Springdale, Iowa: John Brown's Winter Camp

Springdale, Iowa was a Quaker settlement in Cedar County, and it became one of the most consequential stops on the Underground Railroad in the state. In the winter of eighteen fifty-seven and fifty-eight, John Brown parked his abolitionist fighters here at the farm of William Maxson while he traveled east to raise money for his Virginia raid. The Quakers would not fight themselves, but they sheltered Brown's men and fed them through the winter.

Two local young men, Edwin and Barclay Coppoc, were so moved they joined Brown's party. Less than two years later, Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry would help ignite the Civil War.