The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1910-09-13
OSAWATOMIE.
Or the Guerillas of the West.
By Col D. A. Dickert.

The Northern press is going wild
over the speeches Of ex-President
Roosevelt on the classic fields Of Old
Osawatomie. Gov. Stubs, Of Kansas,
said it was the finest ever. No WON
der Col. Roosevelt had an inspira:
ton, on tho fields made famous by the
cid fanatic Southern hater, John
Brown, "for his soul keeps marching
on" The Northerners could sing
John Browns body lies mouldering In
the grave" while the Southerners
could shout, eve hung John Brown
on a sour apple tree, as We go march
ing BY" Now, what Of those classic
fields, on which the ex-president made
his greatest speech? And what about
old John Brown? There are at this
time, so far as is known, only two
people living who took part In this
great battle between the "pro-slavery'
men, and the "free soilers" and in
which the leader on one side attained
the sobriquet of "Osawatomie Brown"
About the middle Of the late ffties,
when Kansas was struggling for
Statehood, and her brilliant future, the
all absorbing question, both North and
South, was Should Kansas be slave
State or free" This question was to
be settled by popular vote. AdVen-
turers, good men, bad men mostly, the
latter focked to Kansas, from every
State in the Union, in order to swell
the vote for their particular political
party, "free soilers" or "slaVe." Poll
tical clubs were organized in the
South, as well as the North, to raise
money to detray the expenses ct these
| adventurers Tor real emigrants) until
after the election. The election was
held, after much blood being shed on
| beth sides, and the free soilers won.
| By a. strange coincidence, the very day
that Kansas was admitted into the
sisterhood Of States, Jefferson Davis
! left the United States senate.
The free soilers were led by a
great, double-jointed, fanatical giant
by the name of John Brown.
General John W. Reid was the NOV
ing genius Of the Southerners, and
had as subaltern strip Of lad,
from nobody knew where, and called
himself Quantrell, Charles Quantrell.
A mans antecedents in those days
were not closely scrutinized and so
long as he held up his end Of the
fight, did not take horses or cattle
from his friends, be was taken at his
face value. There was nothing OF the
hero in Quantrell's get up, but his
friends said that when he was under
unusual stress, his eyes flashed like
sparks from the steel, and his square
jaws came together like swapping
turtle. Oh! but Quantrell's was
name to conjure with, in after years,
how he was trusted ald admired by
| his friends, detested and feared by his
enemies.
Old John Browns butcheries became
so intolerable that the Southern SYM
pathizer determined to run him out Of
the country or slay him. On August
80, 1856, Gen. Reid, with about 400
men, the left wing under the COM
mand of Young Quantrell, crossed the
border of Missouri with a six-pounder
cannon, and sportsmen rifles, fell up
! on Brown and his followers near a
hamlet and river, both called Osawa-
tonne, routed them, killing Browns
son and many of his leaders and fol-
lowers. Old man Brownpmade his es-
cape, by swimming the river and
"hikeing" back to the east. From this
battle he was thenceforward called
"Osawatomie Brown" It was after
this battle that he swore his famous
oath, that che would devote all his
life to the freeing Of the negroes, II
he had to kill every white man in the
South" The negroes were freed, but
John Brown never lived to see that
day, for he took his last look towards
the South in 1858, from the foot of the
gallows in Charlestown, Va.
It was at the battle Of Osawatomie
that Quantrell won his spurs, as
fearless soldier, and born leader of
men. Even after the bloody election
days the issues were kept keenly
drawn, men against men, neighbor-
hoods against neighborhcods, until at
last most of the Southerners were
forced over in to Missouri. Then the
great war came on, Quantrell and his