Bleeding Kansas
1856

The Kansas-Nebraska Act led to a rush for Kansas for the sole purpose of being able to vote on the controversial issue of slavery. Northern abolitionists shipped people and weapons to the territory, and Missouri's infamous "border ruffians" crossed the state line to fight or vote, pretending to be legitimate residents of Kansas. The disagreements escalated so quickly that Kansas was full of small wandering armies that clashed over the slightest excuse. When proslavery "Slave State Forces" attacked and looted an abolitionist stronghold, John Brown retaliated with the murder of a proslavery family. Such acts of violence and terror were rampant throughout, and they didn't end until 1861, when the people who'd been fighting each other signed up with bigger armies to fight each other elsewhere. Some consider Bleeding Kansas to be the first battles of the Civil War.