Secret Six The Secret Six , or the Secret Committee of Six , was a group of men who secretly funded the 1859 raid on Harper ' s Ferry by abolitionist John Brown . Sometimes described as " wealthy , " this was true of only two . The other four were in a position of influence , and could , therefore , encourage others to contribute to " the cause . " Background . The Secret Six were Thomas Wentworth Higginson , Samuel Gridley Howe , Theodore Parker , Franklin Benjamin Sanborn , Gerrit Smith , and George Luther Stearns . All six had been involved in the abolitionist cause prior to their meeting John Brown , and had gradually become convinced that slavery would not die a peaceful death . Of these six men , only Smith and Sterns were truly " wealthy " ; the others consisted of two Unitarian ministers ( Parker and Higginson ) a doctor ( Howe ) , at a time when men of medicine were " middle class " , and a teacher ( Sanborn ) . Involvement with John Brown . Brown was planning to capture weapons from a federal armory at Harpers Ferry , Virginia ( now West Virginia ) , and lead a slave rebellion in the South . While it is unclear whether these men knew of Brown ' s ultimate plan , it is known that some were ambivalent regarding the use of violence as a way to bring about the destruction of slavery . Brown met with the Six several times over the course of 1858 and 1859 to discuss how he would attack the slave system . In October 1859 , Brown ' s plan failed . During and after his trial , the " New York Times " and the " New York Herald " began to link the names of the Six with Brown ' s . On November 7 , Smith had himself confined to an insane asylum , denying that he had been involved in supporting Brown . Howe , Sanborn and Stearns fled to Canada temporarily to avoid arrest . Parker was already in Italy , a guest of Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning , as it was believed the Italian climate was helpful to those suffering from tuberculosis . " We did not know that Brown meant to begin there , in Virginia , at Harper ' s Ferry , " Sanborn insisted . Like Gerrit Smith , Sanborn felt justified in making public statements which told a part of the truth , but not the whole truth . " We expected he would go farther west , into a region less accessible , where his movements might escape notice for weeks , except as the alleged acts of some marauding party . " On the night of April third , five federal marshalls arrived at Frank Sanborn ' s home in Concord , handcuffed him and attempted to wrestle him into a coach and take him to Washington to answer questions before the Senate in regard to his involvement with John Brown . Approximately 150 towns - people rushed to Sanborn ' s defense . Judge Ebenezer R . Hoar issued a writ of replevin , formally demanding the surrender of the prisoner . In a letter to a friend , Louisa May Alcott wrote , " Sanborn was nearly kidnapped . Great ferment in town . Annie Whiting immortalized herself by getting into the kidnapper ' s carriage so that they could not put the long legged martyr in . " Parker , dying of tuberculosis , remained in Italy until his death in 1860 . Higginson was the sole member of the Six to stay in the United States and to publicly proclaim his support for Brown . He even developed a plan to have Brown rescued from his jail cell , but Brown did not want any part of it . Higginson asked Sanborn upon the latter ' s absconding to Canada , " Can your clear moral sense justify our holding our tongues in order to save ourselves from the reprobation of society , even as that nobler man whom we did provoke to enter into danger becomes the scapegoat of that reprobation , going for us even to the gallows ? " Aftermath . In January 1863 , a celebration of the Emancipation Proclamation was held at the home of George Sterns and attended by Sam and Julia Ward Howe , Frank Sanborn , Ralph Waldo Emerson , Wendell Phillips , and John Murray Forbes . Higginson , who was busy commanding a black regiment of Union soldiers , sent his regrets . Garrit Smith did not respond to Sterns ' invitation . A marble bust of John Brown , created by sculptor Edwin Brackett , was unveiled at this time . In 1867 , Gerrit Smith helped post bail to release the imprisoned former Confederate President , Jefferson Davis . Smith ’ s wife wrote to Sanborn in 1874 , confirming that her husband had destroyed every one of his letters having anything to do with John Brown . Sanborn likewise combed through his own papers and letters , weeding out anything implicating himself or his cronies in Brown ’ s raid . Only some letters to Theodore Parker , which came back to Sanborn a year and more after his death , were not destroyed at this time . For the remainder of their lives , Higginson , Sanborn and Sterns made periodic pilgrimages to Brown ' s grave in North Elba , New York . Frank Sanborn saw to it that the daughters of John Brown received an education in Concord , and even after the turn of the twentieth century took a measure of responsibility for Brown ' s children and grandchildren . Higginson expressed the wish that disunion could have been achieved " without the sacrifice of Brown " and believed a counter - proposal to the Harper ' s Ferry scheme should have been made — one that protected Brown from himself , believing the Six should have perceived " the madness that dwelled within him - - the insanity that sat stealthily beside his great , selfless nobility . " After Sanborn ' s death in 1917 , the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts adopted a bill applauding him for his various life works , with special mention given to Sanborn ' s role as " confidential adviser to John Brown of Harper ' s Ferry , for whose sake he was ostracized , maltreated , and subjected to the indignity of false arrest , having been saved from deportation from Massachusetts only by mob violence . " Further reading . abolitionist