Pottawatomie massacre

Pottawatomie massacre
05/24/1856 AD attacked

John Brown and a band of abolitionist settlers—some of them members of the Pottawatomie Rifles—make a violent reply to the sacking of Lawrence, Kansas, and possibly also to the caning of the Free Kansas supporter, Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner (May 22).

Just north of Pottawatomie Creek, in Franklin County, Kansas, they kill five pro-slavery settlers, in front of their families.

This soon became the most famous of the many violent episodes of the "Bleeding Kansas" period, during which a state-level civil war in Kansas Territory was described as a "tragic prelude" to the American Civil War which soon followed.

"Bleeding Kansas" involved conflicts between pro- and anti-slavery settlers over whether Kansas Territory would enter the Union as a slave state or a free state.

It is also John Brown's most questionable act, both to his friends and his enemies. In the words of abolitionist Frederick Douglass, it was "a terrible remedy for a terrible malady."

Franklin County, KS

Lattitude: 38.5833° N
Longitude: 95.2833° W
Region: North America

Modern Day United States

Events in 1856 MORE