William L. Copeland

Last updated

William L. Copeland (1846 - December 30, 1885) was a police officer, government official, and state legislator in Arkansas. [1] He was born in Ohio and studied at Oberlin College in Ohio. On March 7, 1865, at the end of the American Civil War, he joined Company C, 2nd Ohio Cavalry Regiment, of the Union Army. At the end of the war, he returned to Oberlin College, where he studied from 1867–69.

He served in the Arkansas House of Representatives from 1873 until 1875 representing Crittenden County. [2] He was appointed assessor of Crittenden County. [3] In 1876 he was the Republican candidate for Arkansas Secretary of State. [2] [4] A letter he wrote to his wife survives. [5] The Daily Arkansas Gazette described him as "Colored". [6] He was a Republican. [7]

Copeland may have been the first Little Rock police officer killed in the line of duty. Copeland was killed after being assaulted by a jail trusty who was on work release. [8] [9] [10] [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Schuyler Colfax</span> Vice President of the United States from 1869 to 1873

Schuyler Colfax Jr. was an American journalist, businessman, and politician who served as the 17th vice president of the United States from 1869 to 1873, and prior to that as the 25th speaker of the House of Representatives from 1863 to 1869. Originally a Whig, then part of the short-lived People's Party of Indiana, and later a Republican, he was the U.S. representative for Indiana's 9th congressional district from 1855 to 1869.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph W. Martin Jr.</span> American politician (1884-1968)

Joseph William Martin Jr. was an American Republican politician who served as the 44th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1947 to 1949 and 1953 to 1955. He represented a House district centered on his hometown of North Attleborough, Massachusetts, from 1925 to 1967 and was the leader of House Republicans from 1939 until 1959, when he was ousted from leadership after the party's disastrous losses in the 1958 elections. He was the only Republican to serve as Speaker in a sixty-four year period from 1931 to 1995. He was a "compassionate conservative" who opposed the New Deal and supported the conservative coalition of Republicans and southern Democrats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Philip Eagle</span> American politician (1837–1904)

James Philip Eagle was an American politician who served as Speaker of the Arkansas House of Representatives and as the 16th governor of Arkansas, a Baptist minister, and president of the Southern Baptist Convention. He was a Democrat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Galusha A. Grow</span> American politician, lawyer, writer and businessman (1823–1907)

Galusha Aaron Grow was an American politician, lawyer, writer and businessman, who served as 24th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1861 to 1863. Elected as a Democrat in the 1850 congressional elections, he switched to the newly organized Republican Party in the mid-1850s when the Democratic Party tried to force the extension of slavery into western territories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reuben Fenton</span> American politician and governor

Reuben Eaton Fenton was an American merchant and politician from New York. In the mid-19th century, he served as a U.S. Representative, a U.S. Senator, and as Governor of New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theodore E. Burton</span> American politician (1851–1929)

Theodore Elijah Burton was an American attorney and Republican politician from Ohio. He served in the United States House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate, and the Cleveland City Council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James M. Mead</span> American politician

James Michael Mead was an American politician from New York. A Democrat, among the offices in which he served was member of the Erie County Board of Supervisors (1914–1915), New York State Assembly (1915–1918), United States House of Representatives (1919–1938), and United States Senate (1938–1947).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John S. Marmaduke</span> American Confederate soldier and governor of Missouri

John Sappington Marmaduke was an American politician and soldier. He was the 25th governor of Missouri from 1885 until his death in 1887. During the American Civil War, he was a senior officer of the Confederate States Army who commanded cavalry in the Trans-Mississippi Theater.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elbert L. Lampson</span> American politician

Elbert Leroy Lampson was a notable figure in Ohio politics and public affairs during the second half of the nineteenth century. Hailing from Jefferson, Lampson was the 21st lieutenant governor of Ohio and former State Senator. A lawyer by profession, his time had been taken up with a diversity of interests. He was a banker, and for many years was a newspaper publisher.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luke P. Poland</span> American judge

Luke Potter Poland was an American attorney, politician, and judge from Vermont. A Republican, he was most notable for his service as a justice of the Vermont Supreme Court.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William E. Woodruff (politician)</span> Treasurer of Arkansas from 1836 to 1838

William Edward Woodruff was an American politician and publisher who served as the first state treasurer of Arkansas from 1836 to 1838. He also served as the 10th postmaster of Little Rock from 1845 to 1846. Woodruff was the first publisher of a major Arkansas newspaper.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Anthony Copeland Jr.</span>

John Anthony Copeland Jr. was born free in Raleigh, North Carolina, one of the eight children born to John Copeland Sr. and his wife Delilah Evans, free mulattos, who married in Raleigh in 1831. Delilah was born free, while John was manumitted in the will of his master. In 1843 the family moved north, to the abolitionist center of Oberlin, Ohio, where he later attended Oberlin College's preparatory division. He was a highly visible leader in the successful Oberlin-Wellington Rescue of 1858, for which he was indicted but not tried. Copeland joined John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry; other than Brown himself, he was the only member of John Brown's raiders that was at all well known. He was captured, and a marshal from Ohio came to Charles Town to serve him with the indictment. He was indicted a second time, for murder and conspiracy to incite slaves to rebellion. He was found guilty and was hanged on December 16, 1859. There were 1,600 spectators. His family tried but failed to recover his body, which was taken by medical students for dissection, and the bones discarded.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asa Hodges</span> American politician (1822–1900)

Asa Hodges was an American lawyer, slaveholder, and politician who served one term as a U.S. Representative for Arkansas's 1st congressional district from 1873 to 1875.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oliver A. Morse</span> American politician (1815–1870)

Oliver Andrew Morse was an American politician and attorney. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from New York. He was also a founding member of Alpha Delta Phi fraternity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albert G. Riddle</span> American politician

Albert Gallatin Riddle was a U.S. Representative from Ohio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lionel Allen Sheldon</span> American politician (1828–1917)

Lionel Allen Sheldon was appointed a brigadier general in the Ohio militia in 1858 by Governor Salmon P Chase and served as an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War. A U.S. Representative from Louisiana. He was appointed Governor of the New Mexico Territory by President James Garfield and served in that role from 1881 until he resigned in 1885.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allen R. Bushnell</span> 19th century American politician.

Allen Ralph Bushnell was an American attorney, politician, and Democratic member of Congress from the U.S. state of Wisconsin. He was the first mayor of Lancaster, Wisconsin, and represented that area in the Wisconsin State Assembly in the 1872 session. He also served as a Union Army officer in the American Civil War with the famous Iron Brigade of the Army of the Potomac.

Edward Allen Fulton was an American newspaperman, abolitionist, postmaster, farmer, and politician. He represented Drew County, Arkansas in the Arkansas House of Representatives in 1871. After being enslaved in Missouri, he became an abolitionist and lived in Chicago. He returned to the south after the American Civil War. He was an advocate of civil rights for African Americans. He campaigned to be Arkansas Secretary of State. He survived an assassination attempt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">J. H. Johnson (politician)</span> American politician

J. H. Johnson was a state legislator in Mississippi. He represented DeSoto County, Mississippi in the Mississippi House of Representatives 1872–1875.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jesse Jackson Millsaps</span> Arkansas politician

Jesse Jackson Millsaps was an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War, a farmer, and a state legislator who served in the Arkansas House of Representatives representing Van Buren County, Arkansas in 1868 and 1885.

References

  1. "William L. Copeland - Arkansas Black Lawyers". arkansasblacklawyers.uark.edu.
  2. 1 2 Little Rock Police Department: History & Personnel. Turner Publishing Company. January 30, 2005. ISBN   9781596520615 via Google Books.
  3. "INDEX TO REPORTS OF COMMITTEES OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FOR THE SECOND SESSION OF THE FORTY-THIRD CONGRESS. 1874-'75". January 30, 1875 via Google Books.
  4. "Arkansas Historical Quarterly". January 30, 1985 via Google Books.
  5. "Letter, William Copeland to Annie Copeland". African Americans in Arkansas. October 22, 1877.
  6. "William L. Copeland". Newspapers.com. 2017-11-18. Retrieved 2021-02-01.
  7. "Encyclopedia of Arkansas".
  8. "Police seek fallen officers' graves". Arkansas Online. May 15, 2012.
  9. "LRPD announces program to memorialize fallen officers". Arkansas Online. May 14, 2012.
  10. Hanson, Aprille (15 May 2012). "Police seek fallen officers' graves". Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Retrieved 18 March 2023 via PressReader.
  11. "William L Copeland, 12/30/1885". www.lrfop.org.