Every man's duty for at least twenty-four hours had been carefully assigned him. Three men—Owen Brown, Merriam, and Barclay Coppoc, were ordered to remain at the house and guard the arms. All the rest were to proceed, as soon as it was dark, silently to Harper's Ferry, their weapons kept out of sight. Two men were to step aside before the bridge over the Potomac was reached, and tear down the telegraph wire. Two men were to seize and hold the ferry watchman, and two others to remain on guard on the Potomac bridge and two on the Shenandoah bridge until morning. Two were to occupy the fire engine-house in the heart of the town, while Hazlett and others were to capture the United States armory, Stephens, with mien, was to go out into the country and capture Colonel Lewis Washington, a descendant of George Washington's brother, free his negroes, seize as much of his property as was
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