Questions About John Brown

[Thomas Thorne]

http://www.kshs.org/publicat/history/199...r_watts.pd

I found an interesting article about the the number of killings in "Bleeding Kansas", a phrase invented by Horace Greeley in 1854. I disagree with the author's low ball assessment of how many Kansas killings-56-should be classified as political in nature but even his high end total of 157 is well below the 200 traditionally attributed to "Bleeding Kansas."

It is fascinating to find out how few deaths occurred in some of the most lurid episodes of the war. Only 2 people died in the Wakarusa War despite the presence of 1500 armed Missouri 'border ruffians" who were evidently much better shots in subsequent movies. Only 1 person, a member of the pro slavery posse of 800 died in the Sack of Lawrence and he was killed by falling masonry.

Kansas had all the ingredients for a full scale civil war: fierce ideological differences, contested and fraudulent elections, and rival governments and armed forces. Yet the end of "bleeding Kansas" went unnoticed. On 1/29/1861 Kansas was admitted to the Union as a free state, a fact overlooked in the great drama of secession winter.

Tom