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Events on Wednesday 21 May 1856 1
1856Sack of LawrencePro-slavery forces raid a free-state stronghold in KansasOn 21 May 1856, a pro-slavery posse attacked the free-state town of Lawrence, Kansas, destroying printing presses, a hotel, and homes. The raid was part of the escalating violence known as Bleeding Kansas over whether the territory would permit slavery. It provoked retaliatory violence, including the Pottawatomie Massacre days later.