Page:John Brown (1899).pdf/83

 nœuvring, some wounds, and evidently some running away, Brown's force was reduced to nine, including himself; and to these nine men Pate and twenty-one well-armed men soon surrendered unconditionally. It was an astonishingly brilliant little victory. All of Pate's men laid down their arms on the ground for these nine Free State men to pick up, and were marched off into captivity after the signing of an agreement with Brown that an exchange of prisoners was to be effected, man for man, until all the Free State men held by the authorities were liberated; and John Brown caused it to be specified that his sons were to be the first men exchanged.

A picturesque story concerning this battle has been told me by Mrs. George L. Stearns, of Medford, widow of the wealthy merchant of Boston who supplied Brown with a great part of the funds which enabled him to do his cam-