The Battle of Osawatomie was fought on this site on the morning of August 30, 1856. John Brown led a force of about 30 Free State guerilla fighters in battle against John Reid and 250 proslavery militia men. John Brown chose this battlefield, and his battle plan was to take a strong stand, then withdraw and distract Reid's proslavery force away from attacking Osawatomie. Reid's proslavery militia force sought to capture or kill John Brown, who was a prominent leader of the militant abolitionists in Kansas Territory. John Reid's proslavery militia men took up a position here to attack John Brown's Free State guerillas that had formed up in the brush on the south bank of the Marais des Cygnes River directly to the north.