Richard C. Brown and Herbert J. Bass, One Flag, One Land, vol. 1 (Morristown, NJ: Silver Burdett Company, 1986), 468-469.
Men favoring slavery formed one territorial government in Kansas. Men opposed to slavery formed another. Raids and murders took place as law and order broke down. John Brown, a fanatical abolitionist, and his sons led an attack in which five proslavery settlers in Kansas were killed. Violence in "bleeding Kansas" added to the tensions now being felt in all parts of the country.