Battle of Black Jack The Battle of Black Jack took place on June 2 , 1856 , when anti - slavery forces , led by the noted abolitionist John Brown , attacked the encampment of Henry C . Pate near Baldwin City , Kansas . The battle is cited as one incident of " Bleeding Kansas " and a contributing factor leading up to the American Civil War of 1861 to 1865 . Background . In 1854 , the U . S . Congress had passed the Kansas - Nebraska Act which stipulated that the residents of these territories would decide whether they wished to enter the Union as a slave or free state . This doctrine became known as popular sovereignty . Organized groups from the North sent thousands of abolitionist supporters to Kansas in an attempt to tip the balance in favor of free state advocates , to counter settlement from pro - slavery supporters from Missouri . As a result , pro - and anti - slavery groups had frequent clashes culminating in the Battle of Black Jack . On May 21 , 1856 , Henry C . Pate participated with a posse of 750 pro - slavery forces in the sacking of Lawrence , which destroyed the Free State Hotel , two abolitionist newspaper offices and their printing presses . They also looted throughout the village . The next day , Congressman Preston Brooks from South Carolina physically attacked Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts in the Senate chambers with a cane . He continued hitting after the senator was bleeding and unconscious . After that , a band of men , led by John Brown and comrade Captain Shore , executed five proslavery men with broadswords at Pottawatomie Creek . Brown ' s men let Jerome Glanville and James Harris return home to the cabin of Harris . This incident became known as the Pottawatomie Massacre . Following the massacre , three anti - slavery men were taken prisoner , including two of John Brown ' s sons . Battle . On June 2 , 1856 Brown and 29 others met Henry Pate and fought the battle of Black Jack . This started after Brown ' s two sons were captured and held prisoner by Pate . The five - hour battle went in Brown ' s favor and Pate and 22 of his followers were captured and held for ransom . Brown agreed to release them as long as they released Brown ' s sons . Town of Black Jack . The town of Black Jack was established in 1855 as a trail town on the Santa Fe Trail . The town became incorporated in 1857 and the threat of border warfare was still a problem in Black Jack . At its peak , Black Jack contained a tavern , post office , blacksmiths , a hotel , general store , doctor ' s office , schools and two churches but by the end of the Civil War , Santa Fe traffic began to dwindle and soon the town was abandoned . Legacy . Some historians consider the Battle of Black Jack to be the first true battle of the American Civil War . The “ official ” event that is cited as the beginning of the war is the attack on Fort Sumter in Charleston , South Carolina , by Confederate troops on April 12 , 1861 . The site of the battle is located near U . S . Highway 56 , about three miles ( 5 km ) east of Baldwin City , and is near the designated area of the Robert Hall Pearson Memorial Park by the state of Kansas in honor of one of Brown and Shore ' s fighters who gave a handwritten account of the battle . Signs are placed throughout the battlesite pointed out where the battle started and ended . Efforts are underway to preserve both the Pearson Memorial Park and the Ivan Boyd Prairie Preserve across the road . In 1970 , to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the founding of Baldwin City , Baker University professor and playwright Don Mueller ( not to be confused with the baseball player of the same name ) and Phyllis E . Braun , Business Manager , produced a musical play entitled " The Ballad Of Black Jack " to tell the story of the events that led up to the battle . " The Ballad Of Black Jack " played as part of the city ' s Maple Leaf Festival from 1970 – 83 and again from 2001 - 05 . It also played in nearby Lawrence in 1986 and in 2006 and 2007 as a part of Lawrence ' s Civil War On The Western Frontier program . In 2012 the National Park Service decided to designate the battlefield a National Historic Landmark .