Ohio History Journal

JOHN BROWN.

 

ADDITIONAL NOTES

BY C. B. GALBREATH.

 

JOHN BROWN'S FRIENDS IN WASHINGTON.

The following letter to John Brown, Jr., which, so

far as we know, has never before been published, states

clearly whom the writer regarded as friends in Con-

gress. This letter is now of historic interest only. Had

it been published at the time it was written it would

doubtless have created some commotion and have made

trouble for some of the congressmen named.      The let-

ter is here reproduced literally:

 

ROCHESTER N. Y. 5th Feby, 1858.

DEAR SON JOHN

Since writing you yesterday I have thought of a way in

which I feel quite confident you might raise for the secret service

from $500 to $1000, provided I can get you at once to undertake

[it]. I have as I think a number of valuable friends in Congress

Mr. Giddings, Dr. Chaffee of Springfield, Gen John Dick of

Meadville Pa, Mr. Sherman (of the investigating Committee)

from Ohio, Mr. Burlinggame from Mass. & last but not least our

old friend Olin of Troy N Y. With all these gentlemen I am

more or less acquainted. Mr. Olin treated me with the utmost

respect, & kindness last Spring at Troy; & promised to do all

in his power to assist me: but I was obliged to go off without

seeing him again, as I expected. You know him well, & would

meet a most cordial reception from him; & through him, & others

you could get an introduction to all persons at Washington that

you might desire an acquaintance with; might see and even feel

the Lions; & perhaps form some most valuable connections.

Mr. Burlingame gave me $50, at Boston. I will in the end meet

the expense; & you can hardly fail; to get enough for that while

there.  You would I have no doubt get at some good men

Vol. XXX - 22.         (337)

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338      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

through Dr. Bailey of the National Era. You can say to our

friends that I am out from Kansas for that express purpose. I

think Mr. Sherman & Giddings will give You a good lift. Dr.

Chaffee, & Mr. Dick if you undertake you must not be in too

great haste. I want to get good Maps & State statistics of the

different Southern States I mean State Maps: not too large; but

large ones might a number of them be done up together. Eli

Thayer is a particular friend: I did not think of him at first.

I have no doubt he would hook on his team. You might find

friends at W who would give you some that may be a little old:

that would be n[e]arly as good [as] any; or sell them for a

trifle. You should have a full list of every member of either

House; or of all others; who might do any thing for you. I have

no doubt but you would by diligence & patient perseverence

fully succeed in rasing the wind: besides getting wonderfully

posted up. Do not lisp my plans or theories of any Kind; other

than by mere hints: to such friends as will first commit them-

selves. You can say we are as thor[ou]g[h] abolitionists as G.

Smith. Write me at once whether you will undertake the job;

& if so how soon you can go as I may want to see you first.

You can say I am keeping still.

Yours as ever

JB

 

 

KANSAS UNITED STATES SENATORS ON JOHN

BROWN.

Samuel C. Pomeroy was well acquainted with John

Brown in Kansas and at times associated with him in the

warfare against invaders from Missouri. When Brown

was in prison at Charlestown, Pomeroy visited him and

was very cordially welcomed. Afterward, when the

raid at Harper's Ferry was investigated by committee

of which Senator Mason of Virginia was chairman,

Pomeroy was in the District of Columbia awaiting an

opportunity to testify. In a letter he declared that if

called upon he would defend John Brown's actions in

Kansas regardless of what this might cost him

politically. He defended Brown's act on the Pottawa-

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John Brown                   339

tomie and declared that under the circumstances he fully

approved it.   "That one act," said he, "struck terror

into the hearts of our enemies and gave us the dawning

of success."

Pomeroy's open defense of John Brown does not

appear to have cost him much politically, as he was

afterwards twice elected United States Senator from

Kansas.

Senator John J. Ingalls in a tribute to John Brown

said:

"Already the great intellectual leaders of the movement for

the abolition of slavery are dead. The student of the future will

exhume their orations, arguments and state papers, as a part of

the subterranean history of the epoch. The antiquarian will dig

up their remains from the alluvial drift of the period, and con-

strue their relations to the great events in which they were actors.

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 mountain-peaks over the subordinate plains, are

Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant and old John Brown of

Osawatomie."

 

STORY OF THE SONG, "JOHN BROWN'S BODY."

The Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine for

October, 1920, reproduces from The Collector for June,

1910, the following account by J. H. Jenkins of the

origin of the song "John Brown's body lies moldering in

the grave":

"In the spring of 1861 the Twelfth Regiment of Massachu-

setts Volunteer Infantry was stationed at Fort Warren, Boston

Harbor.  Among the number were four sergeants, Eldredge,

Edgerley, John Brown and J. H. Jenkins, who constituted a male

quartette, especial attention being given to those patriotic airs

which were then stirring the hearts of the boys in blue. Among

the favorite airs which seemed to have the right swing was an

old campmeeting tune, to the words of 'Come brothers, will you

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340      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

meet us,' and to this tune we proposed to set martial words. The

Virginia tragedy of John Brown was fresh in our minds, and was

emphasized the more by the martial ardor of the little sergeant

of the same name. He used to speak of 'marching on' in the

spirit of his namesake, and so the first verse sprang into being

spontaneously,

John Brown's body lies a moldering in the grave,

His soul goes marching on.

"The second verse applies entirely to Sergeant Brown. He

was very short, and was the butt of many jokes from his com-

rades, when he appeared on parade with his knapsack strapped

upon his back, overtopped by the neatly rolled regulation over-

coat. He would answer back, 'Well, boys, I'll go marching on

with the best of you.' So the second verse was added, 'John

Brown's knapsack is strapped upon his back, His soul goes

marching on.'

"The death of Col. Ellsworth at Alexandria gave rise to the

third and fourth verses, his old Zouave company going under the

soubriquet of 'The Pet Lambs,' while our abhorrence of the

Rebellion found vent in our expressed desire to 'Hang Jeff Davis

on a sour apple tree.'

"In this way the song with its five verses was put together,

piecemeal, and when sung at night, in the barracks, became im-

mensely popular.

"Every Saturday afternoon Gilmore's Band came down from

the city to play for dress parade, accompanied by crowds of

people in excursion steamers. One Saturday the quartette took

P. S. Gilmore into one of the casemates, and sang the tune to

him time and time again, while he played it on his coronet, and

then noted the air in his band book. The next Saturday, when

the regiment was at parade rest, the band started down the long

front to the inspiring strains of 'John Brown,' then played by a

band for the first time.

"When the regiment left Boston for Harper's Ferry, it

stopped for dinner in City Hall Square, New York. After din-

ner the line was reformed for the march down Broadway to the

Ferry. When the order 'Forward march' rang down the line, our

band struck up our favorite tune, the regiment joined in the

refrain, and their steady tramp was emphasized by the chorus

from a thousand throats of 'Glory Hallelujah.' The song soon

became a national one, while in the Army of the Potomac the

12th Mass. was known as the 'Hallelujah Regiment.'"

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John Brown               341

It is generally known that Julia Ward Howe wrote

the Battle Hymn of the Republic to the measure of the

John Brown song.   She heard thousands of soldiers

singing with great fervor their battle song and was

profoundly impressed.  At the suggestion of a friend

that more appropriate words might be written for the

music she composed her famous poem.  The soldiers,

however, to the end of the war clung to the words of

the John Brown song.

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