Stevens spent some time in attending to his horse, in order to give the men in the cabin time to see who was with him and to prepare for them, then moved to the cabin, threw open the door and said, "There they are, go take them." The marshal moved forward, but found himself covered by revolvers, and was taken prisoner. This man was a member of a posse under command of John P. Wood, a U.S. Deputy Marshal from Lecompton, who was on the lookout for Brown in hope of securing the reward of $3,000 offered for his apprehension by the governor of Missouri.

The terror with which Brown had inspired in his enemies was never better illustrated than at this time. The Wood posse numbered some 30 men, all well armed and acting under authority of the law, while opposed to them were Brown, his three associates and the unarmed freed slaves, but the posse was afraid to attack. Wood drew up his forces in shelter of the timber on the creek and sent for reinforcements. In the meantime one of the men crept out of the cabin under cover of darkness, went to the home of a farmer well known for his anti-slavery sentiments nearby, and asked him to go to Topeka and inform Colonel John Ritchie that Brown was surrounded at the Fuller cabin on Straight Creek. The messenger reached Topeka on Sunday morning, found Ritchie in church and informed him of the condition of affairs. The minister dismissed his congregation and preparations were at once made to go to the rescue. Much secrecy was maintained; however, because the free-state men did not want the Federal authorities to know that a party was being organized, or that John Brown was in the country. About a dozen men left Topeka on January 30, 1859, traveling all night and the next afternoon reached Holton, where they were joined by a few others and then pushed on toward Straight Creek.

When they arrived at the cabin, Brown's three companions were hitching the horses to the wagon, while across the creek, a half a mile away, lay Wood's posse entrenched in rude rifle pits they had thrown up to command the ford and the road leading to it. Upon learning that Brown proposed to cross the ford in the face of the enemy they attempted to dissuade him, saying that the stream was high, the crossing dangerous, and that there was a much better ford five miles up the creek. Brown said that he intended to travel straight through, that those who were afraid might turn back but he intended to use the Fuller Crossing, saying, "The Lord has marked out a path for me and I intend to follow it. We are ready to move."

Some of the men were uneasy, knowing that 45 entrenched men were waiting across the creek, but with Brown in the lead, the 21 men moved into the road and started straight for the crossing. Brown appeared utterly unaware of Wood and his posse, and led the way to the ford. Not a shot was fired and as the first of the free-state party reached the creek, there was noticed some commotion in the rifle pits. Part of Wood's men ran toward the horses, and within a short time nearly the entire posse was retreating in wild panic. The Topeka party charged across the creek to give chase but found only four men left in the rifle pits. They threw their arms on the ground and informed Ritchie that they had remained merely to show that there were some of the Wood party who were not afraid. These men were made prisoners and Brown proceeded on his way toward Iowa, being accompanied by the Topeka party as far as Seneca, Kansas.