Pottawatomie Massacre

Bleeding Kansas: From the Kansas-Nebraska Act to Harpers Ferry

In 1859, John Brown, a settler from Kansas Territory, invaded the state of Virginia with plans to raid the Harpers Ferry arsenal and incite a slave rebellion. Among his small band of insurgents were several young men who had also carried out vigilante violence in Kansas in hopes of abolishing slavery in that territory. The raid itself failed, and those who did not escape or die in the raid were later executed, including John Brown.

Nicole Etcheson

Ball State University

Shannon, Wilson

By Matthew E. Stanley, Albany State University

Wilson Shannon was an attorney, the 14th and 16th governor of Ohio, United States minister to Mexico, U.S. congressman, and the second territorial governor of Kansas. He was a leading proslavery figure in early Kansas politics and, despite a short 9.5-month tenure, its longest continuously-serving territorial governor. Despite these successes, the disastrous violence of "Bleeding Kansas" began during his term as territorial governor.

Pottawatomie Creek Massacre

In retribution for the Sacking of Lawrence three days earlier, abolitionist John Brown, four of his sons, and other Free-Staters murdered five proslavery settlers near Pottawatomie, Kansas.

Pottawatomie Massacre

By Chris Rein, Combat Studies Institute, Army University

On the night of May 24, 1856, the radical abolitionist John Brown, five of his sons, and three other associates murdered five proslavery men at three different cabins along the banks of Pottawatomie Creek, near present-day Lane, Kansas.

Brown, John

By Matthew E. Stanley, Albany State University

John Brown was an American abolitionist who believed in using violent methods to eradicate slavery in the United States. He is most famous for leading an attack on a federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia), in 1859. Although unsuccessful in his aim of overthrowing slavery in the American South, Brown’s raid and his subsequent execution fueled tensions in the national debate over slavery in the United States. Historians credit Brown, his raid, and the public debates surrounding his trial and legacy with hastening Southern secession and the Civil War.

Wilson Shannon Becomes Kansas Territorial Governor

Fri, 09/07/1855

Wilson Shannon, a former governor of Ohio, is appointed Kansas territorial governor by President Franklin Pierce.

Pottawatomie Massacre

Sat, 05/24/1856 to Sun, 05/25/1856

In retribution for the Sacking of Lawrence three days earlier, abolitionist John Brown, four of his sons, and other Free-Staters murder five proslavery settlers near Pottawatomie Creek in southeast Franklin County.