The Adventures of BillyMax: Marais des Cygnes Massacre Site Kansas

Oh, the roads I travel to see things! The road to the Marais des Cygnes Massacre site.

Sorry about the reflection in the windshield -- I was taking pics while driving (I'm Bad!) and forgot to remove my day trip schedule and maps from the dash!

The Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854 called for "popular sovereignty." The decision about slavery was to be made by the settlers as Kansas and Nebraska came into statehood. Politicians from the north wanted Kansas as a free state; southern politicians saw a free Kansas as a threat. Set off by a rivalry with pro-slavery supporters from Missouri, Kansas became the catalyst for the upward spiral of violence.

At the heart of the conflict was the question of whether sparsely settled Kansas would allow slavery or outlaw it. Hundreds of 'settlers" from slave-holding Missouri crossed the border and came to the Kansas Territory to vote on the slave/free issue. Votes were taken and tallied: Slave. And the voters? Gone, most of them, back to their homes in Missouri.

As tempers rose, common people began to die uncommonly violent deaths. The Marais des Cygnes Massacre was the last major violent episode of the period.

On May 19, 1858 an armed action took place that would be known as the Marais des Cygnes Massacre. Charles Hamelton, a Georgia native, and a veteran of several border skirmishes, had moved to the Kansas Territory to help hold the territory for the proslavery forces. Earlier antislavery forces led by James Montgomery set siege to Hamelton’s fortified house, forcing him out of Kansas. He vowed to return and take revenge on his former neighbors. (yes, the name is spelled with an “e”!)

I'm really glad it wasn't any darker when I was making this trip!

Accompanied with about 30 of his pro-slavery followers, Hamelton returned to the Marais des Cygnes River Valley. Robbing and taking prisoner any men he suspected of antislavery sentiments, most were captured at home or in their fields; they had little opportunity to escape. Eli Snyder, a blacksmith, fired on Hamelton's band and, although wounded in the leg, managed to escape.

After releasing those who were aged, young, or fellow Freemasons, Hamelton’s gang marched the remaining 11 toward the border, into a secluded ravine less than a mile from the Missouri border. The Free State men didn't feel they had any need to worry about harm from their former neighbor. However, they were herded into a ravine, lined up and shot and left for dead; Hamilton dismounted his horse and “finished the job.” Then along with his "border ruffians," he returned to Missouri.

Of the 11, 5 died, 5 were wounded, and one, who had "played dead," crawled from the ravine to tell his tale to the nation.

Not knowing about the murders, Sarah Read, wife of captured Rev. Samuel Read, set off on foot to chase down Hamelton and his men. She came upon the victims, some still alive. Word of the massacre spread quickly and by afternoon Free-Staters had gathered to collect and bury the dead, treat the wounded, and join with James Montgomery’s Jayhawkers to ride into Missouri, in pursuit of Hamelton’s gang. They did not locate him or his men.

Baptist minister, Rev. Benjamin L. Read, immediately spread the word of the massacre and it was soon chronicled by abolitionist writer John Greenleaf Whittier in a poem that appeared in the September 1858 issue of the Atlantic Monthly. The poem continued to rally support nationally for the Free-State cause.

Throughout the remainder of the year, Charles Hamilton and noted Jayhawker James Montgomery continued to engage in a series of skirmishes, both with each other and federal troops from Fort Scott who were attempting to reestablish order along the border.

After the Marais des Cygnes Massacre people moved from the bordering communities, leaving the area empty, with a 'ghost town' quality. Free-States moved further west to Osawatomie and pro-slavery families retreated further back into Missouri.

A few weeks after the massacre John Brown arrived and built a two-story log "fort", 14 x 18 feet, 200 yards south of the ravine. During the summer, he occupied the building with a few of his men. The land belonged to Eli Snider, the blacksmith. Later he sold it to Brown's friend Charles Hadsall, who agreed to let Brown occupy it for military purposes. In December he made a raid into Missouri in which 11 slaves were liberated and 1 man was killed.

Hadsall later built this stone home near the Brown house. Brown’s fortress no longer exists.

Although Kansas Governor James Denver managed to broker an uneasy truce between the warring factions and prevent any immediate reprisals during the summer of 1858, conflict continued to simmer until the Civil War arrived in 1861.

The slaughtered men, women and children were the forgotten victims of the undeclared border war of the 1850s.

"Le Marais du Cygne" By John Greenleaf Whittier

A BLUSH as of roses

Where rose never grew!

Great drops on the bunch-grass,

But not of the dew!

A taint in the sweet air

For wild bees to shun!

A stain that shall never

Bleach out in the sun!

Back, steed of the prairies!

Sweet song-bird, fly back!