BATTLE OF THE SPURS
BATTLE OF THE SPURS One witness to this event later wrote that it was “no joke” to attack old John Brown. The abolitionist inspired such terror that in January 1859, about 1.5 miles north of here, a U.S. marshal fled at the mere sight of him. Brown, escorting 11 slaves to freedom along the Underground Railroad, was discovered in a cabin on Straight Creek. Marshal John Wood hid in a nearby stream crossing with about 35 deputies, while Freestaters marched overnight from Topeka to support Brown. Even with reinforcements Brown’s party was outnumbered two to one, but he defiantly ordered his men to ford the creek. “Scarcely had the foremost entered the water,” one man recalled, “when the valiant marshal mounted his horse and rode off in haste.” Another remembered: “The closer we got to the ford, the farther they got from it.” Mocking the posse’s retreat, a newspaperman dubbed this the “Battle of the Spurs.” Brown and his party reached Iowa unharmed.
Note: This sign was replaced in 2012.
US-75, Jackson County
Roadside, 7 miles north of Holton, at NE corner of HWY-75 & 286th Rd.
Plaque via Kansas Historical Society, and is used with their permission. Full page