James Redpath, The Public Life of Captain John Brown

I have a few testimonials of John Brown's character during this long period, from men who knew him well. Mr. Baldwin, of Ohio, who has known him from 1814, “considered him a man of rigid integrity and of ardent temperament.” Mr. George Leech, who knew him from early boyhood, says that he “always appeared strictly conscientious and honest, but of strong impulses and strong religious feelings.” Mr. William S. C. Otis writes, “I became acquainted with John Brown about the year 1836; soon after my removal to Akron, he became a client of mine; subsequently a resident of the township in which the town of Akron is situated; and, during a portion of the latter time, a member of a Bible class taught by me. In these relations which I sustained to Mr. Brown, I had a good opportunity to become acquainted with his mental, moral, and religious character. I always regarded him as a man of more than ordinary mental capacity, of very ardent and excitable temperament, of unblemished moral character; a kind neighbor, a good Christian, deeply imbued with religious feelings and sympathies. In a business point of view, his ardent and excitable temperament led him into pecuniary difficulties; but I never knew his integrity questioned by any person whatever.” Since the foregoing chapter was stereotyped, I have found among the North Elba manuscripts the following “Phrenological Description of John Brown, as given by O. S. Fowler.” It is dated New York, February 27, 1847: