Wakarusa War
The Wakarusa War was a skirmish that happened in Kansas Territory. It started on November 21st, and it ended on December 8th, 1885.[1] It was part of the Bleeding Kansas violence. It happened mostly in Lawrence and the Wakarusa River Valley.
Summary
[change | change source]The events that led to the Wakarusa War started on November 21, 1855. A Free-Stater named Charles Dow was shot and killed by pro-slavery settler Franklin N. Coleman.[2] The two had been involved in a land dispute at a place called Hickory Point, south of Lawrence.[3] Four hours after the shooting the property owner, Jacob Branson, recovered Dow’s body. Abolitionists then set fire to several pro-slavery cabins. When the (pro-slavery) Douglas County Sheriff, Samuel Jones, learned about what happened at Hickory Point, he led a posse to the area to restore order.[4] But Jones did not arrest Coleman. Instead, he arrested the property owner (and abolitionist leader) Jacob Branson.[4] But while taking Branson to jail, an abolitionist party stopped them and freed Branson.[4] The Sheriff then assembled about 1,500 Missouri Border Ruffians to put down what he called an insurrection.[4] The Missourians camped along the Wakarusa River while they made plans to invade Lawrence.[4]
Siege
[change | change source]Before coming to Lawrence, the bushwhackers had broken into the United States Arsenal at Liberty, Missouri, and stolen guns, swords, a cannon and ammunition.[4] In Lawrence, John Brown and James Lane had mustered Free-State settlers into a defending army and erected barricades. No attack on Lawrence was made. It was the first time armies from Missouri and Kansas faced each other. It was demanded free-staters obey the laws and give up their weapons.[5] But they replied they had broken no laws and had the right to bear arms. The only fatal casualty occurring during the siege was of a Free-State man named Thomas Barber. On December 6, 1855 he was shot and killed by George W. Clark, the Indian agent, on a road four miles outside of Lawrence.[6]
References
[change | change source]- ↑ "Wakarusa War". Civil War on the Western Border: The Missouri-Kansas Conflict, 1854-1865. Retrieved 2018-11-16.
- ↑ Frank Wilson Blackmar,Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Volume 2 (Standard Publishing Company, 1912), p. 855
- ↑ Tony R. Mullis. "Wakarusa War". Civil War on the Western Border. Retrieved 21 June 2016.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Dave Ranney (4 December 2005). "The war along the Wakarusa, 150 years later". Lawrence Journal-World. Retrieved 21 June 2016.
- ↑ "the Wakarusa War". Civil War Missouri. 21 January 2008. Retrieved 21 June 2016.
- ↑ "Thomas W. Barber". Kansas Historical Society. Retrieved 21 June 2016.