding) ; the Vice 
 President, and the members of the Supreme Court, shall constitute 
 a court-martial, for his trial ; with ix>wer to remove or punish, as 
 the case may require ; and to fill his place as above provided. 
 
 ARTICLE VIII 
 
 OFFICERS 
 
 A Treasurer, Secretary of State, Secretary of War, and Secre- 
 tary of the Treasury, shall each be chosen for the first three years, 
 in the same way and manner as the Commander-in-Chief; subject 
 to trial or removal on complaint of the President, Vice-President, 
 or Commander in Chief, to the Chief Justice of the Supreme 
 Court ; or on complaint of the majority of the members of said 
 court, or the Provisional Congress. The Supreme Court shall 
 have power to try or punish either of those officers ; and their 
 places shall be filled as before. 
 
 ARTICLE IX 
 
 SECRETARY OF WAR 
 
 The Secretary of War shall be under the immediate directions 
 of the Commander in Chief ; who may temporarily fill his place, 
 in case of arrest, or of any inability to serve. 
 
420 APPENDICES 
 
 ARTICLE X 
 
 CON'GRKSS OR HOUSE OF REPRESKNTATIVRS 
 
 The House of Representatives shall make ordinances for the 
 appointment (by the President or otherwise) of all civil officers 
 except those already named ; and shall have power to make all 
 laws and ordinances for the general good, not inconsistent with 
 this Constitution and these ordinances. 
 
 ARTICLE XI 
 
 APPROPRIATION OF MOXKV. KTC. 
 
 The Provisional Congress shall have power to appropriate 
 money or other property actually in the hands of the Treasurer, 
 to any object calculated to promote the general good, so far as 
 may be consistent with the provisions of this Constitution ; and may 
 in certain cases, appropriate, for a moderate compensation of 
 agents, or persons not members of this organization, for important 
 service they are known to have rendered. 
 
 ARTICLE XTI 
 
 SPECIAL DUTIES 
 
 It shall be the duty of Congress to provide for the instant re- 
 moval of any civil officer or policeman, who becomes habitually 
 intoxicated, or who is addicted to other immoral conduct, or to 
 any neglect or unfaithfulness in the discharge of his official duties. 
 Congress shall also be a standing committee of safety, for the pur- 
 pose of obtaining important information ; and shall be in constant 
 communication with the Commander-in-Chief : the members of 
 which shall each, as also the President and Vice-President, mem- 
 bers of the Supreme Court, and Secretary of State, have full 
 power to issue warrants returnable as Congress shall ordain 
 (naming Witnesses etc) upon their own information, without the 
 formality of a complaint. Complaint shall be made immediately 
 after arrest, and before trial ; the party arrested to be served with 
 a copy at once. 
 
 ARTICLE XIII 
 
 TRIAL OF PRESIDENT AND OTHER OFFICERS 
 The President and Vice President may either of them be tried, 
 removed, or punished, on complaint made by the Chief Justice of 
 
APPENDTC1<:S 421 
 
 the Supreme Court, by a majority of the TTouse of Representatives, 
 which House, toj^ether with the Associate jud^'es of the Supreme 
 Court, the whole to be i)resi(le(l over by the Chief Justice in the 
 cases of the trial of the Vice President, shall have full power to 
 try such officers, to remove, or punish as the case may require, and 
 to till any vacancy so occurring", the same as in the case of the 
 Commander-in-Chief. 
 
 ARTICLE XIV 
 
 TRIAL OP MEMBERS OF CONGRKSS 
 
 The members of the House of Representatives may, any and all 
 of them, be tried, and on conviction, removed or punished on com- 
 plaint before the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, made by 
 any number of members of said House, exceeding one third, 
 which House, with the Vice President and Associate Judges of the 
 Supreme Court, shall constitute the proper tribunal, with power 
 to fill such vacancies. 
 
 ARTICLE XV 
 
 IMPEACHMENT OF JUDGES 
 
 Any member of the Supreme Court, tried, convicted, or pun- 
 ished by removal or otherwise, on complaint to the President, who 
 shall, in such case, preside; the Vice-President, House of Repre- 
 sentatives, and other members of the Supreme Court, constituting 
 the proper tribunal (with power to fill vacancies) ; on complaint 
 of a majority of said House of Representatives, or of the Su- 
 preme Court; a majority of the whole having power to decide. 
 
 ARTICLE XVI 
 
 DUTIES OE PRESIDENT AND SECRETARY OF STATE 
 
 The President, with the Secretary of State, shall immediately 
 upon entering on the duties of their office, give special attention 
 to secure, from amongst their own people, men of integrit>% in- 
 telligence, and good business habits and capacity ; and above all, 
 of first rate moral and religious character and influence, to act as 
 civil officers of every description and grade, as well as teachers, 
 chaplains, physicians, surgeons, mechanics, agents of every descrip- 
 tion, clerks and messengers. They shall make special effort to 
 
422 APPENDICES 
 
 induce at the earliest possible period, persons and families of that 
 description, to locate themselves within the limits secured bv this 
 organization; and shall, moreover, from time to time, supply the 
 names and residence of such persons to the Congress, for their 
 special notice and information, as among the most important of 
 their duties, and the President is hereby authorized and em- 
 powered to afford special aid to such individuals, from such mod- 
 erate appropriations as the Congress shall be able and mav deem 
 it advisable to make for that object. 
 
 The President and Secretary of State, and in case of disagree- 
 ment, the \'ice-President shall apix)int all civil officers, but shall 
 not have power to remove any officer. All removals shall be the 
 result of a fair trial, whether civil or military. 
 
 ARTICLE XVII 
 
 rURTHKR DUTIES 
 
 It shall be the duty of the President and Secretary of State, to 
 find out (as soon as possible) the real friends, as well as the en- 
 emies of this organization in every part of the country ; to secure 
 among them, innkeepers, private postmasters, private mail con- 
 tractors, messengers and agents : through whom may be obtained 
 correct and regular information, constantly ; recruits for the ser- 
 vice, places of deposit and sale ; together with needed supplies : 
 and it shall be matter of special regard to secure such facilities 
 through the Northern States. 
 
 ARTICLE XVIII 
 
 DUTIES OF THE PRESIDENT 
 
 It shall be the duty of the President, as well as the House of 
 Representatives, at all times, to inform the Commander-in-Chief 
 of any matter that may require his attention, or that may affect 
 the public safety. 
 
 ARTICLE XIX 
 
 DUTY OF PRESIDENT — CONTINUED 
 
 It shall be the duty of the President to see that the provisional 
 ordinances of this organization, and those made by Congress, are 
 
APPENDICES 423 
 
 properly aiul faithfully executed; and he may iti cases of great 
 urg'ency call on the Commander-in-Chief of the army, or other 
 officers for aid ; it being, however, intended that a sufficient civil 
 I>olice shall always be in readiness to secure implicit obedience to 
 law. 
 
 ARTICLE XX 
 
 THE VICE-PRESIDENT 
 
 The Vice-President shall be the presiding officer of the Pro- 
 visional Congress and in case of tie shall give the casting vote. 
 
 ARTICLE XXI 
 
 VACANCIES 
 
 In case of death, removal, or inability of the President, the Vice- 
 President, and next to him, the Chief Justice of the Supreme 
 Court, shall be the President during the remainder of the term : 
 and the place of Chief-Justice thus made vacant shall be filled by 
 Congress from some of the members of said Court ; and places of 
 the Vice-President and Associate Justice thus made vacant, filled 
 by an election by the united action of the Provisional Congress and 
 members of the Supreme Court. All other vacancies, not hereto- 
 fore specially provided for. shall, during the first three years, be 
 filled by the united action of the President, \'ice- President, Su- 
 preme Court, and Commander-in-Chief of the Army. 
 
 ARTICLE XXII 
 
 PUNISHMENT OF CRIMES 
 
 The punishment of crimes not capital, except in the case of in- 
 subordinate convicts or other prisoners, shall be ( so far as may 
 be) by hard lalxir on the public works, roads, etc. 
 
 ARTICLE XXIII 
 
 ARMY APPOI N T M E N TS 
 
 It shall be the duty of all commissioned officers of the army 
 to name candidates of merit for office or elevation to the Comman- 
 der-in-Chief, who. with the Secretary of War. and. in cases of 
 disagreement, the President, shall be the appointing power of t4»e 
 
424 APPENDICES 
 
 army: and all commissions of military ofificers shall bear the sig- 
 natures of the Commander-in-Chief and the Secretary of War. 
 And it shall be the special duty of the Secretary of War to keep 
 for constant reference of the Commander-in-Chief a full list of 
 names of persons nominated for office, or elevation, by officers of 
 the army, with the name and rank of the officer nominating, stat- 
 ing distinctly but briefly the grounds for such notice or nomina- 
 tion. The Commander-in-Chief shall not have power to remove 
 or punish any officer or soldier ; but he may order their arrest and 
 trial at any time, by court-martial. 
 
 ARTICLE XXIV 
 
 COURT- M.^RTIALS 
 
 Court martials for Companies, Regiments, Brigades, etc., shall 
 be called by the chief officer of each command, on complaint to him 
 by any officer, or any five privates, in such command, and shall 
 consist of not less than five nor more than nine officers, and pri- 
 vates, one-half of whom shall not be lower in rank than the person 
 on trial, to be chosen by the three highest officers in the command, 
 which officers shall not be a part of such court. The chief officer 
 of any command shall, of course be tried by a court-martial of the 
 command above his own. All decisions affecting the lives of per- 
 sons, or office of persons holding commission, must, before taking 
 full efifect, have the signature of the Commander-in-Chief, who 
 may also, on the recommendation of, at least, one-third of the mem- 
 bers of the court martial finding any sentence, grant a reprieve or 
 commutation of the same. 
 
 ARTICLE XXV 
 
 SALARIES 
 
 No person connected with this organization shall be entitled to 
 any salary, pay, or emoluments, other than a competent support of 
 himself and family, unless it be from an equal dividend, made of 
 public property, on the establishment of peace, or of special pro- 
 vision by treaty ; which provision shall be made for all persons 
 who may have been in any active civil or military service at any 
 time previous to any hostile action for Liberty and Equality. 
 
APPENDICES 425 
 
 ARTICLE XXVI 
 
 TRKATIKS OF PEACK 
 
 Before any treaty of peace shall take efifect, it shall be signed by 
 the President and Vice-President, the Commander-in-Chief, a ma- 
 jority of the House of Representatives, a majority of the Supreme 
 Court, and a majority of all general officers of the army. 
 
 ARTICLE XXVII 
 
 DUTY OF the; military 
 
 It shall be the dut}^ of the Commander-in-Chief, and all officers 
 and soldiers of the army, to afford special protection when needed, 
 to Congress, or any member thereof ; to the President, Vice-Presi- 
 dent, Treasurer, Secretary of State, Secretary of Treasury and 
 Secretary of War; and to afford general protection to all civil 
 officers, other persons having right to the same. 
 
 ARTICLE XXVIII 
 
 PROPERTY 
 
 All captured or confiscated property, and all property the pro- 
 duct of the labor of those belonging to this organization and their 
 families, shall be held as the property of the whole, equally, with- 
 out distinction ; and may be used for the common benefit, or dis- 
 posed of for the same object; and any person, officer or otherwise, 
 who shall improperly retain, secrete, use, or needlessly destroy 
 such property, or property found, captured, or confiscated, belong- 
 ing to the enemy, or shall willfully neglect to render a full and fair 
 statement of such property by him so taken or held, shall be 
 deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and, on conviction, shall be pun- 
 ished accordingly. 
 
 ARTICLE XXIX 
 
 SAFETY OR INTELLIGENCE FUND 
 
 All money, plate, watches or jewelry, captured by honorable 
 warfare, found, taken or confiscated, belonging to the enemy, 
 shall be held sacred, to constitute a liberal safety or intelligence 
 fund; and any person who shall improperly retain, dispose of, 
 hide, use, or destroy such money or other article above mentioned, 
 
426 APPENDICES 
 
 contrary to the provisions aiul spirit of this article, sliall l)e 
 deemed g^iilty of theft, and. on conviction thereof, sluill l)e pun- 
 ished according-ly. The Treasurer shall furnish the Commander- 
 in-Chief at all times with a full statement of tiie coiulition of such 
 fund and its nature. 
 
 ARTICLE XXX 
 
 Tin-; COMMANDKR-li\-CHIi:i' AM) IIIK 'IKI'ASIRV 
 
 The Commander-in-Chief shall have power to draw from the 
 Treasury the money and other property of the fund provided for 
 it in ARTICLE twenty-ninth, but his orders shall lie sig^ned also 
 by the Secretary of War, who shall keep strict account of the 
 same; subject to examination by any member of Congress, or gen- 
 eral officer. 
 
 ARTICLE XXXI 
 
 SURPLUS OF TIIK SAFKTY OR INTKLMCKNCK, FUM) 
 
 It shall be the duty of the Commander-in-Chief to advise the 
 President of any surplus of the Safety or Intelligence I'und ; who 
 shall have power to draw such surplus (his order being also signed 
 by the Secretary of State) to enable him to carry out the pro- 
 visions of Article Seventeenth. 
 
 ARTICLE XXXU 
 
 PRISONERS 
 
 No person, after having surrendered himself or herself a pris- 
 oner, and who shall properly demean himself or herself as such. 
 to any officer or private connected with this organization, shall 
 afterward be put to death, or be subject to any corporal punish- 
 ment, without first having had the benefit of a fair and impartial 
 trial : nor shall any prisoner be treated with any kind of cruelty, 
 disrespect, insult, or needless severity: but it shall be the duty of 
 all i)crsons, male and female, connected herewith, at all times and 
 under all circumstances, to treat all such prisoners with every de- 
 gree of respect and kindness the nature of the circumstances will 
 admit of ; and to insist on a like course of conduct from all others. 
 as in the fear of Almighty God, to whose care and keeping we 
 commit our cause. 
 
APPENDICES 427 
 
 ARTICLE XXXIII 
 
 VOLUNTARIKS 
 
 All persons who may come forward and shall volnntarily de- 
 liver uj) their slaves, and have their names ret;istered on the l'>(x>ks 
 of the organization, shall, so long- as they continue at peace, be en- 
 titled to the fullest protection of person and property, though not 
 coiniected with this organization, and shall be treated as friends, 
 and not merely as persons neutral. 
 
 ARTICLE XXXIV 
 
 NEUTRALS 
 
 The persons and property of all non-slaveholders who shall re- 
 main absolute neutral, shall be respected so far as the circum- 
 stances can allow of it ; but they shall not be entitled to any active 
 protection. 
 
 ARTICLE XXXV 
 
 NO NEEDLESS WASTE 
 
 The needless waste or destruction of any useful property or 
 article, by fire, throwing open of fences, fields, buildings, or need- 
 less killing of animals, or injury of either, shall not be tolerated at 
 any time or place, but shall be promptly and properly punished. 
 
 ARTICLE XXXVI 
 
 PROPERTY CONFISCATED 
 
 The entire and real property of all persons known to be acting 
 either directly or indirectly with or for the enemy, or found in 
 arms with them, or found wilfully holding slaves, shall be con- 
 fiscated and taken, whenever and wherever it may be found, in 
 either free or slave States. 
 
 ARTICLE XXXVII 
 
 DESERTION' 
 
 Persons convicted, on impartial trial, of desertion to the enemy 
 after becoming members, acting as spies, or of treacherous sur- 
 render of property, arms, ammunition, provisions, or supplies of 
 
428 APPENDICES 
 
 any kind, roads, bridges, persons or fortifications shall be put to 
 death and their entire property confiscated. 
 
 ARTICLE XXXVIII 
 
 VIOLATION OF PAROLK OF HONOR 
 
 Persons proven to be g'uilty of taking- np arms after having 
 been set at liberty on parole of honor, or, after the same, to have 
 taken an active part with or for the enemy, direct or indirect, shall 
 be put to death and their entire property confiscated. 
 
 ARTICLE XXXIX 
 
 ALL MUST LABOR 
 
 All i^ersons connected in any way with this organization, and 
 who may be entitled to full protection under it, shall be held as 
 under obligation to labor in some way for the general good, and 
 any persons refusing, or neglecting so to do, shall on conviction 
 receive a suitable and appropriate punishment. 
 
 ARTICLE XL 
 
 IRREGULARITIES 
 
 Profane Swearing, filthy conversation, indecent behavior, or in- 
 decent exposure of person, or intoxication, or quarreling, shall not 
 be allowed or tolerated, neither unlawful intercourse of the sexes. 
 
 ARTICLE XL! 
 
 CRIMES 
 
 Persons convicted of the forcible violation of any female pris- 
 oner shall be put to death. 
 
 ARTICLE XLII 
 
 THE MARRIAGE RELATION — SCHOOLS — THE SABBATH 
 
 The marriage relation shall be at all times respected, and the 
 families kept together as far as possible, and broken families en- 
 couraged to re-unite, and intelligence ofifices established for that 
 purpose, schools and churches established, as soon as may be, for 
 the purpose of religious and other instructions; and the first day 
 of the week regarded as a day of rest and appropriated to moral 
 
APPENDICES 429 
 
 and relig-ious instruction and improvement; relief to the suiterin^, 
 instruction of the young and ignorant, and the encouragement of 
 personal cleanhness ; nor shall any person he refjuired on that day 
 to perform ordinary manual lahor, unless in extremely urgent 
 
 cases. 
 
 ARTICLE XLIII 
 
 CARRY ARMS OPENLY 
 
 All persons known to he of good character, and of sound mind 
 and suitable age, who are connected with this organization, whether 
 male or female, shall be encouraged to carry arms openly. 
 
 ARTICLE XLIV 
 
 NO PERSON TO CARRY CONCEALED WEAPONS 
 
 No person within the limits of the conquered territory, except 
 regularly appointed policemen, express officers of the army, mail 
 carriers, or other fully accredited messengers of the Congress, 
 President, Vice-President, members of the Supreme Court, or com- 
 missioned officers of the army — and those only under peculiar 
 circumstances — shall be allowed, at any time, to carry concealed 
 weapons ; and any person not specially authorized so to do, who 
 shall be found so doing, shall be deemed a suspicious person, and 
 may be at once arrested by any officer, soldier, or citizen, without 
 the formality of a complaint or warrant, and may at once be sub- 
 ject to thorough search, and shall have his or her case thoroughly 
 investigated; and be dealt with as circumstances, or proof, may 
 
 require. 
 
 ARTICLE XLV 
 
 PERSONS TO BE SEIZED 
 Persons within the limits of the territory holden by this organ- 
 ization, not connected with this organization, having arms at all, 
 concealed or otherwise, shall be seized at once, or taken in charge 
 of by some vigilant officer ; and their case thoroughly investigated : 
 and it shall he the duty of all citizens and soldiers, as well as 
 officers, to arrest such parties as are named in this and the pre- 
 ceding Section or Article, without formality of complaint or war- 
 rant : and they shall be placed in charge of proper officer for ex- 
 amination or for safe keeping. 
 
430 APPENDICES 
 
 ARTICLE XLVT 
 
 THKSIi ARTICI.KS NOT I'oK TI I i; ()\i;kT1I ROW Ol' ( .OVI'.KX M IvNT 
 
 Tile foreg-oing- articles shall not be cotistriied so as in any way 
 to encourag-e the overthrow of any State Government of the 
 United States : and look to no dissolution of the Union, but simply 
 to Amendment and Repeal. And our Flag shall be the same as 
 our Fathers fought under in the RcvolutitMi. 
 
 ARTICLE XLVll 
 
 NO PLURALITY OK Ot'FlCES 
 
 No two offices specially jirovided for, by this Instrument, shall 
 be filled by the same person at the same time. 
 
 ARTICLE XVLIII 
 
 OATH 
 
 Every Officer, civil or military, connected with this organiza- 
 tion, shall, before entering u})on the duties of his office, make sol- 
 emn oath or affirmation, to abide by and support this Provisional 
 Constitution and these Ordinances. Also, every Citizen and Sol- 
 dier, before being fully recognized as such, shall do the same. 
 
APPENDIX IV 
 
 JOHN brown's autobiography 
 
 IVritien to Henry L. Stearns, son of Geori^e L. Stearns, and hear- 
 in^<^ date Red Rock, lozca, July "j , iS^j} 
 
 John was born May 9th, 1800. at Torrington, Litchfield County.. 
 Connnecticut ; of ix)or but rcs])ectablc parents : a descendant on the 
 side of his father of one of the company of the Mayffozvcr who 
 landed at Plymouth 1620. His mother was descended from a man 
 who came at an early period t«^ Xew England from Amsterdam, 
 in Holland. Both his Father's & Mother's Fathers served in the 
 war of the revolution: His Father's Father died in a barn at 
 New York while in the service, in 1776. 
 
 I cannot 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 having a full day to think of the wrong: received from her 
 a thorough whipping. When he was Five years old his Father 
 moved to Ohio; then a wilderness filled with wild beasts, & In- 
 dians. 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, and riding the horses. Some times he met with Rattle 
 Snakes which were very large ; & which some of the company gen- 
 erally managed to kill. After getting to Ohio in 1805 he was for 
 some time rather afraid of the Indians. & of their Rifles ; but this 
 soon wore ofiF ; & he used to hang about them quite as much as 
 was consistent with good manners ; & learned a trifle of their talk. 
 
 1 Ante p. 165. 
 
432 APPENDICES 
 
 His Father learned to dress Deer Skins, & at 6 years old John was 
 installed a youni^ Buck Skin — He was perhaps rather observing 
 as he ever after renienil)ered the entire process of Deer Skin 
 dressing; so that he could at any time dress his own leather such 
 as Squirl, Raccoon, Cat, Wolf, or Dog Skin ; & also learned to 
 make Whip Lashes: which brought him some change at times; 
 & was of considerable service in many ways. At Six years old 
 John began to be quite a rambler in the wild new covmtry finding 
 birds & Squircls, and sometimes a wild Turkey's nest. But about 
 this period he was placed in the school of adz'ersity : 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 fcK' & small. 
 These were the beginnings of a severe but }iiuch needed eonrse of 
 discipline 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 hand 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 how- 
 ever held to the little bob tail Squirrel ; & finally got him perfectly 
 tamed, so that he almost idolized his pet. This too he lost; by 
 wandering away ; or by getting killed : & for a year or Two John 
 was in monniing; and looking at all the Squirrels he could see to 
 try and discover Bobtail if possible, I must not neglect to tell you 
 of a very bad & foolish babbit to which John was somewhat ad- 
 dicted. I mean telling lies: generally to screen himself from 
 blame ; or from punishment. He could not well endure to be re- 
 proached ; & 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 woidd not have been so often guilty of this fault; 
 nor have been obliged to struggle so long in after life with so mean 
 a habit. 
 
APPENDICES 433 
 
 John was never quarrelsome ; but was excessively fond of the 
 hardest & roii<^Jiest kind of plays ; & could never get enough [of] 
 them. Indeed when for a short time he was sometimes sent to 
 School the oi)i)ortunity it afforded to wrestle & Snow ball & run 
 & jump & knock off old seedy wool hats; offered to him almost 
 the only compensation for the confinement & restraints of school. 
 1 need not tell you that with such a feeling- & but little chance of 
 going- to school at all : he did not become much of a schollar. He 
 would always choose to stay at home & work hard rather than be 
 sent to school ; & during the warm season might generally be seen 
 barefooted & bareheaded: with Buck skin Breeches suspended 
 often with one leather strap over his shoulder but sometimes with 
 Tvyo. To be sent off through the wilderness alone to very con- 
 siderable distances was particularly his delight ; & in this he was 
 often indulg-ed so that by the time he was Twelve years old he 
 was sent off more than a Flundred 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 & permanent, for notwithstanding his Father again 
 married to a sensible, inteligent, & on many accounts a very 
 estimable woman: yet he never adopted her in feeling: but con- 
 tinued to pine after his own Mother for years. This opperated 
 very unfavorably uppon him : as he was both naturally fond of 
 females ; & withall extremely diffident ; «& deprived him of a suit- 
 able link between the different sexes ; the want of which might 
 mider some circumstances have proved his ruin. 
 
 When the war broke out zvith Bngdand, his Father soon com- 
 menced furnishing the troops with beef cattle, the collecting & 
 driving 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 judgement 
 of men & measures : & 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 militarv affairs that he would neither train, or drill : but 
 
434 APPENDICES 
 
 paid fines: and jj^ot alonjr like a Quaker untill his age had finally 
 cleared him of Military duty. 
 
 During the war with England a circumstance occurred that in 
 the end made hini a most determined /Ibolitionist : & led him to de- 
 clare, or Swear: Eternal war with Slavery, lie was staying for 
 a short time w itii a very gentlemanly landlord once a United States 
 Marshal who held a slave boy near his own age very active, in- 
 telligent and good feeling: & to whom John was under consider- 
 able obligation for numerous little acts of kindness. The master 
 made a great pet of John : brought him to table with his first com- 
 pany : & 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, 
 ])()()rly ted: & lodged in eold weather: & beaten before his eyes 
 with Iron Shovels or any other thing that came first to hand. This 
 brought John to reflect on the wretched; hopeless condition, of 
 Fatherless & Motherless slave children : for such children have 
 neither Father nor Mothers to protect, & provide for them. He 
 would sometimes raise the question is Cod their father^ 
 
 At the age of Ten years an old friend induced him to read a little 
 history; & ofifered him the free use of a gocKJ 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. & conversation of old & inteligent persons. 
 He never attempted to dance in his life; nor did he ever learn to 
 know o)ie of a pack of cards from another. He learned nothing 
 of Grammar ; nor did he get at school so much knowledge of com- 
 mon Arithmetic as the Four ground rules. This will give you 
 some idea of the first Fifteen years of his life; during which time 
 he became very strong and large of his age and ambitious to per- 
 form 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: Sz was often greatly obliged by the kind manner in which 
 older & more intelligent persons treated him at their houses: & in 
 conversation ; which was a great relief on account of his extreme 
 bashfulness. 
 
APPENDICES , 435 
 
 He very early in life became ambitious to excell in doing any- 
 thing he undertook to perform. This kind of feeling I would 
 recomend to all persons both male & female: as it will certainly 
 tend to secure admission to the company of the more intelligent 
 & better portion of every community. By all means endeavor to 
 excell in some laudable pursuit. 
 
 I had like to 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 ; 
 and then sickened & died. This brought another protracted 
 mourning season : not that he felt the pecuniary loss so much : for 
 that was never his disposition ; but so strong and earnest were his 
 attachments. 
 
 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. 
 
 Now some of the things I have been telling of; were just such 
 as I would recomend to you : & I wd like to know that you had 
 selected these out; & adopted them as part of your own plan of 
 life ; & I wish you to have some definite plan. Many seem to have 
 none; & others never stick to any that they do form. This was 
 not the case with John. He followed up with tenacity whatever 
 he set about so long as it answered his general purpose : & hence 
 he rarely failed in some good decree to effect the things he under- 
 took. 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 minor's might be a little imper- 
 fect : he had recource 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. 
 
436 APPENDICES 
 
 Another was trading with other persons for something his Father 
 had never owned. Older persons have some times found difficulty 
 with titles. 
 
 From fifteen to Twenty years old, he spent most of his time 
 working- at the Tanner & Currier's trade keeping Bachelors hall ; 
 & he was acting as Cook ; & for most of the time as foreman of the 
 establishment 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 of: his conscience urging him forward 
 with great power in this matter : but his close attention to business; 
 & success in his management ; together with the way he got along 
 with a company of men ; & boys ; made him quite a favorite with the 
 serious & more intelligent portion of older persons. This was so 
 much the case ; & secured for him so many little notices from those 
 he esteemed ; that his vanity was very much fed by it ; & he came 
 forward to manhood quite full of self-conceit ; & self-confidence ; 
 notwithstanding his extreme bashfulness. A younger brother used 
 sometimes to remind him of this: and to repeat to him this expres- 
 sion which you may somewhere find, 'A King against whome there 
 is no rising up.' The habit so early formed of being obeyed ren- 
 dered him in after life too much disposed to speak in an imperious 
 & dictating way. From Fifteen years & upward he felt a good 
 deal of anxiety to learn ; but could only read and study a little ; 
 both for want of time ; & on account of inflammation of the eyes. 
 He however managed by the help of books to make himself toler- 
 ably well acquainted with common arithmetic ; & Surveying ; which 
 he practiced more or less after he was Twenty years old. 
 
 At a little past Twenty years led by his own inclination & 
 prompted also by his Father, he married a remarkably plain ; but 
 neat industrious & economical girl ; of excellent character ; earnest 
 piety ; & good 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 eflfect ; 
 without arousing his hauty obstinate temper. John began early 
 in life to discover a great liking to fine Cattle, Horses, Sheep, & 
 
APPENDICES 437 
 
 Swine ; & as soon as circumstances would enable him he began to 
 be a practical Shepherd: it being a calling- for which in early life 
 he had a kind of enthusiastic longing: with the idea that as a bus- 
 iness it bid fair to afford him the means of carrying out his greatest 
 or principle object. I have now given you a kind of general idea 
 of the early life of this boy ; & if I believed it would be worth the 
 trouble ; or afford much interest to any good feeling person : I 
 might be tempted to tell you something of his course in after life ; 
 or manhood. I do not say that I linll 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. T have no time to write it over ; & but for unavoidable 
 hindrances in traveling I can hardly say when I should have writ- 
 ten 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 Allmight)'- bless 
 yon ; my son. J. B. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Abbott, Maj. J. B., 143, 175, 219, 274, 279 
 Adair, Rev. S. I... 11, 108, 146, 152, 221, 
 
 234, 264, 273 
 Adams, Mrs. .\nne Urown, (luotcd, 82, 
 
 290, 291, 292; 293 
 Adams, Henry, History of U. S., 353 
 Alcott, Amos B., 284, 396 
 Alburtis, Capt. E. G., 302, 306 
 .•\lderman, Amos. 160 
 Allstadt, John H.. 298, 300 
 Anderson, Capt. Geo. T., U. S. Army, 260 
 .Anderson, Jeremiah Goldsmith, Capt. Prov. 
 
 Army, 295; itilled at Harper's Ferry, 
 
 312; quoted, ZU, 387; 262, 269, 284, 
 
 285, 348 
 .Anderson, Osborne P., colored, M. C, 
 
 250; private Prov. Army, 295; escaped 
 
 from H. F., 305; 298 
 .Andrew, Hon. John A., of Boston, quoted, 
 
 397; 369 
 Army of Liberation, 343 
 Arny, Wm. F.. quoted, 43. 82, 83; 188 
 Artillery Corps U. S. Army. 392 
 Astor House, N. Y., 187 
 Atchison, David R., U. S. Senator, Ma- 
 jor Genera!, 51, 52, 55, 65, 66, 69, 163, 
 
 174, 176 
 Atlantic Monthly, 16, 17, 359, 360 
 .August, Col. T. P., commands B.'s escort. 
 
 394 
 Austin Freeman, 160 
 Avery, Dr., 158 
 Avis, Capt. John, B.'s jailor, 302, 304, 382, 
 
 394 
 
 "B. E.," Mrs., letter to H., 389; 404 
 
 Bacon, Cook & Co., 214 
 
 Baltimore American, quoted, 320 
 
 Baltimore Greys, 321 
 
 Ball, A. M., Master Machinist at II. F., 
 
 prisoner, 306 
 Bank of Wooster, 39 
 Barber, Thomas W., murdered. 69. 88 
 Barbour, Alfred \V., 301 
 Barnes, Wm., letters from B., 211, 190 
 Barrow, Mr., killed Turner's Massacre, 
 
 362 
 
 Baylor. Col. Robt. W., 307, 308, 309 
 
 Beckham, Fontaine, killed at H. F., 305; 
 312 
 
 Bell, James M., colored, 248 
 
 Belshazzar, 326 
 
 Benjamin, Jacob, at Pottawatomie, 110; 
 20, 135, 159, 170, 172, 182 
 
 Bernard, J. M., store robbed by B., 137 
 
 Bickerton, Capt. Thomas W., 155, 158. 173 
 
 Biggs, Dr.. 317 
 
 Bishop, Adam, 262 
 
 Blair, Charles, makes 1,000 spears for B.. 
 223, 224 
 
 Blair, Montgomery, 370 
 
 Blake, Maj. George A. H., U. .S. -Army, 
 237 
 
 Black Jack, battle of, 110. 135. 141, 144, 
 149, 157, 223, 403, 405 
 
 Black Warrior, 60 
 
 Blakesley, Levi, 44, 46 
 
 Blunt, John, 114 
 
 Blood, James, 156 
 
 Boerly, Thomas, killed at H. F., 302; 312 
 
 Bolivar Heights, 301, 303, 304, 328, 339 
 
 Bondi, August, with Brown in Kansas, 
 136, 159, 160, 168, 170, 171, 172, 182 
 
 Booth, Edwin. 412 
 
 Border Ruffians. 81, 197, 199 
 
 Boetler, Hon. .Alexander R.. B. not se- 
 verely wounded at H. 1"., 414; 387 
 
 Botts, Capt., 302, 304 
 
 Botts, Lawson, 366, 369, 371, 372 
 
 Brockett, W. B., Lieut.. 143. 277 
 
 Brooks. Paul R., 91, 211 
 
 Brown, Anne, daughter of B. (see Ad 
 ams), 286 
 
 Brown. Dianthe (Lusk), B.'s first wife, 28 
 
 Brown, Frederick, son of B., killed at 
 Osawatomie, 170; 72, 136. 161, 165, 169. 
 171, 182 
 
 Brown, Frederick, B.'s Bro., 47 
 
 Brown, G. W., editor, 147, 211, 276 
 
 Brown, Jason, son of B., 45, 72, 116, 125, 
 144, 146, 159, 179, 182, 207, 405 
 
 Brown, John (the name appears so fre- 
 quently that a complete index would re- 
 sult in an epitome of the book; there- 
 
440 
 
 INDEX 
 
 fore, only pages containing the more 
 important incidents are herein referred 
 to), character not prejudged, 9; his 
 principal biographers, 15; picturesque 
 figure an historical myth, 26; birth, not 
 a Mayflower descendant, 27; successful 
 as a tanner, 28; contractor, speculates 
 in town-sites and farm lands, failure, 
 fraudulent practices, 29; in jail at Ak-, 
 ron, O., 30; sportsman, breeds race 
 horses, obtains money under false pre- 
 tense, 31; letter concerning, 32; pro- 
 ceedings in bankruptcy, letters concern- 
 ing, 33, 34; negotiates for 1,000 acres 
 of land in Va., 35, 36; shepherd in O., 
 36; Perkins & Brown Wool Merchants, 
 Springfield, Mass., business methods 
 lax, complaints, 37; ships wool to Lon- 
 don, Eng., heavy losses, in liquidation, 
 sued for large sums, wine making for 
 commercial purposes, 38; obtains land 
 at North Elba, N. Y., extensive litiga- 
 tion, bad record, 39; penniless, thoughts 
 of Kansas, 40; religious belief prob- 
 lematical, 41, skeptical? 42; indifferent 
 concerning the Sabbath, a non-resistant, 
 43; summary of anti-slavery activities 
 given, 44, 52; intended to become a 
 southern planter, 52, letter concerning, 
 did he intend to own slaves? 53; a 
 dilemma for his biographers, 54; to 
 Kansas, collects money at Syracuse, N. 
 Y., Akron and Cleveland, O., 75, 76; at 
 Osawatomie, in distress, 76; at Free 
 State election Oct. 9, 78; not bellicose, 
 79; as he impressed Mr. Redpath, 80; 
 as he impressed Mr. Villard, 80, 81; as 
 he impressed his son Salmon, 81; "his 
 object in going to Kansas, " 82; intend- 
 ed to settle, his claim "jumped," 83; 
 Captain of the Liberty Guards, 86; 
 Shannon Treaty satisfactory, 89; myth- 
 ical speech, 90; not heard by Redpath, 
 92; first and last appearance at a public 
 meeting, 93; chairman district conven- 
 tion, 94; disbands Liberty Guards and 
 plans to leave neighborhood, extreme 
 poverty, 94; an ominous letter, desires 
 recrudescence of pro-slavery aggressions, 
 97, 98; robberty and murder, 99, 114; 
 exchanges stolen horses, 109; self, un- 
 married sons and Henry Thompson plan 
 robbery and murder, 99; to go to Louis- 
 iana, 111; his motives, 121; secrecy a 
 characteristic, 124; grinding of sabers a 
 
 myth, 125; motives not altruistic, 129; 
 personality, 130; not a "misplaced cru- 
 sader," 131; motives selfish, 135; mid- 
 night flight, 136; robbery, 137; his se- 
 cret camp, 139; encouraged by Red- 
 path, sought for by Capt. Pate, joins 
 forces with Capt. Shore, 140; captures 
 Pate at Black Jack, bands dispersed by 
 Col. Sumner, 141; John E. Cook a 
 guest, 144; original company disbanded, 
 146; whereabouts unknown during fifty 
 days, 147; stealing horses, 149, 150; 
 profited by his operations, 151; forced 
 to leave Kansas, 152, 153; returns from 
 Nebraska, 154; not to fight, 155, 156; at 
 Lawrence, 158; to engage in robbery on 
 a large scale, 159; captain of industry, 
 160; Osawatomie a cattle raid, 161; re- 
 fused to join Lane for the defense of 
 Lawrence, 162; his "report" of Osa- 
 watomie, 165, 167, 168; band not a mil- 
 itary company, 169; in hiding, 170; end 
 of get-rich-quick adventure, 171; aban- 
 doned son's body, 172; the Loki of 
 Osawatomie, 173; well received at 
 Lawrence, 174; declined command of a 
 company, 171; left Lawrence to its fate, 
 176; secures congratulatory letters from 
 Gov. Robinson by dissimulation, 177, 
 178; leaves Kansas to work the East 
 for large sums of money, files claim 
 for losses, 181, 184; stores arms at Ta- 
 bor, 184; en route east collects money, 
 185; meets Mr. Sanborn and unfolds 
 scheme to raise $30,000, cash, 185; in 
 "green pastures," 186; discredits Free 
 State leaders, 187; asks National Com. 
 for $5,000 cash, speech, 188; disap- 
 pointment, 190; asks Mass. Legislature 
 for $100,000, speech, 191, 195; would 
 have New York appropriate $100,000 
 for him, 196, 197; eulogized, 198, 199; 
 advertises for contributions, 200, 201; 
 contributions, value $30,000; works 
 friends for $1,000, 202, 203; offers 
 Kansas leadership to Gov. Reeder, 204; 
 shamming, 205, 206; contempt for the 
 gullible, 207; works Mrs. Stearns, 207, 
 210; suggestive name for his make-be- 
 lieve troopers, 211; autobiography writ- 
 ten for a special purpose, 212; destina- 
 tion conditional, 214; report to Stearns, 
 215; failure of pretensions, 216; vocab- 
 ulary intact, 217; hopes for "disturb- 
 ance" nourished by I^ane, 219; brig- 
 
INDEX 
 
 441 
 
 adier-general, 220; in Kansas but not 
 to assist Lane, 221; draft for $7,aOO, 
 cancelled, to return East, 222; orders 
 1,000 spears, 223; meets Hugh Forbes, 
 224; plans conquest of Southern States, 
 225, 226; a disunionist, 227; plans to 
 seduce soldiery of Union, Duty of the 
 Soldier, 228; important use for spears, 
 230; a law unto himself, 231; wants 
 money with no questions asked, 233; 
 stranded at Tabor, war college at Ash- 
 tabula, O., 234; matriculates tyros in 
 Kansas, 236; opens war college at 
 Springdale, Iowa, 238; drops Forbes 
 from pay-roll, 239; war council at Ger- 
 rit Smith's home, 244; a war commit- 
 tee, 245; not the "Lord's champion," 
 247; constitutional convention, 248; 
 adopts constitution for provisional gov- 
 ernment, commander-in-chief of Pro- 
 visional Army, 249; collapse of ex- 
 chequer, 253; menace to rear of com- 
 munications, 254; gets control of or- 
 dinance stores, 255; campaign post- 
 poned, 258; in Kansas, alias Shubel 
 Morgan, orders a "Doz. Whistles," 259; 
 roll of make-believe company, his real 
 men arrive, 262; worked Territory in 
 pairs, 263; suffered from exposure, en- 
 couraged horse stealing, 265; drafted 
 Sugar Mound Treaty, 267; plans com- 
 plete for Missouri raid except as to date 
 of execution, 268; the raid, 269, 272; 
 sends slaves taken to Osawatomie, 273; 
 no published accounting or distribution 
 of stolen property, recruited finances 
 near Lawrence, 274; conduct complained 
 of by Moneka clergyman, 276; details 
 Stevens and Tidd to "replevin" pair of 
 horses, 278; successful trip with slaves 
 from Kansas to Canada, 278, 282; "Bat- 
 tle of the Spurs," 279; arrest not de- 
 sired by Dept. of Justice, 282; never 
 killed anybody, 284; revolution financed, 
 285; Hd. Qrs. near Harper's Ferry, 
 286; panic on bourse, 287; army mo- 
 bilized, 289; muster roll, 294; forward 
 movement, 296; occupies H. F., 297; 
 declaration of intentions, 298; armed 
 with sword of Frederick and Washing- 
 ton, 299; stops train B. & O. Ry., 300; 
 proclamation, this is the last train that 
 shall pass, 301; the struggle, 302, 312; 
 negroes fail to do their part, 303; re- 
 fuses to surrender, 309; his position 
 
 carried by assault, 310; wounded while 
 bravely fighting, 311, 387; casualties, 
 312; interviews, 312, 320; military 
 stores on hand, lodged in jail, 321; 
 found Sanborn deficient, 326; his in- 
 telligence discredited by biographers, 
 assumptions of not justified, 328; not 
 trifling nor baiting death for trifling 
 purpose, 329; intended to arm slaves 
 and defend position, 330; expected "ne- 
 groes to rise and swell force to irre- 
 sistible proportions," 332; plans ap- 
 proved unanimously, 333, 350; distrib- 
 uted 500 spears among negroes, 333; 
 did not intend to retreat to fastness, 
 believed he would write bloodiest chap- 
 ter in history, 334; intended to equip 
 an army at H. F. and invade South, 
 disposition of his forces at H. F. con- 
 sistent with theory of insurrection of 
 slaves, 336; defied no canons, was not 
 executing a raid, campaign serious, he- 
 roic and desperate, 337; dispositions at 
 H. F. not violations of military prin- 
 ciples, 338; to effect conquest of South- 
 ern States and establish provisional gov- 
 ernment, believed slaves would assas- 
 sinate masters and families and declare 
 freedom, 341; hedged against treason, 
 342; believed insurrection in progress, 
 blow to be most crushing he could de- 
 liver, 343; would shake slave system 
 to foundation, assassination means to 
 end, 344; would improve upon Turner's 
 methods, 345; seizure of H. F., strat 
 agem, 347; colored military organiza 
 tions to support, 348; project foreshad 
 owed by Anderson, 350; General Or 
 ders No. 1, 351; collapse of scheme co 
 incident with failure of assassinations 
 355; if he and captains had led as 
 Turner led, weak link in chain of fore- 
 cast, 356; overconfident of success; ship 
 of state wrecked upon charted rock, 
 vain to underestimate man or conspir- 
 acy, not a pioneer in the insurrection 
 business, 357; placed upon trial, un- 
 seemly haste, 365; jurisdiction of Fed- 
 eral courts not seriously considered — 
 after "higher and wickeder game," 365; 
 defiant speech, 366; trial a formality, 
 367; rejects plea of insanity, 369; di- 
 rections to counsel, 371; denounces his 
 counsel, 372; verdict guilty — received 
 in respectful silence, 374; speech to the 
 
442 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Court — first iwragraph discreditable, 
 375; sentence pronounced, 377; retracts 
 statements made in speech to Court — 
 letter to Andrew Hunter concerning, 
 379; speech of Oct. 25th characteristic 
 of courage — that of Nov. 2nd, of 
 craftiness, as brave as crafty, 380; dis- 
 courages attempts at rescue — had had 
 surfeit of tragedies, 383; prevarication 
 and craftiness characteristic of prison 
 correspondence, 387-390; statement, 
 391; military pageant — Soldier of the 
 Cross, 394; fame due to things done to 
 him, and to things said about him — ex- 
 amples, 395, 399; honored by Kansas, 
 399, 400; martyrdom a fiction, 400, 401; 
 assault upon slavery means to end, first 
 contemplated in 1857, grafting upon anti- 
 slavery sentiment, 1855, 1859, 402, 403; 
 rapacity distinguishing characteristic — 
 deportment, coarse, brutal, vulgar, or 
 saintly as suited purposes, 404; deceived 
 by Pate, 405; commercial and political 
 plunger, 405, 406; will live in history as 
 an adventurer, 407; ref. 16, 17, 18. 19, 
 20, 21, 22, 23, 24; letters to Mad. E. B.. 
 389; Col. Iligginson, 381; Eh-. Hum- 
 phrey, 388; Andrew Hunter, 379; Rev. 
 Theo. Parker, 229; 234; Mr. Sanborn, 
 218, 238, 246, 268; Mr. Stearns, 215; 
 Mrs. Stearns, 390; to wife et al, 11, 79, 
 84, 85, 86, 89, 95. 97, 107, 141, 165, 
 268, 269, 382, 385, 388 
 
 Brown, John Jr., letters, Ti; Capt. Pot- 
 tawatomie Rifles, 98, 101; statement to 
 Sanborn. 108; knew about B.'s plans, 
 109; dismissed from Pottawatomie 
 Rifles, 125; quits Kansas, 179; 20, 30. 
 44, 45, 12, 94, 136, 144, 146, 182, 207. 
 243, 248, 323, 384, 405 
 
 Brown, Mary Ann (Day), B.'s second 
 wife. 28; 381, 390, 392. 393 
 
 Brown. Oliver, stole horses in Nebraska, 
 150; Capt. Prov. Army. 295; killed at 
 H. F.. 312; copy of his commission, 
 352; 76. 102. 136, 149, 183, 295, 337 
 
 Brown, Mrs. Oliver, 286 
 
 Brown, Owen, B.'s father, 28 
 
 Brown, Owen, escaped from Pottawat- 
 omie on "fast Kentucky hor.se," 109; a 
 "vile murderer," 127; treasurer, Prov. 
 Gov., 250; Capt. Prov Army, 295; es- 
 caped from H. P., 312; 30, 72, 136, 146, 
 149, 182, 237, 262, 296, 302, 305, 336 
 
 Brown, Peter, Windsor, Conn., B.'s an- 
 cestor, 27 
 Brown, Reece, P., murdered, 69 
 Brown, Salmon, letter not warlike, 81; 
 
 father intended to kill seven men, 111; 
 
 letter, 119; wounded, 143; 21, 72, 102, 
 
 136, 149, 151, 182, 190, 265, 349 
 Brown, Sarah, daughter of B., quoted, 169 
 Brown, S. B., 159 
 
 Brown, Terrance, prisoner at H. F., 303 
 Brown, Watson, son of B.; Capt. Prov. 
 
 Army, 295; killed at H. F., 312; 85, 
 
 263, 289, 296, 303, 304, 336 
 Browns, The, not fighting for freedom, 
 
 153 
 Browne, Peter, of the "Mayflower," not 
 
 B.'s ancestor, 27; 192 
 Brua, Joseph A., prisoner at H. F., 304, 
 
 306 
 Buchanan, Hon. James. President, 60, 
 
 279, 307 
 "Buckskin," 158, 159 
 
 Buford, Maj. Jefferson, quoted, 155; 106 
 Burgess, John W., Middle Period, quoted, 
 
 66; 56 
 Byrne, Terence, 306, prisoner at H. F. 
 
 C.\EOT, Dr. Samuel, 186 
 Cadet Corps, Va. Mil. Institute, 392 
 Calhoun, Hon. John C, 43, 56, 57 
 Callender, W. H. D., Cashier, 201 
 Campbell, James W.. Sheriff, 393, 394 
 Carpenter, A. O., at Black Jack, 136; 137, 
 
 146 
 Carruth, James H., quoted, 127 
 Cass, Hon. Lewis. 58 
 Castile, A., 114 
 Century Magazine, 312 
 Chambers, Geo. W., 304 
 Chadwick, Rear Admiral F. K., 255, 334 
 Chamberlain, Amos P., 29, 30 
 Charleston Mercury, 70 
 Chicago Tribune, 46 
 Chilton, Samuel, counsel for B., 369; 372, 
 
 373, 374, 375 
 Clark, James Freeman, 128 
 Clay, Henry, 59 
 Cline, "Capt." J. B., 160, 161, 166. 167, 
 
 168, 169 
 Cochrane, B. L-, at Pottawatomie, 183; 
 
 20, 110 
 Colby, Deputy Marshal, 279 
 Colcock, Hon. Wm. F.. 59 
 Coleman, Franklin, killed Dow, 87 
 Collamer, Hon. Jacob, Mason Com., 365 
 
INDEX 
 
 443 
 
 Collis, Mr., wounded at Osawatomie, 167 
 Committee, Mass. State Kans., 185, 187, 
 
 188, 195, 200. 203, 221, 256 
 Committee, National, Kans., 181, 184, 187, 
 
 188, 189, 190, 196, 203, 221, 265 
 Committee, Vigilance, 116, 221 
 Committee. B.'s War, 245, 252. 254, 256. 
 
 325 
 Conant, John, 202 
 Congressional Globe, 59 
 Convention at Chatham, Canada, Call, 248 
 Conway, Martin F., 187, 204, 211 
 Cook, John E-, with B. at Pottawatomie. 
 20, 110; talked too much, 287; Capt. 
 Prov. Army, 295; hanged at Charles- 
 town, 305; 139, 144, 214, 235, 236, 253. 
 258, 286. 288, 292, 296, 298. 302, 321. 
 328, 331. 332. 333, 342, 393. 401 
 Cooke, John W., 40, 44 
 Cooke, Lieut. Co!. Philip St. George, U. 
 
 S. Army, 59 
 Copeland, J. A. Jr.. colored; private Prov, 
 Army, 295; hanged at Charlestown. 305; 
 298, 337 
 Coppoc, Barclay, private, Prov. Army, 
 295; escaped from H. F., 292; 295, 296 
 Coppoc, Edwin, first lieutenant, Prov. 
 Army, 295; hanged at Charlestown, 305; 
 298, 306, 311 
 Corcoran, \V. W., 58 
 Cracklin, Capt. Joseph, 152, 154, 175 
 Crawford, C^o. A., 276 
 Crawford. Brig. Genl. S. W., 339 
 Crittenden, Hon. John C, 60 
 Cruise, David, killed in Mo. raid, 270; 
 
 272 
 Cuba, Pearl of the Antilles, 60 
 Currie, L. F., quoted, 331 
 
 D.^NGERFiELD, J. E.. at H. F., 306 
 Daniels, Jim, slave liberated by B. in Mo. 
 
 raid, 271 
 Davis, Mr., 138 
 Davis, Hon. Jefferson, of Miss. Mason 
 
 Com., 60, 365 
 Davis, William Watson, Ph.D.. 10 , 
 Day, Charles, 28 
 
 Day, Mary Anne, B.'s second wife, 28 
 Day, Orson, 93, 97 
 Davenport, Braxton, 366 
 Dayton, Capt. Oscar V., 92, 101 
 De Bow's Review, 70 
 Deitzler, Geo. W., 147, 211 
 Denver, James Wilson, acting-governor of 
 
 Kansas Ter., 260 
 
 Denver, Treaty, 260, 267 
 
 Des Moines Register, 281 
 
 Dixon, Hon. Archibald, of Kentucky, 61 
 
 Doolittle, Hon. James R., of Wis., Mason 
 
 Com., 236, 365 
 Dorscy, Mr., wounded at H. F., 312 
 Douglas, Hon. Stephen A., 58 
 Douglas, Frederick, 239, 240, 243, 248, 
 
 336, 349 
 Dow, Charles, murdered, 87 
 Doyle. Drury, murdered by V,., 103 
 Doyle, John, nuirdered by B., 99, 100, 102, 
 
 103 
 Doyle, Mrs. Mahala, statement. 103 
 Doyle, William, murdered by B., 103 
 
 tiowARDS, Sam, slave at Southampton, 360 
 Eighteenth Conn. Infty., 27 
 Ellsworth, Alfred M., colored, M. C, 250 
 Elmore, Rush, Judge 276 
 Emancipation Proclamation, 63 
 Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 186, 199, 379, 380, 
 397 
 
 Faquier Cavalry, 392 
 
 Fastness, "hill-top," myth, 328, 330, 332, 
 
 335, 338, 339, 340 
 Fastness, "inaccessible," myth, 323, 339, 
 
 340 
 Faulkner, Hon. Chas. J., 312, 366 
 Fay, John W., 160 
 Fitch, Hon. G. N. of Ind. Mason Com.. 
 
 365 
 Floyd, Hon. John B., Secy, of War, 288, 
 
 289 
 Forbes, Col. Hugh, Soldier of Fortune, 
 
 224; not a drill master, 226; his letters 
 
 to B. suppressed, 242; 225, 227, 228, 
 
 229, 231, 232, 234, 235, 238, 239, 240, 
 
 241, 254, 256, 285, 341, 342, 347, 356, 
 
 358, 40O, 401, 406 
 Frazee, Lieut. Noah, 160 
 Frederick The Great, 299, 300, 332, 388 
 Frothingham. Octavius B., quoted, 353. 
 
 355 
 Fugitive Slave Law, 48 
 
 Gabriel, "General," slave, insurrection of 
 
 Sept., 1800, 358 
 Gait House, H. F., 304 
 Garibaldi, 224. 225 
 
 Garnett, Rev. Henry H., colored, 248 
 Garrett, John W.. Prest. B. & O. R. Rd. 
 
 Co. 301 
 
444 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Garrett, Thomas, Underground Railroad, 
 
 52 
 Garrison, William Lloyd, quoted, 362; 45, 
 
 186, 187 
 Garrison, David, killed at Osawatomie, 
 
 166 
 Gaudeloupe Hidalgo, Treaty of, 57 
 Gaylord. Daniel C, 29, 40 
 Geary, Genl. John W., Gov. K. T., 69, 
 
 70, 174, 176, 184 
 Gileadites, U. S. league of, 48, 50 
 Gill, Geo. B., Sec. Treas. Prov. Gov., 250; 
 
 letter not heretofore published, 130; 
 
 259, 262-266 inc., 269, 270, 271, 278, 
 
 292, 342, 348, 404, 406 
 Gilpatrick, R., 114 
 Glenn, John P., 160 
 Gloucester, Dr. J. N., colored, 247 
 Goliath-American, 80 
 Godel, John, 159 
 Golden Rule, 199, 344 
 Golding, R., chairman, 114 
 Grant, Ulysses S., 398 
 Gray, Mr., Turner's Confessor, 362 
 Greeley, Horace, 224, 232 
 Grinnell, Josiah B., 282 
 Green, Israel, Lieut. U. S. Marine Corps, 
 
 308, 309, 310, 320, 321 
 Green, Shields, colored, private Prov. 
 
 Army, 295; hanged at Charlestown, 305, 
 
 311 
 Green, Thomas G., counsel for B., 366, 
 
 369, 371, 372 
 Griswold, Hiram, counsel for B., 369, 370, 
 
 372, 373 
 Grover, Capt. Joel, 156, 158 
 Grover, Mr., entertains B. near Law- 
 rence, 274 
 Gue, David J., author of letter to Floyd, 
 
 289 
 
 "H" Co. 7th Soutli Carolina, 340 
 
 Hairgrove, Wm., 262 
 
 Hale, Hon. John P., U. S. Senator, N. 
 H., 255 
 
 Hamilton, Chas. A., massacre of Free 
 State men, 260 
 
 Hamilton, Thomas S., testimony, 137 
 
 Hammond, C. G., Supt. Mich. Southern 
 Ry., 282 
 
 Hammond, Mr., wounded at H. F., 312 
 
 Hanitrack Guards, 302 
 
 Hand, T. H., 152 
 
 Harding, Chas. B., counsel for prosecu- 
 tion of B., 373 
 
 Harris, James, testimony, 104 
 
 Harris, Wm. B., 159 
 
 Harvey, Maj. James A., 157, 173 
 
 Haskell, Genl. W. A., 174 
 
 Hauser, Samuel, 160 
 
 Hawse, Alexander G., 163, 170 
 
 Hazlctt, .\ll)ert, Capt. Prov. Army, 295; 
 
 hanged at Charlestown, 305; 262, 264, 
 
 365, 270, 292, 298, 336, 393 
 Hayward, Shepherd, colored, killed at H. 
 
 F., 300, 301, 335 
 Heywood (Hayward), 316 
 Herald of Freedom, 91, 93, 275 
 Hicklan, Harvey B., home plundered by 
 
 B., 270; statement, 271, 272 
 Higgins, Patrick, 300, 335 
 Higgins, Hon. William, quoted, 164 
 Higginson, Col. Thomas Wentworth, 
 
 member of B.'s War Com., 254; 51, 52, 
 
 185, 217, 244, 257, 325, 381, 397 
 Hinton, Richard J., author, 17, 26, 130, 
 
 228, 235, 264, 342, 384 
 Hinton Papers, 130, 348 
 History of Iowa, Gue, 289 
 Holliday, C. K., 211 
 Holmes, "Capt." J. H., 160, 161, 162, 
 
 170, 171, 172, 179, 213, 214, 235 
 Holt, James H., H. F., 305 
 Homyr, T., 262 
 
 Hooper, Mr., wounded at H. F., 312 
 Howard, Hon. W. A., chairman, 100; re' 
 
 port quoted, 103, 104, 105, 137, 138 
 Howe, Dr. Saml. G., member of B.'s War 
 
 Com., 254; 186, 240, 242, 245, 255, 257. 
 
 325, 347, 353, 355, 384 
 Hoyt, Major David S., murdered, 62 
 Hoyt, Geo. H., counsel for B., and spy, 
 
 368; 370, 372, 383, 385 
 Humphrey, Rev. Dr. Luther, 388 
 Hunter, Andrew, special counsel for Va., 
 
 312; quoted, 330, 367; 365, 368, 371, 
 
 373, 374, 375, 393, 416 
 Hunter, Harry, at H. F., 304 
 Ilurd, H. B., Secy. Nat. Kan. Com., 188, 
 
 266 
 Hurlbut, Mr., 78 
 Hugo, Victor, quoted, 398 
 Hyatt, Thaddeus, 245, 353 
 
 Ingalls, Hon. John James, quoted, 397; 
 
 399 
 Irwin, Mr., 304 
 
 Jackson, Prof. Thomas J., 339, 392 
 Jackson, Col. Zadock, 70 
 
INDEX 
 
 445 
 
 Jackson, Patrick Tracy, 186 
 
 Jamison, Quartermaster GcnI., 220 
 
 Jefferson Guards. 301, 303 
 
 Jcnnison, Col. Chas. IL, 264, 269, 281, 
 
 293, 384 
 Johnson, William Savage, Ph.D., 10 
 Johnston, Col. Joseph E-, 69, 175, 176 
 Jones, John T. (Ottawa), 101, 194 
 
 Kaci, John H., Secy, of War, 249, 352; 
 
 Capt. Prov. Army, 295, 298; "bravest 
 
 of the brave," 329; killed at H. F., 305; 
 
 235, 236, 259, 262, 263, 264, 269, 277, 
 
 278, 281, 284, 285, 287, 288, 297, 337, 
 
 342, 349, 401 
 Kaiser, Charles, 139. 160 
 Kansas Conflict, quoted, 277 
 Kansas Crusade, quoted, 65, 71 
 Kansas Hist. Coll., 117 
 Kansas Hist Soc, 130, 189, 209 
 Kansas House of Representatives, resolvi- 
 
 tion concerning statue of B., 400 
 Kellogg, George, Agt., 33. 35 
 Kendall, Archibald, 214 
 Kennedy, Dr. B., deceased, 286 
 Kennedy Farm, B.'s headquarters, 286; 
 
 abandoned, 331; 290, 291, 296, 305, 321, 
 
 327 
 Kidd, Captain, his treasure chest, 341; 
 
 230, 407 
 King, Rev. H. D., 42, 280 
 Kitzmiller, A. M., at H. F., 301, 304 
 Knipe, Col. Joseph F., 46th Pa., 339 
 
 L.\FAVETTE Artillery, Richmond, Va., 
 
 362 
 Lane, Crenl. James H., 90, 91, 92, 154, 
 
 155, 158, 162, 163, 173, 211, 219, 220, 
 
 264 
 Lane, M. D., 160 
 Larue, John, home plundered by B., 270, 
 
 272 
 Lawrence, Amos A., quoted, 186; 202, 218 
 Lawrence Republican. Kansas. 276 
 Learnard, Col. O. E., 156, 211 
 Leather and Manufacturers Bank of 
 
 New York, 39 
 Leavenworth Times, 279 
 Leavitt, Rev. Joshua, 224 
 Leary, L. S., colored, private Prov. Army, 
 
 295; mortally wounded at H. F., 305; 
 
 298, 337 
 Le Barnes, J. W., activities in behalf of 
 
 B., 368, 383. 385 
 Lee, Lieut. Col. Robert E., U. S. Army. 
 
 famous in world's history, 392; de- 
 clined command of Cuban expedition, 
 60; in command of U. S. troops at IL 
 F., 308, 309, 312; at Charlcstown, Va., 
 392 
 Leeman, William H., characteristic letter, 
 288; Capt. Prov. Army, 295; killed at 
 H. F., 304; 236, 292, 293, 302, 303. 
 304, 305 
 Lenhart, Charles, 20, 110. 139 
 Liberty Guards, 20, 21, 98. 116, 120, 121 
 Lincoln, Hon. Abraham, 380, 398 
 Lincoln Sailors and Soldiers National 
 Monument Association, statue of B., 
 400 
 Little, J. H., killed at Ft. Scott, 269 
 Little Hornet (Holmes), 214, 215, 222, 
 
 235 
 Longreen, J. W., colored, 248 
 Lopez, Narcisso, expedition against Cuba, 
 
 garroted, 60 
 Loring, Major, command of infantry in 
 
 B.'s escort, 394 
 Loudoun Valley, Va., 336 
 Loudoun Heights, not inaccessible, 339 
 Lusk. Miss Dianthe, B.'s first wife, 28 
 
 McCabe. Mr., wounded at H. F., 312 
 
 McDow, W. C, 114 
 
 McGee, Clyde, panegyric on B., 398; 
 
 criticism, 399 
 McLaren, E. C, 86 
 McMaster, 56 
 McKim, Mrs., with Mrs. B. at H. F., 
 
 392 
 McKim, J. M., 392 
 
 Mansfield, Major General Joseph K., 
 
 killed at Antietam, 339 
 Manual of the Patriotic Volunteer, strat- 
 agem, 341 
 Martin, Hugh, home plundered, 270 
 Marcy, Hon. Wm. L-, Secy, of State, 60 
 Maryland Heights. Md., not inacessible. 
 
 338, 339 
 Mason. Hon. J. M., U. S. Senator, Va., 
 
 chairman, 312, 313, 314, 356, 365 
 Mason Report, 42, 82, 83, 188, 200, 224, 
 236. 242, 249, 255, 256, 288, 30O, 309, 
 312, 331, 330, 331, 342, 352, 365, 369. 
 378, 394, 404. 417 
 Mason, Dr., 374 
 
 Massachusetts Arms Co., 203, 317 
 Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Co., 64, 203 
 Massasoit House, Springfield, Mass., 202 
 
446 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Massachusetts Legislature, Committee ad- 
 dressed by B., 192-195; 106, 181, 184, 
 191, 405 
 
 Maxon, \Vm., lodges the tyros, 238 
 
 Mass. Society of Mayflower Descendants, 
 27 
 
 Mayflower, the, 27, 191, 192, 431 
 
 Medary, Gov. Samuel, 276, 279 
 
 Mendenhall, Richard, quoted, 161; 92 
 
 .Meriam, Francis J., private, Prov. Army, 
 295; gives B. $600, 290; escapes from 
 H. F., 305; 296, 342 
 
 Mickei, John, 262 
 
 Mills, Dr. Lucius, B.'s nephew, 150, 182 
 
 Mills, Owen, 32 
 
 Mills, Lieut. Col. S. S., 321 
 
 Miller, John, testimony, 138 
 
 Miller, William, 160 
 
 Missouri Compromise, 55, 61 
 
 Moffet, Charles W., a tyro, 236; 235 
 
 Monroe, S., alias used by B., 285 
 
 Montgomery, James, 259, 260, 262, 266, 
 267, 269. 276, 405 
 
 Morgan, Sliubel, alias used by B., 257, 
 261, 262, 276 
 
 Moore, E., 348 
 
 Moore, Eli, quoted, 117 
 
 Morris, Academy, 42 
 
 Morse, John F., Jr., quoted, 17; 18, 27 
 
 Morton, Edward, 246, 355 
 
 Murphy, Mr., wounded at H. F., 312 
 
 Napoleon, 237, 238, 407 
 
 Negro Race in America, Williams, 346, 
 
 358, 361 
 Neighbors, The, Thayer to B., 211 
 Newby, Dangerfield, colored, private, 
 
 Prov. Army, 295; killed at H. F., 304; 
 
 337 
 New England Woolen Co., defrauded by 
 
 B., 33; 31, 405 
 North American Review, 374 
 New York Courier and Inquirer, 61 
 New York Herald, 71, 316. 320 
 New York Legislature, 181, 196, 405 
 New York Tribune, 65, 70, 138, 147, 200, 
 
 224 
 Northampton Woolen Mills Co., 37, 38 
 Norton, Charles Eliot, quoted, 16 
 
 Oberi-in College, 35, 39, 45 
 
 "Old Brown's Farewell," 404 
 
 Oliver, Hon. M. N., M. C. from Mo., 100 
 
 Onthank, Nathan B., 353 
 
 Oregon Boundary Question, 56 
 
 Organized Emigration, 64, 65 
 
 Osawatomie, Battle of, Reid's official re- 
 port, 164, his estimate of, 169; 157, 165, 
 168 
 
 Osawatomie State Park, battle field, 399 
 
 Ostend Manifesto, 61 
 
 Oviatt, Heman, 30, 36 
 
 Parker, Judge Richard, presides at B.'s 
 trial, 367, 372, 374, 377 
 
 Parker, Rev. Theodore, knew what B.'s 
 purposes were at H. F., 353; quoted, 
 353; member of B.'s war committee, 
 257; encomium, 397; 187, 206, 207, 208. 
 229, 243, 325 
 
 Parsons, Luke F., in Osawatomie cattle 
 raid, 159; tyro, 236; 156, 168, 169, 235, 
 342 
 
 Partridge, Miss Mary, 384 
 
 Partridge, William, in Osawatomie cattle 
 raid, 159; 262 
 
 Partridge, George W., killed at Osawat- 
 omie, 167; 169 
 
 Pate, Capt. Henry Clay, pursues B., 140; 
 surrenders to B. at Black Jack, 143; de- 
 ceived B., 405; 135, 139, 141, 145, 223, 
 403 
 
 Peace Society, Boston, addressed by Ger- 
 rit Smith, 257; 275 
 
 Perkins, Simon, Jr., opinion of B., 37; 36 
 
 Perkins and Brown, irregular methods of, 
 37; losses, liquidation and litigation, 38, 
 39 
 
 Peter the Apostle, a militant, 389; 293 
 
 Petersburg Dragoons, 362 
 
 Phelps, N. B., in Osawatomie cattle raid, 
 159 
 
 Phelps, Conductor of B. & O. train, 300, 
 301, 330, 342 
 
 Phillips, Wendell, encomium, 396; 186 
 
 Phillips, William A., 83, 147, 211, 213 
 
 "Pickles" in B.'s Mo. raid, 264 
 
 Pierce, J. J., colored, 348 
 
 Pinkerton, Allen, 282 
 
 Pleasant Valley, Md., 336 
 
 Pomeroy, Hon. Samuel C, 89 
 
 Pottawatomie, The, 19, 20, 22, 23, 111, 
 113, 115, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 
 125, 126, 129, 133, 135, 139, 140, 147, 
 152, 159, 171, 182. 183, 190, 198, 236. 
 271. 343. 344 
 
 Pottawatomie Rifles, organized to release 
 B. from command of Liberty Guards, 
 98; B. not member of, 132; John B., 
 
INDEX 
 
 44; 
 
 Jr., tleposi'd from ciiiuinand, 125; 20, 
 
 21, 101, 107. 126 
 Porter, Henry, slave, Southampton, 360 
 Powers, Mr., killed at Osawatomic, 167 
 Poyes, Peter, slave, enlisted 600 slaves, 
 
 359 
 Prairie City Rifles, 140, 160 
 Preston, William J., Deputy U. S. Mar- 
 shal, 144 
 Price, C. H., President of meeting at 0!:^a- 
 
 watomie, 114 
 Provisional Army, Gen. Order No. 1, 351; 
 
 ca.sualties of at H. F., 312; 234, 286, 
 
 343, 352 
 Provisional Constitution and Ordinances, 
 
 Appendix; written by B., 243; copies at 
 
 H. F., 342; 248, 249, 250 
 Provisional Government, 254; jurisdiction 
 
 of to be established over Southern 
 
 States, 227, 329, 341; 130, 227, 234. 249, 
 
 251, 289, 290, 330, 347, 401 
 
 Quick, William, in Osawatomic cattle 
 
 raid, 160 
 Quinn, Luke, U. S. Marine Corps, killed 
 
 at H. F., 312; 416 
 Quitman, Gen. John A., expedition against 
 
 Cuba, 60 
 
 Realf, Richard, Secy, of State, Prov. 
 Govt., 250; 235, 236, 249, 254, 287, 342 
 
 Recollections of seventy years, Sanborn, 
 82, 396 
 
 Redpath, James, B.'s first biographer, 15; 
 criticism by Charles Eliot Norton, 16; 
 meets Brown, 138; B.'s intentions at H. 
 F., 323; knew how B. intended to assail 
 the slave power, 342; quoted, 92, 93, 
 110, 139, 192, 332, 357, 375, 395; crit- 
 icism, 82, 122, 195, 335 
 
 Reece, Mr., killed, Southampton Mas- 
 sacre, 362 
 
 Reeder, Andrew H., territorial governor 
 of Kansas, 67, 204 
 
 Reid, Genl. John W., report battle of 
 Osawatomic, 164; "driving out a flock 
 of quail," 170; 163, 168, 169, 174 
 
 Reynolds, R., in Osawatomic cattle raid, 
 160 
 
 Reynolds, G. J., colored, negro military 
 organization, 348 
 
 Revere House, Boston, 257, 258 
 
 Rhodes, James Ford, 60, 61 
 
 Rice, Benjamin, 269 
 
 Richmond Enquirer, 362 
 
 Ricliaidsiin, Mr., wounded at H. I'., 3I-' 
 
 Richardson, Richard, colored, 236 
 
 Ritchie, Col. John, at "Battle of th- 
 Spurs," 279 
 
 Robinson, Charles, "no greater hero," 55; 
 challenged the logic of the revolver 
 and bowie-knife, quoted, 67; Free State 
 governor, 68; speech, Wakarusa war, 
 91; six cheers for, 92; justifies B., IIS; 
 invites him to call, 176; writes con- 
 gratulations to B., also recommendation, 
 177; discredited in the East by B., 187; 
 congratulations to B. guarded, 200; 
 Revolution in Kansas, 225; Ilenvcr 
 Treaty, 260; 10, 46, 63, 66, 69, 90, 204. 
 211, 213, 222 
 
 Robinson, Mrs. Sara T. D., memory of. 
 7; wife to Charles Robinson, 10 
 
 Roosevelt, Hon. Theodore, dedicates Osa- 
 watomic State Park, 399 
 
 Ross, "Betsy," 290 
 
 Root, Dr. J. P., 184 
 
 Roving Editor, IS 
 
 Rupert, private, marine, wounded at H. 
 F., 312 
 
 Russell, Judge Thomas, 186, 205, 208, 
 368, 369 
 
 Russell, Major W. W., Paymaster Ma- 
 rine Corps, in the assault at H. F., 416 
 
 S.\LATnif;t,. John, in Osawatomic cattle 
 raid, 159 
 
 Sanborn, Franklin Benjamin, Author, Life 
 and Letters of John Brown, 15; crit- 
 icism by John F. Morse, Jr., 17; sup- 
 pressed B.'s letter of June 12, 1839, 
 concerning his intentions to defraud the 
 New England Woolen Co., 34; abridge- 
 ment of B.'s letter Apr. 27, 1840, from 
 Ripley, \'a. not satisfactory, 53; as- 
 sumptions concerning B.'s anti-slavery 
 activities not justified by his published 
 letters, 82; exposition of Pottawatomie 
 incident disingenuous, 122; Secy. Mass. 
 State Kan. Com., 185; promotes meas- 
 ure to secure appropriation of $100,000 
 for B., address before Com., 191; pil- 
 grimage to Easton, Pa. with B., 204; 
 a disunionist. letter to Higginson, 217. 
 218; member of B.'s War Committee, 
 245; sends B. $50.00, 263; active tc 
 effect B.'s escape from prison, 385; en- 
 comium, 396; quoted. 34, 37, 154, 155 
 185, 224. 225, 247, 250. 254, 256, 257, 
 258, 325-326, 346; criticism. 53. 109, 
 
448 
 
 INDEX 
 
 123, 154, 247, 325, 326; references of 
 minor importance omitted 
 
 Saunders Fort, 155, 156 
 
 San Domingo, 26, 346, 353 
 
 Sandy Hook, Md., 286, 308, 336 
 
 Schouler, 61, 251 
 
 Scott, Capt., Va. cavalry, 394 
 
 Scott, General Winfield, U. S. Army, 60 
 
 Sebastian, St., 17 
 
 Siebert, W. H., quoted, 330 
 
 Seward, Hon. William H., U. S. Senator 
 
 from N. Y., 54, 63, 239, 255 
 
 Shannon Treaty, 106 
 
 Shannon, Wilson, Ter. Gov. of Kan., 86, 
 87, 88, 89, 91, 176 
 
 Sharpsburg, Md., 336 
 
 Shepherdstown Troop, 302 
 
 Sheridan, Mrs., 235 
 
 Sherman, Henry, Bro. of William, to have 
 been murdered at Pottawatomie, 99, 
 102, 109, 159 
 
 Sherman, William, murdered by Brown, 
 99, 103 
 
 Shermans, Henry and William, 112 
 
 Sherrod, Mr., killed in Kansas, 157, 319 
 
 Shombre, Capt. Samuel, killed at Ft. Ti- 
 tus, 156; 158 
 
 Shoppert, A. G., killed Leeman, 304 
 
 Shore, Capt. S. T., joins B.'s party at 
 Blackjack, 140; 101, 137, 142, 143, 145. 
 160, 163 
 
 Shriver, Col., at H. F., 308 
 
 Sill, William, colored, 248 
 
 Sinn, Captain, interviews B., 307 
 
 Smith, Gerrit, gives 120,000 acres of land 
 to negroes, 38; conclave at his home, 
 244; would fight the U. S., 245; mem- 
 ber of War Com., 254; orator for peace 
 society of Boston, and presides as 
 chairman of B.'s War Com., 257; knew 
 what B.'s purposes at H. F. were, 354; 
 quoted, 224, 245, 353; contributions, 75, 
 215, 218, 245, 263, 255, 287; 46, 75, 
 108, 181, 203, 218, 232, 248, 287, 316, 
 344, 355 
 Smith, I. and Sons, alias of B., 285 
 Smith, Rev. Stephen, colored, 248 
 Smith, W. P., master of transportation 
 
 B. & O. R. Rd., 301 
 Snyder, Elias, 262 
 Snyder, John H., 262 
 Snyder, Simon, 262 
 Soldier of the Cross, 393 
 Soldier of Fortune, 326 
 Southampton Massacre, 362 
 
 Southampton Regiment, 362 
 
 South Carolina, insurrection, 358 
 
 South Carolina Courier, 70 
 
 Spooner, Lysander, would kidnap Gov. 
 Wise, 384 
 
 Spring, L. W., quoted, 101 
 
 Squatter Sovereignty, 49, 50, 61, 63, 64 
 
 Standish, Miles, 191, 192 
 
 Stark, "Mollie," 290 
 
 Starry, Dr. John D., 301 
 
 Statuary Hall, Washington, D. C, 399, 
 400 
 
 St. Bernard, village, 138 
 
 Stearns, George Luther, entertains B., 
 187; gives B. $7,000; seeks to have N. 
 Y. Leg. appropriate $100,000 for B.; 
 member of B.'s War Com., 254; recalls 
 check for $7,000, 221; letters, 196, 204; 
 186, 203, 208, 209, 211, 212, 218, 233, 
 244, 257, 266, 325, 352, 384, 431 
 
 Stearns, Mrs. George Luther, statement, 
 207. 390, 404, 405 
 
 Stearns, Henry L., 212, 431 
 
 Stephens, Hon. Alexander H., quoted, 59 
 
 Stevens, Aaron D., alias Charles Whip- 
 ple, captures 80 horses, 173; private of 
 Vols, in Mexico; private 1st Dragoons; 
 assaults an officer; sentenced to death; 
 sentence commuted; Col. 2nd Regt. 
 Free-State Army, 236, 237; in charge of 
 war college, 238; with B. in Kansas, 
 262; cotnmands division in Mo. raid, 
 269; killed Cruise, quoted, 270; with 
 Tidd steals span of horses, 278; not an 
 ideal Christian character, 293; Capt. 
 Prov. Army, 295, 298; "bravest of the 
 brave," 329; wounded at H. F., 304; 
 hanged at Charlestown, 305; "hard 
 headed American," 329; military leader, 
 342; 226, 272, 289, 299, 312, 315, 365, 
 401 
 
 Stevenson. Samuel, 262 
 
 Stewart, Geo. H., Maj. Genl., 302 
 
 Stewart, James, 384 
 
 Stratton, H., 155 
 
 Strider, Samuel, summoned B. to sur- 
 render, 307 
 Stringfellow. Genl. B. F., 66, 174 
 Stribbling, Dr., 370 
 Stuart, Lieut. J. E. B., volunteer aid to 
 
 Lee at H. F., 308; 309, 310, 312, 314 
 Stultz, Capt., 157 
 Sugar Mound Treaty, 267, 269 
 
INDEX 
 
 449 
 
 Sumner. Col. E. V.. 141, 144, 145, 239, 
 
 279 
 Sussex Regiment, 362 
 
 Taft, Hon. William Howard, 55 
 Taliaferro, Maj. Genl. W. B., in com- 
 mand at Charlestown, Va., 391 
 Tappan, Arthur, donates land to Oberlin 
 
 College, 45 
 Tator, Cyrus, in Osawatomie cattle raid, 
 
 160 
 Taylor, Stewart, private, Prov. Army, 
 
 295; killed at H. F., 312; 303, 336 
 Teesdale, John, editor, Des Moines Regis- 
 ter, 281 
 Thayer, Eli, hero, 55; organized Mass. 
 Emigrant Aid Company, 64; quoted, 
 66; purchases 200 revolvers for B., 
 204; letter to B., "The Neighbors," 
 210; 63, 65, 205, 276 
 Thompson, Dauphin, first lieutenant Prov. 
 Army, 295; killed at H. F., 312; 289, 
 292 
 Thompson, Henry, B.'s son-in-law, 41; 
 member of the "little company of six," 
 102, 107; plans dependent upon B.'s 
 until "school is out," 99, 116; wounded 
 at Black Jack, 143; stealing horses, 149; 
 a Kansas sufferer, 182; 76, 78, 94, 111, 
 118, 119, 121, 124, 136, 146, 153, 171 
 Thompson, Ruth Brown, 41 
 Thompson, William, steals horses in Ne- 
 braska, 150; Capt. Prov. Army, 295; 
 killed at H. F., 304; 153, 289, 294. 297, 
 302, 303, 337, 372 
 Thoreau, Henry D., quoted, 198, 396; 186 
 Tidd, Charles P., tyro, 236; in the Mo. 
 raid, 270; steals span of horses, 278; 
 captain Prov. Army, 295; escaped from 
 H. F., 305; 220, 221, 259. 262, 266, 289, 
 297, 298 
 Tilden, Judge Daniel R., 368, 369, 372 
 Titus, Col. H. T., wounded at Ft. Titus, 
 
 158; 156, 157, 158 
 Titus, Fort, battle of, 156 
 Todd, Rev. John, refuses to pray for B., 
 
 280, 281 
 Toombs, Hon. Robert, U. S. Senator from 
 
 Georgia, 58 
 Topeka Daily Capital, 9 
 Toussaint L'Overture, 249, 357 
 Townsley, James, confession concerning 
 the Pottawatomie murders, 101, 103; at 
 Black Jack, 136; 98, 99, 126 
 Tracy, John T., Ry. Supt., 282 
 
 Travis, Hark, slave. Turner's massacre, 
 
 360 
 Travis, Joseph, killed. Turner's massacre, 
 
 361, 362 
 Tucker, Captain, 157 
 Tubman, Mrs. Harriet, 248 
 Turner, Geo. W., killed at II. F., 305, 312 
 Turner, Mrs., killed. Turner's massacre, 
 
 362 
 Turner, Nat, slave, insurrection of 1831. 
 
 360-362; 356, 357, 358, 404 
 Tyndall, Hector, 392 
 
 Underground Railroad, safety-valve of 
 
 slavery, 346; 51, 330 
 Updegraff, Dr. William W., wounded at 
 
 Osawatomie, 164, 168, 169 
 United States Gazette, 359 
 Unseld, John C, testimony concerning 
 
 B.'s intentions at H. F., 330; 386, 320 
 
 Vallandic.ham, Hon. Clement L., M. C. 
 from Ohio, quoted, 357, 402; 312, 313, 
 314, 315, 316, 399, 416 
 
 Vandaman, S. V., 114 
 
 Varney, Moses, revealed B.'s plans, 289 
 
 Vaughn, Mr., killed. Turner's insurrec- 
 tion, 362 
 
 Vesey, Denmark, slave, insurrection in 
 South Carolina, 359 
 
 Virginia, two slave insurrections, 358 
 
 Villard, Oswald Garrison (since refer- 
 ences to Mr. Villard's book occur so 
 frequently only the more important of 
 them have been indexed), B.'s latest 
 biographer, IS; pledges fidelity to his 
 subject, 18; criticism concerning, 18-25 
 inc.; B. not Mayflower descendant, 27; 
 eulogium concerning B. and his motive 
 for going to Kansas, 80-81; criticism 
 of, 81-85; imposed upon by Salmon B. 
 and Henry Thompson, 118; seeks justi- 
 fication for B.'s crime at Pottawatomie, 
 120; suppressed B.'s letter of April 7, 
 1856, 123; criticism concerning, 123; 
 contradicts authenticated history con- 
 cerning an important fact, 124; crit- 
 icism concerning, 124-125; assumes that 
 B.'s motives for robbery and murder 
 were unselfish, criticism, 127; summary 
 of conclusions concerning Pottawatomie, 
 127-129; criticism, 129-234; exposition 
 of B.'s life "in the bush" disingenuous, 
 147-148; criticism, 148-150: testimony 
 conflicting as to whether B. was in the 
 
450 
 
 INDEX 
 
 fighting around Lawrence in Aug., 
 1&S6; criticism, 156-157; concerning 
 B.'s Osawatomie cattle raid, 160-161; 
 concerning the battle at Osawatomie, 
 164, 168; criticism, 169; disingenuous 
 concerning death of Frederick B.. 170- 
 171; criticism, 171; disingenuous con- 
 cerning B.'s actions after Osawatomie, 
 criticism, 172; mystery of B.'s delay at 
 Tabor, criticism, 217; concerning Hugh 
 Forbes, 225; exposition of Constitution 
 and Ordinances, theory of B.'s inten- 
 tions concerning H. F., 2S1-2S2; crit- 
 icism, 252-253; logic of exposition, 271; 
 no constructive work to B.'s credit. 
 278; B.'s battle-worn Kansas cap, 
 296; criticism, 296-297; Harper's Fer- 
 ry references, 299 to 309; B.'s 
 wounds not serious, 311; personal 
 conceptions of B.'s plans at H. F., and 
 criticism of B. because he failed to ex- 
 ecute them, 327-328; criticism, 327-340; 
 concerning B.'s speech which "thrilled 
 the world," 377; criticism, 278-380; 
 when B. first conceived his greatest or 
 principal object in life not an idle ques- 
 tion, 402; criticism, 402-403; quoted, 
 33, 35, 36, Z7, 46, 54, 76, 80, 90, 100, 
 106, 146, 149, 150, 152, 159, 160, 162, 
 163, 175-176, 179, 185, 187, 198, 219, 
 224, 228, 235, 236, 259, 260, 273, 278, 
 329, 332, 345, 365; criticism, 46, 47, 90- 
 91, 118, 153, 178; references, 29, 30, 
 39, 44, 99, 200, 207, 218, 227, 263, 267, 
 270, 271, 281, 283, 284, 287, 288, 289. 
 290, 291, 292, 295, 301, 320, 346, 348, 
 349, 357, 363, 364, 368, 370, 372, 381, 
 384, 387, 392, 393, 394, 398 
 Von Hoist, 58, 59, 61, 62, 106, 301 
 
 Wadsworth, Tertius, 31 
 
 Wager House, H. F., 302 
 
 Walker, Col. Samuel, 154, 156, 157, 158 
 
 Waller, Mrs., killed. Turner's Massacre. 
 
 362 
 Walsh, Hon. Hugh S., acting-governor of 
 
 Kansas Ter., 267 
 War College, 235, 342 
 "Ward, Artemus," quoted, 283 
 Ware, Eugene F., "Ironquill," 341 
 Washington, Col. Lewis T., 298, 299, 300, 
 
 302, 310, 312, 318 
 Washington, George, 237, 299 
 Watertown Reformer, N. Y., 127 
 Wattles, Augustus, 83, 176, 262. 272. 273, 
 
 274, 404 
 
 Webster, Hon. iJanicl, 58, 59 
 
 Weiner, Theodore, 20, 102, 103, 109, 110. 
 124, 136. 146 
 
 Wells, Mrs., armorer at H. F., 306 
 
 Wells, Joseph, 31 
 
 WTieelan, Daniel, prisoner at H. F., 297, 
 298, 329 
 
 Whipple, Charles, alias of Stevens, 237 
 
 Whitaker, Prof. William Asbury, 10 
 
 Whitehead, Mrs., killed. Turner's insur- 
 rection, 362 
 
 White, Horace, Asst. Secy. Nat. Kan. 
 Com., 189, 190 
 
 White, Rev. Martin, 167, 170, 171 
 
 WTiitfield, Brig. Genl. J. W., 174 
 
 Whitman, E. B., 182, 184, 191, 219, 220. 
 221, 259, 265 
 
 Whittier, J. G., 95 
 
 Wild, Jonathan, 407 
 
 Wilder, D. W., correspondence with au- 
 thor, 411 
 
 Wilkinson, Hon. Allen, murdered by B., 
 99, 102 
 
 Wilkinson, Mrs. Allen, testimony, 104 
 
 Will, slave. Turner's insurrection, 361 
 
 Williams, Mr., killed. Turner's insurrec- 
 tion, 362 
 
 Williams, Captain H. H., Pottawatomie 
 Rifles, 114, 125 
 
 Williams, J., killed, Turner's insurrection, 
 362 
 
 Williams, Nelson, slave, Turner's insur- 
 rection, 360 
 
 Williams, William, prisoner, H. F., 296, 
 298 
 
 Wilmot, Proviso, 57 
 
 Wilson, Hon. Henry, U. S. Senator from 
 Mass., 239, 254, 255, 256 
 
 Wilson, Joseph E., in the assaula on en- 
 gine house at H. F., 9 
 
 Wimsett, Farm, 269 
 
 Wise, Hon. Henry A., Gov. of Va., 302, 
 308, 312, 319, 320, 330, 367, 370, 378, 
 380, 384, 391, 392, 416 
 
 Wise, O. Jennings, 309 
 
 Wood, A. P., 279 
 
 Wood, Captain Thomas J., U. S. Army, 
 173 
 
 Wood, Fernando of New York, 380 
 
 Wood, Samuel N., 147, 211 
 
 Woodward, B. W., 211 
 
 Woolet, Mr., wounded at H. F., 312 
 
 Wright, Judge J. W., 260 
 
 Young, Mr., wounded at H. F., 31 
 
5RARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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