Killing At Pottawatomie

On the night of May 24^th and early morning hours of May 25^th 1856, John Brown led what is known as the Pottawatomie Massacre.

Following the attack on Lawrence, Kansas, which was led by a pro- slavery sheriff and included the destruction of abolitionist owned homes, hotel, and newspapers, John Brown was outraged.  He saw the action of these antislavery people as cowardly.  On the morning of May 22^nd 1856 a Free State company under the command of John Brown Jr heard of the sacking of Lawrence and not knowing if the people needed assistance set out.  They camped near Ottawa Creek until late on May 23^rd 1856.

John Brown Sr handpicked a party to join him on a private expedition.  He took four of his sons; Frederick, Oliver, Owen, and Watson, along with Henry Thomason, Theodore Weiner and James Towsley.  They camped throughout the 23^rd and into the evening of the May 24^th in a ravine just off the traveled road near Dutch Henry’s Crossing on Pottawatomie Creek in Franklin County, Kansas.  After dark on May 24^th 1856 they left their hiding place and went to the house of James P Doyle.  They ordered Doyle and his two adult sons William and Drury out of the house.  Brown’s party took the three men out into the darkness where the Brown brothers killed them with broadsword, finishing by shooting the men in the head to make sure they were dead.  From here Brown’s men went to the house of Allen Wilkinson who ran the local Post Office.  Wilkinson was ordered out of his house and stabbed to death.  Around midnight Brown’s group crossed the Pottawatomie and forced their way into the home of James Harris at the point of a sword.  Harris had three guests staying with him, Jerome Glanville, William Sherman, and John S Wightman.  Glanville and Harris were interrogated and released, while Sherman was taken to the creek and hacked to death.

Brown found out at Harris’s home that his target Henry Sherman was away from home, they ended their killed and returned to the ravine where they had camped the night before.

If you are interested in reading more about the Pottawatomie Massacre this is a good web site.

A Raid In Retaliation

Confederate leader William Clarke Quantrill led a raid on Lawrence, Kansas August 21st 1863, which became known as the Lawrence Massacre.


Lawrence, Kansas was at the beginning of the Civil War a target for those who were pro-slavery. It was a strong hold for those known as Jayhawker’s, people who were abolitionist and pro-Union to use as a base for making raids into neighboring Missouri.

Confederate William Clarke Quantrill’s attack on the town was in retaliation for these raids, particularly one made on Osceola, Missouri in September 1861. In this attack on Osceola, led by Senator James H Lane, nine men were executed. Quantrill had planned the attack carefully, and organized many independent Guerrilla groups to converge on Lawrence, Kansas in the pre-dawn hours of August 21st 1863. Somewhere between 300 and 450 men descended on Lawrence. They set fire to the town, burning down all but two businesses and about a quarter of the buildings. They killed 185 to 200 males in town and raided for over four hours. By nine in the morning Quantrill’s Raiders where on there way out of what was left of the town of Lawrence. One of the targets of the raid, Senator James H Lane escaped by running out into a cornfield, hiding in his nightshirt.

Another web site that might be of interest to you is Quantrill's Raid The Lawrence Massacre Battle of Lawrence

An Early Battle Pre Civil War

Abolitionist John Brown with followers on June 2nd 1856 attacked an encampment, causing the Battle of Black Jack.

A posse of 750 pro-slavery men led by Henry Clay Pate on May 21st 1856 sacked Lawrence, Kansas. Pate held two of John Brown’s sons prisoner. At dawn on June 2nd 1856 John Brown led 29 men against Pate‘s camp along the Santa Fe Trail in Douglas County, Kansas. Pate a native of Virginia with his “militia” were looking for Brown, to get even with him for the Pottawatomie Massacre. Following the three to five hour Battle of Black Jack, Brown held Pate and 22 other pro-slavery men as ransom for the return of his sons. A United States military company, led by JEB Stuart was sent to force Brown to release Pate.

The Death Of Bloody Bill

Confederate guerrilla William T “Bloody Bill” Anderson was killed October 26th 1864.


William T Anderson was born 1838/39 in Kentucky. He grew up in Missouri, before moving to Kansas in 1857. Soon after arriving in Council Grove, settling on a land claim which belonged to his father, Anderson found himself involved in the fight that gave the area its name of “Bleeding Kansas”.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, Anderson joined a group of pro-Union antislavery men known as “Jayhawkers”. Shortly after though he changed sides becoming a Confederate “Bushwhacker”. Anderson’s father was killed in 1862, and he and his brother Jim, found and killed the man responsible. Moving back to Missouri, Anderson began leading a band of about 40 guerillas. They road often with William Quantrill. When the group raided Lawrence Kansas, Anderson was said to have killed 14. Following the raid Anderson went to Texas for the winter. Returning to Missouri in 1864 with a band of about fifty, he embarked on a summer of violence, coming to a head on September 27th 1864 when they and some other gangs sacked the town of Centralia Missouri, massacring Union soldiers. Anderson’s band was caught just outside of Albany Missouri in an Union ambush. He took two bullets to the head on October 26th 1864. His body was taken to Richmond Missouri were it was placed on display and photographed.

Anderson kept track of the men he killed by tying knots in a rope. At the time of his death there were 54 knots in the rope.

A Pro-Slavery Sheriff

The Sacking of Lawrence, Kansas on May 21st 1856 was led by Sheriff Samuel J Jones.

Samuel J Jones was born about 1820 in Virginia, he moved his family west in the fall of 1854. First going to Westport, Missouri [now Kansas City Missouri] which was on the border of the newly open Kansas Territory. Shortly after he settled in the area he was appointed Postmaster. Jones led a group of pro-slavery men during the first election of the Kansas’ Territorial Legislature, breaking up a ballot box at Bloomington, Kansas. He was appointed the first Sheriff of Douglas County August 27th 1855 by then acting Governor Daniel Woodson. Jones used his new job to quash the rights of Free-Stater’s in his jurisdiction.

The “Herald of Freedom” a Free-State newspaper published by George W Brown in Lawrence Kansas was a source of hatred for pro-slavery supporters. On May 21st 1856 Jones lead a party of pro-slavery men; acting as his posse, to Lawrence Kansas to destroy the office of the “Herald of Freedom” and another Free-State newspaper the “Kansas Free State”. The raid that followed known as the “Sacking of Lawrence”, destroyed the newspaper offices, burned down the Free State Hotel, and looted other Lawrence businesses.

In 1857 Jones resigned as sheriff over issues of how to incarcerate a Free-State prisoner. He moved to New Mexico where he accepted the job of Collector of Customs at Paso del Norte. He would later buy a ranch near Mesilla, where he died in 1879-80.

Bleeding Kansas

Kansas entered the Union on January 29th 1861 as a free state.

Kansas was obtained by the United States from France, as part of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. It’s name comes from the Kansa Indian tribe which lived in the area. During the early years it was used by the United States government as a place to relocate Indians. The Kansas - Nebraska Act of 1854 gave Kansas residents the right to decide if the their state would be a free or slave state. Slavery proponents and abolitionists both sent settlers to the territory trying to swing the vote in their favor. This differences in ideology led to violence known as “Bleeding Kansas“. The abolitionist prevailed and on January 29th 1861 Kansas became the 24th state. Becoming a state didn't end the violence; on August 21st 1863 the raid by Confederate sympathizers on Lawrence Kansas resulted in a civilian massacres. Following the Civil War Kansas’ population exploded as immigrants and ex-soldiers flooded to the good agricultural land.