The Battle of Osawatomie took place on August 30, 1856 when 250-300 Border Ruffians led by John W. Reid and Rev. Marvin White attacked the city of Osawatomie. John W. Reid was intent on destroying free state settlements and then moving on to Topeka and Lawrence

Lawrence, Kansas

Lawrence is the sixth largest city in the U.S. State of Kansas and the county seat of Douglas County. Located in northeastern Kansas, Lawrence is the anchor city of the Lawrence, Kansas, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Douglas County...

 to do more of the same. John Brown

John Brown (abolitionist)

John Brown was an American revolutionary abolitionist, who in the 1850s advocated and practiced armed insurrection as a means to abolish slavery in the United States. He led the Pottawatomie Massacre during which five men were killed, in 1856 in Bleeding Kansas, and made his name in the...

 first got word that the group was coming when they shot his son Frederick. Brown with forty or so men tried to defend the town against the pro-slavery partisans, causing heavy casualties before being forced to withdraw; the town of Osawatomie was then looted and burned. This was one event in series of skirmishes between abolitionists and pro-slavery Missourians in what has been known as Bleeding Kansas

Bleeding Kansas

Bleeding Kansas, Bloody Kansas or the Border War, was a series of violent events, involving anti-slavery Free-Staters and pro-slavery "Border Ruffian" elements, that took place in the Kansas Territory and the western frontier towns of the U.S. state of Missouri roughly between 1854 and 1858...

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Soldiers Monument

The Soldiers Monument, dedicated August 30, 1877, was paid for by friends and relatives to commemorate those who died in the battle of Osawatomie. The names of the deceased listed on it are Fredrick Brown, George W. Partridge, David Garrison, Theron Parker Powers, and Charles Kaiser. All of these men (except Charles Kaiser) are buried beneath the monument. John Brown's name also appears on the monument, but he is buried in North Elba, New York

North Elba, New York

North Elba is a town in Essex County, New York, United States. The population was 8,661 at the 2000 census. The town is named after the island of Elba.North Elba is on the western edge of the county...

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External links

• City Of Osawatomie Website
• Territorial Kansas Online- A source of primary documents for Bleeding Kansas.