])()l ; (;I ,;\S l'()J ' \' T Y IIISTOHIC :\i, S()('IETY :-JFWSLETTEH
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OLD SACRAMENTO: CANNON OF CRISIS, CANNON OF FREEDOM
By Mal'ia Butler
cannon was at a cabin in Franklin, a
The s hattered remain s of the old
s mall pro-slavery settlemenl just
ca nnon on the third floor of the \Vats oulhe~l s t of Lawrence, During a latekins Muse um don't look ve ry impresni gh t. r tlid on August 12, 1856, Bicksive loday, bu t if the cannon co uld talk,
el'ton a nd his m en sel fire to lhe
wh at. a stOI'Y it could tell! Call ed '" Old
ca bin n.nd routed the pro-s lavery
Sacramento" by Lawrence's early set·
me n, Inside the cabin , Old SacratIers, it. was one of sever a l Mexican
mento was found clad in a dres s and
cannons that were captured during the
bonnet., disguised as a dress-making
Mexica n War by Col. Alexander Donidummy , The fl'eestat.el's took the gun
phan a nd his regiment of Missoul'i
back t.o Lawre nce, where it was hidMounted Volunteers during the Battle
den in a cellar.
of Sacra me nto, near Chihuahua, lVIexThe Lawre nce men now ha d the
ico, on February 28, 1847 , \Vhen Donican non. but no shot for it. During
phan and his Illen returned to :Nlisso uri
Jones' raid , the offices and printing
t hey brought the cannons with them,
press of the Herald of Freedom" a
and after they were pm'aded as troLawrence free-state newspaper, had
phies they were turned over to the Govbeen destroyed, and the le ad type
ernO r of the state.
thrown into the river, The paper's
Tn 1856, Old Sacrame nto was stopublisher was impriso ned in Lecomplen from an arsenal in Liberty, Miston , so Bickerton confiscated lhe
sO lll'i and brought to Kan sas by Sheriff
type , which was melted down a nd
Sam Jones and his band of pro-slave ry
cast in sa nd molds to provide ammuborder ruffians. Whe n Jones and his
niti on for the gun,
~_ _ __ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ __ ~ On August 15, 1856, Bickerton and his men took the cannon to Fort Saunders, a proslavery stron ghold on Was hin gto n Creek. The fort was
taken without a fight and
burned after its inh abitants
fled . The fo llo wing ni ght, the
free -state forces attacked FOl:t
Titus, the cabin of Col. Henry
Titus south of Leco mpton,
whe re anoth er group of sla very s upport.ers \v as gathered.
It was here t.hat., as 1'homas
Bicke r ton wrote in a letter
that was printed on Augus t 7,
1896 in t.he Lml)rence Daily
JDurnal and Evenin""tY Trib nne ,
In a letter from Bickerton whi ch appeared in the Lawrence
World on Sept, 2 I , t 896, he states the photograph was taken
"from that gun was fil'ed the
the day after the battle of Ft, Titus, and he notes his presence fil'st cannon ball fired on the
at the breech. The other men are identified as (I-r) James Red - part of the north in the great
path, August Bondi, Tauy Jones, George B. Gill, and Owen
s tru ggle of freedo m aga inst
Brown. The daguerreotype is attributed to John Bowles. N ot
slavery." With Bickerlon at
all historians agree about the identifications in the picture.
L ____
~
_1 t.he breech, the cannon was
fired repealedly unt.il T itus
gang attacked Lawrence all May 21,
and
his
men sUrl'endcl'ed. With each
1856, Old Sacramento was fired at the
round, th e La\vl'ence men shouted,
I'l'ee State Hotel by Col. David Atchi"Here co mes anothel' iss ue of the Herso n, who was reportedly intoxicated.
ald of Freedo mY'
The first. shot sa iled clear over the hoOld Sacra mento was used again
tel, a nd when t he cannon ba lls had liton Septembe r 13 a nd 14 at Hickory
t.le effect on the building, Jones an d hi s
Point, a slavery stronghold in Jeffermen se t fire to it instead . A group of
son Cou nty , As the victori ous freeLawrence me n led by Captain Thomas
staters were returning to Lawrence,
Bickerton later learned that that the
-=____________ ___
they wel'e arrested by United
States troops
and imprisone d
at Lecompton.
The cannon was
stationed outside the ja il. After Bicke rton
and his men
were a ll re lea sed
or had escaped
from jail, they
Thomas Bickercon ca. 186S
went to Lecompton and stole the gun back again . This
time it was removed from its carriage
and buried on Bickerton's property for
safekeeping.
For many years a ftel' its early period of service to the free state ca use,
Old Sacra me nto was fired only in celebration . When the steamboat Lightfoot,
the first boat built in Kan sas specifically [01' trips be t\veen Kansa s City and
Lawrence on the Kansa s River , made
its first landing (and its las t , bu t that's
another story) in Lawrence on Apri l 7.
1857 , Bickerton was there to fire a sa lute to th e opening of stea mboat navigalion on t he Kansas River. Mrs. Bickerton had' t he honor of se tting t he
match to it wh en t he gun was fired t hirteen times in honor of Lincoln's election. On January 29, 1861, Old Sacra me nto was unearthed again and fired
thirty-foul' times to celebra te Kansas'
admitL.'l.t1ce to the Union as a free sta te.
It. was fired throughout the Civil War to
mark Northern victories a s we ll. E ve ntua ll y, Cap t . Bickerton turned the old
can non ove r to the city.
Old Sacrame nto \va s fired for the
last tim e on July 13, 1896. Two of Lawrence's ci ti zens had drowne'd in the
(Colllilllled Oil pOf,c 4)
f\. 1·ublit"';on of
The Douglas County Ilisiorical Society
1!:~lab!is!JC(1 i93.~
Lawrence,
K;UlSa$
(ifi041
r'rinicil by Mien P.e5s, 1m:.
l'lls(aJ:C Ihlid al LaWICII(:C, Ka.ns:1S
Dr, l'hili))A, G.xiwin
Dehhie White
David l .... llJ;td'l"St
SIan KCOl
Itcsidcflt
V'1Cl!' l+Csici<:(li
!il,:c,-c(;uy
'J;C'Ullrrr
DOl lGL'\S CO'l WIT 11iSTORI CA I. SOCIETY NEWSLE lTER
(Con finuedjro/1/ page 2)
Kansas Rive r , a nd ci ty offi cials tried to
ra ise t he bodies from the dve r by fi r ing the
cannon over the water. It was overloaded
with a charge of lllud and grass, and exploded, caus ing no injur ies bu t se nding
pieces through the roof of Bowe rsock Mill
that dama ged the machine ry. S hortly there-
afte r , the "old relic" was given to the U niversity of Kansas, whe re it resided in the
Dyche M~l sc um (now the !Vl useum of Natu r al His tory) for many ye ars. Now on permane nt display a t the \".'atkins Muse um, t he
remains of Old Sacr amento se rve to remind
us of our fore fathers' dete rmina tion to ensure that Ka nsas would e nter the Union a
ft'ce st.ate.
Of further interest might be Civil \Var
Valor in Stone & Bronze, an illustrated
slide/lecture prese ntation presented by Ra ndan Thies on Aug. 14th at 7 p .m . at the
Lawrence Public Libr a ry . This program is
fre e to the public.
Lawrence: An Armed
Camp in Feb. 1856
One hundred and forty-five yea rs ago
Lawrence was an arme d ca mp with me n
standing guard in hasti ly-built forts and
women manufHcturing ca r tridges for
Shal'p::; rifles in a nticipati on of a raid
from Missouri. Quoting the St . Louis Intelligence,., Feb. 18, 185G, "Our people arc
holding themse lve s in readiness for an
att.ack at any hour, a lthough I thi nk
there is no danger until the weather moderates, a nd, in fFlet, T sh a ll not look for it
until the first of Ma rch ...
Accordin g to this a rticle, four circular forts had rece ntly been built in downtown Lawre nce, e ac h fi ve ft. high with
ditches outside. Citi'zen soldiers who were
quarte re d in te mpora ry barracks inside
the fort.s kept constant vigil.
Ft. Necessity, 01' Ft. Smit h as it was
called by some, was near t he foot of Mass.
St. and wa s designed as a retreat fo r
women a nd children if La wre nce s hould
be fired upon. An American flag flew from
the center of t.he fort.
Ft. Hunt, named for Supreme Court
Judge Morris Hunt, stood fifty rods south
of F t. Necessity FInd a few rods east. of
Mass. St. Judge Hunt had 12 men under
his charge , e ach armed '.vith a Sharp's
rifle .
Ft. H ollid ay was a fe w rods west of
Mass. St. and was designed to protect
the town from cannon at M t. Orea d.
This was the best-built of the four fortifications.
Ft. Dukey was nOl,thward of Ft.
Holliday and was designed to protect
against a n attack from t he west.
A circu lar redoubt was thrown
across Mass. St. between Fts. H unt and
Holliday to se rve as ::l resor t for the citizens with arms in Case of a charge from
the south. Breas tworks were erected
between
houses
along
l\'Iass. St.
and, together
with Ft.
Necess ity
formed a
fence on
both s ides.
Today, no vestige remains of
Check these fortifications to recall
out Kids,
those stirri ng times.
Let's
Build a Mud Fort! for children 6-12
y1's . old with Katie Annitage & Debbie
Hadel-Kelley on Aug. 13th & 14th from
9-11 a.m. Call Lawre nce Parks a nd
Recre ation at 785-832·7930 for l'eservations. Maximum of 15 childrcn/15
adults pel' sess ion. There is a fee for
this program.