John Brown's good-looking sons are his earliest and most trusted followers, although they are hardly leadership material. The eldest, John, Jr., is emotionally scarred by the massacre at Pottawatomie and physically scarred when tortured by the Border Ruffians. Owen is their father's right-hand man, big, bearded, tough, and genial. They are in Ohio during Brown's final financial drive. Dreamy, soulful Oliver joins them later. Handsome, shy, and bookish, he leaves a wife, Martha, up north. Flashy likens them to the unsuccessful British revolutionary, Guy Fawkes. John, Jr. remains brooding in Ohio when Brown and his brothers, with narrator Harry Flashman, Joe Simmons, and Jerry Anderson, take the train to Maryland. Martha joins them at the rented Kennedy Farm as cook and Brown's daughter Annie helps keep house and is a great sentry. Tall, gentle Watson Brown arrives later, wanting all the while to return to his wife and baby. Brown's sons Salmon and Jason refuse to come south and join the force. John, Jr. in Canada fails to recruit any blacks. Watson and Oliver are killed at Harper's Ferry.
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