Most important events were just on the eve of happening. The election for the national Presidency was booming in the near future, and politics were attracting the attention of the whole country. The two main parties which were confronting each other were the Democratic on the one side and on the other the Free Soil or Abolition party of the North, which had united and formed the Republican, the strength of which latter party was growing stronger every day. Its platform of principles was antagonistic to the Democratic party and to the Southern States on the slavery question. In November, 1859, old John Brown, who had figured conspicuously in the fights, organized a hostile gang of Abolitionists and came down to Virginia, presumably to incite the negroes against their masters and urge them to insurrection. Their field of operation was in the county of Jefferson and adjoining one. The government of the United States dispatched
 
Colonel Robert E. Lee, in command of a small body of marines, to capture Brown and his party and to defeat his diabolical scheme. The fanatical wretches took refuge in the engine house at Harper’s Ferry. They were then taken to Charlestown and placed in the jail, being turned over to the State authorities by Colonel Lee. Governor Henry A. Wise at that period of time was filling the gubernatorial chair, and he immediately dispatched the military companies of Richmond to the scene of action, in order to protect the citizens in this critical emergency. Indeed it was the real beginning of the great war.

Old John Brown, the leader and arch-conspirator against the peace and dignity of Virginia, was duly tried and summarily executed. Next, one Cook was tried, who was a very young man and nephew of the Governor of Indiana, who employed Senator Daniel Voorhies to defend him. The case was pathetic in the extreme; many persons in court were moved to tears, but the law was inexorable and he was judged guilty and shared the fate of his leader. After the executions the military returned home. The 1st Company of Howitzers had just been formed and organized, and on this occasion acted as infantrymen. The whole country was then in a great state of excitement and unrest. In a short time the nominations for the Presidency would be made. James Buchanan, of Pennsylvania, was the President then, and the feeling between the North and the South was becoming more and more intense, and what would be the outcome few could predict. A political storm they all feared was to culminate in a dreadful, cruel war between the States.

In the year 1860 the Democratic party held its convention in the city of Charleston, S. C. It divided into two section, one wing nominated John C. Breckinridge, of
 
Kentucky, as their standard bearer, and the other put forward as their nominee Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois. The Whig party chose John Bell, of Tennessee, to lead it. The newly formed Republican party had nominated Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois.

The canvass was conducted with force and vigor. The Republicans had grown in numbers and strength and presented a formidable menace to the South. The most strenuous efforts were made by each section to elect its candidate; the issue was great and clearly defined. In the South the ablest speakers were brought out to present the danger which threatened the institution of slavery in the success of the Lincoln party; yet it seemed a forlorn hope to expect to elect Southern Democrats like Breckinridge and Lane, as there were two other Democratic tickets in the field, which, of course, split the conservative or Southern vote, while the North or Abolition party had only one ticket in the field.

The Whigs of Richmond had built, on Fourteenth and Franklin Streets, a large wooden structure capable of seating a crowd—that party had a large majority in the city—and held frequent meetings therein. It was called the “Wigwam.” I well remember that the night before the election Mr. William L. Yancy spoke in advocacy of Breckinridge at the Metropolitan Hall, on Franklin Street near the Exchange Hotel. Others spoke at the “Wigwam” for the Douglass ticket. The last speaker there was A. Judson Crane. The evening was advancing and the audience had been listening for hours to burning words from the lips of gifted orators, and well do I recall his closing remark, to-wit: “It makes no difference for whom you vote, as before ............