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| JOHN BROWN in Kansas settled, like a steadfast Yankee farmer, | |
| Brave and godly, with four sons, all stalwart men of might. | |
| There he spoke aloud for freedom, and the Border-strife grew warmer, | |
| Till the Rangers fired his dwelling, in his absence, in the night; | |
| And Old Brown, | 5 |
| Ossawattomie Brown, | |
| Came homeward in the morning—to find his house burned down. | |
| |
| Then he grasped his trusty rifle and boldly fought for freedom; | |
| Smote from border unto border the fierce, invading band; | |
| And he and his brave boys vowed—so might Heaven help and speed ’em!— | 10 |
| They would save those grand old prairies from the curse that blights the land; | |
| And Old Brown, | |
| Ossawattomie Brown, | |
| Said, “Boys, the Lord will aid us!” and he shoved his ramrod down. | |
| |
| And the Lord did aid these men, and they labored day and even, | 15 |
| Saving Kansas from its peril; and their very lives seemed charmed, | |
| Till the ruffians killed one son, in the blessed light of Heaven,— | |
| In cold blood the fellows slew him, as he journeyed all unarmed; | |
| Then Old Brown, | |
| Ossawattomie Brown, | 20 |
| Shed not a tear, but shut his teeth, and frowned a terrible frown! | |
| |
| Then they seized another brave boy,—not amid the heat of battle, | |
| But in peace, behind his ploughshare,—and they loaded him with chains, | |
| And with pikes, before their horses, even as they goad their cattle, | |
| Drove him cruelly, for their sport, and at last blew out his brains; | 25 |
| Then Old Brown, | |
| Ossawattomie Brown, | |
| Raised his right hand up to Heaven, calling Heaven’s vengeance down. | |
| |
| And he swore a fearful oath, by the name of the Almighty, | |
| He would hunt this ravening evil that had scathed and torn him so; | 30 |
| He would seize it by the vitals; he would crush it day and night; he | |
| Would so pursue its footsteps, so return it blow for blow, | |
| That Old Brown, | |
| Ossawattomie Brown, | |
| Should be a name to swear by, in backwoods or in town! | 35 |
| |
| Then his beard became more grizzled, and his wild blue eye grew wilder, | |
| And more sharply curved his hawk’s-nose, snuffing battle from afar; | |
| And he and the two boys left, though the Kansas strife waxed milder, | |
| Grew more sullen, till was over the bloody Border War, | |
| And Old Brown, | 40 |
| Ossawattomie Brown, | |
| Had gone crazy, as they reckoned by his fearful glare and frown. | |
| |
| So he left the plains of Kansas and their bitter woes behind him, | |
| Slipt off into Virginia, where the statesmen all are born, | |
| Hired a farm by Harper’s Ferry, and no one knew where to find him, | 45 |
| Or whether he ’d turned parson, or was jacketed and shorn; | |
| For Old Brown, | |
| Ossawattomie Brown, | |
| Mad as he was, knew texts enough to wear a parson’s gown. | |
| |
| He bought no ploughs and harrows, spades and shovels, and such trifles; | 50 |
| But quietly to his rancho there came, by every train, | |
| Boxes full of pikes and pistols, and his well-beloved Sharp’s rifles; | |
| And eighteen other madmen joined their leader there again. | |
| Says Old Brown, | |
| Ossawattomie Brown, | 55 |
| “Boys, we ’ve got an army large enough to march and take the town! | |
| |
| “Take the town, and seize the muskets, free the negroes and then arm them; | |
| Carry the County and the State, ay, and all the potent South. | |
| On their own heads be the slaughter, if their victims rise to harm them— | |
| These Virginians! who believed not, nor would heed the warning mouth.” | 60 |
| Says Old Brown, | |
| Ossawattomie Brown, | |
| “The world shall see a Republic, or my name is not John Brown.” | |
| |
| ’T was the sixteenth of October, on the evening of a Sunday: | |
| “This good work,” declared the captain, “shall be on a holy night!” | 65 |
| It was on a Sunday evening, and before the noon of Monday, | |
| With two sons, and Captain Stephens, fifteen privates—black and white, | |
| Captain Brown, | |
| Ossawattomie Brown, | |
| Marched across the bridged Potomac, and knocked the sentry down; | 70 |
| |
| Took the guarded armory-building, and the muskets and the cannon; | |
| Captured all the county majors and the colonels, one by one; | |
| Scared to death each gallant scion of Virginia they ran on, | |
| And before the noon of Monday, I say, the deed was done. | |
| Mad Old Brown, | 75 |
| Ossawattomie Brown, | |
| With his eighteen other crazy men, went in and took the town. | |
| |
| Very little noise and bluster, little smell of powder made he; | |
| It was all done in the midnight, like the Emperor’s coup d’état. | |
| “Cut the wires! Stop the rail-cars! Hold the streets and bridges!” said he, | 80 |
| Then declared the new Republic, with himself for guiding star,— | |
| This Old Brown, | |
| Ossawattomie Brown; | |
| And the bold two thousand citizens ran off and left the town. | |
| |
| Then was riding and railroading and expressing here and thither; | 85 |
| And the Martinsburg Sharpshooters and the Charlestown Volunteers, | |
| And the Shepherdstown and Winchester Militia hastened whither | |
| Old Brown was said to muster his ten thousand grenadiers. | |
| General Brown! | |
| Ossawattomie Brown!! | 90 |
| Behind whose rampant banner all the North was pouring down. | |
| |
| But at last, ’t is said, some prisoners escaped from Old Brown’s durance, | |
| And the effervescent valor of the Chivalry broke out, | |
| When they learned that nineteen madmen had the marvellous assurance— | |
| Only nineteen—thus to seize the place and drive them straight about; | 95 |
| And Old Brown, | |
| Ossawattomie Brown, | |
| Found an army come to take him, encamped around the town. | |
| |
| But to storm, with all the forces I have mentioned, was too risky; | |
| So they hurried off to Richmond for the Government Marines, | 100 |
| Tore them from their weeping matrons, fired their souls with Bourbon whiskey, | |
| Till they battered down Brown’s castle with their ladders and machines; | |
| And Old Brown, | |
| Ossawattomie Brown, | |
| Received three bayonet stabs, and a cut on his brave old crown. | 105 |
| |
| Tallyho! the old Virginia gentry gather to the baying! | |
| In they rushed and killed the game, shooting lustily away; | |
| And whene’er they slew a rebel, those who came too late for slaying, | |
| Not to lose a share of glory, fired their bullets in his clay; | |
| And Old Brown, | 110 |
| Ossawattomie Brown, | |
| Saw his sons fall dead beside him, and between them laid him down. | |
| |
| How the conquerors wore their laurels; how they hastened on the trial; | |
| How Old Brown was placed, half dying, on the Charlestown court-house floor; | |
| How he spoke his grand oration, in the scorn of all denial; | 115 |
| What the brave old madman told them,—these are known the country o’er. | |
| “Hang Old Brown, | |
| Ossawattomie Brown,” | |
| Said the judge, “and all such rebels!” with his most judicial frown. | |
| |
| But, Virginians, don’t do it! for I tell you that the flagon, | 120 |
| Filled with blood of Old Brown’s offspring, was first poured by Southern hands; | |
| And each drop from Old Brown’s life-veins, like the red gore of the dragon, | |
| May spring up a vengeful Fury, hissing through your slave-worn lands! | |
| And Old Brown, | |
| Ossawattomie Brown, | 125 |
| May trouble you more than ever, when you ’ve nailed his coffin down! | |
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