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diff --git a/old/56106.txt b/old/56106.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 9c639d5..0000000 --- a/old/56106.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,2611 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of John Brown's Raid, by National Park Service - -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's Raid - National Park Service History Series - -Author: National Park Service - -Release Date: December 3, 2017 [EBook #56106] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOHN BROWN'S RAID *** - - - - -Produced by Stephen Hutcheson and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - JOHN BROWN'S RAID - - - _National Park Service History Series - Office of Publications, National Park Service, - U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C._ - - John Brown's Raid 1 - The Road to Harpers Ferry 2 - Rendezvous for Revolution 12 - To Free the Slaves 25 - The Tiger Caged 35 - The Trap is Sprung 43 - John Brown's Body 49 - Epilogue 61 - Appendix: The Capture of John Brown 65 - Selected Reading List 70 - - [Illustration: _John Brown's Fort, Harpers Ferry_] - - _The text of this booklet was prepared by the staff of the Office of - Publications and is based on National Park Service reports by William - C. Everhart and Arthur L. Sullivan._ - - _National Park Handbooks are published to support the National Park - Service's management programs and to promote understanding and - enjoyment of the more than 350 National Park System sites, which - represent important examples of our country's natural and cultural - inheritance. Each handbook is intended to be informative reading and a - useful guide before, during, and after a park visit. More than 100 - titles are in print. They are sold at parks and can be purchased by - mail from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing - Office, Washington, DC 20402._ - - _Harpers Ferry National Historical Park is administered by the - National Park Service, US. Department of the Interior. A - superintendent, whose address is Harpers Ferry, WV 25425, is in - immediate charge._ - - - Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data - - - United States National Park Service. - John Brown's raid. - National Park Service history series - Supt. of Docs. no.: 129-2: J61/4. - 1. Harpers Ferry. W. Va. John Brown Raid. 1859. - I. Title. - II. Series: United States. National Park Service. History series. - E451.U58 1974 973.7'116 73-600184 - - - "_All through the conflict, up and down - Marched Uncle Tom and Old John Brown, - One ghost, one form ideal; - And which was false and which was true, - And which was mightier of the two, - The wisest sibyl never knew. - For both alike were real._" - _Oliver Wendell Holmes_ - _June 14, 1882_ - - [Illustration: This view of Harpers Ferry from Maryland Heights in - 1859 appeared in _Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper_ shortly - after John Brown's raid brought the town to national prominence.] - - - - - JOHN BROWN'^S RAID - - -Through the gloom of the night, Sunday, October 16, 1859, a small band -of men tramped silently behind a horse-drawn wagon down a winding -Maryland road leading to Harpers Ferry, Va. From the shoulder of each -man hung loosely a Sharps rifle, hidden by long gray shawls that -protected the ghostly figures against the chilling air of approaching -winter. A slight drizzle of rain veiled the towering Blue Ridge -Mountains with an eerie mist. Not a sound broke the stillness, save the -tramping feet and the creaking wagon. - -Side by side marched lawyer and farmer, escaped convict and pious -Quaker, Spiritualist and ex-slave, joined in common cause by a hatred of -slavery. Some had received their baptism of fire in "Bleeding Kansas," -where a bitter 5-year war between pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions -left death and destruction in its wake and foreshadowed a larger -conflict to come. Most were students of guerrilla tactics; all were -willing to die to free the slaves. - -This strange little force, five Negroes and 14 whites, was the -"Provisional Army of the United States," about to launch a fantastic -scheme to rid the country of its "peculiar institution" once and for -all, a scheme conjured up by the fierce-eyed, bearded man seated on the -wagon--"Commander in Chief" John Brown. He was the planner, the -organizer, the driving force, the reason why these men were trudging -down this rough Maryland road to an uncertain fate. - - - - - THE ROAD TO HARPERS FERRY - - -This man who would electrify the Nation and bring it closer to civil war -by his audacious attack on slavery was born at Torrington, Conn., on May -9, 1800, the son of Owen and Ruth Mills Brown. The Browns were a simple, -frugal, and hard-working family. They had a deep and abiding interest in -religion, and from earliest childhood John Brown was taught the value of -strong religious habits. He was required, along with his brothers and -sisters, to participate in daily Bible reading and prayer sessions. -"Fear God & keep his commandments" was his father's constant admonition. -It was also his father who taught him to view the enslavement of Negroes -as a sin against God. - - [Illustration: Owen Brown] - - [Illustration: The future abolitionist and martyr in the cause of - Negro freedom was born in this stark, shutterless farmhouse in - Torrington, Conn. He lived here only 5 years. In 1805 his father, - Owen Brown (above), sold the farm and moved the family west to - Ohio.] - -In 1805 the Browns, like many other families of the period, moved west -to Ohio. There, in the little settlement of Hudson, about 25 miles south -of Cleveland, John grew to manhood. He received little formal education; -most of what he learned came from what he afterwards called the "School -of adversity." He cared little for studies, preferring life in the open. -Consistently choosing the "hardest & roughest" kinds of play because -they afforded him "almost the only compensation for the confinement & -restraints of school," he was extremely proud of his ability to -"wrestle, & Snow ball, & run, & jump, & knock off old seedy Wool hats." - - [Illustration: John Brown probably never saw a slave auction, - portrayed here in an illustration from the 1852 edition of Harriet - Beecher Stowe's _Uncle Tom's Cabin_, but his horror and hatred of - slavery made its destruction the "greatest or principle object" of - his life.] - -When John was 8 years old his mother died, and for awhile he believed -that he would never recover from so "complete & permanent" a loss. His -father remarried, but John never accepted his stepmother emotionally and -"continued to pine after his own Mother for years." - -An indifferent student, and "not ... much of a schollar" anyway, John -quit school and went to work at his father's tannery. Owen Brown, who -had been a tanner and a shoemaker before moving to Hudson, had already -taught his son the art of dressing leather from "Squirel, Raccoon, Cat, -Wolf, or Dog Skins," and John soon displayed remarkable ability in the -trade. When the War of 1812 broke out, Owen contracted to supply beef to -the American forces in Michigan. He gave John the task of rounding up -wild steers and other cattle in the woods and then driving them, all by -himself, to army posts more than 100 miles away. Contact with the -soldiers and their profanity and lack of discipline so disgusted young -Brown that he later resolved to pay fines rather than take part in the -militia drills required of all Hudson males of a certain age. - -It was during the war, or so Brown later claimed, that he first came to -understand what his father meant about the evil of slavery. He had just -completed one of his cattle drives and was staying with a "very -gentlemanly landlord" who owned a slave about the same age as John. The -Negro boy was "badly clothed, poorly fed ... & beaten before his eyes -with Iron Shovels or any other thing that came first to hand." Outraged -by this, John returned home "a most determined Abolitionist" swearing -"Eternal war with Slavery." - - [Illustration: John Brown had not yet grown his famous beard when - this picture was taken in Kansas in 1856. Though 3 years away from - the deed that would make his name immortal, he had already begun his - private war against slavery.] - - [Illustration: Mary Ann Day, Brown's loyal and self-sacrificing - second wife, stoically endured her husband's constant wanderings in - business and anti-slavery activities. She is shown here about 1851 - with two of their daughters, Annie and Sarah.] - -In 1816 John joined the Congregational Church in Hudson and soon -developed a strong interest in becoming a minister. For a while he -attended a divinity school in Plainfield, Mass., then transferred to -another school in Litchfield, Conn. At that time Litchfield was a center -of abolitionist sentiment; it was also the birthplace of Harriet Beecher -Stowe, whose book _Uncle Tom's Cabin_, published in 1852, would stir -passions North and South, win international support for the anti-slavery -cause, and help to bring on civil war in 1861. How much of Litchfield's -abolitionist atmosphere young Brown absorbed is not known. A shortage of -funds and an inflammation of the eyes forced him to return to Ohio in -the summer of 1817. His dream of becoming a minister was forever -shattered, but he never lost his religious fervor. - -When he was 20 years old, "led by his own inclination & prompted also by -his Father," Brown married Dianthe Lusk, a "remarkably plain" and pious -girl a year younger than himself. She died 12 years later, in August -1832, following the birth of their seventh child. Brown remarried within -a year, and fathered 13 children by his second wife, Mary Ann Day. In a -never-ending struggle to feed and clothe his growing family, Brown -drifted through Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, and -Massachusetts plying many trades. He worked at tanning, surveying, and -farming; at times he was shepherd, cattleman, wool merchant, and -postmaster; for a while he bred race horses and speculated in real -estate. Uniformly unsuccessful in these ventures, Brown's debts mounted, -and he was barely able to keep his large family from starvation. - -Despite his frequent business reversals and his strenuous and consuming -efforts to support his family, Brown never abandoned his intense desire -to free enslaved Negroes from bondage. His first opportunity to strike a -blow at the institution he hated so much came in Kansas, where, -following the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854, pro-slavery -"Border Ruffians" clashed brutally with anti-slavery "Jayhawkers" over -the extension of slavery to Kansas and Nebraska Territories. - - [Illustration: John Brown, Jr., the oldest of Brown's sons, fought - alongside his father in Kansas. The Pottawatomie murders, in which - he took no part, caused him to suffer a mental collapse from which - he never fully recovered. Nevertheless, in 1859 he was entrusted - with forwarding the weapons for the attack on Harpers Ferry from - Ohio to Chambersburg, Pa.] - -Five of Brown's sons--Owen, Jason, Frederick, Salmon, and John, Jr.--had -emigrated to Kansas and joined the free-soil cause. When they appealed -to their father for help in May 1855, Brown, another son Oliver, and -son-in-law Henry Thompson rushed to Kansas and plunged into the conflict -with a fury. As captain of the "Liberty Guards," a quasi-militia company -that he himself formed, Brown shortly gained national notoriety as a -bold and ruthless leader. - -For the next several years, murders, bushwhackings, lynchings, and -burnings were common occurrences, and the territory was aptly named -"Bleeding Kansas." Atrocity matched atrocity. When pro-slavery forces -sacked and burned the town of Lawrence in May 1856, Brown was outraged. -Proclaiming himself an instrument of God's will, he, with four of his -sons and three others, deliberately and brutally murdered five -pro-slavery men along the banks of Pottawatomie Creek. In the months -that followed, Brown terrorized the Missouri-Kansas border by a series -of bloody guerrilla attacks that brought him to the attention of the -Nation's abolitionist faction. In late August 1856, about a month before -he left Kansas, Brown and his men clashed with pro-slavery Missourians -at the small settlement of Osawatomie. That action earned him the -nickname "Osawatomie" and cost him the life of his son Frederick. It -also hardened his stand against slavery. "I have only a short time to -live--only one death to die," he said, "and I will die fighting for this -cause. There will be no more peace in this land until slavery is done -for. I will give them something else to do than to extend slave -territory. I will carry this war into Africa." - - Three of John Brown's most trusted lieutenants in the Harpers Ferry - raid: - - [Illustration: John E. Cook] - - [Illustration: Aaron D. Stevens] - - [Illustration: John H. Kagi] - -The attack on Harpers Ferry was the culmination of a plan Brown had -evolved many years before he went to Kansas. By the early 1850's he had -come to believe that a location within the slave States should be -selected where raids on slave plantations could be easily carried out -and the freed bondsmen sent to safety in the North. Convinced that -mountains throughout history had enabled the few to defend themselves -against the many, he believed that even against regular Army troops a -small force operating from a mountain stronghold could hold out -indefinitely and provide sanctuary for freed slaves, who would be -supplied with arms to fight for their liberty. Brown had decided, from -studying European fortifications and military operations, that somewhere -along the Allegheny Mountain chain a small force could achieve those -objectives. - -In the autumn of 1857, on his second trip to Kansas, Brown began -recruiting his force for the projected raid. Among the first to join him -were three young veterans of the Kansas fighting: John E. Cook, Aaron D. -Stevens, and John H. Kagi. Each would play an important role in the -attack on Harpers Ferry. - -Cook, 27-year-old member of a wealthy Connecticut family, had attended -Yale University and studied law in New York City before going to Kansas -in 1855. He stood about 5 feet 5 inches tall, had long, silk-blond hair -that curled about his neck, and "his deep blue eyes were gentle in -expression as a woman's." Brown's son Salmon, who knew Cook in Ohio and -Kansas, characterized him as "highly erratic" in temperament "and not -overly stocked with morality. He was the best pistol-shot I ever saw ... -[and] just as much of an expert in getting into the good graces of the -girls." He loved to "talk and rattle on about himself." - -Stevens, then 26 years old, was, like Cook, a native of Connecticut. He -ran away from home at the age of 16 and joined the Massachusetts -Volunteer Regiment to fight in the Mexican War. Honorably discharged at -the end of that conflict, he found civilian life so boring that he -enlisted as a bugler in a United States dragoon regiment in the West and -took part in several campaigns against the Navaho and Apache Indians. -Stevens possessed an explosive temper, and at Taos, N. Mex., in the -mid-1850's, he nearly killed an officer in a drunken brawl and was -sentenced to death. President Franklin Pierce commuted the sentence to 3 -years' hard labor at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. In January 1856 Stevens -escaped and joined the Free-State cause. As colonel of the Second Kansas -Volunteer Regiment, he fought in some of the territory's bloodiest -battles. Standing just over 6 feet tall, Stevens was a powerfully built -man who could wield a saber with deadly skill. He had black curly hair, -"black, brooding eyes," and a full beard. In his youth he had been a -choir boy (his father and elder brothers taught singing), had a rich -baritone voice, and liked to sing. Totally dedicated to the overthrow of -slavery, he once told a Kansas sheriff: "We are in the right, and will -resist the universe." - -Kagi, an Ohio lad of 22, was largely self-educated and had taught school -in Virginia until his abolitionist views got him into trouble with local -officials and he had to flee the State. Traveling to Kansas in 1856, he -became a lawyer in Nebraska City. Occasionally he served as a court -stenographer or shorthand reporter. He also functioned as a -correspondent for several Eastern newspapers and John Brown dubbed him -"our Horace Greeley." While riding with Stevens' Second Kansas Regiment -in 1856, Kagi was taken prisoner by Federal troops and served 4 months -in jail before being released on bail. In January 1857 he was shot by a -pro-slavery judge during a disagreement and was still suffering from his -wounds when he joined Brown. Tall, with angular features, Kagi was -usually unkempt, unshaven, and generally unimpressive in appearance; but -he was articulate and highly intelligent, of serene temperament, and not -easily aroused. "His fertility of resources made him a tower of strength -to John Brown," wrote George B. Gill, an Iowa youth who signed up for -the raid but defected before it took place. "He was a logician of more -than ordinary ability. He was full of wonderful vitality and all things -were fit food for his brain." - - [Illustration: Brown's target was the United States Armory and - Arsenal at Harpers Ferry, shown here in an 1857 lithograph.] - -When he enlisted them, Brown told Cook, Stevens, and Kagi only that he -was organizing a company of men to resist pro-slavery aggressions. He -did not tell them where he planned to take them. When seven more -volunteers joined the group at Tabor, Iowa, he informed his recruits -that their "ultimate destination was the State of Virginia." Shortly -afterwards the men finally learned that Harpers Ferry was the probable -target. Kagi, who had once taught school in the area, gave Brown -valuable information about the town. The place fitted Brown's -requirements perfectly. It lay near the mountains he counted upon to -afford a hiding place, and it was on the border of Virginia, a slave -State, only 40 miles from the free State of Pennsylvania. It also -contained an United States armory and arsenal, where much-needed arms -were stored. - -After a trip to New England to raise funds, Brown called a -"Constitutional Convention" of his followers to meet on May 8, 1858, at -Chatham, Ontario, Canada. Besides Brown's group, 34 Negroes attended the -meeting and heard the Kansas guerrilla chieftain outline his plan for -the deliverance of their enslaved brethren. First, he told them, he -intended to strike at a point in the South. This blow would be followed -by a general slave uprising in which even free Negroes in the Northern -States and Canada would flock to his banner. He would lead them into the -mountains and "if any hostile action ... were taken against us, either -by the militia of the separate States or by the armies of the United -States, we purposed to defeat first the militia, and next, if it were -possible, the troops of the United States...." - -The convention unanimously adopted a "Provisional Constitution and -Ordinances for the People of the United States" to serve as the law of -the land while the army of liberation instituted a new government--one -that would not supplant but exist side-by-side with the U.S. Government -and which would explicitly prohibit slavery. John Brown was elected -"Commander in Chief" of the new provisional army to be formed, other -officers were appointed, and the convention adjourned. Before leaving -again for New England to gather supplies and money for the attack, Brown -sent Cook to Harpers Ferry to act as a spy; the others scattered, -seeking employment to maintain themselves until called together for the -march into Virginia. - - The moral and financial backing of these men, known as "The Secret - Six," made the raid on Harpers Ferry possible. - - [Illustration: Samuel Gridley Howe] - - [Illustration: Thomas Wentworth Higginson] - - [Illustration: Franklin B. Sanborn] - - [Illustration: George Luther Stearns] - - [Illustration: Gerrit Smith] - - [Illustration: Theodore Parker] - -To equip, maintain, and transport the men needed to carry out his plan, -Brown required a considerable amount of money and weapons. He had -neither, but because of his Kansas activities, he was able to enlist the -support of Northern abolitionists in his fight against slavery. -Philosophers, scholars, religious leaders, philanthropists, and -businessmen gave freely but discreetly to the cause. Chief among Brown's -backers was a secret committee of six: Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe, Boston, -Mass., educator, minister, and reformer; Thomas Wentworth Higginson, -militant clergyman of Worcester, Mass.; Theodore Parker, Boston's -outstanding Unitarian minister; Franklin B. Sanborn, editor and -schoolmaster of Concord, Mass.; Gerrit Smith, former New York -Congressman and a great Peterboro, N.Y., landowner; and George L. -Stearns, industrialist and merchant of Medford, Mass. Through them Brown -received most of the money and weapons that enabled him to launch his -attack. - - - - - RENDEZVOUS FOR REVOLUTION - - -By the summer of 1859 Harpers Ferry was a quietly thriving little -industrial and transportation community sitting on a narrow shelf of -land at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers in the Blue -Ridge Mountains of northern Virginia. Until its selection as the site -for a Federal armory at the end of the 18th century, the town's growth -had been slow. What growth it did experience was due to its location on -the wilderness route to the Shenandoah Valley. The land on which the -town sat was first settled in 1733 by a Pennsylvania Dutchman named -Peter Stephens, who operated a small ferryboat service across the -rivers. At that time the place was called "Peter's Hole" because it was -dominated by three towering bluffs--Maryland Heights to the north, -Loudoun Heights to the south, and Bolivar Heights to the west. When -Robert Harper, a skilled Philadelphia architect and millwright, bought -the land in 1747, he improved the ferry service and built a gristmill. -Around these facilities at the base of Bolivar Heights the village of -Harpers Ferry gradually developed. - -In 1794, when relations between the United States and England were -strained, Congress grew uneasy over the country's military posture. -Uncertain of the ordnance-producing capabilities of private -manufacturers in time of need, it directed President George Washington -to establish a number of armories where guns could be made and stored. -One of the sites he chose was Harpers Ferry. - -Washington was well acquainted with Harpers Ferry. As a young man during -the middle part of the century, he had accompanied surveying parties -that inspected the vast holdings of the Virginia aristocracy in this -area. He considered Harpers Ferry "the most eligible spot on the -[Potomac] river" for an armory. Abundant water power was available, iron -ore was plentiful nearby, hardwood forests insured a steady supply of -charcoal to fuel the forges, and the place was far enough inland to be -secure from foreign invasion. - -In June 1796 the Government purchased from the Harper heirs a 125-acre -tract of land and began constructing workshops on the benchland between -the Potomac River and what would later become Potomac Street. Waterpower -was harnessed by building a dam upstream from the armory and channeling -the water through a canal into the workshops. Although a critical -shortage of gunsmiths and ordnance-making machinery restricted -operations for several years, limited arms production began late in 1798 -under the direction of an English Moravian named Joseph Perkin, the -armory's first superintendent. - -The first muskets, based on the old French infantry type of 1763, were -completed in 1801. In 1803 production was expanded to include rifles, -and 2 years later the manufacture of pistols. (The Model 1805 pistol, -made at Harpers Ferry, was the first hand weapon to be produced at a -United States armory.) At first the rate of musket production was -meager, but by 1810 the armory was turning out 10,000 annually, storing -them in two arsenal buildings nearby on Shenandoah Street. - -In 1819 John Hall, a Maine gunsmith, received a contract from the -Federal Government to manufacture 1,000 breech-loading flintlock rifles -of his own design. Sent to Harpers Ferry, he set up the Hall Rifle Works -in two buildings on Lower Hall Island, which adjoined Virginius Island -in the Shenandoah River about 1/2 mile from its junction with the -Potomac. Hall's rifles were made on so exact a scale that all the parts -were interchangeable--a factor that helped to pave the way for modern -mass production methods. The War Department was elated with Hall's -success and his contract was repeatedly renewed. When the Hall rifle was -discontinued in 1844, the Government tore down the old buildings and -erected a new rifle factory on the same site. Standard U.S. Model rifles -were produced there until the industry was destroyed, along with the -armory complex, at the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861. - -The abundance of water power that had attracted the arms industry soon -brought others. Besides the rifle factories on Hall Island, Virginius -Island boasted an iron foundry, flour mill, cotton mill, and machine -shop, all powered by water diverted through the island by a dam in the -Shenandoah River and a series of sluiceways and underground water -tunnels. More than 200 persons made their home around the prospering -island industries. - -The formation, development, and expansion of the United States Armory -and Arsenal at Harpers Ferry (its complete, official designation) was -the chief stimulus for the growth of the town. From a simple beginning -the armory by 1859 had spread to include 20 workshops and offices, lined -in a neat double row over an area 600 yards long. At its peak, the -armory provided employment for more than 400 men, mostly transplanted -Northerners whom local residents classified as "foreigners." In the -65-year history of this major industry, the U.S. Government invested -nearly $2 million in land, water power improvements, walls and -embankments, hydraulic machinery, and buildings. - - [Illustration: HARPERS FERRY AND VICINITY 1859] - -After 1830 Harpers Ferry, already recognized as an important industrial -center, attained prominence as a vital link in the transportation and -communications line between the Ohio and Shenandoah Valleys and the -East. By 1830 a semi-weekly stagecoach service connected the town with -Washington, D.C. The one-way trip usually required a full day's travel. -That same year a turnpike company was founded to construct a 16-mile -macadamized toll road from Harpers Ferry to Middleway, 5 miles west of -Charles Town. A turnpike being built from Frederick, Md., about 20 miles -to the east, reached the town in 1832. Still another turnpike company, -organized in 1851, ran a road from Harpers Ferry southeastward to -Hillsborough, about 10 miles away. - -But the signal impetus to the establishment of the town's commercial -position was the arrival of canal and railroad. Waging a bitter battle -to reach the rich Ohio Valley and carry its trade to the East, impeding -each other's progress at every opportunity, the Chesapeake and Ohio -Canal (originating in Washington, D.C.) and the Baltimore and Ohio -Railroad (originating in Baltimore, Md.) reached Harpers Ferry in the -early 1830's. Following the winding Potomac River northward and westward -from Georgetown, the C & O Canal arrived at Harpers Ferry in November -1833, more than a year ahead of its rival. But the railroad pushed on to -the Ohio Valley while the canal stopped at Cumberland, Md. The -establishment of these two arteries provided shippers with a cheaper -carrier for their products and assured travelers of a more efficient and -economical means of reaching their destinations. - -With the expansion of industry and the development of superior -transportation facilities, the population of the community swelled to -nearly 3,000 by 1859. Of these about 150 were "free coloreds" and 150 -were slaves. The total number of slaves in the entire six-county area -around Harpers Ferry was just slightly more than 18,000, of which less -than 5,000 were men. There were no large plantations because the land -and the climate could not sustain a plantation economy. The few -slaveholders maintained farms, and their blacks were mainly "well-kept -house-servants." - -Most of the white residents of Harpers Ferry worked at the armory or at -the manufacturing plants on Virginius Island. Because land was at a -premium, the houses, saloons, hotels, and shops were tightly aligned -along Shenandoah, Potomac, and High Streets, and sprawled up the slopes -of Bolivar Heights. In some places the rocky cliffs were blasted away to -make room for another building. Most of the homes were of simple design, -but the Government-built residences of the armory officials were more -elaborate. - -The inhabitants of the town were chiefly of Irish, English, and German -descent. Besides building six churches of varying faiths (one of which, -St. Peter's Catholic Church, is still standing and in use today), they -established five private girls' schools. A man could get a drink at the -Gault House or take a meal at the Potomac Restaurant or the Wager House. -If he so desired, he could join the Masons, the Odd Fellows, or the Sons -of Temperance. Nearly everyone was prosperous. It was a good time for -the town and its people. - - [Illustration: This photograph of Harpers Ferry from the Maryland - side of the Potomac shows the town as it appeared about the time of - the raid. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad bridge, by which John - Brown and his raiders entered the village, is at the left.] - -John Brown arrived amidst this prosperity on July 3, 1859. Not yet 60 -years old, the rigors of frontier living had nevertheless left their -imprint upon him and there were those who said he looked and walked more -than ever "like an old man." In March a Cleveland, Ohio, newspaper had -described him as "a medium-sized, compactly-built and wiry man, and as -quick as a cat in his movements. His hair is of a salt and pepper hue -and as stiff as bristles, he has a long, waving, milk-white goatee, -which gives him a somewhat patriarchal appearance, his eyes are gray and -sharp." He had grown the beard before his last trip to Kansas in 1858, -and it covered his square chin and straight, firm mouth, changing his -appearance markedly. When he arrived in Harpers Ferry the beard had been -shortened to within an inch and a half of his face, because, his -daughter Annie later recalled, he thought it "more likely to disguise -him than a clean face or than the long beard." - -With Brown were two of his sons--34-year-old Owen and 20-year-old -Oliver--and Kansas veteran Jeremiah G. Anderson. The 26-year-old, -Indiana-born Anderson was the grandson of Southern slaveholders and had -joined the abolitionist cause in 1857 after working several unproductive -years as a peddler, farmer, and sawyer. Determined to eliminate slavery, -Anderson once vowed to "make this land of liberty and equality shake to -the centre." - -After consulting briefly with Cook, who had been serving as a -schoolteacher, book salesman, and canal-lock tender, and had even -married a local girl since being sent to Harpers Ferry the year before, -Brown and his three companions took up residence in a private home in -Sandy Hook, a small village about a mile down the Potomac on the -Maryland shore. The names they gave their landlord were "Isaac Smith & -Sons." To anyone asking their business in the area, Brown told them they -were simple farmers looking for good farmland to develop. - -Brown arose early on July 4 and began exploring the Maryland side of the -Potomac to find a suitable hideout for his raiders. Local inquiry led -him to a farm owned by the heirs of a Dr. R. F. Kennedy about 5 miles -north of Harpers Ferry. A cursory inspection convinced him that the -place, though small, was conveniently located and admirably suited for -concealment. The farm was remote from other settlements, and it was -surrounded by woods and hidden by undergrowth--an ideal situation for -hiding men and supplies from the gaze of inquisitive neighbors. - - [Illustration: John Brown in May 1859.] - -For $35 in gold Brown rented the farm, which consisted of two log -structures, some outbuildings, and a pasture. The main house sat about -100 yards off the public road connecting Harpers Ferry with -Boonesborough and Sharpsburg, Md., and contained a basement kitchen and -storerooms, a second-floor living room and bedrooms, and an attic. The -second floor was used as kitchen, parlor, and dining room, and the attic -served as a storeroom, drilling room, and "prison" to keep the men out -of sight. Near the farmhouse stood a small cabin that later became a -storage place and sleeping quarters for some of the raiders. - - [Illustration: The isolated character of the Kennedy farm did not - prevent curious neighbors from "dropping in" for a visit.] - - [Illustration: To help avert suspicion, Brown's daughter Annie and - Oliver's wife Martha (shown here with her husband in 1859) lived at - the farm while the arms and men were being assembled. Martha did the - cooking and helped Annie with household chores.] - -Brown's chief fear was that neighbors would become suspicious of "Isaac -Smith & Sons" and possibly uncover his revolutionary plans. Reasoning -that nearby families would be less distrustful with women among the -group, he appealed to his wife and daughter Annie at their home in North -Elba, N.Y., to come live with him, saying that "It will be likely to -prove the most valuable service you can ever render to the world." Mrs. -Brown was unable to make the long journey, but Annie and Oliver's wife -Martha did join him in mid-July. Their presence proved of inestimable -value not only in alleviating suspicion but in contributing to the -morale of the men. Martha served as cook and housekeeper, preparing -meals on a wood stove in the upstairs living room; Annie kept constant -watch for prying neighbors. "When I washed dishes," noted Annie many -years later, - - I stood at the end of the table where I could see out of the window - and open door if any one approached the house. I was constantly on the - lookout while carrying the victuals across the porch, and while I was - tidying or sweeping the rooms, and always at my post on the porch when - the men were eating. My evenings were spent on the porch or sitting on - the stairs, watching or listening. - - [Illustration: The Kennedy farmhouse served as the base of - operations for John Brown's raiders.] - - [Illustration: Annie Brown] - -His base established, Brown laid plans to assemble his arms and supplies -and to gather in his followers. On July 10 he wrote to John Kagi at -Chambersburg, Pa., where an arms depot had been set up, giving him -directions for forwarding the waiting men and the "freight"--200 Sharps -rifles, an equal number of pistols, and a thousand pikes. The weapons, -crated in large wooden boxes marked "Hardware and Castings," were -shipped from Ohio to Chambersburg where Kagi sent them by wagon to Brown -at the Kennedy farm. Supplies were acquired at various places between -Chambersburg and Harpers Ferry. - -Alone and in twos and threes, Brown's followers began to assemble at the -farm. Watson Brown arrived on August 6. "Tall and rather fair, with -finely knit frame, athletic and active," the 24-year-old Watson brought -with him two of his brothers-in-law and North Elba neighbors, William -and Dauphin Thompson. The Thompsons had not previously taken active -roles in the anti-slavery movement but they were dedicated -abolitionists. William, 26 years old, was fun-loving and good natured. -He had started for Kansas in 1856 but turned back before reaching there. -His 20-year-old brother Dauphin had never been away from home before. -Handsome, inexperienced, with curly, golden hair and a soft complexion, -he seemed "more like a girl than a warrior" and was "diffident and -quiet." Both had come to the Kennedy farm because they were firmly -convinced of the justness of John Brown's cause. - -Next came Aaron Stevens and Charles Plummet Tidd, a 25-year-old former -Maine woodsman. Tidd was a Kansas veteran. He had been one of the first -to join Brown at Tabor, Iowa, in 1857 and had remained one of his -closest associates ever since. He was quick-tempered, but according to -Annie Brown, "His rages soon passed and then he tried all he could to -repair damages. He was a fine singer and of strong family affections." - - [Illustration: Edwin Coppoc] - - [Illustration: Dauphin Thompson] - - [Illustration: Charles Plummer Tidd] - -Tidd and Stevens were followed by 22-year-old Albert Hazlett, another -veteran of the Kansas fighting, Canadian-born Stewart Taylor, and two -brothers from Iowa, Edwin and Barclay Coppoc. Hazlett had worked on his -brother's farm in western Pennsylvania before joining Brown at the -Kennedy farm. He was totally committed to the overthrow of slavery. "I -am willing to die in the cause of liberty," he said; "if I had ten -thousand lives I would willingly lay them all down for the same cause." -Taylor, 23 years old, was once a wagonmaker. He had met Brown in Iowa in -1858 and was "heart and soul in the anti-slavery cause." Scholarly, a -good debater, and "very fond of studying history," Taylor, like Stevens, -was a spiritualist and had a premonition that he would die at Harpers -Ferry. The Coppocs were Quakers by birth and training. They were in -Kansas during the troubles there but took no part in the fighting. -Edwin, at 24, was 4 years older than his brother Barclay. Both had -joined Brown initially in 1858 at Springdale, Iowa, where they were -living with their mother, shortly before the Chatham Convention. - -Twenty-year-old William H. Leeman arrived near the end of August. Born -and educated in Maine, he had worked in a Haverhill, Mass., shoe factory -before going to Kansas in 1856 where he served in Brown's "Liberty -Guards" militia company. Impulsive, hard to control, the 6-foot-tall -Leeman "smoked a good deal and drank sometimes," but he had "a good -intellect with great ingenuity." Shortly before the raid he wrote his -mother that he was "warring with slavery, the greatest curse that ever -infected America. We are determined to strike for freedom, incite the -slaves to rebellion, and establish a free government. With the help of -God we will carry it through." - -After Leeman came Dangerfield Newby, a mulatto born a slave but freed by -his Scotch father, and Osborn P. Anderson, a 33-year-old free Negro who -had worked as a printer before joining Brown in Canada in 1858. Newby, -at 44 the oldest of the group save for Brown himself, had a wife and -several children in bondage in the South. He came to the Kennedy -farmhouse convinced that the only way to free them was with rifle and -bullet. Week after week he would read and reread a worn letter from his -wife in which she begged him to "Buy me and the baby, that has just -commenced to crawl, as soon as possible, for if you do not get me -somebody else will." - -"Emperor" Shields Green, a 23-year-old illiterate escaped slave from -Charleston, S.C., joined up at Chambersburg where Brown had gone in -mid-August to enlist the aid of the famed Negro abolitionist, orator, -and journalist, Frederick Douglass. Brown and Douglass had first met at -Springfield, Mass., in 1847. Since then they had become good friends. -When the Negro leader learned the details of the planned assault on -Harpers Ferry, he refused to participate, arguing that an attack on the -Government would "array the whole country" against him and antagonize -the very people to whom the abolitionists looked for support. Moreover, -Douglass believed that the plan could not succeed, that Brown "was going -into a perfect steel-trap, and that once in he would never get out -alive." Before leaving, Douglass asked Shields Green, who had -accompanied him to the meeting, what he intended to do. Green replied -simply, "I b'lieve I'll go wid de ole man." - -Life at the Kennedy farm was wearing and tedious. Brown's most trying -task was to keep his slowly increasing force occupied and out of sight. -Forced to remain in the two small buildings during the day, the men had -little to do. The long summer days were mostly spent reading magazines, -telling stories, arguing politics and religion, and playing checkers and -cards. They drilled frequently and studied the art of guerrilla warfare -from a specially prepared military manual. - -Meals were served downstairs in the farmhouse, with Annie and Martha -standing guard while the men ate. After breakfast each morning, John -Brown would read from the Bible and utter a short prayer. Occasionally -he would travel into Harpers Ferry to pick up a Baltimore newspaper to -which he subscribed or to purchase flour from the mill on Virginius -Island. If a neighbor arrived unexpectedly during mealtime, the men -would gather up the food, dishes, and table cloth and carry them to the -attic. - - [Illustration: Famed Negro abolitionist Frederick Douglass supported - Brown's Kansas activities but warned him against attacking Harpers - Ferry. Douglass refused to participate in the raid, but his friend - Shields Green decided to go with Brown.] - - [Illustration: Shields Green.] - -At night the men could go outdoors for fresh air and exercise. -Thunderstorms were especially welcomed, for then they could move about -with little fear of making noise. These brief interludes served to -release tensions built up during long periods of confinement and -inactivity, but the secret living in such close quarters proved almost -too much to bear. Restiveness and irritations were bound to occur. Twice -there was a near revolt against the planned raid. On one occasion Tidd -became so infuriated that he left the farm and stayed with Cook in -Harpers Ferry for 3 days. So serious was the opposition that Brown -tendered his resignation as commander in chief. He withdrew it only -after the men gave him a renewed vote of confidence. - -As September ended and the time for the attack approached, Annie and -Martha were sent back to North Elba. Brown and his men busied themselves -overhauling the rifles and pistols and attaching pike-heads to shafts. -The pikes were Brown's own idea. Preparing for a return to Kansas in -1857, he had negotiated with a Connecticut blacksmith to manufacture -1,000 of these weapons--a two-edged dirk with an iron blade 8 inches -long fastened to a 6-foot ash handle. Originally they were intended for -the defense of free-soil settlers in Kansas, but Brown was unable to pay -for them until the spring of 1859, when he made final arrangements to -use them at Harpers Ferry. Knowing that most of the slaves he expected -to join him were unskilled in the use of firearms, he decided they could -handle a pike. A thousand men armed with pikes and backed by Brown's -more experienced "soldiers" could constitute a formidable army. - -Because so many people knew about Brown's intentions, it was inevitable -that the secrecy would be broken. In late August Secretary of War John -B. Floyd received an unsigned letter reporting "the existence of a -secret association, having for its object the liberation of the slaves -at the South by a general insurrection." Brown was named as its leader -and "an armory in Maryland" its immediate objective. Because the -informant mistakenly placed the armory in Maryland instead of Virginia -and because Floyd could not bring himself to believe such a scheme could -be entertained by citizens of the United States, the Secretary put the -letter away and forgot about it until subsequent events reminded him of -the warning. - -October arrived. Still Brown delayed, hoping that more men would come. -Many upon whom he had counted failed to join him for a variety of -reasons. Even two of his sons, Jason and Salmon, refused to participate. -Though disappointed, Brown realized that the longer he delayed, the -greater were the chances that his plan would be discovered and thwarted. -Finally, on October 15, with the arrival of 22-year-old Francis J. -Meriam and two Ohio Negroes, John Copeland and Lewis S. Leary, both 25, -the ranks of the "Provisional Army of the United States" were completed. -In all there were 21 men besides the commander in chief. Of these, 19 -were under 30, three not yet 21. Brown could wait no longer. Calling his -men together, he announced that the attack would take place the next -night, October 16, and cautioned them about the needless taking of human -life: - - You all know how dear life is to you ... consider that the lives of - others are as 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 in order to save your own, then make short work - of it. - - - - - TO FREE THE SLAVES - - -The daylight hours of Sunday, October 16, 1859, were quiet ones at the -Kennedy farm as the long period of inactivity and uncertainty neared its -climax. Early in the morning John Brown held worship services, the -impending attack invoking "deep solemnity" upon the gathering. After -breakfast and roll call a final meeting was held and instructions were -given. Then everything was in readiness. - -About 8 p.m. Brown turned to his followers. "Men," he said, "get on your -arms; we will proceed to the Ferry." The men, ready for hours, slung -their Sharps rifles over their shoulders, concealing them under long, -gray shawls that served as overcoats, and waited for the order to march. -A horse and wagon were brought to the door of the farmhouse. In the -wagon the men placed a few items that might be needed for the work -ahead: a sledge hammer, a crowbar, and several pikes. Owen Brown, -Barclay Coppoc, and Meriam were detailed to remain at the farm as a -rearguard. In the morning they were to bring the rest of the weapons -nearer the town where they could be passed out to the slave army Brown -expected to raise. - -Donning his battered old Kansas cap, symbol of the violence to which he -had contributed in that strife-torn territory, Brown mounted the wagon -and motioned his men to move out. From the farmhouse the group moved -down the lane and onto the road leading to Harpers Ferry. Tidd and Cook, -who were best acquainted with the route, preceded the main body as -scouts. Upon reaching the town they were to cut the telegraph lines on -both the Maryland and Virginia sides of the Potomac. - - [Illustration: Owen Brown] - - [Illustration: Francis J. Meriam] - - [Illustration: Barclay Coppoc] - - [Illustration: Brown used this schoolhouse near Harpers Ferry as an - arsenal after the raid began. The drawing was made about 1859 by - David Hunter Strother, known to readers of _Harper's New Monthly - Magazine_ as "Porte Crayon," one of the most popular illustrators of - mid-19th century America.] - -For more than 2 hours the men tramped along behind the wagon, strictly -adhering to Brown's order to maintain silence. About 10:30 p.m. they -reached the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad bridge that would carry them -into Harpers Ferry. It was a long wooden-covered structure that spanned -the Potomac River a little upstream from where the Shenandoah comes -spilling in from the south. Kagi and Stevens entered first and -encountered watchman William Williams, who approached with a lantern. -They quickly took Williams prisoner. The rest of the raiders, except for -Watson Brown and Stewart Taylor who were told to stay on the Maryland -side as a rearguard, fastened cartridges boxes to the outside of their -clothing for ready access and followed the wagon onto the bridge. - -Crossing quickly, the raiders stepped from the tunnel's black throat -into the slumbering town. Before them lay a large structure that doubled -as the railroad depot and the Wager House. Just beyond, to the left, was -the U.S. Arsenal buildings where thousands of guns were stored. To the -right the armory shops stretched in a double row along the Potomac. -Brown turned the horse and wagon toward the armory. - -Daniel Whelan, the armory's nightwatchman, heard the wagon coming down -the street from the depot. Thinking it was the head watchman, he came -out from his station in the fire enginehouse (a one-story, two-room -brick building that doubled as a guard post just inside the armory -grounds) to find several rifles pointed at him. "Open the gate!" someone -yelled. Out of sheer cussedness, or perhaps fright, Whelan refused. One -of the raiders took the crowbar from the wagon and twisted it in the -chain until the lock snapped. The gate was thrown open and the wagon -rolled into the yard. To his prisoners, Whelan and Williams, Brown -announced his purpose: - - I came here from Kansas, and this is a slave state; I want to free all - the Negroes in this state; I have possession now of the United States - armory, and if the citizens interfere with me I must only burn the - town and have blood. - -Once in control of the armory, Brown detailed his men to other -objectives. Oliver Brown and William Thompson were sent to watch the -bridge across the Shenandoah River, while Hazlett and Edwin Coppoc moved -into the unguarded arsenal. Another group of raiders under Stevens made -its way down Shenandoah Street to the rifle factory on Lower Hall -Island. Again the watchman was surprised and easily captured. Telling -Kagi and Copeland to watch the rifle works--Leary would join them -later--Stevens marched the watchman and several young men picked up on -the street back to the armory grounds. - -So far Brown's occupation of the town had been quiet and peaceful. It -did not last. About midnight another watchman, Patrick Higgins, a Sandy -Hook resident, arrived at the Maryland end of the B & O bridge to -relieve Williams. Finding the structure dark he called out loudly; he -was answered quietly by Taylor and Watson Brown, who took him prisoner. -As he was being escorted across the bridge, Higgins suddenly lashed out, -struck Brown in the face, and raced toward the town. Taylor fired after -him. The ball grazed the watchman's scalp, but he reached the Wager -House safely. The first shot of the raid had been fired. - -About this same time Stevens led several raiders on a special mission to -capture Col. Lewis W. Washington, the 46-year-old great-grandnephew of -George Washington. The colonel, a small but prosperous planter, lived -near Halltown just off the Charles Town Turnpike about 5 miles west of -Harpers Ferry. He owned a pistol presented to General Washington by the -Marquis de Lafayette and a sword reportedly presented by the Prussian -King Frederick the Great. Brown wanted these weapons. When he struck the -first blow to free the slaves he rather fancied the idea of wearing the -sword and brandishing the pistol once owned by the man who had led the -fight to free the American colonists from a similar kind of tyranny. - -Battering down Washington's door, Stevens, Tidd, Cook, and three -Negroes--Anderson, Leary, and Green--summoned the colonel from his bed. -Washington offered no resistance. Calmly surrendering the sword and -pistol, he then dressed and climbed into his carriage for the trip to -Harpers Ferry. The raiders and Washington's three slaves crammed into -the colonel's four-horse farm wagon and followed along behind the -carriage. - - [Illustration: "Beallair," the home of Col. Lewis Washington. Late - on the night of October 16, several raiders broke into this house in - search of a pistol and sword once owned by the colonel's great - grand-uncle, George Washington. Colonel Washington (inset) was taken - hostage.] - - [Illustration: HARPERS FERRY 1859] - - [Illustration: HARPERS FERRY 1859] - - - LEGEND - A Armory Employee Dwellings - P Private Dwellings - V Vacant at Time of Raid - - -On the way the procession stopped at the home of another slaveholder, -John Allstadt, just west of Bolivar Heights. Again using a fence rail to -gain entrance, the raiders forced Allstadt and his 18-year-old son into -the wagon while the terror-stricken women of the house shrieked -"Murder!" from the upstairs windows. Allstadt's four slaves were also -added to the group. - -While Stevens' party was gathering hostages, the first note of tragedy -was sounded. At 1:25 a.m. the Baltimore and Ohio passenger train -eastbound for Baltimore arrived at Harpers Ferry and was stopped by a -clerk from the Wager House who told conductor A. J. Phelps of the recent -"startling" events. Phelps refused to allow the train to cross the -bridge until it had been checked, and he sent engineer William McKay and -baggagemaster Jacob Cromwell out to investigate. They were halted by -Brown's guards, who turned them back at gunpoint. - -Hayward Shepherd, the station baggageman, heard the commotion and walked -out to see what was going on. Shepherd, a free Negro, was highly -respected and well-liked by all who knew him. As he approached the -bridge a raider told him to halt. Instead, Shepherd turned around and -started back toward the station. A shot rang out and he fell gravely -wounded. He dragged himself back to the station where he died the next -afternoon. The first person to die at the hands of the men who had come -to free the slaves was, in fact, a Negro already free. - - [Illustration: "Porte Crayon's" drawing of Hayward Shepherd, the - free Negro baggageman killed by one of Brown's men on October 17, is - the only known portrait of this tragic figure.] - -Between 4 and 5 a.m. the caravan containing Colonel Washington and the -Allstadts arrived at the armory. Brown armed the frightened slaves with -pikes and told them to guard the prisoners, who were placed in the -enginehouse and now numbered about a half-dozen. "Keep these white men -inside," he said. Turning to Washington, Brown explained that he had -taken him hostage because "as the aid to the Governor of Virginia, I -knew you would endeavor to perform your duty, and perhaps you would have -been a troublesome customer to me; and, apart from that, I wanted you -particularly for the moral effect it would give our cause, having one of -your name our prisoner." As dawn approached the number of Brown's -prisoners increased as unsuspecting armory employees reporting for work -were seized as they passed through the gate. Perhaps as many as 40 -hostages were eventually jammed into the two rooms of the enginehouse. - - [Illustration: Brown kept his growing number of hostages in the fire - enginehouse at left, just inside the entrance to the U.S. Armory - grounds. The machine shops where the muskets were assembled are at - the right.] - -Near dawn, John Cook, with two raiders and a handful of pike-carrying -Negroes, took the wagon across the bridge into Maryland to bring the -weapons closer to the town to arm the hundreds of slaves soon expected -to join the fight. The rest of Brown's "army" settled down at their -posts in the waning darkness to await the coming of day, the last for -many of them. - -Thus far the citizens of Harpers Ferry had offered no resistance to the -invasion of their town, primarily because most of the townspeople knew -nothing of what was taking place. At the first streak of daylight, Dr. -John Starry, a 35-year-old local physician who had maintained an -all-night vigil beside the dying Hayward Shepherd, began to alert the -people to the danger. After arousing the residents of Virginius Island, -he rode to warn Acting Armory Superintendent A. M. Kitzmiller. Next he -ordered the Lutheran Church bell rung to assemble the citizens and -ascertain what arms were available for defense. Then he sent a messenger -off to Shepherdstown and another to Charles Town to alert their militia -companies of the armed occupation of Harpers Ferry. - -Among the townspeople there were only one or two squirrel rifles and a -few shotguns, none of which were really fit for use. All other weapons -were in the arsenal buildings, and they were occupied by the raiders. -Knowing it would be futile to confront Brown's men unarmed, Dr. Starry -headed for Charles Town, 8 miles away, to hurry its militia along. But -no prompting was necessary. To Charles Town residents the news from -Harpers Ferry was frightening, for it awakened memories of the 1831 Nat -Turner slave rebellion in Virginia's tidewater region when more than 50 -whites, mostly women and children, were murdered before the bloody -uprising was put down. The Jefferson Guards and another hastily formed -company would march as soon as possible. - -At daylight on October 17 Brown allowed the B & O passenger train to -continue its journey to Baltimore. Conductor Phelps wasted no time in -sounding the alarm. At Monocacy, Md., at 7:05 a.m. he telegraphed his -superiors about the night's events, adding: - - They say they have come to free the slaves and intend to do it at all - hazards. The leader of those men requested me to say to you that this - is the last train that shall pass the bridge either East or West. If - it is attempted it will be at the peril of the lives of those having - them in charge.... It has been suggested you had better notify the - Secretary of War at once. The telegraph lines are cut East and West of - Harper's Ferry and this is the first station that I could send a - dispatch from. - -John W. Garrett, president of the railroad, saw the message when it came -in and immediately sent word to President James Buchanan and Virginia -Governor Henry A. Wise. At the same time he alerted Maj. Gen. George H. -Stewart, commanding Baltimore's First Light Division of the Maryland -Volunteers. Word was also flashed to Frederick, Md., and that town's -militia was soon under arms. - -By 7 a.m. the residents of Harpers Ferry had discovered a supply of guns -in a building overlooked by the raiders, and some of the townspeople -began to move against Brown and his men. Alexander Kelly, armed with a -shotgun, approached the corner of High and Shenandoah Streets, about 100 -yards from the armory. Before he could fire, several bullets whizzed -past his head, one putting a hole through his hat. Shortly afterwards, -groceryman Thomas Boerly, a man of great physical strength and courage, -approached the same corner and opened fire on a group of Brown's men -standing in the arsenal yard, diagonally across the street from the -armory gate. A return bullet knocked him down with a "ghastly" wound, -from which he soon died. - -A lull followed the shooting of Boerly. Brown, having made no provision -to feed his men and hostages, released Walter Kemp, an infirm Wager -House bartender captured earlier, in exchange for 45 breakfasts. But -when the food came, few ate it. Many, including Washington, Allstadt, -and Brown himself, feared it had been drugged or poisoned. - -Meanwhile, Kagi, still at the rifle factory, was anxiously sending -messages to Brown urging him to leave Harpers Ferry while they still had -the chance. Brown ignored the pleas and continued to direct operations -with no apparent thought that outside forces would be moving against him -once the alarm had spread. Why, is anybody's guess. Up until noon of -October 17, despite the erratic fire from the townspeople, the raiders -could have fought their way to safety in the mountains. Instead, Brown -waited, doing nothing. By mid-day it was too late, and the jaws of the -"steel-trap" foreseen by Frederick Douglass closed swiftly. - - - - - THE TIGER CAGED - - -The Charles Town militia, consisting of the regular company of the -Jefferson Guards and a specially formed volunteer company, was armed and -on its way by train to Harpers Ferry by 10 a.m. The militia commander, -Col. John T. Gibson, had not waited for orders from Richmond but had set -out as soon as the men could be gotten ready. Arriving at Halltown, -about midway between Charles Town and Harpers Ferry, Gibson, fearing the -track ahead might be torn up, took the militia off the train and marched -by road to Allstadt's Crossroads west of Bolivar Heights. - - [Illustration: Watson Brown] - - [Illustration: William Thompson] - -At Allstadt's, Gibson divided his force. He sent Mexican War veteran -Capt. J. W. Rowan with the Jefferson Guards in a wide sweep to the west -of Harpers Ferry to capture the B & O bridge. Gibson himself would take -the volunteer company on into town. Rowan's men crossed the Potomac -about a mile above Harpers Ferry and, advancing along the towpath of the -Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, arrived at the Maryland end of the bridge by -noon. With little difficulty they drove its defenders--Oliver Brown, -William Thompson, and Dangerfield Newby--back toward the armory yard. -Only Brown and Thompson made it. Newby, the ex-slave who had joined John -Brown to free his wife and children, was killed by a 6-inch spike fired -from a smoothbore musket. He was the first of the raiders to die. - -In the meantime, Colonel Gibson's force had arrived in Harpers Ferry and -he sent a detachment of citizens under Capt. Lawson Botts, a Charles -Town attorney, to secure the Gault House Saloon at the rear of the -arsenal and commanding the Shenandoah bridge and the entrance to the -armory yard. Another detachment under Capt. John Avis, the Charles Town -jailer, took up positions in houses along Shenandoah Street from which -to fire into the arsenal grounds. - -The attack of the Charles Town militia cut off Brown's escape route and -separated him from his men in Maryland and those still holding the rifle -factory. At last, perhaps realizing the hopelessness of his situation, -Brown sought a truce. But when hostage Rezin Cross and raider William -Thompson emerged from the enginehouse under a white flag, the -townspeople ignored the flag, seized Thompson, and dragged him off to -the Wager House where he was kept under guard. - -Still not convinced, Brown tried again. This time he sent his son Watson -and Aaron Stevens with Acting Armory Superintendent Kitzmiller, taken -hostage earlier in the day. As the trio marched onto the street and came -opposite the Galt House, several shots rang out and both raiders fell. -Stevens, severely wounded, lay bleeding in the street; Watson Brown, -mortally wounded, dragged himself back to the enginehouse. Joseph Brua, -one of the hostages, volunteered to aid the wounded Stevens. As bullets -richocheted off the flagstone walk, Brua walked out, lifted up the -wounded raider, and carried him to the Wager House for medical -attention. Then, incredibly, he strolled back to the enginehouse and -again took his place among Brown's prisoners. Kitzmiller escaped. - -About the time Stevens and Watson Brown were shot, raider William Leeman -attempted to escape. Dashing through the upper end of the armory yard, -he plunged into the frigid Potomac, comparatively shallow at this point, -and made for the Maryland shore. Soon spotted, a shower of bullets hit -the water around him and he was forced to take refuge on an islet in the -river. G. A. Schoppert, a Harpers Ferry resident, waded out to where -Leeman lay marooned, pointed a pistol at his head, and pulled the -trigger. For the rest of the day Leeman's body was a target for the -undisciplined militia and townspeople. - - [Illustration: Oliver Brown, William Thompson, and Dangerfield Newby - were forced to abandon their post at the Maryland end of the - Baltimore and Ohio Railroad bridge when they were attacked by the - Jefferson Guards. Brown and Thompson reached the armory grounds - safely, but Newby (below) was shot and killed as he came off the - bridge.] - - [Illustration: Dangerfield Newby] - -When a raider shot and killed George W. Turner about 2 p.m., the crowd -grew ugly. Turner, a West Point graduate, was a prominent and highly -respected area planter. When Fontaine Beckham, the mayor of Harpers -Ferry and agent for the B & O Railroad, was killed, the townspeople -turned into a howling, raging mob. - -Beckham, a well-liked man of somewhat high-strung temperament, had been -greatly disturbed by the earlier shooting of Hayward Shepherd, his -friend and faithful helper at the depot. Despite warnings from friends -to keep away, Beckham, unarmed, walked out on the railroad to see what -was going on. He paced up and down the B & O trestle bordering the -armory yard about 30 yards from the enginehouse. Several raiders spotted -him peering around the water tower in front of their stronghold and -thought that he was placing himself in position to fire through the -doors. Edwin Coppoc, posted at the doorway of the enginehouse, leveled -his rifle at the mayor. - -"Don't fire, man, for God's sake!" screamed one of the hostages. -"They'll shoot in here and kill us all." - -Coppoc ignored the warning and pulled the trigger. Beckham fell, a -bullet through his heart. Oliver Brown, standing beside Coppoc in the -partly opened doorway, aimed his rifle at another man on the trestle, -but before he could fire he keeled over with "a mortal wound that gave -horrible pain." Both of Brown's sons now lay dying at their father's -feet. - -Enraged by the shooting of Beckham, the townspeople turned on prisoner -William Thompson. Led by Harry Hunter, a young Charles Town volunteer -and the grandnephew of the murdered mayor, a group of men stormed into -the Wager House, grabbed Thompson, and dragged him out onto the B & O -bridge. "You may kill me but it will be revenged," Thompson yelled; -"there are eighty thousand persons sworn to carry out this work." These -were his last words. The mob shot him several times and tossed his body -into the Potomac to serve, like Leeman's, as a target for the remainder -of the day. - -While Brown's situation at the fire enginehouse was growing -progressively worse, his three-man detachment holding the rifle works -came under fire. Under Kagi's leadership these men had held the works -uncontested during the morning and early afternoon. About 2:30 p.m. Dr. -Starry organized a party of "citizens and neighbors" and launched an -attack against the raiders from Shenandoah Street. After a brief -exchange of shots, Kagi, Lewis Leary, and John Copeland dashed out the -back of the building, scrambled across the Winchester and Potomac -Railroad tracks, and waded into the shallow Shenandoah River. Some -townspeople posted on the opposite bank spotted the fleeing men and -opened fire. The raiders, caught in a crossfire, made for a large flat -rock in the middle of the river. Kagi, Brown's most trusted and able -lieutenant, was killed in the attempt and Leary was mortally wounded. -Copeland reached the rock only to be dragged ashore, where the excited -crowd screamed "Lynch him! Lynch him!" But Dr. Starry intervened, and -the frightened Negro was hustled off to jail. - -At the enginehouse, the raiders continued to exchange occasional shots -with the Charles Town militia and the townspeople. By now Brown had -separated his prisoners. Eleven of the more important hostages who might -be used for bargaining purposes were moved into the engineroom with his -dwindling band, while the others remained crowded into the tiny -guardroom. The two rooms were separated by a solid brick wall. - - [Illustration: Lewis S. Leary] - - [Illustration: William H. Leeman] - -About 3 p.m., shortly after the raiders were driven out of the rifle -works, a militia company arrived by train from Martinsburg, Va. Headed -by Capt. E. G. Alburtis and comprised mostly of B & O Railroad -employees, this company marched on the enginehouse from the upper end of -the armory yard and came close to ending the raid. Brown positioned his -men in front of the building to meet the attack. Alburtis' contingent, -advancing briskly and maintaining a steady fire, forced the raiders back -inside. Smashing the windows of the guardroom, the militiamen freed the -prisoners but were forced to withdraw after eight of their number were -wounded from the constant fire pouring from the partly opened -enginehouse door. Alburtis later complained that had his men been -supported by the other militia companies present, John Brown's raid -would have been ended. - -Other militia units now began to arrive. Between 3 and 4 p.m. the -Hamtramck Guards and the Shepherdstown Troop, both from Shepherdstown, -Va., came in. At dusk three uniformed companies from Frederick, Md., -appeared, followed later in the evening by a Winchester, Va., company -under R. B. Washington, and five companies of the Maryland Volunteers -under General Stewart from Baltimore. None of them made any attempt to -dislodge Brown and his men from the enginehouse, but all added to the -general confusion and hysteria gripping the town. - - [Illustration: The attack on the enginehouse by Baltimore and Ohio - Railroad employees led by Capt. E. G. Alburtis is shown in this - contemporary engraving from _Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper_. - Alburtis' attack failed to dislodge the raiders, but his men did - manage to free several of Brown's hostages.] - -On the other side of the Potomac, Cook, Owen Brown, Barclay Coppoc, -Meriam, Tidd, and several Negroes had been transferring weapons to a -tiny schoolhouse midway between Harpers Ferry and the Kennedy farm. As -the day wore on and the firing from town became heavier, they began to -suspect that something might have gone wrong. At about 4 p.m. Cook -headed for the B & O bridge to see what was happening. To get a better -vantage point, he climbed the craggy face of Maryland Heights where he -could look directly into the center of the town. Seeing that his -compatriots were "completely surrounded," he decided to try to take some -of the pressure off by firing across the river at men posted in the -houses along High Street overlooking the armory. His shot was instantly -answered by a volley of bullets that severed a branch he was clutching -for support and sent him tumbling down the rocky cliff. Badly cut and -bruised from the fall, he limped back to the schoolhouse and joined the -others. Realizing there was nothing they could do to aid their comrades -trapped in the enginehouse, they reluctantly gathered their belongings, -climbed the mountain and headed north. - - [Illustration: Stewart Taylor] - - [Illustration: John A. Copeland] - - [Illustration: Jeremiah G. Anderson] - -Time was quickly running out for John Brown. As resistance became -partially organized at Harpers Ferry, steps were taken to seal off any -possibility of support reaching the raiders. Fearing that Brown's raid -might be part of a general uprising, all approaches to the town were -guarded, and all travelers not familiar to residents of the area were -immediately arrested and shipped off to the county jail at Charles Town. - -As night approached, the firing sputtered out. Brown, knowing escape was -impossible, again attempted to bargain for freedom. In verbal and -written pleas he offered to release his hostages if he and his men were -allowed to leave unmolested. Col. Robert W. Taylor, now commanding the -Virginia militia units at Harpers Ferry, rejected the offers, sending -back word that if the prisoners were immediately released he would let -the Government deal with Brown and his men. But the old abolitionist -would not yield, and prisoners, slaves, and raiders alike settled down, -as best they could, to what would be a long and depressing night. - -Brown paced up and down like a caged tiger. It had been hours since he -or any of them had tasted food or drink. The cold night air chilled -their bones and the pungent odor of gunpowder stung their nostrils. The -large-scale slave support that he had counted upon and for which the -pikes were intended had not materialized. This was largely his own -doing, however, for in his desire for absolute secrecy he had given no -advance word that he was coming. The slaves had no idea that a raid was -in progress. The few his men had picked up at the Washington and -Allstadt farms were of no use to him. They were frightened and preferred -to remain with the white hostages rather than take an active part in -their own salvation. Most likely they would not have joined him at all -had they not been taken from their homes at gunpoint. - -From time to time Brown called out, "Men, are you awake?" Only five of -the raiders were still unwounded and able to hold a rifle: Brown -himself, Edwin Coppoc, J. G. Anderson, Dauphin Thompson, and Shields -Green. Stewart Taylor, the Canadian soldier of fortune, lay dead in a -corner, his presentiment of death come true. He had been shot like -Oliver Brown while standing at the enginehouse doorway. Oliver himself, -writhing in pain, begged to be killed and put out of his misery. "If you -must die, then die like a man," snapped his father. After awhile Oliver -was quiet. "I guess he is dead," Brown said. Nearby, Watson Brown lay -quietly breathing his last. The attack that had begun but 24 hours -before was fast coming to an end. - - - - - THE TRAP IS SPRUNG - - -The somberness that permeated the fire enginehouse contrasted sharply -with the din outside. Hundreds of militiamen and townspeople jammed the -streets, which echoed with whoops and yells. Anxious and hysterical -friends and relatives of Brown's hostages added to the confusion. While -the quasi-military operations ended at nightfall, the non-military -activities continued with increasing fervor. The bars in the Wager House -and Gault House Saloon were enjoying an unprecedented business. Many men -were intoxicated, and they fired their guns wildly into the air and -occasionally at the enginehouse. All semblance of order was gone and the -"wildest excitement" prevailed throughout the night. - - [Illustration: Albert Hazlett] - - [Illustration: Osborn P. Anderson] - -During this confusion two of Brown's men made their escape. Of the -raiders caught in Harpers Ferry when the Jefferson Guards seized the B & -O bridge at midday on October 17, Albert Hazlett and Osborn P. Anderson, -occupying the arsenal, went unnoticed during the day. At night they -crept out, mingled with the disorderly crowds, crossed the Potomac into -Maryland, and fled north. - -Into the midst of the chaos created by the drunken and disorderly -militia and townspeople marched 90 U.S. Marines led by a 52-year-old -Army colonel, Robert E. Lee. Lee had been at his home in Arlington, Va., -that afternoon when Lt. J. E. B. Stuart brought him secret orders to -report to the War Department at once. There President Buchanan and -Secretary of War Floyd told him of Brown's attack and ordered him to -leave immediately for Harpers Ferry with the only Federal troops readily -available, a detachment of Marines at the Washington Navy Yard. Upon his -arrival at Harpers Ferry, Lee was to take command of all forces in the -town. Lieutenant Stuart, scenting excitement, asked for and received -permission to accompany Lee, who, in the hurry of departure, had no time -to return home and don his uniform. - -The Marines, under the immediate command of Lt. Israel Green, left -Washington before Lee and arrived at Sandy Hook in late afternoon. Lee -and Stuart joined them at 10:30 p.m. Marching into Harpers Ferry, the -Marines entered the armory yard about 11 p.m. and replaced the -disorganized militia. Lee would have ordered an immediate attack on the -enginehouse "But for the fear of sacrificing the lives of some of the -gentlemen held ... as prisoners...." - -About 2:30 a.m., October 18, Lee wrote a surrender demand and handed it -to Stuart for delivery to Brown under a white flag when so directed. He -hoped that the raider chieftain could be persuaded to surrender -peaceably and avoid further bloodshed, but he expected that he would be -taken only by force and laid his plans accordingly. In the early morning -hours, Lee, believing the raid to be chiefly aimed against State -authority and not the Federal Government, offered the honor of -assaulting the enginehouse to Colonel Shriver of the Maryland -Volunteers. Shriver declined. "These men of mine have wives and -children," he said. "I will not expose them to such risks. You are paid -for doing this kind of work." Lee then offered the task to Colonel -Baylor of the Virginia militia. Baylor promptly declined it for the same -reasons. Lieutenant Green was then asked if he wished "the honor of -taking those men out." Green lifted his cap, thanked Lee, and picked a -storming party of 12 men. He instructed them to use only their bayonets, -as bullets might injure some of the hostages. - - [Illustration: Trapped inside the armory enginehouse, the raiders - and their hostages await the attack by U.S. Marines under Col. - Robert E. Lee.] - -By 7 a.m. there was enough light for operations. All arrangements for -the assault had been completed. The militia formed up outside the armory -wall to keep the street clear of spectators and to prevent -indiscriminate firing that might injure the storming party. The Marines -took position at the northwest corner of the enginehouse, just out of -the line of fire from the door. Then Lieutenant Stuart moved forward -with the surrender demand. Brown opened the door a few inches and placed -his body against the crack so the lieutenant could not see inside. He -held a cocked rifle in one hand. Stuart read the terms offered by Lee: - - Colonel Lee, United States Army, commanding troops sent by the - President of the United States to suppress the insurrection at this - place, demands the surrender of the persons in the Armory buildings. - If they will peaceably surrender themselves and restore the pillaged - property, they shall be kept in safety to await the orders of the - President. Col. Lee represents to them, in all frankness, that it is - impossible for them to escape; that the Armory is surrounded on all - sides by troops; and that if he is compelled to take them by force he - cannot answer for their safety. - - Robert E. Lee and J. E. B. Stuart are pictured here about the time - of the raid. - - [Illustration: Robert E. Lee] - - [Illustration: This little-known portrait of Stuart shows him in - civilian dress and with trimmed beard.] - -According to Stuart, the parley was "a long one." Brown refused to -surrender. Instead he presented his own propositions "in every possible -shape, and with admirable tact," insisting that he, his men, and his -hostages be permitted to cross the river unmolested. - -Stuart, instructed not to accept any counter-proposals, sensed that -further discussion was useless. Stepping back from the door, he waved -his hat, a pre-arranged signal for the Marines to attack. Brown slammed -the door shut and the troops came on. Three men with sledge hammers -pounded the center door of the enginehouse, but it would not yield; the -raiders had placed the fire engines against it. Spotting a heavy ladder -nearby, Lieutenant Green directed his men to use it as a battering-ram. -On the second blow the door splintered and a small opening was effected. - - [Illustration: Lt. Israel Green led the Marine attack on the - enginehouse and was the first man to enter the building.] - - [Illustration: The engraving below shows the Marines battering the - enginehouse door while under fire from raiders inside.] - -Lieutenant Green was the first man through. Maj. W. W. Russell, armed -only with a rattan cane, followed immediately. Pvt. Luke Quinn squeezed -through behind Russell and fell dead at the door, shot through his -groin. Another Marine, Pvt. Mathew Ruppert, stepped over Quinn, then -dropped his gun and clawed his face in pain where a bullet had torn -through his cheek. The rest of the storming party entered without -injury. - -The hostages cowered at the rear of the building; Brown knelt between -the fire engines, rifle in hand. As Green came through the row of -engines, Colonel Washington greeted him and pointed at Brown. Green -raised his sword and brought it down with all his strength, cutting a -deep wound in the back of the raider chieftain's neck. As Brown fell, -Green lunged with his sword, striking part of the raider's accouterments -and bending the blade double. Green then showered blow after blow upon -Brown's head until he fell unconscious. Two of the raiders were killed -almost immediately after the Marines entered the building: Dauphin -Thompson, pinned against the rear wall by a bayonet, and Jeremiah -Anderson, run through by a saber as he sought refuge under one of the -fire engines. Edwin Coppoc and Shields Green surrendered. The fight was -over in about 3 minutes. - - [Illustration: After their capture, Brown and his surviving men were - placed under guard outside the enginehouse, where they were - subjected to taunts and threats of angry militia and townspeople.] - -None of the hostages was injured, although Lieutenant Green considered -them the "sorriest lot of people I ever saw." The dead, dying, and -wounded raiders were carried outside and laid in a row on the grass. As -Brown slowly regained consciousness, the Marines had trouble keeping -back the throngs of militia and townspeople who wanted to see the -wounded raider leader. After noon, Brown and Stevens, still suffering -from the wounds he received on October 17, were carried to the -paymaster's office where a group of inquisitors, including Virginia's -Governor Henry A. Wise and Senator James M. Mason, and Ohio Congressman -Clement L. Vallandigham, questioned them for 3 hours in an effort to -learn their purpose and the names of their supporters in the North. - -During the interrogation Brown lay on the floor, his hair matted and -tangled, his face, hands, and clothes soiled and smeared with blood. He -talked freely, and while he readily admitted his intention to free the -slaves, "and only that," he refused to divulge the names of his Northern -backers. "No man sent me here," he said; "it was my own prompting and -that of my Maker, or that of the devil, whichever you ascribe it to. I -acknowledge no man in human form." He continued: - - I want you to understand, gentlemen ... that I respect the rights of - the poorest and 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 expect no - reward, except the 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 has - prompted me to come here. - -Brown then issued a prophetic warning: - - I wish to say furthermore, that you had better--all you people at the - South--prepare yourselves for a settlement of that 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. - - - - - JOHN BROWN'S BODY - - -The day after their capture, Brown and his surviving followers--Stevens, -Edwin Coppoc, Shields Green, and John Copeland--were taken to Charles -Town under heavy guard and lodged in the county jail. The cell doors had -hardly banged shut when they learned that they were to receive speedy -trials. The grand jury was then in session, and the semiannual term of -the circuit court, presided over by Judge Richard Parker, had begun. - -The five raiders were arraigned on October 25, just one week after their -capture. The next day they were indicted for treason against the -Commonwealth of Virginia, for conspiring with slaves to rebel, and for -murder. Each defendant pleaded "Not guilty" and each asked for a -separate trial. The court consented and elected to try Brown first. Two -court-appointed attorneys, 36-year-old Lawson Botts, who had helped to -capture the raiders, and Thomas C. Green, the 39-year-old Mayor of -Charles Town, were called upon to defend him. Charles Harding, -Commonwealth Attorney for Jefferson County, and Andrew Hunter, a veteran -Charles Town lawyer, served as prosecutors for the State. - -The trial began on October 27. It lasted 3-1/2 days. Still suffering -from his wounds, Brown was carried back and forth from jail to -courthouse, and lay on a cot during much of the proceedings. Judge -Parker had hardly brought the court to order when defense counsel Botts -astounded the packed courtroom (including Brown himself) by reading a -telegram from A. H. Lewis of Akron, Ohio, dated October 26: - - John Brown, leader of the insurrection at Harper's Ferry, and several - of his family, have resided in this county for many years. Insanity is - hereditary in that family. His mother's sister died with it, and a - daughter of that sister has been two years in a Lunatic Asylum. A son - and daughter of his mother's brother have also been confined in the - lunatic asylum, and another son of that brother is now insane and - under close restraint. These facts can be conclusively proven by - witnesses residing here, who will doubtless attend the trial if - desired. - - [Illustration: John Brown was tried in the courthouse at Charles - Town, about 10 miles from Harpers Ferry. The trial was presided over - by the Hon. Richard Parker (below), circuit judge for Jefferson - County.] - - [Illustration: Richard Parker] - -After receiving the telegram, Botts had gone to the jail to talk with -Brown about it. The raider leader had readily admitted that there were -instances of insanity in his mother's side of the family (in fact, his -mother had died insane), but asserted that there was none at all on his -father's side. He said his first wife had shown symptoms of it, as had -two of their sons, Frederick and John, Jr. Clearly, by introducing the -Lewis telegram, the defense hoped to save Brown's life by having him -declared insane and committed to an institution. But the old -abolitionist refused to sanction such a plea. Rising up on his cot, he -exclaimed: - - I will add, if the Court will allow me, that I look upon it as a - miserable artifice and pretext of those who ought to take a different - course in regard to me, if they took any at all, and I view it with - contempt more than otherwise. As I remarked to Mr. Green, insane - persons, so far as my experience goes, have but little ability to - judge of their own sanity; and, if I am insane, of course I should - think I know more than all the rest of the world. But I do not think - so. I am perfectly unconscious of insanity, and I reject, so far as I - am capable, any attempt to interfere in my behalf on that score. - - Lawson Botts and Thomas C. Green were appointed by the court to - defend the raider leader. Brown, however, did not trust them to - provide him an adequate defense. - - [Illustration: Lawson Botts.] - - [Illustration: Thomas C. Green.] - - Brown had more faith in the three lawyers provided by his Northern - friends. Their efforts to save him from the gallows, however, proved - fruitless. - - [Illustration: George Hoyt, shown here as an officer during the - Civil War.] - - [Illustration: Samuel Chilton.] - - [Illustration: Hiram Griswold.] - -Judge Parker ruled out the insanity plea on the basis that the evidence -had not been presented in a reliable form. He also rejected Bott's -request for a delay in the proceedings to allow new counsel of Brown's -own choosing to come from Ohio. The trial continued. - -The defense lawyers were increased to three when George Hoyt joined -Botts and Green. Hoyt, a 21-year-old Boston lawyer, was sent to Charles -Town by some of Brown's Northern supporters ostensibly to defend the -raider chieftain; his real mission was to gather information that might -be useful to those plotting Brown's escape. - -As the trial progressed, Brown became more and more irritated with his -court-appointed lawyers and openly expressed his lack of confidence in -them. Botts and Green thereupon withdrew, leaving Hoyt, the woefully -inexperienced "beardless boy" who was entirely unacquainted with the -code and procedure of the Virginia courts and knowing very little about -the case, burdened with the sole responsibility for conducting the -defense in one of the most sensational trials the country had ever -witnessed. He was soon reinforced, however, by more seasoned counsel. -Samuel Chilton of Washington, D.C., and Hiram Griswold of Cleveland, -Ohio, were persuaded by Brown's influential friends to join the fight to -save the abolitionist's life. But their arrival made little difference; -the outcome of the trial was inevitable. - -The prosecution's parade of witnesses recounted the story of the attack -on Harpers Ferry, the arming of the slaves, and the deaths of Hayward -Shepherd, Fontaine Beckham, and George W. Turner. Brown's contention -that, as commander in chief of a provisional army, he should be tried -according to the laws of war and not as a common criminal was rejected. -Other arguments offered by the defense met with equally fruitless -results. Finally, on October 31, closing arguments by the prosecution -and the defense were heard and at 1:45 p.m. the case went to the jury. -Deliberations lasted for 45 minutes. The verdict: guilty on all three -counts. A newspaper correspondent described the reaction: - - Not the slightest sound was heard in the 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 upon 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 previous days, turned to adjust his pallet, - and then composedly stretched himself upon it. - - [Illustration: Andrew Hunter, special prosecutor for the State of - Virginia, vowed to see Brown "arraigned, tried, found guilty, - sentenced and hung, all within ten days."] - - [Illustration: The courtroom in which Brown was tried was not as - large as this drawing would indicate, but it was packed with - witnesses and spectators. Brown lay on a cot during most of the - proceedings, rising only occasionally to make a point in his - defense.] - - [Illustration: Jefferson County Sheriff James Campbell.] - - [Illustration: The jailer, John Avis.] - -Sentence was passed on November 2: John Brown would hang on Friday, -December 2, 1859. The other raiders--Coppoc, Stevens, Copeland, and -Green--were tried subsequently, found guilty, and received like -sentences. Of the seven raiders who escaped from Harpers Ferry, John -Cook and Albert Hazlett were captured in Pennsylvania, brought to -Charles Town for trial, convicted, and hanged. - -In the days following Brown's sentencing, Virginia's Governor Wise was -swamped with mail. Many letters pleaded for clemency, some contained -outright threats, while others warned of fantastic plots to effect the -abolitionist's escape. Martial law was declared in Charles Town. -Militiamen were everywhere, and armed patrols kept a vigilant watch on -all roads leading into town. The day of execution came, and not one of -the schemes to free Brown materialized. - - [Illustration: Henry A. Wise, Governor of Virginia] - - [Illustration: Proclamation] - - - - - PROCLAMATION! - -IN pursuance of instructions from the Governor of Virginia, notice is -hereby given to all whom it may concern, - - -That, as heretofore, particularly from now until after Friday next the -2nd of December, STRANGERS found within the County of Jefferson, and -Counties adjacent, having no known and proper business here, and who -cannot give a satisfactory account of themselves, will be at once -arrested. - -That on, and for a proper period before that day, stangers[sic] and -especially parties, approaching under the pretext of being present at -the execution of John Brown, whether by Railroad or otherwise, will be -met by the Military and turned back or arrested without regard to the -amount of force, that may be required to effect this, and during the -said period and especially on the 2nd of December, the citizens of -Jefferson and the surrounding country are _EMPHATICALLY_ warned to -remain at their homes armed and guard their own property. - -On the afternoon before the execution, Brown's grief-stricken wife was -allowed to visit him in his cell. They spent several hours talking. -Toward evening they parted, and Mary Brown went to Harpers Ferry to -await the delivery of her husband's body. It would be her agonizing duty -to return Brown's remains to their North Elba home for burial. - -A few minutes after 11 a.m. on December 2, 1859, John Brown walked down -the steps of the Charles Town jail, climbed into the back of a -horse-drawn wagon, and sat down on his own coffin. Flanked by files of -soldiers, the wagon moved off toward a field a short distance from the -town where a scaffold had been erected. No civilians were permitted near -the execution site. The field was ringed by 1,500 soldiers, among them a -company of Virginia Military Institute cadets commanded by a -stern-looking professor who would soon gain fame and immortality as the -Confederate Gen. "Stonewall" Jackson. In the ranks of a Richmond company -stood another man who, in a few short years, would also achieve -immortality by committing one of the most infamous deeds in American -history--John Wilkes Booth. - - [Illustration: With soldiers lining the streets, John Brown comes - down the steps of the Charles Town jail on the way to his execution, - December 2, 1859. The wagon containing his coffin stands nearby.] - -As the hushed military watched, Brown climbed the scaffold steps. -Sheriff John W. Campbell pulled a white linen hood over the prisoner's -head and set the noose. John Avis, the jailer, asked Brown to step -forward onto the trap. "You must lead me," Brown replied, "for I cannot -see." The abolitionist's last words were directed to Avis as one final -adjustment of the noose was made. "Be quick," he said. - -At 11:30 a hatchet stroke sprung the trap and John Brown died. The voice -of a militia colonel broke the stillness: "So perish all such enemies of -Virginia! All such enemies of the Union! All such enemies of the human -race!" - -But the end was not yet. True, Brown was dead; but he had helped to -arouse popular passions both North and South to the point where -compromise would be impossible. The raid created a national furor and -generated a wave of emotionalism that widened the sectional breach that -had divided the country for so many years. Although conservative -Northern opinion quickly condemned the raid as the work of a madman, the -more radical hailed it as "the best news America ever had" and glorified -Brown as "the new saint" whose martyrdom in the cause of human freedom -would make the gallows "glorious like the cross." - - [Illustration: The hanging of John Brown took place at 11:30 a.m., - December 2, 1859, in a field just outside Charles Town. The field no - longer exists, but the site is identified by a simple stone marker.] - -Southerners shuddered. For decades they had been defending their -"peculiar institution" of slavery against the ever-increasing attacks of -Northern abolitionists, but anti-slavery agitation had always followed a -course of non-violence. Then Brown had come with his pikes and guns to -change all that. In the false atmosphere of crisis that gripped the -South in the wake of the raid, the small voices of moderates were lost -in the din of extremists who saw Brown's act as part of a vast Northern -conspiracy to instigate servile insurrections throughout the slave -States. - -To meet this threat, real or imagined, vigilance committees were formed, -volunteer military companies were organized, and more and more -Southerners began to echo the sentiments of the Richmond Enquirer: "if -under the form of a Confederacy our peace is disturbed, our State -invaded, its peaceful citizens cruelly murdered ... by those who should -be our warmest friends ... and the people of the North sustain the -outrage, then let disunion come." - -Disunion sentiment increased during the presidential campaign of 1860, -stimulated by a split in the Democratic Party that practically -guaranteed a Republican victory in the November elections. When Abraham -Lincoln was elected President, the secessionist movement could no longer -be contained. On December 20, unable to tolerate a President "whose -opinions and purposes are hostile to slavery," South Carolina severed -her ties with the Union. By February 1, 1861, Mississippi, Florida, -Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas had followed her lead. One week -later the Confederate States of America was formed at Montgomery, Ala., -and the country drifted slowly toward civil war. Before many months had -passed, soldiers in blue would be marching south to the tune of "John -Brown's Body" as if to fulfill the prophecy Brown had left in a note to -one of his Charles Town guards shortly before the execution: - - [Illustration: Charlestown, Va, 2^d, december, 1859 I John Brown am - now 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.] - - - - - EPILOGUE - - -The war that John Brown predicted would come, and which his raid helped -to precipitate, began in April 1861. When it ended almost 4 years to the -day later, slavery had been destroyed along with some 600,000 lives and -millions of dollars worth of property. Among the casualties of the war -was Harpers Ferry. The town's strategic position on the Baltimore and -Ohio Railroad at the northern end of the Shenandoah Valley made it a -prime target for both Union and Confederate forces. It changed hands -again and again, and by war's end in 1865 the place was a shambles. - -As early as February 1862 a young Union staff officer assigned to the -Harpers Ferry area could write of the town: "The appearance of ruin by -war and fire was awful. Charred ruins were all that remain of the -splendid public works, arsenals, workshops and railroads, stores, -hotels, and dwelling houses all mingled in one common destruction." Much -the same observation was made 3 years later in the summer of 1865 by -John T. Trowbridge, a New England writer, during a tour of the South: -"[T]he town is the reverse of agreeable. It is said to have been a -pleasant and picturesque place formerly. The streets were well graded, -and the hill-sides above were graced with terraces and trees. But war -has changed all. Freshets tear down the centre of the streets, and the -hill-sides present only ragged growths of weeds. The town itself lies -half in ruins.... Of the bridge across the Shenandoah only the ruined -piers are left; still less remains of the old bridge over the Potomac. -And all about the town are rubbish, filth and stench." - -The once-imposing armory complex along the Potomac River and the rifle -works on Hall Island in the Shenandoah were burned-out hulks. Only the -armory enginehouse remained basically intact, "like a monument which no -Rebel hands were permitted to demolish." Large sections of the town had -been burned by various troop contingents to prevent their use by enemy -soldiers. Many homes, churches, schools, and business establishments -were damaged beyond repair by shot and shell fired from the surrounding -heights. Still other buildings, subjected to long military use, were on -the verge of ruin. The industries on Virginius Island--the iron foundry, -the flour mill, the sawmill, the machine shops, the cotton mill--were -also gone, and Harpers Ferry no longer had the activity and bustle of an -economically healthy community. - -Besides the material damage inflicted by powerful weaponry and by the -seemingly endless procession of soldiers who filched or requisitioned -everything that could be carried away, the town suffered an even greater -loss--its people. During the war most of the townspeople moved away, -some to escape the dangers of military operations, some to seek -employment elsewhere after the armory and the industries were destroyed, -and some to join one or the other opposing armies. Many never came back. -Those who did return found their town in ruins and themselves the -citizens of a new State. - -In 1861 the people in the mountainous western counties of Virginia -strongly opposed secession. When the rest of the State voted -overwhelmingly in a statewide referendum on May 23, 1861, to withdraw -from the Federal Union, the loyal western residents, in a series of -conventions at Wheeling, voted to "secede" from Virginia and set up -their own State. The bill for admission passed Congress on December 11, -1862, and on June 30, 1863, by Presidential proclamation, West Virginia -became the 35th State. For years, however, many Jefferson County -residents refused to use "West" as part of the designation. - -Harpers Ferry never recovered from the devastation of the Civil War. -Staring at the stark chimneys and charred remains of once impressive -buildings, one of the townspeople concluded: "This place will never be -anything again unless the government rebuilds the armory--and it is -doubtful if that is ever done." The Government never did, and the ground -on which it stood was auctioned off in 1869. Mills and factories -remained closed. The railroad did a small percentage of its previous -business. Hopes for a renewal of the town's former prosperity were -dashed in 1870 when a flood destroyed or badly damaged nearly every -building on Virginius Island and along the south side of Shenandoah -Street. Subsequent floods destroyed still more of the town and ruined -the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. The canal was finally abandoned after the -flood of 1924. - -Inundated too often by high water, the residents of Harpers Ferry -eventually left the old buildings in the lower town and moved up the -heights to the high ground of Camp Hill and toward Bolivar. For years -the old shops and stores, those that remained, stood empty, neglected, -and deteriorating. When Harpers Ferry became a national historical area, -the National Park Service began an intensive campaign to preserve the -fragile remains of the 18th- and 19th-century industries, homes, -churches, stores, and shops, and to restore much of the old town to its -pre-Civil War appearance, a time when it was at its peak as a thriving, -bustling industrial community and transportation center. - -Today, while much of the old historical town remains, few of the -structures that figured prominently in John Brown's raid survive. (See -maps on pp. 29 and 30.) The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad bridge across -the Potomac, by which Brown and his raiders entered Harpers Ferry in -October 1859, was destroyed by Confederate soldiers early in the Civil -War. More modern structures span the river now, but the stone supports -of the old bridge can still be seen. Nothing at all remains of the -bridge across the Shenandoah. The stone piers now standing in the river -near the Point section of the town are from a later structure. - -The ruins of the armory buildings stood for many years after the war and -eventually disappeared. In 1893 the site itself disappeared under 30 -feet of fill when the B & O Railroad changed the line of its tracks. The -outlines of two of the armory buildings have been marked by flat stones -and the spot where the enginehouse was located is marked by a small -monument. The enginehouse itself (now called "John Brown's Fort") stands -nearby on the old arsenal grounds, and is little changed from its -appearance at the time of the raid. Here also can be seen the excavated -remains of the small U.S. arsenal and some of the partially exposed -burned muskets destroyed when the building was gutted by Federal troops -in April 1861. - -In February 1862 Federal soldiers burned the Point area of Harpers Ferry -to keep Confederate sharpshooters from using the buildings. Among the -structures destroyed were the railroad depot, the water tower around -which Mayor Fontaine Beckham was peering when he was shot by one of the -raiders, several stores and shops, the Potomac Restaurant, the Wager -House Hotel, and the Gault House Saloon. The Wager House (not to be -confused with another structure of the same name that still exists) was -the scene of several notable events. It was here that many of the -wounded were carried, including two of the raiders, Aaron Stevens and -William Thompson. Many of the militiamen did their "best fighting" at -its bar. From the Wager House porch, Gov. Henry Wise of Virginia read -letters taken from Brown's men to the angered townspeople. Wise also -lived here during his brief stay in Harpers Ferry. Mrs. John Brown -stayed here when she came to Harpers Ferry in December 1859 for her last -visit with her husband, and it was here that she received his body after -the execution. - -The Shenandoah islands are deserted today except for the line of the -Winchester and Potomac Railroad. All of the buildings are gone now -except for the foundations of some of the mills and the retaining walls -of the rifle factory, nestled in among the weeds, brush, and trees. Many -disappeared through neglect after the industries were destroyed during -the Civil War, some washed away in the many floods with which Harpers -Ferry has been plagued, and others, like Herr's flour mill and the rifle -works, were deliberately destroyed by Union and Confederate troops. - -Several structures associated with the raid still exist outside Harpers -Ferry. The courthouse at Charles Town, W. Va., is little changed since -John Brown was tried and sentenced there more than a century ago. The -Kennedy farm, Brown's headquarters during the months he was planning the -raid, lies in the Maryland countryside about 5 miles from Harpers Ferry. -Col. Lewis Washington's home, "Beallair," which several raiders broke -into on the night of October 16 and took its owner hostage, stands near -Halltown, about 4 miles west of Harpers Ferry. And nearby, at the foot -of Alstadt Hill, west of Bolivar, is the home of John H. Alstadt, -another hostage taken by Brown's men on October 16. - - - - - APPENDIX - The Capture of John Brown[1] - by Israel Green - - -At noon of Monday, October 18, 1859, Chief Clerk Walsh, of the Navy -Department, drove rapidly into the Washington Navy-yard, and, meeting -me, asked me how many marines we had stationed at the barracks available -for immediate duty. I happened to be the senior officer present and in -command that day. I instantly replied to Mr. Walsh that we had ninety -men available, and then asked him what was the trouble. He told me that -Ossawatomie Brown, of Kansas, with a number of men, had taken the -arsenal at Harper's Ferry, and was then besieged there by the Virginia -State troops. Mr. Walsh returned speedily to the Navy Department -building, and, in the course of an hour, orders came to me from -Secretary Tousey to proceed at once to Harper's Ferry and report to the -senior officer; and, if there should be no such officer at the Ferry, to -take charge and protect the government property. With a detachment of -ninety marines, I started for Harper's Ferry that afternoon on the 3:30 -train, taking with me two howitzers. It was a beautiful, clear autumn -day, and the men, exhilarated by the excitement of the occasion, which -came after a long, dull season of confinement in the barracks, enjoyed -the trip exceedingly. - -At Frederick Junction I received a dispatch from Colonel Robert E. Lee, -who turned out to be the army officer to whom I was to report. He -directed me to proceed to Sandy Hook, a small place about a mile this -side of the Ferry, and there await his arrival. At ten o'clock in the -evening he came up on a special train from Washington. His first order -was to form the marines out of the car, and march from the bridge to -Harper's Ferry. This we did, entering the enclosure of the arsenal -grounds through a back gate. At eleven o'clock Colonel Lee ordered the -volunteers to march out of the grounds, and gave the control inside to -the marines, with instructions to see that none of the insurgents -escaped during the night. There had been hard fighting all the preceding -day, and Brown and his men kept quiet during the night. At half-past six -in the morning Colonel Lee gave me orders to select a detail of twelve -men for a storming party, and place them near the engine-house in which -Brown and his men had intrenched themselves. I selected twelve of my -best men, and a second twelve to be employed as a reserve. The -engine-house was a strong stone [actually brick] building, which is -still in a good state of preservation at the Ferry, in spite of the -three days' fighting in the building by Brown and his men, and the -ravages of the recent war between the States. The building was ... -perhaps thirty feet by thirty-five. In the front were two large double -doors, between which was a stone abutment. Within were two -old-fashioned, heavy fire-engines, with a hose-cart and reel standing -between them, and just back of the abutment between the doors. They were -double-battened doors, very strongly made, with heavy wrought-iron -nails. Lieutenant J. E. B. Stewart [Stuart], afterwards famous as a -cavalry commander on the side of the South, accompanied Colonel Lee as a -volunteer aid. He was ordered to go with a part of the troops to the -front of the engine-house and demand the surrender of the insurgent -party. Colonel Lee directed him to offer protection to Brown and his -men, but to receive no counter-proposition from Brown in regard to the -surrender. On the way to the engine-house, Stewart and myself agreed -upon a signal for attack in the event that Brown should refuse to -surrender. It was simply that Lieutenant Stewart would wave his hat, -which was then, I believe, one very similar to the famous chapeau which -he wore throughout the war. I had my storming party ranged alongside of -the engine-house, and a number of men were provided with sledge-hammers -with which to batter in the doors. I stood in front of the abutment -between the doors. Stewart hailed Brown and called for his surrender, -but Brown at once began to make a proposition that he and his men should -be allowed to come out of the engine-house and be given the length of -the bridge start, so that they might escape. Suddenly Lieutenant Stewart -waved his hat, and I gave the order to my men to batter in the door. -Those inside fired rapidly at the point where the blows were given upon -the door. Very little impression was made with the hammers, as the doors -were tied on the inside with ropes and braced by the hand-brakes of the -fire-engines, and in a few minutes I gave the order to desist. Just then -my eye caught sight of a ladder, lying a few feet from the engine-house, -in the yard, and I ordered my men to catch it up and use it as a -battering-ram. The reserve of twelve men I employed as a supporting -column for the assaulting party. The men took hold bravely and made a -tremendous assault upon the door. The second blow broke it in. This -entrance was a ragged hole low down in the right-hand door, the door -being splintered and cracked some distance upward. I instantly stepped -from my position in front of the stone abutment, and entered the opening -made by the ladder. At the time I did not stop to think of it, but upon -reflection I should say that Brown had just emptied his carbine at the -point broken by the ladder, and so I passed in safely. Getting to my -feet, I ran to the right of the engine which stood behind the door, -passed quickly to the rear of the house, and came up between the two -engines. The first person I saw was Colonel Lewis Washington, who was -standing near the hose-cart, at the front of the engine-house. On one -knee, a few feet to the left, knelt a man with a carbine in his hand, -just pulling the lever to reload. - -"Hello, Green," said Colonel Washington, and he reached out his hand to -me. I grasped it with my left hand, having my saber uplifted in my -right, and he said, pointing to the kneeling figure, "This is -Ossawatomie." - -As he said this, Brown turned his head to see who it was to whom Colonel -Washington was speaking. Quicker than thought I brought my saber down -with all my strength upon his head. He was moving as the blow fell, and -I suppose I did not strike him where I intended, for he received a deep -saber cut in the back of the neck. He fell senseless on his side, then -rolled over on his back. He had in his hand a short Sharpe's-cavalry -carbine. I think he had just fired as I reached Colonel Washington, for -the marine who followed me into the aperture made by the ladder received -a bullet in the abdomen, from which he died in a few minutes. The shot -might have been fired by some one else in the insurgent party, but I -think it was from Brown. Instinctively as Brown fell I gave him a saber -thrust in the left breast. The sword I carried was a light uniform -weapon, and, either not having a point or striking something hard in -Brown's accouterments, did not penetrate. The blade bent double. - -By that time three or four of my men were inside. They came rushing in -like tigers, as a storming assault is not a play-day sport. They -bayoneted one man skulking under the engine, and pinned another fellow -up against the rear wall, both being instantly killed. I ordered the men -to spill no more blood. The other insurgents were at once taken under -arrest, and the contest ended. The whole fight had not lasted over three -minutes. My only thought was to capture, or, if necessary, kill, the -insurgents, and take possession of the engine-house. - -I saw very little of the situation within until the fight was over. Then -I observed that the engine-house was thick with smoke, and it was with -difficulty that a person could be seen across the room. In the rear, -behind the left-hand engine, were huddled the prisoners whom Brown had -captured and held as hostages for the safety of himself and his men. -Colonel Washington was one of these. All during the fight, as I -understood afterward, he kept to the front of the engine-house. When I -met him he was as cool as he would have been on his own veranda -entertaining guests. He was naturally a very brave man. I remember that -he would not come out of the engine-house, begrimed and soiled as he was -from his long imprisonment, until he had put a pair of kid gloves upon -his hands. The other prisoners were the sorriest lot of people I ever -saw. They had been without food for over sixty hours, in constant dread -of being shot, and were huddled up in the corner where lay the body of -Brown's son and one or two others of the insurgents who had been killed. -Some of them have endeavored to give an account of the storming of the -engine-house and the capture of Brown, but none of the reports have been -free from a great many misstatements, and I suppose that Colonel -Washington and myself were the only persons really able to say what was -done. Other stories have been printed by people on the outside, -describing the fight within. What they say must be taken with a great -deal of allowance, for they could not have been witnesses of what -occurred within the engine-house. One recent account describes me as -jumping over the right-hand engine more like a wild beast than a -soldier. Of course nothing of the kind happened. The report made by -Colonel Lee at the time, which is now on file in the War department, -gives a more succinct and detailed account than any I have seen. - -I can see Colonel Lee now, as he stood on a slight elevation about forty -feet from the engine-house, during the assault. He was in civilian -dress, and looked then very little as he did during the war. He wore no -beard, except a dark mustache, and his hair was slightly gray. He had no -arms upon his person, and treated the affair as one of no very great -consequence, which would be speedily settled by the marines. A part of -the scene, giving color and life to the picture, was the bright blue -uniform of the marines. They wore blue trousers then, as they do now, -and a dark-blue frock-coat. Their belts were white, and they wore French -fatigue caps. I do not remember the names of the twelve men in the -storming party, nor can I tell what became of them in later life. We had -no use for the howitzers, and, in fact, they were not taken from the -car. - -Immediately after the fight, Brown was carried out of the engine-house, -and recovered consciousness while lying on the ground in front. A detail -of men carried him up to the paymaster's office, where he was attended -to and his wants supplied. On the following day, Wednesday, with an -escort, I removed him to Charleston [Charles Town], and turned him over -to the civil authorities. No handcuffs were placed upon him, and he -supported himself with a self-reliance and independence which were -characteristic of the man. He had recovered a great deal from the -effects of the blow from my saber, the injury of which was principally -the shock, as he only received a flesh wound. I had little conversation -with him, and spent very little time with him. - -I have often been asked to describe Brown's appearance at the instant he -lifted his head to see who was talking with Colonel Washington. It would -be impossible for me to do so. The whole scene passed so rapidly that it -hardly made a distinct impression upon my mind. I can only recall the -fleeting picture of an old man kneeling with a carbine in his hand, with -a long gray beard falling away from his face, looking quickly and keenly -toward the danger that he was aware had come upon him. He was not a -large man, being perhaps five feet ten inches when he straightened up in -full. His dress, even, I do not remember distinctly. I should say that -he had his trousers tucked in his boots, and that he wore clothes of -gray--probably no more than trousers and shirt. I think he had no hat -upon his head. - -None of the prisoners were hurt. They were badly frightened and somewhat -starved. I received no wounds except a slight scratch on one hand as I -was getting through the hole in the door. Colonel Lee and the people on -the outside thought I was wounded. Brown had, at the time, only five or -six fighting men, and I think he himself was the only one who showed -fight after I entered the engine-house. There were no provisions in the -building, and it would have been only a question of time when Brown -would have had to surrender. Colonel Washington was the only person -inside the house that I knew. - -I have been asked what became of Brown's carbine. That I do not know. My -sword was left in Washington, among people with whom I lived, and I lost -trace of it. A few years ago, after having come out of the war and gone -west to Dakota, where I now live, I received a letter from a gentleman -in Washington, saying that he knew where the sword was, and that it was -still bent double, as it was left by the thrust upon Brown's breast. He -said that it was now a relic of great historic value, and asked me to -assent to the selling of it upon the condition that I should receive a -portion of the price of the weapon. To me the matter had very little -interest, and I replied indifferently. Since then I have heard nothing -of the matter. I presume the saber could be found somewhere in -Washington. - - - - - SELECTED READING LIST - - -Joseph Barry, _The Strange Story of Harper's Ferry With Legends of The -Surrounding Country_, Martinsburg, W. Va., 1903. - -Richard O. Boyer, _The Legend of John Brown: A Biography and A History_, -New York, 1973. - -Louis Filler, _The Crusade Against Slavery, 1830-1860_, New York, 1960. - -Stephen B. Oates, _To Purge This Land With Blood: A Biography of John -Brown_, New York, 1970. - -Louis Ruchames, ed., _John Brown: The Making of a Revolutionary_, New -York, 1969. (Originally published under the title _A John Brown -Reader_.) - -Franklin B. Sanborn, _Life and Letters of John Brown_, Boston, 1885. - -Kenneth M. Stampp, _The Peculiar Institution: Slavery in the Ante-Bellum -South_, New York, 1956. - -Edward Stone, ed., _Incident at Harper's Ferry_, Englewood Cliffs, 1956. - -Oswald Garrison Villard, _John Brown, 1800-1859: A Biography Fifty Years -After_, Boston and New York, 1911 (2d edition, 1943). - - - PICTURE CREDITS - -Harpers Ferry National Historical Park: Title page, 8-9, 16-17, 24 -(right), 26 (drawing), 28 (inset), 31, 32-33, 37 (drawing), 40-41, 45, -47 (drawing), 48, 53, 54-55, 56, 58-59; Library of Congress: 2, 3, 6, -19, 20, 21, 22 (left & center), 24 (left), 26 (portraits), 28, 36, 37 -(inset), 39, 42, 44, 46, 50, 51, 52, 57; Kansas State Historical -Society, Topeka: 4, 5, 22 (right); U.S. Marine Corps Museum: 47 -(portrait); Boyd B. Stutler Collection, through the courtesy of Stephen -B. Oates: 11 (Howe & Stearns); John Brown Collection, Columbus -University Libraries: 11 (Sanborn & Parker); Public Library, City of -Boston: 11 (Smith); Boston Atheneum: 11 (Higginson); Robert Lautman: -cover (John Brown's Fort). - - - *U.S. Government Printing Office 1973 0 521 267 - Reprint 1990 - - - - - Footnotes - - -[1]Originally published in _The North American Review_, December 1885. - - - - - Transcriber's Notes - - ---Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook - is public-domain in the country of publication. - ---Added a Table of Contents. - ---Relocated all image captions to be immediately under the corresponding - images, removing redundant references like "preceding page". - ---Silently corrected a few palpable typos. - ---This book was printed mostly in italic, with emphasized text in roman; - the eBook reverses those fonts. - ---In the text versions only, text in roman is delimited by - _underscores_. - - - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's John Brown's Raid, by National Park Service - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOHN BROWN'S RAID *** - -***** This file should be named 56106.txt or 56106.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/6/1/0/56106/ - -Produced by Stephen Hutcheson and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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