The Battle of Black Jack

Today, me, Will and Mom went down to Lawrence and ate at taco johns, before driving down to visit the Battle of Black Jack. Previously, when we had a short stop there on the way to Sammy’s birthday party, we were slightly rushed, and thus, I did not see the true form of the battle. But, upon closer inspection, I saw the true epicness of it.

It was actually the first battle between pro- and anti-slavery forces, though it is not a civil war battle. In fact, it is not even between two government-organized armies, just 2 small bands of angry civilians, one from Missouri and one from Kansas. The Kansas battlegroup, under John Brown, was against slavery and was very angry about a raid on Lawrence, Kansas.

John Brown

The battle started when the pro-slavery force camped near the Santa Fe Trail, with their wagons forming up in convenient cover formation. When John Brown attacked, he attacked at long range, even though both sides only had short-ranged guns (with a few exceptions). Meanwhile, he sent ten of his thirty men to flank the enemy position, taking cover in a steep creek to advance up.

The creek, from behind. Pate was on the left in the creek, Brown on the right (past the bridge)

The creek curved all around the battlefield, so the 70 pro-slavery raiders quickly fell back to the other side of the creek, leaving behind their horses and all their ammo! John Brown and his twenty men quickly took advantage of this, taking all the wagons and slaughtering the horses. When the pro-slavery forces finally ran out of ammo, they surrendered.

Pate's position on the right, Brown's on the left.

I found the whole battle very interesting, including the Santa Fe wagon ruts very near to it. Hopefully, pretty soon, I’ll get to learn about the Massacre at Lawrence, another interesting battle.

A depression in the ground caused by wagons along the Santa Fe Trail