twelve o'clock
Among them was a notorious horse thief and bandit known in the Territory by the title of `` Pickles . '' As they entered the State of Missouri on the night of the twenty-fifth of January , Brown divided his forces . Keeping the main division under his personal command , he despatched Stevens with a smaller force to raid the territory surrounding the two plantations against which he was moving . Between eleven and twelve o'clock Brown reached the home of Harvey G. Hicklin , the first victim marked on his list . Without the formality of a knock he smashed his door down and sprang inside with drawn revolver . Hicklin surrendered . `` We have come to take your slaves and such property as we need , '' the old man curtly answered .