ABSTRACT
Napoleon Simpson was one of many warriors in Bleeding Kansas. But there was more at stake for him than for those who battled for political theories or rich farmland: Simpson was fighting, quite literally, for his freedom. Born a slave, Simpson escaped from his Missouri master in 1859 and made it to Iowa. Then he turned around. Unwilling to abandon his wife to a lifetime of servitude, Simpson snuck back into Missouri in May 1860, only to discover that she was seriously ill. Simpson withdrew to Kansas to allow his wife to recover before attempting another rescue. He was warmly welcomed by a Douglas County abolitionist named Joseph Gardner, who was famous for assisting fugitive slaves. Slaveholders considered him a criminal, and Gardner soon learned that proslavery leaders in Lecompton had recruited dozens of Missourians to “make war upon [his] house.”1 Gardner stockpiled weapons and fortified himself in his cabin with his wife, six children, Simpson, and another former slave.
