He behaved with becoming coolness and heroism at his execution, ascending the scaffold with a firm, unwavering step, and died as he had lived, a brave man, expressing to the last his eternal hatred to human bondage, prophesying that slavery would soon come to a bloody end. John A. Copeland was from North Carolina, and was a mulatto of superior abilities, and a genuine lover of liberty and justice. He died as became one who had linked his fate with that of the hero of Harper’s Ferry. FOOTNOTE: [53] “A Voice from Harper’s Ferry.” O. P. Anderson. CHAPTER XLIII. LOYALTY AND BRAVERY OF THE BLACKS. The assault on Fort Sumter on the 12th of April, 1861, was the dawn of a new era for the Negro. The proclamation of President Lincoln, calling for the first seventy-five thousand men to put down the Rebellion, was responded to by the colored people throughout the country. In Boston, at a public meeting of the blacks a large number came forward, put their names to an agreement to form a brigade, and march at once to the seat of war. A committee waited on the Governor three days later, and offered the services of these men. His Excellency replied that he had no power to receive them. This was the first wet blanket thrown over the negro’s enthusiasm. “This is a white man’s war,” said most of the public journals. “I will never fight by the side of a nigger,” was heard in every quarter where men were seen in Uncle Sam’s uniform. Wherever recruiting offices were opened, black men offered themselves, and were rejected. Yet these people, feeling conscious that right would eventually prevail, waited patiently for the coming time, pledging themselves to go at their country’s call. While the country seemed drifting to destruction, and the administration without a policy, the heart of every loyal man was made glad by the appearance of the proclamation of Major-General John C. Fremont, then in command at the West. The following extract from that document, which at the time caused so much discussion, will bear insertion here:-- “All persons who shall be taken with arms in their hands within these lines, shall be tried by court-martial; and if found guilty, will be shot. The property, real and personal, of all persons in the State of Missouri, who shall take up arms against the United States, or who shall be directly proven to have taken active part with their enemies in the field, is declared to be confiscated to the public use, and their slaves, if any they have, are hereby declared free men.” The above was the first official paper issued after the commencement of the war, that appeared to have the ring of the right kind of mettle.