Congress in 1854 created two new territories, Kansas and Nebraska, and left the question of slavery to the future inhabitants. In the next decade, Kansas became the scene of a bloody struggle between pro-slavery and free-soil forces. On May 21, 1856, a large pro-slavery force “sacked” the free-soil stronghold, Lawrence, burning several houses. Apparently inflamed by the destruction in Lawrence and by several recent murders of free-soilers, John Brown, an ardent abolitionist, decided to retaliate. On May 24, 1856, in Potawatomie, together with six men, four of them his sons, he sought out, murdered, and mutilated the bodies of five pro-slavery men and boys, none guilty of any crime against the free-soilers. The Potawatomie massacre set off a guerilla war. Bands of pro-slavery Missourians attacked Brown and his men. At Osawatomie, over a half dozen men were killed, over twenty wounded, and the town was burned. At Marais de Cygnes in May, 1858, Southern guerillas lined up nine free-soilers and shot them, killing five. When Kansas was finally admitted as a free-soil state, on January 29, 1861, over 200 men had died. Violence continued almost until the end of the Civil War, as, for example, when Southerners on August 21, 1863, sacked Lawrence a second time and killed more than 150 persons.
The following confession of a member of Brown’s band at Potawatomie, James Townsley, is taken from Charles Robinson: The Kansas Conflict (1892), 265–7. See also Alice Nichols: Bleeding Kansas (1954); James Malin: John Brown and the Legend of ’56 (1942); Oswald Garrison Villard: John Brown: 1800–1859 (1911); and the essay on John Brown by C. Vann Woodward in Daniel Aaron, ed.: America in Crisis (1952).
“I joined the Potawatomie rifle company at its re-organization in May, 1856, at which time John Brown, Jr., was elected captain. On the 21st of the same month information was received that the Georgians were marching on Lawrence, threatening its destruction. The company was immediately called together, and about four o’clock P.M. we started on a forced march to aid in its defense. About two miles south of Middle Creek we were joined by the Osawatomie company under Captain Dayton, and proceeded to Mount Vernon, where we waited about two hours, until the moon rose. We then marched all night, camping the next morning, the 22nd, for breakfast, near Ottawa Jones’s. Before we arrived at this point news had been received that Lawrence had been destroyed, and a question was raised whether we should return or go on. During the forenoon, however, we proceeded up Ottawa Creek to within about five miles of Palmyra, and went into camp near the residence of Captain Shore. Here we remained undecided over night. About noon the next day, the 23rd, Old John Brown came to me and said he had just received information that trouble was expected on the Potawatomie, and wanted to know if I would take my team and take him and his boys back, so they could keep watch of what was going on. I told him I would do so. The party, consisting of Old John Brown, Watson Brown, Oliver Brown, Henry Thompson (John Brown’s son-in-law), and Mr. Winer, were soon ready for the trip, and we started, as near as I can remember, about two o’clock P.M. All of the party except Winer, who rode a pony, rode with me in my wagon. When within two or three miles of the Potawatomie Creek, we turned off the main road to the right, drove down to the edge of the timber between two deep ravines, and camped about one mile above Dutch Henry’s crossing.
“After my team was fed and the party had taken supper, John Brown told me for the first time what he proposed to do. He said he wanted me to pilot the company up to the forks of the creek, some five or six miles above, into the neighborhood where I lived, and show them where all the pro-slavery men resided; that he proposed to sweep the creek as he came down of all the pro-slavery men living on it. I positively refused to do it. He insisted upon it, but when he found that I would not go, he decided to postpone the expedition until the following night. I then wanted to take my team and go home, but he would not let me do so, and said I should remain with them. We remained in camp that night and all the next day. Some time after dark we were ordered to march.
“We started, the whole company, in a northerly direction, crossing Mosquito Creek above the residence of the Doyles. Soon after crossing the creek some one of the party knocked at the door of the cabin, but received no reply—I have forgotten whose cabin it was, if I knew at the time. The next place we came to was the residence of the Doyles. John Brown, three of his sons, and son-in-law went to the door, leaving Frederick Brown, Winer, and myself a short distance from the house. About this time a large dog attacked us. Frederick Brown struck the dog a blow with his short two-edged sword, after which I dealt him a blow with my sabre, and heard no more of him. The old man Doyle and two sons were called out and marched some distance from the house towards Dutch Henry’s, in the road, where a halt was made. Old John Brown drew his revolver and shot the old man Doyle in the forehead, and Brown’s two youngest sons immediately fell upon the younger Doyles with their short two-edged swords.
“One of the young Doyles was stricken down in an instant, but the other attempted to escape, and was pursued a short distance by his assailant and cut down. The company then proceeded down Mosquito Creek, to the house of Allen Wilkinson. Here the old man Brown, three of his sons, and son-in-law, as at the Doyle residence, went to the door and ordered Wilkinson to come out, leaving Frederick Brown, Winer, and myself standing in the road east of the house. Wilkinson was taken and marched some distance south of his house and slain in the road, with a short sword, by one of the younger Browns. After he was killed his body was dragged out to one side and left.
“We then crossed the Potawatomie and came to the house of Henry Sherman, generally known as Dutch Henry. Here John Brown and the party, excepting Frederick Brown, Winer, and myself, who were left outside a short distance from the door, went into the house and brought out one or two persons, talked with them some, and then took them in again. They afterwards brought out William Sherman, Dutch Henry’s brother, marched him down into the Potawatomie Creek, where he was slain with swords by Brown’s two youngest sons, and left lying in the creek.
“It was the expressed intention of Brown to execute Dutch Henry also, but he was not found at home. He also hoped to find George Wilson, Probate Judge of Anderson County, there, and intended, if he did, to kill him too. Wilson had been notifying Free-State men to leave the Territory. I had received such a notice from him myself.
“Brown wanted me to pilot the party into the neighborhood where I lived, and point out all the pro-slavery men in it, whom he proposed to put to death. I positively refused to do it, and on account of my refusal I remained in camp all of the night upon which the first attack was to be made, and the next day. I told him I was willing to go with him to Lecompton and attack the leaders, or fight the enemy in open field anywhere, but I did not want to engage in killing these men. That night and the acts then perpetrated are vividly fixed in my memory, and I have thought of them many times since.
“I make this statement at the urgent request of my friends and neighbors, Judge James Hanway and Hon. Johnson Clarke, who have been present during all the time occupied in writing it out, and in whose hearing it has been several times read before signing.”
JAMES TOWNSLEY
LANE, KAN., December 6, 1879