THE FIASCO

The best laid schemes o' mice and men
Gang aft a gley.
—Burns

On Sunday morning, October 16th, 1859, Captain Owen Brown and Privates Coppoc and Merriam were detailed for duty at the Kennedy farm; the others were under marching orders during the day, awaiting the signal to "fall in," and move to the scene of active operations. "The night was dark, ending in rain." About eight o'clock Brown is reported to have said: "Men, get your arms, we will proceed to the Ferry." The column was soon in motion. It does not require a long time for eighteen men, who are otherwise in readiness to move, to put on their accoutrements and pick up their arms. In addition to a rifle, two revolvers, and forty rounds of ball cartridges, each man carried, in lieu of an overcoat, a long gray shawl, of the kind which was fashionable for men's wear at that time. The headquarters train—a horse and wagon—was brought to the door of the Kennedy farm house, and "some pikes, a crow-bar, and a sledge-hammer, were quickly thrown into the wagon." A recent biographer says, dramatically:

Knowledge of the condition, as to wear and tear, of the cap worn by the commander-in-chief on this occasion, is not essential to a true understanding of the purposes of the movement. But knowledge of the fact that the historian drew upon his active and resourceful imagination, when writing the history of these operations, and that it contributed, immoderately, to the character of the writings which he put forth, is essential to such understanding. It is therefore pointed out, that the statement, while purporting to be one of fact, is altogether fanciful. Also, that the biographer's treatment of this trifling incident is characteristic of the coloring which embellishes his exposition of the general subject. But to return to the cap. The Kansas origin of it will not be denied; it may have been bought or stolen in the Territory; but it was not "battle-worn." It will be remembered that Brown had but two "battles" in Kansas, so far as the record shows, and that in the last one—the Battle of Osawatomie, August 30, 1856—Brown "lost his hat" or his cap or whatever his head gear may have been.[373]

A special order, "drawn up and carefully read to all" set forth the details of the movement to be executed. In the line of march Captains Cook and Tidd walked ahead of the wagon. The others, in files of two, followed it. At 10:30, after a lonesome but uninterrupted march of more than five miles, they arrived at the bridge which spanned the Potomac at Harper's Ferry. It was used for both railroad and wagon road purposes. Cook and Tidd, in the meantime, had detoured to cut the telegraph wires leading into the town, and Kagi and Stevens had the head of the column. While crossing the bridge, they took William Williams, the bridge watchman, into custody as a prisoner. Then, after posting Captain Watson Brown and Private Taylor at the bridge, the company proceeded to the Harper's Ferry end of the Shenandoah bridge, a few yards distant, where Captain Oliver Brown, Captain William Thompson, and Private Newby were placed on duty. From there they went to the United States Armory, located up the Potomac, about sixty yards from the ends of the two bridges. At the armory gate the watchman on duty, Daniel Wheelan, was taken into custody. Of this incident Wheelan said:[374]

Addressing the two prisoners—Wheelan and Williams—Brown made the following declaration of his intentions:[375]

Brown then crossed the street to the arsenal building, where arms and military equipment, valued at several millions of dollars, were stored, and took possession of it, placing Captain Hazlett and Lieutenant Coppoc in charge of the property. From there, with the remainder of the party, he proceeded to the rifle works, located about a half mile up the Shenandoah. Here the watchman was made a prisoner and Captain Kagi and Private Copeland were placed on duty. Private Leary was also assigned to duty at this post and later reported to Kagi.

These dispositions of his forces having been made, Brown's occupation of Harper's Ferry was complete. All of the United States property—the military stores accumulated at the arsenal; the armory and the rifle works; and the principal highways entering the town, were in his possession. The plans for the occupation of the place had been accomplished without the firing of a shot. The initial movement of the invasion had been successfully executed.

After the occupation. Brown sent a detail into the country to bring in Colonel Lewis T. Washington and Mr. John H. Allstadt, whom he intended to hold as hostages for the proper treatment of any of his men who might happen to fall into the hands of the "enemy." The party was made up of Captains Stevens, Cook, and Tidd, and Privates O. P. Anderson, Leary, and Green. The Washington home was four or five miles from the town. Colonel Washington was a great-grandnephew of George Washington. Of this raid into the country, Mr. Villard says:[376]

The closing sentence of this quotation is dramatic and rings true; but it is inconsistent with the author's theory of the movement, which is, that Brown intended to do trifling things instead of heroic things.

The raiders entered the house by breaking down the back door with a fence rail; and Washington was awakened by hearing his "name called in an undertone." He opened the bed-chamber door and was met by "four armed men, one, with a revolver, carrying a burning flambeau, and the others with their guns drawn upon him." Stevens was in command. Cook had reconnoitered the Washington home a month or so before and had been shown the historic weapons herein referred to. These Stevens now demanded and received. He also demanded the Colonel's money and his watch, but on the refusal of the latter to deliver them, the demand was not pressed. When asked by Washington what the performance meant, they said, "We have come here for the purpose of liberating all the slaves of the South, and we are able (or propose to do it) or words to that effect." While matters were progressing in-doors, Tidd had been busy hitching up the Colonel's two-horse carriage and four-horse farm wagon. After putting Colonel Washington into the carriage and loading the slaves, four men, into the wagon, the caravan moved to the Allstadt home, where the front door was broken down with a fence rail, as before, and Allstadt and his son, together with his adult male slaves, were taken into custody. Father and son were put into the seat of the wagon with the negroes and all were driven to Harper's Ferry and delivered to Brown at the armory. Brown told Colonel Washington that he had taken him for the "moral effect it would give his cause to have one of the name a prisoner." With the sword of Frederick the Great, and Washington, in his hand, Brown now directed his desperate defense. Tuesday morning Washington recovered the sword.[377]

In the meantime, at 12 o'clock, Patrick Higgins—also a night-watchman—went to the Potomac bridge to relieve Night-Watchman Williams who had been taken prisoner. As he approached he was "halted" by Oliver Brown, at the Shenandoah bridge, and upon refusing to obey the order, was fired upon, the bullet making a wound in his scalp.[378] Upon the arrival at Harper's Ferry, of the east-bound Baltimore and Ohio train, Higgins reported to the conductor—Phelps—what had happened to him. The engineer of the train and the baggage-master, on going forward toward the bridge to investigate, were also fired upon. At or about the time this incident occurred, Shephard Hayward, the station baggage-master, a free negro, went from the station toward the Potomac bridge to look for Watchman Williams. Upon being ordered to halt, he turned to retrace his steps to the station and was fired upon with fatal effect, by Watson Brown's party, "A bullet passing through his body a little below the heart," from the effect of which he died during the afternoon, about 4 o'clock. The arrival of the train being reported to Brown, he personally informed Conductor Phelps why it was being held, saying:

Later, at 3 a. m., Brown notified Phelps that he could now proceed with his train and directed him to say to the management of the road: "This is the last train that shall pass the bridge either East or West; if it is attempted, it will be at the peril of the lives of those having them in charge."[379] Phelps however, decided not to move until daylight. From Monocacy, at 7:05 a. m., he wired the situation to Master of Transportation Smith, at Baltimore; repeating what Brown had said to him, and suggesting that he notify the Secretary of War at once; concluding his dispatch with this statement: "The telegraph wires are cut East and West of Harper's Ferry and this is the first station that I could send a dispatch from."

The first alarm of what was occurring in the town was given out by a resident physician, Dr. John D. Starry. But the note which he sounded was not of the "Paul Revere" variety. The Doctor was aroused from his slumbers by the firing of the shot that struck Hayward, and went to his relief. The remainder of the night he spent in observing what was going on but gave out no information concerning it. "At daylight," it is said, "he could stand it no longer; he saddled his horse, rode to the residence of Mr. A. M. Kitzmiller, who was in charge of the arsenal during the absence of the superintendent, Mr. Barbour; acquainted him, and a number of other officials and workmen with the story of the night. He then put spurs to his horse, and ascended the hill to Bolivar Heights, where he awoke some more sleepers."[380] After arousing the town, the Doctor rode to Charlestown, eight miles distant, where the alarm was given by ringing all the bells. The local military company—the Jefferson Guards—fell in promptly; also a second company, composed of men and boys, was organized on the spot, both companies taking a train at 10 o'clock for the scene of the trouble.

By 10:30 President Garrett of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, had informed the President of the United States of the conditions existing at Harper's Ferry. He also wired the information to Governor Wise, of Virginia; and to Major General Stewart, commanding First Division Maryland Volunteers, at Baltimore.[381] The news soon became general. From Monocracy it was wired to Frederick, and by 10 a. m. the Frederick companies were under arms and had marching orders. A Martinsburg company, under Captain E. G. Alburtis, arrived at Harper's Ferry during the afternoon, and shortly thereafter a company from Winchester reported for duty. Earlier in the day two local companies were "mustered into service;" one under command of Captain Botts and the other under Captain John Avis. Two companies from Shepherdstown also arrived—the "Hamtrack Guards" and the "Shepherdstown Troop." During the evening three companies arrived from Frederick, and five companies from Baltimore. In all sixteen companies of State Volunteers were assembled at Harper's Ferry within twelve hours from the time the first alarm was given out.

The second casualty of the day occurred about 7 o'clock a. m., when Mr. Thomas Boerly, an Irishman and a resident of Harper's Ferry, was fatally shot by one of Brown's men. From that time until after 10 o'clock nothing of importance occurred in the town, except that Brown ordered breakfast for his war party and his prisoners, forty-five in all. The meals were prepared and served from a nearby hotel—the Wagner House.

In the early morning, after the prisoners—Colonel Washington and the Allstadts—had been delivered to Brown at the armory gate, Cook and Leeman proceeded to the Kennedy farm with the teams that they had taken from Colonel Washington, and began moving the military equipment, which had been left there, in care of Owen Brown, to a school-house, that was located about a mile from the Ferry. Later, Brown dispatched William Thompson to the school-house with a message to Owen, saying that "all was going well." Between 9 and 10 o'clock Leeman and Thompson returned to Harper's Ferry, bringing with them another prisoner, Mr. Terence Brown, a Maryland farmer of the neighborhood. After 10 o'clock Brown's position became critical. It was fast becoming evident that his plans had miscarried; that the slaves had failed to strike for their freedom; that the fundamental movement of the campaign—the insurrection of the slaves—had not been executed. "THE BLOW" which he planned to strike had not been delivered. The attempt to "assail the Slave Power with the only weapons that it fears," had "flashed in the pan."

It was not important that the Potomac and the Shenandoah bridges were still in his possession and that access to the Maryland mountains was free; for Brown was not equipped for flight, and there are limitations upon physical endurance. Besides, these Southern mountains were, to him, inhospitable, and would furnish neither subsistence nor shelter. Also the inhabitants of the vicinity were rising in arms against him, their passions inflamed to a condition of frenzy because of the assault which he had made upon their lives and property. He well knew the excited mob would be upon his trail from the start; and that escape, except for a possible straggler or two, was impossible. But there still existed the possibility that the fifteen hundred self-emancipated slaves, whom he hoped to have under arms by 12 o'clock,[382] would begin to arrive.

Details of the subsequent occurrences are given in a very interesting manner by Mr. Villard, on pages 429 to 454. He relates that after 10 o'clock, the citizens of Harper's Ferry became aggressive, and opened a scattering or desultory fire upon Brown's position at the armory building. The "Jefferson Guards," upon their arrival at Bolivar Heights, marched to a point about a mile above the town, where they crossed the Potomac in boats, and came down the Maryland side of the river to the Potomac bridge, driving Watson Brown and Taylor from their post. This movement compelled William Thompson and Newby to abandon their station at the Shenandoah bridge, and seek shelter in the armory. The Galt House was then occupied by Captain Botts's company, while Captain Avis took a position near the crest of Bolivar Heights, overlooking the town, from where he opened fire upon the armory. Newby was killed by this fire before he reached the armory enclosure. It is said that his body was shockingly mutilated. About 1 o'clock Leeman sought to effect his escape. He left the arsenal and attempted to cross the Potomac, a short distance above the bridge, and succeeded in getting as far as a small island in the river, where he was overtaken and killed by a Mr. A. G. Schoppert. The body of the late captain, his commission in his pocket, as it lay upon the rocks in the river, became an object for target practice, by citizens, and by members of the volunteer military companies then assembling.

During the afternoon Brown sought to have the firing cease by negotiating with the citizens for a truce; and sent out a prisoner, Mr. Cross, and William Thompson, to make the arrangement. Thompson was immediately taken and held as a prisoner, for a time, at the Galt House. Later he was led out upon the trestle leading to the Shenandoah bridge, where he was shot by a mob under the leadership of George W. Chambers and Harry Hunter; his body falling into the shallow water below, where it became a general target for the mob, in mob fashion. Still later, Brown sent Stevens and Watson Brown out, accompanied by Mr. Kitzmiller, under a flag of truce. This flag was fired upon from the windows of the Galt House with the result that both Stevens and Brown received severe wounds. Brown succeeded in dragging himself back to the armory engine-house, where he died thirty hours later. One of the prisoners, a Mr. Brua, went out and had Stevens carried into the Wager House.

Between 2 and 3 o'clock a small party, under the command of a young man by the name of Irwin, made an attack upon the rifle-works on the Shenandoah, where Kagi and his men were stationed. The latter sought to escape across the river, but were shot down before reaching the middle of the stream. Kagi fell and died in the water. Leary was mortally wounded, and died the following night. Copeland was taken prisoner by Mr. James H. Holt, of Harper's Ferry, and by him delivered to the Virginia authorities. In the confusion, the detail at the arsenal—Hazlett and O. P. Anderson—managed to escape unnoticed. They probably abandoned their post as soon as it became evident to them that the insurrection feature of the venture had miscarried. It is said they first went to the Kennedy farm, where they got supplies of provisions, and from there they made their way into Pennsylvania. Five days later Hazlett was captured at Carlisle, and taken back to Virginia under extradition papers, issued by the Governor of the State. His trial was had at Charlestown, and he was hanged there, with Stevens, March 16, 1860. Anderson fared better: he managed to reach Canada, and lived to write a marvelous story of his adventures.

Cook's party, and the detail under Owen Brown, met with better success, Cook alone being arrested. He was taken at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, October 25th, and returned to Charlestown, Virginia, where he was hanged December 16th. E. Coppoc, Green, and Copeland were hanged at the same time. The others: Tidd, Barclay Coppoc, Merriam and Owen Brown all succeeded in making good their escape. The negroes who had been taken returned to their masters.

About 2 o'clock, George W. Turner was killed. Turner was a prosperous farmer of the vicinity. He had been graduated from West Point, and had served creditably with the army, in Florida. Riding into town, with his shot-gun on his shoulder, he became a target for one of Brown's rifles. A shot struck him in the neck and killed him instantly. About 4 o'clock Mr. Fontaine Beckham, the mayor of the town, was killed. Beckham was the station agent for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company. He stepped out of the station-house to observe what was going on, when he was fired upon by Edward Coppoc, from the engine-house, with fatal effect. He also died instantly.

The beginning of the final collapse came about 4 o'clock, with the arrival of the Martinsburg company. Alburtis attacked the armory enclosure and drove Brown, with his most prominent prisoners—Colonel Washington, the Allstadts, Brua, Byrne, Wells, the armorer, Ball, master-machinist, and J. E. Daingerfield, pay-master's clerk—into the engine-house. Of his attack Captain Alburtis said:[383]

There were troops enough on the ground at this time to have carried Brown's position by assault; and it is probable that an attack upon the armory would have been ordered, had such extreme measures been deemed necessary, which was not the case. Besides, if an assault had been made by these undisciplined men, it would have been attended with the loss of many lives, which, under the circumstances, would have been without justification. Brown and his party were in a position from which they could not escape; neither could his surrender be long deferred. A prevailing report, too, that a detachment of United States troops—marines—would soon arrive, under the command of an experienced officer of the regular army, may have had some influence in determining what should be done. However, before nightfall, a Mr. Samuel Strider delivered a summons to Brown, demanding his surrender, to which Brown replied as follows:

The terms of the note were promptly declined by Colonel Robert W. Baylor, of the Virginia Cavalry, who seems to have been the ranking officer present. He said that "under no conditions would he consent to a removal of the citizen prisoners across the river." Still later in the evening the three companies, in uniform, arrived from Frederick, Maryland. One of these was under the command of Captain Sinn. This officer proceeded to the engine-house and entered into a lengthy conversation with Brown. During this interview Brown renewed his proposal to leave the place, and complained of the treatment his men, bearing a flag of truce, had received; that they "had been shot down like dogs." Being told that men in his position must expect such treatment, Brown replied that before coming there "he had weighed the responsibility and should not shrink from it." He thought, however, that he was entitled to better treatment from the people because of what he had not done to them; that he "had had full possession of the town and could have massacred all the inhabitants had he thought proper to do so."

During afternoon of the 17th, President Buchanan ordered three companies of artillery, from Fortress Monroe, to the scene of the trouble; also the detachment of marines, at the Washington Navy Yard. The latter were under the command of Lieutenant Israel Green, U. S. M. C. He also ordered Lieutenant Colonel Robert E. Lee, Second United States Cavalry, brevet colonel United States army, to proceed to Harper's Ferry and assume command of all the United States troops concentrating there. General J. E. B. Stuart, at that time a first lieutenant in the First United States Cavalry accompanied Lee as a volunteer aide. The artillery from Fortress Monroe was detained at Baltimore by order of Colonel Lee. With two howitzers and ninety men Green left Washington for Harper's Ferry, at 3:30 p. m. En route he received orders from Colonel Lee to stop at Sandy Hook, a station within a mile, nearly, of his destination. At 10 o'clock Lee arrived at Sandy Hook on a special train. The marines were then formed, and marched to Harper's Ferry, leaving the howitzers aboard the cars. Arriving at the town, after consultation with the volunteer commanders present, Lee ordered the militia to vacate the armory grounds, and put the control, or care of the situation, in the hands of Lieutenant Green.

Before ordering the assault upon the engine-house, which, to save the lives of Brown's prisoners, was to be executed with the bayonet, Lee offered the honor of commanding the action to the regimental commanders of the volunteers: Colonel Shriver of the Maryland troops and Colonel Baylor of the Virginians; an offer which both of these officers, in behalf of their men, had the moral courage to wisely and properly decline. Colonel Shriver said, in effect, that they had come to help the people of Harper's Ferry in an emergency: that the emergency, in view of the United States troops present, was now passed; that his men had wives and children at home, and since it was not necessary to expose them to such risk as this attack involved, he would not voluntarily do so. Colonel Baylor expressed similar views. But, later, there was trouble over the matter. The pride of the Governor of Virginia, Henry E. Wise, was hurt because the Virginia troops had not done on the 17th what Lee, Stuart, Green, and the marines did so creditably on the morning of the 18th. As a result, charges of misconduct were preferred against Colonel Baylor, by Mr. O. Jennings Wise, a son of the Governor; and a court of inquiry was convened in June, 1860, to investigate the case. Mr. Villard states that in a letter addressed to the court, by Mr. Wise, the latter charged that Colonel Baylor had assumed command on the 17th, "contrary to his grade and the nature of his commission." That he had acted without orders; that he was guilty of cowardice in not storming the engine-house, and of "unofficer-like conduct in assigning a false, cowardly and insulting reason for not leading the attack on the engine-house when the service was offered to him by Colonel Lee: to-wit—that it was a duty which belonged to the mercenaries of the regular service—meaning the marines—who were paid for it"; and, finally for using "violent and ungentlemanly language about his Commander-in-Chief (Governor Wise)."

After the militia officers had declined the command of the storming party, it was offered to Lieutenant Green, who, of course, accepted it, and, taking off his cap, thanked his commander for the honor, with soldierly courtesy.

Early on the morning of the 18th, Colonel Lee sent a demand upon Brown to surrender, which was read to him at the door of the engine-house by Lieutenant Stuart. The order read as follows:[385]

It had been agreed upon between Stuart and Green, that, after having read the order to Brown, if he should refuse to surrender, as they supposed he would, Stuart would then signal by a wave of his cap, at the sight of which Green would order his company forward to the assault. His plan of attack was to advance with twelve men, holding another twelve in reserve to support them, if they should be disabled, and with a heavy sledge-hammer break down the door of the engine-house, and if successful, then, with the full command rush the insurgents with fixed bayonets. Upon seeing the signal agreed upon, Green ordered the attack. While being fired upon from within the engine-house, the marines, armed with the sledge, attempted to beat down the doors, but without success; then seeing a heavy ladder lying nearby, Green ordered some of the men to take it up and use it against the doors as a battering-ram. This expedient was successful. Two blows by the improvised engine of war sufficed to break a ragged hole, low down, in the right-hand door. Through the opening thus made, Green, and Major Russell, pay-master, United States Marine Corps, sprang, followed by the enlisted men.[386] Rising to his feet, Green ran back of the engine to the rear of the room, where he saw Colonel Washington, who, pointing to Brown said, "this is Osawatomie." Lieutenant Green states:

Of Brown's eleven prisoners, whom he was holding as hostages, Lieutenant Green says:

The scrimmage being over, Green and Coppoc were taken into custody, and the dead and wounded were carried from the engine-house and laid upon the armory lawn, where they were protected from violence by a guard detailed from the company of marines. Later, Mr. Villard states, Brown was carried to the office of the pay-master of the armory and there given medical attention, when it was found that his wounds were far less serious than they were at first supposed to be.

Of the twenty-two ambitious men who courageously undertook to organize the "Provisional Army," ten had been killed: Kagi, Oliver Brown, Watson Brown, William Thompson, Dauphin Thompson, Jeremiah G. Anderson, Leeman, Newby, Leary, and Taylor. Five were prisoners: Brown, Stevens, E. Coppoc, Green, and Copeland. Seven had got away: Cook, Hazlett, Tidd, Owen Brown, Barclay Coppoc, Osborn P. Anderson, and Merriam.

Those killed and wounded by the insurgents were as follows: Killed: G. W. Turner, Thomas Boerley, Fontane Beckham, Heywood Shepherd, and Private Quinn. Wounded: Mr. Murphy, Mr. Young, Mr. Richardson, Mr. Hammond, Mr. McCabe, Mr. Dorsey, Mr. Hooper, Mr. Woolet, and Private Rupert.[388]

About noon, on the 18th, some notable persons of that period arrived at Harper's Ferry, anxious to know the facts relating to the alarming events which had taken place. An interview with Brown was accordingly arranged, which was held at the office of the armory pay-master. The wounded Stevens had, in the meantime, been carried into the office and laid upon a mattress on the floor beside Brown. Those present were Governor Wise, of Virginia, Colonel Robert E. Lee, Lieutenant Stuart, Senator Mason of Virginia, Congressmen Vallandigham of Ohio and Faulkner of Virginia, Colonel Lewis Washington, Andrew Hunter, special counsel for the State of Virginia, and a half dozen citizens of the town and vicinity. Brown was able to answer freely, and seemed anxious for an opportunity to present his version of the situation to the public. He was "glad," he said, "to make himself and his motives clearly understood." Extracts from this interview are as follows:[389]

Mr. Sanborn publishes a conversation that Brown had with his jailer concerning his interview with Governor Wise.[390]

"'A Virginian,'" he says, "gives me this addition to Brown's conversation with Wise":

Jailer. I see in the papers that you told Governor Wise you had promises of aid from Virginia, Tennessee, and the Carolinas. Is that true, or did you make it up to "rile" the old Governor?

Brown. No; I did not tell Wise that.

Jailer. What did you tell him that could have made that impression on his mind?

Brown. Wise said something about fanaticism, and intimated that no man in full possession of his senses could have expected to overcome a State with such a handful of men as I had, backed only by struggling negroes; and I replied that I had promises of ample assistance, and would have received it too if I could only have set the ball in motion. He then asked suddenly in a harsh voice, as you've seen lawyers snap up a witness: "Assistance! From what State, sir?" I was not thrown off my guard, and replied: "From more than you'd believe if I should name them all; but I expected more from Virginia, Tennessee, and the Carolinas than from any others."

Jailer. You "expected" it. You did not say it was promised from the States named?

Brown. No; I knew, of course, that the negroes would rally to my standard. If I had only got the thing fairly started, you Virginians would have seen sights that would have opened your eyes; and I tell you if I was free this moment, and had five hundred negroes around me, I would put these irons on Wise himself before Saturday night.

Jailer. Then it was true about aid being promised? What States promised it?

Brown (with a laugh). Well, you are about as smart a man as Wise, and I'll give you the same answer I gave him.