Was it hot, muggy, sticky? Most likely it was. It was probably dusty too, lack of rain evident in the deep days of August. Horses were panting in the effort to reach their destination and despite superior horseflesh, the men had had to bring extra horses so their escape from Lawrence would be on rested, well-watered steeds.
What went through their heads that morning as they headed toward the devastation they would cause? Did they spend the time psyching themselves up to kill, burn houses and businesses down and plunder the contents? Did their minds wander to the sounds of the day? The crickets and cicadas loudly serenading the horrors, the prairie breeze fraught with smoke and the sounds of screaming, shots being fired and women sobbing overcoming all else their ears could hear?
As we've approached this anniversary of the sacking of Lawrence on Aug. 21, 1863, there have been a number of writers popping up and presenting their interpretation of just why William Clarke Quantrill and his raiders attacked the little town about 50 miles east of the Kansas/Missouri border. Some said it was politically motivated – yes, to a point. Some say it was retaliation for the collapse of the women's jail in Kansas City that killed Bloody Bill Anderson's sister and maimed another – along with a cousin of Cole Younger's and other relatives of the raiders. Still others say it was for no other reason than that the town was mostly comprised of Jayhawkers – northern sympathizers.
We may never truly know the truth of why Quantrill ordered the attack that day – but true Quantrill historians believe it was mostly because he was after Jim Lane, a U.S. senator and general – greatly despised by most southerners.
In truth, the raid on Lawrence was extensively prepared for with plenty of scouting and massive planning.
On Aug. 10, 1863, Quantrill called a meeting of his officers and the chieftains of allied bands at a camp near Blue Springs, Missouri. He told them of his plan to attack Lawrence and why. Quantrill encountered some resistance and thus the council dragged on for 24 hours before concluding amidst a few detractors.
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| Senator and General Jim Lane – a brutal soldier who wreaked havoc on southern sympathizers in Missouri, and one of the main targets of William Quantrill. |
Lane was known for his years of burning Missourians out of their homes – some in the dead of winter, killing the men and leaving the women without anything but the clothes on their backs. In one instance, he forced the wife to cook for him and his men and then made her burn her own house down.
He killed men and boys – he made no distinction. Quantrill hammered home his decision, "Lawrence is the great hotbed of abolitionism in Kansas. All the plunder – or the bulk of it – stolen from Missouri will be found stored away in Lawrence, and we can get more revenge and more money there than anywhere else in the state."
Following that and a scouting report from Fletch Taylor, Quantrill received his unanimous vote to raid Lawrence.
Preparations began. The chieftains and leaders did not disclose their target ahead of time to keep security as tight as possible. Guns were cleaned, ammunition prepared, horses rested, harnesses repaired.
Notice that the meeting in which the decision to raid Lawrence was held on Aug. 10 – before the infamous collapse of the jail in Kansas City in which the southern women were killed and maimed. Thus, in my opinion, the original reason for the raid was political – to go after Jim Lane, to go after a large target such as Lawrence, which was completely northern and to win – therefore making a statement to all their enemies.
Nevertheless, the collapse of the jail caused many a member of Quantrill's raiders to add another reason to their long list of causes for revenge – many of them had a relative or neighbor who was in that jail, or had been subjected to General Ewing's Order #11, banishing families who were southern sympathizers from Missouri.
My guess is that these things were on the minds of the men as they rode that day. Each one focused on his reason for the killing, the savagery that was about to be executed. It was most likely pent up inside of them and once they arrived in Lawrence, the massacre was unlike anything ever seen before. By the time Quantrill arrived in Lawrence, there were approximately 450 men riding with him, some of whom he had collected along the way.
As the men entered Lawrence, dawn had broke on the town – folks were just awakening from a restful night's sleep. The first victim, Rev. S.S. Snyder, a United Brethren Church minister, was milking a cow when two of the guerrillas broke away from the group, rode through his gate and shot him dead.
Most of Quantrill's men were wearing Federal uniforms, so at the beginning, many who were out and about that day were not alarmed until the shooting began, catching them unawares – and dead.
As the men continued to plunder the town, others were sent as lookouts for Federal troops to come to the rescue. There was no wire in Lawrence as of that date, so they were unable to plead for assistance quickly.
One victim was quoted as saying that the guerrillas rode as if they were experts – backs straight in the saddle, handling their superior horseflesh like pros, all of their revolvers loaded, cocked and shooting effortlessly at every man and house they passed.
All around them men and boys were falling dead. Women and children were frantically trying to grab whatever possessions they could before fire could spread in their homes.
Quantrill was described by a survivor as riding on a "magnificent brown gelding said to have been taken from Buel at the Battle of Independence. On Quantrill's head was a low-crowned, soft black hat with a gold cord for a band. His face sunburned and weather-beaten, with a few days worth of stubble and beard. He wore a brown woolen guerrilla shirt, which was,' noted the survivor,'ornamented with fine needlework and made for him by some devoted daughter of the south. Four revolvers were stuck in his belt and his grey trousers were stuffed into handsome calvary boots."
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| William Clarke Quantrill was in his mid-20s at the time of the Lawrence Raid, truly a man of nondescript looks or stature, yet cold, calculating and intelligent. |
As the men rode through town, so many were cut down. Men were shot and fell to the ground in front of their wives, not dead yet – their wives then threw themselves upon them, pleading with the guerrillas to spare their husbands. Yet it was not to be. The bushwhackers merely stuck their pistols between the woman and her man and finished the man off.
Wedding rings were yanked off the women's fingers, their prized possessions destroyed or stolen. While no women were shot nor apparently raped – they suffered the worse kind of trauma by witnessing the murder of their husbands and in some cases, their young sons, the burning of their homes, the overall horrors of that day – changing their lives forever.
The most ironic of all occurrences that day was the failure to kill the intended target, Jim Lane.
As soon as the gunfire erupted, Lane jumped out of bed and yanked his nameplate off his front door – knowing exactly what was going on and who was the top target of the day. For a man who had committed so many sins against the innocent, he was quite aware of what he had done and that someday he would pay.
Lane tore through his house and out the back door, fleeing through the cornfield behind his house, wearing only his nightshirt and in bare feet. He ran over hills and through many a field until he came to a deep ravine where he hid for awhile. He eventually came out of the ravine and found a farmhouse where he borrowed the owners straw hat, old shoes and a pair of pants.
Lane kept going, reaching yet another farm where he managed to procure a plow horse and blind bridle and rode bareback to warn area residents of the raid and to try to assemble a posse.
Lane, the coward – took off out of his house leaving his wife behind to face Quantrill herself. Despite Lane being the top target, Quantrill and his men were cordial to Lane's wife and permitted her to save many of her possessions before setting fire to the home. Despite Lane having removed the nameplate from his home, Quantrill easily identified his residence.
"Give Mr. Lane my compliments," Quantrill told his wife with ironic courtesy. "Please say I would be glad to meet him," he no doubt told Mrs. Lane with a wry smile upon his face.
The women of Lawrence were exceedingly brave that day. Many pled with the guerrillas to spare their men and homes. Many did what they could to save their homes and others, to save the men and boys, to do what they had to do.
Quantrill was apparently impressed with them, stating, "The ladies of Lawrence were brave and plucky, but the men of Lawrence were a pack of cowards."
There were descriptions of women standing up to the guerrillas and the men, despite their bloodthirsty lust, would not hurt them and often rode off. One woman wrote "southern" on the front of her home and thus was spared. Some outright lied by telling the guerrillas that they were southern and/or their men were already dead.
Jesse James was still too young to have joined Quantrill and therefore, did not participate in the raid. Frank James, however, was there that day. It is unknown whether he killed anyone or exactly what his actions were that bloody day in Lawrence. Yet, he was there – and coupled with his actions throughout the war and after – surely troubled his mind for the remainder of his life.
When the raiders were done, they turned and left as quickly as they had come, heading southeast down the Lawrence-Fort Scott Road. Next, Lane and the group he had assembled joined with another's, Major Plumb, and they began pursuit – the chase was on.
However, the Federal troops that had been assembled and joined in the chase never had very good horseflesh and they had already ridden 50 miles or more without food or drink – fatigue setting in. Meanwhile, the guerrillas had stolen fresh horses in Lawrence and extras too. Whenever a horse wore out, he was shot and the saddle thrown on the back of a fresh mount.
The Federals did manage to continue to chase Quantrill's men and began closing in to the point where the bushwhackers began lightening their load – ridding themselves of some of the plunder they had stolen in Lawrence.
Eventually, Quantrill ordered the men to begin breaking away with some holding the rear to hold off the encroaching Federals. The escape took several days and a lot of maneuvering before Quantrill and his men got away – though not all of them did. Some were caught by soldiers, angered Lawrence survivors and even an Indian who went by the name of White Turkey, a Delaware, who lifted the scalps of three guerrillas and cut off their ears as well.
With the escape through Kansas and Missouri, many farms, towns and businesses were plundered, men killed and possessions stolen. The daylight raid on Lawrence, Kansas had done much more harm than to the residents of that town. And still the Civil War continued without a hitch.
Before too long Quantrill would leave his own band of raiders and head for Kentucky – a story for another day.
So, whatever happened to Jim Lane? He never fully recovered from the raid on Lawrence. While he was spared viewing the killing and burning, he had been charged with cowardice for running and then failing to catch Quantrill.
His mind began to go despite being re-elected to the senate. After Lincoln's assassination, those who had supported him began to fall away and his career was sliding downhill quickly.
He jumped out of a St. Louis hotel room window, but survived. A doctor took him to a Leavenworth-area farm, clear on the other side of the state, where family and friends could watch over Lane. Nevertheless, a distraught Lane was riding in a wagon with a few relatives on Wednesday, July 5, 1866 and, when the wagon stopped for a gate to be opened, he jumped out of the wagon, ran to the back and produced a small derringer. He put the muzzle in his mouth after shouting, "Good-bye gentlemen!" and pulled the trigger.
Lane still didn't die right away. Due to the angle of the small caliber weapon, the bullet had exited through the top of his head and he lingered several more days before finally succumbing.
So you see, the raid on Lawrence had casualties on many sides – southern and northern. The guerrillas suffered, Quantrill was never the same either. Anderson himself would be killed a little over a year later after wreaking havoc throughout western Missouri.
The spilling of blood in every war throughout history has its detractors and supporters. An example is that even to this day, people have vehement opinions on whether Truman should have or should have not dropped the bomb on Hiroshima.
The debate goes on. Yet may we remember the many souls who were killed 150 years ago today in Lawrence, Kansas. Lest we ever forget the sacrifices of men, boys and the women.
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