Bleeding Kansas: Pro-Slavery Forces Sack Lawrence, Brown Retaliates

On May 21, 1856, a pro-slavery posse of 800 men sacked the free-state town of Lawrence, Kansas, burning the hotel, destroying newspaper presses, and looting homes. Three days later, John Brown and followers killed five pro-slavery settlers at Pottawatomie Creek in retaliation. The violence escalated through summer: pro-slavery forces burned towns, free-state militias fought back. Over 200 people were killed in Kansas between 1854 and 1861. The conflict was directly over whether slavery would expand westward and demonstrated that the question could not be resolved by legislation. Congress seated the fraudulently-elected pro-slavery territorial legislature despite evidence of ballot fraud.