Brown, John

Letter, signed ("John Brown"), also signed by W[illiam] H[enry] Leeman and J[ames]  M[adison] Bell, 1 page (7 ½ x 5 in.; 190 x 126 mm, sight), Chatham, Canada West, 29 April 1858, to Charles L[enox] Remond, asking him to attend the Chatham Convention; formerly folded, some soiling at folds, small dampstains in upper corners, along with a signed carte-de-visite with an engraved portrait, inscribed "Farewell God bless you, Your Friend, John Brown"; some foxing. Matted, framed and glazed together.

Letter, signed ("John Brown"), also signed by W[illiam] H[enry] Leeman and J[ames] M[adison] Bell, 1 page (7 ½ x 5 in.; 190 x 126 mm, sight), Chatham, Canada West, 29 April 1858, to Charles L[enox] Remond, asking him to attend the Chatham Convention; formerly folded, some soiling at folds, small dampstains in upper corners, along with a signed carte-de-visite with an engraved portrait, inscribed "Farewell God bless you, Your Friend, John Brown"; some foxing. Matted, framed and glazed together.
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John Brown invites Charles Remond to meet with other "Friends of Freedom."

Remond (1810–1873) was, until the rise of Frederick Douglass, the best known black abolitionist. Born a free man in Salem Massachusetts, he was a fiery orator, and regularly contributed to magazines and newspapers.

Brown arrived in Chatham on 29 April with a group of his followers he had retrieved from Springdale Iowa. He was staying at Chatham with the black poet James Madison Bell. He and his men wrote to Frederick Douglass, Wendell Phillips and other prominent abolitionists, inviting them to come to Chatham for his convention and a public signing of his provisional constitution.

His letter to Remond reads: "You are earnestly requested to meet quite a number of the friends of freedom at this place on Saturday the Eighth of May and bring with you any others that you know to be absolutely true men to the cause [emphasis original] and who will have sufficient interest in the matter to meet the expense of the journey. There are already so many collected here that it has been decided to make this the point for a most quiet convention. Had we the means of bearing your travelling expenses we would most gladly do so. Western friends are on the ground now."

None of the familiar abolitionists attended the convention, out of fear of identification with Brown.