Sacking of Lawrence

Siege Of Lawrence
Part of Bleeding Kansas
Ruins of Free State Hotel after the attack
Date 21 May 1856 Location Douglas County, Kansas Result Pro-slavery victory
Belligerents
Free-State Abolitionists	Slave State
Commanders and leaders
no military commander	Samuel J. Jones
Strength
abolitionist civilians	800
Casualties and losses
1 wounded	1 dead

The Siege of Lawrence occurred on May 21, 1856, when pro-slavery activists attacked and ransacked the town of Lawrence, Kansas, which had been founded by anti-slavery settlers to help ensure that Kansas would become a "free state". The incident made worse the guerrilla war in Kansas Territory that became known as Bleeding Kansas.

Lawrence was founded in 1854 by anti-slavery settlers, many with the financial support of the New England Emigrant Aid Company. The town soon became the center of pro-slavery violence in Kansas Territory. While the village had been besieged in December 1855, it was not directly attacked at that time. The non-fatal shooting of Douglas County Sheriff Samuel J. Jones who was attempting to arrest free-state settlers in Lawrence, is considered by the abolitionists the immediate cause of the violence. Lawrence residents drove Jones out of town after they shot him, and on May 11, Federal Marshal J. B. Donaldson proclaimed the act had interfered with the execution of warrants against the extralegal Free-State legislature, which was set up in opposition to the official pro-slavery territorial government. Based on this proclamation, as well the finding by a grand jury that Lawrence's Free State Hotel was actually built to use as a fort, Sheriff Jones assembled a posse of about 800 southern settlers to enter Lawrence, disarm the citizens, destroy the anti-slavery presses, and dismantle the Free State Hotel.

On May 21, 1856, the posse led by Sheriff Jones neared the town. A large force was stationed on the high ground at Mount Oread, and a cannon was placed to cover and command the area. The house of Charles L. Robinson, later to become the first governor of Kansas, was taken over as Jones's headquarters. Every road to the town and on the opposite side of the river was guarded by posse members to prevent the free soilers from fleeing. Two flags were to be seen that day: a blood-red flag inscribed with "Southern-rights" and the "stars and stripes."

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