that a scheme of such wickedness and outrage could not be entertained by any citizens of the United States, I put the letter away, and thought no more of it until the raid broke out."[1]
Gerrit Smith, too, with little discretion, addressed to a Negro audience words which plainly showed he shortly expected a slave insurrection. Even among the Harper's Ferry party forced inaction led to dispute and disaffection. John Brown sharply rebuked the letter-writing and gossiping of his own men. "Any person is a stupid fool," he told Kagi, "who expects his friends to keep for him that which he cannot keep himself. All our friends have each got their special friends; and they again have theirs; and it would not be right to lay the burden of keeping a secret on any one at the end of a long string. I could tell you of reasons I have for feeling rather keenly on this point."[2]
The men, on the other hand, were dissatisfied with Brown's plans as they were finally disclosed. Anne Brown writes that they generally "did not know that the raid on the government works was a part of the 'plan' until after they arrived at the farm in the beginning of August."[3] They wanted simply to repeat the Missouri raid on a larger scale and not try to capture the arsenal. Tidd was especially stubborn and irreconcilable. The discussion became
