It would forever alter the destiny of William C. Quantrill and his infamous Raiders. After what became known as the First Battle of Independence, the Confederate government decided to secure the loyalty of Quantrill by issuing him a "formal army commission" to the rank of captain. William Clarke Quantrill his life and times / by: Castel, Albert E. Published: (1999) Quantrill and the border wars. The best known of the leaders of the Missouri bushwhackers, also called pro-Confederate partisan rangers, was William Clarke Quantrill (often spelled Quantrell in period newspapers and writings). At the wars end, many of the guerrillas surrendered after receiving assurances they would not be hanged by the army but would still be subject to civil prosecution. According to Connelley in Quantrill and the Border Wars, The men of Captain Terrell went briskly up the lane, and, rising the swell, charged down upon the barn, unslinging carbines and getting pistols in hand. " [He] was always a good boy. Fueling this conflict was a dispute over whether Kansas should be a slave-holding state or not. The general was chased into Indian Territory, and by the time he returned to Arkansas he had only half the 12,000 men he had started with. The guerrilla leader was carried to Wakefields farmhouse, paralyzed below the arms from gunshot damage to the spine. The garrison commander did not appreciate their humor but added their names to the roles as required and ordered them out of town. On August 25, in retaliation for the raid, General Ewing authorized General Order No. Not so in the Missouri-Kansas border country, a regional hotbed of political and armed warfare. Do a complete job, and do it better than your supervisor expects you to do it. However, as details of the Lawrence massacre seeped in, Quantrill and his unruly gang were increasingly treated with disdain by the CSA officers. When the slaughter ended the guerrillas headed into Centralia to finish off the rest of Johnstons command. The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of. In late 1862, the Union ordered the imprisonment of all women known to be related to the guerrillas. Contributions Much of the dramatic build-up to the Civil War centered on the violence that erupted on the KansasMissouri border between pro- and anti-slavery militias. A Union patrol caught up to a group of seven of Andersons men, killed them, and scalped them. William Clarke Quantrill and his Biographers", This page was last edited on 26 April 2023, at 23:19. Quantrills outraged band blamed the federal troops. Johnston unwisely left half his force at Centralia to chase a small group of bushwackers led by Dave Poole, who led them into a large clearing in the midst of a forest. The party of three departed in late February 1857. A Missouri newspaper, The Albany Ledger, published since 1868, is rich in information about the last chapter of Quantrills life. Brilliantly weaving together eyewitness accounts, letters, memories, newspaper articles, and military reports into a riveting narrative, this definitive biography reveals the personality of William Clarke Quantrill (1837-1865) and the events that transformed a quiet Ohio schoolteacher from a staunchly Unionist family into a virulent pro-slavery Confederate soldier and the most feared and . Perhaps showing some detachment from reality, Bloody Bill rode up to Price and Governor Reynolds with scalps hanging from his saddle. General Jo Shelby, a Missourian and one of the Confederacys best fighting generals, held a low opinion of the guerrillas: They are Confederate soldiers in nothing save the name No organization, no concentration, no discipline, no law, no anything. Bloody Bill even denied the name part, stating: I am a guerrilla. Although he doesnt talk much about it. Biographies As Anderson launched a furious charge, the Union volley went high. 2023 Missouri Life Magazine. [25], Another legend that has circulated claims that Quantrill may have escaped custody and fled to Arkansas, where he lived under the name of L.J. In one of the war's great atrocities, Quantrill and his men burned. Bloody Bill, the guerrillas, and the bloodshed along the Missouri Kansas border all became fodder for novels and films in the 20th century. Early in the morning of August 21, Quantrill descended from Mount Oread and attacked Lawrence at the head of a combined force of as many as 450 guerrilla fighters. Updated on January 08, 2020. .state-topmenu { color: #000; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; text-transform: uppercase; word-spacing: 7px; z-index: 999999; }, AboutPublicationsLibrary Archives amhpo.com. They never married, although she often visited and lived in camp with Quantrill and his men. Langford described the shooting in few words: I shot him in the left shoulderjust back of the shoulder bladethe ball ranging downward and lodging in the right groin. Quantrill was reportedly shot a second time as he fell, the bullet cutting off the trigger finger of his right hand. Lawrence had been seen for years as the stronghold of the antislavery forces in Kansas and as a base of operation for incursions into Missouri by Jayhawkers and pro-Union forces. Trending. As the name Bushwacker implies, the main tactic of the guerrillas was the ambush, sudden attack followed by a quick withdrawal and dispersal on fast mounts into country best known to the guerrillas. Some of the guerrillas were unwilling to live under Union occupation and joined General Jo Shelbys brigade as they crossed into Mexico to offer their services to Emperor Maximillian. One night while working the late shift, he killed a man. Although they mistrusted the 19-year-old William, his mother's pleadings persuaded them to let her son accompany them in an effort to get him to turn his life around. At least two heard his pleas and turned back to wait for him, guaranteeing their demise from pursuing gunshots as their leader fell mortally wounded. One of these men was Bloody Bill. On that day, Sharp was found severely beaten and died several hours later without giving information about his attackers. Pre-loaded six-shot cylinders were carried in the pockets of their guerrilla shirts, allowing the guerrillas to quickly reload their weapons by swapping out the empty cylinders for full ones. He orchestrated a raid into Missouri to liberate some slaves. Quantrill. By the time the war started, Missouris pro-rebel guerrillas were known as Bushwackers, while their pro-Federal counterparts in Kansas were known as Jayhawkers or Redlegs from their preference for red pants as a type of uniform. [4] Here, Quantrill took up a job in the lumberyards, unloading timber from rail cars. Murder, mutilation, looting, and arson were not quickly forgotten crimes and there was little chance they could be considered as simply the fortunes of war. It was also the home of James H. Lane, a senator known in Missouri for his staunch opposition to slavery and as a leader of the Jayhawkers. The very nature of warfare in Civil War Missouri, often unseen and unrecorded, has rendered it difficult to produce a definitive account of the guerrillas despite the best efforts of many highly competent historians. "My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." While in Texas, Quantrill and his 400 men quarreled. Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the U.S. Confederate States presidential election of 1861, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=William_Quantrill&oldid=1151901351, People of Missouri in the American Civil War, People of Kansas in the American Civil War, People of Kentucky in the American Civil War, Terrorist incidents in the United States by perpetrator, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from September 2021, Articles with unsourced statements from January 2023, Articles with unsourced statements from July 2019, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from August 2020, Articles with unsourced statements from June 2019, Articles with trivia sections from June 2019, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. Halleck issued an order in March 1862 that declared the Confederate guerrillas to be outlaws subject to summary execution. However, most of the soldiers fighting the guerrillas were young, inexperienced conscripts of the Missouri militia. Though it is a matter of some dispute, Quantrill may have held a Confederate commission as a captain of partisan rangers. The Sharps were large bore single shot rifles with a reputation for long-range accuracy. Ironically, the poseur would be chased by authentic guerrilla hunters. Whether it was in retaliation for an attack by Senator James H. Lanes jayhawkers on Osceola, or revenge for the collapse of a womens prison in Kansas City that killed relatives of Bloody Bill Anderson and other guerrillas, the event that would come to be called the Lawrence Massacre was one of the largest and most significant acts of violence on civilians in the American Civil War. 4. Bloody Bills reign of terror came to an end on October 27, 1864, at Albany Missouri. In 1860, he joined a group of free-state activists, jayhawkers in Kansas, switching over later to lead a band of pro- Confederate guerrillas in Missouri to kill and maim Union soldiers and pro-North citizens. [3] In 1854, his abusive father died of tuberculosis, leaving the family with a huge financial debt. If we assess their significance in the conduct and the outcome of the war, the best we can say is that they drew off large numbers of troops that might have been used elsewhere. William Clarke Quantrill was a Confederate captain during the American Civil War and was responsible for the Lawrence massacre, which was one of the worst and bloodiest events in the war. Cox put Bloody Bills body on display in Richmond Missouri. Also notable is that the group included the young Jesse James and his older brother Frank James. Quantrill's men believed that the collapse was deliberate, which fanned them into a fury. In the Kansas City region, the name is largely associated with William Clarke Quantrill, the infamous Missouri guerrilla who fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War and led a violent raid on the Unionist town of Lawrence, Kansas, on August 21, 1863.. Citizens on the front lines of the bloody Missouri-Kansas border war viewed Quantrill very differently. Terrell believed his story and left to continue pursuing Quantrill. American Civil War, About By the summer of 1863, it was obvious the war in the West was lost. Work diligently to the point of discomfort, and without interruption or complaint. Historians view him as an opportunistic, bloodthirsty outlaw; James M. McPherson, one of the most prominent experts on the American Civil War, calls him and Anderson "pathological killers" who "murdered and burned out Missouri Unionists". Oklahoma Historical Society, John Bartlett Meserve. The court awarded the men what was owed to them, but Quantrill paid only half of what the court had mandated. And the ramifications would echo into the next century in a small town in northwest Missouri. Only two riders continued, plunging hell for leather through the Union line, but the troops turned around and brought both men down dead. The most significant event in Quantrill's guerrilla career took place on August 21, 1863. Noland was one of five known Black Americans who rode with the Missouri bushwhackers. Unable to escape on account of a skittish horse, he was shot in the back and paralyzed from the chest down. William C. Quantrill, in full William Clarke Quantrill, pseudonym Charley Hart, (born July 31, 1837, Canal Dover, Ohio, U.S.died June 6, 1865, Louisville, Ky.), captain of a guerrilla band irregularly attached to the Confederate Army during the American Civil War, notorious for the sacking of the free-state stronghold of Lawrence, Kan. (Aug. 21, In the spring of 1865, now leading only a few dozen pro-confederates, Quantrill staged a series of raids in western Kentucky. Various experiments in counter-insurgency strategies failed to drive the guerrillas from the field by the end of the war. The general and governor both erupted with rage at the display and told Anderson the CSA would have nothing to do with his band until all scalps disappeared. From this point on, the guerrillas fought in their own interest, not the Confederacies. Since there were no eyewitnesses and the victim was a stranger who knew no one in town, William was set free. Select quotes from this letter confirm that Langford was with Edwin Terrells party pursuing Quantrills men in Kentucky in 1865 and that he was the man who killed him. Complete your free account to access notes and highlights. Battles A dispute arose over the claim, and he went to court with Torrey and Beeson. There were only two Union wounded, and these only survived the massacre because they had managed to flee. Similar Items. After the Civil War, he drifted to Illinois and on to southwest Iowa. Martin Kelly. Quantrill and his followers decided that revenge would be had for the girls deaths, and the location would be the Kansas town of Lawrence, an abolitionist hotbed and home to Jayhawker Senator James Lane, who had led the raid on Osceola. The residents of Lawrence, Kansas, would never forget what happened on August 21, 1863, if indeed they were lucky enough to survive. On the other hand, Frank would later claim that he wasnt there, admit that he was there, or say he was there but missed the events that followed as he was busy pursuing fleeing Union troops. Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts. If the South had won the war there would have been statues erected in his memory and countless mothers would have named their children after him. [23], Quantrill was buried in an unmarked grave, which is now marked, in what later became known as St. John's Cemetery in Louisville. In his teens, Quantrill had short-term stints of employment as a teacher in Ohio, Illinois, and later, in Kansas. William Clarke Quantrill was a Civil War guerrilla leader along the western border of Missouri and Kansas. Quantrill was questioned as he lay motionless in the field, but still with a lot of contempt in him he gave his name as Captain William Clarke of the 4th Missouri Confederate Calvary and asked permission to be allowed to die where he lay. The rifled muskets carried by the Union cavalry were unwieldy on horseback, so Johnston ordered his men to dismount and form a line, with a quarter of his force held back to hold the horses. While his boyhood friends were busy kicking soccer balls and hitting baseballs, David was in the woods of Salem with paper and pencil, capturing the details of a perched barn swallow or a purple martin. By 1864 most of the older guerrillas who fought for the Confederacy had died, gone home, or joined the regular Confederate army. Among the dead was Josephine Anderson, the sister of one of Quantrill's key guerrilla allies, Bill Anderson. God damn his little soul, hes a Dutchman anyway., Bill offered some simple advice to the citizens of Missouri: If you proclaim to be against the guerrillas I will kill you. Our, "Sooo much more helpful thanSparkNotes. Shortly before his death, Bloody Bill announced, I have killed Union soldiers until I have got sick of killing them. Most of the Missouri population was sick of Bloody Bill as well; as a local newspaper proclaimed, An avenging God has permitted bullets fired from Federal muskets to pierce his head, and the inhuman butcher of Centralia sleeps his last sleep. (St. Joseph Morning Herald). After the raid on Lawrence, during the winter of 1863- 1864, Quantrill lost control of his guerrilla forces. William was a school teacher in Ohio and Illinois for a brief period before going to Kansas with a party of settlers in 1857. In 1858, he moved to Utah where he was a gambler. He was very, very good to me. John Langford was born May 15, 1836, in Anderson County, Kentucky, and was a member of Company B, 15th Kentucky Infantry, the band of scouts who pursued Quantrills band. The Quantrill band joined with other guerrilla groups operating in the Bluegrass State, such as the group led by Marcellus Jerome Clark (also known as Sue Mundy) to terrorize with relatively little fear of reprisal or punishment. As for Quantrill, he was captured after being badly wounded and died in prison in June 1865. Germans (who were called Dutch by the guerrillas) were routinely murdered by the bushwhackers, who regarded all of them as Unionists. After about a year, he converted to the Union side where his federal guerrillas plundered and killed Southern sympathizers, an official but lawless band. Others, like the James brothers, the Younger brothers, and the Shepherd brothers, found the transition into peacetime difficult, both because they enjoyed the bushwacking life, but also because they were forced to live in constant fear of arrest or lynching by vigilantes. William Clarke Quantrill (July 31, 1837 - June 6, 1865), was a Confederate guerrilla leader during the American Civil War. At least three of the raiders died during the same assault at which Quantrill was mortally wounded. Both Confederate President Jefferson Davis and his Secretary of War Judah Benjamin were opposed to the existence of guerrilla bands outside government control, but with ever-larger parts of the Confederacy passing beyond the control of regular forces, the guerrillas presented a lone if distasteful alternative. [19], In early October, Quantrill and his men rode south to Texas, where they decided to pass the winter. When the command returned to west-central Missouri in the spring of 1864, the final break occurred. They were glad to see Quantrill, Todd, and Anderson head back north to Missouri in March 1864. After Union troops removed the supports for the buildings central girder on the main floor, leading to the buildings collapse and the death of four women, including one of Andersons sisters.

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