John Brown to Mr. Mills, Master of the Harper’s Ferry Armory, October 18, 1859

We are Abolitionists from the North, come to take and release your slaves; our organization is large, and must succeed. I suffered much in Kansas, and expect to suffer here, in the cause of human freedom. Slaveholders I regard as robbers and murderers; and I have sworn to abolish slavery and liberate my fellow-men.

SOURCE: Franklin B. Sanborn, The Life and Letters of John Brown, p. 561; "The Harper's Ferry Rebellion," The New York Times, New York, New York, Thursday, October 20, 1859, p. 1