  HYPOCRISY He was a man Who stole the livery of the court of Heaven To serve the Devil in. —Pollock, Course of Time John Brown "struck the trail" of "easy money" June 28, 1855, when Gerrit Smith presented his case to the Syracuse convention and collected sixty dollars to assist him in migrating to Kansas. He had followed it up with profit, while en route thereto, at Springfield, Hudson, Akron, and Cleveland. Now he was returning to the East to work the field again. It was the same graft which he had theretofore worked, but upon greatly improved plans and along broader lines. He had two schemes in view. Robinson's letter of September 14th addressed "To the Settlers of Kansas," showed that Brown was their accredited defender "from invaders and outlaws." Under the pretext of enlisting, arming, equipping, and maintaining in Kansas, a company of fifty mounted men to protect the settlers from "invaders and outlaws," he intended to try to secure $30,000, in cash, to finance the pretense. The other scheme was to have the Legislatures of Massachusetts and New York appropriate large sums of money—$100,000 each—to reimburse persons who had emigrated to Kansas from these States, for losses which they were supposed to have "suffered in advancing the Free-State cause." Naturally, Brown and all the members of his family were "sufferers," and would be eligible as beneficiaries of this legislation. "The National Kansas Committee" was a company formed That Brown had this scheme for raising money in view as early as July, 1856, appears from the fact that before leaving Kansas with his sons, in that month, he called upon Mr. Whitman, at Lawrence, and filed with him a paper which was intended to serve as the foundation of a claim for reimbursement for such losses. It reads as follows: FOR MR. WHITMAN Names of sufferers and persons who have made sacrifices in endeavoring to maintain and advance the Free-State cause in Kansas, within my personal knowledge. 1. Two German refugees (thoroughly Free-State), robbed at Pottawatomie, named Benjamin and Bondy (or Bundy). One has served under me as a volunteer; namely, Bondy. Benjamin was prisoner for some time; suffered by men under Coffee and Pate. 2. Henry Thompson. Devoted several months to the Free-State cause, traveling nearly two thousand miles at his own expense for the purpose, leaving family and business for about one year. Served under me as a volunteer; was dangerously wounded at Palmyra, or Black Jack; had a bullet lodged beside his backbone; has had a severe turn of fever, and is still very feeble. Suffered a little in the burning of the houses of John Brown, Jr., and Jason Brown. 3. John Jr. and Jason Brown. Both burned out; both prisoners for some time, one a prisoner still: both losing the use of valuable, partially improved claims. Both served repeatedly as volunteers for defense of Lawrence and other places, suffering great hardships and some cruelty. 4. Owen and Frederick Brown. Both served at different periods as volunteers, under me. Were both in the battle of Palmyra; both suffered by the burning of their brothers' houses; both have had sickness (Owen a severe one), and are yet feeble. Both lost the use of partially improved claims and their spring and summer work. 5. Salmon Brown (minor). Twice served under me as a volunteer; was dangerously wounded (if not permanently crippled) by accident near Palmyra; had a severe sickness and is still feeble. 6. Oliver Brown (minor). Served under me as a volunteer for some months; was in the battle of Palmyra, and had some sickness. 7. (B. L.) Cochrane (at Pottawatomie). Twice served under me as a volunteer; was in the battle of Palmyra. 8. Dr. Lucius Mills devoted some months to the Free-State cause, collecting and giving information, prescribing for and nursing the sick and wounded at his own cost. Is a worthy Free-State man. 9. John Brown has devoted the service of himself and two minor sons to the Free-State cause for more than a year; suffered by the fire before named and by robbery; has gone at his own cost for that period, except that he and his company together have received forty dollars in cash, two sacks of flour, thirty five pounds of bacon, thirty five do. of sugar, and twenty pounds of rice. I propose to serve hereafter in the Free-State cause (provided my needful expenses can be met) should they be desired; and to raise a small regular force to serve on the same condition. My own means are so far exhausted that I can no longer continue in the service at present without the means of defraying my expenses are furnished me. I can give the names of some five or six more volunteers of special merit I would be glad to have particularly noticed in some way. J. Brown When one considers the life Brown had been leading and the nature of the atrocities which he had committed, this proposal During February, 1857, Brown had a bill prepared and introduced in the Massachusetts Legislature to appropriate $100,000, as a contingent fund, to relieve the distress of settlers in Kansas. And on the 18th of that month he and Mr. Whitman appeared before the committee, having charge of the bill, to urge its passage. Brown arrived at Tabor, Iowa, en route to the East, October 10th. On the 23d he was at Chicago, where he was well received by the National Kansas Committee. At this time it was moving a lot of supplies—two hundred Sharp's rifles, a brass cannon, ammunition, clothing, etc.—across Iowa to Kansas, under the direction of Dr. J. P. Root. The committee asked Brown to return and accompany the train to its destination. He, however, advised the management to stop the train, and not attempt to enter Kansas with it; saying that "The immediate introduction of the supplies is not of much consequence compared to the danger of losing them." His remark had reference to the efficient measures which Governor Geary had adopted to put an end to the lawlessness which was prevailing in the Territory at the time he assumed his official duties. Brown went with Root as far as Tabor, Iowa, where the supplies were stored, to await further developments. Leaving Tabor, he passed through Chicago about the first of December. In Ohio, upon presenting his letters from Governor In Boston, Brown met Mr. Frank B. Sanborn, a young man but a year and a half out of Harvard, who was then secretary of the Massachusetts State Kansas Committee. "He was on fire for the anti-slavery cause, and ready to worship any of its militant leaders." "Old Brown" of Kansas is now in Boston, with one of his sons, working for an object in which you will heartily sympathize—raising and arming a company of men for the future protection of Kansas. He wishes to raise $30,000 to arm a company, such as he thinks he can raise this present winter, but will, as I understand him, take what money he can raise and use it as far as it will go. Can you not come to Boston tomorrow or next day and see Capt. Brown? If not, please indicate when you will be in Worcester, so he can see you. I like the man from what I have seen—and his deeds ought to bear witness for him. It will be observed that this was to be a cash transaction: he will "take what money he can raise and use it as far as it will In his enthusiasm for his Kansas hero, Mr. Sanborn led Brown, as the Psalmist had been led, "into green pastures and beside the still waters." Through him he met Dr. Samuel G. Howe, Patrick Tracy Jackson, George L. Stearns, Dr. Samuel Cabot, Judge Thomas Russell, Wendell Phillips, William Lloyd Garrison, Henry D. Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and other notable persons, all of whom were intensely interested in the paramount political question of the day, and especially in the contest going on in Kansas to make it a Free State. His Eastern campaign opened auspiciously. As the popular leader of a popular cause, he struck the popular fancy. He presented himself to the public, "modestly," as being the leader of the "fighting" forces of the Territory; and as having come from the "front" to organize a more effective force, in order that he might render still more efficient services. January 7th, armed with his congratulatory letter from Governor Robinson, he called upon Mr. Amos A. Lawrence, who wrote of him, admiringly, as follows: Captain Brown, the old partisan hero of Kansas warfare, came to see me. I had a long talk with him. He is a calm, temperate, and pious man, but when roused he is a dreadful foe. He appears about sixty years old. His severe simplicity of habits, his determined energy, his heroic courage in time of trial, all based on a deep religious faith, make him a true representative of the Puritanic warrior. I knew him before he went to Kansas, and have known more of him since, and should esteem the loss of his service, from poverty, or any other cause, almost irreparable. Mr. Stearns, too, was deeply impressed with his "sagacity, Mr. William Lloyd Garrison, also, was very much taken with him. "They discussed peace and non-resistance together, Brown quoting the Old Testament against Garrison's citations of the New, and Parker, from time to time, injecting a bit of Lexington into the controversy, which attracted a small group of interested listeners." The first result of his newly formed relations was a contribution to him of two hundred Sharp's rifles, four thousand ball cartridges, and thirty thousand percussion caps, made by the "Massachusetts State Kansas Committee." These were the arms which Brown had stored at Tabor. The committee also voted him a credit of $500 for expenses. The Massachusetts Kansas Committee originally purchased the arms, and had turned them over to the National Kansas Committee, under whose control they then were. Before the latter committee, at its offices in the Astor House, New York, Brown appeared, January 24th, and presented his case. He asked for the arms, and for the moderate sum of I am no adventurer. You all know me. You know what I have done in Kansas. I do not expose my plans. No one knows them but myself, except perhaps one. I will not be interrogated; if you wish to give me anything, I want you to give it freely. I have no other purpose but to serve the cause of liberty. The debate being thus closed, the National Committee then settled the question of the arms by transferring them back to the Massachusetts Committee; and with admirable tact, voted the five thousand dollars conditionally—for "necessary defensive purposes in aid of Captain John Brown in any defensive measures that may become necessary." The irony of the resolution was concealed by an order authorizing him to draw The committee penetrated the veneer that disguised Brown's hypocrisy, and refused to put any money whatever into his hands. After the adjournment, he made up a list of the articles that he thought he would need, which he handed to Mr. Horace White, assistant secretary. It reads as follows: Memorandum of articles wanted as an Outfit for Fifty Volunteers to serve under my direction during the Kansas war: or for such specified time as they may each enlist for: together with estimated cost of same delivered in Lawrence or Topeka.
There was a very handsome margin for profits between $30,000, his original estimate of what he would require to "arm and equip a company such as he thought he could raise this present winter" and his final estimate—$1,774. But that is not material; Brown was simply working the field for all the money he could get; as Mr. Sanborn truly said "he will take all he can raise and use it as far as it will go." The National Committee voted $1,774 to fill this requisition, but it declined to give Brown the money wherewith to make the purchases. He had a right to expect that the committee would give him this money, and trust him to expend it honestly; but it ordered otherwise. February 18th Mr. White wrote that the articles Brown had requisitioned would be shipped the following week; and on March 21st he notified him that he would "shortly go to Kansas and work there to fit him out with all the supplies he was entitled to under the New York resolution." I am prepared to expect nothing but bad faith from the Kansas National Committee at Chicago, as I will show you hereafter. This, for the present, is confidential. It was money and not supplies that Brown was eager for at this period in his operations. His plans did not contemplate any defense of Kansas. The "arming and equipping" of the fifty men was a deception. It was but his stock in trade—a pretext upon which he solicited funds. He, and the kind of men he would have enlisted, if he enlisted any, had all the arms they would need, and stealing requires but little ammunition. In his largest successful venture—the Pottawatomie—but one shot was fired, and that one, as stated by Salmon Brown, was "wholly unnecessary." February 18, 1857, was an important day in Brown's calendar. Mr. Sanborn had prepared his bill to appropriate $100,000 to relieve the distress of Kansas settlers. It had been introduced in the Massachusetts Legislature, and referred to the Joint Committee on Federal Relations, before which it was to be taken up, on that day, for consideration. Mr. Sanborn stood sponsor for the measure; and Brown and Mr. Whitman appeared before the committee, as advocates, in support of it. Introducing these two distinguished persons Mr. Sanborn said in part: As one of the petitioners for State aid to the settlers of Kansas, I appear before you to state briefly the purpose of the petition. No labored argument seems necessary; for if the events of the last two years in Kansas, and the prospect there for the future, are not of themselves enough to excite Massachusetts to action, certainly no words could do so. We have not provided ourselves with advocates, therefore, but with witnesses; and we expect that the statements of Captain Brown and Mr. Whitman will show conclusively that the rights and interests of Massachusetts have suffered gross outrage in Kansas—an outrage which is likely to be repeated unless measures are taken by you to prevent so shameful an abuse. Your petitioners desire that a contingent appropriation be made by the legislature, to be placed in the hands of a commission of responsible and conservative men, and used only in case of necessity to relieve the distress of the settlers of Kansas—especially such as have gone from our own state.... We have invited Captain Brown and Mr. Whitman to appear in our behalf, because these gentlemen are eminently qualified either to represent Massachusetts in Kansas, or Kansas in Massachusetts. The best blood of the "Mayflower" runs in the veins of both, and each had an ancestor in the army of the Revolution. Mr. Whitman, seventh in descent from Miles Standish, laid the foundation of the first church and the first school-house in Kansas; John Mr. Redpath states that Brown then came forward and read his speech, "in a clear ringing tone," as follows: "I saw, while in Missouri, in the fall of 1855, large numbers of men going to Kansas to vote, and also returning after they had so done; as they said. "Later in the year, I, with four of my sons, was called out and traveled, mostly on foot and during the night, to help defend Lawrence, a distance of thirty-five miles; where we were detained, with some five hundred others, or thereabouts, from five to ten days—say an average of ten days—at a cost of not less than a dollar and a half per day, as wages, to say nothing of the actual loss and suffering occasioned to many of them, leaving their families sick, their crops not secured, their houses unprepared for winter, and many without houses at all. This was the case with myself and sons who could not get houses built after returning. Wages alone would amount to seven thousand five hundred dollars; loss and suffering cannot be estimated. "I saw, at that time, the body of the murdered Barber, and was present to witness his wife and other friends brought in to see him with his clothes on, just as he was when killed. "I, with six sons and a son-in-law, was called out, and travelled, most of the way on foot, to try and save Lawrence, May 20 and 21, and much of the way in the night. From that date, neither I nor my sons, nor my son-in-law, could do any work about our homes, but lost our whole time until we left, in October; except one of my sons, who had a few weeks to devote to the care of his own and his brother's family, who were then without a home. "From about the 20th of May, hundreds of men, like ourselves, lost their whole time, and entirely failed of securing any kind of a crop whatever. I believe it safe to say, that five hundred free state men lost each one hundred and twenty days, which, at one dollar and a half per day, would be—to say nothing of attendant losses—ninety thousand dollars. "On or about the 30th of May, two of my sons, with several others, were imprisoned without other crime than opposition to bogus legislation, and most barbarously treated for a time, one being held about one month, and the other about four months. Both had their families on the ground. After this, both of them had their houses burned, and all their goods consumed by the Missourians. In this burning all the eight suffered. One had his oxen stolen, in addition." The Captain, laying aside his paper, here said that he had now at his hotel, and would exhibit to the Committee, if they so desired, the chains which one of his sons had worn, when he was driven beneath the burning sun, by federal troops, to a distant prison, on a charge of treason. The cruelties he there endured, added to the anxieties and sufferings incident to his position, had rendered him, the old man said, as his eye flashed and his voice grew sterner, "A maniac—yes, a MANIAC." He paused a few seconds, wiped a tear from his eye, and continued his narration.... "I saw while it was standing, and afterwards saw the ruins, of a most valuable house, the property of a highly civilized, intelligent, and exemplary Christian Indian, which was burned to the ground by the ruffians, because its owner was "In September last, I visited a beautiful little free state town called Staunton, on the north side of the Osage, (or Marais-des-Cygnes, as it is sometimes called,) from which every inhabitant had fled for fear of their lives, even after having built a strong log house, or wooden fort, at a heavy expense, for their protection. Many of them had left their effects liable to be destroyed or carried off, not being able to remove them. This was to me a most gloomy scene, and like a visit to a sepulchre. "About the first of September, I, and five sick and wounded sons, and a son-in-law, were obliged to lie on the ground, without shelter, for a considerable time, and at times almost in a state of starvation, and dependent on the charity of the Christian Indian I have named before, and his wife." He concluded his remarks by denouncing the traitors to freedom, who, when a question of this kind was raised, cried out, "Save the people's money—the dear people's Money." He had a detailed estimate of how much the National Government had expended in endeavoring to fasten slavery on Kansas; and asked why these politicians had never cried out, "Save the people's money!" when it was expended to trample under the foot of the "peculiar" crime of the south, the rights, lives, and property of the Northern squatters. They were silent then. (Applause.) The Chairman then asked who commanded the free-state men at Lawrence. His answer was characteristic of the man, whose courage was only equalled by his modesty and worth. He explained how bravely our boys acted—gave every one the credit but himself. When again asked who commanded them, he said,—no one; that he was asked to take the command, but refused, and only acted as their ADVISER! The Captain spoke in conclusion, about the emigrants needed for Kansas. "We want," he said, "good men, industrious men, men who respect themselves; who act only from the dictates of conscience; MEN WHO FEAR GOD TOO MUCH TO FEAR ANY THING HUMAN." When asked by the Chairman:—"What is your opinion as to the probability of a renewal of hostilities in Kansas—of another invasion; and what do you think would be the effect, on the free state men, of an appropriation by Massachusetts?"—replied:—"Whenever we heard, out in Kansas that the North was doing any thing for us, we were encouraged and strengthened to struggle on. As to the probability of another invasion, I do not know. We ought to be prepared for the worst. Things do not look one iota more encouraging now, than they did last year at this time. You ought to remember that, from the date of the Shannon treaty till May last, there was perfect quiet in Kansas; no fear of a renewal of hostilities; no violence offered to our citizens in Missouri. I frequently went there myself; was known there; yet treated with the greatest kindness." The Massachusetts Kansas Committee, of which Mr. Sanborn was secretary, was composed of the kind of men described in the resolution, "responsible and conservative men." It seems, therefore, that the scheme was to have the State appropriate this money, and place it with the Massachusetts Committee, for disbursement among Kansas settlers who had suffered, as the Browns and "four or five others" had suffered. Of his biographers James Redpath, alone, seems to have been favorably impressed with the speech; and it is unfortunate for Brown's fame that he gave it publicity; for, had the report of the speech been suppressed and the manuscript destroyed, his biographers could have made much of the occasion; much more than was made of his mythical effort at Lawrence, December 8, 1855. The speech was, in truth, a maudlin plea for compensation for the time which he and his sons had Brown did not dare to even hint at the truth concerning what he had seen, and what he had personally done in Kansas. Yet he did not hesitate to seek to impose this measure for compensation upon the Legislature, and to misinform it in relation to his conduct, and to misdirect its official actions. Imagine if possible the dismay, horror, and disgust that would have taken possession of the members of this committee, if a correct view of Brown's life, in Kansas, had been portrayed to them. The arrangement of the function was audacious and clever; an illustration of his daring hypocrisy, reckless insolence, and consistent variance with right doing. The legislative committee penetrated Brown's armor, as the Kansas National Committee had done, and refused to recommend that his bill be passed. Three months later, Mr. Stearns was led to make an effort to have the New York Legislature take up a similar measure. Writing on May 18th, to a New York committee, he made the following remarkable statements: Since the close of the last year we have confined our operations to aiding those persons in Kansas who were, or intended to become, citizens of that Territory,—believing that sufficient inducements to immigrate existed in the prosperous state of affairs there; and we now believe that should quiet and prosperity continue there for another year, the large influx of Northern and Eastern men will secure the State for Freedom. To insure the present prosperity we propose— 1. To have our legislature make a grant of one hundred thousand dollars, to be placed in the hands of discreet persons, who shall use it for relief of those in Kansas who are, 2. To organize a secret force, well armed, and under control of the famous John Brown, to repel Border-Ruffian outrage and defend the Free-State men from all alleged impositions. This organization is strictly to be a defensive one. 3. To aid by timely donations of money those parties of settlers in the Territory who from misfortune are unable to provide for their present wants. I am personally acquainted with Captain Brown, and have great confidence in his courage, prudence, and good judgment. He has control of the whole affair, including contributions of arms, clothing, etc., to the amount of thirteen thousand dollars. His presence in the Territory will, we think, give the Free-State men confidence in their cause, and also check the disposition of the Border Ruffians to impose on them. This I believe to be the most important work to be done in Kansas at the present time. Many of the Free-State leaders being engaged in speculations are willing to accept peace on any terms. Brown and his friends hold to the original principle of making Kansas free, without regard to private interests. If you agree with me, I should like to have your money appropriated for the use of Captain John Brown. If not that, the other proposition, to aid parties of settlers now in the Territory will be the next best. It appears from the closing sentences of this letter, that Brown had succeeded in discrediting the men, who were steadfastly working out the Free-State problem, in order to ingratiate himself with the people whom he then sought to delude. His turpitude should not provoke surprise. The crime of ingratitude cannot further degrade the character of this mendacious mendicant. Having assassinated his unoffending neighbors in the West, and robbed them, he now assassinated the fame of honorable men, and robbed them of the measure of confidence and esteem to which they were justly entitled because of their public services. Disappointed in his scheme to have money legislated into his It must not be forgotten in this connection that very little was known in Boston at this time, about the Pottawatomie murders, and still less about Brown's connection with them. Frank Preston Stearns, the biographer of his father, states that the latter never knew of John Brown's connection with the crime, and it may be well that Theodore Parker and others passed off the scene without a full realization of the connection between the Harper's Ferry leader and the tragedy of May 24, 1856. Brown was proficient in the art of dissimulation. Mr. Thoreau was thus impressed with what, to him, seemed to be the sanctity of a Christian character. He said: He was never able to find more than a score or so of recruits whom he would accept, and only about a dozen (among them his own sons) in whom he had perfect faith. When he was here, he showed me a little manuscript book,—his "orderly book" I think he called it,—containing the names of his company in Kansas, and the rules by which they bound themselves and he stated that several of them had already sealed the contract with their blood. When some one remarked that with the addition of a chaplain, it would have been a perfect Cromwellian troop, he observed that he would have been glad to add a chaplain to the list, if he could have found one man who could fill the place worthily. I believe he had prayers in his camp morning and evening, nevertheless. He is a man of Spartan habits, and at sixty was scrupulous about his diet at your table, excusing himself by saying that he must eat sparingly and fare hard, as became a soldier, or one who was fitting himself for difficult enterprises, Mr. Emerson recorded his impressions in the following beautiful language: For himself, Brown is so transparent that all men see him through. He is a man to make friends wherever on earth courage and integrity are esteemed,—the rarest of heroes, a pure idealist with no by-ends of his own. Many of us have seen him, and everyone who has heard him speak has been impressed alike by his simple, artless goodness and sublime courage. He joins that perfect Puritan faith which brought his ancestors to Plymouth Rock, with his grandfather's ardor in the Revolution. He believes in two articles,—two instruments shall I say?—The Golden Rule and the Declaration of Independence; and he used this expression in a conversation here concerning them: "Better a whole generation of men, women and children should pass away by a violent death, than that one word of either should be violated in this country." There is a Unionist, there is a strict constructionist These exalted characters, incapable of detecting the vile imposition which he was practicing upon them, gave Brown the full measure of their confidence; even accepting at its face value the assassin's statement that he would have been glad to add a chaplain to his band, if he could have found one who could fill that office worthily. Governor Robinson had been more conservative in his recommendation. He based his approval of Brown upon the information he had received. "Your career," he said, "so far as I have been informed, has been such as to merit the highest praise." As may be supposed, Brown's most dependable contributor was the Massachusetts Committee. January 7th it voted him $500 for expenses and on April 11th it voted him $500 more for the same account. April 15th it authorized him to "sell to Free-State settlers in Kansas, one hundred of the rifles it had placed in his care, for not less than fifteen dollars each, and to apply the proceeds to relieve the suffering inhabitants of the Territory." On March 4th he published, in the New York Tribune, the following general advertisement for remittances of money: TO THE FRIENDS OF FREEDOM The undersigned, whose individual means were exceedingly limited when he first engaged in the struggle for liberty in Kansas, being now still more destitute, and no less anxious At Hartford and Canton, Connecticut, he used a similar appeal: I am trying to raise from twenty to twenty-five thousand dollars in the free States, to enable me to continue my efforts in the cause of freedom. Will the people of Connecticut, my native state, afford me some aid in this undertaking? Will the gentlemen and ladies of Hartford, where I make my first appeal in this State, set the example of an earnest effort? Will some gentleman or lady take hold and try what can be done by small contributions from counties, cities, towns, societies, or churches, or in some other way? I think the little beggar-children in the streets are sufficiently interested to warrant their contributing, if there was any need of it, to secure the object. February 19th Mr. Lawrence sent Brown a check for seventy dollars which had been contributed to the Massachusetts Company by John Conant, of New Hampshire. About this time Mr. Lawrence published an offer to be "one of ten, or a smaller number, to pay a thousand dollars per annum till the admission of Kansas into the Union, for the purpose of supporting John Brown's family and keeping the proposed company in the field." Since he did not intend to have any company in Kansas, Brown took up this proposal promptly and pressed tenaciously to commute it for a thousand dollars, cash. On March 19th, he wrote Mr. Lawrence from New Haven, as follows: The offer you so kindly made through the Telegraph some time since, emboldens me to propose the following for your consideration: For One Thousand Dollars cash I am offered an improved piece of land which with a little improvement I now have, might enable my family, consisting of a Wife & Five minor children (the youngest not yet Three years old) to procure a Subsistence should I never return to them; my Wife being a good economist, & a real old fashioned business woman. She has gone through the Two past winters in our open cold house; unfinished outside; & not plastered. I have no other income or means for their support. I have never hinted to any one else that I had a thought of asking for any help to provide in any such way for my family; & SHOULD NOT TO YOU, but for your own suggestion. I fully believe I shall get the help I need to operate with West. Last Night a private meeting of some gentlemen here; voted to raise one Thousand Dollars in New Haven for that purpose. If you feel at all inclined to encourage me in the measure I have proposed, I shall be grateful to get a line from you; Care Massasoit House, Springfield, Mass; & will call when I come again to Boston. I do not feel disposed to weary you with my oft repeated visitations. I believe I am indebted to you as the UNKNOWN Mr. Lawrence replied March 20th that he had just sent nearly fourteen thousand dollars to Kansas to establish a school fund there, and was short of money, but assured him that if his life were shortened while engaged in the great cause, "the family of 'Captain John Brown of Osawatomie' will not be turned out to starve in this country, until Liberty herself is driven out." Mr. Lawrence and Mr. Stearns afterward agreed to raise the thousand dollars, but as the payment lagged, Brown "pressed to close quarters." May 13th he wrote quite peremptorily to Mr. Stearns: I must ask to have the $1000 made up at once; & forwarded to Gerrit Smith. I did not start the measure of getting up any subscription for me; (although I was sufficiently needy as God knows); nor had I any thought of further burdening either of my dear friends Stearns or Lawrence.... The amount was made up and paid late in August, Mr. Lawrence paying $310 of it and Mr. Stearns $260. It will never be known how much money Brown secured during this raid through the East. Mr. Villard estimates his cash collections at $4,000. The money value of the clothing and war material given to him was about $13,000. In addition to this Mr. Stearns gave him a cash credit of $7,000 against which he could draw from time to time "as it might be needed to subsist his company after they entered upon active service." He also had to his credit with the National Kansas Committee the $5,500 it had voted him. His total collections and subscriptions amounted therefore to about $30,000. A valuable asset in his collection of arms was two hundred revolvers, which the Massachusetts Arms Company, at Chicopee Falls, agreed, through Mr. Thayer, to sell to him for $1,300, fifty per cent I think you ought to go to Kansas as soon as possible, and give Robinson and the rest some back bone. Also on May 11th he said: I am glad to know that you are on your way to Kansas: the free State leaders need somebody to talk to them. I hope you will see Conway very soon after your arrival. I did not expect you to return, or hold pledged to me, any arms you use in Kansas, but only such as were not used. Yours truly, Encouraged by the success of his deceptions—"the greedy swallowing every where of what I have told,"—and flattered by the notoriety he had gained. Brown began to take his personal criticisms of the Kansas leaders seriously. During the latter part of March he became so impressed by his dissatisfaction with their "incompetence," and, what was worse, with their "unwillingness to fight," that he decided to take things into his own hands and displace them altogether. He would put abler men in charge of Territorial affairs. With this purpose in view, he modestly requested young Mr. Sanborn, and Martin F. Conway, to meet him in conference at the Metropolitan Hotel, in New York. From there the trio went to Easton, Pennsylvania, where they formally offered the leadership of the Free-State cause to ex-Governor Reeder, which the latter declined, with appropriate thanks. However, the mission was not wholly without results. Mr. Villard informs us that the ex-Governor was "so heartily in sympathy with Brown's plan, that the latter wrote to him for aid, on his return to Springfield, explaining that the only difference between them was as to the number of men needed, and hoping that Mr. Reeder The coming of spring was a serious matter in Brown's affairs. His "sagacious" forecast called for a renewal of pro-slavery aggressions in Kansas, and he was not there to resist them, if they arrived. His admirers had responded to his appeals for arms and money; and in return, they expected him to do something creditable; something worthy of his pretensions. Naturally they wanted their hero to be at the front; they wanted to see him at the post of honor, and, if need be, at the post of danger. Spring came, but Brown was not ready to go—"not yet, but soon." He had not got enough of the kind of money he wanted—"Money without questions asked." Mr. Villard says: "April was for Brown another month of active solicitation of funds." He realized that he had to go, and began making the necessary preparations with reluctance, and in a state of despondence wholly inconsistent with heroism; but true—strictly true—of the shamming mendicant. April 16th he wrote to Mr. Eli Thayer: I am advised that one of "Uncle Sam's hounds is on my track;" and I have kept myself hid for a few days to let my track get cold. I have no idea of being taken, and intend (if God will) to go back with irons in, rather than upon my hands.... I got a fine list in Boston the other day, and hope Worcester will not be entirely behind. I do not mean you or Mr. Allen & Co. At this time Brown heard, or pretended that he had heard, a rumor that a United States marshal had passed through Cleveland on his way East to arrest him for "high treason." In consequence of this he sought and obtained a hiding place in the home of Judge and Mrs. Russell, in Boston, where he remained concealed several days. Here he indulged in several spectacular effects, for the benefit of the Judge and his wondering He used to take out his two revolvers, and repeater, every night before going to bed, to make sure of their loads, saying, "Here are eighteen lives." To Mrs. Russell he once said, "If you hear a noise at night, put the baby under the pillow. I should hate to spoil these carpets, too, but you know I cannot be taken alive." Giving an account one day of his son Frederick's death, who was shot by Martin White, Mrs. Russell broke out, "If I were you, Mr. Brown, I would fight those ruffians as long as I lived." "That," he replied, "is not a Christian spirit. If I thought I had one bit of the spirit of revenge I would never lift my hand; I do not make war on slave-holders, even when I fight them, but on slavery." He would hold up Mrs. Russell's little girl, less than two years old, and tell her, "When I am hung for treason, you can say that you used to stand on Captain Brown's hand." Brown had not been charged with treason in Kansas, nor was he even under suspicion for "constructive" treason. But Kansas treason was then a fashionable offense in the North, and Brown, of course, worked it with fine effect upon his listeners. The Rev. Theodore Parker suggested to Judge Russell a way of escape for Brown. He wrote: My Dear Judge—If John Brown falls into the hands of the marshal from Kansas, he is sure either of the gallows or of something yet worse. If I were in his position, I should shoot dead any man who attempted to arrest me for those alleged crimes; then I should be tried by a Massachusetts jury and be acquitted. Brown at one time expressed his contempt for the gullible people upon whom he imposed. It was when he was in Kansas in 1858, and intended to write a book. He thought the story A brief history of John Brown, otherwise (Old B.) and his family: as connected with Kansas; By one who knows. It was to be "sold for the benefit of the whole of my family or to promote the cause of Freedom as may hereafter appear." There was a mutuality of interest or a unity of Brown and the cause of Freedom. Whatever he did for the cause was done for the benefit of the family. In writing to his son about this venture he said: I am certain, from the manner in which I have been pressed to narrate, and the greedy swallowing everywhere of what I have told, and complaints of the newspapers voluntarily made of my backwardness to gratify the public, that the book would find a ready sale. But his sons—John and Jason—disapproved of the venture: they were reactionaries; they thought it best to leave well enough alone, and shied at a proposal to skate upon ice so treacherous as they knew this departure to be. John said: While at the Russell home Brown evolved a scheme, characteristic of his craftiness, which he launched in a highly dramatic and effective manner. The paper was named: OLD BROWN'S FAREWELL To the Plymouth Rocks, Bunker Hill Monuments, Charter Oaks, and, Uncle Tom's Cabbins. Having prepared the paper for the specific purpose of imposing upon Mrs. Steams, rather than upon Mr. Parker's congregation, he paid that lady the flattering compliment of desiring to consult her about "a plan he had," asking her to call on ... As the address states, Brown was keeping very quiet at Judge Russell's house in Boston, partly on account of a warrant issued in Kansas for his arrest for high treason, and partly because he was ill with fever and ague, a chronic form which had been induced by his exposures in Kansas. It was in April, 1857, and a chilling easterly storm had prevailed for many days. Mr. Stearns went frequently to visit him, and on Saturday preceding the Sunday morning mentioned by Judge Russell, Captain Brown expressed a wish that I should go to see him, as he could not venture in such weather on a trip to Medford—emphasizing the request by saying that he wished to consult me about a plan he had, and that I might come soon. Mr. Stearns gave me his message at dinner, and I drove at once to Judge Russell's house. As soon as my name was announced Brown appeared, and thanking me for the promptness of my visit, proceeded to say that he had been "amusing himself" by preparing a little address for Theodore Parker to read to his congregation the next (Sunday) morning; and that he would feel obliged to me for expressing my honest opinion about the propriety of this. He then went upstairs, and returned with a paper, which proved, in reading, to be "Old Brown's Farewell." The emphasis of his tone and manner I shall never forget, and wish I could picture him as he sat and read, lifting his eyes to mine now and then to see how it impressed me. When he finished, he said: "Well, now, what do you think? Shall I send it to Mr. Parker?" "Certainly; by all means send it. He will appreciate every word you have written, for it rings the metal he likes. But I have my doubts about reading it to his congregation. A few of them would understand its significance, but the majority, I fear, would not. Send it to Mr. Parker, and he will do what is best about it." In reply he thanked me, and said I had confirmed his own judgment, had cleared his mind, and conferred the favor he desired. Then, I told him, he must give me a copy to preserve among This matter being settled, Brown began talking upon the subject always uppermost in his thought, and, I may add, action also. Those who remember the power of his moral magnetism will understand how surely and readily he lifted his listener to the level of his own devotion; so that it suddenly seemed mean and unworthy—not to say wicked—to be living in luxury while such a man was struggling for a few thousands to carry out his cherished plan. "Oh," said he, "if I could have the money that is smoked away during a single day in Boston, I could strike a blow which would make slavery totter from its foundation." As he said these words, his look and manner left no doubt in my mind that he was quite capable of accomplishing his purpose. To-day all sane men everywhere acknowledge its truth. Well, I bade him adieu and drove home, thinking many thoughts—of the power of a mighty purpose lodged in a deeply religious soul; of only one man with God on his side. The splendor of spring sunshine filled the room when I awoke the next morning; numberless birds, rejoicing in the returning warmth filled all the air with melody; dandelions sparkled in the vivid grass; everything was so beautiful, that the wish rose warm in my heart to comfort and aid John Brown. It seemed not much to do to sell our estate and give the proceeds to him for his sublime purpose. What if another home were not as beautiful! When Mr. Stearns awoke, I told him my morning thoughts. Reflecting a while, he said: "Perhaps it would not be just right to the children to do what you suggest; but I will do all I can in justice to them and you." When breakfast was over, he drove to the residence of Judge Russell and handed Captain Brown his check for seven The historical Farewell, referred to, is herein reproduced: He has left for Kansas; has been trying since he came out of the Territory to secure an outfit, or, in other words, the means of arming and thoroughly equipping his regular minute-men, who are mixed up with the people of Kansas. And he leaves the States with a feeling of deepest sadness, that after having exhausted his own small means and with his family and his brave men suffered hunger, cold, nakedness, and some of them sickness, wounds, imprisonment in irons with extreme cruel treatment, and others, death; that after lying on the ground for months in the most sickly, unwholesome, and uncomfortable places, some of the time with sick and wounded, destitute of any shelter, hunted like wolves, and sustained in part, by Indians; that after all this, in order to sustain a cause which every citizen of this "glorious republic" is under equal moral obligation to do, and for the neglect of which he will be held accountable by God—a cause in which every man, woman, and child of the entire human family has a deep and awful interest—that when no wages are asked or expected, he cannot secure, amid all the wealth, luxury, and extravagance of this "heaven-exalted" people, even the necessary supplies of the common soldier. "How are the mighty fallen?" I am destitute of horses, baggage-wagons, tents, harness, saddles, bridles, holsters, spurs, and belts; camp equipage, such as cooking and eating utensils, blankets, knapsacks, intrenching-tools, axes, shovels, spades, mattocks, crowbars; have not a supply of ammunition; have not money sufficient to pay freight and travelling expenses; and left my family poorly supplied with common necessaries. In a letter to Brown of April 17th, Mr. Thayer proposed a name for Brown's prospective company, as follows: ... Will you allow me to suggest a name for your company? I should call them, "The Neighbors," from Luke tenth chapter: "Which thinkest thou was neighbor to him who fell among thieves." What Brown's thoughts were when he read this friendly suggestion can not well be imagined. The association of the word "neighbors" with the phrase "falling among thieves" may have caused him to suspect that Thayer held the secret of his dishonor; and that his guilt, hypocrisy, and mendacity might be on the verge of exposure. At any rate the effect of the combination of these words must have sunk deep into his heart. They could not but call up afresh, and vividly, a mental vision of the scenes on the Pottawatomie, when he and his band of thieves fell among, and upon, their neighbors, at midnight, and murdered and robbed them. Brown's trouble now lay in the fact that he had to leave the East and there was nothing which he could do in the West. The Free-State cause under the direction of Robinson, and his co-laborers: Goodin, Roberts, Holliday, Lane, Crawford, Brown, Deitzler, Parrott, Brooks, Dudley, Emery, Woodward, Learnard, Phillips, Conway, Wood, and many others, was progressing in an orderly and satisfactory manner toward a decisive victory at the polls. Acknowledging the receipt of Mr. Stearns's suggestions that he should go to Kansas immediately, Brown wrote him on the 13th: "I leave for the West to-day." It will be observed that he put off no fire-works, nor indulged in any exhibition in heroics on the occasion of his going to his, pretended, field of achievement. To William Barnes, of Albany, he wrote April 3d: I expect soon to return West; & to go back without even securing an outfit. I go with a sad heart, having failed to secure even the means of equipping; to say nothing of feeding men. I had when I returned, no more than I could peril; Proceeding slowly westward, almost aimlessly, with two wagons driven by himself and his son Owen, he worked the country he passed through for all the money and "supplies" he could secure. It was not until August 7th, that he arrived at Tabor, Iowa. "I was obliged," he said, While thus engaged, he wrote the "Autobiography"; a paper held in adoration by his biographers. It is in the form of a letter addressed to Mr. Stearns's twelve year old son, who had obtained "permission from his father to give all his pocket money to Captain Brown." It contains nothing that was unusual or extraordinary in the lives of those who wrestled with the problems and the privations which were incident to border-life during the period of Brown's youth. The paper was written for a special purpose and is valuable as an exhibit of his scheming to finance the operations he then intended to undertake in Virginia. John Brown was not a weakling, nor was he wasting any of his time trifling with sentiment when he wrote this letter. In his brain surged the hopes for success, and the fears of a miscarriage, for lack of funds, of a secret purpose of transcendant importance. The parents of young Stearns were the most valuable of his fiscal and moral supporters. Also he carried in his pocket the father's check for $7,000. Further, he knew that Mr. Stearns was seeking to have the State of New York appropriate $100,000 to put in his hands for use in his Kansas operations. Though still masquerading under cover of the deception which he practiced upon these people, he had definite The problem of accounting for the impending failure of his Kansas pretentions was also a serious matter. Mr. Stearns confidently expected that upon his arrival in Kansas, Brown would promptly take up the subject of public affairs with Governor Robinson et al., and tell them, sharply, what should be done. As he had derived it from Brown, these leaders needed a leader: one with courage and energy; and without a suspicion that he had been deceived in the premises, he thought Brown was equipped for the job, and that he was eager to give the Free-State leaders an effective stimulant for "backbone." To keep up the pretense that his destination was Kansas, and that his going there had some political significance, Brown sought to have some responsible people meet him at Tabor for consultation about Kansas matters. He accordingly wrote to Colonel Phillips, June 9th, asking him to come, designating others whom he desired to meet. Also he wrote to Mr. Wattles and to Holmes, and probably to Cook. Phillips answered his letter June 24th, informing him that none of the men whom he hoped would meet him in the "most quiet way," for a conference about "very important matters," in relation to which there were to be "no words," was sufficiently impressed with the importance of his coming to put in an appearance. He also told Whether Brown entered Kansas at all, would depend solely upon whether or not conditions there were favorable for another "sudden coup to restore his fortunes." Upon this subject he was in correspondence with "Captain" James H. Holmes of Osawatomie fame. It will be remembered that Holmes had been "promptly and properly indicted and long pursued by the Kansas and Missouri authorities for "carrying the war into Africa"—stealing horses and other property." Holmes must have been a very daring and efficient thief, for Brown greatly admired him and "used to call him 'my little hornet.'" You will hear of me either at Lawrence, through J. E. Cook, of the firm of Bacon, Cook, & Co., or I may be at Emporia, where I have taken a claim and make it my home. At any rate. Cook can tell you where I may be. A case has recently occurred of kidnapping a Free-State man, which is this: Archibald Kendall was some two weeks since, enticed out, under pretense of trading horses, by four men, and abducted into Missouri. Archy was in my company and is a good brave fellow. In answer to a letter from Brown, Holmes replied August 16th: ... I do not know what you would have me infer by business; I presume though, by the word being emphasized, that you refer to the business for which I learn that you have a stock of material with you. If you mean this, I think quite strongly of a good opening for this business about the first Monday of Oct. next. If you wish other employments, I presume you will find just as profitable ones. The "Little Hornet" did not recommend, as profitable, the business that might be had on election-day—October 5th; that opportunity foreshadowed the possibility of real resistance against pro-slavery aggressions; but other profitable employments could be had, by the act of undertaking them, at any time. These thieves understood each other. The "profitable employments" meant stealing horses. With his arrival at Tabor, August 7th, Brown reached the limit of his possibilities. The next day he thus reported his arrival to Mr. Stearns: In consequence of ill-health and other hindrances too numerous and unpleasant to write about, the least of which has not been the lack of sufficient means for freight bills and other expenses, I have never as yet returned to Kansas. This has been unavoidable, unless I returned without securing the principal object for which I came back from the Territory; and I am now waiting for teams and means to come from there to enable me to go on. I obtained two teams and wagons, as I talked of, at a cost of seven hundred and eighty-six dollars, but was obliged to hire a teamster, Your friend, He now had at Tabor and at Nebraska City, five wagon loads of stuff I am now, at last, within a kind of hailing distance of our Free-State friends in Kansas.... I am now waiting to know what is best to do next. Four days later he wrote to his wife these significant words: Should no disturbance occur, we may possibly think best to work back eastward. To Mr. Adair he wrote: I have been trying all season to get to Kansas; but have failed as yet, through ill health, want of means to pay Freights, travelling expenses, etc. How to act now; I do not know. There was nothing more that Brown could do. The failure of his pretensions was almost complete. Only his vocabulary had survived the general wreck. It was still intact and in working order. Drawing upon that inexhaustible resource of the charlatan, he wrote to Mr. Sanborn, October 1st: I am now so far recovered from my hurt, as to be able to do a little; and foggy as it is, "we do not give up the ship." I will not say that Kansas, watered by the tears and blood of my children, shall yet be free or I fall. A comparison of Brown's correspondence at this time, with what his eulogists have put forth concerning it, discloses a wide divergence between the facts therein stated, and the biographical fiction relating thereto. Referring to Brown's irrelevant reference to the tears and blood of his children, Mr. Villard says: Brave as this sentiment is, it only increases the mystery of Brown's delaying at Tabor.... Obviously, Brown, grim, self-willed, resolute chieftain that he generally was, appeared baffled here and lacking wholly in a determination to reach the scene of action at any cost.... It will be seen that, when he finally reached Kansas, he stayed but a few days, was practically in hiding,... Only editorial fiction mystifies the cause of his delay at Tabor. The "grim, self-willed, resolute chieftain" had a clear and unalterable purpose in view, when he was delaying there. It was to attempt the conquest of the Southern States. If he entered Kansas, it would be merely an incident in the promotion of that scheme. His attitude was pivotal but not enigmatic; if a "disturbance" occurred in Kansas, he intended to proceed thither, and under cover of it, execute such purposes as he had in view; otherwise, he would "work back eastward." One, at least, of his Eastern admirers, Mr. Thomas Wentworth Higginson, became impatient because of this delaying. After nursing his disappointment a few months, he protested Brown's procrastination, which evoked the following instructive reply from Mr. Sanborn: ... You do not understand Brown's circumstances.... He is as ready for a revolution as any other man, and is now on the borders of Kansas, safe from arrest, but prepared for action, but he needs money for his present expenses and active support. I believe he is the best Disunion champion you can find, and with his hundred men, when he is put where he can raise them, and drill them (for he has an expert drill officer with him) he will do more to split the Union than a list of 50,000 names, for your convention, good as that is. What I am trying to hint at is that the friends of Kansas are looking with strange apathy at a movement which has all the elements of fitness and success—a good plan, a tried leader, and a radical purpose. If you can do anything for it now, in God's name do it—and the ill result of the new policy in Kansas may be prevented. On August 13th, the "Cromwellian Trooper" wrote Mr. Sanborn a long letter, ... It was the poor condition of my noble-hearted wife and her young children that made me follow up that encouragement with a tenacity that disgusted him and completely exhausted his patience. But after such repeated assurances from friends I so much respected that I could not suspect they would trifle with my feelings, I made a positive bargain for the farm; and when I found nothing for me at Peterboro', I borrowed one hundred and ten dollars of Mr. Smith for the men who occupied the farm, telling him it Brown's hope for a "disturbance" in Kansas was nourished by the reports that he received from General Lane, which, doubtless, encouraged him to prolong his stay at Tabor. Concerning this, Mr. Villard says: Only the erratic Lane, who was then the sole person trying to stir up strife in Kansas, and is accused by respectable witnesses, of planning schemes of wholesale massacre of pro-slavery men through a secret order; was on fire for Brown's presence in the Territory, but it was the Tabor arms, rather than their owner, he really desired. Lane wrote Brown, confidentially, September 7th, as follows: (Private) Sir: We are earnestly engaged in perfecting an organization for the protection of the ballot-box at the October election (first Monday). Whitman and Abbott have been East after money & arms, for a month past, they write encouragingly, & will be back in a few days. We want you with all the materials you have. I see no objections to your coming into Kansas publicly. I can furnish you just such a force as you may deem necessary for your protection here & after you arrive. I went up to see you but failed. Now what is wanted is this—write me concisely what transportation you require, how much money & the number To this letter Brown replied September 16th: I suppose that three good teams with well covered wagons, and ten really ingenious, industrious (not gassy) men, with about one hundred and fifty dollars in cash, could bring it about in the course of eight or ten days. Lane, hoping to make his proposition more attractive, appointed Brown Brigadier-General, Second Brigade, First Division. But not until the 29th, did he send his Quartermaster-General, Mr. Jamison, to Brown, for the arms. In a letter addressed to "General John Brown" Lane said that it was "all important to Kansas, that your things should be in at the earliest possible moment, and that you should be much nearer than you are." He also enclosed fifty dollars, "all the money I have," but said that Jamison "had some more." Naturally Lane's proposal failed to interest Brown. He replied that he could not go to Lawrence on such short notice and returned the fifty dollars. Another of Lane's schemes served to keep Brown at Tabor a month longer: a project for "the wholesale assassination of pro-slavery men through a secret order" called Danites. This time Mr. Whitman ably seconded Lane's efforts to interest Brown. He borrowed one hundred and fifty dollars which he enclosed with a letter to him and sent it by Mr. Charles P. Tidd, saying: "General Lane will send teams from Falls City so that you may get your goods all in. Leave none behind. Come direct to this place, and see me before you make any disposition of your plunder.... Make the money I send answer to get here, and I hope by that time to have more for you. October 25th, Mr. Whitman reported to Mr. Stearns All the prospects for "trouble" in Kansas having vanished, Brown promptly decided to "move eastward." Mr. Villard states that he "remained two days with Mr. Whitman, obtaining tents and bedding." From Topeka, when en route to the East, on the 16th, he wrote to Mr. Stearns that he had "been in Kansas for more than a week;" that he had "found matters quite unsettled;" but was "decidedly of the opinion that there will be no use for arms or ammunition before another Spring;" that he had them all safe and meant "to keep them so." Also that he meant "to be busily; but very quietly engaged in perfecting his arrangements during the Winter." He further said: "Before getting your letter saying to me not to draw on It will be observed that Brown did not call upon Governor Robinson, or make any recommendations concerning Territorial affairs. To Mr. Adair he wrote on the 17th: "I have been for some days in the territory but keeping very quiet and looking about to see how the land lies ... I do not wish to have any noise about me at present; as I do not mean to 'trouble Israel.' I may find it best to go back to Iowa." The "failure" of Brown's plans to "trouble Israel," or the failure of his hope for another opportunity to plunder Kansas settlers on a large scale, lay in the simple fact that at the time he arrived at Tabor, August 7, 1857, the Free-State leaders had worked out the Free-State problem, and were then in position to make official declaration of the fact at the polls; and to take over, into their own hands, by right of the law of Squatter Sovereignty, the control of the Territorial government. They had almost accomplished their mighty undertaking. Also, they had established conditions of order, and security from violence, that afforded neither encouragement nor opportunity for organized bands of thieves, of the Brown type, to prey upon the settlements. The activities of the marauder and his "Little Hornet" were barred. |
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