JOHN BROWN.
RY C. B. GALBREATH
INTRODUCTION.
"John Brown's body lies moldering
in the grave
But his soul goes marching on."
So sang the Twelfth Massachusetts
Regiment as it
marched south to put down the rebellion
and so have
sung other regiments and men who never
belonged to
any military organization in almost
every part of the
North and West since the outbreak of
the Civil War.
It is remarkable how old John Brown
holds his place
in the history and literature of his
country. His name
and deeds have been the theme of
divided opinion and
heated disputation, of eloquence and
song, of eulogy
and detraction, of generous praise and
scathing crit-
icism. If his spirit could speak today
he might truth-
fully say, "I came not to send
peace but a sword."
Those who comment upon the part that he
acted in the
"storm of the years that are
fading" find themselves
arrayed one against another when they
come to pass
judgment upon his deeds, and not
infrequently the critic
exemplifies "a house divided
against itself" and ex-
presses in the same estimate opinions
condemnatory and
laudatory.
In undiminished measure his fame
endures, however.
Even at this late day interest in
"Old John Brown of
Osawatomie" persists, and since
the beginning of the
new century at least four pretentious
volumes have
(184)
John Brown 185
been devoted to his life and character.
His name occurs
at frequent intervals in current
periodical and news-
paper literature and a place for him in
the history of the
Republic seems to be assured.
In Ohio a distinct revival of interest
in this re-
markable man has followed the transfer
of rare relics,
which once belonged to John Brown and
his warrior
sons, to the Ohio State Archaeological
and Historical
Society. These include guns, swords,
uniforms, survey-
ing instruments, autograph letters,
photographs and
other items ranging from bullet molds
to locks of the
hair and beard of this sturdy old
warrior in the anti-
slavery cause.
These papers and relics are duly
authenticated.
They were for a long time in the
possession of Captain
John Brown, Jr., the eldest son of John
Brown, who
lived after the war at Put-in-Bay,
Ohio, where he died
in 1895. They then passed into the
possession of his
daughter who married Mr. T. B.
Alexander and who
still resides at Put-in-Bay. She and
her husband trans-
ferred these rare and precious relics
to the custody of
the Society. The numerous visitors who
almost daily
come to the museum and library building
of the Society
invariably pause to view these
souvenirs of the stirring
times in Kansas and at Harper's Ferry.
This manifestation of interest has led
the writer to
attempt a series of articles for the
QUARTERLY on "John
Brown and His Men From Ohio." Of
John Brown
himself little remains to be written.
His entire life from
birth to execution has been subjected
to the searching
investigation of friend and foe. It is
really remarkable
with what patient research the
different steps in the
career of this man have been followed
and with what
186 Ohio
Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
wealth of detail they have been
recorded. It remains
for the writer only to present that
record in outline and
emphasize such portions as relate to
John Brown's life
in Ohio. This is the necessary
background for the con-
templated sketches of his men from this
state. A gen-
eral knowledge of the character and
purposes of the
leader is essential to an understanding
of the motives
and actions of his followers.
Fortunate is the man who has a
sympathetic biog-
rapher. Autobiography not infrequently
leaves a more
satisfactory impression with the casual
reader than does
biography. Someone has observed that Benjamin
Franklin showed his wisdom in leaving
to posterity a
carefully prepared record of his life
which has become
a classic in our language. Other
writers have been less
classic and some of them less lenient.
The first biog-
raphy of the subject of this sketch,
entitled The Public
Life of Captain John Brown, was written by James Red-
path, a man in hearty sympathy with
Brown and so
closely associated with him in Kansas
that he may be
classed among John Brown's men. His
book bears the
copyright date of 1860, had a wide sale
and produced a
profound impression. The author in a
brief period col-
lected a wealth of material favorable
to his hero whom
he valiantly defends against attack
from whatever
quarter. It is difficult even at this
late day to read this
record without living again in the
times in which it was
written and yielding to the fervent
appeal presented by
the author. To Redpath, John Brown was
always right
and the sainted martyr of his
generation.
Redpath was a newspaper correspondent
and a man
of considerable literary ability. He
witnessed the stir-
ring scenes in Kansas but was not at
Harper's Ferry.
John Brown 187
A poem entitled "Brown's Address
to His Men," evi-
dently written by himself, reveals
something of the
spirit of the anti-slavery warriors in
Kansas. We quote
here the introductory and the
concluding stanzas:
They are coming--men, make ready;
See their ensigns- hear their drum;
See them march with steps unsteady;
Onward to their graves they come.
We must conquer, we must slaughter;
We are God's rod, and his ire
Wills their blood shall flow like water:
In Jehovah's dread name-Fire!
While Redpath's book is a valuable
contribution to
the history of the times, it was
written too soon and in
the midst of an excitement so intense
that inaccuracies
naturally occur and it cannot claim the
highest authority.
In another volume, Echoes From
Harper's Ferry,
issued in the same year, this author
has performed a
valuable service by collecting and
publishing in perma-
nent form the expressions of eminent
men and women
on the tragedy that closed with the
execution of Brown
and a number of his followers. This
includes the views
of Thoreau, Emerson, Theodore Parker,
Henry Ward
Beecher, James Freeman Clarke, William
Lloyd Garri-
son, Victor Hugo, Mrs. M. J. C. Mason
of Virginia and
Rev. Moncure D. Conway of Cincinnati.
There are
quotations from scores of others almost
equally promi-
nent and a collection of the
correspondence of John
Brown. Ohioans will find interest in
the fervid and
prophetic address of Conway, which is
full of the senti-
ment that pervaded the ranks of
anti-slavery men in
Ohio under the stress of the times.
In John Brown, Liberator of Kansas
and Martyr of
Virginia, F. B. Sanborn, the contemporary and associate
188
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
of Brown, has presented in over 600
compactly printed
pages the life and the most complete
collection of the
letters of Brown that has been
published. This work
has gone through four editions, the
last of which bears
the date of 1910. Mr. Sanborn was the
well known
writer of Concord, and no study of the
life and times of
Brown can satisfactorily be made
without frequent ref-
erence to this book, written by his associate
and friend.
Like the work of Redpath, this volume
has been pre-
pared by one in thorough sympathy with
the purposes
and achievements of Brown and must be
regarded as
the testimonial of a devoted lifetime
friend.
Richard J. Hinton, another associate of
Brown's, in
1894 published a most interesting
volume entitled John
Brown and his Men. The appearance of this contribu-
tion was most fortunate. In Kansas and
at Harper's
Ferry, Brown was so completely the
dominating figure
of the tragic scenes through which he
passed that sight
is almost lost of his followers. It is
fortunate that one
of these followers who personally knew
the men that
served under John Brown should collect
all the avail-
able material in regard to the lives of
these associates.
We are apt to think of them sometimes
as men like
Brown himself, to overlook the fact
that they were all
much younger, in fact a majority of
them might be
termed boys, for some of them were not
out of their
teens and most of them had not reached
their thirties.
Though younger they were in thorough
sympathy with
Brown. Seven of them were his own sons.
Almost
without exception they had acquired the
rudiments of
an education in the common schools of
their day and
some of them, like Kagi and Cook, were
men of wide
reading and some literary ability,
while Richard Raelf,
John Brown 189
a wayward son of genius, was a poet
whose writings
are altogether worthy of the attractive
volume in which
they have been published with a memoir
of his life. For
our purpose this volume by Hinton has
an especial value
as it contains matter and references
that will be very
helpful in contemplated sketches of
Kagi, the Coppoc
brothers and John Brown's sons, six of
whom were born
in Ohio.
In 1911 Houghton Mifflin and Company
issued a
substantial and attractive volume of 738
pages entitled
John Brown, a Biography Fifty Years
After, by Oswald
Garrison Villard, a grandson of William
Lloyd Garri-
son. This work is the result of
research study extend-
ing over more than three years. The
author seems to
have consulted every available source
in his industrious
quest and he came into contact by
personal visit or letter
with practically all of the survivors
who had been asso-
ciated with Brown or had been present
at the time of the
Harper's Ferry raid and the execution
that followed it.
In the preface of his book he states
his purpose in lan-
guage that needs no explanation. He
says in part:
"Since 1886 there have appeared
five other lives of Brown,
the most important being that of Richard
J. Hinton, who in his
preface glories in holding a brief for
Brown and his men. The
present volume is inspired by no such
purpose, but is due to
a belief that fifty years after the
Harper's Ferry tragedy the
time is ripe for a study of John Brown,
free from bias, from
the errors in taste and fact of the mere
panegyrist and from the
blind 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
ascertainable, and to judge Brown,
his followers and associates in the
light thereof."
There can be no doubt that Mr. Villard
labored
assiduously to bring his book up to the
high standard set
190
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
forth above. His bibliography of
manuscripts, books,
documents and papers consulted covers
twenty royal
octavo pages of closely printed matter
- a list of refer-
ences so complete that it will probably
not be extended.
In dealing with the character of John
Brown he most
seriously criticises the warfare waged
by him in Kansas
prior to 1857. He especially condemns
what he terms
"Murder on the Pottawatomie"
as without provocation
or extenuating cause. There are other
portions of the
book that attest pretty clearly the
declaration of the
author that he is not holding a brief
for John Brown.
Like his grandfather Garrison, Mr.
Villard finds it
difficult to justify the taking of
human life or participa-
tion in deeds of bloodshed and
violence. While he seeks
to be rigidly just and to take into
account the spirit of
the times in which John Brown lived,
his task is not
an easy one and his conclusions invite
criticism. When
John Brown appealed to arms and
ruthless warfare
against the ruffian invaders, violence
was manifest in
legislative halls, on the plains of
Kansas and wherever
the burning question of slavery had
divided the people
into hostile parties. While Villard
finds much to criti-
cise in John Brown's eulogists, in the
concluding chapter
of his book entitled "Yet Shall He
Live," he pays just
tribute to the heroic qualities that
Brown manifested
while in prison and when with
triumphant step he
mounted the scaffold and took his place
among the
martyrs of history. The conclusion of
his exhaustive
study is presented in the last four
sentences of his book:
"And so, wherever there is battling
against injustice and
oppression, the Charlestown gallows that
became a cross will help
men to live and die. The story of John
Brown will ever con-
front the spirit of despotism, when men
are struggling to throw
John Brown 191
off the shackles of social or political
or physical slavery. His
own country, while admitting his
mistakes without undue pal-
liation or excuse, will forever
acknowledge the divine that was
in him by the side of what was human and
faulty, and blind
and wrong. It will cherish the memory of
the prisoner of
Charlestown in 1859 as at once a sacred,
a solemn and an inspir-
ing American heritage."
In no other part of the United States,
perhaps, has
there been more controversy over the
subject of this
sketch than in the state of Kansas.
Here he first ap-
pealed to arms and here his friends
claim that he struck
the first telling blow which turned
back the tide of Pro-
Slavery invasion and ultimately made
Kansas a free
state.
When the war was on in the Territory of
Kansas
between the Free-State men and the
Border Ruffians
from Missouri and the South, the
settlers who were
opposed to slavery compromised their
differences and
fought shoulder to shoulder to make
Kansas free.
When they had triumphed and Kansas took
her place in
the Union without slavery, divisions
began to spring up
among the Free State men themselves,
divisions which
present the phenomenon not infrequently
witnessed of
factional differences in a triumphant
party after a polit-
ical campaign. Governor Robinson led
one of the Free
State factions, General Lane and the
followers of John
Brown united in another. The
controversy raged over
the question as to who had done most to
save Kansas to
freedom. The conflict was fanned to
furious heat
through political campaigns that
followed the Civil
War. Of course neither John Brown nor
his sons were
present to take part in the
controversy, but the friends
and enemies of Robinson and Lane waged
with each
other a long and bitter war of words,
the echoes of
192 Ohio
Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
which come down to the present time.
Governor Rob-
inson became one of the wealthiest men
in Kansas and
it was asserted by his opponents not
only that he had
acquired his wealth unjustly but that
he never hesitated
to use it to advance his interests in
the acrimonious con-
tests that he waged. As an outgrowth of
this contro--
versy we have a life of John Brown
written by William
Elsey Connelley, a well known historian
and at present
Secretary of the Kansas Historical
Society. After a
careful survey of the Kansas field,
Connelley took his
place in the ranks of the friends of
John Brown. While
in his biography he admits the
imperfections and mis-
takes of the hero of Black Jack and
Osawatomie, he
finds upon careful investigation
extenuating circum-
stances that go far toward justifying
all that John
Brown did in Kansas. He stoutly defends
the "Potta-
watomie executions" and quotes
eminent men to sustain
his view. Among those quoted are
Senator John J.
Ingalls* and Professor L. Spring,+ of
the University
of Kansas.
The appearance of Mr. Connelley's book
stirred up
Governor Robinson and his friends who
raised many
questions in regard to the authority of
the work and
rather severely criticised the author
because of the con-
* Senator Ingalls, in the North
American Review, of February,
1884, wrote: "It was the 'blood and
iron' prescription of Bismarck. The
Pro-Slavery butchers of Kansas and their
Missouri confederates learned
that it was no longer safe to kill. They
discovered, at last, that nothing
is so unprofitable as injustice. They
started from the guilty dream to
find before them, silent and tardy, but
inexorable and relentless, with up-
lifted blade, the awful apparition of
vengeance and retribution."
+ On the Pottawatomie affair Professor
Spring wrote: "Was the
fanatic's expectation realized? Did the
event approve his sagacity? I
think there is but one answer to
questions like these. After all, the fanatic
was wiser than the philosopher. The
effect of this retaliatory policy in
checking outrages, in bringing to a
pause the depredations of bandits, in
staying the proposed execution of Free
State prisoners was marvelous."
John Brown 193
clusions that he had drawn from
the study of his subject
and the stirring times in which Kansas
was born. If
the critics thought that Connelley
would calmly submit
to their estimate of his work and be
silent, they were
seriously mistaken. Mr. Connelley
wields a trenchant
pen in dealing with the detractors of
John Brown. The
pamphlet in which he replied to their
criticisms bears
the title An Appeal to the Record. Those
who had at-
tacked him and his work assuredly
discovered when this
pamphlet of 130 pages appeared that
they had caught a
Tartar. He retaliated by holding up to
public condem-
nation Governor Robinson, G. W. Brown
and Eli
Thayer. Their private lives are brought
into serious
question by sweeping general condemnations
and with
the promise to furnish detailed
particulars for the in-
dictment if occasion requires. Their
public records are
excoriated so mercilessly that their
friends to this day
must feel their blood tingle as they
peruse the pages of
the Record. His critics must
have felt when this publi-
cation appeared much as did those of
Byron when they
read English Bards and Scotch
Reviewers.
There appears never to have been a
reply to the in-
dignant "appeal," but its
appearance was probably re-
sponsible for the publication in 1913
of a volume entitled
"John Brown, Soldier of
Fortune, A Critique," by Hills
Peebles Wilson. This work is the most
condemnatory
that has been published on John Brown.
It scoffs at his
religious pretense, questions whether
Brown ever really
desired to liberate the slaves and
hurls anathemas at all
of his biographers who have said a word
in his support.
The author, however, gives Brown the
credit of having
carefully planned the Harper's Ferry
raid which in his
opinion almost succeeded. He scouts the
contention that
Vol. XXX - 13.
194
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
he was insane. At the climax of his
tirade he denounces
Brown as "Grafter! Hypocrite! Fiend!
MONSTER!"
In the closing pages of his book he
declares that Brown
was "crafty in the sublimest
degree of the art." He
concludes his "critique" of
407 pages with these lines,
quoting as a text the caption of the
final chapter in Vil-
lard's book:
" 'Yet Shall He Live': 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
Jonathan Wild among
thieves."
Assuredly here is fierce denunciation.
This book for
a time was read with much satisfaction
by the critically
inclined who place a low estimate upon
humanitarian
endeavor and reluctantly accord
unselfish motives to
others. Mr. Wilson places much stress
on the word
"grafter" throughout his
work.
This book was widely circulated; but
the effort thus
to blacken the name of Brown in history
came to a some-
what ignominious end. The widow of
Governor Rob-
inson, in the spirit of her husband,
continued the war-
fare against the friends of Lane and
Brown. Shortly
after she died Wilson appealed for the
money due him
for writing the book. He had to produce
his contract
in court to get his pay. This he did,
took the contract
price, $5000, and at latest reports was
no longer a citizen
of Kansas. This revelation detracted
from the influence
of the book and took much of the sting
out of "grafter"
and other epithets that the author so
liberally hurled at
old John Brown.
Peace now seems to reign among the
history writers
John Brown 195
of Kansas, with Connelley and his
friends triumphant
and the fame of John Brown again in the
ascendant.
There is a life of John Brown by W. E.
B. DuBois,
the colored scholar and author, which
is well worth
reading. It may be regarded as an index
of the ultimate
attitude of the race for which Kansas
bled and the gal-
lows of Virginia ushered in the tragic
drama of the
Civil War. DuBois's book does credit to
himself and
his people. It reflects their gratitude
for liberation from
bondage, and the estimate of Brown's
followers who
fought to accomplish this is thoughtful
and conserva-
tive. It is evident, however, that the
author has in mind
the present and future of his race and
a somber appre-
ciation of prejudices to be overcome
and wrongs to be
righted. He insists that the negro
still suffers grievous
injustice; that the times call for
another John Brown
to batter down the walls and break the
fetters that de-
prive his people of the rights and
opportunities which
should be theirs under our
institutions. He has a
grievance to present and a purpose to
accomplish; he
gets a hearing through his ably written
biography of
John Brown, even as Charles Sumner in
his scholarly
lecture on Lafayette found an avenue
for an attack on
the institution of slavery.
John Brown appears to have appealed
strongly to
literary men of other lands. Victor
Hugo, perhaps the
greatest writer of his age, himself an
exile at the time
of the raid, was quick to express
eloquent appreciation.
Later he joined with French republican
associates in
striking a gold medal for the widow of
John Brown and
sending it to her with the remarkable
letter which is
found elsewhere in this issue of the QUARTERLY.
Dr.
196
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
Hermann von Hoist, the gifted and
cultured German,
who came to the United States and
attained eminence
as a historian of our institutions, has
left a tribute to
Brown in an extended essay which was
brought out in
a separate publication by Frank Preston
Stearns in
1889.
There are other biographies and
monographs; there
are pamphlets and periodical articles
almost without
number. Reference to the foregoing
works is made for
the convenience of the average reader
who may wish to
know something of the books that will
most likely be
within his reach, their authors and the
purpose for which
each was written.
In this connection it may be worth
while to bear in
mind that the writer of this
contribution and others that
are in contemplation was born and
reared under Quaker
influences and that as he writes memory
frequently
reverts to a Quaker grandfather who,
like others of his
faith, was valiant in the war of words
against the insti-
tution of slavery but deplored the
shedding of blood and
the clash of arms that came as the
result of the agitation.
His sympathy with Brown was heightened
by the fact
that two Quaker boys from a neighboring
farm went to
Harper's Ferry and one of them followed
his chief to
the gallows at Charlestown. The story
of this youth,
his tragic fate and the outpouring of
people to attend his
funeral is still rehearsed in the
little community where
Edwin Coppoc was born and near which
his mortal
remains are at rest. If bias marks
aught that is here
written, may it be credited to the
influence of those fire-
side memories.
Any adequate estimate of the character
and career of
John Brown should, of course, take into
consideration
John Brown 197
the record and spirit of the times in
which he lived.
This seems to be conceded by all who
have seriously
written on the subject and they have
collected and pub-
lished materials that make unnecessary
extended addi-
tional research. Mr. Villard in his
exhaustive work has
stated in consecutive order the
cumulative offenses on
both sides of the controversy over
slavery. It is difficult
to read these without reaching the
conclusion that deeds
of violence and the bloody sequel of
Civil War were
inevitable. In the light of what he
himself has written,
some of his judgments against John
Brown's operations
in Kansas may seem unduly severe. To
anti-slavery
settlers conditions had become
intolerable. Reprisals
and retribution were the results.
A review of the long controversy over
slavery need
not be presented here. It is sufficient
to know that when
Brown and his sons went to Kansas
hostile thoughts
were finding expression in action -
that violent words
were emphasized by cruel blows - that
heated appeals
from the rostrum were marshalling the
hosts for ensan-
guined battle fields.
Years before this in the state of
Illinois Lovejoy
had been shot while defending his right
through his
paper to oppose slavery, and for a
similar offense Gar-
rison had been mobbed in the streets of
Boston. It is
difficult for the rising generation to
understand that
men are still living who can remember
the raid of anti-
slavery newspapers, even in Ohio, and
the treatment of
at least one editor to a liberal coat
of tar and feathers.
As early as 1830 the condition of
affairs in Kentucky
was set forth in a message of the
governor of that state
in which he declared that "men
slaughter each other
almost with impunity" and urged the
legislature to take
198 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
action to prevent a condition that made
Kentucky still
the "dark and bloody ground."
John Quincy Adams
was denounced for his anti-slavery
utterances and this
toast was offered at a southern
banquet: "May we never
want * * * a hangman to prepare a
halter for
John Quincy Adams." On more than
one occasion the
pistol and the bowie knife were
brandished in the Con-
gress of the United States and
Pro-Slavery newspapers
put a price on the heads of their
eminent opponents:
"Five thousand dollars for that of
William H. Seward
and ten thousand dollars for the
delivery in Richmond
of Joshua R. Giddings," the
representative in Congress
of the Ohio Western Reserve, the homeof
John Brown
and his family.
The Pro-Slavery men who rushed to
Kansas in order
to fix upon it their "peculiar
institution," were not less
violent than the extremists of the
states from which
they came. Before John Brown reached
the Territory
it had been the scene of strife and
bloodshed over the
question of slavery. The invasion from
Missouri and
the South was in full sway. His sons
who had preceeded
him were already involved in the
controversy. They
were outspoken in their attitude of
hostility to slavery.
John Brown, Jr., on June 25, 1855, was
chosen vice-
president of the Free State Convention
held in Lawrence
on that day. He was on the committee
that reported
among other resolutions one containing
this "defy" to
the Missourians: "In reply to the
threats of war so fre-
quently made in our neighbor state, our
answer is, 'WE
ARE READY'." For this attitude the Browns were
"marked men," long before
their father appeared on the
scene.
At previous elections the state had
been overrun by
John Brown 199
Missourians, and the most flagrant
frauds had been
openly perpetrated. At the election for
delegate to Con-
gress November 29, 1854, they cast 1729
fraudulent
votes. In one district where the census
three months
later showed only 53 voters, 602 votes
were cast and
counted. At the election of members of
the Territorial
Legislature, March 30, 1855, this
outrage was even
more brazenly repeated. "Of 6307
votes cast, nearly
five-sixths were those of the
invaders." The Pro-
Slavery party by intimidation and
violence elected all
the members of the legislature except
one and he after-
ward resigned. This was the famous
Lecompton Legis-
lature which forced upon the people of
Kansas the Mis-
souri code, including the institution
of slavery.* It even
went farther and made it a criminal
offense for anyone
to entertain and express opinions
hostile to that
institution.
There had been a number of
"killings," how many
is not definitely known. Some who met
this fate are
specifically named in the report of the
Howard Congres-
sional Committee on which John Sherman,
of Ohio, was
a member. Others are reported, among
them the shoot-
ing of Charles Dow, a Free State man
from Ohio. Prac-
tically every person in Kansas went
armed and the seeds
of civil war were freely sown. The fact
that the Pierce
administration at Washington was doing
about every-
thing in its power to help fasten the
institution of slavery
on Kansas made the situation doubly
irritating for the
Free-State settlers. There was elected
by votes from
Missouri a sheriff of Lawrence County,
Kansas, who
at the same time held the position of
postmaster in
* This is the "Kansas
Legislature" referred to by John Brown in his
letter of February 20, 1856, to Joshua
R. Giddings.
200 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
Westport, Missouri. It is needless to say that this
sheriff was a source of trouble in this
stronghold of the
Free-State men.
The early part of the winter 1855-1856
passed rather
quietly. The Free State men were
gathering strength
and organizing for the admission of
Kansas without
slavery. Their convention adopted a
constitution and a
Free State legislature was chosen. John
Brown, Jr.,
was elected to the latter.+
On January 24, 1856, President Pierce
sent to Con-
gress a message that fanned to flaming
heat the resent-
ment of the Free State men. It
characterized their acts
in attempting to organize the state as
revolutionary and
likely to lead to "treasonable
insurrection." This mes-
sage was followed by a proclamation
placing the United
States troops at Fort Riley at the
service of Governor
Shannon, who was in complete sympathy
with the move-
ment to make Kansas a slave state. This
proclamation
foreshadowed the dissolution of the
Free State Topeka
Legislature by the military forces of
the United States.
The feelings that this aroused in John
Brown are fully
revealed in the following letter to
Joshua R. Giddings,
then representing the Western Reserve
District of Ohio
in Congress:
OSAWATOMIE, KANSAS TERRITORY, 20th Feby,
1856.
HON. JOSHUA R. GIDDINGS,
Washington, D. C.
DEAR SIR,
I write to say that a number of the
United States Soldiers
are quartered in this vicinity for the ostensible
purpose of re-
moving intruders from certain Indian Lands. It
is, however,
believed that the Administration has no thought of
removing
+ The Free State legislature was chosen
by the Free State party.
The Pro-Slavery party did not
participate in the election.
John Brown 201
the Missourians from the Indian Lands;
but that the real object
is to have these men in readiness to act
in the enforcement of
those Hellish enactments of the
(so called) Kansas Legislature;
absolutely abominated by a great
majority of the inhabitants of
the Territory; and spurned by them up to
this time. I con-
fidently believe that the next movement
on the part of the Ad-
ministration and its Proslavery masters
will be to drive the
people here, either to submit to those
Infernal enactments; or
to assume what will be termed treasonable
grounds by shooting
down the poor soldiers of the country
with whom they have
no quarrel whatever. I ask in the name
of Almighty God; I ask
in the name of our venerated
fore-fathers; I ask in the name of
all that good or true men ever held
dear; will Congress suffer
us to be driven to such "dire
extremities"? Will anything be
done? Please send me a few lines at this place. Long ac-
quaintance with your public life, and a
slight personal ac-
quaintance incline and embolden me to
make this appeal to
yourself.
Everything is still on the surface here
just now. Circum-
stances, however, are of a most
suspicious character.
Very respectfully yours,
JOHN BROWN.
This letter received prompt attention
at the hands of
the militant Congressman who replied in
part:
"You need have no fear of the
troops. The President will
never dare employ the troops of
the United States to shoot the
citizens of Kansas. The death of the
first man by the troops
will involve every free state in your
own fate. It will light up
the fires of Civil War throughout the
North, and we shall stand
or fall with you. Such an act will also
bring the President so
deep in infamy that the hand of political
resurrection will never
reach him."
On the day that Brown wrote the letter
to Joshua R.
Giddings, February 20, 1856, The
Squatter Sovereign
said editorially:
"In our opinion the only effectual
way to correct the evils
that now exist is to hang up to the
nearest tree the very last
traitor who was instrumental in getting
up, or participating in,
the celebrated Topeka Convention."
202 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
More than a month previous the
Pro-Slavery men
had acted in the spirit of this advice.
Captain Reese P.
Brown (not related to the subject of
this sketch) shortly
after he had been elected a member of
the Topeka Free-
State Legislature, was brutally
murdered by Pro-
Slavery men who rushed around him and
"literally
hacked him to death with their
hatchets." When his
bleeding body, from which life was not
yet extinct, was
thrown at the feet of his wife she
swooned and awoke
a raving maniac. The morning following
this deed The
Kansas Pioneer came out with this lurid appeal:
"Sound the bugle of war over the
length and breadth of
the land and leave not an abolitionist
in the territory to relate
their treacherous and contaminating
deeds. Strike your piercing
rifle balls and your glittering steel
to their black and poisonous
hearts."
The killing of Reese P. Brown was
scarcely more
gruesome than others occurring about
the same time.
It is here given because the victim was
elected to the
Topeka Legislature in which John Brown,
Jr., later
(March 8, 1856) acted on a committee
that condemned
the "cold blooded murder" of
their fellow member.
For his activity in this Legislature,
John Brown, Jr.,
was made to pay a terrible penalty as
will be shown later
in a sketch of his life. From the
little that has here been
said it may be seen that the subversion
of the ballot-box
was complete and that violence was rife
in Kansas be-
fore the affair at the Pottawatomie.
In the meantime the war of words on the
hustings
and in legislative halls was not less
violent than deeds
on the plains of Kansas. At times it is
difficult to say
which was echo of the other. In
Congress the speeches
turned more and more upon the struggle
to fix slavery
John Brown
203
on Kansas Territory and the parties to
the fray on that
western frontier were stirred to more
desperate action
by the charges and counter-charges,
denunciations and
appeals of their friends back east.
Excitement went up to fever heat when
Preston
Brooks, a member of the House of
Representatives from
South Carolina, accompanied by a
colleague from that
state and one from Virginia, made a
violent attack upon
Charles Sumner, a senator from the
state of Massachu-
setts. Sumner on the 19th day of May,
1856, delivered
a notable speech in the Senate in which
he most severely
arraigned the slave power and its
defenders in Congress.
He was eloquent in his defense of the
Free State settlers
of Kansas and contrasted their spirit
with that exhibited
by the people of South Carolina. He
compared the
women of Lawrence with "the
matrons of Rome who
poured their jewels into the treasury
for the public
defense":
"It would be difficult to find
anything in the history of
South Carolina," said he,
"which presents as much heroic spirit
in an heroic cause as shines in that
repulse of the Missouri in-
vaders by the beleaguered town of
Lawrence, where even the
women gave their effective efforts to freedom."
And in conclusion, turning to Senator
Butler, he
said:
"Ah, sir, I tell the senator that
Kansas, welcomed as a free
state, 'a ministering angel shall be' to
the Republic, when South
Carolina, in the cloak of darkness which
she hugs, 'lies howling'."
There were bitter personalities
exchanged in the
course of this debate. Two days
afterward Brooks of
South Carolina with his two
confederates approached
Sumner where he was sitting at his desk
in the senate
chamber. As he raised his cane he
shouted to Sumner,
204
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
"I have read your speech over
twice carefully; it is a
libel on South Carolina and Mr. Butler
who is a relative
of mine." With these words he
rained blow upon blow
upon Sumner's head and arms. The
senator struggled
to rise, but before he could
successfully defend himself
he fell bleeding from more than twenty
wounds on the
floor of the senate chamber. Senator Crittenden of
Kentucky started to assist Sumner but
was prevented by
Representative Keitt, of South
Carolina, Representative
Edmundson, of Virginia, and others who
shouted:
"Let them alone." "Don't
interfere." "Go it, Brooks."
"Give the Abolitionist h-l."
With shouts like these, in-
terspersed with oaths, the senate
chamber rang as the
confederates of Brooks with raised
canes prevented any
interference.
The subsequent history of this outrage
is too well
known to be repeated here. For almost four years
Sumner was unable to return to the
Senate.
The news of this disgraceful affair
reached John
Brown's men on their way to the
Pottawatomie. It
spurred them on to action swift and
terrible. The blows
struck in the Senate of the United
States reached to
Kansas - and farther. The memory of the
Sumner
assault is revived here simply to show
the unfortunate
condition into which the whole country
had drifted as
a result of the anti-slavery
controversy. When such
a deed of violence could occur in broad
daylight in the
highest legislative body of our land,
what might not be
expected, under the then existing
conditions, when the
news of it reached the Kansas frontier?
Shortly after the Pottawatomie tragedy
and before
authentic account of it had reached the
East, Abraham
Lincoln caught the spirit of the hour
and in his famous
John Brown 205
speech at Bloomington, Illinois, May
29, 1856, pro-
claimed:
"We must highly resolve that Kansas
must be free * * *
let us draw a cordon so to speak around
the slave states, and the
hateful institution, like a reptile poisoning itself,
will perish
by its own infamy."
He reached the climax in this speech in
these words:
"There is a power and a magic in
popular opinion. To
that let us now appeal; and while, in
all probability, no resort
to force will be needed, our moderation
and forbearance will
stand us in good stead when, if ever, we
must make an appeal
to battle and the God of hosts."
Quotations might be extended almost
without limit
to show that the spirit of war was in
the air throughout
our land when the first red drops of
the approaching
storm were falling on the plains of
Kansas.
The affair for which John Brown has
been most fre-
quently and seriously criticised was
preceded, it should
always be remembered, by the burning
and sacking of
the town of Lawrence, the headquarters
of the Free
State men in Kansas territory. To
avenge wrongs done
the "highly honorable Jones"
who was at the same time
holding the position of postmaster of
Westport, Mis-
souri,and sheriff of Lawrence County,
Kansas, a band
of border ruffians numbering about 1200
and led by
former United States Senator Atchison
of Missouri
appeared before the town. The citizens
determined to
offer no resistance and to put up to
the authorities of the
United States the responsibility for
what might follow.
After they had surrendered Atchison in
a fiery speech
said to his followers among other
things:
"And now we will go with our highly
honorable Jones, and
test the strength of that damned Free
State Hotel. Be brave,
206
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
be orderly, and if any man or woman
stand in your way, blow
them to hell with a chunk of cold lead."
The border ruffians, many of whom were
inflamed
by drink, sacked the town, destroyed
two newspaper
offices and threw the types, papers,
presses and books
into the river. A number of cannon
shots were then
fired into the Free State Hotel which
was soon on fire
and went up in flames. When it lay in
ruins the "highly
honorable Jones" shouted in glee:
"This is the happiest
moment of my life. I have done it, by
God I have done
it."
It has been sometimes claimed that John
Brown was
in Lawrence at the time its destruction
began. This is
hardly true, however, as there would
have been resolute
resistance if he had been there. Some
of his friends
have claimed that what he saw at
Lawrence was his
excuse for the act of vengeance on the
Pottawatomie,
but Villard marshals a lot of evidence
to show that John
Brown was probably not present and that
therefore he
could not offer what he saw in excuse
for what he later
did. It seems very inconsequential
whether he was
present or not. He certainly heard of
what occurred on
the 21st of May before the action of
his followers on the
Pottawatomie on the night of the 24th
of that month.
And the conclusion cannot be escaped
that he and his
followers, with this fresh
demonstration that the gov-
ernment of the United States would do
nothing to pre-
serve life and the semblance of
civilization in Kansas,
resolved to take the law into their own
hands and by a
terrible reprisal notify the Border
Ruffians that hence-
forth they would send their hordes into
Kansas at their
own peril, that their armed assassins
coming over the
John Brown 207
border would, in the language of
Corwin, "be welcomed
with bloody hands to hospitable
graves."
The Pottawatomie affair, as Villard
states, has
caused perhaps more discussion than any
other event in
the history of Kansas Territory. Upon
this the enemies
of John Brown invariably dwell at
length, while his
friends are equally explicit with their
apologies and
defenses. Five Pro-Slavery men were
killed on the
night of May 24, 1856, and it is now
generally admitted
that they met their fate at the hands
of John Brown and
his followers. John Brown himself
killed no one, it is
claimed, but he was present and later
assumed full re-
sponsibility for what was done. John
Brown, Jr. was
some distance away and did not learn of
the tragedy
until some time after it had occurred.
Colonel Richard
J. Hinton in his John Brown and His
Men fully justifies
what was done and terms it the
"Pottawatomie execu-
tions." Villard strongly condemns
the participants in
what he terms the "Murder on the
Pottawatomie."
The five Pro-Slavery men on
Pottawatomie Creek
were seized without warning and
ruthlessly slain. Full
particulars are given by Villard,
Sanborn and Hinton.
Although this action is strongly condemned
by Villard,
in his analysis of the motive of Brown,
he says:
"He believed that a collision was
inevitable in the spring,
and Jones and Donaldson proved him to be
correct. Fired with
indignation at the wrongs he witnessed
on every 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 institution
of human slavery, against
which his whole life was a protest. He
pictured himself a
208
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
modern crusader as much empowered to
remove the unbeliever
as any armored searcher after the
Grail."
Villard also states that the action of
John Brown
on the Pottawatomie was generally
approved in after
years by the Free State men of Kansas
and that many of
them went on record to the effect that
it was necessary
for the protection of the Free State
settlers and prepared
the way for the final deliverance of
Kansas from the
institution of slavery.
In this introductory paper no attempt
will be made
to differentiate the conscientious
convictions that the
North and the South brought to the
controversy. At this
late day no serious effort will be
made, it is presumed, to
prove that the institution of slavery
was fundamentally
right and that it should have been
perpetuated under our
flag. At the time of John Brown's
activity in the anti-
slavery cause, however, the people of
the South believed
that their "peculiar system"
could be justified on the
highest moral grounds and their
ministers of the gospel
eloquently defended it from the pulpit,
basing their con-
clusions on extended quotations from
Holy Writ. An
overwhelming majority of the white
citizens of the
United States who lived south of the
Mason and Dixon
line regarded the abolition movement as
an attack upon
them and their property, designed to
incite a servile in-
surrection with horrors similar to
those that signalized
the uprising of the blacks against
their masters in San
Domingo. In view of this fact, the
excesses of the slave
power and its agents in Kansas and
Virginia are self-
explanatory.
The action of the people of Virginia at
Harper's
Ferry and Charlestown has been
criticised, ridiculed and
John Brown 209
bitterly condemned. The treatment of
the prisoners
who were captured at Harper's Ferry,
however, stands
out in redeeming relief. The jailer,
Captain Avis, and
Sheriff Campbell were so considerate
that the prisoners
paid frequent tribute to their kind and
chivalrous con-
duct. Much must be said also to the
credit of Governor
Wise whose testimony to the high
character and sterling
qualities of John Brown was truly
remarkable when we
consider the circumstances under which
it was uttered.
It must also be remembered that he was
so impressed
by the conduct of Edwin Coppoc and his
Quaker
friends that he desired to commute the
sentence of this
youth to imprisonment for life and was
only dissuaded
by action of the Legislature of
Virginia. In spite of
the excitement attending the raid and
the excesses inci-
dent to its suppression Virginia
maintained and exhib-
ited a degree of her traditional
chivalry.
Elsewhere will be presented a statement
of the won-
derful change in popular opinion that
was wrought in
large measure by John Brown and his
men. The Civil
War soon followed and the leaders who
were prominent
in opposing John Brown by force of arms
at Harper's
Ferry to maintain the supremacy of the
laws of the
United States and Virginia were soon
afterwards them-
selves in uniforms of gray fighting to
overthrow the
Republic that they had sworn to defend;
while the fol-
lowers of John Brown who survived the
raid and the
gallows were in uniforms of blue
fighting to preserve
the Union.
Of special importance, as we have
already intimated,
to all readers of the QUARTERLY is
Ohio's relation to the
work of John Brown and his men. Brown
himself
came to the village of Hudson, "the
capital of our West-
Vol. XXX - 14.
210
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
ern Reserve," when he was only
five years old and grew
up to manhood with the pioneers of our
state. Of seven
sons that aided him in his warfare
against slavery six
were born in Ohio and all were reared
in this state. Of
other followers John Henri Kagi, who
was killed at
Harper's Ferry, was born in Trumbull
County, Ohio,
and Edwin Coppoc, who was executed at
Charlestown,
Virginia, was born in Columbiana
County, Ohio, as was
his brother Barclay who escaped from
Harper's Ferry
and afterwards lost his life while
serving his country as
lieutenant in a Kansas regiment of
volunteers.
Lewis Sherrard Leary, who was killed at
Harper's
Ferry, and John A. Copeland, who was
executed at
Charlestown, were both colored, born in
other states but
Ohioans by adoption, and went from
their homes in
Oberlin to join John Brown at
Chambersburg, Pennsyl-
vania.
Wilson Shannon and Samuel Medary at
different
times served as governor of Kansas
Territory. The
former was appointed by President
Pierce and the latter
by President Buchanan. Both were from
Ohio and
had been prominent in the political
annals of this state.
Shannon had been its governor.
Other Ohio men less prominent were not
less pow-
erful in shaping the destiny of Kansas
in the days of
stress and controversy over
slavery. They were so
numerous that they were the dominating
influence in
the convention that gave Kansas her
free constitution.
The census of 1860 shows that Ohio had
at that time
contributed more than any other state
to the population
of Kansas.
One of the men who at Harper's Ferry
plied old John
Brown with questions for the evident
purpose of impli-
John Brown 211
eating prominent anti-slavery statesmen
in the raid,
was Clement L. Vallandigham, the
congressman from
Ohio, destined himself to lose the road
to eminence in
the mighty conflict soon to follow.
One of the youthful followers of Brown,
as will later
be seen, lost his life through the
burning of a bridge by
Quantrill, the Confederate guerrilla
chieftain, who was
also born in Ohio. Assuredly in this labyrinth of
tragedy Ohioans were conspicuously involved.
CHIEFLY BIOGRAPHICAL
Biographies of John Brown properly and
necessarily
start with Plymouth Rock. His ancestor,
Peter Brown
the carpenter, came over in the Mayflower
with the Pil-
grims in December, 1620.
Detailed information is available in a
number of
works relative to the descendants of
this ancestor. It is
unnecessary to repeat here all that has
been written.
Peter Brown died in 1633 and his
remains were buried
at Duxbury near those of the famous
Captain Standish
whose monument now rises from the
little promontory
that faces the sea.
Peter Brown of the Mayflower left
a son named
after himself who moved to Windsor,
Connecticut,
shortly prior to 1658. He here became
the father of
thirteen children, one of whom, John
Brown, was born
January 8, 1668. He grew to manhood and
was the
father of eleven children, one of whom,
John Brown
second, was born in 1700 and died in
1790. His son, Cap-
tain John Brown of West Simsbury, was
the grandfather
of John Brown of Osawatomie and
Harper's Ferry
fame. This grandfather was a soldier in
the Revolution
and died in the service, leaving a
widow and eleven chil-
212
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
dren, one of whom was born after he
entered the army.
This widow's maiden name was Owen and
one of her
sons named Owen was the father of John
Brown,
the militant opponent of slavery. A
detailed account of
his ancestry shows that Welsh, Dutch
and English blood
mingled in his veins. Both of his
grandfathers were
officers in the Revolution and one of
them, as we have
seen, died in the service.
Owen Brown lived for a time in the town
of West
Simsbury, now Canton, Connecticut.
"Town" is used
here in the New England sense and means
township.
Later he moved to Torrington,
Connecticut, where his
son John was born May 9, 1800. In 1804
he made a
journey to what was then the far West
and visited Hud-
son, Ohio, with the thought of locating
there. One year
afterward he brought his family in a
wagon drawn by
an ox team, chose his place of
habitation and became a
citizen of the young state, Ohio.
The maiden name of John Brown's mother
was
Ruth Mills. Her father, Lieutenant Gideon Mills,
moved to Ohio in 1800, five years
before Owen Brown
and his family came to the state.
Fortunately for those interested, Owen
Brown when
nearly eighty years old and while
living at Hudson
wrote a biography covering rather fully
the events of
his life. This autobiography has a
general interest for
the reader as it details the
experiences, the trials, re-
verses and triumphs of the pioneers of
our state and
especially those who came over from
Connecticut and
settled on the Western Reserve. This
brief narrative is
taken up largely with the things that
interested the
average emigrant from the East who
settled in this
section. Much of it is devoted to
family interests, the
John Brown 213
record of the births and deaths of
numerous children,
the pursuits of the pioneers, efforts
to get the merest
rudiments of an education and the
religious experiences
which made up a prominent part of the
history of Hud-
son and the surrounding country.
Omitting the larger portion of this
autobiography be-
cause it is readily accessible in The
Life and Letters of
John Brown by F. B. Sanborn, we here quote some of
the paragraphs that relate especially
to that portion of
the life of Owen Brown that was spent
in Ohio:
"We arrived in Hudson on the 27th
of July, and were re-
ceived with many tokens of kindness. We
did not come to a
land of idleness; neither did I expect
it. Our ways were as pros-
perous as we had reason to expect. I
came with a determination
to help build up and be a help, in the
support of religion and
civil order. We had some hardships to
undergo, but they appear
greater in history than they were in
reality. I was often called
to go into the woods to make division of
lands, sometimes sixty
or seventy miles from home, and be gone
some weeks, sleeping
on the ground, and that without serious
injury.
"When we came to Ohio the Indians
were more numerous
than the white people, but were very
friendly, and I believe were
a benefit rather than an injury. In
those days there were some
that seemed disposed to quarrel with the
Indians, but I never
had those feelings. They brought us
venison, turkeys, fish, and
the like; sometimes they wanted bread or
meal more than they
could pay for at the time, but were
always faithful to pay their
debts. In September, 1806, there was a
difficulty between two
tribes; the tribe on the Cuyahoga River
came to Hudson, and
asked for assistance to build them a
log-house that would be a
kind of fort to shelter their women and
children from the fire-
arms of their enemy. Most of our men
went with teams, and
chopped, drew, and carried logs, and put
up a house in one day,
for which they appeared very grateful.
They were our neigh-
bors until 1812, but when the war commenced with the British,
the Indians left these parts mostly, and
rather against my
wishes."
A glimpse of what the second war with
England
meant to this pioneer community may be
had from the
following quotation:
214
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
"In July, 1812, the war with
England began; and this war
called loudly for action, liberality,
and courage. This was the
most active part of my life. We were
then on the frontier, and
the people were much alarmed,
particularly after the surrender
of General Hull at Detroit. Our cattle,
horses, and provisions
were all wanted. Sick soldiers were
returning, and needed all
the assistance that could be given them.
There was great sick-
ness in different camps, and the travel was mostly
through Hud-
son, which brought sickness into our
families. By the first of
1813 there was great mortality in
Hudson. My family were
sick, but we had no deaths."
John Brown inherited his opposition to
slavery.
This is clearly set forth in a statement
by his father
written about 1850:
"I am an abolitionist. I know we
are not loved by many;
I have no confession to make for being
one, yet I wish to tell
how long I have been one, and how I
became so. I have no
hatred to negroes. When a child four or
five years old, one
of our nearest neighbors had a slave
that was brought from
Guinea. In the year 1776 my father was
called into the army
at New York, and left his work undone.
In August, our good
neighbor, Captain John Fast, of West Simsbury, let my
mother
have the labor of his slave to plough a
few days. I used to go
out into the field with this slave, -
called Sam, - and he used
to carry me on his back, and I fell in
love with him. He worked
but a few days, and went home sick with
the pleurisy, and died
very suddenly. When told that he would
die, he said that he
should go to Guinea, and wanted victuals
put up for the journey.
As I recollect, this was the first
funeral I ever attended in the
days of my youth. There were but three
or four slaves in West
Simsbury. In the year 1790, when I lived
with the Rev. Jere-
miah Hallock, the Rev. Samuel Hopkins,
D. D., came from
Newport, and I heard him talking with
Mr. Hallock about slav-
ery in Rhode Island, and he denounced it as a great
sin. I
think in the same summer Mr. Hallock had
sent to him a sermon
or pamphlet-book, written by the Rev. Jonathan Edwards,
then
at New Haven. I read it, and it denounced slavery as a
great
sin. From this time I was anti-slavery,
as much as I be now."
In 1857 when John Brown was in the midst
of war-
fare against slavery and stationed at
Red Rock, Iowa,
he wrote in fulfillment of a promise a
sketch of his life
John Brown 215
for Henry L. Stearns, a boy only
thirteen years old.
The occasion of the writing of this
sketch was the grat-
itude of Brown to Mr. George Luther
Stearns, a
wealthy merchant and manufacturer of
Boston whom
Brown visited shortly after Christmas
in 1856. Stearns
had a beautiful home at Medford and
here he enter-
tained his guest, with whose
anti-slavery views he was
in cordial sympathy. The oldest son of
the family was
much interested in Brown and gave him
some money
that he had been saving to buy shoes
for "one of those
little Kansas children." When
Brown left the boy ex-
acted from him a promise that he would
write the story
of his boyhood days. This he did later
at Red Rock,
Iowa, and sent it to the Stearns family.
The manuscript
is still in existence. It has been
published many times
and we quote from it simply within the
limitations of
what may especially interest Ohio
readers. He speaks
of the long journey to Ohio which he
distinctly remem-
bered, always referring to himself in
the third person:
"When he was five years old his
father moved to Ohio,
then a wilderness filled with wild
beasts and Indians. During
the long journey, which was performed
in part or mostly with an
ox team, he was called by turns to
assist a boy five years older,
who had been adopted by his father and
mother."
It is rather remarkable that no
difference how large
these pioneer families were they always
seemed to have
room for additions by adoption. The
doors were usually
open to a child or youth for varied
periods of time as
we shall see later. Again Brown in
speaking of his
coming to Ohio says:
"After getting to Ohio in 1805 he was
for some time rather
afraid of the Indians and their rifles, but this soon
wore out and
he used to hang about them quite as much as was
consistent with
good manners and learned a trifle of
their talk."
216
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
He then proceeds to tell how he learned
the tanner's
trade under the direction of his father
and to detail his
youthful experiences, his association
with Indian chil-
dren and his fondness for pets. Of
schooling he re-
ceived very little. He says:
"Indeed when for a short time he
was sometimes sent to
school, the opportunity it afforded to
wrestle and snowball and
run and jump and knock off old seedy
wool hats offered him al-
most the only compensation for the
confinement and Restraints
of school."
As he grew older larger responsibilities
came to him
and he drove cattle, sometimes a
distance of a hundred
miles. His experiences at this period
are the founda-
tions from which Elbert Hubbard built up
much of his
interesting novel, Time and
Chance. As set forth in
that story, Zanesville, Ohio, was the
destination of this
boy herdsman. We quote from what he has
to say in
regard to the war with England, as he saw
it, and the
influences that made him a foe to
slavery:
"When the war broke out with
England, his father soon
commenced furnishing the troops with
beef cattle, the collecting
and driving of which afforded him some
opportunity for the
chase (on foot) of wild steers and other
cattle through the
woods. During this war he had some
chance to form his own
boyish judgment of men and measures and
to become somewhat
familiarly acquainted with some who have
figured before the
country since that time. The effect of
what he saw during the
war was to so far disgust him with
military affairs that he would
neither train or drill but paid fines
and got along like a Quaker
until his age finally has cleared him of
military duty.
"During the war with England a
circumstance occurred that
in the end made him a most determined
abolitionist and led him
to declare or swear eternal war with
slavery. He was staying
for a short time with a very gentlemanly
landlord, since a United
States Marshal, who held a slave boy
near his own age, very
active, intelligent and good feeling and
to whom John was under
considerable obligation for numerous
little acts of kindness. The
master made a great pet of John, brought him to table
with his
John Brown 217
first company and friends, called their
attention to every little
smart thing he said or did and to the fact of his being
more
than a hundred miles from home with a
company of cattle alone,
while the negro boy (who was fully if
not more than his equal)
was badly clothed, poorly fed and lodged
in cold weather and
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 and
motherless slave children,
for such children have neither fathers
or mothers to protect and
provide for them. He sometimes would
raise the question, is
God their Father?"
Of his early religious experiences he
says:
"John had been taught from earliest
childhood to 'fear God
and keep His commandments;' and though
quite skeptical he
had always by turns felt much serious
doubt as to his future
well being and about this time became to
some extent a convert
to Christianity and ever after a firm
believer in the divine authen-
ticity of the Bible. With this book he
became very familiar and
possessed a most unusual memory of its
entire contents."
Again he reverts to his work at Hudson.
He says:
"From fifteen to twenty years old,
he spent most of his
time at the tanner and currier's trade,
keeping bachelor's hall
and he officiating as cook and for most
of the time as foreman
in the establishment under his
father."
While this youth was working in his
father's tan-
nery, another boy by the name of Jesse
Grant, whose
parents had come from Connecticut to
Pennsylvania
and later to Ohio, came to the Brown
home and was
admitted to the family. He and young
John Brown
worked side by side daily and became
much attached to
each other. Little did either dream of
the future before
him. John was to become the father of
sons who should
give their lives in an effort to
overthrow the institution
of slavery, and Jesse was to become the
father of the
general who should lead armed hosts to
bind the states
closer together and make freedom
universal in America.
218
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
Ulysses S. Grant, the son of Jesse, in
his memoirs com-
pleted at Mt. McGregor July 1, 1885,
has this to say of
his father's apprenticeship in the
tannery of Owen
Brown:
"He went first, I believe, with his
half-brother, Peter Grant,
who, though not a tanner himself, owned
a tannery in Maysville,
Kentucky. Here he learned his trade, and
in a few years re-
turned to Deerfield and worked for, and lived in the
family of
a Mr. Brown, the father of John
Brown-'whose body lies
mouldering in the grave, while his soul goes marching
on.' I
have often heard my father speak of John
Brown, particularly
since the events at Harper's Ferry.
Brown was a boy when
they lived in the same house, but he
knew him afterwards, and
regarded him as a man of great purity of
character, of high
moral and physical courage, but a
fanatic and extremist in what-
ever he advocated. It was certainly the
act of an insane man
to attempt the invasion of the South,
and the overthrow of
slavery, with less than twenty
men."
In the War of 1812, Owen Brown
contracted to fur-
nish beef to Hull's army, which with
his boy John he
followed to or near Detroit. Though
John was but
twelve years old, in after years he
recalled very dis-
tinctly the incidents of the long
march, the camp life of
the soldiers and the attitude of the
subordinate officers
toward their commander. From
conversations that he
overheard he concluded that they were
not very loyal to
General Hull. He remembered especially
General Lewis
Cass, then a captain, and General
Duncan McArthur.
As late as 1857 he referred to
conversations between the
two and among other officers that
should have branded
them as mutineers. How much of this has
foundation
in fact and how much is due to
erroneous youthful im-
pression, must of course remain a
matter of conjecture.
Like most children of his day John
Brown had very
meager educational opportunities at
Hudson. He sup-
John Brown 219
plemented the rudiments that he there
acquired in the
schools and the church by reading such
standard books
as Eosop's Bables, Life of Franklin and
Pilgrim's
Progress.
At the age of sixteen years he joined
the Congre-
gational Church at Hudson and later
thought seriously
of studying for the ministry. With this
purpose in
view he returned to Connecticut and
entered a prepar-
atory school at Plainfield, intending
later to take a course
at Amherst College. Inflammation of his
eyes, how-
ever, prevented him from continuing his
studies and he
soon returned to Hudson. Later at odd
moments he
studied surveying and attained skill
and accuracy in its
practice. In 1820 he owned a copy of Flint's
Survey.
Some of his surveying instruments are
in the Museum
of the Ohio State Archaeological anJ
Historical Society,
including his pocket and his field
compasses, both in
excellent state of preservation. His
chief occupation,
however, from 1819 to 1839 was the tanning of
leather.
That John Brown was a normal youth is
attested by
the fact that he early fell deeply in
love. This was not
reciprocated and he wrote in a letter
about forty years
afterward that as a result he
"felt for a number of
years in early life a steady, strong
desire to die." That
he was normal is also proven by the
fact that he was
later comforted and married Diantha
Lusk of Hudson,
Ohio, June 21, 1820. She was an
excellent woman, very
devout and fully shared her husband's faith
and enthu-
siasms. On July 25, 1821, the
first child of this union,
John Brown, Jr., was born. Among his
earliest recol-
lections was the presence in the home
one night of some
fugitive slaves that his father was
helping on their way
220 Ohio
Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
to freedom. This was about the year
1825. Further
details of this reminiscence are
reserved for a future
sketch of John Brown, Jr.
Anticipating for the moment events
extending over
a number of years, the names of the
first and second
wives of John Brown and of his children
are here given
with dates of births and deaths so far
as known:
John Brown's first wife, as we have
learned, was Diantha
Lusk. They were married June 21, 1820.
She died August 10,
1832. The children of this union were
born, married and died
as follows:
John Brown, Jr., born July 25, 1821, at
Hudson, Ohio; died
May 2, 1895; married Wealthy C. Hotchkiss, July, 1847.
Jason Brown, born January 19, 1823, at Hudson, Ohio; died
December 24, 1912; married Ellen
Sherbondy, July, 1847.
Owen Brown, born November 4, 1824, at
Hudson (never
married).
Frederick Brown (1), born January 9,
1827, at Richmond,
Pa.: died March 31, 1831.
Ruth Brown, born February 18, 1829, at Richmond,
Pa.;
married Henry Thompson, September 26,
1850.
Frederick Brown (2), born December 31,
1830, at Rich-
mond, Pa.; murdered at Osawatomie by
Rev. Martin White,
August 30, 1856.
An infant son, born August 7, 1832; was
buried with his
mother three days after his birth, at
Richmond, Pa.
John Brown married Mary Anne Day, July
11, 1833. She
died February 29, 1884. The children of
this union were born,
married and died as follows:
Sarah Brown, born May 11, 1834,
at Richmond, Pa.; died
September 23, 1843.
Watson Brown, born October 7, 1835, at
Franklin, Ohio;
married Isabella M. Thompson, September,
1856; killed at
Harper's Ferry, October 17, 1859.
Salmon Brown, born October 2, 1836, at Hudson,
Ohio;
married Abbie C. Hinckley, October 15,
1857.
Charles Brown, born November 3, 1837,
at Hudson, Ohio;
died September 11, 1843.
Oliver Brown, born March 9, 1839, at
Franklin, Ohio;
married Martha E. Brewster, April 7, 1858; killed at Harper's
Ferry, October 17, 1859.
John Brown 221
Peter Brown, born December 7, 1840, at Hudson,
Ohio;
died September 22, 1843.
Austin Brown, born September 14, 1842,
at Richfield, Ohio;
died September 27, 1843.
Anne Brown, born December 23, 1843, at
Richfield, Ohio.
Amelia Brown, born June 22, 1845; at Akron, Ohio; died
October 30, 1846.
Sarah Brown, born September 11,
1846, at Akron, Ohio.
Ellen Brown, born May 20, 1848, at
Springfield, Mass.;
died April 30, 1849.
Infant son, born April 26, 1852, at
Akron, Ohio; died May
17, 1852.
Ellen Brown, born September 25, 1854,
at Akron, Ohio.
In 1825 John Brown moved from Hudson to
Ran-
dolph (now Richmond), Pennsylvania.
Here he estab-
lished a tannery and pursued his
calling, at the same
time serving as postmaster of the
village. In his ample
log dwelling house a room was set aside
for the local
subscription school. Here he remained
ten years, mod-
estly prosperous in business and
comparatively happy
in the midst of his large and increasing
family. Here
his first wife died and about a year
later he was married
again. While in Pennsylvania his
antagonism to slavery
continued and the liberation of the
bondmen through
the agency of education became with him
a favorite
theme of speculation. His life at
Richmond is reviewed
in interesting and satisfactory details
by Sanborn and
Villard. The latter quotes from the
recorded recollec-
tions of James Foreman who worked in
the tannery of
Brown. This record reveals Brown's
devotion to his
family, his sterling Puritanism and his
zeal for universal
liberty. While in Pennsylvania on
January 11, 1832,
he organized an Independent
Congregational Society,
"its articles of faith being
written out in his hand as
clerk of the Society." Here he
maintained a station on
222 Ohio Arch. and list.
Society Publications.
the Underground Railroad and aided
negroes on their
way to Canada and freedom.
From Randolph, Pennsylvania, in 1834 he
wrote a
letter to his brother in which he bore
testimony to his
interest in the liberation of the
slaves. At this time it will
be seen that he favored universal
emancipation but there
is no intimation that he had concluded
that it was to be
brought about by force of arms. We quote from his
letter as follows:
"Since you left here I have been
trying to devise some means
whereby I might do something in a
practical way for my poor
fellow-men who are in bondage, and
having fully consulted the
feelings of my wife and my three boys,
we have agreed to get at
least one negro boy or youth, and bring
him up as we do our
own, - viz., 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. We think of three ways to obtain
one: First, to try to
get some Christian slave-holder to
release one to us. Second,
to get a free one if no one will let us
have one that is a slave.
Third, if that does not succeed, we have
all agreed to submit to
considerable privation in order to buy
one. This we are now
using means in order to effect, in the
confident expectation that
God is about to bring them all out of
the house of bondage.
"I will just mention that when this
subject was first intro-
duced, Jason had gone to bed; but no
sooner did he hear the
thing hinted, than his warm heart
kindled, and he turned out to
have a part in the discussion of a
subject of such exceeding
interest. I have for years been trying
to devise some way to
get a school a-going here for blacks,
and I think that on many
accounts it would be a most favorable
location. Children here
would have no intercourse with vicious
people of their own kind,
nor with openly vicious persons of any
kind. There would be
no powerful opposition influence against
such a thing; and should
there be any, I believe the settlement
might be so effected in
future as to have almost the whole
influence of the place in favor
of such a school. Write me how you would
like to join me, and
try to get on from Hudson and thereabouts some
first-rate
abolitionist families with you. I do
honestly believe that our
united exertions alone might soon, with the good hand
of our
God upon us, effect it all.
John Brown 223
"This has been with me a favorite
theme of reflection for
years. I think that a place which might
be in some measure
settled with a view to such an object
would be much more favor-
able to such an undertaking than would
any such place as Hud-
son, with all its conflicting interests
and feelings; and I do think
such advantages ought to be afforded the
young blacks, whether
they are all to be immediately set free
or not. Perhaps we might,
under God, in that way do more towards
breaking their yoke
effectually than in any other."
In 1835 he returned to Ohio to enter
the tanning
business with Zenas Kent at Franklin
Mills (now the
village of Kent) Portage County, Ohio.
Scarcely had
he finished the tannery at that place
when the firm dis-
posed of the.property to Marvin Kent,
the son of Zenas.
John Brown then took the contract for
the construction
of that portion of the Ohio and
Pennsylvania canal
between Franklin Mills and Akron.
Believing that a
large city was destined to spring up at
Franklin Mills
on the completion of the canal, he
entered into extensive
land speculations, making purchases
entirely on his
credit with practically no capital. Unfortunately
shrewder business men were planning
that the city
should spring up at Akron rather than
Franklin Mills
and the diversion of the waters of
Cuyahoga River to
that site doomed the investments of
Brown to a dis-
astrous failure. The building in which
he lived at
Franklin Mills is still standing. A
farm that he pur-
chased in partnership with a Mr.
Thompson was laid
out in lots and platted by Brown. A few
years ago the
original plat in the handwriting of
Brown was in the
possession of the Kent family. The hard
times of 1837
hastened the financial disaster which
was assured when
the water of the river was largely
diverted to the rising
town of Akron. The failure of Brown
involved to some
224
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
extent his father who had advanced
money in aid of the
project along with other creditors. As
a result he was
ultimately forced to bankruptcy. This
led some who lost
money through him to raise questions as
to his honesty.
Heman Oviatt of Richfield, Ohio,
however, who lost
money and became involved in law suits
as a result of
Brown's failure, bore willing testimony
to his integrity
as did other of his creditors.
After his failure in business at
Franklin Mills and
other failures later in life, he made a
statement to his
son John in which he clearly set forth
the fact that his
great mistake was due to his attempt to
speculate on
credit. His son quotes him as follows:
"Instead of being thoroughly imbued
with the doctrine of
pay as you go, I started out in life
with the idea that nothing
could be done without capital, and that
a poor man must use
his credit and borrow; and this
pernicious notion has been the
rock on which I, as well as many others,
have split. The practi-
cal effect of this false doctrine has
been to keep me like a toad
under a harrow most of my business life.
Running into debt in-
cludes so much evil that I hope all my
children will shun it as
they would a pestilence."
The purchase of four farms on credit is
declared "to
have been a chief cause of Brown's
collapse." If the
city had been built at Franklin Mills
instead of Akron,
however, John Brown's financial career
might have been
very different. It is true nevertheless
that a fatality
seems to have followed practically all
of his business
ventures and the fundamental cause he
seems at last to
have fully realized as stated above.
His failure at Franklin Mills was
followed by fre-
quent shiftings from place to place and
experiments in
new ventures. He first returned to
Hudson in 1837;
went back to Franklin Mills later and
again to Hudson.
John Brown 225
In 1838 he traveled about the country
making a trip to
New York and Connecticut. For a time he
was inter-
ested in the breeding of race horses;
he drove cattle to
Connecticut; he arranged to act as
agent of a New York
firm in the selling of steel scythes;
he purchased Saxony
sheep at West Hartford, Connecticut, on
the 18th of
January, 1838; subsequently made other
purchases,
shipped the sheep to Albany and thence
drove them
overland to Ohio. In June, 1839, his
interest shifted to
cattle; on the 15th of June, 1839, he
received from the
New England Woolen Company at
Rockville, Connec-
ticut, the sum of $2800 for the
purchase of wool. This
money he appears to have used to
relieve financial dis-
tress. He sincerely regretted his
inability to meet his
obligations as evidenced in letters
written at the time
and in others written when he was in
prison in Charles-
town in 1859.
In 1840 he and his father arranged to
invest in Vir-
ginia (now West Virginia) lands. These
belonged to
Oberlin College and were located partly
in the present
counties of Dodridge and Tyler, West
Virginia. John
Brown on April first of that year
entered into an agree-
ment with the Trustees of Oberlin
College to purchase
some of these lands. He was to make a
survey of the
same, report to the Board of Trustees
and receive one
dollar a day and necessary expenses for
his work. At
this time he contemplated not only
making a purchase of
a portion of the lands but also moving
his family
to them. His surveys and reports were made in
accordance with the agreement and he
proposed to pur-
chase 1,000 acres. Negotiations were
delayed, however,
and the Trustees seem to have concluded
the agreement
at an end. In a letter written from
Hudson, February
Vol. XXX-- 15.
226
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
5, 1841, John Brown seemed to regret
that he could not
go to Virginia as he had planned, but
credited the cir-
cumstances that prevented his going, as
usual, to the
intervention of Providence.
In 1841 he turned his attention wholly
to the raising
of sheep, taking charge "of the
flocks of Captain Oviatt
at Richfield, Ohio." In this
occupation he was success-
ful for a time and developed great
skill as a shepherd
and judge of wool. While in Richfield
four of his chil-
dred died and three of them were buried
at one time.
In 1842 he received his discharge from
bankruptcy re-
sulting from the speculations at
Franklin Mills, but
practically all of his possessions were
taken from him.
He was permitted to keep "a few
articles which the
court had decided September 28, 1842,
were absolutely
necessary to the maintenance of the
family, -among
them eleven bibles and testaments, one
volume entitled
Beauties of the Bible, one Church Members' Guide, be-
sides two mares, two cows, two hogs,
three lambs, nine-
teen hens, seven sheep and * * * three
pocket knives
valued at .37-1/2."
He succeeded so well in raising sheep
and cattle
that he became well known in Summit
County. On
April 10, 1844, he moved from Richfield
to Akron
where he established a tannery which
was prosperous
from the beginning. His disposition,
however, to be
dissatisfied with a modest degree of
prosperity at his
regular trade led him to form a
co-partnership with
Simon Perkins, Jr., a successful
business man of Akron.
The firm of Perkins and Brown continued
for a period
of ten years. The family resided in a
cottage on what
is known as Perkins Hill. A portion of
the building is
still standing.
John Brown 227
Many writers have detailed at length
the home life
of John Brown. His disposition to seek
new fields and
experiment with new enterprises took
him frequently
from his home but he was at all times
deeply interested
in his family as his letters and the
uniform testimony
of his neighbors clearly show. He was a
strict discipli-
narian and required unquestioning
obedience from his
numerous children. He at first used the
rod somewhat
freely but according to the testimony of
his sons always
justly, never in wrath. He had a habit
of frequently
inflicting punishment upon himself at
the same time, on
the ground that the child's offense had
probably been
due in a measure to his own neglect of
duty as a father.
After punishing the boy he would bare
his own shoul-
ders and require the boy to use the
lash on him. With
the residence at Akron came better
educational advan-
tages for his children, especially John
Brown, Jr., and
his sister Ruth.
John Brown's financial failures and
lack of judg-
ment in business matters brought him
frequently into
the courts of Portage and Summit
Counties, a detailed
account of which is set forth by
Villard (pages 36-41).
In 1846 Brown had ventured upon the
enterprise of
wool merchant in Springfield,
Massachusetts, for the
firm of Perkins and Brown. Hither he
moved his
family. Here he met Frederick Douglass
who has given
an interesting picture of Brown and his
family as he
saw them there. The object of the
venture of Perkins
and Brown at Springfield was the
establishment of an
office to classify wools for wool
growers in order that
they might be able to command a fair
price for their
product. The purpose was somewhat akin
to the co-
operative market projects of the
present day. Brown
228
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
and Perkins probably hoped to do for
the infant wool
industry of this country what
associations have accom-
plished so successfully for the fruit
growers of Cali-
fornia and other states. The
letter-book covering many
pages, the greater portion of it in the
handwriting of
John Brown, and the remainder written
by his son John
Brown, Jr., who had a good education,
is now in the
museum of the Ohio State Archaeological
and Historical
Society and gives a very satisfactory
insight of the work
of the representatives of this firm
through many busy
months. An export trade to England was
inaugurated
and for a time the prospect was very
bright for the
building up of a flourishing business.
It appears that
the firm received by consignment large
quantities of
wool which they sometimes had
difficulty in marketing.
To one of their patrons who complained
of the delay in
remitting for his wool John Brown sent
the following
explanation which is here reproduced
because of its Ohio
connection:
"We have at last found out that
some of the principal manu-
facturers are leagued together to break
us down, as we have
offered them wool at their own price
& they refuse to buy.
We hope every wool-grower in the country
will be at Steu-
benville (Ohio) 2d Wednesday of Feb'y
next, to hear statements
about the wool trade of a most
interesting character. There is
no difficulty in the matter as we shall
be abundantly able to show,
if the farmers will only be true to
themselves. . . Matters of
more importance to farmers will then be
laid open, than what
kind of Tariff we are to have. No
sacrifise kneed be made, the
only thing wanted is to get the broad
shouldered, & hard handed
farmers to understand how they have been
imposed upon, & the
whole matter will be cured
effectually." *
This proposed meeting was held and
Brown appeared
according to agreement and made an
address that satis-
*Copied literally.
John Brown 229
fled the Ohio wool growers. The
manufacturers in the
East, however, continued to make
trouble for him and
he found it difficult to dispose of the
wool. He con-
ceived the idea that by making a trip
to Europe he could
find market for his product.
Accordingly he sailed
August 15, 1849, in the steamer Cambria
and arrived
in London on the 27th of that month. He
failed, how-
ever, to find sale for the wool in
either London or Paris.
He had shipped wool to London and was
forced to
accept a much lower price than he could
have gotten in
America. This meant disaster for his
venture as a wool
merchant. While abroad he visited not
only London
and Paris but Calais, Hamburg and
Brussels. From
the last named city he made a side trip
to the battle field
of Waterloo. Evidence is not lacking
that even at this
time battle fields had an attraction
for him and he was
interested in the plans of the great
combats of history.
The final winding up of the wool
business extended over
a number of years and led to much
litigation. It ap-
pears, however, that in spite of the
losses sustained
Colonel Perkins continued to entertain
a friendly feeling
for Brown. In a letter to Oswald
Garrison Villard of
December 26, 1908, Mr. George T.
Perkins of Akron
wrote:
"My father, Simon Perkins, was
associated with Mr. Brown
in business for a number of years, and
always regarded him as
thoroughly honest and honorable in all
his relations with him.
Mr. Brown was, however, so thoroughly
impractical in his busi-
ness management as he was in almost
everything else, that the
business was not a success and was
discontinued. Their relations
were afterwards friendly."
The senior member of the firm did not sympathize
with Brown's extreme anti-slavery
views. In 1878
230
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
Colonel Perkins said to Mr. F. E.
Sanborn, "Do you
mean to connect me with that Virginia
affair? I con-
sider him and the men that helped him
in that the big-
gest set of fools in the world."
Many interesting stories have been
recorded of his
residence in Springfield, among others,
the account of
his experience with LaRoy Sunderland, a
famous hyp-
notist, in 1848 or 1849. Brown was very
skeptical in
regard to the claims of Sunderland and
insisted upon
putting them to the test. While in
Springfield he was
identified with Zion Methodist Church,
made up largely
of those who had withdrawn from other
congregations
because of their pronounced
anti-slavery views. He
became deeply interested in the plan of
Gerrit Smith,
the famous anti-slavery leader, who had
offered to give
120,000 acres of land in northern New
York to worthy
colored people. Early in 1848 Brown
decided to move
his family and establish his home among
the negro col-
onists. He visited Smith on April 8,
1848, and entered
into an agreement to move his family to
North Elba
and aid in directing the negroes, who
settled on the land
offered by Smith, in clearing away the
forest and estab-
lishing homes of their own. He moved to
North Elba
in the spring of 1849. Here he engaged
again in stock
raising. The original white settlers in
the North Elba
region were not pleased by the coming
of the blacks and
the success of the experiment of Brown
and Smith was
not especially encouraging.
That the experiment of establishing a
colony of free
blacks in the rugged and somewhat
inhospitable climate
of northern New York should prove a
disappointing and
visionary enterprise was not
surprising. No wonder
that Brown in actual experience with
the colored freed-
John Brown 231
men became a little impatient at times
and realized the
importance of teaching these people
lessons of thrift and
industry. To meet the needs of the
situation he wrote in
1848 or 1849 for the Ram's Horn, an
abolition paper,
a contribution entitled "Sambo's
Mistakes." It purports
to be from the pen of a colored man by
the name of
Sambo and is divided into three
chapters. A sample of
this contribution to which reference is
often made is
here given:
"Another error into which I fell
in early life was the notion
that chewing and smoking tobacco would
make a man of me
but little inferior to some of the
whites. The money I spent in
this way would with the interest of it
have enabled me to have
relieved a great many sufferers, supplied
me with a well selected
interesting library and paid for a good
farm for the support and
comfort of my old age; whereas I have
now neither books, cloth-
ing, the satisfaction of having
benefited others nor where to
lay my hoary head. But I can see in a
moment where I missed
it."
In the year 1851 he organized in the
city of Spring-
field a branch of the "United
States League of Gilead-
ites." This was an organization of
colored people for
the purpose of defending themselves and
advancing
their interests. The principles of the
League were em-
braced in the "Words of
Advice" written by Brown.
They counseled self defense and
resistance of arrest by
force of arms. "Let the first blow
be the signal for all
to engage," so runs the advice,
"and when engaged do
not do your work by halves; but make
clean work with
your enemies and be sure you meddle not
with any
others. Your enemies will be slow to
attack you if you
have done up the work nicely."
It will be remembered that a little
earlier the Com-
promise of 1850 was enacted, including
the famous Fu-
gitive Slave Law. It is needless to say
that Brown, like
232
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
other abolitionists, was very hostile
to this law and that
he began about this time to meditate an
armed attack
upon the institution of slavery. Late
in the year 1854
or early in 1855 he is reported to have
had in mind an
attack on Harper's Ferry: "First,
to frighten Virginia
and detach it from the slave interest;
second, to capture
the rifles to arm the slaves; and
third, to destroy the
arsenal machinery so that it could not
be used to turn
out more arms for the perhaps long
guerrilla war that
might follow." In the meantime
Brown continued in the
partnership of Perkins and Brown. In
1851 he moved
his family again to Akron where he took
up once more
sheep raising and pursued it with
success to his satis-
faction and that of his partner, Mr.
Perkins.
After the removal of his family to
North Elba, New
York, in 1854, and his withdrawal from
the firm of Per-
kins and Brown, he found himself
comparatively free to
venture upon some new enterprise. His
sons had grown
up; some of them remained in Ohio; he
could leave his
family in New York with his son Watson
who was then
a young man and choose his field of
action. About this
time five of his sons decided to leave
Ohio and seek a
new home in Kansas, then the western
frontier of Amer-
ican civilization. The impelling motive is set forth
pretty clearly in the statement of one
of the sons. In
the years 1853 and 1854 many Ohio
newspapers con-
tained glowing accounts of the
extraordinary climate,
healthfulness and fertility of the
Territory of Kansas.
The efforts of northern men to make
this a free state
also had its appeal for the Browns. In
the month of
October, 1854, three of the sons of
John Brown, -
Owen, Frederick and Salmon, left their
homes in Ohio
and started on the western journey.
They took with
John Brown 233
them eleven head of cattle, three
horses, two small tents,
a plow and other farm tools. They
proceeded by way
of the lakes to Chicago and thence to
Meridosa, Illinois,
where they remained for the winter.
Early the next
spring they proceeded with their cattle
and horses to
Kansas and settled about eight miles
from Osawatomie.
As soon as the rivers were navigable,
John, Jr. and
Jason proceeded by way of the Ohio,
Mississippi and
Missouri rivers to join the three
brothers who had pre-
ceded them. At St. Louis when they took
passage on a
steamboat up the Missouri they found
themselves in
company with a large number of men,
mostly from the
South on their way to help make Kansas
a slave state.
It is needless to say that the Brown
boys found little
sympathy with their fellow passengers
whose "drinking,
profanity and display of revolvers and
bowie-knives,-
openly worn as an essential part of
their make-up-
clearly showed the class to which they
belonged."
"A box of fruit trees and grape
vines," said John
Brown, Jr., "which my brother
Jason had brought from
Ohio, our plow and the few agricultural
implements we
had on the deck of that steamer looked
lonesome; for
these were all we could see which were
adapted to the
occupations of peace."
Jason Brown's little son, aged four
years, fell a vic-
tim to the scourge of cholera on this
trip and was buried
at night near Waverly, Missouri, where
the boat had
stopped for repair. As the two brothers
took him to his
last resting place, their way
"illumined only by lightning
and a furious thunder storm, the
captain of the steamer
without warning embarked again on the
river leaving
them as best they could to find their
way to Kansas City."
The unpleasant journey, however, was at
last completed
234
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
and the brothers arrived in Kansas,
whose "lovely prai-
ries and wooded streams seemed * * * indeed like
a haven of rest." The five
brothers were finally re-
united and entered with enthusiasm upon
the building
of new homes on these fertile prairies
of the West.
There were, however, drawbacks to this
seeming
paradise. Settlements were made usually
along the
flowing streams, the lurking places of
malaria, and the
new settlers were soon shaking with the
ague. Contro-
versies sprang up among them on the
question of slavery
and divided them into hostile camps.
On October 1, 1855, occurred the
Pro-Slavery elec-
tion for territorial delegate to
Congress. At this elec-
tion 2721 votes out of 2738 were cast
for General J: W.
Whitfield, the Pro-Slavery candidate.
The Free State
electors did not go to the polls. Eight
days later they
had their election in which they cast
2849 votes for their
candidate, former Governor Reeder. The
Pro-Slavery
governor of Kansas, Wilson Shannon,
recognized the
election of Whitfield and the United
States House of
Representatives gave him his seat in
that body Feb-
ruary 4, 1856. Upon the report of an
investigating
committee, however, he was afterwards
unanimously
ousted, but Reeder was not given the
place.
It was not John Brown's intention
originally to go to
Kansas. This is clearly indicated in a
letter that he
wrote to his son John August 21, 1854.
In this he said:
"If you or any of my family are
disposed to go to Kansas
or Nebraska, with a view to help defeat Satan
and his legions
in that direction, I have not a word to
say; but I feel committed
to operate in another part of the
field. If I were not so com-
mitted, I would be on my way this fall."
John Brown 235
In May of the following year, however,
he received
a letter from this same son describing
terrible conditions
that had developed in Kansas as a
result of the effort
to make it a slave state. The appeal in
this letter was so
strong that Brown decided he would join
his sons and
lend every possible aid to those who
were struggling to
make Kansas free. He began at once to
plan for col-
lecting arms, ammunition and other
supplies that might
be helpful in his latest enterprise.
Money was raised
for this purpose in the anti-slavery
convention at Syra-
cuse on the 28th of June and later in
Akron, Ohio,
where his appeal met a generous
response. On August
15, 1855, he reported his success in
obtaining "guns,
revolvers, swords, powder, caps and
money." He pro-
ceeded by way of Cleveland, Detroit and
Chicago and
after a number of interesting
experiences in his over-
land journey, reached the family
settlement near Osa-
watomie October 7, 1855.
Life in Kansas wrought a pronounced
change in
John Brown. This western border offered
the oppor-
tunity for the warfare that he desired
to wage against
slavery. "The staid, somber
merchant and patriarchal
family head was ready to become Captain
John Brown
of Osawatomie, at the mention of whom
Border Ruffians
and swashbuckling adherents of slavery
trembled and
often fled."*
While he was pleased with Kansas, he
did not go
there to make it his permanent home. He
went to fight
slavery, to aid his sons and others of
their faith to make
Kansas a free state. The contest had
begun long before
he went west. Letters from his sons and
newspaper
accounts carried to him information of
Border Ruffian
*Villard, p. 77.
236
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
invasions and outrages months before he
decided to
answer the call to this new field of
action.
The Free State men of the Territory had
called a
convention which met at Topeka, October
23, 1855,
framed a constitution that prohibited
slavery and sub-
mitted it for popular approval. It
provided for the elec-
tion of state officers and members of
the legislature and
fixed the place and date of the meeting
of that body at
Topeka, March 4, 1856.
The Free State men had been outvoted a
number of
times by invaders from Missouri and the
South with
whom the election officers and the
national administra-
tion were in sympathy. They were thus
forced to hold
elections of their own as a safeguard
against fraud.
This finally resulted in dual
legislatures, dual constitu-
tions, dual officers and dual laws - an
ideal condition
for the strife and bloodshed that
attracted the attention
of the whole country.
The opposition of the Pierce
administration to the
free state movement, the excesses of
the Pro-Slavery
party at Leavenworth, the threats of
raiders from Mis-
souri and the invasion of a large armed
force from that
state for the avowed purpose of
destroying Lawrence
aroused the Free State men to armed
resistance and
"minute men" were hastily
organized and hurried to the
defense of that town. Among these was a
company
known as the "Liberty
Guards," commanded by John
Brown with the rank of captain, a title
that followed
him for the remainder of his life. His
company be-
longed to the Fifth Regiment of Kansas
Volunteers,
under the command of Colonel George
Smith, in the
army of General James H. Lane,
"called into the service
of the people of Kansas to defend the
city of Lawrence
John Brown 237
*
* * from threatened
demolition by foreign
invaders."
This army at once threw up defenses
about the
threatened town. In this work Captain
Brown became
conspicuous for his energy and
resourcefulness. "His
presence," said an eye witness,
"lightened up the gloom
of the besieged in their darkest
hour."
In the operations about Lawrence one
Free State
man, Thomas W. Barber of Ohio, was
killed. His body,
which was brought to a building
occupied by Brown's
company, was viewed by the wife and
friends of the
murdered man. Of this sad affair Brown
wrote:
"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."
The pitched battle that seemed imminent
did not
occur. Governor Wilson Shannon effected
a compro-
mise between the contending parties by
the terms of
which the invaders were to leave Kansas
Territory.
The Free State men were encouraged to
believe that in
armed resistance they had an effective
defense. Brown
wrote hopefully: "Free State men
have only hereafter
to retain the footing they have gained,
and Kansas is
free." This defense, which is known as the "Wakarusa
War," ended with the signing of
the terms of compro-
mise, December 8, 1855.
The truce, however, was of short
duration. John
Brown, Jr., who had been active in the
preliminary meet-
ings that resulted in the "Topeka
movement" to make
Kansas a free state, was elected a
member of the legis-
lature. The radical anti-slavery views
of the Browns,
which had perhaps been intensified by
the coming of the
238
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
father, made them increasingly
obnoxious to the Pro-
Slavery party.
The Topeka Legislature met March 4,
1856, and was
continuously in session until March 15,
when it recessed
to July 4 of that year. On that
national anniversary
it was dissolved by military authority
of the United
States government. John Brown, Jr., was
an active and
fearless member and was one of the
fifteen legislators
who signed the memorial to Congress
asking for the
admission of Kansas as a free state
under the Topeka
constitution. For his political
activity he was after-
wards made to suffer an awful penalty.
In May Kansas was again invaded.
Lawrence sur-
rendered to the Border Ruffians and on
the morning of
the 21st of that month was sacked and
burned. The
Free State Hotel, a substantial
structure of stone, was
battered down by cannon shots and
fierce flames swept
the ruins.
Three days later, on the night of May
24, occurred
the Pottawatomie affair in which five
Pro-Slavery men
were slain by a detachment of John
Brown's men re-
turning from their unsuccessful
expedition to save the
doomed town of Lawrence. One of the
participants in
this raid declares that it was Brown's
purpose by this
stern act to strike terror to the
hearts of the invaders
- that he insisted it was better
"that a score of bad men
should die than that one man who came
here to make
Kansas free should be driven out."
The killings on the Pottawatomie
startled the inhabi-
tants of Kansas and aroused the
Pro-Slavery party to
retaliatory activity. Captain Pate, of
Missouri, has-
tened with a company of volunteers on a
mission of ven-
geance. He assisted in the capture of
John Brown, Jr.,
John Brown 239
and his brother Jason. Neither of these
men had par-
ticipated in the Pottawatomie affair,
but the former was
driven chained in front of horsemen
over the burning
Kansas plains and subjected to such
harsh treatment
that he became insane. In this
condition he was thrown
into prison. The homes of the two
brothers were burned
by the invaders.
In the meantime, Captain Pate had
turned his at-
tention to John Brown and his party,
expecting soon to
capture them. Brown heard of this and
prepared to
meet the Missourians. The two parties
met June 2 at
Black Jack, where the first pitched
battle was fought
between Pro-Slavery and Anti-Slavery
forces. At its
conclusion, Pate and all of his men
surrendered uncon-
ditionally to John Brown. The
Missourians were as-
tounded when they heard that their
company which had
gone to avenge those who fell on the
Pottawatomie, had
themselves fallen into the hands of
Brown, whose name
had now become a terror to Pro-Slavery
men on the
border. The battle of Black Jack was
the most complete
victory scored by Brown in Kansas,
though it is not so
famous as his defense of Lawrence and
Osawatomie.
It remains for some literary genius to
describe it as the
first battle of the Civil War, for here
the North and the
South met to settle the issue of
slavery in open combat
by force of arms.
Shortly afterward John Brown gave up
his prisoners
and captured arms to Colonel Edwin V.
Sumner, in
command of the United States troops in
this district and
afterward a noted Union general in the
Civil War.
The Topeka Legislature had adjourned to
meet July
4, 1856. John Brown and his men were
encamped near
that city to be at hand if the
threatened clash of arms
240 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
should attend the opening of the
session. Seventeen
members answered to the roll call. John
Brown, Jr.,
could not be present as he was at that
time in prison.
Other members were in the city, but
before they could
assemble Colonel Sumner appeared with
government
troops and ordered the Legislature to
disperse, declar-
ing, "This is the most
disagreeable duty of my whole
life."
Later Brown and his men left Kansas, but
he and
his son Frederick soon returned. Free
State men from
the northern states began to pour into
the Territory by
way of Nebraska. This immigration was
encouraged
and financially assisted by various
organizations in the
East and powerfully stimulated by the
eloquence of
James H. Lane, whose appeal to northern
audiences
turned many liberty loving, adventurous
spirits toward
the Territory that was struggling to
become a free state.
In the presidential campaign of 1856
the admission
of Kansas was made a political issue.
The Republican
party in its first national convention,
June 17, 1856,
adopted a resolution declaring that
"Kansas should be
immediately admitted as a state with
her present free
constitution." In the House of
Representatives at
Washington Galusha M. Grow, of
Pennsylvania, pre-
sented a bill for the admission of
Kansas as a free state
under the Topeka constitution, and it
passed that body
by a vote of 99 to 97 on July 3, 1856.
The attention of
the entire country with increasing
interest now turned
to Kansas. The crystallization of
public sentiment and
the tide of immigration to the
Territory was rapidly giv-
ing the Free State forces the
ascendancy.
Disregarding his son's protest that his
father should
not come to Lawrence for fear of
arrest, John Brown
John Brown 241
accompanied by Lane arrived in that
city. The Free
State forces now prepared for
aggressive war against
their foes. As the Border Ruffians
pushed the fighting
in the earlier struggles of
"Bleeding Kansas," their ad-
versaries now rallied to the attack.
Their policy, which
earlier was purely and at times feebly
defensive, had
changed and their object now seemed to
be to drive the
Pro-Slavery element out of the
Territory. The southern
colonists of southeastern Kansas trembled
with dread
at the news of the approach of John
Brown. Their
startled imagination placed him at the
head of every
movement of the Free State forces and
every rumored
raid in the Territory. The
correspondent of the New
York Times referred to him as
"the old terrifier" and
"the terror of all Missouri."
For a time the Free State bands swept
southward,
driving the Pro-Slavery men before
them. Franklin,
"Fort" Saunders and
"Fort" Titus successively fell into
their hands with arms and ammunition.
In the attack
on "Fort" Titus the Free
State men brought into requi-
sition a cannon that they had
previously captured and
fired into the doomed fort shots
moulded from the type
of one of their newspaper offices. They gleefully
shouted that they were delivering to
Colonel Titus "a
second edition of the Herald of
Freedom." It is doubt-
ful whether John Brown participated in
any of these
fights, but the vanquished saw his
uncanny and ghostly
presence in all of them.
In the midst of this strife and
confusion, after giving
up a number of Free State prisoners in
exchange for
Pro-Slavery men -held by Lane and his
lieutenants, Gov-
ernor Shannon resigned his office.
President Pierce
refused to accept the resignation but
peremptorily re-
Vol. XXX - 16.
242
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
moved Shannon from office. His
administration had
been a stormy one and he withdrew with
relief to him-
self and to the evident satisfaction of
the contending
parties who had filled the record of
his brief term of
office with turmoil and confusion. The
governorship of
Ohio has not always been a pleasing
job, but Governor
Shannon could certainly bear testimony
that it is a
position under all circumstances much
to be preferred
to the governorship of the Territory of
Kansas in the
days of "Jim" Lane, John
Brown and "Dave" Atch-
ison. Wilson Shannon, who had
previously served as
governor of Ohio, spent his last days
peacefully as a
citizen of Lawrence, Kansas, and re-established
himself
in the good will of many who had been
his critics and
foes.*
John Brown was not long inactive. He
was now
prepared to give the Pro-Slavery
settlers some of their
own medicine. With a company of thirty
or forty men,
which was soon increased by union with
another com-
pany, he added to his equipment by
contraband seizures
until his force was well mounted, well
armed and well
supplied with food and ammunition. He
was getting
ready to meet another invasion from
Missouri.
After capturing a number of prisoners
and about
one hundred and fifty cattle, John
Brown entered the
town of Osawatomie for the purpose of
defending it
against the invading army under
Atchison. His arrival
was now marked by a cloud of dust that
enveloped his
captured herd and motley troopers,
giving to the column
an imposing and forbidding aspect. The
number of his
* Wilson Shannon was born in Belmont
county, Ohio, February 24,
1802. He was Governor of Ohio 1838-40
and 1842-44. Failing to restore
order in Kansas, he incurred the
hostility of Pierce and Buchanan. Hence
his summary dismissal. He
died in Lawrence, Kansas, August 31, 1877.
John Brown 243
men was comparatively small, not over
one hundred
effectives, and against them was now
marching an in-
vading army from Missouri one thousand
strong, under
the command of General David R.
Atchison, formerly
a United States Senator from that
state.
Atchison assembled his army about forty
miles from
Osawatomie. He sent forward General
John W. Reid
with two hundred and fifty men and a
cannon to destroy
that town. On his way Reid was joined
by other Pro-
Slavery men; including Rev. Martin
White. As they
approached in the dawning twilight,
White met Fred-
erick Brown and before the latter could
grasp the situa-
tion shot him through the heart. He
afterward tried to
excuse his sanguinary act on the ground
that his home
had been attacked. He said:
"The same day I shot Fred, I would
have shot the last devil
of the gang that was in the attack on
my house, if I had known
them and got a chance."
It will thus be seen that in these
stirring times even
the ministers of the gospel in Kansas
had their blood
up to the fighting temperature. John Brown coolly
commented on this act as follows:
"Old preacher White, I hear,
boasts of having killed my son.
Of course he is a lion."
After the killing of Frederick Brown
the forces
under General Reid advanced to the
attack on Osa-
watomie. Brown with about forty
resolute men pre-
pared to defend the place. One of his
followers said
to him, "What do you want me to
do?" "Take more
care to end life well than to live
long," was the grim
answer. The Missourians opened fire on
the town and
Brown's men replied with spirit. When
men and horses
244
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
in the advancing column were struck
with balls from
the Sharpe rifles there was confusion
in the advancing
line. Their leader, however, with drawn
sword led
them to the charge. The Free State men
were grad-
ually driven out of the town but held
their position along
the stream. From the underbrush and
rocks they
poured a hot fire into the ranks of the
Missourians.
Reid brought his cannon into action and
Brown's men
were finally driven across the Marias
des Cygnes which
runs near the town. As soon as the
Border Ruffians
entered the place they commenced
plundering and burn-
ing it. General Reid claimed that in
this battle about
thirty Free State men were killed,
including "a son of
old Brown and probably Brown
himself." In John
Brown's report of the battle he says:
"The loss of the enemy, as we
learned by different state-
ments of our own as well as other
people, was some thirty-one
or two killed, and from forty to fifty
wounded."
He speaks of his own loss as two killed
in battle;
three missing, probably captured, and
two wounded. On
their part the Missourians claimed that
they had none
killed and five wounded. Just what the
losses were in
the engagement will perhaps never be
known.
As John Brown and his son Jason stood
on the bank
of the stream watching the smoke and
flames of burn-
ing Osawatomie against the horizon,
Brown is reported
by his son to have said:
"God sees it. I have only a short
time to live -only one
death to die, and I will die fighting
for this cause. There will
be no more peace in this land until
slavery is done for. I will
give them something else to do than to
extend slave territory.
I will carry the war into Africa."
John Brown 245
The attitude of the government at
Washington while
war was in progress between the
Pro-Slavery and Free
State men of Kansas is
significant. United States
troops were there ostensibly to keep
the peace and main-
tain the authority of the general
government, but for
the most part, due to political
considerations perhaps,
they were inactive. While the Pierce
and Buchanan
administrations were frankly favorable
to the Pro-
Slavery party and the agents that they
sent were under-
stood to reflect the Washington view,
after experience
on the soil of Kansas, some of them
materially revised
their conclusions on the situation and
sympathized with
the Free State cause. This was notably
true of Gov-
ernors Reeder and Geary and even the
attitude of Gov-
ernor Shannon was at times
disappointing to the Pro-
Slavery party.
Although John Brown was defeated at
Osawatomie
the stand that he made there added
immensely to his
reputation. General James H. Lane, "Jim
Lane," as
he was popularly called, and some of
his Free State
associates were holding a "council
of war" in Lawrence
on September 7, which was interrupted
by loud cheering
in the streets. The bent form of old
John Brown as he
rode into the town with a rifle across
his saddle bow,
aroused wild enthusiasm. The cheering
was declared by
an eye witness to have been "as
great as if the President
had come to town, but John Brown seemed
not to hear
and paid not the slightest
attention."
He next proceeded to the home of Ottawa
Jones, a
friendly educated Indian, and found it
in ruins. On
September 10 he was joined by his son,
John Brown,
Jr., who had been imprisoned by the
territorial agents
of the Pierce administration without
even the form of
246 Ohio
Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
an indictment. He was finally released
on bail, but was
never afterward brought to trial. While
in prison he
had regained his reason, but he never
fully recovered
from the effects of the brutal
treatment to which he
was subjected immediately following his
capture. He
hurried at once to Lawrence where an
enthusiastic
meeting of Free State men was in
progress. He brought
with him the chains with which he had
been bound and
which had been worn bright during his
long imprison-
ment.*
About this time the new territorial
governor, John
W. Geary, appointed by Buchanan,
arrived and made
a sincere effort to end the civil war
that had been raging
in Kansas. He was supposed to have come
with Pro-
Slavery inclinations, but, like some of
his predecessors,
he gradually swayed so far in favor of
the Free State
cause that he found it expedient to
resign.
Governor Geary began his administration
by a vig-
orous restoration of order in the
Territory. He played
no favorites. While he captured and
threw into prison
over one hundred Free State men, he was
equally zealous
in his efforts to stop invasions from
Missouri. Not long
after he assumed the duties of his
office another army
from that state, more formidable than
any previously
sent, came to make one more desperate
effort to capture
Kansas for the slave power. Under the
leadership of
Reid, Heiskel, Stringfellow and
Whitfield, this well
organized and equipped force of two
thousand five
hundred men moved forward with
Lawrence, the Free
State stronghold, as their objective.
Governor Geary
ordered Lieutenant Colonel Joseph E.
Johnson, now a
* These chains are now in the Museum of
the Ohio State Archaeo-
logical and Historical Society.
John Brown 247
United States army officer but later a
famous Confed-
erate general, to defend the town. This
pleased the Free
State men, as they began to feel that
they would be
protected in their constitutional
rights by the new
governor.
In the meantime, in the presence once
more of immi-
nent danger, the citizens of Lawrence
threw up rude
works and prepared for a siege. The
ruined walls of
the old Free State Hotel were used in
building breast-
works. John Brown was again there, giving
directions,
moving among the defenders and urging
them to resist
to the death the advancing host.. It
was on this occa-
sion that he mounted a dry-goods box in
the main street
of the town and delivered the following
characteristic
speech:
"GENTLEMEN-It is said there are twenty-five hunderd Mis-
sourians down at Franklin, and that they
will be here in two
hours. You can see for yourselves the
smoke they are making
by setting fire to the houses in that
town. This is probably the
last opportunity you will have of seeing
a fight, so that you had
better do your best. If they should come
up and attack us, don't
yell and make a great noise, but remain
perfectly silent and still.
Wait until they get within twenty-five
yards of you, get a good
object, be sure you see the hind sight
of your gun, then fire.
A great deal of powder and lead and very
precious time is wasted
by shooting too high. You had better aim
at their legs than at
their heads. In either case, be sure of
the hind sight of your
gun. It is for this reason that I myself
have so many times
escaped, for, if all the bullets which
have ever been aimed at me
had hit me I would have been as full of holes as a
riddle."
The invaders, however, did not attack
the town.
Governor Geary gave the Missourians to
understand
that they must quit the Territory or
face the United
States troops. They reluctantly concluded to retire.
This ended the invasions by the Border
Ruffians. As
they withdrew they realized, as the
whole country was
248
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
coming to realize, that the effort to
make Kansas a slave
state had ended in failure. The tide of
immigration
was steadily adding strength to the
Free State party
and its ultimate complete triumph could
not long be
delayed.
With the restoration of peace and the
liberation of
his son, John Brown decided to leave
Kansas. He no
longer had any incentive to stay. One
of his sons had
lost his life. Another had been severely
wounded.
Another had been driven into temporary
insanity and
imprisoned. Their homes had been
burned. There was
little to hold them in Kansas. John
Brown, though he
kept his own counsel, was thinking of
operations in
another field - he was planning
"to carry the war into
Africa." If the freedom of Kansas
was assured, as he
was still disposed to doubt, that would
be very good so
far as it went, but he was dreaming of
nothing less than
liberating the bondmen in all slave
states of the Union.
He would still keep a very watchful eye
on Kansas, and
if occasion seemed to demand it, would
again appear in
the Territory where his name was known
to every in-
habitant and was still an asset to the
militant element of
the Free State party.
On October 10, 1856, he and his four
sons had
reached Tabor, Iowa, a frontier town
settled chiefly by
immigrants from Oberlin, Ohio. Here he
found the
people kindly disposed and sympathetic
with his views.
The anti-slavery sentiment was strong
and they had
followed with absorbing interest the
news from Kansas.
Here Brown and his men rested for a
time, but he could
not long remain inactive. Later in the
month he went
to Chicago with his sons Jason and
John. Here he met
Horace White, afterward editor of the
Chicago Tribune
John Brown 249
and the New York Evening Post and
now Assistant
Secretary of the National Kansas
Committee. Brown
at the request of friends in the East
assisted in forward-
ing arms to Tabor to be used in Kansas
if occasion
should require. Two hundred rifles in
this shipment
afterward went for use to Harper's
Ferry.
From Chicago Brown proceeded to Ohio.
It was
probably on the occasion of this visit
to the state that
his half-sister, Mrs. S. C. Davis of
Grafton, Ohio, said
to him:
"John, isn't it dreadful that
Fremont should have been de-
feated and such a man as Buchanan put
into office?"
"Well, truly," answered Brown,
"as I look at it now, I
see that it was the right thing. If Fremont had been
elected, the
people would have settled down and made no further
effort.
Now they know they must work if they
want to save a free
state."
He proceeded east, meeting Gerrit
Smith, Frank B.
Sanborn, Dr. Samuel G. Howe, Thomas
Wentworth
Higginson, Theodore Parker, George L.
Stearns, Wen-
dell Phillips, Henry D. Thoreau, Ralph
Waldo Emerson
and other prominent anti-slavery men.
These all be-
came his stanch friends and
enthusiastic supporters.
Among the recommendations that Brown
carried with
him was one from Governor Salmon P.
Chase of Ohio.*
On the 18th of February he appeared
before the
Joint Committee on Federal Relations of
the Massachu-
setts Legislature and delivered an
address recounting
his experiences in Kansas. On this
occasion he held up
before the committee the chains by
which his son John
had been bound. His stirring appeal
brought applause
but no financial support.
*Governor Chase's recommendation bore
date of December 20, 1856.
He gave Brown $25 at that time.
250
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
After visiting many persons in the East
in an effort
to raise money for his anti-slavery
warfare, he came to
Cleveland May 22, to Akron the day
following and
spent several days in his old home town
of Hudson.
On June 24 he attended the
semi-centennial of the
founding of Talmadge, Ohio. A message
was here
handed to the chairman of the meeting,
stating that
John Brown was present and "would
like to speak about
Kansas." This privilege the
chairman refused on the
ground that it would be "entirely
inconsistent with the
occasion." By August 7 he had
returned to Tabor,
Iowa.
In the meantime, Kansas, under the
administration
of Governor Geary, had been
peaceful. His even-
handed justice, however, did not suit
President Bu-
chanan or the South. They wished to
have more favor
shown their friends within the
Territory. The gov-
ernor received so little assistance
from Washington that
he felt constrained to resign in March.
He was suc-
ceeded by Robert J. Walker of
Mississippi, former
United States Senator from that state
and Secretary of
the Treasury. The South felt that now
they had one
of their own men in office and could
have matters in
Kansas administered to their liking. In
this they were
disappointed.
Governor Walker began by promising both
parties
absolutely fair treatment and a fair
election. They
accepted this assurance and went to the
polls together.
The Free State party won a big victory,
electing their
delegate to Congress by a majority of
4089 and choosing
thirty-three members of the Legislature
to nineteen for
the Pro-Slavery party. The result was
anything but
pleasing to the Washington
administration.
John Brown 251
As soon as it became apparent that
Walker was pur-
suing a policy similar to that of
Geary, he incurred the
hostility of the Pro-Slavery party.
Buchanan, who had
appointed him six months before,
accepted his resigna-
tion. It is significant that Governors
Reeder, Geary and
Walker, all Democrats and appointed as
men of Pro-
Slavery views, when on the ground where
they could
judge the situation from first hand
knowledge, so far
swayed to the favor of the Free State
party that they
were given to understand that their
resignations would
be acceptable.
Brown returned to Kansas in 1857 and
recruited a
few men for the warfare against
slavery. On Novem-
ber 17, he started with his men for
Tabor and from this
village he soon set out for Springdale,
Iowa, a Quaker
community thoroughly in sympathy with
his anti-slavery
views, but opposed to warfare and the
use of "carnal
weapons" to liberate the bondmen.
The trip overland
was performed through the storms and
drifting snows
of winter. The little band included
Luke F. Parsons,
Richard Raelf, John E. Cook, William H.
Leeman,
Charles P. Tidd, and John Henri Kagi.
To these fol-
lowers he declared, "God has
created me to be the de-
liverer of slaves as Moses delivered
the children of
Israel."
"They found nothing in this
statement," declares
Villard, "to make them doubt his
sanity, or that seemed
inherently impossible. A fanatic they
recognized him
to be; but fanatics have at all times
drawn satellites to
them, even when the alliance meant
certain death."
On the dreary journey they trudged over
the snow,
from December 4, arriving in Springdale
shortly after
Christmas. They whiled away the
evenings in debating
252
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
various questions and singing, in which
John Brown
heartily joined. "The Slave has
seen the Northern Star"
and "From Greenland's Icy
Mountains" were among his
favorites.
Their journey at last ended, they found
a very hos-
pitable reception in Springdale.
Located here in com-
parative comfort, they spent the
remainder of the long
winter very pleasantly. They kept up
and conducted
with decorum their debates. A mock
legislature was
organized,* bills were introduced,
discussed and enacted
into laws. Cook, Kagi and Raelf were
men of much
more than ordinary ability and
developed into speakers
of power and eloquence. At Springdale
Brown added
two Quaker youths, of Ohio birth, to his
company -
Edwin and Barclay Coppoc.
Leaving his men in Springdale, John
Brown pro-
ceeded to the East, stopping to visit
his son John at Lin-
denville, Ohio. It was on this trip, at
the home of Gerrit
Smith in Peterboro, New York, that
Brown divulged
his remarkable plan for a constitution
to govern the
territory captured from the slave
power. Chimerical
as this seemed, his friends in the
East, after full expla-
nations from him, approved the general
plan. As
Brown had by-laws for the government of
his men in
Kansas, he felt that he must have an
ambitious consti-
tution for the larger project that was
now absorbing his
thought. After visiting Canada he
returned to Spring-
dale and with his men went to Chatham,
Canada, where
a convention of colored freedmen and
his followers
from Springdale united to form the
constitution. The
details of the proceedings and the full
text of this doc-
*In the school house.
John Brown 253
ument are elsewhere available to
interested readers.
The preamble only is here reproduced:
"Whereas, Slavery, throughout its
entire existence in the
United States is none other than a most
barbarous, unprovoked,
and unjustifiable War of one portion of
its citizens upon another
portion; the only conditions of which
are perpetual imprisonment,
and hopeless servitude or absolute
extermination; in utter disre-
gard and violation of those eternal and
self-evident truths set
forth in our Declaration of
Independence:
Therefore, we CITIZENS of the UNITED STATES, and
the OPPRESSED PEOPLE, who, by a RECENT
DECISION
of the SUPREME COURT ARE DECLARED to
have NO
RIGHTS WHICH the WHITE MAN is BOUND to
RE-
SPECT; TOGETHER WITH ALL OTHER PEOPLE
DE-
GRADED by the LAWS THEREOF, DO, for the
TIME BE-
ING ORDAIN and ESTABLISH for OURSELVES
the FOL-
LOWING PROVISIONAL CONSTITUTION and
ORDI-
NANCES, the BETTER to PROTECT our
PERSONS, PROP-
ERTY, LIVES, and LIBERTIES: and to
GOVERN our
ACTIONS."
Whatever may be the opinion of this
constitution as a
whole, it must be admitted that the
preamble sets forth
pretty clearly Brown's view of slavery
and the Dred
Scott decision. The former he
considered "most bar-
barous, unprovoked and unjustifiable
war." The latter
stripped one portion of our population
of all rights and
reduced them to a condition of
"perpetual imprisonment
and hopeless servitude." Against
both he and his fol-
lowers took up the gage of battle.
John Brown was fast maturing plans for
"carrying
the war into Africa," for making a
descent upon the in-
stitution of slavery in Virginia. These
plans, however,
for a time were frustrated by Hugh
Forbes, a soldier
of fortune who had served under
Garibaldi, the liber-
ator of Italy, and now attached himself
to the payroll
of Brown and his financial supporters.
He at first en-
254
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
tered with enthusiasm upon the service,
with dreams
of becoming the Garibaldi of the
colored race in
America. When the term of his
employment ended and
no additional funds for his pay were in
sight, he made
all sorts of trouble for Brown.
Whenever he could get
an influential hearing he revealed the
arrangements for
the intended attack. This caused a
temporary aban-
donment of plans and the return of
Brown to Kansas
for his spectacular invasion of
Missouri.
In the latter part of June, 1858, John
Brown re-
entered Kansas. He returned in the
disguise of a patri-
archal beard, almost white, which he
wore for the re-
mainder of his days, and under the
assumed name of
Shubel Morgan. From Lawrence he
proceeded to
southeastern Kansas where there had
been considerable
excitement as the result of the brutal
killing of five
inoffensive Free State settlers who had
been captured
by the Pro-Slavery leader, Charles A.
Hamilton, after-
ward a Confederate colonel, who
"had boasted that if
Pro-Slavery men could not make headway
in the Terri-
tory, abolitionists should not live
there."
In the vicinity of Fort Scott, Brown
and his men
remained for a time and kept in close
touch with James
Montgomery, a militant Free State
leader, who after-
ward rose to the rank of colonel in the
Union army.
It was while Brown, or "Shubel
Morgan," was here
that he wrote to his son John in Ohio
of an anti-slavery
lecture that he gave a pro-slavery
settler who came to
his camp. It was here also that he
began a sketch of
his life, "as connected with
Kansas; by one who knows."
It was never finished.
In the latter part of this summer with
some of his
followers he made a short trip over the
line into Mis-
John Brown 255
souri, taking with him his surveying instruments to
avoid suspicion. When they came within
sight of the
house of Rev. Martin White, who had
killed his son
Frederick, he was asked to look through
a field glass
at a man sitting in a distant yard
under a shade tree.
"'I declare, that is Martin
White," said Brown. At the
suggestion that they go and talk to the
old man he said,
"No, no, I can't do that."
When others proposed to go,
he said, "Go if you wish, but don't
you hurt a hair of his
head." In speaking of White, he is
reported to have
said to James Hanway:
"People mistake my objects. I would
not hurt one hair
of his head. I would not go an inch to
take his life; I do not
harbor the feeling of revenge. I act
from principle. My aim and
object is to restore human rights."
In December occurred his famous
"foray" into Mis-
souri. The historian, William E.
Connelley, thus sum-
marizes it:
"On Sunday, December 19, 1858, a negro
man came from
Missouri to Brown's camp and begged that
his wife and family
be rescued from slavery before they were
sold to be carried
South. The following Monday night Brown,
with a number of
men from his company, made a foray into
Missouri, and secured
these slaves, eleven in number, and
carried them into Kansas.
They were carried to the Pottawatomie
and kept in a cabin on
the open prairie for more than a month,
while every ravine and
thicket swarmed with people searching
for them. No one thought
of their being concealed in the deserted
old cabin in plain view
of a number of houses, and they escaped
without detection."
This raid created much commotion in
Kansas and
Missouri. The governor of the latter
offered a reward
of $3000 for the capture of Brown, to
which President
Buchanan added $250. To show his
contempt for their
efforts, Brown, according to Connelley,
"immediately had
printed a small handbill in which he
publicly proclaimed
256
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
that he thereby offered a reward for
Buchanan, de-
claring that if any lover of his
country would deliver
that august personage to him, well
tied, at Trading
Post, he would willingly pay such
patriot the sum of
two dollars and fifty cents. It is said
that reflection
upon the matter afterwards convinced
him that this
sum was more than the President was
actually worth
for any purpose."
The eleven slaves were now free and
temporarily
concealed in Kansas, but the enterprise
that John Brown
had on his hands was about as
unpromising and vi-
sionary as any that he had ever
conceived. These slaves
were to be provisioned and conveyed
through the dead
of winter over one thousand miles to
freedom under
the British flag. He started with a
plodding ox team,
almost alone, poorly clothed and
confronted at every
town on the way with premium notices
posted for his
arrest. Many dangers confronted him and the diffi-
culties to be overcome seemed almost
insurmountable;
but the stern old Puritan did not
falter. Over frozen
roads and through blinding blizzards
the wagons moved
slowly toward the goal of freedom.
Samuel Medary,* from Ohio, had been
appointed
governor of Kansas by President
Buchanan and was
now striving to arrest Brown as he
moved northward
with his liberated slaves. The sudden
rising of a stream
halted Brown and his charges and Medary
gleefully
notified Buchanan that the capture of
Brown was
assured. On January 31, 1859, the men
sent to make
* Samuel Medary was born in
Pennsylvania, February 25, 1801, and
moved to Clermont county, Ohio, in 1825.
He served in both branches
of the legislature of Ohio, and by
appointment was governor of the
Territory of Minnesota and the Territory
of Kansas. He was editor
of the Ohio Statesman and the Crisis,
both published in Columbus.
John Brown 257
the arrest were suddenly fired upon by
Brown and some
reinforcements sent to his aid from
Topeka. At the
first volley the posse sent by Medary
were panic stricken
and fled in confusion to escape
"the old terror," some
leaping on behind their mounted
comrades and others
clinging to the horses' tails in their
wild scramble to
get away. Brown captured three of the
men sent to
arrest him, four horses and abandoned
arms, while
Medary and Buchanan were left
empty-handed. Col-
onel Richard J. Hinton facetiously
called this final fight
of John Brown's on Kansas soil the
"Battle of the
Spurs," and it has ever since been
so known in the his-
tory of that Territory.
Brown proceeded on his journey by way
of Nebraska
City, Tabor, Aurora, Des Moines,
Grinnell, Iowa City
and Springdale to West Liberty, where
he boarded a
train with his colored cargo for
Chicago. Then they
proceeded to Detroit and crossed to
Windsor, Canada,
where the slaves were finally delivered
from the land of
bondage. They had come in eighty-two
days a distance
of 1100 miles, 600 of which had been
covered in wagons
through the rigors of a northwestern
midwinter.
From Canada Brown went to Cleveland,
Ohio, where
he sold the horses that he had captured
at the "Battle of
the Spurs." In offering them for
sale he explained that
"the title might be a little
defective" but that they were
"abolition horses." Asked how
he knew this, he an-
swered that he was certain of it
because he had "con-
verted" them. They brought a good
price, however, as
there were purchasers in Cleveland who
were eager to
get Buchanan horses from Kansas that
had been "con-
verted" by John Brown.
Vol. XXX -17.
258
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
Arrangements had been made in Cleveland
for a
lecture in Chapin's Hall. This was well
advertised in
an announcement published in the
Cleveland Leader of
March 18, 1859. The meeting was to be
held on the
evening of that day. A violent storm
prevented the
attendance of many people and the
lecture was post-
poned to March 21. The Leader again
published a lib-
eral and attractive notice. The
meeting, however, was
poorly attended. Representatives from
the Leader and
the Plain Dealer published
rather full accounts of it.
Artemus Ward reported this meeting for the Plain
Dealer. The following characteristic excerpt is quoted
from the account of "Ward"
who had not at that time
achieved great fame as a humorist but
who was earn-
ing $12 a week as a reporter:
"He is a medium-sized,
compactly-built and wiry man, and
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 appear-
ance; his eyes are gray and sharp. 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'."
The report of the Leader is
devoted about equally to
the addresses of Kagi and Brown. It is
complimentary,
and somewhat extended. The following is
a brief
excerpt:
"Mr. Brown remarked that he was an
outlaw, the governor
of Missouri having offered a reward of $3000 for him
and the
president $250 more for him. He should never submit to an
John Brown 259
arrest, as he had nothing to gain from
submission, but he should
settle all questions on the spot if an
attempt was made to take
him. The liberation of those slaves was
meant as a direct blow
to slavery and he laid down his
platform that he considered it his
duty to break the fetters from any
slave when he had the oppor-
tunity. He was a thoroughgoing
abolitionist. He stated many
incidents in Kansas affairs and
conveyed much information on
territorial affairs.
"Mr. Brown is a man apparently
sixty years old, and full of
nerve and boldness. His narrative was highly
interesting and
instructive."
While the people of Cleveland did not
flock out to
hear Brown neither did his most rabid
opponents in
that city make any effort to have him
arrested. He and
Kagi here saw posted up in numerous
places the offer
of the rewards by the governor of
Missouri and by Pres-
ident Buchanan for the arrest and
detention of Brown.
The opportunity to earn this reward,
however, was not
sufficiently tempting to lead any
patriot to make the
attempt. The fact was well understood
that any effort
in this direction would arouse the
people of Cleveland
in the defense of Brown.
At West Andover, Ashtabula County,
while visiting
at the home of his son, Brown received
from Joshua R.
Giddings, the eminent opponent of the
slave power and
congressman from the Western Reserve,
an invitation
to speak in the Congregational Church
at Jefferson, the
county seat. On Sunday, May 27,
Brown was present
in answer to this invitation and spoke
after the church
exercises.
After the raid at Harper's Ferry
Giddings was
accused of complicity in that affair
and much was made
of his previous entertainment of Brown
at Jefferson.
In a speech delivered in Philadelphia
October 28, 1859,
260
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
Giddings stated his own attitude on the
question of
slavery as follows:
"While serving in Congress, Mr.
Haskell, a slaveholder, in-
quired of me publicly whether I believed
it morally right for
slaves to leave their masters. I felt
bound to speak frankly. I
answered that I not only believed they
could do so, but that it
was morally wrong and wicked for them to
remain in slavery
an hour when they had the power to
escape, even by slaying those
who opposed their freedom; that were I a
slave I would escape,
if in my power, though compelled to walk
upon the dead bodies
of slaveholders from Mississippi to
Malden."
Proceeding to the charge of association
with Brown,
he said:
"I am of opinion that he came to
Jefferson on Saturday
afternoon, and that so far as I am
informed, his object was to
make arrangements for the lecture.
"On Sabbath, after the regular
services, he spoke in our
church. The ministers of the church and
of other churches, I
think, attended the lecture. Ladies and
gentlemen were present.
Republicans and Democrats all listened
to his story with attention.
It is impossible for me at this time to
give an abstract of the
lecture. If anyone desires knowledge on
this point, I would refer
him to the Hon. Jonathan Warner, a
Democratic leader of that
county. He was present and one or two of
his sons, and being
very Pro-Slavery, he would be more
likely to recollect particulars
than myself. He spoke of the Kansas
troubles, of his expedi-
tion into Missouri and bringing off some
twelve or twenty slaves,
and he urged it as a solemn Christian
duty to assist slaves to ob-
tain their freedom. He gave us clearly
to understand that he held
to the doctrines of the Christian
religion as they were enunciated
by the Savior. I am not aware that he
spoke of going into slave
states to aid slaves in escaping from
bondage, but I had the im-
pression that he would do so if
opportunity should present. I
think, however, that I inferred this
from the fact that he had
done it in Missouri, rather than from
what he said. After he
closed I addressed a few words to the
audience in favor of a
contribution, referring to his
condition, to the death of his son
and the fact that in his situation he had no business
which he
could follow for his support. I believe
that every Democrat as
well as Republican present gave
something.
"After the close of the meeting I
cordially invited him to take
tea at my home. While there at the
fireside, I inquired as to
John Brown 261
the particulars of his Missouri
expedition. Mrs. Giddings also
put questions. I fully expressed my own
opinions as to the crime
of slavery, the right of the slave to
his liberty at all times and
under all circumstances."
Brown was in Kingsville, Ohio, April 7.
He left
for Peterboro, New York, on the 10th of
that month.
While he confided his plans only to
trusted friends, he
was now bending all his energies to
preparation for the
invasion of Virginia. He was busily
engaged raising
money and collecting arms and men for
that enterprise.
On May 7 he was with his ardent young
friend, F. B.
Sanborn, in historic Concord,
Massachusetts, where he
spoke in the town hall on the day
following. He then
went to Boston where he spent about
three weeks visiting
friends and supporters in that city.
The week ending
June 16 he spent with his family in
their home at North
Elba, New York. This was his last
visit. On June 18
he was again with his son John at West
Andover, Ohio.
This entry in his journal of that date
is of interest:
"Borrowed John's old compass and
left my own* together
with Gurley's book, with him at West
Andover; also borrowed
his small Jacob staff; also gave him for
expenses $15.00. Write
him under cover to Horace Lindsley,
West Andover."
From Akron, June 23, he wrote to his
wife and fam-
ily. This seems to have been the last
letter addressed to
them from this state. He wrote in part:
"We start for the Ohio River
today. Write me under cover
to John at West Andover, for the
present. The frost has been
far more destructive in western New
York and in Ohio than
it was in Essex County. Farmers here
are mowing the finest
looking wheat I ever saw, for fodder
only. Jason has been
quite a sufferer. May God abundantly
bless and keep you all."
*This compass is now in the Museum of
the Ohio State Archaeo-
logical and Historical Society.
262
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
The reference in the above, of course,
is to the great
frost in June of that year which is
still recalled by those
living at that time. While in Ohio
Brown visited for the
last time Hudson, his old home town. On
this trip he
was also in Cherry Valley, Ohio. On
June 23 he went
to Pennsylvania, proceeding by easy
stages from Pitts-
burg, by way of Bedford Springs, to
Chambersburg.
On July 3 he reached Harper's Ferry,
the end of his
restless wanderings, the goal of all
his striving. Re-
turning to Chambersburg, he spent some
time with
Frederick Douglas, the colored orator,
who opposed the
plan as soon as he learned that it
contemplated an at-
tack on the United States arsenal at
the Ferry. He felt
that the anti-slavery cause would be
injured by the con-
templated attack on the federal
government.
Arms and men were gradually assembled
at the Ken-
nedy farm not far from Harper's Ferry,
for the pro-
posed attack. The purpose of the
movement was care-
fully concealed and the people of
Harper's Ferry and
the adjacent country were led to
believe that these
strangers were making a geological
inspection of the
surrounding mountains in search of
mineral wealth.
Brown himself, however, stated in
conversation with
farmers in this region that he was
looking for a home to
which he might move his family. He
spoke of the de-
structive frost of that summer and said
that he be-
lieved he would be better satisfied with
a farm in Vir-
ginia. It is remarkable that his secret
should have been
kept so well by the assembling company
for more than
three months. In that time John Brown
and his men
became thoroughly acquainted with the
government
works at Harper's Ferry and the lay of
the country sur-
rounding the town.
John Brown 263
The government at Washington knew
nothing of the
threatened raid, and yet there was in
the office of the
Secretary of War a letter bearing date
of August 20,
1859, and warning the government of the
contemplated
attack. It gave in considerable detail
Brown's plan, but
was unsigned. The Secretary of War paid
little atten-
tion to it and the warning was
unheeded. After the raid
Richard Raelf and Charles W. Moffet,
two of John
Brown's men who failed to come to
Harper's Ferry,
were suspected of having written this
letter. Redpath
in his Life of John Brown violently
assails Raelf for
this betrayal of the cause. In this
conclusion he was
wholly mistaken as he afterward
acknowledged. It was
not until long years afterward that
David J. Gue, of
Iowa, became publicly known as the real
author. He
with other Quaker friends resorted to
this means to
prevent the clash of arms at Harper's
Ferry - to save
John Brown and his men from the fate
that would cer-
tainly overtake them. The anonymous
letter was sent
to the postmaster at Cincinnati to be
remailed there.
From that city it went to the Secretary
of War.
The men of John Brown's company
gradually assem-
bled at the famous Kennedy house about
six miles from
Harper's Ferry. In order to avoid
suspicion and make
life here more homelike, Anne, the
daughter of John
Brown, and Martha, the wife of Oliver,
came from
North Elba to administer household
affairs at the farm.
John E. Cook had preceded the others to
Harper's Ferry
and for some time had been living with
his young wife
in that town. Following is the list of
men who were
finally marshalled and armed for the
capture of the
Ferry: John Brown, Watson Brown, Oliver
Brown,
Owen Brown, William Thompson, Dauphin
Thompson,
264
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
John Henri Kagi, Aaron Dwight Stevens,
John E. Cook,
Charles Plummer Tidd, William H. Leeman, Edwin
Coppoc, Barclay Coppoc, Albert Hazlett,
Jeremiah G.
Anderson, Francis Jackson Merriam,
Steward Taylor,
Shields Green, Dangerfield Newby, John
A. Copeland,
Jr., Lewis Sherrard Leary and Osborn P.
Anderson.
Kagi, the Coppoc brothers and John
Brown's three
sons, Watson, Oliver and Owen, were all
born in Ohio.
Leary and Copeland enlisted from
Oberlin, Ohio, and
John Brown himself had grown up to
manhood in this
state.
Green, Newby, Copeland, Leary and
Osborn P. An-
derson were colored.
Thomas Jefferson in his Notes on the
State of Vir-
ginia, written in 1787, has described, as viewed from
Jefferson Rock, the natural scenery of
the country where
the Shenandoah and the Potomac meet off
the peninsula
on which Harper's Ferry stands:
"You stand on a very high point of
land; on your right
comes up the Shenandoah, having ranged
along the root of the
mountain a hundred miles to find a vent;
on your left approaches
the Potomac, in quest of a passage also.
In the moment of their
junction they rush together against the
mountain, rend it asunder,
and pass off to the sea. The scene is
worth a voyage across the
Atlantic; . . . these monuments of a war
between rivers
and mountains which must have shaken the
earth itself to its
centre."
It is a coincidence that at this spot
should fall the
bolt that shook a nation.
Sunday evening, October 16, 1859, was
cloudy, damp
and dark. In spite of the threatening
weather, the at-
tendance in the churches of the village
was large.
There had been a religious revival in
this mountain
region and the people came in crowds to
hear the mes-
John Brown 265
sage of peace. The services over, they
started for their
homes. On their way some of them were
made pris-
oners and securely held in the
enclosure at the old engine
house, through the remainder of that
gloomy and mys-
terious night. The dawning of the next
day found
Harper's Ferry, the armory, the arsenal
and the rifle
works in the hands of an unknown foe.
The story of this historic raid that
startled the na-
tion and terrified Virginia has been
told often and well
and in varied detail. It is told on
other pages of this
issue, for the first time in printed
form, by an eye wit-
ness who also gives an account of
Brown's trial, of his
fortitude in prison and on the
scaffold. To this is added
an account of his execution, from the
pen of an Ohio
journalist, Murat Halstead. These
contributions to the
subject leave little room for
additional portrayal or
comment.
John Brown's enduring influence and
fame were won
after he became a captive at Harper's
Ferry. When he
lay helpless and bleeding with his sons
dead at his side,
with most of his followers captured or
slain, and bore
testimony to the cause for which he had
fought and
suffered and sacrificed, his message
went throughout
the land, to the civilized world. With
a sword of steel
and dauntless physical courage he was
weak and inad-
equate; but with the "sword of the
spirit" he was invin-
cible. Thus it was that he challenged
the respect of even
his foes, "brought conviction to
the erring" and added
"numbers to that glorious
army" who were to give the
Republic "a new birth of
freedom." The jail at Charles-
town* became a temple from which he
preached the
gospel of universal liberty.
* Now spelled Charles Town.
266
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
Someone has said that if John Brown had
been killed
at the engine house in Harper's Ferry
his epitaph would
have been a score of lines in the
newspapers to be for-
gotten in as many days, like the record
of a desperado
who dies by the law against which he
raises a violent
hand. He lived six weeks and by his
bearing, his con-
versation and his letters won his great
battle and the
meed of martyrdom. In those forty-five
days this son
of Connecticut, this tanner, shepherd
and farmer of
Ohio, showed how he could fearlessly
live for a prin-
ciple and triumphantly die for it. That
principle itself
was soon to triumph in the Republic and
give this Pur-
itan defender a permanent place in
history.
VALLANDIGHAM AND JOHN BROWN
At the time of the John Brown raid
there were two
representatives in Congress from Ohio
of diametrically
opposite views on political issues and
the burning ques-
tion of the hour. The attitude of
Joshua R. Giddings on
the slavery question has already been
briefly set forth.
The representative from the Dayton
district, Clement L.
Vallandigham, by ancestry and training
was a strict
constructionist and in political sympathy
with the South.
Like Giddings he was a man of high
moral and religious
character, but, unlike Giddings, in the
heated political
controversies of the times made no
appeals to the "law
higher than the constitution."
Vallandigham appeared early on the scene
at Har-
per's Ferry after the capture of John
Brown and his
surviving men in the engine house. In
company with
Senator Mason he asked the old man
while he lay bleed-
ing on the floor a number of questions.
The corre-
John Brown 267
spondent of the New York Herald made
a record of
these questions and answers and this
record has been
preserved in Redpath's Life of
Captain John Brown
and a number of other biographies that
have since been
published. A few of these questions and
answers are
here reproduced:
Mr. Vallandigham.--"Have you ever
been in Portage
County ?"
Brown. -"I was there in June
last."
Mr. V. -"When in Cleveland, did you
attend the Fugitive
Slave Law Convention?"
Brown.-"No; I was there about the
time of the sitting
of the court to try the Oberlin
rescuers. I spoke there publicly
on that subject; I spoke on the Fugitive
Slave Law, and my own
rescue, of course. So far as I had any
reference at all, I was
disposed to justify the Oberlin people
for rescuing a slave, be-
cause I have myself forcibly taken
slaves from bondage. I was
concerned in taking eleven slaves from
Missouri to Canada last
winter. I think I spoke in Cleveland
before the Convention; do
not know that I had any conversation
with any of the Oberlin
rescuers. Was sick part of the time I
was in Ohio; had the
ague. Was part of the time in Ashtabula
County."
Mr. V.-"Did you see anything of
Joshua R. Giddings
there ?"
Brown.- "I did meet him."
Mr. V.- "Did you consult with
him?"
Brown. - "If I did
I would not tell you, of course, anything
that would implicate Mr. Giddings, but I
certainly saw him and
had a conversation with him."
Mr. V.--"I don't mean about this
affair of yours, I mean
about that rescue case."
Brown. -"Oh yes, I did hear him
express his opinion on
it very freely and frankly."
Mr. V. -"Justifying it?"
Brown.-"Yes, Sir; I do not
compromise him by saying
that."
Vallandigham was severely criticised in
a number of
papers of the North for asking these
and other ques-
tions of Brown in his wounded
condition. The impres-
sion at the time was that he had gone
to Harper's Ferry
(268) |
John Brown 269
with the express purpose of questioning
Brown and
leading him to implicate some of his
northern friends,
especially Joshua R. Giddings. It
appears, however,
that Vallandigham had started from
Washington to his
home in Ohio before he heard of the
raid. The first
news of it he got when he reached
Baltimore. He was
delayed there for some time and arrived
in Harper's
Ferry on the morning of the 19th of
October. Here he
met Senator Mason of Virginia, the
author of the Fu-
gitive Slave Law, who had been called
to the Ferry by
the insurrection. In company with Mason
and a few
others Vallandigham was permitted to
see the prisoners
in the engine house. John Brown and
Stevens were
there, severely wounded and covered
with blood.
Brown, however, did not object to
talking with news-
paper correspondents and answered very
freely most of
the questions that were asked by
Vallandigham and
Mason.
In answer to criticisms through the
press Vallan-
digham, on October 22, 1859, addressed
a letter to the
Cincinnati Enquirer explaining
his presence at Harper's
Ferry and stating the purpose of his
questions. Inci-
dentally he gave his opinion of John
Brown and the in-
surrection he had planned. His letter
in part reads as
follows:
"No 'interview' was asked for by
me or any one else of John
Brown, and none granted, whether
'voluntarily and out of pure
good-will,' or otherwise. Brown had no
voice in the matter, the
room being open equally to all who were
permitted to enter the
Armory enclosure. All went and came
alike without consulting
Brown, nor did he know either myself or
the other gentlemen
with whom he conversed. Entering the
room, I found Senator
Mason, of Virginia, there casually,
together with eight or ten
others, and Brown conversing freely with all who chose
to ad-
dress him. Indeed he seemed eager to
talk to every one; and
270 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
new visitors were coming and going every
moment. There was
no arrangement to have any reporter; nor
did I observe for some
minutes after I entered that any were
present. Some one from
New York was taking sketches of Brown
and Stevens during
the conversation, and the reporter of
the Herald made himself
known to me a short time afterward; but
I saw nothing of the
Gazette reporter till several hours later, and then at the
hotel in
the village.
"Finding Brown anxious to talk and
ready to answer any
one who chose to ask a question, and
having heard that the insur-
rection had been planned at the Ohio
State Fair held at Zanes-
ville in September, I very naturally
made the inquiry of him,
among other things, as to the truth of
the statement. Learning
from his answers that he had lived in
Ohio for fifty years, and
had visited the state in May or June
last, I prosecuted my in-
quiries to ascertain what connection his
conspiracy might have
had with the 'Oberlin Rescue' trials
then pending, and the in-
surrectionary movement at that time made
in the Western Re-
serve to organize forcible resistance to
the Fugitive Slave Law;
and I have only to regret that I did not
pursue the matter
further, asking more questions and
making them more specific.
It is possible that some others who are
so tenderly sensitive in
regard to what was developed might have
been equally impli-
cated. Indeed, it is incredible that a
mere casual conversation.
such as the one held by me with John
Brown, should excite such
paroxysms of rage and call forth so much
vulgar but impotent
vituperation, unless there be much more
yet undisclosed. Cer-
tain it is that three of the negroes,
and they from Oberlin, and at
least six of the white men, nine in all
out of the nineteen, in-
cluding John Brown, the leader of the
insurrection, were, or had
been, from Ohio, where they had received
sympathy and counsel,
if not material aid in their conspiracy.
"But the visit and interrogation
were both casual, and did
not continue over twenty minutes at the
longest. Brown, so far
from being exhausted, volunteered
several speeches to the re-
porter, and more than once insisted that
the conversations did
not disturb or annoy him in the least.
The report in the New
York Herald, of October 21st, is
generally very accurate, though
several of the questions attributed to
me, and particularly the
first four, ought to have been put in
the mouth of 'Bystander,'
who, by the way, represents at least
half a score of different
persons. As to the charge preferred of
'breach of good taste
and propriety,' and all that, I propose
to judge of it for myself,
having been present on the occasion. There was neither
'inter-
view,' 'catechising,' 'inquisition,'
'pumping,' nor any effort of the
kind, but a short and casual
conversation with the leader of a bold
John Brown 271
and murderous insurrection, a man of
singular intelligence, in full
possession of all his faculties, and
anxious to explain his plans
and motives so far as possible without
implicating his confeder-
ates otherwise than by declining to
answer. The developments
are important: let the galled jades
wince.
"And now allow me to add that it is
vain to underrate
either the man or his conspiracy.
Captain John Brown is as
brave and resolute a man as ever headed
an insurrection, and,
in a good cause, and with a sufficient
force, would have been a
consummate partisan commander. He has
coolness, daring, per-
sistency, the stoic faith and patience,
and a firmness of will and
purpose unconquerable. He is tall, wiry,
muscular, but with
little flesh - with a cold gray eye,
gray hair, beard and mustache,
compressed lips and sharp aquiline nose,
of cast-iron face and
frame, and with powers of endurance
equal to anything needed to
be done or suffered in any cause. Though
engaged in a wicked,
mad and fanatical enterprise, he is the
farthest possible remove
from the ordinary ruffian, fanatic or
madman; but his powers
are rather executory than inventive, and
he never had the depth
or breadth of mind to originate and
contrive himself the plan of
insurrection which he undertook to carry
out. The conspiracy
was, unquestionably, far more extended
than yet appears, num-
bering among the conspirators many more
than the handful of
followers who assailed Harper's Ferry,
and having in the North
and West, if not also the South, as its
counsellors and abettors,
men of intelligence, position and
wealth. Certainly it was one
among the best-planned and executed
conspiracies that ever
failed."
GOVERNOR WISE AND JOHN BROWN
Governor Henry A. Wise represented the
almost
unanimous sentiment of the slave
holding aristocracy of
the South but he exemplified also
something of the chiv-
alry for which that section is famous.
His treatment of
the prisoners at Charlestown was
greatly to his credit
and the same may be said of the local
officials, Sheriff
Campbell and the jailer, Captain Avis.
Shortly after the capture of Brown the
governor
was reported to have said to him,
"Mr. Brown, the
silver of your hair is reddened by the
blood of crime
272
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
and you should eschew these hard words
and think of
eternity."
To this Brown replied:
"Governor, I have from all
appearances not more than fifteen
or twenty years the start of you in the journey to that
eternity
of which you kindly warn me; and whether my time here
shall
be fifteen months, or fifteen days, or fifteen hours, I
am equally
prepared to go. There is an eternity
behind and an eternity
before; and this little speck in the
centre, however long, is but
comparatively a minute. The difference
between your tenure
and mine is trifling, and I therefore
tell you to be prepared.
I am prepared. You all have a heavy
responsibility, and it be-
hooves you to prepare more than it does
me."
In a public speech shortly after the
raid Governor
Wise gave the following estimate of
Brown:
"They are mistaken who take Brown
to be a madman. He
is a bundle of the best nerves I ever
saw; cut and thrust and
bleeding, and in bonds. He is a man of
clear head, of courage,
fortitude, and simple ingenuousness. He
is cool, collected, and
indomitable, and it is but just to him
to say that he was humane
to his prisoners, and he inspired me
with great trust in his in-
tegrity as a man of truth. He is a
fanatic, vain and garrulous,
but firm, truthful, and intelligent."
TWO INCIDENTS.
The large number of incidents that have
been related
in connection with John Brown's raid at
Harper's Ferry
and his imprisonment at Charlestown
would fill a vol-
ume. Two of special interest are here
briefly related.
Brown was eager to capture Colonel
Lewis W.
Washington, a great grandnephew of
George Washing-
ton, because of his prominence and
because he possessed
a souvenir of great value which Brown
desired to use
in this first blow struck for the
liberation of slaves
in Virginia.
John Brown 273
The souvenir was a sword, said to have
been pre-
sented by Frederick the Great to George
Washington.
When Colonel Washington was surprised
by a detach-
ment of the raiders under the command
of Aaron
Dwight Stevens at midnight October 16,
he was re-
quired to hand over this sword to
Osborn Perry Ander-
son, a colored raider. Stevens was
carrying out literally
the direction of Brown who attached a
special signifi-
cance to the symbolism of this act - the
transfer of the
sword of the liberator, George
Washington, to a repre-
sentative of the race which Brown had
inaugurated a
new revolution to liberate.
Brown never forgot his own
revolutionary ancestry.
He carried the tombstone of his
grandfather who died
in the war for independence with him to
North Elba
where it now stands with his own name
added and those
of his sons who fell at Harper's Ferry.
Governor Wise
in his speech at Charlestown thus
describes the capture
of Colonel Washington and the sword of
Frederick the
Great:
"When Col. Washington was taken,
his watch and plate and
jewels and money were demanded, to
create what they call a
'safety fund,' to compensate the
liberators for the trouble and ex-
pense of taking away his slaves. This,
by a law, was to be done
with all slaveholders. Washington, of
course, refused to de-
liver up anything; and it is remarkable
that the only thing of
material value which they took, besides
his slaves, was the sword
of Frederick the Great, which was sent
to General Washington.
This was taken by Stevens to Brown, and
the latter commanded
his men with that sword in this fight
against the peace and
safety of Washington's native State. He
promised Col. Washing-
ton to return it to him when he was done
with it. And Col.
Washington says that he, Brown, was the
coolest and firmest
man he ever saw in defying danger and
death. With one son
dead by his side, and another shot
through, he felt the pulse of
his dying son with one hand and held his
rifle with the other,
and commanded his men with the utmost
composure, encourag-
Vol. XXX - 18.
274 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
ing them to be firm and to sell their
lives as dearly as they
could."
A correspondent who related incidents
that occurred
at the Charlestown jail where many
persons visited John
Brown wrote as follows in regard to the
visit of a local
minister:
"Brown was visited yesterday by
Rev. James H. March, of
the M. E. Church. The reverend gentleman
having advanced an
argument in favor of the institution of
slavery as it now exists,
Brown replied to him, saying, 'My dear
sir, you know nothing
about Christianity; you will have to
learn the A B C's in the
lesson of Christianity, as I find you
entirely ignorant of the
meaning of the word. I, of course,
respect you as a gentleman;
but it is as a heathen gentleman.'
The reverend gentleman here
thought it best to draw such a
discussion to a close, and there-
fore withdrew."
This incident has been fully verified by
an associate
minister of the gospel who has written
an extended ac-
count of the raid at Harper's Ferry and
Brown's im-
prisonment and execution.
BROWN'S SPEECH BEFORE RECEIVING
SENTENCE.
Oswald Garrison Villard, who finds much
to criticise
as well as praise in the life of John
Brown, speaks in
approving terms of Brown's answer when
asked by the
court whether he had anything to say why
sentence
should not be passed upon him. "And
well the crowd
might be stirred," said he,
"for what it was now to hear
from the lips of the man for whose life
it thirsted must
forever remain on the list of great
American speeches,
an utterance worthy not merely of the
man who voiced
it, but of the mighty cause of human
freedom for which
he struck so powerful a blow." The speech is reported
as follows:
John Brown 275
"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: of a design on my part
to free 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, moving them
through the country, and finally leaving
them in Canada. I de-
signed to have done the same thing again
on a larger scale. That
was all I intended. I never did intend
murder, or treason, or the
destruction of property, or to excite or
incite slaves to rebellion,
or to make insurrection.
"I have another objection, and that
is that it is unjust that
I 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 portion
of the witnesses who have testified in
this case-had I so inter-
fered in behalf of the rich, the
powerful, the intelligent, the so-
called great, or in behalf of any of
their friends, either father,
mother, brother, sister, wife or
children, or any of that class, and
suffered and sacrificed what I have in
this interference, it would
have been all right. Every man in this
Court would have deemed
it an act worthy of reward rather than
punishment.
"This Court acknowledges, too, as I
suppose, the validity
of the law of God. I see a book kissed,
which I suppose to be
the Bible, or at least the New
Testament, which 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 remember them
that are in bonds as bound with them. I
endeavored to act up to
that instruction. I say I am yet too
young to understand that
God is any respecter of persons. I
believe that to have interfered
as I have done, as I have always freely
admitted I have done, in
behalf of His despised poor, I did not
wrong, but right. Now, if
it is deemed necessary that I should
forfeit my life for the fur-
therance 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 say, 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 than I expected.
But I feel no consciousness of guilt. I
have stated from the
first what was my intention, and what was not. I never
had any
design against the liberty of any person, nor any
disposition to
commit treason or incite slaves to rebel or make any
general in-
surrection. I never encouraged any man
to do so, but always
discouraged any idea of that kind.
276
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
"Let me say, also, in regard to the
statements made by some
of those who were 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 regret-
ting their weakness. Not one but joined
me of his own accord,
and the greater part at their own
expense. A number of them I
never saw, and never had a word of
conversation with, till the
day they came to me, and that was for
the purpose I have stated.
"Now, I have done."
VICTOR HUGO ON JOHN BROWN
On the day of John Brown's execution
Victor Hugo,
at that time the leading literary writer
of Europe, from
his place of exile on the Island of Guernsey,
wrote an
address to the American people in which
he said:
"At the thought of the United
States of America, a majestic
form rises in the mind, - Washington. In
this country of Wash-
ington what is now taking place? * * *
"John Brown, condemned to death, is
to be hanged today.
His hangman is not the Attorney Hunter,
nor the Judge Parker,
nor Governor Wise, nor the little State
of Virginia, - his hang-
man (we shudder to think it and say it!)
is the whole American
Republic. Politically speaking, the
murder of Brown will be an
irrevocable mistake. It will deal the
union a concealed wound,
which will finally sunder the states.
Let America know and con-
sider that there is one thing more
shocking than Cain killing
Abel, - it is Washington killing Spartacus."
On March 30, 1860, Hugo again wrote:
"Slavery in all its forms will
disappear. What the South
slew last December was not John Brown,
but slavery."
Years after the Civil War when he
himself had re-
turned to his own France after the
Franco-Prussian
War and had had ample opportunity to
become more
familiar with the life of Brown, he and
a number of
his friends and associates had a gold
medal struck and
sent to the widow of John Brown in
October, 1874.
(277) |
278 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society
Publications.
Following is a
translation of the letter that was sent
with the medal:
"To Madam,
Widow of John Brown:
PARIS, the 21st of October, 1874.
"MADAM -
"Many years have
passed away since the day when your
noble husband
completed the sacrifice of a life devoted to the
mose benevolent of
causes.
"From the
gallows where he was hung has gone forth this cry
of universal
indignation which has been the signal for the com-
plete deliverance of
a disinherited race. Honor to him and his
worthy sons, together
with his widow: To the benedictions with
which the present
century follows their memory those of the
future centuries will
add themselves. Such thoughts must
produce, madam, a
great alleviation of your grief; but you have
claimed the best
compensation for your afflictions from this su-
perior mandate, that
above the poor justice of men soars the
Supreme Justice,
which leaves no good action without its recom-
pense, neither any
crime without its punishment. You will also
receive, we hope,
with a feeling of solace, this witness of the
sympathy of the
French republicans, the expression of which
would have arrived
less tardily but for the long and cruel ordeals
through which our
unfortunate country has just passed. We
beg you, madam, to
accept the homage of our profound respect.
"In the name of
all their colleagues, the undersigned, mem-
bers of the committee
of subscription.
VICTOR HUGO
PATRICE LARROQUE CAPRON
MELVIL BLONCOURT EUGENE
PELLETON
CH. L. CHASSIN ETIENNE ARAGO
LAURENT PICHAT V.
SCHOELCHER
LOUIS BLANC L.
SORNET".
FUNERAL OF JOHN BROWN
On the day that John
Brown was hung, bells were
solemnly tolled
throughout the North. In many cities
and villages meetings
were held by anti-slavery sympa-
thizers, speeches
were delivered and resolutions adopted.
John Brown 279
In Cleveland, Akron and other cities of
Ohio such action
was taken. In Tremont Temple, Boston,
at a great out-
pouring of people William Lloyd
Garrison, in fervid elo-
quence preached "the resurrection
of John Brown." In
Concord Thoreau and Emerson paid
tribute. At Cam-
bridge Longfellow wrote in his diary,
"This will be a
great day in our history; the date of a
new revolution -
quite as much needed as the old."
At other places
"union meetings" were held to
denounce John Brown
and his work.
After the execution, the body of the
old warrior was
given to his widow and the funeral
procession began and
grew in impressiveness as it approached
his old home
in the Adirondacks. At Philadelphia
such a great crowd
had assembled that the progress of the
little funeral
party was for a time impeded. It was
later joined by
Wendell Phillips and as it proceeded
through the state
of New York bells were tolled in every
town through
which it passed and evidences were
manifest that, of a
truth, the resurrection of John Brown
had begun.
At his humble home among the mountains
the simple
services were conducted, Wendell
Phillips delivering the
funeral oration. When his eloquent
tribute ended "the
members of a neighboring colored family
sang some of
the hymns for which he had cared"
and his body was
lowered to his fitting resting place
among the everlast-
ing hills.
POLITICAL EFFECT OF HARPER'S FERRY RAID
While the thrilling news of the attack
at Harper's
Ferry produced varied impressions and
aroused diverse
emotions, there were men in October,
1859, as there
280
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
have been since the foundation of our
government, who
were not so much concerned about the
effect of the raid
on the North, the South or the
institution of slavery as
they were interested in its influence
on the destinies of
the dominant political parties of the
time. The Repub-
lican party had been rapidly gaining
strength. Its great
rival, through the effort of the
Buchanan administration
to force slavery upon Kansas, not only
in that Territory
but in the entire North had been losing
ground and
fighting a desperate battle to retain
its power.
The attack at Harper's Ferry stirred
the leaders of
both parties and led them to the same
conclusion. If in
some way, they thought, the
responsibility for this rash
act should be fixed on the Republican
party, which had
encouraged the Free State men in
Kansas, including
old John Brown who had been prominent
in the struggle
there, that party would suffer, in
consequence, serious
losses at the ballot-box. This
accounted for the early
appearance at Harper's Ferry of United
States Senator
James Mason, of Virginia, and other men
of his polit-
ical faith. John Brown had not ceased
to bleed from
his numerous wounds before they plied
him with ques-
tions designed to lead to the
incrimination of his friends
who had aided him by contributions of
money or other-
wise in preparation for the attack.
Their questions,
which are a matter of record, clearly
proved their pur-
pose. Their efforts failed. In his
extremity Brown was
faithful to his friends, and he
courageously asserted his
entire responsibility for the raid and
all his actions.
While certain political opponents were
trying to fix
responsibility upon Republican leaders
for complicity in
the raid, these leaders were most
industriously denying
any knowledge of it or sympathy with
it.
John Brown 281
Abraham Lincoln, on December 2, 1859,
stated:
"Old John Brown has been executed
for treason against a
state. We cannot object, even though he
agreed with us in think-
ing slavery wrong. That cannot excuse
violence, bloodshed and
treason. It could avail him nothing that he might think
himself
right."
On February 27, 1860, in his notable
speech at
Cooper Union, New York, he dwelt
somewhat at length
upon the same subject and said among
other things:
"That affair, in its philosophy,
corresponds with the many
attempts, related in history, at the
assassination of kings and
emperors. An enthusiast broods over the
oppression of a people
till he fancies himself commissioned by
Heaven to liberate them.
He ventures the attempt, which ends in
little else than his own
execution. Orsini's attempt on Louis
Napoleon and John
Brown's attempt at Harper's Ferry were
in their philosophy
precisely the same."
William H. Seward, at the time of the
execution the
most prominent candidate for the
Republican nomina-
tion for president, was even more
explicit in his con-
demnation. He declared "that this
attempt to execute
an unlawful purpose in Virginia by
invasion, involving
servile war, was an act of sedition and
treason, and
criminal in just the extent that it
affected the public
peace and was destructive of human
happiness and life."
All of the leading Republican papers
condemned the
act, though many of them coupled with
their condemna-
tion denunciation of slavery, that had
maddened men
to undertake this rash enterprise. The New York
Tribune, perhaps the most prominent of these, regarded
Brown as "a madman." The Independent, a radical
anti-slavery paper, on the 20th of
October, 1859, de-
scribed Brown as "a lawless
brigand."
In the days intervening between the
attack on Har-
282
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
per's Ferry and the execution of those
who participated
in it, however, a great change was
noticeable in the com-
ment of these papers. The
Independent on November
24 editorially stated, "The
people's verdict has already
stamped John Brown as a brave and
honest man.
* * * What is it that will be hanged on
the gallows
before the eyes of all men? Not John Brown, but
slavery. * * * John Brown swinging on
the gallows
will ring the knell of slavery."
The issue of this paper
for December 8 contains the following
on the influence
of Brown:
"No man has ever made such a
profound impression on
this nation through his moral heroism. *
* * Each of his
actions, every word he spoke up to the
time of his execution has
only strengthened and increased the
power of his example. He
grew constantly greater up to the end.
He was greatest at the
last, when most men would have been
weakest."
It was perfectly natural for the
leaders of both polit-
ical parties to conclude that any
suspicion of sympathy
with the work of John Brown would
seriously detract
from the support of the party
manifesting such sympathy.
Politicians of that day were similar to
those of our own
time, who probably under like
circumstances would act
much the same. Their judgment, however,
as to the
influence of the Harper's Ferry raid
upon the destiny of
parties was fundamentally wrong. The
executions at
Charlestown reached profounder depths
than the ap-
peals of campaign orators. They
solidified the South in
defense of slavery. They aroused the
North and set
the bells to tolling from Maine to
Kansas. Abraham
Lincoln and William H. Seward might
condemn and
deplore Harper's Ferry, but it was
perhaps making more
votes than any other one influence for
their party and
John Brown 283
rapidly preparing the way for the
elevation of one of
them to the presidency of the United
States. A few
years later we shall hear Abraham
Lincoln, from the
highest office within the gift of the
American people,
calling upon all who are loyal to the
Union to overthrow
the institution of slavery by the force
of arms; and his
appeal was frequently couched in the
spirit of the letters
written by John Brown while in prison.
SHADOWS AND EVENTS
The raid at Harper's Ferry and the
executions at
Charlestown were prophetic of the
cataclysm to follow.
While eminent statesmen did not see
this, others divined
it and their predictions bear testimony
to the fact that
in this instance at least
"Coming events cast their shadows
before."
When he left the jail on his way to the
place of ex-
ecution, John Brown handed to a
reporter his last
written statement:
"I, John Brown, am now quite
certain that the crimes of
this guilty land will never be purged
but with blood. I had, as
I now think vainly, flattered myself
that without very much
bloodshed it might be done."
Edwin Coppoc, a Quaker boy who was
hanged two
weeks later, in a letter three days
before his execution,
wrote:
"Thank God, the principles of the
cause in which we were
engaged will not die with me and my
brave comrades. They will
spread wider and wider and gather
strength with each hour that
passes. The voice of truth will echo
through the land, bringing
conviction to the erring and adding
numbers to that glorious
army who will follow its banner. The cause of
everlasting truth
|
(284) |
John Brown 285
and justice will go on conquering and to
conquer, until our broad
and beautiful land shall rest beneath
the banner of freedom."
Victor Hugo, Edmund C. Stedman, William
Dean
Howells, Wendell Phillips, Ralph Waldo
Emerson, Mon-
cure D. Conway and scores of other
prominent men
united in declaring that the execution
of Brown would
ring the knell of slavery.
It is remarkable how that event brought
together
many of the actors in the mighty
conflict soon to be.
Over the gallows at Charlestown the
hand of Fate
wrought a paradox. Hither came to
witness the execu-
tion Colonel Robert E. Lee, in a
uniform of blue, soon
to be exchanged for one of gray and the
rank of com-
mander-in-chief of the armies of the
southern Confed-
eracy. There was Governor Henry A.
Wise, and there
in the ranks of the Virginia troops was
his promising
son, the former to rise to the rank of
brigadier general
and the latter to lose his life in the
service of the Con-
federacy. At the head of the cadets
from Lexington
stood stalwart Thomas J. Jackson,
destined to become
the Stonewall Jackson of history and to
fall on the
field of Chancellorsville. Henry C.
Pate, leader of the
Missourians and the captive of John
Brown at Black
Jack in Kansas, who witnessed with
satisfaction the
ignominious death of his oldtime foe,
was soon to be a
Confederate colonel and Lieutenant J.
E. B. Stewart,
who released Pate in Kansas, was later
to become a
famous Confederate cavalry general, and
both were to
die on the same battle field. John
Augustine Washing-
ton, great-great-grandnephew of George
Washington,
was to pour out his blood on Virginia
soil for the Con-
federate cause. Conspicuous for his
horsemanship and
soldierly bearing among the assembled
troops was Cap-
286
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
tain Turner Ashby, afterwards a
Confederate general,
who lost his life for "the lost
cause." While there with
the Richmond troops, that wayward evil
genius, John
Wilkes Booth, witnessed an act which
was to pale into
insignificance compared to his
murderous deed that
plunged the Republic into woe and
shocked the civilized
world.
And there, the master of ceremonies on
this occa-
sion, in gorgeous uniform, armed and bespangled,
rode
General William B. Taliaferro, who
served and survived
the Confederacy; and in the ranks of
his men were many
who were to rise to distinction and
shed their blood in
uniforms of gray.
And all these were here to punish
treason - to vin-
dicate and uphold the majesty of the
law of the United
States and the commonwealth of
Virginia.
Fate turned the kaleidoscope, and lo!
all these by
the same token became themselves
traitors and boldly
joined an insurrection to rend the
Union asunder!
In order that the paradox might be
complete, all the
surviving followers of John Brown able
to bear arms
put on the uniform of blue and fought
under the flag
to preserve the Republic and blot
"the dark stain of
slavery * * * from our land."
Richard J. Hinton,
Thomas Wentworth Higginson, John Brown,
Jr., Bar-
clay Coppoc, Charles P. Tidd, Francis
J. Merriam,
Salmon Brown, Charles Moffett, Luke F.
Parsons
Osborn P. Anderson, Richard Raelf,
Charles Lenhart,
and others who were identified with
Brown in Kansas
or elsewhere answered the call of the
Nation. The first
two rose to the rank of colonel. Others
gave their lives
and all followed the flag with loyalty
and zeal.
It is remarkable, too, that Governor
Wise who so
John Brown 287
eloquently denounced traitors in 1859, in 1861 should
himself become one of the chief agents
in taking Vir-
ginia out of the Union and the chief
conspirator in the
capture of the arsenal at Harper's
Ferry and the trans-
fer of the arms there to the enemies of
the United States
government;* and that this same
governor, a year and
a half later, should rejoice that armed
forces were on
their way to consummate the treasonable
act that he had
planned, and that he should exhort
Virginians to take
a lesson from John Brown and with
spears and lances
spill the blood of their craven Yankee
foes.
Swiftly, with startling and dramatic
sequence, the
scenes shifted on the stage of history.
Eighteen months
after John Brown mounted the scaffold
with the step of
a conqueror and stood unawed with the
hangman's rope
around his neck, the Twelfth
Massachusetts Regiment
*For all of Governor Wise's admiration
of John Brown as a man,
he did not hesitate to describe him and
his men as "murderers, traitors,
robbers, insurrectionists," and
"wanton, malicious, unprovoked felons."
Yet just a year and a half later, April
16, 1861, Henry A. Wise, then out
of office and with no more legal authority
for his acts than had John
Brown, actively conspired with
Captain-later General-J. D. Imboden,
General Kenton Harper and the
superintendent, Alfred W. Barbour, and
through them captured the Harper's Ferry
arsenal precisely as had John
Brown, save that there was no loss of
life. But the blow was none the
less directly aimed at the Federal
Government. The undertaking of this
act of treason was a compelling reason
for the passage of the Virginia
Ordinance of Secession on April 17,
1861. Governor Wise dramatically
announced to the Secession convention
that "armed forces are now mov-
ing upon Harper's Ferry to capture the
arms there in the Arsenal for the
public defence, and there will be a
fight or a foot-race between volunteers
of Virginia and Federal troops before
the sun sets this day." On June
1, this same Henry A. Wise, whose
abhorrence of John Brown's acts had
been so profound, in a speech at
Richmond urged his neighbors to: "Get
a spear-a lance. Take a lesson from John
Brown, manufacture your
blades from old iron, even though it be
the tires of your cart-wheels."
Forgetful, too, of his panegyric of his
Yankee captive's bravery and cool-
ness, he assured his auditors that:
"Your true-blooded Yankee will never
stand still in the presence of cold
steel." In so scant a space of time as
a year and a half had the erstwhile
Governor, by a singular revolution of
the wheel of fate, himself come to
occupy the position of a rebel against
the established political order. John
Brown, A Biography Fifty Years
After. By Oswald Garrison Villard.
288
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
was on its way south to put down the
rebellion and
singing as it went:
"John Brown's body lies moldering
in the grave,
But his soul goes marching on."
And the chorus of this battle song went
on from Bull
Run to Appomattox.
The second day of December, 1859, was
clear and
the spirit of peace seemed to rest on
the Virginian valleys
and mountains. But this was only the
calm that pre-
cedes the storm. Over these roads were
soon to march
contending armies. The rocky escarpments
of the Blue
Ridge were to shake with the thunders of
cannon; the
heights of Bolivar were to be strewn
with the dead and
dying; the Potomac and the Shenandoah
were to bear
again ensanguined stains; the mighty
hosts of the blue
and the gray were to be swept into the
red whirlwind of
civil war.
Abraham Lincoln who sought to avert the
crisis was
soon calling for troops to preserve the
Union and destroy
slavery by force of arms. He too had
moved far on the
tide that had borne the Nation from its
old moorings.
Not infrequently his statements, in
spirit, were in har-
mony with those from the jail at
Charlestown. In his
last inaugural address, almost from the
brink of eternity,
he uttered in those solemn, poignant
words the decree
that not only rebellion but slavery
should perish by the
sword:
"Fondly do we hope, fervently do we
pray, that this mighty
scourge of war may speedily pass away.
Yet, if God wills that
it continue until all the wealth piled
by the bondsman's two
hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be
sunk, and
until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be
paid by
another drawn with the sword, as was said three
thousand years
John Brown 289 ago, so still it must be said, 'The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether'." And not until the venerated Lincoln had joined the list of martyrs and John Wilkes Booth had paid the penalty for his dire deed could a distracted country say in the presence of the awful tragedy, "It is finished." SUPPLEMENTAL ACKNOWLEDGMENT Where specific credit has not been given in the preceding pages for statements or quotations, these will usually be found in the works noted under "Introduction." Authority for the ac- count of the attack on Senator Charles Sumner, pages 203-204, is found in the Life of Charles Sumner, by Walter G. Shotwell. The quotation from the speech of Abraham Lincoln, page 205, is taken from the Life of Abraham Lincoln, by Ida M. Tarbell. The quotations on pages 200, 201, 228, 244, 249 and 253 are from Villard's John Brown, though the last, the preamble to the Chatham Constitution, appeared in slightly different form in many previous publications, including a government report. Much additional information on the struggle in Kansas will be found in Sanborn's John Brown, Liberator of Kansas and Mar- tyr of Virginia, pages 160-417. Sanborn and Hinton are con- sidered by the descendants of John Brown as his most satisfac- tory biographers. |
|
Vol. XXX - 19. |