Kidnapped by Raiders

Lewis Washington taken by raiders


On October 16, 1859, John Brown and 18 men entered Harper's Ferry and captured the federal armory. After having secured a large cache of weapons, Brown ordered his men to obtain local hostages and bring them back to the armory. Their first stop was Beallair, the home of Lewis Washington, son of George Washington's grandnephew.     

Lewis Washington was an   honorary colonel because
of his service to the
Commonwealth of Virginia.



 

Col. Washington later described his kidnapping in testimony to a U.S. Senate committee chaired by Senator James Mason of Virginia: "They appeared at my chamber door about half past one o'clock in the morning. My name was called in an under tone, and supposing it to be by some friend who had possibly arrived late, and being familiar with the house, had been admitted in the rear by the servants, I opened the door in my night-shirt and slippers. I was in bed and asleep. As I opened the door there were four armed men with their guns drawn upon me just around me."

Raider entering Beallair

Because of extensive reconnaissance,
the raiders were able to enter Beallair
and capture Lewis Washington.

According to his testimony, Washington was not intimidated. He told the raiders, "You are a very bold looking set of fellows, but I should doubt your courage; you have too many arms to take one man. I believe with a pop-gun I could take either of you in your shirt tail." When the raiders asked for his watch he refused saying "I am going to speak very plainly; you told me your purpose was philanthropic, but you did not mention at the same time that it was robbery and rascality. I do not choose to surrender my watch." While the raiders did not steal the watch, they took a number of items, including two family heirlooms: George Washington's dress sword and a riding pistol that was given to George Washington by Lafayette. The sword was inherited by William Augustine Washington, who was George Washington's nephew. William passed it down to his son, George Corbin Washington, who passed it down to his son, Lewis Washington. It was believed that Fredrick the Great gave the sword to George Washington.
The raiders were surprised that Lewis Washington had not heard of John Brown. According to Washingtons testimony: "Then he said to me, 'I presume you have heard of Ossawatomie Brown [one of John Browns nicknames]?' I said, 'no, I have not.' 'Then', said he, 'you have paid very little attention to Kansas matters.' I remarked to him that I had become so much disgusted with Kansas, and everything connected with it, that whenever I saw a paper with Kansas at the head of it I turned it over and did not read it. 'Well,' said he, 'you will see him this morning, speaking apparently with great glorification. '
In 1861, Osborne P. Anderson, one of the few raiders that escaped, wrote his account of the kidnapping. "The first prisoner taken by us was Colonel Lewis Washington. When we neared his house, Capt. Stevens placed Leary and Shields Green to guard the approaches to the house, the one at the side, the other in front. We then knocked, but no one answering, although females were looking from upper windows, we entered the building and commenced a search for the proprietor. Col. Washington opened his room door, and begged us not to kill him. Capt. Stevens replied, 'you are our prisoner,' when he stood as if speechless or petrified. Stevens further told him to get ready to go to the Ferry; that he had come to abolish slavery, not to take life but in self-defence, but that he must go along. The Colonel replied: 'You can have my slaves, if you will let me remain.'  'No,' said the Captain, 'you must go along too; so get ready.' After saying this, Stevens left the house for a time, and with Green, Leary and Tidd, proceeded to the Quarters, giving the prisoner in charge of Cook and myself. The male slaves were gathered together in a short time, when horses were tackled to the Colonel's two-horse carriage and four-horse wagon, and both vehicles brought to the front of the house. "
Photo of Osborne P. Anderson  
Anderson was among the five
escaped capture. His account
is the only one published by
a member of Brown's party.


According to Anderson: "During this time, Washington was walking the floor, apparently much excited. When the Captain came in, he went to the sideboard, took out his whiskey, and offered us something to drink, but he was refused. His fire-arms were next demanded, when he brought forth one double-barreled gun, one small rifle, two horse-pistols and a sword. Nothing else was asked of him. The Colonel cried heartily when he found he must submit, and appeared taken aback when, on delivering up the famous sword formerly presented by Fredrick to his illustrious kinsman, George Washington, Capt. Stevens told me to step forward and take it. Washington was secured and placed in his wagon, the women of the family making great outcries, when the party drove forward to Mr. John Allstadt's. After making known our business to him, he went into as great a fever of excitement as Washington had done. We could have his slaves, also, if we would only leave him. This, of course, was contrary to our plans and instructions. He hesitated, puttered around, fumbled and meditated for a long time. At last, seeing no alternative, he got ready, when the slaves were gathered up from about the quarters by their own consent, and all placed in Washington's big wagon and returned to the Ferry.


Washington testified that On the way back to Harpers Ferry, the raiders took more hostages. "At the house of Mrs. Henderson, widow of Richard Henderson, they stopped the carriage just in front of the house; there were four or five daughters in the house who had recently lost their father, and I remarked to the party in front of me, there is no one here but ladies, and it would be an infamous shame to wake them up at this hour of the night." The raiders proceeded to the next house, letting Mrs. Henderson and her daughters enjoy a good nights sleep.
When they got to the armory, Brown talked to the hostages. He told Washington, "I shall be very attentive to you, sir, for I may get the worst of it in my first encounter, and if so, your life is worth as much as mine. I shall be very particular to pay attention to you. My particular reason for taking you first was that, as the aide to the governor of Virginia, I knew you would endeavor to perform your duty, and perhaps you would have been a troublesome customer to me; and, apart from that, I wanted you particularly for the moral effect it would give our cause, having one of your name as a prisoner."
Later that morning, the local militia, supported by townspeople and farmers, began firing on the armory. Brown relocated to the engine house in front of the armory and prepared for a final showdown. President Buchanan sent Robert E. Lee and a group of U.S. Marines to suppress the raid. Lee arrived late that  evening and took command of the situation. The next morning he sent Lieutenant J.E.B. Stuart to request a surrender. Brown said, "No, I prefer to die here." The Marines, led by Lieutenant Israel Green, broke down the doors, captured Brown and his men, and rescued the hostages. Lewis Washington recovered his stolen items. He was widely praised for his calmness and courage during the raid.

Drawing of Israel Green capturing John Brown

A modern artist recreates the capture
of John Brown by Lieutenant Green.
In December 1885, The New American Review published an eyewhitness account by Lietenant Israel Green.  He descripes the aftermath of the fighting.

"I saw very little of the situation within until the fight was over. Then I observed that the engine-house was thick with smoke, and it was with difficulty that a person could be seen across the room. In the rear, behind the left-hand engine, were huddled the prisoners whom Brown had captured and held as hostages for the safety of himself and his men. Colonel Washington was one of these. All during the fight, as I understood afterward, he kept to the front of the engine-house. When I met him he was as cool as he would have been on his own veranda entertaining guests. He was naturally a very brave man. I remember that he would not come out of the engine-house, begrimed and soiled as he was from his long imprisonment, until he had put a pair of kid gloves upon his hands. The other prisoners were the sorriest lot of people I ever saw. They had been without food for over sixty hours, in constant dread of being shot, and were huddled up in the corner where lay the body of Brown's son and one or two others of the insurgents who had been killed."

Drawing of Lewis Washington helping the marines capture the raiders. He is holding his sword.

Lewis Washington assists the marines
by identifying the raiders.
This is a detail from a 1859
newspaper drawing.

In July 1883, Century magazine published an eyewitness account of the raid by Alexander Boteler, who was a good friend of Lewis Washington.

"There was a shot, some inarticulate exclamations, and a short struggle inside the engine-house, and then, as our rescued friends emerged from the smoke that filled it, followed by marines bringing out the prisoners, the pent-up feelings of the spectators found appropriate expression in a general shout

As Colonel Lewis Washington came out I hastened to him with my congratulations, and to my inquiry:

'Lewis, old fellow, how do you feel?'

He replied, with characteristic emphasis:

'Feel! Why, I feel as hungry as a hound and as dry as a powder-horn; for, only think of it, I've not had anything to eat for forty odd hours, and nothing better to drink than water out of a horse-bucket!/

He told me that when Lieutenant Green leaped into the engine-house, he greeted him with the exclamation: 'God bless you, Green! There's Brown!' at the same time pointing out to him the brave but unscrupulous old fanatic, who, having discharged his rifle, had seized a spear, and was yet in the half-kneeling position he had assumed when he fired his last shot. He said, also, that the cut which Green made at Brown would undoubtedly have cleft his skull, if the point of his sword had not caught on a rope, which of course weakened the force of the blow; but it was sufficient to cause him to fall to the floor and relax his hold upon the spear, which, by the way, I took possession of as a relic of the raid."

 Photo of Alexander Boteler

 Alexander Boteler was
the congressman from Jefferson County at
the time of the raid.


 






 
The Valley Spirit, a pro-slavery southern newspaper published a detailed in October 26, 1859 edition.
"Col. Washington speaks of him [John Brwon] as a man of extraordinary nerve. He never blanched during the assault, though he admitted through the night, that escape was impossible, and he would have to die. When the door was broken down, one of his men exclaimed, 'I surrender!' the Captain immediately cried out, 'there's one surrenders, give him quarter!' and at the same moment fired his rifle at the door."
"During the previous night, he spoke freely with Col. Washington, and referred to his sons. He said he had lost one in Kansas, and two here. He had not pressed them to join him in the expedition, but did not regret their loss. They had died in a glorious cause."
"The position of the prisoners in the engine house during the firing on Monday, and at the moment of the final attack, was a very trying one. Without any of the incentives of combat, they had to risk the balls of their friends, but happily they all escaped. At the moment when the doors were broken in, the prisoners, at the suggestion of Col Washington, threw up their hands, so that it might be seen they were not combatants."
 
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Copyright 2009 William H DeRoche