Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 1.djvu/550



the village. The Springdale settlement was remote from railroads or any public thoroughfare and was a peaceful community of thrifty, prosperous farmers, most of whom were Abolitionists. A school for military instruction was opened on the Maxson farm, in which A. D. Stevens, who had served in the regular army, was instructor. John Brown and the young men of his party were a remarkable group. Several of them were orators; others were poets, accomplished writers and scholars. They had served in the Kansas War, endured hardships of frontier life and proved their courage in numerous conflicts with “Border Ruffians.” They were now drilling for the most daring and desperate enterprise in the annals of border warfare. They possessed the qualities of heroes and readily won the warm friendship and admiration of the intelligent and refined people of the quiet rural village and surrounding country, often assembling at the hospitable homes to spend the long winter evenings with the young people. The stories of their perils, escapes and battles in Kansas were told. Their rescue of slaves from bondage and the horrors of that national crime they had witnessed were recounted and thus they won the sympathy and enduring good-will of the liberty-loving people of Springdale. While the Quakers were from principle opposed to war, so warm were their sympathies for the oppressed, that they found a way to hold in high esteem and admiration these fearless young men who had risked their lives in striking sturdy blows for freedom in Kansas. The fame of John Brown, as one of the most daring leaders of the Free State men, had reached every part of the country and the peaceful people of the Quaker settlement saw in him a leader so devoted to emancipation that his life would be freely given to secure freedom to the slaves.

Stevens was an expert drill-master and on a meadow east of the Maxson house the daily military exercises took place under his instruction. Aaron D. Stevens had