John Brown, December 2, 1859

Charlestown, Va., Dec. 2, 1859.

I. John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood. I had, as I now think vainly, flattered myself that without very much bloodshed it might be done.

SOURCE: Franklin B. Sanborn, The Life and Letters of John Brown, p. 620