Pottawatomie massacre

John Brown was particularly affected by the sacking of Lawrence, in which the Douglas County Sheriff Samuel Jones on May 21 led a posse that destroyed the presses and type of the Kansas Free State and the Herald of Freedom, Kansas's two abolitionist newspapers, the fortified Free State Hotel, and the house of Charles Robinson. He was the free-state militia commander-in-chief and leader of the "free state" government, established in opposition to the pro-slavery territorial government, based in Lecompton. A Douglas County grand jury had ordered the attack because the hotel "had been used as a fortress" and an "arsenal" the previous winter, and the "seditious" newspapers were indicted because "they had urged the people to resist the enactments passed" by the territorial governor. The violence against abolitionists was accompanied by celebrations in the pro-slavery press, with writers such as Dr. John H Stringfellow of the Squatter Sovereign proclaiming that pro-slavery forces "are determined to repel this Northern invasion and make Kansas a Slave State; though our rivers should be covered with the blood of their victims and the carcasses of the Abolitionists should be so numerous in the territory as to breed disease and sickness, we will not be deterred from our purpose." Brown was outraged by both the violence of pro-slavery forces and by what he saw as a weak and cowardly response by the anti-slavery partisans and the Free State settlers, whom he described as "cowards, or worse". In addition, two days before the massacre, Brown learned about the caning of abolitionist Charles Sumner by the pro-slavery Preston Brooks on the floor of Congress. Salmon Brown recalled that upon hearing the news, he, his unmarried brothers, and his father went "crazy, crazy," and that "It seemed to be the finishing, decisive touch." ==Attack==

A Free State company under the command of John Brown Jr. set out, and the Osawatomie company joined them. On the morning of May 22, 1856, they heard of the sack of Lawrence and the arrest of Dietzler, George W. Brown, and Jenkins. However, they continued their march toward Lawrence, not knowing whether their assistance might still be needed, and encamped that night near Ottawa Creek. They remained in the vicinity until the afternoon of May 23, at which time they decided to return home. On May 23, John Sr. selected a party to accompany him on a private expedition. John Jr. objected to their leaving his company, but seeing that his father was unyielding, he consented, telling him, "Father, be careful and commit no rash act." The company consisted of John Brown, four of his sons—Frederick, Owen, Salmon, and Oliver—Thomas Wiener, and James Townsley (who claimed later that Brown had forced him to participate in the incident), whom John had induced to carry the party in his wagon to their proposed field of operations. {{quote box —Mahala Doyle, in a letter to John Brown on the eve of his execution ==Impact==

The Pottawatomie massacre was called by William G. Cutler, author of the History of the State of Kansas (1883), the "crowning horror" of the whole Bleeding Kansas period: The news of the horrid affair spread rapidly over the Territory, carrying with it a thrill of horror, such as the people, used as they had become to deeds of murder, had not felt before. ... The news of the event had a deeper significance than appeared in the abstract atrocity of the act itself. ... It meant that the policy of extermination or abject submission, so blatantly promulgated by the pro-slavery press, and proclaimed by pro-slavery speakers, had been adopted by their enemies, and was about to be enforced with appalling earnestness. It meant that there was a power opposed to the pro-slavery aggressors, as cruel and unrelenting as themselves. It meant henceforth, swift retaliation—robbery for robbery—murder for murder— that "he who taketh the sword shall perish by the sword."{{cite book According to Brown's son Salmon, who participated, it was "the grandest thing that was ever done in Kansas."{{cite news ==Debate over Brown's role and motivation==

John Brown was evasive about his role in the massacre, but in Kansas Territory, his role was no secret. A United States congressional committee investigating the troubles in Kansas Territory identified Brown as the chief perpetrator. In response to those that argued the attack was motivated by the threats of violence by the pro-slavery targets of the attack, the governor of Kansas, Charles Robinson, stated: When it is known that such threats were as plenty as blue-berries in June, on both sides, all over the Territory, and were regarded as of no more importance than the idle wind, this indictment will hardly justify midnight assassination of all pro-slavery men, whether making threats or not... Had all men been killed in Kansas who indulged in such threats, there would have been none left to bury the dead.{{cite book However, Robinson also said: According to Senator Ingalls: ==See also==