ith a small company from Osawatomie to assist in the defense
of Lawrence. The statement that he disapproved of the agreement with
Governor Shannon which prevented bloodshed is not in accord with a
letter which John Brown wrote to his wife immediately after the event.
The Governor granted practically all that the freestate men desired
and recognized their trainbands as a part of the police force of
the Territory. Brown by this stipulation became Captain John Brown,
commander of a company of the territorial militia.

Soon after the Battle of Wakarusa, Captain Brown passed the command of
the company of militia to his son John, while he became the leader of a
small band composed chiefly of members of his own family. Writing to his
wife on April 7, 1856, he said: "We hear that preparations are making in
the United States Court for numerous arrests of free-state men. For one
I have not desired (all things considered) to have the slave power cease
from its acts of aggression. 'Their foot shall slide in due time.'" This
letter of Brown's indicates that the writer was pleased at the prospect
of approaching trouble.

When, six weeks later, notice came of the attack upon Lawrence, John
Brown, Junior, went with the company of Osawatomie Rifles to the relief
of the town, while the elder Brown with a little company of six moved in
the same direction. In a letter to his wife, dated June 26, 1856, more
than a month after the massacre in Pottawatomie Valley, Brown said:

"On our way to Lawrence we learned that it had been already destroyed,
and we encamped with John's company overnight.... On the second day
and evening after we left John's men, we encountered quite a number of
pro-slavery men and took quite a number of prisoners. Our prisoners we
let go, but kept some four or five horses. We were immediately after
this accused of murdering five men at Pottawatomie and great efforts
have been made by the Missourians and their ruffian allies to capture
us. John's company soon afterwards disbanded, and also the Osawatomie
men. Since then, we have, like David of old, had our dwelling with the
serpents of the rocks and the wild beasts of the wilderness."

There will probably never be agreement as to Brown's motives in slaying
his five neighbors on May 24, 1856. Opinions likewise differ as to the
effect which this incident had on the history of Kansas. Abolitionists
of every class had said much about war and about servile insurrection,
but