[00:08.88]Brown finally agreed to let the train pass over the bridge
[00:14.24]and continue on to Baltimore.The train left at sunrise.
[00:21.05]By this time, word of Brown's attack had spread to Charles Town
[00:27.82]more than twelve kilometers away.
[00:31.37]Officials called out the militia, ordering the men of Charles Town
[00:37.62]to get ready to go to the aid of Harper's Ferry.
[00:42.63]Soon after sunrise, men began arriving at Harper's Ferry
[00:49.55]from other towns in the area.
[00:53.00]They took positions above the armory and started shooting at it.
[00:59.53]The militia from Charles Town arrived
[01:03.97]at the Maryland end of the Potomac Bridge.
[01:08.49]They charged across,forcing Brown's men on the bridge to flee to the armory
[01:17.84]Only one of Brown's man was hit.
[01:22.18]He was killed instantly.
[01:26.23]Brown saw that he was surrounded.
[01:30.85]His only hope was to try to negotiate a cease-fire
[01:36.10]and offer to release his thirty hostages,
[01:41.07]if the militia would let him and his men go free.
[01:46.32]Brown sent out one of his men and one of the prisoners with a white flag.
[01:54.05]The excited crowd refused to recognize the White flag.
[01:59.98]They seized Brown's man and carried him away.
[02:05.52]Brown moved his men and the most important of his hostages
[02:12.05]into a small brick building at the armory.
[02:16.78]Then he sent out two more of his men with a prisoner
[02:22.32]to try to negotiate a cease-fire.
[02:26.36]One of them was his son, Watson.
[02:30.88]This time,the crowd opened fire.
[02:36.63]Watson and the other raider were wounded.
[02:40.18]Their prisoner escaped to safety.
[02:44.13]Watson was able to crawl back to the armory.
[02:49.27]One of the youngest of Brown's men,William Leeann, tried to escape.
[02:57.21]He ran from the armory and jumped into the Potomac
[03:02.47]planning to swim across the river.
[03:06.10]He did not get far.
[03:10.43]A group of militia saw him and began shooting.
[03:15.40]Leeann was forced to hide behind a rock in the middle of the river.
[03:21.82]Two men went out to the rock with guns and shot him.
[03:27.67]His body lay in the river for two days.
[03:32.92]Later,more people were killed.
[03:36.97]One was the mayor of Harper's Ferry,Fontana Buckram.
[03:44.03]After the mayor's death, a mob went to the hotel
[03:49.67]where one of Brown's men had been held
[03:53.22]since he was seized earlier in the day.
[03:57.27]They pulled him from the hotel and took him to the bridge over the river
[04:03.30]Several members of the mob put guns to his head and fired.
[04:09.84]They pushed his body off the bridge and into the water.
[04:15.09]Across town,three of Brown's men were in trouble at the gun factory.
[04:22.24]The factory was built on an island in the Shenandoah River.
[04:28.28]the island was now surrounded Militia
[04:33.01]Forty of the soldiers attacked the factory from three sides.
[04:38.94]They pushed the three raiders back to a small building next to the river.
[04:45.36]The three men fought as long as possible.
[04:50.22]Then they jumped through a window into the river.
[04:55.24]They tried to swim to safety.
[04:58.87]Men with guns were waiting for them.
[05:03.20]Bullets fell around the three like rain.
[05:07.72]One man was hit.
[05:10.88]He died instantly.
[05:14.12]Another was wounded.
[05:17.05]He was pulled to land and left to die.
[05:22.19]The third man escaped death.
[05:25.83]He was captured and held for trial.
[05:30.79]All through the afternoon and evening,
[05:35.52]Brown's men at the armory continued to exchange shot with the militia.
[05:42.05]Several more on both sides were killed or wounded.
[05:47.59]One of those was another of Brown's sons,Oliver
[05:53.72]He was shot and seriously wounded.
[05:58.16]Night fell.Then,a militia officer,Captain Sinn,
[06:04.80]walked up to the small building held by Brown.
[06:09.82]He shouted to the men inside that he wished to talk.
[06:15.17]Brown opened the door and let him in.
[06:19.90]For almost an hour, the two men talked.
[06:25.33]They talked about slavery and the right to rebel against the government
[06:32.10]Brown was furious that the crowd outside had refused to honor his white flag
[06:39.83]of truce earlier in the day.
[06:43.17]He told Sinn that his men could have killed unarmed men and women
[06:49.70]but did not do so.
[06:52.53]"That is not quite correct,"Captain Sinn said.
[06:57.49]"Mayor Buckram had no gun when he was shot."
[07:02.92]"Then I can only say I am most sad to hear it,"said Brown.
[07:09.17]"Men who take up guns against the government," said Sinn,
[07:14.70]must expect to be shot down like dogs."
[07:19.22]In Washington, President Buchanan and Secretary of War
[07:25.86]Lohn Floyd did not learn of the rebellion at Harper's Ferry
[07:32.00]until after ten o'clock that morning.
[07:35.63]The president wanted immediate action. |