I also think that the violence was intermittent . If you read Margaret Hays' letters there were times of greater conflict and times when 'the trobbles' were less. I do think that there was always a lot of tension throughout the time which built up to extreme anxiety of more attacks along the MO KS border as the southern states began to leave the Union. The people knew well the character of the men who would come to pillage and burn from past experience.