Lewis Sheridan Leary
| Lewis Sheridan Leary | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
March 17, 1835 Fayetteville, North Carolina |
| Died | October 20, 1859 (aged 24) Harper's Ferry, Virginia |
| Resting place | North Elba, New York |
| Known for |
Oberlin-Wellington Rescue Raid on Harpers Ferry |
| Spouse(s) | Mary Patterson |
| Children | Louisa |
Lewis Sheridan Leary (March 17, 1835 – October 20, 1859), an African-American harnessmaker from Oberlin, Ohio, joined John Brown's unsuccessful raid on Harpers Ferry, where he was killed. He was the first husband of Mary Patterson. By her second marriage to Charles Henry Langston, she became the future maternal grandmother of poet Langston Hughes.
Leary's father was a free born African-American harnessmaker. Lewis Leary was born at Fayetteville, North Carolina. His paternal grandparents were an Irishman, Jeremiah O'Leary, who fought in the American Revolution under General Nathanael Greene, and his wife of African, European and Native American descent. His great grandfather, Aaron Revels, also fought in the revolution. Through Revels, he was a cousin to Hiram Rhodes Revels, the first African-American to serve in the United States Senate. His brother was North Carolina politician and lawyer, John S. Leary
In 1857, Lewis Leary moved to Oberlin. There he married Mary Patterson, an African-American graduate of Oberlin College. Leary became involved with abolitionists in Oberlin, which had an active community. Later, he met John Brown in Cleveland, Ohio.
In 1858, Leary participated in the Oberlin-Wellington Rescue, when fugitive slave John Price was forcibly taken from the custody of a U.S. Marshal, to prevent his being returned to slavery in the South. Leary was not among the 37 men (12 of them free blacks) who were indicted and jailed for their actions. As a result of negotiations between state officials (who had arrested the US Marshal and his party) and federal officials, only Simon Bushnell and Charles Henry Langston were tried; both were convicted, and served light sentences, in part because of Langston's eloquent speech in their defense.
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