Oberlin Monuments and Outdoor Sculpture: The Harpers Ferry Memorial

Oberlin Monuments and Outdoor Sculpture: The Harpers Ferry Memorial

Current Location: Martin Luther King Jr. Park

(NW corner of Vine & Pleasant Sts.)

Original Location: Westwood Cemetery

Built: c. 1865

Moved and Rededicated: 1971

Along the walking path in Martin Luther King Jr. Park stands a marble cenotaph commemorating John A. Copeland Jr., Lewis Sheridan Leary, and Shields Green, three brave African American men who participated in John Brown’s Raid on Harpers Ferry in October 1859. Copeland and Leary are known to have lived in Oberlin at the time but the third man, Shields Green, likely never resided in Oberlin despite earlier rumors that he had. Nevertheless, the town adopted him as one of their own and placed his name on the monument with the two Oberlinians.

Cenotaphs are monuments for people who have bodily remains located elsewhere. They are often used to commemorate individuals, though they can also be used to honor groups of people, such as lost soldiers. The Harpers Ferry Memorial in MLK Park is an example of the latter. Originally erected and located in Westwood Cemetery, the Harpers Ferry Memorial was “rediscovered,” and in 1971, it was cleaned and protected using a chemical bath process developed by Seymour Lewin from New York University. This same process was used to preserve other historic stone structures such as the Parthenon in Greece and the Taj Mahal in India.

The Raid at Harpers Ferry:

The Raid at Harpers Ferry was a pivotal event leading up to the beginning of the American Civil War. John Brown (1800-1859), a white vocal and militant abolitionist, sought to gain control of a United States armory located in Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia) by force. Brown, along with his sons, recruited others to the cause. The goal was to inspire enslaved peoples in the surrounding area to cast off their bonds, take up arms, and join Brown’s crusade against slavery.

The Raid lasted around 36 hours (October 16-18, 1859) until it was ended by U.S. Marines who led the final assault against Brown and his men. Robert E. Lee, the man who would become the leader of the Confederate Army during the Civil War, was in command of the Marines tasked with quelling Brown’s Raid. Of the twenty-one Raiders John Brown brought along with him, eleven died in the skirmish, six others along with Brown were captured, and only five escaped with their lives. Brown and the few captured survivors were subsequently tried and executed within two months of the event.

The Oberlin Contingent:

John A. Copeland (1834-1859) was born in North Carolina and, due to growing racial tensions in the region, his father decided to pack up his family and move. For example, after the ratification of North Carolina’s new constitution in 1835, free African Americans once allowed to vote were stripped of that right. Additionally, free African Americans in North Carolina were also required to travel with documents proving their freedom and to present them any time they crossed a county line. Wanting a better life for their children, John C. and Delilah Copeland looked north for a place to start their new life, eventually settling down in Oberlin.

 Eugene Meyer, Five For Freedom: The African American Soldiers in John Brown’s Army. (Chicago: Lawrence Hill Books, 2018), 28-29.

Lewis Sheridan Leary (1835-1859) was also born in North Carolina, though he left for different reasons. According to family lore, Leary witnessed a slave owner whipping an individual and decided to intervene. Leary was able to get hold of the whip, and he proceeded to begin whipping the slave owner. Following the advice of his father, Leary fled the South and ended up in Oberlin where he would work as a harness and trunk maker.

Two of Leary’s sisters married two uncles to Copeland, which made Leary and Copeland relatives by marriage. Interestingly enough, Copeland and Leary were also connected because of their participation in the Oberlin-Wellington Rescue that took place in 1858, a year before John Brown’s Raid. Even though both men were involved in the rescue of the freedom seeker John Price, Copeland was the only one of the two who was charged for his actions. For one reason or another, Leary was never identified as one of the Rescuers by witnesses or federal prosecutors.

Copeland and Leary were recruited for the Raid by John Brown’s son, John Brown Jr., who was in the Oberlin area meeting with John Mercer Langston. Brown Jr. was having difficulty recruiting for his father’s plot and reached out to Langston for assistance. He felt that Langston was best suited to recruit soldiers from the area because of his local anti-slavery efforts. Langston was also the first African American admitted to the Ohio State Bar, and his status within the community would add legitimacy to Brown’s call to action. During his lengthy meeting, Langston invited John A. Copeland and Lewis Leary to his home so they could meet John Brown Jr. in person. It is unclear whether Copeland and Leary were fully informed of what they were getting themselves into. Copeland seemed to be under the impression that they were planning on merely freeing slaves and avoiding violent confrontation. Leary left behind his wife, who had recently given birth, and did not tell her where he was going.

Lewis Leary was one of the men killed from the fighting during the Raid, dying from his wounds days after. His body was never recovered by his family but is believed to be buried roughly a half mile north of the town of Harpers Ferry, along with several other Raiders. Both Copeland and Green were captured, as were John Brown and three others. Brown, Copeland, Green, and the others were all charged with “conspiring with negroes to produce insurrection,” treason against the Commonwealth of Virginia, and murder. All were sentenced to death. Copeland and Green were executed on December 16, 1859. Following their execution, medical students from Winchester Medical College claimed their bodies to be used as teaching cadavers. At the request of the Copeland family, James Monroe of Oberlin made a personal trip to Virginia in the hopes he could reclaim John’s remains, but the mission was unsuccessful.

The Monument and Legacy:

Following the Raid, a fund was started to erect a monument in memory of Copeland, Green, and Leary’s sacrifice for a greater cause. By 1865, a contract for a stone was signed, and the memorial was cut and placed in Westwood Cemetery. The funding for the project was accomplished by opening a collection to the people of Oberlin that totaled $293.19. The fund was used for several purposes beyond building a monument. For example, money was spent on the attempt to retrieve the body of John Copeland, which, again, was unsuccessful.

The lion’s share of the fund did not go to the monument itself, but instead to Leary’s widow Mary Patterson, and their daughter Louise. On the instructions of donors, Mrs. Leary was paid $110.00 from the fund, which is roughly $1700.00 in today’s money. After all other expenses were paid, the fund had $93.14 to spend on the stone for the monument. Sympathetic to the cause, a local marble dealer named John Hayes of Hayes & Co. gave the purchasers a good deal.

The monument itself is a plain marble obelisk about eight feet tall. Though faded now, the inscription on the monument reads:

“These colored citizens of Oberlin, the heroic associates of the immortal John Brown, gave their lives for the slave. Et nunc servitudo etiam mortua est, laus deo (At last, slavery is dead, praise God).

1. Green died at Charleston, Va., Dec. 16, 1859, age 23 years.
2. A. Copeland died at Charleston, Va., Dec. 16, 1859, age 25 years.
3. S. Leary died at Harper’s Ferry, Va., Oct 20, 1859, age 24 years.”

The dedication text and Latin phrase appear on the front of the monument, and Copeland, Green, and Leary’s names appear on the other three sides. A bronze plaque was added a few feet away from where the monument stands today that has the full inscription transcribed on it, in addition to a few words about where the monument was originally erected, and who was involved in moving the monument.

It is unclear exactly why Shields Green’s name appears on the monument alongside Copeland and Leary. Early reports of John Brown’s Raid from national newspapers like the New York Tribune made the claim that Green had attended college at Oberlin, though there are no records to support the claim. According to James Monroe, he and Shields Green had met previously in the streets of Oberlin. Monroe, in the account of his trip to Virginia to recover Copeland’s body, mentions seeing Green’s body at the medical college but not Copeland’s. Even though Green may have never been a proper member of the Oberlin community, the town was willing to adopt him as one of their own and recognize his bravery at Harpers Ferry alongside Copeland and Leary.

The nearby plaque claims the monument was originally erected in 1860, but according to newspapers from the time, the monument was still in the planning phase, and the following year there were even some discrepancies with money that still needed to be collected. Another interesting tidbit about the incorrect date is that it directly contradicts the Latin phrase inscribed on the monument. The Latin roughly translates to “At last, slavery is dead, praise God.” If this monument was constructed in 1860, the phrase would make no sense, since the 13th Amendment—abolishing slavery—was not ratified until 1865.

The Harpers Ferry Memorial is truly a unique piece of history. Unlike today when many see the actions of John Brown and his men as heroic, at the time, the country was divided on their feelings towards Brown. Some even went so far as to call him and his men traitors to the Union. In many other towns and cities, even in northern states, building a monument to John Brown or his men might have been viewed as too radical for the time. Though many people in the North detested slavery, they were not yet ready to spill blood to end it.

Even though Oberlin was a prominent abolitionist town, some citizens initially objected to the actions of John Brown and his men. They felt the actions taken were foolhardy and would only serve to make the situation worse. Believing that violence would only beget more violence, the more conservative abolitionists felt the moral goal of ending slavery could not be achieved through violent means, no matter how justified the actions may have been. Regardless, Oberlin chose to memorialize the event and used the monument to show their dedication to the abolitionist movement and honor those who sacrificed their lives for a just cause.

 

Bibliography:

Cheek, Aimee Lee and William. John Mercer Langston and the Fight for Black Freedom 1829-65. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1989.

Cowles, Henry. “The Harpers Ferry Tragedy.” Oberlin Evangelist (Oberlin, OH), November 9, 1859.

De Witt, Robert M.. The Life, Trial, and Execution of Captain John Brown, Known as “Old Brown of Ossawatomie“ with a full acount of the attempted insurrection at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia. Compiled from official and authentic sources. Inducting Cooke’s Confession and all the Incidents of the Execution. New York: Robert M. De Witt, 1859.

Fitch, J.M.. “Eds. News.” Lorain County News (Oberlin and Wellington, OH), July 10, 1861.

Fitch, J.M.. “Monument Fund.” Lorain County News (Oberlin and Wellington, OH), July 5, 1865.

“Items.” Oberlin Evangelist (Oberlin, OH), Feb. 1, 1860.

Meddler. “Information Wanted.” Lorain County News (Oberlin and Wellington, OH), July 3, 1861.

Meyer, Eugene. Five For Freedom: The African American Soldiers in John Brown’s Army. Chicago: Lawrence Hill Books, 2018.

Monroe, James. “A Journey to Virginia in December 1859. A Thursday Lecture” Speech.

“Monument to have day-long soaking” Oberlin News Tribune (Oberlin, OH), November 18, 1971.

“[Oberlin Circular] A Monument.” Liberator (Boston, MA), January 13, 1860.

 

Written Fall 2020 by OHC Intern Alex Shaver, Cleveland State University