On Sunday night, October 16, 1859, the abolitionist John Brown led a band of 22 in a raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (since 1863, West Virginia).
Composition of the group The group of men varied in social class and education.
They had come from all over the country and Canada, and were from diverse social classes, from fugitive slaves to the upper middle class. John Brown was 59, Dangerfield Newby was 44, and Owen Brown was 35. All the rest were under 30. Oliver Brown, Barclay Coppoc, and William H. Leeman were under 21.
Of the members of Brown's party, 17 were white and 5 (23%) were black. Of the five black people, two (Leary, Newby) died during the raid, two (Copeland and Green) were tried and executed, and one (Osborne Anderson) escaped. Two (Green and Newby) had been enslaved, with Newby having been granted his freedom and Green a fugitive; three (Osborne Anderson, Copeland, and Leary) were free black people, but Copeland was a fugitive from the charge of participating in the 1858 Oberlin-Wellington Rescue, of which he was a leader.
Three of Brown's sons participated in the raid. Two, Oliver and Watson, were shot on Monday at the engine house; Oliver died after a few hours in agony, but Watson not until early Wednesday morning. Owen Brown escaped and became an officer in the Union Army. Watson's body was recovered in 1882; Oliver's not until 1899. Salmon Brown, though he had been with his father and brothers in Kansas, did not want to participate in the Harpers Ferry raid and remained in North Elba, running the farm. John Jr. and Jason also declined to participate.
All but 5, who successfully escaped north, were either killed during the raid, or captured, tried, and executed. Of the 22, 10 were killed during the raid or died shortly after of their wounds (Jerry Anderson, Oliver Brown, Watson Brown, Kagi, Leary, Leeman, Newby, Taylor, Adolphus Thompson, William Thompson) 7 were tried and executed, 5 who were taken prisoner on the spot (John Brown, Cook, Copeland, Edwin Coppock, Green) plus 2 who escaped but were captured (Hazlitt, Stevens) 5 escaped north and were not captured (Osborne Anderson, Owen Brown, Barclay Coppock, Meriam, Tidd).
Raiders
The men who participated in the raid are made up of two groups, depending whether or not they fought with Brown in Kansas.
As of 2012, there had never been a book on any of Brown's raiders. Three appeared in quick succession: 2012 on John E. Cook, 2015 on John Anthony Copeland, and in 2020 on Shields Green, plus a 2018 book on Brown's five black raiders, Five for Freedom: the African American Soldiers in John Brown's Army.
Fought with Brown in Kansas A group that fought with him in Kansas and gathered at Springdale, Iowa, to prepare and drill for the raid,
‡ Jeremiah Goldsmith Anderson, 26, born in Indiana, served with Brown in Kansas. Brown was "attended, generally, in his movements about the city [Boston] and its neighborhood, by a faithful henchman, Jerry Anderson." He was killed by a Marine's bayonet during the final assault on the engine house. He had in his pocket a letter from his brother John J. (or G. or Q.) Anderson, of Chillicothe, Ohio. His body was taken by Winchester Medical College; last resting place unknown.
† Oliver Brown, 20, John Brown's son, served in Kansas, and he was mortally wounded during the raid Oliver, the youngest of John Brown's three sons to participate in the action. He was described by his mother as the child "most like his father, caring most for learning of all our children." He was mortally wounded on the 17th inside the engine house, and died beside his father. First buried in one of two unmarked boxes near Harpers Ferry; re-interred in 1899 in a common coffin in North Elba.
Owen Brown, about 35, John Brown's son, fought in Kansas. He escaped the raid. Owen, one of three of Brown's sons to participate in the raid, was the last surviving raider following the death of Osborn P. Anderson in 1873. He died of pneumonia in 1889.
John Edwin Cook, 29, reformer and former soldier, attended Oberlin College, he initially escaped capture, but was found and hanged December 16, 1859. He is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn. The book, John Brown's Spy. The Adventurous Life and Tragic Confession of John E. Cook, was written about him and published in 2012.
Albert Hazlett, 23, fought in Kansas, escaped following the raid, but was captured and hanged March 16, 1860.
† John Henry Kagi, about 24, a teacher from Ohio, became Brown's second in command, before the raid he printed copies of Brown's constitution in a printing shop he established in Hamilton, Ontario, mortally wounded during the raid He was shot and killed while attempting to cross the Shenandoah River. One report says mistakenly that his body was taken for dissection. First buried in one of two unmarked boxes near Harpers Ferry; re-interred in 1899 in a common coffin in North Elba.
† William H. Leeman, 20, fought with the free-staters in Kansas for three years, beginning at the age of 17. He died during the raid. Leeman, from Maine, youngest of all the raiders, was shot and killed while trying to escape across the Potomac River. His sister, Mrs. S. H. Brown, published a letter of John Brown of November 28, 1859, which according to her had never been published. It is alleged that he was killed not trying to escape, but trying to deliver a message of John Brown to either Owen Brown or John Cook.
Aaron Dwight Stevens, about 28, was a former soldier and fighter in Kansas, who gave the men military training and drills. He was wounded during the raid, after which he was executed on March 16, 1860.
Charles Plummer Tidd, 25, fought in Kansas. He escaped the raid and later served during the Civil War. as a 1st Sgt. He died on February 8, 1862 and is buried at New Bern National Cemetery in Craven County, North Carolina.
Recruits Men recruited for the raid are,
¶ Osborne Perry Anderson escaped capture following the raid. He is both the only black escapee and the only escapee that had been in the engine house. He is also the only raider to publish a memoir about the raid. He served as a recruiter for the Union Army, and died in poverty in 1872. He is buried at National Harmony Memorial Park in Hyattsville, Maryland.
‡ Watson Brown, 24, son of John Brown, was mortally wounded outside the engine house while carrying a white flag to negotiate with the opposing militia. He was not shot by a Marine, as they respected the white flag, but by an infuriated townsman. He survived in agony for another day. His body was taken by Winchester Medical College, skinned, and preserved as an anatomical specimen. When a Union army occupied Winchester in 1862, his body was "rescued" by a Union doctor, who had it shipped to his home in Indiana. It was returned to the family and buried in North Elba in 1882.
¶ John Anthony Copeland Jr. was a free black man who joined John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry. He was captured during the raid and was executed16 December 1859. The book, The "Colored Hero" of Harper's Ferry: John Anthony Copeland and the War against Slavery, was published in 2015 detailing Copeland's participation.
Barclay Coppock, 19, escaped capture following the raid. He returned to Iowa in 1860 where he was allowed to escape to Canada due to Governor Samuel Kirkwood delaying Virginia's attempt to extradite him. Coppock then traveled to Ohio and later fought in the Civil War. He was killed on September 4, 1861, in a train crash caused by bushwackers; buried Mount Aurora Cemetery, Leavenworth. Kansas
Edwin Coppock, 24, he was captured and executed by hanging, December 16, 1859. Buried Hope Cemetery, Salem, Columbiana County Ohio
¶ Shields Green, about 23, escaped slavery. He was captured and hanged on 16 December 1859. The book about him, entitled The Untold Story of Shields Green, was published in 2020. There is a cenotaph memorial in Oberlin, Ohio.
† ¶ Lewis Sheridan Leary, 24, was freed by his white father and was a harness maker. Leary was from Oberlin, Ohio. "He said before he died that he enlisted with Capt. Brown for the insurrection at a fair held in Lorraine County, Ohio, and received the money to pay his expenses." He was stationed in the rifle factory with Kagi. He was mortally wounded while trying to escape across the Shenandoah River. John Anthony Copeland was his nephew, and Langston Hughes was his wife's grandson from a subsequent marriage. There is a cenotaph memorial in Oberlin, Ohio.
Francis Jackson Meriam, 22, grandson of Francis Jackson who was a leader of Antislavery Societies. Meriam was an aristocrat. He escaped during the raid. Captain Meriam led an African American infantry group during the Civil War. He died on November 28, 1865 in New York City.
† ¶ Dangerfield Newby, 35 or 44, was born into slavery, with a white father who was not his owner. He was given permission to move to Ohio along with his mother and siblings, but when he tried to gain freedom for his wife and children, their owner refused to sell them even after Newby had earned and saved the agreed-upon price. This inspired Newby return to Virginia to join Brown's raid. Newby was described as a "huge mulatto", and was the first raider killed. His body was mutilated: his ears and genitals were cut off as souvenirs. An excerpt, "When Robert E. Lee Met John Brown and Saved the Union", was published in The Daily Beast. He carried a letter from his wife in his pocket. There is a cenotaph memorial in Oberlin, Ohio.
† Stewart Taylor, 22 or 23, he was a wagonmaker from Uxbridge in Canada West, who attended the Chatham convention. According to Brown's daughter Annie, "He was more what might be called a crank than any of the party. ...He became strongly imbued with the idea that he would be one of the first killed in the coming encounter, but this fixed belief did not cause the slightest shrinking on his part."
† Dauphin Thompson, 21, mortally wounded during the raid From North Elba, New York, he was killed in the storming of the engine house. He was brother of William. First buried in one of two unmarked boxes near Harpers Ferry; re-interred in 1899 in a common coffin in North Elba.
† William Thompson, 26, mortally wounded during the raid William Thompson, from North Elba, New York, was brother of Adolphus. They were brothers of Henry Thompson, who was married to Ruth, John Brown's eldest daughter. First buried in one of two unmarked boxes near Harpers Ferry; re-interred in 1899 in a common coffin in North Elba.
Joined the group in Harpers Ferry ¶ Jim was freed by Brown's men from Lewis Washington. According to Osborne Anderson, Jim fought "like a tiger". He was killed while trying to escape, which must have meant attempting to swim the river, and his body was presumably carried away downstream. The disposition of his body is unknown.
¶ Ben (Allstadt), freed by Brown's men from his owner, John Allstadt. His mother Ary, also belonging to Allstadt, came to the jail to nurse him and also died there.
Leading up to the raid In June, Brown paid his last visit to his family in North Elba before departing for Harpers Ferry. He stayed one night en route in Hagerstown, Maryland, at the Washington House, on West Washington Street. On June 30, 1859, the hotel had at least 25 guests, including I. Smith and Sons, Oliver Smith and Owen Smith, and Jeremiah Anderson, all from New York. From papers found in the Kennedy Farmhouse after the raid, it is known that Brown wrote to Kagi that he would sign into a hotel as I. Smith and Sons., whilbr.org; accessed August 29, 2015.
Kennedy farmhouse