On May 21 , 1856 , Henry C. Pate participated with a posse of 750 pro-slavery forces in the sacking of Lawrence , which destroyed the Free State Hotel , two abolitionist newspaper offices and their printing presses . They also looted throughout the village . The next day , Congressman Preston Brooks from South Carolina physically attacked Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts in the Senate chambers with a cane . He continued hitting after the senator was bleeding and unconscious . Three days later , a band of men , led by John Brown and comrade Captain Shore , executed five proslavery men with broadswords at Pottawatomie Creek . Brown 's men let Jerome Glanville and James Harris return home to the cabin of Harris . This incident became known as the Pottawatomie massacre . Following the massacre , three anti-slavery men were taken prisoner , including two of John Brown 's sons
Pottawatomie massacre
Pottawatomie massacre
Battle of Black Jack