The violence continued to increase . John Brown led his sons and other followers to plan the murder of settlers who spoke in favor of slavery . At a pro-slavery settlement at Pottawatomie Creek on the night of May 24 , the group seized five pro-slavery men from their homes and hacked them to death with broadswords . Brown and his men escaped and began plotting a full-scale slave insurrection to take place at Harpers Ferry , Virginia , with financial support from Boston abolitionists
hacked them to death
Pottawatomie massacre
Bleeding Kansas