Sunday, July 24, 2022

Andrew Hunter to John W. Garrett, November 25, 1859

Charlestown, Va., 25th Nov., 1859.
John W. Garrett, Pres't, &c.:

We have information here from the North, from reliable sources, to the effect that a large concourse of strangers from that quarter purpose to be at this place on the second of December, the day of Brown's execution. This the authorities here deem utterly inadmissible, as under cover of such a crowd of pretended spectators, hundreds of armed assassins, coming with a view of attempting a rescue, could introduce themselves, and by mingling with our citizens greatly embarrass the military in guarding against or punishing an outbreak. In a word, we cannot, under existing circumstances, permit it, and we shall adopt rigorous measures to keep even our own citizens at home. We desire to effect the exclusion of such a horde of Northern men in a mode the least unobjectionable, and I am, therefore, instructed to inquire if you can add to the obligations we are already under to your company, by refusing, say on the first and second December, all facilities for passing over your road, any more than your ordinary Eastern and Western travelers; and to carry out our plan fully, we may even have to ask the favor of you to decline on these days selling any tickets for Harper's Ferry, Duffield's depot or Kearneysville, though I am not sure this will be necessary. Our plans, as to preventing such dangerous concourse, are not yet fully matured, and I write now in these general terms to ascertain your views on the subject. Will you be good enough to let me hear from you at your earliest convenience, and thus oblige both the community  and
Yours,
ANDREW HUNTER.

SOURCE: B. H. Richardson, Annapolis, Maryland, Publisher, Correspondence Relating to the Insurrection at Harper's Ferry, 17th October, 1859, p. 50-1

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