| Sacking of Lawrence | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Bleeding Kansas | |||||||
 Ruins of Free State Hotel after the attack | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Free-Stater | Border ruffians | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Samuel C. Pomeroy (de facto) | Samuel J. Jones | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| abolitionist civilians | 300 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 1 wounded | 1 dead | ||||||
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.
The human cost of the attack was low: only one person—a member of the pro-slavery gang—was killed, and his death was accidental. However, Jones and his men halted production of the Free-State newspapers the Kansas Free State and the Herald of Freedom, destroying the presses and offices (with the former ceasing publication altogether and the latter taking months to once again start up). The pro-slavery men also destroyed the Free State Hotel and Charles L. Robinson's house.