Fitzhugh Lee, General Lee

“ [76] I have been received with every kindness. I presume we are fixed here until after the 16th. To-morrow will probably see the last of Captain Brown (Old John Brown). There will be less interest for the others, but still I think the troops will not be withdrawn till they are similarly disposed of. This morning I was introduced to Mrs. Brown, who with a Mr. Tyndale and Mrs. McKim, all from Philadelphia, has come on to have a last interview with her husband. As it is a matter over which I have no control, and wish to take none, I referred them to General William B. Taliaferro.¹ Tell Smith [his brother in the navy] that no charming women have insisted on taking charge of me, as they are always doing of him. I am left to my own resources.”

A committee of Congress was appointed to investigate the matter, who reported that the invasion was an act of lawless ruffians under the sanction of no public or political authority, distinguished from ordinary violence only by the ulterior ends in contemplation by them and by the fact that the money to maintain the expedition, and the large amounts they had brought with them, had been contributed by other States of the Union.

Virginia, not knowing the extent of the insurrection, was preparing for war. Henry A. Wise, then Governor, promptly took active measures to preserve the peace of his State, and everywhere volunteers tendered their service. When Colonel Lee was ordered to Harper's Ferry, J. E. B. Stuart, a young lieutenant of the First Cavalry, was in Washington on leave of absence, and happened to be at Arlington on that day. Fond of enterprise and indifferent to danger, he at once volunteered as aid-de-camp to Lee, asked and received permission to accompany him, and was the first to recognize Brown, having seen him in Kansas. Afterward he became the great cavalry chieftain of the Army Lee commanded. The prisoners at Harper's Ferry were at once turned over to the United States District Attorney, Mr. Robert Ould, and Lee returned to Washington and Arlington, and in a short time was again on his way to resume his official duties in Texas. We find him writing