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William Clarke Quantrill was born #OTD in 1837 in Dover, Ohio. Prior to the #CivilWar, he led an unsettled life, regularly changing his occupation and location. He also routinely broke the law, including killing a man in Mendota, IL, robbing homes, and stealing livestock.
Ultimately settling in Kansas, Quantrill had no clear opinion about the fight over slavery taking place there. At different times he supported each side, but ultimately decided he favored slavery once he learned he could make money returning runaway slaves.
When the war began, Quantrill traveled to Texas and joined the 1st Cherokee Regiment of the confederate army, seeing action at the Battles of Wilson’s Creek and Lexington, MO. He ultimately deserted, and formed a band of raiders, conducting guerrilla warfare against Union troops.
The war along the border of Kansas and Missouri was particularly brutal, with atrocities committed on both sides. Quantrill and his band were the most notorious. Among his men were common outlaws like the Younger and James brothers, as well as Bloody Bill Anderson.
In his most notorious act, Quantrill led a raid on @lawrenceks on August 21, 1863. The supposed purpose was to avenge the deaths of four female relatives of some of the raiders who had died in the collapse of a jail in @KCMO a week earlier, but the raid was planned before that.
Quantrill’s force numbered between 300 and 450 men. The town was undefended. The raiders rode into town shortly after 5AM, and immediately began committing mass murder. In four hours, they burned nearly every business in town, and murdered 164 unarmed men and boys.
The country was outraged. The confederacy disavowed the raid and withdrew all support of Quantrill and similar guerrilla bands. The local Union commander, General Thomas Ewing, issued General Order #11, forcing the removal of civilians from four Missouri counties on the border.
Quantrill took is men south that fall, into Texas, where he quickly lost control of them. They broke into smaller groups that eventually returned to Missouri, none led by Quantrill. Only a handful of men remained with him, and these he took to Kentucky.
After conducting further guerrilla raids there, Quantrill was finally ambushed and shot by Union troops on May 10, 1865. He died a month later. His remains have been buried and then moved at least twice, leading him to have headstones in three different states.
Meanwhile, the town of Lawrence was rebuilt. Within two years of Quantrill’s infamous raid, it had become home of The University of Kansas ( @UnivOfKansas ). #RockChalk
