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| Osawatomie Founders Labeled As Rebels |
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| Opinion | |||
| Written by Grady Atwater | |||
| Wednesday, 18 November 2009 08:00 | |||
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Osawatomie’s founders were viewed as rebels by the proslavery government of Kansas Territory in 1856, and a grand jury indicted Free State advocates in May of 1856 for resisting the authority of the government. In March 1855, proslavery forces rode into Kansas from Missouri and stuffed ballot boxes in an election for the Territorial Legislature. Proslavery guerrillas threatened and attacked any Free State advocate who protested. Free State settlers, in turn, refused to recognize the authority of the “Bogus Legislature,” who passed draconian proslavery laws that made it a crime to even speak out against slavery and meted out the death penalty for anyone helping slaves escape.  Osawatomie’s founders were singled out, with proslavery advocates accurately describing Osawatomie as an “abolitionist nest.” William Barber, attorney pro tem of the proslavery government in Lecompton, the capital of Kansas Territory, stated in May 1856 that “the grand jurors summoned, empaneled and sworn to enquire in and for the body of Lykins County in the Territory of Kansas, on their oath present that O.C. Brown, John Brown Senior, John Brown Jr., O.V. Dayton, Alexander Gardner, Richard Mendenhall, Chas. A Foster, Chas. A. Cronkite, William Chestnut, late of said county, being persons of evil minds and dispositions, on the (16) sixteenth day of April, eighteen hundred and fifty-six, and on divers and other days and times, both before and after that day, in the county of Lykins and Territory aforesaid, did unlawfully and wickedly conspire, combine, confederate and agree together mutually to aid and support one another in a forcible resistance to the enactments of the laws passed by the legislature of said Territory of Kansas, lest the attempt to enforce such enactments come from whatever source it may.” The charge against Osawatomie’s founders was “criminal conspiracy” J.T. Bradford, the grand jury foreman wrote: “May term, 1856, No. 4 court, criminal conspiracy, Kansas Territory vs. O.C. Brown, John Brown Sr., John Brown Jr., O.V. Dayton, Alexander Gardner, Richard Mendenhall, Charles A. Foster, Charles H. Crane, William Partridge, William Chestnut. A true bill.” Osawatomie’s founders’ reaction to this indictment was complete defiance. Though not all of the men named were militant abolitionists, they did not back down on their stand against the proslavery forces. Richard Mendenhall was a Quaker, and William Chestnut was opposed to John Brown’s guerrilla war against proslavery forces, but they continued to defy proslavery forces in a nonviolent manner. It is important to note that even though peaceful abolitionists did not take up arms against proslavery forces, they risked their lives every day they lived in Osawatomie, for they were marked for death if proslavery forces captured them. John Brown’s and other militants’ reaction to the increased political attacks on Osawatomie were to intensify their attacks on proslavery forces in a guerrilla war that led to the Battle of Osawatomie on Aug. 30, 1856. Osawatomie’s founders were a tough group of men and women who were willing to risk death for their beliefs — a firm foundation that helped to build the community upon which citizens build the town’s present and future.
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