Barclay and 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.

Barclay Coppock[1]
Edwin Coppock

Edwin and Barclay Coppock were born of Quaker parentage near Salem, Ohio, where they resided.[3] The Coppock brothers moved to Springdale, Iowa, where they met Brown while he was raising support for his Kansas anti-slavery raids.

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 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.[4] 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.[5]

Barclay Coppoc, after Harpers Ferry

Barclay escaped, 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.[6][7]

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,[8][9] 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. The Palimpsest (November 1928) Vol. 9.
  3. Barth, Salem by Ralph W. Hawley
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. Gibson Lamb Cranmer (1891) History of the upper Ohio Valley, Volume 2 p.270. Madison:Brant & Fuller
  9. John Brown and His Followers in Iowa Midland Monthly Magazine (1894) Vol. 1, pp. 262-267.

Further reading


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.