Shields Green
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Shields Green (1836?-1859), also known as "Emperor," was an ex-slave who escaped from Charleston, South Carolina and participated in John Brown's unsuccessful raid on Harpers Ferry.[1] Though he had a chance to escape capture, he returned to the fighting and was captured with Brown. For their part in the raid, Green and John A. Copeland were hung on December 16, 1859, in Charles Town, West Virginia (then part of Virginia). Green may also have been known as "Esau Brown."[2]
- "Shields Green was not one to shrink from hardships or dangers. He was a man of few words, and his speech was singularly broken; but his courage and self-respect made him quite a dignified character."
- Frederick Douglass[3]
[edit] The Harpers Ferry raid
Green first met Brown at the house of Frederick Douglass[4] in Rochester, New York. Later Green accompanied Douglass to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania to meet Brown.[5] Green and Douglass met with Brown and John Henry Kagi at an abandoned stone quarry near Chambersburg. Douglass left after disagreeing with Brown on the raid, but Green stayed to join the raiders.
During the raid, Green and others were assigned to recruit slaves from the nearby countryside to join the fighting.[6] According to Douglass, Jeremiah Anderson, one of Brown's men who escaped capture, said that Green could have escaped with him. "I told him to come; that we could do nothing more, but he simply said he must go down to de ole man."
Green and Copeland were indicted, tried, and convicted with John Brown for treason against Virginia and other crimes,[7] but did not say a word during the trial. They were hung two weeks after Brown was hung. After the execution, the cadavers of Green and Copeland were dug up and taken to a Winchester Medical College anatomy laboratory for dissection by students in Winchester, Virginia. Professor James Monroe of Oberlin College, a family friend of Copeland's from Oberlin, Ohio, searched for Copeland's body, but found Green's, and was unable to retrieve either body.[8] [9] "We visited the dissecting rooms. The body of Copeland was not there, but I was startled to find the body of another Oberlin neighbor whom I had often met upon our streets, a colored man named Shields Greene."[10]
A memorial service was held in Oberlin for Copeland, Green, and Lewis Sheridan Leary, who died during the raid, on December 25, 1859. A cenotaph was erected in 1865 in Westwood Cemetery to honor the three "citizens of Oberlin." The monument was moved in 1971 to Martin Luther King, Jr. Park on Vine Street in Oberlin.[11] The inscription reads:
- "These colored citizens of Oberlin, the heroic associates of the immortal John Brown, gave their lives for the slave. Et nunc servitudo etiam mortua est, laus deo.
- S. Green died at Charleston, Va., Dec. 16, 1859, age 23 years.
- J. A. Copeland died at Charleston, Va., Dec. 16, 1859, age 25 years.
- L. S. Leary died at Harper's Ferry, Va., Oct 20, 1859, age 24 years."
[edit] References
- ^ John Brown:The Conspirators Biographies accessed May 21, 2007
- ^ Connections with the Past: Reflections on John Brown accessed May 21, 2007
- ^ The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (1881, reprint New York: Pathway Press, 1941), 350-354. Accessed May 20, 2007.
- ^ The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (1881, reprint New York: Pathway Press, 1941), 350-354. Accessed May 20, 2007.
- ^ John Brown's Black Raiders, PBS accessed May 20, 2007
- ^ Connections with the Past: Reflections on John Brown accessed May 21, 2007
- ^ Life, Trial and Execution of Captain John Brown; 1859 accessed May 21, 2007
- ^ John Copeland: A Hero of Harpers Ferry, WCPN Radio, Aired February 21, 2001 (text and audio versions) accessed May 20, 2007.
- ^ John Brown's Body: Slavery, Violence, & the Culture of War. By Franny Nudelman. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2004. ISBN 0-8078-5557-X.)[1]
- ^ James Monroe, Oberlin College Website accessed June 4, 2007
- ^ Monument to the Oberlinians Who Participated in John Brown's Raid On Harpers Ferry accessed May 21, 2007
