Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1859-10-27

HiChoTy, Win lerule at the emu WueTe tItc
blade is let into the wood, aud screw through
the ferue and wood and shaft Of the blade
These spears were obviously made for the
hands Of negroes, to do the buchery of ser
vile Instructions Besides these arms, he
had large quantity of clothing, wearing APP
parel and bed clothing, Il store OF surgical IN
struments, lint, medicines, and the minutest
preparation and provision of all kinds. AT
no time had he more than 22 men; and on
the night Of Sabbath last 1.-THE 10th inst. he
invaded the county of Jefferson and Harper
Ferry, with but - mcn-li white men and
five negroes-one of the latter from Canada,
one born in North Carolina, and last from Ohio.
These men came, few rs they were, from far
distant points-from Essex county, New
York; from Norwich, Connecticut; from
lIarrisonburg, Pennsylvania; from Iowa;
from Ashtabula, Ohio, aud from Canada and
other places. They transported their arms
through Pittsburg to ChamberSl'urg-a man
named Ilenric being their chief agent-and
at the latter place concentrated, and thence
moved to the Kennedy farm in Maryland
There they had been for some six or eight
weeks. During the time these preparations
were on foot, they kept man named John
f. Cooke at Harper's Ferry, or near by, pro-
iessedly teaching school in Maryland, across
the Potomac, opposite the Arsenal. He had
married at Harper's Ferry, and his wife
mother and brother lived there, and he spent
communication with the slaves of the sur
rounding country, took a census of them, and
was thoroughly informed of everything
about the Arsenal The plan Of operations,
with all this opportunity and information,
was easily formed and executed.
On the night of the 10th, armed with rifles
and revolverS, the nineteen men, about one
O'clock entered the town, put out the lights,
cut the telegraph wires, and stationed thr-
teen men to arrest the inhabitants rs they
should appear in the morning, one by one
and two by two, unsuspicious of danger and
unarmed, and to imprison them in the strong
walled yards with iron gates. Six of the
men, Captain Stephens at their head, went
four miles into the county of Jefferson, and
took Col. Washington and Mr. Alstadt from
their beds, placed them and their male slaves
in four-horse wagon, and drove the masters
prisoners to IIarpers Ferry. Cooke, one Of
the men of this expedition, drove the wagon
and slaves across the Potomac into Mary
land, TO bring in the spears and other arms
they had left at their depot to prevent them
from falling into the hands of troops or peo-
pie who might come to attack them. They
did not need the arms. for they had captured
the arsenal, but their object was to prevent
them from falling into the hands of the I'M
armed country people. Thus, when Mon
IL, In buI f,,ll y nnI
the desperate campaign. They shot poor
negro on the bridge; they had stopped the
cars going Eastward, and detained 1t tor
hours: they had cut the telegraph wires; had
captured W ashingtou and Alstadt and their
slaves, four miles off i'll the country; had sent
Cooke and the slaves to bring in their arms,
and began to imprison the operatives of the
Arsenal and inhabitants Of the town, and to
shoot down the most respectable men, Beck
ham and Turner, who resisted their violence.
The news of this flew to the country around.
The volunteers of Jefferson, with Coils. Baylor
and Gibson, rushed TO the scene, and soon
came the men of Berkeley, unorganized, in
working day dress and without arms or NUM-
tons, surprising they could getarms and fixed
ammunition at the arsenal but when they
got there they found all the arms and NUM-
tons in the hands Of the marauders. But,
with what arms they had, they attacked
them and some seven Of them were wounded
but they killed and wounded several Of the
enemy They could have stormed and taken
them in an hour but they were anxious Tor
the lives and safety Of their neighbors and
friends who were under the muzzles and
knives of the ruffians and they were restrain
ed by their apprehension that they might be
slaug Uttered by the desperadoes. BY this
hesitation they allowed the insurgents to
hold the Arsenal all day Monday. On Mon
day night that gallant and noble Eirginian,
Colonel Robert f. Lee, worthy of any service
on earth, arrived with his regular corps of
Marines. He waited only for light, then
rendered the assault, in State pride, to the
Virginia volunteers who were there. Their
feelings for the prisoners made them decline
the risk of Staying their own friends, and
Lee could not delay a moment to retake the
Arsenal punish the impudent invaders and
release the prisoners ut the necessary risk OF
their own lives. His gallantry was morti-
fled that the task was so easy. lie saw
United States Arsenal in the possession of
bandits, from the superintendent of which
his profession had been elected; and he felt
the regular army and his native State were
alike dishonored. With modification and
chagrin, inexprcssible, he picked - marines
and took the engine house, in ten minutes,
with the loss of one marine killed and one
wounded, without hurting q hair of one OF
the prisoners And now say to you that
| would have given my arm to It's shoulder
for that feat to have been performed by the
volunteers of Virginia on Monday before the
Marines arrived there. But there was no
cowardice or panic on the part Of the inhab-
itants who were made prisoners, or on the
part of the volunteers who first reached the
scene. The first were bewildered by the
surprise: they were caught, unsuspectlng
and unarrcd, and knew not what 10 make OF
the extraordinary thing; they could not, ut
first, conceive what it meant. They, more
than 100 Of them, were prisoners before they
realized the purpose of the invaders, and
then they could not ascertain their numbers
and could not but believe that they were in
very considerable force to attempt so daring
an act. And so thought the volunteers, who
had but few arms, no cartridges and no train
ing, and who were wholly ignorant of the
force they had to overcome, ami who ielt Tor
their neighbors, and friends, the prisoners,
with great anxiety. after seeing how remorse-
lessly Turner and Beckham had been shot
down. They vigorously lyed their fire arms
and made one assault and retired only after
sustaining severe voleys of balls from rifles