John Brown’s Capture: Abolitionist Raid on Harper’s Ferry Fails

On October 18, 1859, John Brown’s raid on the United States Arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, (West) Virginia, ended in failure when U.S. Marines, under the leadership of Brevet Colonel Robert E. Lee, stormed the engine house where the insurrectionists had barricaded themselves. Brown and most of his 21 followers were killed or captured (five escaped), and their abolitionist dream of leading an armed rebellion to free the South’s slaves collapsed with them.

The three-day raid grabbed the nation’s attention and was closely followed by newspapers. Here are excerpts from the detailed article printed by the New York Herald (New York, New York) on October 19, 1859:

The Abolition Outbreak in Virginia.

The Negro Insurrection at Harper’s Ferry.

Seizure of the Armory.
Arrival of Troops from Virginia, Maryland and Washington.
Fighting in the Streets.
Battle at the Bridge.
Nine Citizens and Fifteen Insurrectionists Killed and Wounded.
The Insurrectionists Taken in an Engine House.
Attack of the Troops on the Building.
One Marine Mortally and One Slightly Wounded.
Two Insurrectionists Killed and One Seriously Wounded.
Captain John Brown, the Leader, Reported Mortally Wounded.
Sketch of His Career.
Gov. Wise Actively Engaged in Suppressing the Revolt.
Between Thirty and Forty, in All, Killed and Wounded.
Stampede of Two or Three Hundred Slaves.
End of the Outbreak.
Views and Opinions of the Black Republican Organs.
The Virginia Insurrection of 1831 and the Tennessee Outbreak of 1856.
The Very Latest, &c., &c., &c.

The insurrectionary movement at Harper’s Ferry, the news of which caused such intense excitement wherever it was known, is at an end. It was suppressed promptly and finally, thanks to the energy and determination of the President and of the State authorities of Virginia and Maryland.

At first the accounts received were so confused, and the whole affair was so incredibly strange, that no rational theory of the origin and object of the movement could be arrived at. A strike among the laborers at the Armory, or some discontent at the stoppage of the works—if such causes had existed—might have accounted for a riot, but could not have accounted for the serious and alarming proportions which the affair took. In fact, the whole scheme, and the reckless and determined manner in which it was persevered in, could only have been referred to the wildest and maddest fanaticism. That has proved to be the case. It was a movement of a party of insane abolitionists, increased by runaway slaves, and headed by that determined firebrand who was known by repute to the whole country as “old Brown of Ossawattomie.” It is supposed that the design was to form a rendezvous for discontented slaves, and then to arm them and turn them loose upon the community; but it is also said that, through some inadvertence, the plot exploded prematurely.

Be that as it may, we know that last Sunday night the United States Armory, at Harper’s Ferry, was stealthily, and without resistance, taken possession of by some score of white men and some half dozen of free negroes; that arms were sent into the interior, trains stopped and railroad employees fired at and killed, the telegraph wires cut, the bridge across the Potomac defended by cannon, and the federal and State authorities set at defiance; and we also know that quick as the news reached Washington, Richmond and Baltimore, troops were despatched to the scene, and that the earliest rays of yesterday’s sun saw the stronghold of the insurgents carried by the federal troops, and the insane fanatics who were collected therein shot and bayoneted—all save two being either killed or wounded. Among those who were killed or mortally wounded are Ossawattomie Brown and his son.

[excerpts of additional details]

The Captain of the outlaw band…was heard to say, in addressing the conductor, that “if you knew me and understood my motives as well as I and others understand them, you would not blame me so much.”…In another speech the marauder chief was heard to exclaim “If you knew my heart and history, you would not blame me.”

It appears very strange, but our informant tells us that these banded ruffians act with great coolness in all their movements, having countersigns, and otherwise are well disciplined. No one of them is known about the Ferry, all being strangers, and where they came from none could tell. Captain Anderson [John Brown –ed.] was about sixty years of age, with a heavy white beard, cool, collected, but with a determined and desperate demeanor.

Mr. Logan, after a short time, asked his guard why he was detained, and what was the reason of their shooting persons without a cause; also stated that if it was his money they wanted, they were welcome to it. (Mr. Logan had $10,000 on his person, but very prudently did not tell them the amount he had.) The guard, who was a negro, replied that they wanted nothing but their freedom; that he had been in bondage long enough, and was now bound to be free.

A light mulatto was shot just outside the Armory gate; the ball went through the throat, tearing away the principal arteries and killing him instantly. His name is not known, but he is one of the free negroes who came with Brown. His body was left in the street until noon yesterday, exposed to every indignity that could be heaped upon it by the excited populace.

The reporters pressed on, leaving their military allies behind. They found the bridge in the possession of the military, and entered the besieged town without difficulty, the occasional report of a gun or singing motion of a Sharp’s rifle ball warning them that it was advisable to keep themselves out of the range of the Armory. The first visit was made to the bedside of Stephens, the wounded prisoner. They found him to be a large, exceedingly athletic man, a perfect Samson in appearance. He was in a small room, filled with excited armed men, who more than once threatened to shoot him where he lay groaning with pain, but answering with composure and apparent willingness every question in relation to the fray in which he was engaged. He said he was a native of Connecticut, but had lately lived in Kansas, where he knew Capt. Brown; he had also served in the United States Army. The sole object of his attempts was to give the negroes freedom, and Brown had represented that as soon as they seized the Armory the negroes would flock to them by thousands, and they would soon have force enough to accomplish their purpose, one for which he would sacrifice his life; but he said he thought Brown had been greatly deceived…This statement was repeated without variation by all the prisoners with whom we conversed, all agreed as to the number in the movement, and as to its objects, which some called the work of philanthropy.

Lieut. Stuart demanded an unconditional surrender, only promising them protection from immediate violence, and trial by law. Captain Brown refused all terms but those previously demanded, which were substantially: “That they should be permitted to march out with their men and arms, taking their prisoners with them; that they should proceed un-pursued to the second toll gate, when they would free their prisoners; the soldiers would then be permitted to pursue them, and they would fight if they could not escape.” Of course this was refused, and Lieut. Stuart pressed upon Brown his desperate position, and urged a surrender.

The Armory has been stormed and taken, after a determined resistance. Colonel Shutt  [Lt. J.E.B. Stuart –ed.] approached with a flag of truce and demanded a surrender. After expostulating some time, the rioters refused to surrender. The marines advanced to the charge and endeavored to break the door down with sledge hammers, but it resisted all their efforts. A large ladder was then used as a battering ram, and the door gave way. The rioters fired briskly, and shot three marines, the marines firing in turn through the partly broken door. The marines then forced their way through the break, and in a few minutes resistance was at an end. The rioters were brought out amidst the most intense excitement, many of the militia present trying to get an opportunity to shoot them. Captain Brown and his son were both shot. The latter is dead and the former in a dying state. He lies in the Armory enclosure, talking freely. He says he is old Ossawattomie Brown, whose feats in Kansas have had such wide notice; that his whole object was to free the slaves, and justifies his action. He says that he had possession of the town, and could have murdered all the people, and that he has been murdered in return.

Various questions of this kind were put to Captain Brown, which he answered clearly and freely, with seeming anxiety to vindicate himself. He urged that he had the town at his mercy; that he could have burnt it and murdered the inhabitants, but did not; he had treated the prisoners with courtesy, and complained that he was hunted down like a beast. He spoke of the killing of his son, which, he alleged, was done whilst bearing a flag of truce, and seemed very anxious for the safety of his wounded son. His conversation bore the impression of the conviction that whatever he had done to free slaves was right, and that in the warfare in which he was engaged, he was entitled to be treated with all the respect of a prisoner of war. He seemed fully convinced that he was badly treated and had a right to complain.

Coppich [Coppock –ed.], the other white prisoner, is quite young, and seems less shrewd than the others. He said he did not wish to join the expedition, and when asked, gave a reply which showed the influence which Brown had over him: he said—“Ah, you gentlemen don’t know Capt. Brown; when he calls for us we never think of refusing him.”

For more information, visit the Raid on Harpers Ferry website provided by PBS.

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