HYPOCRISY
_He was a man
Who stole the livery of the court of Heaven
To serve the Devil in._
--POLLOCK, COURSE OF TIME
John Brown "struck the trail" of "easy money" June 28, 1855, when Gerrit
Smith presented his case to the Syracuse convention and collected sixty
dollars to assist him in migrating to Kansas. He had followed it up with
profit, while en route thereto, at Springfield, Hudson, Akron, and
Cleveland. Now he was returning to the East to work the field again. It
was the same graft which he had theretofore worked, but upon greatly
improved plans and along broader lines.
He had two schemes in view. Robinson's letter of September 14th
addressed "To the Settlers of Kansas," showed that Brown was their
accredited defender "from invaders and outlaws." Under the pretext of
enlisting, arming, equipping, and maintaining in Kansas, a company of
fifty mounted men to protect the settlers from "invaders and outlaws,"
he intended to try to secure $30,000, in cash, to finance the pretense.
The other scheme was to have the Legislatures of Massachusetts and New
York appropriate large sums of money--$100,000 each--to reimburse
persons who had emigrated to Kansas from these States, for losses which
they were supposed to have "suffered in advancing the Free-State cause."
Naturally, Brown and all the members of his family were "sufferers," and
would be eligible as beneficiaries of this legislation.
"The National Kansas Committee" was a company formed to promote
emigration to Kansas Territory. It was also a sort of clearing-house for
the various committees which had been organized in the Northern States
for a similar purpose. It had offices in New York, Chicago, and other
places. Mr. E. B. Whitman was the resident agent of the company in
Kansas, a fact which the Browns had not overlooked.
That Brown had this scheme for raising money in view as early as July,
1856, appears from the fact that before leaving Kansas with his sons, in
that month, he called upon Mr. Whitman, at Lawrence, and filed with him
a paper which was intended to serve as the foundation of a claim for
reimbursement for such losses. It reads as follows:[219]
FOR MR. WHITMAN
Names of sufferers and persons who have made sacrifices in
endeavoring to maintain and advance the Free-State cause in
Kansas, within my personal knowledge.
1. Two German refugees (thoroughly Free-State), robbed at
Pottawatomie, named Benjamin and Bondy (or Bundy). One has
served under me as a volunteer; namely, Bondy. Benjamin was
prisoner for some time; suffered by men under Coffee and
Pate.
2. Henry Thompson. Devoted several months to the Free-State
cause, traveling nearly two thousand miles at his own
expense for the purpose, leaving family and business for
about one year. Served under me as a volunteer; was
dangerously wounded at Palmyra, or Black Jack; had a bullet
lodged beside his backbone; has had a severe turn of fever,
and is still very feeble. Suffered a little in the burning
of the houses of John Brown, Jr., and Jason Brown.
3. John Jr. and Jason Brown. Both burned out; both
prisoners for some time, one a prisoner still: both losing
the use of valuable, partially improved claims. Both served
repeatedly as volunteers for defense of Lawrence and other
places, suffering great hardships and some cruelty.
4. Owen and Frederick Brown. Both served at different
periods as volunteers, under me. Were both in the battle of
Palmyra; both suffered by the burning of their brothers'
houses; both have had sickness (Owen a severe one), and are
yet feeble. Both lost the use of partially improved claims
and their spring and summer work.
5. Salmon Brown (minor). Twice served under me as a
volunteer; was dangerously wounded (if not permanently
crippled) by accident near Palmyra; had a severe sickness
and is still feeble.
6. Oliver Brown (minor). Served under me as a volunteer for
some months; was in the battle of Palmyra, and had some
sickness.
7. (B. L.) Cochrane (at Pottawatomie). Twice served under
me as a volunteer; was in the battle of Palmyra.
8. Dr. Lucius Mills devoted some months to the Free-State
cause, collecting and giving information, prescribing for
and nursing the sick and wounded at his own cost. Is a
worthy Free-State man.
9. John Brown has devoted the service of himself and two
minor sons to the Free-State cause for more than a year;
suffered by the fire before named and by robbery; has gone
at his own cost for that period, except that he and his
company together have received forty dollars in cash, two
sacks of flour, thirty five pounds of bacon, thirty five
do. of sugar, and twenty pounds of rice.
I propose to serve hereafter in the Free-State cause
(provided my needful expenses can be met) should they be
desired; and to raise a small regular force to serve on the
same condition. My own means are so far exhausted that I
can no longer continue in the service at present without
the means of defraying my expenses are furnished me.
I can give the names of some five or six more volunteers of
special merit I would be glad to have particularly noticed
in some way. J. BROWN
When one considers the life Brown had been leading and the nature of the
atrocities which he had committed, this proposal to ask for
compensation therefor is a piece of effrontery: a good exhibit of
sublime gall. Also, his ultimatum therein is deserving of consideration.
In it he demands, as a condition precedent to the rendering of any
further service in the Free-State cause, that he have an assurance that
he and his sons would be paid for such services. This demand further
discloses the fact that the energies which Brown was putting forth were
not a devotion to the cause of the men in bondage, but that he sought to
work a personal and family graft upon Free-State sentiment of the
country.
During February, 1857, Brown had a bill prepared and introduced in the
Massachusetts Legislature to appropriate $100,000, as a contingent fund,
to relieve the distress of settlers in Kansas. And on the 18th of that
month he and Mr. Whitman appeared before the committee, having charge of
the bill, to urge its passage.
Brown arrived at Tabor, Iowa, en route to the East, October 10th. On the
23d he was at Chicago, where he was well received by the National Kansas
Committee. At this time it was moving a lot of supplies--two hundred
Sharp's rifles, a brass cannon, ammunition, clothing, etc.--across Iowa
to Kansas, under the direction of Dr. J. P. Root. The committee asked
Brown to return and accompany the train to its destination. He, however,
advised the management to stop the train, and not attempt to enter
Kansas with it; saying that "The immediate introduction of the supplies
is not of much consequence compared to the danger of losing them." His
remark had reference to the efficient measures which Governor Geary had
adopted to put an end to the lawlessness which was prevailing in the
Territory at the time he assumed his official duties. Brown went with
Root as far as Tabor, Iowa, where the supplies were stored, to await
further developments.
Leaving Tabor, he passed through Chicago about the first of December. In
Ohio, upon presenting his letters from Governor Robinson to Governor
Chase, he received from him an additional letter of commendation, for
use in Ohio, and twenty-five dollars in cash. Thus encouraged, he pushed
on, stopping at various places on the way, soliciting money, and
arriving in Boston about January 1, 1857. There the congratulatory
letters which he had in his possession were of inestimable value to him.
It was through them that he succeeded in establishing relations with men
of ample means and of high character, who, by their generous
contributions of money, and by their moral support, enabled him to work
out his schemes to their logical conclusions.
In Boston, Brown met Mr. Frank B. Sanborn, a young man but a year and a
half out of Harvard, who was then secretary of the Massachusetts State
Kansas Committee. "He was on fire for the anti-slavery cause, and ready
to worship any of its militant leaders."[220] Brown, being a militant
leader, made a deep impression upon this susceptible young enthusiast,
who reported his find to Mr. Thomas Wentworth Higginson, "the fighting
young Unitarian Parson of Worcester," in a letter, as follows:[221]
"Old Brown" of Kansas is now in Boston, with one of his
sons, working for an object in which you will heartily
sympathize--raising and arming a company of men for the
future protection of Kansas. He wishes to raise $30,000 to
arm a company, such as he thinks he can raise this present
winter, but will, as I understand him, take what money he
can raise and use it as far as it will go. Can you not come
to Boston tomorrow or next day and see Capt. Brown? If not,
please indicate when you will be in Worcester, so he can
see you. I like the man from what I have seen--and his
deeds ought to bear witness for him.
It will be observed that this was to be a cash transaction: he will
"take what money he can raise and use it as far as it will go." Most
persons will scan this proposal with grave suspicion, it bears so
prominently the brand of the faker; but it will create no surprise in
the minds of those who are familiar with Brown's criminal conduct while
in commercial life, and with his career of murder and robbery and
association with thieves in Kansas.
In his enthusiasm for his Kansas hero, Mr. Sanborn led Brown, as the
Psalmist had been led, "into green pastures and beside the still
waters." Through him he met Dr. Samuel G. Howe, Patrick Tracy Jackson,
George L. Stearns, Dr. Samuel Cabot, Judge Thomas Russell, Wendell
Phillips, William Lloyd Garrison, Henry D. Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson,
and other notable persons, all of whom were intensely interested in the
paramount political question of the day, and especially in the contest
going on in Kansas to make it a Free State. His Eastern campaign opened
auspiciously. As the popular leader of a popular cause, he struck the
popular fancy. He presented himself to the public, "modestly," as being
the leader of the "fighting" forces of the Territory; and as having come
from the "front" to organize a more effective force, in order that he
might render still more efficient services. January 7th, armed with his
congratulatory letter from Governor Robinson, he called upon Mr. Amos A.
Lawrence, who wrote of him, admiringly, as follows:
Captain Brown, the old partisan hero of Kansas warfare,
came to see me. I had a long talk with him. He is a calm,
temperate, and pious man, but when roused he is a dreadful
foe. He appears about sixty years old. His severe
simplicity of habits, his determined energy, his heroic
courage in time of trial, all based on a deep religious
faith, make him a true representative of the Puritanic
warrior. I knew him before he went to Kansas, and have
known more of him since, and should esteem the loss of his
service, from poverty, or any other cause, almost
irreparable.
Mr. Stearns, too, was deeply impressed with his "sagacity, courage, and
strong integrity," He had him dine with him at his home on Sunday,
January 11th. Brown sought, on this occasion, to advance his personal
fortunes by discrediting Charles Robinson and other Free-State leaders.
Measured by his standard they were a collection of incompetents. He
exalted Martin F. Conway as the best of them, but characterized him as
"lacking in force." Naturally, if the best of them lacked force, there
was an emergency to get Brown back to the Territory as speedily as
possible. It became clear to Mr. Stearns's mind that it was the general
incompetency and inefficiency of the men in control of affairs in
Kansas, their cowardice and consequent inability to "protect" the
settlers, that impelled Brown to come East and raise money to equip a
force to protect them. He therefore determined "to do everything in his
power to get him the arms and money he desired."
Mr. William Lloyd Garrison, also, was very much taken with him. "They
discussed peace and non-resistance together, Brown quoting the Old
Testament against Garrison's citations of the New, and Parker, from time
to time, injecting a bit of Lexington into the controversy, which
attracted a small group of interested listeners."[222]
The first result of his newly formed relations was a contribution to him
of two hundred Sharp's rifles, four thousand ball cartridges, and thirty
thousand percussion caps, made by the "Massachusetts State Kansas
Committee." These were the arms which Brown had stored at Tabor. The
committee also voted him a credit of $500 for expenses. The
Massachusetts Kansas Committee originally purchased the arms, and had
turned them over to the National Kansas Committee, under whose control
they then were.
Before the latter committee, at its offices in the Astor House, New
York, Brown appeared, January 24th, and presented his case. He asked for
the arms, and for the moderate sum of $5,000, cash. But this committee
had taken pains to inform itself, through its general agent, Mr. Arny,
with reference to conditions existing in Kansas. The directors,
therefore, were not nearly so susceptible as were the more impulsive
people of the Massachusetts Committee. They wanted to know something
about the nature of the project which they were being asked to finance,
and hoped that Brown would make a more specific and definite
declaration. They wanted to know what the cost of the equipment, for the
defenders he talked about, would amount to, and called for a list of the
articles which he needed, with an estimate of the cost of each; and
wanted to know what he intended to do with the company after it was
organized. And then they asked another very relevant question: what he
intended to do with the five thousand dollars he wanted them to give
him. Brown's scheme was a personal matter, and to have answered these
questions, and others that would have, logically, followed, would have
caused him some embarrassment. He therefore denied their right to
inquire into the privacy of his affairs. He wanted five thousand dollars
flat; with no questions asked; and rising to the height of the occasion,
put on a bold front, and refused to be interrogated. He said:[223]
I am no adventurer. You all know me. You know what I have
done in Kansas. I do not expose my plans. No one knows them
but myself, except perhaps one. I will not be interrogated;
if you wish to give me anything, I want you to give it
freely. I have no other purpose but to serve the cause of
liberty.
The debate being thus closed, the National Committee then settled the
question of the arms by transferring them back to the Massachusetts
Committee; and with admirable tact, voted the five thousand dollars
conditionally--for "necessary defensive purposes in aid of Captain John
Brown in any defensive measures that may become necessary." The irony of
the resolution was concealed by an order authorizing him to draw upon
the committee for five hundred dollars at any time. But he received no
part of it, until he showed, by his actions, that he intended to return
to Kansas.
The committee penetrated the veneer that disguised Brown's hypocrisy,
and refused to put any money whatever into his hands. After the
adjournment, he made up a list of the articles that he thought he would
need, which he handed to Mr. Horace White, assistant secretary. It reads
as follows:
Memorandum of articles wanted as an Outfit for Fifty
Volunteers to serve under my direction during the Kansas
war: or for such specified time as they may each enlist
for: together with estimated cost of same delivered in
Lawrence or Topeka.[224]
2 substantial (but not heavy) baggage waggons
with good covers $200.00
4 good serviceable waggon Horses 400.00
2 sets strong plain Harness 50.00
100 good heavy Blankets say at 2. or 2.50 200.00
8 Substantial large sized Tents 100.00
8 Large Camp Kettles 12.00
50 Tin basins 5.00
4 Plain strong Saddles & Bridles 80.00
4 picket ropes and pins 3.00
8 Wooden Pails 4.00
8 axes and Helves 12.00
8 Frying pans (large Size) 8.00
8 Large sized Coffee Pots 10.00
8 do do Spiders or Bake Ovens 10.00
8 do do Tin Pans 6.00
12 Spades & Shovels 18.00
6 Mattocks 6.00
2 Weeks provisions for Men & Horses 150.00
Fund for Horse hire & feed, loss & damage of
same 500.00
---------
$1,774.00
There was a very handsome margin for profits between $30,000, his
original estimate of what he would require to "arm and equip a company
such as he thought he could raise this present winter" and his final
estimate--$1,774. But that is not material; Brown was simply working the
field for all the money he could get; as Mr. Sanborn truly said "he will
take all he can raise and use it as far as it will go."
The National Committee voted $1,774 to fill this requisition, but it
declined to give Brown the money wherewith to make the purchases. He had
a right to expect that the committee would give him this money, and
trust him to expend it honestly; but it ordered otherwise. February 18th
Mr. White wrote that the articles Brown had requisitioned would be
shipped the following week; and on March 21st he notified him that he
would "shortly go to Kansas and work there to fit him out with all the
supplies he was entitled to under the New York resolution."[225] Brown
was keenly disappointed and deeply humiliated by the actions of the
National Committee; and in a letter to Mr. William Barnes, of Albany,
April 3d, gave expression to his resentment. He said:
I am prepared to expect nothing but bad faith from the
Kansas National Committee at Chicago, as I will show you
hereafter. This, for the present, is confidential.[226]
It was money and not supplies that Brown was eager for at this period in
his operations. His plans did not contemplate any defense of Kansas. The
"arming and equipping" of the fifty men was a deception. It was but his
stock in trade--a pretext upon which he solicited funds. He, and the
kind of men he would have enlisted, if he enlisted any, had all the arms
they would need, and stealing requires but little ammunition. In his
largest successful venture--the Pottawatomie--but one shot was fired,
and that one, as stated by Salmon Brown, was "wholly unnecessary."
February 18, 1857, was an important day in Brown's calendar. Mr.
Sanborn had prepared his bill to appropriate $100,000 to relieve the
distress of Kansas settlers. It had been introduced in the Massachusetts
Legislature, and referred to the Joint Committee on Federal Relations,
before which it was to be taken up, on that day, for consideration. Mr.
Sanborn stood sponsor for the measure; and Brown and Mr. Whitman
appeared before the committee, as advocates, in support of it.
Introducing these two distinguished persons Mr. Sanborn said in
part:[227]
As one of the petitioners for State aid to the settlers of
Kansas, I appear before you to state briefly the purpose of
the petition. No labored argument seems necessary; for if
the events of the last two years in Kansas, and the
prospect there for the future, are not of themselves enough
to excite Massachusetts to action, certainly no words could
do so. We have not provided ourselves with advocates,
therefore, but with witnesses; and we expect that the
statements of Captain Brown and Mr. Whitman will show
conclusively that the rights and interests of Massachusetts
have suffered gross outrage in Kansas--an outrage which is
likely to be repeated unless measures are taken by you to
prevent so shameful an abuse. Your petitioners desire that
a contingent appropriation be made by the legislature, to
be placed in the hands of a commission of responsible and
conservative men, and used only in case of necessity to
relieve the distress of the settlers of Kansas--especially
such as have gone from our own state.... We have invited
Captain Brown and Mr. Whitman to appear in our behalf,
because these gentlemen are eminently qualified either to
represent Massachusetts in Kansas, or Kansas in
Massachusetts. The best blood of the "Mayflower" runs in
the veins of both, and each had an ancestor in the army of
the Revolution. Mr. Whitman, seventh in descent from Miles
Standish, laid the foundation of the first church and the
first school-house in Kansas; John Brown, the sixth
descendant of Peter Browne, of the "Mayflower," has been in
Kansas what Standish was to the Plymouth Colony. These
witnesses have seen the things of which they testify, and
have felt the oppression we ask you to check. Ask this gray
haired man, gentleman--if you have the heart to do
it--where lies the body of his murdered son--where are the
homes of his four other sons, who a year ago were quiet
farmers in Kansas. I am ashamed, in presence of this modest
veteran, to express the admiration which his heroism
excites in me. Yet he, so venerable for his years, his
integrity, and his courage--a man whom all Massachusetts
rises up to honor--is today an outlaw in Kansas. To these
witnesses, whose unsworn testimony deserves and will
receive from you all, the authority which an oath confers,
I will now yield place.
Mr. Redpath states that Brown then came forward and read his speech, "in
a clear ringing tone," as follows:[228]
"I saw, while in Missouri, in the fall of 1855, large
numbers of men going to Kansas to vote, and also returning
after they had so done; as they said.
"Later in the year, I, with four of my sons, was called out
and traveled, mostly on foot and during the night, to help
defend Lawrence, a distance of thirty-five miles; where we
were detained, with some five hundred others, or
thereabouts, from five to ten days--say an average of ten
days--at a cost of not less than a dollar and a half per
day, as wages, to say nothing of the actual loss and
suffering occasioned to many of them, leaving their
families sick, their crops not secured, their houses
unprepared for winter, and many without houses at all. This
was the case with myself and sons who could not get houses
built after returning. Wages alone would amount to seven
thousand five hundred dollars; loss and suffering cannot be
estimated.
"I saw, at that time, the body of the murdered Barber, and
was present to witness his wife and other friends brought
in to see him with his clothes on, just as he was when
killed.
"I, with six sons and a son-in-law, was called out, and
travelled, most of the way on foot, to try and save
Lawrence, May 20 and 21, and much of the way in the night.
From that date, neither I nor my sons, nor my son-in-law,
could do any work about our homes, but lost our whole time
until we left, in October; except one of my sons, who had a
few weeks to devote to the care of his own and his
brother's family, who were then without a home.
"From about the 20th of May, hundreds of men, like
ourselves, lost their whole time, and entirely failed of
securing any kind of a crop whatever. I believe it safe to
say, that five hundred free state men lost each one hundred
and twenty days, which, at one dollar and a half per day,
would be--to say nothing of attendant losses--ninety
thousand dollars.
"On or about the 30th of May, two of my sons, with several
others, were imprisoned without other crime than opposition
to bogus legislation, and most barbarously treated for a
time, one being held about one month, and the other about
four months. Both had their families on the ground. After
this, both of them had their houses burned, and all their
goods consumed by the Missourians. In this burning all the
eight suffered. One had his oxen stolen, in addition."
The Captain, laying aside his paper, here said that he had
now at his hotel, and would exhibit to the Committee, if
they so desired, the chains which one of his sons had worn,
when he was driven beneath the burning sun, by federal
troops, to a distant prison, on a charge of treason. The
cruelties he there endured, added to the anxieties and
sufferings incident to his position, had rendered him, the
old man said, as his eye flashed and his voice grew
sterner, "A maniac--yes, a MANIAC."
He paused a few seconds, wiped a tear from his eye, and
continued his narration....
"I saw while it was standing, and afterwards saw the ruins,
of a most valuable house, the property of a highly
civilized, intelligent, and exemplary Christian Indian,
which was burned to the ground by the ruffians, because its
owner was suspected of favoring the free state men. He is
known as Ottawa Jones, or John T. Jones.
"In September last, I visited a beautiful little free state
town called Staunton, on the north side of the Osage, (or
Marais-des-Cygnes, as it is sometimes called,) from which
every inhabitant had fled for fear of their lives, even
after having built a strong log house, or wooden fort, at a
heavy expense, for their protection. Many of them had left
their effects liable to be destroyed or carried off, not
being able to remove them. This was to me a most gloomy
scene, and like a visit to a sepulchre.
"About the first of September, I, and five sick and wounded
sons, and a son-in-law, were obliged to lie on the ground,
without shelter, for a considerable time, and at times
almost in a state of starvation, and dependent on the
charity of the Christian Indian I have named before, and
his wife."
He concluded his remarks by denouncing the traitors to
freedom, who, when a question of this kind was raised,
cried out, "Save the people's money--the dear people's
Money." He had a detailed estimate of how much the National
Government had expended in endeavoring to fasten slavery on
Kansas; and asked why these politicians had never cried
out, "Save the people's money!" when it was expended to
trample under the foot of the "peculiar" crime of the
south, the rights, lives, and property of the Northern
squatters. They were silent then. (Applause.)
The Chairman then asked who commanded the free-state men at
Lawrence. His answer was characteristic of the man, whose
courage was only equalled by his modesty and worth.
He explained how bravely our boys acted--gave every one the
credit but himself. When again asked who commanded them, he
said,--no one; that he was asked to take the command, but
refused, and only acted as their ADVISER!
The Captain spoke in conclusion, about the emigrants needed
for Kansas.
"We want," he said, "good men, industrious men, men who
respect themselves; who act only from the dictates of
conscience; MEN WHO FEAR GOD TOO MUCH TO FEAR ANY THING
HUMAN."
When asked by the Chairman:--"What is your opinion as to
the probability of a renewal of hostilities in Kansas--of
another invasion; and what do you think would be the
effect, on the free state men, of an appropriation by
Massachusetts?"--replied:--"Whenever we heard, out in
Kansas that the North was doing any thing for us, we were
encouraged and strengthened to struggle on. As to the
probability of another invasion, I do not know. We ought to
be prepared for the worst. Things do not look one iota more
encouraging now, than they did last year at this time. You
ought to remember that, from the date of the Shannon treaty
till May last, there was perfect quiet in Kansas; no fear
of a renewal of hostilities; no violence offered to our
citizens in Missouri. I frequently went there myself; was
known there; yet treated with the greatest kindness."
The Massachusetts Kansas Committee, of which Mr. Sanborn was secretary,
was composed of the kind of men described in the resolution,
"responsible and conservative men." It seems, therefore, that the scheme
was to have the State appropriate this money, and place it with the
Massachusetts Committee, for disbursement among Kansas settlers who had
suffered, as the Browns and "four or five others" had suffered.
Of his biographers James Redpath, alone, seems to have been favorably
impressed with the speech; and it is unfortunate for Brown's fame that
he gave it publicity; for, had the report of the speech been suppressed
and the manuscript destroyed, his biographers could have made much of
the occasion; much more than was made of his mythical effort at
Lawrence, December 8, 1855. The speech was, in truth, a maudlin plea for
compensation for the time which he and his sons had spent in secretly
murdering and plundering Kansas settlers. It also included a weak
attempt to criticise the Free-State leadership; a line of criticism then
becoming popular, and still existing within the zone infected by the
pernicious influence of the Disunionists of that period.
Brown did not dare to even hint at the truth concerning what he had
seen, and what he had personally done in Kansas. Yet he did not hesitate
to seek to impose this measure for compensation upon the Legislature,
and to misinform it in relation to his conduct, and to misdirect its
official actions. Imagine if possible the dismay, horror, and disgust
that would have taken possession of the members of this committee, if a
correct view of Brown's life, in Kansas, had been portrayed to them. The
arrangement of the function was audacious and clever; an illustration of
his daring hypocrisy, reckless insolence, and consistent variance with
right doing. The legislative committee penetrated Brown's armor, as the
Kansas National Committee had done, and refused to recommend that his
bill be passed.
Three months later, Mr. Stearns was led to make an effort to have the
New York Legislature take up a similar measure. Writing on May 18th, to
a New York committee, he made the following remarkable statements:[229]
Since the close of the last year we have confined our
operations to aiding those persons in Kansas who were, or
intended to become, citizens of that Territory,--believing
that sufficient inducements to immigrate existed in the
prosperous state of affairs there; and we now believe that
should quiet and prosperity continue there for another
year, the large influx of Northern and Eastern men will
secure the State for Freedom. To insure the present
prosperity we propose--
1. To have our legislature make a grant of one hundred
thousand dollars, to be placed in the hands of discreet
persons, who shall use it for relief of those in Kansas who
are, or may become, destitute through Border-Ruffian
outrage. We think it will be done.
2. To organize a secret force, well armed, and under
control of the famous John Brown, to repel Border-Ruffian
outrage and defend the Free-State men from all alleged
impositions. This organization is strictly to be a
defensive one.
3. To aid by timely donations of money those parties of
settlers in the Territory who from misfortune are unable to
provide for their present wants.
I am personally acquainted with Captain Brown, and have
great confidence in his courage, prudence, and good
judgment. He has control of the whole affair, including
contributions of arms, clothing, etc., to the amount of
thirteen thousand dollars. His presence in the Territory
will, we think, give the Free-State men confidence in their
cause, and also check the disposition of the Border
Ruffians to impose on them. This I believe to be the most
important work to be done in Kansas at the present time.
Many of the Free-State leaders being engaged in
speculations are willing to accept peace on any terms.
Brown and his friends hold to the original principle of
making Kansas free, without regard to private interests. If
you agree with me, I should like to have your money
appropriated for the use of Captain John Brown. If not
that, the other proposition, to aid parties of settlers now
in the Territory will be the next best.
It appears from the closing sentences of this letter, that Brown had
succeeded in discrediting the men, who were steadfastly working out the
Free-State problem, in order to ingratiate himself with the people whom
he then sought to delude. His turpitude should not provoke surprise. The
crime of ingratitude cannot further degrade the character of this
mendacious mendicant. Having assassinated his unoffending neighbors in
the West, and robbed them, he now assassinated the fame of honorable
men, and robbed them of the measure of confidence and esteem to which
they were justly entitled because of their public services.
Disappointed in his scheme to have money legislated into his pocket,
and in his effort to raise the thirty thousand dollars in large sums, he
proceeded to canvass the East personally, for money, and to draw upon
every possible source of supply--sailing under false colors and doing
business under false pretenses. Referring to this, Mr. Villard
says:[230]
It must not be forgotten in this connection that very
little was known in Boston at this time, about the
Pottawatomie murders, and still less about Brown's
connection with them. Frank Preston Stearns, the biographer
of his father, states that the latter never knew of John
Brown's connection with the crime, and it may be well that
Theodore Parker and others passed off the scene without a
full realization of the connection between the Harper's
Ferry leader and the tragedy of May 24, 1856.
Brown was proficient in the art of dissimulation. Mr. Thoreau was thus
impressed with what, to him, seemed to be the sanctity of a Christian
character. He said:[231]
He was never able to find more than a score or so of
recruits whom he would accept, and only about a dozen
(among them his own sons) in whom he had perfect faith.
When he was here, he showed me a little manuscript
book,--his "orderly book" I think he called it,--containing
the names of his company in Kansas, and the rules by which
they bound themselves and he stated that several of them
had already sealed the contract with their blood. When some
one remarked that with the addition of a chaplain, it would
have been a perfect Cromwellian troop, he observed that he
would have been glad to add a chaplain to the list, if he
could have found one man who could fill the place worthily.
I believe he had prayers in his camp morning and evening,
nevertheless. He is a man of Spartan habits, and at sixty
was scrupulous about his diet at your table, excusing
himself by saying that he must eat sparingly and fare hard,
as became a soldier, or one who was fitting himself for
difficult enterprises, a life of exposure. A man of rare
common-sense and directness of speech as of action, a
transcendentalist, above all a man of ideas and
principles,--that is what distinguishes him. Not yielding
to a whim or transient impulse, but carrying out the
purpose of a life. I noticed that he did not overstate
anything, but spoke within bounds. I remember particularly
how, in his speech here, he referred to what his family had
suffered in Kansas, without ever giving the least vent to
his pent up fire. It was a volcano with an ordinary chimney
flue. Also referring to the deeds of certain Border
Ruffians, he said, rapidly paring away his speech, like an
experienced soldier keeping a reserve of force and meaning:
"They had a perfect right to be hung." He was not in the
least a rhetorician, was not talking to buncombe or his
constituents anywhere. He had no need to invent anything,
but to tell the simple truth, and communicate his own
resolution; therefore he appeared incomparably strong, and
eloquence in Congress and elsewhere seemed to me at a
discount. It was like the speeches of Cromwell compared
with those of an ordinary king.
Mr. Emerson recorded his impressions in the following beautiful
language:
For himself, Brown is so transparent that all men see him
through. He is a man to make friends wherever on earth
courage and integrity are esteemed,--the rarest of heroes,
a pure idealist with no by-ends of his own. Many of us have
seen him, and everyone who has heard him speak has been
impressed alike by his simple, artless goodness and sublime
courage. He joins that perfect Puritan faith which brought
his ancestors to Plymouth Rock, with his grandfather's
ardor in the Revolution. He believes in two articles,--two
instruments shall I say?--The Golden Rule and the
Declaration of Independence; and he used this expression in
a conversation here concerning them: "Better a whole
generation of men, women and children should pass away by a
violent death, than that one word of either should be
violated in this country." There is a Unionist, there is a
strict constructionist for you! He believes in the Union
of the States, and he conceives that the only obstruction
to the Union is slavery; and for that reason, as a patriot,
he works for its abolition.[232]
These exalted characters, incapable of detecting the vile imposition
which he was practicing upon them, gave Brown the full measure of their
confidence; even accepting at its face value the assassin's statement
that he would have been glad to add a chaplain to his band, if he could
have found one who could fill that office worthily. Governor Robinson
had been more conservative in his recommendation. He based his approval
of Brown upon the information he had received. "Your career," he said,
"so far as I have been informed, has been such as to merit the highest
praise."
As may be supposed, Brown's most dependable contributor was the
Massachusetts Committee. January 7th it voted him $500 for expenses and
on April 11th it voted him $500 more for the same account. April 15th it
authorized him to "sell to Free-State settlers in Kansas, one hundred of
the rifles it had placed in his care, for not less than fifteen dollars
each, and to apply the proceeds to relieve the suffering inhabitants of
the Territory."[233] Meanwhile he pursued his personal campaign for
money without abatement of energy; visiting the principal towns and
cities in Massachusetts, New York, and Connecticut.[234]
On March 4th he published, in the New York _Tribune_, the following
general advertisement for remittances of money:[235]
TO THE FRIENDS OF FREEDOM
The undersigned, whose individual means were exceedingly
limited when he first engaged in the struggle for liberty
in Kansas, being now still more destitute, and no less
anxious than in time past to continue his efforts to
sustain that cause, is induced to make this earnest appeal
to the friends of freedom throughout the United States, in
the firm belief that his call will not go unheeded. I ask
all honest lovers of liberty and human rights, both male
and female, to hold up my hands by contributions of
pecuniary aid, either as counties, cities, towns, villages,
societies, churches, or individuals. I will endeavor to
make a judicious and faithful application of all such means
as I may be supplied with. Contributions may be sent in
drafts to W. H. D. Callender, cashier State Bank, Hartford,
Conn. It is my intention to visit as many places as I can
during my stay in the states, provided I am first informed
of the disposition of the inhabitants to aid me in my
efforts as well as to receive my visit. Information may be
communicated to me (care of the Massasoit House)
Springfield, Mass. Will editors of newspapers friendly to
the cause kindly second the measure, and also give this
some half dozen insertions? Will either gentlemen or
ladies, or both, who love the cause, volunteer to take up
the business? It is with no little sacrifice of personal
feeling that I appear in this manner before the public.
At Hartford and Canton, Connecticut, he used a similar appeal:
I am trying to raise from twenty to twenty-five thousand
dollars in the free States, to enable me to continue my
efforts in the cause of freedom. Will the people of
Connecticut, my native state, afford me some aid in this
undertaking? Will the gentlemen and ladies of Hartford,
where I make my first appeal in this State, set the example
of an earnest effort? Will some gentleman or lady take hold
and try what can be done by small contributions from
counties, cities, towns, societies, or churches, or in some
other way? I think the little beggar-children in the
streets are sufficiently interested to warrant their
contributing, if there was any need of it, to secure the
object.[236]
February 19th Mr. Lawrence sent Brown a check for seventy dollars which
had been contributed to the Massachusetts Company by John Conant, of New
Hampshire. About this time Mr. Lawrence published an offer to be "one of
ten, or a smaller number, to pay a thousand dollars per annum till the
admission of Kansas into the Union, for the purpose of supporting John
Brown's family and keeping the proposed company in the field." Since he
did not intend to have any company in Kansas, Brown took up this
proposal promptly and pressed tenaciously to commute it for a thousand
dollars, cash. On March 19th, he wrote Mr. Lawrence from New Haven, as
follows:[237]
The offer you so kindly made through the _Telegraph_ some
time since, emboldens me to propose the following for your
consideration: For One Thousand Dollars cash I am offered
an improved piece of land which with a little improvement I
now have, might enable my family, consisting of a Wife &
Five minor children (the youngest not yet Three years old)
to procure a Subsistence should I never return to them; my
Wife being a good economist, & a real old fashioned
business woman. She has gone through the Two past winters
in our open cold house; unfinished outside; & not
plastered. I have no other income or means for their
support. I have never hinted to any one else that I had a
thought of asking for any help to provide in any such way
for my family; & SHOULD NOT TO YOU, but for your own
suggestion. I fully believe I shall get the help I need to
operate with West. Last Night a private meeting of some
gentlemen here; voted to raise one Thousand Dollars in New
Haven for that purpose. If you feel at all inclined to
encourage me in the measure I have proposed, I shall be
grateful to get a line from you; Care Massasoit House,
Springfield, Mass; & will call when I come again to Boston.
I do not feel disposed to weary you with my oft repeated
visitations. I believe I am indebted to you as the UNKNOWN
GIVER of One share of Emigrant aid stock; as I can think of
no other so likely to have done it. IS MY APPEAL RIGHT?
Mr. Lawrence replied March 20th that he had just sent nearly fourteen
thousand dollars to Kansas to establish a school fund there, and was
short of money, but assured him that if his life were shortened while
engaged in the great cause, "the family of 'Captain John Brown of
Osawatomie' will not be turned out to starve in this country, until
Liberty herself is driven out." Mr. Lawrence and Mr. Stearns afterward
agreed to raise the thousand dollars, but as the payment lagged, Brown
"pressed to close quarters." May 13th he wrote quite peremptorily to Mr.
Stearns:
I must ask to have the $1000 made up _at once_; & forwarded
to Gerrit Smith. I did not start the measure of getting up
any subscription for me; (although I was sufficiently needy
as God knows); nor had I any thought of _further burdening_
either of my dear friends _Stearns or Lawrence_....[238]
The amount was made up and paid late in August, Mr. Lawrence paying $310
of it and Mr. Stearns $260.
It will never be known how much money Brown secured during this raid
through the East. Mr. Villard estimates his cash collections at $4,000.
The money value of the clothing and war material given to him was about
$13,000. In addition to this Mr. Stearns gave him a cash credit of
$7,000 against which he could draw from time to time "as it might be
needed to subsist his company after they entered upon active service."
He also had to his credit with the National Kansas Committee the $5,500
it had voted him. His total collections and subscriptions amounted
therefore to about $30,000. A valuable asset in his collection of arms
was two hundred revolvers, which the Massachusetts Arms Company, at
Chicopee Falls, agreed, through Mr. Thayer, to sell to him for $1,300,
fifty per cent of the regular price. Brown notified Mr. Stearns of the
offer, who promptly placed the order, agreeing to pay for the arms by
his personal note, in four months from date of delivery. In his letter,
notifying Brown that he would purchase the revolvers for him, Mr.
Stearns remarked incidentally:
I think you ought to go to Kansas as soon as possible, and
give Robinson and the rest some back bone.
Also on May 11th he said:
I am glad to know that you are on your way to Kansas: the
free State leaders need somebody to talk to them. I hope
you will see Conway very soon after your arrival. I did not
expect you to return, or hold pledged to me, any arms you
use in Kansas, but only such as were not used.
Yours truly,
GEORGE L. STEARNS.
Encouraged by the success of his deceptions--"the greedy swallowing
every where of what I have told,"--and flattered by the notoriety he had
gained. Brown began to take his personal criticisms of the Kansas
leaders seriously. During the latter part of March he became so
impressed by his dissatisfaction with their "incompetence," and, what
was worse, with their "unwillingness to fight," that he decided to take
things into his own hands and displace them altogether. He would put
abler men in charge of Territorial affairs. With this purpose in view,
he modestly requested young Mr. Sanborn, and Martin F. Conway, to meet
him in conference at the Metropolitan Hotel, in New York. From there the
trio went to Easton, Pennsylvania, where they formally offered the
leadership of the Free-State cause to ex-Governor Reeder, which the
latter declined, with appropriate thanks. However, the mission was not
wholly without results. Mr. Villard informs us that the ex-Governor was
"so heartily in sympathy with Brown's plan, that the latter wrote to him
for aid, on his return to Springfield, explaining that the only
difference between them was as to the number of men needed, and hoping
that Mr. Reeder would soon discover the necessity of going out to
Kansas this spring."[239]
The coming of spring was a serious matter in Brown's affairs. His
"sagacious" forecast called for a renewal of pro-slavery aggressions in
Kansas, and he was not there to resist them, if they arrived. His
admirers had responded to his appeals for arms and money; and in return,
they expected him to do something creditable; something worthy of his
pretensions. Naturally they wanted their hero to be at the front; they
wanted to see him at the post of honor, and, if need be, at the post of
danger. Spring came, but Brown was not ready to go--"not yet, but soon."
He had not got enough of the kind of money he wanted--"Money without
questions asked." Mr. Villard says: "April was for Brown another month
of active solicitation of funds." He realized that he had to go, and
began making the necessary preparations with reluctance, and in a state
of despondence wholly inconsistent with heroism; but true--strictly
true--of the shamming mendicant. April 16th he wrote to Mr. Eli Thayer:
I am advised that one of "Uncle Sam's hounds is on my
track;" and I have kept myself hid for a few days to let my
track get cold. I have no idea of being taken, and intend
(if God will) to go back with irons in, rather than upon my
hands.... I got a fine list in Boston the other day, and
hope Worcester will not be entirely behind. I do not mean
you or Mr. Allen & Co.[240]
At this time Brown heard, or pretended that he had heard, a rumor that a
United States marshal had passed through Cleveland on his way East to
arrest him for "high treason." In consequence of this he sought and
obtained a hiding place in the home of Judge and Mrs. Russell, in
Boston, where he remained concealed several days. Here he indulged in
several spectacular effects, for the benefit of the Judge and his
wondering wife. Some of his performances were related by Judge Russell,
as follows:
He used to take out his two revolvers, and repeater, every
night before going to bed, to make sure of their loads,
saying, "Here are eighteen lives." To Mrs. Russell he once
said, "If you hear a noise at night, put the baby under the
pillow. I should hate to spoil these carpets, too, but you
know I cannot be taken alive." Giving an account one day of
his son Frederick's death, who was shot by Martin White,
Mrs. Russell broke out, "If I were you, Mr. Brown, I would
fight those ruffians as long as I lived." "That," he
replied, "is not a Christian spirit. If I thought I had one
bit of the spirit of revenge I would never lift my hand; I
do not make war on slave-holders, even when I fight them,
but on slavery." He would hold up Mrs. Russell's little
girl, less than two years old, and tell her, "When I am
hung for treason, you can say that you used to stand on
Captain Brown's hand."[241]
Brown had not been charged with treason in Kansas, nor was he even under
suspicion for "constructive" treason. But Kansas treason was then a
fashionable offense in the North, and Brown, of course, worked it with
fine effect upon his listeners. The Rev. Theodore Parker suggested to
Judge Russell a way of escape for Brown. He wrote:
MY DEAR JUDGE--If John Brown falls into the hands of the
marshal from Kansas, he is sure either of the gallows or of
something yet worse. If I were in his position, I should
shoot dead any man who attempted to arrest me for those
alleged crimes; then I should be tried by a Massachusetts
jury and be acquitted.[242]
Brown at one time expressed his contempt for the gullible people upon
whom he imposed. It was when he was in Kansas in 1858, and intended to
write a book. He thought the story of his life, as he would write it,
would be a good "seller." The title was to be "catchy," if there be such
a word. It read:
A brief history of John Brown, otherwise (Old B.) and his
family: _as connected with Kansas_; By one who knows.
It was to be "sold for the benefit of the whole of my family or to
promote the cause of Freedom as may hereafter appear." There was a
mutuality of interest or a unity of Brown and the cause of Freedom.
Whatever he did for the cause was done for the benefit of the family. In
writing to his son about this venture he said:
I am _certain_, from the manner in which I have been
pressed to narrate, and the greedy swallowing everywhere of
what I have told, and complaints of the newspapers
voluntarily made of my backwardness to gratify the public,
that the book would find a ready sale.[243]
But his sons--John and Jason--disapproved of the venture: they were
reactionaries; they thought it best to leave well enough alone, and
shied at a proposal to skate upon ice so treacherous as they knew this
departure to be. John said:[244] "But many a man has committed his
greatest blunder when trying to write a book."
While at the Russell home Brown evolved a scheme, characteristic of his
craftiness, which he launched in a highly dramatic and effective manner.
The paper was named:
OLD BROWN'S FAREWELL
_To the Plymouth Rocks, Bunker Hill Monuments, Charter
Oaks, and, Uncle Tom's Cabbins._
Having prepared the paper for the specific purpose of imposing upon Mrs.
Steams, rather than upon Mr. Parker's congregation, he paid that lady
the flattering compliment of desiring to consult her about "a plan he
had," asking her to call on him at the Russell home. Her interesting
statement of what happened is as follows:
... As the address states, Brown was keeping very quiet at
Judge Russell's house in Boston, partly on account of a
warrant issued in Kansas for his arrest for high treason,
and partly because he was ill with fever and ague, a
chronic form which had been induced by his exposures in
Kansas. It was in April, 1857, and a chilling easterly
storm had prevailed for many days. Mr. Stearns went
frequently to visit him, and on Saturday preceding the
Sunday morning mentioned by Judge Russell, Captain Brown
expressed a wish that I should go to see him, as he could
not venture in such weather on a trip to
Medford--emphasizing the request by saying that he wished
to consult me about a plan he had, and that I might come
soon. Mr. Stearns gave me his message at dinner, and I
drove at once to Judge Russell's house. As soon as my name
was announced Brown appeared, and thanking me for the
promptness of my visit, proceeded to say that he had been
"amusing himself" by preparing a little address for
Theodore Parker to read to his congregation the next
(Sunday) morning; and that he would feel obliged to me for
expressing my honest opinion about the propriety of this.
He then went upstairs, and returned with a paper, which
proved, in reading, to be "Old Brown's Farewell." The
emphasis of his tone and manner I shall never forget, and
wish I could picture him as he sat and read, lifting his
eyes to mine now and then to see how it impressed me. When
he finished, he said: "Well, now, what do you think? Shall
I send it to Mr. Parker?" "Certainly; by all means send it.
He will appreciate every word you have written, for it
rings the metal he likes. But I have my doubts about
reading it to his congregation. A few of them would
understand its significance, but the majority, I fear,
would not. Send it to Mr. Parker, and he will do what is
best about it." In reply he thanked me, and said I had
confirmed his own judgment, had cleared his mind, and
conferred the favor he desired. Then, I told him, he must
give me a copy to preserve among my relics. He replied: "I
would give you this, but it is not fit. I had such an ague
while writing that I could not keep my pen steady; but you
shall have a fair copy." In a few days he sent the copy I
now have, by the hand of Mr. Stearns. It will be forwarded
with other memorials to the Kansas Historical Society.
This matter being settled, Brown began talking upon the
subject always uppermost in his thought, and, I may add,
action also. Those who remember the power of his moral
magnetism will understand how surely and readily he lifted
his listener to the level of his own devotion; so that it
suddenly seemed mean and unworthy--not to say wicked--to be
living in luxury while such a man was struggling for a few
thousands to carry out his cherished plan. "Oh," said he,
"if I could have the money that is _smoked away_ during a
single day in Boston, I could strike a blow which would
make slavery totter from its foundation." As he said these
words, his look and manner left no doubt in my mind that he
was quite capable of accomplishing his purpose. To-day all
sane men everywhere acknowledge its truth. Well, I bade him
adieu and drove home, thinking many thoughts--of the power
of a mighty purpose lodged in a deeply religious soul; of
only one man with God on his side. The splendor of spring
sunshine filled the room when I awoke the next morning;
numberless birds, rejoicing in the returning warmth filled
all the air with melody; dandelions sparkled in the vivid
grass; everything was so beautiful, that the wish rose warm
in my heart to comfort and aid John Brown. It seemed not
much to do to sell our estate and give the proceeds to him
for his sublime purpose. What if another home were not as
beautiful! When Mr. Stearns awoke, I told him my morning
thoughts. Reflecting a while, he said: "Perhaps it would
not be just right to the children to do what you suggest;
but I will do all I can in justice to them and you." When
breakfast was over, he drove to the residence of Judge
Russell and handed Captain Brown his check for seven
thousand dollars. But this fact was not known at that time
and only made public after the death of Mr. Stearns.[245]
The historical _Farewell_, referred to, is herein reproduced:
He has left for Kansas; has been trying since he came out
of the Territory to secure an outfit, or, in other words,
the means of arming and thoroughly equipping his regular
minute-men, who are mixed up with the people of Kansas. And
he leaves the States with a feeling of deepest sadness,
that after having exhausted his own small means and with
his family and his brave men suffered hunger, cold,
nakedness, and some of them sickness, wounds, imprisonment
in irons with extreme cruel treatment, and others, death;
that after lying on the ground for months in the most
sickly, unwholesome, and uncomfortable places, some of the
time with sick and wounded, destitute of any shelter,
hunted like wolves, and sustained in part, by Indians; that
after all this, in order to sustain a cause which every
citizen of this "glorious republic" is under equal moral
obligation to do, and for the neglect of which he will be
held accountable by God--a cause in which every man, woman,
and child of the entire human family has a deep and awful
interest--that when no wages are asked or expected, he
cannot secure, amid all the wealth, luxury, and
extravagance of this "heaven-exalted" people, even the
necessary supplies of the common soldier. "How are the
mighty fallen?"
I am destitute of horses, baggage-wagons, tents, harness,
saddles, bridles, holsters, spurs, and belts; camp
equipage, such as cooking and eating utensils, blankets,
knapsacks, intrenching-tools, axes, shovels, spades,
mattocks, crowbars; have not a supply of ammunition; have
not money sufficient to pay freight and travelling
expenses; and left my family poorly supplied with common
necessaries.[246]
In a letter to Brown of April 17th, Mr. Thayer proposed a name for
Brown's prospective company, as follows:
... Will you allow me to suggest a name for your company? I
should call them, "The Neighbors," from Luke tenth chapter:
"Which thinkest thou was neighbor to him who fell among
thieves."
What Brown's thoughts were when he read this friendly suggestion can not
well be imagined. The association of the word "neighbors" with the
phrase "falling among thieves" may have caused him to suspect that
Thayer held the secret of his dishonor; and that his guilt, hypocrisy,
and mendacity might be on the verge of exposure. At any rate the effect
of the combination of these words must have sunk deep into his heart.
They could not but call up afresh, and vividly, a mental vision of the
scenes on the Pottawatomie, when he and his band of thieves fell among,
and upon, their neighbors, at midnight, and murdered and robbed them.
Brown's trouble now lay in the fact that he had to leave the East and
there was nothing which he could do in the West. The Free-State cause
under the direction of Robinson, and his co-laborers: Goodin, Roberts,
Holliday, Lane, Crawford, Brown, Deitzler, Parrott, Brooks, Dudley,
Emery, Woodward, Learnard, Phillips, Conway, Wood, and many others, was
progressing in an orderly and satisfactory manner toward a decisive
victory at the polls.
Acknowledging the receipt of Mr. Stearns's suggestions that he should go
to Kansas immediately, Brown wrote him on the 13th: "I leave for the
West to-day." It will be observed that he put off no fire-works, nor
indulged in any exhibition in heroics on the occasion of his going to
his, pretended, field of achievement. To William Barnes, of Albany, he
wrote April 3d:
I expect soon to return West; & to go back without even
securing an outfit. I go with a _sad heart_, having failed
to secure even the means of equipping; to say nothing of
feeding men. I had when I returned, no more than I could
peril; and could make no further sacrifice, except to go
about in the attitude of a beggar: & that I have done,
humiliating as it is.
Proceeding slowly westward, almost aimlessly, with two wagons driven by
himself and his son Owen, he worked the country he passed through for
all the money and "supplies" he could secure. It was not until August
7th, that he arrived at Tabor, Iowa. "I was obliged," he said,[247] "to
stop at different points on the way, and to go to others off the route
to solicit help."
While thus engaged, he wrote the "Autobiography"; a paper held in
adoration by his biographers. It is in the form of a letter addressed to
Mr. Stearns's twelve year old son, who had obtained "permission from his
father to give all his pocket money to Captain Brown." It contains
nothing that was unusual or extraordinary in the lives of those who
wrestled with the problems and the privations which were incident to
border-life during the period of Brown's youth. The paper was written
for a special purpose and is valuable as an exhibit of his scheming to
finance the operations he then intended to undertake in Virginia.[248]
John Brown was not a weakling, nor was he wasting any of his time
trifling with sentiment when he wrote this letter. In his brain surged
the hopes for success, and the fears of a miscarriage, for lack of
funds, of a secret purpose of transcendant importance. The parents of
young Stearns were the most valuable of his fiscal and moral supporters.
Also he carried in his pocket the father's check for $7,000. Further, he
knew that Mr. Stearns was seeking to have the State of New York
appropriate $100,000 to put in his hands for use in his Kansas
operations. Though still masquerading under cover of the deception which
he practiced upon these people, he had definite plans in view, which
were not a pretense; they were secret; he could not unfold them; but
they were none the less real. He intended to ask Mr. Stearns, and
others, to finance his new project; and to do so without inquiring too
closely into the nature of the details that would be involved in the
execution of it. He wanted to retain the confidence which these friends
reposed in him, and under these circumstances wrote the letter or
autobiography, for the purpose of confirming their faith in his
sincerity; and to encourage a belief in their minds that he was well
equipped by heredity and training, to accomplish what he intended to
undertake, and that he would with certainty succeed.
The problem of accounting for the impending failure of his Kansas
pretentions was also a serious matter. Mr. Stearns confidently expected
that upon his arrival in Kansas, Brown would promptly take up the
subject of public affairs with Governor Robinson _et al._, and tell
them, sharply, what should be done. As he had derived it from Brown,
these leaders needed a leader: one with courage and energy; and without
a suspicion that he had been deceived in the premises, he thought Brown
was equipped for the job, and that he was eager to give the Free-State
leaders an effective stimulant for "backbone."
To keep up the pretense that his destination was Kansas, and that his
going there had some political significance, Brown sought to have some
responsible people meet him at Tabor for consultation about Kansas
matters. He accordingly wrote to Colonel Phillips, June 9th, asking him
to come, designating others whom he desired to meet. Also he wrote to
Mr. Wattles and to Holmes, and probably to Cook. Phillips answered his
letter June 24th, informing him that none of the men whom he hoped would
meet him in the "most quiet way," for a conference about "very important
matters," in relation to which there were to be "no words," was
sufficiently impressed with the importance of his coming to put in an
appearance. He also told him, what he already knew, that there was no
necessity for military operations.
Whether Brown entered Kansas at all, would depend solely upon whether or
not conditions there were favorable for another "sudden coup to restore
his fortunes." Upon this subject he was in correspondence with "Captain"
James H. Holmes of Osawatomie fame. It will be remembered that Holmes
had been "promptly and properly indicted and long pursued by the Kansas
and Missouri authorities for "carrying the war into Africa"--stealing
horses and other property." Holmes must have been a very daring and
efficient thief, for Brown greatly admired him and "used to call him 'my
little hornet.'"[249] One of the Little Hornet's men had been stung. To
this Holmes referred in a letter which he wrote to Brown April 30th. He
said:[250]
You will hear of me either at Lawrence, through J. E. Cook,
of the firm of Bacon, Cook, & Co., or I may be at Emporia,
where I have taken a claim and make it my home. At any
rate. Cook can tell you where I may be. A case has recently
occurred of kidnapping a Free-State man, which is this:
Archibald Kendall was some two weeks since, enticed out,
under pretense of trading horses, by four men, and abducted
into Missouri. Archy was in my company and is a good brave
fellow.
In answer to a letter from Brown, Holmes replied August 16th:
... I do not know what you would have me infer by business;
I presume though, by the word being emphasized, that you
refer to the business for which I learn that you have a
stock of material with you. If you mean this, I think quite
strongly of a good opening for this business about the
first Monday of Oct. next. If you wish other employments, I
presume you will find just as profitable ones.[251]
The "Little Hornet" did not recommend, as profitable, the business that
might be had on election-day--October 5th; that opportunity foreshadowed
the possibility of real resistance against pro-slavery aggressions; but
other profitable employments could be had, by the act of undertaking
them, at any time. These thieves understood each other. The "profitable
employments" meant stealing horses.
With his arrival at Tabor, August 7th, Brown reached the limit of his
possibilities. The next day he thus reported his arrival to Mr.
Stearns:[252]
In consequence of ill-health and other hindrances too
numerous and unpleasant to write about, the least of which
has _not been_ the lack of sufficient means for freight
bills and other expenses, I have never as yet returned to
Kansas. This has been unavoidable, unless I returned
without securing the principal object for which I came back
from the Territory; and I am now waiting for teams and
means to come from there to enable me to go on. I obtained
two teams and wagons, as I talked of, at a cost of seven
hundred and eighty-six dollars, but was obliged to hire a
teamster,[253] and to drive one team myself. This
unexpected increase of labor, together with being much of
the time quite unwell and depressed with disappointments
and delays, has prevented my writing sooner. Indeed, I had
pretty much determined not to write till I should do it
from Kansas. I will tell you some of my disappointments. I
was flattered with the expectation of getting one thousand
dollars from Hartford City and also one thousand dollars
from New Haven. From Hartford I did get about two hundred
and sixty dollars, and a little over in some repair of
arms. From New Haven I got twenty-five dollars; at any
rate, that is all I can get any advice of. Gerrit Smith
supplied me with three hundred and fifty dollars, or I
could not have reached this place. He also loaned me one
hundred and ten dollars to pay to the Thompsons who were
disappointed of getting their money for the farm I had
agreed for and got possession of for use. I have been
continually hearing from them that I _have not fulfilled_,
and I told them I should not leave the country till the
thing was completed. This has exceedingly mortified me. I
could tell you much more had I room and time. _Have not
given up._ Will write more when I get to Kansas.
Your friend,
JOHN BROWN.
He now had at Tabor and at Nebraska City, five wagon loads of stuff[254]
which was wholly useless for any purpose relating to Kansas. He had been
posing, for nearly a year, as a hero charged with the responsibility of
saving Kansas to freedom, and had finally come to the end of his rope.
To Mr. Sanborn he wrote, August 13th:[255]
I am now, at last, within a kind of hailing distance of our
Free-State friends in Kansas.... I am now waiting to know
what is best to do next.
Four days later he wrote to his wife these significant words:
Should no disturbance occur, we may possibly think best to
work back eastward.[256]
To Mr. Adair he wrote:
I have been trying all season to get to Kansas; but have
failed as yet, through ill health, want of means to pay
Freights, travelling expenses, etc. _How to act now_; I do
not know.[257]
There was nothing more that Brown could do. The failure of his
pretensions was almost complete. Only his vocabulary had survived the
general wreck. It was still intact and in working order. Drawing upon
that inexhaustible resource of the charlatan, he wrote to Mr. Sanborn,
October 1st:
I am now so far recovered from my hurt, as to be able to do
a little; and foggy as it is, "we do not give up the ship."
I will not say that Kansas, watered by the tears and blood
of my children, shall yet be free or I fall.[258]
A comparison of Brown's correspondence at this time, with what his
eulogists have put forth concerning it, discloses a wide divergence
between the facts therein stated, and the biographical fiction relating
thereto. Referring to Brown's irrelevant reference to the tears and
blood of his children, Mr. Villard says:
Brave as this sentiment is, it only increases the mystery
of Brown's delaying at Tabor.... Obviously, Brown, grim,
self-willed, resolute chieftain that he generally was,
appeared baffled here and lacking wholly in a determination
to reach the scene of action at any cost.... It will be
seen that, when he finally reached Kansas, he stayed but a
few days, was practically in hiding,...[259]
Only editorial fiction mystifies the cause of his delay at Tabor. The
"grim, self-willed, resolute chieftain" had a clear and unalterable
purpose in view, when he was delaying there. It was to attempt the
conquest of the Southern States. If he entered Kansas, it would be
merely an incident in the promotion of that scheme. His attitude was
pivotal but not enigmatic; if a "disturbance" occurred in Kansas, he
intended to proceed thither, and under cover of it, execute such
purposes as he had in view; otherwise, he would "work back eastward."
One, at least, of his Eastern admirers, Mr. Thomas Wentworth Higginson,
became impatient because of this delaying. After nursing his
disappointment a few months, he protested Brown's procrastination, which
evoked the following instructive reply from Mr. Sanborn:[260]
... You do not understand Brown's circumstances.... He is
as ready for a revolution as any other man, and is now on
the borders of Kansas, safe from arrest, but prepared for
action, but he needs money for his present expenses and
_active_ support. I believe he is the best Disunion
champion you can find, and with his hundred men, when he is
put where he can raise them, and drill them (for he has an
expert drill officer with him) he will do more to split the
Union than a list of 50,000 names, for your convention,
good as that is.
What I am trying to hint at is that the friends of Kansas
are looking with strange apathy at a movement which has all
the elements of fitness and success--a good plan, a tried
leader, and a radical purpose. If you can do anything for
it _now_, in God's name do it--and the ill result of the
new policy in Kansas may be prevented.
On August 13th, the "Cromwellian Trooper" wrote Mr. Sanborn a long
letter,[261] which he intended "as a kind of report of my progress and
success, as much for your committee or my friend Stearns as yourself."
The letter has no public significance. It is a prolonged whine because
he had not received all the _money_ that had been promised him; also it
incidentally but artistically put Mr. Stearns and Mr. Lawrence in a
position that practically compelled them to make good the thousand
dollars which he had theretofore pressed Mr. Lawrence for.[262] He said:
... It was the poor condition of my noble-hearted wife and
her young children that made me follow up that
encouragement with a tenacity that disgusted him and
completely exhausted his patience. But after such repeated
assurances from friends I so much respected that I could
not suspect they would trifle with my feelings, I made a
positive bargain for the farm; and when I found nothing for
me at Peterboro', I borrowed one hundred and ten dollars of
Mr. Smith for the men who occupied the farm, telling him
it would certainly be refunded, and the others that they
would get all their money very soon, and even before I left
the country. This has brought me only extreme mortification
and depression of feeling; for all my letters from home, up
to the last, say not a dime has been paid in to Mr. Smith.
Friends who never knew the lack of a sumptuous dinner
little comprehend the value of such trifling matters to
persons circumstanced as I am. But, my noble-hearted
friend, I am "though faint, yet pursuing."...
Brown's hope for a "disturbance" in Kansas was nourished by the reports
that he received from General Lane, which, doubtless, encouraged him to
prolong his stay at Tabor. Concerning this, Mr. Villard says:[263]
Only the erratic Lane, who was then the sole person trying
to stir up strife in Kansas, and is accused by respectable
witnesses, of planning schemes of wholesale massacre of
pro-slavery men through a secret order; was on fire for
Brown's presence in the Territory, but it was the Tabor
arms, rather than their owner, he really desired.
Lane wrote Brown, confidentially, September 7th, as follows:[264]
(Private)
SIR:
We are earnestly engaged in perfecting an organization for
the protection of the ballot-box at the October election
(first Monday). Whitman and Abbott have been East after
money & arms, for a month past, they write encouragingly, &
will be back in a few days. We want you with _all_ the
_materials_ you have. I see no objections to your coming
into Kansas publicly. I can furnish you just such a force
as you may deem necessary for your protection here & after
you arrive. I went up to see you but failed.
Now what is wanted is this--write me concisely what
transportation you require, how much money & the number of
men to escort you into the Territory safely & if you desire
it, I will come up with them.
To this letter Brown replied September 16th:
I suppose that three good teams with _well covered_ wagons,
and ten _really ingenious_, industrious (not gassy) men,
with about one hundred and fifty dollars in cash, could
bring it about in the course of eight or ten days.
Lane, hoping to make his proposition more attractive, appointed Brown
Brigadier-General, Second Brigade, First Division. But not until the
29th, did he send his Quartermaster-General, Mr. Jamison, to Brown, for
the arms. In a letter addressed to "General John Brown" Lane said that
it was "_all important_ to Kansas, that your things should be in at the
earliest possible moment, and that you should be much nearer than you
are." He also enclosed fifty dollars, "all the money I have," but said
that Jamison "had some more." Naturally Lane's proposal failed to
interest Brown. He replied that he could not go to Lawrence on such
short notice and returned the fifty dollars.[265] The election, however,
passed off quietly and resulted in a complete victory for the Free-State
men. They elected their delegate to Congress, and thirty-three of the
fifty-two members of the Legislature.
Another of Lane's schemes served to keep Brown at Tabor a month longer:
a project for "the wholesale assassination of pro-slavery men through a
secret order" called Danites. This time Mr. Whitman ably seconded Lane's
efforts to interest Brown. He borrowed one hundred and fifty dollars
which he enclosed with a letter to him and sent it by Mr. Charles P.
Tidd, saying: "General Lane will send teams from Falls City so that you
may get your goods all in. Leave none behind. Come direct to this place,
and see me before you make any disposition of your plunder.... Make the
money I send answer to get here, and I hope by that time to have more
for you. Mr. Tidd will explain all."[266] That this messenger gave
Brown inside information concerning the prospective assassinations,
there can be little doubt.
October 25th, Mr. Whitman reported to Mr. Stearns[267] that Brown would
be at Lawrence November 3d, "at a very important council: Free-State
Central Com., Executive Com., Vigilance Committee of 52, Generals and
Capts. of the entire organization." Such a "disturbance" as this
promised to be, could not otherwise than interest Brown. Regarding the
money he received from Whitman as money due him from the National Kansas
Committee, he kept it; and disregarding the instructions concerning the
arms, he proceeded personally to Kansas, arriving at Mr. Whitman's home
about November 5th: too late, it will be observed, for him to
participate in the important council meeting of the 3d; but not too late
to take advantage of any public disturbance that might arise as a result
of the proceedings of the council. By messenger Tidd, Brown received one
hundred dollars from Mr. Adair, and upon his arrival at Lawrence, he
received from Mr. Whitman five hundred dollars for account of the
Massachusetts Kansas Committee.
All the prospects for "trouble" in Kansas having vanished, Brown
promptly decided to "move eastward." Mr. Villard states that he
"remained two days with Mr. Whitman, obtaining tents and bedding." From
Topeka, when _en route_ to the East, on the 16th, he wrote to Mr.
Stearns that he had "been in Kansas for more than a week;" that he had
"found matters quite unsettled;" but was "decidedly of the opinion that
there will be no use for arms or ammunition before another Spring;" that
he had them all safe and meant "_to keep them so_." Also that he meant
"to be busily; but very quietly engaged in perfecting his arrangements
during the Winter." He further said: "Before getting your letter saying
to me not to draw on you for the $7,000 (by Mr. Whitman) I had fully
determined not to do so unless driven to the last extremity." In a
postscript he said: "If I do not use the arms and ammunition in _actual
service_; I intend to restore them unharmed; but you must not flatter
yourself on that score _too soon_."
It will be observed that Brown did not call upon Governor Robinson, or
make any recommendations concerning Territorial affairs. To Mr. Adair he
wrote on the 17th: "I have been for some days in the territory but
keeping very quiet and looking about to see how the land lies ... I do
not wish to have any noise about me at present; as I do not mean to
'trouble Israel.' I may find it best to go back to Iowa."[268]
The "failure" of Brown's plans to "trouble Israel," or the failure of
his hope for another opportunity to plunder Kansas settlers on a large
scale, lay in the simple fact that at the time he arrived at Tabor,
August 7, 1857, the Free-State leaders had worked out the Free-State
problem, and were then in position to make official declaration of the
fact at the polls; and to take over, into their own hands, by right of
the law of Squatter Sovereignty, the control of the Territorial
government. They had almost accomplished their mighty undertaking. Also,
they had established conditions of order, and security from violence,
that afforded neither encouragement nor opportunity for organized bands
of thieves, of the Brown type, to prey upon the settlements. The
activities of the marauder and his "Little Hornet" were barred.