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 A previous threatened attack in December, 1855,
referred to as the
Wakarusa War,
was settled before any blood was shed. But the southern sympathizers were
determined to "put down” the resistance of
Lawrence
citizens.
On April 23, 1856, pro-slavery advocate and Douglas County
Sheriff,
Samuel J.
Jones, went to arrest several
Free-State men and was shot by an
unknown person.
Jones would survive the shooting and on May 11th,
Federal Marshal J.B. Donaldson proclaimed that the citizenry of
Lawrence
had interfered with the execution of warrants. In the meantime, a
Lawrence
newspaper, called the Herald of Freedom,
was actively publishing numerous
anti-slavery articles, which had long source of
bitter contempt to the proslavery
forces operating in
Kansas.
As a result, Sheriff
Samuel J.
Jones collected a posse of some 750 men with
the intent of destroying the
offices of the Herald of Freedom, as well as
another newspaper called the Kansas Free State.
The "posse” gathered on the outskirts of town, as
well as stationing a large force and cannon atop Mount Oread. The home of
Lawrence
resident, and the first governor of
Kansas,
Charles L. Robinson, was commandeered as the headquarters for the operation.
Troops were also posted on every road leading into the city to stop anyone from
escaping.
The troops then marched into the city under two
flags – one a blood-red flag on which was "Southern Rights," and the other, the
United States flag. The men then went to the newspaper offices, destroyed the
presses, and threw them, as well as the types, into the river. They then began
the work of destroying the Free State Hotel by firing on it with a cannon. When
the cannon ball missed, the building was set afire and by evening was a
roofless, smoldering ruin. The troops then began to rob various locations before
burning the home of
Charles L. Robinson.
One person died during the melee – ironically, a
pro-slavery proponent who was killed by falling masonry.
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