On the morning of August 30, 1856, John Brown led about 30 antislavery men into battle against 250 proslavery Missourians at Osawatomie. Brown positioned his men in timber along the south bank of the Marais Des Cygnes River, about four hundred yards north of the spot where local tradition says the mounted proslavery men fired their first shots. The Missourians charged downhill with guns blazing, but the free-state force held firm and checked the first assault. The attackers then dismounted, outflanked Brown's force, and brought their cannon into action. Brown and his men finally fled across the river, and the Missourians swarmed into Osawatomie, where they sacked and burned the town. Both sides suffered about a half dozen casualties, the highest of any battle during Bleeding Kansas, and the dead included Brown's son Frederick. As Osawatomie burned, Brown's son Jason later attributed to him the words, "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."