Charlestown, Jefferson County, Va., Nov. 22, 1859.
Dear Sir, — I
have just had my attention called to a seeming conviction between the statement
I at first made to Governor Wise and that which 1 made at the time I received
my sentence, regarding my intentions respecting the slaves we took about the
Ferry. There need be no such confliction, and a few words of explanation will.
I think, be quite sufficient. I had given Governor Wise a full and particular
account of that; and when called in court to say whether I had anything
further to urge, I was taken wholly by surprise, as I did not expect my
sentence before the others. In the hurry of the moment I forgot much that I had
before intended to say, and did not consider the full bearing of what I then
said. I intended to convey this idea, — that it was my object to place the
slaves in a condition to defend their liberties, if they would, without any
bloodshed; but not that I Intended to run them out of the slave States. I was
not aware of any such apparent confliction until my attention was called to it,
and I do not suppose that a man in my then circumstances should be superhuman
in respect to the exact purport of every word he might utter. What I said to
Governor Wise was spoken with all the deliberation I was master of, and was
intended for troth; and what I said in court was equally intended for truth,
but required a more full explanation than I then gave. Please make such use of
this as you think calculated to correct any wrong impressions I may have given.
Very respectfully
yours,
John Brown.
Andrew Hunter, Esq.,
Present.
SOURCES: Franklin B. Sanborn, The Life and Letters
of John Brown, p. 584
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