A Kansas Memory Podcast

Episode 5: "The Grossest Outrage Ever Perpetrated": Sheriff Jones and the Sack of Lawrence

The documents used in the Sack of Lawrence podcast are available on Earlier Kansas Memory podcasts used documents from Territorial Kansas Online: A Virtual Repository for Territorial Kansas History, 1854-1861.

• Letter, George Washington Brown to his mother
  May 13, 1856
  George Washington Brown, editor of the Herald of Freedom newspaper, was one of seven free state leaders arrested on May 14, 1856 on charges of high treason and held prisoner by federal troops near Lecompton. Writing to his mother on the day before his arrest, Brown expressed concern that his life could be in danger. He instructed his mother to use his estate to provide support for the Herald of Freedom.
  
• Letter, O.E. L[earnard] to Dear Friends
  May 23, 1856
  Written just two days after the sack of Lawrence, this letter contained Learnard's observations of and reflections on "the fearful disaster to which this unfortunate town has been subjected." The town's citizens, wrote Learnard, chose not to resist the authority of the U.S. marshal but were nevertheless brutalized by Sheriff Jones and a posse of Missourians.
  
• Circular, Kansas - Help! Help!
  August 13, 1856
  This circular was composed of two parts. The first section was a letter written from Lawrence to the National Kansas Committee, asked for help because of the conflict in Kansas, stating that "instant action alone can save our people from destruction." The second part was a response written by H.B. Hurd, secretary of the National Kansas Committee, encouraging emigration to Kansas but raising the possibility that free state settlers in the territory must at times defend their rights. He wrote that "Kansas is now in a state of open war."
  
• Letter, E.S. Whitney to Dear Uncle Hiram [Hill]
  August 20, 1856
  E.S. Whitney wrote from Sumner, Kansas Territory, to her uncle, Hiram Hill. Whitney apologized for the long delay in communicating with him, and explained that her husband, Thaddeus Whitney, had been very busy lately and was doing his best to complete Hill's home. She also described her experience watching the border ruffians invade Lawrence, and her friends' and neighbors' reactions to the situation.