Class_JlGS Book :^ ^^ GoByrightN°. COPVRIGHT DEPOSIT. SPENCEE KELLOGG MOWN HIS LIFE IN KANSAS AND HIS DEATH AS A SPY 1842-1863 AS DISCLOSSD.Ili.yiS DIARY •■'* ■ . *• ;, EDITED BY GEORGE GARDNER SMITH NEW YORK APPLETON AND COMPANY MCMIII c G'So _, ..;a.^*ns^dN°«^7!^Vr SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN C ) CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. To Introduce the Browns .... 1 II. Kansas and Osawatomie .... 6 III. Struggle and Triumph in Kansas . . .13 IV. Removal of Mr. Brown's Family to Osawat- omie 20 V. The Young Immigrant 24 VI. Old John Brown 27 VII. The Later Career of John Brown . . 37 yill. Toil and Turmoil 49 fix. An Eventful Year 58 I X. Leaves from Spencer's Journal . . .67 ; I. Captivity Sweetened 82 ''. . Mr. Brown's Comments on Conditions in Kan- j SAS . . . . ■ . . . . ■ . 95 Freedom's Rising Tide . . . . . 102 > ETTERS and JOURNALS 108 i .7RNAL FOR 1859 134 TCER Revisits Missouri .... 145 GHT IN Kansas 153 ;PENDING Crisis 165 ix \ V CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE XIX. A Soldier 169 XX. In the Army in Time of War . . . 189 XXI. The Mississippi River 217 XXII. The Western Flotilla .... 222 XXIII. Spencer's Enlistment in the Navy . . 227 XXIV. Secret Service 231 XXV. Fort Henry 250 XXVI. Changed Circumstances .... 255 XXVII. The New Essex 264 XXVIII. Naval Operations on the Mississippi River 267 XXIX. Daring Exploits — Captivity . . . 279 XXX. Suspense 292 XXXI. Spencer's Imprisonment at Jackson, Mis- sissippi 317 XXXII. Castle Thunder 350 XXXIII. Ad Astra per Aspera 37 7 -z J < ^ c = J N ^ J < L = l:^- < -N \ / -< -^ - / ::!/" ^^. : - 4 o -^ J A I TO HIS WIFE HARRIET PRITCHARD SMITH WHOSE CONFIDENCE IN THE WORTHINESS OF THE WORK HAS BEEN HIS NEVER FAILING ENCOURAGEMENT WHOSE HELP HAS GREATLY LESSENED HIS LABOUR, THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED BY THE EDITOR D. PREFACE This biography was written many years ago, at the request of the editor's venerable friend, the father of Spencer Kellogg Brown. Only recently, through interruption of other work, has opportunity been found to revise and abridge it for publication. The editor believes that the letters and journals embodied in the book have rare value as sketches illustrative of the early history of Kansas and of the conduct of part of the war for the suppression of the rebellion ; and that they also exhibit many curious, amusing, and pathetic phases of American life. There are passages in Spencer's journal which will g;eem to some readers of this story not merely boyish b^it trivial. The editor regards these as lines indis- peiisable to the etching of the boy's character, the revel^'tion of which, in its gradual formation, is a studj-" as profitable as it is interesting. YeW reluctantly, of the materials placed at the editor's disposal by the friends of the subject of this memoir much the greater part has been omitted from the work. , PiTTSBUKG -P^'? September, 1903. o + n D ^ ■^3 J > :r J -J 3: -5 X V -J <! ^ ^ <^ -J J ^ -^ X <] 0 L ~l -J -I ^ < J -\ k L 4 — K -J + ; hi A > < > J J <-^3 [^ > I > J 1 o < J A + o > I + t- L> J -I X > 1 :r A I. ■ ^ ^ > ^ o > :i X A -i > o SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN CHAPTER I TO INTRODUCE THE BEOWNS In Belleville, a hamlet of Jefferson County, New York, on the bank of North Sandy Creek, stands an attractive stone dwelling-house, the little porch of which is shaded by a vigorous climbing plant. Be- tween the house and the street are apple-trees, shrub- bery, and a small lawn. In the year 1842 this house was the home of Mr. Orville Chester Brown, and here, on the 17th of August, his eldest son, Spencer Kellogg, the subject of this true story, was born. Spencer's ancestors were among the original set- tlers of Oneida County, New York. His great-grand- father removed from Concord, Massachusetts, in the year 1792, and, deeming the land which is now the site of the city of Utica too low and marshy to be healthful, made his home in Litchfield, Herkimer County, about eight miles south of that city. He was the father of thirteen children. His descendants, in 1862, numbered more than three hundred. All were thrifty and reputable. Even in the days when hard cider and whisky were in common use among respecta- 1 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN ble people in the State of New York, no Brown of this stock became a degraded drunkard, or was ever arrest- ed for crime. On the other hand, many came to the dignity of deacons and ruling elders in Congregational and Presbyterian churches, and some were ministers of the gospel. About the time when the Browns established them- selves in Litchfield, the Goulds settled near Utica. Philomela Allen Gould married Spencer's grand- father, Ephraim Brown. The high character and lovely disposition of this Christian woman won for her the esteem and affection of all classes of people. Orville Chester Brown, son of Ephraim and Philo- mela Brown, married, in 1837, Mary Anne, daughter of Levi Cozzens. Her mother, daughter of Ezra Hovey, was the first white child born in New Hart- ford, Oneida Coimty— so recently had the red-man yielded that neighbourhood to the white settler. The Cozzens family had come from Providence, Rhode Island. Its descendants are well known in commercial circles in central New York. Spencer Kellogg Brown was the first son of this marriage. It was soon perceived that the child had an ear for music. Before he could speak the words, while yet he lay in his cradle, he hummed correctly tunes with which his mother had been accustomed to sing him to sleep. His passion for music increased with his years and noticeably affected his life, often determining his 2 TO INTRODUCE THE BROWNS choice of companions. The singing of hymns at fam- ily worship fostered in Spencer's elder sister and in himself the taste for music of which so early in child- hood they gave evidence. In Belleville, on one of the corners where the roads most travelled crossed, his father kept a store. Into this the little fellow ran, one day, pursued by rough, pugnacious boys who had set upon him in the street. His father upbraided him for his fear, and charged him never again to run, but to face his foes like a man. No second lesson to this effect was needed. The period of Spencer's childhood followed that of the great religious awakening which gave to thou- sands of the inhabitants of central and western New York a character very earnest and beneficent. ' ' Fre- quent religious meetings were the attractions of those times." Employers willingly closed stores and work- shops to allow their helpers to attend week-day ser- vices in church or school-house. To Belleville, when Spencer was a boy, there came agents of the Bible Society, or Tract Society; clerical lecturers who advocated the new-born notions as to total abstinence from the use of intoxicating drink; expounders of theories for the abolition of slavery; representatives of missionary societies, and of various phases of Christian philanthropy ; and these, all, were cordially welcomed to the hospitality of the stone house. These men usually brought with them into the 3 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN homes they visited much of the cheerfulness of a buoy- ant faith which had been nurtured by good lives and clarified by manly exercise on horseback. There was a halo about them that seemed, like the rainbow, to have come of shower and sunshine. Their conversa- tion included stories of interesting adventures, and they knew how to speak, on occasion, wise words of counsel and comfort. Affable, sympathizing, brave, sturdy men most of them were. Any household is the better for entertaining such as these. Other angels visited the Browns in their Belleville home. These came between midnight and morning and stayed all day. Through the village lay one of the roads travelled by fugitive slaves who were fleeing towards refuge in Canada. Mr. Brown's compassion for the bondman was well known, and he had the con- fidence of those who guided the steps of the runaway. Slaves were sheltered by him and forwarded to a place of safety. The boy's sister, but a little older than himself, was his constant companion. Her society was always sweet to him. She, too, was devoted to music, was imaginative, and dwelt with him in a world created by Fancy. Whatever the two read or heard was woven as a brilliant pattern into the tapestries by which their fairy-land was curtained off from the commonplace world of the generality of mankind. In the autumn of 1848 Mr. Brown removed to 4 TO INTRODUCE THE BROWNS Utica, and the next year to New York city. A little later he bought a house in Brooklyn, where the family lived until 1854. In all these cities the children at- tended the public schools. The Bible, Shakespeare, and various historical works occupied much of Spen- cer 's time in the hours when he was not in school. At the suggestion of his father he read the whole of the Old Testament, and then of the New, and was re- warded by the gift of a large and beautiful copy of the Scriptures. He could repeat great portions of the plays of Shakespeare. In the spring of 1854 Mr. Brown took Spencer, one of his brothers, and their elder sister to Professor Flack's boarding-school in Charlotteville, Schoharie County, New York. Their stay here was brief. The dormitory in which Spencer had his room was burnt to the ground, and his clothing and books, including the cherished Bible, were all destroyed. He was among strangers. Stripped of everything necessary to his comfort, much depressed in spirit, overlooked because he was only one among a great number in like circumstances, he wandered to the woods. There, alone, giving vent to his distress, he was found by Mr. William Britton, an older student. The mature man became the boy's good Samaritan. From that hour Spencer loved and honoured his benefactor with a sin- cerity and constancy of regard that any worthy friend would consider a rich reward. ; CHAPTER II KANSAS AND OSAWATOMIE In October, 1854, Mr. 0. C. Brown removed from New York to eastern Kansas, which is within the bounds of the " Louisiana Purchase," the centennial of which the world is about to celebrate at St. Louis. By the " Missouri Compromise," adopted in 1820, Missouri was admitted to the Union of States with a Constitution which permitted slavery, but slavery was forever to be barred out of all other States which should be formed north of the line 36° 30' — the lat- itude ot the southern boundary of Missouri. Notwithstanding this decision, which had stood for thirty years, when it became apparent that the free States were rapidly increasing in number, power, and influence in the Government, while the institution of slavery was operating to keep away from the South- ern States the great majority of foreign immigrants (for poor white men are held in light esteem where slavery prevails) ; when it had become clear that only a multiplication of the number of slave-labour States could prevent the free-labour States from becoming su- preme in the government of national affairs ; when it 6 KANSAS AND OSAWATOMIE had come to be the belief of the statesmen of the South that the compact of 1820 interfered with the expan- sion of slavery and that even the acquisition of Texas, and other territory south of the above-mentioned line, including that obtained from Mexico, would not pre- serve the balance between the slave-holding and the free-labour States ; they set themselves to bring about the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. They accom- plished their purpose by the passage, in 1854, of the " Kansas-Nebraska Bill," which " cut Nebraska in halves, styling the southern section Kansas and the northern Nebraska, and declared the doctrine that * citizens of the United States peopling the Territories have plenary jurisdiction over all their domestic insti- tutions. ' ' ' This legislation was adopted for no other reason than to make possible the introduction of slavery in even such States as thereafter should be or- ganized north of latitude 36° 30'. Whether such Ter- ritories should become slave States or free States was to depend upon the vote of the majority within their bounds at the time of their admission to the Union. I shall not quarrel with the principle here announced further than to say that it annulled the covenant to which the South had agreed in 1820. To make sure that at least one slave-labour State should come out of the Territory called Nebraska, Kansas was formed from that part adjacent to Mis- souri and not distant from Arkansas — ^two slave States. 7 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN It was presumed that the new Territory would be possessed by colonists from these commonwealths. On the contrary, men from all parts of the country thronged to Kansas and began there that conflict of arms soon to be waged in more terrific form on a wider field. Mr. 0. C. Brown, with many other Northern citi- zens of the United States, saw, in 1854, or thought he saw, opportunity to better his own estate and at the same time help to enlarge the bounds of freedom by removing to Kansas. He went, in the first place, with- out his family. Concerning his passage to Kansas City he wrote : ' ' My first trip from St. Louis was in Octo- ber, on the ' Muddy Missouri,' on the steamer Sam Cloon. 'A right smart chance ' ^ of emigration from all the New England, Middle, and Southern States was on the move for the new broad field so recently opened for settlement. By distinctive marks the sections of the country from which the different members of the motley crowd came could readily be identified. The Southerners looked upon the Northern people with jealous suspicion and listened intently to their frank talk about making Kansas a free State ; but no hostility was shown — but little courtesy. The water was low and our trip was tedious. Among the lower deck emi- grants the cholera appeared. I worked several hours over a Kentuckian with a large family, but he died • Dialect of illiterate class in the Southern States. 8 KANSAS AND OSAWATOMIE and was laid upon the banks of the river in the dark- ness of the night. The boat grounded, and I went ashore, and for the first time saw negro slaves upon a tobacco plantation. I was greatly shocked to see the kennels where the poor fellows slept. Each kennel had a hole, or opening, two or three feet high, through which entrance was gained upon hands and knees. ' ' " On the way up the river I became acquainted with Colonel Kersey Coates, of Philadelphia, now of Kansas City, Missouri, and with Martin F. Conway, of Baltimore, who took a prominent part in the early struggle. I also met Gains Jenkins, of Lawrence, whom James H. Lane killed in a land-claim contest. He was a good and true Kansas man. ' ' From Kansas City, Missouri, Mr. Brown, Mr. Will- iam Chestnut, and other men from New York and Con- necticut, entered the Territory of Kansas and went forty-five miles to a tongue of land that lies between the Pottawatomie Creek and the Marais des Cygnes River,^ just above their junction. Here they arrived October 20, 1854, and here, under the auspices of the New England Emigrant Aid Society, Mr. Brown laid out the town of Osawatomie. This became the head- quarters for the free- State men of the County of Ly- kins, organized the next year. In 1861 the name of the county was changed to Miami— very properly, for the district it included was long the land of the Miami * Afterward named the Osage Eiver. 9 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN Indians. The vicinity is desirable and beautiful. Along the streams are belts of woods half a mile in average width. Here grow the hackberry, pin-oak, cotton-wood, black-walnut, hickory, and sugar-maple trees. A fifth of the area of the country is fertile bot- ■ tom-land, through which wind rivers and brooks. The upland is undulating. Good water is obtained by sinking wells. The geology of the county shows a poor quality of coal, in limestone and shale, in the southern part, and the upper carboniferous formation farther north. Here used to roam the mastodon and the ele- phant. From a stream near Osawatomie was taken part of a mastodon's jaw, including three great teeth. The elephant of that region must have weighed, when alive, twice as much as any that now roves in Asia or Africa. A letter written from Kansas, by an emigrant, in May, 1855, mentions Osawatomie. " This place, a little over six months since, was the rendezvous of the deer and the wolf. Not a house was to be seen, not a living soul dwelt here. The settlers came. The treach- ery of one, the timidity and fears of others, the jeal- ousy and misrepresentations of outsiders, and finally the disbanding of a whole party, broke not the spirit or purpose of one man ^ who had made up his mind to live between the two rivers. This pioneer, after the party had disbanded and gone, seven miles from the > Mr. 0. C. Brown. 10 KANSAS AND OSAWATOMIE nearest Indian stopping-place, . . . with no team, having only an axe, cut the first log, and made a claim, at dark, October 26, 1854. Thus commenced the his- tory of Osawatomie. . , . Now how changed! The river banks are cut down to a good crossing ; a regular, weekly, four-horse stage [coach] leaves here on Mon- days for Kansas City, returning on Thursdays with the mail. A good store has been in operation for two months. A hotel and boarding-house have been opened, a blacksmith 's shop built, a steam-mill is to be put up, two good frame-houses have been built and an- other one is in process of erection; several lots are fenced in with palings; people are coming and going by scores." The name Osawatomie was given to the place by Spencer 's father. He composed it from elements found in the names of the streams which there flow together. " The town is on the south bank of the Osage Eiver, forty miles south of the Kansas River, and six- teen from the west boundary of Missouri. On the south is Pottawatomie Creek, a considerable stream, some twenty miles in length, which receives tributaries that drain the high prairie in the southwest and empties the gathered waters into the Osage one mile below the town." " For three miles," adds Mr. Brown, " the Osage and Pottawatomie pursue their brotherly way on the different sides of the tongue of land already mentioned, in the close proximity of 11 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN about one mile. At one point they are so near as to shake hands by means of a belt of the scrub oak that skirts both streams. Beyond this the high prairie stretches towards the fork below the town. In a prairie country timber and water are a first necessity. ' ' These streams and their banks furnished an abundant supply of both. '' For picturesque beauty the country about Osawatomie is not excelled by any part of Kansas." " The bottom-lands were broad, and rich in timber, affording shelter and food for the stock of the early settlers. In the streams were fish, and along the banks were ducks, turkeys, quail, and an occasional swan. The woods were alive with rabbits, and the upland was literally swarming with prairie-chickens.^ Several deer gazed at our immigrants when first we crossed the Osage. South of the Pottawatomie the prairie rises gradually to high table-land skirted by a timbered cover." * A kind of grouse — the Tympanvxhus Americanus. 12 CHAPTER III STRUGGLE AND TRIUMPH IN KANSAS In 1854 the question which most profoundly in- terested students of political history in the United States concerned the issue of the struggle between the Free-Soil and Pro-Slavery parties in Kansas. East of that Territory lay Missouri, in the western part of which were fifty thousand slaves, worth, at a moderate valuation, twenty-five millions of dollars. The South bestirred itself to plant colonies in Kansas and Ne- braska, and efforts were made to induce slave-holders to remove their human chattels, with their other per- sonal property, to the new Territories. B. F. String- fellow urged upon men prominent in the Government at Washington his opinion that two thousand slaves ought to be lodged in Kansas in order to make it, de facto, a slave State. Few owners of slaves, how- ever, were willing to expose them to the hazards of such a venture. In the free States, societies were formed to en- courage anti-slavery men to emigrate to Kansas. The settlers were counselled to establish themselves perma- 13 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN nently in their new homes, and, if married, to take their families with them. Had the rivalry of parties been limited to honest efforts to outnumber and outvote one another, all had been well ; but Pro-Slavery men had no idea of accept- ing a decision to be reached in this way. Early in July, 1854, at a meeting held in West Port, Missouri, it was resolved, " That this association will, whenever called upon, hold itself in readiness to arrest and remove any and all emigrants who go there ^ under the au- spices of the Northern Emigrant Aid Societies." The struggle in Kansas began at the polls on No- vember 3, 1854. Missourians invaded the Territory in great numbers, overpowered the colonists from the North, who had come in good faith to make permanent homes on the soil, and, having elected to the Terri- torial Legislature by illegal votes a majority of men subservient to the will of the Pro-Slavery party, re- turned to Missouri in triumph. Mr. Brown, recording the incidents of this election, mentions that he set out from Osawatomie with a number of other settlers. ' ' We met one hundred and fifty men," he writes, " mounted, armed, and officered, who had voted at ' Dutch Henry's Crossing ' early in the morning, and were now on their way back to Mis- souri, via Paola, where they voted in the afternoon ! ' ' That is to say, three hundred votes for members of the ' Into Kansas. 14 STRUGGLE AND TRIUMPH Legislature of Kansas were cast by one hundred and fifty men who, having their residence and citizenship in Missouri, had no legal right to vote in Kansas at all. " The next day," continues Mr. Brown's testi- mony, ' ' a protest signed by the legal voters was borne over the prairies forty-five miles, by the writer, to Governor Reeder — ^the first that reached him. The soft breezes were burdened with the Pro-Slavery men's curses against the Governor should he dare to with- hold certificates from the members fraudulently elect- ed to the Legislature. " ^' These threats had reached him. At the Shawnee Mission he sat alone, calm, reso- lute, silent, with the knowledge that the Secretary of the Territory was in full sympathy with his sworn enemies." The Governor " received the protest with dignified reserve, which put me on my guard. He ex- pressed doubts as to the regularity of its form, but assured the bearer that it should receive due considera- tion." Mr. Brown hurried to Kansas City. Some of the '* bolder and more experienced leaders " of the Free- State party had arrived there from Lawrence. These hastened to the Shawnee Mission to defend the person of the Governor— a Governor appointed, as was the Secretary, by the Administration at "Washington; which, as dependent upon the votes of Southerners for continuance in power, was plastic to the will of the 15 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN South. So it came to pass that one governor after another who was expected to pursue in Kansas such a policy as would conciliate Pro-Slavery men, took, on the contrary, in fidelity to his oath and his duty, a course so manly as to give offence to the class of South- erners that in those days murdered Abolitionists, and burns negroes at the stake in our day. Courtly and chivalrous as the best people of the South were and are, slavery made the mass of the inhabitants of that part of our country less than humane. It was inevitable that this should be the case. Women, hardly less than men, were biased, as to their judgment of moral ques- tions involved in the relations of the races to each other. Summary vengeance was to be wreaked upon offending black men. White men who openly showed their pity for the slave and their disapprobation of slavery were beyond the pale of mercy. ' ' Already, ' ' writes Mr. Brown, ' ' sagacious guards were secreted at convenient stations near the Gov- ernor's room. A ruffian entered his office, but was promptly repulsed by the exhibition of a revolver which had lain under a newspaper on the office table. " " In the election, twice as many votes were cast as there were legal voters domiciled in the Territory. ' ' The Legislature constituted by this fraudulent elec- tion met at Lecompton and framed a Pro-Slavery Con- stitution. Representatives of the Free-State party convened at Topeka and prepared a Constitution hos- 16 STRUGGLE AND TRIUMPH tile to slavery. The latter was acceptable to a majority of the legal voters of Kansas. These commonly spoke of the Lecompton Assembly as the " Bogus Legisla- ture, ' ' and of its enactments as ' ' Bogus Laws. ' ' The Constitution devised at Lecompton was disowned by the Free-State citizens of the Territory and the statutes adopted there were set at defiance. But the Administration at Washington threw the weight of its influence in Kansas on the side of the Pro-Slavery party. United States marshals and the army en- forced the iniquitous laws of the illegally chosen Leg- islature. Lawrence, a town originally settled by a colony from New England and named in honour of Amos A. Lawrence, of Boston, was pre-eminent as the centre of Free-State influence. Early in its history, when only one hundred emigrants were settled on the town site, living in tents and busily engaged in building houses for their families, " Lawrence was visited by two hundred and fifty Missourians who camped near the canvas village and sent formal notification that the * Abolitionists must leave the Territory, never more to return to it ! ' Time to leave was extended from 10 o'clock A.M. to 1 P.M. In the meantime the ' Yankees ' organized themselves for defence. The ruffians, seeing this, stole back, in the night, to Missouri. ' ' The Lecompton Assembly adopted an "Act " which forbade any one to entice slaves to run away 17 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN from their masters, affixing the penalty of death for transgression. Imprisonment for two years was to be the punishment for writing, printing, or publishing any denial of the right of persons to hold slaves in Kansas ! This law was to take effect on the 15th day of September, 1855. On that day the Kansas Tribune, edited and published at Lawrence by John Speer, printed, on a full page of the newspaper, a challenge remarkable for the courageous expression of the spirit of freedom. On the 21st of November, 1855, Charles W. Dow, " a peaceable Free-State man," was murdered by Franklin N. Coleman, Jacob Branson was rescued from a Sheriff Jones (who was carrying into execution the offensive statutes of the contemned Legislature) by a band of Free-State men " about equal in number to the Sheriff's posse." " Twelve hundred Pro-Sla- very men," writes Mr. Brown, " most of them from Missouri, besieged Lawrence. Six hundred Free-State men, commanded by Governor Charles Robinson and James H. Lane, defended the place. Earthworks were thrown up and all preparations were made for a vigor- ous resistance. However, a truce was called and the Missourians returned to their homes. ' ' This was but the beginning of what was called ' ' The Border Ruffian War." It is not my purpose to review here the course of events, but only to convey a clear idea of the condition 18 STRUGGLE AND TRIUMPH of things in Kansas in the years during which that Territory was Spencer's home. The period was char- acterized by strife, midnight pillage and murder, and the burning and sacking of towns. Blood was shed on more than one field where battle was waged between hostile factions. The Free-State party was not always in the right ; but Pro-Slavery men began the war when they invaded the polls in Kansas, and they were responsible for shifting the contest from peaceful competition of ballots to bloody battles with bullets. Then, as after- ward in the " Great Rebellion," they " sowed the wind and reaped the whirlwind." To Kansas came bad men from all parts of the country to seize the opportunity to ravage and rob. Their attachment to one party or the other could not sanctify them or justify their crimes. In the end the fierce exertions to make Kansas a slave State failed. Overwhelming numbers of Northern men poured. into the field and secured the triumph of Free-State princi- ples. Admitted to the Union in 1861, Kansas has be- come one of the brightest stars in the American con- stellation. Her significant seal bears the appropriate memento— " AD ASTRA PER ASPERA.''^ * " To the stars through difficulties." 19 CHAPTER IV REMOVAL OP MR. BROWN 'S FAMILY TO OSAWATOMIE In the spring of 1855 the family of Mr. Brown joined him in the new home. Spencer kept a journal which was written in a cipher of his own invention. Concerning the journey from Utica, New York, to Kansas, he writes : '* Early in April, Mother, myself, Rockwell, Fanny and Fredd}'' started for our Western home. In about ten days we all landed safely at Kansas City, in Mis- souri, where Father met us on the levee and took us to the house of Mrs. G , upon the river bank, her hus- band being a merchant and the house being over the store. After seeing us well settled, Father and Rocky started, in a few days, for Osawatomie. I went about a week later. We all boarded at Mr. Cronkhite 's. ' ' In a letter written in January, 1863, Mr. C. H. Crane thus describes Osawatomie and the surrounding country as these appeared in March, 1855, a month be- fore Spencer 's arrival there : ' ' Osawatomie was not — excepting as a paper town." There were " a few hewn logs piled one upon another, inclosing a load of groceries, covered with ' duck,' without door, floor, 20 KEMOVAL OF BROWN'S FAMILY window, roof, or ' chinking. ' ^ From that point not a human habitation could be seen. John Surpel.had a ' shanty ' on the Pottawatomie, three-fourths of a mile away. ' ' " Mr. W. Chestnut had a cabin over the swell of the prairie, southwest one-half a mile. Morgan Cronk- hite had an unfinished cabin one and one-half miles southwest in the Pottawatomie timber,^ where Mr. Bishop now lives. Still, he entertained travelers in the attic, and stayed there himself. The first floor was ground, and was occupied by a horse. Mr. John Carr was in a cabin on the next quarter ^ west, with his wife and two children. . . . Mr. Adair was where he now lives. 0. C. Brown had a cabin on the hill. This constituted the siiburhs of Osawatomie. On that day, the 18th of March, 1855, all else was wild as the native Indian." I presume that the boarding- and lodging-place of Mr. 0. C. Brown and his sons, in May, 1855, was that same unfinished cabin of Morgan Cronkhite. Perhaps opportunity had been found to make room for the horse elsewhere, and to put a puncheon floor above the earth. An interesting fragment — a romance writ- 1 Chinking — the mud or plaster that fills spaces between the logs of a log cabin. 2 In America, timber means (often) standing woods ; cut or sawn timber is called lumber. ' Quarter section of land, according to the United States survey. 3 21 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN ten by Spencer after he had lived a few years in Kansas— begins with paragraphs that must have been suggested by his own experience. The hero of his story, a young man, says : " I never had a friend except my father. We moved out to Kansas and settled upon one hundred and sixty acres of land. All the fall and winter we laboured hard fencing a part of it, and in the spring broke and planted a few acres. We raised enough that year to support us through the winter and to get more land broken in the spring. All winter we were employed in building a log-house (using ' shakes ' for the roof, which was held on, without nails, by long logs) and in splitting puncheons for the floor." I return to Spencer 's journal. * * Mother remained in Kansas City until after the birth of my youngest sister, in May, at the house of Mrs. W , a very kind-hearted lady whose husband was a merchant. Such was the rush of emigrants to Kansas, even at that early time, that all who had room had to open their doors to the crowds landing from every incoming boat. At this time Kansas City had less than one thousand inhabitants. ' ' ** While at the house of Mrs. Cronkhite, Rocky and I caught fish from the Osage, for which she gave us six cents a pound, by which we earned two dollars." * ' While we were living here a man by the name of E got possession of Father's house on his claim, 22 REMOVAL OF BROWN'S FAMILY giving him a great deal of trouble ; but by aid of the settlers (who, en masse, gathered, and set the would-be * jumper ' off the premises, carrying his wife out in her chair, while persistently she held to it, she being the moving spirit of the act) the house was regained about midsummer, and, Mother coming, we all gath- ered together in our log-cabin home. ' ' 23 CHAPTER V THE YOUNG IMMIGRANT "When Spencer arrived in Osawatomie he was be- tween twelve and thirteen years of age. He was tall, for his years, and slender, but well-formed. His hair was then light brown, and curled gracefully at the ends. He had fair complexion that showed immedi- ately the flush of fatigue or emotion. His eyes were blue. In disposition he was affectionate. If " we re- fer to the heart the power of loving and the power of imagining, ' ' ^ then we may say that Spencer had a large heart. We shall often observe, as we read his journal, that the boy was perpetually craving com- panionship and affection. His imagination was afflu- ent. I have in my keeping hundreds of pages of fiction composed by him in Kansas. The form is fiction ; the spirit is of tlie essence of truth— such truth as may be clearly discerned and luminously exhibited only by the light of a lively imagination. Adequate instruction and criticism would have qualified him to do brilliant work as an author — for he possessed original endow- ments which if so schooled would have fitted him for > Rev. F. W. Robertson. 24 THE YOUNG IMMIGRANT literary pursuits. He delighted in all things beauti- ful. The glories of the heavens and the earth en- tranced him. Although he was very sensitive, I do not think he was unusually vain, or self-conscious. He was observant and reticent. His sister " Kitty " (whom he sometimes addresses, in his correspondence, as Cornelia, sometimes as Cora) was at that time his chief confidant. His thirst for knowledge was insatia- ble. He liked play as well as other boys like it, but his best-loved recreation was to read. While he was in Kansas he made a list of books he had studied, which justifies the conclusion that his mind was unusually active and his literary appetite omnivorous. He was not fit for life on a farm. More moral ear- nestness, clearer recognition of moral obligation than he then had, might have reconciled him to such a life ; but his bent was towards literature. His occupations in Kansas were irksome to him. He was irritated not by the hardships but by the privations of his lot— espe- cially by the forfeiture of opportunity to obtain a liberal education. In reflecting upon the vicissitudes of Mr. O. C. Brown's family at Osawatomie, I have been reminded of William Penn 's Apostrophe to Penn- sylvania : " 0 Pennsylvania, what hast thou not cost me! About thirty thousand pounds more than I ever got for it, two hazardous and most fatiguing voyages, and my son's soul, almost! " 25 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN But the soul of Spencer Brown was not sacrificed. The lad's history illustrates the truth that it is good to bear the yoke in one's youth— but the wearer should not be allowed to feel that the yoke is galling him. Had Spencer been bound to a ranchman's life but a little longer, nothing but the loftiest Christian prin- ciple could have saved him from desperation. He was not tried above that which he was able to bear. He endured, perhaps not quite as submissively and gra- ciously as he ought, until a way of escape was open to him. 26 CHAPTER VI OLD JOHN BROWN About the time of the coming of the family of Mr. 0. C. Brown to Osawatomie, went, also, to that part of Kansas, Owen, Frederick, and Salmon Brown, sons of that John Brown of whom the soldiers of the armies of the Union used to sing, in the war against the re- bellion, John Brown's body lies mouldering in the grave ; His soul is marching on ! These immigrants had the best teams and equip- ments that had reached the new settlement. " They came to stay, ' ' wrote Spencer 's father, ' ' and without unnecessary delay established their families on lands claimed under the pre-emption laws enacted by Con- gress. Their houses were eight miles above Osawa- tomie, on the Osage River. The men were surveyors, and laid out roads and made improvements with a view to permanent occupation. They were tall, intelli- gent, fine-looking men, much superior to even the bet- ter class of emigrants from the East. ... As Osa- 27 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN watomie was the nearest point where there was mail delivery, and where a store could be found at which to trade, the new settlers were occasionally in the vil- lage." In May they were joined by their brothers, John and Jason, who " brought with them fruit-trees and blooded stock. ' ' In November of that year came * ' Old John Brown ' ' himself, with another son, Oliver, and a son-in-law, a Mr. Thompson, the husband of Ruth Brown, the eldest daughter. " The old man travelled, under the guise of a surveyor, by ox-team. He went through Missouri, having with him a tent and a supply of arms. When he was questioned by Missourians he told them he was going into Kansas to survey lands for them and the Abolitionists to quar- rel over." The life of the * ' Hero of Harper 's Ferry, ' ' as por- trayed by Redpath, or by F. B. Sanborn, is familiar to many persons who will read these pages. Brown was a descendant of the Puritans. Philoso- phers whose subject of study is the material universe accept the doctrine of the ' ' Conservation of Energy. ' ' The forms in which the energy resides may change, must change. The energy itself is constant. There is a moral energy, too, which is conserved from genera- tion to generation. John Brown and his ancestry illustrate the theory of the propagation of moral forces. The author of a history of The Harper's Ferry In- 28 OLD JOHN BROWN surrection says of him: '* He was a decided anti- slavery man, a religious enthusiast, a rigid Presby- terian, correct and conscientious in all his relations and conduct, and modest and unassuming in his man- ners. At the same time he was a man of iron will, of untiring energy, and of . . . nerve. All who knew him are impressed with the belief that he never knew fear, and that no man ever lived who excelled him in cool and daring intrepidity. . . . He. was made the object of the most active persecutions of the Missourians. . . . One of his sons (Frederick) was met alone on the road by a large party of invading Missourians and brutally murdered without a cause. Another son (John) was, for no cause but his political opinions, loaded with chains and driven on foot before the horses of his captors from Osawatomie to Tecum- seh. . . , The women of the family were grossly insulted, . . . His friends and neighbours were murdered around him. He was forced into a war of self-defence, and finally a price was publicly set on his head. The effect of these things, in connection with all the other outrage, oppression, and murder perpetrated around him, upon a man of Brown's tem- perament may be conceived. He became a fighting man and developed qualities that excited the admira- tion and surprise of his friends and made him the terror of his enemies. Though remorseless and relent- less as death itself, he did everything under a sense of 29 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN duty and high religious excitement. The more fervent his prayers, the harder fell his blows. ' ' The above extract from the writings of one who knew John Brown personally, and who was familiar with the events which developed that side of his nature which is here described as remorseless, gives, I pre- sume, a fair idea of the man. Much has been said about his sanction of what has been called the " Pottawatomie Massacre." I shall not attempt to justify the killing of Wilkinson, Sher- man, and the Doyles. The case is one that we who sit in our peaceful homes, hundreds or thousands of miles from the strife, or who are separated more than forty years from the time of the conflict, are entirely unable to judge fairly. Nevertheless I must allude to this tragedy. Nobody who says anything about John Brown can lightly set it aside. Sometimes the character of an act is to be dis- cerned only when we approach it in chronological progress. Jason, a son of Old John Brown, reminds us that Dow, Barber, Johnston, Stuart, and R. P. Brown, Free-State men, were murdered by the Pro- Slavery party before the stroke fell upon the Doyles and others on the Pottawatomie. He also mentions a speech delivered in St. Joseph, Missouri, in 1854 — a year before any of John Brown 's family had entered Kansas— a speech of the notorious Pro-Slavery leader, B. F. Stringfellow, who is reported to have said : " I 30 OLD JOHN BROWN tell you to mark every scoundrel among you wlio is in the least tainted with Abolitionism, or Free-Soilism, and exterminate him. Neither give nor take quar- ter from the rascals. ... I advise you, one and all, to enter every election district in Kansas, in defiance of Reeder and his myrmidons, and vote at the point of the bowie-knife and the revolver, . . . It is enough that the slave-holding interest wills it — from which there is no appeal." Jason Brown then quotes from Phillip's Conquest of Kansas, to show the youth of our country that '' there is more than one side to be heard from." I record, as he gives it, nearly the whole passage. " On the 15th of January, 1856, an election was held for State officers and legislators, under the To- peka Constitution,^ throughout the Territory. The Pro-Slavery Mayor of Leavenworth forbade an elec- tion being held there. But there was one man, . . . R. P. Brown, who determined to resist this tyranny, and on an adjournment of the polls to a neighbouring town went out there with a few friends to defend the rights of the freemen. The KicJcapoo Bangers, a gang of Pro-Slavery men, marched out there also. A skirmish ensued, they were successfully resisted and driven back ; but Captain R. P. Brown, on the follow- ing day, on returning home, was surrounded by an > Drawn and adopted by Representatives of the Free-State vo- ters, who really were a majority of the citizens of Kansas. 31 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN overwhelming force, and, at the earnest entreaty of his companions, although against his own judgment, surrendered, under a promise that their persons should be safe. The terms were violated. One young man was knocked down and a ruffian was going to strike him with his hatchet (the Eickapoo Rangers carried hatchets), but was prevented by the captain of the company. The prisoners were taken back to Eaton, but Brown was separated from them and put in an adjoining building." "A rope was purchased at the store and was shown to the prisoners, with the intimation that they should be hanged with it. It was fiercely discussed for hours what should be done with them. Meanwhile, liquor was drunk freely, and they who were brutal without anything to make them more so became ungovernably fierce. Unwilling that all these men should be mur- dered, the captain allowed the other prisoners to es- cape. One of them hastened to Port Leavenworth, in hopes of getting troops to go and rescue Brown ; but it was a vain attempt. Protection was refused. Then followed a scene of atrocity and horror. Captain Brown had surrendered his arms and was helpless. His enemies, who dared not to face him the night be- fore though they had a superior force, now crowded around him. When they began to strike him he arose to his feet and asked to be permitted to fight any one of them. He challenged them to pit him against 32 OLD JOHN BROWN their best man; he would fight for his life. But not one of the cowards dared to give the prisoner a chance. ' ' * ' Then he volunteered to fight two, and then three ; but it was in vain. These men, or, rather, demons, rushed around Brown and literally hacked him to death with their hatchets. One of the Rangers . . . inflicted the fatal blow. A large hatchet-gash in the side of the head penetrated the skull. . . . The gallant Brown fell, and his remorseless enemies jumped on him, while he was thus prostrated, and kicked him. ... As they kicked him he said, ' Don't abuse me; it is useless; I am dying.' . . . A few of their number, whom a little spark of con- science, or fear of punishment, had animated, raised the dying man, still groaning, and placing him on a wagon, his gaping wounds but poorly sheltered from the bitter cold of that winter day, drove him to the grocery, where they went through the farce of dressing his wounds; but, seeing the hopelessness of his case, took him home to his wife. The pulse of life was ebbing. She asked him what was the matter. . . . ' I have been murdered by a gang of cowards, in cold blood, without any cause,' he said; and as the poor wife stooped over the body of her gallant husband he expired." After making this quotation, Jason Brown adds : ' ' No notice was ever taken of these atrocious murders, 33 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN by the powers that were— never once did they interfere to preserve the purity of the ballot-box or the right of free speech. No attempt was ever made to bring these murderers to justice. . . . We were all marked (as well as many others) for the bullet and the dagger, and there was no alternative but to fight for our homes and lives, and for others." It must be remembered that the disgraceful ''Ad- ministration " of President Pierce was to such a de- gree controlled by the South that when Governor Reeder, himself an appointee of the President, ve- toed acts of the Legislature elected in Kansas by fraud and violence, he was summarily removed from office. " The one purpose of subjugating Kansas," said Mr. 0. C. Brown, " was never lost sight of by the dominant party in the nation, the United States Gov- ernment, with its military force, being the handy sup- port of the leaders ' ' in Kansas. Mr. 0. C. Brown, the founder of Osawatomie, was acquainted with all the men concerned in these feuds. His testimony is thoroughly credible and trustworthy. A part of it, which relates to the tragedy on the Pot- tawatomie, I give. " Later came from St. Louis a German by the name of Wiener, who made a claim and opened a store between the Browns' and ' Dutch Henry's Crossing,' where lived Allen Wilkinson, the Doyles, and ' Dutch 34 OLD JOHN BROWN Bill,' the drunken bully of the region.^ .... * Dutch Bill ' visited Mr. Wiener (who had peaceably- pursued his own business) and sought a quarrel, which resulted in his being severely flogged. From this time ' Dutch Bill ' swore vengeance against the St. Louis German. This feud was talked of and well under- stood by the settlers for miles around, but no one could have believed it would result in such a tragic ending. ' ' ' ' In May the Missouri border was crossed by Sher- iff Jones, of Westport, for another general raid upon Lawrence. Being in Kansas City, Missouri, I was urged to return to Osawatomie to send a protecting force to Lawrence. The city was full of men who were outfitting for the coming contest. ' ' "A small company, including the Browns, hastened to the beleaguered city. . . . During the absence of the Osawatomie company a meeting of Pro-Slavery men was held at the ' Dutch Henry Crossing,' when a vote of expulsion was taken against Mr. Wiener, and the Brown families, and Mr. Thompson, son-in-law of Old John Brown. Allen Wilkinson, the three Doyles, and ' Dutch Bill ' were appointed to carry out the threat. The message was delivered to Mr. Wiener, who, with the utmost despatch, bore it to the Free- State camp. It warned Wiener and all the Brown 1 This " Dutch Bill " was the man commonly called " Sherman" in reports of the " Pottawatomie Massacre " — why, I cannot im- agine. 35 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN families ' to leave the Territory by Sunday night, or die.' " " The five men who had outlawed themselves by serving such a notice had no opportunity to carry out their threat. The Rev. Mr. Utter calls the men ' inno- cent citizens.' Of that let the reader judge." ' ' Now, as to the question who did the killing, it is generally asserted and believed that John Brown did not do it, but knew of it, approved it. In view of the facts, who had the greatest provo- cation to do such a deed? All of the parties sus- pected remained in the Territory except Mr. Wiener. The following spring I saw Mr. Wiener in St. Louis. He talked freely, but guardedly, of that event, assert- ing his participation in the killing, and said he was going into the Territory on business, but should not remain. He kept himself aloof from the crowd— which his personal safety required him to do." Having given what I believe to be a true outline of events which shed some light upon the mystery of the " Pottawatomie Massacre," I leave the reader to form his own conclusions. 36 CHAPTER VII THE LATER CAEEEB OF JOHN BROWN Op John Brown's courage and soldierly efficiency no doubt has been expressed by friend or foe. In 1856 a force from Missouri invaded Kansas, determined to destroy several towns inhabited chiefly by Northern families, and to exterminate Free-Soil voters and war- riors. This force was variously estimated at from two thousand to twenty-seven hundred men. In the Free- State force assembled to meet the enemy there were only about five hundred men. Governor Geary, with great difficulty, persuaded the Missourians to return to their homes. Because of the disparity of the two forces there was much rejoicing in the Northern States over Mr. Geary's success. John Brown, on the other hand, was greatly vexed. The odds of five to one he counted as nothing. ' ' What are five to one," said he, " when our men would be fighting for their wives, their children, their homes, and their liberties, against a party one-half of whom were mercenary vagabonds, and enlisted for a mere frolic, lured on by the whisky and the bacon, and a large portion of the others had gone under compulsion 4 37 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN of public opinion and proscription, and because they feared being denounced as Abolitionists if they re- fused. "^ He believed that the Free-State men had lost the opportunity to put an end to the struggle by one decisive stroke. On one occasion, when three hun- dred of the enemy rode from Franklin and made a demonstration against Lawrence, " Brown eagerly hurried out, with one hundred men, to give them fight on the open prairie; but the enemy retired, and de- clined the contest "—to the old man's disappointment and disgust. The later history of John Brown is known to nearly all intelligent Americans. The family of a poor negro was about to be separated, part of it to be sold to planters in the distant South. The man fled from Missouri to Brown, by night, imploring assistance. John Brown determined to make a bold stroke that should at the same time rescue these slaves from their dreaded fate, free others, and teach Missourians that their continuance of war upon Kansas would imperil their ownership of slaves in all western Missouri. Di- viding his followers into two parties, he crossed the border, and by that night's work liberated thir- teen slaves and captured several white men. Re- turning then to Kansas, he released the captured Missourians. Three weeks later he set out, with a detachment of 1 From The Harper's Ferry Insurrection, QQ CAREER OF JOHN BROWN his company, to escort the freedmen and their families to Canada. " The retreat from southern Kansas, and particularly the first stage of his journey from Osawa- tomie to Lawrence, was one of the boldest adventures of Brown.^ With a price on his head; with but one white companion, himself an outcast ; with twelve fugi- tives who had been advertised the world over; and with their property loaded into an odd-looking wagon drawn by the cattle taken from the slave-owner in Mis- souri, Brown pushed forward, in the dead of winter, regardless of warnings and threats, but relying on the mercy of God and on his own stout heart. His next and most dangerous stage was from Holton, in Jackson County, thirty miles north of Topeka, to the Nebraska border. At Holton he occupied the cabin of Albert Fuller, and went forth from there, with his Topeka re- enforcements, to win the ' Battle of the Spurs.' " In this encounter he made that capture of his pursuers concerning which Brown 's biographers have romanced a little ; saying, among other things, that he forced his prisoners to pray or be shot. As to this the truth, I presume, is given by Mr. Sanborn in this interesting and amusing story : '* One of the party captured was Dr. Hereford, a young physician from Atchison— a wild, rattling, devil-may-care kind of fellow, always ready for an adventure, but who really had nothing very bad in his • B. F. Sanborn's Life of John Brown. 39 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN composition. Brown took him under his special care. One evening he called upon the Doctor to offer prayer. " ' By ! ' said the Doctor, ' I can't pray.' * ' ' Did your mother ever teach you to pray ? ' ' ' ' Oh, yes ; but that was a long time ago. ' " ' But you still remember the prayer she taught you, ' said Brown. '"Yes.' ' ' ' Well, for lack of a better one say that ; ' and the Doctor repeated, before black and white comrades of the camp, that night, the rhyme — " ' Now I lay me down to sleep, ' etc., to the amuse- ment of his fellow-prisoners and others. ' ' * ' On his return home he related this, and said, with an oath, that John Brown was the best man he had ever met, and knew more about religion than any man. When asked whether Brown had ever treated them badly, or used harsh language while they were with him, he said ' No ' — that they were all treated like gentlemen, had the same fare as the others ; but it did go a little against the grain to eat with and be guarded by ' niggers. ' ' ' John Brown continued this work of emancipating slaves in Missouri until he engaged in a greater enter- prise with similar purpose. To execute this he made the attack on Harper's Ferry, in Virginia. He was captured, tried for '' Insurrection, Treason, and Mur- der," and was convicted and executed. He and his 40 CAREER OF JOHN BROWN few followers, bent on what seems to have been an in- sanely reckless invasion of Virginia, to free the slaves, were driven into the engine-house of the United States Armory, which, the next day, was stormed by United States marines. Of the seventeen white men engaged in this foray, ten were killed at Harper 's Ferry, John Brown and one other were severely wounded and cap- tured, four escaped (of whom three were sent away before the fight) , and one was captured unhurt. Two of the killed were sons of John Brown. Concerning his motives in the course he pursued in Kansas, Missouri, and Virginia, we have his own declaration, made while he was a wounded captive. *' How long have you been engaged in this busi- ness? " asked Mr, Vallandigham, a member of Con- gress. *' From the breaking out of the difficulties in Kansas, ' ' answered he. ' ' What was your object in coming ? ' ' inquired Mr. Mason. ' ' We came to free the slaves, and only that. ' ' To the question, ' ' How do you justify your acts ? ' ' Mr. Brown replied, " I think, my friend, you are guilty of a great wrong against God and humanity— I say it without wishing to be offensive — and it would be perfectly right in any one to interfere with you so far as to free those you wilfully and wickedly hold in bondage. I do not say this insultingly." 41 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN ' ' I understand that, ' ' said Mr. Mason, " I think I did right," continued John Brown, " and that others will do right who interfere with you, at any time, and at all times. I hold that the Golden Rule, ' Do unto others as you would that others should do unto you,' applies to all who would help others to gain their liberty. ' ' " But you don't believe in the Bible! " broke in Lieutenant Stuart. " Certainly I do," answered John Brown. Later in this interview he said to the men of Vir- ginia, " You had better— all you people at the South- prepare yourselves for a settlement of that question that must come up for settlement sooner than you are prepared for. The sooner you are prepared the better. You may dispose of me very easily ; I am nearly dis- posed of now; but this question is still to be settled— this negro question, I mean— the end of that is not yet." To a kinsman who was a minister of the gospel he wrote, from the jail in which he lay awaiting execu- tion, a very remarkable letter, in which he expressed his firm conviction that God would make his defeat and death the means of forwarding the work he had so much at heart. After declaring his belief that his dis- aster at Harper 's Ferry resulted from his own mistake in yielding to his feelings of humanity, and leaving his proper place to mingle with his prisoners and quiet 42 CAREER OF JOHN BROWN their fears, he asserts, " I firmly believe that God reigns and that he overrules all things in the best possi- ble manner ; and in that view of the subject I try to be in some degree reconciled to my own weaknesses and follies even. If you were here on the spot and could be with me by day and by night, and know the facts and how my time is spent here, I think you would find much to reconcile your own mind to the ignominious death I am about to suffer, and to mitigate your sorrow. ' ' ' ' I am, to say the least, quite cheeerf ul. ' He shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philis- tines. ' This was said of a poor erring servant, many years ago; and for many years I have felt that God had given me powers and faculties, unworthy as I was, that he intended to use for a similar purpose. This most unmerited honour he has seen fit to bestow, and whether, like the same poor frail man to whom I al- lude, my death may not be of vastly more value than my life, is, I think, quite beyond all human foresight. I really have strong hopes that, notwithstanding all my many sins, I, too, may yet die in faith. If you do not believe I had a murderous intention (while I know I had not) why grieve so terribly on my account ■? The scaffold has but few terrors for me. God has often covered my head in the day of battle, and granted me, many times, deliverances that were almost so miracu- lous that I can scarce realize their truth, and now, when it seems quite certain that he intends to use me in a 43 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN different way, shall I not most cheerfully go ? I may be deceived, but I humbly trust that he will not for- sake me till ' I have showed his favour to this genera- tion and his strength to every one that is to come. ' ' ' His execution took place at Charlestown, Jefferson County, Virginia, December 2, 1859. A man who was acquainted with John Brown gives this estimate of his character: " Wherever he lived he soon acquired the reputation of a man of the stern- est integrity of character. In Kansas he was the great, living test of principle in our politicians. The more corrupt the man, the more he denounced ' Old Brown. ' It was a true compliment to be praised or to be recog- nised by him as a friend ; for even in his social dealings he would have no connection with any man of unprin- cipled or unworthy character. ' ' * ' In his camp he permitted no profanity. No man of loose morals was suffered to stay there— unless, in- deed, as prisoner of war. ' I would rather have the small-pox, yellow-fever, and cholera, all together, in my camp, than a man without principle. ' This he said to the present writer when speaking of some ruffianly recruits whom a well-known leader had recently intro- duced. ' It 's a mistake, sir, . . . that our people make when they think that bullies are the best fighters, or that they are the fit men to oppose these demagogues. Give me men of good principles. God-fearing men, men who respect themselves, and with a dozen of them I will 44 CAREER OF JOHN BROWN oppose any hundred such men as these Buford ruf- fians.' " ' ' His whole character is portrayed in these words. He was a Puritan in the Cromwellian sense of the word. He trusted in God and kept his powder dry. ' ' * ' Prayers were offered up in his camp every morn- ing and evening. His manner, though conveying the idea of a stern and self-sustaining man, was yet gentle and courteous, and marked by frequent and decided manifestations of kindness; and by his friends it is said of him that, amid all his provocations, he never perpetrated an act of wanton or unnecessary cruelty. He was scrupulously honest, moral, and temperate, and never gave utterance to a boast. ' ' Mr. 0. C. Brown, who knew him well, adds his testimony, first describing John Brown's personal ap- pearance. It '' was that of a gentleman of the old school. He was^ tall, erect, not portly, not slim; had broad shoulders, a well-proportioned, good-sized head ; heavy hair, iron-gray silvering to white, stiff, and brist- ling back from the forehead, and of good length be- hind ; long, graceful, well-formed ears, which were set close to the head; a model face, adorned with Roman nose; gray eyes, with piercing vision, but very mild and gentle in expression, and canopied by heavy, dark brows ; a long, clean, white beard— which embellished as fine a head, I think, as ever crowned the shoulders of a man. As to dress, it is enough to say I cannot re- 45 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN member anything about it. In address and manners lie was courteous, listening to you patiently and reply- ing in a pleasant but brief and decided manner. He never minced matters in giving expression to unpopu- lar truth, God's word and the Declaration of Inde- pendence being sufficient authority with him. He let the results take care of themselves. He believed it al- ways safe to do right. All wrongful legislation, all oppressive laws, must be resisted. Under the ' Bogus Laws ' the tax-collector came. A public meeting was called in Osawatomie, and the stern old man showed his mettle, proposing resolutions similar to those of the fathers of the Revolution against the tea-tax." "After a full advocacy (Brown leading a very earnest discussion) the resolutions were passed. For this, he, the writer, and several others were indicted, arrested and imprisoned. By those who acted with him he was held in reverence for his strict religious life, good common sense, general kindliness, and hu- manity to his enemies. He would allow no needless destruction of property of even his worst foes. In doing what he regarded as his duty he knew no fear. I saw him frequently, at my own house, in the public meeting, recruiting and leading men for the defence of Lawrence, and in battle at Lawrence, and was much impressed by his courage and his trust in men and in God." This man was Spencer 's most distinguished Kansas 46 CAREER OF JOHN BROWN neighbour and acquaintance. No doubt his character and history helped to mould the principles of the boy, who, in his turn, died for that great nation the very ex- istence of which God made to depend upon its procla- mation of liberty throughout all the land. The citi- zens of the United States of this generation need to give heed to the lessons taught by convulsions and war- fare that only the old men of the country can remem- ber. As God is God and truth is truth, there will be another reckoning-day for the land if, in theory and practice, it aims at becoming only " a white man's country. ' ' Aready, while he was in Kansas, John Brown seemed to hear the trumpet of destiny calling him to his death for the cause of the bondmen, and to believe that his surrender of his own life would bear some pe- culiar relation to the disenthralment of millions. Could he have heard, prophetically, the great and conquering armies of the Republic in the very heart of the Southern Confederacy singing in mighty chorus that stirring battle-song which seemed to bring down every citadel of slavery, the old hero would have re- joiced with unspeakable joy, and would have gone to his death— just as he did go— believing that the Lord God omnipotent reigneth, and doeth all things well. On Sunday, April 2, 1865, the capital of the re- bellious Confederacy was wrapped in flames that made the heavens, as I looked upon them at midnight, red as 47 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN the blood drawn by the slave-holders' lash. The next morning as the hosts of the Federal Union poured through the streets of Petersburg and Richmond they sang with resounding emphasis — John Brown's body lies mouldering in the grave, But his soul is marching on. Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His soul is marching on ! At Osawatomie the reader may see a costly monu- ment which was erected in 1877 to the memory of Old John Brown. 48 CHAPTER VIII TOIL AND TURMOIL There was no school in Osawatomie when Spencer arrived there. Boys would be occupied, part of the time, breaking the soil and putting in the seed. Days would be given to splitting rails and hewing logs for cabins. This employment would take the workers into the timber that fringed the meadow-lands along the rivers. There Spencer's ear would be thrilled, occa- sionally, by the versatile powers of the mocking-bird. In the hot days of August the Texas cardinal, or his kinsman, the red-bird of Virginia, the Louisiana tan- ager, and the indigo-bird would flash like brilliants from thicket to thicket. The humming-bird, minute and rainbow tinted, would dart from flower to flower. In May the wild grape would perfume the air, and the voice of the turtle-dove was heard in the land. East- ern Kansas is so related both to the cooler North and to the great forests of Missouri and Arkansas as to encourage the birds in a migration as heterogeneous as that of the human beings who seek homes within her borders. In autumn the boys would find recreation shooting 49 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN prairie-chickens or wild turkeys, or would be seen an- gling for jack-salmon, perch, and catfish of different species. Tradition is positive that a blue catfish {Ictalurus furcatus), caught in Kansas in 1856, weighed two hundred and fifty poirnds, and that the aid of a steamboat tow-line and a yoke of oxen was required to land it. But that catch was not made in the Osage River. However, there were plenty of black bass in that stream, and Spencer and his brother had rare sport capturing this king of the finny tribes of fresh water. At home the children did not forget the simple and refining recreations of their earlier years. In 1856 a piano lent accompaniment to the music of sweet voices. The perils through which it passed on its journey, the scrutiny it underwent, its safe arrival in Osawat- omie, and, finally, its destruction, will be mentioned in due order. For a time it added its charm to the love- song, and led the hymns of the morr»ng and evening family worship and of the ' ' cottage prayer-meeting. ' ' Books were imported from the East to this dwelling on the prairie, *and time was found to read and study them. Young people would get together and enjoy the various parlour games and amusements known in the distant and diverse parts of the United States and of Europe from which they had emigrated. It is even rumoured that, as a lady of Lancaster could become 50 TOIL AND TURMOIL enamoured of a gallant of the house of York, so Mis- sourians and New Englanders could together measure love-tape, play Copenhagen, or prove the fascination of the cushion dance. However, life in Osawatomie was not a holiday. The men and women of that day had more than enough both of work and of anxiety. Adversity soon cast its shadow over the whole Territory. Violence and war soon dispersed families and disappointed the hopes that had lured so many thousands to the fertile West. The children had to share the sorrows and privations of their parents. Very early they had bitter experience of misfortune. I will try to let those who were actors in the history of the epoch tell their own tale. Osawatomie was growing rapidly. General S. C. Pomeroy was agent of the New England Emigrant Aid Society, under the auspices of which the village was founded. To him and to Mr. 0. C. Brown it ap- peared desirable to have a steam saw-mill there, to provide lumber for the houses of settlers. In Novem- ber, 1855, Mr. Brown went to St. Louis to procure a boiler for this mill. He prolonged his eastward jour- ney to Boston. " My . . . trip," he writes, " was down the Missouri River. . . . The water was low. . . . Being sick I was put ashore at Hill's Landing. Here I saw, as at other places also, mounted men, armed, and organizing for the invasion of Kansas and the at- 51 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN tack upon Lawrence which followed. In the hotels and stores the excitement ran high, Kansas being the com- mon theme ; and Abolitionists were declared the fit ob- jects of Southerners' shot-guns. The prisons were drawn upon for recruits. ' ' " ... Having spent the winter in Boston, New York city, and towns in New York State,^ I re- turned by the first boat, March 4, 1856. In the East the country had been thoroughly aroused by the Southern methods of carrying out Douglas's Bill for the settlement of the question of Freedom or Slavery. Plainly the intent of the South was to carry slavery into the Territory at all hazards. Large numbers from North and South rushed to the theatre of action — from the North, mainly good and true men, singly and with families, to make permanent homes; from the South, chiefly desperadoes, armed and under orders, the first companies of which, under Buford, landing in Kansas City in large numbers (a desperate-looking set of men) were so poor as to require help for subsistence. A large number of these afterward camped on the other side of the Pottawatomie, near Osawatomie. Other companies from the South followed. A steady stream of emigration flowed to Kansas this spring and sum- mer from the Eastern and Middle States, intent on making Kansas the ' Home of the Free. ' ' ' While Mr. Brown was making New York city his ' Endeavouring to recruit the ranks of Free-State men in Kansas. 52 TOIL AND TURMOIL hiSadquarters he went with Mr. Eli Thayer, of the Emi- grant Aid Society, to attend a meeting held in the lec- ture-room of Mr. Beecher 's church in behalf of Kansas. Of this he says : ''A good audience of substantial citizens was ad- dressed by Mr. Beecher, who, in the boldest manner, advised the use of Sharpe 's rifles. The South had be- come very pious, counselling the Free-State people to use only their Bibles. This was hardly in keeping with the open murders committed in Kansas under the hypocritical rallying cry of ' Law and Order ' which was in every rascal's mouth. We had come to know the true value of Southern ideas of right and wrong. Beecher was considered sound on the subject of per- sonal rights. How to put the guns into Kansas— that was the question." ' ' It seems that a Mr. Hoyt, with more courage than wisdom, undertook personal attendance upon two boxes of Sharpe 's rifles. He told me, in St. Louis, that he had this mission. Dressed in a way to simulate a United States soldier, he shipped the guns to Kansas City, Missouri — the natural landing-place of freight destined for the Territory; but Fort Leavenworth, thirty miles farther up the river, was the military sta- tion of the Government. He left a letter on his table, in his state-room, written to Eastern friends, in which he more than hinted at the object of his trip to Kansas. The * fire-eaters,' in his absence, stole the letter, and 5 53 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN a fearful scene followed. To the whole crowd of pas- sengers in the saloon of the steamboat the letter was read. Hoyt was confronted, denounced, condemned, outlawed, and but for his bold front he would, doubt- less, have been despatched on the spot. Silent, not a muscle or nerve quivering, with heavy revolvers in his belt and a huge knife pending, resolved to die game (as the leaders on the other side well understood), he looked his foes squarely in the eye. No one dared draw an iron. His courage stood him well. He was equal to the occasion. His back to the casements, he was enough for the crowd. The guns were confiscated. The roughs at the next landing-place would be enough for Hoyt. The telegraph had notified Lexington of the affair. In the meantime the captain referred the ques- tion of the steamboat's liability for the guns to a Kansas Pro-Slavery lawyer, who gave it as his opinion that the boat could be held for the value of the guns — the law of Missouri being that any boat could be tied up at any landing for indebtedness. ' ' " This legal opinion raised the wrath of the ' fire- eaters. ' Hoyt had raised a one-sided storm, the lawyer a two-sided tornado. He was arraigned, condemned, read out of the party, and his name was to be published in all the leading newspapers of Kansas and Missouri as unworthy of the confidence of Southern people. The short calm that followed the reading of these resolu- tions gave the lawyer an opportunity to speak in self- 54 TOIL AND TURMOIL defence. Protesting that he had been unjustly assailed for giving a legal opinion, as an attorney, to a man who was entitled to a true and candid answer, he went on in a masterly manner to let them know who he was and what he had done ; said he was the son of a slave- holder in Baltimore; came to Kansas, as a Demo- crat true to the interests of the South (in proof of which he mentioned that, as a member of the Legisla- ture, he had helped enact the Kansas Code, and was now returning from Baltimore, where he had spent the winter getting the code printed). * And now,' he asked, rising to a pitch of intense scorn and indigna^ tion, pointing his finger contemptuously at a Doctor Porter, of Independence, Missouri (who had been the most boisterous and furious in the attack) , and speak- ing with the bitterest sarcasm, * on what meat hath this, our Cffisar, fed, that he hath grown so great ? ' " * Do you mean me, sir? ' " '* ' If the coat fits you, put it on.' " * * Like two furies they fought ; Porter, tall and agile; the lawyer, rather short, and weighted by his overcoat. He was too much for the doctor, but the by- standers would trip him up as fast as he worsted Por- ter, who, getting desperate, called for his weapons, which had dropped from his belt. Then the captain came and pulled the lawyer off from the ' Great Csesar.' Him others seized, and soon all was still. The lookers-on, excepting one, were silent. A touch 55 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN of humour caused him to whisper to a Chicago man ' Kilkenny cats ! ' The Chicago man (whom I met in Washington afterward, and who told me he was a detective) withdrew to the other side of the saloon, and I went into my state-room and read Fox's Book of Martyrs, which I chanced to have along." ' ' Now, there were two great offenders of the slave- demon on the boat, and Lexington was near at hand. The son of General Kearney, a prominent Westport merchant, was on board. He was a Southerner in prin- ciples, but manly and respectable. Having opportunity to speak a few words to him, outside, when he was alone, I set forth the peril of the situation ; the excite- ment that would follow Hoyt's death, should he be killed on this the first boat; the damage to business, etc., etc. Promptly he said, ' I'll stop it! ' Soon he mounted upon a chair in the saloon and made a speech, giving several strong reasons why they, as ' Law and Order men, ' should see to it that nothing violent should be done on the first boat. ' Now, I move you that we rescind all those resolutions, pledge our word and honour that every passenger be protected and safely landed at his place of destination, and that we give bonds for the guns, to indemnify the boat. ' This was carried unanimously. A general hand-shaking love- feast and free treats followed. Suffice it to say, the breech-slides of the guns had been sent overland. The guns were paid for." 56 TOIL AND TURMOIL " As we approached Lexington, I stole an oppor- tunity to speak a word to Kearney. ' ' ' How are you to get past that landing ? ' '* ' When the boat is nearing the dock, and the passengers rush to that side, the captain will slip Hoyt out of the back-door of his state-room and run him up into the texas ' — the extreme upper part of the pilot- house, the captain's quarters, where no one dared in- trude without orders. ' ' ' ' The crowd of roughs came on board, pouring into every nook and corner of the boat ; but with all possible despatch the boat swung off, and proceeded up the river. Hoyt iand the other Kansas men were landed at Kansas City, without further trouble then; but Hoyt was murdered by Georgians, who encamped on the Wakarusa River, about four miles from Law- rence, in the latter part of August. ' ' Few men escaped who were doomed by the ' De- mon of Slavery. ' ' ' 57 CHAPTER IX AN EVENTFUL YEAR Eighteen hundred and fifty-six was a year of great excitement in Kansas. The destruction of Law- rence; the burning of Osawatomie; the putting into the field of the Free-State force of one thousand men (headquarters of Lawrence) ; the plundering and mur- dering of defenceless settlers by roving bands of free- booters; the closing of the rivers against Free-State men; the cutting off of supplies of food and aid of friends; the robbing of the United States mails (one with more than three hundred letters for Osawatomie being captured) ; the disarming of part of the people; the flight of families from their insecure or desolate homes ; the aggravation of all these distresses by fever and ague, which laid in their beds at least some mem- bers of nearly every family; the poverty of the peo- ple— all these events and circumstances spread misery and desolation on every hand. While Mr, 0. C. Brown was spending the winter in the East, doing what he could to arouse the people to more earnest and adequate exertions to secure the 58 AN EVENTFUL YEAR triumph of freedom in Kansas, Mrs. Brown and their children in the new home in that Territory were often disturbed by alarming rumours and happenings. On December 16, 1855, she wrote to her husband a letter which will give some idea of the condition of things in her own household at Osawatomie and in the neigh- bourhood of Lawrence. ' ' I had nearly come to the conclusion that we were to have no further communication during your long absence, as it seemed to be prophesied here that any letter directed to you would be prevented. Mr. Oliver goes to New York to-morrow, and that gives me an op- portunity to send directly and safely to you. I suppose you have received a letter I wrote you, directed to Utica. I sent it by Mr. S , who said he would en- deavour to see you. ' ' He came here a week ago last Friday. That day and Saturday were two of the most trying I ever passed. About nine o 'clock little Holbrook called and said he was going, with some others, to Lawrence. In a short time a gentleman knocked at the door. He was admitted, and complained of being sick,^ and took some peppermint ; said he was from Leavenworth, had rid- den all night, was very cold and much afraid. He said he met the young men and they told him we were from 1 In America the word sick retains the meaning it had when the King James translation of the Bible was made. In England the significance has been changed and limited. 59 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN New York. Consequently he called here to rest him- self. After satisfying himself that we were all right he said he had deceived us ; that he had just come from Lawrence, and had escaped through the guards sur- rounding that town, riding all night in fear of pursuit, with two men as guides, who were to take back his horse. He said his coat was loaded with important papers. (We have since learned that he was one of the fifteen proscribed men sent out of Lawrence for safety.) He said he was brother to Mrs. P. K., and wished, if he should be taken, that I would inform her of his being here. He was very much alarmed and excited. ' ' The children spoke, and said some armed Indians were coming up on horseback. Mr. S flew into our room, telling us to hide his overcoat, which he threw off, and, pulling out his revolver, said he was sick, and asked to get into the empty bed in our room. So, while Mr. S and his revolver were going to bed, I went to the door, all trembling, to attend the newcomers. They looked very hard, and seemed half Indian and but half human. They asked me, ' Is the man here that came on that horse ? ' pointing to a horse tied at the corner of the house. As I had not seen the horse before, I hesitated a little, but looked earnestly, then replied, ' Oh ! I have not seen that horse before. He must be somewhere about. Have you looked round, back of the house, or towards the woods 1 ' 60 AN EVENTFUL YEAR * ' They were going to see, when Mr. S , looking from the window, hailed them as his guides and friends. They all went down to Mr. Geer's to dinner, and (I suppose seeing black Henry) Mr. S began to fear, and so carried the idea to the people there that he was Pro-Slavery (not much to his credit). So, more frightened than ever, he came back here and wanted us to get him to Colonel Moore's,^ about eight miles, saying we should be handsomely recompensed. Brennan ^ came home about this time and I asked him to drive Mr. S to Colonel Moore's, and return that evening or in the morning. He said he had just con- cluded to go to Lawrence with some other volunteers. Mr. S said, ' Then he must go to Lawrence, ' and asked, ' Why cannot Spencer go? ' I said he was sick. K was up and dressed, and he invited her to go along. It was a pleasant afternoon, and, after some hesitation, thinking it a favorable opportunity for the children to make a valuable acquaintance, and that perhaps the ride would be beneficial to K , I con- sented to their going, to return next morning. *' The next day was a terrible, windy day, and it was tea-time before they returned. Judge how I felt ! And judge of the rejoicing in this house on their safe return ! 1 Colonel Eli Moore was Indian agent, under President Pierce's Administration, at Miami. ^ Mr. Brown's hired man. 61 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN " Not knowing the short route, they travelled twenty miles to get there and twenty back again. ' ' They had a very pleasant time at Colonel Moore 's (his son and daughter being now at home), but a hard ride. It did them much good, upon the whole, divert- ing their minds. Mr. S procured a guide to take him to some starting point, and was bound to Wash- ington with his papers. For two or three days the children seemed to have recovered from their chills — but that was all. They now continue to have them, three or four chills a day. C , Spencer, Fanny, and Freddy have them. I have had a very hard cold, with chills, hoarseness, and so forth. Between sickness and apprehension, I am not much to be envied. Yes- terday was the election for the Constitution. Cranston and Barker go to Lawrence as delegates, and to elect State officers. ' ' Did you hear of Mr. Pomeroy being taken pris- oner, and being detained in the enemy's camp five days, three miles from Lawrence? I was in great fear for some days, and felt greatly relieved when that Law- rence affair was settled." Having returned to Osawatomie, Mr. Brown, in March, 1856, wrote in better spirits than he would have indulged could he have foreseen the history of the next six months. ' ' Our cause daily brightens. Let them curse ! God reigns, and right will rule. Let the ' Border Ruffians ' 62 . AN EVENTFUL YEAR rage, and the Missourians imagine a vain thing ! The ' Yankees ' are not the pusillanimous creatures they had supposed from seeing the poor white men of the slave States. Let us have more men (settlers and their families), and money to aid in paying expenses of our Free-State movements, and mills to cut lumber for houses, and in two years we will defy Missouri and F. Pierce in the bargain. But to do this the North must stand up for us and never flinch, always holding herself ready to avenge wrongs and aid in fighting our battles. Let the North know that the Southerners, accustomed to ride rough-shod over humanity's dear- est rights, care no more for law, and for personal and property rights, than so many Arabs do. If their course is continued they must be flogged into better behaviour. Their position over a few poor blacks makes them really believe that they are the only portion of mankind worthy of consideration, and that all others are mere hirelings, fit only to do their bidding. ' ' About the same time he wrote, ' ' The piano arrived, 22d inst., at Kansas City, on the Genoa, and the in- closed letter will show you what the ' Border Ruffians ' are * up to ' just now. Each boat gets overhauled by the ' Law and Order ' Committee of Lexing- ton." This was an allusion to an incident as annoy- ing at the time as it was amusing to the Browns after- ward. " The great box which contained the piano for Spencer's sister awakened, as it went by steamboat 63 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN up the Missouri River, the suspicions of Southerners. ' More Sharpe 's rifles ! ' The box must be opened. It was landed on the levee at Kansas City. A great crowd looked on in breathless silence. The top of the box was violently removed. The men surged towards the centre to get a peep. A piano ! Nothing more ! The lid of the instrument was raised. Only the keys and wires of harmony appeared. No rifles, no pistols, no cutlasses, or bowie-knives. The voice of one of the leaders broke the silence—' Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast. ' The piano was allowed to go forward to its destination. Because of its history the famous John Brown said that if it belonged to him one thousand dollars should not buy it. ' ' Mr. Brown refers, in a letter, to the determination of the Free-State men to resist the execution of laws enacted by the so-called ' ' Legislature ' ' elected by the votes of Missourian invaders. " We have a call out for a mass-meeting here on Wednesday, to unite in open defiance and resistance to the attempt now making to assess and collect taxes under the ' Border Ruffian Laws.' We are a unit. This is the first gentle breeze put in motion in central Kansas towards subjecting us to the yoke. May the earthquake swallow us after the tornado hath blasted us if we submit to this fiendish enactment ! ' ' The Pro-Slavery leaders were striking with a sledge-hammer the cap of a percussion bomb-shell! 64 AN EVENTFUL YEAR They struck, and struck again. When the explosion came those who wielded the hammer were entirely de- stroyed. Kansas was much disturbed throughout this year by incursions of banditti and by camps of Southerners. Some magnanimous and really chivalrous gentlemen allowed themselves to be so influenced by the prevail- ing sentiment of the communities in which they lived that they joined the invading forces and crossed the border with bodies of armed men who were bent on lawless and murderous work. The soil was open to all the world for settlement. No one disputed the right of Southern men to immigrate to Kansas. Only their attempts to rule the elections by arms and violence, or through importation of illegal voters, are to be con- demned. As we have seen, men who were in no sense citizens of Kansas took possession of the polls and elected a legislature which, having no constitutional or legal existence, must have been disowned whatever laws it had passed. It enacted some statutes that were oppressive, others that took away from the citizens of the Territory privileges guaranteed to them by the Con- stitution of the United States. The settlers would tolerate no such tyranny. Their battle for their rights was long, and finally victorious; but much hardship, much injury, they had yet to endure after Mr. Brown wrote those defiant sentences. On June 6, 1856, Osawatomie was sacked at mid- 65 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN day. Much valuable property was carried off. The town was the third in size in Kansas, so rapidly had it grown. The invaders approached Mr. Brown's house. He was sick in bed. Spencer ran to his father 's room with the tidings. Fortunately a few settlers had armed themselves for the defence of their property. Their gleaming guns warned the enemy of danger, and the house of Mr. Brown was left unentered ; but every other house in the neighbourhood was plundered. The stores were robbed. A printing-press, with a copy of the Osawatomie Herald just " set up," was demol- ished. After this raid all was alarm. Men stood guard at night. " Weapons were kept conveniently near the sleeper. ' ' Horses, saddled and bridled, were hitched to doors and windows, for the double purpose of being out of the way of prowling thieves and of standing ready " to be mounted by their owners in case of surprise or attack. Surmises of outrage, reports of invasion, the discharge of musketry, the shouts of threatening men, and the barking and howling of dogs, filled the night with excitement and forebodings of evil. ' ' 66 CHAPTER X LEAVES FROM SPENCER 'S JOURNAL Boys, or young men, soon become habituated to the excitements and dangers of such a life as Spencer and his brother must have led that summer. In the war to subdue the great rebellion (1861-65) it was observed that those whose faces blanched at the first sight of but one man slain in battle would soon walk among thousands of the killed and wounded with ap- parent insensibility. Their feelings were not seared; they were only under control. Soldiers cannot afford to expend emotion and vital force in mourning for every fallen companion. The will represses the feel- ings, or absolutely controls them. To suffer on each occasion as keenly as at first, in sympathy for the wounded or sorrow for the dead, would unfit a man for military service. He must employ the angesthetic pow- er of a strong will. It behooves him, as a soldier, to deny indulgence to thoughts and emotions which just then have no useful office to fulfil. To allow them full exercise would interfere with rigorous performance of the duty of the hour. He does not accustom him- self to the thought of carnage; he simply refuses to 67 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN admit that thought. He cannot afford the wear and tear of its unseasonable obtrusion. My knowledge of these truths comes through experience. No doubt multitudes of soldiers would attest its accuracy. No historian could register events that took place thousands of years ago more calmly than Spencer writes about tragedies that fell under his own eye. Let no one imagine that the boy's sensibilities were blunted; they were only wisely schooled. " Then came the war in Kansas, so well known to every one, ' ' runs the ' ' journal. " "In May the ' Pot- tawatomie Massacre ' took place. The attack on Law- rence, and the sacking of Osawatomie on the 6th of June followed. On the morning of August 30th, Rocky, Brennan, and I were getting breakfast. Father was in Lawrence. Mother and the other children had gone to the East ^ because of the war. Our house was occupied by some young men set for the defence of the town. I was setting the table. Rock was cutting the beefsteak, and Brennan was attending to the fire and coffee, when, hearing a shot and looking out, he hollowed — ' Spencer, the Missourians are coming! ' ' ' I immediately ran to the door, and seeing them I called to Rock. Brennan began to search for his arms, and I, seizing my hat, started for town. My first plan was to go down and look at the safe in Father's office and then go over the river. I ran as fast as I could, » Utica, New York. 68 FROM SPENCER'S JOURNAL and met, or rather overtook, Holmes at the foot of the hill. My desire was to inform the people. The first house I came to was Lake 's. They were eating break- fast. Hearing the news his wife began to cry. I then met Mr. Merritt, who said the enemy were forming on the hill and numbered about two hundred— but I after- ward learned there were nearly four hundred. Find- ing the office locked, I got into the window and saw the safe was all right. Got a rifle belonging to my cousin, W., and hid it in a cornfield. Just then the battle commenced and I jumped upon a pile of logs to see the fight. I did not look long, but soon went to the ' Block-House ' and asked if they wanted a gun. They told me to bring it along, which I did, running as fast as possible, as I had to go very close to the Missourians. When I got back to the ' Block-House ' all the men left it and went down to the woods, and I with them. I separated from them and went to the house of Mr. Sears, who was in the fight. " Finding a horse tied near the house, I brought it and helped his wife to go over the river out of the dangers of the battle. After getting her trunks out, into the bushes, I went back to where they were fight- ing. I mixed freely among the Missourians, talking, until a man named Taggart, who knew me, took me prisoner. I will acknowledge my blood grew cold when he told me to follow him. I did not say anything, however. He took me to a house where they had f our- 6 69 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN teen other prisoners. They afterward took four others, Dutch Charley, Fuller, Reynolds, and Thomas. Soon they began to question me — wanted to know how many Free-State men there were, and if I was ' Old John Brown 's son. ' I told them I did not know how many Free-State men there were— thought about fifty at the most, but doubted if there were as many. They told me that I lied— that there were two hundred and fifty. I said that I was not Captain Brown's son. Then I heard the word given to burn the town, which made a very hot fire. ' ' After that they loaded the wagon with the goods plundered from the houses. One of them ordered me to put the chairs on the wagon, which I did not do, whereupon he came running at me with his bayonet, cursing, and threatening to ' stick ' me if I did not do it. I remember that two of the prisoners had chills, so they asked and got permission to stand on the sunny side of the house. Several of the Missourians were very badly wounded. On their retreat from the town they stopped at our house, which they plundered and then burnt. . . . They attempted to get out the piano, but in the excitement, and the heat of the rap- idly spreading flames, they were compelled to drop it in the doorway. Two partly burnt legs and the iron frame, only, remained to tell the story of its end. Here I noticed one of the wounded enemy shot in the mouth, and another had been shot through the lungs. 70 FROM SPENCER'S JOURNAL The few Free-State men, under the cover of the tim- ber, led by Captain Brown, had an excellent chance to use their Sharpe's rifles upon the enemy, who came down the hill in half -moon shape and closed in upon the boys in their hidden position. "All this time I was without shoes or stock- ings. They allowed me, before the burning, to get from the house some things. I met a man with my violin, which I got from him, but not without some trouble. I found two or three suits of clothes and underwear, as they had just come from the washer- woman, and I got a pair of moccasins. One man gave me my fish-hook and line, another my saddle, which I could not take. I walked out to the road, where I saw a man take our horse. They made me ride her a little way. There was a fire raging in one of the chambers when I first reached home, and soon all was in a blaze. After I had ridden a little way, they put me in a wagon, but I soon gave it up to a sick man for the horse, which I continued to ride the rest of the way — nearly forty miles. I had nothing to eat that day until late in the afternoon, when we stopped and got a little dinner. All this time I had been in charge of a man named John Hancock, from Howard County, Mis- souri. "After that, we left the road and cut across the prairie. Between there and camp, Martin White and his brother overtook us. I heard the old man tell how 71 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN he murdered poor Fred Brown/ whose dead body I saw lying alongside of the road. Poor Fred! His grave is only marked by a plain board. William Gar- rison was murdered at the same time. When we got within four or five miles of the camp, a man came to hurry us up, as General Lane had drawn up his men to fight, near the camp ; so after that we rode at full speed. Once, when very tired, and out of breath by riding so hard, I poked my hat so that it sat lightly on my head, and the wind blew it off; so my guard had to stop and get it, and I got a chance to breathe. When we got close to camp he said I could get off and stop there if I would promise not to run away ; but I pre- ferred to go on. When we got to camp he went out to fight, and I got a piece of bread— which was very tough. That night I slept, or tried to sleep, in a tent with ten or twelve men. * ' I said that Lane had drawn up his men to fight. So when I got to camp all was commotion. The Mis- sourians had formed their men, in number twelve hun- dred, under the command of General McLean, with six cannon to resist two hundred and fifty Free-State men. There was no fighting, however, on account, probably, of each waiting for the other to commence. The Missouri picket-guards were troubled very much by the Free-State men shooting them in the night. ' One of the sons of " Old John Brown." 72 FROM SPENCER'S JOURNAL " The next morning, which was Sunday, August 31st, I was arrested, by daylight, and taken to the tent where the rest of the prisoners were, and put under the charge of twelve armed men, with the observation, * Look out for him : he 's sharp as a thorn ! ' So much of a reputation had I acquired. Seated in a tent, on the ground, trying to keep warm, I had my first op- portunity for reflection. No room to stand up or lie down — nothing to do but to sit, and hardly room for that, my feet soaking wet— for I had nothing but moc- casins on. After the sun had risen a little, the guard marched the prisoners in single file to headquarters. While in the tent we were continually teased by the Missourians with such expressions as ' Abo- litionists! ' and the like. When we were before the officers' tent, Colonel A , of Lexington, came to us, and spoke to me. He said I was very young to be in such a place, and then asked my name. I told him, and he said, ' Spencer, if you will be a good boy and obey your father and mother, and obey the laws, I will let you go home. ' I said nothing. He again repeated it. Still I said nothing. He then took me to the officers' tent and told General McLean to make me out a passport. While he was writing it somebody came and spoke to Colonel A , who then spoke to General McLean, and then came and spoke to me and said there were men who did not like my being set free and were waiting to shoot me when I left camp, 73 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN and that I had better wait and go with him to West Port. " When Colonel A had told me I could go home I turned to the prisoners and asked if they had any word to send home. Those were the last words I had a chance to speak to them, and I was obliged to bear the disappointment as best I could. Then came breakfast, I eating with the ofiScers in their tent, while the rest of the prisoners ate after the negroes, who were slaves belonging to Majors and Russell, the great Western freighters. "After breakfast, while I was sitting in the officers' tent, Joseph A , the colonel's son and member of the Kansas Bogus Legislature, brought a knife-baskest of Mother's, which had two sets of knives in it when taken away from our house, but only one now ; and a music-book belonging to my Aunt Mary Crane. But for some reason I could never bring myself to think much of A , in spite of all he did for me. While we were sitting in the officers ' tent that Sunday morn- ing, one of the officers wanted me to play on the violin, and pressed me to, very much. However, I did not choose to gratify him, because, first, I could not play very well ; besides which I did not feel much like grati- fying him then. However, he excused me himself, by saying that he knew it was Sunday. I am ashamed to say I had totally forgotten that it was Sunday. "After an early dinner the whole camp was in mo- 74 FROM SPENCER'S JOURNAL tion, preparatory to breaking up for Missouri. I was placed in a wagon with a wounded man by the name of Cline, and my business was to support his leg, which was broken in the shin by a Sharpe's rifle-ball. You may be sure that it was no pleasant job. I had to carry a man's wounded leg fifteen miles. I should not like to do it again. On the way, we were followed by Lane, who burned a house near to where the camp was be- fore, at the head of Bull Creek, on the Santa Fe road. The Missourians camped that night on Cedar Creek, which they said was fifteen miles from Bull Creek. They butchered some of John Brown's cattle, and part of them at the other camp. * ' Early the next morning ' Dutch Charley ' ^ was murdered by Coleman, the murderer of Dow. From the first, after being taken prisoner at the battle, at Osawatomie, he felt a conviction that they would kill him. He told one of his fellow-prisoners that he knew Coleman was determined to take his life. It was a cold-blooded and premeditated murder. The officers, especially General McLean, exculpated the savage from any blame in the matter. That morning, while I was sitting in the surgeons' tent (I had been placed in their care) , Doctor K asked me if I would go down with him to his farm and stay with him for twelve months and study either law or medicine. I passed that off, and joked, and made no answer. Some of the surgeons ' Charles Kaiser. 75 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN afterward advised me to go, and said the Doctor was rich and had some pretty daughters. A little while afterward he again made the same offer, and I, remembering the fate of ' Dutch Charley,' and seeing that the Doctor was serious, accepted it, with the con- dition that any time Father wrote for me to come home I should be allowed to go. " That day they broke up camp and moved to In- dian Creek — thirteen miles. Crowds deserted daily, whole companies of one hundred and more leaving at once. Doctor K said he should leave in the morn- ing. That day General McLean said he had an oppor- tunity to send a letter to Lawrence and I could write if I wished, on condition that I should say nothing about their numbers, etc. — which I promised. I am not sure whether it was McLean or A that said this. I wrote the following note, insisting, however, that he should read it, because, if anything should happen, no blame could then be laid to that letter — all of which he thought to be right and proper. ' ' ' Dear Father : I write this to ease your mind of any apprehension you might have on my account. I was taken in town. As I passed by our house I saw it burned, and the piano in it. I was allowed to take what I wanted in the shape of clothing. I am as well treated as I should be under your own care. There is 76 FROM SPENCER'S JOURNAL nothing to fear on my account. Brennan, "Whit,^ and Kock are safe. So is Uncle Charley— and his family. '* ' No more until I write again. " ' Your affectionate son, *' * Spencer.' '"September 2d, 1856.' " Early in the morning Doctor K put my things in the wagon of a man named P . My things consisted of my violin; half of a double harness, ex- cepting the collar ; a music-book belonging to my Aunt Mary Crane ; one set of knives and forks, and basket, of Mother's; and a few clothes. That P totally disgusted me with tobacco and bad whisky before I arrived at West Port. Doctor K , in the meantime, went to Little Santa Fe. When we arrived at West Port, A was making a speech on the subject of Brown's taking McKinney's train. At the conclusion of this speech he named the ninth day of the month for another gathering. " There I was taunted by the boys in the street with ' Yankee! ' and the like. At this time all West Port was apprehending an attack from ' Jim Lane, ' who sent word to the people of West Port and Kansas City that he would come and take breakfast with them some fine morning. ' A cousin of Spencer. 77 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN " This alarmed them very much, and so they set guards and pickets to watch out for the enemy, who was busy in other directions and wished those in West Port and Kansas City to stay at home while he pun- ished Lecompton. * * ' The wicked flee when no man pursueth ! ' * ' Here P had a horse that wanted shoeing, so he took him to the blacksmith's shop, ordering me to follow. When we got there, it being a very warm day, he stood and brushed the flies from the horse, and made me do the same ; which thing will fix my remembrance of him. Doctor K always calls him my friend P . While I sat in the wagon at West Port, I, having no stockings, asked a man to get me a couple of pairs, and gave him the money. I had nearly six dollars. He soon brought me the stockings, and gave me back the money; neither would he take any pay. I afterward learned that it was Lieutenant Bledsoe, of Lexington, Missouri. After remaining some time, P started on for Missouri. On the way he was continually drinking whisky and chewing tobacco, until he became positively disgusting. He would make me drive, and tried to make me sing, * ' When about two miles out, we met Doctor K , and P turned back with him to West Port, of course taking me with him. While there Doctor K , finding my dislike of P so great, offered me a horse to ride with him if I chose, which offer I gladly accept- 78 FROM SPENCER'S JOURNAL ed. So we dragged out an old saddle from the recesses of that wagon and put it on the old white mare called ' Puss, ' and I gladly mounted. That night we stopped about six miles from West Port and sixteen miles from Doctor K 's. In this house (of one of Doctor K 's friends) we had comfortable lodging, I sleep- ing with Doctor K . ' ' In the morning we started in good season. On the way, speaking of the ' Fugitive Slave Law ' I said it was contrary to the Bible. He asserted that I was mis- taken— neither had I the means of proving it to him then. Afterward, while I was in Utica, I wrote, and sent him the following : " * Deuteronomy xxiii. 15, '^ Thou shalt not de- liver unto his master the servant which is escaped from his master unto thee; he shall dwell with thee, even among you, in that place which he shall choose in one of thy gates where it liketh him best; thou shalt not oppress him. ' ' ' ' ' I remember, on the way, coming to a melon field. Doctor K stopped, and dismounting we got all the melons we could eat. We passed through Chapel Hill, where a man wanted me to go into the grocery and provision business with him, I to act in the capacity of clerk— which I declined. Here, at my solicitation, Doctor K bought me a pair of very good shoes. Chapel Hill was but a few miles from his house. " We arrived at Hazel Glen, the Doctor's place, 79 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN about twilight, or dusk, Mrs. K came out to meet him, crying, but I never could find out why. ' ' Of the Doctor, Spencer elsewhere tells us that ' ' He was short in stature and quiet, yet loving his joke and blessed with a keen-thinking mind ; and withal a good lawyer and physician. ' ' With what naivete the boy's comments are put down! Such reflections as he condescends to whisper to his cipher journal give great significance to the words of the sagacious guard—'' Look out for him. He's sharp as a thorn." His silence means more than another boy's speech. How curious and wise was his man- ner of receiving Colonel A 's overtures! " I said nothing. He again repeated it. Still I said nothing." No words could have been as golden as that discreet and strong silence. Of his conduct on the journey, his father tells us that " The little fourteen- year-old captive excited much interest among the bet- ter class of Missourians, and, very naturally, they en- gaged him in conversation, plying him with questions which he disposed of so readily and wisely as to cause them chagrin and mortification; when some of them were rude to him. Afterward he would say to such as wished to talk, ' If I am to talk as a boy you will say, later in the argument, Shut up, boy ! So if you want me to talk it must be as a man.' After this he was better treated." 80 FROM SPENCER'S JOURNAL But wise as the boy was, he could not tell why that lady was in tears. 0 Spencer, if you had returned to your home in safety, after the anxiety and suspense endured by your wife and mother and sister in 1863, you would not have wondered to see tears raining from the eyes of all the women that loved you. Spencer could not comprehend, in 1856, the emo- tions of the devoted wife of a man whose life had been exposed to the risks of battle. 81 CHAPTER XI CAPTIVITY SWEETENED All that I have to impart as to this portion of Spencer's life the reader shall learn as I learned it — from the boy's journal. He is writing now about Doctor K 's home in the country. Hazel Glen was in Lafayette County, Missouri. " The house," the journal tells us, '' was in the midst of a lawn of blue-grass so thick and soft as to feel like feathers under your feet. This lawn was thick with honey-locust and thorn-trees, which had been set out, and with hickory-trees growing wild, with nuts nearly ripe. It seemed like an ideal dreamy home which I have so often wished for. Hazel Glen, I often think of you! How I wandered round the house into the garden, like one in a dream ! Ah ! no one knows the emotions I felt in being led a prisoner to Missouri, and the pleasant surprise of such a charming resting-place and home after the weary days of sus- pense, privation, and loneliness — to say nothing of the insults of the unthinking crowd. But these are no longer thought of —not even that I was a prisoner, car- ried by the destroyer of my home more than a hundred 82 CAPTIVITY SWEETENED miles into a hostile country— for a single glance of a dear girl, whose name fills my heart with a thousand tender memories, more than compensates for all. Dear Mary ! " We sat down to supper alone, the Doctor and I, all the others having had their tea. We were served by two little negro boys, Harry and Oliver, little imps, not only of darkness but of mischief. I also saw two long brushes ^ made of peacock^f eathers hanging against the wall. I certainly ought not to forget to mention the cook, Avina. She was very black and fat, and her flesh fairly quivered all over her when she laughed, which happened neither few times nor far between. Friday, September 7th, Colonel Boone, of West Port, sent the letter I wrote Father from camp, accompanied by the following of his own : "'Me. 0. C. Brown— Sir: " ' I inclose the letter from your son. I saw and conversed with him in camp. He is very well, and is now at Lexington with Colonel 0. A — ■ — , who will take good care of him. I asked the staff to let me have him, but they thought he would be safer from insult there than here. I saw an Indian, to-day, from Paola, who said your other son, perhaps the younger one, was much distressed about you and his brother. I sent him word that his brother was safe and well, and for the » Used in America to keep the flies away from the table. 83 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN citizens to send him to me and I would take good care of him and send him to his mother, or keep him until I had orders from you. As a number of persons, I understand, will leave there next week for the East, it is possible they may bring him in. If so, I will write you immediately, as I am sure you will be uneasy about him. Should he come, I will do all I can to make him happy, and so will my father. Your son saved the likeness of his grandfather, which General Mc- Lean found in the things of one of the soldiers. * ' ' Be pleased to hear from you. ' " ' Respectfully, " 'A. G. Boone.'" I must here break in upon Spencer 's journal to call attention to the expression this letter gives to the spirit of that large class of gentlemen, who, however attached to the horrible institution of slavery, and in some ways perverted by it, were, morally and socially, at the other extreme from that ruffianly element of Southern peo- ple which we have had too much occasion to observe in our review of the history of Kansas. I have myself seen too many Southerners of this noble kind, have re- ceived from them too much kindness, enjoyed too often their generous hospitality, witnessed in too many cases the fruits of Christian faith and charity in their lives, to miss this fitting opportunity to discriminate between them and the vulgar horde which simply carries to 84 CAPTIVITY SWEETENED logical conclusions the false premises on which alone slavery can stand. Those premises lead to contempt for the African ; to denial of his rights, social and polit- ical; to theories which contradict all republican prin- ciples ; and to the lawlessness and violence which have ever been a manifestation of the malice engendered by false adjustments of the races. All over the South there have always been great numbers of men and women whose principles and char- acters were formed under the instruction of the Divine Teacher. If their interpretation of the Scriptures, on points that bore upon the " Peculiar Institution " of their part of the United States, was wrested, to accord with their social and commercial interests, we need not wonder. Illustrations of this kind of juggling with the Bible are not wanting in the history of the Northern States— may be found, also, I presume to suggest, in many pages of the proceedings of the British Parliament, and even in the records of rudi- mentary work of Scotch and English missionary socie- ties. Human nature has in it so much of evil that any institution which denies that "A man's a man, for a' that " (as caste did in India, as slavery did in Amer- ica) , is sure to prove a hot-house for the rapid germina- tion and growth of every noxious seed of selfishness and cruelty. It is a joy to turn from the spectacle of wild beasts and gladiators in Kansas to come face to face with the 7 85 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN gentleman who wrote that letter to Spencer's father, and to allow one's thoughts to share the sweet and simple pleasures of Doctor K 's family at Hazel Glen. The journal includes, next, a copy of a letter writ- ten by the boy to his mother. Part of this I omit. Describing the position of Doctor K 's home, Spencer says it is " in Lafayette County, within fifteen miles of Lexington, on the Missouri River. ' ' He then writes, " As I said before, I have no desire to leave now. Any time I wish, a good horse is at my service, to go anywhere I choose to ride; and Doctor K^ (for that is my host's name) says he would trust me with the best horse he has, to go even to Lexington, This he told a person, a friend of his, who came to see him, and said there would be a fuss made about keeping me, by my father in particular and the rest of the anti- slavery world in general. " You can imagine the rest of my treatment, as I tell you a part. I sit at the table, two out of three meals, to the exclusion of the Doctor's children. I have no lack of employments, as there are plenty of books in the house which I have always wanted but never had the opportunity to read. Besides, when these fail, there is either a shot-gun or a rifle and plenty of ammunition, besides my violin, and plenty of nuts and apples ; and a young lady to court ! This, however, I should not do except as a last resort ! 86 CAPTIVITY SWEETENED ' ' The Doctor has a fine, brick, two-story house, and a large farm of over two thousand acres, worked by about twenty negroes. You must direct your letters to me to the care of Doctor James K , Lexington Missouri. ' ' Rocky and Aunt Mary were not taken prisoners, or harmed. Pa is safe in Lawrence. . . . You must have no thought of coming back to the Territory. I am, at present, as safe as I possibly could be. Give yourself no anxiety about me. Then, ' to wind up de conclusion wid de end, ' ^ read the Third Epistle of John, 13th and 14th verses. I will give you a fuller account of what has happened next time. Write nothing in your letters now that will not bear reading by others. " From your affectionate son, " S. K. B. * ' This letter was published in Buffalo. I received the following from my mother in reply: "'Buffalo, September 18, 1856. ' ' ' My Daeling Child : " ' I received your letter of September 9th. . . . I was very glad to hear from you, as we all were. I am glad to hear you are well, and hope you will be- have with so much propriety that you will secure many ' Negro dialect. 87 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN friends wherever you are. Cornelia is at IMiss Kelly's school, in Utica, and I very much wish you were with me here. Can you not come to Chicago, and, finding your Uncle Horton, at 124 La Salle Street, remain there until you can inform me? Will you tell your friend, the Doctor, that I very much desire this ? " ' I have not heard from Rockwell, and am feeling very anxious about him. " ' We are much amused with your description of the manner of passing your time. You must find some choice books to interest you so much. . . . They all send love to you. If you remain where you are, long, write to me often, and believe me, you are not forgotten. To God I commend you, my dear child. " ' Your Mother.' " Some two weeks after this I wrote another and longer letter home. The first three weeks I passed in reading several select novels— such as 'Rienzi, the Last of the Romans,' * The Last Days of Pompeii,' etc. During the day, I was with Bella K , in the morn- ing, and reading in the afternoon. Occasionally I would play checkers or backgammon with Mollie in the evening. The first three weeks, jMollie, Perry, and two others of the children went to Mr. Taylor 's school —so then I was almost alone in the house. Doctor K gave me permission to use either his rifle or shot-gun ; but, although I travelled through the woods 88 CAPTIVITY SWEETENED a great deal, I never even got a shot. Of course no game. Time passed slowly until, at last, vacation came, and MoUie and Perry were at home and had some company. * ' 'Twas then I became interested in that girl, and began to appreciate her good qualities. The more I think of her the more I love her. When I first en- tered the house, I have said how I felt when Mollie was the first to say, * Do, Ma, send Perry out to ask him to come in; he looks so sad.' " Checkers and backgammon were only an excuse to look at and speak with her. I remember one night I got a ' wish-bone ' and broke it with her, I getting the longest part. When she had gone out of the room, I got up and put it over the door, black ' Vina ' watch- ing me all the time. I soon called Mollie in, and she came, perfectly unconscious of any joke. ' Vina ' be- gan to laugh, and we both began to tease Mollie, and she was much vexed. In a few minutes I went up- stairs and began to read, and she commenced helping * Vina ' to wash dishes. ' Vina ' was joking Mollie, when I heard her suddenly say, ' If he comes down stairs I will box his ears! ' Therewith I was seized with a desire to know whether she would be as good as her word; so I dropped my book and went down- stairs, through the room where they were, and into the kitchen. I stayed there a few minutes, and then opened the door to go into the dining-room, when Mol- 89 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN lie suddenly hit me a slap in the face that fairly blinded me. I did not say a word, but went right up- stairs and then to bed. The next morning she inquired if I was hurt. I thought the more of her for that blow. " We used to go out and gather walnuts simply to talk together. One afternoon we picked evergreens and had great fun in staining each other 's faces and hands. I remember, in a letter, even Mrs. K joked me about it. " The first Sunday I went to ' meeting ' I saw Mary T , and asked to be introduced to her. I was not deceived in my opinion of her at first sight. " Early in October I received my first and only letter from Father, accompanied by a note from Colo- nel A giving his permission to my return home, and asking me to visit him at his place in Lexington. This was the time of the great ' Fair ' in Lexington ; so I put what few things I had into one part of Doctor K 's saddle-bags, and was soon ready. Perry went with me on horseback, and Mollie and Belle in the buggy with Doctor K . It was a raw, cold morn- ing, and horseback riding did not seem very pleasant. When we went, Mrs. K came out to the gate and shook hands with me and kissed me. Why should I blush to say it? Mrs. K was a good woman and one that I could have chosen to be my mother. 90 CAPTIVITY SWEETENED ''And now for my experience at Lexington. The day being raw and cold, we were glad to reach town in the afternoon. Having reached the Fair Grounds, we stopped on the south side, and Doctor K gave Perry and myself some money to get us some dinner. I sat with Mollie most of the afternoon. That evening, the hotel being crowded, Perry and myself took lodg- ings at Colonel A 's. The next morning I went to the Fair again, where I met Mary T and her friend. Miss A . In the evening, at the Colonel 's, Miss Kate played the piano, which so reminded me of home as to sadden my heart. ... I concluded to go up-town and see Mollie. I excused myself and started off, and stopped at "Walton's Hotel, where the K s were. Mrs. K asked me to go with Mollie and Perry to the ' Baptist Tea Party, ' giving six shil- lings to pay our fare and to spend. Everybody went promenading, so I followed suit; spent the evening rather pleasantly, and went to the hotel, where I stayed a little while and talked with Mollie, and went back to Colonel A 's deeper in love than ever. The remembrance of those hours is very pleasant to me now. " The next day, at the Fair, as usual; but spent the afternoon shopping. Bought a penknife and pock- et-book for Mollie. At the hotel again in the evening, with Mollie. Heard some very fine music, the guitar, violin, and piano, together. In the course of the even- 91 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN ing Mollie said they (the K s) were going home the next day. I then presented her with the pocket- book and knife. She said nothing, but her eyes looked thanks. That look was something more than thanks. It was love— glorious, soul-thrilling love. ' ' 'Twas late when I went home that evening. The next day I went to the Fair in a hack with the A s. Sat with Mollie all the morning. Oh! those looks she gave me ! I shall always remember them. I took the pocket-book and wrote words on a piece of paper, which I put in the pocket-book and gave it to her. Can you guess what they were ? ' I love you. ' I told her to read what I had written when she was alone, and think of me. Another look ! She said nothing. " Doctor K left at noon and I said good-bye to all. I kissed my hand to Mollie as we were going out of the gate, and I saw them no more. '* October 5th, that evening, I spent at the hotel with Mary T , and heard some music. The next day I got things to go home, or, rather, to Utica. I spent the afternoon at the hotel with Mary T , who endeared herself to me very much in those few days — as a friend, I mean. At that time she made me a present of a book called ' Young Man 's Sunday Book, ' which I still have. Sunday I went to meeting with Mary. I asked her to write to me and tell me about Mollie, which she promised to do. **At one o'clock that night I went on board the 92 CAPTIVITY SWEETENED William Campbell, a steamer bound for St. Louis. I went to bed on board the boat, kissed the ring that MoUie gave me, and went to sleep. ' ' I arrived in St. Louis in the evening of the four- teenth. I went to Barnum's Hotel, registered my name, took a room, and went to bed. Rose early, . . . and bought a ticket for Chicago by the Illi- nois Central Railroad. Got some breakfast and took a boat for Alton, and reached Chicago late that night. "When within a few miles of town I made the acquaint- ance of a gentleman who kindly, on our arrival, went with me to Uncle Horton's house— otherwise I should have been obliged to go to a hotel. The next day Uncle Crane came. He had been lecturing, out in the country, on Kansas. I was very kindly received here, and made many valuable acquaintances of persons who knew Father and took a deep interest in questions relating to Kansas. In the afternoon I went with my uncles to the * Great Northwest Democratic Rally. ' ^ The spirit of the meeting seemed to be that Democracy and Slavery were twin brothers and Liberty a poor relation. In the evening I went to a Fremont meeting [Republican party] and heard some splendid singing. Heard Senator John P. Hale, Theodore Parker, and others, speak. With them equal rights for all was the great idea. Sunday afternoon I heard Fred Douglas, 1 A meeting of men of the so-called Democratic party, the can- didate of which for the Presidency was James Buchanan. 93 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN the black man, lecture. . . . Sunday evening I started for Utica by the Lake Shore route, arriving early Tuesday morning. ' ' The remainder of this year Spencer passed among friends and relatives in the State of New York. 94 CHAPTER XII MR. BEOWN'S comments ON CONDITIONS IN KANSAS On September 2, 1856, Mr. 0. C. Brown wrote from Lawrence to his mother and sister, who were in Utica, New York, all he had been able to learn about the sack- ing of Osawatomie and the captivity of Spencer. " Our worst fears are being realized. Kansas is the scene of bloody strife. Murder, house-burning, and pillage are the order of the day. Missouri has poured into our border two thousand armed men whose purpose is to starve out Free-State settlers and de- stroy their homes and utterly rout us from the soil. Our people are in arms, fighting as best they can, and fully determined to conquer or die. Indeed no other alternative is left us. It is fight or starve — for adhe- sion to the ' Bogus Laws ' never will be given. Many of our people are prisoners, and some, we have reason to believe, have been cruelly murdered. Several of the fortified posts of the Georgians, who were stealing and murdering, were broken up by our people. . . . Routed from their strongholds, . . . they broke for Missouri, . . . and then, with Atchison and Stringfellow, they make the seventh invasion of this 95 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN fair land in less than two years. . . . Leaven- worth is shut out from us, the United States mails stopped, several of our people are held as prisoners. " Five hundred [of the enemy] go on to Lecomp- ton and are now burning houses and crops of Free- State men about that place. Several were burned last night, others the night before. From West Port twelve ^ hundred march out upon the Santa Fe road, and so down to Osawatomie, and burn and pillage that town, after a heroic resistance by a few noble fellows who killed and wounded thirty-seven of the invaders. Another band of seventy-five go on to Ot- tawa Jones's (an educated Indian, with a white wife) and burn his house, he barely getting away in his night-clothes. Escaping their bullets, he ran four miles to a neighbour's for protection. His wife left the house, with their treasure, five hundred dollars in gold. Of this they robbed her, when she sat down and saw her house burn while the cowards galloped off. Jones is a peaceable man, but has the sin of being Free State. They took a sick man from the house, beat him to death, as they supposed, and threw him into the creek ; but he was found and saved. This party next appeared at Prairie City. ' ' Here some ten or fifteen men routed them, when they joined the main force at Bull Creek. Learning ' Less than four hundred of these went to Osawatomie. See Spencer's journal, p. 50. 96 MR. BROWN'S COMMENTS all this, the Free-State forces, two hundred and fifty- strong, left town at about nine or ten Saturday morn- ing, and, by forced march of thirty-five miles, the cavalry approached the enemy just at dark. Finding them in so large numbers, our cavalry fell back for the infantry to come up. The next day they gave the foe a chance to fight, but he had taken a hasty leave. Get- ting some provisions, the force returned and are now preparing for another branch of the ' chivalry.' If they stand fight there will be a good chance for them to be flogged. * ' Friday. Our forces surround Lecompton, having charged the invaders from near Clark's into the town. When all is ready to whip them the United States troops step in and another treaty is made, and "Wood- son^ gives up fourteen prisoners. . . . "At Osawatomie the ' Ruffians ' took a lad, Spencer Brown, and, it is said, have sent him down the river. Shall not write his mother about it by this mail. . . . I am to-day utterly stripped of everything but the clothes on my back. And not the first dollar ! But I do not despair. God and Free Kansas! My all is burned and stolen but my claim. " 2 To Mrs. Brown he wrote : ■ Pro-Slavery Secretary of Kansas, appointed by President Pierce. * " Claim." The quarter section of lands he had taken, upon which his house had stood. 97 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN ' * My Dear Wife : ' ' Osawatomie is all in ashes. The boys are safe, but our house is burned and the safe broken and robbed. Three Free-State men were killed, and there were three wagon-loads of killed and wounded among the Pro- Slavery men. It was a desperate fight between thirty or forty Free-State men and three hundred Missouri- ans. The whole country is now one scene of fighting, plunder, robbery, and murder. Nearly one thousand Free-State men are in the field and giving the ' Border Ruffians ' fight where they can find them. ... A company of cavalry go down to Osawatomie in the morning, to bring up the families still there. . . . I have been sick, but am better. I have not a dollar in money. I shall stay here now. The United States troops will all be here to-morrow with the prisoners. No man can get out of the Territory now. It is fight or die, with many of us. . . . A nobler set of fel- lows never graced a cause, never were gathered in an army. You see boys of sixteen and men of eighty carrying guns, camping upon the prairie, and living upon melons and green corn, making forced marches by day and night. One hundred and fifty have left this evening to make a forced march to save Topeka. They will, probably, have a fight on the way, as the Lecompton Pro-Slavery forces, five hundred strong, are camped near the road. But they fear nothing— their cause is just, their wrongs unnumbered. But 98 MR. BROWN'S COMMENTS enough ! I am glad you are away from these scenes of strife and blood. I hope to see the boys in a day or two. . . . Love to all. When Hoyt left his friends, just before he was murdered, he remarked (it was in the prospect of a shower), ' The thunder meets my ear.' A sad farewell. "Your Husband," A week later he wrote to his wife, " Yesterday a grand battle was to have been fought. Some six hun- dred ' Border Ruffians ' were encamped four miles out of Lecompton. Our army, with General Lane at its head, marched for them at 8 a.m. They fled, as usual, going to Lecompton, around which place were four hundred United States troops. Our army surrounded the town, cannon were all planted— could have knocked them all to ' kingdom come '—when Wood- son ^ sends up a white flag, gets the troops to interfere. So another ' treaty ' is made. Colonel Cook agrees to disperse the whole invading army, force open the road to Leavenworth, and give up all our prisoners.^ We give nothing. Dayton, Gardner, Doctor Avery, . . . and lots of others, are there, taken at Leaven- worth. At Leavenworth they are driving the Free- State settlers all out, pressing some of the men into their service, and the women are fleeing— to the woods, * Pro-Slarery Secretary of Kansas, under President Pierce. * Free-State men, in the hands of the invaders. LcfC. 99 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN to the fort, and down the river in boats. Several men have been shot this week. One came in at five this morning who was shot twenty miles from here. They supposed him dead ; but he crawled away, and in two nights and two and a half days he found his way here, through the woods. His face was black v/ith powder and his jaw was broken. ' ' The power of the enemy in the Territory is broken for the present. And yet nothing secures us perma- nent peace but to break the power of the Missourians. If the States do not do that, we might as well leave. ' ' West Port is expecting an attack, and will, prob- ably, be demolished before the thing is settled.^ . . . Several hundred more of our friends from the North are expected here in a day or two." . . . It was inexpedient to build again while the country was in the disturbed state described in these letters. As soon as it was possible to get away, Mr. Brown visited the ruins of his home at Osawatomie, found his son Rockwell and took him to Lawrence, and then set out to join his family in the State of New York. Leavenworth was the only point at which it was safe to embark for the East. " The boat bore a sad com- pany." Many " were leaving their earthly all be- hind," and " some had lost near relatives who had 1 After Quantrill's murderous raid on Lawrence, West Port was depopulated, as was all the western border of Missouri for forty miles from the Kansas line. 100 MR. BROWN'S COMMENTS fallen in defence of the cause of freedom." It was the ' ' Silent Passage, ' ' the refugees remaining in their rooms most of the time. " We were in the enemy's country," wrote Mr. Brown, " and dared not speak the name of Kansas. ' ' 101 CHAPTER XIII freedom's rising tide ** The election for President," writes Mr, Bro^vn, " was coming on, and Kansas affairs agitated the country. Buchanan was elected, so the winter was spent in getting recruits to renew the contest." Of his own efforts to enlist the sympathies of Eastern men, and to induce stalwart mechanic^ and workmen of all descriptions to go to Kansas, he gives an interesting account. In the winter of 1856- '57 he delivered lec- tures in Jefferson, Oswego, Oneida, Herkimer, Otsego, and Delaware Counties, in the State of New York. Those who were acquainted with him can imagine the effect of his vivid descriptions, and graphic narratives of events reported in the preceding chapter. In the city of Utica he addressed a large audience in Mechan- ics' Hall, Mr. Henry J. Raymond and other men prom- inent in public life being on the platform. He spoke, also, in Rome, Clyde, and Syracuse. Going to New York city, he made the Astor House his headquarters, and advertised in the Tribune, inviting all persons who were interested in Kansas, or willing to emigrate to that Territory, to call upon him and obtain useful in- 102 FREEDOM'S RISING TIDE formation. He was startled and confounded by the effect of the advertisement. A heterogeneous multi- tude invaded the Astor House and pressed upstairs to Mr. Brown's room. Men of all nationalities, of all occupations and without occupation, professional men, tradesmen, hair-brained adventurers, gentlemen and beggars, men clean and dirty men, strong men and in- valids, came in a surging tide. Mr. Brown found it necessary to fly from his room, lock the door, and ask the clerk of the hotel to adopt some expedient to give him respite. In the spring of 1857 hundreds of persons met him at Buffalo to arrange for removal to the West. Among ** the first out-going boats on the Missouri River," he writes, " about March 1st, I counted seven heavily loaded with emigrants for Kansas. It was a great har- vest for the owners of the boats, and they could afford to be very civil, and were so. As these emigrants en- tered the Territory and were rushing into the different places of destination it seemed that the question was settled. The ' Border Ruffians ' were amazed, alarmed, and for the first time civil. But every calm precedes the storm. " Many a hard battle was yet to be fought. Every election raised questions that involved the people in disputes, and resulted in violence and bloodshed. . . , We were indicted, arrested, charged with treason, fined and imprisoned. These intimidations 103 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN not being enough to drive us out, robbery, burning, and assassination were resorted to, as in former years. Under Governor Medary an 'Amnesty Bill ' had to be hastily passed to save from a general uprising. This bill, I think, under God, was brought about by myself. . . . Governor Walker had tried his hand and failed. He made speeches promising us justice. I heard him at the Miami land sales. He seemed in earnest, and believed, I have no doubt, he could do as he said. He was answered by one of our Osawatomie men. The ' Border Ruffians ' took exception. A gen- eral fight seemed certain, but H. H. Williams, one of our villagers, stood boldly up and said, ' Go on, Charlie. Free speech here! ' He did go on, reciting facts that no doubt surprised the Governor, who made no more public speeches. " Soon after this, he rejected sixteen hundred votes cast by the Missourians at Little Santa Fe. He was recalled by President Buchanan.^ An attempt to en- force the ' Bogus Laws,' " after the Free-State men had an overwhelming majority in the Territory, ' ' was made by a dare-devil Marshal named Fane, recently appointed from Arkansas. The court of trial was sit- ting at Lawrence— also the Legislature, a few members » The Administrations of Presidents Pierce and Buchanan were shamefully subservient to the demands of the slave-holders. A number of just and brave governors of their own appointment these weak Presidents recalled from Kansas to please the South, or appease its wrath. 104 FREEDOM'S RISING TIDE of which were Free-State men. He commenced arrest- ing men at Fort Scott, and moved thence northward, having one hundred United States dragoons to back him. In terror and wrath the fighting element rushed to Osawatomie, determined to make a stand and fight the troops. They came to me and asked me to go to Lawrence, see the Governor, and say to him they would surrender to him, but would not be taken alive by the Marshal. At my request they came to Lawrence and saw the Governor. " The next day the Marshal came into town with wagon-loads of settlers in irons. The populace at- tacked him and the United States troops, hooting, ston- ing, and clubbing them, pulling the soldiers from their horses, and seizing their guns. The Marshal, unhorsed, fled into a drug store in the Eldridge House, and was secreted by some of the citizens, and thus his life was saved. There was a crowd of over one thousand in- furiated men in front of the hotel. Jim Lane, mounted on a box, addressed the mob as only a true patriot, who yet was a demagogue of the first water, could. He was a natural ' stump orator,' and could move and sway the masses at will. He lashed the Government, the officials in power, and the Pro-Slavery party in general. After more than an hour of such harangue he quieted the crowd to a better state of feeling, saying we were there to do away wrong by doing right. " This prepared the way for Governor Medary, who 105 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN now appeared upon the balcony of the second story to address the people. As on a similar occasion when Governor Shannon was there, pistols and guns were raised ; but seeing me by the Governor 's side the men dropped their guns, and listened to his speech re- spectfully. He gave assurances that all in his power would be done to give the people justice. The next day the 'Amnesty Bill ' was promptly passed by the Legislature, and the Governor as promptly signed it. The shackles fell, the prison doors opened, and a gen- eral jubilee followed. Fane was fain to be seen no more. I doubt whether he stopped long enough in Kansas to draw pay for his infamous work. ' ' In the Territory, the tide turned in 1857. From that time the Free-State men were in the ascendency. Early in the spring of that year, Mr. Brown's fam- ily all returned to Osawatomie. Greater numbers of immigrants than ever before poured into Kansas. The people of the North were thoroughly aroused, and de- termined to ' ' hold the fort ' ' for freedom. The towns that had been sacked and burned were rebuilt with better and more enduring structures. But a new, sud- den, and crushing calamity came upon Mr. Brown's home. He tells us about this in a few graphic sentences. ' ' Seeing a fearful storm approaching, I sent Spencer to secure a ferryboat on the Osage. As he made his way back the tornado, now raging, came crashing through the timber, trees falling, meanwhile, before 106 FREEDOM'S RISING TIDE and behind him and across his way, he leaping one in presence of another that was falling in front of him. The limbs of trees were flying in the air as he ran the gauntlet of death. He reached the house in safety. The trees in a heavy forest through which he had passed had all been levelled to the ground in a belt some fifteen rods wide. The roof of the family house was carried away and torrents of rain poured in. " Spencer's personal danger, of which his father speaks, the boy, in his joiirnal, does not even mention. " In June," he says, *' a big storm, a perfect hurri- cane, swept the town, blowing over Father's house, nearly completed on the hill, and demolishing Greer's hotel and store, as well as several other buildings. ' ' 107 CHAPTER XIV LETTERS AND JOURNAJj Spencer's interest in the friends he had made in Missouri did not soon wane. He inserted in his cipher journal letters received from them in the latter part of 1857. Many that had come in the earlier part of the year he burned, before it had occurred to him to sub- mit them to the process which would at the same time preserve and conceal them. The first letter that ap- pears in the journal is one from Mary T : " Fair View, October 9, 1857. *' Dear Spencer: I was much pleased to receive your letter this evening. My long silence was caused by sickness in the family. * ' Mollie K comes up three times a week to take music lessons, and is getting along very well. Belle also takes lessons weekly. A few weeks ago I spent some time in Lexington visting friends and attending our annual Fair. It brought to my mind a little friend that I found there the year before. I said a friend, for I feel that he will long continue to be a fast friend- will he not? 108 LETTERS AND JOURNAL " Belle and her father are the only ones that at- tended from Hazel Glen this year. ' ' Belle and Mrs. K have both been over, and expressed a desire to see you. They send love, ' ' Mrs. K , the wife of the physician and lawyer at whose house Spencer spent such happy days while sup- posed to be in captivity, wrote to him, in December, 1857, expressing great pleasure at receiving a letter from him, and giving him cordial invitation to Hazel Glen, mentioning the winter parties which he might attend with her own children, and declaring that no- body would be more glad to see him than she herself would be. Perhaps the lines that interested Spencer most were these : ' ' MoUie laughed when she read your letter and said she knew the children would tease her about it. ' ' Miss Mary T , daughter of the principal of a school, herself sometimes a teacher, seems to have been a young lady of the type exemplified (without ex- aggeration, let it be said) in tens of thousands of in- stances in the common schools of the United States. Such teachers exert a religious influence over their pupils, and in all their social life, not in order to fulfil conditions imposed by school boards or clerical patrons, but because their hearts are full of faith in God's Word and of love for Christ and the souls he came to save. Of the heart's abundance the lips and the life must speak. Living waters must flow from the clear, gush- 109 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN ing spring. Of the schools under the instruction and influence of such teachers denominational bigots are accustomed to speak in disparagement, sometimes even calling them ' ' Godless, ' ' because no church catechism is taught in them. All the creeds and catechisms in existence cannot faithfully and efficiently convey the Spirit of Christ to the children in our schools if the teacher is not under the control of that Spirit. There is nothing molluscous, indefinite, or flabby, in a re- ligion which accepts, as the divine and only Saviour, him who died for our off^ences, rose for our justifica- tion, and lives and reigns evermore, to reign and live in us, our holy and loving Lord. The teacher who su- premely values this Lord and his salvation is necessa- rily a better teacher of religion than any one can be who is merely a frigid channel for the communication of a frozen formula, however orthodox and even Scrip- tural the creed may be. Spencer 's letters to Miss Mary T had laid open to her a spirit of restless discontent. Answering, she counsels him to " Go to the foot of the Cross. "... " Only there," writes she, " can you be relieved of your burdens : there only can you have that peace of mind you so much desire. ' ' She cautions him, loving- ly, against grieving God's Spirit and hardening his heart. I have said that Spencer's journal was written in characters to which he alone had the key. "What he 110 LETTERS AND JOURNAL recorded there was meant for no eye but his own. Keeping this in mind, we shall feel the simplicity and sacredness of the last entry made that year. "It is Sunday night — the last day of 1857. . . . Yesterday afternoon I read Neighbour Jack- wood. It is a very interesting book. I have also read, within a little while, Love 's Labour Won. Oh ! that I had some one to love ! My heart pants and struggles for love. Oh! if I could love God, love Jesus, then would I be indeed happy ! God help me to love Him first ! " February 9, 1858. I went to singing- school in the evening with K . I am learning to sing by note very well. I have a few favourites from the opera of the Bohemian Girl. " ' I dreamed that I dwelt in marble halls. ' ' ' Ah ! my soul yearns for music. Kitty is now sing- ing me one of my favourites — Alice, Ben Bolt. " Saturday the 17th. The things have come from Lawrence to-day. There is a flutina, flute, and fife (which I have taken a fancy to) , and a flageolet, be- sides the engravings and some books. There is also a fine large set of chessmen. " February 25th was observed as Father's birth- day, and was honoured by a gathering of the old set- tlers. . . . The folks have gone to bed, and left me here, alone, to write. ' ' These words of Moore come to my mind : 111 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN Oft in the stilly night ; Ere slumber's chains have bound me, Fond memory brings the light Of other days around me. *' Saturday morning, about two o'clock, we were visited by a band of serenaders, eight in number, ac- companied by Holbrook, who sang two pieces. Father and K got up and asked them in, and gave them some cake and apples. They stayed about an hour. . . . They played and sang two pieces, one of which was Rosalie the Prairie Flower. They brought a guitar and two violins. . . . * ' Friday, March 15th. I have been very busy to- day, getting saw-logs out of the river. There is danger of losing them. " I have been thinking, to-day, ' Cannot I be a Christian ? ' How long I have wanted to be one ! " March 30th. I answered Mary T 's letter. I have another tune added to my favourites: * Cast thy burden on the Lord. ' " I am trying to go to West Point — ^have great hopes of going. My reasons, as I told them to Mary : (1st) To get straightened up. (2d) The course of study that I can get nowhere else without great ex- pense. (3d) To fit myself for the navy, which I design to enter, if I can. ' ' This is Spencer's first mention of a plan to secure a good education. Many later entries express strong 112 LETTERS AND JOURNAL desire to go to college. It is painful to see how one disappointment after another shut him out from the object of his ambition. Seeking an appointment to the Military Academy of the United States, he had mistaken the way and means to enter the navy. He should have tried to get to the Naval Academy at Annapolis. ' ' I am learning to play very well on my fife. Sold my half share of town stock to Rock for eighty-five dollars and ten per cent interest until paid. Father sold the little bulls for eighty-five dollars. ' ' My verse for to-night is, ' And be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you.' " To Mrs. K he wrote about this time : " As to MoUie, give my respects to her. I shall never hear the last of the teasing on her account, and I believe I will lay it up against her. We are setting out an orchard, Father and myself having put out forty trees. Flow- ers have here ceased to be a rarity. I am afraid the Doctor is forgetting me. I can 't help it. He owes me the last letter. I have my room all alone, where my things can be in confusion without worrying any one. That is very handy, I assure you ! ' ' " April 21st. Rode horseback with Kittie this afternoon. . . . Father went to Missouri to-day. I sent my letter to Mrs. K yesterday. ''April 22d. To-day Cook and myself went to the 113 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN river and found the cow. I put up two new boxes for the martens. They have been here all day. Rode down- town this evening. ''April 24th. Rocky caught his first cat-fish this evening. ' ' Weight, six pounds. " Sunday, April 25th. I had a dream last night — truly a dream. I dreamed that I loved and was loved again. , . . The contrast has made me gloomy this morning. Went after the cow this after- noon. Swam the river with my clothes on. Bad con- sequences. . . . To-night I am cheered with hope. " April 26th. Rather tired this morning. After the cow all day. Got her at last. Worked in the gar- den. Another to my list of favourite tunes — Sweet Alice, Ben Bolt. " To-night I have obtained a picture of Mollie! It is an engraving of a bust of Spring, by Palmer, the Albany sculptor. I never knew how I thought of her before. That picture entranced me ! I could gaze at it for hours together. God bless my dear Mollie ! Oh, Mollie ! My soul literally goes out after you. I long again to see you. How much more, then, do I long to have you tell me how you love me. Oh ! how much do I want your love to cheer me, and steady me in a good and noble purpose ! Hope is left, God keep you, Mollie! Good-night!" Evidently, Spencer was very impressible. His soul 114 LETTERS AND JOURNAL was open to all pleasure and all pain. In his child- hood, his older sister had been his dearest friend and confidant. We have seen that his mild captivity in Missouri had thrown him into the society of a girl whose face, spirit, and character enamoured him. She was the object of this susceptible boy's first warm af- fection. But he was separated from her. Love he must have. She was the moon of his little world, but there were also stars. When the moon was invisible, he did not deny himself the light of lesser luminaries. His youthful fancies were at once so natural and so in- nocent, that his straightforward account of little love passages, and his admiring mention of numerous mai- dens, enlist our sympathies. " May 14, 1858. Kitty and myself down-town at B 's. Had a fine time. Sarah played unusually well. Both of the girls appeared better than usual- Mary in particular. It is strange how much interest I take in that girl ! But I cannot help it. I fairly may say, ' Grod bless her ! ' Kitty played on the melodeon a great deal and very well. . . . Holbrook at home, on our arrival. Stayed some time. Why does not Mary write ? ' ' On May 19th occurred the " Marais des Cygnes Massacre," an event so prominent in the history of Kansas that I wonder to find no mention of it in Spen- cer 's journal. The boy 's wise caution may have warned him to leave it unrecorded, even in his cipher pages. 115 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN His father writes: " Later the ' Marais des Cygnes Massacre, ' under the leadership of the notorious Ham- ilton, occurred, south of Osawatomie. A large com- pany of armed men went from house to house calling out the Free-State settlers to the number of twelve. These they marched out upon the prairie, where they were drawn up in line and shot down. Two not fatally wounded, though feigning death, were found after the ruffians had left. A Baptist clergyman by the name of Reid, one of the survivors, now lives in Osa- watomie. ' ' Spencer 's journal continues : " May 22d. Considerable excitement in town to- day on account of some of Montgomery 's men robbing L. D. Williams of two horses and some four hundred dollars in money. H. H. Williams, the Sheriff, went after them this morning with five men. Yesterday thirty Missourians killed five or six Free-State men. Rumours of parties of Pro-Slavery men around the country reached our ears. The town is preparing for fight, and setting a watch, or guard. We made some little preparations, concealing the guns, etc. ** May 24th. Heard Mr. Adair preach this morn- ing." Here mutilation of a page of the journal has robbed us of the date of an entry. * * I have finished Kane 's Arctic Exploring Expedi- tion. It is very interesting. 116 LETTERS AND JOURNAL " June 9th. "We have been singing, but it does not comfort me— only saddens. Oh ! how I long for love ! A little word, but comprehending how much ! I have one all-absorbing want— love. How much good one of Mary's kind letters would do me to-night! I have a great mind to write and tell her all. Still, I am afraid. If I could only see her ! I hear nothing from my dear MoUie. I wonder if she loves me as I love her. I cannot tell. I can only hope. * * Father is going to Lawrence, to-morrow. '^ Monday, July 5th. The Fourth is celebrated to- day. In the evening, at seven o 'clock, Mary B was married to Mr. T . I was happy to see the wed- ding. Kitty, myself, and Mary C were out riding. Enjoyed ourselves much. " July 14th. Received a letter from Mary T day before yesterday, which I copy. ' ' He does copy it. A sensible letter it is. His fair mentor expresses her satisfaction at the effect of a scolding she had given Spencer, and acknowledges a letter she had lately received from him. "I got your letter out of the office myself," she writes, ' ' and was amused when I saw the three large seals on it. I can assure you it had not been opened. The postmaster said there must be some great secret in it. I am glad to hear you are making yourself useful when you are not going to school. It is right for us to work. God has commanded it. ... I am very 9 117 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN sorry you think you will not be able to visit us in the fall. . . . As to West Point, I think there are many other places where you could get as good an edu- cation and where the influences around you would be far better. I hear that the young men that attend that school are generally very wild. I do think a life on the sea would be the very last. I never knew any who traversed the ocean but such as had the character of being worthless. Do not understand me to say that such a one could not be a Christian, for all things are possible with God. I only have to say that I would regret very much to hear that you were following the seas. There are very good schools in our State, if you are not too strong Free-Soil to patronize them. I sup- pose the Eastern schools are much less expensive — which is something that should be thought of. ' ' After giving, in full, the household news of her father's home and Doctor K 's, Miss T writes : ' ' Mollie has been to see me twice lately. The more I see of her the better I like her. Have you given her up yet ? I think she will be set up as a young lady in about a year. She is larger than I am, now. We are going to have a picnic next Saturday (the third of July) about a mile from here. I anticipate a merry time. Now, do not neglect writing, as I have done. Remember the Golden Rule. ' ' Write freely to me, for your letters are not seen 118 LETTERS AND JOURNAL by any one else. Remember me kindly to your family, and believe me to be, Your true friend, " Mary T . *' P. S. — Spencer, are you ashamed of Christ? You are surprised at the question, but why is it that you wish no one to know that you have a hope in Him? Tell me, do your parents know anything about your feelings'? If you were not ashamed of Christ, you would not be ashamed to profess Him before the world. My prayers daily ascend in your behalf, and I trust you will be found at last at God 's right hand. Would that I could see that you were doing something for His cause ! You are young, and I would love to see that you were fitting yourself for a more useful life than one in the navy. . . . " Remember, He is a Friend more interested in your spiritual welfare than any other. " Mary.'' After her signature, Spencer has written, in his cipher, ' ' Loved name ! ' ' The boy who liked to re- ceive such letters as the one I have just given could not wilfully go far astray. There is reason to believe, how- ever, that his own religious experience and principles, at that time, fell far short of being as satisfactory and fixed as were Mary T 's. The next words in his journal show how he sought comfort and impulse in human love. 119 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN " July 20, 1858. I have worked very hard to-day. . . . I had such a nice dream last night. I dreamed that I was loved. It fairly made me work harder all day ! Still, I wake to a sad reality. ' ' July 30th. Mother went to New York this morn- ing. Mary and W C came down and visited us this afternoon. Was well pleased. W went home in the evening, but Mary stayed over night. C came in the evening, but was very silent. Made a little hay to-day. I worked hard. Rode horseback with Kitty a little while this evening. My verse to- night is, ' Look Thou upon me, and be merciful unto me, as Thou usedst to do unto those that love Thy name.' — (Ps. cxix. 132.) " August 1st. Have done much work to-day, and have been singing this evening. But it was only a sort of show. Oh ! how I long for love and confidence ! I fear I am growing cross and crabbed. And yet I can- not help it. To-night Kitty said, for the third time, she would tell me something, only she feared I would tell. I think I do not deserve this. Now, I long for Kitty 's sympathy and love. Still, I have done all that I could to invite it, and would willingly repay it. I do hope she will not think so of me long ! I do not for- get Mollie. How can I ? She is my main hope. God bless her! " Under the date of August 16th he writes concern- ing one of his sisters and himself : ' ' Nor do I think 120 LETTERS AND JOURNAL either of them would make a suitable husband for her. She should have one who lives by music, as she does ; otherwise I fear she will not be happy. 'Tis the same with me. Music masters me, or makes me uncontrolla- ble. If I ever marry, may I marry a girl who can sing and play ! If I am tired, music rests me ; if I am angry, it tames me in a minute. The Marseillaise Hymn makes me uncontrollable at times. The sweeter the music, the sadder I am. But enough of this, though never enough of music. Mollie— the question is, Can I be happy with her ? I think, yes ; but not so happy as if she had a soul for music. I think I will go and see. But if I go, I cannot resist her silent power over me. " To-morrow will be my birthday, and I shall be sixteen years old. I am glad of this— glad to be grow- ing older, and for this reason: as I grow older I progress toward that time when I shall be my own master, free to go, free to come, and free to love. And love puts me in mind of Mollie. Do I love her ? The point is this— Can I love, to the full extent of my nature, one who has no such love for music as I have ? This is my hesitation about going to Missouri. If I go I shall get yet more deeply in love with Mollie. ' ' No answer yet to either of my letters to Missouri. I am anxious to hear from both of them— from Mary T especially. At times I am sorry I wrote that letter." 121 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN He speaks on the next page of a " band ' ' he had organized. What it was, I can only guess. His fond- ness for music led me at first to think he had got to- gether a number of boys to practise on musical instru- ments; but he wanted strong and mettlesome boys. I infer that the company had some military char- acter. ' ' August 25th. Things are progressing finely as far as my band is concerned. I added one member two or three days ago, and one to-night. There are ten now, and we shall soon have more. Our members are all good strong boys, and I think all are good pluck. I am yet conducting all the business — think of sharing it with Potts, a new and good member. I shall soon have every good, right kind of boy, in town. " Rocky and I have been busy to-day making elderberry wine. We have some two gallons of clear juice, and shall have as much more. ' ' It could not have been long after this time that his father wrote of Spencer as " disapproving both of liquor-drinking and liquor-selling. At a public dis- cussion of the license question, he assumed the nega- tive, and advanced arguments against license that his father, on the side of license, could answer only by reasons of public policy, Spencer took the ground that legislators had no right to license an evil. ' ' ' ' August 28th. Received a letter from Mary yesterday, which was indeed welcome, and I will in- 122 LETTERS AND JOURNAL sert it here. ' ' Of which, however, only a few extracts need be given. " 1 am very glad," writes his corre- spondent, ' ' to hear you speak of visiting your friends here, and hope you will not disappoint us. What time do you expect to come? Come prepared to make a good long visit. ... By the way, when I am married your request shall be gratified ; but, Spencer, I am telling the truth when I say that I think I will never marry. As long as I have a happy home I shall be content. But should I ever change my mind it will be to marry one that I can have all confidence in as a Christian. I think I have given you quite a chapter of my sentiments on the subject of matrimony. " I am glad to hear that you enjoyed the Fourth so much. We celebrated the third with a picnic, and a pleasant little party it was. You would have en- joyed it much, for Mollie was there, looking as sweet as ever. She and I are great friends. I have seen her twice since the reception of your letter. She seems to feel very kindly towards you, and wished to be remem- bered to you. She is loved by all who know her. ' ' The next pages of the diary contain a copy of a later letter from the same good and loved friend. ' ' My Dear Spencer : I this morning received your letter, which gave me a sad pleasure — sad, be- cause of your many troubles. I was pleased because of your confidence in me, and, above all, your confidence 123 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN in a higher Power. I truly sympathize with you, and can only say that God doeth all things well, and often afSicts us to draw us closer to Him. When you feel your angry passion rising, offer up a silent prayer to God that He may keep you continually. There is much I could say, but I think it best to wait until I shall see you, as I hope to, soon. Your situation is a peculiar one. I know not how to advise, but would encourage you to ask directions from your Heavenly Father. He loveth His children, and as they come in faith to Him He will hear and answer. You are often remembered in my prayers, and I hope that you sometimes remem- ber me." Spencer comments upon these letters. " I like to hear and read such letters as those. They show me how good and unselfish some persons can be without know- ing it. Who would have thought that I should find in Missouri a friend who, in God's providence, would be the happy instrument of bringing my soul, as I humbly hope, to Him ? God be with her, and bless her for this, and save me to praise with her a good God to all eternity. ' ' " September 5th. I went to a lecture by a woman, last night. Rather funny, but didn't amount to much. ' ' His reply to Miss Mary T 's letter is dated : 124 LETTERS AND JOURNAL "One Thousand Miles from ant Place, September 2, 1858. ' * Dear Mary : I received your letter last Monday, and it was indeed most welcome. If you only knew how welcome your letters were, and how much good they did me, you would write oftener. " Yours came on the anniversary of the battle of Osawatomie, and of my departure for Missouri as a poor and almost desolate prisoner. 'Twas thus I found what I wanted and needed so much— a friend, and per- haps something else, too. However, we will let all this drop, and I will go to telling you the news. " Since my last letter Father went to New York, on business, and Mother, hearing of her Mother's being ill, went soon after. Now they are both gone, and Kitty does the housekeeping, and I have the care of the farm. I shall come and see you all, probably, as soon as Father comes back. '' I don't know what to make of your chapter on matrimony, but one thing I dislike, exceedingly, and that is . You ought to see the way I stamped when I read that part of your letter. If you were married to him, I would feel like going seventy-five miles farther off instead of so much nearer. But I am apt to say too much on disagreeable subjects, and we will drop this." On September 21st he writes : " Father and Mother 125 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN came to-night. Of course there is a great deal of bustle and hurry. They have brought us all some- thing— to me a pair of gold sleeve-buttons and a piece of the Atlantic telegraph cable. It would be needless for me to say, I am thankful. ' * In looking over some old magazines to-day I saw something bearing on my favourite idea — metempsy- chosis. . . . Last night I had a beautiful dream. I dreamed that I was about to be married— yes, and was on the way to the altar. I remember that I was walking with my intended, and I thought that I was still a boy and she a little girl. Yet I remember how, ever and anon, I caressed her and kissed her. Ah ! would that it were verily so, even now! Oh! how I long for some one on whom to bestow my love ! I feel a mine of it in me. . . . " I heard some sweet singing lately which I must not forget to mention. It was by my new friends, Mrs. L and her daughter Lizzie. ... I am a great friend of Mrs. L , or, rather, I think a great deal of her. Lizzie goes to the same school with me, . . . and I like to look at her, but she is only a little child yet. She is so neat, and gentle, and mild. ... I do not think I like her nearly as well as I do my Mollie. But I should not write so. I do not know whether I shall ever see her again. Still, I will think of her with silent, lasting love. . . . All I can say is, ' God bless her! ' At times when I was with her I could 126 LETTERS AND JOURNAL scarce refrain from easting my arms about her and telling her how much I loved her. ^' October 11th. . . . I still go to school nearly every day. . . . Steadily progressing in geom- etry. Father begins to talk about my teaching school, or some other such nonsense, to get a living, or, in other words, to be earning something. I do not know whether I would like teaching school or not. When I think of the troubles one so young as myself would have to meet, I do think it would be unwise ; but when I think of the advantages I should gain, I still think it possible. '' Still no letter from Missouri, from Mary, Mrs. K , or MoUie. Now that I am writing about this I will say I do not know what to think of myself. When I am with that girl I forget everything. I forget my- self, I follow her around like a baby. I am then a per- fect fool. When I am away, such complete fascination is gone. Even now, I go to school every day. What for ? To look at Lizzie L . Sometimes she smiles, sometimes she frowns, sometimes she tries to stare me out of countenance. Whence comes this power of hers ? All I can think of is that she can sing. Yet why am I such a fool when with MoUie K , who does not sing ? Who knows ? " Now for something else. I play a piece on the accordion, a schottische, which I am almost sure I never heard before. Yet it seems perfectly familiar to 127 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN Kitty and myself. When I think of it, it seems to be connected with grand chandeliers of gaslight, with myriads whirling to the beautiful schottische. Yet I know I never heard that tune in any such place. Metempsychosis ? " October 12th. I have an idea in my head to- night. I will write the life of him whose soul I now have ; or the life of the man whose soul went into me when I was born, and who, consequently, died then. This is my theory. I will believe in the pre-existence of the soul. " Now, to commence with, I will find some person who died on my birthday, August 17, 1842, and then I will set myself to finding out that person's life; but chiefly find some one whose life corresponds with my own, who has uttered those words, beheld those scenes, and done those actions the doing, speaking, and acting of which come over me like a flash of light, so that I seem to have done, spoken, or seen those same things. I will always carry a book and pencil, and write such things whenever they come on me. In the first place, the piece of music I mentioned yesterday — I set this down as fact first, that I have heard that music in such a place or way that it instantly brings to my mind visions of numbers of persons, in a large room brilliantly lighted with chandeliers, all dancing in the whirls of the schottische. Then, hearing words spoken as I know I never heard them, 128 LETTERS AND JOURNAL either as to the words themselves or the manner and set circumstances in which they are spoken. I say, then, if I hear such words, which I know I have never heard spoken in such a way, yet find them familiar to me, then will I put that down as material to work on. Next, as I see a place, or a picture, or anything which I know I have never seen before, and which, yet, is familiar to me, I will set it down. Or as I am placed in any situation or circumstances which cause the flash which always comes (seeming like a sudden increase of knowledge), I will set it down. The first instance that I can remember now was when I first saw Adele, at Kansas City, dressed in sailor-boy's clothes. ... " October 16th. I was at Mrs. L 's day before yesterday evening, and we sang about an hour and a half. Their singing always pleased me much. We have arranged to sing regularly, once a week— this week, on Tuesday. '' October 17th. Yesterday was the anniversary of the day that Father first came to Osawatomie, with others, who celebrate it regularly. " Sunday, November 28th. Yesterday I received a letter from Mary T , dated November 23d." Part of the letter I copy from Spencer's journal. " Last week we had protracted meetings. . . . Nine persons connected themselves with the church, among whom was our dear Mollie. Oh ! how happy I 129 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN was to see her come forward and proclaim herself to be on the Lord's side! ... I have promised to go to the Doctor 's this evening, and shall have to put this up till I come back. You say your sister Kitty wishes to know what I look like. I am afraid to describe my- self; she might be disappointed if she ever saw me. But she need not be afraid of my being sister to her, as I am in my twenty-third year— though I have several brothers, and will give her a choice ! She can have Gussie, if he doesn't cut you out of Mollie. Give her my love, and tell her I would very much like to see her. . . . I have been at the Doctor's and enjoyed my- self while there, as I always do. He has a teacher in his family whom I like very much — Miss G S , from Cape Girardeau. . . . Mrs. K has an- other little daughter." Answering this letter, Spencer writes : ' ' And Mol- lie is now a Christian. Aside from the interest which I feel in her personally, I can rejoice at the conversion of one sinner — much more at hers. I cannot say all I think about this, Mary; but do not imagine, on that account, that I think the less. ... I am hoping that God will not reject me from among His children- hoping, and trusting in Jesus. God bless you for your instrumentality in this, Mary ; and may you never lack that grace which you so much desire others to have. " There are incomprehensible things in the last part of your letter which I would like you to explain. 130 LETTERS AND JOURNAL You say, ' She need not be afraid of my ever being sis- ter to her. ' The other thing is that which you are all the time writing about— Gussie cutting me out— which I do not understand. Do you want to plague me, or what ? Perhaps it is really so. If so, tell me, without jesting. About Mrs. K 's little daughter — I want you to tell her for me that I should like to name it, and that I would like to have it called Elizabeth.^ I know I ask a great favour, but perhaps she won't object to the name. ' ' To those who remember the destruction of the former instrument, one item of Spencer's letter will be not without interest. " I forgot to inform you, our piano is come. ' ' On December 23d Spencer received a letter from Mrs. K , It gives evidence of the kind and friend- ly regard for him which that lady and her husband seem constantly to have cherished. ** The Doctor," writes she, "is in bad health. He speaks often of you, and of writing to you. I want you to write to him, for he is quite dejected in spirits. You recollect A K .2 He was returning home from Lexing- ton. Night overtook him, it was snowing, and quite stormy, and he lost his way, and lay out all night. When he was found next day he was cold and stiff. . . . A little life remained in him for two days, > Mrs. K 's own name. = The Doctor's brother. 1.31 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN but he was never conscious of anything. He has left us to mourn his loss. Oh ! you don 't know what a shock it was and how sad we all feel. It looks as if the Doctor would never recover from the shock. ... I hope you will come and see us soon. I would be so happy to see you again. . . . Perry will be home to spend Christmas. He is going to school to Rev. Mr. Clarke, of Saline County. The Doctor has employed a lady to come and teach the children. She has been here eight weeks. She gives lessons on the piano, also. Mary and Bettie are taking lessons. . . . We have a Bible class established in our church. Mr. Coulter still preaches for us. ' * There has been a small revival among the blacks. Ten have joined our church lately. The Doctor in- structs them, every other Sabbath, at home. ' ' I hope you will write often and not wait for me. If I fail to write, you may know there is something the matter. In me you will always find a true friend. Mollie is quite large. She weighs one hundred and eight pounds. The Doctor 's only sister is staying with us for a short time. . . . Come and spend Christ- mas with us. Also, your sister might come, and see how she likes our country and people. . . . There is snow on the ground now, and it is good sleighing. You must write to me often, and write long letters. All join in love to you. Your affectionate friend, " Lizzie K ." 132 LETTERS AND JOURNAL Before the end of the year Spencer had received from Miss Mary T tidings that made his heart sink. There were reasons to believe that, while Mollie had very kind and friendly regard for him, she did not understand or reciprocate the ardency of his affec- tion. She was about to enter society as a young lady : she remembered him as but a boy, Mary T dared not encourage him to an assurance that circumstances did not justify. 10 133 CHAPTER XV JOURNAL, FOR 1859 " To-day is January 1st. . . . Christmas passed with very little notice. Hard times press hard on Father. " There was a large ball at Mr, C 's last night. I stayed until five this morning, and consequently came home not very wide-awake, or lively. " Miss R was there. She was, in my opinion, the best-looking person in the room, and, I suppose, was the belle of the ball, with one exception.^ I had never before met a person whose looks I admired so much. All that long night it was my best pleasure to look at her. " I do not know what I think about Lizzie. She is not in my thoughts as much as she was. When I love a person it cannot last long with me if not returned. When I found that she liked Will better than myself it caused me many troubles, for some days, to be re- conciled. Still, I always take pleasure in being near her, and in receiving a kind word from her. I am » His sister Kitty. 134 JOURNAL FOR 1859 sometimes sorry that I ever thought so much of her. Yet, perhaps it was better so. * * I came very near going to Missouri a day or two before Christmas. Nothing but high water prevented me. I was much disappointed. I would be much pleased to see my two Mollies. ' ' On the next page of the journal he inserts a copy of his answer to Mrs. K 's letter, which was given in his journal for December 23d. It speaks volumes as to his confidence in that kind lady 's friendship for him, and her youthfulness of heart. He had suffered pangs of jealousy on Gussie's account. Should he suffer alone? Not he! The boyish audacity of the letter almost takes one's breath away! ** Dear Friend: I received your welcome letter some time since, and, in answer to your kind request, came very near visiting you. Nothing but the Osage being so high as to prevent crossing kept me from coming. " You said nothing about when Belle was to be married, and to whom. . . . You may tell MoUie that I wish she could find something to write, once, or twice, or more frequently, in the course of the year ; and, if she cannot find anything else to write, to tell me about Gussie. I think I should be very especially pleased to hear more about him, and I guess she can tell as well as anybody. 135 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN ' ' There is a girl here with whom I am hard struck, and who certainly does beat all the girls I ever did see. She isn't so much of a beauty (although she has hazel eyes and brown hair), but then she's such a bouncing fat girl— just my ideal of beauty. But tell Mollie that, as I never kissed her (I should like to try the ex- periment), I cannot tell how good it would be; but when I kissed this girl (none of your hastily snatched picnic kisses!) it was almost the nicest feeling I ever did have ! She used to think a great deal of me, but thought, lately, that she would plague me; so she pretended to think so much of some one else, and to hate me so much, and even went so far as to call me ' Mr.,' which, I assure you, is a very disagreeable title, especially when one has such a nice name of his own. However, she doesn 't succeed in plaguing me much. In fact, I get along better at that game than she does. Oh ! she is such a nice ' gal ! ' And such a splendid singer ! But I must stop. I am always carried away with this subject. But, as I was saying before, I wish Mollie would write soon. " I am going to school now, and studying as hard as I can. ... I inclose this letter to Mollie. Give my love to all, in general, and to Mollie, in particular, and remember me as, * * Ever your friend, " Spencer K. Brown." 136 JOURNAL FOR 1859 On January 20th, his journal records, *' Father, Kitty, and myself started for Lawrence. Passed through Stanton and Peoria, and when we got to Wolf Creek it was too high to be forded. Stopped on the banks about an hour. This gave us an opportunity to get something to eat, which we needed, as we were very hungry. Forded the creek and came on to Ottawa Creek, where the water was so high we could not cross. We all went over on a log. The stage-driver stopped on this side over night. Peterson, who had started on foot the day before, overtook us here. We stopped at Heck's over night, getting a very good sup- per and breakfast. The stage came over, on the bridge, early, and we started again for Lawrence. Passed through Prairie City, over the Wakarusa bridge, and through about two miles of an awful slough called the ' Wakarusa Bottom.' Stopped at Mr, Reynolds's place, when he took the reins and drove us on, slowly enough, towards Law- rence. Arrived, almost frozen, about two o 'clock, and stopped at the Eldridge House, a splendid hotel that would do credit to any place. I could not give a com- plete description of all that passed there, even if I should try ; but that visit will probably have an effect on me for life. The preparatory course of the uni- versity commences either in May or April, and Mr. Reynolds, the rector of the Episcopal church there, gave me a scholarship for the entire course, 137 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN and I shall commence that which I have wanted so long. ' * There were many pleasant things connected with my visit to Lawrence which I shall always remember. Many friends made, many pleasant games of chess, and — what I needed most of all — an intercourse with the world. I must not forget Colonel E 's daugh- ters, J and A ; nor must I forget my friend Hattersheidt (I believe I have spelt his name correctly) a good-hearted German — a traveller. However, that is all over now. ' Home again.' " To a letter in which Miss Mary T had ex- plained that " Gussy " did really think a good deal of Mollie K , who, however, did not seem ' ' to care particularly for any one," Spencer replied: * ' Dear Mary : Some days ago I received your let- ter, which I think was only an apology for a letter, and ... a long time in coming. ... I will not say I was not glad to get it, for I am always glad to hear from you, and you explained some matters very- much to my satisfaction. However, do not let this keep you from writing sooner, next time, and a much longer letter. I expect you will have to address your next letter to Lawrence, as I am going there to college, which opens on the 22d of April. The Episcopalian minister there presented me with a scholarship for the entire course, for which he has my thanks. I will send 138 JOURNAL FOR 1859 you a circular, which you will be good enough to let Mr. K see ; and let him know, for me, that I should like very much to see Perry there to graduate with me — that he can commence with me the studies of the second year of the preparatory department. You can- not tell how pleased I am with the prospect before me —something that I had long hoped for but not ex- pected. ' ' But, to return to your letter, . . . since you tell me that Mollie does not care particularly for any one, I am without any loadstone in the shape of a little girl. Still, I do not love her the less for not loving me. Do you think she has outgrown me? Try my height (five feet five inches) on the wall, and see if I am not three inches taller than I was when I was last there." Spencer had now come to a very trying period of his life. Young as he was, he had begun to feel that mind and heart were unsatisfied. He had literary tastes which he could not gratify. He had read enough to feel keenly his ignorance of many things that he wanted to know. He had caught a glimpse of an Eden in which the fruit of the tree of knowledge was good, accessible, and unforbidden. He might pluck and eat, if not to his soul's satisfaction, yet to its content. As he was about to enter this paradise, the door closed and shut him out. The misfortunes which had overtaken his father 139 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN had left him in circumstances which seemed to make it absolutely impossible to spare Spencer the means to go to college. The next extract from the journal refers to this overwhelming disappointment. " Father, who has been, for some time, trying to dishearten me, has decided that he cannot pay board, and I cannot go to college, as there cannot be found some place where I can earn my board outside of school hours. I have hardly any more hope of going. It seems as if I had to drag out a weary life of dead work until twenty-one, and then come out on the world, penniless and ignorant, to live for nothing but to drag through. I cannot write how I feel at this pros- pect." In May he made a new acquaintance. ' ' This morn- ing I was introduced to Mr. N. L. P , son of the sculptor P .1 I was very much pleased with him. He is a short man, about five feet six, with a large and very round head and a full sandy beard, and always wears spectacles. I never saw a more pleasant man's face to look into. It sends a thrill of pleasure through me when he looks me in the eyes. I played chess with him to-day. About an even matter. He will write to me from Leavenworth. * ' Mr. Leonard and Mr. Ewing were here this even- ing; also Mr. "Ward, of New York. Horace Greeley, of New York, spoke yesterday. I was well pleased. ' Powers, famous as the creator of The Greek Slave. 140 JOURNAL FOR 1859 * ' I have been shooting revolver with P to-day. He is much the best shot. ' ' Chess is mentioned, more than once, in Spencer's journal. In that game he excelled. While he was in Lawrence, with his father, he became ' ' the wonder of the public men assembled there, by his superiority in this recreation. He easily mastered legislators, law- yers, and judges, and seldom met any person who was his equal. ' ' On May 26, 1859, Spencer began to write his journal in characters different from those in which he kept it before. " On account of my having found a person who was able to read my cipher, I have adopted another, which I think is more difficult. I like the old feeling of security too well to write my thoughts in any other way. ' ' " June. I have been waiting to go to Missouri. . . . But Father has put it off from time to time, until, the other day, he proposed that I wait un- til September. I agreed to wait until the 30th of August, provided he would certainly let me go then." Urged by Spencer so to do. Miss Mary T at last wrote very clearly to him as to the nature of Mollie K 's regard for him. " I appreciate your friendship, your regard for me, very highly, and will now talk to you more freely, . . . about Mollie. 141 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN In the first place I thought it was a child's love you had for each other, that would soon be forgotten by you both. But time showed me that on your side it was different, and I thought it not right to encourage you to hope when I did not think she loved you more that as a friend. . . . Mollie is young yet, and I think has not truly loved any one. Her Pa discourages any thought of the kind, and wants to send her to school several years yet." As the hope of winning Mollie 's love diminished, memories of the friend whose kindness won Spencer's affection at Charlottesville revived in strength. " July 26th. Last Sunday I wrote two letters to Mr. Britton ^— one to Newark, New Jersey, and the other to Louisville, Kentucky, simply asking him to write to me and give me his address." On July 26th he wrote to Miss Mary T : " Kitty is going to Kansas City. We shall miss her very much. I think / shall as much as any. The piano goes too. As I have been trying to learn, I shall miss that also. " Father has secured awards to the amount of $6,111 for property lost in 1856, and will, probably, be awarded some $8,000 more. Our troubles here in Kansas have left us comparatively poor. Father has refused to sell his farm. ... I regret losing ' I question Spencer's spelling of this name. Several branches of a family found in the United States spell their name Britiain. 142 JOURNAL FOR 1859 the best part of my life out of school, but there is no help for this. ' ' I feel more than ever alone since I received your letter, although I might have known that even did MoUie love me once she would have forgotten in so long a time, ... I know not how she may look or think now, but when I was there she was all to me. ' ' During this summer Spencer tried hard to find suitable employment in Kansas City, St, Louis, or Utica, but the applicants for such work as he could do were too numerous in each of these places to allow him any chance. On September 19th he records the failure of his endeavours, and closes with this sentence : ' ' No news yet from Mr. Britton. ' ' On October 5th he writes : ' * Grandpapa and Kitty came this evening. K going back, Tuesday. Grandpapa will stay some time longer, I expect. He has set my mind at ease on some things that I did not understand before. " Rock and I are working-up sugar-cane on shares, but it is not paying very well. ** October 10th. Grandpapa is still with us and last night he proceeded to give us a great many desira- ble remarks. ' ' I feel very lonely. The old feeling comes on me after a hard day's work, as I have no one to turn to. If I could only see Mr. Britton again, it seems I could be happy. I cannot see my friends in Missouri, Father declaring it to be impossible to obtain the money. 143 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN " October 16th. I have read Bulwer's Eugene Aram. It is a fine novel— especially the part of Aram. ' ' In November he renewed his correspondence with Miss Mary T , and the letters that passed between the two tell a sweet story of the boy's trust in the friendship and wisdom of that young lady, I do not know whether she is living on earth or has gone to heaven, or whether she ever heard of Spencer's later history and tragic death ; but I earnestly hope she sur- vives, to read these records, and learn from them that her loving interest in him is gratefully remembered by his friends. 144 CHAPTER XYI SPENCER REVISITS MISSOURI *' To-day is the 28th of February, [1860] and is Tuesday," wrote Spencer, '' and on Thursday I go to Missouri, to Doctor K 's folks. I have had a letter from Doctor K which I have answered. " March 15th. I got home, last night, from Mis- souri, and will try to write here a short account of my trip and its consequences. " I arrived at the Doctor's about four in the after- noon, and found him very busy with a fire in his fence. After helping him about an hour, I went into the house and saw the rest. Mrs. K was still the same. In a few minutes Mollie came in from school — seven miles away. I should not have known her. She was between three and four inches taller than when I left and pro- portionately larger. Her face is deeply marked with two dimples near the mouth ; the face round oval, eyes blue, cheeks red, hair dark brown— almost black. Hands and feet medium size, if not large. She wore a sun-bonnet and a long riding-skirt. She held out her hand and said * Spencer. ' I took her hand. There was no shake, hardly a clasp, and I said nothing. ' ' 145 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN Concerning this meeting with the young lady in whom, four years earlier, and ever since that time, Spencer had felt such deep interest, he wrote to his sister Kitty : ' * Last of all came Mary. Grown ? . . . A very little taller than yourself! . . . She held out her hand. There wasn't much shaking done. Curious, wasn't it? Without many words she started for the upper regions, shoes creaking, and riding-skirt trailing. Heavy steps above— then light ones. Change of shoes, probably. Silence. Active use of brush and comb is the inference. Reappear- ance. Different dress, smooth hair, lighter shoes, be- sides having shed the sun-bonnet, riding-skirt, and shawl. Good-sized hoops — not large. Hair combed smooth back over the ears, and large knot behind. Came and sat down near the fireplace, very straight. Says ' Yes, ma'am,' and ' No, sir,' to father and mother. ' ' Elsewhere Spencer tells us how common the use of the sun-bonnet was among the girls of Missouri, as they rode through the country to church or school. The pretty face was hidden, far back in the bonnet, as a train in a tunnel, if the wearer did but slightly turn her head from the observer. * ' You could not see their faces," he shrewdly remarks, " unless they choose to let you." " Next day," continues his journal, " we went over to see Belle " — Mollie's sister, who had been married since Spencer had last seen her. 146 SPENCER REVISITS MISSOURI On Sunday, at church, he met his good correspond- ent, Miss Mary T . . " Monday. The boys and Mollie went back to school. The house seems very lonely. To-day Mrs. K and myself visited Mary T . I only saw her alone for a few minutes. She said I had better drop all thoughts of Mollie, if I could. She did not know that Mollie thought a great deal of any one in particular, but, if any one, a certain Johnnie P . At any rate Mollie and his sister were intimate friends. I simply said that as long as there was any room I would hope. Tuesday, Belle had a daughter born. Doctor and Mrs. K away all day. "Wednesday Mary T stopped in at the Doctor's. Played, as she also did at her own house. I walked part way home with her, and bade her good-bye, as I expected to go home in the morning. I also told her that I was going to learn my fate in the evening, if possible. I went home. Mollie rode up, shortly after. In the evening, after she had played some time, I asked her if she remembered that first letter I sent her. She said * Yes. ' I apologized for the awkward manner in which she had received it.^ Said that I had no inten- tion of concealing the matter from her parents ; that I had told her mother so the day before. I asked her if she loved me. No answer. Would she not give me hope ? No answer — and we left the parlour. She did > He had written to Mary T at the same time, I believe, and accidentally inclosed Mollie's letter in the wrong enrelope. 147 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN not go back to school next day. Eyes were so sore that she could not study. * ' As she objected to going herself, knowing that I was going to stay longer, I argued favourably. She went back to school Friday morning, and came home again at night. Saturday evening I asked her how I was to know if she loved me, as I could not judge by her actions, and she would not tell me. Wednesday, Mrs. K had given me a book and a ring, making me promise not to tell who gave it to me; but I bought a dispensation to tell Mollie, as she had an idea that Mary T gave it to me. ' ' The same day Mary T told me that she had shown my last letter to Mollie. " Sunday, rode to meeting together. Saw John P , also Miss P . " How did I like Mr. P ? was her question as we rode off together. " I said I was disappointed. " How was I disappointed? " I hardly knew. I couldn't say how — only that I was disappointed. ' ' I said I thought he was self -conceited. " I was the only person that ever said he was conceited, she replied. ' ' It shows itself in ways not easily noticed, that I could see, having been conceited in those ways before, myself. 148 SPENCER REVISITS MISSOURI '' At any rate, hadn't he the smallest hands and feet that I ever saw a man have? ' ' I said that I had not noticed his hands, but that his feet, like those of all men who always wear tight boots, took up more room perpendicularly than hori- zontally— ^words that I was ashamed of the minute I said them. I could not help glancing at my own heavy cow-hide boots, two sizes larger than my feet. I thought that perhaps she admired that which she had not herself. '' Well, how did I like Miss Ewie? " ' I did not see her to know her,' I said; ' did she have on a red dress? ' " * Yes.' '' ' With black spots? ' " ' Yes.' " ' She looked pretty fat,' I said. * We call the colour of her dress " Devil's mourning." ' " ' You'd better hush,' she said, half laughing. '' I laughed, and said, * I beg your pardon, but you asked me ' — and we dismounted. ' ' Her mother had gone over to Belle 's, and I asked MoUie to take a walk. On a second invitation she con- sented ; but two of the young ones went with us, and I could say nothing. ' ' The next day she went to school. I, determined on ' Yes ' or ' No, ' went with her. It was so cold and windy that I said nothing on the road, and we went 11 149 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN into school together. I was introduced to Miss Jennie H by Mollie, and seated myself. I had ample time for a little look around me, and my observations were these: The school consisted of about fifty scholars. The school-room was a log-house divided into two rooms, one of them warmed by a large fire-place, the other by a coal stove. In the other room was a piano, and I could hear some one practising. Several classes were called up, until finally Miss Jennie said she was sorry it was not Friday, as there would be more then to interest me, and asked me if I was fond of music. Forthwith the door into the other room was opened, showing the piano moved into the middle of the room. Several of the young ladies played, and among them Miss Evvie P . Then came recess, during which I asked Miss Jennie herself to play. She played two or three times, and ended by urging me to play or sing. I said I knew but one tune and I would sing that — and I sang, 'I am not myself, at all.' " From the effect I had a right to feel flattered. At noon Miss Jennie asked Mollie to show me up to dinner. As we sat in the parlour ^ alone, before dinner, I felt that it might be my last chance, but I could not speak. On the way back to the school-house, almost > The boarding and lodging department was in a separate house from that in which was the school-room. 150 SPENCER REVISITS MISSOURI there, I said, ' I shall not see you again for years, Mol- lie; will you say " Yes " or " No '"? ' " ' No ' — quietly, firmly, and with no trembling in the voice. ' ' We walked on three or four steps. " ' Give my compliments to Miss Jennie,' I said, * and ask her to excuse me. ' ' ' ' Good-bye, ' I said, and held out my hand. " She gave hers with a steady clasp, and said, 'Good-bye.' ' ' I bent over to kiss her hand, but she put it down, with a strong effort, but I bent still lower and touched it, with my face almost to the ground. " ' I touched it! ' I said wildly, exultingly, yet not knowing what I said or why I said it. " I record these facts without any departure from truth, though they are to my shame, my sorrow, and to my great pain, and I would willingly omit them. " I got upon the mule, and I have not seen Mollie since. " ' No.' There was no pain then. Though I had long expected it, it came like a stunning blow. My mind was numb — frozen — ^to feel too soon the pain of thawing out. " ' No.' She whom I had loved above all others, above father and mother, she had said ' No.' ' * Oh ! that she may never feel the loneliness that I felt then. I, that had said I would hope while I had 151 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN life, I had lost hope. This was, this is my visit to Mis- souri. Farewell, sweet memories of departed days! " Home again to feel the dull pain grow sharp. Home again, now doubt, now despondency, then hope, bright hope ! May our Father grant that if I am to go through the world poor, sick, despised, forsaken, at least I may have a friend. ' ' 152 CHAPTER XVII DROUGHT IN KANSAS '* May God make me humble and contented with His will," wrote Spencer, soon after his return from Missouri. *' I wrote to Mrs. K on Monday," he records on May 11th. ' ' For about a month back I have been amusing myself by writing stories. They are sources of real pleasure to me, and perhaps it is better than writing bad feelings in this journal." As to these literary recreations of his son, Mr. 0. C. Brown told me that the lad wrote at a table or desk in the same room in which Mr. Brown slept. ' ' Often I would awake about midnight to find Spencer still writing. I would say to him, ' Come, Spencer, it is time to stop that and go to bed. ' He would put away his papers without a word, and get ready for bed. This happened over and over again." Many frag- ments and some complete stories that he wrote at that time are extant. Whatever may be their defects or blemishes, they are all interesting, and all pure as snow. The plot is usually strong and well- wrought." But little more remains of Spencer's journal 153 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN written in Kansas. His close and intelligent observa- tion of the love affairs of a young lady whom he fre- quently met will amuse her fair sisters who read the entertaining comments, ' ' R has given her a splendid gold ring and a guitar, and sends her ' goodies ' almost every day. They go out riding two or three times a week. She is all the time receiving presents, not all of them from R . He sent her a dozen or more oranges last night. Besides, she received a large packet of maga- zines and papers from some one else." The next extract is very pleasing. His mother and his eldest and youngest sisters were away from home, visiting friends in the State of New York. A bache- lor 's hall is not at any time a paradise. To a boy who is not well, a motherless home is most depressing. Spencer writes: "I have been very sick. . . . Day before yesterday I went over to Aunt Mary's in the afternoon, and stayed all the next day until night. I had a very good time at my aunt 's, and we had talk such as we never had before. I was more than usually disgusted with the life we are leading, and spoke very plainly to her about it. I have always had a restraint about going to see my aunt, I think because I love her so much that I don't like to make her trouble. I made some light remarks—' She would like to get rid of me before the afternoon was out. ' " This, in connection with one or two others, she 154 DROUGHT IN KANSAS answered in this wise : ' I don't like to have you sulk so. I love to have you come and see me, and it isn't any trouble at all to auntie.' ' ' * I believe you, ' I said, and going across the room to her I kissed her face, held up for me. I have loved my aunt, for a little while lately, better than any other of my relations. ' ' I have not attempted to give, side by side with Spencer 's journal, the contemporary history of Kansas from 1856 to 1860. It is enough to say that private and partisan zeal and malice were busy, staining the map of the Territory with blood and charring it with incendiary fires. The boy wisely refrained from writing about these things, even in cipher. Moreover, he was used to them. They were too common to merit mention unless they touched his own town or people. He only wrote about that which, on account of its per- sonal or relative bearing, was engrossing his thoughts at the time. The drought of 1860, disappointing all hopes of in- come from sales of crops, involved Mr. Brown's family in distresses that finally dispersed the different mem- bers of it. He gives some idea of the condition of things at Osawatomie, and throughout Kansas, in a letter written on July 16th. *' Cornelia left us, in company of Uncle Ed and his wife, one week ago, for Utica, by way of Leaven- worth, St. Joe, Chicago, and Buffalo. We all leave 155 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN Osawatomie for somewhere, soon. We have not had six hours of good rain in ten months. Winter and spring wheat will yield less than the seed. Vegetables there are none. Some corn ^ may seed. The heat is 114° in the shade (Fahrenheit), the simoom drying and crisp- ing vegetation in an hour. The springs and streams are all dry; but, thank God, we have plenty of good water from wells, in town. I have nothing in my gar- den but a few small onions. Early corn, potatoes, peas, and everything else, blasted, dried up. There can be no hay cut, as my hill will burn like tinder. Money there is none. The biggest oxen in Kansas, worth formerly one hundred and forty dollars, now find no buyers at fifty to sixty dollars. I have a wagon and oxen. Shall ' roll out,' and, with the boys, get work where we can get something to eat. Sha'n't leave under four to six weeks. All well as usual. My own health, as usual, bad." A circular issued early in 1861 to the citizens of Oneida County, New York, more fully exhibits the pitiable plight to which the inhabitants of Kansas had come in consequence of the drought. " At a meeting of ward committees, appointed by the citizens of Utica, to solicit relief for the starving and destitute people of Kansas, the undersigned were requested to issue a circular to you. > Corn^ in the United States, means only Indian corn, or maize. 156 DROUGHT IN KANSAS ' ' We believe a knowledge of facts is alone wanting to induce you to contribute of your abundance to re- lieve the destitution of others. It is undisputed that for thirteen months immediately preceding last Octo- ber there was a drought in a large part of Kansas back from the Missouri River. Fields of winter wheat yielded nothing. Corn planted in spring came up but never matured, and vegetables planted in gardens withered. In some instances three or four crops were planted, in the vain hope that rain might fall sufficient to secure at least one of these. And thus these people entered this winter, which has proved to be one of un- usual severity and depth of snow. Then commenced the selling of stock, furniture, and every available thing— for the American people do not beg until it is that or starvation. The people of Kansas have not only no crops for immediate use, but no seed for the coming year, and no cattle to work their land. The people are not political adventurers ; they are chiefly hona fide settlers, women, and children. But even if they were not, we should feed a dog if he was starving. * ' Below we give you the evidence which we find in the hands of our own citizens, and from other authentic sources. We will only add this ... for your con- sideration: A drought in Oneida County of twelve months would produce beggary and incalculable suffer- ing among farmers, merchants, and mechanics, notwith- standing all our wealth. How much more disastrous 157 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN must such a drought prove in a State so sparsely set- tled as Kansas, among a people most of whom are just breaking the soil, and whose all is invested in their land. ' ' Such contributions, in money or clothing, as you feel disposed to give, after an examination of the facts submitted to you, you will please send to Mr. J. S. Peckham, of this place. "A. HuBBELL, Chairman. " J. F. Seymour, Secretary." Part of the evidence given is a letter written by Mr. 0. C. Brown. Mr. W. F. M. Arny published a petition from the Legislature of Kansas to the Legislature of New York, setting forth the story of the suffering and destitu- tion of the people of Kansas, acknowledging the liber- ality of citizens of New York, who had supplied food and clothing for the needy, and appending certain startling statistics taken from reports of township com- mittees that had applied for relief at Atchison. These showed that in two hundred and twenty-two townships there were forty-seven thousand destitute persons. Mr. Arny then called attention to the great need of suitable horses to draw the wagons engaged in trans- porting the provisions and goods contributed for the aid of the impoverished people. " In my trip of ten days in the interior of Kansas," wrote he, *' I found over seventy teamsters with frozen feet or hands. 158 DROUGHT IN KANSAS . . . Teams reduced to skin and bone are too weak for long journeys. . . . Unless legislative aid is furnished hundreds will perish for want of food." The conclusion of the appeal consists of the narra- tive copied below. "Atchison, Kansas, Feb. 21st [1861]. "A deputation from the Pottawatomies/ consisting of three chiefs, came in yesterday and applied for re- lief for their tribe. After sitting a few moments in General Pomeroy's office, Lassonibane, a venerable chief, arose and addressed the General as follows: " ' We have heard that you are the great father of the whites. Will you become father to my starving people ? Two of my tribe have died already, and many are in danger of starvation if not immediately sup- plied. Our wives and children were crying about us when we left. They said, ' If you come back empty we shall starve. The annuities have been cut off; the traders will not sell us food, for we have no money ; our horses and cattle are dying ; and we have no seed. We left our home on Lake Michigan. My wigwam stood where now is the great city of Chicago. We were removed from Council Bluffs. Never in my life have I seen such suffering among my people. If you will help us, we shall live ; if not, we shall die. ' " Lassonibane is a fine-looking Indian, and spoke fluently and with great emotion. He represented two ' A tribe of Indians. 159 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN hundred and fifty of his tribe to be in the most desti- tute condition, which account was corroborated by statements from that part of the country. " General Pomeroy loaded for them ten wagons with provisions, which will last them till spring." In that dreadful year of dearth and famine the family of Mr. Brown was broken up, for a time. Only the father and three children stayed in Kansas. Spen- cer, when not engaged in duties on the farm, or in helping his father to write the records of the town (of which Mr. Brown was agent), employed his hours in study. " He read many standard works of history, poetry, or general literature. ' ' He kept notes of what he read, and wrote hundreds of pages in which he gave his views upon the subjects of his reading. When there was no longer any field that had not been parched and destroyed by the drought, when there was no remuner- ative business to induce him to stay longer in Osawat- omie, the days passed wearily enough, and Spencer could not contentedly apply himself to study or compo- sition. He resolved to quit home, to find elsewhere, if possible, profitable employment. He wrote to Colonel Boone, who had taken such a kind interest in him, when he was a captive: " You will perhaps remem- ber my name ... as that of the little prisoner you had in the Bull Creek camp in 1856. I am young and am willing to do any honest labour by which to make a living. ... I would prefer, however, a 160 DROUGHT IN KANSAS situation in which by remaining permanently I could rise in the business, whatever it might be. ' ' The minds of his father and mother had been much exercised to find suitable place and work for him. On November 5th Mrs. Brown wrote to her husband from Buffalo, New York, on the subject: " I am pleased that you see an opportunity for Eockwell, and con- clude you must be the best judge of matters there, though it occurred to us all here that that was just the opportunity for Spencer. Mr. Kingsley thinks Spencer has a decided literary taste and was, years ago, a good writer for one of his age. He thought such an opportunity would open the way to literary ad- vancement. I hope something as good ^ will soon open for him. I think his talents have been buried long enough. . . . Spencer will die, mentally and mor- ally, if he does not soon have some incentive for living. ' ' Then, contrasting the dearth in Kansas with the plentiful provisions in New York State, she writes : "Apples are so abundant and cheap that they are a drug. Potatoes have been very cheap. I never saw finer grapes and pears. The only drawback in the en- joyment of them is that you are not here to share them with us. . . . Tell Spencer to keep up good cour- age, and I trust there will soon be just the right open- ing for him. ' ' * Employment had been found for Rockwell in a newspaper office. 161 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN To Rockwell she wrote : " I trust Spencer is able to get that situation in the Journal of Commerce office, Kansas City, which your father spoke of. We feel, Kitty and I, as if that would be the best for Spencer. ' ' A few days later she wrote to Spencer. Speaking of her journey and voyage from Kansas to New York, she said : " It was considered very hazardous to come by the lakes at this season of the year, and some won- dered that I should do so; but you know it was the only way I could come.^ I came on the propeller Mohawk, Captain Pheatt. We were wind-bound at Milwaukee one day and night, and it was very rough when we left there. It was very rough all down Lake Huron, and we were so sick, Lily and I, that we kept our beds till noon of the next day. We were five days from Milwaukee. We had a good boat. " The captain's wife and one other lady, with a Methodist minister, a Mr. Millard, and the captain, made a pleasant company. The very next trip this same steamboat burst her boiler, and five men were killed and the boat immediately sank. It was a mer- ciful Providence that brought us safe. ... I hope and trust some way will soon open for you. Kitty and I talk and think and study to devise some way for you. . . . When I think of you all ^ so far from me, it is hard to be reconciled to such a stern necessity, and * Transportation by water was cheaper than by railroad. * Three of the children were with Mr. Brown, in Osawatomie. 162 DROUGHT IN KANSAS if I could not, as nightly I lay my head upon my pillow, commit you to the care of One who is all-powerful and all-gracious to aid, protect, and cherish and com- fort you, I could not sleep. Spencer, my dear boy, can you not look to Him for comfort, as when, once before, you sought, and, I believe, found Him 1 If so, He is your Father still. Then look to Him again, with a penitent, believing heart, and He will not turn you away. If you have loved Him once. He will surely perfect the good work He has begun with you. Write to me, and tell me all that interests and concerns you. I can hardly suppose your father is still with you. If he is, tell him and Rockwell I wait for answers to my letters. . . . Give my love to Fanny and Freddy ; and Lily sends hers to you all. She gets a little home- sick sometimes. Kitty expects to go to Utica this week. " Your affectionate mother, " M.A.Brown.'' On November 1st Spencer wrote to young Mr. P , a son of H. P ,^ the celebrated sculptor. Although he mentioned the drought and scarcity of breadstuffs, so characteristically sprightly was the let- ter that his correspondent would little suspect the ex- tremity to which his friend had come — the dire neces- sity, the desperation, which would drive him into exile on the morrow. 1 Hiram Powers. 163 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN On November 2, 1860, he bade good-bye to his father, brother, and sister, taking his way towards Mis- souri, where he had often been urged by Doctor K to teach a school. He had gone from home before his mother wrote the loving letter given above. For a few days he taught the school obtained for him through the influence of his good friend. Then he was warned to be gone from that neighbourhood within forty-eight hours. His name was Brown, and he was from Kansas. Having no means of support, taking with him only the clothes that were on his back, to save his life he fled towards St. Louis, stopping here and there to earn by manual labour enough to supply his daily need. 164 CHAPTER XVIII THE IMPENDING CRISIS That certain Missoiirians banished Spencer from their school and neighbourhood was no occasion for wonder. His name and origin were enough to excite suspicion. The memory of Old John Brown's slave- freeing incursions into their State alarmed these peo- ple. Spencer went to Missouri at the wrong time. The Republican party that very month elected Abraham Lincoln President of the United States. To the oli- garchy of the slave-labour States Mr. Lincoln seemed to incarnate enmity to slavery and the South, It had been declared by the Republican party that there was " an irrepressible conflict between freedom and slavery ' ' ; that ' ' the Republic cannot exist half slave and half free ' ' ; and that ' ' freedom is the nor- mal condition of all territory. ' ' On the other hand, it had been declared by that wing of the Democratic party which nominated John C. Breckenridge for the Presidency " that no power existed that might law- fully control slavery in the Territories ' ' ; that slavery existed in any Territory, in full force, whenever a slave-holder and his slaves entered it ; and that it was 12 165 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN the duty of the National Government to protect slave- holders who should practically assert this doctrine. The men who conspired against the life of the nation were in this faction. Their aim was to annul the principle of popular sovereignty maintained by the regular Democratic party, which had nominated Doug- las for the Presidency. For this principle all Pro-Slavery Southerners had rigorously contended only six years before. They had found it to work against them in Kansas. To enact positive laws that would allow them " to call the roll of their slaves even under the shadow of Bunker Hill monument," if they should choose so to do, became their new purpose. Their bolder leaders counselled the slave-labour States to see to it, in case their ex- treme requirements should be refused by the country, that concerted action be taken to precipitate the South into revolution. These men had struck down their great political party merely because it had declined to go with them to the length of their preposterous de- mands. They had thus made possible the election of Abraham Lincoln. They had sowed the wind, and were yet to reap the whirlwind. Probably Spencer was but just installed teacher of a school in Missouri when tidings of the election of Lincoln filled the State with fury. Perhaps we should praise the moderation that at such a time, in such a place, allowed a Free-Soil man from Kansas to escape 166 THE IMPENDING CRISIS with his life. I cannot think that anything else than the friendship of Doctor K preserved him from death. Already the politicians of the South were busy preparing to bring about the secession of the slave- labour States from the Union. Although they had clamoured so loudly for " popular sovereignty " in 1854, believing then that they could depend upon the ingress to Kansas of overwhelming numbers of South- ern men, these astute politicians knew better than to appeal at once to the masses in the South for a mandate to dissolve the Union of States. The conventions that declared the independence of the several Southern States had no faith in ' ' popular sovereignty. ' ' They were made up of political demagogues — not of chosen representatives of the people. Arrogantly they took things in their own hands, and declared their respect- ive States out of the Union. From the date of the triumph of the Republican party the decree went forth to organize a separate '' Confederacy." They hoped to carry their plans by a coup d'etat. Their temple should rise as did the house of the Lord in Solomon's time. The stones should be made ready before they were brought upon the ground where the building should stand. ' ' Suddenly, while no sound of hammer, or axe, or any tool of iron, should be heard by the millions of the North, the mighty minster should be reared. The North should awake some fine morningto be confronted 167 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN and confounded by the completed structure. African mothers, as bowed caryatides, should support the mag- nificent pile. From its lofty dome Southern chivalry, on horseback, should look down, with stony gaze, upon fields tilled under the crack of the overseer's lash. This was the Midsummer's Dream of the conspirators in 1860. They had forgotten that God planned Solo- mon's temple, whereas the designs for theirs had very different origin. The men that quarried made too much noise. Their blasts roused the nation. As the appointed time to rear the edifice drew near, opposing hosts began to muster in the North. 168 CHAPTER XIX A SOLDIER In his flight towards St. Louis, Spencer stopped long enough to write a brief memorandum, which he sent to his sister, then in Utica, New York. Mrs. Brown forwarded the note to Kansas. It gave her hus- band the first tidings of his son's safety. The short and stained original lies before me. " Independence, Missouri, Nov. 23d." ' ' Prospects a little better. " Spense,'' " Independence, Missouri, December 12th. Times improving ' sligMually .' Send me a letter immedi- ately if you want me to get it, and be sure to address it to Spencer Kellogg, Independence, Missouri. Don't write the word Brown, inside or out. I do not expect to be here long. Send this home, and write immedi- ately on receipt. I shall not write home until making something. " Spense.'^ Sad as the boy's plight is, his droUness must ex- press itself in one word of slang. " Henceforth," wrote his father, " the name of 169 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN Brown was dropped, and Kansas was not to be men- tioned in any letters from his friends. Nor did he dare write to his father in Kansas, but sent his letters to his mother and sisters, then in Utiea, whither they had gone because of the drought. ' ' In a letter to her husband, Spencer's mother ex- presses her anxiety for the safety of the fugitive. She found comfort in faith. " I hope I am learning to trust my heavenly Father, or, as Fred Williams ^ says, ' to take Him at His word. ' ' ' To his mother's letter Spencer's reply came from Kentucky, '• Newport Barracks, Kentucky, Jan. 27, '61. " Dear Mother: I was much pleased to hear from you, for the first time since leaving home. I should have answered your letter before, only I had a little attack of dumb-ague on top of the most clinging cold of nearly three weeks' duration. But there's no great loss without some small gain, and my gain is that I am thus enabled to give you the required in- formation on the subject of the care I get when sick. " If you look up the sheet a little way you may read, ' Newport Barracks, ' and at this place about two hundred and fifty men, myself included, are wearing Uncle Sam's livery, and awaiting orders. ' ' When three weeks away from home, I knew, hav- > Brother of S. "Welle Williams, Professor of Oriental Literature. 170 A SOLDIER ing done my best to get work, that the alternative was to enlist or go back, and so I enlisted. " But we are getting away from our subject. After feeling as mean as the ague can make a man feel, for a day and a half, I went to the hospital (at the ap- pointed hour) and the doctor gave me a strong dose of ipecac, into which was stirred a cathartic (calomel). Both together weakened me so much that I could hard- ly leave my bed five minutes, and at night I did not get to sleep until, after one o 'clock, I heard the guard relieved. But it was all right, and to-day, by the doc- tor's order, the steward gave me quinine three times — at nine, eleven, and twelve — and I begin to feel quite convalescent. So much for being sick. " And now, as I am still very weak, I know you will excuse the brevity of this, and when I feel a little more ' prosy ' I'll tell you about the barracks and much more that you will be interested in. ' ' I have only one favour to ask. Send me a Trib- une once in a while, if you can, for I am in a great dearth of news. ' ' Let me hear from you often. '' Spencer. ' ' Did Sister K receive a letter from me dated from Independence, Missouri 1 ' ' A month after his enlistment Spencer wrote to his father from Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, explaining 171 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN that he had enlisted because he was unwilling to go back to be a burden to his parents while times were so hard in Kansas ; declared himself contented in his new lot, but alert to seize the first opportunity to im- prove it; and asked his father to consider what the political state of the country foreboded for the army. He thought it probable that the company to which he had been assigned and other troops would be ordered to Washington to help " keep everything straight at the inauguration ' ' of President Lincoln, but expected to be sent, first, to the arsenal at St. Louis, to repel attacks threatened by the faction that favoured the movement to organize a Southern Confederacy. Indeed, nothing but wise and prompt action kept the " Secessionists " from seizing that arsenal, with all the ordnance stored there. To supply the South with muskets, sabres, and all equipments, and also with artillery, the conspirators tried to get possession of forts and arsenals within the bounds of the Slave- labour States, and endeavoured to remove such stores from United States arsenals on Northern soil, to ship them to military posts in the Cotton States. Per- jured traitors who were members of President Buchan- an's Cabinet actually issued orders to effect such re- movals. At Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, by command of the Secretary of War, heavy artillery was taken from the Allegheny Arsenal to the wharf on the Mononga- hela River, to be shipped down the Ohio and Missis- 172 A SOLDIER sippi Rivers. The intensely loyal citizens would not allow the orders of the Secretary to be carried out. The guns were taken back to the arsenal. Spencer thought it a good joke when he was de- tailed one of four cooks for the company to which he was attached ! No doubt his experience in Kansas had taught him all the rudiments of his culinary calling. " It would do you good to see me writing now. I am perched upon a bunk about twelve feet from the floor and on the third tier, with my feet hanging over the edge, the paper resting on a piece of pasteboard on my knees. . . . This is my second letter, not- withstanding my busy cooking duties, which are some- thing besides nominal, as you can imagine. " (Next day.) It is about ten o'clock now, and we were obliged to have everything done up for ' inspec- tion ' an hour since, and I have a few minutes before getting ready for dinner. I don't object to the cook- ing, much, as it has its privileges, such as unstinted rations, no roll-calls to answer, and no drill. . . . There is a good allowance for clothes— $45.97 the first year, and, successively, $33.43, $38.86, $33.43, and $36.25 — and, as the things are almost all furnished at cost prices, the money covers a great deal. Our pay is $11.00 a month. . . . Yesterday made just a month since I enlisted, and I have only spent one dol- lar and forty cents. To-day (Saturday) our privileges stick out a little, for it is ' general police,' and the 173 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN whole company ( except eight for chopping and carry- ing wood) are scrubbing floors, dry, with brick and sand, washing windows, scrubbing the mess-table and benches and the brick floors, and chopping extra wood for Sunday. "As for us, the cooks, we stand and look on. . . Of course, on ' general police ' there is no drill, and, as there are twice as many men as are needed to do the work, there is not much growling, but very often a good deal of fun. To-morrow (Sunday) is ' general inspection, ' when the whole garrison turn out with their arms. Every button must be in the highest state of polish, every shoe shining, and all clothes well brushed. The arms are all examined closely, and gen- erally are in the highest polish. The iron ramrods are rung in the bottom to see if the guns are clean inside. If any man's hair is too long he gets orders to cut it. . . , Immediately after parade all go into their rooms, the knapsacks are spread out on the floor, with the overcoats neatly folded on one side and all the clothes on the other, and the men stand behind them and in front of their bunks while the major and lieu- tenant make the tour of the rooms. ... In the kitchen, every knife, fork, and spoon is shining, the cups are stacked up in bright order, and the tin plates are ranged in neat order in the cupboards. " Of course the tables and floors are clean, after Saturday's scouring. The men stand behind their open 174 A SOLDIER kaapsaeks, and the head cook is responsible for any- thing that is wrong. Two men are detailed every night as room-orderlies (on Sundays there are two assist- ants), and they are obliged to see that the room is clean, that no one spits on the floors, that nothing is stolen (if anything is stolen they are responsible), and they must stay in the rooms while the company is ab- sent, on drill, at meals, or otherwise.- They must also see that good fires are kept, if needed ; that every man's things are in order, fit for the morning inspection; and that all lights, fires excepted, are put out at ' taps.' . . . '' Tell Aunt Mary that I should like to see her. Tell Uncle Charley that he will ' never see his darling (overcoat ^) any more.' " The strain upon the affections, and the anxieties that tried the separated members of many a Kansan family in those days, are apparent in the next letters. Mrs. Brown wrote to her husband, on February 15th, from Utica, New York : ' ' The world seems dark to me, so long without you. When shall we meet? . . . What do you conclude? I little thought of such a long separation when I left you. If I had one hundred dollars I would go back in April— unless you 1 "Which his uncle had lent him when Spencer went away from home, but which the boy had been obliged to leave when he was warned away from Missouri. 175 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN conclude it is best to come here. ... I am feeling so distressed about Spencer that it takes the spirit all out of me, but I do try to commit him to my Saviour and trust that He will take care of him. If you come, if we can learn whether he is still at Newport, Ken- tucky, would it not be well for you to come by way of Cincinnati ^ and get a proper situation for him, and take him, he being under age ? ' ' Appended to the letter given above is one to Mr. Brown from his eldest daughter. ' ' My dear Father : . . . I presume you have about made up your mind to come this way as soon as possible. I want to see you very much, and a change will perhaps do you good ; but I hope you will not take final leave of Kansas, because a roof there, though humble, is better than no roof at all — ^to say nothing of a farm. . . . With a friendly President, who knows but brighter days are dawning for us? After living in the West, the East does not seem so pleasant, unless one is very rich. " What do you think about Spencer? It seems dreadful to me. " Monday morning, February 18, 1861. We re- ceived your letter Friday evening, and a portion of it was published in this morning's paper. . . . There also came a letter from Spencer, from Newport Bar- ' Which was not far from Newport, Kentucky. 176 A SOLDIER racks, Kentucky. He has been sick. Grandpa seems to feel very bad about him, and says he thinks you could claim him, as he is under age. . . . Could you not write and claim him ? " Your loving daughter, " Kitty." In the letter to his father, Spencer mentioned the recent removal of the command to which he belonged from Kentucky to Missouri. These were both border States of great importance, and the protection on the one hand of St. Louis, and of Cincinnati and Louisville on the other, required such shifting of troops as per- plexed all observers who did not appreciate the entire inadequacy of the small regular army of the United States to the exigencies occasioned by the threatening attitude of the South. Military organizations were forming and drilling in all the Slave-labour States. As a black cloud, surcharged with tempest, hangs above the western horizon on a summer eve, fringed with , fiery light, so the gloomy portent of rebellion wherever it hovered over our Southern States was outlined by gleaming bayonets. The brilliancy of the spectacle could not cause the country to forget that soon must come the night of war, the lightning and thunder of battle. However, Spencer does not seem to have indulged 177 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN gloomy apprehensions of the future. There is de- lightful union of gaiety and affection in the opening of his next letter, written on February 20th, from ' ' St. Louis Arsenal, Missouri. ' ' " My Mother: I salute you! That's soldier- fashion, isn 't it ? You see I write in spirits, being well and hearty, although a little tired, having just come off guard. " I wrote to you and Kitty from Jefferson Bar- racks, and, as I expected, was soon after (some ten days) ordered, with two hundred others, to this place. There are now collected here five hundred men, or nearly so many — the Government evidently fearing some attack upon the large amount of stores, arms, ammunition, etc., collected here. We are confined as closely as convicts in a penitentiary, and a large num- ber of guards continually on post, with the strictest orders. Monday we threw up several earthen breast- works, and yesterday some unfinished ones were com- pleted. Yesterday morning I mounted guard at nine, and, being on the third relief, I was not on post until one P. M. There are three reliefs on every post, each standing guard two hours, and consequently it is two hours on and four off ; so, being on from one to three p. M., I came on again from seven until nine, and again four hours after, at one, and, the last, from seven until nine this morning ; when there was a new guard, 178 A SOLDIER and we were marched off to the shooting-grounds, to fire off the loads in our guns at a target one hundred yards distant. ' * We were then marched towards the quarters and ordered to ' Break ranks — March! ' — upon which every one started for home (quarters) as fast as he could run. Thus, you see, in the twenty-four hours we are eight hours ' walking post.' But, then, on guard one has his little privileges, such as no drill on the day that he comes off, and no ' fatigue duty. ' For instance — a few moments before I commenced writing there were orders given to parade the company, and we were all turned out ; but on the parade-ground the ones that came oft' guard were ordered to fall out, and while we returned to our quarters the remainder of the company marched away for some fatigue, probably placing the artillery behind the breastworks lately thrown up — all of which are pierced for cannon. ' ' There is strong probability that the arsenal may be attacked, but it will be a most desperate job taking it, on account of the great facilities for defence, and the desperate determination of both officers and men, " I wrote to father about twelve days since and have yet received no answer. I saw, in the Missouri Republican, that Conway had presented a bill for in- demnity to the losers in the political troubles in Kan- sas. Please tell me of its progress if you see any re- port in the papers. 179 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN ' ' Tell Kitty that I should be glad to hear from her, and that I will write to her. ' ' In case of an attack I will write to you immedi- ately afterwards ; and if I should be injured, a friend, if he lives, will write to you, I doing the same for him if he should be harmed. " Spencer. ' ' Don 't write until you hear from me. S. ' ' His mother, fearing that Spencer would be ordered to Washington, wrote to her husband urging him to seek their son in St. Louis. Doubtless she expected Mr. Brown to take some steps to obtain the young soldier's discharge. She, and the boy's grandfather, could not be reconciled to the thought of the degrading associations which they supposed must be his lot as an enlisted man in the regular army. In truth, little else than the scum of immigration from foreign lands found its way into the American Army in times of peace until just before the opening of the Civil War. Already, when Spencer enlisted, the character of the recruits was beginning to change. Some of his new companionships were not pleasing, but he contrived, on the whole, to accommodate himself to the necessities of the case. On March 8, 1861, he wrote from the St. Louis Arsenal to his sister Kitty : *' I have ' raised ' five cents, the first ' show ' I 180 A SOLDIER have had for paying the postage on a letter since I fin- ished the stamps that yon and Mother sent ; and after due deliberation I have concluded to use the money to send a letter to Mother and yourself in preference to Father and Rock, from both of whom I have lately heard. Money is very scarce, or I should have written to you before; but most of the men are in daily ex- pectation of a pay-day, which will give me fifteen dol- lars, or thereabouts, clear money, and, after paying Newman, I shall have ten dollars to lay away towards my stock-money. That means that I am trying to save two hundred and fifty dollars to buy stock, to go into stock-raising in Kansas— with Rock, if he is able— by myself, if I must. " You see, I get eleven dollars a month, of which one dollar is kept back until the end of my five years. I also get one hundred and ninety-eight dollars, lack- ing four cents, in clothing, during my five years ' term. That may look very little to you, but everything is of the best, and furnished at cost prices. Very many men save as much as seventy-five dollars in clothing money, which is paid to them at the end of their term; so I hope for at least fifty dollars clothing money. " So you see that a man need have very little trouble in saving a hundred dollars a year — which is my mark — more if I can. I am sorry to say that I fear my bright prospects, before spoken of, are likely to be disappointed. 13 181 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN " Tell Mother she need not fear that I will hurt myself romancing, as I have entirely quit it since I left home. This enlisting one is apt to find a most sober reality, and I am getting over some of my fool- ishness, at least. Still, I cannot help wanting to see loved ones again, when I lie down after a good * sing ' in company with two or three gifted ones. But I com- fort myself with the prospect of better times — even with five years' probation. I should be glad if Rock is able to have money to put with mine for the business I spoke of, for we should then have quite a good cap- ital. I have not given up my old idea of going South to live, and I hope, having good success, to be able to retire, at the age of thirty-five, to a pleasant seaport, either in the South or in South America. That may look a long way ahead to you, but soldiers get into the habit of considering a five years' enlistment as but a short thing ; nor is it to be wondered at, judging by the way the days slip by. "As I stay away from home I begin, slowly, but I think surely, to find out where I am weak, and where strong. I do not think a few years in the service will do any harm. I would like to introduce you to a little of my company. ' ' There 's C , not a very prepossessing face, but full of mischief, and as full of music — ^what else he is I do not know, but he's a good singer. I sold him a shirt and pair of drawers (Government) — a dollar 182 A SOLDIER and a half in all; but it was not a business trans- action, though I shouldn't be surprised if I got my pay. " Then there's K , from Canada — not very strongly English — wears a Masonic breastpin, has taken five degrees— wears a beard half an inch long. He is a little tall, but straight — pleasant-looking — plays whist with me — not a bad companion anywhere — knows a few songs, correctly. " There's O'C , my little Irish ' bunky ' (that is, we sleep together) — short, stubby, red-faced, drinks whisky, but does not get ' tight ' ; smokes, but is try- ing to quit ; gets mad in a flash, and over it as quickly ; and has, in all probability, seen better days. There is one thing— he speaks good English and grammat- ically, although sometimes with a little emphasis. " Then, there's G , our corporal. Knows all the German operas and is all the time singing or whist- ling them — I try to help him once in a while. Without bragging, I think I am developing a very good voice. We succeed in having some first-rate music — perhaps the more pleasing to me that much of it is new. There 's much, after all, that takes in a soldier's life — for if we see but little pleasure, there is under the average of care and trouble — although some hardship. *' Never mind, K , when I get to living on the coast of South America I will try if I cannot find comfort, even if happiness is denied, . . . 183 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN " Please let me hear from yourself and Mother often, and do not wait for me, as I may not always find a stamp." "St. Louis Arsenal, Missouri, March 25, 1861. ' ' Dear Sister : I came off guard the day after I received your letter, and, getting a pass to go into town, I only had time to write part of a letter to Matie, which letter I inclose for you to give her, giving her the preference because I felt more like writing to her than to you — you understand ? You may read it, or not, as you please. If you see her, give it to her ; if not, please inclose and send it. You cannot understand what an intense longing some of us poor sinners have for some ladies' society; and next to that will be receiving a letter occasionally from a girl such as I believe Matie to be. " Pay-day has come and gone, making life here, to me, but so much harder. While I had no money I was contented ; now I begin to have longings. I shall go to South America, first you know ! " I have spent five dollars since pay-day, and in its place I have now gloves, chess-men, stamps, cap- cover, pocket-inkstand, writing-paper, pocket-knife, and porte-monnaie ; besides some other things that I did have but haven 't now — in one sense at least. It is impossible to keep stamps — only look: I bought six stamped envelopes (twenty-five cents) three or four 184 A SOLDIER days since, and yon sent me one ; well, one friend has the stamp, and three or four of the envelopes my chum, O'C , must have. It's no use to talk of refusing — 'twould be cutting my own throat. There, one whom I would oblige as a friend ; here, one who lent me paper. O'C would not refuse me anything that he has. Comically enough, and unusually, too, he likes me bet- ter than I like him. I record the thing because it does not happen every day. So, if you want to hear from me regularly, you must send me a stamp. Keep ac- count of them, and next pay-day I '11 send them back. ' ' You ought to have seen how miserable I was last night. I had just come off guard, and, getting a pass, rambled round St. Louis a good share of the after- noon. Well, I was pretty tired, and when my friend C , who has been in desperate trouble for months, came to tell me about a letter setting it all right, and showed me a fine ambrotype, and some brown hair, fine and soft as silk, why, of course, I was feeling the contrast, and was proportionately wretched. 'Tis the first time I have given way since I left home, and there was a good deal pent up, you see. Well, I have par- tially recovered this morning — enough at least to clean out my gun (I just now am interrupted by an application for a postage-stamp, and 'twon't do to re- fuse the cook, you know — he could almost starve you, if he liked), and finish my letter to Matie, besides writing you one. 185 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN ' ' Tell Mother that I will write to her once a week, if she will send a stamp, although I cannot help being * shoppy.' I shall probably make an application to be transferred to the detachment of artillery that C belongs to. I shall let you know the result. ' ' " St. Louis Arsenal, Missouri, April 2, 1861. ' ' Dear K : . . . I want to tell you about I n, our second sergeant. I n and myself struck up an acquaintance at Newport, Kentucky ; but at Jefferson, from circumstances, this acquaintance was necessarily interrupted, and when we came to the arsenal I succeeded in doing something that angered him. So, the acquaintance hasn't progressed much here. But during the last two weeks, or thereabouts, we have been on somewhat better terms, and I am now in the squad of men under his charge. I n is a fine- looking fellow, somewhere between twenty-five and thirty years of age, with a most peculiar turn of mind, generous, and so just that having power he does not abuse it. He has also a most reserved manner, making no friends, admitting but few acquaintances. At New- port I used frequently to sit upon the side of his bunk, while, most curiously, he would speculate upon the small amount it would take to set up a small farm upon which one could earn a nice living, sojourning betimes in the neatest of little white cottages, with the prettiest of graceful little women. ' What is the mat- 186 A SOLDIER ter with I n? ' thought I. ' What is his main point? ' ' What has made him so misanthropic, and so reserved? ' But last week I think I found out the reason. I will not tell you what I think it was, but only the incident which made me think 1 knew. " I happened to speak of wanting to be transferred to the artillery, and he inquired my reasons. I told him that I liked the service better, and that I had a friend — he interrupted me with a violent exclamation, at the same time striking the bench upon which we were sitting with his clinched fist. ' There is no such thing as a friend, ' he said. The reason of the remark struck me in a moment, and I could not help saying, * You didn't always think so.' In less than a minute after he went away, with some half-spoken excuse. But since then he has been very much more cordial and pleasant, and a day or so afterward we were divided into squads, and when I fell to his squad I had to leave my old abiding-place and take up my sojourn in a strange land, which happened to be the next bed but one to where I n slept. ' Why don't you take this place? ' said he, pointing to a place still nearer to his bed than where I was. ' The bed was my bunky 's,' I began, ' and I — ' He cut me rather short : ' Oh, it doegn't make any difference to me, but I thought you wouldn 't like to sleep so near that B . ' I smiled inwardly. I think I was pleased. What dif- 187 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN ference was it to him whether I slept near B or not, and why so much anxiety to excuse a little ap- parent interest? We'll see by-and-bye. So ends this little episode for the present." 188 CHAPTER XX IN THE ARMY IN TIME OF WAR During the dreary winter of 1860-61 loyal Amer- icans held their breath and asked, " What next? " Mr. Buchanan 's embarrassed Administration at Wash- ington accepted for its guidance the counsel of At- torney-General Black, whose opinion it was that the Government had no right to " coerce " States or peo- ple. They might secede from the Union at pleasure, and set up within the territorial bounds of what had been the United States a new nation or nations, and the President must make no armed resistance to the revolt ! This monstrous decision was acknowledgment of State Sovereignty with a vengeance ! Because the consent of the States was necessary to form the Union, the States were Sovereign— supremely and exclusively —and might withdraw at pleasure ! Apply the prin- ciple to marriage : at once its falsity is apparent. The traitorous Secretary of the Navy had sent war- ships of the Government to the other side of the globe. A traitor at the head of the War Department had robbed the arsenals in the North to supply the South with ordnance, proportionately impoverishing the na- 189 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN tion. A vessel sent to provision Fort Sumter, in the harbour of Charleston, South Carolina, and to re- enforce the garrison there, was fired upon by rebels. Traitors in Congress were busy all winter devising ways and means to dismember the Federal Union. Mill- ions of Northern men clinched their fists and ground their teeth, waiting impatiently for the inauguration of Abraham Lincoln. His inaugural address had the right ring. It threw out no foolish boasts, or threats. ' ' He expressed the most kindly regard for the people of every portion of the Republic, and his determination to administer the Government impartially, for the pro- tection of every citizen and every interest. At the same time he announced his resolution to enforce the laws, protect the public property, and repossess that which had already been seized by the insurgents. ' ' He reminded the conspirators that he had taken a solemn oath to protect the Constitution and the Union. Early in April the Government informed the au- thorities of South Carolina that supplies would be sent to Fort Sumter, " peaceably, or forcibly." On April 12th the insurgents, under General Beauregard, opened fire, with " full thirty heavy guns," on Fort Sumter and the flag of the United States. Thus be- gan the Civil War. Immediately the loyal multitudes of the North ran up the Stars and Stripes on tall liberty-poles in every city, town, and village; decked almost every public building, including churches and 190 IN THE ARMY IN TIME OF WAR school-houses, with bunting ; filled the land with flags ; and made ready to vindicate the supremacy of the Na- tional Government, at any cost of treasure and of blood. The struggle was about over when the gallant officer ^ who had defended Fort Sumter until only its ruins remained, and, evacuating the post, had borne away with him the insulted but not dishonoured flag, was delegated to raise again, in triumph, that self- same flag above the shapeless and blackened pile that had been Fort Sumter — a mass of debris now, which fitly symbolized the doom of the " Southern Confed- eracy. " In April, 1861, Mr. O. C. Brown, taking his little daughter Fanny with him, set out from Osawatomie to join that part of his family which was in the East. As he went down the Missouri River, his wife ascended it on her way to join him in Kansas. Thus they missed one another. Eager to see Spencer, despairing of Mr. Brown's being able to join her in New York, the de- voted wife and mother borrowed money to return to Osawatomie. On the way she stopped in St. Louis to see her soldier-son. "Osawatomie, April 22, 1861. ' ' My dear Husband : Ascertaining at St, Louis that you had not been there, and, through Mr. Bailey, that you had not been in Chicago, I flattered myself 1 Anderson. 191 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN that I should get here before you left. I was greatly disappointed when told at Kansas City that we had missed each other on the river. I wished very much to see you before you left, yet I am rejoiced that you could get away ; also that you have taken Fanny. She ought to go to school. I had reasons for wishing to come back which I did not wish to commit to paper, but I would gladly have conferred with you. I be- lieve I am acting judiciously. " . . . I came sooner than I intended, and without delay on the way, as I wished to see Spencer. I did see him daily while I was in St. Louis, and it was a great satisfaction to me. I hope you saw him. I had not sent you his last letters, because I was expecting soon to bring them to you. If you called on Mr. Cozzens you heard from Spense in St. Louis. I was there nearly a week, and had a very pleasant visit. ... The weather is very warm, but windy, as usual. We had a thunder-shower this morning — not very much rain, however. The gar- den looks beautiful, and I hope we shall soon be able to get along and make it comfortable for you when you come back. I heard there was to be an effort to raise a Secession flag in Kansas City, yesterday. . . . Will you forward this letter to Utica, when you have read it, as I cannot write any more to-day, and they will wish to hear from me? . . . Send these flow- ers to Grandpa; Lily has just picked them." 192 IN THE ARMY IN TIME OF WAR FromUtica, on April 23, 1861, " Kitty " wrote: " Dear Father: Grandpa received your letter, saying that you were in Chicago, a day or two since. We think that Mother and Lily must be in Osawat- omie by this time — but we can only conjecture, as we have heard from her but once since she left. She was then at St. Louis. She stayed at William Cozzens's — that is, when he found that she was in the city he came to the hotel where she was and insisted upon her ac- companying him home. He then went for Spencer, who got leave of absence, with some difficulty — making Mother a call of an hour or two in length. When he left, Mother wrote a note to the officer, requesting per- mission for him to spend the next day, which was Sun- day, with her. * * This was granted, and she thought that the visit did him much good— the change of diet, society, and scenery — and it appeared as if he would devour Lily. I felt so disappointed that you did not see him at St. Louis. I am exceedingly anxious to hear from Mother. I cannot imagine what she will do. Grandpa is quite distressed about her going, and in these critical times, too : but she was so anxious to see the children, and she supposed they would remain there. " What a mistake that was about Spencer's being at Litchfield ! That was Uncle Spencer. Dear child ! I only wish it had been so. Grandpa wishes you had 193 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN stopped to see William Cozzens in St. Louis, even if Spencer had not been in that place, for you would have enjoyed the visit, he says, as that gentleman has a beau- tiful place, and he would have been very glad to see you. He took a great fancy to Spencer. There is a great state of excitement here about the war. I was out, for the first time in several days, this morning, with some friends, to see the 'Utica Citizens' Corps,' and our brave volunteers — who are among the first young men in the city — some of them mere boys. Many companies were in zouave costume, and although an imposing and interesting spectacle it was a very sad one. . . . " Your affectionate daughter, Mr, Brown wrote from Chicago, May 2d: " My dear Wife: I am in receipt of yours from Osav/atomie of the 22d ultimo. I did hope to see you ere you went West, but missed you on the river ; also failed to see Spencer, supposing him to be in Utica, and having only money enough to bring us here, Fanny at half-fare. ... If the war goes on, in the Vol- unteer service Spencer might get some promotion, but where he is perhaps it is doubtful. As I am so entirely in the dark, I am not prepared to act, or judge of what is best, and must wait until I hear from you again. Here all is bustle and busy preparation for a vigorous 194 IN THE ARMY IN TIME OF WAH and protracted war. The whole nation can now see something of the Kansas struggle with Pro-Slavery power. This move is looked upon as leading to the final overthrow of slavery. ... I cannot say when I leave here. May go down to see Spencer, when I hear from you. I am pleased that he is now occupy- ing so important a position in the defence of the Gov- ernment property at St. Louis. I should be quite will- ing to have him volunteer if he were not now in the service. I am very anxious to hear from him, but don 't wish to put him in a false position by writing before I can learn something of the facts. ... I can see no good reason for leaving off his surname,^ as he is now safe from ' Border Ruffian ' violence. Spencer has committed no crime, and now is safe, and no longer needs to disown a name which is immortalized by the heroism of John Brown." Mrs. Brown replied from Osawatomie, on May 9th : ' ' I received yours of May 2d this morning. I regret that you did not see Spencer. You were misled by Abigail 's letter, where she mentions Kitty and Spencer coming. She meant Ambrose Spencer, who went out with Kitty. . . . " Spencer seemed sad, and we thought he wished to get away. I had written you to go to him, and you thought you could not ; so I resolved to go myself, and 1 He had enlisted as " Spencer Kellogg," dropping the Brown. 195 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN came away a month earlier, at least, than I should have done, to be sure and see him and do what I could for him. As for his name, I certainly am not pleased with his course about that; but, as he has enlisted as Spencer Kellogg, he does not, probably, find a con- venient time to make it right. My friends in St. Louis understand about it and call him Spencer Brown. Spencer has no intimacy or interchange whatever with officers, to explain or recommend himself. Mr. Coz- zens has acquaintance and influence with them, and you can do nothing, very well, except through him. You would enjoy his acquaintance much, . . . He had the impression that I was Captain Brown's ^ wife (the only Osawatomie Brown he had any knowledge of) until father went there. . . . ' ' He did not relish the idea of my marrying Cap- tain Brown. ... I wrote you a letter from St. Louis to Osawatomie, which you did not receive, tell- ing you all about Spencer and my visit there. . . . He felt very bad about some things. He felt so much the want of education, and said that he had neither trade nor education. He would have thought best to leave there if anything else were in view. I do not know about his being a volunteer, but I never was pleased with his enlisting. . . . They were very much interested in him and about him at Mr. Coz- zens 's, and would be glad to do anything for him. ' ' > " Old John Brown's." 196 IN THE ARMY IN TIME OF WAR Missouri was soon to suffer from war even worse things than she had inflicted upon Kansas. The Gov- ernor, Jackson, was disloyal to his country, but he and his clan were outnumbered in his State by the loyalists. In February, at Jefferson City, a convention was held in which no *' openly avowed disunionist appeared." It reassembled at St. Louis, March 4th, when Sterling Price, a secret enemy to the United States Government, presided. ' ' The loyal men gave the right tone to the proceedings, and the Governor, despairing of using that body for his treasonable purposes, turned to the more disloyal Legislature for aid. The latter yielded to his wishes, and, under the inspiration of Daniel M. Frost, a native of New York, and a graduate of the Military Academy at West Point, they made arrange- ments for enrolling the militia of the State and placing in the hands of the Governor a strong military force to be used against the power of the National Government. Arrangements were also made for seizing the National Arsenal at St. Louis and holding possession of that chief city of the Mississippi Valley. For this purpose, and with the pretext of disciplining the militia of that district, Frost, commissioned a brigadier-general by the Governor, formed a camp near the city. But the plan was frustrated by the vigilant loyalists of St. Louis and Captain Nathaniel Lyon, of the United States Army, commanding the military post there. When it became evident that Frost was about to 14 197 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN seize the arsenal, Lyon took the summary action of which the next letter gives a report. " St. Louis Arsenal, Missouri, May 11, 1861. ' ' Dear Cora : ^ I just a few minutes since finished reading your letter, and have immediately sat down to answer it; for you will undoubtedly get the news of our raid upon the Secessionists, and hear that men are killed ; so I will relieve your anxiety as soon as possible. " The interval between reading your letter and commencing this has been employed in cleaning my gun, for we have not long been back. " I suppose you will learn all about it in the pa- pers, but perhaps my account may be interesting. "Yesterday (Friday), about 9.30 a.m., we got orders from our captain to ' fall in, ' and we then re- ceived a close inspection, both of arms and ammuni- tion, to see if they were in serviceable order. Mean- while the rumour amongst the men was that we were to attack the Secessionists gathered in a body at Lin- dell's Grove, passing under the name of the regular annual State encampment. At 1.30 p. m. we marched out at the main gate of the arsenal. Company B, Sec- ond Infantry, in the van, an attached recruit company following, and our own, the second company Gr. S. re- cruits—all commanded by our own company com- ■ Usually addressed as " Kitty." 198 IN THE ARMY IN TIME OF WAR mander, Captain T. W. Sweeney, second in command only to Captain Lyon. A little distance from the gate we halted while the volunteers came on with the artil- lery, most of which were twelve-pound howitzers, fine brass pieces, with the men working them by their side, each armed with a sword bayonet. " Then came the volunteers, variously estimated from three thousand to five thousand men; also an artillery company (Fourth Regiment Regulars) and F Company, Second Artillery. We had to march six miles to reach the grove, in the vicinity of which a strong secession feeling became manifest, venting itself in frequent insulting remarks, of which, however, the volunteers (nearly all Dutch ^) received the great por- tion. When we were within fair gunshot of the en- campment the command was halted (Captain Swee- ney's being on the right), and almost immediately the volunteer regiments, under the command of Boern- steen and Shiitner, surrounded the place from the left. But, quickly as the manoeuvre was made, it was not complete before Captain Lyon had demanded the sur- render of the encampment. There was no chance for refusal. The light field-pieces had already been plant- ed on three neighbouring heights, on as many different sides, loaded with grape and canister, with their round, black throats pointing so directly towards the Seces- sionists that they could see nothing but the muzzles. ' Germans he should have written. 199 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN The demand to surrender was complied with. A com- pany of cavalry rode within pistol-shot of our men, sheathed their sabres, turned and rode away. "At this time a most unfortunate accident hap- pened to Captain Lyon, but happily without fatal con- sequences. He had dismounted from his horse for a few minutes when a major in one of the volunteer regi- ments rode up for some order, and, turning to go, his horse kicked the captain full in the stomach. As soon as he recovered his breath, he walked to a neighbouring booth, supported by a doctor and one of his lieutenants, and lay down. Almost immediately after this Captain Sweeney gave us the command, and we marched into the encampment, surrounded by crowds of citizens who were screaming and yelling the most abusive language they could invent. We marched through them with easy gait and smiling faces, quiet as on parade, for the order was most strictly given ' No cheering,' and not a word was allowed to be spoken by those in ranks. " Not so with the enthusiastic volunteers. Cheer after cheer went up from the assembled crowds, each intent upon screaming the loudest. So we took posses- sion. B Company was immediately, with part of our men, posted around the grove. Sentinels from our company were placed over the officers' and sutler's private property, and the first company recruits were marched off with the prisoners, some six or seven hun- 200 IN THE ARMY IN TIME OF WAR dred, who had previously stacked arms. Part of two regiments of volunteers, a few regulars, and a brass band guarded our fallen foes back towards the arsenal. Meanwhile, those of our company not on duty scattered over the camp, into the lower end of which General Sigel's regiment of volunteers had already entered. Along the road back to town could be seen, drawn up, the prisoners of war, on each side of which were files of volunteers, behind them regulars, and in advance the band. " We could hear the infuriated mob on each side of the road cursing and reviling, at many places trying to break the ranks of the prisoners ' guards by pressing against them; but it was useless, and soon ended at the command ' Charge bayonets, ' quickly obeyed. The band was playing Yankee Doodle. In a few seconds the mob became bolder, pressing still closer, and throw- ing sticks and stones taken from the macadamized road. But at last one man bolder than the rest fired two shots from a pistol into the ranks, and, turning the horse upon which he rode, galloped away. Too late ! The abused soldiers, like one man, fired into the close- pressed mob. Those on the right of the road, as one looks down, were by far the greater portion, and break- ing through the frail fence of the grove, frightened men, boys, and horses ran wildly, at full speed, away from the fire of the volunteers. " Suddenly, the men stationed at the lower end of 201 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN the grounds opened upon them another fire, and be- tween the two, dozens fell. But the last-opened fire injured many of General Sigel's command, and per- haps killed some, I cannot tell. In three minutes it was commenced and ended. As the last shot was fired our company had ' fallen in,' but only to stack arms and find quarters for the night. " General Frost's fine tent was taken possession of by Captain Sweeney, and from all parts of the camp were supplied ice-water, wash-water, a table, blankets and robes, wash-basin, towels, candles, and lanterns; and the captain and myself (his orderly) spent a dry night in the tent, notwithstanding the heavy rain out- side. In the morning everything was packed into- wagons and sent away, with five or six battalions, back to the arsenal. We waited until the wagons returned, put everything upon them, and moved homeward, ar- riving, without any trouble, early in the afternoon. There was much spoil with which many of the volun- teers loaded themselves, but for myself I only threw out two dirty handkerchiefs and took two clean ones ; but, the two blankets and a splendid robe I had used for my bed being thrown into the wagon and brought to the arsenal, the captain said I might keep them. So here you have my history of an expedition of which it is likely you will see many accounts. . . . Give yourself no fear about my desertion. I would never take a discharge, even, in a time like this. More an- 202 IN THE ARMY IN TIME OF WAR other time, my sister Cora. Let my using that name tell you my love. Of course you will send this to Mother." Mr. Brown wrote to Spencer, from Chicago, on the 22d of May : " My dear Son: I was in St. Louis, on the 15th ult., with Fanny, en route, missing your Mother on the river. Your Aunt Mary received a letter informing us, we supposed, of your arrival at Litchfield. I am very sorry, as I could have seen you, and learned your views and desires much better than by letter. . . . Five acres in spring wheat I left looking well. Rock- well has planted garden, potatoes, carrots, and corn, Mr. A doing the ploughing for him. They have a cow and calf, two pigs, and fowls. There were no late frosts, and fruits look well. Have had plenty of rain. Cistern is full. ... I have delayed writing to you, as I did not know how to address you, supposing you had taken on your full name again. Why longer leave off the Brown ? . . . Write me news of your captain, etc., etc. . . . Lane went to Kansas to raise several regiments of cavalry, under the auspices of Government, by State authority. Eleven regiments are raised, or to be raised. We read with great inter- est Captain Lyon's capture of Frost's band of rebels, and feel not a little gratified that my son should be 203 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN allowed to participate in so bold and important a move for disarming and disbanding State treason, " Write me the particulars, and how things look to you from that standpoint. The Government is making very formidable preparations to put down the rebellion. . . . Missouri will be held to her alle- giance, and her loyal citizens will be protected. . . . Large numbers of volunteers, more than could be re- ceived, have been offered. The regulars will fare much better than the volunteers, and, if you remain in the service, it is far better to be in the regular army in that particular. Of your standing truly and faithfully by your country 's flag in this its hour of greatest peril I cannot doubt for a moment ; and that God will protect your life and health is my daily prayer. ' ' " St. Louis, Missouri, May 27, 1861. * ' Dear Father : I heard from you Saturday, and, hearing there was to be a payment to-day, put off writing so as to have the means to repay you the debt you paid Newman. " I am well, and prospects are continually bright- ening for me. I think enlisting will prove one of the most fortunate things that I could have done. I expect to call for a furlough in a week or two, which my cap- tain (T. W. Sweeney) has signified his willingness to give me. Let me here acknowledge the receipt of three papers from Chicago, for which I am obliged. 204 IN THE ARMY IN TIME OF WAR ' ' I have just returned from the United States Ex- press office, where I sent you six dollars, which you can get by calling for it. Charges paid. " You will hear all about the Camp Jackson ex- pedition in the papers, but if you wish my account you must apply to Kitty. I have a good situation now, company clerk, and mean to hold it, if possible. There is not much to do, and very easy times. If I do not get a furlough I shall send the balance of my pay to Rock, to buy a heifer with— at least, I think so now. If I get the furlough I am going South, and will prob- ably return married to age and money. I contem- plated, at first, very seriously, getting a discharge, but, on account of the fine prospect offered me to stay, I concluded I should only want a furlough. For the present, therefore, I shall not trouble about my dis- charge, and I have no doubt will eventually spend much of my life in the service. Of course my pros- pects are something better than those of a common soldier, although we are now leading a most particu- larly lazy life. ' ' My friends here are very kind, and seem to find it difficult to do enough for me. I can only repay them with gratitude. ' ' If you wish me to get your answer, it must come by return mail, or thereabouts. Please acknowledge receipt of package. " P. S.— Adding the Brown to my name now would 205 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN result in considerable inconvenience and some shame : so it's no use." Spencer's experience in the service seemed to in- spire hopefulness. No officer of the old regular army will be surprised at this. Before the rebellion the men who enlisted as common soldiers were nearly all from, the refuse of society. Exceptional cases, such as Spencer's, were marked, and private soldiers of intelligence, in many instances, were helped forward by their officers. A prospect of advancement of some kind soon opened to them. What he meant by the threat to go South and ' ' get married to age and money, " I do not know. Probably he was jesting. On June 14th he wrote to his sister : ' * Just now we are quartered in the city of St. Louis — have been for nearly a month— but we have new business on hand, and are under marching orders, expecting to be sent to Jefferson City ^ this morning. Governor Jack- son, of this State, has called out fifty thousand militia to defend the State,^ and General Lyon has already sent several thousand men to attack him. Jackson has burned two or three large bridges between here and the capital, and, I have no doubt, will give us a * spirited reception.' " ' The capital of the State of Missouri. » Against the United States Government ! 206 IN THE ARMY IN TIME OF WAR Important military changes were taking place in Missouri. Captain Lyon's capture of General Frost's camp of conspirators was soon followed by exposure of the plans of the Governor and other enemies of the National Government, who began openly to range themselves in line with the forces of the Southern re- bellion. On June 12, 1861, Governor Jackson's call for the service of the militia was issued ' ' for the pur- pose of repelling invasion." He raised the standard of revolt, and appointed General Sterling Price to the command of the army he was bringing into the field. On the side of the United States, Captain Lyon was promoted to be a major-general in command of the Department of Missouri. About the middle of June he moved to attack the insurgents, who retired as he approached Jefferson City. He pursued, and over- took and defeated them at Booneville. Lyon held, for a time, military control of the most important points in the State, This was the beginning of earnest war- fare on the part of the Federal Government. Spencer was detached part of the time from his company and sent on special duty as a scout. He was constantly in the saddle, with a number of men under his com- mand, and had " a general roving commission," and " authority to take the best Government horses, or anything else that he needed." He must have been in this service when he wrote to his brother the fol- lowing letter. 207 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN " Springfield, Green County, Missouri, ''Julys, 1861. ' ' Dear Rock : Please send me news in Osawat- omie, particularly where Montgomery is, and how many men he has. Be very careful to send as correct news as possible, something that can be relied upon, as it will be of great importance to me if correct. " Please address me as dear brother, and do not speak of Father in your letter. Do not express any wonder at what I ask. " To set your mind at rest about my safety, I am doing well, but can do still better if you can send me this information that I ask. If you know where Lane is, and how many men he has, it will be useful. Ad- dress ' Spencer Kellogg,' Springfield, Green County, Missouri, and write, sure, by return mail. '' Love to Mother. Spencer." That month, while the arms of the nation and its enemies were clashing in Kansas and Missouri, " the new stone Congregational Church in Osawatomie was dedicated, the Rev. Mr. Adair, the pastor, preaching the sermon on the occasion, and the Rev. Mr. Copeland offering the dedicatory prayer. The communion ser- vice was celebrated in the afternoon. ' ' Spencer's life soon came to an end; the rebellion waxed, waned, and was extinguished. The Congrega- 208 IN THE ARMY IN TIME OF WAR tional Chiirch in Osawatomie still worships in the building which was reared and dedicated in the time of the people's trial and distress. ' ' Oh, where are kings and empires now, Of old that went and came ? But, Lord, thy Church is praying yet, A thousand years the same. " Unshaken as eternal hills, Immovable she stands," and shall stand — not the outward structure ; not, neces- sarily, the same ecclesiastical organization; but the everlasting, invincible body of God's believing, pray- ing people. On July 22d Mrs. Brown wrote from Osawatomie to her eldest daughter : ' ' To-day we hear there are eight hundred Secessionists at Squiresville, coming on to burn Paola and Osawatomie. Mr. Adair told Charley and Rock it would do no harm to have some bullets ready. . . . We have to expect danger, for we are threatened. . . . Poor Spencer ! I tremble for him. . . . He is in General Lyon's army, at Springfield, Missouri, where they are waiting for ac- cessions, to have, I suppose, the greatest battle they have had yet. If his life is only spared, let us be thankful for that ; but I think he was never before so exposed. ' ' 209 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN Spencer began to think he could do better for his country and for himself as a commissioned officer. Ac- cordingly he wrote about the matter, on July 31, 1861, to his father. " The time has come at last to apply for my dis- charge. , . . Once having my discharge from the regular army I could obtain, without much difficulty, a commission in one of the companies rising like mush- rooms everywhere around, and my drill and experience in the regular army would fit me for it. ' ' Before Mr. Brown could act upon this letter news was received of the battle of Springfield, in which Gen- eral Lyon was killed. After the battle at Booneville the insurgents re- treated through southwestern Missouri towards Ar- kansas. A force of federal troops commanded by Col- onel Franz Sigel advanced from St. Louis, through Rolla, and came upon the main body of the enemy, much superior to itself, near Carthage, the county seat of Jasper County. After a sharp engagement, Sigel fell back to Springfield. There Lyon, with his troops, joined him, and took command of the whole force. By the end of July the army of Jackson and Price had been re-enforced by troops from the South, and is said to have numbered about twenty thousand men. Mc- Cullough and Rains, of the Confederate Army, were among the officers. Lyon had but six thousand troops, four hundred of whom were cavalry. Nevertheless he 210 IN THE ARMY IN TIME OF WAR fought McCuUough and Rains, at Dug Springs, nine- teen miles from Springfield, and defeated them. On August 4th he returned to Springfield. ... On the 10th, before dawn, he attacked the combined force of the rebels, commanded by McCullough. At nine o'clock in the morning he was mortally wounded. He had won a most enviable reputation for courage and military skill. He was succeeded by Major Sturgis. Although the Federal Army seemed to be victorious, it was withdrawn the next day, by Sigel, to RoUa. It was not deemed safe to risk another encounter with a force numerically so superior, or to attempt to hold the field in the face of such a foe. When Spencer's friends next heard of him he had returned to the banks of the Mississippi. From St. Louis he wrote, on August 20th : ' ' Deae Mother : You have undoubtedly heard of our battle at Springfield, . . . and as you knew I was there I supposed you would be anxious to hear from me. Immediately after the fight we returned to Rolla, from which place I was sent on here, by General Sweeney, to make out some papers. ... I was not in the fight, as I belonged to the commissary depart- ment and could not obtain permission from Major Mudd, my commanding officer. ' ' The fight was very severe, and we must have lost nearly a thousand men. 211 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN " Since my last I have been seeing much better times, have been made an acting sergeant in the com- missary department, getting about eight dollars a month more than before. But better times are coming still, if all works well. I have been promised a cap- taincy in a new regiment, and I expect to get my com- pany in a few days. ' ' Inclosed you will find my picture, taken since the battle. I have had no opportunity of ' fixing up ' yet. Government owes me over forty dollars. I hope to get it in a few days; also some new clothes. *' Give one of the pictures to Aunt Mary. Take your choice. " Tell Rock I would like to hear from him." Spencer had now been in the regular army between eight and nine months, and much of that time had been passed in garrison, where he had been carefully in- structed and drilled in military tactics. He had seen service in the field and had taken some part in actual warfare. As a scout he had ridden a distance estimated at nine hundred miles. In all this experience he had so conducted himself as to merit the approval of his officers and comrades. On September 16, 1861, Gen- eral Fremont gave him an honourable discharge, and appointed him first lieutenant to recruit the " Lyon Legion " — a body of scouts which would be attached to the Twelfth Regiment of Missouri Volunteers. 212 IN THE ARMY IN TIME OF WAR To his sister Kitty, Spencer wrote from St. Louis, on September 21st, rejoicing in anticipation of in- creased pay, and ability to help the loved ones of his father 's family. * ' The war is fairly beginning, ' ' said he. ' ' Lucky for me was the apparently untoward circumstance of my enlistment in the ' regulars,' for it fits me to fill the position I occupy, and, perhaps, for future ad- vancement. Ah! your little, unpractical, theoretical brother has had many of the sharp, uncompromising corners rubbed from him, and is getting, more than ever he thought, a man of the world. I am sorry! almost ashamed ! When I look back it seems that if I had married happily, with the old notions and green- ness, and retired to some out-of-the-way town, life had been full of much keener enjoyment than can ever come to me as worldly as I have got to be. Yet I have friends — that is, acquaintances — now, that I had not then, and money, too — better, you see, in every worldly view ; yet I am sorry for the exchange. '' And how fares my sister? Is life gliding away quietly and happily, or are the rubs frequent 1 Please tell me, Kitty, when you write, and let me know. I should be happy if I could only do something for you. Let me make you an offer! After I get my first month's salary, how would you like to live with me? that is, make your home in St. Louis, and keep house, so that your brother, when he was in town, could have 15 213 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN some one to be proud of. Do you like the notion 1 Is the salary enough ? I should need seventy-five dollars a month, or nearly so much. Would the rest be suffi- cient for you? That last looks selfish, but I fear I could not get along with less. Let me know. Let me hear from you soon. . . ." On October 6th, to the same beloved sister, he wrote : ' ' Dear Kitty : You do not know with what pleas- ure I have heard from you at last — for I have written to you more than once. I get up from reading yours and Father's letters to answer immediately. ' ' How selfish I have been, darling ! I deserve more humbling yet. I never knew how poor Father suffered ; and, Kitty, much as I love you, I must help him first. You will wait — will you not, Kitty? — and let me do what I can for him first. You are young and brave yet, and I can help but one at a time. I know how much I am asking, Kitty, but do not think it is a loss to you only. But I leave it to you. My plan is this : Rock must take care of the folks in Kansas." He then elaborates a plan for the help of his invalid father, pro- posing to bring him to St. Louis, where all attention, medical and other, that he might need, could be be- stowed upon him while he was ill and without money. He goes on to say : ' ' So, at least he can live comfort- ably ; and I can willingly make the sacrifice for either 214 IN THE ARMY IN TIME OF WAR him or you. ... It will be much of a sacrifice, for I shall have to go without money in my pocket, and live like a common soldier instead of an officer ; nor do I wish him to know, Kitty — only you — ^so that you can see how it is. * ' Next month, and after, with good fortune, I can do for you. ... If you approve of all this, Kitty, and like it, send the inclosed letter to Father, and en- deavour to get him to consent. Dear, dear Kitty, I know how much this will disappoint your bright hopes; but can I do differently? " I have no money now, Kitty, and am living on credit, so I cannot send now, but am hoping before Father's answer comes to have it to send. I had an- other plan, before you told me of Father, that would have given me much pleasure ; but I am fortunate in having a pleasing duty. Let me hear from you imme- diately on receipt of this. . . . Remember me, with love, to the friends. Imagine my arms around your own neck. Spense. ' ' Do not tell Father of anything but the favour- able parts of my plan — nothing about me." Spencer was nineteen years of age when he penned that letter. Could anything have been at the same time more boyish, more beautiful, more dutiful? To his father he sent, inclosed to his sister, the following letter. 215 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN " St. Louis, Missouri, October 6, 1861. ' ' Dear Father : I was much pleased to hear from you at last — for I had written and received no answer. But let me get through with business. ' ' I have been very selfish this long time : now let me make amends. Let me ask careful attention to my plan following, and if you think you can live happily and comfortably in the manner I speak of, let nothing prevent you from accepting the offer I am about to make. Remember how much you have done for me — as / remember. Remember, and reflect upon your present situation (forgive me for speaking of it), and let me do for you what I can, not reluctantly, but with joy and love. . . . " Here he unfolds his plan, and then proceeds to say : " When I look at it, this is very little, dear Father, but it is the best I can offer ; and I am happy in being able to offer so much. I shall await your answer with much impatience. I would like to hear from you im- mediately. ' ' All Spencer's plans were frustrated by the re- moval of General Fremont. It became impossible to recruit a company of scouts. He therefore either threw up his commission or it failed of confirmation. After his letters of October 6th his friends knew nothing of his movements until, six months later, they received tidings of his reappearance in St. Louis. 216 CHAPTER XXI THE MISSISSIPPI EIVER The upper Mississippi, when not roiled by freshets, is a clear and placid stream. Not far from its source its volume of water becomes considerable. Below the Falls of St. Anthony the river has a width of about half a mile. After it receives the St. Croix it expands into beautiful Lake Pepin, a sheet of water more than twenty miles long and from two to four in width. The Mississippi in its upper course flows among hills that rival in their beauty those of the Ohio River, There are many islands in the Mississippi, some of which are of considerable size, and some are clothed with trees and vegetation of inferior growth so luxuriant as to remind one of the banks and islands of rivers in trop- ical lands. The shores and sand-bars are frequented by countless birds — cranes, flamingoes, ducks, geese, swans, and other wading and swimming fowl. For a great distance above the mouth of the Mis- souri River the Mississippi broadens gradually as it flows southward, until, at the confluence, it is fully one mile and a half wide. After receiving the Missouri 217 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN the Mississippi changes much, both in colour and in depth. It also loses the placid dignity and beauty that characterize the upper river ; and its tide, majestic al- though turbid, rolls onward troubled in many places near the shores by boiling and dangerous eddies and whirlpools. Between the confluence with the Missouri and the mouth of the Ohio the river has an average width of only three-quarters of a mile ; and for the re- mainder of its course to the Gulf of Mexico its average width is said not to exceed a mile. The influx of all its great tributaries only deepens its channel. Four hundred miles from its mouth the river has a depth of about one hundred and fifty feet. Between New Orleans and the Delta, at places far distant from each other, a large anchor was dropped three times by a vessel descending with the current, and it did not reach bottom in any case with less than three hundred and sixty feet of cable.^ I remember to have put into one of the mouths of the Mississippi in June, 1865, to get a supply of fresh water, which we were able to do as soon as we had entered the ' ' Pass. ' ' The river re- pels the salt water and is fresh until it pours itself into the Gulf. The muddy current of the Mississippi is said to be distinguishable at sea when the mariner has not yet come within sight of land. Because of the directness of its flow from north to south this river differs from nearly all others in respect ' Encyclopedia Americana. 218 THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER of the diverse climates through which it passes, and the very numerous and various productions of the regions it waters. As the warm season advances slowly from south to north, unfettering the ice-bound waters and melting the snows of the northern part of our land gradually, the great river is seldom subject to destructive and dangerous floods. Sometimes, however, they do occur, inundating vast areas in Louisiana, where the embank- ments, called " levees," which commonly protect the lowlands along the river, are broken through, in places, and great damage to adjacent plantations, the drown- ing of horses and cattle, the wrecking of houses, and even dreadful loss of human life occasionally result. Such a breach of the protecting dyke is called a " crevasse." The embankments are made of stiff earth and sods, strengthened with cypress logs. They are from five to fifteen feet in height and from ten to thirty in width. When the river flowing between these embankments is full, to the stranger, viewing the scene from the deck of a passing steamboat, the prospect of rich fields, teeming with luxuriant crops and studded with villas and villages full of life and animation, lying below the level of the river, is novel and startling to the last degree.* Below the mouth of the Ohio the islands in the Mississippi have all been numbered, but the numbers ' Mitchell's General Geography. 219 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN have become very irregular, owing to the washing away of many islands and the formation of new ones by the force of the moving waters. The volume of water carried to the sea by the Mis- sissippi is immense. The courses navigable by steamboats on the Missis- sippi, its tributaries and their affluents, were estimated, many years ago, at seventeen thousand miles, but are really much more; for some of the branches which were not then supposed to be navigable have been opened to traffic by steamboats. To possess the mouths and the control of the Mis- sissippi was the great motive for the Louisiana Pur- chase, made by the United States in 1803. When the Civil War began, in 1861, the people of the northern part of the Mississippi Valley (which comprises hundreds of valleys) soon felt the incon- venience that resulted from the obstruction of the navigation of the great river. They believed that the Almighty meant the Mississippi to be a lasting and effectual protest against any separation of the South of the United States from the North; and they were resolved never to tolerate any political arrangement that would resign the control of any part of the river to a foreign power. The proposal to divide the own- ership of the Mississippi not only touched the patriotic pride of these people, but threatened the arteries of their commercial life. They determined that " the 220 THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER Father of Waters should go imvexed to the sea, ' ' and that his whole course should lie within the United States. The river soon became the scene of extraordinary naval and military activity and prowess. 221 CHAPTER XXII THE WESTERN FLOTILLA On the breaking out of the war in 1861 it was im- mediately seen by the Government at Washington, and also by the leaders of " The Rebellion," that the con- trol of the Mississippi River by either side would, in the end, give to that side victory. Before General Fremont had been appointed to the command of the Western Department, the Secretary of the Navy began to arrange with James B. Eads for the construction of gun-boats, which, according to the contract proposed, were to draw six feet of water, carry thirteen heavy guns each, be plated with iron two and a half inches thick, and be capable of a speed of nine miles an hour. Notwithstanding this prior consideration of the matter, it strangely came to pass that " Mr. Eads signed a contract, in August, 1861, with Quartermaster-General Meigs, of the Army, to construct seven vessels, and to have them ready for their crews and armaments in sixty-five days. The en- gines that were to drive this, our first iron-clad fleet, were yet to be constructed. " The timber for their hulls was uncut in the forest." The machinery and 222 THE WESTERN FLOTILLA the huge rollers that were to make the iron armour were not yet in existence. The short time allowed for the doing of the work made it necessary to engage, for the undertaking, many of the greatest iron-mills and boat- building yards in St. Louis, Cincinnati, and Pittsburg. Instantly, when this extraordinary contract had been entered into, great firms, and individual " mas- ters of industry," were employed, by telegraph, to push forward, with tremendous energy, different parts of the work. Special agents were despatched in every direction ; saw-mills were set to cutting the timber re- quired for the construction of the vessels, simulta- neously in Kentucky, Tennessee, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Minnesota, and Missouri; and railroads, steam- boats, and barges were engaged for its immediate transportation. Nearly all the largest machine-shops and foundries in St. Louis, and many smaller ones, were at once set to work day and night, and the tele- graph lines between St. Louis and Pittsburg and Cin- cinnati were occupied frequently for hours together in transmitting instructions to similar establishments in those cities for the construction of the twenty-one steam-engines and the five-and-thirty steam-boilers that were to propel the fleet. ' ' Within two weeks not less than four thousand men were engaged in the va- rious details of its construction. " " Neither the sanc- tity of the Sabbath nor the darkness of night was per- mitted to interrupt " the work. To the workmen on 223 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN the hulls a handsome bonus in money was promised if they should steadfastly keep to their task till the work should be completed. " Many thousands of dollars were thus gratuitously paid by Mr. Eads. ' ' " On the 12th of October, 1861, the first United States iron-clad, with her boilers and engines on board, was launched at Carondelet, Missouri, in forty-five days from the laying of her keel." ^ This vessel was called the St. Louis, but when the gun-boats were transferred from the War Department to the Navy her name was changed to De Kalb, " in consequence of the fact that there was already a man-of-war known as the St. Louis." Ten days later the Carondelet was launched, ' ' and then, in rapid succession, the Cincin- nati, Louisville, Mound City, Cairo, and Pittsburg. The construction of an eighth vessel, larger and more powerful, to be called the Benton, was undertaken be- fore the hulls of the first seven had fairly assumed shape." And so Mr. Eads began and finished, within one hundred days, the construction of a powerful flo- tilla of eight boats capable of steaming at nine knots an hour, " each heavily armoured, fully equipped," and ready for their armament — in all one hundred and seven large guns. " That such work was done is no- bler praise than any that can be bestowed in words. ' ' There was another vessel not mentioned hitherto. With that Spencer's career was to be connected. ' Century Magazine for January, 1885. 224 THE WESTERN FLOTILLA Two sons of Commodore David Porter, " the hero of the Pacific " — officers of high rank in the United States Navy — fought in the war for the suppression of the Rebellion. William D. Porter was ordered, Sep- tember 27, 1861, to take command of one of the gun- boats of the " Western flotilla." When this vessel was bought by the Government she was a St. Louis ferry-boat. Her metamorphosis made her a gun-boat of enormous power for resistance or attack. " Porter was allowed by Commodore A. A. Foote only eighteen days to get her together. Within that time he had her off the docks, and in three days more she was steaming down the Mississippi River. Of course there was still much to be done and no place to do it. Porter therefore seized three large coal- scows and converted them into a movable navy-yard. Of one scow he made a blacksmith's shop and iron- working establishment; another was a boat-shed and carpenter's department, while the third became a coal depot. When the gun-boat moved up stream she towed the scows with her. When she went down stream they followed her. Sometimes she went into action, fighting at one end while carpenters, calkers, blacksmiths, and painters were working at the other. The crew was divided into gangs — wood-choppers, coal-heavers, carpenters, calkers, etc. — constituting a complete workshop in themselves." This gun-boat, in memory of the frigate lost near 225 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN Valparaiso in March, 1813, was named the Essex. She was of about five hundred tons burden. She fought, at Lucas 's Bend, the first naval battle that took place on the Mississippi in the Civil War, whipping three hostile gun-boats that were on their way to attack Cairo, and driving them beneath the protection of the rebel batteries at Columbus. At that time her bow only was iron-clad, but all hands on board were making the boat stronger hour by hour. Her armament consisted of three nine-inch Dahl- gren shell-guns, one ten-inch Dahlgren shell-gun, two fifty-pound rifled Dahlgrens, one large thirty-two pounder, and one twenty-four-pound boat-howitzer. In due time the Western Flotilla was transferred by the Department of War to the Navy Department. 226 CHAPTER XXIII spencer's enlistment in the navy ' In the autumn of 1861 the Confederates' line of military defences in Kentucky and Tennessee was al- ready drawn. ZoUicoffer, strongly posted at the Pass of Cumberland Gap, in East Tennessee, held the right of the line; Polk held the left, at Columbus, on the Mississippi River, in Kentucky; Bowling Green, Port Donelson and Fort Henry were the most important points between these extremes. Here, then, were three fortified positions, believed by the insurgents to be impregnable, against which the Navy of the United States and the Army could co-operate. Indeed, a naval force was indispensable, and the utility of the gun-boats was soon manifest. When General Fremont was removed from com- mand of the "Western Department there was great dis- content among those who had been under him. In some places meetings were held by civilians to express their indignation. Many of the General's officers threatened to resign. 227 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN Although Spencer 's disappointment fairly stunned him, he wasted no time in vain regrets. He was to have received a captain's commission from Fremont. After that general's removal the " Lyon Legion " could not be recruited, and Spencer felt himself to be without a calling. He enlisted in the Navy as a com- mon sailor, and was assigned to the Essex. Blake declared, in Cromwell's time, "It is our duty to serve our country, no matter into whose hands the Government may fall." So believed Spencer Kellogg. Still passing under this abridged name, he entered the new service. He must have believed that the disappointment of all his plans and hopes for himself and his parents would prove a blow no less severe to them than it had been to him. For a long time they heard nothing from him. At last they read, with poignant suffering and deep humiliation, that Spencer Kellogg had deserted, one night in January, 1862, from the gun-boat Essex, and was believed to have gone over to the enemy. Such was the report published, by authority, in the St. Louis newspapers. The agony of mind endured by his relatives for the next three months may be conceived by those who, intensely loyal themselves, were af- flicted in that dreadful war by the disloyalty, or re- ported treachery, of sons or brothers. Their first relief came in the subjoined letter : 228 ENLISTMENT IN THE NAVY " St. Louis, April 11, 1862. " Dear Cousin: I have this moment seen Spen- cer. Although he had only a moment's time to spend with me, he assured me (and of course I have the ut- most confidence in his assertion) that he was just on his return from a secret expedition to Dixie,^ and that when he left it was understood with his officers that he was to be reported as a deserter. " I am so rejoiced to learn this fact. that I am quite too nervous to write ; so I will close by sending the kind regards of myself and my family. " Yours truly, " Wm. F. Cozzens.'^ This kind note from Mrs. Brown's cousin was soon followed by a few lines from Spencer himself to his eldest sister. "St. Louis, Missouri, April 12, 1862. ' ' Dear Kitty : Just returning to St. Louis yester- day, I found for the first time the anxiety on my account, and the reports about me, which I never dreamed of your hearing. You see I am very nervous, so I will not be prolix. " I have been South on scout service, examining the rebel fortifications of the Mississippi River for over two months, and have just returned and reported, 1 A name for the South — the " Seceded States." 16 229 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN with maps and plans, to the Secretary of War, day before yesterday. " But Kitty, how came you so far to lose confi- dence in me as to believe such stories, simply because something was unexplained ? I would never have done it of you, Kitty, though the whole world spoke against you. " Address Spencer Kellogg, care of William F. Cozzens, firm Cozzens and Hull, St. Louis, Missouri. " I await your immediate answer. ** Spencer." 230 CHAPTER XXIV SECRET SERVICE To Mr. Levi Cozzens, of Utica, New York, Spencer wrote this account of his dangerous exploits in the South: " St. Louis, Missouri, May 6, '62. '' Grandfather Cozzens. ' ' Dear Sir : I received your letter yesterday, and hasten to answer it with pleasure. '' I sent Kitty something of an account of my ex- perience in ' Secessia,' but perhaps a more detailed one will not be uninteresting. Here goes ! " During the last of January there was, you will remember, the calm in military and naval movements that usually precedes a storm. At that time . . . Columbus, then still held by the rebels, was the point upon which much anxiety centred from both North and South. " At the time I speak of I belonged to the gun- boat Essex, Porter commander. To say the least, I was uneasy, and, after deliberating on the matter, I spoke first to a comrade, whom I knew well, and on the evening of the 29th of January asked permission of 231 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN the executive officer, Captain Riley, to have an inter- view with Captain Porter. Granted, and I stood at the door. ' Come in, young man. Speak quick! ' ** It confused even me somewhat, and I have some brass. " ' I would like a few words in private,' I said, but so confusedly that I had to repeat. Ejecting his secretary by some verbal violence he bade me enter and sit down. I volunteered my services for an ex- ploration of the river batteries at Columbus, meeting his approbation of my plans for action, as I unfolded them, and retired as much relieved as if I was return- ing instead of being on the point of setting out upon a dangerous expedition. " The time allotted for our absence was ten days. In my pocket I had a leave of absence for my comrade and myself : also a pass through the pickets. The next day the tug attending upon the Essex took us up to Cairo to make some little preparations, and I had with me nearly a hundred dollars, given me for purchases, deposits, etc., by the men. At noon, having satisfac- torily acquitted all our business, we had a good din- ner of fried oysters, etc., and we spent the afternoon at billiards, getting back to the boat about dark. So far, all good. I had taken a pair of irons with me to Cairo, getting them twisted apart, although the work was done most awkwardly. " In the afternoon Captain Porter had caused a 232 SECRET SERVICE small skiff that was lying near us to be put in perfect order and attached to the stern of the gun-boat, with oars handy. I then went up to the purser, depositing seven dollars and a half, and keeping three dollars in specie, and taking a receipt, which I gave to a friend to keep. We also left word with him to wake my com- rade and myself at half past two. '' We woke late, however, but got on an extra amount of clothing (for it was extremely cold), and, dropping into the skiff, succeeded in making good our escape — ^the bell noting three o'clock as we left the vessel in the distance. *' After half an hour, spent with frequent inter- ruptions of warming ourselves by some little exercise, we succeeded in getting the irons upon my wrists, soon to remove them, however, on account of the in- tense cold ; nor were they replaced until we were with- in sight of Columbus. " We searched ourselves carefully for letters and papers, destroying, among others, our leave of absence and pass, only keeping one for effect. Meanwhile, we muffled the oars with handkerchiefs, which were soon rendered useless by the water freezing upon them as hard as rock. We also, at first, secreted, each, a fine saw and file, to cut steel, but afterwards threw them over as useless, and, if found, criminating. " On the passage down the cold told upon us with fearful effect, benumbing us in spite of our most se- 233 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN vere exertions. My comrade, who had been injured in one arm, suffered very severely. A little before dawn we passed the Grampus (a notorious craft) at anchor in the river, unnoticed and without hailing. At last, as the dawn was beginning to make things show a lit- tle, we passed the town, and finally effected a land- ing on the steamer Charm, our repeated hails having failed to bring any answer. ' ' Here, once fairly on board, we succeeded in rais- ing somebody, and, telling him we were deserters from the North, got him to take us up to the floating bat- tery. Here we reported to Captain Guthrie as desert- ers, got kind treatment, and I was released from my irons. But still the suspicion was very great, and Captain Guthrie refused to allow us to leave the ship (we did not ask him), while he went up to Major- General Polk, then commanding at Columbus, and consulted about us. He asked us many questions, which we answered in a way that seemed remarkably like prevarication to each other. " However, after he came back from General Polk's we were put aboard the ' Floating Battery,' where we spent three days of idleness and anxiety under a cheerful countenance. On the fourth of Feb- ruary we were sent aboard the Confederate gun-boat General Polk, and were immediately sent below and put under guard. The day before, Captain Guthrie said that as we wanted to join the army he 234 SECRET SERVICE would send us to Island Number Ten, to Captain Gray's company, and so we were finally on the way. The gun-boat got under way in about two hours, after which we were brought up from the hold and sent for- ward among the men. They were very kind, giving and offering everything but clothes, of which the de- ficiency was everywhere apparent. " At noon they made us drink grog with them, and gave us a dinner which seemed excellent. Indeed, I may say we were in no place so trying during the whole trip as to take away our appetites. " Meantime we walked about, improving the op- portunity for seeing, among other things, the pecu- liar construction of the boat, her four rifled Parrott guns, mounted on a carriage and slide of Southern in- vention, and apparently, by a unanimous verdict of two, superior to anything we had seen in the North. " After a while we were had up to a very severe cross-examination separately; but we had previously compared notes, and came through all right. " On the way down to Island Number Ten we passed a little place on the river shore where we saw a severe bite-and-gouge fight. We arrived the same evening at Number Ten, but did not leave the boat, the men giving us a good bed. " The next day the gun-boat steamed down to Madrid, giving us a good opportunity to see the fort and town ; but we did not try to go ashore. I shouldn 't 235 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN omit a laughable remark of the second master of the gun-boat at the time of our examination of the day be- fore. He said we were a couple of sharp-looking fellows, just such as they would send on such business ; upon which I made laugh, remarking that he compli- mented us. '' We did not stop at Madrid over two hours, and on going back to Number Ten we still stayed aboard. They used every effort to induce us to ship on their gun-boat, but the excuse ( if we should be taken by our boat we should certainly hang) seemed so plausible that they could not insist. After spending the second night on the gun-boat, on the sixth of February we were finally sent ashore, and hired ourselves very read- ily to Captain Gray, of the Engineer Corps, as men of all work. Gray immediately set us to work building a house, leaving us the first opportunity to speak in perfect security and leave when we wished. We worked hard that day with the carpenters, and the next also on the house. Afterwards we were put to work cleaning a sixty-eight-pound gun that had just been mounted, which we put in perfect order. Later, having charge of the magazine, we moved it a couple of miles on a boat, and guarded it until we were relieved by soldiers. Then we did sailors' work with needle and palm, and all sorts of job-work, never hard nor very constant, but a little vexatious. I did not know how long this 236 SECRET SERVICE would last, and begged Trussel, my comrade, to re- turn with me ; ^ but hie insisted upon our staying a while longer, and we finally agreed to do so. About this time Trussel went with Captain Gray to Colum- bus, where Gray stayed about four days, and, getting drunk, returned without him, Trussel stayed nearly a week longer in Columbus, getting complete informa- tion in regard to fortifications, guns, and torpedoes, and finally returned with an assistant engineer, Mr. Pattison, who proved to be our future ' boss.' But a rumour had already begun to circulate that Columbus was to be evacuated, and he thought he saw evidence of this while there, and so refused to return North with his information. He was in much better repute with the officers than I was, and his facilities for get- ting information were large. He demurred to the idea of returning until the matter of evacuation was per- manently settled ; and he was right. " One bright day, while we were at work survey- ing, with Mr. Pattison, boat-load after boat-load be- gan to come in sight, land, and encamp ; while ammu- nition and commissary stores poured in in enormous quantities. Of course there was immense waste in both. At this time (of the evacuation) there were only seven guns mounted at Island Number Ten, and if our gun-boats had attacked 'twould have been ' a take ' worth having. ' The time allotted for their absence was only ten days. 237 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN " Our work now was with Pattison, surveying, sometimes on the opposite shore, sometimes on the Island, and mostly on the mainland, where we lived. I managed to get all the important distances by steal- ing a glimpse at a map. We were then waiting impa- tiently for Madrid to be taken, to make our escape by floating down the river to that place. " Meanwhile our course of life began to improve under Pattison, Trussel being flag-man, while I walked alongside two lusty negroes who carried the chain, noting the distances. At first I was tempted to give them inaccurately, but upon reflection acted differ- ently, and with success, as the ground was afterward rechained and my chaining found correct. " On the day of the capture of Madrid we were nearly eleven miles from the island, surveying at the foot of Reelfoot Lake, to see if there was any passage by which Yankee soldiers could enter. Found none, but on our return found that Madrid was evacuated and the troops at Tiptonville. " During the whole of the preceding trip, and for some time before, I had suffered with diarrhoea; but upon that trip I was feeling pretty well, but my com- rade suffered terribly. He being mounted and I afoot (because he was not well), Pattison took him on a cross survey with a prismatic compass, and sent me home, so that I arrived and heard the news first. " On arriving at Number Ten, I found a number 238 SECRET SERVICE of gun-boats (five), transports, and a few mortar- vessels, which began to shell the place soon. I could easily have escaped that night, but Trussel not being there I dared not leave him. On Sunday he returned, but altered much, suffering fearfully with his com- plaint, and almost unable to move. So I did nothing else but take care of him and watch our shells as they exploded all around. I went out frequently upon the bank of the river for that purpose, and must say they were of but little account there. ' ' During Sunday night I made every arrangement for escape and return, but was again obliged to defer the attempt, as I dared not leave my comrade, although he begged me to do so. On Monday morning, while about to prepare some tea for him, being outside the house, I was suddenly arrested by an Irish lieutenant of the Sappers, and strictly kept from giving Trussel ^ the least hint of what had happened, or sending for my clothes, or even sending the medicine to my com- rade. " Being taken before the commanding officer, Gen- eral Mc (I forget his name ^), and informed upon — ' This young man, General, was standing on the bank yesterday all day, and we suspect him of being a 1 Fifteen months later, at Vicksburg, Trussel reported to Gen- eral Grant with very important information. 2 General W. W. Mackall, Confederate Commander at Island Number Ten. 239 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN spy, and about to give information to the enemy ' — I was by him immediately put in charge of Colonel Seott, Twelfth Louisiana Volunteers, who moved soon afterwards to Tiptonville. Marching, one of the men being overloaded I helped him carry his ' traps,' gaining thereby much goodwill and a pair of blankets to sleep under for the rest of the time that I was under guard. At Tiptonville we camped in the mud, where I sat all day under guard upon two rails, and slept about half of the night upon four rails. " Although five miles distant the mortar-shells could be distinctly seen bursting in the air all through the day. * ' About midnight the regiment moved, taJiing me with them aboard a boat that soon afterward started for Fort Pillow. '' Here I stood all night under guard before the furnace door, trying to warm myself but freezing all the time. I was neglected in the morning, and did not get any breakfast until, meeting one of the oflEicers, I gave him a good blowing up, and got him to send the Colonel (Scott) to me. I asked him if he had or- ders to starve me, and he, repenting, took me upstairs and gave me a good breakfast. Immediately after, feeling better, I began to use my eyes, taking a good and comprehensive view of the fort, breastworks, cali- bre of the guns, etc. I was taken up the hill and placed upon the side of a bank, upon which a little grass had 240 SECRET SERVICE begun to grow (March 18th), and, the sun being pleasantly warm, slept nearly all day. I got a bite of dinner from some of the men, the officers neglecting me altogether until night, when one of them gave me some supper after dark, and I went to sleep on a borrowed blanket. It commenced raining soon, and with ex- treme difficulty I got the guard to take me under the shelter of the porch of the commissary store-house near by. Once there, I slept like a top. ' ' I must not forget to mention that having an in- sult from one of the regiment the day before, I told him he would not dare give it if I had not been a pris- oner, upon which I challenged him to fight with either sword or bayonet — ^which the guard would not allow ; whereupon the fellow threatened to give me as soon as I was released. I know something about a bayonet, and during the two months previous to my undertaking the trip I had nearly three hours a day of practice with cutlass and small sword. " The next day a guard-tent was assigned, under which a little incident occurred. I was lying on the blanket under the tent when a sergeant of the regiment (Twelfth Louisiana Volunteers), Dan Hickman, came up pretty ' tight,' but in a good-natured way, with a full canteen of whisky by his side. " Coming into the tent in spite of all the guard could do, he sat down by my side, and in a drunken, affectionate manner, began to brush my hair back. 241 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN ' You're a pretty good-l'kmg fel'r. What's yo' name ? ' ' Kellogg, ' said I, ' Spencer Kellogg, all the world over, and in the Southern Confederacy to boot. ' ' Well, Kellogg,' he said, still fumbling round my head, * they say y'r a spy, but I reck'n it's all right. You've got a good for'ed, 'n' a fine open count- 'nance (hie).' Suddenly, ' Will y'r have a drink? ' You ought to have seen the air of eagerness with which I seized that canteen, and the length of time I gurgled at it. He went out soon, being alarmed for the safety of its contents ; but he afterwards proved friendly to me, ' ' It was not the only whisky-drinking that I did in the South. While going down the river to Island Num- ber Ten I drank grog every day on the gun-boat Gen- eral Polk, and when at the Island frequently went aboard to promote good fellowship by drinking with the sailors. " One day — the one after Madrid was evacuated — while going back to Number Ten from a surveying ex- pedition at Reelfoot Lake, the General Polk was lying at Tipton ville ( Obion ville), and I went aboard, being invited by the sailors. While on board, grog being offered me, I was about to take the ' tot ' when the ex- ecutive officer, from the deck above, a man of gold but- tons and blue broadcloth (brass-mounted, the sailors call it), called out: " ' Who gave you permission to drink that grog? ' 242 SECRET SERVICE ** * No one gave me permission,' I replied; * the men asked me to drink.' *' ' We don't give away grog on this ship,' said he, with a tartaric-acid aspect — but a moment after I set down the eup he said, * You have permission to drink. ' I replied that I did not wish it, upon which he told me, sharply, that I might leave that ship — which I did. It made me bitter, but when I told Trussel he laughed. " At Fort Pillow I remained under guard two weeks to a day, receiving, in the main, most kind treat- ment, winning the confidence in my innocence of most of the officers and men, teaching the officers sword practice and the men bayonet exercise, and playing many a game of whist and ball. The weather was fine, and I enjoyed myself famously, without any appre- hensions for the future. Finally I induced an officer (he made me promise to join his company) to speak to General Villipique, then commanding at the place, in my favour. He immediately sent for me, asking only a few questions, what I was going to do, etc., and upon my statement that I was going to Corinth to en- list, he released me, and before I left, gave me a pass, transportation, and five days' provisions. I did not leave for three days, during which time I assure you I saw all there was to see about Fort Pillow. ' ' Started for Corinth, via Memphis, landing at the latter place next day in the morning. Got my pass * vised ' at the provost marshal's office, and, seeing 243 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN Memphis industriously until five o'clock p. m., started for Corinth. General Trudeau and his aide were in the cars, and, securing a seat near them, I obtained much valuable information from their conversation. Spent the night at Grand Junction. The next day, when about to leave, found a man belonging to the First Louisiana Cavalry Volunteers, who, much to his own satisfaction, picked me up as a recruit to his com- pany. He was at all the expense upon our arrival at Corinth, where I stayed that day and night, leaving the next day for luka, twenty-five miles farther on, where his regiment was expected that night. I arrived at luka, and his regiment came in during the evening, upon which I domiciled myself with his company (be- ing acceptable, as it was small) , but would not be sworn in until he gave me the bounty-money, fifty dollars, which not being on hand, I commenced serving with- out being sworn in at all. Managed to pass the night in a semi-freezing condition near a small fire, and in the morning sponged some breakfast off one of the messes. ' ' The sound of the fight at Pittsburg Landing ^ > " Shiloh," the Confederates called this battle. The Federal troops, coming to the field from the river through a hamlet of that name, called it the "Battle of Pittsburg Landing." This was one of the great battles of the year 18G2. Beauregard reported his loss at 1,728 killed, 8,012 wounded, 957 missing— 10,697 in all. Grant reported 1,735 killed, 7,882 wounded, 3,956 prisoners — a total loss of 13,573. Later statements showed that on each side the loss was about 15,000. 244 SECRET SERVICE began to reach our ears early in the morning, and con- tinued with hut little interruption during the entire day. About eleven o 'clock a. m. all the available men in the regiment were ordered to be reported for ser- vice, and after some trouble I managed to get my name among them, getting an old double-barrelled shot-gun and ten rounds of cartridges for arms, and an ambitious but extremely emaciated horse to ride — one that was never out of a perpetual jiggle. We left camp soon after for the Tennessee River, passing many pretty houses, from which came ladies of va- rious degrees of comeliness, wearing innumerable white and bandana handkerchiefs. From luka the Tennessee is distant nearly eight miles, but it was over mountains for a good part of the way, and the weather was intensely warm. The sound of the battle in prog- ress, raging with a continual roar, caused anxiety to us all ; but to me of a peculiar kind. I expected every moment to be brought into a fight against my friends, and you may imagine it caused me trouble. " However, we rode quietly along on a jog-trot, sweltering in the heat of the sun and in clouds of dust, until the road came at last to run along the side of a beautiful valley, in the midst of which flowed a bab- bling rivulet, which we crossed repeatedly in our course onward. Few knew where they were destined, yet jokes were current, and merriment and good-hu- mour pervaded all. When we were within about a 17 245 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN mile of the river a halt was ordered ( I wished fervent- ly that it might be to camp ) , and the colonel and a de- tachment went forward to reconnoitre. From the re- sult a retrograde movement was ordered, and we began to retrace our line of march, leaving pickets at favour- able places, and at last, striking a cross-road, moved down the river towards the scene of action. It had got to be quite dark by this time, and the roar of the small- er cannon had ceased, but occasionally there came, wafted on the breeze, a sullen boom which I knew full well to be the guns of our boats. Still we travelled on by moonlight until hardier men than I, overcome by weariness, slept in their saddles ; while I, whose every nerve seemed pounded to a jelly, and whose eyelids seemed glued fast, was only kept awake by the hope of escape. " Meanwhile, in the distance it began to storm dreadfully, and every moment the sky grew darker above us, while still we followed the downward course of the river, until at last, long after midnight, we camped in some cow-lot; when, getting a few ears of corn and a little water for my jaded but still ambitious horse, I lay down on my blanket, without any meal since morning, and fell quietly and quickly into a sound sleep. In the morning, by questioning some boys, the sons of the owner of the aforesaid cow- lot, I found that the Tennessee River was about one 246 SECRET SERVICE and a half miles distant, and I made up my mind to cross it and ' break ' for ' home. ' " So, going back to camp, I fed and watered my horse carefully, and, inquiring, found that no camp guard had been posted. Leaving my coat hanging on the fence, I strolled off naturally into the brush, but, once out of sight of the camp, I quickened my step, and in about fifteen minutes made the Tennessee River. " 'Twas the first time I had ever seen it, and I gazed a moment with a natural curiosity ; but that did not last long; everything was now at stake, and, al- though in a streaming perspiration with my rapid walk, I went to the water's edge, and, tearing off my shoes, trousers, and over-shirt, plunged in. The inten- sity of the cold nearly took away my breath, but I soon found I could not succeed in that manner, and I returned to the shore. This time I stripped complete- ly naked, with the exception of my cap (a ' Secesh ' cap, from Fort Pillow), and, after some trouble and much cold, made an island in the middle of the river. Here, after a long search, I found an old, split dug- out,^ which carried me, up to my hips in water, across, about a mile below. Once out, you ought to have seen me travel ! After about two miles I saw a man plough- ing. He was terribly scared; thought I was a wild » Canoe hollowed from the trunk of a tree. 247 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN man, but managed, in a trembling voice, to give me some false information. Travelling about five miles farther, I met a man who gave me some wretched clothes and a piece of bread and bacon, the first mouth- ful since the breakfast of the morning before. During the walk of the next three miles, which was over a rocky road, my feet were terribly lacerated by flints, and I bled from many scratches on my legs. At last, how- ever, I found a Union man,^ who put me upon his mule and took me thirteen miles farther on to Savan- nah, where, among Union soldiers, I was at last ' home. ' I sought General Grant 's headquarters, and immediately reported myself — only to be immediately put under guard. The battle was still raging, and the result was plainly against us. Almost every house in town was filled with wounded men, while hundreds lay upon the ground, and others were arriving constantly. " I was taken, soon after, up the river to Pitts- burg Landing, and stood in the rain shivering about two hours; then, at last, was taken before General Grant. My reception was good. " My story is finished. Spencer." From Mr. 0. C. Brown I learned that his son had procured or prepared plans of the rebel strongholds at Columbus, Island Number Ten, and Fort Pillow, and of Memphis, Grand Junction, luka, and Corinth, » Loyal to the Government. 248 SECRET SERVICE and that not the least useful of his services was his taking to General Grant's headquarters, on the morn- ing of the second day of the battle of Pittsburg Land- ing, assurance that no re-enforcement of the Confeder- ate force engaged in the battle was possible. As Spen- cer had been in the rear of that army for days, closely observing all that could be seen, and had listened to conversations that revealed much more, his positive testimony was of great importance. With renewed confidence and energy Grant continued the fight and achieved victory. Mr. Brown also mentioned that Spencer had en- tered General Pillow's guarded tent and taken from his trunk plans, instructions, etc., and forwarded them ^ to Captain Porter long before his own return in April. I was assured on the same authority that, although Spencer was charged by the rebels with being a de- serter, the boy never had allowed himself to be mus- tered into the Confederate service, having been ad- monished by Porter to avoid, by all means, such a snare ; and that when officers of the United States Navy discussed the question whether Spencer could safely enter the gun-boat service again, they decided that if he should be captured he could be treated only as a prisoner of war. ' Probably by negro messengers, who were almost invariably trustworthy. 249 CHAPTER XXV PORT HENRY While Spencer was absent on his perilous under- taking the gun-boats were not idle. On the morning of February 2 Flag-Officer Foote set out from Cairo with four armoured vessels, the Essex, Captain Will- iam D, Porter ; the Cincinnati, Commander Stemble ; the Carondelet, Commander Walke, and the St. Louis, Lieutenant- Commander Paulding; and three wooden gun-boats, the Tyler, the Lexington, and the Conesto- ga. That evening the fleet reached the Tennessee River. On February 4th it anchored six miles below Fort Henry, which was situated on the east- ern bank of that river, a short distance south of the boundary between Kentucky and Tennessee. On the 5th, " Flag-Officer Foote inspected officers and crew at quarters, addressed them, and offered prayer. On the 6th, at 11.35 o'clock, the armoured vessels formed in line, the Essex on the right, and moved up the river, until, about noon, they suddenly caught view of the fort and the Confederate flag, the barracks, the new earthworks, and the great guns, well manned. The flag-steamer, the Cincinnati, fired the first shot as 250 FORT HENRY the signal for the others to begin. The fort responded from eleven heavy guns, and was ablaze with the flame of cannon. " The wild whistle of rifled shells was heard on every ^ side. ' ' Rear- Admiral Henry Walke has given a most interesting narrative of this battle. Of the part taken in it by Porter 's vessel he says : ' ' After nearly an hour 's hard fighting the captain of the Essex, going below, addressed the officers and crew, complimented the first division for their splen- did execution, and asked them if they did not want to rest and give three cheers, which were given with a will. But the feelings of joy and the bright antici- pations of victory on board the Essex were suddenly changed by a terrible calamity, which I cannot better describe than by quoting from a letter from James Laning, second master of the Essex. He says: ' A shot from the enemy pierced the casemate just above the port-hole on the port side, then through the middle boiler, killing, in its flight, Acting Master's Mate S. B. Brittain, Jr., and opening a chasm for the escape of the scalding steam and water. ' * ' ' The scene which followed was almost indescrib- able. The writer, who had gone aft, in obedience to orders, only a few moments before (and was thus prov- identially saved), was met by Fourth Master Walker, followed by a crowd of men rushing aft. Walker I Century Magazine for January, 1885, 251 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN called to me to go back; that a shot from the enemy had carried away the steam-pipe. I at once ran to the stern of the vessel, and, looking out of the stern port, saw a number of our brave fellows struggling in the water. The steam and hot water in the forward gun- deck had driven all who were able to get out of the ports overboard except a few who were fortunate enough to cling to the casemate outside. When the ex- plosion took place Captain Porter was standing di- rectly in front of the boilers, with his aide, Mr. Brit- tain, at his side. He at once rushed for the port-hole on the starboard side and threw himself out, expecting to go into the river. A seaman, John Walker, seeing his danger, caught him around the waist, and support- ing him with one hand, clung to the vessel with the other, until, with the assistance of another seaman who came to the rescue, he succeeded in getting the captain upon a narrow-guard or projection which ran around the vessel, and thus enabled him to make his way outside to the after port, where I met him. " * Upon my speaking to him, he told me he was badly hurt, and that I must hunt for Mr. Riley, the first master, and if he was disabled I must take com- mand of the vessel and man the battery again. Mr, Riley was unharmed and already in the discharge of his duty as Captain Porter 's successor. In a very few minutes after the explosion our gallant ship (which, in the language of Flag-Officer Foote, had fought most 252 FORT HENRY effectively through two-thirds of the engagement), was drifting slowly away from the scene of action, her commander badly wounded, a number of her offi- cers and crew dead at their posts, while many others were writhing in their last agony. As soon as the scalding steam would admit, the forward gun-deck was explored. The pilots, who were both in the pilot-house, were scalded to death. Marshall Ford, who was steer- ing when the explosion took place, was found at his post at the wheel, standing erect, his left hand holding the spoke and his right hand grasping the signal bell- rope. A seaman named James Coffey, who was shot- man to No. 2 gun, was on his knees in the act of taking a shell from the bo± to be passed to the loader. The escaping steam and hot water had struck him square in the face, and he met death in that position. When I told Captain Porter that we were victorious, he im- mediately rallied, and, raising himself on his elbow, called for three cheers, and gave two himself, falling exhausted on the mattress in his effort to give the third. " ' A seaman named Jasper P. Breas, who was badly scalded, sprang to his feet, exclaiming, " Sur- rendered ! I must see that with my own eyes before I die." Before any one could interfere he clambered up two short flights of stairs to the spar deck. He shouted ' ' Glory to God ! ' ' and sank exhausted on the deck. Poor Jasper died that night. ' 253 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN " The Essex, before the accident, had fired seventy shots from her two nine-inch guns. A powder-boy, Job Phillips, fourteen years of age, coolly marked down upon the casemate every shot his gun had fired, and his account was confirmed by the gunner in the magazine. The loss of the vessel in killed, wounded, and missing was thirty-two." The injuries the Essex received were such that she was obliged to return to Cairo and St. Louis for re- pairs. 254 CHAPTER XXVI CHANGED CIRCUMSTANCES Soon after Spencer 's return to St. Louis his moth- er received the letter given below : " Belleville, May 9, 1862. " My dear Wife: I wrote you some days since in reply to yours of the 18th of April. Since then Kitty has received a letter from Spencer, of which I send a copy. '' * Dear Sister: I received your welcome letter and photograph a few days since. You cannot tell how pleased I was to hear from you. I have not heard a word from you all for so long a time. When I wrote you that last short note I was so tired and nervous that I could scarcely hold a pen. Nor, Kitty, shall I write you a long letter now, as my prospects are not settled yet, though very promising. I have only received fourteen dollars since last September, al- though constantly in the most difficult and dangerous service. . . . " * What do you think of my last trip to Secessia, lasting from the last of January to the 8th of April ? Where was 1 1 First in Columbus, before it was evac- 255 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN uated ; next, Island Number Ten, before it was taken, and during the first three days' bombardment; next, two weeks under guard at Fort Pillow, before which our gun-boats and mortars are now stopped; after- wards three days at liberty in same place; then, ob- taining a pass and transportation to Corinth, by way of Memphis, from the rebel general Villipique — on the 4th of April I was in Memphis, on the 5th and 6th at Grand Junction and Corinth; on the 7th,^ having joined the First Louisiana Cavalry, Colonel Scott, I rode about thirty-five miles on a rebel scouting party, starting in the morning, and camping at night, about twelve o'clock, within a mile and a half of the Ten- nessee River ; and the next morning, getting up early and feeding my horse, I started for the river in my shirt-sleeves, and swam it, leaving all my clothes but my Secesh cap, and forcing myself to walk naked five miles before I came into a friendly country, when I got some slight clothing and a friend to take me to Savannah, thirteen miles farther. ' ' ' So, you see, the first day of the celebrated battle of Pittsburg Landing I was in ' Secessia,' the second day, at home again — ^but in such a condition! The bottoms of my feet were all stone bruises, my legs above my knees were torn by thorns and poisoned by noxious weeds, and I was a subject for care generally. Imagine, then, my feelings, upon having reported at * Spencer, in his ramblings, had lost correct account of the dates. 256 CHANGED CIRCUMSTANCES General Grant's headquarters as a returned scout, to find myself placed out in the rain with the slightest possible trousers and shirt, charged with being a ' 8e- cesh ' spy ! After my waiting there for more than two hours, shivering with cold and nearly famished with hunger, tardy justice came, and I was conducted to General Grant. You see I had had but one meal since the day before in the morning — lacking, you see, five meals in two days, which was considerable under the circumstances. Fortunately things changed here, for my information was important, and sleeping in a warm bed for the first night in so long a time, as well as the possession of an awkwardly large but warm suit of clothes, made me regard the past as a dream. Wait, Kitty ! Wait, all ! My future looks bright ! But I will not anticipate. For reasons which I shall give you I will not carry out my original intentions of going to see you on a furlough. Wait, I ask (resting sure once more of your love), and never again {you, Kitty, I am talking to), never again doubt your brother. " ' Send this to the folks, for I can never write another so explicit, but be very careful that it is not made public. " ' April 28th. Received appointment of master's mate to-day, signed by Captain William Porter. Sal- ary, forty dollars. Lowest grade of commissions in Western waters. " ' Spence.' " 257 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN " St. Louis, Missouri, May 9, 1862. " Dear Father: I send you, in haste, a small note ^ — the best of my ability for the present. I am sorry I cannot do more, but have not received back pay ; and this, with a like sum to Kitty and Mother, is all I could do without. Please accept the will for the deed, *' Your son, " Spencer.'^ " St. Louis, Missouri, May 5, 1862. " Dear Mother: I am returned safe and sound. I am very nervous and write in haste. Please write to Spencer Kellogg, care of Uncle. " I send you my mite — also the same to Father and Kitty. Please come by the first week in June if you want to see me. " Yours, " Spencer.'* " St. Louis, Missouri, May 26, 1862. *' Dear Kitty: I received your welcome letter, inclosing picture, this morning, and sit down imme- diately to answer it. " The picture was a welcome relief from the pho- tograph; that made every one think you were thirty years old, married, and the mother of several little ones. Then, too, it was squint-eyed, and I had to cut ■ Money. 258 CHANGED CIRCUMSTANCES one side of the face out before I could put up with it at all. " I have been just a wee bit sick, and yesterday, Sunday, I went up to Uncle 's and got out his big buf- falo robe and lay on the grass all day. 'Twas a fortu- nate thing I had somewhere to go to, as I should not have got better very fast without a little care. I owe them gratitude. . . . ' ' I drew one hundred and fifty-eight dollars. Per- haps a list of what I bought would amuse you. Uni- form, forty- four dollars; ' fatigue-coat,' eleven dol- lars ; boots, five dollars ; borrowed money repaid, twen- ty-one dollars and sixty cents ; two caps, seven dollars and fifty cents ; fine wool shirts, eleven dollars ; hand- kerchiefs, one dollar and twenty-five cents; socks, seventy-five cents; writing-school, five dollars (bad investment). There was considerably more — ^trunks, neckties, pocket-knife, etc., besides board-bill. ' ' You ask what I do. I get up at eight ; eat break- fast ; go to the post-ofiice ; go to my captain with the mail (office hours from 9 a. m. to 3 p. m.) ; do all his writing, etc. ; spend the rest of the day sometimes by going up to Uncle 's, sometimes otherwise. " In the evening go to see the young lady. I've got such a good one, Kitty — go to see her about four nights in the seven ; or to the theatre or varieties con- cert hall. To tell the truth, Kitty, I have been leading quite a dissipated life, and if I had sent home twenty- 259 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN five dollars instead of fifteen 'twould have been bet- ter for me, Don 't misunderstand me when I say ' dis- sipated,' for I don't go to houses of bad repute, or drink anything stronger than Catawba wine. My dis- sipation consists of eating oysters and ice-creams, go- ing to the theatre, and late hours. " Your giving the money to Father was at your own discretion, Kitty. I certainly could not blame you for it. But the next that I send you you must keep. ' ' So, you see I have given you a real picture of my life, Kitty, without any reservations. Don 't think less of me for it. I was afraid when I came home again you would be horrified ; so I tell you now. I think it only needs better company to make me better. My time is almost all leisure. I am captain's aide, or clerk, with the rank of master's mate — very different from mas- ters' mates in general, and I have precious little to do. * * Tell Grandpa not to despair of hearing from me, as I have an instalment of my famous trip (minute details) South, almost ready. I remain with love, *' Spencer.'^ "St. Louis, Missouri, June 12, 1S62. ' ' Dear Father : "I received your letter some time since, and at last, having something to write about, answer it. 260 CHANGED CIRCUMSTANCES " Mother passed through town last week, and, if not already there, will soon be with you. Since she was here (during which time I enjoyed her company much) I have had some good news, and hasten to com- municate it to you. I heard from my Fremont papers (which have been in the hands of the lawyers for some time) yesterday, receiving a semi-decision upon them — a favourable one — from the Adjutant-General at Washington, and also here. They are, however, re- ferred to some commissioners who are expected here soon, and you shall know more anon. ' ' Day before yesterday I received promotion, from my captain, to the position of Fourth Master of the Essex, which doubles my salary and gives me more to do. ' ' My captain evidently intends to do well by me ; and, from all appearances, the positions of the kind are probably good for several years. ' * After due deliberations, I have made up my mind to take the support of Fred ^ upon myself, and have devoted ten dollars a month for the purpose, giving the first monthly instalment to Mother as she stopped here. " If I should get married (which might, but prob- ably will not, happen at present), I shall immediately send for him to live with me. ' His little brother. The burnings, robberies, drought and ill- ness in Kansas had reduced the circumstances of the family, and the father was still an invalid. 18 261 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN " Please give my love to Kitty. I am waiting to hear from her. . . . *' I am living very pleasantly here, but expect to leave soon. I sent a picture to you by Mother, for your own special benefit. It was taken immediately after my return to this city, when I wore borrowed clothes and spent my time in resting. I owe much comfort and care, since my return, to a young girl here, who, I believe, would just suit you. I talk about getting married — don't know yet, but we are having quite a flirtation. *' Give Grandpa my regards, and tell him to expect the second instalment of the account of my trip South, soon. I have been teased repeatedly for it for publication, and so I wish you would ask him to pre- serve it. . . . ^ ' * I have been writing a short history of the Porter family, which I may send you soon. It is in the hands of the editor of the St. Louis Democrat, accepted for publication. ' ' Before Spencer's departure from St. Louis he and Miss Mary Manahan, the young woman mentioned to his father in the letter of June 12th, were married. She was a sister to the wife of one of his friends — an officer of the army. Three weeks after his marriage ^ Unhappily, it was published, and widely circulated, not by Spencer's consent. 262 CHANGED CIRCUMSTANCES Spencer bade his wife farewell, to see her no more on earth. The voyage he was about to begin in the Essex was to bear him within hearing of the subdued and solemn murmur of those billows to which the soul gives heed with awe in the midnight of misfortune and soli- tude— ^the pulsations of the deep of eternity. 263 CHAPTER XXVII THE NEW ESSEX On the 5th day of July the Essex received orders to join the fleet of Flag-Officer Davis, above Vicksburg. The gun-boat had been made over. In form and power she was new. When she fought at Port Henry she was only partially iron-clad. Captain Porter was with the Essex at St. Louis. He was blind, from the effects of the escapement of steam when the thirty-two-pound shot from Fort Henry pierced one of the boat 's boilers. Nevertheless, he remained on board while she was reconstructed. He wished to direct her preparation for combats more terrible than any in which she had yet taken part. Her executive officer. First Master R. K, Riley, carried out Porter's plans, and energetically pushed the repairs to completion. The vessel was lengthened forty feet, her boilers and machinery were placed below the water- line, and her casemates were raised eleven feet, to a height of seventeen feet six inches. Her forward case- mate was of wood thirty inches thick, plated with In- dia-rubber an inch thick, and clad with iron one inch and three-fourths in thickness. The side casemates 264 THE NEW ESSEX were not quite so strong. The roof was bomb-proof. The pilot-house was of wood eighteen inches thick, pro- tected by India-rubber and iron as thick as the plating of the forward casemate. She had false sides, such that no steam-ram could attack her successfully, and forty-two water-tight compartments were supposed to make it impossible to sink her. Her length was two hundred and five feet, her width sixty. Her officers and crew, all told, comprised one hun- dred and forty-six persons. Her commander was Cap- tain Williajn D. Porter. Robert K. Eiley was first master and executive officer, and D. P. Rosenmiller, J. Harry Wyatt, Matt. Snyder, and Spencer Kellogg were the acting masters. The other officers were 'Joseph H. Lewis, paymaster; Thomas Rice, surgeon; Joseph Heep, chief engineer; J. Sterns, first assistant engineer; J. Wetzell, second assistant engineer; Thomas Fletcher, third assistant engineer ; and C. W. Long was gunner. A few days before Spencer's departure on the voy- age down the Mississippi he wrote the letter given below : " St. Louis, Missouki, July 2, 1862. ' ' Dear Mother : I send you monthly instalment of ten dollars for Fred, of which you will please ac- knowledge receipt as soon as convenient. You will please send me an account of everything bought for him, and the prices, as well as board, etc., so that I 265 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN may see what becomes of the money. Upon receiving a new instalment, if any of the old should be on hand you are to devote that to the use of the family. . . . I do not wish him stinted in what boys of his age should have, nor do I wish him to live better than the rest of the family. Please keep the account, and send it to me monthly. I shall expect last month 's account. " Please tell Father I have received a letter from him. '* Why does not Kitty write? " I send you a newspaper with an account of the trial-trip of the Essex. ' ' 266 CHAPTER XXVIII NAVAL OPERATIONS ON THE MISSISSIPPI The course of military and naval operations in the West, while the Essex was undergoing repairs at St. Louis, was rapid and important. Fort Henry, with its armament, was taken on the 6th of February. This victory proved the efficiency of the gun-boats, gave a formidable post of the Con- federate military line into the possession of the United States, and allowed national troops to establish them- selves in force in the rear of Columbus. On the 12th of February, McClernand's and Smith's divisions of Grant's army invested Fort Donelson, a strongly forti- fied Confederate position on the Cumberland River, among the hills of Stewart County, Tennessee. If this could be captured, the left centre of the insurgents' military line west of the Cumberland Mountains would be completely broken. On the 13th of February, that part of the Federal force which had reached the scene of action was repulsed. On the 14th, Foote's flotilla of gun-boats and Wallace's division of the army came up, and on the afternoon of that day the gun-boats fought the batteries of the fort. Seventeen heavy guns 267 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN were trained upon the little squadron, *•' those from the hillsides, on which the main works of the fort lay, hurling plunging shot with awful precision and effect." From the boats, only twelve guns could re- ply. The vessels were much injured, and after a very gallant fight were obliged to withdraw. On the 15th a great battle was fought between Grant's army and the garrison of the fort. In the forenoon the ad- vantage was with the enemy, which seemed likely to cut a way of escape through the right of our army; but in the afternoon, in a fight in which General Lew Wallace ^ distinguished himself, the rebels were de- cisively defeated by Grant and driven into their works. On February 16th, Floyd,- who was in command of the fort, and Pillow, the next in authority, shame- fully deserted their post and fled away before day- light. The gallant General Buckner, third in rank, surrendered the fort to General Grant. There were delivered into the hands of the victors thirteen thou- sand five hundred men, three thousand horses, forty- eight field-pieces, seventeen heavy guns, twenty thou- sand muskets, and a great quantity of military stores. The fall of Fort Donelson made necessary the evac- uation by the Confederates of Bowling Green and Columbus, and gave into the hands of the National Government complete control of Kentucky, Missouri, ' Many years later the author of Ben Hur, Prince of India, etc. ' The traitorous Secretary of War under President Buchanan. 268 NAVAL OPERATIONS and northern Tennessee. Federal troops occupied Nashville on the 26th of February. A scouting party of Illinois troops went to Columbus on March 3d, found it had been evacuated by Polk, and raised the United States flag over the abandoned works. The next day Foote's flotilla, and some transports which bore General W. T. Sherman and the military force, reached the place and garrisoned it with national troops. The rebels had seized and fortified new and strong positions at New Madrid and Island Number Ten — one thousand miles, by the course of the Missis- sippi, above New Orleans. General Polk's sound military judgment guided him to the choice of New Madrid on the Missouri side of the Mississippi River, together with Island Number Ten, as strong and mutually supporting defensive po- sitions where the Union forces on land and water might be held in check after the abandonment of Columbus by the Confederates. General McClown, of the Con- federate Army, was placed in command at New Mad- rid, and Beauregard, who outranked Polk, assumed command, in person, at Island Number Ten. The Union General Pope, with Illinois and Ohio troops, had set out from St. Louis on February 22d to seize these very positions, the strategic value of which had been discerned by General Halleck. Pope appeared before New Madrid on the 3d of March, and found it occupied by McClown, who was supported by a flotilla 269 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN of Confederate gun-boats. That night the Confeder- ates evacuated New Madrid and retired to Island Num- ber Ten, which is a few miles above. Foote 's flotilla reached the vicinity of Island Num- ber Ten on March 15th. This is what they saw : ' ' On the bluffs, a chain of forts (on the Kentucky and Ten- nessee side of the river) extending for four miles along the crescent-formed shore, with the white tents of the enemy in the rear. And there lay the island, in the lower corner of the crescent, with the side fronting the Missouri shore lined with heavy ordnance, so trained that, with the artillery on the opposite shore, almost every point on the river between the island and the Missouri bank could be reached at once by all the ene- my 's batteries. ' ' ^ Behind the position of the rebels on the eastern shore of the Mississippi River were impassable swamps. ' ' The only way open for them to obtain sup- plies, or to effect a retreat, was by the river south of Island Number Ten. General Pope, with an army of twenty thousand men, was on the west- ern side of the river below the island. Perceiv- ing the defect in the enemy's position, he pro- ceeded, with great promptness and ability, to take ad- vantage of it. It was his intention to cross the river and attack the enemy from below ; but he could not do this without the aid of a gun-boat to silence the ene- • Rear-Admiral Walke in Century Magazine for January, 1885. 270 NAVAL OPERATIONS my's batteries opposite Point Pleasant and protect his army in crossing. He wrote repeatedly to Flag-OfScer Foote urging him to send down a gun-boat past the enemy's batteries on Island Number Ten, and in one of his letters expressed the belief that a boat could pass down at night under cover of the darkness. But the flag-officer invariably declined, saying in one of his letters to General Pope that the attempt ' would result in the sacrifice of the boat, her officers, and men, which sacrifice I would not be justified in making. ' " ^ Commander Walke " believed with General Pope that, under the cover of darkness and other favourable circumstances, a gun-boat might run past the enemy's batteries — formidable as they were with nearly fifty guns. ... It was well known that the Confeder- ates had a number of small gun-boats below, and were engaged in building several large and powerful vessels, of which the renowned Arkansas was one, and there was good reason to apprehend that these gun-boats would ascend the river and pass or silence Pope 's bat- teries, and relieve the Confederate forces on Island Number Ten and the eastern shore of the Missis- sippi. ' ' ' ' Pope was charged with impatience. ... At length he caused the execution of the plan suggested by General Schuyler Hamilton for flanking the island. This was the cutting of a canal, through a swamp, > Eear-Admiral Walke in Century Magazine for January, 1885, 271 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN from the river above the island to a bayou that flows into the Mississippi at New Madrid, below the island. ' ' " This canal was twelve miles in length, and was cut in the space of nineteen days, half the distance through a growth of heavy timber. ' ' " The width of the canal was fifty feet." ' ' On the night before its completion Pope 's wishes concerning the aid of gun-boats were partially grati- fied." Commander Walke gallantly volunteered to make the attempt to run past the batteries with his boat, the Carondelet. *' The decks were covered with a loose material to protect them against plunging shot. Haw- sers and chain-cables were placed around the pilot- house and other vulnerable parts of the vessel. . . . A coal-barge laden with hay and coal was lashed to the part of the port side on which there was no iron plating, to protect the magazine, ' ' and other necessary preparations were made. On the night of April 4th, as Admiral Walke graphically relates, " at ten o'clock the moon had gone down, and the sky, the earth, and the river were alike hidden in the black shadow of a thunder-storm which had now spread itself over all the heavens. As the time seemed favourable I ordered the first master to cast off. Dark clouds now rose rap- idly over us and enveloped us in almost total darkness, except when the sky was lighted up by the welcome flashes of vivid lightning, to show us the perilous way 272 NAVAL OPERATIONS we were to take. With our bow pointing to the island, we passed the lowest point of land without being ob- served, it appears, by the enemy. All speed was given to the vessel to drive her through the tempest." Twice the smoke-stacks blazed up. The second time this occurred the boat was observed by the foe. ' ' Now the roar of the enemy 's guns began, and from batteries numbers two, three, and four came, almost incessantly, the sharp crack and screaming sound of their rifle- shells, which seemed to unite with the electric batteries of the clouds to annihilate us. . . . We almost grazed the island, and, it appears, were not observed through the storm until we were close in, and the ene- my, having no time to point his guns, fired at random. In fact, we ran so near that the enemy did not, prob- ably could not, depress his guns sufficiently. . . . Nearly all the shot went over us. . . . We arrived at New Madrid about midnight, with no one hurt, and were most joyfully received by our army. ' ' ^ Other steamers came through the canal a few days later. The communications of the enemy were inter- rupted. Island Number Ten could no longer be held. The Confederates attempted to escape. They were intercepted and captured by Pope's troops. " The number of prisoners taken by Foote and Pope together was seven thousand two hundred and seventy-three, including three generals and two hundred and sev- * Rear-Admiral Walke in Century Magazine for January, 1885. 273 SPENCER KELLOGG BROWN enty-three field and company officers. The spoils of victory were nearly twenty batteries, with one hundred and twenty-three cannon and mortars, the former ranging from thirty-two to one-hiindred pounders; seven thousand small arms ; many hundred horses and mules; an immense amount of ammunition, and four steamers afloat. ' ' ^ Other steamers the Confederates had sunk, to ob- struct the passage of our fleet. On the 6th and 7th of April, as we have already seen, occurred the great battle of Pittsburg Landing,, or Shiloh,^ in which the national arms suffered disaster on the former day, but on the latter decisively de- feated Beauregard, the successor of General Albert Sidney Johnston. After the capture of Island Num- ber Ten, Foote's flotilla and Pope's army went down the Mississippi to capture Fort Pillow — a stronghold eighty miles above Memphis, on the first of the Chickasaw Bluffs. Here, General M. Jeff. Thompson, with three thousand Confederate troops, was supported by a Confederate flotilla under Hollins. On the 9th of May Flag-Officer Foote, much enfeebled by disease and by the wounds he had received at Fort Donelson, was, at his own request, relieved of the com- mand of our flotilla, and was succeeded by Flag-Officer ' Lossing's History of the United States, page 600. " A country church from which the Confederates took the name they gave to the battle. 274 NAVAL OPERATIONS Davis. Immediately after Foote's retirement HoUius boldly attacked our squadron with his gun-boats and rams. In this fight the enemy severely damaged two of Davis's gun-boats, but was obliged, after a hot fight, to retreat rapidly in great confusion. On the 4th of June the Confederates, having learned of the retreat of Beauregard from Corinth, abandoned Fort Pillow