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Marais des Cygnes Massacre Site, Linn County, KS

Photo: Hog Farm, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and resized.

Sightseeing

Marais des Cygnes Massacre Site

Kansas Historical Society state site marking an 1858 proslavery attack on free-state men during the Bleeding Kansas era.

Linn County, KS

About Marais des Cygnes Massacre Site

This state historic site marks a ravine where proslavery men killed five free-state men and wounded others on May 19, 1858. The event followed earlier guerrilla fighting on both sides and drew national attention, becoming a key moment in the Bleeding Kansas period. Months later, abolitionist John Brown built a fortified cabin nearby. Visitors can walk the grounds and explore exterior exhibits about tensions in territorial Kansas. The site is a National Historic Landmark.

  • #Bleeding Kansas
  • #territorial Kansas
  • #John Brown
  • #abolition
  • #Civil War prelude

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What's around here?

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