Battle of Osawatomie

Part of Bleeding Kansas

Date	August 30, 1856 (1856-08-30)
Location	Osawatomie, Kansas
Result	Pro-slavery victory

Belligerents

Free-State Abolitionists

Border Ruffians

Commanders and leaders

John Brown

John W. Reid
Rev. Marvin White

Strength

250-400

Casualties and losses

5 killed, several wounded, ~12 prisoners

~5 wounded

The Battle of Osawatomie took place on August 30, 1856 when 250-400 Border Ruffians led by John W. Reid attacked the town of Osawatomie. Reid was intent on destroying the free state settlement and then moving on to Topeka and Lawrence to do more of the same. John Brown first learned of the raiders when they shot his son Frederick. With 40 or so men, Brown tried to defend the town against the pro-slavery partisans, but had to withdraw; the town of Osawatomie was then looted and burned. This was one event in series of clashes between abolitionists and pro-slavery Missourians in what has been known as Bleeding Kansas.

The passing of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854 was the single most important event in the inception of the era of “Bleeding Kansas.” Whether the new Kansas Territory would be slave or free was left up to popular sovereignty, counter to the prohibitions of the Missouri Compromise. An immediate rush of migrants on both sides of the issue rushed in to settle and to determine the fate of the new territory. Almost immediately, violent struggles erupted into a full-blown border war between the “Free-Staters” and the “Border Ruffians.”

Following the 1855 arrival of the virulent abolitionist John Brown in Kansas, open conflict escalated with the Border Ruffians’ May 21, 1856 sacking of the Free-Stater town Lawrence. In retaliation, four days later, Brown and his followers committed what became known as the Pottawatomie massacre against five pro-slavery men. The Battle of Black Jack followed soon after in early June, ending in the anti-slavery forces’ favor and making Brown a threat in the eyes of the Border Ruffians. Violence in Kansas steadily increased thereafter, throughout the summer.

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Wikipedia