Barclay and Edwin Coppock

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Barclay Coppock[1]
Edwin Coppock

Barclay Coppock (January 4, 1839 – September 4, 1861),[2] also spelled "Coppac", "Coppic", and "Coppoc", was a follower of John Brown and a Union Army soldier in the American Civil War. Along with his brother Edwin Coppock (June 30, 1835 – December 16, 1859), he participated in Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry.

Edwin and Barclay Coppock were born of Quaker parentage in Winona, Ohio, near the abolitionist town of Salem. After their father died early in their lives, they were raised by John Butler, growing up abolitionists in an intensely abolitionist community. As teenagers they moved to Springdale, Iowa, to be with their mother. It was here that they met John Brown as he passed through in early 1859, transporting people who had been enslaved in Missouri to freedom. That summer, the two boys bade their mother goodbye, despite her fears of the violence they would encounter, and traveled to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, to meet Brown’s growing army.[3]

Edwin Coppock captured, tried, and hanged[]

For his participation in John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry, Edwin was tried and convicted of treason, murder, and fomenting a slave insurrection, and was hanged in Charles Town, Virginia (since 1863, West Virginia), on December 16, 1859. His body was brought by Joshua Coppock, his uncle, to Salem; the "rude coffin" in which it was transported is held by the Ohio History Connection at its Museum in Columbus.[4]

The body was laid out three nights, with armed guard; the guard was to prevent anti-abolitionists from stealing the body to prevent the funeral. Hundreds came for the funeral and to hear the "eulogistic speeches"; the body was moved to City Hall.[5] He was buried in Hope Cemetery. His grave is marked by a plain brownstone monument some 12 feet (3.7 m) in height, marked only with his name and his birth and death dates; a plaque was added much later.

This monument was erected through the liberality of an eccentric old Scotchman named Howell Hiss, who was at that time living near Salem, and to his honor be it said, was a prominent "Conductor" on the "Underground Railway," helping many a runaway slave on his way through Ohio to Canada and liberty. It is a fact worthy of note that on each recurring Decoration Day Coppic's [sic] grave is marked, through the courtesy of the Grand Army post of Salem, with the little flag entltling it to be decorated with wreaths and bouquets of flowers by the comrades and little girls detailed for that purpose, just the same as the graves of tha Union soldiers whose remains to the number of 200 are burled in the beautiful old village cemetery.[6]

Barclay Coppock, in the Union Army[]

Barclay, like Owen Brown and Francis Jackson Meriam, did not enter Harpers Ferry; they remained at the Kennedy Farm guarding the weapons. When it became clear that the raid was failing, they escaped northward, in Barclay's case to Canada,[7] later returning to Springdale. On January 23, 1860, about three months after the Harpers Ferry raid, Iowa governor Samuel Kirkwood received from the governor of Virginia a requisition "for one Barclay Coppock, reputed to be a fugitive from the justice of Virginia". Kirkwood found the requisition deficient in legal form and returned it to Virginia. Barclay was gone to Canada by the time Kirkwood received the corrected papers.[8][9][10]

Barclay later joined the Union Army during the American Civil War and served as a recruiting officer. He was killed in action when Confederate sabotage derailed his train over the Platte River,[11][12] an incident called the Platte Bridge Railroad Tragedy.

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Both photos from A topical history of Cedar County, Iowa, Volume 1 (1910) Clarence Ray Aurner, S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
  2. ^ Graham, Pauline; et al. (November 1928). "The Coppoc Boys". The Palimpsest. 9: 385–391, 403–404, 432–433.
  3. ^ Robertson, Karen (October 19, 2019). "'The result will be worth the sacrifice...': John Brown's Ohio Raiders". Ohio History Connection. Archived from the original on October 9, 2021. Retrieved July 20, 2021.
  4. ^ Mendenhall, Thomas C. (October 1921). "The Coffin of Edwin Coppock". Ohio History Journal. 30 (4): 452–456. Archived from the original on 2021-07-20. Retrieved 2021-07-20.
  5. ^ Baird, R. K. (April 22, 1888). "An Ohio Man's Story—The Funeral over Coppic's body". St. Louis Globe-Democrat (St. Louis, Missouri). p. 32 12 feet (3.7 m). Archived from the original on February 2, 2021. Retrieved February 2, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
  6. ^ Hutton, M. S. (April 29, 1888). "Edwin Coppic's grave". St. Louis Globe-Democrat (St. Louis, Missouri). p. 13. Archived from the original on February 2, 2021. Retrieved February 2, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "Twelve Harper's Ferry Insurgents in Canada". (Lawrence, Kansas). December 15, 1859. p. 2. Archived from the original on June 3, 2021. Retrieved June 3, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
  8. ^ Clark, Dan Elbert, Samuel Jordan Kirkwood, p. 152, cited in Bergmann, Leola Nelson, The Negro in Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, The State Historical Society of Iowa, 1969, p. 27.
  9. ^ The Iowa City Republican, February 1, 1860, cited in Bergmann, Leola Nelson, The Negro in Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, The State Historical Society of Iowa, 1969, p. 27.
  10. ^ Kirkwood, Samuel J. (1860) [March 3, 1860]. Special message of Governor Samuel J. Kirkwood in reply to a resolution of inquiry passed by the House of Representatives, March 2d, 1860, in relation to the requisition of the Gov. of Viriginia for one Barclay Coppic. Des Moines, Iowa. Archived from the original on August 16, 2021. Retrieved August 15, 2021.
  11. ^ Gibson Lamb Cranmer (1891) History of the upper Ohio Valley, Volume 2 p.270. Madison:Brant & Fuller
  12. ^ John Brown and His Followers in Iowa Midland Monthly Magazine (1894) Vol. 1, pp. 262-267.

Further reading (most recent first)[]

  • Teakle, Thomas (January 1960). "Rendition Foiled". The Palimpsest. 41 (1): 73–77.
  • Lord, Jeannette Mather (April 1959). "John Brown: They Had a Concern". . 20 (3): 163–183.
  • Teakle, Thomas (October 1912). "The Rendition of Barclay Coppoc". The Iowa Journal of History and Politics. 10 (4): 502–566.
  • Coppoc, Edwin (December 22, 1859) [November 22, 1859]. "Letter to friends". Letters from Virginia. (Tipton, Iowa). p. 1 – via newspapers.com.

External links[]

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