an attack upon the federal government, and would array the whole country against us. . . . I told him . . . . that all his arguments, and all his descriptions of the place, convinced me that he was going into a perfect steel-trap, and that once in he would never get out alive." Finally, Douglass said that, as the plan was so completely changed, he should return home, and turning to Shields Green, a negro he had brought from Rochester with him, asked him what he should do. Shields Green promptly answered, "I b'lieve I'll go wid de ole man." Brown could not conceal his disappointment at Douglass's defection. "I will defend you with my life," he said. "I want you for a special purpose. When I strike, the bees will begin to swarm, and I shall want you to help me hive them." Douglass's withdrawal, as has already been stated, subjected him to considerable criticism, not only for his change of mind, but because of the way he withdrew, and of what he afterward said and wrote about the raid. Other men, colored and white, disappointed Brown. J. H. Harris, later the colored Congressman from North Carolina, and a member of the Chatham convention, wrote from Cleveland, August 22, that he was disgusted with himself "and the whole negro set, 'em." 70 Alexis Hinckley, a family connection of Brown's at North Elba, who had been ready the year before, was not on hand now because of domestic troubles; 71 Realf had quite disappeared; George B. Gill did not "repent" until too late; and R. J. Hinton, also, started too late. Henry Thompson and Jason and Salmon Brown were averse to joining, and Richard Richardson could not be induced to leave Canada, — indeed, the Canadian negro reinforcement that Brown had counted upon wholly failed to materialize, except in the case of Osborn P. Anderson, who paid his own way. Perhaps it was too much to expect that many men who had, at the risk of torture, escaped from lifelong bondage, should now be willing to place their necks in the noose again; perhaps they were not properly informed as to the hour for the revolt. For John Brown, Jr., seems to have been the victim of a curious mental aberration. Although he had shipped the arms to Chambersburg and apologized for the delay in getting them off, he suddenly wrote on September 8 to Kagi: 72 "From what I even, had understood, I had supposed you would not think it best to commence opening the coal banks before spring, unless circumstances should make it important. However, I suppose the reasons are satisfactory to you and if so, those who own similar shares, ought not to object." Kagi was constantly urging John Brown, Jr., to send forward men, but without much avail. The latter's trip to New York, Boston and Canada, in August, also seems to have been of little use; it is obvious that a stronger forwarding agent - Kagi, for instancewould have obtained many more recruits. Certainly, the "associations" which John Brown, Jr., formed in Canada for recruiting purposes were never heard from; but it would be wrong to attribute this to any lack of valor on the part of the negroes, as some have tried to, in the absence of definite information as to John Brown, Jr.'s statements and directions. There were a number of white men who claimed later an intention to join, and alleged misinformation as to the exact date, besides Hinton and Gill. Charles W. Lenhart, of Kansas fame, is not of this number. He had settled down to the study of the law in Cincinnati, and decided to stick to it. -- Gradually, however, the officers and men of the tiny army of the Provisional Government did assemble at the Kennedy Farm, until there were in all twenty-one men besides the commander-in-chief. Watson Brown and the brothers Thompson, William and Dauphin, arrived on August 6.73 Next came Tidd, then Stevens, followed shortly thereafter by Hazlett, Taylor and the two Coppocs. Leeman was on hand toward the end of August, being preceded, after the Douglass conference, by Shields Green, who, in company with Owen Brown, narrowly escaped being taken by some men who pursued them when coming down from Chambersburg. As they lay concealed in a thicket, in a corn-field near Hagerstown, three passers-by caught sight of Owen's coat and, suspicious that there might be a runaway slave episode at hand, returned twice to catechize Owen and Green. Finally, Owen was compelled to frighten them off with his revolver. Instantly, he and Green set out for the mountains and travelled all night, pursued by parties of searchers, often heard and sometimes seen, finally reaching Kennedy Farm in a nearly exhausted condition. "Oh, what a poor fool I am!" said Green to his companion on the way. "I had got away out of slavery, and here I have got back into the eagle's claw again!" 74 Thereafter, Owen Brown abandoned his wagon trips to Chambersburg. When Osborn P. Anderson arrived, on September 25,75 all the men were on hand except John Copeland, Lewis S. Leary and Francis J. Meriam. The others who had joined were Cook, from Harper's Ferry, and Dangerfield Newby, a negro who had been given his freedom, and was now hoping to achieve with the rifle the release of his wife and seven children who remained in bondage. As late as August 16,76 this wife and mother begged her husband to buy her and the baby that had just " commenced to crawl," "as soon as possible, for if you do not get me somebody else will." "Oh, Dear Dangerfield," wrote this poor slave woman, "come this fall without fail, money or no money I want to see you so much: that is one bright hope I have before me." But fate decreed that Newby should neither save his wife from sale South, nor ever see the baby which had just " commenced to crawl," but whose body belonged to some one else than its parents. It was a strangely mixed company which had now assembled to undergo close confinement in the cabin or the house, prior to a brief day or two of activity and disaster. All day long they lay in their garrets for fear of detection. But, illeducated as most of them were, rough, unvarnished, some with soiled lives behind them, their hearts throbbed with a mighty purpose; the tie that bound them together was the outcry of their natures against the monstrous wrong they now beheld at close quarters. They were willing to give their lives for the sake of others, that others might live and be free; and "a greater love than this hath no man." They had willingly turned their backs upon their homes and upon the women and little children some of these harbored. There is extant a most touching series of letters between Watson Brown and his young wife, which no one can read unmoved, even fifty years after, for the Browns have all had the gift of earnest and moving English. There had been born to them, just before Watson left for the front, a boy baby, to whom was given the name of Frederick, the Kansas victim. "Oh, Bell," wrote Watson to the wife who was so soon to lose at one fell stroke her husband, her two brothers (the Thompsons), and her brother-in-law: |