University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 1-1-1974 The secret six : a study of the conspiracy behind John Brown's raid. Jeffery S. Rossbach University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1 Recommended Citation Rossbach, Jeffery S., "The es cret six : a study of the conspiracy behind John Brown's raid." (1974). Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014. 1333. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1/1333 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE SECRET SIX: A STUDY OF THE CONSPIRACY BEHIND JOHN BROWN'S PAID A Dissertation Presented By JEFFERY STUART ROSSBACH Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY May 19 74 History Jeffery Stuart Rossbach All Rights Reserved THE SECRET SIX: A STUDY OF THE CONSPIRACY BEHIND JOHN BROWN'S RAID A Dissertation By JEFFERY STUART ROSSBACH Approved as to style and content by: Stephen B. Oates, Chairman of Committee Gerald W. McFarland, Member A. W. Plumsted, Member Robert H. McNeal, Chairman Department of History May 1974 The Secret Six: A Study of the Conspiracy Behind John Brown's Raid (May 1974) Jeffery Stuart Rossbach, B.A. , Providence College M.A. , Providence College Directed by: Stephen B. Oates A few days after New Year's in 1857 on a windy, bitter cold afternoon in Boston, a gaunt somber-faced man named John Brown appeared at the Bromfield Street offices of the Massachusetts Kansas Aid Committee. The gray-haired fifty- six year old had recently returned from Kansas where for over a year he had helped lead the violent struggle to prevent the imposition of slavery on that territory. Brown believed that force had to be used to prevent a proslavery takeover in Kansas and he came east seeking funds to further subsidize freestate military efforts. After introducting himself and presenting his references, the Kansas warrior was greeted by the committee's newly appointed secretary, young Franklin Benjamin Sanborn. Their meeting on that cloudy winter day became the began a three year relationship in which Sanborn Massachusetts "lynch-pin" of Brown's fund-raising activities in years Sanborn and New England. In fact, during the next few Theodore Parker, and five other prominent abolitionists, Gerrit Smith, Samuel Gridley Howe, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, help Brown collect and George Luther Stearns would not only secret committee to funds for Kansas but would also form a March 1858 all six subsidize his raid on Harpers Ferry. By provide supplies, arms and men were engaged in a conspiracy to thrust at slavery. money for the old man's insurrectionary "make a dash" south, stir a They supported Brown's plan to uprising and then retreat vast and, if necessary, bloody slave into a Virginia mountain fortress where other similar attacks might be prepared. By October 1859, the Six had given Brown 4000 dollars to begin the raid as well as 200 Sharpe's rifles and 200 hand guns. But in spite of the fact that, a record of the conspiracy can be accurately reconstructed from a number of historical sources, no full-scale analysis of why the members of the Secret Committee of Six, either collectively or individually, decided to support Brown has been undertaken. This disserta- tion seeks to begin a discussion of that question and in the process expand understanding of abolitionist class values, racial attitudes and notions of justified violence. Immediately three problems present themselves. First violence. there is the issue of the group's ambivalence toward it Despite their regard for Higher Law and their belief that slav- theoretically justified the use of violent means against actually subsidize ery, none of the committeemen were ready to the spring of 1858 force when they met Brown in 1857. Yet by use of force. This they made a tentative commitment to the ambivalence and moved study examines how they resolved this violence. beyond Higher Law for a justification of the motives of The second problem to face in examining why six men who were so the Secret Six is how to explain racialist stereotype of the thoroughly imbued with a romantic support black insurrection. black man found it possible to committeemen agreed, blacks were After all, if, as most of the . pliant, docile and "little addicted" to revenge, it seems unlikely Brown could have convinced them that slaves would make violent efforts for freedom. The question remains: how did the Six come to believe a race without vengeful emotions would or could fight for freedom? Finally there is the problem of Brown's relation to the Six. Most historians talk about the personal and religious differences between the warrior and his associates. They see the link between him and the others only in terms of their mutual hatred for slavery. Whenever any historian ventures beyond this tie, Brown is portrayed as someone spiritually separated from his supporters— almost incomprehensible to them as a person. My research suggests a different conclu- sion. Brown's social character, his personality and values were quite comprehensible to the members of the Secret Com- mittee of Six. Indeed it was on the basis of similar social values that the relationship between Brown and his committee associates was founded. These values have profound implica- tions for the Six's willingness to commit themselves to vio- racialist lence and see the black man in other than romantic terms TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 1 Chapter I 20 Chapter II 60 Chapter III 99 Chapter IV 139 Chapter V . 177 Chapter VI 211 Chapter VII 248 Chapter VIII 283 Chapter IX . 314 Footnotes 355 "7 Bibliography 397 INTRODUCTION A few days after New Year's in 1857 on a windy, bitter cold afternoon in Boston, a gaunt somber- faced man named John Brown appeared at the Bromfield Street offices of the Massachusetts Kansas Committee. The gray-haired, fifty-six year old had recently returned from Kansas where for over a year he helped lead the violent struggle to prevent the impo- sition of slavery on that territory. Brown believed that force had to be used to prevent a proslavery takeover in Kansas and he came east seeking funds to further subsidize freestate military efforts. After introducing himself and presenting his references, the freedom fighter was greeted by the committee's newly appointed secretary, young Franklin Benjamin Sanborn. Their meeting on that cloudy winter day began a three year relationship in which Sanborn became the "lynch-pin" of Brown's fund-raising activities in Massachusetts and New England. And during those years, Sanborn, along with five other prominent abolitionists, Theodore Parker, Samuel Gridley Howe, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Gerr.it Smith, and George Luther Stearns, would not only help Brown collect funds for Kansas but would also form Ferry. a secret committee to subsidize his raid on Harpers conspiracy to By March 185 8 all six men were engaged in a provide supplies, arms, and money for the warrior's insurrec- plan to tionary thrust at slavery. They supported Brown's 2 "make a dash" into the South, stir a slave uprising, and then retreat to a Virginia mountain fortress where other sim- ilar attacks might be prepared. When Brown's attack aborted in the fall of 1359 and he was captured in the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, all of the secret committeemen (except Higginson) burned significant portions of information which linked them to the scheme. Still, enough source material remains to suggest a number of factual conclusions about their conspirational activity on his behalf. We know that Brown formally revealed his plan to the Six in late February and early March of 1858, that he was able to calm their initial fears and quell their doubts during the next year and that by October 1859 he had received almost 4000 dollars from them to finance the raid. We know, too, that although the raid was originally scheduled for the late spring of 1858, it had to be postponed when a disgruntled associate of Brown's named Hugh Forbes threat- ened to reveal the whole scheme to influential political leaders in Washington D. C. It is also true that while all of the committee members didn't know all of the specific details of the proposed attack (they were shocked when Brown Sanborn, was trapped inside of the arsenal), at least four, where, Stearns, Smith and Higginson certainly knew when, violent work. It is how, and why Brown desired to begin his these facts. very probable Samuel Gridley Howe also knew Sanborn, Stearns and Just ten days before the October assault 3 Lewis Hayden, the leader of Boston's black abolitionist com- munity, stayed awake all night outlining the plan to an erratic young man named Francis Merriam who was determined to join Brown's small insurrectionary cadre. In short, the factual record of the conspiracy can be accurately recon- structed despite the destruction of some documents."'" But up to now no one has attempted a full-scale analysis of why the members of the Secret Committee of Six (either collectively or individually) decided to support Brown's vio- lent aim. While biographers of Brown and those who supported him have made some attempt to examine motive, no one has pro- duced a detailed and probing examination of the reasons for the committee's activities.