Marais des Cygnes Massacre

By Chris Rein, Combat Studies Institute, Army University

On May 19, 1858, proslavery “border ruffians” led by Charles Hamilton rounded up a number of suspected antislavery men near the town of Trading Post in modern Linn County, Kansas, marched 11 men into a secluded ravine, and opened fire on them, killing five and seriously wounding five others before escaping back across the border into Missouri.

Montgomery, James

By Christopher Phillips, University of Cincinnati

James Montgomery, abolitionist and federal army colonel, was born in Ashtabula County, Ohio, in Ohio’s deeply antislavery Western Reserve, on December 22, 1814. The deeply evangelical Montgomery was soon caught up in the controversy over slavery and popular sovereignty in the newly formed Kansas Territory. An ally of John Brown and Charles Jennison, Montgomery became notorious for antislavery guerrilla warfare along the Missouri-Kansas border.

Marais Des Cygnes Massacre

A ravine at this site was the location of one of the last acts of Bleeding Kansas violence prior to the Civil War.

James Montgomery Raids Fort Scott

Thu, 12/16/1858

In retaliation for the Marais des Cygnes Massacre of Free-State Kansans, James Montgomery leads a raid on Fort Scott, Kansas.

Marais des Cygnes Massacre

Wed, 05/19/1858

Border ruffians led by Charles Hamilton, a settler from Georgia, round up known Free-Staters and open fire on them in a ravine northeast of Trading Post, Kansas.