Description:

OLIVER BROWN
(1838 - 1859) The youngest of John Brown's two sons, killed at Harpers Ferry. Excessively rare A.L.S., 2pp. 4to.,North Elba, [NY], Jan. 19, 1858, to his brother John Brown, Jr. In part: "...I took a letter from the office here for Father...The letter was from Thomas H Russel...Boston. I subjoin a copy, 'Dear Friend, I write to know where you are & what you are doing & whether you have any colonization or other scheme on hand a young man of leisure and properties wishes me to ask. Mrs. Russel & Minnie send their love.' I saw a letter of yours written to Henry & Ruth in which you say you are resolved to make your home among our mountains & that you are also resolved to make investments in land at the west... if you have means to settle yourself as comfortably as some farmers in this place it would be worse than wildness to burden yourself with land speculations at the west...". Written from North Elba, a small community of freed slaves in the Adirondacks, where John Brown had moved the family in 1848. The Thomas Russell referred to a judge from Boston who hid Brown in 1857 after it was leaked that he was to be arrested as he traveled through New England raising money for his abolitionist cause. At the time of this letter Brown, Sr. was in Missouri ready to journey to Canada with a group of slaves whom he brought to freedom. Oliver would join his father and brother Owen in the attack on the armory at Harper's Ferry. The first to die in that mission to end slavery, Oliver was violently gashed in the forehead by the Potomac Bridge watchman as the raiding party approached Harpers Ferry on the night of Oct. 16, 1859. Eventually he was mortally wounded during the attack upon the armory's engine house, and legend has it that upon begging his father to end his suffering, John Brown responded, "If you must die, die like a man." A truly historic letter from a loving son who helped shape the path of American history. A bit of light toning and a few foxed spots, overall very good.

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June 3, 2010 11:00 AM EDT
Stamford, CT, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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