John Brown, Soldier of Fortune: A CritiqueWilson, Hill Peebles
History
John Brown, Soldier of Fortune: A Critique
Wilson, Hill Peebles
Brown, John, 1800-1859
Those killed and wounded by the insurgents were as follows: Killed: G.
W. Turner, Thomas Boerley, Fontane Beckham, Heywood Shepherd, and
Private Quinn. Wounded: Mr. Murphy, Mr. Young, Mr. Richardson, Mr.
Hammond, Mr. McCabe, Mr. Dorsey, Mr. Hooper, Mr. Woolet, and Private
Rupert.[388]
About noon, on the 18th, some notable persons of that period arrived at
Harper's Ferry, anxious to know the facts relating to the alarming
events which had taken place. An interview with Brown was accordingly
arranged, which was held at the office of the armory pay-master. The
wounded Stevens had, in the meantime, been carried into the office and
laid upon a mattress on the floor beside Brown. Those present were
Governor Wise, of Virginia, Colonel Robert E. Lee, Lieutenant Stuart,
Senator Mason of Virginia, Congressmen Vallandigham of Ohio and Faulkner
of Virginia, Colonel Lewis Washington, Andrew Hunter, special counsel
for the State of Virginia, and a half dozen citizens of the town and
vicinity. Brown was able to answer freely, and seemed anxious for an
opportunity to present his version of the situation to the public. He
was "glad," he said, "to make himself and his motives clearly
understood." Extracts from this interview are as follows:[389]
_Senator Mason._ Can you tell us who furnished money for
your expedition?
_John Brown._ I furnished most of it myself; I cannot
implicate others. It is my own folly that I have been
taken. I could easily have saved myself from it, had I
exercised my own better judgment rather than yielded to my
feelings.
_Mason._ You mean if you had escaped immediately?
_Brown._ No. I had the means to make myself secure without
any escape; but I allowed myself to be surrounded by a
force by being too tardy. I should have gone away; but I
had thirty odd prisoners, whose wives and daughters were in
tears for their safety, and I felt for them. Besides, I
wanted to allay the fears of those who believed we came
here to burn and kill. For this reason I allowed the train
to cross the bridge, and gave them full liberty to pass on.
I did it only to spare the feelings of those passengers and
their families, and to allay the apprehensions that you had
got here in your vicinity a band of men who had no regard
for life and property, nor any feelings of humanity.
_Mason._ But you killed some people passing along the
streets quietly.
_Brown._ Well, sir, if there was anything of that kind
done, it was without my knowledge. Your own citizens who
were my prisoners will tell you that every possible means
was taken to prevent it. I did not allow my men to fire
when there was danger of killing those we regarded as
innocent persons, if I could help it. They will tell you
that we allowed ourselves to be fired at repeatedly, and
did not return it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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