Downtown Oberlin Walking Tour
of Civil War Monuments

Harper's Ferry Memorial

Main Tour

First Church (The Meeting House)

Wilson Bruce Evans House

Chauncey Wack House

Harper's Ferry Memorial

Oberlin-Wellington Rescue Monument

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Monument

Oberlin War Memorial

Giles Shurtleff Home and Statue

Extended Tour

Courtesy of Jonah Volk

Harper's Ferry Memorial, East Vine Street

The monument was originally erected in 1865 in Westwood Cemetary, but, in 1971, was moved to Martin Luther King, Jr. Park on E. Vine St.

The inscriptions on the faces of the monument are as follows:

"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."

[translation: And thus slavery is finally dead, thanks be to God.]

"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."

Click here to learn more about James Monroe and the events at Harper's Ferry.