"…on
arriving here on the night of the 17th instant,I learned that
a party of insurgents, about 11pm on the 16th, had seized the
watchmen stationed at the armory, arsenal, rifle factory, and
bridge across the Potomac, and taken possession of those points.
They
then dispatched six men, under one of their party, called Captain
Aaron C.V. Stevens, to arrest the principal citizens in the
neighborhood and incite the Negroes to join in the insurrection.
The party took Colonel L. W. Washington (the great-grand-nephew
of George Washington) from his bed about 1 1/2 am on the 17th,
and brought him, with four of his servants, to this place. Mr.
J. H. Allstadt and six of his servants were in the same manner
seized about 3 am, and arms placed in the hands of the Negroes.
Upon
their return here, John E. Cook, one of the party sent to Mr.
Washington's, was dispatched to Maryland, with Mr. Washington's
wagon, two of his servants, and three of Mr. Allstadt's, for
arms and ammunition, &c. As day advanced, and the citizens
of Harper's Ferry commenced their usual avocations, they were
separately captured, to the number of forty, as well as I could
learn, and confined in one room of the fire-engine house of
the armory, which seems early to have been selected as a point
of defense... These companies forced the insurgents to abandon
their positions at the bridge and in the village, and to withdraw
within the armory enclosure, where they fortified themselves
in the fire-engine house, and carried ten of their prisoners
for the purpose of insuring their safety and facilitating their
escape, whom they termed hostages…
I
determined to summon the insurgents to surrender. As soon after
daylight as the arrangements were made Lieutenant J. E. B. Stewart,
1st cavalry, who had accompanied me from Washington as staff
officer, was dispatched, under a flag, with a written summons…
Knowing the character of the leader of the insurgents, I did
not expect it would be accepted. I had therefore directed that
the volunteer troops, under their respective commanders, should
be paraded on the lines assigned them outside the armory, and
had prepared a storming party of twelve marines, under their
commander, Lieutenant Green, and had placed them close to the
engine house, and secure from its fire. Three marines were furnished
with sledge-hammers to break in the doors, and the men were
instructed how to distinguish our citizens from the insurgents;
to attack with the bayonet and not to injure the blacks detained
in custody unless they resisted."
The
Attack on the Engine House
Lieutenant
Stewart was also directed not to receive from the insurgents
any counter propositions. If they accepted the terms offered,
they must immediately deliver up their arms and release their
prisoners. If they did not, he must, on leaving the engine-house,
give me the signal. My object was, with a view of saving our
citizens, to have as short an interval as possible between the
summons and attack. The summons, as I had anticipated, was rejected.
At the concerted signal the storming party moved quickly to
the door and commenced the attack. The fire engines within the
house had been placed by the besieged close to the doors. The
doors were fastened by ropes, the spring of which prevented
their being broken by the blows of the hammers. The men were
therefore ordered to drop the hammers, and, with a portion of
the reserve, to use as a battering-ram a heavy ladder, with
which they dashed in a part of the door and gave admittance
to the storming party. The fire of the insurgents up to this
time had been harmless. At the threshold one marine fell mortally
wounded. The rest, led by Lieutenant Green and Major Russell,
quickly ended the contest. The insurgents that resisted were
bayoneted. Their leader, John Brown, was cut down by the sword
of Lieutenant Green, and our citizens were protected by both
officers and men. The whole was over in a few minutes. . . .
From
the information derived from the papers found upon the persons
and among the baggage of the insurgents, and the statement of
those now in custody, it appears that the party consisted of
nineteen men - fourteen white and five black. That they were
headed by John Brown, of some notoriety in Kansas, who in June
last located himself in Maryland, at the Kennedy farm, where
he has been engaged in preparing to capture the United States
works at Harper's Ferry.
He
avows that his object was the liberation of the slaves of Virginia,
and of the whole South; and acknowledges that he has been disappointed
in his expectations of aid from the black as well as white population,
both in the Southern and Northern States. The blacks whom he
forced from their homes in this neighborhood, as far as I could
learn, gave him no voluntary assistance… The result proves
that the plan was the attempt of a fanatic or madman, which
could only end in failure; and its temporary success was owing
to the panic and confusion he succeeded in creating by magnifying
his numbers."
