Harper

7 Pages 1858 Words

h against them, gave Kansas its fear-provoking moniker, “Bleeding Kansas.” Southerners realized the importance the outcome of this fight would have on their political strength. If Kansas and Nebraska became free states, this would leave Missouri surrounded on three sides by non-slaveholding states, and Southerners feared that the pressure put upon Missouri would force the institution of slavery to collapse.
And so the race began to move the most people of a certain political position into Kansas. The North organized large meetings held in order to convince people to move to Kansas that they could join the fight against slavery. The South did the same, also collecting money to help emigrants to settle in Kansas.
The sons of John Brown were among those who decided to leave their homes in the North and travel to Kansas. Frederick, Owen, and Salmon Brown left Ohio in October of 1854 with their families, cattle, and horses, until they made it to Meredosia, Illinois, where they spent the winter waiting until the spring thaws would make it viable to cross the Missouri River. They entered Kansas on April 20, 1855, and headed to Osawatomie, near the home of their Reverend Samuel Lyle Adair, their uncle who had moved to Kansas the year before. By June, J...