Hazlett and Edwin Coppoc were ordered to hold the Armory. Oliver Brown and William Thompson were sent to seize the Shenandoah bridge, the direct line of march into the slave-thronged lower valley.
Stevens was sent to capture the Rifle Works which was accomplished in two minutes.
The program had worked exactly as Brown had predicted. Not a shot had been fired and they were masters of the town, its two bridges, the United States Arsenal, Armory and Rifle Works.
The men were now despatched through the town for the real work of the night—the arming of the black legion with pikes and torches.
It was one o'clock before the first accident happened. Patrick Higgins, the second night watchman, came to relieve Williams on the Maryland bridge.
Oliver Brown, on guard, cried:
"You're my prisoner, sir."
The Irishman grinned.
"Yez don't till me!"
Without another word he struck Oliver a blow. The crack of a rifle was the answer. In his rage young Brown was too quick with the shot. The bullet plowed a furrow in Higgins' skull but failed to pierce it.