John Brown to Mrs. Mary Gale, November 30, 1859

Charlestown, Jefferson County, Va., Nov. 30, 1859.

Mrs. Mary GalE (or the writer of the writing).¹

Dear Friend, — I have only time to give you the names of those that I know were killed of my company at Harper's Ferry, or that are said to have been killed; namely, two Thompsons, two Browns, J. Anderson, J. H. Kagi, Stewart Taylor, A. Hazlett, W. H. Leman, and three colored men. Would most gladly give you further information had I the time and ability.

Your friend,

John Brown.

_______________

l Written to the sister of Charles Plummer Tidd, one of those who escaped with Owen Brown.

SOURCES: Franklin B. Sanborn, The Life and Letters of John Brown, p. 615

John Brown's Cannon

In 1857, John Brown left Kansas, and his men stayed at the Quaker settlement in Springdale, Iowa, where they planned their next move.  Brown probably used this small cannon to prepare his followers at the William Maxson farm for a raid on the federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia).  Maxson was an Underground Railroad conductor and abolitionist.  Accompanying Brown from Iowa were Jeremiah Anderson of Yellow Spring, Stewart Taylor of West Liberty, and Edwin and Barclay Coppock of Sprindale.  Brown and his men wanted to seize the federal arsenal, supply weapons to rebellion slaves, and begin overthrowing the entire system of slavery.  Brown’s raid failed, and he was hanged on December 2, 1859.

SOURCE:  Interpretive sign (seen at right) next to the flag in the Iowa and the Civil War: Nothing But Victory exhibit at the State Historical Museum of Iowa, Des Moines Iowa, July 18, 2012.