May 1856

Wednesday 21:

Lawrence, Kansas is captured and burned by pro-slavery forces.

Thursday 22:

Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina beats Senator Charles Sumner with a cane in the hall of the United States Senate for a speech Sumner had made attacking Southerners who sympathized with the pro-slavery violence in Kansas ("Bleeding Kansas").

Saturday 24:

John Brown and his men murder five slavery supporters at Pottawatomie Creek, Kansas