John Brown’s movement was military in character and contemplated the creation of an army of liberated slaves; but its early suppression prevented any display of Negro valor or genius.  Its leader must ever receive the homage due those who are so moved by the woes of others as to overlook all considerations of policy and personal risk.  As a plot for the destruction of life it fell far short of the Nat Turner insurrection which swept off fifty-seven persons within a few hours.  In purpose the two episodes agree.  They both aim at the liberation of the slave; both were led by fanatics, the reflex production of the cruelty of slavery, and both ended in the melancholy death of their heroic leaders.  Turner’s was the insurrection of the slave and was not free from the mad violence of revenge; Brown’s was the insurrection of the friend of the slave, and was governed by the high and noble purpose of freedom.  The insurrections of Denmark Vesey in South Carolina, in 1822, and of Nat Turner, in Virginia, in 1831, show conclusively that the Negro slave possessed the courage, the cunning, the secretiveness and the intelligence to fight for his freedom.  These two attempts were sufficiently broad and intelligent, when taken into consideration with the enforced ignorance of the slave, to prove the Negro even in his forlorn condition capable of daring great things.  Of the probable thousands who were engaged in the Denmark Vesey insurrection, only fifteen were convicted, and these died heroically without revealing anything connected with the plot.  Forty-three years later I met the son of Denmark Vesey, who rejoiced in the efforts of his noble father, and regarded his death on the gallows as a holy sacrifice to the cause of freedom.  Turner describes his fight as follows:  “The white men, eighteen in number, approached us to about one hundred yards, when one of them fired, and I discovered about half of them retreating.  I then ordered my men to fire and rush on them.  The few remaining stood their ground until we approached within fifty yards, when they fired and retreated.  We pursued and overtook some of them whom we thought we left dead.  After pursuing them about two hundred yards, and rising a little hill, I discovered they were met by another party, and had halted and were reloading their guns.  Thinking that those who retreated first and the party who fired on us at fifty or sixty yards distant had all only fallen back to meet others with ammunition, as I saw them reloading their guns, and more coming up than I saw at first, and several of my bravest men being wounded, the others became panic struck and scattered over the field.  The white men pursued and fired on us several times.  Hark had his horse shot under him, and I caught another for him that was running by me; five or six of my men were wounded, but none left on the field.  Finding myself defeated here, I instantly determined to go through a private way and cross the Nottoway River at Cypress Bridge,