Letter from George Washington Brown to Eli Thayer (1856)

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Under Guard, Near Lecompton, K. T.,
June 4th, 1856.

Eli Thayer, Esq.

My Dear Friend: – You have
learned ere this of my arrest at Kansas City,
while on the way to the Territory, by an armed
mob, and of my confinement here under guard
of United States troops, with all communication
cut off with the business world. You will also
have learned of the destruction of the Emigrant
Aid Company’s Hotel at Lawrence; of the burning of
Doctor Robinson’s office, dwelling; the stealing of his papers,
books and soforth; of his own imprisonment;
and of the destruction of my two hand presses,
the power press, all my type and fixtures for
my extensive news and jobbing office; also my
private papers and documents, and my extensive
miscellaneous and law library, embracing
over a thousand volumes of the choicest publications
of the times.

The Demons of the slave power are rampant
today, and all because they come in the name of
the law, clothed with authority of the federal
government.

The charge of treason against us is the most
ludicrous ever brought against men. All connected
with our arrest know it; and yet we have been
denied bail, and shall be compelled to remain
here on the open prairie, under a tent, exposed
to an oppressive summer sun, and guarded by
United States troops until September next, unless
our friends in the East can contrive some plan
for our liberation. To remain as we are is to
expose us to disease, if not death, before we

can get a trial. The hell-hounds of the South,
under the patronage of officers clothed with
authority by Franklin Pierce, have temporary
supremacy in Kansas. We are willing they
shall run not for a brief season, as we
are confident they will be ultimately chained;
we see, too, the end of slavery rapidly approaching,
and deem their late acts in Kansas the
crowning work in their destruction. To you
to whom we are already so deeply indebted
for past services in behalf of our cause
we naturally look in the hour of affliction.
To you we again appeal for sympathy and aid,
and we feel sure it will be received. Your
eloquence is needed to arouse a nation to
action. Your energy is demanded to turn the
losses of the people of Lawrence, and their
sufferings to account in behalf of freedom.

I beg of you to withhold no effort in
favor of our cause. Our triumph is the
triumph of liberty every where. Our
enslavement is the death knell of freedom
in this republic – thoughout the world.

If the friends of free Kansas shall show
by proper expression that they desire the
Herald of Freedom to continue its labors;
it will again rise from its ashes, and will
continue as formerly a terror to tyrants. And
this whether I continue a prisoner or otherwise.
My executors are pledged to this work, in case
I shall not be permitted to push it on, myself,
and every dollar I have or may have is pledged
to the cause work.

Remembering with gratitude your past

services and friendship, and begging a
continuance of the same, I am, with assurance
of esteem,

Yours Truly,
G. W. Brown