two more years. The last major outbreak of violence was touched off by the Marais des Cygnes massacre in 1858, in which Border Ruffians killed five Free State men. In the so-called Battle of the Spurs, in January, 1859, John Brown led escaped slaves through a pro-slavery ambush en route to freedom via Nebraska and Iowa; not a shot was fired. However, approximately 56 people died in Bleeding Kansas by the time the violence ended in 1859. Following the commencement of the American Civil War in 1861, additional guerrilla violence erupted on the border between Kansas and Missouri. Legacy Heritage Area In 2006, federal legislation defined a new Freedom's Frontier National Heritage Area (FFNHA) and was approved by Congress. A task of the heritage area is to interpret Bleeding Kansas stories, which are also called stories of the Kansas–Missouri border war. A theme of the heritage area is the enduring struggle for freedom. FFNHA includes 41 counties, 29 of which are in eastern Kansas and 12 in western Missouri. In popular culture The "Bleeding Kansas" episode has been dramatically rendered in countless works of American popular culture, including literature, theater, film, and television. Its many depictions and mentions include: Sante Fe Trail (1940), an American western film set before the Civil War which depicts John Brown's campaign during Bleeding Kansas, starring Ronald Reagan, Errol Flynn, and Raymond Massey. Wildwood Boys (William Morrow, New York; 2000), a biographical novel of "Bloody Bill" Anderson by James Carlos Blake Bleeding Kansas (2008) by Sara Paretsky, a novel depicting social and political conflicts in present-day Kansas with many references to the 19th-century events The Good Lord Bird (2013), book by James McBride The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), an American western film set during and after the Civil War which depicts violence in the aftermath of Bleeding Kansas. The character of Granny, who is from Kansas, had a son which she said "was killed by Missouri ruffians in The Border War". Bad Blood, the Border War that Triggered the Civil War (2007), a documentary film () by Kansas City Public Television and Wide Awake Films The November 8, 2014, episode of Hell on Wheels, titled "Bleeding Kansas", depicted one occurrence of a white family being slain for having slaves, who were then freed, in the name of religion When Kings Reigned (2017), a docudrama directed by Ian Ballinger and Alison Dover about fishermen living along the Kansas River during and after the Bleeding Kansas era and the persecution they faced from local governments The Kents, a 12 issue mini-series of comics written by John Ostrander exploring the history of Superman's adoptive family set against the conflicts of the Bleeding Kansas era. See also John Brown (abolitionist) Kansas–Nebraska Act Origins of the American Civil War References Further reading Childers, Christopher. "Interpreting Popular Sovereignty: A Historiographical Essay", Civil War History Volume 57, Number 1, March 2011 pp. 48–70 in Project MUSE Earle, Jonathan and Burke, Diane Mutti. Bleeding Kansas, Bleeding Missouri: The Long Civil War on the Border. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2013. Etcheson, Nicole. "The Great Principle of Self-Government: Popular Sovereignty and Bleeding Kansas", Kansas History 27 (Spring-Summer 2004):14–29, links it to Jacksonian Democracy Etcheson, Nicole. Bleeding Kansas: Contested Liberty in the Civil War Era (2006) Goodrich, Thomas. War to the Knife: Bleeding Kansas, 1854–1861 (2004) Johannsen, Robert W. "Popular Sovereignty and the Territories", Historian 22#4 pp. 378–395, Malin, James C. John Brown and the Legend of Fifty-six. (1942) Miner, Craig (2002). Kansas: The History of the Sunflower State, 1854–2000. Nevins, Alan. Ordeal of the Union: vol. 2 A House Dividing, 1852–1857 (1947), Kansas