_Brown._ I have nothing to say, only that I claim to be here in carrying out a measure I believe perfectly justifiable, and not to act the part of an incendiary or ruffian, but to aid those suffering great wrong. I wish to say, furthermore, that you had better--all you people at the South--prepare yourselves for a settlement of this question, that must come up for settlement sooner than you are prepared for it. The sooner you are prepared the better. You may dispose of me very easily,--I am nearly disposed of now; but this question is still to be settled,--this negro question I mean; the end of that is not yet. These wounds were inflicted upon me--both sabre cuts on my head and bayonet stabs in different parts of my body--some minutes after I had ceased fighting and had consented to surrender, for the benefit of others, not for my own. I believe the Major would not have been alive; I could have killed him just as easy as a mosquito when he came in to receive our surrender. There had been loud and long calls of "surrender" from us,--as loud as men could yell; but in the confusion and excitement I suppose we were not heard. I do not think the Major, or any one, meant to butcher us after we had surrendered. _An Officer._ Why did you not surrender before the attack? _Brown._ I did not think it was my duty or interest to do so. We assured the prisoners that we did not wish to harm them, and they should be set at liberty. I exercised my best judgment, not believing the people would wantonly sacrifice their own fellow-citizens, when we offered to let them go on condition of being allowed to change our position about a quarter of a mile. The prisoners agreed by a vote among themselves to pass across the bridge with us. We wanted them only as a sort of guarantee of our own safety,--that we should not be fired into. We took them, in the first place, as hostages and to keep them from doing any harm. We did kill some men in defending ourselves, but I saw no one fire except directly in self-defense. Our orders were strict not to harm any one not in arms against us. _Q._ Brown, suppose you had every nigger in the United States, what would you do with them? _A._ Set them free. _Q._ Your intention was to carry them off and free them? _A._ Not at all. _A Bystander._ To set them free would sacrifice the life of every man in this community. _Brown._ I do not think so. _Bystander._ I know it. I think you are fanatical. _Brown._ And I think you are fanatical. "Whom the gods would destroy they first made mad," and you are mad. _Q._ Was your only object to free the negroes? _A._ Absolutely our only object.