Word was also sent to Governor Wilson Shannon at Shawnee Mission, Kansas for 3,000 men to put down the rebellion at Lawrence. There are people who believe that the whole affair was planned as a trap to catch the Free-State men and to serve as an excuse for the destruction of Lawrence.

Without ascertaining the actual condition of affairs, the governor issued a proclamation calling out the militia of Kansas -- which really meant the ruffians of Missouri -- to put down the rebellion at Lawrence. The people of Missouri were ready and were not long in responding to the call. Holloway, in his History of Kansas, says, "For two or three counties back from the western line of Missouri, troops were sent fully equipped and expecting to fight." In three days some 1,500 had rushed across the border and were confronting Lawrence. Said Governor Shannon: "Missouri sent not only her young men, but her gray-haired citizens were there. The man of seventy winters stood shoulder to shoulder with the youth of sixteen. There were volunteers in that camp and with them were not only their sons, but their grandsons to join in the fray." The main camp of the besiegers was near Franklin, about three miles southeast of Lawrence, and the other wing was in position near Lecompton, under command of Strickler and Richardson.

In Lawrence preparations for defense were going on. As soon as it was learned that a force was gathering on the Wakarusa, all those concerned with the rescue of Branson were requested to leave Lawrence. This was done to show that the town had taken no part in the rescue. A committee of safety was appointed which organized the citizens into guards of 15 or 20 men in a squad, by enrolling them and taking their residence, so that they could be called out at any moment. In this way they were enabled to pursue their business and still be ready to take up arms at a signal. The news of the threatened invasion and the intention to destroy Lawrence spread rapidly through the territory, with the result that the Free-State men rushed to the aid of the besieged, until there were probably 800 men armed and equipped for defense in the town. The committee of safety appointed Dr. Charles Robinson commander-in-chief of all the forces, with Colonel James H. Lane second in command. Lyman Allen commanded the Lawrence Stubbs; Samuel Walker, the company from Bloomington; Major Abbott, the Wakarusa company; a man named Shore, the Ottawa Creek company; McWheeney, the company from Palmyra; and the Pottawatomie company was under the command of John Brown, who arrived with his four sons, arms and ammunition just as the treaty of peace was about to be signed.

Every house was filled with soldiers and the Free-State hotel was used as a barracks. Five redoubts were built, which commanded every approach to the city. The largest was erected on Massachusetts Street near the crossing of Pinckney.