Teaching with Documents Social Education 68(5), pp. 306-310 © 2004 National Council for the Social Studies The Tragic Prelude . Copy of mural of John Brown by John Steuart Curry in State Capitol in Topeka, Kansas, circa 1937-42., 1957-1965

Robert E. Lee’s Demand for the Surrender of John Brown Daniel F. Rulli

Born in Torrington, Connecticut, ture Brown embarked on failed, as he was “conductor” on the Underground Railroad, on May 9, 1800, John Brown was the son of too much of a visionary to keep his mind and the organizer of a self-protection league a wandering New Englander. Brown spent on business. As a result, his financial bur- for free blacks and fugitive slaves. much of his youth in Ohio, where his par- dens multiplied, and his thinking became Soon after the passage of the Kansas- ents taught him to revere the Bible and to brooding as he increasingly focused on the Nebraska Act in 1854, which established hate slavery. During the course of two mar- plight of the weak and oppressed. Brown the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, riages, Brown fathered twenty children. He frequently sought the company of blacks Brown followed five of his sons to Kansas built and sold several tanneries, speculated and lived in a freedmen’s community in to help make the state a haven for antislav- in land sales, raised sheep, and established North Elba, New York, for two years. In ery settlers. The following year, his hostil- a brokerage for woolgrowers. Every ven- time he became a militant abolitionist, a ity toward “slave-staters” exploded when

Social Education 306 slavery proponents burned and pillaged That evening, companies of state the free-state community of Lawrence. militiamen from Winchester, Virginia, Brown organized a militia unit within and Frederick City, Maryland, and a his Osawatomie River colony and led it detachment of U.S. Marines arrived in on a revenge mission the evening of May the area at Harpers Ferry. The Marines 23, 1856. He and six followers, including were accompanied by Lt. Col. Robert E. four of his sons, visited the homes of pro- Lee, of the Second U.S. Cavalry and his slavery men along Pottawatomie Creek. aide, Lt. J. E. B. Stuart, of the First United Several unarmed male inhabitants were States Cavalry. Lee had been ordered to dragged into the night and brutally killed take command at Harpers Ferry, recapture with long-edged swords. At once, “Old the government armory and arsenal, and Brown of Osawatomie” was a feared and restore order. He dispersed the troops in hated target of “slave-staters.” the armory grounds to prevent the escape In autumn 1856, Brown returned of the insurgents and waited for daylight to to Ohio. During two subsequent trips attack Brown’s stronghold. In the morning, to Kansas, he developed a grandi- Lee sent Lt. Stuart under a white flag with ose plan to free slaves throughout the a handwritten note demanding that Brown South. Prominent abolitionists—includ- surrender and release the prisoners he had ing Frederick Douglass, Gerrit Smith, taken. The surrender note is featured in Numerous related documents from the Richard Henry Dana, Ralph Waldo this article. holdings of the National Archives are avail- Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Judge Brown refused the offered terms of able online in the agency’s ARC database at Thomas Russell, and Thomas Wentworth surrender; so at the signal from Stuart (a www.archives.gov/research_room/arc/index. Higginson—provided Brown with moral wave of his hat), Lee ordered forward html. They include: and financial support for his plan. Brown twelve Marines, and then reserves, to • Articles of Agreement in Regard to the raided plantations in Missouri but accom- attack the doors and gain entry. At the Surrender of the Army of Northern plished little there. In the summer of 1859, threshold one Marine was killed, but the Virginia under Gen. Robert E. Lee, he transferred his operations to western other Marines quickly ended the con- April 10, 1865; ARC Identifier: Virginia under the alias Isaac Smith. test, bayoneting the insurrectionists who 300386 On Sunday night, October 16, 1859, resisted. One Marine attempted to bayonet • Brown, John; bust-length, ca. 1856; John Brown, accompanied by nineteen Brown, but the blade struck his belt buckle. ARC Identifier: 531116 (above) fully armed whites and blacks from vari- Brown was then beaten unconscious. The • The Tragic Prelude. Copy of mural of ous states, crossed the Potomac River into whole affair was over in a few minutes, John Brown by John Steuart Curry in Virginia at Harpers Ferry. They overpow- and the captured citizens were released. A State Capitol in Topeka, Kansas, circa ered the watchmen at the Baltimore & Ohio party of Marines under Stuart was then 1937-42., 1957-1965; ARC Identifier: Railroad Bridge, the U.S. armory and arse- sent to the small farm, near Sandy Hook, 520060 (left) nal, and the rifle factory above the town on Maryland, where Brown and his men had • Telegram from A. M. Barbour, Super- the Shenandoah River. He placed guards at lived since July. The Marines found hun- intendent of the Arsenal at Harpers those captured facilities and on the street dreds of pikes, blankets, tools, tents, and Ferry to the Secretary of War, October corners of the town. News of these events other necessities for a military campaign. A 19, 1859; ARC Identifier: 300374 spread rapidly, and armed citizens and party of Maryland troops also recovered • Topographical copy of a map of the val- citizen militias hurried from surround- boxes of carbines and revolvers from a ley of the Shenandoah River from ing parts of Virginia and Maryland to nearby schoolhouse where Brown had Strasburg, [VA], to Harpers Ferry, [W.] withstand this invasion. By late morning stored them. VA, with the adjacent counties west of Monday, militia from the nearby com- Lee’s official report on the event it and south of the Potomac River, munities of Charlestown, Shepherdstown, was submitted to the adjutant general October 9, 1864-November, 1864; and Martinsburg surrounded the insur- of the Army on October 19. The report ARC Identifier: 305600 gents within the armory enclosure. Brown was based on information in the papers • Pamphlet, “John Brown’s Provisional responded by withdrawing his men into the taken from the insurgents and from their Constitution and Ordinances for the fortified gatehouse and took ten of the most statements. Lee concluded that the party People of the United States” from prominent of his captives from Virginia and consisted of nineteen men—fourteen white records relating to John Brown’s raid at Maryland as “hostages,” in order to insure and five black and that they were headed Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West the safety of his band. From openings in the by John Brown, who planned and executed Virginia), in October 1859; ARC building, Brown and his men fired upon all the capture of the U.S. works at Harpers Identifier: #300375 white people who came within sight. Ferry. According to Lee’s report, Brown’s

S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 4 307 Social Education 308 objective was the liberation of all slaves in sentenced Brown to execution by hang- amex/brown/sfeature/song.html for the Virginia and of the entire South. Lee con- ing. He was condemned to be executed background and lyrics) under the title cluded that Brown’s failure proved the plan on December 2, 1859. After the convic- “John Brown’s Body.” Later, the lyrics was the attempt of a fanatic or madman, tion, Governor Wise, fearing published were rewritten by Julia Ward Howe and which could only end in failure; and its threats that an attempt might be made by adopted by the Northern army as The temporary success was a result of the panic Northern sympathizers to rescue Brown, Battle Hymn of the Republic (visit the and confusion Brown had succeeded in ordered Virginia troops to Charlestown to University of Oklahoma Law Center site creating by magnifying his numbers. Ten of guard the prisoners until after their execu- www.law.ou.edu/hist/bathymn.html). As a the white men, including Brown’s sons, and tion. By the end of November about 1,000 cross-curricular activity, ask students to two of the blacks associated with Brown troops were assembled, among them the sing and analyze the two versions of the were killed during the combat. One white cadets of the Virginia Military Institute, song and lead a class discussion on the man, Cook, escaped, but was subsequently whose cadet battery was under the com- similarities and differences. Also, as a captured and executed; and one black man mand of Maj. T. J. “Stonewall” Jackson. follow-up, encourage students to analyze was unaccounted for. The insurgents killed He was among those who witnessed the the music associated with other American three white men, including one Marine, execution of Brown at midday, December wars. and a black railroad porter. They wounded 2, 1859. eight white citizens and one member of the 4. Biographic Timeline Chart Analysis Marine Corps. Teaching Suggestions From the information in the background Lee turned Brown, two other white 1. Document Analysis essay on John Brown and the raid on men, and two blacks over to the U.S. Provide students with a copy of the fea- Harpers Ferry, point out to students that Marshal and to the sheriff of Jefferson tured document. Ask pairs of students to a number of noteworthy individuals were County, Virginia. Brown was brought to read and then write a transcription of the involved in this event. Ask students to con- trial in state circuit court at Charlestown document. Guide a class discussion using struct a matrix chart that lists these indi- on the following Thursday, October 20. the following questions: viduals down one side, and lists the years He was indicted on charges of treason and ▶ What kind of record is it? from 1859 through 1865 across the top. murder. That afternoon, Governor Henry ▶ When was it written? Based on their research, guide students to Wise of Virginia arrived to interrogate the ▶ Where was it written? complete the squares with information that prize prisoner, and he brought with him ▶ Who wrote it and to whom? describes where each individual was and a group of men who played a critical role ▶ What was its purpose? what they were doing each year. Provide in John Brown’s story: reporters. Brown ▶ What special issues and questions does time for the students to share and discuss answered their questions for hours and it raise? their research. subsequently became an instant celebrity. Even as Brown spoke to reporters, troops 2. Small Group Research 5. News Reporting continued to search the farm where the Provide students with the information from Remind students that much of the impact raiders had lived for several months. In the background essay on John Brown and of Brown’s raid resulted from articles writ- addition to the weapons mentioned above, the raid on Harpers Ferry. Then divide ten by newspaper reporters and journalistic they found a large carpetbag crammed students into six groups, and assign one writers. Ask students to further research with letters from Brown’s prominent sup- decade to each group from the 1790s to the Brown’s life and his raid on Harpers Ferry porters. Clearly, important people had 1850s. Direct each group to research their and to write a twelve question-and-answer financed his raid. To the South, it seemed assigned decade and construct an annotated interview based on their research and as that the entire North had sanctioned the timeline of abolitionist and counter-aboli- if they were there that day in 1859 after murderous attack. The South was terror- tionist events for that decade. Suggest that Brown’s arrest and indictment. As extra ized. Vigilante groups organized to patrol they also include the political, economic, credit, suggest that students script their areas throughout the South. New militia and literary impact of those events. Ask interview, using other students as players, companies were organized in county after each group to select one member to share and create a newscast to be performed county and city after city. their timeline with the class in a short oral and/or recorded. The trial took less than a week. Brown’s presentation. After the presentations, lead lawyer tried to have him declared insane. the students in a class discussion on the role 6. Assessment Essay But Brown denounced the idea, and the of Brown’s raid in the abolition of slavery Brown’s actions were considered terrorist judge rejected the plea. On November 2, and the events leading to the Civil War. and treasonous by some and the ultimate, the jury, after deliberating for just forty-five unselfish sacrifice of a martyr to a divine minutes, reached its verdict: guilty of mur- 3. Cross-Curricular Activity cause by others. Ask students to research der; guilty of treason; and guilty of incit- John Brown’s raid was celebrated in song Brown’s life and write an assessment essay ing slave insurrection. The judge calmly (visit the PBS site www.pbs.org/wgbh/ of the value and impact of Brown’s actions

S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 4 309 at Harpers Ferry and elsewhere. Extend this activity by asking students to research other violent insurrections in American history and their causes and effects. Invite students to consider to what extent, and on what basis, violence is condoned in America’s political history.

7. Small Group Comparative Analysis Provide students with a copy of the fea- tured surrender document and Lee’s sur- render document at Appomattox Court House, 1865, available at www.archives. gov/research_room/arc/ (ARC Identifi er: 300386). Ask students in small groups to compare and contrast the terms, indi- viduals, and circumstances of these two surrender documents.

Note The featured document, Robert E. Lee’s Demand for the Surrender of John Brown and his Party [at Harpers Ferry], October 18, 1859, is from the Records of the Adjutant General’s Offi ce, 1780s—1917; Record Group 94, and is in the holdings of the National Archives.

Daniel F. Rulli is an education specialist at the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, D.C. Lee Ann Potter, the head of Education and Volunteer Programs at the Archives, serves as the editor for “Teaching With Documents,” a regular department of Social Education. You may reproduce the document shown here in any quantity.

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Social Education 310