John Brown cabin postcard   Save
OHS Archives/Library
Description: Photograph showing the home of abolitionist John Brown in Osawatomie, Kansas, 1921. Following the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854, Brown--a vehement opponent to slavery--moved to Kansas with five of his sons, intending to help make Kansas a free state. On May 23, 1856, Brown, four of his sons, and two additional men rode into Pottawatomie Creek, Kansas, a village of several slave-owning families. Brown and his followers killed five men in front of their wives and children. This brutal act was one of many that caused the territory to be called "Bleeding Kansas." Brown immediately became known for his violent opposition to slavery, and many people both feared and despised him. He went on to lead an unsuccessful raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia), for which he was convicted of treason and executed in 1859. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: sc223_03
Subjects: John Brown's Raid, 1859; Abolitionists -- Ohio; Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights
Places: Osawatomie (Kansas)