What is Battle of Osawatomie?
[[File:John Brown Museum-Osawatomie.JPG|thumb|right|300px|{{Center|John Brown Museum in Osawatomie, Kansas is a place to learn more about the battle}}]] The '''Battle of Osawatomie''' took place on Saturday, August 30, 1856 in the town of [[Osawatomie, Kansas]]. [[John Brown (abolitionist)|John Brown]] and about 40 men tried to defend the town against an attack by about 250–300 [[Border Ruffian]]s.<ref name=boCWWB>{{cite web |url=http://www.civilwaronthewesternborder.org/timeline/battle-osawatomie |title=Battle of Osawatomie |publisher=Civil War on the Western Border |access-date=22 June 2016}}</ref> The [[Missouri]] ruffians were led by John W. Reid.{{efn|At the time, Reid was a member of the [[Missouri House of Representatives]] (1854-1856).<ref name=rjwBDUSC>{{cite web |url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=R000149 |title=REID, John William, (1821 - 1881) |publisher=Biographical Directory of the United States Congress |access-date=22 June 2016}}</ref> He served in the Thirty-seventh [[United States Congress|Congress]] from March 4, 1861, to December 2, 1861, when he was [[wikt:expel|expel]]led for having taken up arms against the [[United States]] in the [[American Civil War|Civil War]].<ref name=rjwBDUSC/>}}<ref name=boCWWB/> The attack began early in the morning when Frederick Brown, son of John Brown, was shot and killed outside of the town. This alerted John Brown and others who tried to defend the town. But heavy [[Casualty (person)|casualties]] forced Brown and the other [[Abolitionism|abolitionists]] back across the nearby river. The town was [[Looting|looted]] and burned but Brown was not pursued. This was one of many clashes between [[pro-slavery (United States)|pro-slavery]] and [[Free-Stater (Kansas)|free-staters]]{{efn|Strictly speaking, Free-Staters, also called “Free-Soilers”, were those who did not want [[black people]], slave or free, to settle in Kansas.<ref name=fspCWWB>{{cite web |url=http://www.civilwaronthewesternborder.org/content/free-state-party |title=Free-Stat