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| Adair stood firm against tide of trouble in 1856 |
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| Opinion - Columns | |||
| Written by Grady Atwater | |||
| Wednesday, 17 December 2008 09:00 | |||
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Osawatomie was rebuilding during the Christmas of 1856 after John Reid’s proslavery forces had sacked and burned Osawatomie following the Battle of Osawatomie in August of that year. The Rev. Samuel Adair worked to procure donations from abolitionist supporters to help the town rebuild, putting his Christian beliefs to work to help the community. Adair wrote to Mary Green of La Salle County, Ill., on Dec. 17, 1856, thanking her for a $35 donation stating that “There is at present comparative quiet. Some emigrants are coming in mostly free staters & business has begun to revive. Should this state of things continue, labor can be had, & a way provided for the poor to obtain bread. If compelled to soon to pay for their land, multitudes will be obliged to mortgage it to obtain the money. Some families where nearly all are sick or where the men are in prison aid will still be needed.” Adair also wrote to Mr. W.F.M. Arny on Dec. 18, 1856, of the Kansas National Committee, an abolitionist organization inquiring about supplies the organization had sent, but had not arrived in Osawatomie in a timely manner. Adair was the leader in the effort to procure the aid, and he wrote that Mrs. Mary Crane had written him and asked, “The ladies of Saquoit have made up a box of clothing which I suppose was forwarded to Osawatomie, directed to your care? Any word of it?” Adair also reported that Mrs. Morgan Chronkite inquires for a box which was sent, she thinks, about the last of October, directed to Osawatomie, care of the National Kansas Com. Chicago. The list of inquiries goes on in the letter, but Adair’s determination to motivate the National Kansas Committee to act is evident. Following the Battle of Osawatomie, the town only had three buildings standing, and had been stripped of its wealth, and its economy was devastated. Reverend Adair worked to help the town when it appeared to have a bleak future, not wavering in his efforts to help the town recover and to help provide for Osawatomie families during a Christmas season when families faced economic and spiritual challenges wrought by the violence caused by the struggle over slavery that gripped the community. Adair’s Christian faith and belief in the abolitionist cause worked together to motivate him to stand firm against a flood tide of difficulties during the Christmas of 1856, and he put shoe leather into his faith and walked his talk. Osawatomie is most well known for its association with John Brown, and heroes like Adair often go unnoticed in Osawatomie history. However, Adair’s faith-inspired strength withstood the storms of the conflict over slavery and economic difficulties that beset Osawatomie during the Christmas of 1856, and we owe him a debt of gratitude and respect. — Grady Atwater is site administrator at the John Brown Museum State Historic Site
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