A 26-year-old abolitionist zealot who is present at Concord, MA, when narrator Sir Harry Flashman first meets John Brown and enlists as his military advisor, Anderson regards Brown as the next best thing to God and follows him to expunge his family's guilt for holding slaves. Flashy hopes all of the followers are as naïve as Anderson, lest anyone compete with him for Brown's ear. A lieutenant in an irregular troop of Free Soilers in Kansas, Anderson has fought the U.S. Cavalry there and in Missouri, and been imprisoned for the cause. He sees Brown's present, small band as able to "shake this land of liberty and equality clear to its centre" (pg. 217). He is itching for action. During the final tour of the Eastern states, Anderson is Brown's normal bodyguard until Flashy takes over, the better to fit in among city folk put off by Anderson's dress like an "out-of-work scarecrow" (pg. 222). During the final siege on the survivors of the raid, Anderson hears that they are traitors and begins calling for surrender. He is bayoneted to death.
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