Juneteenth: June 12 & 13, 2009, Oberlin, Ohio

October 16, 1859, John Brown and his provisional army seized the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia), killing seven people (including a free African American railroad baggage handler named Hayward Shepherd) and injuring ten or so more. Brown's plan was to arm the enslaved with the weapons from the arsenal and start a war for freedom. Brown's Army held the arsenal a day and a half before federal forces led by Colonel Robert E. Lee were able to recapture the building wounding Brown and killing eleven of his men including Lewis S. Leary (Oberlin).  Six men were captured, including John A. Copleland, Jr.  and Shields Green (Oberlin). Five men escaped, including one of John Brown's sons, Owen, and African American, Osborn Anderson, and were never captured.

Brown was moved to Charlestown, Virginia, where he was tried, convicted of treason and hanged on December 2, 1859.

Shields Green, John A. Copeland, John E. Cook, and Edwin Coppoc were hanged on December 16, 1859.

 Aaron D. Stevens and Albert Hazlett were hanged on March 16, 1860.

Before his execution John Brown prophesized, "I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood."

Join us in Oberlin next year, June 12 and 13, 2009, as we celebrate all the courageous men of John Brown's Army. Men who were willing to fight and die, if necessary, for what they believed to be right . . . freedom and justice for all.