The information that follows is compiled from two sources: Willaim Elsey Connelley, John Brown (Topeka: Crane & Company, 1900), 340-347; and Oswald Garrison Villard, John Brown 1800-1859: A Biography Fifty Years After (1910, reprint, Gloucester, MA: Peter Smith, 1965), 678-687. I have also updated the languge, and deleted some superfluos (in my opinion) information.--ASR 3/21/95
John Brown's band consisted of twenty-one men besides himself sixteen of whom were white and five colored. Most of the whites he commissioned as officers in his army; according to the best obtainable printed list, Stevens, Cook, Brown's three sons,--Oliver, Owen, and Watson,--and Tidd were captains. But this is incomplete. There is conflicting testimony as to whether Hazlett was a captain or a lieutenant. Cook states that only two lieutenants were commissioned, Edwin Coppoc and Dauphin Thompson. Colonel Lee in his official report rates Hazlett, Edwin Coppoc, and Leeman as lieutenants. A captain's commission was found on Leeman's body. Probably William Thompson and J. G. Anderson were also captains. The white private soldiers were Stewart Taylor, Barclay Coppoc, and F. J. Meriam. The colored were Shields Green, Lewis Sheridan Leary, John A. Copeland, Jr., Osborn Perry Anderson, and Dangerfield Newby. The eldest of the band after Brown was Newby, aged forty-four; Owen Brown came next, at thirty-five; all the others were under thirty. Oliver Brown, Barclay Coppoc, and Leeman were not yet twenty-one. The average age of the twenty- one followers was twenty-five years and five months. Only one was of foreign birth; nearly all were of old American stock. Sketches of their lives follow.
His father was the respected village blacksmith in Bristolville, Ohio, whose family was of Swiss descent, the name being originally Kagy. John A. Kagi was born at Bristolville, Trumbell county, Ohio, March 15, 1835; and was killed October 17, 1859. In 1854-55 he taught school at Hawkinstown, Virginia, where he obtained a personal knowledge of slavery. This resulted in such abolition manifestations on his part, that he was compelled to leave for Ohio under a pledge never to return to Hawkinstown. Kagi then went to Nebraska City, Nebraska, where he was admitted to the bar. He next entered Kansas with one of General James H. Lane's parties. He enlisted in A. D. Stevens's ("Colonel Whipple's") Second Kansas Militia, and was captured in 1856 by United States troops. Kagi was imprisoned first at Lecompton and then at Tecumseh, but was finally liberated. He was assaulted and severely injured by Judge Elmore, the pro-slavery judge, who struck him over the head with a gold-headed cane, on January 31, 1857. Kagi drew his revolver and shot the Judge in the groin. Elmore then fired three times and shot Kagi over the heart, the bullet being stopped by a memorandum-book. Kagi was long in recovering from his wounds.
After a visit to his Ohio home he returned to Kansas and joined John Brown. He bore the title of Secretary of War in the provisional government; next in command to John Brown; was also the adjutant. When in Chambersburg as agent for the raiders, he boarded with Mrs. Mary Rittner.
The never-married Stevens came of old Puritan stock, his great-grandfather having been a captain in the Revolutionary army. He was a man of superb bravery and of wonderful physique; he was well over six feet, was blessed with a great sense of humor, and was sustained at the end by his belief in spiritualism. George B. Gill wrote of him in 1860: "Stevens--how gloriously he sang! His was the noblest soul I ever knew. Though owing to his rash, hasty way, I often found occasion to quarrel with him more so than with any of the others, and though I liked Kagi better than any man I ever knew, our temperaments being adapted to each other, yet I can truly say that Stevens was the most noble man that I ever knew." George H. Hoyt, Brown's counsel, in a letter to J W Le Barnes, October 31, 1859, thus recorded his first impression of Stevens at Harper's Ferry: "Stevens is in the same cell with Brown. I have frequent talks with him. He's in a most pitiable condition physically, his wounds being of the most painful and dangerous character. He has now four balls in his body, two of these being about the head and neck. He bears his sufferings with grim and silent fortitude, never complaining and absolutely without hope. He is a splendid looking young fellow. Such black and penetrating eyes! Such an expansive brow! Such a grand chest and limbs! He was the best, and in fact the only man Brown had who was a good soldier besides being reliable otherwise." Stevens was executed March 16 1860.
Cook was the one man who believed that it was best to attack the town of Harper's Ferry, and therefore was sent to that town over a year in advance of others, and lived in the city. He is described variously as a school-teacher or a lock-tender, although in the registration of his marriage to Mary V. Kennedy, of Harper's Ferry, April 18, 1859, he was described as a book-agent. He passed much of his time in gathering information about slaves, and was perhaps in comunication with them, although this is denied by the family of Brown. It is reasonable to believe that he had found that the slaves would not rise at the first appearance of Brown, though he believed they would flock to the standard when the blow had been struck.
He was captured eight miles from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, October 25, 1859, and hanged on December 16. He was a remarkably fine shot, and had seen much fighting in Kansas. He was reckless, impulsive, indiscreet, but genial, generous and brave.
He emigrated to Kansas with the party of Dr. Calvin Cutter, of Worcester, in 1856. He joined John Brown's party at Tabor, in 1857, and thereafter, in Canada and elsewhere, was one of Brown's closest associates, returning to Kansas in 1858 as a follower of "Shubel Morgan." He took part in the raid into Missouri. He and Cook were particularly warm friends. Tidd opposed the attack on Harper's Ferry. After his escape from Virginia, he visited Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Canada, and was freely consulted in the plans for rescue of Stevens and Hazlett. "Tidd," wrote Mrs. Annie Brown Adams, "had not much education, but good common sense. After the raid he began to study, and tried to repair his deficiencies. He was by no means handsome. He had a quick temper, but was kind-hearted. His rages soon passed and then he tried all he could to repair dam- ages. He was a fine singer and of strong family affections."
He died of fever, on the transport Northerner, as a first sergeant of the Twenty-first Massachusetts Volunteers, on February 8, 1862, with the roar of the battle of Roanoke Island in his ears. This he had particularly wished to take part in, for ex-Governor Henry A. Wise was in com- mand of the Confederates, his son, O. Jennings Wise, being killed in the engagement. Tidd had enlisted July 19, 1861, as a private. His grave is No. 40 in the New Berne, N. C., National Cemetery.
Anderson went to school at Galesburg, Illinois, and Kossuth, Iowa; he worked as a peddler, farmer, and employee of a saw-mill, before emigrating to Kansas in August, 1857, where he settled on the Little Osage, Bourbon County, a mile from Fort Bain. He was twice arrested by pro- slaveryites, and for ten weeks imprisoned at Fort Scott; he then became a lieutenant of Captain Montgomery, and was with him in the attack on Captain Anderson's troop of the First U. S. Cavalry. He also witnessed the murder on his own doorstep of a Mr. Denton by Border Ruffians. He was with John Brown on the slave raid into Missouri, and thereafter followed Brown's fortunes. Writing July 5, 1859, of his determination to continue to fight for freedom, he said:" Millions of fellow-beings require it of us; their cries for help go out to the universe daily and hourly. Whose duty is it to help them? Is it yours? Is it mine? It is every man's, but how few there are to help. But there are a few who dare to answer this call and dare to answer it in a manner that will make this land of liberty and equality shake to the centre."
Anderson was killed at Harper's Ferry by a bayonet-thrust of one of the marines. "One of the prisoners described Anderson as turning completely over against the wall [to which he was pinned by the bayonet] in his dying agony. he lived a short time, stretched on the brick walk without, where he was subjected to savage brutalities, being kicked in body and face, while one brute of an armed farmer spat a huge quid of tobacco from his vile jaws into the mouth of the dying man, which he first forced open."
He was arrested in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, near Chambersburg, under the name of William Harrison, on October 22, extradited to Virginia, tried and sentenced at the spring term of the Court, and hanged on March 16, 1860. To Mrs. Rebecca Spring he wrote on March 15, 1860, the eve of his execution, "Your letter gave me great comfort to know that my body would be taken from this land of chains.... I am willing to die in the cause of liberty, if I had ten thousand lives I would willingly lay them all down for the same cause."
Edwin Coppoc, brother of Barclay, was captured with Brown in the engine house, tried immediately after him, sentenced on November 2, and hung with Cook on December 16, 1859. The father of the Coppocs died when Edwin was six, the latter having been born June 30, 1835. For nine years thereafter Edwin lived with John Butler, a farmer, near Salem, Ohio, removing then with his mother to Springdale, Iowa. This place he left in the spring of 1858, to become a settler in Kansas. He took no part in the Terri- torial troubles, and returned to Springdale in the autumn of 1858 when he became acquainted with Brown. He always bore an excellent reputation as an honest, brave, straightforward, well- behaved man, and his death was particularly lamented by many friends. An exemplary prisoner, there were many Southerners who hoped for his pardon. He was buried first in Winona [later in Salem Ohio], after a public funeral, attended by the entire town. In jail he regretted his situation, wrote his mother of his sorrow that he must die a dishonorable death, and explained that he had not understood what the full consequences of the raid would be.
Barcaly Coppoc went straight to Iowa after his escape from Harper's Ferry, whither Virginia agents followed to attempt his arrest. He went back to Kansas in 1860, helped to run off some Missourri slaves, and nearly lost his lief in a second undertaking of this kind.
he would have made his mark. By his exertions the sale of liquor was stopped at North Elba."
William Thompson, son of Roswell Thompson; born in New Hampshire, in August, 1833. Married in the fall of 1858 to Mary Brown, who was not related to the family of John Brown. His sister Isabel was married to Watson Brown; and Henry Thompson, his elder brother, was married to Ruth, the daughter of John Brown. He had started for Kansas in 1856, but turned back after meeting the Brown sons, and returned with them to North Elba.
Dauphin Adolphus Thompson, brother of William Thompson, and one of Brown's lieutenants, and a North Elba neighbor of the Brown family. Was born April 17, 1838. He was "very quiet, with fair, thoughtful face, curly blonde hair, and baby-blue eyes." His sister Isabel was married to Watson Brown; and Henry Thompson, his elder brother, was married to Ruth, the daughter of John Brown. Slain at Harper's Ferry.
"Copeland," Judge Parker stated in his story of the trials (St. Louis Globe Democrat, April 8, 1888), "was the prisoner who impressed me best He was a free negro. He had been educated, and there was a dignity about him that I could not help liking. He was always manly " Andrew Hunter at the same time was quoted as saying- "Copeland was the cleverest of all the prisoners . . . and behaved better than any of them. If I had had the power and could have concluded to pardon any man among them, he was the man I would have picked out." On November 26, from his cell in Charlestown, Cope- land sent a letter to his parents, now in the possession of his sister Miss Mary Copeland, of Oberlin, Ohio, of which the following is an extract:
William H. Leeman, born March 20, 1839, and killed on October 17, 1859, the youngest of the raiders, had early left his home in Maine, being of a rather wild disposition. Owen Brown found him hard to control at Springdale. Mrs. Annie Brown Adams writes of him: "He was only a boy. He smoked a good deal and drank sometimes; but perhaps people would not think that so very wicked now. He was very hand- some and very attractive." Educated in the public schools of Saco and Hallowell, Maine, he worked in a shoe-factory in Haverhill, Massachusetts, at the age of fourteen. In 1856 he entered Kansas with the second Massachusetts colony of that year, and became a member of John Brown's "Volunteer Regulars" September 9, 1856. He fought well at Osawatomie, when but seventeen years old. George B. Gill says of him that he had "a good intellect with great ingenuity."
He died suddenly November 28, 1865, in New York City, after having served as a captain in the Third South Carolina Colored Infantry. Erratic and unbalanced, he was forever urging wild schemes upon his superiors, and often attempting them. In an engagement under Grant he was severely wounded in the leg. Early in the war he married Minerva Caldwell, of Galena, Illinois.
Leary's child was subsequently educated by James Redpath and Wendell Phillips. Leary was descended from an Irishman, Jeremiah O'Leary, who fought in the Revolution under General Nathanael Greene, and married a woman of mixed blood, partly African, partly of that Croatan Indian stock of North Carolina, which is be- lieved by some to be lineally descended from the "lost colonists " left by John White on Roanoke Island in 1587. Leary, like his father, was a saddler and harness-maker. In 1857 he went to Oberlin to live, marrying there, and making the acquaintance of John Brown in Cleveland. He survived his terrible wounds for eight hours, dur- ing which he was well treated and able to send messages to his family. He is reported as saying: "I am ready to die." His wife was in ignorance of his object when he left home. Leary was born at Fayetteville, North Carolina, March 17, 1835, and was therefore in his twenty-fifth year when killed.
Owen Brown, born November 4, 1824, at Hudson, Ohio, was John Brown's third son, and his stalwart, reliable lieutenant both in Kansas and at Harper's Ferry. It was due largely to his unfaltering determination and great physical strength that the little group of survivors of which he was the leader reached safe havens. After the war he was for some time a grape-grower in Ohio, in association with two of his brothers. Thence he removed to California, where he died, January 9, 1891, in his mountain home, "Brown's Peak," near Pasadena, poor in worldly goods, but with the respect and re- gard of his neighbors. A marble monument marks his mountain-side grave. He never married. He was, like all the Browns, original in expression and in thought, and not without considerable humor. He was the only one of the five men who escaped from the raid who did not enter the Union army, and he was the last of the raiders.
Watson Brown, born at Franklin, Ohio, October 7, 1835, married Isabella M. Thompson in September, 1856, and died of his wounds at Harper's Ferry on October 18, 1859. He was: "Tall and rather fair, with finely knit frame, athletic and active." Of little education, he was a man of marked ability and sterling character, who bore well the family responsibilities which fell to him when all the other men of the clan went to Kansas. His son lived only to his fifth year; his widow later married her husband's cousin, Salmon Brown.
Oliver Brown, Captain. Olivers was the youngest son of John Brown to reach adultohood. He was born in Franklin, OH March 9, 1839, and married Martha E. Brewster in 1858. Olivr went to Kansas in 1855, with his father, and returned yo North Elba in October 1856. He was killed at Harper's Ferry.
Shields Green,Fugitive slave from Charleston, S. C. Joined Brown at Chambersburg, having come there with Frederick Douglass, August 19th; was known as the "Emperor," but how he obtained this name is not now known. He went on with Brown when Douglass turned back, telling his former benefactor "I believe I'll go with the old man." Green's age is said to have been twenty-three years.
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