Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The Lawrence Massacre (also known as Quantrill's Raid) was an attack during the American Civil War (1861–65) by Quantrill's Raiders, a Confederate guerrilla group led by William Quantrill, on the Unionist town of Lawrence, Kansas, killing around 150 men and boys.
During Quantrill's raid, Quantrill and his men burned 185 buildings in Lawrence, KS and killed 182 men and boys. [8] Lawrence was the historic base of operations for abolitionist and Jayhawker organizations. Pro-slavery forces also operated in the area, as both sides tried to gain power to determine whether Kansas would allow slavery.
William Clarke Quantrill (July 31, 1837 – June 6, 1865) was a Confederate guerrilla leader during the American Civil War.. Quantrill experienced a turbulent childhood, became a schoolteacher, and joined a group of bandits who roamed the Missouri and Kansas countryside to apprehend escaped slaves.
George Bell attempted to defend Lawrence from the attack, but was shot and killed. The raiders then attempted to burn down the house, but the Bell family was able to save it. The home was occupied on and off for several years by his widow, Annie, and her children, who frequently lived in the cellar and rented out the upstairs rooms to boarders.
Three residents were killed in the raid and much property was carted away by the guerrillas. [1] Quantrill's raid resulted in Aubry being garrisoned by Company E of the 8th Regiment of Kansas Volunteers. Capt. John Greelish was the first garrison commander. Aubry was garrisoned by Union troops intermittently for the rest of the Civil War.
In August 1863, Quantrill gathered 450 men and entered Kansas. They kidnapped locals, forced them to serve as guides on the way to the city of Lawrence, Kansas, and then murdered them. [2] Lawrence was selected as the target for the raid, as it was viewed in Missouri as a center of abolitionism and Jayhawkers.
Articles relating to Quantrill's Raiders (1861-1865), their membership, and their depictions. They were the best-known of the pro-Confederate partisan guerrillas (also known as "bushwhackers") who fought in the American Civil War. Their leader was William Quantrill and they included Jesse James and his brother Frank.
However, the bushwhackers held a special hatred for the "red leg" Union troops from Kansas who frequently entered Missouri and earned a reputation for ruthlessness. Younger rode with Quantrill in a retaliatory raid on Lawrence, Kansas on August 21, 1863, during which about 200 citizens were killed and the town looted and burned. [1]