Leary may have been the first recruit from Oberlin to join Brown's army. He left Mary and their six-month-old daughter Lois at home. Accompanied by John A. Copeland, Leary went to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, to join Brown. Leary died eight days after the attack from wounds suffered in the conflict at Harper's Ferry. Copeland was captured, tried and later executed. After Leary's death, the abolitionists James Redpath (editor for the "New York Tribune") and Wendell Phillips helped raise money for Mary and Louise Leary's support and the girl's education.