William Preston Smith to A. P. Shutt, December 3, 1859

Baltimore, Dec. 3, 1859.

A. P. Shutt:

        Harper's Ferry.

We think in view of the excitement still prevailing at Harper's Ferry, and vicinity, and of the possibility of the authorities of Virginia having occasion to consult with you at any moment, that they would not be satisfied for you to be out of reach tomorrow.

Under the circumstances, therefore, we should prefer not to give them any cause of complaint by your leaving at this time. We hope to be able to relieve you entirely in a few days.

W. P. SMITH.

SOURCE: B. H. Richardson, Annapolis, Maryland, Publisher, Correspondence Relating to the Insurrection at Harper's Ferry, 17th October, 1859, p. 77

Andrew Hunter to John W. Garrett, December 10, 1859

Charlestown, Dec. 10, 1859.

John W. Garrett,

        Pres't B. & O. R. R. Co.

In a conference I have just had with Gen. Taliaferro, commanding the troops here, he desires me to say, that nothing but the extreme pressure of his public duties has prevented his communicating to you officially, before this time, his high appreciation of the liberal, public spirited and patriotic conduct of your company in connection with the excitement and other troubles in which our community and State have been involved. He will take care that ultimately, and in a proper manner, the important services rendered us by your company shall be acknowledged by the commonwealth of Virginia.

I may here add, that the General declared unhesitatingly, that our arrangements in respect to preventing a mixed horde of strangers coming here over the road, had done more than all the military display in securing quiet and good order on the day of John Brown's execution, and in this I fully concur.

In reference to the executions to come off on Friday next, we desire your company to pursue the same plan and policy that worked so efficiently on the former occasion, with this single additional suggestion, that it is scarcely necessary to carry out the arrangement so stringently as at that time, yet we consider it highly unadvisable for strangers to crowd in here in great numbers, at the coming executions. They will encounter still a very strict surveilance. We cheerfully leave this whole matter to the sound discretion of yourself and the intelligent officers  of your company.

Most truly,

Your obedient servant,

ANDREW HUNTER.

SOURCE: B. H. Richardson, Annapolis, Maryland, Publisher, Correspondence Relating to the Insurrection at Harper's Ferry, 17th October, 1859, p. 77-8

John W. Garrett to Andrew Hunter, December 15, 1859

Office of the Balto. & O. R. R. Co.,        

December 15, 1859.

Andrew Hunter, Esq:
        Charlestown, Va.:

Your esteemed favor of the 10th instant, has been received. I feel much gratified by the expression of General Taliaferro, so obligingly communicated by you, as well as by your own remarks in connection with the services which it was the good fortune of the officers and employees of this company to have it in their power to perform in the cause of good order and safety, and in upholding to the best of their ability, the laws of a sister commonwealth, in the late emergency.

Rest assured that on all future occasions, —should any such unhappily occur,—this company will always be found ready to co-operate zealously with your constituted authorities to the extent of their appliances, towards the maintainance of the laws.

All arrangements deemed necessary and proper have been made in reference to the impending executions on the 16th instant.

J. W. GARRETT, Pres't.

SOURCE: B. H. Richardson, Annapolis, Maryland, Publisher, Correspondence Relating to the Insurrection at Harper's Ferry, 17th October, 1859, p. 78-9

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

Last Will and Testament of John Brown, December 1, 1859

Charlestown, Jefferson County, Va., Dec. 1, 1859.

I give to my son John Brown, Jr., my surveyor's compass and other surveyor's articles, if found; also, my old granite monument, now at North Elba, N. Y., to receive upon its two sides a further inscription, as I will hereafter direct; said stone monument, however, to remain at North Elba so long as any of my children and my wife may remain there as residents.

I give to my son Jason Brown my silver watch, with my name engraved on inner case.

I give to my son Owen Brown my double-spring opera-glass, and my rifle-gun (if found), presented to me at Worcester, Mass. It is globe-sighted and new. I give, also, to the same son $50 in cash, to be paid him from the proceeds of my father's estate, in consideration of his terrible suffering in Kansas and his crippled condition from his childhood.

I give to my son Salmon Brown $50 in cash, to be paid him from my father's estate, as an offset to the first two cases above named.

I give to my daughter Ruth Thompson my large old Bible, containing the family record.

I give to each of my sons, and to each of my other daughters, my son-in-law, Henry Thompson, and to each of my daughters-in-law, as good a copy of the Bible as can be purchased at some bookstore in New York or Boston, at a cost of $5 each in cash, to be paid out of the proceeds of my father's estate.

I give to each of my grandchildren that may be living when my father's estate is settled, as good a copy of the Bible as can be purchased (as above) at a cost of $3 each.

All the Bibles to be purchased at one and the same time for cash, on the best terms.

I desire to have $50 each paid out of the final proceeds of my father's estate to the following named persons, to wit: To Allan Hammond, Esq., of Rockville, Tolland County, Conn., or to George Kellogg, Esq., former agent of the New England Company at that place, for the use and benefit of that company. Also, $50 to Silas Havens, formerly of Lewisburg, Summit County, Ohio, if he can be found. Also, $50 to a man of Stark County, Ohio, at Canton, who sued my father in his lifetime, through Judge Humphrey and Mr. Upson of Akron, to be paid by J. R. Brown to the man in person, if he can be found;his name I cannot remember. My father made a compromise with the man by taking our house and lot at Munroville. I desire that any remaining balance that may become my due from my father's estate may be paid in equal amounts to my wife and to each of my children, and to the widows of Watson and Oliver Brown, by my brother.

John Brown.

John Avis, Witness.

_______________

• See Codicil to John Brown’s Last Will and Testament, December 2, 1859

SOURCES: Franklin B. Sanborn, The Life and Letters of John Brown, p. 616-7

Codicil to John Brown’s Last Will and Testament, December 2, 1859

Charlestown, Jefferson County, Va., Dec. 2, 1859.

It is my desire that my wife have all my personal property not previously disposed of by me; and the entire use of all my landed property during her natural life; and that, after her death, the proceeds of such land be equally divided between all my then living children; and that what would be a child's share be given to the children of each of my two sons who fell at Harper's Ferry; and that a child's share be divided among the children of my now living children who may die before their mother (my present beloved wife). No formal will can be of use when my expressed wishes are made known to my dutiful and beloved family.

John Brown.

My Dear Wife, — I have time to enclose the within and the above, which I forgot yesterday, and to bid you another farewell. “Be of good cheer,” and God Almighty bless, save, comfort, guide, and keep you to the end!

Your affectionate husband,

John Brown.

SOURCES: Franklin B. Sanborn, The Life and Letters of John Brown, p. 617

John Brown’s Instructions for his Tombstone Inscription

TO BE INSCRIBED ON THE OLD FAMILY MONUMENT AT NORTH ELBA.

Oliver Brown, born ——, 1839, was killed at Harper's Ferry, Va., Oct. 17, 1859.

Watson Brown, born ——, 1835, was wounded at Harper's Ferry, Oct. 17, and died Oct. 19, 1859. (My wife can fill up the blank dates as above.)

John Brown, born May 9, 1800, was executed at Charlestown, Va., Dec. 2, 1859.

_______________

[NOTE: These directions were delivered to Mrs. Brown after John Brown’s execution.]

SOURCE: Franklin B. Sanborn, The Life and Letters of John Brown, p. 617

Amos A. Lawrence to Governor Henry A. Wise, October 26, 1859

Boston, October 26, 1859.

Dear Sir, — From the telegraphic report of the trial of Captain Brown it appears to be uncertain whether he will have a trial in the usual form. Permit one who loves the whole country as much as yourself to urge on you the necessity of securing this. Brown is a Puritan whose mind has become disordered by hardship and illness. He has the qualities which endear him to our people, and his sudden execution would send a thrill of horror through the whole North. From his blood would spring an army of martyrs, all eager to die in the cause of human liberty. I am sure that I express the desire of all conservative men here, when I beg you to insist on a fair trial.

Respectfully and truly,

Your obedient servant,

A. A. L.

SOURCE: William Lawrence, Life of Amos A. Lawrence: With Extracts from His Diary and Correspondence, p. 134-5

Journal of Amos A. Lawrence, November 29, 1859

Great preparations for hanging Brown. Two thousand troops in barracks to prevent any attempt at rescue.

SOURCE: William Lawrence, Life of Amos A. Lawrence: With Extracts from His Diary and Correspondence, p. 133

Journal of Amos A. Lawrence, December 3, 1859

Old Brown hanged with great ceremony. He died grandly. Nevertheless he must be called a fanatic. Declined to sign a call for expressing adherence to the Union, not being conscious that I have ever done or said anything to endanger the Union, and not wishing to certify my adherence to the Union very often for the benefit of politicians.

SOURCE: William Lawrence, Life of Amos A. Lawrence: With Extracts from His Diary and Correspondence, p. 133

Journal of Amos A. Lawrence, November 5, 1859

Old Brown convicted. He made a brief speech that was worthy of the best of the early reformers. To-day I was told that his wife was in Boston, and I went with Dr. Webb to the American House to see her. She appears well. She is a large, strong woman, good-looking, and when young she must have been handsome. She feels the loss of her two sons and the critical situation of her husband very much. She says that it is a matter of religious conviction with her husband; that he would make the same attempt again if set free. I admire the old man; but considering that three persons were killed by his party, I do not see how he can escape death, even had the occurrence been in a free State. He will be lauded by the abolitionists as a martyred hero, and he does resemble that. His death will hasten the removal of slaves from Virginia.

SOURCE: William Lawrence, Life of Amos A. Lawrence: With Extracts from His Diary and Correspondence, p. 132

Journal of Amos A. Lawrence, October 21, 1859

Cold. Henry Wilson came to see me about Brown. He thinks it will have a very bad effect on the Republican party; thinks all such attempts must fail always. Brown's conversations are all given in the newspapers by telegraph. He is a brave man, and if he is hanged he will die a martyr to his hatred of slavery.

SOURCE: William Lawrence, Life of Amos A. Lawrence: With Extracts from His Diary and Correspondence, p. 131

John Brown to his former teacher, Reverend Herman L. Vaill, November 15, 1859

Charlestown, Jefferson County, Va., Nov. 15, 1859.

Rev. H. L. Vaill.

My Dear, Steadfast Friend, — Your most kind and most welcome letter of the 8th inst. reached me in due time. I am very grateful for all the good feeling you express, and also for the kind counsels you give, together with your prayers in my behalf. Allow me here to say, notwithstanding “my soul is among lions,” still I believe that “God in very deed is with me.” You will not, therefore, feel surprised when I tell you that I am “joyful in all my tribulations;” that I do not feel condemned of Him whose judgment is just, nor of my own conscience. Nor do I feel degraded by my imprisonment, my chains, or prospect of the gallows. I have not only been (though utterly unworthy) permitted to “suffer affliction with God’s people,” but have also had a great many rare opportunities for “preaching righteousness in the great congregation.” I trust it will not all be lost. The jailer (in whose charge I am) and his family and assistants have all been most kind; and notwithstanding he was one of the bravest of all who fought me, he is now being abused for his humanity. So far as my observation goes, none but brave men are likely to be humane to a fallen foe. “Cowards prove their courage by their ferocity.” It may be done in that way with but little risk.

I wish I could write you about a few only of the interesting times I here experience with different classes of men, clergymen among others. Christ, the great captain of liberty as well as of salvation, and who began his mission, as foretold of him, by proclaiming it, saw fit to take from me a sword of steel after I had carried it for a time; but he has put another in my hand (“the sword of the Spirit”), and I pray God to make me a faithful soldier, wherever he may send me, not less on the scaffold than when surrounded by my warmest sympathizers.

My dear old friend, I do assure you I have not forgotten our last meeting, nor our retrospective look over the route by which God bad then led us; and I bless his name that he has again enabled me to hear your words of cheering and comfort at a time when I, at least, am on the “brink of Jordan.” (See Bunyan's “Pilgrim.”) God in infinite mercy grant us soon another meeting on the opposite shore. I have often passed under the rod of him whom I call my Father, — and certainly no son ever needed it oftener; and yet I have enjoyed much of life, as I was enabled to discover the secret of this somewhat early. It has been in making the prosperity and happiness of others my own; so that really I have had a great deal of prosperity. I am very prosperous still; and looking forward to a time when “peace on earth and good-will to men” shall everywhere prevail, I have no murmuring thoughts or envious feelings to fret my mind. “I’ll praise my Maker with my breath.”

I am an unworthy nephew of Deacon John, and I loved him much; and in view of the many choice friends I have had here, I am led the more earnestly to pray, “gather not my soul with the unrighteous.”

Your assurance of the earnest sympathy of the friends in my native land is very grateful to my feelings; and allow me to say a word of comfort to them.

As I believe most firmly that God reigns, I cannot believe that anything I have done, suffered, or may yet suffer will be lost to the cause of God or of humanity. And before I began my work at Harper's Ferry, I felt assured that in the worst event it would certainly pay. I often expressed that belief; and I can now see no possible cause to alter my mind. I am not as yet, in the main, at all disappointed. I have been a good deal disappointed as it regards myself in not keeping up to my own plans; but I now feel entirely reconciled to that, even, — for God's plan was infinitely better, no doubt, or I should have kept to my own. Had Samson kept to his determination of not telling Delilah wherein his great strength lay, he would probably have never overturned the house. I did not tell Delilah, but I was induced to act very contrary to my better judgment; and I have lost my two noble boys, and other friends, if not my two eyes.

But “God's will, not mine, be done.” I feel a comfortable hope that, like that erring servant of whom I have just been writing, even I may (through infinite mercy in Christ Jesus) yet “die in faith.” As to both the time and manner of my death, — I have but very little trouble on that score, and am able to be (as you exhort) “of good cheer.”

I send, through you, my best wishes to Mrs. W——.¹ and her son George, and to all dear friends. May the God of the poor and oppressed be the God and Savior of you all!

Farewell, till we meet again.

Your friend in truth,

John Brown.

_______________

¹ The Rev. Leonard Woolscy Bacon, then of Litchfield, Conn., who first printed this letter, said in 1859: “My aged friend, the Rev. H. L. Vail, of this place, remembers John Brown as having been under his instruction in the year 1817, at Morris Academy. He was a godly youth, laboring to recover from his disadvantages of early education, in the hope of entering the ministry of the Gospel. Since then the teacher and pupil have met but once. But a short time since, Mr. Vaill wrote to Brown, in his prison, a letter of Christian friendship, to which he has received this heroic and sublime reply. I have copied it faithfully from the autograph that lies before me, without the change or omission of a word, except to omit the full name of the friends to whom he sends his message. The handwriting is clear and firm, but toward the end of the sheet seems to show that the sick old man's hand was growing weary. The very characters make an appeal to us for our sympathy and prayers. ‘His salutation with his own hand. Remember his bonds.’”

SOURCES: Franklin B. Sanborn, The Life and Letters of John Brown, p. 589-91

Thomas Wentworth Higginson to a Louisa Storrow Higginson, October 27,1859

Worcester, October 27,1859

Dearest Mother:

While you are dreaming of me in this alarming manner, I am placidly laying out a new bed of crocuses and tulips for the spring, and buying at auction a second-hand tapestry Brussels, quite handsome, for seventy cents a yard, to put in the study. This afternoon an African brother visits us, not for insurrectionary purposes, but to aid in putting down the same on the study floor.

Of course I think enough about Brown, though I don't feel sure that his acquittal or rescue would do half as much good as his being executed; so strong is the personal sympathy with him. We have done what we could for him by sending counsel and in other ways that must be nameless. By we I mean Dr. Howe, W. Phillips, J. A. Andrew, and myself. If the trial lasts into next week, it is possible to make some further arrangements for his legal protection. But beyond this no way seems open for anything; there is (as far as one can say such a thing) no chance for forcible assistance, and next to none for stratagem. Never was there a case which seemed more perfectly impracticable: and so far as any service on the spot is concerned, there are others who could perform it better than I. Had I been a lawyer, however, I should probably have gone on at once, to act at least temporarily as his Counsel. A young man from Boston named Hoyt has gone on for this, and probably Montgomery Blair, of Washington, will be there to-day, to conduct the case.

SOURCE: Mary Potter Thacher Higginson, Editor, Letters and Journals of Thomas Wentworth Higginson, 1846-1906, p. 85-6

John Brown to His Family, November 3, 1859

Nov. 3, 1859.

P. S. Yesterday, November 2, I was sentenced to be hanged on December 2 next. Do not grieve on my account. I am still quite cheerful. God bless you!

Yours ever,

John Brown.

SOURCES: Franklin B. Sanborn, The Life and Letters of John Brown, p. 580

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. 517

Diary of Corporal Charles H. Lynch: Thursday, December 1, 1864

Time is passing very pleasantly with us. Duty so far mostly picket and guard. There are many points of interest in this vicinity that were connected with the Revolutionary War, so we have been informed. The raid of old John Brown, and his death by hanging, in December, 1859, by the State of Virginia, for treason. Trying to liberate the slaves.

SOURCE: Charles H. Lynch, The Civil War Diary, 1862-1865, of Charles H. Lynch 18th Conn. Vol's, p. 136

Diary of Corporal Charles H. Lynch: September 17, 1864

Pleasant morning. Detailed for picket duty. Located northeast of town, between the Harper's Ferry Pike and the Shenandoah River, on the ground where old John Brown was hung in 1859. About noontime saw a company of cavalrymen come flying down the pike from Harper's Ferry. Wondered what it meant. Later we learned that General Grant and General Sheridan were in town. Caused much excitement and comment as they held a conference at a large house just southeast of town. The company I saw from our picket post was General Grant and his escort. All is quiet tonight.

SOURCE: Charles H. Lynch, The Civil War Diary, 1862-1865, of Charles H. Lynch 18th Conn. Vol's, p. 125

William Barton Rogers to Henry Darwin Rogers, November 29, 1859

Boston, November 29, 1859.

. . . The doings at Harper's Ferry have made an impression which will long be felt. The execution of Brown, to take place on Friday, will sadden and embitter the hearts of the great majority north of the Potomac. The conduct of Wise has been, I think, weak and absurd; the course of the Court of Appeals, harsh if not iniquitous. I know well the horrors of an apprehended insurrection,¹ and I can make large allowance for those who are affected by them, for I remember the morbid fears which prevailed after the Southampton tragedy. But it amazes me to find Governor Wise surrounding the helpless prisoner by a cordon of more than one thousand soldiers, and forbidding, as he has done, all approach to the place of execution.

I shall write you, dear Henry, by the steamer of Saturday. We are all well. Mr. Savage, who has been slightly lamed, now walks out. Hillard, since his return, has been suffering the effects of his very boisterous passage. Charles Sumner looks well, but I think his disease is rather healed over than eradicated. . . .

Congress is about to organize, and I fear with the prospect of a session of extraordinary turbulence. Already Mason and other extreme men of the South are applying the match to the magazine of combustibles gathered in Washington, by calling for an investigation by Congress of the Harper's Ferry invasion, as they call it. Throughout the Northern States, especially New England and the Northwest, the effect of Brown's mistaken enterprise, with the revelation of heroic self-renunciation which has accompanied it, has been to deepen and extend the hostility to the slave power. The contrast between the trembling fears of a whole State and the resolute bravery, for principle's sake, of one man is most impressive. The purpose of Brown seems to have been to liberate a large number of the slaves and assist them in escaping from the State. But he forgot the horrors and crimes of a servile revolt, to which his effort, if successful, would surely have led, and he must have been strangely ignorant, or deceived, to believe that he could aid the general emancipation of the slaves by such an attempt. He might have given occasion to an appalling loss of life, perhaps almost to the extermination of the blacks in Virginia. Perhaps the impression he has made in the South may hasten in Virginia, at least, the adoption of some prospective cure for this most perilous evil. The whole matter is full of sad suggestions to me. . . .

_______________

¹ Of the slaves.

SOURCE: Emma Savage Rogers & William T. Sedgwick, Life and Letters of William Barton Rogers, Volume 2, p. 16-7

Phillips Brooks to William Brooks, Saturday Eveing, December 3, 1859

Vine Street, Saturday evening, December 3,1859.

Dear William, — . . . Well, poor old Brown’s gone. What a death for such a man. It makes me mad to hear the way some of our Northern conservatives talk about him. I believe Governor Wise himself does him more justice than they do.

As to his being crazy, of course excessive lack of prudence, judgment, and foresight, which every one admits that he showed, is craziness in its very definition, and so every rash man is crazy; but his heroic devotion to what he thought was right is surely not to be confounded with the craziness that he showed in judging whether it was really right and best. What do people say about it all in Boston?

SOURCE: Alexander Viets Griswold Allen, Life and Letters of Phillips Brooks, Volume 1, p. 337