John Brown
John Brown was held at the Charlestown jail in Virginia and was hanged there on December 2, 1859. A Baltimore Sun dispatch reported that he was taken from the jail to the scaffold in a wagon, seated on his coffin, that he declined a minister's services, and that he spoke freely with the soldiers around him and met the scaffold with a firm step. His wife was escorted from Harper's Ferry to receive his body. Colonel J. T. L. Preston, a member of the guard, wrote in a letter that same day, first published in 1901, that Brown's manner was without trepidation, though his countenance showed concern, and that he gave brief farewells to those around him.
Cause of death, as reported: Executed by the state
Reported by: Baltimore Sun special dispatch (reporters); Colonel J. T. L. Preston, in a letter to his wife published in 1901.