Chapter VIII: Hypocrisy (2)

... As the address states, Brown was keeping very quiet at
Judge Russell's house in Boston, partly on account of a
warrant issued in Kansas for his arrest for high treason,
and partly because he was ill with fever and ague, a
chronic form which had been induced by his exposures in
Kansas. It was in April, 1857, and a chilling easterly
storm had prevailed for many days. Mr. Stearns went
frequently to visit him, and on Saturday preceding the
Sunday morning mentioned by Judge Russell, Captain Brown
expressed a wish that I should go to see him, as he could
not venture in such weather on a trip to
Medford--emphasizing the request by saying that he wished
to consult me about a plan he had, and that I might come
soon. Mr. Stearns gave me his message at dinner, and I
drove at once to Judge Russell's house. As soon as my name
was announced Brown appeared, and thanking me for the
promptness of my visit, proceeded to say that he had been
"amusing himself" by preparing a little address for
Theodore Parker to read to his congregation the next
(Sunday) morning; and that he would feel obliged to me for
expressing my honest opinion about the propriety of this.
He then went upstairs, and returned with a paper, which
proved, in reading, to be "Old Brown's Farewell." The
emphasis of his tone and manner I shall never forget, and
wish I could picture him as he sat and read, lifting his
eyes to mine now and then to see how it impressed me. When
he finished, he said: "Well, now, what do you think? Shall
I send it to Mr. Parker?" "Certainly; by all means send it.
He will appreciate every word you have written, for it
rings the metal he likes. But I have my doubts about
reading it to his congregation. A few of them would
understand its significance, but the majority, I fear,
would not. Send it to Mr. Parker, and he will do what is
best about it." In reply he thanked me, and said I had
confirmed his own judgment, had cleared his mind, and
conferred the favor he desired. Then, I told him, he must
give me a copy to preserve among my relics. He replied: "I
would give you this, but it is not fit. I had such an ague
while writing that I could not keep my pen steady; but you
shall have a fair copy." In a few days he sent the copy I
now have, by the hand of Mr. Stearns. It will be forwarded
with other memorials to the Kansas Historical Society.

This matter being settled, Brown began talking upon the
subject always uppermost in his thought, and, I may add,
action also. Those who remember the power of his moral
magnetism will understand how surely and readily he lifted
his listener to the level of his own devotion; so that it
suddenly seemed mean and unworthy--not to say wicked--to be
living in luxury while such a man was struggling for a few
thousands to carry out his cherished plan. "Oh," said he,
"if I could have the money that is _smoked away_ during a
single day in Boston, I could strike a blow which would
make slavery totter from its foundation." As he said these
words, his look and manner left no doubt in my mind that he
was quite capable of accomplishing his purpose. To-day all
sane men everywhere acknowledge its truth. Well, I bade him
adieu and drove home, thinking many thoughts--of the power
of a mighty purpose lodged in a deeply religious soul; of
only one man with God on his side. The splendor of spring
sunshine filled the room when I awoke the next morning;
numberless birds, rejoicing in the returning warmth filled
all the air with melody; dandelions sparkled in the vivid
grass; everything was so beautiful, that the wish rose warm
in my heart to comfort and aid John Brown. It seemed not
much to do to sell our estate and give the proceeds to him
for his sublime purpose. What if another home were not as
beautiful! When Mr. Stearns awoke, I told him my morning
thoughts. Reflecting a while, he said: "Perhaps it would
not be just right to the children to do what you suggest;
but I will do all I can in justice to them and you." When
breakfast was over, he drove to the residence of Judge
Russell and handed Captain Brown his check for seven
thousand dollars. But this fact was not known at that time
and only made public after the death of Mr. Stearns.[245]

The historical _Farewell_, referred to, is herein reproduced:

He has left for Kansas; has been trying since he came out
of the Territory to secure an outfit, or, in other words,
the means of arming and thoroughly equipping his regular
minute-men, who are mixed up with the people of Kansas. And
he leaves the States with a feeling of deepest sadness,
that after having exhausted his own small means and with
his family and his brave men suffered hunger, cold,
nakedness, and some of them sickness, wounds, imprisonment
in irons with extreme cruel treatment, and others, death;
that after lying on the ground for months in the most
sickly, unwholesome, and uncomfortable places, some of the
time with sick and wounded, destitute of any shelter,
hunted like wolves, and sustained in part, by Indians; that
after all this, in order to sustain a cause which every
citizen of this "glorious republic" is under equal moral
obligation to do, and for the neglect of which he will be
held accountable by God--a cause in which every man, woman,
and child of the entire human family has a deep and awful
interest--that when no wages are asked or expected, he
cannot secure, amid all the wealth, luxury, and
extravagance of this "heaven-exalted" people, even the
necessary supplies of the common soldier. "How are the
mighty fallen?"

I am destitute of horses, baggage-wagons, tents, harness,
saddles, bridles, holsters, spurs, and belts; camp
equipage, such as cooking and eating utensils, blankets,
knapsacks, intrenching-tools, axes, shovels, spades,
mattocks, crowbars; have not a supply of ammunition; have
not money sufficient to pay freight and travelling
expenses; and left my family poorly supplied with common
necessaries.[246]

In a letter to Brown of April 17th, Mr. Thayer proposed a name for Brown's prospective company, as follows:

... Will you allow me to suggest a name for your company? I
should call them, "The Neighbors," from Luke tenth chapter:
"Which thinkest thou was neighbor to him who fell among
thieves."

What Brown's thoughts were when he read this friendly suggestion can not well be imagined. The association of the word "neighbors" with the phrase "falling among thieves" may have caused him to suspect that Thayer held the secret of his dishonor; and that his guilt, hypocrisy, and mendacity might be on the verge of exposure. At any rate the effect of the combination of these words must have sunk deep into his heart. They could not but call up afresh, and vividly, a mental vision of the scenes on the Pottawatomie, when he and his band of thieves fell among, and upon, their neighbors, at midnight, and murdered and robbed them.

Brown's trouble now lay in the fact that he had to leave the East and there was nothing which he could do in the West. The Free-State cause under the direction of Robinson, and his co-laborers: Goodin, Roberts, Holliday, Lane, Crawford, Brown, Deitzler, Parrott, Brooks, Dudley, Emery, Woodward, Learnard, Phillips, Conway, Wood, and many others, was progressing in an orderly and satisfactory manner toward a decisive victory at the polls.

Acknowledging the receipt of Mr. Stearns's suggestions that he should go to Kansas immediately, Brown wrote him on the 13th: "I leave for the West to-day." It will be observed that he put off no fire-works, nor indulged in any exhibition in heroics on the occasion of his going to his, pretended, field of achievement. To William Barnes, of Albany, he wrote April 3d:

I expect soon to return West; & to go back without even
securing an outfit. I go with a _sad heart_, having failed
to secure even the means of equipping; to say nothing of
feeding men. I had when I returned, no more than I could
peril; and could make no further sacrifice, except to go
about in the attitude of a beggar: & that I have done,
humiliating as it is.

Proceeding slowly westward, almost aimlessly, with two wagons driven by himself and his son Owen, he worked the country he passed through for all the money and "supplies" he could secure. It was not until August 7th, that he arrived at Tabor, Iowa. "I was obliged," he said,[247] "to stop at different points on the way, and to go to others off the route to solicit help."

While thus engaged, he wrote the "Autobiography"; a paper held in adoration by his biographers. It is in the form of a letter addressed to Mr. Stearns's twelve year old son, who had obtained "permission from his father to give all his pocket money to Captain Brown." It contains nothing that was unusual or extraordinary in the lives of those who wrestled with the problems and the privations which were incident to border-life during the period of Brown's youth. The paper was written for a special purpose and is valuable as an exhibit of his scheming to finance the operations he then intended to undertake in Virginia.[248]

John Brown was not a weakling, nor was he wasting any of his time trifling with sentiment when he wrote this letter. In his brain surged the hopes for success, and the fears of a miscarriage, for lack of funds, of a secret purpose of transcendant importance. The parents of young Stearns were the most valuable of his fiscal and moral supporters. Also he carried in his pocket the father's check for $7,000. Further, he knew that Mr. Stearns was seeking to have the State of New York appropriate $100,000 to put in his hands for use in his Kansas operations. Though still masquerading under cover of the deception which he practiced upon these people, he had definite plans in view, which were not a pretense; they were secret; he could not unfold them; but they were none the less real. He intended to ask Mr. Stearns, and others, to finance his new project; and to do so without inquiring too closely into the nature of the details that would be involved in the execution of it. He wanted to retain the confidence which these friends reposed in him, and under these circumstances wrote the letter or autobiography, for the purpose of confirming their faith in his sincerity; and to encourage a belief in their minds that he was well equipped by heredity and training, to accomplish what he intended to undertake, and that he would with certainty succeed.

The problem of accounting for the impending failure of his Kansas pretentions was also a serious matter. Mr. Stearns confidently expected that upon his arrival in Kansas, Brown would promptly take up the subject of public affairs with Governor Robinson _et al._, and tell them, sharply, what should be done. As he had derived it from Brown, these leaders needed a leader: one with courage and energy; and without a suspicion that he had been deceived in the premises, he thought Brown was equipped for the job, and that he was eager to give the Free-State leaders an effective stimulant for "backbone."

To keep up the pretense that his destination was Kansas, and that his going there had some political significance, Brown sought to have some responsible people meet him at Tabor for consultation about Kansas matters. He accordingly wrote to Colonel Phillips, June 9th, asking him to come, designating others whom he desired to meet. Also he wrote to Mr. Wattles and to Holmes, and probably to Cook. Phillips answered his letter June 24th, informing him that none of the men whom he hoped would meet him in the "most quiet way," for a conference about "very important matters," in relation to which there were to be "no words," was sufficiently impressed with the importance of his coming to put in an appearance. He also told him, what he already knew, that there was no necessity for military operations.

Whether Brown entered Kansas at all, would depend solely upon whether or not conditions there were favorable for another "sudden coup to restore his fortunes." Upon this subject he was in correspondence with "Captain" James H. Holmes of Osawatomie fame. It will be remembered that Holmes had been "promptly and properly indicted and long pursued by the Kansas and Missouri authorities for "carrying the war into Africa"--stealing horses and other property." Holmes must have been a very daring and efficient thief, for Brown greatly admired him and "used to call him 'my little hornet.'"[249] One of the Little Hornet's men had been stung. To this Holmes referred in a letter which he wrote to Brown April 30th. He said:[250]

You will hear of me either at Lawrence, through J. E. Cook,
of the firm of Bacon, Cook, & Co., or I may be at Emporia,
where I have taken a claim and make it my home. At any
rate. Cook can tell you where I may be. A case has recently
occurred of kidnapping a Free-State man, which is this:
Archibald Kendall was some two weeks since, enticed out,
under pretense of trading horses, by four men, and abducted
into Missouri. Archy was in my company and is a good brave
fellow.

In answer to a letter from Brown, Holmes replied August 16th:

... I do not know what you would have me infer by business;
I presume though, by the word being emphasized, that you
refer to the business for which I learn that you have a
stock of material with you. If you mean this, I think quite
strongly of a good opening for this business about the
first Monday of Oct. next. If you wish other employments, I
presume you will find just as profitable ones.[251]

The "Little Hornet" did not recommend, as profitable, the business that might be had on election-day--October 5th; that opportunity foreshadowed the possibility of real resistance against pro-slavery aggressions; but other profitable employments could be had, by the act of undertaking them, at any time. These thieves understood each other. The "profitable employments" meant stealing horses.

With his arrival at Tabor, August 7th, Brown reached the limit of his possibilities. The next day he thus reported his arrival to Mr. Stearns:[252]

In consequence of ill-health and other hindrances too
numerous and unpleasant to write about, the least of which
has _not been_ the lack of sufficient means for freight
bills and other expenses, I have never as yet returned to
Kansas. This has been unavoidable, unless I returned
without securing the principal object for which I came back
from the Territory; and I am now waiting for teams and
means to come from there to enable me to go on. I obtained
two teams and wagons, as I talked of, at a cost of seven
hundred and eighty-six dollars, but was obliged to hire a
teamster,[253] and to drive one team myself. This
unexpected increase of labor, together with being much of
the time quite unwell and depressed with disappointments
and delays, has prevented my writing sooner. Indeed, I had
pretty much determined not to write till I should do it
from Kansas. I will tell you some of my disappointments. I
was flattered with the expectation of getting one thousand
dollars from Hartford City and also one thousand dollars
from New Haven. From Hartford I did get about two hundred
and sixty dollars, and a little over in some repair of
arms. From New Haven I got twenty-five dollars; at any
rate, that is all I can get any advice of. Gerrit Smith
supplied me with three hundred and fifty dollars, or I
could not have reached this place. He also loaned me one
hundred and ten dollars to pay to the Thompsons who were
disappointed of getting their money for the farm I had
agreed for and got possession of for use. I have been
continually hearing from them that I _have not fulfilled_,
and I told them I should not leave the country till the
thing was completed. This has exceedingly mortified me. I
could tell you much more had I room and time. _Have not
given up._ Will write more when I get to Kansas.

Your friend,
JOHN BROWN.

He now had at Tabor and at Nebraska City, five wagon loads of stuff[254] which was wholly useless for any purpose relating to Kansas. He had been posing, for nearly a year, as a hero charged with the responsibility of saving Kansas to freedom, and had finally come to the end of his rope. To Mr. Sanborn he wrote, August 13th:[255]

I am now, at last, within a kind of hailing distance of our
Free-State friends in Kansas.... I am now waiting to know
what is best to do next.

Four days later he wrote to his wife these significant words:

Should no disturbance occur, we may possibly think best to
work back eastward.[256]

To Mr. Adair he wrote:

I have been trying all season to get to Kansas; but have
failed as yet, through ill health, want of means to pay
Freights, travelling expenses, etc. _How to act now_; I do
not know.[257]

There was nothing more that Brown could do. The failure of his pretensions was almost complete. Only his vocabulary had survived the general wreck. It was still intact and in working order. Drawing upon that inexhaustible resource of the charlatan, he wrote to Mr. Sanborn, October 1st:

I am now so far recovered from my hurt, as to be able to do
a little; and foggy as it is, "we do not give up the ship."
I will not say that Kansas, watered by the tears and blood
of my children, shall yet be free or I fall.[258]

A comparison of Brown's correspondence at this time, with what his eulogists have put forth concerning it, discloses a wide divergence between the facts therein stated, and the biographical fiction relating thereto. Referring to Brown's irrelevant reference to the tears and blood of his children, Mr. Villard says:

Brave as this sentiment is, it only increases the mystery
of Brown's delaying at Tabor.... Obviously, Brown, grim,
self-willed, resolute chieftain that he generally was,
appeared baffled here and lacking wholly in a determination
to reach the scene of action at any cost.... It will be
seen that, when he finally reached Kansas, he stayed but a
few days, was practically in hiding,...[259]

Only editorial fiction mystifies the cause of his delay at Tabor. The "grim, self-willed, resolute chieftain" had a clear and unalterable purpose in view, when he was delaying there. It was to attempt the conquest of the Southern States. If he entered Kansas, it would be merely an incident in the promotion of that scheme. His attitude was pivotal but not enigmatic; if a "disturbance" occurred in Kansas, he intended to proceed thither, and under cover of it, execute such purposes as he had in view; otherwise, he would "work back eastward."

One, at least, of his Eastern admirers, Mr. Thomas Wentworth Higginson, became impatient because of this delaying. After nursing his disappointment a few months, he protested Brown's procrastination, which evoked the following instructive reply from Mr. Sanborn:[260]

... You do not understand Brown's circumstances.... He is
as ready for a revolution as any other man, and is now on
the borders of Kansas, safe from arrest, but prepared for
action, but he needs money for his present expenses and
_active_ support. I believe he is the best Disunion
champion you can find, and with his hundred men, when he is
put where he can raise them, and drill them (for he has an
expert drill officer with him) he will do more to split the
Union than a list of 50,000 names, for your convention,
good as that is.

What I am trying to hint at is that the friends of Kansas
are looking with strange apathy at a movement which has all
the elements of fitness and success--a good plan, a tried
leader, and a radical purpose. If you can do anything for
it _now_, in God's name do it--and the ill result of the
new policy in Kansas may be prevented.

On August 13th, the "Cromwellian Trooper" wrote Mr. Sanborn a long letter,[261] which he intended "as a kind of report of my progress and success, as much for your committee or my friend Stearns as yourself." The letter has no public significance. It is a prolonged whine because he had not received all the _money_ that had been promised him; also it incidentally but artistically put Mr. Stearns and Mr. Lawrence in a position that practically compelled them to make good the thousand dollars which he had theretofore pressed Mr. Lawrence for.[262] He said:

... It was the poor condition of my noble-hearted wife and
her young children that made me follow up that
encouragement with a tenacity that disgusted him and
completely exhausted his patience. But after such repeated
assurances from friends I so much respected that I could
not suspect they would trifle with my feelings, I made a
positive bargain for the farm; and when I found nothing for
me at Peterboro', I borrowed one hundred and ten dollars of
Mr. Smith for the men who occupied the farm, telling him
it would certainly be refunded, and the others that they
would get all their money very soon, and even before I left
the country. This has brought me only extreme mortification
and depression of feeling; for all my letters from home, up
to the last, say not a dime has been paid in to Mr. Smith.
Friends who never knew the lack of a sumptuous dinner
little comprehend the value of such trifling matters to
persons circumstanced as I am. But, my noble-hearted
friend, I am "though faint, yet pursuing."...

Brown's hope for a "disturbance" in Kansas was nourished by the reports that he received from General Lane, which, doubtless, encouraged him to prolong his stay at Tabor. Concerning this, Mr. Villard says:[263]

Only the erratic Lane, who was then the sole person trying
to stir up strife in Kansas, and is accused by respectable
witnesses, of planning schemes of wholesale massacre of
pro-slavery men through a secret order; was on fire for
Brown's presence in the Territory, but it was the Tabor
arms, rather than their owner, he really desired.

Lane wrote Brown, confidentially, September 7th, as follows:[264]

(Private)

SIR:

We are earnestly engaged in perfecting an organization for
the protection of the ballot-box at the October election
(first Monday). Whitman and Abbott have been East after
money & arms, for a month past, they write encouragingly, &
will be back in a few days. We want you with _all_ the
_materials_ you have. I see no objections to your coming
into Kansas publicly. I can furnish you just such a force
as you may deem necessary for your protection here & after
you arrive. I went up to see you but failed.

Now what is wanted is this--write me concisely what
transportation you require, how much money & the number of
men to escort you into the Territory safely & if you desire
it, I will come up with them.

To this letter Brown replied September 16th:

I suppose that three good teams with _well covered_ wagons,
and ten _really ingenious_, industrious (not gassy) men,
with about one hundred and fifty dollars in cash, could
bring it about in the course of eight or ten days.

Lane, hoping to make his proposition more attractive, appointed Brown Brigadier-General, Second Brigade, First Division. But not until the 29th, did he send his Quartermaster-General, Mr. Jamison, to Brown, for the arms. In a letter addressed to "General John Brown" Lane said that it was "_all important_ to Kansas, that your things should be in at the earliest possible moment, and that you should be much nearer than you are." He also enclosed fifty dollars, "all the money I have," but said that Jamison "had some more." Naturally Lane's proposal failed to interest Brown. He replied that he could not go to Lawrence on such short notice and returned the fifty dollars.[265] The election, however, passed off quietly and resulted in a complete victory for the Free-State men. They elected their delegate to Congress, and thirty-three of the fifty-two members of the Legislature.

Another of Lane's schemes served to keep Brown at Tabor a month longer: a project for "the wholesale assassination of pro-slavery men through a secret order" called Danites. This time Mr. Whitman ably seconded Lane's efforts to interest Brown. He borrowed one hundred and fifty dollars which he enclosed with a letter to him and sent it by Mr. Charles P. Tidd, saying: "General Lane will send teams from Falls City so that you may get your goods all in. Leave none behind. Come direct to this place, and see me before you make any disposition of your plunder.... Make the money I send answer to get here, and I hope by that time to have more for you. Mr. Tidd will explain all."[266] That this messenger gave Brown inside information concerning the prospective assassinations, there can be little doubt.

October 25th, Mr. Whitman reported to Mr. Stearns[267] that Brown would be at Lawrence November 3d, "at a very important council: Free-State Central Com., Executive Com., Vigilance Committee of 52, Generals and Capts. of the entire organization." Such a "disturbance" as this promised to be, could not otherwise than interest Brown. Regarding the money he received from Whitman as money due him from the National Kansas Committee, he kept it; and disregarding the instructions concerning the arms, he proceeded personally to Kansas, arriving at Mr. Whitman's home about November 5th: too late, it will be observed, for him to participate in the important council meeting of the 3d; but not too late to take advantage of any public disturbance that might arise as a result of the proceedings of the council. By messenger Tidd, Brown received one hundred dollars from Mr. Adair, and upon his arrival at Lawrence, he received from Mr. Whitman five hundred dollars for account of the Massachusetts Kansas Committee.

All the prospects for "trouble" in Kansas having vanished, Brown promptly decided to "move eastward." Mr. Villard states that he "remained two days with Mr. Whitman, obtaining tents and bedding." From Topeka, when _en route_ to the East, on the 16th, he wrote to Mr. Stearns that he had "been in Kansas for more than a week;" that he had "found matters quite unsettled;" but was "decidedly of the opinion that there will be no use for arms or ammunition before another Spring;" that he had them all safe and meant "_to keep them so_." Also that he meant "to be busily; but very quietly engaged in perfecting his arrangements during the Winter." He further said: "Before getting your letter saying to me not to draw on you for the $7,000 (by Mr. Whitman) I had fully determined not to do so unless driven to the last extremity." In a postscript he said: "If I do not use the arms and ammunition in _actual service_; I intend to restore them unharmed; but you must not flatter yourself on that score _too soon_."

It will be observed that Brown did not call upon Governor Robinson, or make any recommendations concerning Territorial affairs. To Mr. Adair he wrote on the 17th: "I have been for some days in the territory but keeping very quiet and looking about to see how the land lies ... I do not wish to have any noise about me at present; as I do not mean to 'trouble Israel.' I may find it best to go back to Iowa."[268]

The "failure" of Brown's plans to "trouble Israel," or the failure of his hope for another opportunity to plunder Kansas settlers on a large scale, lay in the simple fact that at the time he arrived at Tabor, August 7, 1857, the Free-State leaders had worked out the Free-State problem, and were then in position to make official declaration of the fact at the polls; and to take over, into their own hands, by right of the law of Squatter Sovereignty, the control of the Territorial government. They had almost accomplished their mighty undertaking. Also, they had established conditions of order, and security from violence, that afforded neither encouragement nor opportunity for organized bands of thieves, of the Brown type, to prey upon the settlements. The activities of the marauder and his "Little Hornet" were barred.