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Photograph of Marais des Cygnes Massacre Site
Photograph by Hog Farm, CC BY-SA 4.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Marais des Cygnes Massacre Site

A National Historic Landmark. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.

From the record

“The Marais des Cygnes massacre is considered the last significant act of violence in Bleeding Kansas prior to the outbreak of the American Civil War. On May 19, 1858, approximately 30 border ruffians led by Charles Hamilton, a Georgia native and proslavery leader, crossed into the Kansas Territory from Missouri.”

Wikipedia article Marais des Cygnes massacre, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 9 National Register listings published here for Linn County · listed in 1971 · category: Site · a National Historic Landmark.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the National Register database, National Park Service · the Wikipedia article

The listing

  • Address. 5 mi. NE of Trading Post, Trading Post, 66075
  • When was it listed? June 1971
  • Category. site
  • Township. Valley township
  • National Register reference number. 71000317 - assigned by the National Park Service when the property was listed.

Fires near this property

42 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 42 fires within 5 miles of Marais des Cygnes Massacre Site between 1992 and 2020, burning about 1,841 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 7 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined16
Debris and open burning9
Recreation and ceremony7
Arson/incendiarism7
Equipment and vehicle use2
Natural1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
25 July 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresKansas Forest Servicenot named
25 July 2011Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMarais des Cygnes National Wildlife RefugeSEED SACK
19 July 2012Missing data/not specified/undetermined21 acresMarais des Cygnes National Wildlife Refuge1700-69
16 July 2012Equipment and vehicle use2.7 acresMarais des Cygnes National Wildlife RefugeGATLIN BALER
23 June 2003Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMarais des Cygnes National Wildlife RefugeDAVIS BRIDGE
16 June 2003Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMarais des Cygnes National Wildlife RefugeLOG JAM
24 April 2018Arson/incendiarismunder an acreMarais des Cygnes National Wildlife RefugeTHE HILL
2 April 2003Recreation and ceremony1.0 acresMarais des Cygnes National Wildlife Refuge1550/YARDLEY

Every fire recorded in Linn County

Mines and quarries near this property

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Marais des Cygnes Massacre Site: 2 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Alvis QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Unknown - S&GSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Linn County

Storms near this property

7 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Trading Post, the town this property stands in, in 7 storm reports between 1993 and 2025: 5 thunderstorm wind, 2 hail. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
June 2008Thunderstorm WindTrading Post$5,000A roof was blown off a home.
May 2025Thunderstorm WindTrading Post-Estimated 65 mph wind gusts between Pleasanton and Trading Post.
May 2020Thunderstorm WindTrading Post-A stationary tractor-trailer was overturned at this location due to strong winds.
June 2019Thunderstorm WindTrading Post-Estimated 60 mph wind at the intersection of HWY 52 and HWY 69.
June 2017Thunderstorm WindTrading Post-A semi truck was blown into the ditch on Highway 69 at mile marker 109. Wind damage extends down to Pleasanton along Highway 69.
June 2019HailTrading Post-no account filed
April 1993HailTrading Post-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Linn County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 71000317 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Linn CountyAll 9 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

  • Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
  • Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
  • How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
  • Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
  • Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
  • Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.