Bleeding Kansas
Part of the prelude to the American Civil War
1856 map showing slave states (gray), free states (pink), and territories (green) in the United States, with the Kansas Territory in center (white)
Date 1854–1861 Location Kansas and Missouri Result Kansas admitted to the Union as a free state
Belligerents
Anti-slavery settlers (Free-Staters)	Pro-slavery settlers (Border Ruffians)
Casualties and losses
Disputed - 100+	80 or fewer; 20–30 killed

Bleeding Kansas was a border war on the Kansas-Missouri border. It started with the Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854. It continued into the American Civil War (1854–1861). It was an ugly war between groups of people who had strong beliefs about slavery. The term was first coined by Horace Greeley of the New York Tribune. He used it to describe the violence happening in the Kansas territory during the mid to late 1850s. Three different groups were fighting for power in Kansas at the time. These were those who were pro-slavery, abolitionists and free-staters. Bleeding Kansas, fought over the issue of slavery, was a precursor of events to come in the American Civil War.