Ohio History Journal

BARCLAY COPPOC

 

BY C. B. GALBREATH

 

Barclay Coppoc, according to the family genealogist,

was born in Butler Township, Columbiana County, Ohio,

January 4, 1839. At the age of eleven years he went

with the family to Springdale, Iowa. He grew up into

a delicate looking, slender youth, but wiry, venturesome

and fearless, as the story of his life will show.

Soon after the family reached Iowa, a younger sister,

Lydia, died of consumption; the oldest brother, Levi,

and another sister, Maria, became invalids from the

same disease and passed away in the year 1855. Bar-

clay, who aided in nursing them through their illness,

was himself threatened and went to Kansas in 1856 to

live in the open and fortify his frail constitution against

the malady that had already taken away three members

of the family. It is needless to say that once in that

territory his inherited and acquired hostility to slavery

made him an intense partisan of the Free State cause.

How long he remained in Kansas is not definitely known.

He became acquainted with John Brown and some of his

followers and returned to Iowa before the end of the

year, greatly improved in health by his emigrant life.

When John Brown and his little band arrived in

Springdale late in 1857, some questioned whether he was

the real John Brown of Ossawatomie fame. Barclay

Coppoc removed all doubt when he promptly recognized

the hero of Black Jack and his followers.

(459)

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460     Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

Along with his older brother, Edwin, Barclay was

deeply interested in John Brown and his plans, much

impressed with the two visits of the old warrior in

Springdale, and finally joined the party at Harper's

Ferry. While Edwin was commissioned lieutenant,

Barclay remained a private. The latter was afflicted

with asthma and apparently not sufficiently vigorous to

stand up under long continued and arduous physical

exertion. For this reason, it is said, he was left on

guard at the Kennedy Farm when John Brown and

nineteen of his men left on the fateful night of October

16, 1859, to attack Harper's Ferry.

With him were left on guard Owen Brown, son of

John Brown, and Francis J. Merriam, a member of the

wealthy Merriam family of Massachusetts, whose oppo-

sition to slavery led him to join in the movement at

Harper's Ferry. Owen had direction of the little party

of three who had been instructed by his father to take

the arms from the Kennedy house to a school house

about one mile from the Ferry, or direct to the Ferry

itself, depending upon where they could be used to the

best advantage.

The night of the attack Owen stood on guard while

Merriam and Coppoc slept. No sound reached them

from the Ferry until about six o'clock in the morning,

when they heard firing in that direction. About eleven

o'clock on Monday a slave who had been captured by

John Brown came with a team and wagon for a load

of arms. These were taken to the school house as

directed. At three o'clock in the afternoon the reports

of guns from the Ferry became more frequent. A col-

ored man rode up and asked that an effort be made to

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Barclay Coppoc             461

help the party at the Ferry. The three men armed them-

selves and started. The shadows of night had com-

menced to fall. An armed man was seen approaching

and ordered to halt. It was Charles Plummer Tidd, one

of Brown's men. He reported that the band at Harper's

Ferry were hemmed in and a number of them had been

killed, adding that there was no possible chance for the

others to escape. He advised leaving the place as soon

as possible. To this Owen Brown objected, declaring

that they must not abandon their friends. It was his

plan to get together a number of slaves, arm them, ap-

proach the Ferry and commence firing at long range to

divert the attention of the enemy in order that their

beleaguered friends might have an opportunity to

escape.

After they had proceeded about a mile they met

another man in the darkness who proved to be John E.

Cook, another of Brown's men, who had not gone to

the Ferry but who earlier in the day from the Maryland

heights had fired upon the Virginians to divert their

attention. He reported that John Brown and a number

of the men had been killed and that there was nothing

to be done except to hasten into the mountains if they

would save their lives. The five then retreated, accom-

panied by the negro who shortly afterward, to their

great discomfiture, deserted them, for they well knew

that in order to save himself he would probably betray

them.

Under the leadership of Owen they followed the

mountain ranges north into Pennsylvania, hiding in the

daytime and moving forward cautiously and with much

uncertainty in the night. The surrounding country was

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462     Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

thoroughly aroused. After they had spent some days in

the mountains and had consumed the supply of food

with which they started, they were startled one day by

the sound of voices in the distance, followed by echoes

of another sound that filled them with apprehension and

terror. It was the baying of hounds, and the fugitives

at once concluded that they were followed by a party

that had set bloodhounds on their trail. They hurried

in the opposite direction and finally came upon a clearing

with a house in it and a road running along one side.

Here they halted to avoid detection. Nearer and nearer

sounded the baying of the hounds. On they pressed a

mile or so farther. The light of day was beginning to

dawn. Owen gave command not to shoot the dogs

unless there were men with them. In relating the story

of the flight afterwards he said in speaking of dogs:

"I never saw one that would bite me. Dogs, you see, are

like men; if you pretend to know them they are sure you do or

at least believe a certain civility is due to the doubt. The fact

that you are not afraid of them, too, has to both dogs and men

a convincing, peace-making mystery about it."

So the party stopped and waited for the hounds. In

a little while a red fox passed by, showing by the tongue

lolling out of its mouth that it had been chased far.

Following came the hounds. They stopped and looked

at the men for a moment and then went on after the fox.

After they were gone there was a doubt in the minds of

the men whether the hounds had been put on their track

or whether they simply belonged to fox hunters.

The strength of Merriam was not equal to the

arduous experience in the mountains.   At different

times he was unable to proceed and it seemed that he

would have to be abandoned. Owen, however, would

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Barclay Coppoc              463

not consent to desert him and at times carried him on

his shoulders. Trouble developed between Cook and

Tidd and it required all of Owen's persuasive power and

generalship to keep them from quarreling or from en-

dangering the safety of all by their indiscretions.

Hunger drove the men almost to desperation and Cook

was determined to risk everything in order to get food

in spite of the pleading of Owen not to do so. At last

he succeeded in getting some bread, salt, boiled beef and

other provisions that greatly relieved the hunger of his

companions when he returned. Having succeeded in

this venture, he later made another attempt to get food.

The other members of the party waited long for his

return but he never came back. He was captured, sent

back to Virginia and finally executed, as already related,

with Edwin Coppoc.

The party reached Chambersburg about the 25th of

October. While the weather at this time in the valleys

was not uncomfortable, snow was falling on the moun-

tains and rains had been frequent. The men were be-

ginning to weaken under the strain and for lack of food.

They pressed onward, however, determined to escape or

perish in the effort. Finally it was decided that it would

be impossible for Merriam to proceed much farther.

After a day's rest he was taken to a railroad some dis-

tance from Chambersburg and started for the next sta-

tion to board a passenger train. He had given all of his

money, except enough to pay his fare east, to his com-

panions. The risk he took was great but his plan was

entirely successful. He boarded the train at Shippens-

burg, was not detected and was soon safe among his

friends in Philadelphia.

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464     Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

Owen Brown, Coppoc and Tidd continued their jour-

ney, intending to travel all the distance to northwestern

Pennsylvania where they had acquaintances and might

feel measurably safe. After traveling some days they

risked taking the road in the daytime and met a man on

horseback. Owen inquired of him the way to Belle-

fonte, in Center County, Pennsylvania. He had learned

of Quakers in the vicinity of this place and thought if

they could get employment from a sympathetic Quaker

friend until the excitement over the raid at the Ferry

had died away, they might then continue their journey.

They did not ask the man they met about Harper's

Ferry, although they were very eager to get news re-

garding what had happened there. They learned that,

while the town they sought was some distance away,

they were within ten miles of the Juniata River. Later

they reached this, crossed without difficulty at the ferry

and traveled in a canal boat for seven or eight miles.

Taking the road for Bellefonte they were tempted to

stop at a farm house by the large, comfortable fire that

beamed through the window. Without question they

were given food and a night's lodging.

Here they learned for the first time from a news-

paper what had happened at the Ferry and the fate of

Cook. Owen Brown read aloud for his companions.

When he came to the account of the suffering and forti-

tude of his father and the death of his two brothers, his

voice, in spite of his self restraint, was tremulous.

Barclay Coppoc listened in silence to the report of the

capture of his brother, but it was noticed by Owen that

tears from his large brown eyes coursed down his pallid

cheeks and fell on his coat.

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Barclay Coppoc                  465

The next morning, after paying for their food and

lodging, they learned from their host that about twenty

miles to the northwest lived a Quaker by the name of

Wakefield. They reached his place in the evening and

found him and his son loading wheat. To Tidd's re-

quest for lodging, the elderly gentleman said, "Thy

friends may come." But when the party put in their

appearance with their arms he held up his hands and

told them that they could not bring their guns into the

house.

"It may have been contrary to his church rules," said Owen

in his account, "I don't know, but we argued the case a while

and then hit upon the lucky compromise that we should take

the loads out of our guns. We had hardly got inside the house,

however, when he startled us by saying, in his calm way, that

he knew who we were - we were from Harper's Ferry. We

asked him how he knew that. He said we were so gaunt. He

knew that we were hunted like wild beasts and that fact and

our cause were a short cut to his heart. We found the house a

nice, cleanly one and the two trim daughters who were the

housekeepers soon got us a splendid supper."*

The Quaker would take nothing for their entertain-

ment, and insisted upon their remaining with him over

the next day, which was Sunday. He cautioned them to

travel at night for some time and directed them to a

cousin of his who lived about forty miles farther in the

direction of their course.

Without any incident more exciting than the gath-

ering of apples for food in one or two orchards and the

capture of some poultry from the hen roost of a farmer,

the three men finally reached the home of the cousin

 

* For this and succeeding extracts from the account of Owen Brown,

the writer is under obligations to Mr. T. B. Alexander, who contributed a

typewritten copy. The narrative, with slight variations, appeared in the

Atlantic Monthly of April, 1874.

Vol. XXX-30

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466      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

which they approached after nightfall. In answer to

their call he came to the window. What followed is

thus described by Owen Brown:

 

"We told him, as he leaned out of the window, that Mr.

Wakefield had sent us to him, and he seemed disposed to let us

in; but at this stage of the interview another window, appar-

ently in the same second story room, opened and three night-

capped heads were thrust out. No, we couldn't come in, any

such thing, they cried in chorus. They knew who we were; we

were traitors; and our lives were forfeit. We said that we had

merely risked our lives for the freedom of millions of helpless

slaves. They replied that they were not in favor of slavery,

themselves, but they were also in favor of not putting it down

by force. And there we had it with the night-caps. The man

was on our side, but when he said anything in our favor it

seemed to go worse with us than ever. His argument excited

more fury in the night-caps than ours did. We offered to pay

twice any sum they would ask. What was money to them when

we were traitors and carried wicked guns besides? We offered

to give them up our guns. At this the voice of what I took to

be the old lady said, 'Oh!' and one night-cap disappeared; it

might have been in terror, it might have been consenting. Then

the two younger voices said, 'Well, father, if you want to take

in murderers you may, but don't ask us to wait on them,' and

the two other night-caps disappeared and the windows went

down. It may seem an amusing scene to you, yet it was pretty

serious to us and we stood wondering what was to be our fate

with the three female tongues ready to betray us and the man

of the house not daring to take us in -when the door opened

and the Quaker told us we might enter."

The next morning they were given their breakfast

but the women refused to wait on them. The man of

the house would not take any pay from them and Coppoc

and Tidd helped him husk corn all the next day while

Owen went to the village nearby, purchased some carpet-

bags in which to carry their small arms and got a box

in which to pack the others. By evening the women of

the Quaker household were much mollified and disposed

to take considerable interest in the visitors who the

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Barclay Coppoc                 467

evening before had been so unwelcome. The box with

the arms was shipped to Salem, Ohio, and from this

point Barclay Coppoc started by stage for the same

destination.

In speaking of the conduct and character of Barclay

Coppoc, Owen Brown years afterward said:

"Barclay Coppoc, who was with me through so much hard-

ship, was a medium sized young man, not over twenty-two or

twenty-three years old. He did not look very healthy, but could

stand a great deal. He was not so well educated or so energetic

as his brother who was hanged."

In a letter to the Atlantic Monthly of July, 1874, he

added this estimate:

"Coppoc was brave, philanthropic, true to principle, faithful

to his friends, and of well restrained temper. Few have more

admirable qualities."

George B. Gill, who has left striking pen pictures of

John Brown's men, was not so favorably impressed with

Barclay Coppoc as with his brother Edwin. He seemed

to think that the former was self-centered and not

worthy of some of the eulogistic estimates of him.

Colonel Richard J. Hinton, who knew him well, says:

"He (Barclay) had scant brown hair, bold large eyes, irreg-

ular features, a determined expression.  During the perilous

period of escaping, though frail in strength, Owen's narrative

shows that the brave youth bore his share without complaint of

the thirty-six days of hunger, cold, fatigue and danger that they

passed in the rough laurel hills and semi-mountain areas from

the neighborhood of Harper's Ferry to Center County, Penn-

sylvania."

Barclay Coppoc proceeded with no untoward experi-

ence to Salem, Ohio, whither the box of arms had been

shipped. Here he remained for a short time with rela-

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468      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

tives and friends to rest and regain strength. Just what

his movements were following his return to Ohio is not

definitely known.   Reminiscences are often not very

reliable and should usually be sustained by documentary

evidence before they are recorded as history. The rem-

iniscences and manuscript records at hand for this

period do not harmonize, possibly due to an error in

transcribing; and then there may be confusion due to

the two visits he made to Salem late in the year 1859

and early in 1860.

His own account, according to extracts from       his

letter of January 13, 1860, written from Springdale,

Iowa, to Annie Brown, is as follows:

"There are but five of our little band now away and safe;

namely, Owen, Tidd, Merriam, O. P. Anderson, or as we used

to call him, Chatham Anderson, and myself. There were five

of us who started from the Ferry, Owen, Tidd, Merriam, John

E. Cook and myself. We were together eight days before John

was captured, which was near Chambersburg, and the next night

Merriam left us and went to Shippensburg, and there took the

cars for Philadelphia. After that there were but three of us left,

and we kept together until we got to Center County, Pennsyl-

vania, where we bought a box and packed up all heavy luggage,

such as rifles, blankets, etc., and after being together three or

four weeks we separated, and I went on through with the box

to Ohio on the cars. Owen and Tidd went on foot towards the

northwestern part of Pennsylvania.

"From Ohio I went to Canada and stopped there a few

weeks. Then I went to Niagara Falls, as far east as Rochester,

and on to Buffalo and Cleveland. I stopped there about two

weeks and then started for my home in Iowa.

"When I got off the cars at our station, which is about six

or seven miles from our old place, I met several hundred persons

who were anxiously awaiting my arrival." 10

B. F. Gue, the Iowa historian, in an article published

in the American Historical Magazine, Vol. 1, p. 143,

related that Barclay Coppoc, after parting from Tidd

10See (10) in note 2, page 450.

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Barclay Coppoc               469

and Owen Brown in Pennsylvania, "took a train for

Iowa, which he safely reached, worn almost to a skel-

eton by starvation and exposure. He appeared suddenly

in his old home on the 17th of December and met a

warm and tearful welcome. His brother * * * had

died on a Virginia scaffold the day before."

Now it is evident that from November 24, the date

on which he started from Pennsylvania for Ohio, to

December 17 is only twenty-three days. It of course is

improbable, perhaps impossible, that he should have vis-

ited in that time all the places he named in his letter and

that he should have spent "a few weeks" in Canada and

"two weeks" in Cleveland. He seems to have been in

Springdale in December, 1859, however, for William

McCormick, of Muscatine, Iowa, on the 23d of that

month, wrote to Governor Wise, of Virginia, apprising

him that Barclay Coppoc "is with his mother in Spring-

dale and was in Muscatine yesterday." He adds: "I

do not see why he could not be arrested without much

trouble, he is in the country away from any town of any

note, but am told that he has many friends among his

neighbors."

Barclay's mother, in a letter to James Whinnery, of

Salem, Ohio, dated "Springdale, Iowa, 1st mo. 22nd '60"

says:

"Barclay is at home and seems determined to stay, although

there are reports almost continually of somebody being in search

of him. He says he has hurt nobody, and will not run nor will

not be taken. *  *  I think B's friends will take care of him,

as they are both numerous and resolute."

How his friends had prepared to "take care of him"

is indicated in the following letter, written by a neighbor

who, like Mrs. Coppoc and her family, had earlier left

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470      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

Columbiana County, Ohio, and gone to Iowa. It is in-

teresting because it shows that the village of Springdale

and the surrounding country were thoroughly aroused

and that the non-resistent creed of the Quakers there

was gradually giving way under the stress of the times.

It is a singular combination of the "plain language,"

guns and the assurance that Springdale "is right on the

goose:"

"Springdale, Cedar County, Iowa, Feb. 12, 1860.

"The object of thy anxious inquiry (Barclay Coppoc) has

not been taken from Springdale, nor is it intended that he shall

be taken. Springdale is in arms and is prepared, at a half-hour's

notice, to give them a reception of 200 shots; and it will be

necessary for the marshal to find him before he can be taken.

There is a well-organized body here. They meet two or three

evenings in each week to lay their plans and take the necessary

steps to have them carried out in case of necessity. There are

three of their number who always know of his whereabouts, and

nobody else knows anything of him. He is never seen at night

where he was during the day, and there are men on the watch

at Davenport, Muscatine, Iowa City, Liberty, Tipton, and all

around, and the first sign of an arrest in any quarter a messenger

will be dispatched to Springdale, and larger companies than the

Virginians can raise will follow immediately after them. Musca-

tine has offered to send 400 men at the very shortest notice.

But it is intended to baffle them in every possible way without

bloodshed if possible. The marshal was at Des Moines City

some two weeks for a requisition, and the Governor refused to

grant it on account of informality; then swore they would take

him by mob. The citizens dispatched a messenger immediately

to this place. He rode four horses down on the way, and came

through in two nights and a day, it being 165 miles. We under-

stand that the marshal has gone the second time to Des Moines

for his requisition, and his return is looked for daily. But I have

no doubt he will be baffled in some way, for be assured Spring-

dale is right on the goose.       "F. C. GALBREATH."⁴

 

As Governor Willard of Indiana was personally in-

volved by the Harper's Ferry raid through his brother-

4From John Brown and His Men, by Hinton. See note 4, page 450.

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Barclay Coppoc               471

in-law, John E. Cook, Governor Samuel J. Kirkwood,

of Iowa, (later United States Senator and Secretary of

the Interior) was officially drawn into the aftermath of

that event by the return of Barclay Coppoc to his home

in Springdale.

In his inaugural address of January 11, 1860, Gov-

ernor Kirkwood devoted considerable attention to John

Brown's invasion of Virginia. Like many other men in

office he expressed strong disapproval of this movement

and like others of his political faith he made pretty

clearly known that he considered this a result of the

unfair treatment that the Free State men had been

accorded for years in the Territory of Kansas. This

sentence in his inaugural stirred up his political foes to

active and open hostility:

"While the great mass of our northern people utterly con-

demn the act of John Brown, they feel and express admiration

and sympathy for the disinterestedness of purpose by which they

believe he was governed and for the unflinching courage and

calm cheerfulness with which he met the consequences of his

failure."*

This expression precipitated a storm in the legis-

lature of Iowa. The governor was severely criticised

by his political opponents in that body and they finally

went on record in a scathing protest. Here matters

rested for a time until, on the 23d day of January, 1860,

a Mr. Camp, an agent sent by Governor Letcher of Vir-

ginia, who had succeeded Governor Wise, appeared in

Des Moines and presented to Governor Kirkwood a

requisition for the arrest and surrender of Barclay

Coppoc.   Two members of the Iowa Legislature,

Edward Wright and B. F. Gue. abolitionists, entered the

 

*History of Iowa, by B. F. Gue, Vol. II, pages 16, 17.

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472      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

Governor's office while the interview between Camp and

Governor Kirkwood was in progress. This is what

happened as subsequently report by Gue:*

"We found in conference with the Governor a pompous-

looking man, who seemed to be greatly excited. Governor Kirk-

wood was calmly listening to the violent language of this indi-

vidual, who was swinging his arms wildly in his wrath. The

Governor quietly suggested to the stranger, that 'he had sup-

posed that he did not want his business made public.'

"The rude reply was: 'I don't care a d  n who knows it

now, since you have refused to honor the requisition.'

"The pompous man then proceeded to argue the case with

the Governor, and we soon learned that he was an agent from

Virginia bearing a requisition from Governor Letcher for the

surrender of Barclay Coppoc.

"In reply to a remark by the agent that Coppoc might escape

before he could get the defect in the requisition cured, the Gov-

ernor, looking significantly at us, replied: 'There is a law under

which you can arrest Coppoc and hold him until the requisition

is granted,' and the Governor reached for the code. We waited

to hear no more, but, saying to the Governor that we would call

again when he was not engaged and giving him a look that was

response to his own, we walked out."

Promptly afterward a conference was held with

other anti-slavery members of the Legislature and a

messenger was sent posthaste on horseback to distant

Springdale to warn Coppoc and his friends. The mes-

senger bore a note advising that the Governor would

probably be compelled to issue the requisition. As

already seen from a letter quoted, the messenger arrived

in due time and the friends of Coppoc prepared to give

the Virginia agent a warm reception if he should appear.

In the meantime Governor Kirkwood's keen and

sympathetic eye had detected certain material flaws in

the requisition papers and he refused to order Barclay

Coppoc's arrest for the following reasons:

 

*History of Iowa, by B. F. Gue, Vol. II, p. 20.

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Barclay Coppoc                   473

"First - No indictment had been found against him.

"Second -The affidavit was made before an alleged notary

public, but was not authenticated by a notary's seal.

"Third- The affidavit did not show that Coppoc was in

Virginia aiding and abetting John Brown.

"Fourth - It did not legally charge him with commission of

any crime."*

 

When this action of the Governor became publicly

known, the Legislature was again thrown into commo-

tion and the following resolutions were offered by a

partisan opponent:

"WHEREAS, A requisition was made on the Governor of

Iowa by the Governor of Virginia for Barclay Coppoc, an alleged

participant in the difficulties at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, as a

fugitive from Justice, and

"WHEREAS, The Governor of Iowa has refused to deliver

up said Coppoc under said requisition, alleging technical defects

therein, therefore be it

"Resolved, That the Governor of Iowa be requested to lay

before the House a copy of the requisition directed to him by

the Governor of Virginia, and all matters connected therewith;

also to inform this House whether he possessed any knowledge

in regard to a rumor that a special messenger was dispatched to

inform Coppoc of his danger; and if so, by what authority said

messenger was dispatched to inform Coppoc of his danger."*

 

The Governor very promptly laid before the House

of Representatives a ringing defense of his action.

After criticising the conduct of the agent from Virginia

and denying that he had sent any word whatever to

Barclay Coppoc or his friends, he said:

"Permit me to say in conclusion that one of the most im-

portant duties of the official position I hold is to see that no cit-

izen of Iowa is carried beyond her border and subjected to the

ignominy of imprisonment and the perils of trial for crimes in

another state otherwise than by due process of law. That duty I

shall perform."*

*History of Iowa, by B. F. Gue, Vol. II, p. 19, 20.

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474     Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

It is pointed out that, if Governor Packer of Penn-

sylvania had been as deliberate in his action before sur-

rendering to Virginia Hazlett and Cook, it is probable

that neither of them would have ended his career on the

gallows.

In this connection it is interesting to recall the atti-

tude of Governor Dennison of Ohio. He promptly

referred the requisition for Owen Brown and Merriam

to the Attorney General of that state who very soon

found a number of defects that were ample excuse for

the Governor not to authorize the arrest of either of

these men.

Finally a second requisition from Virginia which

avoided the defects that Governor Kirkwood had pointed

out in the first was presented at Des Moines and a war-

rant was issued for the arrest of Barclay Coppoc, but

he could not then be found. His friends had been

promptly notified and with Thaddeus Maxson Barclay

was conveyed with an armed guard to Mechanicsville

and later the two proceeded by rail to Chicago and

thence to Detroit. It has generally been stated that

they crossed over to Canada. If they did so they re-

mained a very short time, for they soon went to Ohio

where Barclay was in hiding with friends near Salem

and later joined Owen Brown and F. J. Merriam at the

home of John Brown, Jr., in Dorset, Ashtabula County,

Ohio.

It must be remembered that all this time a reward

was offered for the capture of Coppoc and that he was

in continual danger of arrest. It is not likely that Gov-

ernor Dennison would have been instrumental in this

if he could have consistently avoided it, but the United

States authorities might at any time seize any of the

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Barclay Coppoc                      475

members of the John Brown party that had escaped

from the Ferry. It was therefore important that these

men and their friends should be constantly on guard.

It was at this time that Barclay Coppoc and Thaddeus

Maxson visited the home of Daniel Bonsall, a prominent

anti-slavery man living near Salem. Charles Bonsall,

who is still living at the age of eighty-two, recently gave

his reminiscences of the visit of these two men as

follows:

"In the spring of 1860, some time in April, as I remember,

Barclay Coppoc and Thaddeus Maxson came to the neighbor-

hood of Winona and remained for some time. They spent the

time with well-known abolitionists. I distinctly recall their visit

to the home of my father, Daniel Bonsall.      When they first

called, father was away from home and I met the two men. As

soon as they knew who I was and that they were safe they made

known their identity. I suspected this before they spoke. Bar-

clay Coppoc, after his escape from Harper's Ferry, had returned

to Springdale, Iowa. From that place he had come back with

Maxson to his native neighborhood south of Salem to organize

secret leagues to oppose the Fugitive Slave law. The principles

of this league had been formulated by Parker Pillsbury and

printed along with the constitution in pamphlet form.*

*The name of this organization was the Order of the League of

Freedom. It was founded in Ashtabula County and it was the purpose

of its members to extend it to other states. Through the kindly interest

of Mr. and Mrs. T. B. Alexander, a copy of this document, which was

secretly printed, is now in the possession of the Ohio State Archaeological

and Historical Society. The preliminary declaration is as follows:

"WHEREAS, Our fathers founded this Federal Government upon the

'self-evident' truth that all men are endowed by their Creator with equal

and imprescriptible rights to enjoy life, liberty, and the pursuit of hap-

piness; and by the Constitution provided, that no person shall be deprived

of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; and we, believing

that the African and all other races of men are included in these pro-

visions: and

"WHEREAS, We believe Slave-holding in the United States is the

source of numberless evils, moral, social and political; that it hinders

social progress; that it embitters public and private intercourse; that it

degrades us as individuals, as States, and as a Nation; that it holds back

our country from a splendid career of greatness and glory, and is in

direct violation of the principles laid down in the Declaration of our

National Independence.

"We are, therefore, resolutely, inflexibly, at all times, and under all

circumstances, hostile to its longer continuance in our land."

• 17
 

476      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

"It soon became known to many people of Salem that Bar-

clay Coppoc was in the neighborhood. A citizen of Salem, who

was something of a private detective, declared that he would get

the reward offered for the arrest of Coppoc and that in a short

time he would be returned to the Virginia authorities. When

Barclay Coppoc heard what this would-be detective proposed to

do, he sent to him substantially this message:

"'I understand that you propose to arrest me and turn me

over to the Virginia authorities. I will not go to Salem to afford

you the opportunity to make this arrest but if you wish to get me

you can find me where I am at almost any time. I suggest that

you get at least five men to aid you and I assure you that they

will have plenty to do before they succeed in capturing me.' "

Mr. Bonsall said that it was well known that friends

in the neighborhood would stand by Coppoc and no one

had the courage to attempt to arrest him. He also re-

called the excellent marksmanship of Barclay. A gray

squirrel ran up a tree at some distance away and was

passing to another tree. Coppoc drew his revolver and

fired, apparently while the squirrel was still moving.

At the first shot it fell to the ground.

Charles Bonsall is a Civil War veteran and served in

the Third Kansas Regiment as we shall see later.

It was while Barclay Coppoc was with friends near

Salem that he went to see a panorama of the Harper's

Ferry raid presented in that town. Mrs. Mary Lease,

of Salem, Ohio, eldest daughter of Dr. J. C. Whinnery,

thus recalled Barclay Coppoc's presence at this exhi-

bition:

"When Barclay Coppoc returned to Salem, after his return

from Harper's Ferry and Canada, he was kept secreted and con-

stantly guarded. During this period a travelling company with a

panorama of Harper's Ferry, the arsenal, the scaffold, and the

route that Barclay travelled to Iowa, came to Salem. Barclay

insisted on seeing it, despite all pleadings and dissuasions, not-

withstanding that there was a reward of $1,000 offered for his

head, and the fact that some of the people were watching for

• 18
 

Barclay Coppoc                   477

him. So he went, disguised and surrounded by his friends, the

whole party well armed. It was agreed that no one of the party

should speak a word, in the building; but that Barclay should

indicate his approval of what was correctly shown by slightly

inclining his head. But he became so absorbed as to forget all

precautions and when a scene came on that displeased him he

raised his hand in a violent gesture and I caught and held it

just in time to prevent his betraying himself."  (See note 2,

page 450.)

On July 4, 1860, a number of the followers of John

Brown, including Barclay Coppoc, are said to have been

at the home of John Brown, Jr., in Ashtabula County.

Later in the year he returned to Kansas and in company

with a few other men went into Missouri, liberated and

ran off a number of slaves. Later he very nearly lost

his life in a trap set by a man under the assumed name

of Charley Hart, who pretended to favor the Free State

cause and the freedom of the negroes. This man per-

suaded Barclay Coppoc and some of his associates to

make another raid into Missouri to help some Jackson

County slaves to freedom. They were ambushed and

Barclay almost lost his life. Two of his party were

killed, the others escaped. "Charley Hart" who planned

the capture of the party was himself an Ohio man, who

afterwards was known as the famous Confederate

guerrilla, Quantrill,* whose name became a terror on the

western border early in the Civil War.

The election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 and his

inauguration later radically changed the status of Bar-

clay Coppoc. The same statutes remained but there was

 

*William Clarke Quantrill was born at Canal Dover, Ohio, July 31,

1837, and died in a military prison at Louisville from wounds, June 6, 1865.

William E. Connelley, Secretary of the Kansas Historical Society, has

written the detailed history of his life in a large volume entitled Quantrill

and the Border Wars which presents Quantrill as the terror among border

ruffians with practically no devotion to principle and ever ready to betray

his friends. He served as a Confederate in the Civil War.

• 19
 

478     Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

no longer serious thought of hunting down the remnants

of the John Brown band. Barclay returned to his old

home in Springdale and once more settled down quietly

to farm work.

The year 1861 marked the marshalling in arms and

the beginning of the Civil War. It is scarcely necessary

to say that with his past record, his adventurous spirit

and his hostility to slavery Barclay Coppoc could not

long remain inactive in the quiet village of Springdale.

He was no longer a fugitive from justice. The part

that he had taken at Harper's Ferry had ceased to make

him an object of aversion to all except his closest friends.

Occasionally to someone who had not known him he

was pointed out as one of John Brown's men who had

escaped from the foray into Virginia. His part in that

event was gradually making him an object of distinction

rather than reproach. Possibly as he thought over the

past he recalled the words of his brother Edwin, in the

letter to his uncle Joshua:

"The time may come when he will remember me and the

time may come when he will still further remember the cause in

which I die. Thank God, the principles of the cause in which

we were engaged will not die with me and my brave comrades.

They will spread wider and wider, and gather strength with

each hour that passes. The voice of truth will echo through our

land, bringing conviction to the erring, and adding numbers to

that glorious army who will follow its banner."

Was not that army already forming under the flag

of the Republic and was not the call for volunteers

especially to men of the spirit of Barclay Coppoc? He

evidently felt so, for on the 24th day of July, 1861, he

was commissioned first lieutenant in Company C, Third

• 20
 

Barclay Coppoc              479

Regiment,* Kansas Volunteer Infantry, and was mus-

tered into service six days later. And now in a uniform

of blue he was recruiting other young men to proceed

with all possible haste to the theater of war. As the

days passed, in spite of his modest demeanor and reti-

cence, he was more and more an object of interest to

his comrades because of the dangers that he faced at

Harper's Ferry and in the long flight through Pennsyl-

vania and Ohio. What distinction might not come to

him in the great conflict between the North and the

South?

At last he with a few of his comrades was moving

southward. The Confederates had been waging an

active guerrilla warfare in Missouri. They had blown

up culverts and committed other bold assaults in the

northwestern part of that state under the shadows of

night. The train on which Coppoc was a passenger had

been delayed. All danger was thought behind them and

they were expecting soon to reach their destination.

Suddenly the train plunged through a burning bridge

into the Platte River of Missouri, and the darkness was

rent with the shrieks of the wounded and dying. The

Confederate guerrillas had set the bridge on fire and

without a word of warning the train, crowded with pas-

sengers, plunged a distance of forty feet into the River.

About twenty-five passengers were killed. Among the

number fatally injured was Lieutenant Barclay Coppoc.

One of the survivors of the wreck, Mr. W. R. Ramsey,

of the Government Printing Office, Washington, in 1899

wrote:

 

*In this regiment Charles Bonsall, of Salem, afterward enlisted.

• 21
 

480      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

"Of the ninety or more passengers on board (men, women,

children and soldiers) very few escaped uninjured and many

(about twenty-five) were killed, among the latter being Lieu-

tenant Coppoc. I saw him at the St. Joe Hotel the day after the

accident, and how he survived twenty-four hours with the fright-

ful wound in his head * * * was a miracle, as very few men

could have withstood the shock." (See note 2, page 450.)

The Daily Conservative of Leavenworth, Kansas, in

its issue of September 5, 1861, gives a very full account

of the disaster at the Platte River bridge. From this

we learn that the train plunged into the river at about

eleven o'clock at night. The heavens were clouded and

a heavy darkness overhung the scene of the tragedy.

A few of the passengers escaped uninjured and these

made heroic efforts to save others. Some went to St.

Joseph, nine miles distant, and others to Easton to bring

aid. It was four o'clock the next morning before a

relief train arrived.

The Conservative of September 6 contains an ac-

count of the funeral which is here quoted in full:

"The burial of B. Coppoc and C. Fording, two of the vic-

tims of the unparalleled atrocity of last Tuesday night, took

place yesterday from the Mansion House.

"Coppoc, recently from Iowa, was a young man of noble

soul and undaunted courage, and held the position of Lieut. in

the company of Capt. Allen, in Col. Montgomery's regiment.

Barclay Coppoc was with John Brown in the raid on Virginia;

his brother Edwin was captured and hung but Barclay escaped.

He fled in company with Captain Cook and succeeded in eluding

pursuit when his companion was taken. There was nothing of

the bravado about him. Religiously anti-slavery, he endeavored

solely to do what he considered his duty. C. Fording was a

young man who was coming with him from Ohio to join the

same company.

"The Home Guards, Fencibles, and the Old Guard led the

procession while a large concourse of our most influential cit-

izens followed the hearses containing the remains to the cemetery

on Pilot Knob. The companies of Captain Swoyer and Jenkins

were with the procession part of the distance.

• 22
 

Barclay Coppoc                       481

 

"At the graves, Rev. Mr. Paddock delivered an earnest, soul-

stirring prayer, and at about five o'clock the remains were com-

mitted to the ground. A military salute was then fired over the

graves."*

And thus the lives of these two young brothers,

Edwin and Barclay Coppoc, which began among the

peaceful scenes and surroundings in a Quaker com-

munity of Columbiana County, Ohio, after many vicis-

situdes, each had a tragic ending. Their devotion to

principle and the courage with which they lived and died

in the service of what they esteemed a righteous cause

-a cause that was soon to triumph throughout the

Republic - entitle them to a place in the history of the

Buckeye State.

 

THE MOTHER OF EDWIN AND BARCLAY COPPOC.

The mother of Edwin and Barclay Coppoc was a staunch advocate

of the reforms that were popular among the Quakers of Columbiana

County in the early half of the last century. She was strongly opposed

to slavery and her two sons owed their hostility to that institution, in

no small measure to her teaching. She did not wish to see them join

John Brown. She had already lost three children and she felt that the

enterprise upon which they were venturing was a very dangerous one.

After they had given up their lives to the cause that she held sacred,

however, one on the scaffold and the other in the Union army, she

accepted the results with remarkable calmness and stated that she felt

honored in the sacrifice they had made.

At the time of the funeral of Edwin Coppoc she was almost totally

blind. In a letter to Rev. North, who visited her son in jail at Charles-

town, she wrote:

"Every son of America whom you send to the North with the prints

of the accursed halter upon his neck and whose funeral is attended by

assembled thousands, has a tendency to kindle the fires of indignation and

hatred against the common cause, slavery, which is at the bottom of all

of this."

Her only remaining child, Joseph L. Coppoc, enlisted in the Union

army and rose to the rank of major. He was for many years a minister

in the Baptist Church. His contribution to the Midland Monthly of Sep-

tember, 1895, entitled "John Brown and His Cause," is a spirited defense

and eulogy of Brown. He died at Chambers, Nebraska, in 1914.

* From typewritten copy contributed by William E. Connelly, Secre-

tary of the Kansas Historical Society.

Vol. XXX-31.

• 23