Charlestown, Jefferson County, Va., Oct. 31, 1859.
My Dear Wife And
Children, Every One, — I suppose you have learned before this by the
newspapers that two Weeks ago today we were fighting for our lives at Harper's
Ferry; that during the fight Watson was mortally wounded, Oliver killed, William
Thompson killed, and Dauphin slightly wounded; that on the following day I was
taken prisoner, immediately after which I received several sabre-cuts on my
head and bayonet-stabs in my body. As nearly as I can learn, Watson died of his
wound on Wednesday, the second — or on Thursday, the third — day after I was
taken. Dauphin was killed when I was taken, and Anderson I suppose also. I have
since been tried, and found guilty of treason, etc., and of murder in the first
degree. I have not yet received my sentence. No others of the company with whom
you were acquainted were, so far as I can learn, either killed or taken. Under
all these terrible calamities, I feel quite cheerful in the assurance that God
reigns and will overrule all for his glory and the best possible good. I feel
no consciousness of guilt in the matter, nor even mortification on account of
my imprisonment and irons; and I feel perfectly sure that very soon no member
of my family will feel any possible disposition to “blush on my account.” Already
dear friends at a distance, with kindest sympathy, are cheering me with the
assurance that posterity, at least, will do me justice. I shall commend you all
together, with my beloved but bereaved daughters-in-law, to their sympathies,
which I do not doubt will soon reach you. I also commend you all to Him “whose
mercy endureth forever,” — to the God of my fathers, “whose I am, and whom I
serve.” “He will never leave you nor forsake you,” unless you forsake Him.
Finally, my dearly beloved, be of good comfort. Be sure to remember and follow
my advice, and my example too, so far as it has been consistent with the holy
religion of Jesus Christ, — in which I remain a most firm and humble believer.
Never forget the poor, nor think anything you bestow on them to be lost to you,
even though they may be black as Ebedmelech, the Ethiopian eunuch, who cared
for Jeremiah in the pit of the dungeon; or as black as the one to whom Philip
preached Christ. Be sure to entertain strangers, for thereby some have — “Remember
them that are in bonds as bound with them.”
I am in charge of a jailer like the one who took charge of
Paul and Silas; and you may rest assured that both kind hearts and kind faces
are more or less about me, while thousands are thirsting for my blood. “These
light afflictions, which are but for a moment, shall work out for us a far more
exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” I hope to be able to write you again.
Copy this, Ruth, and send it to your sorrow-stricken brothers to comfort them.
Write me a few words in regard to the welfare of all. God Almighty bless you
all, and make you “joyful in the midst of all your tribulations!” Write to John
Brown. Charlestown, Jefferson County, Va., care of Captain John Avis.
Your affectionate
husband and father,
John Brown.
SOURCES: Franklin B. Sanborn, The Life and Letters
of John Brown, p. 579-80
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