Evidence Category: The Shepherdstown Register

Old John Brown. — “Gath,” in his letter to the Cincinnati Enquirer, has some interesting notes of an interview in New York with Hon. A. R. Boteler. He says: Mr. Boteler is a man rather above the middle size, well made but not heavy. He has the typical Virginian face, blue eyes, gray hair and a grayish white beard, and a very easy, pleasing address. His home is not far from Shepherdstown, which is on the line of the battlefield of Antietam. Indeed, Mr. Boteler lives at present, I think, at Shepherdstown. I got down portions of this gentleman’s unpremeditated talk without much reference to the order of the topics as they were taken up.

“Are you not something of a painter?” “That is my great delight,” said the old statesman. “If I could have had my way I would have been an artist. But my grandfather threatened to whip me if he ever saw me painting anything. I was descended from a family of painters, and my father wanted me to stick to something more material.”

“From what family of painters were you descended?”
I am the great-grandson of Charles Wilson Peale. When my house was burned down during the war it contained some excellent specimens of the Peales, which were heir-looms there.”

“Mr. Boteler, you lived close to the John Brown raid; did you see Brown?”
“Yes, sir. I not only saw him hauled out of the engine-house, but while he was freshly wounded Colonel Robert Lee allowed me to pass in and talk to him as he lay on the bare floor in one of the armory buildings. There is a singular circumstance about that. Some time before Brown’s descent on Harper’s Ferry I took my wife one day a sketch that I made with a pencil in the cars coming from Point of Rocks to Harper’s Ferry. Said I: “My dear, here is a genuine picture of the Wandering Jew.” “Who is it?” said she. “I don’t know. It was a strange old man with fingers like the talons of a bird, that I saw talking to two young men. He had the most remarkable head I have looked at for years. His hair went up like spikes, his jaw and mouth were very strong, and he had an eye that would look you through and through. His nose was like an eagle’s, and there was something very fascinating about him, yet superstitious; and I made that sketch of him and called it the Wandering Jew. He was talking about sheep raising, and talked very intelligently, too, and I was interested in what he said, because I thought he might be going to buy land in our parts.’ Well, my wife put that picture away and forgot about it. Suddenly, the descent on Harper’s Ferry was made. It did not then occur to me that Brown was the same man that I had seen. But when he was tried at Charlestown I took the opportunity to draw another sketch of him. By that time he had somewhat recovered from his wounds. I took the sketch home, and said: “There, Mrs. Boteler, you see old John Brown.” “Why,” said she, “I have seen this man before.” “Oh, I reckon not,” said I. “Yes, I have.” She thought about it awhile, and then turned to the drawer where she had put my sketch of the Wandering Jew and drew it out. “Yes,” said he, “here is the very man.” I had made the sketch of John Brown unwittingly.”

“Mr. Boteler, what impression did John Brown make on you?”
“A very remarkable man, indeed. When he was drawn out of that engine house, all covered with blood and dust, and haggard from watching and want of sleep, I went in to see him. Said I to him, “Captain, excuse me for interrupting you. I came to tell you that if you have a wife and family and wish to communicate with them I will see that you are allowed to write them a letter, and I will send it myself, though the authorities must first read it. ” He said he had a wife living at North Elba, N. Y., and daughters, and that he was obliged to me, because he wanted them written to. Said I: “Mr. Brown, you will excuse me if I ask you a question. I have a wife and daughters, too.” “Ask your question,” said Brown. “I want to know if this is the whole of the invasion of this district. Who started this thing?” “I started it myself,” said Brown. Said I, “Mr. Brown, if this is your name are we to expect any more of this raid? Will there be any further descent on this region or State?” “None that I know of,” said Brown. “If there is any more to come it will not be of my knowledge.” Said I: “Mr. Brown, if this is the whole of the raid, you must have expected assistance when you got here?” “Yes,” said he, “I did. My expedition was to free the salves, and I expected them to join me, as well as other people in favor of that object.” As I was about to go away there appeared at the door a Catholic priest, who had been attending some of the wounded people in the fight. He wore his vestments, and Brown knew him to be a priest. He at once stormed out at the top of his voice: “Go away from here! I don’t want anthing to do with you! Take him away.”

“Mr. Boteler, what do you think of John Brown?”
“I think he was a very able man. I do not believe he had any insanity whatever in the suggestion and conduct of that raid. It was one of the most marvelous campaigns ever devised. I went through his effects which were found at the old house in Maryland he occupied, and there I found a map of Virginia and the adjoining Maryland, giving the number of slaves and white men in each county and district. If John Brown had got into the mountains there is no telling how extensive that raid might have been. Unquestionably a certain proportion of the slaves would have run away. His mistake was that the military commanders afterward made–of clinging to Harper’s Ferry, thinking it has some strategic value. He meant to have gone to the mountains and kept upon their wooded summits, and the insurrection might have exceeded all our present notions. Among his effects was a list of persons that he had asked to join him, or had partly consented to do so, and it was divided into two parts, the one list headed ‘reliable,’ and the other ‘unreliable.’ At the head of the ‘unreliable’ list were the names of Frederick Douglass, Sr. and his son. I don’t think I ought to talk about that, though, because I admire the course that Douglass has taken since the war for concord and conservatism.”