Coppock (1835–1859) was a supporter of John Brown who participated in the raid on Harper’s Ferry. He was captured with seven others and sentenced to death and hanged on December 16, 1859. ALS signed “No more, E,” 7.75 x 9.75, November 5, 1859. Letter to his parents just three days after he was sentenced to be hanged. In full (with grammar and spelling retained): “It is with much sorrow that I now address you & under verry differant circumstance than I ever expected to be placed, but I have saw my folly to late & must now suffer the consequences, which I suppose will be death, but which I shall try & bare as evry man should, tho it would be a source of much comefort to me to of died at home, it has allways been my desire that when I come home to die, that my last breath should be a mongst my friends that in my last moments they could be near me to console me, but alas! Such is not my fate I am condemned & must die a dishonerable death among my enemies & hundreds of miles from my home.
I hope you will not reflect on me fore what has been done, for I am not at fault, at least my concience tells me so & there are others that feel as I do, ever led into it by those who ought to of known better, but who did not anticipate any danger but after stopping at Harpers Ferry we were surrounded & compelled to fight to save our own lives, fore we saw our friends falling on all sides, our leader would not surrender & there seemed to be no other resort to fight though I am happy to say that no one fell by my hand, & am sorry to say that I ever was induced to use a gun I was not looking for such a thing, I am sorry, verry sorry, that such has been the case, never did I suppose that my hand would be guilty of raising a gun against my fellow men. After our capture, which was in the morning of the 18th we were kept there until the evening of the 19th when we were returned to this place where we have been ever since, we are well cared fore, the jailor seems to do all he can to make us comfortable.
“I have just finished a letter to E. Painter which I expect to send out tomorrow with this. I sent one yesterday to Gill stating to him that it was not worth while fore any of you to come, but on thinking, more a bout it I concluded that I would like to see some one from there, so tomorrow I intend to telegraph fore the Doctor to come.
I have written to J. Painter & told him what to do with my land, but what ever money is spent by any one comeing here I wish to have it replaced out of the land. The Capton [John Brown] has had some apples fries & preserves sent him from Ohio by some friend. I presume they do not go bad thoug I have not had as taste. If the Doctor has not started when this gets there & you have any sweet cakes ore other nicknacks just send them a long, they will go very good here between the iron bars, though we get pleanty to eat here, but it is not from home it is not baked by the hand of those we love at home ore by those whom I expect never more to see.
I do not feel like writing more I hope & trust that the Doctor will come if any thing is in the way that he cannot com I hope some othere one will come in his stade. I believe I have nothing more to say, this may be the last you will ever get from me, if it is think on me as one who thought he was doing right. Give my love to Brigses & Maxons folks & to all othe inquiring friends, fore such I feel that I have a larg circul & I trust that what I have done will not make them enemies. My love to all the family.” Lightly written in pencil on the reverse of the second page of this letter is “From Ed Coppic” probably by George B. Gill, who was active with John Brown and a friend of Edwin Coppock. Gill is mentioned by Coppock in this letter. Also on verso is “John Browns son, a friend of Fathers / Berrie” penned by Sara Bernice ‘Berrie’ Gill, the daughter of George B. Gill. Also included is a three-page ALS from John Brown, Jr., dated September 15, 1882, and reads, in part: “The brother whose death you refer to in such feeling terms, is one of my two half brothers, who fell in the attack at Harper's Ferry Oct. 1859. Through a strange concurrence of circumstances his remains have come into my possession within the past few days, now nearly 23 years since his death. If I had not long since been a firm believer in Spiritualism, I should have no key to that which in this case I might say is stranger than fiction.” In very good condition, with some professional reinforcement along some of the intersecting folds, scattered toning, and a few trivial areas of paper loss. RR Auction COA.
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