Osborne P. Anderson: A Voice from Harper’s Ferry

Explanation and Analysis of the Document

In A Voice from Harper’s Ferry (in which the author, as have others, added an apostrophe to the town’s name), Anderson narrates his participation in Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry of October 1859, including events leading up to the raid and his escape afterward. Anderson journeyed to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, in September 1859 and from there to the Kennedy Farm in Maryland, the final staging area for the raid. He gives details of life at the Kennedy Farm and the final council meeting on October 16, when Brown gave eleven specific orders to the raiders regarding their duties during the raid. He next describes the raid itself, including the capture of prisoners, the engine house, the armory, the two bridges, and the rifle factory. The arming of slaves occurred on October 17, as did the attack on Brown’s men by federal troops. After describing Brown’s capture, Anderson relates his escape with Albert Hazlett, Hazlett’s capture, and the fate of the other five raiders who escaped. Like Hazlett, John Cook escaped but was captured and returned to Virginia for trial. Thus, only five of Brown’s men survived the raid. Anderson’s final chapter details the responses of slaves during the raid and their participation in and support of the raid. The book ends with a series of poems praising Brown.

Preface

Because he was an eyewitness of the events of October 16 and 17, 1859, during the raid on Harpers Ferry, Anderson feels compelled to give an account of those events. He establishes his credibility by arguing that no one can question the fact that he was one of Brown’s raiders; after all, he points out that he is a wanted man. He also notes that only two raiders escaped from Harpers Ferry—he himself and Hazlett. But since Hazlett was later captured in Pennsylvania, returned to Virginia, and hanged, Anderson is the only one left alive who can give a true account of what happened from the point of view of the raiders. In fact, five other raiders escaped, but they were not in Harpers Ferry itself. Owen Brown, F. J. Merriam, and Barclay Coppic had remained at the Kennedy Farm in Maryland to guard the arms stored there; Cook and Charles P. Tidd had been in Harpers Ferry early on October 16 but were ordered by Brown to go to the Kennedy Farm to aid in moving arms closer to Harpers Ferry.

Chapter X

In Chapter X, Anderson begins with the entry of the raiders into the town of Harpers Ferry and shows how easily Brown and eighteen of his men captured the two bridges into and out of town, the engine house, the arsenal, and the rifle factory. (Three of the twenty-one raiders meanwhile remained at the Kennedy Farm to guard the weapons.) Three watchmen were taken prisoner along with several townspeople who were walking about. Anderson announces proudly, “These places were all taken, and the prisoners secured, without the snap of a gun, or any violence whatever.”

Anderson is intent on showing the fear and cowardice of some of the southerners who were taken prisoner. For example, the watchman at the bridge “asked them to spare his life.” The watchman guarding the engine-house yard at Harpers Ferry refused to open the gate but “commenced to cry,” and when the raiders took Colonel Lewis Washington prisoner, he begged for his life and “cried heartily when he found he must submit.” Colonel Washington was also “taken aback” when told to present to Anderson “the famous sword formerly presented by Frederic [the Great] to his illustrious kinsman, George Washington”; Frederick the Great, the king of Prussia, was an admirer of Washington and reportedly had sent the sword to him in 1780. When John Allstadt, another plantation owner, was taken prisoner, “he went into as great a fever of excitement as Washington had done.” Evidently, awareness of previous slave insurrections convinced these men that they were doomed. Nat Turner’s 1831 rebellion, for example, was still fresh in the memory of Virginia’s slave owners, since it had occurred in Southampton County, Virginia, and had resulted in the deaths of some fifty-five white people. Perhaps because he understood this fear and wished to show the difference between Brown’s insurrection and previous ones, Anderson makes a point of telling his readers that each prisoner was assured by his captors that he would not be harmed.

In this chapter, Anderson also discusses encounters with local blacks who were asked to “circulate the news,” with the result that “many colored men gathered to the scene of action.” He also reports the first death: Ironically, a free black who worked as a baggage handler, Heyward Shepherd (referred to as “Haywood”), was shot by the raiders at the bridge—before he could be identified as black—because he refused an order to halt.

Chapter XI

Anderson records the spread of terror and fear among the residents of Harpers Ferry and among the prisoners. More prisoners were taken, and Brown ordered Tidd, Cook, and William Leeman, along with fourteen armed slaves, to begin moving the secured arms from the Kennedy Farm to a schoolhouse near the ferry. Brown also ordered Anderson to begin passing out pikes, from Brown’s wagon, to the slaves from the Washington and Allstadt plantations as well as to other blacks who had arrived on the scene.

As in Chapter X, Anderson dwells on the cowardice of white southerners: “The cowardly Virginians submitted like sheep, without resistance, … until the marines came down.” He also introduces a new topic—Brown’s desire to make arrangements about the prisoners, which causes some delay, though, as Anderson points out, it was “no part of the original plan.” According to Anderson, “This tardiness … was eventually the cause of our defeat.”

Chapter XII

Anderson, who was stationed in the arsenal—his being in that location saved his life—reports on the initial triumph of Brown’s men over the armed troops who arrived to put down the insurrection. Brown ordered his men out into the street, and they fired upon the troops, scattering them. Anderson declares that “they seemed not to realize, at first, that we would fire upon them,” and he notes their hasty retreat to the bridge, where they awaited reinforcements. He mentions the death of Dangerfield Newby, shot by a man hiding in a store. The “cowardly murderer” was quickly brought down by Shields Green.

During a lull in the fighting, Brown’s prisoners requested breakfast, and he obliged by ordering food from the Wager House, a nearby hotel. Anderson attempts to set the record straight regarding the legend that Brown ordered food for his men in the heat of the conflict; rather, Anderson asserts that the Wager House offered food to Brown and his men, but he suspected the food might have been poisoned and refused it. Similarly, Anderson spends a good deal of time in this chapter further attempting to set the record straight about the myth of southern chivalry and the alleged bravery of white plantation owners. He points to the fact that the white lower classes and marines fought the raiders, while slave owners held back. He also points to the shootings of Watson Brown and A. D. Stevens, who were wounded while carrying flags of truce.

Chapter XIII

In this chapter, Anderson again discusses the lack of honor that he witnessed among the raiders’ opponents, especially in regard to the flags of truce and “the brutal treatment of Captain Brown and his men in the charge by the marines on the engine house.” Although Brown was not captured until early Tuesday morning, October 18, when a contingent of marines commanded by Robert E. Lee stormed the engine house, while apparently Anderson and Hazlett escaped late on Monday, October 17, Anderson writes that he “saw the charge upon the engine house with the ladder” leading to “Brown’s capture,” which he describes in some detail. Anderson pays lofty tribute to Green, one of the black raiders who was captured by the marines: “Wiser and better men no doubt there were, but a braver man never lived than Shields Green.”

Chapter XIV

It is clear that Anderson feels that he either has been or may be accused of cowardice for having left Harpers Ferry; thus, he attempts to explain why he and Hazlett did not remain. Since out of the six men originally stationed at the arsenal, he and Hazlett were the only ones left and felt that they could do nothing, they decided to escape while they still could, in order to fight another day. As they escaped, they captured a prisoner who told them that seventy “citizens” had been killed. Again, Anderson is trying to counter subsequent southern claims—in this instance, that Brown’s raiders had killed only twenty southerners.

After their prisoner begged for his life and assured them that he would not inform on them, Hazlett and Anderson let him go—but having second thoughts, they soon concealed themselves. Sure enough, troops pursued them, but the two raiders fought them off, killing a few, and the troops returned to Harpers Ferry. Once more, Anderson records the lack of honor among southerners and the cowardice of the enemy.

Chapter XV

Anderson admired the wisdom and courage of John Kagi, Brown’s second in command, and although he does not openly criticize Brown here, Anderson notes that Kagi foresaw the danger that they were in and urged Brown early on to leave Harpers Ferry, to no avail. As the man was a participant in the assault on Kagi’s position, Anderson learns from the prisoner taken by himself and Hazlett the details of Kagi’s death. Anderson describes the courage of Kagi, John Copeland, Sherrard Lewis Leary, “and three colored men from the neighborhood,” who defended the rifle factory against “as many as five hundred” men in all.

Chapter XIX

In conventional rhetorical fashion, Anderson saves the most controversial subject for last: the actions of local slaves during the Harpers Ferry raid. In order to counter the claims of southerners “that the slaves were cowardly,” he gives numerous examples to prove that they were not. They indeed supported the raid, and Brown told him that he was “agreeably disappointed in the behavior of the slaves; for he did not expect one out of ten to be willing to fight.” Anderson projects, based on the examples he gives, “that hundreds of slaves were ready, and would have joined in the work, had Captain Brown’s sympathies not been aroused in favor of the families of his prisoners.” Again, there is a note of criticism in his appraisal of Brown’s actions as commander.