Rev. Luther Humphrey* to John Brown, November 12, 1859

Windham, Portage Co., Ohio, Nov. 12.

My Dear Cousin: I have just completed the attentive perusal of the account published in the New York Tribune of November 5, of your trial and sentence to be hung on the 2d December.

Never before did I read such a sentence upon any relative of mine. From their own witnesses I cannot see any ground why you should be sentenced to death for a single one of the counts presented in your indictment. You may have one thing to comfort you under all your afflictions and sorrows: "The Lord reigns;" and He will cause the wrath of man to praise him, and the remainder of wrath He will restrain. He knows well what were your motives in what you have done; and whether it was the best course or not, he will overrule it all for his glory. The Bible throughout condemns oppression in all its forms, and is on the side of the oppressed, and their sighs and groanings have come up before him, and he has seen all their tears. Though man may not be able to deliver those who are in bonds, yet God can do it with perfect ease, and he has taken the matter into his own hands, and he will certainly accomplish it. The prophet Isaiah was directed to say to the people, "There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. Cry aloud; spare not; lift up thy voice like a trumpet; and show my people their transgressions, and the house of Jacob their sins. Is not this the fast that I have chosen, to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? When thou seest the naked, that thou cover him, and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?"

He who hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on the face of the earth sent his servants Moses and Aaron to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, saying, "Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me; for I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, that thou mayest know there is none like me in all the earth." Pharaoh said in the pride and stoutness of his heart, "Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord; neither will I let Israel go." So may the wicked slaveholders of the South say respecting those whom they cruelly hold in bondage; but the same king who delivered the children of Israel from Egyptian bondage will surely deliver those who are oppressed in our own country, and it will not be in the united power of earth and hell to prevent their deliverance. God will accomplish it in his own good time and way. We may well exclaim with Jefferson, "I tremble for my country when I remember that God is just."

You, my dear sir, may be called to die in the cause of liberty, as your beloved sons have been caused to give up their lives; but, if so, I believe your and their blood will "cry unto the Lord from the ground." If you are really a child of God, you will soon be where the wicked cease from troubling, and where the weary are at rest; where all things work together for good. Christ is saying to you, "What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter." I fully believe what the kind Quaker woman¹ wrote you, "Thousands pray for thee every day. Posterity will do thee justice." Should they put you to death, they will not only have to wade through the blood of those who have been cruelly murdered in the same cause, but also through the prayers of God's people, which will not be unheeded or disregarded by the hearer of prayer. I am exceeding thankful that the jailer is so kind to you, and that you are permitted to occupy yourself in writing and reading. I doubt not but you now value the Bible far above all other reading. May it do you good! It will be exceedingly gratifying to me to receive a letter from you before your exit, . . . I shall continue to pray for you so long as you may be a subject of prayer, that the Lord may comfort and support you and your remaining mourning and afflicted family. May we all be permitted to meet in heaven, with all the blood-bought throng, and with them unite in praise to the Redeemer forever and ever. May that peace which passeth all understanding be yours in the trying hour. Farewell! Farewell!

L. H.

_______________

* Cousin of John Brown, son of Hannah Owen Brown and Solomon Humphrey Jr.

¹ The letter referred to I do not republish in this volume, as it has already appeared in "The Public Life."

SOURCE: James Redpath, Editor, Echoes of Harper’s Ferry, p. 431-2

A. P. Shutt to William Preston Smith, October 26, 1859—7:10 p.m.

Charlestown, Oct. 26th, 1859—7.10 P. M.

W. P. Smith:

There is no visible idea of a rescue. I will see Barbour on my return and inform him. I will get two men on my return. The citizens of the town were delighted to hear of the arrest of Cook. The Court has decided to try Brown first. He is now in the court on a bed. He is acting the thing out to perfection.

A. P. SHUTT.

SOURCE: B. H. Richardson, Annapolis, Maryland, Publisher, Correspondence Relating to the Insurrection at Harper's Ferry, 17th October, 1859, p. 31

John W. Garrett to John B. Floyd, October 26, 1859

Baltimore, Oct. 26th, 1859.

Hon. J. B. Floyd,
        Secretary of War, Washington, D. C.:

Our company has received the following message from A. M. Barbour, U. S. Superintendent at Harper's Ferry.

• Alfred M. Barbour to William Preston Smith, October 29, 1859

Will you do me the favor to say whether you have given orders to dispatch any force to Harper's Ferry by this afternoon's train from Washington to protect the armory? I only await your answer before asking the commander of the militia here to send a force to the spot during the pendency of Brown's trial and that of his associates. Is it not necessary to keep a Government force upon the spot? Pray advise me immediately.

JOHN W. GARRETT,        

Pres't B. & O. R. R. Co.

SOURCE: B. H. Richardson, Annapolis, Maryland, Publisher, Correspondence Relating to the Insurrection at Harper's Ferry, 17th October, 1859, p. 34-5

Journal of Amos A. Lawrence, October 26, 1859

Dr. Samuel G. Howe came to ask me if I would be one of ten to furnish good counsel to defend 'Old Brown,' to which I agreed.

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

Journal of Amos A. Lawrence, November 1, 1859

The newspapers are full of Old Brown and his trial. He carries himself wonderfully well. He scorns the plea of insanity which was set up by his counsel.

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

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

Thomas Wentworth Higginson to a Friend, probably late October 1859

To a friend:

Of course we are all deep in Browns, and you can imagine how stirred up is Worcester generally, especially since the rumored arrests of people in Boston as witnesses — I mean proposed arrests; but I don't think it will come to anything.

SOURCE: Mary Potter Thacher Higginson, Editor, Letters and Journals of Thomas Wentworth Higginson, 1846-1906, p. 84-5

John Brown’s Last Speech, November 2, 1859

I have, may it please the Court, a few words to say.

In the first place, I deny everything but what I have all along admitted, — the design on my part to free the slaves. I intended certainly to have made a clean thing of that matter, as I did last winter, when I went into Missouri and there took slaves without the snapping of a gun on either side, moved them through the country, and finally left them in Canada. I designed to have done the same thing again, on a larger scale.¹ That was all I intended. I never did intend murder, or treason, or the destruction of property, or to excite or incite slaves to rebellion, or to make insurrection.

I have another objection: and that is, it is unjust that I should suffer such a penalty. Had I interfered in the manner which I admit, and which I admit has been fairly proved (for I admire the truthfulness and candor of the greater portion of the witnesses who have testified in this case), — had I so interfered in behalf of the rich, the powerful, the intelligent, the so-called great, or in behalf of any of their friends, — either father, mother, brother, sister, wife, or children, or any of that class, — and suffered and sacrificed what I have in this interference, it would have been all right; and every man in this court would have deemed it an act worthy of reward rather than punishment.

This court acknowledges, as I suppose, the validity of the law of God. I see a book kissed here which I suppose to be the Bible, or at least the New Testament. That teaches me that all things whatsoever I would that men should do to me, I should do even so to them. It teaches me, further, to “remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them.” I endeavored to act up to that instruction. I say, I am yet too young to understand that God is any respecter of persons. I believe that to have interfered as I have done — as I have always freely admitted I have done — in behalf of His despised poor, was not wrong, but right. Now, if it is deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life for the furtherance of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood further with the blood of my children and with the blood of millions in this slave country whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel, and unjust enactments, — I submit; so let it be done!

Let me say one word further.

I feel entirely satisfied with the treatment I have received on my trial. Considering all the circumstances, it has been more generous than I expected. But I feel no consciousness of guilt. I have stated from the first what was my intention, and what was not. I never had any design against the life of any person, nor any disposition to commit treason, or excite slaves to rebel, or make any general insurrection. I never encouraged any man to do so, but always discouraged any idea of that kind.

Let me say, also, a word in regard to the statements made by some of those connected with me. I hear it has been stated by some of them that I have induced them to join me. But the contrary is true. I do not say this to injure them, but as regretting their weakness. There is not one of them but joined me of his own accord, and the greater part of them at their own expense. A number of them I never saw, and never had a word of conversation with, till the day they came to me; and that was for the purpose I have stated.

Now I have done.

_______________

¹ In explanation of this passage, Brown three weeks afterward handed to Mr. Hunter this letter:

• John Brown to Andrew Hunter, November 22, 1859

SOURCES: Franklin B. Sanborn, The Life and Letters of John Brown, p. 584-5

John Brown at his Trial, October 29, 1859

I will add, if the Court will allow me, that I look upon it as a miserable artifice and pretext of those who ought to take a different course in regard to me, if they took any at all, and I view it with contempt more than otherwise. As I remarked to Mr. Green, insane prisoners, so far as my experience goes, have but little ability to judge of their own sanity; and if I am insane, of course I should think I knew more than all the rest of the world. But I do not think so. I am perfectly unconscious of insanity, and I reject, so far as I am capable, any attempts to interfere in my behalf on that score.

SOURCES: Franklin B. Sanborn, The Life and Letters of John Brown, p. 574-5

John Brown at his Trial, October 28, 1859

May it please the Court, — I discover that, notwithstanding all the assertions I have received of a fair trial, nothing like a fair trial is to be given me, as it would seem. I gave the names, as soon as I could get at them, of the persons I wished to have called as witnesses, and was assured that they would be subpoenaed. I wrote down a memorandum to that effect, saying where those parties were, but it appears that they have not been subpoenaed, so far as I can learn. And now I ask if I am to have anything at all deserving the name and shadow of a fair trial, that this proceeding be deferred until to-morrow morning; for I have no counsel, as I have before stated, in whom I feel that I can rely, but I am in hopes counsel may arrive who will see that I get the witnesses necessary for my defence. I am myself unable to attend to it. I have given all the attention I possibly could to it, but am unable to see or know about them, and can't even find out their names; and I have nobody to do any errand, for my money was all taken from me when I was hacked and stabbed, and I have not a dime. I had two hundred and fifty or sixty dollars in gold and silver taken from my pocket, and now I have no possible means of getting anybody to go any errands for me, and I have not had all the witnesses subpoenaed. They are not within reach, and are not here. I ask at least until to-morrow morning to have something done, if anything is designed. If not, I am ready for anything that may come up.

SOURCES: Franklin B. Sanborn, The Life and Letters of John Brown, p. 574; “The Virginia Rebellion. Trial of John Brown,” The New York Times, New York, New York, Saturday, October 29, 1859, p. 12 for the date.

John Brown at his Trial, October 25, 1859

I did not ask for any quarter at the time I was taken; I did not ask to have my life spared. The Governor of the State of Virginia tendered me assurances that I should have a fair trial; but under no circumstances whatever shall I be able to have a fair trial. If you seek my blood, you can have it at any moment, without this mockery of a trial. I have had no counsel. I have not been able to advise with any one. I know nothing about the feelings of my fellow-prisoners, and am utterly unable to attend in any way to my own defence. My memory doesn't serve me; my health is insufficient although improving. There are mitigating circumstances that I would urge in our favor, if a fair trial is to be had; but if we are to be forced with a mere form, a trial for execution, you might spare yourselves that trouble. I am ready for my fate. I beg for no mockery of a trial, no insult, — nothing but that which conscience gives or cowardice drives you to practise. I ask again to be excused from the mockery of a trial. I do not even know what the special design of this examination is; I do not know what is to be the benefit of it to the Commonwealth. I have now little further to ask, other than that I may not be foolishly insulted, only as cowardly barbarians insult those who fall into their power.

SOURCES: Franklin B. Sanborn, The Life and Letters of John Brown, p. 572; James Campbell, Publisher, The John Brown Invasion, p. 25-6