2004-12-1
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VOICE ONE:
THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a program in Special English.
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One day in mid-October,
eighteen-fifty-nine, the American people were shocked by the report
of an attack against the Virginia town of Harpers Ferry. The attack
was led by an old anti-slavery extremist, John Brown. Many believed
that he was a madman.
Brown had declared that he was ready to die fighting slavery. He
said that God wanted him to fight slavery by invading Virginia with
a military force. And, he said, that even if his rebellion failed,
it would lead to a civil war between the north and the south. In
such a war, he said, the north would break the chains of the black
man.
Brown decided to strike at Harpers Ferry, a small town in
northern Virginia, about one-hundred kilometers north of Washington.
It had a factory that made guns for the army and an arsenal of
valuable military equipment. Brown wanted the guns and equipment for
the slave army he hoped to organize.
Harpers Ferry was built on a narrow finger of land where the
Shenandoah flowed into the Potomac River. There was a bridge across
each river. Across the Potomac, in Maryland, Brown organized his
attack.
VOICE TWO:
With his force of less than twenty men, John Brown moved through
the darkness down to the bridge that crossed the Potomac River.
Two men left the group to cut the telegraph lines east and west
of Harpers Ferry.
At the bridge, Brown's men surprised a railroad guard. They told
him he was their prisoner. The guard thought they were
joking...until he saw their guns.
Once across the bridge, Brown and his men moved quickly. They
captured a few people in the street and another guard at the front
gate of the government armory. They seized the armory, then crossed
the street and seized the supply center. Millions of dollars' worth
of military equipment was kept there.
VOICE ONE:
After leaving a few men to guard the prisoners, Brown and the
others went to the gun factory across town. They seized the few
people who were there and captured the factory.
Without firing a shot, Brown now controlled the three places he
wanted in Harpers Ferry. His problem now was to hold what he had
captured. Brown knew he had little time. The people of the town
would soon learn what had happened. They would call for help. And
several groups of militia in the area would come to the aid of
Harpers Ferry.
Brown planned to use the people he had captured as hostages. The
militia would not attack if there was danger of harming the
prisoners. He wanted as many prisoners as possible, to protect
himself. If his plan failed, he could offer them in exchange for his
own freedom and that of his men.
VOICE TWO:
Brown had decided to capture, as his best hostage, Colonel Lewis
Washington. The Colonel was a descendant of president George
Washingon. He lived on a big farm near Harpers Ferry. Brown sent
some of his men to capture the old colonel and free his slaves.
They returned from the Washington farm after midnight. They
brought Colonel Washington and ten slaves. They also captured
another farmer and his son. The slaves were given spears and told to
guard the prisoners.
Then, at the far end of the Potomac River bridge, the first shots
were fired.
Brown's son, Watson, and another man fired at a railroad guard
who refused to halt. A bullet struck his head, but did not hurt him
seriously. The guard raced back across the bridge to the railroad
station. He cried out that a group of armed men had seized the
bridge.
VOICE ONE:
A few minutes later, a train from the west arrived at Harpers
Ferry. The wounded guard warned the trainmen of the danger at the
bridge. Two of the trainmen decided to investigate. They walked
toward the bridge. Before they could reach it, bullets began
whizzing past them. They ran back to the train and moved it farther
from the bridge.
Then a free Negro man who worked at the railroad station, Hayward
Shepherd, walked down to the bridge. Brown's men ordered him to
halt. Shepherd tried to run and was shot. He got back to the
station, but died several hours later.
VOICE TWO:
Brown finally agreed to let the train pass over the bridge and
continue on to Baltimore. The train left at sunrise.
By this time, word of Brown's attack had spread to Charles Town,
more than twelve kilometers away. Officials called out the militia,
ordering the men of Charles Town to get ready to go to the aid of
Harpers Ferry.
Soon after sunrise, men began arriving at Harpers Ferry from
other towns in the area. They took positions above the armory and
started shooting at it.
The militia from Charles Town arrived at the Maryland end of the
Potomac bridge. They charged across, forcing Brown's men on the
bridge to flee to the armory. Only one of Brown's men was hit. He
was killed instantly.
VOICE ONE:
Brown saw that he was surrounded. His only hope was to try to
negotiate a ceasefire and offer to release his thirty hostages, if
the militia would let him and his men go free. Brown sent out one of
his men and one of the prisoners with a white flag. The excited
crowd refused to recognize the white flag. They seized Brown's man
and carried him away.
Brown moved his men and the most important of his hostages into a
small brick building at the armory. Then he sent out two more of his
men with a prisoner to try to negotiate a ceasefire. One of them was
his son, Watson.
VOICE TWO:
This time, the crowd opened fire. Watson and the other raider
were wounded. Their prisoner escaped to safety. Watson was able to
crawl back to the armory.
One of the youngest of Brown's men, William Leeman, tried to
escape. He ran from the armory and jumped into the Potomac, planning
to swim across the river. He did not get far. A group of militia saw
him and began shooting. Leeman was forced to hide behind a rock in
the middle of the river. Two men went out to the rock with guns and
shot him. His body lay in the river for two days.
Later, more people were killed. One was the mayor of Harpers
Ferry, Fontaine Beckham.
VOICE ONE:
After the mayor's death, a mob went to the hotel where one of
Brown's men had been held since he was seized earlier in the day.
They pulled him from the hotel and took him to the bridge over
the river. Several members of the mob put guns to his head and
fired. They pushed his body off the bridge and into the water.
Across town, three of Brown's men were in trouble at the gun
factory. The factory was built on an island in the Shenandoah River.
The island was now surrounded by militia. Forty of the soldiers
attacked the factory from three sides. They pushed the three raiders
back to a small building next to the river. The three men fought as
long as possible. Then they jumped through a window into the river.
They tried to swim to safety. Men with guns were waiting for
them. Bullets fell around the three like rain. One man was hit. He
died instantly. Another was wounded. He was pulled to land and left
to die. The third man escaped death. He was captured and held for
trial.
VOICE TWO:
All through the afternoon and evening, Brown's men at the armory
continued to exchange shots with the militia. Several more on both
sides were killed or wounded. One of those was another of Brown's
sons, Oliver. He was shot and seriously wounded.
Night fell. Then, a militia officer, Captain Sinn, walked up to
the small building held by Brown. He shouted to the men inside that
he wished to talk. Brown opened the door and let him in. For almost
an hour, the two men talked. They talked about slavery and the right
to rebel against the government.
VOICE ONE:
Brown was furious that the crowd outside had refused to honor his
white flag of truce earlier in the day. He told Sinn that his men
could have killed unarmed men and women, but did not do so.
"That is not quite correct," Captain Sinn said. "Mayor Beckham
had no gun when he was shot."
"Then I can only say I am most sad to hear it," said Brown.
"Men who take up guns against the government," said Sinn, "must
expect to be shot down like dogs."
VOICE TWO:
In Washington, President Buchanan and Secretary of War John Floyd
did not learn of the rebellion at Harpers Ferry until after ten
o'clock that morning. The president wanted immediate action.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
You have been listening to the Special English program, THE
MAKING OF A NATION. Your narrators were Jack Moyles and Harry
Monroe. Our program was written by Frank Beardsley. THE MAKING OF A
NATION can be heard Thursdays.