Digital
History>eXplorations>John
Brown: Hero or Terrorist?> Planning
the Raid>John Cook's "Confession"
John
Cook’s “Confession,” November, 1859
Source:
Sanford, John Brown, 702-705
.
. . We stopped some days at Tabor, making preparations to start.
Here we found that Captain Brown's ultimate destination was the
State of Virginia. Some warm words passed between him and myself
in regard to the plan, which I had supposed was to be confined
entirely to Kansas and Missouri. Realf and Parsons were of the
same opinion with me. After a good deal of wrangling we consented
to go on, as we had not the means to return, and the rest of the
party were so anxious that we should go with them . . . .
.
. . We remained at Pedee [Springfield, Iowa till about the middle
of April, when we left for Chatham, Canada, via Chicago and Detroit.
We staid about two weeks in Chatham some of the party staid six
or seven weeks. We left Chatham for Cleveland, and remained there
until late in June. In the meantime, Captain Brown went East on
business; but previous to his departure he had learned that Colonel
Forbes had betrayed his plans to some extent. This, together with
the scantiness of his funds, induced him to delay the commencement
of his work, and was the means, for the time being, of disbanding
the party. He had also received some information which called
for his immediate attention in Kansas. I wished to go with him,
but he said that I was too well known there, and requested me
and some others to go to Harper's Ferry, Va., to see how things
were there, and to gain information. While we were in Chatham
he called a convention, the purpose of which was to make a complete
and thorough organization. He issued a written circular, which
he sent to various persons in the United States and Canada . .
. .
As
the names were left blank I do not know to whom they were sent,
though I wrote several of them. I learned, however, that one was
sent to Frederick Douglass, and I think Gerrit Smith also received
one. Who the others were sent to I do not know. Neither Douglass
nor Smith attended the convention. I suppose some twenty five
or thirty of these circulars were sent, but as they were directed
by Captain Brown or J. H. Kagi I do not know the names of the
parties to whom they were addressed. I do know, however, that
they were sent to none save those whom Captain Brown knew to be
radical abolitionists. I think it was about ten days from the
time the circulars were sent that the convention met. The place
of meeting was in one of the negro churches in Chatham. The convention,
I think, was called to order by J. H. Kagi. Its object was then
stated, which was to complete a thorough organization and the
formation of a constitution. The first business was to elect a
president and secretary. Elder Monroe, a colored minister, was
elected President, and J. H. Kagi, Secretary. The next business
was to form a constitution. Captain Brown had already drawn up
one, which, on motion, was read by the Secretary. On motion it
was ordered that each article of the constitution be taken up
and separately amended and passed, which was done. On motion,
the constitution was then adopted as a whole. The next business
was to nominate a Commander in Chief, Secretary of War, and Secretary
of State. Captain John Brown was unanimously elected Commander
in Chief; J. H. Kagi, Secretary of War, and Richard Realf, Secretary
of State. Elder Monroe was to act as President until another was
chosen. A. M. Chapman, I think, was to act as Vice-President.
Doctor M. K. Delany was one of the Corresponding Secretaries of
the organization. There were some others from the United States,
whose names I do not now remember. Most of the delegates to the
Convention were from Canada. After the constitution was adopted,
the members took their oath to support it. It was then signed
by all present. During the interval between the call for the convention
and its assembling, regular meetings were held at Barbour's Hotel,
where we were stopping, by those who were known to be true to
the cause, at which meetings plans were laid and discussed. There
were no white men at the convention save the members of our company.
Men and money had both been promised from Chatham and other parts
of Canada. When the convention broke up, news was received that
Col. H. Forties, who had joined in the movement, had given information
to the government. This, of course, delayed the time of attack.
A day or two afterward most of our party took the boat to Cleveland
-Jno. H. Kagi, Richard Realf, Wm. H. Leeman, Richard Robertson,
and Capt. Brown remaining. Capt. B., however, started in a day
or two for the East. Kagi, I think, returned to some other town
in Canada, to set up the type and to get the constitution printed,
which he completed before he went to Cleveland. We remained in
Cleveland for some weeks, at which place, for the time being,
the company disbanded. Capt. Brown had had the plan of the insurrection
in contemplation for several years in fact, told me that it had
been the chief aim of his life to carry out and accomplish the
abolition of slavery.
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