The crusade against slavery was based upon the assumption that slavery,
like war, is an abnormal state of society. As the tyrant produces the
assassin, so on a larger scale slavery calls forth servile insurrection,
or, as in the United States, an implacable struggle between free white
persons and the defenders of slavery.
The propaganda of Southern and Western abolitionists had as a primary
object the prevention of both servile insurrection and civil war. It was
as clear to Southern abolitionists in the thirties as it was to Seward
and Lincoln in the fifties that, unless the newly aroused slave power
should be effectively checked, a terrible civil war would ensue. To
forestall this dreaded calamity, they freely devoted their lives and
fortunes. Peaceable emancipation by state action, according to the
original program, was prevented by the rise of a sectional animosity
which beclouded the issue. As the leadership drifted into the hands of
extremists, the conservative masses were confused, misled, or deceived.
The South undoubtedly became the victim of the erroneous teachings of
alarmists who believed that the anti-slavery North intended, by unlawful
and unconstitutional federal action, to abolish slavery in all the
States; while the North had equally exaggerated notions as to the
aggressive intentions of the South.
The opposing forces finally met on the plains of Kansas, and extreme
Northern opposition became personified in John Brown of Osawatomie. He
was born in Connecticut in May, 1800, of New England ancestry, the sixth
generation from the Mayflower. A Calvinist, a mystic, a Bible-reading
Puritan, he was trained to anti-slavery sentiments in the family of Owen
Brown, his father. He passed his early childhood in the Western Reserve
of Ohio, and subsequently moved from Ohio to New York, to Pennsylvania,
to Ohio again, to Connecticut, to Massachusetts, and finally to New
York once more. He was at various times tanner, farmer, sheep-raiser,
horse-breeder, wool-merchant, and a follower of other callings as well.
From a business standpoint he may be regarded as a failure, for he had
been more than once a bankrupt and involved in much litigation. He was
twice married and was the father of twenty children, eight of whom died
in infancy.
Until the Kansas excitement nothing had occurred in the history of the
Brown family to attract public attention. John Brown was not conspicuous
in anti-slavery efforts or in any line of public reform. As a mere lad
during the War of 1812 he accompanied his father, who was furnishing
supplies to the army, and thus he saw much of soldiers and their
officers. The result was that he acquired a feeling of disgust for
everything military, and he consistently refused to perform the required
military drill until he had passed the age for service. Not quite in
harmony with these facts is the statement that he was a great admirer of
Oliver Cromwell, and Rhodes says of him that he admired Nat Turner, the
leader of the servile insurrection in Virginia, as much as he did George
Washington. There seems to be no reason to doubt the testimony of the
members of his family that John Brown always cherished a lively interest
in the African race and a deep sympathy with them. As a youth he had
chosen for a companion a slave boy of his own age, to whom he became
greatly attached. This slave, badly clad and poorly fed, beaten with
iron shovel or anything that came first to hand, young Brown grew to
regard as his equal if not his superior. And it was the contrast between
their respective conditions that first led Brown to "swear eternal war
with slavery." In later years John Brown, Junior, tells us that, on
seeing a negro for the first time, he felt so great a sympathy for
him that he wanted to take the negro home with him. This sympathy, he
assures us, was a result of his father's teaching. Upon the testimony of
two of John Brown's sons rests the oft-repeated story that he declared
eternal war against slavery and also induced the members of his family
to unite with him in formal consecration to his mission. The time given
for this incident is previous to the year 1840; the idea that he was
a divinely chosen agent for the deliverance of the slaves was of later
development.
As early as 1834 Brown had shown some active interest in the education
of negro children, first in Pennsylvania and later in Ohio. In 1848 the
Brown family became associated with an enterprise of Gerrit Smith in
northern New York, where a hundred thousand acres of land were offered
to negro families for settlement. During the excitement over the
Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 Brown organized among the colored people of
Springfield, Massachusetts, "The United States League of Gileadites."
As an organization this undertaking proved a failure, but Brown's formal
written instructions to the "Gileadites" are interesting on account
of their relation to what subsequently happened. In this document,
by referring to the multitudes who had suffered in their behalf, he
encouraged the negroes to stand for their liberties. He instructed them
to be armed and ready to rush to the rescue of any of their number who
might be attacked:
"Should one of your number be arrested, you must collect together as
quickly as possible, so as to outnumber your adversaries who are taking
an active part against you. Let no able-bodied man appear on the ground
unequipped, or with his weapons exposed to view: let that be understood
beforehand. Your plans must be known only to yourself, and with the
understanding that all traitors must die, wherever caught and proven to
be guilty. Whosoever is fearful or afraid, let him return and depart
early from Mount Gilead" (Judges, vii. 3; Deut. xx. 8). Give all cowards
an opportunity to show it on condition of holding their peace. Do NOT
DELAY ONE MOMENT AFTER YOU ARE READY: YOU WILL LOSE ALL YOUR RESOLUTION
IF YOU DO. LET THE FIRST BLOW BE THE SIGNAL FOR ALL TO ENGAGE: AND WHEN
ENGAGED DO NOT DO YOUR WORK BY HALVES, BUT MAKE CLEAN WORK WITH YOUR
ENEMIES,--AND BE SURE YOU MEDDLE NOT WITH ANY OTHERS. By going about
your business quietly, you will get the job disposed of before the
number that an uproar would bring together can collect; and you will
have the advantage of those who come out against you, for they will be
wholly unprepared with either equipments or matured plans; all with them
will be confusion and terror. Your enemies will be slow to attack you
after you have done up the work nicely; and if they should, they will
have to encounter your white friends as well as you; for you may safely
calculate on a division of the whites, and may by that means get to an
honorable parley."
He gives here a distinct suggestion of the plans and methods which he
later developed and extended.
When Kansas was opened for settlement, John Brown was fifty-four years
old. Early in the spring of 1855, five of his sons took up claims near
Osawatomie. They went, as did others, as peaceable settlers without
arms. After the election of March 30, 1855, at which armed Missourians
overawed the Kansas settlers and thus secured a unanimous pro-slavery
Legislature, the freestate men, under the leadership of Robinson, began
to import Sharp's rifles and other weapons for defense. Brown's sons
thereupon wrote to their father, describing their helpless condition and
urging him to come to their relief. In October, 1855, John Brown himself
arrived with an adequate supply of rifles and some broadswords and
revolvers. The process of organization and drill thereupon began, and
when the Wakarusa War occurred early in December, 1855, John Brown was
on hand with a small company from Osawatomie to assist in the defense
of Lawrence. The statement that he disapproved of the agreement with
Governor Shannon which prevented bloodshed is not in accord with a
letter which John Brown wrote to his wife immediately after the event.
The Governor granted practically all that the freestate men desired
and recognized their trainbands as a part of the police force of
the Territory. Brown by this stipulation became Captain John Brown,
commander of a company of the territorial militia.
Soon after the Battle of Wakarusa, Captain Brown passed the command of
the company of militia to his son John, while he became the leader of a
small band composed chiefly of members of his own family. Writing to his
wife on April 7, 1856, he said: "We hear that preparations are making in
the United States Court for numerous arrests of free-state men. For one
I have not desired (all things considered) to have the slave power cease
from its acts of aggression. 'Their foot shall slide in due time.'" This
letter of Brown's indicates that the writer was pleased at the prospect
of approaching trouble.
When, six weeks later, notice came of the attack upon Lawrence, John
Brown, Junior, went with the company of Osawatomie Rifles to the relief
of the town, while the elder Brown with a little company of six moved in
the same direction. In a letter to his wife, dated June 26, 1856, more
than a month after the massacre in Pottawatomie Valley, Brown said:
"On our way to Lawrence we learned that it had been already destroyed,
and we encamped with John's company overnight.... On the second day
and evening after we left John's men, we encountered quite a number of
pro-slavery men and took quite a number of prisoners. Our prisoners we
let go, but kept some four or five horses. We were immediately after
this accused of murdering five men at Pottawatomie and great efforts
have been made by the Missourians and their ruffian allies to capture
us. John's company soon afterwards disbanded, and also the Osawatomie
men. Since then, we have, like David of old, had our dwelling with the
serpents of the rocks and the wild beasts of the wilderness."
There will probably never be agreement as to Brown's motives in slaying
his five neighbors on May 24, 1856. Opinions likewise differ as to the
effect which this incident had on the history of Kansas. Abolitionists
of every class had said much about war and about servile insurrection,
but the conservative people of the West and South had mentioned the
subject only by way of warning and that they might point out ways of
prevention. Garrison and his followers had used language which gave
rise to the impression that they favored violent revolution and were
not averse to fomenting servile insurrection. They had no faith in the
efforts of Northern emigrants to save Kansas from the clutches of the
slaveholding South, and they denounced in severe terms the Robinson
leadership there, believing it sure to result in failure. To this class
of abolitionists John Brown distinctly belonged. He believed that so
high was the tension on the slavery question throughout the country
that revolution, if inaugurated at any point, would sweep the land and
liberate the slaves. Brown was also possessed of the belief that he was
himself the divinely chosen agent to let loose the forces of freedom;
and that this was the chief motive which prompted the deed at
Pottawatomie is as probable as any other.
Viewed in this light, the Pottawatomie massacre was measurably
successful. Opposing forces became more clearly defined and were
pitted against each other in hostile array. There were reprisals and
counter-reprisals. Kansas was plunged into a state of civil war, but it
is quite probable that this condition would have followed the looting of
Lawrence even if John Brown had been absent from the Territory.
Coincident with the warfare by organized companies, small irregular
bands infested the country. Kansas became a paradise for adventurers,
soldiers of fortune, horse thieves, cattle thieves, and marauders of
various sorts. Spoiling the enemy in the interest of a righteous cause
easily degenerated into common robbery and murder. It was chiefly in
this sort of conflict that two hundred persons were slain and that two
million dollars' worth of property was destroyed.
During this period of civil war the members of the Brown family were not
much in evidence. John Brown, Junior, captain of the Osawatomie Rifles,
was a political prisoner at Topeka. Swift destruction of their property
was visited upon all those members who were suspected of having a share
in the Pottawatomie murders, and their houses were burned and their
other property was seized. Warrants were out for the arrest of the elder
Brown and his sons. Captain Pate who, in command of a small troop, was
in pursuit of Brown and his company, was surprised at Black Jack in the
early morning and induced to surrender. Brown thus gained control of a
number of horses and other supplies and began to arrange terms for
the exchange of his son and Captain Pate as prisoners of war. The
negotiations were interrupted, however, by the arrival of Colonel Sumner
with United States troops, who restored the horses and other booty and
disbanded all the troops. With the Colonel was a deputy marshal with
warrants for the arrest of the Browns. When ordered to proceed with his
duty, however, the marshal was so overawed that, even though a federal
officer was present, he merely remarked, "I do not recognize any one for
whom I have warrants."
After the capture of Captain Pate at Black Jack early in June, little is
known about Brown and his troops for two months. Apart from an encounter
of opposing forces near Osawatomie in which he and his band were
engaged, Brown took no share in the open fighting between the organized
companies of opposing forces, and his part in the irregular guerrilla
warfare of the period is uncertain. Towards the close of the war one of
his sons was shot by a preacher who alleged that he had been robbed
by the Browns. After peace had been restored to Kansas by the vigorous
action of Governor Geary, Brown left the scene and never again took an
active part in the local affairs of the Territory.
John Brown's influence upon the course of affairs in Kansas, like
William Lloyd Garrison's upon the general anti-slavery movement of the
country, has been greatly misunderstood and exaggerated. Brown's object
and intention were fundamentally contradictory to those of the freestate
settlers. They strove to build a free commonwealth by legal and
constitutional methods. He strove to inaugurate a revolution which would
extend to all pro-slavery States and result in universal emancipation.
John Brown was in Kansas only one year, and he never made himself at one
with those who should have been his fellow-workers but went his solitary
way. Only in three instances did he pretend to cooperate with the
regular freestate forces. He could not work with them because his
conception of the means to be adopted to attain the end was different
from theirs. Probably before he left the Territory in 1856, he
had realized that his work in Kansas was a failure and that the
law-and-order forces were too strong for the execution of his plans.
Certain it is that within a few weeks after his departure he had
transferred the field of his operations to the mountains of Virginia.
Kansas became free through the persistent determination of the rank
and file of Northern settlers under the wise leadership of Governor
Robinson. It is difficult to determine whether the cause of Kansas was
aided or hindered by the advent of John Brown and the adventurers with
whom his name became associated.
During the fall of 1856 and until the late summer of 1857 Brown was
in the East raising funds for the redemption of Kansas and for the
reimbursement of those who had incurred or were likely to incur losses
in defense of the cause. For the equipment of a troop of soldiers under
his own command he formulated plans for raising $30,000 by private
subscription, and in this he was to a considerable extent successful.
It can never be known how much was given in this way to Brown for the
equipment of his army of liberation. It is estimated that George L.
Stearns alone gave in all fully $10,000. Because Eastern abolitionists
had lost confidence in Robinson's leadership, they lent a willing ear to
the plea that Captain Brown with a well-equipped and trained company of
soldiers was the last hope for checking the enemy. Not only would Kansas
become a slave State without such help, it was said, but the institution
of slavery would spread into all the Territories and become invincible.
The money was given to Brown to redeem Kansas, but he had developed an
alternative plan. Early in the year 1857, he met in New York Colonel
Hugh Forbes, a soldier of fortune who had seen service with Garibaldi
in Italy. They discussed general plans for an aggressive attack upon the
South for the liberation of the slaves, and with these plans the needs
of Kansas had little or no connection. "Kansas was to be a prologue to
the real drama," writes his latest biographer; "the properties of
the one were to serve in the other." In April six months' salary was
advanced out of the Kansas fund to Forbes, who was employed at a
hundred dollars a month to aid in the execution of their plans. Another
significant expenditure of the Kansas fund was in pursuance of a
contract with a Mr. Blair, a Connecticut manufacturer, to furnish at a
dollar each one thousand pikes. Though the contract was dated March 80,
1857, it was not completed until the fall of 1859, when the weapons were
delivered to Brown in Pennsylvania for use at Harper's Ferry.
Instead of rushing to the relief of Kansas, as contributors had
expected, the leader exercised remarkable deliberation. When August
arrived, it found him only as far as Tabor, Iowa, where a considerable
quantity of arms had been previously assembled. Here he was joined by
Colonel Forbes, and together they organized a school of military tactics
with Forbes as instructor. But as Forbes could find no one but Brown and
his son to drill, he soon returned to the East, still trusted by Brown
as a co-worker. It would seem that Forbes himself wished to play the
chief part in the liberation of America.
While he was at Tabor, Brown was urged by Lane and other former
associates of his in Kansas to come to their relief with all his forces.
There had, indeed, been a full year of peace since Geary's arrival,
but early in October there was to occur the election of a territorial
Legislature in which the free-state forces had agreed to participate,
and Lane feared an invasion from Missouri. But although the appeal was
not effective, the election proved a complete triumph for the North.
Late in October, after the signal victory of the law-and-order party
at the election, Brown was again urged with even greater insistence to
muster all his forces and come to Kansas, and there were hints in Lane's
letter that an aggressive campaign was afoot to rid the Territory of
the enemy. Instead of going in force, however, Brown stole into the
Territory alone. On his arrival, two days after the date set for a
decisive council of the revolutionary faction, he did not make himself
known to Governor Robinson or to any of his party but persuaded several
of his former associates to join his "school" in Iowa. From Tabor
he subsequently transferred the school to Springdale, a quiet Quaker
community in Cedar County, Iowa, seven miles from any railway station.
Here the company went into winter quarters and spent the time in rigid
drill in preparation for the campaign of liberation which they expected
to undertake the following season.
While he was at Tabor, Brown began to intimate to his Eastern friends
that he had other and different plans for the promotion of the general
cause. In January, 1858, he went East with the definite intention of
obtaining additional support for the greater scheme. On February 22,
1858, at the home of Gerrit Smith in New York, there was held a council
at which Brown definitely outlined his purpose to begin operations at
some point in the mountains of Virginia. Smith and Sanborn at first
tried to dissuade him, but finally consented to cooperate. The secret
was carefully guarded: some half-dozen Eastern friends were apprised of
it, including Stearns, their most liberal contributor, and two or three
friends at Springdale.
As early as December, 1857, Forbes began to write mysterious letters to
Sanborn, Stearns, and others of the circle, in which he complained of
ill-usage at the hands of Brown. It appears that Forbes erroneously
assumed that the Boston friends were aware of Brown's contract with
him and of his plans for the attack upon Virginia; but, since they were
entirely ignorant on both points, the correspondence was conducted
at cross-purposes for several months. Finally, early in May, 1858, it
transpired that Forbes had all the time been fully informed of Brown's
intentions to begin the effort for emancipation in Virginia. Not only
so, but he had given detailed information on the subject to Senators
Sumner, Seward, Hale, Wilson, and possibly others. Senator Wilson was
told that the arms purchased by the New England Aid Society for use in
Kansas were to be used by Brown for an attack on Virginia. Wilson, in
entire ignorance of Brown's plans, demanded that the Aid Society be
effectively protected against any such charge of betrayal of trust. The
officers of the Society were, in fact, aware that the arms which had
been purchased with Society funds the year before and shipped to Tabor,
Iowa, had been placed in Brown's hands and that, without their consent,
those arms had been shipped to Ohio and just at that time were on
the point of being transported to Virginia. This knowledge placed the
officers of the New England Aid Society in a most awkward position.
Stearns, the treasurer, had advanced large sums to meet pressing needs
during the starvation times in Kansas in 1857. Now the arms in Brown's
possession were, by vote of the officers, given to the treasurer in part
payment of the Society's debt, and he of course left them just where
they were. * On the basis of this arrangement Senator Wilson and the
public were assured that none of the property given for the benefit of
Kansas had been or would be diverted to other purposes by the Kansas
Committee. It was decided, however, that on account of the Forbes
revelations the attack upon Harper's Ferry must be delayed for one year
and that Brown must go to Kansas to take part in the pending elections.
* "When the denouement finally came, however, the public and
press did not take a very favorable view of the transaction;
it was too difficult to distinguish between George L.
Stearns, the benefactor of the Kansas Committee, and George
L. Stearns, the Chairman of that Committee." Villard, "John
Brown," p. 341.
Though Brown arrived in Kansas late in June, he took no active part in
the pending measures for the final triumph of the free-state cause. It
is something of a mystery how he was occupied between the 1st of July
and the middle of December. Under the pseudonym of "Shubal Morgan" he
was commander of a small band in which were a number of his followers
in training for the Eastern mission. The occupation of this band is not
matter of history until December 20, 1858, when they made a raid into
the State of Missouri, slew one white man, took eleven slaves, a large
number of horses, some oxen, wagons, much food, arms, and various other
supplies. This action was in direct violation of a solemn agreement
between the border settlers of State and Territory. The people in
Kansas were in terror lest retaliatory raids should follow, as would
undoubtedly have happened had not the people of Missouri taken active
measures to prevent such reprisals.
Rewards were offered for Brown's arrest, and free-state residents
served notice that he must leave the Territory. In the dead of winter he
started North with some slaves and many horses, accompanied by Kagi and
Gill, two of his faithful followers. In northern Kansas, where they
were delayed by a swollen stream, a band of horsemen appeared to dispute
their passage. Brown's party quickly mustered assistance and, giving
chase to the enemy, took three prisoners with four horses as spoils of
war. In Kansas parlance the affair is called "The Battle of the Spurs."
The leaders in the chase were seasoned soldiers on their way to Harper's
Ferry with the intention of spending their lives collecting slaves and
conducting them to places of safety. For this sort of warfare they were
winning their spurs. It was their intention to teach all defenders of
slavery to use their utmost endeavor to keep out of their reach. As
Brown and his company passed through Tabor, the citizens took occasion
at a public meeting to resolve "that we have no sympathy with those who
go to slave States to entice away slaves, and take property or life when
necessary to attain that end."
A few days later the party was at Grinnell, Iowa. According to the
detailed account which J. B. Grinnell gives in his autobiography, Brown
appeared on Saturday afternoon, stacked his arms in Grinnell's parlor
and disposed of his people and horses partly in Grinnell's house and
barn and partly at the hotel. In the evening Brown and Kagi addressed
a large meeting in a public hall. Brown gave a lurid account of
experiences in Kansas, justified his raid into Missouri by saying the
slaves were to be sold for shipment to the South, and gave notice that
his surplus horses would be offered for sale on Monday. "What title can
you give?" was the question that came from the audience. "The best--the
affidavit that they were taken by black men from land they had cleared
and tilled; taken in part payment for labor which is kept back."
Brown again addressed a large meeting on Sunday evening at which each of
the three clergymen present invoked the divine blessing upon Brown and
his labors. The present writer was told by an eye-witness that one of
the ministers prayed for forgiveness for any wrongful acts which their
guest may have committed. Convinced of the rectitude of his actions,
however, Brown objected and said that he thanked no one for asking
forgiveness for anything he had done.
Returning from church on Sunday evening, Grinnell found a message
awaiting him from Mr. Werkman, United States marshal at Iowa City, who
was a friend of Grinnell. The message in part read: "You can see that it
will give your town a bad name to have a fight there; then all who aid
are liable, and there will be an arrest or blood. Get the old Devil away
to save trouble, for he will be taken, dead or alive." Grinnell showed
the message to Brown, who remarked: "Yes, I have heard of him ever since
I came into the State.... Tell him we are ready to be taken, but will
wait one day more for his military squad." True to his word he waited
till the following afternoon and then moved directly towards Iowa City,
the home of the marshal, passing beyond the city fourteen miles to his
Quaker friends at Springdale. Here he remained about two weeks until
he had completed arrangements for shipping his fugitives by rail to
Chicago. In the meantime, where was Marshal Werkman of Iowa City? Was
he of the same mind as the deputy marshal who had accompanied Colonel
Sumner? Two of Brown's men had visited the city to make arrangements for
the shipment. The situation was obvious enough to those who would see.
The entire incident is an illuminating commentary on the attitude of
both government and people towards the Fugitive Slave Law. In March the
fugitives were safely landed in Canada and the rest of the horses
were sold in Cleveland, Ohio. The time was approaching for the move on
Virginia.
Brown now expended much time and attention upon a constitution for the
provisional government which he was to set up. In January and February,
1858, Brown had labored over this document for several weeks at the home
of Frederick Douglass at Rochester, New York. A copy was in evidence
at the conference with Sanborn and Gerrit Smith in February, and the
document was approved at a conference held in Chatham, Canada, on May 8,
1858, just at the time when Forbes's revelations caused the postponement
of the enterprise. It is an elaborate constitution containing
forty-eight articles. The preamble indicates the general purport:
Whereas, Slavery throughout its entire existence in the United States is
none other than a most barbarous, unprovoked, and unjustifiable war of
one portion of its citizens upon another portion the only conditions
of which are perpetual imprisonment and hopeless servitude or absolute
extermination; in utter disregard and violation of those eternal and
self-evident truths set forth in our Declaration of Independence:
Therefore, we the citizens of the United States, and the Oppressed
People, who, by a decision of the Supreme Court are declared to have no
rights which the White Man is bound to respect; together with all other
people degraded by the laws thereof, Do, for the time being ordain and
establish for ourselves, the following PROVISIONAL CONSTITUTION AND
ORDINANCES, the better to protect our Persons, Property, Lives and
Liberties and to govern our actions.
Article Forty-six reads:
The foregoing articles shall not be construed so as in any way to
encourage the overthrow of any State Government or of the general
government of the United States; and look to no dissolution of the
Union, but simply to Amendment and Repeal. And our flag shall be the
same that our Fathers fought under in the Revolution.
In Article Forty, "profane swearing, filthy conversation, and indecent
behavior" are forbidden. The document indicates an obvious intention to
effect a revolution by a restrained and regulated use of force.
Mobilization of forces began in June, 1859. Cook, one of the original
party, had spent the year in the region of Harper's Ferry. In July the
Kennedy farm, five miles from Harper's Ferry, was leased. The Northern
immigrants posed as farmers, stock-raisers, and dealers in cattle,
seeking a milder climate. To assist in the disguise, Brown's daughter
and daughter-in-law, mere girls, joined the community. Even so it was
difficult to allay troublesome curiosity on the part of neighbors at the
gathering of so many men with no apparent occupation. Suspicion might
easily have been aroused by the assembling of numerous boxes of arms
from the West and the thousand pikes from Connecticut. Late in August,
Floyd, Secretary of War, received an anonymous letter emanating from
Springdale, Iowa, giving information which, if acted upon, would have
led to an investigation and stopped the enterprise.
The 24th of October was the day appointed for taking possession of
Harper's Ferry, but fear of exposure led to a change of plan and the
move was begun on the 16th of October. Six of the party who would have
been present at the later date were absent. The march from Kennedy farm
began about eight o'clock Sunday evening. Before midnight the bridges,
the town, and the arsenal were in the hands of the invaders without a
gun having been fired. Before noon on Monday some forty citizens of the
neighborhood had been assembled as prisoners and held, it was explained,
as hostages for the safety of members of the party who might be taken.
During the early forenoon Kagi strongly urged that they should escape
into the mountains; but Brown, who was influenced, as he said, by
sympathy for his prisoners and their distressed families, refused to
move and at last found himself surrounded by opposing forces. Brown's
men, having been assigned to different duties, were separated. Six of
them escaped; others were killed or wounded or taken prisoners. Brown
himself with six of his men and a few of his prisoners made a final
stand in the engine-house. This was early in the afternoon. All avenues
of escape were now closed. Brown made two efforts to communicate with
his assailants by means of a flag of truce, sending first Thompson, one
of his men, with one of his prisoners, and then Stevens and Watson Brown
with another of the prisoners. Thompson was received but was held as a
prisoner; Stevens and Watson Brown were shot down, the first dangerously
wounded and the other mortally wounded. Later in the afternoon Brown
received a flag of truce with a demand that he surrender. He stated the
conditions under which he would restore the prisoners whom he held, but
he refused the unconditional surrender which was demanded.
About midnight Colonel Robert E. Lee arrived from Washington with a
company of marines. He took full command, set a guard of his own men
around the engine-house and made preparation to effect a forcible
entrance at sunrise on Tuesday morning in case a peaceable surrender was
refused. Lee first offered to two of the local companies the honor of
storming the castle. These, however, declined to undertake the perilous
task, and the honor fell to Lieutenant Green of the marines, who
thereupon selected two squads of twelve men each to attempt an entrance
through the door. To Lee's aide, Lieutenant Stuart, who had known
Brown in Kansas, was committed the task of making the formal demand for
surrender. Brown and Stuart, who recognized each other instantly upon
their meeting at the door, held a long parley, which resulted, as had
been expected, in Brown's refusal to yield. Stuart then gave the signal
which had been agreed upon to Lieutenant Green, who ordered the first
squad to advance. Failing to break down the door with sledge-hammers,
they seized a heavy ladder and at the second stroke made an opening near
the ground large enough to admit a man. Green instantly entered, rushed
to the back part of the room, and climbed upon an engine to command a
better view. Colonel Lewis Washington, the most distinguished of the
prisoners, pointed to Brown, saying, "This is Osawatomie." Green leaped
forward and by thrust or stroke bent his light sword double against
Brown's body. Other blows were administered and his victim fell
senseless, and it was believed that the leader had been slain in action
according to his wish.
The first of the twelve men to attempt to follow their leader was
instantly killed by gunshot. Others rushed in and slew two of Brown's
men by the use of the bayonet. To save the prisoners from harm, Lee had
given careful instruction to fire no shot, to use only bayonets. The
other insurgents were made prisoners. "The whole fight," Green reported,
"had not lasted over three minutes."
Of all the prisoners taken and held as hostages, not one was killed or
wounded. They were made as safe as the conditions permitted. The eleven
prisoners who were with Brown in the engine-house were profoundly
impressed with the courage, the bearing, and the self-restraint of the
leader and his men. Colonel Washington describes Brown as holding a
carbine in one hand, with one dead son by his side, while feeling the
pulse of another son, who had received a mortal wound, all the time
watching every movement for the defense and forbidding his men to
fire upon any one who was unarmed. The testimony is uniform that
Brown exercised special care to prevent his men from shooting unarmed
citizens, and this conduct was undoubtedly influential in securing
generous treatment for him and his men after the surrender.
For six weeks afterwards, until his execution on the 2d of December,
John Brown remained a conspicuous figure. He won universal admiration
for courage, coolness, and deliberation, and for his skill in parrying
all attempts to incriminate others. Probably less than a hundred people
knew beforehand anything about the enterprise, and less than a dozen
of these rendered aid and encouragement. It was emphatically a personal
exploit. On the part of both leader and followers, no occasion was
omitted to drive home the lesson that men were willing to imperil their
lives for the oppressed with no hope or desire for personal gain. Brown
especially served notice upon the South that the day of final reckoning
was at hand.
It is natural that the consequences of an event so spectacular as
the capture of Harper's Ferry should be greatly exaggerated.
Brown's contribution to Kansas history has been distorted beyond all
recognition. The Harper's Ferry affair, however, because it came on the
eve of the final election before the war, undoubtedly had considerable
influence. It sharpened the issue. It played into the hands of
extremists in both sections. On one side, Brown was at once made
a martyr and a hero; on the other, his acts were accepted as a
demonstration of Northern malignity and hatred, whose fitting expression
was seen in the incitement of slaves to massacre their masters.
The distinctive contribution of John Brown to American history does not
consist in the things which he did but rather in that which he has been
made to represent. He has been accepted as the personification of the
irrepressible conflict.
Of all the men of his generation John Brown is best fitted to exemplify
the most difficult lesson which history teaches: that slavery and
despotism are themselves forms of war, that the shedding of blood is
likely to continue so long as the rich, the strong, the educated, or the
efficient, strive to force their will upon the poor, the weak, and the
ignorant. Lincoln uttered a final word on the subject when he said that
no man is good enough to rule over another man; if he were good enough
he would not be willing to do it.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Among the many political histories which furnish a background for the
study of the anti-slavery crusade, the following have special value:
J. F. Rhodes, "History of the United States from the Compromise of
1860," 7 vols. (1893-1906). The first two volumes cover the decade to
1860. This is the best-balanced account of the period, written in
an admirable judicial temper. H. E. von Holst, Constitutional anal
Political History of the United States," 8 vols. (1877-1892). A vast
mine of information on the slavery controversy. The work is vitiated by
an almost virulent antipathy toward the South. James Schouler, "History
of the United States," 7 vols. (1895-1901). A sober, reliable narrative
of events. Henry Wilson, "History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave
Power in America," 3 vols. (1872-1877). The fullest account of the
subject, written by a contemporary. The material was thrown together by
an overworked statesman and lacks proportion.
Three volumes in the "American Nation Series" aim to combine the
treatment of special topics of commanding interest with general
political history. A. B. Hart's "Slavery and Abolition" (1906) gives an
account of the origin of the controversy and carries the history down to
1841. G. P. Garrison's "Westward Extension" (1906) deals especially with
the Mexican War and its results. T. C. Smith's "Parties and Slavery"
(1906) follows the gradual disruption of parties under the pressure of
the slavery controversy.
From the mass of contemporary controversial literature a few titles of
more permanent interest may be selected. William Goodell's "Slavery
and Anti-slavery" (1852) presents the anti-slavery arguments. A. T.
Bledsoe's "An Essay on Liberty and Slavery" (1856) and "The Pro-slavery
Argument" (1852), a series of essays by various writers, undertake the
defense of slavery.
Only a few of the biographies which throw light on the crusade can be
mentioned. "William Lloyd Garrison," 4 vols. (1885-1889) is the story
of the editor of the Liberator told exhaustively by his children. Less
voluminous but equally important are the following: W. Birney, "James G.
Birney and His Times" (1890); G. W. Julian, "Joshua R. Giddings" (1892);
Catherine H. Birney, "Sarah and Angelina Grimke" (1885); John T. Morse,
"John Quincy Adams." Those who have not patience to read E. L. Pierce's
ponderous "Memoir and Letters of Charles Sumner," 4 vols. (1877-1893),
would do well to read G. H. Haynes's "Charles Sumner" (1909).
The history of the conflict in Kansas is closely associated with the
lives of two rival candidates for the honor of leadership in the cause
of freedom. James Redpath in his "Public Life of Captain John Brown"
(1860), Frank B. Sanborn in his "Life and Letters of John Brown" (1885),
and numerous other writers give to Brown the credit of leadership.
The opposition view is held by F. W. Blackmar in his "Life of Charles
Robinson" (1902), and by Robinson himself in his Kansas Conflict (2d
ed., 1898). The best non-partizan biography of Brown is O. G. Villard's
"John Brown, A Biography Fifty Years After" (1910).
The Underground Railroad has been adequately treated in W. H. Siebert's
"The Underground Railroad from Slavery to Freedom" (1898), but Levi
Coffin's "Reminiscences" (1876) gives an earlier autobiographical
account of the origin and management of an important line, while Mrs.
Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" throws the glamour of romance over the
system.
For additional bibliographical information the reader is referred to
the articles on "Slavery, Fugitive Slave Laws, Kansas, William Lloyd
Garrison, John Brown, James Gillespie Birney," and "Frederick Douglass"
in "The Encyclopaedia Britannica" (11th Edition).