The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1859-12-08
TIPTON, CEDAR COUNTY, IOWA. DECEMBER s, 1850.

start in few days, unless prevented b,
a special Providence. Everything i
working well l shall want all Tie ,funa
you promised me in few days ..
Yours, truly, CALM& STILL"
/ In the mean time the men who ha,
engaged to go with him had most Of then
arrived at Chambersburgh, Pa, aud beer
sent to the place which he had rented il
Washington county, Md, about Ave mile:
from Harper's Ferry. The greater part
of the men kept out Of sight daring the
day, for fear of attracting attention, ,--
The ar,us, munitions, &c, were cartcd
from Chambersburgh to his rendezvous.
The spear heads and guards came in
strong boxes, and the shafts passed fol
fork handles. They were put together
| by our own men at the house where most
OF them were found Letters Of import
anee came to the Cbaubersburgh iost-
Office, aud were sent by some Of our own
party to headquarters. The letters Of
minor importance came to tho Ferry TO
j. Smith Il Sons. All ailusions to our
business were made in such d blind way
that they would not have been under.
stood by any outside parties, even should
they have been miscarricd. The attack
was made sooner than it was intended,
owing to some friends in Boston writing
letter, finding fsult with the manage
ment OF Capt b., aud what to them seem
ed his unnecessary delay and expense
l do not know who those persons were,
or how far they were coguizant Of his
Capt B.'s) plans. But do hno,g that
Dr.. Home gure Capt Bromn treecl,
toadiny casJine ana patr Of aa=sie-
loading pistols, all Of Government n,ann-
jacture. They were left eis.,e, at the
house of Capt Brown, or at the school
house, where most of the arms were CON
veyed. AT what time and for what pur.
pose they were given to Capt Browu, |
do not know. 1t was supposed that
Col. Hugh Forbes was dead. | was told
by Capt Brown tina. when IN East he
had been told by Thaddeus Hyatt Of
New York that some of the negroes at
that place had informed him (liya;t that
Forbes had "gone up''---a phrase which
Capt b. and the rest of our company
understood to. mean that he had been
killed. do not think that Forbes had
any cognizance of our plans from the
time Of our leaving Pedce, a year ago last
Ap.il. Previous to lis quarrels with
Capt Brown, we considered that hc
would hold place next to Brown in com.
mand. ! do not know the present where
nf I nh, T.
Moifett. The last | heard of Parsons
was through Capt Brown, who informed
me that Parsons had started for Pixies
Peak, and that he Brown though: he
would be pretty toleraby reakcd before
he got there, A short time before the
attack on Narper's Ferry, Cap. Brown
requested me to find cut 10 some way,
without creating suspicion, the number
OF male slaves on or pear the roads lead.
ing from the Ferry, for n distance of S
or 10 miles, aud TO make such memoran-
da th2t i. would be uniutelIi.ible to
others, but in such manner that | could
make it plain to him and the rest Of the
company. He gave me two dollars to
pay NY expenses with. | took the road
from Harper's Ferry to Charlestown
under the plea Of gaining statistics for a
work to be Published by John Henri, aud
10 dccide4 wager between him aud Mr..
Smith. l did not 90 on any other road.
4 few days after this Capt Brown sent
his wagon over by his son Oliver and
Jeremiah Anderson, to bring my wife
and myself to his house They gave Inc
note from him, which, as near as / can
reeolIect, read as follows:
Mr.. CooKE.-Dear sir: You will
please get everything ready to come with
your wife to my house tlis morning.-
My wagon will wait for you. shall take
your wife to Chambcrsburgh, and shall
start early Tomorrow mort ing. BE as
expedent as possible Bc very careful
not to say or do anything which will
awaken any suspicion.
You can say that your wife is going
to make a visit to some friends OF hers in
the country. Be very careful that you
do not let any of your plans leak out.
Yours &c, j. SMITH"
Ny wife and mysel: accordingly left
Harper's Ferry that night, accompanied
BY Oliver Brown aud Jeremiah Anderson,
for Captain Erowo's house ia Waship- :
ten county, Nj,
The n2St day, after dinner, Captain B
a.,u his son Watson, together with my
wife aud child, started for Chambers
burgh. When Captain B returned, he
told me that he had got her good
boarding place in Chambersburgh, at Mrs.
Riticrer's, and that she liked her board
iog place very well
There were some six or seven in cur
party who did not know anything of our
Constitution, and, as | have since under
stood, were also ignorant of the plan Of
operations until the Sunday previous to
the attack. Among this number were
Edwin Coppic, Barclay Coppic, Francis
j Merriam, Shields Green, John Cope
land, and Leary.
The Constitution was read to them by
A. D Stephens, and the oath afterward
administered by Captain Brown. Sun
day evening previous to our departure,
Captain Brown made his final arrange
ments for the capture Of lIarper's Ferry,
and gave to his men their orders. In
closing he said, sand nor, gentlemen,
let me press this ono thing on your
" minds, yoa all hno,s ho'e deer life Is to
"yon, and hoto dear year Ases are to
"yonr friends; and an remembering that
"constder hat the hues ot others are as
"aear to them as yours are TO you; do
"not, therefore, take tie life IF any one
"J you can possibly acod II: tut # it
",s necessary 10 take life IN o.'aerto SAGE
"yoar omn, then make sure nork cf It, +"
After taking tho town, was placed
under Captain Stephens, who received
orders to proceed to the house Of Col
Lewis Washington and to take him pris-