There Will Be No More Peace

A part of what is known as “Bleeding Kansas” the Battle of Osawatomie was fought August 30^th 1856 between pro-slavery men and Free State men, and included John Brown.

About 275 pro-slavery men, led by John W Reid and Reverend Marvin White attacked Osawatomie August 30^th 1856.  The plan was to destroy the town and then move on to the other Free State towns of Topeka and Lawrence, Kansas.  These pro-slavery men shot Frederick Brown, the son of John Brown, there by alerting the Free State men living in Osawatomie.  Brown with forty men did what they could to defend the town, but after a number of casualties the men from Osawatomie had to withdraw.  Once Osawatomie had been vacated Reid and White’s group looted and burnt the town.

As Brown watched the town of Osawatomie burn he was said to have said, “God sees it, I have only a short time to live - only one death to die, and I will die fighting for this cause. There will be no more peace in this land until slavery is done for."

For more information you might want to look at Kansas Legends Battle of Osawatomie

Oldest Officer

Union General Edwin Vose Sumner died March 21st 1863, he was the oldest field commander on either side during the Civil War.

Edwin Vose Sumner was born January 30th 1797 in Boston, Massachusetts the son of Elisha and Nancy [Vose] Sumner. He got his education at Milton Academy in Milton, Massachusetts. After trying a career in retail in Tory, New York in 1819 he entered the United States Army. By January 25th 1825 he had been promoted to First Lieutenant.

Sumner served in the Black Hawk War and other Indian campaigns. In 1833 he was promoted again to Captain in command of Company B of the First United States Dragoons. In 1838 Sumner was instructing cavalry at the Carlisle Barracks in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. During the Mexican American War received two brevet for bravery to the rank of Colonel. He would serve as the Military Governor of the New Mexico Territory from 1851 to 1853. Sumner was at Fort Leavenworth Kansas in 1856 during the time known as “Bleeding Kansas”. He was assigned by Lieutenant General Winfield Scott to accompany Abraham Lincoln in March 1861 from Springfield, Illinois to Washington, DC.

Sumner spent the first year of the Civil War as the commander of the Department of the Pacific in California, having been sent there to replace Albert Sidney Johnston. So Sumner saw no action in 1861. He was brought back east and on May 5th 1862 promoted to Major General and given command of one of the new Corps of the Army of the Potomac. He lead the II Corp through out the Peninsula Campaign and the Seven Days Battles. After Major General Joseph Hooker was placed in command of the Army, Sumner was relieved at his own request and appointed to command the Department of Missouri.

Taking advantage of time off, he traveled to Syracuse, New York to visit with a daughter. While there Sumner had heart attacked and died March 21st 1863. He is buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Syracuse, New York in the Teall family plot.

Bleeding Kansas

Kansas entered the Union on January 29th 1861 as a free state.

Kansas was obtained by the United States from France, as part of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. It’s name comes from the Kansa Indian tribe which lived in the area. During the early years it was used by the United States government as a place to relocate Indians. The Kansas - Nebraska Act of 1854 gave Kansas residents the right to decide if the their state would be a free or slave state. Slavery proponents and abolitionists both sent settlers to the territory trying to swing the vote in their favor. This differences in ideology led to violence known as “Bleeding Kansas“. The abolitionist prevailed and on January 29th 1861 Kansas became the 24th state. Becoming a state didn't end the violence; on August 21st 1863 the raid by Confederate sympathizers on Lawrence Kansas resulted in a civilian massacres. Following the Civil War Kansas’ population exploded as immigrants and ex-soldiers flooded to the good agricultural land.