John Steuart

An artist's depiction of John Brown and "Bleeding Kansas".

A few days after the attack on Lawrence, abolitionist John Brown exacted his revenge by brutally murdering five pro-slavery sympathizers in the area near Lawrence. Accompanied by four of his sons and two others, Brown went from house to house on the evening of May 24 calling out suspected pro-slavery men and interrogating them about their sympathies. Unfortunately, five men were accused of pro-slavery sympathies and were immediately hacked to death with a broadsword.

Three years after the massacre John Brown was executed by the state of Virginia for leading an unsuccessful raid on an army arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia in an attempt to capture arms for a slave uprising.