Lawrence, Kansas
In spring 1856, pro-slavery people wanted to make the free-staters weak. The pro-slavery people said that the Herald of Freedom newspaper, the Kansas Free State newspaper, and the Eldridge Hotel were very bad. On April 23, 1856, Samuel Jones came to Lawrence. He tried to arrest some anti-slavery people who had created their own anti-slavery government. A sniper shot Samuel Jones, but he did not die. The people of Lawrence made Jones leave. On May 11, Federal Marshall (like a police officer but for the entire country) Israel B. Donaldson said that people interfered with Samuel Jones which was not legal. A Kansas grand jury agreed. They said that Lawrence built the Free State Hotel (the Eldridge Hotel) for military purposes. Donaldson, Jones, and others recruited an army of 800 men to enforce the law. However, they also wanted to stop the anti-slavery men in Lawrence.