Edwin Coppoc lock of hair   Save
Historical Objects Collection
Description: This lock of hair enclosed in a frame measuring 5.7" by 7.8" (14.6 by 19.8 cm) is from Edwin Coppoc of Salem, Ohio. Also enclosed in the frame is a statement that appears to have been printed by the Ohio Historical Society indicating that the hair was donated by a cousin of Coppoc's in 1921. Coppoc joined a small group of abolitionists led by John Brown on October 16, 1859. They seized the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia), in hopes of inspiring and arming a slave insurrection. Both Brown and Coppoc were captured, tried, and convicted of treason. Coppoc was executed on December 16, 1859. John Brown, although born in Torrington, Connecticut, spent more than half his life in Ohio. Like many other "free soil" Ohioans, Brown went in the 1850s to the Kansas Territory, where he employed violence to prevent slavery from spreading. While his raid on Harper's Ferry was unsuccessful, his actions had important consequences. In the opinion of antislavery activist Frederick Douglass, "John Brown began the war that ended American slavery and made this a free Republic. His zeal in the cause of my race was far greater than mine. I could live for the slave, but he could die for him." Brown was hanged on December 2, 1859. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: HistoricalObjectsCollection
Subjects: Daily Life; Civil Liberties; Abolitionists; Hair; Harpers Ferry (W. Va.) History John Brown's Raid, 1859
Places: Salem (Ohio); Columbiana County (Ohio)