Captain Pate

Captain Pate is a pro-slavery commander whose armed campaign brings him into direct conflict with John Brown. His capture at Black Jack turns Brown’s attack into a proposed prisoner exchange, while the narrator’s account presents Pate as both a military opponent and a man capable of speaking amicably with Brown once the fighting is over.

Position and Conflict

Pate leads a posse raiding homes along the Santa Fe Road and planning an attack on Lawrence. Brown describes him as an old enemy and learns that Pate has taken Jason and John, with Fort Leavenworth as their likely destination. The reported size of Pate’s force—between 150 and 200 men—makes the rescue a substantial military undertaking.

The Black Jack Campaign

Brown’s men approach Black Jack in daylight and on foot, moving through woods toward a ridge overlooking the town. Pate’s Sharpshooters are the force they have come to confront. After the fighting, Brown’s party gathers seventeen prisoners, including Pate. The capture shifts the immediate question from defeating Pate’s force to locating Brown’s two men.

Capture and Proposed Exchange

Pate tells Brown that he does not have Jason and John: they are at Fort Leavenworth under federal dragoons. Brown responds that he will go there directly and exchange Pate for them. The party departs with its prisoners and the horses and other goods left behind by Pate’s men. On the twenty-mile journey, Pate and Brown converse easily; Pate remarks that he would have attacked Brown had he recognized him in the ravine. The account leaves the proposed exchange as the reason for their onward march, rather than recording its outcome.