The Civil War Muse

John Brown Country Historical Marker

Tour Stop

Directions: The John Brown Country Historical Marker [ Waypoint = N38 30.062 W94 57.090 ] is located near the intersection of 6th Street and Lincoln Avenue in Osawatomie, Kansas 66064.

• You should be able to walk to the historical marker from your current location. It's located about a block north of the Old Stone Church.
• You should be able to see the marker on the far side of the street when you reach Lincoln Avenue.

Description: The John Brown Country Historical Marker's [ Waypoint = ] text reads as follows:

“Osawatomie -- the name derives from a combination of Osage and Pottawatomie -- was settled in 1854 by Free-State families from the Ohio Valley and New England. John Brown, soon to become famous for his militant abolitionism, joined five of his sons at their homes near the new town in October, 1855. By the spring of 1856, local defiance of Proslavery laws and officials was so notorious that 170 Missourians "punished" the area by looting Osawatomie. Two months later Free-State men destroyed a nearby Proslavery camp. On August 30 occurred the second battle of Osawatomie, in which a Proslavery force of 400 drove out the defenders, 40 men led by John Brown, and then plundered and burned the town. Among those killed that day was Brown's son Frederick.

At the John Brown Memorial Park in Osawatomie is the cabin of the Rev. Samuel Adair, Brown's brother-in-law, with whom he often stayed. The Republican party of Kansas was organized at Osawatomie in May, 1859, with Horace Greeley, famous editor of the New York Tribune, as the convention's principal speaker.

Erected by Kansas State Historical Society & State Highway Commission”

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