, 1860-02-17

They gave me note from him, which, a.
near as | can recollect, reads as follows
Mr.. Cook:
Dear Sir-YOu will please get every
thing ready to come with your wife to my
house this morning. My wagon will waii
for you. l shall take your wife to Cham
bersburg, and shall start early tomorrow
morning Be as expeditions as possible
Be very careful not to say or do anything
which will awaken any suspicion.
You can say your wife is going to make
visit to some friends of hers in the coun
try. Be very careful that you do not lei
any Of our plans leak out. Yours, &c,
j. SMITH.
Ny wife and myself accordingly left Har.
per's Ferry that night, accompanied by OF,
liver Brown and Jeremiah Anderson, for
Capt. Browns house in Washington CO.,
Nd.
The next day after dinner Capt. B. and
his son, Watson, togetherwith my wife and
child, started for Chambersburg. When
Capt. b. returned he told me that he had
got her good boarding place in Chambers
burg at Mrs. Ritterer's, and that she liked
her boarding place very well.
There were some six or seven in our par
ty who did not know anything Of our con-
stitution, and as have since understood,
were also ignorant of the plan Of operations
until the Sunday morning previous to the
attack Among this number were Edwin
Coppie, Barclay Coppie, Francis ]. Mer.
riam, Shields Green, John Copeland and
Leary.
The constitution was read to them by A.
D. Stephens. and the oath afterwards ad-
ministered by Capt. Brown. Sunday eve
ming previous to our departure, Captain
Brown pade bis 6nal arrangements for the
capture Of Harper's Ferry and gave to his
men their orders. In closing, he said, "and
now gentlemen let me press this one thing
on your minds, you all know how dear life
is to you, and how dear your lives are to
your friends; and in remembering that con-
slider that the lives Of others are Us dear to
them as yours are to you; do not, there
fore, take the life Of any one If you can pos
sibly avoid it; but il it is necessary TO take
life in order to save your own, then make
sure work Of it,"
After taking the town was placed un-
der Capt. Stephens, who received orders to
proceed to the house Of Col. Lewis Wash
ington and to take him prisoner and to
bring his slaves, horses and arms, and as
we came back TO take Mr. AIstadtt and
his slaves and to bring them all to Capt
Brown at the Armory. When we returned
l stayed short time in the engine house
to get warm, as was chilled through. At
ter got warm Capt Brown ordered me to
go with O. P. Tidd, who was to take VIII
liam H. Leeman and l think four slaves
with him in Col. Washington's large wagon
across the river, aud to take Terrence
Burns and his brother and their slaves pris-
oners. Ny orders were TO hold Burns and
brother as prisoners at their own house
while Tidd and the slaves who accompa-
MED him were to 60 to Capt Browns house
and to load 10 the arms and bring them
down to the school house, stopping for the
Burns and their guard. William II. Lee
man remained with me to guard the pris-
oners. On return Of the wagon, in com
plianee with orders, we all started for the
school house. When we got there / was
to remain, by Capt. Browns orders, with
one Of the slaves to guard the arms, while
O. P. Tidd, with other negroes, was to go
back for the rest Of the arms, aud Burns
was to be sent with VIM. II. Leeman 10
Capt Brown at the armory. 1t was at
this time that VIM. Thompson came up
from the Ferry and reported that every
thing was all right, and then hurried onto
oVertA he Leeman A short time after the
departure Of Tidd heard good deal Of
firing and became anxious to know the
cause, but my orders were strict to remain
at the school house and guard the arms,
aud l obeyed the orders to the letter.
About 4 o'clock in the evening, Tidd came
with the second load / then took one ol
the negroes with me and started for the
Ferry. l met negro woman q short dis
tance below the school house who informed
me they were fighting hard at the Ferry.
hurried on till / came to the lock kept
by Geo. Hardy, about mile above the
bridge, where / saw his wife and Mrs
Elizabeth Read, who told me that our men
we're hemmed in, and that several Of them
had been shot, expressed my intention
to try to get to them, when Mrs Hardy
asked me to try and get her husband re-
leased from the engine house. told heI
| would. Mrs. Read begged Of me not tc
90 down to the Ferry. She said | would
be shot. / told her 1 must make an at
tempt to save my comrades, and passed OF
down the road A short distance below
the lock ! met two boys whom l knew
and they told me that our men were al
hemmed in by the troops from Charlestown
Martinsburg, HagerStoWn and Shepherds
town. The negrO who was with me haC
been very much frightened at the first re
port we received, and as the boys told nj
the troops were coming up the road afteI
os soon, l sent him the negro) back to in
form Tidd, while fastened down the road
After going down opposite Of the Ferry,
ascended the mountain in order to get I
better view Of the position Of our opponents
/ saw that our party were completed.
surrounded, and as l saw body Of men Of
, II;0h street firing down nDOn Them the