John Brown, Soldier of Fortune: A CritiqueWilson, Hill Peebles
History
John Brown, Soldier of Fortune: A Critique
Wilson, Hill Peebles
Brown, John, 1800-1859
he became jealous because of his subordinate's brilliant
accomplishments--his "military bearing" and qualifications. Mr. Sanborn
confirmed Brown's distrust of him. He says that "Forbes was ambitious
and apparently desirous of taking Brown's place in command." It may,
however, be nearer the truth to assume that the depleted condition of
the exchequer had much to do with Brown's "dissatisfaction" with Forbes.
There is no apparent reason why Forbes should have preceded Brown into
Kansas, and the fact that he arrived at Tabor August 9th, two days after
the arrival of his chief, is proof of commendable alacrity on his part
to take up and continue his duties. Besides, Forbes brought with him
copies of the "Manual," and copies of Brown's specialty: "The Duty of
the Soldier." With these evidences of his ability, fidelity, and
loyalty, the shadows of distrust were all dispelled, and Forbes's
restoration to Brown's confidence and favor resulted immediately. The
next day Brown was in a hopeful mood, and wrote very encouragingly to
Mr. Stearns, sending him copies of the tracts and, incidentally,
impressing upon his attention the important fact that he was "in
immediate want of Five Hundred to One Thousand Dollars for secret
service and no questions asked."
There can be no doubt that in their poverty, but dreaming of the
splendors of war, of marching armies, and the possibilities of empire,
these two bankrupt but hopeful speculators in destiny gazed wistfully
upon the order for the seven thousand dollars that Stearns had given to
Brown after his "Farewell to the Plymouth Rocks" effort. The question
was, how to get some of it. Unfortunately for their purpose, Mars was
not doing a thing for them; they were unable to detect even so much as a
_trace_ of a war-cloud upon the Kansas sky; and the $7,000 could only be
used for the subsistence of the make-believe troopers when in "active
service." Under these circumstances they did the best they could; they
made as much as possible out of nothing. They wrote Mr. Stearns what he
already knew; that there was no fighting in Kansas "just then"; and,
that while "Rather interesting times were expected, no great excitement
is reported." But "Our next advices may entirely change the aspect of
things." From this, Mr. Stearns was to be led to infer that imminent
danger to the Free-State cause was lurking somewhere, and that the
sagacious leader was already upon the trail of it. Also, the hope that
Brown earnestly expressed that the "Friends of Freedom" would respond to
his call and "prove me now herewith," was intended to move Mr. Stearns
to authorize Brown to draw upon him for a part of the seven thousand
dollars for their immediate necessities. But, although the request was
wisely framed and neatly but urgently pressed, it failed to raise any
money. To Theodore Parker Brown wrote September 11th:[279]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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