It was early morning, daybreak. The community was only beginning to stir, but others were wide awake. A band of angry Missourians were directing their hatred against the abolitionist city of Lawrence, Kansas. The Lawrence raid became the final straw in the Kansas-Missouri border war that had been raging on and off for years and found new life in the Civil War. The raid lasted two hours. Some 150 inhabitants were killed; 185 buildings were burned. The Lawrence raid led to the creation of one of the most famous pieces of art in Missouri history.
