The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1856-09-11
THE BATTLE OF OssAwATRmIK.

40 SASAAAAO1ND, i l1O IlkS LA j
THE BATTLE OF OssAWATEn1IE.
The st Louis Democrat tfrss soil, Of Saturday,
mas the foiisw addite aal particulars about the
battle between the free State men and Southern
ers At Ossawatemie:
Tne. town Of ossawatemie was composed Of
from tnirty 70 forty houses, and was thriving
place nefore the Kansas difficulties and had .
pepulation OF about two hundred II il situated
immediately between the forks Of branch Of tbe
Usage river and the Potawatomie river. The
distracted state Of the country had occasioned N
almest total deserton Of the town by the families
iviag In II, and At the time of the fight Il was oc
cupied by about fifty armed free State man and q
few women and children.
At six O'Clock on Saturday morning inst After
sunrise, pro.savery party Of about 400 men. un
der Gen. Red, made their appearance before fhe
town, having in their command . piece of art
lsry and most Of them mounted. They had made
aforced march of thirty or forty miles from their
camp on Boil creek. As soon ~ the free state
man described the lrcslavery force they put
themselves under the command of CAPTAINS
crown and Updegraf formerly of Ohio. and
sought shelter in q growth of underbrush about
three hundred yards distant from the town. The
pro.slavery force maintained their ground at about
. half mile, and commenced firing with their ca
non, which was loaded with grape and canister
shot and slugs.
discharge of the gun raked the ambush of the
Free State force with fearful effect One of aiguf
intormants states that he three of his comrades
fall at ence still they returned as brisk fire as
tney could, and succeeded In wounding several of
their enemies. After some ten or dszen dis.
charges from the artillery, = company of about
eighty of the pro-slavery force dismonnted from
their horses, and having surrounded the place of
retreat. made charge and completed the entire
rout of the Free State men, several of whom in
attempting to cross the stream along which the
fight ranged, were shot in the water, and were
either instantly killed. 30 badly wounded as not
to be able to save themselves from death by drown.
ing.
One of our informants states that he saw the
body of Captain Brown In the water. He knew
1t was him by his coat and hat. He thinks there
is no doubt Of his being killed Seven of the Free
State men were captured, after which the town
was set on fire and entirely destroyed.
In marching back to the camp ON Bull Creek the
prisoners were subject to very cruel treatment
and two of them. one named Williams and the
other Dutch Charley" were taken out Of the
latter was Hungarian, and fought under Kossuth,
and since his removal to this country, had lived in
Kansas and taken very active part with the
Free State party. He was present at the battle of
Black Jack, and after the capture of the pro-sla
very party, was appointed to guard the prison ers,
one of whom was man named Coleman This
Coleman was at the battle of 0ssawatemie, and
after the capture of the Free State men, recognised
Dulcn Cnarl6y. lie demanded mat Dutch Charley
be delivered to him. and taking him cut shot him
dead. Frederick Brown, son of Capt Brown, was
also killed He was one of the picket guards of
the Free State camp at Ossawatemie and being
surprised. he was shot through the heart by q
preacher named Martin White After being killed
and while lying on the ground with his mouth re-
laxed and open in death, another shot was fred
down his throat.
The above is the straight forward tale Of this
party of men, and bears upon its face the impress
of truth.
The following is prsslavery account of The
same fight. We find 1t in the st. Louis Republican
dated Scamp at Indian Greek, Sept. ID"
On Saturday, the 23d of August, we left our
camp at Westport, and took up our line of march
for New Santa Fe, at which place we arrived the
same day. We found about 400 pro. slavery men
encamped. On the oath we formed regim Mt
and selected Col. p. II Rcsser, of Virginia, as tenn.
porary commander in-chef On the 25th our forces
had increased TO l. 150 rank and file We then went
into permanent organization, and selected Atchi.
son as Major General, Reid a. Brigadier General,
Brown as Colonel Of the lst, and Rosser of the I'd
regiment and gave the name of our forces "Ths
Army of Law and Order of Kansas Territory
On the Goth we took up line of march for Ossa-
watame, and encamped that night At Ceder Creek
On the eth we resumed our march and encamped
at Bull Greek On the evening of the 28th Gen
Reid selected $50 men and one piece of artillery
and moved on to attack Ossawatamis.
On the morning of the 29th he arrived near that
place and was attacked by 200 aboltionisrs, under
the command of the notorious John Brown who
commenced firing upon Reid from thick chappa-
rel four hundred yards OH. General Reid then
formed his men in an open prairie, and Major Bell
fired upon the abolitioniss with the artillery load
ed with grape. General Reid then made q sue
cessful charge upon them killing 81 and took 7
prisoners Amongst the killed was Fredk Brown
The notorious John Brown was also killed by .
pro slavery man named White. Among the pri.
soners taken is the son Of O. c. Brown, Of Law
renee notoriety; he will be humanely treated, and
set at liberty when tho war is over. The other
prisoners taken were shipped on the Polar Star,
and pledge exacted of them never to return again
to Kansas.
The pro oslavery party had five wounded none
believed to be dangerous. Captain Royce re-.
ceyed wound in the left wrist Frank Gordon
in the left shoulder; Jackson in the mouth John
Gordon in the thigh, and Parker in the leg. Tho
pro-slavery men, contrary to the orders of General
Reid burnt nearly all the houses of Ossewatta-
mie. They took some forty head Of cattle. q
part of them being the same that Brown and his
party had stolen from the Georgia colony-six
horses two wagons and one carriage. On the
same day Captain Hays with forty men, attacked
the house OF the notorious Ottaway Jones, burnt
his house and killed two abotionsts Jones fed
to the corn field, was shot at by Hays, and is be-
lieved to be dead.
About p M, the 29th, the abolitionists num-
bering $50 men, came within about three quar- ters
Of mile Of our camp and attempted to surprise
us, they no doubt thinking tnat our FORCES had Deen
SO much weakened by Reid's march on Ossawatto.
mie, that we would retreat and leave our baggage;
but not so-the drum beat, and soon every man in
camp was ready for battle. Seeing that we were
ready to meet them they fed. The most Of the
men were in favor Of pursuing them, but were
prevented from doing so by Gen. Atehison.
On the morning OF the Both, council composed
of the field officers and captains Of the different
companies, was held and by = large majority of
those in council it was decided to fall back on In
dian Greek, until we could get more provisions
and ammunition, and to enable the soldiers compo-
sing the army to become better drilled and disci-
plined. HE
On the 3lst, the army took up the line Of march,
and encamped ~ Cedar Creek for the night On
the 1st of Sept Gen. Atchison resigned his commits
sion. and Gen. Reid was selected in his stead
Our army, which had consisted of 1900 hadnow
been reduced to half that amount, are now station
ed at Indian Greek, and from the last information
that could get the pro. o.slavery party only number
about 600 men In the territory, of which number
GOO are encamped at Indian Greek, and ,OOO on
the north side of Kansas river, near Lecompton
The ro-savery party have eight pieces Of ar
tillery, and plenty of horses for cavalry but they
need an efficient regiment of infantry.
The abolition forces in the territory do not ex-
ceed 200 men; they are well drilled, and each