This lot is closed. Bidding ended on 5/11/2001.
The legend of John Brown has been glorified in literature, song and art, immortalizing the martyr whose rally cry against slavery helped to ignite the Civil War. In 1859, Brown organized a small band of believers that massacred pro-slavery forces in Kansas, then moved to Harper's Ferry, Virginia intending to capture the Federal arsenal and distribute the weapons to slaves, but a U.S. army force led by General Robert E. Lee captured them after a bloody skirmish and Brown was hanged on December 12, 1859. On that day, bells tolled for Brown throughout the North and incantations of "John Brown's body" soon became a battle hymn during the Civil War. While Brown's abolitionism traces back to the 1830s, he was also a farmer in Kansas and that was what was on his mind in this extremely rare handwritten letter which is dated June 27, 1846 and addressed to a General Samuel Patterson in Washington County, Pennsylvania. In a meticulous script in brown fountain pen and on blue-line paper, Brown wrote that he could "get some fine wool" and noted that "there are manufacturers anxiously waiting the arival (sic) of some of our wool." Brown ended the letter by writing, in a line Bob Dylan might relate to, "Let us know how all the wind blows around you," and signed it, "Respectfully, your friend, John Brown," with a clear signature that rates a 9. The letter is in impressively good condition, with four horizontal and two vertical fold marks. The paper has been repaired, causing the loss of a few words. Brown folded the page into an envelope and on the back is Patterson's name and address and a postmark that apparently reads "Springfield, Mo." with the date "June 29." Because few traces of Brown exist today, this is an item of profound historical significance.