Two Letters Regarding Bleeding Kansas

In the years leading up to the Civil War, nothing was more hotly contested than the issue of slavery. The struggle known as "Bleeding Kansas" was the most violent manifestation of this quarrel, as pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers struggled to gain control of the territory. In 1855, in the midst of Bleeding Kansas, the abolitionist John Brown directed the murder of five pro-slavery neighbors. The event, known as the Pottawatomie Massacre, became one of Brown’s most notorious acts. Over the years Brown’s detractors have pointed to this killing of unarmed civilians as proof that he was a madman. Supporters of Brown argue that he is a hero despite these murders because of his noble struggle against slavery. The two letters presented below were both written by people directly involved in these violent and controversial events. The first, written by Brown’s oldest son John Jr., focuses on the glory and importance of the abolitionist cause. The second, written by Mahala Doyle, the widow of a man killed by Brown and his followers, emphasizes the cold blooded nature of Brown’s crimes. These captivating first-hand accounts present conflicting historical views to both sides of a debate that continues today.

Historical Background

In the spring of 1855 Brown’s five eldest sons set out from Ohio to stake their claim in the increasingly turbulent Kansas territory. The brothers built their settlement in Osawatomie, along the Pottawatomie Creek, and called it "Brown's Station." The boys, imbued with their father’s abolitionist spirit, had quickly joined the fight against slavery. Brown, who had long ago sworn his life to destroying slavery and helping African Americans, had been helping free blacks set up a farming community in North Elba, New York. However, when Brown learned in a letter from John Jr. that the anti-slavery cause was in great danger and that his sons were badly in need of arms, he loaded a wagon with rifles and broadswords and headed for Osawatomie.

The situation in Kansas continued to deteriorate. The pro-slavery legislature, supported by the federal government, passed a series of laws making it a crime to help a slave or even speak out against the institution of slavery. The unsanctioned free-state legislature, claiming to represent the actual settlers of Kansas, passed separate laws and made plans to draft a free-state constitution. Skirmishes ensued between armed bands of settlers, but much of the violence was directed against individuals. Combatants and civilians on both sides of the struggle were beaten and murdered, sometimes without pretext. On May 21, 1856, in response to an assault on a sheriff, pro-slavery forces sacked and burned Lawrence, a major free-state outpost. When Brown heard of the attack he decided vengeance was necessary to punish and frighten the enemy. On the night of May 24, Brown and six other men went from house to house along the Pottawatomie Creek and murdered five pro-slavery settlers who lived there.

The Letters:

A Son’s Praise of His Father’s Plight

Word spread quickly that Brown was responsible for the killing spree, and he retreated into the woods. Even though John Jr. knew nothing of the murders until afterwards, he was captured by pro-slavery militia and beaten within an inch of his life. Due to his involvement in the outlaw free-state legislature, John Jr. was handed over to the United States Army and held prisoner near Lecompton, Kansas. From prison he wrote this letter to his younger brother Jason and other members of the Brown family. By that point, Kansas had descended into all out guerrilla war. Small battles were being fought all over the state by various militia groups and raiding parties. John Jr. expresses a sentiment common on both sides of the fighting when he writes that only “war to the death” can decide who controls Kansas. He praises his father, whose guerrilla band has been involved in numerous skirmishes, and whose raids have led Missourians to call him “the most terrible foe they have to encounter.” John Jr. tells his brother that "the prospect for Kansas becoming a free state never looked brighter."

John Jr. does not discuss the murders, but focuses on the importance of the abolitionist cause, and their father’s role in its success. In September John Jr. was released and a new Governor, John W. Geary, arrived in Kansas. Geary quickly assured both sides that a peaceable solution could be reached, violence subsided, and Bleeding Kansas came to an end. Eventually the free-state settlers would prevail through the ballot, and in 1861 Kansas would enter the Union as a free state.

A Widow's Response to a "Cold Blood" Attack

In 1859 John Brown was arrested during his raid on Harpers Ferry. While awaiting execution he received this letter from Mahala Doyle, whose husband James and two oldest sons had been killed during the Pottawatomie Massacre. The Doyles were farmers who did not own slaves, but James Doyle was an active member in the pro-slavery party known for his intense hatred of abolitionists. This is why Brown chose to visit the Doyle house. Exactly what happened once he arrived is not entirely clear. Doyle’s letter claims that Brown shot the three men after dragging them from the house. However, most historians agree that other members of Brown’s party butchered the Doyles with swords, and that Brown only used his pistol to make certain they were dead. In either case Brown was responsible for ordering the men to be killed. In her letter Doyle attacks Brown’s reasoning, saying that “you can’t say you done it to free our slaves” because “we had none and never expected to own one.” She also stresses the fact that the killings were done “in cold blood” and bemoans that Brown left her “a poor disconsolate widow.”

By focusing on the cruel and arbitrary nature of Brown’s actions Mahala Doyle makes the Pottawatomie Massacre far less defensible. Brown’s modern day detractors attack him in much the same way Doyle does. And those that champion Brown as a hero focus on his fight against slavery, just as John Jr. does in his letter. These two letters, written one hundred and fifty years ago, make the case for and against John Brown in much the same way as it is made today.

Daniel Wolf
Manuscript Cataloger

GLC08906 John Brown, Jr. to Jason Brown and Others
GLC07590 Mahala Doyle to John Brown

For more information or to obtain copies, contact Ana Ramirez-Luhrs at reference@gilderlehrman.com or call (212) 787-6616 ext. 209.

Dear Brother Jason & others

Agreeably with my promise to write often, I have sent you lately not less than four letters one or two by private hands the others by Mail. Events of the most stirring character are now passing within hearing distance I should think more that 200 shots have been fired within the past half hour, and within a mile of our Camp. Have just learned that some 80 of our free state men have “pitched in” to a pro-slavery Camp this side of Lecompton which was commanded by a notorious pro slavery scoundrel named Titus one of the Buford party from Alabama. A dense volume of smoke is now rising in the vicinity of his house – The firing has ceased and we are most impatient to learn the result. During the past month the Ruffians have been actively at work and had made not less than 5 entrenched Camps where they had in different parts of the Territory established themselves in armed bands, well provided with Camps they sally out, steal horses and rob free state settlers; in several cases murdering them, and then [2] slip back into their Camps with their plunder

Last week a body of our men made a desent upon Franklin and after a skirmishing fight of about 3 hours took their barracks and recovered some sixty guns and a Cannon of which our men had been robbed some months since on the road from Westport. Our loss was one man killed and two severely wounded, but it is thought they will recover. The enemy were in a log building from which they kept up a sharp fire while they themselves were quite unexposed. Our men then had recourse to a system of Tactics not laid down in Scott. They procured a wagon loaded with hay and running it down against the building set it on fire, when the rascals immediately surrendered. Yesterday our men had invested another of their fortified Camps on Washington Creek a south branch of the Wakarusa, and it was expected that an attack would be made upon it last night –

Hurrah for our side! A messenger has just come in stating that on the approach of our men some 250 or 300 in number at Washington Creek yesterday towards evening the enemy broke and fled, leaving behind to fall into the hands of our men, a lot of provisions and a hundred stand of arms. But this is not all [3] The notorious Col Titus who only a day or two since was headed to declare “that Free State men had only two weeks longer to remain in Kansas” went out last night on a marauding expedition in which he took six prisoners and a lot of horses – this morning our men followed him closely and fell upon his camp killed two of his men, liberated the prisoners he had taken, took him and ten others prisoners, set fire to his house and with a lot of arms tents prisoners &c returned,
only
having in the fight had T one of our men seriously wounded –

[Note written vertically at top of 1]

Dont fail to urge the enrollment of every able bodied free state man and place yourselves in a position to act both offensively or defensively in the most efficient manner – Stringfellow and Atchisnon are said to be again raising a force to come in from Missouri to carry out their long cherished plan to drive out or exterminate our people. If our men are wide awake we shall gain the day. The prospect for Kansas becoming a free state never looked brighter now is the time to prepare and continue prepared

McGlone, Robert. “Brown, John.” American National Biography. Eds. John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

McGlone, Robert. “Rescripting a Troubled Past: John Brown’s Family and the Harpers Ferry Conspiracy.” The Journal of American History Vol. 75, No. 4. (March, 1989), pp. 1179-1200.

Oates, Stephen B. To Purge This Land with Blood: A Biography of John Brown. New York: Harper & Row, 1970.

Renehan, Edward J. Jr. The Secret Six: The True Tale of the Men Who Conspired with John Brown. New York: Crown Publishers, 1995.

Reynolds, David S. John Brown: Abolitionist. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005.

“Bleeding Kansas.” The Readers Companion to American History. Eds. Eric Foner and John A. Garraty. 1 vol. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1991.