John Brown came to the village near the end of June. In 1856, Brown had led a massacre of his own, the Pottawatomie massacre, against five pro-slavery men and boys. He built a log blockhouse two stories high with a spring inside for water. The blacksmith, Eli Snider, owned the land. He later sold it to Charles C. Hadsall, a friend of Brown's. Brown and his men stayed in the fort until the end of summer. Then they left it to Hadsall to keep manned.