It may be said with equal irrelevancy, that there is no evidence to show that Frederick was elsewhere than in the raid. The author knows, or ought to know, the exact facts concerning that feature of this deplorable incident. He could have obtained the information from Holmes, one of the principals, or from others whom he met, who had knowledge of the facts. However, it is probable that Frederick was a party to this robbery. He returned to Kansas with his father from Nebraska City. "Frederick felt," according to the testimony of Henry Thompson, "that Pottawatomie bound him to Kansas. He did not wish to leave. He felt that a great crime had been committed and that he should go back to Kansas and live it out."[205] August 10th, father and son arrived at Topeka and disappeared. But since Osawatomie was the field of their prospective operations, and robbery the purpose for which they intended to enter it, Frederick probably went direct from Topeka to Osawatomie, and participated, with Holmes and Bondi, in an outrage for which he paid the forfeit of his life. His presence in the robbery is not the only probability in the case. The stolen stuff had to be sold somewhere, and, because of his experience in the business, and his knowledge of how to do such things, it is quite probable that after raiding the parson's and other homes, he went north with the horses that had been stolen, and disposed of them, and had just returned with the proceeds, August 29th, for another consignment of horses; or, possibly, to drive the cattle, which his father was to steal during his absence, to their destination.

The death of Frederick was the beginning of the utter collapse and failure of Brown's "get-rich-quick" expedition. His camp was raided a few hours later, and his property—the cattle and other loot of the recent foray, and probably the four mule team and provisions—was all taken by the enemy. "The horses and cattle, at hand, were gathered up and carried off, including Cline's booty from South Middle Creek."[206]

The statement put forth, that after the battle Brown "encamped" several days on the Houser farm, about two and one-half miles from Osawatomie, and attempted to fortify it,[207] is merely trifling with history. Aside from his personal statement that he was hiding, and starving, during this time, it follows, logically, that if Brown were human, and could have obtained facilities for so doing, he would not have refrained, until September 7th, from writing to his wife at North Elba, the sad news concerning the death of their son. And further, if John Brown had believed that his relation to this battle was honorable, and that the part which he had performed in it was in any sense heroic or creditable, he would not have concealed himself and the facts concerning his heroism from the public for eight days. It appears that Brown arrived bareheaded at the Adair home on the evening of the 30th, saw the dead body of his son, took his cap, and disappeared, leaving the burial of the body to be attended to by others.[208] The truth seems to be that he was ashamed because of his disgraceful conduct; and terror stricken because of the calamities which he had brought upon the people of the ill-fated town: and that he slunk out of sight and hid to avoid arrest, and the public condemnation that was his due. But when at Lawrence, Bondi, Benjamin, and Holmes gave out their exaggerations concerning the battle, but nothing about the robberies; and told of their personal prowess in the engagement, and of their leader's heroism (?) therein; and when Brown discovered that his band of thieves had come to be recognized as a military organization; and that he, the Loki of Osawatomie, had become the "Hero of Osawatomie"; then, and not till then, came he out of hiding, and affirmed what had been put forth by his men concerning him, and accepted the honors which were accordingly thrust upon him.

With these September days came the climax of the aggressive Free-State campaign. Also, came the collapse of the pro-slavery effort to fasten slavery upon Kansas by force of arms. Lawrence was the headquarters for the Free-State men, and their activities gave to the place an atmosphere of war. Lane led an expedition against Atchison's army which he encountered at Bull Creek. September 7th, the day Brown arrived from Osawatomie, an expedition was launched against Leavenworth, under the command of Colonel James A. Harvey, but it was ordered back to Lawrence, by General Lane, before it arrived at its destination. On September 9th, General John W. Geary arrived in the Territory. He had been appointed Territorial Governor to succeed Governor Shannon.

"Almost simultaneously with Harvey's movements, Aaron D. Stevens, alias Charles Whipple, raided Osawkie, a pro-slavery settlement, taking eighty horses and nearly as many arms."[209] Falling back from the front of Atchison's army at Bull Creek, Lane personally led an attack upon Hickory Point, and finding the pro-slavery men too strong, sent to Lawrence for assistance. "Whipple and fifty men responded; but on their arrival Lane wanted Bickerton's cannon, and sent to Lawrence for it." Colonel Harvey, who had just got back from the Leavenworth campaign, also went to his assistance, arriving on the 14th. Lane in the meantime had abandoned the siege, but Harvey attacked them at once, and after a spirited fight captured the force. His loss was five men wounded. The pro-slavery loss was one man killed and four wounded. There was no robbery involved in this battle.[210] Later, Captain Wood, United States Army, met and captured one hundred of Harvey's men including their arms, and the cannon.

The withdrawal of Lane from Lawrence, with a large portion of the organized Free-State forces, left the town quite unprepared to resist the advance against it by General Atchison's army, which arrived at Franklin on the 13th. This was the most formidable force that had ever invaded the Territory. It comprised, at this time, twenty-seven hundred men, including a battery of artillery. The principal subordinate commanders were Generals John W. Reid, B. F. Stringfellow, W. A. Haskell, and J. W. Whitfield. On the afternoon of the 14th, Atchison made a reconnoissance, his advance guard drawing the fire of the Free-State pickets in front of Lawrence. His attack upon the town on the morning of the 15th, was prevented by the armed intervention of the Federal Government. During the night of the 14th, detachments of United States cavalry and artillery arrived at Lawrence, and took up positions to defend the town. The Territorial Governor, Geary, appeared upon the scene on the morning of the 15th, and, proceeding to Atchison's camp, notified him that he could proceed no farther. This forceful intervention was fatal to the pro-slavery propaganda. Upon receiving the Governor's ultimatum, the pro-slavery leaders disbanded their army and gave up the struggle. Geary's interference was not wholly unexpected. The "hand writing" had heretofore been seen "upon the wall." Before Atchison's advance upon Lawrence, a South Carolinian, connected with the invading army, stated the situation in this way: "And why should we remain? We cannot fight, and of course, cannot prevent our enemy from voting. The object of our mission will then, of course, be defeated and we had as well return."[211]

Brown was well received by the Free-State leaders, on his arrival at Lawrence. He was fresh from the "bloody field of Osawatomie." He gave his story to the press, and posed as the hero of a splendidly fought battle against odds of nearly ten to one; and, although defeated, had inflicted heavy losses upon the enemy.

Referring to the defense of Lawrence, Mr. Villard says, with reference to September 14th:

Of the invaders, Mr. Villard says:[214]

The people of Lawrence might well be in a state of alarm during the night of the 14th, believing that with the dawn of the 15th, Atchison's guns would open upon the town. But Brown was not there on the morning of the 15th to help meet the shock of the impending battle. True to the mercenary character of his conduct, he declined all offers of command on the 14th, and left the town to its fate, going to the home, in the country, of Augustus Wattles.[215]

Upon assuming control of affairs as Territorial Governor, General Geary released the Free-State leaders who had been arrested and held as prisoners at Lecompton during the later months of Governor Shannon's administration, an act that caused great rejoicing at Lawrence.

On the 13th, Charles Robinson addressed the following letter to Brown:

In response to this letter. Brown called upon the Governor on the 14th; told him the story of his "defense" of Osawatomie, and obtained from him the following beautiful letter:[216]

But Brown was seeking neither honors nor honorable mention for honorable purposes; he sought only for something of commercial value. He wanted "assistance"; something upon which he could work the public for money. Robinson, therefore, addressed to him a second letter, a letter of credit, as follows:

To the Settlers of Kansas—

If possible please render Captain John Brown all the assistance he may require in defending Kansas from invaders and outlaws, and you will confer a favor upon your co-laborer and fellow citizen. C. Robinson.

Brown obtained these letters by dissimulation. He took advantage of the Governor's confidence in his statements and deeply imposed upon him. He concealed from him the plans which he had formed for working a colossal graft upon the Free-State sentiment in the East; and the fact that he intended to use these letters in pursuance of them. He was equivocal, too, as to his plans for leaving the Territory. If he had given Charles Robinson even a hint that he had been robbing the settlers in the Osawatomie district of their horses, cattle, and clothing; and had thus provoked Reid's descent upon the town, and the burning of it, as a retaliatory measure, and that he intended to use the letters he asked for in grafting operations, they would not have been written.

Brown's latest biographer regards the foregoing letters of special interest, because of Governor Robinson's subsequent criticism of Brown's actions—assuming that the spirit of these letters in inconsistent with his later estimate of the rectitude of Brown's conduct.[217] The point is not well taken. The Governor's endorsement is, plainly, dependent upon the information which he had received relating to it. He said: Your course, so far as I have been informed, has been such as to merit the highest praise from every patriot, and he then proceeds to state what the heartfelt thanks are for: "For your prompt, efficient, and timely action against the invaders of our right and the murderers of our citizens." This plain language cannot be distorted into an approval, by the Governor, of Brown's crimes in murdering and plundering pro-slavery settlers; who came into the Territory to build homes for their families, as Brown and his sons originally came to do; and whose rights, as settlers, were equal to those of their Free-State neighbors. Equality of settlers' rights, was the basic principle of the Free-State contention. Robinson wrote it into the platform of the party and unalterably maintained it, to a victorious finish. The war that was being carried on by the Free-State men, was directed against the invasion of the Free-State settlers' rights by pro-slavery men who were non-residents of the Territory.

John Brown remained at the Wattles farm until the 22d. Meanwhile plans were matured for his sons, John and Jason, and their families, to quit the Territory. During the first days of October they left Kansas for the East. Brown's farewell is recorded by Mr. Villard, as follows:[218]

The foregoing is the record, to date, of John Brown's "activities" in Kansas. The peace and tranquility of the Osawatomie district to which he came in October, 1855, had not theretofore been disturbed by any distracting contentions. The settlers were pursuing the even tenor of their way. They were comfortable, prosperous, and contented; living in the security vouchsafed, by the usages of our civilization and the laws of our country, to all of its citizens. They so continued to live, during a period of eight months thereafter, wholly unsuspicious of the designs their neighbor, Brown, was maturing against their peace, their property, and their lives.

From 1854 to 1860, the great political contest in the country was over the question of the extension of slavery into the public domain. It was the paramount issue in National politics. New alignments were then formed throughout the country in relation to it, as men were differently moved by their sympathies or interests. In Kansas, the division in public sentiment was more pronounced than elsewhere, for reasons that have been stated. Naturally, the settlers in the Osawatomie neighborhood were divided upon this political question; but certainly not with very much greater intensity of feeling than this same neighborhood was divided afterward, upon the great moral question of prohibition, or upon the equally great economic question of free-coinage of silver. The differences of opinion there did not promote or arouse personal animosities, or bitterness of feeling, among the settlers. Ample authority for this conclusion of fact is found in the letters written, at the time, by John Brown and others of his family, and in the statement which he voluntarily made in 1857, before a committee of the Massachusetts legislature, heretofore quoted. A large majority of the settlers in that district belonged to the Free-State party which made the security and peace of the Free-State settlers complete, beyond debate. These conditions of peace and tranquility continued undisturbed, until the night of May 24, 1856, when John Brown opened his "school" of plunder, and cast the baleful shadow of his presence upon the settlement. The Pottawatomie horror inaugurated a season of assassination and robbery unprecedented in Kansas history: a period of public disorder and crime, that ended only when the Territory was finally rid of John Brown and his marauders.

CHAPTER VIII

HYPOCRISY

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 to promote emigration to Kansas Territory. It was also a sort of clearing-house for the various committees which had been organized in the Northern States for a similar purpose. It had offices in New York, Chicago, and other places. Mr. E. B. Whitman was the resident agent of the company in Kansas, a fact which the Browns had not overlooked.

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:[219]

When one considers the life Brown had been leading and the nature of the atrocities which he had committed, this proposal to ask for compensation therefor is a piece of effrontery: a good exhibit of sublime gall. Also, his ultimatum therein is deserving of consideration. In it he demands, as a condition precedent to the rendering of any further service in the Free-State cause, that he have an assurance that he and his sons would be paid for such services. This demand further discloses the fact that the energies which Brown was putting forth were not a devotion to the cause of the men in bondage, but that he sought to work a personal and family graft upon Free-State sentiment of the country.

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 Robinson to Governor Chase, he received from him an additional letter of commendation, for use in Ohio, and twenty-five dollars in cash. Thus encouraged, he pushed on, stopping at various places on the way, soliciting money, and arriving in Boston about January 1, 1857. There the congratulatory letters which he had in his possession were of inestimable value to him. It was through them that he succeeded in establishing relations with men of ample means and of high character, who, by their generous contributions of money, and by their moral support, enabled him to work out his schemes to their logical conclusions.

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."[220] Brown, being a militant leader, made a deep impression upon this susceptible young enthusiast, who reported his find to Mr. Thomas Wentworth Higginson, "the fighting young Unitarian Parson of Worcester," in a letter, as follows:[221]

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 go." Most persons will scan this proposal with grave suspicion, it bears so prominently the brand of the faker; but it will create no surprise in the minds of those who are familiar with Brown's criminal conduct while in commercial life, and with his career of murder and robbery and association with thieves in Kansas.

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:

Mr. Stearns, too, was deeply impressed with his "sagacity, courage, and strong integrity," He had him dine with him at his home on Sunday, January 11th. Brown sought, on this occasion, to advance his personal fortunes by discrediting Charles Robinson and other Free-State leaders. Measured by his standard they were a collection of incompetents. He exalted Martin F. Conway as the best of them, but characterized him as "lacking in force." Naturally, if the best of them lacked force, there was an emergency to get Brown back to the Territory as speedily as possible. It became clear to Mr. Stearns's mind that it was the general incompetency and inefficiency of the men in control of affairs in Kansas, their cowardice and consequent inability to "protect" the settlers, that impelled Brown to come East and raise money to equip a force to protect them. He therefore determined "to do everything in his power to get him the arms and money he desired."

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."[222]

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 $5,000, cash. But this committee had taken pains to inform itself, through its general agent, Mr. Arny, with reference to conditions existing in Kansas. The directors, therefore, were not nearly so susceptible as were the more impulsive people of the Massachusetts Committee. They wanted to know something about the nature of the project which they were being asked to finance, and hoped that Brown would make a more specific and definite declaration. They wanted to know what the cost of the equipment, for the defenders he talked about, would amount to, and called for a list of the articles which he needed, with an estimate of the cost of each; and wanted to know what he intended to do with the company after it was organized. And then they asked another very relevant question: what he intended to do with the five thousand dollars he wanted them to give him. Brown's scheme was a personal matter, and to have answered these questions, and others that would have, logically, followed, would have caused him some embarrassment. He therefore denied their right to inquire into the privacy of his affairs. He wanted five thousand dollars flat; with no questions asked; and rising to the height of the occasion, put on a bold front, and refused to be interrogated. He said:[223]

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 upon the committee for five hundred dollars at any time. But he received no part of it, until he showed, by his actions, that he intended to return to Kansas.

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:

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."[225] Brown was keenly disappointed and deeply humiliated by the actions of the National Committee; and in a letter to Mr. William Barnes, of Albany, April 3d, gave expression to his resentment. He said:

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:[227]

Mr. Redpath states that Brown then came forward and read his speech, "in a clear ringing tone," as follows:[228]