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 intensely abolitionist town of Salem. After their father died early in their lives, they were raised by John Butler, described as "a benevolent Quaker",[3] who has left us his recollections of Edwin.[4] In 1857 Edwin was expelled from the church, as he refused to give up dancing.[5]: 196 As teenagers they moved to Springdale, Iowa, where their mother was living. 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.[6]
- ^ Both photos from A topical history of Cedar County, Iowa, Volume 1 (1910) Clarence Ray Aurner, S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
- ^ Graham, Pauline; et al. (November 1928). "The Coppoc Boys". The Palimpsest. 9: 385–391, 403–404, 432–433.
- ^ "The Young Man Coppic". New-York Tribune. 4 Nov 1859. p. 6. Archived from the original on 23 May 2022. Retrieved 23 May 2022 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ Butler, John (26 Nov 1859). "[Letter to the] Editor of the Republican". Anti-Slavery Bugle. Lisbon, Ohio. p. 3 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ Jones, Louis Thomas (1914). The Quakers of Iowa. Iowa City: State Historical Society of Iowa.
- ^ 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.