Rensselaer Gazette, Volume 3, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 October 1859 — Osawatomie Brown. [ARTICLE]

Osawatomie Brown.

[From the Chicago Press and Tribune

John Brown—variously known as “Old' Brown,” “Fighting Brown,” and “Osawatomie Brown”—made his first public appearance in Lykins County, Kansas, in the year ; 1855. That which will probably prove hia- | last, took place, as the reader is already ad--vised, ut Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, on M>n--i day and Tuesday last. So strange a career i as his has not arrested the public attentionsince Joe Smith was shot in the Carthage jiil. His rank am mg the world's notabiTities wit be am-mg such fanatics as Peters' j the II Tinit. w:i.» believed himself commissioned oi G.i.l co redeem the. Holy Sepulchrefrom the hands of the Infidels—Joanna* Soutlicote, who deemed herself big with the' promised Shil..!>- Ijiyola, who thought that the Sun ol Man appem-d to h tn, bearing Ins cross-on his should rs, and : gave him a Li'in commission ot mighty import — ir Dri Quixote, (if we may give him a place i i history.) who was pursuadel that !he had a mission L> rescue all the persecuted dam-eis in Spitin. It was Brown’s snipers: it ion fiat be- was-tli vinely appointed toi bring Am -ric ,:i -’ivcry to a sudden and vi- ; oh n‘ en I. O his birthpUce wx* are not advised, but we believe that Us-heme nrior to his appear--j ance in K m< i;x wws-iij Northern Ohio, and! , ih it he migrat.Hj': thither.' from North Elba,. I Essex Co., New York. I.i the latter State ’ he was a teiiavA of the Hon. Gerritt Smith,, and was oftgfci befriended by that gentlema i! after the desolation ol his farm and the breaking up* c-f his family in Kansas, had: ; made him a gserrila chief in the border con--tlicts of that Territory. The earlier skir--inishes cciksequent upon Border Ruffian invasions of Ka.«sas, developed fighting qualities in. Brown, whict) gave him immediate j pn>?»inence among the extempore military . leaders oI the invaded country. The section iof the territory where Brown lived, not being brought into action so early as the re- ; gion about Lawrence and Leavenworth, : Brown took part, we believe, in the “Wakei rwsa war.” When the Ruffian army, under .the lead of Atcbinaon and Deputy-Marshal ! Fain, marched upon Lawrence in May, 1856, Brown preceded them with a small company ; from Osawatomie, and offered to take the j command in defence of the town. Robinson Pomeroy, and otjjier prominent citizens having decided to offer no resistance to the i Missourians, Brown retired in much disgust, i The invading force entered and pillaged tie town, battering down the Free State Hotel with a six-pounder, :nd threw the contents of the Herald of Freedom office into ths Kaw River. Five days after this event a lfi_lht occurred at Potawatomie, in which five R iffiai.s were killed. It is believed that Brown was in t'-e secret of their “taking off.’’ On the 2d of June, Brown fell in with a party of marauders under the command ot 11. Clay Pate, who had raised a company specially for the purpose of capturing Old Brown. This was the battle of Black Jack. Pate was taken prisoner together with twejnty-one of his fellow ruffians, and a large quantity of plunder, which had been levied on 'he country through which he had marched. Those who witnessed this affair say that the coolness and skill displayed by Brown, and the awkwardness and cowardice of his antagonist, were equally noticeable. Brown’s force was considerably inferior to Pate’s. The prisoners were liberated a few days afterward. We believe that Brown was not present at the first sacking of Osawotoinie, (June 7, 1856) at which time his own house was destroyed, and horrible atrocities were perpetrated on his neighbors. On the occasion of the second battle of Osawotoinie, (August 29,) Brown was there with some forty men. The Missourians under Reid numbered 300 to 400 men. ;_Brown’s company had only two ruumfslol ammunition, but these were used to so go .<1 pu: po-e that the Ruffians carried b ick tw<> w igon-loads of dead bodies, though they acknowledged the loss of only five men. One ol Brown’s sons (Frederick by name,) was taken prisoner, and murdered in cold blood by the-Rev. Martin White, who accompanied Reid in the capacity of chaplain. There is a tradition in Kinsas that about this time Brown captured predatory Missourians, and in the darkness of night tried them by martial law, convicted and executed them. At the second invasion of Lawrence, (by Reid,) Byown commanded a small party of his own men and routed an advance guard of the enemy a tew miles from Lawrence, killing half a dozen ot them in a running light. This is also a. part qf the history of which the newspapers on the Ruffian side did not choose to admit, and which the other party did not care to make public. Brown then left the Territory, proceeding through Nebraska and lowa, and riding two days with a company of U. S. dragoons who were in pursuit of “Old Brown!” Passing through this city he went to hia ol<l home in New York, and visited several

Eastern cities, endeavoring to raise funds for equipping one huadred inen for future opnratioins. In this he was mainly unsuccessful, but (he nevertheless made contracts for arms, wagons, saddles, etc., in various places, with which he re-appeared in Kansas in the summer or fall of 1857. Settling again in Bourbon County, he occupied a claim for some months under an assumed name, intending, as his friends supposed, to pre-empt it for his son. The Fott Scott troubles, including the Marais des Cyynes massacre, and the night attack on Chptam Montgomery were the inext events which called Brown into action! A short time previously, however, it became noised abroad in Missori, that *‘Old Brojvn” had returned, and reports were dispatched to the country that he had three or four'hundred men under his command, all armed with Sharpe’s rifles, a park of artilleryjand no end of) ammunition. Nobody on the border believed these stories, as is shown in tlie fact that a Missouri Sheriff with a Missouri posse of twenty or thirty men, set out Co capture him (and Montgomery. Brown was duly notified of the proposed capture, and i though sick with the ague, mustered seve<n of his friends and neighbors, and took position in a log hous ■, where he awaited the capturing party. The posse came up nnd Ordered the inmates to surrender. The latter replied no decidedly. The Sheriff, thenjcalled a council "f war, and after debating plans jot attack executed a retrograde movement with an appearance of disorder and precipitation—a rumor having been! started that Brown had got tired waiting and was about doing something on his own* account. There is no doubt that Brown’s presence in Bourbon county at that timet find a reference to his “divine mission,” thoui'li it does noliappear that he took the initiative in the Fort Scott troubles. Siio.ro . after tin? Marais des Cygens maswacrd, Bro'vn conceived the idea e carrying th ■ W tr into A'r.caj and teaching the fighters on tfie other Ude oi the border that acootinunice of the w r would imperil the safety of sill the slaves in VVe-tern Missouri. While irefledting on this plan a negro came across the liine in the night, imploring assistance •for his family and fellows who were about to be separated and siild to the cotton and rice .plantiers at the Smath. The first persons he met were Brown and half a dozen of his neiglibor-i who were discussing the enteriwiset thus singularly thrown in their way. Summoning a dozijn or more assistants they •moved miinediately to card the border, and •dividsng into two pjarties they made a night of it, jvitli the deliberate purpose of taking all the slaves they could find wh > li id an in..ciinajion to be Creel and making prisoners of -nil who should intjerfere with their design. The ijesult of the excursion was the liberation pl thirteen negroes, the capture of several white ■men, and .the killingof one person wbo'was making a vigorous resistance. The h imiuide was not committed by the division of tlrd partv t-i whSclt Brown belonged, but the responsibility ojt it attaches io him in a degreje us' the moving actor of the whole proceeding. Both parties Then returned to the border with the proceejls of their foraging, T.ie daptured Missourians were then set at lioerty.and told to Bfo home and raise a rescuing] force- — Brown Co. would give them -■amplel tune and aWaTt their return, when they Would settle the question at issue with open battle. A vefyrdou 1 noise' was made in halt a dozen counties in Missouri, but no volunteers were f ujnd for the proposed action. After waiting three weeks. Brown dismissed all but a handful of his company, and took his line off march through Kansas, Nebraska, lowa, Illinois and Michigan to Canadp. While pursuing h's journey in the nojrthern part of Kansas, he was menaced with an attack- from a party of Missourians of about threi times his own number. After retreating frotn them a day of two, ho came' f<3 a halt, took four of them prisoner-, and pi it the rest to flight. The prisoners were lectured soundly on the evil of their ways,land then dismissed, minus their arms and hisrses, No other interruption was met with on the way tofCanada. Thib was Brown’s last appearance in Kansas. From that time forth, (March, 1859, J his movements were so well concealed That his most intimate acquaintances in Kansas supposed him to be in En land. Tne Harper’s Ferry tragedy lifts the curtain oh his mysteriojus foo.steps for the last six months.

Rocky Mountains,” snys Horae" Greely, “with theiri grand aromatic forests, their glassy gludesi, their frequent springs and dancing streamskpf the brightest, sweetest w.iter. their pure blastic re, and unequaled game and fish, are destined to be a favorite resort for civilized men. I never visited: a region where physical life could be more sutely prolonged or fully enjoyed. (KTJVe find the following notice of a domestic: matter, in the Washington States. ’We coingratulate.our Senator over the event: -**Miss Ellen Douglas received to-day a most hearty welcome from those who had the extreme pleasure of making her acquaintance. We congratulate the house of Douglas on the introduction of this new heir.” Steel Types. ——A Frenchman, by the name of Cambarien, has announced Dis ability and ifis intention ot -producing steel type, the durability of which will be beyond calculating. He has already a machine for makingj type, which produces ten thousand at one stroke. (j Samuel G. Daily, t lie Republican candidate |o Congress frqtn Nebraska, formerly _resided“ s 'n Madison, lt>d.,-and was the original owner of the “wooly horse” celebrated iii hist iry. Sam proposes to ride “wooly” to Washington this Ipll.