U.S. Cavalry

The U.S. Cavalry is the federal force that helps bring the Harpers Ferry raid to its conclusion. At the engine house, its arrival establishes the scale of the opposition facing John Brown’s party; after the siege, cavalrymen take custody of people emerging from the building and form part of the military audience at John Brown’s execution.

Arrival and Demand for Surrender

After the militia withdraws with its wounded, a new order settles outside the armory. John Brown sends the Emperor to look through an opening in the roof, where a representative identifies himself as Lieutenant Jeb Stuart of the U.S. Cavalry. Stuart announces that Brevet Colonel Robert E. Lee is outside and demands surrender. He tells the besieged party that twelve hundred federal troops surround them, making clear that the confrontation has become a large-scale federal operation.

At the Engine House

At dawn, John Brown orders an attempt to let the colored people inside slip out through the rear window. The narrator and three others leave with them and encounter U.S. Cavalry personnel, who pull them clear while firing continues against the engine house. The cavalrymen question them about the white people inside, their origins, and whether they belong to John Brown’s army. The narrator and the others deny being part of it, showing how those emerging from the siege try to distinguish themselves from the raiders under the soldiers’ scrutiny.

At John Brown’s Execution

The U.S. Cavalry is also among the military forces present when John Brown is executed. The narrator describes cavalry from Washington, D.C., alongside militia from across the country and other observers who gather to watch. The force that had helped close the siege thus reappears in the public spectacle of the execution, linking the federal response at Harpers Ferry to the state’s display of authority after John Brown’s capture.