History of the Negro Race in America from 1619 to 1880 Volume II Part 26

Was.h.i.+ngton is a woman of native refinement, and has an excellent apt.i.tude for teaching, as well as a good education. Her schools have always been conducted with system and superior judgment, giving universal satisfaction, the number of her pupils being limited only by the size of her room. In 1858, she moved to the bas.e.m.e.nt of the Baptist Church, corner of Nineteenth and I streets, to secure larger accommodations, and there she had a school of more than sixty scholars for several years.

A FREE CATHOLIC COLORED SCHOOL.

A free school was established in 1858, and maintained by the St.

Vincent de Paul Society, an a.s.sociation of Colored Catholics, in connection with St. Matthew's Church. It was organized under the direction of Father Walter, and kept in the Smothers school-house for two years, and was subsequently for one season maintained on a smaller scale in a house on L Street, between Twelfth and Thirteenth streets, west, till the a.s.sociation failed to give it the requisite pecuniary support after the war broke out. This school has already been mentioned.

OTHER SCHOOLS.

In 1843, Elizabeth Smith commenced a school for small children on the island in Was.h.i.+ngton, and subsequently taught on Capitol Hill. In 1860, she was the a.s.sistant of Rev. Wm. H. Hunter, who had a large school in Zion Wesley Church, Georgetown, of which he was the pastor.

She afterward took the school into her own charge for a period, and taught among the contrabands in various places during the war.

About 1850, Isabella Briscoe opened a school on Montgomery Street, near Mount Zion Church, Georgetown. She was well educated, and one of the best Colored teachers in the district before the Rebellion. Her school was always well patronized, and she continued teaching in the district up to 1868.

Charlotte Beams had a large school for a number of years, as early as 1850, in a building next to Galbraith Chapel, I Street, north, between Fourth and Fifth, west. It was exclusively a girls' school in its later years. The teacher was a pupil of Enoch Ambush, who a.s.sisted her in establis.h.i.+ng her school.

A year or two later, Rev. James Shorter had a large school in the Israel Bethel Church, and Miss Jackson taught another good school on Capitol Hill about the same time. The above-mentioned were all Colored teachers.

Among the excellent schools broken up at the opening of the war, was that of Mrs. Charlotte Gordon, Colored, on Eighth Street, in the northern section of the city. It was in successful operation several years, and the number in attendance sometimes reached one hundred and fifty. Mrs. Gordon was a.s.sisted by her daughter.

In 1841, David Brown commenced teaching on D Street, south, between First and Second streets, island, and continued in the business till 1858, at which period he was placed in charge of the large Catholic free school in the Smothers house, as has been stated.[65]

Here is a picture that every Negro in the country may contemplate with satisfaction and pride. In the stronghold of slavery, under the shadow of the legalized inst.i.tution of slavery, within earshot of the slave-auctioneer's hammer, amid distressing circ.u.mstances, poverty, and proscription, three unlettered ex-slaves, upon the threshold of the nineteenth century, sowed the seed of education for the Negro race in the District of Columbia, from which an abundant harvest has been gathered, and will be gathered till the end of time!

What the Negro has done to educate himself, the trials and hateful laws that have hampered him during the long period anterior to 1860, cannot fail to awaken feelings of regret and admiration among the people of both sections and two continents.

FOOTNOTES:

[58] Recollections of the Anti-Slavery Conflict, by Rev. Samuel J.

May.

[59] Barnard, p. 337.

[60] Barnard, p. 339.

[61] Barnard, pp. 205, 206.

[62] Barnard, p. 357.

[63] Barnard, pp. 364-366.

[64] Barnard, pp. 377, 378.

[65] Report of the Commissioner of Education for 1871.

CHAPTER XIII.

JOHN BROWN--HERO AND MARTYR.

JOHN BROWN'S APPEARANCE IN KANSAS.--HE DENOUNCES SLAVERY IN A POLITICAL MEETING AT OSAWATOMIE.--MRS. STEARNS'S PERSONAL RECOLLECTION OF JOHN BROWN.--KANSAS INFESTED BY BORDER RUFFIANS.--THE BATTLE OF HARPER'S FERRY.--THE DEFEAT AND CAPTURE OF CAPTAIN JOHN BROWN.--HIS LAST LETTER WRITTEN TO MRS.

STEARNS.--HIS TRIAL AND EXECUTION.--HIS INFLUENCE UPON THE SLAVERY QUESTION AT THE NORTH.--HIS PLACE IN HISTORY.

On the 9th of May, 1800, at Torrington, Connecticut, was born a man who lived for two generations, but accomplished the work of two centuries. That man was John Brown, who ranks among the world's greatest heroes. Greater than Peter the Hermit, who believed himself commissioned of G.o.d to redeem the Holy Sepulchre from the hands of infidels; greater than Joanna Southcote, who deemed herself big with the promised s.h.i.+loh; greater than Ignatius Loyola, who thought the Son of Man appeared to him, bearing His cross upon His shoulders, and bestowed upon him a Latin commission of wonderful significance; greater than Oliver Cromwell, the great Republican Protector; and greater than John Hampden,--he deserves to rank with William of Orange.

John Brown was nearly six feet high, slim, wiry, dark in complexion, sharp in feature, dark hair sprinkled with gray, eyes a dark gray and penetrating, with a countenance that betokened frankness, honesty, and firmness. His brow was prominent, the centre of the forehead flat, the upper part retreating, which, in conjunction with his slightly Roman nose, gave him an interesting appearance. The crown of his head was remarkably high, in the regions of the phrenological organs of firmness, conscientiousness, self-esteem, indicating a stern will, unswerving integrity, and marvellous self-possession. He walked rapidly with a firm and elastic tread. He was somewhat like John Baptist, taciturn in habits, usually wrapped in meditation. He was rather meteoric in his movements, appearing suddenly and unexpectedly at this place, and then disappearing in the same mysterious manner.

When Kansas lay bleeding at the feet of border ruffians; when Congress gave the free-State settlers no protection, but was rather trying to drag the territory into the Union with a slave const.i.tution,--without noise or bl.u.s.ter John Brown dropped down into Osage County. He was not a member of the Republican party; but rather hated its reticency. When it cried Halt! he gave the command _Forward, march_! He was not in sympathy with any of the parties, political or anti-slavery. All were too conservative to suit him. So, as a political orphan he went into Kansas, organized and led a new party that swore eternal death to slavery. The first time he appeared in a political meeting in Kansas, at Osawatomie, the politicians were tr.i.m.m.i.n.g their speeches and shaping their resolutions to please each political faction. John Brown took the floor and made a speech that threw the convention into consternation. He denounced slavery as the curse of the ages; affirmed the manhood of the slave; dealt "middle men" terrible blows; and said he could "see no use in talking." "Talk," he continued, "is a national inst.i.tution; but it does no good for the slave." He thought it an excuse very well adapted for weak men with tender consciences. Most men who were afraid to fight, and too honest to be silent, deceived themselves that they discharged their duties to the slave by denouncing in fiery words the oppressor. His ideas of duty were far different; the slaves, in his eyes, were prisoners of war; their tyrants, as he held, had taken up the sword, and must perish by it.

This was his view of the great question of slavery.

The widow of the late Major George L. Stearns gives the following personal recollections of John Brown, in a bright and entertaining style. Mrs. Stearns's n.o.ble husband was very intimately related to the "old hero," and what Mrs. Stearns writes is of great value.

"The pa.s.sage of the Fugitive-Slave Bill in 1850, followed by the virtual repeal of the Missouri Compromise, under the name of the Kansas Nebraska Act, in 1854, alarmed all sane people for the safety of republican inst.i.tutions; and the excitement reached a white heat when, on the 22d of May, 1856, Charles Sumner was murderously a.s.saulted in the Senate chamber by Preston S. Brooks, of South Carolina, for words spoken in debate: the celebrated speech of the 19th and 20th of May, known as 'The Crime Against Kansas.' That same week the town of Lawrence in the territory of Kansas was sacked and burned in the interest of the slave power.

The atrocities committed by the 'Border Ruffians' upon the free-State settlers sent a thrill of terror through all law-abiding communities. In Boston the citizens gathered in Faneuil Hall to consider what could be done, and a committee was chosen, with Dr. S. G. Howe as chairman, for the relief of Kansas, called the 'Kansas Relief Committee.' After some $18,000 or $20,000 had been collected, chiefly in Boston, and forwarded to Kansas, the interest flagged, and Mr. Stearns, who had been working with that committee, saw the need of more energetic action; so one day he went to Dr. Howe, and told him he was ready to give _all_ his time, and much of his money, to push forward the work. Dr. Howe seeing that here was the man for the hour, immediately resigned, and Mr. Stearns was chosen unanimously chairman of the 'Ma.s.sachusetts State Kansas Committee,' which took the place of the one first organized. In the light of subsequent history it is difficult to believe the apathy and blindness which failed to recognize the significance of this attack upon Kansas by the slave-holding power. Only faithful watchmen in their high towers could see that it was the first battle-ground between the two conflicting systems of freedom and slavery, which was finally to culminate in the war of the Rebellion. 'Working day and night without haste or rest,' failing in no effort to rouse and stimulate the community, still Mr.

Stearns found that a vitalizing interest was wanting. When Gov.

Reeder was driven in disguise from the territory, he wrote to him to come to Boston and address the people. He organized a ma.s.s-meeting for him in Tremont Temple, and for a few days the story he related stimulated to a livelier activity the more conservative people, who were inclined to think the reports of the free-State men much exaggerated. Soon, however, things settled back into the old sluggish way; so that for three consecutive committee meetings the chairman was the only person who presented himself at the appointed time and place. Nothing daunted, he turned to the country towns, and at the end of five months he had raised by his personal exertions, and through his agents, the sum of $48,000. Women formed societies all over the State, for making and furnis.h.i.+ng clothing, and various supplies, which resulted in an addition of some $20,000 or $30,000 more. In January, 1867, this species of work was stopped, by advices from Kansas that no more contributions were needed, except for _defense_. At this juncture Mr. Stearns wrote to John Brown, that if he would come to Boston and consult with the friends of freedom he would pay his expenses. They had never met, but 'Osawatomie Brown' had become a cherished household name during the anxious summer of 1856.[66] Arriving in Boston, they were introduced to each other in the street by a Kansas man, who chanced to be with Mr. Stearns on his way to the committee rooms in Nilis's Block, School Street. Captain Brown made a profound impression on all who came within the sphere of his moral magnetism. Emerson called him 'the most ideal of men, for he wanted to put all his ideas into action.' His absolute superiority to all selfish aims and narrowing pride of opinion touched an answering chord in the self-devotion of Mr. Stearns. A little anecdote ill.u.s.trates the modest estimate of the work he had in hand. After several efforts to bring together certain friends to meet Captain Brown at his home in Medford, he found that Sunday was the only day that would serve their several convenience, and being a little uncertain how it might strike his ideas of religious propriety, he prefaced his invitation with something like an apology. With characteristic promptness came the reply: 'Mr. Stearns, I have a little ewe-lamb that I want to pull out of the ditch, and the Sabbath will be as good a day as any to do it.'

"It was this occasion which furnished to literature one of the most charming bits of autobiography. Our oldest son, Harry, a lad of eleven years, was an observant listener, and drank eagerly every word that was said of the cruel wrongs in Kansas, and of slavery everywhere. When the gentlemen rose to go, he privately asked his father if he might be allowed to give all his spending money to John Brown. Leave being granted, he bounded away, and returning with his small treasure, said: 'Captain Brown, will you buy something with this money for those poor people in Kansas, and some time will you write to me and tell me _what sort of a little boy_ you were?' 'Yes, my son, I will, and G.o.d bless you for your kind heart!' The autobiography has been printed many times, but never before with the key which unlocked it.

"It may not be out of place to describe the impression he made upon the writer on this first visit. When I entered the parlor, he was sitting near the hearth, where glowed a bright open fire.

He rose to greet me, stepping forward with such an erect, military bearing; such fine courtesy of demeanor and grave earnestness, that he seemed to my instant thought some old Cromwellian hero suddenly dropped down before me; a suggestion which was presently strengthened by his saying [proceeding with the conversation my entrance had interrupted]: 'Gentlemen, I consider the Golden Rule and the Declaration of Independence one and inseparable; and it is better that a whole generation of men, women, and children should be swept away, than that this crime of slavery should exist one day longer.' These words were uttered like rifle b.a.l.l.s; in such emphatic tones and manner that our little Carl, not three years old, remembered it in manhood as one of his earliest recollections. The child stood perfectly still, in the middle of the room, gazing with his beautiful eyes on this new sort of man, until his absorption arrested the attention of Captain Brown, who soon coaxed him to his knee, tho' the look of awe and childlike wonder remained. His dress was of some dark brown stuff, quite coa.r.s.e, but its exactness and neatness produced a singular air of refinement. At dinner, he declined all dainties, saying that he was unaccustomed to luxuries, even to partaking of b.u.t.ter.

"The 'friends of freedom' with whom Mr. Stearns had invited John Brown to consult were profoundly impressed with his sagacity, integrity, and devotion; notably among these were R. W. Emerson, Theodore Parker, H. D. Th.o.r.eau, A. Bronson Alcott, F. B. Sanborn, Dr. S. G. Howe, Col. T. W. Higginson, Gov. Andrew, and others. In February (1857) he appeared before a committee of the State Legislature, to urge that Ma.s.sachusetts should make an appropriation in money in aid of those persons who had settled in Kansas from her own soil. The speech is printed in Redpath's 'Life.' He obtained at this time, from the Ma.s.sachusetts State Kansas Committee,[67] some two hundred Sharp's rifles, with which to arm one hundred mounted men for the defense of Kansas, who could also be of service to the peculiar property of Missouri. In those dark days of slave-holding supremacy, the friends of freedom felt justified in aiding the flight of its victims to free soil whenever and wherever opportunity offered. The Fugitive-Slave Law was powerless before the law written on the enlightened consciences of those devoted men and women. These rifles had been forwarded previously to the National Committee at Chicago, for the defense of Kansas, but for some unexplained reasons had never proceeded farther than Tabor, in the State of Iowa. Later on, Mr. Stearns, in his individual capacity, authorized Captain Brown to purchase two hundred revolvers from the Ma.s.sachusetts Arms Company, and paid for them from his private funds, thirteen or fifteen hundred dollars. During the summer of 1857 he united with Mr. Amos A. Lawrence and others in paying off the mortgage held by Mr. Gerritt Smith on his house and farm at North Elba, N. Y., he paying two hundred and sixty dollars. It would be difficult to state the entire amount of money Mr. Stearns put into the hands of John Brown for Anti-Slavery purposes and his own subsistence. He kept no account of what he gave. In April or May, 1857, he gave him a check for no less a sum than seven thousand dollars. Early in 1858, Hon.

Henry Wilson wrote to Dr. S. G. Howe that he had learned John Brown was suspected of the intention of using those arms in other ways than for the _defense_ of Kansas; and by order of the committee, Mr. Stearns wrote (under date May 14, 1858) to Brown not to use them for any other purpose, and to hold them subject to his order, as chairman of said committee. When the operations of the Ma.s.sachusetts State Kansas Committee virtually ceased, in June or July, 1858, it happened that this committee were some four thousand dollars in debt to Mr. Stearns, for advances of money from time to time to keep the organization in existence; and it was voted to make over to the chairman these two hundred Sharp's rifles as part payment of the committee's indebtedness.

They were of small account to Mr. Stearns. He knew them to be in good hands, and troubled himself no further about them, either the rifles or the revolvers; although keeping up from time to time a correspondence with his friend upon the all-engrossing subject.

"In February of 1859, John Brown was in Boston, and talked with some of his friends about the feasibility of entrenching himself, with a little band of men, in the mountains of Virginia, familiar to him from having surveyed them as engineer in earlier life. His plan was to open communication with the slaves of neighboring plantations, collect them together, and send them off in squads, as he had done in Missouri, 'without snapping a gun.' Mr. Stearns had so much more faith in John Brown's opposition to _Slavery_, than in any theories he advanced of the _modus operandi_, that they produced much less impression on his mind than upon some others gifted with more genius for details. _From first to last, he believed in John Brown._ His plans, or theories, might be feasible, or they might not. If the glorious old man wanted money to try his plans, he should have it. His plans might fail; probably would, but _he_ could never be a failure. There he stood, unconquerable, in the panoply of divine Justice. Both of these men were of the martyr type. No thought or consideration for themselves, for _history_, or the estimation of others, ever entered into their calculations. It was the service of _Truth_ and _Right_ which brought them together, and in that service they were ready to die.

"In the words of an eminent writer[68]: 'A common spirit made these two men recognize each other at first sight; and the power of both lay in that inability to weigh difficulties against duty, that instant step of thought to deed, which makes individuals fully possessed by the idea of the age, the turning-points of its destiny; hands in the right place for touching the match to the train it has laid, or for leading the public will to the heart of its moral need. They knew each other as minute-men on the same watch; as men to be found _in_ the breach, before others knew where it was; they were one in pity, one in indignation, one in moral enthusiasm, burning beneath features set to patient self-control; one in simplicity, though of widely different culture; one in religious inspiration, though at the poles of religious thought. The old frontiersman came from his wilderness toils and agonies to find within the merchant's mansion of art and taste by the side of Bunker Hill, a perfect sympathy: the reverence of children, tender interest in his broken household, free access to a rich man's resources, and even a valor kindred with his own.'

"The attack upon Harper's Ferry was a 'side issue,' to quote the words of John Brown, Jr., and a departure from his father's original plan. It certainly took all his friends by surprise. In his letter of Nov. 15, 1859 (while in prison), to his old schoolmaster, the Rev. H. L. Vaill, are these words: '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 G.o.d's plan was infinitely better, _no doubt_, or I should have kept 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_.'[69]

"It is idle to endeavor to explain, by any methods of the _understanding_, any rules of worldly wisdom, or prudence, this influx of the Divine Will, which has made John Brown already an ideal character. 'The wind bloweth where it listeth, and we hear the sound thereof; but know not whence it cometh, or whither it goeth.' So is every one that is born of the Spirit. Man works in the midst of laws which execute themselves, more especially, if by virtue of obedience he has lost sight of all selfish aims, and perceives that Truth and Right alone can claim allegiance.

Emerson says: 'Divine intelligence carries on its administration by good men; that great men are they who see that the spiritual are greater than any material forces; and that really there never was any thing great accomplished but under religious impulse.'

"The deadly _Atheism_ of Slavery was rolling its car of Juggernaut all over the beautiful Republic, and one pure soul was inspired to confront it by a practical interpretation of the Golden Rule.

"That Virginia would hang John Brown was a foregone conclusion.

The Moloch of Slavery would have nothing less. His friends exerted themselves to secure the best counsel which could be induced to undertake the _formality_ of a defense, foremost among whom was Mr. Stearns. A well-organized plan was made to rescue him, conducted by a brave man from Kansas, Col. James Montgomery, but a message came from the prisoner, that he should not feel at liberty to walk out, if the doors were left open; a sense of honor to his jailer (Captain Acvis) forbidding any thing of the kind.