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. William Quantrill was a pro-slavery guerilla leader during the Civil War. Quantrill supposedly informed his men that they would enter Kentucky and work their way to Washington, DC, where they would assassinate President Abraham Lincoln. For brave men there's never a bolt to his door. The party of three departed in late February 1857. Im here for revenge, said Anderson, and I have got it.. When the Civil War erupted, pro-slavery guerilla warfare had already been going on for several years in "Bloody Kansas." He went onto to become a Confederate Captain in 1862. Torrey and Beeson agreed to pay for Quantrill's land in exchange for a couple of months' worth of work. Although Langford wrote that Quantrill had revealed his identity to him in the pasture soon after he was shot, the farmer in whose house the guerilla was taken has said that the wounded man later denied he was Quantrill. Anderson set off on his own with 20 men in March 1864. 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. Quantrills band broke up in the spring of 1864 after the guerrilla leader backed down from a challenge from George Todd. A further order forcing the conscription of all able-bodied men into Union militias convinced many young men in Missouri to join the guerrillas instead. Most of the Union prisoners begged for their lives. 4. ), 1995, Sutherland, Daniel E.: A Savage Conflict: The Decisive Role of Guerrillas in the American Civil War, Chapel Hill N.C., 2009, Thomas D. Thiessen, Douglas D. Scott and Steven J. Dasovich: This Work of Fiends: Historical and Archaeological Perspectives on the Confederate Guerrilla Actions at Centralia, Missouri, September 27, 1864, Lincoln Nebraska, March 2008, https://www.scribd.com/doc/267011623/doug-scott-report?secret_password=JA9mGQDVbs3Yvzd6ENoX#fullscreen&from_embed, Wood, Larry: The Civil War Story of Bloody Bill Anderson, Fort Worth, Texas, 2003, Younger, Thomas Coleman: The Story of Cole Younger by Himself, Provo Utah, 1903, CREDIT: Andrew McGregor https://www.aberfoylesecurity.com, Age of Discovery After some initial Confederate victories in Missouri, Confederate forces under General Earl Van Dorn were defeated at the two-day Battle of Pea Ridge. William Clarke Quantrill (1837-65) earned infamy during the Civil War for his atrocities against citizens and guerrilla warfare against Union soldiers. I will hunt you down like wolves and murder you. Terrell himself held the poorest of reputations. Angered by incidents of scalping by Kansas Jayhawkers, the guerrillas took it up themselves in the summer of 1864. Perhaps as bad as the man he was hunting down.. 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. [1] Quantrill's famous or infamous raid upon the sleeping town of Lawrence in the predawn hours of August 21, 1863, has been the subject of endless discourse and debate. There they burned down the entire town of Osceola and executed nine male civilians. Andersons group performed well, cutting telegraph lines and striking the Union supply lines. ): A Thrilling Record, Founded on Facts and Observations Obtained During Ten Days Experience with Colonel William T. Anderson (the Notorious Guerrilla Chieftain), Des Moines, Iowa, 1868, Goodrich, Thomas: Black Flag: Guerrilla Warfare on the Western Border, 1861-1865, Indiana University Press, Bloomington Ill., 1995, Leslie, Edward E.: The Devil Knows How to Ride: The True Story of William Quantrill and His Confederate Raiders, New York, 1998, McLachlan, Sean: American Civil War Guerrilla Tactics, Oxford, 2009, Oates, Stephen B.: Confederate Cavalry West of the River, Austin (3rd ed. On his way, on October 6, Quantrill chose to attack Fort Blair in Baxter Springs, Kansas, which resulted in the so-called Battle of Baxter Springs. [9], In the last days of September, Quantrill deserted General Price's army and went home to Blue Springs, Missouri, to form his own "army" of loyal men who had great belief in him and the Confederate cause, and they came to be known as "Quantrill's Raiders". Both Baxter and his 16-year-old brother-in-law were wounded by the Andersons, who then locked them in the cellar of their house and set it on fire. Terrell provided wagon transportation to a military hospital and prison in Louisville. But the security of Quantrills crew was misplaced. Anderson ordered Clements to muster out the naked prisoners. From this point on, the guerrillas fought in their own interest, not the Confederacies. After the raid on Lawrence, during the winter of 1863- 1864, Quantrill lost control of his guerrilla forces. He racked up piles of winnings by playing the game against his comrades at Fort Bridger but flushed it all on one hand the next day, leaving him dead broke. [20], In Texas, on May 18, 1864, Quantrill's sympathizers lynched Collin County Sheriff Captain James L. Read for shooting the Calhoun Brothers from Quantrill's force who had killed a farmer in Millwood, Texas.[21]. William Quantrill (U.S. National Park Service) Clements was soon back to taking scalps and leading a band of as many as 100 men in a rampage of murder, arson, and robbery even as the Confederate Army collapsed elsewhere. Bill Anderson arrived in Kansas as a child in 1857 along with his Southern parents, two brothers, and three sisters. William Quantrill Quotes & Sayings . Fueling this conflict was a dispute over whether Kansas should be a slave-holding state or not. [7] However, in February 1860, Quantrill wrote a letter to his mother that expressed his views on the anti-slavery supporters. An earlier letter penned by Langford to Scott on September 8, 1888, from Clarinda, Iowa, is now in the possession of The Filson Historical Society and University of Kentucky Libraries, providing an eyewitness sketch of the last battle of William Clarke Quantrill. I will hunt you down like wolves and murder you. In his teens, Quantrill had short-term stints of employment as a teacher in Ohio, Illinois, and later, in Kansas. William Quantrill Quotes, Quotations & Sayings 2022 Among the dead was Josephine Anderson, the sister of one of Quantrill's key guerrilla allies, Bill Anderson. At other times the guerrillas could make ferocious frontal attacks on Union infantry, the rapid-fire of their revolvers dealing death and panic among troops armed only with slow-firing muskets and bayonets. Lets have a look at some of his allies and lieutenants, keeping in mind the very fluid organization and command structure of the guerrilla bands. In winter, when concealment was difficult, the guerrillas would head south to Texas until the foliage returned in Missouri, though they did not leave drunkenness, mayhem, and murder behind in their Texas sojourns. After being repelled, Quantrill surprised and destroyed a Union relief column under General James G. Blunt, who escaped, but almost 100 Union soldiers were killed. William Clarke Quantrill and his Biographers", This page was last edited on 26 April 2023, at 23:19. As one of the few regular officers to bother studying guerrilla tactics, Cox was the man for the job and was given men experienced in fighting bushwackers. His other two sisters suffered crippling injuries and disfigurement. The reason for the bloody raid that left nearly two hundred men dead and caused between $1 million and $1.5 million in damage (in 1863 dollars) is still the subject of speculation. 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. But Quantrill's activities indicated that he fought for plunder and personal revenge rather . Work diligently to the point of discomfort, and without interruption or complaint. Sharp claimed that he had survived the ambush in Kentucky but received a bayonet and bullet wound, making his way to South America where he lived some years in Chile. Privacy Policies, Heritage Post 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. The Navy Colt was lighter than the Army Colt and thus preferable to men trying to carry as many as three to six at a time, which provided them with enormous firepower in battle. Although he filed a claim to a tract of land . Later in 1862, John Jarrett, John Brown (not to be confused with the abolitionist John Brown), Cole Younger, William T. "Bloody Bill" Anderson, and the James brothers would join Quantrill's army. Biographies Within some weeks after the news stories were published, two men came to British Columbia, travelling to Quatsino from Victoria, leaving Quatsino on a return voyage of a coastal steamer the next day. When the command returned to west-central Missouri in the spring of 1864, the final break occurred. 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. "At the same time I will counsel patience. .state-topmenu { color: #000; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; text-transform: uppercase; word-spacing: 7px; z-index: 999999; }, AboutPublicationsLibrary Archives amhpo.com. He said that the hanging of John Brown had been too good for him and that "the devil has got unlimited sway over this territory, and will hold it until we have a better set of man and society generally. Both sides founded groups that sponsored and located settlers of their political persuasions: antislavery abolitionist jayhawkers to Kansas and states-rights proslavery secessionists to Missouri. Barton, OS: Three Years with Quantrill: A True Story Told by His Scout, John McCorkle, Norman, Oklahoma, 1914, Beilein, Joseph M. Jr.: Bushwackers: Guerrilla Warfare, Manhood, and the Household in Civil War Missouri, Kent State University Press, Kent, Ohio, 2016, Brownlee, Richard S.: Gray Ghosts of the Confederacy: Guerrilla Warfare in the West, 1861-1865, Castel, Albert: William Clarke Quantrill: His Life and Times, New York, 1962, Castel, Albert: General Sterling Price and the Civil War in the West, Baton Rouge, 1968. As bushwackers they had learned how easily banks and trains could be robbed and the hard life of a farmer held little appeal by comparison. Before they could load again, Andersons men were among them with pistols blazing as scores of guerrillas poured out of the woods. After a local request, the US government provided a new headstone for Andersons grave in 1969. 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. Quantrill continued his career as a teacher, moving to Fort Wayne, Indiana, in February 1856. William Quantrill The nonfictional leader of a pro-Confederate group of men who tore through Kansas and Missouri fighting Union soldiers and sympathizers. Quotes. Most of the early settlers who established homes, farms, and businesses in the northwest Missouri frontier were of Southern origin, hailing from states such as Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. Quantrills outraged band blamed the federal troops. William C. Quantrill - Ohio History Central Kansas Raiders 1950. I've discovered that the less I say, the more rumors I start. Detailed quotes explanations with page numbers for every important quote on the site. The popularity of the weapons made it an icon of the Old West before production stopped in 1881. For the mostly teenage gunmen of Missouri, the war was more a matter of personal rebellion than political rebellion. During this time, Quantrill helped support the family by continuing to work as a schoolteacher, but he left home a year later and headed to Mendota, Illinois. In the late 1890s, Langford settled in northwest Missouri, south of Albany. 3. [26], During the war, Quantrill met the 13-year-old Sarah Katherine King at her parents' farm in Blue Springs, Missouri. Still, some 52,000 recruits of questionable value and loyalties were impressed into the Union ranks. 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, Quantrills last battle occurred in a pasture and wooded draw and barn lot near Taylorville in Spencer County, Kentucky, on May 10, 1865. Cutting the telegraph led to one captured guerrilla executed and the torching of every home within a ten-mile radius of the cut. He always divided his pay with me. All were killed, save one sergeant, who spent several unhappy weeks as Andersons prisoner, the only one Bloody Bill was ever known to have taken. If this could be done while inflicting fear and pain, all the better. Largely relieved from having to pursue guerrillas by Prices choice to attach them to his force, Union troops were able to concentrate in a force much stronger than Prices at Westport. Here they are: 1. He was very, very good to me. Please reorganize this content to explain the subject's impact on popular culture. Did the war give them license to ignore the laws of both man and God? Jesse, at sixteen, later joined Andersons band when Frank was still riding with Bloody Bill. Andersons ally and sometime rival George Todd once told a captured Union officer that he was not a Confederate officer, but was a bushwacker, and intended to follow bushwacking as long as he lived.. He continued to claim that he was Captain Clarke of the 4th Missouri Cavalry, knowing he would be executed if his earlier confession was discovered. In May 1863 the brothers discovered their family home was nothing more than charred ruins, courtesy of the Kansas Jayhawkers. 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. Terrells scouts were on the pike just over the hill from the Wakefield farm, across the pasture from a blacksmith shop, when they received the report of a body of horsemen nearby. It was considered good sport to switch the decapitated heads to different bodies or impale them on fence posts. Published: (1923) A squadron of around 425-450 guerrilla fighters prepared to cross the border into . 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. After a last winter in Texas, Archie Clements, Dave Poole, and Jim Anderson headed back up to Missouri. 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. Because I would not fight the people of Missouri, my native State, the Yankees sought my life but failed to get me. Quantrill's most brutal attack came in 1863 when he led 450 guerillas on a raid on the Union stronghold of Lawrence, Kansas. The residents of Lawrence, Kansas, would never forget what happened on August 21, 1863, if indeed they were lucky enough to survive. His body suffered numerous indignities, his bones were stolen, some put on exhibit, and his skull served duty for decades as a prop in a college fraternitys initiation rites. William Quantrill - The Man, the Myth, the Soldier - Legends of America Quantrill's mother had to turn her home into a boarding house in order to survive. After the photo-op, Anderson was decapitated and his head stuck on a telegraph pole. By comparison, William Clarke Quantrill was one of the most dangerous men of the Border Wars, cutting a swath of atrocities wherever he and the Quantrill Raiders rode.. His name is Tom Chaney. He worked for us. A Missouri newspaper, The Albany Ledger, published since 1868, is rich in information about the last chapter of Quantrills life. Many books and articles have attempted to tell an accurate story of Quantrills last battle, but only someone who was present would have the final information. Andersons command rode into General Prices camp on October 11. Anderson was seen coolly killing fourteen men even as they begged for mercy. William C. Quantrill | American outlaw | Britannica William Quantrill first came to Kansas in 1859 at age 22. In late 1862, the Union ordered the imprisonment of all women known to be related to the guerrillas. He was known for leading the most violent bushwhacker gang during the Border War. Baxter shot himself in the head to escape death in the flames, and the boy escaped through a window but soon died from his terrible injuries. Thirty-two such reunions were held, with the image of William Quantrill adopted as a kind of icon for the veterans, who posed with his portrait and wore ribbons with his image. William Quantrill - Wikipedia "My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." Having endured a tempestuous childhood before later becoming a schoolteacher, Quantrill joined a group of bandits who roamed the Missouri and Kansas countryside to apprehend escaped slaves. You cannot escape." Counter-Measures Union counter-measures included the death penalty for interfering with the railroads. The remains were eventually gathered and placed in a shallow grave. 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. On the bloody August day when Quantrills renegade band of more than four hundred guerrillas attacked Lawrence, which was then known as the center of antislavery sentiment, many of the bushwhackers allied with or under the leadership of Quantrill would not participate in the carnage. After killing their captives execution-style but shots to the head, the guerrillas brought out their Bowie knives and tomahawks and spent the coming hours in what a witness described as a carnival of blood, dismembering, scalping, mutilating and decapitating their near-naked victims. Quantrill's Raid on Lawrence - Civil War on the Western Border Showing search results for "William Quantrill" sorted by relevance. By 1863 both the guerrillas and the Union cavalry were carrying this weapon. He spent most of his youth in Tuscarawas County, Ohio. Not so in the Missouri-Kansas border country, a regional hotbed of political and armed warfare. As Sterling Price began his last attempt to Retake Missouri in September 1864, he encouraged the guerrillas to mount attacks on garrisons and disrupt communications. -Graham S. The timeline below shows where the character William Quantrill appears in, he says, Report has it that he rode by the light of the moon with, Eventually, Rooster lets it slip that he fought with Captain, which is a Wild West spectacle including Cole Younger and Frank James. As for Quantrill, he was captured after being badly wounded and died in prison in June 1865. Though it is a matter of some dispute, Quantrill may have held a Confederate commission as a captain of partisan rangers. As Quantrills band maneuvered through Kentucky dressed in federal uniforms, the men passed themselves off openly as members of the nonexistent US 4th Missouri Cavalry. Lacking any real authority from the Confederate Army, Bushwacker chieftains relied on respect, charisma, courage, and ferocity to hold their commands. Never having the nerve to face him in life they destroyed what they could with their horses and finished by urinating on what was left. Union troops marched through behind them and burned buildings, torched planted fields, and shot down livestock to deprive the guerrillas of food, fodder and support. Once he and his men caught nine Union soldiers in a schoolhouse and killed them. The garrison commander did not appreciate their humor but added their names to the roles as required and ordered them out of town. Although he doesnt talk much about it. 500 matching entries found. In January 1864, Union authorities recognized that the actions of the Jayhawkers were ineffective in countering the guerrillas but exceptional in turning the people against the Union by their murder, looting, and arson. 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. John Langford appeared to be a cautious man. By Christmas 1861, he had ten men who would follow him full-time into his pro-Confederate guerrilla organization:[10][pageneeded] William Haller, George Todd, Joseph Gilcrist, Perry Hoy, John Little, James Little, Joseph Baughan, William H. Gregg, James A. Hendricks, and John W. Koger. They were replaced in January 1864 by the Second Colorado Cavalry which, unlike the Jayhawkers, were eager to come to grips with the guerrillas rather than just civilians. Some historians have suggested that Quantrill had actually planned to raid Lawrence before the building's collapse, in retaliation for earlier Jayhawker attacks[17][pageneeded] as well as the burning of Osceola, Missouri. Familiar faces at these events included Cole Younger, Frank James, and John Noland, Quantrills loyal Black-American scout. Accused of having lost his sand, Quantrill took a small nucleus of about forty loyal bushwhackers and headed east toward Kentucky. Duffy claimed to recognize the man, living under the name of John Sharp, as Quantrill. Authorities briefly arrested him, but Quantrill claimed that he had acted in self-defense. Related Topics. Quantrill is known for his violent ways, as he led his men in the infamous Lawrence Massacre of 1863, in which he and his men killed roughly 200 civilians. At a very young age, he had joined the Kentucky Confederate troops. Complete your free account to request a guide. Bloody Bill, the guerrillas, and the bloodshed along the Missouri Kansas border all became fodder for novels and films in the 20th century. Battles & Tribes, American Revolution Price sought to incorporate most of them into his column rather than dispersing them throughout the state to draw off Union troops.

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