We have only two black men with us now; one of these has a
wife and seven children in slavery. I sometimes feel as though I could not make
the sacrifice; but what would I want others to do, were I in their place? . . .
Oh, Bell, I do want to see you and the little fellow [the young babe born in
the father's absence] very much, but I must wait. There was a slave near here
whose wife was sold off South the other day, and he was found in Thomas
Kennedy's orchard, dead, the next morning. Cannot come home so long as such
things are done here. . . . I sometimes think perhaps we shall not meet again.
If we should not, you have an object to live for, — to be a mother to our
little Fred. He is not quite a reality to me yet. We leave here this afternoon
or to-morrow for the last time. You will probably hear from us very soon after
getting this, if not before. We are all eager for the work, and confident of
success. There was another murder committed near our place the other day,
making in all five murders and one suicide within five miles of our place since
we have lived there; they were all slaves, too. . . . Give my regards to all
the friends, and keep up good courage: there is a better day a-coming. I can
but commend you to yourself and your friends if I should never see you again.
Believe me yours wholly and forever in love.
Your husband,
Watson Brown.1
_______________
1 Watson was just twenty-four, and had been
married for three years to Isabel Thompson, whose brothers William and Dauphin
Thompson, like her husband and brother-in-law, were killed at Harper's Ferry.
SOURCE: Franklin B. Sanborn, The Life and Letters of
John Brown, p. 549
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