Authors: Tony Horwitz
Tags: #John Brown, #Abolition, #Civil War Period (1850-1877)
Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid That Sparked the Civil War Hardcover – Bargain Price (42 page)
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Chapter 5: Secret Service
“Captain Brown of Osawatomie”: This is how Sanborn introduced him in Massachusetts. Stephen Oates,
To Purge This Land with Blood,
195. See also Franklin Sanborn,
The Life and Letters of John Brown
, 374.
To Purge This Land with Blood,
195. See also Franklin Sanborn,
The Life and Letters of John Brown
, 374.
“You need not”: John Brown to wife and children, Oct. 11, 1856, BSC.
“death was”: Owen Brown to John Brown, March 27, 1856, KSHS.
“Your unfaithful Parent”: ibid.
“to witness”: John Brown to Owen Brown, March 26, 1856, HLHS.
“errand”: John Brown Speaking Notes, March 1857, KSHS.
“There is a divining”: Franklin Sanborn,
Recollections of Seventy Years,
vol. 1 (Boston: Richard G. Badger, 1909), 83. Sanborn later proposed to Emerson’s daughter and was refused. For more on Sanborn and his role as gatekeeper of Brown’s memory, see R. Blakeslee Gilpin,
John Brown Still Lives!
(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2011).
Recollections of Seventy Years,
vol. 1 (Boston: Richard G. Badger, 1909), 83. Sanborn later proposed to Emerson’s daughter and was refused. For more on Sanborn and his role as gatekeeper of Brown’s memory, see R. Blakeslee Gilpin,
John Brown Still Lives!
(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2011).
“He did not”: Sanborn,
Recollections,
112.
Recollections,
112.
“pent-up fire”: ibid.
“suppressed yet metallic” and other Alcott comments: Odell Shepard, ed.,
The Journals of Bronson Alcott
(Boston: Little Brown & Co., 1938), 316.
The Journals of Bronson Alcott
(Boston: Little Brown & Co., 1938), 316.
“I should hate”: Walter Muir Whitehill, “John Brown of Osawatomie in Boston, 1857,”
Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society,
vol. 69, 263–64.
Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society,
vol. 69, 263–64.
“moral magnetism”: Mary Stearns to Franklin Sanborn, April 1885, in Sanborn,
The Life and Letters,
510.
The Life and Letters,
510.
“it suddenly seemed”: ibid.
“John Brown”: Sanborn,
The Life and Letters
, 381.
The Life and Letters
, 381.
“Minute Men”: John Brown to Heman Humphrey, April 18, 1857, HLHS.
For John Brown’s fund-raising pitch, see John Brown Speaking Notes, March 1857, KSHS.
“I have no other income”: John Brown to Amos Lawrence, March 19, 1857, in Oswald Villard,
John Brown,
280.
John Brown,
280.
“I fully sympathize” and other apologetic quotes: John Brown to Mary Brown, Nov. 2, 1855, Nov. 23, 1855, KSHS.
“to learn, & practice”: John Brown, quoting from Mary’s letter in his reply to her, March 31, 1857, BSC.
“in remembrance of”: John Brown to Ellen Brown, May 13, 1857, BSC.
“I prize it”: John Brown to Mary Brown, March 12, 1857, KSHS.
“If I should never”: John Brown to Mary Brown, May 27, 1857, BSC.
“OX” and “Oxentricity”: note at bottom of letter of Owen Brown to his sisters, Nov. 27, 1859, Houghton Library. In his diary, reprinted in the
Richmond Daily Whig,
Oct. 29, 1859, Owen wrote: “I dispute and contradict my father in any and everything.” A copy is in OGV.
Richmond Daily Whig,
Oct. 29, 1859, Owen wrote: “I dispute and contradict my father in any and everything.” A copy is in OGV.
“for the settlers”: testimony of Charles Blair, Mason Report, A121.
“Kansas butter knifes”: Oliver Brown to family, May 16, 1857, KSHS.
“I furnished that money”: John Brown to Hugh Forbes, June 22, 1857, HSP. In an earlier letter, Brown called Forbes “a distinguished Scotch officer” (John Brown to John Brown, Jr., April 15, 1857, BSC).
“It is not easy”: Franklin Sanborn to John Brown, Aug. 28, 1857, RWL.
“
How to act”
: John Brown to “Dear Brother & Sister Adair,” Oct 5, 1857, HLHS.
How to act”
: John Brown to “Dear Brother & Sister Adair,” Oct 5, 1857, HLHS.
“In
immediate”
: John Brown to George Luther Stearns, Aug. 8, 1857, in Villard,
John Brown,
297.
immediate”
: John Brown to George Luther Stearns, Aug. 8, 1857, in Villard,
John Brown,
297.
“small school”: John Brown to Franklin Sanborn, Aug. 27, 1857, BSC.
“Do you mean”: Franklin Sanborn to John Brown, Sept. 14, 1857, RWL.
“If you want”: John E. Cook’s confession. This was widely published in newspapers after the Harpers Ferry attack. It also appears in Richard Hinton,
John Brown and His Men,
700–714.
John Brown and His Men,
700–714.
“
Here we found”
: ibid.
Here we found”
: ibid.
“Guerrilla warfare”: John Brown Memorandum Books, BPL.
the Hole: James P. Noffsinger,
Harpers Ferry, West Virginia: Contributions Towards a Physical History
(U.S. Department of the Interior, 1958), 206. The first white resident of what became Harpers Ferry was a squatter known as “Peter in the Hole.” He was bought out by Robert Harper, a Pennsylvania millwright, in 1747. In 1763, the town was incorporated as “Shenandoah Falls at Mr. Harper’s Ferry.”
Harpers Ferry, West Virginia: Contributions Towards a Physical History
(U.S. Department of the Interior, 1958), 206. The first white resident of what became Harpers Ferry was a squatter known as “Peter in the Hole.” He was bought out by Robert Harper, a Pennsylvania millwright, in 1747. In 1763, the town was incorporated as “Shenandoah Falls at Mr. Harper’s Ferry.”
“one of the most”: Thomas Jefferson,
Notes on the State of Virginia
(New York: Library of America, 1984), 143.
Notes on the State of Virginia
(New York: Library of America, 1984), 143.
“This spot affords”: George Washington to Timothy Pickering, Sept. 16, 1795, in Jared Sparks,
The Writings of George Washington,
vol. 11 (Boston: Charles Tappan, 1846), 69.
The Writings of George Washington,
vol. 11 (Boston: Charles Tappan, 1846), 69.
“There is not a spot”: George Washington to James McHenry, May 6, 1798, in W. W. Abbot, ed.,
The Papers of George Washington, Retirement Series,
vol. 2 (Charlottesville: University of Virginia, 1998), 253. For more on George Washington’s visions for the Potomac, see Joel Achenbach,
The Grand Idea
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 2002).
The Papers of George Washington, Retirement Series,
vol. 2 (Charlottesville: University of Virginia, 1998), 253. For more on George Washington’s visions for the Potomac, see Joel Achenbach,
The Grand Idea
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 2002).
“make a dash” and other quotes about discussions with Brown: Forbes to Samuel Gridley Howe, May 14, 1858, in
New York Times,
Oct. 28, 1859.
New York Times,
Oct. 28, 1859.
“He was very pious”:
New York Herald,
Nov. 1, 1859.
New York Herald,
Nov. 1, 1859.
“protégé”: testimony of Richard Realf, Mason Report, A090.
“drunken riot”: Irving Richman,
John Brown Among the Quakers, and Other Sketches
(Chicago: R. R. Donnelley, 1894), 24: “He, together with three comrades, was sentenced to death for participation in what is called in his sentence ‘a drunken riot and mutiny against a major of the regiment.‘” For more details, see Court Martial Case Files, War Department Office of the Judge Advocate General, May 21, 1855, National Archives. Kit Carson was one of the witnesses against Stevens.
John Brown Among the Quakers, and Other Sketches
(Chicago: R. R. Donnelley, 1894), 24: “He, together with three comrades, was sentenced to death for participation in what is called in his sentence ‘a drunken riot and mutiny against a major of the regiment.‘” For more details, see Court Martial Case Files, War Department Office of the Judge Advocate General, May 21, 1855, National Archives. Kit Carson was one of the witnesses against Stevens.
“The persons”: John Brown to Mary Brown, Dec. 30, 1857, BSC.
“Some warm words”: John Cook’s confession.
“after a good deal”: Hinton,
John Brown and His Men,
702.
John Brown and His Men,
702.
“11 desperadoes”: Owen Brown’s diary, Dec. 3, 1857, in
New York Times,
Oct. 24, 1859. Other portions printed in
Richmond Daily Whig,
Oct. 29, 1859; copy in OGV.
New York Times,
Oct. 24, 1859. Other portions printed in
Richmond Daily Whig,
Oct. 29, 1859; copy in OGV.
“Lyceums”: L. F. Parsons to “Dear Friends Redpath & Hinton,” Dec. 1859, KSHS.
“Cold, wet, and snowy”: Owen Brown’s diary, Dec. 8, 1857, in
New York Times
, Oct. 24, 1859.
New York Times
, Oct. 24, 1859.
“War College”: “Scrap in handwriting of Owen Brown,” BSC. See also L. F. Parsons to “Dear Friends Redpath & Hinton,” Dec. 1859, KSHS, which tells of training with “Col. Whipple as Drillmaster.”
“legislatures”: ibid.
“censure … for hugging girls”: Owen Brown’s diary,
Richmond Whig,
Oct. 29, 1859, OGV.
Richmond Whig,
Oct. 29, 1859, OGV.
“the worse”: Moses and Charlotte Varney to “My dear friends Whipple & Tidd,” May 10, 1858,
Calendar of Virginia State Papers: The John Brown Insurrection,
State Library of Virginia. George Gill, another of Brown’s men, later wrote that Tidd “became quite notorious for his amours” in Iowa (Gill to Richard Hinton, undated manuscript, KSHS, 20). For more on the band’s stay in Iowa, see Jeannette Mather Lord, “John Brown: They Had a Concern,”
West Virginia Archives and History,
April 1959, 163–83, BSC, and Richman,
John Brown Among the Quakers
.
Calendar of Virginia State Papers: The John Brown Insurrection,
State Library of Virginia. George Gill, another of Brown’s men, later wrote that Tidd “became quite notorious for his amours” in Iowa (Gill to Richard Hinton, undated manuscript, KSHS, 20). For more on the band’s stay in Iowa, see Jeannette Mather Lord, “John Brown: They Had a Concern,”
West Virginia Archives and History,
April 1959, 163–83, BSC, and Richman,
John Brown Among the Quakers
.
“secret service”: John Brown to Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Feb. 2, 1858, BPL.
“His whole time”: Douglass,
Autobiographies,
756.
Autobiographies,
756.
“Courage, courage … the great work of my life”: John Brown to wife and children, Jan. 30, 1858, in Ruchames,
A John Brown Reader,
118.
A John Brown Reader,
118.
“Kansas is”: John Brown, Jr., to E. B. Whitman, Feb. 1858, KSHS.
“When you look”: John Brown to John Brown, Jr., Feb. 4, 1858, BSC.
“I want to get”: ibid.
“I now want”: John Brown to Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Feb. 2, 1858, BPL.
“I am always”: Thomas Wentworth Higginson to John Brown, Feb. 8, 1858, BPL.
“Rail Road”: John Brown to Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Feb. 12, 1858, BPL.
“I have been told”: John Brown to Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Feb. 2, 1858, BPL.
“I have written”: John Brown to Theodore Parker, Feb. 2, 1858, in Sanborn,
The Life and Letters,
435.
The Life and Letters,
435.
“bends towards”: Frances Cobbe, ed.,
The Collected Works of Theodore Parker,
vol. 2 (London: N. Trubner & Co., 1867), 48.
The Collected Works of Theodore Parker,
vol. 2 (London: N. Trubner & Co., 1867), 48.
“I long to see”: Thomas Wentworth Higginson to John Brown, May 1, 1859, BPL. For more on Higginson, and also his relationship with Emily Dickinson, see Brenda Wineapple’s riveting
White Heat
(New York: Knopf, 2008).
White Heat
(New York: Knopf, 2008).
“Hope died”: Edward J. Renehan, Jr.,
The Secret Six: The True Tale of the Men Who Conspired with John Brown
(New York: Crown, 1995), 31.
The Secret Six: The True Tale of the Men Who Conspired with John Brown
(New York: Crown, 1995), 31.
“no boaster”: Ralph Waldo Emerson,
The Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson,
vol. 10 (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1911), 504.
The Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson,
vol. 10 (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1911), 504.
“Our friend”: Franklin Sanborn to Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Feb. 23, 1858, BSC.
“secret committee”: Sanborn,
The Life and Letters,
514. The group had no formal name and was sometimes called the “Secret Committee of Six.” See Jeffery Rossbach,
Ambivalent Conspirators
(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1982), 142—44.
The Life and Letters,
514. The group had no formal name and was sometimes called the “Secret Committee of Six.” See Jeffery Rossbach,
Ambivalent Conspirators
(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1982), 142—44.
“wealth, luxury”: “Old Brown’s Farewell,” BSC.
“manifest hopelessness”: Sanborn,
The Life and Letters,
439.
The Life and Letters,
439.
“If God be for us”: ibid.
“dangerous”: ibid, 445.
“milk-and-water”: testimony of William Arny, Mason Report, 88.
“He is of the stuff”: Samuel Gridley Howe to John Forbes, Feb. 5, 1859, in
Letters and Recollections of John Murray Forbes,
vol. 1 (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1900), 178.
Letters and Recollections of John Murray Forbes,
vol. 1 (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1900), 178.
“The slave”: Gerrit Smith to Joshua Giddings, March 25, 1858, in Renehan,
Secret Six,
147.
Secret Six,
147.
Chapter 6: This Spark of Fire
“wool business” and the “mill”: For example, see Franklin Sanborn to Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Feb. 23, 1858, which also mentions “woolen machinery” (BSC).
“a very quiet convention” and “true friends”: confession of John Cook, in Richard Hinton,
John Brown and His Men
, 703.
John Brown and His Men
, 703.
“flock”: Franklin Sanborn,
The Life and Letters of John Brown,
457.
The Life and Letters of John Brown,
457.
“to state the object”: “Journal of the Provisional Constitutional Convention,”
Calendar of Virginia State Papers
, 271.
Calendar of Virginia State Papers
, 271.
“a plan for organization”: ibid.
“Whereas, Slavery”: John Brown, “Provisional Constitution and Ordinances for the People of the United States,” ibid., 278–88.
“no rights”:
Dred Scott v. Sandford,
60 U.S. 393 (1857), online at
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=60&invol=393
.
Dred Scott v. Sandford,
60 U.S. 393 (1857), online at
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=60&invol=393
.
“Every man was anxious”: Charles Moffett, quoted in “Extracts on John Brown in Canada,” BSC.
“elected by acclamation”: “Journal of the Provisional Constitution Convention,”
Calendar of Virginia State Papers
, 273.
Calendar of Virginia State Papers
, 273.
“Had a good”: John Brown to Mary Brown, May 12, 1858, BSC.
“There is the most abundant”: John Brown to John Brown, Jr., April 8, 1858, BSC.
“Hariet Tubman”: ibid.
“had the blues” and other quotes: Salmon Brown to “Dear Folks,” Dec. 28, 1856, BSC.
“quit running around”: ibid.
“I should be”: John Brown to family, May 1, 1858, HLHS.
“O my daughter”: John Brown to family, Jan. 30, 1858, in Ruchames,
A John Brown Reader,
117–18.
A John Brown Reader,
117–18.
“Dear father”: Ruth Brown Thompson to John Brown, Feb. 20, 1858, HLHS.
“My whole heart”: Henry Thompson to John Brown, April 21, 1858, KSHS.
“I hope you”: Ruth Brown Thompson to John Brown, April 21, 1858, KSHS.
“New England humanitarians”: Hugh Forbes to
New York Herald,
Nov. 1, 1859.
New York Herald,
Nov. 1, 1859.
“
they were not”
: Thomas Wentworth Higginson, “Memorandum,” BPL. Brown added, “They held the purse and he was powerless without them.”
they were not”
: Thomas Wentworth Higginson, “Memorandum,” BPL. Brown added, “They held the purse and he was powerless without them.”
“blind”: ibid.
“I do not wish”: Gerrit Smith to Franklin Sanborn, July 26, 1858, in Sanborn,
The Life and Letters,
466. For more on Forbes’s disclosures, see testimony of Henry Wilson and Samuel Gridley Howe, Mason Report.
The Life and Letters,
466. For more on Forbes’s disclosures, see testimony of Henry Wilson and Samuel Gridley Howe, Mason Report.
“He would have”: Salmon Brown to William Connelley, Dec. 2, 1913, BSC.
“suavity itself”: George Gill to Richard Hinton, undated manuscript, 21, KSHS.
“rage for talking”: For Cook’s lack of discretion, see Richard Realf to Brown, May 31, 1858, KSHS.
“to see how things”: John Cook’s confession, Hinton,
John Brown and His Men
, 703.
John Brown and His Men
, 703.
“Rifles”: Meriwether Lewis to Thomas Jefferson, April 20, 1803, Library of Congress. Other Lewis and Clark details: Stephen Ambrose,
Undaunted Courage
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996), 248–29. The “Experiment” didn’t work and was abandoned by the Missouri River.
Undaunted Courage
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996), 248–29. The “Experiment” didn’t work and was abandoned by the Missouri River.
“lock, stock” and “common hands”: Merritt Roe Smith,
Harpers Ferry Armory and the New Technology
(Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1980), 67–68, 239.
Harpers Ferry Armory and the New Technology
(Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1980), 67–68, 239.
“coal smoke”: Thomas Yoseloff, ed.,
Voyage to America: The Journals of Thomas Cather
(New York: A. S. Barnes, 1961), 28.
Voyage to America: The Journals of Thomas Cather
(New York: A. S. Barnes, 1961), 28.
“offensive matter”: “Board of Health for Harpers Ferry,”
The Constitutionalist,
June 12, 1839, HFNHP.
The Constitutionalist,
June 12, 1839, HFNHP.
“hallooing or rioting” and “throwing stones”: By-Laws & Ordinances of the Corporation of Harper’s Ferry, HFNHP. The ordinances also prohibited swine, dogs, “and sluts running at large in the street,” and forbade “dirt, filth, manure or rubbish, to be and remain in the streets.”
“mere machines”: Merrit Roe Smith,
Harpers Ferry Armory
, 272.
Harpers Ferry Armory
, 272.
“with a ghastly”: Joseph Barry,
The Strange Story of Harper’s Ferry: With Legends of the Surrounding Country
(Martinsburg, W.Va.: Thompson Brothers, 1903), 26.
The Strange Story of Harper’s Ferry: With Legends of the Surrounding Country
(Martinsburg, W.Va.: Thompson Brothers, 1903), 26.
“I was really pleased”: Mary Mauzy to daughter, Dec. 18, 1859, HFNHP.
“his patriarchal disguise”: James Redpath,
The Public Life of Captain John Brown,
199.
The Public Life of Captain John Brown,
199.
“I have done”: John Brown to Ruth and Henry Thompson, May 10, 1853, HLHS.
“was never”: John Brown to John Brown, Jr., Sept. 9, 1858, in Villard,
John Brown,
358.
John Brown,
358.
Quotations from the
New York Tribune
: “Old Brown’s Parallels,”
New York Tribune,
Jan. 28, 1859.
New York Tribune
: “Old Brown’s Parallels,”
New York Tribune,
Jan. 28, 1859.
“The closer we got”: George Gill to Richard Hinton, “1860 or ’61—early,” KSHS.
“BROWN’S RESCUED”:
New York Tribune,
March 18, 1859.
New York Tribune,
March 18, 1859.
“most ready”: Villard,
John Brown,
386.
John Brown,
386.
“He has begun”: Franklin Sanborn to Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Jan. 19, 1859, in Sanborn,
The Life and Letters,
492.
The Life and Letters,
492.
“to pursue”: Stephen Oates,
To Purge This Land with Blood,
262.
To Purge This Land with Blood,
262.
“set his mill”: Sanborn,
The Life and Letters,
493.
The Life and Letters,
493.
“The entire success”: John Brown to Samuel Gridley Howe, March 1, 1858, Houghton Library.
“liberated”: Villard,
John Brown,
391.
John Brown,
391.
“would give two dollars”: Redpath,
Public Life of Captain John Brown,
239.
Public Life of Captain John Brown,
239.
“The Captain leaves us”: Odell Shepard,
The Journals of Bronson Alcott,
316.
The Journals of Bronson Alcott,
316.
“glittering gray-blue eyes”: Sarah Forbes Hughes, ed.,
John Murray Forbes: Letters and Recollections
(Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1899), 179—82.
John Murray Forbes: Letters and Recollections
(Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1899), 179—82.
“monomania”: William Lawrence,
Life of A. A. Lawrence
(Freeport, N.Y.: Greenwood, 1971; originally published 1888), 130.
Life of A. A. Lawrence
(Freeport, N.Y.: Greenwood, 1971; originally published 1888), 130.
George Gill is quoted from his letters to Richard Hinton, KSHS, in particular July 7, 1893. Also see interview with George Gill, OGV.
Charles Blair is quoted from his testimony, Mason Report, A124–25.
“Wishing you”: Charles Blair to John Brown, June 10, 1859,
Calendar of Virginia State Papers
, 324.
Calendar of Virginia State Papers
, 324.
“We leave here”: John Brown to “J. Henrie, Esq.,” June 30, 1859, ibid.
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