Governor Henry A. Wise to John W. Garrett, October 20, 1859

Washington City, 20th Oct., 1859.

J. W. Garrett, Esq.,

Dear Sir:— I arrived here from Harper's Ferry this evening. The marines having been ordered away from that place and departed, I organized an armed police guard to patrol the Virginia border, to protect persons and property, and to keep watch on the ways to and from the Ferry. This was done partly at the request of an agent of your Railroad company, and because no guard and no watch has been organized by the Federal authorities. Some guard ought to be provided on the Maryland side. I leave it to your company to suggest the necessary steps to the Governor of your State.

I have to make a request that you will take the trouble of an important commission, touching the prosecution of the criminal Brown and his associates. A gentleman informed me that one of the Baltimore volunteers, whom I do not know, had captured a travelling or clothes' bag of papers at the Kennedy farm, which was in the occupancy of Brown. I obtained from various other persons a mass of important papers, but this evening I see in the Sun the publication of several not seen by me before, and which must have been obtained from the forementioned bag. Now the originals are essential—they may be found at the printing offices of your city,or the person who had them may be found. Will you please advertise for them, and see to this, to recover them if possible, and have them carefully sent to Andrew Hunter, Esq., Charlestown, Jefferson Co., Va., for the purpose of trial of the accused. Any expense you may incur, you will please send me an account of, at Richmond. I write hurriedly and hope I do not trouble you too much with a matter in which your company's interest, may form my excuse. With thanks for your prompt attentions to me, officially and personally, in this whole affair,

I am very truly yours,

HENRY A. WISE.

SOURCE: B. H. Richardson, Annapolis, Maryland, Publisher, Correspondence Relating to the Insurrection at Harper's Ferry, 17th October, 1859, p. 28-9

Victor Hugo: December 2, 1859

At the thought of the United States of America, a majestic form rises in the mind, — Washington. In this country of Washington what is now taking place? There are slaves in the South; and this most monstrous of inconsistencies offends the logical conscience of the North. To free these black slaves, John Brown, a white man, a free man, began the work of their deliverance in Virginia. A Puritan, austerely religious, inspired by the evangel, “Christ hath set us free,” he raised the cry of emancipation. But the slaves, unmanned by servitude, made no response; for slavery stops the ears of the soul. John Brown, thus left alone, began the contest. With a handful of heroic men he kept up the fight; riddled with bullets, his two youngest sons, sacred martyrs, falling at his side, he was at last captured. His trial? It took place, not in Turkey, but in America. Such things are not done with impunity under the eyes of the civilized world. The conscience of mankind is an open eye; let the court at Charlestown understand — Hunter and Parker, the slaveholding jurymen, the whole population of Virginia — that they are watched. This has not been done in a corner. John Brown, condemned to death, is to be hanged to-day. His hangman is not the attorney Hunter, nor the judge Parker, nor Governor Wise, nor the little State of Virginia, — his hangman (we shudder to think it and say it!) is the whole American republic. . . . Politically speaking, the murder of Brown will be an irrevocable mistake. It will deal the Union a concealed wound, which will finally sunder the States. Let America know and consider that there is one thing more shocking than Cain killing Abel, — it is Washington killing Spartacus.

SOURCE: Franklin B. Sanborn, The Life and Letters of John Brown, p. 630

John Brown to Andrew Hunter, November 22, 1859

Charlestown, Jefferson County, Va., Nov. 22, 1859.

Dear Sir, — I have just had my attention called to a seeming conviction between the statement I at first made to Governor Wise and that which 1 made at the time I received my sentence, regarding my intentions respecting the slaves we took about the Ferry. There need be no such confliction, and a few words of explanation will. I think, be quite sufficient. I had given Governor Wise a full and particular account of that; and when called in court to say whether I had anything further to urge, I was taken wholly by surprise, as I did not expect my sentence before the others. In the hurry of the moment I forgot much that I had before intended to say, and did not consider the full bearing of what I then said. I intended to convey this idea, — that it was my object to place the slaves in a condition to defend their liberties, if they would, without any bloodshed; but not that I Intended to run them out of the slave States. I was not aware of any such apparent confliction until my attention was called to it, and I do not suppose that a man in my then circumstances should be superhuman in respect to the exact purport of every word he might utter. What I said to Governor Wise was spoken with all the deliberation I was master of, and was intended for troth; and what I said in court was equally intended for truth, but required a more full explanation than I then gave. Please make such use of this as you think calculated to correct any wrong impressions I may have given.

Very respectfully yours,

John Brown.

Andrew Hunter, Esq., Present.

SOURCES: Franklin B. Sanborn, The Life and Letters of John Brown, p. 584

Andrew Hunter, Prosecutor, at the Trial of John Brown, October 31, 1859

Contended that the code of Virginia defines citizens of Virginia as “all those white persons born in any other State of this Union, who may become residents here;” and that evidence shows without a shadow of a question that when Brown went to Virginia, and planted his feet at Harper's Ferry, he came there to reside, and to hold the place permanently. True, he occupied a farm four or five miles off in Maryland, but not for the legitimate purpose of establishing his domicil [sic] there; no, for the nefarious and hellish purpose of rallying forces into this Commonwealth, and establishing himself at Harper's Ferry, as the starting-point for a new government. Whatever it was, whether tragical, or farcial and ridiculous, as Brown's counsel had presented it, his conduct showed, if his declarations were insufficient, that it was not alone for the purpose of carrying off slaves that he came there. His “Provisional Government” was a real thing and no debating society, as his counsel would have us believe; and in holding office under it and exercising its functions, he was clearly guilty of treason. As to conspiring with slaves and rebels, the law says the prisoners are equally guilty, whether insurrection is made or not. Advice may be given by actions as well as words. When you put pikes in the hands of slaves, and have their master captive, that is advice to slaves to rebel, and is punishable with death.

SOURCES: Franklin B. Sanborn, The Life and Letters of John Brown, p. 575; “The Virginia Rebellion. Trial of John Brown.” The New York Times, New York, New York, Tuesday, November 1, 1859, p. 1 for the date only.

1st Lieutenant Charles Fessenden Morse, March 5, 1862

Headquarters Co. B, Berryville Tollhouse,

Charlestown, Va., March 5, 1862.

You see by my elaborate heading that we have not moved since my last letter was written. General Banks has about eight thousand troops in town; General Sedgwick has about ten thousand at Harper's Ferry. I believe that ten or twelve thousand more are to join Banks from Williamsport, what was formerly Lander's division; then, I imagine, all will be ready for an onward movement to Winchester or elsewhere.

I sent, day before yesterday, a few papers I picked up in Andrew Hunter's office. This latter gentleman is some great man in the Confederate Senate; his office is occupied by some of our officers. He was the lawyer employed by the Government in the John Brown case, and those who had the first dip into his legal papers found some very interesting documents; such as a letter from Governor Wise to Mr. Hunter before the trial came on, saying that he had made up his mind not to pardon John Brown or any of his accomplices, but that every one should suffer death. There was another anonymous letter from Boston implicating T. W. Higginson, Sanborn and others; also letters from the different prisoners suing for pardon.

Three of our companies are quartered in the Court House; one is in a printing office, from which they have issued various bulletins, such as, “Confederate notes to be had at par;” “Hard bread to be exchanged for chickens;” “Gas wanted by Company D, for the Union Theatre.” Our mess has a room formerly occupied by a secesh confectioner; it still retains the smell of peppermint. I drank some rye coffee, the other day, and liked it very much; with cream and sugar, it makes a very good drink. Marching orders! I close for the present.

SOURCE: Charles Fessenden Morse, Letters Written During the Civil War, 1861-1865, p. 40-1