Virginia v. John Brown was a criminal trial held in Charles Town, Virginia, United States, in October 1859. The abolitionist activist John Brown was quickly prosecuted for treason against the Commonwealth of Virginia, murder, and inciting a slave insurrection, all part of his raid on the United States federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. (Since 1863, both Charles Town and Harpers Ferry are located in West Virginia.) He was found guilty of all charges, sentenced to death, and was executed by hanging on December 2.
During most of the trial Brown lay on a pallet, unable to stand.
Background On October 16, 1859, Brown led (counting himself) 22 armed men, 5 black and 17 white, to Harpers Ferry, an important railroad, river, and canal junction. His goal was to seize the federal arsenal and then, using the captured arms, lead a slave insurrection in the South. Brown and his men engaged in a two-day standoff with local militia and federal troops, in which ten of his men were shot or killed, five were captured, and five escaped. Of Brown's three sons who participated, two, Oliver and Watson, were killed during the fight, except that Watson survived in agony until the next day. Owen escaped and later fought in the Union Army.
Reporting on the trial Thanks to the recently invented telegraph, Brown's trial was the first to be reported nationally. In attendance were reporters from the New York Herald and The Daily Exchange, both of whom had been in Harpers Ferry since October 18; reports on the trial, including Brown's remarks, differ in details, showing the work of more than one hand. The coverage was so intense that reporters could dedicate whole paragraphs to the weather, and the visit of Brown's wife, the night before his execution, was the subject of lengthy articles. Reprinted from The Independent (New York City). Reprinted from the New York Tribune "Telegraphed expressly for the Cincinnati Gazette."
The stories in the New York Daily Tribune were published unsigned, as the reporter, Edward Howard House, was in Charles Town in disguise, under a false name, with credentials from a Boston pro-slavery paper. He begged a visitor who knew him, Edward A. Brackett, a sketch artist from Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, not to say his real name aloud. Some of his reports, which could not be mailed safely from Charles Town, were transmitted by wrapping them around the legs of this gentleman, which were then hidden from view by his trousers.
A second artist from Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper was also in attendance, and Harper's Weekly employed a local artist and nephew of prosecuting attorney Andrew Hunter, Porte Crayon (David Hunter Strother); one of his drawings is in the Gallery, below. Leslie informed his readers that "one of our imitators" was publishing bogus pictures. He described how his paper had engravers and artists standing by in a New York hotel, and once a sketch had arrived from Charles Town, 16 artists worked simultaneously at transforming it (split into 16 segments) into an illustration ready to be printed. The illustrations were so widely distributed that Yale Literary Magazine made fun of them, publishing the drawings of "our own artist on the spot" of "Governor Wise's shoes", "John Brown's watch", and the like.
Significance of the trial Considering its aftermath, it was arguably the most important criminal trial in the history of the country, for it was closely related to the war that quickly followed. According to historian Karen Whitman, "The conduct of John Brown during his incarceration and trial was so strong and unwavering that slavery went on trial rather than slavery's captive."
According to Brian McGinty, the "Brown of history" was thus born in his trial. Had Brown died before his trial, he would have been "condemned as a madman and relegated to a footnote of history". Robert McGlone added that "the trial did magnify and exalt his image. But Brown's own efforts to fashion his ultimate public persona began long before the raid and culminated only in the weeks that followed his dramatic speech at his sentencing." After his arrest, Brown engaged in extensive correspondence. After the conviction and sentencing, the judge permitted him to have visitors, and in his final month aliveVirginia law required that a month elapse between sentencing and executionhe gave interviews to reporters or anyone else who wanted to talk to him. All of this was facilitated by the "just and humane" jailor of Jefferson County, Captain John Avis, who "does all for his prisoners that his duty allows him to", and had a "sincere respect" for Brown. His "humane treatment of Brown called forth the most severe criticisms from the Virginians." Brown's last meal, and the last time he saw his wife, was with the jailer's family, in their apartment at the jail.
The trial Jurisdiction This was the first criminal case in the United States where there was a question of whether federal courts or state courts had jurisdiction.
The Secretary of War, after a lengthy meeting with President Buchanan, telegraphed Lee that the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, Robert Ould, was being sent to take charge of the prisoners and bring them to justice. However, Governor Wise quickly appeared in person.
President Buchanan was indifferent to where Brown and his men were tried; Ould, in his brief report, did not call for federal prosecutions, as the only relevant crimes were those few that took place within the Armory. Also found in the November 1859, issue of Douglass' Monthly. "Virginia Governor Henry Wise, on the other hand, was 'adamant' that the insurgents pay for their crimes through his state's local judicial system," "claiming" the prisoners "to be dealt with according to the laws of Virginia". As he put it, after claiming that he remained at Harper's Ferry to prevent the suspects from being lynched, he "had made up his mind fully, and after determining that the prisoners should be tried in Virginia, he would not have obeyed an order to the contrary from the President of the United States."
In short, Brown and his men did not face federal charges. There were no federal court facilities nearby, and transporting the accused to a federal courthouse in the state capital of Richmond or Washington D.C.the nearest federal courthouse was in Staunton, Virginia, which was briefly mentioned in this regardand maintaining them there would have been difficult and expensive. Because of Senator Mason's resolution setting up a "select committee" to investigate the events at Harpers Ferry, there was no need of a federal venue in order to summon witnesses from other states. Murder was not a federal crime, and a federal indictment for treason or fomenting slave insurrection would have caused a political crisis (because so many abolitionists would have denounced it). Under Virginia law, fomenting a slave insurrection was clearly and unequivocally a crime. And the defendants could be tried where they were, in Charles Town.
The trial, then, took place in the county courthouse in Charles Town, not to be confused with today's capital, Charleston, West Virginia. Charles Town is the county seat of Jefferson County, about west of Harpers Ferry. The judge was Richard Parker, of Winchester.
Military presence in Harpers Ferry Between Brown's arrest and his execution, Charles Town was filled with armed forces, both federal and state (militia). "The Governor [kept] the state troops constantly on guard. so that from the time Brown and his men were put in jail until after his execution, Charlestown had much the appearance of a military camp." The state was spending almost a thousand dollars a day () on military guards and other items, and after the episode was over the Virginia legislature appropriated $100,000 () to cover these expenditures.
Charles Town was described thus by a reporter there at the time:
Coordinating local security activities, including keeping non-residents without legitimate business in the city away, was Andrew Hunter, personal attorney of Governor Wise, and the most distinguished attorney in Jefferson County. The main goal was to prevent an armed rescue of Brown, despite the fact that Brown said repeatedly that he did not want to be rescued. According to Hunter in his memoirs, another reason for the heavy military presence, for which Wise was criticized, is that both Wise and Hunter were concerned that a larger battle could take place, beginning the Civil War in Virginia in 1859:
Even Hunter's office was put to military use:
Grand jury
Brown faced a grand jury on Tuesday, October 25, 1859, just eight days after his capture in the armory. Brown was brought into court "accompanied by a body of armed men. Cannon were stationed in front of the court house [see illustration], and an armed guard were patrolling round the jail."
The grand jury was also considering the other prisoners to be tried with Brown: Aaron Stephens, Edwin Coppie, Shields Green, and John Copeland. The courtroom was so crowded with spectators, all white since Blacks were not admitted, that there was not even standing room. At 5 PM the grand jury reported they had not yet finished questioning of witnesses, and the hearing was adjourned until the next day. On October 26 the grand jury returned a true bill of indictment against Brown and the other defendants, charging them with: Conspiring with slaves to produce insurrection, Treason against the Commonwealth of Virginia, and Murder.
Also on the 26th, M. Johnson, the United States Marshall from Cleveland, Ohio, arrived and identified Copeland as a fugitive from justice in Ohio.
Counsel The next question was what legal counsel Brown was to have. The Court assigned two "Virginians and pro-slavery men", John Faulkner and Lawson Botts, as counsel for him and the other accused. Brown did not accept them; he told the judge that he had sent for counsel, "who have not had time to reach here".
Brown asked for "a delay of two or three days" for his counsel to arrive. The judge turned down Brown's request: "the expectation of other counsel...did not constitute a sufficient cause for delay, as there was no certainty about their coming. ...The brief period remaining before the close of the term of the Court rendered it necessary to proceed as expeditiously as practicable, and to be cautious about granting delays."
Brown asked for "a very short delay" so that he could recover his hearing:
Prosecuting attorney Hunter said that delay would be dangerous; there was "exceeding pressure on the resources of the community". He asked that Brown's body be examined by a doctor, who did not find that Brown's health required delay.
The judge's refusal to postpone the trial even one day to allow Brown's counsel to arrive, or when it did arrive, to allow it to read the indictment and the testimony given so far (see below), and that Brown was being tried when he was too wounded to stand, much less "attend to his own defense", or follow what was being said, contributed to Brown's transformation into a martyr.