XLIX.
SHIELDS GREEN, THE MARTYR.
Near the south-east corner of the cemetery in Oberlin, Ohio, there stands an unpretentious monument of clouded marble, about eight feet in height, bearing the following inscriptions:
In 1876, Frederick Douglass, who was once an associate and intimate friend of John Brown, lectured at Oberlin College. Among other things, Mr. Douglass said that Shields Green, who had once been a student of Oberlin College, was residing in the Douglass family shortly before the raid on Harper’s Ferry. At the call of Brown, Green went with Douglass to an appointed spot near the borders of Virginia. There John Brown confided to them the details of his plans, including the capture of Harper’s Ferry. Mr. Douglass objected to the plans as unwise and hazardous, and, finding entreaty unavailing, he withdrew from the enterprise. Shields Green, nevertheless, followed his old commander. When John Brown was finally surrounded, Green and one other companion were in the mountains on some errand. When they returned, they saw at a glance that the rescue of Brown was impossible. Green’s companion counseled flight, and did himself escape, but Shields Green—the former Oberlin student—replied that he preferred to “go down and die with the old man,” meaning John Brown.
And he did.
There is scarcely a more touching incident than this in all our national history.