Wakarusa War

The murder was the culmination of a long-simmering feud between the two, as for some time they had argued about a land claim near Hickory Point, located about 14 miles (23 km) south of Lawrence.

[5][7] This group, which included forces raised by David Rice Atchison and Benjamin Franklin Stringfellow, obtained arms from the state arsenal at Liberty, Missouri, crossed the Kansas border, and made its way to Lawrence, preparing to eradicate the Free-Staters.

[2][7] During the siege, the main body of the invaders were encamped near the small pro-slavery settlement Franklin, located to the southeast of Lawrence, although others camped near the territorial capital of Lecompton.

[7] The invading army was indifferently armed as a whole, but some men had broken into the United States Arsenal at Liberty, Missouri and stolen guns, cutlasses, the "Old Sacramento Cannon" (which would later be used during the Sacking of Lawrence in 1856), and other munitions of war.

Dr. Charles L. Robinson (an agent of the New England Emigrant Aid Company) was put in charge of the city's troops, and the future state senator James Lane was appointed as his second-in-command.

[2][7] Aside from Dow, the Wakarusa War claimed only one other life: that of Free State settler and abolitionist Thomas Barber, who, on his way to the defense of Lawrence, had been shot by the Pottawatomi Indian Agent George W. Clarke during an ambush.

After being arrested by Sheriff Samuel J. Jones , Jacob Branson was rescued by Free-Staters , led by Samuel Newitt Wood ( pictured ).
An 1868 illustration of the rescue of Jacob Branson
The grave marker of abolitionist Thomas Barber in Pioneer Cemetery, Lawrence, Kansas (2018). Barber's death inspired the poet John Greenleaf Whittier to write a poem titled Burial of Barber .