An Exclusive--
Picking the Pocket of Charles Wesley Moffett: 
A Cherished Reminiscence

by H. Scott Wolfe

Excerpt, Isaac Smith [John Brown] to John H. Kagi, 12 July 1859
(Historical Society of Penn.)

"Please write Charles Moffett as well as Tidd, to come on to Chambersburg, as I think we shall be ready for them as soon as they get on. . . ."  John Brown 

South of Montour, Tama County, Iowa, Murry and I sat at a table in his farmhouse kitchen, coffee cups filled, an old shelf clock ticking, ticking. A jovial, red-faced man, his bright eyes peering through the tinted lenses of monstrous 1980s eyeglasses, he had the singular appearance of a benevolent owl. His hands, bent and calloused with years of outdoor labor, plucked at his ever-present black suspenders...while he told me the story of the traveling salesman:

Murry Moffett, Jr. holding court at the Moffett homestead 

(Collection of H. Scott Wolfe)

“Grandpa built this here house about 1879, a year after he lost his entire herd of hogs to cholera. Every stick of lumber had to be hauled by horse and wagon from Iowa City, for there was not a tree to be found out here on the prairie. It replaced the log house that he and Grandma built in 1860, right after they got married. . . .” 

“I have to tell you a story,” an impish grin crossing Murry’s face. “Grandpa had a neighbor whose boy was going to medical school. He’d come home summers, and he’d bring with him a cadaver to study on. Well, it come to be that the boy had finished with all the muscles and nerves, and he needed to take off the flesh so as to study the bones.”

“So Grandpa offered him his iron cauldron, which he used to boil hogs during butchering time. So they stoked up a big fire out in our yard, and tossed in the body to loosen things up a bit. There was an arm draped over this way...a leg draped over that way.”

“As Grandpa and everybody stood around watching, lo and behold a traveling salesman came trotting up the lane with his wagon full of wares. Now that salesman took one look at that there cauldron and they say it took an hour for the dust to settle! Never saw a horse run so fast!”

Every time Murry told me this story, he would literally explode with mirth. Tears ran from his eyes, as he vigorously slapped his knees with those calloused hands.   

And before he died in April of 1998, I heard many stories from that Iowa farmer, Murry J. Moffett, Jr. But those I cherish the most were those that dealt with “Grandpa,” Charles Wesley Moffett...who rode with John Brown.

******

Portrait of a
Young
Researcher

In the days of yore, my John Brown research trips and personal vacations were synonymous. I would traverse the country in search of any obscure facts concerning the Old Man and his men.  I would cross the State of Iowa, following the old “Jim Lane Trail,” tarrying at the Free State way station of Tabor, exploring the Nemaha country of eastern Kansas and, finally, taking a hard, wooden chair at the Kansas State Historical Society in Topeka, in order to sift through the John Brown and Richard J. Hinton manuscript collections.

I would sometimes devote a week in the Western Reserve, at Hudson, Ohio, (where John Brown the tanner grew to maturity), exploring the rich Clarence Gee Collection at the local historical society (where Tom Vince and Jim Caccamo then reigned).

Or I might find myself in Lake Placid, New York, sitting over lunch with the late, great Edwin Cotter, Jr., the beloved Superintendent of John Brown’s farm and gravesite. In Ed’s office, beneath the penetrating gaze of de Blezer’s sculpture of the Old Man, we would talk for hours of Brown’s “Provisional Army,” and the story of their exhumation and reburial in what was then Ed’s front yard.

But one journey, to the West Virginia Department of Archives and History in Charleston, lingers in my mind as one that led to a series of unforgettable and cherished experiences. In those prehistoric times, the indispensable Boyd B. Stutler Collection was not available, as it is now, on the ubiquitous internet. In those simple days, when computers were as large as Murry’s chicken coop, I was compelled to drive to West Virginia to examine this, the richest lode of John Brown lore.

I lived for a week out of a Red Roof Inn, taking my meals at a local pancake house. I would commute to the library, past the innumerable refineries spewing who knows what into the foggy atmosphere, and my days were spent in an expansive reading room, poring over cartloads of primary source materials. At that time, my principal interest was raider William Henry Leeman...but anything in regard to Brown’s soldiers would catch my eye. And one morning, such an item suddenly appeared:

Charles Wesley Moffett (seated at center) with his 

surviving Kansas comrades, Topeka, 1882 (Kansas St. Hist. Soc.)

It was a newspaper clipping, taken from the Topeka Capital in 1882. Headed “John Brown: A Reunion of His Surviving Associates,” it told of a meeting held in the rooms of the State Historical Society...a meeting which added “much to the knowledge of the old hero’s character and achievements for freedom.” But what set my alarm bells ringing was the following notation: “The prime mover in the matter was Mr. C.W. Moffett, of Montour, Iowa, who is for a time visiting relatives near this city.”

The article also included what was termed “Mr. Moffett’s Narrative,” which told the fascinating tale of his association with, and recruitment by, John Brown...the winter of military training at Springdale, Iowa...his presence at Brown’s Constitutional Convention at Chatham, Canada West...and his personal explanation as to why he DID NOT join his comrades at Harpers Ferry.

I knew of Charles Wesley Moffett...but I knew very little. Montour, Iowa was immediately circled on an Iowa highway map. And did I hear someone say ROAD TRIP?

****** 

A crisp April morning found me roaming Maple Hill Cemetery, the shiny Montour water tower looming in the distance. My search was, happily, shorter than most. For I soon espied a substantial red granite monument, its summit crested with a block letter “M,” a bold MOFFETT at its base. Surrounding it were a number of individual  headstones, and my eye was immediately drawn to the inscription: CHARLES W. MOFFETT...JUNE 20, 1827...AUG. 19, 1904.  My inner voice proudly announced: “Well, you’ve found another of Brown’s boys!” But then, suddenly, the heart rate accelerated all the more. For before the Moffett stone were strewn clusters of plastic flowers! Now, I am no fan of plastic flowers. But their presence led to two rock-solid conclusions: 1) Someone cares, and 2) That someone may be living close by.

Montour, Iowa, on the edge of the Meskwaki Indian Settlement, will not soon grace the cover of “House Beautiful.” It’s “commercial” district, as I drove down Elm Street, was a strange amalgam of wild west village and auto salvage yard. To this day, the principal industry is “Rube’s Steak House and Lounge,” where one can “grill your own steak and Texas toast.” Actually, the Boston Globe once called Rube’s one of their “eight favorite places in the world.” Unbeknownst to me, I would soon gain an intimate familiarity with that institution.

But I was seeking the United States Post Office, and I soon stood before a squat, red brick building, strongly resembling a Depression-era bank. I almost expected Dillinger to burst through the front door...guns blazing. The postal clerk could not speak. So through a combination of frantic hand signals and hastily scrawled notes, I inquired if any residents of Montour and vicinity carried the surname of Moffett. Again, the stars were aligned...and I received a name and a postal box number. The name was Murry Moffett.

Upon my return home, I penned a polite letter to Mr. Moffett...describing my experiences in the cemetery and the post office...and revealing my fascination with all of those who rode with John Brown. I invited his response, and then returned to such mundane tasks as making a living. And I waited...and waited. At the one-month mark my hopes were rather unsteady but, by exhibiting good behavior and eating my vegetables, I was rewarded with a letter. It did not come from Murry Moffett but, rather, from one Alice Olds Wolcott of Toledo, Iowa.

Alice apologized for her cousin Murry, for he just wasn’t a letter writer. But she introduced herself as the “family historian,” and welcomed my interest in their GRANDFATHER, Charles Wesley Moffett. I know that this intelligence excited me greatly...for the footprints are still visible on the ceiling.

Carousing at Rube's in Montour, Iowa (l to r)  

Murry Moffett, Jr. & wife Carole, 

Alice Olds Wolcott and the author  

(Collection of H. Scott Wolfe)

So did I mention the words ROAD TRIP? 

******

Toledo, Iowa. On that Saturday when I knocked on the door of the modest house on South School Street, I really didn’t know what to expect. But meeting Alice Wolcott exceeded whatever expectations I could have contemplated. If one could design and build the prototype of the dearest, sweetest female mortal on the planet...might I suggest Alice? A slight, silver-haired dynamo of eighty-five, her perpetual smile could be considered the principal factor in creating global warming. 

Before I could open my mouth, lunch was served. We then retired to the living room, where a huge stack of books and manila folders reposed. Within the hour I was aware of the ancestry of Charles Wesley Moffett...of his father Hoshea and his mother Polly Porter...of his birth in Genesee County, New York and his upbringing in Bristolville, Trumbull County, Ohio (where his childhood friend was John Henrie Kagi, John Brown’s future “Secretary of War”)...of his wandering life as a farmer and lead miner (the latter right in my own bailiwick)...and finally, in the spring of 1855, his removal to Kansas with his brothers Erastus and Orlando.

I sat agape, as the Moffett saga rolled off her tongue...until, of course, it was time for her to prepare supper. 

“Alice,” I insisted, “I really should be heading home. I have already taken up too much of your time.”
“Fiddlesticks,” she answered. “I will show you your bedroom.”
“But I...,” is all I could murmur before being shown my accommodations.
“And what can I get you to drink before dinner?” she chirped.

I awoke, sun streaming into the bedroom, the atmosphere redolent of bacon and eggs. The coffee cup was kept perpetually full, while Alice proudly told me how her paternal grandfather...just TWO generations back...had been born in 1776. And then back to the books. She told me of Charles in the Free State militia under Jim Lane...of his service as an election judge in the Shawnee Precinct...and how he barely escaped imprisonment with Kagi and brother Erastus at Lecompton.

The Moffett homestead, ca. 1905; Emma Manfull (holding the horse), 

the widow of Charles Wesley Moffett; next to her is her son, 

Murry Moffett, Sr., the father of "my" Murry  

(Collection of H. Scott Wolfe)

Then I took over, telling her of her grandfather’s activity, or as he called it, “running,” on the Underground Railroad...of his recruitment by John Brown in the autumn of 1857...of his experiences at Springdale and Chatham...and his life in Ashtabula County, Ohio, waiting for the call to Harpers Ferry.  But then I had to go. Leaving Alice with a parting gift of an original copy of Villard’s classic 1910 biography of John Brown, we made tentative arrangements to visit her cousin Murry and the Moffett homeplace. As I drove away, I could only pity those misguided souls who say that history is a boring occupation.

******

The Moffett house, now bereft of its Victorian ornamentation, stood on an east-facing rise, undulating fields of waving corn in every direction. Much, no doubt, the same vista as when that traveling salesman trotted up the lane. It was far from serene, for the honking of geese and snorting of hogs kept you in mind that this isn’t heaven...it’s Iowa.

Murry and his wife Carole ushered Alice and I into their home and we soon surrounded the kitchen table for a serious family talk. Being a former Boy Scout, I had made sure that I came prepared...so a video camera was perched upon my shoulder to record the grandchildren’s commentary upon their notable ancestor. And talk they did...for nearly an hour, recounting much of the family history I had learned during my visit with Alice.  And I had my own questions. For instance: “Was Charles Moffett’s association with John Brown known within the family?” “Oh yes,” was the answer...”but our Grandpa apparently never talked about it much.” 

“And why do you think he was reluctant to speak of his activities with Brown?,” I asked. “Well, the family always thought he feared being prosecuted like some of his friends,” was the response.

I’ve always had my own theory on this topic. I don’t believe that Charles Wesley Moffett feared prosecution. I think he suffered from guilt. For this Provisional Army recruit...one who had joined his comrades throughout the preliminaries in Kansas, Iowa, Canada and Ohio...had succumbed not only to doubts of the wisdom of Brown’s Virginia incursion (He was one of several suspected of writing the “Floyd Letter,” which delayed the Harpers Ferry raid for a year.), he had also succumbed to that most dangerous of emotions...love.

During the winter at Springdale, Iowa, Moffett had met the pretty and vivacious Emma Manfull. And in March of 1859, stranded in Ohio with little news from the Virginia front, Charles, along with fellow defector Luke F. Parsons, headed west...the former to Springdale (where he was eventually to be among the protectors of the fugitive raider Barclay Coppoc), and the latter to test his luck at Pike’s Peak. On the 28th of March, 1860, Charles Wesley Moffett traveled to Tama County, Iowa to marry Emma at her family home. And upon an adjacent property, they were to reside for the rest of their lives.

The wallet of Charles Wesley Moffett   

(Collection of H. Scott Wolfe)

Why was Moffett reticent about his association with John Brown and his men?  Because they went. . . and died . . . and he did not.

The day ended with a trip to Montour’s principal attraction . . . Rube’s Steak House and Lounge. There I joined the family in choosing gargantuan sirloins from the coolers lining the walls...and then grilling our own on a huge charcoal pit in the center of the restaurant. I can assure you, we did it justice. And I distinctly remember a toast...directed to the memory of Charles Wesley Moffett.

******

"John Brown, Right or Wrong?"

clipping from Moffett's wallet   

(Collection of H. Scott Wolfe)

It was during what turned out to be my final visit to the Moffett homeplace that the most touching moment occurred. We had again gathered about the kitchen table...and were again preparing for dinner at Rube’s. Murry had just completed the latest version of the traveling salesman story when Alice approached me with a small package, covered in holiday wrap. “The family would like you to have this,” her face aglow, “we are so happy to see your interest in our ancestor.”  Tearing the paper, a 19th century leather wallet was revealed.  “It was Grandpa’s,” said Alice.

"Old John Brown" clipping 

from Moffett's wallet  

(Collection of H. Scott Wolfe)

When I returned home with my treasure, and began to closely examine it, I found an internal pocket which contained three yellowing newspaper clippings. One was entitled: “Reed an Anti-Imperialist,” which dealt with the war in the Philippines; another was headed “Of Old John Brown, His Son Talks of His Father’s Struggles and Work;” and the third: “John Brown: Right or Wrong?”

One can only speculate on whether Charles Wesley Moffett contemplated this final question, as he worked his farm on the rolling plains of Tama County, Iowa.

This article is affectionately dedicated to my friend Alice Olds Wolcott, born 4 September 1905...died 8 September 1998. Alice, let’s eat.

H. Scott Wolfe

H. Scott Wolfe is the Historical Librarian of the Galena, Illinois, Public Library District and now a regular correspondent and contributor to this blog. As this wonderful piece reveals, he has devoted many years of grassroots research on John Brown, the Harper's Ferry raiders, and related themes.

Pic--
Johnny Cash as John Brown

Cash as Brown, "North and South" (1985)

The Trolling Incident--
A Cessation of Hostilities

You may have read an earlier notice of an extremely hostile neo-con who was desecrating John Brown's virtual burial site at Find A Grave.   I am happy to report that after some personal exchanges, heated words and vitriol, the troll in question has consented to stop harassing Brown's grave.  It seems all he wanted was some respect, although it seems funny to me that he would demand that after having been so abusive of a dead man's resting place.  Notwithstanding our inability to agree and the blunt differences between us, he proved less a troll and more of neo-con with political gripes stretching from 1855 to the present.  Still, he wasn't beyond reason and so we parted, not as friends, but in something approximating a cease fire.

As Brown would put it, "so we go."

Postscript 19 Feb.--Happily, a subsequent and final round of correspondence allowed for us to enjoy an even more humane conversation and end our exchange in a salutary manner.  There may be hope that this enthusiastic Southern soldier will revisit the John Brown theme in the future with reconsideration.  In the meantime, I am instructed that I have more to learn about negotiation.--LD

Brown Family History--
Oliver Brown, John Brown's Favorite Son

Oliver Brown was the youngest son of John and Mary Brown, born March 9, 1839, when the Browns resided in Franklin, Ohio. John Brown's biographer and associate, Franklin B. Sanborn, recalled that the Old Man himself referred to Oliver as "perhaps dearer" to him than any of his other children.1

Kansas!

At sixteen years of age, Oliver arrived at the troubled Kansas territory with his father in late 1855. In February 1856, he wrote home to his mother:

War again threatens Kansas and we expect every day to bee [sic] warned out to meet its call.  All we have say is god Speed the day.  there is now about 30 or 40 thousand inhabitants in kansas of probably 2000 would turn out to fight, the rest would be peace men, money lovers, fence riders proslavery men.2

The young man's analysis of Kansas affairs was precise.  Not only was the proslavery faction determined to force slavery upon the majority of "free state" settlers, but the majority of "free state" people were largely passive, fearful, or unwilling to take a strong stand against slavery.  It is historically false to assume that "free state" people were the equivalent of abolitionists, and later it was clear that many "free state" people wanted Kansas to enter the union as a "free state" without slaveholders or black people!  Young Brown was optimistic about fighting the proslavery forces, but knew that the majority of "free state" people could not be counted on, something that his father clearly observed with frustration.

In late May, 1856, when the onslaught of proslavery thuggery and imminent assault became unavoidable, especially for avowed abolitionists like the Browns, the Old Man struck at key proslavery conspirators in the area of Ossawatomie, resulting in the deaths of five plotters.  This incident has been simplistically reduced to a "massacre" by many historians, although it has all the earmarks of a preemptive strike, particularly in a context where there was no appeal to governmental protection for the Browns and their associates.  Oliver supported his brothers Frederick and Owen in this attack, although he was not one of the killers.  

Connecticut

Oliver returned to the family's homestead in North Elba, NY in October 1856, when the rest of the family also abandoned the territory.   However, unlike his beloved father, Oliver disliked Essex County and did not want to remain there.  The young critic objected to the Adirondack community because its inhabitants were not "a growing, progressive people."3

Following the Kansas episode, then, he sought work in Connecticut, in his family's home state.
Writing from Hartford, the young critic revealed a discerning eye.  In New England, he wrote to his family, there were "two high roads to popularity."  One was "to get rich," while  the other was "through the portals of the church."  Oliver concluded sardonically, that "those who have not wit enough to get rich are usually eminently pious."4  Oliver preferred Connecticut to less developed areas, and found some comfort in being around relatives and extended family.  In a manner reflecting his uneven schooling, he wrote to his family: "I find a great many Cousens [sic] about this town and other friends   Just as good owing to the reputation of the family in Kansas, which serves to make it an agreeable place."5

While working in Connecticut, Oliver found employment with Charles Blair, a blacksmith and forge master in Collinsville.  Blair gave Oliver a one year contract, paying him $200, a "very liberal" salary in that day.  Blair was the foreman of the Collins Company, which produced axes and other tools.  Blair also owned the village of Collinsville, which Oliver described as "a Small place of 50 acres which place I have mostly the charge of".6  Evidently, Oliver had undertaken the general supervision of Blair's farm and property, an undertaking similar to the arrangement that his father formerly had with the Akron magnate, Simon Perkins, Jr. following the demise of their wool venture in 1849.

Furthermore, it seems that Oliver's job was enabled through his father's business arrangement with Blair, in which the blacksmith was to make one thousand pikes, now famously remembered as the weapons he intended to give to liberated blacks in the South.  At the time, of course, Brown conveyed the notion that the pikes were "free state" settlers in Kansas.  "Mr. Blair is now at work making 1000 Kansas butter knifes for Father," Oliver playfully wrote to his mother.7  Assuming that Brown got Oliver got his job with Blair, the appointment probably dated to early March, after Brown gave an antislavery speech and happened to meet the blacksmith.  Brown contracted for the production of the pikes on March 1, 1857.   Meanwhile, Oliver had probably grown edgy and unhappy in North Elba.  According to Sanborn, Brown "regretted that the wild life of the Kansas border had begun to unsettle" Oliver's mind, and he had even inquired about having him enrolled in a military school.8   When this apparently failed, Brown evidently helped Oliver move to Connecticut anyway, at least hoping to satisfy his son's desire to get out of Essex County in the land of his fathers.  But there was another reason that the father sought to help his son.


Martha, with the Blue-Gray Eyes

Despite his contempt for Essex County, Oliver had found one attraction in North Elba that gave him even greater motivation to find gainful employment.  Upon returning from Kansas, he had met Martha Evelyn Brewster, an attractive young woman with blue-gray eyes and light brown hair.  Martha, described as "sedate and dignified," was the teenage daughter of a farmer with a large family and the wrong politics.  Oliver fell deeply in love with "pretty" Martha, and evidently had her move in with his family while he went off to Connecticut to earn money.  Their "love match" was fully realized upon his return from New England, when the two young people married on April 7, 1858.  He was nineteen and she was sixteen years old.9

Evidently, settling into marriage was good for Oliver, who continued working in Essex, caring for his young wife, and increasingly becoming bookish and contemplative.  His sister Sarah later recalled that Oliver was "always preoccupied, absent-minded, always reading."  In these latter years of his short-lived life, he had blossomed.  Sarah believed that Oliver had lost his awkwardness, and now tended to err on the side of "over study."  Mary Brown later remembered her son as being "in advance of his years--a deep thinker--much like his father."10


Farewells Prevailed

In the summer of 1859, John Brown relocated to Maryland under the guise of "Isaac Smith," a farmer and entrepreneur, and rented a farmhouse, which became the headquarters for his planned raid in nearby Virginia.  Since his wife Mary refused to come South, Brown asked his teenage daughter Anne to come and keep house until the fall of the year.  Annie also brought Martha, who joined her husband and father-in-law, along with the gathering raiders in the tight quarters of their Maryland farm.  Anne and Martha remained in Maryland, cooking and housekeeping; the young couple were thus reunited until the young ladies returned to North Elba at the end of September. When they left, Oliver rode the train with his them as far north as Troy, N.Y., and then returned to the South.  When she finally parted from Oliver, Martha was about fourth months pregnant, although sadly he would never again see his wife, nor meet his infant child.11

On the evening of October 16, 1859, Brown invaded Harper's Ferry and failed to move sufficiently in time, becoming bogged down until he was forced to retreat into the armory's fire engine house, a small structure on the margin of the facility.  During the standoff, Oliver was shot and killed, dying in a short time, while his wounded brother Watson lingered in dying.  Separated by hundreds of miles, the imprisoned John Brown and his heartbroken wife would quietly grieve for their lost sons.  However, one of Brown's jail guards remembered the Old Man expressing regret that Oliver had been “so unnecessarily exposed in the battle at the engine house.”12

In February 1860, Martha Brewster Brown gave birth to a girl child, naming her Olive, in memory of her fallen husband.  But farewells prevailed even here.  After three days, the fatherless Olive slipped away.  In March, the sorrowed young widow, left to mourn alone for her young husband and infant daughter, followed them into the shade of mortality.13

Notes

    1 Excerpt from F. B. Sanborn, "Oliver Brown," from Kansas Magazine [Kansas State Historical Society], p. 68, in Oliver Brown folder, Box 6, Oswald Garrison Villard Collection, Columbia University Rare Book and Manuscript Library.  Hereinafter, OGV.

    2  Oliver Brown to Mary Brown, 4 Feb. 1856, trans. in Oliver Brown folder, Box 6, OGV.

    3  Oliver Brown to Martha Brewster Brown, 26 Jun. 1858?, trans.,  Oliver Brown file, Box 6, OGV.

    4  Excerpt letter of Oliver Brown to family, 5 May 1857, trans., in Oliver Brown file, Box 6, OGV.

    5  Excerpt from Oliver to "Dear Folks," 16 May 1857, trans., in Oliver Brown file, Box 6, OGV.

    6  Ibid.

    7  Ibid.

    8  Sanborn, "Oliver Brown."

    9  Katherine Mayo's notes on Martha Evelyn Brewster Brown, from Annie Brown Adams, in Hinton Papers, Kansas Historical Society, Oliver Brown file, Box 6, OGV; Sanborn, "Oliver Brown."

   10 Oswald G. Villard, John Brown (Doubleday, 1910, 1929), p. 683; [James M. McKim], "Mrs. Brown and Her Family," National Antislavery Standard, 12 Dec. 1859, p. 3.

   11 Mayo's notes on Martha Evelyn Brewster Brown.

   12 William Fellows, “Saw John Brown Hanged,” New York Sun, 13 Feb. 1898, p. 2.  

   13 Mayo's notes on Martha Evelyn Brewster Brown.

"Ready for Another Field of Action"--

Marna Becker, A John Brown Student in Akron, Ohio

Marna Lilliedale Becker, 83, activist, feminist, amateur John Brown historian, Akron-phile and renegade gardener, died Saturday, Feb. 1, 2014. Her interests and activisim were wide ranging and pursued with passion. A short list of her activism interests included work with the National Organization for Women, League of Women Voters, Friends of the Crooked River, Preservation Alliance of Greater Akron, Summit County Historical Society, National Women's Political Caucus, the Sierra Club, the American Association of University Women and others.

She was a 1964 graduate of Heidelberg College with a bachelor of science degree in mathematics and physical sciences. Her employment outside of the home included work with the United Mine Workers, the Census Bureau and the Department of Defense.

Marna worked to make a contribution for a better world. She was much loved and will be greatly missed.

Her life will be celebrated with a memorial service at 3 p.m. Saturday, March 1, 2014, St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, 765 Thayer St., Akron.

Donation to the Preservation of the Abolitionist Movement Fund of the Akron Community Foundation, the Summit County Historical Society or Friends of the Crooked River is a fitting memorial.

Adams Mason Funeral Home and Crematory, (330) 535-9186, is handling arrangements.

Source: The Advertiser-Tribune [Tiffin, Oh.], 6 Feb. 2014

Statuary--
Is Springfield's "Puritan" Statue John Brown in Disguise?

Stephen Jendrysik, an educator and historian of the town of Chicopee, Massachusetts, has an interesting piece on the news website, Mass Live, discussing some interesting local history and John Brown.  Readers will recall that John Brown lived in Springfield, Mass., from 1846-49, when he was engaged in business in that city.  

"The Puritan"

In his column, Jendrysik suggests that a famous local statuary, "The Puritan," by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, might actually have been modeled on Brown's face.

Previously, Jendrysik writes, he believed that "The Puritan" was based upon "a purely imaginary" figure of Chester W. Chapin, a wealthy resident of Chicopee, near Springfield.  This is commonly believed because "The Puritan" is a tribute to an early ancestor of the Chapin family.  However, he has reconsidered this belief.  Noting that the sculptor, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, "was an admirer of the violent abolitionist," he now believes that John Brown is the "hidden" image behind the tribute to Chapin.  "The Puritan," was unveiled in 1887, and has been relocated once within town to its present site in Springfield's Merrick Park. 

"The Puritan"

Jendrysik points out that for years, "experts have debated the possibility that Saint-Gaudens' image of one of Springfield's Founding Fathers was in fact a muted tribute" to Brown, who himself consciously identified with Puritan theology and militancy.  Apparently there is no definitive way to prove whether or not Saint-Gaudens modeled his statue from images of Brown, or whether he used a descendant of Chapin.

Brown

The rest of Jendrysik's column reflects upon John Brown vis-a-vis David Reynolds' biography, the author concluding that Brown was both a "saintly liberator" and a "bloodthirsty terrorist." Jendrysik is positive toward Brown and seems to understand that his reputation declined in this nation's history because society at large did not share his passion for racial justice.  However, his conclusion that Brown could be both a saintly man and a terrorist is nonsense.  If Brown's famous/infamous actions in Kansas were as they are commonly portrayed, it is hard to imagine he was also a saintly figure.  Rather, it is more likely that the "bloodthirsty terrorist" is a misrepresentation of the facts.  As I have argued in my biography, Brown was hardly perfect, and he was no saint in the Roman Catholic sense of the term.  But he was very much a saint according to the Protestant definition.

Still, Jendrysik's piece is certainly interesting.  It seems arguably possible that Brown was the "hidden" model and inspiration for "The Puritan."  Jendrysik concludes: "The bushy eyebrows, the chiseled features and the dominant nose belong to John Brown."  I don't know that Brown had "bushy eyebrows"; however, the face of the sculpture could very well be that of the old man.

See Stephen Jendrysik, "Is Augustus Saint-Gaudens' 'The Puritan' statue really John Brown in disguise?"  Mass Live [Springfield, Mass.], 22 Jan. 2014

155 Years Ago Today--
John Brown's Last Letter from Kansas in 1859 Was a "Twin"

On January 11, 1859, one hundred fifty-five years ago today, John Brown wrote two brief, personal letters to his wife and to his adult son, John Brown, Jr., reflecting his last personal communication from Kansas to family members back east.  The half-page letters, written from Osawatomie, Kansas Territory, are essentially "twins," although not identical.

Background to the Letters

Brown had been in the Kansas Territory since the summer of 1858, mainly because his plan to invade Virginia had been jeopardized by the betrayal of the English mercenary, Hugh Forbes. Forbes, an antislavery man, was retained by Brown to train his men in Iowa, even as Brown was endeavoring to raise black support in the expatriate black community in Ontario, Canada.  After his optimistic "quiet convention" in Chatham, Ontario, in early May 1858, Brown was informed that Forbes--a whining, opportunistic, and disingenuous man--was threatening to expose his plans because he had not received the monies he was demanding from Brown's backers in the east. Most of his supporters immediately urged Brown to take a hiatus, in order to discredit Forbes claim of an imminent raid on Virginia.  Brown finally did so against his wishes.  Returning to the Territory, his presence energized the free state side in their struggle against proslavery thuggery. However, the Old Man ultimately disappointed free state settlers because his primary focus was on Virginia, not Kansas.

In fact, Brown had conducted a raid into Missouri on December 20, breaking his men into two parties and liberating eleven enslaved people from two different slave holders.  Brown and his men kept the party of liberated people in Kansas until early February, when he escorted them into Nebraska, then into Iowa.  Traveling across state and remaining at Springdale, Iowa until early March, the liberated party were then taken by railroad to Chicago, Ill., and then Detroit, Mich., where they finally were sent by ferry to Canadian freedom on March 12, 1859.  Prior to leaving Kansas in January, Brown wrote his famous "Parallels," which defended his actions against conservative critics.

Artist Jacob Lawrence recalled Brown's 1859
Missouri rescue in his series, The Legend of John Brown

Thus, the context for the January 11th notes is Brown's dangerous circumstances, living in hiding in Kansas while overseeing the people he had rescued with the intention of moving them out of the reach of the proslavery government of the United States.  He is a wanted man who has been parted from his family for months, and likely would not see them for months to come.  He wants them to know he is "midling well," a term Brown used often, reflecting his optimistic tendency to see the best in even the worse circumstances. Actually, he had been afflicted with sickness--"the Fever and the Ague"--while in Kansas, and was still struggling with his health--an affliction that generally affected his vision, sinuses, and hearing.  As Jean Libby has established, Brown had likely experienced another health crisis, probably Bell's palsy (or perhaps a small stroke), which caused the right side of his face to droop.  This probably encouraged him to grow his legendary beard as a disguise, although the beard was also cosmetic.  An Iowa friend from this period describes his afflictions as somewhat grossly affecting his eye as well.  Certainly, Brown was a sick man throughout the trek into Iowa, and had health concerns well into the Spring of 1859.

Location of Original Letters

The original letter to Mary Brown and children in North Elba, N.Y., is found in the Boyd B. Stutler Collection, #MS02-0034 (see an image of the original by clicking here).  A reliable transcription by Katherine Mayo is found in the John Brown - Oswald Garrison Villard Papers (Box 5, Letters through 1859 folder).  The original note to John Junior is in the John Brown Jr. Papers, Ohio Historical Society (Box 3, folder 2), and a "sanitized" transcription in F. B. Sanborn's Life and Letters of John Brown, p. 489.

Mary A. Brown

Going Home

The letters are both brief and convey the same basic message, except the one written to Mary Brown expresses his "anxiety" to hear about his wife and children, and directs them to send any inquiries to John Junior.As the notes reveal, he had not been able to write to his family since December 2 (a year to the day before his death). [His letter of December 2 is also found in the John Brown Jr. Papers]. Brown assumes they had all heard about his bold liberation raid in Missouri from the newspapers. In fact, he would only have two more brief periods at home in 1859, from mid-April to early May, and again, for about two weeks in June.  Bolstered by his successful liberation raid into Missouri, he finally left for Maryland and Virginia in the early summer, when he set up headquarters for the "grand rescue" he was planning in Virginia.  Of course, following the failure of the raid in October 1859, only his remains would return to his family.


Exact Transcriptions

Osawatomie, 11,th Jany, 1859.

Dear Wife & Children All

I have a spare moment barely
to tell you that I am in middling health but have not been able to
but have not been able to finish up my business as fast as I had hopes of doing when I wrote you
in Decem (2d) last.  You will I suppose get Kansas news through the
newspapers.  As to telling you where to write me I can only now
say as I said in my last "write John for me."  This I very much
regret: as I have great anxiety to hear from you.  I hope it will not
be so long.  May God Allmighty bless, & save you all.

Your Affectionate Husband & Father
John Brown


Osawatomie, Kans, 11,th Jany, 1859.

Dear Children all
I have but a moment on which to tell
you that I am in middling health; but have not been able to
tell you as yet where to write me.  This I hope will be dif
-ferent & soon.  I suppose you get Kansas news generally
through the papers. May God ever bless you all.
 Your Affectionate Father
John Brown

Document--
"We Are Going Home and Soon Shall Be": Aaron Stevens Writes to John Brown's Daughter

By January 1860, all of John Brown's Harper's Ferry raiders held prisoner in Virginia had been executed except Aaron D. Stevens and Albert Hazlett, the latter having assumed the name, "William H. Harrison" at the time of his arrest. Historian Oswald Villard says he borrowed the name from abolitionist Richard Hinton (Brown's future biographer), who employed it as his nom de guerre in the battle against slavery.  Villard also gives some account of the hopeless effort to rescue the last surviving raiders in Virginia captivity, noting that Stevens and Hazlett were finally hanged on March 16, 1860.1

Aaron Dwight Stevens

During Stevens' incarceration, some interest was expressed to have handed Stevens over to the federal government for trial.  Brown's raid had been centered upon the federal armory and at first there was reason to believe that the Old Man and his raiders might be taken into the custody of the federal government and tried in a court of the United States.   According to the New York Tribune, President James Buchanan and Robert Ould, District Attorney for the District of Columbia, met on October 18, 1859, after Brown and his men had been taken by U.S. marines at Harper's Ferry.  The report notes the problem arising concerning jurisdiction, since Brown had invaded both the State of Virginia and federal property.  Ould was immediately dispatched to Harper's Ferry, where he met Governor Henry Wise, although he probably had a good idea of what to expect.  Even the Tribune reported: "Governor Wise will, it is said, claim the prisoners now held by the United States troops, to be dealt with according to the laws of Virginia."2

D.C. District Attorney, Robert Ould (left, closest to soldier)
stands with Governor Wise during the initial interrogation
of Brown and Stevens at Harper's Ferry on Oct. 18, 1859
(Frank Leslie's Illustrated News, 29 Oct. 1859)

Ould seems hardly to have put up a fight in the matter, for almost immediately Wise took complete control of matters, and Brown and his men--defeated on the grounds of a federal facility by federal troops, were summarily handed over to Virginia authorities as Ould humbly withdrew to Washington city.  According to another Tribune report, "Wise said to United States District Attorney Ould that he has no objection to the General Government proceeding against the prisoners--that is, what will be left of them by the time the Virginia authorities have done with them."3

Initially, some thought was given to handing over one of the raiders to federal jurisdiction.  According to Steven Lubet, raiders John Cook and Aaron Stevens were considered as possible offerings to the federal government.4  Some, like Alfred Barbour, the superintendent of the Harper's Ferry armory, were eager to see Cook hang on a Virginia noose, and so to let Stevens be handed over to the federal government.   Cook had lived in Virginia for nearly two years, married a local woman, and had won the trust of the entire community.  The revelation that he was one of the Harper's Ferry "insurrectionists" outraged local Virginians.  Barbour warned Governor Wise that the people of Harper's Ferry would “die” before seeing Cook removed from State jurisdiction, since he was “the greatest villain of the party.”5 

Governor Henry A. Wise
(Harper's Weekly, 20 Aug. 1859)

Ultimately, Cook was hanged in Virginia, leaving Aaron Stevens the only possible candidate for federal prosecution.  In December, following the executions of Brown and several of his men, Prosecutor Andrew Hunter was concerned after receiving a telegram from President Buchanan, asking if Stevens had been handed over to federal officers, or if he would be tried under Virginia law.   Hunter stalled, writing to the President that Stevens' case had not yet been determined.  Privately, Hunter informed Wise that he had refused to surrender Stevens to a federal marshal, but wanted the Governor and State Legislature to make a determination.  Wise responded to Hunter, stating that Stevens "definitively" should not be handed over to federal authorities, and expressed the belief that there was some political design to get Stevens' case moved to federal court.  "[Stevens] is the deepest felon in guilt of all," wrote Wise.  "He will not be delivered up with my consent."6  

In retrospect, it is clear that Governor Wise had no real intention of letting Brown and his captured raiders slip from the clutches of Virginia.  While he he may have entertained the possibility of placating President Buchanan and federal interests, Wise was more interested in using the raiders to find other accomplices and associates of Brown who might also be brought to slave master justice in Virginia.  Wise was clearly determined to see Stevens hang, and he was finally tried and executed in 1860.

On January 5, 1860, Stevens received a letter from Anne Brown, the daughter of his fallen leader.  Anne knew the raiders, having stayed with them and her father in their Maryland headquarters prior to the Harper's Ferry raid.  Later in life, Anne would remember Stevens as a "fine looking man" with a "fine soul within."  Besides having a fine voice for singing, she recalled that he was "an earnest good talker," cheerful, fun, and well-liked.  Stevens was, she wrote, "Happy himself in trying to make others happy."  Stevens' detractors have pointed out his insubordination as a soldier in the Mexican War, particularly the fact that he had attacked a superior officer and was sentenced to prison on the charge of mutiny.  Stevens must have told Anne the story from his perspective, telling her that he had struck an officer who was evil and abusive in temperament, and who was doing harm to another soldier.   This is probably true, since Stevens' record otherwise suggests, as Anne put it, he was "high minded, noble, and generous."7  Stevens was likely drawn to Brown's side precisely because they shared a common concern for the underdog, and shared a similar passion to intervene for the oppressed.

On January 5, 1860, Stevens wrote back to Anne:

Charlestown Jail, Va., Jan. 5/60   

My dear Sister Annie              

Your kind letter came to hand today and I will try and write you a few lines in return.  I am glad to see that you are so cheerful.  It is always best not to give up to sorrow and sadness.  I am quite cheerful and happy, never felt better in my life.  It made me feel rather sad to part with my companions, but I think they are in a better land and that is a great comfort to me.             

I was in the same room with your father.  He was very cheerful all the way through and appeared as happy on the morning of his execution as I ever saw him.  Watson was shot a half minute before me, this was Monday about eleven o'clock and he lived until Wednesday morning.  I had a very hard time of it for about four or five weeks, but I am as well as ever except my face is paralyzed [sic] on one side which prevents me from laughing on that Side and my jaw bone was thrown out of place and my teeth do not meet as they did before, which prevents me from chewing anything fine.             

The boys met their fate very cheerful.  I cannot tell when I shall be tried, but I think in two or three weeks.  I am very contented having plenty of reading matter through the kindness of Mrs. Spring and others.  Mr. Harrison is in the same room with me. We may never meet again here, but we will meet in the spirit land. Give my love to Martha and all the friends.             

Goodbye, yours for the good of all.  

A. D. Stevens8

As this letter shows, during Stevens' extended time in Charlestown jail, he had healed remarkably well from the five gunshot wounds he had sustained the previous October.   Writing in response to Anne's letter, Stevens notes that he had had "a very hard time of it" for several weeks following the defeat at Harper's Ferry.  Although he was much better, the wounds he sustained had left his face partially paralyzed and his jaw disjointed.

This letter also provides moving insights into Brown's final hours, which Stevens says were "cheerful" and "happy."  He also gives brief information about her brother Watson, who was mortally wounded at Harper's Ferry as well.  As far as the other raiders--Cook, Green, Coppoc, and Copeland, Stevens says it was sad to part with them, but anticipated seeing them "in a better land"--a reference to the spiritual realm.  Unlike Brown, Stevens was a Spiritualist and believed that he would meet Brown and the rest of his comrades in the "spirit land" following death.   Of course, the Old Man's ideas about the afterlife were evangelical by nature, including a resurrection hope.  Stevens' Spiritualism was more akin to the ancient Gnostics, who saw the spiritual realm as superior to and ultimately preferable as an afterlife existence. 

In the letter, Stevens also mentions fellow prisoner Hazlett ("Mr. Harrison"), who continued to use this pseudonym to no avail for his defense, and "Mrs. Spring."  The latter, Rebecca Buffum Spring, was the daughter of a famous Quaker antislavery figure and the wife of a New York businessman.  Spring had boldly ventured down to Charlestown in early November to minister to John Brown's needs; despite the hostility of local people, she persevered until gaining an audience with Brown and enjoyed two extended visits with him before returning to her estate in Perth Amboy, N.J.   After Brown's hanging, Spring became a kind of mother figure to Brown's incarcerated men, writing to them and encouraging them until their time of death.   (A considerable number of letters from Stevens to Spring are held in a number of archives.)

As his letter shows, finally, Stevens had not yet been tried in Virginia.  

At some point, Stevens (or so it seems) composed the following verse, which was kept along with a note that Brown had given him on the day of his execution.  It fairly well bespeaks the thoughts and beliefs of this noble twenty-eight-year-old antislavery soldier, the last of John Brown's men to die on a Virginia gallows.

We are going Home and soon shall be, 

Where the Sky is clear and all are free 

Where the long dark night of time is past 

And the Morn of Eternity dawns at last 

Where the weary Saint no more shall roam 

But dwell in a happy peaceful home 

Where the brow with sparkling gems is crowned 

And the waves of bliss are flowing around 

Oh! That Beautiful World 

Oh! That Beautiful World 9

-LD

Notes

     1 Oswald G. Villard, John Brown: A Biography 1800-1859 (Doubleday, Doran and; Company, 1929), 572-80.
     2  "The Question of Jurisdiction," New York Tribune, 19 Oct. 1859, p. 5. 
     3 "The Virginia Insurrection," New York Tribune, 20 Oct. 1859, p. 4.
     4 See Steven Lubet, John Brown's Spy: The Adventurous Life and Tragic Confession of John E. Cook (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012), ch. 8.
     5 Alfred M. Barbour to Wise, 7 Nov. 1859, in Henry Alexander Wise Family Papers (#16,888), Library of Congress, Wash. D.C.
     6 Andrew Hunter to Henry Wise, 15 Dec. 1859; Wise to Hunter, 18 Dec. 1859, both in Henry Alexander Wise Family Papers.
     7 Anne Brown Adams to Garibaldi Ross, 15 Dec. 1887, GLC 3007.03, in Gilder Lehrman Collection, New York Historical Society.
     8 Aaron Stevens to Anne Brown (trans.), Clarence Gee Collection, Hudson Library and Historical Society, Hudson, Ohio.
     9 Unsigned poem, probably by Aaron D. Stevens, GLC 7230.02, accompanying note given by John Brown to Stevens [GLC 7230.01], Gilder Lehrman Collection.

 

A Christmas Return--
Did John Brown Celebrate Christmas?

From the primary evidence, I have never seen Brown make direct reference to Christmas or the celebration of the holiday.  There are one or two extant John Brown letters dated close to December 25, and none of them have a Christmas greeting, nor any reference to the Christmas season at all.  Judging from John Brown's letters alone, it is almost as if there were no Christmas.

In the early 19th century,
Christmas was more like
Thanksgiving for Protestants

This is not a well-researched article, but from what I have been able to glean, the popular celebration of Christmas in the United States did not predominate until late in the 19th century. The reason for this is layered and extensive, but we can say that for Protestants, generally speaking, Christmas festivities and celebrations were associated with Roman Catholicism.  The earliest Christmas carols and Christmas celebrations were carried down through Roman Catholic worship and religious culture.  Since the Virgin Mary was venerated along with the newborn Jesus--and likewise with all of the pomp and festivity surrounding it--the Christmas "Baby" was typically thrown out with the "bath water" of Roman Catholicism by many traditional Protestants, especially those from England.

This anti-Christmas sentiment was particularly true of the Puritans, whose opposition to Christmas was part of their efforts to erase Roman Catholic doctrine and custom from English church and society. Oliver Cromwell, one of Brown's historical heros, outlawed Christmas during his time of influence; although England's Christmas observance was later restored, the anti-Christmas sentiment was carried to North America by the Puritans. In "New England," Puritans endeavored to found a pristine Protestant society sans Romish and papal practice, and for a brief time their little experiment worked. In time, however Puritan theology, including hostility toward Christmas celebration, tended toward compromise.

Puritan descendants like Brown
probably associated Christmas
celebration with Roman
Catholicism AND Southern slavery

John Brown was likely brought up in a religious culture with some disdain toward pronounced Christmas celebration, but not entirely exclusive of holy-day remembrance.  Based upon what historians of Christmas culture tell us, it seems that the revitalization and "Protestantization" of the holiday in the United States was just starting to kick into gear in the mid-19th century.  I read somewhere that "Jingle Bells" was copyrighted in 1857, the same year that John Brown was tramping around New England as a Kansas free state fundraiser.  Christmas trees, caroling, and decorations were simply not widespread among northern evangelicals yet.  Christmas was just not that big of a deal in Brown's antebellum era.

A Civil War era Christmas celebration
by enslaved blacks in the South

Furthermore, not only was Christmas still overcoming its waning association with Roman Catholicism in the Protestant mind, but it was more widely celebrated by Protestants in the South. According to one source I consulted, Christmas was first made a state holiday by several southern states in the 1830s, while Protestants in the North tended to favor Thanksgiving as the foremost Christian holiday because they believed that expressing humble thanks to the deity was more important than celebrations and parties.  Perhaps one reason for the flourishing of Christmas in the South was due to the predominance of Episcopalian and Methodist churches, over against the Puritan denominations in the northeast.  I cannot help but wonder too, whether one of the reasons that Christmas was more popular in the South was because slave masters commonly gave their enslaved people a "day off" and often encouraged drunken celebrations by the slaves.  Did slave masters also feel a little safer from slave revolts during the holiday? And does this association of Christmas with the South also explain the slower development of Christmas culture in the antebellum Protestant North?

Brown and his relatives likely had a
Christmas dinner like this--no
tree, no Santa, no gifting

On the other hand, there is one reference to Christmas that exists in the Brown family record that I am aware of, namely the Christmas dinner held in Hudson, Ohio, on December 25, 1856, at the home of Jeremiah and Abigail Brown.  We know about this family gathering based upon a letter by Wealthy Hotchkiss Brown, the wife of John Brown Jr., which is in the Clarence S. Gee Collection at Hudson Library and Historical Society.  This was clearly a Christmas dinner, although it may have been further prompted by the fact that John Brown had just returned to Ohio from war-torn Kansas territory. According to Wealthy, Brown and all of his sons were present except Oliver, who probably was back in North Elba, N.Y. with Mary and the children.  So at least we can place the Puritan-loving John Brown at Christmas dinner on December 25, 1856.  Of course, by the following Christmas, 1857, Brown was traveling through Iowa toward the east, once again far from his family.  On Christmas day in 1858, he was back out west, waiting to fight off a pro-slavery attack in Kansas in the midst of carrying a dozen fugitives from slavery across country to Canadian freedom.

Of course, by Christmas day 1859 his body was "moldering in the grave."

[Excerpted and revised from a previous entry--LD]

Merry Christmas to my Christmas-observant readers, and Happy Holidays and observances to all.  May your New Year be prosperous and healthy.

Side Note--
On Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s Article in The Root

Henry Louis Gates Jr.

Today's issue (Dec. 16, 2013) of the online publication, The Root, features an article by the esteemed scholar, Henry Louis Gates Jr., focusing on the Harper's Ferry raid and the death of the black railroad porter, Hayward (sometimes rendered Heywood) Shepherd.  The article is part of a series that Prof. Gates appears to do under the title, "100 Amazing Facts About the Negro," a title inspired by the 1934 classic by Joel Rogers by the same name.  Prof. Gates' interesting article has references to works by his colleague, John Stauffer, and to Midnight Rising by Tony Horwitz, and other contemporary sources.

Of course, writers working outside their area of specialization can only engage the sources as presented by the authorities consulted; so articles of this nature tend to be as "balanced" as they can be, given the information either provided to or sought by the writer.  Prof. Gates has drawn largely on Midnight Rising, but as commendable as this book may be in many respects, there's much more that needs to be considered, and certainly it would be a mistake to accept this narrative as definitive or exhaustive.  Sadly, after 150 years, the truth is that much of what is assumed about the raid is comprised of recirculated notions, some of which bear closer examination.

David Strother's sketch of
Heyward Shepherd (seated)

A case in point is the supposed great irony of the shooting of Heyward Shepherd by Brown's men. It has often been pointed out that Brown's first "victim" at Harper's Ferry was a black man, although the irony in the tragedy is hardly as breathtaking when one consider that Shepherd put himself in harm's way by the utter devotion he showed toward white slaveholders.   In short, the evidence points to Shepherd having been in that small number of blacks who were loyal to the slave master and willing to live as privileged exceptions amidst the oppressed.  Shepherd was a free black living in Virginia, which is itself a point to consider.  Virginia law prohibited residence of freed blacks; it took a special dispensation and support of the local white community to allow "Heywood" to live among them.  They really liked him, they greatly mourned him, and then they used him in death (they way they used him in life) to make a literal monument in his memory to flatter their own white supremacist narcissism.

You can read the article by Henry Louis Gates Jr. here:
http://www.theroot.com/articles/history/2013/12/john_brown_raid_s_first_victim_was_he_black.html

You will also find my comments below his article.  I have reproduced them below as well.
==========

As a biographer and student of John Brown, unfortunately I'd have to raise questions about some of the assumptions that Dr. Gates presents as a matter of fact.  He rests a great deal on Tony Horwitz's book, which although well done, is not without limitations and bias.  There is sufficient evidence, such as from one of the "bridge tenders" named Patrick Higgins, that the Heyward Shepherd was spoken to by Brown's men and warned to cooperate.  This was a free black man--who was able to remain in Virginia because he was sponsored by his former master, who essentially privileged him.  He was a "pink poodle" in the community, had property and money, and on that night was determined to resist even basic cooperation with Brown's men.  A journalist from a Baltimore paper who covered the raid firsthand later said that Shepherd actually had given Brown's men more trouble and then tried to sneak away to warn whites.  He was a well-loved black man by all the local whites and slave masters, so with all due respect, and if one looks at Shepherd through a political lens, he was more on the side of the slave master than he was on the side of the enslaved community.  

As to the notion that Brown came to the Ferry to seize the arms, the elephant in the room is the fact that there is no proof that any arms but a case were removed.  The whole "insurrection" notion was a slave master claim.  Brown explicitly denied that he came to plunder the armory--and the evidence is on his side of the claim since for all the talk about Brown taking the arms, there is no evidence that arms were removed by his men throughout his whole time of occupying Harper's Ferry.  As Brown pointed out to reporters, he didn't need the HF guns.  His Sharps rifles were better and he had two hundred of them.  A Sharps rifle was five times as effective because the guns manufactured and stored at HF were not as easy to reload.  And as I said, for all the hackneyed claims that he came for the guns, why weren't any removed and placed on his wagon?

Unfortunately, much of our assumed understanding about Brown and the Harper's Ferry raid is based upon the testimony of slaveholders and Virginia politicians relayed through the press--much of it the pro-slavery press like the NY Herald and southern papers.  This has resulted in a standard set of errors: (1) local black disinterest, which is a myth; (2) Brown was an insurrectionist, which is not true because Brown intended no massive program of killing slave masters, but rather intended to "rescue" slaves and lead as many as possible into the mountains.  As Brown always contended, all of his fighting at HF was self-defense oriented, and as long as he had the town under his control, he was extremely benign and sought for the safe keeping of all prisoners--not the actions of an insurrectionist; and (3) Brown wanted to seize the arsenal weapons--also false, as stated above.  There is no such evidence, and there is contrary testimony.  It is all the conjecture of Virginians relayed through the press and made "factual" by historians who have not roundly considered the raid.  One popular narrative, written from one perspective, is not enough to establish what happened in 1859 at Harper's Ferry.   

As far as Brother Heyward Shepherd goes, he is best remembered in that small circle of blacks who were loyal to their oppressors, informed on people like Denmark and Gabriel, or donned a Confederate uniform to fight against the Union.  Making so much of his death sort of misses the point.     Louis A. DeCaro, Jr., Ph.D. biographer of John Brown

JB in the News--

Jack 'n John: An "Ethical" Blogger Says Mandela, Brown were Terrorists

Jack Marshall is an ethicist, lawyer, president of his own ethics organization, an editor, and theater professional.  He is also the blogger of Ethics Alarms, which is intended to highlight what he calls "the feelings in your gut, the twinges in your conscience, and the sense of caution in your brain when situations involving choices of right and wrong are beginning to develop, fast approaching, or unavoidable."

Jack is Alarmed

With the news of the death of South African hero, Nelson Mandela, apparently one of those alarms went off in Jack's gut.  His conscience began to twinge and he became extremely cautious. This resulted in his latest blog post, entitled, "Nelson Mandela, John Brown, and the Perils of Hagiography."  What set off Jack's inner ethics alarm is the pouring forth of so much selective praise of the late Mandela on the part of the media, and the criticism of those who have dared to question or even qualify the late South African leader's political identity.  Jack points out that a former TIME magazine journalist, Richard Stengel, drew fire, along with other of Mandela's critics, from the media.  Stengel reportedly had referred to Mandela as "a pragmatic politician,” not a visionary, philosopher, or a saint. Stengel concluded that Mandela had used violence and therefore should not be seen as a Santa Claus figure, since he was a revolutionist.

While these remarks are true enough, they will be understood differently, depending on which side of history one is standing.  Jack Marshall is apparently standing on the other side of history. Jack provides a series of quotations from Mandela in which he says other things that might offend the assumed orthodoxy of the west: Israel should stop oppressing the Palestinians and give back all the land they took in the 1967 war; the U.S. has a history of unspeakable atrocities; Pres. G. W. Bush's war was a quest for Iraqi oil; and other essentially valid points that go against the grain of the contemporary west. Clearly, Jack Marshall's inner alarm went off because he disagrees with Mandela's political assessments. In other words, doing ethics in his comfortable existence as a successful former lawyer, and a white man living in the wealthy subculture of the Washington beltway, he just doesn't see things the same as do the victims of apartheid and oppression.  

No Jack, Mandela wasn't
Santa Claus

This is no surprise.

It's also no surprise that he has a very different view of John Brown in the history of the United States.  In fact, it's notable that in seeking to diffuse Mandela's media glorifiers (he calls them "hagiographers"), Jack pulls out the old canard of John Brown the terrorist. Here is the specific quote:

Ah yes, the old “he’s a freedom fighter, not a terrorist” trick. This exact sentence has been uttered in support of, among others, Yassir Arafat, the Irish Republican Army, and Osama Bin Laden. In this country, the rhetorical device’s best application best fits fanatic abolitionist John Brown, whose objective was as equally unassailable as Mandela’s: the elimination of slavery. It is not hard to imagine a parallel history where Brown goes to prison before the Civil War, only to be released after U.S. slavery has been vanquished,and  to be universally praise as a visionary, a martyr and a hero. But Brown’s tactics killed innocent civilians, and so did Mandela’s. While in prison, he refused to expressly reject violence as a means of overthrowing the Botha regime.

In one fell swoop, Jack thus bunches Brown with Mandela, Arafat, the IRA, and even Osama Bin Laden.  From a purely historical point of view, it seems that such a sloppy, ham-handed treatment of history is itself quite unethical.  But after all, the issue here is not really truth in history, but what sets off Jack's inner alarm.

What bothers Jack more,
slavery or anti-slavery
violence?

I will not presume to defend everything that Arafat and others did in the course of their revolutionary actions.  Certainly, there is no sympathy here for the late Bin Laden, who truly was a terrorist.  The question is whether it is historically ethical for Jack to brand John Brown as a terrorist simply because his "tactics killed innocent victims"--as if this accurately portrays the record.  I will not go into an extensive discussion of either the Kansas territory or Harper's Ferry episodes; but I will say that there is sufficient evidence that in neither case did Brown intentionally intend to harm "innocent victims."  In fact, his "victims" in Kansas were not innocent; and the killings at Harper's Ferry were not premeditated; and most of the Virginia "victims" died in combat, while two died as a result of sheer recklessness.  In legal terms, there was nothing terroristic about Brown's actions, and if Jack does not believe me, he should consider the arguments of the eminent lawyer and historian, Paul Finkelman (who is hardly as warm an admirer of Brown as yours truly).  After looking at both the Kansas and Virginia episodes, Finkelman concludes: "If slaves could fight for their liberty," Finkelman concludes, "then surely a white man like Brown was not morally wrong for joining in the fight against bondage."1  Of course, this is precisely the question for Jack the Blogger--was it right for enslaved blacks and oppressed Africans to rise up violently against oppression, particularly when all recourse to legal appeal, reform, or peaceful means had been exhausted?  If Jack answers yes, then he is contradicting himself.  If he answers no, then his ethics must be dismissed as only a tool of white supremacy.

Indeed, it is always telling that "ethical" men like Jack Marshall are so big on the enemy having to "reject violence."  The hypocrisy in this outlook is grandiose, amounting to historical hubris. In Jack's evident view of history, white rule in North America and other parts of the world was apparently entitled to entail systems of racial segregation, slavery, apartheid, and militarism that amount to state terror.  This is not a "trick."  It is hardly a sleight-of-hand to say that enslaved blacks could rightly see slave revolts as wars of freedom.  Certainly, as Brown understood, chattel slavery was both terrorism and war declared upon an innocent and vulnerable population.  Yet white people's domination apparently does not set off any alarms in the gut of men like Jack Marshall, not even in the historical sense.  No, the only ethics alarms that go off for Jack Marshall pertain to the use of violence by people of a certain color and ideology.   Slavery might have been bad, but it just wasn't right to use violence to overthrow it!  I wonder if Jack would be so smug and condemnatory of the "Founding Fathers," who used violence and terrorism against the British.
It's plain enough.  Jack Marshall is not really bothered by "violence."  He's bothered by the violence of the "enemy"--even when the "enemy" is right.

      1Paul Finkelman, "John Brown: America's First Terrorist?" Prologue 23:11 (Spring 2011) [National Archives, Wash. D.C.].