The money was given to Brown to redeem Kansas, but he had developed an alternative plan.Early in the year 1857, he met in New York Colonel Hugh Forbes, a soldier of fortune who had seen service with Garibaldi in Italy.They discussed general plans for an aggressive attack upon the South for the liberation of the slaves, and with these plans the needs of Kansas had little or no connection."Kansas was to be a prologue to the real drama,"writes his latest biographer; "the properties of the one were to serve in the other." In April six months' salary was advanced out of the Kansas fund to Forbes, who was employed at a hundred dollars a month to aid in the execution of their plans.Another significant expenditure of the Kansas fund was in pursuance of a contract with a Mr.Blair, a Connecticut manufacturer, to furnish at a dollar each one thousand pikes.Though the contract was dated March 80, 1857, it was not completed until the fall of 1859, when the weapons were delivered to Brown in Pennsylvania for use at Harper's Ferry.
Instead of rushing to the relief of Kansas, as contributors had expected, the leader exercised remarkable deliberation.When August arrived, it found him only as far as Tabor, Iowa, where a considerable quantity of arms had been previously assembled.Here he was joined by Colonel Forbes, and together they organized a school of military tactics with Forbes as instructor.But as Forbes could find no one but Brown and his son to drill, he soon returned to the East, still trusted by Brown as a co-worker.It would seem that Forbes himself wished to play the chief part in the liberation of America.
While he was at Tabor, Brown was urged by Lane and other former associates of his in Kansas to come to their relief with all his forces.There had, indeed, been a full year of peace since Geary's arrival, but early in October there was to occur the election of a territorial Legislature in which the free-state forces had agreed to participate, and Lane feared an invasion from Missouri.But although the appeal was not effective, the election proved a complete triumph for the North.Late in October, after the signal victory of the law-and-order party at the election, Brown was again urged with even greater insistence to muster all his forces and come to Kansas, and there were hints in Lane's letter that an aggressive campaign was afoot to rid the Territory of the enemy.Instead of going in force, however, Brown stole into the Territory alone.On his arrival, two days after the date set for a decisive council of the revolutionary faction, he did not make himself known to Governor Robinson or to any of his party but persuaded several of his former associates to join his "school" in Iowa.From Tabor he subsequently transferred the school to Springdale, a quiet Quaker community in Cedar County, Iowa, seven miles from any railway station.Here the company went into winter quarters and spent the time in rigid drill in preparation for the campaign of liberation which they expected to undertake the following season.
While he was at Tabor, Brown began to intimate to his Eastern friends that he had other and different plans for the promotion of the general cause.In January, 1858, he went East with the definite intention of obtaining additional support for the greater scheme.On February 22, 1858, at the home of Gerrit Smith in New York, there was held a council at which Brown definitely outlined his purpose to begin operations at some point in the mountains of Virginia.Smith and Sanborn at first tried to dissuade him, but finally consented to cooperate.The secret was carefully guarded: some half-dozen Eastern friends were apprised of it, including Stearns, their most liberal contributor, and two or three friends at Springdale.
As early as December, 1857, Forbes began to write mysterious letters to Sanborn, Stearns, and others of the circle, in which he complained of ill-usage at the hands of Brown.It appears that Forbes erroneously assumed that the Boston friends were aware of Brown's contract with him and of his plans for the attack upon Virginia; but, since they were entirely ignorant on both points, the correspondence was conducted at cross-purposes for several months.Finally, early in May, 1858, it transpired that Forbes had all the time been fully informed of Brown's intentions to begin the effort for emancipation in Virginia.Not only so, but he had given detailed information on the subject to Senators Sumner, Seward, Hale, Wilson, and possibly others.Senator Wilson was told that the arms purchased by the New England Aid Society for use in Kansas were to be used by Brown for an attack on Virginia.Wilson, in entire ignorance of Brown's plans, demanded that the Aid Society be effectively protected against any such charge of betrayal of trust.The officers of the Society were, in fact, aware that the arms which had been purchased with Society funds the year before and shipped to Tabor, Iowa, had been placed in Brown's hands and that, without their consent, those arms had been shipped to Ohio and just at that time were on the point of being transported to Virginia.This knowledge placed the officers of the New England Aid Society in a most awkward position.
Stearns, the treasurer, had advanced large sums to meet pressing needs during the starvation times in Kansas in 1857.Now the arms in Brown's possession were, by vote of the officers, given to the treasurer in part payment of the Society's debt, and he of course left them just where they were.* On the basis of this arrangement Senator Wilson and the public were assured that none of the property given for the benefit of Kansas had been or would be diverted to other purposes by the Kansas Committee.It was decided, however, that on account of the Forbes revelations the attack upon Harper's Ferry must be delayed for one year and that Brown must go to Kansas to take part in the pending elections.
