Annie Brown
His base established, Brown laid plans to assemble his arms and supplies and to gather in his followers. On July 10 he wrote to John Kagi at Chambersburg, Pa., where an arms depot had been set up, giving him directions for forwarding the waiting men and the “freight”—200 Sharps rifles, an equal number of pistols, and a thousand pikes. The weapons, crated in large wooden boxes marked “Hardware and Castings,” were shipped from Ohio to Chambersburg where Kagi sent them by wagon to Brown at the Kennedy farm. Supplies were acquired at various places between Chambersburg and Harpers Ferry.
Alone and in twos and threes, Brown’s followers began to assemble at the farm. Watson Brown arrived on August 6. “Tall and rather fair, with finely knit frame, athletic and active,” the 24-year-old Watson brought with him two of his brothers-in-law and North Elba neighbors, William and Dauphin Thompson. The Thompsons had not previously taken active roles in the anti-slavery movement but they were dedicated abolitionists. William, 26 years old, was fun-loving and good natured. He had started for Kansas in 1856 but turned back before reaching there. His 20-year-old brother Dauphin had never been away from home before. Handsome, inexperienced, with curly, golden hair and a soft complexion, he seemed “more like a girl than a warrior” and was “diffident and quiet.” Both had come to the Kennedy farm because they were firmly convinced of the justness of John Brown’s cause.
Next came Aaron Stevens and Charles Plummet Tidd, a 25-year-old former Maine woodsman. Tidd was a Kansas veteran. He had been one of the first to join Brown at Tabor, Iowa, in 1857 and had remained one of his closest associates ever since. He was quick-tempered, but according to Annie Brown, “His rages soon passed and then he tried all he could to repair damages. He was a fine singer and of strong family affections.”
Edwin Coppoc
Dauphin Thompson
Charles Plummer Tidd