Marais des Cygnes Massacre
Marais des Cygnes, Kansas
May 19, 1858
The Marais des Cygnes Massacre, , was an incursion of border
ruffians who abducted 11 local men, took them to a ravine
about four miles north of the little town of Trading Post, shot them,
and left them for dead. John F. Campbell, William Colpetzer, Michael Robinson,
Patrick Ross, and William Stillwell were executed. William Hairgrove and
Asa, his brother, as well as Amos Hall, the Rev. Benjamin Read, and Charles Snyder
were wounded. Austin Hall, also present, feigned death and was uninjured.
This action was commemorated in a poem by John Greenleaf Whittier (selections reproduced below).
From the hearths of their cabins,
The fields of their corn,
Unwarned and unweaponed,
The victims were torn,-
By the whirlwind of murder
Swooped up and swept on
To the low, reedy fen-lands,
The March of the Swan
With a vain plea for mercy
No stout knee was crooked;
In the mouths of the rifles
Right manly they looked.
How paled the May sunshine,
Green Marais des Cygne,
When the death-smoke blew over
Thy lonely ravine!
On the lintels of Kansas
That blood shall not dry;
Henceforth the Bad Angel
Shall harmless go by:
Henceforth to the sunset,
Unchecked on her way,
Shall Liberty follow
The march of the day
Thus was named Bleeding Kansas!
The land encompassing the massacre is designated a National Historic Landmark.
This massacre is not often considered as part of the Civil War. It is, however, extremely
significant in it’s impact to the events leading to the armed conflict.
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Battlefield Series
Marais des Cygnes 01
The ravine at the site of the massacre
photo taken May 4, 2002
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Battlefield Series
Marais des Cygnes 02
Some weeks after the Massacre, John Brown arrived, building a small, two story fort.
Later, in 1858, one of Brown’s followers, Charles C. Hadsall, bought the property.
He erected the stone house, next to the site of the fort.
photo taken May 4, 2002
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Battlefield Series
Marais des Cygnes 03
The remains of four of the killed have been reinterred in the Trading Post Cemetery.
photo taken May 4, 2002
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Battlefield Series
Marais des Cygnes 04
This monument, erected in 1888, commemorates the Massacre.
photo taken May 4, 2002
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