Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume III.djvu/346

340 BROWN conveyed into Kansas. In this enterprise one of the owners of the slaves was killed. An unprecedented excitement followed. Not only was a large reward offered for Brown's arrest, but the more moderate free-state men hastened to disavow any sympathy with his daring act. The territory became too hot for him, and he started early in January, 1859, for the north, accompanied by four white companions and the liberated negroes. Pursued by a party of 30 men, subsequently increased to 42, ho made a stand in a deserted log cabin, whence, having provided for the safety of the women and chil- dren under his charge, he issued forth with sev- en male companions to do battle with the ene- my. The latter precipitately fled, with the ex- ception of four men, who were at once made prisoners. Brown subsequently took the slaves into Iowa, whence in the middle of March he conveyed them safely to Canada. He now began in earnest his preparations for the inva- sion of Virginia. In the latter part of June he appeared in Hagerstown, Md., where he rep- resented himself to be a farmer named Smith from western New York, in search of a cheap farm adapted to wool-growing. He finally hired for a few months an unoccupied farm in Virginia, about six miles from Harper's Ferry, which he occupied with several of his party early in July. Others joined him from time to time, including three of his sons, until the force numbered 22 persons, of whom 17 were white men and the remainder negroes. Boxes of arms, ammunition, and other supplies which had been shipped to Chambersburg, Pa., the previous year, were gradually removed to the farm in Virginia, without exciting the suspi- cions of the neighbors. In selecting this place for the first attack Brown had for his immediate object the capture of the United States arsenal at Harper's Ferry, where were usually stored from 100,000 to 200,000 stand of arms. This building with its contents once in his posses- sion, he expected to rally to his support the slave population of the neighborhood, and, when his force was sufficiently recruited and equipped, to convey them into the free states, or, if that should prove impossible, to retire to the mountains and inaugurate a general servile war. The night of Oct. 24 was originally fixed for the attack upon the arsenal, but at a council called by Brown on Sunday, the 16th, it was determined to begin operations that very even- ing. The presence of so large a party of men in the neighborhood with no ostensible object had begun to arouse the suspicion of the Virginians, and further delay was considered dangerous. About 10 o'clock on Sunday night Brown and his men entered the village of Harper's Ferry, and, having extinguished the lights on the streets, took possession of the arsenal, overpowering and making prisoners the three watchmen who formed the sole guard of the building. The watchman at the bridge across the Potomac was next captured, and the railroad train from the west, which arrived there shortly after 1 A. M. on the 17th, was stopped. During the night the houses of Col. Washington and other citizens in the neighborhood were visited and stripped of whatever arms they contained, the owners were imprisoned in the arsenal, and their slaves were freed. At daylight on the 17th the train was allowed to proceed toward Balti- more, Brown freely informing every one who questioned, him that his object in seizing the arsenal was to free the slaves, and that he acted " by the authority of God Almighty." As the morning advanced he gathered in prisoners, principally from among the male citizens who appeared upon the streets and the workmen who approached the arsenal to resume their daily avocations. By 8 o'clock the number exceeded 60. Heywood, a negro porter at the railroad depot, was ordered by Brown's follow- ers to join them. He refused, and attempting to escape was shot dead. The citizens had by this time begun to recover from the stupor into which the audacity of Brown's attack had plunged them. A desultory firing was opened upon the arsenal, and several persons were killed and wounded upon either side, including the may or and two other prominent citizens, and one of Brown's sons. But until noon Brown virtually held possession of the town. Up to that time his force had been increased only by the accession of six or eight negroes, who were compelled by threats to join him. As the day advanced, opposing forces gathered around him. Militia from the neighborhood inarched into the town, and the captors of the arsenal soon found themselves closely 'besieged in the building. Of the two insurgents guarding the bridge, one was killed and one captured. Five men who occupied the rifle works were driven out, and all were either killed or captured. The arsenal was now commanded on all sides by the armed Virginians, who poured cease- less volleys upon it, which were returned by the garrison. So greatly were the attacking forces incensed by the shooting of the mayor and other popular citizens that when Aaron D. Stevens, one of Brown's most trusted fol- lowers, was sent out with a flag of truce, he was instantly shot down, receiving six balls in his body ; and Thompson, the prisoner cap- tured at the bridge, was put to death. By nightfall of the 17th the arsenal was com- pletely invested by the militia, and Brown re- tired, with such of his prisoners as had not escaped, to the engine house, an attack upon which he repulsed with a loss of two killed and six wounded to the assailants. Soon after this the firing ceased for the day. The situ- ation was then desperate for Brown. His force had dwindled to three uninjured white men besides himself, and a few negroes from the neighborhood. The remainder were killed or mortally wounded, with the exception of half a dozen who had been sent out in the morning to liberate slaves and could not rejoin their chief. The latter nevertheless displayed