Charlestown, Jefferson County, Va., Nov. 8, 1859.
Dear Wife And
Children, Every One, — I will begin by saying that I have in some degree
recovered from my wounds, but that I am quite weak in my back and sore about my
left kidney. My appetite has been quite good for most of the time since I was
hurt. I am supplied with almost everything I could desire to make me
comfortable, and the little I do lack (some articles of clothing which I lost)
I may perhaps soon get again. I am, besides, quite cheerful, having (as I
trust) “the peace of God, which passeth all understanding,” to “rule in my
heart,” and the testimony (in some degree) of a good conscience that I have not
lived altogether in vain. I can trust God with both the time and the manner of
my death, believing, as I now do, that for me at this time to seal my testimony
for God and humanity with my blood will do vastly more toward advancing the cause
I have earnestly endeavored to promote, than all I have done in my life before.
I beg of you all meekly and quietly to submit to this, not feeling yourselves
in the least degraded on that account. Remember, dear wife and children
all, that Jesus of Nazareth suffered a most excruciating death on the cross as
a felon, under the most aggravating circumstances. Think also of the prophets
and apostles and Christians of former days, who went through greater
tribulations than you or I, and try to be reconciled. May God Almighty comfort
all your hearts, and soon wipe away all tears from your eyes! To him be endless
praise! Think, too, of the crushed millions who “have no comforter.” I charge
you all never in your trials to forget the griefs “of the poor that cry, and of
those that have none to help them.” I wrote most earnestly to my dear and
afflicted wife not to come on for the present, at any rate. I will now give her
my reasons for doing so. First, it would use up all the scanty means she has,
or is at all likely to have, to make herself and children comfortable
hereafter. For let me tell you that the sympathy that is now aroused in your behalf
may not always follow you. There is but little more of the romantic about
helping poor widows and their children than there is about trying to relieve
poor “niggers.” Again, the little comfort it might afford us to meet again
would be dearly bought by the pains of a final separation. We must part; and I
feel assured for us to meet under such dreadful circumstances would only add to
our distress. If she comes on here, she must be only a gazing-stock throughout
the whole journey, to be remarked upon in every look, word, and action, and by
all sorts of creatures, and by all sorts of papers, throughout the whole
country. Again, it is my most decided judgment that in quietly and submissively
staying at home vastly more of generous sympathy will reach her, without such
dreadful sacrifice of feeling as she must put up with if she comes on. The
visits of one or two female friends that have come on here have produced great
excitement, which is very annoying; and they cannot possibly do me any good.
Oh, Mary! do not come, but patiently wait for the meeting of those who love God
and their fellow-men, where no separation must follow. “They shall go no more
out forever.” I greatly long to hear from some one of you, and to learn
anything that in any way affects your welfare. I sent you ten dollars the other
day; did you get it? I have also endeavored to stir up Christian friends to
visit and write to you in your deep affliction. I have no doubt that some of
them, at least, will heed the call. Write to me, care of Captain John Avis,
Charlestown, Jefferson County, Virginia.
“Finally, my beloved, be of good comfort.” May all your
names be “written in the Lamb's book of life !” — may you all have the
purifying and sustaining influence of the Christian religion! — is the earnest
prayer of
Your affectionate
husband and father,
John Brown.
SOURCES: Franklin B. Sanborn, The Life and Letters
of John Brown, p. 585-7
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