A voice from Harper's Ferry; a narrative of events at Harper's Ferry : $b with incidents prior and subsequent to its capture by Captain Brown and his menAnderson, Osborne P. (Osborne Perry)
History
A voice from Harper's Ferry; a narrative of events at Harper's Ferry : $b with incidents prior and subsequent to its capture by Captain Brown and his men
Anderson, Osborne P. (Osborne Perry)
Brown, John, 1800-1859; Harpers Ferry (W. Va.) -- History -- John Brown's Raid, 1859
As strangers poured in, the enemy took positions round about, so as to
prevent any escape, within shooting distance of the engine house and
Arsenal. Capt. Brown, seeing their manœuvres, said: “We will hold on to
our three positions, if they are unwilling to come to terms, and die
like men.”
All this time, the fight was progressing; no powder and ball were
wasted. We shot from under cover, and took deadly aim. For an hour
before the flag of truce was sent out, the firing was uninterrupted,
and one and another of the enemy were constantly dropping to the earth.
One of the Captain’s plans was to keep up communication between his
three points. In carrying out this idea, Jerry Anderson went to the
rifle factory, to see Kagi and his men. Kagi, fearing that we would be
overpowered by numbers if the Captain delayed leaving, sent word by
Anderson to advise him to leave the town at once. This word Anderson
communicated to the Captain, and told us also at the Arsenal. The
message sent back to Kagi was, to hold out for a few minutes longer,
when we would all evacuate the place. Those few minutes proved
disastrous, for then it was that the troops before spoken of came
pouring in, increased by crowds of men from the surrounding country.
After an hour’s hard fighting, and when the enemy were blocking up the
avenues of escape, Capt. Brown sent out his son Watson with a flag of
truce, but no respect was paid to it; he was fired upon, and wounded
severely. He returned to the engine house, and fought bravely after
that for fully an hour and a half, when he received a mortal wound,
which he struggled under until the next day. The contemptible and
savage manner in which the flag of truce had been received, induced
severe measures in our defence, in the hour and a half before the next
one was sent out. The effect of our work was, that the troops ceased to
fire at the buildings, as we clearly had the advantage of position.
Capt. A. D. Stevens was next sent out with a flag, with what success
I will presently show. Meantime, Jeremiah Anderson, who had brought
the message from Kagi previously, was sent by Capt. Brown with another
message to John Henrie, but before he got far on the street, he was
fired upon and wounded. He returned at once to the engine house, where
he survived but a short time. The ball, it was found, had entered the
right side in such manner that death necessarily ensued speedily.
Capt. Stevens was fired upon several times while carrying his flag of
truce, and received severe wounds, as I was informed that day, not
being myself in a position to see him after. He was captured, and taken
to the Wager House, where he was kept until the close of the struggle
in the evening, when he was placed with the rest of our party who had
been captured.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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