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the conviction that whatever he had done to free slaves was right, and that in the warfare in which he was engaged he was entitled to be treated with all the respect of a prisoner of war.
He seemed fully convinced that he was badly treated, and had a right to complain.
Although at first considered dying, an examination of his wounds proved that they were not necessarily fatal.
He expressed a desire to live, and to be tried by his country.
In his pockets nearly three hundred dollars were found in gold.
Several important papers, found in his possession, were taken charge of by Colonel Lee, on behalf of the government.
To another, Brown said it was no part of his purpose to seize the public arms.
He had army and ammunition enough reshipped from Kansas.
He only intended to make the first demonstration at this point, when he expected to receive a rapid increase of the allies from Abolitionists every where settled through Maryland and Virginia, sufficient to take possession of both States, with all of the negroes they could capture.
He did not expect to encounter the Federal troops.
He had only a general idea as to his course; it was to be a general south-west course through Virginia, varying as circumstances dictated or required.
Mr. Washington reports that Brown was remarkably cool during the assault.
He fell under two bayonet wounds--one in the groin, and one in the breast-and four sabre cuts on the head.
During the fight he was supposed to be dead, or doubtless he would have been shot.
He was not touched by a ball.
The prisoners also state that Brown was courteous to them, and did not ill-use them, and made no abolition speech to them.
Coppoc, one of the prisoners, said he did not want to join the expedition, but added, “Ah, you gentlemen don't know Captain Brown ; when he calls for us we never think of refusing to come.”
1
Captain Brown, after his pockets were rifled, was carried, with his dying, son, to the
Guard House, and
Stevens was soon brought and laid down beside them on the floor.
No beds were provided for the prisoners.
Coppoc, the brave
Iowa boy, thus described, in a letter to their mother, the death of
John Brown's sons, and the accommodations provided .for them by the Virginians:
I was with your sons when they fell.
Oliver lived but a very few moments after he was shot.
He spoke no word, but yield'd calmly to his fate.
Watson was shot at ten o'clock on Monday morning, and died about three o'clock on Wednesday morning. He suffered much.
Though mortally wounded at ten o'clock, yet at three o'clock Monday afternoon he fought bravely against the men who charged on us. When the enemy were repulsed, and the excitement of the charge was over, he began to sink rapidly.
After we were taken prisoners, he was placed in the Guard House with me. He complained of the hardness of the bench on which he was lying, I begged hard for a bed for him, or even a blanket, but could obtain none for him. I took off my coat, and placed it under him, and held his head in my lap, in which position he died, without a groan or struggle.
