Medium: Text
Date: ca. January 1857
Among the articles itemized in this “Memorandum of articles wanted as an outfit for fifty volunteers to serve under my [John Brown?] direction during the Kansas war” are wagons, horses,…
Medium: Text
Date: ca. 1857
On the bottom of an incomplete listing of weapons distributed (e.g., Navy Revolvers), William Hutchinson wrote regarding his “earnest effort for you [John Brown?] in this place.
Medium: Text
Date: October 30, 1856
En route to Kansas Territory via St. Charles, Iowa, Watson Brown wrote to his sister, Mary Brown, and their extended family to report that he was in “fine spirits besides…
Medium: Text
Date: December 20, 1856
The Free Soil/Republican governor of Ohio, Salmon P. Chase, Columbus, Ohio, wrote this letter of introduction/endorsement for “Captain John Brown” who was “a gentleman in every way worthy of entire…
Medium: Text
Date: September 22, 1856
From Boston, Massachusetts, Charles Branscomb wrote Brown a brief note conveying “fifty or one hundred dolls as a testimonial” from those who admired Brown’s “conduct during the war.”
Medium: Text
Date: ca. 1857
“To The Friends of Freedom” is a published circular signed by John Brown, with testimonial statements by Charles Robinson and Gerrit Smith. Brown here appealed for “contributions of pecuniary aid”…
Medium: Text
Date: September 13, 1856
Charles Robinson wrote to John Brown from Lawrence on September 13, 1856, a short note encouraging Brown to give Governor Geary, who “talks of letting the past be forgotten,” a…
Medium: Text
Date: September 8, 1856
Still in the custody of territorial officials, John Brown, Jr., wrote to express his remorse upon learning of the death of his brother Frederick–at least he was relieved to learn…
Medium: Text
Date: August 27, [1856]
On August 27, 1856, from Tabor, Iowa, Owen Brown wrote to tell his mother that according to all accounts “Father is the most daring courageous man in Kansas” and to…
Medium: Text
Date: August 16, 1856
Two days after encouraging his father to visit him at the prisoners’ “camp” near Lecompton, John Brown, Jr., wrote to say “I had not better try to meet you just…
Medium: Text
Date: August 14, 1856
Although this document is unsigned, it is almost certainly a letter from John Brown, Jr., to his father. The former was at a “camp” near Lecompton, still in the custody…
Medium: Text
Date: August 12, 1856
In this brief note from Topeka, Harris Stratton told John Brown that “Gen Joe Cook” (Jim Lane) wanted Brown to come to Lawrence as they were expecting “a fight on…
Medium: Text
Date: July 16, 1856
From Osawatomie, Samuel Adair wrote his brother-in-law John Brown regarding monies Adair had received for the “free State men in Kansas” and specifies how these funds were distributed.
Medium: Text
Date: June 2, 1856
According to this document listing the participants and those “men wounded in the battle of Palmyra or Black Jack,” son-in-law Henry Thompson was “dangerously wounded.”
Medium: Text
Date: June 2, 1856
On June 2, 1856, John Brown, et al, signed this “article of agreement” with their defeated foe, Captain H. C. Pate and his lieutenant for the exchange of prisoners, including…
Medium: Text
Date: May 1856
During the “May Term” of the U.S. District Court for Lykins, now Miami County, a grand jury issued this indictment covering the April 16, 1856, actions (among others) of this…
Medium: Text
Date: April 7, 1856
From “Brown’s Station” in the southeastern corner of Franklin County, K.T., Brown wrote the family about a variety of matters, including family finances/business interests and, as usual, his faith in…
Medium: Text
Date: March 27, 1856
Owen Brown, who died at age 85 on May 8, 1856, wrote his son, John Brown, about mundane family matters, his delight at the regular arrival of letters from his…
Medium: Text
Date: March 17, 1856
Congressman Joshua R. Giddings an abolitionist Republican from Ohio and good friend of the Brown family there, wrote from the U.S. “Hall of Reps” regarding his desire to provide support…
Medium: Text
Date: February 1, 1856
From Osawatomie, Brown wrote of the continued severe winter and “the fierce Winds of Kansas,” as well as his desire to visit the family at North Elba, New York. But…
Medium: Text
Date: January 15, 1856
Dated January 15, 1856, this certificate of stock–one share–in the New England Emigrant Aid Company was issued to “John Brown Lawrence K.T.”
Medium: Text
Date: December 16, 1855
Soon after his return from Lawrence, where he and other volunteers had successfully defended that place, John Brown wrote from Osawatomie to give his family “a brief account of the…
Medium: Text
Date: December 14, 1855
In mid-December 1855, John Brown wrote to Orson Day (a brother in law) of White Hall, New York, from Browns Station, Kansas Territory, regarding the “Kansas War” (Wakarusa War) from…
Medium: Text
Date: November 2, 1855
In this letter from “Brownsville, Kansas Territory,” John Brown made some observations about the harshness of the weather, the health of his Kansas children, their general lack of preparedness for…
Medium: Text
Date: October 13, 1855
One week after arriving at his sons’ settlement (“Brownville”) near Osawatomie, Brown wrote the family back east that although most were sick when he first arrived, they “appear now to…
