1837-1865

William Clarke Quantrill was the leader of an army of Confederate guerrilla fighters during the American Civil War.  He was the eldest of eight children born in Canal Dover, Ohio on July 31st 1873.

In 1858 it is believed that he travelled to the State of Utah and made his living as a professional gambler under the alias Charles Hart. It is during this time that it is understood that Quantrill murdered a man over a bad game of poker.  He later moved to Lawrence City in Kansas to  take up school teaching, records show this to have been between 1859 to early 1860 but his past caught up over the murder with people asking questions so at the end of 1860 he made off to Missouri.

Quantrill was to visit Lawrence again though, but for different reasons this time as we shall see in a few paragraphs on.

Sometime at the start of the Civil War, Quantrill formed a small guerrilla unit that had amongst its members Frank and Jesse James along with Cole and Jim Younger who were all later to become notorious bank robbers.  Quantrill's raiders or Quantrill's bushwhackers as they became known staged a few raids into Kansas, attacking small groups of Union soldiers, and robbing and terrorising small village communities.  Several times they came across their counterparts who were called the "Jayhawkers", these were an unruly band of Union militia based in Kansas that used to raid deep into Missouri and many skirmishes broke out between them.

Quantrill was actually declared an outlaw by Union Army commanders and they put a price on his head, stating he was nothing more than a desperado and free ranging terrorist, a loose cannon who lived by his own rules.  As propaganda goes, this was not strictly true, as Quantrill did in fact hold an official commission within the Confederate army as a Captain of Rangers over partisan activities.

During the Civil War, the Union Army commanders decided to shoot all captured guerrilla and partisan fighters who had not officially been fighting under orders of Confederate army command.  They could therefore it was reasoned, be shot as spies and saboteurs.  Quantrill upon hearing this, decided the best course of action was to do exactly the same and hence, many union captives immediately lost their lives... Touché !

  Because there was no taking of prisoners from then on in many more hundreds of lives were sealed to the executioners fate, on both sides of the flag and it had a result of intensifying battle as soldiers knew they would not be spared.

It has to be said at this point though that many units on both sides did disregard this order and chose instead to go for the exchange program and trade prisoners on a one for one basis.

Quantrill soon became even more notorious and spread fear amongst the Union Army as a guerrilla raider that was to be reckoned with, as he slaughtered every small pocked of Union soldiers he came across.  On the side of the Confederacy however, Quantrill was praised as a conquering hero, a peoples champion and a figurehead to be looked up to and revered.  With such an ego boost of course, it filled Quantrill with even more bravado.

On August 21st 1863, Quantrill's raiders comprising of over 450 guerrilla and partisan fighters attacked The city of Lawrence in Douglas County, Kansas.  There was a prominent figure in Lawrence city in the shape of Senator Lane who became a prime target, but he managed to escape, running across a corn field with his night shirt flapping in the wind behind him.  Quantrill's raiders killed between 180 to 200 men and boys...all those old enough to bear arms.

The scene was one from hell, with buildings ablaze...

...men screaming and shouting under the noise of gunfire and the smell of thick black smoke whilst many residents were being dragged from their homes and shot in the street.  The whole town was ransacked, the bank was robbed and every building was set ablaze, it was total carnage and it was this act that now made Quantrill the most notorious and feared man in the Civil War. 

His actions and those of his men were nothing short of psychopathic and historians on either side find it hard to condone it in anyway.  There are still underlying hatreds within southern blood that to this day that actually support his actions, done in the best light for the confederacy as it went about " setting things right "

In any war regardless of when, where or who fought by there always arises revenge and retaliation tactics, usually magnanimous in its proportion and this is how wars escalate, the American Civil War was no exception.  After Quantrill's deliberate and horrific attack on Lawrence, the Union Commanders decided to destroy entire counties of the confederacy.

General Ewing put into action an authorization known as General Order no.11.  What this entailed was basically for the depopulation of  four entire counties in Missouri, these counties being Vernon, Bates, Cass and Jackson, they were selected along the Kansas border to make it easier for the Union troops to cross the borders.  On August 25th 1863, thousands of union troops congregated on mass and stormed in, forcing tens of thousands of civilians out of their homes at gunpoint and as they left every single structure was raised to the ground behind them.

Of course ,many protestors were summarily executed where they stood.

All livestock was systematically shot, this included but was not limited to all the cattle, swine and fowl and any horses that the Unionists did not want themselves.  All the corn fields and crops were set ablaze, everything was destroyed to such a fine degree that these counties were collectively known as "the burnt district" such was the Unions ferocity of the meticulous and methodical  General Order no.11

The pure hatred that each side felt for one another knew no boundaries and the American Civil War became responsible for 1,100,000 casualties and claimed more than 620,000 lives, more than were killed during World War I and World War II put together.  Quantrill of course was adding to the figure on a daily basis.

Quantrill continued with his campaign of terror, killing and butchering of all and any Union soldiers, or civilians that he came across, but the winter days were drawing in and it was time to abate hostilities and think about survival throughout the cold weeks ahead.

In December 1863, Quantrill retreated deep into the much warmer area of South Texas where they sat out the winter and drew their plans together.  There was a lot of tension in the air, not surprisingly and many arguments of what they should do next and to whom.  It was during these "deliberations " that staunch followers such a "Bloody Bill Anderson" set off to start their own bands of marauders back in Missouri.  Many of Quantrill's original force of over 400 guerrilla fighters went along with men like Anderson.

There was no bad blood amongst Quantrill's army as they split up into smaller factions though, as they all shared the same concerns, they all had lost family and they all had scores to settle.  In fact Quantrill even joined in the fighting with Bloody Bill Andersons group in the fall of 1863 during conquests north of the Missouri River.

During these times, Quantrill met fourteen year old Sarah Katherine King at her parents farm in Blue Springs, Missouri. They became infatuated and finally married when she was fifteen, she lived in camp with Quantrill and his men under the false name of Kate Clarke to hide her true relationship with her husband from his enemies.

With the remaining guerrillas still following Quantrill, he went on to fight in the battle of Westport in 1864. Quantrill's raiders fought well and the Confederate Army suffered their biggest defeat in Missouri during this battle, Quantrill then headed back to camp to recoup and reorganize his men. Later heading out east to Kentucky to met up with a band of Kentuckian guerrillas, they had a skirmish with union troops and Quantrill discovered how well organized the Union side were as several veteran guerrilla fighters were killed.

Going into Kentucky was actually the downfall of Quantrill as we shall see in these last paragraphs.

Later in 1865 with only twenty or so fighters under his command, Quantrill staged a series of daring raids in the western counties of Kentucky.  His luck finally ran out though when on May 10th 1865, he was caught up in a Union Army ambush headed by Union guerrilla Capt Edwin Terrell at Wakefield Farm near Taylorsville.  Quantrill and his men were holed up in a big barn when Terrell launched a surprise attack, Quantrill tried to make a run for it but was shot through the left shoulder blade, the bullet angled down and lodged against his spine and he was instantly paralysed.

Quantrill was questioned as he lay in pain and motionless in the field, but still with a lot of contempt in him he gave his name as Captain Clarke of the 4th MO Confederate Calvary and asked permission to be allowed to die where he lay.  Terrell agreed and without further ado, they left to continue pursuing Quantrill, where-ever they though he was.

below a poor image of Captain Terrell.

In the meantime a doctor arrived at Quantrill's side, apparently summoned by confederate sympathizers and after a brief examination the doctor stated that he would not survive for very long as the wounds were quite severe.

The true identity of Quantrill soon emerged however, and on May 12th, Terrell returned with a horse drawn wagon, Quantrill was loaded onto it and taken to Louisville military prison hospital wing, arriving there a day later. The Union mercenary/guerrilla Terrell was paid for capturing him and told his services were no longer required.

Before his death, a priest visited him and Quantrill asked him to contact a woman who was holding a decent amount of money for him. With the money the  priest purchased a cemetery plot and headstone and then gave the rest  to his wife, after taking out a small commission for church funds.

Quantrill stayed at the military prison until he finally succumbed to his wounds and died on June 6th 1865.  He is buried at the Missouri Confederate Soldier’s Memorial in Higginsville, Missouri. He was 27 years old. R.I.P