Bleeding Kansas

    Following the election of the Pro-slavery government, Kansas was in a state of virtual civil war.  Lecompton became the home of the elected government, while a group of anti-slavery officials set up their own government in Lawrence, a town established by the New England Emigrant Society, 8 miles from Lecompton.  The government of Lecompton had passed a series of laws making it illegal to speak out against slavery and viewed the people of Lawrence as traitors.

   On May 21, 1856, a group of 750 men traveled from Lecompton to Lawrence hoping to arrest the "free soliers" who wanted Kansas to be a free state.  The men preceded to destroy the Liberty Hotel which was the headquarters of the Free Soilers.  The town was completely destroyed but the  Free Soilers were able to escape before the attack began.

    Throughout the following months guerilla tactics would be committed by both groups.  John Brown, a New Englander who arrived in Kansas  hoping to have it become a free state, led a group of seven men who murdered five people who were pro-slavery.  Brown felt that slavery was an evil institution that needed to be eliminated from the United States.  Brown and his men would be engaged in various other armed conflicts, at one point they captured 22 pro-slavery soldiers following a battle.

   Back East, the media published various accounts of the fighting in Kansas.  The headline of the New York Tribune referred to the events as "Bleeding Kansas."  President Pierce did little to restore order in Kansas feeling as it was the responsibility of the Territorial Governor to bring stability to Kansas.  

  On July 31, 1856, Franklin Pierce appointed John W. Geary to be the new Territorial Governor of Kansas.  Geary quickly set out to restore order to Kansas, promising his only allegiances were for Kansas and the United States, not the North or the South.    The new governor disbanded the militia of Kansas which was responsible for much of the fighting, and brokered a peace between the anti-slavery and pro-slavery forces.  Geary would be able to bring Kansas under control.

  By the time the fighting had ceased, there would be 56 people killed and perhaps 200 people wounded from the violence.  To some Americans the violence in Kansas was living proof that the country was being split from the issue of slavery and headed down a road of violence.  The ineffective president, President Pierce helped create a violent situation by not intervening.