February 2026 Meeting Summary
At our dinner meeting on February 18th, Mr. Eric Smallwood gave a very interesting presentation titled: “Suffer and be Strong”, The Wakarusa War of 1855. Eric
is employed by the Kansas Historical Society as Site Administrator of Constitution Hall State Historic Site in Lecompton KS, where the infamous Lecompton Constitution was drafted in 1857. Attendance at the dinner meeting was 51.
Five years before South Carolina seceded from the Union, military units of northern and southern Americans faced off against one another on the field of battle over the political issue of slavery for the first time, in the opening act of what we now call "Bleeding Kansas". Though it was nearly bloodless, the "Wakarusa War", as it would come to be known, was a dark omen of things to come for the next decade of American history, and was where many of the leading figures of Bleeding Kansas began to gain their fame.
Eric said Lawrence is the Mecca of Civil War history in the Kansas Territory. The Wakarusa War started in Douglas County in November 1855. By 1855, the United
States had fought the War with Mexico and had obtained a lot of territory. The big question was: Will slavery extend into the new territory? Politically, Kansas was the testing ground for Popular Sovereignty. Will Kansas be a slave state or a free state?
From May 1854 to May 1855 people come into Kansas Territory (Eric said probably less than 15,000). Eastern tribes had settled here. Towns were established based on political leaning. Eric said when things got too tense, the Wakarusa War relaxed the tension.
Missouri senator David Rice Atchison was a prominent pro-slavery activist and border ruffian. There was anti-slavery tension and pro-slavery complaints. The pro-slavery Law and Order Party was founded in September 1855. The Free State Party was also founded in September 1855.
The Topeka Constitution was a pro-freedom, antislavery governing document that was drafted by FreeState settlers in Kansas Territory. It was ratified in December 1855. However, Eric said it was never actually legal. It didn’t allow Blacks or slavery. It was based on economics, not morality. Slavery added competition to the lower white classes and immigrants.
Things came to a head in November 1855. The Wakarusa War actually started over a land dispute known as the “Hickory Point Incident.”
Pro-slavery units came into Kansas. Dr. Charles Robinson organized a committee of peace to defend the town of Lawrence and de-escalate tension. The ProSlavery Army or Kansas Territory Militia had 1,000 to 1,500 men at the peak of the conflict. Volunteers came from several counties in Kansas Territory and Missouri, including the cities of Kansas City, Westport, and Independence. The pro-slavery camp was located in the Wakarusa River bottoms near Lawrence.
Free-State Army volunteers came from the towns of Lawrence, Topeka, Wakarusa, Osawatomie, etc. They numbered 600-800 men at most. They were citizen
soldiers armed with 1832 short artillery swords, volcanic revolvers, and Model 1853 Sharps rifles. The Sharps rifles made the Missourians afraid to do anything.
The Free State Hotel in Lawrence was made of stone and concrete. It was like a fort. There were other forts constructed in Lawrence as well. The Pro-Slavery Army surrounded the forts and began a siege of Lawrence, which lasted only one week, from December 1-8, 1855. On December 7, James H. Lane drafted a treaty along with Dr. Charles Robinson and Wilson Shannon. The treaty was signed by the Pro-slavery and the Free-State representatives on December 9, 1855, thus ending the Wakarusa War. However, what will keep this conflict from happening again? The official militia was made up of both pro-slavery and anti-slavery men.
