he had crept upon his
foe stealthily, like a wolf upon the fold, and had dealt his blow in
the dark whilst his enemy slept, but with all this and more to disturb
the moral sense, men discerned in him the greatest and best qualities
known to human nature, and pronounced him "good." Many consented to
his death, and then went home and taught their children to sing his
praise as one whose "soul is marching on" through the realms of
endless bliss. One element in explanation of this somewhat anomalous
circumstance will probably be found in the troubled times which
immediately succeeded, for "when judgments are abroad in the world,
men learn righteousness."

The country had before this learned the value of Brown's heroic
character. He had shown boundless courage and skill in dealing with
the enemies of liberty in Kansas. With men so few, and means so small,
and odds against him so great, no captain ever surpassed him in
achievements, some of which seem almost beyond belief. With only eight
men in that bitter war, he met, fought and captured Henry Clay Pate,
with twenty-five well armed and mounted men. In this memorable
encounter, he selected his ground so wisely, handled his men so
skillfully, and attacked the enemy so vigorously, that they could
neither run nor fight, and were therefore compelled to surrender to a
force less than one-third their own. With just thirty men on another
important occasion during the same border war, he met and vanquished
four hundred Missourians under the command of Gen. Read. These men had
come into the territory under an oath never to return to their homes
till they had stamped out the last vestige of free State spirit in
Kansas; but a brush with old Brown took this high conceit out of them,
and they were glad to get off upon any terms, without stopping to
stipulate. With less than one hundred men to defend the town of
Lawrence, he offered to lead them and give battle to fourteen hundred
men on the banks of the Waukerusia river, and was much vexed when his
offer was refused by Gen. Jim Lane and others to whom the defense of
the town was confided. Before leaving Kansas, he went into the border
of Missouri, and liberated a dozen slaves in a single night, and, in
spite of slave laws and marshals, he brought these people through a
half dozen States, and landed them safely in Canada. With eighteen men
this man shook the whole social fabric of Virginia. With eighteen men
he overpowered a town of nea