5? vOa > V^' • « • «> hS^'"^^ *.-^* . . > ^i^ rt^ • • • * *^%, '-^^.^ o'^^^iar- ^^v*^ ^^m^^:. ^^^c^ •^o^ v^' tvi* VV v^^ 6^ ''o '^ov* :j^^'- ^^o^ r-'^M: '^ov* /^sa^-- '-e^.^^ 'bV "^ .-i:a^* ^ . • iZ^'H V *.To» ,t»^ ./"-^. ^^0^ ^^4°^ .^•^ * ^o »bV^ sPv!, «i/.^E^ I Mffacit n I harpers i Copyrighted by Mrs. Llvla Slmpson-Poffenbarger, 1«)4 John Browns Raid. Trial and Execution Copyrighted by Cleon Moore, Esq., Charles-Town, W. Va., Pabllshed by Permission. LIBRARY of Of^Nvx-JES.' Two OoDies Rtc- • ' I MAY 17 1809 I CLASS A Kf' . JOHN BROWN, (bpitome of the Life of including the stony of his iittaek on harpers ^erri( and >yiLs i^apture, U rial and (bzecution, —/is tJvelated bt/ L^leon >^/VCoore (bs^., 6f ehanles^Joivn, W. 14. •^ALrs. I^ivLa= Simpson U, offenhcingen, Editor and ^uStisAer, ^oint Pleasant. W. Va. /90U ^chn i^rcwn'^ Attaak en yiarpers ^ern(. For years, travelers going- east granduer of its scenery. Nature and west on the Baltimore & Ohio seems to have made one tremen- Railroad viewed with interest dous upheaval, and the beautiful John Brown's Fort at Harpers Shenandoah river seems to have Ferry, which was subsequently rent in twain the mountains to taken down and exhibited at the pour its waters into the Potomac. Chicago Exposition, and later, Here in the valley of the Shenan- shipped back and erected on doah, lived a people who were the lands near Harpers Ferry, but flower of the Virginias; elegant, not on the original site. The refined, cultured, with slaves to original spot is marked, however, respond to their needs. Here by a tablet commemorative of was quiet and peace and plenty, the historic place. Harpers with no dream of the terrible Ferry is not only a place of his- depredations of the war that was toric interest but of romantic soon to deluge the valley in blood, beauty. Its appearance from Is itany wonder that, when John the railroad is anything but Brown made his raid on Harpers pleasing, but, once ascend to its Ferry, the key to the Valley, mountain tops and you will agree that it shook the whole nation with Thomas Jefferson, that, "It and did more to precipitate the is the most beautiful country on war than all the speeches that earth." Here are Bolivar Heights had been made in Congress and in West Virginia, Louden Heights all the books and newspapers in Virginia, and Maryland that had been published in the Heights in Maryland, each vieing North, or all the eloquence that with the other in the beauty and had poured from the lips of men 6 and women. From the hour of Town and stood on the spot John Brown's raid and execution where Brown received his sen- the war was inevitable. The tence. storiesof the insurrection were as The following- is a copy of the varied as the clouds in the heav- order, showing- the finding- of ens, and we doubt if as impartial the indictment, a story of the raid was ever pub- lished as that which we have INDICTMENT, had the g-ood fortune to procure "An indictment ag-ainst John from Mr. Cleon Moore one of Brown, Aaron C. Stephens, Kd- the prominent attorne3^s of win Coppic, Shields Green and Charles-Town, West Virginia. John Copeland for Treason, ad- Mr. Moore's father was the vising and conspiring with slaves Clerk of the Court in which and others to rebel, and for mur- Brown was tried and received der. A true Bill, his sentence of execution. Thos. Rutherford, Foreman." Mr. Cleon Moore afterward They all pleaded not guilty to saw service throughout the the indictment, civil war, enlisting in the Con- The following is the verdict of federate army. At the solicita- the jury in the case of Frown tion of his friends some two who had a separate trial, years ag-o he wrote the story, but never consented to its publi- VERDICT, cation until we learned of it "We, the jury, find the defend- throug-h Judg-e Faulkner, of ant, John Brown the prisoner at Martinsburg, who went with us the bar, guilty of treason, advis- to Mr. Moore's office and impor- ing and conspiring- with slaves tuned him to consent to the pub- and others to rebel, and for mur- lication of the article which is der, in the first deg-ree. now g-iven to the public for the Jno. C. Willshire, Foreman." first time. Brown being asked if he Harpers Ferry is in Jefferson had anything to say, made no County and Charles-Town is the statement, when the Judge or- count}' seat of that county, dered that "he be hanged by the Here Brown, when he was cap- neck until he be dead and that tured, was put in jail and here the execution of this judg-ement was tried by a jury of his peers, be made and done upon him, the We had the pleasure of re- said John Brown, by the Sheriff viewing the records of the trial of Jefferson County, on Friday, in the Circuit Clerk's office in the second dav of December the old Court House of the next, between the hours of nine County of Jefferson at Charles- o'clock in the forenoon and four o'clock in the afternoon of the three years have passed away same day, and it is further or- since the Brown raid at Harpers dered that execution of this Ferry, in October, 1859, I re- judg-ement be made and done up- member distinctly many of the on the said John Brown, not in incidents connected with it, and, the jail yard but at such other as much for my own ofratification place in this county convenient as for any other purpose, I have thereto as the said Sheriff may determined to write them, select." There is one commendation I The prisoner then by his coun- can claim for this article, sel tiled three Bills of Exceptions if no other, and that is what is and on November 24, 1859 ap- stated herein is accurate and plied for an appeal to the su- correct. I have not drawn upon preme Court of Appeals, at Rich- my imag-ination, or listened to mond, which was refused, the many of the wild stories that Court being- of the opinion "that have been told in connection the said judg-ement is plainly with the exciting times when rig-ht, doth deny the writ of Brown with his armed band error." came to Harpers Ferry in During- the Civil war the Court October, 1859, and, on a quiet records were removed to Shep- Sunday night, took possession of ardstown, and the Court house the U. S. Armory and buildings. at Charles-Town was occupied by I was living- in Charles-Town, U. S. Soldiers, of Cole's Cavalry Jefferson County, Virginia, at and the Court House converted the time; had left school, and into a fortification. The Court was employed in the County House was built in 1802, but has Clerk's Office of Jefferson since been remodeled. Charles- County, Virg-inia, a town ten Town is named for its founder miles west of Harpers Ferry. Charles Washington and is over While in the Clerks Office, I met 130 years old. The princioal John E. Cook, one of Brown's streets of the town are named Captains, who was hung in for the g-iven names of the Wash- December, 1859, and wrote his ington family except that of marriage license. He was Washing-ton Streetwhich is given teaching school at the time in the sir name of the family. the county, and married a Miss Kennedy. At the time he ob- John Brown's Raid, Trial Gained his license to marry, he asked the number of slaves in and Execution. the county, stating that he had [Written by Cleon Moore. J a bet with a friend as to the Although more than forty- correct number. The Clerk 8 examined the Assessor's book people of that section of the and g-ave him the desired infor- country. The first person who mation. What use he made of it broug-ht the news to Charles- I cannot tell. No one suspected Town was the overseer of Col. S. that some of Brown's men W. Washing-ton's farm, who lived lived in the neig-hborhood. near Halltovvn, a small villag-e Surprise. four miles east of Charles-Town. The raid was a complete sur- He rode into the town early in prise to the people of the lower the morning', and told some of valley of Virg-inia. It was as the citizens on the street that' the great a surprise to them, as it Abolitionists had captured would be to the citizens of New Harpers Ferry, and, some time York Cit}^ if active hostilities during the night, before had were to break out in Wall Street gone to Col. S. W. Washington's today. residence, taken him a prisoner John Brown had lived on a and carried him off in a wagon, farm two miles from Harpers When he made this statement, Ferry, in the state of Maryland Mr. Leonard Sadler, a prominent for some months, giving his and wealthy citizen of the town, name as John Smith, making the gave it as his opinion that the impression that he was engaged man was crazy and ought to be in mining, that is, prospecting- for committed to the county jail, ores. He frequently came to Dr. John B. Starry, a practicing Harpers Ferry during his resi- physician in the town of Harpers dence at that place, and some of Ferry, had his office near the B. the citizens of the town had un- & O. railroad and adjoining- the important business with him, hotel in that place. He heard the and they regarded him as a commotion, when Brown aod his quiet inoffensive old man. men marched across the bridg-e, News at Charles-Town. which spanned the Potomac On the morning of October 16, river from Maryland to the Vir- 1859, the citizens of Charles- ginia shore, and heard the shot Town were informed that an fired that killed Hayward Shep- armed band, headed by pard, the colored porter at the "Ossawattimie Brown," of depot. Thinking- it was some Kansas fame, had taken posses- drunken carousel, he laid quiet sion of the U. S. Armory at in his bed for a while, to which Harpers Ferry, and that their he had retired for the night, avowed purpose was to free the Hayward Sheppard was not a slaves of Virg-inia. Some inci- slave, but was a free negro, as dents will show that the raid was such were then called. But, a complete surprise to the hearing more moving about and 9 some wag-ons coming over the made no reply to Dr. Starry's bridg-e, he put on his clothes, remarks, until thev reached the and walked around to the Ar- brow of the hill, overlooking the mory gate, a short distance from Government building's. When his office. He learned that the they reached that point, they nig-ht train on the B, & O. road saw a colored man with a gun had been detained. When he marching- up and down in front reached the Armory gate, he of Hull's Rifle Works, on the found armed men stationed at Shenandoah River. It was the entrance. He spoke to them plain he was there as a sentinel. in a sharp, quick tone, demand- Mr. Tearney turned to Dr. ing- what they were doing-, and Starry and remarked: "I owe what they meant by taking pos- you an apology." When asked session of the government why, he remarked, "I was property. One of the men drew thoroughly convinced you had his rifle from beneath his lost your mind, and I was re- blanket, and ordered him to fleeting how I could put you come in the yard. The doctor under restraint. I now see that stepped backward across the tbe situation is more serious street, and succeeded in getting than I had any idea of." I his riding horse saddled and mention, this to show what a bridled. Knowing well all the surprise the raid was to every streets and alleys of the town, one, even to the people who were he succeeded about daylight taken from their beds and car- next morning in getting up into ried as prisoners to the engine Bolivar, the adjoining town, house in Harpers Ferr}'. Mr. In that place he met Mr. Edward L. P. Starry, a brother of Dr. Tearney, afterwards Sheriff of Starry, went to Bolivar with the Count}', with a number of some men, with a gun on his workmen going towards Har- shoulder on that morning, pers Ferry to finish up some Reaching the top of the hill work for the Government at the overlooking Shenandoah street. Armory. The Doctor rode up he saw in the road some few to Mr. Tearney, and in an ex- armed men. He called to them cited manner told him that an and asked who they were. The armed band had taken possession reply came. "Friends, come of both Armories, and that it down." He went down where would not be safe for him to go the men were and soon learned down to the town. Mr. Tearney he was a prisoner in the hands was on horseback, and continued of the insurgents. They were on the course he had started, the at the point where High street doctor riding by his side. He comes into Shenandoah street. 10 and seemed to be watching- somebody or something up High street. One of them stepped out into the middle of the street and fired with his Sharpe's rifle. One of his friends asked him "Did you bring him?", "No" he said, "I did not bring him that time" He steppped back- on the pavement, and being protected by the brick house on the corner, re-loaded his rifle, ofoing- back into the street, took deliberate aim and flred. Look- ing intently up the street, he remarked "Brought him that time" This was when Mr. George Turner, a prominent citizen of the county was killed. Soon after a heavy volley was poured into the insurgents, and the party scattered toward the Arsenal and Armory. One mulatto man, of Brown's party, was killed in the street. Sesing- that in the confusion no attention was paid to him, Mr. Starry ran up High Street, to the stone steps leading to the Catholic Church, and made his escape. Charles Town to the Rescue. On Monday, October 16, 1859, I was awakened quite early in the morning by the sound of drum and fife in Charles-Tovvn, Virg-inia. The drummer and fifer marched up and down the street, g-iving- the alarm. Knowing that it was not treneral-muster day, and there was no parade of any kind, I hastened down street to ascer- tain the cause of the excitement, and was soon informed that Capt. John Brown, of Kansas fame, had taken possession of the Harpers Ferry Armory with an armed band, and word had been sent out to hasten down with troops that they might be driven away. I was not a mem- ber of a military company, but joined for the occasion, the -■^-**«««SS; Luai'L Iiin[,-i>^ at L JiUii (.■->- I tJicn Where JoJin Bnxcn Wan Tried and ■•>eh1enced. "Jefferson Guards", commanded by Capt. John R. Rowan. After parading the streets for a short time, we were put on the train at the depot of the Winchester and Potomac Railroad and taken a short distance below Halltown. 11 We were then marched over the them, but were at last compelled hill through the town of Bolivar, to take refuge in the building, by the powder magazine, to the We could hear them hammering old furnace, a point on the Poto- holes in the walls, though which mac River, about two miles west they could shoot at the attack- of Harpers Ferry. ing party. During the after- At this point we ferried across noon some firing was kept up the river in a flat boat to the between Brown's men and the Canal, and marched down the militia, but not so brisk after tow-path to the railroad bridge the request from the prisoners which crossed the river at Brown had in the engine house Harpers Ferry. Rain had fallen to desist, as they were in the heavily during the morning, and greatest danger. Mr. Samuel we could not very well distin- Strider raised a white flag and ugish objects in Harpers Ferry, went into the armory yard to the but could hear a noise as if door of the engine house. Af- frame buildings were being torn ter a short interview with Brown down, and some hammering, he returned to where Capt. Row- We crossed the covered bridge an's company was in line in the and took position at and near the street near the hotel, and carried railroad track. A good deal of a proposition from Brown to firing was going on, and it Capt. Row^an, that he would seemed to be directed at the come out of the engine house, re- engine house, which stood just lease the prisoners, if he would inside the Armory yard. A allow him to go half way across small monument is now located the bridge with his men and there to mark the spot. Word give an opportunity for a fair was sent out under the flag of fight. To this Capt. Rowan truce, requesting that the firing made no reply. I have neglected should cease, as the prisoners to mention that Mr. Leonard were in more danger from the Saddler, who wanted Col. Wash- flying bullets than Brown's ington's over-seer committed to men. Just before the last of jail as a lunatic, when he brought Brown's men were compelled to the first news of the raid to take refuge in the engine house, CharlesTown early in the morn- I witnessed two of them in the ing, had joined the company Armory yard, with their as a volunteer, shouldered his blankets around them, retur- gun and buckled on his accoutre- ning the fire with their Sharpe's ments, keeping in line with the rifles and they stood their company all the time. He was ground for some time, while the an old man, considerably over shots fell thick and fast around sixty years of age and very fat, 12 but his courag-e was undoubted, by some to kill the prisoners in When the message from Brown the hotel. A rush was made, was delivered to Capt. Rowan, he and one man, whose name I after- was quite near, and the only per- ward learned was Thompson, son I heard express a positive Brown's brother-in-law, was opinion on the subject was Mr. dragg-ed out of the building and Saddler, whose advice was, "take pushed along- the low porch of the sons-of-bitches out of the the hotel to near the mouth of engine house and shoot them." the bridge, and shot, his body i>lr. Beckham Killed. then being- thrown into the river. I cannot recall what time it When the shots were fired a cry was during the day, when I was raised "here they come," heard some one cry out "Mr. and it was thought for a while Beckham is killed." Mr. Fon- that Brown's men were about to taine Beckham was an old g-en- make an effort to break through tleman, highly respected and and escape. There was another Mayor of the town. He had been prisoner in the hotel, A.aron D. much excited during the day, Stevens, who was desperately and very much distressed at the wounded, lying on a couch, death of Sheppard, the colored Several pushed their way into porter who was killed early in the building- with loaded g-uns, the morning. determined to take his life. I was standing- in front of the Heroine to the Rescue. Gault House at the time, and Miss Christine Fouke, an walked around the hotel onto the estimable lady who lived in the railroad track and saw Mr. hotel at the time, threw herself in Beckham's body lying- on the plat- front of him and pursuaded them form near the water tank. Soon to desist. Stevens was hung- in after, some one went with a Charles-Town the following- wheel-barrow and brought the March with Albert Hazlett. body to the hotel. At or about When night came on, most of that time Brown's men were Brown's men had been killed, driven in the engine house, a captured, or made their escape companv from Martinsburg into Maryland. Some time in made a gallant charge from the the night, a company of marines western side of the Armory arrive^l from Washjngton, under yard, and some of them were jthe command f of Col. Robert E. wounded. ^ Lee, afterwards famous in the Excitement Intense. \civil war. Next morning early. After Mr. Beckam's death, negotiations were opened with the excitement became in- Capt. Brown. A demand was tense. A loud demand was made made for his surrender, but he 13 refused. The marines were in of the town entertained the the Armory yard near the en- troops and many pleasant ac- g-ine house. Col, Lee ordered quaintances were formed. Lieut. Israel Green to storm the At that time, I met J. Wilkes fort. A ladder was used to bat- Booth, who was a member of ter in the door, and, when an en- Company F, of Richmond, or trance was effected, Lieut, had joined that company for the Green was the first to rush into occasion. He impressed me as the house where Brown and his being a quiet, reserved young men were, striking Brown over man. He was frequently at my the head with his sword which father's house, and I often talked knocked him unconscious to the with him; but I never saw him ground. While the marines were after he left the place with his battering in the doors, Brown's company. ung, he would come anl >ee me^ft In- lni:< ru'ver C('J,\id. He was a constant reader of the books of Robert Dale Owen and Redpath, and used to laugh at the Bible; he did not care to read it or talk about it, but frequently laughed over it. Execution of John Brown. I witnessed John Brown's execution on the 2nd of Decem- ber, 185^), as I did all the others, and can state with accuracy what occurccL A good manv 15 wild stories have been told about execution, were Sheriff Campbell, it, and, for most of them there is George W. Saddler, who drove not the slightest foundation. and L. P, Starry; they sat on The day of the execution was the front seat, and John Brown as mild as May. Mr. Geo. W. sat on his coffin in the back part Saddler, who at the time was en- of the wagon. The rope with gaged in the undertaking and which he was hung was placed furniture business,furnished the around his neck in the jail, but wagon to take Brown to the scaf- was concealed under his coat, fold. About eleven o'clock of The wagon was guarded by a that day, Mr. Saddler drove his file of soldiers on each side, from two horse wagon to the front the jail to the scaffold, which door of the jail on Main street, was about three quarters of a Mr. James W. Campbell was mile from the jail, in a field Sheriff of the county. Just before south of the town. There were Brown was taken to his execu- no negroes near the wagon, at tion, he was permitted to go to the jail, nor at any time on the the cells occupied by his asso- wa}' to the place of execution, ciates in the desperate under- Spot of Execution Unknown. taking. He took leave of each, It is a fact which I think I can giving to all of them a memento, state, without contradiction, that except John E. Cook. He gave there is no one in the town of him nothing, but criticised him Charles-Town, now West Vir- severely for statements made in ginia, who can designate with his confession. Cook had writ- any accuracy the exact spot ten and published what was call- where Brown was hung. It was ed his confession, about the time near the place where now stands of his trial. the large and handsome resi- When leaving the cell occupied dence of Col. John T. Gibson; by Cook and Edwin Coppic, but the exact spot where the exe- Brown remarked to Cook: "You cution took place cannot now be made false statements in your pointed out. confession." Cook's reply was: The wagon, containing the "In what particular, Capt. prisoner above mentioned, was Brown?" and the only reply driven onto the street adjoining Brown gave him was, "Shut up, the jail, and in a southern di- Capt. Cook, you lied." rection from the town. At the Cook hung his head and did southern border of the town it not utter another word. Capt. was driven into a field and along Brown came out of the jail with the fence, next to what was Sheriff James W. Campbell. called the river road, a road In the wagon on the wav to the leading to the Shenandoah river. 16 When it reached the top of the sired that there should be none. hill, a turn was made to the left The sheriff then cut the rope towards where the scaffold and Brown died without much was erected. Nothing was said of a strug-g-le. After hang-ing on the march to the place of about twenty minutes, the body execution, until just before the was cut down and taken to the turn was made on the top of the jail in the coffin, on which he sat ridge towards the scaffold, which going to his execution. was in full view, around which a . . ^ . , i i • .li r. - , About four o clock in the aiter- square of soldiers was formed. ^u u j ^ ^ ^ t-, /^ . ,, c^ 1 11 noon, the body was taken to Har- At tbat time Mr. baddler re- r- , " -i • , , . , ^ . T^ pers b errv by rail on a special marked: "Capt. Brown you , . a j ^ -xl -^ , , 1 ., r +rain. A guard was sent with it» seem to be calmer than any of ,. „ " „^ .. u, , ^r ,, ^^ 1- 1 ,, T X Mr. George W. Saddler and Mr. us'. Brown replied,' lam not t -n o^ • -i. . , , . , , L(. P. Starry accompaning it. at all excited; nothing to be ex- cited about." Then Capt. Brown Brown's wife was at Harpers looked around and said, "This Ferry to receive the remains, is the most beautiful country 1 which were to be taken north for ever saw. It is the first time I burial. There were a number have ever had the opportunity of oi gentlemen at Harpers Ferry seeino- it." ^^ whom the body was delivered. When the wagon reached the Among them was a doctor who5e place of execution. Brown got name cannot be recalled. A re- out and walked up the steps of quest was made to have the cas- the scaffold, without any assist- ^'et opened, that the body might ance, and the only remark he ^e identified as the body of Capt. made after reaching the scaffold Brown. The casket which was was, "Be quick." After he got made of walnut, was opened and on the scaffold he walked to the they were satisfied. One of the trap door and stood under the party to whom the body was de- beam. The sheriff", Mr. James Hvered remarked that it was W. Campbell, adjusted the rope rather strange that the body which had been placed around should be so offensive as he had his neck in the jail, on the hook been executed about 12 o'clock in the beam above, and came of that day. H. D. Middlekauff, down the steps. It was while he one of the guards, and noted as a was coming down the steps wit of the company, remarked Brown made the remark "Be that "he was a damn bad case quick." There were no relig- and would not keep long." ious services of any kind at Cleon Moore, the scaffold. It was generally Charles-Town, W. Va. understood that Brown de- Oct. 31-1902. 17 The sensational expfoit of These as well as his firmness of Brown at Harpers Ferry and his character were due to heredity tragic deatn at Charles Town oc- and early training. His father cured in his sixtieth year, he belonged to the school of aboli- having been born at Tarrington. tionists who founded their prin- Conn., May 9th, 1800. He came ciples on the teachings of Hop- by his sturdiness of character kins and Edwards and imbibed and zealous piety honestly. On their sentiments. Owen Brown his parental side, he was of Pu- seems to have been a participant ritan blood, his ancestor, Peter in the rescue of slaves claimed Brown, an unmarried carpenter, by a Virginia clergvman in 1789, having landed from the Mayflow- two years before the birth of his er at Plymouth in 1620. From son. When the son was only five hira the abolitionist was fifth in years old, his father removed to line of the descent. Soonafterthe Ohio and settled at Hudson, settlement at Plymouth, he went among the Indians in a wild coun- with Bradford. Standish.Winslow try, slightly beyond the borders and others to the new settle- of civilization, a situation well ment at Duxbury. He died at an calculated to develop the quali- early age, after having been ties of self reliance, personal twice married. From him was bravery and forgetfulness of the descended a Captain John Brown obligations and sanctions of law of the Connecticut Malitia, who and civil government. Here at married Hannah Owen, a woman an early age his dislike of slavery of Welsh ancestry. A son by was accentuated and turned into this marriage was Owen Brown, bitter hatred by an object lesson, who married Rujh Mills At the house at which he was pt^Dutch descent. These were staying, there was slave-boy of the parents of "Osawatomie" about his own age, who was bad- John Brown, who, it is said, ly treated — beaten, as Brown de- all through his eventful life, full clares with an iron fire-shovel, of adventure, daring and blood- This, he says, made him "a most shed, was a constant reader of determined abolitionist" and the Bible, an observer of the or- caused him "to declare or swear dinance of prayer, and an ab- eternal war with slavery." stainer from dancing, card-play- His nature, as well as his early ing and other habits, peculiar environments, portended the to those who lead roving and dauntlessness of spirit, of reek- stormy lives, such as his. lessness of consequence which The ruling passions of his life characterized the life of this man were religious zeal, enmity to who played such a singular and slavery and love of liberty, tragic part in the prelude to the 18 great dama of civil war. A short been' due to the peculiarity of time before his death he wrote a his views respectinjc war and its autobiog-raphy in which he re- leg-itimate purposes. His vision corded the story of his boyhood, was too narrow to g-rasp all the only by way of illustrating- his obligations and duties imposed disposition and character, it is by citizenship and patriotism, to be noted that he relates his The consuming passion which theft of three brass pins at the ruled all his thoughts and acts of age of four years, and says he a public nature, subordinated was never quarrelsome, but ex- every other consideration, warp- ceedinsfly fond of the harshest ed his judgment and dulled his and roughest kind of plays; and sense and concejjtion of legal could never get enough of them, rights and relations and the At school he delighted in wrest- aims, purposes and restraints of ling, snow-balling, knocking off government and law, so far as hats and other vigorous and mis- they stood in the way of his de- chievious pranks. His absolute sign. It preyed upon his mind fearlessness is evidenced by the to such an extent as to prevent fact that when but twelve years his steady adherence to anything old, he was sent on responsible else. While others trembled for expeditions of a hundred miles the safety of the government through that unsettled country, with all its beneficient institu- full of wild beasts and not yet tions during the critical period safe from Indian depredation, from 1820 to 1859, the impor- Having these qualities, any in- tanceof maintainiiigit,or the dan- clination he might have had, ger of its disruption, seems not would have found ready oppor- to have given him much concern tunity for exercise in pioneer ad- — not enough at least to put any venture, either as a frontiers- restraint upon his purpose. He man, or as a soldier in the Indian saw only what was to him an in- wars, or the Texan and Mexican sufferable evil, slavery. Libera- wars, but he seems not to have tion of the slaves he conceived to h^d any military spirit. Karly be a divine work in which it contact with the soldiers in the was his duty to assist. To that war of 1812, gave him an aversion end he would make any sacrifice tomilitary life. He not only failed and utilize the sword, -although to enlist, but refused to perform averse to war and determined such dutv, preferring to pay never to resort to or engage in it, lines imposed for failure in that except it be a war for liberty, respect. His whole life refutes Accordingly, it diverted him the theory of cowardice and from his business, led him to proves his disinclination to have sacrifice his sons upon its alter 19 and finally his own life upon ed them to give their lives to the grallows. anti-slavery work. This letter His father was a farmer and was written in 1834, while he tanner, and Brown worked for was post-master at Randolph, him from the ag-e of fifteen to Pa., and oflBciall}^ franked to his nineteen. Then, in 1819, he went brother Frederick. Though to Plainfield, Mass., with the in- holding office under Andrew tention of entering the ministry Jackson, he expressed in this of the orthodox Calvinistic letter his intention to prosecute Church, but a chronic inflama- war against slavery, and disclos- tion of the eyes interfered and ed his plan which was to procure he abandoned it, returning to the union of abolition families in Ohio and engaged in the tanners the work of educating the color- trade, in which he continued for ed youth. He said, "If once the about twenty years, prosecuting christians of the free states his business partly in Ohio and would set to work in earnest partly in Crawford County, Penn- teaching the blacks, the people sylvania. j Sometime after bis of the slave-holding states would return he married a widow find themselves constitutionally . named Diantha Lusk, who bore driven to set about the work of him seven children. Of her he emancipation immediately." said she was "a remarkably Being of a restless disqosition, plain, but neat, industrious, and he was not concent with the slow economical girl, of excellent process of accumulation of character, earnest piety and wealth by ordinary business, and good pratical common sense." resorted to speculation in real His second wife was Mary Anne estate, which resulted in the Day, who bore him thirteen loss of most of his property, and children and who died in San in 1840, he went into Western Francisco in 1886, twenty-five Virginia to survey a large tract years after his execution. Of of land which belonged to Ober- his twenty children, eight died lin College. He had learned sur- in earl\' childhood and the bal- veying in early life. It has been ance were devoties of his cher- suspected that, in this tripto Vir- ished objects, uniting in all his ginia, he had the laterlor motive enterprises and denying them- of a colonization scheme for liber- selves in every way by which they ated slaves. The information he could aid him. From a letter obtained on this" trip no doubt written by him in 1834, it ap- afterwards entered into his cal- pears that he at one time called culations in the movement upon his older sons together and. Harpers Ferry, though it is not while kneeling in prayer, pleadg- at all probable that he entertain- 20 ed any idea of a warlike expedi- were soon harrassed and tion as early as 1840. About plundered by marauders of the that time he eng-ag"ed in business neigfhborhood and of Missouri, again as a trader in wool, and, in T'hey had i^one there practically 1846 he removed to Spring-field, unarmed and they wrote their Mass., and opened a wool ware- father asking him to bring them house. By an attempt to grade guns and ammunition. Of this wool in the market, he lost the opportunity to engage in the trade of the New England Man- enterprise lying nearest his ufacturers and carried a large heart, he eargely availed him- amount to London where he was self. He and all other abolition- compelled to dispose of it at ists realized the importance of such a ruinous price that he lost keeping slavery out of Kansas, everything he in the experiment. After taking his family back In 1849, he moved to North Elba, to North Elba, he journeyed to Essex County, New York, where Kansas, and at once became a Garit Smith, a sympathizer with leader in the border-warfare the slaves had given free home- which deluged Kansas in blood steads to a large number of free from 1SS4 to 1S5(). Owing to negroes. He had offered a hun- his arbitrary disposition how- dred thousand acres of wild land ever, he refused to co-operate to them and a number of them with other leading spirits of availed themselves of it. Brown anti shivery organization, and obtained some of it either by gift directed his small squad in his or purchase, and settled on it. own way. In Nov, 1855, the He and his sons worked and people of Lawrence were be- saved until they bad obtained seiged by an organized body of comfortable homes, but in 1851, pro-slavery men, and Brown and he returned to Ohio and resumed his four sons, completely the wool business. armed, joined them. The free Soon after this, circumstances state leaders, preferring not to developed which led Brown to bring on a collision, were seek- resort to force in the exercise of ing an adjustment, and Brown his zeal in behalf of the slaves, was invited by Gen. J. H. Love In 1854, his four oldest sons left to a council of war. Being dis- Ohio and took up their residence gusted with the proposal of a in Lykins County, Kansas, peaceable adjustment, he said: near the village of Ossawatomie, "Tell the general when he wants not farfrom the Missouri border, me to fight to say so; but that is There the struggle between the only order I will ever obey." Anti-slavery and pro-slavery Fighting was averted by an settlers was on, and the Brown's amicable arrangement under 21 which the pro-slavery men withdrew, but the place was ag-ain beseig^ed, and on May 21st 1854, under a promise of protection, the inhabitants g-ave up their arms, but this promise was violated in many particulars. Among" those captured were two of Brown's sons, one of whom John Brown Jr. was driven on foot at the head of a Cavalry company, at a trot, for a dis- tance of nine miles to Ossawa- tomie, with his arms tied behind him. Other outrages were com- mitted in retaliation for which Brown and his men are accused of having- deliberately assasi- nated five pru-slavery men at Ossawatomie at night having called them from their beds for that purpose. This act has been severely condemned on the one side and justified on the other by the circumstances of provocation and aggravation. On June the 2nd 1856, Brown with a small body of determined men defeated a pro-slavery body at Black Jack, capturing Capt. Pate and 30 of his men. In August 1856, with only 30 men, he was attacked near Ossawatomie by a bod}^ of about 500. About half his force was cut off, but with the re- mainder he resisted for about half an hour, and then affected a successful retreat. Here one of his sons was killed. Six vears later, when f^awrence was again threatened, he was elected com- mander and prepared to defend the place, but the attack was not made. Assuming that the war in Kansas would continue, Brown left for the east to obtain arms and ammunition, taking three of his sons with him, and did not return for a year. His mission was unsuccessful, for he openly proposed the arming- and drilling of men for service in Kansas. Many people beleived him to be insane. The Kansas trouble being practically settled and order restored, he conceived and determined to put into execution the idea of an attack upon the slave system at Harpers Ferry. With a small body of followers he went to Iowa, where they spent the winter of 1857 and 1858 in drilling. In strict confi- dence he told his friends of the contemplated expedition. Ex- pecting aid from fugitive slaves, of whom there were many in Canada, he held a secret meeting of them at Chatam, Canada West, in May, 1858, where a "Provis- ional Constitution and Ordi- nances for the People of the United States," drafted by him- self, was adopted, one of the ar- ticles of which disclaimed any intention to overthrow- the gov- ernment of the United States or dissolve the Union, but declared for alterations by way of "amend- ment and repeal." Brown was chosen Commander-in-chief; J. H, Kogi, Secretary of War; Owen Brown, Treasurer; Richard 22 Realf, Secretary of State; and him, and in January, 1859, he Elder Monroe, a colored man, started north with the slaves and President. Being- unable from four white men, pursued by a want of means to proceed at once party of 30 men who were in at Harpers Ferry and put his creased to 42. He made a stand plans mto execution, he returned in a log- cabin, and, after provid- to Kansas, and settled in the ing- for the safety of the women southern part of the State which and children, he prepared for was yet in a condition of turmoil, battle and sallied forth, but his On the 19th of September, a pursuers all fled but four, who slave crossed the river from were made prisoners. Then he Missouri to Brown's cabin and went on into Iowa and finally con- informed him that he and his ducted the slaves into Canada, family had been sold and were to Brown's next venture was his be sent to Texas the next day. visionary and futile attack on Thereupon, Brown crossed the Harpers Ferry, the storv of river with 20 men and liberated v.hich has been told in detail, these slaves with 6 others, 11 in During- all these years of excite- all, and took them into Kansas, ment and daring- bis wife and killing^ one of the owners in doing- 3'ounger children were at North so. This was an act the anti- Elba, New York, and his remains siaverv ])eople could not justify, were shipped to that place for They refused him protection, burial. A larire reward was otfered for 54 V o" « 'bV" :- ^^d« f \^*^^^^\^^ W''^'^^'*\^''^^ \.**^^>'^^ V . « • o