the pottawatomie massacre happened during the night of may 24 to the morning of may 25, 1856. in what seems to be a reaction to the sacking of lawrence, john brown and a group of abolitionists killed five settlers. they believed these settlers were pro-slavery. this happened north of pottawatomie creek in franklin county, kansas. brown later said that he did not take part in the killings during the pottawatomie massacre, but that he did approve of them. he went into hiding after the killings. two of his sons, john jr. and jason, were arrested. while they were arrested, they were allegedly treated poorly. this made john jr. mentally hurt. on june 2, brown led a successful attack on a group of missourians. the missourians were led by captain henry pate. this happened in the battle of black jack. pate and his men had went into kansas to capture brown and others. that fall, brown went back into hiding and did other guerrilla warfare activities.