Bound for Canaan (85 page)

“[W]hile the interest”:
Stan Cohen,
John Brown: “The Thundering Voice of Jehovah”
(Missoula, Mont.: Pictorial Histories Publishing Co., 1999), p. 21.

Their father, John Brown, had promised:
Oates,
To Purge This Land with Blood
, pp. 74–75.

There was actually (footnote):
Parker,
Angels of Freedom
, p. 123.

a new national political party:
Gould,
Grand Old Party
, pp. 14–21; Isaac Beck, letter to Wilbur H. Siebert, December 26, 1892, Siebert Collection, Ohio Historical Society, Columbus.
408 Thomas Garrett, the stationmaster:
McGowan,
Station Master on the Underground Railroad
, pp. 27, 121; Still,
Underground Railroad
, p. 659.

Reports from other parts of the country:
William Still, Journal C of Station 2 of the Underground Railroad, on microfilm, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia; William Still, Still's Underground Railroad Records, William Still, Philadelphia, 1886, Introduction;
Frederick Douglass' Paper
, September 8, 1854, January 26, 1855, and October 12, 1855; C. Peter Ripley, ed.,
Black Abolitionist Papers
, vol. 2, pp. 26–27; Wilbur H. Siebert, “The Underground Railroad in Massachusetts,”
New England Quarterly
9 (September 1936): 447–67; Record Book of the Boston Vigilance Committee, copy in Siebert Collection, Ohio Historical Society, Columbus.

Technology was also transforming:
Taylor,
Transportation Revolution
, pp. 84–87, 102–3; Cohn,
Life and Times of King Cotton
, p. 95; John Reed, interviewed by Wilbur H. Siebert, August 2, 1894, Siebert Collection, Ohio Historical Society, Columbus;
Still,
Underground Railroad,
pp. 761–66; Hopkins, “Black Eldorado on the Susquehannah”; William J. Switala,
Underground Railroad in Pennsylvania
(Mechanicsburg, Pa.: Stackpole Books, 2001), pp. 146–47; Charles C. Chapman,
History of Knox County, Illinois
(Chicago: Charles C. Chapman & Co., 1878), p. 211;
North Star
, May 5, 1848;
Frederick Douglass' Paper
, March 9, 1855.

Certain railroad companies:
Furnas,
Goodbye to Uncle Tom
, pp. 223–25;
Firelands Pioneer
, July 1888.

an open part of local life:
Allan Nevins,
Ordeal of the Union
, vol. 2:
The Emergence of Lincoln, Part I, Douglas, Buchanan, and Party Chaos, 1857–1859
(New York: Collier Books, 1992), p. 95;
Provincial Freeman
, July 8, 1854;
Frederick Douglass' Paper
, November 17, 1854, January 4, 1855, and December 14, 1855.

no one else but Jermain Loguen:
Hunter,
To Set the Captives Free
, pp. 162–63, 167;
Syracuse Daily Standard
, November 25, 1854;
National Era
, July 23, 1857; Judith Wellman, historian, interview with the author, October 6, 2002.

At home, Loguen and his wife:
Sernett,
North Star Country
, p. 178; Hunter,
To Set the Captives Free
, pp. 166–68.

“We had scarcely struck”: Frederick Douglass' Paper
, November 28, 1857.

He had spent several worried months:
Loguen,
Rev. J. W. Loguen
, pp. 433–43; Hunter,
To Set the Captives Free
, p. 134.

formally designated his home:
Hunter,
To Set the Captives Free
, p. 156;
Liberal Christian
, January 30, 1869;
Voice of the Fugitive
, September 9, 1852;
Frederick Douglass' Paper
, March 7, 1854.

“Who, then, in and about Syracuse”: Frederick Douglass' Paper
, June 8, 1855.

Loguen could not have carried: Syracuse Daily Standard
, June 12, 1854; Hunter,
To Set the Captives Free
, pp. 151–54, 161; Sernett,
North Star Country
, p. 179.

Reports of Loguen's activities:
Loguen,
Rev. J. W. Loguen
, pp. 451–55.

At fifty-five, John Brown was still:
The section on John Brown in Kansas is based on Nevins,
Ordeal of the Union
, vol. 2, pp. 133 ff; Oates,
To Purge This Land with Blood
, pp. 106–7, 127–55, 160–61, 171, 264; Quarles,
Allies for Freedom
, pp. 32–36; Scott,
Secret Six
, pp. 32–36, 41–49; Parker,
Angels of Freedom
, pp. 52–53, 58; John Brown, letter to Luther Humphrey, November 19, 1856, copy in possession of the WISH Centre, Chatham, Ontario.

“lean, strong, and sinewy”:
Douglass, “Life and Times,” pp. 716–17.

The national elections:
W. U. Hensel, “The Attitude of James Buchanan, a Citizen of Lancaster County, towards the Institution of Slavery in the United States,” paper presented to the Lancaster County Historical Society, May 5, 1911; Nevins,
Ordeal of the Union
, vol. 2, pp. 64–66; Philip Shriver Klein,
President James Buchanan
(Norwalk, Conn.: Easton Press, 1987), pp. 257–60; Bordewich, “Digging into a Historic Rivalry,” pp. 96–107; obituary of James Buchanan,
New York Times
, June 2, 1868.

“[E]verything of a practical nature”:
James Buchanan, inaugural address, March 4, 1857, viewed on-line at http://gi.grolier.com/presidents/ea/inaugs/1857buch; Nevins,
Ordeal of the Union
, vol. 2, pp. 60–63, 68 ff.

Like his predecessor:
James Buchanan, Second Annual Message, December 6, 1858, viewed on-line at http://www.pcntv.com/bu_msg58; N. A. Hunt, letter to Wilbur H. Siebert, February 15, 1896, Siebert Collection, Ohio Historical Society, Columbus; Richard B. Sheridan, ed.,
Freedom's Crucible: The Underground Railroad in Lawrence and Douglas County, Kansas, 1854–1865: A Reader
(Lawrence: Division of Continuing Education, University of Kansas, 2000), p. xviii; Sidney S. Herd and William E. Connelley, “Quantrill and the U.G.R.R. in Lawrence, Kansas Territory,” in
Freedom's Crucible: The Underground Railroad in Lawrence and Douglas County, Kansas, 1854–1865: A Reader
, Richard B. Sheridan, ed. (Lawrence: Division of Continuing Education, University of Kansas, 2000), pp. 14–15; Klein,
President James Buchanan
, pp. 248, 296–99; Oates,
To Purge This Land with Blood
, pp. 89, 100; A. T. Andreas,
History of the State of Kansas
(Chicago: A. T. Andreas, 1883); Parker,
Angles of Freedom
, p. 38.

Abolitionists were understandably outraged:
Caleb Calkins, handwritten deposition, John Brown folder, Gerrit Smith Collection, Bird Library, Syracuse University; Smith, Speech to the Kansas Meeting, Gerrit Smith Collection, Bird Library, Syracuse University.

Meanwhile, a grandiose plan was fermenting:
James Redpath,
Public Life of Capt. John Brown
(Boston: Thayer and Eldridge, 1860), pp. 229–30; Oates,
To Purge This Land with Blood
, pp. 243–46; interview with J. Monroe Jones of Chatham, Ontario,
Cleveland Herald
, date unknown, copy in possession of WISH Centre, Chatham; Sheridan,
Freedom's Crucible,
p. 77.

In January 1858:
Douglass, “Life and Times,” p. 756; Cohen,
John Brown
, pp. 159–62.

From Rochester, Brown moved:
Gerrit Smith, letter to John Thomas, August 27, 1859, and John Brown, letter to George L. Searns, via Caleb Calkins, April 4, 1858, both letters Gerrit Smith Collection, Bird Library, Syracuse University.

After Boston, Brown moved:
Oates,
To Purge This Land with Blood
, pp. 240–42; Larson,
Bound for the Promised Land
, pp. 158–60.

On May 8, at a secret convention:
John H. Kagi, Journal of the Provisional Constitutional Convention, May 8, 1858, held at Chatham, Ontario, copy in the possession of the WISH Centre, Chatham; Quarles,
Allies for Freedom
, pp. 45–51; Redpath,
Public Life of Capt. John Brown
, p. 231; Oates,
To Purge This Land with Blood
, p. 248;
National Era
, December 15, 1859.

Brown wanted to invade:
Sheridan, editor's commentary,
Freedom's Crucible
, pp. 132–33; Richard J. Hinton and George B. Gill, “John Brown and the Rescue of Missouri Slaves,” in Sheridan,
Freedom's Crucible
, pp. 77–87; Quarles,
Allies for Freedom
, pp. 53–60; Parker,
Angels of Freedom
, p. 71;
Plaindealer
, of Garnett, Kans., June 13, 1879, John Brown File, Watkins Museum, Lawrence, Kans.;
National Era
,
December 15, 1859; Jason Hanway, “Early Reminiscences,”
Ossawatomie
(Kans.)
Times
, February 3, 1881, and February 10, 1881.

Around ten-thirty on the dank night:
The story of John Brown's raid draws on Douglass, “Life and Times,” pp. 758–60; pamphlet,
John Brown Address by Frederick Douglass,
speech delivered at the fourteenth anniversary of Storer College in Harpers Ferry, W. Va., 1881, in
John Brown Pamphlets,
vol. 5, Boyd B. Stutler Collection, West Virginia State Archives, Charleston, W. Va.; Thomas Drew,
The John Brown Invasion,
pamphlet, in
John Brown Pamphlets,
vol. 1, Boyd B. Stutler Collection, West Virginia State Archives, Charleston, W. Va.; Nevins,
Ordeal of the Union
, vol. 2, pp. 75–84; Oates,
To Purge This Land with Blood
, pp. 290–302; Quarles,
Allies for Freedom,
pp. 92–102; Osborne P. Anderson,
A Narrative of Events at Harper's Ferry
(Boston: Osborne P. Anderson, 1861), pp. 36–51; Redpath,
Public Life of Capt. John Brown
, p. 226; Cohen,
John Brown
, pp. 36–60;
National Era
, October 20, 1859, October 27, 1859, November 3, 1859, November 10, 1859;
New York Herald
, October 17, 1859.

After the attack:
Anderson,
Narrative of Events at Harper's Ferry
, pp. 36–51; Quarles,
Allies for Freedom,
pp. 92–98, 114; Caleb Calkins, handwritten deposition, John Brown folder, Gerrit Smith Collection, Bird Library, Syracuse University, Syracuse, N. Y.; Still, Still's Underground Railroad Records, William Still, Philadelphia, 1886, Introduction.

Harriet Tubman was in New York:
Larson,
Bound for the Promised Land
, pp. 158, 174.

On October 25, Brown:
John Brown, letter to Luther Humphrey, November 19, 1859, copy in possession of the WISH Centre, Chatham, Ontario;
National Era
, October 27, 1859, December 8, 1859;
New York Tribune
, November 10, 1859; Nevins,
Ordeal of the Union
, vol. 2, p. 97; Chace and Chace,
Two Quaker Sisters
, pp. 175 ff; Quarles,
Allies for Freedom
, pp. 109, 124.

The Oberlin graduate went silently: National Era
, December 22, 1859.

“We shall be a thousand times”:
Reprinted in
National Era
, December 22, 1859.

“Some eighteen hundred years ago”:
Henry David Thoreau, “A Plea for Captain John Brown,” in
Slavery Attacked: The Abolitionist Crusade,
John L. Thomas, ed. (Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice-Hall, 1965), pp. 163–68.

Paranoid rumors of more:
Quarles,
Allies for Freedom
, p. 107;
National Era
, January 12, 1860.

Buchanan, ever an apologist for slavery:
James Buchanan, Fourth Annual Message, December 19, 1859, viewed on-line at http://www.pcntv.com/bu_msg59.

The work of the underground:
Quarles,
Allies for Freedom
, p. 105; Sernett,
North Star Country
, pp. 191–92; Campbell,
Slave Catchers
, p. 188.
428 One of the last was Arnold Gragston:
Arnold Gragston, quoted
Remembering Slavery: African Americans Talk About Their Personal Experiences of Slavery and Emancipation
, Ira Berlin, Marc Favreau, and Steven F. Miller, eds. (New York: New Press, 1998), pp. 64–70.

In his inaugural address:
Nevins,
Prologue to Civil War
(New York: Collier Books, 1992), pp. 457–59.

The borderlands began hemorrhaging: Detroit Daily News
, April 9, 1861; Horace Ford, interview with Wilbur H. Siebert, undated, Siebert Collection, Ohio Historical Society, Columbus.

as early as May, General Benjamin Butler:
Paul Skeels Peirce,
The Freedman's Bureau: A Chapter in the History of Reconstruction
(New York: Haskell House Publishers, 1971), pp. 1–7.

Without quite meaning to do so:
Campbell,
Slave Catchers
, pp. 189–90, 193.