NEWSLETTER
Saturday May 27th 10 AM
North Elba, N.Y. – The John Brown Farm State Historic Site, with the Volunteers at Fort Tribute, and in cooperation of The Sons of Union Veterans, the Town of North Elba and independent scholar Amy Godine, will remember North Elba resident William Appo Jr. who sacrificed his life in the Civil War. William Appo Jr. was the son of composer and musician William Appo Sr, who joined the Black community of Timbuctoo and was a good friend to John Brown. His son William Appo Jr. passed as a white soldier with the 30th New York regiment during the Civil War.
Corporal Appo was killed in action at the second battle of Bull Run, and buried in a mass grave on the battlefield. His father placed a small stone in his memory at the family plot at the North Elba Cemetery. The John Brown Farm Historic Site with the help of William Stump Commander of the Augustus van Horne Ellis Camp #124 of the Sons of Union Veterans, has applied for an official headstone from the Veterans Administration.
Directly after the ceremonial wreath laying at the Appo Family plot grave, celebrants are invited to the John Brown Farm Lower Barn. Amy Godine will discuss other Black Adirondackers who, like Appo, fought in white regiments for the Union notwithstanding laws that excluded them; the Appos and their Adirondack world; and why this commemorative marker for Private Appo is only going up now. Godine is the curator of the Dreaming of Timbuctoo exhibit in the Upper Barn at the John Brown Farm, produced by John Brown Lives! Her history, The Black Woods: Racial Justice on the Adirondack Frontier, will be released by Cornell this November.
###
Contacts:
Brendan Mills Interpretive Program Assistant at John Brown Farm State Historic Site (518)527-0191 email: brendan.mills@parks.ny.gov
John Brown State Historic Site
115 John Brown Road
Lake Placid, New York 12946
Amy Godine:
518 788 8854
William Stump, The Sons of Union Veterans: SUVC124@gmail.com