JOHN BROWN'S RAID

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 91, 14 October 1922, Page 18

JOHN BROWN'S RAID

A SURVIVOR'S STORY,

SANGUINARY CONTEST

"BATTLE OF BLACK JACK."

Sixty-six years ago, as a culmination of four, years of border warfare between Fies Staters and , pro-slavery men La Kansas, the battle of Osawatomie took place, in which John Brown, at the head of thirty-five men, many of whom were New Englanders, held off with heavy losses a band of 400 which cams to take Brown, dead or alive.

The events leading, up to this battle and the battle itself are described in an article in "The Topeka Daily Capital" by Captain Luke Fisher Parsons of Salina, Kansas, now 89 years of ago. Captain Parsons was one of the many Massachusetts settlers who went out to Kansas at the instigation of the Emigrant Aid Society of Worcester, which furnished money and arms to the young men of New England in order that the rights of Free Staters might be protected against raiding parties from Missouri and other slave States.

Captain Parsons, said to be the sole ■survivor of that body of men who, armed with "Beecher's Bibles/' followed John Brown's lead id the guerrilla warfare of the time, went out to Kansas from the Connecticut Valley in the Spring of 1856. Early in May of that year he arrived at Lawrence and obtained work as a clerk in the Free State Hotel. While he wa3 there the town was sacked and the hotel destroyed by orders of a Grand Jury composed of pro-slavery men and instructed by the notorious Judge Lecompte, who decreed that, the hotel vvas a public nuisance. The news o£ the trouble- at Lawrence reached Osawatomie on 21st May, and John Brown two days later started out on the expedition known as „the Pottawatomie Massacre. On 2nd June, United States Marshal Pate, who commanded the raiders at the sack of Lawrence, was killed by John Brown's men in the first of a series of pitched battles in a grove of oaks near Prairie ,City. This was known as the battle of "Black Jack." .

"I first met John Brown," Captain Parsons- is quoted as saying, "at the Battle of Black Jack. He had awived the night before the. sacking of Lawrence and had camped outside the city limits. He offered the assistance of himself and his men to save the town. But he became disgusted with the Free State leaders and departed, returning to his sick and wounded eons. I had become interested in Brown's mission and decided to go with him. "Soon after my return from a trip to Topeka with a gang or riflemen to protect the Free State Legislature I met Brown. He told me he wanted me to go with him to Osawatomie, as he expected an attack on the town at any time and desired all the men he could jet. I said I would go if I could get a gun, and he borrowed a Sharpo's rifle from Captain Harvey( afterward, I believe, the Governor of Kansas). Brown had a camp down on Middle Creek. , "On the morning of 30th August, 1856, we were encamped near Osawatomie. i"We were getting breakfast and a little _ before sunrise'a messenger came in saying: 'The border ruffians are coming; they have killed Fred Brown and Garrison.'

" 'Come on,' said Brown to me. "I picked up my Sharpe's. The rest of the men proceeded to finish their meal. "We walked silently for a time; then, he spoke quietly: 'Were you ever under fire? 1 •

" 'Tell me what you want me to do and I'll do itj,' I answered him. " 'Take more pains to end life well than to live well,' said Brown. "We proceeded slowly and at Bundy's Ford were overtaken by the rest of the men. When we reached the blockhouse near the Emigrant Aid eawmil Brown instructed me to take ten men, go into the house, and hold the position as long as possible. "I countedl off the men, turned them into the log fort and barred the door on the inside. Most of us went to the second floor for a better view of the invaders as they came in from the West in long lines with two brass cannon in the centre. Nearly all were mounted. Somebody shouted that we had better move out or they would blow us to pieces with the cannon; and an old regular army man by the name of Austin, armer with an old-fashioned long rifle which he had named 'Kill Devil' yelled back: 'Stay here and' let 'em blow us to hell and back again.1

"There were 400 men,'as near as we could guess. Underneath, all seemed so quiet that I went. down to investigate, and found the door open and rhy men gone. I called to Austin, arid we soon joined them. Brown had already begun the attack on the enemy. We met Captain Kline and his men on the retreat as we "were going up. Brown displayed his characteristic coolness as he placed him men in a long line from a rod to thirty feet apart, behind trees, stumps and brush. He kept walking back and forth, cautioning his men to 'keep cool, take good aim, and be sure to 6ee both sights of your gun. 1 _ "When the fight began, and for some time after, we were in the timber and they were in''the open. As we. were stationed so far apari the battle line was long, although we had no more than thirty-five men. . The enemy charged, but their horses were greeD and on the opening of fire became unmanageable and they were forced to retire and reform; only to go through the same manoeuvres again.

"All this time we kept busy and had a splendid opportunity • for effective work. Their cannon bothered them more than it did us, for they shot high. We, not being mounted, could take good aim, and as they were often huddled in bunches we could hit two or three at a time.

"Numbers, however, began to tell, and they pressed us back, On gaining the timber they dismounted and made a steady advance. As we retreated slowly it got pretty hot for us, but we kept in line until we got to the bank of the river, and then without any orders we gave way all at once.

; "Many jumped into the stream. I don't know whether it was swimming deep or not. They rushed up to the bank shooting, and it was here that we suffered our .biggest losses. 1 slid down the bank and ran along the water's edge, followed by Austin. When we got near the sawmill the bank was low on our side and high on the other, and we could easily be seen. Austin dropped behind a'pile of logs, exclaiming: 'I won't run another step.' I noticed that the stream was shallow at this point and waded across of 'join' Brown. While I was climbing up the steep bank on the other side I heard someone crying, 'Halt!'

"Several shots were fired, which tore up the dirt in front of me. They were still shooting high. When I reached the top and had gained a footing I turned to fire and saw two horsemen dashing off at full speed and another horse following with an empty saddle. Old 'Kill Devil* had got in its work.

"Austin jumped up from behind the logs and came over to mo with a smoking rifle in his hands.

" 'They never saw me,' he said, 'bat all three fired at you and I laid out one of them at the same time.'

"Wo struck out up the river, where &c fognd Bjowu and, mosli of £he mcn^

He sent two to ascertain what they were doing, but we soon saw the smoke of the burning town and then we knew.

"Twenty-nine houses were destroyed, after which they left Osawatomie, takjing two wagons of dead and wounded [for every one that went into the brush jwifch Brown. It was estimated that itheir dead and wounded were about 'eighty. The ruffians told the people that they were 'hauling away Abolitionists.' The facts are, they had just two of our men, Charles Keiser and Spencer Brown, the latter a boy of 14 and no relation to John Brown. We lost in all ten men dead and wounded,. It was a sanguinary conflict."