Sacking of Lawrence, Kansas

Date: May 21, 1856 • Location: Lawrence, United States

This milestone marked the outbreak and beginning of this historic period, which spanned 1856.

A crowd of about 800 pro-slavery Americans ransacked the town of Lawrence, Kansas.

The sacking of Lawrence occurred on May 21, 1856, when pro-slavery settlers, led by Douglas County Sheriff Samuel J. Jones, attacked and ransacked Lawrence, Kansas, a town that had been founded by anti-slavery settlers from Massachusetts who were hoping to make Kansas a free state. The incident fueled the irregular conflict in Kansas Territory that later became known as Bleeding Kansas.