Puritan John Brown (the one to whom the song “John Brown” was rededicated), a staunch anti-slavery man, settled with his family in Kansas near the Ossawatomie River. When he heard news of the burning of the town of Lawrence by Southerners, and then of Southern settlers who, having settled in Pottawatomie, had insulted some freesoilers, Brown attacked them one night, dragged them out of their house, and massacred them. Five people died. This episode was part of a long chain of revenge, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
