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diff --git a/old/62799-0.txt b/old/62799-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 08be25a..0000000 --- a/old/62799-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,11506 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of John Brown, by W. E. Burghardt Du Bois - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: John Brown - -Author: W. E. Burghardt Du Bois - -Editor: Ellis Paxson Oberholtzer - -Release Date: August 1, 2020 [EBook #62799] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOHN BROWN *** - - - - -Produced by Richard Tonsing, Mary Glenn Krause, Jim Adcock -and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images -generously made available by the Library of Congress) - - - - - - - - - - AMERICAN CRISIS BIOGRAPHIES - - Edited by - - Ellis Paxson Oberholtzer, Ph. D. - - - - - The American Crisis Biographies - - -Edited by Ellis Paxson Oberholtzer, Ph.D. With the counsel and advice of -Professor John B. McMaster, of the University of Pennsylvania. - -Each 12mo, cloth, with frontispiece portrait. Price $1.25 net; by mail, -$1.37. - - These biographies will constitute a complete and comprehensive - history of the great American sectional struggle in the form of - readable and authoritative biography. The editor has enlisted the - co-operation of many competent writers, as will be noted from the - list given below. An interesting feature of the undertaking is that - the series is to be impartial, Southern writers having been assigned - to Southern subjects and Northern writers to Northern subjects, but - all will belong to the younger generation of writers, thus assuring - freedom from any suspicion of war-time prejudice. The Civil War will - not be treated as a rebellion, but as the great event in the history - of our nation, which, after forty years, it is now clearly - recognized to have been. - - Now ready: - - =Abraham Lincoln.= By ELLIS PAXSON OBERHOLTZER. - =Thomas H. Benton.= By JOSEPH M. ROGERS. - =David G. Farragut.= By JOHN R. SPEARS. - =William T. Sherman.= By EDWARD ROBINS. - =Frederick Douglass.= By BOOKER T. WASHINGTON. - =Judah P. Benjamin.= By PIERCE BUTLER. - =Robert E. Lee.= By PHILIP ALEXANDER BRUCE. - =Jefferson Davis.= By PROF. W. E. DODD. - =Alexander H. Stephens.= By LOUIS PENDLETON. - =John C. Calhoun.= By GAILLARD HUNT. - =“Stonewall” Jackson.= By HENRY ALEXANDER WHITE. - =John Brown.= By W. E. BURGHARDT DUBOIS. - - In preparation: - - =Daniel Webster.= By PROF. C. H. VAN TYNE. - =William Lloyd Garrison.= By LINDSAY SWIFT. - =Charles Sumner.= By Prof. GEORGE H. HAYNES. - =William H. Seward.= By EDWARD EVERETT HALE, Jr. - =Stephen A. Douglas.= By PROF. HENRY PARKER WILLIS. - =Thaddeus Stevens.= By PROF. J. A. WOODBURN. - =Andrew Johnson.= By PROF. WALTER L. FLEMING. - =Henry Clay.= By THOMAS H. CLAY. - =Ulysses S. Grant.= By PROF. FRANKLIN S. EDMONDS. - =Edwin M. Stanton.= By EDWIN S. CORWIN. - =Jay Cooke.= By ELLIS PAXSON OBERHOLTZER. - -[Illustration: John Brown] - - AMERICAN CRISIS BIOGRAPHIES - - - - - JOHN BROWN - - - by - - W. E. BURGHARDT DU BOIS, Ph. D. - - _Professor of Sociology, Atlanta University_ - - Author of “The Suppression of the African Slave Trade,” “The - Philadelphia Negro,” “The Souls of Black Folk,” etc. - - -[Illustration] - - - PHILADELPHIA - GEORGE W. JACOBS & COMPANY - PUBLISHERS - - - - - COPYRIGHT, 1909, BY - GEORGE W. JACOBS & COMPANY - _Published September, 1909_ - - - _All rights reserved_ - Printed in U. S. A. - - - - - _To - the memory of - ELIZABETH_ - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - PREFACE - - -After the work of Sanborn, Hinton, Connelley, and Redpath, the only -excuse for another life of John Brown is an opportunity to lay new -emphasis upon the material which they have so carefully collected, and -to treat these facts from a different point of view. The view-point -adopted in this book is that of the little known but vastly important -inner development of the Negro American. John Brown worked not simply -for Black Men—he worked with them; and he was a companion of their daily -life, knew their faults and virtues, and felt, as few white Americans -have felt, the bitter tragedy of their lot. The story of John Brown, -then, cannot be complete unless due emphasis is given this phase of his -activity. Unfortunately, however, few written records of these -friendships and this long continued intimacy exist, so that little new -material along these lines can be adduced. For the most part one must be -content with quoting the authors mentioned (and I have quoted them -freely), and other writers like Anderson, Featherstonhaugh, Barry, -Hunter, Boteler, Douglass and Hamilton. But even in the absence of -special material the great broad truths are clear, and this book is at -once a record of and a tribute to the man who of all Americans has -perhaps come nearest to touching the real souls of black folk. - - W. E. BURGHARDT DU BOIS. - - - - - CONTENTS - - - CHRONOLOGY 11 - - I. AFRICA AND AMERICA 15 - - II. THE MAKING OF THE MAN 21 - - III. THE WANDERJAHRE 28 - - IV. THE SHEPHERD OF THE SHEEP 48 - - V. THE VISION OF THE DAMNED 75 - - VI. THE CALL OF KANSAS 123 - - VII. THE SWAMP OF THE SWAN 145 - - VIII. THE GREAT PLAN 198 - - IX. THE BLACK PHALANX 235 - - X. THE GREAT BLACK WAY 273 - - XI. THE BLOW 308 - - XII. THE RIDDLE OF THE SPHINX 338 - - XIII. THE LEGACY OF JOHN BROWN 365 - - BIBLIOGRAPHY 397 - - INDEX 401 - - - - - CHRONOLOGY - - - BOYHOOD AND YOUTH - - 1800— John Brown is born in Torrington, Conn., May 9th. Attempted - insurrection of slaves under Gabriel in Virginia, in - September. - - 1805— The family migrates to Ohio. - - 1812— John Brown meets a slave boy. - - 1816— He joins the church. - - 1819— He attends school at Plainfield, Mass. - - - THE TANNER - - 1819–1825— John Brown works as a tanner at Hudson, O. - - 1821— He marries Dianthe Lusk, June 21st. - - 1822— Attempted slave insurrection in South Carolina in June. - - 1825–1835— He works as a tanner at Randolph, Pa., and is postmaster. - - 1831— Nat Turner’s insurrection, in Virginia, August 21st. - - 1832— His first wife dies, August 10th. - - 1833— He marries Mary Ann Day, July 11th. - - 1834— He outlines his plan for Negro education, November 21st. - - 1835–1840— He lives in and near Hudson, O., and speculates in land. - - 1837— He loses heavily in the panic. - - 1839— He and his family swear blood-feud with slavery. - - 1840— He surveys Virginia lands for Oberlin College, and proposes - buying 1,000 acres. - - - THE SHEPHERD - - 1841— John Brown begins sheep-farming. - - 1842— He goes into bankruptcy. - - 1843— He loses four children in September. - - 1844— He forms the firm of “Perkins and Brown, wool-merchants.” - - 1845–51— He is in charge of the Perkins and Brown warehouse, - Springfield, O. - - 1846— Gerrit Smith offers Adirondack farms to Negroes, August 1st. - - 1847— Frederick Douglass visits Brown and hears his plan for a - slave raid. - - 1849— He goes to Europe to sell wool, and visits France and - Germany, August and September. - - 1849— First removal of his family to North Elba, N. Y. - - 1850— The new Fugitive Slave Law is passed. - - 1851–1854— Winding up of the wool business. - - 1851— He founds the League of Gileadites, January 15th. - - - IN KANSAS - - 1854— Kansas and Nebraska Bill becomes a law, May 30th. Five sons - start for Kansas in October. - - 1855— John Brown at the Syracuse convention of Abolitionists in - June. He starts for Kansas with a sixth son and his - son-in-law in September. Two sons take part in Big Springs - convention in September. John Brown arrives in Kansas, - October 6th. He helps to defend Lawrence in December. - - 1856— He attends a mass meeting at Osawatomie in April. He visits - Buford’s camp in May. The sacking of Lawrence, May 21st. - The Pottawatomie murders, May 23–26th. Arrest of two sons, - May 28th. Battle of Black Jack, June 2d. Goes to Iowa with - his wounded son-in-law and joins Lane’s army, July and - August. Joins in attacks to rid Lawrence of surrounding - forts, August. Battle of Osawatomie, August 30th. - Missouri’s last invasion of Kansas, September 15th. Geary - arrives and induces Brown to leave Kansas, September. - Brown starts for the East with his sons, September 20th. - - - THE ABOLITIONIST - - 1857— John Brown is in Boston in January. He attends the New York - meeting of the National Kansas Committee, in January. - Before the Massachusetts legislature in February. Tours - New England to raise money, March and April. Contracts for - 1,000 pikes in Connecticut. - - 1857— He starts West, May. He is at Tabor, I., August and - September. He founds a military school in Iowa, December. - - 1858— John Brown returns to the East, January. He is at Frederick - Douglass’s house, February. He reveals his plan to Sanborn - in February. He is in Canada, April. Forbes’ disclosures, - May. Chatham convention, May 8–10th. Hamilton’s massacre - in Kansas, May 19th. Plans postponed, May 20th. John Brown - starts West, June 3d. He arrives in Kansas, June 25th. - He is in South Kansas, coöperating with Montgomery, - July-December. The raid into Missouri for slaves, December - 20th. - - - THE HARPER’S FERRY RAID - - 1859— John Brown starts with fugitives for Canada, January 20th. - He arrives in Canada, March 12th. He speaks in Cleveland, - March 23d. Last visit of John Brown to the East, April and - May. He starts for Harper’s Ferry, June. He and three - companions arrive at Harper’s Ferry, July 3d. He gathers - twenty-two men and munitions, June-October. He starts on - the foray, Sunday, October 16th at 8 P. M. The town and - arsenal are captured, Monday, October 17th at 4 A. M. - Gathering of the militia, Monday, October 17th at 7 A. M. - to 12 M. Brown’s party is hemmed in, Monday, October 17th - at 12 M. He withdraws to the engine-house, Monday, October - 17th at 12 M. Kagi’s party is killed and captured, Monday, - October 17th at 3 P. M. Lee and 100 marines arrive, - Monday, October 17th at 12 P. M. Brown is captured, - Tuesday, October 18th at 8 A. M. - - 1859— Preliminary examination, October 25th. Trial at Charleston - (then Virginia, now West Virginia), October 27th-November - 4th. Forty days in prison, October 16th-December 2d. - Execution of John Brown at Charleston, December 2d. Burial - of John Brown at North Elba, N. Y., December 8th. - - - - - JOHN BROWN - - - - - CHAPTER I - AFRICA AND AMERICA - - “That it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the - prophet saying, ‘Out of Egypt have I called My son.’” - - -The mystic spell of Africa is and ever was over all America. It has -guided her hardest work, inspired her finest literature, and sung her -sweetest songs. Her greatest destiny—unsensed and despised though it -be,—is to give back to the first of continents the gifts which Africa of -old gave to America’s fathers’ fathers. - -Of all inspiration which America owes to Africa, however, the greatest -by far is the score of heroic, men whom the sorrows of these dark -children called to unselfish devotion and heroic self-realization: -Benezet, Garrison and Harriet Stowe; Sumner, Douglass and Lincoln—these -and others, but above all, John Brown. - -John Brown was a stalwart, rough-hewn man, mightily yet tenderly carven. -To his making went the stern justice of a Cromwellian “Ironside,” the -freedom-loving fire of a Welsh Celt, and the thrift of a Dutch -housewife. And these very things it was—thrift, freedom, and -justice—that early crossed the unknown seas to find asylum in America. -Yet they came late, for before they came greed, and greed brought black -slaves from Africa. - -The Negroes came on the heels, if not on the very ships of Columbus. -They followed De Soto to the Mississippi; saw Virginia with D’Ayllon, -Mexico with Cortez, Peru with Pizarro; and led the western wanderings of -Coronado in his search for the Seven Cities of Cibola. Something more -than a a decade after the Cavaliers, and a year before the Pilgrims, -they set lasting foot on the North American continent. - -These black men came not of their willing, but because of the hasty -greed of new America selfishly and half thoughtlessly sought to revive -in the New World the dying but unforgotten custom of enslaving the -world’s workers. So with the birth of wealth and liberty west of the -seas, came slavery, and slavery all the more cruel and hideous because -it gradually built itself on a caste of race and color, thus breaking -the common bonds of human fellowship and weaving artificial barriers of -birth and appearance. - -The result was evil, as all injustice must be. At first, the black men -writhed and struggled and died in their bonds, and their blood reddened -the paths across the Atlantic and around the beautiful isles of the -Western Indies. Then as the bonds gripped them closer and closer, they -succumbed to sullen indifference or happy ignorance, with only here and -there flashes of wild red vengeance. - -For, after all, these black men were but men, neither more nor less -wonderful than other men. In build and stature, they were for the most -part among the taller nations and sturdily made. In their mental -equipment and moral poise, they showed themselves full brothers to all -men—“intensely human”; and this too in their very modifications and -peculiarities—their warm brown and bronzed color and crisp curled hair -under the heat and wet of Africa; their sensuous enjoyment of the music -and color of life; their instinct for barter and trade; their strong -family life and government. Yet these characteristics were bruised and -spoiled and misinterpreted in the rude uprooting of the slave trade and -the sudden transplantation of this race to other climes, among other -peoples. Their color became a badge of servitude, their tropical habit -was deemed laziness, their worship was thought heathenish, their family -customs and the government were ruthlessly overturned and debauched; -many of their virtues became vices, and much of their vice, virtue. - -The price of repression is greater than the cost of liberty. The -degradation of men costs something both to the degraded and those who -degrade. While the Negro slaves sank to listless docility and vacant -ignorance, their masters found themselves whirled in the eddies of -mighty movements: their system of slavery was twisting them backward -toward darker ages of force and caste and cruelty, while forward swirled -swift currents of liberty and uplift. - -They still felt the impulse of the wonderful awakening of culture from -its barbaric sleep of centuries which men call the Renaissance; they -were own children of the mighty stirring of Europe’s conscience which we -call the Reformation; and they and their children were to be prime -actors in laying the foundations of human liberty in a new a century and -new land. Already the birth pains of the new freedom were felt in that -land. Old Europe was begetting in the new continent a vast longing for -spiritual space. So it was builded into America the thrift of the -searchers of wealth, the freedom of the Renaissance and the stern -morality of the Reformation. - -Three lands typified these three things which time planted in the New -World: England sent Puritanism, the last white flower of the Lutheran -revolt; Holland sent the new vigor and thrift of the Renaissance; while -Celtic lands and bits of lands like France and Ireland and Wales, sent -the passionate desire for personal freedom. These three elements came, -and came more often than not in the guise of humble men—an English -carpenter on the _Mayflower_, an Amsterdam tailor seeking a new -ancestral city, and a Welsh wanderer. From three such men sprang in the -marriage of years, John Brown. - -To the unraveling of human tangles, we would gladly believe that God -sends especial men—chosen vessels that come to the world’s deliverance. -And what could be more fitting than that the human embodiments of -freedom, Puritanism and trade—the great new currents sweeping across the -back eddies of slavery, should give birth to the man who in years to -come pointed the way to liberty and realized that the cost of liberty -was less than the price of repression? So it was. In bleak December -1620, a carpenter and a weaver landed at Plymouth—Peter and John Brown. -This carpenter Peter came from goodly stock, possibly, though not sure, -from that very John Brown of the early sixteenth century whom bluff King -Henry VIII of England burned for his Puritanism, and whose son was all -too near the same fate. Thirty years after Peter Brown had landed, came -the Welshman, John Owen, to Windsor, Conn., to help in the building of -that commonwealth, and near him settled Peter Mills, the tailor of -Holland. The great-grandson of Peter Brown, born in Connecticut in 1700, -had for a son a Revolutionary soldier, who married one of the Welshman’s -grandchildren and had in turn a son, Owen Brown, the father of John -Brown, in February of 1771. This Owen Brown a neighbor remembers “very -distinctly, and that he was very much respected and esteemed by my -father. He was an earnestly devout and religious man, of the old -Connecticut fashion; and one peculiarity of his impressed his name and -person indelibly upon my memory: he was inveterate and most painful -stammerer—the first specimen of that infirmity that I had ever seen, -and, according to my recollection, the worst that I had ever known to -this day. Consequently, though we removed from Hudson to another -settlement early in the summer of 1807, and returned to Connecticut in -1812, so that I rarely saw any of that family afterward, I have never to -this day seen a man struggling and half strangled with a word stuck to -his throat, without remembering good Mr. Owen Brown, who could not speak -without stammering, except in prayer.”[1] - -In 1800, May 9th, wrote this Owen Brown: “John was born, one hundred -years after his great-grandfather. Nothing else very uncommon.”[2] - - - - - CHAPTER II - THE MAKING OF THE MAN - - “There was a man called of God and his name was John.” - - -A tall big boy of twelve or fifteen, “barefoot and bareheaded, with -buckskin breeches, suspended often with one leather strap over his -shoulder”[3] roamed in the forests of northern Ohio. He remembered the -days of his coming to the strange wild land—the lowing oxen, the great -white wagon that wandered from Connecticut to Pennsylvania and over the -swelling hills and mountains, where the wide-eyed urchin of five sat -staring at the new world of a wild beast and the wilder brown men. Then -came life itself in its realness—the driving of cows and the killing of -rattlesnakes, and swift free rides on great mornings alone with earth -and tree and the sky. He became “a rambler in the wild new country, -finding birds and squirrels and sometimes a wild turkey’s nest.” At -first, the Indians filled him with a strange fear. But his kindly old -father thought of Indians as neither vermin nor property and this fear -“soon wore off and he used to hang about them quite as much as was -consistent with good manners.” - -The tragedy and comedy of this broad silent life turned on things -strangely simple and primitive—the stealing of “three large brass pins”; -the disappearance of the wonderful yellow marble which an Indian boy had -given him; the love and losing of a little bob-tailed squirrel for which -he wept and hunted the world in vain; finally the shadow of death which -is ever here—the death of a ewe-lamb and the death of the boy’s mother. - -All these things happened before he was eight and they were his main -education. He could dress leather and make whip-lashes; he could herd -cattle and talk Indian; but of books and formal schooling he had little. - -“John was never quarrelsome, but was excessively fond of the hardest and -roughest kind of plays, and could never get enough of them. 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 to him almost the only compensation for the -confinements and restraints of school. - -“With such a feeling and but little chance of going to school at all, he -did not become much of a scholar. He would always choose to stay at home -and work hard rather than be sent to school.” Consequently, “he learned -nothing of grammar, nor did he get at school so much knowledge of common -arithmetic as the four ground rules.” - -Almost his only reading at the age of ten was a little history to which -the open bookcase of an old friend tempted him. He knew nothing of games -or sports; he had few or no companions, but, “to be sent off through the -wilderness alone to very considerable distances was particularly his -delight.... By the time he was twelve years old he was sent off more -than a hundred miles with companies of cattle.” So his soul grew apart -and alone and yet untrammeled and unconfined, knowing all the depths of -secret self-abasement, and the heights of confident self-will. With -others he was painfully diffident and bashful, and little sins that -smaller souls would laugh at and forget loomed large and awful to his -heart-searching vision. John had “a very bad foolish habit.... I mean -telling lies, generally to screen himself from blame or from -punishment,” because “he could not well endure to be reproached and I -now think had he been oftener encouraged to be entirely frank ... he -would not have been so often guilty of this fault, nor have been (in -after life) obliged to struggle so long with so mean a habit.” - -Such a nature was in its very essence religious, even mystical, but -never superstitious nor blindly trustful in half-known creeds and -formulas. His family was not rigidly Puritan in its thought and -discipline but had rather fallen into the mild heathenism of the -hard-working frontier until just before John’s birth. Then, his father -relates in quaint Calvinistic _patois_: “I lived at home in 1782; this -was a memorable year, as there was a great revival of religion in the -town of Canton. My mother and my older sisters and brother John dated -their hopes of salvation from that summer’s revival under the ministry -of the Rev. Edward Mills. I cannot say as I was a subject of the work; -but this I can say that I then began to hear preaching. I can now -recollect most if not all of those I heard preach, and what their texts -were. The change in our family was great; family worship set up by -brother John was ever afterward continued. There was a revival of -singing in Canton and our family became singers. Conference meetings -were kept up constantly and singing meetings—all of which brought our -family into a very good association—a very great aid of restraining -grace.” - -Thus this young freeman of the woods was born into a religious -atmosphere; not that of stern, intellectual Puritanism, but of a milder -and a more sensitive type. Even this, however, the naturally skeptical -bent of his mind did not receive unquestioningly. The doctrines of his -day and church did not wholly satisfy him and he became only “to some -extent a convert to Christianity.” One answer to his questionings did -come, however, bearing its own wonderful credentials—and credentials all -the more wonderful to the man of few books and narrow knowledge of the -world of thought—the English Bible. He grew to be “a firm believer in -the divine authenticity of the Bible. With this book he became very -familiar.” He read and reread it; he committed long passages to memory; -he copied the simple vigor of its English, and wove into the very -essence of his being, its history, poetry, philosophy and truth. To him -the cruel grandeur of the Old Testament was as true as the love and -sacrifice of the New, and both mingled to mold his soul. “This will give -you some general idea of the first fifteen years of his life, during -which time he became very strong and large of his age, and ambitious to -perform the full labor of a man at almost any kind of hard work.” - -Young John Brown’s first broad contact with life and affairs came with -the War of 1812, during which Hull’s disastrous campaign brought the -scene of fighting near his western home. His father, a simple wandering -old soul, thrifty without foresight, became a beef contractor, and the -boy drove his herds of cattle and hung about the camp. He met men of -position, was praised for his prowess and let listen to talk that seemed -far beyond his years. Yet he was not deceived. The war he felt was real -war and not the war of fame and fairy tale. He saw shameful defeat, -heard treason broached, and knew of cheating and chicanery. Disease and -death left its slimy trail as it crept homeward through the town of -Hudson from Detroit: “The effect of what he saw during the war went so -far to disgust him with military affairs that he would neither train nor -drill.” - -But in all these early years of the making of this man, one incident -stands out as foretaste and prophecy—an incident of which we know only -the indefinite outline, and yet one which unconsciously foretold to the -boy the life deed of the man. It was during the war that a certain -landlord welcomed John to his home whither the boy had ridden with -cattle, a hundred miles through the wilderness. He praised the big, -grave and bashful lad to his guests and made much of him. John, however, -discovered something far more interesting than praise and good food in -the landlord’s parlor, and that was another boy in the landlord’s yard. -Fellow souls were scarce with this backwoodsman and his diffidence -warmed to the kindly welcome of the stranger, especially because he was -black, half-naked, and wretched. In John’s very ears the kind voices of -the master and his folk turned to harsh abuse with this black boy. At -night the slave lay in the bitter cold and once they beat the wretched -thing before John’s very eyes with an iron shovel, and again and again -struck him with any weapon that chanced. In wide-eyed silence John -looked on and questioned, Was the boy bad or stupid? No, he was active, -intelligent and with the great warm sympathy of his race did the -stranger “numerous little acts of kindness,” so that John readily, in -his straightforward candor, acknowledged him “fully if not more than his -equal.” That the black worked and worked hard and steadily was in John’s -eyes no hardship—rather a pleasure. Was not the world work? But that -this boy was fatherless and motherless, and that all slaves must of -necessity be fatherless and motherless with none to protect them or -provide for them, save at the will or caprice of the master—this was to -the half-grown man a thing of fearful portent and he asked, “Is God -their Father?” And what he asked, a million and a half black bondmen -were asking through the land. - - - - - CHAPTER III - THE WANDERJAHRE - - “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell - asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the - creation.” - - -In 1819 a tall, sedate, dignified young man named John Brown was entered -among the students of the Rev. Moses Hallock at Plainfield, Mass., where -men were prepared for Amherst College. He was beginning his years of -wandering—spiritual searching for the way of life, physical wandering in -the wilderness where he must earn his living. In after years he wrote to -a boy: - -“I wish you to have some definite plan. Many seem to have none; others -never stick to any that they do form. This was not the case with John. -He followed up with great tenacity whatever he set about as long as it -answered his general purpose; hence he rarely failed in some degree to -effect the things he undertook. This was so much the case that he -habitually expected to succeed in his undertakings.”[4] In this case he -expected to get an education and he came to his task equipped with that -rare mixture of homely thrift and idealism which characterized his whole -life. His father could do little to help him, for the war was followed -by the “hard times” which are the necessary fruit of fighting. As the -father wrote: “Money became scarce, property fell and that which I -thought well bought would not bring its cost. I had made three or four -large purchases, in which I was a heavy loser.” - -It was therefore as a poor boy ready to work his way that John started -out at Plainfield. The son of the principal tells how “he brought with -him a piece of sole leather about a foot square, which he had himself -tanned for seven years, to resole his boots. He had also a piece of -sheepskin which he had tanned, and of which he cut some strips about an -eighth of an inch wide, for other students to pull upon. Father took one -string, and winding it around his finger said with a triumphant turn of -the eye and mouth, ‘I shall snap it.’ The very marked, yet kind -immovableness of the young man’s face on seeing father’s defeat, -father’s own look, and the position of the people and the things in the -old kitchen somehow gave me a fixed recollection of this little -incident.”[5] - -But all his thrift and planning here were doomed to disappointment. He -was, one may well believe, no brilliant student, and his only chance of -success lay in long and steady application. This he was prepared to make -when inflammation of the eyes set in, of so grave a type that all hopes -of long study must be given up. Several times before he had attempted -regular study, but for the most part these excursions to New England -schools had been but tentative flashes on a background of hard work in -his father’s Hudson tannery: “From fifteen to twenty years of age he -spent most of his time working at the tanner’s and currier’s trade;” and -yet, naturally, ever looking here and there in the world to find his -place. And that place, he came gradually to decide in his quiet firm -way, was to be an important one. He felt he could do things; he grew -used to guiding and commanding men. He kept his own lonely home and was -both foreman and cook in the tannery. His “close attention to business -and success in its management, together with the way he got along with a -company of men and boys, made him quite a favorite with the serious and -more intelligent portion of older persons. This was so much the case and -secured for him so many little notices from those he esteemed, that his -vanity was very much fed by it, and he came forward to manhood quite -full of self-conceit and self-confidence, notwithstanding his extreme -bashfulness. The habit so early formed of being obeyed rendered him in -after life too much disposed to speak in an imperious or dictating -way.”[6] Thus he spoke of himself, but others saw only that peculiar -consciousness of strength and quiet self-confidence, which characterized -him later on. - -Just how far his failure to get a college training was a disappointment -to John Brown one is not able to say with certainty. It looks, however, -as if his attempts at higher training were rather the obedient following -of the conventional path, by a spirit which would never have found in -those fields congenial pasture. One suspects that the final decision -that college was impossible came to this strong free spirit with a -certain sense of relief—a relief marred only by the perplexity of -knowing what ought to be the path for his feet, if the traditional way -to accomplishment and distinction was closed. - -That he meant to be not simply a tanner was disclosed in all his doing -and thinking. He undertook to study by himself, mastering common -arithmetic and becoming in time an expert surveyor. He “early in life -began to discover a great liking to fine cattle, horses, sheep, and -swine.” Meantime, however, the practical economic sense of his day and -occupation pointed first of all to marriage, as his father, who had had -three wives and sixteen or more children, was at pains to impress upon -him. Nor was John Brown himself disinclined. He was as he quaintly says, -“naturally fond of females, and withal extremely diffident.” One can -easily imagine the deep disappointment of this grave young man in his -first unfortunate love affair, when he felt With many another unloved -heart, this old world through, “a steady, strong desire to die.” - -But youth is stronger even than first love, and the widow who came to -keep house for him had a grown daughter, a homely, good-hearted and -simple-minded country lass; the natural result was that John Brown was -married at the age of twenty to Dianthe Lusk, whom he describes as “a -remarkably plain, but neat, industrious and economical girl, of -excellent character, earnest piety and practical common sense.”[7] - -Then ensued a period of life which puzzles the casual onlooker with its -seemingly aimless changing character, its wandering restlessness, its -planless wavering. He was now a land surveyor, now a tanner and now a -lumber dealer; a postmaster, a wool-grower, a stock-raiser, a shepherd, -and a farmer. He lived at Hudson, at Franklin and at Richfield in Ohio; -in Pennsylvania, New York, and Massachusetts. And yet in all this -wavering and wandering, there were certain great currents of growth, -purpose and action. First of all he became the father of a family: in -the eleven years from 1821 to 1832, seven children were born—six sons -and one girl. The patriarchal ideal of family life handed down by his -fathers, strengthened by his own saturation in Hebrew poetry, and by his -own bent, grew up in his home. - -His eldest son and daughter tell many little incidents illustrating his -family government: “Our house, on a lane which connects two main roads, -was built under father’s direction in 1824, and still stands much as he -built it with the garden and orchard around it which he laid out. In the -rear of the house was then a wood, now gone, on a knoll leading down to -the brook which supplied the tan-pits.”[8] - -“Father used to hold all his children while they were little at night -and sing his favorite songs,” says the eldest daughter. “The first -recollection I have of father was being carried through a piece of woods -on Sunday to attend a meeting held at a neighbor’s house. After we had -been at the house a little while, father and mother stood up and held -us, while the minister put water on our faces. After we sat down father -wiped my face with a brown silk handkerchief with yellow spots on it in -diamond shape. It seemed beautiful to me and I thought how good he was -to wipe my face with that pretty handkerchief. He showed a great deal of -tenderness in that and other ways. He sometimes seemed very stern and -strict with me, yet his tenderness made me forget he was stern.... - -“When he would come home at night tired out with labor, he would before -going to bed, ask some of the family to read chapters (as was his usual -course night and morning); and would almost always say: ‘Read one of -David’s Psalms.’... - -“Whenever he and I were alone, he never failed to give me the best of -advice, just such as a true and anxious mother would give a daughter. He -always seemed interested in my work, and would come around and look at -it when I was sewing or knitting; and when I was learning to spin he -always praised me if he saw that I was improving. He used to say: ‘Try -to do whatever you do in the very best possible manner.’”[9] - -“Father had a rule not to threaten one of his children. He commanded and -there was obedience,” writes his eldest son. “My first apprenticeship to -the tanning business consisted of a three years’ course at grinding bark -with a blind horse. This, after months and years, became slightly -monotonous. While the other children were out at play in the sunshine, -where the birds were singing, I used to be tempted to let the old horse -have a rather long rest, especially when father was absent from home; -and I would then join the others at their play. This subjected me to -frequent admonitions and to some corrections for eye-service as father -termed it.... He finally grew tired of these frequent slight admonitions -for my laziness and other shortcomings, and concluded to adopt with me a -sort of book-account something like this: - - “John, Jr., - “For disobeying mother—8 lashes. - “For unfaithfulness at work—3 lashes. - “For telling a lie—8 lashes. - -“This account he showed to me from time to time. On a certain Sunday -morning he invited me to accompany him from the house to the tannery, -saying that he had concluded it was time for a settlement. We went into -the upper or finishing room, and after a long and tearful talk over my -faults, he again showed me my account, which exhibited a fearful footing -up of debits. I had no credits or offsets and was of course bankrupt. I -then paid about one-third of the debt, reckoned in strokes from a nicely -prepared blue-beach switch, laid on ‘masterly.’ Then to my utter -astonishment, father stripped off his shirt and seating himself on a -block gave me the whip and bade me lay it on to his bare back. I dared -not refuse to obey, but at first I did not strike hard. ‘Harder,’ he -said, ‘harder, harder!’ until he received the balance of the account. -Small drops of blood showed on his back where the tip end of the -tingling beach cut through. Thus ended the account and settlement, which -was also my first practical illustration of the doctrine of the -atonement.”[10] - -Even the girls did not escape whipping. “He used to whip me often for -telling lies,” says a daughter, “but I can’t remember his ever punishing -me but once when I thought I didn’t deserve, and then he looked at me so -stern that I didn’t dare to tell the truth. He had such a way of saying, -‘Tut, tut!’ if he saw the first sign of a lie in us, that he often -frightened us children. - -“When I first began to go to school,” she continues, “I found a piece of -calico one day behind one of the benches—it was not large, but seemed -quite a treasure to me, and I did not show it to any one until I got -home. Father heard me then telling about it and said, ‘Don’t you know -what girl lost it?’ I told him I did not. ‘Well, when you go to school -to-morrow take it with you and find out if you can who lost it. It is a -trifling thing but always remember that if you should lose anything you -valued, no matter how small, you would want the person who found it to -give it back to you.’” He “showed a great deal of tenderness to me,” -continues the daughter, “and one thing I always noticed was my father’s -peculiar tenderness and devotion to his father. In cold weather he -always tucked the bedclothes around grandfather when he went to bed, and -would get up in the night to ask him if he slept warm—always seeming so -kind and loving to him that his example was beautiful to see.” - -Especially were his sympathy and devotion evident in sickness: “When his -children were ill with scarlet fever, he took care of us himself and if -he saw persons coming to the house, would go to the gate and meet them, -not wishing them to come in, for fear of spreading the disease.[11]... -When any of the family were sick he did not often trust watchers to care -for the sick one, but sat up himself and was like a tender mother. At -one time he sat up every night for two weeks while mother was sick, for -fear he would oversleep if he went to bed, and then the fire would go -out and she take cold.”[12] - -The death of one little girl shows how deeply he could be moved: “He -spared no pains in doing all that medical skill could do for her -together with the tenderest care and nursing. The time that he could be -at home was mostly spent in caring for her. He sat up nights to keep an -even temperature in the room, and to relieve mother from the constant -care which she had through the day. He used to walk with the child and -sing to her so much that she soon learned his step. When she heard him -coming up the steps to the door, she would reach out her hands and cry -for him to take her. When his business at the wool store crowded him so -much that he did not have time to take her, he would steal around -through the wood-shed into the kitchen to eat his dinner, and not go -into the dining-room where she could see or hear him. I used to be -charmed myself with his singing to her. He noticed a change in her one -morning and told us he thought she would not live through the day, and -came home several times to see her. A little before noon he came home -and looked at her and said, ‘She is almost gone.’ She heard him speak, -opened her eyes and put up her little wasted hands with such a pleading -look for him to take her that he lifted her up from the cradle with the -pillows she was lying on, and carried her until she died. He was very -calm, closed her eyes, folded her hands and laid her in her cradle. When -she was buried father broke down completely and sobbed like a -child.”[13] - -Dianthe Lusk, John Brown’s first wife, died in childbirth, August 10, -1832, having borne him seven children, two of whom died very young. On -July 11, 1833, now thirty-three years of age, he married Mary Ann Day, a -girl of seventeen, only five years older than his oldest child. She bore -him thirteen children, seven of whom died young. Thus seven sons and -four daughters grew to maturity and his wife, Mary, survived him -twenty-five years. It was, all told, a marvelous family—large and -well-disciplined, yet simple almost to poverty, and hard-working. No -sooner were the children grown than the wise father ceased to command -and simply asked or advised. He wrote to his eldest son when first he -started in life in characteristic style: - -“I think the situation in which you have been placed by Providence at -this early period of your life will afford to yourself and others some -little test of the sway you may be expected to exert over minds in after -life and I am glad on the whole to have you brought in some measure to -the test in your youth. If you cannot now go into a disorderly country -school and gain its confidence and esteem, and reduce it to good order -and waken up the energies and the very soul of every rational being in -it—yes, of every mean, ill-behaved, ill-governed boy and girl that -compose it, and secure the good-will of the parents,—then how are you to -stimulate asses to attempt a passage of the Alps? If you run with -footmen and they should weary you, how should you contend with horses? -If in the land of peace they have wearied you, then how will you do in -the swelling of Jordan? Shall I answer the question myself? ‘If any man -lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth liberally and upbraideth -not.’”[14] - -Not that Brown was altogether satisfied with his method of dealing with -his children; he said to his wife: “If the large boys do wrong, call -them alone into your room and expostulate with them kindly, and see if -you cannot reach them by a kind but powerful appeal to their honor. I do -not claim that such a theory accords very well with my practice; I -frankly confess it does not; but I want your face to shine even if my -own should be dark and cloudy.”[15] - -The impression which he made on his own family was marvelous. A -granddaughter writes me of him, saying: “The attitude of John Brown’s -family and descendants has always been one of exceeding reverence toward -him. This speaks for something. Stern, unyielding, Puritanic, requiring -his wife and daughters to dress in sober brown, disliking show and -requesting that mourning colors be not worn for him—a custom which still -obtains with us—laying the rod heavily upon his boys for their boyish -pranks, he still was wonderfully tender—would invariably walk up hill -rather than burden his horse, loved his family devotedly, and when -sickness occurred, always installed himself as nurse.” - -In his personal habits he was austere: severely clean, sparing in his -food so far as to count butter an unnecessary luxury; once a moderate -user of cider and wine—then a strong teetotaler; a lover of horses with -harassing scruples as to breeding race-horses. All this gave an air of -sedateness and maturity to John Brown’s earlier manhood which belied his -years. Having married at twenty, he was but twenty-one years older than -his eldest son; and while his many children and his varied occupations -made him seem prematurely aged, he was, in fact, during this period, -during the years from twenty to forty, experiencing the great formative -development of his spiritual life. This development was most interesting -and fruitful. - -He was not a man of books: he had Rollins’ _Ancient History_, Josephus -and Plutarch and lives of Napoleon and Cromwell. With these went -Baxter’s _Saints’ Rest_, Henry _On Meekness_ and _Pilgrim’s Progress_. -“But above all others the Bible was his favorite volume and he had such -perfect knowledge of it that when any person was reading he would -correct the least mistake.”[16] - -Into John Brown’s religious life entered two strong elements; the sense -of overruling inexorable fate, and the mystery and promise of death. He -pored over the Old Testament until the freer religious skepticism of his -earlier youth became more formal and straight. The brother of his first -wife says, “Brown was an austere fellow,” and when the young man called -on the sister and mother Sundays, as his only holiday, Brown said to -him: “Milton, I wish you would not make your visits here on the -Sabbath.” - -When the panic of 1837 nearly swept Brown from his feet, he saw behind -it the image of the old Hebrew God and wrote his wife: “We all must try -to trust in Him who is very gracious and full of compassion and of -almighty power; for those that do will not be made ashamed. Ezra the -prophet prayed and afflicted himself before God, when himself and the -Captivity were in a strait and I have no doubt you will join with me -under similar circumstances. Don’t get discouraged, any of you, but hope -in God, and try all to serve Him with a perfect heart.”[17] - -When Napoleon III seized France and Kossuth came to America, Brown -looked with lofty contempt on the “great excitement” which “seems to -have taken all by surprise.” “I have only to say in regard to those -things, I rejoice in them from the full belief that God is carrying out -His eternal purpose in them all.”[18] - -The gloom and horror of life settled early on John Brown. His childhood -had had little formal pleasure, his young manhood had been serious and -filled with responsibility, and almost before he himself knew the full -meaning of life, he was trying to teach it to his children. The iron of -bitterness entered his soul with the coming of death, and a deep -religious fear and foreboding bore him down as it took away member after -member of his family. In 1831 he lost a boy of four and in 1832 his -first wife died insane, and her infant son was buried with her. In 1843 -four children varying in ages from one to nine years were swept away. -Two baby girls went in 1846 and 1859 and an infant boy in 1852. The -struggle of a strong man to hold his faith is found in his words, “God -has seen fit to visit us with the pestilence and four of our number -sleep in the dust; four of us that are still living have been more or -less unwell.... This has been to us all a bitter cup indeed and we have -drunk deeply; but still the Lord reigneth and blessed be His holy name -forever.” Again three years later he writes his wife from the edge of a -new-made grave: “I feel assured that notwithstanding that God has -chastised us often and sore, yet He has not entirely withdrawn Himself -from us nor forsaken us utterly. The sudden and dreadful manner in which -He has seen fit to call our dear little Kitty to take her leave of us, -is, I need not tell you how much, in my mind. But before Him I will bow -my head in submission and hold my peace.... I have sailed over a -somewhat stormy sea for nearly half a century, and have experienced -enough to teach me thoroughly that I may most reasonably buckle up and -be prepared for the tempest. Mary, let us try to maintain a cheerful -self-command while we are tossing up and down, and let our motto still -be action, action,—as we have but one life to live.”[19] - -His soul gropes for light in the great darkness: “Sometimes my -imagination follows those of my family who have passed behind the -scenes; and I would almost rejoice to be permitted to make them a -personal visit. I have outlived nearly half of all my numerous family, -and I ought to realize that in any event a large proportion of my life -is traveled over.”[20] - -Then there rose grimly, as life went on in its humdrum round of failure -and trouble, the thought that in some way his own sin and shortcomings -were bringing upon him the vengeful punishment of God. He laments the -fact that he has done little to help others and the world: “I feel -considerable regret by turns that I have lived so many years and have in -reality done so little to increase the amount of human happiness. I -often regret that my manner is not more kind and affectionate to those I -really love and esteem. But I trust my friends will overlook my harsh -rough ways, when I cease to be in their way as an occasion of pain and -unhappiness.”[21] - -The death of a friend fills him with self-reproach: “You say he expected -to die, but do not say how he felt in regard to the change as it drew -near. I have to confess my unfaithfulness to my friend in regard to his -most important interest.... When I think how very little influence I -have even tried to use with my numerous acquaintances and friends in -turning their minds toward God and heaven, I feel justly condemned as a -most wicked and slothful servant; and the more so as I have very seldom -had any one refuse to listen when I earnestly called him to hear. I -sometimes have dreadful reflections about having fled to go down to -Tarshish.”[22] - -Especially did the religious skepticism of his children, so like his own -earlier wanderings, worry and dismay the growing man until it loomed -before his vision as his great sin, calling for mighty atonement. He -pleads with his older children continually: - -“My attachments to this world have been very strong and divine -Providence has been cutting me loose, one cord after another. Up to the -present time notwithstanding I have so much to remind me that all ties -must soon be severed, I am still clinging like those who have hardly -taken a single lesson. I really hope some of my family may understand -that this world is not the home of man, and act in accordance. Why may I -not hope this for you? When I look forward as regards the religious -prospects of my numerous family—the most of them,—I am forced to say, -and feel too, that I have little—very little to cheer. That this should -be so is, I perfectly well understand, the legitimate fruit of my own -planting; and that only increases my punishment. Some ten or twelve -years ago I was cheered with the belief that my elder children had -chosen the Lord to be their God and I relied much on their influence and -example in atoning for my deficiency and bad example with the younger -children. But where are we now? Several have gone where neither a good -nor a bad example from me will better their condition or prospects or -make them worse. I will not dwell longer on this distressing subject but -only say that so far as I have gone it is from no disposition to reflect -on any one but myself. I think I can clearly discover where I wandered -from the road. How now to get on it with my family is beyond my ability -to _see_ or my courage to _hope_. God grant you thorough conversion from -sin, and full purpose of heart to continue steadfast in His way through -the very short season you will have to pass.”[23] - -And again he writes: “One word in regard to the religious belief of -yourself and the ideas of several of my children. My affections are too -deep-rooted to be alienated from them; but ‘my gray hairs must go down -in sorrow to the grave’ unless the true God forgive their denial and -rejection of Him and open their eyes.” - -And again: “I would fain hope that the spirit of God has not done -striving in our hard hearts. I sometimes feel encouraged to hope that my -sons will give up their miserable delusions and believe in God and in -His Son, our Saviour.”[24] - -All this is evidence of a striving soul, of a man to whom the world was -a terribly earnest thing. Here was neither the smug content of the man -beyond religious doubt, nor the carelessness of the unharassed -conscience. To him the world was a mighty drama. God was an actor in the -play and so was John Brown. But just what his part was to be his soul in -the long agony of years tried to know, and ever and again the chilling -doubt assailed him lest he be unworthy of his place or had missed the -call. Often the brooding masculine mind which demanded “Action! Action!” -sought to pierce the mystic veil. His brother-in-law became a -spiritualist, and he himself hearkened for voices from the Other Land. -Once or twice he thought he heard them. Did not the spirit of Dianthe -Lusk guide him again and again in his perplexity? He once said it did. - -And so this saturation in Hebrew prophecy, the chastisement of death, -the sense of personal sin and shortcoming and the voices from nowhere, -deepened, darkened and broadened his religious life. Yet with all this -there went a peculiar common sense, a spirit of thrift and stickling for -detail, a homely shrewd attention to all the little facts of daily -existence. Sometimes this prosaic tinkering with things burdened, buried -and submerged the spiritual life and striving. There was nothing left -except the commonplace, unstable tanner, but ever as one is tempted thus -to fix his place in the world, there wells up surging spiritual life out -of great unfathomed depths—the intellectual longing to see, the moral -wistfulness of the hesitating groping doer. This was the deeper, truer -man, although it was not the whole man. “Certainly I never felt myself -in the presence of a stronger religious influence than while in this -man’s house,” said Frederick Douglass in 1847. - - - - - CHAPTER IV - THE SHEPHERD OF THE SHEEP - - “And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, - keeping watch over their flock by night. - - “And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the - Lord shone round about them; and they were sore afraid.” - - -The vastest physical fact in the life of John Brown was the Alleghany -Mountains—that beautiful mass of hill and crag which guards the sombre -majesty of the Maine coast, crumples the rivers on the rocky soil of New -England, and rolls and leaps down through busy Pennsylvania to the misty -peaks of Carolina and the red foothills of Georgia. In the Alleghanies -John Brown was all but born; their forests were his boyhood wonderland; -in their villages he married his wives and begot his clan. On the sides -of the Alleghanies, he tended his sheep and dreamed of his terrible -dream. It was the mystic, awful voice of the mountains that lured him to -liberty, death and martyrdom within their wildest fastness, and in their -bosom he sleeps his last sleep. - -So, too, in the development of the United States from the War of 1812 to -the Civil War, it was the Alleghanies that formed the industrial centre -of the land and lured young men to their waters and mines, valleys and -factories, as they lured John Brown. His life from 1805 to 1854 was -almost wholly spent on the western slope of the Alleghanies in a small -area of Ohio and Pennsylvania, beginning eighty miles north of Pittsburg -and ending twenty-five miles southeast of Cleveland. Here in a -half-dozen small towns, but chiefly in Hudson, O., he worked in his -young manhood to support his growing family. From 1819 to 1825, he was a -tanner at Hudson. Then he moved seventy miles westward toward the crests -of the Alleghanies in Pennsylvania, where he set up his tannery again -and became a man of importance in the town. John Quincy Adams made him -postmaster, the village school was held at his log house and the new -feverish prosperity of the post-bellum period began to stir him as it -stirred this whole western world. Indeed, the economic history of the -land from the War of 1812 to the Civil War covers a period of -extraordinary developments—so much so that no man’s life which fell in -these years may be written without knowledge of and allowance for the -battling of gigantic social forces and welding of material, out of which -the present United States was designed. - -Three phases roughly mark these days: First, the slough of despond -following the war, when England forced her goods upon us at nominal -prices to kill the new-sprung infant industries; secondly, the new -protection from the competition of foreign goods from 1816 to 1857, -rising high in the prohibitory schedules of 1828, and falling to the -lower duties of the forties and the free trade of the fifties, and -stimulating irregularly and spasmodically but tremendously the cotton, -woolen and iron manufactories; and finally, the three whirlwinds of -1819, 1837–1839, and 1857, marking frightful maladjustments in the -mushroom growth of our industrial life. - -John Brown, coming to full industrial manhood in the buoyant prosperity -of 1825, soon began to sense the new spirit. After ten years’ work in -Pennsylvania, he again removed westward, nearer the projected -transportation lines between East and West. He began to invest his -surplus in land along the new canal routes, became a director in one of -the rapidly multiplying banks and was currently rated to be worth -$20,000 in 1835. But his prosperity, like that of his neighbors, and -indeed, of the whole country, was partly fictitious, and built on a fast -expanding credit which was far outstretching the rapid industrial -development. Jackson’s blind tinkering with banking precipitated the -crisis. The storm broke in 1837. Over six hundred banks failed, ten -thousand employees were thrown out of work, money disappeared and prices -went down to a specie level. John Brown, his tannery and his land -speculations, were sucked into the maelstrom. - -The overthrow was no ordinary blow to a man of thirty-seven with eight -children, who had already trod the ways of spiritual doubt and unrest. -For three or four years he seemed to flounder almost hopelessly, -certainly with no settled plan or outlook. He bred race-horses till his -conscience troubled him; he farmed and did some surveying; he inquired -into the commission business in various lines, and still did some -tanning. Then gradually he began to find himself. He was a lover of -animals. In 1839 he took a drove of cattle to Connecticut and wrote to -his wife: “I have felt distressed to get my business done and return -ever since I left home, but know of no way consistent with duty but to -make thorough work of it while there is any hope. Things now look more -favorable than they have but I may still be disappointed.”[25] His diary -shows that he priced certain farms for sale, but especially did he -inquire carefully into sheep-raising and its details, and eventually -bought a flock of sheep, which he drove home to Ohio. This marked the -beginning of a new occupation, that of shepherd, “being a calling for -which in early life he had a kind of enthusiastic longing.” He began -sheep-farming near Hudson, keeping his own and a rich merchant’s sheep -and also buying wool on commission. - -This industry in the United States had at that time passed through many -vicissitudes. The change from household to factory economy and the -introduction of effective machinery had been slow, and one of the chief -drawbacks was ever the small quantity of good wool. Consequently our -chief supply came from England until the embargo and war cut off that -supply and stimulated domestic manufacture. Between 1810 and 1815 the -value of the manufacture increased five-fold, but after the war, when -England sent goods over here below the price, Americans rightly clamored -for tariff protection. This they got, but their advantage was nearly -upset by the wool farmers who also got protection on the commodity, -although less on low than on better qualities; and it was the low grades -that America produced. From 1816 to 1832 the tariff wall against wool -and woolens rose steadily until it reached almost prohibitive figures, -save on the cheapest kind. In this way the wool manufacture had by 1828 -recovered its war-time prosperity; by 1840 the mills were sending out -twenty and a half million dollars’ worth of goods yearly, and nearly -fifty millions by 1860 even though meanwhile the tariff wall was -weakening. Thus by 1841 when John Brown turned his attention to -sheep-farming, there was a large and growing demand for wool, especially -of the better grades, and by the abolition of the English tariff in -1824, there was even a chance of invading England. - -Because, then, of his natural liking for the work, and the growing -prosperity of the wool trade, John Brown chose this line of employment. -But not for this alone. His spirit was longing for air and space. He -wanted to think and read; time was flying and his life as yet had been -little but a mean struggle for bread and that, too, only partially -successful. Already he had had a vision of vast service. Already he had -broached the matter to friends and family, and at the age of thirty-nine -he entered his new life distinctly and clearly with “the idea that as a -business it bid fair to afford him the means of carrying out his -greatest or principal object.”[26] - -His first idea was to save enough from the wreck of his fortune to buy -and stock a large sheep farm, and in accordance with his already forming -plans as to Negro emancipation, he wanted this farm in or near the -South. A chance seemed opening when through his father, a trustee of -Oberlin College, he learned of the Virginia lands lately given that -institution by Gerrit Smith, whom Brown came to know better. Oberlin -College was dear to John Brown’s heart, for it had almost from the -beginning taken a strong anti-slavery stand. The titles to the Virginia -land, however, were clouded by the fact of many squatters being in -possession, which gave ample prospects of costly lawsuits. Brown wrote -the trustees early in 1840, proposing to survey the lands for a nominal -price, provided he could be allowed to buy on reasonable terms and -establish his family there. He also spoke of school facilities which he -proposed for Negroes as well as whites, according to a long cherished -plan. The college records in April, 1840, say: “Communication from -Brother John Brown of Hudson was presented and read by the secretary, -containing a proposition to visit, survey and make the necessary -investigation respecting boundaries, etc., of those lands, for one -dollar per day and a moderate allowance for necessary expenses; said -paper frankly expressing also his design of viewing the lands as a -preliminary step to locating his family upon them, should the opening -prove a favorable one; whereupon, _voted_ that said proposition be -acceded to, and that a commission and needful outfit be furnished by the -secretary and treasurer.”[27] The treasurer sent John Brown fifty -dollars and wrote his father, as a trustee of Oberlin, commending the -son’s purpose and hoping “for a favorable issue both for him and the -institution.” He added, “Should he succeed in clearing up titles without -difficulty or lawsuits, it would be easy, as it appears to me, to make -provision for religious and school privileges and by proper efforts with -the blessing of God, soon see that wilderness bud and blossom as the -rose.”[28] - -Thus John Brown first saw Virginia and looked upon the rich and heavy -land which rolls westward to the misty Blue Ridge. That he visited -Harper’s Ferry on this trip is doubtful but possible. The lands of -Oberlin, however, lay two hundred miles westward in the foothills and -along the valley of the Ohio. He wrote home from Ripley, Va., in April -(for he had gone immediately): “I like the country as well as I -expected, and its inhabitants rather better; and I have seen the spot -where if it be the will of Providence, I hope one day to live with my -family.... Were the inhabitants as resolute and industrious as the -Northern people and did they understand how to manage as well, they -would become rich.”[29] - -By the summer of 1840 his work was accomplished with apparent success. -He had about selected his dwelling-place, having “found on the right -branch of Big Battle a valuable spring, good stone-coal, and excellent -bottoms, good timber, sugar orchard, good hill land and beautiful -situation for dwelling—all right. Course of this branch at the forks is -south twenty-one degrees west from a beautiful white oak on which I -marked my initials, 23d April.”[30] - -The Oberlin trustees in August, “voted, that the Prudential Committee be -authorized to perfect negotiations and convey by deed to Brother John -Brown of Hudson, one thousand acres of our Virginia land on the -conditions suggested in the correspondence which has already transpired -between him and the committee.”[31] - -Here, however, negotiations stopped, for the renewal of the panic in -1839 overthrew all business calculations until 1842 and later, and -forced John Brown to take refuge in formal bankruptcy in 1842. This -step, his son says, was wholly “owing to his purchase of land on -credit—including the Haymaker farm at Franklin, which he bought in -connection with Seth Thompson, of Hartford, Trumbull County, Ohio, and -his individual purchase of three rather large adjoining farms in Hudson. -When he bought those farms, the rise in value of his place in Franklin -was such that good judges estimated his property worth fully twenty -thousand dollars. He was then thought to be a man of excellent business -judgment and was chosen one of the directors of a bank at Cayahoga -Falls.”[32] Probably after the crash of 1837, Brown hoped to extricate -enough to buy land in Virginia and move there, but things went from bad -to worse. Through endorsing a note for a friend, one of his best pieces -of farm property was attached, put up at auction and bought by a -neighbor. Brown, on legal advice, sought to retain possession, but was -arrested and placed in the Akron jail. The property was lost. Legal -bankruptcy followed in October, 1842, but Brown would not take the full -advantage of it. He gave the New England Woolen Company of Rockville, -Conn., a note declaring that “whereas I, John Brown, on or about the -15th day of June, A. D. 1839, received of the New England Company -(through their agent, George Kellogg, Esq.) the sum of twenty-eight -hundred dollars for the purchase of wool for said company, and -imprudently pledged the same for my own benefit and could not redeem it; -and whereas I have been legally discharged from my obligations by the -laws of the United States—I hereby agree (in consideration of the great -kindness and tenderness of said company toward me in my calamity, and -more particularly of the moral obligation I am under to render to all -their due) to pay the same and the interest thereon from time to time as -divine Providence shall enable me to do.”[33] - -He wrote Mr. Kellogg at the same time: “I am sorry to say that in -consequence of the unforeseen expense of getting the discharge, the loss -of an ox, and the destitute condition in which a new surrender of my -effects has placed me, with my numerous family, I fear this year must -pass without my effecting in the way of payment what I have encouraged -you to expect.”[34] He was still paying this debt when he died and left -fifty dollars toward it in his will. - -It was a labyrinth of disaster in which the soul of John Brown was -well-nigh choked and lost. We hear him now and then gasping for breath: -“I have been careful and troubled with so much serving that I have in a -great measure neglected the one thing needful, and pretty much stopped -all correspondence with heaven.”[35] He goes on to tell his son: “My -worldly business has borne heavily and still does; but we progress some, -have our sheep sheared, and have done something at our haying. Have our -tanning business going on in about the same proportion—that is, we are -pretty fairly behind in business and feel that I must nearly or quite -give up one or the other of the branches for want of regular troops on -whom to depend.”[36] He again tells his son: “I would send you some -money, but I have not yet received a dollar from any source since you -left. I should not be so dry of funds, could I but overtake my -work;”[37] and then follows the teeth-gritting word of a man whose grip -is slipping: “But all is well; all is well.”[38] - -Gradually matters began to mend. His tannery, perhaps never wholly -abandoned, was started again and his wool interests increased. Early in -1844 “we seem to be overtaking our business in the tannery,” he says, -and “I have lately entered into a co-partnership with Simon Perkins, -Jr., of Akron, with a view of carrying on the sheep business -extensively. He is to furnish all the feed and shelter for wintering, as -a set-off against our taking all the care of the flock. All other -expenses we are to share equally, and to divide the property equally.” -John Brown and his family were to move to Akron and he says: “I think -that is the most comfortable and the most favorable arrangement of my -worldly concerns that I ever had and calculated to afford us more -leisure for improvement by day and by night than any other. I do hope -that God has enabled us to make it in mercy to us, and not that He -should send leanness into our souls. Our time will all be at our own -command, except the care of the flock. We have nothing to do with -providing for them in the winter, excepting harvesting rutabagas and -potatoes. This I think will be considered no mean alliance for our -family and I most earnestly hope they will have wisdom given to make the -most of it. It is certainly endorsing the poor bankrupt and his family, -three of whom were but recently in Akron jail in a manner quite -unexpected, and proves that notwithstanding we have been a company of -‘belted knights,’ our industrious and steady endeavors to maintain our -integrity and our character have not been wholly overlooked.”[39] - -Indeed, the offer seemed to John Brown a flood of light: a beloved -occupation with space and time to think, to study and to dream, to get -acquainted with himself and the world after the long struggle for bread -and butter and the deep disappointment of failure almost in sight of -success. By July, 1844, Brown was reporting 560 lambs raised and 2,700 -pounds of wool, for which he had been offered fifty-six cents a pound, -showing it to be of high grade. He began closing up his tanning -business. “The general aspect of our worldly affairs is favorable. Hope -we do not entirely forget God,”[40] he writes. - -His daughter says: “As a shepherd, he showed the same watchful care over -his sheep. I remember one spring a great many of his sheep had a disease -called ‘grub in the head,’ and when the lambs came, the ewes would not -own them. For two weeks he did not go to bed, but sat up or slept an -hour or two at a time in his chair, and then would take a lantern, go -out and catch the ewes, and hold them while the lambs sucked. He would -very often bring in a little dead-looking lamb, and put it in warm water -and rub it until it showed signs of life, and then wrap it in a warm -blanket, feed it warm milk with a teaspoon, and work over it with such -tenderness that in a few hours it would be capering around the room. One -Monday morning I had just got my white clothes in a nice warm suds in -the wash-tub, when he came in bringing a little dead-looking lamb. There -seemed to be no sign of life about it. Said he, ‘Take out your clothes -quick, and let me put this lamb in the water.’ I felt a little vexed to -be hindered with my washing, and told him I didn’t believe he could make -it live; but in an hour or two he had it running around the room, and -calling loudly for its mother. The next year he came from the barn and -said to me, ‘Ruth, that lamb I hindered you with when you were washing, -I have just sold for one hundred dollars.’ It was a pure-blooded Saxony -lamb.”[41] - -By 1845 wealth again seemed all but within the grasp of John Brown. The -country was entering fully upon one of the most remarkable of many -note-worthy periods of industrial expansion and the situation in the -wool business was particularly favorable. The flock of Saxony sheep -owned by Perkins and Brown was “said to be the finest and most perfect -flock in the United States and worth about $20,000.” The only apparent -danger to the prosperity of the western wool-growers was the increasing -power of the manufacturers and their desire for cheap wool. The tariff -on woolen goods was lower than formerly, but until war-time, remained at -about twenty to thirty per cent. _ad valorem_, which afforded sufficient -protection. The tariff on cheap wool decreased until, in 1857, all wool -costing less than twenty cents a pound came in free and in 1854 Canadian -wool of all grades was admitted without duty. This meant practically -free trade in wool. The manufacturers of hosiery and carpets increased -and the demand for domestic wool was continually growing. There were, -however, many difficulties in realizing just prices for domestic wool: -it was bought up by the manufacturer’s agents, dealing with isolated, -untrained farmers and offering the lowest prices; it was bought in bulk -ungraded and as wool differs enormously in quality and price, the lowest -grade often set the price for all. No sooner did John Brown grasp the -details of the wool business than he began to work out plans of -amelioration. And he conceived of this amelioration not as measured -simply in personal wealth. To him business was a philanthropy. We have -not even to-day reached this idea, but, urged on by the Socialists, we -are faintly perceiving it. Brown proposed nothing Quixotic or -unpractical, but he did propose a more equitable distribution of the -returns of the whole wool business between the producers of the raw -material and the manufacturers. He proceeded first to arouse and -organize the wool-growers. He traveled extensively among the farmers of -Pennsylvania and Ohio. “I am out among the wool-growers, with a view to -next summer’s operations,” he writes March 24, 1846; “our plan seems to -meet with general favor.” And then thinking of greater plans he adds: -“Our unexampled success in minor affairs might be a lesson to us of what -unity and perseverance might do in things of some importance.”[42] For -what indeed were sheep as compared with men, and money weighed with -liberty? - -The plan outlined by Brown before a convention of wool-growers involved -the placing of a permanent selling agent in the East, the grading and -warehousing of the wool, and a pooling of profits according to the -quality of the fleece. The final result was that in 1846 Perkins and -Brown sent out a circular, saying: “The undersigned, commission -wool-merchants, wool-graders, and exporters, have completed arrangements -for receiving wool of growers and holders, and for grading and selling -the same for cash at its real value, when quality and condition are -considered.”[43] - -John Brown was put in special charge of this business while his son ran -the sheep farm in Ohio. The idea underlying this movement was excellent -and it was soon started successfully. John Brown went to live in -Springfield with his family. In December, 1846, he writes: “We are -getting along with our business slowly, but prudently, I trust, and as -well as we could reasonably expect under all the circumstances; and so -far as we can discover, we are in favor with this people, and also with -the many we have had to do business with.”[44] - -In two weeks during 1847 he has “turned about four thousand dollars’ -worth of wool into cash since I returned; shall probably make it up to -seven thousand by the 16th.”[45] - -Yet great as was this initial prosperity, the business eventually failed -and was practically given up in 1851. Why? It was because of one of -those strange economic paradoxes which bring great moral questions into -the economic realm;—questions which we evaded yesterday and are trying -to evade to-day, but which we must answer to-morrow. Here was a man -doing what every one knew was for the best interests of a great -industry,—grading and improving the quality of its raw material and -systematizing its sale. His methods were absolutely honest, his -technical knowledge was unsurpassed and his organization efficient. Yet -a combination of manufacturers forced him out of business in a few -months. Why? The ordinary answer of current business ethics would be -that John Brown was unable to “corner” the wool market against the -manufacturers. But this he never tried to do. Such a policy of financial -free-booting never occurred to him, and he would have repelled it -indignantly if it had. He wished to force neither buyer nor seller. He -was offering worthy goods at a fair price and making a just return for -them. That this system was best for the whole trade every one knew, yet -it was weak. It was weak in the same sense that the merchants of the -Middle Ages were weak against the lawless onslaughts of robber barons. -Any compact organization of manufacturers could force John Brown to take -lower prices for his wool—that is, to allow the farmer a smaller -proportion of the profit of the business of clothing human beings. In -other words, well-organized industrial highwaymen could hold up the wool -farmer and make him hand over some of his earnings. But John Brown knew, -as did, indeed, the manufacturing gentlemen of the road that the farmers -were getting only moderate returns. It was the millmen who made -fortunes. Now it was possible to oppose the highwaymen’s demand by -counter organization like the Middle-Age Hanse. The difficulty here -would be to bring all the threatened parties into an organization. They -could be forced in by killing off or starving out the ignorant or -recalcitrant. This is the modern business method. Its result is arraying -two industrial armies in a battle whose victims are paupers and -prostitutes, and whose victory comes by compromising, whereby a -half-dozen millionaires are born to the philanthropic world. - -On the other hand, to offer no opposition to organized economic -aggression is to depend on the simple justice of your cause in an -industrial world that recognizes no justice. It means industrial death -and that was what it meant to John Brown. The Tariff of 1846 had cut the -manufacturers’ profits. The growing woolen trade would more than recoup -them in a few years, but they “were not in business for their health”; -that is, they recognized no higher moral law than money-making and -therefore determined to keep present profits where they were, and add -possible future profits to them. They continued their past efforts to -force down the price of wool and got practical free trade in wool by -1854. Meantime local New England manufacturers began to boycott John -Brown. They expected him to see his danger and lower his prices on the -really fine grades he carried. He was obdurate. His prices were right -and he thought justice counted in the wool business. The manufacturers -objected. He was not playing according to the rules of the game. He was, -as a fellow merchant complained, “no _trader_: he waited until his wools -were graded and then fixed a price; if this suited the manufacturers -they took the fleeces; if not, they bought elsewhere.... Yet he was a -scrupulously honest and upright man—hard and inflexible, but everybody -had just what belonged to him. Brown was in a position to make a fortune -and a regular bred merchant would have done so.”[46] - -Thereupon the combination turned the screws a little closer. Brown’s -clerks were bribed, and other “competitive” methods resorted to. But -Brown was inflexible and serene. The prospect of great wealth did not -tempt but rather repelled him. Indeed this whole warehouse business, -successful and important as it had hitherto been, was drawing him away -from his plans of larger usefulness. It took his time and thought, and -his surroundings more and more made it mere money-getting. The -manufacturers were after dollars, of course; his clients were waiting -simply for returns, and his partner was ever anxiously scanning the -balance-sheet. This whole aspect of things more and more disquieted -Brown. He therefore writes soberly in December, 1847: - -“Our business seems to be going on middling well and will not probably -be any the worse for the pinch in the money concerns. I trust that -getting or losing money does not entirely engross our attention; but I -am sensible that it quite occupies too large a share in it. To get a -little property together to leave, as the world would have done, is -really a low mark to be firing at through life. - - “‘A nobler toil may I sustain, - A nobler satisfaction gain.’”[47] - -The next year, however, came a severe money pressure, “one of the -severest known for many years. The consequence to us has been, that some -of those who have contracted for wool of us are as yet unable to pay for -and take the wool as they agreed, and we are on that account unable to -close our business.”[48] This brought a fall in the price and complaint -on all sides: on the part of the wool-growers, because their profits -were not continuing to rise; and from manufacturers who demurred more -and more clamorously at the prices demanded by Brown. - -He writes early in 1849: “We have been selling wool middling fast of -late, on contract, at 1847 prices;” but he adds, scenting the coming -storm: “We have in this part of the country the strongest proofs that -the great majority have made gold their hope, their only hope.”[49] - -Evidently a crisis was approaching. The boycott against the firm was -more evident and the impatience of wool farmers growing. The latter kept -calling for advances on their stored wool. If they had been willing to -wait quietly, there was still a chance, for Perkins and Brown had -undoubtedly the best in the American market and as good as the better -English grades. But the growers were restive and in some cases poor. The -result was shown in the balance-sheet of 1849. Brown had bought 130,000 -pounds of wool and paid for it, including freight and commissions, -$57,884.48. His sales had amounted to $49,902.67, leaving him $7,981.81 -short, and 200,000 pounds of wool in the warehouse.[50] Perkins -afterward thought Brown was stubborn. It would have been easily possible -for them to have betrayed the growers and accepted a lower price. Their -commissions would have been larger, the manufacturers were friendly, and -the sheepmen too scattered and poor to protest. Indeed, low prices and -cash pleased them better than waiting. But John Brown conceived that a -principle was at stake. He knew that his wool was worth even more than -he asked. He knew that English wool of the same grade sold at good -prices. Why not, then, he argued, take the wool to England and sell it, -thus opening up a new market for a great American product? Then, too, he -had other and, to him, better reasons for wishing to see Europe. He -decided quickly and in August, 1849, he took his 200,000 pounds of wool -to England. He had graded every bit himself, and packed it in new sacks: -“The bales were firm, round, hard and true, almost as if they had been -turned out in a lathe.”[51] - -In this English venture John Brown showed one weakness of his character: -he did not know or recognize the subtler twistings of human nature. He -judged it ever from his own simple, clear standpoint and so had a sort -of prophetic vision of the vaster and the eternal aspects of the human -soul. But of its kinks and prejudices, its little selfishnesses and -jealousies and dishonesties, he knew nothing. They always came to him as -a sort of surprise, uncalculated for and but partially comprehended. He -could fight the devil and his angels, and he did, but he could not cope -with the million misbirths that hover between heaven and hell. - -Thus to his surprise he found his calculations all at fault in England. -His wool was good, his knowledge of the technique of sorting and grading -unsurpassed and yet because Englishmen believed it was not possible to -raise good wool in America, they obstinately refused to take the -evidence of their own senses. They “seemed highly pleased”; they said -that they “had never seen superior wools” and that they “would see me -again” but they did not offer decent prices. Then, too, American woolen -men had long arms and they were tipped with gold. They fingered busily -across the seas about this prying Yankee, and English wool-growers -responded very willingly, so that John Brown acknowledged mournfully -late in September, “I have a great deal of stupid obstinate prejudice to -contend with, as well as conflicting interests both in this country and -from the United States.”[52] In the end the wool was sacrificed at -prices fifty per cent. below its American value and some of it actually -resold in America. The American woolen men chuckled audibly: - -“A little incident occurred in 1850. Perkins and Brown’s clip had come -forward, and it was beautiful; the little compact Saxony fleeces were as -nice as possible. Mr. Musgrave of the Northampton Woolen Mill, who was -making shawls and broadcloths, wanted it, and offered Uncle John [Brown] -sixty cents a pound for it. ‘No, I am going to send it to London.’ -Musgrave, who was a Yorkshire man, advised Brown not to do it, for -American wool would not sell in London,—not being thought good. He tried -hard to buy it, but without avail.... Some little time after, long -enough for the purpose, news came that it was sold in London, but the -price was not stated. Musgrave came into my counting-room one forenoon -all aglow, and said he wanted me to go with him,—he was going to have -some fun. Then he went to the stairs and called Uncle John, and told him -he wanted him to go over to the Hartford depot and see a lot of wool he -had bought. So Uncle John put on his coat, and we started. When we -arrived at the depot, and just as we were going into the freight-house, -Musgrave says: ‘Mr. Brune, I want you to tell me what you think of this -lot of wull that stands me in just fifty-two cents a pund.’ One glance -at the bags was enough. Uncle John wheeled, and I can see him now as he -‘put back’ to the lofts, his brown coat-tails floating behind him, and -the nervous strides fairly devouring the way. It was his own clip, for -which Musgrave, some three months before, had offered him sixty cents a -pound as it lay in the loft. It had been graded, new bagged, shipped by -steamer to London, sold, and reshipped, and was in Springfield at eight -cents in the pound less than Musgrave offered.”[53] - -It was a great joke and it made American woolen men smile. - -This English venture was a death-blow to the Perkins and Brown wool -business. It was not entirely wound up until four years later, but in -1849 Brown removed his family from Springfield up to the silent forests -of the farthest Adirondacks, where the great vision of his life unfolded -itself. It was, however, not easy for him to extricate himself from the -web wound about him. Two currents set for his complete undoing: the -wool-growers whom he had over-advanced and who did not deliver the -promised wool; and certain manufacturers to whom the firm had contracted -to deliver this wool which they could not get. Claims and damages to the -amount of $40,000 appeared and some of these got into court; while, on -the other hand, the scattered and defaulting wool-growers were scarcely -worth suing by the firm. Long drawn-out legal battles ensued, intensely -distasteful to Brown’s straightforward nature and seemingly endless. -Collections and sales continued hard and slow and Perkins began to get -restless. John Brown sighed for the older and simpler life of his young -manhood with its love and dreams: “I can look back to our log cabin at -the centre of Richfield with a supper of porridge and johnny cake as a -place of far more interest to me than the Massasoit of Springfield.”[54] -He says to his children on the Ohio sheep farm: “I am much pleased with -the reflection that you are all three once more together, and all -engaged in the same calling that the old patriarchs followed. I will say -but one word more on that score, and that is taken from their history: -‘See that ye fall not out by the way; and all will be exactly right in -the end.’ I should think matters were brightening a little in this -direction in regard to our claims, but I have not yet been able to get -any of them to a final issue. I think, too, that the prospect for the -fine wool business rather improves. What burdens me most of all is the -apprehension that Mr. Perkins expects of me in the way of bringing -matters to a close, what no living man can possibly bring about in a -short time and that he is getting out of patience and becoming -distrustful.”[55] - -Meantime Brown was racing from court to court in Boston, New York, Troy -and elsewhere, seeking to settle up the business and know where he stood -financially, and, above all, to keep peace with and do justice to his -partner. Cases were now settled and now appealed and the progress was -“miserably slow. My journeys back and forth this winter have been very -tedious.” Then, too, his mind was elsewhere. The nation was in turmoil -and so was he. At the time Anthony Burns was arrested in Boston he was -advising with his lawyers at Troy. Redpath says: - -“The morning after the news of the Burns affair reached here, Brown went -at his work immediately after breakfast; but in a few minutes started up -from his chair, walked rapidly across the room several times, then -suddenly turned to his counsel, and said, ‘I am going to Boston.’ ‘Going -to Boston!’ said the astonished lawyer. ‘Why do you want to go to -Boston?’ Old Brown continued walking vigorously, and replied, ‘Anthony -Burns must be released, or I will die in the attempt.’ The counsel -dropped his pen in consternation. Then he began to remonstrate; told him -the suit had been in progress a long time, and a verdict just gained. It -was appealed from, and that appeal must be answered in so many days, or -the whole labor would be lost; and no one was sufficiently familiar with -the whole case except himself. It took a long earnest talk with old -Brown to persuade him to remain. His memory and acuteness in that long -and tedious lawsuit—not yet ended, I am told—often astonished his -counsel. While here he wore an entire suit of snuff-colored cloth, the -coat of a decidedly Quakerish cut in collar and skirt. He wore no beard, -and was a clean-shaven, scrupulously neat, well-dressed, quiet old -gentleman. He was, however, notably resolute in all that he did.”[56] - -He spent the time not taken up by his lawsuits at Akron, and in the -manner of a patriarch of old, temporarily brought his family back to -Ohio. “I wrote you last week that the family is on the road: the boys -are driving on the cattle, and my wife and little girls are at Oneida -depot waiting for me to go on with them.”[57] He returned to farming -again with interest, taking prizes for his stock at state fairs and -raising many sheep. He had 550 lambs in 1853 and Perkins is urging him -to continue with him, but things changed and on January 25, 1854, he -writes: “This world is not yet freed from real malice and envy. It -appears to be well settled now that we go back to North Elba in the -spring. I have had a good-natured talk with Mr. Perkins about going away -and both families are now preparing to carry out that plan.”[58] His -departure was delayed a year, but he was finally able to remove with a -little surplus on hand. - -Back then to the crests and forests of the Alleghanies came John Brown -at the age of fifty-four. “A tall, gaunt, dark-complexioned man ... a -grave, serious man ... with a marked countenance and a natural dignity -of manner,—that dignity which is unconscious, and comes from a superior -habit of mind.”[59] - - - - - CHAPTER V - THE VISION OF THE DAMNED - - “Remember them that are in bonds as bound with them.” - - -There was hell in Hayti in the red waning of the eighteenth century, in -the days when John Brown was born. The dark wave of the French -Revolution had raised the brilliant sinister Napoleon to its crest. -Already he had stretched greedy arms toward American empire in the rich -vale of the Mississippi, when in a flash, out of the dirt and sloth and -slavery of the West Indies, the black inert and heavy cloud of African -degradation writhed to sudden life and lifted up the dark figure of -Toussaint. Ten thousand Frenchmen gasped and died in the fever-haunted -hills, while the black men in sudden frenzy fought like devils for their -freedom and won it. Napoleon saw his gateway to the Mississippi closed; -armed Europe was at his back. What was this wild and empty America to -him, anyway? So he sold Louisiana for a song and turned to the shame of -Trafalgar and the glory of Austerlitz. - -John Brown was born just as the shudder of Hayti was running through all -the Americas, and from his earliest boyhood he saw and felt the price of -repression—the fearful cost that the western world was paying for -slavery. From his earliest boyhood he had dimly conceived, and the -conception grew with his growing, that the cost of liberty was less than -the price of repression. Perhaps he was so near the humanistic -enthusiasm of the French Revolution that he undervalued the cost of -liberty. But yet he was right, for it was scarce possible to overrate -the price of repression. True, in these latter days men and women of the -South, and honest ones, too, have striven feverishly to paint Negro -slavery in bright alluring colors. They have told of childlike devotion, -faithful service and light-hearted irresponsibility, in the fine old -aristocracy of the plantation. Much they have said is true. But when all -is said and granted, the awful fact remains congealed in law and -indisputable record that American slavery was the foulest and filthiest -blot on nineteenth century civilization. As a school of brutality and -human suffering, of female prostitution and male debauchery; as a -mockery of marriage and defilement of family life; as a darkening of -reason, and spiritual death, it had no parallel in its day. It took -millions upon millions of men—human men and lovable, light and -liberty-loving children of the sun, and threw them with no sparing of -brutality into one rigid mold: humble, servile, dog-like devotion, -surrender of body, mind and soul, and unaspiring animal content—toward -this ideal the slave might strive, and did. Wonderful, even beautiful -examples of humble service he brought forth and made the eternal -heritage of men. But beyond this there was nothing. All were crushed to -this mold and of them that did not fit, the sullen were cowed, the -careless brutalized and the rebellious killed. Four things make life -worthy to most men: to move, to know, to love, to aspire. None of these -was for Negro slaves. A white child could halt a black man on the -highway and send him slinking to his kennel. No black slave could -legally learn to read. And love? If a black slave loved a lass, there -was not a white man from the Potomac to the Rio Grande that could not -prostitute her to his lust. Did the proud sons of Virginia and Carolina -stoop to such bestial tyranny? Ask the grandmothers of the two million -mulattoes that dot the states to-day. Ask the suffering and humiliated -wives of the master caste. If a Negro married a wife, there was not a -master in the land that could not take her from him. - -John Brown’s father, Owen Brown, saw such a power stretched all the way -from Virginia to Connecticut. A Southern slaveholding minister, Thomson -by name, had brought his slaves North and preached in the local church. -Then he attempted to take the unwilling chattels back South. Of what -followed, Owen Brown says: “There was some excitement amongst the -people, some in favor and some against Mr. Thomson; there was quite a -debate, and large numbers to hear. Mr. Thomson said he should carry the -woman and children, whether he could get the man or not. An old man -asked him if he would part man and wife, contrary to their minds. He -said: ‘I married them myself, and did not enjoin obedience on the -woman.’” Owen Brown added, “Ever since I have been an Abolitionist.”[60] - -If a slave begat children, there was not a law south of the Ohio that -could stop their eventual sale to any brute with the money. Aspiration -in a slave was suspicious, dangerous, fatal. For him there was no -inviting future, no high incentive, no decent reward. The highest -ambition to which a black woman could aspire was momentarily to supplant -the white man’s wife as a concubine; and the ambition of black men ended -with the carelessly tossed largess of a kinglet. To reduce the slave to -this groveling, what was the price which the master paid? Tyranny, -brutality, and lawlessness reigned and to some extent still reign in the -South. The sweeter, kindlier feelings were blunted: brothers sold -sisters to serfdom and fathers debauched even their own dark daughters. -The arrogant, strutting bully, who shot his enemy and thrashed his dogs -and his darkies, became a living, moving ideal from the cotton-patch to -the United States Senate from 1808 onward. No worthy art nor literature, -nor even the commerce of daily life could thrive in this atmosphere. - -Society there was of a certain type—courtly and lavish, but quarrelsome; -seductive and lazy; with a half Oriental sheen and languor spread above -peculiar poverty of resource; a fineness and delicacy in certain -details, coupled with coarseness and self-indulgence in others; a -mingling of the sexes only in play and seldom in work, with its -concomitant tendency toward seclusion and helplessness among its whiter -women. Withal a society strong indeed, but wholly without vigor or -invention. - -It was not all as dark as it might have been. Human life, thank God, is -never as bad as it may be, but it is too often desperately bad. Nor do -men easily realize how bad life about them is. The full have scant -sympathy with the empty,—the rich know all the faults of the poor, and -the master sees the horrors of slavery with unseeing eyes. True, there -were flashes of light and longing here and there—noble sacrifice, eager -help, determined emancipation. But all this was local, spasmodic and -exceptional. The unrelenting dead brutality of human bondage to a -thousand tyrants, petty wills and caprice was the rule from Florida to -Missouri and from the Mississippi to the sea. Under it the wretched -writhed like some great black and stricken beast. The flaming fury of -their mad attempts at vengeance echoes all down the blood-swept path of -slavery. In Jamaica they upturned the government and harried the land -until England crept and sued for peace. In the Danish Isles they started -a whirlwind of slaughter; in Hayti they drove their masters into the -sea; and in South Carolina they rose twice like a threatening wave -against the terror-stricken whites, but were betrayed. Such outbreaks -here and there foretold the possibility of coördinate action and organic -development. To be sure, the successful outbreaks were few and -spasmodic; but the flare of Hayti lighted the night and made the world -remember that these, too, were men. - -Among these black men, changes significant and momentous, were coming. -The native born Africans were passing away, with their native tongues -and their wild customs. Such were the slaves of John Brown’s father’s -time. “When I was a child four or five years old,” writes Owen Brown, -“one of the 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 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.” - -Such slaves and others went into the Revolutionary army and three -thousand of them fought for their masters’ freedom. After the war, their -bravery, the upheaval in Hayti, and the new enthusiasm for human rights, -led to a wave of emancipation which started in Vermont during the -Revolution and swept through New England and Pennsylvania, ending -finally in New York and New Jersey early in the nineteenth century. This -freeing of the Northern slaves led to new complications, for in the -South, after a hesitating pause, the opposite course was pursued and the -thumbscrews were applied; the plantations were isolated, the roads were -guarded, the refractory were whipped till they screamed and crawled, and -the ringleaders were lynched. A long awful process of selection chose -out the listless, ignorant, sly, and humble and sent to heaven the -proud, the vengeful and the daring. The old African warrior spirit died -away of violence and a broken heart. - -Thus the great black mass of Southern slaves were cowed, but they were -not conquered. Stretched as they were over wide miles of land, and -isolated; guarded in speech and religion; peaceful and light-hearted as -was their nature, still the fire of liberty burned in them. In Louisiana -and Tennessee and twice in Virginia they raised the night cry of revolt, -and once slew fifty Virginians, holding the state for weeks at bay there -in those same Alleghanies which John Brown loved and listened to. On the -ships of the sea they rebelled and murdered; to Florida they fled and -turned like beasts on their pursuers till whole armies dislodged them -and did them to death in the everglades; and again and again over them -and through them surged and quivered a vast unrest which only the -eternal vigilance of the masters kept down. Yet the fear of that great -bound beast was ever there—a nameless, haunting dread that never left -the South and never ceased, but ever nerved the remorseless cruelty of -the master’s arm. - -One thing saved the South from the blood-sacrifice of Hayti—not, to be -sure, from so successful a revolt, for the disproportion of races was -less, but from a desperate and bloody effort—and that was the escape of -the fugitive. - -Along the Great Black Way stretched swamps and rivers, and the forests -and crests of the Alleghanies. A widening, hurrying stream of fugitives -swept to the havens of refuge, taking the restless, the criminal and the -unconquered—the natural leaders of the more timid mass. These men saved -slavery and killed it. They saved it by leaving it to a false seductive -dream of peace and the eternal subjugation of the laboring class. They -destroyed it by presenting themselves before the eyes of the North and -the world as living specimens of the real meaning of slavery. What was -the system that could enslave a Frederick Douglass? They saved it too by -joining the free Negroes of the North, and with them organizing -themselves into a great black phalanx that worked and schemed and paid -and finally fought for the freedom of black men in America. - -Thus it was that John Brown, even as a child, saw the puzzling anomalies -and contradictions in human right and liberty all about him. Ever and -again he saw this in the North, leading to concerted action among the -free Negroes, especially in cities where they were brought in contact -with one another, and had some chance of asserting their nominal -freedom. Just at the close of the eighteenth century, first in -Philadelphia and then in New York, small groups of them withdrew from -the white churches to escape disgraceful discrimination and established -churches of their own, which still live with millions of adherents. In -the year of John Brown’s birth, 1800, Gabriel planned his formidable -uprising in Virginia, and the year after his marriage, 1821, Denmark -Vesey of South Carolina went grimly to the scaffold, after one of the -shrewdest Negro plots that ever frightened the South into hysterics. Of -all this John Brown, the boy and young man, knew little. In after years -he learned of Gabriel and Vesey and Turner, and told of their exploits -and studied their plans; but at the time he was far off from the world, -carrying on his tannery and marrying a wife. Perhaps as a lad he heard -some of the oratory that celebrated the act of 1808, stopping the slave -trade, as the beginning of the end of slavery. Perhaps not, for the act -did little good until it was reënforced in 1820. All the time, however, -John Brown’s keen eyes were searching for the way of life and his tender -heart was sensitive to injustice and wrong everywhere. Indeed, it is not -unlikely that the first black folk to gain his aid and sympathies and -direct his thoughts to what afterward became his life-work, were the -fugitive slaves from the South. - -Three paths were opened to the slaves: to submit, to fight or to run -away. Most of them submitted as do most people everywhere to force and -fate. To fight singly meant death and to fight together meant plot and -insurrection—a difficult thing but one often tried. Easiest of all was -to run away, for the land was wide and bare and the slaves were many. At -first, they ran to the swamps and mountains, and starved and died. Then -they ran to the Indians and in Florida founded a nation to overthrow -which cost the United States $20,000,000 and more in slave raids known -as Seminole “wars.” Then gradually, after the War of 1812 had used so -many black sailors to fight for free trade that the Negroes learned of -the North and Canada as cities of refuge, they fled northward. While -John Brown was a tanner at Hudson, he began helping these dark panting -refugees who flitted by in the night. His eldest son says: - -“When I was four or five years old, and probably no later than 1825, -there came one night a fugitive slave and his wife to father’s -door—sent, perhaps, by some townsman who knew John Brown’s compassion -for such wayfarers, then but few. They were the first colored people I -had seen; and when the woman took me upon her knee and kissed me, I ran -away as quick as I could, and rubbed my face ‘to get the black off’; for -I thought she would ‘crock’ me, like mother’s kettle. Mother gave the -poor creatures some supper; but they thought themselves pursued and were -uneasy. Presently father heard the trampling of horses crossing a bridge -on one of the main roads, half a mile off; so he took his guests out the -back door and down into the swamp near the brook to hide, giving them -arms to defend themselves, but returning to the house to await the -event. It proved a false alarm; the horsemen were people of the -neighborhood going to Hudson village. Father then went out into the dark -wood,—for it was night,—and had some difficulty in finding his -fugitives; finally he was guided to the spot by the sound of the man’s -heart throbbing for fear of capture. He brought them into the house -again, sheltered them a while, and sent them on their way.”[61] - -The atmosphere in these days was becoming more and more charged with the -slavery problem. That same Louisiana which Toussaint had given America, -was gradually filling with settlers until the question of admitting -parts of it as states faced the nation, and led to the Missouri -Compromise. The discussion of the measure was fierce in John Brown’s -neighborhood, and it must have strengthened his dislike of slavery and -turned his earnest mind more and more toward the Negroes. - -In the very year that death first entered his family and took a boy of -four, and just before the sombre days when his earnest young wife died -demented in childbirth and was buried with her babe, occurred the Nat -Turner insurrection in Virginia, the most successful and bloody of slave -uprisings since Hayti. - -Squire Hudson, the father of the town where John Brown lived and one of -the founders of Western Reserve University, heard the news in stern joy; -a neighbor met him “one day in September, 1831, coming from his -post-office, and reading a newspaper he had just received, which seemed -to excite him very much as he read. As Mr. Wright came within hearing, -the old Calvinist was exclaiming, ‘Thank God for that! I am glad of it! -Thank God they have risen at last!’ Inquiring what the news was, Squire -Hudson replied, ‘Why, the slaves have risen down in Virginia, and are -fighting for their freedom as we did for ours. I pray God that they may -get it.’”[62] - -They did not get freedom but death. And yet there on the edge of Dismal -Swamp they slaughtered fifty whites, held the land in terror for more -than a month, and set going a tremendous wave of reaction. In the South, -Negro churches and free Negro schools were sternly restricted, just at -the time Great Britain was freeing her West Indian slaves. In the North, -came two movements: a determined anti-slavery campaign, and an opposing -movement which disfranchised Negroes, burned their churches and schools, -and robbed them of their friends. The Negroes rushed together for -counsel and defense, and held their first national meeting in -Philadelphia, where they deliberated earnestly on migration to Canada -and on schools. But schools for Negroes were especially feared North as -well as South, and in John Brown’s native state of Connecticut a white -woman was shamefully persecuted for attempting to teach Negroes. All -this aroused John Brown’s antipathy to slavery and made it more definite -and purposeful. In November of the year which witnessed the burning of -Prudence Crandall’s school, and a year after his second marriage, he -wrote to his brother: - -“Since you have left me, I have been trying to devise some means whereby -I might do something in a practical way for my poor fellow men who are -in bondage; and having fully consulted the feelings of my wife and my -three boys, we have agreed to get at least one Negro boy or youth, and -bring him up as we do our 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 slaveholder 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 introduced, Jason -had gone to bed; but no sooner did he hear the thing hinted, than his -warm heart kindled, and he turned out to have a part in the discussion -of a subject of such exceeding interest. I have for years been trying to -devise some way to get a school a-going here for blacks, and I think -that on many accounts it would be a most 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.”[63] - -Nothing came of this project, except that John Brown grew more deeply -interested. He was now worth $20,000, a man of influence and he felt -more and more moved toward definite action to help the Negroes. They -were keeping up their conventions and the stream of fugitives was -augmenting. The problem, however, was not simply one of slavery. The -plight of the free Negro was particularly pitiable. He was liable to be -seized and sold South whether an actual slave or not; he was -discriminated against and despised in all walks. This was bad enough in -every-day life, but to a straightforward religious soul like John Brown -it was simply intolerable in the church of God. His eldest daughter -says: - -“One evening after he had been singing to me, he asked me how I would -like to have some poor little black children that were slaves -(explaining to me the meaning of slaves) come and live with us; and -asked me if I would be willing to divide my food and clothes with them. -He made such an impression on my sympathies, that the first colored -person that I ever saw (it was a man I met on the street in Meadville, -Pa.) I felt such pity for, that I wanted to ask him if he did not want -to come and live at our house. When I was six or seven years old, a -little incident took place in the church at Franklin, O. (of which all -the older part of our family were members), which caused quite an -excitement.”[64] - -His son tells the details of this incident: - -“About 1837, mother, Jason, Owen and I, joined the Congregational Church -at Franklin, the Rev. Mr. Burritt, pastor. Shortly after, the other -societies, including Methodists and Episcopalians, joined ours in an -undertaking to hold a protracted meeting under the special management of -an evangelist preacher from Cleveland, named Avery. The house of the -Congregationalists being the largest, it was chosen as the place for -this meeting. Invitations were sent out to church folks in adjoining -towns to ‘come up to the help of the Lord against the mighty;’ and soon -the house was crowded, the assembly occupying by invitation the pews of -the church generally. Preacher Avery gave us in succession four sermons -from one text,—‘Cast ye up, cast ye up! Prepare ye the way of the Lord; -make His paths straight!’ Soon lukewarm Christians were heated up to a -melting condition, and there was a bright prospect of a good shower of -grace. There were at that time in Franklin a number of free colored -persons and some fugitive slaves. These became interested and came to -the meetings, but were given seats by themselves, where the stove had -stood, near the door,—not a good place for seeing ministers or singers. -Father noticed this, and when the next meeting (which was at evening) -had fairly opened, he arose and called attention to the fact that, in -seating the colored portion of the audience, a discrimination had been -made, and said that he did not believe God ‘is a respecter of persons.’ -He then invited the colored people to occupy his slip. The blacks -accepted, and all of our family took their vacated seats. This was a -bombshell, and the Holy Spirit in the hearts of Pastor Burritt and -Deacon Beach at once gave up His place to another tenant. The next day -father received a call from the deacons to admonish him and ‘labor’ with -him; but they returned with new views of Christian duty. The blacks -during the remainder of that protracted meeting continued to occupy our -slip, and our family the seats around the stove. We soon after moved to -Hudson, and though living three miles away, became regular attendants at -the Congregational Church in the centre of the town. In about a year we -received a letter from good Deacon Williams, informing us that our -relations with the church in Franklin were ended in accordance with a -rule made by the church since we left, that ‘any member being absent a -year without reporting him or herself to that church should be cut off.’ -This was the first intimation we had of the existence of the rule. -Father, on reading the letter, became white with anger. This was my -first taste of the pro-slavery diabolism that had intrenched itself in -the church, and I shed a few uncalled for tears over the matter, for -instead I should have rejoiced in my emancipation. From that day my -theological shackles were a good deal broken, and I have not worn them -since (to speak of),—not even for ornament.”[65] - -The years of 1837 and 1838 were the years of persecution for the -Abolition cause. Lovejoy was murdered in Illinois and mobs raged in -Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania Hall, in Philadelphia, was -burned, and Marlborough Chapel in Boston, where John Brown himself seems -to have been present fighting back the people, was sacked. Indeed, as he -afterward said, he had seen some of the “principal Abolition mobs.” - -Whatever John Brown may have wished to do at this time was frustrated by -the panic, which swept away his fortune, and left him bankrupt. Yet -something he must do—he must at least promise God that he and his family -would eternally oppose slavery. How, he did not know—he was not sure—but -somehow he was determined, and his old idea of educating youth was still -uppermost. - -It was in 1839, when a Negro preacher named Fayette was visiting Brown, -and bringing his story of persecution and injustice, that this great -promise was made. Solemnly John Brown arose; he was then a man of nearly -forty years, tall, dark and clean-shaven; by him sat his young wife of -twenty-two and his oldest boys of eighteen, sixteen and fifteen. Six -other children slept in the room back of the dark preacher. John Brown -told them of his purpose to make active war on slavery, and bound his -family in solemn and secret compact to labor for emancipation. And then, -instead of standing to pray, as was his wont, he fell upon his knees and -implored God’s blessing on his enterprise. - -This marks a turning-point in John Brown’s life: in his boyhood he had -disliked slavery and his antipathy toward it grew with his years; yet of -necessity it occupied but little of a life busy with breadwinning. -Gradually, however, he saw the gathering of the mighty struggle about -him; the news of the skirmish battles of the greatest moral war of the -century aroused and quickened him, and all the more when they struck the -tender chords of his acquaintanceships and sympathies. He saw his -friends hurt and imposed on until at last, gradually, then suddenly, it -dawned upon him that he must fight this monster slavery. He did not now -plan physical warfare—he was yet a non-resistant, hating war, and did -not dream of Harper’s Ferry; but he set his face toward the goal and -whithersoever the Lord led, he was ready to follow. He still, too, had -his living to earn—his family to care for. Slavery was not yet the sole -object of his life, but as he passed on in his daily duties he was -determined to seize every opportunity to strike it a blow. - -This, at least it seems to me, is a fair interpretation of John Brown’s -thought and action from the evidence at hand. Some have believed that -John Brown planned Harper’s Ferry or something similar in 1839; others -have doubted whether he had any plans against slavery before 1850. The -truth probably lies between these extreme views. Human purposes grow -slowly and in curious ways; thought by thought they build themselves -until in their full panoplied vigor and definite outline not even the -thinker can tell the exact process of the growing, or say that here was -the beginning or there the ending. Nor does this slow growth and -gathering make the end less wonderful or the motive less praiseworthy. -Few Americans recognized in 1839 that the great central problem of -America was slavery; and of that few, fewer still were willing to fight -it as they knew it should be fought. Of this lesser number, two men -stood almost alone, ready to back their faith by action—William Lloyd -Garrison and John Brown. - -These men did not then know each other—they had in these early days -scarcely heard each other’s names. They never came to be friends or -sympathizers. When John Brown was in Boston he never went to _The -Liberator_ office, and in after years, now and then, he dropped words -very like contempt for “non-resistants”; while Garrison flayed the -leader of the Harper’s Ferry raid. They were alike only in their intense -hatred of slavery, and spiritually they crossed each other’s paths in -curious fashion, Garrison drifting from a willingness to fight slavery -in all ways or in any way to a fateful attitude of non-resistance and -withdrawal from the contamination of slaveholders; John Brown drifting -from non-resistance to the red path of active warfare. - -Nowhere did the imminence of a great struggle show itself more clearly -than among the Negroes themselves. Organized insurrection ceased in the -South, not because of the increased rigors of the slave system, but -because the great safety-valve of escape northward was opened wider and -wider, and the methods were gradually coördinated into that mysterious -system known as the Underground Railroad. The slaves and freedmen -started the work and to the end bore the brunt of danger and hardship; -but gradually they more and more secured the coöperation of men like -John Brown, and of others less radical but just as sympathetic. Here and -there the free Negroes in the North began to gain economic footing as -servants in cities, as farmers in Ohio and even as _entrepreneurs_ in -the great catering business of Philadelphia and New York. - -The schools were still for the most part closed to them. They made -strenuous efforts to counteract this and established dozens of schools -of their own all over the land. At last in 1839 Oberlin was founded and -certain earnest students of Cincinnati, disgusted with the color line at -Lane College, seceded to Oberlin and brought the color question there. -It was fairly met and Negroes were admitted. - -It was the establishment of Oberlin College in 1839 and the appointment -of his father as trustee that gave John Brown a new vision of life and -usefulness—of a life which would at once combine the pursuit of a great -moral ideal and the honest earning of a good living for a family. Brown -proposed to survey the Virginia lands of Oberlin, as we have shown, -locate a large farm for himself and settle there with his family. Here -he undoubtedly expected to carry out the plan previously laid before his -brother Frederick. He consulted the Oberlin authorities concerning -“provision for religious and school privileges” and they thought it -possible to have these, although nothing was said specifically of -Negroes. The position was strategic and John Brown knew it: in the -non-slaveholding portion of a slave state, near the river and not far -from the foothills of mountains, beyond which lay the Great Black Way, -was formed a highway for the Underground Railroad and a place for -experiment in the uplift of black men. That he would meet opposition, -and strong opposition, John Brown must have known, but probably at this -time he counted on the prevalence of law and justice and the stern -principles of his religion rather than on the sword of Gideon, which was -his later reliance. But it was not the “will of Providence” as we have -seen, that Brown should then settle in Virginia, since his increasing -financial straits and final bankruptcy overthrew all plans of purchasing -the one thousand acres for which he had already bargained. - -The slough of despond through which John Brown passed in the succeeding -years, from 1842 to 1846, was never fully betrayed by this stern, -self-repressing Puritan. Yet the loss of a fortune and the shattering of -a dream, the bankruptcy and imprisonment, and the death of five -children, while around him whirled the struggle of the churches with -slavery and Abolition mobs, all dropped a sombre brooding veil of stern -inexorable fate over his spirit—a veil which never lifted. The dark -mysterious tragedy of life gripped him with awful intensity—the iron -entered his soul. He became sterner and more silent. He brooded and -listened for the voice of the avenging God, and girded up his loins in -readiness. - -“My husband always believed,” said his wife in after years, “that he was -to be an instrument in the hands of Providence, and I believed it -too.... Many a night he had lain awake and prayed concerning it.”[66] - -It began to dawn upon him that he had sinned in the selfish pursuit of -petty ends: that he must be about his Father’s business of giving the -death-blow to that “sum of all villanies—slavery.” He had erred in -making his great work a side object—a secondary thing; it must be his -first and only duty, and let God attend to the nurture of his family. As -his conception of his own relation to slavery thus broadened and -deepened, so too did his plan of attacking the system become clearer and -more definite and he spent hours discussing the matter. In Springfield, -“he used to talk much on the subject, and had the reputation of being -quite ultra. His bookkeeper tells me that he and his eldest son used to -discuss slavery by the hour in his counting-room, and he used to say -that it was right for slaves to kill their masters and escape, and -thought slaveholders were guilty of a very great wickedness.”[67] - -He studied the census returns and the distribution of the Negroes and -made maps of fugitive slave routes with roads, plantations, and -supplies. He learned of Isaac, Denmark Vesey, Nat Turner and the -Cumberland region insurrections in South Carolina, Virginia, and -Tennessee; he knew of the organized resistance to slave-catchers in -Pennsylvania, and the history of Hayti and Jamaica. - -It needed, as he soon saw, something more radical than schools and moral -suasion; so deep-seated and radical a disease demanded “Action! Action!” -He welcomed his new and long-loved calling of shepherd because of the -leisure it gave him to study out his great moral problem. He sought and -gained the acquaintance of Negro leaders like Garnet, Loguen, Gloucester -and McCune Smith. As his sheep business broadened, he traveled about and -probably at this time first saw Harper’s Ferry—the mighty pass where -Potomac and Shenandoah, hurling aside the mountain masses, rush to their -singular wedding. - -Thus the distraction of the Springfield wool business came to John Brown -almost in the guise of a temptation to be shunned. For a moment about -1845 he looked again on the lure of wealth and dreamed how useful it -would be to what was now his great life object. But only for a moment, -for when he realized the price he must pay—the time, the chicanery, the -petty detail—he turned from it in disgust. It was at this time that he -studied the history of insurrection and became familiar with the -Abolition movement; as early as 1846 his Harper’s Ferry project began to -form itself more or less clearly in his mind. - -One thing alone reconciled him to his Springfield sojourn and that was -the Negroes whom he met there. He had met black men singly here and -there all his life, but now he met a group. It was not one of the -principal Negro groups of the day—they were in Philadelphia and New -York, Cincinnati and Boston, and in Canada, working largely alone with -only imperfect intercommunication, but working manfully and effectively -for emancipation and full freedom. The Springfield group was a smaller -body without conspicuous leadership, and on that account more nearly -approximated the great mass of their enslaved race. He sought them in -home and church and out on the street, and he hired them in his -business. He came to them on a plane of perfect equality—they sat at his -table and he at theirs. He neither descended upon them from above nor -wallowed with their lowest, and the result was that as Redpath says, -“Captain Brown had a higher notion of the capacity of the Negro race -than most white men. I have often heard him dwell on this subject, and -mention instances of their fitness to take care of themselves, saying, -in his quaint way, that ‘they behaved so much like “folks” that he -almost thought they were so.’ He thought that perhaps a forcible -separation of the connection between master and slave was necessary to -educate the blacks for self-government; but this he threw out as a -suggestion merely.”[68] - -Nor did this appreciation of the finer qualities and capacity of the -Negroes blind him to their imperfections. He found them “intensely -human,” but with their human frailties weakened by slavery and caste; -and with perfect faith in their ability to rise above their faults, he -criticized and inspired them. In his quaint essay on “Sambo’s Mistakes,” -putting himself in the black man’s place, he enumerates his errors: His -failure to improve his time in good reading; his waste of money in -indulgent luxuries and societies and consequent lack of capital; his -servile occupations; his talkativeness and inaptitude for organization; -his sectarian bias. In part of his arraignment, which will bear -thoughtful reading to-day by black men as well as white, he makes his -Sambo say: - -“Another trifling error of my life has been, that I have always expected -to secure the favor of the whites by tamely submitting to every species -of indignity, contempt, and wrong, instead of nobly resisting their -brutal aggressions from principle, and taking my place as a man, and -assuming the responsibilities of a man, a citizen, a husband, a father, -a brother, a neighbor, a friend,—as God requires of every one (if his -neighbor will allow him to do it); but I find that I get, for all my -submission, about the same reward that the Southern slaveocrats render -to the dough-faced statesmen of the North, for being bribed and browbeat -and fooled and cheated, as Whigs and Democrats love to be, and think -themselves highly honored if they may be allowed to lick up the spittle -of a Southerner. I say to get the reward. But I am uncommon -quick-sighted; I can see in a minute where I missed it.”[69] - -No one knew better than John Brown how slavery had contributed to these -faults: for how many slaves could read anything, or when had they been -taught the use of money or the A. B. C. of organization? Not in -condemnation but in faith was this excellent paper written and -delicately worded as from one who has learned his own faults and will -not repeat those of others. - -Not only did John Brown thus criticize, but he led these black folk. As -early as 1846 he revealed something of his final plans to Thomas Thomas, -his black porter and friend, with whom he once was photographed in -mutual friendly embrace, holding the sign “S. P. W.”—“Subterranean Pass -Way” of slaves to freedom. - -“How early shall I come to-morrow?” asked Thomas one morning. - -“We begin work at seven,” answered John Brown. “But I wish you would -come around earlier so that I can talk with you.” Then Brown disclosed a -plan of increasing and systematizing the work of the Underground -Railroad by running off larger bodies of slaves. This was the first form -of his Harper’s Ferry plan and it rapidly grew in detail, so that its -disclosure to Douglass in 1847 showed thought and advance. - -The first national Negro leader, Frederick Douglass, had delivered his -wonderful salutatory in New Bedford in 1844. After publishing his -biography, he went to England for safety, but returned in 1847, ransomed -from slavery and ready to launch his paper, _The North Star_. No sooner -had he landed than the black Wise Men of New York told him of the new -Star in the East, whispering of the strange determined man of -Springfield who flitted silently here and there among the groups of -black folk and whose life was devoted to eternal war upon slavery. Both -were eager to meet each other—John Brown to become acquainted with the -greatest leader of the race which he aimed to free; Frederick Douglass -to know an intense foe of slavery. The historic meeting took place in -Springfield and is best told in Douglass’ own words: - -“About the time I began my enterprise [_i. e._, his newspaper] in -Rochester, I chanced to spend a night and a day under the roof of a man -whose character and conversation, and whose objects and aims in life, -made a very deep impression upon my mind and heart. His name had been -mentioned to me by several prominent colored men; among whom were the -Rev. Henry Highland Garnet and J. W. Loguen. In speaking of him their -voices would drop to a whisper, and what they said of him made me very -eager to see and to know him. Fortunately, I was invited to see him at -his own house. At the time to which I now refer this man was a -respectable merchant in a populous and thriving city, and our first -place of meeting was at his store. This was a substantial brick building -on a prominent, busy street. A glance at the interior, as well as at the -massive walls without, gave me the impression that the owner must be a -man of considerable wealth. My welcome was all that I could have asked. -Every member of the family, young and old, seemed glad to see me, and I -was made much at home in a very little while. I was, however, a little -disappointed with the appearance of the house and its location. After -seeing the fine store I was prepared to see a fine residence in an -eligible locality, but this conclusion was completely dispelled by -actual observation. In fact, the house was neither commodious nor -elegant, nor its situation desirable. It was a small wooden building on -a back street, in a neighborhood chiefly occupied by laboring men and -mechanics; respectable enough, to be sure, but not quite the place, I -thought, where one would look for the residence of a flourishing and -successful merchant. - -“Plain as was the outside of this man’s house, the inside was plainer. -Its furniture would have satisfied a Spartan. It would take longer to -tell what was not in this house than what was in it. There was an air of -plainness about it which almost suggested destitution. My first meal -passed under the misnomer of tea, though there was nothing about it -resembling the usual significance of that term. It consisted of -beef-soup, cabbage, and potatoes—a meal such as a man might relish after -following the plow all day or performing a forced march of a dozen miles -over a rough road in frosty weather. Innocent of paint, veneering, -varnish, or table-cloth, the table announced itself unmistakably of pine -and of the plainest workmanship. There was no hired help visible. The -mother, daughters, and sons did the serving, and did it well. They were -evidently used to it, and had no thought of any impropriety or -degradation in being their own servants. It is said that a house in some -measure reflects the character of its occupants; this one certainly did. -In it there were no disguises, no illusions, no make-believes. -Everything implied stern truth, solid purpose, and rigid economy. I was -not long in company with the master of this house before I discovered -that he was indeed the master of it, and was likely to become mine too -if I stayed long enough with him. His wife believed in him, and his -children observed him with reverence. Whenever he spoke his words -commanded earnest attention. His arguments, which I ventured at some -points to oppose, seemed to convince all; his appeals touched all, and -his will impressed all. Certainly I never felt myself in the presence of -a stronger religious influence than while in this man’s house. - -“In person he was lean, strong, and sinewy, of the best New England -mold, built for times of trouble and fitted to grapple with the -flintiest hardships. Clad in plain American woolen, shod in boots of -cowhide leather, and wearing a cravat of the same substantial material, -under six feet high, less than 150 pounds in weight, aged about fifty, -he presented a figure straight and symmetrical as a mountain pine. His -bearing was singularly impressive. His head was not large, but compact -and high. His hair was coarse, strong, slightly gray and closely -trimmed, and grew low on his forehead. His face was smoothly shaved, and -revealed a strong, square mouth, supported by a broad and prominent -chin. His eyes were bluish gray, and in conversation they were full of -light and fire. When on the street, he moved with a long, springing, -racehorse step, absorbed by his own reflections, neither seeking nor -shunning observation. Such was the man whose name I had heard in -whispers; such was the spirit of his house and family; such was the -house in which he lived; and such was Captain John Brown, whose name has -now passed into history, as that of one of the most marked characters -and greatest heroes known to American fame. - -“After the strong meal already described, Captain Brown cautiously -approached the subject which he wished to bring to my attention; for he -seemed to apprehend opposition to his views. He denounced slavery in -look and language fierce and bitter; thought that slaveholders had -forfeited their right to live; that the slaves had the right to gain -their liberty in any way they could; did not believe that moral suasion -would ever liberate the slave, or that political action would abolish -the system. He said that he had long had a plan which could accomplish -this end, and he had invited me to his house to lay that plan before me. -He said he had been for some time looking for colored men to whom he -could safely reveal his secret, and at times he had almost despaired of -finding such men; but that now he was encouraged, for he saw heads of -such rising up in all directions. He had observed my course at home and -abroad, and he wanted my coöperation. His plan as it then lay in his -mind had much to commend it. It did not, as some suppose, contemplate a -general rising among the slaves, and a general slaughter of the -slave-masters. An insurrection, he thought, would only defeat the -object; but his plan did contemplate the creating of an armed force -which should act the very heart of the South. He was not averse to the -shedding of blood, and thought the practice of carrying arms would be a -good one for the colored people to adopt, as it would give them a sense -of their manhood. No people, he said, could have self-respect, or be -respected, who would not fight for their freedom. He called my attention -to a map of the United States, and pointed out to me the far-reaching -Alleghanies, which stretch away from the borders of New York into the -Southern states. - -“‘These mountains,’ he said, ‘are the basis of my plan. God has given -the strength of the hills to freedom; they were placed here for the -emancipation of the Negro race; they are full of natural forts, where -one man for defense will be equal to a hundred for attack; they are full -also of good hiding-places, where large numbers of brave men could be -concealed, and baffle and elude pursuit for a long time. I know these -mountains well, and could take a body of men into them and keep them -there despite of all efforts of Virginia to dislodge them. The true -object to be sought is first of all to destroy the money value of -slavery property; and that can only be done by rendering such property -insecure. My plan, then, is to take at first about twenty-five picked -men, and begin on a small scale; supply them with arms and ammunition -and post them in squads of fives on a line of twenty-five miles. The -most persuasive and judicious of these shall go down to the fields from -time to time, as opportunity offers, and induce the slaves to join them, -seeking and selecting the most restless and daring.’ - -“He saw that in this part of the work the utmost care must be used to -avoid treachery and disclosure. Only the most conscientious and skilful -should be sent on this perilous duty. With care and enterprise he -thought he could soon gather a force of one hundred hardy men, men who -would be content to lead the free and adventurous life to which he -proposed to train them; when these were properly drilled, and each man -had found the place for which he was best suited, they would begin work -in earnest; they would run off the slaves in large numbers, retain the -brave and strong ones in the mountains, and send the weak and timid to -the North by the Underground Railroad. His operations would be enlarged -with increasing numbers and would not be confined to one locality. - -“When I asked him how he would support these men, he said emphatically -that he would subsist them upon the enemy. Slavery was a state of war, -and the slave had a right to anything necessary to his freedom. ‘But,’ -said I, ‘suppose you succeed in running off a few slaves, and thus -impress the Virginia slaveholders with a sense of insecurity in their -slaves further south.’ ‘That,’ he said, ‘will be what I want first to -do; then I would follow them up. If we could drive slavery out of one -county, it would be a great gain; it would weaken the system throughout -the state.’ ‘But they would employ bloodhounds to hunt you out of the -mountains.’ ‘That they might attempt,’ said he, ‘but the chances are, we -should whip them, and when we should have whipped one squad, they would -be careful how they pursued.’ ‘But you might be surrounded and cut off -from your provisions or means of subsistence.’ He thought that this -could not be done so that they could not cut their way out; but even if -the worst came he could but be killed, and he had no better use for his -life than to lay it down in the cause of the slave. When I suggested -that we might convert the slaveholders, he became much excited, and said -that could never be. He knew their proud hearts and they would never be -induced to give up their slaves, until they felt a big stick about their -heads. - -“He observed that I might have noticed the simple manner in which he -lived, adding that he had adopted this method in order to save money to -carry out his purposes. This was said in no boastful tone, for he felt -that he had delayed already too long, and had no room to boast either -his zeal or his self-denial. Had some men made such display of rigid -virtue, I should have rejected it as affected, false, and hypocritical, -but in John Brown, I felt it to be real as iron or granite. From this -night spent with John Brown in Springfield, Mass., 1847, while I -continued to write and speak against slavery, I became all the same less -hopeful of its peaceful abolition. My utterances became more and more -tinged by the color of this man’s strong impressions.”[70] - -Tremendously impressed as was Douglass in mind and heart with John Brown -and his plan, his reason was never convinced even up to the last; and -naturally because here two radically opposite characters saw slavery -from opposite sides of the shield. Both hated it with all their -strength, but one knew its physical degradation, its tremendous power -and the strong sympathies and interests that buttressed it the world -over; the other felt its moral evil and knowing simply that it was -wrong, concluded that John Brown and God could overthrow it. That was -all—a plain straightforward path; but to the subtler darker man, more -worldly-wise and less religious, the arm of the Lord was not revealed, -while the evil of this world had seared his vitals. He uncovered himself -if not reverently, certainly respectfully before the Seer; he gave him -much help and information; he turned almost imperceptibly but surely -toward Brown’s darker view of the blood-sacrifice of slavery, but he -could never quite believe that John Brown’s tremendous plan was humanly -possible. And this attitude of Douglass was in various degrees and -strides the attitude of the leading Negroes of his day. They believed in -John Brown but not in his plan. They knew he was right, but they knew -that for any failure in his project they, the black men, would probably -pay the cost. And the horror of that cost none knew as they. - -If John Brown was to carry out his idea as he had now definitely -conceived it, he must first find the men who could help him. On this -point there seems to have been deliberation and development of plan, -particularly as he consulted Douglass and the Negro leaders. His earlier -scheme probably looked toward the use of Negro allies almost exclusively -outside his own family. This was eminently fitting but impractical, as -Douglass and his fellows must have urged. White men could move where -they would in the United States, but to introduce an armed band -exclusively or mainly of Negroes from the North into the South was -difficult, if not impossible. Nevertheless, some Negroes of the right -type were needed and to John Brown’s mind the Underground Railroad was -bringing North the very material he required. It could not, however, be -properly trained in cities whither it drifted both for economic reasons -and for self-protection. Brown therefore heard of Gerrit Smith’s offer -of August 1, 1846, with great interest. This wealthy leader of the New -York Abolition group took occasion at the celebration of the twelfth -anniversary of British emancipation to offer free Negroes 100,000 acres -of his lands in the Adirondack region on easy terms. It was not a well -thought-out scheme: the climate was bleak for Negroes, the methods of -culture then suitable, were unknown to them; while the surveyor who laid -out these farms cheated them as cheerily as though philanthropy had no -concern with the project. The Gerrit Smith offer was not wholly a -failure. It turned out some good Negro farmers, gave some of its best -Negro citizens of to-day to northern New York, and trained a bishop of -the British African Church. But it did far less than it might have done -if better planned, and much if not all of its success was due to John -Brown. He saw possibilities here both to shelter his family when he -turned definitely to what was now his single object in life, and to -train men to help him. He went to Gerrit Smith at Peterboro, N. Y., in -April, 1848, and said: “I am something of a pioneer; I grew up among the -woods and wild Indians of Ohio and am used to the climate and the way of -life that your colony find so trying. I will take one of your farms -myself, clear it up and plant it, and show my colored neighbors how such -work should be done; will give them work as I have occasion, look after -them in all needful ways and be a kind of father to them.”[71] - -His offer was gladly accepted and he moved his family there the -following year. It was a wild, lonely place. Thomas Wentworth Higginson -wrote once: “The Notch seems beyond the world, North Elba and its -half-dozen houses are beyond the Notch, and there is a wilder little -mountain road which rises beyond North Elba. But the house we seek is -not even on that road, but behind it and beyond it; you ride a mile or -two, then take down a pair of bars; beyond the bars faith takes you -across a half-cleared field, through the most difficult of wood-paths, -and after half a mile of forest you come out upon a clearing. There is a -little frame house, unpainted, set in a girdle of black stumps, and with -all heaven about it for a wider girdle; on a high hillside, forests on -north and west,—the glorious line of the Adirondacks on the east, and on -the south one slender road leading off to Westport, a road so straight -that you could sight a United States marshal for five miles.”[72] - -To his family John Brown’s word was usually not merely law but wish. -They went to North Elba cheerfully and with full knowledge of the import -of the change, for the father was frank. The daughter Ruth writes: -“While we were living in Springfield, our house was plainly furnished, -but very comfortably, all excepting the parlor. Mother and I had often -expressed a wish that the parlor might be furnished too, and father -encouraged us that it should be; but after he made up his mind to go to -North Elba he began to economize in many ways. One day he called us -older ones to him and said: ‘I want to plan with you a little; and I -want you all to express your minds. I have a little money to spare; and -now shall we use it to furnish the parlor, or spend it to buy clothing -for the colored people who may need help in North Elba another year?’ We -all said, ‘Save the money.’”[73] - -It was no paradise, even for the enthusiast. Redpath says: “It is too -cold to raise corn there; they can scarcely, in the most favorable -seasons, obtain a few ears for roasting. Stock must be wintered there -nearly six months in every year. I was there on the first of November, -the ground was snowy, and winter had apparently begun—and it would last -till the middle of May. They never raise anything to sell off that farm, -except sometimes a few fleeces. It was well, they said, if they raised -their own provisions, and could spin their own wool for clothing.”[74] - -Meantime the scattered isolated eddies of the anti-slavery battles were -swirling to one great current, and more and more John Brown was becoming -the man of one idea. Impatiently he neglected his pressing wool -business. Instead of keeping his eye on his critical London venture, he -hastened across Europe perfecting military observations. He returned to -America in time to hear all the feverish discussion of the Fugitive -Slave Law and see its final passage. In November, 1850, he writes his -wife from Springfield: “It now seems that the Fugitive Slave Law was to -be the means of making more Abolitionists than all the lectures we have -had for years. It really looks as if God had His hand on this wickedness -also. I of course keep encouraging my colored friends to ‘trust in God -and keep their powder dry.’ I did so to-day at Thanksgiving meeting -publicly.”[75] - -His Springfield meetings led to the formation of his “League of -Gileadites,” the first of his steps toward the armed organization of -Negroes. Forty-four Negroes signed the following agreement: - -“As citizens of the United States of America, trusting in a just and -merciful God, whose spirit and all-powerful aid we humbly implore, we -will ever be true to the flag of our beloved country, always acting -under it. We, whose names are hereunto affixed, do constitute ourselves -a branch of the United States League of Gileadites. That we will provide -ourselves at once with suitable implements, and will aid those who do -not possess the means, if any such are disposed to join us. We invite -every colored person whose heart is engaged in the performance of our -business, whether male or female, old or young. The duty of the aged, -infirm, and young members of the League shall be to give instant notice -to all members in case of an attack upon any of our people. We agree to -have no officers except a treasurer and secretary pro tem., until after -some trial of courage and talent of able-bodied members shall enable us -to elect officers from those who shall have rendered the most important -services. Nothing but wisdom and undaunted courage, efficiency, and -general good conduct shall in any way influence us in electing -officers.”[76] - -To this was added exhortation and advice by John Brown. - -“Nothing so charms the American people as personal bravery,” he wrote. -“Witness the case of Cinques, of everlasting memory, on board the -_Amistad_. The trial for life of one bold and to some extent successful -man, for defending his rights in good earnest, would arouse more -sympathy throughout the nation than the accumulated wrongs and -sufferings of more than three millions of our submissive colored -population. We need not mention the Greeks struggling against the -oppressive Turks, the Poles against Russia, nor the Hungarians against -Austria and Russia combined, to prove this. No jury can be found in the -Northern states that would convict a man for defending his rights to the -last extremity. This is well understood by Southern congressmen, who -insisted that the right of trial by jury should not be granted to the -fugitive. Colored people have ten times the number of fast friends among -the whites than they suppose, and would have ten times the number they -have now were they but half as much in earnest to secure their dearest -rights as they are to ape the follies and extravagances of their white -neighbors, and to indulge in idle show, in ease and luxury. Just think -of the money expended by individuals in your behalf for the last twenty -years! Think of the number who have been mobbed and imprisoned on your -account! Have any of you seen the branded hand? Do you remember the -names of Lovejoy and Torrey?”[77] - -He then gives definite advice as to procedure in case the arrest and the -deportation of a fugitive slave were attempted: - -“Should one of your number be arrested, you must collect together as -quickly as possible, so as to outnumber your adversaries, who are taking -an active part against you. Let no able-bodied man appear on the ground -unequipped, or with his weapons exposed to view: let that be understood -beforehand. Your plans must be known only to yourself, and with the -understanding that all traitors must die, wherever caught and proven to -be guilty. ‘Whosoever is fearful or afraid, let him return and depart -early from Mount Gilead’ (Judges 7:3; Deut. 20:8). Give all cowards an -opportunity to show it on condition of holding their peace. Do not delay -one moment after you are ready; you will lose all your resolution if you -do. Let the first blow be the signal for all to engage; and when engaged -do not do your work in halves, but make clean work with your -enemies,—and be sure you meddle not with any others. By going about your -business quietly, you will get the job disposed of before the number -that an uproar would bring together can collect; and you will have the -advantage of those who come out against you, for they will be wholly -unprepared with either equipments or matured plans; all with them will -be confusion and terror. Your enemies will be slow to attack you after -you have done up the work nicely; and if they should, they will have to -encounter your white friends as well as you; for you may safely -calculate on a division of the whites, and may by that means get to an -honorable parley. - -“Be firm, determined, and cool; but let it be understood that you are -not to be driven to desperation without making it an awful dear job to -others as well as to you. Give them to know distinctly that those who -live in wooden houses should not throw fire, and that you are just as -able to suffer as your white neighbors. After effecting a rescue, if you -are assailed, go into the houses of your most prominent and influential -white friends with your wives; and that will effectually fasten upon -them the suspicion of being connected with you, and will compel them to -make a common cause with you, whether they would otherwise live up to -their profession or not. This would leave them no choice in the matter. - -“Some would doubtless prove themselves true of their own choice; others -would flinch. That would be taking them at their own words. You may make -a tumult in the court room where a trial is going on by burning -gunpowder freely in paper packages, if you cannot think of any better -way to create a momentary alarm, and might possibly give one or more of -your enemies a hoist. But in such case the prisoner will need to take -the hint at once, and bestir himself; and so should his friends improve -the opportunity for a general rush. A lasso might possibly be applied to -a slave-catcher for once with good effect. Hold on to your weapons, and -never be persuaded to leave them, part with them, or have them far away -from you. Stand by one another and by your friends, while a drop of -blood remains; and be hanged if you must, but tell no tales out of -school. Make no confession. Union is strength. Without some well -digested arrangements, nothing to any good purpose is likely to be done, -let the demand be never so great. Witness the case of Hamlet and Long in -New York, when there was no well defined plan of operations or suitable -preparation beforehand. The desired end may be effectually secured by -the means proposed; namely, the enjoyment of our inalienable -rights.”[78] - -There is evidence that this league did effective rescue work, as did -other groups of Negroes in Boston, Philadelphia, Albany, New York and -elsewhere. In this service the Negroes could not act alone—it would have -meant mob violence on purely racial lines;—but given a few determined -white men to join in, they could and did bear the brunt of the fighting. - -John Brown himself was active in such rescue work. He helped in the -release of “Jerry” in Syracuse, and writes in 1851 from Springfield: -“Since the sending off to slavery of Long from New York, I have improved -my leisure hours quite busily with colored people here, in advising them -how to act, and in giving them all the encouragement in my power. They -very much need encouragement and advice; and some of them are so alarmed -that they tell me they cannot sleep on account of either themselves or -their wives and children. I can only say I think I have been able to do -something to revive their broken spirits. I want all my family to -imagine themselves in the same dreadful condition. My only spare time -being taken up (often till late hours at night) in the way I speak of, -has prevented me from the gloomy homesick feelings which had before so -much oppressed me: not that I forget my family at all.”[79] - -His hateful lawsuits hung like a weight about John Brown’s neck, and a -feverish impatience was seizing him: “Father did not close up his wool -business in Springfield when he went to North Elba, and had to make -several journeys back and forth in 1819–50. He was at Springfield in -January, 1851, soon after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law, and -went around among his colored friends there, who had been fugitives, -urging them to resist the law, no matter by what authority it should be -enforced. He told them to arm themselves with revolvers, men and women, -and not to be taken alive. When he got to North Elba, he told us about -the Fugitive Slave Law, and bade us resist any attempt that might be -made to take any fugitive from our town, regardless of fine or -imprisonment. Our faithful boy Cyrus was one of that class; and our -feelings were so aroused that we would all have defended him, though the -women folks had resorted to hot water. Father at this time said, ‘Their -cup of iniquity is almost full.’ One evening as I was singing, ‘The -Slave Father Mourning for his Children,’ containing these words,— - - “‘Ye’re gone from me, my gentle ones, - With all your shouts of mirth; - A silence is within my walls, - A darkness round my hearth,’— - -father got up and walked the floor, and before I could finish the song, -he said, ‘O Ruth! Don’t sing any more; it is too sad!’”[80] - -At the same time his thrifty careful attention to minutiæ did not desert -him. He keeps his eye on North Elba even after his wife and part of the -family returned to Akron and writes: “The colored families appear to be -doing well, and to feel encouraged. They all send much love to you. They -have constant preaching on the Sabbath; and intelligence, morality and -religion appear to be all on the advance.”[81] - -His daughter says: “He did not lose interest in the colored people of -North Elba, and grieved over the sad fate of one of them, Mr. Henderson, -who was lost in the woods in the winter of 1852 and perished with the -cold. Mr. Henderson was an intelligent and good man, and was very -industrious and father thought much of him.”[82] - -Once we find him saying: “If you find it difficult for you to pay for -Douglass’ paper, I wish you would let me know, as I know I took -liberty in ordering it continued. You have been very kind in helping -me and I do not mean to make myself a burden.” And again he writes: “I -am much rejoiced at the news of a religious kind in Ruth’s letter and -would be still more rejoiced to learn that all the sects who hear the -Christian name would have no more to do with that mother of all -abominations—man-stealing.”[83] - -And the sects were thinking. All men were thinking. A great unrest was -on the land. It was not merely moral leadership from above—it was the -push of physical and mental pain from beneath;—not simply the cry of the -Abolitionist but the up-stretching of the slave. The vision of the -damned was stirring the western world and stirring black men as well as -white. Something was forcing the issue—call it what you will, the Spirit -of God or the spell of Africa. It came like some great grinding ground -swell,—vast, indefinite, immeasurable but mighty, like the dark low -whispering of some infinite disembodied voice—a riddle of the Sphinx. It -tore men’s souls and wrecked their faith. Women cried out as cried once -that tall black sibyl, Sojourner Truth: - -“Frederick, is God dead?” - -“No,” thundered the Douglass, towering above his Salem audience. “No, -and because God is not dead, slavery can only end in blood.” - - - - - CHAPTER VI - THE CALL OF KANSAS - - “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my - people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.” - - -Just three hundred years before John Brown pledged his family to warfare -against slavery, a black man stood on the plains of the Southwest -looking toward Kansas. It was the Negro Steven, once slave of Dorantes, -now leader and interpreter of the Fray Marcos explorers, and the first -man of the Old World to look upon the great Southwest, if not upon -Kansas itself. Whiter men have since ignored and ridiculed his work, -sensualists have charged him with sensuality, lords of greed have called -him greedy, and yet withal the plain truth remains: he led the -expedition that foreran Coronado, reported back the truth of what he saw -and then returned to lay down his life among the savages.[84] - -The land he looked upon in those young years of the sixteenth century -was big with the tragic fate of his people. Planted far to the eastward -a century later, their dark faces traveled fast westward until slavery -was secure in the valley of the Mississippi and in the lower Southwest. -Then the slave barons looked behind them, and saw to their own dismay -that there could be no backward step. The slavery of the new Cotton -Kingdom in the nineteenth century must either die or conquer a nation—it -could not hesitate or pause. It was an industrial system built on -ignorance, force and the cotton plant. The slaves must be curbed with an -iron hand. A moment of relaxation and lo! they would be rising either in -revenge or ambition. And slavery had made revenge and ambition one. Such -a system could not compete with intelligence, nor with individual -freedom, nor with miscellaneous and care-demanding crops. It could not -divide territory with these things;—to do so meant economic death and -the sudden, perhaps revolutionary upheaval of a whole social system. -This the South saw as it looked backward in the years from 1820 to 1840. -Then its bolder vision pressed the gloom ahead, and dreamed a dazzling -dream of empire. It saw the slave system triumphant in the great -Southwest—in Mexico, in Central America and the islands of the sea. Its -softer souls, timid with a fear prophetic of failure, still held -halfheartedly back, but bolder leaders like Davis, Toombs and Floyd went -relentlessly, ruthlessly on. Three steps they and their forerunners took -in that great western wilderness, and other steps were planned. Three -steps—that cost uncounted treasure in gold and blood: the first in 1820, -when they set foot beyond the Mississippi into Missouri; the second and -bolder when they set their seal on the spoils of raped Mexico and made -it possible slave soil; and the third and boldest, when on the soil of -Kansas they fought to enslave all territory of the Union. - -That these steps would cost much the leaders knew, but they did not -rightly reckon how much. They risked the upheaval of parties, the enmity -of sections and the angry agitation of visionaries. If worse came to -worst, they held the trump-card of disrupting the nation and founding a -mighty slave aristocracy to stretch from the Ohio to Venezuela and from -Cuba to Texas. One thing alone they did not count upon and that was -armed force. - -The three steps did raise tremendous opposition. The enslaving of -Missouri gave birth to the early Abolitionists—the conscience of the -nation awakened to find slavery not dead or dying but growing and -aggressive; and in these days John Brown, typifying one phase of that -terrible conscience, swore blood-feud with this “sum of all villanies.” -Thus the first step cost. - -The second step went some ways awry since California was lost to -slavery, but a new law to catch runaways brought compensation and -brought too redoubled cost, for it raised in opposition to the whole -slave system not only Abolitionists, but Free Soilers—those who hated -not slavery but slaves. This was a costlier move, for the sneers that -checked philanthropy were powerless against democracy, and when the -echoes of this step reached the ears of John Brown, he laid aside all -and became the man of one idea, and that idea the extinction of slavery -in the United States. - -But it was the third step that was costliest—the step that sought to -impose slavery by law and blood on free labor lands despite the lands’ -wish. Of all the steps it was the wildest and most foolish, for it -arrayed against slavery not only philanthropy and democracy, but all the -world-old forces of plain justice. It compelled those who loved the -right to meet law and force by force and lawlessness, and one man that -led that lawless fight on the plains of Kansas and struck its bloodiest -blow, was John Brown. - -John Brown’s decision to go to Kansas was sudden. Unexpectedly the -centre of the slavery battle had swung westward. A shrewd bidder for the -presidency offered the South the unawaited bribe of Kansas territory for -their votes and they eagerly sprang at the offer. Stephen Douglas drove -the bill through Congress, and Kansas stood ready for its slave -population. But not only for slaves—also for freemen as Eli Thayer -quickly saw, and the representations of him and his associates aroused -the sons of John Brown. - -John Brown himself looked on with interest, but he had other plans. He -wrote to his son John: “If you or any of my family are disposed to go to -Kansas or Nebraska with a view to help defeat Satan and his legions in -that direction, I have not a word to say; but I feel committed to -operate in another part of the field. If I were not so committed, I -would be on my way this fall.”[85] - -John Brown’s plans were in the Alleghanies. At North Elba lay his -northern stronghold, and at Harper’s Ferry lay the gates to the Great -Black Way. Here he was convinced was the keystone of the slavery arch -and here he must strike. So in former years Gabriel and Turner believed; -so in after years others believed; but it was not till Grant floated -down this path in a sea of blood that slavery finally fell. - -The sons of John Brown were, however, greatly attracted by the new -western lands. His eldest son writes: - -“During the years of 1853 and 1854, most of the leading Northern -newspapers were not only full of glowing accounts of the extraordinary -fertility, healthfulness, and beauty of the territory of Kansas, then -newly opened for settlement, but of urgent appeals to all lovers of -freedom who desired homes in a new region to go there as settlers, and -by their votes save Kansas from the curse of slavery. Influenced by -these considerations, in the month of October, 1854, five of the sons of -John Brown,—John, Jr., Jason, Owen, Frederick, and Salmon,—then -residents of the state of Ohio, made their arrangements to emigrate to -Kansas. Their combined property consisted chiefly of eleven head of -cattle, mostly young, and three horses. Ten of this number were valuable -on account of the breed. Thinking these especially desirable in a new -country, Owen, Frederick, and Salmon took them by way of the lakes to -Chicago, thence to Meridosia, Ill., where they were wintered; and in the -following spring drove them into Kansas to a place selected by these -brothers for settlement, about eight miles west of the town of -Osawatomie. My brother Jason and his family, and I with my family -followed at the opening of navigation in the spring of 1855, going by -way of Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to St. Louis. There we purchased two -small tents, a plough, and some smaller farming tools, and a hand-mill -for grinding corn. At this period there were no railroads west of St. -Louis; our journey must be continued by boat on the Missouri at a time -of extremely low water, or by stage at great expense. We chose the river -route, taking passage on the steamer _New Lucy_ which too late we found -crowded with passengers, mostly men from the South bound for Kansas. -That they were from the South was plainly indicated by their language -and dress; while their 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, and that their mission was to -aid in establishing slavery in Kansas. - -“A box of fruit trees and grape-vines which my brother Jason had brought -from Ohio, our plough, and the few agricultural implements we had on the -deck of that steamer looked lonesome; for these were all we could see -which were adapted to the occupation of peace. Then for the first time -arose in our minds the query: Must the fertile prairies of Kansas, -through a struggle at arms, be first secured to freedom before freemen -can sow and reap? If so, how poorly we were prepared for such work will -be seen when I say that for arms five of us brothers had only two small -squirrel rifles and one revolver. But before we reached our destination, -other matters claimed our attention. Cholera, which then prevailed to -some extent at St. Louis, broke out among our passengers, a number of -whom died. Among these brother Jason’s son, Austin, aged four years, the -elder of his two children, fell a victim to this scourge; and while our -boat lay by for repair of a broken rudder at Waverly, Mo., we buried him -at night near the panic-stricken town, our lonely way illumined only by -the lightning of a furious thunderstorm. True to his spirit of hatred of -Northern people, our captain, without warning to us on shore, cast off -his lines and left us to make our way by stage to Kansas City to which -place we had already paid our fare by boat. Before we reached there, -however, we became very hungry, and endeavored to buy food at various -farmhouses on the way; but the occupants, judging from our speech that -we were not from the South, always denied us, saying, ‘We have nothing -for you.’ The only exception to this answer was at the stage house at -Independence, Mo. - -“Arrived in Kansas, her lovely prairies and wooded streams seemed to us -indeed like a haven of rest. Here in prospect we saw our cattle -increased to hundreds and possibly to thousands, fields of corn, -orchards and vineyards. At once we set about the work through which only -our visions of prosperity could be realized. Our tents would suffice to -shelter until we could plough our land, plant corn and other crops, -fruit trees, and vines, cut and secure as hay enough of the waving grass -to supply our stock the coming winter. These cheering prospects beguiled -our labors through the late spring until midsummer, by which time nearly -all of our number were prostrated by fever and ague that would not stay -cured; the grass cut for hay mouldered in the wet for the want of the -care we could not bestow, and our crop of corn wasted by cattle we could -not restrain. If these minor ills and misfortunes were all, they could -be easily borne; but now began to gather the dark clouds of war. - -“An election for a first territorial legislature had been held on the -30th of March of this year. On that day the residents of Missouri along -the borders came into Kansas by thousands, and took forcible possession -of the polls. In the words of Horace Greeley, ‘There was no disguise, no -pretense of legality, no regard for decency. On the evening before and -the day of the election, nearly a thousand Missourians arrived at -Lawrence in wagons and on horseback, well armed with rifles, pistols and -bowie-knives, and two pieces of cannon loaded with musket balls. -Although but 831 legal electors in the Territory voted, there were no -less than 6,320 votes polled. They elected all the members of the -legislature, with a single exception in either house,—the two Free -Soilers being chosen from a remote district which the Missourians -overlooked or did not care to reach.’ - -“Early in the spring and summer of this year the actual settlers at -their convention repudiated this fraudulently chosen legislature, and -refused to obey its enactments. Upon this, the border papers of Missouri -in flaming appeals urged the ruffian horde that had previously invaded -Kansas to arm, and otherwise prepare to march again into the territory -when called upon, as they soon would be, to ‘aid in enforcing laws.’ War -of some magnitude, at least, now appeared to us brothers to be -inevitable; and I wrote to our father, whose home was in North Elba, N. -Y., asking him to procure and send us, if he could, arms and ammunition, -so that we could be better prepared to defend ourselves and our -neighbors.”[86] - -John Brown hesitated. His fighting blood was stirred and yet there was -the plan of years yet unrealized. Then a new vision dawned in his mind. -Perhaps this was the call of the Lord and the path to Virginia might lie -through Kansas. He hurriedly consulted his friends—Douglass, McCune -Smith, the cultured Negro physician of New York, and Gerrit Smith, and -in November, 1854, wrote home: “I feel still pretty much determined to -go back to North Elba; but expect Owen and Frederick will set out for -Kansas on Monday next, with cattle belonging to John, Jason and -themselves, intending to winter somewhere in Illinois.... Gerrit Smith -wishes me to go back to North Elba; from Douglass and Dr. McCune Smith I -have not yet heard.”[87] - -His business delayed him in Ohio and he still wrote of his going to -North Elba. Then followed the Syracuse convention of Abolitionists and a -new revelation to John Brown. For the first time he came into contact -with the great Abolition movement. He found that money was forthcoming. -Here were men willing to pay if others would work. It was the call of -God and he answered: “Here am I.” - -Redpath says: “When in session John Brown appeared in that convention -and made a very fiery speech, during which he said he had four sons in -Kansas, and had three others who were desirous of going there, to aid in -fighting the battles of freedom. He could not consent to go unless he -could go armed, and he would like to arm all his sons; but his poverty -prevented him from doing so. Funds were contributed on the spot; -principally by Gerrit Smith.”[88] - -He writes joyfully home: - -“Dear wife and children,—I reached here on the first day of the -convention, and I have reason to bless God that I came; for I have met -with a most warm reception from all, so far as I know, and except by a -few sincere, honest, peace friends, a most hearty approval of my -intention of arming my sons and other friends in Kansas. I received -to-day donations amounting to a little over sixty dollars,—twenty from -Gerrit Smith, five from an old British officer; others giving smaller -sums with such earnest and affectionate expression of their good wishes -as did me more good than money even. John’s two letters were introduced, -and read with such effect by Gerrit Smith as to draw tears from numerous -eyes in the great collection of people present. The convention has been -one of the most interesting meetings I ever attended in my life; and I -made a great addition to the number of warm-hearted and honest -friends.”[89] - -The die was cast and John Brown left for Kansas. Instead of sending the -money and arms, says his son John, “he came on with them himself, -accompanied by his brother-in-law, Henry Thompson, and my brother -Oliver. In Iowa he bought a horse and covered wagon; concealing the arms -in this and conspicuously displaying his surveying implements, he -crossed into Missouri near Waverly, and at that place disinterred the -body of his grandson, and brought all safely through to our settlement, -arriving there about the 6th of October, 1855.”[90] - -His daughter says: “On leaving us finally to go to Kansas that summer, -he said, ‘If it is so painful for us to part with the hope of meeting -again, how dreadful must be the feelings of hundreds of poor slaves who -are separated for life.’”[91] - -So John Brown reached Kansas to strike the blow for freedom. Not that he -was the central figure of Kansas territorial history so far as casual -eyes could see, or the acknowledged leader of men and measures; rather -he seemed and was but a humble coworker, appearing and disappearing here -and there,—now startling men with the grim decision of his actions, now -lost and hidden from public view. But it is not always the apparent -leaders who do the world’s work. More often those who sit in high -places, whom men see and hear, do but represent or mask public opinion -and the social conscience, while down in the blood and dust of battle -stoop those who delivered the master-stroke—the makers of the thoughts -of men. So in Kansas Robinson, Lane, Atchison and Geary were the -conspicuous public leaders: Robinson, the canny Yankee, whose astute -reading of the signs of the times proved in the end wise and correct but -left him always the opportunist and politician; Lane, whose impetuous -daring and rough devotion led thousands of immigrants out of the North -and drove hundreds of slaveholders back to Missouri; Atchison, who led -the determination and ruffianism of the South; and Geary, who voiced the -saner nation. And yet one cannot read Kansas history without feeling -that the man who in all this bewildering broil was least the puppet of -circumstances—the man who most clearly saw the real crux of the -conflict, most definitely knew his own convictions and was readiest at -the crisis for decisive action, was a man whose leadership lay not in -his office, wealth or influence, but in the white flame of his utter -devotion to an ideal. - -To comprehend this, one must pick from the confused tangle of Kansas -territorial history the main thread of its unraveling and then show how -Brown’s life twined with it. And this is no easy task. Some time before -or after 1850 Southern leaders had tacitly fixed the westward extension -of the Compromise line of 1820 at the northern line of Missouri. When, -then, the bill for organizing this western territory appeared innocently -in Congress, it was hustled back to committee, and appeared finally as -the celebrated Kansas-Nebraska Bill which formed two territories, Kansas -and Nebraska. It was the secret understanding of the promoters of the -bill that Kansas would become slave territory and Nebraska free, and -this tacit compact was expressed in the formula that the people of each -territory should have the right “to form and regulate their domestic -institutions in their own way, subject only to the Constitution of the -United States.” But the game was so easy, and the price so cheap that -the Southern leaders and their office-hunting Northern tools were not -satisfied, even with the gain of territory, and so juggled the bill as -virtually to leave all territory open to slavery even against the will -of its people, while eventually they fortified their daring by a Supreme -Court decision. - -The North, on the other hand, angry enough at even the necessity of -disputing slavery north of the long established line, nevertheless began -in good faith to prepare to vote slavery out of Kansas by pouring in -free settlers. - -Thereupon ensued one of the strangest duels of modern times—a political -battle between two economic systems: On the one side were all the -machinery of government, close proximity to the battle-field and a -deep-seated social ideal which did not propose to abide by the rules of -the game; on the other hand were strong moral conviction, pressing -economic necessity and capacity for organization. It took four years to -fight the battle—from the middle of 1854, when the Kansas-Nebraska Bill -was passed and the Indians were hustled out of their rights, until 1858, -when the pro-slavery constitution was definitely buried under free state -votes. - -In the beginning, the fall of 1854, the fatal misunderstanding of the -two sections was clear: The New England Emigrant Aid Society assumed -that the contest was simply a matter of votes, and that if they hurried -settlers to Kansas from the North a majority for freedom was reasonably -certain. Missouri and the South, on the other hand, assumed that Kansas -was already of right a slave state and resented as an impertinence the -attempt to make it free by any means. Thus at Lawrence, on August 1st, -the bewildered and unarmed Northern settlers and their immediate -successors, such as John Brown’s sons, were literally pounced upon by -the furious Missourians, who crossed the border like an invading army. -“To those who have qualms of conscience as to violating laws, state or -national, the time has come when such impositions must be disregarded, -as your rights and property are in danger,” cried Stringfellow of -Missouri. Thereupon 5,000 Missourians proceeded to elect a pro-slavery -legislature and Congressional delegate; and led by what Sumner called -“hirelings, picked from the drunken spew and vomit of an uneasy -civilization,” flourished their pistols and bowie-knives, driving some -of the free state immigrants back home and the rest into apprehensive -inaction and silence. - -Snatching thus the whip-hand, with pro-slavery governor, judges, marshal -and legislature, they then proceeded in 1855 to deliver blow upon blow -to the free state cause until it seemed inevitable that Kansas should -become a slave state, with a code of laws which made even an assertion -against the right of slaveholding a felony punishable with imprisonment. - -The free state settlers hesitatingly began to take serious counsel. They -found themselves in three parties: a few who hated slavery, more who -hated Negroes, and many who hated slaves. Easily the political -_finesse_, afterward unsuccessfully attempted, might now have pitted the -parties against one another in such irreconcilable difference as would -slip even slavery through. But unblushing force and fraud united them to -an appeal for justice at Big Springs in the fall of 1855—where John -Brown’s sons were present and active—and a declaration of passive, with -a threat of active, resistance to the “bogus” legislature. A peace -program was laid down: they would ignore the patent fraud, organize a -state and appeal to Congress and the nation. This they did in October -and November, 1855, making Topeka their nominal and Lawrence their real -capital. - -The pro-slavery party, however, was quick to see the weakness of this -program and they took the first opportunity to force the free state men -into collision with the authorities. A characteristic occasion soon -arose: a peaceful free state settler was brutally killed and instead of -arresting the murderer, the pro-slavery sheriff arrested the chief -witness against him. A few of the bolder free state neighbors released -the prisoner and took him to Lawrence. Immediately the sheriff gathered -an army of 1,500 deputies from Missouri, and surrounded 500 free state -men in Lawrence just after John Brown arrived in Kansas. Things looked -serious enough even to the drunken governor, and with the aid of some -artifice, liquor and stormy weather, the threatened clash was -temporarily averted. The wild and ice-bound winter that fell on Kansas -gave a moment’s pause, but with the opening spring the pro-slavery -forces gathered themselves for a last crushing blow. Armed bands came -out of the South with flying banners, the Missouri River was blockaded -to Northern immigrants, and the border ruffians rode unhindered over the -Missouri line. The free state men, alarmed, appealed to the East and -immigrants were hurried forward; but slavery “with the chief justice, -the tamed and domesticated chief justice who waited on him like a -familiar spirit,” declared the passive resistance movement “constructive -treason” and the pro-slavery marshal arrested the free state leaders -from the governor down, and clapped them into prison. Two thousand -Missourians then surrounded Lawrence and while the hesitating free state -men were striving to keep the peace, sacked and half burned the town on -the day before Brooks broke Sumner’s head in the Senate chamber, for -telling the truth about Kansas. - -The deed was done. Kansas was a slave territory. The free state program -had been repudiated by the United States government and had broken like -a reed before the assaults of the pro-slavery party. There were -mutterings in the East but the cause of freedom was at its lowest ebb. -Then suddenly there came the flash of an awful stroke—a deed of -retaliation from the free state side so bloody, relentless and cruel -that it sent a shudder through all Kansas and Missouri, and aroused the -nation. In one black night, John Brown, four of his sons, a son-in-law -and two others, the chosen executors of the boldest free state leaders, -seized and killed five of the worst of the border ruffians who were -harrying the free state settlers, and practically swept out of existence -the “Dutch Henry” pro-slavery settlement in the Swamp of the Swan. The -rank and file of the free state men themselves recoiled at first in -consternation and loudly, then faintly, disclaimed the deed. Suddenly -they saw and laid the lie aside, and seized their Sharps rifles. There -was war in Kansas—a quick sweeping change from the passive appeal to law -and justice which did not respond, to the appeal to force and blood. The -deed did not make Kansas free—no one, least of all John Brown, dreamed -that it would. But it brought to the fore in free state councils the men -who were determined to fight for freedom, and it meant the end of -passive resistance. The carnival of crime and rapine that ensued was a -disgrace to civilization but it was the cost of freedom, and it was less -than the price of repression. There were pitched battles, the building -and besieging of forts, the burning of homes, stealing of property, -raping of women and murder of men, until the scared governor signed a -truce, exchanged prisoners and fled for his life. The wildest -pro-slavery elements, now loosed from all restraint, planned a last -desperate blow. Nearly 3,000 men were mustered in Missouri. The new -governor, whose _cortège_ barely escaped highway robbery, found -“desolation and ruin” on every hand; “homes and firesides were deserted; -the smoke of burning dwellings darkened the atmosphere; women and -children, driven from their habitations, wandered over the prairies and -among the woodlands, or sought refuge and protection even among the -Indian tribes; the highways were infested with numerous predatory bands, -and the towns were fortified and garrisoned by armies of conflicting -partisans, each excited almost to frenzy, and determined upon mutual -extermination.” Not only that, but the territorial “treasury was -bankrupt, there were no pecuniary resources within herself to meet the -exigencies of the time; the Congressional appropriations intended to -defray the expenses of a year, were insufficient to meet the demands of -a fortnight; the laws were null, the courts virtually suspended and the -civil arm of the government almost entirely powerless.”[92] - -Governor Geary came in the nick of time and he came with peremptory -orders from the frightened government at Washington, who saw that they -must either check the whirlwind they had raised, or lose the -presidential election of 1856. For not only was there “hell in Kansas” -but the North was aflame—the very thing which John Brown and Lane and -their fellows designed. A great convention met at Buffalo and -mass-meetings were held everywhere. Clothes, money, arms, and men began -to pour out of the North. It was no longer a program of peaceful voting; -it was fight. The Southern party was certain to be swamped by an army of -men, who, though most of them had few convictions as to slavery, did not -propose to settle among slaves. The wilder pro-slavery men did not heed. -When Shannon ran away and before Geary came, they planned to strike -their blow at the free state forces. An army of nearly three thousand -was collected; one wing sacked Osawatomie and the main body was to -capture and destroy Lawrence. No sooner was this done than the force of -the United States army was to be called in to keep the conquered down. -The success of the plan at this juncture might have precipitated Civil -War in 1856 instead of 1861, and Geary hurried breathlessly to ward off -the mad blow. He succeeded, and by strenuous exertions he was able with -some truth to report in Washington before election time: “Peace now -reigns in Kansas.” - -The news, though it helped to elect Buchanan, was received but coldly in -Washington, for the Southerners knew how high a price Geary had paid. So -evidently was the governor out of favor that before the spring of 1857, -the third governor fled in mad haste from his post because of the enmity -of his own supporters. It was clear to Washington that Geary’s -recognition of the free state cause, with the heavy immigration, had -already destroyed the possibility of making Kansas a slave state. There -were still, however, certain possibilities for _finesse_ and political -maneuvering. Slaves were already in Kansas and the Dred Scott Decision -on March 6, 1857, legalized them there. Moreover, southeast Kansas, -thanks to one of the most brutal raids in its history, in the fall of -1856, was still strongly pro-slavery. The constitutional convention was -also in that party’s hands. By gracefully yielding the legislature -therefore to the patent free state majority, it seemed possible that -political manipulation might legalize the slaves already in the state. -Once this was conceded, there was still a chance to make Kansas a slave -state. The pro-slavery men, however, trained in the upheaval of 1856, -were poor material to follow and support the astute Governor Walker. -They itched for the law of the club, and made but bungling work of the -Lecompton constitution. Then too the more determined spirits in the -Territory, together with many naturally lawless elements, saw the -pro-slavery danger in southeast Kansas, and proceeded to wage guerrilla -warfare against the squatters on claims whence free state men had been -driven. It was a cruel relentless battle on both sides with murder and -rapine—the last expiring flame of the four years’ war dying down to -sullen peace in the fall of 1858, after the English bill with its bribe -of land for slaves had been killed in the spring. - -So Kansas was free. In vain did the sullen Senate in Washington fume and -threaten and keep the young state knocking for admission; the game had -been played and lost and Kansas was free. Free because the slave barons -played for an imperial stake in defiance of modern humanity and economic -development. Free because strong men had suffered and fought not against -slavery but against slaves in Kansas. Above all, free because one man -hated slavery and on a terrible night rode down with his sons among the -shadows of the Swamp of the Swan—that long, low-winding and sombre -stream “fringed everywhere with woods” and dark with bloody memory. -Forty-eight hours they lingered there, and then of a pale May morning -rode up to the world again. Behind them lay five twisted, red and -mangled corpses. Behind them rose the stifled wailing of widows and -little children. Behind them the fearful driver gazed and shuddered. But -before them rode a man, tall, dark, grim-faced and awful. His hands were -red and his name was John Brown. Such was the cost of freedom. - - - - - CHAPTER VII - THE SWAMP OF THE SWAN - - “And his fellow answered and said, This is nothing else save the - sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel: for into his - hands hath God delivered Midian, and all the host.” - - -“Did you go out under the auspices of the Emigrant Aid Society?” asked -the Inquisition of John Brown in after years. He answered grimly: “No, -sir, I went out under the auspices of John Brown.” In broad outline the -story of his coming to Kansas has been told in the last chapter, but the -picture needs now to be filled in with the details of his personal -fortunes, and a more careful study of the development of his personal -character in this critical period of his career. The place of his coming -was storied and romantic. French-fathered Indians wheeling onward in -their swift canoes saw stately birds in the reedy lowlands of eastern -Kansas and called the marsh the Swamp of the Swan. Up from the dark -sluggish rivers rose rolling goodly lands over which John Brown’s -brother Edward had passed to California in 1849, and on which his -brother-in-law had settled as early as 1854. Here, too, naturally had -followed the five pioneering sons in April, 1855. They came hating -slavery and yet peacefully, unarmed, and in all good faith, with cattle -and horses and trees and vines to settle in a free land. In Missouri -they met hatred and inhospitality, and in Kansas sickness and freezing -weather. Nevertheless they were stout-hearted and hopeful, and went -bravely to work until the political storm broke, when they wrote home -hastily for arms to defend themselves. John Brown, as we have seen, -brought the arms himself, taking his son Oliver and his son-in-law Henry -with him. “We reached the place where the boys are located one week ago, -late at night,” he wrote October 13, 1855. “We had between us all, sixty -cents in cash when we arrived. We found our folks in a most -uncomfortable situation, with no houses to shelter one of them, no hay -or corn fodder of any account secured, shivering over their little -fires, all exposed to the dreadful cutting winds, morning, evening and -stormy days.” All went to work to build cabins and secure fodder, -keeping at the same time a careful eye on the political developments. On -free state election day, October 9th, “hearing that there was a prospect -of difficulty, we all turned out most thoroughly armed,” but “no enemy -appeared” and Brown was encouraged to think that the prospect of Kansas -becoming free “is brightening every day.” - -By November the settlers, he wrote, “have made but little progress, but -we have made a little. We have got a shanty three logs high, chinked and -mudded, and roofed with our tent, and a chimney so far advanced that we -can keep a fire in it for Jason. John has his shanty a little better -fixed than it was, but miserable enough now; and we have got their -little crop of beans secured, which together with johnny cake, mush and -milk, pumpkins and squashes, constitute our fare.” And he adds, “After -all God’s tender mercies are not taken from us.... I feel more and more -confident that slavery will soon die out here—and to God be the praise!” - -On November 23d he writes: “We have got both families so sheltered that -they need not suffer hereafter; have got part of the hay (which had been -in cocks) secured; made some progress in preparation to build a house -for John and Owen; and Salmon has caught a prairie wolf in a steel trap. -We continue to have a good deal of stormy weather—rains with severe -winds, and forming into ice as they fall, together with cold nights that -freeze the ground considerably. Still God has not forsaken us!”[93] - -It was thus that John Brown came to Kansas and stood ready to fight for -freedom. No sooner had he stepped on Kansas soil, however, than it was -plain to him and to others that the cause for which he was fighting was -far different from that for which most of the settlers were willing to -risk life and property. The difference came out at the first meeting of -settlers in the little Osawatomie township. Redpath says: “The -politicians of the neighborhood were carefully pruning resolutions so as -to suit every variety of anti-slavery extensionists; and more especially -that class of persons whose opposition to slavery was founded on -expediency—the selfishness of race, and caste, and interest: men who -were desirous that Kansas should be consecrated to free white labor -only, not to freedom for all and above all.” The resolution which -aroused the old man’s anger declared that Kansas should be a free white -state, thereby favoring the exclusion of Negroes and mulattoes, whether -slave or free. He rose to speak, and soon alarmed and disgusted the -politicians by asserting the manhood of the Negro race, and expressing -his earnest, anti-slavery convictions with a force and vehemence little -likely to suit the hybrids.[94] - -Nothing daunted by the cold reception of his radical ideas here, Brown -strove to extend them when a larger opportunity came at the first -beleaguering of Lawrence. It was in December, 1855, when rumors of the -surrounding of Lawrence by the governor and his pro-slavery followers -came to the Browns. The old man wrote home: “These reports appeared to -be well authenticated, but we could get no further accounts of the -matters; and I left this for the place where the boys are settled, at -evening, intending to go to Lawrence to learn the facts the next day. -John was, however, started on horseback; but before he had gone many -rods, word came that our help was immediately wanted. On getting this -last news, it was at once agreed to break up at John’s camp, and take -Wealthy and Johnnie to Jason’s camp (some two miles off), and that all -the men but Henry, Jason, and Oliver should at once set off for Lawrence -under arms; those three being wholly unfit for duty. We then set about -providing a little corn bread and meat, blankets, and cooking utensils, -running bullets and loading all our guns, pistols, etc. The five set off -in the afternoon, and after a short rest in the night (which was quite -dark), continued our march until after daylight; next morning, when we -got our breakfast, started again, and reached Lawrence in the forenoon, -all of us more or less lamed by our tramp.”[95] - -The band approached the town at sunset, looming strangely on the -horizon: an old horse, a homely wagon and seven stalwart men armed with -pikes, swords, pistols and guns. John Brown was immediately put in -command of a company. He found that already “negotiations had commenced -between Governor Shannon (having a force of some fifteen or sixteen -hundred men) and the principal leaders of the free state men, they -having a force of some five hundred men at that time. These were busy, -night and day, fortifying the town with embankments and circular -earthworks, up to the time of the treaty with the governor, as an attack -was constantly looked for, notwithstanding the negotiations then -pending. This state of things continued from Friday until Sunday -evening,”[96] when Governor Shannon was induced to enter the town and -after some parley a treaty was announced. Immediately Brown’s suspicions -were aroused. He surmised that the governor’s party had not thus lightly -given up the fight for slavery, and he feared that the leading free -state politicians had sacrificed the principles for which he was -fighting for the sake of the temporary truce. Already the drunken -governor was making conciliatory remarks to the crowd in front of the -free state hotel, the free state Governor Robinson replying, when John -Brown, mounting a piece of timber at the corner of the house, began a -fiery speech. “He said that the people of Missouri had come to Kansas to -destroy Lawrence; that they had beleaguered the town for two weeks, -threatening its destruction; that they came for blood; that he believed, -‘without the shedding of blood there is no remission’; and asked for -volunteers to go under his command, and attack the pro-slavery camp -stationed near Franklin, some four miles from Lawrence.... He demanded -to know what the terms were. If he understood Governor Shannon’s speech, -something had been conceded, and he conveyed the idea that the -territorial laws were to be observed. Those laws he denounced and spit -upon, and would never obey—no! The crowd was fired by his earnestness -and a great echoing shout arose: ‘No! No! Down with the bogus laws. Lead -us out to fight first!’ For a moment matters looked serious to the free -state leaders who had so ingeniously engineered the compromise, and they -hastened to assure Brown that he was mistaken; that there had been no -surrendering of principles on their side.”[97] The real terms of the -treaty were kept secret, but Brown with his usual loyalty accepted their -word as true and wrote exultingly home: “So ended this last Kansas -invasion,—the Missourians returning with flying colors, after incurring -heavy expenses, suffering great exposure, hardships, and privations, not -having fought any battles, burned or destroyed any infant towns or -Abolition presses; leaving the free state men organized and armed, and -in full possession of the Territory; not having fulfilled any of all -their dreadful threatenings, except to murder one unarmed man, and to -commit some robberies and waste of property upon the defenseless -families, unfortunately within their power. We learn by their papers -that they boast of a great victory over the Abolitionists; and well they -may. Free state men have only hereafter to retain the footing they have -gained, and Kansas is free.”[98] - -The Wakarusa “treaty,” however, was but a winter’s truce as John Brown -soon saw; his distrust of the compromisers and politicians grew, and he -tried to get his own channels of news from the seat of government at -Washington. “We are very anxious to know what Congress is doing. We hear -that Frank Pierce means to crush the men of Kansas. I do not know how -well he may succeed, but I think he may find his hands full before it is -all over.”[99] And Joshua R. Giddings assures him that the President -“never will dare to employ the troops of the United States to shoot the -citizens of Kansas.”[100] Yet the President did dare. Not only were -regular troops put into the hands of the Kansas slave power, but armed -bands from the South appeared, and one in particular from Georgia -encamped on the Swamp of the Swan near the Brown settlement. John -Brown’s procedure was characteristic. With his surveying instruments in -hand one May morning, he sauntered into their camp. He was immediately -taken for a government surveyor and consequently “sound on the goose,” -for “every governor sent here, every secretary, every judge, every -Indian agent, every land surveyor, every clerk in every office, believed -in making Kansas a slave state. All the money sent here by the national -government was disbursed by pro-slavery officials to pro-slavery -menials.”[101] Brown took with him, his son says, “four of my -brothers,—Owen, Frederick, Salmon, and Oliver,—as chain carriers, axman, -and marker, and found a section line which, on following, led through -the camp of these men. The Georgians indulged in the utmost freedom of -expression. One of them, who appeared to be the leader of the company, -said: ‘We’ve come here to stay. We won’t make no war on them as minds -their own business; but all the Abolitionists, such as them damned -Browns over there, we’re going to whip, drive out, or kill,—any way to -get shut of them, by God!’”[102] - -Many of the intended victims were openly mentioned, and every word said -was calmly written down in John Brown’s surveyor’s book. Soon this -information was corroborated by the Southern camp being moved nearer the -Brown settlement. Secret marauding and stealing began. Brown warned the -intended victims, and, at a night meeting, it seems to have been decided -that at the first sign of a move on the part of the “border ruffians” -the ringleaders should be seized and lynched. Not only was this the -opinion at Osawatomie, but secret councils throughout the state were -beginning to lose faith in conciliation and compromise, and to listen to -more radical advice. From Lawrence, too, there came encouragement to -John Brown to take the lead in this darker forward movement. There was -little open talk or explicit declaration, but it was generally -understood that the next aggressive move in the Swamp of the Swan meant -retaliation and that John Brown would strike the blow. - -While, however, the free state leaders were willing to let this radical -hater of slavery thus defend the frontiers of their cause, they -themselves deemed it wise still to stick to the policy of passive -resistance, and their wisdom cost them dear. On the 21st of May the -pro-slavery forces swooped on Lawrence, and burned and sacked it, while -its citizens stood trembling by and raised no hand in its defense. John -Brown knew nothing of this until it was too late to help. -Notwithstanding, he hurried to the scene, and sat down by the smoldering -ashes in grim anger. He was “indignant that there had been no -resistance; that Lawrence was not defended; and denounced the members of -the committee and leading free state men as cowards, or worse.” It -seemed to Brown nothing less than a crime for men thus to lie down and -be kicked by ruffians. “Caution, caution, sir!” he burst out at a -discreet old gentleman, “I am eternally tired of hearing that word -caution—it is nothing but the word of cowardice.”[103] Yet there seemed -nothing to do then, and he was about to break camp when a boy came up -riding swiftly. The ruffians at Dutch Henry’s crossing, he said, had -been warning the defenseless women in the Brown settlement that the free -state families must leave by Saturday or Sunday, else they would be -driven out. The Brown women, hastily gathering up their children and -valuables, had fled by ox-cart to the house of a kinsman farther away. -Two houses and a store in the German settlement had been burned. - -John Brown arose. “I will attend to those fellows,” he said grimly. -“Something must be done to show these barbarians that we too have -rights!”[104] He called four of his sons, Watson, Frederick, Owen and -Oliver, his son-in-law, Henry Thompson, and a German, whose home lay in -ashes. A neighbor with wagon and horses offered to carry the band, and -the cutlasses were carefully sharpened. An uneasy feeling crept through -the onlookers. They knew that John Brown was going to strike a blow for -freedom in Kansas, but they did not understand just what that blow would -be. There were hesitation and whispering, and one at least ventured a -mild remonstrance, but Brown shook him off in disgust. As the wagon -moved off, a cheer arose from the company left behind. - -It was two o’clock on Friday afternoon that the eight men started toward -the Swamp of the Swan. Arriving in the neighborhood they spent Saturday -in quietly and secretly investigating the situation, and in gathering -evidence of the intentions of the “border ruffians.” Although the exact -facts have never all been told, it seems clear that a meeting of the -intended victims was secured at which John Brown himself presided. -Probably it was then decided that the seven ringleaders of the projected -deviltry must be killed, and John Brown was appointed to see that the -deed was done. The men condemned were among the worst of their kind. One -was a liquor dealer in whose disreputable dive the United States court -was held. His brother, a giant of six feet four, was a thief and a bully -whose pastime was insulting free state women. The third was the -postmaster, who managed to avoid direct complicity in the crime, but -shared the spoils. Next came the probate judge, who harried the free -state men with warrants of all sorts; and lastly, three miserable -drunken tools, formerly slave-chasers who had come to Kansas with their -bloodhounds and were ready for any kind of evil. - -These were not the leaders of the pro-slavery party in Kansas, but -rather the dogs which were to worry the free state men to death. The -ringleaders sat securely hedged back of United States bayonets and the -Missouri militia, but their tools depended for their safety on -terrorizing the localities wherein they lived. Here then, said John -Brown, was the spot to strike and, once sentence of death had been -formally passed, the band hurried to its task. The saloon lay on the -creek where the great highway from Leavenworth in the northeastern part -of the state crossed on its way to Fort Scott. Around it within an -hour’s walk were the cabins of the others. In all cases the proceeding -was similar: a silent approach and a quick sharp knocking in the night. -The inmates leapt startled from their beds, for midnight rappings were -ominous there. They hesitated to open the door, but the demand was -peremptory and the door was frail. Then the dark room was filled with -shadowy figures, the man dressed quickly, the woman whimpered and -listened, but the footsteps died away and all was still. Three homes -were visited thus; two of the number could not be found, but five men -went out into the darkness with their captors and never returned. They -were led quickly into the woods and surrounded. John Brown raised his -hand and at the signal the victims were hacked to death with -broadswords. - -The deed inflamed Kansas. The timid rushed to disavow the deed. The free -state people were silent and the pro-slavery party was roused to fury. -Even the silent co-conspirators of Pottawatomie rushed to pledge -themselves “individually and collectively, to prevent a recurrence of a -similar tragedy, and to ferret out and hand over to the criminal -authorities the perpetrators for punishment.” But they took no steps to -lay hands on John Brown and as he said, their cowardice did not protect -them. Four times in four years the wrath of the avengers flamed in the -Swamp of the Swan, and swept the land in fire and blood, and the last -red breath of the expiring war in Kansas glowed in these dark ravines. - -To this day men differ as to the effect of John Brown’s blow. Some say -it freed Kansas, while others say it plunged the land back into civil -war. Truth lies in both statements. The blow freed Kansas by plunging it -into civil war, and compelling men to fight for freedom which they had -vainly hoped to gain by political diplomacy. At first it was hard to see -this, and even those sons of John Brown whom he had not taken with him, -recoiled at the news. One son says: “On the afternoon of Monday, May -26th, a man came to us at Liberty Hill, ... his horse reeking with -sweat, and said, ‘five men have been killed on the Pottawatomie, -horribly cut and mangled; and they say old John Brown did it.’ Hearing -this, I was afraid it was true, and it was the most terrible shock that -ever happened to my feelings in my life; but brother John took a -different view. The next day as we were on the east side of Middle -Creek, I asked father, ‘Did you have any hand in the killing?’ He said, -‘I did not, but I stood by and saw it.’ I did not ask further for fear I -should hear something I did not wish to hear. Frederick said, ‘I could -not feel as if it was right;’ but another of the party said it was -justifiable as a means of self-defense and the defense of others. What I -said against it seemed to hurt father very much; but all he said was, -‘God is my judge,—we were justified under the circumstances.’”[105] - -This was as much as John Brown usually said of the matter, although in -later years a friend relates: “I finally said, ‘Captain Brown, I want to -ask you one question, and you can answer it or not as you please, and I -shall not be offended.’ He stopped his pacing, looked me square in the -face, and said, ‘What is it?’ Said I, ‘Captain Brown, did you kill those -five men on the Pottawatomie, or did you not?’ He replied, ‘I did not; -but I do not pretend to say that they were not killed by my order; and -in doing so I believe I was doing God’s service.’ My wife spoke and -said, ‘Then, captain, you think that God uses you as an instrument in -His hands to kill men?’ Brown replied, ‘I think He has used me as an -instrument to kill men; and if I live, I think He will use me as an -instrument to kill a good many more!’”[106] - -No sooner was the deed known than John Brown became a hunted outlaw. Two -of his sons who had not been with him at the murders were arrested on -Lecompte’s “constructive treason” warrants because they had affiliated -with the free state movement. Horror at his father’s deed and the -cruelty of his captors drove the eldest son temporarily insane, while -the life of the other was saved only by a scrap of paper which said, “I -am aware that you hold my two sons, John and Jason, prisoners—John -Brown.”[107] The old man never wavered. He wrote home: “Jason started to -go and place himself under the protection of the government troops; but -on his way he was taken prisoner by the bogus men, and is yet a -prisoner, I suppose. John tried to hide for several days; but from -feelings of the ungrateful conduct of those who ought to have stood by -him, excessive fatigue, anxiety, and constant loss of sleep, he became -quite insane, and in that situation gave up, or, as we are told, was -betrayed at Osawatomie into the hands of the bogus men. We do not know -all the truth about this affair. He has since, we are told, been kept in -irons, and brought to a trial before bogus court, the result of which we -have not yet learned. We have great anxiety both for him and Jason, and -numerous other prisoners with the enemy (who have all the while had the -government troops to sustain them). We can only commend them to -God.”[108] - -Withdrawing to the forests, John Brown now began to organize his -followers. Thirty-five of them adopted this covenant in the summer of -1856: - -“We whose names are found on these and the next following pages, do -hereby enlist ourselves to serve in the free state cause under John -Brown as commander, during the full period of time affixed to our names -respectively and we severally pledge our word and our sacred honor to -said commander, and to each other, that during the time for which we -have enlisted, we will faithfully and punctually perform our duty (in -such capacity or place as may be assigned to us by a majority of all the -votes of those associated with us, or of the companies to which we may -belong as the case may be) as a regular volunteer force for the -maintenance of the rights and liberties of the free state citizens of -Kansas: and we further agree; that as individuals we will conform to the -by-laws of this organization and that we will insist on their regular -and punctual enforcement as a first and a last duty: and, in short, that -we will observe and maintain a strict and thorough military discipline -at all times until our term of service expires.”[109] - -A score of by-laws were added, providing for electing officers, trial by -jury, disposal of captured property, etc. Then follow these articles: - -“Art. XIV. All uncivil, ungentlemanly, profane, vulgar talk or -conversation shall be discountenanced. - -“Art. XV. All acts of petty theft, needless waste of property of the -members or of citizens are hereby declared disorderly; together with all -uncivil, or unkind treatment of citizens or of prisoners. - -“Art. XX. No person after having first surrendered himself a prisoner -shall be put to death, or subjected to corporeal punishment, without -first having had the benefit of an impartial trial. - -“Art. XXI. The ordinary use or introduction into the camp of any -intoxicating liquor, as a beverage, is hereby declared disorderly.”[110] - -Nor was this ideal of discipline merely on paper. The reporter of the -New York _Tribune_ stumbled on the camp which the authorities did not -dare to find: - -“I shall not soon forget the scene that here opened to my view. Near the -edge of the creek a dozen horses were tied, all ready saddled for a ride -for life, or a hunt after Southern invaders. A dozen rifles and sabres -were stacked against the trees. In an open space, amid the shady and -lofty woods, there was a great blazing fire with a pot on it; a woman, -bareheaded, with an honest sunburnt face, was picking blackberries from -the bushes; three or four armed men were lying on red and blue blankets -on the grass; and two fine-looking youths were standing, leaning on -their arms, on guard near by. One of them was the youngest son of old -Brown, and the other was ‘Charley,’ the brave Hungarian, who was -subsequently murdered at Osawatomie. Old Brown himself stood near the -fire, with his shirt sleeves rolled up, and a large piece of pork in his -hand. He was cooking a pig. He was poorly clad, and his toes protruded -from his boots. The old man received me with great cordiality, and the -little band gathered about me. But it was a moment only; for the captain -ordered them to renew their work. He respectfully but firmly forbade -conversation on the Pottawatomie affair; and said that, if I desired any -information from the company in relation to their conduct or intentions, -he, as their captain, would answer for them whatever it was proper to -communicate. - -“In this camp no manner of profane language was permitted; no man of -immoral character was allowed to stay, excepting as a prisoner of war. -He made prayers in which all the company united, every morning and -evening; and no food was ever tasted by his men until the divine -blessing had been asked on it. After every meal, thanks were returned to -the Bountiful Giver. Often, I was told, the old man would retire to the -densest solitudes, to wrestle with his God in secret prayer. One of his -company subsequently informed me that, after these retirings, he would -say that the Lord had directed him in visions what to do; that for -himself he did not love warfare, but peace,—only acting in obedience to -the will of the Lord, and fighting God’s battles for His children’s -sake. - -“It was at this time that the old man said to me: ‘I would rather have -the smallpox, yellow fever, and cholera all together in my camp, than a -man without principles. It’s a mistake, sir,’ he continued, ‘that our -people make, when they think that bullies are the best fighters, or that -they are the men fit to oppose those Southerners. Give me men of good -principles; God-fearing men; men who respect themselves; and, with a -dozen of them, I will oppose any hundred such men as these Buford -ruffians.’ - -“I remained in the camp about an hour. Never before had I met such a -band of men. They were not earnest but earnestness incarnate.”[111] - -A member of the band says: - -“We stayed here up to the morning of Sunday, the first of June, and -during these few days I fully succeeded in understanding the exalted -character of my old friend. He exhibited at all times the most -affectionate care for each of us. He also attended to cooking. We had -two meals daily, consisting of bread made of flour, baked in skillets; -this was washed down with creek water, mixed with a little ginger and a -spoon of molasses to each pint. Nevertheless we kept in excellent -spirits; we considered ourselves as one family, allied to one another by -the consciousness that it was our duty to undergo all these privations -to further the good cause; had determined to share any danger with one -another, that victory or death might find us together. We were united as -a band of brothers by the love and affection toward the man who with -tender words and wise counsel, in the depth of the wilderness of Ottawa -Creek, prepared a handful of young men for the work of laying the -foundation of a free commonwealth. His words have ever remained firmly -engraved in my mind. Many and various were the instructions he gave -during the days of our compulsory leisure in this camp. He expressed -himself to us that we should never allow ourselves to be tempted by any -consideration to acknowledge laws and institutions to exist as of right, -if our conscience and reason condemned them. He admonished us not to -care whether a majority, no matter how large, opposed our principles and -opinions. The largest majorities were sometimes only organized mobs, -whose howlings never changed black into white, or night into day. A -minority conscious of its rights, based on moral principles, would, -under a republican government, sooner or later become the majority. -Regarding the curse and crimes of the institution of slavery, he -declared that the outrages committed in Kansas to further its extension -had directed the attention of all intelligent citizens of the United -States and of the world to the necessity of its abolishment, as a -stumbling-block in the path of nineteenth century civilization; that -while it was true that the pro-slavery people and their aiders and -abettors had the upper hand at present, and the free state organization -dwindled to a handful hid in the brush, nevertheless, we ought to be of -good cheer, and start the ball to rolling at the first opportunity, no -matter whether its starting motion would even crush us to death. We were -under a protection of a wise Providence, which might use our feeble -efforts. - -“Occasionally Captain Brown also gave us directions for our conduct -during a fight, for attack and retreat. Time and again he entreated us -never to follow the example of the border ruffians, who took a delight -in destruction; never to burn houses or fences, so often done by the -enemy. Free state people could use them to advantage. Repeatedly he -admonished us not to take human life except when absolutely necessary. -Plunder taken from the enemy should be common property, to be used for -continuance of the struggle; horses to go to recruits, cattle and -provision to poor free state people.”[112] - -To this band of men the surrounding country, which was already feeling -the first retaliatory blows of the pro-slavery party, now looked for -aid, and Brown stood ever ready. His men, however, could form but the -nucleus of a spirited defense and for a time the settlers hesitated to -join the band until Brown threatened to withdraw. “Why did you send -Carpenter after us? I am not willing to sacrifice my men without having -some hope of accomplishing something,”[113] he demanded of a hesitating -emissary, and turning to his men he said: “If the cowardice and -indifference of the free state people compel us to leave Kansas, what do -you say, men, if we start south, for instance to Louisiana, and get up a -Negro insurrection, and thereby compel them to let go their grip on -Kansas, and so bring relief to our friends here?” Frederick Brown jumped -up and said: “I am ready.”[114] - -The petty outrages of the Georgia guerrillas now so increased in -boldness and in frequency that a company was hastily formed which called -Brown’s men to the defense of a neighboring village. “We will be with -you,” cried Brown, and thus he told the story of what followed to the -folks at home: - -“The cowardly mean conduct of Osawatomie and vicinity did not save them; -for the ruffians came on them, made numerous prisoners, fired their -buildings, and robbed them. After this a picked party of the bogus men -went to Brown’s Station, burned John’s and Jason’s houses, and their -contents to ashes; in which burning we have all suffered more or less. -Orson and boy have been prisoners, but we soon set them at liberty. They -are well, and have not been seriously injured. Owen and I have just come -here for the first time to look at the ruins. All looks desolate and -forsaken,—the grass and weeds fast covering up the signs that these -places were lately the abodes of quiet families. After burning the -houses, this self-same party of picked men, some forty in number, set -out as they supposed, and as was the fact, on the track of my little -company, boasting with awful profanity, that they would have our scalps. -They, however, passed the place where we hid, and robbed a little town -some four or five miles beyond our camp in the timber. I had omitted to -say that some murders had been committed at the time Lawrence was -sacked. - -“On learning that this party was in pursuit of us, my little company, -now increased to ten in all, started after them in company of a Captain -Shore, with eighteen men, he included (June 1st). We were all mounted as -we traveled. We did not meet them on that day, but took five prisoners, -four of whom were of their scouts, and well armed. We were out all -night, but could find nothing of them until about six o’clock next -morning, when we prepared to attack them at once, on foot, leaving -Frederick and one of Captain Shore’s men to guard the horses. As I was -much older than Captain Shore, the principal direction of the fight -devolved on me. We got to within about a mile of their camp before being -discovered by their scouts, and then moved at a brisk pace, Captain -Shore and men forming our left, and my company the right. When within -about sixty rods of the enemy, Captain Shore’s men halted by mistake in -a very exposed situation, and continued the fire, both his men and the -enemy being armed with Sharps rifles. My company had no long shooters. -We (my company) did not fire a gun until we gained the rear of a bank, -about fifteen or twenty rods to the right of the enemy, where we -commenced, and soon compelled them to hide in a ravine. Captain Shore, -after getting one man wounded, and exhausting his ammunition, came with -part of his men to the right of my position, much discouraged. The -balance of his men, including the one wounded, had left the ground. Five -of Captain Shore’s men came boldly down and joined my company, and all -but one man, wounded, helped to maintain the fight until it was over. I -was obliged to give my consent that he should go after more help, when -all his men left but eight, four of whom I persuaded to remain in a -secure position, and there busied them in the horses and mules of the -enemy, which served for a show of fight. After the firing had continued -for some two to three hours, Captain Pate with twenty-three men, two -badly wounded, laid down their arms to nine men, myself included,—four -of Captain Shore’s men and four of my own. One of my men (Henry -Thompson) was badly wounded, and after continuing his fire for an hour -longer, was obliged to quit the ground. Three others of my company (but -not of my family) had gone off. Salmon was dreadfully wounded by -accident, soon after the fight; but both he and Henry are fast -recovering. - -“A day or two after the fight, Colonel Sumner of the United States army -came suddenly upon us, while fortifying our camp and guarding our -prisoners (which, by the way, it had been agreed mutually should be -exchanged for as many free state men, John and Jason included), and -compelled us to let go our prisoners without being exchanged, and to -give up their horses and arms. They did not go more than two or three -miles before they began to rob and injure free state people. We consider -this in good keeping with the cruel and unjust course of the -administration and its tools throughout this whole Kansas difficulty. -Colonel Sumner also compelled us to disband; and we, being only a -handful, were obliged to submit. - -“Since then we have, like David of old, had our dwellings with the -serpents of the rocks and wild beasts of the wilderness, being obliged -to hide away from our enemies. We are not disheartened, though nearly -destitute of food, clothing, and money. God, who has not given us over -to the will of our enemies, but has moreover delivered them into our -hand, will, we humbly trust, still keep and deliver us. We feel assured -that He who sees not as men see, does not lay the guilt of innocent -blood to our charge.”[115] - -It was John Brown’s hope that the courage engendered by the striking -success of the fight at Black Jack, would spread the spirit of -resistance to the whole free state party. Lawrence, then the capital, -was still surrounded by a chain of forts held by bands of pro-slavery -marauders: one at Franklin just east of the city; another just south and -known as Fort Saunders; and a third between Lawrence and the pro-slavery -capital, Lecompton, known as Fort Titus. When it was rumored that the -United States troops would disperse the free state legislature about to -meet at Topeka, John Brown hurried thither, hoping that resistance would -begin here and sweep the Territory. One of the free state leaders met -him at Lawrence and journeyed with him toward Topeka. Brown and he took -the main road as far as Big Springs, he says, and continues: - -“There we left the road, going in a southwesterly direction for a mile, -when we halted on a hill, and the horses were stripped of their saddles, -and picketed out to graze. The grass was wet with dew. The men ate of -what provision they had with them, and I received a portion from the -captain,—dry beef (which was not so bad), and bread made from corn -bruised between stones, then rolled in balls and cooked in the ashes of -the camp-fire. Captain Brown observed that I nibbled it very gingerly, -and said, ‘I am afraid you will be hardly able to eat a soldier’s harsh -fare.’ - -“We next placed our two saddles together, so that our heads lay only a -few feet apart. Brown spread his blanket on the wet grass, and when we -lay together upon it, mine was spread over us. It was past eleven -o’clock, and we lay there until two in the morning, but we slept none. -He seemed to be as little disposed to sleep as I was, and we talked; or -rather he did, for I said little. I found that he was a thorough -astronomer; he pointed out the different constellations and their -movements. ‘Now,’ he said, ‘it is midnight,’ as he pointed to the -finger-marks of his great clock in the sky. The whispering of the wind -on the prairie was full of voices to him, and the stars as they shone in -the firmament of God seemed to inspire him. ‘How admirable is the -symmetry of the heaven; how grand and beautiful! Everything moves in -sublime harmony in the government of God. Not so with us poor creatures. -If one star is more brilliant than others, it is continually shooting in -some erratic way into space.’ - -“He criticized both parties in Kansas. Of the pro-slavery men he said -that slavery besotted everything, and made men more brutal and -coarse—nor did the free state men escape his sharp censure. He said that -we had many noble and true men, but too many broken-down politicians -from the older states, who would rather pass resolutions than act, and -who criticized all who did real work. A professional politician, he went -on, you never could trust; for even if he had convictions, he was always -ready to sacrifice his principles for his advantage. One of the most -interesting things in his conversation that night, and one that marked -him as a theorist, was his treatment of our forms of social and -political life. He thought that society ought to be organized on a less -selfish basis; for while material interests gained something by the -deification of pure selfishness, men and women lost much by it. He said -that all great reforms, like the Christian religion, were based on -broad, generous, self-sacrificing principles. He condemned the sale of -land as a chattel, and thought that there was an indefinite number of -wrongs to right before society would be what it should be, but that in -our country slavery was the ‘sum of all villanies,’ and its abolition -the first essential work. If the American people did not take courage -and end it speedily, human freedom and republican liberty would soon be -empty names in these United States.” - -Early next morning the party pressed on until they came in sight of the -town. Brown would not enter but sent a messenger ahead, and the narrator -continues: - -“As he wrung my hand at parting, he urged that we should have the -legislature meet, resist all who should interfere with it, and fight, if -necessary, even the United States troops. He had told me the night -before of his visit to many of the fortifications in Europe, and -criticized them sharply, holding that modern warfare did away with them, -and that a well-armed brave soldier was the best fortification. He -criticized all the arms then in use, and showed me a fine -repeating-rifle which he said would carry eight hundred yards; but he -added, ‘The way to fight is to press to close quarters.’”[116] - -The Topeka journey was in vain. The legislature quietly dispersed at the -command of Colonel Sumner, and John Brown saw that his only hope of -stirring up effective resistance lay in Lane’s “army” of immigrants, -then approaching the northern boundaries of Kansas, with whom was his -son-in-law’s brother. Taking, therefore, his wounded son-in-law and -leaving his band, he pressed forward alone on a dangerous and wearisome -way of one hundred and fifty miles through the enemy’s country. Hinton -saw him as he rode into one of the camps and says: - -“‘Have you a man in your camp named William Thompson? You are from -Massachusetts, young man, I believe, and Mr. Thompson joined you at -Buffalo.’ These words were addressed to me by an elderly man, riding a -worn-looking, gaunt gray horse. It was on a late July day, and in its -hottest hours. I had been idly watching a wagon and one horse, toiling -slowly northward across the prairie, along the emigrant trail that had -been marked out by free state men under command of ‘Sam’ Walker and -Aaron D. Stevens, who was then known as ‘Colonel Whipple.’ John Brown, -whose name the young and ardent had begun to conjure with and swear by, -had been described to me. So, as I heard the question, I looked up and -met the full, strong gaze of a pair of luminous, questioning eyes. -Somehow I instinctively knew this was John Brown, and with that name I -replied, saying that Thompson was in our company. It was a long, -rugged-featured face I saw. A tall, sinewy figure, too (he had -dismounted), five feet eleven, I estimated, with square shoulders, -narrow flank, sinewy and deep-chested. A frame full of nervous power, -but not impressing one especially with muscular vigor. The impression -left by the pose and the figure was that of reserve, endurance, and -quiet strength. The questioning voice-tones were mellow, magnetic, and -grave. On the weather-worn face was a stubby, short, gray beard, -evidently of recent growth.... This figure,—unarmed, poorly clad, with -coarse linen trousers tucked into high, heavy cowhide boots, with heavy -spurs on their heels, a cotton shirt opened at the throat, a long torn -linen duster, and a bewrayed chip straw hat he held in his hand as he -waited for Thompson to reach us, made up the outward garb and appearance -of John Brown when I first met him. In ten minutes his mounted figure -disappeared over the north horizon.”[117] - -Pushing on northward, Brown found asylum for his wounded follower at -Tabor, Ia. Returning, he joined the main body of Lane’s men at Nebraska -City. Here again arose divided counsels. Radical leaders like Lane and -Brown were proscribed men, and United States troops stood on the borders -of Iowa to prevent the entrance of armed bodies. It was decided, -therefore, that Lane must not enter with the immigrants, and a letter to -this effect was brought to him by Samuel Walker, a free state leader. -Walker says: - -“After reading it he sat for a long time with his head bowed and the -tears running down his cheeks. Finally he looked up and said: ‘Walker, -if you say the people of Kansas don’t want me, it’s all right, and I’ll -blow my brains out. I can never go back to the states, and look the -people in the face, and tell them that as soon as I got these Kansas -friends of mine fairly into danger I had to abandon them. I can’t do it. -No matter what I say in my own defense, no one will believe it. I’ll -blow my brains out and end the thing right here.’ ‘General,’ said I, -‘the people of Kansas would rather have you than all the party at -Nebraska City. I have got fifteen good boys that are my own. If you will -put yourself under my orders I’ll take you through all right.’”[118] - -Thus Walker, Lane, and John Brown with a party of thirty stole into -Kansas and started anew the flame of civil war. - -Brown’s old company, organized early in 1858, was mounted and brought to -the front, and a systematic effort was made by Lane to free Lawrence -from its beleaguering forts. The first attack was directed against -Franklin on the night of August 12th, and as ex-Senator Atchison of -Missouri indignantly reported: “Three hundred Abolitionists, under this -same Brown, attacked the town of Franklin, robbed, plundered and burned, -took all the arms in town, broke open and destroyed the post-office, -captured the old cannon ‘Sacramento,’ which our gallant Missourians -captured in Mexico, and are now turning its mouth against our -friends.”[119] Two days later the little army turned southward to Fort -Saunders. Lane deployed his forces before it with John Brown’s cavalry -on his right wing. A charge was ordered and the garrison fled to the -woods, leaving an untasted dinner and large stores of goods. On August -16th, Fort Titus on the road to Lecompton was besieged with cannon, and -finally fired by a load of hay; Colonel Titus, a Georgian, was captured -and John Brown and other leaders wanted to hang him, for he was one of -the most brutal of the border-ruffian commanders. Sam Walker, however, -saved his neck. - -So furious had been this short campaign that the pro-slavery party sued -for a truce. Walker tells how “on the following day Governor Shannon and -Major Sedgwick came to Lawrence to negotiate an exchange of prisoners. -They held about thirty of our men and we forty of theirs. It was agreed -to ‘swap even,’ we surrendering all their men, including Titus; they to -hand over all our men and cannon they had captured at the sacking of -Lawrence. I insisted very strongly on this last point of the contract, -for when the gun was taken I swore I would have it back within six -months. I had the pleasure of escorting our prisoners to Sedgwick’s -camp, and receiving the cannon and the prisoners held by the enemy -there, in exchange.”[120] - -The whirlwind of guerrilla warfare now swept back to the dark ravines of -the Swamp of the Swan. After the murders of May came the first counter -attack of early June, culminating in the battle of Black Jack. This -check quelled the pro-slavery party a while and they began manning the -forts around Lawrence. On August 5th the free state men struck a -retaliating blow while John Brown was absent in Nebraska, although he -was credited with being present by the Missouri newspapers. Similar -skirmishes followed, and the advantage was now so completely with the -free state forces, that a final crushing blow was planned by the slave -party of Missouri. Manifestoes swept the state, and “No quarter” was the -motto. The Missourians responded with alacrity and a great mass crossed -the border divided into two wings. The lesser attacked Osawatomie and a -newspaper in Missouri said: - -“The attack on Osawatomie was by part of an army of eleven hundred and -fifty men, of whom Atchison was major-general. General Reid with two -hundred and fifty men and one piece of artillery, moved on to attack -Osawatomie; he arrived near that place and was attacked by two hundred -Abolitionists under the command of the notorious John Brown, who -commenced firing upon Reid from a thick chaparral four hundred yards -off. General Reid made a successful charge, killing thirty-one, and -taking seven prisoners. Among the killed was Frederick Brown. The -notorious John Brown was also killed, by a pro-slavery man named White, -in attempting to cross the Marais des Cygnes. The pro-slavery party have -five wounded. On the same day Captain Hays, with forty men, attacked the -house of the notorious Ottawa Jones, burned it, and killed two -Abolitionists. Jones fled to the cornfield, was shot by Hays, and is -believed to be dead.”[121] - -But John Brown was not dead and was ever after known as “Osawatomie” -Brown. He wrote home September 7th saying: - -“I have one moment to write to you, to say that I am yet alive, that -Jason and family were well yesterday; John and family, I hear, are well -(he being yet a prisoner). On the morning of the 30th of August an -attack was made by the ruffians on Osawatomie, numbering some four -hundred, by whose scouts our dear Frederick was shot dead without -warning,—he supposing them to be free state men, as near as we can -learn. One other man, a cousin of Mr. Adair, was murdered by them about -the same time that Frederick was killed, and one badly wounded at the -same time. At this time I was about three miles off, where I had some -fourteen or fifteen men over night that I had just enlisted to serve -under me as regulars. These I collected as well as I could, with some -twelve or fifteen more; and in about three-quarters of an hour I -attacked them from a wood with thick undergrowth. With this force we -threw them into confusion for about fifteen or twenty minutes, during -which time we killed or wounded from seventy to eighty of the enemy,—as -they say,—and then we escaped as well as we could, with one killed while -escaping, two or three wounded, and as many more missing. Four or five -free state men were butchered during the day in all. Jason fought -bravely by my side during the fight, and escaped with me, he being -unhurt. I was struck by a partly-spent grape, canister, or rifle shot, -which bruised me some, but did not injure me seriously. Hitherto the -Lord has helped me.”[122] - -A cheer went up from all free Kansas over this vigorous defense, and for -once there was unanimity among the leaders of the free state cause. -Robinson, the wariest of them, wrote: “I cheerfully accord to you my -heartfelt thanks for your prompt, efficient, and timely action against -the invaders of our rights and the murderers of our citizens. History -will give your name a proud place on her pages, and posterity will pay -homage to your heroism in the cause of God and humanity.”[123] - -Meantime the Missourians, after their hard-won victory, hastened back to -join the larger wing of the invaders, and so disconcerting was their -report, that when Lane made a feint against them, they started to -retreat. Governor Woodson’s call for the “territorial militia,” however, -heartened them and gave them legal standing. By September 15th they were -threatening Kansas again with nearly 3,000 men. The nation, however, was -now aroused and the new governor, Geary, with orders to make peace at -all costs, was hurrying forward. Among the first whom he summoned to -secret conference was John Brown. Brown came to Lawrence and was -leaving, satisfied with Geary’s promises, when the invading army of -Missourians suddenly appeared before the city. He immediately returned -to the town, where there were only 200 fighting men. He was asked to -take command of the defense but declined, preferring to act with his -usual independence. About five o’clock Monday, the 15th, he mounted a -dry-goods box on Main Street opposite the post-office and spoke to the -people: - -“Gentlemen,—it is said that there are twenty-five hundred Missourians -down at Franklin, and that they will be here in two hours. You can see -for yourselves the smoke they are making by setting fire to the houses -in that town. Now is probably the last opportunity you will have of -seeing a fight, so that you had better do your best. If they should come -up and attack us, don’t yell and make a great noise, but remain -perfectly silent and still. Wait 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 sights of your guns. It -is from 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.”[124] - -It was a desperate situation. The free state forces were scattered, -leaving but a handful to face an army. But in that handful was John -Brown, and the invaders knew it, and advanced cautiously. Redpath who -was with Brown says: “About five o’clock in the afternoon, their -advance-guard, consisting of four hundred horsemen, crossed the -Wakarusa, and presented themselves in sight of the town, about two miles -off, when they halted, and arrayed themselves for battle, fearing, -perhaps, to come within too close range of Sharps rifle balls. Brown’s -movement now was a little on the offensive order; for he ordered out all -the Sharps riflemen from every part of the town,—in all not more than -forty or fifty,—marched them a half mile into the prairie, and arranged -them three paces apart, in a line parallel with that of the enemy; and -then they lay down upon their faces in the grass, awaiting the order to -fire.”[125] - -The invaders hesitated, halted and then retired. John Brown says: - -“I know of no possible reason why they did not attack and burn that -place except that about one hundred free state men volunteered to go out -on the open plain before the town and there give them the offer of a -fight, which they declined after getting some few scattering shots from -our men, and then retreated back toward Franklin. I saw that whole -thing. The government troops at this time were with Governor Geary at -Lecompton, a distance of twelve miles only from Lawrence, and, -notwithstanding several runners had been to advise him in good time of -the approach or of the setting out of the enemy, who had to march some -forty miles to reach Lawrence, he did not on that memorable occasion get -a single soldier on the ground until after the enemy had retreated back -to Franklin, and had been gone for about five hours. He did get the -troops there about midnight afterward; and that is the way he saved -Lawrence, as he boasts of doing in his message to the bogus legislature! - -“This was just the kind of protection the administration and its tools -have afforded the free state settlers of Kansas from the first. It has -cost the United States more than a half million, for a year past, to -harass poor free state settlers in Kansas, and to violate all law, and -all right, moral and constitutional, for the sole and only purpose of -forcing slavery upon that territory. I challenge this whole nation to -prove before God or mankind the contrary. Who paid this money to enslave -the settlers of Kansas and worry them out? I say nothing in this -estimate of the money wasted by Congress in the management of this -horrible, tyrannical, and damnable affair.”[126] - -The withdrawal, however, was but temporary and it seems hardly possible -that Lawrence could have escaped a second capture and burning had not -Geary thrown himself into the breach with great earnestness. As he -reported: “Fully appreciating the awful calamities that were impending, -I hastened with all possible dispatch to the encampment, assembled the -officers of the militia, and in the name of the President of the United -States demanded a suspension of hostilities. I had sent, in advance, the -secretary and adjutant-general of the Territory, with orders to carry -out the letter and spirit of my proclamations; but up to the time of my -arrival, these orders had been unheeded, and I discovered but little -disposition to obey them. I addressed the officers in command at -considerable length, setting forth the disastrous consequences of such a -demonstration as was contemplated, and the absolute necessity of more -lawful and conciliatory measures to restore peace, tranquillity, and -prosperity to the country. I read my instructions from the President, -and convinced them that my whole course of procedure was in accordance -therewith, and called upon them to aid me in my efforts, not only to -carry out these instructions, but to support and enforce the laws and -the Constitution of the United States.”[127] - -Without doubt Geary especially emphasized the fact that another sacking -of Lawrence would possibly defeat Buchanan and elect Frémont. What -chance would there be then for the pro-slavery party? - -The Missourians were thus induced to retreat, partly by Geary’s logic, -partly perhaps by John Brown’s resolute handling of his patently -inadequate but nevertheless efficient force. They marched back home, -leaving a trail of flame and ashes—the last and largest Missouri -invasion of Kansas, the culmination and failure of the pro-slavery -policy of force. - -Geary now began successfully to cope with the Kansas situation. His most -puzzling problem was John Brown and his ilk. His experience soon led him -to see the righteousness of the free state cause, but he had to insist -on law and order even under the “bogus” laws, promising equitable -treatment in the future. Immediately the free state party split into its -old divisions: the small body of irreconcilables like John Brown, who -were fighting slavery in Kansas and everywhere; and the far larger mass -of compromisers like Robinson, whose only object was to make a free -state of Kansas, and who were willing to concede all else. Under such -circumstances the best move was to get rid of John Brown. To have sought -to arrest him would have precipitated civil war again. Could he not be -induced quietly to leave on promise of immunity? Accordingly, Geary -issued a warrant against Brown, but gave it into the hands of the -friendly Samuel Walker whom he had previously asked to warn the old man. -Brown was not loath. His work in Kansas, so far as he could then see, -was done. The state was bound to be free and further than that few -Kansans cared. They had no enmity toward slavery as such which called -them to a crusade; far from regarding Negroes as brothers, they disliked -them and were willing to disfranchise them and crowd them from the -state. - -Among such folk there was no place for John Brown. His greater mission -called him. Kansas had been an interlude only, although for a time he -hoped to make it the chief battle-ground. Now he knew better and again -the Alleghanies beckoned. To be sure, he owed Kansas much. Here he had -passed through his baptism of fire, and had offered the sacrifice of -blood to his God. He was sterner stuff now, ready to go whithersoever -the Master called; and he heard Him calling. Not only had he learned a -method of warfare in Kansas—he had learned to know a band of simple -honest young fellows, hot with the wine of youth, hero-worshipers ready -to do and dare in a great cause. Thus the worst difficulties of the past -disappeared and the way lay clear. Only one thing oppressed him—he was -old and sick, a tired, toil-racked man. Could he live and do the Lord’s -will? - -His company of regulators was formally disbanded but left spiritually -intact, and he started north late in September, 1856, taking with him -his four sons, John, Jr., who had at last been released, Jason, Salmon, -and Oliver, and also, true to his cause, a fugitive slave whom he had -chanced upon. As he moved northward the United States troops, unaware of -Geary’s diplomacy, shadowed and all but captured him. Yet he passed -safely through their very midst with his old wagon and cow and the -hidden slave, displaying his surveyor’s instruments. Thus silently John -Brown disappeared from Kansas, and for a year nothing was heard of him -in his former haunts. Only his near friends knew that he had gone -eastward, and a few of them hinted at his great mission. Matters moved -swiftly in Kansas. There was more and more evident a free state -majority. But would the pro-slavery administration let it be counted? -The new governor was trying to save something for his masters, but the -irreconcilables of the Lane and John Brown type doubted it. - -“I bless God,” wrote Brown in April, “that He has not left the free -state men of Kansas to pollute themselves by the foul and loathsome -embrace.... I have been trembling all along lest they might ‘back down’ -from the high and holy ground they had taken. I say in view of the -wisdom, firmness and patience of my friends and fellow sufferers in the -cause of humanity, let the Lord’s name be eternally praised!”[128] -Notwithstanding this attitude of many of the free state party, they were -prevailed upon to vote in the state election of October, 1857. As a -concession, however, Lane was appointed to guard the ballot-boxes and, -hearing that John Brown was back again in Iowa, he sent for him in hot -haste. His messengers found the old man sick and disappointed among his -staunch Quaker friends at Tabor. Brown offered to come if supplied with -“three good teams, with well-covered wagons, and ten really ingenious, -industrious (not gassy) men, with about one hundred and fifty dollars in -cash.”[129] These demands were not met until too late, so that Brown -returned the money and did not appear in Kansas until the election was -over, and the free state forces had triumphed. This had now but passing -interest for him. He had other objects in Kansas and flitted noiselessly -about among the picked men who had promised their aid. Then he -disappeared again. Eight months passed away, when suddenly another -Kansas outrage startled the nation. It was the last vengeful echo of -that first night of murder in the Swamp of the Swan. In 1856 Linn and -Bourbon counties, some miles below the original Brown settlement, had -been cleared of free state settlers. In 1857 these settlers ventured to -return and found the pro-slavery forces centred at Fort Scott, waiting -for Congress to pass the Lecompton constitution. Thus in 1857 and 1858 -the expiring horror of Kansas guerrilla warfare centred in southeast -Kansas. The pro-slavery forces saw the state slipping from them, but -they determined by desperate blows to plant slavery so deeply in the -counties next to Missouri that no free state majority could possibly -uproot it. To accomplish this it was necessary again to drive off the -free state settlers. The settlers objected and led by James Montgomery, -there ensued a series of bloody reprisals culminating in May, 1858, two -years after the first May massacre. A Georgian with a remnant of -Buford’s band again rode down amid the calm silent beauty of the Swamp -of the Swan. They gathered eleven unarmed farmers from their fields and -homes and marched them to a gloomy ravine near Snyder’s blacksmith shop; -there the party killed four and badly wounded six others, leaving them -all for dead. - -The echoes of this last desperate blow had scarcely died before John -Brown appeared on the scene and attempted to buy and fortify the very -blacksmith shop where the murders were done. He writes to Eastern -friends: - -“I am here with about ten of my men, located on the same quarter-section -where the terrible murders of the 19th of May were committed, called the -Hamilton or trading-post murders. Deserted farms and dwellings lie in -all directions for some miles along the line, and the remaining -inhabitants watch every appearance of persons moving about, with anxious -jealousy and vigilance. Four of the persons wounded or attacked on that -occasion are staying with me. The blacksmith Snyder, who fought the -murderers, with his brother and son are of the number. Old Mr. -Hairgrove, who was terribly wounded at the same time, is another. The -blacksmith returned here with me and intends to bring back his family on -to his claim within two or three days. A constant fear of new trouble -seems to prevail on both sides of the line, and on both sides are -companies of armed men. Any little affair may open the quarrel afresh. -Two murders and cases of robbery are reported of late. I have also a man -with me who fled from his family and farm in Missouri but a day or two -since, his life being threatened on account of being accused of -informing Kansas men of the whereabouts of one of the murderers, who was -lately taken and brought to this side. I have concealed the fact of my -presence pretty much, lest it should tend to create excitement; but it -is getting leaked out, and will soon be known to all. As I am not here -to seek or secure revenge, I do not mean to be the first to reopen the -quarrel. How soon it may be raised against me, I cannot say; nor am I -over-anxious.”[130] - -He quickly had fifteen of his former companions in arms organized as -“Shubel Morgan’s Company” under the old regulations, and he eagerly -sought out and coöperated with Captain Montgomery. The vigil was long -and wearisome. “I had lain every night without shelter,” he writes, -“suffering from cold rains and heavy dews, together with the oppressive -heat of the days.”[131] Hinton met Brown at this time and found him not -only unwell but “somewhat more impatient and nervous in his manner than -I had ever before observed. Soon after my arrival, he remarked again in -conversation as to the various public men in the Territory. Captain -Montgomery’s name was introduced, and I inquired how Mr. Brown liked -him. The captain was quite enthusiastic in praise of him, avowing a most -perfect confidence in his integrity and purposes. ‘Captain Montgomery,’ -he said, ‘is the only soldier I have met among the prominent Kansas men. -He understands my system of warfare exactly. He is a natural chieftain, -and knows how to lead.’ - -“Of his own early treatment at the hands of ambitious ‘leaders,’ to -which I alluded in bitter terms, he said: - -“‘They acted up to their instincts, as politicians. They thought every -man wanted to lead, and therefore supposed I might be in the way of -their schemes. While they had this feeling, of course they opposed me. -Many men did not like the manner in which I conducted warfare, and they -too opposed me. Committees and councils could not control my movements; -therefore they did not like me. But politicians and leaders soon found -that I had different purposes and forgot their jealousy. They have all -been kind to me since.’ - -“Further conversation ensued relative to the free state struggle, in -which I, criticizing the management of it from an anti-slavery point of -view, pronounced it, ‘an abortion.’ Captain Brown looked at me with a -peculiar expression in the eyes, as if struck by the word and in a -musing manner remarked, ‘Abortion!—yes, that’s the word!’ - -“‘For twenty years,’ he said, ‘I have never made any business -arrangement which would prevent me at any time answering the call of the -Lord. I have kept my business in such a condition, that in two weeks I -could always wind up my affairs, and be ready to obey the call. I have -permitted nothing to be in the way of my duty, neither my wife, -children, nor worldly goods. Whenever the occasion offered, I was ready. -The hour is very near at hand, and all who are willing to act should be -ready.’”[132] - -During the fall John Brown coöperated with Montgomery in his guerrilla -warfare, and laid out miniature fortifications with his men. While he -himself was not personally present in Montgomery’s fights, he usually -helped plan them and sent his men along. Meantime winter set in and John -Brown knew that hostilities would cease. Once again he turned to his -long and exasperatingly interrupted life-work. Just after the famous -raid on Fort Scott, he had a chance not only to begin his greater work -but to strike a blow at slavery right in Kansas. Hinton says: “On the -Sunday following the expedition of Fort Scott, as I was scouting down -the line, I ran across a colored man, whose ostensible purpose was the -selling of brooms. He soon solved the problem as to the propriety of -making a confidant of me, and I found that his name was Jim Daniels; -that his wife, self, and babies belonged to an estate, and were to be -sold at administrator’s sale in the immediate future. His present -business was not selling of brooms particularly, but to find help to get -himself, family, and a few friends in the vicinity away from these -threatened conditions. Daniels was a fine-looking mulatto. I immediately -hunted up Brown, and it was soon arranged to go the following night and -give what assistance we could. I am sure that Brown, in his mind, was -just waiting for something to turn up; or, in his way of thinking, was -expecting or hoping that God would provide him a basis of action. When -this came, he hailed it as heaven-sent.”[133] - -John Brown himself told the story in the New York _Tribune_: - -“Not one year ago eleven quiet citizens of this neighborhood,—William -Robertson, William Colpetzer, Amos Hall, Austin Hall, John Campbell, Asa -Snyder, Thomas Stillwell, William Hairgrove, Asa Hairgrove, Patrick -Ross, and B. L. Reed,—were gathered up from their work and their homes -by an armed force under one Hamilton, and without trial or opportunity -to speak in their own defense were formed into line, and all but one -shot,—five killed and five wounded. One fell unharmed, pretending to be -dead. All were left for dead. The only crime charged against them was -that of being free state men. Now, I inquire what action has ever, since -the occurrence in May last, been taken by either the President of the -United States, the governor of Missouri, the governor of Kansas, or any -of their tools, or by any pro-slavery or administration man, to ferret -out and punish the perpetrators of this crime. - -“Now for the other parallel. On Sunday, December 19th, a Negro man -called Jim came over to Osage settlement, from Missouri, and stated that -he, together with his wife, two children, and another Negro man, was to -be sold within a day or two, and begged for help to get away. On Monday -(the following) night, two small companies were made up to go to -Missouri and forcibly liberate the five slaves, together with other -slaves. One of these companies I assumed to direct. We proceeded to the -place, surrounding the buildings, liberated the slaves, and also took -certain property supposed to belong to the estate. We, however, learned -before leaving that a portion of the articles we had belonged to a man -living on the plantation as a tenant, and who was supposed to have no -interest in the estate. We promptly returned to him all we had taken. We -then went to another plantation, where we found five more slaves, took -some property and two white men. We all moved slowly away into the -Territory for some distance, and then sent the white men back, telling -them to follow us as soon as they chose to do so. The other company -freed one female slave, took some property, and, as I am informed, -killed one white man (the master), who fought against the liberation. - -“Now for comparison. Eleven persons are forcibly restored to their -natural and inalienable rights, with but one man killed, and all ‘hell -is stirred from beneath.’ It is currently reported that the governor of -Missouri has made a requisition upon the governor of Kansas for the -delivery of all such as were concerned in the last named ‘dreadful -outrage.’ The marshal of Kansas is said to be collecting a posse of -Missouri (not Kansas) men at West Point, in Missouri, a little town -about ten miles distant, to ‘enforce the laws.’ All pro-slavery, -conservative, free state, and dough-face men and administration tools -are filled with holy horror.”[134] - -One of the slaves, Samuel Harper, afterward told of this wonderful -_katabasis_ of a thousand miles in the teeth of the elements and in -defiance of the law: - -“It was mighty slow traveling. You see there were several different -parties amongst our band, and our masters had people looking all over -for us. We would ride all night, and then maybe, we would have to stay -several days in one house to keep from getting caught. In a month we had -only got to a place near Topeka, which was about forty miles from where -we started. There was twelve of us at the one house of a man named -Doyle, besides the captain and his men, when there came along a gang of -slave-hunters. One of Captain Brown’s men, Stevens, he went down to them -and said:—‘Gentlemen, you look as if you were looking for somebody or -something.’ ‘Aye, yes!’ says the leader, ‘we think as how you have some -of our slaves up yonder in that there house.’ ‘Is that so?’ says -Stevens. ‘Well, come on right along with me, and you can look them over -and see.’ - -“We were watching this here conversation all the time, and when we see -Stevens coming up to the house with that there man, we just didn’t know -what to make of it. We began to get scared that Stevens was going to -give us to them slave-hunters. But the looks of things changed when -Stevens got up to the house. He just opened the door long enough for to -grab a double-barreled gun. He pointed it at the slave-hunter, and says: -‘You want to see your slaves, does you? Well, just look up them barrels -and see if you can find them.’ That man just went all to pieces. He -dropped his gun, his legs went trembling, and the tears most started -from his eyes. Stevens took and locked him up in the house. When the -rest of his crowd seen him captured, they ran away as fast as they could -go. - -“Captain Brown went to see the prisoner, and says to him, ‘I’ll show you -what it is to look after slaves, my man.’ That frightened the prisoner -awful. He was a kind of old fellow and when he heard what the captain -said, I suppose he thought he was going to be killed. He began to cry -and beg to be let go. The captain he only smiled a little bit, and -talked some more to him, and the next day he was let go. - -“A few days afterward, the United States marshal came up with another -gang to capture us. There was about seventy-five of them, and they -surrounded the house, and we was all afraid we was going to be took for -sure. But the captain he just said, ‘Get ready, boys, and we’ll whip -them all.’ There was only fourteen of us altogether, but the captain was -a terror to them, and when he stepped out of the house and went for them -the whole seventy-five of them started running. Captain Brown and Kagi -and some others chased them, and captured five prisoners. There was a -doctor and lawyer amongst them. They all had nice horses. The captain -made them get down. Then he told five of us slaves to mount the beasts -and we rode them while the white men had to walk. It was early in the -spring, and the mud on the roads was away over their ankles. I just tell -you it was mighty tough walking, and you can believe those fellows had -enough of slave-hunting. The next day the captain let them all go. - -“Our masters kept spies watching till we crossed the border. When we got -to Springdale, Ia., a man came to see Captain Brown, and told him there -was a lot of friends down in a town in Kansas that wanted to see him. -The captain said he did not care to go down, but as soon as the man -started back, Captain Brown followed him. When he came back, he said -there was a whole crowd coming up to capture us. We all went up to the -schoolhouse and got ourselves ready to fight. - -“The crowd came and hung around the schoolhouse a few days, but they -didn’t try to capture us. The governor of Kansas, he telegraphed to the -United States marshal at Springdale: ‘Capture John Brown, dead or -alive.’ The marshal he answered: ‘If I try to capture John Brown it’ll -be dead, and I’ll be the one that’ll be dead.’ Finally those Kansas -people went home, and then that same marshal put us in a car and sent us -to Chicago. It took us over three months to get to Canada.... What kind -of a man was Captain Brown? He was a great big man, over six feet tall, -with great big shoulders, and long hair, white as snow. He was a very -quiet man, awful quiet. He never even laughed. After we was free we was -wild of course, and we used to cut up all kinds of foolishness. But the -captain would always look as solemn as a graveyard. Sometimes he just -let out the tiniest bit of a smile, and says: ‘You’d better quit your -fooling and take up your book.’”[135] - -On the 12th of March, 1859, nearly three months after the starting, John -Brown landed his fugitives safely in Canada “under the lion’s paw.” The -old man lifted his hands and said: “Lord, permit Thy servant to die in -peace; for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation! I could not brook the -thought that any ill should befall you,—least of all, that you should be -taken back to slavery. The arm of Jehovah protected us.”[136] - - - - - CHAPTER VIII - THE GREAT PLAN - - “Is not this the fast that I have chosen? To loose the bands of - wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go - free, and that ye break every yoke?” - - -“Sir, the angel of the Lord will camp round about me,” said John Brown -with stern eyes when the timid foretold his doom.[137] With a steadfast -almost superstitious faith in his divine mission, the old man had walked -unscathed out of Kansas in the fall of 1856, two years and a half before -the slave raid into Missouri related in the last chapter. In his mind -lay a definitely matured plan for attacking slavery in the United States -in such a way as would shake its very foundations. The plan had been -long forming, and changing in shape from 1828, when he proposed a Negro -school in Hudson, until 1859 when he finally fixed on Harper’s Ferry. At -first he thought to educate Negroes in the North and let them leaven the -lump of slaves. Then, moving forward a step, he determined to settle in -a border state and educate slaves openly or clandestinely and send them -out as emissaries. As gradually he became acquainted with the great work -and wide ramifications of the Underground Railroad, he conceived the -idea of central depots for running off slaves in the inaccessible -portions of the South, and he began studying Southern geography with -this in view. He noted the rivers, swamps and mountains, and more -especially, the great struggling heights of the Alleghanies, which swept -from his Pennsylvania home down to the swamps of Virginia, Carolina and -Georgia. His Kansas experiences suggested for a time the southwest -pathway to Louisiana by the swamps of the Red and Arkansas Rivers, but -this was but a passing thought; he soon reverted to the great spur of -the Alleghanies. - -“I never shall forget,” writes Thomas Wentworth Higginson, “the quiet -way in which he once told me that ‘God had established the Alleghany -Mountains from the foundation of the world that they might one day be a -refuge for fugitive slaves.’ I did not know then that his own home was -among the Adirondacks.”[138] - -More and more, as he thought and worked, did his great plan present -itself to him clearly and definitely until finally it stood in 1858 as -Kagi told it to Hinton: - -“The mountains of Virginia were named as the place of refuge, and as a -country admirably adapted in which to carry on guerrilla warfare. In the -course of the conversation, Harper’s Ferry was mentioned as a point to -be seized, but not held,—on account of the arsenal. The white members of -the company were to act as officers of different guerrilla bands, which, -under the general command of John Brown, were to be composed of Canadian -refugees, and the Virginia slaves who would join them. A different time -of the year was mentioned for the commencement of the warfare from that -which had lately been chosen. It was not anticipated that the first -movement would have any other appearance to the masters than a slave -stampede, or local insurrection, at most. The planters would pursue -their chattels and be defeated. The militia would then be called out, -and would also be defeated. It was not intended that the movement should -appear to be of large dimension, but that, gradually increasing in -magnitude, it should, as it opened, strike terror into the heart of the -slave states by the amount of the organization it would exhibit, and the -strength it gathered. They anticipated, after the first blow had been -struck, that, by the aid of the free and Canadian Negroes who would join -them, they could inspire confidence in the slaves, and induce them to -rally. No intention was expressed of gathering a large body of slaves, -and removing them to Canada. On the contrary, Kagi clearly stated, in -answer to my inquiries, that the design was to make the fight in the -mountains of Virginia, extending it to North Carolina, and Tennessee, -and also to the swamps of South Carolina if possible. Their purpose was -not the extradition of one or a thousand slaves, but their liberation in -the states wherein they were born, and were now held in bondage. ‘The -mountains and swamps of the South were intended by the Almighty,’ said -John Brown to me afterward, ‘for a refuge for the slave, and a defense -against the oppressor.’ Kagi spoke of having marked out a chain of -counties extending continuously through South Carolina, Georgia, -Alabama, and Mississippi. He had traveled over a large portion of the -region indicated, and from his own personal knowledge, and with the -assistance of Canadian Negroes who had escaped from those states, they -had arranged a general plan of attack. - -“The counties he named were those which contained the largest proportion -of slaves, and would, therefore, be the best in which to strike. The -blow struck at Harper’s Ferry was to be in the spring, when the planters -were busy, and the slaves most needed. The arms in the arsenal were to -be taken to the mountains, with such slaves that joined. The telegraph -wires were to be cut, and the railroad tracks torn up in all directions. -As fast as possible other bands besides the original ones were to be -formed, and a continuous chain of posts established in the mountains. -They were to be supported by provisions taken from the farms of the -oppressors. They expected to be speedily and constantly reënforced; -first, by the arrival of those men, who, in Canada, were anxiously -looking and praying for the time of deliverance, and then by the slaves -themselves. The intention was to hold the egress to the free states as -long as possible, in order to retreat when that was advisable. Kagi, -however, expected to retreat southward, not in the contrary direction. -The slaves were to be armed with pikes, scythes, muskets, shotguns, and -other simple instruments of defense; the officers, white or black, and -such of the men as were skilled and trustworthy, to have the use of the -Sharps rifles and revolvers. They anticipated procuring provisions -enough for subsistence by forage, as also arms, horses, and ammunition. -Kagi said one of the reasons that induced him to go into the enterprise -was a full conviction that at no very distant day forcible efforts for -freedom would break out among the slaves, and that slavery might be more -speedily abolished by such efforts, than by any other means. He knew by -observation in the South, that in no point was the system so vulnerable -as in its fear of slave-rising. Believing that such a blow would soon be -struck, he wanted to organize it so as to make it more effectual, and -also, by directing and controlling the Negroes, to prevent some of the -atrocities that would necessarily arise from the sudden upheaval of such -a mass as the Southern slaves.”[139] - -The knowledge of the country was obtained by personal inspection. Kagi -and others of Brown’s lieutenants went out on trips; the old man himself -had been in western, northern and southern Virginia, and his Negro -friends especially knew these places and routes. One of Brown’s men -writes: - -“My object in wishing to see Mr. Reynolds, who was a colored man (very -little colored, however), was in regard to a military organization -which, I had understood, was in existence among the colored people. He -assured me that such was the fact, and that its ramifications extended -through most, or nearly all, of the slave states. He, himself, I think, -had been through many of the slave states visiting and organizing. He -referred me to many references in the Southern papers, telling of this -and that favorite slave being killed or found dead. These, he asserted, -must be taken care of, being the most dangerous element they had to -contend with. He also asserted that they were only waiting for Brown, or -some one else to make a successful initiative move when their forces -would be put in motion. None but colored persons could be admitted to -membership, and, in part to corroborate his assertions, he took me to -the room in which they held their meetings and used as their arsenal. He -showed me a fine collection of arms. He gave me this under the pledge of -secrecy which we gave to each other at the Chatham Convention. - -“On my return to Cleveland he passed me through the organization, first -to J. J. Pierce, colored, at Milan, who paid my bill over night at the -Eagle Hotel, and gave me some money, and a note to E. Moore, at Norwalk, -who in turn paid my hotel bill and purchased a railroad ticket through -to Cleveland for me.”[140] - -Speaking of this league, Hinton also says: - -“As one may naturally understand, looking at conditions then existing, -there existed something of an organization to assist fugitives and for -resistance to their masters. It was found all along the borders from -Syracuse, New York, to Detroit, Michigan. As none but colored men were -admitted into direct and active membership with this ‘League of -Freedom,’ it is quite difficult to trace its workings or know how far -its ramifications extended. One of the most interesting phases of slave -life, so far as the whites were enabled to see or impinge upon it, was -the extent and rapidity of communication among them. Four geographical -lines seem to have been chiefly followed. One was that of the coast -south of the Potomac, whose almost continuous line of swamps from the -vicinity of Norfolk, Va., to the northern border of Florida afforded a -refuge for many who could not escape and became ‘marooned’ in their -depths, while giving facility to the more enduring to work their way out -to the North Star Land. The great Appalachian range and its abutting -mountains were long a rugged, lonely, but comparatively safe route to -freedom. It was used, too, for many years. Doubtless a knowledge of that -fact, for John Brown was always an active Underground Railroad man, had -very much to do, apart from its immediate use strategically considered, -with the captain’s decision to begin operations therein. Harriet Tubman, -whom John Brown met for the first time at St. Catherines in March or -April, 1858, was a constant user of the Appalachian route.”[141] - -The trained leadership John Brown found in his Kansas experience, and -his wide acquaintance with colored men; the organization of the Negroes -culminated in a convention at Chatham, Canada. The raising of money for -this work, as time went on, was more and more the object of his various -occupations and commercial ventures. These visions of personal wealth to -be expended for great deeds failed because the pressure of work for the -ideal overcame the pressure of work for funds to finance it. When once -he discovered at Syracuse men of means, ready to pay the expenses of men -of deeds, he dropped all further thought of his physical necessities, -gave himself to the cause and called on them for money. In his earlier -calls he regards this not as charity but as wages. He said once: “From -about the 20th of May of last year hundreds of men like ourselves lost -their whole time, and entirely failed of securing any kind of crop -whatever. I believe it safe to say that five hundred free state men lost -each one hundred and twenty-five days, at $1.50 per day, which would be, -to say nothing of attendant losses, $90,000. I saw the ruins of many -free state men’s houses at different places in the Territory, together -with stacks of grain wasted and burning, to the amount of, say $50,000; -making, in lost time and destruction of property, more than -$150,000.”[142] - -And again: “John Brown has devoted the service of himself and two minor -sons to the free state cause for more than a year; suffered by the fire -before named and by robbery; has gone at his own cost for that period, -except that he and his company together have received forty dollars in -cash, two sacks of flour, thirty-five pounds bacon, thirty-five pounds -sugar, and twenty pounds rice. - -“I propose to serve hereafter in the free state cause (provided my -needful expenses can be met), should that be desired; and to raise a -small regular force to serve on the same condition. My own means are so -far exhausted that I can no longer continue in the service at present -without the means of defraying my expenses are furnished me.”[143] - -Finally, however, he had to appeal more directly to philanthropy. He was -especially encouraged by the Kansas committees. These committees had -sprung up in various ways and places in 1854, but had nearly all united -in Thayer’s New England Emigrant Aid Company in 1855. This company -proposed to aid free state emigration as an investment, but it failed in -this respect because of the political troubles, and the panic of 1857. -It did, however, arouse great interest throughout the nation. The -National Kansas Committee, formed after the sacking of Lawrence, was -more belligerent than philanthropic in its projects, while the Boston -Relief Committee was distinctly radical. John Brown had some connection -with Thayer’s company, but his hopes were especially built on the -National Kansas Committee, which Lane had done so much to bring into -being, and to which Gerrit Smith contributed many thousands of dollars. - -Leaving Kansas secretly in October, 1856, John Brown hastened to the -Chicago headquarters of this National Kansas Committee with a proposal -that they equip a company for him. The Chicago committee referred this -proposal to a full meeting of the members to be held in New York in -January. John Brown immediately started East, clad in new clothes which -the committee furnished and armed with letters from the governors of -Kansas and Ohio. Gerrit Smith welcomed him and said: “Captain John -Brown,—you did not need to show me letters from Governor Chase and -Governor Robinson to let me know who and what you are. I have known you -for many years, and have highly esteemed you as long as I have known -you. I know your unshrinking bravery, your self-sacrificing benevolence, -your devotion to the cause of freedom, and have long known them. May -Heaven preserve your life and health, and prosper your noble -purpose!”[144] - -But his half-brother in Ohio wrote: - -“Since the trouble growing out of the settlement of the Kansas -Territory, I have observed a marked change in brother John. Previous to -this, he devoted himself entirely to business; but since these troubles -he has abandoned all business, and has become wholly absorbed by the -subject of slavery. He had property left him by his father, and of which -I had the agency. He has never taken a dollar of it for the benefit of -his family, but has called for a portion of it to be expended in what he -called the Service. After his return to Kansas he called on me, and I -urged him to go home to his family and attend to his private affairs; -that I feared his course would prove his destruction and that of his -boys.... He replied that he was sorry that I did not sympathize with -him; that he knew that he was in the line of his duty, and he must -pursue it, though it should destroy him and his family. He stated to me -that he was satisfied that he was a chosen instrument in the hands of -God to war against slavery. From his manner and from his conversation at -this time, I had no doubt he had become insane upon the subject of -slavery, and gave him to understand that this was my opinion of -him!”[145] - -Mrs. George L. Stearns, the wife of the Massachusetts anti-slavery -leader, writes: - -“At this juncture, Mr. Stearns wrote to John Brown, that if he would -come to Boston and consult with the friends of freedom, he would pay his -expenses. They had never met, but ‘Osawatomie Brown’ had become a -cherished household name during the anxious summer of 1856. Arriving in -Boston they were introduced to each other in the street by a Kansas man, -who chanced to be with Mr. Stearns on his way to the committee rooms in -Nilis’s Block, School Street. Captain Brown made a profound impression -on all who came within the sphere of his moral magnetism. Emerson called -him ‘the most ideal of men, for he wanted to put all his ideas into -action.’ His absolute superiority to all selfish aims and narrowing -pride of opinion touched an answering chord in the self-devotion of Mr. -Stearns. A little anecdote illustrates the modest estimate of the work -he had in hand. After several efforts to bring together certain friends -to meet Captain Brown at his home, in Medford, he found that Sunday was -the only day that would serve their several conveniences, and being a -little uncertain how it might strike his ideas of religious propriety, -he prefaced his invitation with something like an apology. With -characteristic promptness came the reply: ‘Mr. Stearns, I have a little -ewe-lamb that I want to pull out of the ditch, and the Sabbath will be -as good a day as any to do it.’ - -“It may not be out of place to describe the impression he made upon the -writer on this first visit. When I entered the parlor, he was sitting -near the hearth, where glowed a bright, open fire. He rose to greet me, -stepping forward with such an erect, military bearing, such fine -courtesy of demeanor and grave earnestness, that he seemed to my instant -thought some old Cromwellian hero suddenly dropped down before me; a -suggestion which was presently strengthened by his saying (proceeding -with the conversation my entrance had interrupted), ‘Gentlemen, I -consider the Golden Rule and the Declaration of Independence one and -inseparable; and it is better that a whole generation of men, women, -children should be swept away than that this crime of slavery should -exist one day longer.’ These words were uttered like rifle balls; in -such emphatic tones and manner that our little Carl, not three years -old, remembered it in manhood as one of his earliest recollections. The -child stood perfectly still, in the middle of the room, gazing with his -beautiful eyes on this new sort of a man, until his absorption arrested -the attention of Captain Brown, who soon coaxed him to his knee, though -the look and childlike wonder remained. His dress was of some dark brown -stuff, quite coarse, but its exactness and neatness produced a singular -air of refinement. At dinner, he declined all dainties, saying that he -was unaccustomed to luxuries, even to partaking of butter. - -“The ‘friends of freedom,’ with whom Mr. Stearns had invited John Brown -to consult, were profoundly impressed with his sagacity, integrity, and -devotion; notably among these were R. W. Emerson, Theodore Parker, H. D. -Thoreau, A. Bronson Alcott, F. B. Sanborn, Dr. S. G. Howe, Col. T. W. -Higginson, Governor Andrew, and others.”[146] - -Sanborn says: - -“He came to me with a note of introduction from George Walker of -Springfield—both of us being Kansas committee men, working to maintain -the freedom of that Territory, and Brown had been one of the fighting -men there in the summer of 1856, just before. His theory required -fighting in Kansas; it was the only sure way, he thought, to keep that -region free from the curse of slavery. His mission now was to levy war -on it, and for that to raise and equip a company of a hundred well-armed -men who should resist aggression in Kansas, or occasionally carry the -war into Missouri. Behind that purpose, but not yet disclosed, was his -intention to use the men thus put into the field for incursions into -Virginia or other slave states. Our State Kansas Committee, of which I -was secretary, had a stock of arms that Brown wished to use for this -company, and these we voted to him. They had been put in the custody of -the National Committee at Chicago, and it was needful to follow up our -vote by similar action in the National Committee. For this purpose I was -sent to a meeting of that committee at the Astor House, in New York, as -the proxy of Dr. Howe and Dr. Samuel Cabot—both members of the National -Committee. I met Brown there, and aided him in obtaining from the -meeting an appropriation of $5,000 for his work in Kansas, of which, -however, he received only $500. The committee also voted to restore the -custody of two hundred rifles to the Massachusetts committee which -bought them, well knowing that we should turn them over to John Brown, -as we did. He found them at Tabor, Ia., in the following September, and -took possession; it was with part of these rifles that he entered -Virginia two years later. - -“At this Astor House meeting Brown was closely questioned by some of the -National Committee, particularly by Mr. Hurd of Chicago, as to what he -would do with money and arms. He refused to pledge himself to use them -solely in Kansas, and declared that his past record ought to be a -sufficient guarantee that he should employ them judiciously. If we chose -to trust him, well and good, but he would neither make pledges nor -disclose his plans. Mr. Hurd had some inkling that Brown would not -confine his warfare to Kansas, but the rest of us were willing to trust -Brown, and the money was voted.”[147] - -John Brown immediately made a careful estimate of the cost of the -necessary equipment which with “two weeks of provisions for men and -horses” amounted to $1,774. The funds of the committee, however, were -low and the officers suspicious; in April they informed Brown: “The -committee are at present out of money, and compelled to decline sending -you the five hundred dollars you speak of. They are sorry this has -become the case, but it was unavoidable. I need not state to you all the -reasons why. The country has stopped sending us contributions, and we -have no means of replenishing our treasury. We shall need to have aid -from some quarter to enable us to meet our present engagements.”[148] - -Immediately Brown set out to raise his own funds and for three months -worked fervently. Just before the Dred Scott Decision he spoke to the -Massachusetts legislature from which his friends hoped to secure an -appropriation for Kansas. This failed, and Brown started on a tour in -New England. He spoke at his old home and made a contract for securing -one thousand pikes near there. He showed a Kansas bowie-knife and said: -“Such a blade as this, mounted upon a strong shaft, or handle, would -make a cheap and effective weapon. Our friends in Kansas are without -arms or money to get them; and if I could put such weapons into their -hands, they could make them very useful. A resolute woman, with such a -pike, could defend her cabin door against man or beast.”[149] - -In Hartford he spoke and said: - -“I am trying to raise from twenty to twenty-five thousand dollars in the -free states to enable me to continue my efforts in the cause of freedom. -Will the people of Connecticut, my native state, afford me some aid in -this undertaking? Will the gentlemen and ladies of Hartford, where I -make my appeal in this state, set the example of an earnest effort? Will -some gentleman or lady take hold and try what can be done by small -contributions from counties, cities, towns, societies, or churches, or -in some other way? I think the little beggar children in the street are -sufficiently interested to warrant their contributing, if there was any -need of it, to secure the object. - -“I was told that the newspapers in a certain city were dressed in -mourning on hearing that I was killed and scalped in Kansas, but I did -not know of it until I reached the place. Much good it did me. In the -same place I met a more cool reception than in any other place where I -have stopped. If my friends will hold up my hands while I live, I will -freely absolve them from any expense over me when I am dead. I do not -ask for pay, but shall be most grateful for all the assistance I can -get.”[150] - -On the day that Buchanan was inaugurated and two days before the Dred -Scott Decision, he published a similar appeal in the New York _Tribune_ -“with no little sacrifice of personal feeling.” Once he writes: “I am -advised that one of Uncle Sam’s hounds is on my track, and I have kept -myself hid for a few days to let my track get cold. I have no idea of -being taken, and intend (if God will) to go back with irons in, rather -than upon, my hands.”[151] - -Dr. Wayland met him in Worcester where a Frederick Douglass meeting was -being arranged just after Taney’s decision and says: “I called at the -house of Eli Thayer, afterward member of Congress from that district, to -ask him to sit on the platform. Here I found a stranger, a man of tall, -gaunt form, with a face smooth-shaven, destitute of full beard, that -later became a part of history. The children were climbing over his -knees; he said, ‘The children always come to me.’ I was then introduced -to John Brown of Osawatomie. How little one imagined then that in less -than three years the name of this plain homespun man would fill America -and Europe! Mr. Brown consented to occupy a place on the platform, and -at the urgent request of the audience, spoke briefly. It is one of the -curious facts, that many men who _do_ it are utterly unable to _tell_ -about it. John Brown, a flame of fire in action, was dull in -speech.”[152] - -Later in the same month Brown accompanied Sanborn and Conway to -ex-Governor Reeder’s home in Pennsylvania to induce him to return to -Kansas, but he declined. April 1st found Brown back in Massachusetts, -where for a week or more he was again in hiding from United States -officers, probably among his Negro friends in Springfield. It was in -April, too, that he took another step in his plan, namely, toward -securing military training for his band. He stated according to Realf -that, “for twenty or thirty years the idea had possessed him like a -passion of giving liberty to the slaves; that he made a journey to -England, during which he made a tour upon the European continent, -inspecting all fortifications, and especially all earthwork forts which -he could find, with a view of applying the knowledge thus gained, with -modifications and inventions of his own, to a mountain warfare in the -United States. He stated that he had read all the books upon -insurrectionary warfare, that he could lay his hands on: the Roman -warfare, the successful opposition of the Spanish chieftains during the -period when Spain was a Roman province,—how, with ten thousand men, -divided and subdivided into small companies, acting simultaneously, yet -separately, they withstood the whole consolidated power of the Roman -Empire through a number of years. In addition to this he had become very -familiar with the successful warfare waged by Schamyl, the Circassian -chief, against the Russians; he had posted himself in relation to the -wars of Toussaint L’Ouverture; he had become thoroughly acquainted with -the wars in Hayti and the islands round about.”[153] - -Despite his own knowledge, however, he felt the need of expert advice, -and meeting a former lieutenant of Garibaldi, one Hugh Forbes, he was -captivated by him, and forthwith hired him to drill his men. Forbes was -an excitable, ill-balanced Englishman, who had fought in Italy and at -last landed penniless in New York. He thought Brown simply an agent of -wealthy and powerful interests and that the whole North was ready to -attack slavery. He proposed translating and publishing a manual of -guerrilla warfare and John Brown gave him $600 for this work. He was -then to join the leader and they would together go to the West and -gather and drill a company. This large outlay left John Brown but little -in his purse, for, after all, his efforts had been disappointing, and he -departed from New England with a quaint half-sarcastic “Farewell to the -Plymouth Rocks, Bunker Hill monuments, Charter Oaks and Uncle Tom’s -Cabins.” He wrote: - -“He has left for Kansas; has been trying since he came out of the -Territory to secure an outfit, or, in other words, the means of arming -and thoroughly equipping his regular minutemen, who are mixed up with -the people of Kansas. And he leaves the states with the deepest sadness, -that after exhausting his own small means, and with his family and with -his brave men suffering hunger, cold, nakedness, and some of them -sickness, wounds, imprisonment in irons with extreme cruel treatment, -and others death; that, lying on the ground for months in the most -sickly, unwholesome, and uncomfortable places, some of the time with the -sick and wounded, destitute of shelter, hunted like wolves, and -sustained in part by Indians; that after all this, in order to sustain a -cause which every citizen of this ‘glorious Republic’ is under equal -moral obligation to do, and for the neglect of which he will be held -accountable by God,—a cause in which every man, woman, and child of the -entire human family has a deep and awful interest,—that when no wages -are asked or expected, he cannot secure, amid all wealth, luxury, and -extravagance of this ‘heaven-exalted’ people, even the necessary -supplies of the common soldier. ‘How are the mighty fallen!’ - -“I am destitute of horses, baggage wagons, tents, harness, saddles, -bridles, holsters, spurs, and belts; camp equipage, such as cooking and -eating utensils, blankets, knapsacks, intrenching tools, axes, shovels, -spades, mattocks, crowbars; have not a supply of ammunition; have not -money sufficient to pay freight and traveling expenses; and left my -family poorly supplied with common necessaries.”[154] - -Forbes also disappointed him by his delay, lingering in New York and not -appearing in Iowa until August. Brown, who had been sick again, was -nevertheless pushing matters among his Kansas friends. He wrote in June: -“There are some half-dozen men I want a visit from at Tabor, Ia., to -come off in the most quiet way; ... I have some very important matters -to confer with some of you about. Let there be no words about it.”[155] - -Arriving at Tabor early in August, Brown’s first business was to secure -the arms voted him. Because of a previous failure to equip emigrants at -points further east, the Massachusetts Kansas State Committee had sent -200 Sharps rifles to Tabor, Ia. Here they were stored in a minister’s -barn until John Brown called for and removed them. Hugh Forbes finally -arrived August 9th, bringing with him copies of his “Manual for the -Patriotic Volunteer.” Brown wrote home that he and his son Owen were -“beginning to take lessons and have, we think, a capable teacher.” - -Differences, however, soon arose. Forbes wanted $100 per month in -addition to the $600 previously paid, while Brown apparently considered -that he had already advanced a half year’s wage. Then too matters were -on a meaner scale than Forbes had dreamed; there was no money, few -followers and little glory in sight. He felt himself duped; he despised -Brown’s ability and proposed taking full command himself, projecting -slave raids into Missouri and other states. Brown was obdurate, and -early in November, the foreign tactician suddenly left for the East. -This disturbed Brown’s plans. He had intended to establish two or three -military schools, one in Iowa, one in northern Ohio and one in Canada. -Forbes’s desertion made him determine to give up the Iowa school and -hasten to Ohio. He therefore passed quickly to Kansas, arriving in the -vicinity of Lawrence, November 5, 1857. - -Cook says: - -“I met him at the house of E. B. Whitman, about four miles from -Lawrence, K. T., which, I think, was about the first of November -following. I was told that he intended to organize a company for the -purpose of putting a stop to the aggressions of the pro-slavery men. I -agreed to join him and was asked if I knew of any other young men who -were perfectly reliable whom I thought would join also. I recommended -Richard Realf, L. F. Parsons, and R. J. Hinton. I received a note on the -next Sunday morning, while at breakfast in the Whitney House, from -Captain Brown, requesting me to come up that day, and to bring Realf, -Parsons, and Hinton with me. Realf and Hinton were not in town, and -therefore I could not extend to them the invitation. Parsons and myself -went and had a long talk with Captain Brown. A few days afterward I -received another note from Captain Brown, which read, as near as I can -recollect, as follows: - -“‘CAPTAIN COOK:—Dear Sir—You will please get everything ready to join me -at Topeka by Monday night next. Come to Mrs. Sheridan’s, two miles south -of Topeka, and bring your arms, ammunition, clothing and other articles -you may require. Bring Parsons with you if he can get ready in time. -Please keep very quiet about this matter. Yours, etc., - - JOHN BROWN.’ - -“I made all my arrangements for starting at the time appointed. Parsons, -Realf, and Hinton could not get ready. I left them at Lawrence, and -started in a carriage for Topeka. Stopped at a hotel over night, and -left early next morning for Mrs. Sheridan’s to meet Captain Brown. Staid -a day and a half at Mrs. S.’s—then left for Topeka, at which place we -were joined by Whipple, Moffett, and Kagi. Left Topeka for Nebraska -City, and camped at night on the prairie northeast of Topeka. Here, for -the first, I learned that we were to leave Kansas to attend a military -school during the winter. It was the intention of the party to go to -Ashtabula County, Ohio.”[156] - -In this way Brown enlisted John E. Cook, whom he had met about the time -of the turn of the battle of Black Jack; Luke F. Parsons, who was a -member of his old Kansas company; and Richard Realf, a newspaper man. At -Topeka Aaron D. Stevens, a veteran free state fighter, joined, with -Charles W. Moffett, an Iowa man, and John Henry Kagi, who became his -right hand. With these six he returned to Tabor, where he found William -H. Seeman and Charles Plummer Tidd, two of his former followers; Richard -Richardson, an intelligent Negro fugitive; and his son Owen. This party -of eleven started hurriedly for Ashtabula, O., late in November. -“Good-bye,” said John Brown, “you will hear from me. We’ve had enough -talk about ‘bleeding Kansas.’ I will make a bloody spot at another point -to be talked about.”[157] - -So the band started and pressed on their lonely way over two hundred and -fifty miles across the wild wastes of Iowa until they came to the -village of Springdale, about fifty miles from the Missouri. This was a -little settlement intensely anti-slavery in sentiment. Here Brown had -planned to stop long enough to sell his teams and then proceed by -railroad, eastward. The panic of this year, beginning late in August, -was by December in full swing, and he found himself without funds, and -with no remittances from the East. He therefore decided to have his men -spend the winter at Springdale while he went East alone. The Quakers -received them gladly and they were quartered at a farmhouse three miles -from the village, where they paid only a dollar a week for board. The -winter passed pleasantly but busily. - -Stevens was made drill-master; all arose at five, breakfasted, studied -until ten and drilled from ten to twelve. In the afternoon they -practiced gymnastics and shooting at targets. Five nights in the week a -mock legislature was held either at the home or in the schoolhouse near -by. Sometimes Realf and others listened to the townspeople, and there -was much visiting. Before John Brown left for the East, he revealed his -plans in part to his landlord and two other citizens of Springdale. - -“Some time toward spring, John Brown came to my house one Sunday -afternoon,” said this man. “He informed me that he wished to have some -private talk with me; we went into the parlor. He then told me his plans -for the future. He had not then decided to attack the armory at Harper’s -Ferry, but intended to take some fifty to one hundred men into the hills -near the Ferry and remain there until he could get together quite a -number of slaves, and then take what conveyances were needed to -transport the Negroes and their families to Canada. And in a short time -after the excitement had abated, to make a strike in some other Southern -state; and to continue on making raids, as opportunity offered, until -slavery ceased to exist. I did my best to convince him that the -probabilities were that all would be killed. He said that, as for -himself, he was willing to give his life for the slaves. He told me -repeatedly, while talking, that he believed he was an instrument in the -hands of God through which slavery would be abolished. I said to him: -‘You and your handful of men cannot cope with the whole South.’ His -reply was: ‘I tell you, Doctor, it will be the beginning of the end of -slavery.’ He also told me that but two of his men, Kagi and Stevens, -knew what his intentions were.”[158] - -The landlord several times sat late into the night arguing with Brown -about his plans. Some of the neighbors were persuaded to join the band, -among them the two Coppocs, and George B. Gill, a Canadian. Stewart -Taylor also enlisted there. Hinton, however, still supposed the -battle-ground would be Kansas. He says: - -“There was no attempt to make a secret of their drilling, and as Gill -shows and Cook stated in his ‘confession,’ the neighborhood folks all -understood that this band of earnest young men were preparing for -something far out of the ordinary. Of course Kansas was presumed to be -the objective point. But generally the impression prevailed that when -the party moved again, it would be somewhere in the direction of the -slave states. The atmosphere of those days was charged with disturbance. -It is difficult to determine how many of the party actually knew that -John Brown designed to invade Virginia. All the testimony goes to show -that it is most probable that not until after the assembling at the -Maryland farm in 1859 was there a full, definite announcement of -Harper’s Ferry as the objective point. That he fully explained his -purpose to make reprisals on slavery wherever the opportunity offered is -without question, but except to Owen, who was vowed to work in his early -youth, and Kagi, who informed me at Osawatomie in July, 1858, that Brown -gave him his fullest confidence upon their second interview at Topeka in -1857, there is every reason to believe that among the men the details of -the intended movement were matters of after confidence. My own -experience illustrates this. I was absent from Lawrence when John Brown -recruited his little company. He had left already for Iowa before I -returned. I met Realf just as he was leaving, and we talked without -reserve, he assuring me that the purpose was just to prepare a fighting -nucleus for resisting the enforcement of the Lecompton Constitution, -which it was then expected Congress might try to impose upon us. Through -this, advantage was to be taken of the agitation to prepare for a -movement against slavery in Missouri, Arkansas, the Indian Territory and -possibly Louisiana. At Kagi’s request (with whom I maintained for nearly -two years an important, if irregular, correspondence), I began a -systematic investigation of the conditions, roads and topography of the -Southwest, visiting a good deal of the Indian Territory, with portions -of southwest Missouri, western Arkansas, and northern Texas, also, under -the guise of examining railroad routes, etc.”[159] - -Forbes in the meantime hurried East, nursing his wrath. He had all of a -foreigner’s difficulty in following the confused threads of another -nation’s politics at a critical time. He classed Seward, Wilson, Sumner, -Phillips and John Brown together as anti-slavery men who were ready to -attack the institution _vi et armis_. This movement which he proposed to -lead had been started, and then, as he supposed, shamelessly neglected -by its sponsors while he had been thrust upon the tender mercies of John -Brown. He was angry and penniless and he intended to have reparation. He -first sought out Frederick Douglass, but was received coldly. He appears -to have been more successful with McCune Smith and the New York group of -Negro leaders. He immediately, too, began to address letters to -prominent Republicans. - -John Brown was annoyed at Forbes’s behavior but seems at first not to -have taken it seriously. He left his men at Springdale, and started East -in January, arriving at Douglass’s Rochester home in February. Douglass -says: - -“He desired to stop with me several weeks, but added, ‘I will not stay -unless you will allow me to pay board.’ Knowing that he was no trifler, -but meant all he said, and desirous of retaining him under my roof, I -charged him three dollars a week. While here he spent most of his time -in correspondence. He wrote often to George L. Stearns, of Boston, -Gerrit Smith, of Peterboro, and many others, and received many letters -in return. When he was not writing letters, he was writing and revising -a constitution, which he meant to put in operation by means of the men -who should go with him in the mountains. He said that to avoid anarchy -and confusion there should be a regularly constituted government, which -each man who came with him should be sworn to honor and support.... His -whole time and thought were given to this subject. It was the first -thing in the morning and the last thing at night till, I confess, it -began to be something of a bore to me. Once in a while he would say he -could, with a few resolute men, capture Harper’s Ferry and supply -himself with arms belonging to the government at that place; but he -never announced his intention to do so. - -“It was, however, very evidently passing in his mind as a thing that he -might do. I paid but little attention to such remarks, although I never -doubted that he thought just what he said. Soon after his coming to me -he asked me to get for him two smoothly planed boards, upon which he -could illustrate, with a pair of dividers, by a drawing, the plan of -fortification which he meant to adopt in the mountains. These forts were -to be so arranged as to connect one with the other by secret passages, -so that if one was carried, another could easily be fallen back upon, -and be the means of dealing death to the enemy at the very moment when -he might think himself victorious. I was less interested in these -drawings than my children were; but they showed that the old man had an -eye to the means as well as to the end, and was giving his best thought -to the work he was about to take in hand.”[160] - -From Rochester went letters sounding his friends, as he was uncertain of -the real devotion of the many types of Abolitionists. He wrote Theodore -Parker: - -“I am again out of Kansas and at this time concealing my whereabouts; -but for very different reasons, however, from those I had for doing so -at Boston last spring. I have nearly perfected arrangements for carrying -out an important measure in which the world has a deep interest, as well -as Kansas; and only lack from five to eight hundred dollars to do -so,—the same object for which I asked for the secret-service money last -fall. It is my only errand here; and I have written to some of my mutual -friends in regard to it, but they none of them understand my views so -well as you do, and I cannot explain without their first committing -themselves more than I know of their doing. I have heard that Parker -Pillsbury, and some others in your quarters hold out ideas similar to -those on which I act; but I have no personal acquaintance with them, and -know nothing of their influence or means. Cannot you either by direct or -indirect action do something to further me? Do you know of some parties -whom you could induce to give their Abolition theories a thoroughly -practical shape? I hope that this will prove to be the last time I shall -be driven to harass a friend in such a way. Do you think any of my -Garrisonian friends, either at Boston, Worcester, or any other place, -can be induced to supply a little ‘straw,’ if I will absolutely make -‘brick’? I have written George L. Stearns, of Medford, and Mr. F. B. -Sanborn, of Concord; but I am not informed as to how deeply-dyed -Abolitionists those friends are, and must beg you to consider this -communication strictly confidential, unless you know of parties who will -feel and act, and hold their peace. I want to bring the thing about -during the next sixty days.”[161] - -To Higginson he wrote: “Railroad business on a somewhat extended scale -is the identical object for which I am trying to get means. I have been -connected with that business, as commonly conducted, from my childhood, -and never let an opportunity slip. I have been operating to some purpose -the past season; but I know I have a measure on foot that I feel sure -would awaken in you something more than a common interest if you could -understand it. I have just written to my friends G. L. Stearns, and F. -B. Sanborn, asking them to meet me for consultation at Peterboro, N. Y. -I am very anxious to have you come along, as I feel certain that you -will never regret having been one of the council.”[162] - -The Boston folk hesitated and suggested that Brown come there. He -demurred on account of his being too well known. Finally Sanborn alone -went to meet Brown and thus relates his experience: - -“After dinner, and after a few minutes spent with our guests in the -parlor, I went with Mr. Smith, John Brown, and my classmate Morton, to -the room of Mr. Morton in the third story. Here, in the long winter -evening which followed, the whole outline of Brown’s campaign in -Virginia was laid before our little council, to the astonishment and -almost the dismay of those present. The constitution which he had drawn -for the government of his men, and of such territory as they might -occupy, was exhibited by Brown, its provisions recited and explained, -the proposed movements of his men indicated, and the middle of May was -named as the time of the attack. To begin his hazardous adventure he -asked for but eight hundred dollars, and would think himself rich with a -thousand. Being questioned and opposed by his friends, he laid before -them in detail his methods of organization and fortification; of -settlement in the South, if that were possible, and of retreat through -the North, if necessary; and his theory of the way in which such an -invasion would be received in the country at large. He desired from his -friends a patient hearing of his statements, a candid opinion concerning -his plan, and, if that were favorable, then such aid in money and -support as we could give him. We listened until after midnight, -proposing objections and raising difficulties; but nothing could shake -the purpose of the old Puritan. Every difficulty had been foreseen and -provided against in some manner; the grand difficulty of all,—the -manifest hopelessness of undertaking anything so vast with such slender -means,—was met with the text of Scripture: ‘If God be for us, who can be -against us?’ He had made nearly all his arrangements: he had so many men -enlisted, so many hundred weapons; all he now wanted was the small sum -of money. With that he would open his campaign in the spring, and he had -no doubt that the enterprise ‘would pay’ as he said. - -“On the 23d of February the discussion was renewed, and, as usually -happened when he had time enough, Captain Brown began to prevail over -the objections of his friends. At any rate, they saw that they must -either stand by him, or leave him to dash himself alone against the -fortress he was determined to assault. To withhold aid would only delay, -not prevent him; nothing short of betraying him to the enemy would do -that. As the sun was setting over the snowy hills of the region where we -met, I walked for an hour with Gerrit Smith among those woods and fields -(then included in his broad manor) which his father had purchased of the -Indians and bequeathed to him. Brown was left at home by the fire, -discussing the points of theology with Charles Stewart, an old captain -under Wellington, who also happened to be visiting at the house. Mr. -Smith restated in his eloquent way the daring propositions of Brown, -whose import he understood fully; and then said in substance: ‘You see -how it is; our dear old friend has made up his mind to this course, and -cannot be turned from it. We cannot give him up to die alone; we must -support him. I will raise so many hundred dollars for him; you must lay -the case before your friends in Massachusetts and perhaps they will do -the same. I see no other way.’ For myself, I had reached the same -conclusion, and engaged to bring the scheme at once to the attention of -the three Massachusetts men to whom Brown had written, and also of Dr. -S. G. Howe, who had sometimes favored action almost as extreme as this -proposed by Brown. I returned to Boston on the 25th of February, and on -the same day communicated the enterprise to Theodore Parker and -Wentworth Higginson. At the suggestion of Parker, Brown, who had gone to -Brooklyn, N. Y., was invited to visit Boston secretly, and did so on the -4th of March, taking a room at the American House, in Hanover Street, -and remaining for the most part in his room during the four days of his -stay. Mr. Parker was deeply interested in the project, but not very -sanguine of its success. He wished to see it tried, believing that it -must do good even if it failed. Brown remained at the American House -until Monday, March 8th, when he departed for Philadelphia.” - -On the 6th of March he wrote to his son John from Boston: “My call here -has met with a hearty response, so that I feel assured of at least -tolerable success. I ought to be thankful for this. All has been -effected by quiet meeting of a few choice friends, it being scarcely -known that I have been in the city.”[163] - -Leaving the money-raising to Sanborn and Smith, Brown turned to his -Negro friends, saying to his eldest son, meantime: “I have been thinking -that I would like to have you make a trip to Bedford, Chambersburg, -Gettysburg, and Uniontown in Pennsylvania, traveling slowly along, and -inquiring of every man on the way, or every family of the right stripe, -and getting acquainted with them as much as you could. When you look at -the location of those places, you will readily perceive the advantage of -getting some acquaintance in those parts.”[164] - -And then he wrote two touching letters; one to his eldest daughter and -one to his staunch friend, Sanborn. - -To Ruth Brown he wrote: “The anxiety I feel to see my wife and children -once more I am unable to describe. I want exceedingly to see my big baby -Ruth’s baby, and to see how that little company of sheep look about this -time. The cries of my poor sorrow-strieken, despairing children, whose -‘tears on their cheeks’ are ever in my eyes, and whose sighs are ever in -my ears, may however prevent my enjoying the happiness I so much desire. -But, courage, courage, courage!—the great work of my life (the unseen -hand that ‘guided me, and who had indeed holden my right hand, may hold -it still,’ though I have not known Him at all as I ought) I may yet see -accomplished (God helping), and be permitted to return, and ‘rest at -evening.’ - -“Oh, my daughter Ruth! Could any plan be devised whereby you could let -Henry go ‘to school’ (as you expressed it in your letter to him while in -Kansas), I would rather now have him ‘for another term’ than to have a -hundred average scholars. I have a particular and very important, but -not dangerous, place for him to fill in the ‘school,’ and I know of no -man living so well adapted to fill it. I am quite confident some way can -be devised so that you and your children could be with him, and be quite -happy even, and safe; but God forbid me to flatter you in trouble!”[165] - -To his friend Sanborn he said: “I believe when you come to look at the -ample field I labor in, and the rich harvest which not only this entire -country but the whole world during the present and future generations -may reap from its successful cultivation, you will feel that you are in -it, an entire unit. What an inconceivable amount of good you might so -effect by your counsel, your example, your encouragement, your natural -and acquired ability for active service! And then, how very little we -can possibly lose! Certainly the cause is enough to live for, if not -to—for. I have only had this one opportunity, in a life of nearly sixty -years; and could I be continued ten times as long again, I might not -again have another equal opportunity. God has honored but comparatively -a very small part of mankind with any possible chance for such mighty -and soul-satisfying rewards. But, my dear friend, if you should make up -your mind to do so, I trust it will be wholly from the promptings of -your own spirit, after having thoroughly counted the cost. I would -flatter no man into such a measure, if I could do it ever so easily. - -“I expect nothing but to endure hardness; but I expect to effect a -mighty conquest, even though it be like the last victory of Samson. I -felt for a number of years, in earlier life, a steady, strong desire to -die; but since I saw any prospect of becoming a ‘reaper’ in the great -harvest, I have not only felt quite willing to live, but have enjoyed -life much; and am now rather anxious to live for a few years more.”[166] - - - - - CHAPTER IX - THE BLACK PHALANX - - “Awake, awake, put on thy strength, O Zion.” - - -The decade 1830 to 1840 was one of the severest seasons of trial through -which the black American ever passed. The great economic change which -made slavery the corner-stone of the cotton kingdom was definitely -finished and all the subtle moral adjustments which follow were in full -action. New immigrants took advantage of the growing prejudice which -found a profitable place for the Negro in slavery, and was determined to -keep him in it. They began to crowd the free Northern Negro in a fierce -economic battle. With a precarious social foothold, little economic -organization, and no support in public opinion, the Northern free Negro -was forced to yield. In Philadelphia from 1829 to 1849 six mobs of -hoodlums and foreigners cowed and murdered the Negroes. In the Middle -West and, especially in Ohio, severe Black Laws had been enacted in 1804 -to 1807 providing that (_a_) No Negro should be allowed to settle in -Ohio unless he could within twenty days give bond to the amount of $500 -signed by two bondsmen, who should guarantee his good behavior and -support; (_b_) The fine for harboring or concealing a fugitive was at -first $50, then $100, one-half to go to the informer and one-half to the -overseer of the poor in the district; (_c_) No Negro was allowed to give -evidence in any case where a white man was a party.[167] - -These laws, however, were dead letters until 1829, when increased Negro -immigration induced the Cincinnati authorities to enforce them. The -Negroes obtained a respite of thirty days and sent a deputation to -Canada. They were absent for sixty days, and when the whites saw no -effort to enforce the law further, they organized a riot. For three days -Negroes were killed in the streets until they barricaded their homes and -shot back. Meantime the governor of upper Canada sent word that he -“would extend to them a cordial welcome.” He said: “Tell the republicans -on your side of the line that we royalists do not know men of their -color. Should you come to us you will be entitled to all the privileges -of the rest of His Majesty’s subjects.”[168] - -On receipt of this, fully two thousand Negroes went to Canada and -founded Wilberforce; while a national convention of Negroes was called -in Philadelphia in 1830—the first of its kind. This convention at an -adjourned session in 1831 addressed the public as follows: - -“The cause of general emancipation is gaining powerful and able friends -abroad. Britain and Denmark have performed such deeds as will -immortalize them for their humanity, in the breasts of the -philanthropists of the present day; whilst as a just tribute to their -virtues, after-ages will yet erect imperishable monuments to their -memory. (Would to God we could say thus of our own native soil.) - -“And it is only when we look to our own native land, to the birthplace -of our fathers, to the land for whose prosperity their blood and our -sweat have been shed and cruelty extorted, that the convention has had -cause to hang its head and blush. Laws as cruel in themselves as they -were unconstitutional and unjust, have in many places been enacted -against our poor unfriended and unoffending brethren; laws (without a -shadow of provocation on our part) at whose bare recital the very savage -draws him up for fear of the contagion, looks noble, and prides himself -because he bears not the name of a Christian. But the convention would -not wish to dwell long on this subject, as it is one that is too -sensibly felt to need description.... - -“This spirit of persecution was the cause of our convention. It was this -that induced us to seek an asylum in the Canadas; and the convention -feels happy to report to its brethren, that our efforts to establish a -settlement in that province have not been made in vain. Our prospects -are cheering; our friends and funds are daily increasing; wonders have -been performed far exceeding our most sanguine expectations; already -have our brethren purchased eight hundred acres of land—and two thousand -of them have left the soil of their birth, crossed the lines, and laid -the foundation for a structure which promises to prove an asylum for the -colored population of these United States. They have erected two hundred -log-houses, and have five hundred acres under cultivation.” - -A college “on the manual labor system” was planned: “For the present -ignorant and degraded condition of many of our brethren in these United -States (which has been a subject of much concern to the convention) can -excite no astonishment (although used by our enemies to show our -inferiority in the scale of human beings); for, what opportunities have -they possessed for mental cultivation or improvement? Mere ignorance, -however, in a people divested of the means of acquiring information by -books, or an extensive connection with the world, is no just criterion -of their intellectual incapacity; and it has been actually seen, in -various remarkable instances, that the degradation of the mind and -character, which has been too hastily imputed to a people kept, as we -are, at a distance from those sources of knowledge which abound in -civilized and enlightened communities, has resulted from no other causes -than our unhappy situation and circumstances.”[169] - -The convention met again in 1833 and resolved on further plans for -settling in Canada. These conventions continued to assemble annually for -five years, when they were succeeded by the convention of the American -Moral Reform Society which met two years longer. Meantime Nat Turner had -terrorized Virginia and the South and sent a wave of repression over the -North that led to the disfranchisement of Pennsylvania Negroes in 1837. - -Notwithstanding all this the Negroes were struggling on. Beside the -general conventions arose the Phœnix Societies, which “planned an -organization of the colored people in their municipal subdivisions with -the special object of the promotion of their improvement in morals, -literature and the mechanic arts.” Lewis Tappan refers to them in his -biography. The “Mental Feast,” which was a social feature, survived -thirty years later in some of the interior towns of Pennsylvania and the -West.[170] - -The first Negro paper, _Freedom’s Journal_, had been established in 1827 -and organizations like the Massachusetts General Colored Association -were coöperating with the Abolitionists. The news of emancipation in the -British West Indies cheered the Negroes, and indeed without the long -effective and self-sacrificing efforts of the Northern freed Negroes, -the Abolition movement in the United States could not have been -successful. Garrison’s first subscriber to _The Liberator_ was a black -man of Philadelphia, and before and after the Negroes were admitted to -membership in the anti-slavery societies, their aid was invaluable. In -the West, despite proscription, a fight for schools was carried on from -1830 to 1840, which finally resulted in a wide system of Negro schools -partially supported by public funds. Toward 1840 signs of promise began -gradually to appear. A West Indian endowed a Negro school in -Philadelphia in 1837. The Negro population increased from two and -one-third to two and nine-tenths millions in the decade, and evidences -of economic success were seen among the free Negroes. Philadelphia had -in 1838 one hundred small beneficial societies; Ohio Negroes owned ten -thousand acres of land in 1840, while the Canada refugees were beginning -to prosper. The mutiny on the _Creole_, the establishment of the Negro -Odd Fellows, and the doubling, in ten years, of the membership of the -African Methodist Episcopal Church, all pointed to an awakening after -the long period of distress. - -The decade of 1840 to 1850 was a new era—an era of self-assertion and -rapid advance for the free Northern Negro. For the first time conscious -leadership of undoubted ability appeared. In Boston there was De Grasse, -a physician, trained in this country and in France and a member of the -Massachusetts Medical Society. Robert Morris was a member of the bar, as -was E. R. Walker, whose “Appeal” in 1829 startled the country. William -Wells Brown and William Nell were writing, while Charles Lennox Remond -was one of the first of the Abolition orators. In New York were the -gifted preacher, Henry Highland Garnet; the teachers, Reason and -Peterson who made the Negro schools effective; and the physician, McCune -Smith, one of the best trained men of his day. In Philadelphia were -Robert Purvis, the Abolitionist; William Still, of the Underground -Railroad; the three men who made the catering business—Dorsey, Jones and -Minton; and the rich Negro lumber merchant, Stephen Smith, whose -magnificent endowment for aged Negroes stands to-day at the corner of -Girard and Belmont Avenues and is valued at $400,000. In western -Pennsylvania were Vashon and Woodson, and in the West were Day, -librarian of the Cleveland library; the three Langstons of Oberlin, and -the merchants Boyd and Wilcox of Cincinnati. Elsewhere appeared the -unlettered, but brave and shrewd leaders of the fugitive slaves. It is -said that 500 black messengers of this sort were passing backward and -forward between the slave and the free states in this decade, and -noticeable among them were Harriet Tubman and Josiah Henson, who brought -thousands to the North and to Canada. Foremost of all came Frederick -Douglass, born in 1817 and reborn to freedom in 1838. He made his first -speech in 1841 and took a prominent part in the anti-slavery campaign of -the next decade. In 1845–6, he was in England and, returning in 1847, he -established his paper and met John Brown. From that time on he was -Brown’s chief Negro confidant, and in his house Brown’s Eastern campaign -was started and largely carried on. The churches also were training men -in social leadership in the persons of their bishops, like John Brown’s -friend Loguen and the noble Daniel Payne. - -About 1847 new life appeared in the free Negro group. The Odd Fellows, -under Peter Ogden, maintained their independence against aggressions of -the whites, and the first of a new series of national colored -conventions assembled at Troy, N. Y. “The first article in the first -number of Frederick Douglass’s _North Star_, published January, 1848, -was an extended notice of this convention held at the Liberty Street -Church, Troy, N. Y., 1847.” - -The next year, 1848, Cleveland welcomed a similar national convention. -Nearly seventy delegates assembled there on September 6th, “the sessions -alternating between the Court-House and the Tabernacle. Frederick -Douglass was chosen president. As in previous conventions education was -encouraged, the importance of statistical information stated and -temperance societies urged.”[171] - -The representative character of the delegates was shown by the fact that -printers, carpenters, blacksmiths, shoemakers, engineers, dentists, -gunsmiths, farmers, physicians, plasterers, masons, college students, -clergymen, barbers, hair-dressers, laborers, coopers, livery-stable -keepers, bath-house keepers and grocers were among the members who were -present.[172] - -The same year Frederick Douglass attended a Free Soil convention at -Buffalo, N. Y., and writes: “I was not the only colored man well known -to the country who was present at this convention. Samuel Ringgold Ward, -Henry Highland Garnet, Charles L. Remond, and Henry Bibb were there and -made speeches which were received with surprise and gratification by the -thousands there assembled. As a colored man I felt greatly encouraged -and strengthened for my cause while listening to these men, in the -presence of the ablest men of the Caucasian race. Mr. Ward especially -attracted attention at that convention. As an orator and thinker he was -vastly superior, I thought, to any of us, and being perfectly black and -of unmixed African descent, the splendors of his intellect went directly -to the glory of race. In depth of thought, fluency of speech, readiness -of wit, logical exactness, and general intelligence, Samuel R. Ward has -left no successor among the colored men amongst us, and it was a sad day -for our cause when he was laid low in the soil of a foreign -country.”[173] - -The next decade opened with over three and one-half millions of Negroes -in the United States—an enormous increase since 1840—and a remarkable -indication of virility and prosperity despite the new Fugitive Slave -Law. The Canadian Negroes were being organized in the Elgin and other -settlements, the colored Baptists reported 150,000 members, and the -Negroes of New York, replying to the Black Law recommendations of -Governor Ward Hunt, proved unincumbered ownership of $1,160,000 worth of -property. The escape of fugitive slaves was now systematized in the -Underground Railroad and in the secret organization known to outsiders -variously as the “League of Freedom,” “Liberty League,” or “American -Mysteries.” To these were added the fourteen Canadian “True Bands” with -several hundred members each. - -State conventions were called in many instances, and the most -representative and intelligent national convention held up to that time -met in Rochester, N. Y., Douglass’s home, in 1853. This convention -developed definite opposition to any hope of permanent relief for the -colored freeman through schemes of emigration. On the contrary, it -directed its energies to affirmative constructive action and planned -three measures: - -(1) An industrial college “on the manual labor plan.” Harriet Beecher -Stowe, who was to make a visit to England at the instance of friends in -that country, was authorized to receive funds in the name of the colored -people of the country for that purpose. “The successful establishment -and conduct of such an institution of learning would train youth to be -self-reliant and skilled workmen, fitted to hold their own in the -struggle of life on the conditions prevailing here.” - -(2) A registry of colored mechanics, artisans, and business men -throughout the Union, and also, “of all the persons willing to employ -colored men in business, to teach colored boys mechanic trades, liberal -and scientific professions and farming; also a registry of colored men -and youth seeking employment or instruction.” - -(3) A committee on publication “to collect all facts, statistics and -statements; all laws and historical records and biographies of the -colored people and all books by colored authors.” This committee was -further authorized “to publish replies of any assaults worthy of note, -made upon the character or condition of the colored people.”[174] - -The radical stand of this assembly against emigration caused a call for -a distinct emigration Negro convention in 1854. This convention was held -under the presidency of the same man who afterward presided at the -Chatham conclave of John Brown, and with some of the same Negroes -present. The account of it continues: - -“There were three parties in the emigration convention, ranged according -to the foreign fields they preferred to emigrate to. Dr. Delaney headed -the party that desired to go to the Niger Valley in Africa, Whitfield -the party which preferred to go to Central America, and Holly the party -which preferred to go to Haiti. - -“All these parties were recognized and embraced by the convention. Dr. -Delaney was given a commission to go to Africa, in the Niger Valley, -Whitfield to go to Central America, and Holly to Haiti, to enter into -negotiations with the authorities of these various countries for Negro -emigrants and to report to future conventions. Holly was the first to -execute his mission, going down to Haiti in 1855, when he entered into -relations with the Minister of the Interior, the father of the late -President Hyppolite, and by him was presented to Emperor Faustin I. The -next emigration convention was held at Chatham, Canada West, in 1856, -when the report on Haiti was made. Dr. Delaney went off on his mission -to the Niger Valley, Africa, via England, in 1858. There he concluded a -treaty signed by himself and eight kings, offering inducements to Negro -emigrants to their territories. Whitfield went to California, intending -later to go thence to Central America, but died in San Francisco before -he could do so. Meanwhile [James] Redpath went to Haiti as a John -Brownist after the Harper’s Ferry raid, and reaped the first fruits of -Holly’s mission by being appointed Haitian Commissioner of Emigration in -the United States by the Haitian government, but with the express -injunction that Rev. Holly should be called to coöperate with him. On -Redpath’s arrival in the United States, he tendered Rev. Holly a -commission from the Haitian government at $1,000 per annum and traveling -expenses to engage emigrants to go to Haiti. The first load of emigrants -were from Philadelphia in 1861.”[175] - -In 1853 when the American Anti-Slavery Society was formed, Negroes like -Purvis and Barbadoes, trained in the Negro convention movement, were -among its founders. By 1856 the African Methodist Church had 20,000 -members and $425,000 worth of property. - -Of all this development John Brown knew far more than most white men and -it was on this great knowledge that his great faith was based. To most -Americans the inner striving of the Negro was a veiled and an unknown -tale: they had heard of Douglass, they knew of fugitive slaves, but of -the living, organized, struggling group that made both these phenomena -possible they had no conception. - -From his earliest interest in Negroes, John Brown sought to know -individuals among them intimately and personally. He invited them to his -home and he went to theirs. He talked to them, and listened to the -history of their trials, advised them and took advice from them. His -dream was to enlist the boldest and most daring spirits among them in -his great plan. - -When, therefore, John Brown came East in January, 1858, his object was -not simply to further his campaign for funds, but more especially -definitely to organize the Negroes for his work. Already he had -disclosed his intentions to Thomas Thomas of Springfield and to -Frederick Douglass. He now determined to enlist a larger number and he -particularly had in mind the Negroes of New York and Philadelphia, and -those in Canada. At no time, however, did John Brown plan to begin his -foray with many Negroes. He knew that he must gain the confidence of -black men first by a successful stroke, and that after initial success -he could count on large numbers. His object then was to interest a few -leaders like Douglass, organize societies with wide ramifications, and -after the first raid to depend on these societies for aid and recruits. - -During his stay with Douglass in February, 1858, he wrote to many -colored leaders: Henry Highland Garnet and James N. Gloucester in New -York; John Jones in Chicago, and J. W. Loguen of the Zion Church. The -addresses of Downing of Rhode Island, and Martin R. Delaney were also -noted. On February 23d, after he had been in Boston and Peterboro he -notes writing to Loguen, one of the closest of his Negro friends: “Think -I shall be ready to go with him [to Canada] by the first of March or -about that time.”[176] - -On March 10th, John Brown and his eldest son, Henry Highland Garnet, -William Still and others met at the house of Stephen Smith, the rich -Negro lumber merchant, of 921 Lombard Street, Philadelphia. Brown seems -to have stayed nearly a week in that city, and probably had long -conferences with all the chief Philadelphia Negro leaders. On March -18th, he was in New Haven where he wrote Frederick Douglass and J. W. -Loguen, saying: “I expect to be on the way by the 28th or 30th inst.” -After a flying visit home, involving a long walk to save expense, he -appeared again at Douglass’s in April. Gloucester collected a little -money for him in New York and he probably received some in Philadelphia; -at last he turned his face toward Canada. - -He had long wished to see Canada, and had planned a visit as far back as -1846. Hither he had sent one of the earliest of his North Elba refugees, -Walter Hawkins, who became Bishop of the British African Church. On -April 8th, John Brown writes his son: “I came on here direct with J. W. -Loguen the day after you left Rochester. I am succeeding, to all -appearance, beyond my expectations. Harriet Tubman hooked on his whole -team at once. He (Harriet) is the most of a man, naturally, that I ever -met with. There is the most abundant material, and of the right quality, -in this quarter, beyond all doubt. Do not forget to write Mr. Case (near -Rochester) at once about hunting up every person and family of the -reliable kind about, at, or near Bedford, Chambersburg, Gettysburg, and -Carlisle, in Pennsylvania, and also Hagerstown and vicinity, Maryland, -and Harper’s Ferry, Va.”[177] - -He stayed at St. Catherines until the 14th or 15th, chiefly in -consultation with that wonderful woman, Harriet Tubman, and sheltered in -her home. Harriet Tubman was a full-blooded African, born a slave on the -eastern shore of Maryland in 1820. When a girl she was injured by having -an iron weight thrown on her head by an overseer, an injury that gave -her wild, half-mystic ways with dreams, rhapsodies and trances. In her -early womanhood she did the rudest and hardest man’s work, driving, -carting and plowing. Finally the slave family was broken up in 1849, -when she ran away. Then began her wonderful career as a rescuer of -fugitive slaves. Back and forth she traveled like some dark ghost until -she had personally led over three hundred blacks to freedom, no one of -whom was ever lost while in her charge. A reward of $10,000 for her, -alive or dead, was offered, but she was never taken. A dreamer of dreams -as she was, she ever “laid great stress on a dream which she had had -just before she met Captain Brown in Canada. She thought she was in ‘a -wilderness sort of place, all full of rocks, and bushes,’ when she saw a -serpent raise its head among the rocks, and as it did so, it became the -head of an old man with a long white beard, gazing at her, ‘wishful -like, jes as ef he war gwine to speak to me,’ and then two other heads -rose up beside him, younger than he,—and as she stood looking at them, -and wondering what they could want with her, a great crowd of men rushed -in and struck down the younger heads, and then the head of the old man, -still looking at her so ‘wishful!’ This dream she had again and again, -and could not interpret it; but when she met Captain Brown, shortly -after, behold he was the very image of the head she had seen. But still -she could not make out what her dream signified, till the news came to -her of the tragedy of Harper’s Ferry, and then she knew the two other -heads were his two sons.”[178] - -In this woman John Brown placed the utmost confidence. Wendell Phillips -says: “The last time I ever saw John Brown was under my own roof, as he -brought Harriet Tubman to me, saying: ‘Mr. Phillips, I bring you one of -the best and bravest persons on this continent—General Tubman, as we -call her.’ He then went on to recount her labors and sacrifices in -behalf of her race.”[179] - -Only sickness, brought on by her toil and exposure, prevented Harriet -Tubman from being present at Harper’s Ferry. - -From St. Catherines John Brown went to Ingersoll, Hamilton and Chatham. -He also visited Toronto, holding meetings with Negroes in Temperance -Hall, and at the house of the “late Mr. Holland, a colored man, on Queen -Street West. On one occasion Captain Brown remained as a guest with his -friend, Dr. A. M. Ross, who is distinguished as a naturalist, as well as -an intrepid Abolitionist, who risked his life on several occasions in -excursions into the South to enable slaves to flee to Canada!”[180] - -Having finally perfected plans for a convention, Brown hurried back to -Iowa for his men. During his three months’ absence they had been working -and drilling in the Quaker settlement of Springdale, Ia., as most -persons supposed, for future troubles in “bleeding Kansas.” On John -Brown’s arrival they all hurriedly packed up—Owen Brown, Realf, Kagi, -Cook, Stevens, Tidd, Leeman, Moffett, Parsons, and the colored man -Richardson, together with their recruits, Gill and Taylor. The Coppocs -were to come later. “The leave-taking between them and the people of -Springdale was one of tears. Ties which had been knitting through many -weeks were sundered, and not only so, but the natural sorrow at parting -was intensified by the consciousness of all that the future was full of -hazard for Brown and his followers. Before quitting the house and home -of Mr. Maxon, where they had spent so long a time, each of Brown’s band -wrote his name in pencil on the wall of the parlor, where the writing -still can be seen by the interested traveler.” They all immediately -started for Canada by way of Chicago and Detroit. At Chicago they had to -wait twelve hours, and the first hotel refused to accommodate Richardson -at the breakfast table. John Brown immediately sought another place. The -company arrived shortly in Chatham and stopped at a hotel kept by Mr. -Barber, a colored man. While at Chatham, John Brown, as Anderson -relates, “made a profound impression upon those who saw or became -acquainted with him. Some supposed him to be a staid but modernized -‘Quaker’; others a solid business man, from ‘somewhere,’ and without -question a philanthropist. His long white beard, thoughtful and reverent -brow and physiognomy, his sturdy, measured tread, as he circulated about -with hands, portrayed in the best lithograph, under the pendant -coat-skirt of plain brown tweed, with other garments to match, revived -to those honored with his acquaintance and knowing his history the -memory of a Puritan of the most exalted type.”[181] - -John Brown’s choice of Canada as a centre of Negro culture, was wise. -There were nearly 50,000 Negroes there, and the number included many -energetic, intelligent and brave men, with some wealth. Settlements had -grown up, farms had been bought, schools established and an intricate -social organization begun. Negroes like Henson had been loyally assisted -by white men like King, and fugitives were welcomed and succored. Near -Buxton, where King and the Elgin Association were working, was Chatham, -the chief town of the county of Kent, with a large Negro population of -farmers, merchants and mechanics; they had a graded school, Wilberforce -Institute, several churches, a newspaper, a fire-engine company and -several organizations for social intercourse and uplift. One of the -inhabitants said: - -“Mr. Brown did not overestimate the state of education of the colored -people. He knew that they would need leaders, and require training. His -great hope was that the struggle would be supported by volunteers from -Canada, educated and accustomed to self-government. He looked on our -fugitives as picked men of sufficient intelligence, which, combined with -a hatred for the South, would make them willing abettors of any -enterprise destined to free their race.” - -There were many white Abolitionists near by, but they distrusted Brown -and in this way he gained less influence among the Negroes than he -otherwise might have had. Martin R. Delaney, who was a fervid African -emigrationist, was just about to start to Africa, bearing the mandate of -the last Negro convention, when John Brown appeared. “On returning home -from a professional visit in the country, Mrs. Delaney informed him that -an old gentleman had called to see him during his absence. She described -him as having a long, white beard, very gray hair, a sad but placid -countenance. In speech he was peculiarly solemn. She added, ‘He looked -like one of the old prophets. He would neither come in nor leave his -name, but promised to be back in two weeks’ time.’” - -Finally Delaney met John Brown who said: - -“‘I come to Chatham expressly to see you, this being my third visit on -the errand. I must see you at once, sir,’ he continued, with emphasis, -‘and that, too, in private, as I have much to do and but little time -before me. If I am to do nothing here, I want to know it at once.’” - -Delaney continues: - -“Going directly to the private parlor of a hotel near by, he at once -revealed to me that he desired to carry out a great project in his -scheme of Kansas emigration, which, to be successful, must be aided and -countenanced by the influence of a general convention or council. That -he was unable to effect in the United States, but had been advised by -distinguished friends of his and mine, that, if he could but see me, his -object could be attained at once. On my expressing astonishment at the -conclusion to which my friends and himself had arrived, with a nervous -impatience, he exclaimed, ‘Why should you be surprised? Sir, the people -of the Northern states are cowards; slavery has made cowards of them -all. The whites are afraid of each other, and the blacks are afraid of -the whites. You can effect nothing among such people,’ he added, with -decided emphasis. On assuring him if a council was all that was desired, -he could readily obtain it, he replied, ‘That is all; but that is a -great deal to me. It is men I want, and not money; money I can get -plentiful enough, but no men. Money can come without being seen, but men -are afraid of identification with me, though they favor my measures. -They are cowards, sir! Cowards!’ he reiterated. He then fully revealed -his designs. With these I found no fault, but fully favored and aided in -getting up the convention.”[182] - -Meantime John Brown proceeded carefully to sound public opinion, got the -views of others, and, while revealing few of his own plans, set about -getting together a body who were willing to ratify his general aims. He -consulted the leading Negroes in private, and called a series of small -conferences to thresh out preliminary difficulties. In these meetings -and in the personal visits, many points arose and were settled. A member -of the convention says: - -“One evening the question came up as to what flag should be used; our -English colored subjects, who had been naturalized, said they would -never think of fighting under the hated ‘Stars and Stripes.’ Too many of -them thought they carried their emblem on their backs. But Brown said -the old flag was good enough for him; under it freedom had been won from -the tyrants of the Old World, for white men; now he intended to make it -do duty for the black men. He declared emphatically that he would not -give up the Stars and Stripes. That settled the question. - -“Some one proposed admitting women as members, but Brown strenuously -opposed this, and warned the members not to intimate, even to their -wives, what was done. - -“One day in my shop I told him how utterly hopeless his plans would be -if he persisted in making an attack with the few at his command, and -that we could not afford to spare white men of his stamp, ready to -sacrifice their lives for the salvation of black men. While I was -speaking, Mr. Brown walked to and fro, with his hands behind his back, -as was his custom when thinking on his favorite subject. He stopped -suddenly and bringing down his right hand with great force, exclaimed: -‘Did not my Master Jesus Christ come down from Heaven and sacrifice -Himself upon the altar for the salvation of the race, and should I, a -worm, not worthy to crawl under His feet, refuse to sacrifice myself?’ -With a look of determination, he resumed his walk. In all the -conversations I had with him during his stay in Chatham of nearly a -month, I never once saw a smile light upon his countenance. He seemed to -be always in deep and earnest thought.”[183] - -The preliminary meeting was held in a frame cottage on Princess Street, -south of King Street, then known as the “King Street High School.” Some -meetings were also held in the First Baptist Church on King Street. In -order to mislead the inquisitive, it was pretended that the persons -assembling were organizing a Masonic Lodge of colored people. The -important proceedings took place in “No. 3 Engine House,” a wooden -building near McGregor’s Creek, erected by Mr. Holden and other colored -men. - -The regular invitations were issued on the fifth: - - “_Chatham, Canada, May 5, 1858._ - - “MY DEAR FRIEND: - - “I have called a quiet convention in this place of true friends of - freedom. Your attendance is earnestly requested.... - - “Your friend, - “JOHN BROWN.” - -The convention was called together at 10 A. M., Saturday, May 8th, and -opened without ceremony. There were present the following Negroes: -William Charles Monroe, a Baptist clergyman, formerly president of the -emigration convention and elected president of this assembly; Martin R. -Delaney, afterward major in the United States Army in the Civil War; -Alfred Whipper, of Pennsylvania; William Lambert and I. D. Shadd, of -Detroit, Mich.; James H. Harris, of Cleveland, O., after the war a -representative in Congress for two terms from North Carolina; G. J. -Reynolds, an active Underground Railroad leader of Sandusky City; J. C. -Grant, A. J. Smith, James M. Jones, a gunsmith and engraver, graduate of -Oberlin College, 1849; M. F. Bailey, S. Hunton, John J. Jackson, -Jeremiah Anderson, James M. Bell, Alfred Ellisworth, James W. Purnell, -George Aiken, Stephen Dettin, Thomas Hickerson, John Cannel, Robinson -Alexander, Thomas F. Cary, Thomas M. Kinnard, Robert Van Vauken, Thomas -Stringer, John A. Thomas, believed by some to be John Brown’s earlier -confidant and employee at Springfield, Mass., afterward employed by -Abraham Lincoln in his Illinois home and at the White House also; Robert -Newman, Charles Smith, Simon Fislin, Isaac Holden, a merchant and -surveyor and John Brown’s host; James Smith, and Richard Richardson. - -Hinton says: “There is no evidence to show that Douglass, Loguen, -Garnet, Stephen Smith, Gloucester, Langston, or others of the prominent -men of color in the states who knew John Brown, were invited to the -Chatham meeting. It is doubtful if their appearance would have been -wise, as it would assuredly have been commented on and aroused -suspicion.”[184] - -The white men present were: John and Owen Brown, father and son; John -Henri Kagi, Aaron Dwight Stevens, still known as Charles Whipple; John -Edwin Cook, Richard Realf, George B. Gill, Charles Plummer Tidd, William -Henry Leeman, Charles W. Moffett, Luke F. Parsons, all of Kansas; and -Steward Taylor of Canada, twelve in all. It has been usually assumed -that Jeremiah Anderson was white but the evidence makes it possible that -he was a mulatto. John J. Jackson called the meeting to order and Monroe -was chosen president. Delaney then asked for John Brown, and Brown spoke -at length, followed by Delaney and others. - -The constitution was brought forward and, after a solemn parole of -honor, was read. It proved to be a frame of government based on the -national Constitution, but much simplified and adapted to a moving band -of guerrillas. The first forty-five articles were accepted without -debate. The next article was: “The foregoing articles shall not be so as -in any way to encourage the overthrow of any state government, or the -general government of the United States, and look to no dissolution of -the Union, but simply to amendment and repeal, and our flag shall be the -same that our fathers fought for under the Revolution.” - -To this Reynolds, the “coppersmith,” one of the strongest men in the -convention, objected. He felt no allegiance to the nation that had -robbed and humiliated him. Brown, Delaney, Kagi and others, however, -earnestly advocated the article and it passed. Saturday afternoon the -constitution was finally adopted and signed. Brown induced James M. -Jones, who had not attended all the sittings, to come to this one, as -the constitution must be signed, and he wished his name to be on the -roll of honor. As the paper was presented for signature, Brown said, -“Now, friend Jones, give us John Hancock bold and strong.” - -The account continues: - -“During one of the sittings, Mr. Jones had the floor, and discussed the -chances of the success or failure of the slaves rising to support the -plan proposed. Mr. Brown’s scheme was to fortify some place in the -mountains, and call the slaves to rally under his colors. Jones -expressed fear that he would be disappointed, because the slaves did not -know enough to rally to his support. The American slaves, Jones argued, -were different from those of the West India Island of San Domingo, whose -successful uprising is a matter of history, as they had there imbibed -some of the impetuous character of their French masters, and were not so -overawed by white men. ‘Mr. Brown, no doubt thought,’ says Mr. Jones, -‘that I was making an impression on some of the members, if not on him, -for he arose suddenly and remarked, “Friend Jones, you will please say -no more on that side. There will be a plenty to defend that side of the -question.” A general laugh took place.’ - -“A question as to the time for making the attack came up in the -convention. Some advocated that we should wait until the United States -became involved in war with some first-class power; that it would be -next to madness to plunge into a strife for the abolition of slavery -while the government was at peace with other nations. Mr. Brown listened -to the argument for some time, then slowly arose to his full height, and -said: ‘I would be the last one to take the advantage of my country in -the face of a foreign foe.’ He seemed to regard it as a great insult. -That settled the matter in my mind that John Brown was not insane.”[185] - -At 6 P. M. the election of officers under the constitution took place, -and was finished Monday, the tenth. John Brown was elected -commander-in-chief; Kagi, secretary of war; Realf, secretary of state; -Owen Brown, treasurer; and George B. Gill, secretary of the treasury. -Members of congress chosen were Alfred Ellisworth and Osborne P. -Anderson, colored. - -After appointing a committee to fill other offices, the convention -adjourned. Another and a larger body was also organized, as Delaney -says: “This organization was an extensive body, holding the same -relation to his movements as a state or national executive committee -holds to its party principles, directing their adherence to fundamental -principles.”[186] - -This committee still existed at the time of the Harper’s Ferry raid. -With characteristic reticence Brown revealed his whole plan to no one, -and many of those close to him received quite different impressions, or -rather read their own ideas into Brown’s careful speech. One of his -Kansas band says: “I am sure that Brown did not communicate the details -of his plans to the members of the convention, more than in a very -general way. Indeed, I do not now remember that he gave them any more -than the impressions which they could gather from the methods of -organization. From those who were directly connected with his movements -he solicited plans and methods—including localities—of operations in -writing. Of course, we had almost precise knowledge of his methods, but -all of us perhaps did not know just the locality selected by him, or, if -knowing, did not comprehend the resources and surroundings.”[187] - -“John Brown, never, I think,” said Mr. Jones, “communicated his whole -plan, even to his immediate followers. In his conversations with me he -led me to think that he intended to sacrifice himself and a few of his -followers for the purpose of arousing the people of the North from the -stupor they were in on this subject. He seemed to think such sacrifice -necessary to awaken the people from the deep sleep that had settled upon -the minds of the whites of the North. He well knew that the sacrifice of -any number of Negroes would have no effect. What he intended to do, so -far as I could gather from his conversation, from time to time, was to -emulate Arnold Winkelried, the Swiss chieftain, when he threw himself -upon the Austrian spearmen, crying, ‘Make way for Liberty.’”[188] -Delaney in his own bold, original way assumed that Brown intended -another Underground Railway terminating in Kansas. Delaney himself was -on his way to Africa and could take no active part in the movement. - -The constitution adopted by the convention was an instrument designed -for the government of a band of isolated people fighting for liberty. -The preamble said: - -“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 disregard and violation of those eternal and -self-evident truths set forth in our Declaration of Independence: - -“Therefore, we, citizens of the United States, and the oppressed people -who, by a recent decision of the Supreme Court, are declared to have no -rights which the white man is bound to respect, together with all other -people degraded by the laws thereof, do, for the time being, ordain and -establish ourselves the following provisional constitution and -ordinances, the better to protect our persons, property, lives, and -liberties, and to govern our actions.”[189] - -The Declaration of Independence referred to was probably designed to be -adopted July 4, 1858, when, as originally planned, the blow was to be -actually struck. It was a paraphrase of the original declaration and -ended by saying: - -“Declaring that we will serve them no longer as slaves, knowing that the -‘Laborer is worthy of his hire,’ We therefore, the Representatives of -the circumscribed citizens of the United States of America, in General -Congress assembled, appealing to the supreme Judge of the World, for the -rectitude of our intentions, Do in the name, & by authority of the -oppressed Citizens of the Slave States, Solemnly publish and Declare: -that the Slaves are, & of right ought to be as free & as independent as -the unchangeable Law of God requires that All Men Shall be. That they -are absolved from all allegiance to those Tyrants, who still persist in -forcibly subjecting them to perpetual ‘Bondage,’ and that all friendly -connection between them and such Tyrants, is & ought to be totally -dissolved, And that as free and independent citizens of these states, -they have a perfect right, a sufficient and just cause, to defend -themselves against the Tyrrany of their oppressors. To solicit aid from -& ask the protection of all true friends of humanity and reform, of -whatever nation, & wherever found; A right to contract all Alliances, & -to do all other acts and things which free independent Citizens may of -right do. And for the support of the Declaration, with a firm reliance -on the protection of divine Providence: We mutually pledge to each -other, Our Lives, and Our sacred Honor.”[190] - -The constitution consisted of forty-eight articles. All persons of -mature age were admitted to membership and there was established a -congress with one house of five to ten members, a president and -vice-president and a court of five members, each one of whom held -circuit courts. All these officials were to unite in selecting a -commander-in-chief, treasurer, secretaries, and other officials. All -property was to be in common and no salaries were to be paid. All -persons were to labor. All indecent behavior was forbidden: “The -marriage relation shall be at all times respected, and families kept -together, as far as possible; and broken families encouraged to reunite, -and intelligence offices established for that purpose. Schools and -churches established, as soon as may be, for the purpose of religious -and other instructions; and the first day of the week regarded as a day -of rest, and appropriated to moral and religions instruction and -improvement, relief of the suffering, instruction of the young and -ignorant, and the encouragement of personal cleanliness; nor shall any -person be required on that day to perform ordinary manual labor, unless -in extremely urgent cases.”[191] All persons were to carry arms but not -concealed. There were special provisions for the capture of prisoners, -and protection of their persons and property. - -John Brown was well pleased with his work and wrote home: “Had a good -Abolition convention here, from different parts, on the 8th and 10th -inst. Constitution slightly amended and adopted, and society -organized.”[192] - -Just now as everything seemed well started, came disquieting news from -the East. Forbes had been there since November, growing more and more -poverty-stricken and angry, and his threats, hints and visits were -becoming frequent and annoying. He complained to Senator Wilson, to -Charles Sumner, to Hale, Seward and Horace Greeley, and to the Boston -coterie. He could not understand why these leaders of the movement -against slavery, as he supposed, should leave the real power in the -hands of John Brown, and neglect an experienced soldier like himself -after raising false expectations. John Brown had dealt with Forbes -gently but firmly, and had sought to conciliate him, but in vain. Brown -was apparently determined to outwit him by haste; he had written his -Massachusetts friends to join him at the Chatham Convention, but Sanborn -and Howe had already received threatening letters from Forbes which -alarmed them. He evidently had careful information of Brown’s movements -and was bent on making trouble. He probably was at this time in the -confidence of McCune Smith and the able Negro group of New York who had -developed a not unnatural distrust of whites, and a desire to foster -race pride. Using information thus obtained, Forbes sought to put -pressure on Republican leaders to organize more effective warfare on -slavery, and to discredit John Brown. Sanborn wrote hastily: “It looks -as if the project must, for the present, be deferred, for I find by -reading Forbes’s epistles to the doctor that he knows the details of the -plan, and even knows (what very few do) that the doctor, Mr. Stearns, -and myself are informed of it. How he got this knowledge is a mystery. -He demands that Hawkins [John Brown] be dismissed as agent, and himself -or some other be put in his place, threatening otherwise to make the -business public.”[193] Gerrit Smith concluded, “Brown must go no -further.” But Higginson wisely demurred. “I regard any postponement,” he -said, “as simply abandoning the project; for if we give it up now, at -the command or threat of H. F., it will be the same next year. The only -way is to circumvent the man somehow (if he cannot be restrained in his -malice). When the thing is well started, who cares what he says?”[194] - -Further efforts were made to conciliate Forbes but he wrote wildly: “I -have been grossly defrauded in the name of humanity and anti-slavery.... -I have for years labored in the anti-slavery cause, without wanting or -thinking of a recompense. Though I have made the least possible parade -of my work, it has nevertheless not been entirely without fruit.... -Patience and mild measures having failed, I reluctantly have recourse to -harshness. Let them not flatter themselves that I shall eventually -become weary and shall drop the subject; it is as yet quite at its -beginning.”[195] - -“To go on in face of this is madness,” wrote Sanborn, and John Brown was -urged to come to New York to meet Stearns and Howe. Brown had already -been delayed nearly a month at Chatham by this trouble, but he obeyed -the summons. Sanborn says: “When, about May 20th, Mr. Stearns met Brown -in New York, it was arranged that hereafter the custody of the Kansas -rifles should be in Brown’s hands as the agent, not of this committee, -but of Mr. Stearns alone. It so happened that Gerrit Smith, who seldom -visited Boston, was coming there late in May.... He arrived and took -rooms at the Revere House, where, on the 24th of May, 1858, the secret -committee (organized in March, and consisting of Smith, Parker, Howe, -Higginson, Stearns, and Sanborn) held a meeting to consider the -situation. It had already been decided to postpone the attack, and the -arms had been placed under a temporary interdict, so that they could -only be used, for the present, in Kansas. The questions remaining were -whether Brown should be required to go to Kansas at once, and what -amount of money should be raised for him in the future. Of the six -members of the committee only one (Higginson) was absent.... It was -unanimously resolved that Brown ought to go to Kansas at once.” - -As soon as possible after this, on May 21st, Brown visited Boston, and -while there held a conversation with Higginson, who made a record of it -at the time. He states that Brown was full of regret at the decision of -the Revere House council to postpone the attack till the winter or -spring of 1859, when the secret committee would raise for Brown two or -three thousand dollars; he meantime was to blind Forbes by going to -Kansas, and to transfer the property so as to relieve the Kansas -committee of responsibility, they in future not to know his plans. - -“On probing Brown,” Higginson goes on, “I found that he ... considered -delay very discouraging to his thirteen men, and to those in Canada. -Impossible to begin in autumn; and he would not lose a day (he finally -said) if he had three hundred dollars; it would not cost twenty-five -dollars apiece to get his men from Ohio, and that was all he needed. The -knowledge that Forbes could give of his plan would be injurious, for he -wished his opponents to underrate him; but still ... the increased -terror produced would perhaps counterbalance this, and it would not make -much difference. If he had the means he would not lose a day. He -complained that some of his Eastern friends were not men of action; that -they were intimidated by Wilson’s letter, and magnified the obstacles. -Still, it was essential that they should not think him reckless, he -said; and as they held the purse, he was powerless without them, having -spent nearly everything received this campaign, on account of delay,—a -month at Chatham, etc.”[196] - -There was nothing now for Brown but to conceal his arms, scatter his men -and hide a year in Kansas. It was a bitter necessity and it undoubtedly -helped ruin the success of the foray. The Negroes in Canada fell away -from the plan when it did not materialize and doubted Brown’s -determination and wisdom. His son hid the arms in northern Ohio in a -haymow. - -Meantime, a part of the company—Stevens, Cook, Tidd, Gill, Taylor and -Owen Brown—immediately after the adjournment of the convention, had gone -to Cleveland, O., and had found work in the surrounding country. Brown -wrote from Canada at the time: - -“It seems that all but three have managed to stop their board bills, and -I do hope the balance will follow the manlike and noble example of -patience and perseverance set them by the others, instead of being -either discouraged or out of humor. The weather is so wet here that no -work can be obtained. I have only received $15 from the East, and such -has been the effect of the course taken by F. [Col. Forbes], on our -Eastern friends, that I have some fears that we shall be compelled to -delay further action for the present. They [his Eastern friends] urge us -to do so, promising us liberal assistance after a while. I am in hourly -expectation of help sufficient to pay off our bills here, and to take us -on to Cleveland, to see and advise with you, which we shall do at once -when we shall get the means. Suppose we do have to defer our direct -efforts; shall great and noble minds either indulge in useless -complaint, or fold their arms in discouragement, or sit in idleness, -when we may at least avoid losing ground? It is in times of difficulty -that men show what they are; it is in such times that men mark -themselves. Are our difficulties such as to make us give up one of the -noblest enterprises in which men ever were engaged?”[197] - -Two weeks later the rest of the party, except Kagi, followed to -Cleveland, John Brown going East to meet Stearns. Kagi, who was an -expert printer, went to Hamilton, Canada, where he set up and printed -the constitution, arriving in Cleveland about the middle of June when -Brown returned from the East. Realf says that Brown did not have much -money, but sent him to New York and Washington to watch Forbes and -possibly regain his confidence. Realf, however, had become timid and -lukewarm in the cause and sailed away to England. The rest of the men -scattered. Owen Brown went to Akron, O. Cook left Cleveland for the -neighborhood of Harper’s Ferry; Gill secured work in a Shaker -settlement, probably Lebanon, O., where Tidd was already employed; -Steward Taylor went to Illinois; Stevens awaited Brown at Cleveland; -while Leeman got some work in Ashtabula County. John Brown left Boston, -on the 3rd of June, proceeding to the North Elba home for a short visit. -Then he, Kagi, Stevens, Leeman, Gill, Parsons, Moffett, and Owen were -gathered together and the party went to Kansas, arriving late in June. - -Thus suddenly ended John Brown’s attempt to organize the Black Phalanx. -His intimate friends understood that the great plan was only postponed, -but the postponement had, as Higginson predicted, a dampening effect, -and Brown’s chances of enlisting a large Canadian contingent were -materially lessened. Nevertheless, seed had been sown. And there were -millions of human beings to whom the last word of the Chatham -Declaration of Independence was more than mere rhetoric: “Nature is -mourning for its murdered and afflicted children. Hung be the Heavens in -scarlet!” - - - - - CHAPTER X - THE GREAT BLACK WAY - - “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because of the Lord hath - anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent me to - bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and - the opening of the prison to them that are bound.” - - -Half-way between Maine and Florida, in the Heart of the Alleghanies, a -mighty gateway lifts its head and discloses a scene which, a century and -a a quarter ago, Thomas Jefferson said was “worth a voyage across the -Atlantic.” He continues: “You stand on a very high point of land; on -your right comes up the Shenandoah, having ranged along the foot of the -mountain a hundred miles to find a vent; on your left approaches the -Potomac, in quest of a passage also. In the moment of their junction -they rush together against the mountain, rend it asunder, and pass off -to the sea.”[198] - -This is Harper’s Ferry and this was the point which John Brown chose for -his attack on American slavery. He chose it for many reasons. He loved -beauty: “When I met Brown at Peterboro in 1858,” writes Sanborn, “Morton -played some fine music to us in the parlor,—among other things -Schubert’s _Serenade_, then a favorite piece,—and the old Puritan, who -loved music and sang a good part himself, sat weeping at the air.”[199] -He chose Harper’s Ferry because a United States arsenal was there and -the capture of this would give that dramatic climax to the inception of -his plan which was so necessary to its success. But both these were -minor reasons. The foremost and decisive reason was that Harper’s Ferry -was the safest natural entrance to the Great Black Way. Look at the map -(page 274). The shaded portion is “the black belt” of slavery where -there were massed in 1859 at least three of the four million slaves. Two -paths led southward toward it in the East:—the way by Washington, -physically broad and easy, but legally and socially barred to bondsmen; -the other way, known to Harriet Tubman and all fugitives, which led to -the left toward the crests of the Alleghanies and the gateway of -Harper’s Ferry. One has but to glance at the mountains and swamps of the -South to see the Great Black Way. Here, amid the mighty protection of -overwhelming numbers, lay a path from slavery to freedom, and along that -path were fastnesses and hiding-places easily capable of becoming -permanent fortified refuges for organized bands of determined armed men. - -The exact details of Brown’s plan will never be fully known. As Realf -said: “John Brown was a man who would never state more than it was -absolutely necessary for him to do. No one of his most intimate -associates and I was one of the most intimate was possessed of more than -barely sufficient information to enable Brown to attach such companion -to him.”[200] - -[Illustration: MAP SHOWING THE GREAT BLACK WAY] - -A glance at the map shows clearly that John Brown intended to operate in -the Blue Ridge mountains rising east of the Shenandoah and known at -Harper’s Ferry as Loudoun Heights. The Loudoun Heights rise boldly 500 -to 700 feet above the village of Harper’s Ferry and 1,000 feet above the -sea. They run due south and then southwest, dipping down a little the -first three miles, then rising to 1,500 feet, which level is practically -maintained until twenty-five miles below Harper’s Ferry where the -mountains broaden to a dense and labyrinthical wilderness, and rise to a -height of 2,000 or more feet. Right at this high point and insight of -High Knob (a peak of 2,400 feet) began, in Fauquier County, the Great -Black Way. In this county in 1850 were over 10,000 slaves, and 650 free -Negroes, as compared with 9,875 whites. From this county to the southern -boundary of Virginia was a series of black counties with a majority of -slaves, containing in 1850 at least 260,000 Negroes. From here the Great -Black Way went south as John Brown indicated in his diary and -undoubtedly in the marked maps, which Virginia afterward hastily -destroyed. - -The easiest way to get to these heights was from Harper’s Ferry. An -hour’s climb from the arsenal grounds would easily have hidden a hundred -men in inaccessible fastnesses, provided they were not overburdened; and -even with arms, ammunition and supplies, they could have repelled, -without difficulty, attacks on the retreat. Forts and defenses could be -prepared in these mountains, and before the raid they had been pretty -thoroughly explored and paths marked. In Harper’s Ferry just at the -crossing of the main road from Maryland lay the arsenal. The plan -without a doubt was first, to collect men and arms on the Maryland side -of the Potomac; second, to attack the arsenal suddenly and capture it; -third, to bring up the arms and ammunition and, together with those -captured, to cross the Shenandoah to Loudoun Heights and hide in the -mountain wilderness; fourth, thence to descend at intervals to release -slaves and get food, and retreat southward. Most writers have apparently -supposed that Brown intended to retreat from the arsenal across the -Potomac. A moment’s thought will show the utter absurdity of this plan. -Brown knew guerrilla warfare, and the failure of Harper’s Ferry raid -does not prove it a blunder from the start. The raid was not a foray -_from_ the mountains, which failed because its retreat was cut off, but -it was a foray _to_ the mountains with the village and arsenal on the -way, which was defeated apparently because the arms and ammunition train -failed to join the advance-guard. - -This then was the great plan which John Brown had been slowly -elaborating and formulating for twenty years—since the day when kneeling -beside a Negro minister he had sworn his sons to blood-feud with -slavery. - -The money resources with which John Brown undertook his project are not -exactly known. Sanborn says: “Brown’s first request in 1858 was for a -fund of a thousand dollars only; with this in the hand he promised to -take the field either in April or May. Mr. Stearns acted as treasurer of -this fund, and before the 1st of May nearly the whole the amount had -been paid in or subscribed,—Stearns contributing three hundred dollars, -and the rest of our committee smaller sums. It soon appeared, however, -that the amount named would be too small, and Brown’s movements were -embarrassed from the lack of money before the disclosures of Forbes came -to his knowledge.”[201] From first to last George L. Stearns gave in -cash and arms about $7,500, and Gerrit Smith contributed more than -$1,000. Merriam brought with him $600 in gold in October. Between March -10th and October 16th, Brown expended at least $2,500. In all Sanborn -raised $4,000 for Brown. Hinton says: “As near as can be estimated, the -money received by Brown could not have exceeded $12,000, while the -supplies, arms, etc., furnished may have cost $10,000 more. Of course, -there were smaller contributions and support coming in, but if the total -estimate be placed at $25,000, for the period between the 15th of -September, 1856, when he left Lawrence, Kan., and the 16th of October, -1859, when he moved on Harper’s Ferry, Va., with twenty-one men, it will -certainly cover all of the outlay except that of time, labor, and -lives.”[202] - -This total, however, does not include a fund of $1,000 raised for his -family. - -The civic organization under which Brown intended to work has been -spoken of. The military organization was based on his Kansas experience -and his reading. In his diary is this entry: - - “Circassia has about 550,000 - Switzerland 2,037,030 - - Guerrilla warfare See Life of Lord Wellington - - Page 71 to Page 75 (Mina) - - See also Page 102 some valuable hints in the Same Book. See also - Page 196 some most important instructions to officers. - - See also same Book Page 235 these words deep, and - - narrow defiles where 300 men would suffice to check an army. - - See also Page 236 on top of Page ” - -This life of Wellington, W. P. Garrison states,[203] was Stocqueler’s -and the pages referred to tell of the Spanish guerrillas under Mina in -1810, and of methods of cooking and discipline. In one place the author -says: “Here we have a chaos of mountains, where we meet at every step -huge fallen masses of rock and earth, yawning fissures, deep and narrow -defiles, where 300 men would suffice to check an army.” The Alleghanies -in Virginia and Carolina was similar in topography and, for the -operation here, Brown proposed a skeleton army which could work together -or in small units of any size: - -“A company will consist of fifty-six privates, twelve non-commissioned -officers, eight corporals, four sergeants and three commissioned -officers (two lieutenants, a captain), and a surgeon. - -“The privates shall be divided into bands or messes of seven each, -numbering from one to eight, with a corporal to each, numbered like his -band. - -“Two bands will comprise a section. Sections will be numbered from one -to four. - -“A sergeant will be attached to each section, and numbered like it. - -“Two sections will comprise a platoon. Platoons will be numbered one and -two, and each commanded by a lieutenant designed by like number.”[204] - -Four companies composed a battalion, four battalions a regiment, and -four regiments a brigade. - -So much for his resources and plans. Now for the men whom he chose as -co-workers. The number of those who took part in the Harper’s Ferry raid -is not known. Perhaps, including active slave helpers, there were about -fifty. Seventeen Negroes, reported as probably killed, are wholly -unknown, and those slaves who helped and escaped are also unknown. This -leaves the twenty-two men usually regarded as making the raid. They -fall, of course, into two main groups, the Negroes and the whites. Six -or seven of the twenty-two were Negroes. - -First in importance came Osborne Perry Anderson, a free-born -Pennsylvania mulatto, twenty-four years of age. He was a printer by -trade, “well educated, a man of natural dignity, modest, simple in -character and manners.” He met John Brown in Canada. He wrote the most -interesting and reliable account of the raid, and afterward fought in -the Civil War. - -Next came Shields Green, a full-blooded Negro from South Carolina, -whence he had escaped from slavery, after his wife had died, leaving a -living boy still in bondage. He was about twenty-four years old, small -and active, uneducated but with natural ability and absolutely fearless. -He met Brown at the home of Frederick Douglass, who says: “While at my -house, John Brown made the acquaintance of a colored man who called -himself by different names—sometimes ‘Emperor,’ at other times, ‘Shields -Green’.... He was a fugitive slave, who had made his escape from -Charleston, S. C.; a state from which a slave found it no easy matter to -run away. But Shields Green was not one to shrink from hardships or -dangers. He was a man of few words and his speech was singularly broken; -but his courage and self-respect made him quite a dignified character. -John Brown saw at once what ‘stuff’ Green ‘was made of,’ and confided to -him his plans and purposes. Green easily believed in Brown, and promised -to go with him whenever he should be ready to move.”[205] - -Dangerfield Newby was a free mulatto from the neighborhood of Harper’s -Ferry. He was thirty years of age, tall and well built, with a pleasant -face and manner; he had a wife and seven children in slavery about -thirty miles south of Harper’s Ferry. The wife was about to be sold -south at this time, and was sold immediately after the raid. Newby was -the spy who gave general information to the party, and lived out in the -community until the night of the attack. - -John A. Copeland was born of free Negro parents in North Carolina, -reared in Oberlin and educated at Oberlin College. He was a -straight-haired mulatto, twenty-two years old, of medium size, and a -carpenter by trade. Hunter, the prosecuting attorney of Virginia, says: -“From my intercourse with him I regarded him as one of the most -respectable prisoners that we had.... He was a copper-colored Negro, -behaved himself with as much firmness as any of them, and with far more -dignity. If it had been possible to recommend a pardon for any of them, -it would have been for this man Copeland, as I regretted as much, if not -more, at seeing him executed than any other one of the party!”[206] - -Lewis Sherrard Leary was born in slavery in North Carolina and also -reared in Oberlin, where he worked as a harness-maker. An Oberlin friend -testified: “He called again afterward, and told me he would like to keep -to the amount I had given him, and would like a certain amount more for -a certain purpose, and was very chary in his communications to me as to -how he was to use it, except that he did inform me that he wished to use -it in aiding slaves to escape. Circumstances just then transpired which -had interested me contrary to any thought I ever had in my mind before. -I had had exhibited to me a daguerreotype of a young lady, a beautiful -appearing girl, who I was informed was about eighteen years of -age....”[207] But here Senator Mason of the Inquisition scented danger, -and we can only guess the reasons that sent Leary to his death. He was -said to be Brown’s first recruit outside the Kansas band. - -John Anderson, a free Negro from Boston, was sent by Lewis Hayden and -started for the front. Whether he arrived and was killed, or was too -late has never been settled. - -The seventh man of possible Negro blood was Jeremiah Anderson. He is -listed with the Negroes in all the original reports of the Chatham -Convention and was, as a white Virginian who saw him says, “of middle -stature, very black hair and swarthy complexion. He was supposed by some -to be a Canadian mulatto.”[208] He was descended from Virginia -slaveholders who had moved north and was born in Indiana. He was -twenty-six years old. - -Of the white men there were, first of all, John Brown and his family, -consisting of three sons, and two brothers of his eldest daughter’s -husband, William and Dauphin Thompson. - -Oliver Brown was a boy not yet twenty-one, though tall and muscular, and -had just been married. Watson was a man of twenty-five, tall and -athletic; while Owen was a large, red-haired prematurely aged man of -thirty-five, partially crippled, good-tempered and cynical. The -Thompsons were neighbors of John Brown and part of a brood of twenty -children. The Brown family and their intermarried Anne Brown says that -William, who was twenty-six years of age, was “kind, generous-hearted, -and helpful to others.” Dauphin, a boy of twenty-two, was, she writes, -“very quiet, with a fair, thoughtful face, curly blonde hair, and -baby-blue eyes. He always seemed like a very good girl.”[209] - -The three notable characters of the band were Kagi, Stevens and Cook, -the reformer, the soldier, and the poet. Kagi’s family came from the -Shenandoah Valley. He was twenty-four, had a good English education and -was a newspaper reporter in Kansas, where he earnestly helped the free -state cause. He had strong convictions on the subject of slavery and was -willing to risk all for them. “You will all be killed,” cried a friend -who heard his plan. “Yes, I know it, Hinton, but the result will be -worth the sacrifice.” Hinton adds: “I recall my friend as a man of -personal beauty, with a fine, well-shaped head, a voice of quiet, sweet -tones, that could be penetrating and cutting, too, almost to -sharpness.”[210] Anderson writes that Kagi “left home when a youth, an -enemy to slavery, and brought as his gift offering to freedom three -slaves, whom he piloted to the North. His innate hatred of the -institution made him a willing exile from the state of his birth, and -his great abilities, natural and acquired, entitled him to the position -he held in Captain Brown’s confidence. Kagi was indifferent to personal -appearance; he often went about with slouched hat, one leg of his -pantaloons properly adjusted, and the other partly tucked into his high -boot-top; unbrushed, unshaven, and in utter disregard of ‘the latest -style.’”[211] - -Stevens was a handsome six-foot Connecticut soldier of twenty-eight -years of age, who had thrashed his major for mistreating a fellow -soldier and deserted from the United States army. He was active in -Kansas and soon came under John Brown’s discipline. - -“Why did you come to Harper’s Ferry?” asked a Virginian. - -He replied: “It was to help my fellow men out of bondage. You know -nothing of slavery—I know, a great deal. It is the crime of crimes. I -hate it more and more the longer I live. Even since I have been lying in -this cell, I have heard the crying of 3 slave-children torn from their -parents.”[212] - -Cook was also a Connecticut man of twenty-nine years, tall, blue-eyed, -golden-haired and handsome, but a far different type from Stevens. He -was talkative, impulsive and restless, eager for adventure but hardly -steadfast. He followed John Brown as he would have followed anyone else -whom he liked, dreaming his dreams, rushing ahead in the face of danger -and shrinking back appalled and pitiful before the grim face of death. -He was the most thoroughly human figure in the band. - -One other deserves mention because it was probably his slowness or -obstinacy that ruined the success of John Brown’s raid. This was Charles -P. Tidd. He was from Maine, twenty-seven years old, trained in Kansas -warfare—a nervous, overbearing and quarrelsome man. He bitterly opposed -the plan of capturing Harper’s Ferry when it was finally revealed, and -as Anne Brown said, “got so warm that he left the farm and went down to -Cook’s dwelling near Harper’s Ferry to let his wrath cool off.” A week -passed before he sullenly gave in. - -Besides these, there were six other men of more or less indistinct -personalities. Five were young Kansas settlers from Maine, the Middle -West and Canada, trained in guerrilla warfare under Brown and Montgomery -and thoroughly disliking the slave system which they had seen. They were -personal admirers of Brown and lovers of adventure. The last recruit, -Merriam, was a New England aristocrat turned crusader, fighting the -world’s ills blindly but devotedly. The Negro Lewis Hayden met him in -Boston, “and, after a few words, said, ‘I want five hundred dollars and -must have it.’ Merriam, startled at the manner of the request, replied, -‘If you have a good cause, you shall have it.’ Hayden then told Merriam -briefly what he had learned from John Brown, Jr.: that Captain Brown was -at Chambersburg, or could be heard of there; that he was preparing to -lead a party of liberators into Virginia, and that he needed money; to -which Merriam replied: ‘If you tell me John Brown is there, you can have -my money and me along with it.’”[213] - -These were the men—idealists, dreamers, soldiers and avengers, varying -from the silent and thoughtful to the quick and impulsive; from the cold -and bitter to the ignorant and faithful. They believed in God, in -spirits, in fate, in liberty. To them, the world was a wild, young -unregulated thing, and they were born to set it right. It was a -veritable band of crusaders, and while it had much of weakness and -extravagance, it had nothing nasty or unclean. On the whole, they were -an unusual set of men. Anne Brown who lived with them said: “Taking them -all together, I think they would compare well [she is speaking of -manners, etc.] with the same number of men in any station of life I have -ever met.”[214] - -They were not men of culture or great education, although Kagi had had a -fair schooling. They were intellectually bold and inquiring—several had -been attracted by the then rampant Spiritualism; nearly all were -skeptical of the world’s social conventions. They had been trained -mostly in the rough school of frontier life, had faced death many times, -and were eager, curious, and restless. Some of them were musical, others -dabbled in verse. Their broadest common ground of sympathy lay in the -personality of John Brown—him they revered and loved. Through him, they -had come to hate slavery, and for him and for what he believed, they -were willing to risk their lives. They themselves, had convictions on -slavery and other matters, but John Brown narrowed down their dreaming -to one intense deed. - -Finally, there was John Brown himself. His appearance has been often -described—several times in these pages. In 1859 he was the same striking -figure with whitening hair, burning eyes, and the great white beard -which hardly hid the pendulous side lips of Olympian Jove. One thing, -however, must not be forgotten. John Brown was at this time a sick man. -From 1856 to 1859, scarce a mouth passed without telling of illness. His -health was “some improved” in May 1857, but soon he lost a week “with -ague and fever and left home feeble.” In August he wrote of “ill health” -and “repeated returns of fever and ague.” In September and October, his -health was “poor.” The spring and summer of 1858 found him “not very -stout,” and in July and August, he was “down with ague” and “too sick” -to write. In September he was “still weak,” and, although “some -improved” in December, the following spring found him “not very strong.” -In April, amid the feverish activity of his fatal year, he was “quite -prostrated,” with “the difficulty in my head and ear and with the ague -in consequence.” Late in July, he was “delayed with sickness” and there -can be little doubt that it was an illness and pain-racked body which -his indomitable will forced into the raid of Harper’s Ferry. - -Having collected a part of the funds and organized the band, John Brown -was about to strike his blow in the early summer of 1858, as we have -seen, when the Forbes disclosures compelled him to hide in Kansas, where -the last massacre on the Swamp of the Swan invited him. He left Canada -for Kansas in June, 1858. Cook, somewhat against the wishes of Brown who -feared his garrulity, went to Harper’s Ferry, worked as a booking agent -and canal keeper, made love to a maid and married her and then acted as -advance agent awaiting the main band. Ten months after leaving Canada, -and in mid-March, 1859, John Brown appeared again in Canada (as has been -told in Chapter VII) with twelve rescued slaves as an earnest of the -feasibility of his plan. He stayed long enough to spread the news and -then went to northern Ohio where he spoke in public of Kansas and -slavery. “He said that he had never lifted a finger toward any one whom -he did not know was a violent persecutor of the free state men. He had -never killed anybody; although, on some occasions, he had shown the -young men with him how some things might be done as well as others, and -they had done the business. He had never destroyed the value of an ear -of corn, and had never set fire to any pro-slavery man’s house or -property. He had never by his action driven out pro-slavery men from the -Territory; but if the occasion demanded it, he would drive them into the -ground, like fence stakes, where they would remain permanent settlers. - -“Brown remarked that he was an outlaw, the governor of Missouri has -offered a reward of $3,000, and James Buchanan $250 more, for him. He -quietly remarked, parenthetically, that John Brown would give two -dollars and fifty cents for the safe delivery of the body of James -Buchanan in any jail of the free states. He would never submit to an -arrest, as he had nothing to gain from submission; but he should settle -all questions on the spot if any 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 had considered it his duty to break the -fetters from any slave when he had an opportunity. He was a thorough -Abolitionist.”[215] - -Then, he went East to see his family and visit Douglass (where he met -and persuaded Shields Green), and to consult with Gerrit Smith and -Sanborn. Alcott at Concord wrote: - -“This evening I heard Captain Brown speak at the town hall on Kansas -affairs and the part took by them in the late troubles there. He tells -his story with surpassing simplicity and sense, impressing us all deeply -by his courage and religious earnestness. Our best people listen to his -words,—Emerson, Thoreau, Judge Hoar, my wife; and some of them -contribute something in aid of his plans without asking particulars, -such confidence does he inspire in his integrity and abilities. I have a -few words with him after his speech, and find him superior to legal -traditions, and a disciple of the Right in ideality and the affairs of -the state. He is Sanborn’s guest and stays for a day only. A young man -named Anderson accompanies him. They go armed, I am told, and will -defend themselves, if necessary. I believe they are now on their way to -Connecticut and farther south, but the captain leaves us much in the -dark concerning his destination and designs for the coming months. Yet -he does not conceal his hatred of slavery, nor his readiness to strike a -blow for freedom at the proper moment. I infer he intends to run off as -many slaves as he can, and so render that property insecure to the -master. I think him equal to anything he dares,—the man to do the deed, -if it must be done, and with the martyr’s temper and purpose. Nature was -deeply intent in the making of him. He is of imposing appearance, -personally—tall, with square shoulders and standing; eyes of deep gray, -and couchant, as if ready to spring at the least rustling, dauntless yet -kindly; his hair shooting backward from low down on his forehead; nose -trenchant and Romanesque; set lips, his voice suppressed yet metallic, -suggesting deep reserves; decided mouth; the countenance and frame -charged with power throughout. Since here last he has added a flowing -beard, which gives the soldierly air and the port of an apostle. Though -sixty years old he is agile and alert and ready for any audacity, in any -crisis. I think him about the manliest man I have ever seen,—the type -and synonym of the Just.”[216] - -The month of May, John Brown spent in Boston collecting funds, and in -New York consulting his Negro friends, with a trip to Connecticut to -hurry the making of his thousand pikes. Sickness intervened, but at last -on June 20th, the advance-guard of five—Brown and two of his sons, Jerry -Anderson and Kagi—started southward. They stayed several days at -Chambersburg, where Kagi, coöperating with a faithful Negro barber, -Watson, was established as a general agent to forward men, mail, and -freight. Then passing through Hagerstown, they appeared at Harper’s -Ferry on July 4th. Here they met Cook, who had been selling maps, -keeping the canal-lock near the arsenal, and sending regular information -to Brown. Brown and his sons wandered about at first, and a local farmer -greeted them cheerily: “Good-morning, gentlemen, how do you do?” They -returned the greeting pleasantly. The conversation is recounted as -follows: - -“I said, ‘Well, gentlemen,’ after saluting them in that form, ‘I suppose -you are out hunting minerals, gold, and silver?’ His answer was, ‘No, we -are not, we are out looking for land; we want to buy land; we have a -little money, but we want to make it go as far as we can.’ He asked me -about the price of the land. I told him that it ranged from fifteen -dollars to thirty dollars in the neighborhood. He remarked, ‘That is -high; I thought I could buy land here for about a dollar or two dollars -per acre.’ I remarked to him, ‘No, sir; if you expect to get land for -that price, you will have to go further west, to Kansas, or some of -those Territories where there is government land.’ ... I then asked him -where they came from. His answer was, ‘From the northern part of the -state of New York.’ I asked him what he followed there. He said farming -and the frost had been so heavy lately, that it cut off their crops -there; that he could not make anything, and sold out, and thought he -would come further south and try it awhile.”[217] - -Through this easy-going, inquisitive farmer, Brown learned of a farm for -rent, which he hired for nine months for thirty-five dollars. It was on -the main road between Harper’s Ferry, Chambersburg, and the North, about -five miles from the Ferry and in a quiet secluded place. The house stood -about 300 yards back from the Boonesborough pike, in plain sight. About -600 yards away on the other side of the road was another cabin of one -room and a garret, which was largely hidden from view by the shrubbery. -Here Brown settled and gradually collected his men and material. The -arms were especially slow in coming. Most of the guns arrived at -Chambersburg from Connecticut about August, but the pikes did not come -until a month later. Then to the men were gathered slowly. They were at -the four ends of the country, in all sorts of employment and different -financial conditions, and they were not certain just when the raid would -take place. All this delayed Brown from July until October and greatly -increased the cost of maintenance. A daughter, Anne, and Oliver’s girl -wife came and kept the house from July 16th to October 1st. - -At this critical juncture, Harriet Tubman fell sick—a grave loss to the -cause—and there were other delays. By August 1st, there were at Harper’s -Ferry the two Brown daughters and three sons, and the two brothers of a -son-in-law, besides the two Coppocs, Tidd, Jerry Anderson, and Stevens. -Hazlett, Leeman, and Taylor came soon after. Kagi was still at -Chambersburg and John Brown himself “labored and traveled night and day, -sometimes on old Dolly, his brown mule, and sometimes in the wagon. He -would start directly after night, and travel the fifty miles between the -farm and Chambersburg by daylight the next morning; and he otherwise -kept open communication between headquarters and the latter place, in -order that matters might be arranged in due season.”[218] - -In the North John Brown, Jr., was shipping the arms and gathering men -and money. He was in Boston August 10th, at Douglass’s home, soon after, -and later in Canada with Loguen. All the chief branches of the League -were visited and then northern Ohio. The result was meagre; not because -of a lack of men but lack of the kind of men wanted at this time. There -were thousands of Negroes ready to fight for liberty in the ranks. But -most of these John Brown could not use at present. No considerable band -of armed black men could have been introduced into the South without -immediate discovery and civil war. It was therefore picked leaders like -Douglass, Reynolds, Holden and Delaney that Brown wanted at -first—discreet and careful men of influence, who, as he said to -Douglass, could hive the swarming bees both North and South. To get -these picked men interested was, however, difficult. Each had his work -and his theory of racial salvation; they were widely scattered. A number -of them had been convinced in 1858, but the postponement had given time -for reflection and doubt. In many ways, the original enthusiasm had -waned, but it was not dead. The cause was just as great and all that was -needed was to convince men that this was a real chance to strike an -effective blow. They required the magic of Brown’s own presence to -impress this fact upon them. They were not sure of his agents. Men -continued to come, however, others began to prepare and still, others -were almost persuaded. An urgent summons went to Kansas to white fellow -workers, and the response there was similarly small. Brown knew that his -ability to command the services of a large number of Northern Negroes -depended to some degree on Frederick Douglass’s attitude. He was the -first great national Negro leader—a man of ability, _finesse_, and -courage. If he followed John Brown, who could hesitate? If he refused, -was it not for the best of reasons? Thus John Brown continually urged -Douglass and as a last appeal arranged for a final conference on August -19th at Chambersburg in an abandoned stone quarry. Douglass says: - -“As I came near, he regarded me rather suspiciously, but soon recognized -me, and received me cordially. He had in his hand when I met him a -fishing-tackle, with which he had been fishing in a stream hard by, but -I saw no fish and did not suppose he cared much for his ‘fisherman’s -luck.’ The fishing was simply a disguise and was certainly a good one. -He looked every way like a man of the neighborhood, and as much at home -as any of the farmers around there. His hat was old and storm-beaten, -and his clothing was about the color of the stone quarry itself—his then -present dwelling-place. - -“His face wore an anxious expression, and he was much worn by thought -and exposure. I felt that I was on a dangerous mission, and was as -little desirous of discovery as himself, though no reward had been -offered for me. We—Mr. Kagi, Captain Brown, Shields Green, and -myself—sat down among the rocks and talked over the enterprise which was -about to be undertaken. The taking of Harper’s Ferry, of which Captain -Brown had merely hinted before, was now declared as his settled purpose, -and he wanted to know what I thought of it. I at once opposed the -measure with all the arguments at my command. To me, such a measure -would be fatal to running off slaves (as was the original plan), and -fatal to all engaged in doing so. It would be an attack upon The federal -government and would array the whole country against us. Captain Brown -did most of the talking on the other side of the question. He did not at -all object to rousing the nation; it seemed to him that something -startling was just what the nation needed.... Our talk was long and -earnest; we spent the most of Saturday and a part of Sunday in this -debate—Brown for Harper’s Ferry, and I against it; he for striking a -blow which should instantly rouse the country, and I for the policy of -gradually and unaccountably drawing off the slaves to the mountains, as -at first suggested and proposed by him. When I found that he had fully -made up his mind and could not be dissuaded, I turned to Shields Green -and told him he heard what Captain Brown had said; his old plan was -changed, and that I should return home, and if he wished to go with me -he could do so. Captain Brown urged us both to go with him, but I could -not do so, and could but feel that he was about to rivet the fetters -more firmly than ever on the limbs of the enslaved. In parting, he put -his arms around me in a manner more than friendly and said: ‘Come with -me, Douglass; I will defend you with my life. I want you for a special -purpose. When I strike, the bees will begin to swarm, and I shall want -you to help hive them.’ But my discretion or my cowardice made me proof -against the dear old man’s eloquence—perhaps it was something of both -that determined my course. When about to leave, I asked Green what he -had decided to do, and was surprised by his coolly saying, in his broken -way, ‘I b’lieve I’ll go wid de ole man.’ Here we separated; they to go -to Harper’s Ferry, I to Rochester.”[219] - -Douglass’s decision undoubtedly kept many Negroes from joining Brown. -Shields Green, however, started south. The slave-catchers followed him -and made him and Owen Brown swim a river. Only their journeying -southward instead of northward saved them from capture. - -Life at the farm during this time was curious. Anderson says: - -“There was no milk and water sentimentality—no offensive contempt for -the Negro, while working in his cause; the pulsations of every heart -beat in harmony for the suffering and pleading slave. I thank God that I -have been permitted to realize to its furthest, fullest extent, the -moral, mental, physical, social harmony of an anti-slavery family, -carrying out to the letter the principles of its antitype, the -anti-slavery cause. In John Brown’s house, and in John Brown’s presence, -men from widely different parts of the continent met and united into one -company, wherein no hateful prejudice dared intrude its ugly self—no -ghost of distinction found space to enter.... - -“To a passer-by, the house and its surroundings presented but -indifferent attractions. Any log tenement of equal dimensions would be -as likely to arrest a stray glance. Rough, unsightly, and aged, it was -only for those privileged to enter and tarry for a long time, and to -penetrate the mysteries of the two rooms it contained—kitchen, parlor, -dining-room below, and the spacious chamber, attic, storeroom, prison, -drilling-room, comprised in the loft above—who could tell how we lived -at Kennedy Farm. - -“Every morning, when the noble old man was at home, he called the family -around, read from his Bible, and offered to God most fervent and -touching supplications for all flesh; and especially pathetic were his -petitions in behalf of the oppressed. I never heard John Brown pray, -that he did not make strong appeals to God for the deliverance of the -slave. This duty over, the men went to the loft, there to remain all day -long; few only could be seen about, as the neighbors were watchful and -suspicious. It was also important to talk but little among ourselves, as -visitors to the house might be curious. Besides the daughter and -daughter-in-law, who superintended the work, some one or other of the -men was regularly detailed to assist in the cooking, washing, and other -domestic work. After the ladies left, we did all the work, no one being -exempt, because of age or official grade in the organization. - -“The principal employment of the prisoners, as we severally were when -compelled to stay in the loft, was to study Forbes’s Manual, and to go -through a quiet, though rigid drill, under the training of Captain -Stevens, at some times. At other times we applied a preparation for -bronzing our gun-barrels-discussed subjects of reform—related our -personal history; but when our resources became pretty well exhausted, -the _ennui_ from confinement, imposed silence, etc., would make the men -almost desperate. At such times, neither slavery nor slaveholders were -discussed mincingly. We were, while the ladies remained, often relieved -of much of the dullness growing out of restraint by their kindness. As -we could not circulate freely, they would bring in wild fruit and -flowers from the woods and fields.”[220] - -Anne, the young daughter, says: “One day, a short time after I went down -there, father was sitting at the table writing. I was nearby sewing (he -and I being alone in the room), when two little wrens that had a nest -under the porch came flying in at the door, fluttering and twittering; -then they flew back to their nest and again to us several times, -seemingly trying to attract our attention. They appeared to be in great -distress. I asked father what he thought was the matter with the little -birds. He asked if I had ever seen them act so before; I told him no. -‘Then let us go and see,’ he said. We went out and found that a snake -had crawled up the post and was just ready to devour the little ones in -the nest. Father killed the snake; and then the old birds sat on the -railing and sang as if they would burst. It seemed as if they were -trying to express their joy and gratitude to him for saving their little -ones. After we went back into the room, he said he thought it very -strange the way the birds asked him to help them, and asked if I thought -it an omen of his success. He seemed very much impressed with that idea. -I do not think he was superstitious, but you know he always thought and -felt that God called him to that work; and seemed to place himself, or -rather to imagine himself, in the position of the figure in the old seal -of Virginia, with the tyrant under her foot.”[221] - -The men discussed religion and slavery freely, read Paine’s _Age of -Reason_ and the Baltimore _Sun_. John Brown himself was careful to -cultivate the good-will of his neighbors, attending with skill the sick -among animals and men, so much so that he and his sons became prime -favorites. Owen had long conversations with the people, while Cook was -also moving about the country selling maps. A little Dunker chapel was -near with non-resistant, anti-slavery principles; here John Brown often -worshiped and preached. Yet with all this caution and care, suspicion -lurked about them, and discovery was always imminent. - -Brown’s daughter relates that “there was a family of poor people who -lived nearby and who had rented the garden on the Kennedy place, -directly back of the house. The little barefooted woman and four small -children (she carried the youngest in her arms) would all come trooping -over to the garden at all hours of the day, and, at times, several times -during the day. Nearly always they would come up the steps and into the -house and stay a short time. This made it very troublesome for us, -compelling the men, when she came insight at meal-times, to gather up -the victuals and table-cloth and quietly disappear up-stairs. - -“One Saturday father and I went to a religious (Dunker) meeting that was -held in a grove near the schoolhouse and the folks left at home forgot -to keep a sharp lookout for Mrs. Heiffmaster, and she stole into the -house before they saw her, and saw Shields Green (that must have been in -September), Barclay Coppoc, and Will Lemnian. And another time after -that she saw C. P. Tidd standing on the porch. She thought these -strangers were running off negroes to the North. I used to give her -everything she wanted or asked for to keep her on good terms, but we -were in constant fear that she was either a spy or would betray us. It -was like standing on a powder magazine after a slow match had been -lighted.”[222] - -Despite all precautions, a rumor began to get in the air. A Prussian -Pole was among the Kansas cooperators invited. He had been in Kansas in -1856 and was known to Brown and Kagi. After hearing from Brown in August -1859, the Pole disclosed their plans to Edmund Babb, a correspondent of -the Cincinnati _Gazette_. It was probably Babb who thereupon wrote to -the United States Secretary of War: “I have discovered the existence of -a secret association, having for its object the liberation of the slaves -at the South and by a general insurrection. The leader of the movement -is one ‘old John Brown,’ late of Kansas.” Approximately correct details -of the plot followed, but Secretary Floyd was lolling at a summer resort -and had some little conspiracies of his own in hand not unconnected with -United States arsenals. Being, therefore, as he said magniloquently, -“satisfied in my mind that a scheme of such wickedness and outrage could -not be entertained by any citizens of the United States, I put the -letter away, and thought no more of it until the raid broke out.”[223] - -Gerrit Smith, too, with little discretion, addressed to Negro audience -words which plainly showed he shortly expected a slave insurrection. -Even among Harper’s Ferry party forced inaction led to disputes and -disaffection. John Brown sharply rebuked the letter-writing and -gossiping about his men. “Any person is a stupid fool,” he told Kagi, -“who expects his friends to keep for him that which he cannot keep -himself. All our friends have each got their special friends; and they -again have theirs, and it would not be right to lay the burden of -keeping a secret on any one at the end of a long string. I could tell -you of reasons I have for feeling rather keenly on this point.”[224] - -The men, on the other hand, were dissatisfied with Brown’s plans as they -were finally disclosed. Anne Brown writes that they generally “did not -know that the raid on the government works was a part of the ‘plan’ -until after they arrived at the farm in the beginning of August.”[225] -They wanted simply to repeat the Missouri raid on a larger scale and not -try to capture the arsenal. Tidd was especially stubborn and -irreconcilable. The discussion became so warm that John Brown at one -time resigned, but he was immediately reëlected and this formal letter -was sent to him: - -“DEAR SIR—We have all agreed to sustain your decisions, until you have -proved incompetent, and many of us will adhere to your decisions so long -as you will.”[226] - -In these ways Brown was compelled to hurry and accordingly he urged his -eldest son, who replied: “Through those associations which I formed in -Canada, I am able to reach each individual member at the shortest notice -by letter. I am devoting my whole time to our company business. I shall -immediately go out organizing and raising funds. From what I even had -understood, I had supposed you would not think it best to commence -opening the coal banks before spring unless circumstances should make it -imperative. However, I suppose the reasons are satisfactory to you, and -if so, those who own smaller shares ought not to object. I hope we shall -be able to get on in season some of those old miners of whom I wrote -you. I shall strain every nerve to accomplish this. You may be assured -that what you say to me will reach those who may be benefited thereby, -and those who would take stock, in the shortest possible time; so don’t -fail to keep me posted.”[227] - -As late as October 6th Brown expected to “move about the end of the -month” and made a hurried trip to Philadelphia. There he met a large -group of Negroes, and Dorsey the caterer with whom he stayed, at 1221 -Locust Street, is said to have given him $300. In some way, he was -disappointed with the visit. Anderson says he went “on the business of -great importance. How important, men there and elsewhere now know. How -affected by, and affecting the main features of the enterprise, we at -the farm knew full after their return, as the old captain, in the -fullness of his overflowing, saddened heart, detailed point after point -of interest”[228] Perhaps he was still trying to persuade Douglass and -the leaders of the Philadelphia and New York groups. - -The women left the farm late in September and O. P. Anderson, Copeland, -and Leary arrived. Merriam joined Brown while he was on the Philadelphia -trip and was sent to Baltimore to buy caps for the guns. Others were -coming when suddenly Brown fixed on October 17th as the date of the -raid. This hurried change was probably because officials and neighbors -were getting inquisitive, and arms were being removed from the arsenal -to man Southern stations. Yet it was unfortunate, as Anderson says: -“Could other parties, waiting for the word, have reached the -headquarters in time for the outbreak when it took place, the taking of -the armory, engine-house, and rifle factory, would have been quite -different. But the men at the farm had been so closely confined, that -they went out about the house and farm in the daytime during that week, -and so indiscreetly exposed their numbers to the prying neighbors, who -thereupon took steps to have a search instituted in the early part of -the coming week. Captain Brown was not seconded in another quarter, as -he expected, at the time of the action, but could the fears of the -neighbors have been allayed for a few days, the disappointment in the -former respect would not have been of much weight.”[229] - -Only the nearest of the slaves round about who awaited the word could be -communicated with and several recruits like Hinton were left stranded on -the way, unable to get through in time. So the great day dawned: “On -Sunday morning, October 16th, Captain Brown arose earlier than usual, -and called his men down to worship. He read a chapter from the Bible, -applicable to the condition of the slaves, and our duty as their -brethren, and then offered up a fervent prayer to God to assist in the -liberation of the bondmen in that slaveholding land. The services were -impressive.”[230] - -A council was held, over which O. P. Anderson, the colored man, -presided. In the afternoon the final orders were given and at night just -before setting out, John Brown said: “And now, gentlemen, let me impress -this one thing upon your minds. You all know how dear life is to you, -and how dear life is to your friends. And in remembering that, consider -that the lives of others areas dear to them as yours are to you. Do not, -therefore, take the life of anyone, if you can possibly avoid it, but if -it is necessary to take life to save your own, then make sure work of -it.”[231] - - - - - CHAPTER XI - THE BLOW - - “Woe unto them that call evil, good; and good, evil.” - -“At eight o’clock on Sunday evening, Captain Brown said: ‘Men, get on -your arms; we will proceed to the Ferry.’ His horse and wagon were -brought out before the door, and some pikes, a sledge-hammer and a -crowbar were placed in it. The captain then put on his old Kansas cap, -and said: ‘Come, boys!’ when we marched out of the camp behind him, into -the lane leading down the hill to the main road.”[232] - -The orders given commanded Owen Brown, Merriam and Barclay Coppoc to -watch the house and arms until ordered to bring them toward the Ferry. -Tidd and Cook were to cut the telegraph lines and Kagi and Stephens to -detain the bridge guard. Watson Brown and Taylor were to hold the bridge -over the Potomac, and Oliver Brown and William Thompson the bridge over -the Shenandoah. Jerry Anderson and Dauphin Thompson were to occupy the -engine-house in the arsenal yard, while Hazlett and Edwin Coppoc were to -hold the armory. - -During the night Kagi and Copeland were to seize and guard the rifle -factory, and others were to go out in the country and bring in certain -masters and their slaves. - -It was a cold dark night when the band started. Ahead was John Brown in -his one-horse farm-wagon, with pikes, a sledge-hammer and a crowbar. -Behind him marched the men silently and at intervals, Cook and Tidd -leading. They had five miles to go, over rolling hills and through woods -and then down to a narrow road between the cliffs and the Cincinnati and -Ohio canal. As they approached the railroad, Cook and Tidd cut the -telegraph wires which led to Baltimore and Washington. At the bridge -they halted and made ready their arms. At ten o’clock William Williams, -one of the watchmen there, was surprised to find himself a prisoner in -the hands of Kagi and Stevens, who took him through the covered -structure to the town, leaving Watson Brown and Steward Taylor to guard -the bridge. The rest of the company entered Harper’s Ferry. - -The land between the rivers is itself high, though dwarfed by the -mountains and running down to a low point where the rivers join. At this -place the bridge leads to Maryland. After crossing the bridge to -Virginia, about sixty yards up the street, running parallel to the -Potomac, was the gate of the armory where the arms were made. On the -Shenandoah side about sixty yards from the armory gate is the arsenal, -where the arms were stored. The company proceeded to the armory gate. -The watchman tells how the place was captured: - -“‘Open the gate,’ said they; I said, ‘I could not if I was stuck,’ and -one of them jumped up on the pier of the gate over my head, and another -fellow ran and put his hand on me and caught me by the coat and held me; -I was inside and they were outside, and the fellow standing over my head -upon the pier, and then when I would not open the gate for them, five or -six ran in from the wagon, clapped their guns against my breast, and -told me I should deliver up the key; I told them I could not; and -another fellow made an answer and said they had not time now to be -waiting for the key, but to go to the wagon and bring out the crowbar -and large hammer, and they would soon get in; they went to the little -wagon and brought a large crowbar out of it; there is a large chain -around the two sides of the wagon-gate going in; they twisted the -crowbar in the chain and they opened it, and in they ran and got in the -wagon; one fellow took me; they all gathered about me and looked in my -face; I was nearly scared to death with so many guns about me.”[233] - -[Illustration: MAP OF HARPER’S FERRY, SHOWING POINTS FIGURING IN THE -RAID] - -The two captured watchmen, Anderson says, “were left in the custody of -Jerry Anderson and Dauphin Thompson, and A. D. Stevens arranged the men -to take possession of the armory and rifle factory. About this time, -there was apparently much excitement. People were passing back and forth -in the town, and before we could do much, we had to take several -prisoners. After the prisoners were secured, we passed to the opposite -side of the street and took the armory, and Albert Hazlett and Edwin -Coppoc were ordered to hold it for the time being.”[234] - -The other fourteen men quickly dispersed through the village. Oliver -Brown and William Thompson seized and guarded the bridge across the -Shenandoah. This bridge was sixty rods from the railway bridge up the -river and was the direct route to Loudoun Heights, the slave-filled -lower valley, and the Great Black Way. It was, however, not the only way -across the Shenandoah: a little more than half a mile farther up were -the rifle works, where the stream could be easily forded. Kagi and -Copeland went there, captured the watchman and took possession. - -“These places were all taken, and the prisoners secured, without the -snap of a gun, or any violence whatever,” says Anderson, and he -continues: “The town being taken, Brown, Stevens, and the men who had no -post in charge, returned to the engine-house, where council was held, -after which Captain Stevens, Tidd, Cook, Shields Green, Leary and myself -went to the country. On the road we met some colored men, to whom we -made known our purpose, when they immediately agreed to join us. They -said they had been long waiting for an opportunity of the kind. Stevens -then asked them to go around among the colored people and circulate the -news, when each started off in a different direction. The result was -that many colored men gathered to the scene of action. The first -prisoner taken by us was Colonel Lewis Washington [a relative of George -Washington]. When we neared his house, Captain Stevens placed Leary and -Shields Green to guard the approaches to the house, the one at the side, -and the other in front. We then knocked, but no one answering, although -females were looking from upper windows, we entered the building and -commenced a search for the proprietor. Colonel Washington opened his -room door, and begged us not to kill him. Captain Stevens replied, ‘You -are our prisoner,’ when he stood as if speechless or petrified. Stevens -further told him to get ready to go to the Ferry; that he had come to -abolish slavery, not to take life but in self-defense, but that he must -go along. The colonel replied: ‘You can have my slaves, if you will let -me remain.’ ‘No,’ said the captain, ‘you must go along too; so get -ready.’”[235] - -He and his male slaves were thus taken, together with a large four-horse -wagon and some arms, including the Lafayette sword. Away the party went -and after capturing another planter and his slaves, arrived at the Ferry -before daybreak. - -Meantime the citizens of the Ferry, returning late from protracted -Methodist meeting, were being taken prisoners and about one o’clock in -the morning the east-bound Baltimore and Ohio train arrived. This was -detained and the local colored porter shot dead by Brown’s guards on the -bridge. The passengers were greatly excited, but at first thought it was -a strike of some kind. After sunrise the train was allowed to proceed, -John Brown himself walking ahead across the bridge to reassure the -conductor. So Monday, October 17th, began and Anderson says it “was a -time of stirring and exciting events. In consequence of the movements of -the night before, we were prepared for commotion and tumult, but -certainly not for more than we beheld around us. Gray dawn and yet -brighter daylight revealed great confusion, and as the sun arose, the -panic spread like wild-fire. Men, women and children could be seen -leaving their homes in every direction; some seeking refuge among -residents, and in quarters further away; others climbing up the -hillsides, and hurrying off in various directions, evidently impelled by -a sudden fear, which was plainly visible in their countenances or in -their movements. - -“Captain Brown was all activity, though I could not help thinking that -at times he appeared somewhat puzzled. He ordered Lewis Sherrard Leary -and four slaves, and a free man belonging in the neighborhood, to join -John Henry Kagi and John Copeland at the rifle factory, which they -immediately did.... After the departure of the train, quietness -prevailed for a short time; a number of prisoners were already in the -engine-house, and of the many colored men living in the neighborhood, -who had assembled in the town, a number were armed.”[236] - -Up to this point everything in John Brown’s plan had worked like -clockwork, and there had been but one death. The armory was captured, -from twenty-five to fifty slaves had been armed, several masters were in -custody and the next move was to get the arms and ammunition from the -farm. Cook says that when the party returned from the country at dawn, -“I stayed a short while in the engine-house to get warm, as I was -chilled through. After I got warm, Captain Brown ordered me to go with -C. P. Tidd, who was to take William H. Leeman, and, I think, four slaves -[Anderson says fourteen slaves] with him, in Colonel Washington’s large -wagon, across the river, and to take Terrence Burns and his brother and -their slaves prisoners. My orders were to hold Burns and brother as -prisoners at their own house, while Tidd and the slaves who accompanied -him were to go to Captain Brown’s house and to load in arms and bring -them down to the schoolhouse, stopping for the Burnses and their guard. -William H. Leeman remained with me to guard the prisoners. On return of -the wagon, in compliance with orders, we all started for the -schoolhouse. When we got there, I was to remain, by Captain Brown’s -orders, with one of the slaves to guard the arms, while C. P. Tidd, with -the other Negroes, was to go back for the rest of the arms, and Burns -was to be sent with William H. Leeman to Captain Brown at the armory. It -was at this time that William Thompson came up from the Ferry and -reported that everything was all right, and then hurried on to overtake -William H. Leeman. A short time after the departure of Tidd, I heard a -good deal of firing and became anxious to know the cause, but my orders -were strict to remain in the schoolhouse and guard the arms, and I -obeyed the orders to the letter. About four o’clock in the evening C. P. -Tidd came with the second load.”[237] - -Here, in all probability, was the fatal hitch. The farm was not over -three miles from the schoolhouse, and there was a heavy farm-wagon with -four large strong horses and a dozen men or more to help. The fact that -it took these men eleven hours to move two wagon-loads of material less -than three miles is the secret of the extraordinary failure of Brown’s -foray at a time when victory was in his grasp. That Cook was needlessly -dilatory in the moving is certain. He sat down in Byrnes’s house and -made a speech on human equality. Then Tidd went on to the farm with the -wagon and brought a load of arms, which he deposited at the point where -the Kennedy farm road meets the Potomac almost at right angles, about -three miles or less from the Ferry. The schoolhouse stood here and the -children were frightened half to death. Cook stopped at this place and -unloaded the wagon, and then Leeman went with Byrnes to the guard-house, -lingering and actually sitting beside the road. Even then they arrived -before ten o’clock. With haste it is certain that, despite the muddy -road, the first load of arms could have been at the schoolhouse before -eight o’clock in the morning, and the whole of the stores by ten -o’clock. That Brown expected this is shown by his sending William -Thompson to reassure the men at the farm of his safety and probably to -urge haste; yet when the second load of arms appeared, it was four -o’clock in the afternoon, at least three hours after Brown had been -completely surrounded. Judging from Cook’s narrative, it is likely that -Thompson did not see Tidd at all. It was this inexcusable delay on the -part of Tidd and Cook and, possibly, William Thompson that undoubtedly -made the raid a failure. To be sure, John Brown never said so—never -hinted that any one was to blame but himself. But that was John Brown’s -way. - -Events in the town had moved quickly. After Cook had departed, Brown -ordered O. P. Anderson “to take the pikes out of the wagon in which he -rode to the Ferry, and to place them in the hands of the colored men who -had come with us from the plantations, and others who had come forward -without having had communication with any of our party.”[238] - -The citizens were “wild with fright and excitement.... The prisoners -were also terror-stricken. Some wanted to go home to see their families, -as if for the last time. The privilege was granted them, under escort, -and they were brought back again. Edwin Coppoc, one of the sentinels at -the armory gate, was fired at by one of the citizens, but the ball did -not reach him, when one of the insurgents close by put up his rifle, and -made the enemy bite the dust. Among the arms taken from Colonel -Washington was one double-barreled gun. This weapon was loaded by Leeman -with buckshot, and placed in the hands of an elderly slave man, early in -the morning. After the cowardly charge upon Coppoc, this old man was -ordered by Captain Stevens to arrest a citizen. The old man ordered him -to halt, which he refused to do, when instantly the terrible load was -discharged into him, and he fell, and expired without a struggle.”[239] - -The next step which John Brown had in mind is unknown, but there were -two safe movements at 9 A. M. Monday morning: - -(_a_) The arms could have been brought across the Potomac bridge and -then across the Shenandoah, and so up Londoun Heights. The men from the -Maryland side could have joined, and Brown and his men covered their -retreat by compelling the hostages to march with them. Kagi and his men, -by wading the Shenandoah, could have supported them. - -(_b_) The arms could have been taken down to the Potomac from the -schoolhouse, ferried across and moved over to Kagi. Brown and his men -could have joined the party there and all retreated up Loudoun Heights. -From the fact that Brown had the arms stopped at the schoolhouse, this -seems probably to have been the thought in his mind. - -On the other hand, the plan usually attributed to Brown is unthinkable; -viz., that he intended retreating across the Potomac into the Maryland -mountains. First, he had just come out of the Maryland mountains and had -moved down his arms and ammunition; and second, this manœuvre would have -cut his band off from the Great Black Way to the South unless he -captured the Ferry a second time. Manifestly this, then, was not Brown’s -idea. It has, however, been suggested that the arms had been moved down -to the schoolhouse to be placed in the hands of slaves there. But why -were they left on the Maryland side? In the whole Maryland country west -of the mountains were less than a thousand able-bodied Negroes, of whom -not a tenth could have been cognizant of the uprising, while Brown had -arms for 1,200 men or more. No, Brown intended to move the arms in bulk. -He had perhaps a ton, or a ton and a half of baggage. He wished it moved -first to the schoolhouse, and then if all was well to the Ferry, or -straight across to the mountains. Cook started before five o’clock in -the morning, and Brown no doubt expected to hear that the arms were at -the schoolhouse by ten. At eleven o’clock he dispatched William Thompson -to Kennedy farm. Anderson thinks that Thompson’s message made the farm -party even more leisurely because it told of success so far. This is -surely impossible. The veriest tyro must have known that minutes were -golden despite the tremendous fortune of the expedition. Did Thompson -misapprehend his message? Was the delay Tidd’s and what was Owen Brown -thinking and doing? It is a curious puzzle, but it is the puzzle of the -foray. If the party with the arms had arrived at the bridge any time -before noon, the raid would have been successful. Even as it was, Brown -still had three courses open to him, all of which promised a measure of -success: - -(_a_) He could have gotten his band and crossed back to -Maryland,—although this meant the abandonment of the main features of -his whole plan. As time waned Stevens and Kagi urged this but Brown -refused. - -(_b_) He could have gone to Loudoun Heights, but this would have -involved abandoning his arms and stores and above all, one of his sons, -Cook, Tidd, Merriam, Coppoc and the slaves. This was unthinkable. - -(_c_) He could have used his hostages to force terms. For not doing this -he afterward repeatedly blamed himself, but characteristically blamed no -one else for anything. - -Meantime every minute of delay aroused the country and brought the -citizens to their senses. “The train that left Harper’s Ferry carried a -panic to Virginia, Maryland and Washington with it. The passengers, -taking all the paper they could find, wrote accounts of the -insurrection, which they threw from the windows as the train rushed -onward.”[240] - -A local physician says: “I went back to the hillside then, and tried to -get the citizens together, to see what we could do to get rid of these -fellows. They seemed to be very troublesome. When I got on the hill I -learned that they had shot Boerly. That was probably about seven -o’clock.... I had ordered the Lutheran church bell to be rung to get the -citizens together to see what sort of arms they had. I found one or two -squirrel rifles and a few shotguns. I had sent a messenger to -Charlestown in the meantime for Captain Rowan, commander of a volunteer -company there. I also sent messengers to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad -to stop the trains coming east, and not let them approach the Ferry, and -also a messenger to Shepherdstown.”[241] - -Another eye-witness adds: “There was unavoidable delay in the -preparations for a fight, because of the scarcity of weapons; for only a -few squirrel guns and fowling-pieces could be found. There were then at -Harper’s Ferry thousands and tens of thousands of muskets and rifles of -the most approved patterns, but they were all boxed up in the arsenal, -and the arsenal was in the hands of the enemy. And such, too, was the -scarcity of the ammunition that, after using up the limited supply of -lead found in the village stores, pewter plates and spoons had to be -melted and molded into bullets for the occasion. - -“By nine o’clock a number of indifferently armed citizens assembled on -Camp Hill and decided that the party, consisting of half a dozen men, -should cross the Potomac a short distance above the Ferry, and, going -down the tow-path of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal as far as the railway -bridge, should attack the two sentinels stationed there, who, by the -way, had been reënforced by four more of Brown’s party. Another small -party under Captain Medler was to cross the Shenandoah and take position -opposite the rifle works, while Captain Avis, with a sufficient force, -should take possession of the Shenandoah bridge, and Captain Roderick, -with some of the armorers, should post themselves on the Baltimore and -Ohio Railway west of the Ferry just above the armories.”[242] - -At last the militia commenced to arrive and the movements to cut off -Brown’s men began. The Jefferson Guards crossed the Potomac, came down -to the Maryland side and seized the Potomac bridge. The local company -was sent to take the Shenandoah bridge, leave a guard and march to the -rear of the arsenal, while another local company was to seize the houses -in front of the arsenal. - -“As strangers poured in,” says Anderson, “the enemy took positions round -about, so as to prevent any escape, within shooting distance of the -engine-house and arsenal. Captain Brown, seeing their manœuvres, said, -‘We will hold on to our three positions, if they are unwilling to come -to terms, and die like men.’”[243] - -The attack came at noon from the Jefferson Guards, who started across -the Potomac bridge from Maryland. This is Anderson’s story: - -“It was about twelve o’clock in the day when we were first attacked by -the troops. Prior to that, Captain Brown, in anticipation of further -trouble, had girded to his side the famous sword taken from Colonel -Lewis Washington the night before, and with that memorable weapon, he -commanded his men against General Washington’s own state. When the -captain received the news that the troops had entered the bridge from -the Maryland side, he, with some of his men, went into the street, and -sent a message to the arsenal for us to come forth also. We hastened to -the street as ordered, when he said—‘The troops are on the bridge, -coming into town; we will give them a warm reception.’ He then walked -around amongst us, giving us words of encouragement, in this wise:—‘Men! -be cool! Don’t waste your powder and shot! Take aim, and make every shot -count!’ ‘The troops will look for us to retreat on their first -appearance; be careful to shoot first.’ Our men were well supplied with -firearms, but Captain Brown had no rifle at that time; his only weapon -was the sword before mentioned. - -“The troops soon came out of the bridge, and up the street facing us, we -occupying an irregular position. When they got within sixty or seventy -yards, Captain Brown said, ‘Let go upon them!’ which we did, when -several of them fell. Again and again the dose was repeated. There was -now consternation among the troops. From marching in solid martial -columns, they became scattered. Some hastened to seize upon and bear up -the wounded and dying,—several lay dead upon the ground. They seemed not -to realize, at first, that we would fire upon them, but evidently -expected that we would be driven out by them without firing. Captain -Brown seemed fully to understand the matter, and hence, very properly -and in our defense, undertook to forestall their movements. The -consequence of their unexpected reception was, after leaving several of -their dead on the field, they beat a confused retreat into the bridge, -and there stayed under cover until reinforcements came to the Ferry. On -the retreat of the troops, we were ordered back to our former -posts.”[244] - -At this time the Negro, Newby, was killed and his assailant shot in turn -by Green. Two slaves also died fighting. Now “there was comparative -quiet for a time, except that the citizens seemed to be wild with -terror. Men, women and children forsook the place in great haste, -climbing up hillsides, and scaling the mountains. The latter seemed to -be alive with white fugitives, fleeing from their doomed city. During -this time, William Thompson, who was returning from his errand to the -Kennedy farm, was surrounded on the bridge by railroad men, who next -came up, and taken a prisoner to the Wager house.”[245] - -It was now one o’clock in the day and while things were going against -Brown, his cause was not desperate. His Maryland men might yet attack -the disorganized Jefferson Guards in the rear and the arsenal was full -of hostages. But militia and citizens kept pouring into the town and by -three o’clock “could be seen coming from every direction.” Kagi sent -word to Brown, urging retreat; but Brown faced a difficult dilemma: -Should he go to Loudoun Heights and lose half his men and all his -munitions? or should he retreat to Maryland? This latter path lay open, -he was sure, by means of his hostages. Meantime the Maryland party might -appear at any moment. Indeed, the Jefferson Guards had once been -mistaken for them. On this account the message was sent back to Kagi “to -hold out for a few minutes, when we would all evacuate the place.” Still -the Maryland party lingered with the stubborn Tidd somewhere up the -road, and Cook idly kicking his heels at the schoolhouse. - -The messenger, Jerry Anderson, was fired on and mortally wounded before -he reached Kagi, and the latter’s party was attacked by a large force -and driven into the river. - -“The river at that point runs rippling over a rocky bed,” writes a -Virginian, “and at ordinary stages of the water is easily forded. The -raiders, finding their retreat to the opposite shore intercepted by -Medler’s men, made for a large flat rock near the middle of the stream. -Before reaching it, however, Kagi fell and died in the water, apparently -without a struggle. Four others reached the rock, where, for a while, -they made an ineffectual stand, returning the fire of the citizens. But -it was not long before two of them were killed outright and another -prostrated by a mortal wound, leaving Copeland, a mulatto, standing -alone unharmed upon their rock of refuge. - -“Thereupon, a Harper’s Ferry man, James H. Holt, dashed into the river, -gun in hand, to capture Copeland, who, as he approached him, made a show -of fight by pointing his gun at Holt, who halted and leveled his; but, -to the surprise of the lookers-on, neither of their weapons were -discharged, both having been rendered temporarily useless, as I -afterward learned, from being wet. Holt, however, as he again advanced, -continued to snap his gun, while Copeland did the same.”[246] - -Copeland was taken alive and Leeman, with a second message from Kagi to -Brown, was killed. Matters were now getting desperate, but the armory -was full of prisoners and therein lay John Brown’s final hope. Easily as -a last resort he could use these citizens as a screen and so escape to -the mountains. In attempting this, however, some of the prisoners were -bound to be killed and Brown hesitated at sacrificing innocent blood to -save himself. He thought that the same end might be accomplished by -negotiation. His first move, therefore, was to withdraw all his force -and the important prisoners to a small brick building near the armory -gate called the “engine-house.” Captain Daingerfield, one of the -prisoners, says: “He entered the engine-house, carrying his prisoners -along, or rather part of them, for he made selections. After getting -into the engine-house he made this speech: ‘Gentlemen, perhaps you -wonder why I have selected you from the others. It is because I believe -you to be the most influential; and I have only to say now, that you -will have to share precisely the same fate that your friends extend to -my men.’ He began at once to bar the doors and windows, and to cut -port-holes through the brick wall.”[247] - -This evident weakening of the raiders let pandemonium loose. The -citizens realized how small a force Brown had and were filled with fury -at his presumption. His men began to fight desperately for their lives. - -“About the time when Brown immured himself,” a narrator reports, “a -company of Berkeley County militia arrived from Martinsburg who, with -some citizens of Harper’s Ferry and the surrounding country, made a rush -on the armory and released the great mass of the prisoners outside of -the engine-house, not, however, without suffering some loss from a -galling fire kept up by the enemy from ‘the fort.’”[248] - -This released the arms and one of the Virginia watchmen says: “The -people, who came pouring into town, broke into liquor saloons, filled -up, and then got into the arsenal, arming themselves with United States -guns and ammunition. They kept shooting at random and howling.”[249] - -The prisoners within the engine-house heard “a terrible firing from -without, at every point from which the windows could be seen, and in a -few minutes every window was shattered, and hundreds of balls came -through the doors. These shots were answered from within whenever the -attacking party could be seen. This was kept up most of the day, and, -strange to say, not a prisoner was hurt, though thousands of balls were -imbedded in the walls, and holes shot in the doors almost large enough -for a man to creep through.”[250] - -The doomed raiders saw “volley upon volley” discharged, while “the -echoes from the hills, the shrieks of the townspeople, and the groans of -their wounded and dying, all of which filled the air, were truly -frightful.” Yet “no powder and ball were wasted. We shot from under -cover, and took deadly aim. For an hour before the flag of truce was -sent out, the firing was uninterrupted, and one and another of the enemy -were constantly dropping to the earth.”[251] - -Oliver Brown was shot and died without a word and Taylor was mortally -wounded. The mayor of the city ventured out, unarmed, to reconnoitre and -was killed. Immediately the son of Andrew Hunter, who afterward was -state’s attorney against Brown, rushed into the hotel after the prisoner -William Thompson: - -“We burst into the room where he was, and found several around him, but -they offered only a feeble resistance; we brought our guns down to his -head repeatedly,—myself and another person,—for the purpose of shooting -him in the room. - -“There was a young lady there, the sister of Mr. Fouke, the -hotel-keeper, who sat in this man’s lap, covered his face with her arms, -and shielded him with her person whenever we brought our guns to bear. -She said to us, ‘For God’s sake, wait and let the law take its course.’ -My associate shouted to kill him. ‘Let us shed his blood,’ were his -words. All round were shouting, ‘Mr. Beckham’s life was worth ten -thousand of these vile Abolitionists.’ I was cool about it, and -deliberate. My gun was pushed by some one who seized the barrel, and I -then moved to the back part of the room, still with purpose unchanged, -but with a view to divert attention from me, in order to get an -opportunity, at some moment when the crowd would be less dense, to shoot -him. After a moment’s thought it occurred to me that that was not the -proper place to kill him. We then proposed to take him out and hang him. -Some portion of our band then opened a way to him, and first pushing -Miss Fouke aside, we slung him out-of-doors. I gave him a push, and many -others did the same. We then shoved him along the platform and down to -the trestle work of the bridge; he begged for his life all the time, -very piteously at first.”[252] - -Thus he was shot to death as he crawled in the trestle work. The -prisoners in the engine-house now urged Brown to make terms with the -citizens, representing that this was possible and that he and his men -could escape. Brown sent out his son Watson with a white flag, but the -maddened citizens paid no attention to it and shot him down. A lull in -the fighting came a little later, and Stevens took a second flag of -truce, but was captured and held prisoner. Daingerfield says: - -“At night the firing ceased, for we were in total darkness, and nothing -could be seen in the engine-house. During the day and night I talked -much with Brown. I found him as brave as a man could be, and sensible -upon all subjects except slavery. He believed it was his duty to free -the slaves, even if in doing so he lost his own life. During a sharp -fight one of Brown’s sons was killed. He fell; then trying to raise -himself, he said, ‘It is all over with me,’ and died instantly. Brown -did not leave his post at the port-hole; but when the fighting was over -he walked to his son’s body, straightened out his limbs, took off his -trappings, and then, turning to me, said, ‘This is the third son I have -lost in this cause.’ Another son had been shot in the morning, and was -then dying, having been brought in from the street. Often during the -affair at the engine-house, when his men would want to fire upon some -one who might be seen passing, Brown would stop them, saying, ‘Don’t -shoot; that man is unarmed.’ The firing was kept up by our men all day -and until late at night, and during this time several of his men were -killed, but none of the prisoners were hurt, though in great danger. -During the day and night many propositions, pro and con, were made, -looking to Brown’s surrender and the release of the prisoners, but -without result.”[253] - -Another eye-witness says: - -“A little before night Brown asked if any of his captives would -volunteer to go out among the citizens and induce them to cease firing -on the fort, as they were endangering the lives of their friends—the -prisoners. He promised on his part that, if there was no more firing on -his men, there should be none by them on the besiegers. Mr. Israel -Russel undertook the dangerous duty; the risk arose from the excited -state of the people who would be likely to fire on anything seen -stirring around the prison-house, and the citizens were persuaded to -stop firing in consideration of the danger incurred of injuring the -prisoners.... - -“It was now dark and the wildest excitement existed in the town, -especially among the friends of the killed, wounded and prisoners of the -citizens’ party. It had rained some little all day and the atmosphere -was raw and cold. Now, a cloudy and moonless sky hung like a pall over -the scene of war, and, on the whole, a more dismal night cannot be -imagined. Guards were stationed round the engine-house to prevent -Brown’s escape and, as forces were constantly arriving from Winchester, -Frederick City, Baltimore and other places to help the Harper’s Ferry -people, the town soon assumed quite a military appearance. The United -States authorities in Washington had been notified in the meantime, and, -in the course of the night, Colonel Robert E. Lee, afterward the famous -General Lee of the Southern Confederacy, arrived with a force of United -States marines, to protect the interests of the government, and kill or -capture the invaders.”[254] - -Meantime Cook had awakened to the fact that something was wrong. He left -Tidd at the schoolhouse and started toward the Ferry; finding it -surrounded, he fired one volley from a tree and fled. He found no one at -the schoolhouse, but met Tidd, and the whole farm guard, and one Negro -on the road beyond. They all turned and fled north, Tidd and Cook -quarreling. They wandered fourteen days in rain and snow, and finally -all escaped except Cook who went into a town for food and was arrested. - -Robert E. Lee, with 100 marines, arrived just before midnight on Monday -and one of the prisoners tells the story of the last stand: - -“When Colonel Lee came with the government troops in the night, he at -once sent a flag of truce by his aid, J. E. B. Stuart, to notify Brown -of his arrival, and in the name of the United States to demand his -surrender, advising him to throw himself on the clemency of the -government. Brown declined to accept Colonel Lee’s terms, and determined -to await the attack. When Stuart was admitted and a light brought, he -exclaimed, ‘Why, aren’t you old Osawatomie Brown of Kansas, whom I once -had there as my prisoner?’ ‘Yes,’ was the answer, ‘but you did not keep -me.’ This was the first intimation we had of Brown’s real name. When -Colonel Lee advised Brown to trust to the clemency of the government, -Brown responded that he knew what that meant,—a rope for his men and -himself; adding, ‘I prefer to die just here.’ Stuart told him he would -return at early morning for his final reply, and left him. When he had -gone, Brown at once proceeded to barricade the doors, windows, etc., -endeavoring to make the place as strong as possible. All this time no -one of Brown’s men showed the slightest fear, but calmly awaited the -attack, selecting the best situations to fire from, and arranging their -guns and pistols so that a fresh one could be taken up as soon as one -was discharged.... - -“When Lieutenant Stuart came in the morning for the final reply to the -demand to surrender, I got up and went to Brown’s side to hear his -answer. Stuart asked, ‘Are you ready to surrender, and trust to the -mercy of the government?’ Brown answered, ‘No, I prefer to die here.’ -His manner did not betray the least alarm. Stuart stepped aside and made -a signal for the attack, which was instantly begun with sledge-hammers -to break down the door. Finding it would not yield, the soldiers seized -a long ladder for a battering-ram, and commenced beating the door with -that, the party within firing incessantly. I had assisted in the -barricading, fixing the fastenings so that I could remove them on the -first effort to get in. But I was not at the door when the battering -began, and could not get to the fastenings till the ladder was used. I -then quickly removed the fastenings; and, after two or three strokes of -the ladder, the engine rolled partially back, making a small aperture, -through which Lieutenant Green of the marines forced his way, jumped on -top of the engine, and stood a second, amidst a shower of balls, looking -for John Brown. When he saw Brown, he sprang about twelve feet at him, -giving an under-thrust of his sword, striking Brown about midway the -body, and raising him completely from the ground. Brown fell forward, -with his head between his knees, while Green struck him several times -over the head, and, as I then supposed, split his skull at every stroke. -I was not two feet from Brown at that time. Of course, I got out of the -building as soon as possible, and did not know till some time later that -Brown was not killed. It seems that Green’s sword, in making the thrust, -struck Brown’s belt and did not penetrate the body. The sword was bent -double. The reason that Brown was not killed when struck on the head -was, that Green was holding his sword in the middle, striking with the -hilt, and making only scalp wounds.”[255] - -After the attack on the troops at the bridge, Brown had ordered O. P. -Anderson, Hazlett and Green back to the arsenal. But Green saw the -desperate strait of Brown and chose voluntarily to go into the -engine-house and fight until the last. Anderson and Hazlett, when they -saw the door battered in, went to the back of the arsenal, climbed the -wall and fled along the railway that goes up the Shenandoah. Here in the -cliffs they had a skirmish with the troops but finally escaped in the -night, crossed the town and the Potomac and so got into Maryland and -went to the farm. It was deserted and pillaged. Then they came back to -the schoolhouse and found that empty. In the morning they heard firing -and Anderson’s narrative continues: - -“Hazlett thought it must be Owen Brown and his men trying to force their -way into the town, as they had been informed that a number of us had -been taken prisoners, and we started down along the ridge to join them. -When we got in sight of the Ferry, we saw the troops firing across the -river to the Maryland side with considerable spirit. Looking closely, we -saw, to our surprise, that they were firing upon a few of the colored -men, who had been armed the day before by our men, at the Kennedy farm, -and stationed down at the schoolhouse by C. P. Tidd. They were in the -bushes on the edge of the mountains, dodging about, occasionally -exposing themselves to the enemy. The troops crossed the bridge in -pursuit of them, but they retreated in different directions. Being -further in the mountains, and more secure, we could see without personal -harm befalling us. One of the colored men came toward where we were, -when we hailed him, and inquired the particulars. He said that one of -his comrades had been shot, and was lying on the side of the mountains; -that they thought the men who had armed them the day before must be in -the Ferry. That opinion, we told him, was not correct. We asked him to -join with us in hunting up the rest of the party, but he declined, and -went his way. - -“While we were in this part of the mountains, some of the troops went to -the schoolhouse, and took possession of it. On our return along up the -ridge, from our position, screened by the bushes, we could see them as -they invested it. Our last hope of shelter, or of meeting our -companions, now being destroyed, we concluded to make our escape -north.”[256] - -Anderson managed to get away, but Hazlett was captured in Pennsylvania -and was returned to Virginia. Thus John Brown’s raid ended. Seven of the -men—John Brown himself, Shields Green, Edwin Coppoc, Stevens and -Copeland and eventually Cook and Hazlett—were captured and hanged. -Watson and Oliver Brown, the two Thompsons, Kagi, Jerry Anderson, -Taylor, Newby, Leary, and John Anderson, ten in all, were killed in the -fight, and six others—Owen Brown, Tidd, Leeman, Barclay Coppoc, Merriam -and O. Anderson escaped. - -At high noon on Tuesday, October 18th, the raid was over. John Brown lay -wounded and bloodstained on the floor and the governor of Virginia bent -over him. - -“Who are you?” he asked. - -“My name is John Brown; I have been well known as old John Brown of -Kansas. Two of my sons were killed here to-day, and I’m dying too. I -came here to liberate slaves, and was to receive no reward. I have acted -from a sense of duty, and am content to await my fate; but I think the -crowd have treated me badly. I am an old man. Yesterday I could have -killed whom I chose; but I had no desire to kill any person, and would -not have killed a man had they not tried to kill me and my men. I could -have sacked and burned the town, but did not; I have treated the persons -whom I took as hostages kindly, and I appeal to them for the truth of -what I say. If I had succeeded in running off slaves this time, I could -have raised twenty times as many men as I have now, for a similar -expedition. But I have failed.”[257] - - - - - CHAPTER XII - THE RIDDLE OF THE SPHINX - - “Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we - did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. - - “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our - iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His - stripes we are healed.” - - -The deed was done. The next day the world knew and the world sat in -puzzled amazement. It was ever so and ever will be. When a prophet like -John Brown appears, how must we of the world receive him? Must we follow -out the drear, dread logic of surrounding facts, as did the South, even -if they crucify a clean and pure soul, simply because consistent -allegiance to our cherished, chosen ideal demands it? If we do, the -shame will brand our latest history. Shall we hesitate and waver before -his clear white logic, now helping, now fearing to help, now believing, -now doubting? Yes, this we must do so long as the doubt and hesitation -are genuine; but we must not lie. If we are human, we must thus hesitate -until we know the right. How shall we know it? That is the Riddle of the -Sphinx. We are but darkened groping souls, that know not light often -because of its very blinding radiance. Only in time is truth revealed. -To-day at last we know: John Brown was right. - -Yet there are some great principles to guide us. That there are in this -world matters of vast human import which are eternally right or -eternally wrong, all men believe. Whether that great right comes, as the -simpler, clearer minded think, from the spoken word of God, or whether -it is simply another way of saying: this deed makes for the good of -mankind, or that, for the ill—however it may be, all men know that there -are in this world here and there and again and again great partings of -the ways—the one way wrong, the other right, in some vast and eternal -sense. This certainly is true at times—in the mighty crises of lives and -nations. On the other hand, it is also true, as human experience again -and again shows, that the usual matters of human debate and difference -of opinion are not so vitally important, or so easily classified; that -in most cases there is much of right and wrong on both sides and, so -usual is it to find this true, that men tend to argue it always so. -Their life morality becomes always a wavering path of expediency, not -necessarily the best or the worst path, as they freely even smilingly -admit, but a good path, a safe path, a path of little resistance and one -that leads to the good if not to the theoretical (but usually -impracticable) best. Such philosophy of the world’s ways is common, and -probably it is well that thus it is. And yet we all feel its temporary, -tentative character; we instinctively distrust its comfortable tone, and -listen almost fearfully for the greater voice; its better is often so -far below that which we feel is a possible best, that its present -temporizing seems evil to us, and ever and again after the world has -complacently dodged and compromised with, and skilfully evaded a great -evil, there shines, suddenly, a great white light—an unwavering, -unflickering brightness, blinding by its all-seeing brilliance, making -the whole world simply a light and a darkness—a right and a wrong. Then -men tremble and writhe and waver. They whisper, “But—but—of course;” -“the thing is plain, but it is too plain to be true—it is true but truth -is not the only thing in the world.” Thus they hide from the light, they -burrow and grovel, and yet ever in, and through, and on them blazes that -mighty light with its horror of darkness and behind it peals the -voice—the Riddle of the Sphinx, that must be answered. - -Such a light was the soul of John Brown. He was simple, exasperatingly -simple; unlettered, plain, and homely. No casuistry of culture or of -learning, of well-being or tradition moved him in the slightest degree: -“Slavery is wrong,” he said,—“kill it.” Destroy it—uproot it, stem, -blossom, and branch; give it no quarter, exterminate it and do it now. -Was he wrong? No. The forcible staying of human uplift by barriers of -law, and might, and tradition is the most wicked thing on earth. It is -wrong, eternally wrong. It is wrong, by whatever name it is called, or -in whatever guise it lurks, and whenever it appears. But it is -especially heinous, black, and cruel when it masquerades in the robes of -law and justice and patriotism. So was American slavery clothed in 1859, -and it had to die by revolution, not by milder means. And this men knew. -They had known it a hundred years. Yet they shrank and trembled. From -round about the white and blinding path of this soul flew equivocations, -lies, thievings and red murders. And yet all men instinctively felt that -these things were not of the light but of the surrounding darkness. It -is at once surprising, baffling and pitiable to see the way in which -men—honest American citizens—faced this light. Many types met and -answered the argument, John Brown (for he did not use argument, he was -himself an argument). First there was the Western American—the typical -American, like Charles Robinson—one to whose imagination the empire of -the vale of the Mississippi appealed with tremendous force. Then there -was the Abolitionist—shading away from him who held slavery an incubus -to him who saw its sin, of whom Gerrit Smith was a fair type. Then there -was the lover of men, like Dr. Howe, and the merchant-errant like -Stearns. Finally, there were the two great fateful types—the master and -the slave. - -To Robinson, Brown was simply a means to an end—beyond that he was -whatever prevailing public opinion indicated. When the gratitude of -Osawatomie swelled high, Brown was fit to be named with Jesus Christ; -when the wave of Southern reaction subjugated the nation, he was -something less than a fanatic. But whatever he was, he was the sword on -which struggling Kansas and its leaders could depend, the untarnished -doer of its darker deeds, when they that knew them necessary cowered and -held their hands. Brown’s was not the only hand that freed Kansas, but -his hand was indispensable, and not the first time, nor the last, has a -cool and skilful politician, like Robinson, climbed to power on the -heads of those helpers of his, whose half-realized ideals he bartered -for present possibilities—human freedom for statehood. For the -Abolitionist of the Garrison type Brown had a contempt, as undeserved as -it was natural to his genius. To recognize an evil and not strike it was -to John Brown sinful. “Talk, talk, talk,” he said derisively. Nor did he -rightly gauge the value of spiritual as contrasted with physical blows, -until the day when he himself struck the greatest on the Charleston -scaffold. - -But if John Brown failed rightly to gauge the movement of the -Abolitionists, few of them failed to appreciate him when they met him. -Instinctively they knew him as one who grasped the very pith and kernel -of the evil which they fought. They asked no proofs or credentials; they -asked John Brown. So it was with Gerrit Smith. He saw Brown and believed -in him. He entertained him at his house. He heard his detailed plans for -striking slavery a heart blow. He gave him in all over a thousand -dollars, and bade him Godspeed! Yet when the blow was struck, he was -filled with immeasurable consternation. He equivocated and even denied -knowledge of Brown’s plans. To be sure, he, his family, his fortune were -in the shadow of danger—but where was John Brown? So with Dr. Howe, -whose memory was painfully poor on the witness stand and who fluttered -from enthusiastic support of Brown to a weak wavering when once he had -tasted the famous Southern hospitality. He found slavery, to his own -intense surprise, human: not ideally and horribly devilish, but only -humanly bad. Was a bad human institution to be attacked _vi et armis_? -Or was it not rather to be met with persuasive argument in the soft -shade of a Carolina veranda? Dr. Howe inclined to the latter thought, -after his Cuban visit, and he was exceedingly annoyed and scared after -the raid. He fled precipitately to Canada. Of the Boston committee only -Stearns stood up and out in the public glare and said unequivocally, -then and there: “I believe John Brown to be the representative man of -this century, as Washington was of the last—the Harper’s Ferry affair, -and the capacity shown by the Italians for self-government, the great -events of this age. One will free Europe and the other America.”[258] - -The attitude of the black man toward John Brown is typified by Frederick -Douglass and Shields Green. Said Douglass: “On the evening when the news -came that John Brown had taken and was then holding the town of Harper’s -Ferry, it so happened that I was speaking to a large audience in -National Hall, Philadelphia. The announcement came upon us with the -startling effect of an earthquake. It was something to make the boldest -hold his breath.”[259] - -Wise and Buchanan started immediately on Douglass’s track and he fled to -Canada and eventually to England. Why did not Douglass join John Brown? -Because, first, he was of an entirely different cast of temperament and -mind; and because, secondly, he knew, as only a Negro slave can know, -the tremendous might and organization of the slave power. Brown’s plan -never in the slightest degree appealed to Douglass’s reason. That the -Underground Railroad methods could be enlarged and systematized, -Douglass believed, but any further plan he did not think possible. Only -national force could dislodge national slavery. As it was with Douglass, -so it was practically with the Negro race. They believed in John Brown -but not in his plan. He touched their warm loving hearts but not their -hard heads. The Canadian Negroes, for instance, were men who knew what -slavery meant. They had suffered its degradation, its repression and its -still more fatal license. They knew the slave system. They had been -slaves. They had risked life to help loved ones to escape its -far-reaching tentacles. They had reached a land of freedom and had begun -to taste the joy of being human. Their little homes were clustering -about—they had their churches, lodges, social gatherings, and newspaper. -Then came the call. They loved the old man and cherished him, helped and -forwarded his work in a thousand little ways. But the call? Were they -asked to sacrifice themselves to free their fellow-slaves? Were they not -quite ready? No—to do that they stood ever ready. But here they were -asked to sacrifice themselves for the sake of possibly freeing a few -slaves and certainly arousing the nation. They saw what John Brown did -not fully realize until the last: the tremendous meaning of sacrifice -even though his enterprise failed and they were sure it would fail. Yet -in truth it need not have failed. History and military science prove its -essential soundness. But the Negro knew little of history and military -science. He did know slavery and the slave power, and they loomed large -and invincible in his fertile imagination. He could not conceive their -overthrow by anything short of the direct voice of God. That a supreme -sacrifice of human beings on the altar of Moloch might hasten the day of -emancipation was possible, but were they called to give their lives to -this forlorn hope? Most of them said no, as most of their fellows, black -and white, ever answer to the “voice, without reply.” They said it -reluctantly, slowly, even hesitatingly, but they said it even as their -leader Douglass said it. And why not, they argued? Was not their whole -life already a sacrifice? Were they called by any right of God or man to -give more than they already had given? What more did they owe the world? -Did not the world owe them an unpayable amount? - -Then, too, the sacrifice demanded of black men in this raid was far more -than that demanded of whites. In 1859 it was a crime for a free black -man even to set foot on Virginia soil, and it was slavery or death for a -fugitive to return. If worse came to worst, the Negro stood the least -chance of escape and the least consideration on capture. Yet despite all -this and despite the terrible training of slavery in cowardice, -submission and fatality; the systematic elimination, by death and -cruelty, of strength and self-respect and bravery, there were in Canada -and in the United States scores of Negroes ready for the sacrifice. But -the necessary secrecy, vagueness and intangibility of the summons, the -repeated changes of date, the difficulty of communication and the -poverty of black men, all made effective coöperation exceedingly -difficult. - -Even as it was, fifteen or twenty Negroes had enlisted and would -probably have been present had they had the time. Five, probably six, -actually came in time, and thirty or forty slaves actively helped. -Considering the mass of Negroes in the land and the character of the -leader, this was an insignificant number. But what it lacked in number -it made up in characters like Shields Green. He was a poor, unlettered -fugitive, ignorant by the law of the land, stricken in life and homely -in body. He sat and listened as Douglass and Brown argued amid the -boulders of that old Chambersburg quarry. Some things he understood, -some he did not. But one thing he did understand and that was the soul -of John Brown, so he said, “I guess I’ll go with the old man.” Again in -the sickening fury of that fatal Monday, a white man and a black man -found themselves standing with freedom before them. The white man was -John Brown’s truest companion and the black man was Shields Green. “I -told him to come,” said the white man afterward, “that we could do -nothing more,” but he simply said, “I must go down to the old man.” And -he went down to John Brown and to death. - -If this was the attitude of the slave, what was that of the master? It -was when John Brown faced the indignant, self-satisfied and arrogant -slave power of the South, flanked by its Northern Vallandighams, that -the mighty paradox and burning farce of the situation revealed itself. -Picture the situation: An old and blood-bespattered man, half-dead from -the wounds inflicted but a few hours before; a man lying in the cold and -dirt, without sleep for fifty-five nerve-wrecking hours, without food -for nearly as long, with the dead bodies of two sons almost before his -eyes, the piled corpses of his seven slain comrades near and afar, a -wife and a bereaved family listening in vain, and a Lost Cause, the -dream of a lifetime, lying dead in his heart. Around him was a group of -bitter, inquisitive Southern aristocrats and their satellites, headed by -one of the foremost leaders of subsequent secession. - -“Who sent you—who sent you?” these inquisitors insisted. - -“No man sent me—I acknowledge no master in human form!” - -“What was your object in coming?” - -“We came to free the slaves.” - -“How do you justify your acts?” - -“You are guilty of a great wrong against God and humanity and it would -be perfectly right for any one to interfere with you so far as to free -those you wilfully and wickedly hold in bondage. I think I did right; -and that others will do right who interfere with you at any time and at -all times. I hold that the Golden Rule, ‘Do unto others as ye would that -others should do unto you,’ applies to all who would help others to gain -their liberty.” - -“But don’t you believe in the Bible?” - -“Certainly, I do.” - -“Do you consider this a religious movement?” - -“It is in my opinion the greatest service man can render to God.” - -“Do you consider yourself an instrument in the hands of Providence?” - -“I do.” - -“Upon what principles do you justify your acts?” - -“Upon the Golden Rule. I pity the poor in bondage that have none to help -them. That is why I am here; not to gratify any personal animosity, -revenge, or vindictive spirit. It is my sympathy with the oppressed and -the wronged, that are as good as you and as precious in the sight of -God.” - -“Certainly. But why take the slaves against their will?” - -“I never did.”... - -“Who are your advisers in this movement?” - -“I have numerous sympathizers throughout the entire North.... I want you -to understand that I respect the rights of the poorest and the weakest -of colored people, oppressed by the slave system, just as much as I do -those of the most wealthy and powerful. That is the idea that has moved -me, and that alone. We expected no reward except satisfaction of -endeavoring to do for those in distress and greatly oppressed as we -would be done by. The cry of distress of the oppressed is my reason, and -the only thing that prompted me to come here.” - -“Why did you do it secretly?” - -“Because I thought that necessary to success; no other reason.... I -agree with Mr. Smith that moral suasion is hopeless. I don’t think the -people of the slave states will ever consider the subject of slavery in -its true light till some other argument is resorted to than moral -suasion.” - -“Did you expect a general rising of the slaves in case of your success?” - -“No, sir; nor did I wish it. I expected to gather them up from time to -time, and set them free.” - -“Did you expect to hold possession here till then?” - -“You overrate your strength in supposing I could have been taken if I -had not allowed it. I was too tardy after commencing the open attack—in -delaying my movements through Monday night, and up to the time I was -attacked by the government troops.” - -“Where did you get arms?” - -“I bought them.” - -“In what state?” - -“That I will not state. I have nothing to say, only that I claim to be -here in carrying out a measure I believe perfectly justifiable, and not -to act the part of an incendiary or ruffian, but to aid those suffering -great wrong. I wish to say, furthermore, that you had better—all you -people at the South—prepare yourselves for a settlement of this -question, that must come up for settlement sooner than you are prepared -for it. The sooner you are prepared the better. You may dispose of me -very easily,—I am nearly disposed of now, but this question is still to -be settled,—this Negro question, I mean; the end of that is not yet.” - -“Brown, suppose you had every nigger in the United States, what would -you do with them?” - -“Set them free.” - -“Your intention was to carry them off and free them?” - -“Not at all.” - -“To set them free would sacrifice the life of every man in this -community.” - -“I do not think so.” - -“I know it; I think you are fanatical.” - -“And I think you are fanatical. Whom the gods would destroy they first -make mad, and you are mad.” - -“Was it your only object to free the Negroes?” - -“Absolutely our only object.”... - -“You are a robber,” cried some voice in the crowd. - -“You slaveholders are robbers,” retorted Brown. - -But Governor Wise interrupted: “Mr. Brown, the silver of your hair is -reddened by the blood of crime, and you should eschew these hard words -and think upon eternity. You are suffering from wounds, perhaps fatal; -and should you escape death from these causes, you must submit to a -trial which may involve death. Your confessions justify the presumption -that you will be found guilty; and even now you are committing a felony -under the laws of Virginia, by uttering sentiments like these. It is -better you should turn your attention to your eternal future than be -dealing in denunciations which can only injure you.” - -John 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 have a heavy responsibility, -and it behooves you to prepare more than it does me.”[260] - -Thus from the day John Brown was captured to the day he died, and after, -it was the South and slavery that was on trial—not John Brown. Indeed, -the dilemma into which John Brown’s raid threw the state of Virginia was -perfect. If his foray was the work of a handful of fanatics, led by a -lunatic and repudiated by the slaves to a man, then the proper procedure -would have been to ignore the incident, quietly punish the worst -offenders and either pardon the misguided leader, or send him to an -asylum. If, on the other hand, Virginia faced a conspiracy that -threatened her social existence, aroused dangerous unrest in her slave -population, and was full of portent for the future, then extraordinary -precaution, swift and extreme punishment, and bitter complaint were only -natural. But both these situations could not be true—both horns of the -dilemma could not be logically seized. Yet this was precisely what the -South and Virginia sought. While insisting that the raid was too -hopelessly and ridiculously small to accomplish anything, and saying, -with Andrew Hunter, that “not a single one of the slaves” joined John -Brown “except by coercion,” the state nevertheless spent $250,000 to -punish the invaders, stationed from one to three thousand soldiers in -the vicinity and threw the nation into turmoil. When the inconsistency -of this action struck various minds, the attempt was made to exaggerate -the danger of the invading white men. The presiding judge at the trial -wrote, as late as 1889, that the number in Brown’s party was proven by -witnesses to have been seventy-five to one hundred and he “expected -large reinforcements”; while Andrew Hunter, the state’s attorney, saw -nation-wide conspiracies. - -What, then, was the truth about the matter? It was as Frederick Douglass -said twenty-two years later on the very spot: “If John Brown did not end -the war that ended slavery, he did, at least, begin the war that ended -slavery. If we look over the dates, places, and men for which this honor -is claimed, we shall find that not Carolina, but Virginia, not Fort -Sumter, but Harper’s Ferry and the arsenal, not Major Anderson, but John -Brown began the war that ended American slavery, and made this a free -republic. Until this blow was struck, the prospect for freedom was dim, -shadowy, and uncertain. The irrepressible conflict was one of words, -votes, and compromises. When John Brown stretched forth his arm the sky -was cleared,—the armed hosts of freedom stood face to face over the -chasm of a broken Union, and the clash of arms was at hand.”[261] - -The paths by which John Brown’s raid precipitated civil war were these: -In the first place, he aroused the Negroes of Virginia. How far the -knowledge of his plan had penetrated is of course only to be -conjectured. Evidently few knew that the foray would take place on -October 17th. But when the movement had once made a successful start, -there is no doubt that Osborne Anderson knew whereof he spoke, when he -said that slaves were ready to coöperate. His words were proven by the -200,000 black soldiers in the Civil War. That something was wrong was -shown, too, by five incendiary fires in a single week after the raid. -Hunter sought to attribute these to “Northern emissaries,” but this -charge was unproven and extremely improbable. The only other possible -perpetrators were slaves and free Negroes. That Virginians believed this -is shown by Hinton’s declaration that the loss in 1859 by the sale of -Virginia slaves alone was $10,000,000.[262] A lady who visited John -Brown said, “It was hard for me to forget the presence of the jailer (I -had that morning seen his advertisement of ‘fifty Negroes for -sale’).”[263] It is impossible to prove the extent of this clearing-out -of suspected slaves but the census reports indicate something of it. The -Negro population of Maryland and Virginia increased a little over four -per cent. between 1850 and 1860. But in the three counties bordering on -Harper’s Ferry—Loudoun and Jefferson in Virginia and Washington in -Maryland, the 17,647 slaves of 1850 had shrunk to 15,996 in 1860, a -decrease of nearly ten per cent. This means a disappearance of 2,400 -slaves and is very significant. - -Secondly, long before John Brown appeared at Harper’s Ferry, Southern -leaders like Mason, the author of the Fugitive Slave Bill, and chairman -of the Harper’s Ferry investigating committee; Jefferson Davis, who was -a member of this committee; Wise, Hunter and other Virginians, had set -their faces toward secession as the only method of protecting slavery. -Into the mouths of these men John Brown put a tremendous argument and a -fearful warning. The argument they used, the warning they suppressed and -hushed. The argument was: This is Abolitionism; this is the North. This -is the kind of treatment which the South and its cherished institution -can expect unless it resorts to extreme measures. Proceeding along these -lines, they emphasized and enlarged the raid so far as its white -participants and Northern sympathizers were concerned. Governor Wise, on -November 25th, issued a burning manifesto for the ears of the South and -the eyes of President Buchanan, and the majority report of the Senate -Committee closed with ominous words. On the other hand, the warning of -John Brown’s raid—the danger of Negro insurrection, was but whispered. - -Third, and this was the path that led to Civil War and far beyond: The -raid aroused and directed the conscience of the nation. Strange it was -to watch its work. Some, impulsive, eager to justify themselves, rushed -into print. To Garrison, the non-resistant, the sword of Gideon was -abhorrent; Beecher thundered against John Brown and Seward bitterly -traduced him. Then came an ominous silence in the land while his voice, -in his own defense, was heard over the whole country. A great surging -throb of sympathy arose and swept the world. That John Brown was legally -a lawbreaker and a murderer all men knew. But wider and wider circles -were beginning dimly and more clearly to recognize that his lawlessness -was in obedience to the highest call of self-sacrifice for the welfare -of his fellow men. They began to ask themselves, What is this cause that -can inspire such devotion? The reiteration of the simple statement of -“the brother in bonds” could not help but attract attention. The beauty -of the conception despite its possible unearthliness and -impracticability attracted poet and philosopher and common man. - -To be sure, the nation had long been thinking over the problem of the -black man, but never before had its attention been held by such deep -dramatic and personal interest as in the forty days from mid-October to -December, 1859. This arresting of national attention was due to Virginia -and to John Brown:—to Virginia by reason of its exaggerated plaint; to -John Brown whose strength, simplicity and acumen made his trial, -incarceration and execution the most powerful Abolition argument yet -offered. The very processes by which Virginia used John Brown to “fire -the Southern heart” were used by John Brown to fire the Northern -conscience. Andrew Hunter, the prosecuting state’s attorney, of right -demanded that the trial should be short and the punishment swift and in -this John Brown fully agreed. He had no desire to escape the -consequences of his act or to clog the wheels of Virginia justice. After -a certain moral bewilderment there in the old engine-house at his -failure on the brink of success, the true significance of his mission of -sacrifice slowly rose before him. In the face of proposals to rescue him -he said at first thoughtfully: “I do not know that I ought to encourage -any attempt to save my life. I am not sure that it would not be better -for me to die at this time. I am not incapable of error, and I may be -wrong; but I think that perhaps my object would be nearer fulfilment if -I should die. I must give it some thought.”[264] And more and more this -conviction seized and thrilled him, and he began to say decisively: “I -think I cannot now better serve the cause I love so much than to die for -it; and in my death I may do more than in my life.”[265] - -And again: “I can trust God with both the time and the manner of my -death, believing, as I now do, that for me at this time to seal my -testimony for God and humanity with my blood will do vastly more toward -advancing the cause I have earnestly endeavored to promote, than all I -have done in my life before.” And then finally came that last great hymn -of utter sacrifice: “I feel astonished that one so vile and unworthy as -I am would even be suffered to have a place anyhow or anywhere amongst -the very least of all who when they came to die (as all must) were -permitted to pay the debt of nature in defense of the right and of God’s -eternal and immutable truth.”[266] - -The trial was a difficult experience. Virginia attempted to hold scales -of even justice between mob violence and the world-wide sympathy of all -good men. To defend its domestic institutions, it must try a man for -murder when that very man, sitting as self-appointed judge of those very -institutions, had convicted them before a jury of mankind. To defend the -good name of the state, Virginia had to restrain the violent blood -vengeance of men whose kin had been killed in the raid, and who had -sworn that no prisoner should escape the extreme penalty. The trial was -legally fair but pressed to a conclusion in unseemly haste, and in -obedience to a threatening public opinion and a great hovering dread. -Only against this unfair haste did John Brown protest, for he wanted the -world to understand why he had done the deed. On the other hand, Hunter -not only feared the local mob but the slowly arising sentiment for this -white-haired crusader. He therefore pushed the proceedings legally, but -with almost brutal pertinacity. The prisoner was arraigned while wounded -and in bed; the lawyers, hurriedly chosen, were given scant time for -consultation or preparation. John Brown was formally committed to jail -at Charlestown, the county seat, on October 20th, had a preliminary -examination October 25th, and was indicted by the grand jury October -26th, for “conspiracy with slaves for the purpose of insurrection; with -treason against the commonwealth of Virginia; and with murder in the -first degree.” - -Thursday, October 27th, his trial was begun. A jury was impaneled -without challenge and Brown’s lawyers, ignoring his outline of defense, -brought in the plea of insanity. The old man arose from his couch and -said: “I look upon it as a miserable artifice and pretext of those who -ought to take a different course in regard to me, if they took any at -all, and I view it with contempt more than otherwise.... I am perfectly -unconscious of insanity, and I reject, so far as I am capable, any -attempts to interfere in my behalf on that score.”[267] - -On Friday a Massachusetts lawyer arrived to help in the trial and also -privately to suggest methods of escape. John Brown quietly refused to -contemplate any such attempt, but was glad to accept the aid of this -lawyer and two others, who were sent by John A. Andrew and his friends. -The judge curtly refused these men any time to prepare their case, but -in spite of this it ran over until Monday when the jury retired. Late -Monday afternoon they returned. Redpath says: - -“At this moment the crowd filled all the space from the couch inside the -bar, around the prisoner, beyond the railing in the body of the court, -out through the wide hall, and beyond the doors. There stood the anxious -but perfectly silent and attentive populace, stretching head and neck to -witness the closing scene of old Brown’s trial.” - -The clerk of the court read the indictment and asked: “Gentlemen of the -jury, what say you? Is the prisoner at the bar, John Brown, guilty or -not guilty?” - -“Guilty,” answered the foreman. - -“Guilty of treason, and conspiring and advising with slaves and others -to rebel, and murder in the first degree?” - -“Yes.” - -Redpath continues: “Not the slightest sound was heard in this vast crowd -as this verdict was thus returned and read. Not the slightest expression -of elation or triumph was uttered from the hundreds present, who, a -moment before, outside the court, joined in heaping threats and -imprecations on his head; nor was this strange silence interrupted -during the whole of the time occupied by the forms of the court. Old -Brown himself said not even a word, but, as on any previous day, turned -to adjust his pallet, and then composedly stretched himself upon -it.”[268] - -The following Wednesday John Brown was sentenced. Moving with painful -steps and pale face, he took his seat under the gaslight in the great -square room and remained motionless. The judge read his decision on the -points of exception and the clerk asked: “Have you anything to say why -sentence of death should not be passed upon you?” Then rising and -leaning forward, John Brown made that last great speech, in a voice at -once gentle and firm: - -“I have, may it please the court, a few words to say. - -“In the first place, I deny everything but what I have all along -admitted,—the design on my part to free the slaves. I intended certainly -to have made a clean thing of that matter, as I did last winter, when I -went into Missouri and there took slaves without the snapping of a gun -on either side, moved them through the country and finally left them in -Canada. I designed to have done the same thing again, on a larger scale. -That was all I intended. I never did intend murder, or treason, or the -destruction of property, or to excite or incite slaves to rebellion, or -to make insurrection. - -“I have another objection; and that is, it is unjust that I should -suffer such a penalty. Had I interfered in the manner which I 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 interfered in behalf of the rich, the powerful, the -intelligent, the so-called great, or in behalf of any of their -friends,—either father, mother, brother, sister, wife, or children, or -any of that class,—and suffered and sacrificed what I have in this -interference, it would have been all right; and every man in this court -would have deemed it an act worthy of reward rather than punishment. - -“This court acknowledges, as I suppose, the validity of the law of God. -I see a book kissed here which I suppose to be the Bible, or at least -the New Testament. That teaches me that all things whatsoever I would -that men should do to me, I should do even so to them. It teaches me, -further, to ‘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, was not wrong, but right. Now, if -it is deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life for the furtherance -of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood further with the blood of my -children and with the blood of millions in this slave country whose -rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel, and unjust enactments,—I -submit; so let it be done! Let me say one word further. - -“I feel entirely satisfied with the treatment I have received on my -trial. Considering all the circumstances, it has been more generous than -I expected. But I feel no consciousness of guilt. I have stated from the -first what was my intention, and what was not. I never had any design -against the life of any person, nor any disposition to commit treason, -or excite slaves to rebel, or make any general insurrection. I never -encouraged any man to do so, but always discouraged any idea of that -kind. - -“Let me say, also, a word in regard to the statements made by some of -those connected with me. I hear it has been stated by some of them that -I have induced them to join me. But the contrary is true. I do not say -this to injure them, but as regretting their weakness. There is not one -of them but that 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.”[269] - -The day of his dying, December 2d, dawned glorious; twenty-four hours -before he had kissed his wife good-bye, and on this morning he visited -his doomed companions—Shields Green and Copeland first; then the -wavering Cook and Coppoc and the unmovable Stevens. At last he turned -toward the place of his hanging. Since early morning three thousand -soldiers had been marching and counter-marching around the scaffold, -which had been erected a half mile from Charlestown, encircling it for -fifteen miles; a hush sat on the hearts of men. John Brown rode out into -the morning. “This is a beautiful land,” he said. It was beautiful. -Wide, glistening, rolling fields flickered in the sunlight. Beyond, the -Shenandoah went rolling northward, and still afar rose the mighty masses -of the Blue Ridge, where Nat Turner had fought and died, where Gabriel -had looked for refuge and where John Brown had builded his awful dream. -Some say he kissed a Negro child as he passed, but Andrew Hunter -vehemently denies it. “No Negro could get access to him,” he says, and -he is probably right; and yet all about him as he hung there knelt the -funeral guard he prayed for when he said: - -“My love to all who love their neighbors. I have asked to be spared from -having any weak or hypocritical prayers made over me when I am publicly -murdered, and that my only religious attendants be poor little dirty, -ragged, bareheaded, and barefooted slave boys and girls, led by some -gray-headed slave mother. Farewell! Farewell!”[270] - - - - - CHAPTER XIII - THE LEGACY OF JOHN BROWN - - “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that - hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk - without money and without price.” - - -“I, John Brown, am quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land -will never be purged away but with blood. I had, as I now think vainly, -flattered myself that without very much bloodshed it might be done.” - -These were the last written words of John Brown, set down the day he -died—the culminating of that wonderful message of his forty days in -prison, which all in all made the mightiest Abolition document that -America has known. Uttered in chains and solemnity, spoken in the very -shadow of death, its dramatic intensity after that wild and puzzling -raid, its deep earnestness as embodied in the character of the man, did -more to shake the foundations of slavery than any single thing that ever -happened in America. Of himself he speaks simply and with satisfaction: -“I should be sixty years old were I to live to May 9, 1860. I have -enjoyed much of life as it is, and have been remarkably prosperous, -having early learned to regard the welfare and prosperity of others as -my own. I have never, since I can remember, required a great amount of -sleep; so that I conclude that I have already enjoyed full an average -number of working hours with those who reach their threescore years and -ten. I have not yet been driven to the use of glasses, but can see to -read and write quite comfortably. But more than that, I have generally -enjoyed remarkably good health. I might go on to recount unnumbered and -unmerited blessings, among which would be some very severe afflictions -and those the most needed blessings of all. And now, when I think how -easily I might be left to spoil all I have done or suffered in the cause -of freedom, I hardly dare wish another voyage even if I had the -opportunity.”[271] - -After a surging, trouble-tossed voyage he is at last at peace in body -and mind. He asserts that he is and has been in his right mind: “I may -be very insane; and I am so, if insane at all. But if that be so, -insanity is like a very pleasant dream to me. I am not in the least -degree conscious of my ravings, of my fears, or of any terrible visions -whatever; but fancy myself entirely composed, and that my sleep, in -particular, is as sweet as that of a healthy, joyous little infant. I -pray God that He will grant me a continuance of the same calm but -delightful dream, until I come to know of those realities which eyes -have not seen and which ears have not heard. I have scarce realized that -I am in prison or in irons at all. I certainly think I was never more -cheerful in my life.”[272] - -To his family he hands down the legacy of his faith and works: “I -beseech you all to live in habitual contentment with moderate -circumstances and gains of worldly store, and earnestly to teach this to -your children and children’s children after you, by example as well as -precept.” And again: “Be sure to remember and follow my advice, and my -example too, so far as it has been consistent with the holy religion of -Jesus Christ, in which I remain a most firm and humble believer. Never -forget the poor, nor think anything you bestow on them to be lost to -you, even though they may be black as Ebedmelech, the Ethiopian eunuch, -who cared for Jeremiah in the pit of the dungeon; or as black as the one -to whom Philip preached Christ. Be sure to entertain strangers, for -thereby some have.... Remember them that are in bonds as bound with -them.”[273] - -Of his own merit and desert he is modest but firm: “The great bulk of -mankind estimate each other’s actions and motives by the measure of -success or otherwise that attends them through life. By that rule, I -have been one of the worst and one of the best of men. I do not claim to -have been one of the latter, and I leave it to an impartial tribunal to -decide whether the world has been the worse or the better for my living -and dying in it.”[274] - -He has no sense of shame for his action: “I feel no consciousness of -guilt in that matter, nor even mortification on account of my -imprisonment and irons; I feel perfectly sure that very soon no member -of my family will feel any possible disposition to blush on my -account.”[275] - -“I do not feel conscious of guilt in taking up arms; and had it been in -behalf of the rich and powerful, the intelligent, the great (as men -count greatness), or those who form enactments to suit themselves and -corrupt others, or some of their friends, that I interfered, suffered, -sacrificed, and fell, it would have been doing very well. But enough of -this. These light afflictions, which endure for a moment, shall but work -for me a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”[276] - -With desperate faith he clings to his belief in the providence of an -all-wise God: “Under all these terrible calamities, I feel quite -cheerful in the assurance that God reigns and will overrule all for His -glory and the best possible good.”[277] - -True is it that the night is dark and his faith at first wavers, yet it -rises ever again triumphant: “As I believe most firmly that God reigns, -I cannot believe that anything I have done, suffered, or may yet suffer, -will be lost to the cause of God or of humanity. And before I began my -work at Harper’s Ferry, I felt assured that in the worst event it would -certainly pay. I often expressed that belief; and I can now see no -possible cause to alter my mind. I am not as yet, in the main, at all -disappointed, I have been a good deal disappointed as it regards myself -in not keeping up to my own plans; but I now feel entirely reconciled to -that, even,—for God’s plan was infinitely better, no doubt, or I should -have kept to my own.”[278] - -He is, after all, the servant and instrument of the Almighty: “If you do -not believe I had a murderous intention (while I know I had not), why -grieve so terribly on my account? The scaffold has but few terrors for -me. God has often covered my head in the day of battle, and granted me -many times deliverances that were almost so miraculous that I can scarce -realize their truth; and now, when it seems quite certain that He -intends to use me in a different way, shall I not most cheerfully -go?”[279] - -“I have often passed under the rod of Him whom I call my Father,—and -certainly no son ever needed it oftener; and yet I have enjoyed much of -life, as I was enabled to discover the secret of this somewhat early. It -has been in making the prosperity and happiness of others my own; so -that really I have had a great deal of prosperity. I am very prosperous -still; and looking forward to a time when ‘peace on earth and good-will -to men’ shall everywhere prevail, I have no murmuring thoughts or -envious feelings to fret my mind. I’ll praise my Maker with my -breath.”[280] - -“Success is in general the standard of all merit I have passed my time -quite cheerfully; still trusting that neither my life nor my death will -prove a total loss. As regards both, however, I am liable to mistake. It -affords me some satisfaction to feel conscious of having at least tried -to better the condition of those who are always on the under-hill side, -and am in hopes of being able to meet the consequences without a murmur. -I am endeavoring to get ready for another field of action, where no -defeat befalls the truly brave. That ‘God reigns,’ and most wisely, and -controls all events, might, it would seem, reconcile those who believe -it to much that appears to be very disastrous. I am one who has tried to -believe that, and still keep trying.”[281] - -“I cannot remember a night so dark as to have hindered the coming day, -nor a storm so furious or dreadful as to prevent the return of warm -sunshine and a cloudless sky.”[282] - -More and more his eyes pierce the gloom and see the vast plan for which -God has used him and the glory of his sacrifice: - -“‘He shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hands of the Philistines.’ -This was said of a poor erring servant many years ago; and for many -years I have felt a strong impression that God had given me powers and -faculties, unworthy as I was, that He intended to use for a similar -purpose. This most unmerited honor He has seen fit to bestow; and -whether, like the same poor frail man to whom I allude, my death may not -be of vastly more value than my life is, I think quite beyond all human -foresight.”[283] - -“I think I feel as happy as Paul did when he lay in prison. He knew if -they killed him, it would greatly advance the cause of Christ; that was -the reason he rejoiced so. On that same ground ‘I do rejoice, yea, and -will rejoice.’ Let them hang me; I forgive them, and may God forgive -them, for they know not what they do. I have no regret for the -transaction for which I am condemned. I went against the laws of men, it -is true, but ‘whether it be right to obey God or men, judge ye.’”[284] - -“When and in what form death may come is but of small moment. I feel -just as content to die for God’s eternal truth and for suffering -humanity on the scaffold as in any other way; and I do not say this from -disposition to ‘brave it out.’ No; I would readily own my wrong were I -in the least convinced of it. I have now been confined over a month, -with a good opportunity to look the whole thing as ‘fair in the face’ as -I am capable of doing; and I feel it most grateful that I am counted in -the least possible degree worthy to suffer for the truth.”[285] - -“I can trust God with both the time and the manner of my death, -believing, as I now do, that for me at this time to seal my testimony -for God and humanity with my blood will do vastly more toward advancing -the cause I have earnestly endeavored to promote, than all I have done -in my life before.”[286] - -“My whole life before had not afforded me one-half the opportunity to -plead for the right. In this, also, I find much to reconcile me to both -my present condition and my immediate prospect.”[287] - -Against slavery his face is set like flint: “There are no ministers of -Christ here. These ministers who profess to be Christian, and hold -slaves or advocate slavery, I cannot abide them. My knees will not bend -in prayer with them, while their hands are stained with the blood of -souls.”[288] He said to one Southern clergyman: “I will thank you to -leave me alone; your prayers would be an abomination to God.” To another -he said, “I would not insult God by bowing down in prayer with any one -who had the blood of the slave on his skirts.” - -And to a third who argued in favor of slavery as “a Christian -institution,” John Brown replied impatiently: “My dear sir, you know -nothing about Christianity; you will have to learn its A, B, C; I find -you quite ignorant of what the word Christianity means.... I respect you -as a gentleman, of course; but it is as a heathen gentleman.”[289] - -To his children he wrote: “Be determined to know by experience, as soon -as may be, whether Bible instruction is of divine origin or not. Be sure -to owe no man anything, but to love one another. John Rogers wrote his -children, ‘Abhor that arrant whore of Rome.’ John Brown writes to his -children to abhor, with undying hatred also, that sum of all -villanies,—slavery.”[290] - -And finally he rejoiced: “Men cannot imprison, or chain, or hang the -soul. I go joyfully in behalf of millions that ‘have no rights’ that -this great and glorious, this Christian republic ‘is bound to respect.’ -Strange change in morals, political as well as Christian, since -1776.”[291] - -“No formal will can be of use,” he wrote on his doomsday, “when my -expressed wishes are made known to my dutiful and beloved family.”[292] - -This was the man. His family is the world. What legacy did he leave? It -was soon seen that his voice was a call to the great final battle with -slavery. - -In the spring of 1861 the Boston Light Infantry was sent to Fort Warren -in Boston harbor to drill. A quartette was formed among the soldiers to -sing patriotic songs and for them was contrived the verses, - - “John Brown’s body lies a-mouldering in the grave, - His soul is marching on,” etc. - -This was set to the music of an old camp-meeting tune—possibly of Negro -origin—called, “Say, Brother, Will You Meet Us?” The regiment learned it -and first sang it publicly when it came up from Fort Warren and marched -past the scene where Crispus Attucks fell. Gilmore’s Band learned and -played it and thus “the song of John Brown was started on its eternal -way!” - -Was John Brown simply an episode, or was he an eternal truth? And if a -truth, how speaks that truth to-day? John Brown loved his neighbor as -himself. He could not endure therefore to see his neighbor, poor, -unfortunate or oppressed. This natural sympathy was strengthened by a -saturation in Hebrew religion which stressed the personal responsibility -of every human soul to a just God. To this religion of equality and -sympathy with misfortune, was added the strong influence of the social -doctrines of the French Revolution with its emphasis on freedom and -power in political life. And on all this was built John Brown’s own -inchoate but growing belief in a more just and a more equal distribution -of property. From this he concluded,—and acted on that conclusion—that -all men are created free and equal, and that the cost of liberty is less -than the price of repression. - -Up to the time of John Brown’s death this doctrine was a growing, -conquering, social thing. Since then there has come a change and many -would rightly find reason for that change in the coincidence that the -year in which John Brown suffered martyrdom was the year that first -published the _Origin of Species_. Since that day tremendous scientific -and economic advance has been accompanied by distinct signs of moral -retrogression in social philosophy. Strong arguments have been made for -the fostering of war, the utility of human degradation and disease, and -the inevitable and known inferiority of certain classes and races of -men. While such arguments have not stopped the efforts of the advocates -of peace, the workers for social uplift and the believers in human -brotherhood, they have, it must be confessed, made their voices falter -and tinged their arguments with apology. - -Why is this? It is because the splendid scientific work of Darwin, -Weissman, Galton and others has been widely interpreted as meaning that -there is essential and inevitable inequality among men and races of men, -which no philanthropy can or ought to eliminate; that civilization is a -struggle for existence whereby the weaker nations and individuals will -gradually succumb, and the strong will inherit the earth. With this -interpretation has gone the silent assumption that the white European -stock represents the strong surviving peoples, and that the swarthy, -yellow and black peoples are the ones rightly doomed to eventual -extinction. - -One can easily see what influence such a doctrine would have on the race -problem in America. It meant moral revolution in the attitude of the -nation. Those that stepped into the pathway marked by men like John -Brown faltered and large numbers turned back. They said: He was a good -man—even great, but he has no message for us to-day—he was a “belated -Covenanter,” an anachronism in the age of Darwin, one who gave his life -to lift not the unlifted but the unliftable. We have consequently the -present reaction—a reaction which says in effect, Keep these black -people in their places, and do not attempt to treat a Negro simply as a -white man with a black face; to do this would mean the moral -deterioration of the race and the nation—a fate against which a divine -racial prejudice is successfully fighting. This is the attitude of the -larger portion of our thinking people. - -It is not, however, an attitude that has brought mental rest or social -peace. On the contrary, it is to-day involving a degree of moral strain -and political and social anomaly that gives the wisest pause. The chief -difficulty has been that the natural place in which by scientific law -the black race in America should stay, cannot easily be determined. To -be sure, the freedmen did not, as the philanthropists of the sixties -apparently expected, step in forty years from slavery to nineteenth -century civilization. Neither, on the other hand, did they, as the -ex-masters confidently predicted, retrograde and die. Contrary to both -these views, they chose a third and apparently quite unawaited way. From -the great, sluggish, almost imperceptibly moving mass, they sent off -larger and larger numbers of faithful workmen and artisans, some -merchants and professional men, and even men of educational ability and -discernment. They developed no world geniuses, no millionaires, no great -captains of industry, no artists of the first rank; but they did in -forty years get rid of the greater part of their total illiteracy, -accumulate a half-billion dollars of property in small homesteads, and -gain now and then respectful attention in the world’s ears and eyes. It -has been argued that this progress of the black man in America is due to -the exceptional men among them and does not measure the ability of the -mass. Such an admission is, however, fatal to the whole argument. If the -doomed races of men are going to develop exceptions to the rule of -inferiority, then no rule, scientific or moral, should or can proscribe -the race as such. - -To meet this difficulty in racial philosophy, a step has been taken in -America fraught with the gravest social consequences to the world, and -threatening not simply the political but the moral integrity of the -nation: that step is denying in the case of black men the validity of -those evidences of culture, ability, and decency which are accepted -unquestionably in the ease of other people; and by vague assertions, -unprovable assumptions, unjust emphasis, and now and then by deliberate -untruth, aiming to secure not only the continued proscription of all -these people, but, by caste distinction, to shut in the faces of their -rising classes many of the paths to further advance. - -When a social policy, based on a supposed scientific sanction, leads to -such a moral anomaly, it is time to examine rather carefully the logical -foundations of the argument. And as soon as we do this many things are -clear: first, assuming the truth of the unproved dictum that there are -stocks of human beings whose elimination the best welfare of the world -demands it is certainly questionable if these stocks include the -majority of mankind; and it is indefensible and monstrous to pretend -that we know to-day with any reasonable assurance which these stocks -are. We can point to degenerate individuals and families here and there -among all races, but there is not the slightest warrant for assuming -that there does not lie among the Chinese and Hindus, the African Bantus -and American Indians as lofty possibilities of human culture as any -European race has ever exhibited. It is, to be sure, puzzling to know -why the Soudan should linger a thousand years in culture behind the -valley of the Seine, but it is no more puzzling than the fact that the -valley of the Thames was miserably backward as compared with the banks -of the Tiber. Climate, human contact, facilities of communication and -what we call accident, have played a great part in the rise of culture -among nations: to ignore these and assert dogmatically that the present -distribution of culture is a fair index of the distribution of human -ability and desert, is to make an assertion for which there is not the -slightest scientific warrant. - -What the age of Darwin has done is to add to the eighteenth century idea -of individual worth the complementary idea of physical immortality. And -this, far from annulling or contracting the idea of human freedom, -rather emphasizes its necessity and eternal possibility—the -boundlessness and endlessness of human achievement. Freedom has come to -mean not individual caprice or aberration, but social self-realization -in an endless chain of selves; and freedom for such development is not -the denial but the central assertion of the evolutionary theory. So, -too, the doctrine of human equality passes through the fire of -scientific inquiry, not obliterated but transfigured: not equality of -present attainment but equality of opportunity, for unbounded future -attainment is the rightful demand of mankind. - -What now does the present hegemony of the white races threaten? It -threatens by means of brute force a survival of some of the worst stocks -of mankind. It attempts to people the best parts of the earth and put in -absolute authority over the rest, not usually (and indeed not mainly) -the culture of Europe but its greed and degradation—not only some -representatives of the best stocks of the West End of London, upper New -York and the Champs Elysées, but also, in as large if not larger -numbers, the worst stocks of Whitechapel, the East Side and Montmartre; -and it essays to make the slums of white society in all cases and under -all circumstances the superior of any colored group, no matter what its -ability or culture. To be sure, this outrageous program of wholesale -human degeneration is not outspoken yet, save in the backward -civilizations of the Southern United States, South Africa and Australia. -But its enunciation is listened to with respect and tolerance in -England, Germany, and the Northern states by those very persons who -accuse philanthropy with seeking to degrade holy white blood by an -infiltration of colored strains. And the average citizen is voting ships -and guns to carry out this program. - -This movement gathered force and strength; during the latter half of the -nineteenth century and reached its culmination when France, Germany, -England and Russia began the partition of China and the East. With the -sudden self-assertion of Japan, its wildest dreams collapsed, but it is -still to-day a living, virile, potent force and motive, the most subtle -and dangerous enemy of world peace and the dream of human brotherhood. -It has a whole vocabulary of its own: the strong races, superior -peoples, race preservation, the struggle for survival and a variety of -terms meaning the right of white men of any kind to beat blacks into -submission, make them surrender their wealth and the use of their women -and submit to dictation without murmur, for the sake of being swept off -the fairest portions of the earth or held there in perpetual serfdom or -guardianship. Ignoring the fact that the era of physical struggle for -survival has passed away among human beings, and that there is plenty of -room accessible on earth for all, this theory makes the possession of -Krupp guns the main criterion of mental stamina and moral fitness. - -Even armed with this morality of the club, and every advantage of modern -culture, the white races have been unable to possess the earth. Many -signs of degeneracy have appeared among them: their birth-rate is -falling, their average ability is not increasing, their physical stamina -is impaired, and their social condition is not reassuring. Lacking the -physical ability to take possession of the world, they are to-day -fencing in America, Australia, and South Africa and declaring that no -dark race shall occupy or develop the land which they themselves are -unable to use. And all this on the plea that their stock is threatened -with deterioration from without, when in reality its most dangerous -threat is deterioration from within. - -We are, in fact, to-day repeating in our intercourse between races all -the former evils of class distinction within the nation: personal hatred -and abuse, mutual injustice, unequal taxation and rigid caste. -Individual nations outgrew these fatal things by breaking down the -horizontal barriers between classes. We are bringing them back by -seeking to erect vertical barriers between races. Men were told that -abolition of compulsory class distinction meant leveling down, -degradation, disappearance of culture and genius and the triumph of the -mob. As a matter of fact, it has been the salvation of European -civilization. Some deterioration and leveling there was but it was more -than balanced by the discovery of new reservoirs of ability and -strength. So to-day we are told that free racial contact—or “social -equality” as Southern _patois_ has it—means contamination of blood and -lowering of ability and culture. It need mean nothing of the sort. -Abolition of class distinction did not mean universal intermarriage of -stocks, but rather the survival of the fittest by peaceful, personal and -social selection—a selection all the more effective because free -democracy and equality of opportunity allow the best to rise to their -rightful place. The same is true in racial contact. Vertical race -distinctions are even more emphatic hindrances to human evolution than -horizontal class distinctions, and their tearing away involves fewer -chances of degradation and greater opportunities of human betterment -than in case of class lines. On the other hand, persistence in racial -distinction spells disaster sooner or later. The earth is growing -smaller and more accessible. Race contact will become in the future -increasingly inevitable not only in America, Asia, and Africa but even -in Europe. The color line will mean not simply a return to the -absurdities of class as exhibited in the sixteenth and seventeenth -centuries, but even to the caste of ancient days. This, however, the -Japanese, the Chinese, the East Indians and the Negroes are going to -resent in just such proportion as they gain the power; and they are -gaining the power, and they cannot be kept from gaining more power. The -price of repression will then be hypocrisy and slavery and blood. - -This is the situation to-day. Has John Brown no message—no legacy, then, -to the twentieth century? He has and it is this great word: the cost of -liberty is less than the price of repression. The price of repressing -the world’s darker races is shown in a moral retrogression and an -economic waste unparalleled since the age of the African slave trade. -What would be the cost of liberty? What would be the cost of giving the -great stocks of mankind every reasonable help and incentive to -self-development—opening the avenues of opportunity freely, spreading -knowledge, suppressing war and cheating, and treating men and women as -equals the world over whenever and wherever they attain equality? It -would cost something. It would cost something in pride and prejudice, -for eventually many a white man would be blacking black men’s boots; but -this cost we may ignore—its greatest cost would be the new problems of -racial intercourse and intermarriage which would come to the front. -Freedom and equal opportunity in this respect would inevitably bring -some intermarriage of whites and yellows and browns and blacks. This -might be a good thing and it might not be. We do not know. Our belief on -the matter may be strong and even frantic, but it has no adequate -scientific foundation. If such marriages are proven inadvisable, how -could they be stopped? Easily. We associate with cats and cows, but we -do not fear intermarriage with them, even though they be given all -freedom of development. So, too, intelligent human beings can be trained -to breed intelligently without the degradation of such of their fellows -as they may not wish to breed with. In the Southern United States, on -the contrary, it is assumed that unwise marriages can be stopped only by -the degradation of the blacks—the classing of all darker women with -prostitutes, the loading of a whole race with every badge of public -isolation, degradation and contempt, and by burning offenders at the -stake. Is this civilization? No. The civilized method of preventing -ill-advised marriage lies in the training of mankind in the ethics of -sex and child-bearing. We cannot ensure the survival of the best blood -by the public murder and degradation of unworthy suitors, but we can -substitute a civilized human selection of husbands and wives which shall -ensure the survival of the fittest. Not the methods of the jungle, not -even the careless choices of the drawing-room, but the thoughtful -selection of the schools and laboratory is the ideal of future marriage. -This will cost something in ingenuity, self-control and toleration, but -it will cost less than forcible repression. - -Not only is the cost of repression to-day large—it is a continually -increasing cost: the procuring of coolie labor, the ruling of India, the -exploitation of Africa, the problem of the unemployed, and the curbing -of the corporations, are a tremendous drain on modern society with no -near end in sight. The cost is not merely in wealth but in social -progress and spiritual strength, and it tends ever to explosion, murder, -and war. All these things but increase the difficulty of beginning a -régime of freedom in human growth and development—they raise the cost of -liberty. Not only that but the very explosions, like the Russo-Japanese -War, which bring partial freedom, tend in the complacent current -philosophy to prove the Wisdom of repression. “Blood will tell,” men -say. “The fit will survive; step up the tea-kettle and eventually the -steam will burst the iron,” and therefore only the steam that bursts is -worth the generating; only organized murder proves the fitness of a -people for liberty. This is a fearful and dangerous doctrine. It -encourages wrong leadership and perverted ideals at the very time when -loftiest and most unselfish striving is called for—as witness Japan -after her emancipation, or America after the Civil War. Conversely, it -leads the shallow and unthinking to brand as demagogue and radical every -group leader who in the day of slavery and struggle cries out for -freedom. - -For such reasons it is that the memory of John Brown stands to-day as a -mighty warning to his country. He saw, he felt in his soul the wrong and -danger of that most daring and insolent system of human repression known -as American slavery. He knew that in 1700 it would have cost something -to overthrow slavery and establish liberty; and that by reason of -cowardice and blindness the cost in 1800 was vastly larger but still not -unpayable. He felt that by 1900 no human hand could pluck the vampire -from the body of the land without doing the nation to death. He said, in -1859, “Now is the accepted time.” Now is the day to strike for a free -nation. It will cost something—even blood and suffering, but it will not -cost as much as waiting. And he was right. Repression bred -repression—serfdom bred slavery, until in 1861 the South was farther -from freedom than in 1800. - -The edict of 1863 was the first step in emancipation and its cost in -blood and treasure was staggering. But that was not all—it was only a -first step. There were other bills to pay of material reconstruction, -social regeneration, mental training and moral uplift. These the nation -started to meet in the Fifteenth Amendment, the Freedman’s Bureau, the -crusade of school-teachers and the Civil Rights Bill. But the effort was -great and the determination of the South to pay no single cent or deed -for past error save by force, led in the revolution of 1876 to the -triumph of reaction. Reaction meant and means a policy of state, society -and individual, whereby no American of Negro blood shall ever come into -the full freedom of modern culture. In the carrying out of this program -by certain groups and sections, no pains have been spared—no expenditure -of money, ingenuity, physical or moral strength. The building of -barriers around these black men has been pushed with an energy so -desperate and unflagging that it has seriously checked the great -outpouring of benevolence and sympathy that greeted the freedman in -1863. It has come so swathed and gowned in graciousness as to disarm -philanthropy and chill enthusiasm. It has used double-tongued argument -with deadly effect. Has the Negro advanced? Beware his further strides. -Has the Negro retrograded? It is his fate, why seek to help him? Thus -has the spirit of repression gained attention, complacent acquiescence, -and even coöperation. To be sure, there still stand staunch souls who -cannot yet believe the doctrine of human repression, and who pour out -their wealth for Negro training and freedom in the face of the common -cry. But the majority of Americans seem to have forgotten the foundation -principles of their government and the recklessly destructive effect of -the blows meant to bind and tether their fellows. We have come to see a -day here in America when one citizen can deprive another of his vote at -his discretion; can restrict the education of his neighbors’ children as -he sees fit; can with impunity load his neighbor with public insult on -the king’s highway; can deprive him of his property without due process -of law; can deny him the right of trial by his peers, or of any trial -whatsoever if he can get a large enough group of men to join him; can -refuse to protect or safeguard the integrity of the family of some men -whom he dislikes; finally, can not only close the door of opportunity in -commercial and social lines in a fully competent neighbor’s face, but -can actually count on the national and state governments to help and -make effective this discrimination. - -Such a state of affairs is not simply disgraceful; it is deeply and -increasingly dangerous. Not only does the whole nation feel already the -loosening of joints which these vicious blows on human liberty have -caused—lynching, lawlessness, lying and stealing, bribery and -divorce—but it can look for darker deeds to come. - -And this not merely because of the positive harm of this upbuilding of -barriers, but above all because within these bursting barriers are -men—human forces which no human hand can hold. It is human force and -aspiration and endeavor which are moving there amid the creaking of -timbers and writhing of souls. It is human force that has already done -in a generation the work of many centuries. It has saved over a -half-billion dollars in property, bought and paid for landed estate half -the size of all England, and put homes thereon as good and as pure as -the homes of any corresponding economic class the world around; it has -crowded eager children through a wretched and half-furnished school -system until from an illiteracy of seventy per cent., two-thirds of the -living adults can read and write. These proscribed millions have 50,000 -professional men, 200,000 men in trade and transportation, 275,000 -artisans and mechanics, 1,250,000 servants and 2,000,000 farmers working -with the nation to earn its daily bread. These farmers raise yearly on -their own and hired farms over 4,000,000 bales of cotton, 25,000,000 -pounds of rice, 10,000,000 bushels of potatoes, 90,000,000 pounds of -tobacco and 100,000,000 bushels of corn, besides that for which they -labor on the farms of others. They have given America music, inspired -art and literature, made its bread, dug its ditches, fought its battles, -and suffered in its misfortunes. The great mass of these men is becoming -daily more thoroughly organized, more deeply self-critical, more -conscious of its power. Threatened though it has been naturally, as a -proletariat, with degeneration and disease, it is to-day reducing its -death-rate and beginning organized rescue of its delinquents and -defectives. The mass can still to-day be called ignorant, poor and but -moderately efficient, but it is daily growing better trained, richer and -more intelligent. And as it grows it is sensing more and more the -vantage-ground which it holds as a defender of the right of the freedom -of human development for black men in the midst of a centre of modern -culture. It sees its brothers in yellow, black and brown held physically -at arms’ length from civilization lest they become civilized and less -liable to conquest and exploitation. It sees the world-wide effort to -build an aristocracy of races and nations on a foundation of darker -half-enslaved and tributary peoples. It knows that the last great battle -of the West is to vindicate the right of any man of any nation, race, or -color to share in the world’s goods and thoughts and efforts to the -extent of his effort and ability. - -Thus to-day the Negro American faces his destiny and doggedly strives to -realize it. He has his tempters and temptations. There are ever those -about him whispering: “You are nobody; why strive to be somebody? The -odds are overwhelming against you—wealth, tradition, learning and guns. -Be reasonable. Accept the dole of charity and the cant of missionaries -and sink contentedly to your place as humble servants and helpers of the -white world.” If this has not been effective, threats have been used: -“If you continue to complain, we will withdraw all aid, boycott your -labor, cease to help support your schools and let you die and disappear -from the land in ignorance, crime and disease.” Still the black man has -pushed on, has continued to protest, has refused to die out and -disappear, and to-day stands as physically the most virile element in -America, intellectually among the most promising, and morally the most -tremendous and insistent of the social problems of the New World. Not -even the silence of his friends, or of those who ought to be the friends -of struggling humanity, has silenced him. Not even the wealth of modern -Golconda has induced him to believe that life without liberty is worth -living. - -On the other side heart-searching is in order. It is not well with this -land of ours: poverty is certainly not growing less, wealth is being -wantonly wasted, business honesty is far too rare, family integrity is -threatened, bribery is poisoning our public life, theft is honeycombing -our private business, and voting is largely unintelligent. Not that -these evils are unopposed. There are brave men and women striving for -social betterment, for the curbing of the vicious power of wealth, for -the uplift of women and the downfall of thieves. But their battle is -hard, and how much harder because of the race problem—because of the -calloused conscience of caste, the peonage of black labor hands, the -insulting of black women, and the stealing of black votes? How far are -business dishonesty and civic degradation in America the direct result -of racial prejudice? - -Well do I know that many persons defend their treatment of undeveloped -peoples on the highest grounds. They say, as Jefferson Davis intimated, -that liberty is for the full-grown, not for children. It was during -Senator Mason’s inquisition after the hanging of John Brown, whereby the -Southern leader hoped to entrap the Abolitionists. Joshua R. Giddings, -keen, impetuous and fiery, was on the rack. Senator Davis, pale, sallow -and imperturbable, with all the aristocratic poise and dignity built on -the unpaid toil of two centuries of slaves, said: - -“Did you, in inculcating, by popular lectures, the doctrine of a law -higher than that of the social compact, make your application -exclusively to Negro slaves, or did you also include minors, convicts, -and lunatics, who might be restrained of their liberty by the laws of -the land?” - -Mr. Giddings smiled. “Permit me,” he said, “... with all due deference, -to suggest, so that I may understand you, do you intend to inquire -whether those lectures would indicate whether your slaves of the slave -states had a right at all times to their liberty?” - -“I will put the question in that form if you like it,” answered Davis, -and then Giddings flashed: - -“My lectures, in all instances, would indicate the right of every human -soul in the enjoyment of reason, while he is charged with no crime or -offense, to maintain his life, his liberty, the pursuit of his own -happiness; that this has reference to the enslaved of all the states as -much as it had reference to our own people while enslaved by the -Algerines in Africa.” - -But Mr. Davis suavely pressed his point: “Then the next question is, -whether the same right was asserted for minors and apprentices, being -men in good reason, yet restrained of their liberty by the laws of the -land.” - -Giddings replied: “I will answer at once that the proposition or -comparison is conflicting with the dictates of truth. The minor is, from -the law of nature, under the restraints of parental affection for the -purposes of nurture, of education, of preparing him to secure and -maintain the very rights to which I refer.”[293] - -This debate is not yet closed. It was not closed by the Civil War. Men -still maintain that East Indians and Africans and others ought to be -under the restraint and benevolent tutelage of stronger and wiser -nations for their own benefit. Well and good. Is the tutelage really -benevolent? Then it is training in liberty. Is it training in slavery? -Then it is not benevolent. Liberty trains for liberty. Responsibility is -the first step in responsibility. - -Even the restraints imposed in the training of men and children are -restraints that will in the end make greater freedom possible. Is the -benevolent expansion of to-day of such a character? Is England trying to -see how soon and how effectively the Indians can be trained for -self-government or is she willing to exploit them just so long as they -can be cajoled or quieted into submission? Is Germany trying to train -her Africans to modern citizenship or to modern “work without -complaint”? Is the South trying to make the Negroes responsible, -self-reliant freemen of a republic, or the dumb driven cattle of a great -industrial machine? - -No sooner is the question put this way than the defenders of modern -caste retire behind a more defensible breastwork. They say: “Yes, we -exploit nations for our own advantage purposely—even at times brutally. -But only in that way can the high efficiency of the modern industrial -process be maintained, and in the long run it benefits the oppressed -even more than the oppressor.” This doctrine is as wide-spread as it is -false and mischievous. It is true that the bribe of greed will -artificially hasten economic development, but it does so at fearful -cost, as America itself can testify. We have here a wonderful industrial -machine, but a machine quickly rather than carefully built, formed of -forcing rather than of growth, involving sinful and unnecessary expense. -Better smaller production and more equitable distribution; better fewer -miles of railway and more honor, truth, and liberty; better fewer -millionaires and more contentment. So it is the world over, where force -and fraud and graft have extorted rich reward from writhing millions. -Moreover, it is historically unprovable that the advance of undeveloped -peoples has been helped by wholesale exploitation at the hands of their -richer, stronger, and more unscrupulous neighbors. This idea is a legend -of the long exploded doctrine of inevitable economic harmonies in all -business life. True it is that adversity and difficulties make for -character, but the real and inevitable difficulties of life are numerous -enough for genuine development without the aid of artificial hindrances. -The inherent and natural difficulties of raising a people from ignorant -unmoral slavishness to self-reliant modern manhood are great enough for -purposes of character-building without the aid of murder, theft, caste, -and degradation. Not because of but in spite of these latter hindrances -has the Negro American pressed forward. - -This, then, is the truth: the cost of liberty is less than the price of -repression, even though that cost be blood. Freedom of development and -equality of opportunity is the demand of Darwinism and this calls for -the abolition of hard and fast lines between races, just as it called -for the breaking down of barriers between classes. Only in this way can -the best in humanity be discovered and conserved, and only thus can -mankind live in peace and progress. The present attempt to force all -whites above all darker peoples is a sure method of human degeneration. -The cost of liberty is thus a decreasing cost, while the cost of -repression ever tends to increase to the danger point of war and -revolution. Revolution is not a test of capacity; it is always a loss -and a lowering of ideals. - -John Brown taught us that the cheapest price to pay for liberty is its -cost to-day. The building of barriers against the advance of -Negro-Americans hinders but in the end cannot altogether stop their -progress. The excuse of benevolent tutelage cannot be urged, for that -tutelage is not benevolent that does not prepare for free responsible -manhood. Nor can the efficiency of greed as an economic developer be -proven—it may hasten development but it does so at the expense of -solidity of structure, smoothness of motion, and real efficiency. Nor -does selfish exploitation help the undeveloped; rather it hinders and -weakens them. - -It is now full fifty years since this white-haired old man lay weltering -in the blood which he spilled for broken and despised humanity. Let the -nation which he loved and the South to which he spoke, reverently listen -again to-day to those words, as prophetic now as then: - -“You had better—all you people of the South—prepare yourselves for a -settlement of this question. It must come up for settlement sooner than -you are prepared for it, and the sooner you commence that preparation, -the better for you. You may dispose of me very easily—I am nearly -disposed of now; but this question is still to be settled—this Negro -question, I mean. The end of that is not yet.” - - - - - BIBLIOGRAPHY - - - _For the general reader the following works are indispensable_: - - SANBORN, FRANKLIN BENJAMIN. The Life and Letters of John Brown, - Liberator of Kansas, and Martyr of Virginia. 1885. (The most - complete collection of John Brown letters.) - - HINTON, RICHARD JOSIAH. John Brown and His Men, with some account of - the roads they traveled to reach Harper’s Ferry. 1894. - (Valuable for its treatment of Kansas and its lives of - Brown’s companions.) - - REDPATH, JAMES. Public Life of Captain John Brown, with autobiography - of his childhood and youth. (The best contemporary account.) - - CONNELLEY, WILLIAM ELSEY. John Brown. 1900, (Valuable for Kansas life - of Brown.) - - To the above may be added the shorter estimate by H. E. von Holst, - 1899, and some may like Chamberlain’s pert essay (Beacon - Biographies, 1889). - - -_Students must add to these the following books and articles which -contain many of the original sources of our knowledge_: - - ANDERSON, OSBORNE P. A Voice from Harper’s Ferry. A narrative of - events at Harper’s Ferry; with incidents prior and - subsequent to its capture by John Brown and his men. 1861. - (The best account of the raid by a participant.) - - MANUSCRIPT DIARY of John Brown in the Boston Public Library. (2 - volumes.) 1838–1844, 1855–1859. - - GARRISON, WENDELL PHILLIPS. The Preludes of Harper’s Ferry. In the - _Andover Review_, December, 1890, and January, 1891. - - JOSEPHUS, JR. (Joseph Barry). The Brown Raid. In his annals of - Harper’s Ferry, 1872. (Excellent local account.) - - UNITED STATES CONGRESSIONAL REPORTS. Report of the select committee of - the Senate appointed to inquire into John Brown’s invasion - and the seizure of the public property at Harper’s Ferry. - Thirty-sixth Congress, first session. Senate Reports of - Committees. - - TRANSACTIONS of the Kansas State Historical Society, together with - addresses, etc., Volumes I-IX. (Contains many personal - narratives.) - - CALENDAR of Virginia State papers, Volume XI, pp. 269–349. (A large - amount of the Brown data copied from the papers found in his - carpetbag at Harper’s Ferry.) - - VIRGINIA SENATE Journal and Documents for the session of 1859–60: - Report of the joint committee of the Senate and House of - Delegates, appointed to consider the Harper’s Ferry affair - by Alexander H. Stuart, the chairman of the committee. - - VIRGINIA, Journal of House of Delegates of Virginia, 1859–60, - containing messages of the governor, the trial and - publication of John Brown’s papers. - - FEATHERSTONHAUGH, THOMAS. Bibliography of John Brown, Part I. - Publications of the Southern History Association, Volume I, - pp. 196–202. - - —— John Brown’s Men; the lives of those killed at Harper’s Ferry, with - a supplementary bibliography of John Brown. In Southern - History Association publications. Volume 3, pp. 281–306. - (The best bibliography.) - - DOUGLASS, FREDERICK. John Brown, an address at the fourteenth - anniversary of Storer College, 1881. - - —— Life and Times of. 1892. - - REDPATH, JAMES. Echoes of Harper’s Ferry. 1860. - - HUNTER, ANDREW. John Brown’s Raid. In Southern History Association - publications. Volume I, pp. 165–195. 1897. (The story of the - prosecuting attorney.) - - HIGGINSON, THOMAS WENTWORTH. A Visit to John Brown’s Household in - 1859. (In “Contemporaries,” 1899.) - - WRIGHT, HARRY A. John Brown in Springfield. _New England Magazine_, - pp. 272–281. - - WEBB, RICHARD D., Editor. The Life and Letters of Captain John Brown, - who was executed at Charlestown, Va, December 2, 1859, for - an armed attack upon American slavery; with notices of some - of his confederates. 1861. - - BOTELER, ALEXANDER L. Recollections of the John Brown Raid. _Century._ - July, 1883. Comment by F. B. Sanborn. - - DAINGERFIELD, JOHN E. P. John Brown at Harper’s Ferry. _Century._ - June. 1885, pp. 265–267. (The story of an engine-house - prisoner.) - - VOORHEES, DANIEL W. Argument delivered at Charleston, Va., November 8, - 1859, upon the trial of John E. Cook. Richmond, Va., 1861. - - HAMILTON, JAMES CLELAND. John Brown in Canada. Illustrated. - Republished from _Canadian Magazine_, December, 1894. - - _The purely controversial literature raging around John Brown is - endless. Those interested might read_: - - UTTER, DAVID N. John Brown of Osawatomie. _North American Review_, - November, 1883. - - NICOLAY, JOHN G. and HAY, JOHN. Abraham Lincoln, a history. 1890. - (Volume two contains history of John Brown and Harper’s - Ferry Raid.) - - ROBINSON, CHARLES. The Kansas Conflict. 1892. - - BROWN, GEORGE WASHINGTON, M. D. False claims of Kansas historians - truthfully corrected. Principally a refutation of the claim - that the rescue of Kansas from slavery was due to John - Brown. Rockford, Ill. The author. 1902. - - —— Reminiscences of Old John Brown. Thrilling instances of border life - in Kansas. With appendix by Eli Thayer. Rockford, Ill. 1880. - Printed by Eli Smith. - - WRIGHT, MARCUS JOSEPH. Trial of John Brown. Its impartiality and - decorum vindicated. Southern History Society Papers, Vol. - XVI, pp. 357–363. - - SPRING, L. W. Kansas. 1885. - - WILLIAMS, G. W. History of Negro Race in America. 1883. Two volumes. - (For John Brown, see volume two, pp. 213–227.) - - THAYER, ELI. The Kansas Crusade. 1889. - - HUGO, VICTOR. John Brown. 1861. - - WISE, BARTON H. The Life of Henry S. Wise. 1899. - - - - - INDEX - - - Abolitionists, 86, 91, 93, 96, 125, 341–342. - - Adams, John Quincy, 49. - - Adirondack farm, the, 12, 199. - - Alcott, A. Bronson, 210, 290–291. - - Alleghany Mountains, 48, 106, 127, 275, 279, 299. - - Anderson, Jeremiah, 258, 282–283, 324, 325, 336. - - Anderson, John, 282. - - Anderson, Osborne Perry, 280, 305, 334, 336. - - Atchison, Senator, 134, 175. - - - Black Jack, battle of, 166–169, 221. - - Brown, Anne, 286, 300, 301. - - Brown, Edward, 145. - - Brown, Frederick (the brother), 95. - - Brown, Frederick (the son), 128, 152, 155, 166, 167, 178. - - Brown, Jason, 87, 128, 146, 149, 159, 160, 186. - - Brown, John, Jr., 127, 146, 147, 159, 186. - - Brown, John, ancestry of, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20; - boyhood and youth of, 21–23, 25, 31; - as tanner, 31; - marriage of, 32; - occupations of, 32; - family life of, 33–37; - second marriage of, 38; - in panic of 1837, 41; - as shepherd, 52–60; - as wool merchant, 61–68; - in England, 68–71; - lawsuits of, 71–74; - and fugitive slaves, 84, 85; - first plan against slavery, 87–88; - and Negroes in, 89–91; - and mobs, 91; - and oath vs. slavery, 92, 93; - and Abolitionists, 91–94; - and settlement in Virginia, 95; - and black men, 97–121; - and Frederick Douglass, 102–109; - in the Adirondacks, 111–113; - in Kansas, 126–134, 139–140, 143–144, 145–197; - developing plans of, 198–206; - trip eastward of, 197, 207–218; - meets Forbes, 216; - return westward, 218; - securing arms and men, 218–225; - second trip eastward, 225–251; - at Douglass’ home, 225–227; - revelation of, 229–231; - trip to Canada of, 15, 248–251; - meets Harriet Tubman, 249–251; - return to Iowa of, 251–253; - third trip eastward of, 252; - return to Canada, 252; - Chatham convention, 253–266; - betrayal of, by Forbes, 266–269; - in New England and New York, 268–270; - third return westward, 270–272; - Harper’s Ferry plans of, 274–277; - financial resources of, 277–278; - military organizations of, 106, 116, 149, 160–169, 175–179, 181–182, - 188–189, 191, 226–227, 278–279; - Negro companions of, 280–283; - white companions - of, 283–287; - health of, 288; - seventh trip eastward, 288–291; - starts South, 291; - arrives at Harper’s Ferry, 292; - perfecting arrangements, 293–307; - meets Douglass, 295–297; - life at Kennedy Farm, 298–302; - betrayal of plans of, 302–303; - raid of, at Harper’s Ferry, 308–337; - capture of, 333–334; - fate of companions of, 336; - results, 338; - trial of, 356–364; - execution of, 363–364; - last letters of, 365–373; - and present Negro problem, 373–396; - character of, 15, 16, 22–23, 26–47, 300–301, 338–358; - descriptions of, 21, 28, 73, 74, 92, 104, 173–174, 197, 287; - family of, 31–39, 42, 44, 45, 58, 71, 73, 74, 87, 88, 89, 92, 95, - 102–104, 112, 119, 120, 121; - letters of, 42–46, 53–60, 62–63, 66, 67, 69, 71, 72, 74, 87–88, 113, - 118, 132, 146–149, 151, 152, 159, 166–169, 178, 179, 182, 186, - 187, 188–189, 218, 220, 227, 228, 232–234, 248, 249, 257, 266, - 267, 270, 271, 304, 357, 365–373; - reading of, 40; - religion of, 23, 25, 40–41, 42, 47, 365–373; - speeches of, 132, 150, 180–182, 213–214; - song of, 334. - - Brown, Oliver, 133, 146, 149, 152, 155, 283. - - Brown, Owen, 19, 20, 77, 78, 128, 147, 152, 155, 186, 252, 259, 272, - 283, 319, 329, 335, 336. - - Brown, Peter, 19. - - Brown, Salmon, 128, 137, 152–168, 186. - - Brown, Watson, 155, 283. - - Buchanan, President, 142, 214. - - Burns, Anthony, 72. - - - Canada, the Negroes in, 236–238, 253–254, 270. - - Caste and the Negro, 76–78, 81, 235–247, 377–380, 387, 388, 391–393. - - Catchers, slave, 97. - - Charleston, Va. (W. Va.), 13. - - Committee, National Kansas, New York meeting of, 13, 207. - - Constitution, articles of Brown’s, 265, 266. - - Constitution, pro-slavery, of Kansas, 136. - - Constitution, Lecompton of Kansas, 143, 187, 224. - - Contact of races, 380, 382. - - Convention, address of Philadelphia, 236–238. - - Convention, Big Springs, Kansas, 12. - - Convention, Chatham, 203, 257, 267. - - Convention, Syracuse, of Abolitionists, 12, 132, 133. - - Cook, John E., 219, 220, 252, 259, 315, 316, 318, 319, 324, 331, 336. - - Copeland, John A., 281–305, 325, 336. - - Coppoc, Barclay, 223, 319, 336. - - Coppoc, Edwin, 223, 336. - - Coronado, 16, 123. - - Covenant and by-laws of John Brown’s followers, 160–161. - - Crandall, Prudence, 87. - - - Daingerfield, Captain, 326. - - Daniels, Jim, 192. - - Davis, Jefferson, 124, 391–393. - - Day, Mary Ann, 11, 38, 241. - - Decision, Dred Scott, 142, 213. - - Delaney, Martin R., 245–246, 248, 254, 258. - - Diary, John Brown’s, 278. - - Douglass, Frederick, 7, 12, 13, 15, 47, 101, 102–109, 121, 122, 131, - 132, 214, 225, 241, 247, 258, 342, 344–346, 353. - - Douglas, Stephen A., 126. - - Dutch Henry’s Crossing, 134, 154. - - - Emancipation, 386–387. - - Engine-house at Harper’s Ferry, 326, 334. - - - Fight at Harper’s Ferry, 322–326. - - Floyd, John, Secretary of War, 124. - - Forbes, Hugh, 73; - meets Brown, 216–217; - goes West, 218–219; - returns East, 219; - betrays plans, 225; - complaints of, 266, 268. - - Franklin, Kansas, attack on, 175–176. - - Freedom, League of, 244. - - Free Soilers, 131. - - Fugitive Slave Law, 12, 236. - - Fugitive slaves, 82, 84, 85, 88, 94, 106–108, 203–204, 241. - - - Gabriel, 11, 83, 127. - - Garnet, H. H., 98, 102, 240, 243, 248, 258. - - Garrison, William Lloyd, 15, 93, 342. - - Geary, Governor of Kansas, 13, 141–180, 183–184. - - Giddings, Joshua, 152, 391–392. - - Gill, George B., 223, 259. - - Gloucester, Negro minister, 98, 248, 258. - - Great Black Way, the, 273. - - Greeley, Horace, 130, 266. - - Green, Shields, 280, 323, 334, 336, 343–347. - - - Hall, Pennsylvania, 91. - - Hamilton’s massacre, 188, 192–194. - - Harper’s Ferry raid: - the place 273–274; - plans of, 274–276; - financial resources of, 277–278; - military organizations of, 278–280; - participants of, 280–288; - depot at Chambersburg, 291–292; - preparations, 293–307; - beginning of foray, 308; - capture of armory, 310; - capture of town, 311; - capture of Colonel Washington, 311–312; - halting of train, 313; - bringing up the arms, 314–316; - further plans, 317–319; - gathering of militia, 320–322; - dislodging of Kagi, 324–325; - retreat of engine-house, 326; - killing of Brown’s men, 327–329; - arrival of Lee, 331; - parleying, 330–333; - capture of Brown, 333–334; - capture and escape of others, 334–336. - - Harper, Samuel, 194–195. - - Hayti, 75, 97. - - Hazlett, Albert, 334, 336. - - Henson, Josiah, 241, 253. - - Hinton, R. J., 7, 173, 181, 189, 204, 207, 222, 258, 277, 284. - - Holden, Isaac, 257, 258, 277, 284. - - Howe, Dr. S. G., 210, 231, 267, 341, 343. - - Hunter, Andrew, 352, 353, 356. - - - Independence, Chatham Declaration of, 272. - - Insurrection, Cumberland region, 97. - - Insurrection in Virginia, 81. - - Insurrection of slaves, 79, 80, 83, 85, 97, 105–106. - - Insurrection, proposed Negro, 166. - - Intermarriage of races, 382, 384, 385. - - Isaac, insurrection of, 97. - - - Jackson, President, 50. - - Jamaica, 79, 97. - - Jones, Henry, 241. - - Jones, John, 248. - - Jones, J. M., 256, 258. - - Jones, Ottawa, 178. - - _Journal, Freedom’s_, 239. - - - Kagi, J. H., 13, 196, 199, 200, 201, 202, 252, 259, 317, 318, 324, 325. - - Kansas, 123; - Brown’s sons in, 127–131; - and slavery, 126, 134, 138, 144; - John Brown and, 125, 126–127, 131–134, 139, 143–197. - - Kansas-Nebraska Bill, 13, 135, 136, 219–221. - - Kennedy Farm, 319. - - - Lane, General James, 134, 141, 173–176, 186. - - Lane’s Army, 13, 173–176. - - Lane College, 95. - - Langston brothers, 241, 258. - - Law, Fugitive Slave, 12, 113, 119. - - Lawrence, Kansas, 12, 167, 170; - sacking of, 153–154; - last attack on, 180–184. - - League, Liberty, 244. - - League of Gileadites, 12, 114. - - Leary, Lewis Sherrard, 282–305. - - Lee, Robert E., 13, 331, 332. - - Leeman, William H., 221, 252, 259, 325, 336. - - _Liberator, The_, 94, 239. - - Liberty Hall, 158. - - Loudoun Heights, at Harper’s Ferry, 275, 318. - - L’Ouverture, Toussaint, 75, 216. - - Lovejoy, 91, 115. - - Lusk, Dianthe, 11, 32, 38. - - - Marlborough Chapel, 91. - - Massacre at Dutch Henry’s Crossing, 139–140, 143–144, 154–159. - - Maxon farm, Iowa, 252. - - Merriam, F. J., 286, 305, 336. - - Middle Creek, Kansas, 158. - - Military organization of Brown’s men, 106, 146, 149, 160–169, 175–179, - 181–182, 188–189, 191, 226–227, 278–279. - - Mills, Peter, 19. - - Missouri slave raid, 191–197. - - Mobs, abolition, 91. - - Mobs against Negroes, 235. - - Moffett, Charles W., 221, 252, 259. - - Montgomery, Captain, 188, 189, 190, 191. - - “Morgan, Shubel,” 189. - - Mulattoes, 77. - - Mysteries, American, 244. - - - Negro character, 17. - - Negro conventions, 236, 237, 238, 239, 242, 244, 245–246. - - Negro emigration, 245–246. - - Negro insurgents, 318, 353–354. - - Negro insurrections, 79–80, 83, 85, 97, 105–106. - - Negro leaders, 97, 98, 101, 102, 110, 240, 241–243, 246, 258, 259, 294, - 295. - - Negro, Northern, 235. - - Negro organizations, 203–204, 244. - - Negro progress, 1830–1840, 235; - 1840–1850, 240; - 1850–1860, 243. - - Negro slavery, 76–84. - - Negroes, 12, 16. - - Negroes in America, 16, 17; - in Canada, 236–238. - - Negroes, increase of, in ten years, 243. - - Negroes and John Brown, 343, 344, 347. - - Negroes of Springfield, 98, 99. - - Negroes, present condition of, 389. - - Newby, Dangerfield, 281, 323. - - North Elba, New York, 12. - - _North Star_, 101, 242. - - - Oberlin College, 11, 53, 55, 95, 258, 281, 283. - - Oberlin College lands in Virginia, 53–55, 95. - - Odd Fellows, Negro, 240. - - Osawatomie, Kansas, 12, 128, 142, 147, 152, 159, 162, 166, 177, 224. - - Owen, John, 19. - - - Panic of 1837, 11, 50, 55, 91. - - Parker, Theodore, 210, 227, 231. - - Parsons, L. L., 220–221, 252, 259. - - Perkins, Simon, 58, 68. - - Perkins and Brown, wool-merchants, 62, 67. - - Pierce, President, 151. - - Plans at Harper’s Ferry, 101, 318, 319, 324, 326. - - Plans of John Brown, 106–107, 260, 276. - - Pottawatomie Creek, 12, 157, 158, 162. - - Purvis, Robert, 241, 246. - - - Raid at Harper’s Ferry, see Harper’s Ferry. - - Realf, Richard, 215–220, 252, 259. - - Redpath, James, 7, 72, 99, 132, 147, 181, 246. - - Reeder, Governor of Kansas, 215. - - Reynolds, G. J., 208, 258, 260. - - Richardson, Richard, 221, 252, 258. - - Robinson, Charles, Governor of Kansas, 134, 150, 184, 207, 341, 342. - - Rochester, N. Y., state convention, 244–245. - - Ross, Dr. A. M., 251, 257. - - Routes, Fugitive Slave, 97. - - - “Sambo’s Mistakes,” 99. - - Sanborn, Frank B., 7, 13, 210, 228, 267. - - Schools for Negroes, 87, 94, 95. - - Shannon, Governor of Kansas, 141, 149, 150, 176. - - Shore, Captain, 167–168. - - “Shubel Morgan’s” Company, 189. - - Slave insurrections, 79–80, 83, 85, 97, 105–106. - - Slavery, 75–89, 124–126, 235. - - Smith, Gerrit, 12, 53, 131, 132, 133, 207, 226, 303, 341. - - Smith, J. McCune, 98, 131, 132, 225, 240, 267. - - Smith, Stephen, 241, 248, 258. - - Societies, Phœnix, 239. - - Society, American Anti-slavery, 246. - - Society, American Moral Reform, 238. - - Society, New England Emigrant Aid, 136, 145. - - Song of “John Brown’s Body,” 374. - - Southern bands in Kansas, 152, 166, 188. - - Spell of Africa, 121. - - Springdale, Iowa, John Brown in, 221–224. - - Stephens, Aaron D., 173, 194, 195–222, 252, 259, 336. - - Stearns, George L., 208–210, 226, 228, 277, 341. - - Still, William, 241, 248. - - Stuart, J. E. B., 332, 333. - - “Subterranean Pass Way,” 214. - - Sumner, Colonel, 15, 137, 139, 168–169, 225, 266. - - Survey of Virginia lands, 53–55. - - Swamp, Dismal, 86. - - Swamp of the Swan, 134, 145, 177, 188, 288. - - Sword of Gideon, 96. - - - Tariff and wool, 61. - - Tariff of 1846, the, 65. - - Taylor, Stewart, 223, 259. - - Thayer, Eli, 126, 214. - - Thomas, John A., 258. - - Thomas, Thomas, 101, 247. - - Thompson, Henry, 113, 155–168. - - Thompson, William, 77, 173, 315, 316, 319, 324, 328, 329. - - Tidd, C. P., 221, 252, 259, 315, 316, 319, 324, 331, 335, 336. - - Tubman, Harriet, 204, 241, 249, 251, 293. - - Turner, Nat, 11, 85, 97, 127, 239. - - - Underground Railroad, 94, 101, 107, 110, 198, 243, 263. - - University, Western Reserve, 86. - - - Vesey, Denmark, 83, 97. - - Virginia, 16. - - - Wakarusa war and treaty, 151. - - War, Civil, 48, 142. - - War in Kansas, 140, 142. - - War of 1812, 25, 48–49. - - Ward, Samuel Ringgold, 242, 243. - - Wars, Seminole, 84. - - Washington, Colonel Lewis, 317, 322. - - Wilberforce University, 236, 253. - - Wilson, Senator, 225, 226. - - Wise, Governor of Virginia, 336, 355. - - Woodson, Governor of Missouri, 180, 241. - - Wool-growers’ convention, 62. - ------ - -Footnote 1: - - Redpath, _Public Life of Captain John Brown_, p. 25. - -Footnote 2: - - Autobiography of Owen Brown in Sanborn, _Life and Letters of John - Brown_, p. 7. - -Footnote 3: - - The quotations in this chapter are from John Brown’s Autobiography, - Sanborn, _Life and Letters of John Brown_, pp. 12–17. - -Footnote 4: - - John Brown’s Autobiography, Sanborn, p. 16. - -Footnote 5: - - Heman Hallock, in the New York _Journal of Commerce_, quoted in - Sanborn, p. 32. - -Footnote 6: - - John Brown’s Autobiography, Sanborn, p. 16. - -Footnote 7: - - John Brown’s Autobiography, Sanborn, pp. 16, 17. - -Footnote 8: - - John Brown, Jr., in Sanborn, p. 34. - -Footnote 9: - - Ruth Brown in Sanborn, pp. 37–39. - -Footnote 10: - - John Brown, Jr., in Sanborn, pp. 91–93. - -Footnote 11: - - Ruth Brown in Sanborn, pp. 93–94. - -Footnote 12: - - _Ibid._, p. 104. - -Footnote 13: - - Ruth Brown in Sanborn, p. 44. - -Footnote 14: - - Letter to John Brown, Jr., 1841, in Sanborn, p. 139. - -Footnote 15: - - Letter to his wife, 1844, in Sanborn, p. 61. - -Footnote 16: - - Ruth Brown in Sanborn, pp. 38–39. - -Footnote 17: - - Letter to his wife, 1839, in Sanborn, p. 69. - -Footnote 18: - - Letter to his wife, 1851, in Sanborn, p. 146. - -Footnote 19: - - Letter to his wife, 1846, in Sanborn, p. 142. - -Footnote 20: - - Letter to his daughter, 1847, in Sanborn, p. 142. - -Footnote 21: - - Letter to his wife, 1844, in Sanborn, pp. 60–61. - -Footnote 22: - - Letter to his father, 1846, in Sanborn, pp. 21, 22. - -Footnote 23: - - Letter to his daughter, 1852, in Sanborn, p. 45. - -Footnote 24: - - Letter to John Brown, Jr., 1852, and to his children, 1853, in - Sanborn, pp. 151 and 155. - -Footnote 25: - - Letter to his wife, 1839, in Sanborn, p. 68. - -Footnote 26: - - Sanborn, p. 58. - -Footnote 27: - - Records of Oberlin College, quoted in Sanborn, pp. 134–135. - -Footnote 28: - - Levi Burnell to Owen Brown, 1840, in Sanborn, p. 135. - -Footnote 29: - - Letter to his family, 1840, in Sanborn, p. 134. - -Footnote 30: - - MS. Diary, Boston Public Library. Vol. I. p. 65. - -Footnote 31: - - Records of the Board of Trustees, Oberlin College, Aug. 28, 1840, - quoted in Sanborn, p. 135. - -Footnote 32: - - John Brown, Jr., in Sanborn, p 87. - -Footnote 33: - - Agreement quoted in Sanborn, pp. 55–56. - -Footnote 34: - - Letter to George Kellogg, 1844, in Sanborn, p. 56. - -Footnote 35: - - Letter to John Brown, Jr., 1843, in Sanborn, p. 58. - -Footnote 36: - - Letter to John Brown, Jr., 1843, in Sanborn, pp. 58–59. - -Footnote 37: - - _Ibid._, p. 59. - -Footnote 38: - - _Ibid._, p. 59. - -Footnote 39: - - Letter to John Brown, Jr., 1844, in Sanborn, pp. 59–60. - -Footnote 40: - - _Ibid._, p. 61. - -Footnote 41: - - Ruth Brown in Sanborn, p. 95. - -Footnote 42: - - Letter to John Brown, Jr., 1846, in Sanborn, p. 62. - -Footnote 43: - - Circular issued in 1846, quoted in Sanborn, p. 63. - -Footnote 44: - - Letter to Owen Brown, 1846, in Sanborn, p. 22. - -Footnote 45: - - Letter to John Brown, Jr., 1847, in Sanborn, p. 143. - -Footnote 46: - - E. C. Leonard in Sanborn, p. 65. - -Footnote 47: - - Letter to Owen Brown, 1847, in Sanborn, pp. 23–24. - -Footnote 48: - - Letter to Owen Brown, 1849, in Sanborn, p. 25. - -Footnote 49: - - _Ibid._ - -Footnote 50: - - Memoranda by John Brown, in Sanborn, p. 65; Redpath, p. 56 - -Footnote 51: - - Sanborn, pp. 67–68. - -Footnote 52: - - Letter to John Brown, Jr., 1849, Sanborn, p. 73. - -Footnote 53: - - E. C. Leonard, in Sanborn, pp. 67–68. - -Footnote 54: - - Letter to his wife, 1850, in Sanborn, p. 107. - -Footnote 55: - - Letter to his children, 1850, in Sanborn, pp. 75–76. - -Footnote 56: - - Redpath, p. 58. - -Footnote 57: - - Letter to his son, in Sanborn, p. 145. - -Footnote 58: - - Letter to his children, 1854, in Sanborn, p. 155. - -Footnote 59: - - R. H. Dana, in the _Atlantic Monthly_, 1871. - -Footnote 60: - - Owen Brown, in Sanborn, pp. 10–11. - -Footnote 61: - - John Brown, Jr., in Sanborn, p. 35. - -Footnote 62: - - Sanborn, p. 34. - -Footnote 63: - - Letter to his brother Frederick, 1834, in Sanborn, pp. 40–41. - -Footnote 64: - - Ruth Brown, in Sanborn, p. 37. - -Footnote 65: - - John Brown, Jr., in Sanborn, pp. 52–53. - -Footnote 66: - - Redpath, p. 65. - -Footnote 67: - - Redpath, pp. 53–54. - -Footnote 68: - - Redpath, pp. 59–60. - -Footnote 69: - - From “Sambo’s Mistakes,” published in the _Ram’s Horn_ and printed in - Sanborn, p. 130. - -Footnote 70: - - Douglass, _Life and Times of Frederick Douglass_ (1892), Chap. 8, Part - II, pp. 337–342. - -Footnote 71: - - Sanborn, p. 97. - -Footnote 72: - - Redpath, p. 61. - -Footnote 73: - - Ruth Brown, in Sanborn. p. 100. - -Footnote 74: - - Redpath, p. 62. - -Footnote 75: - - Letter to his wife, 1850, in Sanborn, pp. 106–107. - -Footnote 76: - - Letter of instructions, agreement and resolutions, as given in - Sanborn, pp. 124–127. - -Footnote 77: - - Letter of instructions, agreement and resolutions, as given in - Sanborn, pp. 124–127. - -Footnote 78: - - Letter of instructions, agreement and resolutions, as given in - Sanborn, pp. 124–127. - -Footnote 79: - - Sanborn, p. 132. - -Footnote 80: - - Ruth Brown, in Sanborn, pp. 131–132. - -Footnote 81: - - Letter to his wife, 1852, in Sanborn, pp. 108–109. - -Footnote 82: - - Ruth Brown, in Sunburn, p. 104. - -Footnote 83: - - Letters to his children, 1852–1853, in Sanborn, pp. 110 and 148. - -Footnote 84: - - Compare the _American Anthropologist_, Vol. 4, No. 2, April-June, - 1902. - -Footnote 85: - - Letter to John Brown, Jr., 1854, in Sanborn, p. 191. - -Footnote 86: - - John Brown, Jr., in Sanborn, pp. 188–190. - -Footnote 87: - - Letter to his children, 1854, in Sanborn, pp. 110–111. - -Footnote 88: - - Redpath, p. 81. - -Footnote 89: - - Letter to his wife, 1855, in Sanborn, pp. 193–194. - -Footnote 90: - - John Brown, Jr., in Sanborn, pp. 190–191. - -Footnote 91: - - Ruth Thompson, in Sanborn, p. 105. - -Footnote 92: - - Farewell address of Governor Geary, _Transactions_ of the Kansas State - Historical Society, Vol. IV, p. 739. - -Footnote 93: - - Letters to his family, 1855, in Sanborn, pp. 201 and 205. - -Footnote 94: - - Redpath, pp. 103–104. - -Footnote 95: - - Letter to his family, 1855, in Sanborn, pp. 217–221. - -Footnote 96: - - Letter to his wife, 1855, in Sanborn, pp. 217–221. - -Footnote 97: - - G. W. Brown, _Reminiscences of Old John Brown_, p. 8; Phillips, - _History of Kansas_, quoted in Redpath, p. 90. - -Footnote 98: - - Letter to his family, 1855, in Sanborn, pp. 217–221. - -Footnote 99: - - Letter to his family, 1856, in Sanborn, p. 223. - -Footnote 100: - - Letter of Giddings to John Brown, 1856, in Sanborn, p. 224. - -Footnote 101: - - D. W. Wilder, in the _Transactions_ of the Kansas State Historical - Society, Vol. 6, p. 337. - -Footnote 102: - - E. A. Coleman, in Sanborn, p. 260. - -Footnote 103: - - James Hanway, in Hinton, _John Brown and His Men_, p. 695. - -Footnote 104: - - Bondi in _Transactions_ of the Kansas State Historical Society, Vol. - 8, p. 279; Spring, _Kansas_, p. 143. - -Footnote 105: - - Jason Brown, in Sanborn, p. 273. - -Footnote 106: - - E. A. Coleman, in Sanborn, p. 259. - -Footnote 107: - - John Brown, Jr., in Sanborn, p. 278. - -Footnote 108: - - Letter to his family, 1856, in Sanborn, pp. 236–241. - -Footnote 109: - - Sanborn, pp. 287–288. - -Footnote 110: - - Sanborn, pp. 288–290. - -Footnote 111: - - Redpath, pp. 112–114. - -Footnote 112: - - Bondi in the _Transactions_ of the Kansas State Historical Society, - Vol. 8, pp. 282–284. - -Footnote 113: - - Bondi in the _Transactions_ of the Kansas State Historical Society, - Vol. 8, p. 285. - -Footnote 114: - - _Ibid._, p. 284. - -Footnote 115: - - Bondi in the _Transactions_ of the Kansas State Historical Society, - Vol. 8, p. 286; John Brown to his family, 1856, in Sanborn, pp. - 236–241. - -Footnote 116: - - W. A. Phillips, in Sanborn, pp. 306–308. - -Footnote 117: - - Hinton, pp. 201–204. - -Footnote 118: - - Samuel Walker in _Transactions_ of the Kansas State Historical - Society, Vol. 6, p. 267. - -Footnote 119: - - Appeal to the citizens of Lafayette County, Mo., Sanborn, p. 309. - -Footnote 120: - - Samuel Walker in _Transactions_ of the Kansas State Historical - Society, Vol. 6, pp. 272–273. - -Footnote 121: - - Quoted in Sanborn, p. 321. - -Footnote 122: - - John Brown to his family, 1856, Sanborn, pp. 317–318. - -Footnote 123: - - Charles Robinson to John Brown, 1856, in Sanborn, pp. 330–331. - -Footnote 124: - - Speech of John Brown, Redpath, pp. 163–164. - -Footnote 125: - - Redpath, pp. 164–165. - -Footnote 126: - - Paper by John Brown, Sanborn, pp. 332–333. - -Footnote 127: - - Executive minutes of Governor Geary in _Transactions_ of the Kansas - State Historical Society, Vol. 4, p. 537. - -Footnote 128: - - Letter to Augustus Wattles, 1857, in Sanborn, p. 391. - -Footnote 129: - - Correspondence of Lane and Brown, in Sanborn, pp. 401–402. - -Footnote 130: - - Letter to F. B. Sanborn and others, 1858, in Sanborn, pp. 474–477. - -Footnote 131: - - _Ibid._ - -Footnote 132: - - Hinton in Redpath, pp. 199–206. - -Footnote 133: - - George B. Gill in Hinton, p. 218. - -Footnote 134: - - Sanborn, pp. 481–483. - -Footnote 135: - - Hamilton, _John Brown in Canada_, pp. 4–5. - -Footnote 136: - - Sanborn, p. 491. - -Footnote 137: - - Redpath, p. 48. - -Footnote 138: - - Redpath, p. 71. - -Footnote 139: - - Hinton in Redpath, pp. 203–205. - -Footnote 140: - - Reminiscences of George B. Gill, Hinton, pp. 732–733. - -Footnote 141: - - Hinton, pp. 171–172. - -Footnote 142: - - Notes by John Brown, in Sanborn, p. 244. - -Footnote 143: - - Paper by John Brown, in Sanborn, pp. 241–242. - -Footnote 144: - - Letter from Gerrit Smith to John Brown, in Sanborn, p. 364. - -Footnote 145: - - Jeremiah Brown in Redpath, pp. 174–175. - -Footnote 146: - - Reminiscences of Mrs. Mary E. Stearns, in Hinton, pp. 719–727. - -Footnote 147: - - Sanborn, _John Brown and his Friends_, p. 8. - -Footnote 148: - - Letter of H. B. Hurd to John Brown, 1857, in Sanborn, p. 367. - -Footnote 149: - - Sanborn, pp. 375–376. - -Footnote 150: - - Speech of John Brown, Sanborn. p. 379. - -Footnote 151: - - Letter to Eli Thayer, 1857, in Sanborn, p. 382. - -Footnote 152: - - Reminiscences of Dr. Wayland, Sanborn, p. 381. - -Footnote 153: - - Reports of Senate Committees, 36th Congress, 1st Session, No. 278, - Testimony of Richard Realf, p. 96. - -Footnote 154: - - Hinton, pp. 614–615. - -Footnote 155: - - Letter to Augustus Wattles, 1857, in Sanborn, p. 393. - -Footnote 156: - - Confession of John E. Cook in Hinton, pp. 700–701. - -Footnote 157: - - Richman, _John Brown Among the Quakers_, pp. 20–21. - -Footnote 158: - - Richman, pp. 28–29. - -Footnote 159: - - Hinton, pp. 156–157. - -Footnote 160: - - Douglass, _Life and Times of Frederick Douglass_, pp. 385–386. - -Footnote 161: - - Letter to Theodore Parker, 1858, in Sanborn, pp. 434–435. - -Footnote 162: - - Letter to Higginson, 1858, in Sanborn, p. 436. - -Footnote 163: - - Sanborn, pp. 438—440. - -Footnote 164: - - Letter to John Brown, Jr., 1858, in Sanborn, pp. 450–451. - -Footnote 165: - - Letter to his family, 1858, in Sanborn, pp. 440–441. - -Footnote 166: - - Letter to F. B. Sanborn, 1858, in Sanborn, pp. 444–445. - -Footnote 167: - - Hickok, _The Negro in Ohio_, p. 42. - -Footnote 168: - - _Ibid._, p. 44. - -Footnote 169: - - Williams, _Negro Race in America_, Vol. 2, pp. 65–67. - -Footnote 170: - - Occasional Papers of the American Negro Academy, No. 9, p. 10. - -Footnote 171: - - Occasional Papers of the American Negro Academy, No. 9, p. 15. - -Footnote 172: - - _Ibid._, No. 9, p. 16. - -Footnote 173: - - Douglass, _Life and Times of Frederick Douglass_ (1892), p. 345. - -Footnote 174: - - Occasional Papers of the American Negro Academy, No. 9, pp. 16–19. - -Footnote 175: - - Occasional Papers of the American Negro Academy, No. 9, pp. 20–21. - -Footnote 176: - - Manuscript Diary of John Brown, Boston Public Library, Vol. 2, p. 35. - -Footnote 177: - - Letter to John Brown, Jr., 1858, in Sanborn, p. 452. - -Footnote 178: - - Bradford, _Harriet, the Moses of Her People_, pp. 118–119. - -Footnote 179: - - Letter of Wendell Phillips, printed in Bradford, _Harriet, the Moses - of Her People_, pp. 155–156. - -Footnote 180: - - Hamilton, _John Brown in Canada_, p. 10. - -Footnote 181: - - Anderson, _A Voice from Harper’s Ferry_, p. 9. - -Footnote 182: - - Rollins, _Life and Public Services of Martin R. Delaney_, pp. 85–90. - -Footnote 183: - - Reminiscences of J. M. Jones, in Hamilton, _John Brown in Canada_, pp. - 14–15. - -Footnote 184: - - Hinton, p. 178. - -Footnote 185: - - Reminiscences of J. M. Jones, in Hamilton, _John Brown in Canada_, pp. - 14 and 16. - -Footnote 186: - - Rollins, _Life and Public Services of Martin R. Delaney_, pp. 85–90. - -Footnote 187: - - Reminiscences of George B. Gill, in Hinton, p. 185. - -Footnote 188: - - Reminiscences of J. M. Jones, in Hamilton, _John Brown in Canada_, p. - 16. - -Footnote 189: - - Hinton, pp. 619–633. - -Footnote 190: - - Hinton, pp. 642–643. - -Footnote 191: - - Provisional Constitution, Art. 42. - -Footnote 192: - - Letter to his family, 1858, in Sanborn, pp. 455–456. - -Footnote 193: - - Letter from Sanborn to Higginson, 1858, in Sanborn, p. 458. - -Footnote 194: - - Letter from Higginson to Theodore Parker, in Sanborn, p. 459. - -Footnote 195: - - Letter from Forbes to Higginson, 1858, in Sanborn, pp. 460–461. - -Footnote 196: - - Sanborn, pp. 463–464. - -Footnote 197: - - Letter to Owen Brown, 1858, in Richman, _John Brown Among the - Quakers_, pp. 40–41. - -Footnote 198: - - Jefferson, _Notes on Virginia_. - -Footnote 199: - - Sanborn, p. 467. - -Footnote 200: - - Reports of Senate Committees, 36th Congress, 1st Session, No. 278; - Testimony of Richard Realf, p. 100. - -Footnote 201: - - Sanborn, p. 457. - -Footnote 202: - - Hinton, pp. 130–131. - -Footnote 203: - - W. P. Garrison in the _Andover Review_, Dec., 1890, and Jan., 1891. - -Footnote 204: - - General Orders, Oct. 10, 1859, Hinton, pp. 646–647. - -Footnote 205: - - Douglass, _Life and Times of Frederick Douglass_, p. 387. - -Footnote 206: - - Hunter, _John Brown’s Raid_, republished in the Publications of the - Southern History Association, Vol. 1, No. 3, p. 188. - -Footnote 207: - - Report: Reports of Senate Committees, 36th Congress, 1st Session, No. - 278; Testimony of Ralph Plumb, p. 181. - -Footnote 208: - - Barry, _The Strange Story of Harper’s Ferry_, p. 93. - -Footnote 209: - - Anne Brown in Hinton, pp. 529–530. - -Footnote 210: - - Hinton, p. 453. - -Footnote 211: - - Anderson, _A Voice from Harper’s Ferry_, p. 15. - -Footnote 212: - - Hinton, pp. 496–497. - -Footnote 213: - - Sanborn in the _Atlantic Monthly_, Hinton, p. 570. - -Footnote 214: - - Anne Brown in Hinton, p. 450. - -Footnote 215: - - From the newspaper report of the speech at Cleveland, March 22d, - Redpath, pp. 239–240. - -Footnote 216: - - Diary of A. Bronson Alcott, Sanborn, pp. 504–505. - -Footnote 217: - - Report: Reports of Senate Committees, 36th Congress, 1st Session, No. - 278; Testimony of John C. Unseld, pp. 1–2. - -Footnote 218: - - Anderson, _A Voice from Harper’s Ferry_, p. 19. - -Footnote 219: - - Douglass, _Life and Times of Frederick Douglass_, pp. 388–391. - -Footnote 220: - - Anderson, _A Voice from Harper’s Ferry_, pp. 23–25. - -Footnote 221: - - Anne Brown in Sanborn, p. 531. - -Footnote 222: - - Anne Brown in Hinton, p. 265. - -Footnote 223: - - Report: Reports of Senate Committees, 36th Congress, 1st Session, No. - 278; Testimony of John B. Floyd, pp. 250–252. - -Footnote 224: - - Letter to Kagi, 1859, in Hinton, pp. 257–258. - -Footnote 225: - - Anne Brown in Hinton, p. 260. - -Footnote 226: - - Letter of Owen to John Brown, 1850, in Hinton, p. 259. - -Footnote 227: - - John Brown, Jr., to Kagi, 1859, in Sanborn, pp. 547–548. - -Footnote 228: - - Anderson, _A Voice from Harper’s Ferry_, p. 26. - -Footnote 229: - - Anderson, _A Voice from Harper’s Ferry_, p. 27. - -Footnote 230: - - _Ibid._, p. 23. - -Footnote 231: - - Anderson, _A Voice from Harper’s Ferry_, p. 29. - -Footnote 232: - - Anderson. _A Voice from Harper’s Ferry_, pp. 31–32. - -Footnote 233: - - Report: Reports of Senate Committees, 36th Congress, 1st Session, No. - 278; Testimony of Daniel Wheeler, pp. 21–22. - -Footnote 234: - - Anderson, _A Voice from Harper’s Ferry_, p. 33. - -Footnote 235: - - Anderson, _A Voice from Harper’s Ferry_, pp. 33–34. - -Footnote 236: - - Anderson, _A Voice from Harper’s Ferry_, pp. 36–37. - -Footnote 237: - - Statement by John Edwin Cook in Hinton, pp. 700–718. - -Footnote 238: - - Anderson, _A Voice from Harper’s Ferry_, p. 37. - -Footnote 239: - - Anderson, _A Voice from Harper’s Ferry_, pp. 37–38. - -Footnote 240: - - Redpath, p. 249. - -Footnote 241: - - Report: Reports of Senate Committees, 36th Congress, 1st Session, No. - 278; Testimony of John D. Starry, p. 25. - -Footnote 242: - - Boteler, “Recollections of the John Brown Raid” in the _Century - Magazine_, July, 1883, p. 405. - -Footnote 243: - - Anderson, _A Voice from Harper’s Ferry_, p. 42. - -Footnote 244: - - Anderson, _A Voice from Harper’s Ferry_, pp. 39–40. - -Footnote 245: - - Anderson, _A Voice from Harper’s Ferry_, p. 40. - -Footnote 246: - - Boteler, “Recollections of the John Brown Raid” in the _Century - Magazine_, July, 1883, p. 407. - -Footnote 247: - - Daingerfield in the _Century Magazine_, June, 1885. - -Footnote 248: - - Barry, _Strange Story of Harper’s Ferry_, p. 67. - -Footnote 249: - - Patrick Higgins in Hinton, p. 290. - -Footnote 250: - - Daingerfield in the _Century Magazine_, June, 1885. - -Footnote 251: - - Anderson, _A Voice from Harper’s Ferry_, p. 42. - -Footnote 252: - - Testimony of Henry Hunter in Redpath, pp. 320–321. - -Footnote 253: - - Daingerfield in the _Century Magazine_, June, 1885. - -Footnote 254: - - Berry, _Strange Story of Harper’s Ferry_, pp. 70–71. - -Footnote 255: - - Daingerfield in the _Century Magazine_, June, 1885. - -Footnote 256: - - Anderson, _A Voice from Harper’s Ferry_, p. 52. - -Footnote 257: - - John Brown in Sanborn, pp. 560–661. - -Footnote 258: - - Report: Reports of Senate Committees, 36th Congress, 1st Session, No. - 278; Testimony of George L. Stearns, pp. 241–242. - -Footnote 259: - - Douglass, _Life and Times of Frederick Douglass_ (1892), p. 376. - -Footnote 260: - - Correspondence of the New York _Herald_, Sanborn, pp. 562–571. - -Footnote 261: - - Frederick Douglass in a speech at Storer College at Harper’s Ferry, - May, 1882. - -Footnote 262: - - Hinton, pp. 325–326. - -Footnote 263: - - Mrs. Spring in Redpath, p. 377. - -Footnote 264: - - Newspaper report in Redpath, p. 376. - -Footnote 265: - - Mrs. Spring in Redpath, p. 377. - -Footnote 266: - - Letter to his sister, 1859, in Sanborn, pp. 607–609. - -Footnote 267: - - Remarks by John Brown in Redpath, p. 309. - -Footnote 268: - - Newspaper report quoted by Redpath, p. 337. - -Footnote 269: - - Redpath, pp. 340–342. - -Footnote 270: - - Letter to Mrs. George L. Stearns, 1859, in Sanborn, pp. 610–611. - -Footnote 271: - - Letter to his cousin, 1859, in Sanborn, pp. 594–595. - -Footnote 272: - - Letter to D. R. Tilden in Sanborn, pp. 609–610. - -Footnote 273: - - Letters to his family, 1859, in Sanborn, pp. 579–580, 613–615. - -Footnote 274: - - Letter to D. R. Tilden in Sanborn, pp. 609–610. - -Footnote 275: - - Letter to his family, 1859, in Sanborn, pp. 579–580. - -Footnote 276: - - Letter to a friend, 1859, in Sanborn, pp. 582–583. - -Footnote 277: - - Letter to his family, 1859, in Sanborn, pp. 579–580. - -Footnote 278: - - Letter to H. L. Vaill, 1859, in Sanborn, pp. 589–591. - -Footnote 279: - - Letter to Rev. Dr. Humphrey, 1859, in Sanborn, pp. 603–605. - -Footnote 280: - - Letter to H. L. Vaill, 1859, in Sanborn, pp. 590–591. - -Footnote 281: - - Letter to Miss Stearns, Sanborn, p. 607. - -Footnote 282: - - Postscript of letter to his family, 1859, in Sanborn, pp. 585–587. - -Footnote 283: - - Letter to Rev. Dr. Humphrey, 1859, in Sanborn, pp. 603–605. - -Footnote 284: - - Letter to Mr. McFarland, 1859, in Sanborn, pp. 598–599. - -Footnote 285: - - Letter to his younger children, 1859, in Sanborn, pp. 596–597. - -Footnote 286: - - Letter to his wife and children in Sanborn, pp. 585–587. - -Footnote 287: - - Letter to D. R. Tilden in Sanborn, pp. 609–610. - -Footnote 288: - - Letter to Mr. McFarland, 1859, in Sanborn, pp. 598–599. - -Footnote 289: - - Redpath, pp. 382–383. c - -Footnote 290: - - Last letter to his family, 1859, in Sanborn, pp. 614–615. - -Footnote 291: - - Letter to F. B. Musgrave, 1859, in Sanborn, p. 593. - -Footnote 292: - - Report: Reports of Senate Committees, 36th Congress, 1st Session, No. - 278; Testimony of Joshua R. Giddings, pp. 147–156. - -Footnote 293: - - Report: Reports of Senate Committees, 36th Congress, 1st Session, No. - 278; Testimony of Joshua R. Giddings pp. 147–156. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES - - - 1. P. 34, changed “John, Dr.” to “John, Jr.”. - 2. Silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling. - 3. Archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings retained as printed. - 4. Footnotes were re-indexed using numbers and collected together at - the end of the last chapter. - 5. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_. - 6. Enclosed bold font in =equals=. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of John Brown, by W. E. 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