1914
Ohio’s American Civil War soldiers and civilians sought to commemorate the troopers’ devotion to and service with the United States by constructing monuments and other memorials.
During the American Civil War, Ohio provided the federal government with 260 regiments of men, including infantry, artillery, and cavalry units. Ohioans also served in several other regiments from other states, most notably from Kentucky, West Virginia, and Massachusetts, as well as in federal units. Almost 330,000 Ohio men, including 5,092 African Americans, served in the Union military during the conflict.
Ohio’s soldiers and civilians sought to commemorate the troopers’ devotion to and service with the United States by constructing monuments and other memorials. Ohioans completed the first of these commemorations during the Civil War, with hundreds more being built after the conflict. Ohioans have built at least 295 monuments to commemorate Civil War veterans, civilians, political leaders, and war-related events in the state. Eighty-six of the state’s eighty-eight counties contain Civil War monuments, with Hamilton County, Lucas County, Lorain County, Brown County, and Franklin County each boasting ten or more memorials each. Only Clinton County and Noble County do not contain Civil War monuments.
Jefferson, Ohio residents decided to erect a monument to honor Owen Brown, among others from Ashtabula County, who participated in John Brown’s raid of Harper’s Ferry, Virginia in October 1859. The memorial includes a plaque that reads:
Owen Brown, Son of John Brown, protected by the black strings, a secret society of over 1000 armed men, here described the Battle of Harper’s Ferry, Va., the night after his father was hung at Charleston.
Owen Brown, Barclay Coppic, Francis Merriam, Orsborn Anderson, refugees, and James Redpath, came to this section for protection.
Capt. John Brown, Jr., of the Kansas border warfare, then lived on the Dorset Road.
Dangerfield P. Newby of Dorsey was killed at Harper’s Ferry.
Several of Brown’s men left this county in 1858 directly for the Maryland rendezvous. The federal government made little effort to arrest any person in Ashtabula County as a conspirator or witness for fear of invoking Civil War.
Brown resided in Ashtabula County after the raid, and several other participants also lived in the area either before or after the events at Harper’s Ferry.
The monument remains in good condition. It is located on the lawn of the former Ashtabula County courthouse in Jefferson, at 25 West Jefferson Street.