My
dear Wife and Children, every one,
I
suppose you have learned before this by the newspapers that
two weeks ago today we were fighting for our lives at Harper's
Ferry; that during the fight Watson was mortally wounded, Oliver
killed, William Thompson killed, and Dauphin slightly wounded;
that on the following day I was taken prisoner, immediately
after which I received several sabre cuts on my head and bayonet
stabs in my body. As nearly as I can learn, Watson died of his
wound on Wednesday, the second or on Thursday, the third day
after I was taken. Dauphin was killed when I was taken, and
Anderson I suppose also. I have since been tried, and found
guilty of treason, etc., and of murder in the first degree.
I have not yet received my sentence. No others of the company
with whom you were acquainted were, so far as I can learn, either
killed or taken. Under all these terrible calamities, I feel
quite cheerful in the assurance that God reigns and will overrule
all for his glory and the best possible good. I feel no consciousness
of guilt in the matter, nor even mortification on account of
my imprisonment and irons; and I feel perfectly sure that very
soon no member of my family will feel any possible disposition
to "blush on my account." Already dear friends at
a distance, with kindest sympathy, are cheering me with the
assurance that posterity, at least, will do me justice. I shall
commend you all together, with my beloved but bereaved daughters
in law, to their sympathies, which I do not doubt will soon
reach you. I also commend you all to Him "whose mercy endureth
forever," to the God of my fathers, "whose I am, and
whom I serve." "He will never leave you nor forsake
you," unless you forsake Him. Finally, my dearly beloved,
be of good comfort. Be sure to remember and follow my advice,
and my example too, so far as it has been consistent with the
holy religion of Jesus Christ, in which I remain a most firm
and humble believer. Never forget the poor, nor think anything
you bestow on them to be lost to you, even though they may be
black as Ebedmelech, the Ethiopian eunuch, who cared for Jeremiah
in the pit of the dungeon; or as black as the one to whom Philip
preached Christ. Be sure to entertain strangers, for thereby
some have "Remember them that are in bonds as bound with
them."
I
am in charge of a jailer like the one who took charge of Paul
and Silas; and you may rest assured that both kind hearts and
kind faces are more or less about rile, while thousands are
thirsting for my blood. "These light afflictions, which
are but for a moment, shall work out for us a far more exceeding
and eternal weight of glory." I hope to be able to write
you again. Copy this, Ruth, and send it to your sorrow stricken
brothers to comfort them. Write me a few words in regard to
the welfare of all. God Almighty bless you all, and make you
"joyful in the midst of all your tribulations!" Write
to John Brown, Charleston, Jefferson County, Va., care of Captain
John Avis.
