Kagi appeared to him "like a melancholy brigand, some of whose statements were no doubt false and some shamefully true." A summary of the lecture Brown delivered at Cleveland reads as follows:[356]

In this speech Brown made the only acknowledgment of record, of his relation to the Pottawatomie assassinations. The Leader, which was friendly to Brown, quoted him as saying,[357] that "he had never killed anybody, although on some occasions he had shown his young men with him, how some things might be done as well as others and they had done the business." Brown also impressed Mr. Alcott, who said of him after hearing his lecture at Concord, May 8th:[358]

The principal matter in hand now was to finance the initial movement of the campaign. All the skies were clear. Time and the Kansas diversion had discredited Forbes's truthful statements and eliminated him from the problem. There was to be no further shifting of the scene, or hesitation or faltering. The flood in his affairs was rising, carrying him on its crest, to his fate. To the intelligent and insistent perseverence of Mr. Sanborn belongs the credit, or the discredit, as the reader may elect, for making Brown's operations possible. He stood, or became sponsor for Brown's integrity of purpose in January, 1857, and financed his subsequent career. May 30th, he wrote Colonel Higginson:

Mr. Sanborn states[360] that in all, a little more than four thousand dollars passed through the hands of the secret committee or was known to it, as having been contributed in aid of the "Virginia enterprise:" and that those who contributed thirty-eight hundred dollars of this sum, did so "with a clear knowledge of the use to which it would be put."

At North Elba, about June 16th, Brown bid his family farewell and went to West Andover where he made arrangements with his son John to take upon himself the combined duties of quartermaster general, and recruiting and mustering officer. From Ohio he went to Pennsylvania, writing to Kagi, from Pittsburgh, under the name of S. Monroe. He was at Bedford on June 26th, and at Chambersburg on the 28th. From Chamberburg, on June 30th, in company with two of his sons, Owen and Oliver, and Jeremiah G. Anderson. Brown left for the "front." On that day he wrote Kagi under the name of "I Smith & Sons" saying that they were leaving for Harper's Ferry and would be looking for "cheap lands near the railroad in all probability." July 3d, they arrived at Sandy Hook, Maryland, and spent the next day reconnoitering the country on the Maryland side of the Potomac above Harper's Ferry.

To a Mr. Unseld, whom they met during the morning, Brown stated that they were farmers from northern New York and because of late frosts and other disadvantages, they had decided to seek a new location; that they had a little money and intended to buy a farm, but would prefer to rent a place until they became better acquainted with farm values in the neighborhood. He also told him that his business would be buying fat cattle for the New York market. Unseld suggested to them a farm belonging to the heirs of a Dr. Kennedy, recently deceased, which was then for sale. This farm was located about five miles from Harpers Ferry on the Boonsboro road. It had probably been selected for headquarters for the "Provisional Army" by Cook, who had been stationed at Harper's Ferry for more than a year.

The Kennedy farm suited Brown "exactly." He went to Sharpsburg immediately and leased two houses that were on the place, with firewood, and pasture for a horse and a cow, until March 1, 1860; the total consideration being thirty-five dollars. The main house stands about three hundred yards from the road on the south side. "There was a basement, kitchen and a storeroom, a living room and bed rooms on the second story, and an attic." The "cabin" stood about the same distance from the road on the north side of it. Notwithstanding the distance from the road. Brown was constantly in danger of being brought under suspicion by the friendly but inquisitive neighbors, who were constantly dropping in to see the newcomers; but who were never invited to come into the house. To further disarm suspicion Brown, on July 5th, sent for his wife and daughter Anne, to report at headquarters. Mrs. "Smith," however, seemed to think she could not so readily abandon her home and her young children. But Oliver Brown's young wife came instead: she and "Annie" arrived about the middle of July. On the 10th of this month, Brown wrote to Kagi, who was at Chambersburg, that it would be "distressing in many ways, to have a lot of hands for many days, out of employ. We must make up our lot of hands as nearly at one & the same time as possible."[361]

August 11th, there was a panic on the bourse of the Provisional Government. Kagi reported the arrival of fifteen boxes of arms with freight charges amounting to $85.00, which caused Brown to ask his son John to solicit for him "a little more assistance, say two or three hundred dollars." Continuing he said:

In due time his requisition for funds was honored from the never-failing purse of Gerrit Smith. Brown's means of transportation consisted of a horse and a wagon, but a contract for moving the arms from Chambersburg to the Kennedy farm was awarded to a "Pennsylvania Dutchman" who had a large freight wagon.[363]

Meanwhile the movement progressed in a systematic and orderly manner. There was grave danger, however, that the secret of the contemplated insurrection would transpire through the loquacity of the many persons, estimated by Mr. Villard at possibly, eighty, who had more or less knowledge of the enterprise. Brown seems to have feared that Cook, especially, might give up information that would work disaster. It was not that he held his loyalty in doubt, but he had been reported to the commander-in-chief on a previous occasion, by the honorable secretary of state, Mr. Realf, for "cacoethes loquendi," and Brown feared a recrudescence of the malady. In a letter to Kagi at Chambersburg, August 11th, he severely reproved those who had made their business in Maryland a subject for general correspondence. But his expressions of displeasure, did not prevent Leeman from writing to his mother, a month and a half later, as follows:[364]

A warning, which was received by the Honorable Secretary of War, August 25th, notifying the department that Brown was then promoting a general insurrection among the slaves, probably had its origin in Cook's indiscreet volubility. The letter, addressed to "J. B. Floyd, Sec'y of War," "Private" is as follows:[365]

This letter, which should have led to the immediate overthrow and wreck of the Provisional Government of the United States, had been enclosed in an envelope addressed to the postmaster at Cincinnati, and mailed at Big Rock, Iowa. At Cincinnati, August 23d, it was remailed to the Honorable Secretary. Mr. Floyd received it at Red Sweet Springs, Virginia, August 25th, and while not attaching sufficient importance to the subject of the communication to read it a second time, he preserved the letter, and, after the denouement, published it. In explanation of his indifference to the contents of this letter, he stated to the Mason Committee, that the reference to the arsenal in Maryland misled him, there being no armory in that state. He therefore, supposed the whole thing was a hoax, and gave it no further attention. The history of the letter was revealed in later years by its author, David J. Gue, of Scott County, Iowa, who obtained his information from Mr. Moses Varney, of Springdale.[366]

As the days passed, the men, who were to form the nucleus of the army of invasion, straggled into Harper's Ferry and reported at headquarters for duty. August 6th, Watson Brown arrived, and with him came the Thompson brothers, William and Dauphin. They were brothers to Henry Thompson, who had been with Brown in Kansas in 1856. Then came Tidd and Stevens, et al., and last of all, but one of the most welcome of all the recruits, came Francis J. Merriam. He arrived at the Kenneday farm October 15th, with six hundred dollars in gold in his pockets, which he covered into the Provisional Treasury. The arrival of Merriam with his gold relieved the strain upon Brown's exchequer. The commander-in-chief had been compelled to negotiate a loan of forty dollars from Lieutenant Coppoc, upon the credit of the Provisional Government, to meet the current expenses of the expedition. That deficit was now made good, leaving a handsome surplus on hand. When Brown was taken into custody three days later, he had with him two hundred and fifty or sixty dollars in gold and silver. Mrs. Anne Brown Adams said:[367] "The good Father in Heaven who furnishes daily bread sent Francis J. Merriam down there with his money to help them just at the moment it was needed." But it may also be said that in the varying vicissitudes of Brown's fortunes, almost any moment was just such a moment as this. "His money," Mr. Villard states, was Merriam's "only contribution of value to the cause.... In addition to his other physical frailties he had lost the sight of one of his eyes." After looking him over, Stevens assigned him to duty as guard over the arms which were to be left at the Kennedy farm.

On the 29th of September, the two young women left army headquarters to return to their homes. They had rendered faithful and valuable services during the months of their stay. If the Provisional Government had succeeded, these two women would have taken rank with the immortals—Betsy Ross and Mollie Stark. Mrs. Adams relates[368] that one day, while "we were alone in the yard Owen remarked, as he looked up at the house: 'If we succeed, some day there will be a United States flag over this house. If we do not, it will be considered a den of land pirates and thieves.'" In the division of their labors Anne, and not "Martha," seems to have "chosen the better part"; the latter did the cooking for the company, and was the general head of the department of domestic economy; while Anne, from the watch towers of the rude farm house, kept vigils over all the approaches thereto. She was the faithful sentinel that sounded the alarm at every sign of danger—the vestal virgin, keeping alive the sacred fires upon their altar of liberty. The approach of any human being was cause for alarm, lest the presence of the invading army might be discovered and divulged. An interesting account of the daily life at headquarters, by Mrs. Anne Brown Adams is published by Mr. Villard.[369] Of the personnel of the field and staff, she says:

No doubt the conduct of these free-booters, in the presence of the young women, at the Kennedy farm, was circumspect and commendable, and justified the estimate herein expressed of their exemplary characters, and of the Christian lives that she supposed they had led, and were living.

Little indeed did this pure minded girl know of the reckless careers and the lives of violence these adventurers represented, or of the motives that prompted them to undertake their present enterprise. Measuring them by the standards put forth by Christ, it will have to be admitted that they were a collection of "mis-fit" Christians—as "mild mannered men as ever scuttled ship or cut a throat." Leeman, for instance, may be taken as an illustration of one of these ideal "followers of Christ's example." "For three years," he had been secretly placing the example of his exalted character before the world, warring with slavery, in an association of as gallant fellows as ever "puled" a trigger. Who these gallant trigger "puling" fellows were, and what they did to earn their reputations as trigger "pulers," during these three years, is more or less conjectural. Mrs. Adams turns the light upon Leeman's Christian character a little further, by the statement, that "he smoked a good deal and drank sometimes." Mr. Villard states that he went to Kansas in 1856 with the second Massachusetts colony of that year, and became a member of John Brown's "Volunteer-Regulars," September 9, 1856. Also, that he fought well at Osawatomie. But since he is reported as having enlisted ten days after the battle of Osawatomie there may be some mistake as to that. George B. Gill, who knew a good bit about him and who may have been a trigger "puler" himself, says that he "had a good intellect with great ingenuity." Anne heard Hazlett and Leeman, one day, saying that "Barclay Coppoc and Dauphin Thompson were too nearly like good girls to make soldiers: that they ought to have gone to Kansas and roughed it awhile, to toughen them, before coming down there." Cook, it may be said, was less Christ-like than Leeman. He was disposed to "swagger," also he "was indiscreet" and "boastful." Once, when in a boastful mood, at Cleveland, he boasted that he had "killed five men in Kansas." Then too he "swaggered openly in his boarding house" which was bad form, from a Christian point of view. Also it is said that he "revealed too much to a woman acquaintance."[370] Then there was Hazlett; but the record as to his actions is so meager that one cannot estimate with any degree of accuracy how "Christ-like" he really was. About all that is known of him is that he stole a horse—a very fine stallion—from somebody in Missouri, which, as has been stated, he traded to Brown for a forty-acre United States land warrant. Also, he was with Stevens when the latter killed Cruise, to get possession of the slave girl. As to Stevens, it cannot truthfully be said that he was a follower of Christ's example, in the stricter interpretation of that expression. One of Christ's disciples—Peter—it is said, followed the Master "afar off." In that respect Stevens resembles the disciple rather than the Master. As a matter of fact, if Stevens followed Christ's example at all, it was at very long range. From what is known of the lives of these men, it may be assumed also, that if Charles Jennison had been under Anne's observation at the Kennedy farm, he too would have secured absolution for his crimes and would have received at her hands a certificate of Christianity.[371]

The details that Brown's biographers have published concerning the concentration of the military stores at his headquarters; his correspondence with his men; the assembling of them in Maryland; his constantly recurring financial embarrassments, and the edited statements concerning the daily life which he and his men led after their arrival at the seat of war, are of little or no public interest or value. They fail to touch upon the vital purpose that led Brown, in the disguise of a farmer or cattle buyer, to take up his residence at the Kennedy farm house. They fail to even hint at the broad purpose of his being there, or of the commanding things which he strenuously sought to promote during the months that he occupied the ground. They trifle with their theme and with their characters. These men had not dedicated their lives to martyrdom "that others might live." Their impromptu metamorphosis from "soiled lives" to consecrated lives is gratuitous. They were capitalized upon "the monstrous wrong which they beheld," and intended to turn it, through a wrong still more monstrous, to a monstrous personal advantage. No maudlin sentiment inspired these men, "with soiled lives behind them" to dare as few ever dared before. Their "hearts throbbed" with a single mighty purpose—an ambition worthy of the desperation of their adventure. Their goal was an empire and its emoluments: their rewards the spoils of conquest of the most promising field that marauders ever planned to plunder.

The time finally agreed upon and fixed for the great catastrophe was the night of October 16th. The party consisted of the following persons:

The extent of the conspiracy among the slaves and the confidential arrangements and agreements which Brown made and entered into with them—his co-conspirators—during the months he spent in secret negotiations with them; and the pledges and promises that had been exchanged between them will, of course, never be known. But so far as the plans agreed upon related to the initial movements, the general outline of them was simple enough for the comprehension of every one, the untutored slaves included. Brown and his men were to occupy Harper's Ferry. They were to cut the telegraph wires and take possession of the public buildings located there—the armory, the arsenal, and the rifle works—and the military stores contained in them. The slaves, on their part, were to revolt against their masters; murder them and their families, and then report to Brown at Harper's Ferry, where they would be organized into companies, regiments, and brigades, and be armed and equipped from the stock of war material which he would have in his possession.

The war department was doing some business. Stevens, Kagi, Cook, Owen Brown, Oliver Brown, Watson Brown, Leeman, William Thompson, J. G. Anderson, Tidd, and Hazlett had been appointed captains in the provisional army, and Edwin Coppoc and Dauphin Thompson first lieutenants. The privates were Taylor, Barclay Coppoc and Merriam, white; and Green, Leary, Copeland, Osborn P. Anderson, and Newby, colored. There is conflict of testimony as to whether Hazlett was a captain or a lieutenant. Colonel Lee reported him and Leeman as lieutenants. A captain's commission, however, was found on Leeman's body. William Thompson and J. G. Anderson were probably captains.[372] In his confession Cook says:

CHAPTER XIII

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]