the border war

7/28/2019 The Border War

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Background

The Border War began and 1854 with the Kansas-Nebraska act, which allowed for the opening of the twoterritories, leaving it up to the voters in each state todecide whether slavery would be legal or prohibited.

Most Kansans settlers favored slavery at this time andwere more concerned with settling the territory thenarguing over slavery issues.

The majority of Missourians were made up of

individuals loyal to Federal government who approvedof slavery but wanted some compromise to be foundthat would keep the southern states in the Union.


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If Kansas entered the Union as a free state, thenMissouri would be bordered on the east, west and

north by states that prohibited slavery, givingabolitionists the opportunity to free slaves andalso make it easier for slaves to escape fromMissouri

Even though the number of slave owners inMissouri was small, Southerners largelypopulated the state, making up about 75% of thetotal population.

Most of the slave owners owned just a few slavesand the types of crops they raised did not requirea large number of slaves to plant and cultivate.


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The Kansas-Nebraska Act

When the Kansas-Nebraska act came into play, most of thesouthern state senators counted on Nebraska joining as afree state and Kansas joining as a slave state, howeverEaster abolitionists had different ideas.

They raised money to assist those who wished to settle inKansas territory and over 700 emigrants arrived in Kansasduring the summer of 1854 with the intentions ofabolishing slavery in that state.

Many of the New Englanders settled around Lawrence,

Kansas and it became known as "The Boston Colony" and"Yankee Town." It became the headquarters for a group ofcitizens who became known as jayhawkers. They were agroup of guerillas who raided nearby pro-slaverysettlements, pillaging and murdering along the way.


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In the Kansas election of November 1854,

thousands of Missourians crossed the border

to vote for a delegate to Congress.

They felt they had as much right to vote in the

election as the newly arrived New Englanders.

It was also their impression that the New

Englanders were hired to sway the vote in

favor of anti-slavery delegates.


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John Brown Arrives in Kansas

In the summer of 1855, many more emigrants arrivedfrom the East Coast but instead of bringing theirfamilies and farm implements, they brought guns.

Rumors spread and Missourians became worried about

the new inhabitants and their intentions. Crates ofrifles and some cannons were shipped to Kansas underdisguised labels and it appeared that Kansas waspreparing for war.

Also arriving in Kansas in the summer of 1855, were

John Brown and Jim Lane. John Brown was well knownfor his actions against slave owners and his desire towar against them. Jim Lane was a politician and waslooking for political opportunities but at the time hadno problem with slavery.


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Seeing political opportunity, Lane switched sides

and became a free-soil advocate. In 1856, he led

slash and burn raids in eastern Kansas andwestern Missouri, freeing numerous slaves, but

also in the mean time, he passed a "Black Law" in

Kansas, which prohibited residency to all Negroes.

Kansas was politically and residentially being set

up to be a free-soil state and their new residents

(jayhawkers) were conducting raids against pro-

slavery residents and establishments on bothsides of the border. Thus began, the Border War

and Missourians began fighting back.


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Outbreak of Violence

Along with the jayhawkers, Missouri "border

ruffians" who had no interest in Missouri and

Kansas politics inhabited the border. Their sole

intention of inhabiting the area was for the

sport of destruction and murder.

Between November 1, 1855 and December 1,

1856, an estimated 200 people lost their livesand the amount of property destroyed was

valued at 2 million dollars.


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After the town of Lawrence was raided by "Border

Ruffians" in 1856, jayhawkers hunted down the raiding

party and killed 3 men. While on their hunt, they raided a

Missourians store, taking over $4000 worth of

merchandise and set fire to several pro-slavery cabins

A few nights after the Lawrence raid in 1856, John Brown,

his sons and several of his followers killed five men.

They were accused of being pro-slavery ruffians and were

dragged from their cabins despite the pleas of their wives

and children. Three of these men were a father and his two

sons.

Their bodies were found the next morning by their families

in various stages of mutilation. This became known as the

"Pottawatomie Massacre.


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Missourians crossed the border looking for Brown and

found one of his sons. They turned him over to federal

authorities who chained and beat him.

Brown launched a pre-dawn attack to rescue his son, killing

four and wounding several others. When approached by a

US deputy Marshall under a flag of truce, Brown held a

pistol to the deputys head and demanded the companys

unconditional surrender.

In the spring of 1858, James Montgomery (a preacher from

Ohio) and his band of jayhawkers drove a group of

proslavery partisans out of Fort Scott, Kansas and across

the Missouri border.


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This group of proslavery partisans joined with a man named

Charles A Hamilton who led them back across the Kansas line.

They rode to a trading post and kidnapped 11 men and led

them to a gulch near the Marais des Cygnes River. Hamilton ordered that the men to be lined up and then

Hamilton and his men opened fire.

Two men died in the initial attack. Hamilton and his men went

down into the gulch and repeatedly kicked their victims to besure that they were dead.

The survivors tried to play dead but three of the wounded

were discovered and shot.

Of the other 6 men, 5 were wounded and anothermiraculously escaped injury and detection because he was

covered with the blood of others. This incident became know

as the Marias des Cygnes massacre.


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Conclusion

In all, approximately 56 people died in

Bleeding Kansas by the time the violence

completely stopped in 1859. Following the

beginning of the American Civil War in 1861,

additional guerrilla violence erupted on the

border between Kansas and Missouri.

Its more than just a rivalry

the border war

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