Brown, John, of Osawatomie

Autograph letter signed, 3 pages (9 7/8 x 7 3/4 in.; 250 x 197 mm) on a bifolium, "Charlestown, Jefferson Co., Va.," 15 November 1859, to the Rev. Herman L. Vaill at Litchfield, Connecticut ("My Dear Stedfast Friend"), with the original autograph envelope (postmarked Charlestown, 17 November); lightly browned, photographic portraits of Brown and Vaill tipped to the verso of the second leaf, envelope soiled, stamp torn away, laid down.

Autograph letter signed, 3 pages (9 7/8 x 7 3/4 in.; 250 x 197 mm) on a bifolium, "Charlestown, Jefferson Co., Va.," 15 November 1859, to the Rev. Herman L. Vaill at Litchfield, Connecticut ("My Dear Stedfast Friend"), with the original autograph envelope (postmarked Charlestown, 17 November); lightly browned, photographic portraits of Brown and Vaill tipped to the verso of the second leaf, envelope soiled, stamp torn away, laid down.
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Writing from jail just two weeks before his hanging, Brown expresses his steadfast commitment to the cause of radical abolition: "I cannot believe that anything I have done suffered or may yet suffer will be lost; to the cause of God or of humanity: & before I began my work at Harper's Ferry; I felt assured that in the worst event: it would certainly pay."

John Brown (1800-1859) remains one of the most polarizing figures in American history: viewed by many as a liberator and freedom fighter, and by others as a terrorist and murderer. In Bloody Kansas, the abolitionism that Brown had espoused almost his entire life turned wildly violent. In October 1859 Brown and a small band of followers seized the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, planning on leading an armed slave insurrection across the South. Two days later, Brown was in custody (captured by a marine contingent led by army colonel Robert E. Lee) and ten of his men, including two of his sons, were dead.

During his trial, Brown rejected any efforts to mount an insanity defense. After his conviction and sentencing, he wrote several letters expressing the confidence that he had acted for the right to both God and man. The present letter is one of the most famous ever written by Brown. He sent it to Herman Vaill, who had taught the young Brown at Morris Academy in Litchfield, Connecticut, and had encouraged Brown to pursue his aspirations to become a minister. (A photographic copy of Vaill's letter to Brown, 8 November 1859, accompanies the lot.)

"Your most kind & most welcome letter of the 8th inst. reached me in due time. I am very grateful for all the good feeling you express & also for the kind counsels you give together with your prayers in my behalf. Allow me here to say notwithstanding 'my soul is amongst Lions' still I believe that 'God in very deed is with me.' You will not therefore feel surprised when I tell you that I am 'joyful in all my tribulation': that I do not feel condemned of Him whose judgment is just; nor of my own conscience. Nor do I feel degraded by my imprisonment, my chains, or prospect of the Gallows. I have not only been (though utterly unworthy) permitted to suffer affliction with God's people; but have also had a great many rare opportunities for 'preaching righteousness in the great congregation.' I trust it will not all be lost. The Jailor (in whose charge I am) & his family; & assistants have all been most kind: & notwithstanding he was one of the bravest of all who fought me: he is now being abused for his humanity. So far as my observation goes; none but brave men: are likely to be humane; to a fallen foe. 'Cowards prove their courage by their ferocity.' It may be done in that way with but little risk. I wish I could write you about a few only of the interesting times I here experience with different classes of men; clergymen among others. Christ, the great Captain of liberty; as well as of salvation; & who began his mission, as foretold of him; by proclaiming it, saw fit to take from me a sword of steel after I had carried it for a time but he has put another in my hand: ('the sword of the Spirit';) & I pray God to make me a faithful soldier, wherever he may send me, not less on the scaffold than when surrounded by my warmest sympathisers. My Dear Old Friend, I do assure you I have not forgotten our last meeting nor our retrospective look over the route by which God had then led us: & I bless his name that he has again enabled me to hear your words of cheering and comfort at a time when I at least am on the 'brink of Jordan.' See Bunyans Pilgrim[.] God in Infinite mercy grant us soon another meeting on the opposite shore. I have often passed under the rod of him whom I call my Father: & certainly no son ever needed it oftener: & yet I have enjoyed much of life, as I was enabled to discover the secret of this; somewhat early. It has been in making the prosperity, & the happiness of others my own: so that really I have had a great deal of prosperity. I am very prosperous still; & looking forward to a time when 'peace on Earth & good will to men shall every where prevail.' I have no murmuring thoughts or envyous feelings to fret my mind. "I'll praise my maker with my breath: ..."

Somewhat uncharacteristically, Brown comes close to acknowledging that his attack on Harper's Ferry did not represent his best judgement. '"Your assurance of the earnest sympathy of the friends in my native land is very grateful to my feelings; & allow me to say a word of comfort to them. As I believe most firmly that God reigns; I cannot believe that anything I have done suffered or may yet suffer will be lost; to the cause of God or of humanity: & before I began my work at Harper's Ferry; I felt assured that in the worst event: it would certainly pay. I often expressed that belief; & I can now see no possible cause to alter my mind. I am not as yet, in the main at all disappointed. I have been a good deal disappointed as it regards myself in not keeping up to my own plans: but I now feel entirely reconciled to that even: for Gods plan, was Infinitely better; no doubt; or I should have kept to my own. Had Samson kept to his determination of not telling Delilah wherein his great strength lay: he would probably have never overturned the house. I did not tell Delilah; but I was induced to act very contrary to my better judgment: & I have lost my two noble boys; & and other friends, if not my two eyes. But 'Gods will not mine be done.' I feel a comfortable hope that like that erring servant of whom I have just been writing even I may (through Infinite mercy in Christ Jesus) yet 'die in faith[.]' As to both the time, & manner of my death: I have but very little trouble on that score; & am able to be (as you exhort) 'of good cheer.' I send through you my best wishes to Mrs Woodruff & her son George; & to all dear friends. May the God of the poor & afflicted: be the God & Savior of you all. Farewell till we 'meet again.'" Brown confidently concludes his letter, "Your Friend in truth."

Reverend Vaill made this letter available to F. B. Sanborn, who printed it (with many silent corrections of capitalization, spelling, punctuation, and other incidentals) in The Life and Letters of John Brown: Liberator of Kansas and Martyr of Virginia (1885). It has been quoted in virtually every subsequent biography of Brown.

In David Reynolds's recent John Brown, Abolitionist (2005), the author notes that it is "Small wonder that this letter—which, like most of Brown's prison letters, was printed in newspapers—caught the eye of Henry David Thoreau. Like Thoreau, Brown championed a higher prosperity than a material one." Reynolds then quotes from Thoreau's essay, "A Plea for Captain John Brown": "Where is our professor of belles lettres or of logic and rhetoric, who can write so well? ... He wrote in prison, not a history of the world like Raleigh, but an American book that will live longer than that. ... John Brown's career for the last six weeks of his life was meteor-like, flashing through the darkness in which we live. I know of nothing so miraculous in our history."

Brown may not have been, as Reynolds describes him in the sub-title of his autobiography, "the man who killed slavery, sparked the Civil War, and seeded Civil Rights," but he was undoubtedly one of the galvanizing figures of one of the most crucial periods in the nation's history.