Osawatomie Notebook--
Popular Culture Has Misrepresented John Brown!

by Grady Atwater

Of the twelve bonafide
images we have of John
Brown, only one shows
him wearing a beard

There are many misconceptions about John Brown. John Brown’s popular image is of him sporting a long flowing beard, but he only grew the famous beard in 1858 as a disguise due to multiple Missouri and federal arrest warrants out for him. Before 1858, Brown was clean shaven.

Raymond Massey as Brown in
"Santa Fe Trail" (1940)--
one of the worst and most
influential cultural
representations 

Indeed, it is ironic that Brown’s attempt at disguise became the image he is primarily known for, so much so that Brown was forced to cut his beard down to an inch long when he raided Harpers Ferry, Va., in 1859. Movies and television programs always portray Brown as having the long, flowing beard in Kansas and at Harpers Ferry, but this, like many other realities about John Brown, are often erroneously portrayed in movies and television.

John Brown is also often thought to have been over 6 feet tall, when in reality he was 5-foot, 9-inches tall. The reason for this conclusion was that John Brown was much taller than most people in the 1850s, and he was commonly described as being very tall by his contemporaries. In the modern mind, “very tall” means over 6 feet tall. He was tall by mid-19th century standards but was of average height by modern standards.

This 20th century postcard reflects the image
 of Brown as an angry, violent man

Movies and television often portray John Brown as in a constant state of emotional upheaval, constantly making speeches and devoid of any level-headed thought. The reality is that John Brown was very cool and calm under pressure and was more apt to offer concrete solutions to problems than making long, rambling, dramatic speeches in a crisis situation. Brown’s cool-headed nature in a battle was one reason that Free State advocates followed him, and he was much different than the manic leader that movies and television portray him as.

Brown did not force his family's
support--to the contrary, they were
"all in" on his antislavery purposes,
and paid dearly for it.

John Brown also was not as prone to violence as he is often portrayed. Brown was violent only when he deemed it to be necessary and effective, and most of the time, he relied on sarcasm and debate to address the slavery issue with pro-slavery advocates. The reason that this reality is often glossed over in books, movies and television is that it does not make for good drama nor action scenes, and it does not feed into the popular image of John Brown.

John Brown’s family is often thought to have followed him due to Brown’s domineering personality and actions, but in reality, Brown’s wife and children stood beside him and his abolitionist crusade by choice and voluntary loyalty.

Brown did not force his wife and children to make the sacrifices they did for him out of fear of incurring Brown’s wrath, but because they shared his abolitionist beliefs, and they were willing to stand up beside Brown of their own free wills.

Grady Atwater is the site administrator
of the John Brown Museum and
State Historic Site in
Osawatomie, Kan.

John Brown is often misrepresented in movies and television, which commonly pander to commonly held misconceptions about a man who changed the course of American history, and it is vital to know the real John Brown, not the movie and television version.

Source: Grady Atwater, "Popular culture often misrepresents the real John Brown Story."  Osawatomie Graphic [Osawatomie, Kan.], 21 Oct. 2015.

Milestones and Landmarks--

A Decade of John Brown Abolitionist

It is worth noting the ten-year anniversary of the publication of David Reynolds’ John Brown Abolitionist (Knopf, 2005), which was reviewed in the New York Times Book Review by Barbara Ehrenreich on April 17, 2005.  As a scholar and biographer of the controversial abolitionist, I believe that Reynolds’ treatment of Brown has proven a landmark biography, not only for its thoughtful and studied treatment of the abolitionist, but also for its clarity and fairness, something often lacking in discussions on Brown.  Indeed, I would suggest that Reynolds has given the 21^st century a far more fitting paradigm for understanding John Brown than what was given to the 20^th century.

W.E.B. DuBois

The first and perhaps most thoughtful biography of Brown in the 20^th century was written by W.E.B. DuBois (1909), whose lyrical style and political perception of Brown’s significance was immediately dashed by his wealthy white liberal associate, Oswald Garrison Villard. Villard was the grandson of abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison and one of the founders of the NAACP, and also owned The New York Evening Post and The Nation at the time DuBois’s biography was published.  

Oswald G. Villard

Unfortunately for DuBois, Villard was preparing his own Brown biography, and did not rise above using his publications to attack his work.  Likewise, when Villard’s biography was published in 1910, he similarly used his influence to elevate his own biography as objective and definitive.  In fact, despite being better researched (Villard could afford to pay someone to research for him), his biography was stiff and dense, a book for today's researchers, not readers.  Worse, its friendly fire on Brown, based on ideology (Villard was a pacifist) and family interest (Brown got more credit that Garrison in historical memory), left the abolitionist’s reputation vulnerable to less appreciative writers, especially those looking to redeem the South and render the abolitionist a problematic figure in history.  This was especially true of his one-sided reading of the so-called "Pottawatomie massacre," which gave ammunition to hostile writers and journalists for the rest of the century and beyond.

A number of biographers of Brown in the 20^th century endeavored to present a more balanced portrayal of the abolitionist.   Most notable is Stephen B. Oates, To Purge This Land With Blood, which often was greeted as the most objective treatment of Brown, and likewise considered the definitive biography.  However,  in retrospect, despite its academic sufficiency (Brown aficionado Boyd Stutler supported and approved it), Oates' work is somewhat sterile and certainly fails to assess key aspects of Brown’s story properly, from religion to the Pottawatomie killings.  Nevertheless, Oates’ biography reigned supreme for the rest of the 20^th century, perhaps because little other attention was paid to John Brown by biographers.   In fact, a better book than Oates' was interestingly written by the playwright and researcher, Barrie Stavis, called John Brown: The Sword and the Word.  In fact, Boyd Stutler seems to have preferred Stavis' little book, commending it as having far less to correct or criticize than any other book he had seen--ostensibly including Oates' book, which came out the same year (1970). Unfortunately, the Stavis book seems to have been largely overlooked by Brown scholars and students.

More promising was The Legend of John Brown by Richard O. Boyer, the first installment of a proposed two-volume project, which came out a few years after the books by Oates and Stavis.  As a profile writer for The New Yorker, Boyer’s leftist politics and journalistic skills provided a hopeful opportunity to view Brown with both fairness and feeling, especially within the context of a nation dominated by proslavery interests and racism.  Unfortunately, Boyer died after the first volume was published by Alfred Knopf  (1973).  His half-told story, perhaps is too heavily laden with colorful profiles of Brown’s contemporaries; but it is better written and conveys fact and feeling beyond Oates’ succinct biography. Still, the story was both big and unfinished, and could not provide a counterpoint to the popular 20^th century narrative of Brown as a killer and national trouble-maker. (Also see "The Stutler-Boyer Disconnection")

David Reynolds,
Springfield, MA, 2009

While David Reynolds was not the first biographer of Brown in the 21^st century, his work proved to be everything that could have been hoped for in Boyer’s second volume and then some.  Whether or not one agrees with all of Reynolds’ narrative, his John Brown Abolitionist proved to be both watershed and landmark in the study.  It was more than fitting that the Reynolds biography would be published by Knopf, which not only closed the loop left by Boyer’s incomplete project, but provided a substantial, studied, and beautifully written work by a skilled researcher and writer.  A deft and insightful scholar of 19^th century society, Reynolds folds literary, political, social, and religious themes into his book in a manner that none of his predecessors have done, especially after Villard had so boasted of his work and so belittled that of DuBois.

David Reynolds
(DeCaro photo, 2011)

Reynolds’ biography is a watershed work because he was able to read Brown with a clarity that was lacking in the 20^th century, when the abolitionist was consistently skewed and maligned by professional historians with little or no basis. Whether positive or negative, no prior biography has so impacted readers as to turn the flow of the historical narrative more correctly in a direction suited to Brown’s worthy profile as a religious progressive and forerunner of civil rights.  

Reynolds not only debunked baseless and unfair characterizations of Brown, but he replaced them with a reasoned argument for an appreciative understanding of the abolitionist.  Differences notwithstanding, it is clear that even a decade after the publication of John Brown Abolitionist, David Reynolds single-handedly has reset the historical narrative of Brown for the future.  His understanding of Brown as the man who “killed slavery, sparked the Civil War, and seeded Civil Rights” has provided us with a sound, studied, and eloquent reading of a man who, in a real sense, is still ahead of our nation’s quest for racial justice.

Take Note!

Steven Lubet on John Anthony Copeland: An Author's Reading in Evanston

If you live in the area of Evanston, Illinois, you have a great opportunity to hear Steven Lubet read from his book,  The “Colored Hero” of Harper’s Ferry: John Anthony Copeland and the War Against Slavery, just published last month by Cambridge University Press.   Steve will be reading at Evanston's Bookends and Beginnings, on Thursday, October 22, from 7-8:30 P.M.  Bookends and Beginnings is located in the alley on the west side of the 1700 block of Sherman Avenue, in the former location of Bookman’s Alley.   If you are able to attend, don't miss hearing this notable legal historian and ethicist read from one of the most exciting and well greeted contributions to the field of antebellum African American history and John Brown studies, an in depth study of one of Brown's unsung black raiders.

Steven Lubet is the Edna B. and Denyfed H. Williams Memorial Professor of Law at Northwestern University, and is a leading authority on African American resistance to slavery and notable trials in U.S. history.  He has written notable works like Murder in Tombstone: The Forgotten Trial of Wyatt Earp,  Fugitive Justice: Runaways, Rescuers, and Slavery on Trial, and more recently, an unprecedented study of Harper's Ferry raider, John Cook entitled, John Brown's Spy: The Adventurous Life and Tragic Confession of John E. Cook (Yale Univ. Press, 2012).

Lubet's work on Brown's raiders, Cook and (now) Copeland, are tremendous contributions to the study, offering needful focus on the men who followed the Old Man to Harper's Ferry.  This book on Copeland provides a treasure of information and insight into his life and background, and I highly recommend it.  Here are some reviews furnished by the publisher:

"In this vivid account of John Anthony Copeland and his times, Steven Lubet has recovered from unjust obscurity the story of a young man of deep passion and moral commitment. With both narrative verve and a telling eye for the dramatic, he has also given us an intimate portrait of the competing worlds of slavery and abolitionist activism on the cusp of the Civil War. The 'Colored Hero' of Harpers Ferry is a significant addition to our understanding of the brave but tragic saga of John Brown and his men." 
Fergus M. Bordewich, author of America's Great Debate: Henry Clay, Stephen A. Douglas, and the Compromise that Preserved the Union

"The 'Colored Hero' of Harpers Ferry is a well-researched and highly readable work of scholarship. Steven Lubet chronicles in fine detail the life and tragic death of a 'colored' participant in John Brown's ill-fated raid on the arsenal at Harpers Ferry. The author brings the raid, its characters, and its aftermath to life in vivid detail, never abandoning the thread that ties the idealistic young John Anthony Copeland to the antebellum movement to abolish slavery." 
Ron Soodalter, author of Hanging Captain Gordon: The Life and Trial of an American Slave Trader, and The Slave Next Door: Human Trafficking and Slavery in America Today

"In this well-researched and well-written book, Steven Lubet tells the tale of John Anthony Copeland, one of only five black men to join John Brown in his attack on Harpers Ferry. By focusing on one of the men, and on a black man, Lubet has given us a fresh and fascinating perspective on the months just before the Civil War." 
Walter Stahr, Presidential Fellow, Chapman University

"Steven Lubet is a master storyteller. In this book, he tells the story of a little-known well-educated black man, John Anthony Copeland, who joined John Brown at Harpers Ferry. The insurrection is told from the perspective of Copeland, a pious abolitionist who thought he was there to rescue enslaved people and escort them to freedom as he had helped runaways to Canada before … Copeland was one of only five black men who were recruited to John Brown's cause, though he only knew of Brown's true purpose shortly before the shooting began. From Lubet's careful reading of original material, he is able to piece together a thoroughly engrossing tale. A story to be read and remembered." 
Lea VanderVelde, Josephine Witte Professor of Law, University of Iowa College of Law

Best wishes to you Steve!

John Brown in "The Civil War”: Historical Error Now Enhanced in High-Definition

In September 1990, over forty million people reportedly viewed “The Civil War,” a documentary series on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) produced by Ken Burns.  The series proved enthralling, with its brilliant use of original images blended with moving music and cinematography, actors providing voice-overs of leading historical figures in the story (most notably Sam Waterston as Abraham Lincoln), as well as scholarly commentary.  Burns was already known for his notable documentary on the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge (1981), but the impact of his Civil War series was unprecedented.  

Since its release, “The Civil War“ has won numerous awards and has become a paradigm for documentary filmmakers, and Burns himself has been lauded as one of the most important filmmakers of this generation.   Even Apple named the “Ken Burns” screen saver after the technique that was made famous by his celebrated Civil War series.

To commemorate the impact of the series, PBS produced “Ken Burns and the Civil War," a twenty-fifth anniversary documentary that was aired last month, and likewise broadcasted the entire documentary this month in a newly restored, high-definition version.   One PBS affiliate observes that the series has been widely praised, even across the political spectrum, from the New York Times, which called it a “masterpiece,” to conservative George F. Will, who declared that no better use of TV has ever been made than “The Civil War.”  

"More Americans Get Their History from Ken Burns Than Any Other Source"

As noted on the PBS website, historian Stephen Ambrose once observed, "more Americans get their history from Ken Burns than any other source."  Although this speaks highly of Burns' impact, many historians and biographers may question whether this is good for the study of history, particularly when problematic representations may end up being widely disseminated in television documentaries.  In Amusing Ourselves to Death (1985), Neil Postman once noted that the rational argument that is so essential to print typography is lost in the medium of television.  To what extent this applies to television documentaries is not clear, but it rightly might be asked, for instance, if Burns has properly instructed the nation as to the real meaning and significance of the Civil War, or if he has presented an impressive but selective series of images and voices without the critical appraisal and rational discourse that historians bring to their work.

Illustration by the late Harry J. Dierken

Certainly the inadequacy of Burns’ history lesson is apparent in the first part of “The Civil War,” where the abolitionist John Brown is presented as something of a misanthrope who became important to history by accident.  In “1861 The Cause,” Burns uses his multimedia and dramatic approach to present a moving story on the screen, but in doing so embeds Brown in a problematic reading that solemnizes a great deal of error in the name of history.  In contrast to the more studied treatment that Brown has received from historians since the beginning of the 21st century, Burns frames the abolitionist in a hackneyed, erroneous narrative that conveniently also presents the voice of Abraham Lincoln as the moral compass of the story.

"1861 The Cause": A Hackneyed, Erroneous Treatment of Brown

Lincoln is romantically described as
"the rough man from Illinois" . . .

From the onset, even the descriptive language employed by Burns signifies the misrepresentation and bias of this segment.  President Lincoln thus is “the rough man from Illinois,” a romantic phrase alluding to his legendary origin on the prairie, although Lincoln actually was a learned and savvy politician with real political connections despite his humble beginnings.  In contrast, John Brown is first described as “a strange, gaunt man,” terms that have no basis in any contemporary description, even by those rendered by his Virginia captors.  Indeed, the only thing that white people found strange about him was his intense devotion to black equality—a view not held by Lincoln.  

. . . but Brown is
first described as
"an inept businessman"

Likewise, Burns’ narrative continues by describing Brown as “an inept businessman that had failed twenty times in six states and defaulted on his debts.”  To this gross misrepresentation, Burns adds the discordant remark: “Yet he believed himself God’s agent on earth.”  As a biographer of Brown, I have found the frequent reference to his business failings to be an empty charge often used by critics in order to detract from his character as an antislavery figure. While Brown certainly experienced financial difficulties in the 1830s and early 1840s, an informed account of his early career does not so much reveal an inept businessman as much as an unfortunate entrepreneur caught in the economic crises of that era. 

Brown as Businessman: Not Exciting, But A Better Assessment

The time of Brown’s financial difficulties was a period of tribulation for many others too.  In the antebellum era there was no national bank and none of the supports and resources that are available to the business community today. If there were such a thing as the limited liability corporation in Brown’s day, his personal story would have been much less agonizing.  Furthermore, in the 1820s and early 1830s, Brown actually was fairly successful as a frontier businessman in northwestern Pennsylvania.  When he returned to his home state of Ohio to engage in land speculation in the later 1830s, he fell prey—like many others—to the economic downturns that afflicted states in the west, and became overly dependent on credit.  The lawsuits, debts, and financial difficulties that plagued him into the 1840s involved properties and real estate speculation that ultimately brought him to bankruptcy in 1842.

What Burns overlooks in his cynical reading is that by the later 1840s, Brown had made an impressive comeback, having distinguished himself as one of the nation’s leading experts in fine sheep and wool—so much so that his name, activities, and correspondence can be found in a number of agricultural journals of the day.  His only other business difficulty came as a result of affiliating himself with the wealthy but incompetent Ohioan, Simon Perkins Jr. of Akron.  With Perkins’ support, Brown oversaw the expansion and success of the Perkins flocks in Ohio.  In 1846, the partners embarked upon a wool commission operation in Massachusetts that was intended to better the condition of woolgrowers, then under the heel of powerful manufacturers in New England.

To be sure, "the firm of Perkins & Brown" lasted only three years, but it did not fail because Brown was an “inept businessman.” Rather, the demise of the wool commission operation resulted from two more significant causes: the woolgrowers primarily represented (from Ohio, western Pennsylvania, and western Virginia) were not yet unified or disciplined sufficiently to organize against the powerful manufacturers; in contrast, the manufacturers were well aligned and had sufficient resources to hold off from buying Perkins & Brown wools.  

Based on reading the firm's correspondence, Boyd Stutler believed there was even evidence that the commission's operation in Springfield was infiltrated and undermined by an agent of the manufacturers.  When Brown made a last, desperate effort to find a market overseas with English and Belgian firms, he found that these European manufacturers were just as uncooperative, preferring to fall back on their own colonial products rather than pay for Perkins & Brown's North American wools.

By 1849, the partners were thus forced to close, but it was primarily a loss to Perkins, not Brown, who had primarily brought expertise and labor to the venture.  Historians have never focused on the fact that Perkins was far more the "inept businessman" by all accounts.  Following the closing of the firm, Perkins went on to lose his shirt in a bad railroad deal and had to be bailed out by his brothers.  Brown did not quite break even from the venture, but he actually sustained a sterling reputation among businessmen despite these difficulties, and remained the agricultural manager of the Perkins farm and flocks for several years, until he finally relocated his family back to the Adirondacks in the mid-1850s.  

Burns followed the least informed historical narrative, preferring rhetoric rather than research when it came to the controversial abolitionist

The actual story of John Brown's early life not only contradicts the "inept businessman" notion, but it also shows that these misrepresentations found their way far too easily into “The Civil War.”  As far as the best research and biography are concerned, Burns followed the least informed historical narrative, preferring rhetoric rather than research when it came to the controversial abolitionist.   

"God's Agent on Earth"

Brown at prayer, from John S. Curry's
illustration for the 1948 edition of
John Brown's Body

Not surprisingly, Burns’ narrative then alleges that despite being a complete business failure, “yet [Brown] believed himself God’s agent on earth.”  Taken without context and appreciation of Brown’s typical evangelical belief in divine providence, Burns thus conveys the notion that the abolitionist was a delusional religious fanatic—yet another fraudulent notion that has plagued his story despite the facts.  To the contrary, Brown never claimed he was God’s “agent” in the manner of religious enthusiasts like Joan of Arc.  A traditional Protestant, Brown simply believed in divine providence, and that men and women may be raised up for various roles in service to God’s kingdom.  That he believed himself called and equipped to live and die for black freedom was far more similar to his many evangelical counterparts, who likewise believed themselves called to be pastors or missionaries in foreign lands.  Brown nowhere said he was the only one called by God to oppose slavery, only that he believed himself an instrument of God. To present John Brown’s religious self-conception otherwise is to deal in caricatures of religious fanaticism that have no basis in his biography.

Brown and the So-called Pottawatomie Massacre 

Perhaps inevitably, the Burns narrative also recounts the 1856 Pottawatomie killings in Kansas, in which the abolitionist and his sons “hacked five proslavery men to death with broadswords, all in the name of defeating Satan and his legions.”  It is almost impossible to discuss John Brown without the Pottawatomie incident, although invariably those who press these killings on the narrative tend to overlook the political realities and necessities that forced his hand. Like so many 20th century narrators, Burns misrepresents the incident by suggesting that the five men killed were targeted by the Browns simply because they were proslavery.  This is quite incorrect, since the five men actually were collaborating with invading proslavery terrorists, and were plotting against the Browns because of their antislavery and pro-black convictions.

[Burns suggests] to viewers that Brown had some kind of delusional determination to wipe out the devil

Furthermore, proslavery thugs had already murdered five free state men before the Pottawatomie killings, and the Kansas territory had been invaded by hordes of proslavery terrorists without the intervention of the proslavery government in Washington.  The Browns were cornered and had no reason to think they would be spared, especially since proslavery invaders had just attacked the free state town of Lawrence.  Brown had neither the recourse to seek protection from the government, nor the hope that free state allies would rise up in self-defense.  Determined to protect his family, he obtained the names of the local proslavery men involved in the conspiracy.  After investigating the matter for himself, Brown concluded that a handful of the most determined proslavery guides and supporters would have to die in order to avert a proslavery assault.  Although the illegal proslavery onslaught was renewed that summer, the Browns' preemptive strike at Pottawatomie in May 1856 successfully derailed the impending invasion, undoubtedly sparing the lives of Brown and his sons. None of these facts are considered in the Burns’ series, and instead it is suggested to viewers that Brown had some kind of delusional determination to wipe out the devil.

Misrepresenting the Harper's Ferry Raid

As to Brown's Harper’s Ferry raid of 1859, “The Civil War” narrative is hardly better, since it continues the problematic notion that despite Brown’s expectations “the slaves did not rise up.”  The alleged unresponsiveness of enslaved people in Virginia is one of the most stubborn errors to plague the conventional account of the raid, largely based upon the claims of slaveholders as conveyed through proslavery newspapers like the New York Herald.  To the contrary, the evidence shows that Brown and his men received a healthy response from a good many local slaves.  Indeed, one of his surviving black raiders, Osborne Anderson, actually wrote afterward that there was a good bit of rejoicing and enthusiasm among enslaved people regarding Brown’s invasion.  Although Brown delayed to the point of that he could not withdraw into the nearby Appalachians, many local blacks were so inspired by his effort that they persisted in running away in significant numbers.

Ed Bearss: No John Brown scholar, but he
got the last word on Brown's significance

Overall, “The Civil War” grossly misrepresents and distorts the record of John Brown, including the erroneous conclusion of military historian Ed Bearrs, who dismisses the abolitionist as a “failure in everything in life.”  One might agree with Bearrs that Brown was “the single most important factor . . . in bringing on the Civil War.”  But for Ken Burns to include such a cynical and limited conclusion suggests bias, not sound historical analysis.  

Indeed, "The Civil War" not only presents a sloppy, unreliable reading of Brown, but it also makes selective use of Abraham Lincoln’s words, presenting him as the true abolitionist and antislavery hero of the story—even though it is a matter of history that Lincoln consistently subordinated black rights to white priorities in law, politics, and personal prejudice.

"The Civil War" not only presents a sloppy, unreliable reading of John Brown, but also makes selective use of Abraham Lincoln’s words, presenting him as the true abolitionist and antislavery hero of the story--even though it is a matter of history that Lincoln consistently subordinated black rights to white priorities. . . .

"A Horse Thief and a Murderer"

When Burns was writing the screenplay for “The Civil War,” he contacted Larry Lawrence, the founder of the John Brown Society in New York City.  The filmmaker had heard that Lawrence had previously been in conversation with Leo Hurwitz, the veteran documentary filmmaker known for his work on the Spanish Civil War, the labor movement, and post-World War II racism.  As Lawrence recalls, Burns actually was far more interested in what he could find out about Hurwitz than gain a greater understanding of John Brown. This was interesting to Lawrence, who found that Burns was decidedly hostile toward the abolitionist—quite in contrast to Hurwitz, who died in 1981 while working on a favorable John Brown documentary.  According to Lawrence, Burns was quite convinced that Brown was little more than a horse thief and a murderer.  While input from Lawrence apparently tempered the filmmaker's prejudice, his presentation of Brown—now enhanced in high definition for a new generation of viewers—remains a serious problem for the many who will continue to "get their history" from television documentaries.-LD

THE SECOND HARPERS FERRY RAID

THE FATE OF JOHN BROWN’S MEN

by H. Scott Wolfe

PART 3

“State of New York, County of Essex 

Orin Grant Libby, State University, Madison, Wisconsin being duly sworn deposes that he did this fifth day of August, 1899 deliver, sealed, a packet containing the remains of...the party of John Brown, killed at Harpers Ferry on or about October 16, 1859...to A. Fortune & Co., North Elba, N.Y., undertakers of said town.” (31)

Dr. Ezra Spencer McClellan, physician and Chief Officer of the Saranac Lake Board of Health, was present for the formal delivery of the exhumed remains. Libby immediately conveyed his wish to the Doctor that the human remnants be examined, and a true enumeration of the skeletal material be obtained. McClellan was amenable to the request and, with Libby observing, the contents of the trunk were analyzed that same day.

The men carefully removed the disinterred matter, separating the extraneous elements -- the buttons, a fragment of red shirt, the heavy wool of the winding sheets. Dr. McClellan then conducted a scientific scrutiny of the long bones. He concluded that the remains of eight men were present. Libby scribbled the findings upon a small note pad: “5 sets of femurs from Eastern Grave...From Western Grave were taken two & one half sets...I am afraid on(e) femur remains in the grave.”

 "Libby's Femur Notes"
(Libby Coll., U of N. Dakota)   

The investigators then turned to an attempt to discern the individual identities of the exhumed raiders. Dr. McClellan utilized Libby as a human scale, pressing the femurs to the Professor’s leg in order to properly estimate the relative heights of the occupants of the graves. Libby, in his notes, speculated upon the contents of the Western burial box: “They are Leeman’s remains & one leg of Kagi’s. The other was probably shot to pieces and has not been saved. The other man was small & has not been identified, but Dr. McClellan identified him as about 6 ft. in height, 3 in. shorter than Leeman.”

The examination completed, Libby quickly sketched the “peculiar stitch still plainly visible in the cloth” separated from the skeletal matter. The remains were then resealed, and Featherstonhaugh was promptly informed of the results of the body count. The Doctor responded to Libby, who he still “regretfully” had not identified to the newspapers: “You deserve all the credit for this affair. If there are remains of 8 bodies the 8th is Kagi’s -- No, I am not certain that he was carried away. Tradition, published accounts and living witnesses tell me he was...(I) have not seen one adverse criticism but have had many complimentary things said.” (32)

The Town of North Elba, through popular subscription, presented a handsome, silver-handled casket to receive the remains for the formal reburial. A silver plate, affixed to its surface, carried the names of the men within. Until funeral arrangements were concluded, this casket, draped with an American flag, lay in the Town Hall. There was supreme irony here. For in Article 46 of John Brown’s Provisional Constitution, after vowing no intention to overthrow the existing State and National governments, he wrote: “And our flag shall be the same that our Fathers fought under in the Revolution.” Those once deemed traitors, now slept beneath that banner. (33)

Dr. Featherstonhaugh had chosen Miss Katherine Elizabeth McClellan -- photographic artist, authoress and daughter of the Saranac Lake physician -- as Chairman of the “Committee of Arrangements” for the reinterment. Following the exhumations, he had written her: “Yesterday I raised all the remains, and they have started on their way to you in charge of Mr. Libby...(He) seems to be rather peculiar and erratic, but enthusiastic over this matter. He will want the bones sneaked into the ground and nothing said about it, but I want some decent ceremonies to attend the burial that will make the matter memorable and historic.”

“This astounding proposition,” wrote Miss McClellan, “involving secrecy and risk...appealed to my imagination.” It was her firm desire that the burial rites be truly national in their character. The potential guest list demonstrated this fact, invitations being extended to such luminaries as President McKinley, Vice President Hobart and New York Governor Theodore Roosevelt. Secretary of State Elihu Root personally provided his consent to utilize a military detachment from the nearby Federal barracks at Plattsburgh. Said Miss McClellan: “I determined that no obstacle should deter me from giving these heroes the grand military funeral which would be a fitting climax for their sacrifice.” A date of August 28th was set for the ceremonies. (34)

"The Mature Dr. Libby"  

(Libby Coll. U of N. Dakota) 

One who would not be present for the rites was Orin Grant Libby. The young scholar, his stirring task now completed, departed Lake Placid on August 7th, after spending his final night at the farm of John Brown. This “enthusiastic pedestrian” hiked nearly twenty miles through the scenic Adirondacks, before boarding a train for Albany and the continuation of his research tour. It had been a unique adventure, to be long remembered throughout a conspicuous academic career as “North Dakota’s most distinguished history scholar.” (35)

*****

As word of the pending funeral arrangements spread, efforts were begun to allow two additional soldiers of the Provisional Army to join their fallen comrades. In Eagleswood Grove, on a commercial property in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, lay the mortal remains of two of the raiders hanged in March of 1860:

Aaron Stevens  

(Library of Congress)

AARON STEVENS...The cashiered dragoon. The Fort Leavenworth escapee and rugged partisan who, as “Colonel Charles Whipple,” led a fierce guerrilla band amidst the anarchy of Kansas Territory. “We are in the right, and will resist the universe,” he warned those who would oppose him. Desperately wounded at Harpers Ferry, he survived only to face trial and execution. “It is hard to look back on those that are gone,” he penned from his Charlestown cell, “but, thank God, they died for liberty, and ere the 17th of March I expect to meet them in the spirit land.” (36)

Albert Hazlett  

(Library of Congress)

and ALBERT HAZLETT...The unpolished gem. He “did not impress you specially as striving to climb the golden stairs,” a comrade remembered. Eluding the militia death trap, he was captured in his native Pennsylvania and extradited for trial. “Do not grieve about the past, but take all things for the best,” he wrote on the eve of his execution. “I think, as you do, that my fate is hard and very unjust. But I shall try to meet it like a man.” To his death, he solemnly insisted he was William H. Harrison --- an innocent man.

Following the hangings, the bodies of Stevens and Hazlett had been shipped to New Jersey -- their point of entry altered because of rumors that an angry mob waited to toss their coffins overboard. Their funeral ceremonies were conducted by members of the “Raritan Bay Union,” a communistic society of staunch abolitionist tendencies. Amidst a tolling of bells, the remains were transported to the Socialist Cemetery -- Stevens placed in a hearse, Hazlett upon a “common farm wagon.” The men “were buried in Virginia coffins, in separate shallow graves, in the midst of a small grove...The company threw evergreens upon the coffins as they filed past.” (38)

Now, during the summer of 1899, these burial sites were threatened. A Perth Amboy tile manufactory coveted the clay the cemetery contained. Some speculated that the remains would be shipped to Kansas for reburial. But, with ceremonies imminent in New York, a new plan was adopted, spearheaded by Brown biographer Richard J. Hinton and E.P. Stevens, nephew of the deceased “Colonel Whipple.” Permission to excavate was obtained, and a physician engaged to measure and identify those buried within. A crew of six men was soon put to work.

The coffins were located at a depth of four feet and, in order to preserve the skeletal remains, several men entered the grave to carefully scrape away the soil. Intact shoes came suddenly into view, and a witness described what followed: “The principal bones of both bodies were found, although the femur of one of Stevens’ legs was broken off...Stevens’ skull was about gone, but Hazlett’s was minus only the face portion. The lower jaw bone of the latter was perfect and every tooth as sound as a dollar.” The clothing was in a decent state of preservation, “the left lapel of (Hazlett’s) black cloth coat was brought up, wet and soggy, but otherwise in good condition.” The workers observed numerous buttons and the gum rubber coat in which the remains of Stevens had been wrapped. Small pieces of this coat, still remarkably elastic, were cut off as souvenirs by those present...”

A large pine box, packed with sawdust and partitioned to separate the two men, was filled with the surviving bones, bits of cloth and leather and the earth taken from the respective body cavities. The box was sealed and immediately prepared for shipment, its label bearing the address:

The John Brown Homestead, North Elba, Essex Co., N.Y.

Care Katherine E. McClellan

   Chairman, Committee (Reinterment) of Arrangements (39)

The dream of Thomas Featherstonhaugh had been realized. Ten members of the Provisional Army of the United States were to be buried alongside their Commander-in-Chief. “I think I have done a good work,” said the Doctor, “and, so far from feeling ashamed of it, I am rather proud of my part in giving these poor bones decent burial. So you may quote me as the chief conspirator and as the one responsible for the grave robbing.” Wrote the daughter of John Brown: “The whole thing from beginning to end is like a romance.” (40)

*****

Your presence is requested at the reinterment services of John Brown’s followers, whose remains have recently been removed from Harpers Ferry, to be placed beside their leader.  The ceremonies will take place on Wednesday, August 30th, at 2 o’clock, P.M. at the John Brown Farm, North Elba, New York...Conveyances will meet all trains. (41)

August 30th, 1899. It was the forty-third anniversary of the Battle of Osawatomie, that Kansas skirmish so crucial to the history, and mythology, of John Brown. The burial date had been deferred for two days, in anticipation of the arrival of Stevens and Hazlett. As midday approached, the box from New Jersey had yet to appear -- so the ceremonies began with only the original eight raiders within the silver-handled casket.

Funeral Pallbearers (Recollections of Seventy
Years by Franklin Sanborn)

The funeral procession, with military escort and preceded by the Saranac Lake Cornet Band, departed the Opera House Block, Lake Placid, at 1:30 P.M. The political notables were absent, but more than one thousand persons, in carriages and afoot, accompanied the hearse to the rustic final home of the Liberator. The heat and dust were oppressive, as they gathered in the shadow of the massive natural boulder which dominates the gravesite.

There was singing, the participants joining in Onward Christian Soldiers, My Country ‘Tis of Thee and, of course, John Brown’s Body.

There was oratory. Episcopal Bishop Henry Potter introduced editor and diplomat Whitelaw Reid, who spoke of the bravery of John Brown’s men. Kansas veteran and propagandist Richard J. Hinton eulogized Brown himself, and then linked “these humble names and memories with those of all who have struggled for the race and its uplifting.”

Funeral Dignitaries, E.P. Stevens, nephew 

of the raider, at right  (Library of Congress)

And there were visions of another ceremony, on a cold December day forty years before, when Joshua Young presided over the funeral of the martyred John Brown. His act of selfless charity had been met with social ostracism and banishment from his Vermont parish. Now, on this steamy August day, a snowy-bearded Reverend Young delivered the principal sermon in honor of the men of Harpers Ferry. He was to recall: “The day was excessively hot, and the great crowd exposed to the burning rays of the hot sun was restless, and speaking was hard. There was not a breath of air from the great mountains, and the flag on the liberty pole drooped as if it were oppressed by the memories which the day revived.”

Joshua Young delivers the Benediction
(Library of Congress)  

The Epps family, "colored," had also lifted their voices at the burial of John Brown. Now, four decades hence, they did the same. As they movingly sang In the Sweet By and By, this family represented the final vestige of the North Elba black colony which had so long ago lured the Browns to the Adirondacks.

Following the Reverend Young’s benediction, thirty-two members of the 26th United States Infantry, Lieutenants Connell and Ball commanding, fired three volleys over the open grave of the soldiers of the Provisional Army of the United States. And then, Taps, that haunting melody composed during the terrible conflict these men had done so much to hasten. (42)

Later that evening, the box containing the remains of Stevens and Hazlett arrived at the burial site. The grave had been left unfilled, and the casket was reopened to receive its final occupants. And the men of the Provisional Army began their final bivouac.

Military Salute (the late Edwin Cotter, Jr.)

*****

Lyman Epps (John Brown Farm,
Lake Placid, N.Y.)

Lake Placid, N.Y.   August 4th, 1938 

Dear Mr. Libby...I have never left this county. I decided to remain here all my life in order that I might be near the grave of John Brown, one of the truest friends our race has ever known. My one wish is that I could remain the caretaker of his grave, but they think I am too old now. I go to his grave as often as I possible can. I shall be glad to hear from you soon, and enclosed you will find my picture. 

Sincerely,  Lyman Epps (43)

======

H. SCOTT WOLFE A native of Waukesha, Wisconsin, H. Scott Wolfe is a 1971 graduate of the University of Montana, where he received a degree in botany. He conducted graduate work at both Montana and the University of Oregon. He conducted research for the U.S. Forest Service as a plant taxonomist, assisted in the preparation of several works on algal taxonomy, and conducted independent research on snow and ice algae in the western United States and Canada. In 1975, Wolfe returned to the Midwest—settling in Galena, illinois, the home of his maternal ancestors, and a Union General named Grant A Civil War enthusiast since childhood, Wolfe has utilized this historic environment to devote himself to researching the antebellum era. His specialty soon became the militant abolitionist John Brown—and the members of Brown’s Provisional Army of the United States. For over two decades he has been assembling biographical materials dealing with over twenty-five of Brown’s “soldiers’—interviewing their descendants, visiting their birthplaces, locating their clandestine hideouts, and unraveling the scenes of their final tragedy at Harpers Ferry. Presently the Historical Librarian for the Galena Public Library District—and “staff historian” of Galena’s DeSoto House Hotel (Illinois’ oldest operating hotel), Wolfe is actively involved in both writing and speaking upon both Civil War and African-American historical topics. Wolfe and his wife Nancy, an author and expert on vintage clothing, carry on a continuing war for storage space.

Notes for Part 3

31. Deposition, sworn August 5, 1899, by Orin G. Libby, before George L. Challis, Notary Public, Essex County, New York, Libby Collection.

 32. Handwritten notes and sketches of Orin G. Libby, August 5, 1899, and Thomas Featherstonhaugh to Orin G. Libby, August 11, 1899, Libby Collection.

33. Provisional Constitution and Ordinances for the People of the United States, photocopy of original printed version once in the possession of Colonel John Thomas Gibson of Charles Town, Virginia (now West Virginia), Author’s Collection.

34. Thomas Featherstonhaugh to Katherine McClellan, July 30, 1899, Adirondack Collection; Katherine E. McClellan, “John Brown’s Body Lies Amouldering in the Adirondacks,” typescript, pp. 10-11, Katherine McClellan Collection, Smith College Archives, Northampton, Massachusetts.

35. George F. Shafer, “Dr. Orin Grant Libby,” North Dakota History, Volume 12, No. 3, July 1945, p. 107.

36. Quoted from Hinton, John Brown and His Men, pp. 497-498.

37. George B, Gill, quoted in Hinton, John Brown and His Men, p. 515; W.H. Harrison (Albert Hazlett) to Anne Brown, ibid., pp. 526-527.

38. Virginia Free Press, April 5, 1860, excerpts reprinted in Clarence B. Stephenson, “Impact of the Slavery Issue on Indiana County, Pennsylvania,” no date, p. 131.

39. Perth Amboy (NJ) Chronicle, August 28, 1899.

40. Thomas Featherstonhaugh to Katherine McClellan, July 30, 1899, Adirondack Collection; Ruth Brown Thompson to Thomas Featherstonhaugh, October 6, 1896, Libby Collection.

41. Invitation to reburial ceremonies addressed to Professor O. G. Libby, dated August 25, 1899, and signed by Katherine E. McClellan, Libby Collection.

42. Ruth Brown Thompson to Thomas Featherstonhaugh, October 19, 1899, Stutler Collection; see also various newspaper reports: Plattsburgh (NY) Press Republican, September 2, 1899, New York World, August 31, 1899, New York Times, August 31, 1899, Charles Town (W.Va.) Spirit of Jefferson, September 5, 1899.

43. Lyman Epps to Orin G. Libby, August 4, 1938, Libby Collection.

SOURCES MANUSCRIPT COLLECTIONS

*Adirondack:Saranac Lake Free Library, Saranac Lake, New York 

*Hinton, Richard Josiah: Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka, Kansas 

*Libby, Orin Grant: Chester Fritz Library, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks 

*McClellan, Katherine E.: Smith College Archives, Northampton, Massachusetts 

*McKim, J. Miller: Cornell University Library, Ithaca, New York 

*Stutler, Boyd B.: West Virginia Department of Culture and History, Charleston, West Virginia

BOOKS AND ARTICLES 

Barry, Joseph. The Strange Story of Harper’s Ferry, With Legends of the Surrounding           County. Martinsburg, West Virginia, 1903. 

Benet, Stephen Vincent. John Brown’s Body. New York, 1954. 

Brandt, Nat. The Town That Started the Civil War. Syracuse, 1990. 

Calendar of Virginia State Papers. Volume XI, Richmond, 1893. 

Douglass, Frederick. Life and Times of Frederick Douglass: His Early Life as a Slave, His              Escape from Bondage, and His Complete History. Avenal, NJ, 1993. 

DuBois, W,E.B. John Brown. New York, 1962. 

Featherstonhaugh, Thomas J. “The Final Burial of the Followers of John Brown.” New                    England Magazine XXIV, April 1901. 

_____ “John Brown’s Men: The Lives of Those Killed at Harper’s Ferry.” Publications of the          Southern History Association III, 1899. 

Hinton, Richard Josiah. John Brown and His Men: With Some Account of the Roads They            Traveled to Reach Harper’s Ferry. New York, 1894. 

Love, Rose Leary. “The Five Brave Negroes With John Brown at Harper’s Ferry.” The Negro         History Bulletin. April 1964. 

Ruchames, Louis (ed.). A John Brown Reader. London and New York, 1959. 

Sanborn, Franklin B. Life and Letters of John Brown: Liberator of Kansas and Martyr of            Virginia. Boston, 1891. 

Shafer, George F. “Dr. Orin Grant Libby.” North Dakota History XII, July 1945. 

Stephenson, Clarence D. “Impact of the Slavery Issue on Indiana County, Pennsylvania.”              n.d. 

Villard, Oswald Garrison. John Brown: A Biography Fifty Years After. Boston and New                York, 1910. 

Webb, Richard D. (ed.) The Life and Letters of Captain John Brown. London, 1861.

NEWSPAPERS 

Baltimore Sun 

Charles Town (W.Va.) Spirit of Jefferson 

Frederick (Md.) Herald 

New York Independent 

New York Times 

New York Tribune 

New York World 

Perth Amboy (N.J.) Chronicle 

Plattsburgh (N. Y.) Press Republican 

University of Wisconsin Daily Cardinal 

Washington Post