[257] house were the remains of Oliver Brown, and Dauphin Thompson; while Watson, the Captain's son, lay without hope of recovery. The only unwounded survivors of the Liberators in the engine house were Captain Brown, Jerry Anderson, Edwin Coppoc, and Shields Green, the negro. Eight Virginia hostages, and a small number of armed negroes, were with them. Where were the others, and what had they been doing? John E. Cook, in his Confession, thus stated their position:
When we returned from the capture of Washington, I staid a short time in the engine house to get warm, as I was chilled through. After I got warm, Captain Brown ordered me to go with C. P. Tidd, who was to take William It. Leeman, and I think four slaves with him, in Colonel Washington's large wagon across the river, and to take Terence Burns and his brother and their slaves prisoners. My orders were to hold Burns and brother as prisoners at their own house, while Tidd and the slaves who accompanied him were to go to Captain Brown's house, and to load in the arms and bring them down to the school house, stopping for the Burnses and their guard. William H. Leeman remained with me to guard the prisoners. On return of the wagon, in compliance with orders, we all started for the school house. When we got there, I was to remain, by Captain Brown's orders, with one of the slaves to guard the arms, while C. P. Tidd, with the other negroes, was to go back for the rest of the arms, and Burns was to be sent with William H. Leeman to Captain Brown at the Armory. It was at this time that William Thompson came up from the Ferry and reported that every thing was all right, and then hurried on to overtake William H. Leeman. A short time after the departure of Tidd, I heard a good deal of firing, and became anxious to know the cause; but my orders were strict to remain at the school house and guard the arms, and I obeyed the orders to the letter. About four o'clock in the evening C. P. Tidd came with the second load. I then took one of the negroes with me and started for the Ferry. I met a negro woman a short distance below the school house, who informed me they were fighting hard at the Ferry. I hurried on till I came to the lock kept by George Hardy, about a mile above the bridge, where I saw his wife and Mrs. Elizabeth Read, who told me that our men were hemmed in, and that several of them had been shot. I expressed my intention to try to get to them, when Mrs. Hardy asked me to try to get her husband released from the engine house. I told her I would. Mrs. Reed begged of me not to go down to the Ferry. She said I would be shot. I told her I must make an attempt to save my comrades, and passed on down the road. A short distance below the lock I met two boys whom I knew, and they told me — that our me: were all hemmed in by
